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I began running competitively during track season my freshman year of high school at Toledo Central Catholic. I really just ran to meet people because I was at a new school and didn't know a single person. Track didn't go so well but my coach really wanted me to run cross country. I thought he was crazy so I didn't run at all over the summer. The first week of school he came and found me after class and told me to come out to practice. That first practice I couldn't even run 3 miles, I was pathetic. I stuck with it though and quickly improved. That first year (sophomore cross country) I ran a 17:36 at our league meet to earn second team honors. After that I was hooked and continued to run throughout high school and college.
I attended Heidelberg College solely for the purpose of running. I didn't go to school where all my friends went and it was hard to leave them and start again not knowing anyone. I left Heidelberg extremely thankful I went there, not because of running but because of the great friends I made there (I met my soon to be wife there) and the valuable education. Running at Heidelberg like anywhere else had its ups and downs but its definitely the ups I remember a lot more than the downs. I'll never forget automatically qualifying to nationals as a team my senior year of cross country, winning the all-ohio indoor 5k, or nearly breaking my nose on the steeple barrier my sophomore year.
Since graduating from Heidelberg I have taken a swing at the marathon and getting knocked out in the process (2008 Detroit Marathon - 3:25:55). Running is a huge passion for me now, something that can just take you away from the world for a few miles and give yourself time to think, it's something that I hope to continue for a very long time solely for the enjoyment of the sport not the competitiveness.
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Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Goals for '09
I would like to say that I don't have many goals for 2009 except to enjoy running and to continue to love this sport but that would be a flat out lie. As most runners in their 20's who are obsessed with running I am always looking at the calendar and my training trying to figure out new ways to run faster and achieve some sort of crazy goal. That being said here are my goals for 2009:
-Run under 1:10 for the 1/2 Marathon. My current PR of 1:15 something came off of very inconsistent training at the 2008 Flying Pig 1/2 Marathon. I hope to go under 1:10 this year and will probably only have two real chances to do so.
-Qualify for 2010 Boston Marathon. I am planning a fall marathon, probably Columbus, and the thought going into that marathon is only going to be to qualify for the 2010 Boston Marathon. Qualifying for my age group I think is right around 3:10 so that will be the goal in Columbus, anything faster than that will be a bonus (if that even happens).
-Run my first 50k. UltraRunning is something that has always interested me as something that I want to get into. Unfortunately my competitive side won't let me run Ultra's until I have run some decent marathons. So for 2009 I want to take a dip in the UltraRunning world by running my first 50k just to see what it tastes like.
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-Run under 1:10 for the 1/2 Marathon. My current PR of 1:15 something came off of very inconsistent training at the 2008 Flying Pig 1/2 Marathon. I hope to go under 1:10 this year and will probably only have two real chances to do so.
-Qualify for 2010 Boston Marathon. I am planning a fall marathon, probably Columbus, and the thought going into that marathon is only going to be to qualify for the 2010 Boston Marathon. Qualifying for my age group I think is right around 3:10 so that will be the goal in Columbus, anything faster than that will be a bonus (if that even happens).
-Run my first 50k. UltraRunning is something that has always interested me as something that I want to get into. Unfortunately my competitive side won't let me run Ultra's until I have run some decent marathons. So for 2009 I want to take a dip in the UltraRunning world by running my first 50k just to see what it tastes like.
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Longterm Goals
Read what I said about my goals for 2009, the same thing applies here. I want to say that I don't really stress over goals to much but the truth is I am always seeing things I want to do in the future and putting them into the long term goal file somewhere in the back of my head. Here are a few of the more crazier ones...
- Qualify for the Olympic Trials in the marathon. Isn't that why we run? I know we say it's not why we run, we say we run because we love the sport but deep down we are all competitve and want to achieve the highest level in our sport. For most of us that would be earning a trip to the Olympic Trials. I thought long and hard about this one and given the time restraints it takes to achieve such a goal I've given myself the very short window of achieving this goal by 2012. If that doesn't happen then I'll probably gear my training towards Ultra's. I only have 1:06:56 to take off of my current marathon best, it's not like that will be hard.
- Run the Badwater UltraMarathon. 135 miles starting at Death Valley and ending up Mt. Whitney. Crazy goal. I'd have to be insane to do this.
- Hiking the entire Appalachian Trail. This is a newer crazy goal for me but I think it would be fun. The record is somewhere around 60 days so I would have to take a good 3 months out of my life to do this. So it probably won't happen until I'm an old man. I want to be that crazy old guy that runs all the time in really old shorts. When I'm 60 I wonder what people are going to be running in? Will EVA foam in our shoes be a thing of the past? Will people look at me in my Nylon Split shorts and think I'm a lunatic? Wow that is really weird to think about.
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- Qualify for the Olympic Trials in the marathon. Isn't that why we run? I know we say it's not why we run, we say we run because we love the sport but deep down we are all competitve and want to achieve the highest level in our sport. For most of us that would be earning a trip to the Olympic Trials. I thought long and hard about this one and given the time restraints it takes to achieve such a goal I've given myself the very short window of achieving this goal by 2012. If that doesn't happen then I'll probably gear my training towards Ultra's. I only have 1:06:56 to take off of my current marathon best, it's not like that will be hard.
- Run the Badwater UltraMarathon. 135 miles starting at Death Valley and ending up Mt. Whitney. Crazy goal. I'd have to be insane to do this.
- Hiking the entire Appalachian Trail. This is a newer crazy goal for me but I think it would be fun. The record is somewhere around 60 days so I would have to take a good 3 months out of my life to do this. So it probably won't happen until I'm an old man. I want to be that crazy old guy that runs all the time in really old shorts. When I'm 60 I wonder what people are going to be running in? Will EVA foam in our shoes be a thing of the past? Will people look at me in my Nylon Split shorts and think I'm a lunatic? Wow that is really weird to think about.
*****
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