Less than 3 weeks away

May 1st, that's the date. Less than 3 short weeks away until I run my first full marathon. I am excited, anxious & nervous all at the same time. The past 2 weeks of I have run 33 miles & 24 miles respectively. This past Saturday I ran 20 miles in 3 hours & 30 minutes. It was agreat run. This week I start tapering.

The week before my marathon I am running the mini marathon in Louisville again. I would love to try and set a PR, but my coach Gordon, said nope, treat it as an LSD run. So that's what I'm gonna do.

It looks like I will have a cheering section on marathon day. Pam, Abby, Andy, Jan & Mike will be there to cheer me on as I slog through 26.2 miles. I really appreciate there encouragement & support.

Just yesterday I got an email from the folks at Disney about free quick service dining if I book a trip for summer. It is so tempting to do it. I'm ready to go back. We'll see what happens :)

Thanks for reading.

Til next time run strong & enjoy the moment.

Final Thoughts on the Derby Festival mini marathon

My experience running the derby festival mini marathon was a great one. From the time I was picked up by the shuttle bus until I crossed the finish line I enjoyed every moment. There were plenty of water stops and the on course entertainment was good. There were spectators throughout the course cheering runners on and at the finish line it was fantastic with all the people lining the streets.

The entire event was very well organized. It is obvious they have held this event for many years. I will most definitely sign up and run this race again next year. I have to say a big Thank You to my own personal cheering section at the finish line. I really appreciated their support and encouragement. Thanks to Pam for putting up with my hobby of running. I know sometimes I have to drive her nuts talking about it. She has allowed me to commit a vast amount of time to preparing for the races I run. Thank You Dear, I love you.

Thanks for reading.

Til next time, run strong & enjoy the moment.

Kentuck Derby Festival Mini Marathon Part 2

Once we left the city park the course was flat and heading for Churchill Downs. We entered Churchill Downs at about mile 8. As I was going into the Downs I called Pam, my wife, to tell her where I was. The picture above shows where we went into the Downs. We ran into a tunnel and came out on the infield. Preparations were already underway for the Derby on May 02, 2009. There were huge white tents everywhere. We ran on an asphalt path. I made a pit stop again. The smell of horses was everywhere and there were horses & jockeys running the track. It was cool to actually be running inside Churchill Downs. I stopped and took some pictures, one of which is above of the two famed steeples which you see all the time on television.

We ran through another tunnel and came out under the grandstand and prepared to leave the Downs. Just as we left we passed mile marker 9. I figured at this point I could end up with a pretty good time. It was really warm and I grabbed a bottle of water at the next stop and took my final gel. The course turned north and headed for downtown Louisville.

The split for the mini and the full was at mile 12. Mini runners went to the left. I turned left and again let my wife know where I was on the course. She told me they had found seats in the bleachers at the finish line. At about mile 12 & 1/2 Pam told me I could beat the 2 & 1/2 hour time and I told her I was going to beat 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Both sides of the street were packed with spectators cheering on runners starting just before the mile 13 marker. It was so cool to see all the people. I made a last right turn and could see the finish line. I looked to my right and saw my own cheering section, Pam, Abby & Andy waving and yelling at me. That was really cool. They took some pictures of me, one which is above. I crossed the finish line and thought I DID IT. The time on my watch showed 2:16:06. I was pretty excited to have completed the mini in less than 2:20. I found some more Powerade and food. The bullpen like area for runners was packed and stacked. It took me about 15 minutes to get together with my family. I hugged my wife and daughter and we talked about what running the course was like. We walked back to where they had parked the car and headed to Abby & Andy's home.

Later in the afternoon I checked the Festival website and looked at the official time results. My "chip time" showed I ran the course in exactly 2 hours & 16 minutes. I was really pleased with this time and told Pam I wanted to better that time at the Disneyland 1/2 in September. I had a great time and will most certainly run this race again.

Thanks for reading.

Til next time, run strong & enjoy the moment.

Kentucky Derby Festival Mini Marathon Part 1

Wow, what a great time I had running the Derby festival mini marathon. My day started at 4:45am. I got up, put on my running clothes, ate some breakfast and waited for my son in law Andy to get up as he was giving me a ride to dowtown Louisville to catch the shuttle bus to the start line. The temperature was 71 degrees. I knew it was going to be a warm day running once the sun came up.

We left the house about 5:30 and headed for Louisville. When we got downtown there were runners everywhere walking towards the shuttle buses. Andy dropped me off and I got in line waiting to board a bus. While in line I talked with a runner from Ohio and from Missouri. The runner from Missouri was running her first 1/2 marathon. The Ohio runner, who is a marathoner was running her first Derby festival marathon. Once we got on the bus, it took about 20 minutes to get to where the race started. When we arrived there were thousands of runners everywhere. There were 12,oo0 runners registered for this event. Music was already playing and I saw four different versions of Elvis walking amongst the runners. We still had a little over and hour to kill before the race started so I fired up my IPod and listened to some music.

The race began at 7:30 for the elite runners. I was placed in corral C, so it was about 7:37 before I crossed the start line. And oh yeah, the sun was coming up and it was getting warmer. The first 2 1/2 miles of the race were really flat and we ran through city neighborhoods. There was one water stop before we entered the city park which was between miles 2 1/2 & 3. The park was hilly. Not big hills, just lots of little ones. I took my first gel pack at mile 3. My plan was to take a gel every 3 miles. When we finished running through the park, we came out on the street where the race started. I made a pit stop and took off running again down the same street I started the race on. At mile 6 I took another gel and there was a water & powerade stop. I grabbed a bottle of water and drank some powerade. The next point of interest for me was Churchill Downs, the famed home of the Kentucky Derby.

More to follow in my next post.

Thanks for reading.

Run strong & enjoy the moment.