Running with the Rats by the River

Week of April 18-April 24

Monday: 7 miles through Yankton; 6:59 pace; felt great
Tuesday: 6 miles with Jordan around Yankton; 7:04 pace; felt decent
Wednesday: Didn't Run... Wanted to take a day off before the 1/2 marathon this week
Thursday: 6 miles in Sioux Falls; 7:07 pace; windy and ran a hilly route so it was a pretty good workout but felt good
Friday: 2 miles easy in Sioux Falls; felt great but wanted to keep mileage low for 1/2 tomorrow
Saturday: River Rat Half-Marathon in Yankton. This race started and finished on the river about 2 blocks from my house in Yankton so I decided it would be a great race and serve as a barometer for my Marathon in early June. The race started near the baseball field on the river just east of Broadway Ave and ran on the sidewalk towards the hospital and Mount Marty and then out towards the Dam before turning around and coming back. Sure enough, there was a pretty gusty headwind coming out of the west so the first half of the race was tough. Here is how it went by mile...

1- 6:47 - just trying to find a pace and settle in with some runners
2- 7:03 - ran in the back of a pack of 5 runners; very content to let somebody else lead into the strong headwinds
3- 6:35 - this included the large downhill just west of Yankton; our group of 5 split into 2 groups and I joined a group of 2 others up ahead
4- 6:43 - I was only planning to run 7-flats for the first half of the race but I was not going to run by myself in the wind so I just ran whatever pace the guy in front in the wind was running
5- 6:52 - wind was annoying but not terrible; just waiting to get done with this half of the race
6- 6:50
7- 6:44 - halfway through this mile we finally turned around and running with that wind at our back instead of into it felt AMAZING
8- 6:27- the 3 of us that were running together got some separation - probably about 10-20 seconds in-between each; the guy who ran out front was behind and I was in the middle
9- 6:27 - I only planned on running the 2nd half in 6:40-6:50 pace but I felt really good at this stage
10- 6:29
11- 6:55 - this included running back up the hill west of town
12- 6:16 - not sure what happened here; I honestly do not think that I could have run any faster or slower, my legs just felt like they were going on their own
13- 6:24 - started to feel a little pain by this time and I knew I wouldn't catch the guy in front of me and I could no longer see the guy behind me so just felt like I coasted in

Final Time: 1 hr 26 mins 39 seconds

I finished 4th overall of about 130 runners. Thomas Madut won the race and Michael Hoffman was 2nd. Thomas was a year behind me @ Lincoln High School in SF so I ran against him a bunch in HS and Hoffman runs for DSU in Madison and I know him quite well so it was fun to see those guys run well. The guy who finished 3rd goes to SDSU and has a pretty sweet blog... www.runningonthewhiteline.com

Complete results here

This was only my 2nd ever half-marathon and my first was not as competitive as I was just helping to pace some female teammates. I felt WAY better than I thought I would and in hindsight could have run a little faster, especially with better weather. Definitely a confidence booster for Deadwood

Sunday: Ran 3 miles easy in Marshall after going to church with my grandparents. Legs were a little sore but the run was toughest because the whole time I was starving and all I could think of was the meal that Grandma would have ready for Easter dinner when I got back!

Total Miles: 37

All in all a really good week. I realize that I will not get the mileage I originally wanted before my race but I should be ok as long as I get a couple more decent long runs in. My main goal is still to break 3 hours and I think it should be pretty close. I think the biggest thing will be to run smart and keep my pace under control the first half of the marathon.

Winter Returns!

April 11-17

Monday: 4 miles; 2 miles @ 6 minute pace but could not manage any further
Tuesday: Ran west of town and back; 7 miles; felt slow and sluggish
Wednesday: Didn't run; shins sore
Thursday: 4 miles; 7:17 pace; windy & cold
Friday: Didn't run; windy and snowing and slushy and just did not want to run in these conditions
Saturday: 5 miles on bike trail; 7:09 pace; cool and windy but felt pretty good
Sunday: 2 miles easy @ 6:54 pace; just trying to break in some new racing shoes and it was cold!

Total Miles: 22

Definitely not the mileage I was looking for this week but I had some shin soreness and decided to do less rather than more and hopefully feel better in the coming weeks; not to mention the weather in the 2nd half of the week really sucked so it was a good week to take a little time off. Signed up to run the River Rat Half Marathon in Yankton this Saturday morning. Should be a fun race. Main goal is to run first half @ 7 minute mile pace and then drop down to 6:50-6:40 pace for the 2nd half.

Building Building Mileage

Week of April 4 - 10

• Monday: 5 miles easy around Yankton; 7:17 pace; very windy!


• Tuesday: Ran west on bike trial 6.5 miles & back. 13 miles. 1:37:11, 7:28 pace. Felt ok but last couple of miles were a struggle


• Wednesday: 35:10, 7:02 pace, 5 miles easy on bike trail west of town


• Thursday: Ran to HS track and did 6x800 with 3:00 rest: 2:52-2:57-2:50-2:50-2:48-2:44, felt ok; mile cool down and mile warm up - 5 miles total


• Friday: Day off


• Saturday: 5k @ Summit Center; Missouri Valley Christian Acadamy fundraiser; 18:50, won by over 3 minutes; fun run but would have been nice to have somebody to race


• Sunday: Super windy; ran 6 miles in Yankton; first couple of miles were over 8 minute pace but picked it up throughout the run and finished at a 7:07 pace overall


• Total Miles: 37 Good week of running...

• I'm hoping to get a longer 14-15 miler in sometime later this week and then maybe run a half-marathon in Yankton on Easter weekend... but we'll see.

Long Overdue

Haven't updated in quite a while so I'm not gong to recap everything I have done since the last blog post (way back in February). I went to France for Spring break so there was no running at all during that trip. We did so much walking every day that I don't think my feet could of handled much running, plus I just didn't want to drag all of those extra clothes and shoes along. Following our return from France I left with some students to the Crow Creed Indian Reservation for a 2-day documentary making trip at the elementary school so that was a couple of more days off. I have finally got back into the running routine and managed to get just over 30 miles this week. There are 9 weeks until the Deadwood Marathon so that means I have 7 weeks max of quality training time before a short taper before the race. I need to reassess my training plan and will hopefully get something rather concrete figured out this week. Definitely need to start working on some serious long runs. On a very bright note... the weather has finally taken a turn towards spring and I can definitely handle running in 40 and 50 degree temps! :)