Has it really been two weeks since my last post? How did I miss the clamoring from my adoring fans? Have I already run out of things to write about? Au contraire!

The training for my half and 25k has been marching along. It's at that point when I am getting ready to get it over with so I can free myself from the shackles of my training program (by that I mean, run less) and get to race day. On the 18th I went to Lowden State Forest and ran from one end to the other and back again. I have begun to map out certain routes on trail runs and "race" them instead of just wandering around. It's part of the never-ending quest to keep it all as interesting and challenging as I can. Plus, afterward I can claim the FKT (fastest known time) for that particular route! If I never share the routes with anybody I can take the FKT's to my grave with me. It's a great plan!

Anyway, I put in 12 miles at Lowden Forest that day. Beautiful running weather, felt a little sluggish. My new trail shoes are still putting a pretty good hurting on my calves. The highlight was that I actually saw, you won't believe this, another runner! It is the only time I have EVER seen another runner at a park other than Rock Cut in Rockford, where you might see a dozen in an hour. You must understand that Lowden Forest is not the most heavily visited park in the state. In fact, sometimes I am the only person at the park as far as I can tell. So coming across another runner several miles into the park was so suprising it really almost brought me to a dead halt. As a friend of mine once said when I told him I liked to hike and run alone in the woods, "That's the craziest shit I've ever heard!". It was nice to see another lunatic out there running.

The next week I put in a solid 7 mile tempo run (another thing I won't miss: the tempo run) and then Coop and I ran a small fun run in the hills near Mt. Carroll called The All-Terrain Run this past Saturday. This ended up being the hardest 5k distance race I have ever raced, by far. The climbs were completely brutal and the descents were strewn with golf and basebell sized rocks. Throw in a couple of creek crossings and you had the makings of a really rough day at the office! I think we were quite a bit more prepared than most of the small crowd racing it due to the fact we do a fair amount of trail running and climbing. I finished second in around 29 minutes, though I was sent backwards at one water station, causing me to retrace my steps twice.  I probably would have been in at around 26 minutes, that's how tough this thing was! Coop blasted everybody there in a little over 22 minutes and one of the young cross country kids came in fifth, having a real breathrough run in my opinion. It's amazing how you begin to embrace the torment that you can encounter in very hilly trail running. It was Hell but I would run that race again this weekend if they let me!

Unfortunately, I still had a scheduled 13 mile run scheduled for the next day, my last real long one before the races. It went very well considering it was done in a steady downpour. I ran it in under 1:57 without much trouble, so I am hoping on half marathon day I can go just over 1:50. The only downside we that my right knee was pretty stiff afterward and hasn't improved much today. No pain, just not real good range of motion and stiff. Hopefully that will disappear during my taper.

The most interesting and exciting stuff that's happened lately is that cross country season has gotten underway! I was hoping for five kids that were "all in" and we ended having seven. In a nice suprise, my niece Maddie decide to go out for the team in her senior year, which means I get to coach Coop and her together. That is pretty cool! Also, most of them have been doing some sort of running over the summer so I am looking for it to be a pretty rewarding year. There is some talent there and already I am seeing pretty significant improvement in a couple of the kids, and we didn't start practice until last Wednesday. Oh, to be young again!

My goals for the cross country program are pretty simple: to encourage kids to run. I would be thrilled if ten years from now I see the one of them running the streets of Lanark or read on Facebook that they are training for a half marathon or something like that. I am not dreaming of building a juggernaught program or grooming state champions. I must admit, though, that my competitive fires are stoked a bit when I feel like we are being ignored. For instance, the other coach asked me to write up a short summary of the team for an area newspaper. I do it, send it in. Area round-up comes out: no mention of us. Thanks for wasting our time! For about about hour all I could think about was how great it would be to someday have a kick-butt team and then telling that paper to stick it where the sun don't shine when they came sniffing around! But that would be petty. Incredibly satisfying on a personal level, but petty.

Whew! I better have another Corona and chill out! Keep running...

The Tragic Story Of A Broken Husband

Well, I was wrong about having a shot at my 5k PR the weekend before last at Music In Motion. I realized at the one mile marker that it was NOT gonna happen! Ended up with a 21:20, which I am okay with. The great news is Coop ran an 18:41 and finished third overall, losing only to a fellow XC runner from Dixon and a 12-year-old from Sterling. Yes, you read that right, a 12-YEAR-OLD that ran an 18:40 5k! I think it's safe to say that kid will be making his mark in XC and track the next few years. Ridiculously fast for a kid that age. The next day me and trail running convert Kerry had a good run at the Pines to break in my Mt110's and his new pair of Salomon's.

This past weekend found the family in Galena for the weekend again, which means a weekend of hills, hills, hills! Gina had a fifteen-miler scheduled for Saturday, so I tried for the HOTY (Husband-Of-The-Year) award and decide to tag along for 5 or 10 miles of it. As we ran my decision making abilities began to abandon me and I decide to do the whole fifteen. Gina claimed I was, quote "trying to kill her", on a recent eight-mile trail run. Now that she was in her element on the roads I am pretty sure she decided it was payback time. Despite being five-foot-nothing and having a stride length of around 8 inches, that woman just about broke and dropped me at around mile thirteen. Honestly, what kind of person actually speeds up at the bottom of a hill at that point in a run? Somebody who is trying to punish their running partner, that's who! I think the high point (for her that is) was when she looked over her shoulder as she was running away and asked me if I was "all right". I really wanted to respond as casually as possible, but I only managed a sort of strangled croak in reply. It was a sad display.

I did manage to hang on to finish the entire run and rallied myself enough to hit the trails on Sunday for a 5.5 mile run and actually felt pretty good, with a minimum of power-hiking up the hills. I made a concerted effort to pay more attention to my diet a while back. Not in a counting calories kind of way, just trying to eat a lot more veggies and less meat and staying away from the crap food like convenience store breakfast sandwiches, chips, stuff like that. Basically getting away from a "trash can" diet and making fast friends with lettuce and spinach. I think it has really paid off big time with my recovery time. Last year I don't think I ever would have been able to tie my shoes after a long, hilly run like Saturday's, let alone hit the trails and feel decent the next day.

I have also made a concerted effort to get my recovery started as soon as possible when I finish a run. If my feet or ankles are a bit beat up I soak them in some cold-ish water for a while if I can. Then I usually try to get some protein and carbs back in with some chocolate milk, fish, or peanuts. If it was a pretty long or tough run I will usually put on my recovery socks for a while afterwards. They are basically compression socks that are designed not to be run in, only to be worn afterwards. As an added bonus, the socks totally embarrass my wife if I wear them outside in public. And of course I make sure to drink plenty of water. This sounds like a lot to go through after a run but it really isn't that time consuming, and in my opinion if you are going to do something semi-seriously you might as well make it as painless as possible and give your body what it needs to get cranked up to do it again the next time. Like Scott Jurek says, "train smarter, not harder." Or something like that.

Might have a review of Mississippi Palisades State Park coming soon. Until next time...

New Shoes!

Since the Byronfest weekend I have just been basically continuing my half marathon/ HOBO 25k training. During the week I'm doing one 4 mile trail run at a medium effort, and another slightly longer run at either a half marathon pace or tempo. Nothing out of the ordinary, but it will be nice when these races are done so I can ignore pace goals and just run! Each of the past two weekends I have done a long trail run (9 and 8.5 miles) at Palisades State Park north of Savanna. I spent a lot of time there early in the year getting ready for the hills at the Blue Mound Trail Run. It's pretty much a form of torture to train the Palisades but it does pay off, plus it's a beautifully wild park. The rock climbers stare at you like YOU are the crazy one! Followed the second Palisades run with a 9 mile road run the next day to keep my wife Gina company during her marathon training. The last couple miles of that one were definitely not pretty. I had to employ my patented "Pauley speed-shuffle" technique.

But the big news: My New Balance trail shoes were waiting for me when I got home from work one day last week. Took them out for the maiden voyage the next day at the Blackhawk Springs and Epensheid Forest Preserves (both part of the Winnebago County Forest Preserve District) near Rockford. I got a pretty bad blister on my right heel because I really don't have proper socks for a minimalist shoe, so I went sockless. I have done this before, usually because I accidently forget my socks at home, and never had a problem. It's no big deal, some chub rub and thin socks will take care of the problem, and overall the shoes performed great. Felt super light but had adequate protection against roots and rocks when bombing downhill. I don't know if I was just excited about the new kicks but I was running unusually fast for a trail run at well under 8 minute miles, but the effort didn't seem that great. Are these magic shoes? If so, you would think they would have cost a bit more.

The Golden Slippers

This weekend I am backing off the mileage quite a bit. On Saturday me and Coop are heading over to Sterling to run the Music In Motion 5k. If you have never run this race, I highly recommend it. Very well organized and flat. It drew well over 200 runners last year and is on the circuit for three different running clubs, so if I manage to medal I am very happy. Good competition for Coop, also, since it draws a good number of the high school runners from Sterling, Rock Falls, and Newman. I set my 5k PR of 20:39 at Music In Motion a couple of years ago and I think I have a shot at getting under that if I am feeling it Saturday. I just don't know if I have that drive to kill myself to shave those few seconds at a 5k anymore. I am more likely to put it in cruise control and finish around 21 flat. Sunday is looking like a trail run with my friend Kerry, probably at The Pines. We will both be breaking in our new trail shoes over some roots!

Other than that I am eagerly awaiting the Olympic track events and the marathon. I am a huge fan of Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher so I am really hoping that they and the rest of the marathon team make a good showing against some insanely tough competition. I am also gearing up for the upcoming High School Cross Country season. I am one of the coaches for Coop's team (Eastland) and I am hoping the turnout for our little program is better than it was last year. We only had three boys that actually did most of the meets. This year I am hoping for five, next year maybe ten, and hopefully in a few years we can actually field a complete team for a meet. Gotta crawl before you walk, though. For now we will take a handful of dedicated kids and be thankful for that.