I just went through a series of clicks and discovered that I am no longer the 5:30 pacer for the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon. Instead, they have me for the 4:45 marathon. Boy, did my stomach just take a 45 minute lurch. And the marathon is 3 tiny weeks away!
Tag Archive for knoxville marathon
When Khaki Cargo pants double as workout pants
Yesterday, being Terry Day and all, was a time for a run… a long run at that! I was hoping to get 12 miles run. With our wintry weather on Monday, I knew that it was going to be cold and since there wasn’t too much melting going on, I was a little afraid that some of the Greenway would be icy.
Despite my planning, I failed to put my sweatpants in my workout bag. So, I was stuck with a dilemma, do I either 1) Run in Shorts, 2) Not Run at all or 3) Run in my Cargo Pants. Since there is very few things that will stop a runner for getting their mileage in, I thought that I would go for the warmest option available… run in Cargo Pants.
The first mile in the cold was fairly brutal. Mainly from the fact that something in my body was not happy. I think it was a combination of being very bundled up and so there was a sudden jump in the heat of my core and that my body was processing some sugar (Gummy Cola Bottles) that I had eaten about an hour previous. So, I felt sick and like I could throw up. I forced myself to make it to the first Mile and then walk 1/4 mile. Shortly after walking, I let out a big belch and felt 1000x better. It was then that I put 2 and 2 together about the condition and how I felt. I decided that I would walk 1/4 of a mile and then run 3/4 of a mile. And it wasn’t that i would do this in a particular order, but that the overall mileage would be broken down that way. For example for mile 3 and 4, I walked the 1st 1/4 mile, then ran 1-1/2 miles, then walked a 1/4 mile. I wasn’t trying to make an interval of it more than I was trying to get my body used to running again. With an abbreviated schedule until Knoxville, I kinda have to stick to my training, because now I have people RELYING on me to run Knoxville. But there was a curious thing about my mileage yesterday and Shirley’s comment from yesterday’s post touched on something that I was mulling over the last couple of miles of my run… and HOW I was going to run 5hr 30 minutes…
Man, 5:30 hours is a LONG time to be on one’s feet running. For someone who usually runs much faster, I think it may actually require some serious time-on-feet training. Are you planning to do a Galloway run-walk interval like I know many slower runners do? That would also certainly add some time to your race
And there’s the rub… I don’t think that I will know who is really going to be part of this pace group until Race Day. So I won’t really know how to run in a lower gear. I use the Galloway (run/walk method) as part of my patent-pending “Marathon Survival Mode”, but even in that case… it’s a sub 5 hour marathon. I have to chuckle at myself because I starting to stress and worry about my race da performance, because this is something brand new to me. It’s always been “Let’s See How Fast I Can Finish This Race” and last year, it was “Can I Survive the Flying Monkey Marathon Just 8 Days After Another Marathon?” And when I have paced other marathon runners (as I did most recently in Rutledge), it has been runners that i have picked up along the way… not runners that I responsible for. And I do feel responsible for these runners, who ever they may be! And I have already started to think about what to do at the finish line, just to add that extra special Terryesque element. I want to be the Pacer with Extra Savoir Faire.
5:30 Club
I am now the leader of the 5:30 Club. This is not to be confused with 5:00 Club which are those people inspired by the World renowned entrepreneur, Mary Kay Ash, who would get up at 5am EVERYDAY and get her day started. Could be one reason that her company is now a 2.5 Billion dollar company.
No, this is the “I run my marathon in 5hr and 30min Club”. that’s right! Some how I passed their quality control requirements and get to lead some poor unfortunate souls to their watery death into the Tennessee River during the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon. Oh, sorry, not a Disney movie. No, I get to lead (or act like I can lead) some other runners making their way to the finish line by either running, walking, skipping or crawling in 5 hours 30 minutes and 00 seconds. Okay, maybe I don’t have to have NASA precision on the whole timing, but I would like to be really close and BEFORE the 5:30 mark.
See, I was all whiny about not hearing and how I was being inconvenienced about my training and not knowing what I was going to do. Or maybe that was just in my head… but I emailed the person who sent me the application and inquired about my status as a Rock Star Marathon Pacer. Apparently, she wasn’t slacking off at all… it’s just that she lost her job earlier that month and well, has been preoccupied since then. Yeah, I felt like a total asshole to be soooooo whiny because it wasn’t about me me ME and making MY schedule work… [THIS JUST IN: THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND TERRY, REPEAT, THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND ME. THAT IS ALL]
So, now I have a time to think of in my head… 5-3-0 when I am training. It’s a tad bit slower than what I would like for a long run for my goal of 3:55 minutes for my Flying Pig Marathon (hint, hint… for winning Crap!) but the “experts” or some of them say, slower is better because it builds bigger muscles. We’ll see though.
Now, leading up to the marathon, I get to do the training by myself… although I may try to hop on with some of the sanctioned Training Runs so that I will be disciplined to run at the right pace. On Saturday the 28th (which is going to be a BUSY day) I will have to Meet and Greet at the Expo… I’m certain that there will be picture taking and I bet some of the runners will want me to sign their shoes for posterity and to sell on eBay after the race. Oh sorry, more Delusions of Grandeur…
And on Sunday (Race Day) I am told that I will have to get there not “Ha-Ha” early, just ridiculously early, like 5:15am. So, by being The 5:30 Club… I will have to be part of the 4:00am Club! Oi!
The Running Hath Begun
I should go look around again, because it’s past the 15th and I don’t know if I am a pacer for the Knoxville Marathon yet. I mean, I would “think” that I would be… but you had to fill out an application for this position. So just that fact doesn’t mean that it’s a gimme. Apparently there are enough people competing that they needed to have some process to weed out the LOSERS. Of course, anyone who is wanting to be a pacer at a marathon must be pretty crazy to start with. That is one of the many reasons that I would be PERFECT for the position. So vote for HIGGINS FOR PACER!
With everything else that is being chaotic in my life, my running has been taking second fiddle or rather being in East Tennessee second Banjo to everything else. Everyone should awe in the presence of My Lovely and Talented Wife and her ability to create a schedule… not only did she create one… she created a BUNCH and they all work together! WOO HOO. So that means that I need to get my running schedule submitted so that I can train for “stuff” this year.
I am not exactly sure what I am going to do. I have a few things that I want to do that are carry overs from previous years, so I may try to stick those in there. Not sure that I am going to be Gungho about doing Triathlons this year… don’t get me wrong, I am still going to do as many as I can, but I am not going to train specifically for them.
So I felt it wise on Thursday to start running again, just on the chance that I do get chosen to be a pacer. Right now, this would put me about 10 weeks out. So a little behind my normal schedule, but I did run 2 marathons in November, I needed to me let my body heal (that’s the story I am using). But going on Thursday evening was a 5 mile… interval style run. The innards (splits) of the run will be on my Buckeye Outdoor’s Training site… which you can find somewhere over there –>
Despite the fact that temperature was a balmy 20F with a wind chill of 10F, the cold dry air was a reminder that I hadn’t been running in a while, so instead of running the entire 5 miles at a leisurely pace, I ran the first whole mile, then walked the next 1/4 mile, then ran the next 3/4 mile, until the last mile, I walked the first 1/4 mile, then ran a slightly faster tempo pace, walked 1/4 mile then race at a tempo/race pace for the last 1/4 mile. It was pretty good. We’ll see how sore I am after the run, but I was thinking that Saturday morning, I might go 10ish or so… I need to ramp my mileage but I can’t do it too quickly or risk injury…
So know to go figure out “what” my schedule should be and see what races I can do this year!
Knoxville Marathon: 11th and Cumberland Part 1
My duties this past weekend as a course monitor for the Knoxville Marathon was fairly straight forward. I was at the 0.35 mi from finish mark for ALL the races (Kids, 5k, Half and Full). I got to see it all. I was also at a fairly busy intersection where I was to flag runners in the right direction. I also had three police officers there to help.
This post is a humorous, but sad (as a Christian) event that occurred this past Sunday morning.
The scene was this:
It was well into the race, the 5k runners didn’t affect traffic to much because of their route. The Halfers and Full runners had to bisect Cumberland (the main artery). So, most traffic was continuing Easy and West on Cumberland. However a few people came down 11th street and wanted to turn left on to Cumberland to travel East. However, this was illegal during the race as the police wouldn’t allow it.
A red sports car comes down the 11th street hill, drives around the parked police car in the left turn lane and has turn signal on to turn left. The police officer points for him to turn right, that going left is not an option. The driver isn’t happy by this turn of events…
“I’m trying to turn left, my church is right there.”
“I don’t care. No Left Turn,” and the police officer points up the West side of Cumberland (i.e. Turn Right).
“Asshole!” the driver shouts as he guns his car up Cumberland.
Yeah, nice.
We actually thought the exchange was rather humorous, especially some of the drivers who were waiting for breaks in the runners to continue through the intersection.
The police officer didn’t miss a beat.
“That’s okay, in a little while, I’ll go up to the church parking lot and find his car.”
Chorus:
And they’ll know we are Christians
By our love, by our love,
Yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
I got a Marathon in a few days
That’s right! Terry has a marathon (to be a volunteer for) on Sunday. I was just getting all excited about doing this when my Team Leader comes and drops off my packet of stuff at work! Talk about service.
My shift is going to be near the end of the race, within the last 0.5 mile at the intersection where I direct the 5k people in one direction and the kids and other racers in another. Based on the race starts, there should be no over lapping. I will be too close to the finish to have my standard fare of Pretzels, Gummy Bears and M&Ms, but I will have some water out there for the people struggling at the very end. After all, you have to look good for the camera!
I’m at that blue dot on the map. I’ll run that part of the course tomorrow and probably Friday so that I will know what to expect and know what to tell the runners. So, I don’t think any of my readers are going to be running Knoxville on Sunday, but if some reason you are… scream your name, I’ll be recording the next Gravity at that time. Plus I am going to have Stella there and if you want a “Foto voor geen geld”, let me know and I would more than happy to oblige.
The Green Arrow
There is a section of Clinch Avenue that I ran today that is very significant to the marathon. It’s the first 1/2 mile of the start of the marathon AND it’s about 1/4 of a mile of the last mile in the marathon. And so I have been running this section in preparation for starting and stopping the marathon. And I will be honest, I have been visualizing myself running the last 50 yard on the field in Neyland Stadium to a sub-4 hour time! But I wanted to visualize what the start would be like and how the finish is laid out so that I can be mentally prepared for the last hills.
What got me today was the GREEN ARROW that was spray painted on the road to signify part of the marathon course. I was very excited because it brought a sense of realism to the race. Last year, the Knoxville Marathon bulletin board was very very busy with a core group of us doing the posting and towards the end, the number of people increased. By this time last year, I knew that I was not running due to pneumonia and had come to terms with that decision. This year, the style of the marathon board does not lend itself to ease of use… I prefer the other style better. So, without the excitement of the bulletin board, I have not been as excited as I could have been. The marathon is getting more attention from the media and so that has been nice and I have been asked if I was running, etc.
I haven’t been as anxious during this taper about my running. I think because of the foot injury, I have actually welcomed the reduced mileage as I have gotten over the big mileage runs. What now to ponder is the weather. Thursday should be the first day that weather will have a 10 day forecast available. I think accuweather has a 14 day forecast, but neither one is going to be accurate until the week of the race.
So, my marathon excitement is growing… I better figure out what I am going to wear!
Knoxville Training Long Run #1
Welcome again to my running blog, this weekend was a kick-off of sorts as I officially begun an 18 week training program for the 2006 Knoxville Marathon whose second running will be on March 26th. In my previous attempt at an 18 week training program, I swore that I would never ever do that again. It was for the Richmond Marathon that I started an 18 week program, 18 weeks out from the second weekend in November is in July… hot dry, hot, boiling and slightly warm July. I have found, that for me, 16 weeks is works for me, 12 is too little, 18 too much… 16 is Terry's Goldilock's Marathon Training timeline.
We met in the Bi-lo parking lot in sub freezing temperatures for our first group long run, oh, I mean official group long run. In this inaugural training run, there was close to 15-20 people bound up in a variety of running garb to protect themselves from the artic chill that covered the sheltered Third Creek greenway. The training runs were to be separated by “beginner” and “advanced” and with this first meeting, it was hard to distinguish who fell into which group. But that doesn't really matter, we're all going for the same goal.
I was thinking, Chickamauga last week, perhaps the advanced running distance of 10 miles would be a little long, but on the other hand, it's just a recovery run. Perhaps that was my downfall… just a recovery run… because my recovery runs turn into freakin' tempo runs. History did repeat itself and now I wonder if my Thursday speed run (Autumnfest 8k) will be too much of a reach and will I truly be ready for my 5k on December 4th when at 2:21:55 (if it starts on time) my 4 year old 5k PR will fall.
We had a little kick off party before we actually ran. Jason A collected vital information from us, I think to guilt us when we don't show up, nah, probably just to remind us incase we forget that we are running a marathon in a few weeks. There was a great variety of paces that people wanted to run, but it turns out that 4 hour pacer for the marathon, Pete, was going to run 9:00 minute miles. Oooo, that's where I want to be (see, I already forgot it was a recovery run) but I wasn't warm enough to actually start at that pace, also, I had a full bladder.
We finally took off and I began to wonder if I had enough clothes to protect my skin from the elements. I had opted for my Almost Tights in lieu of just shorts. I couldn't remember my Rules of Thumbs on cold weather running. Anyway, I had hat, gloves, LS coolmax, SS cotton shirt, NB climalyte top, Almost tights, compression shorts, coolmax socks and my GT2080 and that did the trip.
For the first 0.5 mile, I was mentally out of running, my bladder was taking too much of my cognitive thinking. I was looking around for a good place for me to sidestep into the brush and relieve myself. Now, I am not too shy about states of nakedness, but, at 7:45 in the cold cold morning… I didn't want anyone in the apartments that border the greenway to decide that I was some sort of perv and call the cops (although I probably could out run them). To my delight, I found the small trail that was sheltered from the apartments, so I could, well, become lighter.
I was now back with Jill B. Jill B's current marathon PR is 6 hours, 27 minutes… her goal is to break 6 hours. More on her in future posts. I had the privilege of running with her for about a quarter mile before I took off in search of the 9:00 min pace group. So, to get up with them, I had to run a sub-9 for a while to get there. After about 20 minutes, out on Tyson Greenway, I caught up with them: Pete, Ann and Angie. And thank goodness because I was getting a small cramp in the stomach and my legs were getting heavy. I was a little out of breathe and it took me about 1/2 mile to get up back to level where I could converse with my fellow runner. We made it to the halfway point right at the 45 minutes or so, Pete was right on target. Sweet!
On the way back, the effects of Chickamauga were taking their toll. Angie was also hurting overall and so I held back with her to get her through the distance. Attending and encouraging her was a distance to the fact that my muscles where being replaced with iron, heavy heavy iron, with rust. Finally we made it back to the parking lot… somewhere around 10 miles, I am recording 10.5, as that is what my software program that I use, USAphotomaps, says it was. There were two Garmins on the course and one said 10.5 and the other 10.2, but neither was with our group (I think), so I will go with what I have. It'll all average out in the end. We did about a 9:00 minute pace
I felt good after the run, but my legs were toast, they were like concrete posts and the drive home did not help either. I think the little stretching helped, but my legs hurt ALL day and night. I used my massager (that should get its own post) to help speed up my recovery and Sunday, they do feel much much better, so… that means that I can run tomorrow. Sweet!
Next week the Long Run venue is at Anchor Park (about 1 mile from my house)!
I got more running Stuff in my head, more on that in the future…
Upcoming Races:
11/24 Autumnfest 8k (Knoxville, TN), Goal time 37:30
12/04 Reindeer Run 5k (Maryville, TN), Goal time 21:55
01/28 Calhoun's 10 miler (Loudon, TN)
02/18 Strawplain's 1/2 marathon (Strawberry Plains, TN)
03/26 Covenant Health 2nd Annual Knoxville Marathon,Goal time 3:59:59
(indicates potential Personal Record for distance)
Official Knoxville Training
I running up against the clock because I want to get this post out but I need to leave to get home so that Jen can get to her openhouse.
Tomorrow I am particpating in the 2006 Knoxville Marathon Training Program's first long run tomorrow morning. I have no idea how many people will be there or the levels of experience but I do know that it will be run on a familiar course for me, so it's a good way to get in 10 miles of running under my belt. Hopefully, there will be someone looking to run a 3:45 marathon that will push me to run fast and train faster and therefore finish faster. If you go to the website and click the Schedule of Long Runs, I will be doing the “Advanced” section.
This will be my first long run since Chimichanga 10 miler last Saturday. I seem to have passed my speedwork training on Thursday with flying colors, so I should be A-OK to go the distance. My toe is not sore, but looks like crap, maybe a gruesome picture is warranted. I anticipate it to be cold tomorrow morning, so we will see what the turn out is like. That is the bad thing about training for a Spring Marathon… long slow runs in the cold… yucky icky!
Upcoming Races:
11/24 Autumnfest 8k (Knoxville, TN), Goal time 37:30
12/04 Reindeer Run 5k (Maryville, TN), Goal time 21:55
01/28 Calhoun's 10 miler (Loudon, TN)
02/18 Strawplain's 1/2 marathon (Strawberry Plains, TN)
03/26 Covenant Health 2nd Annual Knoxville Marathon,Goal time 3:59:59
(indicates potential Personal Record for distance)
It's official
I got this in my email today:
Dear Terry Higgins:
Thank you for registering and welcome to the 2006 Covenant
Health Knoxville Marathon!
We are glad you'll be joining us for this wonderful event.
We will send you more information as the race gets closer. All
packet pickup will occur at the Health & Fitness Expo on March
26th in downtown Knoxville. You will receive more specific
instructions on this as well.
If you have questions, be sure to check out the website FAQ and
forum sections. If you don't find the answers you need, please
contact us at info@knoxvillemarathon.com
And finally, we are trying to build our core of volunteers to
make this event great. If you know of anyone who could help
out race weekend, whether it is family, friends, co-
workers, we have many options including ones where they can
still cheer you on. Please send volunteers our way to
management@knoxvillemarathon.com.Thank you!
Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon
Organizing Committee
