TheRunningRev.Com

Farewell Blog

After several years of trying to manage two blogs I am giving up and moving everything to the one site, neilcraigan.com.

How to run a PR in the Half-Marathon

This morning I ran a PR in the half. I took a little over a minute off my previous best finishing with a time of 1:38:10. How did I do that?

1. Pick a race in the middle of February in MN

2. Starting temp should be in the single digits with a wind chill below zero

3. Sit in you car until 60 seconds before the start

4. Start running and remember the faster you go the sooner you'll be out of the cold

5. Don't take on any fluids or eat any energy gels, just focus on getting it over with

6. Ignore the burning feeling on your cheeks and in your eyes

7. Run through the finish line and straight to your car

And that's how to run a PR in the half!

A Chilly Run

After three weeks of really cold weather I just couldn't stand the thought of running on the treadmill today. So as the temperatures rose to a balmy 20 degrees I decided, in spite of the single digit wind chill and falling snow, to head outside for a twelve mile run.

When I was running with the wind it was quite a pleasant experience, something that reminded me that running in temperatures like this really isn't so bad. Then I would turn and would find the wind blowing into my face, the 11 mph wind blowing at me while I ran at 7 mph into it saw my lips, cheeks and chin turn numb. The icy snow stung my face and pounded my eyes as I kept up my mantra, every mile counts. As my training for Comrades continues I can only imagine how nice it would be running in the 80 degree weather of Durban.

So yes, I plan to take all my runs over 10 miles outside this winter, I just can't live with the treadmill, as Dr McCoy might say, "I'm a runner, not hamster Jim!" 

164 Days to Comrades

With only 164 days to go until the race today marked the first day of official training. I'll be using Hal Higdon's recommended plan for Comrades which starts this week with 36 miles and builds to 75 mile weeks. It's going to be more running than I've ever done but I don't want to travel all the way to South Africa and not finish the race.

Some people are questioning my sanity for wanting to run a race of 56 miles. That may be a fair thing to question. I have never claimed to be sane, indeed I may be quite out of mind. Actually when I stop and think about it I think it is perfectly fair to say that I  am indeed out of my mind. Having visited Africa (Kenya) back in 1995 and experienced African poverty first hand  I have been quite out of my mind over this great injustice in the world.

So I am running Comrades with Team World Vision to make a difference in our world. My goal is to find sponsors for 56 kids in World Vision projects in South Africa. I should have the names of those kids and details on how you can sponsor a child in support of my running this race some time in January. 

Stay tuned.

Run To Overcome - Review

I picked up Meb Keflezighi's book with great anticipation. I knew a little of his story, how we moved from Eritrea to the US, his olympic marathon medal of the win at the 2009 New York Marathon.

I was hoping that in this biography written with Dick Patrick that I would learn more about what motivated Meb, his deep faith and his love for family. Unfortunately Meb chose a sports reporter rather than a biographer to help him write his life story and the result is what felt to me to be an emotionally flat book when it could have been truly inspiring.

The book lost me completely on page 17 when the story is being told of Meb's father's 225 mile trek across Eritrea to Sudan. Apparently, "The dangers were Ethipopean soldiers; animals such as hyenas and tigers..." Tigers? Really in Africa, doesn't every elementary kid learn that we find tigers in Asia and not Africa? I figured that we must be wrong, surely a native to Eritrea like Meb would know. But no, there are no tigers in Eritrea or Sudan. Poor fact checking and editing really hurt this book.

Meb is a great hero of American distance running. I hope some day a book will be written that captures the essence of who Meb is and not just what he did.

181 Days To Comrades - Treadmills are sinful!

After over a week of running on the treadmill it was a delight to find weather warm enough to head outside for an easy ten-miler with my wife, Jenny. 

I realized it was going to be a long winter (it always is in MN) and that I didn't have any desire to spend much time running outside this winter. Thankfully we have a treadmill at home, Sole F80, and that is a great blessing. We gave up our health club membership about 10 years ago and bought some equipment for the house, we have saved a great deal of time and money over the years.

The problem is I hate the treadmill. Now, I know, as a Rev., that I'm not supposed to hate anything other than sin, but let me state quite clearly that running and going nowhere should be a sin, and therefore something to be hated. God never intended us to run in one place, just read your bible and you'll see that Jesus call over and over again is to follow him, and you can't follow anyone on a treadmill!

So how do you make treadmill running not a sin? Answer: You buy a TV so you can watch educational, uplifting material while you run. I hear you say that surely this is sinful, spending money on a TV so you can run nowhere while there is great need and poverty in the world.

Not so, the TV is an investment in the war against extreme poverty! How so?

I'm training for Comrades, and will need to survive the MN winter, which will require treadmill running. I'll be travelling to South Africa with Team World Vision and I am committing to finding sponsors for at least 56 children in South Africa (I'll have details on the kids in January). My $300 TV is part of a commitment to raise between $75,000 and $125,000 for World Vision (based on sponsorship of $35 per month with the average sponsor supporting their child for 3-5 years).

See how easy it is to turn the sin of treadmill running into the purchase of a new TV for the sake of fighting poverty!

Happy Winter Running Everyone. 

Already Tired of the Cold Weather Running!

Winter arrived last Saturday as eight inches of wet snow fell on the ground. I didn't get out for a run but reluctantly climbed onto the treadmill and after three miserable miles I climbed off shaking my fist at old man winter.

Unlike last winter, our first back in Minnesota, when I considered it a challenge to run through the cold weather I have no such desire this year. After running outside yesterday in 34 degree weather with a windchill in the mid-20's and feeling cold I can honestly say I have had it with winter running. It's not even that cold yet by Minnesota standards.

This is going to be a long winter for me.

The problem is that I've signed up for Comrades in May and my training program is calling for long runs of 20, 23, 24, 25, 26 & 20 miles from mid-January through the end of February.  

202 Days to Comrades - Freedom 10 Miler

It was a near perfect day as I rolled out of the house this morning and headed to the church. It was a cool morning, the sun was shining and there was only a very light breeze I knew it would be a good day. 

After teaching a class on the Anabaptists I headed into our 10:15 worship service. It was a communion Sunday and I pronounced the benediction at 11:20, just 40 minutes to race time. As normal I spent a few minutes shaking hands as people made their way out of the service and headed into the fellowship hall for coffee. It was now 11:30... 30 minutes to race time. I followed the crowd into the fellowship hall and spent a few minutes chatting with folks before making an early exit for my office where I would change into my running gear before heading to the race, 11:35... 25 minutes to race time.

After a quick change into my running gear and a bathroom stop I hopped into the car, 11:40... 20 minutes to race time, and drove to the start, 11:45... 15 minutes to start. Getting out of the car I walked over to the packet pick up and grabbed my race number and timing chip and pinned them onto my shirt, 11:50... 10 minutes to race time, I knew I could make it, lots of time to spare!

My race plan was to run a very conservative race today, I thought I'd be really happy with a 7:30 pace and content to plod through at a pedestrian 8:00 pace. 

When the gun went off I was content to find a comfortable pace to run and was a little surprised when I ran through the first mile in 7:21, I certainly didn't feel like I was running that fast. I decided to tuck in behind Bob (I found out his name as all the course officials were calling him by name as we passed by) and the second mile disappeared in 7:02. 

I wasn't sure what to make of this but decided to see if I could maintain this pace for a while and I just settled in. After 5 miles I was averaging a 7:12 mile and started to wonder if I could hold on to this pace and set a PR. The miles began to disappear, mile 6, 7, 8 still on a 7:12 pace, mile 9, still on a 7:12 pace.

As I entered the final mile I was trying to remember what my PR was and wondered if I might beat it. As I crossed the finish line I stopped my watch and it read 1:12:01. The official results currently say I ran a 1:12:07 but I think that has to be the clock time and not the chip time, as I can't see how I could be off by six seconds. Either way it was a clear improvement on my previous best of 1:12:47.

A great day and a surprising race result. I really like these races that start later in the day, I almost always run them better than I think I will.

 

Leaving the church I jumped into my car and drove to the start of the race

The Joy of Running at Night

It was a beautiful evening, the sky was clear, the stars were shining bright in the night sky and the roads were quiet.

Dressed in my Brooks nightlife gear and headlamp on my head I headed out for a five mile run. After a quarter mile I left our neighborhood and was running along country roads. Everything looks and sounds different at night. 

Very quickly I found myself in a near hypnotic state as I was sucked into the bubble of the light in front of me, but just as quickly as I was sucked in I was shaken from my state of hypnosis as the light reflected in the eyes of a raccoon several yards away. I became acutely aware that out there in the dark were a myriad of animals just out of sight. As I ran by a field I paused as a dozen glowing green eyes stared back at me. 

Turning into the darkest part of my run I was shocked to see a large black mass near the edge of the road. It turned out to be several black garbage bags filled with leaves but in the dark of night I couldn't be sure from a distance.

It's runs like this that remind me how much fun running can be. I felt like a little kid on a great adventure, it doesn't get much better than this.

210 Days to Comrades - Scare in White Bear 5k

It was  a chilly morning, 35 degrees, as my two oldest daughters and I made our way to West Park in White Bear Lake. After a 10 minute warm-up I headed to the start line and waited 10 minutes for the race to start, plenty of time to cool down on this chilly morning. 

As the race started I tried to find a good pace to settle into, I haven't run a 5k since May and haven't been doing any 5k tempo runs, I felt like I found a good pace and as I hit the mile mark I glanced down at my watch and saw 6:22 on it. A little faster than I had thought. I think it got into my head as my next mile was 7:00. I'm not sure why I slowed up so much and tried to pick it up again over the final 1.1 miles which I covered in 7:19 for a finish time of 20:41.

The sub-20 5k remains an elusive dream at this point.

My finish was good enough for 2nd place in the male 40-49 age group. I'll take that!

I didn't run in costume but some members from our church did...