What have I gotten myself into?!?

13 Days to Paris.

Just got back from my long run. No, no....correction....got back from my long run, hobbled upstairs to the washroom, soaked in a tub of ice cold water, had a shower, hobbled back downstairs, drank, ate a banana, then sat down at the computer to tell you all about it.

My goal was to go 16-18 miles. I made it 16 (25.6 Kms). After completing my first 8 mile loop, I was still feeling strong and was optimistic I would be able to tag a final 2 miles onto the end of the second loop to make it 18. About half way into the second loop, I started to doubt myself, so I was figuring out how I could add at least 1 mile. As I climbed the killer hill near the end of the loop, I hit the wall. I just didn't have anything left. I had hydrated properly, and had taken some Cliff brand energy shots at 1:20 and at 2:10. But my legs had nothing left in them. As I rounded the final corner I knew that I had had it.

Still, 16 miles isn't too shabby, considering all the hills I have to run (yeah, yeah, I know that what goes up must come down and for all the climbing I get some pretty nice downhill stretches. Problem is, all the major uphills are at the end of my loops...our house is pretty much perched atop the highest point this side of the Mississippi - or at least that's what it feels like) and the altitude I'm running at - about 7,000 feet. And it was the longest distance I have ever run in my life. But I am a bit disappointed that I couldn't get to 18. I am starting my pre-race taper now, and today's run was to be the longest run prior to the race. 16 miles represents about 61% of a full marathon distance. Somehow, in 13 short days, I am going to have to find it within me to do what I did today, plus keep going for another 10.2 miles. Oy vay.

My time was 2:42:59. That's a 10:11 pace which pretty much sucks after all of this training, and represents a 4:27:04 marathon time. Again, I hope that the hills and altitude give my legs some sort of boost once I'm in Paris. My 8 mile split wasn't too bad, about 1:16 (9:33 pace), so obviously I lost a lot of steam at the end.

Playlist: Listened to my Denver Half-Marathon mix.

The Paris Playlist takes shape

14 Days to Paris (Holy Shit!)

Let me start with a quick recap of recent training. Last Sunday I did a 13.75 Mile (22 kms) long run. Time was 2:14:07. Did a 4 mile run on Thursday, and today did 60 minutes on the elliptical machine at the Y (1015 Calories). Getting ready for another long-run tomorrow targeting 16-18 miles which will be pretty much it before I start to taper in preparation for the big day! During the last few weeks I have testing out my Paris Playlist.

So here is the Playlist I have put together to get me through the streets of Paris. I've got a total of 71 songs which, according to my iTunes is about 5.2 Hours. That had better be plenty-o-songs, cause if I'm still not finished after 5.2 hours it will probably mean that I'm on all fours, crawling my way to the finish line like some beached manatee.

Here it is:

1. Battle Without Honor or Humanity - Tomoyasu Hotei

2. Le Freak - Chick (that'll be me, alright...the Freak!)

3. I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas

4. Beautiful Day - U2

5. Get On Your Boots - U2

6. Avenida Revolucion - Chickenfoot

7. Runnin' Down a Dream - Tom Petty

8. Working For The Weekend - Loverboy

9. The Kid is Hot Tonite - Loverboy

10. Hold On Loosely - .38 Special

11. Roller - April Wine

12. Treat Me Right - Pat Benatar

13. All Fired Up - Pat Benatar

14. Mean Street - Van Halen

15. Man on a Mission - Van Halen

16. Shoot To Thrill - AC/DC

17. Shake a Leg - AC/DC

18. American Girl - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

19. Elevation - U2

20. New Year's Day (Live in Paris) - U2

21. Magnificent - U2

22. Runaround - Van Halen

23. I Like To Rock - April Wine

24. One Week - Barenaked Ladies

25. Trust Yourself - Blue Rodeo

26. Get Up, Stand Up - Bob Marley

27. Across 110th Street - Bobby Womack

28. Jump Jive An' Wail - The Brian Setzer Orchestra

29. 25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago

30. Saturday in the Park - Chicago

31. Runnin' Out - Chickenfoot

32. Oh Yeah - Chickenfoot

33. Turnin' Left - Chickenfoot

34. Zombie - The Cranberries (probably how I'll be feeling about this time)

35. Salvation - The Cranberries

36. Suffragette City - David Bowie

37. Heroes - David Bowie

38. Cat People (Putting Out The Fire) - David Bowie

39. Pour Some Sugar on Me - Def Leppard

40. Now - Def Leppard

41. The Boys of Summer - Don Henley

42. Sunset Grill - Don Henley

43. I will Not Go Quietly - Don Henley

44. Long Train Runnin' - The Doobie Brothers

45. Takin' It To The Streets - The Doobie Brothers

46. Listen To The Music - The Doobie Brothers

47. Rockin' Down The Highway - The Doobie Brothers

48. Hotel California - The Eagles

49. Life's Been Good - The Eagles

50. All Night Long - The Eagles

51. Business As Usual - The Eagles

52. Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien - Edith Piaf (gotta honour the host country!)

53. Evil Woman - Electric Light Orchestra

54. Strange Magic - ELO

55. Mr. Blue Sky - ELO

56. Turn It On Again - Genesis

57. Just a Job To Do - Genesis

58. Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day (Hopefully that won't be the case)

59. Barracuda - Heart

60. Surfing With The Alien - Joe Satriani

61. Crushing Day - Joe Satriani

62. Belief - John Mayer

63. Don't Stop Believing - Journey

64. Any Way You Want It - Journey

65. Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas

66. Enter Sandman - Metallica

67. Fly By Night - Rush

68. Blue Collar Man (Long Nights) - Styx

69. Shout - Tears for Fears

70. Let My Love Open The Door - Pete Townshend

71. Eminence Front - The Who

Well, there you have it. I would like to thank those of you who sent in some suggestions, I think I've included a few of them here. As I said, I've been testing these songs out over the last few weeks and I think I've got a good variety with tempos that should keep me going!

It's Official!

27 Days to Paris.

Well, it is official. This morning, my wife and I booked out flight to Paris!! There is actual money invested now, so there is no turning back!

We get in on Friday morning, April 9th which will give us plenty of time to get situated and go to the marathon expo to pick up my race packet. We will then have Saturday to relax and try to get used to the time difference before the big event on Sunday.

I want to send out a special thanks to my friend Nathalie, who works at the Canadian embassy in Paris, for offering to let us crash at her apartment while we are there. She says she lives just a few blocks away from the race start/finish at the Champs Elysee.....how lucky is that! Getting to hook up with an great friend from university will only add to this special occasion, and her generous offer is truly a great gift.

After a month of almost no postings I will do my best to keep you all updated on my final preparations. Keep an eye out for my Marathon Playlist, which I need to get off my duff and finish off. I've got to get about 4-1/2 hours of music ready to keep my pace going.

Training Update:

Saturday: Did a long run of 11.5 miles (18.4 Kms) in 1:52:10. The pace was much slower than I would have liked (9:45 mins/mile), but that would put me in for the full marathon at 4:15-ish which is what I estimated my time to be. I've got to stop having conflicting goals - finishing and a good time. I think I need to concentrate on finishing and if I do it in 4:15 then so be it. But....getting close to 4 hours would be sooo cool. Dammit, there I go again. Playlist: A mix of all sorts of stuff.

Today: Did a 5K (3.1 miles) on the treadmill at the Y in 28:10 (9:04 pace) followed by some additional cross-training on a rowing machine, and then another 1 mile at an easy pace. Playlist: Blue Rodeo mix.

Fat Boy still running, but clearly not writing

32 Days to Paris.

I'm still here. I'm still training. Can't believe I haven't posted anything in a month ... my sincere apologies to all of you, all I can say is that life (and writers block) got in the way.

Just over a month to go. I will craft a more proper update shortly, but I just wanted to let everyone know I'm still around, still running, and getting excited about Paris.