My Edge

When I lived in Michigan, I occasionally ran with a guy in our neighborhood named Terry Elsey. Terry is about my age, and we were already getting a bit long in the tooth at the point in time when we ran together. In his prime however, Terry had been one of the fastest guys anywhere. I learned a few things during our runs. Here are a couple of them:

1) You could pick up discarded Marlboro packages, collect the UPC's, send them in, and receive some pretty neat stuff. Over a couple years, I wound up with backpacks, a roller duffle bag, cargo shorts, and other things that I can't remember. Terry, having more and longer experience with these pickups, got even more stuff. Marlboro stopped the program about ten years ago.

2) It's good to have "an edge". We would do a run through Farmington Hills that I had figured was something on the order of 11.7 miles. "I call it eleven," said Terry. When I told him that he ought to record his running data more accurately, he said, "I convince myself that I'm running slower and fewer miles. That's my edge."

When Terry ran a race, he knew subconsciously that he could run faster than his training log indicated. It must have worked for him; he sure won his share of road races.

My edge for many years has been that I ran a lot of miles. Sure I trained hard as well, but I always thought that when I lined up for a race, I had at least one advantage over my peers: that I (generally) ran more than they did. I was at least somewhat competitive, so it worked, although not as well as Terry's edge worked for him.

Now that I've retired from marathoning, I've cut back on my overall mileage. After years of seventy mile weeks, I'm now doing about forty to fifty. The really good news is that I've now gone about six months without a major injury. It's possible that there's a relationship there, somewhere. But aside from that bit of cheer, I think I may have lost my edge.

The plan had been to get faster at shorter distances by training faster for those fewer miles. I'm working on this. Both last week and this week I managed to get in both an interval workout and a tempo run. This is pretty much the kind of training I'd been planning on and hoping for. So maybe my new edge can be that I run fast nearly all the time.

I like this idea, but it sure didn't work for me at the Towpath Ten-Ten 10K the other day. Maybe I am still a work in progress.

Towpath Ten-Ten Un-Race Report

It's so much easier to write a race report when it goes well. It occurs to me that the same is true for reading said report. At least now you know how this one is going to go.

Expectations get you every time. I used to expect to do under forty minutes for a 10K, and the only question was how much under forty could I go? Not having done too many 10K's in recent years, I wasn't real sure, but based on recent training, as well as fairly recent 5K, 10-mile and marathon races, I thought 43 or so minutes - about seven minutes a mile - was doable.

Not only was it not doable, it wasn't even close. The Towpath Ten-Ten is a 10K and 10-mile race on the paved part of the towpath in Valley View and Cleveland. It's flat, and with the solid surface, ought to be fast. I chose the 10K because I wanted to go especially fast this day. The first mile actually did go okay, time-wise. It was right around seven minutes.

But I was already suffering. The rain had tapered off, but it was now extremely humid. I'd run in humid conditions before, but that thick air was affecting my breathing more than usual this day. And then there were my GI issues, about which I won't elaborate.

I slowed to eight minute pace and that was that. Even holding on to that was a chore. I finished in a little under 49 minutes. I think that's a PW, but I'm too lazy to check. In case you're bad at math, that's six minutes slower - a minute a mile - than I expected, and 10 minutes slower than where I'd like to be.

It appears that those expectations need further adjustment.

The Key to Happiness

The key to happiness, or at least one of them, is to 'live in the moment'. I tried, without luck, to verify this in wikipedia.com, my source for all such useless knowledge. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it. Regardless whether it's an official key or not, from everything I hear, living in the moment is a good thing to do. It's little tough for me however. I'm often troubled by the future, and/or haunted by the past. I know. I sound like a Charles Dickens character.

But today, I'm trying extra hard to make my run an 'in the moment' one.

Never mind that I used to eat intervals like today's for breakfast. Never mind that as recently as last week I managed to get a few really decent runs in. Today, I'm in the moment.

Never mind that as I show up at 5:15 AM along with Alan and Harold Dravenstott and Jeanne Hejny, it's awful darn early. Never mind that it's really tough to get moving, especially to get moving as fast as I'd like. I'm running in the moment. Never mind that the times I'm doing here on the track pale in comparison with those I do on my treadmill. On another day, this might be disappointing. But not today. Today, I'm in the moment.

Never mind that each of the three sets of (1600, 1200, 800) gets significantly slower. I'm running in the moment.

And never mind that although these track times may improve a bit if I keep at them, the very long term prognosis for speed is not a good one. But that's okay.

Because I'm in the moment.

Youngsters in the Mist... and in Our Midst

Here is something I wrote for the MCRR newsletter.

We often celebrate the accomplishments of the top runners in the club. Many of these folks have been around long enough to actually accumulate some accolades. Once in a while, however, we ought to take notice of what some of our younger club members are doing.

Patrick Fisher has been in the club since about the time it started. He was just beginning high school at the time, and already had a passion for running. Many of us have had the pleasure to observe his progress throughout his high school and early college years. Pat’s coaches have had to keep after him, however; he tends to run and race too much! That’s what happens when you have a mom like Shannon and spend time around Roy Heger. Although Pat concentrates on his studies and his college running, he came around in March to win the Buzzard Day 25K race.

Many of us have also been fortunate enough to be able to watch Alan Dravenstott run, almost from the time he got started back in elementary school. It appears to be safe to say that Alan is more responsible for his dad, Harold’s running progress, than the other way around. Like Patrick’s coaches, Harold is trying hard to keep Alan from running too much and hurting himself or burning out. Now in middle school, Alan is running strong, and evidently enjoying every minute of it. So are we.

Debbie and Rob Scheel’s daughters, Emily and Elissa are still in grade school, but are already running extremely well. Debbie and Rob will bring the entire family to a 5K on occasion, and the two girls usually run strong. Like a lot of kids, Emily and Elissa have several interests. They do especially well at skating, but of course their running is still improving as well.

There are many other young folks in the club; sorry to have to stop talking about them here. Watch any of them run; it’s a blast. But beware: their enthusiasm for the sport is highly contagious.

Dan's 100

Here is the list of the hundred marathons that I've done. If you get as far as the bottom of the list, you'll find some additional information.

Number	Marathon	Date	Age	Time
1	Revco Cleveland	5/14/1978	25	3:04
2	Athens, OH	4/5/1981	27	3:21
3	Athens, OH	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	Run with Scissors	10/25/2009	56	5:35
86	Inland Trail	11/1/2009	56	3:20
87	Boston	4/19/2010	56	3:17
88	Rite Aid Cleveland	5/16/2010	57	3:13
89	Akron Marathon	9/25/2010	57	3:23
90	Columbus	10/17/2010	57	3:16
91	Landis Loonies	1/1/2011	57	3:36
92	Glass City	4/17/2011	57	3:38
93	Rite Aid Cleveland	5/15/2011	58	3:16
94	Inland Trail	11/6/2011	58	3:22
95	Jacksonville Breast Cancer	2/12/2012	58	3:58
96	On My Own Two Feet Kent	4/21/2012	58	3:53
97	Rite Aid Cleveland	5/20/2012	59	4:06
98	Canton Marathon	6/17/2012	59	3:47
99	Run with Scissors	10/28/2012	59	5:27
100	Rite Aid Cleveland	5/19/2013	60	3:39

The average is 3:21:36. If we ignore the three of these that were primarily on trails (On My Own Two Feet Kent and the two Run with Scissors runs), the average is 3:18:36. I still include the Towpath/Toe to Tow Marathon because although it's also on a trail, that trail is not much different or slower than pavement.

I've had one DNF: Erie in 2003. Of course it's not included. That one upset me quite a bit, since I could have made it; I was just hot and tired, and gave up at the half. I vowed never to let that happen again. It didn't, at least at a marathon. (Don't get me started about my Mohican 100 in 2011!)

Speaking of ultras, I've done 21. Here is that list:

Number	Ultra	Date	Age	Time
1	Olander Park 24 hour (51)	1992	39	10.5 hours	51.5 miles
2	MI Fat Ass 50 (50K)	1995?	42	Approx 5 hours
3	Roadkill 6 hour (28)	1996	43		28 miles
4	Roadkill 6 hour (32)	1997	44		32 miles
5	Mohican 100M	2001	48	26.5 hours
6	Chicago Lakeshore 50M	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	Freedom Park 24-Hour	12/31/2009	56	23.6 hours	93.66 miles
12	Green Jewel 50K	3/6/2010	56	4:50
13	Emerald Necklace 100K	5/22/2010	57	10.75 hours
14	Another Dam 50K	6/2/2010	57	4:58
15	Buckeye Woods 50k	12/5/2010	57	4:46
16	Green Jewel 50K	3/5/2011	57	4:28
17	Mad City 100K	4/9/2011	57	9:31
18	Another Dam 50K	6/4/2011	58	4:43
19	Moebius Green Monster 50K	8/27/2011	58	5:01
20	Buckeye Woods 50k	11/27/2011	58	4:50
21	Buckeye Woods 50k	11/25/2012	59	4:57

These are, naturally, all over the map as far as consistency is concerned. Part of that's because of the nature of these things, and part is due to how seriously I took them.

I hope you've enjoyed these little lists. You won't need to see them (at least from me) again.