May 10, 2017 - For Justin!

Today's run was sponsored by Justin! Thanks so much for continuing to help fund the Ty Taylor Memorial Campship Endowment. We're getting so close to fully funding the endowment, I appreciate your help! Soon, YMCA Camp Miller will be able to send a deserving camper to camp for free every year in honor of an amazing man.

Justin joined AES in August of this school year and has been a consistent running partner since. The thing you need to know about Justin, is that he's fast. And he runs far. You can check out his exploits on his blog - An Incondite Adventure. It's been good getting to know him and his wife Sarah, and the icing on the cake is that they'll be joining us in Minnesota this summer to run Grandma's and the Bjorklund with me, so the donation will personalize even more as they get a taste of Northern Minnesota and all it has to offer!

Since he is running the full, he's always looking for miles. I feel like I've been doing a good job of banking miles this training season, but I've neglected pace, speed and hills. So, when Justin started a Tuesday night text chain looking for a run, I figured it was as good of a time as any to recommit to some speed work. I promised a short, fast one and we took off at 5am.

Lately, I've been running miles that are over 9 minutes. When we left Gate 2 of the school Tuesday morning, the first thing that Justin noticed was our pace. The first mile was 8:04, but it felt even faster than that. I let him know that my plan was to run faster than normal and he pretended to feel like it was painful (but I know that he loved it). Mile two was even faster, 7:32. There was much grunting and groaning and even a "you know, we can slow down." But I refused. I had a few secrets. First, the route. I had planned a special route for Justin's run, one I'll talk about in a bit. Mile three was amazingly another negative split - 7:16. I was dying. I knew that I was going to conk soon, but my second secret kept me going. At the five mile mark, I was going to bail out and take an autorickshaw home. Mile four was finally a slow down and I had to walk. We had dropped to a 7:45 and as we started walking, Justin reached to pause his GPS. "Don't turn that off!" I yelled, potentially betraying the secret of the route. We had reached India Gate and we were making what Justin calls, "Jason Coleman lefts." I guess he thinks it's weird when I suddenly stop in front of him, or turn left at the last minute because I go the wrong way, or am about to make a wrong turn. Jeez. Anyway, as we ran from the center of the India Gate traffic circle back out and turned back in, he knew something was up. 

"The Shamrock!"

He was right, it was the run that I designed for him to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. As the officially crowned King of AES St. Patty's, he commissioned a run from me. I added it to my series of holiday runs, which I've included below. He hosted quite a fete on March 17 this year, but unfortunately, I was out of town and wasn't able to run it. The last mile and a half or the last two petals of the shamrock were significantly slower as we jumped fences, crashed through shrubs and tried our hardest to avoid standing "water" in the lawns of India Gate to complete the picture you see below.

Most of you have seen this, but if you haven't, these runs led to a feature the MapMyRun blog. Find it here - http://blog.mapmyrun.com/american-expat-maps-route-art-explore-new-countries/.

The Run, Run Rudolph Reindeer Race

The hard work and sacrifice ...

... yield great results. Turkey Trot 2016

I, as promised bailed out as soon as the shamrock was finished. Justin ran another 5 miles home. He swears to me that he slowed down, but I don't believe him for a second.

Riding home in style

RUN STATS

Distance: 5.55 miles

Duration: 42:18. Blistering 7:37 pace!

Running For a Reason 2017

It's time to finish this.


In 2010, the world lost Ty Taylor. He was a camp counselor. He was a father. He was a son. He was a friend to many. To me, he was a mentor.

Growing up at YMCA Camp Miller is an important part of the lives of the children of northern Minnesota and beyond. It definitely was for me. Ty played a huge role in helping me to become the person that I am today. For that, I'm thankful and I'm doing everything I can to repay the gifts he gave to me.

From my blog, March 2014:

When I was sixteen I joined the staff as a CIT and when I was 17, I was an Assistant Counselor. That's when I met Ty Taylor. He was an amazing guy that had a life story that blew my mind as a 17 year old from Minnesota. We worked together all summer and he was a big influence in my life. He inspired my love of adventure, my ability to laugh at myself, helped me appreciate the simple things that surrounded me and taught me about the value of unconditional friendship.  

In 2014, I used my marathon training as an opportunity for raising money for the Ty Taylor Campship Endowment. I did the same in 2016. Today, the endowment is $3000 away from generating enough interest to send a deserving child to YMCA Camp Miller for every year forever. It's my goal to raise that money this year.

Please consider donating. It will help a kid have the experiences that I did and it will motivate me to keep running every day from now until raceday. And beyond, if necessary. Anyone who donates will have a run dedicated to them, and a write-up on this blog! Please make sure you let me know you donated so I can write up your run as soon as possible.

Here's the link for donating - http://www.duluthymca.org/give/ Just choose the Ty Taylor Campship option.

If you prefer, here's a direct link.

My goal for this year is to get 40 people to donate and convince one friend each to donate. 80 donations should be enough to finalize this endowment and start sending kids to camp!

Who's first?

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!

2013 Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon!

First and foremost, I want to thank all of my supporters. You may have run with me, encouraged me from afar or donated to my fundraising cause for this year (see sidebar on right!). As you know, this year I raised money for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, the organization that paired our family with a professional photographer when we were in the NICU of New York Presbyterian Hospital. The photos Rachel Elkind took of our family will be everlasting gifts that we'll have to remember our precious son Ellis in the 15 short days of his life. Your donations will give some other families that gift and you should be applauded more loudly than anyone who ran the 1/2 this year.

The donation site is up for a few more days if you didn't get a chance to support.

https://www.coloradogives.org/forellis

So race day started early for me. 4am wake up call, after an almost sleepless night. The pre-race jitters, combined with procrastination on preparation (read playlist), over hydration and a fussy baby all contributed to the woeful amount of sleep. My uncle's sister Jill (she ran last year too) picked me up and we were on our way to the bus, a 45 minute drive. From there, the bus took us to the start. The weather this year was a bummer. It was 50 degrees and misty. In fact, it was so foggy, we could barely see anything as we drove to Duluth. At the start, we had about 45 minutes to wait and it finally set in that I was preparing to run my third half marathon. My expectations for this race were high, but pragmatically  I was prepared to not do my best. My training was incomplete, my pre-race was not great and the weather was not my ideal. Nevertheless, when the gun went off, I was on my way.

No turning back.

Due to the weather, there were far fewer spectators this year cheering us on. Another bummer, I thought as I crossed the start about 30 seconds after the gun. This year I had a watch so I'd be watching my splits. Mile one came about 7:20. Good pace I thought, not sure if I could keep it up. Mile two, and the pace was consistent. At the 5K mark, my first "official" split came in at 22:36. Mile four, no change. I resolved to chill out on looking at my pace and concentrate on just relaxing and running. The fog had taken away the gorgeous views of Lake Superior, the light rain/mist had taken away the spectators, so it was just me and the road.

I kept focused on my reason and inspiration for running-the boys and Kate. Thinking of hands, I had practiced signing everyone's names and during the race I kept making everyone's names. E-L-L-I-S (with the LLI being the "I love you" sign, Kate's idea), A-R-L-O, K-A-R-E (after a while I realized my mistake and changed the R to T). Oops! Whenever I saw a photographer, I place the I Love You Sign on my heart for Ellis. You can see my photos here (btw, crazy expensive for digital photos).

My 10K split came in at 45:04 and I knew I was doing well. I felt great and was passing tons of people. Except the Purple Pirate. I couldn't catch him. This guy was barreling along ahead of me, with a wild form, and I couldn't believe he was in front of me. And he was wearing a purple shirt, fringed along the bottom and sleeves. I followed him for miles! Around the eight or nine mile marker, I figured out what his deal was. People were singing "Macho Macho Man" and yelling "Go Macho Man!" as he passed. It dawned on me. Randy "Macho Man" Savage. Eventually, he started to fade and I passed him. I realized that I wasn't fading. In fact, my pace was consistent the whole time and at 10 miles (1:13:11) I started to wonder if a PR was in my future. Knowing that Kate and Arlo were waiting in the next few blocks was a big motivator for the next mile.

I saw Kate right away and crossed the street to say hi to her and Arlo. Even though the weather was gross, she drove down to support me. I owe her the biggest thanks of all. She's been so supportive of my running, through everything. She's my number one inspiration. Thanks love!

Then, to my surprise, Jill's husband Andy popped out! They didn't even know that one another was in the same place waiting. From the meet-up point, there was just a bit more to go. The last official split is 11.9 miles. I crossed at 1:27:09. I did the quick math and realized that I had to finish in just over 11 minutes to beat my last year's time. An eleven minute mile? My pace had been about 7:20 for the entire race. I began to see Running Goal Number 2 come into focus. The last stretch was a strong finish. Seeing Kate and Arlo had energized me and I pushed on to the end. A quick sprint for the last bit and I was crossing the line at 1:35:47. Two minutes, fifty-one seconds faster than last year. 

For fun, here's a video of my finish...

And my playlist...

Get Lucky- Daft Punk
Girl- Beck
Sexy Mexican Maid- Red Hot Chili Peppers
Short Skirt, Long Jacket (Live)- Cake
Daytona 500- Ghostface Killah
Let's All Go To The Bar- Deer Tick
Me So Horny- 2 Live Crew
King of New York- Fun Lovin' Criminals
Stuck In The Middle- Steeler's Wheel
Baby I Got Your Money- ODB
American Woman- The Guess Who
Who Shot Ya- The Notorious B.I.G.
Standing O- Wilco
Jailbreak- Thin Lizzy
Straight Outta Compton- NWA
Moving Out (Anthony's Song) 12-12-12 Benefit, Billy Joel
Mr Big Stuff- The Ska Vengers
Werewolves of Londong- Warren Zevon
Tudo Bem- Garotas Suecas
Michael Jackson- Das Racist
Go! Go! Go!- We Need Surgery
Fix Up, Look Sharp- Dizzee Rascal
Cannonball- The Breeders
Lump- Presidents of the United States of America
Let Me Ride- Dr. Dre
Unbelievers- Vampire Weekend

and the last song before I turned off my iPod was, no lie, Dog Days Are Over- Florence and the Machine 

RACE STATS:

Distance - 13.1 Miles

Time - 1:35:47

Mood - Elated