Consistency = PRs! (plus a race recap)

Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.” - E. James Rohn

Consistency.  That's what I believe in.  You don't have to be perfect.  You just have to be consistent.  That goes for anything in life.  For running, I believe that you will get better & faster the more consistently that you do it. Yes, cross training & speedwork helps increase that development.  But if you go out & run 3 times a week every week for, let's say a year, you will get better & faster.  I have no doubt.  Give it a try & let me know how it goes.

TUESDAY

It’s race week!  Just three 3-milers planned prior to Saturday.  Today I took an old out & back route to Union Park for lunch. I passed some guys putting in work just like me.  Well not quite like me but, we were both working.  

WEDNESDAY

I traded the usual 5am 10-miler for another lunch run.  I thought that might have been a bad choice.  It rained most of the morning.  I figured that I would be running in the rain.  I actually like running in the rain. So I wasn’t too worried about it.  The lunch bell rang & off I went.  Just a light mist, but a lot of puddles.  I took a frequented route through the neighborhood. I had to stop for a couple of minutes for a work phone call that I had to take. Back to the run. Needing to burn off a little steam I decide this is the perfect time to go into a progression run.  

What’s a progression run you ask... It’s running each mile faster than the previous.  Also called negative splits. Let’s do this. On this familiar route I pass by my buddy, Rowdy again.  No picture this time.  

Final pace numbers - 9:07, 8:49, 8:12.  A solid progression run!

THURSDAY

After a nice progressive run yesterday I decided I would take it fairly easy today.  This would be the last run before race day.  Work was pretty busy today. I couldn’t make it out for a lunch run. I knew I needed to get my run in, so a supper run it is. 

Early evening runs are my least favorite. I’m usually hangry & it ends up being bedtime before I can get in my wind down time. I take off with no route in mind. About a quarter mile in I check my pace.  8:45!  What the heck?!? Slow down, mister!  I venture past a boy on a scooter.  I give out a “what’s up dude”. He returns the gesture exactly & lets out a little “what’s up dude”.  I love those little moments on a run.  There are a lot of people on the trail at supper time.  Should these people be eating... supper??

Not too long later I come up on a mom with a small girl parked behind her in an Escalade power wheel.  As I whip around she floors it & hear that familiar spinning sound accompanied by the whir of the electric motor screaming away.  With all these pleasant interactions I continue to struggle slowing down.  Maybe that’s why the Brooks slogan is Run Happy... I run past the ballers at the ball court, around the clubhouse, down through the heart of Savannah, and around the neighborhood elementary. I meet couples walking, couples walking dogs, & other runners.  I head back to the house through some streets I haven’t ran on before.  Another 5k in the books just in time for sunset.  

SATURDAY 

RACE DAY!!!

It's misting rain & in the upper 40s.  Sounds like perfect running weather to me!  I meet up with my friends in the parking lot at Town Lake Park in McKinney.  The site of the Frisco Running Co Half Marathon & 5k . Getting out of the car I realize it feels a little colder than I thought it would be.  Nonetheless, we're going with it; shorts, short sleeve short, & gloves.  There are a lot of Covid protocols in place.  So our first stop is the medical tent to get our temperature checked.  A quick scan & beep, we're good to go.  Now for a few laps around the parking lot to get warmed up.  

The announcer urges everyone to the starting corral.  They have us setup in socially distanced waves.  The 5k & half runners are intermingled.  This is one of my favorite parts of races.  The anticipation of the start.  The music is playing. People are bouncing & stretching.  Last minute checks of your race gear.  For me, I'm just taking it all in. Race Day playlist cued up & ready.  A Warrior's Call by Volbeat is my go to jam for getting pumped up for  run.  A quick review of the Drader-designed race plan to get me focused.  I scribbled it on my bib.  It's broken out by 5k segments.  Every segment I'll evaluate how I feel & either speed up or maintain my pace.

• 1-3.1 - 9:25
• 3.1-6.2 - 9:15
• 6.2-9.3 - 9:05
• 9.3-12.4 - 8:55
• 12.4-finish - wheels off!

And we're off!  The wet weather has made the paved trail & sidewalks a little slick.  Not to mention the mud.  Several spots along the course have mud on the path making it even more slick.  Not even to the first mile & I can feel mud slinging up and hitting the back of my ankles.  A lot of the course is standard sidewalk so its a bit crowded in the beginning.  It winds through the park, in & out of the woods, and beside ponds/lakes.  We have several club members working aid stations.  It makes it nice to hear someone cheering you on by name or yelling out "Ninja Turtles!". To add to the excitement, these signs were posted along along the path.  I will say I was a little nervous when I saw them.  Especially since there was more than one.  Hopefully the cooler weather will keep us safe...

Don & Raph are running a quicker pace than I want, so I let them go.  After navigating through the race traffic Leo pulls up beside me.  Shortly after mile 2 I hear some guy behind us yelling about the sidewalk.  Next thing I know this Santa Claus looking fellow comes whizzing by.  It's about this time that I realize he was yelling at us.  We were side-by-side taking up most of the narrow sidewalk.  I yell back a friendly, "I guess you should have started in the front!"  That gives Leo a little chuckle. Shortly after, as we expected, Santa exits for the 5k finish.

As we loop the lake we hit 3.1 and I'm feeling good.  I've been spot checking my pace & I feel like I'm right in the pocket at 9:20. In actuality, 9:20, 9:08, 9:10.  In retrospect I think the slow downs from the muddy spots caused me to overcorrect my pace pushing me over my targets.  I give myself the green light to speed up. Now we're on the out & back portion of the race.  It sends us through a disc golf course & a couple of other parks.  This segment goes by pretty fast.  Next thing I know, we're at 6.2 & I'm meeting people on their way back.  System check.  Feeling good.  Increase pace a planned.  By this time I realize that I'm a little ahead of my targets, but I'm thinking, "just keep going".  If I get tired & I'll be able to afford to dial back and rest for a bit.

This segment should be 9:05s, but I start encouraging the runners that I meet. "Good job!  Nice work!"  I'm even more excited when I see our club mates!  Shortly after mile 7 we hit the turnaround point. Other than that I don't remember much about the next few miles. We'll chalk it up to the runner's high.  Miles 6-9 were all sub-9 minute miles.  It was starting to get tough, but this what we trained for, pain.  We had logged runs well over 13 miles during training.  We taught ourselves that we could endure.  So, I just kept on pushing.    Mile 10 I look at my watch.  Overall time 1hr 30mins!  What?!?!  I could actually hit 2hrs!  I'm hurting now, &  slow down a bit.  As long as I don't sink to 10min miles I'll make it.  Mile 12 & 13 are nothing but guts.  The gradual uphill at 12 is punishing me.  Where the hell did this hill come from?!?  I start the self-talk.  You got this! Don't walk! Stay above 10min miles! Explicative, Explicative!  

Finally, I can hear the announcer.  We're getting close now!  My watch beeps for 13 miles.  1:59.  I can see the finish line.  I give it everything I have.  I end up running that last tenth at a 7:27 pace.  Completely missing the last aid station that was giving out whiskey shots.  Finish time 2:00:32!  Wow!  I'm a little disappointed that I didn't hit the sub 2:00 mark, but I just ran my fastest half of all time!  Albeit by 21secs, its a PR nonetheless!  My previous PR was from 2014.  Not to mention besting my last 2 half times in Nov & Dec by a full 10mins!  I typically don’t like race pictures where I don’t look strong, but today I realized that this is a picture of me looking strong. This is me being strong. This is why we run.

We're tired & we're getting cold, but we did it!  We were consistent & we saw results.  All 4 of us set half marathon PRs today!  I'd say without a doubt we have pushed each other to be better. That's Turtle Power, baby!  I don't think I'll have any issue breaking that 2:00:00 barrier this year!

Consistency is key, my friends.  Consistency is key.

Progress not Perfection

To have striven, to have made the effort, to have been true to certain ideals - this alone is worth the struggle. ~ William Penn

Well, I seem to have failed in my 3rd resolution. I could say work had got in the way. While partly true. I chose to sleep in & it cost me. At the end of the day I didn’t want to workout. Soon have finished this week with one XT workout. While it was a doozy, it was 2 short of my target.

If you thought you were reading the blog of a guy that’s always successful now you know different. As I say, I am just an average guy trying to get better. This isn’t one of those fake, life is always perfect blogs. This is my journey. A real training journey.

The important thing is this. I will not beat myself up. I’ll take it in stride & keep doing my best. I will get better. I will run more, run farther, & have fun. 

TUESDAY

After our extra long run on Saturday, I took off Sunday & Monday. After the rest I had a fleeting run on Tuesday, a reverse lap on my neighborhood route. It was rather uneventful. Between conference calls I ventured out for a lunch run. Around mile 2 I ran past a guy repairing his fence I gave a friendly wave & journeyed on. I passed by the neighborhood school. On lunch runs the kids are usually out at recess I always imagine that they’re wondering why I’m running so slow. Luckily I have my 90s rock blasting in my headphones & can’t hear if they are actually heckling me. I’m sure they’re not. To add to my being out of sync, I forget to take a post run picture...

WEDNESDAY

I woke up at 3:45. A full 15mins before my alarm. Might as well get up & start my long run routine. We are scheduled for another, as we call it, a 2 by 2 by 2 by run. You’ll recall it’s 2 (2E, 2E), 2E. 10 miles with thresholds.

Another trip around a familiar route. It starts up Legacy swinging by the Track Tuesday track. We make the three sides of the block, down through a neighborhood & onto the trail. I’m always lost at this point. I’m pleasantly surprised when we’re closer to the end than expected. Into the 2nd set of threshold miles & I’m sucking wind as usual. At this point I’m alone. Leo & Don have turned on the afterburners & are out of sight. I can just barely see Raph. The last couple of easy miles we gather back up and finish together. I am happy to learn that I have ran my fastest paced 10-miler in years, averaging 9:32 per mile.

THURSDAY

XT day doesn’t disappoint. The club has initiated a 4-week XT challenge. A prescribed workout to be performed once between Thursday & Sunday. Participants have the chance to win prizes.

Race entry to Big Star Half, Race entry to Bluebonnet Half, plus shirts & hats from Big Star & the FRC store. So naturally I’m in.

This first workout is tough. 3 rounds for time. It starts out with an 800m run (1/2 mile). Then you start an 8 min AMRAP (as many rounds as possible).

The rounds are as follows: 8 burpees, 12 alternating lunges, & 18 sit-ups.

You repeat the 3 exercise routine for 8 mins. Once you complete the 8 mins you take a 1 min rest & start over with the 800m run. You repeat this process 3 times.

This was extremely difficult for me. Round two brought on the dry heaves. I’m not in nearly as good of shape as I thought. Nonetheless I kept going & finished the workout. To put it lightly, I’m completely trashed when it’s over. Total time 41 mins 17 secs.

FRIDAY

REST DAY!

In the past I’ve felt like I’ve been running out of gas on the long runs. I use Huma energy gels throughout the run, but still get gassed. Leo uses Karbolyn, a carbohydrate complex that fuels you in endurance workouts. He always seems to be strong at the end so I thought but was worth a shot. It came in today! I’m excited to give it a try on Saturday. I’ll put a scoop in my water bottles & hope that it fuels me at the end of the long run. Stay tuned.






SATURDAY 

Today we’re looking at 2E, 2(2T, 3min rest), 3E. It’s 31 degrees, but it feels colder. We set out on one of our old routes in reverse. We head up Main passing the FC Dallas soccer stadium. After 2 miles we we start the first threshold section. We make a left just before the Dude Perfect building. We’re pushing the pace pretty good. I look down & we’re right at an 8:30 pace. I’m thinking that I feel pretty good. So I keep pushing forward. 4 miles down & we’ve made it to the 3 min rest. Thank the Lord! I was breathing pretty hard. After walking for the shortest 3 mins in history we start the second threshold section. I’m really not looking forward to it, Back up to 8:30 we go. About a half mile in we run by the speed work track. Now starts a slightly downhill & this is the part where Leo takes off. I’m still holding an 8:30 & he’s walking away from us. Finally we finish the thresholds & start the rest minutes. We walk 2 mins & start the last leg of easy miles back to the store. We cut through Cottonwood trail & snap a pic by the pond. With about a mile to go we realize we’re running a pretty quick, 9:10 pace! In typical Leo fashion, he says let’s finish it out! Engage the afterburners! I don’t know how fast we were going I didn’t want to know. Nonetheless we ended up averaging about 8:45 for the last mile. After Wednesday’s run I mentioned running my fastest pace 10-miler. Well, we bested that today by 12 secs per mile with a 9:20 average pace!

I feel like the Karbolyn helped. It could have been the placebo effect. We'll see. I'll keep testing and report back soon.

SUNDAY

It’s an off day, but I feel like going outside. So I take a walk around the neighborhood. I take some time to think about the coming work week & the race on Saturday. In the process I make up another 5k route to run on another day.

That’s a wrap!

2021 - Whatcha gonna do?!?

“In life, the first thing you must do is decide what you really want. Weigh the costs and the results. Are the results worthy of the costs? Then make up your mind completely and go after your goal with all your might.” — Alfred A. Montapert 

We all need goals to keep us focused and on a specific path.  So, what are my goals for 2021?

Put simply: run more, run faster, have fun. 

Specifically:

• Run 100 miles per month all year
• Run a sub 2:00 half marathon
• This one came late, but cross train at least 3 times per week.

Run Streak - running at least one mile everyday for an amount of time.  I've tried run streaks before, and haven't done well.  I didn't plan to streak, but for 2021 day 3 I’m on a streak.  I've ran everyday this year!  We'll see how long I can keep it going.  I have a friend in KC that has been on a streak for over 6 years.  Yes, I said 6 YEARS of running at least 1 mile per day.

Also, on day 3 I added the aforementioned goal #3.  Cross train at least 3 times per week.  This is the workout that I plan to do on those training sessions.  I decided to lock in the workout so I could measure my progress.  It was definitely a challenging workout.   This will be the totals for the workout.

100 pushups

100 sit-ups

100 squats

200 jump ropes

1 mile run

The exercises are the important part.  I run a lot of miles.  So the run portion may or may not stay in there.  It's a work in progress.  The main goal right now is to do more than the one day per week that I did last year. If I’m getting tired I’ll rest. The last thing I want to do is burn out. 

MONDAY

Continuing the streak, the plan calls for 3 easy miles.  Then I'll add the XT workout.  That will be a different experience.  Running & then doing a full workout afterward.

I started out to run one of my old standard out & back courses.  About a half mile in I encountered some traffic on the trail.  I was coming up behind a guy with a dog & there was another guy coming our way.  So I just ducked off into the next side street. I still planned to out & back.  I looped around the neighborhood elementary school & headed down some streets that I had not been down before.

At one point I came up on 3 or 4 kids playing on the sidewalk.  A small one, maybe 1 or 2 years old saw me & started wobbling toward me with his arms out.  I think he even said dada. It didn't take but a few steps before he realized I wasn't dada. Then he turned around like that baby in the gif. 

Have a look > Baby GIF

Anyway, while in that section of the neighborhood I made a wrong turn & ended up on a dead end street.  Our neighborhood is pretty big. About 6,800 residents.  So I headed back, looped around the opposite side of the school, & back to the house.  Next I went straight to the garage for the XT.  Less than 15mins & I was done. 

If you think that you don't have time to exercise.  You'd be surprised at what you can do in a short amount of time. I used no equipment; just a jump rope.  If you don't have a rope, you can hop in place like you do.  If you think the workout is too much, cut it in half.  I did that many times when I started cross training last year.  They say that the hardest part is starting. 100% true.

TUESDAY

Another easy 3 scheduled for today.  I did a reverse loop of one of my favorite loops for the first time.  Another wrong turn... geez!  Luckily this one isn't a dead end.  I followed it one block and was back on track. This is the loop that takes me by Rowdy's house.  You know the Cowboys mascot...  Just about a mile in I pass his house & the van is parked in the drive.  I didn't take a picture this time, but here's one from last year. I had a little less facial hair as well. 

I kept going around the neighborhood.  I always run by this playground & dog park on this route.  So I decided this would be a good place for my run photo.  I'm sure you're are getting tired of seeing me in front of my house.  A quick pic, a police drive-by and I'm off again.  I jump back on Magnolia & zigzag back to the house.  Now for some more conference calls & then the daily XT after work.

WEDNESDAY

Here we are back for another Hump Day.  I don't know if you're as happy as I, but we don't seem to get a lot of Wednesdays with less than 10 miles.  This week were looking at 2E, 2T, 2E = 6 miles.  Man that barely seems worth getting out of bed for...  Just kidding.  In typical Mother Nature fashion, she decided to up the difficulty level with wind again.  15-20 mph.

We carefully planned out route hoping to minimize having a headwind.  As I usually do I started us out too fast.  The first 2 were 9:30ish.  That told Don that the next 2 should be 8:45.  Off he went like a rocket.  About 2.5 we turned into the wind & it was literally like I had a parachute on.  We pressed on fighting for every step.  We tried to make some East/West zigzags.  Nonetheless, we held on pretty good.  The second 2 miles were around 9:10.  Then thankfully the last 2 were actually easier at about 9:50.  It was a short, mostly uneventful run today.  When all was said & done we averaged 9:30 per mile.  I'll take that all day at 6 miles.

SATURDAY

Okay.  So the run streak didn't last.  It's just not my thing.  Some people enjoy the challenge of how long they can go.  It makes me feel pressured & then I'm not having fun (part 3 of my goals).  Nonetheless, I'm still gonna kick ass this year!  Looking ahead in the schedule & noticed that we had 16 miles scheduled for today.  So I took a couple of rest days.  

29 degrees is a little chilly for Texas, but that’s not stopping our long run. Leaving from the store we made our way to The Star. Winding through some neighborhoods & back onto Legacy hit the hill from hell between miles 3 and 4. I will say it was a little easier than mile 6 and 7 when we ran this section this summer.  It wasn’t 90 degrees either. We make it to The Star at 5.5 miles & take a moment to snap some pics. One of our club coaches had recently put out a challenge for more group pics to use on our Facebook cover. We were happy to oblige. 

After our photo session we continue on. This run will take us farther South than I have been on a run from the store. I won’t pretend to know the route. I’m just following along so I don’t get lost. Eventually we’re basically running parallel to Hwy 121 in The Colony. We make it to the southern most point of our trip at Mile 10, Hawaiian Falls water park. Leo did a good job planning the route. From here we’ll jump on a trail that’s nearly a straight shot back to Frisco. 

I felt pretty good most of the run. Around mile 13 I looked down and we were at 2:06. Nice!  Another solid half marathon time!  Shortly after that we made a wrong turn. After another incline somewhere around mile 14 I started getting pretty tired. At the top of that hill is where we realized that we were off course & we were going to go over 16 miles. We keep pressing on. I ran out of fuel & water. I’ve mentioned before that water is a crutch for me. So that made the last little bit more difficult for me mentally. We finally make it back to the store and ended up with 17.44 miles (17.43 on Strava). My longest run of all time!  

So I’m nailing my 2021 goals. Run more, run faster, & have fun!

Now I’m asking you. Whatcha gonna do?!?

Zombies, a New Year, & a little Rocky II

 It's the final week of 2020.  People have been begging for this week to come!  It's definitely been a different kind of year.  As for this blog, this is journal entry #9, but there were 24+ weeks of training that really changed my year.  I thought that this would be a perfect place to bring you up to speed.

As I mentioned in my first entry, after having ran about 30 miles total in 2019 I decided in October to race prep and crammed 200 miles in 8 weeks. I tore my meniscus.  It was a slight tear that didn't require surgery.  In April, I started the Run Arkansas Virtual Challenge with a friend.  It started with 1.5 miles 3 times per week.  Each week the distance increased slightly.  At the end of 4 weeks I would be at 4 miles.  More than anything it got me into a routine & back in the swing of running.  I finished the 4 mile in 47:47.  That's an 11:55 pace.

As that challenge was ending Frisco Running Club was starting their 24 week training program. There were Half Marathon & Marathon plans culminating in November & December.  I decided this was the perfect way to get my mojo back & train smart to prevent another injury.  I signed up and it was awesome!  The plan told you what to do each day.  There were run days, track days, XT days, & rest days.  There were tons of people participating, coaches guiding everyone, social media groups, & tons of fun!  As a reminder of what a great program it is here are my numbers again.

5k VDOT times: May 36.11, 11:39 pace.  September 26:35, 8:33 pace. 

Ft Worth Half times: 2019 - 2:40, 2020 - 2:10

Hope for the Holiday Half times: 2019 - 2:24, 2020 - 2:10

I'm really excited to start the plan again this year & see what I can achieve!

TUESDAY

 According to the training program today's workout was a track workout.  4x1000m.  BUT... I found out about this cool app that I wanted to try.  It seemed like it would be cooler not running loops on a track.

The app is Zombies, run!  It's a game & run tracking app in one.  I'll give you a rundown & you can try it for yourself.  Here's their description:  Run in the Real World. Become a Hero in Another.

Only a few have survived the zombie epidemic. You are a Runner en-route to one of humanity’s last remaining outposts. They need your help to gather supplies, rescue survivors, and defend their home.

And you have another mission — one they don’t know about...

There are hundreds of missions & from my first mission experience, a cool story to follow along with.  Before you begin you select a few options.  Tracking has different settings for outdoor runs, treadmill runs, & ellipticals, rowing machines, etc.  You can connect it to your phone music or streaming music service. A weird feature is you set the distance/time that your planning to run.  I guess that helps it create the story timing.  A super cool interactive feature that you can turn on is Chases.  It gives specific scenarios during your run where zombies are getting close & you actually have to speed up to out run them!

There several training plans & modifications to keep everything fresh.  The base camp that you are in is interactive as well.  As you're running you're collecting supplies that you come across.  You use those supplies to cultivate & build your base camp.  As you build it up more people come.  

Time to throw on the headphones and hit the road.  It starts out with an radio transmission explaining my situation.  Every few minutes I received another transmission from base camp guiding me to the camp with the needed supplies.  My music played the whole time & the volume lowered during transmissions. There were also zombie sounds as they got closer & the radio voice told me to speed up! Once finished, the recap screen gives you pertinent run details as well as details about the mission & supplies collected.

I enjoyed it!  I liked following the story line. It really broke up the monotony of the frequently ran neighborhood route.  One thing that I noticed as I was going back over it was it looks like it's only for short runs.  That may change with different missions.  I'm not sure at this point.  My next mission has a maximum mileage of 4.2 or a time of 58mins.  On the bright side once the mission is over you can still listen to your music.

Check it out if you get a chance!  I bet it would be wild on a solo night run!

WEDNESDAY

Today's hump day long run was programmed as 2(2T,2E),2E.  If you recall that's 10 mile with alternating paces every 2 miles.  We are all growing a little tired of this one.  It seems like we do it every week.  In defense of the program, it comes in toward the end & we are in our 3rd visit to the last 6-week section. So a lot of it is our own doing I suppose.

Three turtles strong we head out west on Main for our first 3 miles.  Barely a mile in & my right shin starts flaring up.  I didn't mention it yesterday, but it had flared up for a couple miles as well.  I'm not going to go back through the whole deal.  It's just aggravating.  Six months with no issues & now here it is again.  At least this time I can still run.  It just takes a lot of effort.  Anyway, enough griping...

We picked up the pace partially though mile 3 & then again for mile 4 as went entered the McCord Park trail.  The softer gravel my my shin feel a little better. Mile 5 we stopped for a photo op.  The moon was bright & the clouds were rolling.  We were expecting to get a downpour about an hour in according to the radar.

We picked up the pace again for 6 & 7.  Then I started slowing down.  Mile 8 brought us off the trail Trails Parkway neighborhood.  It was right about here that I realized that we were going to be over on mileage.  We took the shortest possible route & ended up back at the store right at 10.75 miles.  The best part was that the rain held off until I was driving back home.

On a side note... I pulled off my socks & shoes when I got home to find a bloody toe!  Apparently I didn’t do a good job trimming my toenails because toe #3 decided to cut toe #2.  

Pro Tip:  Make sure to take extra care when trimming your toenails.  Any sharp or jagged edges can cause an issue rubbing against a neighboring toe.

FRIDAY

Happy New Year!  I finished the year with 912.8 miles.  It was by far my best year of running ever!  Yet another testament to Frisco Running Club & the training program!  Here a look at my lifetime of running mileage.

I’ve always heard that whatever you are doing on January 1st you will do all year. So even though it was rest day, I decided to run.  I didn’t want to run a lot with the long run coming up tomorrow. Just a couple miles to satisfy my superstition. I didn't want to do an out & back. So I set out to plot a new course.  Zigzagging through the neighborhood, onto the trail, and around the clubhouse.  As I passed the rows of palm trees it felt like a perfect photo op. 

A little more zigzagging to the backside of the neighborhood.  I realize that I’m going to over my 2 mile target. So I cut through a yard & the church parking lot. Now I'm back on my normal return section. Then I hit 2 miles.  A quarter of a mile later I’m back to the start.  Not a bad little loop, but I need to figure out how to cut that quarter mile out next time.

SATURDAY

The plan called for 13 miles today. We started out at Frisco Running Company and headed East on Main St. We have travelled that section several times. It runs through old downtown Frisco. It’s also a gradual uphill climb. 

After about 2.5 miles we turn south running past Oak Brook Park down to Stonebrook and onto Caddo Trail around 3.5. That takes up by some pretty nice houses, but mile 6 takes us into Starwood and past the massive houses  It’s a gated community & the trail runs through the middle.  There a some nice rolling hills through there as well.

We make our way through and back to onto Stonebrook for a huge downhill. Then we cut behind Legacy Christian Academy to jump on Legacy Drive at mile 8.  We run through Beaver Bend Trail and pass a pair of MINI Coopers that we always see. 

We head north on 4th Army running by Ruff Range Dog Park at mile 10. There always people out there with their pooches running & jumping & playing when we run by.  I’ve actually felt like I was struggling most of the run, but knowing that we only have 5k to go, I look at my watch to see where we are time-wise. 1:40!  What?!? If I push this last 5k I can beat my best Half Marathon time of last year!  Leo starts encouraging us about Mile 11.  "Let's go!  Let's finish this!" That really perked us up!  At one point we even start mimicking "Gonna Fly Now" the Rocky theme song  from the Rocky II running scene. Click here to watch  

For all you running nerds out there, by analyzing landmarks along his route it has been calculated that in real life he would have ran 30.61 miles on that run!  There's also a yearly run of the course. It's a no frills, no swag run, but I imagine it's a good time!  Rocky 50k  There's also another race with a lot of swag, but not a 50k. Rocky Run A trip to Philly in November sounds like a lot of fun!

Anyway, once we cross Main into Kings Garden we really turn on the jets!  In the past it’s seemed like I struggled the last 5k of a Half, but not today!  

My last 3 miles were 9:38, 9:25, & 8:45!  Which gave me a final time 2:07!  3 mins faster than my best time in 2020 & my 4th fastest of all time! I’m loving 2021 already!

Remember these key points for 2021.  

• You can do it! 
• You won't get there overnight.  
• It won't be easy.  
• Consistency is the key.  
• Do some sort of cross training to help prevent injuries.
• Find someone to run with you. 
• Have fun!