D.D.M.C. #2 - Fat Ass Style

Originally, the second leg of the D.D.M.C. called for rambling down to Ohio and running The Last Chance for Boston Marathon. However, as I went to register and noticed that I missed the early deadline and would have to pay over $80 to run a one mile circuit 26 times, I had second thoughts. Umm...nope

Dejected, I began to mull and mope through a couple of runs until I came up with an idea. Why not do a marathon "fat ass" style and maybe a couple of crazy souls might want to join.

So here are the details:

Date: February 16, 2008

Distance: 26.2 miles or any portion there of if some is interested (distance to be calculated by the Garmin 305)


Time: 8 am (depending on weather, conditions...maybe around 4 hours for the distance)


Place: Kensington Metropark



No Fee (unless you don't have a metropark pass and have to pay the daily entry fee..$4)

No Aid ( I might have some extra GU and Gatorade, but don't plan on it)

No Awards ( If I have time, I might be able to cobble something together)

So if you are interested in getting out for a fat ass marathon or a just a good winter long run feel free to post your interest or email me @ dirtdawg50k@aol.com

Say hello to my little friends....

After yesterday's slow, slippery and sloppy run, and with another bit of accumulation, I thought it was time to fight back. Into my man cave of running knickknacks I went and after some searching came out with my Yak Trax.

According to the website the Trax, is made out of an injection moulded thermal plastic elastomer designed for easy on and off. The coils are protected against rusting and hand-wound to give you 360 degrees of traction on ice and snow. When you run in the Yaktrax Walker every step you take places hundreds of biting edges in direct contact with the ice beneath your feet.


Yada, Yada, Yada. All I know is that for the 90% of the run that was on snow covered streets, I had some grip and more importantly some confidence knowing I wasn't going down. Result, a much faster 10 miler than yesterday.

Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener

It is never to early to expose the little ones to history, so with the family in town to help celebrate my nieces birthday and Dirrty Feather's, we all met @ The Henry Ford for an afternoon of history.

Little Dirt Dawg upon entering the museum, said "WOW!" and was enthralled by the various farm implements and asked for a detailed explanation of their job and what type of tractor could pull them. Another topic of wonderment, was as to how were they able to get an entire train and caboose into the building.

The experience was made even better by the fact it cost us nada, nil, thanks to Grandpa Farm and Grandma Farm. Thanks!!

Dirrty Feather turns 1!

No, those are not feathers, it is apparently called a poof.

Road ID

After reading a fellow runner' s blog and given her recent Phedip fame, I thought that maybe I should take her advice and order myself one of those Road ID tags.

Given my propensity to run early in the morning and run a lot, I thought it might be a really good idea to invest in a little extra safety, since I rarely actually take any id with me. Stupid, yes. Upon arrival yesterday, Dirrty Girl commented, "I was going to buy you one, but I didn't think you would wear it and what does this "Be first a good animal" mean?

What to wear when....

There is a winter advisory:

Air Temp: 19

Wind Chill: 4

Distance: 10 miles

Time: 1 hr 29 min 42 sec

Why let single digits stop me from running. Just add some extra layers and head out the door!(toe warmers really work!! why i have never used them before is beyond me)

W.R.C.S

Running in below freezing temperatures is one thing. Riding your bike is quite another. Put on by one Hermitman , the Winter Riding Challenge Series is a thrice weekly social outing for cyclists in the Metro Detroit Area. Similar to the Fun Run Series in its nature, Hermitman doles out points based on what bike you are riding (more points for a single speed), social points, and the temperature. So far this year, I have participated in 2 of the 8 rides, my goal being 1 a week for a hopeful total of 10, and learned the importance of toe warmers. I may need to use these on some future long runs!


(Goofy looking guy squatting down in red jacket = me!)

T vs. D

There are just some days when as a runner you head out the door and have a purpose in mind be it a marathon, tempo, fartlek, or hills for your run. Today was not any of those for me.

With the first of the D.D.M.C. Challenge completed last weekend, I really didn't have a clue what to run. Do I run an easy 10 miler or do I just run for time? The decision was pretty simple after I thought about it. Head out the door and ramble along for a hour at an easy pace (very slow!), turn around, and then head for home.

Running for time as opposed to distance reminded me of my time as a newbie when I initally measured my progress in time covered not miles. Back to the days when I could run for x amount of time and not have to walk, feel like my lungs weren't going to explode, have that 100% cotton t-shirt feel like i gained 5 lbs, or excitedly call my dad at work to tell him i ran for 2 minutes than the day before.

In the end today, I covered just over 11 miles in 2 hrs, but it was the time I was after not the distance.

D.D.M.C. #1

Starting Time: 5:40 am

Temperature: 36

Distance: 26.20

Time: 4 hr 16 min 46 sec

Avg. per mile: 9:48

Slowest mile: 10:49 (M7)

Fastest mile: 8:44 ( M24)

Couldn't ask for better weather to get the first marathon of the year done. Felt really good the entire run. Roads wet and sloppy for the most part.

D.D.M.C.

Dirt Dawg Marathon Challenge

Pretty simple and straight forward. One marathon per month for 2008 either run alone or at an actual race. So far I am looking at the following races:

Last Chance Marathon - 2/17/08

Martian Marathon - 4/06/08

Glass City Marathon - 4/13/08

Flying Pig Marathon - 5/4/08

Cleveland Marathon - 5/18/08

Bayshore Marathon - 5/24/08

Run Charlevoix - 6/28/08

Carrollton - 7/29/08

Fallsburg - 8/16/08

Air Force - 9/15/08

North Country - 9/15/08

Towpath- 10/07/08

Columbus - 10/19/08

Grand Rapids -10/19/08

Check out www.marathonguide.com for a full listing of marathons and if anyone has a race to suggest feel free.

T.C.O.R.

New year, new resolutions and in little dirt dawg's words, "me have idea".

There is no need to rehash the obvious physical and emotional benefits of running, but rather with the beginning of the new year I thought it might be fun to figure out what the cost of running is in terms of money. This idea started to formulate in my mind the last couple of days and I had to take it out on the road to see if it had a good sticky factor. Was it something tangible and worth pursuing? I thought so.

So my plan is simple. I will start keeping track of all running related expenses(GU, shoes, gear, race fees, etc) and then divide it by the miles I have run to figure out The Cost Of Running.

Better get running.

View from the 5th

Not from the Big Apple or some luxury hotel, but from Beaumont Hospital where Dirrty Feather helped to ring in 2008 with a little case of pneumonia. Never fun when your little one is sick and you can't do anything.

Luckily, she is doing better and @ home now!