Jurek Takes Silver at World 24-Hour Run Championship

Congratulations to Scott Jurek- 2nd place finisher and new American record holder (165.7 miles) at the World Championships held yesterday in France. Excellent showing by the teams- Men's 3rd and Women's 4th.

(picture from http://www.americanultra.org/AUABrive10.htm)

For a great review of the race check out the National_Team_Page.



Maybe I can get half his mileage next year...if I really get after it on the boat.

Dismal Swamp Stomp 1/2

I got to run a nice, small race today down in the Dismal Swamp (on a road). The course is a straight out-and-back about as flat as a parking lot. Not a lot of crowd support out away from the roads, but I don't really mind that. Plenty of water stops with HEED and even a gel stop.

I decided to push myself and see if I could break 1:30 and set a big PR. I fell off that pace around mile 5, but I kept a strong pace and only dropped 3 or 4 places in the second half. My blister issues returned in force on the right foot- guess it's time to try a different shoe.

I ended up finishing in 1:34:26 (a 1:54 PR). I'm pretty happy since I put myself in neutral following the Shamrock Marathon. 7th in the Age Group and 37th Overall and only chicked 3 times.

Might be my last race for a while as I'm close to deployment.

Walk to Water

Justin and Jessica Meeker- with whom I went to college- have embarked on a great journey. They began a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail last week to raise awareness and money for clean water around the world. Check them out and consider donating- http://walktowater.com/

Lack of clean water is one of the most devastating conditions on our planet as 4 children die every minute from water-related diseases.

Let's give out of thankfulness for our abundance.

Shamrock Marathon

Yesterday I had the pleasure to run the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach. The race started at 8 AM, and it was going to get warm as the morning went on. I started off with the 3:10 pace group- aiming for a Boston-qualifying time. We rocked the initial 10 miles even as it started heating up. About that time, I got dropped by the group. We were a good 20 seconds ahead of where we needed to be, so I managed to keep on that pace until just before the halfway point. I crossed 13.1 at 1:36:20 (PR).

At halfway, the lack of carbs (I lost a gel), the heat (I've been training in the cold winter weather and I lost my salt tablets), and the incomplete training finally got the better of me. The last half was pretty miserable, and I began doing 5 minutes running-1 minute walking around mile 16. I kept this up almost the rest of the way except for skipping a couple walk breaks, extending one, and sitting down to stretch once. I finished in 3:50:18 -- way off of my 3:10 goal and backup 3:30 goal.

In retrospect, the training was probably the biggest factor. I began my training knowing that I only had about 10 weeks including taper, and I decided to train for a 3:30 marathon. Until the last 2 long runs all of my training was targeted at that and then for some still unknown reason I decided to aim for 3:10 since I had 2 good long runs. I have not previously had good success with the long runs becoming easier as I get fitter, and I took this as a sign that I could do more than I had trained to do.

Now I know that I can run a much faster half, and that I need to train at a faster pace for longer to be able to run an entire marathon at that pace. I'll have lots of time to train on a treadmill on a boat, and I'll re-attack the marathon with a little bit more knowledge next time. That's the great thing about this distance- you can't fake your way through it and you learn something each time.

2000s in review

I should have done this post last week, but I was on vacation and being lazy.

The decade started in Honduras as I rang in 2000 with my parents and sisters. I graduated college, started med school, rang in 2004 in London with my buddy Rob. I met my wife later that year, and we were engaged before the end of 2004. I rang in 2005 with friends and spent the early morning at White Castle with a couple cops and a couple of stoners. Interesting night.

2005 was an exciting year- got married, found out my wife was pregnant. I also began keeping a running log that year.

In 2006 Grayson was born, I ran my first marathon (Flying Pig) and graduated from med school. We moved to Virginia for my surgery internship.

The following year Jack was born a few months before I completed my second marathon (Marine Corps). At the end of the year we moved to Pensacola for flight surgery school.

In 2008 we were blessed to be able to move back to Virginia for my job as a flight surgeon for a Carrier Air Wing. I completed my third marathon (Baltimore) that fall.

This past year has been pretty hectic with my pre-deployment training exercises, but I was able to run my first Ultramarathon (Hotter than Hell 6 hr), bag my first state highpoint (NV), and run my fourth marathon (Outer Banks). This fall we also found out that Andrea is pregnant with our third.

The next decade will surely be even more exciting with the adventures of kids, running and Navy life.