Strange Things afoot at the Circle K

Something is really odd. The last couple of times that I've run, I feel like I've never run before. Horrible panting, leg pain, shin splints, side stitches....I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if I'm just having trouble getting back into the swing of things post-marathon. It's very disheartening.

Super fail, excuses, big win

Laela(Angel), Ann(Angel), Sarah(Angel), Christiana(Jaws), and I(db) all went and ran the Dead Celebrity 3 Miler on Halloween. Well going for my PR in the 5k was a super fail. I ended up finishing four minutes slower than last year, but that's okay because I had a fantastic time. Lots of great costumes, pizza, and beer afterwards. We followed up by going to Bob's.

I've got plenty of excuses for my time being slower, but the long and the short of it is that I haven't done any speed training at all in the last six months. Oh well, I'll get it next year.

Now for my big win....as of this evening's run I crossed the 2000 mile threshold since I started running with the Nike+ system. That's a lot of miles in seventeen months.

Three Weeks, Three Races

Wow, I didn't even realize this until this morning, but I'm running three races in three consecutive weeks this month. The Columbus Marathon on October 18 was the first, the Nike Human Race 10k at Ohio State on October 24 was the second, and the Dead Celebrity Run 5k on October 31 is the third.

I was really happy with my time on the Human Race 10k on Friday considering it was my first run since marathon. I finished it in 1:07'32" It rained REALLY hard at first but then it stopped.

I'm excited to run the Dead Celebrity Three Miler on Saturday. It'll be the second year in a row that I've run it. Last year my time was 28:08. I was hoping to get in in 27 minutes or under, so that's what I'm shooting for this year.

Now that the marathon is over and my week (okay maybe not a full week) of rest is completed, I need to get back on a schedule of regular running. I've built a post race training plan that is effectively a reverse taper that starts at twelve miles and then adds around ten miles a week. I skipped the first day (Sunday) run because of the Human Race Friday that I did Friday night. I'll make up those three miles tonight.

Rebuilding Mileage - Schedule IV

Week #	Sun.	Mon.	Tue.	Wed.	Thu.	Fri.	Sat.	Total
1	26.2	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest	26.2
2	3	Rest	3	Rest	3	Rest	3	12
3	6	Rest	4	Rest	6	Rest	4	20
4	8	Rest	6	5	6	Rest	5	30
5	10	Rest	6	8	6	Rest	5	35
6	4	Rest	4	Rest	4	Rest	4	16

I've eaten junk food almost exclusively since crossing the finish line on October 18 and am feeling like the proverbial "Lead Zepplin." It's time to kick it back into gear.

The Secret Playlist Project

My wonderful wife embarked on a secret project to give me for running the Columbus Marathon. She solicited musical suggestions from family and friends via Facebook and email for a playlist for me to listen to during the race. The Ultimate Powersong list! It was an invigorating mix of music from all kinds of different genres. Everyone had a different take on what would be motivating to listen to. I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who contributed. Without further ado, here is the list in it's entirety with contributors in the left-hand column.

Suggestor	Song	Artist
PRE-RACE WARMUP
Laela	Lucky	Descendents
	Surf Wax America	Weezer
	Pretty Fucked Up	Supersuckers
	Sick Boys	Social Distortion
	Buddy Holly	Weezer
Laela	Candy	Iggy Pop and Kate Pierson
	www.Sara	ALL
Laela	Astro Zombies (Misfits)	My Chemical Romance
	American Girl	Tom Petty
Jesse Haus	Fire	The Red Hot Chili Peppers
	Lust For Life	"Pop	Iggy"
	Story Of My Life	Social Distortion
	Hot For Teacher	Van Halen
	Pork and Beans	Weezer
Laela	Ohio (Come Back to Texas)	Bowling for Soup
Laela	Miranda	All
SONGS FOR THE RACE
Laela	Go Speed Racer Go - Sponge	Various Artists
Adam Rinehart	Beautiful Day	U2
Matt Riggle	03-Archie -radar love(golden	Golden Earring
Laela	Runaway	Me First and The Gimme Gimmes
Laela	v.a. - 11 the accelerators - brand new cadillac	the accelerators
Laela	Baby I'm drunk	Reverend Horton Heat
	Hot Rod Lincoln	All
Steve Tague	Drink Your Whiskey Down	Reckless Kelly
Ken Falhaber	American Ride	Toby Keith
	Boy Named Sue	ALL
	Runnin' Down A Dream	Tom Petty
katie Speckman	Rebel Rebel	David Bowie
Laela	You Belong With Me	Taylor Swift
	When She Beging	Social Distortion
Ann Pechacek	The Distance	Cake
Adam Rinehart	Clocks	Coldplay
Kelly Hollis	Best Of You	Foo Fighters
Mom	Jump	Van Halen
Adam Zwickard	Shout at the Devil	Motley Crue
	TNT	AC-DC
Katie Speckman	Welcome to the Jungle	Guns N' Roses
Katie Speckman	I'm Not Okay (I Promise)	My Chemical Romance
Jesse Haus	Rage Against The Machine - 02 - Killing In The Name	Rage Against The Machine
Kim Benton	I Am The Law	Anthrax
Donny Humes	I'm So Bored with the U.S.A.	The Clash
Kelly Hollis	Under Pressure	David Bowie
Ann Brannaman	Hot Blooded	Foreigner
Mom	Too Much Time On My Hands	Styx
Paul Burns	Ride Like the Wind	Christopher Cross
Tim Birt	Eye of the Tiger	Survivor
Laela	You Better Run	Pat Benatar
	Teresa	ALL
Naomi Fuller	"Let Your Earth Quake	Baby"	The Thermals
Katie Speckman	When You Were Young	The Killers
Katie Speckman	Float On	Modest Mouse
Libby Sullivan	Accidentally In Love	Counting Crows
	brave Captain - fIREHOSE	70-71
Laela	Runaway	Pulley
Gregg Bourdo	Ace of Spades	Motorhead
Cory Ryan	Isolation of a Light Source	Envy
Jared Gardener/Katie Speckman	Play Your Part 1	Girl Talk
Steve & Joyce Tague	Man Out Of Time	Elvis Costello
Mike O'Donnel	Animals	Nickelback
	Shoot to Thrill	AC-DC
	Run To The Hills	Iron Maiden
Adam Zwickard	Superbeast	Rob Zombie
Patrick Schroeder	Tour de France Etape 1	Kraftwerk
Melody Wilson	North American Scum	LCD Soundsystem
Josh & Stefanie Sikich	Idioteque	Radiohead
Brad Brannaman	ERASE	hide
Kevin Krahel	Belo Horizonti	The Heartists
Kevin Krahel	Red Alert	Basement Jaxx
Bo Weser	It's Raining Men	The Weather Girls
Laela	Take A Chance On Me	ABBA
Grandma Jean Tague	A Spoon Full of Sugar	The Mr. Pickwick Singers
Lynn Kinder	Rocky (Theme)	Hollywood Symphony Orchestra
Kelly Hollis	Lose Yourself	Eminem
Steve Tague	Walk This Way	Aerosmith
	America Fuck Yeah	Team America World Police
Kelly Hollis	Baby Got Back	Sir Mix-A-Lot
Kevin Krahel	Pump That Pussy	Dj Funk
Kevin Krahel	The Ass-N-Titties Ep Ass-N-Tit	Dj Assault
Laela	Fuck Her Gently	Tenacious D
John Weber	BEER!!!!!	PsychoStick
Laela	Drunk Favors For Beer	Legbone
Laela	"Blood	Sex And Booze"	Green Day
Miranda	Don't Trust Me	3OH!3
Laela	Hot N Cold	Katy Perry
Ellie Brannaman	I Gotta Feeling	Black Eyed Peas
Howie Burdick	MMMBop (Single Version)	Hanson
Miranda	Peanut Butter Jelly Time (Radio Version)	Chip-Man & The Buckwheat Boyz
Miranda	Barbie Girl	Fratelli Sberlicchio
Laela	Walk Like A Zombie	HorrorPops
Laela	Sleepy Vampire	Supersuckers
Laela	Calling All Skeletons	Alkaline Trio
Laela	Bleed It Out	Linkin Park
Laela	At The Library	Green Day
Laela	Perfect Situation	Weezer
Laela	329 - John Fogerty - Centerfield	Various Artists
Laela	Vida Blue	All
Laela	The Boys Are Back In Town	Thin Lizzy
Laela	the boys of summer	The Ataris
Laela	Tessie	Dropkick Murphys
Laela	Talkin' Softball	Alf Clausen
	The Saga Begins	Weird Al
Laela	Time Is Running Out	Muse
Matt Brown	Eye of the Tiger	Survivor
Laela	On Foot	All
Laela	Keep on Running	Dance Hall Crashers
Laela	10 - Hagfish - Walking In LA.	Various Artists
Laela	Runnin' With The Devil	Van Halen
Laela	The Walking Dead	Dropkick Murphys
Laela	Dead Men Walking	GUTTER DEMONS
Laela	Take It and Run	Dropkick Murphys
Laela	Running Amok	Faction
Laela	run	Ignite
Laela	Walk Don't Run	JFA
Laela	Shoot First And Run Like Hell	Nashville Pussy
Laela	Run Kid Run	Rocket From The Crypt
Laela	Cool To Be You	Descendents
Laela	Suburban Home	Descendents

The Race and the Aftermath

I had an absolutely fabulous time running the Columbus Marathon today. The course, the volunteers, the bands, and all of the well wishers made it a very memorable experience.

I got a late start getting out of the house this morning and got down to the race with with only ten minutes to spare. That's okay though because I didn't need a whole bunch of layers to keep warm while waiting in the 32 degrees temperature. It took about 10 minutes to actually cross the starting line after the start of the race. It was absolutely packed with 14,000 runners and walkers, which made the first couple of miles "interesting" to navigate. It was so crowded that it was difficult to go around people (primarily because I had to watch out for people going around me at the same time).

Laela, Miranda, and Indy came out to cheer for me several times on the route. They made some great signs. "Bukkit at Mile 26.2" "Zombies Behind You!" "Hurry up, we want beer and wings" Miranda even ran the last 0.2 miles and crossed the finish line with me.

Thanks to everyone for contributing to the playlist that Laela compiled for the race today. I don't know how she managed to do it, but the songs were arranged in such a way that every time I needed a little pickup or boost I got just what I needed. Some of the choices were quite funny and I had a few times that I laughed so hard that other runners were turning around to look at me.

I couldn't have done it without everyone's support. Thanks to Kristi for logging a ton of training miles with me over the summer and for coming down to cheer me on at the finish line. Last but not least, thanks to Laela and Miranda for putting up with all of the training runs I had to do and for rescheduling just about everything on Sundays around my long runs.

I'm going to take a few days off and then get back to it at the end of the week. (I've already got a 10k scheduled for next weekend)