Friday, September 11, 2009
Where were you?
So where were you when you heard of the news 8 years ago? I remember very well. I was a sophomore at Bethel. I was on my way to Tennis class and walked through the Acorn and saw on the big screan TV that the Pentagon had a plane crash into it. Thought it was odd but didnt think anything of it. Went to tennis class and asked others if they saw what happened at the Pentagon. That is when I was told by other students that the World Trace Center was hit as well. Could not believe it. Went on to play tennis as usual then back to the dorm room where the replays of the planes crashing into the towers and the towers falling were shown over and over again. Day I will never forget
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
New Blog
So I have found a web site that allows me to track day to daymy progress as if I were running across the country starting in Yorktown, VA and heading to the Pacific. To follow my progress go to my newest blog http://marksrunacrossthecountry.blogspot.com/. I will continue to use this blog, this is just something new. I will beposting interesting facts about the town that I run through on my way through the United States so it isnt all about running. Hope you enjoy the journey
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Oregon Weekend, Day 3 (Race Day)
The Morning started at about 5:15 local time (about 45 minutes earlier than expected no thanks to Coach Mikel.) Started off with breakfast (1 bagel) and vitamin water. At about 6:30 we made our way to the starting line.
7:00 the race started. I started running a 3 hours and 40 minute pace (my goal time). I started out at about the right pace. At about mile 6 I lost our pace setter and went out on my own. This would either be a good idea or bad idea, I am still not sure which one it is right now. The race was going well early. At about the half way mark I was 2 and a 1/2 minutes head of pace. Things continued to go well until about mile 23. Here is the deal with marathons. It is 26.2 miles of adventure that will go bad at some point. You just dont know when. The good news for me is that it didnt go bad until mile 23. I kept a good pace up until that point, then my legs got very heavy and tiered. I was able to keep going however without walking. My officail finishing time was 3 hours 38 minutes and 16 seconds which is about 2 minutes faster than the time I ran 2 years ago and is a post college personal record.
Also a not, there were a pear of bets associated with the races today. First off, was the race between the eliete marathon runner, Aaron Hoover and coach Mark "pappy" Mikel. The bet was that Coach could run a half marathon time that was faster than Aarons full marathon time. The Results: Aaron runs a time 45 seconds faster than coach.
Bet #2 and the MAIN EVENT was Mark "I had shin pains for 2 months" Davidhizar vs. Rick "I may have a strained Calf" Stuckey. The bet was that I would run a faster Marathon time than Rick, the catch was that there was age calculater that would be used to even out the field. After punching in the numbers before the race and what we were both aiming to run, I had to run 20 minutes faster than Rick. Well all this because a mute point when Rick dropped out of the race with cramps in the calf in question. So the "Young Pups" as we have been called all weekend, won the bets and were treated to a burger and beverage of our choice.
Overall the trip was awesome. However there just wasnt enough time to to see it all and enjoy Eugene more. I would love to come back again and run the Marathon.
7:00 the race started. I started running a 3 hours and 40 minute pace (my goal time). I started out at about the right pace. At about mile 6 I lost our pace setter and went out on my own. This would either be a good idea or bad idea, I am still not sure which one it is right now. The race was going well early. At about the half way mark I was 2 and a 1/2 minutes head of pace. Things continued to go well until about mile 23. Here is the deal with marathons. It is 26.2 miles of adventure that will go bad at some point. You just dont know when. The good news for me is that it didnt go bad until mile 23. I kept a good pace up until that point, then my legs got very heavy and tiered. I was able to keep going however without walking. My officail finishing time was 3 hours 38 minutes and 16 seconds which is about 2 minutes faster than the time I ran 2 years ago and is a post college personal record.
Also a not, there were a pear of bets associated with the races today. First off, was the race between the eliete marathon runner, Aaron Hoover and coach Mark "pappy" Mikel. The bet was that Coach could run a half marathon time that was faster than Aarons full marathon time. The Results: Aaron runs a time 45 seconds faster than coach.
Bet #2 and the MAIN EVENT was Mark "I had shin pains for 2 months" Davidhizar vs. Rick "I may have a strained Calf" Stuckey. The bet was that I would run a faster Marathon time than Rick, the catch was that there was age calculater that would be used to even out the field. After punching in the numbers before the race and what we were both aiming to run, I had to run 20 minutes faster than Rick. Well all this because a mute point when Rick dropped out of the race with cramps in the calf in question. So the "Young Pups" as we have been called all weekend, won the bets and were treated to a burger and beverage of our choice.
Overall the trip was awesome. However there just wasnt enough time to to see it all and enjoy Eugene more. I would love to come back again and run the Marathon.
Oregon Weekend, Day 2
Saturday morning started off with us heading down to watch the 5K race. We meet up with 2 ladies from California who were supposed to meet us earlier on Friday but due to flight problems didnt get in to Eugene until 11 Friday night. Julia was the Masters winner of the 5K and Hellen place 3rd in her age division running a post Cemo Personal Record. We also were able to see the Fork beat the Pancake, Flap Jack, for the race win (see pictures below.)
Later on in the afternoon we went to Pre's Rack which is the sight where famous long distance runner Steve Prefontaine died in a car crash in 1975. Prefontaine was known for his 5000 meter running. In his only olympic apperance, Pre finished 5000 in the 5000 which he was heavily favored in in 1972. There were high expectations for him for the '76 olympics. Sadly no one ever got to see if he could meet those expectations.
After Pre's Rock we went to Carbo load and an Italian restaurant in town. Service was great and the food was wonderful. Then it was off to the hotel and to bed to get ready for the big day.
Later on in the afternoon we went to Pre's Rack which is the sight where famous long distance runner Steve Prefontaine died in a car crash in 1975. Prefontaine was known for his 5000 meter running. In his only olympic apperance, Pre finished 5000 in the 5000 which he was heavily favored in in 1972. There were high expectations for him for the '76 olympics. Sadly no one ever got to see if he could meet those expectations.
After Pre's Rock we went to Carbo load and an Italian restaurant in town. Service was great and the food was wonderful. Then it was off to the hotel and to bed to get ready for the big day.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Oregon Weekend, Day 1
I landed at about 10:30 Pacific time, after 7-8 hours of flying today and meet Aaron at the baggage claim. From there the two of us drove about 2 hours to Eugene where we meet our high school cross country coach, Mark Mikel, and a friend of his named Rick Stuckey who lives just north of Eugene. After meeting up with them, we went to down to Historic Hayward Field, home to the "Men of Oregon."
Coach Mikel also unvailed the new "running club" in honor of his daughter Kelsey. We are not the Yellow Flying Monkeys. Yellow because it was Kelsey's favorite color, Monkeys because they used to call her Monkey or Monkey Butt, and flying monkey because she loved the wizard of Oz. Here are the singlets we will be wearing for the race on Sunday given to us by coach.
Later on in the day we went for a little bit of a run on "Pre's Trail." it is a beautiful trail to run on and hopefully tomorrow I will have time to take some pictures of it.
Right now it is raining here which could be the case for alot of the time we are here. Hopefully Sunday morning will be drier for the race.
Coach Mikel also unvailed the new "running club" in honor of his daughter Kelsey. We are not the Yellow Flying Monkeys. Yellow because it was Kelsey's favorite color, Monkeys because they used to call her Monkey or Monkey Butt, and flying monkey because she loved the wizard of Oz. Here are the singlets we will be wearing for the race on Sunday given to us by coach.
Later on in the day we went for a little bit of a run on "Pre's Trail." it is a beautiful trail to run on and hopefully tomorrow I will have time to take some pictures of it.
Right now it is raining here which could be the case for alot of the time we are here. Hopefully Sunday morning will be drier for the race.
IPod Vending machine
This might be the coolest thing I have seen in a long time.
Found this at the Indianapolis Airport
Found this at the Indianapolis Airport
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
