Where Am I?

A couple of days ago, I posted about my run in a new place and asked if anybody had any guesses. No surprises for me, only a few people looked at the blog and nobody guessed. Not really a fair question — you would have to know the streets to know that I'm in Ouagadougou, Bukina Faso. Well, OK, you would also have to actually care! :-D

We're here helping out with field orientation for new personnel. One of the things that I love about running is that I can do it anywhere I go. Except for the fact that my feet are so big (12D) and my shoes take up a lot of luggage space, it's nothing to carry running gear.

The first couple of days here, I was in downtown Ouaga. Night before last, I moved to a different guest house in a different part of town. Yesterday, since I didn't really know where I was in Ouaga, I decided to run up the major road (limiting my turns) for about 15 minutes and then come back -- about 3.5 miles. Easy enough -- no chance of getting lost or turned around, right? Wrong!

Coming back, I realized that there was nothing that identified my turn back to the guest house. And, as it turns out, I was already past the turn when I started looking. So, I kept thinking that it would be the next light. Finally, I knew I had missed badly, so I turned around and headed back -- uphill, of course. I found the turn and got back. When I finally got to an internet connection to check the route, I had run 6.1 miles rather than 3 and change.

That's also one of the great things about running -- sometimes I get to explore!! ... whether I intended to do so or not. I was bushed -- that's the longest I've gone in a year and in the heat and humidity of Ouaga to boot.

This morning -- I carefully noted my turn and managed to get directly back with a planned 4.2 mile run. One challenge of running in Ouaga, even at 5:45AM, is that there are thousands of people riding bicycles and motor bikes -- far more of those than cars. So, it turns out to be safer to run in the middle of a 4-lane major road in the city than on the edge of the road!! That's a first.

Running -- rarely a dull moment.

A shout out to Ryan and Sara Hall. They have resigned from the Mammoth Track Club and are striking out in a different direction to try to move to the next step in their running. Both are great runners and really, really fine people of faith.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

This is Fast! (Updated)

Rotterdam Marathon -- and, no, this is not a 4-armed or 3-legged Kenyan! Kibet and Kwambai finished one-two and were recorded with the same finishing time. If I'm right about the names, two other Kenyans finished 3rd and 4th: Kirui at 2:05:04 (fastest 3rd place finish) and Makau at 2:06:14 (2nd fastest debut marathon). (Update: I was right. See the next post for details.)

Ryan Hall has his work cut out for him!

Run well, y'all (and remember that fast is relative),
Bob

Ryan Hall's Passion for Running and for Jesus

Interesting video of Ryan Hall. Ryan believes that his ability to run is from God. Therefore, running his best is Ryan's gift back to God.



Run well, y'all,
Bob

Kenya's First Marathon Gold

Did you watch the Olympic men's marathon last night? What a race! I was 1/3 correct in my predictions -- I had said Kenyans would take 1st and 2nd and Hall would take 3rd. Kenya's Samuel Kamau Wanjiru took the gold in style, beating the previous Olympic record by a whopping 3 minutes.

Hall's 10th place finish was surprising and perplexing at first. But, on reflection, it's not that the Americans ran poorly -- Wanjiru and Kabede ran incredibly well. Given the weather (75-85° and 50%+ humidity), it seemed that nobody except the lead group expected a 2:06 finish. The commentators even said that Hall and his coach were shooting for a 2:09 and that the normal Olympic marathon was closer to 2:12.

One of the reasons that led me to think Hall would finish no higher than 3rd is his age and experience. I thought he needed a few more years and a few more marathons to hit his peak. Well, Wanjiru and Kebede blew that theory out of the water. Both are 21 years old and Wanjiru, at least, had only run 2 previous marathons.

Interesting Olympics with some no-brainer winners faltering -- Bernard Lagat, men's and women's 4X100 relay teams, Tyson Gay; some 'old guys' doing really well -- Dara Torres and Constantina Tomescu; Kenya, despite its dominance in distance running, taking its first ever gold in the marathon; and, of course, Michael Phelps' 8 golds, 7 world records (more impressive, I think, than even the 8 golds), and 1 Olympic record.

It sets up an interesting Olympics in 2012 in London. Speaking of 2012, if you're not a fan of NPR and/or didn't listen to All Things Considered on Friday, you missed a classic example of British self-deprecating humour (the spelling is a recognition of British spelling, not a typo). Go to this link, Imagining The 2012 London Games, and click on Listen Now for a light-hearted look ahead.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

In the Books -- Patrick Henry Half Marathon

Well, it's over. I ran the 2nd annual Patrick Henry Half Marathon in Ashland, VA this morning. Starting temperature was somewhere around 65°, so not bad at all.

And this was a well-run race. They cap entrants at 1500 but only had about 1000 register. The pre-race stuff was relaxed but efficient -- at least 13 porta-johns, bib/chip pick-up was smooth, and they used disposable chips. The course and finish were done right, too -- 8 (I think) water/Powerade stations, Gu's at either mile 8 or 9, very cold and wet towels at the finish (that was WONDERFUL!), best finisher's technical shirt that I've seen, people handing us a bottle of ice cold water at the finish line, great selection of post-race food, very quick posting of finish times (my watch matched their chip time perfectly).

Three of us who have trained together decided we would try to go out at 8:30 mpm and then see how we felt. Well, adrenaline took over and we went out at 8:15 mpm, maintaining that for 7 miles. Though I really felt like I should have been able to maintain that pace, I slowed down. Still, I did fine for 9 miles but really hit the wall and ended up walking more than I wanted to do over the next 3 miles. I was able to pick it back up in the last 1.1 miles to an 8:36 mpm pace and finished in 1:53.10. Seeing my wife and daughter with their neon sign at about mile 12.8 was a real boost and, as you can see, I was even able to smile.

I'm happy with that time. There were times during the training when I wondered if I would even be able to break 2 hours. However, I still think I can do better and am pondering what I need to change. I didn't hurt -- I was just tired during miles 10-12. I had eaten a Gu before the race and had, by mile 10, eaten 2 Shot Bloks and drunk 16-20 oz of Gatorade. Maybe I need to eat another Gu at mile 7 or so. I'll keep experimenting.

Next up -- perhaps the Maymont X-Terra Half Marathon at the end of September. However, at mile 10, I found myself thinking, And why am I considering the Maymont again?

Enough (OK, yeah, too much). This evening I plan to watch Ryan Hall take on the Olympic Marathon. I'm still predicting bronze for him with the Kenyans taking gold and silver (Ryan gets gold in 2012) but one of my running companions today thought Ryan might even break 2 hours for the marathon. Now, that would be something!

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Last Long Before Half (and Move a Million Miles)

Today was the last longish run before the Patrick Henry Half Marathon next weekend. It wasn't too bad -- 8.2 miles at 8:22 mpm. The weather has been better the last few days and is predicted to be just as moderate for the next week. I wouldn't mind a 65° temperature at start time on Saturday. :)

Also, at some point in the last week, the Move a Million Miles for Ryan Hall project passed the 1 million mile mark. As of 8:35 this morning, 3258 people had recorded 1,398,833 miles (433 of those were mine).

Ryan Hall and Michael Phelps were topics of discussion on our run this morning.

If you didn't see Phelps' 7th gold medal 100 m butterfly race last night, you missed one dramatic finish! [Washington Post article or NBC's video -- if you can watch the video, the reactions of Phelps' mother of the man in front of her are priceless] The commentators called it a fingernail finish -- .01 seconds separated Phelps from Cavic. I went to bed right after that but learned, after my run this morning, that Serbia had disputed the ruling. But, the officials watched their very high definition video and ruled that Phelps had won. Amazingly, Phelps was in 7th place when he turned at the halfway point. Frankly, it did seem impossible that Phelps had won because Cavic had his arms stretched to the wall while Phelps' arms were still moving forward above the water. But, Cavic 'coasted' in while Phelps took a final half-stroke and that push was the difference.

Do you think Ryan Hall will win the marathon next Saturday? That was the question we started our run with this morning. I am a big Ryan Hall fan both for his incredible running and for his genuine faith in Christ. I would love to see him win, but I'm predicting a bronze medal for him in this Olympics. (Maybe I'll get to eat my words!) I think he has a real shot at gold in 2012 but I think the Kenyans will take gold and silver in 2008. Having lived in Kenya for 18.5 years, I'll be almost as happy about that outcome as I will be if Hall wins. Who do you think will win the men's marathon?

Women's Marathon: Saturday, 16 August, 7:30 pm EDT, NBC
Men's Marathon: Saturday, 23 August, 7:30 pm EDT, NBC

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Up to Tempo

Are you posting your miles in support of Ryan Hall? Click below, register, and post.



Tempo runs are so much more my "speed" than track work, either 800 meter or 1600 meter repeats. The one advantage of the track work is that I can pretty easily check my pace at short intervals -- every 100 meters or so. But, on the road, I am so bad at estimating my pace.

Today, I really wanted to stick closer to my target since I had 4 tempo miles to do. Oh, well. I guess if I can do them faster, it's not a real problem...

TEMPO SPLITS

1.00 x 8:51.33 (warm-up)
1.00 x 7:25.56
1.00 x 7:18.89
1.00 x 7:04.83
1.00 x 7:32.69
1.11 x 9:10.71 (cool down)

Even with the cooler temperature this morning, I finished absolutely drenched.

Run well, ya'll,
Bob

Update: Move a Million Miles

Reid, blogging at Life Strides, is trying to collect a group of blogging runners who would report their miles as a group in support of Ryan Hall (no money involved). If interested, click on over to his blog, Life Strides, and leave a comment.

We also need a lot more runners to sign up for the campaign. The current stats are below but expecting to get 5 miles per day (35 miles per week) from each runner is unrealistic since the current average miles per day per participant is less than 1. Consider clicking on the banner above and joining this effort.

CURRENT MOVE A MILLION MILES STATISTICS:

Total Miles Moved: 201,096
Total Current Participants: 1628
Average Miles per Day per Current Participant: 0.85
Top Group: BBHS Track Team, 8,828 mi.
Total Miles Remaining: 798,904
Number of Days Remaining: 90
Average Miles Remaining per Day: 8,877
Necessary Miles per Day per Current Participant: 5

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Tag -- I'm It

My virtual friend, Paul Merrill, has tagged me asking what impossible dream I have. I have spent long, tortuous hours given it some thought off and on. Like Paul, I have lofty desires -- ending poverty would be great; seeing Christ reign in every heart; simple decency in politics, on TV/radio, between neighbors. But, like Paul, I'll be a bit more mundane. I'd like to run a half marathon with Ryan Hall, with his fluidity, and at his speed (less than an hour).

Now to pass on the favor: I'm tagging Non-Runner Nancy and my college friend, David H -- tell us your impossible dream.

BTW -- a nice run this morning. It started gently raining about halfway through a 5.9 miler and with the temperature at about 55°, it felt good. I did the run in 46:34.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Move a Million Miles

I am impressed with Ryan Hall both as a runner and as a person. When I came across the Move a Million Miles project, I knew I had to publicize it here.

Support Ryan Hall’s quest for Olympic Marathon Gold. Join me in supporting Big Bear Lake running hero Ryan Hall's quest for 2008 Olympic Marathon gold. The Lighthouse Project challenges you to help Move a Million Miles before Ryan’s Olympic Marathon this summer in Beijing, China. Through shared pride and support for Ryan, this spirit initiative encourages an engaged and active lifestyle, as well as demonstrates the benefits of integrity, commitment and involvement to our youth.

It's simple to participate. Go to the site, click the "Report Your Miles" tab, and enter your information. Use the same identifying information each week so that your miles accumulate.

I had the best long run in over a month. I ran 11.5 today in 1:34.06.8 (8:08 mpm). Then, we spent the rest of the day at Colonial Williamsburg. Good day.

Run well, y'all,
Bob