I won this race once...

I won the 2007 Kevin Gatons 5k in 15:37, by an almost-30-second margin. Three years later, I finished in 16:59, 11th place. It was not an encouraging sign.
The Gatons race has become a great chance for high schoolers, fresh off of the state meet, to come out and take a shot at a 5k after months races of two miles or less. The result is a 4:40 first mile every year.The last three years, I have been at the head of the pack through the mile, and three years ago I surged ahead and dropped everyone else. The last two years I have made it into the third mile before I fell off when we hit the downhills.
This year I was facing a little more intense heat. I got a late start heading out to Greensburg and arrived about 40 minutes before the race started. After hitting the bathroom and getting registered, it was 30 minutes. Having been stymied by the course last year, I wanted to run it completely as a warmup. Shafer accompanied me for the first mile, then turned back. When I got to the second mile mark, I told some girls managing the water stop that I wanted someone to throw water in my face when I passed by, because I would likely need it. The weather was rough...After changing into my flats, I saw who I would be up against. No Moravec or Becker this year, but the trio of Mt. Lebanon guys who made states had shown up- Rad Guzenhauser (9:07 3200m), Sean Staltari (9:27 3200m) and Alex Moran (4:20 1600m). As proud as I was that they made it to states, I was loathe to be beaten by them, so that ratcheted up the pressure. When Rad introduced me to a kid from North Hills who ran 9:15 a few days before, I realized that the race was only getting tougher and I would have to run beyond what I had displayed a capacity to do previously this year, if I wanted to win. All I could do was go out with the leaders and hope their orientation toward shorter races would come to the surface and my long-distance training would pay off.None such luck.
The gun went off and I, as always, was far behind. I moved up swiftly, but the effort to do so drained me. I felt like my legs were gone not even a half mile into the race. Bobby Wolfe from Baldwin took it out hard. Everyone chased him. They had the legs to do so. I had four 400s under 72 seconds to my name in the last year- I was not going to be running 4:40 this year.
The first mile was a warm mess, and I split 4:59. I knew that wouldn't last, with the course's main hills coming up in the second mile. I started to drop back, realizing I was putting myself in jeopardy, not of losing the race, but of putting myself through more pain than was necessary. This wasn't a race to try to win, it was a workout with other people. 10:35 for the second mile. Yeesh. I started to jog toward the top of the hill. Shafer came up on my left. We reached the water stop. Nothing. They didn't throw the water on me. Finally, pointing to my face activated the last teenage girl to fling the cup....right into my stomach. Great, none of the relief for my face, but plenty of water added to the sweat in my shorts and shoes, which were starting to sound like sponges.
It did provoke me to speed up a little and use the downhills. I was more aggressive in the third mile this year, though the uphill near the stereo store flummoxed me. At this point, I knew sub 15:30, sub-16 and 16:25 (my typical 5k time, sadly) were out of the picture -- I just wanted to fend off Shafer, Jim Hommes and Brandon G so I could be the first Hound across the line. My kick was nonexistant, I just kind of faded into the finish line, as some Norwin runner outkicked me.
I snuck under 17:00- 16:59.1, and held off Shafer (17:05) Jim (17:06) and Brandon (17:14). I was just a little less than one minute behind Wolfe, who won. The slower winning time (about 23 seconds faster than typically) made me feel a little bit better later on, but first, I wanted to get a four-mile cooldown so I could have 11 for the day. After heading off with the Hounds and some of Jim's runners, I immediately fell back and struggled through a rough time. I ended up cutting it off at three miles.

Esplen

I had plans to meet up with Alex Lochner in Fox Chapel and run a few easy miles with him before I set out on my own, but his great uncle was in grave condition and he wisely opted to see him. I slept in a bit Saturday and ended up heading to Schenley Park. I did nothing special, a loop around the golf course, down to Oakland, up Beechwood and back around the 3k loop. It was similar to my long run route in 2007 when it was too snowy for trails, but I didn't go all the way to Braddock Ave or Greenfield. The hills did not bother me as much as when I was in town in March...

Sunday morning, after a thankfully dry wedding, I went out to Robin Garber's place in Ingram to meet her for a run. We set off to explore the Montour Rail line that runs parallel to Chartiers Creek. She turned back after three miles, and after some missteps, I found the trail, but not exactly as I had envisioned it from the satellite map. I kept following the train tracks, until I looked at my watch and saw 45 minutes. I should have crossed the creek and been halfway through McKees Rocks by now! I climbed up a hill and looked over the trees to the creek- but it was a good bit wider than I expected. Oh dear, it was the Ohio River... I backtracked until I saw the Radcliffe bridge in Esplen, crossed it then found the Linden Bridge to McKees Rocks. There were no trees along the route, and the sun was starting to get to me, so I scrapped the plan to run along the west bank of the creek and took the Windgap Bridge back into the city and through Windgap and Fairywood back to Robin's place.

Too much DC....

I spent an awful lot of time running in the city this week. After my long run on Monday, I woke up for a quick three miles in Falls Church and complemented that with 7.5 that evening around the Mall.
Wednesday was five miles in the morning, then a parallelogram loop of southeast, during which my good mp3 player shorted out.
Thursday I did a short workout in the morning, but had to add three+ miles around the Capitol after work, which was sweltering.
Friday, I got into work early and did a half marathon around the Tidal Basin and Hains Point, during which I saw Dickson running.

Mulligan

After Sunday's aborted long run, I had to try again. Running before work, at least 16 of running, was a bad idea, so I decided to cobble together a run around the city after work to fit an errand in. I am trying to meet with a few groups to promote the GRC Father's Day 8k, and The DC Capital Striders are among the primary groups I want to contact. I was going to meet up with them and talk to various runner, get about 6 miles in, surrounded by 10 miles otherwise.
I ended up offering to help the Striders stuff bags for their race instead, then Laura O'Hara suggested I run with her. She would be ready at 6:15, so I started off down Massachusetts to Potomac and Pennsylvania in Southeast and added a lap around the Capitol and the Botanical Gardens.
Laura took me down the mall and over the 14th street bridge to the Mt. Vernon trail and a loop around the Iwo Jima Memorial. At this point, I was reaching about 10 miles and the heat and humidity had me worn down, but she kept me going. We ran into Klim and Dickson near the Lincoln Memorial and headed around the Capitol and then I headed back to the office for a cold shower. I felt pretty darn good, having totaled about 16.75 miles in the conditions prevalent that afternoon.
I unfortunately did not remember my calf compression sleeves, which I have come to really enjoy. I think they'll work wonders after long runs, though I am making it a habit of wearing them after most runs of six miles or longer.

Uneven weekend

Friday I woke up and got a quick ~3 around Falls Church, then came home and added onto a Park loop, with great results, for almost seven miles. Then I headed out kind of late to Clay's law school graduation party. I knew it would endanger any hope I had of a productive fartlek in the morning, but as it turns out that was all moot.

I sat on a metro train for about 15-20 minutes waiting to leave the station Saturday morning. After four hours of sleep, I didn't have the temperament to deal with being late. I ran across the bridge to the store and found two Jakes, two Pats, another Charles, Henry Dickson and a Matthew, but, as I heard from a text earlier, no Karl. He was on board with my morning workout plan, but his calf issue ended up being exculpatory for me, because I really didn't feel like it anymore. We ran a pleasant, but warm, 10 miles along the Mt. Vernon Trail and Hains Point. Around eight miles, I started to get really insanely thirsty, and shortly after I decided I was not going to run hard anymore. About that time, Ernst decided to start pushing, and I just kind of let things go. I kind of stuck around for another mile, but once we hit the Georgetown waterfront, I just kind of easily jogged it in. I was happy enough to hit 75 miles for the week, and I probably overdid it with water when I got back to the store.

I spent the rest of the day, and Dylan's fifth going-away party that night, hydrating for what I hoped would be a vigorous long run in the morning. I'm remarkably good and drinking water in a social setting. I wish I could do so at work, because I so frequently come home completely dehydrated and need to delay my evening run. I gave myself ample time to get to the Bethesda station Sunday morning to meet Klim, and we joined up with Karl, Marren, Dickson, Murphy and Dylan at The Line. I hadn't run the RCP trails from The Line...well...ever, because the ground was always covered in snow. There was a fine but constant rain pouring down, and I quickly decided on ditching my shirt. It felt a lot like the Pittsburgh Marathon, humid and warm, but not as warm as Pittsburgh. Splashing through mud puddles in a medium-sized pack felt felt reminiscent of college, getting back into the Virginian climate and having people with whom to run.

I was enjoying it and marveled at how fast the first 15 minutes went. I would be able to cover 16 miles with no problem. That is, until three minutes later. All of a sudden, I lost the sharp focus I had on controlling my legs. I got woozy, and when we stopped and hit the bathroom and water fountain, it hit me just how out of it I was. My legs started quivering uncontrollably, and I started to have trouble talking. I wanted to try to push through it, because who the hell falls apart three miles into the run? The rationality of pushing myself beyond what was already untenable was nil, though, so I headed back to the cars, dejected and hoping to salvage something from the trip. After getting back to the cars and having half of the most delicious orange in my entire life, I ran around the adjacent park for a while and back into Rock Creek Park for another 36 minutes, for what I conservatively figure to have been a total of 11.5 miles. Marren was waiting when I got back, so we rapped for a while before Murphy, Klim and I joined Chuck and Towpath to do some more planning for the GRC Father's Day 8k.

So, I'll give my long run another shot on Monday. I'm meeting up with the DC Capital Striders to talk about the GRC race at 6:30, and they run about six miles, so I will run the first 8.4 before meeting up with them, do six with them, then head back to my office for 16. It's not great, but it will do.

A little thirsty

I ran an easy 7.4 total Wednesday evening, part of which with Melissa around the Tidal Basin.

I have added onto my medium long run, making it 13 miles, so I had to make some adjustments to my run to work route. never a fan of too much of the W&OD, I cut the first two-mile stretch and instead headed down Park and Columbia to Falls Church Park, then took W&OD to the Custis Trail. I felt amazing as I started out, with no knee pain and more morning energy than I can remember having. I started out a little too fast, as a result, hitting the mile mark at 5:59. I eased up, while still pushing a little bit, though there was not much shade and it was sunny. I got pretty thirsty. Then my sentences became short and choppy. The rolling hills were nice, though I had to worry about bikers squeezing through while going pretty fast. Running along the sound-absorbing wall next to I-66 makes me feel like I am going much faster, because of the vertical contours to the wall. Rather than take the Key Bridge as was my routine when I got to Rosslyn, I took the Mt. Vernon trail to the Roosevelt Bridge, over to the Kennedy Center then along the Rock Creek Trail to the Lincoln Memorial, down to the Capitol along Constitution and up First to my office. 13.1 miles, 1:22: 43, well faster than the Pittsburgh Half.

A faster four

The workout plan for Tuesday at B-CC fell apart so I decided to do a work workout in DC. Since i haven't hooked up my bike odometer, I don't have the miles marked on Hains Point, but a careful measurement with mapmyrun.com showed me a 4.02 mile loop, starting at the Ohio Drive Bridge and looping to the parking lot near the south end and back up and along Buckeye Back to the bridge. So I decided to do a tempo, aiming for between 5:20- 5:30 pace. I jogged over, tried on the old Puma Completes and was off. The west side wasn't bad- I had to move for a few cars and bikers, but since I was facing traffic it was easy to see them. Turning at the parking lot, rather than the tip of the road was a big help, but as soon as I turned onto the east side, the wind was in my face. I leaned as much as I could to cut into the wind. When the road split into two lanes, I moved to the left to continue to face traffic, and the turn onto Buckeye was a blessing. I picked it up and tore around the last turn and held my form back slightly past the bridge to finish in 21:28. For 4 miles it was 5:22 pace but when I measured the course again I came up with 4.02, so it's 5:20 pace. Just what I wanted. The cooldown back to the office took forever, and my sweat-soaked shirt chilled quickly in the breeze, but once I got off the Mall I got back with no problems. A solid solo workout.

I need to fill in about a week, here...

I never really wrote a complete entry for the last week or so, I need to do that.

Anyway, I had a nice little run in a drizzle today. 8.6 miles around the Woodley loop at 6:25 pace. I was hurrying somewhat to get back to work on a story about a program in Los Angeles, and the people I needed to talk to were going to be free at 7 pm eastern.

It was the kind of day that should be miserable- after two days of beautiful, sunny weather, it was a cool drizzle. That I thrived in the rain today was a good sign to me- that the frustrations with the two halves I ran earlier in the month was not based on burnout. The only thing I was burning out on was holding back. I am enjoying the "drudgery," the junk miles, and even though I'm just in the middle of a 75 mile week, it's a good sign. And, most basically, I enjoy what I am doing. I can't discount that..

Alright, you killed me a little bit, half marathon

I ran a half marathon honestly today, and it hurt. What hurt the most was probably the realization that I did not do everything I could to prepare for the distance, and even if I had been "on" last week in Pittsburgh, it wouldn't have been enough. It would have been better than today, but the chances of me breaking 1:11 were very slim. When I finished the race today, even falling off pace as much as I did to the point where I was going my distance run pace , I was wiped out.

The weather seemed great in Rosslyn as I warmed up for a half marathon that some running store or something held. I felt loose, light and ready to go. Robbie Wade and Mike Wardian were there, so I expected to just tuck in behind them. The horn went off and we headed right down the hill and onto Jefferson Davis Highway...and I was in front. Whaaaaat? I thought about stopping dead in my tracks until the other guys caught up to me, but I decided to just keep rolling and try to stay relaxed. I came through the mile in 5:15, despite trying to jog.

The other guys caught up to me and I was ready to let them go to work. 5:22. It was starting to get windy. A quick out and back showed me that this dude in a Calvin College uniform was closing in on me. He passed me in the third mile, but I tried to focus on him for a while. 5:31. Hmmm, things don't seem to be going my way in terms of keeping the pace under 5:25. I started to run into the wind, though it was coming at an angle and we turned a bit. When I hit the fourth mile in 5:37, I figured my shot at sub 1:11 was over, and I would just try to keep running at a decent pace. 5:43, as I took it easier and enjoyed a long turn on an interchange onto Wilson Boulevard, where I felt the true strength of the wind, right in my face.

The next 1.5 miles were miserable. It was starting to hit me just how well this wasn't going and how quickly it got that way. 6:03 for my sixth mile, during which another guy passed me and I fell into fifth place. I hit the halfway mark in 36:59- 5:38 pace. As I approached the turnaround I thought, oh, if I can repeat that I can break 1:14. A second after the turnaround, I knew I was wrong. I managed to repeat the 6:03 at mile 7 and dip under at 5:58 for eight, and I thought I could power through the last five miles, but I couldn't. All alone at this point, the wind was wearing me down, now somehow coming from all sides. I slowed down to 6:15 for the ninth mile, then pushed for a 6:07 to break 58 for 10 miles, which I did in 57:58.

After that, you would have had better luck preventing a mess by filling a 12-year-old up with a mixture of orange juice and warm milk then strapping him to a merry-go-round in an Oklahoma stockyard. I hit 13:03 for the next two miles and 6:36 for mile 13. A volunteer yelled "good race!" to me and I deadpanned back "no, it's not." She responded, "oh, well then I'm saying it to the guy behind you." As poorly as I was running, my bruised pride was still technically pride, so I kicked it in, finished, and turned around to see the guy was much farther behind me than I expected from the way the girl was talking. I ended up 1:18:19, still not what I want for a half marathon PR, but it's better than 1:29:14. Though I didn't need to go to a medical tent this time, I was exhausted, and had to lie down for a bit and just breathe a little. I stretched my legs out to make sure I didn't pass out or fall asleep, grabbed my bag, and went right home. Blue Powerade never tasted as good as when I finished.

My diagnosis: I tapered too much. My training volume in April dropped off too much from a great February and March. My weekly mileage went as such: 75, 80, 75, 80, 80, 81, 72 (took a day off), 74, 63, 60 (took a day off), 55, 42 (Pittsburgh), 56. My last long run was the first Sunday in April. The two weeks after Cherry Blossom were seven and six miles, respectively, on the Sundays. That just wasn't enough. It wasn't tapering, it was atrophy. I forgot what it was like to run 13+ miles on a regular basis. That's going to be my medium long run from now on. I have no trouble imagining that if I was hitting my splits in Pittsburgh or today through 10 miles, I would have just fallen apart.

I now have three months until my next serious race, I'm looking forward to taking a long-term approach to developing speed and endurance for the half marathon and getting ready for a serious attempt at a full marathon. It's time to become a long-distance runner.

Watch your back, half marathon, you haven't killed me yet

I'm taking another shot at the half marathon. I'm hoping any number of factors- no travel necessary, much better weather (a low of 43 and no rain anywhere nearby), and a sense of gratitude at having another chance will inspire a more...well...inspired performance.

Last week's race ended up being less a race than a tempo run followed by a long cooldown. Though I tried to think of it that way, it was a lot more evident Tuesday on a run with JARRIN where we hit the trails pretty hard in the afternoon sun and I felt better than I had in a week. Chris Sloane reinforced my thoughts on that and I knew by Tuesday evening I was ready to go and redeem myself at the half marathon.

Tuesday night I got some news that deflated me a bit, disappointed me greatly, but in a way makes me more tenacious. I'm not sure how much I want to elaborate on it right now, but suffice to say it put my future in a whole new perspective that truly frees me to do what I want. In similar circumstances, I've focused in races and achieved a lot, so I hope that happens again. By the same token, I have a new approach to how I will look at my running, one which removes a lot of restrictions on how I will go forward.

I needed a race, though. I kept hearing about the historic half in Fredricksburg, May 16. Plenty of time to recover and rev up. But it meant travel and staying a night in Fredricksburg, two expenses I didn't want. The Lynchburg Half in August seemed viable, and would give me time to prepare more, and it seems a fair goal. It's a month earlier than the Philly Distance Run, which was too close to Chicago for my tastes. Joe Wildfire's wedding precludes me from racing the Patrick Henry Half, so Lynchburg is now on the books. I figured I was settled on Lynchburg when I became aware of Jimmy Daly's plight. Like seemingly everyone on the GRC besides HUGE, he had an off day on Sunday, and was eager to get back at it I suggested Fredricksburg, which doesn't work for his schedule, but he told me about a race held by another shoe store, right in Arlington. Sunday. With much more favorable weather. Dare I, or dare I? I dare.

While I would like to still break 1:11, that will not be my singular focus this time. I just want to enjoy the race and see what I can do. I'll likely be in better shape to do it at Lynchburg, because I had 10 miles to nitpick my fitness on Sunday. That's not to say I won't, but I'm going to see where things take me tomorrow. I spent so much time tossing and turning the night before Pittsburgh because of the stress I put on myself to overcome the elements I know would be rough. I analyzed the course too much, staring at the map when I ended up standing on the Metro. I have no idea what this course is like, except that it's two loops. Arlington isn't THAT hilly and whatever hills I climb I'll have to come back down. This is going to be fun.

The Disney Cross Country Festival in 2003, another hot muggy race that went poorly but was followed by a lot of fun that changed my outlook.

An athletic miscarriage - my Pittsburgh Half Marathon

It was pretty friggin' ugly.

Short story: I shelved the race about 4k in because things were looking increasingly bleak in terms of both hitting my time and remaining conscious while maintaining a competitive pace.

Long story: I spent the last few months preparing for a race- my first at the distance but one that was certainly within reach. My races prior to it trended toward me being able to meet my goal. The race, the Pittsburgh Half Marathon, was in my home town, where dozens of my friends and acquaintances would be watching and cheering. After seven months away, I wanted to demonstrate that I had made a significant jump in my fitness, able to keep a solid effort up over 13.1 miles. I wanted each of the cheers I heard from my friends to keep me speeding up as I charged for home, dipping under 5:20 as I covered the last 5k.

I woke up at 5:30 to prepare for my 6:00 shakeout run with Matt Ciccone around Chatham Village. I ran shirtless and sweat was rolling a half mile in. When we drove downhill to the Strip District, the air was even thicker. I warmed up along Liberty Avenue and trudged back to the starting line on Smallman Street and met up with a few familiar runners. Sheehan and Weiss warmed up with a little more focus, meanwhile I turned around and saw Chris Geddis charging toward me with a smile and a hearty handshake. Kristin and Kara Price were there, along with my Hound teammates- Brandon G, Jim Hommes, Eric Laughlin, Rirch Crowley, Greg Byrnes, Ryan Erdley, Timmy Wu!
We're all pressed back behind the line. It was getting awfully warm. Sweat poured off of my body. This is the most uncomfortable I have felt in a long time, and besides a few strides I hadn't made any strenuous movements. It wasn't blazingly hot, but it was so humid I am amazed the air could hold the moisture.
HERE WE GO
The gun goes off. Everyone charges ahead. I stay cool, glad to suddenly be out of a crowd of 98-degree bundles of muscle, respiration and perspiration.
Not a half mile in I come up on Andrew Sutherland's shoulder.
"What are you aiming for?"
"1:11, but starting out at 5:30."
"Well, we're not going to hit 5:30 this far back."
The Canadian made a point. I sped up a little, but carefully. I wanted to stay fresh...
Hallie is on the right side of the street, the same place as she was last year. I give her a thumbs up and a smile. I'm biding my time...
Eric Shafer limps off the course! What's going on? Jim runs over to him, grabs something and gets going. I pass him, Rich Crowley and a few other Hounds who I expect to be running in the 1:15-1:18 range.
One mile- 5:26 high. A little fast, but alright. The rest of the lead pack is far ahead, and a lot of the people I figured would be farther back are going out hard. I'm running close to even splits for a 1:11, I know they can't all be...

I catch up with Greg before the turns onto Butler Street and Penn Avenue. There's Matt Hannigan! 5:38? uh oh, I hadn't felt myself slip so much, but I guess I need to start pushing. About two and a half minutes later, I started to feel some numbness in the back of my neck. What???? Are you serious? Steve Strelick yells for me "COME ON CHARLIE, YOU CAN DO THIS!"

He's right. I can. We ran harder than that for our tempos last year on a hilly-as-hell course in Schenley Park. 5:20s after a 5:05 first mile uphill. I miss training with him, his self-deprecating humor matched mine pretty well. I remember that we ran those times in below-freezing temperatures. Big difference. Brian Quinn is on a bike, cheering. I start to look around and see black splotches in the bottom halves of my eyes. It reminded me of the Rock and Run 5k in 2004, which I decided to run eight hours before and nearly passed out at the end. I wasn't even 5k into this race. About three minutes later, I couldn't run any faster.

That was it.

I thought about what it would take to catch back up to my pace. I thought about what it would take to do the bare minimum to hit my goal. They were all too far for me. I cursed myself for not being able to push through it. Despite all my training, I wasn't prepared to do everything. I couldn't force it. At the very basic, I couldn't do it. I was incapable. My head had suddenly gotten very warm, too much to handle. I was getting dizzy, my scalp was itching from the inside out.

Bradon G passed me, told me to come on. No. I won't.

I saw Hallie, gave her a thumbs down. I dropped to a jog. I think I figured I might as well run the course, as long as I was there. Also, I wanted to make sure the results reflected the number of participants, so I was somewhat committed. Rachel Yacono was there on Penn Avenue, but I gave her a thumbs down, too. Paul McCaffery ran by. So did Mad Dog Jones. The Wildfires, such great supporters, were there right before the 16th Street Bridge. I talked to a blind veteran running the race with an attendant. As I hit the North Side, Ryan stopped for a few seconds so I caught up with him. Pat Fisher passed me some time around then. Then Kristin Price. Timmy Wu sometime around then. I caught up to Andrew Sutherland, and he started struggling at this point.
I saw Matt Meurer in West Park and I made some faces at him. He had guessed I would run 1:29:30 as a joke, but it was coming true. Doen't'at beat all?
Phoebe Ko got me coming back around the park. I saw Jeff Hains, not-so-fresh off of his race in Boston two weeks before, chasing me down... well, not really, but it was happening. There goes Dave Masse...
Javed Gangjee, the most mobile and enthusiastic road race cheerer, got me coming off of Allegheny Commons.
"KEEP YOUR HEAD UP! YOU CAN DO IT CHARLIE!"
Not what I wanted to hear, but I can't fault him for trying. When you are running well, you want the entire world out there to see it. When your presence on the roads makes it smell like an open sewer in Bogota, then you want the roads likewise deserted from people trying to escape the stench. Despite the water falling from the sky, people were out there. It wasn't rain, it was more like the sky was just bleeding. Rain relieves the ambient humidity and cools you off. This wasn't rain...

I crossed the bridges to get to the North Shore and saw a digital display outside of a bank- 72 degrees. It was a little past 8:10 a.m. At this point I was regretting my choice to keep running. It was no longer even fun. I wanted to go home. As I passed the Hyde Park Steakhouse, on one of the stretches I thought would be fun and fast, I looked over and saw Michelle Corkum. Her pace was blowing me away. I tried to keep up to help keep her company, but I gave up on that and started cheering instead. Someone else passed me then. I can't remember who. As I climbed the West End bridge ramp, Jess Gangjee passed me., so did Carl Hubel. I cheered my lungs out for her as we crossed the bridge and she faded from my sight. A crowd lined Carson Street at the end of the bridge, and I thanked the West End for coming out. Brooke Smith saw me and yelled, though for a while I thought it was Beckie Hollerman. Some dude who was running without a shirt wished me luck and I said "Oh, I'm not racing, I'm just enjoying a run."

A total lie. I wasn't enjoying this. I was regretting it and hating myself with the same thoughts. The dumbest thing I did was keep going. Whoever said there was any kind of honor in finishing everything you start was a moron. Larry Quinn, his wife Liz and their dog, Little Donnie Iris, were at Station Square. Gillian Sowray was handing out water near the incline and for the second straight year, she saw the look of dejection on my face during this race. I saw Breen Masciotra a few blocks later, then Ed Koontz passed me. The last two miles were nothing but misery and more misery. I was tired, depressed, devastated and furious at the same time. I saw Javed once more as I was crossing the Smithfield Street Bridge. He had skillfully toned down his cheering, just letting me know I was close to the end.

Scores of cheerleaders from Plum lined the street in front of Kauffman's and I wanted to punch every one of them. Everyone who cheered for me was a total effing moron. They clearly didn't know good running if it kicked them in their moronic faces. I was fed up by the last turn, and then I saw Coach Wright and we made eye contact. He reached for me when I crossed the line and asked me if I was okay. All I could ask was if Ryan had won- he had! I let out a whoop and he told me to be serious- was I okay? Be honest... I tried to explain that 'it' wasn't happening and I just gave up on the race... He handed me off to a volunteer, saying "he doesn't usually finish back here, keep an eye on him." I led the volunteer around as I wandered the finish area. I saw Michelle and Heath. Jack Hartnell told me I'd be glad I did this someday. Someone gave me a medal. I tried to throw it into the Allegheny River in an act of defiance, but it hit a fence three feet ahead of me and fell to the ground. Dr. Eric Anish turned around and the volunteer told him I needed to go to "the tent." He led me in and a nice group of pediatric nurses took over. I begged them not to use a rectal thermometer and they had me lie down on a cot, packed my head and neck with ice and I watched and laughed as people tripped over the median in the road.

Coach Wright talking to me before I even cross the line. I'm going for my half marathon PR here! (sadly, that's true)

My splits:
5:26
5:38
5:55
6:33
6:49
6:46
7:03
7:01
7:16
7:33
7:29
7:30
7:29
41
1:29:14
78th place
64th man

My long run workout one Sunday afternoon in March, during when I averaged 6:00 pace for almost 15 miles, would have taken me through the half marathon point in 1:18:39, good for 21st place, and the day I ran that I stopped for traffic on the road!

There was no honor or character building in finishing the race as I did. My name is etched in results that I want to forget. I do feel smart that I didn't keep racing. I was so hyped for this race that if I had tried to race, balls out, with a hope for achieving my goal when the likelihood was so slim that I would achieve it, I would have been devastated. I would have probably hurt myself or exhausted myself in weather that was too much for me. What the day amounted to was a short tempo run and a long cooldown. Granted, it ended up being slower than a distance run on a normal day.

The part that hurts the most is that people, either not knowing any better or trying to be helpful, tell me good job. They're trying to help and be supportive, but it is depressing to hear that repeatedly when I know it was the slowest pace I have ever run for a race. My marathon, when I ran like a clown and started in the back, ended up 20 seconds per mile faster.

There ya' go...

Thank you to Javed Gangjee for documenting my agony in these photos and a sincere thanks to him and everyone else who was out on the course or sent their tidings. I do appreciate them.

Things are going to take a dark turn...

...when I get back to Virginia and write up my Pittsburgh Half Marathon "race" report...

Time to go

It's time. The weather might be a little warm, but that will just keep me from feeling too spry at the start. If I going to feel good, I'll need it 40 minutes in.

When I see this church ahead of me, I'd better be feeling like I'm running too slowly. My last 5:17, 5:13, 5:05. I don't want to be anywhere near those times. 5:30. 5:25 at the fastest.

I took Thursday off, I was toast. I ran an easy 9.5 Friday afternoon, to get adjusted to running in warmer weather. An easy three on the Mt. Lebanon track and cross country course followed by some drills within an earshot of Coach Wentzel instructing some high school hurdling girls on their form. That man's voice always makes me chuckle...

I'm excited by some early results at the Atlantic 10 track championships. Matt Llano won the 10k in 29:43, Tim Quinn earned his first medal in the 10k with a third place in 30:23 (who PRs at a conference meet?) and Chris York earned a point with a 31:26. Julie Rechel finished second in the women's 10k in 36:00 after a long battle with balance issues and Erin Lunny snuck under 37 to finish fifth. Garrett Graham hit 9:35 in the steeple, which I didn't realize he even did, and he'll be rarin' to go for the 1500 tomorrow. It's a good day to be a Spider, I'm ready to make tomorrow one, too.

Pittsburgh Half Marathon Neutoric Preview

No, we don't want water one mile in...

I have three days until the Pittsburgh Half Marathon, and it's time to get all the nervous energy out. I have put more thought into this race than any other, and as a result I have worked myself up more for it than any other that I can remember.
Not quite sure if I was satisfying some dangerous curiosity or properly preparing myself for the race, I started checking out who was in the field for Sunday. The Pittsburgh Marathon website lets you search for specific names, but doesn't give a complete list of entrants or elite fields, so I started entering in the people who usually terrorize the road race scene in Pittsburgh. I confirmed the three I expected: Ryan Sheehan, Jeff Weiss and Joey Zins. Trent Briney, the ummm, 4th place 2004 Olympic Marathon Trials finisher is registered. As is Luke Watson. Mario Macias and David Mealy also have low bib numbers, but I'm not too familiar with them. I was actually sorry I'd be missing the chance to watch Sheehan and Weiss go at it, though I know Sheehan will prevail. He's an animal who gets that much more dangerous when he's competing, though I can't remember the last time I saw him in a race where he hasn't had a comfortable lead midway through. Josh Eddy's running the full, so is Dave Mock, so no need to worry about them. From the times Eddy has run this spring, he should be in the low 2:20s. No Ian Fitzgerald, Curt Larimer, Dave McCollom, or Jay Dolmage, none of the Simpsons.
I'm glad there will be a few guys racing hard up front- I'm not trying to win, just go under 1:11. Without being tempted to take the lead and compete for the win, I'll be able to focus on my race plan, though it will be nice not to be buried in the field like at Cherry Blossom or the Monument Avenue 10k.
Chris Geddis, Eric Laughlin, Jim Hommes and Dave Masse are running the half. I've generally been faster than Masse, but he got me at the Great Race last year, and he is a big variable. Jim is a long-distance vet, who knows what he'll pull out of his hat. I don't know what kind of shape Geddis is in. It seems like Laughlin's been putting in some good training.
Right now the extended forecast says 59-77 with a 70% chance of scattered thunderstorms. I'm not too tickled about that...

Race course

The course is deceptively flat for being in Pittsburgh. I see four main uphills- mile 4, climbing to East Ohio Street from the 16th Street Bridge, slight hills on the Warhol and Clemente Bridges and the climb over the West End Bridge. After the West End Bridge, you get a nice long downhill on West Carson Street to Station Square.

The Pirates schedule allowed the race organizers to make some big improvements. Restrictions on how late the race could keep the streets closed on the North Side forced the course onto an awful loop in Manchester last year, that was really boring. This year we still get to go through West Park in Allegheny Commons, and actually loop around it. The new stretch on the North Shore including PNC Park, Heinz Field and the casino will be flat and fast.

Race Plan

1:11:00 is 5:25 pace, so I have to run just under that. It will be easier to resist the temptation to go out too fast, compared to Cherry Blossom- where I also shot for 5:25s, but was pulled out by everybody going out in sub-5 pace. I won't have that mob mentality Sunday...
My 54:24 at Cherry Blossom had me on pace for 1:11:19. I also positive splitted ridiculously. I have the ability, it all rests in my execution, and the answer is to negative split the race. So, I start with 5:30s. How many? How many is reasonable to expect? Should I consciously slow down after my first mile, because I am going to go out fast anyway, or stick to a pace I think is a little too slow for a few miles than start pushing and hope my ability to get around 5:20 pace toward the end compensates for my slow start?How about starting at 5:30, then dropping a second each mile? The would bring me in at 1:10:57. It would be cool to do that, but I don't have the precision...

I think, most likely, I'll start out with a 5:25, straining like crazy to stay slow. I'll hit three 5:30s, then start speeding up to 5:25s again through seven miles. From there, it's a six-mile race, and I start hitting 5:20s from there.

Having never run a half before, it's daunting to think about holding a pace the entire time. It will be best for me to expect that as I tend, that I will race better than I work out. I will also think about my tendency to go out too hard and force myself, against my urges, to stay calm at the beginning, even though I will want, for all of my ego, to race up with the front guys at the start. The heavy work is going to come away from everyone else, without cheers from anonymous spectators and a few people I know. If I can get through the first seven miles in a decent time-- around 38:00-- then run the last 6.1 more aggressively. I don't want to be straining before PNC Park. Run my race... Look at the race in phases:
Phase 1: Maddening Adrenaline - mile 0-1.5 I'm going out faster than I want, time to accept it.
Phase 2: Collected Calmness - mile 1.5-7 Just cover the distance without going too far over my goal pace
Phase 3: Rolling - mile 7-10 Take advantage of the flat North Shore to speed up, get excited for the West End Bridge crossing and the Carson Street stretch I love so much, despite its bleakness
Phase 4: GO TIME - mile 10-13.1: Treat it like a 5k, and considering how I ran for my time trial in the heat on Sunday, I can handle anything for 5k. This time it's flat, and Smithfield Street always has a cool breeze. Balls out.
They key is speeding up toward the end. I want my fastest miles to be in the last four, and I want the gas left in the tank to have an open-ended upside when I need to close the time gap. I want to be all out when I get to the Smithfield Street Bridge.

Last workout
This wasn't technically a workout, but I wanted to run a few miles at about race pace on the road Wednesday evening to get a feel for them. I wanted to start really relaxed and go about 5:30, and I would up going 5:17. Then 5:20, then 5:21. Then 5:11. I'm not sure if this was good or bad. None felt too taxing, so that's good. I might be able to run faster than I think, but I'm not going to act like that on Sunday. I did that at Cherry Blossom, and though I PRed, I ended up slower than my goal pace. I'm not going to try to be a hero, I am just going to take the race in phases.

Easy eights

It's all light from here on in, and I'm tinkering a little with my taper. I don't want to mess too much with my metabolism, so while I am dropping my mileage a bit, to 50 or 55 this week, I need to keep a few medium-distance runs on the schedule. Monday and Tuesday I just did easy-ish eight mile runs from home. Monday's was unremarkable, just some tinkering with Woodley. Tuesday I developed more of the Great Falls-Westmoreland loop. I managed to stick to 7:00 pace for the first four miles, though I sped up later on. They're both great rolling roads, Westmoreland especially because it has a bike lane. Nice weather.

Road workouts

I got back to Washington a little before 6 am Tuesday and headed right for the office. Why not? With three hours to go until people showed up in government offices and I could start working, I went for a 10 mile run around the Mall and Hains point, averaging 6:54 pace. Not bad. Had I tried to run after work, it would have been a disaster. I like the feeling of running before work. If I could just manage to wake up in time...

Wednesday I went up to Bethesda to do a short five-mile run and some drills while the other GRC guys did a workout. I could only find two hurdles, so my HMDs were truncated.

Thursday I got a bit inventive- planning for a two-mile warmup, a four mile tempo at about 6:00 pace, then 8x800 around the Greenwich Mile loop. As is my style, I went way too fast on the tempo, averaging 5:45, and by the time I got to the loop for my 800s, my digestive system was a mess. I managed four 800s, around 5:15 pace, then called it a day.

Friday afternoon I did an easyish seven rolling miles around McLean. Saturday I did an easy 5.5 with Jake, Wiggy, Dylan some others from the Chevy Chase store.

I was planning to do the Vienna 5k Sunday morning, to get in a race environment and trash some people and give myself some confidence after finishing pretty far back in every race I've done this year. I got up at 6 to get ready to bike the five miles to the race and noticed the significant rain. Considering how tired I was, I figured I was better off getting more sleep and doing a workout in the afternoon. I was happy with that, and the 5k winner ended up running 18:20. I waited until 6 and headed out to the Venice loop to do a 5k time trial. It was about 78 degrees and miserably humid, but I managed to do pretty well- 16:08. I wasn't exactly sure of the mile marks after the first beyond the basic location between intersections, but I had 4;58, 5:03 and 5:33 (yeeesh) and 33. The loop pretty much had two hills repeated three times, and I was definitely feeling myself lose focus in the third mile, I just didn't think the dropoff would be so dramatic. On my cooldown, I hit a breeze that would have made the workout a lot easier.

I'll take the next week easy- down to 55 miles and only one fast run- 5xmile at 5:25 on Wednesday morning, just to remind myself what it feels like to run my goal pace.

The University of...Austin, in Austin, Massachusetts

I've had a lot of harebrained schemes. Boston was one. I thought things were tied up rather nicely when Jake Marren said I could go along with him and Ella. I thought it strange that he'd plan on driving to and from a marathon several states away, but I ignored that when I heard his travel schedule would meet mine exactly.
It became apparent later that driving was not much of an option. I had not driven a manual since 1998, and Ella did not like driving near people. Both factors excluded driving back to DC as a viable option, because Jake would have just finished a grueling race. It worked for Melissa and me after Marine Corps, but Pittsburgh and Washington is a big difference from Washington and Boston.

The Trip Up
When Jake told me he was going to fly, I was relieved that he had come to his senses. Obviously I would have to find a way there, I was glad he made the good decision to reduce the toll on his body. As it turned out, it would be crucial for him. Instead of doing the trip in stages, I decided to take a straight shot on a Greyhound. Big mistake. Last year, Brandon G and I drove to Boston from Pittsburgh with Sara Roberts, leaving around midnight so we would have most of the daytime to spend in the city. I figured I would be more likely to sleep on a 10-hour bus ride, but that was before I figured in that I would be one of the last people on the bus at 1:15 am, squeezed into the last seat on the bus. The corpulence of the passenger behind me prevented me from reclining my seat, but luckily with the aid of Benedryl I was able to become loopy enough to pass out for a bit a few hours into the trip, then wake up at 5:30 as we were pulling into the NY/NJ Port Authority Bus Terminal. I stepped into a world I hardly understood and greatly feared. First off, I had no idea where in the world the bus station actually was. I saw signs for the exit, but they told me to climb several levels. Was I deep underground? I explored for a while until I decided that was a bad idea, and hid in a corner until it was time to board the bus to Boston. By then the sun was up and sleeping wasn't happening, in spite of the cold medicine. I arrived in Boston at 11 and proceeded to carry my too-heavy bag around the marathon expo to get my 5k packet and see Jess Etchen at the Brooks booth. I then took the orange line out to Sullivan Square to find the hotel where I was staying with Brandon G for the evening. A few blocks into industrial Somerville on Broadway, I realized I was now in a bad neighborhood. After using some rudimentary Spanish, I managed to get more detailed directions to the hotel, and upon arrival promptly crashed for a 2.5 hour nap. I woke at did a 4.5 mile run to loosen up, and it felt really good. Having taken the previous day off helped a bit, but I was surprised I was not more exhausted, thanks to my lack of sleep. After dinner and a short walk, I worked on falling asleep on the pile of springs the La Quinta Inn called a cot.

B.A.A. 5k
I did not wake up to the weather or sensations I was hoping to find. It was cold and drizzling at 5:45 am and I finally felt the exhaustion I was missing the day before. Thank goodness I was only running 5k. I figured I could gut it out. The warmup wasn't terrible- finding a bathroom and the bag check was, though. Upon reaching the starting line, I noticed nobody was doing strides. The BAA course marshals were telling runners not to pass in front of the start. Effing ridiculous. Eventually a critical mass decided that was unacceptable and we did a few. After a miserable rendition of God Bless America, I wanted to lie down and die. That would have to wait. The gun went off and I instantly was in 40th place. Having run the last three races with my intentions focused on running no faster than 5:20, it was a shock. My legs were already heavy from the start, but I decided since the race wouldn't last that long, I might as well hurt. After about a minute or so, I started to move up, but it was ultimately too much too fast. I approached the mile, after about 700 meters of climbing at 5:05. I figured my goal of 15:20, given the way I was feeling, was likely out, but 15:30 might still be reasonable if I had broken out of the intertia I felt at the start. Plus, I had the downhill to help me. I clearly didn't take advantage of it enough, because I was getting thrashed on the way down. I lost track of how many people passed me, but it was not encouraging. Then, I cross two miles with a 5:16 split, leaving my only hopes for a fast race to a sub 16. I don't remember too much, except trying to maneuver all the turns that I didn't remember from the course map. I mowed down a few people in the last stretch of the third mile in 5:17, but by then all hopes of a sub 16 were also dashed. I tried my best to hold on with a 33 second finish and immediately started figuring out what went wrong. The bus ride, the lack of fast-start preparation, and a general bad attitude torpedoed my effort. I skipped the afternoon run and instead hung out with the Richmond gang that ran- Watson, Hannay, Sherry, her dad and their gang.

Marathon
I stayed with Shara Siegel right on the course, at mile 23.75. I got up at nine to do a run on the course before the races started, but I succumbed to temptation to watch an episode of Seinfeld before I left. I ran 5.75 miles out to miles 18 and back, speeding up on the way back, but was forced onto the sidewalk by the police with two miles to go. Bummer. I still kept my pace down, but there was a lot of dodging and leading out of the way to avoid pedestrians, chairs and food vendors. Afterward, I cleaned up and had a bit to eat and went back down to watch the leaders and eventually everyone else come through. I really don't know how to make this interesting, so I will just list the people I managed to see. Greg Costello came along, looking a little worn out. Jared Markowitz. I nearly missed Seann Mulcahy, because I forgot how slight he was. Jeff Watson. JARRIN and Chris Bain, looking tough despite intervening illnesses in their training. Matt Hannay, dutifully accompanying his wife Sherry to a PR and her first marathon under 3:00. Mark Hunkele. Matt Ernst, who hammed it up and also PRed. Mark Courtney. Shannon O'Neill.
I missed Joe Vella, Matias, Nick End, Tim Schuler, Craig Gaites, Dave and Laura O'Hara, Moira Davenport. Sarah Taylor and Bizarro Bridget, and Joe Sikora. A number of people I hoped to see ended up not running- Larry and Brian Quinn, Paul McCaffery, Liz Kennon.
I am really getting tired of writing this entry, because it reminds me of how tired I was at the end of all of this.
So that's it.

Run fast, now slow down

I have a problem slowing down on my recovery days. This doesn't bother me so much in my base building, but with a little over two weeks until the Pittsburgh Half, I am worrying more about an actual taper.
It's hard for me to just go out and run easily.

I thought it would help to run with a bunch of girls, so I went to the Lululemon running club Monday, the day after Cherry Blossom. Technically, it's the "run club" but I absolutely detest their resistance to using the gerund form of run. It's obnoxious and I hate it. Every time I see it in use, besides in its pure root intransitive form, I want to break something. Not focefully, by punching, smashing or crushing it, but by removing a few vital pieces so it's structurally deficient. Anyway, I didn't count on this dude Eric pushing the pace. Every time someone asked him if he ran the day before, in reference to Cherry Blossom, he said, "no, but I did go running." Dear Eric, nobody cares. After he decided to run ahead, I joined up with a nice fellow named Josh and ran with him for a bit until we gathered the rest of the group at the base of the Capitol. We had a more relaxed pace on the way back. That, and with a few miles I did beforehand, made nine miles.

Tuesday evening it rained a bit and I was reticent to go outside, but since nobody else would be outside I decided to see just how small a medium pair of shorts was. As it turned out, way too small, though they weren't constrictive. I ran a pretty easy 10 miles out and back on the W&OD trail, keeping the pace at about 7:00.

Wednesday, I gathered at the track with Dirk, Dickson, Mike C. and Jimmy for some repeat miles. I was hoping to do 5-6 between 5:10-5:15. My legs were tight for the first few laps of the first one, but I broke out of that rhythm with a 76 third lap to bring it to 5:12. The second mile's fast lap came in the second- 75, though I slowed it down to run 5:13. Mike took the third one, out in 75, and we slowed it down to 5:11. I then had to go to the bathroom, which is a trip up the stadium to the school, and I told the others to not wait for me. They heard me only say "wait for me," and when I came back they were still jogging around. Knowing that they had been waiting, I rushed into the next interval, which I split 80 for the first quarter, though I felt I was pushing as hard as I could. I rushed back after the bathroom- bad move. After that I jogged about and watched the other guys finish up their workouts.

Thursday morning was great for running the 12-mile route to work, which I averaged about 7:10.

After sleeping in Friday, I took the day off, because my travel plans for Boston are a little complex. I will take a 1:15 Greyhound bus, which is scheduled to arrive around 11:30 am. I will be heading to sleep for a few hours, shortly, and then will get up and take the metro to DC to catch the bus.

I have been hatching my plan to try to view one of the most spectator unfriendly metropolitan marathon courses. Sometime after running the BAA 5k on Sunday, I will rent a bicycle, take it with me as I do whatever for the rest of the day, then Monday morning get up in Brookline, take the subway out to Riverside then bike the 17 or so miles to Hopkinton to see my friends before they start the race- mainly to see Jake Marren's Goodwill warmup outfit, then see the race from selected spots parallel to the course until I get back to Shara's house in Brookline for omlettes and smoothies. Absolutely foolproof.

All aboard the pain train

"It's go time." -Izzy Mandelbaum
Well, racing season is upon me. I feel like I'm not ready, but I still have three weeks to work out my kinks before Pittsburgh.

The few days before Cherry Blossom alternated between hopeful and worrisome.
With Wednesday's successful workout still giving me some confidence, I headed out for a 10 mile run in Falls Church Thursday night. It was hot, humid and pollen was everywhere, and I felt full of bad vibes. Then, 40 minutes into the run, the sky started spazzing out. Rain! A thunderstorm! The sudden universal relief that came with the rain relaxed me to the core. I amusedly traipsed along to the end of the run and felt like this would affect an improvement in a lot of the things that ailed me. My strained abdominal muscles were improving and I could breathe again. I was soaked, but didn't care.
Friday, I slept in once again and did not run to work, as I had planned. Instead, I ventured out to Hains Point after work to check out the last four miles of the Cherry Blossom course with an eye toward the race. Though the weather was beautiful, the wind was brutal. I turned around after a few minutes along the Potomac and could take no more. Since I was short of my planned 12 miles, I decided to cut my weekly mileage under 70. Given the long race I had ahead of me, I could spare a few miles.
Saturday I slept in and skipped the GRC run, just as well anyway. After getting my Cherry Blossom race materials, I met up with Nate Wildfire, who, along with his girlfriend Gillian and roommate Luke Clavey, had come to visit, though primarily so he and Luke could compete in an acapella competition in Alexandria. We had lunch, drove around and they left me to take a nap. I then took a four-mile pre-race jog and did some drills.

I tried to get to bed early, but it just wasn't happening. I made some pasta, but I wasn't pleased with it, and I ate an entire box of cookies to comfort myself to sleep. I think I fell asleep some time around 12:20, and I woke up around 4 and had some pop tarts, then went back to sleep until 5:30.

Cherry Blossom 10 miler

The warmup started poorly. My left knee has had some sharp pains when I have started running lately, and it was no different as we got going. It abated after a few minutes, and I started to feel alright. A little tired, but not hydrated, thank God. I lined up between Joan Samuelson and Adrian Fenty and behind a slew of Africans. They mayor here is fast. I wasn't in Pittsburgh...
At the gun, I tried to hold back, despite the throngs sprinting ahead. 5:25, I told myself, would be the perfect first mile split. I hold that for a while and then move up in the second half. It was not to be...5:10. As we crossed into Virginia, I locked into an even pace. Luckily the Arlington Memorial Bride did not involve a climb and the breeze was light. I started hearing my name, and got some confidence from that, I wasn't alone out here. 5:21. More like it... I started pushing the next mile, knowing that I could easily get complacent and lose track of my pace. 5:07... pushed a little hard.... 5k in 16:13. Last time I ran a 5k outright I ran 17:08. A month ago I ran 16:54 on my way to 8k, two weeks ago 16:39 en route to 10k. Big improvement there. I felt like I wasn't done, either. 5:20 for the fourth mile, though I started to worry, seeing Chris Sloane struggling on that mile; I wanted to keep track of him because he's a lot more experienced than I am in running longer races. I realized only later that this was only my fifth race longer than 10k, and only one did I feel was run competently. A 5:24 later, and I was 10 seconds shy of my five mile PR, with another five miles to go. When I ran that PR, I thought I was in another world. Now, it's commonplace... Compared to 27:23 for 8k last month and 26:52 for five miles two weeks ago, I was doing pretty well.
Pat Murphy had been a little ahead of me since the third mile, and I was started to get up with him. Having seen him run some fast workouts and races lately, I knew he was capable of some good things, so I tried to catch up with him. As I pulled closer, rather than slow down and lock into his pace, I just kind of kept up my chasing pace and kept going, putting myself too far behind the next guy ahead of me to be able to use him but also condemning Murphy to chase me for a while. 5:27. Plus, I was slowing. I needed to keep it up. Murphy passed me back and I didn't respond. I let him and a pack of runners from Charlotte pass me. I cursed the course for not taking the earlier turn as we rounded the point, and I just got slower. 5:39. No good. I'm in no-man's land, but I keep doing the math to see where my pace will take me. Turns out that wasn't the best time to be doing math. I was a total idiot at that point. 5:23?! Great! Just cruise like this for another mile! 6:06?! Brother of Christ! What am I doing? I stopped trying to overcome my pain and just dig in for more. Then I saw Sloane come up back on my shoulder. Either I died a lot worse than I thought and came back to him, or he clawed like hell from his agony in the first half and he came back. I tried to kick, but it was a mistimed surge. Right as we were hitting the hill not a half mile from the finish I died again. This time there was no coming back. Sloane turned and yelled "come on!!!!" but I did not follow him in the spirit I wanted. I pretty much eased it in, my characteristic gut kick absent. Billy took me down in the final seconds as I crossed the line with a 10th "mile" of 5:18 for a 54:24 final.

Gut reactions: Well, I PRed...by 84 seconds. I was also terribly disappointed, because I died terribly in the last four miles. Only the adrenaline that comes from smelling the finish line saved me. I wanted to average between 5:20 and 5:25 pace, and I fell just short of that- 5:26
The truth is, I died. Around Hains Point, I just died. My quads stopped feeling responsive, and I rationalized not pushing the pace more. I got too hung up on predicting what I would run for the rest of the race and let those expectations overwhelm me. And as a result, I am disappointed by the way things turned out.
BUT
Every time I race, I am getting faster over longer distances. I have always considered myself a 5k runner, and now I am working on the mindset transition to that of a long distance runner. It's my fifth long race, my third serious one, and I improved my time by over a minute from when I was in the best shape of my life. Just imagine what I could do if I wasn't so heavy. Jake Klim said it, not knowing exactly how my last few years have gone but taking a strong guess that it was the race of my last few years. He was right. It was my first PR at any distance (at which I had previously raced) since the Great Race in late September 2007.
Though I ran almost a minute and a half faster at Cherry Blossom than the 2007 Spring Thaw, I still consider the latter to have been a better race because I just put it away in the second half. I got faster and started nailing those rolling hills and would have probably gotten faster had the race been longer. What I did there was push the pace with Shafer, Rich and Herb Cratty until five miles then run away, which I obviously couldn't do with the competition in DC, but the point was that I passed the time at a decent pace, then negative spitted by 70 seconds for the second half.
I might not have scored a major win or an amazing time, but I made a major stride in putting training to good use. I have three weeks until Pittsburgh. That's time to crack down on my diet and sharpen my legs for speeding up and holding that pace for another 5k. I certainly will not go out in 5:10 in Pittsburgh. That is where 5:25 will be more my style. I won't be dealing with a huge field of people ambitious to run fast times, I'll be mixed in with a few half marathoners, marathoners and relay runners.
The pace will work itself out to be more conservative and more conducive to me getting miles out of the way at a decent pace before I start attacking in the second half.

I got another 3 miles in that afternoon after brunch with the guests and the Spitznagels.
Three weeks starts today!

Hot as bells

I don't deal well with heat. During college, when I lived in Pittsburgh during the summers and would visit my then-girlfriend in Centreville, I would try to run at the same time as I would in Pittsburgh and it was a total disaster. It was just so hot in Virginia. Well, I thought by living here in the spring I would adjust incrementally. To do that, however, I would need the temperature to ease upward, not jump to the mid-80s. Unfortunately, that is what happened.
Monday, I met up with Melissa for a jog around the cherry blossoms. The 1.5 mile jaunt from my office to our meeting place on the Mall, however, left me panting and parched. I invariably went too fast for the conditions, which she rectified, because she now only runs when we meet up. The heat was too much for her, too, and we truncated the run and I extended a little by running around east of the Capitol on shady streets that were thankfully light on traffic.
Tuesday I tried to explore Pimmet Hills for the first time since my awful December Saturday run. I first had to drop off a long-overdue book at the library on Leesburg Pike, so that part was pretty awful. I also had a weird sensation in my right hip, and that was making running uncomfortable. I ended up skipping one of the out and back loops and heading back to my apartment.
Wednesday, I foolheartedly showed up at B-CC for a 2.5 mile surge on the Capital Crescent Trail. After a warmup during which I really didn't feel like running and was already thirsty, we reached the appointed starting point- right in front of a bridge climbing over a road. Uphill starts blow. I tucked in between Klim, Murphy, Matias, Dirk and Mike and decided to just hold on as long as I could. They were shooting for 5:05s, I hadn't run that fast for one mile in months. Thankfully half-mile markers made the segmentation of the workout mercifully easier. We went through halves in 2:33, 2:30 (for a 5:03 mile, my season's best) then 2:33 again and about a minute before I started to drop. I was just so dry... I tried to spit but there was no fluid component and the detritus spread over my shoulder. Dirk encouraged me to stay focused, and I did, just at a slower pace that I would have liked. 2:35 for my next half, 5:08 for the second mile. Everyone else picked it up from there, so I lost a lot of my pack mentality, and they were too far ahead anyway, but even though my pace slowed to 2:37 for the last half mile, I dug in. I didn't run through the line as much as I would have liked, probably adding an extra second I really didn't need to be running, but I finished in 12:47. Lost in the agony of running in that heat was that it was technically a PR for an open distance, even though I obviously went much faster en route to 5ks, but the last time I ran about 2.5 miles was at the 2004 Peters Township 4k, when fueled by the fury of having gone off course the year before and maddened by the heat, I ran 12:51. I'll take it. The cooldown was brutally slow, and I was light headed as all get-out- stopping was always a bad idea on the way back.
Jimmy said his GPS watch indicated the second mile was long, so I had that going for me, which was nice, but he is a Delaware track alumus and thus an associate of my arch frenemy ELI, so it might be a clever ruse to lull me into a false sense of confidence..