What if Eleanor Roosevelt Could Fly?

Whilst on the Towpath during last Thursday’s early morning run, Dave hit me with a hypothetical query: what if I could no longer run? It was a good question, and it gave me pause. These types of questions also do something else to me: they remind me of a good old series of SNL skits based on extremely silly what-if hypothetical problems. Two that come to mind are, What if Eleanor Roosevelt Could Fly, and What if Napoleon had a Nuclear Bomb at the Battle of Waterloo?

For his part, Dave, good and serious runner that he is, would be just fine if he couldn’t run. Having a young family tends to help focus one’s priorities. Me? Oh, I’d be fine too. Running isn’t *that* big a part of my life.

I’d probably no longer work at the store, but that would be all right. The income is small, and I wouldn’t miss the friends I’ve made amongst my fellow workers and customers.

I would quit being involved with the Medina County Road Runners. No problem there. Oh, maybe I’d miss my many close friends there a little, but this still wouldn’t be a problem for me.

I would probably stop directing races, including NC24. This would give me lots of extra time and relieve me of some extraneous stress. I’d also no longer volunteer at races, freeing up even more time.

I’d have to find something else to do with my Saturday and Sunday mornings. This shouldn’t be a problem. I could start by sitting around and reading the paper. For that matter, I’d have to find something else to do with almost every early morning and maybe try sleeping in.

There would be no more racing every two or three weeks. I wouldn’t miss the competition and pressure to train and perform well at these events. And I wouldn’t miss seeing all my competitor friends at them. No, in fact I wouldn’t miss that competition at all.

Of course I wouldn’t have running to keep me in mental and physical shape. These are both of equal importance, and running is one of the best, if not *the* best thing for them. But I’d find alternatives. Sure.

Yeah, I would be fine if I could no longer run. Perhaps my life would be even better. Any more hypotheticals?

After last Thursday’s run, I ran Saturday morning with some of the usual bunch at Lock 29. We went south on the Towpath for a change, and wound up doing the 5-mile Perkins loop just ahead of the Bill’s Bad Ass 50K on the same course. What a blast that was?

Brian and Ginny came to visit Saturday and Sunday. I took Brian to Hinckley and we did the big loop together, a bit slower than the rest of the gang. More fun.

After two relatively easy weekend runs, I thought I’d be ready for a strong 11-mile training run on Monday. Think again. For reasons I can’t figure out, I failed to get down to tempo pace that morning. To atone, I hit the mill to do 3 miles at 6 minute pace, as I’d done last week. Monday night Connie, Ladd, Bob, Janet and I scouted trails at Buckeye Woods Park. I think we’ll be able to pull off an ultra there.

Tuesday was better: I did two tempo runs – four out of the six-mile loop, and then the entire Presidents three-mile loop.

What was that question again? What if I couldn’t run? I’d just ….. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Two Tempo Trots Today, Track Tonight

This was actually last Tuesday's Title (Hey, I could've prefaced the above title with "Tuesday's Title:"! But the point is that I've been running fairly hard lately. And based on the result at Stomp the Grapes, I think it's working. It's not that I'm running all that much faster - I still have terribly slow leg speed - I've just been doing more of my runs at a faster pace, including several tempo runs per week. Oh, I'm still taking rest days and getting occasional slow stinker runs. I will be trying hard to run next weekend's Fall Classic Half even faster than STG.

Other news:
1) I'm managing to survive without Debbie. But I don't like it. I think I said that right.
2) Brian and daughter Ginny are coming to visit tomorrow. It's been years.
3) My consulting work is picking up. In fact I've been downright busy lately.
4) There's most likely other non-running stuff going on in my life, but I can't for the life of me think of any of it right now.

Grapes Well Stomped

I don't know when or if I'd ever beaten Ron Legg before. Perhaps when he was injured; perhaps never at all. But I had begun to see him ahead of me between miles 10 and 11, and eventually overtook him a bit before the 12-mile mark. There were some big hills remaining, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to maintain my advantage, but I had been coming on strong since mile 10, and Ron looked to be slowing. We grunted good luck to each other as I went by, and I did manage to stay ahead, as I also passed a couple others.

Yes, I was having a good run at the 2010 Stomp the Grapes Half-Marathon. I had also been entertaining thoughts of breaking the 55-59 age group record of 1:27:4x. When I hit mile 12 in 1:21 flat, I thought there was still a very slight, itsy-bitsy possibility. Although I'd been running faster and faster, the last mile would need to be my fastest of all - a low 6 minutes, considering that the final point-1 would need to be factored in as well.

But then I hit the hills. They weren't that much worse in the last mile than anywhere else in the second half of the course, but they were enough to ensure that there would be no record in the geezer age group today. I finished in 1:28:25. Best in years, and good enough for First Grand Geez... I mean Grand Master. Not too shabby.

The race was high on the hassle factor scale: 12 noon start, being bussed to the start after the finish (and waiting a long time), having to arrive very early, etc., etc. But, the rewards were good: wine, good shirts, socks and a hat, and then a $25 gift certificate for my win. That would only buy me one bottle of wine and a bit of cheese, but that was better than nothing.

As always, the best part was the fun being with the MCRR folks. As usual, we had a good contingent, and you just can't beat the camaraderie. The icing on the cake? I beat my arch-rival Jan!

Okay, one more thing. I have to tell the story of the shoes. Connie came into work shortly after me on Friday. She tried on a pair of shoes that she had special ordered for herself, some Mizuno Ronin racing flats. They were much to big for her, and we realized that she'd ordered and received a men's and not a women's shoe - they are unisex sized. So of course I tried them on, and they fit perfectly.

I tried to pay Connie, and she wouldn't take the money. She said that if I could run a minute faster than my best 1/2 marathon of the year using the new shoes, she would allow me to pay her for them. What if I can't? "Then I'll just take them back," she said. Never mind that returns weren't allowed, I just wouldn't have deserved them. Also never mind that my incentive was kind've backward. Wouldn't I have tried harder to run fast if it would *save*, and not *cost me* money? Never mind. This was Connie logic at work.

With my 1:28, I did indeed earn the honor of paying for the shoes.

Stop the Fun!

Yes, the fun is getting to be too much for me. It needs to stop.

Last week Debbie and I "Hiked Ohio", by going to Mohican one day, and then to Hocking Hills and Salt Fork another couple days at the end of the week. Wonderful hiking trails, all. And we were lucky to have great fall weather too. But the fun was only beginning.

Saturday, after my morning run on the towpath with my MCRR friends, after putting in a few hours at the store, we attended a clambake/get-ready-for-Jamaica party at Sandy and Nancy's. Now the fun was really getting going.

Sunday, of course, was the most fun of all. Debbie and I were in charge of the Pine Hollow aid station for Run with Scissors. Arriving before 5am, we, along with a great team of helpers, set everything up and prepared for the onslaught of runners. The crowds of runners thinned out quickly, and tapered down more and more as the day wore on. It felt cold and raw, so we had a huge bonfire going in the pit. That saved us! We were done by about 5pm and then hurried back to the start to unload our supplies and head home.

Why the rush? It was trick-or-treat night, silly.

Enough fun.

Flying at 9:40 Pace

After doing 14 on the towpath Saturday and 19 at Hinckley Sunday, I thought I'd feel pretty lousy on Monday. But I didn't; I actually felt really good as I burst out the door and started sprinting up 303. Chalk those good feelings up to the protein.

There was only one minor problem: That sprint up 303 took me 9 minutes and 40 seconds. Granted, it's a big hill, but sheesh. It felt like 6:40. The rest of that run went downhill from there. So to speak.

Today's run was better: I did my 11-mile loop in 86 minutes. The problem with today's run was that in included an NTE. That's Near Tempo Experience. I couldn't maintain a sub-seven minute pace for 3 miles. Close, but no cigar. It was still decent overall, however.

It's time to start getting a little more serious; I have two upcoming half-marathons to attend to.

Protein

When you consider how awful I felt Sunday and Monday, it's pretty amazing that I was able to run so well, and feel so good doing it, on Tuesday and Thursday this week. I am giving the credit to clean living and protein powder mix.

I've been doing the protein shake thing off an on most of the year, and all along I had a strong suspicion that it was helping my recoveries. Helping a lot. After Cbus, I'm more sure than ever that it's helping; there's no other explanation.

Another interesting diet/nutrition happening, one that's in conflict with the observation above, is an ongoing discussion with John McCarroll and others about veganism. John's a vegan, and he has had pretty amazing results from that diet change. He also believes that protein is over-rated.

My take is that I'm interested in vegitarianism, but I am still convinced that the protein is helping. I'll continue to listen to other ideas however.

Cbus

I'm not sure when or why people started calling Columbus Cbus, but it does seem to work. So of course the Columbus Marathon can also simply be called Cbus.

Well over 20 Medina County Road Runners made the trek, and as predicted, it was a blast. Our little carload included Debbie, Brad, Michelle, Nancy and Dan Daubner. Brad was able to get all of us, *and* all our stuff, into his SUV. We were able to adhere to Debbie's *rigid* schedule for the trip and our time on Saturday. That meant getting to lunch, the expo and then dinner as planned. Dinner at Buca's was still more fun.

We lined up for the group photo, then lined up for the race and were off. The weather was almost perfect: upper 40s at the start, and mostly 50s during the course of the morning's running. I never felt too warm or too cold.

Except, that is, for the arm-warmer problem. Charles and his family made tie-died arm warmers for everyone from old tube socks. A little reluctantly, I wore mine for the first several miles. They actually felt great for most of that time. By about mile 8 or so, they started feeling too warm. I mentioned to Debbie that I didn't really want to throw them away, so she suggested I stuff them in my shorts. My response was, "people might think I have a problem." She suggested the back of my shorts, and my response was, "people might think I had a *different* problem." With no better options available, I did toss them. At that point I did feel fine again, temperature-wise.

Several of the early miles were with Debbie. I made a pit stop, but caught her again. We saw the governor in beautiful Bexley at about the 4 mile mark. The plan was for Brad, Debbie and I to stick with the 3:20 pace group, at least for most of the way. Brad wanted to try to qualify for Boston with a 3:15, however, so he started to get ahead of us fairly early on. Debbie and I were just ahead of the group when they caught us at about mile 8 or 9. I stayed ahead of them, but Debbie fell back.

I picked it up a bit more, and was probably a minute ahead of the group at the half-way point in about 1:38:40.

A few weeks ago I ran some pretty good late-summer races, including the Crim 10-Mile and the River Run Half. Based on my times at these races, I thought I was in pretty good shape, and had a shot at improving on my spring marathon times. It would be tough to beat the 3:13 I did in Cleveland, but I thought I had it in me. But then I found myself in Romania. I always seem to eat too much when I travel, and this trip was no exception. To atone for the increase in calories, I tried to run more, and of course this just exacerbated the tapering problem. So my plan for Cbus was to try to run with the 3:20 pace group and "see what happens".

By the time I'd reached 13.1 miles, however, I was starting to think 3:15. That would take pretty good negative splits, but I thought it was possible. I picked up the pace a bit, and caught Brad when we were going through the OSU campus at about mile 16. We stayed together for a while, but he was struggling and fell back. I hit mile 20 at pretty close to 2:30. I would have to pick it up even more in the final 10k.

I did manage to run still slightly faster than I had been. I didn't quite do 3:15, but I did the next best minute: 3:16 (and 13 seconds). In that second half, and especially that final 10k, I'd given it all I had.

3:16 is pretty good, and I'm happy with it. But would it have been better if I didn't travel? If I wouldn't have run 40 miles the previous weekend? It's hard to say.

After a fun after-the-race get together at Max & Erma's, it was back into Brad's vehicle, and onto the road again. Amongst other things, we discussed burnout. Several MCRR runners were at least somewhat unhappy with their runs, and a couple had to drop out with injuries. Debbie especially felt Burned out (notice the capital B), after all the racing she's done recently, she had a tough time in the second half. Brad was a bit disappointed too. Michelle, Dan and Nancy, on the other hand, were fairly happy with their runs. What about my 3:16? I could try for a faster marathon at Inland Trail next week, but considering the burnout factor, am thinking better of it. I do have Stomp the Grapes Half in three weeks. That should be enough.

(Another) Rhapsody of Running in Romania

This is my fourth trip to Bucharest, so by now I know some of the best running routes. In some ways, they’re actually quite good, and in others, such as the dog aspect, not so great.

The parks are really wonderful, and there sure are a lot of them. On the minus side, most of these city parks are quite small, so I’ve got to run several loops. For example, it’s only a mile around the closest one, Parcul Izvor. One of the next closest ones, Parcul Carol, is only slightly bigger. Parcul Tineretului is the biggest one that’s anywhere close – I can get a couple miles when running around the lake and on the bike trail above the lake there. Of course the biggest minus is still the stray dogs. They are still a problem for any run through any and every park or neighborhood.

As usual, besides Parcul Izvor, I do a lot of loops around the Palatul Parlamentului. I managed to do two consecutive sub-13 minute 1.85 mile circuits of the palace the other day, so I can call it a tempo run. My loops around Izvor haven’t been so fast. Yet.

I have to run though scenic Parcul Carol to get to the also scenic Parcul Tineretului. I do this for my longer runs. It’s tough to beat Tineretului for good running. It’s big and hilly, with a decent sized lake, and lots of asphalt trails. I can get a lot of miles in there, as I do on my longer runs.

Saturday’s long run was a case in point, I did 4 1-mile loops around Izvor, then, as noted, went through Carol and over to Tineretului. There I ran around and around, finally figuring out how to make a complete circuit of the lake. That took about 14 minutes, but there was plenty more running to be had there. Altogether I was in the park for about an hour and forty-five minutes. The dogs in a run-down neighborhood on the way back spoiled my overall fun a bit, but it was a good one, all in all. I’m calling the entire run a twenty.

I figure that I’ve put on between five and ten pounds during the week I’ve been here. And my stay ain’t over yet. This does not bode well at all, not at all, for my upcoming Columbus Marathon. It usually takes me several days to get back to normal, and I won’t have several days. I’m now giving serious thought to doing the Inland Trail Marathon, and doing Columbus only as a training run.

To try to atone for my awful gluttony here, I did a second long run over the weekend. It had been a while since I’d run 40 miles over a weekend, but I sure felt like I needed the mileage this time. The second weekend long run didn’t go nearly as well as the first. I started slow and finished slower. Most of the miles were in Tineretului, whilst the last few were in Izvor – kind of the opposite of yesterday.

Addendum – For my last couple runs, I’ve been mostly running loops around the now familiar Parcul Tineretului, and especially around nearby Parcul Izvor. It’s fun to explore new areas, but I never run as fast when I’m doing so. Izvor appeals because it’s almost exactly a mile, and there are no major curbs to negotiate in the dark. Tuesday I managed to get down to tempo pace for three of these miles, followed by some other decent running half-loop (800m) pickups. Wednesday I explored Tineretului a bit more. I guess I got the miles in, so things could be worse.

For more on my running and daily life in Romania, check out this post from my 2009 trip, A Day in the Life. I think you will like it.

And for more general information on my travel adventures to Romania, see my travel blog entry.

Akron Marathon

"That's the last hill. You're at the top. It's all downhill from here." I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard that, or something just like it, over the last 10 miles.

After missing a couple days of training due to NC24, I jumped back in last week to try to get right back to where I had been. I also decided, with only a few days to left, to go ahead and run Akron. I'd heard that it was *wonderful*, and I thought I'd find out for myself.

So I found myself lined up with a few thousand of my best friends on a nice and relatively cool Akron morning. After the gun, the hills didn't take very long to materialize. It was down for the first mile or two, then up, up, up for the next several. After a while, I found it impossible to keep up with my training partner Debbie Scheel, and instead ran and talked with friend Kevin. It was good to see so many friends before, during and after the race.

It got a bit easier as I hit the towpath just before half-way. The TP and Sand Run are very pretty areas, and they make this race memorable. Hey, woudn't it be great to have a race that's entirely on the TP? Oh, I forgot. There already is one.

I probably did pick it up a little for those 4+ miles. Then came Sand Run: several miles - almost all of it uphill. Tough for everyone, including me. Brad caught me for a while, but then I pulled away again. I eventually began to spot Debbie up ahead. When I caught her later on I tried to get her to go with me, but that didn't happen. I went on to pass Connie, who was just less than a week recovered from her 141 NC miles. Seems that's the only time I can beat her is right after a hundred or more miles. Of course I had yet another smart remark ready for her when I did: "You need to learn to run while drinking water," I said as she stopped at an aid station.

From about mile 15 to about 23, the trend of the race is up, up, up. Only the last two are back down a bit, but by then I was fairly shot. I came in at 3:23. I had only wanted to do a training run here, so the time, and the even splits, are fine with me. But I never thought it would be this hard. Not even with all the warnings I'd had from friends. It was really, really tough.

Would I do it again? The race organization was as wonderful as advertised. Very good attention to detail. And I may consider it as part of a relay. But run the entire bird again? One of the toughest I've ever done anywhere? What do you think?

2010 NC24

It's over. Has been for a week and a half. And I thought things were supposed to ease in my life now. They didn't.

We had a volunteer/organizer party at our place Saturday. Yesterday I went to the MCRR meeting to talk about the race, only to learn that everyone there, except Lisa, had actually been at the race in some capacity. Tonight is our organizational team wrap-up / post mortem. On top of all that, we went to Shannon's last week to get all the race equipment and supplies, so we could bring them back home. Now Debbie has inventoried and deposited everything into containers, and the next step is to build some shelving for it in the garage (last year we'd stacked it in the basement). And on top of all that... I'm dealing with a never-ending barrage of emails about the race. This in itself is a full-time job.

I must say that the event itself was another huge success. Not that there isn't room for improvement, mind you. That, of course, is one of the main subjects for tonight's meeting. But thanks to the fantastic volunteers and great organizers, NC24 was a great experience for all of us - including, even, the runners.

By far, the most important thing to do when organizing an event like this is to get the best possible team. And I did that. Without a doubt, Shannon, Roy, Frank, Joe, Debbie Horvath, Debbie Horn, Charles and several others that I'm probably forgetting, were the backbone of the event. We couldn't have been successful without them.

Like last year, when I saw it all unfold, it was truly amazing. And gratifying to the n'th degree. Of course it was hard work - not only during the 24 hours, but for several days before and after. But it was, as they say, a labor of love.

Think I'll do it all again next year? Stay tuned..

River Run Double Half-Marathon

10 miles in just under 69 minutes. That's in between the finish times for the two ten-milers I've done in recent weeks. Would I be able to keep that same pace, or even pick it up a bit for the final 5K?

It had been a couple years since I was able to dip under 1:30 for a half-marathon. For the River Run Half, I made a point to tell everyone that 1:29 was my goal, and after the Crim, I felt I was ready.

Several of my MCRR friends were there. The weather was decent - low 60s, and a little humid. I ran the early miles with Debbie Scheel, but by mile 3 I was mostly alone, and stayed that way for the rest of the run. I knew I needed about a 6:50 pace, and I did manage to get to the half-way point in about 44 and a half minutes, give or take.

It took a great deal of concentration, but I did manage to make those final three miles my best ones. The last 5K was about 20:40, so I finished in 1:29:31. Some faster old geezer showed up, so I was only second in my age group. But I'm happy with this one. There may be a way to squeeze out another minute or so in some future race, but by and large I feel like I'm running to my potential. And that's a good thing.

After kibitzing with my friends at the finish, it was time to run back to the car. Yes, Jack and I had parked at the start with plans to jog back afterward. It had sounded like a good idea at the time. But those additional 13 or so miles were pretty darn tough - even though they were at a slow 9-minute pace. I think I was bonking due to lack of nutrition, because I felt better when I took a gel. We did eventually make it back to the start. It was a lot of running for one day.

Tremendous Training Trail Trots: Twenty-Two, Twenty-Two, Ten. Tempos Too.

Probably don't need to say much else; the title says it all. Almost.

The story should probably start with last Tuesday's speed sessions. Yes, sessions with an 's'. I ran well at both, but afterwards my right knee seemed abnormally tender. This didn't seem like too big a deal.

Thursday I met Dave at the towpath, and I wound up with twenty-two terrific towpath training miles. It was a pretty steady eight-minute to slightly slower pace. After this run, the 'ole knee hurt more - especially going down stairs. I learned that it may be patella tendinitis, or possibly bursitis. Either way I need to treat it with ice and ibuprofen, which I'm doing.

On Saturday I drove to Connecticut for a visit (Debbie is still there, and will stay another week because although Malcolm is fine, Veronica is still recovering). I ran on the Housitonic Trail on Sunday (22) and Monday (10), and did well. I managed to get down to tempo pace for two slightly downhill sections on Sunday, and one on Monday.

So the running has been good. But what the heck do I do with this aching knee?

E.N. Hines Drive

This is a parkway just west of Detroit. I've run here many times, but am always impressed that there's so much of it. It's sort of like our Metroparks parkway in the Cleveland area. Some of my past running here includes the Martian Marathon (a couple times), the Detroit Free Press Marathon training run (a couple times), several runs with friends Paul, Doug and Keith beginning at Paul's in Novi, and more.

Today I was staying at Six Mile in Livonia, and I wanted to get a long run in before heading home. I ran west on Six Mile, south on Haggerty (forgetting that the bike trail runs north/south along I275), to catch Hines Drive south of Plymouth Rd. I figure that was a good five miles right there. I decided to go west on Hines, rather than the slightly more familiar easterly direction. As noted, I was surprised at how far it actually went on. I was also surprised at how nice and peaceful it was. Back to the direction and distance: at some point I believe I was going north before heading back to the west again. At another point it felt as though I was making a big semi-circle, coming to Northville Road twice.

Although I was fairly tired, I felt like I was proceeding at a decent enough pace. I turned around after another 45 minutes, figuring that this was a good 10 miles total each way. After I turned back, I tried to pick it up some. Surprisingly, I did. My last few miles were probably the best.

Another 20-miler in the books.

Better than Perfect

This is familiar territory in more ways than one. I pass mile 9 in something just under 62 minutes. It is a minute or so faster than this point in the Perfect 10-Miler a couple weeks ago. At that race, I had very little left, and I finished with a fairly slow final mile. Do I have anything left this time? This time it’s the Crim 10-Miler, and I’m in familiar territory not only with the time and challenge of the final mile, but also because I’m back up in Michigan, running a race I’ve done many times with old friends.

Where were all those old friends this time? Perhaps it’s been too long. I had FaceBooked a couple folks who would be there, and I thought that I’d simply know just about everyone else, as seemed to be the case at all those previous Crim races in the 80’s and 90’s. This time out, I did see a couple familiar faces, but none of my closer friends, including Jim Karner, whom I’d FB’d. I nodded to some of the folks, but hardly said two words to anyone. Did I mention that there were over 10,000 runners? The sheer numbers may have been a factor in the ability to find folks.

The reason I’m back in Michigan is to attend the wedding of Erich Watry, son of old friends Mike and Linda Leinius. I’d spent the previous night visiting Greg and Dot Worley, who conveniently live closer to Flint than the location of the wedding reception in Livonia. I’m doing all this on my own, since Debbie is still in Connecticut, helping her daughter and new grandson.

It had been a cool night, with temperatures in the fifties and low humidity for a change. By the 8am start the sun was warming things up to around 70F, but the humidity was still low. These were the best race conditions I’d had in months. The start was as crowded as I’d expected. I was seeded into a corral with other sub-7 minute runners. Since I’m now just *barely* under that pace, I did place myself at the *end* of that corral. The first couple miles appeared very familiar to me; it was starting to seem like I’d never left.

Those early miles are fairly flat and indeed fast. I tried to keep them at just under 7-minute pace without working too hard. As the race unfolded, I couldn’t quite remember where the Bradley Hills were. I remembered that they were somewhere in the middle, but I was reminded of their location soon enough. Although the Crim is a fast course, those Bradley Hills do make it challenging. They turned out to be from about mile 4.25 to about 6.25, give or take. And once again, they did indeed slow me down some.

The Bradley’s are probably tougher than the hills I’d experienced at the Wooster Heart and Sole Half-Marathon the previous week. The hills at that race are more constant, but not as steep. I’d made the trip to Wooster with several MCRR friends, and we had a blast there as usual. My time for Wooster was 1:33 and change, including a strong finish. This was better than last year, but slower than the one before. The heat and humidity didn’t help at all.

The weather for the Crim was still comfortable as I came through that tough hilly section. The second half is quite scenic, as there are generally parks on one side of the road, and large old beautiful homes on the other. I did manage to get the mile split times back down to sub-7 after a couple slower miles through the hills. This is where the race truly begins.

After mile 9 I try to run faster. My legs are barely responding, but I suppose that I have indeed kicked it up a notch. Then with about a third of a mile to go, I turn onto Saginaw Street. I see and I remember that it truly is all downhill from here. Now I pick it up even more, passing a few runners as I go. One or two pass me as well, but I’m doing as well as can be expected. I get to the brick portion of Saginaw for the final couple blocks and pick it up once more, to ramming speed. I cross the line in 1:08:30 or so. I believe that the difference between the gun time and my chip time may be on the order of 15 seconds, so my chip time may be closer to 1:08:15. That final mile was a fast one. At sub-6:30, it was my fastest of the day.

This is indeed better than Perfect. I’d done 1:09:55 at the Perfect-10. Here I was better than that by a minute and a half or more. The low humidity probably made all the difference, as this is surely a tougher course.

After the race I continue to look for old friends, but only found a few familiar faces. Later on at the wedding, who should I see but Jim and Debbie Deren? It turns out that their daughter was in the wedding party, and is close friends with both Erich and Michelle. How ironic to finally run into an old running friend where he wasn’t at all expected. More ironic than that, Jim had done the Crim this day as well. You can’t make this stuff up.

Malcolm Dancer

This little post is not about running at all. It's about being a Grandpa.

Malcolm Dancer came into the world Friday, August 13, 2010. Veronica and Barry, and the new kid on the block are all doing quite fine. Debbie has been in Connecticut to help for a couple weeks already, and she continues to do so. Everyone's home now, and doing fine.

I made the long trip to visit for a couple days, and I was very proud and happy to hold Malcolm. I'd forgotten what it was like to hold a baby. What a joy!

The Perfect 10-Miler and an Animal Farm Concept

I've run every one of these Perfect 10-Milers since the race's inception in 2003. And every year I've done well there. Even though last year's 1:08:40 was my slowest ever, I was still happy with it. With all the hard running I've been doing, I thought I could beat that time this year. Heck, I even tapered a wee bit.

Seven of us MCRR folks squeezed into Debbie's vehicle to head up to Lyndhurst for the always fun camaraderie. It was warm and extremely humid. But I wasn't about to let that get the better of me. Or would I?

As planned, I started at just under seven minute pace. I saw Debbie and Connie, and a few others, early on and at the turnaround. After running this one so many times, I knew about the uphill sections in miles 5 and 6. Half-way went by in 34 and a half minutes - about the same as last year. Those hills slowed me a little as expected, but I was going to lower the hammer for those last four. Sure enough, downhill miles 7 and 8 were pretty good (although not as fast as expected). Even then, If I could've managed a really fast final two miles, I would've been okay. I couldn't, and I wasn't. The last two were around seven minutes, so I finished in 69:55. Very disappointing. As expected, this was tempered by the fun of being with all my MCRR friends.

I'm not disappointed because I ran a dumb race, or because I feel like I didn't give it my all. And it's not because I didn't place in my age group, whereas I won it last year and in previous years. I ran it just as I should have, but of course I wanted to go a little faster in the second half. And I was totally spent, especially in that high humidity. Regarding placing, you just never know who will show up. My disappointment is due to the slowing of my times here and at other races. This, in spite of the fact that I'm working so hard to run hard in my training. Maybe I should just not train so hard?

This weekend I've got the Wooster half-marathon, and next weekend the Crim 10-Miler. After this one, I'm not very hopeful about those.

A little more about the training: yes it's been pretty decent. 70 mile weeks; Speedwork here and there (including two sessions last Tuesday); some Hinckley hills and other long and medium-long stuff. It seems like it should be enough to evoke some improvement. I suppose that like the Horse in Animal Farm, I'll just have to say, "I will work harder."

Tendinitis? Shin Splits? Whatever You Call it, it Hurts

Yesterday Ladd, Janet, Charles and I did a slower paced run through Buckeye Woods Park and Chippewa Lake via roads, dirt and bike trails. It was a beautiful day for a run and an enjoyable course, but I was in pain the entire way.

My right shin had been acting up for a week now - ever since a long run with Jeanine the previous Thursday. There's been a noticeable lump at the source of the pain, and my entire ankle was swollen with edema at times. The pain itself has come and gone a couple times during the week. Dr. Joe seemed to have it cured completely, but it came back with a vengeance during that run yesterday.

I was therefore very concerned about today's Hilly Hinckley long run that also promised to be at a faster pace. A good bunch showed up, including Michele, Ladd, Debbie S., Jack, Brad, Dan, and probably a couple others that I can't remember. I tried to stay with Mandy for the first 9+ mile loop, and then Debbie, Jack and Ladd on the second one. A few of us followed all that up with a 3+ mile lake loop. Two surprises: 1) I ran ok. 2) I had no pain whatsoever, even with the hills and fast pace. Whatdoyaknow?

This afternoon was the MCRR picnic, organized with great care by Debbie and Nancy. It was a fun event, even though I had to enjoy it without Debbie H.

Addendum: I have been feeling much better - almost 100%, but the pain came back a bit today (Aug. 19).

The 100-Mile Party

Suzanne Pokorny is the volunteer coordinator for the Burning River 100-Mile Endurance Run. She's done it for a couple years now and by all accounts does a wonderful job of organizing over 20 aid stations and hundreds of volunteers spread out over the 100 mile point-to-point course. This year Suzanne worked her usual wonders of organizing everything, but then went on to run the race. Who would step in for her on race day itself? Hmmmm. I couldn't think of a good enough excuse not to, so I became Volunteer-Coordinator-For-The-Day.

It turned out that Suzanne did such a great job ahead of time that I wound up doing precious little more than show up at each aid station and ask if they needed anything. A few did, so I actually did add some value. Most of the time, however, I felt like just the window dressing - just appearing and accepting at least some of the praise for a great event.

Actually, RD Joe Jurczyk, Suzanne, and all of the other volunteers deserve all the accolades they can get. At least they do get some - mostly from the runners, who have been just about unanimous in their praise for the race and the volunteers.

Each aid station operated like a small city with it's own mayor (the aid station captain). They all took their jobs very seriously, yet managed to inject a great deal of fun into the event as well. That's why I call it a 100-mile party. How better to spend 30-plus consecutive hours of a weekend.

It was actually more and less than that. More in that I had arrive in Willoughby Hills well before the 5am Saturday start, and I had to be on hand for the awards over an hour after the 11am Sunday finish. Less in that I unexpectedly managed to break away for a 3-hour or so nap during the night. Joe was, of course, extremely tired and losing his voice, so I took over the announcing duties. That was a great deal of fun - seeing everyone, including many that I know - cross the finish line in Cuyahoga Falls all night and morning.

Does all the enjoyment I had make me want to go and, for the second time, do such a thing myself? Not on your life.

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.