Happy New Year!

Well, I didn't make it to the Race Into the New Year, as I had hoped, and again I missed our group run on Sunday. And I really haven't run much lately, but I did get a couple of good runs in on Turkey Mountain on Friday and Saturday.

Friday I did a ten miler in just under two hours, and the SportTracks screenshot is below. I felt pretty good, except that my left knee started hurting again at about 4 miles.

Saturday my knee was still sore, but I decided to go out again. I taped up my leg both and above and below the knee, and that helped quite a bit. The knee hurt a little the whole way, but it never got excruciating, so I kept going. Other than the knee, I felt really good. I only fell once. I finished 9 miles in just under an hour and a half. The SportTracks screenshot is below.

Next Saturday our group run will be at Veterans Park at 7:45 a.m. Advanced half marathoners are scheduled for 8 miles and advanced full marathoners are scheduled for 12. We will run the following route (full marathoners will add 4 miles along the river after this route):

www.mapmyrun.com/run/united‐states/ok/tulsa/596125955897477106

Here are the written directions:

Take 18th St. to Cincinnati to 19th St. to Swan Lake. At east end of Swan Lake go south on Utica to 21st. Go left on Utica and right on Yorktown. Turn left on 26th St. and stay on it until you get to Florence. Turn right on Florence, right on Evanston, and left on 26th Pl. Turn left on Yorktown. Turn right on 29th St. Follow Victor, which becomes Forest Blvd, which becomes Terwilleger. Go left on 27th and left on Rockford. Turn right on 29th St and follow it to Woodward Blvd (it zigzags to the right at Peoria). Turn right on Woodward and right on Madison. Left on 21st and back to Veterans Park.

Now that the holidays are over, I intend to make it to most of the group runs. I hope to see you out there!

Dave

Christmas Training Run

As you all know, the normal Saturday run was canceled because we all wanted to celebrate Christmas instead. For the Sunday run I heard that about 80 runners total showed up, and only one of them was an "Ethiopian." I missed because I had plans to go to church. Church was also lightly attended. In fact, the rest of my family stayed home.

I did get my run in the morning of Christmas Eve - nine hilly miles in Jenks. I wore my heart rate monitor for the first time in ages. Averaged 145 bpm. Seemed a little high for the pace I was going, but it was a pretty hilly route. My left knee started hurting about 4 miles into the run. I think it may be IT band related. My knee has been hurting ever since the Route 66 Marathon. Hopefully it will be better before the training resumes in full force in January.

Next Saturday we are not having a group run. Again it is scheduled for Sunday at 7:45 from RunnersWorld. And again I won't be there. It's my turn to teach Sunday school, and I'm starting a series on 1 Corinthians.

I hope to see you all out running on January 8th (or sooner if you make the midweek runs).

A New Training Season Begins

I am excited about starting a new marathon and half marathon training session. We had tremendous results in the Route 66 Marathon in November, and I am hoping we can have similar results in the spring marathons.

Some highlights of the Route 66 Marathon results:

• Will McIntosh ran his first marathon in 3:37:35.
• Andy Karlin set a PR of 3:37:44.
• Sally Eagleton set a PR of 3:38:27, qualified for Boston, and finished third in her age group.
• Stormy Phillips, after running a 100 mile race the previous week, ran his first marathon in 3:39:56.
• Rachel Mitchell finished in 3:54:25. I think that may be a new PR.
• Jeff Newsome ran his first marathon in 3:54:40.
• Jillian Fuqua finished her first marathon in 3:56:02
• Harold Hicks finished in 3:57:11. I think that was his first marathon.

Our group also had good results in the half marathon. I think our top finisher was Eric Soutee with a 1:40:14, followed by Steve Adams in 1:45:20. Steve Powell and Beth Eagleton also had good runs in the half marathon, even though they fell a bit short of their goal times. One of the things I would like to see this season is for Beth to step up to the marathon and qualify for Boston so she can run with her daughter, Sally. By the way, Sally will not be running with us over the winter because she will be working as a ski instructor in Taos, New Mexico.

I finished the marathon in 4:35:03, which is a personal worst, and I felt horrible most of the way. But my excuse is that I ran 66 miles the previous weekend pacing Kathy and Stormy for the last part of their hundred mile race. Here is a picture of me and Kathy at the finish of the Mother Road 100. Kathy is pretty exhausted at this point and ready to lie down for a long nap.

Anyway, despite my poor time and how poorly I felt during the marathon, I was pretty excited about our group's results. I think we definitely earned the title RWT Speedwagon. By the way, speaking of speed, Andy just ran a 20 minute flat in the Jingle Bell 5k. Woohoo!

I've been thinking about a new name for our group. One of the names I was thinking of was RunnersWorld Overdrive, with perhaps a theme song of “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.” I even had started on a logo, and below is a preliminary version.

However, Andy requested that we go back to our old name of Ethiopian Elites, so that is who we will be this time around.

Our first official training session will be Saturday, December 18 at Veterans Park (21st and Boulder). We will be meeting at 7:45, with a goal to be actually running by 8:00.

Links to the marathon and half marathon schedules and routes are located in the sidebar to the right. If you have not yet signed up, it is not too late. Print an entry form from this link, fill it out and take it to RunnersWorld Tulsa at 43rd and Peoria.

By the way, the second Saturday of the schedule happens to fall on Christmas day. We will not have a group run on that day, but on Sunday the 26th there will be a group run starting at RunnersWorld. I will not be at that run because I have responsibilities at church.

Also, on January 1st, there will not be an official group run. The official run will be on Sunday, January 2. Again I will have to miss the Sunday run because I will be at church. However, I will be running on January 1st. Let me know if you want to run with me.