Family time and relaxation – Memorial Day 2013

May 28, 2013ianesenior 3 Comments

Everyone has their own way of relaxing. Some people like to sleep in late, some like to sit by a pool or spend time at the beach. What do we do as a family? Well, we run 🙂

In addition to being Memorial Weekend and the official start of the summer season this weekend my Wife and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. We kicked off our celebrations with a nice dinner at P.F. Chang’s which meant we had chalked up an extra couple of miles mid-week to save our calories for our anniversary dinner. Luckily for us that we did as we were given a free dessert by our waitress for our anniversary and just a few minutes later another free dessert. I like that place for some reason. I could taste the miles with every bite. Ha!

Celebrating at P.F. Chang’s

With our kids staying overnight at my in-laws we started the weekend with a 10K run in Tyler State Park to celebrate our 10 years. The weather looked a bit iffy overnight but we lucked out and started running as the clouds cleared and got some magnificant sunshine. It was nice to run with Shari in the park as we both train there but we have never run together there as someone is always at home with the boys.

10K celebrating 10 years:

10th Anniversary 10K

10K run – great start to our day

After the run we headed over to the Newtown Athletic Club where I had a massage booked (a birthday gift from Shari that I finally got around to using). When asked by the masseuse what type of treatment I wanted I told her that I was a marathon runner and she should use her judgement but I wanted to be able to run tomorrow. I think she went easy on me but it still hurt…but it was a good hurt I think. It was nice and relaxing and I felt refreshed once it was over.

After lunch together we picked up the boys and got together with some friends so all our kids could play together for the evening. While we were at our friends house my friend Mike suggested I look into reading the book ‘Advanced Marathoning‘ by Pete Pfitzinger if I wanted to look into increasing my speed which I had been discussing recently. I look to Mike for advice as he is a long time runner and still a great competitor and he is patient enough to listen to all my questions. We’ll see how this works out.

On Sunday we let the kids sleep in and took our time to get going. We headed to Yardley to run the Delaware Canal with the boys in the stroller for a family run.

Ready for a run

We bought this stroller last year to take the boys out together with us when we run. It’s a great piece of equipment for us. My boys however are growing quick and are testing the weight limits of the stroller and pushing this gives me a pretty good workout (I can still feel my triceps two days later). Luckily the Delaware Canal Tow Path is nice and flat and we managed 8 miles together. The boys were awesome and Shari and I pointed out the wildlife as we ran. Funny thing happened within the first few minutes in that my GymBoss timer (I use for the Galloway method) flaked out on me. Rather than stop and fiddle around with everything on the run I just went with it and ran without my usual intervals. Did pretty well running the first couple of miles pushing over 100 pounds of boys without needing to stop. Something else to work on I guess as I take this time to work things out before the marathon training starts in July.

Family stroller run:

Family stroller run

When we do the Canal run we park at Cramer’s Bakery in Yardley so we have a place to grab a cup of coffee when we finish. With the boys we promise them a treat from the bakery if they are good during the run. It’s amazing how good boys can be when you promise them a cupcake or a brownie. Anyway, we finish up the run and park the stroller at the bike rack next the bakery, choose our treats and sit outside the front of the store to eat and drink before heading home. As you can see by the photo below Asher must have worked hard during the run as in addition to his brownie he needed to take Shari’s bagel…he needed the carbs I guess?!?

Parked outside the bakery post run

Enjoying post run treats

So how far did you run kid?

So, how do you follow two days of family runs? You get up at the crack of dawn on a holiday and head out for a bike ride. I got up at 5am on Monday morning, hitched my bike to my car and headed out for my first outdoor ride of the season.

The bike rack is back on the car. It will be there for the summer now.

I headed out early to the canal path where we ran yesterday. It was a little cooler than I had planned but other than really cold fingers I was pretty much appropriately dressed. I wore my new Team Great Britain cycling jersey for this ride. The ride itself was fine. 20 miles from Yardley to New Hope and back. It felt good. I have a 25 mile ride in a few weeks on a very hilly course and while this was flat it was still a good test for going long. I’ll deal with the hills when I get there. Below is the ride summary.

Yardley to New Hope ride:

Ride route from Yardley to New Hope and back

I finished my ride and got back home around 8.15am so Shari could go out for a run. The boys were still asleep when I got home so I had a nice cup of coffee and a bagel with peanut butter and honey. Now that was a treat.

Wearing my new Team GB jersey

Micah – who wore it best?

Once Shari got back we got the kids, our picnic lunch and headed out to the Philadelphia Zoo for the afternoon before heading back for a family barbeque.

It seems like we did a lot with all this running and biking but to me it was a great relaxing weekend and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 🙂

Hope you all had a good holiday weekend too.

Also, as a quick reminder, now that Memorial Weekend is behind us here’s an activity for next weekend (and through July 31st). Great fun for a great cause with great prizes. Check out the great medal too. Everyone who enters receives this specially designed medal!

“Where’s Dopey” Medal

As it is a virtual run you can run/walk this 5K anywhere in the world before July 31st. You can head over here to sign up. Don’t forget to send your photographs in to be eligible for one of the prizes.

Running for a cause other than yourself

April 30, 2013ianesenior 3 Comments

On Sunday my wife and I ran a local 5K race to help raise funds for my friend Mike as he trains to race for Team USA at this summers Maccabi games. Anyone who knows me knows that if I have a plan I stick to it somewhat religiously. If someone in our family talks about weekend plans in the future I pretty much look up my calendar and see what run I have planned. I guess that’s my nature. My wife would tell me to loosen up a little. I guess it’s my profession to be measured and disciplined but sometimes you do have to have a little fun. Of course when I am at Walt Disney World it’s all fun.

Anyway, with a week before I run the New Jersey Marathon I am hitting the last part of the taper and resting up for my best efforts on May 5th and I was being extremely careful in my preparation as this is my ‘race’ for the year where I am going for a goal, but this was for a friend and I wanted to make sure I was there to support. I wasn’t going to run hard during the race but take it nice and slow to keep loose and have fun.

The weather was perfect. Clear sky, light breeze and cool temps in the 50s. I dropped my eldest off at his Sunday morning class and took the double stroller to run with Asher (and his Best Pal).

Taking it nice and slow with my race crew

Shari and I both wore our new ‘Boston Strong’ shirts and we were glad to see that many of the people there were also wearing Boston gear. Runners are their own support group.

I started at the back as I was the only one running with a passenger, mind you I was lucky I noticed just before the start that I was on the wrong side of the start line which would have put me at the front…oops. Shari went off with the main pack and ran a new 5K PR (just over 24 minutes). As the say in Boston she is becoming a ‘wicked fast runnah’. She makes it look good.

My little red haired ‘wicked fast runnah’

I took it nice and slow chatting with Asher all the way and asking him to tell me the directions of each of the arrows on the course. He was a good navigator and I made it back to the finish line running 10 minute splits. Asher was more excited to see his Mommy at the finish line although he had fun peeking through the window in the hood of the stroller to make sure I was still there during the race. Mickey, I am pleased to say, behaved beautifully.

Asher with Mommy and his Best Pal

We made it to the finish line. Asher already re-carbing for his next event.

After the race was over and we had said goodbye to everyone we headed over to Dunkin’ Donuts for coffee (me) and a treat (Asher) as promised. It seems I do run on (or at least for) Dunkin’.

Asher ‘earned’ his treat after all his hard work during the 5K

Once I have completed the New Jersey Marathon next week I will be getting ready to hold a virtual 5K to raise funds for Autism Speaks and hopefully get closer to achieving my fundraising target for the 2014 Dopey Challenge. (Watch this space, the medal looks awesome).

Raising funds for charity sometimes feels harder than the actual training itself. In addition you feel a little extra pressure to make sure you achieve the goals you set out for yourself so you don’t let everyone down. It’s tough and hopefully your family, friends and colleagues understand why you repeatedly ask for sponsorship.

When I decided to run the Goofy Challenge last year I actually signed up for the race before I signed up for a charity. I had made the choice to run the Goofy well before I signed up for the event. It was after I had registered that I began to think that running such a high profile event made me feel a little like I was showing off and I thought that it would be more of an achievement if I ran for a cause other than my own ego. Around the same time that I registered my niece was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. This led me to join up with Autism Speaks and run with them them at Disney. I had run enough miles for myself it was time to run for someone else. I had the shirt below made for the occasion, although it will need to be updated this year as I go from Goofy to Dopey 🙂

My 2013 Goofy shirt courtesy of ‘One More Mile’

The back of my shirt for ‘Team Sadie’

If you would like to follow my progress please sign up to follow this blog. If you would like to contribute to the cause you can do so using this link.

My goal is stay healthy through running and go onto raise funds for other events in the future. My hope is that in 2015 (a long way off I know) that I get to run the Boston Marathon for Autism Speaks if they have places for the event. I’m not a ‘wicked fast runnah’ and this may be my only way to that great event. I know that if I get there to run for others that will be my personal BQ.

Thanks for reading.

(If you want to follow and support my friend Mike you can do so at this link)

2013 Atlantic City April Fool’s Half Marathon recap

April 8, 2013ianesenior 9 Comments

‘An elephant, a purple tutu and an unintentional PR’.

This weekend my wife Shari, my sister in law Rina and I headed down to Atlantic City, NJ to run the Atlantic City April Fool’s Half Marathon. Shari and I had run the inaugural race in 2012. It was a fun weekend and so we signed up again together with Rina which was to be her second half marathon after Walt Disney World this last January.

We don’t really have a choice ‘NOT’ do to run in this event, after all we were part of the advertising campaign for this race which we discovered at the expo for the Rock & Roll Half Marathon in Philadelphia last September.

Shari recreating her pose

The weather this weekend finally was seasonal and so we headed down early on Saturday to get our race packets (packet pick up was at the Revel Casino and Hotel) and then headed over to Ocean City, NJ so that the boys could have some of their own fun at the amusement rides on the boardwalk. They had a blast. I on the other hand broke my own rule about fun fairs (which is that Mummy does the rides and Daddy holds the bags). Let’s just say I never want to see a ‘Tilt-a-Whirl’ ever again. Not a good idea to lose your sense of equilibrium the day before a race. Anyway, once everything seemed upright we headed back towards our hotel with a carb-loading stop at one of our favorite Italian restaurants before heading in for a reasonably early night.

Tutu’s and Jester hats available for race day during packet pickup

We had booked our hotel (Marriott Courtyard) when we signed up for the race as it was close by Bally’s Casino and Hotel which was the start/finish line last year and what was on the initial information we had. The start/finish line was moved back about a mile to the Revel Casino and Hotel so this called for a walk of just under a mile to the start line early Sunday. It was a little chilly as we left our hotel and we were all worried we were not dressed appropriate but better to be too cold than too warm when running. We huddled into the lobby of the Revel with all the other runners to stay warm. One advantage of such locations is that there are real bathrooms available pre-race and somewhere warm to stand. A nice luxury on a chilly morning.

Shari and Rina wrapped up before the start of the race

Warmth and marble bathrooms pre-race at the Revel Hotel and Casino

As we shuffled out to the start line with the rest of the runners we bumped into our friend Mayela who we first met at last years race. She looked like she was dressed for summer and made us even more concerned we were dressed wrong with our multiple layers. Oh well, too late now.

Mayela, Rina and Shari at the start line

Following the singing of the National Anthem the race started promptly and off we went. My plan for this race was to take it steady and run easy as my goal was to use this as a training run with the New Jersey Marathon just 4 weeks away. I didn’t want to overdo it. The last time I had run with Shari was at the Walt Disney World Marathon back in January and we had previously run the 2012 Philadelphia Rock & Roll Half Marathon and Hershey Half Marathon together step by step from start to finish. I thought we would be doing the same and was looking forward to doing so as last year we both ran our own race here (and both PR’d). What I didn’t expect was my little red head in a purple tutu to go off the start line like Lightening McQueen!!! What the heck?!?!

This was unexpected. I wasn’t quite prepared and I spent more than half the race just trying to keep Shari in my sights. Luckily she was easy to spot all in purple with a tutu. I felt good running and was monitoring my heart rate to make sure I wasn’t exerting too much effort. It was a nice sunny day and so I settled into a good rhythm and got my head in the game. Once we left the Boardwalk in Ventnor, NJ we headed through Margate, NJ past Lucy the Elephant to the turnaround just inside of Longport, NJ. The course is pretty flat, in fact the only ‘hill’ was the ramp up to the Boardwalk at mile 8.5 on the way back into Ventnor. On the way out, I would say I was around mile 5, I saw the leaders running back towards me. I tried to kid myself that they must have been running the 11K race but no, they really were that much faster than me.

Lucy the Elephant (Margate, NJ)

During this race I was still experimenting with my run/walk ratio ahead of the NJ Marathon. I had gone from 5:00/0:30 which I used for almost all of 2012 and through Disney to 4:00/0:35. However during the race my Gymboss interval timer malfunctioned and I had to fix it on the run. Delicately handling the device so not to lose the battery I removed and replaced the battery and reset the device all while moving at a consistent pace. I am not sure how long I was running but probably missed a walk break. I moved the interval to 4:00/0:40 so I could have a little more time to bring my heart rate down during walk breaks and soldiered on.

I saw Shari after the turnaround heading in the opposite direction and later saw my sister in law who yelled that Shari was beating me by a lot (thanks for the support Rina). I finally caught up to Shari just before we turned back onto the Boardwalk. We pretty much were close together until the last half a mile when annoyed by my constant chit chat she told me to go ahead. We finished within seconds. I ran 1:52:43 and Shari ran 1:52:54. I had PR’d by just over a minute and Shari PR’d by over 5 minutes. Awesome stuff. I looked at Shari’s splits after uploading her run to Garmin Connect when we got home and she was consistently within a few seconds of 8:30 a mile all through the race. I had a negative split (maybe my first) and that is the only way I was able to catch up with Shari.

We had told my in-laws that we would probably be around the 2 hour mark but thanks to the purple speed demon we were ahead of plan. At around mile 12.5 I passed my in-laws coming to the finish line with the boys. I gave a quick yell so they could see me but I was a green blur to them. Luckily they were able to catch Shari just as she ran past as a purple blur. We crossed the finish line and again bumped into Mayela who finished about a minute or two ahead of us. We quickly grabbed some water and food and headed to see the boys. They were so excited to see us and I think more excited that we brought them food. Everyone seemed to be having fun while we waited for Rina to finish.

We did it!

Finish line fans

We were all full of soft pretzels, bananas and Gatorade (and Micah was full of ice cream….before 10am) as we waited for Rina and cheer her on to the finish. After a couple of false alarms (we saw pink in the distance but the runners were not pink) Rina came into view. Everyone was excited for her, no more so than her Mom and Dad who came down with the boys to the finish line to watch. We cheered here on in all her pink tutu’d glory as she PR’d by almost an hour in only her second Half Marathon.

Rina sprinting to the line

Great weekend, great race and a nice start to our race season. I am very proud of Shari for her run yesterday. She kept me on my game. I wish she was my official pacer for the NJ Marathon next month as I actually go for an intentional PR (no pressure). I am sure we will run races together again the whole way and look forward to running the San Francisco Half Marathon in July with her. Very proud too of my sister in law Rina. I guess I’ll have to get my own tutu for upcoming races. It seems it’s a necessary accessory for fun and fast races. 🙂

Sisters rocking the tutu look

California here I come…

February 26, 2013ianesenior 2 Comments

California, here I come
Right back where I started from
Where bowers of flowers
Bloom in the spring
Each morning, at dawning
Birdies sing and everything
A sun-kissed miss said, “Don’t be late”
That’s why I can hardly wait
Open up that Golden Gate
California, here I come

The Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, CA)

My Wife and I just signed up for the San Francisco Half Marathon (the 1st Half Marathon) as part of the San Francisco Marathon weekend in June. We were looking for a getaway for our 10th wedding anniversary and I had always wanted to visit the city and Shari said we should look to find a race out there. As I said in my previous post it’s awesome to have someone to share your interests with.

We started to ask people what there was to do in San Francisco (recommendations still welcome by the way) and someone suggested walking the Golden Gate Bridge. My thought is why walk it when you can run it….TWICE!!!

Based on what we have seen the 1st Half Marathon (starting at a very ‘Disney’esque time of 5:30am) is more scenic and the only Half Marathon that goes over the famous bridge. (There are two Half Marathons which basically follow the Full Marathon route – just split the course down the middle for each). Although the city appears to be hilly (based on my recollections from seeing the film Bullitt and countless others) the 1st Half is the least hilly of the two half marathons. Not that I’m complaining.

Here is a tour of the course for the 1st Half Marathon.

Shari says that having run the Benjamin Franklin Bridge run in Philadelphia in 2011 and 2012 this won’t be too dissimilar. Well, maybe it will be warmer in San Francisco in June than it is in November in Philadelphia. I hope.

Although it is an early start we are staying about 15 minutes walk from the start line area and if we do our usual pacing we may be done before 8 a.m. and back in the hotel to shower and grab breakfast which still leaves us with a full day for sightseeing. Nice. Looking at the website the it says that all finishers over the age of 21 will get an Irish coffee at the finish line. At 8 a.m.? Well, you are on vacation so why not (plus the kids are at home with my In-laws).

Looking forward to writing my race report after the race. Excuse any typos…not sure how well I function after running 13.1 miles and drinking an Irish coffee but it will be fun to find out. 🙂

It takes two…

February 18, 2013ianesenior 1 Comment

Okay, so I am a bit late posting this for Valentine’s Day but still worth a thought or two. Here is an article that appeared on the Huffington Post site last week. You might recognize a couple of people (hint….Picture ’26’).

Although the article is very general it does highlight a good point. Since Shari and I started running we have to juggle our training with our commitments to work and to our family. Many times when I was training for my first marathon would I get up at 3 a.m., strap on a headlamp and do 18-20 mile training runs so that I could get back in time before Shari had to head out for work. Even now I do the ‘early’ shift at the weekends, getting up at 5 a.m. or earlier so I can get my work out in be back to look after the boys or take them to an activity so Shari can work out and we don’t lose our day or time with the boys. In fact last year we splurged on a quality running stroller so we could take the boys with us on our training runs so neither of us had to miss out. We put at least 50 miles on the stroller together (although I was the one pushing it and getting the extra workout).

Ocean City, NJ 2012

But there are those rare occasions when we do get to run together. Seldom do we train together (as we are always on different training plans) but we have and do try to find races where we can run together. Yes, there is the odd race where we want to PR and we decide ahead of time to run our own races, but we try to find races where can run side by side for the entire length.

As well as being good fun (we are known to ham it up for photographers just a bit) it does offer that rare time when we get to spend time together not watching TV or a movie and away from social networking and we are really doing something together as a couple. Okay, so we are lucky that we both like to run and I’m sure that it would be different if only one of us was interested but it sure is great to share in the experience with someone who shares your life. They just get it.

Last year Shari and I ran the LiveStrong 10K and the Philadelphia Rock and Roll Half Marathon together to see if we could do it based upon our different running pace and we did it. I sometimes push the pace but Shari can hang with me so that is good. It also allows me to take some races easier as a PR is not the be all and end all for me. We also ran the Hershey Half Marathon together and of course the Walt Disney World Marathon together. I guess we help push (or drag) each other along. I was a little under the weather at Hershey and Shari got me to the finish (she killed me on the hills that day) and she admitted it was good to have me run with her during her first marathon (although there were a couple of times when she put both earphones in and ran on the opposite side of the street!!!)

Hershey Half Marathon 2012

Bottom line…the best thing about running is that I have a partner who can stick with me, share the highs and lows and put up with my incessant chattering with fellow runners. At the end of the day we stay healthy together and spend what really is quality time together. Hopefully in the process we are setting a good example for our boys.

Thanksgiving 2012

philly2goofy

…and all the miles in between

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Family

Family time and relaxation – Memorial Day 2013

Running for a cause other than yourself

2013 Atlantic City April Fool’s Half Marathon recap

California here I come…

It takes two…

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