Okay people, when was the last time you ran? Times up! I don't even remember the last time I ran. So all we are doing is getting fatter right? Well, not if you are eating right, but who does that? Since you made a new year's resolution early, (in case you forgot, it is to run a marathon), come out this Saturday. If you have not been out to our group run yet, it is NOT TO LATE!! We would love to meet you and get you on target to reach your goal.

Some places on the trail/roads may still be a bit slick. It is best to SLOW DOWN a bit so you don't fall.
You can even put screws in your shoes when you run, see this RunnersWorld blog posted by run leader TATUR DAVE. <~~~Click here
I still have not done this but cannot speak for Ken who I am sure has customized a few pairs of running shoes.

This Saturday's route, starting at 745am at Veteran's Park, is as follows:
(we are scheduled to do 5 but if you feel so inclined, you may join the overachievers and run 8)

Five mile route: www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ok/tulsa/575125955918348819
Eight mile route: www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ok/tulsa/596125955897477106

Here are the turn by turn directions:

Five mile route: Take 18th St. to Cincinnati to 19th St. to Swan Lake. At east end of Swan Lake go south on Utica to 21st. Go left on Utica and right on Yorktown. Turn right on 29th St. and stay on it until you get to Woodward Blvd (it zigzags to the right at Peoria). Turn right on Woodward and right on Madison. Left on 21st and back to Veterans Park.

Eight mile route: Take 18th St. to Cincinnati to 19th St. to Swan Lake. At east end of Swan Lake go south on Utica to 21st. Go left on Utica and right on Yorktown. Turn left on 26th St. and stay on it until you get to Florence. Turn right on Florence, right on Evanston, and left on 26th Pl. Turn left on Yorktown. Turn right on 29th St. Follow Victor, which becomes Forest Blvd, which becomes Terwilleger. Go left on 27th and left on Rockford. Turn right on 29th St and follow it to Woodward Blvd (it zigzags to the right at Peoria). Turn right on Woodward and right on Madison. Left on 21st and back to Veterans Park.

Also, tonight is the Race into the New Year 5k. It is not to late to sign up. Here is the info and you can also sign up at the race! It is tonight, race starts at 11:45 at the RiverParks Ampitheater. I will be there. Ken should be too. It is a good time and instant new year's eve plans.

If you are into ultra crazy stuff, do the Polar Bear Plunge tomorrow.
Here is the info on that insanity: Starts at noon.
Ken and I will be hanging out there as well. He is jumping in. I on the other hand will not.

I hope you see you all soon!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Lisa

PS: Also, RunnersWorld is closing at 4pm and we will not have the regularly scheduled Thursday night group run tonight. Another reason to do the Race into the New Year. :)

Excused absenses

All Faster-than-Oprah teamies have an excused absence from Saturday's run....what with 6-7 inches of snow over 2 inches of sleet and ice. But big props to Tom W, and Arena who braved the treacherous roads, frigid temps, and slick running to get a few miles in this day after Christmas.

My camera was really hit and miss after I fell on a slick patch of ice on 19th Street. No worries about the fall....I use an old acquired tuck-and-roll technique and despite feeling a little silly, I was fine. But my camera is acting up a little. I had fuzzy pics after that. It's waterproof, but I am thinking the lens-cap was open and I know I got some snow in it. Since several of my pics were blurry, this pic of Tom is from last week, in front of his business on Boston. I'm pretty sure Tom got his full 8 miles in today. Nice job, Tom!

Arena and I (TZ) got 3.7 miles in the books, which was fine with me since I had sore calves from yesterday's workout. Which looks better: brown grass or snow?

The snow was definitely a challenge, but as you can see, Tom did not let a little old snow drift stop him from completing his run.

My little tumble might have slowed me down a little.

Merry Christmas, Team!

Hope you are all going well. This week I suspect many of you will be gone but those of you staying close to home, we are still meeting Saturday at 7:45 at Veteran's park and running 8 miles at 8am.

** Also tomorrow we are meeting at 4:00 pm at Runners World instead of 5:30 to run. **

Here is the route for Saturday morning:

Beginner Full: 8 miles. From Veteran's Park, go to Boston and north to 15th. Turn right on 15th. Turn right on Madison and left on 19th. Go around Swan Lake and return to Madison. Go south on Madison and turn right on Woodward Blvd. Turn left on Cincinnati and right on 25th. Turn left on the trail. Cross river on pedestrian bridge and go south to first water fountain. Continue south for about another half mile (if you reach the second water fountain, you have gone too far). Return to pedestrian bridge, cross river, and follow the River Parks Trail back to Veterans Park.

Have a very Merry Christmas! and Happy New Year!

Lisa

TZ adds: DRESS WARM!! Any kind of long pants would be preferable, although I am sure SOMEONE will be out there in shorts. On top, opt for a tech shirt of some kind and then a thick thermal type shirt over it. I have a polar fleece that I like on cold days. Then, some sort of a light windproof jacket. If you are pushing the pace, you will still sweat, even if it's 10 degrees. You can always shed that jacket and tie it around your waist....I bet you'll have it back on as soon as you turn into the wind. Gloves and a hat....well, duh! You knew that! And last, and very important, bring your favorite warn comfy sweatshirt to put on after the run, along with a nice big warm coat. Hot chocolate is optional. And then, let's all go to breakfast!!!

c cc cccold running!

Would have been far easier and seemingly a better idea to turn the alarm off and borrow back down under the covers this morning. But, the long runs have to be done to reach our marathon goals. We had a good turnout in our group, with 12 out of our 20 raring to run. Loop for the morning was a zip around Zink Lake, and then shuffling on down the Midland Valley Trail to 15th St and back to Go. This tallied up to roundabout 6 miles, and left one more mile to be done via some sort of out-and-back after we had stopped, chatted, chilled, and had rigor mortis set in. So, members of our resident Think Tank contrived a solution of epic proportions: we would continue south upon reaching the Pedestrian bridge for 1/2 mile, turn around at the soccer fields, continue back to the bridge and resume the prescribed route. Upon finishing the serpentine loop, we would have completed our 7 mile run.
A new face to out group: Spring joined us for her 1st Saturday run with us. She hung with the most of us but at mile 5, we got separated and I am thinking she returned down the east bank to Vet's park instead of taking the Midland Valley Trail. I felt awful for losing her, and ran back a ways, but realized I would have never caught her. Sorry, Spring. :( I am thinking you still got around 6.5 miles.

Complimenting the new face in our group, was an old face. My buddy, Ken Saveth, was assigned to our group and he aspires to be faster than....well Oprah I guess. Ken is always looking for some kind of challenge, and has an interesting blog you might want to check out. Ken Saveth's Blog




Another couple of potential group members, Julienne and Janeen have been checking in with us and I may file the appropriate adoption papers to make them part of our family. Janeen is the proud new owner of a Silver Spud award, given to her for being Rookie of the Year in TATUR. Janeen, a fairly new trail runner, lit the year up running 6 or 7 races of marathon distance or beyond this past year. Two of the trail 50Ks were the two toughest of that distance in this part of the US.

Missed getting David in my pix last week. Just caught his right side in this one. As soon as we started running, he was off like a rocket. Missed out on breakfast, dude!

Team FTO at the 1st water stop.

Finishing up....picked up Jason and Stephanie along the way.

Umm....we're faster than you!!

Weekly email reposted

Hey Everybody!

Hope you enjoyed your run in the cold last Saturday morning! How about getting together and doing it all again this week PLUS A MILE. We are scheduled for 7 miles and here is your route:


Beginner Full: 7 miles.

Go north (Right) on River Parks Trail and cross river at 11th, then go south (Left) on trail to pedestrian bridge.
Take pedestrian bridge (Left) and continue to follow the trail to 15th Street.
Turn left on 15th, another left on Boston, and return to Veterans’ Park.
After this, add another mile of running along the river.


All the routes including maps can be found at www.runnersworldtulsa.com just click on December Training Courses right under Run for the 168.

Please feel free to bring your friends to join in your pain and suffering on Saturday mornings. :) Then they will understand why you don't hang out late Friday nights anymore!

See ya bright and early! I look forward to meeting some of you for the first time.

Lisa

1st Saturday Long Run

Oklahoma weather is a funny thing. This past week, we have had temps in the teens, but with bright sunshine and no wind....and it did not feel all that bad. wouldn't wanna run around in a thong and fishnet midriff with flip flops, but still, it was bearable. But on this Saturday morning, the kick-off for the spring marathon training, the temps were in the mid 30s with a forecast of mid 40s, and our group acted like an arctic front had blown through. Maybe it was the fact that it was Saturday, and the sky was gray, the covers in bed were warm....BUT there was a little run to get done.Early arrivals in our group, from left to right: Jon, Team Leader Lisa, Mitch, Tom, Arena, and Tom.




Robert and Tom hold still long enough for another snap of the paparazzi.





Another group shot. Bob and Janeen jumped in, and we'd love to have them in our fold. We'll see if we can make that happen.

Did not get David Harris into the group pic, but he was in the thick of things. I'll get his mug posted next week.

We ran Tatur Dave's prescribed route, down the river trails to 31st St, then over to Sin City Ave, south to 34th St, then east to Peoria where the Jingle Bell 5k and Dog Run was about to kick off. There, I met Lanette, another group member who was running her dogs in the fun run.Lanette is on the right. Don't remember her daughter's name. My Bad. I do remember Duchess, the big dog, but not the smaller doggie. Guess I am batting .500 on remembering names.

Remember, there are runs on Tuesday and Thursday at 5:30 pm from RunnersWorld.... from 2-8 miles depending on how many mile ya wanna go. Also, a smaller group meets on Mondays at 5:30 pm at 21st and Riverside and we usually run around Zink Lake.SO GET OUT AND RUN!!!!

Welcome to the insanity!

Welcome to the 2010 RunnersWorld Training session for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.

Our names are Lisa Kedzuf-McGinnis and Ken "Trail Zombie" (TZ) Childress and we will be your Run Leaders.
You have been placed in the Beginner Marathon group. This means that from the sheet that you filled out you have communicated to us that your goal is to run a marathon. Congratulations on taking the first step toward that goal. Ken, me and the rest of the RunnersWorld gang are here to help get you the rest of the way.

Within the Beginner Marathon group we have subgroups. This makes it easier to get to know each other, chat, share advice, ask questions, pass messages along, keep track of each other, etc.

Our first organized group run is this Saturday morning (12/12/09 at 7am at Veteran's Park, 21st and Boulder, just east of 21st and Riverside). Look for the sign with our name on it so we can meet briefly before our run. This Saturday we are planning on running 6 miles. Try to be early because parking can be a bear. You can park just west, southeast, or north of the park but do not park in the bank just south of the park because they will tow you or so we have heard.

We look forward to meeting all of you Saturday and are very excited about our training schedule! Please feel free to email or call us with any questions:
Lisa: lisakedzuf@yahoo.com,
Ken: trail_zombie@yahoo.com


Lisa's running bio: In June of 2008, my husband and I started running with RunnersWorld Tulsa with the intent to train for the Route 66 marathon. Like many of you, we were running 2-3 days a week about 2-2.5 miles on a treadmill. I got my training schedule and it did seem a bit overwhelming.
I found a group of runners that ran about the same pace as me and we ran together as often as we could. The key was to run my long runs with my friends. I stuck pretty close to the training schedule. On the day of the Route 66 marathon I was very nervous. I never set a time goal. I only hoped to finish and ended up doing better then I thought I could. After that I was addicted. Within the same month, my husband and I ran an ultramarathon (50k = 31 miles) and another marathon, White Rock in Dallas. To date I have run 7 marathons and 4 ultramarathons including a 50 miler in October 2009. I just started training in July 2008 so YOU CAN DO IT TOO!! I give alot of credit to Coach Kathy, Ken, and others at RunnersWorld for all the encouragement and advice they gave me. They made a runner out of me!

Ken's running bio: In 2002, I spent a vacation on the beaches of Cancun, and decided I might have been the fattest guy on the beach. After getting home, I joined Weight Watchers, and started walking for exercise.
Soon, the walking turned into a little jogging, and then to running 3 miles at a time non-stop. After running a couple of 5Ks, I was hooked. The next year, I ran the OKC Marathon, and another 26.2 in the fall. The next year, I joined the RunnersWorld group, and running became more fun than ever for me. I have met the best friends I have ever had in this group! This lead to more marathons, trail races, and ultras. To date, I have ran 66 races of marathon distance or beyond, including finishing 6 - 100 milers. I turned 50 last year, and am getting a little slower, but still like to kick it up a notch every now and then. I hope to someday be one of those old 90 year olds who still finishes marathons. And I hope to still be faster than Oprah!