For Seth!

Today's run is for Seth! Not only did he donate, but he joined us on Monday for the US defeat of Ghana in Duluth! It was great to see him and catch up. He's not running this year, but for the past two years, he's run the Garry Bjorklund with me. We also ran the auspicious Gordon Good Neighbor Days 5K last year, and finished 1 and 2 in our age division. Just sayin.

Be like Seth. Donate here.  Thanks for the donation Seth, there's aren't too many days of donating left.

Seth's dedicated run was a family affair. Being home for the summer, we have a firm motto at The Crip Side - "We work hard at leisure." The current hard work involved the purchase of a bike and a trailer so we can all hit the road together!

Pictured: Enthused wife and chilled out baby.

The route was yet again the Murphy Cuatro. It seems to be the distance of choice these days. Only two more runs after this one until the marathon. During today's run, I kept telling myself that the race will not be a problem. I tried running my expected race day pace today, I hope I can keep it up for 26.2 miles. I usually start pretty hot, so that will be a big challenge for me on Saturday. I think it has been a major problem for me in the past. I wish I had Jess's (Team Tinto Shout Out!) negative split discipline.

The run was fun. It was so great to be out for a run with Kate. She's been my biggest supporter over the years and to have her along for a run instead of retelling it when I got home was really cool. The boy loves his trailer. I expect we'll go for lots of runs this summer.

We saw a deer and checked the mail on this run too. Getting it done!

This run belongs to Seth!

I'm dedicating runs to raise money for a campship in memory of our friend Ty Taylor at YMCA Camp Miller. Click here or here to donate. Please make sure you choose the Ty Taylor Campship option. And please let me know if you've made a donation so I can thank you!

RUN STATS:

Distance - 4.02 miles

Time - 33:49

Soundtrack - No headphones needed, I had my family!

For Rachel!

Yesterday's run is dedicated to Rachel! Not the Rachel who donated before, but a completely different, wonderful and generous Rachel altogether. Rachel and I taught together in Seoul and have been in strong Facebook contact since! I would love for us to meet up again do a run together sometime soon...ideas?

In the vein of cleaning house, Friday's run was the same old same old Murphy Cuatro. This is the 2 miles and turn around run from my house that generally yields no interesting sights, so there's plenty of time to focus on running.

Thursday's run featured two new things. I ran without a hydration pack after learning that my first water stop is at the 3 mile mark in the marathon. I need to wean myself from on-demand water. Also, it's nice to get rid of the extra weight! On long runs, I usually run with up to 100 ounces of water in my Camelbak, which weighs up to six pounds. It's nice to be free of the pack too, which can be constricting with all of the straps, clips and ties.

Which leads to new thing number two. I ran today with my new Thump wireless headphones. This is not meant to be an endorsement of the product, but getting rid of that cord is awesome! It remains to be seen just how well they work and how comfortable they are, but that will soon be proven on race day. I'll bring the oldies just in case, but for now I expect these new ones to work out.

The run was a great one. I was really strong on my pace. Nothing too much to write about, just a fast run overall. But, it never felt too fast. It felt in control the whole time.

Splits:

Mile 1 - 6:59
Mile 2 - 6:43
Mile 3 - 6:48
Mile 4 - 6:30

Plus six seconds of finishing time means 27:12 overall. By the way, this is the fastest time on the Murphy Cuatro. I've run it eight times in the last three summers and this time was exactly one minute faster than the previous record!

Like I said, this isn't a lot to write about, just a bit of a brag. If only there was some way to maintain this pace over 26.2 miles, this would be almost exactly the pace needed to run a sub-3 hour marathon. Then I'd be in the same elite club as Paul Ryan!

Ha. I'm kidding. But really, I have been thinking about my pace a lot lately. I'd love to get a sub-4 hour, which means that I need to to run a little faster than 9:10 per mile. I know I can do it for most of the run, but what will happen late in the race? I'm getting nervous.

This run belongs to Rachel!

I'm dedicating runs to raise money for a campship in memory of our friend Ty Taylor at YMCA Camp Miller. Click here or here to donate. Please make sure you choose the Ty Taylor Campship option. And please let me know if you've made a donation so I can thank you!

RUN STATS:

Distance - 4.01 miles

Time - 27:12

Soundtrack - Beastie Boys, Hello Nasty