26.2 Quest: May 2010

My First Trail Run - A Tweetup

Today was a day for firsts. My first trail run, and my first Tweetup. As I mentioned yesterday, @Bamarunner contacted me some time ago saying that he was going to be in the Gwinnett area around Memorial day and was wondering if I would want to get together for a run. Next thing I knew a few other local Tweeting Runners were joining us as well.

This morning at 7:00 am @Bamarunner, @SamanthaUF, @LostTrailRunner, and @virtual4now (thats me) were lead through some trails at Stone Mountain Park by @aReyoUiN. Like I said this morning was my first ever trail run and I absolutely loved it. I know what you are saying, if you didn't go down and eat some dirt it was not officially a trail run, but what I reply with is that 2 of the 5 did go down so I am still counting it :) You can even see the proof that Samantha posted of the trail rash that occurred while the trail also tried to take out her Garmin.

We arrived just before 7:00 am and the others were shortly behind. One of the runners tweeted us that ~~she was~~ they were running a few minutes late because ~~she~~ they left the house in flip flops and needed to head back to get ~~her~~ their shoes :) This didn't put us behind at all so it was no problem.... just kinda funny.

A couple weeks ago I was given the opportunity to review and giveaway the Sony W Series Walkman® MP3 Player. The entries have closed and the winner has been chosen via random.org.

Thank you everyone for stopping by, reading my review, and entering the giveaway. I also want to thank everyone who stopped by my Facebook Fanpage, followed me on Twitter, and subscribed to my blog while here.

And without further delay, the winner is:

Les from @RealLesSteubing - his tweet

Les, please contact me at info@262quest.com with your shipping information. If I do not hear back from Les by June 5th I will pick a new winner.

Just in case you are running one of the marathons in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series it may be cool to know that the Sony W Series Walkman® MP3 Player is the Official Digital Music Player of the marathon series.

Thanks again!

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow blog - twitter - fanpage

A Great Sunday Morning Seven Miler

This morning's run was a great run. The past few weeks my daughters and I have started doing their long run on Sunday mornings before church. This means a wakeup call of 6:00 which I am still a bit (happily) surprised. We have run anywhere between 5 and 7 miles depending on which of my two daughters are running with me.

Ashlee, my 16 year old, just made it to 6 miles for the first time last week and then during this week started having trouble with her thigh. Overuse injury? Possibly. We are resting/taking it easy to see how it goes.

Due to the possible injury Ashlee didn't run with us this morning, but Payton, my 14 year old, was able to go running with me. We also had a friend from the Fleet Feet Lawrenceville Running Club who lives in our neighbor hood join us. Sara is also a high schooler, but goes to a private school so doesn't run in track or XC. She does however make up for it in other races she has run. She has run at least one marathon, an ultra marathon, and at least on Tri. She is running a Half Ironman this coming Saturday. She is much more hard core than most high school aged girls (or boys!)

Running Related Giveaways

Just wanted to post a few links to some running (or fitness) related giveaways. I also wanted to remind you that Friday (today) is the last day to enter to win the Sony W Series Walkman® MP3 Player. You can go to the giveaway post right here and enter today.

A few other giveaways you may be interested in:

The Ultimate Runner - From Jill Will Run (I have this book, good book)

A Black Diamond Gizmo Headlamp - From: Suck It Up ....Rantings of a Runner on the Edge

$60 gift certificate to CSN's stores - From Happy Runner Giveaways & Reviews

Gone For A Run bibFolio - From I Have Run

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow blog - virtual4now

Family Running Day

Today was a family running day at our house. The morning started at 6:00 am when I woke my daughters, Payton and Ashlee. We got ready and headed out into the very foggy morning by 6:30 am for a 6/7 mile run.

We started the run nice and slow to warm up a bit. I always start my early morning runs off this way because I am usually out the door running less than 30 minutes after waking up and my body needs to warm up. The run went really good and each and every mile we sped up the pace, even if ever so slightly. You can see the pace and splits over at my running log.

We went 3 miles out and then turned around. Today was a big day for Ashlee because it was a new distance PR of 6 miles. To this point her longest run was just over 5 miles. When we got home we dropped off Ashlee and Payton and I kept going for another 1.2 miles to round out a 7.2 mile run. For Payton this was only the second time she has gone 7 miles so it was a good run for her as well.

Note to self.... it is getting hot and humid enough, time to break out the Body Glide. Why do I have to learn the hard way when it is time? Enough said......

Saturdays

**if you are here for the Running Times Deal see below.

Saturdays are one of my more difficult days to get a run in. During the week I always run before work leaving anytime after 5:00 am, and Sundays I like to get my long(er) run in before church and leave usually before 6:30 am. Lately these Sunday morning runs have been with my daughters which has been awesome! During the training for my marathon I was getting up even earlier during the week and on Sundays to get my longer runs in.

Saturdays are another completely different deal. On Saturdays I like to sleep in to catch up on some of the sleep I missed out on during the rest of the week. Of course this very seldom happens because it seems like everything else happens on Saturdays. During the Track and XC Seasons there seems to always be a meet on Saturday mornings, and when that isn't happening we have to be at the ball park for our son's baseball games. Of course many of you would say, why don't you get up and run before these meets or games....... to you I say please re-read the beginning of this paragraph :)

One Of My Best Miles Ever

I have run the past six days and was thinking about taking today off. I have been feeling really good lately and the running has been almost completely positive. Since I ran 6 miles yesterday morning before work, I decided that if I did run today I would only do a couple miles.

I woke up at 4:55 this morning (yea, I slept in for an extra 10 minutes!) and rolled out of bed. I took my time getting ready and prepared because I would only need < 20 minutes to run since I was only going 2 miles. During this time I tried talking myself out of running telling myself it was only 2 miles and why bother..... but I knew better.... it was 2 miles and I did need to bother because 2 miles is 2 miles, and I need to be happy that I can call it "only 2 miles" since the majority of people cannot run even 1 mile. I did end up running.

This is one of the down sides to not having a goal or a specific race that I am training for. Yes, I have some races on the horizon but nothing like a marathon or half marathon that actually has me on a training plan. I do not have a training plan that I am following right now and sometimes it can be difficult to stay focused.

A Group Run With Some High Schoolers

I know I haven't mentioned this here before, but I have been going to Fleet Feet Lawrenceville on Tuesday's following work to join in the Tuesday night group run. It was tempo night tonight but everyone got a little confused and so most of the groups were running somewhat of an interval tempo run.

I took off with the lead group tonight, knowing that like normal I would probably lag behind just a bit during the speedier times, but that is what I need to do if I am going to speed up at all. It turns out this group was a little smaller than normal, but three high school boys from Mill Creek High School showed up to run with the group. I told them all they were going to have to take it easy on this old guy and not let me get too far back. The first interval was good, and I didn't fall back too far, but then in the subsequent ones a couple of the guys started making me feel fast :)

It turned out that one of them had been sick and not running for the past couple weeks and by the time we got around the 2.5 mile loop the first time he was cramping pretty bad. I had my son's ball game to head to so I went ahead and walked back to the store with him.

It turned out to be a good couple of miles with some mixed up tempo pace and recovery pace. Our first mile was run at 7:45, the second at 7:47, and the last 1/2 was at about a 10 minute pace since he started hurting pretty bad during that time. Full Stats.

All in all a great day to run!

Do you run with any good group runs, with one or more runners, or do you do most of your runs by yourself? I have almost always run by myself, but I do like it when I can get a run in with someone else as well. I tend to push myself a bit harder and I like that about running with others. Of course, hands down, I love running with my girls the most! :)

Just in case you haven't seen it yet, I am giving away a Sony Walkman on my previous post. You can go straight to the giveaway here or if you want to read my review about it you can go here.

Thanks for stopping by!

.....oh, and that game I went to was my son's first tournament game.... and they won 15-10!!!!

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow blog - virtual4now

Sony's New Wearable Walkman® MP3 Player - Giveaway!

**If you are bored with too many details and you just want to go win, you can jump directly down to the giveaway. But, then again...... don't you want to know what you are going to win???

I know not everybody listens to music, podcasts, or anything else when they run, but I am one of the ones that does. Now, not every time mind you, but more times than not I am listening to something while I am on the run. I have not been bitten by the iPod craze and honestly don't understand the draw (sorry iPod lovers) because I just find my MP3 players so much easier to use all the way around..... and cheaper :) Many times I download my favorite podcast (Daily Audio Bible) while other times I listen to an Audio Book. When I am not listening to one of the above I just listen to the music I have already downloaded to my player.

When I run I usually use a small MP3 player that I attach to my arm. I have been very happy with it, but I do tend to go through headphones so often that I only buy the cheap ones that ship from Singapore (do they attach these packages to migrating whales? Why does it take so long for them to get here?). With the way the wire hangs and everything I have to do to keep it from pulling it is inevitable that the wires will eventually pull apart inside and I will be replacing the headphones once again.

Considering what I go through with my MP3 player and the constant pulling and fidgeting, I was really excited when I was contacted to review the Sony W Series Walkman® MP3 Player. Brand new and just released about a month ago it sounded like just what I needed.

Some of the benefits that the W Series, model NWZ-W252 offers are:

The years have gone by much faster than I expected, and the design of my blog is now showing it's age. OK, I will admit, the design of the blog was showing the age on day one, but I was looking for something easy to set up, easy to maintain, and just all around easy.

After the past 2 1/2 years of looking at the same ugly site I have decided I want to take this blog to the next level. It has become much more than I ever dreamed it would become. It has seen me through hard times like when I was tripped and broke my collar bone, and it has seen me through good times like when I completed my first marathon. Oh the stories this blog could tell if only I had recorded IT ALL!

What you see now is the beginning of what it will become. I have a lot of plans that I will be implementing as I have time over the coming weeks. Along with those changes you will also see a renewed sense of desire on my part to be posting on a more regular basis.

To start everything off I have something special coming in the next day or two...... no, I am sorry, I am not yet ready to tell you, but suffice it to say, there will be many people that will want a chance to win what I have been provided with to give away. Keep your eyes on my blog and watch it as it transforms and you will be one of the first to have the opportunity to win.

Back to the blog design.... so what do you think?

(FYI...... No, if you are reading this in rss, the image you see in this post is not the new design.)

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow blog - virtual4now

Some Changes Are A Coming

I have been getting really tired lately of my blog template and decided that it is time to do something about it. Over the next day or two you will hopefully be pleasantly surprised when you stop by 26.2 Quest. I am looking for just a simple minimalist type template with nothing too fancy. Although I do web development by day I really don't want my blog to take too much time when it comes to layout and design...... I want it to simply be about running.

Speaking of running, I have been slowly building my mileage lately (especially while running with the kids, which means some days are started with running and ended with running) and have been feeling some of the pains that go along with it. I am hoping to break through these pains soon so I can move on to the next level.

Now for some excitement......

You will want to be watching my blog over the next couple days (and what better way to do so than subscribing or following) because I have something very cool that I will be giving away. This is something that many runners use, and I am sure many runners would want to get their hands on. I am not going to tell you what it is just yet, but make sure you tell everyone to stop by and be ready.

So, speaking again of templates, do you have any suggestions on where to find some really nice blogger templates?

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow blog - virtual4now