Category Archives: Thoughts

Running quotes of the day…from Chariots of Fire

Posted on October 23, 2010 by Aaron K

Regarding Eric Liddell from the Olympic Committee Chairman, 1924:

Committe Chairman: “He’s a true man of principle and a true athlete.  His speed is a mere extension of his life, its force.  We sought to sever his running from himself.”

Other guy: “For his country’s sake, yes.”

Committee Chairman:  “No sake is worth that, least of all a guilty national pride.”

I was motivated and inspired by that scene watching Eric Liddell stand for his principles.  It has been a recent topic of discussion between my wife and I.  I really like this scripture that was quoted in the movie as well:

From Isiaiah 40 “Behold, the nations are as a drop in the bucket and I count it as a small dust in the balance.  All nations before him are as nothing.  He bringeth the princes to nothing.  He maketh the judges of the earth as a vanity, Has though not known that the everlasting God fainteth not, neither is weary. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

But they that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength.  They shall mount up with wings as eagles.  And they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.”

Experiences in my life have shown me the truth of that last statement, and it is motivating and uplifting for me to be reminded of that truth.

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I just couldn’t resist…

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Aaron K

going running today.   I told myself it would probably be a good idea to take a week or so off.

Did P90X and an hour of really fun Mountain Biking at Flatirons Vista and Marshall Mesa this morning.

But by the end of the work day on my drive home from dealing with a house issue in Denver, I got the serious itching all of a sudden to run a flat marathon around my neighborhood.  It was weird.  And it just kept getting more persistent.

At first my schemes were “OK, I’m going to rest up and run a marathon around my neighborhood in 2 weekends.”

But two weekends was too far away.  Then it was this weekend.  By the time I was home my running shorts were virtually already on in my mind and I was doing it tonight.

And not only was I going to do it tonight, but I was going to do it in 3 hours, on a 1 mile loop around the lake in my neighborhood.

Then reality struck home in my mind when I walked in the door and saw other people.  ”Oh yeah” I remembered, “I’m still on earth, and I just DNF’d a 50 mile race on Saturday because my hip tendons were inflamed and causing me to limp”.  But it was fun dreaming.

But being the eccentric person my wife says I am, I still packed up 4 water bottles, 3 EFS liquid shots, and a headlamp and headed to the lake after dinner.

I really didn’t expect to be able to run a marathon tonight.  Nor did I think it was a particularly wise thing to attempt at this exact moment.  But man oh man was I itching to run, and to run at least moderately fast and expend some of my pent up energy.  And I figured I may as well go prepared to go long in case I was feeling really good and itching for more.

You see…unlike all those other lucky folks who finished Run Rabbit Run, I didn’t get the chance to expend my mental and physical energy.  For me, at mile 32, the race hadn’t even begun yet.  When I dropped out at 32 miles, I felt totally fresh other than my stupid left hip.  Mentally and physically I had been prepared to go 50 miles and lay it all out there the last 15.

So I think that’s why today the pent up energy was just bursting for an outlet.

So I started running, and I decided I would run a 6:55 pace around the lake for as long as I felt good doing it.

It was a joy.  It felt fantastic.  It felt smooth, easy and moderately quick.  And my hip didn’t hurt at all.  The pace was not relaxed, but not hard.  It felt like a good marathon pace.

At about 6 miles into the run I decided I didn’t want to push my luck with my hip, and I realized at that point I wanted to go see my wife and the kids who I hadn’t seen much of today way more than I wanted to keep running.  I had my fill for the night.  So I rounded out a 10K and stopped at 6.2 miles.  Time: 43:24 – 6:59/mile avg – average HR 155.  Felt good to get my heart pumping above the 140 range for a change.  I have been in taper/recovery mode for a few weeks, and it was refreshing to change it up and pick up the pace to marathon pace a bit.

All summer I’ve been so into trails that I had zero desire to run flat.  This winter I may just find myself  somewhat interested in mixing in some good road training and build my mileage base up from 25-30/week avg up to 40-50/week.  I think right now I could pretty easily do a sub 1:30 half marathon.  A bit of a stretch right now might be 1:25.  But I think with a consistent winter of base training, and core exercise, I could be down below 1:20 on a half in the spring, and capable of the 2:50 range in a road marathon.  I think I may give that a shot this spring.  And I’ll probably do my own little marathon sometime in the next few weeks for a long run, once I feel I’m out of the woods on my hip tightness.  Going to get some ART done soon.

Then again, who knows…there are some cool trail 50K’s through the winter/spring too I will probably want to check out.  So many cool options these days.

Running is addicting.

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It’s going to be a great week

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Aaron K

Feeling really good.  I’m done with community service which has let me get back in the groove of an hour of core exercise each morning in addition to running or biking.  Result:  I feel really good.

The ART seems to be doing the trick on my hip and running is feeling really good again with no pain or tightness.  I’m loving running slow and easy and barefoot around my neighborhood this week in prep for Steamboat.

Speaking of which, I mused on steamboat in an earlier post on what I thought would be cool…here are my current musings:

  1. beat geoff roes – I was joking of course, but it turns out he’s not ‘finding his rythm’ right now…so maybe I’ve got a chance!  (just kidding again, there is zero seriousness to that, as even if he was in a sick, delirious state he would kick my butt very badly)
  2. Finish under 9 hours – I still think that is perhaps possible and would be cool – but I would be happy to finish in under 10 on my first 50, and I’m not going to be thinking about my time at all unless and until I get to mile 35 or so feeling good.  Then if I have energy and strength in my legs still I will certainly do my best to push strong to the end.  But up until that point, I’m locking my heart rate in the 150 range and going by that.  That’s what has worked for me in my last 2 races and I really enjoyed myself.  And enjoying myself is my main motive this weekend.
  3. Fuel and pace properly -still my main goal
  4. Finish – I don’t see this as not happening unless some kind of injury flares up or I botch goal number 3 in a significant way.

And the weather looks great this weekend!  Getting really stoked.

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Run Rabbit Run 50 miler thoughts

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Aaron K

My first 50 miler is coming up in 3 weeks and so I’m inclined to start thinking about it a little more.

I’m kind of surprised actually now that I’m nearing the point of doing a 50 mile race.  If you had asked me a year ago when I would even run a marathon I would have said probably never.

Now as I look forward to the run rabbit run, I’m getting really excited for it.

Here are some of the things I think would be cool to happen in my first 50 miler (in order from ridiculously impossible to slightly more realistic):

  1. Beat Geoff Roes and set a new course record
  2. Finish in under 9 hours and in the top 10
  3. Fuel and pace myself properly so that I enjoy the entire day and finish feeling strong.
  4. Finish the race

OK, item 1 was a joke obviously.  But the other 3 I think are at least possible.

3 out of the top 11 people from last year are doing the race again this year.  Ryan Burch – 1st, Dylan Bowman 6th, and Bryan Goding 2nd.  And then there’s Geoff Roes doing it this year and I’m quite sure nobody is going to be even close to him and he’ll probably set a huge course record.  Although Bill Fanselow is pretty dang fast, won the northfork 50 miler by a long ways.   Patrick Garcia, never met him, but his training is looking way better than mine.  And I’m also sure there will be a bunch of other people ready to fill in the top 10 who I have no clue of.

So is top 10 realistic for me in this competitive of a field?  Probably not.  But you never know I guess.  I’m going to run my own pace with a heart rate monitor, and see where that gets me.  It will be fun to see.  I think if I can pace myself properly and fuel properly I should be able to do it under 9 hours and that should put me somewhere close to the top 10 based on last years results.  But then again, there are 75 more entrants this year.

In 2007 9 hours would have been 4th overall.  2008 it would have been 5th place.  In 2009 9 hours would have been 10th.  So we’ll see how it all plays out.  It should be fun.  And when it comes down to it, I’m going to go my own pace that I feel I can hold all day.  Which means keeping my heart rate around 150 for the first 70-80% of the race at least.  9 hours is a long time to be running.  But I have had good experiences running for 6 and 7 hours, so I feel like I’m as prepared as I need to be.  My base fitness is definitely in place at this point.

Now its just a matter of taking care of myself and coming up with a final 3 week plan that gets me to the start line healthy, injury free, rested, and well-fueled.  Then all that’s left will be having fun in the mountains all day.

Really looking forward to my bud Danny Currit coming out from Seattle to run it with me too.

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