12 Days of Running

Last night I was listening to my daughters sing in our school's Christmas program. As they were singing the 12 days of Christmas, it started me thinking about creating my own running version of this song. So below is my attempt at the 12 days of Christmas from a runner's perspective.

 

On the first day of Running, 
our Charlotte Running Club set out for me 
Mr. Hydro on the Truck of Aaron's car. 

On the second day of Running, 
my running friends gave to me 
Two pairs of Brooks Racing Flats, 
And a drink from Mr. Hydro on the trunk of Aaron's car. 

On the third day of Running, 
my running friends gave to me 
Three Eddie's Rollers with my college colors, 
Two pairs of Brooks Racing Flats, 
And a drink from Mr. Hydro on the trunk of Aaron's car. 

On the fourth day of Running, 
my running friends gave to me 
Four Gatorades Fruit Flavored, 
Three Eddie's Rollers with my college colors, 
Two pairs of Brooks Racing Flats, 
And a drink from Mr. Hydro on the trunk of Aaron's car. 

On the fifth day of Running, 
my running friends gave to me 
Five Power Gels caffeine free, 
Four Gatorades Fruit Flavored, 
Three Eddie's Rollers with my college colors, 
Two pairs of Brooks Racing Flats, 
And a drink from Mr. Hydro on the trunk of Aaron's car. 

On the sixth day of Running, 
my running friends gave to me 
Six Cliff Bars (Mini) various flavors, 
Five Power Gels caffeine free, 
Four Gatorades Fruit Flavored, 
Three Eddie's Rollers with my college colors, 
Two pairs of Brooks Racing Flats, 
And a drink from Mr. Hydro on the trunk of Aaron's car. 

On the seventh day of Running, 
my running friends gave to me 
Seven swimming workouts for cross training, 
Six Cliff Bars (Mini) various flavors, 
Five Power Gels caffeine free, 
Four Gatorades Fruit Flavored, 
Three Eddie's Rollers with my college colors, 
Two pairs of Brooks Racing Flats, 
And a drink from Mr. Hydro on the trunk of Aaron's car. 

On the eighth day of Running, 
my running friends gave to me 
Eight buddies for a tempo run, 
Seven swimming workouts for cross training, 
Six Cliff Bars (Mini) various flavors, 
Five Power Gels caffeine free, 
Four Gatorades Fruit Flavored, 
Three Eddie's Rollers with my college colors, 
Two pairs of Brooks Racing Flats, 
And a drink from Mr. Hydro on the trunk of Aaron's car. 

On the ninth day of Running, 
my running friends gave to me 
Nine Protein Recovery Bars, 
Eight buddies for a tempo run, 
Seven swimming workouts for cross training, 
Six Cliff Bars (Mini) various flavors, 
Five Power Gels caffeine free, 
Four Gatorades Fruit Flavored, 
Three Eddie's Rollers with my college colors, 
Two pairs of Brooks Racing Flats, 
And a drink from Mr. Hydro on the trunk of Aaron's car. 

On the tenth day of Running, 
my running friends gave to me 
Ten entries into the RFYL GP races, 
Nine Protein Recovery Bars, 
Eight buddies for a tempo run, 
Seven swimming workouts for cross training, 
Six Cliff Bars (Mini) various flavors, 
Five Power Gels caffeine free, 
Four Gatorades Fruit Flavored, 
Three Eddie's Rollers with my college colors, 
Two pairs of Brooks Racing Flats, 
And a drink from Mr. Hydro on the trunk of Aaron's car. 

On the eleventh day of Running, 
my running friends gave to me 
Eleven pairs of Thorlo Socks, 
Ten entries into the RFYL GP races, 
Nine Protein Recovery Bars, 
Eight buddies for a tempo run, 
Seven swimming workouts for cross training, 
Six Cliff Bars (Mini) various flavors, 
Five Power Gels caffeine free, 
Four Gatorades Fruit Flavored, 
Three Eddie's Rollers with my college colors, 
Two pairs of Brooks Racing Flats, 
And a drink from Mr. Hydro on the trunk of Aaron's car. 

On the twelfth day of Running, 
my running friends gave to me 
Twelve miles of support during a long run, 
Eleven pairs of Thorlo Socks, 
Ten entries into the RFYL GP races, 
Nine Protein Recovery Bars, 
Eight buddies for a tempo run, 
Seven swimming workouts for cross training, 
Six Cliff Bars (Mini) various flavors, 
Five Power Gels caffeine free, 
Four Bottles of Gatorades Fruit Flavored, 
Three Eddie's Rollers with my college colors, 
Two pairs of Brooks Racing Flats, 
And a drink from Mr. Hydro on the trunk of Aaron's car!

 

 

 

 

Happy Holidays from the Cool Down Runner

Experia Socks – Thunder Road Expo – USATF Team Cross Country have in common

Okay, this is an easy one to answer – me.

This all started a few weeks ago when I posted a blog about my experiences with the Thorlo Experia Socks. A few days later, a comment was posted my blog from Tracy Harries a representative from Thorlo corporate.

Talk about getting into trouble with the big boys or in this case the ladies.

In my blog, I provided my opinion comparing the Experia Socks with the Crew Cut Thorlo Socks. And, it seems that the owner of Thorlo found my post and didn't quite agree with my assessment. He put Tracy on it to help set me straight.

A few emails later, Tracy explanation cleared up a lot. It also headed me down the road of going to the Thunder Road Marathon expo and meeting up with Tracy.

Tracy was great and explained to me about their line of socks.

I have been a Thorlo guy for years and will continue to do so as long as I am running.

But the story doesn't end here.

After meeting up with Tracy at the expo, I headed out to Lexington, KY for the USAT&F Club Championships. It is hard to tell from the photos but I was wearing my Thorlo Experia Socks during the XC Championship. XC Spikes are very narrow shoes so wearing a thick sock just doesn't work very well. That's why I took my Experia socks. Plus, I rarely if ever get blisters while wearing my Thorlos so what better way to test new sock than to wear them in my "NEW" XC spikes.

Just as I expected, I came through the race muddy and tired but with no blisters. This is always a good thing when you try out a new pair of shoes under race conditions for the first time.

Next up, I will test them in a few road races and if it goes well, I will use them at the Myrtle Beach Marathon.

As Paul Harvey use to say "Now you know the rest of the story"

 

Tales from the Cool Down Runner

 

 

 

 

USAT&F Team Cross Country Championships – Lexington, KY.

This past weekend, I took a 48 hour field trip to Lexington, KY for the USAT&F Team Cross Country Championships. Along for the trip were Ben, Dan, and myself. Ben and I were running. Dan volunteered to be our designated driver.

We left on Friday afternoon for the drive heading up 77 and over 64 into KY. For the most part, it was very smooth drive. We made a couple of quick stops for food and drinks. We only encountered one traffic jam along the way, but with Dan’s trusty iPhone, he navigated us right around it. I have no idea how he did it but he provided us some excellent views of Christmas lights.

Saturday morning arrived cold and drive. We arrived at the cross country course about 10:20. My race was out 11:30 and Ben’s race was at 1:30.

We picked up our packets and in addition, I picked up a nice souvenir sweat shirt with the event logo on it. Then it was back to the car to change and head out for some warm up miles on the course.

There is something unique about Cross Country Running that road racing just doesn’t offer. Maybe it is the fact that it takes men and yes, women back to their youth when they ran wild through the grassy parks and fields near their homes. Maybe it is the opportunity to run in the mud. Maybe it is running in very light shoes with what some people would consider nails sticking out of the bottom. Or maybe it is just the challenges that cross country running offers.

I never ran cross country in high school and pretty much my past cross experience has been running around McAlpine which is not true cross country.

During my warm up I found the footing difficult. There were sections where it was thick grass. Other sections had frozen ground and still other sections were quite muddy.


We lined up across this huge field and after a few last minute instructions we were off. Within ¾ of mile, our course narrowed down and people pushing and jostling for room. Some guys were moving up and some were moving back. And the race didn’t really string out until 3 ½ miles into it.

I kindof bided my time just staying out of the way and trying to not get either knocked down or spiked by another runner.

My first 3 miles were in 17:39 which was well behind the overall leaders. 4 miles went by in 23:55 and 5 miles went by in 29:59. I crossed the finish line in 37:47 which felt like I had just run a 35 minute 10k.

XC race are lean on the after race snacks with no munchies. There was only a cooler with water and Gatorade.

After the race I strolled around for a few minutes, met up with Ben and Dan, and then headed back to the car for some warm clothes.

Running cross country is way harder than running on the roads. Your feet are landing awkwardly which carries up through your legs and body. In the later miles, you start to find out just how much work the Gluts and hip flexors are doing since they really start to burn.

This weekend’s course really didn’t have any flat sections. You were either going uphill or downhill. And you were either running into the wind as the course looped south or had a tail wind when you were running north. Honestly, I never really felt the tail wind but some said it was there.

One feature I really like about cross country races is that they are different races in the same day. I got to see the Master’s women race, the open women race, and the open men race. That opportunity is not typically something that is part of a road race.

And, while cross country fields are relatively small compared to most road races, these fields are a lot more competitive.

Something other races might take note of is age numbers. In the master’s race, each competitor ran with his age group listed on his back.

Personally, I saw at least 2 50 year old runners pulling away from me during the race. Looking at the results, you had to look all the way down into the 60s before you found an age group with times slower than my time.

In looking at the crowed during the awards ceremony I would say it was a predominately middle aged crowd more men than women, but still the women are holding their own.

In checking the results, I finished 135th in the master’s race and 31st in my age group. When you take into consideration that I was running against some of the best masters runners in the US, being in the top 50% is pretty good accomplishment.

Looking toward next year, I am determined to see if I can put together a master’s team for the ’10 race. The USAT&F is bringing the 6K and 10k XC Team Championships to Charlotte, NC and to McAlpine Park.


Anyone interested in running on a master’s team, let me know.

Below is few of the master’s team from the race Saturday. From the times, you might believe that they ran on the road, but I can positively say no, they all ran on the grass.


Men 40 - 44
1 1 Tracy Lokken, 44, Marquette, MI 32:10 Front Line Rt M4
Men 45 - 49
4 1 Peter Magill, 48, South Pasadena, CA 32:26 Compex Racing M4
Men 50 - 54
42 1 Joe Sheeran, 52, Ellensburg, WA 34:45 Eastside Runners
Men 55 - 59
57 1 John Barbour, 55, Gloucester, MA 35:06 Greater Lowell Rr M5

200 196 JrM Ben Hovis, 31, Charlotte, NC 33:30

The morning of the XC Race

I have determined that my sleep number is 50 after a pretty good night's sleep. The temps are cold – 20 with the wind, the temps are in the teens.

Looking out from the 16^th floor, there are very clouds in the sky.

It should be around 34 at my race time 11:30.

We are going to head out to the park around 10 this morning.

 

More later today.

We have arrived

After many hours of driving, we have arrived in Lexington, KY.

Seven hours is a long time, but Dan and Ben helped it pass pretty easily. Dan was cracking one joke after another and Ben must have played every song on Dan's iPod.

We ran into some traffic issues on the far side of Charleston, WV, but Dan with his trusty iPhone lead us on a overland route and back to the interstate on the far side of the traffic jam. I have no idea where we were but I saw a ton of Christmas lights. Ben took a lot of pictures along the way. Definitely, if you are interested in seeing his pictures, you ask him for a copy.

We have now settled in at the Hilton in Downtown Lexington on the 16 floor. This might be my only chance this year to do some altitude training by sleeping high and training low.

The plan is to head out to the course around 10ish to get checked-in and get in a little warm up.

My race goes off at 11:30 and Ben's race goes off at 1:30.

We circle back by the hotel to get cleaned up and go by the awards ceremony and dinner.

So far it has been a good start to this road trip.

 

 

Tales from the Cool Down Runner on a road trip.

USAT&F XC Championships tomorrow

Here I am setting in the back seat of Dan's car as we ride up to Lexington, KY for the USAT&F Team XC Championships. I have been thinking about it but really I don't have any true race strategy going into tomorrow.

I come from a road racing back ground so running XC is like running trail races for me. I just want to survive.

More later when we reach the hotel.

 

Tales from Cool Down Runner.

MBM Training Progress

My Myrtle Beach Training started on December 1^st. In doing so my miles are starting to go up and the intensity has started to increase ever so slightly.

One of the things that I have noticed is that my legs don't have any bounce in them. Or to describe it another way, my energy levels are not at their usual levels.

Given that I am usually starting my marathon training several months separated from my last marathon, I suspect that this is the main reason.

There isn't much that I can do about it at this point but just continue to work through it.

By January 8, OBX will have been in my rear view mirror by 2 months so hopefully the legs will start to show some life. And, it will be at just the right time. During January I will be way more focused on speed work both on and off the track.

For now, I will continue working the hill workouts, tempo runs, and 20 mile long runs.

 

 

Tales from the Cool Down Runner.