Change is Good?

Clouds gone, Sun out - Good change
40's gone, Zero wind chill - Bad change
Stock market Up yesterday, down today - Bad change
Everyone still arguing in Washington - NO change

But as an undertaker friend of mine once said:
"Any day above ground is a GOOD day" so I think I'll go for a run!

Sally'ism:

Once when running on the St. Charles Running Club course with Sally in the jogging stroller, anytime that I paused for even a second (usually to pick up something she had thrown overboard) she would call out "run grampy run", thus the name for my blog. But, going up the many hills on that course she would call out "faster grampy faster". What a taskmaster! :))

At Last - My Running History Part Three

Part 3:

2008 brought two more surgeries 5 weeks apart in an attempt to repair damage done by the radiation treatments. With my immune system impaired, I came down with bronchitis early in the winter training for Go St Louis Half. Again I struggled but kept the pace; again working hard on my speed I was able to attain my goal of a sub-two hour half. I finished in 1:59:48!

Training for the L&C Marathon, one interesting run stands out. I was on a cruise with my entire family (that in itself takes endurance) to celebrate my Mother's 90th birthday. That Saturday was a 14 miler. That is 67 Laps on board. The fun part was that my Garmin registered not only my speed but that of the ship as well AND it measured to distance that the ship traveled so the graph looks like I ran a very fast 58 miles!

Race day brought Hurricane IKE blowing through St. Louis. Disappointed I elected to not start the race concerned that I would either get sick again or injure myself in the downpour. At this point race sponsors were considering paying me not to register!

2009 and here came another bout of bronchitis just in time for the Go StL Half, so I gave up my number. Another bout is August, damn it was getting tiring. My radiologist swears it can’t have been caused by the radiation but COME ON 59 years without, radiation, then three times in two years.
So what will the future bring? My plans for 2010 are to run a decent half at GoStLouis then begin training for L&C with a goal of qualifying for Boston (4 hours). It will be a challenge! There I’ve committed it to writing and sent it spinning throughout the internet for everyone to see, I guess I really have to do it now!
That’s the story.

Lost Steer Award --

After a great run on Saturday with my new half marathon training group, a great group that I look forward to getting to know the day only improved with the arrival of our two grandchildren, Sally 3 and Tommy 8 months coming by for an over night stay. Off to the playground at West County Mall, what fun! Home for dinner, off to bed what a great Saturday!

At least until about 10 when Susan got reallllllly sick. I fled the bedroom in an attempt to avoid infection. Sunday morning brought her no relief. Grampy has never dealt with both grand kids solo. Getting them up, diaper changed, breakfast eaten, dog walked. I must admit, I relied on the TV for some babysitting. Matthew rescued me by coming to pick them up before lunch so I could help care for Susan. Another night on the sofa, yes I am going to avoid this sickness!!!

3 AM, guess what? Yes you're right my turn! I didn't suffer nearly as much as Susan and thank goodness it passed in 24 hours. But it meant no run Sunday, Monday or Tuesday so Wednesday I was off to Fleet Feet for the Social Run, my first in Fenton.

Let me preview this story with another. When our boys were running cross country for Parkway West every year they gave the Lost Steer Award for those runners who missed turns on the course, Kevin and Matthew won a couple of times.

I planned on a nice easy 5 miler went out, was quickly left behind by the leaders but they had great turn by turn directions. Too bad I ran past a turn. By the time it was obvious I had blown it I knew there were extra miles in this run for me. Thank goodness I had my iPhone and could use my mapping program to get back. So my nice easy 5 miler was more like 7 with a couple of extra hills. Thats 1 Lost Steer Award for Eric! What a way to come off of the flu.

See you in Chesterfield tomorrow, I know that course :))

RunGrampyRun

Monday January 18th

Speed Workout

3.1 Miles

ET 27:08

Ave Pace 8:45

What a pretty evening for a quick run before going to a meeting at church. Temperature was in the low forty's. No sun but it was late enough that it would have been setting anyway. I really felt "the need for speed" tonight after last weeks runs all in the 10:30 range.

I am excited about coaching a half marathon group of 15 runners and helping them prepare to reach their goal of finishing the Go St. Louis Half Marathon next April. I'll have to talk to them to see what their goal time will be but I am guessing in the 2 hr 10 min area. Just about perfect for my plan of running a decent half in the spring then kicking butt next fall.

I was talking to some of my fellow coaches Saturday and found out that if you run the half marathon on Sat and the full on Sunday at Disney in Orlando you end up with multiple medals, one for Sally, one for Tommy and one for Grampy!!! It's beginning to sound like a plan.

Two Saturday's ago I substitute coached a marathon training group on a 12 miles run. The path was about 50 % snow covered with a wind chill of about 5-10 below. The snow cover was loose because of the cold and that was actually more of a challenge than staying warm. Proper clothes, enough layers, some toe warmers and hand warmers and it was toasty warm! We didn't worry about our pace or splits, that simply didn't matter in those challenging conditions. The group really gelled as a team that day, staying close together and watching our for one another. We carried our fluids under our top layer to keep it from freezing so every mile we slowed to a walk in order to get a good drink without falling.

Last Saturday I subbed again. It was a "fall back" week of 8 miles on a wonderful course through the Missouri River bottom land and along the Katy Trail. Temp had moderated and was in the 30's at the start but it was foggy and the dampness made us feel the cold at the start more than the sub-zero weather. Great run with a killer hill at the end.

I'll post the rest of my running history tomorrow.

RunGrampyRun

Running History Part 2

Part 2:
After the South County Triathlon I piddled around with my running and biking, entering several other races, sometimes as a team. I never ran more than 5k either in training or in races but I got into much better shape, losing about 15 pounds. On vacations, I enjoyed running on the beach nearly every morning at sunrise but I never really considered doing much else until Matthew ran the Chicago Marathon and completed the Lake Placid Ironman. I was hooked!
In 2005 I decided it was time for me to run a marathon. I bought a marathon training book and began to study. Every morning at 5:30 I hit the street with only my iPod for company. I ran for 5 minutes, walked for 1. One Saturday morning I was scheduled to run 12 miles, but as I approached six miles I developed serious knee pain and had to call Susan for a ride home. A trip to a sports doctor showed that my knees were in great shape and the problem appeared to be my IT band. I started a stretching program but got very little improvement. The Lewis & Clark marathon was about a month before Chicago. I was scheduled for an 18 mile training run so I registered for L&C not realizing that at 18 miles you are as far away from the finish line as possible. My IT band was hurting before the half way mark. I can remember that I limped not 25 feet from the car as I went by. At mile 18 I got some Advil from the aid tent which helped a bit. I limped along deciding that I would try to finish within the time limit then I would know if I could complete Chicago. Oddly, things seemed to improve after L&C. I could not train nearly as much as I should have but I spent endless boring hours in the pool water running. When the race started I was off and running without a hitch. I had joined a 5:45 pace group and had no trouble staying with them. I felt well enough at mile 18 to pick up the pace……I should have waited until mile 20 or 22 because I really hit the wall at mile 24. I finished at 5:3XXX…what a feeling!
Once again, I just piddled with my running until March 15th, 2007. On that day, just one day before my 10th anniversary of being cancer free my urologist informed me that I wasn’t. There was no question that the cancer had returned. Because of constant monitoring and follow up the cancer was isolated in the region where the prostate had been, it had not spread. Radiation was the only option so I was scheduled for 39 treatments, five days a week for 8 weeks. I drove home and immediately registered for the Chicago Marathon. A few days later, I was holding our brand new granddaughter, Sally and made a deal with her. If she wanted to run we would run the Chicago Marathon together when she was 18. She immediately passed gas so the deal was sealed. I will be 77 years old when that day comes and I fully intend to keep my end of the bargain!
Soon, I learned about a training program at Velocity Sports, “Need for Speed” and knowing that I would probably need some help in my training I signed up. Every day at 3:30 I would have my treatment, head home, change clothes and run as far as I was able. Some days that wasn’t very far. The training course helped tremendously, I began to get into better shape and my running improved. My doctors could not believe that I was actually running further and faster as the treatments progressed. Susan was very patient; between working, radiation, and running I wasn’t able to do much else. During the Need for Speed course I met Kristen, a coach from Fleet Feet and learned that they had a marathon training course in progress. I joined the group on their 3rd Saturday run, 10 miles on the Katy Trail. By the 8th mile I had fallen back from the group by about ½ mile. Kristen stayed with me and encouraged me. Suddenly I looked up and here came the entire team looping back and falling in behind me, what a feeling of support and encouragement, it brought tears to my eyes. At that point no one except Kristen knew what I was going and one confided in me later that some wondered what this ‘old’ guy was doing in their pace group.
One very hot, humid and breeze-less Saturday we ran 16 miles on Grant’s Trail. I drank water but took in no electrolytes and became severely dehydrated. An ambulance ride to the ER, scans to be sure I hadn’t had a stroke and lots of Glucose later I came out of the ER to find nearly half the team waiting to be sure I was okay. Some weeks I would fall back to a slower pace group but as the weeks went by I began to be able to keep up with the pace and at the end I could finish in the front of the group. Our graduation run was doing the Lewis & Clark Half Marathon, then going back out for an additional 9 miles. I finished the half in 2:04, downed some carbs and electrolytes and finished the 22 miles. It was great getting the cheers, many of the spectators thought I had done a “fast” marathon!
A few weeks later I was in the starting corral for the Chicago Marathon. Once again it was hot it was humid and there was no breeze. I felt that I had an advantage having trained in the hot conditions all summer. With a surge of over-confidence I was off at too fast a pace. I carried my fluids for the first half, wanting to avoid the waits at the water stops. My strategy worked fine until I got to the half way mark and they had run out of their fluids, the tables were empty! I could really feel the heat building up and slowed my pace considerably adjusting my goal from a fast run to “let’s match my previous time”. About mile 16 or 18 I again adjusted my goal from trying to match my previous time to let’s survive. It was about that time that I began to hear that the race had been cancelled and that we could continue but it was just a “fun run”. At mile 19 I knew they were lying…..this was not a “fun” at all! At mile 21 they had the course blocked and a policeman asked that I board a bus to be returned to the finish. I protested but he insisted saying that the course was closed and there would be no support for the final 5.2 miles. Looking back, while disappointed I was grateful, I was in pretty bad shape and my judgment was impaired, going further would have been dangerous.

January 7, 2010

Temp: 13

Wind speed: 22

Wind Chill: MINUS 5

I'm a marathoner therefore I am crazy by defination, I am NOT however, stupid. That is why I ran 7 at Forest Park yesterday when it was a "balmy" 32 degrees.

High winds and a wind chill of minus 5 is just too darn cold for me. I will, however be coaching the marathon group in Forest Park Saturday morning, regardless.

A Running History of My Running - Part 1

In late 1991 a routine blood test showed a slightly elevated PSA reading. Every six months for the next 5 years I would have another blood test and each time the PSA levels increased so each time I would have an ultrasound and ‘snip’ biopsy. No cancer cells were found. Finally in February 1997 with a PSA reading exceeding 17 my urologist “drilled” my prostate, taking 20 core samples which contained a few cells of cancer. At 48 years old and given the technology at the time surgery was the best option. On March 16th, 1997 I underwent a radical prostatectomy.

Undergoing two general anesthetics in a month’s time puts a tremendous strain on your body. I had qualified for our firm’s convention trip to Puerto Rico, scheduled for exactly one month after my surgery. In addition, our family’s time share in St. Thomas was available. What could be better, recovery on tropical beaches for two weeks! My first goal was to recover enough to make the trip.

The first morning in Puerto Rico I was up early and headed for the beach. I managed to make my first “run” of about 20 yards. I decided to try a swim, but dared not swim in the ocean. I was able to complete one length (not lap) in the pool. Every morning for those two weeks I would run a few steps further and swim a little bit further finally snorkeling in Megan’s Bay St. Thomas.

My recovery was short-circuited by a third surgery in April to repair some damage done by the surgery. That third surgery really took its toll. I can remember having to lie down on my office floor to take a nap, so that I had enough energy to drive home at the end of the day.

Sometime that winter I joined a Master’s swimming program at the “Y”. I was the slowest in the slow lane, unable to complete each segment of the workout, but I began to improve slowly. I set a goal of completing a sprint triathlon in the summer of 1998 and entered the South County race. A mere 500 yard pool swim, 12 mile bike ride and 5k run. I was determined to finish even if I had to stop for a nap! Our son Matthew also entered the race (probably because Susan wanted him to watch out for me). He had long finished and was cooling down when I finally began my run. He ran alongside me helping me with my form and encouraging me the entire 5k.

I finished absolutely last, but I finished. I will always remember that feeling and the thought that ran through my head: “I’m back baby, I’m back and I’m alive”.

RunGrampyRun

Januray 2, 2010

St. Charles Club Course

Starting Temp: 2 degrees

10 Miles

ET: 1:46:05

Pace 10:39

Layers and layers

Mittens and gloves

Moisture wicking fabrics

Fleece and vests

Hats and masks

These are a few of my favorite things

When the temp drops

When hoarfrost forms on fleece,

When ice makes tiny spots on rosey cheeks,

When I have eyelash icicles,

When gel turns to a sundae

and electrolytes become slushies.

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don't feel so cold

RunGrampyRun