Running history (sorry, this is rather long. But I’ve been running 19 omg!!! years):
I started running in ... April, 1989. After a year of drinking & feeding hangovers I got chubby, and one day saw a picture of myself. OY. Needed to do something, so I quit drinking & started running a couple miles every day & lost 25-30lbs. I kept running a few miles every day all sr year, all the way through college, and after.
In November of 1997 I started to get sick, but it wasn’t unbearable, so I kept running. I kept getting sicker and sicker, but kept running until mid February. By then emotionally I was a complete wreck from watching myself waste away & not knowing wtf was wrong with me. Physically I’d lost a bunch of weight I didn’t have to lose, felt like CRAP all the time, couldn’t sleep because I felt so badly, and was so ravaged and weak it was all I could do to walk to the end of the driveway to get the mail. In early April ‘98 I was finally diagnosed with ulcerative colitis - a chronic auto immune disease where my immune system freaked out and attacked my large intestine & ate hundreds of ulcers into the lining. (lovely, eh?
) I started treatment and after a week was able to go for a walk: down the driveway, one house over and back. Felt a little better every day, and every few days I was able to increase my daily walk 1 or 2 yards (lawn widths) at a time. Each increase, small as it was, was a celebration. 
Eventually I added in some running: run a minute, walk 5, run a minute, walk 5.... gradually decreasing the walk breaks until it became all running.
It was a long, slow process, but by September (199
I was able to run 1-1/2 miles straight and Sisterleenie talked me into running my first race - Race for the Cure in Cleveland. There were @ 7,000 people; it was a gorgeous morning, and a difficult course. In the last 3/4 mile I was passed by a dirt old man going up a steep hill and was really discouraged for a minute. Then I thought about what I’d accomplished in 5 months, and that if I kept at it maybe I could still be running when I was dirt old too. Finished in 27:26.
I was sick on and off the next 4 years, trying to get a handle on this stupid disease (still running up to 5 miles a day as long as I wasn’t horribly sick) and eventually ended up switching docs. Fall of 2001 the new doc told me one of the side effects of one of the drugs I’d been taking was leukemia. (fuck!) A week later I got a brochure for TNT - perfect timing on their part. I was compelled to join them - felt like I should do something to help while I was able. So I trained all winter/spring & ran the Governor’s Cup marathon with TNT in Montana in June 2002. Crazy hard race in mountains. Wtf was I thinking running my first marathon there? Sisterleenie (who came with me as an athletic supporter) and I were both rather emotional
when I crossed the finish line. 
That fall Sisterleenie talked me into running my first half marathon - River Run in Cleveland - and I found my new favorite race distance. Shortly after that I got sick again
and ended up in a year long flair. I was still running [it sucked], but my mileage went back down to a couple few miles a day.
In August 03 doc heard about a diet for people with gut issues at a medical conference and told me to try it. This is when the no grains or sugar thing started. Within 5 days my gut had calmed almost completely. Because of the complete diet change I also dropped @ 15lbs even though I was eating constantly, & didn’t have the strength to run more than a few miles. It took about 6 months to gain 8lbs back (the rest was steroid weight) & learn what I needed to eat to be able to run as much as I want, but I kept at it, figured it out, started building up mileage again, and spring 04 ran half of Glass City (my first 30s meet up) and half of Flying Pig.
Since then I’ve run a bunch more halfs, many of them with some of you. I try to do at least a couple halfs a year and keep my mileage up year round. I usually do a few 5ks a year, but I really hate those.
Injuries. My gut doesn’t really count as an injury, that’s just something I live with, and I try not to let it be a crutch. Actual injuries? May ‘07, Thursday after running Pig, I was playing soccer with the dogs and stepped in a hole and severely sprained my ankle. Even managed to pull a chunk of bone out of my foot where the tendon attaches. [shudder] So I took a few weeks off. Kp gave me a bunch of exercises (did them religiously) and I was able to start going for walks after 3 weeks. Gradually started running and trained for Grand Rapids half that October, most of which I ran with Kp.
Current miles per week: 25-29ish. I’m building again after a couple funky months gut-wise.
Highest ever MPW: 60 - during marathon training
Training Paces: I don’t keep track; I’m pretty much just happy to be out there and run however I feel. I run before work & allow enough time for 10m/m - that’s about as slow as I go. If I finish faster than that, yay. The pace of the miles I run with Gus is always faster than I what run alone. Running with Gus has cut 10 min off my half times.
Race PRs:
5k - 27:12
10k - 59
x (i’ve only run this one 10k, summer ‘99)
half - 1:57
marathon - 4:56 (running in mountains really sucks when you train on pancake flatness.)
One Year From Now I Hope To: be healthy & still running. Seriously, it’s hard for me to plan that far ahead because despite my efforts my gut does whatever the f it wants. I’d like to get my long runs back up to at least 15 miles. At some point in my life I’d like to do another full, because I’m much healthier now, have a much better base, & I know I can do better than 4:56. Also, the last 2 months I’ve petered out on strength training, so I want to keep up with that better. I’ve thought about getting back into Tai Chi, but gaaaa.... there just isn’t enough time in the day.
I plan to achieve this by: I’ve reworked my training plan to hit a 15m LR by the end of the year. I’m hoping by talking about it here that I’ll be more committed (? not the right word) to completing ALL scheduled miles. I should re-work the schedule again to add in weight stuff a couple few times a week.
I specifically want input on: since spraining my ankle I’ve really slacked on stretching. Want to get a good whole body stretching routine going again.
Or if you know of any FUN speedwork-thats-not-like-speedwork (like Solar’s run to the park, poke that statue and back type stuff) I could be into that. (currently I run hills & do hill repeats and run a few miles with Gus at the end of every run. And he likes to run HARD, and he varies his pace, so I guess its like fartleks.) I don’t have access easy to a track, and if it’s not easy at 5:30am I’m not doing it.
Last 2 weeks of workouts (depending on the temp, the last mile or 2 of every run are with Gus. As it cools that will increase):
Sun: 7
Mon: R
Tues: 4
Wed: 5
Thurs: 2 (bad gut)
Fri: R
Sat: 5
Sun: 8
Mon: R
Tues: butt tape + 3
Wed: alarm died, so no run. walked 4 miles & did arm tape
Thurs: 4
Fri: 5
Sat: 5
I go for a walk at lunch m-f, and walk at least 1 dog a couple miles every evening (depends how much time I have, because Jack is really freaking slow.)
Next 2 weeks
Sun: 7.5
Mon: R (today)
Tues: 4
Wed: 6
Thurs: 5
Fri: R
Sat: 9
Sun: 4
Mon: R
Tues: 4
Wed: 6
Thurs: 5
Fri: R
Sat: 10
I started running in ... April, 1989. After a year of drinking & feeding hangovers I got chubby, and one day saw a picture of myself. OY. Needed to do something, so I quit drinking & started running a couple miles every day & lost 25-30lbs. I kept running a few miles every day all sr year, all the way through college, and after.
In November of 1997 I started to get sick, but it wasn’t unbearable, so I kept running. I kept getting sicker and sicker, but kept running until mid February. By then emotionally I was a complete wreck from watching myself waste away & not knowing wtf was wrong with me. Physically I’d lost a bunch of weight I didn’t have to lose, felt like CRAP all the time, couldn’t sleep because I felt so badly, and was so ravaged and weak it was all I could do to walk to the end of the driveway to get the mail. In early April ‘98 I was finally diagnosed with ulcerative colitis - a chronic auto immune disease where my immune system freaked out and attacked my large intestine & ate hundreds of ulcers into the lining. (lovely, eh?
) I started treatment and after a week was able to go for a walk: down the driveway, one house over and back. Felt a little better every day, and every few days I was able to increase my daily walk 1 or 2 yards (lawn widths) at a time. Each increase, small as it was, was a celebration. Eventually I added in some running: run a minute, walk 5, run a minute, walk 5.... gradually decreasing the walk breaks until it became all running.It was a long, slow process, but by September (199
I was able to run 1-1/2 miles straight and Sisterleenie talked me into running my first race - Race for the Cure in Cleveland. There were @ 7,000 people; it was a gorgeous morning, and a difficult course. In the last 3/4 mile I was passed by a dirt old man going up a steep hill and was really discouraged for a minute. Then I thought about what I’d accomplished in 5 months, and that if I kept at it maybe I could still be running when I was dirt old too. Finished in 27:26.I was sick on and off the next 4 years, trying to get a handle on this stupid disease (still running up to 5 miles a day as long as I wasn’t horribly sick) and eventually ended up switching docs. Fall of 2001 the new doc told me one of the side effects of one of the drugs I’d been taking was leukemia. (fuck!) A week later I got a brochure for TNT - perfect timing on their part. I was compelled to join them - felt like I should do something to help while I was able. So I trained all winter/spring & ran the Governor’s Cup marathon with TNT in Montana in June 2002. Crazy hard race in mountains. Wtf was I thinking running my first marathon there? Sisterleenie (who came with me as an athletic supporter) and I were both rather emotional
when I crossed the finish line. That fall Sisterleenie talked me into running my first half marathon - River Run in Cleveland - and I found my new favorite race distance. Shortly after that I got sick again
and ended up in a year long flair. I was still running [it sucked], but my mileage went back down to a couple few miles a day.In August 03 doc heard about a diet for people with gut issues at a medical conference and told me to try it. This is when the no grains or sugar thing started. Within 5 days my gut had calmed almost completely. Because of the complete diet change I also dropped @ 15lbs even though I was eating constantly, & didn’t have the strength to run more than a few miles. It took about 6 months to gain 8lbs back (the rest was steroid weight) & learn what I needed to eat to be able to run as much as I want, but I kept at it, figured it out, started building up mileage again, and spring 04 ran half of Glass City (my first 30s meet up) and half of Flying Pig.
Since then I’ve run a bunch more halfs, many of them with some of you. I try to do at least a couple halfs a year and keep my mileage up year round. I usually do a few 5ks a year, but I really hate those.
Injuries. My gut doesn’t really count as an injury, that’s just something I live with, and I try not to let it be a crutch. Actual injuries? May ‘07, Thursday after running Pig, I was playing soccer with the dogs and stepped in a hole and severely sprained my ankle. Even managed to pull a chunk of bone out of my foot where the tendon attaches. [shudder] So I took a few weeks off. Kp gave me a bunch of exercises (did them religiously) and I was able to start going for walks after 3 weeks. Gradually started running and trained for Grand Rapids half that October, most of which I ran with Kp.
Current miles per week: 25-29ish. I’m building again after a couple funky months gut-wise.
Highest ever MPW: 60 - during marathon training
Training Paces: I don’t keep track; I’m pretty much just happy to be out there and run however I feel. I run before work & allow enough time for 10m/m - that’s about as slow as I go. If I finish faster than that, yay. The pace of the miles I run with Gus is always faster than I what run alone. Running with Gus has cut 10 min off my half times.
Race PRs:
5k - 27:12
10k - 59
x (i’ve only run this one 10k, summer ‘99)half - 1:57
marathon - 4:56 (running in mountains really sucks when you train on pancake flatness.)
One Year From Now I Hope To: be healthy & still running. Seriously, it’s hard for me to plan that far ahead because despite my efforts my gut does whatever the f it wants. I’d like to get my long runs back up to at least 15 miles. At some point in my life I’d like to do another full, because I’m much healthier now, have a much better base, & I know I can do better than 4:56. Also, the last 2 months I’ve petered out on strength training, so I want to keep up with that better. I’ve thought about getting back into Tai Chi, but gaaaa.... there just isn’t enough time in the day.
I plan to achieve this by: I’ve reworked my training plan to hit a 15m LR by the end of the year. I’m hoping by talking about it here that I’ll be more committed (? not the right word) to completing ALL scheduled miles. I should re-work the schedule again to add in weight stuff a couple few times a week.
I specifically want input on: since spraining my ankle I’ve really slacked on stretching. Want to get a good whole body stretching routine going again.
Or if you know of any FUN speedwork-thats-not-like-speedwork (like Solar’s run to the park, poke that statue and back type stuff) I could be into that. (currently I run hills & do hill repeats and run a few miles with Gus at the end of every run. And he likes to run HARD, and he varies his pace, so I guess its like fartleks.) I don’t have access easy to a track, and if it’s not easy at 5:30am I’m not doing it.
Last 2 weeks of workouts (depending on the temp, the last mile or 2 of every run are with Gus. As it cools that will increase):
Sun: 7
Mon: R
Tues: 4
Wed: 5
Thurs: 2 (bad gut)
Fri: R
Sat: 5
Sun: 8
Mon: R
Tues: butt tape + 3
Wed: alarm died, so no run. walked 4 miles & did arm tape
Thurs: 4
Fri: 5
Sat: 5
I go for a walk at lunch m-f, and walk at least 1 dog a couple miles every evening (depends how much time I have, because Jack is really freaking slow.)
Next 2 weeks
Sun: 7.5
Mon: R (today)
Tues: 4
Wed: 6
Thurs: 5
Fri: R
Sat: 9
Sun: 4
Mon: R
Tues: 4
Wed: 6
Thurs: 5
Fri: R
Sat: 10
