Live Every Day Like it's Chazual Friday

My legs wrote a check my lungs couldn't cash

2012-02-03T15:07:00.002-05:00

Friday morning came and I stayed in bed. That evening I did a Steelers loop, pretty easy.

I had hoped to do a Spider workout Saturday morning at the outdoor track at the PG County sports complex's outdoor track before watching some indoor races, but overnight snow and ice denied me that. Instead I sat inside and watched our boys (and girl) run the 5k and hang out with McGrath, Tender, Coach Jerry and the guys who raced. I went home and took a two-hour nap, then headed out in hopes that the ice had melted enough for me to do a workout. I tried to sneak onto George Mason's track, but though better of it. I ran over to the Greenwich Mile, which I had long neglected, but major portions were dangerously slick. It was getting dark, and it wasn't going to get any better. I tried out McLean, but the track was a downright bad idea, even for an easy quarter. So, I headed back on Sea Cliff and finished up a Westmoreland, then added a bit on the W&OD before heading home for a 12 mile run that gave me a chance to demonstrate my flexibility with making contingency running plans.

The next morning I woke up early (but after four hours of sleep) to do my long run, an 18-mile CBR. Ice still covered a lot of the side roads, so miles two and three were a frustrating ordeal, but once I got onto Idylwood, my footing improved dramatically. There were few cars on the road, the norm for Sunday mornings in northern Virginia, so I took advantage of the empty lanes. I came through eight miles in 50:30, averaging a little under 6:20, which surprised me, given how slowly I had to run before Idylwood. Chain Bridge Road was delightfully empty most of the time, and I never really felt too taxed by the climb up Glebe. Richmond Street was kind of rough, but once I got on Old Glebe, I was rolling again. I almost went the wrong way on Dittmar, but turned out to be okay, then went after the hills on Williamsburg. Heading south is a little harder, because the steep downhills hurt in a bad way.Once I got to West, I jumped on the W&OD to take to Shreve, which ended up being mostly ice, and turned around on the gravel parallel trail and headed back home for 18 miles, averaging 6:21.

It warmed up Monday and a lots of the ice melted, so I headed out to Vienna on the W&OD, did a loop, then came back for 11 miles. There was ice on the bridges, but otherwise, it wasn't too bad. Definitely came back faster.

I got up to run a Steelers loop before work Tuesday, and for the first time in a while, I felt awful during the run. Maybe it was the short rest after the run the night before, but I just felt like garbage.

I was feeling kind of tight for Wednesday's workout, but I ended up being okay. We did 2x1.5 miles, then 3x1200. Dangerous Dave and I alternated the lead and kept it pretty consistent. 1.5 mile repeats in 78s and 77s, then 1200s in 75s, 74 and 73s. Intestinal distress made the last ones uncomfortable, but I succeeded in spite.

When I left the house to run to work Thursday, I felt downright awful. I even wondered if I should go back. Once I got to Route 29, I was feeling better. I checked a few splits and realized I was going 6:30 on the Custis Trail. While passing the White House, I saw Sarah Morgan and Sarah Burnham within 15 seconds, which was funny. That evening, Karl wanted to run in Vienna, so I joined him for a while, we ran to the east, and he turned around at Virginia St and I went home for a total of 19.5 miles.

I slept in Friday and did a fartletk after work around Hains Point, one-minute intervals and rests. The wind was favorable on the west side, adversarial on the east side, and pleasant on Independence. Did a total of 11.5.

The next morning, I joined Elyse and Will and the Girls on the Run training program. I ran eight miles slowly with them, from Logan Circle through Dupont and Georgetown to the waterfront and Memorial Bridge, over the 14th street bridge and back to Logan, so I could stick to 90 miles.

I was exhausted Saturday, so I vowed not to set an alarm when I went to sleep and let my recovery dictate when I would do my long run/workout. I kept putting it off, until almost 2 in the afternoon. I headed out on Great Falls to Swinks Mill, the first time I had given that road a shot. It was a steep down and up, but pleasant. On the way back on Old Dominion, I managed to catch Mawflower this time, and I was glad I did- it was a nice quiet neighborhood with rolling hills that were a pleasure to run. Dolley Madison was clear when I crossed, so that was a nice touch, and I rolled up to McLean's track with time to spare before 50:00, meaning I averaged faster than 6:15 for the eight mile warmup. I was a little tired, but ready to go. It was pretty windy on the back stretch, and the flags on the goalposts were pretty much horizontal. My pacing was pretty much right on early on- 5:24 for the first mile, 5:22 for the second, 5:26 for the third and I was on my way to another 5:26 when I hit 20 minutes. I jogged the recovery very slowly at first, but felt better quickly. As rough as it felt during the first segment, I thought back to the same workout in October at BCC and how I felt a lot better in the second segment, so I hoped for that to happen. I also realized I was pretty tired, but this is what I wanted- to get 12 miles into the workout, feel beat and have another hard 20 minutes to go- this is where I would break down the mental barriers and push myself. I started out alright, 80 seconds for the first lap, but when I hit the wind on the back stretch, I had to push an awful lot- I hit 600 in 2:00 and realized I was breathing way too hard for the pace I was trying to go, and gave up. I was disgusted that I only lasted two minutes and missed most of the point of the workout- running at my goal half marathon pace when I was tired. I also though back to doing a similar workout without the 8 miles of fast warmup and that I fared better this time, so at least I am improving. I just wasn't at the somewhat arbitrary point where I wanted to be. I felt a little better after I added some distance to my "cool down" by heading out Old Chesterbrook to Old Dominion and back through New Virginia Manor, up the hills, to run 19 miles, my longest run since October. Coming up Massachusetts, I started to feel the cumulative effect of the mileage, but I also felt like I earned the sensation of submerging my face in a basin of cold water afterward to wash off the salt that had collected.

Monday evening, Karl and I ran out to Sunrise Valley on the W&OD and back for 12.5 miles.

Tuesday, I went back to Old Meadow, which I hadn't run in months. 11.25 miles at 6:47 pace.

I skipping my morning run Wednesday in favor of making steak and eggs for breakfast. I had been toyign with doing the faster workout paces, but ultimately decided to wait until after my 5k next weekend to judge if I am ready. This week, I wasn't. I felt great as we did 1.5 miles at 5:12 pace, 2k at 5:08 and a mile at 4:56, but two laps into the 1200 in 72s I started to feel my lose my feel for my lungs, so I dropped. Same thing after half of an 800, splitting 69. I was okay running 65 for the 400, but was dejected to not be able to push though the last lap of two of the intervals. It was the same feeling as Sunday, that I just wasn't as comfortable running those paces as I would like to be.

I wisely cancelled my morning run with JARRIN, then managed to sleep through two alarms, so whatever run I would do would have to be after work. I got home and headed out on a Rose and Fern and promptly ran it too fast. 5:55 pace through five miles, 6:01 through 10 and 19:59 for 5k after that.

I need to replace my camera, so I can include actual photos in these posts, and not just screen captures of Google Streetview scenes of places I run.

Laps on a dark track

2012-01-19T14:44:00.002-05:00

The visually-pleasing snow Monday afternoon did not last until I got home and ran because by the time I got out there, a mild freezing rain was falling. I headed out to do an Albemarle, but the wet road reflected a lot of the light on the dark stretch, and it wasn't nearly as eerie as usual. I was pretty tired, too, my cough is back.

I had to work late Tuesday, so I didn't get home to start my run until 8, but when I arrived I saw my new shoes, which were long overdue. They were a little rigid, as was to be expected for the first run in them. I went out and did an Oak, and did a pretty good job of keeping it slow on Oak. When I got to the W&OD, I started hammering, and ended up running 5:05 for mile that I ran in 5:42 the week before

Wednesday was downright miserable, and it started long before I got to the track. The metro trip alone took more than an hour, making me late. Dickson, Shredder, Bogart and Raekwan and I warmed up on the track, but that's rarely a good idea for me, mentally, especially when I have a long track workout ahead of me, I just don't want to see those stupid lane lines more than I have to. My whole body felt like my basic balance wasn't there.

I led the 2ks- 78s and 77s, and generally kept things pretty even, though I was two seconds slow in the second 400 of the first, though I made up for it, and was a second fast for each lap of the second. I did well enough with the first two 1ks, hitting 75s for both, thanks in large part to Dave's superb pacing during the second, but I couldn't stay faster than 5:00 pace on the 2x1k that were supposed to be 73s. In fact, in the fourth, I was struggling to keep my legs cranking within the second 100m, and I dropped at 400, running 75. It reminded me I badly need to get turnover work in, after missing it Monday.

Thursday night's weather was fantastic. I was exhausted when I woke up, so I forgot running to work, but came home eager to run a New Virginia Manor in 50-degree weather. I got out to a pretty fast start- 6:07s for the 2.1 miles to the start of the loop, then I got moving. I honestly didn't feel like I was going that fast until I got to the two-mile mark and I was well under 12:00. I came through 5k in 18:03, then finished my first four-mile loop in 23:36. I took it a little harder in the second loop, was 20 seconds faster through two miles and 5k, but I was starting to feel some intestinal distress. The last mile was pretty rough, the flat parts moreso than the uphills, but I finished loop two in 23:24. I'm lucky McLean residents never realized there was a recession and also didn't stop doing home renovations, because there were plenty of portable toilets all over the place. After taking care of business, I was pretty dizzy, but managed to run home for 13.5 miles.

I felt pretty rough Friday morning when I set out to do a reverse Westmoreland++, and by the time I got to the bottom of Grove, I decided to just do a Fisherman's and just double with a five-mile loop in the afternoon. I felt no better after work, so I took the afternoon off. Instead, I doubled Saturday, with an Idylwood+ in the morning and some moderate miles in the evening, after the Olympic Trials broadcast. I ran out to McLean High School and did 5xmile, three in 5:12, two in 5:11. I kicked a bit on the last 100 of the last two, but otherwise, I was consistent with my pacing, and I was pretty pleased with it all and the 80 miles I tallied for the week.

Sunday morning, Raekwon picked me up and we met at Difficult Run with LTO and Dave, Tex and Shredder, Murph, Dangerous Dave and Yukon Jack. We started out heading out to Leesburg Pike and back, on the way back, I managed to twist both ankles pretty badly. My right ankle was so uncomfortable for a while that I wasn't sure if I could keep going, but within a few minutes I stopped limping and was back at it. We crossed over the washed-out portion and the terrain almost immediately improved. Much like my last trip to Difficult Run, the sky was completely clear and the view from the ridge was magnificent. The falls were raging, thanks to days of snow and rain. We ended up with 14.5 miles, and headed back to my place for brunch. I had a few mimosas while cooking pancakes and omlettes before having my own meal, and by the time I sat down, I was pretty much useless. I took a nap and got an easy Fisherman's loop out of the way before dark.

The next morning, Outlaw came to get me to go back to Difficult Run. We met up with Karl and Hanson, but this time stuck to the Great Falls side. We wandered into Riverbend Park and came back on the Bootlegger Trail and got in 11 and change. The falls were once again fantastic, Outlaw got a kick out of the pole marking the river's high water points. Two days in a row running there was pretty fantastic.

Thursday night was wonderfully warm, close to 60, and I felt loose when I headed to McLean High School for another workout in the dark. Since the Spiders were coming up to GW the next night, I moved the GRC workout up a day- 8x800. Given the trouble I had sustaining high speeds with a group last week, I took it easy to start off- 2x2:34, but I was eager to get going, because the next two, 2:30, 2:31, just kind of happened. The next, 2:30, was problematic because I felt my efficient digestive system once again get the best of me, and McLean's bathrooms were inside the school, there entrance to which was a quarter mile away. After that resolution, I hit 2:29, then resolved things, again. Then 2:27, 2:26. The 2:29 went particularly well, because I was at 77 at the quarter, and kicked like crazy. That workout was the first time I noticed any troublesome wind in 2012, but I typically pushed through it pretty well. I finished my last lap with a 71, which pleased me. I knew, however, that some remedial turnover work was going to be necessary, because I didn't trust myself to run under 5:00 pace consistently for the whole workout, though I knew after my third 800 I could do so.

The next morning I ran to work, something that seems to always promise a good time, but ends up being miserable. I got going pretty fast, clocking myself at 6:10s for a few of the half miles on the W&OD. I eased up when I got to the Custis Trail. The cyclists weren't too bad, though they were pretty constant, toward the end. When I passed the Kennedy Center, more than 10 miles in, I felt like I had been running forever. I ended up getting to work after 1:26, for the 13 mile trip.

Thursday morning, I got up at 6 to meet Hulk Logan at Galaudet for my badly-needed turnover work. It was about 20 degrees when I woke up, which usually isn't too bad, except that I encountered it after about 6.5 hours of being almost completely still. The metro had not yet warmed, so the trip into the city was rough. So, too, was the reception at Metro Center- a delay on the red line that put the next trail 13 minutes away. I wanted to get a long warmup before turning it over, so I walked to the office, suffered through a quarter mile on the treadmill, then headed out to the track at the quietest football stadium around. Hulk showed up and we got to work on some 400s, four, then six 300s and seven 200s. None were extraordinarily fast, we got down to 31 for two of the 200s, but it did the job- got me used to moving my legs that fast again. I subtly moved from moving a little faster than I thought I could sustain to cranking it in the middle 100 of a few of the 2s. It's a foundation from which I can build some speed and resistance to self-doubt and weakness.

With my Friday run planned for the morning, I will get four of my five weekday runs done in the morning, not a bad record for a chilly week in January.

Too fast

2012-01-08T21:54:00.000-05:00

I hoped to get a lot of sleep Friday night, but had trouble actually getting to sleep, so I pretty much jut got a little less than eight hours. In the morning, I ran an Ernst loop with Sam , with Murph and Billy along for the first stretch. I was pretty dehydrated, and was definitely not comfortable when climbing Loughboro, but I stuck pretty close to Sam most of the time. I was relieved when it was over, though. He wanted to go two hours and I was fine with 80 minutes, so I turned back after we got back on the towpath.

Sunday I had planned to do an easy long run on the Irvin loop, but I apparently don't know how to do that. I thought I was close to 7:00 for the first mile, but it was a little different than my usual first mile via the metro park and ride lot, so I wasn't quite sure. I felt like I was keeping it loose, though I had an idea I was a little ahead of schedule about six miles in. I definitely slowed climbing Creek Crossing , but still came through 10 miles in 1:04:44, a little under 6:30 pace. I slowed even more on Westbriar Ct, but sped up a bit down the hill. When I got to Wolftrap, I just kept going and figured I'd better finish what I had started. I got pretty aggressive on Oak and was rolling on Providence. I had to dodge a little traffic on Idlywood, but cruised down Barbour and finished hard up Haycock to hit 1:42:08 for a 6:23 average over 16 miles. I really didn't plan on it being so fast, so perhaps I won't do hills in the morning.

Back at it

2012-01-06T15:22:00.001-05:00

Aside from the quick mile toward the end of my run Tuesday, I hadn't pushed it since nationals, and probably hadn't run under 6:00. I headed up to BCC to do just that Wednesday and figure out exactly where I am in terms of my speed. I ran a few miles at different efforts and let the watch tell me afterward how fast each was.
Running easily, so that I could handle the bulk of a conversation, ended up being 5:52. Moderate, a pace I felt I could handle for an undetermined, but long, amount of time ended up being 5:35. Cranking it, which I defined as running hard but at a pace I could sustain a while, was 5:19, and running hard was 5:08. I was very happy with how the first three turned out, but I would have been happier to be closer to 5:00 for the hard mile. I was wearing trainers, so obviously that affected my turnover, but my legs felt pretty darned heavy. I should start quarters again soon and get my legs moving again, maybe some hills.

I had planned to meet up with a gang Thursday morning at 7 to run, so I was a bit flustered to wake up at 8... That meant running in the dark again that evening, which I did with a double Independence. The temperature had hit the mid 40s, so I was feeling pretty comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt. After the usual traffic snarls as I got away from the Hill, I got rolling- 18:34 at three miles, and when I got to Hains Point, I took a couple of splits based on the MCM markers- 5:47 on the west side, 5:52 on the east, not too bad. I finished up 11.5 miles in 1:10 on the dot- 6:05 average, not bad for a few traffic stops, though I hit 14th street on the way back. I was a little surprised at how fast I went.

Friday morning I balked at getting up to run, but ultimately succeeded and did a reverse Westmoreland. I started out a little fast- 13:00 for the first two miles, but then cooling off and averaging 6:48 for the 8.1.

I got a bit of good news when Bob Shooer confirmed Martha's Run for April 14, rather than the 7th. Having an extra week between that and Cherry Blossom will be huge, especially now that Marco is running it, too. He'll be bringing years of running on Pittsburgh's hills with him, and that's a course more than any where hill running acumen will make a big difference. If anything will take my form to a new level, it will be that course. McLean and northern Arlington are hilly, they're not "Lebo-rough hilly," though.

I'm closing in on 75 miles this week, and feeling good for most of it. Keeping my Sunday run slow will be a big test of discipline, and will be harder than running it fast, frankly.

The great runs of 2011, hoping for more in 2012

2012-01-04T17:42:00.000-05:00

The year started from very little. One of my telltale signs of how far I had come was just before the end of 2010, when Slosky and I averaged 8:02 for 10.5 miles in Shadyside and Squirrel Hill. The 12 days I took off after my throat surgery in December, and the recovery from that surgery, put me back a lot. Before that, though, I had been taking a good amount of time off after the two marathon fiasco, so I really wasn't in shape at all.

I did a pretty good job gradually building my endurance again and was equally thrilled and disappointed to run 15:42 at Richmond in March, but as it turns out that was an honest indicator of what I could do then. I didn't get that much faster in the spring, but I felt stronger. Oddly enough, I probably could have run the fastest at the Race for Hope, had they offered day-of registration for racers, because I felt so loose as I paced Jake through 2.5 miles under 5:00 pace. I never got close to 15 minutes, but enjoyed a few of the races.

This year, more than ever before, I was very aware of what I was capable of doing, either distance-wise or speed-wise, which meant I was a lot more sensitive to whether or not I was ready to race. I definitely felt ready at times and not at others. Whether that awareness held me back at nationals or helped protect me from blowing up completely, I'm not sure.

My best race was either the HCA Virginia 8k or the Freedom's Run Half Marathon, probably the latter because I was just out there hammering in the hills in the wind and rain and I ran about five minutes faster than I had expected.

My worst race was the Great Pumpkin 5k, which I just plain shouldn't have run, given the cold I had suffered the week before, though even had I been healthy, it would have been tough to improve my place. I also wasn't happy with the Great Race, when I failed to fight three guys who passed me in the last mile.

Because I only raced on 5 percent of the days in 2011, the focus of my retrospective should be the days when I wasn't competing, because that's what made up the year.

The absolute best, most memorable run, was in Portland, when I got lost looking for a trail in Forest Park and ran 25 miles. It turned into a race of sorts, with me trying to get back to my hotel in time to shower, change and get to work on time, all without going too hard and breaking down and not making it back at all. As time started getting close when I was on St. Helens, fighting through the rain, I wasn't sure if I would succeed. I never found the water tank I would have used to take the goo I so sorely needed.

In March, I relished a fast 14 miles on the W&OD Trail in a cold rain. The long run in Richmond after the Spider Relays was solid, considering it was a substitute loop when I found out the Hugenot Road Bridge was closed.

In June, despite the heat, I ran a surprisingly fast 16 miles the day after FD8k, on the Irvin Loop. I was fast through four miles and just kept that going.

The day before I left for Portland, I had a great longish run on the Pimmit Run Trail, out to Langley. The weather was oddly cool. As much as I enjoyed the trip to Portland, it set me back in terms of my heat acclimation, because I really felt like I had a handle on it before spending a week running in the 50-degree range.

September's long run in Richmond also went really well, despite the humidity. I was shocked at how well it went.

My 21 miles on the Brook loop, by way of Georgetown Pike, one Sunday in October stood out to me, too. I didn't need to do many long runs, but I enjoyed going out there in the cool fall air and cranking it for a few hours. One of the Sleepy Hollow hollow loops I ran was so much fun that I knew I had to be onto something with my training. I actually prefer running that one in the dark, especially on Slade Run and Rose. I need to rename that loop, though- out of 13 miles, only .3 actually follows Sleepy Hollow.

I closed the month out with the 10-mile workout at McLean High School that was just thrilling- despite going a little fast, I was able to comfortably ratchet up the pace five seconds per mile. Back when Steve was advising me on half marathon-specific workouts, I couldn't imagine going under race pace for some of the long ones, but I somehow did it. I had a lot of good runs on the New Virginia Manor loop- another one that's better at night, but the 13 miles I did before Richmond took the cake.

Despite being in terrible shape, I had a great time at Difficult Run in early December.

The bad runs were the weekend my mom visited in August and I could barely run 40 minutes at Great Falls and from the Line, the long run on the canal when I fell apart with two miles to go, and the run before I passed out in Metro Center. Otherwise, I had fewer bad runs than last year, and when they went bad, I was less frustrated because I tended to stop straining to continue when the elements were so contrary to my abilities.

* * *

After taking last Tuesday off to stay out of freezing rain, I got back to building a base on Wednesday. I met up with Slosky and Maura in Frick Park around noon and we got a solid 50 minutes in before we dropped off Maura. We added a nice chunk in Regent Square before going back on the trails and finishing with a loop in Wilkinsburg.

Thursday I woke up comparatively early to get to Walkers Mill to meet Hanson. I planned to do a warmup and then 10 miles on the Panhandle Trail at 6:00 pace, but after the mile warmup, it was pretty clear talking and taking it easy was more what we wanted to do than push it too much. We turned after five and headed back, averaging 6:40s or so. It was pretty chilly, mid 20s with light flurries.

While in Pittsburgh, I realized that my reference for distances in Mt. Lebanon is warped. While trying to figure out 12 mile loops, I was routinely frustrated by the extra loops I had to add to make it work.

Friday's trip back to DC was postponed, so I went out to Sewickley and ran 13 miles in the hills, this time coming down Camp Meeting Road, which turned out to be so steep it was not enjoyable to descend. I ended up averaging 6:40s.

I slept in Saturday morning and saved my run for when I got back to Virginia- an easy 8.75 George Mason loop. That Powhattan hill gets harder each time. I hit 65 miles that week, pretty good considering my day off on Tuesday. I totaled 4,042 miles for 2011, with 18 days off.

Sunday morning, I met the Fox, Murph and Big City for a 9.5-mile run through Rock Creek Park from the line. I overestimated the cold and had to stash my long-sleeved shirt after three miles.

Monday, I met up with Dickson to drive up to Lake Frank in Montgomery County for a run with the Fox, Diddy, Diddy's buddy Eric and Bain. We only did eight miles, but it was a nice run, mostly trail, with a great soft section on wood chips. That afternoon, I did five at 6:35 pace on the Idylwood Plus loop. I sprained my left ankle near the Lemon Road school, but it only hurts if I stretch it unnaturally far.

Tuesday night featured a struggle to get going after work, but within four minutes of my Oak loop, I had my act together. Shreve Road was a little dicey when headlights were in my eyes, but the dark was fine. The westbound Lee Highway bridge across the beltway is evidently back in business, though not for traffic, so I had the pleasure of not having to cross Lee Highway twice. By the time I reached Oak Street, it was clear I was rolling, and figured I would push it a little bit on the mile eight stretch on the W&OD, which I hit in 5:43. I finished up the 10.1 miles averaging 6:21. For all the hesitation I fought to go out and run in the low 20s, I felt great for the most part.

Tonight I will go up to BCC and get a feel for how fast several efforts feel- easy, a little faster, moderate, medium and hard, each for a mile.

* * *

In 2012, I will focus on the Pittsburgh Half Marathon again in May and the USATF Cross Country Club championships in December. The spring schedule has become problematic, though. I initially planned to do the Al Lewis 10 Miler this coming weekend, but heard bad things about it, plus it's pretty early. Instead, I will do the Club Challenge 10 miler and run it hard. It's a tough course, evidently, but if I can run 5:25 pace for that, I'll feel pretty good about my training going forward.

In late March and early April, three races I really want to do fall on consecutive days. The Fred Hardy Invitational/Spider Relays 5k is Friday night, the Monument Ave 10k is Saturday morning and the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile is Sunday morning. I really enjoyed Monument Ave in 2010, despite getting over a cold, and would have loved to race it, but it's the third option. Nothing would be as much fun as running a fast 5k on the track, especially at Richmond, and getting in a good long run in the morning, but a 5k doesn't really fit into my racing plans for the spring. Cherry Blossom would be the easiest and makes the most sense in the scheme of my season. I would be very pleased to be able to PR significantly there and take that confidence into the last month before Pittsburgh.

I'll go back to Pittsburgh for Martha's Run, since I've been promising Rick I'd be back for three years. It would be nice to break Cavanaugh's 33:35 record from 2008. If that seems slow, you should check out the course...

I'll do a cross country-heavy fall, with a trip to the Richmond alumni race, hopefully a race at Hampden-Sydney, now that they have their act together, hired a real coach and plan to have a meet in the fall on a new course. I am also hoping at least one trip to a UVA meet will work out. With luck, we should be able to get some runners together for a tuneup race at the cell phone tower field before nationals.

I'll do a pair of road races- the Great Allagany Run 15k in October and the HCA Virginia 8k again in November.

Late-December lethargy

2011-12-27T17:45:00.000-05:00

After dealing with the time change coming back from Seattle, I was pretty useless on Monday and took the day off, sleeping a lot. Tuesday I started to feel a sore throat coming on, but fought through it to run with Karl, heading east on the W&OD to the beltway and back. Wednesday morning, I woke up at 5 am unable to imagine sitting on the metro to go to work, so I took the day off and slept until 10, when some dudes started working on the porches above my bedroom window and ruined my opportunities to sleep. I spent the rest of the day watching Breaking Bad and flirting with the thought of running,despite my illness, which I passed on, ultimately. I did wake up pretty energetic the next morning, and did eight miles on a Westmoreland loop. I toyed with running after my office Christmas party Friday, but that ended up going longer than I had planned. Saturday morning,I ran down to Annandale and did a 10.5-mile loop thought Holmes Run Stream Park and up Sleepy Hollow.It was ok, but not too exciting. Sunday I did a pretty quick reverse Westmoreland at 6:15 pace. The cold was still a problem, lots of congestion and coughing, but I was sleeping well. Monday evening, Karl and I ran out on the W&OD west to Sunrise Valley for 12.6 miles. It was the longest I had run since my trip to Difficult Run before nationals. I coughed like crazy on the way out but was better on the return.

I ran after work Tuesday, just around Hains Point, and the radio on my mp3 player died. Actually, the whole gadget died, which was a bummer. As much as I like the sansa clip player, it's not that durable. I got up on Wednesday to run before work, but I felt trashed before I hit a mile, so I just did an Idylwood for four miles.I took Thursday off of work and did an hour on the Pimmit Run Trail, definitely feeling out of it when I turned around before Old Dominion. Friday morning I did a Westmoreland ++ and found the new mile splits to be a little better.

Saturday I resumed the tradition of the annual WPIAL alumni run. For the first time in years, Lebo guys outnumbered Baldwin, with Costello, Rad, Sean and me compared to Sheehan, Quinn and Mazzocco. We also had Marco, Slosky, Hack, Anne, Taryn and her brother Nick, Scott and Megan, Wu, Brandon G. I know there were others, but I can't remember right now. When we finished up, Mazzocco surprised me with the mp3 player I had left at his place when I was in Boston in April. It was a great surprise, and might yet save my winter running.

Sunday morning I did a 10 mile loop through the West End, Elliot, Sheraden, Chartiers City, and Windgap. Pretty hilly, I averaged 6:40s.

Monday I met up with Slosky, Marco, Ann, Maura and Slosky's friend Lauren and ran in Schenley Park. Toward the end, Brandon G showed up, the girls and Sloksy stopped and we sped up for a 3k loop.

Tuesday's 35-degree rain convinced me to take a reluctant day off to try and finish off my cold.

BFD

2011-12-12T21:10:00.002-05:00

As much as I hate to quote John Madden, "All a prevent defense does is prevent you from winning." That's generally the rule in football, and this weekend I demonstrated its application in cross country running this weekend in Seattle.

In trying to maintain a minimum level of performance, I didn't take any risks at the USATF club cross country championships, but I didn't run a race worth of a cross-country flight for a race. I was a faded copy of the 25:19 runner I was a month ago. My confidence never recovered from the Philly Half, my mind was constantly on my right foot, I felt slow and literally had to carry more when I gained post-Philly weight. Had this race been a month ago, I would have been in a different position, but I just couldn't hold onto what I had. I wouldn't say I was burned out, but I was tired -- tired of waking up early or running late after work. I tried to preserve my enthusiasm with days off, but in the end I just felt more out of shape.

I slept terribly Thursday night, then woke up at 5 to be ready to go to the airport with Shredder. Once there, I had an awful chicken biscuit at Wendy's and sat on a plane for six hours to get to Seattle. The trip kind of kept going and going while we picked up a van, drove it to the hotel and checked in. I could seem to fall asleep before checking out the course. That 35 minute run was so rough that if we had been racing that afternoon, I would be a lock for the last 10 to finish.

Luckily, we had about 20 hours, so after going back to the hotel and having a pretty poor dinner, I went to sleep at 9 and aside from a few tosses and turns, slept soundly until 7:30. Breezy and I took a 15 minute jog and had breakfast. I killed some more time reading and we headed to the course for the race.

I felt decidedly better during the warmup than I had the day before, but still not ready to race. Watching the women's team race was fun, though I never saw Jess' sister, and totally missed both Gretchen Speed and Jessica Winter. I took a lot of great photos, but then somehow lost my camera at the meet.

Despite a steady but light rain, I wasn't cold when it came time to undress for the race. The starting boxes were tight, and we lined up pretty much in single file. I was pretty strong at the beginning, getting into a decent position, I felt, in the first half mile and just going with the flow.

I came through 1k in 3:09, faster than my goal for my average, but right on what I wanted to get started. I cruised on through the rest of the first lap, despite Outlaw telling me I had to move up. I told him to shut up, I was running the race the way I wanted, and that meant really going for it in the last 4k. I came through 2k in 6:25, more like it, and kept moving. Somewhere in lap two, though, I must have slipped, something locked up and I felt like I could barely push off with my right leg. It wasn't my hamstring, and it took me a while to diagnose the problem. Eventually I started feeling my hip again and figured out that was the problem. I passed 5k in 16:42, and extrapolating that I was very unhappy with the position in which I put myself. A month ago, 31:30 seemed reasonable. In the intervening weeks, sub 32 was more like it, but now I just wanted to break 33, and I was a long way from that happening, given the way I felt.

Then I saw an aqua singlet to my right and realized it was a Pacer. Not just a Pacer, but 43-year-old Edmund Burke. Like Lisa, he selflessly dropped down to the open race so his team could score. He might be a fine fellow otherwise, but I sure as hell didn't want to lose to him. So, despite my beaten up body and confidence, I started surging. I'd lose him for a while, then get complacent and he'd come right back. We came through 6k right around 20:30, I think, and soon after I surged again. There was a slight hill, pretty muddy, and I bounded up it and when I got to the top, I took six strong strides, just like Steve exhorted us to so many times at Rosslyn. This time the hill was only a fraction of what we dealt with there, so it was easy. I kept my pace up and started to pass people until I found a good group that was moving. As I hung along a long curve, Outlaw was there. "SEND EM SEND EM!!!! You're crankin' now!" This time I actually was, and I didn't want to punch him. I hit 8k in 27:10, almost two minutes slower than my PR, but considering the condition the course was in, I think being one minute slower than my PR would have been satisfactory, given how things were going.

I just wanted to close it out. I didn't like the way the first 60 percent of the race was going, but in my race plan discussions, I emphasized that I wanted to be opportunistic in the last 4k, and that's the way things were playing out. I didn't catch my 9k split, but at that point I started targeting people and blowing by them. I stayed focus by counting them. First they were on their own, then I started passing clumps. I finally caught up to this skinny dude in green who kept grunting like Chris Sloane at the end of a race. I buried him. With 400 meters left, I tried my best to forget feeling tired, too old for this shit, fat, lazy. I just wanted to pass everyone I could. I got up to 38. I saw the clock passing 33:35. I would be guaranteed to be at least a minute slower than the Great Race, not good. I was sure I could reach the finish line, and all of a sudden I saw two guys who weren't as confident. So, I kicked them down and thanked Joe Pesci it was all over. A few seconds later Murph came came along, having been, I think, the only person to run faster this year than last, in Charlotte. Jason and Jimmy followed soon after. I wasn't there for it, but Jason exclaimed his surprise at the race's difficulty to Dave, "Luggage" Wertz who reportedly said, "Yeah, this ain't no chocolate run!"

For some reason, I was the only one out there soaking in sweat. I actually felt okay while cooling down, but for the rest of the trip, I felt the full brunt of my ultimate uselessness.

I wound up 6th for the team, 204th overall, in 33:51. I was the only GRC runner who had no bearing on the team scores, just kind of sliding into obscurity. I didn't take enough of a risk early in the race to really put myself in a good position, but I also didn't fail and fall apart. I was insurance in that if something had happened to Lug and I had finished fifth, we would have been no worse in the team standings. Luckily we didn't need me.

I was not too in the mood for celebrating afterward. The gluttony I promised myself after the season was over felt revolting, and I just wanted to go to bed. Our morning run was ok, but unremarkable. I thought about running after work today, but as I got close to home, I just wanted to lie down. So that's what I'm going to do now.

P.S. Bigfoot's dick.

Damned foot

2011-12-05T15:43:00.001-05:00

The intermediate week between Philly Half recovery and club nationals preparation was tense. A few weeks ago, a shaky-legged woman on the metro lost her balance and stepped on my right foot and bruised it pretty badly. She never apologized, just said "there's nothing I could have done!" That bruising has continued for a few weeks and pierced my confidence. It hadn't hurt while running until my track work the week before Philly, and I thought it was just because I tied my spikes too tight. Initially, I thought it was a stress fracture, and I often do when things start hurting despite having only had one in my life, but having dealt with this before in 2007, I relaxed a bit.

That assuredness did little to restore my confidence when my footsteps started hurting during my runs. I met up with Karl at the Vienna metro and we ran out to the W&OD, though throngs of families on Church Street. With a warmup beforehand, I got a total of 11.

Tuesday night I planned to do the New Virginia Manor loop, but I wasn't feeling great after one loop so I headed home and just got eight miles in.

Besides that 5:30s I had run the previous Saturday, I hadn't really tested my hamstring on anything actually fast since Philly, so Wendesday's track workout was bound to be either pleasantly surprising or a sober reminder that Philly could have lasting physical effects to go along with the mild psychological scarring. I led the first two miles, 5:15 (despite being way too fast on the first 400) and 5:02, stayed in the pack for 4:55, then dropped out less than 200 m into the 4:45 when my left calf got tight. The foot definitely hurt there.

Thursday Karl and I did another 10, out to Hunters Mill on the W&OD from Vienna. A little foot pain.

I was so tired at the end of the day Friday that I just took the day off, in hopes that I would be better off for the cross country workout Saturday. Well, if that was the case, I would have hated to have run the workout after running Friday. It was a pretty simple fartlek, but I fell apart fast. I stuck with Diddy, Witty and Karl for the five minute interval, and dropped in the four after a little more than three minutes, but the three minute drill was awful. We switched into spikes for the last two, and that aggravated my foot bruise. The two-minute drill was a waste for me, but I managed to pull my shit together for a minute of hard running. I definitely need new replacement spikes for my eight-year-old Zoom Fats.

Several people asked if I was interested in the Hot Chocolate races at the National Harbor, and after hearing about the fiasco that ensued there, I felt vindicated in my decision to stay away, though what I saw about the race beforehand couldn't have imagined the magnitude of what happened. Since I wasn't there to witness it, I can't comment on that, but judging from the things I saw in the days and weeks before the race, this is why I expected it to be a poor experience.

First off, since I don't regularly drive, the lack of metro proximity was a huge detractor. I had run out around the National Harbor last fall and it was pretty miserable, I'm not sure why anyone would want to run there, to be honest. After hearing from Dickson, Michelle and Dave how lackluster the last few miles of Wilson Bridge Half was More basic to the entire endeavor, the race seemed to be driven more by the marketers than anyone accomplished in road racing. Most tellingly, the tagline, "the sweetest race" referred to the promise of hot chocolate and fondue afterward. The website lauded the "awesome race jacket." If these are the draws, those giveaways, I can't imagine anyone could have confidence in the race's competence. Then again, if people need things like that to get them to a race, they probably wouldn't know the difference from a poorly-executed race. Perks like that should come on top of basic competences, like a decent course and aid stations. Maybe it was the out-of-town race manager, maybe it was everything else I detailed, but it definitely looked like a race I was not disappointed to miss. That something near 30,000 people showed up is a shock to me, but I guess I give people too much credit.

Here is a hilarious and comprehensive post mortem.

I took a nap and went out and did a Seaton six and actually felt a lot better. No foot pain, and a lot more energy.

Looking ahead, I will want to keep up my high mileage, so I need to keep my loops fresh. Running with Karl from Vienna helps because I can focus on conversation rather than where I'm going. With the weather as nice as it was on Sunday, I felt like there was no better way to spend the time than to get a zip car and drove out to Difficult Run. I went 21 minutes out on the CCT almost to Leesburg Pike, then 19 back; then 25 out around the Ridge Trail and back. Once I hit Old Carriage Road, I just started punching it and kept it up for about 10 minutes.

I know Jerry wants to keep us fresh for nationals, but I needed something to reinvigorate my love of running--without that, all the freshness in the world couldn't help. Running along the Ridge Trail, I felt like there was nothing better I could possibly be doing with my time. It made me miss the Mon Ridge trail of which I am so fond in Swisshelm Park. The foot felt fine, and I felt ready to take on this last race of the year.

Hills again, but that's Pittsburgh for you

2011-12-02T16:21:00.000-05:00

After the long ride back to Pittsburgh after the half, I had trouble getting to sleep. I might have gotten to bed around 2, then slept until 10. I did some work, then headed out for a run. I left my mom's house, went down Shaler, up Kearns, around Clearview and Strathmore, Berry, Stafford and West Carson, then up the McArdle Roadway and home for 12 miles. My calves and hamstrings were still wrecked. I had originally planned on 15 miles, with a loop up William and Boggs before coming back, but I was tired.

It rained all day Tuesday, and I didn't care enough to run, so instead I ate a lot of mint chocolate chip ice cream and watched movies. I spent a lot of that day bemoaning my Philadelphia race, at one point congratulating myself for coming so close to my PR despite the poor execution and latter-mile injury, then alternating to realizing that if I ran that fast considering how much went wrong, I had the opportunity to run much faster if I had done things right. In short, I spent the whole week sitting around my mom's house, pissed about the race and relegated to traveling on foot or arranging rides with friends.

Wednesday morning I picked myself up to run around Mt. Washington and added to it by running the new trails along the face of the mountain. It was wet, covered in leaves and mostly clay. For someone who wants to take a walk, it's ok. For a runner, it's a dangerous disaster. I twisted both ankles was on the brink of slipping off constantly. That said,the trail afforded me some great views of the city and I got about nine miles.

After 12 years of running the Downtown YMCA Turkey Trot, I put an end to it. Although it's very popular and had its best attendance ever this year, it's value as a road race has plummeted in the last few years. It's now a series of out-and-backs starting and finishing on the north side and just a mess of people. Great for the YMCA's fundraising, but its quality as a race has plummeted. I was on the race committee in 2008 when construction limited a lot of the courses the race had used from 2003-2007. Given the restrictions we had, we could only do a 5k but I hoped to be able to bring it back to the five mile course when possible. Then I moved, then the director left and took the focus on quality with him.

I did it for two more years, but also started running Dan Holland's Gutbuster race in Frick Park. I am not exaggerating when I say it's the hardest race I have run. Alternating up and down hills on trails that are often slippery. What didn't help was that I ran a 5k one year and a five mile the next before coming to the Gutbuster, so I was already wiped out. Last year's freezing rain made it miserable. This year it was dry for once, just warm enough, though it had rained all day Tuesday and it certainly wasn't dry.

The first mile is almost entirely uphill, with a flat stretch in the first 200 meters or so. I stuck with a decent pack that included Luke Briola, Jim Hommes, Nolan Wildfire and a little kid who looked like a short Andy Webster. We chatted up the hill, until Webster tried to take off near the mile mark, which we hit in 6:57. I bolted ahead of him and immediately opened up my stride on the loop around the fitness circuit and the sledding hill. I headed back down and saw my mom heading up, the two mile was not supposed to go this way and I told her as much. She just said "I know."

I didn't see anybody for a while, and I had a pretty solid lead. I came down the second mile in 5:17 (where was that when I needed it on Sunday?), then up the next hill in 6:44. I didn't see a four-mile mark, but I think I was a little over 24 minutes. I went back up the first hill and hit miles 4 and 5 in 12:43. I started seeing the people behind me coming down the hill and I was climbing, and I start giving high fives, essentially celebrating with almost half of the race left.

I apparently had no reason not to, my lead appeared safe. The next mile was 5:21, a little slower than mile 2. When I hit the Tranquil Trail, I was a little flat, but I figured I could afford to slow down, mainly because when I tried to run hard, my right hamstring didn't respond.

Again, I figured my lead was safe, so this obstacle shouldn't be too troubling. I saw Leslie and Pete near the bottom of the Biddle Trail, and they didn't say too much. That trail was the hardest part of a really hard course, the steepest section, half of the trail was a creek and the other was jagged rock. I slipped at one point and looked back and suddenly Jim Hommes was on my tail. I was shocked- I had no indication anyone was anywhere close to me. I hadn't seen anyone when I made turns, and I didn't hear Leslie and Pete yelling for him. That leads me to several possible conclusions- 1. he did most of the catching up on the hill 2. he told Pete and Leslie to be quiet so he could sneak up on me 3. I didn't hear them cheering for him.

We were in this same position in 2003 at the Turkey Trot, back when the race was worthwhile. I held him off there, but by that point I had a stronger lead. And I hadn't raced a half four days before and run myself into the ground over the last 3.5 miles.

For a few seconds I felt as though I was going to lose, the surprise that he was there, when I was feeling the weakest, nearly broke me. Jim's one of the toughest masters runners around, and his focus has always been exemplary for long races. I felt like there was no way I could fend him off anymore. I ran like an asshole and I was getting my comeuppance. Until I didn't.

I got to the top of the trail and turned onto another uphill, but less steep, trail. I started charging ahead, hoping to put a lot of distance between us before he joined me on the smoother trail. I split 6:53 on the seventh mile, not unreasonable given the lack of a push I had before I saw Jim. I kept cranking up the hill, then pushed a little more back down the hill. This trail was slippery, so I had to run with more caution than I had before. I also had to navigate around walkers and the runners in their fifth and sixth miles. Once I got to the bottom, I had a clear path to finish, and split 5:22 for the eighth mile to finish in 49:16. I think I had a 20 second lead over Jim, who had run a 50k a few weeks prior.

I would have liked to run under 48 minutes, but I could argue with winning, considering the way the prior few days had gone. Mom had fun doing the four mile, and I was left excited about making the Gutbuster my solitary Thanksgiving race in the future. I don't know if it prepared me for cross country running at nationals, but it was certainly tough.

Friday morning, I tried to go for a run on the Seven Springs golf course, but my hamstring felt incredibly weak. I got about two miles of running in before I realized I was better off resting.

Later, after I was back in Pittsburgh, I drove out to the Richard and did my Standard Beechwood loop, averaging 6:05 for 10.5. I finished right before dusk. I felt much better than in the mountains, and to be able to average that pace on those hills was relieving.

Saturday, I was once again without a car, so I ran from my mom's house down to the jail trail and out to Four Mile Run. I hit 11:01 for a two-mile stretch, but slowed down afterward. I made a rare trip up the Panther Hollow Trail, up Neville and over onto Bayard, past the Huff's old place, before turning onto Craig and Bigelow. Now, Bigelow is not a frequently traveled road for pedestrians. There's a sidewalk, but it was overgrown with dry weeds. Things open up a little bit in Frank Curto Park, then shortly after that the sidewalk ends and suddenly I'm on a busy almost-highway. That lasted about two-to-three minutes, then I was downtown, looping around to Gateway Center and back up the Boulevard of the Allies to the Liberty Bridge and Mt. Washington for just under 13.7 miles.

Sunday morning, I ran a little more than seven miles with Jess Gangjee on Mt. Washington before going back to Virginia.

Fundamental failure

2011-11-21T01:01:00.003-05:00

I had an opportunity to run a great half marathon this morning and I blew it by not being aware of where I was less than three minutes into the race.

I took Thursday off when I came home from work feeling exhausted. I ran a solid 10 miles the next morning on the Steelers loop at 6:28 pace. Got to sleep kind of early, then up at 8 Saturday to do a Fisherman's loop. The trip to Philadelphia with Dart, then the Millers, went smoothly, as did the packet pickup and dinner. I got to bed at nine, slept well until five, and felt great when I got up and warmed up to the start. I jogged a bit with Drea, Dart and the Butcher of Damascus, then waded around in the maroon corral (who was it who kept pronouncing it "coral" last year?).

After an unexplained delay, we got started. I had a significant blockade of women in the way, so I swung out to the right to get around them, but I was somehow behind some stupid little guy with his hair sprayed to look like an eyetalian flag. I caught up to a pack of dudes and settled in, and felt nothing out of the ordinary. I saw Wager, so I inched up to him and whispered "send 'em" and we exchanged a quick five. I slide back a little, and suddenly saw the first mile mark and looked at my watch- 5:02. JESUS H. CHRIST.

I immediately dropped back, terrified of the hole I had dug for myself. But in dropping back, I was firmly putting myself in no-man's land between the fast half-marathoners and the marathoners. This wasn't a situation like the GMU 5k, I made the right move in not trying to run with them. There were just so many guys up there, I didn't think they could all be running the half- I figured the majority of guys would be running the full to run 2:18. My plan was to just sit in a pack with them and cover real estate. I literally had no idea how fast I was running inthat first mile. I thought I might be cold and stiff from standing in the corral for so long and 5:17-5:19 was that fast. So, I ran by myself for four miles. 5:17, 5:19, 5:23, 5:31. I was pretty much on my five-mile goal time, but I got there the wrong way.

The group of guys chasing sub 2:19 passed me and I maybe hung on for 30 seconds, but I was tying up already. I hit another 5:31 and a 5:25 on a long straight. A pair of guys gapped me briefly, but I reeled them in and pulled away from them on a long uphill in mile eight, which I hit in 5:43. I was alone most of nine, hit that in 5:40, and thought I had a chance to at least match my 10 mile PR (54:24) with my 10-mile split, though my original pacing plan would have been more than 90 seconds ahead. Nope. Long uphill, mostly by myself, though I saw three guys in red ahead of me. Then, running down the road, with no pothole, my left ankle gave out and I yanked the hell out of it. I came though the 10th mile in 5:54, 54:50-- my second-fastest 10 mile, but not by much, and at this point, I consider my 10 mile PR to be my second softest, after the marathon.

The 11th mile was almost all downhill, but with my ankle probably sprained, I could bear only a 5:31. I came across a 180 turn, which, for some reason, this marathon/half-marathon had. That's ok in a little community 5k, but not in a metropolitan marathon, that's just lazy and unimaginative. I saw Curt Larimer, who I figured was doing the marathon, but did the half. Baressi passed me and I quietly encouraged him, but I was toast by this point. He was running the full, and him passing me was rough--he's very talented, but I should have been well ahead of most guys running the full marathon. I tried to hang, but it wasn't happening.

I thought maybe, with an 11-mile split of 1:00:21, I could keep things together for a pair of 5:30s and at least get in under 1:12. Nope. 5:48, 6:24 with the .1, and I lost ground to a guy in red in the last half mile. As it turned out, I had a healthy (90+) second lead over him at Freedom's Run.

It was just poorly done all around. One of the 13 splits was right. One was 15 seconds fast, the others were all slow. I was disappointed, but more embarrassed that such a stupid mistake, such unbridled enthusiasm led to my downfall. I was, for a while, a cockeyed optimist, thinking I could still run sub-5:20s on my own after a 5:02, but no. I tied up more and more as the race went on, and the last three miles, after stumbling, my calves got extremely tight, and following that, my shins. When I finished the race, I couldn't jog over to watch the marathoners go by.

Scott dropped out when I saw him, cramps forcing him to confront the misery of trying to push throug 13 more miles. We walked around, got some dry clothes and watched the finish. I saw Greg Byrnes, Brandon G., Michelle M., Dart, the Burhams, Mindy S., Katie Sheedy, Sam Howard (who qualified by a few seconds), and Jeff, though apparently I missed Cavanaugh, and left 30 secondds before Ali Belicose came by. I went back to the hotel, took a hot bath, packed and met the GRC people for a few minutes before Michelle Corkum and Andy picked me up. Michelle was eyeing a trials qualifier, having run 2:48 in LA earlier this year, but a last-minute cold left her feverish, achy and miserable and she dropped out at 13. Emily Ward thinks she broke her heel, and she was out at 14. Michelle M. felt the race slip away early and was out of it. Drea PRed in the half, and Dart PRed by more than six minutes, though she wanted to be two minutes faster. No men qualified, Kevin Pool once again coming close. In the marathon, the only person I think who made it was Sam Howard-- Liz Graham's protoge.

That all goes to demonstrate two things- Philadelphia is a hard course, and qualifying for the olympic trials is hard. As it should be. It's not something you can do on a lark, as a girl I met last year seemed to think when she said she and her sister were going to do it. You need to know exactly what you'll be dealing with as the race goes on, and I am positive that means overdistance training, a 30-mile long run. That all said, Hallinan and Blood ran under 1:05 in the half, which was pretty good.

That's disappointment right there

I rode in the backseat of Michelle's car, heading to Pittsburgh, knowing I let a great fall's worth of training, along with the summer full of misery while building my base, go to waste because I didn't figure out where a half-mile marker was so I could be sure I was going out appropriately. Part of what appealed to me about the race was that the marathon and half started together and shared the course for almost 13 miles. That seemed great to me, because I could run with Karl -- he'd have a good feel for the pace, and I could keep him company, help with the pace and he'd keep me calm. When he fell ill, the first thing I should have done was ensure that I had landmarks to check my pace, because I wouldn't know who was running 5:17s otherwise. It was simple preparation, and it was just as imporatant as the long runs, the track workouts, the moderate runs and progressions. A 5:02 mile, when I wanted to be runninr 5:17s, was devastating. I sat in the car, which was way too warm, wondering if I got too excited about club nationals after Richmond and lost focus, or if my heart went out of it when I found out Karl wouldn't be running--maybe I wanted to take responsibility for helping him out so I wouldn't focus on how easy it is to give up.

To be clear, I don't think I gave up, I think given what I did in the beginning miles, dealing with wind along the Delaware River in mile three, plus the trauma I put my legs through in mile nine, I was going about as fast as I could. And, in the end, I was 16 seconds off my PR. I should be happy that considering how much went wrong in several phases of the race, that I was a little more thana second per mile off my PR, but I just can't be happy with it. I was ready for more, much more, than I accomplished today. That PR, which I set when I was sick ,running alone in a cocurse that barely had a mile of flat stretch, let alone the 6.5 this had, in the rain, was from the hard 13-mile run Steve prescribed, it was more a time trial than a race, and I picked that course over Buffalo Creek because I wanted to be sure Philly wouldn't be harder and I would run faster if all went well. Getting congratulatory messages from well-wishers was tough, because if they took the time to care, I wanted to give them something worth seeing when the looked up my results.

Madeline suggested I peaked too early. Absolutely not, I feel like my training was spot on, but I just made the dumbest mistake possible, one that I had several opportunities to prevent, and the regret I feel going forward and the missed opportunity will go a long way toward ensuring I don't do it again. It will also haunt me until I take another crack at the half, probably in Pittsburgh. It starts on Thursday with the Gutbuster. As Mike Tomlin, whose quotations I relish for his locution, said after some boneheaded playing cost a few games in 2009, I'm about to unleash hell. That second loop is toast.

The fall is by no means a failure, I ran a great, strong race on my own at Freedom's Run and fough pretty hard in Richmond. If I had a blase attitude at all toward the race because I was looking ahead to nationals, well, time to seriously focus on that. It's a chance to make up for my failings in Philly.

No lobster tonight

2011-11-17T16:45:00.001-05:00

Jason and I drove to Richmond Friday afternoon, got our bibs (and saw the JARRINs, Benford and Nicol), dinner at Pasta and Such and made it to Emily's. We checked the forecast- it was supposed to be about 30 at 7 am, and when I unpacked I realized I had forgotten my long running pants. FACK.

I slept pretty well and got up at 5:15, and we drove down to the start. It might have been cold, but I didn't really notice. We warmed up, changed out shoes and headed to the starting line. I saw Ryan Lee, Pat Love and Paul Myer wearing the sharp new Richmond uniforms. Some dude in Vibrams tried to sneak up to the elite start, but he was appropriately shooed back. I mean, this guy's standing here, wearing little rubber toe shoes, expecting to be taken seriously...

The masses started fast, but things settled down within a minute and I moved into a nice pack with a tall VCU runner and a shorter Galen Rupp. We cruised up a slight hill heading west on Broad Street, watching the Afro-centric pack ahead of us and thankful we weren't trying to keep their pace up. We came through the mile in 4:57, though with the delayed start it was actually

4:55, and I felt pretty good. It was nice running with a pack. An African dropped off the lead pack and I pushed the pace to catch him. We got him right around two miles, crossing in 9:57. He tried to struggle and take the lead a minute or so later when we turned on Mulberry and Grace streets, but eventually he fell back again. Shortly after this turn, the tall and short guys pulled away from me slightly, along with a guy in black. I held on as much as I could, but I was losing ground.

My third mile split was 5:14, and I was not pleased with it. As the course started rolling, I put on a long surge to try to catch someone so I'd have a race on my hands at the finish. Every now and then, little Rupp would come back a little, but I couldn't close the gap. I was pleased to see my pace move back the way I wanted it with a 5:11, but I was hoping to be under 5:05. We made our turns onto Cary Street and I really made my move a little early. By the time I reached the .4 mile downhill stretch to the finish, I was kind of floating.

Spectators were cheering for Georgetown when I ran by,and it killed me not to be able to correct them, let them know I was a Spider. That compounded my frustration with the end of the race. I heard Emma Berry and Erin Lunny cheering halfway down the hill, but I wasn't kicking the way I expected and hoped to. You can see in the video both little Rupp and the guy behind me charging into the line, but I just kind of float. It's aggravating to watch. I just kind of stopped when I crossed the line, turned and watched people come in. Jason PRed by 20 seconds and Nicol was chasing him down, running 26:35.

I have to admit I was a little disappointed when I finished. From the four mile mark to the finish, I only ran 4:55, with a downhill like that I was expecting to be in the 4:40s. I feel I could have broken 25, and I blame it on my third mile- that's when the other guys, who did run in the 24s, got away from me. I'm not great at sprinting by myself, that's why I was pushing so hard to catch up with someone else for that last stretch. That all said, it was a 56-57 second PR, from my 2003 YMCA Turkey Trot. I can't believe it took almost eight years to break that PR, but I did it. I never slowed past 5:14, even when I was hurting, and I don't want to try to run faster than that next weekend. As fast as I ran relative to my previous PR, I wasn't exhausted at the end, and I definitely wasn't smelling lobster, my body's signal that I've pushed myself to exhaustion. I hope that means I have room to improve based on my overall training. If I smelled lobster under 25 minutes, I wouldn't be worried, but if I did at 25:18-19, then I would be a bit concerned about my chances to run fast for 13 miles. I left the race feeling pretty good, and the cold never bothered me.

We drove back to Emily's and cooled down from there, running out to Monument Avenue to watch the marathoners pass. Dave Miller looked pretty good at this point, but he was on his own. Of all people, I saw former Spider Sam Beese, then bumped into Julie Rechel, who was waiting for her roommate to run by. I jumped on the course after I ran out of grass median and joined the runners until they got to Cary, then I turned back and headed to Emily's. The weather was gorgeous, and even though I don't want to run a marathon, I think it would have been a good year to run Richmond. I couldn't stop smiling, regardless of my own race, to be in town for such a great day. I've thought this since 2009, but when it comes time to run a competitive marathon, Richmond is it for me. I love racing down here. I'm almost positive I will do the Monument Ave 10k next year, rather than the Cherry Blossom race. It will mean back-to-back weekends down there, following the Spider Relays, and I can't argue with that. I'll definitely do this 8k again.

The Spiders were at the regional meet, and it obviously didn't go as well as last year, but things are looking up.We had three freshmen in our top seven, and Ryan Lee redshirted. He had run 24:16 at the 8k, so he should be ready to go next year.

I headed over to campus to replace my hate that I left at Wiggy's in May and he apparently fed to his turtle. Then back to DC that evening.

The next morning, I was up just in time to grab my stuff and bike and get to the metro so I could watch the Veterans day 10k. I biked from

the first mile mark to the 5k, then back to the finish to watch the GRC go at it.

Around 3:30, I headed out for a longish run and did a shortened Brook. I was averaging under 6:00 pace through six miles, and I started to feel some intense abdominal pain. I slowed down a bit and jumped into the woods at mile seven to alleviate that pain, then got back to work, keeping things under 6:00 pace through 10 miles. Traffic got a little tight for a while on Old Dominion, as it always does, and I slowed a bit. I also missed the turn I wanted to make onto Mayflower and instead took Dolley Madison to where it crossed Mayflower. As I ran through the neighborhood between Westmoreland and Great Falls, I thought my timing must be off, and I must have slowed significantly, or really gotten lost. I hit the point a mile from home in 1:25 and thought I had slowed down completely. I jogged in, mapped my route, along with my intended route that was not much different, and I realized that I had mapped a 15-mile loop, not 14. Oops.

Monday evening I did a pretty sedate eight miles around Westmoreland. Tuesday I planned to do a peppy 13 miles in Annandale. Things were going pretty well, faster than 6:10 pace through six, then I hesitated and turned back when I wound up on a street that turned out to be correct, and added an extra mile to the loop. I knew I was way off and didn't a second longish run, so I stopped when I got to Grove and walked the rest of the way home after running 13.5.

Wednesday didn't go as well as I would have liked. Karl isn't running Philly anymore, so now I will have to latch onto strangers if I want to run in a pack for the half. I was looking forward to helping him pace the first half of his trials attempt -- having his goal in mind would have given me extra motivation to stay with the guys running 5:17-5:18, and it would have been fun. I still should be able to find people with whom to run who are staying loose in the first half of the marathon. I went to BCC to do my now-solitary race-pace run. I planning initially to do three miles, then when I came through the first in 5:16, decided to do 3xmile. I got in the back of the B pack when they started a mile, but didn't really feel like fighting to the front of the group and stopped after a lap. I didn't feel like running, said that to Jerry, and he said in that case I probably shouldn't be running, so I cooled down and headed home. On and off I started feeling some discomfort along the outside of my right foot. It's the first time I've felt anything like that, and though I immediately assumed the worst and decided it was a stress fracture (like I diagnosed with my right hip the days before I went to Oregon), it's probably just the hypersensitivity that comes with tapering and focus for a big race. Luckily the scheduling technicality makes this the penultimate race, decreasing a little pressure.

Philadelphia's Saturday night low is 43, a little warm, but after Chicago, I can't complain. No rain is in the forecast as of Thursday afternoon. Then again, I did fine with rain at the Freedom's Run race. As much of a breakthrough effort as that was for me, and the fun I had doing, I am looking forward to running a pretty fast course with other people this weekend. I, for one, am happy the half and full marathons use the same course for 13 miles, though I'm sure the marathon runners won't be pleased to see the half guys splitting off and heading home.

Late October, early November

2011-11-14T15:40:00.001-05:00

I let this go for a while, so I'll hold off on most of my elaboration.

Tuesday I did another Annandale loop for 13. I didn't enjoy it as much as last time, but I didn't dislike it, either.

Wednesday's workout was 2x2k and 4x1k, which I did in 5:04, 5:00, 3:00, 2:55, 2:55 and 2:52. It was pretty damp and cool, and everyone had steam pouring off of their bodies, which added to the light fog on the track.

Thursday night I ran a Thomas for 13. The weather was still great. Friday I ran up to and around Catholic after work.

Saturday morning, I woke up at 6:45 to get a ride from Dangerous Dave up to BCC to run. I stumbled around and tried to tie my shoes, but to no avail. I was too tired to even get dressed. I told Dave to leave me, and I went back to sleep for 4.5 hours. I woke up to what Dave, Dart, Michelle, Sam and Scott ran their workout in- freezing rain. After waiting it out, I bundled up and ran a Park Plus for seven miles and was cold for hours. The rain turned to snow halfway through, but I was already soaked.

Sunday morning, I woke up to Fishstick's voice in the hallway as I lied on the floor of the unfurnished apartment above the GRC store on M Street. I slept there after going out for Halloween in Georgetown, though I just stayed at one party. Chicken neck and Murphy were outside, ready to go, so we jogged across the Key Bridge and waited for the throngs to come along. I jumped in with Breezy in the second mile and tried to keep him under control in the mid 6:00s through the nine mile mark. I headed back to the store to drop off his gloves and hat, then caught Caitlin and ran with her to the 11 mile mark. I then chilled out with Brian Quinn and his parents while we waited for Larry to come through 16 miles. I ran over to the Smithsonian building and waited until the Notorious E.L.I. came through with Emily in tow. I ran with her to the finish, then back to the store for 19 miles total. I felt a little weird when I crossed under the bridge where I sat down and dropped out last year, but didn't mention it to Lauren at the time, she had another mile to run and her calves had been cramping since 16. Both she and Breezy PRed by a minute, so I was pleased to have accompanied them on their runs.

Monday night, I took care of the track work I delayed from Saturday. I had a zipcar for the evening and drove out to McLean to pursue a 10 mile progression, starting at 6:00 and getting five seconds faster per mile. I thought about doing it on the road, the W&OD, the CCT or the towpath, but opted for the consistency and feedback I would have with splits I could check as frequently as I wanted.

I wasn't feeling terribly spry when I started, I think I had heartburn, for some reason. It was dark by the time I started, and the track was practically empty. There were two people jogging, but they were gone a little more than a mile into my workout. I knew I was a little fast on each lap, but rather than slow down I just tried to stay consistent. I wound up generally running five seconds faster per mile than I had planned. I ran six seconds per mile faster for my last three, and the way I did it pleased me. My posture and form petty much the whole time was upright and "distance run," no lean into the curve, I didn't hug the inside, I just sped up. When I got to my eight mile and I went under 5:20, I felt really good about the way the workout was turning out. To finish it off under 5:10 felt great. Although it would have been a bigger mental boost to have done this in the freezing rain Saturday morning, I'm glad I did it this way

My splits were as such: 5:54, 5:52, 5:44 5:38, 5:35, 5:30, 5:25, 5:19, 5:14, 5:09.

The next day I did an Oak loop, I think. Wednesday I started the track workout with two miles at 5:16 with Karl. We got started slow because we talked too much on the first lap, but after adjusting, we came through right on pace. Then I did 800s in 2:24, 2:23, 2:21 and 2:20. While waiting for anyone to finish the last two 800s before moving onto 400s, I did another mile at 5:16 on my own. After that, I was kind of cooled down and decided to just run easily and skip the quarters.

Thursday night I did a Scott's Run for 11.5.

Friday I ran a little bit around Capitol Hill, but with no real focus, and just kind of passed 25 minutes.

Saturday was a cross country workout at the Cell Phone Tower field in Bethesda. We did the fartlek workout in flats, and the frosted grass was a little slippery. I would fall off the pace Sam and Witters would set, but most of the time kept fighting, though my quads went numb during the two-minute segment. They're both ready to go. After it was over, I discovered that my right nipple had bled like crazy through two white shirts. It was fairly embarrassing.

Sunday I did an Irvin, with some adjustments to keep me off Maple too much on the way to Crossing Creek. I wasn't terribly engaged through all of it, averaging 6:30s.

My department had a retreat on Monday that ended early, so I was able to get home and run in the daylight, so I did 8.5 miles on the Pimmit Run trail.

Tuesday night I went out to do an easy 13 on the New Virginia Manor loop. I was a little peppy early on, but wanted to just run relaxed. I knew I was moving when I split 24:46 for my first four-mile loop, but just kept cranking it up and did the second loop in 24:12. I ended up averaging 6:14.

Wednesday I did a 30 minute progression- 10 at 6:00, 10 at 5:40, 10 at close to 5:00, and wound up averaging 5:55, 5:35 and 5:08. I might have been a little worn out from my run the night before.

Thursday I managed to get up and rung before work- a Westmoreland. Friday I did a Park Plus, also early.

Surprise hills and more Sunday meanderings

2011-10-25T12:06:00.002-04:00

I discovered the W&OD Trail is not as flat as I thought. Saturday morning, I took the metro out to Vienna, then ran to the trail's intersection with Maple Ave. Inconveniently for my purposes, the half mile marker closest to that intersection was on the wrong side of Maple, so I continued another half mile west to the 12 mile mark. I switched into my racing flats and headed out toward Reston, hoping to average 5:40s for 10 miles.

I knew the trail trended uphill heading west, so I was a little worried to split 2:41 for the first half, 2:46 for the second, 2:44 and 2:47 for the second mile to split 11. I was better off in the third mile with 2:51 and 2:56, then I noticed some dramatic but short hills, which slowed me down to 2:57, 2:54 over the next mile. The hills, though they included both and up and down, but the 'up' won. I closed in on Reston and went 2:58, 2:52, before turning around and mirroring my 2:52 and speeding up to 2:44. Another 2:44 and 2:46 as I got to enjoy the down on that hill, then I started to slow exactly where I had been fast before- 2:46-2:50, then 2:54, 3:00. I was getting tired now, and closed in 2:57, 2:53. I even split the whole thing- 28:30s for 57:00, to average 5:42 per mile. A little slow, but given what turned out to be a much more inconsistent course than I expected, I'm okay with it. While I was out there, I saw the off-road trail next to the W&OD which looked a lot better than its counterpart in the Falls Church portion of the trail. Had I not been running with a consistent pace in mind, I would have loved to have tried it out. I ended up with 99 miles that week, feeling no need to run an additional mile just to reach triple digits.

I was as pleased as I could have been with it, considering the surprise hills and my general distaste for 180 turns. Despite some steep but short hills on the Four Mile Run trail in Arlington parallel to the W&OD, I thought the latter was pretty gradual, though the portion near Virginia Lane should have taught me otherwise.

I took a moderate walk in Rock Creek Park to Jack Manner's going away cookout. Though fun, it was bittersweet, because he has been one of my favorite people with whom to run on weekends. His training leading up to the 2010 Boston Marathon was quite motivating, and it's been hard to see him struggle with foot injuries since. Now he's being sent to a farm in Vermont where he can run and run and run. Little by little, a lot of the guys from my early days with the GRC are going away- Dylan, Ernst, Dirk, Towpath is still around but swallowed up by 12-hour workdays. Luckily Bain has had a long streak of workouts at BCC in advance of his New York-Richmond marathon double.

Sunday I slept in and waited for my mom to arrive on her way home from Richmond. We went out to watch Lauren Peterson race her bicycle, then she headed back to Pittsburgh and I went out to enjoy what will likely be my last real long run of the fall. I headed down Grove to West, over to Fairwood, which I had not run in full in more than a year, then up Virginia to Idylwood. I took it all the way north, as it turned into Kirby, until I hit Dolley Madison/Chain Bridge Road. It was more of last week's hectic running on a busy road with a barely-existent shoulder, but a lot more manageable this time, and only for a little more than a mile. Then it was up Glebe and down, up, down and up Military Road again. Quincy was pleasant, and somewhat new, and turning on 14th and back to Kirkwood was totally new. I got to do a little of Spout Run, two blocks, not as much fun as during Marine Corps but maybe I can join Breezy for that part. Lorcom Lane was very hilly, and maybe if I hadn't been 15 miles into a run it would have been more pleasant to run. I just took Lee Highway back to the W&OD and back up Grove. I'm really getting tired of that hill. I was pretty thirsty, so I stopped and bought a Gatorade at Lee and Glebe, that helped a little.

There's a chance I'll take a short road trip in two weekends to do a long run perhaps in Prince Edward County if the weather is really good, but that might be too close to the 8k. I'm doing them purely for pleasure now, which sounds weird, because who runs for more than two hours for the heck of it? Without a doubt, I am extremely sensitive to heat and humidity. I'm not sure if anyone else feels the same dramatic difference, but these days when I run I am thriving, rather than simply staying on my feet, as I do (sometimes) in the summer.

Monday night I planned to go out to McLean High School for some quarters, but shortly after I got home from work, an unexpected rain started (well, unexpected in that I hadn't checked out the forecast). I toyed with taking the day off, but instead went outside, where it was no longer raining, and started instead toward New Virginia Manor. I evidently left my Run for Roch hat at BCC, so my backup was a still-new Gatorade synthetic hat I won at a Steelers 5k in 2007, 2008 or 2009. For a while I thought it was too much, and my head was getting pretty warm, but as I finished my first loop a light rain started up again, and I considered heading home and lying down. Then, without even thinking about it, I kept going and did another loop and felt much better once I made that apparently subconscious decision. I finished that 13 miles in 1:29.

Worth the wait

2011-10-21T17:40:00.001-04:00

Thursday after work I started to do a Scott's Run, but changed my mind and ran to Vienna and back, with a little extra, to do 11 miles. It was nice and boring, and I kept it around 7:00 pace.

I ran to work Friday and realized just how much I dislike it, or at least the route I take. Rain was misting when I headed out and I never really felt relaxed. The W&OD trail portion is okay, but once I get on the Custis Trail I just get frustrated with the amount of bike traffic. There's a little bit of consistency with the portion on the Mt. Vernon Trail and crossing the Roosevelt Bridge, but ocne I get downtown, I'm stopping every few blocks for traffic and it leaves the run on a bad note. That said, it still is a nice way to combine a morning run and a commute, pretty much getting 12 miles done in the time it would take me to run three miles, shower and commute to work. Maybe running home would be more pleasant- I'd deal with traffic early, and not feel the long pounding downhill -- I actually prefer climbing. After work I did an easy three-mile loop.

Saturday morning, I had grand visions of the workout I would do. The weather was perfect, I felt rested, and I was ready to get faster every three miles on a 15 mile run though McLean. Unfortunately, I was so well rested because I slept longer than I should have, and didn't start my run until 10 am, which put my in direct conflict with the hordes of shoppers on their way to Tysons Corner. I had to stop about a half mile in while I waited for traffic to pass on Great Falls, then again on Westmoreland at Kirby. I responded by overcompensating with those miles, 5:53 and 5:55, where I was planning to go 6:30s. I was close on the third mile- 6:22, then once I started my 6:15s I once again dealt with traffic- at Chain Bridge Road at Old Dominion (5:45 for that mile) as I tried to cross Dolley Madison Parkway and Balls Hill Road. Spring Hill Road was once again challenging, moreso because of the twists and blind curves in the road, though the undulating hills didn't help.I think I was right on 6:00 pace though the second mile of that segment, then I slowed down to 6:05 in the third. When I hit the Lewinsville Bridge over the beltway, I had to cross through traffic to get to a shoulder, then when I got to the top of the hill at Dolley Madison, I once again had to stop at the intersection. At this point, I gave up, then headed down Chain Bridge Road to Pimmit Hills and ran home that way. Had I started the workout at 7 or 8 am, I would have been in a lot better shape, traffic-wise

Sunday morning I headed out the opposite way, up Great Falls until it became Lewinsville and got out to Brook. I usually stick with Old Dominion all the way back, but this time I took a left on Spring Hill. I found it to be a much better, and safer, segment of the road than between Old Dominion and Lewinsville. It was narrow enough that cars had to drive slowly maneuver properly, and I don't think I even saw any heading north. Georgetown Pike was another story, though. The entire 1.9 stretch west of the beltway had no shoulder to speak of, so I spent most of the constant climbing and descending switching back and forth across the road to make myself more visible to cars and be able to see them myself. Once I crossed the beltway, I had sidewalk paths, but the hills got even tougher. I thought back to the Freedom's Run Half, and how hills seemed to provoke me to run better, and how that was not happening today. I made the turn onto Chain Bridge Road at 13.25, at which point I had averaged 6:25s. I took that short road past the old Kennedy house Hickory Hill and turned onto Dolley Madison before finding the next portion of Chain Bridge. I turned onto Old Dominion and as I passed a segment of the Pimmit Run trail I guessed I had been running 1:39, looked to my watch and saw it was that time exactly. I felt pretty impressed with myself, which then deflated in last 5.5 miles. I looped through Forest Villa, headed down Carlin then up to Birch. Once again, I was climbing and dropping, and I forgot just how long that street is. When I crossed Kirby, I knew I still had work to do, because Lorraine is a bad mother. I had only climbed it once before, the day after the GMU track race, but this time I was able to focus on a walker who was halfway up the hill. The rest of the run was easy, though as I crossed I-66 a block from home, I was a little flabberghasted that I had been heading the other way 2:15 before. It seemed like days ago.

Monday I had another nice nighttime run, this time though Annandale. It was a similar to a 13 mile run I had done one morning in July, back before Oregon, but with the stark difference that I didn't worry about whether I would survive until I got home. The last time I ran it, I started with a squeeze bottle of solid ice, drained it halfway though, then had to find a water fountain so I could refill the bottle. Monday's run was much more pleasant. I'm so glad the weather is cool and I can train without fear of overheating

Tuesday night, I ran five miles out to McLean High School, via Powhatan, Birch and Old Chesterbook. I did 12 400s with 200 jog- 74,72,71,73,71,71,72,71,72,71,72,71 and ran home on Great Falls. 13 total.

Wednesday I pretty much just ran around the Tidal Basin until the GRC people showed up on the Mall for a workout, warmed up with them and then headed back for a miserable 13 miles.

Thursday I biked to McLean High School for a long workout- 6x2k. It wasn't too ambitious- starting at 80 and getting one second faster per lap in subsequent repeats. YF2K53 was there walking his laps on the outside lane in the dark. It wasn't a memorable workout, I ran 6:36, 6:32, 6:28 and 6:25, but during the third and fourth, I felt increasing gastrointestinal distress. After neutralizing the situation, I resumed the workout, but my legs felt weak. I came through the 1200 a second fast- 3:47, but slowed dramatically and stopped after a 5:07 mile. I thought about doing another 2k at 5:18 pace, but 200 meters in I just didn't have the will for it anymore, so I went for a long cooldown to total 13.

Friday morning I woke up to run before work, but felt terrible, so I slept in and only did 3.25 miles and after work got in another seven.

The last big month begins

2011-10-13T13:14:00.000-04:00

Although my illness came at an unfortunate time because it took me a few days of holding back running in great, cool weather, it kept me under control last week. I took Sunday completely off and slept in every day except for Friday. Monday I was able to get through the work day with a minimum of misery and went out to run with no real plan. I wound up doing two loops of New Virginia Manor for 13 miles, right around 6:50 pace, and I felt fantastic. No breathing trouble, a little congestion, but a delightful run.

Tuesday after work I did a 10 mile loop at Hains Point at 6:30 pace, great weather there.

Wednesday evening I joined Hanson, Sam and Outlaw for their pre-Army Ten Miler workout- 1600-1200-800-400. Though the pacing (72, 70, 68, 66) was feasible for me, I didn't want to risk bombing and ruining my newfound confidence for the Great Pumpkin 5k on Saturday, I did a 1600 earlier- in 4:56, then did one fewer lap than the pack. I definitely felt like I could have done the whole thing, I felt totally under control running 3:36, 2:19, and 67, but I was left hungry for more. So I joined in for the 400 in 66, but cut loose with 200 left and ran 62, my fastest 400 since April 2007. And I still wanted more.

Thursday I did a reverse Steelers loop. Friday morning and afternoon I did Fishermans loops.

Saturday morning I felt alright when I woke up and got a ride to Reston with Fun Lizard, whose hips have unfortunately become unaligned, rendering her Lame Liz. It was cool but humid, and I felt okay when I went out for a warmup. I wasn't feeling quite right when I got to the line, though, and within about five seconds of the race starting, I knew it wasn't going to be good. I rushed off the line to keep up with two Africans and the creepiest boy in the world, but it was only a matter of time before I dropped. I could tell they were scared, because "Contagion" is still playing in the theaters and my lungs were making a hell of a racket. Within a half mile they had five yards on me and the gap only grew when we headed downhill, did a moronic turnaround and my fate was sealed on the way back up. I came through the mile in 5:04, two in 5:08 and the third in 15:24. It was a pretty boring course around Reston Town Center, and I spent most of the time coughing and blowing my nose. I saw Liz and Rich, but otherwise it was lonely. My third mile split, 15:36, was just five seconds faster than my three mile split of my half the week before, and my 5k time 16:15, was just a little faster than my 10k pace from the Great Race.

I reasonably expected to run in the low 15:20s and on my best day would have hung with 2 and 3 in the mid 14:40s. That course in no-man's land was brutal. Wind, general apathy, just terrible. I'm sure it would have been a lot more fun if I was racing someone, but when the race was over, I realized I had raced 20 out of 22 miles in the last three weekends by myself. No matter what, I'm running with someone in Richmond, even if it's slower of faster than I would like.

After the race I took a three hour nap and felt a lot better afterward. I went out and ran another 13, starting pretty fast- 5:30 and 5:15 for the first two miles of a Marymount-Florida loop. By 9.75, I had run 6:05 pace mainly out of frustration with the race and eased into finish 13 miles.

Sunday morning I ran around the Army Ten Mile course with Klim and Murph.

Monday morning I slept in, thanks to Columbus Day, and biked out to McLean High School for some quarters at 68-70 and HMDs. In the afternoon I did 11 miles on the Pimmit Run trail.

Tuesday's trip home for what I hoped would be an early afternoon run was complicated severely when a metro disruption at Clarendon stopped all traffic between Rosslyn and Ballston. After taking a train to the cemetery, which then turned and went back to Rosslyn's upper deck, I spent 20 minutes trying to get out of the station, then walked 2.5 miles to Ballston to avoid having to wait for a shuttle bus. By the time I got home and was ready to run, it was 8. I did a New Virginia Manor, 13 miles in the dark, and it was glorious. The whole time I was in the four-mile loop, I came across four cars, and three were together. Wide, luxurious, smooth roads, long hills and an almost out-of-body experience. I can barely see anything, especially in the first, second and fourth miles,

Wednesday I woke up for eight miles on the Westmoreland loop, then in the evening did a long medium workout on the track. Since I had done 400s recently, I instead opted for a Richmond classic- 20-8-20. It was entirely successful- the first 20 minutes at 5:28 pace, eight minutes easy, then 20 minutes at 5:20 pace. I ran smoothly the whole time, didn't kick or anything, and I had a maximum lap-by-lap variation of .3 seconds. It was more successful than the same workout I did several Sundays ago, and I know I could have gone on longer, which is how I guess you want all of your workouts to feel.

Paying the fiddler

2011-10-03T14:46:00.003-04:00

I had to pick up my rental car for my trip to the Freedom's Run Half Marathon around 5 on Friday, but I didn't want to sit in beltway and 270 traffic all evening, so I went home for a few hours to wait it out. While watching a few episodes of Mad Men, I noticed a real pain my the top of my throat when I swallowed. It was an alarming symptom, I predicted, of an impending sickness.

I hoped a good night's sleep would help, but getting to my motel in Hagerstown was tougher than I thought. I had to pull over and take two breaks during the 75 minute drive. I had dinner and got to bed, but sleep was evasive. I woke up constantly, including once following a dream in which I was late for a race of some sort because the bus driver taking me to the starting line got lost. I didn't want to take any cold medicine, for fear of dehydrating myself.

I woke up with the sore throat spreading and congestion setting in, and a steady chilly rain falling. I thought about not going, but the money was already spent on the car, motel and entry fee. I drove down to Shepardstown, passing a Hoss's--the only roadside steakhouse worthy of Coach A's time during high school cross country and track--and got to Shepherd University.
I warmed up the first mile and back, and actually felt alright as we gathered on the starting line.

After the start, I bolted to the front, seeing two Newton-sponsored guys in the pack. By the time we got to the bridge over the Potomac, only one was near me, and by the time I climbed the first hill in Maryland, I was clear. Made the first turn and headed down a hill that was a little too steep to race down, but almost jogging down it helped relieve whatever tension the uphill had caused. I turned onto a delightful road that paralleled the towpath and hit the first mile in 5:14. I hoped to stay on it for a while, but had to make a sharp turn over a bridge and onto the trail. I started rolling there, remembering a much different morning six or seven weeks before when I tried to hang on with Tex during a long run. The heat wasn't a problem, this time, and I split 4:59 for my second mile. I was keeping that pace up in the third mile until the course turned off of the towpath and headed up a long, long hill, partway up I hit 5:27 for my third split, the rain starting to sputter through the trees.

However much skepticism I had for the recounts from various four-hour marathoners I had read about the course in regards to its difficulty, I knew this would be the long hill and getting up it without surrendering my lead would be an accomplishment. I worried that I was going out too hard, especially going under 5:00, but I never felt like I was in over my head. I was bummed for my fourth mile split- 6:01, but I knew I was working hard for the ground I was covering, and almost all downhills had been immediately followed by sharp uphills, so I knew the course wasn't doing me any favors like the flat second mile. I thought about taking some water or Gatorade along the way, but my throat hurt too much to consider drinking anything, so I declined. My fifth mile, 5:33, was back on track, and I was a little surprised to only be a minute slower than my split at the same point last week. The next two miles, 5:32 and 5:53, we largely uphill, with a few instances to get a feel for my lead. By then, the rain was constant, and it just provoked my willingness to put aside discomfort, which probably helped my race.

The course had no actual spectators to speak of besides a few concentrations of volunteers. I would listen to when they stopped yelling for me and wait for when they would start cheering for my pursuer. After seven miles, though, I stopped running like I was scared of him catching me and started running like I wanted to make my mark on the race, it was time to push myself and see what I was all about, discovering how hard I could push. I did with the next two miles, both in 5:16, both of which featured nice rolling rural roads in the Antietam Battlefield. With the lead biker ahead of me, I had something on which to focus my attention and a few times caught up with her while climbing particularly steep hills. In mile 10, she sped away to make sure intersections were clear ahead, and I had to readjust my focus. I came through that mile in 5:44, splitting 54:58 for 10 miles, just 34 seconds slower than my 10 mile PR on a flat course with competition. I was buoyed significantly by this, because I was averaging just under 5:30 per mile and blowing away my pre-race prediction that I would hit 10 miles in 58 - 5:48 pace. It was my second-fastest 10 miles ever, beating my Spring Thaw time from 2007 by 50 seconds. And I still felt strong.

I thought, looking at the elevation profile, that the last three miles would be steadily downhill. That was wrong, so my hopes to run close to 5:00 for the last few miles were out the window. I was largely relegated to the road's narrow shoulder or the beaten up sidewalk and couldn't quite cruise like I did on the open roads. The rain was pretty much constant now, and passing cars and trucks soaked me with filthy splashes. Two more miles, 5:39 and 5:25. As I came upon the last mile, I knew it would have to be solidly downhill back to the bridge, I just didn't imagine having to switch sides of the road in poorly-controlled traffic, with no real direction from course marshals, or overtaking the 10k runners and 5k walkers on a

very narrow stretch. For a while, it helped to have the runners to pick off, until they thought they were competing with me and tried to block me. I got close to the stadium containing the finish and started to navigate some tight turns on a narrow walkway and ran right into a pack of older women walking the 5k. Three courses were bottlenecked at the finish onto a steep downhill and a 180 degree turn in the mud. I squeezed by when I could, yelled as much as I could to look out, pretty much stopped to let a woman walk by and then surged to the finish, my last mile a disgraceful 5:47 and a frantic 31 second .1 to finish in 1:12:19 -- a course record by 1:08.

As nice and scenic as the race was prior, the finish was an absolute disaster. It wasn't good for competitive runners and it certainly wasn't safe for runners or the walkers. I am pleasantly surprised I didn't hurt myself or anyone else on the course in the last tenth of a mile.

After a few seconds of trying to convince the race director there was a continuing problem, I relented and thought about my race. I had bit of an internal debate about how much by which I PRed. My fastest half marathon to that point had been 1:18:19 from the horrible Pacers Half last spring, but I had run 13.1 miles in 1:15:16 in the first half of the Chicago Marathon last year. Will had been insistent that my actual PR was the prior. Now, it's not an issue.

I can't remember the last time I felt so satisfied with a race, maybe 2007's Dash for Dogs and Cats, when I could impose my will on my body to run a certain way. I got exactly what I needed out of the race- a solid hard run, and it pretty much turned into a time trial as soon as I dropped second place, and to be blunt, that's what I wanted- just me and the course ahead of me. It was hilly, and the course was difficult, but I seemed to draw motivation from that. I'm left feeling like I'm in a great position to take a swing at what I would like for the rest of the season. A little break and some turnover work should get me ready for the Great Pumpkin 5k on Saturday, but then back to some long workouts in the cooler fall temperatures. A year ago I was tapering to get ready for Chicago, now I'm just getting started on the hardest work I have to do. There's no better time of the year to do it, either.

I got in a five-mile cooldown to hit 20 for the day and 90 for the week, then headed home, knowing the impending sickness was going to hit me like a shoe in the face. As I was finishing my cooldown, the reality of how cold I was hit me, and I started shivering to a ridiculous extent. That kept up for about two hours, and I was absolutely miserable. I had no appetite, I could barely swallow anyway, and I just wanted to feel warm again. That night I went home miserable and slept in Sunday, taking the day off of running and not leaving my apartment until the evening to go grocery shopping. Monday afternoon I'm coughing like crazy, congested so much I feel like my sinuses will burst and unmotivated to do anything. I ran from the cold as much as I could on Saturday, but it caught me, and now I have to deal with it.

Off to western Maryland

2011-09-30T15:38:00.000-04:00

I'm in for some lonely running tomorrow, and this time I won't have the crowd support the Great Race offered. The weather looks great for the Freedom's Run Half Marathon tomorrow.

I've gotten a flurry of e-mail from the organizers, including one which links to several news articles and personal blog posts about the race. All remark on its beauty and historic setting--several miles run through the Antietam battlefield, but also on the relatively solitary setting for the race. Aside from the volunteers at aid stations, I don't expect to see anyone for most of the race. The marathoners will be headed for the same turn toward the park I will, from the opposite direction, but I won't see any of them.

I don't know if I'll PR, chances are I won't, because it's not really that kind of course.

It's half hilly, but most of the bloggers who ran it seem floored by the hills. That said, most of them are also hovering around the four-hour mark for the marathon, so our opinions of a 'difficult' hill may differ.

Pretty much, my race plan is to run the first few miles, mostly on the towpath, pretty quickly, then dig in for the uphills. There's a sharp, long uphill in mile four, then a downhil before a few more climbs, then some rolling hills in miles 6-9 before another uphill. At that point, I hope to just be in a rhythm I can relish. The last 2.5 miles are consistently downhill, and I plan to go all out at that point.

I wanted to do a rural half in the middle of the fall season, and the other main option was the Buffalo Creek Half near Pittsburgh, more specifically, near Tarentum. Once the variety of local government officials in Buffalo Township and Freeport found out I was a runner, they encouraged me to run that race. I would love to, someday, but it's heavily downhill, and I worried that with that faster course was the chance I would run a time I wouldn't have a chance of eclipsing at Philadelphia, despite another month of training and a taper.

The Great Allegany 15k is the same day in Cumberland, and I would like to run that, too, but doing the half just makes more sense right now. It looks like I'll be running the Towpath Marathon near Cleveland next fall with Pokey, Nate and Evan, so I will be able to fit the Allegany Run in the weekend before.

Wednesday night I ran at B-CC, trying to get the life back in my legs after the Great Race. I joined a bunch of guys for a slowed-down B group workout, starting with miles at 5:30 and 5:15 before some 800s, but halfway through I decided to do a series of miles, starting at 5:40 and working my way down. Unfortunately, the quick start on the 5:30 mile meant it would be hard to slow down properly, so I finished in 5:31. Then 5:30, 5:15 and 5:15 and called it a day. With a longer cooldown I had 10.

Thursday morning I ran a sedate five miles on an extended Idylwood, then eight in the evening on Westmoreland, feeling great with the lower temperature and humidity.

Friday's pre-race was six miles on a Park loop.

Lonely in a crowd of 9,000

2011-09-28T12:06:00.004-04:00

I don't even remember where I ran on Wednesday- I think a Woodley in the morning, something from my barbershop -- where I failed to get a haircut -- in the evening, for 16.5. Thanks to backloading my mileage the prior week and frontloading it this week, from Thursday to Wednesday I ran 120.5, so I cut the next few days' mileage so I could recover a little for the Great Race.

I slept in Thursday morning, then finally got that haircut in the afternoon. I warmed up back to my place then did a 10-10-10 p-word run on my usual loop. It was really humid, and the little bits of hair from the barbershop were spreading all over my body, thanks to the sweat. I was a little fast for the first mile- maybe 5:54, and about 30 seconds ahead of schedule at 1.6 miles. I was right on for the first mile of the 5:45 segment, but fast overall, 5 seconds perhaps. I was slow for the 5:00 chunk- 2:33 at the first measured half and 5:07 for the measured mile, but felt okay. It was pretty uncomfortable, but given how much I had run the week before, I felt alright.

The next morning, I set out to do an easy Oak loop, but the humidity made me feel like garbage a little more than two miles in, so I went a little more, turned onto the W&OD and ran home for 5.

The next morning, in Pittsburgh, I did my pre-race 5 on the Schenley Park course.

When I woke up, my room felt cool, so I had a good feeling about the Great Race. When my mom and I left the house, though, the air didn't feel quite as light, and it was warming up quickly. We didn't have to wait as long as we feared for a bus ride to the start.

I warmed up to the first mile and back, seeing Jason Baim and Brian Romine along the way.

The gun went off quickly, thankfully giving me little time to tense up on the starting line. The hoi polloi cleared out relatively quickly and the pack was pretty well set before we turned onto Forbes and I heard the first few people yelling for me. Outlaw, Luff and Hanson were all up in the front, with Steve Strelick up there looking tall and Brandon G by my side. I heard and saw Scott Rosenblum and Sarah Ordaz near St. Edmund's. The leaders went through the mile in 5:10, I was a second behind, pretty much right on pace. The lead pack pulled away up the hill shortly after the mile mark, but heading down, I wasn't sure if the three guys in the chase pack with me, including Greg, were going to be running the way I wanted, so I put in a surge to catch up to the end of the lead pack. They kept accelerating when they hit CMU, and I noticed Outlaw start to fall off. I hit the second mile in 4:55, a few seconds behind the leaders, but a world away. As I turned onto Fifth Avenue, I already felt like I was done and saw black spots on the bottom parts of my eyes. Well, if I passed out, at least someone would see me...

I passed Outlaw near Central Catholic but he didn't go with me. Then I heard Gillian off to the right, a very enthusiastic pick-me-up. I hit that third mile in 5:25, about15-20 seconds slower than I wanted. I was hoping to go through 5k in 15:45 and go from there, but I forgot how difficult running alone on Fifth Avenue, especially in the sun, was. Jen Taylor, of all people, was on the curb cheering, too. I saw a dude in orange ahead of me, and kept myself going to catch him with a bit left to go in the fourth mile. I hit 5:03, giving me a 20:36 split, right on pace to break 32, which was my moderate goal.

The fifth mile is always the worst for me. Almost every time I have run the Great Race, I've

been alone in the fifth mile. In 2007 I had Cavanaugh with me, but even then I split 6:00 for it. This year, Beth Shutt was riding along the course and shouting to me, but I felt like I was plodding. All I had to focus on was Hanson in the distance, also struggling alone. I feared a bit better than before -- 5:38, and came through five miles matching my PR for the distance- 26:15. After that, though, it was ugly. A minute later, Greg, the guy in orange I had passed a while ago, and some other dude passed me in a pack as yet another person I didn't recognize yelled to me. The downhill on Boulevard of the Allies did me no favors, and I knew I was unlikely to match the 4:53 I had once run for it. Matt, Shafer and Jo all cheered on Fort Pitt Boulevard, but so was some yinzer who yelled, "Get up with them! Don't run alone!" His insight into the dynamics of distance running sadly lacked the pragmatism of how I would suddenly get about 100 yards ahead. I ran 5:14 for my last mile and 1:07 for the .2 -- terrible -- to finish 10th in 32:36.

On one hand, it was just 9 seconds slower than my PR, and I rarely run 10ks. I ran almost 140 miles in the 10 days prior to the race. It was 70 degrees in the middle of the race and a slight tailwind was just enough to keep a runner's body heat moving with him, so there wasn't much relief there, though at least it wasn't a headwind in mile 5. When I ran faster in 2007, the weather was ideal. A lot of people complained about the heat and humidity, so I know I wasn't alone in feeling their effects.

I also ran alone for the last four miles, which seems more and more ridiculous. I wound up in that situation because I wanted to run a conservative first half, but I wasn't competitive on my own in the second half. Might I have done better if I had stuck with the lead pack, gone out faster and at least had people with whom to run? Maybe if I had more confidence in my ability to hold up? A few days later, I realize I definitely should have stuck with the lead pack and seen what I could do. This three-week racing segment is supposed to be a test for what I can do without the late-season taper, and taking a chance like that is exactly what I should have done.

But those excuses don't make up for a lack of discipline and ability to keep my pace when I needed to do so. My third and sixth miles were troubling. I didn't take any chances by pushing myself in the third mile. My goals coming in were to run faster than 31:30 on a great day, under 32:00 on a decent day and under 32:27 on an acceptable day, and I didn't accomplish any of them. I did match my five mile PR, but that was eight years old, and I barely run fives.

Using the Great Race as a benchmark, I am a little short of the shape I was in during the latter half of 2007, definitely my best year. That said, I don't feel like it- part of it might have been the humidity, but I am not as competent running hard on my own.

I did get to run in the last mile with my mom, which was fantastic. She also didn't feel good about her race, though with all the people she had to dodge in the first few miles, I'm sure it didn't even feel like a race for a lot of the course.

That evening I ran 9.25 around Mt. Lebanon, feeling pretty wrecked by seven miles in and definitely dehydrated. That place is a lot hillier than I appreciated when I was running there every day...

The next morning, after a doctor's appointment, I ran in Frick, starting at the Biddle parking lot, wrapping around to the start of the Braddock Trail, down to the Nine Mile Run trail, up the Tranquil Trail and my usual two loops near the lawn bowling courts. I got to the bottom of the Falls Ravine Trail and stopped, with no interest in continuing, but having gotten in 6.5 miles. After a trip back to DC with Sam that was a veritable GRC Heritage Trail (we passed the Wiggy's Mom birthplace in Hopwood, Pa., the Towpath Birthplace in Cumberland and the Towpatch Conception Point Monument in the Shady Grove metro parking lot) I ran another 6 on the Seaton loop.

Wednesday morning, I am still wrecked from the race. My quads, especially, are heavy and don't respond when I want them to do something. My back is stiff and my head is pounding. Even my hands hurt. It's like someone beat me up while I was recovering from the flu. I just want to sleep. I got home and started to run the Double Pimmit, but eight miles in I was feeling poor, so I stumbled back home, and ate a most of a rotisserie chicken for dinner. I slept in the next morning, thanks in large part to a heavy morning rain that relaxed me so much that I just waited for my alarm to stop.

The weather is looking good for the Freedom's Run Half this weekend in West Virginia and Maryland. With a low of around 48 Friday night, I should hopefully have the tools with which to have a good race. It's a hilly course in miles 4-9, but that leaves seven miles that are fast. If I take the quick splits when I can get them and stay focused when it's rough, I can come out with a good race. The last three miles, especially, are consistently downhill, I want to take advantage of that and cross the line kicking, not sputtering. What I would like, ideally, is an opportunity to get in a rhythm that embraces an undulating, rural course and enjoy the uphills and much as the downhills. I see, at least in my imagination, a similarity to my Hickory Hill loop in Hanover County, Va, in both the weather and topography.

He was night running, just running at night...with the 15-year-old daughter of the dean...

2011-09-21T14:56:00.001-04:00

We finally had a crowd for the store run Saturday morning- the Fox, Terrible Terry, Big City, Luff Daddy, Rod, the Powerbar dude, Wilson the Lecturer and Wardian. The latter two turned back after a few miles, but the rest went out and back 30 minutes each way, then a few went on for more. I was tired, and fine with stopping short of nine miles. A nice run.

That afternoon, I did a loop in Bethesda from Nora's- up Old Georgetown to Greentree, out to Burning Tree and back on Bradley, just about 6:50 pace. Very pleasant.

Sunday morning, I had my first half-marathon-themed workout planned -- a long "p-word" run.

My plan was this- three miles slow, maybe 7:30 pace, three at 6:30, three at 6:00, three at 5:45 and then three Greenwich miles at 5:20. The loop would take me on rolling hills through McLean outside of the beltway and back.

The first three miles went by in 20:40- just under 7:00 pace, and much faster than I had expected or even felt. As I headed off on Chain Bridge Road to start my first segment, I felt like I was taking it easy, so I was shocked to see myself hit the first mile in 5:45. I slowed it down a little bit on Dolley Madison, but when I got onto Old Dominion things just got a little fast again. I came through the second three miles at 18:15- 6:05s. When I turned onto Spring Hill, I realized just how uphill it was and how wrong the elevation profile was on mapmyrun.com, and I started pushing. I hit the end of the third segment at 17:45- only five seconds fast per mile, but fast nonetheless, and I would eventually have to pay the fiddler for my transgressions.

The fourth segment ended up being right on- 17:15- but in the middle, I dealt with cluttered sidewalks, jumping over barriers, dodging a car that ran a stop sign with the driver not looking and subsequently performing pantomime outrage-fueled gesticulations at the driver for having been so careless. The uphill back to Dolley Madison was a little tough, but somehow the timing worked out that I didn't need to stop at the major intersections, a simple gift but significant. My right sock sagged a lot and I developed a blister on top of my right achilles tendon.

For the most part, I didn't feel like I was working that hard. I certainly didn't feel like I was running as fast as I was, and maybe that's how it got hazardous. When I got the the Greenwich Mile, I was pretty tired, and when I jogged over to the start and wrung out the sweat from my shirt, I noticed that my bellybutton was saturated in blood, for some reason I never determined. I started a quarter mile into my usual Greenwich loop, which gave me a significant downhill in the first quarter this time, which I passed in 70 seconds. I'm not sure where I found the speed for that, but once again I ruined the workout by going to hard, too early. The next 400 was uphill, and i came through the half in 2:32, three quarters in 3:55, and a mile in 5:28. I felt no need or push to go on.

In the evening, I did an easy six on the Seaton loop around 6:45 pace.

Monday I did a relatively easy 13 miles on the New Virginia Manor loop, with darkness spreading six miles in. It's a great loop to run at night- barely any traffic, good roads, and time to focus on the feeling that comes with a good distance run. No watch.

Tuesday morning was eight plus on a Westmoreland loop. I thought about cutting it short at 6.5, but kept going. It rained lightly, but it wasn't a hassle. No watch.

That evening, I biked over to McLean High School and did my warmup loops, finishing at 8. A thick fog rose from the field and covered the track, obscuring the three or so joggers doing laps. No lights, aside from a single bulb above the door along the 300m mark. Every now and then a car would head toward the track on Westbury, illuminating the fog on the back stretch and blinding me. I didn't mind because I could barely see if there were no lights at all. After a while, I was the only one out there, so with that came the security of knowing I wasn't going to run into anybody. I forgot how big the track was for a while and just ran. 3:05, 3:04, 3:04, 3:04, 3:04, 3:06, 3:04, a false start, then 3:03. They weren't impressive times, but I ran pretty consistently. When I dropped the last 200 of the sixth, I came back and ran a little fast for the last two, almost hitting 3:02 for the last on the virtue of the last 200. To run it that consistently on my own, too, was encouraging.

Wednesday morning was just 8.5 miles on a Woodley loop- it had been a while since I hadn't included the Presidents' loop portion. 6:49 pace.

First day off in three months

2011-09-16T23:48:00.001-04:00

I took Monday off, my first day off since June 12, and even though I felt like I was putting a perfectly good day to waste -- it was in the low 80s and much drier than the night before -- I really didn't have the motivation to go out. I hope by not forcing it I gave myself time to physically and mentally recover.

Tuesday morning I almost let that malaise continue, but I forced myself to step out onto my porch to see just how nice the weather was. About 62 degrees. I'd be an idiot not to run, so I did- 6:30 for 10.3 miles on an extended Oak loop. Thirsty, of course, but better than most times I have run that loop--I have usually had enough when I cross over 66 on Virginia.

That afternoon I planned to go out and run an easy seven miles on a new loop, but missed a turn and ended up going nine. It was refreshing, though- close to 80 degrees, the sun setting in the middle of the run, hills everywhere. If I didn't have a workout the next day, I could have kept going. I had never run on the segment of Powhatan between Kirby and Orland and good God, it's steep. Rock Spring Park was also new to me and although it was short, it was pleasant.

I slept in again on Wednesday and was, again, feeling pretty cruddy on my way to practice- it was much muggier than usual. I decided to forgo the 800 workout to do 400s with Tex- he planned to do 20 with 35 seconds recovery, which at some point was communicated to me at 30 seconds recovery. I led the first two, 70.00 and 69, he led two more, 69,69, and as we started the fifth I realized these half minute breaks were not doing it for me, so I started alternating the quarters to give Tex a break from going alone. I ran six more in 69 until he had enough, then joined some guys doing 800s for their first lap (66) and then did a 66 on my own. It ended up not being a terribly long workout, but I needed turnover and I think I got a good handle on it there.

I had a much improved Thursday morning from last week. I did the same first seven or so miles as before- Williamsburg and Military Road to the trail and up to Marymount, but this time I took George Mason to Lee Highway and back to Great Falls. I also took a squeeze bottle with me and drank a little bit throughout. Also, no passing out on the way to work. I did an easy 6 after work on the Seaton loop in weather that was perfect for distance running- chilly enough that I had to keep moving to stay warm. This is the kind of weather in which I feel like I can competently run.

I planned to do the 6x mile workout Friday morning that I had been unable to finish last week, thanks to my breathing episode. I reserved a Zipcar a three minute walk from my apartment for 5:30, which would give me time to drive to McLean High School's track with my flats and water and warm up in time to start the workout at 6, which I could finish and cool down for by 7:15, then get the car back by 7:30. I woke up at 5 to drink some water and get my bearings before the workout, and headed out. I saw no car. I waited a while, nobody showed up with it. I went back to my apartment to ascertain what happened, and after calling the support line, it appeared a Zipcar employee took the cars to be cleaned or something, and just never put them back. Even if they had a car there, I wouldn't have had time to do my workout before heading to the office, so I gave up there. With 45 minutes of being awake under my belt, I was hard pressed to be able to fall asleep again, so I went out and ran a Park Plus for a morning 7- not the way I wanted to split the mileage today, I was hoping to be able to relax after work.

For the workout, I ended up going to the Gallaudette track, not far from my office, which Breezy recommended. Unfortunately the football team was practicing, so I would have to deal with obstacles on lane one and carpets spanning the track in three places. Luckily, the team moved most of the crud off of the first lane and was happy to let me coexist there. A few guys even called out arbitrary splits as I ran by.

The workout itself did not go too well. I didn't have a good handle on my pace early and opened with a 70, about seven seconds fast for the first lap, and I was expecting to be 10 seconds slower-- a reversal of the impeccable internal clock I had recently. I slowed down, but still ended up running 5:03. The next one went a bit better, opening in 2:30 and finishing in 5:02. During the third, the 5:00 mile, two players started rolling up one of the carpets on the far stretch, so I swung into lane 5 to avoid them, which worked, but tired me out. I ended up running 4:59 but feeling in control.

The fourth, however, was just a disaster. I lost whatever sense of pace I had, came through the 200 in 35 when I thought I was going to be slow, and I just called it off. This was a situation where I really could have used some help pacing, but at the same time, I had been up for 12.5 hours by this point and felt like it. I did a long cool down, to the Metropolitan Branch Trail and up to Brookland and back, and I was depleted when I finished that. After I showered, I felt like doing nothing but sitting at my desk in my office, at 7:30 on a Friday evening.

Rough few days

2011-09-12T17:10:00.002-04:00

I slept in Wednesday morning and spent most of the day watching heavy rain fall. The workout that night, 6xmile, was exactly what I had wanted to do for several weeks, but the weather was not looking good. On top of that, I had been having trouble breathing for the past week and a half. I noticed the previous Monday night, while reading in bed, that I didn't feel as though I was getting enough air when I breathed, despite deep breaths. The air didn't have the same fulfilling effect, like when I was struggling in at the end of the towpath long run a few weeks ago. I wondered if I would stop breathing while I was asleep and suffocate, which just mad me more anxious. I somehow survived the next eight days, running workouts and races with no ill effects. But I was still worried.

The workout started well. The rain stopped in advance and I felt okay in the warmup, and the first few miles were delightful- 5:08, 5:03, 5:00. I led the second almost perfectly, just a little fast for the last lap, and feeling like I could go at 5:04 pace all day. Within 200 meters of the 4:56 mile, though, I felt myself unable to get a satisfying breath. I once again did not suffocate to death, but I felt like I was on the brink. I also had a good amount of gastrointestinal distress before the first one, after the second one and when I was cooling down.

I did a Marymount loop Thursday morning, recalling the last time I did it, I listened to Very Tough Love, one of the better This American Life episodes I've heard recently. I was struggling in the humidity again, stopping at the top of the trail and a few times in the 11th mile. It was rough, I tell you. Then, on the way to work, I got up from my seat on the metro and rushed up the escalator at Metro Center. I just missed the red line train, and I had five minutes to wait until the next train. It was incredibly stuffy in there, and I started feeling weak. I looked over and saw I still had five minutes to wait and wondered if I could make it. Then I heard very loud noises and saw nothing. I opened my eyes and saw people everywhere looking down at me. I had evidently passed out, and realized I was soaked with sweat. I took off my windbreaker and instantly felt better, drank some water and felt better still. Chalked it up to my low heart rate and heat exhaustion, with which my cardiologist concurred, and felt better pretty quickly, back to normal by lunch.

I got home in time to run in a gnarly storm- 6 miles on the Seaton loop, sometimes going through ankle-deep water, averaging 6:29s. It eased up toward the end, but the most memorable scene from that run was water rushing across the W&OD trail between Grove and West.

Friday morning I did an easy Scott's Run for 11 miles, stopping a few times in the last mile. Still ridiculously humid. I saw my pulmonologist, and I had forgotten how at ease he was. He said it was hyperventilation syndrome. I'm getting plenty of oxygen, I just need to stop worrying about it.

Saturday morning was a big improvement- sun and a slight breeze to move around the damp air. Witty, Breezy and a dude named Rod joined me at the store for a Dalecarlia loop. Breezy left us for the trails before he could enjoy the fruits of our uphill running, and I think I pushed a little hard on the parkway hills, but it was all good. We ended up averaging 6:40s and I discovered Rod was a Hampden-Sydney alumnus, so we had some good laughs about times The Hill.

That afternoon, I wound around the corridor between Great Falls and Westmoreland for 4.5 miles to total 100 for the week.

Sunday morning, I did a punctuated Westmoreland for 6.5 miles, then in the afternoon biked to McLean High School for a workout. I planned to do 20 minutes at 5:30 pace, eight minutes easy and 20 more minutes at 5:20 pace. I was a little fast for the first segment-5:25, 5:29, 5:25 and change, and was pretty darned thirsty. An asian family was all over the place, including a guy I call YF2k55, and his grandson kept cheering from the stands as I ran by, which was kind of nice. The second segment was not so smooth- I hit my first mile in 5:23 and was done- lightheaded and thirsty. My cooldown involved a jog to a 7-11 on Chain Bridge Road where I purchased a pair of Gatorades and drained one before getting back to the track. Yep, I was pretty thirsty. It was a rough workout to try on my own, but I think having the constant feedback from the track made up for that.

Oh, this was amusing.

Seven years as a Spider alumnus

2011-09-07T00:53:00.004-04:00

Monday afternoon I ran a Presidents' Loop, pretty exhausted from waking up at 5, and achy from the bus ride back from Pittsburgh. I averaged 6:45s.

Tuesday morning I did a Fairview Loop in the morning, having some trouble with dehydration around mile seven despite temperatures in the low 60s, and three miles in Kent Gardens Park in the afternoon.

Wednesday, I slept in and skipped my morning run to contritue to my recovery week by getting more rest and focused on the workout- 2x mile and 6x800. I once again felt faint during the warmup, extremely so when crossing East West Highway, but things got better. We ran 5:06 and 5:02- two seconds fast for each, but the 800s were not as easy. Someone, I am not sure who, paced the first (2:24) ridiculously poorly, and we came through the 400 in 70, then finishing in 2:27. The second was better- 2:25. I took the next two and ran 2:22s evenly, which pleased me, and I felt fantastic. The leaders took us out too hard for the 2:20s- our 200s at 33, and I stopped at the 400 with a 69. I took a break and ran the last one, way behind the group- they went out in 66 and I cautiously in 69, finishing in 2:21. Big City ran with me when I did another 400- 66. I was happy with how the workout went, aside from the pacing fiasco. With the humidity dropping lately, I've been able to keep myself together later in workouts and feel a lot better.

Thursday I wanted to explore the downstream portion of the Pimmit Run Trail, so I ran up Kirby to the Marie Butler Leven Preserve and sought to pick up the trail there. I found it, but lost the trail when I came to a neighborhood. I realize where I went wrong, and should be able to find it next time. In the meantime, I did a few laps of the grassy loop at the preserve, then headed into Dominion Hills and caught the upstream portion of the trail. Aside from one downed tree in the second segment, the trail was clear after Hurricane Irene.

Friday morning I did an easy 4.25 mile Idylwood loop.

Saturday brought the most meaningful race of the year--the Spider alumni cross country race. I still feel fortunate, nine years later, to be able to participate in the race. In 2002, I was reeling from two weeks of getting my ass kicked one way from the cruel Virginian summer and the other from my first Division I practices, after a year off following a Division III season that is better forgotten.

When I transferred to Richmond the previous semester, I wasn't eligible, nor was it reasonable for me to expect to join the track team without having run cross country the semester before. As I gradually met the Spiders, thanks to gracious introductions from Ruth, Emily and Angry, I joined them for afternoon runs when I could, but joining runners for their supplemental work served only to give me an abstract idea what the program had come to expect, I had no idea how hard they ran on a daily basis in real workouts. Though I had run cross country at Hampden-Sydney, from day one I was minutes ahead of the rest of the team for regular distance runs, let alone races, so for all intents and purposes, I hadn't run on a strong team since high school track 28 months earlier, and I was out of the sport, as far as real competition was concerned, for almost two years.

When I arrived on campus in August for cross country, a little bit of me died every day, as I finished farther back in every workout as the alumni race -- then just a 5k time trial because we had yet to build an alumni base -- approached. I figured I had a few days until I finished dead last and was subsequently booted from the team. Lauder said later he thought I'd be cut. Somehow I pulled out a fifth place finish and a four-second PR, striving to catch Rhue toward the end of the second mile before I dropped back. In doing so, I managed to finish ahead of five guys who were already on the team. I still remember the day the results went up on the website, my "open" affiliation evidence of my provisional status with the team, but proof that I could hang with them and serving as the best validation of my running career to that point. Four days later, Steve told me he wanted me running for the team at the UVA meet the next week, and I started on the road that would lead me to a lot more of these Spider Alumni 5k races. The relief that I felt that afternoon at the Athletic Director's picnic has been unmatchable, even with my best races since. It changed my whole identity as a runner and oriented me where I am today.

The race moved from Bandy Field (my favorite) to athletic fields owned by St. Catherine's and the Collegiate schools. These days, a new softball stadium at the St. Catherine's fields means we're pretty much never going back there for the alumni race, and I'm not terribly disappointed. The sprinklers seemed to always turn off five minutes before the start, which exacerbates the amount of fluid built up in my shoes. I hadn't run the course at Collegiate before. Our competitive ranks were thin on the Alumni side- Ciccarelli still hobbled from the Little Rock Marathon years before, Lauder now quite relaxed about his running, Watson holding together his hamstring with scotch tape, Molz and Benford in West Virginia for the Charleston Distance Run, Llano convalescing from a car accident a week before, Quinn teaching the leaders of the future in Colorado and Jonny somewhere on I-95 between Richmond and Maine. Seann is still getting after it, but an ankle sprain two weeks before left him severely hobbled. The whistle squeaked and I stuck back in the pack, just trying to get an idea where the course went, because it was all new to me. Most of it was on very short playing field grass that was not saturated with water, which alone made it faster than St. Catherine's. It also seemed to have fewer turns, though there were patches where the ground was uneven, a stark difference to the smooth trails and road on which I run, and it reminded me how soft I have gotten. Skipper and York and Connor and Adam had pulled away within the first mile, and I was dropping back. As we got to the mile mark, a fellow who shall remain unnamed called out 4:25! 4:26! 4:27! I freaked out until I looked at my watch- I came through the mile in 4:49, the bloke had just missed the start.

I spent the next mile struggling and lagging behind a William and Mary guy.As I neared the end of the second mile, Steve was waiting near a tree. "Get green" he whispered. The WM guy was about 30 yards ahead, and I figured, why not? I came through mile 2 in 5:08 high, then set to work reeling in my target. I had him less than halfway into the third mile, and I charged up the one significant hill on the loop to try to shake him, but I felt him on my tail. As I closed in on the last stretches to the finish, Barkhuff was waiting on the second-to-last field, screaming for me. I managed to hold off the WM dude, plus a pair of Richmond freshmen to finish my third mile in 5:10 and the race in 15:46. I cooled down with the other alumni and did a little extra to get me to 90 for the week. I did some mild uphill running that evening.

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I woke up well before 7 Sunday morning for my long run. Seann, Lauder and Z were planning to start at 9 to do about 40 minutes, so I wanted to get at least 90 in before that. I ran to and through campus to Panorama Drive, over the Hugenot Road Bridge and onto Riverside Drive, left toward Hickory and Cherokee for some rolling hills. There isn't much of a shoulder on Cherokee, but traffic was light. I wore a shirt for this part of the run so I could grab a Gatorade at the 7-11 on Hathaway, then headed to Stratford Hills. I cut a few miles from the Riverside Drive portion to ensure I would be back in time to meet the other guys, but climbing and descending Rockfalls was great, as always, especially the portion down Menokin. I jumped back onto the bridge to head over the James River and onto Westham Station, once a favored stretch of quiet shady road, which has since been transformed to a staging zone to build a new bridge over the river. The trees are largely gone now. I barely remember climbing the hill to Westham Parkway. Then I headed back to campus for 14 miles in 90 minutes.

Seann decided on Roslyn, one of my favorite loops, though we only got to Higginbotham before we turned around. I ended with 20 miles in 2:10, and though the last two miles were pretty lagging compared to what I was running earlier, it was great to be with my old teammates.

Monday morning I ran out intending to do a reverse Scott's Run, but I made a last-minute turn onto the Pimmit Run Trail, ran out to the Potomac School and back for an easy 85 minutes.

Tuesday morning was a sedate out-and-back 10 miles to Vienna at 6:42 pace, then 4.25 miles at 6:30 pace on an Idylwood loop in the afternoon.

I remembered how to race

2011-08-29T17:30:00.004-04:00

My workout race Thursday evening was okay. It was extremely humid, and my decision to run in my gray GRC shirt was questionable. I blazed from the start, a little too fast, because I let up in the last minute of the first mile, which I covered in 5:00, I think. I eased up for a minute, during which an Ethiopian passed me. I would catch him on my fast minutes, then drop when I slowed down, and he was visibly confused as to what I was doing. He left me behind in my third recovery, and I definitely slowed down on my own, though my last 30 seconds were great. I won a gift certificate to the Chris Sloane Running Company. During my cooldown with Laura, a delightful cool breeze transformed the climate, something we could have used 30 minutes prior.

Friday morning was just an easy seven miles on the Pimmit Run Trail. I should finally be able to do some more work on it Tuesday afternoon.

My Megabus trip back took 6:40, thanks to traffic escaping Hurricane Irene. By the time I got to Pittsburgh, my knee and hip joints were about ready to fall out. Dad made linguine with clam sauce and I got to play with Arnie.

The weather was cool but humid in the morning for the Run Around the Square. I knew it wouldn't be an easy race when I saw Curt Larimer. The course isn't very fast, with a flat first mile, an uphill mile+ and less than a mile downhill. Only former Hounds Joe Mahoney and Dan Lesser have broken 16:00 there, and some good runners have raced there. It's a good course, though, and a wonderful race, usually boasting more than 1200 finishers.

We started out fast, and even the mile that is on the road is hard, because the bricks on Milton Street are really uneven. There are dips three feet away from a rise, and it really pays to know the road's contours. It's almost like running through a field that's been torn up, despite the brick surface. It's a fun element to the race. I tucked into the pack behind Playmaker and a dude in red. Some guy in green was directly to my right and someone else was on my heels. My heart and lungs caught up with my legs when we made our first turn.

We turned down the steep hill into Frick Park and Red came hurtling down the hill, almost like he had tripped and was constantly catching himself and we descended, but he was moving with enough confidence that he thought he was going to break the race open. Well, he didn't. Within 30 seconds, the pack, which I was leading by that point, swallowed him up and left him behind, because whoever he was, he didn't break 17, unless he was banditing. He couldn't have run the race before, because nobody in their right mind would try to run away from the pack we had that early in the race with two long hills ahead of him. Playmaker and I started dueling up with hill, and I had a step on him, as we came through the mile in 5:00. When we crested the hill, I put on about seven fast steps to get the flat stretch off on the right foot, and I think I moved a few times to block a pursuer. "Gamesmanship!" Dave Wilson said later. I maintained a slight lead as we rounded the ballfields on South Braddock Ave, wanting to be in position to speed up when we hit the second uphill trail and blow it up with a mile to go, but felt a little worried when we turned onto the sidewalk, whoever was on my tail wasn't interested in running with me.

I swung a little wide on the left turn onto Forbes, and stepped onto the street, for no reason apparently. A few seconds later, Curt and t-shirt passed me, then Playmaker. I jumped back onto the sidewalk before we crossed the bridge, which had a knee-height cement barrier protecting the sidewalk. T-shirt hurdled it, now in a battle with Curt. The pack was moving away from me and I thought I saw Green out of the corner of my eye, but evidently not. I let the three leaders pull away, but once we turned back onto the trail, I just moving again. I remembered how broken I felt in 2009 when Remix and ERF Chaunce dropped me, and I realized I wasn't going to gain anything jogging it in. I couldn't see anyone directly ahead of me, but I knew he was up there somewhere. I hacked away at the hill, and wondered when I'd see the two "mile" mark, which is more like 2.1. When I crossed it in 6:28 (I know... but the whole mile is uphill) Playmaker was about 50 yards ahead of me. We had more climbing to do, and I kept after him.

When we crested the hill, my left foot slipped and I yanked my ankle. It hurt like hell, and I decided that maybe it would make the heavy breathing I was about to do feel a lot less terrible. I launched myself down the hill, intent on catching Playmaker. It's pretty darn hard to catch someone down a hill, but I decided I wasn't going to let him beat me. I didn't know it at the time, but I had a comfortable lead on Andrew Bell. I just started running recklessly down the hill, with a late-race intensity I haven't felt in a long time. I passed Playmaker with about a third of a mile left and put some distance on him. I was shocked and how I was able to fight back there. I eased up a little with about a minute left and I heard him on my tail, so I pushed again and held him off by two seconds to finish in 16:24. It was a second faster than I ran when I won it in 2008. I checked old results later, and only once or twice was my time not good enough for second place. T-shirt (Pat Dantzer) and Curt had run 15:57 and 15:59, by far the best top two the race had ever seen, and Playmaker (Chris Stoddard) was two seconds behind me, so if anyone could see the race in the woods, they got two good shows.

While I'm not crazy to have lost -- had I at least stuck with the leaders in mile two I would have had a chance -- I was pleased to have been able to recover and run Playmaker down in the last mile. It seemed for a while like it would be a lost race, but I recovered well. When I think back to the time I started chasing him in earnest and when I caught him, I'm amazed that I was able to do it, and as fast as I did. If nothing else, I regained some resilience and courage that I had been missing for a few years. The prize was a gift certificate to New Balance, but they didn't have much worth buying, so I picked up some socks and bodyglide. At least it wasn't another Elite Runners and Walkers gift certificate...

Dan Holland raced, the only Hound to compete.

Sunday morning I headed to the West End for my favorite long run loop- 20 miles. I made a few changes for some turns, so the mile markers were very general.
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I woke up at 7:30, not terribly excited to run. After dropping my bottle off, I finally got started at 8:30. I was hoping to get going early enough that I'd be heading down Noblestown Road when Nate and his gang were heading up, but that would have required me to start much earlier. I definitely felt the race still in my legs when I got started, somehow the flat stretch on Wabash Street felt the same to me as when I started climbing Steuben and Chartiers. My first change was turning onto Stafford and Stadium, a long downhill and a steep uphill. When I got to the top and hit Motor Street, a nice breeze cooled me off. Sheraden Park looked really nice, as did the hillside near the pool for which I coordinated the landscaping work in June. I picked it up, relatively, a bit in the Sheraden Park coop, then slowed down when I climbed Kelvin and Mutual, another slight change.

I didn't exactly roll down Chartiers past the cemetary, and I knew it wouldn't be a fast run. My calves were really sore, so I decided to just finish it and not try to run too fast. I grabbed my bottle or raspberry lemonade propel that I found in a cabinet, took a few swigs and dropped it at the top of Broadhead Fording. The Ingram section was uneventful, and someone said hi to me on West Prospect when I got into Fairywood. Man, that neighborhood is just so run down and isolated. I ran through the project and past the Giant Eagle distribution center, the most hopping place in the area, and jumped on the tracks. I had to walk over most of the rocks near the railroad yard fence. The weeds had grown pretty tall and dry near Napor, but they didn't itch too much when I ran right through them. Someone was walking along the Industrial Highway, which seemed to fly by, but also look like it was hilly for some reason. The sun wasn't terribly hot, and when I got to Mazette, it was overcast enough that I didn't notice it. Some blonde girl almost hit me with her car in Emerald Gardens.

I grabbed my propel and headed up Clearfield, which was completely overgrown- I had to slow to climb it, which gave me a good chance to drink more. It's a ridiculous hill, really. Middletown Road was no better, though I really didn't have any trouble climbing it. When I got to the bottom of Stratmore I left the bottle and my shirt and just kind of cruised in the last few miles, not going too fast and not having any doubt about finishing, unlike last week's sweat box. I noticed a little trail between Clearview and Crafton, maybe that would be better than the brick laden, and uneven,Clearview. I explored a bit in Crafton Heights, and when I hit Noblestown, I just cruised it in, giving my legs a break, though I love to just tear it up for those last two miles. I finished with 20.75, averaged 7:01 and was tired for the rest of the day. The hills were rough, but I was never too tired to keep going, I was just beaten up from the bus ride, the race and almost 21 miles of climbing and descending.

Monday morning, I ran at 5:15 before taking the bus back to Washington. I just did eight laps of Chatham Village- 3/4 mile. I was surprised to run 5:29 for the first, then 4:58, then six 4:45s.

Distance hangover

2011-08-25T16:40:00.001-04:00

Last week, I had a great workout despite feeling lethargic even after the warmup, so as I moped my way to the track this week, I hoped I was in for an encore. I finished my warmup with a 74 second quarter, and didn't feel too stressed, so things boded well. The workout was 6x1200 with two apiece at 74,73,72, certainly attainable, and I was eager to do it. I led the first one in 3:41, after a 76 second first 400. The second one, also 3:41 felt fine. Our pacing was perfect for the first lap of the third, but I suddenly got extremely tired, and I showed why running 21+ miles the day before a workout is a bad idea. I took Lily for almost two miles around the track, then did another mile or so before hitting the road for another cooldown.

I was still feeling wrecked in the morning when I did a Park Plus, so I cut off the second time on Highland and came up Grove instead for 6.5. Because I didn't push myself too hard last night, I will take another shot at the workout tonight at NOVA's fundraider 5k for Jerry. It just so happens I'll be doing one of my other coach's workouts- running the first mile hard then fartleking the rest, probably 1:15 on, 1:30 off. That should give me a good workout but not drain me for the Run Around the Square Saturday morning in Pittsburgh.

I've done that race three times- had my ass kicked once, run away with it once and done alright once. In 2004 I just couldn't handle the hot and humid weather that floored me before the first mile was over. In 2008, I ran with the overflowing enthusiasm of having returned to a job I liked, but in 2009 I had just done too much hard running that week, including a 12-mile tempo two days before, to be able to hang with Remix and an SOB from ERW.

The temperature has been cooling consistently, and soon I'mm feel secure in going out for 12 or 13 and can get back to some of the places I have been neglecting, Annandale in particular. And, with my new Zipcar membership, evening runs at Difficult Run are much more feasible.

I guess I'll just run home

2011-08-24T16:13:00.004-04:00

I finally had a good night's sleep Sunday night, so good that it was hard to wake up Monday. I dragged myself out and ran a Westmoreland pretty smoothly, though I was definitely dragging. That afternoon I joined Elyse, Will, etc. at Lululemon in Logan Circle for a little more than six miles around the Mall. I hadn't run there in months, I can't even remember the last time- probably June while courting the Striders for the Father's Day race. It was clear and in the low 80s, which made for a pleasant run, though I was feeling pretty dehydrated and was thrilled to stop at the water fountain on the north side of the Capitol. It was a nice change from all of the times I ran with them from the store that dare not speak its name and just ran out to the Arlington Bridge and back.

Tuesday morning's temperatures were in the high 50s, and I was a little more excited to get out and do a longer morning run- 13 miles on the Thomas Loop, another I had neglected since June. There was barely any traffic on Williamsburg, more on Military, though I got really really thirsty around mile nine and slowed significantly.

I was planning to go home, run and easy and get to work on my section of the Pimmit Run Trail. Then there was this earthquake. The metro slowed to 15 mph and the roads were jammed, so I went for a third option and ran home after work. I just had a pair of racing flats in my office and no socks, so I walked to City Sports in Chinatown to buy some, but my debit card, bent by an overzealous clerk, did not work, so I had to walk back to the office to get some cash. With my socks finally purchased, I started on my way home, cut to about 10.5 miles from my normal 13 mile route. I had to carry my phone with me in a plastic bag because I was expecting a call from someone in California at 8 p.m. I ran to K Street, over the Key Bridge and along Route 29, which was a lot more pleasant than I remembered. I like the section in miles two and three of the Marine Corps Marathon, but unfortunately the fellow called me around then, 45 minutes early, and I tried, for a while, to interview him while running. It worked well, for the most part, but I got a little sweat in the speaker, so it was hard to hear and I eventually had to stop and talk to him standing still. Afterward, I went back on my way and found 29 to be a lot more agreeable than the last time I ran that section- January 2010 when I missed my turn from Glebe onto Williamsburg, when I was still new to the area. I stopped when I got to the East Falls Church Metro and rode home, getting another 8.25 miles for 21.25 for the day.

Wednesday morning I felt as though I had run many more miles than I had the day before, and my Fisherman's 3.25 wasn't much fun.

I guess I should fill in the two weeks I haven't documented...

Dragging

2011-08-05T16:14:00.001-04:00

Last August was tremendous for training. This August, so far, has been horrendous.

Right now I can't imagine running hard for a long time. Which is why the framework of my season is so refreshing right now. As much difficulty as I am having running with ease right now, I'll be racing in a totally different climate. Last summer was no peach, either, but by the time I got to early October, and even the beginning of Chicago. I'll be doing the long workouts in September, October and November, all of which will be a lot more appealing to my delicate temperature sensitivity. ("Just get a skirt that wicks the sweat away, Nancy." - Joe Wiegner)

I have a week in Madison County, Va. to keep me motivated, I need it right now.

Tuesday night I did an Oak loop for 10 miles at 6:50 pace, with nothing significant to note. It wasn't fun, but it wasn't miserable.

Wednesday morning I got up to do my typical workout morning Park Plus, but 41 seconds into the run, I just had no desire to keep going, so I stopped. That afternoon it was cooler (high 70s) but extremely humid. I dragged through the warmup and decided against the 3x2 mile, instead planning on 5x1200. We started out with two 3:45s, and they went smoothly, though I noticed I felt no different during the intervals than I did during the recovery. This became a much bigger problem when I led the next one, intending to run 3:42,and I found myself two seconds fast for the first lap. I stopped running and just had enough. By this point rain was falling, but the temperature and humidity did not change. My head was mired in a cloud of heat and the rain drops did not help it at all. I certainly did not want to run anymore, so I went home in hopes of getting a good night's sleep.

Thursday morning, I thought I had it all figured out- a frozen squeeze bottle of gatorade should get me through my run to work without the crash I felt last week. For the most part I felt alright, though I stopped at 8.25 to completely wring out my shirt. I started getting overheated at 9.5, crossed the bridge and again stopped at Leo's at GW for more gatorade. I made it exactly 12 miles, then I stopped for a traffic light. When I took my first step off the curb when the light went my way, I started to lose my balance, so I stopped immediately and walked the last mile.

After a day full of rehydration, I went home and ran a Seaton, six miles at 6:40 pace. I was shocked at how fast I went without even trying, when just 10 hours before I would have just been happy with being able to run another mile.

My mom came to visit, and she wanted to run Friday morning, so after a good night's sleep, we drove to McLean high school, and I warmed up for what I planned to be 5xmile speeding up a second per lap starting at 5:16. I did so for the first mile, but I felt wrecked afterward, so I just did another 2k loop as a cooldown. Mom felt no better after four miles on the track. Suffice it to say, we will not be doing Riley's Rumble.

Sometimes it dries, most of the time it doesn't

2011-08-02T16:25:00.000-04:00

Once back from Oregon, my primary focus was to regain whatever heat acclimation I had shed while running comfortably for a week. Rather than risk the logistical folly of trying to do the Dirk farewell run from Bethesda to Alexandria Sunday morning, I planned to run from home and then go to Alexandria. What I didn't count on was the persistence of Pacific Time in my blood. After the Crystal City race, I went home with the intention of being in bed by midnight. I was, but I remained alert and anxious until well after three. I don't remember if I woke up with my alarm at 7, but I definitely woke up at 11:30, so the running would fall to the evening...

The heat during the day didn't seem that bad, so when I went out for 13 around 7:30, I didn't anticipate any trouble. It quickly became apparent that even though I recognized it was much hotter, my legs did not, because my splits through 6 miles of the Double Pimmit averaged 6:20. I slowed my ass down, but it was too late. I got the water bottle I had stashed at eight miles and just ran home for nine. It became pretty clear that this would be the recovery week I had planned a week later.

Monday morning, I wasn't waking up, and when I did, I realized what my body had been hiding since Friday- a pernicious cold. I dragged myself through work and headed down to the gym to use the treadmill. The earphones I brought didn't work, so I found myself listening to the serious steps I was taking on the belt, in comparison to the walkers next to me. I got pretty self conscious about it, and without anything to really keep my focus, I lost enthusiasm quickly and stopped at three miles. I went home, had some Benedryl and went to sleep.

The next morning I did a pretty evenly-paced 10 miles on the Oak loop, ending up a little faster than 7:00 pace. I felt good for eight miles of it. That afternoon I did six easy with Will to the Memorial Bridge and back.

I didn't run Wednesday morning, then totaled 12 at practice that evening, which was delightfully dry, though hot. For 8x800, I went 2:31, 2:30, 2:26, 2:27, 2:26, 2:24, and 2:21. Though it was nice to run fast, I think it might have been more useful to just run 2x :32, :30, :28, :26 for consistency's sake, to get a better feel for the times in the heat.

The dryness was a godsend, though. I was dry by the time I did the cooldown.

Thursday morning saw nothing of the sort when I ran to work. For most of the first 10 miles, I was okay, stopping twice for water fountains. I was soaking wet two miles in, but able to keep an easy seven minute pace, mainly thanks to the gradual downhill on the W&OD, Bluemont Junction and Custis trails. To be frank, it would be a lot more interesting to just run on roads to get to work, since the trails are pretty miserable and boring as all getout. When I crossed the Roosevelt Bridge and passed the Kennedy Center, my dehydration hit me. I needed HALP.

Luckily I came across a deli near GW and bought a squeeze bottle of Gatorade, immediately feeling a difference when I had some cool fluid replacing the waterfall on my epidermis.

That evening I ran an easy five on Idywood.

Friday morning I felt like crud, and waited until after work to run on the treadmill in the office gym. I just did 20 minutes of 5:30 pace at a 2 percent incline, with a warmup and cooldown.

Saturday morning I ran another easy five on Idylwood.

I was in Hyde Park, NY Saturday for Mikey's wedding, and the weather was a bit more fair, up there, so I thought about doing a long run Sunday morning. I remembered I could do a long run any day, and this was a rare opportunity to spend with my high school friends, so I backtracked on that commitment. Instead, I just started running a little loop I put together that would hit 10.5 miles, but took a wrong turn early. I saw an opening into the woods, and thought I'd check it out. I kept pressing and eventually found a little trail, which I followed for about 15 minutes until it started feeding back on itself. I headed the other way and found myself on Roosevelt Farm Lane and its various spurs. It was shady, and certainly cooler than DC, but gigantic flies kept biting my back and shoulders. I really could have done without that. The brunch was looming, so I hurried back and ended up with about 9.25 miles.

Monday I woke up and did a Westmoreland for 8 miles, then did an easy four on the treadmill after work, slightly uncomfortable because I left socks at home.

Tuesday I slept in a bit, after getting home late from a baseball game, so I just did the Seaton 6 at 6:40 pace.

Worth 50?

2011-07-27T11:52:00.003-04:00

I was so underwhelmed by the Crystal City Twilighter 5k last year that I really didn't want to do it again. Then Jake started pulling this "good for the team" polemic while recruiting people to race year. I said I would if it wasn't 90+ degrees, figuring I had a way out with those terms.

While I was running in a slight chill in Portland, it became evident that the midwestern heat wave was going to be moving right over the Washington area by the early weekend, triggering my escape clause. The pure volume of running I did in Portland, 106.5 miles from Saturday to Friday, and the intensity inherent in each run -- extremely hilly for all but one run- the quarter workout Wednesday morning -- also gave me an excuse not to race. My heat acclimation I had so painfully acquired was wearing off quickly. I wasn't going to "race," but as long as the race was on, I was running.

I attribute this apparent irrationality to my office's wellness program. I ignored it for a few months, until earlier in July when the results from June's segment came in. I checked out the original e-mail and got a little more motivated to participate:

"The top 3 employees with the most points earned at the end of October will win one of three grand prizes. Grand prizes will include 6 months of free health insurance premiums (employee only), and cash prizes up to $500!!!"

I looked at the criteria for the different activities and noticed a great option- take 10,000 steps. I e-mailed the coordinator to ask if a. running counted and b. that was a renewable point source. She affirmed both. I had to get my hands on a pedometer, but that evening I counted my steps in the first mile- around 1300. If I run 100 miles a week, that's 130,000 steps right there,worth 130 points, about 520 points a month.

I just have to be in the top three to earn a grand prize, but I am not here to finish in the top three. To quote Jake Taylor in Major League "Well I guess there's only one thing left to do. Win the whole fucking thing..."

There are plenty of other sources of points, and the most delightful of all was "participate in a 5k: 50 points." That's worth 38 miles right there. So, regardless of the heat, I was participating in that race. Other options include keeping a fitness diary, making a recipe healthier, etc. For the most part, I don't even have to alter my behavior, though it did take me a week to get a pedometer, so I missed a week of earning points for a 100 mile week. But, I still walk more than a mile a day, and take more steps walking than when I run a mile, so that will add up, too.

On to the race: The WMATA trip planner suggested I take a bus to Alexandria and a train north to Crystal City, so I left with plenty of time to do that, unfortunately the bus I caught had not changed its marquee, so I spent a half hour going up the road to Tyson's Corner and back. Then another hour getting to Alexandria. I got the race with 10 minutes to spare, so no warmup beyond a few strides.

I was thinking of just jogging the race and earning the points, but that would kind of be a waste of an opportunity to run fast for a while. The course is as flat as it gets, albeit with the typical Pacers 180 turn. And it's only 5k, so I figured the best of use of my time, given the time I had spent getting there, was to run hard as long as I could until I just got too darn hot. I ran the first mile in the chase pack with Karl and Dutch Paul. We weren't too far off the leaders- 4:54 at the mile, just five seconds back.

When we passed the start/finish line about halfway in, the consequences started hitting me, and I dropped immediately. It was less humid than last year, but the heat (probably 95+) was still definitely getting to me. My head was starting to get painfully hot, and the cup of water I splashed on it barely made a difference. It was time to just finish, and there was no hanging on and gradually slowing, I came to pretty much a direct slowdown to jogging. I came through two miles in 10:25- 5:30, so not too bad of a deceleration, but it wasn't going to get any better. When we hit the 180, I was done, for all intents and purposes. Outlaw exhorted me to catch Wardian, a few steps ahead of me, but I demurred and just wanted to jog it in. Brandon ran by a few seconds after I resigned myself, and it would have been fun to finish with him, but I wasn't here to run fast, I was here for my 50 wellness points, a counter intuitive pursuit given the conditions, but hey, it's just 5k. I actually did hold a few people, including a high school runner, off before the finish, then I grabbed two bottles of water and doused myself. It was cold this year, a big improvement over last.

I did an easy 9 minute cooldown with Karl to take me well over 100 for the week ending that evening. 16:40 was actually 39 seconds faster than last year, but comparing the two years as if they were competent races conflates the issue- I got a good mile+ in and 50 points for the month. It's nice to think of it as an improvement, and I certainly am better in the heat this year, but you just can't empirically compare the two. It was a hard week of running, despite the favors the northwestern weather did for me, and it ended about as uncomfortably as I could have expected. I'm ready for an easy week to just get some mileage in the heat and work on my acclimation again.

Go 'head, chase waterfalls

2011-07-25T17:02:00.005-04:00

In Oregon...

Monday

I gave myself plenty of time to recover from my long run by taking Monday morning off, then

planning to do an easy 10 in the afternoon, mainly on the Wildwood Trail in Forest and Wash

ington parks. I had covered a bit of it on Saturday morning, but I wanted to see a little more, so I ran up Cornell Drive to about five miles into the trail, then started climbing. As the Fox can attest, they are some long climbs, though heading south I had some steep ones near the Pittock Mansion. I retraced my steps from Satur

day morning and kept going, well over an hour at this point. Then the trail just kind of stopped at the edge of a parking lot. I ran around it trying to figure out where I was, and the only major road I could find heading anywhere was a highway, so I backtracked until I found Kingston Road. I pretty much let loose down 2.5 miles of hill, running 6:00 pace as it turned out for a relatively relaxed run, which gives you an idea how gentle but constant the hill was. I ended up running 1:53, which I gave myself credit for 16 miles, definitely more than I wanted. (Photo by Jennifer Wallace)

Tuesday

I wanted to reverse most of the trail that I had done, so I climbed Kingston until I hit the Wildwood Trail again, then headed out to Cornell Road. I wanted to keep going, but a nagging sense of prudence convinced me to stop.

Wednesday

Given my 2 pm flight home Friday, I could maximize my use of a rental car by picking it up at noon Wednesday, so I ran a short track workout at Lincoln High School, alma mater of renowned miler Jim Grelle. I was a bit dehydrated, and the sun was direct for the first time I had been in Oregon, but it was still much cooler than it would have been in Virginia. I initially planned to do 12-16x400, but after the first, in 75, I knew that would be a tall order, given how thirsty I already was. I ended up doing eight, running a second faster on each subsequent 400, with 200 recovery. I then turned my attention to the row of hurdles that was just waiting for me to use for HMDs.

I picked up my rental car and headed south to Cottage Grove, past Eugene. My plan was to stop in Eugene to get a photo of the balcony at the University of Oregon's McArthur Court for Craig, since he loves Without Limits so much, particularly when the girls invite Pre to a Three Dog Night concert. Then I would head to the trail Steve, Molz and Benford chronicled here, then out to the coast to drive back north as the sun set. Brilliant plan. I came across a set of outlet stores on the way, and was pumped to find a pair of size 12 supernovas for $50 at the Adidas store and a $20 pair of tights at the Nike store, along with several pairs of socks to replace those I had decimated over the prior few days.

When Steve said this trail, in the Umpqua National Forest, was remote, he wasn't joking.
It was mostly single track trails, except when you come around a corner so fast you can fall down the slope if you lean the wrong way, then the trails are about a foot wide. I pretty much echo what everyone else says about running in Oregon forests- it's just so green!

Reaching the Lower Trestle Falls was my first order of business. I climbed and climbed and climbed until I got there. In between gasps for air, I looked around and realized how lucky I was that my office had flown me to Oregon and all I had to do in exchange for this kind of running was work eight hours a day. A pretty nice arrangement, if you ask me. The falls were great. Turns out "umpqua" means "thundering waters." Pretty apt, if you ask me.
I went back down to the primary trail, then decided to head out and back. I didn't look at my watch to figure out when to turn back, the opportunity to run out here was too valuable to leave up to arbitrary numbers like time.
Just a knockout. I didn't see anybody else for the 1:50 I was out there. As far as I was concerned, it was my forest. My plan did backfire, twice, though. While climbing over a tree trunk that had fallen across the path--and someone had cut a helpful chunk out of it to help people climb over, I slipped on the trunk, which was a little slimey, and fell chest first, my shoulders taking the brunt of the blow. I got back up and kept going, and a few minutes later, my trail leg caught a rock sticking out of the trail and I went down and slid, landing a few inches from a stake-like branch coming out of the ground. So, I was a little tired, and really beaten up. I then though I took a wrong turn and backtracked three times until I realized I was on the right path.

My favorite part of this run was when the trail ran along the side of a cliff above Brice Creek. I went back to Portland that night, too late to get out to the coast in time to see the sun set. I stopped for dinner at Track Town Pizza in Eugene, but was underwhelmed. The pesto, chicken and artichoke pizza was so-so, and the various photos and memorabilia around the place didn't really do it for me. While Steve Prefontaine's personality, charisma and racing style makes him a great personality, even 36 years after his death, maybe I'm just too jaded to really appreciate him. Moreso than Prefontaine, I was drawn, as a teenager learning about the mythology of Oregon track and cross country, to Matt Davis, who struggled with injury throughout his Duck years but through guts, determination and such and such, still popped off a few great races. He was not featured on the pizza shop's walls.

Thursday

I left from Portland on Thursday to do three things- run the trail Steve said I had to do, see a fish ladder, and go to Hood River. I got out to Multnomah Falls around 10 and drove along the highway until I reached Horsetail Falls. It was chilly and raining, though not as hard as Sunday's long run. My shoulders were so sore from my fall the day before that I took a few minutes to lift my arms to change my shirt. Steve and Matt Llano ran out here before NCAAs last year, and I count myself lucky to have great advice on where to find an outstanding trail, and to have a photo preview to serve as an appetizer, which, according to Cartman on South Park, is what you eat before you eat to make you hungrier, if my memory serves. Well, I was hungry as heck for these trails.

These trails pretty much just travel alongside the face of the Columbia River Gorge. Again, I didn't see anybody for the majority of my run.

I had traveled along the Columbia River in 2000 with my mom, but we only took a cursory look at the waterfalls, and didn't bother hiking. Our destination at the time was the fish ladder at the Bonneville Dam. My mom loved taking my sister and me to see fish ladders when we visited the northwest. I'd see the dam, and the ladder, and with it, the fish, later. For now, I had my second amazing run in two days ahead of me.

When I saw the photos from Molz and company's run in Umpqua, I told Steve that's where I was headed. He suggested I get to the gorge instead. I got greedy and did both, even though they were far away from each other- I made it work, and every few minutes a feeling would wash over me and I would audibly say, to nobody at all, "I'm so glad I did this." For the most part, the trails were a little wider than yesterday, but they were wet, so slipping was a threat. This bridge was kind of cool. It spans the Oneonta Gorge.
Yep, more climbing. You can run under Ponytail Falls, the upper portion of Horsetail Falls.

It was pretty foggy, though east of Multnomah Falls, visability was a little better.
Every now and then it's great to get out from the canopy of trees and see just how high you and climbed.

Then I hit a paved path and started seeing people. There was a hill in front of me, so I instinctively started climbing it. I dodged walkers and saw a sign "Switchback 3/11," which gave me an idea how close I was to the top. Then I saw a break in the trees, and had a really, really great look at Multnomah Falls, all 542 feet of it. Framed through the trees at a distance, it was an awe-inspiring sight. Shrouded in fog, the top was just out of clarity, adding more mystery and majesty to the sight. I am not exaggerating to say it struck me more than most natural features I have come across. Again, part of it was the climate that day, but I couldn't wait to see more. The trail got steeper as I climbed, and it seemed like there was an awful lot of distance between the "official" switchbacks that were counted on the signs. Breathing got kind of hard, and when

I came across some walkers heading down, I shouted out "Is it worth it?" when they laughed about me running up the gorge. They said yes, and I was glad, because it would be a shame to go all the way up there and have it suck. I did get to the top, where I saw a Chesapeake resident on vacation, and got to the viewing deck at the top of the falls. The fog was pretty thick, so I didn't have a clear view, but I saw enough to give me the full scope of everything, eerily enough it was more majestic than if everything was laid out in front of me. I went back down the paved trail to the bottom of the falls, looked right up at them and instantly knew I preferred my first vantage point. I ran a few miles along the Historic Highway back to my car, and took a quick dip near Horsetail Falls. I would have stayed in longer for a quick ice bath, but given the temperatures in the upper 50s, it didn't seem prudent.

I drove to Hood River, where I decided to forgo the pizza I so enjoyed 11 years ago for a chicken burrito that was seasoned to perfection.

Friday
There was no telling how the weather would end up being in Crystal City Saturday night, so there was still a chance I would race, so I decided to only run 10 miles on Leif Erickson.

I thought that without the rain that drove throughout my entire run on the trail Sunday, that I would enjoy the Leif Erickson Trail more. Oddly enough, I didn't.
Maybe I was tired. From Saturday to Friday, I ran 106.5 miles, 101.5 of which were up and down long and/or steep hills. Even my recovery runs were a little taxing.
What was taxing was my trip home. My flight to Chicago was smooth enough but my flight from Chicago to Washington was delayed three hours, leaving at midnight central time. I got to Dulles, not Reagan, at 2:45, and by the time the cab got me home, it was 3:30. It took me an hour to get to sleep, then I got up at 7:15 to run 3.25 miles with Slosky, who was in town for a wedding. It was a sweaty jaunt, and Virginia told me that after a week of being spoiled, I was entering a world of pain.

Lots of hills, not much heat

2011-07-21T22:18:00.002-04:00

I accidentally published a post instead of saving it, so this is pretty much a placeholder until I actual get around to writing it and uploading pictures. In short, if anyone cares, every run has involved a substantial climb and the weather here, between 50 and 70 degrees, is going to leave me woefully unprepared for the Crystal City 5k on Saturday night.

Accidental near marathon

2011-07-19T14:25:00.006-04:00

Saturday afternoon's run was a return to the short network of trails in Washington Park, for about four miles. Sunday morning, however, was my long run, my first real effort at a serious long run in about a month, thanks to the heat. I had a 22-mile route mapped through Forest Park, the 5,000 acre collection of trees and stuff on the northwest edge of the city.

I woke up at 5, but worried it was too dark to navigate trails in the woods, so I waited a half hour for the light to spread a bit. It was raining, which didn't exactly thrill me, but to have temperatures in the low 50s for a mid-July long run was too lucky to give up. Within two miles I had missed some turns, but I figured out where I was and recovered before I did any damage, lukcily I was running pretty slowly up the stead hills to the park. I found the Leif Erikson Drive trailhead and was delighted to find mile markers. A quarter mile later, I was even more delighted to find quarter mile markers. It was steadily uphill, but I rattled off 6:30 miles for a lot of the climb. Thanks to Portland Monthly's handy Forest Park Guide, I knew I would hit a water tank at some point so I was anticipating sucking down the goo packet I brought with me.

The mud was flying, and I was soaked and filthy--I was loving it. I kept climbing, and wondered if I even wanted to go downhill. I didn't even care that there wasn't a dry spot on my body, I was too focused on moving ahead. It seemed like I'd see another half mile go by before I knew it. Then, about 9.25 miles into the trail, I got worried that I hadn't seen my turnoff, which was supposedly a significant road. I climbed a steep, single-track trail for a while, but when I saw it intersect with other trails that were nowhere on my map as I rememebered it, I turned back. I was starting to get worried that I wouldn't get any fresh water and miss any chance of having the goo. I retraced more than three miles of Leif Erikson to the Saltzman Road trail, down a long long hill to Mt. St. Helens Road, in the industrial section northwest of downtown. I was back on track, but knew I had a long way to go. I was starting to wonder if I could make it back to my hotel in time to shower, get to the convention center and eat a decent breakfast before the first workshop I had to cover.

Photo from austinmarathontraining.blogspot.com
It was just plain flat, and I was starting to weigh the consequences of running fast and getting back quickly, or running slower and not going overboard or hitting the wall with miles left to travel. I considered hitchhiking, but I didn't even see many drivers, early on a Saturday morning in a non-residential part of town. I did notice that my form was immaculate, which concerned me because my most significant worry was getting lazy and hurting myself with sloppy form. Despite running for well more than two hours, I was probably running faster than when I started. Running was a natural state, and the only thing that would keep me from continuing was my impending work day. I was worried about making it back just because my sense of professionalism told me to be, but at the same time I was confident in my ability to get back. I went a long time without seeing numbered road signs, having started at 56th and aiming for 6th. As it turns out, the addresses were about 10 blocks off, but I was overjoyed when I hit Vaughn and saw 27th street, knowing I was closing in on my hotel. I saw a bar open for breakfast and stopped in for a glass of water so I could have the goo. I probably would have made it back without it, but the full day of work I had ahead of me probably wouldn't have gone too smoothly. I continued east toward 6th, running along several Simpsons character's namesame roads- Lovejoy, Flanders, Kearny. As I approached my hotel, I check my watch- 2:49. In a little more than a minute, I would break my personal record for longest duration run. I coicidentally finished up at 2:49:18, my marathon PR. I didn't really feel like running another minute. I got up to my room and took my shower, noticing the ridiculous amount of mud, sand and a few pebbles that worked its way into my shorts. I never noticed when it was bouncing around in there for what turned out to be 25 miles, but I sure noticed it when I turned the shower on and the water hit the raw skin on my inner thighs. I averaged 6:46 for the run, though I left my watch running when I went in for water, so I ran a little faster.

It's a run I would never have been able to do in Virginia the same day, where the temperature was much higher. Suffice to say, it's been a good trip.

And my shoes were pretty filthy when it was over, and this was after six miles of running on pavement during which the dirt could come off.

Chilling out

2011-07-16T15:28:00.000-04:00

That seems to be what most people are doing in Portland. I've never seen so many drifters in my life. When I went to a pretty tasty Mexican place Friday night for dinner, the cook looked my my clothes and asked me if I worked today. Well, yep, it's Friday, I'm not quite sure why I wouldn't have worked...

That does not detract from how wonderful the weather is here and how much I am enjoying the running. The temperature is in the 60s, and I feel...alive.

I got up early on Friday, capitalizing on the unseasonably cool weather to do a good workout. I decided on a p-word run, 10 at 6:00, 10 at 5:45, 10 at around 5:00. I was feeling kind of sluggish, but somehow wound up having my most even workout of this type. Usually I am way ahead of pace, hitting 5:30 for the first mile, but I was right about 6:00 this time, and maybe only 20 seconds ahead of pace for 10 minutes. I was exactly on pace for the 5:40 10 minutes, then came through my last 10 minute half miles at 2:31, 5:02, 7:34, and I think I kicked it in to get two miles in the 10 minutes.

The first flight to Portland, to Chicago, was pleasant, with a one-year-old fellow who barely made an offending sound. The second flight, however, at almost four hours, was dominated by a baby who did not share the other's disposition. She cried more than half of the time, and that, coupled with the dehydrating recycled air, left me feeling like a disaster when I arrived. I went for a 50 minute run, mainly around the Willamette River and several laps of a flat grassy park, but was not feeling great, and not terribly thrilled with the prospect of running.

My attitude changed after almost 10 hours of sleep. I got up and headed to Washington Park, on Bryan's recommendation. It was lightly drizzling, but it didn't bother me at all. After a few dead end trails, I started heading up Kingston Street, a long climb with a dirt path on the shoulder. I came to the Wildwood Trail and took it for a while, then turned around and got to enjoy the hill I had climbed earlier. I hoping to get another good night of sleep tonight and doing my first long run in weeks tomorrow morning.

HeadOn, apply directly where it sweats

2011-07-14T20:31:00.002-04:00

As has been, and will be, a theme in my summer writing, it's hot, humid and uncomfortable for running. The favors the DC area did us in early June are now long expired, and the reality of a hot miserable few months is not going away. Cowering won't do me a bit of good, so I've been meeting this hot air head on.

I've survived to Friday, so I get a week in Portland, Oregon, and there's no better reward than that. Highs are at least 20 degrees cooler, and it's a change of scenery. Talking to Steve about the trip he said I'll just start hammering those mountain trails there because you can get into such a groove- I can't wait to get that groove.

I still can't believe how much I enjoyed last year's trip to Reno, all of those pre-dawn runs in such a strange place- half of that city looked like it was hiding from someone. Or in bankruptcy. This will be better in that it won't be completely arid and dusty, and Oregon is by far a much more running-friendly place.

Last week-

Tuesday evening I did an easy 3.5 miles on the treadmill.

Wedesday did a morning Fisherman's 3.25, then in the afternoon did the GRC track workout- 5x1200m. 3:44, 3:43, 3:42, 3:41, then my sweating caught up to me after a 71 second lap on my last one- my legs stopped responding with the turnover I needed. I took a lap off then ran another 71 with everyone else.

Thursday, another morning Fisherman's 3.25, then a 26th street in the evening.

Friday morning, an Idylwood extension for five miles, then a 6.5 mile truncated Westmoreland in the afternoon.

Saturday morning I went to the store, but nobody else showed up, so without anyone to complain, I ran up Wisconsin, around Chevy Chase, then back down. In the evening I did yet another Fisherman's loop to close out the week at 95 miles.

Sunday morning started early with a message from Tex that we did not have a ride to Riley's Lock for the long run. I slept in a bit then ran a loop in Annandale that I had done before, but shortly before I crossed Annandale Road, I missed a turn and wound up winging it for a while. I had some gradually-melting ice in my water bottle, so I was able to take sips when I needed. Trying to do a long run was a losing proposition, though, with the heat being what it was, so I decided to run 13 and if I was up for it, do another 7 closer to home. When I got back to my apartment to get more water, I decided I had run enough and relaxed. I went out later to run seven, doing so down to Arlington Boulevard and running a mile in 4:58, despite the 90 degree heat, then squishing my way home.

Monday I did another Fisherman's loop, which is pretty much my go-to morning run. In the evening, after a protracted haircut, I went out for another 10, out to Vienna and back on the W&OD trail, a route cooled significantly by winds from a thunderstorm to the east, which also treated me to some cool lightning in the distance as I was running back. It seemed a little counter intuitive, running toward the storm, but it was far enough away that it didn't matter.

Tuesday morning I slept in and didn't run in the morning, then headed out to Rosemary Street to do 6x 2/3 mile. I wanted to start them slow, and I thought I was relaxed, but i ran the first two in 3:22 and 3:23, 5:00 pace being 3:21. It was 95 degrees and when I started my third, I just gradually slowed after a minute and stopped two minutes in, then ran a longish cooldown. I should have stuck to a loop with intermediate splits, like the Greenwich mile, because I had no idea where I was on Rosemary if I wasn't at the start or finish.

Wednesday I got up and ran an Oak loop at 7:00 pace, stopping three times to completely wring out my shirt. I lost nine pounds over those 10 miles. That afternoon I did an easy three miles on the treadmill, liking none of it.

Photo by Skip Williams

Thursday was my day off, and I slept in a bit and was delighted to see temperatures in the low 70s with low humidity. Outside it was a friggin' blessing after the previous, well, almost a month. My right hip had been a little sore, perhaps I had been running on the side of the road too much, so I figured soft trails were the best remedy. I went to the Pimmit Run Trail and made it out to Langley High School, then came back. On my way out, I slipped on some mud easing down to cross a creek and tore my left index finger open on some thorns, so I had to spend the next 70 minutes squeezing that finger, and generally the entire hand, into a fist to stop the bleeding. It was so nice that I could have kept going, aside from some vicious thirst, because I didn't stop at the Potomac School's water fountain. About 13.5 miles in 100 minutes- I like that there are enough obstacles that the trail keeps me from hammering, because I needed an easy day to just run. I did a Fisherman's in the afternoon, and am ready to enjoy a slightly chilly week in Oregon.

Trails made the right way

2011-07-10T13:26:00.005-04:00

"Trail" is a dicey term- lots of trails in newly-developed areas are nothing more than long, paved sidewalks, which, while useful in protecting users from traffic, are a bit of a disappointment. Good news from my old paper, the Valley News Dispatch, about progress on various crushed limestone trail projects in the Alle-Kiski Valley:

'Nexus of trails' envisioned

Photo by Louie Ruediger

Fall schedule

2011-07-06T15:53:00.002-04:00

I've shuffled my schedule a bit, but the constant will remain- I am running two half marathons and zero marathons.

My Portland trip will be over the day before the Crystal City 5k, so despite my horrific experience there last year in ridiculous heat, I will give it another shot. I won't try to double with Riley's Rumble again, though, because Pokey will be in Hawaii.

My friend's wedding in New York July 30 will preclude me from making my annual trip to Pittsburgh for the Run for Roch. For a while I considered taking a bus to Pittsburgh Friday, running the race Saturday morning, flying to Albany right after, then renting a car and driving to Rhinebeck, but it figured to be too stressful and likely that I would enjoy neither.

The Spider Alumni race, of course.

Sam is heading to Pittsburgh to defend his Great Race title, so I will go along. This will be my opportunity to race in Pittsburgh again, since I won't be doing the Buffalo Creek Half Marathon anymore. Hopefully the Great Race won't kill my back, as it usually does.

As fine of a race as Buffalo Creek may be, the elevation drop is ridiculous. If I want to improve my half marathon time, I want it to be legitimate, and I don't want an attempt to PR in

Philadelphia be up against an early performance from a novelty course. So, instead I will run the Freedom's Run Half, mostly around the Antietam Battlefield in Maryland, with a start and finish in West Virginia. I have always loved western Maryland in October, and wanted to run a race there anytime. It definitely won't be a fast race, but I can't imagine expecting to PR in every race is realistic, or healthy. In fact, I think I just ceded a few minutes of my finishing time just by choosing this race, but I don't care, I really want to run here. It could end up being really sunny, because most of the course is exposed, but it will still be cooler than around DC. I am just looking forward to hitting the hills. Tim Schuler, whose daughter ran for Richmond, is a very active masters runner and he did the half last year, and said the race was impeccably managed. That goes a long way.

I have a really good feeling about the Anthem Great Pumpkin 5k. The course, looks to be exactly what a road race should be -- closed road where you otherwise wouldn't be able to run. No 180s, no sharp turns, I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Reston Town Center was one of the first destinations my ex-girlfriend showed me around when I spent my first significant time in northern Virginia 10 years ago, a personal footnote that will have no bearing whatsoever on the actual race.

After that, it's back to Richmond in November for the 8k the morning of the marathon, followed by biking around while Molz races. Then, a week later, the Philadelphia Half.

The heat is back

2011-07-05T15:48:00.001-04:00

I had been tired most of last week, but I managed to force myself to get up and do six miles before work Wednesday, though it was pretty humid. I just did the Park look, the first time I had run it without the Van Buren and Buxton addition in a long time.

The evening workout had a lot of promise, Karl was planning 4xmile at 5:00 pace, which was just what I wanted to do. He wasn't ready for the first one, though, and so I did a mile with the group that was planning shorter reps after a first mile. I lead that one exactly, then prepared for life on my own for the rest, because Karl's stomach was not ready to go. I let the 2:25 800 group go ahead, and I followed at a safe distance, running 4:59.

The third one, though, felt a little wobbly, and I cut it after a 2:30 half. Bryan, reeling a bit from his first group workout in quite some time, offered to run with me through half, so we did so, also in 2:30, but a few steps later I was feeling like crud and stopped.

Thursday morning, I awoke to temperatures in the low 60s with scant humidity. I decided to take this opportunity to do a medium long run- a Double Pimmit- a summer evening favorite of mine last year, because it gave me an opportunity to drop water off a 1.5 and get it again at 8, with a trash can at 9. It was an outstanding morning for running, but as I climbed part of Idylwood Road the circumstances conspired against me. The shoulder is pretty limited, so I crossed some grass onto the sidewalk up the hill. A woman ahead of me was walking dogs, so I called ahead to her to let her know I was coming. As I approached, one of the three Maltese dogs darted in front of me, and I lept to avoid it, though it then moved beneath me, so I tried not to land on it, either. Instead, I landed on the edge of my right foot, spraining the ankle, and landing sideways on the sidewalk and grass, then rolling down the hill into the street, which was luckily not occupied by an automobile. The woman repeatedly asked if I was okay and did not accept that I needed to test my ankle to see if I was indeed alright, her stupid little TOWLs barking the whole time. Once I confirmed that the ankle wasn't broken (which she smart-assedly chimed in about), I tried walking, with a bit of pain, but I was unsure if whether I could run.

I limped off to a nearby stump to stretch everything out, and the woman walked up and mentioned that her husband ran on a track, and suggested I do the same. I demurred, telling her my volume running would make the track more unbearable that it already is. She then said I should run on bike trails, and I resisted the urge to tell her what unbearable dicks bicyclists typically are. She then scolded me, telling me sidewalks are for walking, and it kills me that I didn't retort that she should keep her dogs in a dog park. After a while, I was able to jog back home, but I cut off the second loop of the run.

I then ran with Will from Logan Circle that evening, and my ankle felt fine, though sore and weak.

I have no recollection of what I ran Friday morning, something about nine miles. In the afternoon, I did an easy Fisherman's loop, in preparation for pacing a 5k time trial the next morning.

Dickson picked me up at 6:30 and we headed to B-CC. We didn't know who was actually showing up to run, but since we were up, it was worth it to find out. We were joined by Jason Myers, Matt Logan, Dutch Paul and Murph, though Tex, Outlaw, Wiggy and Big City were on hand to watch. I was to take the group through 4k at 5:00 pace, something I had done well for Jake at the Race for Hope. It was in the mid 60s, but humid, and the sun was beating down pretty directly. Murph was shooting for 74s, so I let him go ahead, but I did a solid job with the first mile, coming in a little fast at 4:58. After another lap in 75, though, I was not feeling up to it anymore. Dutch Paul took over and Tex joined the party to help pacing, and I was out. I had never gone from feeling comfortable to being completely overtaxed in such a hurry. Thankfully the Pauls had everything under control, but I felt bad to be unable to pace. Granted the conditions were more adverse than a chilly morning in early May, and I was no longer training for a 5k, but I was still disappointed. The pack broke apart soon after, and I jumped in for a few laps to give Logan someone with whom to work. Murph dropped a lap after I did, and the time trail group was Tex leading Jason, with Dickson a few seconds behind and Logan behind him. Jason was looking strong, though, and came through 5k in 15:43, a big PR and his first sub 16. Meanwhile, I completely died on the cooldown. After a nap, I did a three-mile Fisherman's in 6:00 pace.

I wanted to do a long run Sunday morning, but I feared the humidity would bedevil me for 19 miles, so I repeated the Double Pimmit, with a frozen bottle of berry rain Gatorade waiting for me at mile 8. My shoes were squishing by the middle of the fourth mile, but I knew I wasn't going to break down any barriers by shying away from discomfort. I kept pushing, got my reward drink, and tried to keep pushing toward the end of the run, feeling particularly strong on my two loops of Pinecastle, even when holding a half-full bottle. I ended up averaging 6:49 pace for 13.1 miles.

After a nap and some more time off my feet, I went out for a ridiculously hot six miles on the Seaton loop. I came through three miles at 21:00, and then almost after, I felt a gust of cold wind hit me. I passed a couple of dudes cooking in their yard, listening to Ramble On, a favorite of mine. A few seconds later, all hell broke loose from the sky and rain began pelting me like crazy, and I loved it. My pace dropped ridiculously to 6:00s as I tore through the storm, again not caring that I was drenched and running with figurative sponges in my shoes, I just cared about how I could move ahead efficiently. I logically ended up averaging 6:30s for those six miles.

Monday morning I went out to run for time on the Pimmit Run Creek Trail. I spent about 100 minutes, and ran out to Georgetown Pike. About 35 minutes in, I stepped in some mud, which coated my foot and ankle completely, but I just went about my business.

Tuesday I got to work early and ran to Hains Point for the first time since the By George 5k. Unfortunately, this time there was no wind whatsoever, but seven miles in I ran into Matt Logan, and he accompanied me for a little more than two miles, a godsend.

THERE's your pride

2011-07-01T21:32:00.004-04:00

I woke up from a nap and saw that Charles Torpey died. He was to LaSalle University track and cross country coach for years and if you know where that is, it's thanks to him. He made the Explorers an absolute powerhouse in the Atlantic 10 over the past decade. When Richmond joined the conference, LaSalle was bulldozing its way to cross country titles left and right. The meets looked more like scrimmages for the Explorers and although there was a little more parity as the decade went on, Lasalle always made its presence known.

As my collegiate career ended, I wanted to take time to get to know some of our competitors, but when I got right down to it, I only got to know Torp. I watched a few track races with him and a few of his guys and listened to his commentary, which was at once honest, insightful and hilarious. I knew he had, at times, contentious relationships with his rival coaches, and it just so happened of everything I heard about, I ended up supporting his arguments.

The most extensive meeting was at the conference cross country meet in 2008, when I joined Joe DeMatteis and a slew of other coaches at the hotel's bar. Torp regaled us with stories for a few hours, and I came to appreciate what a fine coach and person he was. Not that I needed to know more about what a good coach he was- my buddy Tom chose to run for him after college, and Sean Quigley stuck with him for his professional career. I got to observe the interplay between Torp and Todd Witzleben, one of his star athletes earlier in the decade who was now assisting him at LaSalle, and really appreciated the relationship they had.

The last time I saw him was at the Swarthmore meet, during which I only wanted to catch the LaSalle guy in my 5k heat. I felt like without any Spiders in the race, catching an Explorer was my definition of success because I just respected them so damn much. I told him as much after the race. He told me that his athlete, a freshman, had come into school slower than 10:00 for two miles and had just finished off his season with a big PR. He exuded pride in his young athlete and hope for what he would do in the future.

Whenever discussion of collegiate athletics turns to putting a school on the map, I can unequivocally say Charles Torpey did a fantastic job making LaSalle known the right way, making it an option for a lot of distance runners in their college search it would not otherwise have been, and the Atlantic 10 conference is richer for it.

He finishes almost every run with a mean Steak-Umm sandwich

2011-06-30T15:37:00.007-04:00

My friend and former teammate when I ran with the Pittsburgh Pharaoh Hounds, Eric Laughlin, will be running in the world masters marathon championships in a few weeks. He has not only come back after years away from the sport, he has exceeded the standards he set as an undergrad at Slippery Rock. He's now the coach at West Liberty State in Wheeling. If that wasn't cool enough, he has a sponsor for the race- Steak-Umm Meats.

Steak-Umm Meats is proud to support Eric Laughlin in his upcoming marathon race in the World's Masters Athletics Championship in Sacramento, CA on July 17th. He will be wearing the Steak Umm logo on his race singlet during the World's Masters Marathon.

Eric is 41 years old and lives in Ohio. He is the cross country and track and field coach at West Liberty University in Ohio. He competes in races at the masters level and recently won the Tuscon, AZ Marathon in 2010. He also won the Master's Division in the Pittsburgh, PA marathon last month.

Eric is a big fan of Steak Umms and this is where is gets most of his protein to keep running at this high level. Eric tells us he finishes almost every run with a mean Steak-Umm sandwich.

Check back closer to July 17th and we will give you information on this televised event. GO ERIC!

Fletch - John Coctostan - watch more funny videos

Let's fill a bathtub full of sweat

2011-06-29T11:51:00.000-04:00

I sweat profusely.

I will support that statement with a lot of evidence from recent attempts to run in the DC summer, which began Monday.

Monday evening was relatively dry, though pretty hot- in the mid 80s, but I figured I might as well try a long run, because in addition to being sweaty, I'm also stupid. I did, however, put Gatorade mix, as many ice cubes as I could fit, and a little bit of ice water into a plastic bottle and carried it with me on an Irvin loop, dropping it off at four miles, which I hit in 25:00. I then kept going, thinking I was loosening up slowing down. Evidently not, because I hit seven miles averaging 6:10 pace. I got a little cautious here and slowed, partially because the .9 mile stretch on Maple Street in Vienna is on crowded sidewalks. I came through 10 miles at 6:15 pace exactly, then eased up again on the climbs on Old Courthouse Road. Wolftrap Road, usually, a struggle for me, was very doable, and I felt stronger coming out of the short trail that connects two parts of the road than I ever had before on this particular loop. A block later I had my chilled Gatorade, and managed to drink most of the 32 oz of it without feeling sick to my stomach. This is a dramatic improvement from when Howard first encouraged me to practice doing that last fall. He said my body would get used to it, and by god, it did. Even though I just had the fluids for the last 3.5 miles, being well hydrated helped my recovery immensely. I ended up averaging 6:20 miles for 16, which was my longest run in two months, since the extended Brook the day after the George Mason race.

Tuesday did not go as well. I slept in to recover from the long run, then when I got home from work headed out for an easy 8-12. I figured the best way to keep it easy was to stick to the Pimmit Creek trails, but about three miles in, the lack of air movement and the humdity really got to me, and I headed back, getting only six.

Wednesday was the first time I went to the BCC since right after the Swarthmore meet. The plan was 8x800, with two at 2:32, 2:30, 2:28 and 2:26, respectively.

I was quite surprised to have no trouble running 2:31, 2:30, 2:27, 2:28, 2:26 and 2:27. After the third, however, it sounded as though I had stuffed sponges into my shoes.

A few steps into the seventh 800, I recognized I was running on borrowed energy and stopped. I was actually too loose to hope to succeed, and I had lost too much sweat to pull myself together effectively. My limbs were feeling a little loose, for lack of a more apt description, and moving them at a cadence appropriate for running 800s took more energy than I though prudent to dedicate. I was happy enough I had done six, though eight would have been even better, my marginal delight for each of those additional intervals was not worth it...yet...

Thursday morning, I ran the Park Plus, which I had neglected for a long time, and had a pretty fun time. I ditched the mp3 player, which I think makes a big difference in the heat and humidity. I am more attuned to my other senses and never get in over my head, which I sometimes attribute to being distracted by listening to something. And it kept me from inadvertently shorting it out with sweat. In the evening, I made up a loop taking 26th street to Marymount and coming back on Old Dominion and Little Falls.

Friday I slept in and planned to reintroduce myself to the treadmill in the afternoon, but it was 88 degrees and pretty dry, so decided I should go out and use the opportunity to acclimate myself further to the heat. I ran six miles out past Catholic and decided to run at a moderate pace as long as I could, and managed 5:20 pace for 17 minutes, a but more than 5k.

Saturday morning I finally wore my Chicago Marathon shirt, which really is quite nice, very thin, but the memory of the race and my poor performance made me hesitant to wear it too much. I did a morning run of nine miles on my New Virginia Manor loop, then an afternoon run of seven miles on my Timber loop to total 85 miles.

Sunday morning I just wandered along the trails following the Pimmit Stream for 90 minutes.

Monday I just ran in the evening- 11.5 miles as part of a Fairview Park loop.

Tuesday morning I did a five-mile Idylwood loop and in the afternoon finally reacquainted myself with the treadmill in my office basement. I absolutely hate it, but the reality is that given how much I sweat and the consistently formidable humidity in the DC area, I need to be ready to do a workout on the treadmill if going outside would be unproductive, so I bought a box fan to keep in my office to at least make the conditions reasonable in my office's fitness center and help me avoid disgusting anyone else with a lot of sweat flying off of me. I did eight miles while watching the middle of Jerry Maguire and an interview with Dennis Kucinich.

Northwest Side

2011-06-24T10:20:00.002-04:00

I came back to Pittsburgh two weeks after Memorial Day to do some volunteer work in Sheraden, and as timing would have it, run another race. A few months ago, my friend and former intern Jenni posed an open question- where would you do a service project with 350 people and $30,000? I immediately and factiously responded, "Fairywood,"then anywhere west of Duquesne Heights. Kevin Acklin then put together 12 great projects that community organizations have targeted and Renew Pittsburgh put some plans together for Deloitte to unleash its employees. I thought it would be fun to join in.

Here's the Post-Gazette's account.

I led the Sheraden swimming pool group, which painted over graffiti on an exterior wall and cleared thick overgrowth from the surrounding land. The pool had been closed for three or four years because an Army Corps of Engineers sewer project would have caused problems for the pool's water system, so entropy had made things a little thick. I didn't help myself by starting off recklessly, cutting clumps of weeds and tall grass with hedge shears. The problem was that I hadn't done any work like that for a long time, nor had I bent at some of the angles that the work required for an even longer time, so after an hour and a half, I started to hit the wall and reexamine my effort. It was hot, but not unbearable, and we made a lot of progress, right up until the downpour started. That boded well for the race conditions, I thought. Until the temperature rose again, and compounded the humidity from the rain. This is backwards!

By that point, the bus came along and took my volunteers away, so I got ready for the Riverview Park 5k.

I had wanted to do the race for a while, and Michelle helped me make that happen in 2009. I had biked to work that morning, 18 miles, when I was trying the one-day-a-week cross training plan, though it was more to see the part of the commute I usually skipped over on the bus. While at work, she told me the race was that night, at 7:30. I hurried to finish my work and get back home. Unfortunately, I had to stay past the time the bus left, so I had to bike back home. I did so frantically, and when I reached Highland Park, some jagoff in a convertible forced me into a parked car, beating the hell out of my right forearm. I got home, changed and got into Michelle's car. We sped from Shadyside to Observatory Hill hastily, but her directions neglected one detail, three details, rather, downtown would be bustling with a Pirates game, the gay pride parade and the Three Rivers Arts Festival. Our comfortable margin for travel compressed dramatically, but somehow we got to the course with three minutes to spare, while a young man was slowly singing the national anthem. I sprinted to the start with a check for our race numbers, telling the race director we would fill out the forms later. I got the numbers, but Michelle was nowhere to be found.

Suffice it to say, when the gun went off, I was ready to go.

I ran the whole race alone and won with about 35 seconds to spare. Michelle ended up not racing and the race director tore up my check because my "wife didn't get to run." A few hours later, the Penguins won game seven of the Stanley Cup finals.

This year I was able to calmly walk up to the RD and ask him "is it too late for me to register?"

He took a look at me and said "I think you're okay this year."

I was able to get a warmup in and see the Hounds who made it- Matt Meurer, Greg Byrnes, Brandon G and Steve Kirkland, previously known as Bradford Mike. Matt and Greg both live on the Northside and Brandon lives in the northern suburbs, so the three of them have put together the "Nor'side" gang and made Steve, who lives in Greenfield, an honorary member.

I got out quickly and hesitated for a second, partially to avoid going out too hard and more because I wanted to run with the guys for a while. When nobody joined me, I figured the real race had begun and it was up to me to make it. A little more than a quarter mile into the course I took a turn up the long driveway to the observatory.

The hill really broke my spirit and my pace early on, but I figured I would be better off extending my lead before we headed downhill, where I never feel secure. I never had a natural chance to see who was behind me, so I took off down the hill. I was pretty damned hot, and the humidity was great enough that nothing was evaporating. I threw some water on my face and that woke me up a little, but it was safe to say my pace down the hill was not as reckless as the hill would suggest. The course is a loop with no net elevation change, so I was mindful that every step down the hill would come back in the third mile.

That's the problem with hills, they're just like the wind. The advantage from a tailwind does not equal the disadvantage from a headwind, and you don't gain the speed on a downhill you lose on an uphill, ceteris paribus. Throw in the downhill first, and there's the temptation enjoy the hill too much and not have enough left to climb again. This was a major problem for this course.

Brandon G was on my tail for a while, and he said I was at about 10:03 at two miles. I charged up the hill and heard one woman say "You're winning!" No shit. By how much, though? Help me out here, sister. The suspense was killing me, because it the haze of the heat, I wasn't sure if the steps I heard were my own, and I severely doubted my ability to fight back if Brandon, Steve or Greg passed me. My dive at the Kevin Gatons race, not two weeks before, hung over me.

I kept climbing, now under glorious shade. That's the point where you realize how gorgeous the course is, and what a shame it is to be in such discomfort. I did get a look around a tight turn and saw nobody behind me for quite some time, so I eased up. The uphill only stops about 100m from the finish, and I just cruised in in 16:48.

I really enjoy the race, it's one of my ideal road races. The early registration price is $12. The day of the race, you can get in for $15. The course is tough but representative of the area, and the Friday night race time is unique where weekend morning starts are the norm. And, it's hard. Each time I've raced it, I've come in with a major physical deficit- either the long bike rides and frantic preceding half hour or the day of manual labor, and I've ended up trailing for one second out of a little less than 34 combined minutes of racing. I've been shocked to win both times, but maybe it's something about the overall race that spurs me to overlook those circumstances. I've run a lot of road races, and you don't find that at every one.

Five years of the Kevin Gatons 5k

2011-06-23T14:48:00.003-04:00

I got a little lazy completing blog posts for a while, so I am catching up. From Memorial Day weekend:

In terms of my performance, the fifth annual Kevin Gatons 5k was forgettable, but in the larger scheme, the race was a success.

I ran, by far, my slowest time for the race in the five years I have run it. 15:36, 16:02, 16:08, 16:59 and 17:52; that's an unsettling trend.

Pat McGuire encouraged me to come to the first race, and from then I never thought about missing one. It was my sole reason for coming to Pittsburgh Memorial Day weekend this year, I had been to every race and wanted to keep that going.

Kevin was a Pharaoh Hound, but he was long gone by the time I joined the team. He was a frequent topic of conversation among the old Hounds when we'd go to Bootlegger's for wings after Thursday night 400s on the cinder track, taking on Braskeyan stature. I met him through both Coach A and Coach Wright when I was at the 2001 WPIAL cross country championships. Coach Wright tried to embarrass him by talking about his fast marathon times, but it didn't work because I didn't care about marathons at the time. I might argue that I still don't.

As much as I can write about him, the words from my Trib colleague Paul Schofield are much more effective.

My mom and I got to the race at a reasonable time, but it was warm. I went out for my warmup on the course, and came back with 10 minutes to spare. After changing my shoes and running to the start, I knew I was in trouble. I hadn't even begun to cool from the warmup and sweat was pouring off of me. When the race started, I worried about the opening mile- it had gone out in 4:40 each year I had run it, only once with me pushing the pace. I tucked in an went with the lead pack, but four minutes in, I had enough. I pulled over to the side of the course and slowed down. I came through the mile in 5:09, but I had no intention of trying to keep that up. A course change meant an additional few blocks in the second mile, and I slowed down to a quick walk for a little bit. When I started up again, I decided not to let anyone pass me for the rest of the race, but the race was long done for me by then.

It's a great course, that Lynch Field 5k. The hills, turns and winding roads set up nothing short of a street fight. I don't remember where I dropped Pat in 2007, but I remember thinking that I could not take any of my lead for granted, because his familiarity with the course could make a devastating difference. It reminded me, in part, of my high school course, the most difficult refined cross country course I ever ran. McGuffey was difficult, but that was because we heard the coach with a chainsaw, cutting the course when we arrived for the race. I'd call the Lynch Field course one of the best overall race courses, in the variety, difficulty without sacrificing fast times, opportunity to show off the city of Greensburg, and the staging area in the park.

It's two days after the end of the high school track season in Pennsylvania, so it frees up a lot of distance runners who want to try a road race when they are in excellent racing shape. That is one of my favorite legacies of the race, and one I strive to create for the Run for Roch- the race is always fast and features some tough efforts. Fast runners made it a point to be there, and I hope that honored Kevin as a competitor and a coach.

I guess didn't notice the message on website earlier, but after the race my mom told me it was the last time the race would honor Kevin. The yearly hoopla evidently was too painful for Cheryl and the kids. Things like this can't go on forever, and five years is a good run. Honestly, Memorial Day has been really hot the last five years anyway, so it was rarely a day I could really enjoy the race or run really well. I am also relieved to have Memorial Day weekend at my disposal again, though I don't think I would have felt otherwise had the race kept going. It's just time to move on. Hound attendance was waning, too, as family obligations piled up. It was enjoyable, though to see Jim Hommes' daughter May win her age group in the children's races. Watching Mara and Mati Keen run with a crying Leah was also a treat, and having the children's races in general was a great component to the race.. It was race director Jeremy Lenzi's favorite touch:

"I'll always remember the kids' races in particular - this is mainly due to the fact that Kevin took me under his "wing" when he saw me at a local road race when I was 12 - I know the kids participating in our race are even younger, but know how much Kevin would have LOVED to see these kids battling it out."

Over the five years, the race raised $30,000 for scholarships for 10 students. Not a bad run at all.

Saturday I did 10 miles in Frick Park, and Sunday I just did an easy three in Schenley, seeing Moira and Wendy along the way.

5%

2011-05-22T11:51:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago, when I found out I didn't have to go to central Washington for a conference, I decided to do the DC Capital Striders' 8k. It was on the C&O, using much of the same course as the GRC Father's Day race, so it seemed a logical place to look for runners to come back a few weeks later, this time with cupcakes at the finish line. Then I got either miserably sick or suffered from miserable allergies, dropped out of a workout, didn't run for two more days, and slept until 2 in the afternoon on Saturday. I told my new friend Jen, whom I was supposed to meet at the race, that there was a 95% chance I wouldn't run, but I brought my racing flats anyway, just in case.

I got there, found out the store had gotten me comped, and figured there was little risk, except my health, so the 5% ended up happening.

You can see how uneasy I look

It looked like there was one guy who could give me trouble, a younger fellow with brown hair in an orange singlet. Rick, the DCCS dude, assured me I would win, but I didn't tell him just how much of a struggle it was to stay vertical. I sprang off the line, determined to get a jump on the kid. Within a few steps, I had it, and I kept going. My best hope was to put so much distance on him so that when we hit the turnaround and I saw him, I could feign intensity and scare him off a second time.

I came through the mile, shocked that I had run 4:53, the second fastest mile I had run in a race since the time I had gone out in 4:47 at GMU. I figured by that point I had a safe enough cushion from the kid and I backed off of my nutty pace. I hit the second mile in 5:22 and faced a dilemma with the coming water stop. My throat was on fire, I was sweating like crazy, I really needed a

drink, but if I took one, my pursuer might interpret my thirst as vulnerability and challenge me again. If I didn't take it, though, I could very well pass out. I didn't get out of bed to lose, so I declined the water. I got to the turnaround at 12:57 and went back on my way. It was a while before I saw the kid, and I estimated I had a 40-second lead at that point. I hit three miles in 15:45 and figured I had 11 minutes of reasonably hard running ahead of me. I was running against the crowd at this point, and nobody intimated that I had anyone close behind me. When the pack thinned, I saw a volunteer at mile 4 (21:37) and asked her how close "he" was, but I got no answer. Whore. I told myself I wouldn't look back until the little dip in the course with about a half mile left. I did, and I couldn't see anybody. At that point I took it easy and stumbled on in, right at 27:00. I found some water and sucked it down, then went back to cheer for Mollie and Jen. I wound up with a 24-second margin of victory.

Finally done with the track

2011-05-20T17:00:00.000-04:00

I got home late after the Maryland meet, and I just wasn't up to running in the morning, so after work I did an easy 12 on the McLean trail I am continuing to explore. It started to storm toward the end of my third trip to the park in a week, and the rapidly-growing vegetation made the path a little difficult, but it was generally a nice run.

Saturday morning I planned to do a p-word, but when I started, the combination of the heat, humidity and my fatigue ganged up on me and I stopped less than a mile into it. I did an easy three around my neighborhood. Later that day, while at the Canaan Valley resort, I got another eight in while everyone else went on a hike. The trails I hit for the first half were alright, but a little rockier than I would have preferred.

The next morning, Klim, Bain and Murph and I went out for some more, finding some grass trails that could only have been mowed for a cross country course, in my estimation.

Monday afternoon I went out to McLean for a workout. I planned on 8x1000, and got right to work- 3:01, 3:01, 3:01. Intestinal distress interrupted the rest.

On Tuesday I got back to what I enjoy- running along Williamsburg and Military roads. I dealt with a gigantic pack of bicyclists for the first eight miles of my 13. I averaged 5:51s for the first half, and really had fun running.

Wednesday we did 400s at practice, I went 67, 69, 68, 68, 66, 66, 64, then, to preserve the rhyme scheme, could do no more.

Thursday I can't really remember for the life of me where I ran, but I am pretty sure I doubled and run Westmoreland in the afternoon.

Friday I just did an easy six up and back on the Metropolitan Branch Trail.

Saturday morning I did three miles around the Greenwich Mile as a pre-race, then rode in a van up to Swarthmore for my last track meet of the season. My early season goal was to be in sub-15 shape by then, and have run at least sub-15:20, but I had not gotten to that point. In fact, I had only run 15:42, 15:48, 16:00 and 15:43. Pair that lack of confidence with how awful I felt, and sub 16 alone was going to be a challenge. It was raining when we got there and the meet was already behind schedule. The men's 5k had nearly 80 entrants, so we were divided among three heats. That actually ended out working well, because I could watch Michelle run the women's 5 before and warm up while cheering for Karl, Wiggy and Sloane. Dangerous Dave was in the second heat, and I missed a few of his laps. Murph and I lined up for the third heat around 10 pm, and I was seeded behind some old dude dressed in some ridiculous green getup and a doo rag. Good god...

When the gun went off, I settled in quickly in lane one and saw pretty much the entire field ahead of me, even though we came through 200 in 37. I wanted to take the race in chunks of 800, so I sat behind a pack for a while. We came through the first lap in 76, then 78. That wasn't going to fly with Chaz...I moved ahead and came through the next lap in 72, then 74 for an even 5:00. Rather than make those discrete and arbitrary moves, I decided to just keep running the same pace and pass people whenever I pleased. I caught up with Murph around the two mile, which I hit in 10:00, and kept going, my eyes on a LaSalle guy. Before I knew it, the race was over, I had run 15:36 and nobody had passed me. It was a pretty boring race, and I never really felt I was racing, per se. After a protracted cooldown, we headed back and I stayed over at the Wigloo. I ran a pretty easy but humid 10.5 miles with Sloane and Wiggy in the morning, then did another 6.5 in the evening.

Monday I did 12 miles in the mud and rain-saturated trails around Pimmit Run Creek, slipping once, bruising my knee and whacking the heck out of my right shoulder.

Tuesday I averaged 6:28 pace for 12+ miles around Fairview Park.

Wednesday I did the warmup for the workout, didn't feel like running fast, jogged around for a while and stopped. I haven't run since. I've had a nagging cold and I guess I will just take some loose running time before I start planning for running the half this fall.

Perfect 10! Other than that, disappointment

2011-05-06T13:13:00.002-04:00

Last Wednesday's workout was extremely muggy and after two 1200s, I was working way too hard to keep the effort up.

Thursday I ran 3.25 in the morning, then 11 in the afternoon around Catholic.

After a sleep study Thursday night, I got to my office early and went out to TRI anc back through Foggy Bottom for 11, then ran with Melissa around the Mall in the afternoon for five more.

I slept in Saturday and did a morning Westmoreland loop, then a Pinecastle four in the afternoon.

Sunday morning did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. The race was a madhouse, and we got there too late to put my plan into action. I hoped to run 10 miles moderately then run the 5k at whatever pace Jake desired. Online registration was closed, so I had to stand in line stretched over a block.

The gun went off and I saw the fox dashing ahead, a little too fast for his own good. I caught up to him and I gently corrected his pace and we got into a consistent rhythm. He sped up when we turned onto 3rd street and he ignored my protests. We came through the mile in 5:04 and I reminded him again that we needed to slow it down a touch. He started to mellow shortly thereafter and I took control, wanting him to just chill and do what he must to hit his time. I led through a second mile in 5:10, more what we needed. The fox started slowing a bit, so I bid him follow as I picked it up significantly near the Capitol, because we came through 2.5 miles in 12:29, a little bit under 5:00 pace. A few seconds later, I let him go on his own and jogged down the sidewalk to meet him. He ran 15:57, so he managed alright on his own.

My dad called and got me out of bed Sunday night to watch the important national security news which ended up being nothing, but since I was awake, I stayed up and watched Llano run 28:43 at Stanford. I went o bed at 2 a.m.

Monday I wandered around by McLean High School, which I think may have my favorite track in the area. I ran a short trail near the school where I came across some teens rolling and subsequently smoking doobies. I meandered through Kent Gardens Park for a while and came home for 11.5 miles.

Tuesday I expanded my Pimmit Stream trail running through Kent Gardens to Pimmit Run Stream Valley Park, getting in 10.5.

Wednesday I just ran around American for a while then did 2x400 and 4x200.

The meet was quite small, and somehow wound up 20 minute behind schedule before we knew it. According to the schedule, I had 40 minutes from the 1,500 to the 5k, so I would be able to watch Wiggy and Hanson run the 1,500 and have about 35 minutes to warm up for my race. Then, to catch up, they merged the 1500 heats and cut the men's 4x4 and suddenly, I had 15 minutes to warm up and change into my shoes. I barely got to the line in time. I started off in the middle of the pack, and ran exactly the way I wanted to- 73 mid. The field broke quickly, a Maryland kid Danielle said was eying 15 flat shot off quickly. I stuck behind a dude and planned to stay there until 6 laps. We were great through 800- another 73 mid. Then we slowed a bit- 76, 76 for 4:59. I tolerated the guy for a 77 and 76 before I shot ahead with a 72 mid and a 74 mid to come through two miles in exactly 10:00.00. That was pretty much the high point. I went 74, 77 high to come through 2.5 in 12:32- slower than on the roads on Sunday, and I came home in 77, 76 high, 37 to finish in 15:43.61, less than a second slower than my Richmond time.

I'm disappointed. I would like to feel, and Sunday's pacing exercise reinforced, that I should be able to go out and run even 5s most days. I ran very conservatively so I would have a strong third mile. I might have blown myself up with that 72, but it wasn't that bad. Without anyone to keep me aware of my pace changing, I kept running a little slower than I thought. I had no turnover at the end- I ran two seconds faster for my last 200 the other two track races I ran. I definitely have fallen out of practice with my weekly turnover workouts, I'm not sure if doing any now will help, with just one track race left.

My hope is that if nothing else, being out there conditioned me for exercising patience. I didn't get much else out of it.

There's nothing quite like depth in the 5k

2011-04-29T15:03:00.003-04:00

Top A-10 times through April 25

5,000-Meter Run

Name Yr. Team Time

1 Benford, Andrew SR UR 13:55.88

2 Llano, Matt SR UR 14:00.01

3 Spisak, Jim SO DUQ 14:08.64

4 Quinn, Tim SR UR 14:08.96

5 Kauffmann, Tommy SR XU 14:13.02

6 McDonnell, Kevin JR SJU 14:19.64

7 Stolar, Mike JR DUQ 14:24.53

8 Hausherr, David SO LAS 14:29.83

9 Lee, Ryan FR UR 14:33.61

10 Anderson, Erik SR DUQ 14:34.1

One-day rebound

2011-04-25T14:10:00.004-04:00

The Tuesday afternoon following the Boston trip, I did an easy 12 miles out and back to Vienna on the W&OD, averaging 6:50s.

Wednesday night's track workout did not go well. It was warm and I didn't come prepared with enough to drink. I was exhausted from the weekend's lack of sleep and I was getting a little sick, and running did not help this time. I did the first two miles fine- 5:14 and 5:08. After a few steps of the 5:05, I stopped running. I tried a few other times to start up again, but my will to go on really wasn't there. I jogged a few cooldown laps with Beth and Dart.

I stayed in Bethesda Wednesday night in hopes of getting a good night's sleep and dispensing with the hour-long trip home, but I ended up being unable to fall asleep until after 1. I got up at 6 to go meet Jake, Luffy and Karl to run, but felt fine. The weather was superb. We did a little more than 7 and I continued to feel fine, then got totally manic at work before crashing at 3. I ran five more miles when I got home, but was pretty wiped out, despite continuing awesome weather.

I planned to run around Crystal City during the evening 5k and watch the race, but the cold rain made me reconsider, in hope of keeping myself healthy for my workout the next morning.

That night in Princeton, Luffy ran 14:15 and Tim Quinn hit 14:08. I know I say it a lot, but I remember when guys on the Richmond team were impressed with Hannay ran 15:07. Now we have three guys under 14:09 (Benford- 13:55, Llano-14:00 and Quinn). The best part has been Tim's consistent improvement. To paraphrase my high school coach, you can train Benford and Llano by having them drink beer and lift weights...Quinn's improvement, along with the rest of the Spiders' depth, is testament to Steve's coaching acumen.

I was a little bummed nobody was interested in running the four mile special Saturday morning, but no matter, I would achieve on my own! I did a good warmup, put on my old Nike Milers from 2004, which only come out for the cross country alumni race, and had at it. Great pacing in the first mile- 75.04, 2:30 on the nose, 3:45.17, 5:00.09. My recovery 400 was not good, though- 94 seconds, and I rushed to get it that fast. I did a few 400s and 800s, but never really felt up to continuing to run. I couldn't put together a decent workout. Surely my choice of hobbies needed some reexamination... I sat around with my friend's bird I'm minding, pissed off.

I went home and lied around for a while. After drifting in and out of a nap for 45 minutes, I checked to see if Alex would be up for keeping me company on his bike while I did a 10/10/10 p-word. None such luck, he was going out to dinner. I'd be on my own again.

It was 70 degrees and humid when I got going. I felt light and energetic, better than I expected. I got going too fast- 2:40 at the half mile mark, so I made a conscious effort to slow down- it worked moderately- 5:30 at the mile. Ugh, fast again, I always take this workout out too fast. Then I had to wait on the median on Route 7 to cross, the first time traffic interrupted one of these. I stayed loose into the Pinecastle neighborhood, but still came through 45 seconds soon, so I jogged around until I hit 10 minutes. I kept things more under control in the second 10 minutes- 2:52 at the half (right on), but 5:38 at the mile. I switched the second 10 minutes to follow Virginia and do and out-and-back on Hurst and Center, which is a lot flatter than going down Nottingham and coming back up the trail by Idylwood Park right before starting the third 10 minute interval. I started my last interval hoping to run close to five minute pace, though the last two times I have done this workout I have faded in the fourth quarter of the first mile and averaged 5:15 and 5:17. The entire stretch is on the W&OD Trail, which has markers every half mile, though they don't line up exactly with where I start, but I have a few landmarks that are easy enough to see when I am trying to keep my eyes up. I hit Virginia Lane at 75 for a little more than a quarter, which is a little fast, but downhill, though narrow. The next half mile rolls, and I managed to keep a consistent rhythm, coming through that measured half in 2:30 and getting a passing compliment from a biker. This is where these workouts usually falter, and I felt like the heat was going to give me trouble, but when I hit the second marker I was at 4:59. With less than four minutes to go, I found no reason not to just keep going. The trail crosses a few small streets, but there was only traffic at one, and I got through the intersection faster as a result. Time was counting up to 30 minutes, and I just wanted to get close to the telephone pole near the Great Falls intersection that marked a little more than two miles from my starting point. I made it.

In the end, I had what was probably my best workout of the season, not 12 hours after what I thought was the end of my competitive season, because I couldn't imagine trying to race after having run like I did in the morning. I have run under 10 minutes for two miles twice this year- 9:55 and 9:56, both in track races, in spikes, pulled along by other runners, after a dead start. This time, after running decently hard for 20 minutes, with nothing really pulling me along, I ran pretty much the same pace. I also felt great doing it. When I have raced lately, I haven't felt the same drive I had from 2004-2009, when I would just go out and lead road races and still be pushing at the end with nobody to chase, including races where I didn't have anyone contend with me at all. There are a lot of workouts when I wonder where that drive has gone, then I have workouts like these, where I know I've found it. In the end, that is going to be necessary for me to run a good time at Maryland next Thursday. I'm not going to have a huge pack to stick in and run with, even if I have someone else, a good portion of my race will require the same drive that this workout took.

Sunday morning, I ran with Jake, JARRIN and Tex on the trails behind JARRIN Manor. It was warm, humid, muddy and hilly and I was pretty tired. I did about seven miles and called it a day. I decided against running in the afternoon.

Monday morning, I got up to do 400s at the George Marshall track. It was muggy and I was tired, but I got up there and started off with 70,69,70,69, with a large goose watching me from the long jump runway. When I started number five, though, that same ambivalence and malaise hit me, and I was done. I did some 200s, but I felt empty and once again lacking the drive to keep going. Suffice to say, 400s are hard on your own.

Breezy in Boston

2011-04-20T17:19:00.004-04:00

I went to Boston to watch my mom run the city's marathon for the first time, so I decided to take in a 5k road race. Buoyed by a recharging 75 minute run Thursday in Falls Church with no set route and a pretty successful p-word run on Friday (10/10/10 at 6:00 (with a 5:45 first mile)/ 5:45/ 5:10), a long easy run with Melissa around the Mall Friday night and a short pre-race Saturday morning in a downpour, I was ready to go. My wallet was lighter after shelling out the $45.

I left my apartment at 9:50 to catch the metro to Greenbelt, where I took a bus to BWI, at which point I flew to Boston, where I took another bus to the subway. Almost six hours later, I shoved my way through a mob of people at the expo to get my bib, then I took a trip to Roxbury to have dinner with Pharaoh Hound Moira Davenport. I then went to Cambridge to crash at Dan Mazzocco's.

Dan was excited to show me the t-shirt I traded to him back in 2000 during high school. Our teams, Baldwin and Mt. Lebanon, were bitter rivals at the time, and it didn't help that my team was fairly insulated from others. Part of this came from the size of the team, and others in the area were smaller. Mt. Lebanon was also the strongest program in the south hills, and had been for years. Baldwin came together with a WPIAL-winning team very quickly and we had a full-scale struggle on our hands my senior year, in which we defended our unbeaten dual meet record but lost the championship to the Highlanders.

Plus, the close proximity of Brentwood, Baldwin, Bethel Park and South Park and their relatively smaller teams were conditions for those teams to have a much closer relationship. We mainly related to each other antagonistically, which I saw manifested in the Charlie VanGombos-Larry Quinn rivalry. Charlie took things pretty seriously, and Larry was a bit of a clown and, we thought, and ass. At the Tri-State Track Coaches' Association meet in the spring, I started talking with Bobby Toth and Dan on a whim, and found them to be agreeable fellas. Ryan Sheehan was also sociable, and the three of us traded our team's t-shirts. Scary Larry and Jeff "Hoag" Conroy were tougher to get to know, but now, I am more in touch with Quinn(who was running on Monday) than Charlie.

I ended up throwing one of the Baldwin shirts into a campfire and giving a photo of the engulfed shirt to Shawn Cavanaugh, who put it on his wall during his 2000 season racing Mazzocco for Pennsylvania cross country dominance.

The shirt is now threadbare, having been worn and washed for 11 years, but it still looks good. That classic gold on blue just seems right to me.

I got up at 6 and went to the race. It was raining and very windy. I felt alright during my warmup, but hardly sharp. I definitely felt like I had tried to pack too much into the previous afternoon. I started exactly the way I wanted to, coming through the first, uphill, mile in 5:05. The clock at the mark was five seconds fast, so I was worried, until I checked my watch. Then I slowed down in the second mile, which was stupid, because it was downhill. I just haven't been good at running downhills for several years. I came through the second mile in 5:10, and I realized the wind had been in our faces the entire race. I kept my eye on a Saucony rep named Dan I had met earlier, but I couldn't close the gap. I couldn't seem to will myself to run faster.

In the third mile, a Kenyan woman pulled up to me and I felt I could run faster with her, and we made up ground. She was exactly what I needed and it seemed like I was back on track. When we turned back onto Boylston, the wind no longer plagued us, and I was ready to just kick in like crazy. When I did, however, I started to see black spots on the bottoms of my eyes. I eased off until the disappeared, then I pushed again until they came back. I passed a group of five guys, but a few caught me again. I tried to stick with an NB Boston dude named Jeff, but he got away from me, as did the Kenyan woman, in the the last .1. Despite the clock edging up to the top of the 15s, I didn't push enough, and just kind of skipped across the line at 16:00, right behind three guys who re-passed me. I felt fine when the race was over, but couldn't understand why I couldn't push harder in mile two. I totally failed to take advantage of a downhill once again, and it boggled my mind that I ran slower for the second mile.

Less than an hour later, the wind was gone, the sky was clear, and I was wondering if the conditions I felt during the race were just my imagination. They weren't, but it didn't make me feel better. I didn't compete.

I had hoped to break into the top 10, but given that the top 10 guys all ran faster than 14:26, that hope was fleeting. The 5ks I have run in the last two weeks have each been the fastest and deepest fields of my life, and I have failed to capitalized on them.

I ran another three miles that afternoon in Sommerville, then my mom and cousin Lisa and I joined Watson, Hannay and the Sikoras for the BAA pasta dinner.

Watson, Hannay and Sherry, pictured here

Meanwhile, the Spiders ripped up the track at Mt. SAC on Thursday and Friday, with Benford running 13:55, Llano just barely missing breaking 14 with 14:00.01, Ryan Lee running an amazing 14:34 in his first collegiate 5k, York running 30:11, Amy and Nicol running 16:09 and 16:10 with Jill hitting 16:39. Really outstanding.

I stayed with Bain that night, and as he left for the race, he mentioned that Pilar's water had broken and JARRIN had left for DC after arriving less than eight hours before.

"At least he'll have some excitement today," I mumbled before falling back asleep.

A few hours later, I dropped off my bags at Shara's in Brookline near mile 24 and ran about eight miles of the course backwards. The wind, combined with the steep uphill for the first two miles, made me feel beaten down, but I still averaged 6:15s. I kept that up for almost eight miles, then turned around at the 16 mile mark and headed back, averaging easy 5:45s until the course closed to everyone at mile 21 when the wheelchair competitors came through. I got 15.5 in, total. After a delicious breakfast with Shara, I watched as the athletes I was there to see came through.

First up was Levi Grandt's sister Clara, running 2:29:54. Next was my Richmond teammate Seann Mulcahy, flying by on his way to a 2:33:24. Bain's 2:37:30 was next, Watson's 2:46:59, then Scott Koonce's in 2:53:09. Brian Quinn came through in 2:55:20, and I missed Hanny, who came through on his way to just over three hours. I was heading up the hill to a better spot when I saw Larry, slowing down and heading for the curb.

"Call Liz," he said. "Tell her I'm alright, but I hurt my calf."

Unfortunately, my phone had died, so calling his wife would take some doing. I ran into the Seven Eleven to get some change so I could use a pay phone, all the while repeating her number to myself to commit it to memory. Someone offered to let me use his cell phone, but when I dialed the number, I got some dude. Somewhere along the line I messed it up.

Mark Courtney came by, then Will and Elyse. I waited around for a while, and suddenly Joe came along with Lisa in tow.

Yep, that says "Joe's 26th Boston." I was getting weary from looking through the crowd for hours, and kept looking for the green top my mom was supposed to be wearing. All of a sudden I heard, "Charlie! Over here!" and there was my mom. Not wearing green.

I jogged a bit with her, but didn't want to leave my backpack with the relative strangers, with whom I had been sitting, with for too long.

After a crowded and slow trolley ride back downtown, I met mom and we traveled to the airport together. She ran 4:22:53, slower than her 4:16:16 debut in Pittsburgh two years before, but faster than last year' 4:30, also in Pittsburgh, despite training the least for this one. Most importantly, she had a really good time. She met another Pennsylvanian on the trip out to the start, and really had nothing bad to say about the race.

I've done this spectating trip for three years now and think I have had enough for a while. The race is too hard to watch, perchance I miss someone, and tourist is everywhere. The 5k is too expensive and I never put myself in a position to run well, with all that I do to make the trip worthwhile. I promised Pokey I would run Boston with him when he qualifies, but I hope that's a few years off. In spite of my reservations, however, I had a good time.

I love two things about myself, and both are my European haircut

2011-04-14T13:13:00.002-04:00

Given the 10 miles I had run about 12 hours prior, when I woke up at 7 am Sunday, I decided to wait a little for my long run, canning my original plan to run down the Mt. Vernon trail to Alexandria to watch the end of the silly Pacers race. If I raced on the George Washington Parkway, I would rather it be farther north, near Langley. Around 10 or 10:30, I finally got going and decided to check out and extend the Brook loop in eastern McLean. I had last run it in early February, with snow everywhere, so it felt in a way like I was running it for the first time.

It was much easier this time because where there once was snow, I now saw paved paths, taking me off of the road, save for a half mile around the fourth. It made the run a lot more comfortable, not having to squeeze onto whatever shoulder had remained in the snow. I consciously held back, but still averaged 6:29 through my first nine. It was more prudent than my 6:10s the last time I ran it. After crossing the beltway, I started to head up and down some hills, especially once I hit the neighborhoods bordering Pimmit Run Stream Valley Park.

When I got out, they got worse. My fatigue, hunger and the hills on Birch beat the crud out of me, but that was nothing compared to Lorraine, which I had only run once, and I barely recalled it. At 15.5 miles, I hit a 20% grade that lasted about a tenth of a mile. I came down the long, gradual decline not particularly fast, but let letting my body go and my legs carry me, because I was just beaten. The last two miles were unremarkable. Despite the hills and feeling pretty cruddy, I averaged 6:40 on the nose for the last nine.

Monday gave me a preview of the mild summer days ahead, with a muggy 82 degrees when I got home from work. I planned on 3x8 minutes hard, but was ready to adjust it the second I got going. After a quicker-than-necessary warmup, I started my first set on Shreve Road, a rolling paved trail. I was able to cross Lee Highway without too much trouble and make it to Fairview Park Drive, for a 5:15 pace. I took a four minute jog that took me to the bridge over Route 50 and started my second surge, but the wind was ridiculous and dissuaded me without much argument. I decided to wait until the Fairview Park trail, but once I got there I was pretty tuckered out. I ran to the quarter-mile path around the pond and did four repetitions- 78, 74, 72 and 70, trying to keep myself relaxed. I jogged home and was happy to have that over.

Tuesday I just ran six out and back on the W&OD past Vienna, but the rain I expected didn't transpire. I tried to keep it easy, but I hit 6 miles in under 40 minutes. Luckily I had the wind at my back, so it slowed me down on the return trip.

Wednesday I felt bloated when I hit the track at BCC with Murphy, Nugget, Brian, Dangerous Dave and some dude named Victor. We ran 800s, 2:30, 2:32, 2:28, 2:26, 2:25, 2:23, 2:21, then I ran a 70 with Dave for his first lap and a 68 on my own after a little break. I didn't feel light at all, but I didn't have to push too much to hit most of the times. I felt pretty lethargic.

I'm going to improvise a 75 minute run this afternoon and then do another 10/10/10 tomorrow morning, though I will find some additional checkpoints to make sure I don't go too fast too early again. If I do the workout right, it will be a good way to get ready for a race 48 hours later.

At least I outkicked the GW guy

2011-04-10T10:11:00.001-04:00

I knew Nightingale was going to take the race out fast, so I thought I was sitting far enough back.

Clearly, it was not far enough back.

When I heard my first lap split was 69, I nearly had an aneurysm. What in God's name was I doing? I thought I was in the second group, the one running at a more moderate pace. After two more 71s, it became clear that was not the case, and George Mason had the deepest 5k field in the last decade or two. These guys aren't going to slow down, I realized, so I needed to back off. It was then I probably ruined the race I had found myself in.

Upon hearing how fast I was going, I had two productive choices- keep it up and burn myself out and see where it takes me, or immediately slow down and get back on my planned 4:55 pace. I did neither. From there it just got ugly. Through the mile in 4:47, the 2k in 7:20, but I was going the wrong way. Conor and Adam passed me then. Adam said something I couldn't make out and I mumbled in response. Then they were gone. I ran the second half on my own, struggling and getting slower. The only thing that buoyed my race was kicking down a George Washington kid. Their former coach, Jim Something, was a dick to me in 1999, so I have been taking it out on GW dudes ever since. Otherwise, I ran a gutless race for 15:48. I also beat two VMI guys, but they barely count.

That said, it was my 14th college-level track race, and by far the fastest 5k in which I have ever been embroiled. It was nice, though, to have Murph, L. Diddy, Stubbs, Lori, Jenn, Nicol, Erin, Skipper Little Benford and an assortment of other Spiders cheering for me. I just wish I had run smarter. Either way, faster or slower. There was no smart middle ground.
The 4:47 was my fastest mile in two years. I know I'm reasonably fast. The only training tweaks I can think of is not wearing a watch for my distance runs and finding some way to keep the slower portions of my "p-word" runs under control.
Next Sunday's B.A.A. 5k will be the first race I run this year that I had run last year, so I will get a good assessment of how much I have progressed.

A bit of rest

2011-04-07T20:48:00.002-04:00

I made the gut-wrenching decision to forgo the Cherry Blossom race this year in favor of a few additional days of training to tackle the 5k. Sticking with Cherry Blossom would have added 10 miles and another race to create a five-week block of races, which, while fun, would not have been great for my training in the long run. The GMU invite for CB was an entirely rational decision and will be better for me in the end.

But it didn't feel that way when our 15 men and three women ran by in their GRC singlets. Every one of the guys had a fantastic race. Even in the rare instance when their time was not faster than before, running those times under those circumstances was an achievement. To not have run among my teammates in a race that we dominated was torture.

Instead I planned on an early morning fartlek that pretty much didn't happen. I slept a little more than three hours to wake up at 5 and head to the city with Nate and Luke. Those two slept in the car while I tried to do 3x(8 min hard, 2 easy, 2 hard, 4 easy) on Hains Point and the Mall, but it was a disaster from the start. I was using my heart rate monitor, and it suggested I was north of 180 during my warmup. Given my lack of sleep, that might have had shred of truth to it. After my 15 minute warmup, I had at it, but 44 seconds in, I knew I was asking too much of myself. I cruised along for another 45 seconds then decided to take it easy from then on.

In the afternoon I ran around Wiggy's hood of Twinbrook, down the Trolley Trail to North Bethesda with Danielle. After running with her for a while, I turned back and headed to Karl's and did some drills.

I had to have some dental work done to fix the unfortunate effects of the mouthpiece I briefly wore to try to ameliorate my sleep apnea. I had never worn a retainer before, and had not developed the half-conscious awareness of warming the retainer with water before removing it. Unable to sleep one night, I tore it out, severely damaging a molar, which eventually had to be removed. So, Monday was the day, and when I slept until 7:30, a likely outcome after being out of the house for 15 hours on Sunday, I ended up skipping my run and taking a day off.

Tuesday night I went out and ran a Thomas, focusing on staying relaxed. That, evidently, meant going pretty fast, because I averaged around 6:00 for my first four miles until I slowed down, realized how fast I was going.

Wednesday was ripe for a good workout- I was feeling good, the weather was great, the workout got shorter (6,5,4,3,2,1) and I was confident I could hit the A group's target times: 75s,74s,73s,72s,71s and a 68. Some of the later ones were ambitious, but I felt I could handle them.

I felt sluggish on the warmup, but managed to do a 2:30 800 at the end to get my legs ready to go. I followed the dudes through the 2400 in 7:25, so a little fast, but I felt totally comfortable, though my intestines were giving me some trouble. About 500m into the 2k, I started to feel them again, and realized it would be untenable. I cut off at 800 in 2:28-perfectly on pace- and headed up to the bathroom. When I got back, the group was doing a recovery lap and I was relaxed and ready to go for the mile. I was at 3:40 through 1200, but had a rough fourth lap and finished in 4:56, four seconds slow. The other guys, having run about 4:50, were already well ahead of me on the recovery, which they were doing much faster than I was used to. I caught them, and we started the 3:36-goal 1200, but I was out of it by the 200m. I was still beaten from the recovery that didn't take place. I ran with everyone for the last 400m, which I did in 70.

I did another 400 in 71 by myself, then prepared to run the 68-target 400 with everyone else. I told myself to stay loose, no matter what, and if running that fast would mean I would lose my loose form, I would stop. I made it 200m in 33 low before I tightened up. Good enough for a workout that was already over.

It was disheartening to see that even if I had been able to match their interval times, the amount of recovery I needed still separated me from the A group. I wonder if I will ever get there. What are reasonable goals, anyway? Then I lost my wallet, which made me feel even worse.

Thursday afternoon I did a 30 minute "p word" run, planning for 10 minutes at 6:00, 10 at 5:45 and 10 between 5:00 and 5:15. I got very lucky with the traffic at each crossing and never had to wait to cross. I was a little fast, though. I hit 5:30 for the first mile (way too fast!) and by the 1.6 mile mark, where I was supposed to hit 10 minutes, I was only at 9:00, meaning I had run 5:37 pace to get there. I ran in a big circle for a minute to start the next 10 minutes on the right mark. I ran more evenly there, hitting the half mile in 2:52 (though it was uphill) and the mile in 5:38. I ended up averaging 5:42 for the next 10. The last went pretty well, though I surely would have run faster had I controlled myself more early on. I ran 1.9 miles, averaging 5:15 pace. I was happy with it as a whole, though I really needed to correctly estimate my first mile pace. That kept me from dipping under 5:05-5:10 at the end.

I'll then have an easy day Friday before running the GMU Invite's 5k Saturday evening. I hope that I can run a better race on top of fixing what went wrong in my pre-race routine at Richmond.

Unbridled enthusiasm

2011-04-02T17:11:00.002-04:00

I was tired throughout the day Friday and thought about cutting my recovery run completely, then I remembered the next three days' plans and figured I needed some buffer, so I went out for a Fineview Park loop and ended up feeling great, running 12.5 at 6:35 pace without feeling any effort.

The "p word" run Saturday didn't go well, mainly because it went too well early on. I ran 5.5 miles out on the CCT and headed back to Georgetown. My plan was to run 10 minutes moderate (5:40 pace), 10 medium (5:25-5:30) and 10 hard (5:10-5:15). Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for the workout bled right through and soaked me, because I missed the half mile marker and by the time I saw the second half marker,I had run a 5:10 mile. I slowed down, or so I thought, and came through the next half in 2:45, still fast. The first measurable mile of the second 10 minutes was 5:20, so again, too fast. By the time I got to the third 10 minutes I had only 90 seconds left in the tank. My calves were still tight from Wednesday and I had no spring in my step. That said, 30 minutes of pretty hard running, on top of the two five-mile medium runs, was a lot. After an easy 3.25 Fisherman's loop, I had my fifth straight 90 mile week.

Chilly again

2011-04-01T14:58:00.000-04:00

After a few false starts (the By George 5k and Van Metre Five Mile), I feel like I had an honest effort at the Spider Relays, even though I wasn't thrilled with the result. And, unlike the other two races, I want to get back at it to fix what I did wrong and train in a way commensurate with my goals.

Also, I decided to stop being scared. Friday night, as Molz and I were leaving the track, long after everyone had cleared out, we heard an engine and breaks squealing down Boatwright Drive. A car came speeding down the middle of the road, out of control, rolled over the curb, missing trees and fire hydrants by narrow margins and pulling into the Robins Center parking lot. If we had been a few yards ahead and in the middle of the street, we'd be dead. If anyone else was on the road, they'd be dead. If that driver had been a few feet to the left, he'd be dead. It was without a doubt the most frightening thing I have ever witnessed, but quite simply, I'm not afraid of something trivial like the pain of running fast anymore.

Monday, I got back to the point where running fast felt normal. I had a longish workout planned- five moderate miles, two easy, then hills on Highland. No real warmup, just speed up after a moderate first mile. I started off around 5:55 and got faster from there. On the Pimmit Hills loop, I hit two miles in 11:00, three in 16:25, four in 21:50 and five in 27:07. I lucked out in that I had the traffic light at Idylwood on my side, but I was delighted I ran just 12 seconds slower than my racing time for five miles, despite a slow first mile. I did 4x400m hills and 6x200m hill sprints and kept myself well under control, compared to two weeks prior. I never ran out of gas, and in addition to building some more speed, I think it will get me ready quite well for the first mile in Boston.

Tuesday I did a Marymount at 6:30 pace for 12.75 miles with rolling hills. The bike trail I picked up was nice and soft for a while, paved later, and steep toward the end, but it got me up to Glebe and Old Dominion, so I guess it had to be steep.

Wednesday night could have gone better. It was raining and in the low 40s, perhaps the high 30s, when I trudged from the metro to American's track. The darned B-CC students needed to use their track and we were displaced for the second week, though I missed last week's practice. I was soaked by the time I arrived and nobody was there. I did a nice warmup loop I put together and changed into my flats. Dickson was there and ready for our 5xmile, but Matt Logan was nowhere to be seen. We went ahead without him and opened with a 5:15, a second fast, then a 5:10, two seconds fast. We both noticed needing a lap or two to warm up, and the lap jog in between was seizing our legs more than we would have liked. I did a few drills during the second recovery to keep myself loose, and took us through in 5:08 high. Despite running much faster in other workouts, my legs didn't have the spring in my calves, thanks to the cold rain. Even when the drizzle cleared up, the first lane was mostly under water. With no drainage system, the track was a mess, and my feet were soaked. We ran the fourth mile a second slow, 5:05, and I can't remember where we faltered. I made a quick bathroom trip before the fifth, then foolishly hurried back to the line, giving me about 150m of recovery. I took us through 400m in 74, but I stopped, knowing my calves couldn't take much more. My lungs were fine, and I was aching to keep going, but it didn't seem like a good idea. I ran another 74 to lead Dickson through his last lap, and then I changed into dry clothes and stretched like crazy.

Thursday afternoon I headed out to Hains Point for a 5-6 mile moderate run using the MCM mile markers. After dealing with a little traffic on Ohio Drive in mile 12, I clocked a 5:33 and was pretty happy, then 5:34, and 5:35 at the turnaround, before going 5:27, 5:29. Unfortunately, in the last mile, my right shoelace started to get pretty loose, and I worried I would lose the shoe, so I stopped after five. I felt very comfortable running around 5:30s. It was chilly, but not rainy, so I felt better than the night before. I was pretty depleted by the time I got back to my office, and that lead to me really enjoying the Gatorade I had waiting for me.

In spikes again

2011-03-28T15:42:00.004-04:00

It was hard to tell, watching me race the 5k at the Fred Hardy Invitational, whether I was 28 or 18.

On the surface, I was successful. I ran 15:42, which is the fastest I have run for 5k since 2008, though there is no telling what I would have run in 2009 in Scituate (without a train coming through the race and stopping me). As Jerry points out, three months ago I couldn't eat anything but melted sorbet, so running again like this is pretty good. When I look at the race in the context of the work I have put in, the way I have felt in workouts and the experience I have, it was disappointing.

First mistake- indecisive travel planning. My departure from Washington was up in the air until shortly before I left, but that wasn't much of a problem. When I arrived in Richmond, however, I was faced with getting to campus from downtown. I figured I could take a cab, but saw none when I arrived. I came across a Grove Avenue bus, and the driver told me a bus that went to campus was shortly behind hers. I waited on a bench for 75 minutes for that bus, which ended up being hers again. Granted, it was only $1, but it was a long time to wait outside in the relative cold, with smokers hanging out around me. Evidently I somehow missed two buses during that time that would have taken me to campus.

Once I arrived, I walked around a bit, signed in, and started my warmup way too early. Perhaps 20 minutes too early. I did a four laps of Bandy -- God I miss that field -- came back, and realized I had a half hour to freak out. I talked to Sherry and Lori for a while, then went out for my hard warmup. I took my spikes down to the field, put them on for the first time since the 2003 A-10 meet, and did a few strides and drills. Rhue joked that my spikes wouldn't likely survive the race, but I knew they wouldn't let me down. There was some confusion on the line with a kid wearing the wrong hip number, and luckily that gave me a chance to investigate the awful poking in my right shoe. It turned out to be a torn, sticking right into one of my toes. I was able to get the shoe back on before we took to the line.

I was out in 74, feeling pretty good, but far back. Another 74 high, though I was comfortably tucked in. I got a little more aggressive, moved up and ran 72, then a 73, and split 4:55 for the first mile. I was happy with that. I had great support -- Lauder and others along the home stretch, Sherry on the first curve, Steve on the back stretch, all very specific and helpful. I tried to stay aggressive after I heard the mile split, and went 73 and 74 for the next two laps. Then it got a little breezy, so I tucked behind a tall Shippensburg runner. He, unfortunately, slowed down, 75, 76, both high, and I came through two miles in 9:55, a 5:00 second mile. I started to feel taxed, and I stuck behind him rather than try to break free in the last mile- 77, 78, 79. After I saw the 79, I knew I had to do something over the last 600 or the race would be a total disaster. I tried to get moving but it wasn't happening. I came through the third mile at 15:10 and fought to finish in 35, but I didn't catch the Shippensburg guy and a Kutztown fellow I passed a while before kicked in like a maniac and nipped me. I was 15:42.82 and not pleased.

(photos courtesy of Steve Taylor)

Before the race, I told Sherry a good race would be 15:15, a modest race would be 15:30 and a bad race would be 15:45. I guess I came in a few seconds short of a bad race. Molz won in 14:57, with just a little challenge from a Ship dude. I was happy to have beaten the two Lynchburg guys in the race, because that year as a Hampden-Sydney Tiger resonates in me with a competitive urge to beat other ODAC athletes. I only wish I had been able to trounce a Longwood runner...

Surprisingly, though, my legs felt great. Lori and Steve both remarked that a race kicks out the junk and makes you want more. Well, I want more. After watching Little Benford run 8:56 for his first steeple experience since last summer (no practice or anything), I got a good four-mile cooldown around campus, then watched the unfortunate Richmond-Kansas basketball game on the stadium's video screen.

I woke up and did my long run, combining Rosslyn, Collegiate, University and Westham loops. I forgot just how much I enjoyed the Rosslyn loop, Fatty Z was right, we ran it so frequently in college that it is hard to truly appreciate it. Saturday morning, I did not see a single car while I was on the loop, but came across some delightful walkers. I averaged 6:06 at the 6,10 and 12 mile marks, then took it very easy for .75 miles on Westham. Once I hit Patterson again, I started going after it pretty hard down Ridge Top and subsequent roads until I hit campus again. I took it easy up Boatwright and finished kind of hard, averaging 6:15 for 16.25, not too bad a little more than 12 hours after my race. I watched Amy set a school record in the 3k and Ryan Lee and Chris York run great races behind Llano's sub-8 3k attempt. Quinn also ran pretty well, after a fast first lap.

Regardless of my disappointment with my race, it was wonderful to be back in Richmond and on campus. In addition to all the success Steve and Lori have with the teams every year, they do a great job bringing alumni back and keeping them involved. I can't wait until the web broadcast is archived and I can listen to Fatty Z and Stubbs' audio commentary. They really made the meet a family-like atmosphere, with Luke helping at the check-in desk, Howard managing the timing, Mike Cox and Steve Spence bringing their teams to compete. A number of connections worked together to get Quinnipiac to the meet so Jenn Ennis could race one of her high school teammates, with their high school coach Sherry watching. It really is the most comfortable place I can think of being.

After a trip back to DC and not much sleep, I got up Sunday and ran in Rock Creek Park, about 11 miles with Jake, Murph, Karl, Brian, Max and Manitoba. I wasn't feeling great, but got the miles in the books, then took a two hour nap before getting seven more miles at 6:39 pace on Park Plus in the evening.

Go time

2011-03-25T11:07:00.001-04:00

I was feeling pretty cruddy Thursday, so my five miles planned because one mile on the treadmill and two outside. I felt better Friday morning and went for a 3.25 pre-race jog around Falls Church.

I'm seeded sixth, which means little. Molz is planning on doing the steeplechase anyway. I just want to come through two miles feeling relaxed then let the race have it over the last 1800m. As boring and difficult as my solitary turnover workouts can be, they have equipped me well to kick when I have other people around. I just hope there are other people around.

I am also pretty sure I am going to skip the Cherry Blossom race in favor of another track meet, either at George Mason or Maryland the next weekend. I'll get more out of a track meet and can really use a down week with three workouts, rather than trying to squeeze workouts and recovery in before racing a distance I enjoy but for which I am not mentally prepared.

So friggin lonely

2011-03-23T14:23:00.002-04:00

I do most of my running on my own, but racing by myself isn't as fun.

When I realized, a half mile in, that nobody at the Van Metre Five Mile was running my pace, I reasoned that I could run way over my head to stick with the lead pack or drop back and fend for myself. I chose the latter and hoped my tendency to run fast even when I felt like garbage would continue. I came through the long first mile in 5:16, feeling pretty good.

I lost sight of the lead pack during the second mile when they wove through a neighborhood. The only target I had was an african in a blue singlet who dropped off, stretched for a second, then started chasing the lead pack. I thought I could run with him for a bit, but then he dropped out for good. The second mile included some downhills, but the wind held me back a bit. I came through two in 5:20, About five seconds slower than I thought I was going. The third mile started with a long uphill, a turnaround and a long downhill. I saw Karl racing Gurmessa and the Platypus and yelled for him, but realized quickly that was a bad idea if I was trying to run fast myself. Coming down the hill was harder than climbing it, because all of my expectations were geared toward being able to roll down it. The wind once again prevented me from really enjoying myself, and to be honest, I stopped racing. I just got lonely. I saw Jerry at about 3.5 and he told me to aim to catch the people in front of me, but I had no idea where they were I wen 5:30 and 5:35 in miles three and four, and as I passed the four mile mark, the guy calling out splits kept going. I wondered if I had anyone close to me and to my shock I did. Even though there was nothing at stake, I got competitive again and held him off to finish seventh in 26:55. Far from a PR, even farther from a good race, but 28 seconds faster than my race at the St. Patrick's Day 8k in 2010.

I was hoping to go out there and surprise myself, but honestly it was pretty hard with nobody close to my pace. Sixth place was 25:17, so nowhere close to me. After a cooldown and trip home, I took a nap and went out for an easy five, totaling 20 for the day and 90 for the week.

The next morning, I went out to Edward's Ferry with Matias, his buddy Mike, Outlaw, Karl and Sam. We started fast, and hung between 6:30-6:40 for most of the first 15 miles. I started to have some intestinal issues, so my last three miles were slower as a result, plus I noticed a but of blood soaking my shoe thanks to a bit of trail debris that had gotten into my right shoe. I also just felt tired, but it kept me from getting out of control at the end of the run. 38.5 miles in two days is no joke. The nap after that run was absolutely perfect.

Monday, I had the battery replaced in my heart rate monitor watch and I went out for a simple 12.25 mile run around Fairview Park. For the most part, I kept my heart rate around 145-150 and averaged 6:38 pace. It was pretty humid, and I got a good preview of what the summer is going to feel like on a good day.

Tuesday morning I did my first morning run in as long as I could remember, a 3.25 Fisherman.

In the evening I grabbed my flats and headed out to George Marshall High School for a 4xmile workout with a faster quarter migrating throughout the workout. When I got there, 2.5 miles later, I was dismayed to find two soccer teams taking the field. I thought about giving McLean High School a shot, so I ran another 2.5 miles there, finding another soccer game in progress. I ran two more miles to the Greenwich Road Mile, but I knew it wouldn't suffice. As much as I love that loop, it isn't a substitute for a fast, precise track workout. There is no real flat stretch to speak of, and three quarters are rolling, with a steep uphill toward the end. It would clearly not work for these miles, but I gave one a shot. My rudimentary splits came out to 75, 70, 78, 75 for a 4:58 high, but honestly the effort was equivalent to a much faster mile on the track. For all the progress I have made in my track pacing, and it has been a lot this year, I am useless on that undulating road mile. I tried to do a second mile a few times, but rarely made it more than 300m. I decided to bag it and, with Lindsey's suggestion, try again in the morning.

Wednesday morning went a little better, if only because I didn't bother with McLean. When I got to Marshall at 8 am, a gym class was making its way to the track. For God's sake, who has gym at 8 am? So, I'll scrap the workout this week. I'll rest for the Fred Hardy Invitational 5k Friday night. Despite my disappointing race on Saturday, I feel much better about my chances. It's an evening race, and I tend to do better running then. It's on the track, so even if I am alone I can get feedback from splits. I'm unlikely to be alone, hopefully I can tuck into a pack and get two miles out of the way under 5:00 pace. Also, it's a track, no hills, it's well protected from the wind, and I really haven't been training for five miles lately. Hopefully the good and the bad from Van Metre will figure into my approach to running a 5k close to my expectations.

Friday night's 5k will be my first track race in six years. I have no idea if I am ready for it.

Delayed gratification

2011-03-17T10:00:00.000-04:00

Sunday I went to Balitmore with Jess McGuire to watch the Kelly Shamrock 5k, a dubious choice because I don't care much for St. Patrick's Day or Baltimore. I ran for about 45 minutes around the city, but felt off, so I bagged the other 50 or so minutes I had planned and watched the race.
Dirk said I should take the afternoon off and not worry about my second run, but after a car ride to Bethesda and a long metro and bus ride home to Falls Church, I figured I could get an easy seven in without causing trouble for my stomach, since I had a steak and cheese sandwich at 4:30. I ran a Park Plus, averaging 6:47s and felt fine. I'm glad I did it.

Monday I did my first hill "workout" in a while. I warmed up with seven miles of Pimmit Hills, then started the hill portion.
It's complicated, but: 200m sprint steep up, 30 m recovery, 200m sprint steep down continuing into 200m sprint gradual down, 200m recovery gradual, turn around, run medium 600m up (400m gradual, 200m steep), 230m recovery steep down.

Initially, the 200m steep uphill sprints killed me, but I realized I was going all out too early. I adjusted the second time, and that was when the gradual uphills started to become a problem. I was running the gradual 400m too hard, and my tank was empty by the time I got to the steep part. I was totally dead by the time I got to the end of the fourth, and instead of doing it again, I threw in a few extra 200m uphill sprints. I felt like I was mastering those. After a mile cooldown, I had 13.

Tuesday I did a sedate Scott's Run 11.75 miles in 6:40 pace. My glutes were sore from the hills, and I worried I might have done too much, but hoped it would pass.

Wednesday I felt like total garbage when I got to the track. The warmup was a struggle, and there was a point where Lindsey was talking to me and I had no idea what she meant. I ran a medium 800m warmup and noticed I went 2:35, so somehow despite feeling like I was better off
I stuck behind Murph for the 2k- running pretty even for 7:25. I took the lead for mile and 1200, running 5:04 and 3:41. Dangerous Dave led the 800 in 2:22 and the first 200 of the 400. I took off at that point and finished in 66 high, probably my fastest 400 since 2008. I somehow put together my most complete workout in eight months after feeling like I'd be pulled from the track before we started. Steve's suggestion to get regular turnover work is really starting to pay off -- mentally, running 73s doesn't even bother me anymore, and I have the basic turnover to do it. The only reason I didn't try to run harder at the end of the 400 was the fact that I hadn't run faster than 70 seconds on a track for a while and wasn't sure if I could do it. The hills certainly helped my basic speed, and perhaps my residual soreness and lethargy worked in my favor Wednesday, bridling my enthusiasm until I really needed it. Maybe that's why I finished with a 66.

From soaking wet to way too dry

2011-03-12T18:10:00.002-05:00

I dislike the W&OD Trail in certain circumstances, and tolerate it most of the time. It's a nice amenity to have, but too often it attracts too many walkers, joggers and bicyclists to be of much use to me. I integrate it into some of my loops, but I'll often use alternatives when they present themselves. I'd prefer a dirt path, or limestone, like the Panhandle Trail. It does however, offer a safe alternative to running on Shreve Road, which has a limited shoulder, and a pedestrian bridge over Route 7.
The only time I really relish running on the W&OD is when it is raining. Then, I eat it up. I toss on my Run for Roch hat to keep the rain out of my eyes and go for it. I used to run out to Park Avenue in Vienna and back because it was exactly five miles, but I broke out of that orthodoxy last Monday when I did a little loop around the community center. This week, with my plans to do singles again, I found myself needing 14 miles, and found an out-and-back a little farther than seven, turning at Clarks Crossing would give me 14.15.

I headed out into strong rain and ran 43:00, then turned around and ran 42:38 for the way back, despite taking it significantly easier in the last mile as I climbed Grove Ave. When I realized how quickly I had done it, I took my heart rate, and got only 129. That seems low.

Friday after work, I went out for a ratchet run. My goal was to go really easy for the first three miles, run normally for three miles, run a moderate pace for three, then a hard three, and an easy on back to the office. The wind was pretty rough on Capitol Street and the Mall, but I ended up averaging 6:30s. I was hoping for at least 7:00+. Once I hit Ohio Drive I had two full miles along the Marine Corps course to use the measurements in the pavement, and I ended up running 5:48s for them. It was bizarrely calm on Hains Point, given the wind in the first two miles, I expected By George-ferocity gusts. I ran about 5:40 or so to my "track" at "Henry Park," then let loose for the last three serious miles. The wind was even worse than before, and like the mythological wetsand, struggling only made it worse. I had a 10 second difference between my 400 into the wind and the 400 with it at my back- 85-75. I came through the mile in 5:20, which is about what I wanted, but my third time facing the wind, my stubbornness waned. I gave up. Adding some mileage around Capitol Hill, I saw the windmills near the gardens spinning like mad, and I realized I picked perhaps the worst time to work out. I finished up and went home and collapsed.

I switched my long run to Saturday so I will have time to run around Baltimore at my leisure before the guys run the 5k there. I went for my old classic Chesterbrook 18 miler. I started a little too fast- 6:04, and managed to calm down with a 6:30 second mile. I felt a little off, though. I averaged 6:23 through 9 miles and the magic was not happening up Glebe today. I was woozy, and regretted being so far from home. I struggled through most of the rest of the run, but was so thirsty. I also thought about unfortunate Jimmy, who is sidelined with Vertigo. Then I kept hearing the South Park caricature of Bono:

Bono at Union Jack's

Man,I was thirsty. I ended up walking a little, then cutting off a mile. My shirt was soaked and there was salt all over my blue shorts. Even though I will count the mileage for next week, in the last 14 days I have run 184 miles in 14 runs. Only three of which were in daylight. I am ready to double for a while. My schedule will be much more malleable next week, so doubling will happen. Plus, more light.

In other news, Llano ran the bejeezus out of the US 15k championships- finishing 23rd at 4:50 pace, just two places back in a stronger field than the 12k xc champs last month, where he ran 4:59 pace. Jonny Wilson also ran well- 41st place in47:14, just ahead of Outlaw, 48th in 47:55.

Hitting the ceiling, for now

2011-03-10T12:02:00.002-05:00

Days two and three of the legislative conference were far less pleasant than I had hoped. I woke up Monday feeling fine, but after a packed Metro ride and a fiasco trying to get into the press room, I started feeling drained. The temperature swing violently as I bounced between from packed rooms and gingerly-attended workshops. By the general session in the afternoon I was just looking for a horizontal surface on which to collapse. I have been fighting nasal congestion for a few weeks, but I have just run through it. Now it was getting serious. I fell asleep on my ride home and thought maybe I wouldn't run, but once I got off the train, I felt ready to go. I couldn't find my racing flats, so I took a pair of spikes with me to John Marshall by way of a five mile warmup and decided on doing some 600s, perhaps because of my collapse at the end of last week's 800. I started out a little fast- 70 second en route to 1:47, 1:48, 1:49 and 1:50, then the youth soccer team decides to congregate on lanes 1-4 of the 300m mark. That was pretty much the end of that. I ran a few 34-200s to give me a little more turnover work, but honestly I wasn't feeling up to much more running. I went home, popped a benedryl and slept soundly.

After another draining conference day, I came home hungry for another hilly run like the previous Tuesday's. I put together a 6.5-mile route from home to Military Road via Williamsburg, went out in what turned out to be 6:11 pace. I didn't think I was going that fast, and I faced some rough uphills on the way, but I eased up on the way back and ended up averaging 6:19 pace for 13 miles.

I had been looking forward to Wednesday's workout- 4 x mile. Jerry's plan was for the second group to go 5:04, 5:00, 4:56, 4:52. It was ambitious, but I felt most of it was feasible. I felt comfortable enough running 76s for 1.5 miles, so one shouldn't be a problem. 5:00 and 5:56 didn't worry me, but 4:52 seemed like a tall order. Granted, I ran 4:53 last week by myself, but that involved a suicidal first lap and hanging on. I also wasn't feeling quite as bad last week.

I gave Dickson's long dancer's legs some room and started a bit back for the first two, though I moved up halfway through the second. Right on- 5:04, 5:00. I took the pacing for the third, and was thrilled to keep the pacing right on- 74, 2:28, 3:42. I came home with another 74 to hit 4:56.12. I tried to take the 400m jog slowly, but I was anxious to see what I could do for number four. This was where the real work happens, and running 5:04 for a first interval didn't mean anything if I couldn't perform now. I started out perfectly, 73, though my 200 split was 35. The wind on the home stretch compounded my inability to breathe, and I struggled through the line at 2:29. A few steps later, I stepped off the track and sucked in as much air as I could. Evidently 74 was fine, but 73 was just too fast. A few weeks ago, 73 was my all-out 400 speed. Rationally, I did as well as I could expect for this workout, but ideally, I would have kept going. I headed out for the last 400 with Dickson, but in my worry that I would fall off again and end up being a liability, I started too early and didn't help block the wind at all as I ran 73. I did another two 400s, both in 74. The outsides of my quads were tight, the first time I have had any leg discomfort this year. More rest, more drills, more fluid.

I feel like I can be alright on a crowded track, not sure about a road race right now. I signed up for the BAA 5k again ($45!). I balked when I saw the price, but it will be a good opportunity to run for place, rather than focusing on time. I'll give Van Metre a shot next week, which I feel will be more of an opportunity to break back into racing than the By George 5k was, thanks to the wind. I would like to run 5:15s, but we'll see. Then, my first track meet in six years at Richmond. In Spiders news, Benford ran 13:59.99 at Notre Dame last weekend. I can remember how awesome we thought it was when Matt Hannay ran 15:07 at the A-10 meet in 2002. Now, freshmen are running under 15:00. I hope I can, this year... I need to continue to make 71s feel comfortable...

More birds, fewer stones

2011-03-06T22:57:00.000-05:00

When running 90 miles a week first became routine, I was at the start of a humid, uncomfortable, unforgivably hot summer, and doubling was crucial to keeping myself alive and hydrated. Now, the weather is such that I can handle 90 miles in singles with no problem.

Tuesday I put together two long, hilly roads with bike lanes in Arlington- Military Road and Williamsburg, and convinced Outlaw and Murph to join me prior to having pancakes. The run was nice an even- 6:56 pace for 12.1 miles, but the line for pancakes was ridiculous, so pizza sufficed.

Wednesday I managed to keep my stomach together for a pretty successful workout- two miles, 1.5 miles, one mile and 800m. I stuck behind Dickson and we came through the two mile a little faster than we had planned at 10:20, with even 5:10 splits. That alone convinced me that if I wasn't facing strong winds that I could handle a sub 16 5k. The 1.5 mile was even better- 7:36-- 5:06 at the mile, a little slow, so I pushed ahead. I led the mile and admittedly was way out of control after 400- 70 seconds, so I cooled it and slowed to 4:53. I went out in 70 again for the 800, but as soon as I hit 500m, I tied up like a mother. Things got better after jogging 100m, so I charged in, but only ran 2:28. Though I could be disappointed with 100m of my hard running, I can't be with the other 7900m. I ran quickly over a variety of distances and only felt stressed when I matched the fastest of my short-distance speeds. In fact, had I easily run that 800, I would question how well my turnover workouts had gone.

Thursday evening I ran 13 miles on the Double Pimmit loop, averaging 6:30s after seven miles, a good bit faster than I would have liked. I tried to slow, but ended up averaging 6:40.

Friday after work, I did some quarters on the Mall- the third rectangle of grass from the Capitol is 400m in perimeter. I did five warmup miles averaging 5:52, then gave it a shot. After 200 meters of trying to sprint on the Mall's gravel path, I initially planned to give up, because I would likely hurt myself slipping. After a 200m jog back to my starting point, I realized I would cut off very little if I ran on the grass instead, so I gave it a second shot, and it was a lot more successful, almost too successful- I went 68 for my first one, and 67 for my second. I figured that would do, and ran 69, 69, 70, 69, 69, 69, 71, 70, 69, 69. I would have liked to have run four more, but my intestines were rebelling.

Saturday I dragged myself to the metro and up to Bethesda run and watch what ended up to be a very successful tempo. Outlaw picked me up at the Rosslyn metro and we got there a little late, ran around for a while and watched the guys who were working out really crank it on the track. I got another 5+ miles with Karl, Diddy, Dave Burnham and the Hurricane (Dave Nightingale-force winds) on the CCT, meandering between 6:00 and 6:15 pace. I had, generously, four hours of sleep, so to finish 12 miles that fast feeling as good as I did was rewarding.

I had to work at our legislative conference Sunday, so I waited until I got home to go out and do 14 miles in the 40-degree rain. The wind was pretty miserable during the first mile, but things calmed down after three or so. I altered my Sleepy Hollow loop to replace Columbia Pike with a winding detour through some neighborhoods, and it turned out great. I was cold for a while, but I just stopped letting it bother me. I didn't worry about the time, because I have more quarters coming up Monday night, but I wound up averaging 6:30s.

Favorite Pittsburgh Runs #1

2011-03-03T15:00:00.009-05:00

The Wild Wild West End

This route was born from my foray into politics in 2009.

My neighbor and friend Georgia ran for city council to represent the west end of the city. As I explored the district map, I realized just how little I knew of the area. While living in Mt. Washington in 2007, I had run in the West End, Crafton Heights and Elliott neighborhoods, but outside of that area, I was relatively unfamiliar, save for some trips through the Corliss Tunnel as a child. To help introduce her name to western neighborhoods, I planned to make a t-shirt bearing Georgia's name to wear as I ran through the area. The fun part was taking the district map and finding a way to maximize my travel and find a good longish route. What I came up with is a diverse and fascinating tour of Pittsburgh's forgotten neighborhoods that turned out to be excellent for running.
Note: I had become enthused with Esplen in 2008 when I saw this photo and story, but sadly it doesn't fit in the loop.

The start in the West End is a flat stretch through the valley between Elliott and Duquesne Heights until the climb up Steuben Street and Chartiers Avenue into Elliott about a mile in. Traffic can get a little tight early on Chartiers, but on the post-Lorenz downhill, the road widens and traffic disperses.

A right turn at the Comcast building takes you

through the C orliss Tunnel. As a child, I loved traveling through tunnels in Pittsburgh, and because the Corliss Tunnel was the most out of the way, I was drawn to them the most. I couldn't have passed through them more than five times as a kid, and tunnel is very short so they weren't long experiences. You face the Ohio River on West Carson Street and turn left and head west for a block until Glenmawr, a long climb that runs parallel to the West Busway and takes you into Sheraden.

Sheraden is the largest neighborhood in Pittsburgh's West End, annexed by the city in 1907. The once-stable, sprawling neighborhood has gone to seed lately, but decent housing stock is the norm, just in various states of decay.

While running down Ashlyn Street, Eric Shafer, Jo Rupp, Steve Garand, Brandon Gillingham and Greg Byrnes and I saw a teenage girl throw a brick at a boy across the street, but attempt no further assault. Turning down into Sheraden Park you can see some of the fields that bind many of the youth together in routinely strong baseball and softball leagues. A right on Fransisco brings you into the Sheraden Park co-op, with views through the trees of Brunot Island in the Ohio River and down into McKees Rocks.

Back onto Chartiers Avenue, you pass a few taverns on your right, Smitty's, Kron's Draught House and Molly O's Bar and Grille. The Googlemap represents each of these establishments with a martini glass, but I do believe if you order a martini at either place, your departure will be likely expedited by several burly gents.

A loop takes you around the Tuxedo Street skate park, and then hits Chartiers again. The route then descends past the Poale Zedeck Cemetary, associated with a congregation in Squirrel Hill, which is now full. Down the hill into Chartiers City and Windgap, two middle-class residential neighborhoods featuring the Remember When ice cream shop.

A left onto Windgap Road leads out of the city briefly into Ingram, by the beautiful Allegheny Valley School Patricia Hillman Miller campus in West Prospect before reentering the city in Fairywood, perhaps the most intriguing neighborhood in the city, as I consider it. The neighborhood has about 10 streets, with houses in varying states of decay, and few residents remain. I am still a little scared to venture onto Mazette Place...

The loop runs through almost all of the streets in the neighborhood, and the corner of Abordale and Fairywood Street is so remote that I doubt 99 percent of the city's population has ever been there.

The city's Web site says, "Fairywood residents hold annual Unity Day Festivals, Town Meetings, teenage dances, and children's talent shows." I feel like that is a complete lie... I did find evidence of a two-hour community festival in July 2009.

Head straight into the Broadhead Manor housing project, abandoned in 2004 when Chartiers Creek flooded after Hurricane Ivan. It used to be the most dangerous part of Pittsburgh, and I'm sure there are squatters living there that keep it moderately dangerous, but on Sunday mornings they are rarely out and about. They're probably at church. Here's a taste of the dysfunction once abounded at Broadhead Manor. You've hit the lowest point on the loop and

will enjoy a few miles of flat but exposed running, so if it's a hot day, be ready for it. By that point you really start to feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. The valley you are in was rural until the end of World War II.

Coming out of Broadhead, you see the vitality and likely the future of Fairywood -- industrial real estate. I'm not even sure what all of the buildings store -- I know one is a food depot, another is UPS and a third is Roomful Express furniture. Head to the end of Beechnut Street and head off the road and turn left to run parallel to the train tracks that are part of the former Scully Yard.

Over a slight bridge and onto Napor Boulevard, you're now in Kennedy Township, I believe. Follow Napor under the Thornburg Bridge into Thornburg then across Steuben Street, in Crafton, back into the city.

The first time I remember crossing the Thornburg Bridge was in June 2001, when I got lost taking my then-girlfriend, Kelly, to dinner on Mt. Washington. I couldn't get over to the Route 51 South exit from 279 and took 51 North, where we hit an awful traffic jam. Trying to turn around in the West End, I made an illegal left turn and would up climbing Steuben Street into Elliott, Crafton Heights, regular Crafton and when I hit the bridge I realized it was time to figure out where in God's name we were. Eventually we got back on track, but for a long time the memory of being so completely lost in an area close to where I lived stuck with me and represented itself visually as the Thornburg Bridge.

In 1777, General Edward Hand built the first federal hospital in the new nation along the banks of the Chartiers Creek, near the fording between the Thornburg Bridge and Brodhead-Fording Road.

You run back to Broadhead Manor on the Industrial Highway, which is dramatically empty. It adds to Fairywood's post-apocalyptic feel of. It's really remarkable. Matt Ciccone discovered the same route as a high schooler, and my friend's boyfriend (who went to Langley) used to know people who would drag race there. It runs along Chartiers Creek, which my high school environmental science class studied. Someday, there will be a complete trail along the river, there there are a few miles of trail on the west bank.

There was a man on Broadhead Fording Road who used to be outside when I would run there in Spring 2009. He was a welcome change from the hecklers I ran into in the suburbs. He would ask me earnestly how far I had gone, if I was running the in marathon, and how far until I was done. I hope that man is still around. I doubt it.

In contrast to the rest of the neighborhood, Emerald Gardens is growing somewhat. A private company bought the former projects, Westgate Village, and is renovating them, and it seems to be the only growth going on there.

You're actually in a city at this point.

Shortly before the 14-mile mark, you start a long climb to Steuben Street. The next few uphills are pretty much a constant, but managable, climb. Clearfield street is hard to catch, so be mindful to look to the right up Windgap Avenue approaching Summerdale. There's a chain across the path, so look out! You disappear into a wooded path that makes you forget you're in a city. It's amazing. It's also very steep.

Throughout this stretch, you'll see middle-class homes and churches, with the occasional crazy man in front of the Middletown Road Baptist Church, who will ask you if you are interested in what he has to say. You are not. Trust me.

The climb up to Barr is kind of steep, but it's the end of any climbing you'll have to do. The last two miles on Noblestown are a long downhill, and it's fun to just let loose, especially when passing through West End Park. Crank it!There's a convenience store around the corner from the finish, and they stock chocolate milk. If you run early enough, you can get warm doughnuts in Elliott. A long hard run on this loop will satisfy you for a while, and if done right will leave your legs tingling.

For the most part, people I know don't spend any time in the area. When I had my going away party at the Obey House in Crafton Heights, most people said they had never been around there. I just love the variety that comes in this run, the long hills, the dramatic views, the 10 different neighborhoods, the fact that nobody knows where half of the places are.

I think one reason I enjoy this loop so much is that the area was pretty close to where I grew up, but I never explored it. I didn't know much about the area between interstates 376 and 79, and I didn't care. There couldn't be much there, right?

Considering how dangerous Broadhead Manor was, that's probably a good thing I didn't explore so much. To see that neighborhood reduced to near abandonment intrigues me, because the bad stuff that happened just picked up and left.

In 1998, Charlie Van Gombos and I decided to follow a pair of girls in their car after they bought some cigarettes (clearly underaged) and we wound up following them onto Noblestown Road all the way to the West End. Neither of us had a clue where we were- it was dark and that lent an air of mystery to the whole fiasco.

The neighborhoods' interconnectedness also adds a sense of adventure- a wrong turn on Berry will lead you to Langley High School if you aren't careful. There are fascinating views and spots all over the place.

It's a land of mystery, of which the nexus of it all may never be determined.

Another Pittsburgh Marathon weekend 5k idea

2011-03-01T22:08:00.002-05:00

The Pittsburgh Marathon added a 5k to the weekend's races. This article describes the race, and the course doesn't seem too inventive, but it was certainly an afterthought for the organizers. It's admittedly a compromise to the popularity of the race weekend, which is fantastic, because so many people are interested in running the half (though we could use more people willing to step up to the full, there are plenty of spaces there still). With a little more planning next year, a 5k that takes advantage of Pittsburgh's hills for a fun and fast race. Note that I plotted this first course in April 2010, long before the marathon course was changed to Liberty Avenue, which necessitates a shift, perhaps to Smallman Street. I could redraw the courses, but since I already waited 11 months to reveal my prescient genius (along with my ego and sense of sarcasm) , I am just getting these ideas out now for...nobody to read them or take them seriously.

Pittsburgh Marathon-related 5k

Rather than a loop downtown, take advantage of Pittsburgh's topography and "shoot them out of a cannon" down the Bloomfield Bridge and onto Liberty Avenue to the shared finish line at the convention center. People waiting along Penn Avenue could see people running on Penn and Liberty in different races.

A second option is down Bigelow Boulevard, which will be more scenic, though it will involve a few turns. You do get to finish on Grant Street, which is pretty sweet. I prefer this option.
Start the marathon and 5k races at the same time. If the slowest 5k runners come through in an hour, which at that point would be a trickle, the fastest half marathon runners will just be approaching, and the 5k will have been going on for 1:15 by the time an appreciable crowd comes through for the half.

The big logistical issue for both of these races -- getting runners to the top of the hill.

When it stops being fun...

2011-03-01T16:56:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago, I talked to my dad on the phone and mentioned that I was really enjoying running. He responded in a way that seems obvious but might not be to someone who gets in so deep as a long distance runner.

"Well that's good, if you don't enjoy it, there's no reason to keep doing it."

Prescient.

Sometimes it's hard to qualify "fun." I have fun when my legs are burning, but not when my intestines are in disarray. I will enjoy my races more when I have put myself in good shape through hard work, so it's all relative. Sometimes running for the sake of running is counterproductive. I have never really felt burned out, maybe frustrated, but I've never disliked running for more than a day or so. I have disliked situations (Hampden-Sydney's non-coach, my 2002 stress fracture that was my own doing right when I started running with the Richmond team) but I think I can attribute my relative longevity to prudence and perspective.

I employed both at the end of last week. I wanted to do a five-mile moderate run at some point,

and Friday morning seemed like the time to avoid the strong winds forecast for the afternoon. I woke up to rain, though the actual amount of rain is often obscured by a noisy downspout, and immediately went back to sleep. We had a large staff lunch at work, so I didn't run in the middle of the day, figuring I could run hard Saturday and just get in an easy 10 after work.

When I headed out for that 10, I noticed the stiff breeze people had been talking about. It was serious. I headed down to the mall, and when I got to the Capitol reflecting pool the full force of the wind hit me. I felt like someone was punching me in the face and slapping me around. After a little more than a mile, I realized I'd had it and this was certainly not an easy run anymore. Forcing myself to run through that was a quick way to make me not enjoy running, so I turned around, went back to my office and gave the treadmill a shot. After three miles at 6:58 pace and no fan to cool me off, I applied the same reasoning as before and just stopped, in hopes of wanting to run again someday. I couldn't

Saturday morning I slept through the store run again and took an easy four miles around Idylwood. In the afternoon I wanted to do a five-mile moderate run, and i found a nice loop that was park of Fineview Park. Less than a mile in, though, a gate blocked the entrance to the Raytheon parking lot, which was all torn up. I hurdled a metal barrier and ran around the fence, around some debris in the parking lot, then around another fence. Suffice to say, I wasn't feeling too swift after that. I kept it up until about the three mile mark, which I passed in 16:38. Ok, but the jumping and whatnot made my legs pretty dead, and my intestines were troubling me again. I slowed down and ran for a while longer, but with about a mile to go I decided to walk in. I wasn't going to do myself any good by angering my guts further.

Sunday I headed out for a long run that would combine two main elements -- the hills of Military Road and the W&OD trail near Bluemont Park. My congestion didn't seem to be a problem when I was running, I'd just blow my nose every few minutes, but I guess that and the temperature (in the low 60s) got to me through increased sweating, because by the time I made it to the trail at mile 12, I was parched. Luckily, I brought money with me so I stopped at a Shell station and bought a Gatorade, but suddenly adding 20 ounces of fluid to your stomach isn't going to make six miles any easier. I finished at the 7-11 at the base of Grove, bought some chocolate milk (I had been carrying money with me for just this occasion) and walked home.

Monday I did an easy 11 miles on the W&OD trail in the rain, as it seems every out-and-back I do there is thus accompanied by precipitation. I struggled to keep myself under control, most of my spot checks on my half mile pace were around 3:15.

Favorite Pittsburgh Runs #2

2011-02-25T17:00:00.002-05:00

Standard - this used to be the Beechwood loop until I realized that less than half of it was on Beechwood Boulevard.

Beechwood was the foundation upon which most of my eastern-centric running was based. This basic route evolved from my winter long runs in 2007, when snow or frozen ground made running on trails unwise. I tweaked it a bit. It used to start at the oval, wrap through Schenley, and looping down forbes to Morewood then Fifth/Penn all the way to Braddock and back on forbes before starting Beechwood. In retrospect, that was a lame loop- there was no need for all of that distance on Fifth.

Beechwood's appeal is that for most of its length, two bike lanes give you an off-sidewalk option. Miles two, three and four are pretty long uphills, so much that even when starting in the middle, Alex complained nonstop about having to climb. Mile four is a delightful downhill.

When Beechwood meets Browns Hill Road, the bike lanes dry up and you have to find a good opportunity to cross the street. The traffic rarely moves fast, but drivers are impatient here.

Crossing the Greenfield Bridge shortly before the sixth mile mark is usually ridiculously windy, but offers a nice view to the west down the parkway.

After that, you climb Greenfield Road to Schenley Park, up past the oval and tennis courts and down against lightly-trafficked one-way, winding road. After heading east on Panther Hollow Road and taking a left at the Bartlett Playground, you follow the Race for the Cure course at about its 1.75 mile mark. After a climb around Serpentine Drive, you head down through the gentle curves of the the Bob O'Connor golf course, and back up to Forbes and

Northumberland. When you hit Shady, it's a long downhill that you won't have to climb again. You can really enjoy it. Perhaps my favorite part, despite running through parks and all kinds of dramatic hills, is the short downhill on Emerson, close to the end of the run.

Dying too young...

2011-02-24T15:39:00.000-05:00

A great workout died in its adolescence.

The 4x1.5 mile workout scheduled for Wednesday was going to be a great mix of speed and duration, giving me four chances to push through the fairly arbitrary mile mark of a hard run.

Jerry's plan for the B group was 79, 78, 77, 76, and I was ready for that, enduring what is now a thankfully slow track pace of 79-second quarters and slowly but confidently speeding up.

The first one went EASILY- 7:50 with a 5:14 mile en route.

I followed Dickson for the second and we started hitting 76s consistently, going through the mile in 5:05 (my fastest mile in I don't know how long) and continuing to 7:40. Those last two laps, however, I felt growing discomfort in my abdomen, and I was worried my hold on my digestive track was as tenuous as a North African despot's control of his county. Which county? Take your pick, really...

After crossing the finish line, I sped up to B-CC's lobby to use the bathroom, and managed to return just shy of the four minute recovery period. Maybe I could avoid disrupting the workout after all. I rejoined the group as they sped off, but 200 meters in I knew my hubris has gotten the best of me-- while my training partners were jogging relaxedly, I had been rushing back and forth, stressing out about finishing the workout, basically NOT recovering. I jogged back to the line, waited for the group to come through at 800 meters and joined them for the next 800 to stay loose and warm- 2:31. The civil unrest continued and it became necessary to exile more dissidents.

I joined Dickson and Dangerous Dave for the last of their 'peats, and was handling it pretty well, coming through 1200 in 3:50, but I knew my time on my legs was numbered. I decided to go for it and try to run a fast mile, but I wasted a lot of breath trying to explain to them what I was doing.I took off with 300m to go, but tied up with 100 left. I managed a 75 for the last 400 to finish with another 5:05. I jogged a bit then joined Brian for a 76/77 last quarter.

I wound up with 4.75 miles of quality speed work, but it was far from what I wanted to do or what I was capable of doing. Just as I knew I was in for a bad workout during my warmup last Tuesday, I was ready to handle it, probably run below 7:40 for the last two, but my digestive problems poisoned my chances.

Thursday I ran a Catholic 11 at lunch, averaging 6:25. I pushed pretty hard up Harewood Road, but for the most part was relaxed and focused on my form. I'm tired and need a good night's sleep.

It's chilly again

2011-02-23T15:04:00.001-05:00

Sunday morning I had perhaps my best run in Rock Creek Park on a morning when I had a lot of excuses to not run more than a few steps. I was hungry and I felt like I had been punched in the face, and my arms were really sore. I tried to point something out and my right bicep crampled. I really only like the first mile or so from the line, then it gets boring for me, but I managed well enough. I had to wear long clothes, which was a bummer, because I really enjoyed the warmth for the last week. I did a little more than 10 miles with Predator, Murph, Wiggy and Big City. I headed home, took a nice three hour nap, to equal the time I spent sleeping the night before, and went out for another seven miles on the Park Plus loop, with a chilly misting of rain.

I slept a hell of a long time the next morning, because I had the day off. I ran a four-mile warmup to George Marshall, put on some flats and started on what I planned to be 16x400: 71,71,73,71, 71,71,72,71, 71,71. I started taking longer recovery jogs after number six, because I was struggling toward the end. After a while, the drizzle and breeze chilled me so much over the 2.5 minutes or so that my breathing was less of a problem than my mechanics. On a warmer day, things might have worked out better, but I got some work in, and I was on the faster side of 71 seconds for most of them. I got four more miles in that afternoon from Pokey's dad's house in Rockville, which passed nondescriptly.

Tuesday after work I had a great distance run- 11 miles of an extended Presidents', which I ran at 6:21 pace consistently, according to spot checks at 4, 4.35, 6.95 9.8 and 11 miles. It felt great.

Also of note, these are delicious.