Monday, December 7, 2009

Done!

2:18 for me, you all did much better. Watching the group run together was amazing - nice to see the miles fall away, I wasn't ready for the finish line. Every year I tear up at the start and at the end, I'm amazed at us each year!

Enjoy your recovery, wear your medal and be obnoxious about it: you participated in the largest sporting event in Nevada history, no sitting around on a couch for you!

all my best to you,

Ryan the Terrible

Sunday, November 8, 2009

12 miles. The closest we get to glory

Wow - so much for my "let's do an easy run and have fun" speech.
We rocked the course today - just under 12 miles, just under 2 hours: that's a 10:03 min/mile pace.
Uh, we're supposed to run 10:18, right? Right! Today's run was the best by far. Our little pack of runners was huge - so many people there, we all ran together for most of it and we talked the whole way. Thanks so much for being there today, it's the best way to spend a Sunday.
Except for sleeping in, but that's what naps are for.

Stay healthy, stay intact, and if you are hurting, keep yourself slow and ready. We have one month, we're in the best shape we've been all year, now we taper and maintain. Keep the weekday miles up, keep your legs on ice, your refrigerator full of good fruits and vegetables, and have your friends come out to cheer you on.

You are all ready for this!

Ryan the Terrible,
proud Fearless Leader,
The Flying 2:15

Monday, November 2, 2009

Monday, October 19, 2009

Cocktail Sunday recap

Great run this week: 8 miles at a 10:10 pace. Perhaps it was the rum waiting for us?
Something I noticed is that we talk a little then leave on the usual week, but Cocktail Sunday keeps us standing around talking all day. Nice!

We usually hear about marathoners keeling over, but Detroit lost three half-marathon runners.
Autopsies expected after 3 die during Detroit race

Mon Oct 19, 5:54 am ET
DETROIT – Autopsies are expected after three half-marathoners died during the Detroit marathon.

Officials say 36-year-old Daniel Langdon collapsed at about 9:02 a.m. Sunday between the 11- and 12-mile markers and 65-year-old Rick Brown collapsed at 9:17 a.m., near where Langdon went down.

If you feel a little funny, talk to your doctor.

Officials say 26-year-old Jon Fenlon collapsed at about 9:18 a.m., just after finishing the 13.1-mile half-marathon in 1:53:37.

Autopsies are planned for Monday.

Rich Harshbarger, vice president of consumer marketing for the Detroit Media Partnership, told the Detroit Free Press emergency personnel were on the scene within seconds.

More than 19,000 people were registered to participate in the 32nd Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Marathon.


.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Another reason not to run marathons - they make your brain go fuzzy.

Marcus Riley Salvador Lopez-Barr fell in love with his running coach, Hollis Bathen, while training for his first marathon.

So it seemed only fitting to propose to her during another 26.2-mile race, this one in Chicago. It was his fifth and her eighth, though the Chicago Marathon also held a special place in Hollis' heart -- it was the first marathon course she ever ran, back in 2004.

"So I decided to propose to her at the end of the race," Salvador, 36, said. "I only had to make sure to keep up."

Salvador -- a black-haired, cheerful attorney from San Francisco -- had a simple plan. Buy the engagement ring. Carry it for 26 miles. And then -- in front of the finish line grandstand, the TV cameras, photographers, and the cheering crowd -- get down on one knee and simply say "will you marry me?"

The proposal was to be a surprise. Everything had to be perfect, so Salvador prepared diligently.

He bought Nike runner's shorts with an interior pocket flap to hold the ring's box. The pocket was so tiny, Salvador had to find a smaller box. The pocket also didn't have a zipper. Salvador safety pinned it closed.


Everything in place, the couple began their run. In an attempt to qualify for the Boston Marathon, both Salvador and Hollis were running eight minute miles.

Hollis, at 30 a lithe and beautiful woman with blonde shoulder-length hair, was the more experienced runner. She would set the pace.

After three and a half hours, the couple neared the finish line, matching each other stride for stride. Right before they reached the grandstand in Grant Park, Salvador untucked his pocket flap, de-safety pinned the enclosure, pulled out the box ... and tripped.

"I did some kind of somersault," Salvador said. The grandstand gasped. The crowd let out a collective "oh."

After the race, Salvador would explain that he had planned to trip, but not to go sprawling like he did. He scraped up his knee and elbow. Other runners, concerned, tried to help him up. Salvador shooed them away.

"I'm thinking to myself 'get away man, this is all staged, it's cool, it's cool!"

Meanwhile Hollis, intent on making her qualifying time, was exasperated.

"I was so bummed! Because the first marathon we ran together he cramped up at mile 12 and we had to walk eight miles," she said. "And I was like 'oh my god, you can't fall here! Get up!"

That's when Salvador held up the box.

"And I was like, 'you tripped on a tiny box?!'"

Salvador popped the question.

Hollis, dumbfounded, and still frantic to make their qualifying time, realized she was being proposed to. She said yes. But there was one hitch.

"I had mittens on so he couldn't really put the ring on," Hollis said. "So he just sort of tried to hand it to me and I was like 'no no, you have to put it on me!'"

So Salvador, exhausted, slightly bruised, and in love, did what any man in that situation would have done. He tried to place the ring over her finger.

On her right hand.

While her mitten was still on.

"All I remember thinking was 'I think it's supposed to be my left hand,'" Hollis said. She de-mittened, he placed the ring on her finger, and they crossed the finish line engaged. All according to Salvador's plan.

"I looked down at my hand and I saw this ring and I was like, is this really happening?"

Salvador assured her it was. His family and best friend, and her mother and their friends -- who had all flown in from San Francisco, the couple's home -- congratulated them at the finish line.

Finishing at 3:36, Hollis qualified for the Boston Marathon. Salvador did not. But no matter how unlucky he is running, he's very lucky in love.

Or as Salvador says, "it was about as romantic as you can be at mile 26."

Friday, October 9, 2009

Improper Assistance

Let's hope we don't need this:

Man, 81, finishes race after borrowing a catheter
The Associated Press
Posted: 10/08/2009 02:25:25 PM PDT
Updated: 10/08/2009 06:03:28 PM PDT


MINNEAPOLIS—Organizers of the Twin Cities Marathon said they won't disqualify an 81-year-old runner who won his age group after using a borrowed catheter. Jerry Johncock of Shelbyville, Mich., was sidelined at an aid station about 21 miles into Sunday's race because a blood clot prevented him from urinating. The aid station had no catheter, but a spectator stepped forward to offer Johncock a catheter he had in his car.
Aides helped insert the catheter and Johncock went on to finish in a little over 5 hours 22 minutes.

Race officials considered disqualifying Johncock because of a rule against improper assistance. But executive director Virginia Brophy Achman said they decided Johncock didn't break the rule.

She called Johncock "a great role model and example of what you can do as a runner."

Johncock's wife, Dorlene, said her husband was cheered by the ruling. She said he found the whole situation a little humorous.

Monday, October 5, 2009

A fast 10k

Congratulations to the marathon group for completing their first 20 miler - that's The Wall - about the spot where your body decides it's time to stop. Back in the pre-Gatorade and Gu days, you would have about exhausted the easy energy stored in your muscles, and your brain would get a little panicky about running out of food.
Your legs are fully capable of going on and on, take a look at the success of the Badwater ultramarathon - running out of the lowest point in North America toward the top of Mount Whitney. Really, people do this. In July, no less.

We won't have to worry about physical walls, it's all mental for us. 13.1 miles will be a cake walk if you do your homework. Our legs, lungs, brains and heart are all ready for this, each of you can run a half-marathon tomorrow and go back to work on Tuesday with no problem, it's a matter of How Fast now. Fearless Leader Erin led us on a 10k run, 1:04:15 - by the way, putting that into the Runner's World finish time calculator spits out ......2:15:27! If you are a little sore this morning, you earned it. We did half our race at the right speed.

The group is shrinking! If you slept in because it was howling wind and smoky air, good for you. You made the right decision. If you weren't there for any other reason: shame. We need the group to be strong, a solid pack of 2:15 muscle to blast through the maddening Elvis horde and trample through the pesty brides and grooms clogging our starting line.

See you at 6 am from now on!
Ryan the Terrible
Fearless Leader