Merry Christmas!

I had 2 things to do today. Get a run in and go to Ashlee's parents for brunch. Cool, kill 2 birds with one stone. I packed a backpack w/ some clothes in ziplock bags. I put my phone, ID, debit card and keys in another baggie and headed out the door. 11 miles in 1:56. First long run since starting back up again. And brunch was awesome!

Rest and Tendonitis

Well its been about 4 weeks since Ragnar. I haven't run since then because my left foot is still killing me. This morning I finally got in to see foot Dr. Pat O'Neil. Kinda fitting that he is a foot doctor. O'Neil kicked footballs for the Cuse and then the Pats! After some X-rays and discussion, he told me it's just peritoneal tendinitis. He said I can run and just deal with the pain. So I was off and running! I called John Pyle because I was in Sarasota but he was busy so I just came home and ran a cool 5 miles! Boy did that feel good! I am glad to be back on the roads!

Ragnar Relay-6 Idiots, 201.3 Miles

Ragnar Relay is supposed to be for teams of 12, but they do have an Ultra Division for us Crazies! The best part was getting different t-shirts that say Ultra Runner on the back (obviously the back cause not only do we run double, we are faster)!! This 2 day experience was a blast. Gabi Keri and John Pyle spent all of Thursday morning trying to get ahold of me at school to find out if I would replace some "leeker" that dropped out. With 18 hours notice to the start, I said sure! So along with John, Gabi and I, there was Katie Waters, Andy Berster and Michele Proch. I got the 5th stage, which was an exact Half Marathon in Clermont. Anywhere else in the State of Florida would have been pancake flat, but no, not Clermont. I got all 3 hills on the entire course. I went out in about 8:30 pace cause it just felt good. I loved the hills and broke 2 hours for the section. My next segment started around 10 PM and I think ended around 2 AM. I am not sure, it was a complete debacle. We had a problem with an exchange and instead of just running 6 miles, I started the next leg of 4 miles. I bonked at about 8.5 miles. We thought we had the exchange all worked out for the next checkpoint but we screwed that up too. After about a 40 minute delay I went on for the next 3 miles. I was destroyed, running about 15 minute miles. Somehow, I got to the next checkpoint and handed off to John and went and died in the van. 26 miles in 2 segments and I thought I was done. Somehow I recovered enough to run the 2nd to last leg of 7 miles in 9:30 pace and handed off to Katie to bring it home. We all decided to run the last mile together (in our ultra shirts and John carrying Old Glory). After 200 miles, we were able to bang out a sub 9 minute mile. That entire trip was amazing. These people are awesome! After we got our medals and picture taken, we plowed thru 2 large pizzas and headed home! Also gotta thank Michele's boyfriend Jim for driving the Van the entire way from Clearwater to Daytona!

50 Miles-Check!

John Pyle has been planning some all night runs as he trains for his 100M debut at Ancient Oaks. I offered to join him and we planned on Tuesday because I was off school on Wednesday for Veterans Day! We left the Y around 8PM last night, lights already on, pockets full of GU (Blueberry Roctane is my favorite!), and water bottles full! John was awesome and provided the NUUN, cause I am still new about what I need. We cruised out along Long Boat Key, refilling at all of our stops. No real problems at all as we cruised out onto the Anna Maria Pier in 5:15. The site of the skyway bridge at night was just amazing. The trip back was going smooth until we hit Long Boat Key again. We ran into a driving force rain. We put our heads down and actually ran those 3 miles back to the 7-11 in under 27 minutes. We just wanted to get out of the rain. After that, the sky was clear but the legs were like concrete. We slowed a bit to the finish and the total time on our feet was 11:05. All I can say is that was an amazing experience. I am so glad to have met John and that he has taken me under his wing. He his a wealth of knowledge and just a damn awesome guy to hang with.

Bill's Beer Run

Today was the 21st Annual Bill's Beer Run. The legs were feeling great (surprising after 30 miles 2 days ago) but my left foot was really hurting. I think I just beat the crap out of it. Last year here was my first 5 Mile race and I had to pull out a 7:30ish last mile to break 40. This year, considering, I was just gonna pace Andrew Blix to a sub 40 PR for himself. At the turn, I had the urge to take off, and Andrew didn't. So I just went ahead and finished in 37:02, a new PR! Andrew was moving well enough for a PR of 38:42 himself! My first race in the 30-34 AG and I took 7th! Boy am I glad they go 10 deep here! I really am starting to desire short races less and less but I think I will put Bill's on my schedule every year because it is so much fun. BTW, I have had the pleasure of running with "Bill" a few times. Bill Menard is a 2X Badwater Champion and he did mention that he has 1 more time out there in him!!

30th Birthday-30 Miles, Obviously

Well, I turned 30 on Wednesday. I had recently heard about a guy that ran 42 miles to celebrate his 42nd Birthday. I thought that idea would be cool and started talking about it with some friends. Michele Proch turned 22 last week and stole my idea to run 22 last Sunday. I couldn't make it to her birthday party. But she was at mine, as was John Pyle. We set out from the Sarasota YMCA around 6PM last night. We ran out to St. Armands and out onto Long Boat Key. We were really cruisin along around 9:05 pace. We stopped at the 7-11 about 12 miles out to get some Potato Chips and a Rockstar! Then we continued on to our turn point, a marina with bathrooms! Headed back into the 7-11, we "startled" a local vagabond that felt the unresistant urge to inform Michele that the blinking light an her ass was very nice. That kinda creeped us out. Fortunately there were two nice police officers hanging out in the parking lot of 7-11 so we told them about our new friend. They went and had a little chat with him and then we were on our way. The legs did start to tire in the closing miles but we cruised back into the Y in just over 5 hours! Best Birthday Party I have ever had! 31 next year!

Publix Triathlon Series

I would like to take a few moments to document my experience with the Publix Family Fitness Triathlon Series this year. First off, yesterday during the Championship, I used a good bike and got under 30 minutes for 10 miles and then ran a Tri PR of 22:39 in the 5K. That being said, the entire series was a complete disaster. I entered 5 events over the course of the series. Only one of them (Ft. Desoto) went off perfectly. Two of them had the swim cancelled, one had the swim shortened and another had the swim moved from a lake to a pool, as well as shortened. Three of them had problems with the timing, which I applaud them for changing timing companies and the timing was great during the final 2 events. I got to 2 events on Friday night to pick up my packet and they told me I had to pick up my chip on Saturday morning. So what was the purpose of picking up the packet early??? I picked them up early so that I could get a little extra sleep and still had to get there early to get in line for a chip. So I had already decided that I will never enter a Publix Triathlon Event EVER again. That was before I got there yesterday and had a great day. I am now looking forward to when I decide to do another Triathlon (not Publix). To cap it all off, I went to the Best Western at 2 for the awards ceremony because I finished 2nd in my age group over the whole series. There is no one there and the lobby knows nothing about it. So I decide to check the website and see that the awards time and location had been changed to 1. They never said anything or had any signs up during the race. Did they assume that everyone was checking the website while in Transition??? So I storm over to where the awards had just ended and ask someone for my award. They give it to me and I get the hell out of there. When I get home, I am looking at my award. A nice glass trophy, a $25 Publix Gift Card and an expired Gift Certificate for a pair of Crocs. You bet, expired 8/31/.09. Very classy! Boy am I glad to be done with that entire experience. Never again will I ever consider registering for a Publix Series Triathlon/Duathlon event.

Back on the Road

I got out for a cool 5 mile run yesterday. Felt fine, no pain or soreness in arm or leg. Also got the shoelace replaced in my left Zoot! Really looking forward to next Saturday and the Publix Series Championship. I think I have 2nd place locked up but I would also like a good showing at the race. With the new bike I am hoping to drop that section by 5 minutes. And I would like to keep the run under 24 min! Total goal is 1:10 and I would be happy!

Forgot to Update

So I'm not very good at updating my workouts. I fall behind using www.mapmyrun.com also. I have had some great workouts over the last week. One great one came on Monday. Ran 9.5 tempo run at about an 8:30 pace. I am getting there. Well, I was getting there before my mishap yesterday. I rode the 4 miles over to the pool using a bike I borrowed from a friend. I got a good swim workout in and then headed home. Turning onto my road, I wanted to get into the high gear and power down the homestretch. Well, when you change gears, you have to be careful that you don't hit the front tire with your fingers. If you aren't careful, you end up sliding down the pavement. My entire left side is mangled. Elbow, hip, leg, knee, ankle and destroyed a shoe. Picked myself up, dropped a few F-bombs, checked myself over to make sure I didn't break anything too bad, straightened out my handlebars, put the chain back on and finished the ride. The peroxide hurt worse than the actual fall. Now I just need the cuts to dry out and heal up enough to get some workouts in before the final Triathlon next Saturday. I will plan on updating as soon as I can get back out there, run, bike or swim.

17 Mile Run

In the past month, I have made two new friends, Andrew Blix and John Pyle. I met Andrew at a Triathlon and he suggested that I meet John because we share an interest in ultrarunning. Well I had to pleasure of meeting John on 9/11 as we ran 11 miles out of respect for this great nation. We discussed a long run for this weekend. So this morning we set out from the YMCA in Sarasota at 6 am on what would be an amazing long run and a good time had by all. We followed much of the Grouper Marathon course, passing Marina Jacks and heading out to Ken Thompson Park before going to the end of Lido Key and headed back past Marina Jacks to the Y. The Y wasn't even open when we finished. The time was just over 3 hours including all stops for water and other reasons. I wore a belt w/ two 10 oz. bottles that began the day filled w/ HEED. I added water at each fountain we came by. I also took 2 salt capsules, at miles 8 and 12. Also ate a Blueberry Pomegranate Roctane GU at mile 5, ate a couple Cliff Shots Black Cherry at mile 8 and had a Cliff Mango at mile 13, on the Ringling Bridge coming back in. The Mango Gel sucked but I love the Blueberry GU. On the way home, I stopped and grabbed a Chocolate Milk, Rockstar and 2 Buffalo Chicken Taquitos! My feet are still a little sore but I feel great. This brings the total miles for the week to 44. Not a bad week at all!

Why blog?

This is my first blog. I felt that it was time to begin blogging. I should have begun doing this last year, on July 6, 2008. That is the day that I became a runner again. I have always been a runner, but it was on that date that I became active again after an 11 year layoff. Since then I have accomplished many things as a runner. I got into shape, lost 30 pounds, ran some races, collected some hardware and finished my first marathon, The Sarasota Grouper Marathon on February 15, 2009.

I need to clarify a few things in this first blog. First is the name of the site, Crazy but not Insane. As a runner, I am certain that many things I chose to do will be seen by the nonrunner as insane. Only another runner will recognize some of my goals as attainable and completely legit. However, Crazy is not to be confused with insane. Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. A runner does not run day in and day ever expecting the same results. Please do not confuse the two.

Second is the history of the name Boo Radley. This name that I took in during the winter of 8th grades plays an important role in the development of the runner that I am today. I was running with the Varsity Track team in 8th grade, which consisted of practices that involved tackle football in knee deep snow. Being the quiet 8th grader among high schoolers, I surprised the upperclassmen by making an aggressive tackle. This prompted three upperclassmen, Greg Kocyba, Matt Kocyba and Geoff Roes, to begin calling me Boo Radley, referencing the character from Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. I respected these three runners because they were all top runners in the state. The name stuck, even though I have never eaten a squirrel.

Lastly, I would like to point out the fact that all references to my running career, unless otherwise noted, will refer to my current career beginning July 6, 2008. I did run a 5:22 mile and a 17:50 5K in high school and would like to get back to those numbers one day, but that was a different lifetime. A new blog will be up about today's 17 mile run shortly.