Thirty-Nine and Rain

We know what you're thinking: Thirty-Nine and Rain are two words that don't belong in the same sentence together. Or maybe you're thinking that it's not two words, it's three. No, four. But if you're like me, you're brain-dead, and not thinking much at all. Even if your brain is out of commission, however, you do still know, deep in your bones, that Thirty-Nine and Rain is an abomination.

Abomination or not, I find myself driving down to Medina in the driving, cold rain. The Medina Half-Marathon course run - something we do about once a month - is at 7:30, but needing a long run, I am planning to arrive at 6:00 for the extras. Except when I experience the Thirty-Nine and Rain. That's when, five minutes into my drive, I turn around and go home.

I run six lousy miles on the mill, turn on the tv weather to learn that the rain is moving out, extract myself from the mill and the house, and make the drive.

The rain has indeed stopped, as I run the course with Rachel Daw, Kelly Parker, Michelle Daum, Tim Pepe, and a few others. Thirty-Nine and no rain is exceedingly much better than Thirty-Nine and Rain. We manage to not get lost (a challenge for some of us), and complete the run.

It turns out to be a pretty good day, after all.

70

No, he's not quite there in years yet. But he has been putting in some 70-mile weeks.

A few came at the end of December in the weeks leading up to achieving 3,000 miles for the year, and also training for the Brunswick Marathon. Another came unexpectedly last week, when he only managed 17 miles during Saturday's towpath run, and then had to run 18 at Hinckley the very next day in order to be able to say he put in a long one. Tallahassee is still looming, you see.

Would it happen again this week? It started off fairly well, with a couple runs with Michelle Wolff. But as the weather finally turned January, he took the mill.

The mill is nice and warm and dry, he thinks. He can catch up on Game of Thrones, which he's watching for the second go-around now that he has time to spare. He won't have to plow his way through the elements whilst on the mill, he thinks. Maybe the runs can be of higher than average quality.

Things don't quite work out the way he'd hoped, however. After two completely awful mill runs, he's climbing the walls. Even though the weather's still bad, he tries to make the drive to Hinckley to join his friends. Alas. The driving, even on the main roads, is treacherous, so he returns home to get his run in there.

That run is as awful in its own way as the mill runs had been. Cold wind and poor footing does not a good run make. He wisely calls it quits and winds up with only 59 miles for the week.

What a slug he is.

I like the display, especially because it doesn't include speed ;)

Busted

"Is there something you're not telling me," asks wife and faithful running spouse Debbie? "Why, no," says innocent-looking Dan. But he's secretly wondering what he did wrong this time. "Were you trying to pull a fast one, and sign up for the Tallahassee Marathon?" "I was only looking at it," says Dan, Guiltily. He determines that he must have left the marathon website open in a browser window. Need to be more careful, he thinks.

But he can't help himself. When he will be away from home, it's completely natural to look for running events in that area, isn't it? And to consider another marathon so soon after that last debacle? Pure foolishness.

So did he sign up, you ask? No, because there is no longer any financial incentive to register early. Dan can wait until a few days prior. Will he sign up? That's another question.

He definitely has been running. Now retired, he has lost at least one of his many usual excuses: having enough time. In fact, he often sleeps in and begins his runs at 6:00 am, rather than 4:30. But yesterday he had to start early to run with longtime running partner Michelle Wolff.

We will see how this weekend's long run goes, he thinks.

The Brunswick Marathon, January 1, 2020

The gang at the start                                                                                  photo: Kelly Parker

Frank Dwyer is surging, and I go with him. Kelly Parker and Larry Orwin fall back a bit. It feels good to run fast (fast being a relative term); we'd been climbing for quite some time; now we're past the iconic Brunswick water towers and have nice, gradual downhill here on Minor Road. It's also nice that unlike other parts of the course, there's no ice or crunchy snow here. Even though I know I can stay with Frank, at least for a while, I also know that I would pay later.

Even though I'll probably pay no matter what, I wise up and ease up and rejoin Kelly and Larry. Maybe Frank will also come back to us. Yeah, except that it's Frank, and Frank doesn't do that.

Three 6.55 mile laps into the four-loop Brunswick Marathon course, it's getting warmer, and eastbound sections like this one are just fine. The ice and snow around Brunswick High School and through Hopkins Park have been treacherous. But as far as I can tell, all twenty-five or so of us have managed to remain vertical. This is important to me since it's my race, and I wouldn't want to lose anyone. Runners who wind up with broken bones or fractured skulls tend to not return to run the same events in the future.

Said ice and snow have taken a lot out of me, however. All that slipping, sliding, picking up of feet, short baby steps over time and distance have made it tough. And then there's the wind. It was in the twenties at the start, and now it's in the thirties. But the west wind is strong, and those westbound parts of the run have been pretty brutal. Okay, enough excuses.

Larry finishes that third lap strong, but I'm not too far behind. He surprises me by announcing that he has to leave; I'd thought that he was in for the whole shebang. Kelly, tapering for Disney, is done as well. Now I'm alone as I begin my fourth lap. Frank is up there somewhere but is nowhere to be seen. I do spot a few of the other folks. It's been fun to reverse direction every loop and see the other runners on the course.

Last year I finished in 4:18. That's a slow marathon time for me, even now that I'm in my elder years. This year, I've been on about that pace, but I know my fourth loop will be a struggle.

It is. I slow to a shuffle and cross the finish line in 4:37. Frank beat that course record and established the new one at 4:16. All in all, seven intrepid runners managed to complete the entire marathon. Besides Larry and Kelly, a bunch of others also participated.

Good way to start the year.