Looking to Fall

And by fall I mean autumn, not the falling like I do at least monthly on my runs.

So, now that Grandma's and the bulk of the spring marathons are behind us, it's time to look ahead to fall autumn.

Twin Cities Marathon anyone?  How about Chicago?  Or Des Moines?  Whistlestop?  The Belize City Celebration of Central America Fall Marathon?  So many choices this fall, and yet we have one class to meet your needs.

It doesn't matter what marathon you run this fall, MDRA has an affordable option for you.  The MDRA Fall Marathon Training Program.

Click here for more information. 

In summary, Heidi from the office says:

Fall Marathon Class starts on June 22, 2010 (tonight)  with an informational session at the ECC at 7:00 p.m. in room 351 (no run that night).

The first run is on Saturday, June 26 from the Sears Building in St. Paul off of Rice and University. Registration at 6:30 a.m., run at 7:00 a.m.

New this year, MDRA is offering a $20 class discount for anyone who has taken the class before and is bringing  a new runner to the class. They can send the form in less $20 and make a note on their registation form the new runners name.

WE DO have TCM entries available! Up to 50, we should be able to accomodate anyone who needs one. Had a few inquiries on that this week.


This year I will be coaching the class again with Marty Humphrey and Anne Walztoni.  So please come and join us.  If you can't sign up tonight, we will be registering people on Saturday and throughout the class.

Our class meets every Saturday morning and Tuesday evening.  We provide a training schedule based on experience and background mileage.  We can also personalize your training plan to meet your performance goals.  And while this class is targeted around TCM, we do have runners training for Whistlestop, Chicago, and other fall marathons.  As coaches, we tweak your plan to meet your target marathon date.

The class offers a nice range of repeat class members and rookie marathoners.  In general the ability of our class members ranges from sub 2:50 to 6:00.  There really is room for everyone and we welcome all comers.  So come and join us for a fun summer and fall of running!

Over the river and through the woods...

Well, safe to say blogging and running in general have taken a back seat to other facets of my life lately.  So the close reader should be able to infer that I did not participate in Grandma's Marathon last weekend.  But I did go as a spectator.  So consider this a Spectator Report.

I met Kate (who was a team leader for the MDRA spring marathon training class) and fellow MDRA blogger Drew Placknar in Shoreview at 5:45 a.m. and headed to Duluth.  Drew is also a coach for the spring marathon training class.  Once in Duluth we picked another MDRA coach for the spring class, Melissa, and headed to mile six.  We got there right as the 3:20 balloon went by. 

We got there just in time to see Polar Bear Plungers Chris Massol and Kristen Johnson run by.

Once the field went by...

...we got back in the car and headed to the William A. Irvin around mile 25.5.  Along the way we saw the men's leaders go by at mile 25.  Still such a tight pack.  Philemon Kemboi (middle in the orange singlet) ended up winning by 16 seconds. 

We didn't see the close finish, but we did see Buzunesh Deba sprint by on her way to victory.

A little less than half an hour later, a cute puppy made an appearance!!  Oh yeah, and your Tuesday Trail blogger Nathan came by.  Nice of the lady on the cell phone to take time out from her conversation to cheer Nathan on.

Drew Riddles in his first marathon meets his goal of breaking 3:30.  Very exciting.

Drew P. and I cheering.  Are working hard or what?

Okay well maybe not all that hard.  Certainly not as hard as these guys.  Congratulations to the MDRA Spring Marathon Training class participants and to all Grandma's finishers!

Congratulations Grannies!!

Congratulations to all runners who particiapted in the Grandma's races this weekend.  Fellow MDRA blogger Drew drove me and some other MDRA marathon class coaches/team leaders to Duluth and back today.

We met in Blaine at 5:15 this morning and I just got back about 20 minutes ago.  I'll post a few pictures and add a more comphrehensive overview of our trip tomorrow.  But for now, congratultions to everyone who finished or supported those who did.

Group Run Options

For all you Twin Cities metro area runners, here are a couple of group run options.

Option #1: The Stillwater Marathon offers "on-course training runs of 6.5, 12.5 and 20 miles (with water and pace leaders)" with the next run scheduled for Saturday May 8.  The training runs are free, but you do need to register on-line in advance.  Click here to register.  This link includes starting time information, meeting place information, and route information.

The Stillwater Marathon itself will take place Sunday May, 30th.

Cool fact about the Stillwater Marathon: they are also having a 20 mile race in conjunction with the marathon.  Kind of a neat way to get that 20 miler in for all you late spring, early summer marathoners.

Option #2: Team Ortho is hosting a run this Saturday, May 1, for the Minneapolis Marathon.  This run is also free.  There are two routes planned: ten miles and 16 miles (with the option of tacking two miles on at the end).  Both routes have supplied water stops along the way.  The bulk of the run is on the Minneapolis Marathon.  Click here for starting time information, meeting place information, and route information.

The Minneapolis Marathon is scheduled for Sunday June 6.

Nobston

As Drew mentioned before, MDRA coach and Lydiard guru Nobby Hasizume not only went to Boston but also got some great access to the elite runners, allowing for these pictures posted here.

But wait, there's more.  Here's more about Nobby's trip to Boston, in his own words.

It was a perfect day at Boston.  It had been raining ever since I arrived on Friday.  It doesn’t happen often that somewhere else is colder than Minnesota!  They were even talking about possible snow flurry Friday night!  The rain stopped by Sunday evening.  As we walked out of Runner’s World party, the only concern I had was the wind.  At 10:00PM, the flag around downtown Boston was whipping around pretty hard…  


Next day, I took a train from where I was staying, Newbury Port, to North Station.  A beautiful clear sky and the sun was shining.  At Copley, I spotted the Hanson brothers, Kevin and Keith.  I call them “Boston Wind God” because when Reiko Tosa ran it in 2006, he gave us the chart of marathon course, divided into each 5-mile segment with projected wind of the day.  “10 miles an hour tail wind coming from about 45 degrees angle.  But when you start to go up the Heartbreak Hill, it’ll be almost directly from behind…,” they said. 


My main concern for this year’s race was on 2 runners; Jason Lehmkuhle and Paige Higgins.  Jason has been running very well in the past few years.  With the strong wind on his back, I thought he might even flirt with 2:10 barrier.  Likewise, Paige is trying to break 2:30 barrier.  Paige’s coach, Greg McMillan, and her father were driving along the course to check her out and I was following her progress from the media room at Copley.  A few miles to go, she was running 15^thplace and catching up other runners fast and she was the first American woman.  Excited, I rushed outside with a camera.  I positioned myself about 300m to the finish.  I looked up the big screen and saw the men’s leader, Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot, the younger.  It says: “One mile to go” and the clock shows 2:01…I had to double-look – that’s sub-2:06 pace!  Nobody’s going to run 2:05 on Boston course!!  


Then I realized that I was too busy checking Paige’s split times and forgot to check Jason’s split.  “Maybe he’s going for sub 2:10…” was my thought.  In the end, he was 9^th overall, the third American behind Ryan Hall (4^th) and Meb Keflezighi (5^th) in 2:12:24 – 30 seconds PR.  At the finish, he was completely spent.  With the power of Media Pass, I dashed to him past the finish gate for high-five.  He could barely lift his hand.  That’s how it should be – good on him!  Congratulations, Jason!! 

Paige couldn’t break 2:30 barrier either but was the first American female and 13^th overall, passing a few more in the final mile (the last one on Boylestone).  After having to forgoing Boston due to a knee injury last year; and a DNF at LA Marathon mere month ago, it was a nice redemption for her.  Congratulations to her as well. 


A few years back, when they had the US Cross Country Championships in Boulder, CO, Jason was asking Steve Hoag how to run Boston.  “You’re ready for a breakthrough,” Hoag said to Jason.  It wasn’t meant to be at Boston then but his breakthrough came in NY when he finished 5^th behind the former world record holder, Khalid Khannouchi at the US Olympic Trial.  He carried on and PR-ed at Boston.  But, at the same time, couldn’t help but give even more respect to Steve Hoag’s 2:11:54, yet another 30 seconds up from Jason’s time, when he chased down “Boston Billy”, Bill Rodgers in 1975, 35 years ago!  So here’s a big congratulations to Steve Hoag as well. 

250 Meters Down, 41,750 To Go

Michael Rand is a sports reporter and editor for the  Minneapolis Star Tribune.  And he is does a little marathoning on the side.   Jason Lehmkuhle's ninth place finish at Monday's Boston Marathon caught Mr. Rand's attention.  So for fun he tried to see if he could hold Jason's pace for a quarter mile.

Click here to see the story and the accompanying video to see if Rand could do it.

And now to dicuss the results.  Rand is your typical runner.  Running an all out quarter mile, he was able to finish within seconds of Jason's marathon pace.  And this begs the question, which is more impressive?  Running 168 consecutive hilly, asphalt laps in 75 seconds OR running one lap in world record time, 43.18 seconds?

It's an impossible question to answer, but it doesn't mean it can't be asked.  And it doesn't mean I can't try to answer it.  Sure I'm biased because I'm a distance runner, but I would have to say 168 laps at 5 minutes per mile is more impressive because of the mental fortitude and discipline it takes in addition to the physical impossibility of it all.

And finally I'd like to close by saying it's not often we get to name drop on the blog.  But I need to give an extra shout out to Jason because he is not only a professional runner but also a graphic designer.  The logo that is currently on our MDRA singlets with the ribbon is his design.  He also does the bulk of the graphic art you find in the magazine version of Run Minnesota.

Check out Jason Lehmkuhle running Boston

Courtesy of our roving running reporter Nobby Hashizume, who also serves as a coach for the women’s running class and author for RunMinnesota magazine, snapped these great pictures of Jason finishing the Boston Marathon yesterday. Jason PR’s with a finish time of 2:12:24. Way to go Jason!

If you a few spare moments, check out this cool running site: www.lydiardfoundation.org.

Bikila

The problem with trying drastically new footwear in the middle of marathon training is I don’t want to lose a day. What I mean is, since I’ve only worked up to 4 miles in the VFF I don’t want to wear them on any day where I’m supposed to run longer than that – which is every day. And, I’m not about to embark on a 7 mile run with a change of shoes! Anyway, I’m going to try and go 6 miles in them tomorrow.

Speaking of running barefoot, check out this article about Abebe Bikila, who ran (and won) a couple marathons, including one in the Olympics performed barefoot.

I would also like to add that he has his own Facebook page with over 260 times more Facebook friends than I, and he passed away almost 40 years ago.