Steve’s Excellent Adventure

Looks like the marathon in September is not going to work. I am in “OK” shape, but unless I dedicate the rest of the summer to nothing but training, the September marathon is just going to happen too soon. I mean, there is too much else going on this summer to dedicate myself just to running. There is golf, hiking, fishing, traveling, and school. So it looks like the Disney marathon is the one. It is going on in January and should leave me with time to train(now that my foot is doing better).

So, time to reset the training schedule and the calendar. I will probably run a 1/2 marathon here in Colorado Springs in Sept.

Disney Marathon course map HERE

Ran 3 miles in the rain today.  The sun was out the whole time and it THUNDERED a bunch.  That  is Colorado for you.  In all the time we have lived here, I have never seen it so green as it is now.  And there is still a bunch of snow on Pikes Peak.  So it looks like it will be another month before we get to hike a “14er”. 

The heel is getting iced right now and is feeling great.  So time to start pushing the miles up a little, which is VERY EXCITING!  Maybe the marathon in September is not off after all.

I found a picture of mom with us at the St Louis Marathon a few years ago.  Mom and dad stopped by, in St Louis, on the way back from Florida.  She looks good….maybe even good enough to run a block or two with us :). 

Winter cold, ugh.  Now that I am old, Arizona looks better all the time in the winter.  Time to give the treadmill a workout until it gets a little warmer.  The following picture is of me running the Boulder Bolder a couple of years ago.  Because my qualifying time was great, due to my 1/2 marathon in St Louis, they put me up in the front with all the real runners.  I hung in there though and BEAT MY AGE!  I was 51 then, and I ran under 51 minutes.  Apparently, only 3% of all the runners did that, so I guess it was a big deal. The Boulder Bolder was kind of neat, running with around 50,000 other folks and finishing in Folsum Stadium.   This picture of me running is kind of funny,  because the guy in back of me makes me look like I have a blue afro haircut going.  

Beat my Age!

My nephew Matt and I ran a 1/2 marathon a couple of years ago in St Louis.  It was the longest race I had ever run, and it went pretty well.  I do, however, think that training at almost 7000 feet does make a difference when running races in the midwest.  I finished right behind Matt at around 1 hour 50 minutes.

the 2 running studs

We went to visit the folks in Florida last year, and I ran the 15k Gasparilla.   I was not in very good shape, but got through it.  Wifey ran/walked the 15k too.  This is us before the race.

Ready to go!

not too bad for an old guy

Just in case I get into the marathon thing, I did some checking on qualifying for the Boston Marathon.  Looks like a qualifying run will be in less than 3 hours and 35 minutes for 2010 event.  I consider this highly unlikely, as I ran a 1/2 marathon a couple years ago and ran it in 1hr 50 minutes.  And I did consider myself in pretty good shape.  So even if the pace was the same as the 1/2 marathon, my marathon time would be 3hrs 40 minutes.  Not good enough to qualify.    

So, if by some reason I were to run in less than 3hrs and 35 minutes, then maybe I will get signed up for the Boston Marathon.   We will see.

Got signed up for the Colorado marathon in May.  This will be a 1/2 marathon training run.  The course is supposed to be a stunning run through the mountains of Colorado.  Wifey may get signed up for the 10K…..

Link to the run is HERE

Got signed up for the EARLY bird registration.  Anyone wanting to run with me has to get signed up before April first

Part of my training included 9 holes of golf today at Valley Hi…Pretty nice for January 2!  Beautiful day in the 60’s.  This is me in my training for the marathon.

Nice way to start the new year! January 2, 2009

Got my results from the Turkey Trot…   24th in my age group!  Not sure how many runners there were… I would guess around 1500.

   21   380 M W.T. Grampp            51   41:34
   22  1216 M Ron Warner             52   41:36
   23   293 M Jim Erickson           51   41:51
   24   509 M Stephen Johnson        53   41:51
   25   729 M Randall Neilson        51   42:11
   26    42 M Robert Badgley         54   42:14
   27  1046 M Kevin Tripp            50   43:08 
  

After the race. Turkey Trot 2008

As part of my training, it is always fun to run a race every once a while.  The Scott Co Y Turkey Trot was a perfect run for me right now.  A 5 miler with a good hill thrown in.  Beautiful day for a run.  Pretty chilly starting out, but not much wind and sunny!!!  

I used an old Turkey Trot t-shirt to run in.