Almost there . . . and a new PR

HOLY COW!! I am almost there. The race is just a few days away. Just look at the countdown clock at right . . . we are under a week.

On Sunday I ran a 5 mile race that I have run every year. This year, however, I set a new PR, running at a blazing 7:06 pace. My previous record pace was 7:23 for 4 miles, so I'm definitely speeding up.

Now here I am (with a slight cold . . . which will be gone in two days) just days before the big race and I'm beginning to get a little nervous.

2 weeks to go & Last Long Run!!!

Wow! Here we are. Just two weeks to go until Marathon Sunday!
I can't believe that I'm almost there. After months of training and all of the long runs and short runs and medium runs and the early mornings and the late nights . . . I'm almost there.
Today I ran the last long-ish run of my training, 15 miles. They say ("they" being the nebulous marathon gods) that the bare minimum one can do in terms of long runs is two 18 mile runs over the course of the training in order to be adequately prepared. I ran one 18 miler, two 20 milers, and one 21 miler. This is in addition to today's 15 miler. I think at this point I'm pretty well prepared. I'm feeling really good.
Today's run was particularly great b/c I ran it at an 8:03 pace. This is by far the FASTEST I've ever run a long run, or any run over 8 miles for that matter. I think things are falling into place.
I used today's run as something of a dress rehearsal for the marathon itself. I wore the shoes I'm going to wear, as well as the same shirt, shorts and hat.
Now I'm just down to tapering. This week I ran 33 miles. Next week I'm down to 24. The following week I run 14 + the marathon. I am getting so pumped!

The other thing that has gotten me excited is that I received my entry card with my official marathon number on it. I'm going to be wearing number 22054, will be in Wave 2 (of three), and I'll be on the Blue Starting Line in corral D. All this means that I'm right in the middle of the pack in essence, which is right where I belong. For those of you who can't come to NYC to watch my triumphant day, you can track my progress online at www.ingnycmarathon.com. Just enter my name or my bib number (22054) and you can see my split times at every 5k (or thereabouts).

Almost there.

700 Miles . . . 3 weeks to go!

Wow! Here we are. Today is the Chicago Marathon and I want to congratulate my friends who are running in that!! I hope to run Chicago one of these days . . . it's supposed to be a nice race.

In any case, we are also inching ever closer to the big day for NYC as well. Three weeks from today is the big marathon and I'm getting pumped. Yesterday I ran my last 20 miler and in the course of that run hit the 700 mile mark for the year! I can't believe that I've run 700 miles this year . . . that simply baffles me.

My run yesterday was nice. Sara rode with me in the park and that helped immensely (as always) and it was a gorgeous (if perhaps a bit too warm) day. My next long run is 15 and I'm dropping mileage each week like a bad habit . . . but I'm working hard and I'll be stretching in my extra time and I'm counting down the days to the marathon!

Can't wait.

Mission Accomplished (Sort of)

Well . . . if you'll remember that at the beginning of this adventure (almost a year ago now) I had a number of goals that I set for myself. One of those goals was to run a shorter race at a sub 7 min/mile pace. Today I ran 4 miles (by myself, no race) at a 7 minute pace exactly. 28 minutes! It was hard, but I felt great!

Though it wasn't an official race, it felt good to run a common race distance at that pace. I know that I could do it again in a race at this point, no problem. Unfortunately, I won't be able to run a race at this pace before the marathon (or within the official "YOTM"), but it's an accomplishment nonetheless. I regard it as more of a "Mission Accomplished" that our dumb president's claim that we accomplished our mission in Iraq.

Sunday will be the three week mark for the marathon. I'm getting VERY excited and nervous about the upcoming race! On Saturday I'm running another 20 miler and then after that I'm tapering big time for the race. This weekend is also the Chicago Marathon. I have many friends running in that so good luck to all of them! Yay.

Almost There!

At this point, I am less than 5 weeks away from the marathon. A couple of days ago, the official ING NYC Marathon handbook arrived in the mail. This book has all sorts of info on the start, the expo in the days leading up to the race, etc. I'm getting so pumped up . . . I can't wait.

My entire family will be in NYC to watch me run, and I know that I'll have friends throughout the course.

I've been working hard to keep the mileage up and have been running some shorter runs fast and keeping up with the longer runs. I've even been dropping times on the longer runs, doing some of my 12 milers at an 8:20 pace or so!

Lately I've been feeling good, slimming down, and enjoying running a ton. I've got a new pair of shoes in the back of the closet ready to spring into action soon, I've got my tub'o'gatorade that I've been drinking in anticipation of the race, and I'm pretty much all set with BodyGlide for a while. I'm really getting psyched!

Oy! 600 Miles?!?!?!

First of all. I'm sorry. I haven't posted in about a million years . . . but between managing my running schedule and getting back into the first few weeks of school, I've been swamped. The start of school always seems to involve a lot of evening events and stuff and I'm just been super busy.

BUT the running's been going really well. As of my last post I hadn't yet even run 20 miles, but I did my 20 mile training run in Central Park two weeks ago now and it went really well. I ended up running at about an 8:45 pace . . . which was great.

But here I am, having not posted in ages, and I have slipped past the 600 mile mark! I'm almost up to 300 miles on my "new" shoes and I've already got another pair waiting in the wings for me.

Yesterday I went out on my longest run yet, 21 miles. My 20 miler two weeks earlier was made easier by the fact that I did an organized training run in the park with water, etc. This time I was a little nervous b/c I was on my own . . . but Sara came to the rescue, agreeing to ride her new bike along side me for 3 hours while I ran. We did get separated once (my fault) but I have to say, having Sara along with me made all the difference in the world. She held my water, Gu, and Gatorade and all I had to do was run, it was great. I had originally hoped to try to run 22 miles, which is two miles further than my schedule called for, but it just wasn't in the cards. I was hurting by the end there . . . so I stopped a bit past the 21 mile mark. Oh well. I'm confident that I'll manage to handle the marathon nevertheless.

In other news, it is looking like ALOT of my family and friends are going to come out to watch the Marathon in November which is really exciting! I am really gearing up for this and my mileage is peaking now. I have one more 40 mile week before I begin to taper and then the countdown really begins!! Yay.

Whoops!

I'm not sure how this happened, but I let the 500 mile mark pass without fanfare. So consider the fare fanned. I'm already up to 513.

Today was a beautiful 12 in the park. I ran really quickly for a long run, 8:16 pace!

Next week is a 20 miler!

It's Pouring

Well, school has started and already it's pouring. I had a VERY busy first day of school and felt like the work kept rushing in.

On Saturday I was going to swap my long run for Sunday and only do 4 miles. Instead I did ZERO miles. Today was the first day that I didn't run a scheduled run during my entire marathon training schedule. This is a major bummer.

On Friday I decided that b/c Hurricane Hanna was due in NYC on Saturday, I'd leave the long run till Sunday. But come Saturday I never got around to running. I was a lazy slob.

Sunday I'm supposed to run 12, but I might tack on a couple of extra miles to make it 14 so that I'm only 2 miles short this week. Shame on me.

Floating Along

What a week. On Sunday night I went out to dinner with Sara's family and when I woke up Monday, we were all sick. On Monday my temperature reached 102 degrees and I was stuck in the terrible purgatory between really hot and freezing cold. It was one of three things that made me sick on Monday:
(a) Sunday night's Indian food
(b) Hanging out with a sick 10 month old
(c) The onset of the Republican National Convention.

My money's on (c).

In any case I was feeling better Tuesday morning, so I decided that I'd go on the Senior Leadership Retreat as planned. We were to go white water rafting on the Delaware River about two hours north of NYC. It was a blast. I was able to float along down the river with some great kids from the class of 2009 and really enjoy myself.

While with the kids I was able to get a short 4 miler in, but I didn't feel great b/c it was the day after my temp was so high. I think that the physical illness was aggravated by my anxiousness about the fact that the Republicans were nominating a self-declared "pit-bull w/ lipstick" to be their Vice-Presidential nominee while I was out of touch with any mainstream media.

On Wednesday, I was able to get a quick 5 miler in after returning home, and today I ran a nice 6 at a decent pace. Even though I've been getting all of my miles in, lately I feel like I've just been floating along . . . I have been squeezing my runs in when I can instead of really taking time to stretch, warm up, and focus on good runs. I haven't been planning and I've been pacing myself indiscriminately. I'm worried that I'm slowing down a bit. I'm hoping I can focus a bit more on getting in some faster tempo runs and not worry about pace so much on the 6s and long runs.

Tomorrow is the first day of school.

18 Miles!

I ran 18 miles today. I felt good, and ended up running an 8:49 pace . . . right on target with what I needed. In fact, I felt so good that I could've run all the way to Alaska!

Speaking of Alaska, John McCain picked Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Who the hell is Sarah Palin? This is such a transparent maneuver to court Hilary supporters and to appear to be progressive. McCain is dumb.

Sarah Palin is less experienced than Barack Obama so his choice of her as running mate completely undermines his ability to atack Obama on experience. In addition, despite this being an attempt to appear progressive, Palin is likely more conservative than McCain. Also, this is an insult to women everywhere. Essentially McCain is saying to female voters (especially Hilary supporters) that they can't possibly be smart enough to see through this pathetic attempt at politics. Does he honestly believe that Hilary supporters will jump right on over to him despite the fact that Palin & McCain are essentially the antithesis of Hilary?

The other thing that bothers me is that the Republicans are touting this as a historic event. Do we not remember that the Democrats had a woman as the VP nominee in 1984 . . . 24 years ago!?!?! McCain's Pick is neither historic, nor brave. Nor is it bold, interesting, edgy, or wise. It is calculating, manipulative, and idiotic.

Has everyone seen this movie, by the way?



I think that this will come back to bite him in the ass! I hope so anyway.

Running Mate

I ran twelve miles today. This is nothing special . . . I have done this before. I ran fairly quickly, getting an 8:39 pace for the day . . . which is pretty good for me, so I was pleased.

I was woken up this morning at 3:30 am by a text message from Barack Obama. He had selected his running mate, Joe Biden, and was filling all of his supporters in via text. I was one of the first to know. Apparently, CNN knew at 12:30, but I was asleep, so I was notified by the text first.

In any case, I was thinking a lot about Joe Biden today as I ran (when you run slowly like I do, a 12 mile run allows lots of time to think!)

I'm not so sure I'm a big fan of Joe's . . . he is, after all, the one who referred to Barack Obama as "clean, a nice looking guy." The most insidious form of racism comes through in our implicit assumptions. He also voted to authorize the war. I respect Obama for selecting someone with whom he does not fully agree, but I find this choice frustrating. Biden is an old school, white male democrat (nothing really too wrong with that), but I'm not sure I see his place on a ticket of change . . . Obama's message has been all about change, and while I know he feels the need to fill gaps in his own experience, he might have done so with someone like Bill Richardson. Richardson also has enormous foreign policy experience, is a person of color, and has broad appeal. Sure he's a little dull, but we have a long history of dull VPs in this country (Al Gore and Dan Quayle come to mind immediately, but they're dull for different reasons . . . )

In any case, I have enjoyed having a my own running mate this past week (thanks Jenna!) and I am looking forward to seeing what kind of moron John McCain selects . . . I think it's starting to look like the Stormin' Mormon!

When to run?

I haven't posted in a while. I guess that's b/c I haven't had much to say. My blog has been pretty dull lately (I knew this already, but it's been confirmed by a number of independent sources recently), but I'm not sure exactly what would make it more interesting other than beginning to include some topics that are only tangentially related to running (if at all).

Lately the thing that I've been thinking the most about it when is best for me to run. During the summer, I've run mostly whenever I've felt like it, but now that school is starting again, I have been limited to either first thing in the morning or in the afternoon when I get home from work. Each has its own benefits, and I'm having a hard time deciding which would be best.

Running in the morning means that it's cooler out and it means that I'm done with my run for the day early on, leaving me more flexible for the rest of the day. I also find that I think more quickly and clearly during the day when I run in the morning. At the same time, it also means waking up early, running alone (most days), and not having ample time to cool off post run.

Running in the afternoon means that I get to sleep in later, but it's also hotter (though this becomes less of an issue later into the fall). I'm bound by my running schedule if I leave it to later in the day, but then I also get to sleep an hour later (or more). I also find that I enjoy running in NY when there are people out and about, it's much more interesting. Often times, however, I find that running in the afternoon has led to cramps. Anyone with input on what they think is best, I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Speaking of cramps . . . Today was a prime example of why running in the afternoon is tough. I came home from work today, walked into the kitchen, and was instantly reminded of the fact that we had baked chocolate chip cookies last night. This, of course, meant that I ate 4 or 5 of them right away, as I have absolutely no will power (more about my abysmal eating habits later). Then I waited about 20 minutes and went for a run. I don't recommend running with a belly full of cookies. Perhaps the next equation I'll tattoo on myself will be "Run+cookies=sick."

In any case, the cookie problem is just one of a series of eating mistakes that I've been making lately. Since I've been upping my weekly mileage and running more, I've been much hungrier than usual. This has then led me to believe that I can eat pretty much whatever I want and eat it in absurdly huge quantities (hence 5 cookies before dinner . . . sorry mom!) In any case, despite the fact that I am running more, and even though I am getting a bit faster each week (I hope) I think my progress would be much better if I ate better food. That's the goal from now on. Eat as much as I want, but not junk food. One cookie is fine, 5 is not. If I'm still hungry I'll eat 5 apples . . . or something like that . . . you get the picture. I would still like to lose 7-10 pounds before the marathon . . . oy.

One last thought for the day. One thing that I really like about my job (there are many) is that so many of my friends and colleagues at work are also runners, this means that I have the opportunity to talk about running at work and the people I talk to are all very good runners! It's like having a coach and a running buddy all in one! Bonus.

400 miles & 15 miles

Two big milestones today!! First of all I broke the 400 mile mark on the year! But in even bigger news, I broke that mark 1 mile into a 15 mile run.

I did 15 today and I felt really great. It was hard, especially at the end, but I set a decent pace and didn't go crazy and was fine. I ended up running about a 8:59 pace which I'm thrilled with and I have to say that I'm really happy with my longest run yet.

Today I'm off to spend the rest of the day at the beach as a reward for running 15 miles!

Running in Indy

Got back from Indianapolis on Sunday night (late). I ran a bit in Indy. It was incredible weather. Four miles on Thursday, ten on Saturday, and four on Sunday. Each was great. The weather in Indy was so nice . . . about 70-75 degrees and no humidity.

On Saturday I did a great 10 miler. I was able to run with the Indy Runners and they provided water and snacks . . . which was perfect. I don't know if it was the weather or the fact I was running with a group or that I'm in better shape, but I felt great. It was the best long run I've had yet. I ran at about an 8:24 pace (which is good for my longer runs) and I even ran the last mile at 7:35!

Things are feeling good.

Strange New Tuesdays

Today is the first Tuesday since I finished my running class . . . I'm not sure how I feel about this. I really enjoyed my running class and found that it did, in fact, make me faster, more confident, and a stronger runner overall. In addition, it was a nice way to get good, quality miles in early in the week. That said, it was sort of a pain to completely lose each Tuesday night to class, and getting down to the UES was sort of difficult as well.

There is another session of the class starting up again today and I thought about joining it, but I just couldn't do it. If I thought it was not easy to get down to class on Tuesdays during the summer, I'm SURE that I'd struggle even more during the school year (which begins far too soon for my tastes). Also, despite the fact that I enjoyed class while I was there each week, I sort of dreaded going to class in the hours leading up to it . . . I don't know why. Thus I didn't join, figuring I'd keep running as I had been, getting my mileage in and just focusing on the marathon.

Today, however, I'm beginning to wonder whether not taking the class for another session was a mistake. I'm glad that I can be more flexible with my time and I know that getting to the UES each Tuesday after work would have me in fits, but I'm concerned that I'll get slower now that I don't have a group to push me through hill workouts, tempo runs, intervals, etc.

So with that in mind, I decided to try to push myself today for my four miler. I ran something of a tempo run, getting four miles done in 30:43 (or 7:41s). Not too bad, just about 20 seconds/mile slower than my PR for the four mile race. I'm going to continue to try to make Tuesdays my "speed" workout days, maybe getting some intervals in, maybe some hills too. We'll see.

Oh and we're inside 14 weeks!

Lucky 13!

Today I ran further than I ever have before (get used to this . . . it will happen a number of times between now and November 2). Thirteen miles was the goal for today and I decided for this that I would run with the NYRR Long Training run. They set up the park just like they would for a race, give you water, food, a number, and pacing guides, and you can get a long run in with support!

I was really nervous going into today's run b/c the last long run I did was 10 miles and I was hurting on that day. I ran in the middle of the heat wave and I ran during the hottest part of the day that day.

Today, however, was much better. I ended up running 13 easily, and ended up with something left in the tank!! I ran about a 8:50 pace which is just slightly faster than my original goal of running nines, but I felt that I could've gone even faster (or run further). By mile eleven I was feeling great, and even considered going for 16 miles. But the last two miles actually ended up being a bit harder . . . giving me some slight knee and hip pain. I'm ok now, but those last two miles made my legs sore.

I didn't want to push myself too much this early and given my hip pain recently I didn't feel that going for 16 was all that wise, but I really felt great today and I look forward to my next long run of 15 miles! I'm getting there . . .

New Shoes

Having run over 330 miles on my old pair of running shoes, I decided that it was time to get another pair. Most people suggest that you switch to new shoes after anywhere from 300-500 miles on one pair. Since I'm sort of a heavy guy I decided that I'd stay on the lowish end of that range. But I'm not just going to stop using the old shoes all at once. I am going to slowly break in my new shoes so that I don't get blisters or anything from them. For instance, last night I had my speed class and since it's a harder workout, I decided I'd wear my old shoes. Today, however, I was only running an easy four miles, so I decided it would be a good first day to begin to wear in my new shoes. This Saturday I'm running 13 miles and I think my old shoes still have enough cushioning to last that long and my feet are really comfortable in them so I'll wear them instead of risking bad foot issues in new shoes. In the end I think I'll most likely end up putting close to 375 or 400 miles on the old shoes as I phase the new ones in.

I went with the same exact shoe, Asics Gel 2130s. I like them and they support my feet well. I haven't had any shin or knee pain in these shoes at all (knock on wood!).

Today's short four miler (actually closer to 4.5) was good. It was the same run that I did a week ago today and I felt like crap last week and this week I shaved four minutes off my time, running sub eights. I almost never run faster than 8 minute miles during the week. This is a good sign! I'm feeling good and looking forward to my long run this weekend.

Running Class is over

Today was my last running class. I haven't signed up for the next session and I have some mixed feelings about it. I love the push that the class gives and the speed work that it provides, but it is also a huge pain in the ass to get home so late on Tuesday nights (or Thursday nights) and not see Sara. I'm torn. I don't think I'll do it again before the marathon, but I do want to make sure to get some races/speed work in before the big day . . . otherwise I'll stagnate.

Today we did 6 times 1/4 mile hill repeats. After last week's totally crappy class I ran with the 7:30-8 min/mile group even though I could have run with the 7-7:30 group. I should have run with the faster group b/c I felt that I was too fast for the group I ran with. I was in the front of the group each time . . . oh well.

This week is pretty easy. No races and all four milers . . . oh wait . . . except for the 13 miles that I'm running on Saturday. Last week was relatively easy and this week will be a stretch for me over the weekend, but not too bad otherwise. I'm actually looking forward to the run on Saturday. I've joined with the NYRR for the long run which means that I'll get water at throughout the race, as well as GU and other support. Plus, it's just nicer to run long with groups. My long runs are just getting longer and longer . . . I suppose that's the point. Every other week I keep upping my long runs until I hit 22 miles! Then I begin to taper in preparation for the marathon! I'm getting psyched!

Chicago!

We just returned from having spent the weekend in Chicago with our friend Evan. Evan's maternal grandparents were celebrating the 85th and 80th birthdays as well as their 60th wedding anniversary. We had an absolute blast! I had never been to Chicago before and this was a really incredible opportunity.

For starters our accommodations were top-notch. We got to stay in the John Hancock Building, Chicago's second tallest building after the Sears Tower. In the photos at left you can see the the building itself (the tallest in second photo) and the view from the apartment that we stayed in on the 84th floor (top photo)!!! The apartment belongs to a friend of the family's who let us stay there for the weekend, and it was truly incredible. We had amazing views east out over Lake Michigan and north to the north side of Chicago. We could even see Wrigley field from our perch up in the sky!

Sara and I took walks up and down Michigan Ave, saw Millennium Park, took a sailboat trip in the lake (with great views of the skyline), and overall had a really amazing time.

I got two nice short 4 milers in this weekend. I was able to run along Lake Michigan both times. There is a fabulous path along the lake that is paved and clearly very well used! It was beautiful. On Sunday Sara and I even took a little dip in the lake after our run, enjoying the beach pictured above.

It was a great trip and I got some great Chicago running in. I think I might want to run the Chicago marathon some time in the future . . . that'd be great!

Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right . . .

. . . and I'm pretty sure that two lefts don't make a right either . . . but it might be possible that two bad running days can lead to a good one . . .

Tuesday and Wednesday's runs this week were just terrible. Tuesday night I had my running class. I usually enjoy class. It's a challenge, but not an impossible one, and I usually find myself having a lot of fun pushing my legs to their limits . . . not this time. This week we ran 3x a short hill fartlek loop. We ran very quickly up two LONG hills and then recovered on the downhills and flats. The total loop (that we did three times) was 1.4 miles. Add to that the warm up and cool down runs, we did about 6 miles again . . . which is normal and fine and good. I think, however, that I was dehydrated, not feeling well, tired . . . I don't know what, but I didn't run well at all. I even had to drop back a pace group after the first two loops of hills . . . otherwise I'm not sure I'd have been able to finish the workout.

Wednesday morning I decided I'd get up with Sara to get my run in b/c I had a meeting downtown and lunch with friends (also downtown). I didn't want to do the same old out and back four miler that I always do so I figured I try something new and go by time and a few other distances I thought I knew. The run sucked. I felt sluggish and awful and I wasn't breathing well, my legs hurt (most likely a holdover from the previous night's class) and it was just bad all the way around. When I got home and actually mapped the run, it ended up being 4.5 miles and I was running faster than I had thought . . . so it wasn't a complete waste, but I still didn't feel that great about it.

Today I was nervous. I had to run 8 miles b/c I'm out of town this weekend (going to Chicago) and I wasn't sure I'd have time to get anything longer than four miles in. I didn't set an alarm b/c I wanted to get a good night's sleep, and just decided I'd go when I woke up. Last night ended up being much cooler and so I slept much better, and today was MUCH cooler than it had been and I was running earlier in the day. So being cooler and well rested meant that today's run didn't go as poorly as I thought it might have based on the two previous days. I did the same 8 mile path to the SE corner of Central Park and ran it faster than I ever have, shaving about 40 seconds off of my total time or 5 seconds off of my pace. Not too shabby. I think it's a good sign that each time I run 8 miles I get faster . . . let's hope that trend continues with the longer distances.