Here are some gift suggestions:
Gift Card to Rogue Equipment for any amount you choose.
Socking Stuffers:

• running hat, this is made of material that is not itchy or scratchy when you are sweating
• gloves to keep their hands warm
• Head band that covers your ears it has a pony tail holder (Saucony makes a great one)
• Body Glide to keep you from chaffing
• Hand held water bottle – Nathan’s for keeping you hydrated  on a long run
• Reflective gear – vest, reflective dots, bracelets are some options
  

  Spi Belt

• Spi Belt – to store all their nutritional products
• A case of their favorite Gel or Gu, shot blocks
• Recovery Drink or electolyte drink
• Rogue Armwarmers
• Rocket Shower for the runner who needs to get to work or go out after a run
• Trigger Point kit – for injury prevention
• Socks
• Yoga Mat

Larger Gifts:

• Zoot Long Sleeve Shirt for women which comes in many colors
• Knicker’s you can wear in a variety of weather conditions
• Garmin 405 or Suunto
• A running watch: Timex or Nike or Suunto
• Loose tights for post race runs
• Running jacket that is made of fleece for post runs
• Gift certificate for their favorite shoes
• Running vest

Zoot Long Sleeved Top

Schedule your runs and make sure others know you schedule.
Your calendar gets more packed during the holiday season, but you should try to make running a priority. Take a look at your week and write down when you think you’ll be able to squeeze in runs, just like you would other appointments.   If you have runs scheduled, you’re more likely to get them done.

Don’t let cold weather be an excuse.
Running can be enjoyable in the colder weather, as long as you’re prepared with the proper winter running clothes.  If you don’t have the proper clothing that can be gift requests and help you to keep from missing your runs.

Be prepared with an alternative workout you can do inside and at home:
Crunches, push-ups, and many other exercises can be done without any gym equipment.   Running up and down the stairs is a great cardio workout.

Be flexible with your training schedule:
Your days get busier during the holiday season, so you may need to make changes to your regular running routine. If you normally run after work, but you have a holiday party to attend in the evening, wake up an hour early and go for a run before work.

Some running is a lot better than no running:
Prepare to be flexible about the time and distance of your runs, too.   Remember that a 20-minute run is better than skipping your run altogether, so don’t miss your run just because you won’t have time to run what you had originally planned.   Even doing a very short run will help you maintain your running habit through the holidays.
Don’t quit because you miss one run:
Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t have time or energy for a run.   Just because you missed a run, don’t use it as an excuse to throw in the towel and forget about your workout plans during the holiday season.   Get right back with your program, forget about your missed run, and move on.  You can not make up your training.  So don’t over do it because you miss a run stay on schedule as much as possible.

Work on other parts of training:
You could use this time to spend more time stretching or using your trigger point equipment.   If it’s snowing outside where you are try snow shoeing or sledding but run back up the hills.  Sometime you need to be extra creative.

Rogue recently learned of Jim Warkentin success at CIM and wanted to congratulation him on his sub 3 hour performance at the race.  He was part of the group of Rogues and a couple non Rogue’s who were able to break the 3 hour barrier.    Jim was coached by Karen  “killer”  Smith.    We can not wait to see how well he does in Boston.

More great results from Jim Warkentin who broke 3 hours for the first time at 2:59 as well with a 9 minute PR.  Heidi O. qualified for Boston with a 3:39:58, about a 20 minute PR.  Andi who was sick going into the race ran a 27 minute PR by running 3:44.  Andy “Pacifico” as was under the weather race morning and ran an 11 minute PR with 3:21:57.   Andrea McCabe who came in unsure if she would be able to run PR’d by 12 minutes and ran a 4:27 marathon.

More awesome results from the Northies,Trevor Turner- BQ 3:20:12, a big PR for Dr. T!, Robert Williams second marathon effort and he PR’d  by around 15 minutes  with a 3:25:52.  Defying the odds rehabbing after injury, James Rogers turned in a 3:24:01, and his training buddy Mae Coffman ran a “make killer proud” 3:18:41.  Brian Plunkett ran a big PR and annihilated his BQ goal time of 3:45 by coming in at 3:42:56.

Honorable mentions : Mike Mendicino who will be racing Houston for his BQ following a difficult comeback from a stress fracture, was given the task of making this marathon into a Soulbuster workout with a combination of easy long run, 10 miles at MGP and then finish as he felt he could.  Mike did the first 20 work and then played ultimate Team player aka run angel and helped some of the other Northies finish up the last few miles, encouraging, counting steps, humoring and being the water boy.  Mike not only got in a good confidence builder doing 10 miles at MGP, and running more than his 26 miles but he also was really helpful out on the course and he still manged to finish in 3:42:48.  Also a back from the stress fracture IR list, Coach Killer herself managed to run a 15 second PR on her long training run, turning in a 3:31:58, as she looks towards her race in Houston on Jan 18 as well.

Last but not least there was a lot of Team Rogue support out there in the form of coaches, spouses, significant others and best buddies. Steve and Ruth were amazing and were joined in the Team Rogue support crew by  Lori Plicque, and Leslie Bowen, non-racing Team members,  Steve Vasquez, Irene Williams, Thain Coffman, Mandy Olivares,  her 5 year old daughter Victoria, husband Jimmy Olivares, Trey (Nedra’s husband), John (of the famous Julia), Denis husband of Christine formed another caravan of cheerers.

This was a great day for the Team and an amazing showing for our first official Team trip.  We look forward to the spring marathon.  If anyone is interested in learning more about the Team contact me.   More results to come with Photos….

More details about Sunday nights celebration to come….

  Friday most of the Team flew into town so the day was spent travelling, getting luggage, dropping into Sacramento through the crazy fog and packet pick at the expo.  The team coaches; Steve Sisson, Karen Smith & Ruth England, drove the course to take notes and figure out the final race plan for the team.   Friday night most of the team went out on the town for dinner, and runner talk.  There are tons of great restaurants close to the hotel. The downtown area of Sacramento seems super nice.  It’s clean, safe, and have lots of things to do and places to eat. 

Friday Lunch at PF Chang's

Saturday the team met at 9am for a team run of the last 2.5 miles of the course, so we could all both visualize and practice our celebrations!  

After the run we went back to team head quarter’s room 600 for a team meeting and race plan discussion.  Steve talked over what we had seen the day before and talked how to approach the coursed based on all the training we had done.  Some team members like; Wiley, Kamran, Tempo and others who had driven the course already add their take on the course during the run through.  

Pre-Race Team Meeting

After the talk everyone split for lunch.  We walk to the expo to talk to the race organizers about the Rogue Tent area and tried to track down some pace bands.  The expo is no Boston but it is pretty similar to an Austin Expo.  It’s the usual suspects just Cali style.  

At 1:00 pm we meet 8 Rogue for a Course drive though.  Steve took Nedra, Ken, Kate and Michael.  I went the Denise & Christine, Clemmie and Andrea.  We spend the next couple hours driving the course, talking logistics and evaluating the course again.  

Then we broke off for rest, showers, and Football.  The Team has been up and down and all around the hotel, resting and working out nerves.  

The weather looks cool/cold tomorrow morning, start degrees should be about 38 and climb to 45 during the race.  The cheer teams are going to scatter around the course and help by collecting clothing and encouragement along the way.

We will meet at 4:45 am in the hotel lobby for a 10 minute psyching up speech by Sisson!   We are excited and pumped about tomorrow!  Can wait to see all the Rogue PR’s, the TEAM is READY!  The weather will be really good and the course perfect for the training everyone did!  GO TEAM ROGUE!!!!!

My situation was that I was increasingly frustrated with my performance.  I wanted to blame hydration, eating, maybe a little my coach (sorry, love you), my work schedule, my business, anything that was not me.   When in fact, and very obviously, it was me.  I was over living and expecting to be able to do everything I wanted and have the great running performances, because of course I was doing it all.

Probably what was killing me the most was the stress of too much to do.  And that’s what I kept saying to myself, I have too much to do.  I would squeeze my running into the tiny time slots I had.  My problem was that I thought that because I was doing every run I was suppose to do, including the stretching, the lifting, the massage (mostly), the hydration, that I could run well.  That was simple not the case.

I believe you can participate in running events, triathlons, swimming, whatever you want to do.  But if you want to preform at those events, BQ, PR, win your age group, whatever that lifts your skirt and really excites you about a goal that is more than just finishing you must be realistic about what it takes and the time you have to devote to that goal, as well as the scarifies you must make.

What I needed to do most was to rest.  Truly it was pretty damn simple but extremely hard at the same time.  I needed to leave work at work.  I needed to take naps, I needed to spend the time to listen to my body,  I needed to work on my mental preparation, I needed time to myself, I needed to place the running ahead of everything else and realize and accept I could not do it all.   But what I believed was all I need to do was all the workouts written by my coach, on the exact day in the exact order regardless of the rest of my life.  I would often get up at 5:30 am or earlier to get in each and every workout.  That’s really far worse than not doing enough of your workouts.

The advice I hope to give to those struggling for a BQ qualifier or their next PR, is to prioritize your life.  And then arrange running to the fore front of the list and be willing to drop some of those things on the list and know that you will sacrife the busy crazy life that you crave, for a PR or a BQ.   You must except that you can not do it all.  Supermom’s are not real, superdad’s are fakes, superwive’s and superhusband’s, are busy dropping the ball and it’s more like it is not just your running you are dropping but my guess is you are half assing just about everything you do.  I know because I done a lot if it.

Be honest about the commitment you are making, embrace and expect the journey to be challenging, selfish and rewarding and see what you can really do.

Second mistake….later

I want to tell everyone who is thinking about starting to run or even get fit, you are not as unfit as you believe you are.  Maybe we don’t give ourselves enough positive reinforcement.   Maybe humans or American culture doesn’t say enough times you are good, you are terrific person; mother, Father, husband, wife, friend.   I am not sure what it is but be don’t believe in ourselves as much as we should.

It’s the day before thanksgiving and we traditional, at least as I understand it, give thanks to our fore “fathers” and “mothers”, who founded this great country.  I have always had some issues with that statement even though I see value in the holiday.  Honestly we took someone else’s country for ourselves, killing off a success but different society than our own.  This idea of not believing in ourselves gives me now hope to a brand new theme for Thanksgiving! Be thankful for yourself.  I am not saying be self center or selfish, but take time to congratulate yourself for what you have accomplished in your life, and how much success you have had.  If you love you a little more than you do right now, you will be better equiped to love everyone else.  Spend some down time this week and think about yourself and give thanks for all that you have done and appreciate yourself.   It starts from within and grows out and continues….

What I am really thinking about is the last 2 weeks before the big day.  Specifically, what I want them to do so that they help me get them prepared for the big day, the CIM.  I know they have run all the miles, more than any other Rogue group in Rogue history, so they are physically prepared for the marathon distance.  They are feeling the 30 some weeks of training, so the first thing I need them to do is get recovered and not be STUPID!  These are really intelligent people but, sometimes, the smarter we are, the stupider the act.  NO new projects: spring cleaning (come on its the beginning of what we call winter in Texas), landscaping, etc.  If you have to try something, let’s take up basket weaving or needle point; reading would be great!  NO yoga, pilates, or figure skating (sorry, Geezer), but fill the extra time and nerves with something else, especially not something counter productive to recovery.

Number 1: Nothing new or stupid, use the extra time for sleep, rest, reading… well, and thinking of really cool gifts for coaches.

Number 2: Start creating a list of 10 positives.  Some of these 10 can be the hard-ass workouts that they all did during the season that they ROCKED at!  Possibly some of 10 are that they did not miss a long run, or maybe it’s that they ran their highest mileage ever this summer.  They need to start to look back at their training logs and pick out the things that they did really well, pick out the tough workouts that they pull out; every thing needs to be positive.  That means they need to put away the bad days and hard long runs that did not go as planned.

Another part of the 10 is to look at their own personality, & make a list of the mental aspects that they bring to their marathon success.   I can only explain this by personally telling you a couple I rely on.  For me, number one positive is “I know I can suffer”; I know I suffer better than the next person.  So when it gets tough, I can be tougher.  My next mental positive is that “I believe that I can reach the goal I set out”.  I start out slow but, once I am on pace, nothing will stop me.  I can hold the pace no matter what happens, once I lock in.  I personally believe that the marathon is mental, more than it is physical.  I know that I am can keep my mind positive, focused for the total 26.2 miles.  I am especially ready for miles 18 – 26.2 when I expect it will get tougher.

The last aspect are mantras.  I have had some crazy-stupid mantras.  Some come to me the night before the race.  But the better, more effective mantras have been practiced and thought out:  ”smooth and strong”, “tough as nails”, “beat Wiley” (wait, that slipped out).  Honestly, I love to be competitive, but what I really do better is compete to show my self how well I can do.  I cannot control Wiley’s day or any one else’s day.  When I go to measure my success and, therefore, when I create my success, I focus on what I can control.

I hope to hear the lists of 10 positives during the next two weeks from My Team.  I know that I will, because there are a lot of positives to talk about.

Honestly, it would of really sucked this morning, when Carolyn & I woke up at 3:40 to discuss the situation, if we realized that the weather was all more serious or even more questionable than it was.  Whew!

I think we are going to have to rename one of the 6 long runs we put together today IKE!  Probably the whimpiest of them -IKE.  Honestly, it was hard to hold out when we had many people questioning our decison making.  I kind of understood why people were not sure, but at the same time, I was not sure what the rush to decision was all about.   The smartest running plan I heard was from Carmen Troncosco, Rogue Coach, who rented 4 moves & still had plans to run no matter what.

I should acknowledge , my life is fairly simple, I have 2 dogs, one Steve, a house, that’s a lot easier than lots of people in Rogue who have kids, family coming out of town from Houston or Galveston, super busy jobs & they have to fit in a long run with Rogue.  It’s all a matter of perspective.  If as running the day of a hurricane is any but Rogueique.  That became obvious when you read Wish’s “article” that stated, Gilbert Gazelle’s were cancelling.  Of course I was misquoted.  I said we were lucky we could always lean on a Sunday long run.  This was in response to him saying that Gilbert’s group was running early Friday.  I did not say we were cancelling Saturday and just running Sunday, he just chose to hear it that way.   I know they ending up running as did many other groups.

Listen Rogues, we are a bunch of TOUGH, SERIOUS runners.  I think lots of people believe other groups in town are more serious runners.  BUT I am sorry, I know you all are more serious, more committed than any group of runners in town.  I know it & guess what so does NIKE, “the home of Prefontaine”.

I do have to admit that Friday morning I was cleaning up the house before work after my run with Christine, who ran me into the ground, thinking tomorrow if it really does storm, we can finish painting the bathroom, we can clean the house better, we can hang out and just watch TV in between naps.

But really I just wanted everyone to have a chance to get the run in they needed to be successful.  When  you get pushed off track it’s sometimes really hard to get back on track.  I should know, I am the queen of off track.  I have been off track since the 3rd week of August.  Maybe that’s not so long but it feels like eternity.  If it wasn’t for Erin, Christine, John, Derek, Nedra, Carolyn, Angie constantly asking me to go run and assuming that I will be there I would be alot farther off the rails than I am now.

Remember this marathoners & half marathoners who just started, getting off track is EASY.  It’s as easy as a long night at the BAR, a 80 hour work week, trips across the country for business, sick kid, sick dog, sore legs, but it’s the friends you make that will really help keep you grounded.  Don’t ignore them.   It’s okay to get of track but you need to let them get you on the rails again.  It’s okay to miss some miles just get back to what makes you feel good, friends & running!