It's time. It is really past time for me to get back in shape. I've gained about 10 pounds, so I need to increase aerobic capacity and decrease weight.
It all starts with a run or in this case three runs - I am on day 3. I met up with friends on Saturday, then knocked out two solo runs. I'm happy to have done runs of 6/4/6 miles but realistically, it's not THAT hard to run on a day off, so tomorrow is another challenge.
I'll keep you posted.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Rosaryville 50k Race Report (11/13/10)
Why would I drive two hours to run a 50k when I could have rolled out of bed later and run my hometown marathon with all my friends? Good question – the only possible answer is related to getting a higher level in Marathon Maniacs. I came up with a plan to make my next run (Vegas in December) my 13th state in 12 months, but I needed another state. I started the marathon a month streak back in Baltimore thirteen months ago, so repeating Maryland allows me to use Vegas as my ticket to five stars (officially Ruthenium Level).
I left the house just a bit after 4:30 AM. That put me at the race start a bit less than an hour early. I knew this was a small race, but I wasn’t sure how traffic would go or how they would handle parking. I used the time to relax a bit, once again, I found myself nervous on race day.
As I started the second lap, I realized that the terrain seemed to be more difficult, not really hard – but I could feel that my legs were working harder than in a road race. I briefly considered that the third lap would probably be even less comfortable. I was now alone, from the time I left the aid station until I reached the next aid station, I saw two people – riding mountain bikes. I had seen this same pair on the first lap – they looked like they were newbies getting into shape. The lead rider didn’t seem capable of avoiding me, so I jumped out of the way. I realize that the 50k didn’t have exclusive use of the trail on this day, but I kept thinking that these two geniuses could have realized after passing say 90 runners that perhaps today would be good to ride elsewhere … so I was a bit surprised to seem them on both lap one and lap two. I also passed a different group of three riders on lap one and two – but they seemed more experienced and I was more confident that they could avoid me as well as me avoiding them.
As I got near the end of the second lap, I made a rookie trail running mistake. I stared at my Garmin to read the mileage – while looking at the Garmin, I was not looking at the root that jumped under my foot – the result was an early and very HARD foot-strike. The top of my ankle felt like it might be bruised, I figured keeping it moving would be best, so I didn’t even stop. Fortunately, the pain went away quickly. I felt like a moron for not paying more attention to the trail. There are some more significant inclines at the end of the loop and my knees started to feel the effects. It wasn’t enough to make me stop running, but I knew I couldn’t keep running this course indefinitely. For some reason, once each lap, I kicked my right ankle with the bottom heel of my left shoe – that hurt and has left a cut. I suppose I’m not picking my feet up very high and my foot strikes are not far enough apart – at the time, I just knew how much it hurt.
Lap number three started out okay, but after about a mile on the trail, I checked the Garmin and it said 18 miles … WTF? … this should be mile 22. That got under my skin – looking back, I don’t understand what bugged me, I was in the trees, the Garmin probably lost signal and I should have been able to let it go, but it just kept nagging at me. Maybe I’m really 13.1 miles from the finish – that’s a half marathon and my legs feel like crap.
I started to get some cramps in my hamstrings and quads. I was slowly making my way along the trail, surprisingly, only one person actually passed me. As he went around me, I got a foot cramp and let out a groan – when he heard me, he stopped and offered an electrolyte capsule. I thought that was pretty cool. I got more capsules and watered down Gatorade at the aid station. The aid station was about 5 miles from the finish and the Garmin indicated another 7 miles – I knew it was wrong, but it was still messing with my head. I thought maybe the course would have more mileage after leaving the trail. When I finally emerged from the woods, the course marshal said it was just ¾ mile (mostly on pavement) to the finish and I never looked at the stupid Garmin again. When I got to the last tenth of a mile, I could read the clock – as I saw it turn over 5:14, I knew I could finish in less than 5:15 (my second goal), but only if I hustled. The last bit was uphill across a grass field – I was surprised how difficult it was to pick my feet up, but I made it in with 1 second to spare.
The post-race food included baked potatoes with Old Bay seasoning – not my first choice in general, but it was delicious. Our finishers premium was a glass coffee cup and a running hat. My kids were disappointed that I didn’t get an actual medal.
Rosaryville Veterans Day 50k
Time: 5:14:59
Course: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/56596888
Participant Hat
Finisher's Premium (Glass Coffee Mug)
Early in the run, notice the smile.
Closing in on the finish line.
I left the house just a bit after 4:30 AM. That put me at the race start a bit less than an hour early. I knew this was a small race, but I wasn’t sure how traffic would go or how they would handle parking. I used the time to relax a bit, once again, I found myself nervous on race day.
A few minutes before 8 AM, I found myself in a grass field with about 90 other people. They had a woman with a beautiful voice sing the National Anthem, and then within 2 minutes, we were gone. We ran through the dew covered grass for about 1/10 of a mile then along a park road for ½ mile then into the trails. I started off a little fast, but once we hit the trail it felt pretty good. Most of the trail is single track, not technical – it’s almost 10 miles long, so the race is three laps. I joined up with a group of about 7 – 10 other runners for the first 4 or 5 miles. With almost no room to pass, I was glad for the half mile of easy passing on the road to get lined up according to pace. The group was very quiet. The course has two aid stations at either end of the trail. As I got past the far aid station, I was following a woman in grad school at the University of Maryland
As I started the second lap, I realized that the terrain seemed to be more difficult, not really hard – but I could feel that my legs were working harder than in a road race. I briefly considered that the third lap would probably be even less comfortable. I was now alone, from the time I left the aid station until I reached the next aid station, I saw two people – riding mountain bikes. I had seen this same pair on the first lap – they looked like they were newbies getting into shape. The lead rider didn’t seem capable of avoiding me, so I jumped out of the way. I realize that the 50k didn’t have exclusive use of the trail on this day, but I kept thinking that these two geniuses could have realized after passing say 90 runners that perhaps today would be good to ride elsewhere … so I was a bit surprised to seem them on both lap one and lap two. I also passed a different group of three riders on lap one and two – but they seemed more experienced and I was more confident that they could avoid me as well as me avoiding them.
As I got near the end of the second lap, I made a rookie trail running mistake. I stared at my Garmin to read the mileage – while looking at the Garmin, I was not looking at the root that jumped under my foot – the result was an early and very HARD foot-strike. The top of my ankle felt like it might be bruised, I figured keeping it moving would be best, so I didn’t even stop. Fortunately, the pain went away quickly. I felt like a moron for not paying more attention to the trail. There are some more significant inclines at the end of the loop and my knees started to feel the effects. It wasn’t enough to make me stop running, but I knew I couldn’t keep running this course indefinitely. For some reason, once each lap, I kicked my right ankle with the bottom heel of my left shoe – that hurt and has left a cut. I suppose I’m not picking my feet up very high and my foot strikes are not far enough apart – at the time, I just knew how much it hurt.
The race provided access to a drop bag at the start of the second and third laps. I started the race with a fuel belt with two bottles. That worked well for the first two laps, but I finished both bottles before reaching my drop bag for the last time, so I picked up my hand-held bottle and left the fuel belt behind. I should have been drinking more, but the whole drop bag thing was pretty cool. In addition, the volunteers were awesome, on the first lap, I handed off my jacket that I started the race with – he delivered it back to the finish area, so I didn’t have to carry it with me.
Lap number three started out okay, but after about a mile on the trail, I checked the Garmin and it said 18 miles … WTF? … this should be mile 22. That got under my skin – looking back, I don’t understand what bugged me, I was in the trees, the Garmin probably lost signal and I should have been able to let it go, but it just kept nagging at me. Maybe I’m really 13.1 miles from the finish – that’s a half marathon and my legs feel like crap.
I started to get some cramps in my hamstrings and quads. I was slowly making my way along the trail, surprisingly, only one person actually passed me. As he went around me, I got a foot cramp and let out a groan – when he heard me, he stopped and offered an electrolyte capsule. I thought that was pretty cool. I got more capsules and watered down Gatorade at the aid station. The aid station was about 5 miles from the finish and the Garmin indicated another 7 miles – I knew it was wrong, but it was still messing with my head. I thought maybe the course would have more mileage after leaving the trail. When I finally emerged from the woods, the course marshal said it was just ¾ mile (mostly on pavement) to the finish and I never looked at the stupid Garmin again. When I got to the last tenth of a mile, I could read the clock – as I saw it turn over 5:14, I knew I could finish in less than 5:15 (my second goal), but only if I hustled. The last bit was uphill across a grass field – I was surprised how difficult it was to pick my feet up, but I made it in with 1 second to spare.
The post-race food included baked potatoes with Old Bay seasoning – not my first choice in general, but it was delicious. Our finishers premium was a glass coffee cup and a running hat. My kids were disappointed that I didn’t get an actual medal.
Rosaryville Veterans Day 50k
Time: 5:14:59
Course: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/56596888
Participant Hat
Finisher's Premium (Glass Coffee Mug)
Early in the run, notice the smile.
Closing in on the finish line.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Marine Corps Marathon Race Report (10/31/10)
Fabulous organization, fun crowd, lots of great sites, lots and LOTS and MORE runners. The Marine Corps Marathon is HUGE. The EXPO is HUGE. Everything is super sized, especially compared to my recent marathons. Approximately 22,000 people ran with me on Halloween, with many people in costumes (not me).
Packet pickup was at the DC Convention Center. I drove up to DC on Saturday with plenty of time to pickup my number and get back to my hotel in Crystal City – or so I thought. You see, Jon Stewart and his Comedy Central show planned a rally to clog up DC (or Restore Sanity) for that same day. I heard the radio explaining how crowded Metro was and I decided to check in early then drive into DC to avoid the crowds. For some reason, I used the GPS – now, I worked in DC for about six years and commuted through town every day. I know how to get around, but foolish me, I drove right into utter chaos and grid-lock. With so many people trying to walk across streets, the traffic couldn’t get through. I had to laugh at the people honking – like someone would wake up and say “oh, thanks, I didn’t realize the light was green … I’ll just go ahead and run over these pedestrians…”
What should have been an hour trip took closer to two and a half hours – I still had plenty of time to get checked in and make it to dinner. However, the hotel wasn’t quite ready for me. They kindly offered free parking and a free breakfast, but were surprised when I said I’d be leaving before 5:30 AM. I stayed at the Radisson in Crystal City – they made a nice recovery by offering showers for returning marathon runners on Sunday. I just wanted a shower before heading home, so that worked out fine.
I met up with friends Bob Kees and Owen Smith (plus Owen’s wife and two adorably boys) from Richmond for dinner the night before. Owen and Bob volunteered to give me the low down on the event. They were returning for the second year in a row. They gave great advice about the crowds at the start and not to try weaving because they are endless. They also suggested the left lane (closer to the woods for a last minute pit stop).
Crystal City is home to many office buildings and parking garages. They use it for a shuttle to the starting line, so I just walked two blocks and waited in line. Eventually, a short bus ride to the runners’ village. After a 15 minute walk, we went through security and then I headed to bag drop. I thought it was around 6 when we arrived, but it was closer to 7 and now it was almost 7:30. I didn’t have much time and headed up to the start line. Bob & Owen’s advice paid off – the port-o-john lines on the left lane were only 2 people deep – I took advantage. Beautiful fly over by some F-18s and Sea Stallion Helos. A very patriotic Star Spangled Banner and we started. The run up through Rosslyn included some hills that continued until we hit the turn around. We came back through Georgetown to a huge crowd to get you all pumped up. The trip out of G’town was pretty packed. I had a faster pace than I wanted, but I felt really good. I almost went @#!*% over tea kettle in a pot hole because I couldn’t look down and avoid running into people. The course was almost constantly packed with people. We headed out towards Haines Point and the crowds of spectators and runners really thinned out. I was feeling the effects of the pace, not bad, but I knew I’d need to slow down eventually. I was really looking forward to running along the mall and it was great, especially when we got to the Capitol. There were more photographers in that small area than most races have in total. They were getting plenty of great shots with the Capitol Building behind us – very cool. After coming off the mall, I got to run on those streets I had been stuck on the day before – it was nice to control the pace, but I knew the bridge was just up ahead. I hit the last water stop, but did not refill my bottles which were nearly empty. The 14th street bridge is longer than it looks and there is just no place for water. I got over to Virginia before actually walking, but I really needed a breather. I picked up the pace before coming off the highway and seeing people. I ran through about half of Crystal City, but then stopped to take my last GU and reset my pace. The crowds were awesome. I ran leaving Crystal City with a run walk as we passed the Pentagon. I got cramps in my glutes, my calves, my hamstrings, and my quads – in sort of rotating @#!*% . None lasted very long, but I knew I was pushing near the edge. When I saw the final hill, I decided to run it and figured I might fall down with cramps, but I was close to my goal time, so what the @#!*% ? I got one brief cramp as I turned the corner, but overall, I was fine. I finished with a bright smile.
My goal for the day was 3:55 – I wanted to be able to move into the C corral for Chicago in 2011 – I finished at 3:54:50. I was beaming in Rosslyn after the cattle drive to get out of the finisher area. Again, MCM is very big – lots of runners, but LOTS more supporters.
I hopped on a bus (no line) and the Marine got on behind me to say – “you’re full, head out” – nice timing.
Marine Corps Marathon
Time: 3:54:50
Course: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/55070562
Participant (Mock Turtleneck) Shirt & Finisher's Medal
Finisher's Medal (my new favorite):
Packet pickup was at the DC Convention Center. I drove up to DC on Saturday with plenty of time to pickup my number and get back to my hotel in Crystal City – or so I thought. You see, Jon Stewart and his Comedy Central show planned a rally to clog up DC (or Restore Sanity) for that same day. I heard the radio explaining how crowded Metro was and I decided to check in early then drive into DC to avoid the crowds. For some reason, I used the GPS – now, I worked in DC for about six years and commuted through town every day. I know how to get around, but foolish me, I drove right into utter chaos and grid-lock. With so many people trying to walk across streets, the traffic couldn’t get through. I had to laugh at the people honking – like someone would wake up and say “oh, thanks, I didn’t realize the light was green … I’ll just go ahead and run over these pedestrians…”
What should have been an hour trip took closer to two and a half hours – I still had plenty of time to get checked in and make it to dinner. However, the hotel wasn’t quite ready for me. They kindly offered free parking and a free breakfast, but were surprised when I said I’d be leaving before 5:30 AM. I stayed at the Radisson in Crystal City – they made a nice recovery by offering showers for returning marathon runners on Sunday. I just wanted a shower before heading home, so that worked out fine.
I met up with friends Bob Kees and Owen Smith (plus Owen’s wife and two adorably boys) from Richmond for dinner the night before. Owen and Bob volunteered to give me the low down on the event. They were returning for the second year in a row. They gave great advice about the crowds at the start and not to try weaving because they are endless. They also suggested the left lane (closer to the woods for a last minute pit stop).
Crystal City is home to many office buildings and parking garages. They use it for a shuttle to the starting line, so I just walked two blocks and waited in line. Eventually, a short bus ride to the runners’ village. After a 15 minute walk, we went through security and then I headed to bag drop. I thought it was around 6 when we arrived, but it was closer to 7 and now it was almost 7:30. I didn’t have much time and headed up to the start line. Bob & Owen’s advice paid off – the port-o-john lines on the left lane were only 2 people deep – I took advantage. Beautiful fly over by some F-18s and Sea Stallion Helos. A very patriotic Star Spangled Banner and we started. The run up through Rosslyn included some hills that continued until we hit the turn around. We came back through Georgetown to a huge crowd to get you all pumped up. The trip out of G’town was pretty packed. I had a faster pace than I wanted, but I felt really good. I almost went @#!*% over tea kettle in a pot hole because I couldn’t look down and avoid running into people. The course was almost constantly packed with people. We headed out towards Haines Point and the crowds of spectators and runners really thinned out. I was feeling the effects of the pace, not bad, but I knew I’d need to slow down eventually. I was really looking forward to running along the mall and it was great, especially when we got to the Capitol. There were more photographers in that small area than most races have in total. They were getting plenty of great shots with the Capitol Building behind us – very cool. After coming off the mall, I got to run on those streets I had been stuck on the day before – it was nice to control the pace, but I knew the bridge was just up ahead. I hit the last water stop, but did not refill my bottles which were nearly empty. The 14th street bridge is longer than it looks and there is just no place for water. I got over to Virginia before actually walking, but I really needed a breather. I picked up the pace before coming off the highway and seeing people. I ran through about half of Crystal City, but then stopped to take my last GU and reset my pace. The crowds were awesome. I ran leaving Crystal City with a run walk as we passed the Pentagon. I got cramps in my glutes, my calves, my hamstrings, and my quads – in sort of rotating @#!*% . None lasted very long, but I knew I was pushing near the edge. When I saw the final hill, I decided to run it and figured I might fall down with cramps, but I was close to my goal time, so what the @#!*% ? I got one brief cramp as I turned the corner, but overall, I was fine. I finished with a bright smile.
My goal for the day was 3:55 – I wanted to be able to move into the C corral for Chicago in 2011 – I finished at 3:54:50. I was beaming in Rosslyn after the cattle drive to get out of the finisher area. Again, MCM is very big – lots of runners, but LOTS more supporters.
I hopped on a bus (no line) and the Marine got on behind me to say – “you’re full, head out” – nice timing.
Marine Corps Marathon
Time: 3:54:50
Course: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/55070562
Participant (Mock Turtleneck) Shirt & Finisher's Medal
Finisher's Medal (my new favorite):
Friday, October 22, 2010
50 State Progress
Thanks to Todd for pulling this together.
I'm on a long term quest to run a marathon in all 50 states.
BLUE states show my progress to date:
There is a LOT of RED on that map -- Nevada will turn BLUE in December, then I'm going to shift focus for a bit.
This was generated at
I'm on a long term quest to run a marathon in all 50 states.
BLUE states show my progress to date:
This was generated at
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