Home from FL; Philly in a week!

Great weekend down in Florida for Beth's participation of the Foster Grant Ironman 70.3 World Championships. She finished 4th in her age group and all that hard work this year sure paid off with the look on her face after the race. We got home this afternoon and I can't believe Philly's a week away. I guess it's my turn to PR and turn in a good performance (I hope!).

As far as achieving my goals....this past week I had a 3x1600 workout at 5k pace with 2 min rest. It was a good confidence boost heading into the marathon. I was worried because I felt like I hadn't really done anything hard since the half marathon and, with the HS XC season ending, whether or not I was still on top of my crispness of training. Well, after 5:33, 5:27, and 5:28 1600's in the workout, I was feeling confident again about hitting 6:30's for the marathon. We shall see what happens. Long range forecast is calling for low in the 40's and high in the 50's with a chance of rain. We'll see how that develops throughout the week.

Where to start with the weekend? It was just such a nice atmosphere and I got to see some of Beth's triathlon friends (and I guess my friends, too!) like Jen H, Chad & Jen, Kim, Cathy & Kerry, Eric, Elizabeth, and I'm sure a few others I'm forgetting off the top of my head.

Here's a few photos from the weekend.

First, the view of the sunrise on race morning in the harbor. They changed the race start from the gulf to this harbor because of big waves and strong current. I guess they didn't want a repeat of the crazy swim routes people were taking back in Alabama (see picture about halfway down the blog entry).

I put pictures on FB also, so skipping ahead to the Awards Ceremony, it was like they were setting up for a concert.
When Beth's AG went up, she got her name in lights!

But, perhaps the most exciting part of the trip for me (OTHER than the fact that Beth got 4th PLACE in her AG in the WORLD!!) was the flight home. I've been reading this book called 'A Short History of World War II' by James Stokesbury. I've had it for my past four or five flights and I'm still only halfway done. I'd hate to see how much the LONG history book would weigh. I enjoy it because it gets into a lot of the strategy of the different sides during the war (like Hitler's choice to try to invade Russia, France's feeble attempts to hold off Germany, the dialogue between the US & Britian on strategy, ...) and has lots of maps to go along with the flow of the war.

If it hasn't been stated before in this blog, I LOVE maps. I'm not really sure when it started. Perhaps just as a result of my enjoyment of following sports growing up and trying to figure out where the different teams were located? I'm definitely the map person when we're planning our trips. In fact, Beth's mom commented to me on this past trip that I would make a good taxi driver because I'm so good with directions (I think it was a compliment and not a suggestion to change careers?).

Anyway, I digress....So, on the way home today, I'm reading the book and I pause for a second to look out the window and see some major highways below (it was a perfectly clear day for most of the flight). Since I had printed out a flight path projection from past flights from flightaware.com (I know, BIG TIME map nerd), I consulted the map and was pretty sure we were at the split of I-77 and I-74 in North Carolina. I know this route well because of our many trips down to HHI and Durham for holidays. So, this catches my attention and I begin following the road. Looks like it goes up a mountain just like I know from the drive as I-77 heads towards Fancy Gap.

Next thing you know, we're at where I'm pretty sure is the I-77 and I-81 connection in Southeastern Virginia, close to Virginia Tech (where Beth and I spent some graduate school time). Next thing you know, I see Lane Stadium out the window. I yell, "Beth! Beth! Check it out--it's Virginia Tech!" Since I think she was sleeping on my shoulder at the time, I don't know how impressed she was, but I had to take a photo with my camera.

The first picture below is a rotated shot from google maps with our old apartment, Lane Stadium, and the Drillfield highlighted that I made when I got home (I know, map nerd).

The second photo is the one from the plane with those three locales circled again.


The view was even better just looking out the window. The picture from the cameraphone doesn't do it justice. Pretty cool and exciting for a person who loves maps.....not so much for everybody else, I suppose. Thanks for humoring me and my fascination with maps.

Finally, Beth and I had an extra piece of luggage on the trip home.....a second bike case.

Why did we have a second bike case you ask? It sure isn't because I competed this weekend (unless you qualify for a World Championship for having the SLOWEST swim and bike time). This is actually Kim's bike that we brought home. Did Kim forget it? Of course not. Unfortunately, what happened was she had a duel with a cone on the bike course during the race. The cone won and Kim ended up with a broken collarbone. Bummer!

So, we brought it home so a gal with an arm in a sling had one less thing to try to haul around the airports. As I know Beth can attest to, it's tough enough to lug around a suitcase, bike case, and computer bag through the airport with TWO good arms. Plus, this was a good experiment for Beth and I to see if our car could handle two bike cases if the day ever came where I would be flying (thus bringing a bike) to compete in a triathlon. Mission accomplished on that end and maybe slowing down our urge to look further into the Saturn Outlook--the rental we were loved driving all around Clearwater.

Heal up quick, Kim!

Hillsong, Hershey, Hooks, Happy Valley, and Hot Stove

Wednesday night, Beth and I went outside our normal routine and actually went to the movie theater. It was a special event as Hillsong United (a musical group that started as a youth praise band at a church in Sydney Australia) had a live feed and video that they produced. We didn't know exactly what to expect. We were thinking it was a concert much like we've seen on some of their concert DVD's. However, it wasn't exactly that.

The first half hour was actually LIVE--7:30pm our time and 11:30 am the next day in Sydney. I'm not sure how they did a live thing like that in the theater, but I guess if you have a projector, computer, and internet connection you could do it. Anyway, they did a couple of live acoustic songs and played two of their newer video songs. Then, they introduced the movie about their tours over the last four years. Again, I'm expecting a documentary of their concerts and more great music. What it ended up being was a two hour presentation of all the injustice and hurt that they observed on every continent. They people living in shacks in Brazil, refugee camps in Africa, and many other sad situations. It was a call to action. We sponsor a child in Peru, but it makes you think what more can you do? It wasn't exactly what we went for, but it was pretty moving. They did sneak in some concert footage, so we got some of that also.

Saturday, I'm off to Hershey for the State track meet. We've only got one guy competing, but he's got a shot of finishing pretty high, so that should be exciting to see where he stacks up with the rest of the state.

From there, I'm swinging by Elizabethtown--about 10 miles down route 743 from Hershey. That's where I started my 8+ year college journey (don't worry--that's not just for undergraduate). I haven't been back there in four or five years and I figure I should stop by so I actually know what I'm talking about when I'm at College Fairs telling kids about the campus. Also, my best man from my wedding (J) and family live in Etown, so we're going to hang out for the afternoon. It should be a great day!

Also, PSU's got a BIG game against THE Ohio State University. Terrelle Prior's first trip to Penn State since his recruiting visit. He hasn't been having that great of a season....and I hope PSU's defense keeps it that way. I've got my list of Penn State Radio Network stations ready for the drive home from Etown. It'll be something like Carlisle, Bedford, Somerset, and Pittsburgh.....I hope. I didn't have as much success for the Northwestern game on our drive up to PSU last weekend. But, as long as they score 3 TD's in a 4-minute span, I don't have to listen ever!!!!

Finally, the Hot Stove League (baseball's off-season). The Pirates made a trade that actually is geared to help the team for 2010....rather than 2015! They gave up Jesse Chavez--a decent reliever this past year, but one of three or four that fit that same mold. They picked up a starting second baseman that's going to probably hit #2. He's a lefty hitter, patient at the plate, can steal bases, and a good defender. I think it's at least comparable, if not better than having Freddy Sanchez hitting 2nd behind Andrew McCutchen. I don't expect many more off-season acquisitions of starting pieces, but we'll see. I'm excited to see what people like Millege, Jones, Clement, and others do before Alvarez and Tabata come up in June or July. We shall see........at least give me something close to .500 this year!!!!

....and, keeping with the 'H' theme, Halloween. Poor Roxy! This may border on animal cruelty, but it's so funny and cute at the same time for us. Plus it distracts Roxy from barking at all of the kids coming to the door for candy.

Since last week...

Since the half marathon, there's been a lot of cross country goings-on.

For the high school team, we had Tri-States (a tune-up meet) and WPIAL's (Districts). The results were a little below where we usually are as a team, but you have days like that. At WPIAL's, the guys finished 5th as a team (only four go to states). Our top runner finished 2nd and our #2 runner was the first individual not to qualify for states. But you learn from it and move on. The state meet is this upcoming weekend in Hershey. I'm excited because I think I'm going to swing by Elizabethtown after the races to check out the campus and catch up with my best bud (and best man) J and family who I haven't seen in forever.

This weekend, we were up at PSU for the Big Ten Cross Country Championships. Beth and I hadn't been up there in a few years (except for me going up a few weeks ago for the football game). It was great, Beth had a chance to catch up with the coaches the night before at the alumni gathering and I ended up having my name drawn during a raffle for a sweet PSU Track & Field Long Sleeve Half-Zip something or other.....see the picture.

As far as the actual race day, it was a beautiful day. Sunny with just a few small clouds, high 40's, and no wind. It was so nice I decided to wear shorts to watch the races. Before the races, Beth and I got our long runs in on the golf course. We ran the courses....sort of. We had trouble following the lines. Fortunately the racers didn't have the same issue. The end result of the meet was that the PSU men had a tough day, but the PSU women were Big Ten Champs and PSU's #1 runner won the individual championship.

After the races, we walked around on College Avenue to get lunch and then, of course, had to make our first stop to the NEW Creamery. My Apple Cobbler ice cream did not disappoint!

Three more weeks until the marathon. It's getting close! If I could request weather, today at PSU would work nicely. Of course, as we're loading up the car to leave for Penn State yesterday, I get too close to the edge of our front sidewalk, slip off, and tweak my ankle. Fortunately, I caught it before it bent too far, so I was fine to run today. But, of course, I'll start entering my hypochondria state in the upcoming weeks as the marathon draws near....

The Pose

Remember when Desmond Howard emulated the pose of the Heisman Trophy statue after a big play against Ohio State?

Well, apparently the Shutts strike the same pose when crossing the finish line. Check out my finish photo from the race last weekend compared to Beth's from the Best of the US last October.

We're always going for the watch to get that accurate time and have a painful look on the face at the finish!

Here's a few more photos that can be found from the race set at http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/7842443_37m3w#691618777_bEQhv

Pre-race warm-up for Beth, Karen, and I (JT's saving his bullets for the race)

Starting out the race near the front

Kicking it in to the finish. I always seem to put my head down for a stride or two when I'm trying to dig a little deeper. Not too great of form from a physical standpoint, but mentally it helps me.

Buffalo Creek 1/2 Marathon RR

Another fine day along Buffalo Creek in Freeport.

The weather could have been a tad bit warmer, but it didn't rain and ended up in the high 30's. And, just in case Jen Harrison checks this out--no the snow was more in the center of the state by State College. This year Beth was running also as a tuneup for Clearwater and my cousin K and her dad came along and ran also.

We had this elaborate logistical plan of positioning of cars since this is a point-to-point race. It involved three cars--we leave two (one for Beth & I; one for K & UJ) at the finish line so we didn't have to ride the shuttle back. Then we all head up in one car up to the packet pickup and start. We had to figure out what bags to put in what car and what keys needed to be carried during the race and what bags to drop off, but it all worked out smoothly.

To the race, I've been happy with my training all fall balancing with the XC guys, Beth, and my own long runs. Last weekend, I averaged under 6:30 pace for a 14-mile segment of a 17-mile run and felt like I had some left. So, I figured I'd try to better my 6:00 pace from last year's half and see what happened. We all warmed up together and had some nice conversation catching up on K and her life. A couple pit stops and a couple striders later and it was time for the race.

Having done it last year, I knew the course layout and the level of the field. I was 11th last year and figured I could sneak in to the top 10 this year having the marathon training base underneath me. Off we go and I was 9th or so a mile in to the race. Last year, our places from the first mile were just about the same as we finished so I figured I just needed to settle in and hit my splits.

This is a downhill point-to-point course, so that definitely skews the splits some. At the same time, the majority is on a crushed limestone rails-to-trails course, so that neutralizes some of it (but it's still pretty fast!!). Mile 1 I'm out in 5:28 and rolling. Here's the rest of the splits and some commentary:

Mile 2 - 6:04 (the only real uphill in the race)
Mile 3 - 5:44
Mile 4 - 5:41
Mile 5 - 5:44
Mile 6 - 5:46
Mile 7 - 5:51
Mile 8 - 5:50
Mile 9 - 5:54
Mile 10 - 5:58
Mile 11 - 5:54
Mile 12 - 6:02
Mile 13 - 6:00
13.1 - 0:35
Total 1:16:32 - 5:50 pace - (1:19:06 last year)

From about 1.5 miles in until 10 miles in, I was running side-by-side with another guy (last year I was in a pack of 5) and we just steadily worked our way up, picking off one person around mile 6 and one around 8. I was feeling good, but didn't know what I had left hitting these 5:50's, but I just tried to hang with the guy beside me.

We closed in on the 3rd place guy around mile 10 and I could tell my running partner was breathing pretty hard. We had just caught said 3rd place, so that guy probably was losing some. All of the sudden, I shifted my entire mindset to just clicking off miles to actually RACING. This hasn't happened for years if you don't count trying to outkick people on the homestretch of races. I thought, "Okay. 2.5 miles to go. I feel good, let's surge and see if they go with me." Surge happens and they didn't respond. Hmmm....

I hit the 11 mile marker and just hit my watch to get the split but don't even look at the time since I'm now racing vs just hitting times. There are some curves in the trail since it goes along a creek, so I even tried to put in a few surges around turns. All those HS XC strategies were coming back to me! Since Beth and I train on the trail almost every weekend, I knew the remainder of the course pretty well and I started mapping out the strategic places to sneak in some surges.....actually I'd like to think that but I was time-wise probably just running as hard as I could and running scared so they wouldn't catch up to me.......

What the heck--I was in 3rd place with just a little more to go! I get to about a 1/2 mile left on the trail (1.5 miles left in the race) and I knew the trail changed from the crushed limestone to blacktop, so I put on another surge (at least in my head). I pass the 12 mile mark and just hit the watch and get ready to leave the trail for the final 0.8-ish on roads to the finish. There was an uphill switchback to a bridge and then into town.

I was mapping out my final surge strategy up this hill when I see this guy jogging back towards me with his hands up in the air. It was the 2nd place guy and he missed the switchback off of the trail and had to come back. He yelled out, "Where to we go?" I said back (out of breath), "Up the hill and over the bridge in to town." Now, he's 50 yards behind me. So, I'm in 2nd place (in sort of a cheap way). I felt bad that he didn't make the turn (last year they had a person at the turn) and had my mind made up that I'd slow up at the finish since he earned 2nd but just got off course (after the race, he said he lost more than 30 seconds there).

But, no worries as he flew past me with about 800m left. He happens to be one of the better runners in the Pittsburgh area after all. I follow him down the hill, we make a left turn at the 13.0 mark, I look over my shoulder and see that the other two guys (the former 3rd place and the guy I ran most of the race with) were too far back to get me. I split my watch at 13 and then just focused on kicking it in as best as I could and cross at 1:16:32--a 2.5 minute improvement over last year!!! And, as Beth's triathlon posse would say, a 'podium' finish--third place. Wooo hooo!

And, it was a good day all around. Beth beat her PR in the 1/2 marathon by 3:15 and was the 2nd female. My cousin ran well and won her age group and finished 5th or 6th female OA. My uncle, coming off of sickness and injury issues, almost equalled his 1/2 marathon time from Pittsburgh.

After the race, some bagels, Eat'n Park Smiley Cookies, Pizza, bananas, and other stuff to refuel as Beth and I then go over to the YMCA to swim since Beth had a workout to get in (those crazy triathletes!!!). She did a real workout. I just meandered back and forth doing slow laps except for being a rabbit for the 2nd 25 on a couple of Beth's 50yd repeats.

A stop by GetGo for a footlong for lunch, pick up the car, a PSU shoutout win (great job, defense!!), house clean, and now it's time for bed. Good day, indeed!

PSU, Cold Weather, and Half Marathon

That's what's going on right now....

Last weekend, I went up with my college buddy (and fellow IE graduate) B as he had tickets to the BIG Penn State-Eastern Illinois matchup........okay, not too big. Eastern Illinois is a 1-AA team and people outside were trying to give away tickets. And, as evidenced by the picture below when JoePa led the team onto the field, the student section wasn't all that enthused about arriving punctually to a noon start against an inferior opponent. PSU won 52-3 and it was about that close. PSU did pretty much whatever they wanted. Right before halftime, EIU was actually driving down to about the 10, but Navarro Bowman picked up a fumble and ran it back in a James Harrison-like play for 90 yards an a touchdown. Game over even though it wasn't even halftime.

Nevertheless, it was a great experience being back up in Happy Valley. I sent a message to Beth at one point after I did a short run on the PSU golf course (site of the XC Big Ten Championships in a few weeks) and past my old apartment that I was just going to stay up there and that I'd see her at the end of October when she came up for the XC meet.

One of the neat things about my friend B is he's involved in different things. First of all, he's one smart dude as he got his PhD in IE from PSU. Secondly, he tries new things. He told me a few years back that he signed up for a standup comedy class. I thought he was kidding, but he actually did a few local shows.

He also told me he was experimenting with growing square watermelons. SQUARE watermelons? That's what he said. He told me over the weekend that this past summer he experimented with seedless, HUGE barrel, and other types of watermelons. He brought a few with him that Beth and I had (they were great!) and of course Roxy was very intrigued by the whole watermelon thing.

On Tuesday, I helped out with my second college fair of the fall. This was up in the North Hills at LaRoche College. There was some registration snafu's so we weren't in the E's by Edinboro, but rather way in the back. We're in the back row kind of in the middle of the picture with the blue tablecloth. Still a good time, but people are much more in a hurry to get out of there by the time they get to the last few tables.

I say 'we' because I found a fellow Etown-er in the Pittsburgh area willing to give up a night and share about Etown. Beth and I met TF back in March at the Spring Thaw. That was my DNS race due to the ankle injury playing basketball. Since I wasn't racing, I was hanging around the finish line while Beth was out there and these two parent-age people came up to me and commented about the Etown Hoodie I was wearing. They said that their daughter went to Etown and ran there. Small world! So, long story short, I recruited a new alumni to come to the college fair and hopefully this will DOUBLE the coverage of the Pittsburgh area for college fairs by Etown alumni (since 2 is twice as big as 1) in the future.

This weekend is the Buffalo Creek Half Marathon. I'm going to have to get my game face on as I haven't raced since Memorial Day. Last year's race went really well for me (at least for the first 9 or 10 miles) and I somehow maintained 6:00 pace. I'm shooting to go slightly below that considering I actually have a distance base underneath me with the marathon training. The hindering factor may be the weather--mid 30's with a chance of snow or rain. Ugh! But, that may be what it's like next month in Philly so I better get ready for it.

Beth's running this year as a tuneup for the Half IM World Championships in Clearwater and my cousin K's coming back again this year (won her age group) and her dad (who I ran the Pittsburgh half with last spring) are coming to run, too.

Fun week....fun fall!

Last Sunday, Beth and I were invited to go to our first ever Steeler game. I'm a big fan and watch just about every game on TV or listen on the radio, but I've never had a connection to get a ticket (and assumed I never would). However, Beth's good friend was able to get four tickets to the game and it was great! It was great weather and the Steelers took it to the Chargers to go up 28-0 early in the third quarter. This was our previously agreed upon time to leave since we all had to get up for work the next morning (AND K & T are from the other side of Altoona). It was a little nerve-racking to hear how close it got in the end, but a fun game nonetheless.

Our seats were in the next to last row, right on the goal line where the Steelers scored three of their touchdowns. In the row behind us were about 10 or so San Diego Chargers fans (of course the only tickets they could score were in the last row!). I actually didn't mind being up that high--you were able to see so much more than you do on TV. You were able to see players get wide open on passing plays and I kept screaming and pointing, "throw it to him--he's WIDE open!!!"

One place where Beth and I fall short of being true members of Steelers Nation is that we don't have Steelers jerseys. I think about 95-98% of the crowd did have jerseys. At least I had a Steelers hoodie.....albeit a 2005 AFC Champions hoody--even though they went on to win the Super Bowl. Hey, it was cheap at Dick's Sporting Goods a month after they won back then since they had all the Super Bowl merchandise.

Poor Beth had a black Powerbar coat with a PURPLE hoodie underneath. It sure got a few facebook comments during the game!!! She did get a Terrible Towel from a vendor before we crossed over the Clemente Bridge.

Now if this wasn't great enough, I also have lined up for tomorrow a trip up to Happy Valley! My one good friend from my IE days at PSU, B, asked me a month or two ago if I wanted to go to this game because he had two tickets. Granted, it's against 1-AA Eastern Illinois, but it's still the experience of being up there. So, after my first EVER Steeler game, I'm going to my first PSU game since college six days later. Awesome!

The one down side to all of this is that it's making for a very full fall. As Beth and I were debating of whether or not to go to the Steelers game, we were seeing the weekends fill up and realized that Thanksgiving is going to be here before we knew it. I know we've all got busy lives, but I figured I'd throw this out there, so just humor me:

• Sep 23: College Fair for Etown at WCCC and drop off the dog at parent's house
• Sep 25-28: BOUS for Beth in California
• Oct 4: Steelers game
• Oct 10: PSU game
• Oct 13: LaRoche College Fair for Etown
• Oct 17: Buffalo Creek Half Marathon (both of us) just up the road in Freeport
• Nothing the weekend of the 24th.....yet
• Nov 1: Big Tens XC Championship at PSU (going up Saturday and watching Sunday)
• Nov 7: PIAA XC meet in Hershey (maybe we'll have boys & girls both there)
• Nov 12-15: IM 70.3 Championships in Clearwater for Beth
• Nov 22: Philly Marathon for me
• Nov 25: Thanksgiving and eating a lot and taking a deep breath!!!!

Overall, my training's going pretty well. I was pumped with last Thursday doing a 15x400 workout with the XC boys (88 sec down to 73) and then coming home and doing a 9 or 10 mile tempo workout with Beth. I felt pretty good during it, but it sure beat me up for the next few days.

I got home from the Saturday invite at Central Catholic and it was so beautiful out and Beth left me a message that she wasn't going to be home from her bike ride for another two hours. So, I got my bike ready and headed out for an hour ride because I figured it may be the last time I ride outside this year. It was so nice out and I felt great. So, I got home with about another 30-45 minutes until Beth got home and then was going to do her 30 minute brick run. I figured I'd do that with her, so I just caught the end of the exciting Michigan-MSU overtime game while waiting for her to get home.

We go out for our run and I'm chatting up a storm about our guy winning the CCI by outkicking a guy from the big rival and telling her about the Michigan-MSU, VT-Duke, and a couple other games. Then, we turn around and come back and we're about 20 minutes into the run and.......BONK! I had to slow down to a walk. I took in food after the invite and with my bike ride, but apparently not enough. It was a brutal shuffle that last mile-plus home for me and a good lesson in training nutrition.

But, I bounced back and had a good long run on Sunday and today PR-ed in the 2 mile during a track workout with the XC boys. They are so fast! I was killing myself to run 80's each lap to pace my group while the top group was just cruising and clicking them off. THEY then did a sub-5:00 mile and sub-2:25 800, but I opted out of those and did some distance since my marathon prescription for Sunday is 17 miles with 14 at race pace. I needed to save something.

So, off to Happy Valley tomorrow and then another fun week ahead. Next thing you know, we'll be off to Florida and then I'll be running my marathon and then eating a whole bunch of turkey and fixin's four days later!