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There seems to be a dead person bottom left??

Yeah….unfortunately we lost one along the way 😉

Seriously though, that person was on the ground sleeping and someone from our group almost stepped on them while we were trying to line up for the picture.

A HUGE thanks to all of you who have offered so much support and encouragement throughout my “Quest for 3:15.” It has been and continues to be greatly appreciated. Below is just a sampling of the awesome shout outs I got after my 3:12 yesterday at the NOLA Marathon (Any my wife’s PR in her first half marathon after injury). THANK YOU!

davidsgoals said: Fantastic news Tim! Congrats to you both

beautifulday4running said: Congrats!!

runtastic said: So fantastic!! Many, many congratulations to both!

losingitall said: Congratulations to you both! 3:12 thats within the mens qualifying time for the Virgin London Marathon here, amazing time!! Well done.

lagirlontherun said: Congrats!!!! You killed it!!! Revel in your success 🙂

runslikeapenguin said: Congratulations!!

livelongtrainhard said: Awesome job!! Congrats to you both.

runrunningrunner said: Congrats – to the both of you – that’s awesome!

catchthemontherun said: Man that’s incredible!!! So proud of someone I barely know, haha. Great job!!

Olivia and I arrived safely in NOLA this morning just after 9am along with 10 other members of our group.

After checking in to the hotel we enjoyed a ridiculously good lunch at Pat O’ Brian’s before heading out to the expo. We are now waiting on the rest of our group to finish up at the expo before heading back to the hotel.

It is nice to be in NOLA, but we’re worried about our kids, family, and friends back in Tennessee with the impending severe storms. Everybody be safe!!

Beast Mode…ON!

Tonight was our weekly track workout with the Jim Spivey Running Club (JSRC) at Vanderbilt University. Since the NOLA Marathon is on Sunday, I did something a little different than the planned session. After a 3-mile warmup, I ran 3 continuous miles with Dan at goal Marathon pace. The idea was to get in one last practice at maintaining consistent pace.

I came out of tonight feeling confident. 7:26 pace felt very comfortable, and I was able to have a nice conversation with Dan during the run. Other than a planned 2-mile shakeout run on Saturday morning, this will be my last tune-up before NOLA.

So, tonight I need to finish up my packing and then we fly out at 8am tomorrow morning with several members from our group. Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement. The next time I post will most likely be from NOLA!

Beast Mode….ON! 

P.S. – I haven’t said much about this, but the NOLA 1/2 Marathon will be my wife Olivia’s first race back since being diagnosed with bilateral tibial stress fractures last summer. Major props to her for working so hard to get back! Hope she has a great and fun race. I am very much looking forward to spending the weekend together (with no kids)!

Big Change in the forecast for NOLA Marathon on Sunday….I hope this holds, because it looks perfect!

While there are some nice things about tapering before a race (like getting extra rest), it definitely brings it’s own challenges….Such as:

• Having so much extra energy that I feel like I’m hyped up on caffeine ALL THE TIME!
• Being SOOO Hungry (I guess my body is still operating in 50+ miles per week mode)
• Going through periods of mild panic attacks when I start thinking about how painful those last 6 miles are going to be on Sunday.
• OBSESSING about the weather forecast (and every other aspect of the race whether it is within my control or not).

Oh well….you would think that after 10 marathons this part would get easier, but I guess not when you are a Type A, Control Freak, Perfectionist like me!

Beast Mode…ON!

A huge good luck for next week

Thanks SO much!! Looking forward to the challenge!

Hopefully this time next week I’ll be well on my way to finishing the NOLA RnR Marathon. I’m currently on my way back home from Greenville, SC for my Niece’s wedding last night.

I didn’t get to run on Saturday due to travel and the wedding, so I got up early this morning for a beautiful 10-miler on the Swamp Rabbit Trail by the river in Downtown Greenville. I felt pretty awful for the first 5 miles and thought about cutting off the run early. Then I finally got my legs under me and finished with a strong final 5 miles.

This was the first greenway type trail I’ve run on that had a 4’ wide section which was rubberized. It was like running on a track. Pretty nice.

Anyway, this was my last scheduled run over 5 miles before NOLA. I’ve got 5 tomorrow, 3 Tuesday, 3 Thursday, and 2 on Saturday.

Hope everybody else doing NOLA is enjoying their taper and feeling great!!

Beast Mode…ON!!

have fun! you are going to kill it!

Thanks so much! I really appreciate the encouragement!

Good luck!! We’ll be tracking you. Keep the 3:15 pace up or I will virtually smack you. Do not get virtually smacked.

Love It! I’ll give it everything I’ve got.

Like most everyone else I got my final NOLA RnR marathon confirmation last night and I’m Bib number 2032, assigned to corral 2. Being near the front is going to be nice since this is a Rock N’ Roll event with their long and drawn-out wave start process. I understand why they do it, but it ultimately leads to the start taking over an hour for the later corrals.

Even though I’ve been dealing with a stomach bug since yesterday, I was able to get in my scheduled track workout tonight with the Jim Spivey Running Club (JSRC). I ran pretty conservative, and kept my pace consistent even though I felt crummy. Hated that I felt bad for one of my favoriate workouts (3 sets of 3 x 400m intervals), but am glad to have been able to get in the work.

Also, even though I don’t feel like eating, I have been able to get in a full day’s worth of calories. That was actually my biggest concern with the stomach bug. Need to make sure that I keep my nutrition and strength up all the way to NOLA.

Beast Mode…On!

Yesterday morning was supposed to be a 4-mile recovery run in my Saucony Hattoris with Paxton. When I was getting ready it started lightening, and I decided to postpone the run until after work. About mid afternoon I started feeling bad, and realized pretty soon that I was coming down with another stomach bug. I spent the rest of the day laying down on the couch.

So, yesterday turned into an unplanned day off from running. Not too big of a deal since I’m tapering for NOLA anyway, but my biggest concern is whether or not I can keep my nutrition up since I don’t really feel like eating anything.

Still feeling rough today, but think I’m gonna give track a shot tonight and see what happens. Wish me luck!

Thanks so much for the encouragement! I really appreciate it!

Can’t wait to see you hit 3:15. 1:32 on a tough course sounds like you’re right on track. Do it!!!!! Exciting!!

Can’t wait to read how you get on. 3:15 surely has to be in the bag this time? 🙂

Even though my taper for the NOLA Marathon officially started Saturday after my final 20+ mile training run, it is hard for me to FEEL like I’m tapering until after my final 10+ mile tempo run before the marathon. This is almost always completed on the next to last Tuesday prior to race day (i.e. Today).

This morning Nathan and I did just under 10.5 miles in Edwin Warner Park, on the Harpeth River Greenway and through the streets of Bellevue. Normally I want these final 10+ mile tempo efforts to be completed at race pace, but going into today I didn’t think that was feasible or smart. In the last 10 days I’ve finished a 1:32 half marathon on a tough course, run my fastest track workout since last summer, and completed a 20+ mile training run.

With that in mind I told Nathan that I was shooting for a moderate 8:00min pace. Well, this lasted for 3 miles before we completed miles 5 and 6 at 7:45 pace, and the remaining miles in the 7:30s. While this is still not quite goal race pace, it was still faster than I had planned. However, my legs also felt much better than I expected.

Now that this run is over, the mileage on my remaining runs before the race will all be significantly reduced, and it will actually feel like a taper. I should land at about 40 total miles this week, and then 15 next week prior to race day. Gotta make myself get plenty of rest and plenty of fuel to ensure I’m properly recovered from the intense training on race day. Getting excited and nervous!!

Beast Mode….ON!!

Introducing NIKE FLYKNIT Technology (YouTube) – What a cool video for the upcoming Nike Flyknit running shoe line.

Even though I’m pretty much a Saucony guy all the way, I’ll have to admit the upcoming Nike Flyknit line looks extremely intriguing. Having a material that will provide a “sock-like” fit without the need for overlays sounds pretty cool. Remains to be seen how this will effect things like durability, breathability, etc. The weight of the trainer version is going to be extremely close to the Saucony Kinvara at 7.7 oz for a men’s size 9. The racer version will be over 2 oz less at 5.6 oz. This shoe was worn by several individuals competing in the US Olympic Marathon trials in January. Might be a possible alternative to the Kinvara for me if Saucony ever ruins the design.

Click here for today’s preview of the Nike Flyknit Racer & Trainer from Running Warehouse. 

Nike’s Flyknit website…

What do you think?

Today I finished my final 20-miler before the Rock N’ Roll New Orleans Marathon (NOLA), and felt fantastic. Having come off of a hard effort at the Cedars Frostbite Half Marathon last weekend and another 50+ mile week this week, I wasn’t sure how I would feel this morning. While I could definitely feel some fatigue in my legs, the run was smooth and a consistent 8:15 pace throughout. It was fun to run with the Nashville Striders for the first 15 miles. Also great to run with Marc and Jenny for 8 of those miles.

I thought about going farther than 20 since I still had gas in the tank, but Sean from our group talked me out of it. He said that with only two weeks to go before NOLA there was nothing to be gained from going farther than 20 miles but the possibility of injury. This made a lot of sense.

Anyway, it was encouraging to have a great 20 miler after the awful 20-miler two weeks ago when I was coming off a stomach virus. Now I start my two-week taper leading up to NOLA. This will only be the second time that I’ve done a two-week taper leading up to a full marathon. The other time was before the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville last December when I set my current PR. Before that I always did a three-week taper.

I’m not looking forward to having all of that nervous energy that comes with tapering, but I am going to take advantage of the opportunity to get some extra rest before NOLA.

Can us “Halfers” say hello too? 🙂

You bet my friend!

Just found out that I was officially accepted onto the 2012 St. Jude Country Music Marathon (“CMM”) Pace Team as the 4 hour pacer for the full marathon. I’m totally stoked about this opportunity! I have run with pacers for 3 of my 10 marathon finishes, and really wanted to be able to help someone else with finishing their first marathon, meeting their goal, qualifying for Boston, etc.

Anybody else out there running the CMM in Nashville? If so come by and say hello before the race, or run with us if your goal is to break 4 hours.