Here a great picture of Vince Rucci (Vertical Runner) running Bull Run 50 Miler Sunday April 14, 2007. I pulled this picture from Rootsrunners race report blog. Follow the link to read Lloyd alsome report on Bull Run, Thanks Lloyd.

COMMITTED

Thursday April 27, 2007
Today the Kids & I stopped by Vertical Runner. I had to get my marathon socks. I started some type of superstitious ritual by purchasing a new pair of socks for my long races. I also pick up a new pair of road shoes. I was going to purchase a new Vertical Runner Shirt, but Vince said our(VR Training Group) new VR Training Shirts with the new logo were in so I'll be sporting this shirt for Sunday.
Today is also cross-training day. I stopped by the NAT (Cuyahoga Falls Natatorium) to lift some weights, bike and ab workout. I do have to admit, I haven't been very consistent with my cross-training. I know it's very important part of being a healthy fit runner. This year I will address this issue. My goal is to focus more on cross-training and less on mileage. What I mean is I'm still going to run, I'm still going to follow my training schedule, but my long runs are not going to as long as they have been. My short runs will consist of track workouts, and some hill workouts.
I haven't been as committed to my spinning class on Tuesday & Thursday at 5:40am-6:40am as I'd like to be, but would like to add it to my cross-training. I know I have a ton of resources and a lot of great runners & ultrarunners to point me in the right direction, all I need to do is be as committed to cross-training as I am to running. Today's blog will serve as a reminder.

5 Miles

5 Miles...

I'm running 5 miles tonight. I remember my first Five Mile Run. I go so excited, I came back and said to my wife, "Guess how far I ran today?" "FIVE MILES!" "All the way up Broad Boulevard to State Road, down to Grant Street." "Yes, all the way to Grant Street."

I'm getting ready for my Michigan Trail Marathon Sunday. I feel like I'm cheating on my training, only running 5 miles. I ran from home tonight. Ya I wanted to head to a trail but I had to work this morning so my running schedule had to be rearranged.

Here's me Running up State Rd. I couldn't get the google map thing to work right some, I'll just say I ran my neighborhood. 5 miles in 48:26:92

I'm running sooo fast here...I think I'm do about a 70 miles an hour.

www.verticalrunner.com

A great night shot of River Front Square.

All of my training runs are in for the week. I'll have some cross-training to finish up the week. I'll head to the Nat in tomorrow and Friday for my cross-training(Friday I may sneak a small lite run in)

SUNDAY AFTER NOON I'LL HAVE TO ADD ANOTHER 26.2 STICKER. I spoke with Vince about the course he said it was like the Buckeye Trail. Very runable. I plan on finishing somewhere around 5 hours. We will see come Sunday. All I know is I will Finish....

Trail Running 101 is an introduction to trail running and the duration of the run is 30 to 45 minutes
The group will meet every week, but will rotate from Mondays to Fridays every other week
Next meeting is on Friday, May 4th at 6:00pm
We will meet at the Happy Days Visitor Center Parking Lot off of Rt. 303
For directions visit: http://www.nps.gov/archive/cuva/planavisit/maps/hdvcmap.htm

Monday Night's Trail 101

Driving to Pine Lane I wondered if anyone would show up to run. The threat of rain and thunderstorms hovered over Rt. 8. As I drive into Pine Lane there were two car in the parking lot and the sight of rain was still hovered above. I didn't bring the dogs, in case it rained, we did get a few sprinkles and it was a little windy. I met Molly in the parking lot, she informed me that she was a slow runner and that I should go ahead and run without her. I told her we would run together and I would run with her at her pace.

Molly is a new runner who met Vince at Vertical Runner last December and is training for the Rite Aid Cleveland 10K. We waited for about 10 minutes before leaving to see if we had any other runners.

HERE'S MOLLY & CHEF BILL AFTER RUNNING PINE LANE

As we started running I had to blab to her about my first year in the world of running. She mentioned she didn't like "this running thing yet". "Molly you picked the perfect person to run with today." We talked about her running schedule, pace and running with the VR Group. She does like running the trails, which is great to hear.

I'm in my tapering week for the Michigan Trail Marathon, I need to run 5 miles. We ran (walked the hills) for 1:11:30 and covered 5 miles. We also stopped to look at the portion of the trail that's falling.

Great job Molly!! See you next Friday May 4, 2007 for the next Trail 101.

Friday Night Trail 101

Vertical Runner Trail 101

Friday April 20,2007

People are always asking about my blog title "Running With Knives & Fire"???
"Is it because your a chef?" Yes, These tools for my trade, large sharp knives and really hot fire!!! Is it because your companies name is "Playing with Knives & Fire"? That's to obvious, I'm not even going to answer that one.
As a runner I need to go beyond my profession. I am turning into a Trail Junkie. Yes you'll see me running the roads, the towpath, and even the track at the NAT. But I'd rather be on a trail. My second Marathon is going to be on trails. There's nothing like CUTTING a trail, BLAZING down a hill or BURNING up a hill. one other reason...It's a cool title...Don't you agree?

We had a great group tonight 9 runners + 4 dogs. We start out from Pine Lane at 6:15pm then looped the Valley Bridle Trail. A perfect day for a run. A little warm we were sweaty, but all I thought about was the two coldest days in February I had to come out here to run back to back 15 miles for 50k my training. You're not going to hear me complain about the heat this summer.
I stopped my watch at 50:11:05. This loop is about 5.5 to 6 miles maybe shorter. It's a great trail for new trail runners or anyone who wants to try to get addicted to trail running like I did. There's a little bit of everything on this trail. A little Mud (If it rained lots of mud), some water crossings, some tree trunk bridge crossings (short one's). There are two challenging hills, and some technical running through the pines, you'll have to navigate the pine roots.

Here's our lead pacer Dexter


Here's a picture I shot as I was running.

Marta is trying to hex me with her super powers.

Here is Paul Navigating the Pine Roots

"Over the Bridge".....

"And through the woods"

Thursday Night Running The Roads

Thursday April 19, 2007
The great thing about running is all you need are some shoes on your feet and your off running!!!! Well some of us need a little more than just shoes...shorts, a tech t-shirt and for me I can't run without this

My water bottle. I bought this bottle after I started running 10 miles. Now I run with it all the time, if I'm running 2 miles, 5 miles trails, streets, treadmill...OK maybe not the treadmill. I have to have it. The mesh pouch holds my gels & my car key. The black case hold my camera. The feathers keep the bottle light weight while I'm running.

I wanted to run trails tonight, but I needed to get back home to get the kids to bed. So ran the roads, I started from my house ran through River Front Pavilion. This will be the Finish Line for the Burning River 100 August 5, 2007.

You can see them, But there are two teenage kids on the stage playing guitars (I should have taken a picture of them). My destination tonight is Silver Lake. Sunday April 29, 2007 I will be running the Michigan Trail Marathon. The start of the race will be in a place also called Silver Lake.

Here's Silver Lake.
I ran from River Front to Front Street/Rt.59 then left on Silver Lake Blvd. looped the lake then headed up Rt. 59 towards Munroe Falls Ave. This will take me back toward my house. As you can see in the pictures very nice running day. I ran for 1:19:44 total trip was 9 miles. I felt great running there were some rolling hills, but mostly flat.

Wednesday Night April 18, 2007

www.verticalrunner.com

Tonight Vince (Owner of Vertical Runner) & I were invited to speak to a group of 15-20 Non-runner Marathon Training Group in Wadsworth OH. Vince spoke about all the technical issues that is involved in training and running a marathon. I spoke about my training and running my first marathon.

Here is Vince speaking to a group member about the type of shoes to run a marathon.

The group will all be running the Akron Marathon in Sept. 2007. I hope to see some of them so I can cheer them to the finish line. It's always nice to speak with people who want to start running, or want to run a marathon. I 'm not an expert by no means, but I still remember all that I went through to run my first marathon. If I can do it anyone can!!

Dawn Patrol Running Howard Street Hill

I had one of those night when you set your alarm, lay your head on your pillow, close your eye and the alarm goes off. But I had to rise, wake up the sun and start this day with a run from Mike's House. Today we ran from Cuyahoga Falls (State Rd.) across the High Level Bridge into North Hill. I am in my tapering week so I have to run about 7 miles today. The weather was perfect for running. The temp was in the 40's no wind or rain.

We ran over the Y-Bridge and head towards Canal Park. Canal Park is home to the Akron Aeros and the Finish Line for the Road Runner Akron Marathon.

Here's Mike & I standing at the Akron Marathon Finish Line marker. As we were taking this picture we were being heckled by someone standing across the street at the Mayflower (The Mayflower use to be a fancy hotel in the 20's, 30's & 40's now it's a low income apartment complex.)

Our next trek was to tackle Howard Street Hill. This is a picture from the 1940's of Main Street & Howard Street.

Here's Mike fumbling with his camera while running up the hill.

This was our view running up the hill. The traffic light is the top of the hill. This picture was taken while running, we were about mid-way up the hill.

Here's the view from the top of the hill, as you can see the sun is about to come up behind the city. We ran from Howard Street back to the High Level Bridge in the Cuyahoga Falls. It was about 7-8 miles Mike will have it mapped on his blog
http://www.fitfromfat.blogspot.com/
We didn't run real hard, Mike's Running a 20K in West Virgina on Sat. Then on Sunday he is running 20 miles of the Burning River 100 . We talked about food, our kids, training and of course running. we stopped the watch at 1:11:10 (running time).

VR TRAINING TRAIL 101

Vertical Runner

Trail Running 101
The next Trail Running 101 Group Run will be on Friday, April 20th at 6:00pm
We will meet at the Pine Lane Trailhead off of Rt. 303
For directions visit: http://www.neonaturalist.com/buckeye_trail_pine_lane.html

Please note that Trail Running 101 will rotate from Mondays to Fridays every other week

Columbus 1/2 Marathon April 14, 2007

Today the Columbus 1/2 Marathon...I had to get up and start my day at 5:10Am. I had a 2 hour drive ahead of me before my 2 hour run. I had Nick pick up my packet/bib number the night before the race. He and his family stayed the night, so I met him at his hotel, then we walked a few blocks to the start.
Weather wise, they were calling for AM rain/snow, wind and temps in the mid 30's. So I brought my shorts, long tech shirt, short tech shirt, and long running pants. I brought a jacket to wear before and after the race. I could have ran with my shorts, but I ran with the pants, long tech & short tech shirts.
This was the Kids Fun Run.
Here's one of the mascots finishing the race (His shirt says "Eat more chicken.")

Our race started at 9:00am I was going to start with Nick but had to find a dumpster to pee on. After I got back, the race was getting started. The start/finish was the Nationwide Arena district. Very cool place there are tons of restaurants, nightclubs and the arena is home to the NHL Columbus Bluejackets Hockey team. Our run took us through Short North Art's District, German Village and the Ohio State Campus.
We ran around the OSU Stadium I had to get a picture, but I didn't want to stop running, so I did both. I took these pictures while running.
The Runners

The OSU Band
I felt great running, It started to rain and get windy at mile 6. I picked up my pace and race hard at miles 8, 10 and 12. I thought I would make my 1:50 goal, but my time was 1:52:41 MY NEW PR. Last years (my first 1/2 marathon) 1/2 marathon time was 1:54:29.
Official Results of the Race

Under The Bridge

Thursday April 12, 2007

It seemed appropriate to run under the bridge to today since I ran over it late night. The Gorge Metro Park Highbridge Trail is located 1270 Front St. just south of the Gorge Metro Park parking lot.
If I had to name a home base trail it would have to be the Gorge Metro Park. It's a mile run from my house and there are 3 main trails to run. The Glens trail (1.8 mile there & back), The Gorge (1.8 mile loop) and the Highbridge Trail (3.2 mile there & Back).
The Glens Trails
The HighBridge Trail picture I place the camera in tree with a V branch)
My friend Vince is always looking looking for a good water source when he's out running. Vince you can find this sewer fall on the Glens trail. Drink up!!

Here's the High Level Bridge


Going up! There is a few steps involved There is a trail next to the strairs, when I run this trail I always take the trail. I leave the stairs for the Hikers & the Park Rangers.
Very nice day today. It was warm with no rain. I ran a total of 8.8 miles I didn't check the time.