Burning and Baching

Burning refers to Burning River, as in the BR100, in which I'm becoming more and more involved. I'm not complaining - I'm happy to be of help. This weekend will be a looong one for me however. I'll have to be around the entire 30 hours beginning Saturday morning. This after the Friday dinner and packet pickup festivities.

Batching refers to bachin' it, since my wife has left me. No, I don't think it's permanent; Debbie went to Connecticut to help Veronica and Barry with the soon-to-be birth of their son. The plan is for me to pick her up Labor Day weekend. That's a long way away. This leaves me with the cats, the garden, the house (to clean and cook), etc., etc. I'm not complaining - I'm happy to be of help. My workload is such that I should have enough time to take care of these things, but this could change in a hurry. We'll see.

For some reason I *have* been finding time to run. I got some good running in over the weekend. Saturday was our NC24 training run. As expected, I only had time for 11 miles or so. But I did manage to get a tempo run in the mix. Sunday was the club's Double Trouble race. This year I volunteered to help the entire time and not run. So I got a track workout in before the race: my 20 x 400/100 for 6.2 miles workout. It went very well, as did the volunteering for the race.

Of course Monday's run paid the price for two good runs in a row: it was 11 VERRRY SLOOOW miles. But I bounced back yesterday for 8 x 800 with the usual Tuesday track group. That was yet another good workout for me. I may run long with some MCRR folks tomorrow, or I may do it on my own on Friday. Time marches on.

I Hear That Train A-Coming....

Yes, I heard it coming. But my brain was in denial. After all, funny stuff such as getting caught by trains and drawbridges only happens to other people, right? As I approached from the road and saw the train barreling down the tracks in front of me, I decided that denial would no longer work for me. Instead, it was indeed time to assess my options. And of course there weren't any, other than to stop and wait.

The race was the Wellington Cheese Festival 10K. After some really awful race times, I'd decided that I needed to get a fast 10K in, and that this was the race to do it. It would be small (actually, tiny), and flat and fast. After the 10K runners split off from the 5K'ers, things got spread out very quickly.

When I got to the train, there was one guy already standing and (anxiously) waiting. He said he thought he was third (but one of the folks ahead of him was Chelsea Oswald, who happens to be a woman). After I got there, Al King arrived, and I think one more came in after him. We had a nice conversation for a couple minutes. How many minutes, you ask? I didn't know at the time because I stopped my watch. We were past mile four and I think I was at about 27 minutes at that point.

Time passed. The caboose eventually came by, and the race resumed. The fast guy, Al and I quickly got into the same order that we'd arrived in. Some other stuff happened in those last two miles, but we still managed to finish in that order.

So my finishing time (43 something) isn't so bad if you consider the train time. I figure it at 41:24, which would indeed be a decently fast 10K.

Saved by the Track

Last week's track session wasn't so hot. I take that back. It was hot. 93 degrees or so. It was my running that wasn't so hot. In fact it was awful. No one felt like pushing it in that heat, so we just did some straightaways. But I couldn't even do very well for those. Even though it was still hot and humid, I hit the track again on Thursday morning to do some mile intervals. Lo and behold I managed to get a few decent ones in (but I really struggled to get home in the heat). Then I hit the track again on Saturday and managed to do an unexpected 3-mile tempo run. Yesterday it was a little cooler than last week (80 vs 93) and the 6 x 800 session went very well for me. And today I was having a rough time getting the miles in after only 10 hours rest, so I went to the track just to gauge my pace. And guess what? I was able to get back to a decent pace by doing so.

What do these runs (except for the first one) have in common? The track, of course. It's a wonderful place!

Other happenings include a run at Hinckley on Sunday that went really well, and then there were some other junk miles here and there.

The Jessy and Veronica weekend parties were lots of fun. Now come the cleanup and dealing with the leftovers.

Doldrums

Doldrums are the area near the equator where, due to low pressure, the winds are calm and sometimes nonexistent. In modern lexicon, doldrums refer to, according to Wikepedia, "being in a state of listlessness, despondency, inactivity, stagnation, or a slump". That pretty much sums things up for me for this summer. It's happened in the past as well, so I'm not overly concerned.

But lookyahere: I've done several shorter races where I couldn't even manage a seven minute pace. Notable inclusions would be my last two races, the Medina Twin Sizzler 10K at the North Canton YMCA 5-mile. There were plenty of others as well. Now I've had a couple half-way decent races lately as well, but only a couple: the Wadsworth 4-mile and the Medina Twin Sizzler 5K. And it's not only my races. My last two training runs, Tuesday Track and a Fifteen today were stinkers as well. Nine-minute per mile pace is the new Eight.

There's nothing mysterious about the causes: extreme heat and humidity for most of the summer (although it was cooler for the two decent races I noted), as well as my own gluttony and sloth (two out of seven deadlies aren't bad). The gluttony includes eating multiple hot dogs and potato chips - things I never, ever eat normally - over the last several days from our 4th of July cookout. This weekend, with Jessy's Graduation and Veronica's baby shower promise to include more bad stuff. And the sloth? Well, maybe not really, because I really am trying. I just like the concept.

Good, Bad and Ugly

That's the result when you run two races within 13 hours one weekend, and then 3.5 races within 25 hours a week later.

I've been trying to ramp up the intensity by doing even more speedwork (now twice per week - once with the gang and once by myself) and also by concentrating even more on these ubiquitous shorter races. The ubiquitous shorter races I'm referring to?

Start with the Wadsworth 4-miler. The Friday evening temperatures were very decent - probably under 80. They had a good crowd, including some very serious talent. I think I ran well, but it's a little hard to tell. In the midst of some good-sounding 6:30 or so miles came a faster sub-6 mile for mile two. I finished with something like 25:12. It turned out to be too good to be true - mile two was short - by as much as .25 mile. Even so, it was a good run for me, and I won the geezer age group.

The next morning Ladd and I drove to the Green YMCA 10K race. Once again it was fairly cool for this time of year. I ran a steady pace and finished in about 42:55. This was a minute or so better than my other 10K's of the year so far, and I was pretty darn happy with it!

The weather got even cooler and nicer for a few days, I it sure was a relief! The Tuesday's speedwork was downright pleasant! Difficult as always, but I felt good as I was heaving!

This past weekend included the July 4 holiday. I usually do the North Canton YMCA 5-miler because it's part of the Subway/Ohio Challenge series. Because of this, I generally miss out on the Medina Twin Sizzler 5K/10K. This year, since the 4th was on a Sunday, they held the North Canton Run on Monday even though the Medina races were still on Sunday. Of course this meant that I was able to do all of the above. How did this come out to 3.5 races? Read on..

The only other time I did the Twin Sizzler, I ran slow in the initial 5k, hoping to do a fast time in the 10k. I wound up with very slow times in each of them. My strategy for 2010? Go for it in the 5k, and just try to hold on during the 10k. When the 5k began, it was still early, and the heat hadn't really set in yet. I did go for it, and I finished with a 20:01 - about as fast as I've done in the last couple years - I did a 20:01 last fall as well. I had some time so I ran a couple miles with my friends in between the two races. By the time the 10k got going it was sizzling hot - well into the 80s. A seven minute per mile pace would've been nice, but I couldn't even manage that. I did 44:30 - not the greatest - but at least it was a fairly steady pace on a tough course in tough conditions. I won the geezer age division in both races. It was great to see all my MCRR friends out there!

The next morning I found myself driving to a race with Ladd once again. We picked Matt up and drove out to North Canton. I'd been telling the guys that I always do the 2-mile as a warmup for the 5, and Ladd and I did this once again. I joked that the second mile of the 2-mile is always my best mile of the day, beating any of my miles for the 5-mile actual race. We started the 2-mile several minutes late because of a long restroom line. After a few minutes we began to catch the slower runners. After about 9 1/2 minutes we hit the 1-mile mark. A few minutes later we started to think about the start of the 5-mile. I don't know why, but I had it in my head that we had gobs of time. Turned out that we had five minutes. Given that the distance to the finish was about 3/4 mile, we were in for some speedwork.

"On your mark, get set, boom." Ladd and I had just sprinted 3/4 mile, and were about to get into the line when we heard those words. Totally spent from my speedwork, I tried to get going at a steady pace. I suppose I did so. Too bad that steady pace was, once again, so darn slow. Once again I couldn't even manage seven minute miles after that 1/2 race. The heat and humidity were unbelievable. I finished in just under 36 minutes.

So there are a few isolated flashes of brilliance among some very slow racing. A little more consistency would be nice, but for now I'll take what I can get.

Felt Like I Was Gonna Puke

You know the feeling. You haven't done serious speedwork for a while. You've raced some, but mostly at longer distances. Then you try to introduce some speed into the equation. Add in the fact that this is during a period of time where the heat and humidity is really starting to settle in.

The Tuesday speed sessions at the track have seemed grueling, especially in the heat. Then there was that hot 10K I did with Ladd a week and a half ago. I really did feel like puking at that one.

This week started even a bigger push. After some fairly slow running during our trip to the Finger Lakes, I did mile intervals on my own Monday, followed by a tempo run Tuesday morning, followed by another tempo run Tuesday night as part of the weekly speedwork. I took today off, and tomorrow should be fairly easy running Chuck and Lillian's farewell run and party. Then comes more races: Wadsworth Friday night and Green Saturday morning.

I've also registered for the Twin Sizzler 5K AND 10K on the fourth, followed by North Canton on the fifth.

So many opportunities to run poorly! Or at least until I feel like...

Another Dam 50K Run

It's something like mile 6 of the first loop, and I'm dying. Ladd had set out at a very fast, it seemed to me, pace, and I simply couldn't keep up. I'd been soaked with sweat from the high humidity since mile two, and now we were running through another section of wall-to-wall, thick, deep mud. Between huffs and puffs, I try to tell Ladd to go ahead and leave me. He stubbornly eases up a bit so that I can (barely) continue to keep up, replying that he won't leave me.

Soon we finish the first of four 7.9 mile loops in 68 minutes, and have a breather at the start/finish aid station. Once again I implore Ladd: "Go on without me. I'm just having a bad day today, and simply can't keep this pace up. Don't know if I can finish at all." He continues to insist that we can run together, even if it's slow.

After hanging around a minute or two longer than we should have, we start the second loop. I start very slowly, but within a mile or so, I'm feeling and running much better. Maybe it had something to do with the energy gel, caffeine, electrolytes or gatorade. By the time we reach the middle part of the second loop, I'm running as fast as ever, and feeling just fine. Now Ladd is having to keep up. Even with the slow start, we finish the second loop in 69 minutes.

I'm feeling more and more confident and strong after another couple minutes at the aid station. I start loop three at a fast pace. My theory is that I should go as fast as possible on the parts of the course that are runnable. There are plenty that aren't. Although the mud doesn't seem to get any worse (I'd thought that it would), it certainly isn't getting any better either. The humidity is high, but since there is no sun, it never feels too very hot. Although there have been a couple raindrops, the rain seems to be holding off. The best part is that I'm feeling and running so well. I wish I could understand why and how I could feel so lousy one minute, and so together the next. It's fun to see the other runners, especially Marsha and Charles at a couple points. Ladd is still having a slight amount of difficulty keeping up, but he's still in there with me. It seems best if I stay in the lead however.

The time for loop three is 70 minutes. Once again we spend another couple minutes getting ourselves together before starting loop four. Now we're both starting to feel the accumulated miles in our legs. We slow it down just a bit. All we need to do is get through this one. We pass by the main aid station the first time and see Marsha! Ladd gives her a big smooch and we continue on our journey. Now the hills and mud are getting tougher for me. Ladd takes the lead for the first time in a while. I try mightily to keep up. With about three miles to go, Ladd begins to pull away. I reach the aid station again, and Ladd had already left. That's ok; there are only two miles to go now.

I run slower and slower. I'd come close to falling in the mud about three times, and I'm not going to let it happen now. A time of 4:50, my time at Green Jewel this year, and the time that I think is my best, has been out of the question for a while now. At this point I can beat 5 hours if I just continue running. I do. My finishing time is 4:56.

That last loop was by far the slowest: 1:19. Ladd had finished a minute ahead of me. We ask if I'm the first Grand Master and are told that I am. It turned out later that I wasn't. This isn't too big a deal; there are no prizes or anything. Marsha finishes in a very good time, and was smiling the whole way. Charles had a very rough patch on his third loop, but did well to finish.

Ultrarunners like to play a little joke on their uninitiated "normal" running friends. "Ultras are much easier than marathons," they say. "You run at a much slower pace, and the runs are usually on soft trails that are easy on your body." The they go off and laugh their heads off every time someone naively believes them.

The ride back from Dayton is an uncomfortable one. The four of us talk about the run the whole time. It had been Marsha and Charles' first ultra, and they are justifiably proud. Ladd had also run his best time. And I'm pretty happy myself. I'm mostly happy that it's over!

For My Next Trick...

It's Another Dam 50K. I entered at the last moment after a severe bout of peer pressure from Ladd. Marsha and Charles are also going. The reasons for my procrastination are many, but two of the bigger ones are: a) I've had a heckofa time recovering after the Emerald Necklace 100K, and b) It's kind've dumb to run a 50K when I'm trying so hard to get faster for these shorter races. But I've never been accused of being the sharpest tack in the box.

The recovery has indeed been slow. I don't know why this surprised me - it was, after all, a very long way. And that run came only a week after the Cleveland Marathon. After a perfectly awful week, I celebrated Memorial Day weekend with an extremely slow 10K in Wooster on Saturday, followed by 22 Hilly Hinckley miles on Sunday, and 15 Towpath Miles on Monday. Through it all, I was finally beginning to feel like a runner again. Tuesday and Wednesday of this week were at least as good. I finally had a decent speedwork session with 6 x 800 on Tuesday, and did my 12-mile run to and around North park today.

Now I've got to settle myself down for this here 50K. I'm duly scared.

Why I Do This

The other night the Medina County Road Runners honored me with an award for completing my 100th race of marathon length or longer. It was a very nice event, and very special to me; much more than I thought it would be.

After Lisa gave me the award, I mentioned that for me, setting a tough goal for myself and actually achieving that in something so tough as a marathon happened very infrequently, but that that small percentage of cases made it all worthwhile. I realized last night that there is something else that's least as important: having friends and 'running family' like everyone in the MCRR, along with Dave and Debbie who also showed up. In fact, they make it all worthwhile more than anything!

Bugs, Sweat and Fears: the Journey of Gnatty Dan (at the Emerald Necklace 100K)

I was the Emerald Necklace 100K organizer and race director, so I'd sure as heck better finish the darn thing. But it was pretty tough out there. The on and off rain wasn't bad, but the humidity and the clouds of bugs were. It turns out that the combination of sweat, rain and bugs is not so nice for the eyes. By the time I finished, I was covered with unhappy gnats.

The first half wasn't too bad. I was joined for much of it by Dave, and even Amy, whom I hadn't seen in months. The second half, heading up to Rocky River, was much tougher. The miles and the humidity were taking their toll.

It was good to see Debbie and Kathy at the Rocky River turnaround. I got my pbj sandwich, turned back, and then it *really* got tough. The clouds of gnats didn't help. I was slowing down further and further, wondering if I'd have to walk, when something wonderful happened: Ladd showed up.

He parked his scooter and ran the final 9.5 slow miles with me. They were really, really slow, but they would've been much slower still, had I not had the company.

I finished in 10:47. This is in between my two other 100K times of 10:25 and 10:59. I'm now pretty sore and beat up. My next run is going to be a painful one.

Number 100

There was some amount of fear and trepidation (can there be one without the other?) as I lined up for the Cleveland Marathon. Twenty-six miles is a long way no matter how you slice it. I enjoyed seeing the sights of my home town. I enjoyed the crowds cheering me on, and the perfect marathon weather. I responded by running better than expected for much of the race. At eighteen miles I felt so good that I picked up the pace even more. At twenty-two miles, I was almost completely shot. I hobbled in with a time of 3:04 and they placed me in the medical tent. My wife, Debbie found me there. I said, not for the last time, “Never again”.








The date was May 14, 1978. It was the first Revco Cleveland Marathon, and it was also my very first marathon. Here I am coming in, just before they took me into the medical tent.












On May 16, 2010, I lined up for the Cleveland Marathon. It’s now sponsored by a different pharmacy, and the course has changed completely. I wasn’t quite as fearful as that other time, but I still had a few butterflies. Twenty-six miles is still a long way. I enjoyed the sights of my home town and the magnificent marathon weather. I saw, and ran with, some friends, including Ladd, whom I ran with for most of the way. We sauntered past the RR HOF, GL Science Center, Browns Stadium, across the Hope Bridge, through the Tremont, Ohio City, and Edgewater neighborhoods before going by Edgewater Park. We returned on the Shoreway, coming back into the Warehouse district. This was just the first half. We then ran east along the lake and into the wind for much of the second half. It was a relief to turn out of the wind and into beautiful Rockefeller Park. I thoroughly enjoyed the different ethnic gardens. We emerged from the park and onto St. Clair Avenue at mile 21. At this point Ladd was hurting a bit and needed to ease up on the pace. He told me to go ahead and I did. I only hoped that he’d make it, perhaps with the help of some pacing friends. Although it felt like I was picking up the pace, in fact I was only maintaining it. But this was fine. Overall, I ran better than expected with a good solid pace, even in the last few tough miles.




I finished with a time of 3:13 and change. It was my best marathon time in a few years. At this point it appears that this may be good enough for second in my age group. I saw many more of my friends after the race, including training partners Debbie Scheel and Dave Gajewski. Ladd accomplished his goal. Of course we all congratulated one another. I must say that these races are more fun now than ever. I also must say that I absolutely love the Cleveland Marathon. For some reason, many local runners don’t share my views. It would be nice if they did, but I can’t seem to change their minds. That’s Ok.


























In between that first one and this last one, there have been exactly ninety-eight other races of marathon length or longer. It’s strange that I have several friends who have probably run this many or more, but who have not bothered to keep track of them. That’s fine, but I’m happy that I have managed to keep track of all of mine. This observation makes any celebration and congratulatory remarks do seem a bit surreal however. I’ll take all the praise and congratulations anyway, thank you.

Here is the list. To be exact, there have been 87 marathons and 13 ultramarathons.
Marathons:

Number Marathons I've Run Date Age Time
1 Revco Cleveland 5/14/1978 25 3:04
2 Athens 4/5/1981 27 3:21
3 Athens 4/10/1983 29 3:23
4 Detroit Free Press 10/16/1987 34 3:16
5 Sy Mah 3/27/1988 34 3:12
6 Chicago 10/30/1988 35 3:33
7 Sy Mah 3/19/1989 35 3:10
8 Revco Cleveland 5/21/1989 36 2:59
9 Scotty Hanton 9/2/1989 36 3:25
10 Detroit Free Press 10/15/1989 36 3:01
11 Boston 4/16/1990 36 3:19
12 Revco Cleveland 5/19/1991 38 3:16
13 Scotty Hanton 8/31/1991 38 3:29
14 Detroit Free Press 10/20/1991 38 3:05
15 New York 11/3/1991 38 3:27
16 Glass City 4/12/1992 38 3:29
17 Revco Cleveland 5/17/1992 39 3:23
18 Scotty Hanton 9/5/1992 39 2:59
19 Detroit Free Press 10/18/1992 39 3:03
20 Boston 4/19/1993 39 3:50
21 Ohio/Michigan 7/11/1993 40 3:24
22 Scotty Hanton 9/4/1993 40 3:01
23 Detroit Free Press 10/17/1993 40 3:01
24 Ohio/Michigan 7/10/1994 41 2:58
25 Scotty Hanton 9/4/1994 41 3:23
26 Boston 4/17/1995 41 3:04
27 Scotty Hanton 9/3/1995 42 2:59
28 Detroit Free Press 10/15/1995 42 2:59
29 Boston 4/15/1996 42 3:16
30 Ohio/Michigan 7/14/1996 43 2:58
31 Scotty Hanton 9/2/1996 43 3:21
32 Toe to Tow 10/13/1996 43 2:59
33 Detroit Free Press 10/20/1996 43 3:17
34 Boston 4/21/1997 43 3:05
35 Ohio/Michigan 7/13/1997 44 3:05
36 Scotty Hanton 8/31/1997 44 3:24
37 Air Force 9/20/1997 44 3:29
38 Detroit Free Press 10/19/1997 44 3:08
39 Scotty Hanton 9/7/1998 45 3:04
40 Chicago 10/11/1998 45 3:05
41 Detroit Free Press 10/18/1998 45 3:22
42 Honolulu 12/13/1998 45 3:14
43 Boston 4/19/1999 45 3:16
44 Bayshore 5/29/1999 46 3:06
45 Scotty Hanton 9/5/1999 46 3:11
46 Detroit Free Press 10/17/1999 46 3:24
47 Austin Motorola 2/20/2000 46 3:12
48 Glass City 4/16/2000 46 3:13
49 CVS Cleveland 4/29/2000 46 3:07
50 Eriesistable 9/10/2000 47 3:38
51 Towpath 10/15/2000 47 3:06
52 Martian Marathon 3/31/2001 47 3:23
53 CVS Cleveland 4/29/2001 47 3:09
54 GCM Cleveland 5/6/2001 48 3:23
55 Towpath 10/13/2001 48 3:19
56 Ocala 2/3/2002 48 3:19
57 CVS Cleveland 4/29/2002 48 3:14
58 Detroit Free Press 10/6/2002 49 3:04
59 Columbus 10/20/2002 49 3:09
60 Boston 4/21/2003 49 3:17
61 Green Bay 5/18/2003 50 3:12
62 Columbus 10/19/2003 50 3:12
63 Ocala 2/1/2004 50 3:20
64 Martian Marathon 3/27/2004 50 3:15
65 Rite Aid Cleveland 4/25/2004 50 3:10
66 Towpath 10/10/2004 51 3:15
67 Detroit Free Press 10/24/2004 51 3:18
68 Boston 4/19/2005 51 3:32
69 Rite Aid Cleveland 5/22/2005 52 3:18
70 Tahoe Triple Day 1 10/6/2005 52 3:42
71 Tahoe Triple Day 2 10/7/2005 52 3:49
72 Tahoe Triple Day 3 10/8/2005 52 3:58
73 Huntington Marathon 11/13/2005 52 3:12
74 Boston 4/17/2006 52 3:09
75 Columbus 10/15/2006 53 3:18
76 Rite Aid Cleveland 5/21/2007 54 3:22
77 Chicago 10/7/2007 54 3:35
78 Inland Trail 11/4/2007 54 3:14
79 Prague International 5/11/2008 55 3:28
80 Erie 9/14/2008 55 3:28
81 Towpath 10/12/2008 55 3:21
82 Inland Trail 11/2/2008 55 3:17
83 Rite Aid Cleveland 5/17/2009 56 3:35
84 Towpath 10/11/2009 56 3:25
85 Inland Trail 11/1/2009 56 3:20
86 Boston 4/19/2010 56 3:17
87 Rite Aid Cleveland 5/16/2010 57 3:13




Ultramarathons:
Number Ultras I've Run Date Time
1 Olander Park 24 hour (51) 1992 39 51 miles
2 MI Fat Ass 50 (50K) 1995 42 5 hours
3 Roadkill 6 hour (28) 1996 43 28 miles
4 Roadkill 6 hour (32) 1997 44 32 miles
5 Mohican 100 2001 48 26.5 hours
6 Chicago Lakeshore 50 2002 49 8.5 hours
7 Buckeye Trail 50K 2004 50 6.5 hours
8 JFK 50 2007 54 8.5 hours
9 Green Jewel 100K 5/3/2008 55 10.5 hours
10 Green Lakes Endurance 100K 8/30/2009 56 11 hours
11 Run with Scissors 27.5 Mi 10/25/2009 56 5:35
12 Freedom Park 24-Hour 12/31/2009 56 93.66miles
13 Green Jewel 50K 3/6/2010 56 4:50

Concrete and Strip-malls and Four-lanes, Oh My

Run 1
I step out of the Fairfield for my not-so-early morning run. I go past the Home Depot, past the Best Buy, past the Cracker Barrel. I run alongside the Walmart, the Toys R Us, the Sams Club, the Fazoli’s. By the Red Lobster, the Applebees, the Menards, the Office Max, the Golden Corral. I turn onto the main road before hitting the Kohl’s and the Hobby Lobby. Next thing I know, I’m out on the busy four-lane highway. You’d think that with all this concrete, they could’ve found some for making a few sidewalks.

This could be Anywhere, USA. In fact, it’s Council Bluffs, Iowa, just across the Missouri from Omaha, Nebraska. I’m taking it fairly easy this week, trying to take my own tapering advice. The older and probably wiser tapering advice, that is. The tapering advice that says you should actually do a taper. The Cleveland Marathon, you see, is looming.

Interlude: More on (or moron) Tapering
As part of my tapering regimen, I only ran 81 miles last week. This is true, but it’s also a tiny bit misleading – most of those miles were accumulated during the previous Sunday’s 28 and Tuesday’s 24. The rest of the week was easier. Except, that is, for the Friday night 5k in Medina, where I saw all my friends and ran 20:40, which was about as expected. And also except for Saturday’s 14-mile run on the towpath with Debbie, Dave, Brad, Dan and a couple others. 14 miles wouldn’t have been so bad, unless you race them like Dave and I did.

After all that, and after a nice Saturday night dinner with Rita and George, I was determined to take it easier on Sunday. And I did, a little. I ran the big Hinckley loop once with Debbie, and then only most of the way with the rest of the bunch, winding up with 17. That’s a little better than 28. I also wanted to get finished in time to pick Mom up, take her to Mother’s Day Brunch at Thyme with Debbie, Carol and Dave, and then get to the airport for my flight.

Run 1 Continued
So today would be an easy run. It’s just too bad that the environment doesn’t favor running. After a mile or so, the four-lane changes to two-lane, and then dead-ends at a lake. I’d seen this on a map, so I wasn’t totally clueless about where I was headed. I start going clockwise around the lake and manage another mile or so before realizing that I’d better head back. I do some pick-ups along the way.

I’m calling this run a seven miler. As the week goes on, I’ll get some other runs in, where for some I’ll actually make it all the way around the lake.

Run 2
This time I’m gonna make it around the lake or die tryin. Gmap Pedometer told me it’s only about 4.7 miles around, so with the mile to and from the lake I should get a bit short of 8 miles in. I really want to get well over 10 miles in, so maybe I’ll take a detour or two – maybe even over to the Missouri River.

Heading out of the hotel an hour earlier, I ought to have plenty of time for this longish-run-to-be. Foul weather is predicted for today, but it’s dry so far. About three minutes into the run I feel the first raindrops. At least it’s not raining too hard. I hate a cold drenching rain. Six minutes or so into the run it’s pouring. At least there’s no lightning. I hate running in thunderstorms. Nine minutes into the run I’m ducking for cover. I’d seen a few distant flashes of lightning, but now it seemed to be all around me. I hesitate to say that at least it’s not hailing or tornadoing.

Turning back isn’t an option. I need to get this run in, dang it. Maybe it’ll subside. I keep running around the lake. The rain and lightning isn’t subsiding. I feel like I’m sprinting through this storm, but now that I know the distances, I calculate that I’m only doing eight and a half minute miles.

I manage to get around the lake and back to the hotel. I’m freezing from the cold downpour and still ducking from the lightning. I’m not gonna get ten in (it’s barely eight), but that will have to do. At least I made it around the lake.

Run 3
This time I have enough time to run a decent amount of mileage. And this time there doesn’t appear to be any kind of storm looming. So I head south toward Lake Manawa once again. I huff and puff and go as fast as I can to the south end of the lake, which I know is 4 miles. 32 minutes and change; felt like faster. Instead of continuing the lake circuit, I turn south and run a short distance to the Missouri River. I’d had thoughts of running along it for a short, or possibly long while. There are some trails, but they appear to be muddy from last yesterday’s deluge.

I head back toward the road, but before I reach it I take a paved bike trail that goes on through the woods to the west. That trail goes on and on and on. I believe I had been on it for well over 4 miles before I hit a road crossing.

I take the road back east, taking one more detour towards the lake. By the time I get back to the hotel, I’ve got enough time in to call it 12 miles. Not bad.

If/when I return, I certainly have many more trails, both asphalt and dirt, to explore in these parts. Western Iowa ain’t all concrete, and therefore is not so bad after all.

A Little Too Long? The Tale of Two Twenties

I mean 20-plus-ers. In fact, these 27 milers are killing me. Actually, last week's wasn't so bad, but this week's was a bit tough. The difference? Last week's long run was after a day of rest; this week's was the day after the Hudson Race for the Parks 15K.

Last week's run began with 3 loops around Hinckley Lake. Then I did two of the big 9+ mile loops with everyone else. It went swimmingly well. On Tuesday I hit the track and did Yasso's - 10 x 800 in about 3:15 or so. Now *that* was a tough workout. Of course there were a few other runs during the week, but I thought I was fairly well rested going into the 15K.

On the other hand, I suppose maybe the long run and the speedwork were still in my old legs. Whatever the excuse, the 15K did not go well. The first 3 were mostly uphill, but I held a decent enough pace, all things considering. The next 3 miles were on mostly uphill trails through a nice park. I didn't mind slowing down some, but was surprised by how much. The last three miles were back on the roads, and they were mostly uphill (see the trend here?). I thought I'd pick the pace back up, but despite my most fervent efforts, could only manage 7 minute miles. I finished in 65 minutes and change. Pretty darn bad indeed.

The funny thing is that I didn't feel all that horrible for Sunday's run. I did all three big Hinckley loops this time, and at least they were fairly consistent. Not particularly fast, just consistent.

That will be my last really long run before Cleveland. Or will it?

My Final Boston Marathon

It's a hassle. It's costly. It's painful and difficult. It's also spectacular, exciting and exhilarating; an experience like no other on the planet. Now that I've done ten Boston Marathons, I don't feel the need to put myself through this cost vs benefit analysis any further. It's truly wonderful to enjoy the Boston experience with friends- old ones like Dave G., and newer ones who were also first-timers, like Dan, Debbie F., and Debbie S. I must say that I got a lot of satisfaction from helping some of those folks get there and get around. Would I be pretentious if I called myself the coach/tour guide of the group?

Debbie Scheel and I more or less traveled to Beantown together. She was nervous about leaving her family and traveling so far to run this little race. I did my best to help reassure her. We met up with Debbie Fernandez and some other runners. Just getting settled in was tiring. I arranged a Saturday night dinner for about 13 of us, and that turned out very nice. I had the chance to talk quite a bit with J.B. and Matt Young. Dave Gajewski came in later that night.

Dave and I ran along the Charles River Sunday morning, meeting Debbie and Debbie along the way. After running across a bridge, we somehow made an unplanned appearance on Boylston Street and checked out the finish line. Then we found Dan, Heather and Bailey DeRosha as Heather was about to run the 5k race. After watching the start of the huge 5K race, we indulged Dave. Poor guy has a terrible addiction to Dunkin Donuts.


It would have made too much sense to walk right back to the expo after Dunk's, but alas. We didn't have our ID's and pickup cards. So we had to take the T to the hotel and come back once again. A failure to plan is a plan to fail.

The expo was as crazy as ever, except more so. Expecting to go to the official pasta dinner, I ate every sample I could whilst wandering around the expo. Most of those samples are pretty darn weird, so I probably should have been more careful. But then I've never been accused of being the sharpest pencil in the box, especially when free food is concerned. Of course everyone else was a bit wiser concerning taking in all the strange foodstuffs, but then wound up hungry afterwards. So we went through the rain over to Quincy Market to check out Cheers, meet up with the DeRosha's and get a bite. But then, to my slight disappointment, no one wanted to go to the pasta dinner. Oh well, I've survived bigger disappointments. But I should add that a failure to plan is... I forgot the rest.

Boston Harbor was pretty cool, both literally and figuratively. Even though we knew we were spending too much time on our feet, we did walk over there to check it out. Then it was crash time. We put our feet up in a hotel lobby for a couple hours before heading back to Debbie and Debbie's place.

Debbie Scheel had managed to Con Dan into driving in with an entire supermarket's worth of food. So of course Dave and Dan H. were all too happy to help relieve Debbie of some of this burden.

Debbie Fernandez was hurting mightily. She had just re-inflamed a previous lower-leg injury, and had us all worried about her chances at the Marathon. Would she even make it to the start, never mind the finish?

Debbie F. also had some other news. A friend of hers had offered us the use of his brownstone apartment that was only a couple blocks from the finish. She'd only just heard about this and it was too late for anyone to cancel hotel rooms. This apartment, however, was the answer to a conundrum we'd been trying to solve: how and where to pick up our belongings and clean up after the race whilst getting to the airport on time.

At about 5:45am, after Dave got his morning oatmeal, he, Dan and I nabbed a taxi to take us first to Debbie and Debbie's place to drop off our stuff. They would then take it, along with their own stuff to the brownstone when the gentleman picked them up. They had a later start and therefore later buses, so that's why they traveled separately. Then the taxi took us to the bus loading area near Boston Commons.

Twenty-Six miles is a long way to run. It's also a long way to drive in a school bus. As usual, it took us over an hour to get to Hopkinton, but seemed like much longer. At least no fellow runners were drinking pickle juice this time.

Then it was the wait at the Athlete's Village in Hopkinton. Come to think of it, I think it would be best to just summarize all the waiting on Monday Marathon Morning:

wait for Dave to finish oatmeal
wait for taxi
wait for taxi to arrive at Boston Common
wait for bus to the start
wait for the bus to arrive at Hopkinton
wait in the porta-john line at Athlete's Village
wait for a pre-race massage
wait in another porta-john line at Athlete's Village
wait to be called to walk to the start from Athlete's Village
wait in another porta-john line at the start area
wait in the corral for the starting gun
wait to begin moving after the gun goes off (it took about 4 minutes to arrive at the start)

Oh yes. The race. As always, it was a 26-mile long moving party. The weather was absolutely perfect: holding in the fifties with light breezes that were generally at our backs. It never became a headwind later in the race as in other years. It was partly cloudy at the start, but then became more and more cloudy as the day wore on. So other than all the aforementioned hassles, there would be no excuses.

I tried not to go too crazy on those early downhills; all my mile splits were over 7 minutes, some some were in the low sevens. It doesn't take long for the old body to start hurting in Boston. This time it began to occur between 5 and 10 miles. My brand new Lunarfly shoes were indeed cushioning the blows, but I was still starting to hurt. And the mile splits began to show that, although only by a few seconds.

Wellesley College was as great as ever. "Kiss me, I'm Underage", "Kiss me, I'm a Senior", "Kiss me, I'm from Texas", were just a couple of the signs. I always get a lift from those girls. Just after a brief pit-stop, I passed half-way mark in 1:38 or so. I was still on 7:30 pace, but had been hurting more and more, and still slowing ever so slightly.

But something funny happened after that porta-john stop, and after I took a gel. I started to feel better and I started to run faster again. Not all that much faster - I was mostly just not slowing any further. That, however, is a good thing going into the Newton Hills. Mile 20 to 21, which includes Heartbreak Hill, was the slowest of the bunch at just under 8 minutes. And I was feeling pretty darn good again.

Like the early miles, those from 21 to 26 are mostly downhill. Time to put the hammer down and go for it. The funny thing is, I did. Once again, I didn't speed up a whole lot - the miles were now mostly just a bit better than 7:30 - but it *felt* like I was flying.

I caught up with Dan at about mile 23 or 24. We ran together a bit, but then he told me to go ahead and I did. The finish on Boylston Street was as spectacular and exciting as ever. I sprinted as best I could. My time was 3:17:05. Just after I crossed the line, they announced that Gelindo Bordin had also just finished, so I can say I beat an Olympic Champion. He had won the 1988 Olympic Marathon, and the 1990 Boston Marathon, which was also my first.

Yeah, it was pretty darn exhilarating. Worth all the hassles. But now there was another one: getting stuff, meeting with friends, finding and getting to the brownstone, getting cleaned up, getting to the airport. I managed it all somehow, and flew home with Debbie.

What a great weekend. It was wonderful to be with my friends and it was wonderful to run that great race once again. But now I've had enough of it. I not only don't need the hassle of this huge race anymore, I really don't need the hassle of any mega-race anymore.

Spring Classic Half Marathon and Other Stories

Bob was ahead of me, and Ladd and Chuck were behind. Would I be able to catch Bob? Would Chuck and Ladd catch me? Such were the Big Questions being asked at Saturday's Spring Classic Half Marathon.

Based on my conviction that tapering is overrated, I ran hard last weekend - doing gobs of hills at Hinckley both Saturday and Sunday. These runs were followed up by 15 Monday, 10, including a tempo run Tuesday morning along with speedwork Tuesday night. Now I did take it easier for the next couple days, and I even took Friday off. I was actually feeling mighty decent as I lined up Saturday morning.

It was cold early on, but as the sun began to heat things up I felt warmer and warmer. I even threw down my arm sleeves, hat and gloves as I went by Dan that first time around. I really like this race because the double out and back allows everyone to see everyone else, as well as to go by the start/finish in the middle of the race. And that's how I knew that Bob wasn't too far ahead and that Ladd and Chuck were not too far behind. I was trying hard to run easy and relaxed, but somehow things were still fairly difficult.

I never caught Bob. Chuck and Ladd never caught me. I stayed at about the same pace for the entire race, despite an attempt at a strong finish. My time was 1:30:50 or thereabouts. This was almost exactly the same time as I had last fall on this course. That time I was second in my age group; this time I was first.

My friends from the Medina County Roadrunners were out in force. It was great to see so many of them do so well. It's what running and racing are all about.

Next up is Boston. After this Saturday race I ran 20 on Sunday at hilly Hinckley. Taking Monday off and then doing speedwork Tuesday. Other than that, it'll be an easy week.

Running in Connecticut

Barry and Veronica's last place in Norwalk eventually turned out to be not too bad a running location. I never found any real parks, but the hilly neighborhoods were decent. Barry and Veronica recently moved to Trumbull, and we visited for the first time. (Their new big house is quite nice, by the way - I have dubbed it, "Potential".) Now it was time to plot some new running courses.

On Friday I decided to try to get to the high school track. I'd located it in Google maps, but wasn't entirely sure I could remember the route correctly. It was up to Church Hill Rd, then down to Daniel's Farm Rd, then up, up, up to the school area. Once near the schools I became a little disoriented in the cold rain, and, as it turned out, ran right by the stadium and kept going. I found a decent bike trail and wound up doing a couple more miles before I circled back and found the track. It was *open* - what a pleasant surprise. By this time I only had time and energy left for 3 x 1600, but at least I did something of substance. And the best news is that now I know where to find an open (for now) track.

Saturday would be trail day. After some further Googling, I found a trail very close to home. It's called the Housatonic Rails-Trail / Pequannock Valley Greenway. It's a wonderful trail - hard packed crushed limestone with a very pretty creek along the side. And the start was only a very short mile away. The trail head is just off Church Hill Rd. The trail goes on for 3.4 miles to another park. I went on even a bit more from there before heading back. It felt good to pick the pace up for those latter 5.

Considering these runs and a few additional parks and trails that also seem to be nearby, I have to say that this part of Connecticut is outstanding for running. For this reason, and maybe a couple others (like visiting my daughter, son-in-law and grandson-to-be), we'll need to visit more often.

Just one other thing. That makes ninety (that's a nine, followed by a zero) miles for the week. I've done that much before a couple times, but I think those were all weeks that included an ultra of some sort; this week it was simply a lot of training miles. I'll try to ratchet it back down to only 70 to 80 next week. What I really need is quality, but that's another story.

Atonement

Tuesday is track day. With it being in the evening, for some reason I become intimidated about it - thinking about it all day. Yesterday I was ready... but wound up having to work during the designated track time. And after all that anticipation... What to do? Run longer today (Wednesday), of course.

Longer meant doing 24 on the Lester Rail Trail. That's Atonement with a capital A. I've done the 4 x 6-mile loop many times, but not recently at all. It went slow, but steady. I like to be able to run each 6-mile segment faster than the previous one. I did manage that today, but it was really quite slow.

All those miles on my old legs hasn't helped my speed much just yet. It was another busy weekend. Since we didn't go to Connecticut due to Kathy's surgery (it went fine, by the way), I had no excuse not to run. Along with various friends, I did 16 at hilly Hinckley on Saturday, and then 22 at the same location on Buzzard Sunday. That's a lot of hills and a lot of miles. But it's actually even less than the previous couple weekends.

Maybe these 70 and 80 mile weeks, not to mention all these Hinckley hills, will pay off someday. One can only hope.

A Dangerous Affair

Of course this is about my efforts towards increasing intensity and volume whilst reducing weight, all at the same time. Any other kind of dangerous affair would be more than dangerous for me. The word, deadly, comes to mind.

After that trip and upper respiratory illness, it's been a long, tough road back, so to speak. Yes, Green Jewel went OK, but I'm sure I could have done better had I been in any kind of shape at all. So of course I'm trying to do everything at once, and therefore none of it very well. OK, I suppose I do have my mileage back up. The 70-mile or thereabouts weeks are back. The last few have been 60, 80 (including the Jewel) and 69. The battle of the bulge is so-so. I have lost a bit, but still have a long way to go before I'm back down to racing weight.

It's the speed that scares me. This is, of course, because it kills. That is to say that it's tough, but also that it is more associated with illness and injury than pure volume. On the other hand, I haven't been doing too much just yet - some 1200's on the treadmill, and one track workout so far. The track workouts, however, are only beginning. We plan to be out there every Tuesday evening, just like last year.

Since the weather's been so much nicer, I've been able to keep off the mill and on the roads. And that's a good thing. And speaking of volume, I got a lot of it over the weekend: 19 on Saturday on the Valley Parkway (which looked much different with no snow than it had the previous week) with an all-Boston training group - Dan, Debbie, Debbie, J.B., Jess, Pat. I finished fast in order to get to the store on time. On Sunday we did the usual Hinckley training group run. This time there were only about six of us, but it went well. I did the big 9+ mile loop, and 4 lake loops that I declared had to be 3.14 miles each in honor of pi day.

Today's attempt at 15 turned into 10 due to general fatigue. The only reason I felt compelled to try 15 was that it's the Ides of March, and you just *have* to do fifteen on the Ides. Hey, wait a minute: I really did do 15 kilometers... and a bit more...

Green Jewel 50k

It's been two years since my Green Jewel 100k run. I missed last year's event because I was out of town. No such excuse this year. The 100k option was removed after the first year. I can understand some of the reasons why, but I still would've preferred that distance. 50k is just too short. Or so I thought.

I started with Ladd and Chuck, and also ran some early miles with Tim McGinty and Joe Salwan. Nice company, all. Dan DeRosha was our crew, and Suzanne had also come along to run. That start was a cold one - it was in the low 20s. As the sun rose, the temperature did too, eventually reaching 40 or so by the time I finished.

As always, the run takes place primarily on the all-purpose trail through the Cleveland Metroparks. Those parks have to be the best anywhere. Their beauty on this cold day, with snow piled everywhere except the path and the roads, was unsurpassed. In fact, there were a few places where there was snow and ice on the trail, but that didn't slow us down much.

After about 12 to 15 miles, I got ahead of the other guys, and would wind up running the rest alone. The wonderful aid stations were about 5 miles apart, but even so, it was great to have Dan as our crew. I was able to take my weird Vitargo mixture, and it certainly didn't hurt.

I ran a fairly steady 9-minute or so pace. I tried to not waste too much time at the aid stations, but there was indeed some time lost there. I believe I passed the marathon distance at something on the order of four hours. Just a little while later I crossed Broadview Road, and I knew it was all downhill from there. I did my best to pick it up and finish strong. As it turned out, I did pick it up a bit, with those last five miles faster than 9 minute pace. In the process, I passed some other runners, and no one passed me. Except for Chuck. He had picked it up even more, and passed me with about 3 to go.

I finished in 4 hours, 50 minutes. That isn't too bad, but two years ago I think I came through this point in about the same time, and went on to run another 50k!!! Such a thing simply wouldn't have been very possible Saturday. I was something like 19th, which means that 18 or so people were faster on this day. Oh well - I'm still happy with it.

For some odd reason, I was able to get up again on Sunday morning and do the Sunday Hinckley run thing. It was a slow one, but sometimes I amaze myself.

Hit the Ground Running

That was the thought as I returned home from Egypt. As I'd expected, the running there was not what I was used to in terms of running volume or quality. I was OK with this; I'd been due for an easy week or two. But now it was time to get serious once again. Time to get back up to 70 miles per week, with some more quality thrown in. That's where I'd been before the trip. Getting back at it shouldn't be a problem.

But it was a problem. Actually, it was several problems. The first morning I ran for an hour and a half and this went OK. The next day was a twenty-miler with Debbie, Debbie, Frank and Dave. We started slow and then tried to pick it up for the second half. Everything went fine for a while, until I crashed and burned big-time at about mile 17. This was tough to take. I did run alright the next day for the usual Sunday Hinckley run, but the damage had been done: the combination of sitting next to a lady with a bad cold on the plane for 8 hours, along with all that tough running landed me a cold too. A really bad one - the worst in years. This curtailed the running for last week such that I could only get 60 in, and most of that was of poor quality on the mill.

Of course there's the weighty issue of body weight. My racing weight last fall was around 157, give or take a pound. That crept up only a little during the holidays, and I was still under 160 for the Freedom Park 24-Hour Run. After this effort I did put on a couple more and was at about 163 when I left for Egypt. And when I returned, after all those buffets and poor running? 166! That's OK, thought I. After running and eating normally for a couple days, it should come right back down, right? It didn't, and a week later, I'm still at that same lofty (or should I say porky) level.

One other problem is the weather. Late February ought to be a time when things are at least beginning to get a little warmer, and maybe even thaw out a bit. But not THIS late February. We've been getting some snow, cold and wind almost every day, with a foot or so coming yesterday. I decided not to meet my friends this morning because I couldn't see risking my life just to drive to a place to run. Not to mention that the running itself would be less than ideal.

All this has kept me on the mill that much more. As I began to climb out of this bad cold I got in a pretty decent 15-miler on Thursday. And then I decided to make today a combination-type of run, and did 6 outside, fighting snow, slush and snowplows, followed by 14 inside, fighting boredom.

Suffice it to say that I've had better running months than February, 2010. I should add a "NOT!" as a suffix to this post's title. Tomorrow I'll be at Hinckley once again to lead the charge. Maybe things will begin to look better for me running-wise, but we shall see. Should be interesting.

There are a few other things happening. I haven't mentioned it in this blog yet, but Debbie and I are going to be grandparents. Veronica and Barry are due in August. This is exciting news, of course.

Brother Dave is having some health problems and is in the hospital at this time. He's had one major operation, and they're watching him for other problems.

Finally, I should mention that I'm writing a book about fixed-time and multi-day running, along with Lynn Newton. We've only just begun, but already it's been an interesting project.

Sunday Addendum: After cancelling the Hinckley run, I managed to get another twenty in today. This time it was nine outside (slower than ever due to still more snow), followed by eleven inside. The inside run was half-way decent this time. I'll take it.