Fight for Air Climb - North Chuck Coliseum

Well, I showed up to climb (and descend my 265 feet or so) with a hundred or so others.  Started with the quick guys at the front (30s intervals) because I wanted to get back to Charleston for Edwin Gardner's memorial ride at 9am.  I have no idea what time I achieved as my HRM packed up after 3 minutes and stopped timing.  I went out pretty hard - Neville Miller was 1 minute in front of me - and I was in oxygen debt by about the fourth set (4/22) of stairs (quite literally fighting for air ;)  I managed to recover enough to catch the tall guy who started 30s in front of me, but I didn't see Neville for dust.  The two times I recorded in training were 6m 47s and 6m 14s - will have to wait for results to be posted to see if I bettered that.  Thanks for all the support and kind donations to American Lung Association.

Good to see Gordon and Mike Seekings at Edwin's ride from Cannon Park - 465 cyclists showed up for the ride!

Too Hot

All seemed in agreement that our final few miles on Sunday were sweltering. It's embarrassing to say, but I had to admit to Swaz that I honestly didn't remember that he joined us a few miles in. Such was the state of my baking brain. Running in the summer is a real ....uhm.....adventure? (where's a neurologist when you need one. Wait, one was running with us).

I'm up for another round this Sunday. Let's just plan on keeping it easy and hydrated.

Question: in the midst of this heat, how are folks summer training plans working out?

Nearest thing to a hill race in Chucktown...

On July 31st I plan to be bounding up and down some 1056 steps in the North Charleston coliseum as a way to get a hilly “fix” in between visits upstate to the trails...

Part of the deal is to raise funds for the American Lung Association to help fight lung disease. Your kind $10 donation will make an impact, funding life saving research, education and advocacy efforts. It's easy to support this cause by making your tax-deductible donation online using this link:
Swaz stairclimb page

If you would prefer, you can hand me a cheque (or a tenner) next Sunday morning
(Please make any cheques payable to: American Lung Association)

Whatever you can give will help - it all adds up! I greatly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on my progress. First training session is on Wednesday evening :)

Stair-bound-Swaz

Keep the head up and look forward!

Well after last week I'm a little tired. July 3rd I ran the Born in the USA 4 miler in Columbia and followed it up on Thursday with the Bear at Grandfather Mountain. I must say it is nice to get off the flats of the lowcounty and test other running venues. Speaking of which there is a trail run at Beech Mountain this weekend - http://www.dirtyspokes.com/. May have to do that one next year. I playing with the idea of doing the 13.1 series race in Atlanta in early October - http://www.131marathon.com/13_1_Atlanta.htm as well. See everyone on Sunday!

The Bear / Pikes Peak / Laurel Valley

Well done to Gordon, finishing 128/700+ at the Bear, 1541 feet in 5 miles (and more hairy tartan covered Scots than "Braveheart" and "Brigadoon" put together) on what was probably the warmest conditions they've seen at that race yet. Gordon was first Chucktown runner home in 48mins 53s

There is still no movement on the Pikes Peak marathon waitlist - I think I'm going to run at Laurel Valley, upstate on 14th August instead (although it sounds kind of ominous - try googling Laurel Valley race and read any of the reports !)

If you're thinking of an Ultra this season try one of these as a start: www.ultrasontrails.com or alex runs if you'd rather stick to the hard-top.

Billy-no-mates run...

Is everybody racing - or just tired of the heat ? I was a little late this morning, but cut across the peninsula to try and catch you on Concord / Waterfront park - either you all had extra wheaties for breakfast and were long gone or nobody showed up this morning....

Please provide excuses / explanantions / white lies below (please write legibly):

Cooler Weather

I felt downright chilly today. Hope this cooler weather holds out for a while. I'll be there bright and early tomorrow. Looking forward to the nicer conditions. See everyone at 6:30.