As you can see from the title of this week's entry, I had to channel my inner rock god and come up with something catchy. I can thank a Mr. Vincent Furnier for that. You have no idea who that is, do you? Perhaps you may know him better as Alice Cooper. Alice has been rocking our world for decades (and will be back in Pittsburgh this year once again,) and based on this past weekend's run, I felt it only fitting that I parody his song "Only Women Bleed." But, I'm really only doing that with the title. I'm not going to go all Weird Al on the lyrics.
I've run a lot in the last few weeks. Two weekends ago it was another 14 mile stretch on my training schedule, however I had to do that on Sunday instead of Saturday. On Saturday, I participated in the 5th Annual Brave American Classic. I ran this one last year and I really enjoyed it. I'm not sure if that's because there is a chance of a Mario Lemieux sighting, or it's because the starting line is only about 6 miles from my house. (The race starts from St. Stephens Church in Sewickley, PA.)
This particular race was created as a sophmore project by Robbie Veltre of Quaker Valley High School (class of 2014.) The race itself helps to fund the Boulder Crest Retreat for Wounded Warriors (link below) and because of the overall success from the first race combined with the money raised, Robbie and the mayor of Sewickley knew this one was here to stay. The Steel City Road Runners had a nice presence in this race as well as they were asked to help assist with the pacing.
I run this one with a group of life long friends and one of them suggested that I run it in my old Navy Uniform. Since I can now fit into that again, I figured, what the heck why not? However, there were a few things I forgot about when wearing my dress blues: those 13 buttons on the pants are a pain in the butt, and that wool is very itchy! I still look pretty damn good in the uniform though if I do say so myself.
Before the start of the race, SCRR set out to take a group picture, and when I joined up for that pic, my world got smaller once more. Another member of the group saw my ship's name badge and asked if I served on board. Turns out, so did he. What's even wilder is we were on the Abraham Lincoln at the same time. I was on board from 1994 to 1997 and he was on board from 1995 to 2000. That is just wild. I'm not sure if he made West Pac with us or not, but it just amazes me how small the world can get every day.
OK, back to the race. I ran this race a little too quickly (51:09) to which my marathon training coach was a little angry with me, but she let me slide this one time. She said as long as I felt I was going to be OK to do my long run the next day she'll not give me to much of a hard time about it. She just wants to be sure I don't push myself too hard and overdo it. I agree with her, but for some odd reason as soon as they said go, I went. I kept telling myself to slow down but I think my adrenaline kicked in and got the best of me. I was able to complete my long run the next day without any issues, so I'm very relieved about that. Sorry coach. Next time I won't do that. I promise.
Next up this week was a little speed work on the Montour Track for Track Tuesday. I have never done something like this before and almost didn't, but on the suggestion of my training coach I decided to participate. I did feel like I was running a race, but that was the whole point. Coach said getting speed work in helps with your stamina (and here I thought it was Viagra for people my age. Bu-da-bum tsssss.) We had to run a total of 6, 800s (800 meters around the track) with a 2 minute rest period in between. We also had to run those at our 10k pace. It went surprisingly well and my coach said I'm on the right track with my training. However, 18 miles on Saturday was still lurking around the corner.
The planned group run this past Saturday coincided with Pittsburgh's St. Patrick's Day parade and other festivites. There was a huge turnout for the group run and everyone was of course encouraged to wear their green. This year's member shirts just happened to be green so that made it easy for me to decide on what to run in. Well played SCRR. Well played.
We started early enough where we missed most of the crowds traveling into the city for the parade. We also were no where near the parade route which was also nice. Our 18 miles took us all over the city. Most of the run was on the majority of the marathon course and it helps us get familiar with where we are running come race day. We crossed a few bridges; ran through the north side; ran over the West End Bridge and down Carson street to the South Side. From there we took on the dreaded Forbes Ave. hill, and all way into Bloomfield. Then it was across the 40th St. Bridge. We finished up around the North Shore trail and then back to the SCRR garage.
I can tell you this much so far. Running this many miles in one day works much better for me when not alone. Whether I run with one other person, or two, or 20, it helps me out a lot. I'm not sure what would cross my mind if I ran that many miles alone. I can do 10-13 all alone, but 18 miles? I'm not sure. I may find a way to talk myself out of it. I may not. However, when you run with other people, someone is always there to pick you up if you fall down. Someone is always there to encourage you to keep going. Someone is just always there. It's nice because as a person, we should always encourage others to keep going or that they can do anything they set their mind out to do. Oftentimes, we see so much negativity everywhere, and we also hear people put others down constantly, but that's not the way it should be. We know how it makes ourselves feel, so why would we want to make others feel that way? We don't. Sure we may not know any of these people we are running with, and they surely don't know us, but our end goals are the same.
I can say that towards the end the sun was shining bright and it was getting hotter by the second. By the time I hit mile 14 I felt myself getting a little tired. I was really hot and sweaty and I made sure to keep on my water intake. There was not much shade on the back end of the trail as we headed back to the Steel City garage and I'm sure that didn't help. However, I still felt good and confident and I was going to finish this long run.
We hit 15.5 miles when we got back to the garage for a quick water break and headed back out to finish up our last two and a half miles. A few of the runners in our pace group only had to do 16 miles but the rest of us still had to keep going. At this point I had to take off my SCRR shirt, but have no fear! I was wearing another short sleeved green shirt underneath! The run did start at 36 degrees but by the time we were done it was close to 60. However, that was not going to stop me from finishing my 18 miles. And, it didn't.
I'm truly amazed that I was able to do this. As I talked to a friend yesterday I asked him in all the years that he's known me, did he ever think I would run 18 miles on a given day, let alone run a marathon? He just looked at me and said, "I don't know, but I'll be there at the finish line when you cross cheering you on."
Now that's how you end a good weekend of running.
Oh wait, what about this week's post's title?
So, yeah....anyone have a band-aid?
Until next time, keep on running.
Sinceriously Yours,
Chuck Hull - The Running Jedi
#26miles26dedications #gameonpgh #runpgh #lovetherun
PS - For information regarding the Boulder Crest Resort click here:
http://www.bouldercrestretreat.org/
Also, please don't forget I'm raising money again for the Mario Lemieux Foundation. The overall goal is $1600, and once reached one lucky person will win a signed Mario Lemiuex jersey. Once we hit $1000.00 raised, one lucky person will win a signed Mario Lemieux puck. To donate click this link:
https://www.crowdrise.com/lemieuxpittsburgh2016/fundraiser/chuckhull
 |
| One big hill before we get near the Pittsburgh Zoo and near the end of 14 miles |
I've run a lot in the last few weeks. Two weekends ago it was another 14 mile stretch on my training schedule, however I had to do that on Sunday instead of Saturday. On Saturday, I participated in the 5th Annual Brave American Classic. I ran this one last year and I really enjoyed it. I'm not sure if that's because there is a chance of a Mario Lemieux sighting, or it's because the starting line is only about 6 miles from my house. (The race starts from St. Stephens Church in Sewickley, PA.)
This particular race was created as a sophmore project by Robbie Veltre of Quaker Valley High School (class of 2014.) The race itself helps to fund the Boulder Crest Retreat for Wounded Warriors (link below) and because of the overall success from the first race combined with the money raised, Robbie and the mayor of Sewickley knew this one was here to stay. The Steel City Road Runners had a nice presence in this race as well as they were asked to help assist with the pacing.
 |
| Moon High School Class of '91 mini reunion Michelle Corbett Coy and Sara Majetic |
 |
| See....I look good, right? |
I run this one with a group of life long friends and one of them suggested that I run it in my old Navy Uniform. Since I can now fit into that again, I figured, what the heck why not? However, there were a few things I forgot about when wearing my dress blues: those 13 buttons on the pants are a pain in the butt, and that wool is very itchy! I still look pretty damn good in the uniform though if I do say so myself.
Before the start of the race, SCRR set out to take a group picture, and when I joined up for that pic, my world got smaller once more. Another member of the group saw my ship's name badge and asked if I served on board. Turns out, so did he. What's even wilder is we were on the Abraham Lincoln at the same time. I was on board from 1994 to 1997 and he was on board from 1995 to 2000. That is just wild. I'm not sure if he made West Pac with us or not, but it just amazes me how small the world can get every day.
OK, back to the race. I ran this race a little too quickly (51:09) to which my marathon training coach was a little angry with me, but she let me slide this one time. She said as long as I felt I was going to be OK to do my long run the next day she'll not give me to much of a hard time about it. She just wants to be sure I don't push myself too hard and overdo it. I agree with her, but for some odd reason as soon as they said go, I went. I kept telling myself to slow down but I think my adrenaline kicked in and got the best of me. I was able to complete my long run the next day without any issues, so I'm very relieved about that. Sorry coach. Next time I won't do that. I promise.
 |
| 10:00m pace group last Sunday afternoon on a corner near Bloomfield. |
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| Some Stretching in preparation for speed work outs on the track - Photo Credit Kim Lambert of SCRR. |
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| Photo Credit - Dave Spell of SCRR |
I can tell you this much so far. Running this many miles in one day works much better for me when not alone. Whether I run with one other person, or two, or 20, it helps me out a lot. I'm not sure what would cross my mind if I ran that many miles alone. I can do 10-13 all alone, but 18 miles? I'm not sure. I may find a way to talk myself out of it. I may not. However, when you run with other people, someone is always there to pick you up if you fall down. Someone is always there to encourage you to keep going. Someone is just always there. It's nice because as a person, we should always encourage others to keep going or that they can do anything they set their mind out to do. Oftentimes, we see so much negativity everywhere, and we also hear people put others down constantly, but that's not the way it should be. We know how it makes ourselves feel, so why would we want to make others feel that way? We don't. Sure we may not know any of these people we are running with, and they surely don't know us, but our end goals are the same.
 |
| Braving the Birmingham Bridge right before the dreaded Forbes Ave. Hill |
I can say that towards the end the sun was shining bright and it was getting hotter by the second. By the time I hit mile 14 I felt myself getting a little tired. I was really hot and sweaty and I made sure to keep on my water intake. There was not much shade on the back end of the trail as we headed back to the Steel City garage and I'm sure that didn't help. However, I still felt good and confident and I was going to finish this long run.
 |
| Post race meal provided by Audrey Burgoon - $5 donation to help raise money for Cystic Fibrosis. SCRR group runners helped to raise $1405 on Saturday. |
I'm truly amazed that I was able to do this. As I talked to a friend yesterday I asked him in all the years that he's known me, did he ever think I would run 18 miles on a given day, let alone run a marathon? He just looked at me and said, "I don't know, but I'll be there at the finish line when you cross cheering you on."
Now that's how you end a good weekend of running.
Oh wait, what about this week's post's title?
So, yeah....anyone have a band-aid?
Until next time, keep on running.
Sinceriously Yours,
Chuck Hull - The Running Jedi
#26miles26dedications #gameonpgh #runpgh #lovetherun
PS - For information regarding the Boulder Crest Resort click here:
http://www.bouldercrestretreat.org/
Also, please don't forget I'm raising money again for the Mario Lemieux Foundation. The overall goal is $1600, and once reached one lucky person will win a signed Mario Lemiuex jersey. Once we hit $1000.00 raised, one lucky person will win a signed Mario Lemieux puck. To donate click this link:
https://www.crowdrise.com/lemieuxpittsburgh2016/fundraiser/chuckhull
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