PAWS Run For Their Lives

I ran the PAWS Run For Their Lives 8K again on Sunday. It was fun to do a race for the second time. Last year, this was the first organized run I had ever tried. This year, I am a couple weeks away from trying my first marathon. It was a blast getting to walk there with Estes and Tiff. I knew I should take it easy as I had aggravated my left ITB, but it felt good that morning, so decided to put a little more speed into my run. Later I figured out that was a bad idea. For the run it was fun as hell though. Estes had a ball as well. Seriously, they gave her a ball. She destroyed it. Here was my result:

PAWS 8k Run for Their Lives
Chicago, IL -
September 27, 2009


Name: TROY COLEMAN
Place: 51st
No: 141
Nettime: 36:28
Pace: 7:21


Out of the 803 that ran, I feel pretty good about this. Plus, last year I ran at 8:46/mi and finished 204th. I am excited for the big 26.2mi. I have to suffer through not running a few days though to get this ITB back under control. It was such a treat to have Tiff and our puppy there too. They are a tremendous cheering section to finish a race to!

Jack's Show

Final stretch

My marathon training program has finally reached it's "taper period." By this, it means I am no longer running longer runs each week, capping with last week's 20 miler. Running from my place to E. 47th on the South side was awesome by the way. I did it in 3:18. The true moment of glory last week was doing my next 5 miler at a pace of 8.18/mile. This week's 12 miler did not seem to be anything of great difficulty by comparison. However, it was one of those runs that just felt like work. Additionally, during the run I started to get pains on my left knee, very much like the ones on my right knee back in May. Those were IT band irritations that sidelined me for 2 weeks. This pain is not nearly as sharp, but enough for me to cancel my run today and take the next couple days as they come.

I am also still smoking. That is frustrating as it is satisfying. On one hand I want to be free of the dependency and not think about it any more. Sadly, having given this a few good efforts before, I know the mental obsession over cigarettes are not over when I finally stop thinking about quitting. Then it becomes a 24/7 process of reminding myself any given minute will not be better if I had one. I also have this perverse pride in running the way I am right now while doing something I shouldn't. I realize it's a lot like shooting oneself to show you can survive the bullet, but it's still there. My folks are coming out for the marathon in couple weeks and I think it may be foolish to even try with them coming. They are both pretty resolved smokers.

I know as long as I keep wanting to quit, it will happen. Plus, barring a catastrophe, I want to keep running marathons. I've got a list of cities I want to run and a tattoo already in mind. That also does not promote continuing to light up. For now though I am relatively content with my mid-level insanity.

Nice

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Role Call

Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Tennesse, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma... this is where I have been in the last 3 weeks. None of which were layovers, but highway treks across. I just finished another job with Caldera in Florida. It involved 6 days of driving a truck in a caravan (3 all together) 11 hours a day alone. Truely some introspective time. One of the things I walked away from this cross country excursion was how fortunate I am. I am fortunate to have a home and family, not only by blood but my happy band in Chicago. I am also fortunate to be employed. While so many good people around me (my family included) are struggling to find work, I have maintained a peicemeal, gainful employment. Like many others still holding jobs, my work has tripled in time and effort, but I still have a job. So many I saw across many states do not. I am also glad to have seen so much of the country. It's easy to forget how vast it is. It's also easy to forget how much we have in common. This may all sound a tad gushy, but it's where I am at. Thank you to all that take the time to keep up with my misadventures.

400 miles later

I just returned from Ohio last night and will be setting forth on another trip for Caldera tomorrow. This time it's driving the truck to Florida from Colorado and back. All this travel has added an unexpected challenge and perk to my marathon training. I put in a couple runs out in Ohio while out there with Tiff and realized that in my training for the Chicago Marathon, I have now ran in 6 different states. They vary greatly in challenge and reward, but every run has been fantastic.

So far I have the obvious Chicago, IL under the belt which is especially helpful as I will be trying 26.2 miles here. Last Wed. I put together a new farthest with 16 miles which took me deep into the South side of Chicago. Pretty cool! Then there was Minneapolis, where I did my first 10 miler along the Mississippi. I still have the scar on my left knee from the digger I took getting across downtown. I then added Colorado. Home sweet home was a little less so when gasping for the thin air on hills. Plus, water became indispensable on those few runs so far. That's when I added a Camel back to my gear. I also ran in my original hometown, Houston, TX. That was the equivalent of putting a treadmill in a shower, even in May. I did my first 12miler there. Funny, no one but the Army was out running there with me. I also ran some in Detroit along the Detroit river and on the 42nd floor of the GM building, where our hotel was. That brings us to the corn fields of Ohio where I just did my last 9 miles. Fresh air was never more noticeable!

Now I am out to add a couple more states, hopefully!

The guy that does not sell you soap

Last week I got some new headshots done and thanks to the digital age, the online gallery was made available within 24 hours. I am so glad to never have to improvise light table again to see negatives. The aim on these was to get shots that convey the sketchy characters I am more often considered for. The saying in the industry for shots to be used for commercials is the "guy you'd buy soap from." I am not that guy, as experience is showing. If anything, I play bad guys selling you soap (see Shout commercial). Any case, these are more designed to be the guy that sells you as security system. Let me know your thoughts.

http://www.jontylercore.com/webgallery/troycoleman/index.html

I truly can not say enough good things about this photographer either. I have been fortunate to work with a couple great ones over the last couple years. This recent photographer, Tyler Core, was solid and a lot of fun to work with. For a shoot that at one point he nearly stepped off a roof and I hung (by my suggestion) off a 2nd story fire escape... well, it was a shit eating grin day for both of us. His friend, a nurse, that was helping out with the bounce board was less excited about the near misses.