Sat AM Group Run

Today, we have the slow group and the really fast group. I of course, ran with the slow group. Nick, Bret, & Al. Bret is training for his first marathon this year. He's going to run the Rite Aide Cleveland Marathon in May. There will be a lot of VR Training Group runners running in Cleveland this year. I'm not going to run, but I'm planning to attend to cheer the runners to the finish line.
We ran a nice smooth pace of 9.5 to 10 minute mile. Bret has a GPS so we can keep tabs on pace & mileage. We ran the Towpath north to Boston Store. Boston Mills Rd. to Bike & Hike Trail, to some road that lead to the Carriage Trail. Carriage trail back to the Towpath about 15 Miles. My ankle held up just fine no pain or swelling. We thought we were going to see a deer/car crash, a deer darted out in front of us as a car was coming toward us. the car just missed the deer by inches.
We hooked up with Vince and his dogs on the Towpath, I ended up running with him & Al. We picked up the pace leaving Nick & Bret behind. I stuck with them for a little while then slowed my pace and turn on the tunes! 2:33:23 No camera today.

Happy Birthday To You

Thursday March 29, 2007
Today was a unique running day. I ran with Tanya Cady today. We started our run at 11:00 am which is unique because usullay we're running at 7 or 8 am, or running at dusk. Tanya is an Ultra Runner training for a 100 miler. It's Tanya's birthday. "Happy Birthday Tanya." Tanya has ran several 50k's, 50 miler's and 100 miler's. She is also the director for the winter Buckeye Trail 50K and is on the committee for the Burning River 100. We ran the Lovin the Hills in Kentucky this year. She's a great resource for ultra running information.

Today we ran the Buckeye Trail from the Boston Store north to the Bridle stables in Brecksville, then turned back, it's about 20 miles. This is a portion of the summer Buckeye Trail 50K.

The most of the trail was dry; there were some muddy sections. At the start of the run I stepped on a root and rolled my ankle. "OUCH!" I walked for a minute then started to run again. I felt fine while running, but when I got home I notice some swelling. I place some ice on it. Hopefully I'll still be able to run, I'll see on Saturday AM.

Another day to wear shorts, I also had on a short sleeve tech and a long sleeve tech. It did warm up, I could have ran with just a short sleeve tech.

Wildlife was starting to creep out,
I almost stepped on a Gardner snake, it was a little bigger than this on. I saw a fox running into to a big log. and of course the deer were out. There were tadpoles and water beetles in the streams. Spring is here! Mother Nature is forming new trails for us. There are some sections sliding into the streams, trees are covering the trail and some of the water crossings are getting wider. Tanya & I are going to plan a run in May that will cover the summer Buckeye Trail 50k, Pine Lane to Brecksville (There & Back) . We also talked about running a night run with the NEO Trail Group.

Northeastern Ohio has a great group of runners. I will always find someone to run with any time of the day or night. Thanks for running today Tayna.

Buckeye Trail Summer 50K

I decided today I will run the Buckeye Trail 50K July 14, 2007. Last year I ran half of the course preparing for my first marathon(Road Runner Akron Marathon). I was going to run the BT50K winter Jan 28, 2007, but I had other obligations that weekend. I did run the Lovin The Hill's in Kentucky Feb. 17, 2007.
I remember running with a guy last summer who ran the BT50K a few years ago. He told me a story that he and his wife were having a party on the day of the BT50K. His wife didn't want him to run the race. He told her he was going out for a route long run and will be back later. He ran the race, helped his wife setup the party, and wore his race shirt (that had the date of the race on the shirt) to the party.
I'm going to tell my wife... "Honey I'm running up to 7/11 for a gallon of milk, I'll be back in 7.5 hrs."
I never imagine myself planning a 50k or even a second 50k. when I started training for my first marathon, I thought I would run the marathon and that would be it. Here I am training for my second marathon (Michigan's Trail Marathon April 29, 2007) and I will be running my second half marathon (the Columbus Half Marathon April 14, 2007).
I have people ask if I'm going to run the Burning River 100 or any other 100 miler race. I have to say, not this year, and I can't say I'll never run one. I want to run a few more 50K's and next year I want to run a 50 Miler, then I'll see how I feel about a 100 miler.

Runner's Playing With Knives & Fire

Monday night The VR Training Group presented a nutrition and cooking demonstration seminar.
Sports Nutritionist Melissa Rittenhouse spoke about nutrition for runners and preparing for a long run or race.
I prepared meals and explained how runners can get just what they need to fuel their body's for a long run or race.
We had a lot of fun, and eat a lot of food. 16 people attend the presentation; I prepared 4 different recipes for all to taste. I had one runner, who never cooked Risotto, prepare the Risotto recipe. Then I had another runner (mike), come up to chop, cut and play with some knives.
I've been doing these cooking demo's for about 6 years now. There's always something that doesn't go as planned. No matter how many times I've presented a recipe in the passed or study my notes, I have always had a glitch. The celebrity chefs on the Food Network have cameras and can yell, "CUT!!", "Take Two!" I am flying solo, I'm really cooking here. Monday night was no exception, I thought I read my notes correctly, but I add saffron to Quinoa recipe when it was supposed to go into the Risotto. So we created a new dish, other than that all went well. Everyone enjoyed the recipes even the new one.

I will soon have a link to my website to print all of my recipes but for now you can get the rcipes from the vertical runner bulletin board

Here are some pictures of the seminar.Our guest chef is sauteing onions before adding the Risotto

I'm explaining, you got to keep stirring the risotto so it doesn't stick and Mike on my right trying not to chop of a finger.

Nick & Vince Our VR Training Coaches

Sports Nutritionist Melissa Rittenhouse reviewing nutritional information

Trail Running With The Dawgs

Dog lovers will tell you, "Your dog will always be there for you." Ya you got to clean up their poop, but they are always ready for a trail run!

I have two miniature schnauzers Sara & Monet

This is Monet She's our pace leader, she's fast!!!

This is "Sara"

Sara's a little older than Monet, today she wanted a leisurely stroll through the buckeye trail and to hunt squirrels. We started our run around 5:00pm. I thought we were going to run into some problems with two hikers on the trail (the dogs love to jump on people) but they were ready to run and didn't bother the hikers.

Monet made it across one of the log bridges, while Sara took the conservative route...

We ran for about 30 minutes then ran back to Pine Lane parking lot. It was a little muddy...not to bad.

FYI: I did run up this hill after taking the picture. Great day with the Trail Dawgs!!!

VR's Sat AM Group Run

www.verticalrunner.com
Today was the Vertical Runners Trail Group Run. We started at 7:00am and had about 15 people running today. The plan was to run an hour loop on Pine Lane to Hudson Park then head back to Lock 29 parking lot to hook up with Southeast Running Cub at 8:00am. I ran with Nick and two ladies new to trail running. Vince and the "Trail Gazelles" took off way ahead of us.

The trails were nice and muddy!!!

Great trail running weather...a lite mist, warm, lots of mud!!! Nick almost bit it on a wooden bridge. The bridge was damp, we were running side-by-side, he slipped swung his hand back and popped me in the face and I grabbed his arm. He would have been on the ground if my face wouldn't have stopped him. Vince came back to see how we were doing, I ran back to the Lock 29 with him so we could run with the Southeast Running Club. Nick & the ladies were not running with us after the trail run.

Here's Nick and the new trail runners

Mother Nature carving a new route for us to run; this is a tree and its roots pulling the trail down the side of a cliff.


Once we were ready to running we head out on the towpath (my favorite running route...NOT). Vince and the Running Club were way ahead of me again. I ran with Al, he was with our 7:00am trail running group. Al and I had a hard time keeping up with them, so we decided to slow the pace and run to Bolanz Rd. then turn back to lock 29. That would give us a total 12 miles for the day.

Al& I at Lock 29 with the Might Cuyahoga River behind us.

Pre-Dawn $526.40 Run

I started this mornings run with a simple e-mail to my new running friend Mike. "Hey Mike I have to drive my car to the garage to get it fix, do you want to join me (at 5:45am) then run back home?" Of course his answer was yes!! Mike's directions to his house were pretty self-explanatory...the house number, the color of his house , and oh ya the patriotic flag out front, and "I'll leave to porch light on".
I couldn't see anybodies house numbers...The color of his house blended in with the pre-dawn landscape...I found six porch lights on...Luckily he was the only one flying a flag.

We check into Joe's Auto in Stow

Then we headed down Graham Rd., my plan was to run through Silver Lake. We had a great start, then we were stopped by the cops. I didn't think we were running that fast. We were stopped because, apparently there is no running on Graham Rd. We had to turn off on a side road and had to rely on Mike's piloting navigational skill's to get us to the lake. We got around the lake with only one other cop stopping us to make sure we were running on the sidewalk. then headed back towards Cuyahoga Falls towards Front Street & Riverfront.

This was our next photo stop next to this big Indian head near Rt. 8 & Front Street.

We split up near Riverfront Amphitheatre, the FINISHLINE FOR THE BURNINGRIVER 100. Then we each ran home. I'll have to calculate the mileage, but I think we ended up with around 6-7 miles this run. Mike Count on more pre-dawn/early am runs!!!!

I felt great, I change my training and add in a Tuesday & Thursday 5:40 am Spinning class and a Tuesday night yoga class; I thought I would have been wipe-out, but I could have ran longer. I had to get back home to get my wife to work...only one car. By the way the $526.40 in the title...that was the cost to get the car fixed at Joe's Auto.

Trail Running Through The Gorge

Tonight was trail running night. Took off around 6:00pm; the weather was great, 44 degrees, a lite sprinkle...but not to bad. Here are some pictures from my run.

Inside Mary Campbell's Cave

March is National Nutrition Month

National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education and information campaign sponsored annually by the American Dietetic Association. The campaign is designed to focus attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits.
www.eatright.org

5K TO 50K In A Year

Two days after running the Road Runner Akron Marathon, I ran about 12 miles with Vince. I had the need to keep running(I feel like Forest Gump). I didn't have a training schedule and I didn't plan to run any races...until Columbus. Two weeks after the Akron Marathon I traveled to Columbus to run the half marathon. My goal was to break 2:00; I ran 1:54.

The holiday season was just around the corner and I still was running without a plan.
I started to think about running a sometime before my one year anniversary date of Feb. 28, 2007. This would give me my 5K To 50K In A Year. I decide on Lovin The Hill's in Louisville KY Feb. 17 2007. I officially started my training Jan. 3, 2007. I was running 40 to 50 miles a week. It was a very brutal training schedule because of the cold & icy trails.

Feb. 17, 2007 I travelled with two other area ultra runners, picking their brains for information. We have great weather (low to mid 30's) lite snow, great trails. I ran a 7:34:24 that day. That's my 5K to 50K In A Year.

Akron Road Runner Marathon 2006

Akron Road Runner Marathon Training

I found myself reading a story about the USA Olympic Marathon Team looking at the Akron Road Runner coarse for their trial run. It gave me the idea that at age 39 I was going to run my first marathon. The farthest I had ever ran before this was 3 miles. With the blessing of my wife Jen, my two children Tori 3 yrs old & Collin 19 mo. old, I started my quest to accomplish my goal. I started my training program with the help of Vinnce Rucci February 28, 2006. I ran one mile. I am currently running with the Saturday running group, and try to make it to the Monday evening trail 101 runs as well. My first 5K I ran in 26:26 and took 3rd place in my age group. I ran my first Rite Aide Cleveland 10K in 54:48, and just completed half of the Buckeye Trail 50K in 3 hours 10 minutes. I am looking forward to running the full 50K next year. I am currently running 30+ miles a week and I am keeping my pace at a 10-minute mile. I also need to mention I am a Chef and worked with Vince and Melissa Rittenhouse, Sports Nutritionist, to create a cooking demo & nutritional information seminar for the Vertical Runner’s Training Group. Thanks to my wife I have been able to keep up with the demand of my training schedule, and with help from everyone at Vertical Runner I am determined to run and finish my first marathon in September 2006.
Chef Bill Bailey