To Dopey 2020 and Beyond!

[KevM]

Well, I am terrible at even trying to keep up with this journal, but I'm going to try and do it once a week going forward.

For tonight, an update on my mileage. I ran 145.4 miles this month, which puts my total for the year at 772.8 miles. That's 51.5% of my goal for running 1,500 miles this year. So a little ahead of target, which is nice.

Coming up in July I've got 4 races scheduled:

7/4 - Sweet 'N Salt 10K (you get ice cream and bacon when you finish)
7/11- Midsummer Night 5k #2 (of 3)
7/13 - Phil's Quarter Marathon (my first quarter marathon, so a new distance for me)
7/21 - Double Trouble Trail Race (It'll be either a 15K or a 30K. When you signed up you didn't have to say which you were doing. So I'll need to talk to my buddy that talked me into signing up to see what the deal is. If I do the 30K that'll be a new race distance for me as well. I've been training as if I'll be doing to 30K)

July is also the offical start to my training for both the Freedom Challenge and Dopey. The Freedom Challenge is the Philadelphia Half-Marathon and 8K on 11/23 followed by the Philadelphia Marathon on 11/24.

 

[KevM]

Hey, what's this? An actual weekly update.

My mileage for the first week of July was 27.68. Below what I want my weekly mileage to be, but not bad since I took Tuesday off. Mondays are generally my only day off from running, but this week I took Tuesday off since Wednesday morning I did an Active Metabolic Assessment. I was very pleased to see that my VO2 Max was 54.4.

Then on Thursday, the Sweet 'N Salty 10K was hot. It was an out and back on the Perkiomen Trail with large stretches of it being unshaded. The temperature was 77 at the beginning and was 80 or 81 at the end. The Dew point was somewhere in the low to mid 70s. So the T+D was 150ish. I knew for a fact that I wasn't going to be setting any PRs that morning and decided my goal would be to finish in under an hour. I accomplished that, finishing in a time of 57:36.

For this upcoming week I am back on my normal training schedule which is:
Monday - Rest day (walk to get my 10,000 steps)
Tuesday - Run. I generally get in two runs on Tuesdays. I work from home on tuesdays so I usually run at lunch and then meet with a run club Tuesday evening. However, now that it's summer I am thinking of moving my lunch run to the early morning and playing the Tuesday evening run by ear depenidng on how hot/humid it is.
Wednesday - Run & strength training
Thursday - Run. Usually with a run club, but again that'll be depending on how hot/humid it is.
Friday - Run & Strength traning
Saturday - Run
Sunday - Run & Strength training.

I also try to fit in yoga on Saturday and/or Sunday but it's been a number of weeks since I last made a class.

Let's see, what else is there. Oh, I gave myself a daily challenge for the month of July. Holding sumo squats. On the 1st I held a sumo squat for 1 minute and each day I've been dding on 5 seconds. So, today I held it for 1minute 30 seconds. This is actually my third monthly challenge to myself. It started in May when I decided to do 31 Days of Planks. Then in June I couldn't think of anything to do until the 9th. That's when I realized that it had been months since I last meditated. So I gave myself the challenge of meditating for at least 5 minutes a day. Today was the 29th consecutive day that I've accomplished that.

On the race front, I've actually added two more races for this coming week. So I now have a bit of a mini-Dopey going on. I'm going to be running:

7/11- Midsummer Night 5k #2 (a night time 5K that starts at 7PM).
7/13 - Phil's Quarter Marathon
7/13 - Blacklight Run 5K (a night time run that starts at 8:45PM)
7/14 - Blobfest 10K

The Blacklight Run will be just for fun. a couple cousins are doing it and talked me into signing up for it. The Blobfest 10K is an inaugural run. Parts of the Blob where filmed in Phoenixville (including the famous running out if the theater scene) and this is the town's 20th annual Blobfest. Last year they included a 5K, which i ran. That was such a hit that this year they brought back the 5K and added a 10K.

Let's see, I think that's all I have for right now.

 

[SheHulk]

Hey, what's this? An actual weekly update.

My mileage for the first week of July was 27.68. Below what I want my weekly mileage to be, but not bad since I took Tuesday off. Mondays are generally my only day off from running, but this week I took Tuesday off since Wednesday morning I did an Active Metabolic Assessment. I was very pleased to see that my VO2 Max was 54.4.

Then on Thursday, the Sweet 'N Salty 10K was hot. It was an out and back on the Perkiomen Trail with large stretches of it being unshaded. The temperature was 77 at the beginning and was 80 or 81 at the end. The Dew point was somewhere in the low to mid 70s. So the T+D was 150ish. I knew for a fact that I wasn't going to be setting any PRs that morning and decided my goal would be to finish in under an hour. I accomplished that, finishing in a time of 57:36.

For this upcoming week I am back on my normal training schedule which is:
Monday - Rest day (walk to get my 10,000 steps)
Tuesday - Run. I generally get in two runs on Tuesdays. I work from home on tuesdays so I usually run at lunch and then meet with a run club Tuesday evening. However, now that it's summer I am thinking of moving my lunch run to the early morning and playing the Tuesday evening run by ear depenidng on how hot/humid it is.
Wednesday - Run & strength training
Thursday - Run. Usually with a run club, but again that'll be depending on how hot/humid it is.
Friday - Run & Strength traning
Saturday - Run
Sunday - Run & Strength training.

I also try to fit in yoga on Saturday and/or Sunday but it's been a number of weeks since I last made a class.

Let's see, what else is there. Oh, I gave myself a daily challenge for the month of July. Holding sumo squats. On the 1st I held a sumo squat for 1 minute and each day I've been dding on 5 seconds. So, today I held it for 1minute 30 seconds. This is actually my third monthly challenge to myself. It started in May when I decided to do 31 Days of Planks. Then in June I couldn't think of anything to do until the 9th. That's when I realized that it had been months since I last meditated. So I gave myself the challenge of meditating for at least 5 minutes a day. Today was the 29th consecutive day that I've accomplished that.

On the race front, I've actually added two more races for this coming week. So I now have a bit of a mini-Dopey going on. I'm going to be running:

7/11- Midsummer Night 5k #2 (a night time 5K that starts at 7PM).
7/13 - Phil's Quarter Marathon
7/13 - Blacklight Run 5K (a night time run that starts at 8:45PM)
7/14 - Blobfest 10K

The Blacklight Run will be just for fun. a couple cousins are doing it and talked me into signing up for it. The Blobfest 10K is an inaugural run. Parts of the Blob where filmed in Phoenixville (including the famous running out if the theater scene) and this is the town's 20th annual Blobfest. Last year they included a 5K, which i ran. That was such a hit that this year they brought back the 5K and added a 10K.

Let's see, I think that's all I have for right now.

I need to start following your journal more closely just to get a good list of all the local races! You seem to be running every one of them.

 

[KevM]

This week’s running mileage total was 35.92 miles. A little above the mileage I need to stay on pace for my goal of 1,500 miles this year. I need to average ~31.25 miles/week. Although I am also currently about 20 above of where I need to be for the year, so I have a few miles in the bank.

So if the 4 races I had planned on running this week only 2 happened.

The first race, Midsummer Night 5K was postponed due to ⛈ in the area. That’s been rescheduled for the last Thursday of the month now.

The second race, Phil’s Quarter Marathon was nice. It started and ended at Temple University’s Ambler campus and went around the area, including some cross country and trail running. It was my first Quarter Marathon. Which meant an automatic PR. That’s always nice. . Given the T & D ~140, my goal was going for about a 9:30 pace. I exceeded that and ended up finishing in 59:42, so a pace of ~9:07. I was very happy with that.

The third race, Blacklight Run, was only a fun run. It was untimed and while I thought it was supposed to be a 5K I ended up clocking it at only a hair over 2.50 miles. This was ran down in Chester, at Talen Energy Stadium where the Union (Philly’s MLS team) plays.

I DNS the fourth race, Blobfest 10K, this morning. When I got up this morning my left hamstring and right shin where annoyed at me and I decided that discretion is the better part of valor.

My meditation streak has continued. Today’s made 36 days straight with at least one meditation session for at least 5 minutes.

I’ve also continued with my July challenge of adding 5 seconds onto my daily sumo squat. Today I stayed in it for 2 minutes 5 seconds.

@DopeyBadger recent posts has had me constantly paying attention to my posture. That’s a good thing since my posture is generally not good. That'll Be a thing I work going forward. I should check the App Store, I’m sure that’s an app for that.

On the race front, I have one race this coming week:

7/21 - Double Trouble Trail Run. It’s a 15K or 30K. When I signed up I didn’t have to say which I was doing. I’ve been training for doing a 30K bit at the moment think there’s a good chance I’ll just do the 15K.

Looking forward through August, the races I’m signed up for are:

7/25 - Midsummer Night 5K #2. The race that was rescheduled from this past Thursday.

8/8 - Midsummer Night 5K #3.

8/10 - Master the Mountain 5K. With @Professor_Cookie posting a lot about mountain running, I thought I’d see what was around me in the Poconos. Surprisingly, I find it tough to find Pocono Mountains that has races. I only found a Spartan Race at Blue Mountain which was yesterday and today. Spartan Races aren’t really my thing so even if that had been further out I wouldn’t have done it. The only other one I found was this race, which is at Shawnee Mountain.

8/25 - Philly 10K. This is a 10K that take place in South Philly. So it’ll be different from most of the other major Philly races.

I think that’s about all I’ve got for this week’s update. But hey, 2 weeks in a row for me. Go me!

 

[KevM]

This was a light running week for me. Mileage total was 21.64. That brings my total for the month to 85.26. That has me slightly behind for the month. I’ve got 8 running days left to play catch up (Mondays are a rest day for me).

I was supposed to run the Double Trouble Trail Run this morning, but I took a DNS. I’ve figured out the summer racing just isn’t my thing. I checked the weather at the start time of the race and it was a T + D of 157. I checked again when I projected I probably would have finished the 15K and it was a T + D of 165. At least at this point and time I am not up for racing in that.

My next scheduled race is the second Midsummer Night 5K on 7/25. That’s the race that got postponed due to ⛈.

In other running news. On Tuesday night a run club that I’m a part of did a prediction run 5K. Given the heat wave we were in, I figured my pace would be real slow. It was the exact opposite. I beat my prediction by about 4 minutes. Actually, had this been an official race I would have gotten a new PR for the 5K. That was unexpected. Guess it goes to show that not looking at my pace and just trying to keep up with the person in front of me is a good way to run. At least some of the time.

On the non-racing front, my meditation streak is now at 43 days. My July challenge to myself of adding 5 seconds on to my daily sumo squat is also going well. I’ve done all 21 days so far and today’s sumo squat was for 2:40. My thighs are definitely feeling it the last 30 seconds or so.

In cross training news, I took a cycle class yesterday and found out my functional threshold power. When I get the chance to take cycle classes I do like them. I need to make a better effort of fitting them into my schedule. Same for yoga. I really enjoy yoga, but it’s been probably a good two months since I last made it to a class. I need to fix that.

On the functional exercise equipment front, I shared the below link on the running thread earlier today. I am really trying to convince myself that I don’t need a Death Star Slam ball or the Han in carbonite yoga mat. And if the kettlebells hadn’t have been sold out I k ow I would have already bought the Darth Vader one for sure.

https://www.onnit.com/starwars/
I think that’s about all I’ve got for this week.

 

[KevM]

This week’s mileage was 36.18. That brings my total for the month to 121.44. With 2 running days to go this month (Mondays are my off day from running) I will easily hit my monthly goal of 125. Looking ahead to my plan for Tuesday and Wednesday I think I’ll probably end the month at 131 miles or so.

One of the Run clubs I’m a part of has been doing Dawn Patrol (5:30 AM) runs on Friday’s for the past couple of weeks. I’ve been hot or miss on doing them, because waking up that early on a non-work day for me is tough. But I got out there this past Friday. I do always like it when I make it out. Watching the sunrise while in a run is very nice.

Yesterday’s run was rough though. I slept badly and woke up tired. My plan was to get out and do 8 miles early. Instead it took my about 2 hours to get myself out the door. The first couple of miles felt terrible but I kept going and by about mile 6 I was feeling good and my 8 ended up being my fastest mile. My last mile being my fastest is not a usual thing for me, so I was happy about that.

As for non-running things:

My strength training is going great. Still doing that three days a week (Wednesday, Friday, & Sunday). Part of that is doing 500 meter rows. It’s taken me sometime but I have now gotten my avg spm down into the high 20s, which is what I’ve been aiming for.

Today also marked the 50th conservative day of my meditation streak. And my July challenge of adding 5 seconds to my sumo squat every day had me in that position today for 3 minutes and 15 seconds. I (and my thighs) will be really happy when this month is over. Haha.

When it was announced that the National Team’s Victory Tour would be bringing them to Philly I knew I was going to go. Ticket pre-sales started on Friday and since I’ve gone to games before I had a pre-sale code. So I now have tickets for that. Going with two friends of mine. The wife is a huge fan as well. The husband isn’t a soccer fan at all but is going along anyway.

Another friend of mine this week asked if I’d be up for going to the Baseball Hall of Fame in October. I’m running the Philly Marathon towards the end of November and my very first thought was, what are my long runs in October. Because I don’t think I’d want to do a 20 mile run in Cooperstown when I’m only up there for a long weekend. But one of those weekends is a cut back and I’d “only” be running 13. If that weekend works out for him, I’ll probably be doing that trip in October. Haha.

I think that’s about it for this week.

 

[KevM]

End of the month update: since Sunday I ran 11.56 miles. So my July totals are:

Miles - 133
Avg pace - 9:38
Total time - 21hr 21min 14sec.

Total miles for the year 905.8/1,500. 60.38% of my way to my goal for the year. 30.8 miles ahead of pace.

 

[KevM]

This week has been a blah week. Haven't been sleeping while and just always feeling tired and worn down. a couple people I know have summer colds, so not sure if my body is trying to fight a cold off or what. For the week (7/29-8/4) I only ran a total of 17.98 miles. 6.49 of those miles in August.

On the non-running side of things, I have been keeping up with my strength training. July is over, so too then is my sumo squat challenge. I got up to holding it for 3 minutes 30 seconds. For that reason I am happy July is over. Up until about 2:30 it was fine, but after that I was counting down the days until July was over. Also over, is my meditation streak. I got up to 53 days. I haven't done it for the last three days and haven't yet done it for toay yet, and most likely won't.

My body obviously needed a little break. Tomorrow is my normal rest day. So I'm hopefully that come Tuesday I am feeling back to normal. Here's to a better week this coming week.

 

[KevM]

The mileage for this week was 31.29, so right on point for where I want it to be. For the month that brings my mileage to 37.81.

My sleeping habit was a bit better this week. Last week I only averaging a little over 5 1/2 hours/night. This week I got a little over 6 hours/night. Really planning on changing that this week and getting back into better sleeping habits. My goal tonight is to be in bed by 9 PM for a 4:30 AM wake up. Still kind of feel like I'm fighting off a cold this week, so hoping better sleep helps with that too.

With that, I'll finish up this short update so I can go get ready for bed in just over an hour.

 

[KevM]

My mileage for this week was 33.97, so just above my weekly goal average of 31.25. For the month I am now at 71.82 miles.

In non-running things, my sleeping habit is still off. This week I only managed to average a little under 6 hours/night. In better news, I’ve hit a personal milestone in my pursuit of getting healthier.

When I became serious about getting healthy, roughly 17 1/2 months ago (Presidents’ Day Weekend ‘18), I was at my heaviest I ever weighed at 221. With a SMM of 79.4 and a PBF of 36.7%. When I weighed myself yesterday I was at 186 with a SMM of 86.2 (the highest I’ve had for this) and finally (finally!!!!) cracked into the teens for PBF with a percentage of 19.2. I’ve been stuck in the 20-21% range for a number of weeks and it was starting to annoy me.

In running things: My current pair of running shoes are nearing retirement and I’ll probably hang them up at the end of the month. I already have my next pair of running shoes but then Nike came out with their new NFL shoes and of course I just had to buy a pair (yay target marketing )



My next race is this coming Sunday (8/25). It’s the Philly 10K. I’m looking forward to running it. It’s supposed to have great community involvement and it also takes you through parts of the city that most of the other major Philly races don’t.

I’ve also signed up for another Half-Marathon. This is the Hershey Half-Marathon (10/20). It’s only three weeks after my current A race, the Ocean City (NJ) Half-Marathon, where if the conditions are good I’m aiming for my first sub 2 hour Half. I’m currently 39 seconds off from it. I do admit one of the reasons I signed up for this is because you get two tickets to Hersheypark in the Dark. Another reason (and honestly probably bigger reason then the tickets) is the medal. Who doesn’t want a Hershey Kiss medal?



Then to top of off, today I saw an ad for a Half that is only 6 days (10/26) after the Hershey Half that I am trying to talk myself out of. I’m thinking about it because the course seems cool. It’s the End if the Road Half and it’s in Waterfall, PA. The course is an abandon portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. In ‘68 a bypass was built and this portion of the turnpike hasn’t been used since. Even though it’s ran at 8:30 AM you still need to bring a headlight/flashlight becomes 5 miles of it is ran through tunnels that don’t have lighting. If I’m smart and don’t sign up for it this year I am definitely doing it next year. Part of the reason I’m thinking about doing it is because I need to put in my training miles for my November Marathon anyway, so I figure way not run it as my long run for that weekend, which is supposed to be a 12 mile run anyway.

Then the final thing in the racing front is a question. Has anyone here been a pacer? A friend of mine is doing a 12 hour race in a couple of weeks. We briefly discussed me being a pacer for a portion of the race. The thing is he’s a faster runner than I am. I think it would be a cool thing to do but I’m leaning towards probably not doing it. Besides me being g a slower runner, I’m already going to a concert the night before and I’m not sure how late I’ll be out.

I think that’s about all I’ve got for this week.

 

[michigandergirl]

Who doesn’t want a Hershey Kiss medal?

Exactly! I would totally run it too if I lived closer.

 

[SheHulk]

My mileage for this week was 33.97, so just above my weekly goal average of 31.25. For the month I am now at 71.82 miles.

In non-running things, my sleeping habit is still off. This week I only managed to average a little under 6 hours/night. In better news, I’ve hit a personal milestone in my pursuit of getting healthier.

When I became serious about getting healthy, roughly 17 1/2 months ago (Presidents’ Day Weekend ‘18), I was at my heaviest I ever weighed at 221. With a SMM of 79.4 and a PBF of 36.7%. When I weighed myself yesterday I was at 186 with a SMM of 86.2 (the highest I’ve had for this) and finally (finally!!!!) cracked into the teens for PBF with a percentage of 19.2. I’ve been stuck in the 20-21% range for a number of weeks and it was starting to annoy me.

In running things: My current pair of running shoes are nearing retirement and I’ll probably hang them up at the end of the month. I already have my next pair of running shoes but then Nike came out with their new NFL shoes and of course I just had to buy a pair (yay target marketing )

View attachment 426999

My next race is this coming Sunday (8/25). It’s the Philly 10K. I’m looking forward to running it. It’s supposed to have great community involvement and it also takes you through parts of the city that most of the other major Philly races don’t.

I’ve also signed up for another Half-Marathon. This is the Hershey Half-Marathon (10/20). It’s only three weeks after my current A race, the Ocean City (NJ) Half-Marathon, where if the conditions are good I’m aiming for my first sub 2 hour Half. I’m currently 39 seconds off from it. I do admit one of the reasons I signed up for this is because you get two tickets to Hersheypark in the Dark. Another reason (and honestly probably bigger reason then the tickets) is the medal. Who doesn’t want a Hershey Kiss medal?

View attachment 427000

Then to top of off, today I saw an ad for a Half that is only 6 days (10/26) after the Hershey Half that I am trying to talk myself out of. I’m thinking about it because the course seems cool. It’s the End if the Road Half and it’s in Waterfall, PA. The course is an abandon portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. In ‘68 a bypass was built and this portion of the turnpike hasn’t been used since. Even though it’s ran at 8:30 AM you still need to bring a headlight/flashlight becomes 5 miles of it is ran through tunnels that don’t have lighting. If I’m smart and don’t sign up for it this year I am definitely doing it next year. Part of the reason I’m thinking about doing it is because I need to put in my training miles for my November Marathon anyway, so I figure way not run it as my long run for that weekend, which is supposed to be a 12 mile run anyway.

Then the final thing in the racing front is a question. Has anyone here been a pacer? A friend of mine is doing a 12 hour race in a couple of weeks. We briefly discussed me being a pacer for a portion of the race. The thing is he’s a faster runner than I am. I think it would be a cool thing to do but I’m leaning towards probably not doing it. Besides me being g a slower runner, I’m already going to a concert the night before and I’m not sure how late I’ll be out.

I think that’s about all I’ve got for this week.

That is great and even though I said no races until Goofy this is very tempting! I live in PA and love Hershey Park.

 

[KevM]

I’ve been to Hersheypark stadium for a concert recently, but I haven’t actually been in Hersheypark since I was a kid. I’m Looking forward to hitting it up for the first time in forever.

 

[KevM]

My mileage for the week was 26.05, so a bit below my weekly mile goal. For the month I am at 97.89. Between still not sleeping great, having a few days of not feeling well on top of that, and having a race today that I wanted to be up for I took a couple days off from running during the mid-week.

I did my long run yesterday (12 miles) since I was just getting over not feeling well I decided to do it all on the treadmill, in case I felt the need to cut it short. I know a lot of people aren't big fans of the treadmill but i don;t mind it. part of the reason for that is because I'm a big soccer fan and doing my long miles on Saturday/Sunday mornings mean I miss some of the games. But when i have to do them on the treadmill I f=get to watch EPL/Bundesliga games. So getting to watch them as I put in the miles is sort of a treat.

As I said, i had a race today, the Philly 10K. It's a newer race, this is it's 6th year, but it's a popular race with 4,000-4,500 people running it. The route is mainly in South Philly, so it's a part of the city that most of the other main Philly races don't hit. Since I wasn't feeling well this week I had changed my goal (in my head) from aiming for a 52:45 finish 9which would be a PR by about 30 seconds) to just wanting to finish in under a hour. I blow my goal out of the water! I broke my PR by 2;03, with a finishing time of 51:13!!! When i started I went out of the gate at hat i thought was way to fast. I hit 1 mile at 8:08 and thought I was going to be in real trouble the rest of the race. I slowed down a little bit and was waiting for my body to tell me I was a ******* for going out so fast, but mile after mile I continued to feel great. My last mile was my fastest (at 7:55). My final mile being my fastest is something that never happens. I've been in a great mood all day.

In non-running things this coming week, on Thursday I'm going to see the USWNT take on Portugal as part of the victory tour at the Linc. I'm really looking forward to that. Then Saturday night gonig to a concert. Seeing Slipknot/Volbeat/Gojira/Behemoth. Truthfully, not really familiar with Gojira or Behemoth and I can take or leave Slipknot. But my buddy I'm going with and I are both huge Volbeat fans. So that's going to be a blast.

I think that's about all i've got for this week.

 

[michigandergirl]

Nice PR!!!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Congrats!

 

[KevM]

A rare mid-week update because I got my Philly 10K photos today and I have to laugh because I am a person who does not get great in race photos. Although I do appreciate that the second one is at the finish and captures me celebrating what I knew was a new 10K PR.

 

[KevM]

The month ended yesterday, so my mileage for August was 118.58. My total for the year (as of yesterday) is 1,024.38, so 68.2% of the way to my goal of 1,500 miles this year. I’m currently 24.38 miles ahead of where I need to be. My mileage for this week (8/26 - 9/1) is 24.07, a fair bit below where I want my weekly mileage to be , but that was with both a busy week and listening to my body telling me to take it easy the last few days.

In other running related news, yesterday was my last day of running in my ASICS Gel-Kayano 25s. There was talk in another thread, I think it was the running thread, about when people retire their shoes. I retire my relatively early, none of mine have gotten past 350 miles.

I have only ran with one pair of shoes at a time, but this time around I’m going to try rotating shoes. Right now I have two, but I think tomorrow I’m going to go out and look for a third pair. Right now my two pairs are Brooks Ghost 11 and Nike Air Zoom Pegasus Eagles. I’m now also reminded of another discussion (this time I forget which thread) about naming shoes. I had never done that, but this time I’m going to. So below are my two current running shoes:

Brooks Ghost 11 aka Dopey Quest


This pair’s name is pretty self explanatory, since I’m training for Dopey.

Nike Air Zoom Pegasus Eagles aka On the Road to Victory


This pair takes its name from the Eagles fight song (lyrics below). I plan to run in this pair on Eagles game days.

Fly, Eagles Fly!
On the road to victory! (Fight! Fight! Fight!)
Fight, Eagles fight!
Score a touchdown 1, 2, 3! (1! 2! 3!)
Hit 'em low!
Hit 'em high!
And watch our Eagles fly!
Fly, Eagles Fly!
On the road to victory!
E-A-G-L-E-S!
Eagles!

On the non-running but working out front, back in May I did a daily plank challenge and I’ve decided to do that again this month. Today was Plank with shoulder taps.


I don’t plan to update this journal daily with this, but I will be doing daily updates on my instagram (kevinmccarrick)

In the non-running/workout front, as I said this week was pretty busy. On Thursday night I went to watch the USWNT play and that was an absolute blast.



Then on Saturday afternoon I had my first of three Fantasy Football Drafts. This one was a live in person one. So the biddy running it had everyone over to his place.

Then last night I went to the Knotfest Roadshow concert (Slipknot/Volbeat/Gojira/Behemoth). That was an awesome show. That was over in Camden at the BT&T pavilion. The real nice thing was that Philly was also doing Labor Day fireworks that night too. So got to see a nice firework show while at the concert.


I think that’s about all I’ve got for tonight.

 

[KevM]

Hahaha. Wow, I disappeared for a while without meaning to. Life's been busy, real good though. Need to get to bed on the early side tonight for racing tomorrow, so just a quick little sum up of racing the last few months.

At the end of September I ran the Ocean City (NJ) Half-Marathon. My goal for that race was to break to hours. The last Half-Marathon I had done I ran in 2:00:36. It was not meant to be that time and I finished in 2:13:35.

However, I had another Half-Marathon lined up already for just 21 days later; the Hershey Half-Marathon. I felt pretty good about my chance to break 2 this time and I crushed it. Finished in 1:50:43.

Now it's Philadelphia Marathon weekend and the reason I need to get to bed early tonight is because I am running both days. I'm doing the Freedom Challenge, which is the Half-Marathon & 8K tomorrow and then the Marathon on Sunday. Doing the Freedom Challenge as prep for Dopey. My plan for tomorrow is to take both reason at an easy pace. Thinking somewhere in the 2:10-2:25 range for the half and 50-55 minutes for the 8K. Then put my full effort into the Marathon.

 

[KevM]

Haha. I disappeared from this journal again for over a month. A goal for next year is to really stay better and more consistent at updating.

Let’s see, the last time I updated this was the night before the Freedom Challenge started. So, starting there; I crushed it! I ran both the Half and the 8K on Saturday faster then I was aiming for. I did the Half in 1:58:XX & the 8K in 47:XX. Then on Sunday I PR’ed the Marathon in 4:46:31. I was on pace for about 4:15 through mile 19, but at that point already knew I wasn’t going to come copse to it. Starting around 16.5 mile my right knee started stiffening up. Then about mile 19 it got to the point t where I had to start doing run/walk intervals and by mile 21 I had to just walk for about 1.5 miles before my knee even felt like it could do run/walk intervals. But it was still a great time!


Since then, running wise, I’ve just been continuing for the Dopey Challenge. Hard to believe that’s only a week away!

For 2020, I don’t currently have any set goals. over the next few days I’ll need to figure out what I’ll be aiming for this year. I am currently signed up for 10 races in ‘20.

1/1/20: LifeTime Commitment Day 5K

1/9/20-1/12/20: Dopey Challenge

2/22/20: Fireside Frostbite 5 Miler

3/14/20: Conshy St. Patrick’s Day Classic 5K

3/28/20: Phillies 5K

3/29/20: Love Run Half-Marathon

11/22/20: Philadelphia Marathon

There are a number of other races that I am looking at, but am currently undecided on.

See you in the new year!