MRTC Road Race Series Half Marathon #2 Recap

On November 16, 2014, my quest to become a 2014 Road Warrior was finally realized! And Mother Nature wanted to make sure that I earned this status. The final 13.1 miles of the 74.8 miles required to become a Road Warrior may have been the toughest. It was cold, very cold, with temperatures in the thirties, and a steady stream of rain for each and every mile. If I had not needed this race for Road Warrior, I probably would have stayed in my warm, dry bed.

This is the timing chip for this year’s event.

But despite the cold and rain, I completed the race, which was my ninth half marathon of the year, and fourteenth overall, and earned Road Warrior status in the process! I was able to stay upright for the entire race, which I cannot say about the first MRTC RRS Half Marathon. I did, however, have some issues with my shoes and the course.

I immediately think of this anytime I hear Road Warrior! The Road Warriors from the WWF (now WWE)

 

The sole of my right shoe bunched up as the race progressed. At first I thought that I could endure the discomfort for the final two miles, but that was wrong, and somewhat stupid. I had to stop and take the shoe off to solve the problem, which is not ideal during a race. Hopefully this will not become a recurring issue. The course was narrow, with standing water in places, so there was plenty of puddle jumping throughout.

Running in the cold rain

I did not finish the race quite as fast as the previous one, but considering the weather and my shoe issue, I am still very pleased with my time. It was my median time for the year, and leaves me in a good position for another strong run at the St. Jude Half Marathon on December 6.

2014 Beat the Blerch Virtual Medal

Like the previous MRTC RRS Half Marathon, this one had no swag,  so I coupled it with a virtual race from another physically held half marathon. For this race, I used the medal and swag from the Beat the Blerch Half Marathon held in September. It was a race hosted by the author of The Oatmeal that has some fantastic cartoons about the struggle of running and weight management. For anyone that is unfamiliar with the comic, you should certainly check it out. You will be amused. And probably find something that you can relate to as well.

Beat the Blerch was swag

The race had distances of 10K, half marathon, and full marathon, as well as a virtual option for those runners that did not make the cut for the sold out event. Each had their own medal and the race shirts were great as well. There is a cupcake on the sleeve, which is hilarious and motivating at the same time. Participants also received three race decals,a magnet, stress ball,gummy bears, and cupcake flavored chapstick. It was a nice haul for a virtual race.

It is hard to believe that I only have two races left this year, but I am going to go all out on both of them, that’s for sure!

2013: Year in Review

2013 was a busy year with quite a bit of running and several new experiences.  After this morning’s run, I have logged 835.12 miles total for the year and participated in 29 total events this year!  And I did all of this despite being injured for a portion of the year, and also battling a very hot summer here in Memphis.  I earned some great bling, tried new races, and achieved multiple PR’s.  I also hosted my first event, the Platinum Sombrero 5K, which helped me raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and gain a couple of new friends from the endeavor as well.  This post, if I write in great detail about each event and experience would be several thousand words long, and I am not going to do that to you.  Rather, I am going to do more of a Cliff’s Notes version of the year here with a monthly breakdown.  For in-depth descriptions of my races from the year, you may visit the 2013 page in my blog and click on each race recap.  Enjoy!

This is every race shirt that I received in 2013!

January: 1 Race (Virtual 5K), 81.59 Miles.  The year started off with my first virtual 5K.  It was the Resolution Run and the proceeds went to the Hole in the Wall Gang and started my year off right.  I ran no local races since I could not work them into my schedule, but I did run a race.

This was one of the better medals that I received in 2013.

February: 2 Races (1 Virtual 5K & My 1st 10K), 65.52 Miles.  I started February with another virtual 5K, the Chilly Cheeks 5K.  This event actually netted me a PR at the 5K distance with an elapsed time of 26:30.  Of course, this is an unofficial time, so hopefully I will eclipse that time in an event this year to remove any ambiguity.  My 10K was the Move It Memphis 10K, and since this was my first 10K, it was an automatic PR.  It was a great event and one that I will run again in the future, just not this year since I have another event happening this weekend in 2014.

Approaching the finish at the Move It Memphis 10K

March: 1 Race (HalfMarathon 5K), 18.61 Miles.  This is the month that I was diagnosed with peroneal tendonitis in my right foot.  This occurred two weeks before I was supposed to run in the Germantown Half Marathon, so obviously that did not happen.  I did, however, walk the 5K associated with the event in my walking boot.  This caused a few second takes as I limped through the course.

This is me limping through the course in my walking boot.

April: 2 Races (1 5K & My First Mud Run), 34.64 Miles.  I was making the slow recovery from my injury throughout the month, but I was able to run a 5K, the FedEx St. Jude Classic Fairway 5K, hosted at TPC Southwind here in Memphis as well as my first Warrior Dash.  Warrior Dash was quite a bit of fun, and a nice diversion from your typical race.  Both events showed a nice bounce back for me from my injury.

This is the first race photo that I have actually purchased.

May: 2 Races (1 Virtual 5K, 1 4 Miler), 49.71 Miles.  My virtual run was the May the Fourth Be With You 5K, which I obviously ran on May 4.  The nerd in me made me run this race.  My 4 miler was the Zoom Through the Zoo event, which benefits the wonderful zoo here in Memphis.  It was not my favorite event, but it did lead me to begin using Lock Laces, which was a positive development for my running.  Susan and I also traveled to Arlington, TX for her graduation from graduate school.  It was a great trip and I got some In-N-Out Burger from it as well!

May the Fourth Medal

June: 2 Races (1 5K & A Virtual Week Long Marathon), 75.56.  My 5K was the third race in the M-Town Series (I did not run in the second one due to travel) called the Gibson 5K.  It was a hot run, but it was worth it.  The virtual marathon was for the One Fund for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing and required that participants run 26.2 miles over the course of the week.  It was a nice training tool for me and benefited a great cause.  I also spent a week Cancun, Mexico, which is always a great thing.  And I even kept my running streak active for the entire week that I was there.

Photo cred to my sister-in-law for the pic of the week

July: 4 Races (1 5K, 2 Virtual 5K’s, including my 1st hosted event, & 1 virtual 10K), 89.33.  This was the most running that I had ever done in a month up to this point, and I earned quite a few good-looking medals.  I ran in the Stars and Stripes 5K here in Memphis, the Captain America 5K, First Avenger 10K, and Platinum Sombrero 5K.  All three of the virtual runs benefited St. Jude and my personal event netted $734 for St. Jude!

Finalized race medal for the Platinum Sombrero 5K

August: 3 Races (1 5K, 1 Virtual 5K, 1 Virtual Half Marathon), 77.11.  The hottest month of the year and I was thankful for the taper that came before the Tupelo 14.2 in September.  My 5K was the Bardog 5K here in Memphis, the virtual 5K was the Jedi Challenge (another Star Wars run?), and the virtual half marathon was The Walking Dead 13.1, which had a neat, but small medal.  I used the virtual half as my last long training run before my taper.  Susan and I also discovered the greatness that is the Memphis Farmers Market, which became a weekend staple for us throughout the rest of the year.  And I returned to the University of Memphis to obtain my MPA.

A great place to spend a Saturday morning.

September: 3 Races (1 14.2 Miler, 1 4 Miler, 1 Virtual Half Marathon), 82.37 Miles.  The first day of the month saw me run the longest distance of my career up to that point in the very hot and humid Tupelo 14.2 Miler.  The event is known for their medals, and they did not disappoint again this year.  My four miler was the Cooper Young Festival 4 Miler, which saw me shave over four minutes off of my PR for the distance and my virtual half, the Heroes in a Half Shell Challenge (Teenage Ninja Turtles theme) was another great training run excuse.

Awesome finisher’s medal

October: 4 Races (1 4K, 2 5K’s, 1 Half Marathon), 80.09 Miles.  I ran two events in one day, the Tap N Run Memphis event and Zombie Hunt 5K, both in the Memphis area, but with drastically different weather events.  The first race was very hot and the second one saw some rain.  The half marathon was the 4 Bridges Half Marathon in Chattanooga, TN, and despite a chip malfunction, I set a PR but nearly five minutes!  It was a fun event and the trip out-of-town served as a nice anniversary trip for Susan and me.  I ended the month with my first ever Color Run, an event in which I was an ambassador.

4 Bridges Medal

November: 3 Races (2 5K’s & 1 Half Marathon), 100.54 Miles.  I ran all three races over the first three days of the month, which is a great test of endurance.  My first 5K was my fourth True Blue 5K at the University of Memphis, which is my anniversary run, the half marathon was the Midsouth Championship Half Marathon in Wynne, AR, and the second 5K was the SCS Race For Education here in Memphis, but was actually just short of a 5K.  The half marathon was the cheapest ($27) that I have ever run, and was my second fastest half marathon ever!  Plus, Susan and Beau surprised me at the finish line.  This race qualified me for Neptune status in the Half Fanatics, which was cool.  November also saw another addition to our family when Susan and I adopted Molly.

Post race w/ Beau

Meet Molly

December: 2 Races [1 Half Marathon (Canceled, But I Ran Anyway) & 1 4K], 80.05 Miles.  December was supposed to see me run my third consecutive St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon, but due to the cold and ice, the event was canceled.  I decided to run the event anyway, as did several other fellow runners throughout Memphis.  I ran in the Starry 4K a couple of days ago just to guarantee my monthly race running streak.  My first semester in grad school ended with a 4.0 and I am now ending the month with my taper for the WDW Marathon.

This was me as I was about to head out for my 13.1!

All and all, 2013 was a very eventful year, both for my running and life in general.  I am looking forward to next year being an even bigger and more eventful year.

The Race That Wasn’t, But Then Was Anyway

At this point last week, 20,000+ runners were supposed to be running in the St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend events.  It was going to be my third consecutive year running for the kids of St. Jude, and honestly, I was aiming for another PR.  But a funny thing happened in route to race day, Mother Nature decided that December 7 was not a good day to run and dumped ice and cold upon the Memphis area.  Some may argue that the event cold have gone on as planned, but the St. Jude powers that be made the difficult decision to cancel the race for the safety of the runners, spectators, and volunteers.  Many people forget that races require more than the runners to transpire, and I cannot imagine how brutal it would have been to work an aid station for six hours in single digit temperatures.  Not to mention with the fact about ice accumulation from the discarded water cups around the stations.  St. Jude made the correct call.  It was a call that disappointed all of us, pissed off a few, baffled others, and inconvenienced most.

This was me as I was about to head out for my 13.1!

But a crazy and inspiring thing happened after St. Jude canceled the race.  Some of us crazy SOB’s ran the race anyway!  That’s right, all over Memphis, and even the southeast, there were courageous runners sporting their St. Jude Heroes singlets, bibs, and plenty of cold equipped running gear.  One group ran the majority of the course and even received their medals at the end since the medals were already at the finish line.  Some ran in their neighborhoods, some on treadmills, and some out of towners ran once they returned to their hometowns.  It truly was an amazing experience.

This is what the finish line for the St. Jude Marathon looked like Friday afternoon

I am one of those people who ran the race despite it being canceled.  I logged my cold 13.1 miles for several reasons. One, the event is about the celebration and awareness of the wonderful patients at St. Jude.  We are running for those kids, therefore, despite cancellation, I ran for those kids.  Second, I was scheduled for 13.1, so I wanted to run 13.1.  Simple as that.  Three, in a weird way, I hope people seeming myself and the others running around town will inspire them to join the race next year.  To raise money for St. Jude and make the event an even bigger success.  This year, the heroes program raised a record $8.1 million for the kids of St. Jude with over 14,500 individuals competing as heroes!  Maybe next year the total can eclipse $10 million!

2013 St. Jude Marathon Weekend Medal (w/ a little ice). Not my photo, but this was from the Commercial Appeal, found via Google Image search.

After cancellation, St. Jude handled the situation better than anyone could have imagined.  The Heroes Lounge was still open downtown for all heroes to enjoy.  St. Jude communicated every step of the way, and provided several alternatives for registered participants.  Registration fees could be donated to St. Jude, refunded, and transferred to the Rock ‘N Roll New Orleans, Phoenix, or Nashville events.  All race shirts, medals, and goodie bags that were unclaimed could be mailed to you or donated to St. Jude.  Also, all registered participants for this year’s race will have priority registration for next year’s event!  Any of these options would have appeased most, but all of them truly were above and beyond!  Of course, there were gripes and confusion about some of these details.  Some people want their race materials despite the cancellation.  Then some people cannot understand why you would want something for a race you did not run.  My argument to that logic is everyone is different, but a lot of people did run this race, organized or not, so if they want that medal, fine.  If not, I am sure a patient at St. Jude will enjoy it.

I went to the expo before cancellation, so I got my race shirt, bib & bag. Also, the singlet & other shirt were sent previously to heroes.

Personally, I do not know how or if to claim this race.  It obviously does not count towards my total of half marathons which is a bummer because it would have been my fourth in four months, but I will live.  I might count it as a virtual run since there was, at least at first, an infrastructure for the event and several others running with the option of a medal and race shirt I wanted them.  Also, how does this race affect my race streak?  Virtual races have counted during the streak, but what about canceled races that I ran anyway?  I made it to December and through an injury, I am not going to let a little bit of ice derail my goal for the year!  I guess I will find a local 5K or something just to cover my bases.

Also, this was the weirdest run that I have experienced in my neighborhood since people were honking, waving, and even taking my picture!  These gestures told me that I was making a wise decision running for St. Jude that day.  These people did not know me from Adam, but these saw the St. Jude logo and thought about those kids, even if it was just for a moment.  I hope that the other runners experienced the exact same sensation!

Quick Update

There has been quite a bit going on for me over the past couple of weeks and I am getting behind on some topics that I want to post about.  In the next few days, I hope to post my recap of The Color Run, a product review for Quest Bars and The Flip Belt, race recaps for all three of my upcoming races this weekend, the second half of my Chattanooga trip, as well as my usual weekly recaps.

I have some disappointing news to pass along in this post.  Due to circumstances out of my control, I must cancel the Festivus 5K that was scheduled for December.  I did everything that I could to save the race, but in the end, I had to cancel it.  All registered participants will receive a refund from me, and you should look for an email in your inbox today.  In case you do not get the email, but do happen to follow this blog, the following is the email:

Dear Registered Participant,

It is with a heavy heart that I have to cancel the Festivus 5K Virtual Run.  There was multiple reasons for this decision, but ultimately, the goal of donating the most money to St. Jude was not going to be realized.  So, what does this mean for you?  I am currently trying to workout a refund situation with Active for the processing fees (which is not going well), but I will be issuing registration refunds to each registered race participant.  I can do this in a couple of ways.

1. I can mail you a physical check to the registration address.  This will be a personal check from myself and I promise you that it will not bounce.

2. I can issue you a refund via PayPal, just give me the email address associated with your account that I need to send the money to.

3. I can donate your registration fees directly to St. Jude via my personal fundraising page.  If you choose this option, I would enter the donation with your email on file and confirmation would be sent directly to you.  You can also monitor the donation at http://warrior.stjude.org/WarriorKyle

You can simply respond to this email with your choice, and I will process the request by the end of the week.

I appreciate your willingness to support my latest race and St. Jude, and I am very sad that it was unable to come to fruition.  Have a great day!

Kyle

I hope to find fun and creative ways in the future to support the children at St. Jude and the running community.  I know that this was not a great post, but there will be quite a bit on the horizon to share.  Have a great day!

Week in Review

This was my second week of grad school and the first week after the Tupelo 14.2, so I am getting back into my fall routine, even if the weather is not.  And I am going to go ahead and say that I am already over the required reading for my classes.

Accomplished!

Monday: It was Labor Day, and a recovery day.  I went to the gym and rode the bike for about 45 minutes.  It was great to do a little bit of something to help my legs feel a little bit better after the race.  I spent the bulk of my time reading text books, so there was nothing exciting happening on my day off.

Tuesday: I woke up at 5:30 am to get in my run and completed 3.5 miles at an easy pace.  The Jeff Galloway training plan for the Walt Disney World Marathon calls for two 30 minute runs during the week and one longer run on the weekend.  I am used to running 45 minutes to an hour on my shorter run, so we will see what happens.  Work was terrible, because missing a day of court leads to a backlog of new arrests and violations.  Afterwards, I went straight to class to endure three hours of being one of the four people in class that had read the text.  That makes class discussion a little tedious.

Wednesday: I was lazy and did no workout.  I did have another grad school class and was released twenty minutes early, so that was a positive.

Thursday: Another early morning run, but this one was a little bit longer and I completed just over four miles.  Work was busy, but uneventful, and I do not have class on Thursday nights, so I use it as a study night.  Also, this week marks the beginning of the NFL season, so after the never ending weather delay, I watched Peyton destroy the Super Bowl champs.

Friday: No run, but I did some TRX at the house.  It was a typical all around routine and was a reminder to keep focused on my other fitness needs besides running.  I also launched my second virtual race, the Festivus 5K (register here), which is a virtual run with a Seinfeld theme that benefits St. Jude.

This is the proof for the race medal

Saturday: I picked up the Galloway training plan in progress this week, which meant that I was scheduled to run eleven miles.  I usually run a much shorter distance the week after a race, but with the marathon being my ultimate goal, and the fact that I still have three more half marathons this fall, I made sure to run the eleven miles.  It was not my best run, and by the end of the run, it was very hot and humid here in Memphis.  My time was atrocious, but I completed all eleven miles, so it was still a success.

Sunday: I woke up with the goal of finishing the rough draft of my first paper (due on Wednesday) and that is exactly what I did, albeit after a couple of hours.  I ended up missing the first hour of the early NFL games and the Braves game, but class comes first I suppose.  I might work in some core exercises this evening, but with the Sunday night game and a new episode of Breaking Bad, as well as my DVR finally recording It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The League today, I have some TV watching to juggle with studying and working out.

Festivus Virtual 5K is Here

My second virtual race is now live!  I have  decided to merge my love of running with my favorite TV show of all time, Seinfeld.  The race will be officially held on Festivus 2013 (December 23), but you may run it at anytime being that this is a virtual race.  Registration is $25 and that will go towards race medals and postage.  All remaining fees will be donated directly to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN.  All race participants will receive a 2.5″ race medal and swag from our sponsors.  My last event, the Platinum Sombrero 5K donated 57% of registration fees to St. Jude and had 29 sponsors!  You will not want to miss out on this fun event!

This is the proof for the race medal

What is Festivus?  Why, it is the holiday that Frank Costanza created after seeing the horrors that the commercialization of Christmas, and especially Christmas shopping for a doll for his son, George, creates.  The holiday is known for its most enduring symbol, an aluminum (very high strength to weight ratio) pole.  Get ready for the Airing of the Grievances and the Feats of Strength!

You can register here.

Weekly Recap

I usually try to post this update on Sundays, but yesterday was quite busy for me, so here it goes a day late.

My last week of Tupelo 14.2 high intensity training is now over.  Now all that is left is is a couple of weeks of tapering and then it will finally be race day.  It has been quite a humid week here in Memphis, and very uncomfortable for the longest run of my training.

Monday: I went for my run after work, so the heat I encountered was completely my fault, but the humidity was insane that morning and I needed the extra rest.  The first half mile or so, I ran with my dog.  He is a miniature labradoodle, and I never run hard for more than this distance with him.  After dropping him off, I hit my normal course and had a good run.

Tuesday: No run, but I did a forty-five minute TRX routine.  I rotated through the upper body, core, and lower body exercises.  I really wish I had a place in my yard that I could suspend my TRX straps overhead so I would have the full gambit of exercises at my disposal, but I still can get a great workout in regardless.  I am, however, considering getting a pullup bar that you can put up in a door frame so I can work on doing something that I have never been able to do in my entire life, a pullup.  I feel that it will be very beneficial for my upcoming Spartan Race.

Wednesday:  I was lazy and did not get out of bed for a morning run.  After work, my in-laws decided to take Susan and I out for an early birthday dinner.  We went to Side Street Grill in Midtown for their steak night.  Steak night is a fantastic deal, with two steaks, two sides, two salads, and a shared appetizer for $28!  And we are not talking sirloins here, but rather filet mignon in generous proportions.  It very well may be the best deal in town.

After dinner, I did not feel like going for a run, but I did not want to have an off day completely.  I tried the Spartan Workout of the Day from a couple of weeks ago called the Spartan Ab 300.  The workout goes as follows:

• 15 Crunches
• 30 Bicycles
• 30 Back Scratchers
• 30 Rotating Crunches
• 15 Leg Lowers
• 30 Scissor Kicks
• 30 Side Crunches
• 30 Bicycles
• 15 Crunches
• 30 Back Scratchers
• 15 Leg Lowers
• 30 Side Crunches

This was a very comprehensive routine, but there was quite a bit of a learning curve for the majority of the exercises, and the next time I do it, there will be quite a bit more speed to it.  I will say that my soreness factor was not what I was expecting, so I do feel the pauses to verify my technique was a part of that.

Thursday: I woke up early and finished four and a half miles on a brutal morning.  At 5:30 am, it was 80 degrees, the dew point was 75, and the humidity was at 88%.  Welcome to Memphis in August!  Actually, I guess I should be thankful since there has not been an official day at 100 degrees or higher here in Memphis yet, which feels like a record.  I was drenched after my run and was definitely feeling the wrath of the weather when I returned home.  All I can say is at least I was not running in the blistering sun, so it could have always been worse.

Friday:  It was Susan’s birthday, so I did not workout.  I opted to spend the day with her.  I took a long lunch and met her at work so I could have lunch with her, I gave her some birthday presents, we went to dinner, and then we watched a movie.  I was going to take her to a movie, but she wanted to stay at home and watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.  It was her birthday and her choice, so I can no longer say that I am in the minority of the world to never see or read any of the Harry Potter stories.  Oh well.

A Memphis institution

Saturday: Honestly, I should have gone for my long run, but we had already made plans to meet some friends for breakfast at a local institution, The Arcade.  Susan has lived here her whole life and I have lived here for about a third of mine (wow, I have been here that long?), yet we had never tried the place out.  I will say that after eating there, the place is worth the hype.  I had what is called the “Eggs Redneck” which is biscuits and sausage smothered in gravy with hash browns and eggs.  It was not the healthiest meal of my week, but it was very delicious.  After breakfast, Susan and I went to the farmers market around the corner.  The place was packed with vendors and shoppers, and there were some local food trucks there as well.  We bought some locally made hot sauce, a pound of triple stripe, some tomatoes, olive spread, and hummus, which led to a fantastic grilled dinner later in the day.

This is what we came home with.

I could not stand the thought of two days in a row without a workout, so I did another TRX routine.  This was a shorter one, and I finished with my last set a mere twenty-five minutes after I began my warmup routine.  It is very convenient to have the ability to do TRX at home.  But this convenience also eliminates any excuse that I might have about finding time to exercise.  After my TRX routine, I mowed my yard, so that hour plus of pushing that mower around the yard can be attributed to being active as well.

A great place to spend a Saturday morning.

Sadly, the Atlanta Braves incredible win streak came to an end with a wild pitch in the top of the ninth inning against the lowly Miami Marlins.  The Braves had rattled off fourteen consecutive wins, and opened up a commanding fifteen and a half game lead on the Washington Nationals!  It has been a fantastic couple of weeks of Braves baseball, and hopefully this will be parlayed into a long October run!

Sunday: I did not choose well for the day and time for my long run for the week.  I woke up at 5:30 am, but the weather outside was already soup like.  The humidity sat at 87%, the dew point was 73.9 degrees, and the temperature sat at an even 80 degrees, so I knew I was in for a challenge.  I took a very long time to get prepped for my run, trying to get psyched for the weather, and by the time I hit the sidewalk, I was already sweating.  I thought that my day, and possibly the next couple of months was over just after mile three.  Memphis is a city with numerous trees which is awesome for aesthetics and shade, but can be brutal on my allergies and the local sidewalks.  My allergies were mostly in check this morning, but I was not being as mindful as I should have been to the ever changing topography on the sidewalk.  I came down very awkwardly on my left foot, causing it and my ankle to pop very loudly and roll inwards.  I let out a string of expletives and thought the worst.  It took me a couple of minutes to be able to put any weight on it again.  After a few more minutes of hobbling around on it, the pain subsided enough for me to take off once again, albeit at a much slower and controlled pace.  By the time I reached mile five, there was no more pain in my foot or ankle, which made me extremely happy.  I kept sluggishly pushing forward in the hot and humid air until mile eight, when the skies opened up and started pouring some much appreciated cold rain upon me.  This lasted for about two and half miles, and they were the fastest two and a half miles that I ran all day!  I only had three negative splits for the day, and they were miles eight. nine, and twelve.  Thank goodness for that rain!  Not only was it refreshing, it also gave me reassurance that my recent lackluster times are more weather related than fitness related.  I ran a total of 13.11 miles on Sunday, and since that is a half marathon distance, I used it for a virtual race that I had registered for.

The Walking Dead Run Medal

The race was The Walking Dead Run, and I only registered for it because the medal company made an error in the color of the race medals, so they were redoing several of them.  The race organizer was trying to get rid of the extra medals, and was asking for a $10 donation to their race charity.  I love the show The Walking Dead, and I actually like the incorrect medals better than the correct ones, so I pledged my $10.  I will say though, that unless a race blows me away in the next few months, that this is my second to last virtual run for the foreseeable future.  I am sure Susan will be happy with this.  I mean, I have to start saving for Disney in January and finalize which races I want to run next year, so the extra capital would be great.

My friends and I play trivia at a local bar on Tuesday nights.  It is an excuse to get out of the house for a couple of hours a week, and an easy way to make a few dollars for our tabs each week.  Each week, the winners get a $50 gift card to the bar, second gets $20, and third gets $10.  Since May, our team has amassed a little of $600 in bar cash, which definitely puts us in the black for our trips there each Tuesday night.  And twice a year, there is a tournament of the area bars that play trivia through Challenge Entertainment.  Three years ago we placed second in the area tournament and netted $1,000.  Now, second would land us $5,000, and first place gets $10,000!  Last night we had our first semifinal round and we placed seventh for the night.  We could have won last night since we finished twelve points behind first, got the final answer right, but wagered zero points.  We did that because there were no prizes on the line last night and as long as we finished in the top twenty, we would move to the next round.

Best show on TV

After trivia, I immediately went home and fired up my DVR to catch the premier episode of the new, and final season of Breaking Bad.  It is easily the best show on TV and very intense.  It is one of the few shows that I will watch live on TV and if I miss it live, I have to avoid Twitter and Facebook until I get to watch it.  I will not give any spoilers, but last night did not disappoint one bit!  I do not know what the outcome will be for Walter White will be, but watching his evolution over five plus seasons has been staggering.  There are only seven weeks left in his story, and certainly several twists yet to come.  Can it already be 8:00 pm on next Sunday night yet?

Another Week of Training in the Books

It appears that much to my dismay, the heat and humidity of a typical Memphis summer is here to stay.  This was my second to last week of full half marathon training before I taper for a couple of weeks before running in the Tupelo 14.2.  I’ll then have an easy week before ramping up the miles once again in route to the 4 Bridges Half Marathon in October, the St. Jude Half Marathon in December, and the Walt Disney World Marathon in January.  The last week looked a little like this.

Monday:  I woke up early and ran 4.24 before work.  It was an easy run a little faster than my PR half marathon pace.  I felt great during my run and was happy that I motivated myself to get out of bed.  After work I mowed and trimmed my yard.  The yard is small, and takes about an hour and a half to mow with my push mower.  Add in the trimming, and it is a two hour plus endeavor, so I will chalk that up as some cross training!  Especially lugging the weed eater around the yard and sweeping up all the grass clippings.

Tuesday: No run scheduled, but I did work in about a forty-five minute TRX session at the house.  I did not focus on any particular region, I just did two cycles of about twelve of my typical exercises.  I could definitely feel the burn twenty minutes in, especially in my abs, so I knew I was accomplishing something.

On a side note, the Memphis Grizzlies officially made a significant move on Tuesday by signing Mike Miller.  The Grizz desperately needed a shooter, and when healthy, Mike is very good at that.  He did play a pivotal roll in the Miami Heat beating the San Antonio Spurs this last season.  There is also a rumor that Mo Williams is considering signing with the Grizz to be the backup point guard!  It seems odd for the Grizz to be active in free agency, even if it is for the second tier of player.  Hopefully they can build upon the remarkable season that they just completed.

Wednesday: I was a bum and slept in.  I used the excuse that it was about to rain, but honestly, I was just tired and lazy.  I would pay for this laziness after work.  I tried to wait out the heat, but it did not work.  I completed 3.14 and that was it.  The heat got to me and I ended my run early.  Yet another reminder to get my lazy ass out of bed in the morning.

Jedi Challenge Medal

Thursday:  I did not want a repeat of Wednesday, so I definitely got out of bed.  As I mentioned a couple days ago, I ran this training run as a virtual race called the Jedi Challenge.  It was only supposed to be a 5K, but I extended it by a little over a mile.  The humidity was brutal and by the end of the 4.33 miles, my left nipple was bleeding, which is not a good feeling.  After work, I did another TRX workout.  This one was modeled more after a burnout routine with a single set of exercises at a high number of repetitions.  I am still sore from this.

Friday:  Another planned day away from running, but I did get in my third TRX routine of the week.  It was partially a stall tactic since we were having an early surprise party for Susan and she kept trying to ruin it.  Her birthday is not until next week, but we thought that if we did the party early, she would not expect it.  We had twenty-five or so of her friends and family meet us at her favorite Mexican place, Las Delicias.  They got there at 6:30 and I was to have Susan there at 7:00.  The problem was that she skipped lunch that day since they were gearing up for the school year and they were swamped with the last minute details.  I stalled her as much as possible and we got there at 6:55.  The only problem was that her parents showed up at the exact same time, with a birthday present no less!  Susan claims that she did not out two and two together, and did seem genuinely surprised when she walked into the room.  We had a great time with pitchers of margaritas, cupcakes and a dreamsicle cake from Muddy’s, and some great fellowship.  We ended up shutting the place down.

It was runner’s Christmas at my house!

Friday was Friday filled with presents for me as well.  I received my Runnersbox that I won a couple of weeks ago, as well as a St. Jude Heroes tech shirt for eclipsing the $100 threshold in my fundraising efforts, the September issue of Runner’s World, and my brand new Brooks Glycerine 11 shoes!  I also purchased two new pairs of running shorts, utilizing the tax free weekend here in Tennessee and a store coupon.  I felt like it was Christmas morning at my house!  I will be doing a stand alone post on the shoes and Runnersbox later this week.

Saturday: This was my scheduled long run for the week, and I will say this, Las Delicias is not the best prerun meal, especially when twelve miles are on the docket!  I managed to complete 10.73 miles before submitting to my stomach ssues and calling it a day.  As I did my finishing stretches, the rain came in full force, and my iPhone was grateful not to be out in it.  It sucked to not get in my miles, but I do not feel that it will hinder me any in the upcoming week.

Sunday:  Today has been a 100% rest day with that has afforded me the opportunity to recover a little bit as well as complete some laundry.  Once I complete this post, I am going to use the foam roller for a few minutes while watching the Braves on ESPN and the Cowboys in the first NFL preseason game of the season on NBC.

Tupelo 14.2 Just Around the Corner

I am not going to lie, I am getting a little antsy for my next major race.  It has been two days short of a month since my last traditional race, a 5K, and until this morning, it had been about three weeks since I ran my last virtual race, my very own Platinum Sombrero 5K.  This morning I ran the Jedi Challenge, but more on that in a second.  Virtual races are great to stay motivated for training, but they do not have the same feel that a traditional race does. The crowd, both spectators and participants, just get them adrenaline pumping.  Even the smaller 5K’s produce this feeling.  My next opportunity for this feeling will be in a couple of weeks when I tackle the Breakaway Bardog 5K.  But the race that I am really eager to run is the Tupelo 14.2.

It has been since the St. Jude Half Marathon back in December since I ran a race in double digits and I really want to get back out there.  I am sure a part of this is because I did not get the chance to run in what was originally slated to be my third ever half marathon in March at the Germantown Half Marathon.  But, I had a case of peroneal tendonitis flare up and sidelined me.  At least I was smart in my recovery and was able to get back into action quicker than expected and did not miss the Warrior Dash – Mississippi.

I officially booked my hotel for Tupelo yesterday and I watched a couple of YouTube videos about the race, trying to get a feel for it.  It is going to be early, 5:00 am to be exact, hot, and humid, I am sure.  The last week and a half of training runs should be preparing me well for that aspect.   All the reviews I find talk about how great of an event the race is.  This is a little surprising considering that this is a small race in a small, southern town in one of the hottest points of the year.  The mascot is a skull and crossbones that varies in design from year to year, often with a Grateful Dead inspiration.  The idea behind the skull and cross-bones is simple.  It is hot, and you feel like death by the end, this the skull and cross-bones.  I cannot wait to see what the medal looks like this year, even if the 14.2 medal is just literally half of the full marathon medal.

Jedi Challenge Medal

I ran the Jedi Challenge as my training run this morning.  I was hoping to miss the heat, but there was no avoiding the humidity.  When I took my first step at 6:03 am this morning, the humidity was only at 91%!  By the time I finished my 4.33, it looked like I had taken a swim in a pool.  I even had the dreaded nipple chafing issue that usually only rears its ugly head on my long runs in this max humidity.  So that has been fun to deal with today.  The humidity and fact that I always start a little sluggishly in the morning resulted in a 10:08 pace for the race.  Also, this was a virtual run that I did not intend t participate in, but when some extra medals were discovered, I went ahead and gave it a shot.  I love the saying on the medal, and I must say that the light saber really looks good.

On a side note, my raffle for a free entry in The Color Run is still ongoing.  You can enter here.

Platinum Sombrero Race Recap

Here is the overdue race recap for my very first attempt at hosting a virtual run.  I have constantly updated my blog with Platinum Sombrero 5K information and I know several of you thought I only had a blog for this event, I know Susan did.  Well, the event has come and gone, and this will be one of my last posts about PS5K.  You can find further information here if you missed any of the prior posts.  I learned quite a bit from this experience and will be able to use this new-found knowledge on my next virtual event.  The feedback that I have seen has been positive and I truly hope that everyone had as much fun participating in this event as I did coordinating it.  Susan joked that she was going to make one of those large, fake checks for me to present to St. Jude.  Now that would be awesome!

The Cause:

Another picture that is not mine, but rather St. Jude’s

I chose St. Jude Children’s Hospital to be the charity of choice for this event for several reasons.  First, I am running the St. Jude Half Marathon here in Memphis again this year.  The race has an option to run as a St. Jude Hero, and actually, all early registrants were required to be heroes.  My fundraising minimum was $500, so instead of asking family and friends for donations, I wanted to be a little more proactive.  Second, St. Jude is not a cheap place to operate, but they never charge their patients a dime for treatment.  This is no easy feat when your daily operating cost is $1.8 million!  I broke down the costs and benefits in a previous post.  Third, I live in Memphis, and St. Jude is probably the most positive thing going for this city.  Therefore, sharing this wonderful place with others felt like my civic duty.   And fourth, I was involved with St. Jude fundraising through the Up ‘Til Dawn program in college.  This involved quite a bit of patient interaction and several tours of the St. Jude facility.  After one tour of the hospital, you cannot help but want to raise money for these children.  Thus far, we have raised $709.77 for St. Jude!  This money is the product of $1,250 in race registration fees and one $40 donation from a very kind race participant!  The number can go up a little bit since Lock Laces has agreed to donate 20% of all sales using the promo code KYLEJUDE.  This promo code is also good for free shipping, so shop away!  The promotion is good until August 13, 2013.

The Swag:

I had to post this pic!

There are countless virtual races being hosted out there and I wanted mine to stand out.  Therefore I worked tirelessly to get as many top-notch sponsors for this race as I could.  I wanted to reach as many people as I possibly could for St. Jude.  And since I had a baseball theme, I knew that I was not advertising to as broad of a fan base as I would with a Star Wars or Harry Potter them might do.  Also, it seems that the vast majority of virtual run participants are female (more on this in a little bit), so I had to find ways to reach them.  I ended up securing twenty-nine race sponsors for the event!  I honestly thought that I would be able to get six or seven sponsors, so it just goes to show you the power of hard work and a good cause!

Look at all that race swag!

With the medals and all of the swag that each race participant received, every participant ended up with more products than their original $25 registration fee could purchase!  In fact, several race participants eclipsed the $75 worth of swag plateau!  All race participants received a Road ID coupon, Banjee wrist wallet, KT Tape sample, Climb On! skin product sample, Ion reflective iron-on patch, one month subscription to Bulu Box, and an awesome race medal.  I also gave away had seven $15 Road ID gift cards, five Today’s Miles tech shirts, four Armpockets, one Trigger Point foam roller, one Nathan Quick Draw Plus water bottle, three Polar Bottle water bottles, two Headsweats hats, one pair of Pro Compression socks, two pairs of SL3S compression socks, three pairs of Balega socks, two pairs of Zensah socks, one FlipBelt, one SPI Belt, one medal hanger from Running On The Wall, two cases of Zola coconut water, six Bic Bands, two Sweaty Bands, ten Run Guard products, two Cyclone Cups, ten pairs of Lock Laces, and one Energy Bits sample pack!  Energy Bits, Lock Laces, Spriggsville, Hydrapak, Headsweats, Fuelbelt,  and Glimmer Gear all created discount codes for race participants, which can be found here.

Finalized race medal

I could not have been happier with how the race medal turned out.  I contacted the fine folks at Crown Awards, told them exactly what I wanted, and they nailed it!  I did not have to do any tweaks or changes.  The medal they designed was even better than what I had designed in my head.  I was nervous that the sombrero on a baseball was not going to work out, but there is no doubt what is conveyed in this medal.  I hope that everyone likes this medal as much as I do.

I also was able to get some fan packs and other materials from numerous MLB teams since this was a baseball themed race after all.  It was very interesting to see what each team would and would not donate for the event, and I am generally surprised by the number of teams that did not respond to my requests.  I would like to thank the Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks, Houston Astros, Minnesota Twins, Chicago Cubs, , Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and Seattle Mariners for sending fan packs to be used as race swag.  Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland Athletics would have sent something, but it required me to send them a self address, stamped envelope, and since there were no race participants that listed these two teams as their favorite team, I did not bother sending in the requests.  I did send in the request to the New York Yankees, but as of this date, I still have not received their fan pack.  I am sorry Yankee fans.

I also based the race bibs on the favorite team for the race participant.  The color of the race number, and the number itself reflected your team.  I wanted to get very creative with the design, but I decided not to push any copyright issues and played it safe.  I started on race numbers with the team’s retired numbers, and then moved onto the biggest stars currently on their team.  For example, the Baltimore fans got race bibs with an orange number eight (Cal Ripken, Jr.) and an orange number five (Brooks Robinson).  I also did my best not to double up on race numbers, but this was easier said than done.

The Participants:

Where y’all were from

There could not have been a race without any race participants, so I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you.  There were fifty total race participants, including myself, and the vast majority of the country was represented in the race field.  As you can tell from the map above, we had participants from Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, New York, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Washington, Utah, Nevada, California, and Hawaii.  I was quite surprised with some of the states that were represented, especially having multiple participants from Hawaii and North Dakota! I was also shocked by the gender disparity in the participants.  The final count was forty females to only ten males!  I would have never guessed that prior to the event.  We also had at least four groups of mother and son teams run the event together, and one mother daughter race group, which is awesome!

Registration started off very slow, and I was getting discouraged, especially with the amount of work I had put in, but by late May, it was obvious that this thing was going to sell out!  Sadly, I had already ordered the medals or I would have tried to bump this event to one hundred participants.  I am still getting emails and Facebook messages about any race openings.

The race ended up having fifteen MLB teams represented by their fans, which is good for half of all of MLB.  I wish I could have given MLB swag to each participant, but with these splits, this was not possible.  The Atlanta Braves led the way with thirteen fans participating (go Bravos)!  The second most represented team was the Boston Red Sox with six, then it was the St. Louis Cardinals with four.  The Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and New York Yankees had three fans apiece, and the Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies, and Minnesota Twins came in next with two fans apiece.  The Chicago White Sox, New York Mets, San Diego Padres, Cleveland Indians, Miami Marlins, and Seattle Mariners all had one loyal fan in the Platinum Sombrero 5K!

The Race:

Being that this was a virtual race, you could run it on any day that you wanted to run it.  It was officially scheduled for July 13, 2013, and know that several people, including myself, ran it then.  This date also happened to coincide with the MLB All-Star Game 5K, which I guess they started to hear the good publicity for my event and wanted to piggy back off of it!  From the reports that I have gotten, the race went well for everyone.  Some completed it on an elliptical, some on a treadmill, some braved this brutal summer heat, and some had to break up the distance due to injury.  It was great to hear how many participants got out there and ran the race, with their race bibs nonetheless!