Still alive

Yes, we are all still alive and well. It has been a long time since the last update, so there is a lot to get caught up on, but I will be brief. Since the last update, Cameron has competed in the USATF Oklahoma Association Championship in Oklahoma City, the AAU Area 11 National Qualifier in Joplin, Missouri, and the USATF Region 9 Championship in Wichita, Kansas. He also ran two more of the Thursday night Tulsa Runner Summer Track Series meets.

At the USATF Oklahoma Association Championship, Cameron ran the 400 in 1:27.61, and the 800 in 3:18.00. He placed 6th out of 14 in the Sub-Bantam age group in the 400, and 2nd out of 4 in the 800. At the AAU meet, Cameron ran the 200 in 41.70 seconds, the 400 in 1:29.35, and the 800 in 3:16.62. He placed 24th out of 34 in the Primary age group in the 200, 13th out of 19 in the 400, and 9th out of 12 in the 800. At the USATF Region 9 Championship, Cameron ran the 400 in 1:25.12, and the 800 in 3:08.83. He also threw the Mini-Javelin 10.36 meters. He placed 6th out of 7 in the Sub-Bantam age group in the 400, 2nd out of 5 in the 800, and 2nd out of 3 in the Mini-Javelin. Cameron did not qualify for the AAU Junior Olympics, and he was not eligible to qualify for the USATF Junior Olympics, because Sub-Bantams can only advance as far as Regionals in the USATF series. Cameron's brother Brandon did qualify for the AAU Junior Olympics in the 1500 meters as a Sub-Bantam, finishing 4th at the National Qualifier with a time of 6:55.04.

At the Tulsa Runner Summer Track Series meets, Cameron ran a 200 in a new PR of 38.8 seconds, an 800 in 3:12, a 100 in 18.8 seconds, a 400 in a new PR of 1:23.84, and a 1600 in 7:05. He also ran a leg of a 4x100 meter relay at one of the meets.

We are heading out on vacation for the next couple weeks, culminating in a stop in Des Moines for the AAU Junior Olympics, where Brandon will be running in the 1500 on the morning of August 4th.

Here are Cameron's mileage totals since the last update:

Saturday, June 20th...2.5 miles
Monday, June 22nd...3.6 miles
Tuesday, June 23rd...3.0 miles
Wednesday, June 24th...2.5 miles
Saturday, June 27th...1.2 miles
Sunday, June 28th...4.0 miles
Monday, June 29th...2.2 miles
Tuesday, June 30th...3.2 miles
Wednesday, July 1st...2.5 miles
Thursday, July 2nd...1.7 miles
Saturday, July 4th...1.4 miles
Sunday, July 5th...1.0 miles
Monday, July 6th...5.4 miles
Tuesday, July 7th...2,9 miles
Wednesday, July 8th...3.7 miles
Thursday, July 9th...1.8 miles
Saturday, July 11th...1.0 miles
Sunday, July 12th...1.2 miles
Tuesday, July 14th...2.8 miles
Wednesday, July 15th...3.2 miles
Thursday, July 16th...2.9 miles
Sunday, July 19th...3.1 miles
Wednesday, July 22nd...3.1 miles

Cameron's monthly total for June ended up at 66.1 miles, and his total for July so far is 37.7 miles. His yearly total now stands at 341.2 miles.

Recent runs including some new PR's

Instead of going into detail about all of Cameron's runs, I've decided to only cover the highlights here. Last Thursday evening, Cameron ran the 100, 1000, and 5000 at the Tulsa Runner Summer Track Series held at the TU track. He ran the 100 meters in 18.84 seconds, the 1000 meters in 4:02, and the 5000 meters in 24:40. The 4:02 in the 1000 was a new PR for Cameron, and in the 5000, he was headed for a big PR, but got sick with about 200 meters to go, which cost him about a minute in time and left him 14 seconds shy of his PR.

On Saturday, Cameron competed in the Oklahoma Jaguars "Pick'em Up and Put'em Down Classic" held at East Central High School. He ran the 400, 800, and 1500, and his times were 1:27 for the 400 meters, 3:08 for the 800 meters, and 6:18 for the 1500 meters. All 3 times were new PR's for Cameron, with his more precise time in the 400 being 1:26.98, which beat his 1:27.11 from the week before. He placed 3rd in the Sub-Bantam age group (8/under) in the 400, and 4th in the same age group in the 800. In the 1500, he placed 3rd in the Bantam (10/under) age group.

Last evening at PBA practice, Cameron ran an 8:32 2K in the middle of his workout, which was a 46 second PR for him at the 2K distance.

Here are Cameron's recent mileage totals:

Tuesday, June 9th...2.9 miles
Wednesday, June 10th...3.3 miles
Thursday, June 11th...4.4 miles
Saturday, June 13th...2.2 miles
Monday, June 15th...2.4 miles
Tuesday, June 16th...1.8 miles, but a pretty tough hill workout
Wednesday, June 17th...3.0 miles

Cameron's monthly total is now 43.9 miles, and his yearly total is 281.3 miles.

Green Country Open and Tatur Estim8ur

Saturday afternoon, Cameron competed in the Green Country Open track meet held at East Central High School in Tulsa. Cameron ran the 400 and 800 in the Sub-Bantam age group (8/under), and he ran the 1500 in the Bantam age group (10/under for the 1500). His time for the 400 meters was 1:27, which placed him 2nd out of 6 runners. His 800 meter time was 3:12, which placed him 2nd out of 4 runners, and his 1500 meter time was 6:37, which placed him 3rd out of 5 runners. He established a new PR in all 3 events, in spite of the strong south winds, so it was a very successful day. Cameron ran an 800 meter warmup before his events, so his total distance run was 2.2 miles. This brought his monthly total to 15.9 miles, and his yearly total to 253.3 miles.

Sunday morning, we ran the Tatur Estm8ur at Chandler Park in west Tulsa. This is an 8 mile run where you predict the time you are going to run beforehand, and the winner is the person who comes closest to their predicted time. Of course, timing devices are not allowed to be worn during the run, and we did not know the course until the morning of the run. Cameron predicted a time of 1:13:12, and he actually ran the 8 miles in 1:15:29, for a difference of 2:17. This placed him 15th out of 62 runners in the 8 mile event. There was also a 4 mile option this year, which had 67 runners in it. Cameron's total distance run was 8 miles, bringing his monthly total to 23.9 miles, and his yearly total to 261.3 miles.

This week

Monday evening, we made our way to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 1500 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron ran 750 meters in 3:14. After a 10 minute rest, he then ran 2 sets of 4x200 meters, with about a 30 second rest between each repeat, and a 5 minute rest between sets. His times for the first set were 48, 48, 47, and 48 seconds, and for the 2nd set, they were 46, 46, 44, and 44 seconds. A 1750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily and monthly mileage to 3.5 miles, and his yearly total to 240.9 miles.

It was back to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice on Tuesday evening as well. After a 1500 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 3 sets of 3x500 meters, with a 90 second rest between each repeat, and a 5 minute rest between sets. His times for the 1st set were 2:12, 2:09, and 2:08, for the 2nd set, they were 2:07, 2:06, and 2:05, and for the 3rd set, they were 2:04, 2:02, and 1:57. The 1:57 was a 500 meter PR for Cameron by 3 seconds. A 1250 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 4.5 miles. This brought his monthly total to 8 miles, and his yearly total to 245.4 miles.

Wednesday morning, we met PB coach Hudgens at the ORU Aerobics Center for a workout. Cameron ran a total of 5K, alternating between slow and fast each 1250 meters, in a fartlek type workout. His total time for the 5K was 26:14. After a short rest, he ran 3x40 yards in 7.0, 6.7, and 6.4 seconds. Cameron's total distance run was 3.2 miles, bringing his monthly total to 11.2 miles, and his yearly total to 248.6 miles.

Thursday morning, we headed out to the Jenks High School track to run a workout that PB coach Hudgens gave us. After a 1/2 mile warmup, Cameron ran 4x400 meters, with a 90 second rest between each repeat. His times were 1:36, 1:38, 1:38, and 1:37. After a 7 minute rest, Cameron then ran 4x200 meters, again with a 90 second rest between each repeat. His times were 44, 44, 45, and 43 seconds. A 1/2 mile cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 2.5 miles. This brings his monthly total to 13.7 miles, and his yearly total to 251.1 miles.

Tulsa Runner Summer Track Series/Kidney Klassic 5K/AAU District Qualifier

Thursday evening, we headed to the Tulsa University track for the Tulsa Runner Summer Track Series events for the week. Each Thursday evening from mid May through mid July, a mini track meet is held, with varying events each week. Cameron ran the 200, 800, and 3000, and also ran the first leg in a 4x100 meter relay. His times were 41 seconds for the 200 meters, 3:14 for the 800 meters, 13:56 for the 3000 meters, and about 19 seconds for his 100 meter leg of the relay. The 800 and 3000 meter times were both PR's for Cameron. Cameron ran an 800 meter warmup before the meet, so his total distance run was 3 miles. This brought his monthly total to 44.9 miles, and his yearly total to 232.3 miles.

Friday evening, Cameron, Brandon, and I all ran the Kidney Klassic 5K race in Tulsa. Temperatures were in the mid to upper 70s at race time, with relatively low dewpoints and light winds, so the conditions were pretty good for this time of year. The course was a flat out and back on Riverside Drive. Cameron's time was 24:29, which placed 1st out of 5 in the 8/under age group, 52nd out of 168 males, and 59th out of 300 overall. Brandon's time of 27:28 was good enough for 2nd out of 9 in the 9-12 age group, and was just 2 seconds off his 5K PR, which was pretty impressive for his first 5K race in over 17 months. We jogged a 1K warmup prior to the race, so Cameron's total distance run was 3.7 miles, bringing his monthly total to 48.6 miles, and his yearly total to 236 miles.

Saturday found us in Norman for an AAU District Qualifier track meet. Cameron ran the 400, 200, and 800 in the Primary age group (8/under). Cameron's time for the 400 meters was 1:29.12, which placed him 4th out of 7 runners. His 200 meter time was 39.24 seconds, which placed him 6th out of 11 runners, and his 800 meter time was 3:16.15, which placed him 1st out of 4 runners. The 39.24 seconds in the 200 was a new PR for Cameron, and was the first time he had broken 40 seconds. Cameron ran an 800 meter warmup before his events, so his total distance run was 1.4 miles. This brought his monthly total to 50 miles, and his yearly total to 237.4 miles.

USATF State Age Group Championships/Maple Ridge 5K and more

Cameron competed in the USATF State Age Group Championships in Jenks this past Saturday, running the 800, 400, and 1500 in the Bantam age group (10/under). Cameron's time for the 800 meters was 3:16.17, which placed him 10th out of 18 runners. His 400 meter time was 1:32.52, which placed him 19th out of 26 runners, and his 1500 meter time was 6:42.92, which placed him 7th out of 11 runners. The 6:42.92 in the 1500 was a new PR for Cameron, eclipsing the 6:49 he ran last year. Cameron ran a 1200 meter warmup before his events, so his total distance run was 2.4 miles. This brought his monthly total to 30.3 miles, and his yearly total to 217.7 miles.

Monday morning, we ran the Maple Ridge 5K race in Tulsa. It was a warm and humid morning, and the course for this race is a rather hilly double loop through the Maple Ridge neighborhood. Cameron finished with a chip time of 24:59, placing 1st out of 2 in the 8/under age group, 71st out of 188 males, and 88th out of 340 overall. We jogged a 1K warmup prior to the race, so Cameron's total distance run was 3.7 miles, bringing his monthly total to 34 miles, and his yearly total to 221.4 miles.

Tuesday evening, we made our way to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 1500 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 3x250 meters/500 meters, with a 90 second rest between each. His times for the 250's were 60, 54, and 59 seconds, and for the 500's, they were 2:07, 2:06, and 2:01. After a few minutes rest, he ran a 1000 meter cooldown, followed by 3 laps around the track where he walked the curves and sprinted the straightaways, which were about 50 meters each in length. Cameron's total distance run was 3.1 miles, bringing his monthly total to 37.1 miles, and his yearly total to 224.5 miles.

Wednesday evening, it was back to the ORU Aerobics Center for another PB practice. After a 1500 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron ran 3x500 meters/1000 meters, with a 2:30 rest between each. His times for the 500's were 2:08, 2:12, and 2:03, and for the 1000's, they were 4:36, 4:32, and 4:20. A 1750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 4.8 miles. This brings his monthly total to 41.9 miles, and his yearly total to 229.3 miles.

Catching up

It's been awhile since the last post, mainly because we were out of town for nearly a week due to the death of my wife's grandmother, so it is time to get caught up on Cameron's recent runs. Late Monday afternoon, May 11th, we were at the Jenks High School track for PB practice, since the ORU Aerobics Center was closed for the week due to ongoing renovations. After a 1 mile warmup and stretching, Cameron ran 2 sets of 300 meters/200 meters/300 meters, with a recovery walk to the next start line between each, and about a 5 minute rest between the sets. His times for the 300's were 1:09, 1:08, 1:03, and 1:09, and for the 200's, they were 45 and 46 seconds. A 600 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 2.4 miles. This brought his monthly total to 22.7 miles, and his yearly total to 210.1 miles.

After a week off for our emergency trip, we returned to the ORU Aerobics Center this past Monday evening for PB practice. After a 1500 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 4x200 meters/400 meters, with a 60-90 second rest between each. His times for the 200's were 47, 48, 44, and 48 seconds, and for the 400's, they were 1:40, 1:40, 1:41, and 1:31. After a few minutes rest, Cameron did 5 laps around the track where he walked the curves and sprinted the straightaways, which were about 50 meters each in length. A 750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 3.2 miles. This brought his monthly total to 25.9 miles, and his yearly total to 213.3 miles.

Tuesday evening, it was back to the ORU Aerobics Center for another PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron ran a 400 meter time trial in 1:30. After a few minutes rest, he ran for 10 minutes, with a target running pace of 1:15-1:20 per 250 meter lap. He easily beat this pace, as he averaged 1:10 per lap. Cameron's total distance run was 2 miles, bringing his monthly total to 27.9 miles, and his yearly total to 215.3 miles.

Ready...Set...Run! 5K plus a couple other runs

Cameron and I ran the Ready...Set...Run! 5K race held at Hunter Park in Tulsa Saturday morning. Before we get to that race though, we need to get caught up on a couple of runs prior to the race. Thursday evening, we made our way to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron ran a hill workout, sprinting up the hills, and then walking back down. He repeated this several times, for a total of about 1050 meters of running uphill. A 750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 1.6 miles. This brought his monthly total to 14.7 miles, and his yearly total to 202.1 miles.

Late Friday afternoon, it was back to the ORU Aerobics Center for another PB practice. After a 1000 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 2 set of 4x200 meters, with about a 60 second rest between each repeat, and an 8 minute rest between sets. His times for the 1st set were 47, 46, 45, and 47 seconds, and for the 2nd set they were 45, 45, 45, and 44 seconds. After a few minutes rest, Cameron did 3 laps around the track where he walked the curves and sprinted the straightaways, which were about 50 meters each in length. Cameron's total distance run was 1.8 miles, bringing his monthly total to 16.5 miles, and his yearly total to 203.9 miles.

As mentioned above, Cameron and I ran the Ready...Set...Run! 5K at Hunter Park Saturday morning. Skies were mainly overcast, with just a peek of the sun every now and then, and temperatures were in the low to mid 60s, with a northerly breeze at around 10 miles an hour. The course had a couple fairly significant hills, but was mostly flat otherwise. Cameron finished with a time of 24:29, just 3 seconds off his 5K PR, and over 5 1/2 minutes ahead of me. He finished 1st out of 2 in the 8/under age group, 28th out of 127 males, and 35th out of 291 overall. We jogged a 0.7 mile warmup prior to the race, so Cameron's total distance run was 3.8 miles, bringing his monthly total to 20.3 miles, and his yearly total to 207.7 miles.

Indy Mini

Saturday morning, Cameron and I ran in the largest half marathon in the United States, the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon, more commonly referred to as the Indy Mini. 35,000 runners were registered for the race, and as of this evening, 30,265 finishers are listed in the results. The weather was nearly perfect at the start, with overcast skies, light winds, and temperatures in the mid to upper 40s. The sun broke through the clouds a little past the 8-mile mark, which made it feel a bit warm, but overall we could not have asked for better conditions to run in.

As you can imagine with a race of this size, it took a long time to get everyone past the start line. We finally made it to the start a little more than 12 minutes after the gun, and the last person crossed the start line over 50 minutes after the official start of the race. Once we passed the start line though, we were able to get into our planned running pace nearly immediately. Cameron and I ran together for the first 10 miles, which included a lap on the track around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from about mile 6 to mile 8.5. At the 10-mile mark, I told Cameron to go ahead and run the last 5K at his own pace...he no longer had to stay back with dad. Our 5-mile split was 51:15, and we hit the 10-mile mark in 1:47:44. Once Cameron took off on his own, he was off to the races, and he ran the final 5K in 25:13, to finish with a chip time of 2:12:57, which was over 12 minutes ahead of me. Based on our finishing positions, we estimate that Cameron passed somewhere in the vicinity of 3000 runners over the final 5K of the race.

Cameron's finish time of 2:12:57 placed him 36th out of 113 in the 12/under age group, but only 5 runners in that age group ran a faster final 5K than he did. He was 8557th out of 14,380 males, and 13,333rd out of 30,265 overall. After the race, we were left wondering just how fast Cameron's time could have been had he run the entire race at his own pace, instead of just the last 5K. Basically, he ran the equivalent of a 10 mile warmup, followed by a 5K race. Cameron's total distance run was 13.1 miles, which is also his total for the month. This brings his yearly total to 200.5 miles.

Cameron also became a TV star after the race, as a local Indianapolis TV station that was covering the race interviewed him. This interview can be seen at:

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/500_festival/mini_marathon/2009_Mini_Marathon_20

Cameron appears at about the 3:15 mark of the segment, and then I appear with Cameron at about the 10:50 mark.

Cameron also gets a mention in the following clip at about the 4:30 mark:

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/500_festival/mini_marathon/2009_Mini_Marathon_22

The official race photographs of Cameron can be seen at:

http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=47187&PWD=&BIB=26074

Last couple runs before Indianapolis

Monday evening, we made our way to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 1500 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran a 600 meter time trial in 2:30. After a few minutes rest, he ran 4x200 meters, with about a 90 second rest between each repeat. His times were 40, 42, 43, and 41 seconds. A 750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 2.3 miles. This brought his monthly total to 48.4 miles, and his yearly total to 182.7 miles.

Tuesday evening found us at the ORU Aerobics Center once again for PB practice. After a 1500 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron did 3 sets of 10 minutes running/5 minutes stretching. His target running pace was 1:15 per 250 meter lap, and he equaled or beat this pace on all 3 sets, averaging 1:15 on the first set, 1:12 on the second set, and 1:11 on the final set. Cameron's total distance run was 4.7 miles, bringing his monthly total to 53.1 miles, and his yearly total to 187.4 miles.

Cameron and I leave for Indianapolis tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. Saturday morning, we will be a part of the largest half marathon in the United States, with 35,000 registered runners. As of now, the weather for the race looks nearly ideal, with temperatures in the upper 40s to lower 50s, relatively light winds, and mainly overcast skies.

Thursday & Friday

Thursday evening, it was back to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron ran 3x1000 meters, with a 2 minute rest between each repeat. His times were 4:30, 4:26, and 4:25. After a few minutes rest, Cameron did 3 laps around the track where he walked the curves and sprinted the straightaways, which were about 50 meters each in length. Cameron's total distance run was 2.5 miles, bringing his monthly total to 44.6 miles, and his yearly total to 178.9 miles.

Late Friday afternoon, we once again made our way to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran a 200 meter time trial in 41 seconds. After a few minutes rest, he ran another 200 meter time trial, again in 41 seconds. After another few minutes of rest, he ran a 400 meter time trial in 1:33. After a few more minutes of rest, Cameron ran 4x100 meters, and his time for each of the 100's was 20 seconds. A 500 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 1.5 miles. This brings his monthly total to 46.1 miles, and his yearly total to 180.4 miles.

Monday & Tuesday

After a quick weekend trip to Wisconsin for a wedding in the family, we returned to Tulsa late Sunday night. Then on Monday evening, we made our way to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran a ladder of 1250 meters/1000 meters/750 meters/500 meters/250 meters. The rest between each decreased along with the distance, starting at 5 minutes after the 1250, and decreasing a minute at a time down to 2 minutes before the 250. Cameron's times were 5:23 for the 1250, 4:18 for the 1000, 3:10 for the 750, 2:00 for the 500, and 59 seconds for the 250. A 500 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 3.1 miles. This brought his monthly total to 37.9 miles, and his yearly total to 172.2. miles.

PB did not have practice Tuesday, but Cameron wanted to go to JATC practice so he could see his friend Ethan. After a 1/2 mile warmup and stretching, Cameron ran 6x400 meters, with a 60 second rest between each repeat. His times were 1:48, 1:46, 1:42, 1:46, 1:44, and 1:45. After about a 10 minute rest, Cameron ran 4x400 meters, with a 60 second rest after the first two repeats, and a 3 minute rest prior to the final repeat. His times were 1:35, 1:37, 1:38, and 1:33. A 1.2 mile cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 4.2 miles. This brings his monthly total to 42.1 miles, and his yearly total to 176.4 miles.

Tuesday

Tuesday evening found us at the ORU Aerobics Center once again for PB practice. After a 1750 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron ran 3x500 meters/1000 meters, with a 2-3 minute rest between each. His times for the 500's were 2:18, 2:14, and 2:16, and for the 1000's, they were 4:42, 4:41, and 4:29. The 4:29 was a 1000 meter PR for Cameron by 1 second. A 1750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 5 miles. This brings his monthly total to 34.8 miles, and his yearly total to 169.1 miles. As a side note, Colby, one of Cameron's friends from his football team last fall, came to track practice with PB last night. Colby has been wanting to run track, but his parents weren't aware of any youth track clubs until we told them about JATC, and now PB. Colby also plays baseball at this time of the year, so he will only be running track on a limited basis.

Monday

Monday evening, we made our way to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 4x200 meters. His times were 44, 47, 46, and 45 seconds. He then ran 4x100 meters, and his times were 20,20,20, and 19 seconds. He finished up by running 250 meters in 50 seconds, which was easily the fastest 250 meter lap he had ever done on that track. Cameron's total distance run was 1.4 miles, bringing his monthly total to 29.8 miles, and his yearly total to 164.1 miles.

Get Fit Tulsa 5K

Saturday morning, Cameron and I competed in the Get Fit Tulsa 5K race. The course had a few rolling hills, and the weather was nearly ideal, with sunny skies, light winds, and temperatures climbing through the 40s. Cameron finished with a time of 25:42, placing 1st out of 22 in the 8/under age group, 34th out of 152 males, and 52nd out of 276 overall. With free entry, including a t-shirt, for all kids 14 and under, this race typically has the highest number of kids running the 5K of any race in Tulsa, and this year was no exception. I finished nearly 5 minutes behind Cameron in 30:38, and Cameron's brother Brandon ran the 1K fun run in 5:27. We jogged a 1K warmup prior to the race, so Cameron's total distance run was 3.7 miles, bringing his monthly total to 28.4 miles, and his yearly total to 162.7 miles.

Catch up time

It's time to catch up on Cameron's runs this week. On Monday evening, we made our way to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron ran a ladder of 800 meters/400 meters/200 meters, with a 5 minute rest after the 800, and a 2 minute rest after the 400. His times were 3:26 for the 800, 1:38 for the 400, and 43 seconds for the 200. After a few minutes rest, Cameron did 3 laps around the track where he walked the curves and sprinted the straightaways, which were about 50 meters each in length. A 1000 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 2.1 miles. This brought his monthly total to 19.6 miles, and his yearly total to 153.9 miles.

Thursday evening once again found us at the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran an 800 meter time trial. His time of 3:15 established a new PR by 2 seconds. After a 7 minute rest, Cameron ran 6x150 meters. His times were 35, 35, 35, 34, 35, and 33 seconds. A 750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 2 miles. This brought his monthly total to 21.6 miles, and his yearly total to 155.9 miles.

Late Friday afternoon, we were back at the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 1750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 1000 meters/500 meters/1000 meters, with a 2 minute rest between each. His times for the 1000's were 4:48 and 4:37, and for the 500, his time was 2:18. A 750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 3.1 miles. This brings his monthly total to 24.7 miles, and his yearly total to 159 miles.

Lake McMurtry 25K Trail Race

This past Saturday, Cameron and I competed in the 25K Lake McMurtry Trail Race. The Wednesday before the race, we were talking about it, and Cameron said he wanted to run the 25K, and not the 12K. Since he will be running a half marathon in early May, and he had already run as far as 15K before, I decided to go ahead and let him try it. I got off work at 6 am Saturday morning, and we headed out to the race site, arriving just before the 50K racers took off at 8 am.

The strong southeast winds made it a bit chilly waiting the 30 minutes for our 25K start, but 8:30 finally rolled around, and race director Ken Childress gave us some course instructions and sent us on our way. Cameron was a bit apprehensive about this Leap O' Doom that Ken talked about, and we did not have to wait long to come face to face with this challenge. About 1/2 mile into the race, the Leap O' Doom appeared, and Cameron wouldn't make the leap across. So I had to pick him up, and together we successfully made the leap. The next few miles went by fairly quickly, as Cameron was in a very chatty mood, apparently excited to be running his first 25K. About 5 miles in, I noticed that the temperature was climbing rapidly, which was not good news for me as I do not handle heat all that well. We made it through the first half of the race in good shape, limiting our walk breaks to mostly the uphills, and staying hydrated at all the aid stations. Cameron was also helping himself to all the snacks available at the aid stations.

The second half of the race started out OK, but eventually my legs became shot, so walking became the norm the last few miles, with just a little bit of running mixed in. Cameron said he was still feeling good, and he probably could have run off and finished well ahead of me, but we had decided to stay together so he wouldn't get lost. The first time by the aid station on the south trail, Cameron decided that a coke sounded good. About 1/2 mile past the aid station, he decided that coke wasn't such a good idea in the middle of a run, as it was making his stomach hurt. This didn't last long however, and we made it the last few miles without any complaints at all from Cameron. As for me, I was constantly complaining that my legs were going to fall off if I ran much more, and I was hot, so I was ready to be done. We finally made it back to the final 50 meter or so uphill stretch to the finish line. Cameron took off in a sprint at that point, and I ran it in as well, but at a much slower pace. Cameron crossed the finish line in 3:36:30, 7 seconds ahead of me, and in 39th place overall out of 49 finishers.

Cameron did an amazing job in his first 25K, never complaining at all, and putting up with dad having to walk a lot towards the end of the race. His total distance run was 15.5 miles, bringing his monthly total to 17.5 miles, and his yearly total to 151.8 miles.

Thursday

This evening, we were back at the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 1500 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 3x40 yards. His times were 7.4, 7.1, and 6.7 seconds. After a short rest, he ran 1000 meters in 4:37. After another short rest, Cameron did 2 sets of 3 laps around the track where he walked the curves and sprinted the straightaways, which were about 50 meters each in length. He had another short rest between the 2 sets. Cameron's total distance run was 2 miles, which is also his total for the month. This brings his yearly total to 136.3 miles.

Monday

Monday evening, we made our way to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 2 sets of 3x300 meters, with a 90 second rest between each repeat, and a 6 minute rest between sets. His times for the 1st set were 1:07, 1:08, and 1:09, and for the 2nd set, they were 1:04, 1:06, and 1:06. After a few minutes rest, Cameron did 3 laps around the track where he walked the curves and sprinted the straightaways, which were about 50 meters each in length. A 500 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 2.1 miles. This brings his monthly total to 41 miles, and his yearly total to 134.3 miles.

A little run in the snow

We had originally planned to run the Wish Lemons 5K race this morning, but expected weather conditions made us lean against it all week, and we made a final decision this morning not to go. However, once the snow started coming down fast and furious, Cameron decided he wanted to go to LaFortune Park to run in the snow with JATC at 10 am. Due to horrible road conditions at that time, everyone arrived late, and it was around 10:45 before we finally started running. A couple people went down to the trail and saw that a new lake had formed...we have named it Lake LaFortune...so they decided we should run in the neighborhoods across the street from the park. However, Cameron insisted that he still wanted to run at LaFortune, so he and I headed down to the trail and started our 5K loop. It was an interesting run to say the least, as the snow was coming down fast and furious the whole time we ran. Heavy snow on all the trees caused the branches to be hanging so low that I had to run off the trail to get through...Cameron was short enough to still be able to run beneath them. However, this also had its own hazards, as the above freezing temperatures were causing big chunks of snow to occasionally fall off the branches. At one point, Cameron exclaimed that a branch had fallen on him, and I had to tell him that it wasn't a branch...it was just a big chunk of snow that fell off the branch.

The trail conditions were as bad as I've ever seen at LaFortune, as you would go from several inches of snow straight into Lake LaFortune, and then straight back into deep snow again. This cycle repeated itself numerous times around the park. The result was frozen toes from having to cross the lake every minute or two. Running north was no treat either as a brisk north wind was blowing all the snow directly into us...it was much better running south in the middle of the loop. Considering the conditions, the run didn't go too terribly bad. We completed the 5K in 36:43, so Cameron's daily mileage was 3.1 miles. This brings his monthly total to 38.9 miles, and his yearly total to 132.2 miles.

Friday time trials

We headed to the ORU Aerobics Center late this afternoon for an unofficial PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran an 800 meter time trial, and a 1600 meter time trial. His time in the 800 was 3:30, and after about a 10 minute rest, he ran the 1600 in 7:05, which was just one second off his PR. A 750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 2.4 miles. His monthly total is now 35.8 miles, and his yearly total is 129.1 miles.

On a side note, Cameron's brother Brandon joined us today, as he was finally able to run for the first time in 5 months. He jogged a total of about 2 miles, and he said it felt good.

Thursday at LaFortune Park

There was no PB practice this evening, so we headed to LaFortune Park to run with JATC instead. Cameron ran two 5K loops around the park, with about a 5 minute break between the two laps. He ran his first 5K in 28:37, but the time for his second 5K is unknown, due to a watch malfunction...he may not have reset it before he started the second lap. I think it was a bit slower than the first lap, but I'm not positive on that. Cameron's total distance run was 6.2 miles, bringing his monthly total to 33.4 miles, and his yearly total to 126.7 miles.

Tuesday

We returned to the ORU Aerobics Center this evening for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron ran 4x200 meters/400 meters, with a 60-90 second rest between each. His time for each of the 200's was 47 seconds, and for the 400's, his times were 1:41, 1:39, 1:39, and 1:28. The 1:28 was a new 400 meter PR for Cameron by a full 3 seconds. A 2000 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 3.2 miles. His monthly total is now 27.2 miles, and his yearly total is 120.5 miles.

Return from Spring Break

Cameron spent Spring Break at his grandparents' house outside of Seymour, Wisconsin. While there, he ran approximately 5K up and down their long driveway on two different occasions...March 16th and 18th. His times were 28:42 and 28:34. The total of 6.2 miles brought his monthly total to 22.1 miles, and his yearly total to 115.4 miles.

This evening, we were back at the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 2 sets of 4x200 meters, with about a minute rest between each repeat, and a 5 minute rest between sets. His times for the 1st set were 43, 47, 46, and 43 seconds, and for the 2nd set, they were 42, 46, 44, and 41 seconds. After about a 10 minute rest, Cameron ran 2 more 200's, running them each in 42 seconds, with about a minute rest between them. A 250 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 1.9 miles. His monthly total is now 24 miles, and his yearly total is 117.3 miles.

Tuesday

This evening, we once again made our way to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron did 3 sets of 10 minutes running/5 minutes stretching. His target running pace was 1:15-1:20 per 250 meter lap on the first and last sets, and 1:12 on the middle set. He ended up averaging 1:19 on the first set, 1:15 on the second set, and 1:12 on the final set, so he hit his 1:12 one set later than planned. Cameron's total distance run was 4.3 miles, bringing his monthly total to 15.9 miles, and his yearly total to 109.2 miles.

Time to catch up

It's been a week since the last post, so it's time to catch up. First of all, Cameron got really sick last week...he had a fever as high as 104 last Wednesday evening. He recovered just in time to join Brandon and I for our annual trek to St. Louis for the Missouri Valley Conference basketball tournament to cheer on our Bradley Braves. The Braves defeated Southern Illinois in the quarterfinals, but lost to eventual champion Northern Iowa in the semifinals. They will still likely play in the postseason...either in the CBI like last season, when they lost to Tulsa in the championship round, or in the brand new CollegeInsider.com tournament.

Over the weekend, we stayed in the O'Fallon/Shiloh area just east of St. Louis in Illinois. Before heading to the games Saturday, Cameron ran 2.1 miles in the parking lot of the hotel, and his time was 19:32. This brought his monthly total to 5.2 miles, and his yearly total to 98.5 miles.

Sunday morning, Cameron ran a 5K race that started right across the street from the hotel. The name of the race was the "Top of the Morning 5K." The turnout was quite impressive...certainly many hundreds of runners, and perhaps as many as 1000. The weather was unseasonably warm and humid for early March, with a race time temperature of 67 degrees, and a dewpoint of 56. Skies were overcast, with a south breeze of 10 to 15 miles an hour. The official results are not yet online, but Cameron's time was somewhere in the vicinity of 25:54....not bad, especially considering he was just coming off a sickness, and there was a long uphill climb just before the turnaround. The only negative about the race was that the youngest age group was 15/under, so the three awards all went to young high school cross country runners, with no chance for Cameron to compete in that age group. An hour after the 5K, there was a 1/2 mile kids run, and Cameron ran this as well. The actual distance turned out to be closer to 600 meters, and Cameron finished in 5th or 6th place, with a time of 2:36. The top kid runners in this run also ran the 5K, and also finished ahead of Cameron in that. Everyone who finished the kids run received a medal and a stuffed animal, which was a nice touch. Prior to the race, Cameron jogged a 1/2 mile warmup, so his total distance run was 4 miles. This brought his monthly total to 9.2 miles, and his yearly total to 102.5 miles.

This evening, it was back to the ORU Aerobics Center and PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron again ran 4x200 meters/400 meters, with a 1-2 minute rest between each. His times for the 200's were 45, 48, 45, and 48 seconds, and for the 400's, they were 1:35, 1:38, 1:42, and 1:37. A 750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 2.4 miles. His monthly total is now 11.6 miles, and his yearly total is 104.9 miles.

Monday

This evening, we returned to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 3x40 yards. His times were 6.9, 6.9, and 6.7 seconds. After a short rest, he then ran 4x200 meters/400 meters, with a 1-2 minute rest between each. Cameron's times for the 200's were 46, 44, 48, and 47 seconds, and for the 400's, they were 1:38, 1:38, 1:38, and 1:31. The 1:31 matched his 400 meter PR. A 1750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 3.1 miles, which is also his monthly total. His yearly total is now 96.4 miles.

Saturday

This morning, we were back at the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron ran 6x500 meters, with a 90 second rest between each repeat. His times were 2:08, 2:08, 2:08, 2:09, 2:09, and 2:06...Cameron is the definition of consistency. After a few minutes rest, he ran 4x200 meters, with a 90 second rest between each repeat. His times for the 200's were 47, 45, 46, and 44 seconds. A 750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 3.3 miles. His monthly total is now 56.1 miles, and his yearly total is 93.3 miles.

Thursday long run

Cameron's older (by 15 months) brother Brandon, who is 8, had a balloon valvuloplasty done Tuesday at St. Francis Hospital to help relieve his aortic stenosis that he has had since birth. The surgery was a huge success, and Brandon was released from the hospital Wednesday morning. He must remain inactive for the next 30 days as he recovers, but then will have no restrictions, which means he can start running again. This is only a temporary fix to his condition though, and over time, the stenosis will worsen again. However, the cardiologist hopes he will be fine now for another 5-10 years before intervention will again be necessary.

So, after not running for a few days, today seemed like the perfect day for Cameron and I to do our 9 mile long run as we prepare for our early May half marathon. The temperature reached a record high of 81 this afternoon, but the cold front was through, and the wind had shifted to the northwest by the time we headed out around 5 pm. We ran on the River Parks west bank trail today, starting just northeast of the upper parking lot at Turkey Mountain, at the bottom of the relatively steep hills, and ran north for 4.5 miles into a fairly stiff headwind. We hit the turnaround a little over 600 meters north of the Pedestrian Bridge, and returned south aided by a nice tailwind. Cameron ran off and left me in the final few hundred meters, and finished the 9 miles in 1:39:45. Cameron's distance of 9 miles brings his monthly total to 52.8 miles, and his yearly total to 90 miles.

Had darkness not set in, I know Cameron would have completed a marathon, so we are just going to say that he ran a marathon in a world record time of 1:39:45. Cameron is an honest 7-year old kid, and I hope they count this as a world record because had daylight allowed, he would have finished the marathon. In case you are wondering why I am saying this, check out:

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2009/02/the-biggest-los.html

I especially like Dean's wife Carli's comments:

"Hi! I'm Carli Patterson wife to the biggest loser contestant Dane Patterson. I had herd about your post and wanted to give you an explanation of what happened. I am so proud of my husband and his accomplishments. This has been an amazing experience for our family and unfortunatly this marathon has been a little exaggerated. In this industry you are always on a time frame and sometimes it is out of your control. We had stopped along the way to film at a water station and to make up for lost time our producers drove us ONLY 3 miles up the road. I am sorry if this has offended you in any way, but we are still incredibly happy about the 23 miles we ran. We were not listed as completing the marathon. Dane is an honest LDS Dad and I hope that they do say he completed this marathon because had time allowed he would have!"

Any runner who saw the show this past Wednesday knew immediately that something was amiss with Dean supposedly running a marathon in 3:53. Hopefully, the show will air a correction and clarification at the start of next week's episode.

LaFortune Park

Since I had to work at 2 pm today, and PB practice was not until 5 pm, we headed out to LaFortune Park to run with JATC at 10 am this morning. It was cold and windy, but the sun was out, so it was not as bad as I was expecting. The higher sun angle seems to really help this time of year, even on these cold days, provided of course that the sun is out. Cameron ran two 5K loops around LaFortune, with about a 5 minute break between the two laps. He ran with his friend Hosea, who is also 7 years old, and also really fast for his age. Cameron ran his first 5K in 28:42, and his second 5K in 28:48, so he was very consistent. On the second lap, he left Hosea behind with about 3/4 mile to go, as Hosea said his side was hurting. They ran the first lap clockwise around the park, and the second lap counter-clockwise. I prefer clockwise myself, because then there is a nice downhill finish. Cameron's total distance run today was 6.2 miles, bringing his monthly total to 43.8 miles, and his yearly total to 81 miles.

Thursday

This evening, we made our way to the ORU Aerobics Center once again for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 2 sets of 4x200 meters, with 2 minutes rest between each repeat, and an 8 minute rest between sets. These were to be run at a very fast pace, so his target time was 43-45 seconds for each repeat. Cameron's times for the 1st set were 44, 45, 45, and 43 seconds, and for the 2nd set, they were 46, 44, 44, and 43 seconds. After some core work, he did 3 laps around the track where he walked the curves and sprinted the straightaways, which were about 50 meters each in length. Cameron's total distance run was 1.6 miles, bringing his monthly total to 37.6 miles, and his yearly total to 74.8 miles.

Tuesday

It was back to the ORU Aerobics Center this evening for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 3 sets of 300 meters/200 meters/100 meters, with about 2 minutes rest between each, and a 5 minute rest between each set. His times for the 300's were 1:09, 1:10, and 1:11, for the 200's 44 seconds, 46 seconds, and 44 seconds, and for the 100's 19 seconds, 20 seconds, and 20 seconds. A 1000 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 2.2 miles. His monthly total is now 36 miles, and his yearly total is 73.2 miles.

Sunday long run

We went to River Parks to do our 8 mile long run this evening, starting from the park at 96th and Riverside and heading north initially, before turning around at the halfway point. Again, we took some walk breaks, but overall our pace was slightly faster than it was last week. We both finished in 1:27:00, running the final 4 miles a bit faster than the first 4 miles. Cameron's distance of 8 miles brings his monthly total to 33.8 miles, and his yearly total to 71 miles.

Sweetheart Run 5K

We braved the 32 degree temperature and 10-15 mph north winds early this morning, and headed to Mohawk Park for the Sweetheart Run 5K. I had to take a couple hours off work this morning so we could do this, and since I had to go in right after the race, Cameron ran it on his own. This was only the 2nd road race he had run without me also running in the race. Cameron finished with a chip time of 26:02, which was excellent considering it was his first 5K race in 4 months, and that he had never run real well in road races when the weather was very cold. After the race was over, we even noticed a few very light snow grains falling. Cameron finished 1st out of 2 in the 8/under age group, 84th out of 250 males, and 114th out of 582 overall. He jogged a 1/2 mile warmup before the race, so his total distance run was 3.6 miles, bringing his monthly total to 25.8 miles, and his yearly total to 63 miles.

Thursday

We were back at the ORU Aerobics Center this evening for another PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron ran 3x1000 meters, with 2 minutes rest between each repeat. His times were 4:46, 4:48, and 4:48, which were right on his target pace of 1:12 per 250 meter lap. Cameron then did 3 laps around the track where he walked the curves and sprinted the straightaways, which were about 50 meters each in length. He then ran for 10 minutes with a target pace of 1:15-1:20 per 250 meter lap, and ended up averaging 1:23...he looked a bit tired during this time. Cameron's total distance run was 3.8 miles, bringing his monthly total to 22.2 miles, and his yearly total to 59.4 miles.

The Sweetheart Run is Saturday morning, but I am scheduled to work. The TATUR Poker Run is also the same morning. I may take off work a couple hours that morning so Cameron can run the Sweetheart Run, but it is going to be quite cold for the first time in about 10 days, so I'm not sure it's worth taking off work for. We'll decide either tomorrow or early Saturday morning whether to do this race or not.

Monday

We gathered at the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice this evening. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran a 400 meter time trial in 1:34, which was 3 seconds slower than his PR. He then ran 6x150 meters, with a walk back to the start line between each repeat for recovery. His time for the first five 150's was 30 seconds, and his time for the last one was 28 seconds. This tells me that the distance was almost certainly a bit shorter than 150 meters, since 32 seconds had been his fastest 150 ever before today. A 500 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 1.6 miles. His monthly total is now 18.4 miles, and his yearly total is 55.6 miles.

Sunday long run

We headed out this afternoon to do our 7 mile long run, and decided to run somewhere we had never run before, so we headed to Skiatook to start at the northern end of the Osage Prairie Trail. We had run part of the southern end of the trail before, but had never made it to the northern end. The first 3.5 miles were straight into a rather strong south wind, so we were happy to reach the turnaround point and run the final 3.5 miles with the wind at our back. The run was slow, as planned, and we even took some walk breaks since I needed them...this will likely become a long run habit for us at least until I can get my endurance up. Cameron took off and left me behind in the final 500 meters, and finished the 7 miles in 1:17:19. Cameron's distance of 7 miles brings his monthly total to 16.8 miles, and his yearly total to 54 miles.

Time trials...and a new PR

PB time trials were held this morning at the ORU Aerobics Center. Cameron ran the 800 and 1600, and chose to run the 800 first. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron was off in the 800 meter run., which he completed in 3:22. While this was 5 seconds off his PR, it was his 2nd fastest 800, which was good because he was running it all by himself. After a 20 minute rest, it was time for the 1600 meter run, which Cameron ran in 7:04. This just beat his previous PR of 7:05 by one second, but it was a great effort, again because he was running it all alone. After a prolonged rest, Cameron ran 200 meters in 45 seconds, and then did a 750 meter cooldown jog. Cameron's total distance run was 2.5 miles, bringing his monthly total to 9.8 miles, and his yearly total to 47 miles.

We plan to head out Sunday afternoon for about a 7 mile long run. Cameron and I are registered to run the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon (Indy Mini) in Indianapolis on May 2nd, so we need to start doing some longer runs once every week or two. The Indy Mini is the largest half marathon in the U.S., with entries capped at 35,000. The race has sold out 6 years in a row, and is already sold out this year. This will be my 3rd time running this race, and of course Cameron's 1st, since 15K is the furthest he has run at one time. The great part about this race is that there are lots of kids who run it, and you get to run a lap on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the middle of the race. The course is also very flat, which is another reason why it is a good choice for a first half marathon.

Tuesday

This evening, we were back at the ORU Aerobics Center for another PB practice. After a 1750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron did 3 sets of 10 minutes running/5 minutes stretching. His target running pace was 1:20 per 250 meter lap, and he beat this pace on all 3 sets, averaging 1:16 on the first two sets, and 1:15 on the final set. Cameron's total distance run was 4.8 miles, bringing his monthly total to 7.3 miles, and his yearly total to 44.5 miles.

Groundhog Day

Well the groundhog saw his shadow today, both in Pennsylvania and here in Tulsa as well, and supposedly that means we will have six more weeks of winter. However, the computer models all indicate that we will have several days of unseasonably warm weather starting Thursday and lasting into and likely through the weekend. I'm definitely looking forward to it, and hopefully can get in a day or two of running outside in the warm weather.

As for tonight, we were back at the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 1K warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran a workout that was designed to be done at 1-mile race pace. Since his mile PR is 7:05, his target times for the workout were based off about a 7-minute/mile pace. He ran an interval workout that consisted of a 250, a 500, a 250, and another 500, with about a minute rest between each one. His target times were 1:05 for the 250's and 2:10 for the 500's. His actual times were 1:06, 2:15, 1:06, and 2:18. However, due to track congestion, he was forced to do his workout in lane 4, so the actual distance run on each repeat was slightly longer than planned. After a 5-10 minute rest, he ran 6 more 250's with again about a minute rest between each repeat. His times for these were 1:05, 1:07, 1:06, 1:06, 1:05, and 1:02. Again, he had to run them in lane 4 due to other runners on the track. Cameron's total distance run was 2.5 miles, which is also his total for the month. This brings his yearly total to 39.7 miles.

Winter Classic 10K

Well the snow and ice was just about all melted by Friday afternoon up in the Mohawk Park area, so we went ahead and signed up for the Tulsa Running Club Winter Classic 10K race. The weather was chilly when we arrived, but had warmed to 43 degrees by race time with a light southerly wind and sunny skies, so we opted for just shorts and a t-shirt. As usual, a very high percentage of the folks we saw lined up at the start line were way overdressed, especially considering that some of them were running the 20K or 30K events.

This was Cameron's first race in 8 weeks, which is the longest he's gone between races in quite some time, and just before the start he appeared to come up with a sudden case of stage fright. He said that he "wanted to run with daddy" instead of running off and leaving me behind as he normally does. Now I am not in good enough shape at the moment to run a good 10K, so I didn't think this was such a good idea, but before I could talk him out of it, the gun sounded and we were off.

Suddenly my race strategy was not one I would highly recommend...it was to run much faster than I was capable of sustaining for a 10K for as long as I could before I had to drop back, and at that point I was hoping Cameron would decide to just go ahead and run off and leave me behind. We maintained about a 9-minute/mile pace until the 3K mark, which is when I absolutely could not sustain that pace anymore if I wanted to finish the 10K. So I told Cameron it was time to run off and leave me because I was not in shape to run a 10K at this pace. It didn't work however, so we spent the next 1/3 mile or so discussing why he did not want to run this race on his own as we slowed our pace considerably. I finally convinced him to go on, so shortly before the 4K marker, he took off and left me behind.

Cameron finished the 10K with a chip time of 56:24, which was good enough for 2nd out of 3 in his age group (12/under), 44th out of 90 males, and 54th out of 191 overall. As for me, the last 5K was a major struggle due to the fast start, and I limped home in 1:03:44, which was actually better than I thought I was capable of at this point in time. It got a little warm the last half of the race, making me very glad that we chose to run in the clothes we did.

After the race, Cameron finally told me that the reason he wanted to run with me was because he was afraid of getting lost. Of course, there was no chance of him getting lost on that course at Mohawk Park with around 335 runners among the three events running the same course. His time of 56:24 was only 8 seconds slower than his 10K race PR, and 39 seconds off his overall 10K PR. Needless to say, he'd have had a PR for sure if he had run on his own from the start. I do know that his second 5K today was somewhere between 60-90 seconds faster than his first 5K. He also described the race as "very easy." I wish I could say the same about my race.

We jogged a 1/2 mile warmup before the race, so Cameron's total distance run was 6.7 miles, bringing his monthly and yearly total to 37.2 miles.

Thursday

This evening found us at the ORU Aerobics Center for PB running practice. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 8x200 meters with about a 60 second rest between each. After about a 5 minute rest, he ran another 6x200 meters with the same 60 second rest between each. Cameron's times for each repeat ranged from 46 to 51 seconds. A 1500 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 3.1 miles. His monthly and yearly total is now 30.5 miles.

The Tulsa Running Club Winter Classic is Saturday morning. Cameron says he wants to run the 30K...needless to say that will not be happening. As of now, we plan on running the 10K if the course is cleared of snow and ice by that time. I'll drive the course tomorrow afternoon, and then decide based on that. This sleet is tough to melt even with temperatures of 50 today and likely close to 60 tomorrow. I'm hoping it melts off tomorrow, so we can run this race Saturday, as temperatures will be unseasonably warm that day...probably reaching or exceeding 70. If we are not able to run the race Saturday, PB is having a rare Saturday morning practice, so we will just go there instead.

Turkey Mountain

This morning we braved the cold 27 degree temperature and met a small group of TATUR's for an 8 am run on the technical single-track trails of Turkey Mountain. The weather actually was not bad at all once we got going, as the winds were relatively light. We had a couple of beginners to trail running with us at first, so we stayed on the somewhat easier trails for the first 2.8 miles, before heading with Vicky to the more technical rocky trails for another 3 miles. Cameron loves running "in the woods" as he calls it, and especially likes the rockier trails...as for me, I can do without the rocks. When all was said and done, we had covered 5.8 miles in a total elapsed time of 1:19:30. This was the longest distance run for either of us since November, and our longest run by time since the 15K Tulsa Run back in late October. Cameron's distance of 5.8 miles brings his monthly and yearly total to 27.4 miles.

Thursday...time to start my week of midnight shifts

Midnight shifts start tonight...they come around every five weeks. Seven nights in a row upcoming, and it looks like I may get to forecast another ice storm for early next week on my first actual forecast shift back from receiving my award for my long-range prediction of the last major ice storm to hit Tulsa...kinda ironic...could it be deja vu? Let's hope not for everyone's sake.

This evening, we were back at the ORU Aerobics Center for the final PB practice of the week. After a 750 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron ran a 400 meter time trial in a very slow for him 1:44. I'm beginning to think that his limited running since Christmas break has caused him to lose some of his speed and endurance. The same thing happened last winter, and it all quickly returned by spring, so I'm not too worried about it. After a few minutes rest, Cameron then ran 6x200 meters with about a minute rest between each repeat. His times ranged from 45 to 49 seconds, which were faster than the times he ran Tuesday, which was good. Cameron's total distance run was 1.5 miles, bringing his monthly and yearly total to 21.6 miles.

Tuesday

We were back at the ORU Aerobics Center for an early 4:30 pm PB practice today. After about a 600 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 3 sets of 4x200 meters with about a 60 second rest between each repeat, and a 3 minute rest between each set. His times ranged from 47 to 51 seconds, which is a bit slower than usual for him. He stated afterwards that his stomach was hurting, so that explains the slightly slower times. A 750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 2.3 miles. His monthly and yearly total is now 20.1 miles.

Zink Loop

My wife and I arrived back in Tulsa from Phoenix Saturday afternoon. Phoenix was wonderful, with afternoon temperatures in the 70s each day and little or no wind or clouds. We were very glad to miss the temperatures in the teens here in Tulsa on Thursday. My exercise for the week was a hike up Piestewa Peak right in the city of Phoenix...the climb to the summit is 1.2 miles long, with an elevation gain of 1208 feet.

With the beautiful afternoon weather here in Tulsa today. Cameron and I decided to go out for a 4.3 mile run around the Zink Loop on the Riverparks trails. Temperatures in the 50s and sunshine made for a pleasant run, but the northwest winds were a bit breezy. I have not run much at all for the past six weeks, and it really showed today. I had to take a few breaks along the way, and after my final break with about 3/4 mile left to run, I sent Cameron off to finish at his own pace and told him to wait for me at the finish. Well it turns out he decided to get a bit of bonus distance in as he turned back onto the pedestrian bridge and ran part of the way across it again before stopping. Cameron's running time for the 4.4 miles he ran was 42:52. It took me five seconds longer than that to run a tenth of a mile less. Cameron's distance of 4.4 miles brings his monthly and yearly total to 17.8 miles.

Time trials

PB time trials were held this evening at the ORU Aerobics Center. The events were the 800, 3200, 400, 40 yd, 1600, and 200. True to his word, Cameron ran every one of them except the 3200. After a 1000 meter warmup and some stretching, the festivities kicked off with the 800 meter run, which Cameron completed in 3:31. Next up for Cameron was the 400 meter dash, which he ran in 1:37. Then came the 40 yard sprint, which he ran in 7.6 seconds. The 1600 meter run was next, and Cameron finished in 7:20. The final event was the 200 meter dash, which he completed in 43 seconds. None of the times were PR's for Cameron, which was to be expected considering he wanted to do almost all of the events, but he had a good time which is what matters most. A 250 meter cooldown jog completed the evening of running. Cameron's total distance run was 2.7 miles, bringing his monthly and yearly total to 13.4 miles.

My wife and I are headed to Phoenix this coming week, where I will receive an award for my accurate long-range prediction of the Tulsa area ice storm back in December of 2007. The in-laws are coming to watch the kids during this time, so Cameron will likely have a week or slightly more off from running while we are gone.

Thursday

This evening we were back at the ORU Aerobics Center for another PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron ran 3x500 meters with 90 seconds rest between each. His times were 2:11, 2:15, and 2:15. After a 5 minute rest, he then ran 3x250 meters with 60 seconds rest between each. His times were 1:02, 1:03, and 1:05. The workout concluded with 3x40 yards...Cameron's times were 7.1 seconds, 7.0 seconds, and 7.0 seconds. Cameron's total distance run was 1.9 miles, bringing his monthly and yearly total to 10.7 miles. Next up for Cameron is time trials Saturday evening...he says he's running every event but the 3200...we'll see if he actually follows through with that.

First post

OK I'm going to try something new here in 2009 with this blogging. This blog will document the running of my 7-year old son Cameron. After spending the Holidays up north visiting grandparents in both Wisconsin and Illinois, we returned back home to Tulsa Sunday, and Cameron ran for the first time in 19 days Monday evening. Just for some background info for those who don't know us, Cameron has been running now since the fall of 2006, shortly after he turned 5. He began running with the Jenks America Track Club (JATC) back then, and has run with them ever since. However, in December 2008, I decided that I didn't like running outside in the cold all winter, so Cameron has been running mainly with the Personal Best (PB) Running Club since early December, as they run indoors at the ORU Aerobics Center during the winter.



Now back to Monday, PB did not have practice on this evening, but since Cameron had not run for 19 days, we decided we needed to get a run in. So we headed to the Jenks High School track for the weekly JATC 400 meter repeat workout. It was a very cold night, with temperatures hovering just above the freezing mark, but at least the winds were light. After a 1-mile warmup and stretches, Cameron ran 12 400 meter repeats with a 60 second rest between each. The workout was done at a slower pace than usual, with his first repeat being the slowest at 2:03, and the last repeat his fastest at 1:50. A 1/2 mile cooldown followed, bringing the day's total to 4.5 miles.



Tuesday evening, it was back to ORU with PB and the nice climate controlled indoor 250 meter track. After a 1000 meter warmup, Cameron did 3 sets of 10 minutes running/5 minutes core work. His target running pace was 1:18-1:20 per 250 meter lap, and he was about right on, averaging 1:20 on the 1st set, 1:18 on the second set, and 1:21 on the 3rd set. Cameron's total distance run was 4.3 miles, bringing his monthly and yearly total to 8.8 miles.