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Well it was the first day of a new school year today, and pretty much the end of any kind of organized training I was planning on doing.  My work day will now be from 7 a.m until around 8 p.m 6 days a week.  Between football and work I have to search real hard for time to run.  Never been a morning person, so that is not an option.  However, I have been flirting with the idea of running a Marathon.  Even thought about trying to do Boston but I researched the qualifying times and had no idea how fast they were.  I upped my mileage over the last month on my long runs to see if truly want to pursue a Marathon or not.  I haven’t raced since July 4th, but I have told myself that I am going to run in the gordon race coming up.  I would love to run the labor day race but we practice in the A.M. on that day, so that is out.  However, I am searching for a new goal to train for, maybe Boston, so stay tuned. 

Well vacation came and went unbelievably fast.  It is amazing how fast time passes by when you sit down and think about it.  I was able to relax a little bit on the beach and actually learned how to do some fishing from the shore.  We only caught one fish but I can now say that I have caught a shark in my life.  I was able to play a round of golf, which was the first since the end of golf season in early May.  77 ain’t bad when you haven’t picked up a club in few months.  Now on to the report on the Jacksonville race.  There were over 1000 runners, I think close to 1200 which is about 6 times as many as I had ever run with before.  My goal going in was to break 19:00.  Looking back, I think I set myself up to fail.  However, I did set a new PR with a time of 19:37.  I felt like I had a little more in me at the finish which was largely due to the course being so flat.  I finished 63rd overall and 5th in my age group.  The guy that won, who runs at the University of Florida, ran a 15:20 or some crazy time like that.  I was very happy with my performance because I finished the last mile so strong.  I probaly passed nearly 50 runners in the latter part of the race.  I have some pictures from the race when I figure out how to upload them.

I am writing from South Ponte Vedra Beach.  The beach and house are absolutely beautiful.  Again the beach is nice and quiet which is great for running.  I put in 4.5 miles yesterday after we unpacked and 4 miles earlier this morning.  My runs are now at an easy pace because I am racing in Jacksonville this Friday.  This will be the biggest race for me so far.  They are expecting around 1000 runners.  I set a personal goal of 19:00 minutes after the Brentwood race in which I broke 20 minutes for the first time.  I don’t plan on running after Tuesday because I really want to be fresh for this one.  I set a new P.R. on my 5.15 mile course in Sandersville the Friday before we left with a time of 34:46.  I beat my previous time by over a minute.  I had been in a small rut with my times, but this got my confidence soaring going into this week.  Lastly, I was able to meet Sam Martinez at the Wellness Center this past week.  It was nice to finally put a face with a name.

Well I just returned home from a nice three day vacation on Harbor Island.  Can you say eat everything in site!  It is amazing how much more you can eat while on vacation.  My wonderful brother-in-law invited my wife and I to join them for a few days.  The place was awesome, step off the deck onto the sand type of material.  House was really nice and the beach was very private, perfect for running.  I logged 3.5 miles one day and 4 the other.  The biggest joy was watching my daughter enjoy the beach and water.  She is going to be a beach bum like her dad.  I am still training for the July 4th race in Jacksonville, FL.  Most of it is now done while pushing a stroller.  I have started pushing myself to set new training P.R.’s while pushing the stroller.  I set one this morning by running my 3.6 mile hill track in 26:17 only about a minute and a half off my best without the stroller.  I have also added riding a bike 4 days a week to kind of change things up.  It is 3 miles to the school and I ride to football workouts during the week.  

Lastly, how amazing is Tiger Woods?   

This past weekend I was able to run in both the Dash and Miles for Madeline.  Let me start out by saying the winner this past weekend was definitely the heat.  Friday was a little worse than Saturday, but they were both hot.  I ran both races in 21:20’s which is about a minute and a half off of my PR.  I sprained my ankle a week ago but it felt good for both races.  The course in Milledgeville was a little more challenging than the one in Gray.  I also experienced something new on Saturday being bussed(sp?) to the start line.  Also on Saturday I traveled to Augusta with my wife and little girl.  Being only 5 months old this was her first trip to the mall.  She is already trying to grab clothes off the rack.  I got my father’s day gift early; a pair of new Asics Nimbus 9.  They are on sale at Dick’s since the new Nimbus 10 has been released.  I also bought some new cushioned socks the guy recommended, however they caused one of my feet to feel like it was on fire during the race Saturday night.  I guess the moral of that story is not to try anything new during a race.   

It was nice meeting the few people from the running club on Friday and I look forward to racing in my tracks shirt in the near future.  I have been around different sports all my life, but there is no doubt that runners seem to be by far the nicest group of athletes to be around.

  Well it was good week.  School is out, training going really well, and SCHOOL IS OUT!  If you can’t tell I am excited about that one.  Back to the training.  I put in nearly 30 miles this week with a good mixture of speed, distance, and hill workouts.  I did 3 good days of cross-training with some weight lifting.  Then Sunday came.  I usually do a 6 mile tempo run after lunch on Sundays, but with the heat I decided to run before church and did my hill workout.  This left my afternoon open to do whatever.  Well, I ended up playing in a pick-up 21 game with a couple of guys; Big Mistake.  While playing I came down on top of a foot and rolled my ankle pretty bad.  Now, it looks like I have a softball stuck on top of my foot.  It is going to be a challenge to get ready for the race in Gray by Friday.  Oh well, when life gives you lemons make lemonade.  

Before I get started let me apologize in advance for the numerous typos you will see while reading my blog.

Now, Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Jay English and I am from the big city of Sandersville, GA.  I am a High School Special Education Teacher at Washington County High School where I coach football in the fall and golf in the spring.  While I love running I have to say that no sport tests a human more than the game of golf.  I have been married for two years in June now and have a 5 month old little girl who will soon be doing interval runs around the living room.  I started running about a year and half ago for what originally started out as a way to drop some pounds.  In December of 2006 I coached in the Semi-finals in the GA Dome and prior to warmups I could hardly button my game pants (size 40) and realized something had to give.  Well, we lost that game but the very next Monday I began running.  I started out weighing in at 260 pounds and couldn’t run two miles without walking.  By last summer I was down to 220 and running between 10-15 miles a week.  I now train any where from 20-30 miles a week and currently weigh 200 pounds on the dot.  My size 36 pants are now to big for me.   

Over the last year running has taken a different direction.  I began talking with a family friend who was once a competitive runner and he got me interested in running competitively.  I love competition, but at the same time hate to lose.  To this date I have only run in 5K races but am looking to do some 10k in the future.  I ran my first race in Watkinsville this past February and posted a time of 22:03.  I took home first place in my age group(25-29) and was immediately hooked.  Since then I have run 4 more races with the last being the Brentwood race here in Sandersville and posted a PR of 19:42.  My next race will be the Day Lilly Dash in Gray.  

A few names have become familiar to me since I began racing.  The first name I heard alot was Sam Martinez.  I found out he works here in Sandersville and I actually coach a boy in golf who’s father works for Sam.  I have not met Sam yet but I read his posts and that is what got me interested in a blog of my own.  I have become familiar with the name Grace Tinkey. I haven’t met her either, but anytime a 12 year old girl runs by you with a mile to go you immediately wonder “who was that”?  Well she has done it twice to me now, once in Dublin and once at the Cherry Blossom.  She is amazing for her age.

I guess you could say I come from a running family.  My grandfather and father both have run at times during their lives.  They were by no means Marathon guys but I was told my grandfather would run 3 miles everyday no matter what.  He wasn’t competetive with his running but did it as a way of relief and staying healthy.  My father ran some when he was younger and actually started back when I got going.  He has dropped nearly 50 pounds over the past 6 months and races with me every so often.  Running is one of the few activities in which I can whip him.  However he is currently sidelined with knee trouble.  If anyone has any good advice for him just let me know.  He is really frustrated by it.       

And with that little introduction of myself I look forward to many posts in the future…