A GPS Watch. For more serious runners and those that are starting to look into racing, a GPS watch can be an awesome addition to your runs. It lets you know how your pace is looking and allows you to store your run info on your computer so you can see how you’re progressing against your goals.

Sneakers. You should be changing your sneakers every few months depending on how often you run, so if you’re due for a new pair in the near future, add these to your wish list. You can go to the store and figure out the exact pair you want and then pass along the model number to whoever is gifting you them.

New Workout Clothes. When you start getting into more advanced workout clothes that do a good job of keeping you warm or cool and help with wicking sweat away, the tab can really add up. These brand name items are typically expensive so the holidays may be a good time for you to splurge on some nice stuff that you wouldn’t otherwise have room for in your budget.

You can enjoy a nice Christmas morning run with some of these gifts before indulging in a big holiday meal!

Running Betty and I flew up to Providence, RI Thursday morning and met up with runner #5, Devin. We drove about 45 minutes to Raynham, MA and checked into our hotel before making our way to Boston for the team dinner. After an adventure driving the 12 passenger van through crowded Boston streets and tunnels, we arrived at a wonderful Italian restaurant where runner #9, David and his partner Steve treated most of the team to dinner.

After dinner, we all headed to Mike’s Pastry where we were wowed by the large Thursday night crowd and I thankfully did not notice that rum cake was available. With plans to meet up at our hotel in the morning, we all parted ways before 10 PM.

Running Betty and I woke up at about 8 the next morning for a Wal-Mart run and the whole team began to assemble at about 9:30.  The gradual assembly of the team on race morning is probably one of my favorite parts of the relay. It’s fun to see who is bouncing off the walls excited, who is quietly nervous and who just hasn’t has enough coffee to be completely functional. We loaded the vans and headed for the starting line at 10 AM. Once we arrived, we completed the van 1 safety briefing and the decorated the vans.

Runner #2, Robin draws the halibut on van #1

At noon, it was time to start and first time Ragnarian, Brian L. led us out of the gate. After a quick bathroom break, we all jumped into the van in hot pursuit of the runners. As we drove along the course, it was creepy that we didn’t pass any runners. The further we went, the more worried I became. Finally, we arrived at exchange #1 without passing any runners. They had all vanished!

Slightly chagrined at the odd start to the relay, we eventually learned that the entire noon starting group (25 runners) had made a wrong turn just a few hundred meters from the starting line and run 2 miles out of their way. The 6 mile leg turned into a 10 mile leg!

We jumped back into the van and headed back toward the starting line, hoping to give Brian some much needed support. As we began to encounter the runners along the route, they didn’t look happy so we rolled down the windows and cranked up the radio. Once we found Brian, we stopped the van and danced for all the runners because we’re “Ragnarians” and that’s what we do for our fellow runners.

Brian arrived at exchange 1 about 25 minutes late with a smile on his face. His first Ragnar leg in the books, he already had one heck of a story to tell. Robin was off in a flash, so we headed to exchange #2 where she handed of to Kelci and I got dressed for my first leg.

While at exchange 2, we learned that the course had changed. The original exchange #3 was to be at a high school, but it got moved apparently due some shenanigans that the high school administrators did not approve of. That extended Kelci’s leg 0.8 miles and knocked my first leg down to 5 miles. Feeling good about the shorter distance, I took the bracelet from Kelci and sprinted 25 meters to a traffic signal.

...because getting hit by a car during your first leg = major buzzkill

Once through the first traffic light, I started off pretty fast. I thought there were some people trying to “roadkill” me so I took off downhill and nabbed my first road kill about a half mile into the leg. The road curved back uphill to another stoplight where I just missed the signal and had to wait for quite a while. I looked back and saw a guy in a red shirt about a quarter mile behind and impatiently waited for the signal to turn. It did before he reached me and I did my best to put as much distance between us. My last stoplight behind me, I settled into a pretty solid pace heading into historic Plymouth, killing 5 more runners before finally getting caught and passed by red shirt guy within view of the Mayflower and just before the finish of the leg. I charged into exchange #4 ready to hand off the bracelet to Devin, but the chute was empty. Bewildered, I spotted the van heading quickly toward me. Seconds later, Devin popped out and I handed him the  bracelet.

An interesting leg with an average moving pace under 7 minutes per mile.

After Devin and runner #6, Anna finished their legs, we handed the reigns off to van #2 and promptly got caught in horrible traffic heading across the bridge to Cape Cod. Local, Robin, steered us to an Italian restaurant where we filled our bellies before heading to exchange #12. In true Clark Griswold style, I parked in the back of the parking lot and pulled out the Christmas lights.

Tip: LED lights will save your van battery.

As the sun set, we watched runner #12, Luis take off on his 6.5 mile loop back to the same park he started in. An hour later, he handed off to runner #1, Brian and the madness started all over again. The main difference was that this time, Brian ran his prescribed number of miles and handed off to Robin right at the expected time. Robin traversed the Sagamore bridge and brought the team onto the Cape where she finished her leg with a quarter mile of sand running and handed off to Kelci who waited for her wrapped in a sleeping bag in the cold night air.

I received the slap bracelet for my second leg in a Walgreens parking lot. The nighttime legs are always my favorite and this one didn’t disappoint. I tore through the parking lot and spotted another runner behind me with a glance over my shoulder as I maneuvered onto a sidewalk. Not wanting to get killed again, I maintained a healthy pace, but could spot no runners ahead. Without carrots to chase, the leg started out a little on the boring side, but I held onto the pace and my persistence was shortly rewarded with three blinking red lights in the distance. I slowly pulled them in and van #1 pulled alongside on the road, slowing for a few cheers and some cowbell. The extra motivation gave me a little boost and I passed the three runners ahead. The night was peaceful and the natural smells emanating from the woods and creek beds I passed through relaxed me even as I pushed to turn my legs over at a faster rate. By the end of the leg, I had racked up 8 road kills without being passed myself.

Not as fast as leg 1, but still satisfying.

Devin also had a short leg, but Anna’s leg was a little longer. Her leg headed through some neighborhoods and as we made our way to exchange #18 we noticed some people sitting on lawn chairs at the end of their driving drinking beer and cheering for all the runners as they passed – an awesome way to spend a Friday night, I think.

We were tired when Anna arrived at 24 to end our second stint on the course, so we navigated immediately to exchange #24 where Raffi and I found a quiet spot to pitch our tent and get a few hours of sleep. The rest of the team opted to remain in the van. Following the Del Sol Ragnar Relay in February, Raffi and I invested in some warmer sleeping bags and we were rewarded with actual sleep. It was only two hours, but it was enough to perk me up and I was ready to go when Luis arrived at the exchange to hand off to Brian.

Brian ends his first Ragnar with a somewhat fumbled handoff to Robin

Brian knocked his last leg out with gusto and handed off the Robin. That’s where the trouble began. We hopped back into the van and followed the directions to the next exchange. As I was driving and Running Betty had her head buried in the directions. Devin pointed out that we had passed a bunch of vans parked along the roadside. Briefly worried that we had passed the exchange point, we encountered a parking lot down the road that was full of vans. We pulled in and waited for Robin to arrive.

She was late…very late. Eventually, Kelci figured out that we were at the wrong exchange point. The spot 200 yards up the road was in fact the relay exchange 26 and we were waiting at exchange #27. Kelci and Raffi jogged up the road to exchange 26 to meet Robin. Meanwhile, Robin came running into exchange #27. The course had been changed and I did not receive notification. There was no clear sign pointing out the new location of exchange #26 and Robin ran right past it, continuing on to complete Kelci’s leg of the relay.

Leg 28 begins with a hand slap.

Fortunately, Kelci had her cell phone so I called her, told her to run her leg and we’d wait for her at 27. 25 minutes later, she arrived, slapped my hand (I was already wearing the bracelet) and I took off on my last leg of the relay. I jetted across the road and onto the “rail trail” with the thought that I might be able to break 20 minutes in this 5K leg. I spotted my first potential kill in the distance and glanced down at my Garmin which indicated I was running at sub 6 minute mile pace. I eased back on the pace and passed the woman ahead.

Each time I passed someone, I was able to spot another runner in the distance and that kept me “racing” the whole time. The 6:20 pace was a little too much for my legs, however, so I began to back off before it became a real problem. Each time I encountered a runner, I’d accelerate past them, then back off the pace a little to recover. I passed 8 runners by the time I hit the three mile mark and knowing I was almost done with my final leg, I let it all hang out fore the last tenth of a mile. When I arrived at 3.1 miles, all I was greeted with was a big 7% incline up a bridge. Fortunately, the exchange point was at the top, but Devin was not!

A nice finish

Five minutes later, Kelci arrived with her husband and Devin jogged up the hill behind her. I handed the bracelet to him and headed back to the van where I learned they had all gotten lost. Fortunately, the next two legs went by smoothly and we handed the reigns to van #2 at exchange 30.

Mimosas are a refreshing treat to celebrate the completion of a Ragnar Relay

We were hungry so we headed to breakfast at Laura & Tony’s kitchen – a small spot with a great breakfast buffet. Some of us enjoyed mimosas and others opted for coffee. We relaxed and lingered, happy for a nice place to sit an fill our bellies. Afterward, we headed to Provincetown and killed some time by tagging other vans. We had a couple of beers in the beer garden and van #2 arrived after a couple of hours. As David approached the finish line, a couple of people helped him into his fish costume and he led us across the line.

Though we were a few hours short of actually winning the race, we did take home the “Nom de Plume” award for Best team name. We’re all very proud.

The team at the finish line.

Up next for me? The Chicago Ragnar Relay. I’ve just found out that one of our runners is injured so it looks like I’ll be filling in again!

Just this week, one of the runners on my Cape Cod Ragnar Relay team, “Running for the Halibut” dropped out due to some IT band syndrome in both knees, so I was thrust into the position of runner #4!  Now as most of you already know, I’ve only recently started up with regular training since a roughly two month hiatus following the St. Petersburg Rock n Roll half marathon. So, I’m probably in the worst shape I’ve ever been in prior to a Ragnar Relay. Here’s a look at my legs:

Skinny? Yes, but I'm fond of them.

Seriously, though, leg #4 is described as “the heart of history and downtown Plymouth”. So, that sounds kind of cool. Here it is in map form:

Very historical and mostly down hill!

That’s the longest leg and probably the one I’m most looking forward to in terms of scenary. Leg #16 will be around midnight. It doesn’t look all that special on the map, but I always love chasing those little blinking red lights (other runners) in the middle of the night. I’m expecting some cool temperatures and an enjoyable run:

Bonus! Another mostly down hill leg.

Leg #28 is my shortest leg and it’s almost entirely on a “rail trail”.  After the two longer legs, I hope I have the legs left to really kill this one. It’s always fun to finish strong.

Short, sweet and another net elevation loss!

This will be my 6th Ragnar Relay. It’s my 5th as a captain, but only the 4th I’ll actually be running. While I’m not in the greatest shape, it is the shortest total distance I’ve ever run in a relay. So, I’m pretty psyched about this surprise race next weekend and I’m looking forward to many road kills!

Of course, every good granola starts with rum. So, I poured some Cruzan 9 spiced rum over a few ice cubes and got started with gathering my dry ingredients:

3 cups of rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped Blue Diamond Almonds

1/2 cup shredded coconut

2 tablespoons chia seeds

1 tablespoon cinnamon

a few shakes of the salt shaker

I wanted clusters of granola that wouldn’t break part in a cereal and I read that an egg white would help hold the clusters together. With that in mind, I mixed together my wet ingredients in a separate bowl:

1 egg white

1 cup agave syrup

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

After thoroughly mixing the dry ingredients, I dumped them into a 13 x 9 pan, then poured the wet mixture over the top. Using a fork, I stirred the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until things got a little clumpy. Then, I used my hands to kind of knead things together before flattening everything out in the pan.

I baked the granola at 300 degrees for 1 hour, stirring it every 15 minutes. When it finally came out of the oven, I was a little disappointed with the “clumpiness”, but I let it sit out and cool for about an hour and everything stuck together pretty well. I spooned it into some Tupperware and refrigerated it overnight.

In the morning, I defrosted a handful of frozen blueberries in a bowl, then poured some of my granola over them and added milk. It took me more than 45 seconds to eat, but it was quite delicious! The whole batch was enough for about a week’s worth of breakfasts.

The happy ending

What’s your favorite granola recipe?

Here’s how the week went:

Monday: 4.8 miles easy in the afternoon followed by 3 miles at threshold pace in the evening.

Tuesday: 3.6 miles easy

Wednesday: Body weight strength circuit

Thursday: 4 miles easy in the morning + 3.6 miles easy in the afternoon

Friday: Off

Saturday: 8 miles easy

Sunday: Off

Total: 27 miles

I think I managed to fix my Garmin. I let is sit off for about 5 days, then charged it fully. Once it was fully charged, I got it to turn on and download the new firmware. The firmware supposedly fixes the lockup problem I was having. It made it through the whole week without a problem.

Here’s how the week went:

Monday morning: Core/Lower body workout

Monday evening: 3 mile threshold pace run with the World of Beer group

Tuesday morning: 3 miles easy

Tuesday afternoon: 2 mile very easy geocaching run

Wednesday: Core/lower body workout

Thursday: 6 miles easy (sped up at the end)

Friday: 3 miles easy

Saturday: 8 miles easy

Sunday: Off

Total: 25 miles

I think I finally fixed my Garmin Forerunner, so can actually get times for my runs in the coming weeks. I sketched out the summer and figured out where I need to be at the end of the summer to really ramp up into a solid training plan that will get me close to the 3 hour mark in January. I’ll need to be around 60 miles per week at the end of the summer. Given that fact, I can stick with 25 miles per week for a couple more weeks and then increase my mileage 5-8 miles per week every 3 weeks.

I’ve also done some research into producing some home gym equipments, so I might have some fun “how to” posts coming up!

Monday afternoon: 4.5 miles easy with the track team

Monday evening: 3 miles (7:10, 7:09, 8:32) with the World of Beer group

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: 3 miles easy “runcaching”

Thursday: 4 miles easy (8:43 pace)

Friday: Off

Saturday: 9 miles easy

Sunday: Off

Total: 23.5

My goal was to 20 miles. I would have had 20.5, but I felt good on Sunday and decided to continue running with another 3 miles after the group finished 6. Meghann, a young lady who is moving to St. Pete in the beginning of May joined our group for the run and she was planning on doing 12. I ran the extra 3 with her to show her a little more of our normal running route. I was definitely done after the 9 and sent her on her way to finish off her 12 without me.

I’m holding up pretty well. I felt a little twinge in the normal spot on my left knee on Thursday morning. I actually adjusted by running a little taller which engaged my hamstrings a little more, relieving some of the stress on my quads. The pain went away almost as soon as I made that adjustment. I still need to start doing some strength training, though. I think I’ll aim to hit 20-25 miles again next with the addition of the strength training.

Since the district Track & Field championships are tomorrow, I’ve given the distance runners relatively low key workouts this week. Yesterday was supposed to be an easy three mile run, but everybody thought that was pretty boring. So, we went geo-caching instead. We grabbed some stickers from the school’s advancement office and off we went. The first cache was a half mile run away. We found the camouflage painted peanut container pretty quickly and it was full of goodies. We traded some of our stickers for a few goodies from the cache, signed the log and headed off to the next cache a half mile in the other direction.

That cache was a duct tape wallet with a signed dollar inside! Score! The third cache was another 3/4 mile away. We were excited because it was described as a coffee can, so we expected a lot of goodies inside. We headed to the cache position and looked around. We found a dead dog and some other things we would have preferred not to see, but unfortunately did not find the hidden cache. We know we were close because others described seeing the dead dog near the cache so perhaps we’ll have to return and look for it again.

Our haul from an hour of Geo-caching.

By the end of practice, we had run about 3.5 miles in the process of Geo-caching. Sure, there was a lot of downtime while we searched for the caches, but it was planned as an easy day anyway. The goal was simply to get some movement in our legs without taxing ourselves too much. We accomplished that goal and everyone had fun!

On the personal running front, I’ve logged 15.5 miles so far this week so I should end up with 20-25 miles by the end of the week and that’s exactly where I want to be.

My love of the Saucony Kinvara has been well documented. I regularly run in two pairs of the Kinvara and simply wear a pair of the Kinvara 2 around everyday. I didn’t even know they were working on the Kinvara 3, but here it is!

The first thing I noticed about the Kinvara 3 when I slid the shoes on was a generally sleeker look. Although my measurements tell me there’s no change in the width of the shoe, the midfoot area looks thinner (and therefore faster). There’s still plenty of room in the toebox for my toes to spread out (and absorb shock) on impact.

The biggest change from the Kinvara 2 is the additon of Flexfilm to the upper. Where the Kinvaras 1 and 2 had a “plasticy” feel over the shoes’ breathable mesh upper, the Kinvara 3 uses Flexfilm (a lightweight, highly dynamic flexible film) to secure and stabilize the foot. This is accomplished with an awesome looking pattern that had one of my track and field athletes offering to purchase the shoes off my feet. While the new technology appears to reduce the amount of material on the shoes, the weight has remained the same at 7.7 ounces (based on a men’s size 9). The new upper design will eliminate a small flaw in the Kinvaras 1 and 2 where the “plasticy material” would occasionally tear under high stress.

I’ve put about 40 miles on these shoes since they arrived and I absolutely love them. The look alone gives me a mental edge of feeling faster and they have the same comfortable feel that I’ve loved about the Kinvara over the last 2 years.

The Kinvara 3 will be available on April 26th.

***Disclaimer: The shoes were complimentary, but the opinions are solely mine.  I’m not saying they’re the perfect shoe for everyone, but I absolutely love them.  If I didn’t, I’d tell you that.***

Monday: 3 miles easy

Tuesday: 5 miles easy

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: Off

Friday: 3 miles easy

Saturday: 5.3 miles easy

Sunday: Off

Total: 16.3 miles

16.3 miles! That’ll be about the average long run if I decide to run the Walt Disney World marathon. After Monday and Tuesday’s runs, I felt a little soreness in my knees. I took Wednesday and Thursday off and the soreness went away. Friday morning’s run was very pleasant and we had a great group for the Saturday morning run.

Everything feels good now, so I’ll see if I can ramp up to (gasp) 20 miles next week. I’m still running very much by feel so I don’t really want to force myself into any kind of schedule just yet. Still, I’d like to get a little more mileage next week.