10-10-10: The date to humiliate

I did it! I ran a marathon!

It took a lot of dedication, discipline, training, focus and determination, but I did it!

Charlie Ban = marathon finisher

The jubilation that someone feels when saying those words with pride is so foreign that I can't comprehend it. I'm beyond it, I'm cynical. The Chicago Marathon was nothing close to what I expected on my worst day. 2:50:04. On one of the fastest courses around. With a deep field amped to run fast.

Things started well enough. An easy flight to Chicago after work on Friday, no trouble getting to Pokey's apartment in Hyde Park. I woke up Saturday morning and took an easy 4.5 mile run, then had breakfast with Molz and a haircut, a meatball sandwich for lunch and a nap while we waited for Bethany to arrive from Pittsburgh. Our trip to the expo was efficient and dinner with the team was delicious. Sleep was a problem, though, Saturday night. Pokey's apartment was a University of Chicago dorm that didn't have air conditioning, but historical temperatures did not necessitate it.

Maybe it was three people sleeping in one room on top of the mid-day high in the mid 80s, but we sweltered. I cooled off by lying on the floor for a while, which helped. At some point, however, I evidently got up and tried to leave, getting as far as into the hallway

before Pokey woke up, asked me what I was doing, and I answered "I have no idea what I'm doing."

All three of us woke up at 5, eager to feel the low in the mid 50s. When we got outside to catch the bus, we learned that those lows wouldn't be coming. It was already in the low 60s, and it did not feel cool.

We caught the bus and I met up with Molz and Garrett. Molz was in a much better spirit than before Richmond. We got off and I parted company with everyone and went to check my bag.

I met up with some of the GRC guys for a team photo that didn't happen and headed to the start with Scott Koonce. Time started moving a lot faster as the race approached and before I knew it, the gun went off.

I realized that a lot of people were way too far ahead in Corral A because just trying to keep a 6:10 mile meant swimming through a crowd. I saw Laura O'Hara briefly in the tunnel and just went with the flow for a while. 6:07.61 A little quick, but I was barely thinking, just trying to keep my breathing relaxed and stay away from crowds that could go down if someone trips. I wanted to see in front of me. 5:46.63 Even faster- I was thinking 5:52-5:55, but there was no use getting hung up on splits this early. 5:50.25 Much better, let's just move a little faster, it will all add up over a mile. Sloane was around here, he said something, but I couldn't understand him. 5:40.93 Perfect! Just maintain this rhythm and I'll be in the right place. Keep it up until mile 21 then start pushing. Wound up with Mark Buschman from the Howard County Striders, with whom I ran part of Parks. 5:35.09 Fast, but I didn't think I needed to slow dramatically. 5:44.04 Busch mentioned it was a little slow, again, I didn't want to overreact. The fast previous mile gave me a cushion. 5:39.30 Great. Had some gu. Heard Madeline Harms to my right! 5:44.33 Cruised along in the shade. 5:36.50 Oh deary me! A little fast! 5:40.20 Saw Javed Gangjee off to the side. Yelled "Happy birthday!" but he didn't hear me, so I got close, and yelled his name. He turned, I repeated my greeting and he yelled for me. 5:39.09 Started running with a big pack that included Tera Moody, one of the better US women and one with whom I identified because of a common inability to sleep. I think hers is chronic insomnia, whereas I hope I can fix mine once doctors rip my tonsils out. 5:41.90 Feeling great- still not breathing hard, just floating along.5:52.63 Woah, I didn't realize we slowed down, but I was hanging with the pack, and for once, I was acquiescent to a mob mentality. Passed the half in 1:15:16- a 3:03 PR! I have to let the good times keep rolling! 5:56.20 Slowed to take some water and gu, but caught up with the pack a little later. 6:06.49 Ok, I rushed too much to catch the pack. My god, it's sunny out here. When did it get so hot? I thought I was still recovering from my effort to surge back up to the pack.

6:08.93 I've been dropped and am running alone. 6:13.00 The wind is getting bad. I am dizzy. Maybe my sunglasses are too tight, I'll take them off. Gosh, it's so sunny. 13:11.74 I couldn't find the mile marker, just stupid kilometers. I was terrified I had dipped into the 7s 6:35.44 hit 20 miles in 1:58:49. Still under six minute pace. If I keep this up, I can run 2:36. Took some water and gu, this will be the last one. I start seeing runners milling around the sidewalks, some sitting down. 6:58.50 Oh carp! My right arm and foot are numb. Did I have a stroke? What am I going to do? Cotterell and Murphy pass me, and I initially see Charlie Van Gombos. What is he doing here? Am I going crazy? I stop and untie my right shoe- maybe it's too tight and is cutting off the circulation to my foot. When I try to start running again, my quads seize up. This is bad. 9:11.13 I see Molz, standing my the side of the road, dripping. He yells for me. Shit, he dropped out? I see Garrett a few yards ahead of him. I start to lose hope. After a while, I sit down on the curb for a while and try to catch my breath. It's not so much of a choice as it is the only thing my body can do. I am so hot. I can't think. Three minutes pass,I have to get going.

9:57.54 I see a water stop, I pass it and pull over behind it and help myself to five cups and lean against the rail of a bridge. If I am going to have water, I am going to enjoy it! 8:31.57 Took a while to walk, stretch out my calves. Man, this marathon blows. 7:04.02 Started running more constantly. Saw a Pacers girl. Aw man, I really am falling back. Saw Javed in here somewhere, or at least heard him. He yelled for me to keep my head up, I tried to comply. 8:00.43 Back in the shade, but I am tired. Stop to walk a few times- at this point, what does it matter? Maybe Kate will catch me and I can run with her, despite her efforts to avoid ever running with me. (she ended up running 2:52, a 10 minute PR) I stop for a while, then I see Pat Hughes run by. Maybe I should try to run in with him! I start to run after him, for five seconds. Then I stop again. Aw, screw it!! I keep jogging, though. Let's finish this abortion of a race. 1:31.70 Yeah, that's over. Thank God...

As I walked around, trying to keep my legs from seizing, I analyzed everything, the wrong way as it turned out. I had run almost a minute faster two years ago at Marine Corps, in trainers, starting in the back of the pack and forced to run 7:49s the first few miles. Without the long runs, without the 100+ mile weeks, without the workouts that I did this summer. Was I that colossal of a failure that with all of this marathon training, I still wasn't good enough? I was embarrassed that the neophyte marathoner that I was two years ago outperformed the seasoned distance runner I had become. Even though my memory is unusually sharp, I could barely remember most of the last three hours. Granted, I have recounted it here, but what I have written was just a sliver of what happened. I don't remember when exactly I saw Madeline and Javed. I saw Billy and Christiam a few times. I don't know why I didn't just slow down to a crawl, totally recover and try to still run under 2:35. Because I wasn't in my right mind. I thought I could just run harder and drop time when something was affecting me negatively.

But I knew I was better than that. What about that mountain run? What about the ease with which I had run some of my long runs?

So, what happened? Did I go out too fast? No, I don't think I did. The entire time I was averaging 5:40-high between miles for and 12, I ran completely within myself. Mike Cotterell, who ran a great race for a 10 minute PR, said it plainly to me on the walk to meet up with everyone else "You aren't a hot weather runner." Evidently it was 67? degrees at the start, and most of the first half was in the shade. It was 74 degrees by the time I hit 21 miles and most of the rest of the race was in the sun. It wasn't oppressively hot, but it was much warmer than I would prefer to be running anything longer than 10k. It snuck up on me, and before I knew it, it kicked me to the ground. Now it was after the race, and I was wandering, still sweating, and I came across a fountain. When I tried to jump in, two volunteers told me it was a bad idea, and I asked for directions to Lake Michigan. On my way there, Molz called, so I sat down to take it and looked ahead, right into the eyes of Timothy James Caramore, watching the race with his lovely new wife Elizabeth. It had been two years since I had seen TC Booyeah, so it was a pleasure to catch up. Eventually, Molz and Garrett found us, and we had a nice little reunion.

Men of the Spider track team

Should I have dropped out at 21, when I started losing my mind? Probably. Once I sat down in the street -- definitely. I don't think I hurt myself, though. I came the closest when I tried to run with Hughes after a dead stop toward the end. My feet were cramped like crazy and I had bad blood blisters on two toes, but nothing terrible. The mental kick in the balls, though, from suffering through the last few miles was pretty severe.

I caught up with Pokey, who was also disappointed with his time, but to be honest, the way his legs were feeling a few weeks ago it was great just for him to be able to run. And he's over the hump of his first marathon. I never saw Eric Anish, but he ran 2:42 I think. Murphy was happy enough with his time. Reaves wasn't, nor were Bain, Sloane and Shannon. Dickson and Ernst dropped out after 21. Laura gave up, Katie Jarocki blew up, Kylee almost caught up. Jess Gangjee almost didn't make it to the finish. Medical assistants had to walk her in before she pushed them away to run her last 100 meters, but when they put the medal around her neck, she passed out and spent the next four hours in the medial tent with a 102 degree temperature.

My unnamed rival ran pretty well. I was bummed to have not even realized he was in the race.

Anne-Marie Alderson had the biggest race- a 33 minute PR, after finishing an Ironman six weeks prior.

While having lunch with Bethany and Pokey a few hours afterward, I think Pokey suggested, "why not do another one?" Then I realized, I would be in DC for the Marine Corps Marathon. The weather has been great the last two years. What's to lose? Besides my confidence? I decided then that I would give it another shot in 21 days. I took a five mile jog around Hyde Park Monday morning and a one mile sprint through the Detroit Airport to catch my connecting flight home and then started organizing people to cheer and support me around the Marine Corps Course. Then I got a great message from Howard Nippert.

It wasn't a phone call, but he looks like a badass in this picture.

Listen up, Boy.
You had a great first part of Chicago.
I was hoping you would get back on the horse and race soon, but not too soon.
I can tell you right now that you impressed me, not only convincing me that you're in the best shape I've seen you in (of course I wasn't around you guys all the time) since I've known you, but your confidence was at an all-time high. It took a bucket of balls to jump out and lead the Alumni race and make those guys come get you. Now, take that preparation and confidence, temper it with a little taste of knowledge and experience, and perhaps a better idea of what you're capable of in terms of finish time and run a smart, calculated, properly executed race.
You went all the way this weekend, so realize that there isn't going to be much training this week or even in a week or two going into MCM. You've got 2 weeks and a taste and most of that should be recovery and some stuff to shake the doo-doo from your legs. Don't tap into your muscles as they try to recover with a long run or a long interval workout. Keep things short until next weekend if you want to do something a taste longer, but not long.
The big mistake you can make that can screw the pooch is to think you can add more training between now and then. A marathon that goes "bad" takes longer to recover from than one that goes "good" because you finished and ran it the hard way. The second half takes way more out of you when it lasts 20 minutes longer and you don't back out.
Just my 2 cents.
Keep the faith, son. You're in great shape. Keep the fitness up with little short things for staying sharp that won't tap into you while you try to recover. Keep your confidence up as you go because the training hasn't gone anywhere. You're still as fit today as you were last week and you'll be as fit in 3 weeks as you were heading into last week.
Be smart and don't be scared and try to "make up" for something that was lacking (because it doesn't seem anything was) going into Chicago.
HO

Great advice.

So, I'm ready to go. Five days later, I am feeling like I'm 95%, but true to Howard's advice I'm keeping it easy. I'm talking to Steve about some specific workouts to keep myself primed for Marine Corps later today. I'll get in a nice easy run with some GRC guys tomorrow and start in earnest to redeem myself.

I took Tuesday off, and ran a very easy 6 miles Wednesday around the Mall with Melissa. Thursday, I ran my typical Hains Point loop for 9.55, and today I will run around Falls Church until I feel I've had enough.

(Com) post mortem on the way

If you know what I mean, then you know what I mean

It's about time to head to Chicago to race my first marathon. Technically I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 2008, but let's face it- that was a jackass effort. I consciously decided not to train for it beyond my usual 5k training and ran it like it was a long run with thousands of other people. Yeah, I got competitive and passed most of them, but I never committed to an effort that would consume me the way I am planning for Sunday. Like it or not, I have dedicated a big part of my life to this over the last five months, and to a lesser extent, 11 months. Regardless of the outcome, I have enjoyed it.

I've said this before, but I just want to get the distance out of the way at a decent pace and then see exactly what I can do in the races later stages, I'll be like the Duke of Plessitora, leading from behind (what in the world does this mean?).

5:36 felt easy on Wednesday, so 6:00 should feel ridiculously slow for the first few miles. So should 5:52 and such.

I've lost a few people on the way. JARRIN's out now, and he, along with everyone else, would have made it an even better race. Dave O'Hara's Achilles never even gave him a chance to get started. Michelle Corkum's inconvenient timing to want to think about law school is keeping her out and toiling away on the LSAT instead.

Whether this goes well or poorly, I have a lot of people to thank for their influence:

Steve Taylor, whose training system has served me well for the last eight years and kept me both fleet afoot and injury free, especially as I significantly increased my mileage to the point where 80 was a recovery week. His cabin gave me a great respite from the early August heat and invigorated for a month of 100+ mile weeks

Jon Molz, whose mastery and dedication to the marathon and otherworldly performance in Richmond made me want to take a stab at it.

Jon Lauder, the companion on the bike during the big workout in the mountains, without whom I would have easily talked myself back from the edge. That 6:25 mile wasn't pretty, but it would have been a lot worse without him next to me.

Pokey Litten, finally closing in on his goal to make it to a marathon injury-free. Teaching him what I know about running has helped keep me attuned to the little things I neglect at times.

Jessica Gangjee, who dragged me through a miserable run in Fox Chapel in March that turned me around in the spring, and Javed, whom I am sure I will hear on the course. One of the best sources of support in and out of races. His presence in Chicago will probably be the biggest factor in my favor.

Spaz Panzarella, for always making me feel better in comparison.

Indirectly, my family, for treating this nonchalantly. It's not that they don't care or understand, they just defer to me to tell them what is important, so they don't smother me. And that's good, because I don't want them to get the chair.

Nobody else.

Nike+ Powersong Zone!

The dress rehearsal went splendidly. Three miles at about marathon pace on the track. I was shooting for 5:40s, I ended up going a little faster than 5:36 for each. I was barely breathing and felt stronger with each step. I feel like the taper is starting to work- I am not feeling as lazy and I'm fighting for every chance I have to rest. My nervous energy built up a little bit after the dress rehearsal because I was 3/26 there, but I am pretty sure the race is going to be a lot more fun than running around the dark track at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School.
Dickson has been upgraded to active, which is fantastic.
I am ready to run this like the 2007 Spring Thaw- my first 10 mile race, when I just went out with a pack and just settled into a good pace to cover ground and turn it into a five mile race, at which point I blew it open in the second half.
Murphy and I talked about the Nike+ Powersong Zone, the 24 mile mark where some godawful DJ will be playing All Star, Tubthumping or We Will Rock You. We started postulating what song we would like to hear with 2.2 miles to go. I thought for a while and came up with the answer on my Thursday run (6.25 miles at 6:25 pace, I am absolutely struggling to keep it slow)- Styx's Renegade.

Injury report

Two negative moves on the injury report- Emily Ward is out with a groin pull and Dickson Mercer has been downgraded with a hamstring injury. I was feeling a little sick this morning, but am better after a nap.

OUT: Karl Dusen (life), Joey Wiegner (achilles), Jake Klim (groin), Emily Ward (groin), Neal Hannan (illness), Alex Eversmeyer (face it, it was never happening), Sarah Morgan and Melissa Dorn (lack of preparation), Mike Smith (no idea)
PROBABLE: Andy Litten (glute), Robert Jarrin (everything), Dickson Mercer (hamstring), Chris Bain (calf)
ACTIVE: Jon Molz, Pat Murphy, Mike Cotterell, Christie Wood, Pat Hughes, Ryan Sheehan, Pat Reaves, Laura O'Hara, Matt Ernst, Shannon O’Neill, Dylan Keith, Billy Askey, Anne-Marie Alderson, Jessica Gangjee, Katie Jarocki, Chris Sloane

I ran an easy six miles with Will and Elyse around the Tidal Basin Monday evening, averaging 7:30s.

Tuesday I did a Pimmit Hills 6.3 at 6:38 pace. Tonight I am hitting the track at B-CC for three miles at 5:40.

I'm thinking back to some of the memorable runs during my summer of training and although this is more for my personal benefit than for any of you who are reading, these stick in my mind:

1. my failed long run home the day after Memorial Day

2. tempo run on the Double Pimmit on Wednesday night in late June, it was really hot

3. medium long run my last day in Reno

4. climbing and descending a mountain on the logging road behind the Cascades State Park in Giles County

5. failed long run in Cumberland

6. the tempo run at 6 am the day before Joe Wildfire's wedding

7. long run with Molz on skyline drive

Also, here's a cool photo from the 1987 Great Race in Pittsburgh, back when it was fast. Steve Taylor is in second about 1.5 miles in.

The Chicago Marathon- a cautionary tale

Long, long before I ever considered running a marathon competitively (about three years, exactly) I got this e-mail from Matt Meurer, detailing his Chicago Marathon experience. Suffice to say, it did not accelerate my interest.

My 2:36:00 adventure

As many of you may have known my goal for the marathon was to go out in 1:14 and try to negative split the race. After seeing the results you may be asking, “what happened to the plan?”. Some of you may think that I listened to John Hursh when he advised me that “whatever you do make sure that you get out fast!”.

I assure you that this was not my motivation for what happened.

I awoke the morning of the race completely committed to the plan. Once I arrived at the Top 100 starting tent I came across quite a surprise. One of my collegiate rivals was standing in the tent, Kevin Pool, an alum of Allegheny college and All-American in cross country. I asked what pace he was thinking of running and he said that he was shooting for somewhere between 2:26 and 2:28 and that he wanted to go out for the first 10K about at the pace that I wanted to run. Then he also told me that one of my main rivals post-collegiately would be joining us, Dan

Princic also an alum of Allegheny College.

Dan, Kevin and I all made our way to the top 100 starting corral behind the elites and lined up near the back, so we would not get taken out to quickly. I looked to Kevin and Dan and said, you’re not going to take me out in 5’20” are you? Then the gun went off and we had started.

We’re cruising along and chatting a little bit, everything feels really easy and I missed the mile split because there were still a ton of people around. At two miles I saw the mark and the split was 10’56”, at that point Dan said: “whoa, that’s a little fast for me, are you guys going to keep going at this pace?” Kevin

gave no response and I don’t think that I did either, at that point Dan dropped back and Kevin and I pushed forward attaching ourselves to the next pack up to avoid the wind gusts of up to 30 mph.

The two mile mark was the abandonment of my plan; my competitive spirit got the best of me and I had decided to see what I could do if I stuck to Kevin. We were running very smoothly, I seemed to be catching every even mile split and

looking at my watch to see yet another 10’56” or 10’57” 2 mile split. We came through the half right around 1:11’ (about 5’26” pace) and it felt like cake. At this point there was still a pack of about 20 guys moving at a good clip. There were huge crowds cheering at the halfway mark and it was a lot of fun to be that far up at the halfway point.

I felt great through 16 miles and 18 miles continuing to eat my gels and to take in water and Gatorade along the way. Somewhere around 19 miles however I noticed that the pack was pulling away from me. I think that my mile split for the 19th mile was right around 5’40”, from there everything went downhill. I found myself totally alone having lost the large pack that I was with. I saw my splits begin to climb and climb quickly: 6’07”, 6’17”, 6’37”. At 20 miles Dan went flying past and told me to: “stay strong Matt”, Dan would go on to finish in 2:28’xx”

At no point did I feel tired or begin to breath heavily, my legs simply turned into to big weights that I had to keep throwing forward if I was to finish. By mile 23 it was obvious that I was a part of the running dead. These runners are easily picked out at any major marathon by the following signs: expressionless faces, rapid deceleration and an overall haggard posture while running. Many of the running dead may actually walk at some points but thankfully I never had to walk.

I finally finished in 2:36’00” (11 minutes behind Kevin whom I ran with for the first 18 miles) with the slowest 3 miles I have ever run in any race and struggled to stay standing after I crossed the line. I was staggering and having trouble holding my head up, it was truly an experience unlike any other I have felt before. My body was completely and totally spent and I was seeing spots, I was probably a minute from fainting when I finished. Luckily they had helpers at the finish line to walk with the people who looked like crap until they could either regain their composure or collapse and be rushed to the medical tent. Fortunately I did not collapse but regained my composure after pounding all of the Power bars, English muffins and bananas that I could get my hands on.

I’m sure that many of you think that I am quite disappointed in my time, but I’m actually quite happy with the race. Sure I could have ran faster if I had gone out at a more reasonable pace, but by totally falling apart I’ve learned the absolute limit of my body and will be much better prepared for my next marathon. I’m not sure when the next one will be, but there will be at least one more. I just thank God that I finished this one.

Thanks for all of your support, well wishes and prayers,

Matt

I can easily see myself getting pulled into that trap- letting competitiveness get ahold of me. I certainly did so in the Cherry Blossom race and paid for it. What would be even more amazing than pulling it off, though, would be exhibiting restraint and discipline so I can tear the race apart in the last 10k.

I run when I want to run

I am getting a better feel for the tapering process now. I am sleeping more, which is nice. I am starting to relish the freedom that comes with lower mileage. It's bittersweet in that it's right when the weather is starting to turn for the better in my eyes- I love October and fall in general.

Friday I started a run with Alex, and he said we were somewhere under 6:30 for a while. We parted ways after almost four miles and I ran the rest of a Presidents' loop

alone, picking it up to average 6:15, with a half mile at 5:40 pace thrown in.

Saturday morning I did an Earnst loop with Murphy, it was sunny with a slight chill. I picked up a pair of Adizero Adios. Everybody says to not wear new equipment to a marathon, but after trying those shoes on I knew I had to make them happen. I wore them around the house and when I did errands on Saturday (after a three-hour nap) and broke them out for my last longish run Sunday.

The last time I wore shoes in the Adizero line for the first time, I ran 14:57 for 5k. I don't want to say such a race will happen again based just on the coincidence that I have new shoes, but I do have great affection for adidas racing flats.

Sunday, I added onto a Fineview Park with the second part of a Westmoreland for 13 miles at 6:28 pace,

with the first seven miles at 6:15 pace. It felt ridiculously easy. At this point running will just serve to maintain my metabolism and keep my weight down. I am looking forward to sleeping a lot in the next few days.

Until then, I will take two tips from Randy Moss- make some smoothies and run when I want to run, just as he plays when he wants to play.

The rush of self-doubt and withdrawl

With less than two weeks until Chicago, it seems prudent to curtail my running in preparation for the marathon. I am not crazy about this, because I have come to be dependent on the exercise that has so dominated my life for most of the last year, though it really only kicked up in late June. I haven't slept well, and I resent the short runs I do, but know that I won't be able to add much to my marathon readiness at this point. Oddly enough, I feel a lot less prepared for Chicago than I did for Marine Corps, which is positively absurd, given that I acted like a total clown before Marine Corps, insisting on not doing any long runs or hitting more than 70 miles a week until Hans insisted I do 20 for my own health.

I followed the miserable race with an equally miserable 5.5 miles around the National Harbor Saturday evening. I was volunteering at the finish festival of the Ragnar relay race to support the RUN LOVES. It was pretty darned hot by the time I arrived, though the trip itself was a pain- two metro lines, one of which was offloaded two stops away from the bus I had to catch and ride for a half hour to get to the harbor. I ended up running laps around a gravel parking lot near the river and exploring an undeveloped but excavated hillside. The volunteer coordinators sent Joanna and me off to a parking lot, where we had few instructions, so I rejected as many people as I could. Eventually we turned our stuff in and left.

Sunday morning, I slept in a bit before heading out for my last long run. Alex was supposed to join me for seven miles, but he was a little baby and slept in. So, I headed out in the rain. I carried a bottle half filled with solid ice and half with water until the four-mile mark and left it there and wasn't too into the run, but miles five through 11 went swimmingly. Shortly after mile 12, I started to get depleted, and it made sense, given my lack of breakfast. I started to worry, especially because I couldn't find Wolftrap Road, which was supposed to take me back through to Gallows Road. I ended up winging it at eventually heading down Follin and Electric, but right about when I passed the finish line from the Navy Federal 5k, a little more than 13 miles in, I felt sudden dread and didn't want to go on. I was several miles from home, so I had to. I just continued on my route until I found my water bottle. I scarfed down a Gu and had some water and dutifully followed the route I had regained. A few minutes later, when I hit the W&OD, I felt much better. Carrying the water was a pain, but I now had half-mile marks to guide me. I hit 6:20 for the next mile with a slight slowdown at the top of the hill climbing the overpass for I-66, then took the next mile, with a road bisecting the mile, and I finished in 5:52. I cut one of the loops from the course that would have made it 20, so I wasn't too happy with 1:57 for what I thought to be 17 miles- it would make my average pace 6:52. When I remeasured, however, I found it to be 18.2 miles, a much more palatable 6:25 pace.

I figured out my optimal fueling schedule for Chicago- eight miles, 15 miles, 20 miles. That is a big step. It might somewhat interrupt when I am getting in a good groove, but it will prevent those deep chasms from forming, like I saw after 13.

Monday I just ran an easy 5.1 around Capitol Hill, sweated like crazy with a lot of humidity.

Tuesday I ran 8.1 at 6:20 pace on Westmoreland.

Wednesday I went to the track for a light workout, felt a little light-headed. Did a mile in 4:58 behind Dickson and Wiggy, felt okay, after 300 meters of the second one, I thought to myself, "I don't want to run fast anymore," so I stopped and jogged the rest.

It was pouring Thursday morning, so I didn't run to work. Then I decided in the middle of the day to take a break.

I spent Friday morning waiting for results from the Paul Short invitational in Bethlehem, Pa. Richmond's men's team was opening its season there, and I was eager to see what the guys could do after hard summer training and being cooped up for the first month of the semester. After hours of refreshing the meet website and Steve's Twitter feed, I saw some good things: a sixth place finish, with a 3-6 by Andrew Benford and Matt Llano, with Tim Quinn in 24th (23:52, 24:01, 24:31). Levi Grandt was a little ill, coming in 89th (25:09) and Chris York coming in 13 spots back, despite trailing by only three seconds.

More than nine inches of rain fell before the race, and I believe it was still raining when the gun went off, though Molz didn't think the course was affected too much, though I don't think he was there to see how bad it was. They ran both open races first, so that certainly chewed up the course a little. Roads were flooded going into Lehigh's campus, so I believe our men got a ride from the Columbia team. Pat Barkhuff was there, and he said the rain during the race wasn't overwhelming. After watching the race video, however, I saw a pretty ugly course at some points. Lots of water on the course, a 90-degree turn in ankle deep water, etc. It was definitely slower than usual. Pretty much everything I saw after the 5k mark looked sloppy.

Our top three are outstanding- Benford, Llano and Quinn are all running soldily and equipped themselves well throughout the race. The glut of finishers started around 62nd place- at 25:00- 60 men finished in the space of 20 seconds. Unfortunately, two were our fourth and fifth finishers. Hopefully this reminder of just how brutally tight big races are will be a wakeup call for Levi and York. Ryan Lee had a decent collegiate 8k debut- he's seeing what racing is all about and will be better prepared for Pre-Nationals in two weeks. Skipper, well, I don't know much about Skipper. Jon Wilson raced again.

I'll close by paraphrasing what Steve told us after the 2003 William and Mary Invitational.

"That's what racing's all about guys, the unknown. What happens when you push yourself when it's all on the line? You don't know, but you need to know what you're made of. You can start off great, but you need to be ready to push when you get to the late stages of the race. It's like the Doors' song- you break on through to the other side. You look at the gateway of miles four and five and it's dark, you don't know what's in there, but then second you step in, all the lights come on and you're in for a fight, but you know..."

Then I started rubbing the back of TC Booyeah's thigh with the two navel oranges I had in a bag that I stuffed in my pants.

TOWL

Look, a gym TOWLOkay, that's enough nonsense for now

Woke up in the morning, felt nothing like P. Diddy

Somehow my unconscious mind recognized the measure of time we observe and woke me up just at the right moment for me to grab my phone and see the numbers change from 6:59 to 7:00. That was nifty, until I realized that I was due on the starting line of the Prevent Cancer 5k in exactly one hour. Wasn't I planning on waking up an hour earlier? If P.Diddy feels like this when he wakes up, I completely understand why he'd send someone to Queens to get him a sugar cookie. (Thank you, Lindsey, for introducing me to this musical monstrosity.)
Thankfully, I had packed most of what I needed the night before, so I grabbed my backpack and ran out the door, hoping to catch the first metro train, the only one that would get me to the city in time. I didn't take the time to put my shoes on, which became an issue when I hit the escalators in the station, but I made it onto the platform in time for a train. Hitting Foggy Bottom shortly after 7:35 gave me a shot, and I ran down the street toward the Lincoln Memorial as fast as I could with my backpack on. After passing the memorial, I saw the finish line banner on Ohio Drive. I ran to the bathroom, came out and was "ready" to "race" at 7:45. I should have just put my flats on while riding the metro, rather than mess with my trainers for a few minutes. I got to the line and saw I wouldn't have to contend with many people- I should be free to pursue a sub 15:30 or 16:00 time without any threat from other runners. My knees were sore as hell from running with that backpack, and my lower back wasn't feeling too great, but I figured with a flat course, I should be okay. I wrung the sweat out of my shorts (it was in the low 70s by 7:45) and got a move on. Pretty soon I could only hear my own footsteps. I looked up and saw an airplane on its way into Reagan, I thought I would race it, like Carl Lewis.


Easy!
I bounded over the bridge and on toward Hains Point. I heard my first mile split- 5:04, and was feeling alright with that. Not bad for having woken up an hour ago. After dodging a few cyclists, I started to come up on the turnaround. 8:03. Not great, but I would see what I could do- I certainly wasn't killing myself in the first mile like last week, but I was also a little more prepared and it was a little cooler last week. My left patella started to feel every step, and I was getting concerned. I saw my competition lagging behind, and I knew I wouldn't have to worry about them.
Before looking at my watch, I figured I would hit the second mile in 5:25- and I was right on. This race was over- there was no need to try to run 4:50 for my last mile to break 16:00- I was totally over it. I eased up and started chatting with the slower runners working on their first mile. many of them were first-time racers, which was nice to learn. The volunteer at the bridge reminded me I could run the tangents, but I told him I was okay not doing so at that point. I slowed to a jog on Ohio and ran 6:15 for the third mile. Then I kicked it in with a 30 to add some excitement to a finish that saw me with a lead of 38 seconds. Not the fast 5k I was hoping to run.

Jive running

The rest of the week following my mountain workout went pretty well. I had a solid, but not spectacular workout- 5x1000 on the track. I wasn't feeling great, especially intestinally, but I managed 3:05, 3:05, 3:03, 3:01, 3:01, running pretty consistently throughout, though with the speed Pat Murphy exhibited in the last 400 of the final 1000, I thought I was going to be a few seconds slower.

Thursday I woke up to run into work, trying out the Bluemont Junction Trail between the W&OD and Custis trails, and I liked it, even though I had to cross Wilson Boulevard. The first mile or so of the Custis Trail is unpleasantly steep and usually perilous with the number of commuting bikers.

Alex and I took to the streets to the north for a 5.25-mile afternoon run.

Friday, I slept in and did all of my running in the evening. I ran into Lisa Sikora on my way to Hains Point, she was headed there too, but the other way, so I joined her for about four miles, which gave me six days of running with other people, a high for me. With her detour, I ended up getting 10.75.

I stayed out a little too late on Friday and slept in on Saturday, and ran 7.5 miles, I can barely remember where, Saturday morning. I stayed at the Dusens' that evening, for ease of getting to the Rockville Metro station for the start of the Parks Half Marathon.

Saturday was absolutely gorgeous, so it was appropriately disappointing that when I woke up around 5:30 Sunday, the rain was pouring. We had to sprint through the downpour when Jordan picked us up, and I became less enthused with the race as we approached the start. We took a short ~mile-long warmup total and before we knew it, it was time to go. The rain slowed to a drizzle and I actually felt alright.

I was careful to let the lead pack get ahead of me early- there was no need to go ridiculously fast early on, especially if I just wanted to run my goal marathon pace (5:40). The downhill first two miles made it a little tough to hold back, try as I might, through 5:33 and 5:25. The third mile was a little more varied, and certainly had more turns, and I was back to a more reasonable pace at 5:40, and the fourth mile more varied still at 5:42. The fifth mile started to give me a little trouble, and I found myself working way too hard for a 5:47. Though I was still under my aggregate goal pace, I was well aware the last few miles were uphill, so I hoped to at least maintain a margin for error in case I didn't have enough to keep me going. By the sixth mile, I was clearly in trouble- barely getting by under 6:00 in 5:55. I was starting to notice things that don't cause a problem when I am running well- the puddles, mud and gradual rain. Thanks to the rain the night before, many parts of the course were under water, and my shoes and socks seemed to soak up more of it than when I am on distance runs. The mud was a little more hazardous and reflected Karl's concern about slipperiness on the way to the race. He was worried more about his shoes on the pavement, and I dismissed that, but I was having genuine trouble staying on my feet when I ran through muddy sections. After slipping a few times, I decided it was time to call it a day and hopefully make it through the race with my body, spirit and enthusiasm for running intact. I slowed considerably and tried my best to stay out of people's way as they passed me. Twice, I stopped to take my shoes off and fix my socks, which had sagged under my heels. When I got to water stops, I stopped and drank the Gatorade they offered while standing still- if time was no longer of the essence, I might as well enjoy myself, though I wasn't likely to do so on the whole.

Toward the end, I stopped enjoying the experience and started ruing the decision to run. I clearly wasn't recovered enough from my long run the previous week to seriously attempt a long race like this.

I probably stopped enjoying it around mile eight, when people started to pass me. I tried to get out of their way, and felt terrible that the comped entry was going to waste. I didn't drop out because I wanted the finishing numbers to reflect the extent to which the MCRRC recruited runners, in fact the race was sold out. I am not sure if they figured people not showing up into the participant limit, but surely someone who wanted to race but couldn't would not be thrilled to see fewer than the maximum number of runners participate.

The race event itself was nice, the MCRRC couldn't do anything about the rain, just as they couldn't have changed the heat and humidity the morning of Riley's Rumble.

In short, I am disappointed that I have yet to run a good half marathon. Just running my marathon goal pace would have meant a four-minute improvement on my second-softest PR. It's not like I am incapable of running fast for 13 miles- in my marathon, when I clowned around for a good chunk of it, I ran faster than my Parks time for twice as long. Granted, the circumstances were not great, but I should be able to handle 5:40 pace for a while, based on the work I have put in.

The challenge here is considering my mountain workout the week before to be a more accurate indicator of my marathon readiness than what I did in Maryland. It would be too depressing if all the emphasis I put on running turned out to not only make me mediocre, but less than what I had done in the past.

Ouch! My friggin' back hurts!

The problem with running as long of a workout as I did on Sunday is that I ran 88 percent of a marathon in the mountains and then had to deal with the consequences. Even with the cooldown figured in, I was on pace for a 2:41, an eight minute "PR." It didn't help that the climbing and dropping added to the wear on my body and that soon after finishing the run we jumped in the car for the trip home to Richmond and shortly after that I rode a bus for 2.5 hours. Would it have killed me to take an ice bath when I got back? So now I feel like I would if I ran most of a hilly marathon a few days ago...

Back in northern Virginia, I woke up at 6:45 Monday to take the Metro to Alexandria for a run with Laura O'Hara. We ran a simple 8.5 mile loop, but my tight back and sore rest of my body made it a rough effort. After a few miles, I loosened up and felt better. Also, I came across a bathroom. We ran about 8:00 pace, and that was fine with me, it was rough, I tell 'ya.

I tried an evening run to get another eight miles in, but five steps in I figured it was more trouble than it was worth.

I slept in Tuesday, my first day of work this week, as is my custom, and waited until I got home to run. I managed to coax Alex out for a part of my 12 miles. We ran north of 8:00 miles for the first four miles, which was fine with me because I was still sore. After he headed home after four miles, I cut down to 7:20s and finished a Fineview Park, which I extended to South and Broad. It was hot, I was thirsty.

Wednesday's morning run was over before I got across Haycock. I'm only doing one workout this week, so I guess I will save my effort today for it and go after these 1000s or two miles or whatever we're doing.

Up and down (repeat as necessary)

Well, the Spider alumni race didn't go quite as well as I would have liked, partially because of my overconfidence in my ability to run hard for 5k, partially because my back hurt in a variety of running postures. The train was actually fast, for once, and I joined six other former Richmond track athletes for a mexican dinner, after a 5.5 mile run around campus. The sleeping bag I brought was not enough to help me fall asleep in the evening, despite my exhaustion, so I lined up some couch cushions, which turned out to be a mistake. The lack of firmness and support caused my back to sag, and when I woke up it felt as though a shard of glass was jabbed into the left side of my lower back. No twisting seemed to pop in into comfort, so I went off to the race, hoping it would straighten itself out. That never really happened.During my one-mile early warmup, I was so stiff I was running almost completely horizontally. Stretching helped, and when I ran a ~3 mile warmup with some dude from UVA who knows my step-cousin, I felt decent. I must have mismanaged my time somehow because suddenly we were seven minutes from the start and I was trying to get my spikes on.

After a raucous alumni team cheer and some strides, we were off. I bolted around a pack of William and Mary guys (which sadly did not include Mt. Lebanon alumnus Rad Guzenhauser) and was in the front before I knew it, with Sean McKinney close behind. The grass was a lot longer than I expected. I hit the first of three damp soccer fields and let loose with my legs on the short grass, pulling away from a few pursuers. This persisted for a while, with shouts of encouragement from Lauder, and me egging him on. I thought, "Well, let's see how long I can stay in the lead. I can at least continue to amuse my cohort." Yes, I thought the word "cohort."

This lasted until a little short of a mile in. I started to fall back right as Levi Grandt, Ryan Lee and a W&M dude came by on a short uphill. Levi graciously thanked me for my rabbiting work, which was quite nice of him, and I tucked in behind them. We passed what I thought was the mile in 5:00, and I was hearted by that- I clearly hadn't gone out too fast, and had a good start for the rest of the race. I wanted to just keep my pace up, and I tried, but the long, wet grass started to slow me down. Despite its layout, the course, on the St. Catherine's school fields in Goochland County, is not terribly fast. Though it has its fast portions, they are broken up with long grass and uneven hills. For what we work with, it is a good cross country course, because you have to be strong and smart to race it well. A fewmore people passed me and I hit the two mile in 5:22, a step down, but I continued to have a chance at sub 16. I pretty much kept my pace up and took two guys out, but hitting the third mile in another 5:22 scuttled my chances for my moderate goal. I didn't really kick it in and finished in 16:22 in 11th place, if nothing else, the first among the alumni to finish.

Did I honestly expect to run fast with form like that?

It turned out that the person who was calling out mile splits was actually at the mile mark for the girls' race, which was a bit farther along on the course. Levi said our first mile split was 4:47-4:48. In one regard, I am impressed I was able to run that on such an unfriendly course. On the other hand, I am horrified that it makes my second mile split 5:35 or so... At least I recovered an ran 5:22.

After a delicious waffle and hashbrowns at the dining hall, we toured the new football stadium surrounding the Fred Hardy track. Simply put, it's beautiful, inside and out. All we have to do is win games.

I did a 6.5 mile afternoon run from the Hannays' house, into Byrd and Maymont parks, but I was parched the whole time. I focused on rehydrating as soon as I got back in preparation for the long run workout the next morning.
Lauder and Molz and I drove to the southern end of Skyline Drive, in Shenandoah National Park.
We parked several rolling miles in and started running, six out and six back. Lauder kept us company on his bike and juggled water bottles for us. I dropped back from Molz after 3.5 on Lauder's suggestion, which turned out to be pretty good. It gave me some time to focus on chasing him and building some mental strength. I caught back up about nine miles in, and finished the last three miles with him. They had been out there a handful of times prior, so for me, the first 12 miles was largely about getting to know the layout and preparing for the workout. After a monster climb in the last mile, we finished up the "warmup" in 75 minute- 6:15 pace for 12 miles. Molz changed his shoes and I took some water before starting on my eight mile marathon pace (5:40) workout. I went ahead so Molz would have someone to chase, and it seemed from his movement I was on time, but I very well might have been too early. I held back like crazy on the first, downhill, mile, running 5:17. I held back more for another mile- 5:20, flatter, but still downhill.
The third mile turned uphill, and I slowed down to more of what I wanted- 5:31. The next mile was more uphill- 5:48, and Lauder pulled up to me on the bike. The coaxed me through mile five as best as he could, telling me what 6:00 pace was, but I was starting to falter and meander into the middle of the road, which was hazardous with faster-than-appropriate traffic coming around corners. I didn't light the world on fire with that mile- 6:25, but recovered when things flattened out for 5:38. Every now and then he would remind me to turn my head to check an overlook, and each time I was glad I did.
The turnaround, of course, knocked me off pace, as I ran the seventh mile in 5:48 and never felt like I had my momentum until the very end of the mile, then closed downhill in 5:27, but was not aggressive at all by that point, even when given a downhill mile on a platter. I would have liked to have finished the last mile closer to 5:00, given how much it beguiled me on the way up, but I just wasn't pushing enough downhill. Also, it was my 20th mile, and if I am running 5:27s after 19 other miles, I will be pretty happy. Lauder keeping me company and encouraging me, especially in the fifth mile, was crucial to my successful workout. Molz's suggestion was the reason this all happened. There wasn't a second of the run where I wasn't enjoying the experience, even when I saw the fifth mile marker way out of reach for my goal pace, I knew it was just one of eight miles and I could recover. The run was gorgeous, the hills challenging, the weather amazing and the overall morning was incredible and reinforces the confidence I have gleaned from the shorter track workouts.
Molz and I ran three easy miles at 7:00 pace or so, then Lauder picked us up at the bottom of the hill, we headed for the Charlottesville Waffle House, where Ann Mazur stopped in to say hello, and then back to Richmond.

All aboard the big metal priest

I am heading down to Richmond for the alumni race on the Amtrak train shortly, which I dub the "big metal priest," because Amtrak just molests me every time I get on board.

It is supposedly a few degrees cooler in Richmond, and I could use that.

Wednesday's workout went about as well as I expected. The heat affected me more in the recovery miles and it was over pretty quickly. I went through the first (easy) mile in 6:00, just as I did two weeks prior, but I was already hurting. I started the first hard mile with very crisp form, which belied the hot, humid air. I ran the first one in 5:08, and felt solid, but the recovery didn't feel like much of one. I continued to heat up, and ran 6:35 for the mile.

I planned to chase Murph and Mike on the second one, but was dangerously close to catching them within the first quarter mile, so I dropped back and

came after them again in the second half, but I wasn't accelerating like I could earlier in the mile. I finished and took a long time grabbing water, and a few minutes into a very slow fifth mile, I decided to cut the intervals in half and run half miles. I turned around and had at it, but something was wrong. I was running well, ending up with a 2:32, but I had no friggin clue where I was. It had gotten dark, and all I knew was that the trail ahead was clear. I finished it and just chilled out with Dan and Jimmy (who quit his job at the Discovery Channel a week before that day's hostage taking). I knew going in it wasn't going to be an ideal workout, so I didn't assign much import to the results. I got a good first mile in, at least.

I got home at 10:30, and it took me a long time to fall asleep, so I wasn't up for a medium long run in the morning. I did five miles on a Greenwich-reverse Fisherman's, then came home and ran out to Vienna on the W&OD (at 6:40 pace, I learned, after the fact), then came home on Gallows Road. In 13 miles, I lost 11 pounds. Yikes.

Friday morning, I ran a miserable 6.5 miles on a Pimmit Hills loop. 7:45 pace. I sleep horribly.

I am going to do a small-town marathon with my high school buddies Evan, Nate and Pokey in the next few years, and I am looking forward to it, mostly to the relaxed atmosphere and chance to chill out. This is maybe two years down the road, when we're all 30.

When I arrive in Richmond I will shake the trip out with a 5.5 mile run around campus, then hopefully some Mary Angela's pizza with the guys. I'm staying with Lauder and Molz, definitely Fatty Z, and I assume Hunter, Garrett, and I'm not sure who else. I think there are either seven guests or seven people total. Then, I'll get my first race in since the Run for Roch. It's odd that I didn't race at all in August, but I did the best month of training in my life, so missing a few 5ks doesn't bother me that much. I'm excited to race with a few of my college teammates, even though we won't be slaughtered by the immensely talented, young and well-trained Richmond top seven. Then, breakfast at the dining hall, an afternoon run, and a party at the Hannays.

"Cool weather gives me magical powers"

That is the assessment from my friend Pokey Litten after last week's cold wave. I certainly identify with it- I'm a different runner in cool weather, so I am hoping for a cool marathon- I might not survive an honest effort in the 70 degree range.

It seemed appropriate to take it a little easy after a 127-mile week, but it makes a lot more sense in theory. I woke up and ran five miles in McConnells Mill State Park on Sunday, but the terrain was a lot more dramatic and I was beaten up from the long run the day before. When I got back to the campsite, Max Louik, his lovely wife Kate and Ian Glinka were driving around in a golf cart, and they challenged me to a race, about 600 meters long. I totally destroyed them!

After a long drive back to Virginia, I contemplated going out for an evening run. I went from lying on the couch to standing outside in shorts and my running shoes four times, but in the end I saw no point to running eight or so miles.

I slept in on Monday, as it my now practice, and took my spikes back to the Lemon Road School yard for another fartlek workout, but my feet remembered the blisters all too well and after my first 25 seconds I felt like I was straining too much to run fast. I ended up running some strides with the spikes on and heading back home, for five miles.

I slept in again on Tuesday, possibly could have gotten three miles in, but opted to lie around the house before work. In the evening I set off for an altered Fineview Park, totaling 10.6 and averaging 6:56 pace. A decent pace, considering the heat, about 87-90 degrees. I felt myself slip into a pretty fast clip in the middle few miles. Afterward I felt good for the first time since Saturday.

The alumni race will not be quite the tour de force that once seemed potential. The big guns are all sitting out, on both sides- only the freshmen and Levi will be racing for the Richmond team and Molz is sitting out. He just ran 1:08 on Saturday for the Patrick Henry Half Marathon in Ashland, so I suppose he needs a little rest. Emily Ward won her race too, in a PR time. I had been planning to run that until Joe’s wedding conflicted. William and Mary will send some athletes, perhaps Rad will run, but I doubt it. At least without Llano, Benford, Quinn, Wilson and the like running, I won’t be buried behind guys who will make me feel like I’m standing still on those soft fields. I think I should be able to break 16:00, just the drop in mileage alone will be a relief for my legs. About 40 fewer miles will certainly help.

I am certainly ready for a break from this traveling- Aside from the weekend of the Crystal City Twilighter and Riley’s Rumble, I have been out of town for at least part of the weekend since early July- Reno, Rockville, Pittsburgh, Pembroke, Cumberland, Lancaster/Wyomissing, Portersville and now Richmond. I’m not sure if I should go to Philly to watch the half marathon, but if I can somehow be of help to the guys, I might as well go and enjoy it.

I’ll be taking a side trip, while in Richmond, to Skyline Drive in the Blue Ridge Mountains for a long run. As far as I know, it’s just Molz, but I hope Lauder will be coming along on his bike. No matter the temperature, it will be dryer there. We’ll be running 12 normal miles, eight at marathon pace (5:40 for me, I hope) and three easy. I hope we’ll drive part of it first and drop off some water bottles, I don’t want a dehydrated nightmare like last weekend (it wasn’t a nightmare, but it certainly wasn’t ideal.)

I ran a relaxed 3.5 mile Fisherman morning run at 7:25 pace, half of my usual Wednesday morning fare. It's currently 97 degrees as I get ready to head to Bethesda for a repeat of the workout from two weeks ago- six alternating miles on the CCT. I'm really going to be putting my momentum on the line from the last few workouts, but I won't assign too much to the outcome if things don't go well. If they do, well, then I'll be surprised! I can take solace in my pattern of following bad workouts with good races and unfortunately, vice versa. The looming alumni race reminds me too much of my early-season struggles in college to adjust to the heat and humidity.

Kicking August in the face

I just finished a pretty successful week of training, perhaps the hardest of my life. I ran 127 miles between Sunday morning and Saturday afternoon, which is by far a high for me. I ran three workouts, each pretty difficult but not overwhelmingly so, and had a solid (for the most part) long run after 105 other miles.

Thursday night I took an easy 5.5 mile run around Falls Church and stayed loose.

Friday morning I woke up at 5:45 to start a 13 mile morn

ing run with a 10 mile tempo in the middle, The Pimmit-W&OD. I had about a two mile warmup to Pimmit Hills and started off a little fast- 5:27, for the first mile. It was rolling,and the 65 degree morning temperature was a true gift. Uphill with a slowdown at an intersection in mile two, closer to what I was hoping- 5:40. I don't have my watch with me to recall the rest of the splits, but they were mostly 5:40s, and I managed to keep that up through six miles so so. Miles seven and eight, however, were mostly uphill, a lot

more than I recall them being, and I was dragging by that point. I'm pretty sure by that point I was over 6:00 pace, but the last two miles were downhill on the W&OD Trail, with only four or five intersections. Based on the spot splits I took at the half mile markers, I ran a few 5:20s there to finish it off in 57:51. I jogged a mile home, showered and went to work pretty bushed. I did an easy five miles on the treadmill in the early afternoon before meeting up with Pokey for our drive to Joe Wildfire's wedding in Portersville, Pa.

We arrived at around 11:30, hung around the campfire for about an hour and a half, then I headed to bed- a thin sleeping mat in a tiny tent. I got to sleep sometime after 1:15, waking up a few times because in the tent next to me, my friends Dan and Bill were snoring like nobody's business.

This photo is from Giles County, not Moraine State Park, but I like it

The sun woke me up at 7 am, and I stayed in the tent, drinking water, trying to get ready for the 24 miles I had planned for my run that morning. I eventually got up and saw Pokey walking around our campsite wearing his suit. I guess he was cold. We sat around for a bit and stretched out, then started on our way to Moraine State Park. We drove eight miles of the loop I mapped and parked and were on our way. It was a bit later than I was used to starting runs, especially long runs, but it was cool, high 50s, and not humid. I started out fast. Way too fast, actually. As it turns out, I was about 3.5 miles in at 6:05 pace before I started to slow down, and it was pretty hilly. Maybe I was excited about running in western Pennsylvania, maybe it was the weather, maybe I was still amped from the tempo run the day before, but I realized I was going a little too hard and eased up. I was a little worried that I didn't see Camelot Road, what I presumed to be an access road that would have added some distance onto the loop.

I wasn't too concerned, though. The second turn came much faster than I was expecting, and I started climbing more steeply than before. It was generally rolling terrain, mostly shaded after a sunny two-mile stretch on West Park Road.By the time I was on Mt. Union Road, I was flying up and down the hills, and tracked one runner down within two minutes of seeing him. When I got back into the park and hit the sun at an intersection, I slowed down. Miles 9-11.5 were pretty slow, and I hit 11.5 at 1:17 even. I grabbed a gel and a bottle of water from the car and headed back out, practicing squeezing the goo out as I ran and washing it down. I didn't have enough water, though. By mile 15 I was pretty dry, and I stopped at a park office to hit the water fountain. The next few miles were alright, but against drenched in sun. The hills that I so playfully bounded up the first time were damn near impassible the second time. Again, no matter how cool it is, I am going to sweat like a mother. The downhills even seemed too steep. When I got back to the park again, I skipped a meandering loop and cut off another half mile and wound up with a 1:20 11 mile second loop, much slower than I would have liked, but hey, I slept a few hours on the ground the night before, didn't have much water and just finished a 127 mile week with three strong workouts, then just ran my third longest run of my life. I'm okay with it all. I was expecting to be hungrier, though.

After brunch, we headed back to the park to swim in Lake Arthur, and on our way back to the wedding I bumped into former Pharaoh Hound Todd Kletter, there with his fiance and daughter.

Tugboats and Foxes and Neal Hannan, oh my!

This entry contains nothing about any of the people in the title, I was just lacking anything better.

I awoke Sunday morning near Reading, Pa., unsure of

how I was even awake. I had attended my good friend and ex-girlfriend Erin's wedding the night before in Lancaster, and met her challenge to drink five White Russians. Along the way, through, I had a bottle of whiskey that I stole from the service cart on my return flight from Reno, two large glasses of wine, an Old Fashioned and a glass of Maker's Mark. I stayed at the Notorious E.L.I.'s childhood home in Wyomissing, because she had a massage appointment that morning to fix her effed up hip. I put my shoes on and headed out to explore the area, which reminded me a lot of Mt. Lebanon if it was flattened.

A light rain accompanied my run, which was a great relief from the morning before. The temperature stuck around the mid 70s, which was again an improvement. I ran a few loops of the neighborhood pretty quickly, thanks to the topography and the drop in heat misery. I explored a series of woodchiped, limestone and grassy trails and headed back after 12 miles. We drove back to Virginia shortly after.

Alex returned from his summer at camp and he started out my afternoon run with me- an eight-mile Westmoreland. He lasted 3.5 miles and I cut lose the last 4.5- averaging 7:15 pace for the whole thing. It was a good bit hotter, 85 degrees with a a reasonably high amount of humidity.

I slept in Monday and didn't run until I got home from work. I grabbed my long spikes and ran over to Lemon Road Park in McLean to do quarters on the grass field behind the school. When I got there, however, the grass on the lower part of the park was overgrown and I couldn't see the ground, so I decided to run laps of the level playing field. Without being able to measure my route, I decided to just do 80-second fartleks. I hoped that would work out to more than 400 meters at 5:00 pace, but who knows. A group of frisbee players marked off boundaries, so I ran around their setup, then out into the field around a piece of trash, then around the field again. I gave myself 40 seconds recovery, 60 seconds after sets of four. I wore my old Milers from my senior year of college, without socks. That started to work against me in the third set, when the hot spots on my left arch and right toes started to progress into blisterhood. I took a break after 12 to tighten my shoes, but the damage was done. During number 13, I felt like my feet were on fire. I threw in the towel and did a long cooldown to get

12 miles. If nothing else, I got my calves ready to race in spikes again at the Richmond alumni race and felt what it was like to run fast on uneven grass and take tight turns.

I slept in a but Tuesday, too, so I only got a 3.4-mile Fisherman's loop in the morning. In the afternoon I combined a Fairview Park with a Westmoreland, turning on Idylwood instead of Chain Bridge, and got 13.7 at 6:50 pace. It was cool en

ough I could wear a shirt, and my legs felt great. I didn't want to go too fast and endanger my workout, but it was hard. I really the last three miles of the Westmoreland loop.

Wednesday morning I did a Park-Tyson for 7 miles at 7:10 pace. Cool again, around the low 70s.

The evening was a chance for me to show my successful workout the week before wasn't a fluke. After a 2.5 mile warmup, plus some strides, we settled on two mile, 4x800, two mile. I was hoping for the other way around, to get more turnover work in advance of the Spider Alumni Race, but I guess I am ultimately training for a marathon.

Joe and Texas Paul are pretty friggin sharp, so Dickson and Karl and I hung back and planned to run our two mile in 10:30. After running 5:08 for our first mile, it became apparent to me that we would not be running 10:30. After a 5:04, I went into our 400 meter recovery feeling pretty good. I had remarked to Dirk before the work

out that my breathing didn't feel great, but it turns out I was just ready for what I would be doing shortly, and I felt great. The first 800 was easy- 2:26. The second was a little faster- 2:24. The third, well, it showed me how much progress I had made since the spring. One afternoon at Tilden Middle School, Karl and Wiggy and I ran some 400s and after intervals of 72 and 71 I was wasted. Well, I ran those back-to-back on the third interval, a little slow off of the line and catching up to the guys on the back stretch of the second lap. With the second two mile hanging over my head, and the laces loosening in my shoes, I eased off during the fourth and ran 2:25. I fixed my shoe and got started on the two mile. 79, 74, 76,76, then I started to suffer from the surge I put in to lead the second half mile. On the back stretch of the fifth quarter, I was desperately searching for air, and didn't go with Dickson as he roared past. I hit the second mile in 78,79,78,78, not quite as great as I had hop

ed, but I stuck with the workout and, I feel, had my most complete workout since I started training with the GRC. I didn't expect to run two

miles under 10:30 twice, around four 800s, all under 5:00 pace. After a deliriously fast cooldown, I had 12 miles for the evening and 19 for the day.

Thursday morning, I ran 13 miles to work at 7:01 pace, mostly downhill, with bikers speeding past me a lot of the time, forcing me into the sound wall along I-66. It was a little warmer and humid, but I survived.

After a haircut this afternoon, I will run a very slow five miles before packing for my weekend in Portersville, Pa. My childhood friend Joe Wildfire is getting married, and a slew of my high school chums and I will be camping out. This will avail me of a chance to do a long run in Moraine State Park on Saturday or Sunday, where the temperature range will be 60-80 and sunny both days, so an early run can be quite comfortable.

Next week, I sharpen for the alumni race...

A heated argument between my will and my good sense

My medium long run went well, despite the heat. I covered the first 10 miles at 7:13 pace, then slowed down for the last three. I did the Double Pimmit loop backwards.

Friday morning was an abbreviated road workout because I slept in- a 2:30 half mile in the first half of the Greenwich mile, then 77 and 74 for the last two quarters of the mile, warmed up and cooled down enough for a five mile morning. At lunch I hit the treadmill for another five miles at 6:43 pace, then came home and ran an easy Westmoreland.

Saturday morning I tried to do a long run that would involve a few loops near Falls Church that would take me to where I could grab water and hit 22 miles. I started with a longer Presidents' Loop, but it was full of mishaps.

I opted to listen to music and podcasts, because the importance of finishing a run like this outweighed the need for mental strengthening that I would get from running 22 miles with no consistent audio stimulation. Unfortunately, I managed to sweat so much in the first three miles that I shorted out the player after 20 minutes. I pressed on, and gradually felt just how humid it was, and how quickly the temperature was rising. But, I was running a loop on which I always felt good, so it would undoubtedly launch me into the second half with mileage under my belt and confidence that I could run the same distance again. It was not to be, however. After seven miles, I stopped to wring out my Pharaoh Hounds singlet that I wore to catch sweat from my upper body. I stopped again every 10 minutes and the fluid poured out. When I got to 11 miles, I stopped, and walked home. I could go no farther, and I had broken my routine of recovering from a bad long run one weekend with a good one the next. I still hit 100 miles, though.

"There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who get stomped on and those who do the stomping." -Jesus

The week hadn't started off well, but it got better when I decided I had to make the most of each run, regardless of whether I could reasonably accomplish my goals, given the weather conditions.

I slept in on Sunday instead of going out to Walney to take another shot at my long run. Thinking it would be less humid in the evening, I put off the run for the rest of the day and headed out at 5:30. I planned to run seven 3.1-3.2 mile loops, with the option to stop by my mom's car after each one for water or Gatorade. The first two loops were okay, though I always struggle a bit around the pond. I wrung my socks out after the second, and took a long drink. I started to feel better on the fourth loop, but the 80 degree heat and high humidity were definitely getting to me. I felt like if I could finish four loops, I could finish the whole thing. I took a water break after three, and had to force myself to get up and start the fourth. I was feeling great through the first mile and a half, but as soon as I started to approach the pond, I stopped, turned around and headed back to the car, calling it a day after 11.5 miles. Not what I wanted to do, but I was wearing myself down otherwise.

I slept in again Monday and decided to do a 12-mile ratchet run on the Double Pimmit loop. The heat index was at about 101, and I definitely felt it when I left my apartment after work. I was doing pretty well until four miles, when I started to get faint. I stopped and caught my breath, then bagged the rest of the workout and got another four miles and a relaxed pace. As much as I worry that stopping some of these runs early might make it easier for me to quit on a hard race, I am not racing in these conditions that are causing me the trouble in workouts. I have to reevaluate my expectations for what I can accomplish when the conditions oppose my ability to function safely.

Things got better Tuesday morning. I went out for a Westmoreland and easily averaged 6:45s for eight miles. In the evening, despite some heat, I ran 6:25 pace for 5.5 miles and then cruised in for 8.8 miles.

I woke Wednesday morning to torrential rain, a treat. The temperature was hovering around 70, and I actually wore a shirt for the first time in a while when I did a seven-mile run on the Tyson Park loop.

In the evening, I met up with Wiggy, Dutch Paul, Dirk and Mike Cotterell for a long workout in Bethesda. After a long warmup, we hit the Capital Crescent Trail for alternating miles. My first mile, an easy one, went by quickly in 6:00, I turned and started a fast mile, which I pledged not to run too hard for fear of blowing up like usual, and ran it comfortably in 5:16. Taking a wide turn afterward, however, I slipped on the mud and fell, and then a half mile into my 6:30 recovery mile I sucked in some insects and felt an itch for the rest of the workout, but I came back in 5:17, and felt pretty strong. I took the last recovery a little slow- 6:49, but I followed it up with a 5:05, despite slipping in wet clay under a bridge. I felt great, dropping time significantly on each interval, and watching Wiggy and Dutch Paul run so fast (4:46s and a 4:34) certainly contributed to my excitement. I should have pushed the recovery more, but there will be time for that soon. It was great to have four consecutive runs that felt great and turned out well. I have to backload the week's mileage to hit my goal, but as long as I double, I can make up the ground I lost on Sunday and Monday. I ran 11 in the afternoon, for 18 total on Wednesday.

Thursday I went to work early and hit the treadmill for a consistent, 6:45 paced five miles to recover from the workout. The medium long run is this evening.

In with a wimper

Readjusting to northern Virginia's humidity has been a little rough.

Thursday morning I did a pretty easy four-mile run around Falls Church to drop off the keys for my rental car, and I was feeling pretty sluggish, but it was just a morning run, so I didn't worry too much about it. In the afternoon, I went out for a 10 mile run from my office around Hains Point, but just three miles in I was starting to just feel awful. The humidity broke a little when a rainstorm started, but I still turned at the Jefferson Memorial and headed back for 6.5, my shortest day in a long time.

Friday was a little better. I woke up and did a light workout to get some turnover back into my legs. I went to the Greenwich mile loop and ran 8x400-or-so with 400-or-so meters of recovery. The first "quarter" is actually about .28 miles, but since I wasn't running on a track, I didn't scrutinize the times too much. I alternated 77-78 (the second interval was uphill) and I wound up pretty happy with it. The recovery was a little long, but I just wanted to get my legs moving fast, and get five miles out of the way in the morning.

That afternoon, I took a train to Cumberland, Md. to meet up with my mom and sister, who were biking the C&O Canal Towpath to Washington. I was going to take the car and be on call for assistance while they biked. The train, of course, was more than a half hour late, and I still had 10 miles to run on the towpath. I started around 8 pm and headed east, sucking in gnats with every breath. It was definitely cooler than in DC, though, and running wasn't an experience I had to endure.

I woke up at 6:30 and drove out to two points on my 22-mile long run route and dropped off water bottles at miles 9.5 and 14. I was looking forward to this run- I enjoy Cumberland, the weather is cooler there, and I came up with a pretty good loop- 12 miles up the Great Allegheny Passage Trail, then down a more direct route on Mt. Savage Road. The trail is crushed limestone and has some nice views to the north and east.

The problems began when my mom and sister were not ready to leave at 7:20 when I returned. An hour and a half later, they set off and I headed the other way on the trail.

It was humid, but I was feeling pretty good. I was moving at about 6:45 pace, which was pretty good for a gradual uphill at the beginning of a long run. I passed some bikers and into my fifth mile I saw a runner ahead of me. Over the next mile I reeled him in, which kept me focused. Within five minutes of passing him, though, I was starting to get weak. I slowed down to an 8:00 mile (though the accuracy of that split is dependent on the trail markers' precision). I just stopped for a minute, then decided to keep going to get to my water, which I mistakenly thought was eight miles in. I walked for a while, two miles, and some nice bicyclers passed me and asked if I needed help. I was fine, and took one of the gels, expecting to have water soon. No, another mile to go, as it turned out. I got my water and started running back down the hill. Why I didn't turn around when I first had trouble, I don't really know. I ran most of the way back, though I stopped to walk twice and had to wait for a train to pass. I immediately had to shower and pack the car and head back to Washington, so recovery had to wait until that night.

But, in the end, I did 112 miles, my highest mileage by far. I doubt I will match it, because the summer is just too brutal in northern Virginia, but it's also time to do some higher-quality work.