The King Visits Sacramento

Alan King will be taking a big shot at dream this weekend.  He left today for Sacramento, CA in preparation for the 2010 California International Marathon (CIM) on Sunday. 

It was at this same race in 2007 where Alan finished in the top 10 (9th overall) and set his PR of 2:29:25 (2:29:21 chip time).  But, this time around, he's looking to take a "run" at the next level.

Alan Running With The Big Boys @ USATF XC Nationals - 2010

His goal - 2:19:00 or faster and make the qualifying time for the 2012 USATF Men's Marathon Olympic Trials.  It's a big jump from his current PR ----- but, over the last 3 years, Alan has become a truly different runner.  And, in 2010 he's become a dominant runner on the Montana scene.

With the exception of the Bozeman Classic race in early August (where he still got 3rd place in a time in the mid-33's), he's competed at an extremely high level all year.

Alan @ Ice Breaker

Here's to Alan in his quest for stringing together the set of 5:18's that he'll need in order to make a trip to Houston in January 2012.  Hopefully he has some company out along the course.  CIM has offered some cash incentives to those making the qualifying time; and, CIM is known as a good, fast course.  So, the expectation is that there should be a train of guys in that 2:17 to 2:22 range that he should be able to latch onto.

Weather forecasts looks mostly good - low 40's at start to maybe low 50's at finish.  A light tailwind to quatering wind possible.  The only hiccup could be rain.  There is a 50% chance of rain, with some heavy rain forecast for Sunday night.  Let's hope it holds off until sometime after noon on Sunday (with race start at 7:00 a.m., Al should be done by 9:19 :D ).

I believe that he is number 124; and, CIM indicates that they will have race day athlete tracking ( see website at http://www.runcim.org/ ); so, get online and check out Alan's progress.

Good luck Al - Run Hard.  Run Fast. 

Do The Big Sky Proud.

The Muddy Buzzard

The Streak Ends

Now - I'm not a true honest to goodnedss streaker.  Yeah, I would rather run every day then not.  But, missing a day or two here and there thru the year generally isn't the end of the world.  But, early this summer it dawned on me that it seemed like I hadn't missed a day in a while.  And, it turns out that I was right.

As of Tuesday, I was at 705 consecutive days.  And.......................that's where it ends.  705 days and some 4,500 to 4,700 miles later.

So,, what was it thta end the streak - Well, I got to spend an exciting day yesterday at the Montana Heart Institute undergoing a heart angiogram.

Good news was that the pipes look clear.

"Bad" news, angio did confirm an ejection fraction of only 30% to 35%.

So, they'll keep me on a medical regimen for now.  In 3 months we'll do a new echo cardiogram and see if the meds have helped to improve heart function. 

If so, we'll keep at it.  If not, we'll figure out the next step then.

Will be able to keep running (as soon as I fully recover from the angio procedure - which should be maybe by the end of the weekend); but, do need to keep the quality and quantity in check.

At any rate - in spite of it all - life is good.  Day to day lifestyle hasn't changed  and I don't have any limits there.  If I have to back off running a bit for my long term health - that's not the end of the world. 

Enjoy the upcoming holiday season everyone; and,

I'll see you on the roads, tracks and trails.

The Muddy Buzzard