Running with Jack

This coming Saturday is a 10K race in the Oberwald Forest just south of Karlsruhe in Ruppur. I am part of a group of 23 runners from my company that will participate in this run. All the proceeds from this run will go to the Unicef Childrens Fund, an honorable cause.

At this point it is too late to do any specific training for the race, so last night I ran my normal 14K/8.7M route. I did push the first 10K a little faster than normal, passing the 10K point in around 54 minutes. My average speed for the entire 14K/8.7M run was 5:28/K (8:48/M), speedy for a training run. I have to admit my legs are still kind of tired from the mountain run on Sunday. The steep ascents whole my legs out more than I had counted on. Of course when I consider that 90% of my training is on very flat trails this really shouldn’t be a surprise.

Vacation 2006

After several discussions with my wife and some feedback from our respective bosses it appears that the USA Vacation 2006 will be from the end of April until around the middle of May. This is unfortunately not in the window for New Haven 2006, but maybe something else will come up. We intend on spending 3-5 days north of Detroit with some old friends during this time period if anyone is up for a run in this area :-) Most of the rest of the time will be spent at my parents in Upstate NY, where I know of at least a couple RBFers within shouting distance.

So anyway it looks like it will be an early spring or late fall marathon next year. I am seriously considering the Bienwald Marathon on March 12. This would mean I need to start training in about 4 weeks!

A Dream Mountain Run

My wife picked up a mountain race brochure this past weekend thinking if anyone is crazy enough to run it would be me. The race is called the “Montée du Grand-Ballon” in Willer-sur-Thur/ Goldbach, France – about an hour and half from us. Basically this is a 13.5K/8.4M run from Willer-sur-Thur to the Le Grand-Ballon. No problem right?

Now Jon would probably say something to the effect that “there has to be a catch when Jack is all excited about a run”. Well... Le Grand-Ballon is the name of a little-bitty 1424 meter (4671 feet) high mountain. The town of Willer-sur-Thur sits at about 370 meters (1213 feet) elevation. So including the fact you go down a couple little hills, there is 1207 meters (3960 feet) worth of hill climbing involved. In comparison my mountain run last Sunday had about 700 meters (2300 feet) of hill climbing. I would love to train for this run! Anybody want to join me?

If you look really carefully in the background of the picture on the right you will see the town of Willer-sur-Thur. This will give you an idea of the elevation.