Hey Everyone,

So sorry for not being more active on this blog.

It has been a very hectic later part of 2011 and start to 2012.

Running wise 2011 and 2012(so far) was/have been terrific, I pushed myself to do somethings that I was not sure was possible (for me) running some fast times, breaking some course records (even losing in the process) and big distances.

I look back and I am very pleased but not satisfied. I know now that I can do even more and go longer and run stronger.

I am working daily to keep improving and look forward to the experiment of tweaking my training and trying new things to achieve the results that I am after.

2012, should be incredible as I am going to have some amazing opportunities to push myself, trying to set personal bests in all distances with events ranging from road 5k, marathons (would like to lower my 2:17:49 PR), 50ks, 50 milers, 100k-worlds for team USA, 100 milers like Western States, and then a race such as UTMB, all forcing me to adapt and adjust or be destroyed.

I also will get to match up against some of the best athletes in the world and see how I stack up and what is more exciting than that.

On the home front, we are having some challenges as our son Grant (3 years old) as he was diagnosed with epilepsy in October and we are learning all about seizures and how they affect Grant and the people that love him. Epilepsy is a scary disorder to me because we don’t know what triggers Grant’s seizures so 24 hours a day we are on highest alert making our days amazing complex and stressful but then I think of all the people dealing with their own challenges (if you ever have to visit a Children’s Hospital, you will know what I mean. It’s amazing how strong kids can be and if you do have to visit I am sorry, nothing is worse than seeing your child in distress) and that just makes us want to overcome and deal with this seizure disorder even more. He might outgrow it, at least that is what we are hearing right now, but the frustrating thing is that we can not do much to prevent them besides the medicine that he is on.

Anyhow, we are still living our lives and most importantly, Grant is acting and being treated like a “normal” three year old. Grant goes to re-school, takes a Music Class, a Gym Class, might do a Soccer class, running (he is a really good runner as as is Pierce) goes on play dates and follows his older brother Pierce (5 years) everywhere and they play and fight just like brothers should.

We are really lucky to have an extensive support system with both our families close and access to terrific medical care.

We are fortunate and know it.

I think life is always going to challenge us as people but that is fine and we can always learn and grow from every experience, good or bad and that is what I am hoping to do.

I am aiming to try and do at least a blog a month and hope you will check back to see how we are doing.

Stay well and best of luck on your running and racing.

Cheers,
Michael Wardian

Hey Everyone,

Well, I don’t know how many of you know but I finally reached a really major goal for me.

I qualified for the 2012 Olympic Trials in the Men’s Marathon by running 2:17:49 at the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, MN on 6/18/11.

It was an incredible day for racing, seriously perfect weather-low to mid 50ties and overcast some rain and a tailwind for the first little bit (the tailwind died down and actually shifted later in the race but it was nothing substantial in any case).

I was very pleased with this major break-through as I had never broken 2:20 before this point.

That being said, I had been under the old “B” USA Olympic Trials standard of 2:22:00 more than five (5) times in the last few years even setting my previous personnel best of 2:20:57 in December of 2010 but I was stuck until Grandma’s.

As a lot of you know, I like to compete and this year has been no expection with races almost every weekend and leading up to Grandma’s was no different.

I even ran two (2) big Ultra-Marathons, Comrades in South Africa (87K-54 Miles-11th place-1st USA) and “The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Miler” (3rd place).

Besides the ultras I ran The North Face Endurance Challenge 1/2 Marathon (1st place, day after the 50 Miler, trail race) and then I was able to come back a week later and run the “Lawyers Have Heart 5K” in 15:15 (3rd place, got out kicked).

I really appreciate everyones support and I am so excited for my next challenge, Badwater (www.badwater.com <http://www.badwater.com> )

In case you have never heard of Badwater, it 135 miles in Death Valley, CA set in July (this year July 11, 2011-Pierce’s Birthday-unfortunately, think that is going to be one of the hardest parts of the race, missing his big day).

The average temp is 121 degrees and the course record is about 22-23 hours, so you are out in the sun and elements for a long time.

Each runner, gets a crew of upto 6 people and your crew must keep you safe and supported during the run.  I am lucky because my crew are studs (Matt, Jay, Rick, Vince, Andy & Ian, all of them have ran and/or crewed me in the past, so I am really lucky).

Anyhow, I am doing lots of cool stuff to get ready for Badwater and I am looking forward to the challenge.

Did you all see the results from Western States, looked like a nice battle on both the men’s and women’s side, such great athletes, really awesome to “see”.

Hope things are going well with your running and stay after it.

Cheers,
Mike

Hey Everyone,

It has been really busy on my end since the last time I wrote and I have been working hard to improve at all distances and I am really focused to push the boundaries of what I have done in the past and actually have been improving by setting personal bests the last four weekends in 10 Miles (51:00), 10K (30:21) and then I believe, need to check but at 50K yesterday (had on my watch high 2:53-low 2:54, but not sure what the mat got for me) as part of the Two Oceans Marathon (56K) in Cape Town, South Africa. I ended up 19th overall at Two Oceans in about 3:16:35.

After Two Oceans, I ran up Table Top Mountain with a guy named Adrian in 1:00:08; Pretty steep trail, but it was a nice shake out and the views were killer.

I also was lucky enough to set a World Record for the Fastest Marathon while dressed as a Superhero (Spiderman) in 2:34:56, beating the previous record by about 7 mins. I still need to get all the paperwork to Guinness World Records so they can certify it.

2:34:56 with the mouth covered with elastic cloth.

In addition, I was fortunate enough to win the National Marathon in my hometown of Washington, DC for the 5th time and that was terrific as I love to race locally if I possible and it allows me to get back to help coach my son’s Blastball team, which made for a long day after the National Marathon but it good fun as the kids really enjoy it and after a few games they are really starting to “get it” and improve and gain confidence in their team and abilities.

I have some big races coming in with a chance to mix it up against the best athletes in the World at the 2011 Comrades Marathon in late May, then I get to race “The North Face Endurance Challenge” in Washington, DC, the Grandma’s Marathon and finally the Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley in July so lots of fun/tough events and travels with ample opportunities to see just where I am and what I need to do to keep improving.

I plan to work very hard on all of the above events (and helping to coach the Blastball team) and I still am trying for my Olympic Trials Qualifier in the Marathon so was disappointed to miss a fast day in Boston where a lot of guys had the chance to run fast but will just have to do it later this year when given the chance.

Hope all is well with your running and that you have some exciting events coming up and have been enjoying your runs and training. Look forward to seeing you out there.

Cheers, Michael Wardian