The unofficial kickoff to summer is marked by the Memorial Day weekend. A time to honor and remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. I’ve heard it said “Happy Memorial Day” and for many Americans I imagine this is a weekend that is full of BBQ’s, trips to the beach or camping trips. It’s an exciting weekend that marks the start of 100-days of Summer.
The reality is that Memorial Day is generally a somber day, however I can see the happiness in it. It makes me happy to have known such incredible men, who gave it their all, often to ensure their friends made it home alive. I’m also happy that Freedom Fighters and patriots stepped up to defeat the British, Defend and reunite the Union and take the fight to the Nazi’s, Communists and Oppressors around the world.
Memorial Day is a day to Honor and Remember that Freedom isn’t Free.
This week closed out the month of May where I completed 184.03 miles. This is my second highest-mileage month ever in my life. The record is 193.64 miles from back in October 2023 when I was training for the Richmond Marathon.
In these past 31 days I only took one zero day. The last time I took a day off of running was in February of this year.
I ran 30 of 31 days.
35 total runs tracked.
28hrs 14 minutes dedicated to running this month.
Average Pace: 9’12” | This metric continues to improve.
Weight: Lowest Weight recorded 203.8lbs.
Despite the continued improvements, the reality of running a BQ Marathon seems out of reach and intimidating. It still seems near-to-impossible. The 7’26” average pace needed to qualify is daunting.
Monday: 5.26.2025 (JD 146): Memorial Day Run & Remember
Like every year since 1971 when the Uniform Monday Holiday Act was signed into law, Memorial Day has landed on the last Monday of May. This presented the opportunity for a 2-a-day run with the Early Risers run always meeting up on Monday.
The run club had planned a Memorial Day run event at 7:30am so the Early Risers all agreed to meet up at 6am for some early miles. Our standard run is 5-miles at 5am, so when the idea was floated to run at 6am, Maureen kept us on theme with a “6-miles at 6am” proposal. Nobody pushed back on that great idea, so it was on for six miles!
The nine of linked up and stepped off for our 6-mile, impromptu route through town. Everyone planned on running the 6-miles and then following it up with three more miles at 7:30am and even a couple in the group going another four miles to even the morning out to 10-mile.
We kept the pace of this run just under the 9’min mark and that kept the majority of the group together for the duration of the run. Those who didn’t keep the pace already had a plan to go a little slower so when they fell back, all was well with the group dynamics. Clear communication between friends and the group will help alleviate confusion and allows each runner run without feeling like we’re leaving anyone behind.
It was great to run with the Early Risers on a holiday weekend. As I said previously, these Monday morning runs are starting to grow on me.
Run 1: 6.07 miles | Avg Pace: 8’57” | Avg HR: 125 | Best Mile: 8’38” | 64°F at 89%
Run 2: 3.06 miles | Avg Pace: 11’01” | Avg HR: 118 | Best Mile: 10’31” | 64°F at 91%
Tuesday: 5.27.2025 (JD 147): Being Remembered.
The incoming weather pattern is producing rainfall for the next four of five days along with some of the coolest weather we’ve experienced for May in the last two decades. This requires some proper planning. Either running at the proper time, location or with the proper gear.
I’m thankful for modern technology and the ability to view live weather RADAR data in the palm of my hand on demand. With that I was able to properly plan my run well in advance of the approaching storm front.
Conducting a proper recon of your running route can help you avoid catastrophe. Common tools that help: Weather app, Strava Heat Maps, Google Earth Street View. Identify bathrooms and support hubs in case you need water, etc.
It’s becoming a common practice now that I get in 4-miles on Tuesday and today would be no different. I would complete my common 4-mile loop from the YMCA and follow it up with a swim.
This run was incredibly difficult. Don’t be fooled by my low heart rate or mediocre pace. My internal engine was clogged up with the remnants of the cheeseburgers, hotdogs and baked beans I ate the day before. If you want race car performance you need race fuel, not the slow burning diesel gunk that I was attempting to run on. The run was difficult but I finished.
During the run, I ran past a memorial bench that had freshly placed flowers. It must be a wonderful thing to be remembered by friends in such a way. While I usually enjoy accepting the challenge of painting the picture with words, I thought a real picture would be the requisite media.
It was someone what a foreshadowing omen as I found myself at a funeral home later in the day for a friend. One of our runners unexpectedly lost her husband last week and tonight the family was receiving friends and family for the viewing. As sad as this event was, it was a beautiful thing to see how many lives he impacted. I stood in line for over 90 minutes to greet the family and heard so many stories about how great of a man he was and how he impacted their lives.
I pray for my friend and her family and hope they get relief from the grief in the coming weeks and months.
Run 1: 4.04 miles | Avg Pace: 9’08” | Avg HR: 118 | Best Mile: 8’38” | 58°F at 81%
Wednesday: 5.28.2025 (JD 148): Two-A-Day
Strong runners are strong and being strong is never wrong.
I view strength training as an injury prevention protocol with a side effect of being a stronger runner in those latter miles of The Marathon (Miles 20-26). I decided I was going to get back into the squat rack today and follow it up with more leg and core work. One of my friends who has ran multiple Ultra-Marathons was explaining to me that all of the strongest Ultra-runners he knows, all have an incredibly strong core.
To build strength, stability and stamina I stepped into the squat rack and got to work. Barbell back-squats do so much more for you than just building leg strength. It is a full core workout, requiring your abs and back to stabilize your frame as you move through the transverse plane.
Following the squat rack I moved on to box steps, ab work, leg extensions and farmers carries and lunges. After a 45 minute workout I moved to the stair mill for 15 minutes of relentless stepping that literally took me nowhere.
It was a tough workout and I knew my legs would be sore as the days went along.
My normal Wednesday 5K wasn’t going to suffice for mileage, so I put out an open invite for some early miles. It was great to see four other runners there waiting to get started and knock out an early 5K before linking up with the rest of the club and doing another 5K.
Double-down? No, this was a triple-down day.
The early miles were easy and smooth with conversation and a small adventure on some trails that don’t often get tread on them. I kept my heart rate low and enjoyed the early miles.
When the rest of the club arrived I stepped off with Robert and our pace slowly increased over the duration of the 5K. It’s great to be at a place where we can maintain a full conversation while keeping a sub 9’00” pace.
Wednesday was a full and productive day on the fitness front.
Tomorrow will be tough when I make a third attempt at running the Deep River 5-miler in under 40 minutes on tired legs.
Run 1: 3.11 miles | Avg Pace: 9’23” | Avg HR: 128 | Best Mile: 8’54” | 75°F at 86%
Run 2: 3.12 miles | Avg Pace: 8’48” | Avg HR: 135 | Best Mile: 8’19” | 74°F at 86%
Thursday: 5.29.2025 (JD 149): Going Sub 40.
It was my last opportunity this month. I had no choice but to give it my best effort despite the high humidity and wet roads. I had a goal of completing this 5-mile run in under 40 minutes. It took me nearly six years to do it the first time when I completed it in 39:54 back on March 27th. I then did it again on April 24th in 39:04.
The goal materialized earlier this month when the question penetrated my stream of thoughts on running. “How many months can I keep this up?”
If you do something twice, you do it all the time. -UNK
This was the last Thursday run of May and my last opportunity to accomplish this goal. I put it out to the group at the Wednesday run and was graced to have Jon and Felix choose to join me on this run.
The temperature slowly rose all day and the clouds above released enough rain to make me believe we’d never be in a drought again. At 4:30pm it was raining so hard my wife did her absolute best to convince me to stay home and disregard this goal, at least for today.
However, there was a window of opportunity! It was almost as if Nature was testing me, daring me to run hard in this tropical weather.
The rain stopped just 30 minutes before the start of the run, however the humidity remained and the roads were slick with rain. I wasn’t deterred! Before I left the house I got a text from Jon asking if we were still on for a Sub 40 -5miler and if so he was bringing his racing shoes. Now I really couldn’t back out of this!
At 6:30pm it was Jon, Felix and Myself stepping it out for a this Sub 40min-5miler! We were out the gates fast and kept up the cadence. While the goal is completing this run under 40-min, the subsequent and inherent understanding is that all miles will be 7’59” or faster. No miles should be over 8’00”.
Almost immediately the sweat began and wouldn’t stop until we were done running. The humidity was stifling and increased the difficulty of this effort. Despite that fact, the pace continued and the three of us kept going. Hill after hill, mile after mile we kept pushing. There was little to no conversation taking place, it was all running.
Mile 1: 7’37” | Mile 2: 7’54” | Mile 3: 7’51” | Mile 4: 7’45” | Mile 5: 7’48”
It was around the halfway point we started to lose Felix, but certainly not due to lack of effort! The weather conditions were not conducive to a fast run. Despite dropping him around the halfway point, he did end up finishing this run around 42min! No doubt he’ll hit the Sub 40 at his next attempt.
Jon and I continued on to the remainder of the run and in the last 1/3 of a mile we picked up the pace to near 7’00”. That is until I nearly lost my socks with just 400m to go! I was able to finish out this run and hobble into the restroom with mere milliseconds to spare!
There were TWO massive accomplishments on this run. FIRST I finished in 39:07 and SECOND, I finished with my socks on!
5.01 miles | Avg Pace: 7’48” | Avg HR: 154 |Best Mile: 7’35” | 73°F at 92%
Friday: 5.30.2025 (JD 150): Annual Torch Run for Special Olympics
The Special Olympics is an important thing and it’s something I support. Each year I purchase the LETR Torch Run shirt and participate in the annual Torch Run with the local Police Department. The run is never too challenging and is done to bring awareness, raise funds and establish some community spirit.
The weather this year was drizzling and looked like the clouds could burst open at any moment. This, along with an 8:30am start time on a Friday, caused crowds to be smaller than usual, but the spirit of the event soared.
I met up with a few other runners from the club and we enjoyed this short 1.77 mile run through town with a Police Escort.
This is one of the great things about running, the opportunity to run while raising funds for great organizations that assist people in our society. It’s a double-win.
1.77 miles | Avg Pace: 10’52” | Avg HR: 119 |Best Mile: 10’08” | 67°F at 98%
Saturday: 5.31.2025 (JD 151): 14-miles through the woods.
Umstead State Park is a gem of the Raleigh-Durham area, offering single track hiking trails and multi-use trails throughout a small but vibrant forest situated between Raleigh proper and RDU Airport. I’ve been hiking in this state park for the past 25 years and have been running the roads for the past 10years or so.
It’s a great break from running my hometown roads and trails. I floated the idea of getting in an Umstead run a few weeks ago but things just didn’t pan out. Good thing my friend Jonathon was persistent in following up with me and as I checked the weather app, Saturday morning expected to be phenomenal.
The 30 minute drive to the park was absolutely worth it. The group met up at 6:30am and we sorted out our distances and paces. This morning we had a few walkers, others mixing in walking/jogging and then the runners had distances from 6 miles to 14-miles.
As for myself, I was doing the entire 14-mile loop. It was great to have Jonathon, Ken and Carlos join me on this adventure.
I’ve ran this same route a handful of times and each time was difficult. With just over 1,000ft of elevation gain, there is no time to give your legs a rest. It’s a constant roller coaster of dropping down to a creek and then climbing back up out of the creek only to repeat it over and over again over 14 miles.
The first four miles featured six runners with Mandy and Sarah sticking with us until their turn around at the 4-mile mark. I’m not sure if it’s an unspoken understanding of competition or just in our nature, but those first four miles had negative splits, even going up the hills! This was evidenced by the paces that Mandy and Sarah hit once we all split ways. Their return four miles were even and balanced, unlike our outbound pace.
Once we all split paths, Carolos, Jonathon, Ken and myself continued on the roller coaster of hills. This wasn’t a “fast” training run, but rather a long-distance grinder with the goal of running most of it. We stopped when we needed water, nutrition or take a piss break. We waited for Carlos, who chose a little slower pace and overall had great conversations during the run.
The morning started with basically empty trails and ended with a steady stream of cyclists and runners passing us in all directions. One of the mountain bikers was Dan, who is training for the Leadville 100MTB and was on a multi-hour training session. It’s always great to run into friends on the trail by surprise.
There were multiple PR’s this morning. Starting with Jonathon. This was the furthest distance he’s ever ran, and he did it with ease. It was great to be on trail with him for this accomplishment. Secondly, I finished this route the fastest I’ve ever done, under a 10’00” average!
It felt good to get out on the trail and into the woods with friends.
14.18 miles | Avg Pace: 9’52” | Avg HR: 133 |Best Mile: 8’33” | 55°F at 91%
Sunday: 6.1.2025 (JD 152): Recovery Run
As you’re reading this I am just finishing up my Recovery Run in an attempt to get some blood flowing through the legs and work some of the soreness out. It will be a slow, 5K run with paces between 10’30” - 11’30”.
This reminds me of motto we used in the Army some quarter-century ago.
Training is everything and everything is training!
This “old school” quote rose from the ashes just when I was about to say that today’s recovery run isn’t a “training run”, but that’s not true. Everything I’m doing from now until my Boston Qualifying attempt at Mesa Arizona is part of the training model. Training is everything. It will lead to success at Mesa and everything I do throughout the day, every run, every meal is training. Everything is training and all of it is important.
**UPDATE**
It was great to get a few messages this morning from Adam asking what time I’d be running and if he could meet up. “Absolutely” was my reply, so at 11:30am I met up with Adam at Deep River and as we were discussing the 3-mile route Anthony walked up! Looks like it would be a all men’s run this morning.
Adam is getting back into running and is building up strength and stamina to start tackling half-marathons again. His goals today aligned perfectly with mine, to get in 3-miles around at a pace between 10’30” - 11’30”. In good form, and expected, Anthony was in for the pace and distance. You can always count on Anthony to be in for a good run.
So we took off and kept a good pace up the hills. This particular route showcases a few inclines that some would call a “hill”. We kept non-stop running and motion and never let off the gas! It felt great to get the blood flowing through the legs and work out any soreness that settled in from last night.
In the last 1/4 mile I told Adam I wanted to pick up the pace to a 10’00” flat and maintain. He agreed.
What he didn’t know was that he actually picked up the pace to a 9’05” and maintained it to the finish! Well surpassing his own expectations! It was great to see him push himself outside the comfort zone and into growth.
I did exactly as I said I would this afternoon. I got in a 3-mile run at the pace I wanted and followed it up with a cold beverage and conversations with friends.
3.00 miles | Avg Pace: 10’42” | Avg HR: 113 |Best Mile: 10’16” | 70°F at 53%