Wednesday, September 30, 2009

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.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

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.