The Very First Video Blog

Video Blog of Owensville 4 Mile Race, August 1, 2009.

Evansville Otters 5 K Race Report

Today was the "Start Inside The Ballpark" Evansville Otters baseball 5 K run. The starting line was on the warning track in the outfield of Bosse Field, otherwise known as the field they used while filming the Tom Hanks classic "A League Of Their Own". This was fantastic race, with most of the coarse sticking to walk/bike paths. There were a few hills, but nothing I coundn't handle, and there were at least 3 water stations along the route. It wound through a beautiful park with a few ponds, they through a neighborhood, and back to the park. I felt pretty good through most of the race, but hit the wall at about 2.5 miles, but I kept trucking, making it to the finish line. All in all, this was a very nice race, and all participants got a free ticket to the nights game, but I coundn't stay, so I gave it to someone who could use it. After the race I shot over to Moe's Southwestern Grill for a Homewrecker burrito and large Diet Coke which I consumed at 70 MPH on the highway back home. I will definitely check this race out next year, and probably bring along the wife and kid as well.

Back In The Saddle Again

Wow, it's been almost 3 months since a new blog post, I've really been slacking. But rest assured, I am back, hopefully on at least a weekly basis, to give you, the running and Disney public, a nugget of truth here and there. My blog posts for the next thirteen weeks will probably mostly focus on half marathon training, because I have decided to run the Evansville Half Marathon on October 11, 2009 ( http://www.evansvillehalfmarathon.org/ ). This will be my second half marathon, I ran the Indianapolis half about the same time last year, and loved it. Training starts next Tuesday, I'm using the Hal Higdon novice schedule. My wife is also walking this race with about six of her friends she recruited, maybe I can try to get her to fire up a blog to track her progress as well. Anyway, a few things that will be different this time around is that my Garmin is fully functional, so no more driving routes, and I plan to do a lot more streching, cross training, and weight training as well. I'm also going to try and watch what I eat, and cut out the regular soda and beer (not totally cut out the beer, but severely cut back on it at any rate). I would also like to finish the race in under two hours. One more thing, I will also be using twitter (nickphillips97), facebook (nick phillips), and Buckeyeoutdoors.com to update and track my progress, so feel free to follow me on those sites as well. I'll try to be back here Sunday night to recap a 5 K I am running Sunday afternoon.

Races I'd like to run

Here are some races I'm planning to sign up for. I need more T-shirts.

1. Health Kids Day 5 K - 4-18-09 - Vincennes, IN
www.vincennesymca.org
2. Pike Central NHS 5 K - 5-9-09 - Petersburg, IN
www.pcsc.k12.in.us/pchs/NHS.htm
3. Run Though The Jungle 5 K - 5-16-09 - Center Point, IN
www.junglerun5k.com
4. Laufenfest 5 K - 6-20-09 - Haubstadt, IN
http://www.laufenfest.com/index.html
5. Bring The Heat 8 K - 7-25-09 - Montgomery, IN
http://tristaterunner.com/documents/BringtheHeat2009.pdf

All of these races look like fun, I ran the Health Kids Day 5 K last year, it was local, and a good turnout. The Run Through The Jungle 5 K goes through an exotic feline rescue center (lions and tigers), so it should be cool, but a 2 hour drive. Laufenfest will have a biergarten at the finish line, so that should be awesome, and I've never done an 8 K before, so the Bring the Heat race should be fun, it's also a trail race. Hopefully all these races will lead up to training for a fall half marathon.

The Running Blues

I want to start out my running posts with a short history of my running. I started January of 2008, at the recommendation of my friend Ben, who lost a bunch of weight running when he hit 30 because he realized he was fat and out of shape. At the time I was 29, but also realized I was fat and out of shape. So I started going over to the Vincennes University fitness center to use the treadmill a few times a week. At first I started out walking, then running a short distance, then walking again for 30 minutes. After time I was able to do less walking and more running, until it was all running for 30 minutes. By this time I was chugging out 2 to 3 miles at a time, and slowly started to whittle my time down. Around this time I knew I was hooked, and started planning for a 5 K run in the spring. I also upgraded my running apparel quite a bit, getting some compression shorts, technical shirts, and the crown jewel, a Garmin Forerunner 205 watch, so I could run outside and be able to keep my time, pace, and distance. When I started running outside, the game completely changed, as I started incorperating high powered playlists on my Ipod to motivate me to run faster and harder and it was nice to run wherever I wanted, and not have to worry about falling off the treadmill. As the 5 K approached, I was running 3.1 miles each time I headed out, and was realizing that finishing the 5 K was not a dream, but a reality. On the morning of the 5 K, I arrived at the park where the start/finish line was about an hour early, not knowing what to expect. I was the first one there. So, like any man who has no clue, I got in my car and drove around for a while. After circling the park listening to Rush for what seemed like 3 hours, I started seeing runners of all shapes and sizes trickle into the park, so I found a spot, parked the car, and started suiting up (picture Barney from How I Met Your Mother). I went to get my goodie bag and bib, and being the newbie that I was, put the bib on wrong. After spying the bib attachment techniques of other more seasoned runners, I corrected mine. Of course i had carefully selected a playlist for my Ipod the night before, and tuned it to the first song and hit the pause button, so I could pump up the jams the second the starting horn blew. I decided to line up midway back at the starting line, behind the super-thin pros in spandex, but in front of the walkers wearing blue jeans. After the race organizer spoke about our sponsors, the horn sounded, and we were off! Man, I hit the ground running on a huge adrenalin rush, which promply wore off after about a quarter of a mile. About one mile in, I started to wonder why I ever thought this running thing was a good idea, and began to get winded, but I kept on trucking. At 1.5 miles, there was a water station, and in my infinite wisdom I thought I could get a cup of water and drink it without slowing down. Of course most of the water ended up down the front of my shirt. At two miles I figured hey, I think I may finish this thing! Then at 3, I was really struggling, but the finish line was in sight, so I kicked it into overdrive. But overdrive was not enough, because people were passing me one both sides, but I stuck to it and crossed the finish line at 26:50, not a personal best, but better than a lot. After the race I hung around to watch the trophy presentation, and it was really fun seeing the running community celebrate everyones accomplishments. After this race, I found a few more 5 K's, but started to think about higher miles, maybe even a half marathon, which Ben was starting to suggest. Tune in next time for tales of higher milage, lots more sweat, GU gels, and a knee injury or two.

Just Getting Started

Nothing seems to be happening at work today, so I'll just tackle a few random topics bouncing around in my head. Last night I had a great run, 3 miles in 25:29. I've been running for almost a year now, starting about the end of January 2008. I didn't know if it would last, but as I added on the miles and learned a thing or two about running, I got hooked. But I now have a small problem, I seem to have injured my knee a few months ago, and it is still nagging. I trained and competed in a half marathon, and the knee started bothering me a few weeks before the 13.1 mile race. My self diagnosis is runners knee, and I gave it 3 weeks off, but that didn't seem to help. I felt good after last nights run, with a little pain, but this morning it hurts a lot worse. I hate to go to the doctor, but I feel that maybe it's time to seek a professional opinion. In the mean time I think I will give it a break until after the new year, and find other ways to burn calories so I can keep eating like a much younger version of myself.