Cranberryrock_Running

Posting my diet

2011-06-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try to daily post what I eat so I can police myself. Time for me to lose a few pounds. I'm not going to count calories.Yesterday June 27thpork tenderloin and egg biscuitmcdonalds club sandwich10 pizza flavored combos1 piece of long john fish1 piece of long john chickenShort intense weight workout2 pickup trucks of woodToday June 28thtwo packs of oatmeal with a 1/2 cup of

10 days till Terrapin Mountain

2010-03-17T18:38:00.000-07:00

I've only had one race on my mind for the last 4 months. The Terrapin Mountain 50k. This is the race that showed me what it was like to run a long distance race in the mountains. I thought I would never finish but I managed to pull it out at the end. There was a point at about 25 miles that I thought I couldn't run another step but after some food and some walking, I took off again.This time I'm

Life after 50, miles that is...

2010-01-30T18:58:00.000-08:00

Well, since the 50 miler several things have happened. I did not want to run whatsoever after the race and I think I ate all I wanted for the next week. Then two weeks later I did something dumb. I tried to run the Roanoke Half Marathon at an all out pace. Roughly 7:30 per mile. I was pacing my friend Lee so he could get in NYC Marathon. It worked well for me till about mile 7 and then the bottom

The 50+ Mile Mountain Masochist Trail Run

2009-11-19T18:48:00.000-08:00

I apologize for this report being so long but hey, it was a 50+ mile race. There were good moments and bad and to get the full effect, you have to read it all. To start my MMTR weekend, I traveled to the race with my friend Kenny and his wife Manon. We arrived at the Kirkley hotel in Lynchburg Va and was treated to a very nice pasta dinner. After

I'm now an Ultra Marathoner

2009-03-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

Well my first ultra went really well. Kenny and I ran most of it together. I doubted myself just before the halfway point. Can I really finish this? The legs were starting to ache a little and there was still a little under 20 miles to go. I started taking a rolaid about every hour and i had one ibuprofen about mile 20. By mile 22 or so it was hammer down. I was eating a moderate amount at each

Getting ready for an Ultra

2009-02-05T19:13:00.000-08:00

After I ran my first marathon in November 2006, I thought "I'll never do this again". I even told people I saw while running it "Don't ever do this!" Well I ended up running a total of three marathons within a year.My friend Kenny has gone from overweight slug to ultra marathon runner (distances greater than 26.2 miles) in the space of a few years. Watching him evolve over the last few years, I

Running with the hound

2009-01-21T02:09:00.000-08:00

I was running an easy 5 miler a few evenings ago and went by this house where the dogs are usually tied up. This time though there was a bassett hound like dog that came running at me barking. I picked up a wad of rocks to protect myself and he stopped and started wagging his tail. I knew then that he was friendly. I kept running and he started running alongside of me barking and jumping up at me

2009-01-05T17:41:00.000-08:00

Well obviously I didn't blog any since March. There really wasn't much to say about this past year. Hmm.....maybe I could find a few things to talk about.My 61 year old Dad did 4 multisport events, three of them proper triathlons without having ever done one before. He also did some running road races.Let's see, my friend R ran his first race (Captain Thurmond's Challenge) and did really well

High Rocks Celtic Knot 5k

2008-03-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

As I ran up the hill through the graveyard I could hear the young woman's footsteps behind me. She was catching me. The rhythm of her foot strikes was much faster than mine. She had been steadily gaining on me for the last half mile. When we started up the hill, I was maybe 30 yards in front of her. As we were running up the hardest part of the hill, she was going gaining fast. I tried to hold

Running for President

2008-02-19T02:29:00.000-08:00

On the morning of Super Tuesday a few weeks ago, Erin was in the car with her mommy going to school. They were listening to the radio. Erin said "Mommy wow those people must really be in shape if they are going to run in all those states today!" She literally thought they were going to physically run in all those states that day. Coincidentally, she and her sister had been on a run with dad a

A January Update

2008-01-19T19:47:00.000-08:00

So what's been going on? Well, deer season sort of took over most of December then there was the Christmas festivities. I began lifting weights before Christmas and have continued to do so till now. I've put on about 4 pounds since early December so I hope that is from the weight lifting and not anything else? My running has been cut in half. I'm getting in 2 or maybe 3 quality runs a week. Last

1000 Miles This Year!

2007-12-18T16:48:00.000-08:00

("Thank ya, Thank ya very much")I just returned from a little 3.8 mile run at my house and without even realizing it, I crossed the 1000 mile mark for the year today. That is my first time crossing this mark. After 2 years of non-consistent running followed by 3 years of consistent running, I made it to this point. So far this year my monthly totals look like this

Mistletoe Half Marathon, Winston-Salem NC

2007-12-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

Well it was time to return to the great state of NC. I got my 5k Personal Record (PR) there last year in November. We went down for a weekend visit to see my cousin, Christi and her husband. They were nice enough to let us invade their house. My cousin's husband, Brian, had trained hard this fall for many weeks getting ready for this race. As an Reserve Army grunt, he's gone from running 5 milers

A week off

2007-11-25T19:20:00.000-08:00

This week was deer season. This is a week where running fades from the brain. Eating and drinking just about fade from the brain for that matter. I ran about 16 last Sunday which includes about 3 miles of running through the woods looking for deer. A new perk I have from being able to run. I can run through the woods and cover miles of terrain to see where the game is hanging out at. Most of the

Lessons Learned from MCM 2007

2007-11-15T06:31:00.000-08:00

If you're just now tuning in for my Marine Corp Marathon posting please see the posting below this one.Let's see what did I learn from marathon number 3?Things I learned in general.1. Figure out someway to not have to "go" during the race! Bathroom breaks and water stops destroy my time!2. I need to find someway to fight off cramps late in the race. I don't know if this means having someone meet

The 2007 Marine Corp Marathon

2007-10-29T20:10:00.001-07:00

Wow! That's about all I can say after running in the MCM. This is a mega-event! The crowd support is tremendous and fuels you as you run those long miles. My wife Audrey and I traveled up to DC on Friday morning and had a great time seeing the town Friday and Saturday. I picked up my packet at the expo on Friday afternoon. The lines were very easy to navigate. The expo was by far the largest I

A week without running

2007-10-14T19:28:00.001-07:00

This week I resolved not to run at all. I biked to work one day. I went on a 56 mile ride with KA on the new river trail which was great. I went on an intense bike ride this morning for an hour. Later in the day I went on a hike in the woods and I ran a little bit. The knee felt fine. I'm going to try running a mile tomorrow if nothing seems to hurt. I hope I can get back in the saddle again and

Taking a big chance

2007-10-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

Well with 3 weeks to go to the marathon, you typically run your last long run. My IT band hurts when I run on it. If I don't run for a couple days it sort of feels better. With three weeks to go and 3 20+ mile runs behind me I ran another 20 miler today. My leg hurt every step of the way. I took an ibuprofen before I left and two more during the run. They seemed to help some. Had it not been for

3 weeks till the marathon and I can't run!

2007-10-05T19:05:00.000-07:00

After the 21 miler at Pipestem. I had one day of rest and then decided to do an easy run with a couple of the guys at work. It was my idea to run a trail near work that's only 1.75 miles but is tough. The first mile is basically up a rocky creek, and then the rest is flat to straight down a very steep hill. When I got back to work, I noticed my IT band in my left leg was aching. I took a day off

2007-09-26T02:31:00.000-07:00

I now have my official bib number for the MCM, it is 9394. You can actually get real-time updates on my progress throughout the race by registering at http://www.marinemarathon.com/Results/remote_runner_tracking.htmUnfortunately, you have to create an account to do this but you will get split times and finish information instantly on a pager, text messaging number or e-mail. This free service is

Touring Pipestem Park 3 Times (21.6 miles)

2007-09-24T21:48:00.000-07:00

We camped at Pipestem State Park this past weekend so I ran from the campground to the lodge then down to true road, out onto route 20 and back into the park at the main entrance. I did this 3 times. This was my 4th long run in about 4 weeks and my body is really starting to adapt. This was my slowest run yet at about a 10:30 pace but the terrain here is very hilly. I felt good when I finished

20 Miles in the rain

2007-09-16T06:15:00.000-07:00

The weekend of the 14th, we camped at Sherwood Lake near Neola, WV. It was a great weekend. It rained Friday, but was beautiful and chilly the rest of the weekend. I ran on Friday before the girls got there so as to not interfere with our weekend activities. I pulled the camper up and did some initial setup then on with the running clothes and out the door. I would run 10 miles downhill away from

20 Miles and feeling good

2007-09-09T17:32:00.000-07:00

After last week's semi-failure of a run during the 15 mile race I was anxious to make things right. I am in the heat of marathon training and it was time to run 20. I ate well last night. Chicken thigh, lots of mac and cheese, other food as well. My wife fattened me up. I slept well, got had a bowl of sugary cereal. I grabbed 3 waters and two honey oat granola bars to eat on the run. The first 10

Sometimes you have good days and sometimes...

2007-09-01T13:09:00.000-07:00

My 2nd Charleston 15 miler was today. I had been looking forward to returning to long distances as all summer was 10Ks or less. I hardly slept last night but I had been well rested. I had dropped a pound or so over the last week. Everything was in place. My dad and I drove down and got there at 7am. He was running the 5k. He is recovering from a cold but was feeling ok. We said our goodbye and it

Don't Look Back

2007-08-19T17:23:00.000-07:00

I was sitting in Sunday School and the teacher asked "Mark when you run in your races do you ever look back?" My response was "I try not to". His point was that God doesn't want us to look back at our past sin but that he wants us to look forward and run the long race of our lives. We are to ask God for forgiveness but continue to grow spiritually in his love. We are not perfect and never will

Umm maybe I made a mistake

2007-08-14T03:35:00.000-07:00

Here it is Tuesday morning and I still feel bad. Not so bad I can't sit at the computer and do work but bad enough that I can't really get up and move around much without feeling woozy. Evidently I pushed myself too hard once I got the cold. I've been pretty sick since Saturday evening and I look awful. I don't even feel like running 50 yards much less a mile. Looks like Mark will be taking a

Feeling better this morning!

2007-08-10T05:34:00.000-07:00

Even though I was sick yesterday morning with a cold, I managed to eek out 4 miles. Afterwards, I felt ok. We went to Myrtle Waves Water Park and had a great time. I started feeling better sometime after lunch. This morning I biked 4 miles and then ran 6. The transition was not too hard but I hadn't biked very far. Contrary to what you may think, the beach is hard to run on. The sand and the

Sick!

2007-08-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

Ugh! I caught a cold yesterday evening. It took all I had to get up and run this morning. I was going to do 7 but had to settle for 3. I actually felt pretty good after I got about a mile into it but it was so hard to get going. It was so hot I really felt like I was melting. The sweat was dripping so fast I couldn't keep my sunglasses dry. There are always several people running on the beach. I

Update from the Beach!

2007-08-06T15:14:00.001-07:00

(On a mission.... to get to the beach!)Well It's day 3 of our beach adventure. Day 1 was spent traveling down, about a 9 hour camper pull. Day 2, let the triathlon/marathon training begin. I wore myself plumb out... it was my day for a long run so I ran 12.5 miles... mostly in the sand... yikes! by mile 11 I was begging for mercy. I

Apology to readers

2007-08-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

To all you who have read this blog from time to time, I apologize that I have not kept this blog up. I have wanted to blog, I have a lot to blog about I just haven't gotten around to it. I've had some great races this summer. Look for more to come soon. I want to start blogging once a week in this blog but we shall see. I'm getting ready for the Charleston Distance Run in September and the Marine

Achieving the real goal - Beat the Heat 5k

2007-07-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

I have been running for almost 5 years now. In the last 3 I have become more serious about it. Sure my goal was to run a marathon but I've always had another goal. It is not a well defined goal but the goal is to get as many people in my family and even friends involved in some sort of physical activity. Hopefully running of course. Well over the past months I finally started to make progress on

Richwood Scenic Mountain Triathlon 2007

2007-07-08T22:37:00.000-07:00

July8th 2007"Beeeeeeep.... Beep" The sound almost didn't register in my brain. K2 had said "I'll blow my bike horn when I hit the top of the mountain just before the visitor center". That means he's here! He arrived a little earlier than I thought. "We must be doing pretty good I thought". In just a few seconds he appeared on his black mountain bike amongst a couple other road bikes. He slowed

Running in Hinton

2007-06-01T18:43:00.001-07:00

Although I've now run races in 3 states and Washington D.C. including Marathons and trail runs in remote places the bulk of my running takes place in Hinton, WV. Which coincidentally is where I was born and where I now work.Hinton is the county seat of Summers County and was established in 1873 but was not chartered until 1897. Hinton was named for a prominent lawyer named John Hinton and the

Awe Inspiring!

2007-05-18T03:42:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine sent this my way yesterday and it is too good. It really inspires me by showing me that you "can" do anything if you put your mind to it. It also reminds me of the relationship I have with my Dad. I know he would do the same for me. It's the story of Dick (Father) and Rick (son) Hoyt. You can check them out at http://www.teamhoyt.com/Be sure to have your sound on when you watch

Hospice Race 2007

2007-05-05T19:07:00.000-07:00

Running in the Hospice RaceThe hospice race is my favorite local race. I'm not sure why that is but I know it is a combination of the time of year (May), the course (one way, constantly rolling and beautiful farmland scenery) and the post race party (all the pizza you want!, and veggies and fruit too).The hospice race is a 10k which is the shortest distance I enjoy running in a race. I usually

The Great Greenbrier River Race Results are in!

2007-05-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the facts. There were 130 "Entrants" which could be made up of 1 to 4 people. So I speculate there were over 200 people competing in this event. (Scroll down to see pictures from previous blog about the race).By the way our team name was "Balance".We were 6th overall out of 130 with a time of 1:34:14We were:20th in the run with a time of 20:36 (3 miles) ---- Yay me, I had to give the team

The Great Greenbrier River Race 2007

2007-04-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

What can I say? This race is fun! It's fun for the racers and it's fun for the spectators. The race this year was in Marlinton and consisted of a 3 mile run, 4 mile downstream conoe, and a 10 mile flat bike ride. It can be performed as a team of 4 or less. Usually it's different people doing each leg but individuals can also do all three legs. There is even a "family" category for families that

When the heart isn't in it

2007-04-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

Four weeks now since the marathon. The first week after the race I ran once. The second week after I ran 5 days and for 3 of them I did speed work. The third week I was beat from the 2nd week so I only ran 3 times and only once did I push myself. Then the big monsoon rains came over the weekend. I had been thinking about running the Gristmill Grinder at Babcock (13.1 mile trail run) but due to

Finding new gears and check out this Wheaties Box

2007-04-05T19:57:00.000-07:00

Why should I practice running slow? I already know how to run slow. I want to learn to run fast.- Emil Zatopek(Zátopek is probably best known for his amazing feat of winning three gold medals in athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He won gold in the 5km and 10km runs, but his final medal came when he decided at the last minute to compete in the marathon for the first time in his

Marathon Number 2 - The Wirefly National Marathon, Washington D.C.

2007-03-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

Okay time to get down to business. My first marathon was in Huntington WV in November 2006. I finished in four hours and seven minutes (4:07). Basically, about mile 22 I lost my momentum and ended up walking alot of the last few miles. I was glad to finish but felt miserable. I had run three 20+ mile training runs before that race. This time around from January to March I ran five 20+ mile

National Marathon Doubt

2007-03-04T22:50:00.000-08:00

I ran hard in January (thank you L and S) with the intention of running a spring marathon. I had picked out the National Marathon in DC as a target race on March 24th. This was all fine and dandy till about a month ago when I started thinking do I really want to do this? Do I really want to put myself through this? Why not just have a nice vacation type trip with my family and have a good time? I

Running a race by yourself

2007-03-01T17:59:00.000-08:00

Monday and Tuesday I ran easy with friends from work. KA ran 6 miles earlier in the week. He's only run a couple times outside in his life! He's done a lot of biking and eliptical workouts. We ran less than 10 minute miles for these miles. Great job KA. I also ran with B and R for 3 miles. This was an easy pace run but it was a beautiful day.Today I did something I do a couple times a year. I

And then there were two...

2007-02-24T17:34:00.000-08:00

Today was my 2nd running of the Blacksburg 10 miler. I was so lucky to be joined by my wife and sister-in-law for this run. They hold a 5k run along with the 10 miler. It was an absolutely beautiful day. Really you could call it the first day of spring in a way. Mostly sunny with temps well in to the 50's. Well to get to the reason for the title of this blog. I'll tell you about the start of this

Day before Bburg

2007-02-23T05:36:00.000-08:00

Bring on spring man! Last week was so cold and my heart just wasn't in it. I ran twice once for 4.5 miles and once for 5 miles. On Monday of this week the weather started improving greatly. Tuesday I ran 6 miles and Wednesday I ran 5 miles. Yesterday I was supposed to run an easy 2 miles but I had KA join me on a run for the 2nd time. Last time we ran he ran a couple miles and did fine except I

Running on Dumplings

2007-02-11T20:39:00.000-08:00

Today after church, we had a big family dinner and my aunt made delicious chicken and dumplings. I didn't overdo it and was a good boy. We even had cake. After about an hour or so I had to get running or I wouldn't make it back for evening chuch and beat the darkness. So my tummy was still quite full when I embarked.I put a new twist on a familiar loop. I ran from PS to Talcott and back and then

Gearing up for Blacksburg

2007-02-08T19:06:00.000-08:00

The next race I am running is the Blacksburg 10 miler. I haven't run in a race since November so I am ready to go. All the 20 milers in January have prepared me well I think and right now I am working on speed. Last year I ran it in 1:19 and change. This year I hope to be sub 1:15. I think that if I run my absolute best I can run a 1:15. We'll see. This will be a special race for me because my

Treadmill 5k's

2007-02-08T18:17:00.000-08:00

I hate the treadmill. I refuse to run more than about 4 or 5 miles on one. I get so bored I can't take it. However, I think they are very good for training. They teach you to maintain pace. You can't be a slacker on a treadmill. You know when you slow down. I decided if the snow and cold were going to keep me from outside I would hit the treadmill at work and go all out for a 5k.On Tuesday I

Coldest Long Run Ever (for me that is)

2007-02-03T16:57:00.000-08:00

This morning against my better judgement the "Greenbriar" County guys went for a cold run. I didn't have my Garmin GPS because it was just going to be an easy run. It was about 18 degrees when I left my house and the wind was somewhat clam. I have never run more than a couple miles below 25 degrees. We were to run 12-14 miles today from the Greenbrier Courthouse to the Lewisburg Airport. The

Running the last week of January

2007-02-02T12:43:00.000-08:00

After the 23 mile run dished out by my weekend mentors, I have to turn around and face my gung ho running coworkers. Boy don't I have a good attitude. I guess I've spent so many solitary miles I'm not used to running with others. In some ways it is easier in others it is harder. I enjoy it but I enjoy my alone miles too.At work "R" as we'll call him is totally gung ho. I am just amazed that

23 Mile trail run at Glade Springs

2007-01-27T16:27:00.000-08:00

This was a great run. I have never run this far with this much elevation change. There were 5 of us ranging in age from 60 to my age of 33. We started at the bridge at Prince and ran about 6 miles along the new river. That got us to the mouth of Glade Creek. From there we could look down the river and see where we would eventually be. Way up on the ridge at Grandview state park there is a

Making Mistakes

2007-01-20T21:44:00.000-08:00

Today, I met my buddies Lee and Shawn for another 20 miler on the Greenbrier River Treadmill. Well from the beginning we had said we were going to run 20 miles. Running at least 20 miles is still a fairly new thing for me. I have done it successfully 5 times now including my marathon and this was to be my 6th time crossing that mark. I can generally run about 14 miles without much thought of food

My first marathon - Marshall University

2006-11-05T21:04:00.000-08:00

Sunday November 5th, 2006, Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia. The day I had been wating for oh say 5 months. The girls and I drove up the day before, picked up my race bib and ate spaghetti, went swimming at our Super 8 and went to bed. I was in bed by 10 and back up about 3am. Couldn't sleep. I felt like I had enough sleep but just couldn't sleep anymore. I checked email, and surfed

Charleston 15 miler

2006-09-03T21:42:00.000-07:00

I ran two half marathons (13.1 miles) in 2005. I had not attempted 15 miles in a race before although I had run 15 miles twice before in training and it was kinda tough. Audrey and I got up at 4am and drove down to the Civic Center in Charleston. We got there by 6:30am. Check in was really easy and I got to try on my first timing chip. You wear them on your shoelaces by running your shoelace