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Tuesday (Nov 1)
Running: (FAIL) My schedule called for 10-miles this morning, but I overslept and missed my opportunity. I am SO MAD at myself, and have felt out-of-sorts all day long. I don’t ever recall being this upset before about a missed run. I’ve got to remember this feeling so that the next time I reach for the snooze button I’ll have a little extra motivation to get out on my feet.
Princess Passenger Completes First-Ever Marathon at Sea to Honor Friend
Staff Sergeant Christopher Chacksfield once expressed interest in raising funds for Help for Heroes, a charity that provides support to those wounded, sick or injured in the line of duty since 9/11. Unfortunately, he never got the chance. In June 2010, he unexpectedly passed away, and his friend Steve Eaton struggled to find some way to honor the fallen military veteran’s life.
With an upcoming cruise in place, Steve put his mind to work on a unique idea for honoring his late friend, but it would take a lot of planning and coordination with the Grand Princess crew. Princess Cruises was more than happy to help out and on September 22nd, Steve Eaton successfully completed the world’s first-ever marathon at sea to benefit Help for Heroes on Christopher Chacksfield’s behalf.
Though he’s an avid runner with 33 previous marathons under his belt, this was definitely a new experience for Steve, and the 57-year-old UK native was up to the challenge. While Grand Princess was sailing near the coast of Portugal, he ran 70 laps around the ship’s Promenade Deck to cover a total distance of 26.2 miles, which he wrapped up in 5 hours, 16 minutes and 45 seconds. A considerable crowd lined Steve’s route, offering support during his run and subsequently congratulating him at the finish line, including Grand Princess Captain, Anthony Herriott.
Once he’d had a chance to catch his breath, Steve said, “This has probably been my hardest marathon to date, but it was for a very special cause and I’m grateful for all the support of the passengers and crew onboard to keep me going. Tonight I’ll have a big steak, for the protein to help my body recover, and a glass of wine to celebrate together with my wife, Margaret.”
“Everyone at Princess Cruises is very proud that Grand Princess could host the first marathon at sea,” said Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises executive vice president. “Our passengers and crew were really behind Steve’s attempt, and it was wonderful that so many of them came out on deck to cheer him on. Help for Heroes does fantastic work and we hope that Steve’s efforts have raised lots of money for this worthwhile charity.”
Congratulations, Steve! We hope that you took some time to escape completely during the remainder of your cruise.
Saturday (Oct 29)
Running: (18-Mile Long Run) Our group had planned to run the 11.2-mile main drive in Percy Warner Park at 6am, but my schedule called for an 18-mile long run. To get in the extra miles, I started just after 5am with some easy miles around Belle Meade. This was by far the coldest morning since last winter with a starting temp of 28 degrees.
My goal today was to maximize the amount of time spent running in the aerobic zone as I work toward at least a 3 hour 15 minute run in preparation for Rocket City. With this in mind I kept the pace very easy all day (9:00min average)
Nathan and Paxton joined me around 5:25am, and then we joined the larger group in the park at 6:00am. One loop in the park has over 1,200’ of elevation gain so this was also a run that helped to build leg strength. I was surprised at how well I felt on the hills, and even pushed the pace up most of the more significant inclines. The group decided to take an alternate route during mile 4 down “Shell Road,” which is a beautiful but difficult section. This also reduced the total distance in the park slightly.
When I finished in the part, I had completed around 15.25-miles, so Paxton and I ran another 2.75 miles through Belle Meade to finish. I felt really good throughout most of this run, but began to feel some fatigue after mile 16. Paxton pushed the pace a bit for the final 1.5-miles, but I held back and just tried to finish smoothly.
Overall I’m very pleased with this run, especially considering the difficulty of the route and the cold temperatures. My total time spent running was just over 2 hours 42 minutes which is right around what I was looking for today.
Sunday (Oct 30)
Today was my normally scheduled rest day, which is good because it was a busy day. We had morning worship service, followed by Sunday School where I teach the “Young Married’s” class on the book of Philippians. After brunch, I then had 4-hours of practice for a drama production of Joshua and the Wall of Jericho for evening service and Trunk or Treat. After completing the drama and evening service, we then had Trunk or Treat in the parking lot with almost 1,000 kids from the community.
Monday (Oct 31)
Running: (7-Mile Recovery Run) This morning I did a solo recovery run using a modified version of our normal “Nature Center” loop in Edwin Warner Park. My legs felt very lethargic for most of the run, and I kept the pace pretty easy for the first 5-miles (9:00 min). For the last 2-miles, I tried to pickup the pace and finish on a positive note. Mile 6 was 8:15, followed by mile 7 at 7:39.
I hope that my legs come back before the Ragnar Relay this coming weekend. I had a dream last night that I blew my segments of the relay and couldn’t push the pace any faster than 9:00 min miles (my goal is to do them all below 7:00 min pace).
“Mountain Biker Gets CLOCKED By A Big African Buck!” – Reason number 5,342 why I run and don’t bike….OUCH! (Thanks to @taylorezell)
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
Thursday (Oct 27)
Running: (7.5-Mile Track Workout) Tonight I finally felt some jump come back into my legs, and felt good throughout the workout. After a 1.5-mile warmup and 6 x 100m stride-outs, we did:
- 3 x 200m f (100) [400]
- 600m f+ (300)
- 3 x 200m f (100) [400]
- 800m Straights & Curves (300)
- 600m f+ (300)
- 800m Straights & Curves (300)
- 1000m f (400)
With an additional .75 mile warmdown, the total mileage came out to 7.5-miles. Paxton looked especially strong tonight, and even though I felt good he clearly had an extra gear. I’m really pleased with the workout, and am getting my confidence back.
Cross-Training: Tonight Olivia and I did P90X: Ab-Ripper X, and I followed that with a couple of sets of chest exercises.
Friday (Oct 28)
Running: (4-Mile “Barefoot” Recovery Run) Paxton, Nathan and I did an easy recovery run through Bellevue this AM in the pouring rain. Even though it was cold and rainy, the run was still a lot of fun, and it was good to have the Bellevue Trio together on a Friday morning. While the Hattoris offer no protection from water, they do drain extremely well which was good today.
My log posts are waaaay behind due to our family vacation to Disney World, and getting engrossed in the new “Steve Jobs” biography by Walter Isaacson. So this will be a long catch-up post.
Wednesday (Oct 19)
Running: (5.4-Mile Easy Run) Paxton and I met at the Edwin Warner Nature Center for an easy run on our standard “Nature Center” loop. This was a very easy run with every mile over 9:00 pace. My legs are still toast from 3 consecutive races, and I’m also having a little trouble with my right ankle. I’m thinking about running tomorrow and then shutting it down while we are at Disney World Fri to Mon.
Thursday (Oct 20)
Running: (4.5-Mile Trail Run) Paxton, Nathan and I met for an easy run on the red trail this AM in PW Park. The run was enjoyable, but my legs just had no jump at all. Also, my ankle turned out to be a big problem with the uneven surface, so I’m glad we kept it to 4.5 miles. Since we are leaving at noon today for Disney World, I’m firmly decided that I’m not running at all while we are gone. Not even taken my shoes. I’ve got to work on getting the jump back in my legs and healing this ankle.
Friday (Oct 21) to Monday (Oct 24)
I took four days off from running and cross training while my family and I were in Disney World. Of course these were not truly “days off” since we did a TON of walking, and my feet HURT!!
Tuesday (Oct 25)
Running: (9.3-Mile Tempo Run) Nathan, Paxton & I met at the Percy Warner main gates for a 9-mile tempo run through Belle Meade. I did not know how I would feel coming off of a vacation with lots of walking, but my goal was to do the last 4 miles at marathon pace. We started off with a pretty easy 8:45 mile before dropping the speed down to 8:00 pace and below. My legs felt pretty dead, and my feet hurt worse than I was expecting. Anything below 8:00 felt fairly fast.
By the time we got to the last 4 miles, I knew there was no way I could maintain marathon pace, so I just did the best that I could. With 2 miles to go, Nathan absolutely took off, dropping the pace well below 7:00. I picked it up as well, but nothing compared to what Nathan did. My last two miles were 7:41 and 7:01, and it felt good to finish strong.
Cross-Training: Tonight Olivia and I did P90X: Legs and Back. Hoping I’m not as sore tomorrow and Thursday as I was after doing this workout last Tuesday.
Wednesday (Oct 26)
Running: (5-Mile Recovery Run) Paxton and I met at the Edwin Warner Nature Center for an easy run on our standard “Nature Center” loop. The weather was absolutely perfect, the conversation was fantastic, and it was a very enjoyable run. We kept it pretty easy the whole way, but did each mile faster than the previous. Our first was at 9:41 and our last was 8:33. Great recovery run.
On a side note, 18-years ago today was my first date with Olivia. We went to a little restaurant in the Green Hills Mall called the “Silver Spoon Cafe.” Today that location is a Brooks Brothers, and we often joke about taking a picnic dinner and eating in the bow-tie section (I’m partial to bow ties).
