August Roll Call (Scott)

August was all about one thing for me... the Ascent. Since Pat covered it quite a bit already, I won't bore people with too much gory detail. The one thing I will say is that it's a miracle nobody died. If they had not shut down the race, somebody would have.

Now to look forward. Getting ready for a marathon is completely uncharted territory for me. I know how important the long runs are. I'll just have to see how my body adapts to the mileage. I've run very little the past two weeks due to travel, so it's time to get rolling. I'm at that point where I'm nervous, but excited. It's all good.

Aug Roll Call - GPS

Greetings Life Runners!

August has been a good month for my training. I'm finally staring to feel like a runner again. My weight is dropping nicely, and my pace is picking up as well.

I experienced my first Pikes Peak Ascent a couple weeks ago with much drama and fan fair. I reached the halfway point at 2hrs 10min's which was quite a bit ahead of where I thought I would be (remember Clydesdale + flat lander climbing a mountain). I made it about 4 miles from the summit when runners started coming back down with news they were closing the summit. Admittedly I was slowing in my pace and starting to feel the effects of the altitude (little cobwebs here and there).

My half marathon adventure quickly turned into a 18ish mile ASCENTATHON! Needless to say, my ankles and quads were completely thrashed the next day (could hardly get out of bed, swollen ankles). I am still feeling the effects of the mountain with a mild right Achilles strain. I have trained through this type of injury before, so it should be fun.

Next weekend I will be running the "Run for HIS Glory" 5k as part of the largest outdoor free Christian music festival in the country right here in Sioux Falls, SD - Life Light Festival. Check it out at http://www.lifelight.org/festival.

I will then being doing a bit of a warm up for the Marathon the first weekend of September when I'm scheduled to run the Sioux Falls Half Marathon. It is a beautiful, flat, fast course on our bike trails that hug the Sioux River that runs around Sioux Falls. I always look forward to this race. We'll see how I'm feeling, but I'd love to get close to 1hr 45 min.'s.

I put in my first 20 mile run yesterday. The first 16 were slow and easy, but the last 4 were grueling. I didn't feel very good the rest of Sunday either. I hydrated well, used goo packs (normal regimen), and the weather was beautiful (cool, with slight breeze), so I really can't put my finger on it. My Achilles bothered me the first 20ish minutes or so, but eventually loosened up. However, it is soar today. I'll have to see how it recovers this week.

I hope all is well with everyone's training - happy and safe training for all!

Romans 12:12

Monday Clydesdale Weigh-in (GPS)

Greetings!

It has been a few weeks since I have reported in mostly due to life (death of my grandmother and vacation to Colorado). I will detail more on this in my August roll call. As of this morning I weighed in at...


204lb's!

I continue to steadily drop the weight. I'm so close to 200lb's I can almost taste it! The past few weeks have been difficult maintaining my diet, but I think the ramp in miles has helped what I lacked in discipline. I should see some major weight loss with the serious of 20 milers in my training.

Happy and safe training - let's all make it to the staring line!

Aug Roll Call (Pat)

Living In Faith Exchange Runners (LIFER's)
* Shane, John, Tracy, Steve, Chad, Bill, Rich, Courtney, Angi, Pat, Scott, Ben, Doug
* Team blog at marathon-for-life.blogspot.com.
* Team mission: God first, ProLife, encouragement, fitness!
------------------------
Hi, LIFER's Team!

For several of the C. Springs LIFER's, the highlight of this past month was the Pikes Peak Ascent (Scott), Ascentathon (Steve, Angi, read below), and the Marathon (Doug, Pat). For the marathon, Doug and I dealt with snow/ice packed trails for the top 2 to 3 miles of the mountain (picture from Sun morning attached). This was nothing compared to what Scott, Steve and Angi encountered...as well as Steve's wife (Tina) who was waiting for them at the top (see comments below)!

* Steve Simon said: "I was about ¼ mile from A-Frame when runners started coming back saying it was closed. I pressed on until the aid station. I was cold and tired, but still disappointed. I think they made the right decision, though, because I would have continued if they’d not closed the course. I ran part way down with a guy who made it about a mile past the treeline and turned around on his own because it was so nasty. I talked to a guy who finished and he said letting them go was a mistake. Said it was way worse than 2005. The run down wasn’t as bad as I always thought it would be. Maybe I’ll do the marathon someday. I went back Sunday to get my drop bag, and they gave me the finisher shirt and medal. Said we finished the new event, the “Ascentathon.”

* Tom Lear said: "I was at the top from about 0630 organizing the finish line, and I can vouch for the miserable conditions. Just over 750 folks finished out of the ~1960 folks registered for the Ascent, and about 80 of them were treated for hypothermia, including the #2 male finisher. The biggest problem was people were soaked before they got to altitude. It just got worse as the day went on and conditions became very unsafe. Although it would have been quicker for runners to get to the top in most cases, the issue was the exposure to lightning, hail, freezing temps, etc. I know I couldn’t feel my fingers and toes after being up there for awhile, and I went through every piece of dry clothing I had. Under normal conditions, most well-trained runners take an hour and a half to get to the top from A-Frame. As an FYI, it took me almost 2 hours with the ice and snow-pack on Sunday, plus the fact that runners (sliders) were coming down the mt at that point (16 golden stairs were almost hand over hand)."

* Faith note: Last week, my Grandma Mary passed into the Kingdom, and I spent three days in Sioux Falls. On Sunday morning just before departing for the Marathon, a fox calmly came up on the porch of our house and sat down for at least 10 seconds while Doug, Steve, Courtney, Angi and I watched it through the glass screen door (5 or 10 ft in front of us). Steve and I took this as a God Sighting from my Grandma Mary. Thank you Lord for helping us see You amongst the distractions of the world. Amen.

Training: Looking forward to the group long runs on the weekends now that the Peak training is over.

Runner Updates: Hope to get a Roll Call from everyone...

ProLife Ministry Fundraising: Let's reach out to our friends and family to support our cause ($/mile). Angi and I are running to support the new local Pregnancy Center in Old Colorado City.

Run for ProLife,
Pat (aka M.A.)
Phil 4:13

July Roll Call - Rich

In July, the runs started getting long enough that I couldn't stand to run on the treadmill anymore. The challenge has been to try to find a way to stay hydrated during the long runs. A few times, Erica has gone along with me on her bicycle that is fitted with a basket and speedometer/odometer. Her basket is big enough to carry a small cooler chest with four icey water bottles. She can also keep me on pace and tell me how far I have gone. It is like having your own spider monkey on your back. Pat should know what I mean.

My cross training has broadened to include the Wii fit board. According to the Wii, I am as balanced as a yoga master. Other than that I have been trying to beat the heat and avoid the rain showers.

GPS Clydesdale Monday Weigh-in

Greetings All!
I know this isn't Monday, but it will do. We had some wicked heat this past weekend and I postponed my long run scheduled for Sunday to yesterday. I had a decent run through the first 15.5 miles, but bonked the last 1.5 miles of my run. I basically walk/ran the last bit of my long run. I still got the 17 miles in, but it's just not as gratifying if you have to walk some of it.

I'm sure being 11pm at night and pitch black along our bike trails had nothing to do with it. I'm going to be buying some sort of light for my early morning/late evening runs. It gets down right creepy with raccoons growling and hissing at you and things jumping around in the brush as you run by.

I think I got a bit dehydrated too; I started really cramping up in my lower legs and had some stomach cramps going on. Drinking seemed to make it worse. I did feel very good this morning upon waking - much better than I have felt on my previous long runs.

I weighed in this morning at...

208lb's!

I continue to "lean up" so I'm just keepin' on keepin' on.

Safe and healthy training for all - Take care!

July Roll Call - Tracy

My training has been going pretty well. Although, it's fair to say that it's kickin my butt. I can't seem to get enough sleep no matter what I do. It should be interesting once the school year starts NEXT week. Yikes!

I experienced my first long run bonking. Let's see, I attempted my first 12-miler on HOT Saturday at 9 am (again, that whole sleep thing), after not eating breakfast, and with no sustenance during the run other than water. To say the least, I didn't quite finish all 12 miles. It was a painful lesson. I have since tried to avoid heat (mainly by starting earlier), make sure I eat something before my long runs, and have discovered the miracle of gels! It's crazy how much I feel the boost! I love it...wish I had discovered these while I was competing in college. Since that one traumatic run, my long runs have been going great. I've got a 17-miler scheduled for this Saturday, so that should be interesting. As my dad calls it, I'm getting into serious mileage now.

All that said, I'm having a great time and losing weight even though I'm not trying to. Injuries have been pretty non-existent other than the occasional ache and pain. I am definitely interested in joining some folks for my long runs on FLAT surfaces, so if anyone is gathering for a long flat run, let me know. Happy training!

July Roll Call - Skippy

July was a good training month. I continued to get my long runs in, culminating with a 20-mile trail/hill torture session last weekend. I'm proud to say I had nothing left and walked a lot toward the end. The good news is that I now know I'm ready for the Ascent as long as I'm having a decent day and I don't lose my head over tree line. The combination of oxygen deprivation and exhaustion does weird things at that altitude.
The one race I did in July wasn't my best, but I was able to restore my confidence in running downhill without injury. A lousy time beats injury any day.
Looking forward to the marathon, I'm eager to get on the long and flat training plan starting in late August. I need to figure out how the Higdon and Daniels plans stack up and decide how I'm going to approach those critical six weeks of final ramping. Like many of us, my body just isn't used to that level of stress.
In general, I'm starting to get truly excited about the prospect of completing a marathon (alive)!