First Snow

That's right. It's October 29 and we're getting our first snow here in Medina. Of course it's not sticking to anything yet, but still, it's the thought that counts. Everyone keeps predicting a hard winter this year. I say whatever. I have a short drive to work and we don't "need" to go anywhere out of town. I don't mind shovelling the snow, it's a decent workout. Obviously, I would prefer a more mild winter so I can run outside more. A cold and snowy winter will force me to purchase a new treadmill and run while looking at a cinder block wall. It's supposed to warm up for Halloween though, so this is only temporary.

As for running, I logged 7 miles on Friday afternoon. Mrs. P was out of town and I get out of work early on Fridays so I got an hour in before my son got out of school. Then I was cut off for the rest of the weekend. The run went well, though a little chilly. It was a little blustery Friday.

Last night I went to the track but found a soccer match getting ready. I drove down to the high school but they were playing flag football there. So I headed back to the middle school where I saw some people running on the sidewalk. They could have been with the club but I couldn't find them when I set out after them. So I headed home and did a nearly 3 mile loop. Almost 4 miles in last night. It was windy and chilly, but nice too. Maybe it was the darkness giving the evening a little bit of character. The gloom certainly made me feel like I was running a bit faster than normal, when in fact I wasn't.

The Inland Trail marathon, half marathon, and 5K are this Sunday in Elyria. I know some people in each event and wish them luck. I believe the New York City Marathon is also running on Sunday. I don't know anyone participating in that one, but wish everyone luck anyway. We more than likely will head out there to do the 5K. I feel rested, but my right foot feels a little worn still from Columbus. I think I'll keep the distances low for the time being. There's a half marathon the Sunday before Thanksgiving I'm keeping my eye on to finish out the season. I think I'll save what distance I still have left for that one.

Mr. P

Life After a Successful "A" Race

For people who don't just run a lot, but compete in a number races every year, the season is usually broken down into segments with a key race headlining each segment. Those key races are called "A" races. They are followed, of course, by "B" and "C" races. Training builds up to the "A" race, with the hope that the runner will peak for that race. While I may have other races this year that were "A" races, Columbus was my top "A" race. And now it's over. I'm still coming to grips with the fact that I whomped it. Everything worked. I peaked at the right moment. The weather even cooperated. But I've nothing of that caliber to look forward to till next year. And that's a little depressing. I suppose I'm suffering from post-marathon depression (medical term). But rather than dwell on that, I'm going to make some other comments from this weekend.

1. Is it too much to ask, that if you're someone who is walking a race instead of running it, that you queue up BEHIND the runners? It is quite inexcusable for there to be ANY walkers lined up in front ANYONE who is running.

2. Could the floor planner for the Columbus Marathon Race Expo please by sacked? The layout this year was HORRIBLE. Talk about not planning for crowd flow. I didn't mind the serpentine pathway concept, but to have a walkway that's only ten feet wide at parts? That's just madness. There were over 10,000 entrants coming down there to pick up their race packets, and there was NOT enough room. You've gotten it correct up until this year, could you please return to what you've done in the past? Please also see how Cleveland and Akron do it.

3. Kudos, however, to the race management for coming through with upwards of 50 live bands along the course. Although some of them could have been playing a bit more up-tempo music, it was nice to have real people out there for us. I hope race officials from the Cleveland Marathon were taking note. They really did a poor job last year with on course entertainment.

4. Kudos also to Columbus race management for the 21 fluid stations. I don't recall how many there have been in the past or at other races, but they seemed more numerous. That's a good thing, even on a cool day. It's hard to take in the proper amount of fluid at each stop, and having them spaced out about every mile and a half made a HUGE difference. I don't think I would have been as successful without each and every one of them.

5. More mylar blankets at the finish next year please. I didn't get one and I needed one.

6. If you're going to get a hotel room next to Mr. and Mrs. Pythagoras the night before a race and you are going to be up late drinking, talking, and laughing so loudly that it wakes us up and keeps us up, don't be surprised when we strike back the following morning when we wake up HOURS before you. This weekend, we had our room moved but unfortunately "forgot" to turn off the alarm clock. If we could hear their phone ringing through the wall, I know they could hear our alarm clock going off with no one to turn it off. Congrats to Mrs. P for coming up with that idea.

7. Congrats to Mrs. P and her mom for walking the half marathon in under three hours (according to her watch). Now to get her running that distance!

I can't think of anything else right now, but those should suffice. Both of us are registered for the Flying Feather Four Miler on Thanksgiving morning, so I have that to look forward to. And I might consider finishing out the year with some various 5Ks as well. As long as my knee heals that is.

Mr. P

(edit)
I forgot to include mention of last night. So, two days after running a marathon I show up for the weekly speed work. Jim and Dan were there and I got to hear about their recent successes as well as share mine. 4 X 400 was all I could handle after a mile warm-up. My knee was bothering me. Best not to do too much with and let it heal up.

2008 Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon

I'm not exactly sure where to start writing about this race. There was so much that went into it and went right. The training was the foremost ingredient, to be sure. I've been increasing my long runs since the end of summer, reaching distances of 20 and 23 miles. I've been doing speed work at the track since June, and can see how adding that alone has helped me get faster at every distance. I began carbo loading on Friday night, and included Saturday morning in that as well. I didn't get much sleep Saturday night, but that hasn't affected me in a race before. The weather for a marathon was perfect. It really could not have been any better. As I had not anticipated the mid 30's at the start, I was a little less than prepared clothing-wise, and had to pull a MacGruder at the last second to save my wardrobe issue. I chose to wear a dry fit sleeveless as a base layer, followed by my long sleeve Akron dry fit shirt, followed by a long sleeve cotton race shirt (I was desperate), all topped off with a trash bag. This information will be revisited later and will be on the exam.

I suppose I will just get right to the race itself. We arrived at the start a little later than we should have. I was only able to make my way forward to the 4:30 starting vicinity. There were so many people there, it was impossible to squeeze up any further. And as I was to find out, many of those people were queued up too far ahead. I was literally weaving my way through the crowd for the entire first half of the race. When the half marathon split off from the full, it took over half the field with it, finally giving me some breathing room.


It took about four minutes for me to get to the starting line. We just shuffled along, stepping over the discarded trash bags and sweatshirts from the people ahead of us. Miles one and two were horribly congested. I couldn't believe that I was passing walkers who had started so far up. And the groups running together three or more abreast. That's just ridiculous. I usually will toss my trash bag before the start, but decided to keep mine this time. Somewhere during mile 1, I popped my arms out through the sides and ended up running in it till after the first fluid station, where I discarded it. It did it's job keeping me warm, but I could feel the sweat forming with nowhere to go.


As we turned north in Bexley around mile three, I removed the cotton shirt, tying it around my waist for the rest of the race. The course also narrowed here, causing us to bunch up tight again and therefore slowing down. That was actually my slowest mile, going up and around the Governor's mansion. Mr. and Mrs. Strickland were out on the corner this year, the same place I high-fived Bob Taft two years ago, but I didn't see them soon enough and just waved. We wound south towards Capital University, around Franklin Park, and back up to Broad St. This was one of the course changes and I liked it. There's a lot of atmosphere along Bryden, but I have never felt comfortable running over there. I don't mind that they changed that section. The house with the porch full of "happy" men on the corner of Drexel and Main was pretty funny though. This whole time I'm only thinking about a couple things: trying to stay on my pace, trying to work my way through the field safely, and making sure to take fluids at every station as I had planned: Gatorade, Gatorade, water and PowerGel. That was my plan and I had to stay focused to remember where I was at in my order. They were serving Gatorade Endurance, which I train with exclusively, that has extra sodium. I need that because I am a heavy sweater. The gels have more concentrated calories and caffeine. The combination seems to work just fine for me.


Making our way into German Village, I high-fived someone in a full jack-o-lantern costume, and waved at the photographer on the platform suspended over the road. As we turned onto High St., It was good to see downtown ahead, but I knew it was still a couple miles away and that even when I reached it I was only going to be half done. I felt great though. I didn't need to play any of those old mental games this time. No need to try to motivate me just a little further. I felt so good running this time, I was just doing it. As I passed the 13.1 mile marker, I simply asked myself if I would like to go for a 13.1 mile run. No matter that I had just run that distance already. I answered myself, "sure, why not" and kept going.


The new route down through "Fraternity Row" was interesting, but there weren't too many people out and about. One guy on the corner of High and Chittenden was eating a quart of Ben and Jerry's at 9:30 in the morning. It sure looked better than Gatorade and PowerGels!


As we were running around the Horseshoe, I met up with a large group, a few of whom were talking about the Akron Marathon. I chimed in that I liked Akron and got into a conversation with one of the guys. It turns out that I had caught the 3:40 pace group. I decided to hang with the group and Darren, the guy I was talking with. We ended up running together the rest of the race. It was also really nice running with a pace group. I didn't need to worry about my times, just keeping up with the group. We ran through Upper Arlington (where I removed my other long sleeve shirt, hat, and gloves), down through Grandview Hts., and back toward Victorian Village and ultimately the finish. Through all this, I just kept running and conversing with Darren and others in the group, more than a few were down from the Cleveland area. The mile markers and fluid stations seemed to be coming faster than expected. That's a good thing that late in a marathon. I was starting to get tired and I had a couple leg cramps that I was able to quickly run through, but nothing debilitating. My knee was tightening on me and was sore, but nothing like it was last year. And no wall! My fluid and gel strategy must have worked because I had no wall issues. Hitting the wall was in the back of my mind up until mile 25. And if I hit it then, I could mentally push through it. Actually, my finish was very strong. I was able to pick up my pace with half a mile to go and pushed pretty hard down Nationwide to the finish line.


After crossing the finish line, and stopping for the first time in over three and a half hours, I started to feel a little not-so-good. I was starting to get lightheaded and my fingers were tingling. I tried to keep walking, thinking that my blood was pooling too much in my legs. After about 15 minutes and a bag of potato chips I felt better. My finish time was 3:34:08, 41 minutes faster than Akron last year. I finished 903rd of 3869 overall, 115th of 348 in my AG, and 776th of 2426 men. My splits were: 8:17 / 8:14 / 7:51 (finally got some room to run) / 8:55 (bottle-necked in Bexley) / 7:52 / 7:45 / 8:21 / 8:21 / 7:39 / 7:57 / 7:50 / 7:51 / 8:40 (13.1) / 7:01 (0.9 mile) / 7:59 / 7:52 / 8:15 (joined the pace group) / 8:22 / 8:37 / 8:18 / 8:19 / 8:20 / 8:17 / 8:54 (nearly missed this mile marker) / 8:28 / 8:18 / 1:23 (final 0.1 mile).


Today I'm just a little sore. My quads mostly. My knee is what's really bothering me. I'm having trouble negotiating stairs and keeping up with anyone I might be walking with. I'm supposed to head to the track tomorrow, but I'm going to decide on that tomorrow. Otherwise I'm doing relatively well. I've gone through more water than I normally do, but haven't snacked as much. I could go for a nap right now though.


Only one more officially scheduled race this year on Thanksgiving. I may work some others in however. Next marathon? That will be next spring. Probably Rite Aid but possibly another. Seven months out, time to start training for a sub 3:30! But for right now, I'm going to be happy with my performance yesterday and not worry too much about next year just yet.


Mr. P

3:34

Previous marathon PR: 4:15

New marathon PR: 3:34

41 minute difference.

I'm tired now.

Mr. P

Mr. Pythagoras and the Marathon

Please enjoy this little jaunt of mine down memory lane. It's something I wrote back in January in another forum, but haven't posted here yet. It is essentially my complete history with 26.2. To date, that is.

Why would you want to do that? Are you nuts? You're going to do WHAT? All questions I fielded when I started telling people I was planning on running a marathon. My answers? I like to run. No, I'm not nuts, just slightly masochistic. You heard me right, I'm going to try running the full Revco Marathon. Oh, I should mention that this was back in 1990, I was 15 years old, and a sophomore in high school. Yeah, I had plans to go long even back then. But the marathon was nothing compared to my dream goal: competing in an Ironman. Next to that, the marathon should be easy. Well I was to find an answer to that soon enough.

I began my running career on the track in jr. high. It was the first year track was being offered, and I was somewhat interested in seeing what it was all about. I didn't fancy going to the orientation meeting by myself so I talked some friends into going with me. The meeting was very informative and I became seriously interested. But again, I didn't want to join by myself. The other guys weren't all that thrilled by the idea of competitive running, so I joined without knowing anyone. When asked what distances I was interested in doing, I asked what the shortest distances were. Well, I eventually ended up running the 100 meters and the 800 meters. An interesting combination. That season went well, as I didn't have anything to compare it to. It was a lot of hard work, but totally worth it.

That was my first and last experience as being a part of a running team. I went out for track in high school, but my legs just couldn't take running everyday, so I dropped out.
I still wanted to run, just not what was offered at school. So I turned to road races. 5Ks led to 5 miles and then to 10Ks. Attempting a marathon only made sense. So I entered the 1990 Revco Cleveland Marathon.

I should have known I was going to have a bad day when, while lining up in the queue, an older man leaned over to me and asked "You know this is the Marathon, right. The 10K starts later." I assured him this was the event I planned on doing. After the gun went off, I took my time, a very slow, comfortable pace. I didn't have a clue what to expect. My longest training run was probably not much more than 6 miles. I just figured that if I kept to a nice easy pace, I would eventually finish. I was young, invincible, and didn't know any better at the time. I was about to find out about something called "the wall".

The first half of the race actually went pretty well. The course was a straight out and back that led to Bay Village from downtown Cleveland. I was very tired by the time I hit the turn-around, and started eating and drinking whatever was being offered. Having never eaten anything during training, my body started rebelling on me. My stomach developed that heavy pressure you get when you know something isn't quite right. I remember my legs being very tired, not necessarily sore, just tired. I walked from mile 13 to just after mile 16, when the sag wagon pulled up beside me and asked if I wanted a ride back to the finish. Without hesitation, I climbed aboard and experienced my first DNF. We were dropped off at the CSU campus. My mom had driven us down, so I needed to find her. But first I was going to lose everything I had been consuming. Frantically, I found a somewhat secluded spot in which to blow my chunks. I was embarrassed enough about quitting the race, I didn't need anyone seeing me get sick too.

My next attempt at a marathon was two years later. I don't remember exactly how I decided to try it again, but it may have had something to do with the race starting and finishing a matter of blocks from the college I was just starting at. The race was the 1992 Columbus Marathon. It was an early October date, on Columbus Day weekend, to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus discovering the new world. I ran in a 10 miler that September and also did longer training runs than I had before the Revco. I had just turned 18, was away from home for the first time, living in a strange fine-art environment, and felt it was something I just needed to do.

Back then the course went north up High St., through the Ohio State campus, and wound it's way into Upper Arlington, before coming back down through campus again and eventually downtown. Then it would head east into Bexley, turn around, wind through German Village, and finish at the State Capitol building. Basically the opposite of the way the course is laid out now.
I went out hard at the beginning. Passing people on the sidewalks and everything. When I did Revco, I started slow and I didn't want to do that again. Eventually I fell into a decent pace, staying with a pack of runners going my speed. I was tired as we made our way through Upper Arlington. But because it's a residential neighborhood, there were so many spectators lining the streets and cheering, I couldn't help but get a nice kick of adrenaline and feel really good making my way through there. In fact, the energy carried me all the way back down through campus and into downtown before I started really dragging. I think I made it into Bexley before I had to start walking. I was tired and my legs were starting to cramp on me. Quads and calves mostly. I don't remember much of what happened between Bexley and German Village except that I was in a lot of pain. More pain than I could ever remember experiencing before. But I kept pushing. I didn't want to have another failed attempt at a marathon. What I lacked in physical preparedness, I more than made up for in being mentally focused and just plain stubborn. The feelings that hit me as I made the final turn onto High St. were overwhelming, because I knew the finish was a little over a mile straight ahead of me and that I was going to finish. I was in so much pain, but I knew I was going to finish.

I finished my first marathon in 4 hours 49 minutes. I was sore for weeks afterward and couldn't run again for a couple months. That effectively ended my 1992 season. Nothing like going out on a high note though. The following spring, I finished the Revco Cleveland Marathon for the first time. I cut nearly 25 minutes from my time too, finishing in 4 hours and 25 minutes. In the fall of 1993, I finished another Columbus Marathon, again shaving off a little more time, finishing in 4 hours 23 minutes. I pulled out of the 1994 Columbus Marathon just after half way due to heat concerns. All my training was done in cool temps and race day ended up being very warm.
That was all she wrote for me until last year when I finished both the Akron Marathon and the Columbus Marathon. Three weeks apart doesn't allow for full recovery and I won't be doing that again. My PR in Akron of 4 hours and 15 minutes leads me to think I can go sub 4 hours this year in Columbus. We shall see.

I am glad to be going long again. The more I do, the more I'm getting over the regret of the 10 year break from running. Last year I reached a point where on any given weekend I could go out and do a half marathon, no problem. I would like to reach a point where I can do multiple full marathons per year, and do them faster. Qualifying for Boston isn't one of my goals, but it sure would be nice to do it once.

Two Days and Counting

OK, I broke down and ran last night. Just a short 2.8 miles around the neighborhood in 21:38. Not too hard. Not too slow. I did feel just a little tight with just one day of rest from Tuesday. Aside from getting out and burning off some calories, I wanted to get out in the cold. We are cold again in Medina. It's been nice the last two weeks, but a front came through and it was a little chilly. Which is GREAT for running. Temps last night should be close to what they'll be on Sunday and I wanted to get out there and try to acclimate a bit. I'm good in the cold. I'm good in the heat. It's the transitioning between the two that messes me up sometimes. Breathing was good last night, so I'm pleased.

On another note, Columbus doesn't offer the same text message/e-mail race updates that Akron did. But they do offer online tracking. If you go here, http://www.mtectracking.com:8080/Mtrack/Mtrack?raceid=3, you might be able to follow my progress. My number is 877. You get the nice low numbers when you register as far in advance as I did. If the link doesn't work, don't sweat it too much. I'll at least post a short report Sunday.

Mr. P

P.S. I just followed the link and it does work. However, when you search for number 877, two names come up, me and some chick. I'm the dude. I wonder what that's all about...

Three Days and Counting

It's three days till Columbus and I'm ready to go now. I don't want to wait any more. I want to hit it. HARD! I held back on Tuesday night. We were busy with life-things yesterday, so I didn't do anything. I didn't get out of bed early enough this morning to do anything meaningful. Maybe later tonight. I'm not used to tapering like this. I'm chomping at the bit. I just want to do it. Not to get it over with, mind you. I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of having all this energy and worrying about not saving it for Sunday.

It's the quiet before the storm.

Except, the quiet is driving me nuts.

Mr. P

Last Training Session

My last training session before Columbus was last night. And it went pretty well. Dan and Bob were both there, after having put some miles in at Towpath Sunday no less. We were joined by a couple "newbies" as well. No one wanted to do anything really tough so we just winged it. A mile warm up, followed by 3 X 400m with striders on the straights. Then a trio of 400s with 400m rest between. Times were 1:39 / 1:34 /and 1:32. Then one mile cool down for a total of about 4 miles. I definitely left the track feeling like I could do more. In fact, I want to go out tomorrow night too, but I don't know if I should 3 days before my big race. I'll have to think on it.

Mr. P

One Week Out

One week out from the marathon and I spent my last long run with Chip and Dale. Well, not the REAL Chip and Dale, but chipmunks none the less. Yesterday I decided to get some different terrain under my belt, so I headed out the Lester Rail Trail. There were chipmunks everywhere! And they weren't afraid of me either. Some wouldn't move until I was just a few feet away. As I only saw one other person out there, they were nice company.

I haven't been out there since early summer. The trail head isn't far from the house, 1.6 miles to be exact, it's a nice gravel trail, and shaded in most spots. Since I was getting another late start, not do to the weather this week but instead the free Sam Adams Cherry Wheats at Mrs. P's work function Saturday night, so I once again decided to find a route somewhat away from auto traffic.

It's a 9 mile round trip from my house to the end of the Lester Trail. If I were to add my 3 mile loop on top of that, I would end up with 12 miles. Guess what? 12 miles exactly. Damn, I'm good! I covered the distance in 1:34 under moderate effort. It was hot yesterday. I was feeling for everyone running Towpath again this year in the heat. The heat made for more effort than I encountered in Akron just a couple weeks ago. But I didn't want to press too hard anyway. It's way to close to mess up anything now.

What I did want to do was run a negative split on just the trail portion of the route. Which I did. According to the G-maps Pedometer I use, the trail length is 2.9 miles. I clocked 22:40 out and 22:24 back. I had a bit of a headwind coming back, but going out is slightly uphill, so they cancel out. The wind was welcome however, as I was dripping in sweat after just a little bit. I didn't think it was going to be that warm. I went through 3 of my 4 bottles of Gatorade Endurance, taking no gels with me for this run. I wouldn't need any for only 12.

The whole run, my mind kept going over what clothing I should pack for the race. I haven't looked at any of the long range forecasts, so I really don't know what they're calling for for next weekend. But I went over every conceivable scenario and what clothing combinations I would want. So basically, I'm going to pack a little bit of everything and decide Sunday morning. Just as if I were spending the night at home and had access to everything in the morning.

That's all for now. I've one more run at the track tomorrow, and then that's it. I'm trying not to think about it too much, but when I do, I'm more excited than worried. The hay's in the barn and I'm as ready as I'm going to be.

Mr. P

A Quick Training Update

Yes, I was back to "quick" 800's this week. After a mile warm-up we clocked splits of:
3:14 / 3:13 / 3:11 / 3:08 / 3:11 / and 3:07. Why not save the quickest for last? It was good running them with someone after what happened last week. (See the Miserable and Lonely post.) It also helped to have some fabulous weather. Dry, clear, with just a touch of breeze. But really, the main thing is the company. Dan was there, but that's it. I'm not sure where everyone else has gotton off to, but oh well. It's much easier to maintain your pace with someone else to gauge off of. I know he's able to average faster splits than I can, but he held back so we could stick together. All told, just 5 miles Tuesday night. But with less than two weeks till the marathon, that's plenty.

I managed to squeeze in a short 3.5 miles last night. The weather was still beautiful so I didn't want to waste it. I just ran around the neighborhood in 26:33, about 7:30's I believe. I shouldn't have pushed as hard as I was. Now for a couple off days and my last long run on Sunday.

I have a correction to my last post to make. I was under the impression that the Towpath Marathon was last weekend. It wasn't. It's this weekend. I somehow, again, got the wrong date down on my calender. I'm going to have to be more diligent about getting these dates right next year. Good luck to everyone running either the full, half, or 10K! Looks like it's going to be getting a little warm.

Mr. P

It's Woolly Bear Time Again

And we had frost yesterday too, so it must definitely be fall here in Ohio. Not a hard killing frost, just enough to highlight the grass in the green space in front of our house. But I did delay my run until the late morning because of it. I really didn't want to go out and freeze for a couple hours. And because I delayed my run, I decided to drive up to the Metroparks to run instead of running around town.

I like parking in Strongsville, just off Pearl. It's easy to get to from the highway, and it has an outhouse! In the past I've parked there, run through Berea, down into the Rocky River Valley. Yesterday I decided to take a different route, heading up the Big Creek Parkway to the picnic area at Snow Rd. I used to ride my bike along there tons in high school, but haven't been up that way in many years. Nothing has changed. The trees may be a little bigger and the shrubs a little fuller, but it's still basically the same as it was 15 years ago. The traffic light patterns are still ridiculous, refusing to give you a "walk" sign, forcing you to cross when everyone making a left hand turn is done. People carelessly walking their dogs. People walking on the left hand side of the path. I could go on.

But I won't. What I will go on about is the run. I did 14.5 miles in 1:53. I really wasn't planning on going too hard, what with the marathon two weeks away and all. I wanted to be out no longer than 2:30 so I planned to run for 1:15 then turn around. I ended up reaching my desired turn around point in less than an hour. I thought that was fine and decided to go for a negative split on the way back. A negative split in this case is running back to the car faster than I did leaving it. I don't have my splits in front of me right now, but I negative split the run by a couple minutes. I felt good. A little tight at points, but good. It was chilly, about mid 50's, but the course is heavily wooded, so I was in and out of sun throughout the run. There weren't too many people out, as the Towpath Marathon was yesterday. I was pleased that I was able to push it, but not too much as to cause an injury.

Columbus is 13 days out and I think I'm in a good spot. I've done the long runs. I've done the short runs. I've done the hard runs. Now, I'm just planning some shorter, easier runs as I taper. I'm not sore today, just a little tight. I do have a bit of a sore throat. Better this week than next week, though. I'll be at the track tomorrow, but I'm not planning on pushing anything at all.

Happy Fall everyone! The storm windows are now in. The furnace has a clean filter and has been coming on at night. And 100,000 people joined Dick Goddard in Vermilion yesterday for the Woolly Bear Festival. Too many people for my liking. That's why I was running.

Mr. P

Miserable and Lonely: Two Not-So-Great Feelings That Go Great Together

My birthday was yesterday. So what did I do to celebrate? I ran 9 and a quarter miles on a track, by myself, in the cold, in the rain, and in the dark. And I'm glad I did too.

Miserable and lonely are definitely two feelings (among others) that rear their heads during the later stages of a marathon. So is the desire to stop short. So I made sure that I did everything I had planned last night. We missed the opportunity to do this workout last week due to the tracks being used, and the fact that I was going to go it alone this week wasn't going to stop me from completing it.

10 X 800 is a lot of running. The most I've done in a speedwork session yet. I was hoping to at least maintain steady splits from the first to the last. I really didn't know what range I was going to be at, as I was still tired from the half marathon on Saturday. Given that, and the uncooperative weather, I can't be too disappointed in the results:
3:10 / 3:19 / 3:19 / 3:17 / 3:19 / 3:13 / 3:15 / 3:20 / 3:20 / 3:15. I would have liked the average to be grouped around the 3:10 mark, but there was a steady wind coming out of the west really slowing things down on the back straight. And not having anyone to pace off of slows things down a bit too. I'm not going to be hard on my times at all. The fact that I completed them all brings me more satisfaction than the times themselves.

Speaking of the half marathon. I was able to get back on the website to view the results and here's how I did against the competition. My time of 1:33:59 placed me 9th in my age group out of 132, and 50th overall out of 781. Wow! I never look at how I place against others in big races like Akron. I just look at my time. But I did damn good, if I do say so myself. The hard part now is going to be improving THAT time. I don't expect to do it this year, so sometime in 2009 will have to do.

My hard workouts are now done, as I am 18 days away from Columbus. I plan on going for a long run this weekend, maybe 18 or so. And I am planning for two more speed sessions, but I'm not going to be pushing that hard during them. So, the proverbial "hay is in the barn". I just need to show up on race day and do my thing. Until next time...

Mr. P