Giant Slalom Long Run

After the fast paced run Thursday my legs were tired, and I really wasn't looking forward to running with the Ethiopian Elites. I really wanted a slower long run. I stopped into RunnersWorld Friday, and Kathy and I made plans to run together beginning at 6 a.m. Saturday morning. But the plans changed when Kathy called me at 5 a.m. and told me to go back to bed because she was having some kidney problems. I said a little prayer for her and then tried to back to sleep, but with little success. When the whole group met, Brian and I sent them off and then ran for a bit together, while we formulated plans for the day. At first we were going to just run a few miles and then head back to help the couch to 5k group, but then Brian sent me on ahead and said he could handle it himself. So, I sped up and got to visit with a number of people as I tried to catch up with those going 20 miles. I caught Larry, Patty, Rachel, and others just before 71st Street. We headed west across 71st, and I hung back with Pam and Suzy. We ran together until we reached the 5 mile point, which was at about the steepest point on the hill at Turkey Mountain. Pam and Suzy turned back there because they were only running 10. I caught up with Irish Ken right at the sewage treatment plant. I never visited with him before, and it was nice to chat with him. He coaches soccer, and this year he has 7 guys who are going on to play soccer in college. Way to go Coach Ken! I caught back up with the rest of Larry's group at the water fountain just north of the sewage plant. From then on we had a fun easy paced run. When we reached the restroom by the pedestrian bridge, we were a little short of ten miles, so Patty, being extremely scrupulous about her miles, insisted on running extra - while Rachel and I used the restrooms. Patty told me I was going to have to run extra once we got back, so in order to avoid that I turned the return route into a giant slalom course, which you can see from the portion of the map that I have inserted below. I actually made up more miles than I needed to and ran about 0.3 miles more than Patty. :) I had a blast running Saturday. It was filled with lots of fun and some interesting conversation, and I think I am re-energized. Thanks especially go to Larry, Patty, and Rachel for making this an exceptionally enjoyable run! Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 631 ft Location: Jenks, OK Elev. Gain: -7 ft Date: 02/27/10 Up/Downhill: [+718/-725] Time: 08:03 AM Difficulty: 3.8 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 44 F temp; 53% humidity 44 F heat index; winds N 8 Performance Distance: 20.30 miles Time: 3:17:47 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 45 /mi Heart Rate: 139 bpm (Avg) Calories: 2534 171 bpm (Peak) Map Elevation (ft) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 37 +0' 52 5.7 -0.5 -10 ft 2 8' 23 -1' 22 7.2 +1.0 +9 ft 3 9' 25 -0' 20 6.4 +0.2 -13 ft 4 10' 20 +0' 35 5.8 -0.4 +13 ft 5 11' 25 +1' 40 5.2 -0.9 +85 ft 6 9' 01 -0' 44 6.7 +0.5 -79 ft 7 9' 11 -0' 34 6.5 +0.4 0 ft 8 8' 27 -1' 18 7.1 +0.9 +4 ft 9 9' 07 -0' 38 6.6 +0.4 -14 ft 10 9' 29 -0' 16 6.3 +0.2 +10 ft 11 12' 57 +3' 12 4.6 -1.5 -6 ft 12 8' 27 -1' 18 7.1 +0.9 -3 ft 13 9' 23 -0' 22 6.4 +0.2 +10 ft 14 10' 26 +0' 41 5.8 -0.4 -3 ft 15 9' 37 -0' 08 6.2 +0.1 +26 ft 16 9' 46 +0' 01 6.1 -0.0 +62 ft 17 9' 25 -0' 20 6.4 +0.2 -101 ft 18 12' 30 +2' 45 4.8 -1.4 +10 ft 19 12' 52 +3' 07 4.7 -1.5 -10 ft 20 9' 59 +0' 14 6.0 -0.1 -3 ft end 8' 40 -1' 05 6.9 +0.8 +6 ft Versus average of 9' 45 min/mile

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Thursday Night Tempo Run

Joey, a high school kid I know from church showed up to run with us at RunnersWorld tonight. I did a four mile run with him. Actually, I ran behind him most of the way. The pace was extremely fast for me. In fact, at the pace I was running, I would have gotten a new PR in the 5k by about 50 seconds. 2 fast miles, short rest near pedestrian bridge, 1 fast mile, short rest while we waited for traffic light at 41st, 1 slower mile Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 626 ft Location: Tulsa, OK Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 02/25/10 Up/Downhill: [+65/-65] Time: 05:43 PM Difficulty: 2.0 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 47 F temp; 31% humidity 47 F heat index; winds SE 13 Performance Distance: 4.08 miles Time: 0:28:48 Speed: 8.5 mph Pace: 7' 04 /mi Heart Rate: 162 bpm (Avg) Calories: 513 174 bpm (Peak) Map Heart Rate (bpm) Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 161 - 179 0h 27m 95%  3.59 mi Zone 4 143 - 161 0h 03m 10%  0.42 mi Zone 3 125 - 143 0h 01m 3%  0.08 mi Zone 2 107 - 125 0h 01m 5%  0.06 mi Zone 1 90 - 107 0h 00m 0%  0.02 mi (none) out of range 0h 00m 0%  0.03 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 6' 58 -0' 06 8.6 +0.1 151 -10 ft 2 6' 57 -0' 07 8.6 +0.1 172 -4 ft 3 6' 57 -0' 07 8.6 +0.1 163 -6 ft 4 7' 48 +0' 44 7.7 -0.8 166 +9 ft end 5' 22 -1' 42 11.2 +2.7 153 0 ft Versus average of 7' 04 min/mile

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A Fast Eighteen Miles

Eighteen fast miles! We had a pretty good turnout today, but Eric missed because he is snowboarding. Hayley, who runs 5k on her college track team ran with us today, and although I love it when she comes, it does seem to push the pace a little bit. After the first 5 miles, which we did at an 8:08 pace per mile, I told the rest of the group to go on, and I would be running the next bit at closer to a 9 minute pace. Chris and I ran together, with him ahead of me most of the way. On the way out to Grace Fellowhip we were keeping about an 8:25 pace, which was really faster than I thought we should be running. On the way back Chris told me to go on ahead as we were approaching Sheridan. Seems the quick and hilly 14 miles were starting to take their toll. The 15th mile was a little slow because I walked up the big hill in the woods between Sheridan and Yale, but otherwise my pace on the way back was a little over 7:40 per mile. After the 18 miles, I jogged back out and ran in with some of the other groups, I ran some with Lisa, Mitch, and John, some with Kayla, and some with Bobby, Michelle, and Brandy. It was fun meeting some of the other runners. My total mileage for the day = 24.9 Mileage for the week: Monday: 13.3 Wednesday: 4.4 Thursday: 3.9 + 8.6 Saturday: 24.9 Weekly Total: 55.1 Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 666 ft Location: Jenks, OK Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 02/20/10 Up/Downhill: [+921/-921] Time: 08:02 AM Difficulty: 3.9 / 5.0 Weather: Light Rain Fog/Mist 42 F temp; 92% humidity 42 F heat index; winds NE 5 Performance Distance: 18.02 miles Time: 2:27:30 Speed: 7.3 mph Pace: 8' 11 /mi Heart Rate: 152 bpm (Avg) Calories: 2306 168 bpm (Peak) Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 161 - 179 0h 25m 17%  2.77 mi Zone 4 143 - 161 2h 06m 85%  14.51 mi Zone 3 125 - 143 0h 15m 10%  1.45 mi Zone 2 107 - 125 0h 06m 4%  0.23 mi Zone 1 90 - 107 0h 07m 4%  0.08 mi (none) out of range 0h 00m 0%  0.02 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 09 -0' 02 7.4 +0.0 148 -3 ft 2 8' 03 -0' 08 7.5 +0.1 155 +3 ft 3 8' 15 +0' 04 7.3 -0.1 153 -7 ft 4 8' 06 -0' 05 7.4 +0.1 151 0 ft 5 8' 08 -0' 03 7.4 +0.0 154 +3 ft 6 8' 24 +0' 13 7.1 -0.2 141 +3 ft 7 9' 18 +1' 07 6.5 -0.9 148 +86 ft 8 8' 26 +0' 15 7.1 -0.2 148 +32 ft 9 8' 26 +0' 15 7.1 -0.2 147 -46 ft 10 8' 21 +0' 10 7.2 -0.2 145 +10 ft 11 8' 24 +0' 13 7.1 -0.2 146 -49 ft 12 8' 10 -0' 01 7.3 +0.0 152 0 ft 13 8' 20 +0' 09 7.2 -0.1 157 +50 ft 14 7' 46 -0' 25 7.7 +0.4 155 -13 ft 15 8' 24 +0' 13 7.1 -0.2 159 +43 ft 16 7' 42 -0' 29 7.8 +0.5 159 -30 ft 17 7' 41 -0' 30 7.8 +0.5 161 -89 ft end 7' 39 -0' 32 7.8 +0.5 157 0 ft Versus average of 8' 11 min/mile

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A Note From the Pastor

I know this isn't about running, but I want to post it anyway. A couple of weeks ago I taught in Sunday school a lesson on the goodness of God. One verse from that lesson that has stuck with me is Psalm 16:2, "I say to the LORD, 'You are my Lord, I have no good apart from you." So, the last couple of weeks I have been thinking about how good God is, and how blessed I am to have him as my Lord. Sort of along those lines, I got an email from my pastor today that I thought I would pass on:

Dear Friend,

How are you this week? 

I am passing on some notes from a lecture by Sam Storms that I found particularly helpful.  It has been pasted below and I underlined the fundamental idea, “The only way you can conquer one pleasure is with another greater and more pleasing pleasure.”  This is part of the practical power behind Paul’s “safe” command to “rejoice in the Lord” (Phil 3:1).  We need to see the beauty and glory of Christ so we can find deep pleasure and lasting joy in Him to fight against sin.

Our hearts are like a glass full of muddy water; there are two ways we can empty them of sin.  One way is to tip the glass over and dump out the water—but then it can be filled up again with the muddy water of sinful passions; nothing has filled us to take the place of our old joys and desires.  The other way is to pour something heavier than water into the glass, mercury for instance, and fill it from the bottom up, displacing the water with the fullness of something new.  In the fight against sin, we need to fill our hearts with the solid joys and weighty pleasure of Christ—the word “glory” means “weight” in Hebrew, after all.

We need to nourish our joy in Christ.  How?  We read, pray and meditate so we can see Christ and be satisfied by His beauty and glory.  We need to replace our pleasure in sin with the greater pleasure of Christ—the substantial, eternally satisfying joy of knowing Him.

Psalm 16:11, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Psalm 73:25-26, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Blessings on you today.  Rejoice in the Lord!

Pastor Jim

Not the Poker Run

This was sort of a different week for me. I was sick the first part of the week and didn't run until Wednesday, a short 3.9 miles just under 8 minute pace. Then I went out of town and got back in time to make the Thursday group run, except that I heard my mother's sister died on Wednesday and her funeral was in Blytheville, Arkansas on Friday afternoon. I had some work that needed to be done Friday, so I went into the office and completed it, which made me unable to run.    Friday I got up at 5 in the morning and drove the seven hours to the funeral. The funeral was fairly short, and they didn't have a graveside service because with all the snow that they have gotten lately, the ground is pretty mushy. I'm glad I went because I was able to visit with cousins that I haven't seen for a very long time. After the funeral I decided to drive on home, and I arrived back in Jenks a little after 9 p.m. Afterwards I stayed up a while and visited with my sister-in-law, who arrived Thursday for a visit from North Carolina.    I was exhausted when I went to bed sometime after midnight, but I couldn't seem to get to sleep. Around 3 o'clock I decided since I couldn't sleep, I might as well run. So I put on my gear and headed out to Veterans Park. You can see the route I took on the map below. What you can't see is that when I got to Turkey Mountain I decided to take the red trail instead of staying on pavement. Bad decision. The ground was pretty mushy, and I was reduced to a walk at times, trying to keep my feet as clean and dry as possible. That explains my slow pace on mile 14.   I arrived back at Veterans Park just in time to help set up for today's Poker Run. And I didn't run in the Poker Run - just stood around and helped people register and turn in their cards when they were finished. I sorta wished I had kept running. It was pretty miserable standing out in that wind and cold - even though I had changed out of my sweat drenched clothes. The wind wasn't bad at all when I was running. It seems to have picked up right around 7 a.m. Turnout was pretty good at the run - maybe around 300 people. I saw Sam, Eric, and Dave from our group, and I'm sure more must have been there, but I didn't notice who.    My total miles for week = 24. Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 632 ft Location: Tulsa, OK Elev. Gain: -4 ft Date: 02/13/10 Up/Downhill: [+593/-597] Time: 03:34 AM Difficulty: 4.7 / 5.0 Weather: Fog/Mist 31 F temp; 92% humidity 31 F heat index; winds S 9 Performance Distance: 20.11 miles Time: 3:02:10 Speed: 6.6 mph Pace: 9' 04 /mi Heart Rate: 144 bpm (Avg) Calories: 2552 163 bpm (Peak) Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 161 - 179 0h 00m 0%  0.04 mi Zone 4 143 - 161 2h 07m 69%  13.76 mi Zone 3 125 - 143 1h 16m 41%  7.46 mi Zone 2 107 - 125 0h 04m 2%  0.24 mi Zone 1 90 - 107 0h 05m 2%  0.07 mi (none) out of range 0h 04m 2%  0.03 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 00 -0' 04 6.7 +0.0 136 -29 ft 2 8' 55 -0' 09 6.7 +0.1 141 0 ft 3 8' 58 -0' 06 6.7 +0.1 137 +10 ft 4 8' 55 -0' 09 6.7 +0.1 141 -10 ft 5 9' 02 -0' 02 6.6 +0.0 145 0 ft 6 9' 00 -0' 04 6.7 +0.0 141 -13 ft 7 8' 54 -0' 10 6.7 +0.1 145 +13 ft 8 8' 49 -0' 15 6.8 +0.2 147 -9 ft 9 8' 43 -0' 21 6.9 +0.3 144 +10 ft 10 8' 34 -0' 30 7.0 +0.4 144 -4 ft 11 8' 45 -0' 19 6.8 +0.2 142 -10 ft 12 8' 36 -0' 28 7.0 +0.4 141 +3 ft 13 8' 58 -0' 06 6.7 +0.1 147 +98 ft 14 13' 07 +4' 03 4.6 -2.0 141 -13 ft 15 8' 46 -0' 18 6.8 +0.2 141 -66 ft 16 9' 08 +0' 04 6.6 -0.1 146 0 ft 17 8' 35 -0' 29 7.0 +0.4 149 0 ft 18 8' 39 -0' 25 6.9 +0.3 153 -10 ft 19 9' 08 +0' 04 6.6 -0.1 149 +33 ft 20 8' 27 -0' 37 7.1 +0.5 156 -3 ft end 8' 05 -0' 59 7.4 +0.8 156 -3 ft Versus average of 9' 04 min/mile

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