Genius: Wide Open Spaces, Dixie Chicks (Live)

Quick 3-mile run today. It sure gets hot early -- and with the humidity, even better! Good Genius run today with a country theme. Love the Chicks...

Wide Open Spaces, Dixie Chicks (Live)
The Lucky One, Alison Krauss & Union Station
On the Road Again, Willie Nelson
Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby, Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch
When You Say Nothing At All, Keith Whitley
The Man Comes Around, Johnny Cash
Hey, Good Lookin', Hank Williams
Killin' Kind, Shelby Lynne

3 miles, 27:42, 9:14, 73 degrees

Training begins

Since I last wrote, I've been on the training wagon. Logging 26 miles last week and 21 before. I've had one Genius run, with a funk theme; however, I forgot to write it down.

We've targeted a couple of races to run this fall: The Baltimore Marathon and Half and the Greenville Spinx Marathon and Half. We have folks we can stay with for most of the time in Baltimore, and will get a hotel room on the night before the race so we can be close to the start. I've never been to Baltimore, though I've been to DC dozens of times. I hope we can make that one. If not, it's home for Greenville.

I'm planning on running the marathon, and MC and LC are going to run the half-marathon. At last conversation with Mike, he was unsure which he'd run. Looking forward to a fun race!

Also since the last update, I've obviously changed the style of the blog (a couple of times). I've settled (at least this week) on this running-themed background. I'd put up a rather plain one, and MC told me it was boring so I switched it. Don't know how long it will stay this way, but we'll see.

Genius: Joy, Lucinda Williams

Tough little 3 miles today -- think it was the drink the night before...
Good music mix, though.

Joy, Lucinda Williams
Gypsy Biker, Bruce Springsteen
Little Martha, The Allman Brothers Band
Gimme Shelter, Patti Smith (great cover!)
Country Ghetto, Mofro
The House is Rockin', Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble

3 miles from home, 27:55, 9:18, 70 degrees

Training dilemma; Genius: Fill Her Up, Sting

In training for a marathon, one has to make the ultimate decision: Which training plan to follow. You got your Hal Higdon with novice 1 and 2, intermediate 1 and 2, and advanced 1 and 2,  (and really, if you're past intermediate, do you need anything else?); you got Randy Galloway with run a mile/walk a minute, pain-free marathon; and there's the Furman folks with their FIRST 3-days running a week success stories. What does one do?

I've decided on a hybrid: Primarily Hal Higdon's Intermediate I with some speed work involved. Runner's World has a great article this month on training. It is their annual Runner's World Challenge to prep for a marathon. The online article doesn't have the plan listed like it is in the paper version (I guess there is a reason to subscribe!). On that plan, it looks like I could shoot for a 4:00 marathon, but that seems unrealistic. It is confusing because for the "easy" runs, I should be clocking in at 10:04 a mile -- and I'm consistently running in the 9:20 range. But, I'm gonna train for the 4:30 as I think that is doable.

I've been blessed with heat my first two marathons -- both (Marine Corps on Halloween, and Atlanta ING in late March) with unseasonable temps in the 80s. In the Marine Corps, MC got sick in the middle and LC had to be rushed to the hospital. For the ING, the weekend before was my hottest training run -- at 57 degrees. At the START, it was 68; I knew I was in trouble. I'd vowed never to run a marathon again -- primarily to spare the other runners of my bad karma.

But, here I go again. You are warned, other runners!

Today was an easy 5-mile run, with a very good Genius mix. All are great for running.

Fill Her Up, Sting
When I Look At The World, U2
Candy Everybody Wants, 10,000 Maniac
#34, Dave Matthews Band
Swim, Maddona
She's On Fire, Train
Come Running, Van Morrison
Steve McQueen, Sheryl Crow
Galileo, Indigo Girls (live version)
Sullivan Street, Counting Crows
Mountains O' Things, Tracy Chapman

5 miles from home, 46:13, 9:14 pace, 76 degrees

Still running

It's been a while since I posted, but I'm still at it -- just not running with the ipod as much (actually, I haven't run with tunes since my last post). I'm running mostly with MC, so I like the company!

We are gearing up for a race this fall with our friends LC and Mike. MC will be running a half-marathon and I'm tackling the full. Again. And I swore I wouldn't for the other runners' sake: Each of my two previous marathons have been run in 80+ degrees -- not good for all. I didn't want to expose the other runners to my bad race-day karma, so I'd decided to drop the full.

Well, I'm going back on that promise. If it is over 70 on race day, I'll switch to the half!

I'll keep you posted on the training.

Genius: Thunder Road, Bruce Springsteen

Nice 5.5-miler today, the first 1.5 with MC. Started at about 7 a.m. at mid-70s temp. So, it was a little hot. Carried water, which I'll do from now on for any run 5 or more.

I started the Genius after MC and I split at the 1.5 mark. Thought I'd go ol' school today to celebrate my brother-in-law, Doak, visiting here in Green Vegas.

Thunder Road, Bruce Springsteen
Brown Sugar, Rolling Stones
Ramblin' Man, The Allman Brothers Band
Pinball Wizard, The Who
Train in Vain (Stand By Me), The Clash
After Midnight, Eric Clapton
Daughter, Pearl Jam
When the Levee Breaks, Led Zeppelin
Voodoo Chile, Jimi Hendrix

5.5-miler from home, 49:41, 8:58 pace, mid-70s, partly cloudy

Rockmont anniversary run

This past weekend, MC and I celebrated our 6th anniversary in the Blue Ridge at our cottage in Black Mountain. Had a great trip and squeezed in a run at Camp Rockmont.

We were lucky to have our good friend, Courtney, join us for the run (and a hike) -- and her two dogs, Roxy and Layla, kept Jake and Wheeler running about three times as far as we went. Running with the dogs off-leash is one of our favorite things, and they have a great time diving in the ponds, chasing geese and chasing each other.

The day was overcast, which kept the temps in the cool 60s. There are many roads and trails one can follow, so you can run a different route each time. At least that is what I tell myself; MC says she's been taking me out there for 7 years now and I still don't know my way around!

It is hard to estimate distances, so we generally keep time and guestimate. It makes it a more relaxing run, and being out in that scenery makes for a great time. MC, Courtney and I went about 35 minutes before they decided to walk for a while. I went for another 25 minutes and took a few photos that I'm posting here.

Great time, great run, great friends. It doesn't get any better.

Did it!!!

So I did it. I ran the Bolder Boulder. And I lived to tell the tale.

It was actually a great event. I haven't done a ton of races, but this one was definitely incredibly well organized. They did the start in 80+ waves based on your antipated time. The first group of waves had to be documented and then the rest were on the honor system. Lynn and I ran in one of the sub-70 min waves with a crazy start time of 7:44 and 40 sec am. You can see the signs for the waves in the pic. We were in the GB wave.


After Dr. Oz (yes, THE Dr. Oz) started our wave, we took off for a crazy run. It was a mass of humanity as far as you could see, but there was room to run and maneuver around. Quite a difference from my first 10K where I seriously feared being trampled to death in the first 1K. There were bands and people all along the route. We saw belly dancers, passed a beer stand and a bacon stand (really?) as well as the slip and slide and kiddie pool. It was a party the whole way there. The only thing that really tempted me, though, was the group with the coffee. But they weren't giving any away. Rats.

I lost Lynn early on, but used the Garmin to keep my pace. I didn't want to run out too fast like most people do. It's easy to get caught up with the rest, but I kept myself in check. Although we started early, it was a gorgeous sunny Colorado day. It felt HOT really fast. I started seeking out shade along the route ... But my training had definitely paid off, and I felt pretty good the whole way. The finish was at the CU football stadium (remember Mork and Mindy?) It got pretty crowded at the end as we went from 6 lanes of streets to funneling into the stadium. It was quite a sight and pretty cool to come into thousands of people in the stands!

After the race, we were herded into an area where our timing tags were clipped off our shoes, then given water and gatorade and shuffled into the field house. There were these chutes set up where we went through and got 1) a bottle of water 2) a snack bag 3) a soda and 4) (if you were over 21) a beer. And then into the stands to watch the rest of the finishers and wait for the Memorial Day tribute.

We had friends in another wave so we waited for them. While we waited we saw a group of Marines who had run in formation carrying flags. They got a standing ovation from the crowd. And incredibly, before crossing the finish line, they stopped and did push ups. Very impressive!

A bit later I looked up (our friends started over an hour after we did), and there was our friend, Bob, on the jumbotron entering the stadium. I think they liked his cowboy hat!

We met up with Bob and Andrea a few minutes later and wanted to wait for the tribute. But it was so hot and it was still an hour away, so we finally called it quits. But a great experience.

Now for the 1/2 marathon ...

Play list (didn't use Genius - went with a theme)

The Road Goes on Forever, Robert Earl Keen

Up Around the Bend, CCR

Carefree Highway, Gordon Lightfoot

The Valley Road, Bruce Hornsby

Ready to Run, Dixie Chicks

The Long and Winding Road, Beatles

LA Freeway, Guy Clark

The Road I'm On, 3 Doors Down

Life in the Fast Lane, Eagles

Country Road, James Taylor

Sunday Street, Peter Keane

A Thousand Miles from Nowhere, Dwight Yoakum

Streets of Philadelphia, Bruce Springsteen

Crossroads, Cream

Going Mobile, the Who

Official results:

Patti Bivona

bib number:GB531

overall place:20031

location:Boulder, CO

division:F48

division place:112 out of 403

gender place:7888 out of 22964

mile 1:00:10:04.43

mile 2:00:10:18.74

mile 300:10:38.86

mile 4:00:10:28.31

mile 5:00:10:11.32

mile 6:00:10:20.73

net time:01:04:15.80

pace:10:20 (based on net time)

So one last picture I wanted to add. I finally got a picture along my training course. It's been tough to get a good one because it's been so cloudy in the mornings and the afternoon sun doesn't make for a good picture. We live directly to the left of where I took this about a quarter mile away. Unfortunately we're on the opposite side of the street from this but the view from the deck is awesome!!!