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RUNNING ACCORDING TO DJ MIA

My buddy and running mentor Todd is a big time runner and really, really fast. He recently won a track race (even though he is a distance man)...here are his thoughts:

I ran the second JTC meet last night and it went pretty well. However, I bagged the 800 and could have run a touch faster if I went out slower in the 2 mile.
The two things above happened because on the way up to the race I was talking to my brother on the phone. I mentioned I wanted to run under 2:08 in the half and as close to 10 in the 2 mile as possible.
He laughed and sad I was way too FAT to run around 10 in the two mile right now. I disagreed and said if I only ran the two I could run high 9s. He said if I break 10 he'd give me $100 bucks. The challenge was on!
Now Erin thought this was silly because I had been excited about running the 800 for about 2 weeks and I shouldn't let the my competitiveness get in the way of that. I told her I usually wouldn't, but this was my identical twin calling me on something. Anyway, the race went like this: 1 - 77 (extra 5 meters for the two mile instead of 3200, so right on)
2 - 75
3 - 73
4 - 75 (5 flat with 1600 left)
5 - 76
6 - 77
7 - 79
8 - 80

As you can see I faded hard the last two laps, but I'm happy with my fitness.
To add to the comments of the night, after the race a kid from UWF that I beat came up to me and said, "Man, before the race I didn't think you were any good." :) Todd

On October 13, 2002, I ran the 25th Anniversary Chicago Marathon

Graph A is my Target Pace

Graph B is Goal Pace

This originally appeared in the October 2002 edition of the "Conquistador Chronicles":
Running on Empty By Kevin F. Sweeny
As most of you know, many ACRRers are in the last weeks of training for the Chicago Marathons and I have heard of other club members who are training for other marathons around the country. Through many e-mails, talking with others and exploring what was going on with me through my marathon preparations, I have pieced together this list of “You might be a marathoner if…” thanks to everyone who gave me an idea or two for this list and GOOD LUCK TO ALL MARATHONERS! YOU MIGHT BE A MARATHONER IF…… · You roll your eyes and shake your head when people talk about low carb diets. · "18 weeks" suddenly becomes the most important unit of time in your life. · You start debating about the Galloway program. · You no longer think the people who run ultra- marathons are crazy · Any run less than 16 miles feels like an easy workout. · You spend too much time on the Internet reading about other peoples' workouts. : Todd and Erin begin to dread e-mails/ phone calls from you because all they have to do with is questions about your training. · You tell your girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/wife you're going out for a short run and come back two hours later. · You salivate at the thought of high 50s/low 60s and overcast Saturday/Sunday weather forcasts. · You think it's completely normal to put band-aids on your nipples and slosh “Body Glide” in unmentionable areas of your body. · You get up earlier on weekends than you do during the work week. · You try to negative split mowing your lawn. · All you get is running stuff on your birthday or during the holiday season. · You think 40 miles is an easy week. · When you go away for a weekend (or week) your most consuming thoughts are how you are going to get your runs in. · Getting up Saturday/Sunday mornings at 6 am is something you get excited about. · You have actually thought about PowerGel as a tasty dessert topping. · When someone asks you how far you are planning to run, you say "I'm ONLY doing 10 today". · When your non-running friends stop calling you to hang out the night before you do your long runs. · Your friends don't understand why you'd rather get up at 4:30 and run 20 miles than get sloshed the night before and sleep in. · You have spreadsheets for every variable that could explain or affect your running. · You know every mile-landmark for a ten mile radius around your house. · You are excited about an upcoming birthday because it will bump you up to a new age group and make it easier to get into Boston. · You start buying GU or PowerGels in bulk from FUN RUN (ok, it lives on in my mind!) · You tell non-runners you ran 5 miles when you really ran 15. Just so you won't have to sit through the "Wow, Brent, that's far!" conversation. · Even though you burn twice as many calories a day as a normal person, you feel guilty eating junk food. · You actually begin to enjoy the taste of powerbars and cliffbars. · You walk into your laundry room to find Coolmax running clothes hanging on everything to dry. · You gasp when you see someone running in everyday gym socks. · Your friends and coworkers introduce you as "This is Andy, he runs marathons". · People no longer great you with "H, Gerry, how are you", they now greet you with "hi, Gerry, how many miles today?" · You buy gels that aren't for your hair. · Your recycling bin at home is filled with Gatorade and water bottles. · You set the trip odometer everywhere you drive to measure potential running routes. · Your best watch is a Timex. · You're no longer embarrassed to be seen in tights. · You can drink from a cup while running and don't mind that half goes on your chest. · Your car smells a little sweaty from your running shoes in the back seat. · Complete strangers come up to you and say "I saw you running the other day..." · Another complete stranger will say the exact same thing on the same day, except he saw you running on the opposite side of town. · The phrase "you're crazy" or "how can you possibly run that far" doesn't even warrant a response any more. · You have friends that tell you "I don't even drive 26 miles without packing a lunch." · Your friends realize they can't threaten you with "I'll kick you out of the car right here" because they know you can make it home, and you might actually enjoy the challenge. When someone say the word WALL and you have memories of your worse marathon. · It's okay to have a mistake and run an extra mile, but if you realize you shorted yourself .2 miles on any run, you freak out. · You only learned to use Excel or a database so you could make a log and geek out over your running numbers. · You know who Pheidippides is. · Even if you love cycling, you really do it as cross training for marathons. · Your colleagues at work are glad when the second treadmill is fixed but, when they run at your cadence, next to you, they keep asking if theirs is still broken, because yours shows 4 miles when theirs shows 3 · You've heard the following phrases after describing a long run to an outsider: "I don't even like to DRIVE that far." "Was anyone chasing you?" "Did you do it all at once?" · You feel a little insulted when you tell someone you've just run a marathon and they ask, "Did you finish?" · Your t-shirts have 2 blood stains where your nipples should be. · Gatorade in fridge in front of beer! · Boston means more than Red Sox or Bruins. · You celebrate Patriots Day with New Englanders even though you live in Florida or New Mexico.

This originally appeared in the August 2001 edition of the "Conquistador Chronicles": Running On Empty By Kevin F. Sweeny As many of you know, and others who don’t care, I recently left the beautiful beaches of St. Augustine and my beloved ACRR for the desert, high plains and mountains of New Mexico. Yeah, I still can’t believe it either and I find myself sometimes during runs, stopping and saying, out loud, ”I can’t believe I am in New Mexico!” On what will surely be one of many visits back to good old St.Augustine, everybody asked me how it was to live in New Mexico. So I have decided to give you a “Tale of the Tape,” New Mexico vs. Florida- The First 30 Days.”
Category New Mexico Florida Advantage
Famous Runner Khalid Khannouchi Bill Phillips Push Bill is fast and gives away money, but Khalid is the fastest American marathoner ever!

Conditions Altitude Humidity Florida The altitude may make you faster, but at least in Florida you can sweat and feel like you are doing something!

Clubs None ACRR Florida Even if Clovis had one, they couldn’t overtake the ACRR

Socks State Flag FUN RUN SPORTS New Mexico Hey, I wear my pair of Fun Run socks all the time, but there is something cool about having the state flag on your socks!

The Wind Always Sometimes Florida In Florida you ask, “Is there any wind, today?” and in New Mexico we ask, “Which way is the wind blowing today?”

Track Repeats Clovis High School FSDB New Mexico Lots of people on the track to keep you going, including, yes Brent, females!!

Rivals Myself/Time Erin Neville Florida Sure, sure, sure, I know all about the romantic idea about the battle against yourself and the almighty clock, but there is something nice about chasing after a female!

Stores Big 5 Sporting Goods Fun Run Sports Co. Florida See my June edition of “Running on Empty,” besides “sporting goods” says it all!

Stuff to see during runs Aliens Tourist traps New Mexico Roswell…White Sands Air Force Base…Area 51… The TRUTH is out HERE!

Cars Always stop Roll of the dice New Mexico Would you believe, not only do they stop out here, but they wave and cheer you on too!

So there you have it! Things are so simple once you break them down scientifically. In a race tighter than a Todd Neville run meeting, Florida breaks the tape first and wins at the line.

This originally appeared in the March 2001 edition of the "Conquistador Chronicles":

Running On Empty By Kevin Sweeny
I think when most of us start running, while we are out there trudging through another training run, we hear that faint voice in the back of the mind that asks sheepishly, “Will I be any good at this?” Of course, we tell ourselves “yes” and kick the training run up a notch. It is usually the next day when you perceive that while your (insert your time here) minute mile training run was nice and impressive you may have to adjust your dreams of winning the River Run or Matanzas 5000 downward to competitions with the self and the clock. I realized early on that I would not be challenging Tony Cubbage for any age group awards any time soon. That left me to do battle with myself and gun for a new PR. I love to hear stories of how fellow runners accomplished PR’s. Most runners, when I ask, smile and tell me of the training, the battle during the race with themselves and outside elements and the feeling as they cross the finish line knowing they have claimed a new PR. And then we have the elite runners, the ones who are too cool to admit they want them. When I mention the subject to elite or semi-elite runners, they act like they have no idea what I’m talking about. It seems like my PR stories aren’t that spectacular. A few months ago, while still being new at this running thing, I figured that if I trained “hard,” I could run my next race in sub 20- no problem! Imagine my excitement as I talked myself into getting ready to set a new PR. I decided that the race I where I would set the world on notice would be the “4th of July Watermelon Race” in Gainesville. I figured it would be fitting, as I had decided to leave Gainesville and move to St. Augustine- what a way to go! So, 19 minutes and 42 seconds later I was so happy to be a proud owner of a brand spanking new 5K PR. Oh sure, I didn’t even win an age-group trophy, but I sure strutted around after the race like I had won first place overall! You can only imagine my embarrassment when I found my training partner after the race who promptly told me that the race was actually a 3 miler! While training for the Disney 2001 marathon, I decided that I would run a 5k just for “fun.” Oh sure, those 2 to 3 hour training runs where you gag down Runner’s GU, rub anti-friction cream all over your body and not being able to walk correctly after the training runs is fun and all (riiiiiight!), but I just wanted to have one Saturday night where I could walk around like a normal human being! However, during one of my training runs I injured my calf. I desperately scowered the web and could find no self treatment that made sense, so I did what everyone was telling me to do…stay off the calf and rest. So easy to say, very hard to do, but I tried, really, I did. I happened to be at the gym where I saw this guy who was running on the treadmill. Wait, he wasn’t really running, it was more like a 45-minute sprint! I was even more impressed that the treadmill could keep up with this guy. I thought to myself, “ I wonder what part of Kenya this guy is from, because he sure is fast!” Every night I would see him at the gym. While I was trying to hold on to my sanity during my injury doing some easy spinning and weight training, he was on the treadmill setting a new 10000 meter record. Well, one night a friend of mine, Mark, went with me to the gym and I told Mark about the Kenyan 10000 meter record holder that trained at the gym every night! Mark suggested I talk to him about the calf. ME???? Ask this elite runner about my calf? No way! I told Mark I was sure this guy was more concerned about VO2 max (a word I picked up on the web, I have no idea what it means but I was trying to impress Mark, a non-runner) and the like to worry about my calf. Mark said if I didn’t ask he would because he was tired of hearing me whine about my calf. So I summoned up all the courage I could muster walked over to the Kenyan 10000 meter record holder and asked him about my calf. Well, can you believe he sat down and talked about why I had the injury, stretching exercises I could do, and he told me of the medicinal qualities of vitamin B12. Oh, yeah, imagine my surprise when I found out the Kenyan 10000 meter record holder had been living in Chicago and had recently moved to St. Augustine. A Kenyan from Chicago? Wow! So after stretching three times a day everyday and getting “addicted” to vitamin B12, I was poised to set my sights on a new PR at the Coast-to-Coast 5K here in St. Augustine. As I approached the start line I saw the Kenyan 10000 meter record holder from St. Augustine by way of Chicago standing next to the Bridge of Lions 5K female winner. While stretching away those last few inklings of nervous energy, I noticed that she had the audacity to wear a “GEORGIA” hat on this day, the day of the Florida/Georgia football game in Jacksonville, which is heresy, especially if, like me, you are a Gator fan. So, I decided I was going to try to stay near this Dawg and beat her in the name of Gators everywhere, while at the same time see if she could help me claim my new PR. The race started out and by the 1st mile maker the Dawg was about 45 seconds ahead of me and I thought somewhere in the distance the speedy Kenyan 10000 meter record holder was almost near the end of the race. By the second mile I was closing in on the Dawg and had cut the time between us to about 25 seconds. As we approached the third mile and I was sure I had the kick to beat her over the last 2 tenths of a mile. She was a Dawg after all and I was a Gator. I noticed too, that the Kenyan 10000 meter record holder was at the 3-mile mark cheering. I thought to myself, he must be cheering me on, I mean afterall, I am his new running mentee. I could feel my chest stick out as I attempted to try and surge pass the Bridge of Lions woman’s champ, aka “Dawg.” Except as I passed the Kenyan, he was screaming “Go Erin, don’t let him catch you!” What?? How could he?? I was the mentee! I was a Gator! I was running over here! I was crushed and ended up finishing 2 seconds behind the Dawg. Standing around, grazing on bagels after the race, I was trying to make sense of what had happened. The Kenyan 10000 meter record holder, my new running mentor, had turned his back on me at the end and I was beaten my an openly hostile Georgia Bulldog fan. Was this the end? Was this a harbinger of things to come later that day at the football game? Well, the Kenyan came up to me and congratulated me on a good race and said he was happy the calf had healed…and then he introduced me to his wife…. that is right… the Dawg…her name was Erin, the Bridge of Lion woman’s champ. And her hat read NEBRASKA, not GEORGIA. And the Kenyan wasn’t really a Kenyan, as it turned out he was Todd Neville, the soon to be ACRR President. Working together, without even realizing it, these two teamed up to give me a great day! I had almost forgotten about my new 5K PR!
DJ MIA


On October 13, 2002, I ran the 25th Anniversary Chicago Marathon.
Here are some articles I have had published in the Ancient City Road Runners Newsletter. Enjoy!