Holiday Travel

This is a good opportunity to talk about my travels last week. I'm sure you are getting bored reading the weekly training updates. It was a wonderful week taking time off from running and spending time with family. One exception was the Turkey Trot race (more on that in a moment).

Tuesday, I drove to my parents house in New Jersey to celebrate Thanksgiving. First, I stopped at Tamerline Farm Sanctuary in Montague Township, New Jersey. Prior to the visit, I have never been to an animal sanctuary. After the tour and interacting with animals, it was an unforgettable experience. I would highly recommend visiting a sanctuary over zoos and aquariums. The animals were very friendly and excited by my presence. The educational tour guide was pleasant and very knowledgeable. If you would love to find out more about Tamerline Farm, click here. The animals will appreciate it.

 Bob

Alvin

After the Farm Sanctuary, I stopped at High Point Park to hike the Appalachian Trail. The weather was beautiful outside so I got in a little over eight miles total. If you hike that portion, be careful of all the rocks sticking out of the ground. The trail had some drastic elevation changes but it was a nice workout.

Thursday (Thanksgiving) morning, I ran in the Krogh's Turkey Trot 5K race in Sparta. My father and sister also participated in the race. They posted very good results and I'm very proud of their effort. Despite not running the past few days, my goal was to do the best I can while not exhausting my body. My final time was just under 21 minutes (20:56). This is the quickest 5 kilometers I have ever ran. Of course, I was very pleased with the result and finished inside the top five for my age group (44th overall). Thank you very much to all the sponsors, event coordinators, volunteers, safety personnell, and residents for making this race possible.

Thanksgiving (Thanksliving, for all the vegans) was very enjoyable. It was wonderful spending time with the family these past few days. Now, it is back to training. Hope your holidays were filled with prosperity and happiness.

Happy Running
-MJ

Week 10 Training and Stockade-athon 15K

Another week of training is in the books. I can't believe it has been ten weeks already. Also, I got an opportunity to run in a race for the first time in a few months.

November 7: 4.17 miles/ 30:00.6/7:12 mile
Mile 1: 7:20; Mile 2: 7:11; Mile 3: 7:10; Mile 4: 7:04 with the last 0.17 at 1:16

Not pushing a quick pace this week due to an upcoming race on Sunday.

November 8: 8.0 miles/ 57:43.2/ 7:13 mile
Mile 1: 7:23; Mile 2: 7:07; Mile 3: 7:16; Mile 4: 7:10; Mile 5: 7:09; Mile 6: 7:13; Mile 7: 7:23; Mile 8: 7:03

November 9: 4.0 miles/ 28:04.6/ 7:01 mile
Mile 1: 7:00; Mile 2: 7:02; Mile 3: 6:57; Mile 4: 7:06

November 10: 8.0 miles/ 58:58.4/ 7:22 mile
Mile 1: 7:29; Mile 2: 7:15; Mile 3: 7:13; Mile 4: 7:19; Mile 5: 7:35; Mile 6: 7:29;
Mile 7: 7:24; Mile 8: 7:15

Great tune up run for the race on Sunday. Did not want to push myself because it is going to be an exhausting day.

November 12: 1.5 mile (warm up): 14:27.7 at 9:38/mile

9.44 mile run (Stockade-athon 15K race): 1:06:07/ 7:06 mile
Mile 1: 7:25; Mile 2: 7:11; Mile 3: 7:07; Mile 4: 7:02; Mile 5: 6:54; Mile 6: 6:56;
Mile 7: 6:59; Mile 8: 7:05; Mile 9: 6:49 with the last 0.44 at 2:42

6.5 mile run (post race run): 51:39.9/ 7:57 mile
Mile 1: 8:07; Mile 2: 7:39; Mile 3: 7:42; Mile 4: 7:58; Mile 5: 7:52; Mile 6: 7:56 with the last 0.50 at 4:27

Didn't I tell you I was going to be exhausted after the day I had? Despite the uncertainty of how my day would turn out, I was very pleased with the results. I did not panic when my first mile was 7:45. At mile two, I got it down to approximately 7:30. For the rest of the race, my splits averaged around 7:00. Final time was 1:06:03 with an average pace of 7:06. It was a very exhausting day but very rewarding.

Onto another week of training. Happy Running.
-MJ