Review: The Race Before Us

Bruce Matson is a Richmond lawyer who ran a marathon in college but is now 49, overweight, and out of shape. He's also a church regular who is questioning his faith — "Do I really believe what I recite in the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds on Sundays?" He skillfully weaves together his twin struggles to get in both physical and spiritual shape. He took the spiritual quest seriously, wrestling with major philosophical and historical approaches to Christianity and finally realizes that, ultimately, though the intellectual assent is important, the key is trust. One of the things I liked about the book is that I know the places he ran (though, even so, I thought a couple of his descriptions of runs were a bit too detailed). I have also asked myself some of the same questions about faith.

He alternates chapters devoted primarily to running with those devoted primarily to his search for meaning in his faith. Matson deals with some questions and issues of faith that require some deep thought — a lot of Christian apologetics in this book. It was challenging and an excellent refresher on some of my seminary courses from 30+ years ago.

Some good appendices:

• Top Ten Arguments for the Existence of the God of the Bible — He touches on and explains most of these in the text of the book, but this is a good summary list. (Christian apologetics) Throughout the book, though, he emphasizes how much he was aware that Christian faith or trust was not solely dependent on the truth of these arguments.
• Bibliography — If one wants to explore any of the topics, these are all good sources. Matson does not just include those that support his final conclusion on faith.

(Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free from the author in exchange for a review. However, I was free to write the review I thought the book deserved. I expect no further personal gain.)

Book Review: Running for My Life by Lopez Lomong, with Mark Tabb

Running for My Life
(Disclosure: Review copy — I get nothing from posting the link, below, to the Kindle version on Amazon.)

I had seen the pre-publication announcements for this book and really wanted to read it for a couple of reasons. First, I live and work in Kenya and the issue of child soldiers is a hot topic around here. The Kakuma refugee camp is huge. So, a first-hand account of one who has experienced that holds a lot of interest for me. Second, I enjoy running. Now, I'm old and fat and slow, but I'm still attracted to stories of runners for whom running has been a way to work through and overcome challenges. Lomong's story fit both of those and I was glad to get the chance to read and review the book through Thomas Nelson Publisher's "BookSneeze" program.

In my experience, autobiographies have to be taken with a grain of salt. Most seem to come across as highly self-serving and, frankly, somewhat pompous. This one did not, perhaps because of the capable guidance of the co-author. I was pleasantly surprised at how engaging the book was.

Is it possible to quantify mistreatment? While Lomong was not beat during his captivity nor was he ever sent to battle by the rebel soldiers, it was difficult to read his account of being kidnapped and then his time in the rebels' camp. Any time I thought about him being only 6 years old and forcibly kept from his family and in those conditions, it was heartbreaking. At the same time, though, the thoughts he recounts from that time could hardly be the thoughts of a 6-year old — he's certainly projecting adult thoughts back to that time. Not that that's wrong because I think it's the nature of autobiographies.

It was fun to read of Lomong's "wonder" at all the new experiences he faced. He saw Kakuma as a haven (it's not, at least from an American middle class perspective) because he could go to school, he was away from war, he had food ("...I looked at the scraps of food from the dump as a blessing."), he could play football (soccer), he could run! Later in the book, as Lomong talks about facing a major 1500M race, he writes:

Pressure is trying to make a UN food allotment stretch for thirty days. Pressure is watching friends die of malaria and wondering who in the camp will be next. Pressure is writing an essay that will determine your entire future in a language you do not know. A footrace, even a championship race, did not make me feel pressure. (Kindle book location 2293-2295)

Lomong will help you see your own troubles in a new light. I think you will also be inspired by how Lomong has used his success to try to make a difference in the lives of other southern Sudanese — perhaps that's what makes this autobiography so different from others.

Running for My Life is a good read. While autobiographical, it's not pompous. If you're interested in the life of one elite runner, you'll enjoy this book. There are numerous references to Lomong's faith in God (personally, I'm very sympathetic to that perspective) but he rarely gets preachy — it's just who he is. I think you'll celebrate with this kidnapped boy who, with a lot of help from strangers, organizations, individuals, teachers, and friends, was able to escape from dire circumstances and use his freedom to help others. Maybe you'll even be inspired to help a lost boy. This would be a great read for anyone working with immigrants — it will help you know how to help them adjust.

The Incredible Benefits of Running

Here's why you should run:

I'm enjoying the World Cup -- Gooooooo Bafana Bafana! Gooooooo USA! I don't even know if it's even possible with the groupings, but I'd love to see South Africa and the USA in the finals -- two underdogs.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Now I Know Why

One of the ladies who works in our office sent me a list of 21 interesting facts about the human body. This one caught my attention:

You use 200 muscles to take one step.

If your stride rate while running is the (supposed) optimal 90 strides per minutes (180 steps), then you take 10800 steps in a 60 minute run and use a cumulative total of 2,160,000 muscles (200 muscles, 10800 times). No wonder I hurt after running a 10K!

Here's the full list of 21 facts. I haven't checked the veracity of any of them, simply passing on something interesting -- that's how urban legends get started:

Subject: THE HUMAN BODY

The human body is a machine that is full of wonder. This collection of human body facts will leave you wondering why in the heck we were designed the way we were.

1.. Scientists say the higher your I.Q. The more you dream.
2.. The largest cell in the human body is the female egg.
3.. The smallest is the male sperm.
4.. You use 200 muscles to take one step.
5.. The average woman is 5 inches shorter than the average man.
6.. Your big toes have two bones each while the rest have three.
7.. A pair of human feet contain 250,000 sweat glands.
8.. A full bladder is roughly the size of a soft ball..
9.. The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razor blades.
10.. The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the Encyclopedia Brit annica.
11.. It takes the food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach.
12.. The average human dream lasts 2-3 seconds.
13.. Men without hair on their chests are more likely to get cirrhosis of the liver than men with hair.
14... At the moment of conception, you spent about half an hour as a single cell.
15.. There is about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.
16.. Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil.
17.. The enamel in your teeth is the hardest substance in your body.
18.. Your teeth start developing (in your gums) 6 months before you are born.
19.. When you are looking at someone you love, your pupils dilate, they do the same when you are looking at someone you hate.
20.. Blondes have more hair than dark-haired people.
21.. Your thumb is the same length as your nose.
22.. At this very moment I know full well you are putting this last fact to the test ... now remove your thumb from your nose and pass this on to the friends you think might be interested in comparing their thumbs to their noses as well.

You did it -- I KNOW you did !!!!!

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Want to Live a Long Life? Run.

Now here's the kind of news that makes me happy! Read the whole article here.

Here are some key (read "interesting to me") findings from a Reuters' news article reporting a study published on Monday by Stanford University in California. All participants were 50 or older (I can relate):

... middle-aged members of a runner's club were half as likely to die over a 20-year period as people who did not run ... At [After] 19 years, 15 percent of runners had died compared with 34 percent of controls

Running reduced the risk not only of heart disease, but of cancer and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's.

... runners exercised as much as 200 minutes a week, compared to 20 minutes for the non-runners.

... the runners groups continued to accumulate more minutes per week of vigorous activity of all kinds.

... people cannot use the risk of injury as an excuse not to run -- the runners had fewer injuries of all kinds, including to their knees.

So, get out there and run like your life depends on it -- well, actually, it does. I'm going out in the morning for 8 miles toward a healthier life.

Update: Saturday, 16 August, 8:21 pm

Dean Karnazes commented on this in his blog, Dean's Blog, on 12 August.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Tough Stuff: Hard Runs, Heat, Humidity

It's Take It and Run Thursday at Runner's Lounge. The topic for today is The Tough Stuff.

When it comes to running, I am a confirmed hater of heat and humidity. Trying to train over the last 2 months for an August 23 half marathon has been the most difficult period of running since I got serious about it 5 years ago. Frankly, it's been a little discouraging -- no, I'm not about to give up as I'm too mule-headed for that, but I think that's one reason I haven't posted a blog in about 2.5 weeks.

Just a fer instance: last Saturday was a scheduled 13.1 mile run with the half marathon training team. I woke up feeling good -- looking forward to the run and thinking I would do well. Even 70° and 84% humidity seemed doable. But, from the moment we started running, I was sluggish. By the time we hit mile 8, I was in bad shape (I was hydrating and had ingested a couple of Gu's). Even shorter runs have been hard -- a 6-miler on Tuesday and 4.5 miles today.

The toughest of the tough stuff for me? -- Track repeats, especially 1600m repeats at 90-95% max. (I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam, I am. -- Not sure why, but that Seuss quote seemed appropriate.)

I've decided there are several factors that are probably a part of this and I'm going to try to work on them over the next 4 weeks before the actual race:

1. Heat and humidity: I have decided that some folks just handle it better than others. David, a college friend of mine, ran in temps that were upper 90's a few days ago. I've not even attempted anything over 80°. While I certainly can't control the weather, I am going to try to do a better job of hydrating well the day before a longish run. I already run early -- 5:15-5:30 AM start during the week and a 6:45 AM start on Saturday.

2. Overtraining: Coach Dean Hebert, blogger at Running Advice and News, posted a Q&A from a reader about hitting a plateau and digressing. The reader's symptoms were similar to mine (though I haven't struggled for 5 months) and one of Hebert's suggestions was that she was overtraining or that her training was stale, too consistent. I can implement some of the suggestions. In fact, I did that today -- I backed off the mileage a bit, ran 4.5 miles rather than 6, and I added several relatively short fartleks during the run to break the steady pace.

3. Mental stamina: Part of my difficulty is that discouragement can be a cyclical downslide. My pride makes me think that every run should at least be good and I really expect every run to be better than the previous one. I know better than that, so, in the words of my favourite TV psychologist, Bob Newhart, "Stop it -- S-T-O-P, new word, I-T -- STOP IT!" As Benjamin Cheever said in Strides: "The runner's high is built on a foundation of runner's lows. The joy is often paid for in advance."

(You HAVE to watch the Newhart video but don't have a mouth full of food or beverage when you do. Word to the wise.)



Run well, y'all,
Bob

5 Years Under My Belt

Today I completed 5 years of serious running. Mind you, by serious, I don't intend to give anyone even the faintest idea that I'm a good runner (I'm neither an elite runner nor the son of an elite runner). I simply mean that I've taken it seriously in terms of my own health and physical fitness -- I've run consistently (my wife would say obsessively) over a period of 60 months and have come to love it.


I began this journey on 9 July 2003 by walking, with my wife, 2.9 miles in 45 minutes. We gradually added a bit of jogging here and there. Eventually, we got to where we ran 2.5 miles together before I split off to do another 2+ and she ran a bit more and cooled off. I loved that time together and was very sorry for that time to end. Thankfully, it hasn't ended completely, though. My wife completed the Richmond 10K this year (You go, girl!) and I looped back after I finished and did the last half again with her. Notice -- the picture was taken right at 6 miles and she's smiling.

I almost always run in the early morning but I completed the 5 years this evening with a very rare evening run -- 6.3 miles in 51:15 (8:07 mpm). The temperature was 80° and the humidity was 80%. I do not like running in that kind of weather -- give me 50° any day -- but I woke up this morning to a severe lightening storm and couldn't run (I'm obsessive but not completely wacky). In that 5 year period, I have run 6008 miles.

2003: 557 miles (Jul-Dec)
2004: 837 miles
2005: 924 miles
2006: 1364 miles
2007: 1453 miles
2008: 872 miles (Jan-today)

It took a full year to get to the point before I could stop saying simply, "I like the results of running" and I could say "I like running." My absolute favourite run, besides the times with my wife, was Chapman's Peak in Nordhoek, South Africa.

I hope to be running for 30 more years (or more). By then, of course, the 30 year olds will have to dodge my cane (as they blow by me).

Run well, y'all, and remember the milestones,
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

Running With a Veteran

On YouTube, this video is called Running With President Bush but the story is not Bush's running but this vet's running. Bush makes one of his normal gaffes (though I'm not sure how any President remembers where they met so many people) but the story's good (even if you don't care for Bush):



When you next run, remember those who won't run again and run a mile for them.

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

10K on the 10th

Nancy, writer of the blog Notes of a Non-Runner, has become a virtual race director extraordinaire. She organized another virtual race today, 10K on the 10th, and this has been the best ever. The entry fee was cut in half, prize money doubled, there were double the number of spectators lining the course, race timing was trust-based and self-reported, and there were toasted bagels with lowfat cream cheese and fruit for refueling.

The weather for the race was pretty good, at least in the Richmond, VA leg of the race -- 55° and 98% humidity, overcast but not raining, and a very light, cooling breeze. One of the nice things about a virtual race is that even if you're late for the start, all of the assigned race crew are still in place, the spectators stick around, and the refueling food never runs out -- and you can still run. Good thing, too, because I was late! My heat was schedule to start at 6:30 but I didn't make it to the starting line until 7:30. No problem except that I had to run by myself. Traffic control was good as drivers obeyed the virtual police and either moved to the left side of their lane or completely over to the left-hand lane.

I ran well, though not a PR. My time was 47:27 -- here are my splits:

1.0 x 8:15
1.0 x 7:33
1.0 x 7:18
1.0 x 7:12
1.0 x 7:47
1.0 x 7:44
0.2 x 1:38

Another perk of this race? It's not to late to sign up and run. Do 6.2 miles and post your time and blog link on Nancy's blog (when she starts putting the race reports up) -- you might also want to join Runner's Lounge and the 10K on the 10th group and post your results there.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

6's and 7's

Miles, that is. Today, I passed 600 miles run YTD (603.2) and 700 miles on my shoes (702.2). In one of his posts, David H mentioned that he notices interesting number patterns -- All In a Row. I do, too, and hitting those two numbers on the same day was mildly entertaining.

Not to mention the fact that I'm pretty impressed that a pair of running shoes would actually last me 700 miles. That's the most I've gotten out of a pair in 5 years of running and keeping records. My last 3 pairs of shoes have been Etonic Jepara SC's and I'm sold. And, yes, of course Etonic has said they're discontinuing the Jepara SC and replacing it with an improved model. That probably means one that will cost more and won't last as long.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Soreness (T.I.A.R.T.)

The Runners' Lounge sponsors a Take It and Run Thursday each week. Today's topic is not really a topic. Runners are submitting questions for the community to answer. Great idea and probably a thread that could keep us going for a long time. So, let me toss out mine -- similar to Tom's, maybe.

Why, after almost 5 solid years of running, do my legs still get so sore when I run 8 or more miles? Specifically, I think it's my hip adductors that get so sore. I've worked up to a run of 10-14 miles and have just hit that in the last 6-8 months. I don't run that long every week but only 2 out of 3 weeks or so. But those muscles still get really sore. Do I need to do some specific hip adductor strengthening exercises? Or, is it just normal to be sore after that many miles?

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Running Hard Feels Good

There's something about Wednesdays. It's so hard for me to get out and run on that day. True to form, yesterday, I slept a little later and didn't do my tempo run. This morning, I headed out and decided to pick up the pace. Since I'm not following a particular training plan at the moment, I didn't really have a goal in mind. Most of my runs in the last 3 weeks have seemed very difficult so I didn't really think I would be at peak performance and just planned to run hard and see what happened.

After a nice, easy warm-up mile, the first tempo mile surprised me and I was sure I couldn't keep that pace up. Sure enough, I felt like I slowed a bit and was even more surprised when I was a fraction of a second faster. Mile three of the tempo part was definitely slower, especially since that mile has some hills and actually ends on an uphill. I about fell over when I hit the lap button on my watch and was 20 seconds+ faster than on either of the previous 2 miles. Ending with a couple of slower miles (I was TIRED), it was quite a satisfying run -- nice to have a really good one for a change.

TEMPO LAP TIMES:
1 x 9:07.34
1 x 7:10.85
1 x 7:10.60
1 x 6:50.02
1 x 8:15.23
1.103 x 8:42.22 (7:53.46 mpm pace)

I hope your run today is as satisfying.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Ukrop's Monument Ave 10K, Richmond

The Richmond 10K is history. The temperature at the start was about 61° with a very light mist. Some 31,000 people were registered but a lot of folks didn't show.

I didn't hit my target time but wasn't too far off. Considering the crowd, I'm not bummed. I had hoped for a sub-45:00 but my time was 45:43.18 -- a 7:22 mpm pace. That was enough to finish somewhere in the top 600-700 or so overall (so far, I have only seen the top 500), 32nd out of 830 finishers in my age group (50-54), 9th out of 64 53 year olds.

I'm really proud of my wife. She participated and finished well -- her first race and she finished in 1:20:56, #390 out of 1115 finishers in her age group. After I finished, I wound my way out of the finish area, ran about 2.5 miles of the course to try to catch her wave, then moved to the median (out and back course) to try to find her on the return leg. We walked and finished the last @3 miles together. It's the farthest she's ever run/walked. And, she had to run in a lot more rain than I did.

A huge THANK YOU to our daughter who stood in the mist and rain and cheered us on.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Ukrop's 10K played host to the USA 10k Men's National Championship Race. It was pretty neat to watch these elite runners start the race. As my wave hit mile 1, the leaders passed us on their way to the finish. Abdirahman and Browne were in the lead and it looked like it could be a good finish. Richmond's WTVR online news reported the results this way:

Abdirahman Wins Ukrop's Monument 10K Race

Abdi Abdirahman showed Richmond his strength as a world-class distance runner, winning the 9th annual Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10k in 28:34, about 27 seconds short of record pace, and defending his men's 10k national championship at the same time.

Abdirahman, a Somalia native who now lives in Tucson, AZ, nosed out second-place finisher Dan Browne, from Beaverton, OR. Browne, who was stationed at Fort Lee in 1997 and 2006, finished 4 seconds behind Abdirahman at 28:38. Fasil Bizuneh from Massachusetts finished third at 29:04.

It will be nice not to be tied to a training plan for a couple of weeks. I get to simply run. Then, it will be time to start getting ready for a late August half marathon.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Hydration [T.I.A.R.T.]

Today is another http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifTake It And Run Thursday at Runners' Lounge. The subject is hydration. I wasn't going to write anything until I read Lance Breger's lance: the blog! post for 29 March, Don't Be That Guy. While the post is pretty humourous, it was his comment about hydration being unique for each individual at the end and his link to a hydration calculator that caught my attention. It looked like a worthy addition to today's T.I.A.R.T.

I'm no expert on hydration and have some questions about the accuracy of the amount of water the calculator gives. However, I do think it points out some really good things to remember when determining how much one needs to drink in a given day.

I run in the early morning (run at 5:30 or so; wake up around 6:30). So, I get up, stumble down the steps, get rid of the previous evening's accumulated hydration, drink about 10 oz of refrigerated water, and head out the door for roughly an hour of running. I work on replacing lost fluids through the morning. For the last 2-3 weeks, I've added 2-3 pieces of fruit to my normal breakfast of a whole wheat bagel and neufchatel cheese and the fruit seems to really help with rehydration.

Another thing I've discovered is that a lack of decent hydration on one day really messes up my run the next morning. Looking forward to reading the other posts today.

Run well and hydrated, y'all,
Bob

Unreal! (or Life's Not Fair, Get Over It!)

Now, this would have been a track meet to watch. The only problem with this particular meet is that it absolutely blows my best excuse for slowness (age) right out of the water!! The picture is of Ralph Maxwell, 88, winner of the M85 Indoor Pentathlon and is from the USATF site.

For all of us glass half-full folks, we have something to shoot for. We ain't dead, yet. Look how much we can still improve! Let's get out there and work smarter.

If you want the glass half-empty perspective: Looking at these times, even when I was a teenager, I would only have won an age group bracket against a 45 year old woman or a 65 year old man. In my current age group bracket, M50-54, the lowest ranked finisher would have beaten me by 45-60 seconds and the top finisher would have lapped me early in the 3rd quarter-mile! They would have been too embarrassed to have even listed my name and time. To win any bracket at my current best, I would have to race against men 75 and older.

Wow! No matter which perspective you prefer, these ladies and men are unbelievably fast.

Here are the results of the first place finishers in each age bracket.

2008 USA Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships
Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center - Boston, Mass.
Saturday, 29 March 2008
Full Results

MASTERS WOMEN 1 Mile Run
================================================================
Plc Name Age Team Finals
================================================================
1 443 McGlynn, Laura W30 Unattached,Scituate 5:45.63
1 92 Caffrey, Therese W37 Nike Central,New Yo 5:31.89
1 745 *Pritchett, Bernadin W41 Unattached 5:06.42
1 540 Rizzo, Charlotte W45 Westchester,Bronxvi 5:25.43
1 537 Richards, Mary W53 Atlanta Trac,Atlant 6:13.20
1 428 Martin, Kathryn W56 Northport Ru,Northp 5:32.09
W60-64 - NO FINISHERS
1 666 VanEeuwen, Jane W66 Unattached,Wayne, N 10:05.98
W70+ - NO FINISHERS


MASTERS MEN 1 Mile Run
================================================================
Name Age Team Finals
================================================================
1 406 Lombardo, Brian M30 Genesee Vall,Tonawa 4:27.63
1 479 Newton, Chad M38 FIBO Track C,Pisgah 4:25.27
1 582 Sergeant, Stephen M44 Unattached,Andover, 4:34.87
1 302 Hinton, John M45 Carrboro Ath,Chapel 4:28.92
1 102 Cannon, David M51 Club Northwe,Seattl 4:43.89
1 585 Shaheed, Nolan M58 So Cal Track,Pasade 4:43.72
1 742 *Solomon, Kevin M60 Unattached 5:01.62
********Solomon beat the existing world record ('98) for M60 by 0:00.10
1 134 Condon, Frank M65 Golden West,Chico, 5:11.43
1 140 Cordero, Joe M70 Bohemia Trac,Islip 6:05.25
1 339 Jones, Casey M77 Atlanta Trac,Atlant 7:20.73
1 360 King, Joe M81 Unattached,Central 6:56.28
1 193 Englert, Roy M85 Potomac Vall,Spring 9:33.22
1 546 Rogers, Orville M90 Unattached,Dallas, 9:56.58
********Rogers beat the existing world record ('05) for M90 by 1:27.09

Run well, y'all -- even if you don't have world class speed,
Bob

Blast From the Past

World metric mile (1500 m) run, 14 July 1998 -- the battle between the Moroccan El Guerrouj and Kenyan (at the time) Bernard Lagat. Makes me wish I could run fast:

Final Long Run

How is it possible, when I've been running regularly for 5 years and have run 25-40 miles per week for the last 2-3 months, that I can be so sore after a long run today? It makes no sense. I'm sure it has nothing to do with my age. :)

Today was the last long run before the Richmond 10K next Saturday. Next week is taper week with only 17 miles plus the race. My plan is to run the race, hopefully sub-45:00, then head back to the start to run/walk the race again with my wife.

Today's long run was again in 3 parts, with a 3-5 minute break between each:

8.0643 mi -- 65:39.02 -- 8:08.45 mpm -- by myself
5.0000 mi -- 38:52.25 -- 7:46.45 mpm -- with the training group
0.7844 mi -- 06:20.83 -- 8:05.50 mpm -- home by myself
13.8487 mi - 110:52.10 - 8:00.34 mpm -- TOTAL

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Fast Kenyans

Over recent years, there has been a lot of discussion about why Kenyans are fast -- they train at high altitude, they grow up running to school, their diet, they work hard, high motivation, unique genetics. Who knows? I suspect it has as much to do with hard work as anything else.

This video clip doesn't answer the question of why but is entertaining:



Run well, y'all -- like a Kenyan,
Bob