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

Pat nuggets #5

Living In Faith Exchange Runners (LIFER's) Chicago Marathon Team
* Shane, John, Tracy, Steve, Chad, Bill, Lindsay, Rich, Courtney, Angi, Pat, Scott?
--------------------------------------------------------------
Hi, LIFER's!

Lot's of great exchange this past week...great teamwork! A few nuggets:

Registration: Scott is still on the fence. Let's all encourage him to register and officially join our team!

Running Goals: Everyone has posted their goals except John, Shane, Bill, Lindsay, and Scott.
* Several of us signed up for Pikes Peak (Aug) on 12 Mar, including Scott, Courtney, Steve, Angi, and I. Steve replied to my Pikes Peak "let the suffering begin" email with these comments: "I think I'll make a shirt that says, "Don't look twice - You've just been passed by a very large man with 21 fusions and titanium rods in his spine!" I will just be glad to get to the top."

Training: The 18 wk training plans begin 8 June (novice, intermediate, advanced). Gradually build up your miles to be at the week 1 level by 8 June. Increasing your mileage no more than about 10% per week will usually prevent you from ramping up too quickly and getting hurt. Also, to prevent injury, do not go more than two days without running, take one but no more than three days off in a week, and include one cross training day (at least between now and 8 Jun). Starting 8 Jun, stick to the schedule!...you may have to ease off and then back into it if you have a minor injury or illness. Don't exceed your schedule...if the schedule says 9 miles and you feel real good, make it a solid 9 mile run...don't go 13 miles. Exceeding your schedule could lead to injury or jeopardize an upcoming workout.
* Rich is going to journal his daily training notes as a "comment" to his "Running Goals" post (consider doing this).

Stretching: To prevent injury and increase speed, stretch after every run. When you stretch, go until you feel tension and hold for 10 sec to 1 min (don't bounce). You should stretch at least these areas: calf, Achilles, quad, hamstring, groin, back, ITB. If you do not have an iliotibial band (ITB) stretch, Google it and start it today (very painful, common for >30 yr old runners).

Strengthening (core): To prevent injury (and for mountain running), do core training after stretching (after every run), including at least sit ups, push ups, calf raises, and shallow dips and/or lunges. Whenever you start a new exercise start easy (low reps) and build up about 10% per week until you level off. I leveled off at 20 pull ups, 100 crunches, 80 push ups, 150 toe raises (50 on each foot and then 50 with both feet), 100 shallow lunges/squats (50 lunges rotating legs followed by 50 squats).

ProLife Ministry support: Let's keep this simple and start casually asking friends and family to sponsor us ($/mile). Pick your own ProLife ministry to support. Angi and I are thinking about donating to the local crisis pregnancy center. Other ideas?

Run for ProLife!,
Pat
Phil 4:13

* LIFER's Chicago Marathon Team blog at marathon-for-life.blogspot.com.
* ProLife Ministry support: We have ProLife wristbands. Start asking friends and family to sponsor you ($/mile).

Running Goals (Courtney)

Chicago this year will become my 7th marathon. ( I have to get through Pikes Peak in August first..That will hurt.) My goals for these 2 marathons are:

1. Train HARD for both!
2. Run under 6 hrs for the Pikes Peak Marathon - if it is not to hot..last year = horrible!!
3. Do Hill, tempo, speed workouts - with my awesome runner buddy - Angi on the track off of Northgate!!
4. Eat more = have more energy this year!
5. Get to chicago with no bronchitis/pneumonia (I had that in chicago the year of 2006)
6. Qualify for Boston (3:40) - i missed boston by 18 SECONDS year of 2006.
7. RUN HARD!!

Sitting on the Fence (Scott)

Here goes my first blog posting ever...

Ok, I was planning to just watch all the traffic, but I've decided I can't just draft off this team (I'm finding inspiration in it so far). I need to chime in on certain topics.

First off, I am merely contemplating the Chicago Marathon. I intend to run the Ascent again this year, but I haven't figured out if a marathon makes sense for me.

I am not a serious/competitive runner, but I do find that setting a goal is essential to my motivation. It's too easy to let conditioning be outranked on the daily list of activities if a goal doesn't make it a priority.

In a nutshell, here is why I run:
* general health (physical, mental, and spiritual)
* efficiency of effort (lots of payback in just a few minutes)
* independent activity (no need to organize teams and set specific times)
* virtually free (compared to, say, skiing or golf)

In a nutshell, here is not why I run:
* to win (like Angi, avoiding the ambulance is a goal)
* to identify with being a "runner"

Now, for my contributions to recent and new topics.

Diet - I have found that good, old-fashioned "three squares" works well for training at my level. I'm always worried about anything too extreme. I'm not a guru on race day carb loading, etc.

Ramping - I ramped too fast the last time I trained for the Ascent. It set me back a lot. I wasn't sure I'd make my race. I won't do that again. Matt Carpenter recommends never increasing long runs more than 10% in a session/week. This is probably sound advice.

Planning Runs of a Given Distance - Being a geek, I use the Tools->Ruler->Path function in Google Earth to map out a new run. I like to establish a couple 2-, 3-, or 5-mile paths near my house for those daily runs.

Running Goals (Pat)

Hi, LIFER's:

I normally don't publicize my goals :). For example, Joe Hourigan and my Mom were the only people who knew I was going to attempt a sub 3 hr Pikes Peak Ascent in 2006. I hadn't even committed a goal with Angi or Rich (my running partner). God granted me the perfect day (cool with overcast) and ultimately the "desire of my heart", as I finished with a 2:59:51 (#50/1639)...thanks in part to Padre Pio (a mystical story for another day). I was unaware that Joe Hourigan volunteered to hand out finishers medals at the top. As I crossed the finish line, Joe yelled out, "brother, you did it!" I did it...through our savior Jesus Christ who strengthened me (Phil 4:13)! As the last person to break 3 hrs that day, my finish was described in the newspaper under the subtitle "10 seconds to spare." I was quoted in the article: "When I was about one minute from the finish line, I told myself to let the Holy Spirit carry me forth. After that, I don't remember feeling the ground. I was walking on a cloud."

To be a good teammate and accept my Brother Steve's challenge to post our goals (great idea for accountability), I will gladly publicize my goals for the 2008 Chicago Marathon :).

1. Run closer to Christ through our team fellowship and service to neighbor by defending the unborn, etc (faith).
2. Defend the unborn through education and courage (sacrifice).
3. Celebrate God's gift of life through the training process (joy).
4. Arrive at the starting line prepared spiritually and physically (peace).
5. Courageously reach for my best (break 2:53:51), praising God for the opportunity and honoring Him by striving to maximize my potential.

* Chad sent me a message today with this question, "Can you really not run just 5 miles in 30 mins?" I took this as a challenge :) and will attempt this as a secondary goal...as the Turks say, "Inshallah" (God willing).

For Christian runners, training for a marathon is a faith growing experience because the training sacrifices give us a greater awareness of our total dependence on God (humility) and the training time allows for more (and deeper) prayer time (greater connection with God's will for us). In short, a marathon training experience is like being on an extended retreat. If we surrender the marathon training to God, we will be excited at the starting line but not nervous (faith perspective). Also, with a faith perspective, the marathon is not the ultimate goal...Jesus is the ultimate goal! Therefore, if we were to get injured just a few days before the race (heaven forbid), we would feel some loss (goals 4 and 5 above), but we would have already accomplished the main goals (1 to 3 above)!

Run for Life!,
Pat
Phil 4:13

Running Goals (Angi)

As of March 1st, I'm now out of maintenance mode and back to ramping up training for what looms in the distance (the majestic Peak) and to the East (the exciting streets of Chicago). I was really inspired to get back to serious running after watching "The Spirit of the Marathon" with my good friend and running buddy, Courtney (a fellow LIFER runner). Here are my goals for this season:
1. To support our mission (Right to Life)
2. Like Steve-to be below 200lbs. (hee hee)
3. Like Rich-to avoid the medic tent (hey-I've been there at Indy mini marathon)
4. Like Chad-to run a 6 min. mile pace (I'm sorry Chad, I just had to)
5. Seriously-to add more core training to my regimen
6. To add weekly speed workouts
7. To complete the Triple Crown (Garden of Gods-10miler; Bear Creek Park-12K; and Pikes Peak Ascent (in under 4:15)
8. To finish strong at Chicago with a sub 4 hour time (O2 rich air and no hills!!!)

Run for Life,
Angi

Running Goals (Steve)

Hey Runners:

Well, I just purchased some new shoes and new orthodics this past week, so I'm all geared up. Now I just need to get my butt out of bed and start running again.

I've been rehabbing goosefoot (pes anserine) bursitis/tendinitis for over a month now, so I'm feeling more confident. Check out this link if your really interested in the injury

http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/sma/sma_pesanser_sma.htm


All I can really say is that it's caused by overuse, weak and tight hamstrings, and a poor stretching regimen (imagine a runner not stretching enough). I thought I was stretching well, but I've received an education these past weeks. I guess as a "Clydesdale" I'm more prone to these types of injuries.


I would like to issue a challenge to everyone to post their running goals so we can track progress and encourage one another as we progress toward Chicago.


I'll lead by example so here goes!

1) Break 4 hours in Chicago (4:23 w/ altitude and mountains in Black Hills)
2) Be under 200 lb's (lose about 15-20 lb's)
3) Improve stretching and strengthening regimen
4) Break 1 hour 45 minutes in a half marathon in September
5) Train and run the Pike Peaks Assent in August

OK, with all that said, let's get some enthusiasm, dialogue, and energy around this fantastic event we are moving toward! God Speed!