Boston 2:55

Left on Boylston

2011-04-25T10:58:00.000-07:00

The final, final, final hill on the Boston course is the relatively short stretch up Hereford before you make the left onto Boylston.

I've cramped up on this hill in the past, but not today.

Today was different. I still had something left in the tank to get me over the hump.

I've rehearsed this stretch of the run at least seven times over the past four months, mostly on my Wednesday night BU Death Runs. I always made it a point to detour my BU run to make sure I get this part down pat.

Cut the tangent on the turn, look out for that pothole, don't turn too wide.

Also on my BU run two weeks prior, I walked off the distance from the corner of Hereford/Boylston to the finish line, and my Garmin told me that this stretch was .35 miles. That's pretty short considering that this stretch becomes the longest stretch of road on Marathon Monday.

.35 miles, huh? I should be able to do that within 1:40 with fresh legs.

My Garmin now read 2:48:15 as I powered my way around the final turn for the home stretch.

I couldn't believe how close this was actually going to be.

.35 miles to go.

I thought back to all of the track workouts over the winter at the Rat Dome in Lexington. All of the 200's, 400's, and 800's that Coach Run Faster made us do. What was the point of all that?

Now I know.

2:49:00 with less than 400 meters to go.

I barely recall much of this part on Boylston other than the fact that I looked for a clear path to the finish, closed my eyes, gritted my teeth, and went for broke.

365 Days, New Year's Run, Track Workouts, Catamount Hill, Park Ave, Wollaston, Eastern Ave, RT2, BU Death Runs, Fudgcicle Series, Super 5K, New Bedford Half, Good Times #1.

Training runs and races with and against Reno Stirrat, Joe Donnelly, Dima Feinhaus, Jim Rhoades, Ephraim Ezekiel, Chris Spinney, Joe Navas, Gary Allen, Lawrence Allen, Jim St. Pierre, Jim Garcia, Blaine Moore, Gary McNamee, John Rheaume, Dan Verrington, Mike Shanahan, Ken Skier, Keith O'Brien, David Penn, Paul Kelly, Michael Brodeur, Matt Germaine, Jonathan Morris, Eric Beauchesne, EJ, Fil, Frank, John, Jeff, James, Andy, Jill, Glenn, Cody, Titus, Festus, Scooter, Teddy, and on and on and on.

I opened my eyes at the very last possible second of my dead sprint....

(2:49:58)

All of that work over four months for this one literal second of pure joy.

I had nothing left on Boylston, but a smile on my face.

(Happy Ending)

Right on Hereford

2011-04-24T17:52:00.000-07:00

The GLRR mystery man at Mile 22 was none other than GLRR legend David Oliver!

(flying high)

I didn't recognize him at first because he was wearing the prototype GLRR racing singlet (gotta get me one of those!). Once I did though, it was a whole new race for me.

This sighting gave me a huge boost of energy and a 4th wind. I stayed focus on trying to catch David and that kept me right on the pace that I needed to maintain. This was very similar when I chased down Andrew Biancheri, also of GLRR, near the end of this year's New Bedford Half to help me finish strong there.

On a side note, this is another reason for you to sign up for a running club! So why not join the chickens?!

It took me at least another half mile before I was able to catch David, exchange pleasantries, and continue on my way with a new found bounce in my step.

I was actually hoping that David was also shooting for sub-2:50 so that we could work together and pull each other in over the final two miles. Unfortunately, I took a quick peak and saw that I was pulling further and further away from David as we powered down the descents on the other side of Newton.

Once again I found myself all alone among hundreds of other runners.

I took my third and final GU before hitting the 40K mark in 2:41:27. I was officially 8 for 8 for the 20 minute 5K goals, but now I had less than 10 minutes and 1.4 miles of pain standing in between me and my ultimate goal of 2:49:59 at the finish.

I definitely didn't want to settle on being "in first place for the most days during the season", only to come up short when it counted most.

The first sign of the impending finish appeared off in the distance as I approached my nemesis at Mile 25.

(running on fumes)

The relatively tiny hill that is the Mass Pike bridge overpass looms large for me every year, and has always tripped me up in the past.

I needed another boost, and that boost came in the form of Kara Haas!

(wonder woman)

She told me that she'd be out at Mile 25 to give everyone that extra boost, since she also felt that this was the crummiest part of the course. Boy is she right, and boy did she help!

I heard her scream my name and I looked over to my right to see her beaming smile!

And with that I shot over that puny little hill in record time and made my way into the Comm Ave tunnel.

Inside the tunnel I could easily hear other runners behind me swear up a storm as they cramped up on this final down hill.

I just focused on the daylight at the end of the tunnel.

I quickly thought back to Jan 1st when Reno, Gary, and I last ran this actual portion of the course. I've been here before. I've done this before.

Let's Do This!

My Garmin read 2:47:30 as I made the final right on Hereford.

The Hills Are Alive

2011-04-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

The tweak in my hamstring at the half-way mark turned out to be a false alarm. I was just passing gas and something slid down my legs. No worries.

(Oh, crap!)

I was now alone and running my own race. I got through the 25K in 1:39:48. Another 20 minute 5K in the books, but the worse was yet to come as I entered Newton.

My legs were feeling a little heavy, but nothing that a little GU couldn't fix. From under my cap I took out my first packet of GU and slowly ingested it before going down the steep Lower Newton Falls, and tackling the first hill of Newton on the other side of mile 16.

This is my second least favorite hill on the course. After running pretty much downhill for 16 miles you come up on the 128 overpass and have to change gears. This is the first true test of your marathon training. You'll definitely feel it here if you haven't sufficiently prepared for hills in your training.

All of those repeats on Catamount Rd paid off as I kept up the same effort going over 128. 1 down, 3 to go.

Managed to catch my breath on the fast downside heading towards the Newton fire station and the (in)famous right hand turn.

I always let out a sigh of displeasure once I see that first hill after the turn. No matter how many times I run this course, I always forget how much it sucks.

I also continued to drench myself with water at every aid station in order to remain cool even though my GLRR singlet now resembled a sweater vest on steroids.

The tailwind today was heaven sent, but it made for a very, very warm day. In between water stops I was now forced to take water from little boys and girls who were kind enough to offer up their cold drinks to me. Well, I hope they were anyways....

After grabbing some water from a spectator at Mile 18, I heard someone yell at me for illegally taking water from the crowd. It was fellow GLRR'er Jim Garcia and his eerie pre-race prediction ("See you at 18").

I got a good laugh from that one and it also gave me a huge boost of energy to know that I just passed a GLRR runner who was going to go onto his 5th straight decade of sub-3 marathons (all at Boston no less)!! Congrats Jim!

The 30K mark came and went in a little over 2 hours. I now had less than 50 minutes to get through the next 7+ miles. I just needed to keep up my current pace and manage sub 7's the rest of the way, but of course, the rest of the way included two more Newton Hills, including Heartbreak.

I also made sure not to miss Jim Rhoades this time around, and managed to pretend that I was still having fun.

(Focus!!)

I put my nose and eyes to the ground and went into survival mode over the next two miles to get over hill #3. I leaned heavily into the hill and did a steady cadence count as I put one foot in front of the other. Water and sweat was pouring down my visor.

Then it was over.

I felt a little delirious and actually mistakenly thought that I had just crested Heartbreak! My first clue that I was an idiot was that there was no BC or Cleveland Circle. DOH!

It's a actually a relatively long stretch between the 3rd hill and the top of Heartbreak, and it always feels a lot longer at this point in the race. This did however give me some time to recoup and take another GU before the final assault.

Once again, nose and eyes to the ground, arms pumping, high knee lifts, cadence count, same effort. Just as I had practiced and been instructed by Coach Chewy Stirrat.

(Thanks!)

Then it was over!

It took nearly everything I had to keep my pace from creeping up into the danger zone, but I was finally over the last hurdle on my way to sub 2:50, and now the fun was about to begin.

"GO GREATER LOWELL!!"

But wait, I'm all the way back here. Who the heck from GLRR are they cheering for up ahead?!

(???? ??????)

The Half

2011-04-23T18:34:00.000-07:00

Brendan and I rolled through the 10K, 15K, and 20K marks like two well-oiled sumo wrestlers going down a water slide (hard to believe that there's no image for this description on the Internets).

(4 down...)

Like I said previously, everything for much of this race was going to be a blur to me, and this section was no different. I only recalled a couple of memorable items of note through this stretch.

One clear memory was seeing Team Hoyt at mile 8.9 going as strong as ever. Simply amazing and inspiring.

On the comical side, Brendan and I witnessed a spectator offer up a beer to a runner (from Ireland no less), and that runner taking the offer and running off with the beer with the drunken spectator in tow for a good 20 yards! I think we were finally able to relax now.

The other memorial part of this run were the cheers for Greater Lowell and the lack thereof for my running partner's club, Somerville. Well, to be fair a couple of fat chicks did scream Somerville, and we eventually agreed that those girls would count as two on our virtual scorecard. Then again, to be even more fair we counted old chicks as deductions. So, in the end it was GLRR 89, SRR -32.

I think Brendan finally had had enough of my new found fame by Mile 11 and decided to run his own race. He told me to go for it before dropping back into the pack.

One final note on Brendan's assistance during this stretch. We were hitting very low 6's around the Framingham T station, and it was Brendan who, thankfully, reeled me back in. I clearly remember him telling me that it was too early to be hammering it. I'm sure I would have pushed it even harder, and paid for it later on, if not for his warning. Thanks again, buddy!

Once Brendan dropped back, I took that as my cue to really see what I could do. At this point I felt like I was in good shape for 2:47ish, and was only about 3 seconds per mile off of that pace. I also wanted to build that buffer by the 13.1 mile mark.

To my amazement and in a way my displeasure, I hit the half-way mark in 1:24:10. This was exactly (I mean to the millisecond) of what I needed to run according to the Boston spreadsheet. Displeasure because I pretty much had banked NO extra time whatsoever. This meant that the second half was going to be 1:25:49 or bust!

There was definitely no room for error or Mile 14's now.

And then I felt a tweak in my right hamstring.

First 5K

2011-04-23T10:48:00.000-07:00

The start was as fast and as crowded as I remembered from prior years.

The one thing that I knew that I'd regret about this run, if everything went according to plan, was that I'd pretty much miss everything that happened around me. I was already zoned out and so focused on my goal that I didn't even pay attention to the early crowds and the party atmosphere.

I don't even recall seeing/hearing the drunk bikers at the biker bar!

The weather was absolutely perfect for running and spectating, so right away I knew it was going to be an epic day in some form or fashion.

I had no trouble getting into 6:30 pace mode early on, but every now and then I'd run up against a 6:45 or 7 runner and would have to squirm my way through. I eventually just went off to the far right hand side and settled in.

I even missed Jim Rhoades (and he missed me) at mile 1 (6:34)!

The same thought kept on running through my mind: 20 minute 5K's. 20 minute 5K's. 20 minute 5K's.

I'd have to do 8 of them at that pace. Tough, but not impossible.

I didn't realize it at first when I looked at the pacing sheet, but that pace would leave me with very little room for error. I'd have to get myself to the half in 1:24:10, and then get through the second half in 1:25:39, giving me a positive split of ONLY 1:39 at the finish.

That folks would be a marathon PR split for me.

Let me just say that I suck at marathon splits. I have never had a negative split in any of the 8 marathons that I've officially completed. My best being 2:21 (Portland) and my worse being 22:54 (NYC).

The best half split that I've ever managed over the 26.2 distance was at my first BQ'er, and first official marathon, in Portland, ME back in 2009. I had a positive split of 2:21 on that rolling course, which is considered very runner friendly.

I had a positive split of 5:59 at last year's Boston, in what I thought was one of my better marathon runs, albeit a little too conservative through the first half.

I even started to doubt the fact that I could even pull this off today when I finally realized the split that I'd have to do.

Perhaps I should try to get through the half in 1:23 and give myself a little more breathing room at the end?

Then nature came calling. My bladder was already at full capacity again and I was only 2 miles into the run! There was no way I would be able to hold it in for the rest of the way, so I dove off to the side of the road and into the woods for a quick pee break.

This cost me about 30 seconds and brought my overall pace up to 6:45, but I quickly made that back up now that I wasn't thinking about an exploding bladder. Trust me, it's always better to just take the time to go during a marathon, even if it's Mile 14 and all you have are your gloves...

I was just about to pick up the pace even more when out of nowhere, and in the sea of runners, I managed to ID Brendan Kearney and his mustard stained Somerville singlet.

(running gods smiling down on us)

Have I ever spoken to Brendan in person? Nope. How about seeing him at other races? Nope. Not really. I just knew him from Facebook and remembered his last comments to me regarding my annoying Boston Marathon weather watch:

(See, I was right!)

But for whatever reason I really felt compelled to say hello to him in the middle of a sub-2:50 run and shake his hand.

We exchanged quick pleasantries and he asked me if I was still going to run 2:50. I told him I was going to run eight 20 minute 5K's. He just smiled and said let's do it!

Brendan basically saved my race from that point on.

First 5K: 20:12

The Start

2011-04-22T14:49:00.000-07:00

It was a little after 9:15AM when Bash, Chris, and I made our way down Grove St towards our corrals. The general layout of the area appeared to be different this year, I'm guessing that it was setup that way to accommodate the newly implemented three wave start.

It actually took us about 10 minutes of wandering around before we were even able to find Grove St!

The nerves were definitely starting to kick in now. I could feel the energy from the crowd around us as we just kept on moving forward down Grove. This part to me always feels like the start of a roller coaster ride. A nice, slow, unassuming start, and then BAM!

About a half-mile later we turned the corner onto Main St and Chris was the first to reach his corral. We wished each other luck and parted ways. Bash and I continued on further up Main St. This part is always a little sad due to the fact that you won't see each other again for at least another three hours, and that's if things go according to plan.

Bash went into his corral and we repeated the farewell ritual. I continued on down about two more sections until I reached corral #2, my home for the next 15 minutes.

Corral #2 is directly across from the church where the elites hang out before the race. Even then I couldn't catch a glimpse of Ryan Hall when he was introduced to a nice ovation. I looked around for a couple of minutes to see if I recognized anyone else in my corral. Nobody.

I eventually moved to the far right of my corral, with about five minutes to the start, in order to discard my throw away top. That was when I saw Jimmie Cochran and screamed "JIMMIE!!".

Unbeknownst to me, Jim Garcia was standing right next to me and probably thought that I thought that he was deaf! Before JC made his way over to me, JG shook my hand and congratulated me on receiving the GLRR Runner of the Year Award a few days prior. Then he said the oddest thing, "I'll see you at 18".

I didn't think anything of it at the time, and couldn't, since JC was all over me by that point. We gave each other a big man hug and smiled for the camera.

(Boston was just a warm up for Jimmie's day)

I removed my hat for the live rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, which gave me a chance to check on the two GU's that I had stashed away under my cap. I made sure to fasten my cap as tight as possible since the winds were howling at close to 20 miles per hour. Thank god it was supposed to be a tailwind today.

I think there was a fly over some point, but if they used a stealth fighter, we'll never know for sure.

I checked my Garmin one more time and then looked straight ahead.

The gun went off and the corral surged forward.

I was at least 30 yards from the front so it took me about 30 seconds of shuffling before I reached the official start of the race.

26.2 miles to go.

Pre-Race

2011-04-21T18:40:00.000-07:00

After dozing off for what felt like a whole five minutes, I was wide awake and ready to take on Boston 2:49:59!

My bags were packed, the dogs were eaten, and the breakfast walked (Yeah, I know, I'm riding this joke like a dying water buffalo in a persistence hunt).

I gave Rachel a quick kiss before she headed off to real work. She told me not to come home if I didn't break 2:50. Ah, the love of my life!

While going through my mental checklist, with only about 15 minutes before I had to head out to the bus stop, I realized I had overlooked one major thing. My pacing strategy!!

In the hustle and bustle leading up to Boston I never once thought about how I was going to specifically tackle my sub-2:50! I'm typically very anal about my pacing strategy for my runs, especially marathons, but I completely bonked on this one.

I had previously played with the well-known spreadsheet specifically developed for Boston pacing a few weeks prior, but I didn't really study it in detail.

I quickly fired up the laptop and plugged in 2:49:59 into the spreadsheet, and the simplest thing that I noticed about the pacing was that I just had to roughly hit 20 minutes per 5K to reach my goal. Well, that was simple enough, but these things are never right..............

My dad had the day off from work (supposedly he works for the only company in MA that actually recognizes the greatest holiday ever, Marathon Monday!), so he drove me the 3+ miles from my apt to Cawley Stadium where my over sized chariot awaited me...and the rest of the Boston bound GLRR runners.

The Boston Bus is the best part about being a member of GLRR. Well, besides being able to drink with Glenn Stewart that is.

(I once knew a man from Buckingham...)

The whole package includes the ride into Hopkinton (on-board toilet at no extra charge), a pre-race massage, a warm place to hang out before the race, bag check, post-race massage, hotel rooms at the Park Plaza, and all of this for the price of putting up with Fil! You Just Can't Beat That!

We all mounted up and were rolling by 7AM, on the dot, all thanks to the crack organizational skills of Gerard Ottaviano (congrats on #28 in-a-row!!) and his crew of Boston volunteers, including Cathy O'Donnell!

(This is why you don't want to be late for the bus)

I finally got some sleep on the one hour ride down to Hopkinton. Unfortunately, I was seated next to Fil, so I had nightmares the whole way.

(Yeah, that's a 2:33 Boston Marathoner behind me...and Titus)

Once we got to the Athlete's Foot Village, I decided to stay asleep.

(Could someone check his breathing)

At least I managed to stay awake long enough for the group picture.

(...who liked to do a lot of things that rhymes with Buckingham.)

There was only one thing left to do and that was to hurry up! and wait...and enjoy these fine photos taken by team photographer, Jimmy Lee Shelton.

(why is there a homeless man on our bus?)

(and this was just EJ's shit)

(touch it Bash, you know you want to)

(wait, that's just Scotty Graham giving another Lowell Sun interview)

(the rest of EJ's shit)

(it sure does, it sure does)

Pre-Pre Race

2011-04-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

The nerves hadn't kicked in yet.

I spent the morning of Boston Marathon eve doing a nice and easy jog around Lake Q in Wakefield with Jenn. Afterwards I decided to stop by the BSC pool in Woburn, since I hadn't been there in over two weeks, to try to relax the legs some more.

I could only manage 10 minutes in the pool since they were about to do swim lessons. So much for that idea. Went into the sauna for another 10 minutes to try to achieve the same goal.

I was basically just trying to kill time to get through the longest day of the year. It was only 10AM when I finally got back home...

(as boring as it looks)

By 1PM I was completely out of ideas. Even Teddy was tired of playing fetch!

(a mutt's life)

Then I came up with the brilliant idea to head back down to the marathon expo, but this time with my parents who have never had the awesome privilege of squirming their way through hot, crowded aisles looking for travel size freebies.

Unfortunately, by the time we got down there at 3PM the only thing left were the hot, crowded aisles and not much else. I couldn't even find an overpriced marathon jacket! I think they were being shipped over to Marshalls for the 50% off sale by that point.

Do you know how they always warn you to take it easy and don't do too much walking around the day before a marathon? Well, they're right and I should heed that warning in the future.

It was such a beautiful day out that my mom decided that we should walk back to where we parked our car...2+ miles away in China...town...

We did, however, get to walk down a closed off Boylston St for most of it, so that was very cool.

What wasn't cool was the fact that my lower back began to stiffen up by the time we got back to the car. I wasn't even in the mood to drive the 26.2 miles back home, never mind running 26.2 in less than 24 hrs.

Tried taking a nap back at the estate, but that was pointless with the Celts and Sox games on. On a side note, this has got to be one of the best sports weekends in the Boston area. Now if only we can get the Pats to play on Partiots Day...

I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening trying to figure out how to stay out of trouble. Believe me, it was difficult.

Checked out what the rest of my Facebook running buddies were up to. Looked like the usual:

(alrighty then)

I downed my last bowl of pasta and finally started packing for the next day before I went to bed at 10PM.

- GLRR issued running gear

- Garmin

- Running shades

- GU

- Kinvaras

- Injinji Tetra Socks

- Zensah compression sleeves (calves)

- North Face compression sleeve (arms)

- Post race clothes/food/entertainment/bail money

Like I said, I went to bed at 10, but you don't even wanna know what time I finally fell asleep. Let's just say that I never did.

The nerves were kicking in.

Time To Spare

2011-04-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm currently still trying to digest the experience of nearly hitting my exact target time of 2:49:59. I'll need to work on my pacing for next year, but for now, I'll just begin to work on my write-up(s) for this run...

(Phew!!)

THANKS!!

2011-04-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

Not that I need any further motivation to run my butt off at Boston in less than 24 hours, here's another kick in the ass from my fellow comrades. I AM HONORED, but I also plan on defending this title in 2011 ;)

(Come and get it, boys!)

Get The Juices Flowing

2011-04-15T13:21:00.000-07:00

Not that we need it, but here's one of my favorite clips from the Boston Marathon:

Tale of the Taper - Episode IV

2011-04-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

April 12th, 2011 - Like the swallows to Capistrano and these cliches to my blog, spring has once again officially returned to the city of Lowell with the start of the Good Times 5K series.

You can't have a good Boston taper without a good final, final, final tune-up race for Boston.

This was only my third road race of the year vs 20 at this point last year. The timing for this race couldn't have been better, and was perfect for those looking for a fast 5K to tune-up for Boston, and that's what I used it for.

According to my online friend, Greg McMillan, he told me that I could run close to a 17 minute 5K based on my performance at the New Bedford Half back in March. My 5K PR up until now was 17:34, which was set on the same GT5K course last summa'.

I didn't believe Mark Blaisdell when he told me late last summer that I should be running closer to 17:10, than 17:30's. I tried and tried, but never could achieve it. I ended the GT5K 2010 summer series with a couple of duds over 18, and I never broke 18 during Fudge this year. It looked as though I had peaked at my least favorite distance, but of course, that was all before I started piling on the mileage for Boston.

This Boston training cycle seems to have done wonders for my overall running. From pounding hills, to track workouts, to long tempo runs, and putting up with Fil, I survived it all and tonight's race is what I am hoping is just the first by-product of all that training.

My A goal going into tonight's race was to break 17. I figured that even if I blew up going after my A goal that I I'd still have a good shot at achieving my B goal, which was to set a new 5K PR right before Boston.

I had plenty of company tonight as a record crowd of 281 runners gathered for the first rites of spring, including all of my wonderful running friends (in no particular order):

AIMS CONEY

ALEXANDER FANOUS

ALEXEI LOMAKIN

ALICIA LEEMAN

AMANDA BENOIT

AMY MORRIS

AMY PAQUETTE

ANDREW HOUDE

ANDY BOURGUE

ANGELA KOTSIFAS

ANGIE DODGE

ANTONYO FEBO

APRIL COFFIN

BARBARA SCOLLAN

BARRY NEILL

BARRY PEARSON

BASH ZAGANJORI

BEN O'MEARA

BETH HOGAN

BILL MCCARTHY

BOB GANNON

BOBBY THERIAULT

BONNIE KINNAL

BRADLEY MIKESELL

BRENDA MACDONALD

BRENDAN GURRY

BRIAN DEMLEIN

BRIAN RISTUCCIA

BRIDGET DRISCOLL

BRYON MACSWEENEY

CHARLES WOODS

CHERYL VAREY

CHRISTINA RISTUCCI

CHRISTINE BRUNELLE

CHRISTINE MCPARTLA

CHRISTINE SULLIVAN

CHRISTOPHER SCHAFF

CHUCK MCALLISTER

CINDY CAMPBELL

CLINT OBRIEN

CRAIG ANDERSON

CRAIG LEMIRE

CRAIG MACKENZIE

CRAIG ROWE

DAN BEAULIEU

DANIEL HOUSTON

DANIELLE BANGS

DANIELLE MCPARTLAN

DANNY RIO

DAVE LABRODE

DAVE TYLER

DAVID ALLEN

DAVID HARDY

DAWN WILSON

DEBBIE DOHERTY

DEBORAH WHITE

DENA BROWN

DENISE UNDERWOOD

DON GATTON

DON KARDONG

DON PATCH

DONALD MILLER

DONNA NIVEN

DOUG ROBINSON

DOUGLAS KINNALL

ED BARTER

ED MORRISON

EDWARD BURNS

EJ HRYNOWSKI

ERYN GALLAGHER

FESTUS MBUVA

FIL FARIA

FRANK GEORGES

FRANK GORMAN JR

FRANK GORMAN SR

FRED HEBERT

FREDA RYDER

GARRETT THURSTON

GEORGE BISSON

GRETCHEN DESMOND

HEATHER SHEA

HELEN SULLIVAN

JAMES HALL

JAMES SHELTON

JASON BUI

JAY SHORT

JEFF ONEIL

JENNIE FROMENT

JENNIFER GOUVEIA

JENNIFER HALL

JENNIFER MAYNARD

JENNIFER PORTER

JESSICA COSTA

JESSICA LEEDBERG

JILL LOHMEIER

JIM GRANT

JIM PACHECO

JIM TROWSRIDGE

JOANNE DONOVAN

JOANNE ROY

JOE DONNELLY

JOEL CLABEAUX

JOHANNA RILEY

JOHN DUCHARME

JOHN JOHNSON

JOHN MELIA

JOHN OGGENFUSS

JOHN PERREAULT

JOHN SINGLETON

JONATHAN MACKENZIE

JONATHAN MORRIS

JONATHAN MUOLLO

JONATHAN SHEEHAN

JONATHAN WILK

JORDAN CLABEAUX

JOSEPH FORSTER

JUDY CHASE

JUDY GALLAGHER

JUDY MURPHY

JULIANE ST GEORGE

JULIE BUCHANAN

JULIE PINARD

JUSTIN QUINLAN

KAITLYN COX

KARA HAAS

KAREN COLANTUONIO

KAREN GRONDINE

KAREN HANNAN

KAREN LACHAPELLE

KAREN MIRANDA

KATE PACHECO

KATEY SULLIVAN

KATHRYN GOUVEIA

KATIE CREEGAN

KATIE MORIARTY

KELLY YONAKER

KERRI DESCHAINE

KERRI WILK

KERRY FENLON

KERRY HALL

KEVIN FALLON

KEVIN KALISH

KEVIN KUPSKI

KEVIN MOULTON

KEVIN MURPHY

KEVIN REYNOLDS

KEVIN SULLIVAN

KIM BUDRYK

KIM COLLINS

KIMBERLEE NUTTER

KRISTEN MCKENNEY

KRISTIN FOX

LAURA BROWN

LAURA CARPENTER

LAURA INGALLS

LAURA OGONOWSKI

LAUREN FRAZEE

LAURIE CALLAHAN

LEAH FITZPATRICK

LEE GITSCHIER

LEO DEMERS

LEO TOMETICH

LINDA MCCARTHY

LINDA MILOT

LINDA TACCINI

LINDSAY STUDRT

LIS GABIN

LISA BURKE

LISA DRISCOLL

LISA GOVONI

LOUIS FISH

LUIS ESCOBAR

LYLE REED

MARGE MCLAUGHLIN

MARIANNE LUCEY

MARIANNE SULLIVAN

MARIE YEAGER

MARK CODDAIRE

MARK CORBETT

MARK GALLAGHER

MARK ROBERTS

MARK SULLIVAN

MARY CASEY

MATTHEW MARTIN

MATTHEW SHAPIRO

MAYA JOHNSON

MCLEAN ROZEN

MEG XENAKIS

MICHAEL BALLERINI

MICHAEL CASSIDY

MICHAEL FAUVEL

MICHAEL MCHALE

MICHAEL MONTMINY

MICHAEL MURPHY

MICHAEL SHEEHAN

MICHEAL HAAS

MICHELE ROBBINS

MICHELLE ROCHE

MICHELLE SANTOS

MIKE GOVONI

MIKE SOHA

MOLLY LEARY

MYRA ROBINSON

NANCY PATCH

NAOMI MUNSAI

NATALIE REID

NATHAN TAYLOR

NEIL GOUVEIA

NICHOLAS BRUNELLE

NICOLE THURSTON

OLIVER MCMAHON

OWEY PEREIRA

PAMELA BECKWITH

PAMELA OGONOWSKI

PAUL ALCORN

PAUL HAGGERTY

PAUL RILEY

PAULA ACCOMAZZO

PAULA CULLEN

PAULA GREATOREX

PEG GIOLOSO

PENNI HART

PETER GOLDEN

PHILIP COLAMETA

PHILIP HUNT

RANDALL SHEAD

RENEE MOLINARI

RICH MILLER

RICHARD BRESLIN

RICHARD BROWN

RICHARD CHANEY

RICHARD DOYLE

RICHARD FAIAS

RICHARD MOLLOY

ROBERT FRIMANSON

ROBERT MCCOLLUM

ROBERT SMITH

ROBERT TIVEY

ROSA TEJADA

ROSE WASHAK

SARA KIRWIN

SARAH FANOUS

SARAH HARDY

SARAH MAHOWEY

SCOTT CASPER

SCOTT OBRIEN

SEAN DONNELLY

SEAN SILVA

SHAELAGH FLORENCE

SHANA HALL

SHERYL LABRECQUE

SLATER BARTLETT

SONIA RUAS

STACEY LEIGH

STACY TILNEY

STEPH RIDDLE

STEPHANIE SCHAFFER

STEVE MAHONEY

STEVEN GUERTIN

SUSAN BARTLETT

SUSAN BOURGUE

SUZANNE HARRING

TANYA HUGHES

TARA ALCORN

TERENCE MCCARTHY

TIFFANY PERRY

TIM CAMPBELL

TIM SULLIVAN

TITUS MUTINDA

TOBEY HARTMAN

TODD AMES

TOM AMIRO

TOM LUCEY

TRACIE BRENNAN

TRENTON HOYT

TRINA SHEEHAN

WENDY BERGIN

WENDY HAWKINS

WENDY STANICK

ZACHARY CASPER

ZONA SHARFMAN

(Photo Courtesy of Mike Stanwyk)

My race strategy was to run fast and see if I could get under 17. It was that simple. Well, not that simple.

I knew I would need to average 5:27's for the entire race to get under 17, so I logically broke the course down into three 1 mile sections and focused my strategy that way.

On a side note, I had done extensive speed work on the treadmill and track coming into this race to acclimate myself to that pace, so it wasn't completely uncharted territory for me, but throw in some literal twists and turns and it's a different story.

Speaking of which, there are plenty of those on this course, which makes it a much more technical 5k course than most. You really have to know how to manuever (i.e. cut) around the corners to take advantage. I don't care what the Water Buffalo says, those corners are there to be cut!

I knew the first mile was going to be fast (it always is) due to the adrenaline and the slight downhill start, and hitting 5:27 through this stretch wasn't going to be difficult.

Joe, Titus, and Festus passed me at around .75 and never looked back.

I got through Mile 1 in 5:29. Oh well, what's two seconds going to matter...

Mile 2 is always rough for me and it's typically my slowest mile on this course. Even though I consciously made an effort to not fall asleep down the VFW stretch tonight, I still ended up logging my slowest mile on the night with a 5:40 second mile. Part of it has to do with the "hills" at the start of the Mile 2 and also the crown in the road near the end of it.

I was actually gaining ground on Titus and Festus through parts of Mile 2, and thought I had a chance to at least catch Festus going into Mile 3.

I hit the 2.5 mile mark in about 14 minutes, so I knew it was going to be close if I were to get under 17. I figure that it usually takes me about 2 mins and 40 seconds to cover my last 800 meters at track when I'm going top speed.

I also started to think about the 3-minute drills that I've been using during my treadmill workouts. I always end my treadmill runs with a 3-minute all-out sprint in order to simulate the end of a race. It was now time to implement it for real.

I quickly glanced at my Garmin and saw that I was hitting low 5's over the final quarter mile. When I looked back up I could finally see the finish line clock.

Festus was still out in front and not coming back to me any further, so I wasn't catching him this week. So much for an easy 18, Festus!

I hit the 3rd mile in 16:47 (another 5:40 mile) with .10 to go.

I completed the final .10 stretch in 16 seconds in what normally would have taken me about 20-25 seconds to cover previously.

The clock read 17:02 as I slapped Glenn a high-five at the finish. So, I guess those two seconds really did matter!

Oh well, at least now I have something to shoot for this spring and summer.

On a positive note, with this new PR I did, however, finally managed to break into the Top 50 (43rd) on the GT5K All-Time PR list. YAY for useless stats!

Congrats to all of the runners and those that set PR's tonight! 1 down 15 to go!

Well, this concludes the taper portion of the blog and, barring an injury at track tonight (I love tempting fate), most likely my last entry before the Big Day!

Thanks for reading and I'll see you on this side or the other...of the Boston finish line!

Tale of the Taper - Episode III

2011-04-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

After the unfortunate events from Tale of the Taper - Episode II (that post was subsequently removed due to its offensive nature to some of my more sensitive readers), I continued on with my 14 day taper as suggested by Coach.

I woke up early on Saturday morning to head over to my final swim lesson at UML. It was another intense lesson with a couple of eureka moments.

Everything finally clicked by the end of the final session and I was swimming more like a sponge than a rock. The instructor said that I should spend the rest of the spring and summer working on not clinging to the wall before I consider coming back in the fall when she's not teaching.

(Lolz Cat to the Rescue!)

The sun was shining and the birds were singing by the time I got out of the pool at 9AM. Everybody else was already done, or putting in their run, at this time, so I was left to fend for myself.

Reno had mentioned something called a depletion run the night before, so I researched it and decided that it sounded like a fun thing to do on my own. It's always a good idea to be alone when you pass out during a depletion workout in order to avoid embarrassment and resuscitation.

So, I decided to go to the one place that I always enjoy running on a nice spring day when all of the other runners flake out on me: Boston. Specifically, around the Charles River where there were plenty of VDOTS out this morning.

I felt really great 8 miles into the run and it looked like the depletion part wasn't happening as planned, even though I was going close to marathon pace for most of it. I went to my bag of tricks and pulled out a hill workout to help me burn off the rest of the fumes in the hopes of passing out in front of the Capitol Building like a drunk state senator.

I headed over to Beacon Hill and did a 6x hill workout. I wasn't alone. It looked like everyone running the marathon was out here with the same idea. It was actually quite a cool sight, and feeling, to be doing a hill workout with 100 other runners. The poor out-of-town tourists probably thought that the local asylum was closed for the day.

Beacon Hill is insanely perfect for an intense hill workout. It's a straight, gradual climb over 400 meters, and not too steep at any one point. I was able to maintain my marathon pace through the uphills and just recovered on the downhills, which is the opposite of my Catamount Hill workout where I pound the downhills and rest on the uphills.

My legs were burning and my stomach was growling for carbs by the 6th repeat, so I called it a day with 11.5 miles in the bag. I jogged back to my car on the outskirts of Chinatown (great free parking near the Herald building if you ever want free parking on the weekends in Boston) to get in 13.1.

Now to find that Boston Duck Tour bus that hit me....

Tale of the Taper - Episode I

2011-04-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

This is the period that all runners dread, the taper.

After going all out for the past 3+ months we now have to figure out what we're going to do with this thing called free time. And who's that in my bed? Rachel?

I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to get yelled at by Reno!

And that's how my 14 day taper period started.

I've since gone on and not posted any of my subsequent runs for fear of further pissing off the running god(s).

I'm currently in stealth taper mode where I try not to go stale by only going to Sonic, Burger King, and IHOP only once per day...each.

My freezer is curently stocked with 14 days (coincidence) worth of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Definitely can't let that go to waste.

Here's one more "taper" run that is seeing the light of the Internet for the first time right now:

(I swear it was an easy run, Reno!)

So what else do runners do during the taper period? How about posting marathon day weather reports to piss off other runners:

(The gods are not laughing)

8 days to go. Who else can I piss off?

What's In A Number

2011-04-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

March 31st, 2011 - My Garmin registered mile 300 for March as I rounded the final turn of tonight's track workout in Lexington. Jeff was next to me. Everything was normal as usual. Confetti didn't fall out of the Rat Dome sky.

300 was the most I've ever recorded running in a month since I started seriously running and keeping track of my mileage last year.

Glenn passed us on his cool down. I told him I broke 300.

"300 what?", asked Glenn.

"Miles for March", was my response.

"Big deal, I'm at 310".

ZING!

Glenn's right. It's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. I could have hit 400 if I wanted to, but I decided on 300 at the beginning of the month, and that's where I ended up at the end of the month.

300 was a self-fulfilled prophecy, which reminds me of my 5K-a-day journey last year. I was just putting in the minimum of 5K-a-day even when I was getting ready for the JFK 50. I could have done 20K-a-day if that was my goal, but it was 5K-a-day because I had limited myself.

To hell with limits and pre-set goals.

No more VDOTS. No more race pace. No more heart zones.

I have no idea what I'll run at Boston at this point. 2:55? 2:50? 2:45? 2:40? 2:35.

I'm going to do away with pre-set goals and race plans.

I'm going to free myself from preconceived notions.

I'm going to enjoy myself and have fun at Boston.

I'm going out at suicide pace even if it kills me.

300 by The Numbers:

While You Were Sleeping

2011-03-30T08:44:00.000-07:00

Or partying it up, or getting bailed out of jail, or figuring out what the hell happened after the new year rolled around, a couple of us were out on the Boston course doing this...

Here's a sampling from Gary McNamee's ultra top secret project (not anymore) for Outside-In Virtual Running.

http://vimeo.com/21628615
Use password OIVSS2011 to view

(Run The World)

The video trailer is comprised of various outings on the course, including Gary Allen's New Year Boston run.

We went back out a couple of weeks ago to re-shoot the first half of the course.

The Home Team

2011-03-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are into watching others suffer, here's a listing of the local flavor that will be running the 115th Boston Marathon and instructions on how you can track our slow demise.

You can follow our modern day persistence hunt from the relative safety and comfort of your Iphone/Android/ Ipad/Itouch/Xoom/Blackberry/Laptop/
Desktop/Etch-A-Sketch by following the instructions found here.

The easiest method is to just text RUNNER to 345678 and submit the BIB #'s you'd like to follow, like #1202.

(#1 In Our Hearts)

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for the texts because I'm still waiting to find out if I ever finished last year's Boston.

Please feel free to let me know if you want me to add any other #'s to the list with a comment below or e-mail to redhotsox@gmail.com.

Also, El Presidente of El Pollo Loco Clubo, Glenn Stewart, has asked me to ask GLRR members that wish to be stalked by GLRR during the marathon to add this e-mail address to their Athlete Alert e-mail list: boston-trkr@glrr.net. UPDATE: Don't bother. I went ahead and registered all GLRR runners below under this tracking e-mail address with the Athlete Alert system. Thank You for playing.

Greater Lowell Road Runners

First

Last

BIB #

Ryan

Hall

David

Oliver

800

Jason

Bui

1202

Hrynowski

2454

Matt

Carroll

22072

Andrew

Biancheri

3158

Andy

Chandonnet

3657

Mary

Christian

3977

Scott

Graham

4312

Frank

Georges

4479

Bashkim

Zaganjori

4601

Jill

Trotter

5664

Fil

Faria

5800

Glenn

Stewart

6434

Peter

Floss

7010

Tom

Peters

8784

Paul

Hadley

10933

Virginia

Ford

10946

David

Pecchia

11060

Gerard

Ottaviano

13135

Jocelyn

Marion

14322

Nancy

Flaherty

15740

Steve

Kanaracus

19189

Thomas

Skahen

22397

Dave

Tyler

23102

Jessica

Costa

23201

James

Sullivan

23245

Marli

Piccolo

23254

Joe

Ferris

23267

Douglas

Sylvester

23437

Paula

Canela

23439

Linda

McCarthy

23441

Richard

Turcott

23670

Karen

Grondine

23704

Tara

Tomany

23778

Trish

Bourne

23824

Ben

Bourne

23825

Matt

Story

23841

Rosemary

Brewster

24345

Karyn

Jozokos

25012

Alex

Gomez

25313

Cullen

Madden

25734

Other Locals

First	Last	BIB #
Jim	Johnson	112
Joe	Navas	210
Joe	Donnelly	248
Chris	Spinney	311
Reno	Stirrat	361
Joe	Morasse	583
Ephraim	Ezekiel	594
Gary	Allen	808
Dima	Feinhaus	1101
Jimmie Katy	Cochran Agule	1155 1397
John	Rheaumu	1417
Gary	McNamee	2021
Charlie	Knutson	2324
Brendan	Kearney	2356
Justin	Soucy	3102
Nancy	Corsaro	4036
Stephen	Peckiconis	4697
Denis	Tranchemontagne	6250
Lauren	Liuzzo	9882
Karen	Ringheiser	12109
Elizabeth	Duhamel	15274
Kristina	Pinto	15810
Donald	Hogardt	19160
Mike	St. Hilaire	23139
Alicia	Leeman	23195

And there you have it, the 2011 listing of local runners that I didn't intentionally leave off of my list for one reason or another. Sue me.

Trial Run*

2011-03-26T20:08:00.000-07:00

March 26th, 2011 - No, the asterisk isn't for steroids, but I'm definitely on a runner's high after today's excellent 20 mile long run with Reno, Ephraim, Dima, and Chris Spinney on the Boston course.

You really couldn't have asked for better conditions for a long run ~~in the middle of a New England winter~~ at the start of a New England spring.

Even though the temps were in the mid 20's at the start I opted to wear what I planned to wear at Boston just to make sure everything fit the way it should. Shorts, singlet, and shrinkage was on full display today.

The asterisk in the title is for the tail wind that we experienced on extensive stretches of the run that wouldn't otherwise be there to aid us come April 18th, so I have to definitely temper my run today with that stupid asterisk.

According to weatherman Matt "Story" Kaprielian the winds were gusting at 10-12 miles out of the NW. That was the reason for the chilled air, and it also made for what appeared to be a very fast and easy run.

It didn't hurt that I was running with Reno (actually, it did), and with 1000+ other runners training on the course. I experienced this last year, but this year was just INSANE. There was even a police detail out on the course. FOR A TRAINING RUN!

We started out at Ephraim's house and took the family shuttle out to Hopkinton for the start of the run at 9:16AM. We began our run when the last wave of Team In Training left Hopkinton, so we had plenty of company along the entire route.

The winds were swirling all around us and we couldn't really sense a steady tail wind until further into the run.

After Reno downed his GU to try it out, we broke away from the pack and didn't look back. Sorry guys.

(Ready for Liftoff)

We were steadily hitting low 6:40's and some 6:30's throughout the run, which is close to marathon pace - whatever that is now - for me.

The key was that we weren't forcing it. Our rhythm was steady, it felt effortless, and we both felt comfortable with what we were laying down. Our breathing was under control and we were still able to hold a conversation (more great tips from Reno for running Boston).

We went through the half in 1:30. What?! This would have been a half PR for me 6 months ago.

Eventually, we caught up to the GLRR's out on the course this morning on their training run, including Marli, Matt, EJ, Fil, Glenn, and all of the wonderful GLRR volunteers. I also ran into other familiar strides including Denis T. and Justin S later in the run.

There were also a lot of nice "VDOTS" out on the course. Right, Fil and EJ?

Even Gary Allen was out here. Well, not really, but his sneakers at Mile 14 were still there! Say HI if you see them!

(A Crow was here)

Reno and I were still going strong at the right hand turn up Commonwealth where we joined the rest of the party.

Pretty much every shoe company in the area was out here pushing their wares, but we only paid our respects to the Saucony table for their excellent Kinvaras. Reno and I were both advertising them this morning (coincidence?).

Feet down, these are the best sneakers that I've ever had the pleasure of trying, and I've tried plenty. The one true compliment you can give any sneaker is that you don't even think about them during a race or run, and that's the way it should be.

We eventually only flattened 4 of the 5 Newton hills (Reno made a good point that the pain-in-the-ass 128 overpass hill is in Newton, but isn't included in the Newton hills discussion - I'm including it here).

Since we turned off on Walnut at around 19.5, to get back to Ephraim's house as originally planned, we never got a chance to climb Heartbreak for the fourth time this year. Awe shucks.

We got to Ephraim's front door right at 20.1 miles in 2 hrs and 16 mins for an overall pace of 6:46. I think that if I had continued onto Boylston for the full 26.2, I could have easily PR'ed at the marathon distance today. Whoops.

Well, it's time to start resting on my laurels and pray that today wasn't a fluke and that I'll be able to smash my PR come April 18th with or without that tail wind.

*I realized after the run that I hadn't taken any GU or liquids during this run. Maybe those vitamin pills I took this morning were indeed steroids

(Always nice to set a new PR)

Mortal's Plan

2011-03-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to Bashkim Zaganjori (be careful what you ask for):

(Before Bash started running and lost all of his muscles)

The Boston Marathon itself will make up only about 3% of my total mileage during this training period from January through early April, but damn, it's going to be an f'n fun 26.2.

With less than 24 days (14 days of that will be tapering) of Boston training left, the hard part is almost over. It's now time to start planning for the fun part, the final 26.2 miles.

Using a popular pace calc spreadsheet designed specifically with the Boston course in mind, I got the following data thrown back at me:

(Click to Enlarge)

This is how my race would break down using a 2:47:30 finish time. I'll go into further details down below.

I'm giving myself a little buffer on both sides of the AA & A goal. I feel that I have a very good shot at sub-2:50 based on my training and performance at the NBHM, but I also feel like I have a fairly decent shot at 2:45 too.

I'm thinking that it's all going to come down to how I feel over the final 10K at Boston that will determine if I crack 2:45, or if the wheels come off completely and Fil beats me.

According to another popular race calc/predictor tool, my time at NBHM has me projected to run a 2:45:44 marathon:

(a 17 min 5K? I'll believe it when I see it)

But I digress.

Here are the vitals of my 2:47:30 projected finish at Boston:

Start Time: 10:00 AM

Goal Time: 2:47:30

Goal Pace: 6:23 (ouch)

Estimated Finish TOD: 12:47PM

Pacing Strategy: Fairly Even Pace

Start Strategy: Fairly Fast Start

Finish Strategy: Maximum Fade (meaning I'll most likely be crawling)

First Half: 1:23:15

Second Half: 1:24:15

Difference: 1:01 (positive split)

I had a positive split of about 6 minutes last year at Boston when I ran a very conservative 1:28:34 first half, and a painful 1:34:33 for the second half. Of course, I was nowhere near the level of training last year that I am at this year, so we'll see.

Also, I've never raced a negative split marathon, ever. Hopefully this one will be the breakthrough run, since I'll likely need a negative split to get under 2:45.

Projected splits and current PR's at the given distances:

5K: 19:52 (17:34)

10K: 39:33 (36:15)

15K: 59:13 (N/A)

20K: 1:18:56 (N/A)

Half: 1:23:15 (1:18:35)

25K: 1:38:35 (N/A)

30K: 1:58:24 (N/A)

35K: 2:18:29 (N/A)

40K: 2:38:36 (N/A)

Full: 2:47:30 (2:55:01)

Projected pace through each mile:

0-1 6:11

1-2 6:20

2-3 6:12

3-4 6:20

4-5 6:30

5-6 6:17

6-7 6:22

7-8 6:25

8-9 6:19

09-10 6:30

10-11 6:30

11-12 6:17

12-13 6:22 (Wellesley Sloppy Seconds)

13-14 6:22

14-15 6:29

15-16 6:08

16-17 6:38

17-18 6:38 (Fire Station)

18-19 6:17

19-20 6:32

20-21 6:44 (Heartbreak)

21-22 6:15

22-23 6:24

23-24 6:12

24-25 6:23

25-26 6:28

.20 6:25

Some other useful tidbits about the course:

If you're interesting in playing around with the above spreadsheet either send me a message on Facebook or shoot me an e-mail at redhotsox@gmail.com

Of course, all of the planning and spreadsheets in the world won't get you to the finish line if you didn't already put in the hard work.

Just go out and have fun, otherwise, it ain't worth doing!

Detour

2011-03-20T21:26:00.000-07:00

March 20th, 2011 - The road to Boston took a slight detour south to the sleepy sea-side city of New Bedford for the aptly named New Bedford Half Marathon.

Let me get one thing out of the way before I continue.

I LOVE RUNNING THIS "TOWN"!

If it wasn't for the fact that there's not much here in the way of work other than being the local whaling museum curator and fish sandwich manufacturer, I'd move here in a heartbeat! OK, maybe two.

I love it here so much that I came down one day early just to soak up the cool 30 mph gusts off of the freezing Atlantic. Ah, refreshing!

I actually came down early because I had just completed timing a fun little St. Patty's 5K race in Providence on Saturday, so instead of driving two hours home, only to make the trek back less than 12 hours later, I decided to tag along with Yankee timers, Richie and Bill, and hid inside their luggage for a free night stay in the biggest fishing port in the continental US! Wow!

Discovered an awesome brick oven pizza joint, around the corner from the start/finish on Union St, for dinner on Saturday. I highly recommend you check it out the next time you're this far south looking for humpbacks.

I managed to get to bed relatively early for the 11AM race, so waking up anytime after 5AM on Sunday would be bonus.

I ended up waking up on Sunday at 7AM to give myself enough time to hop into the hotel's whirlpool to help loosen up the beaten up legs. Even though I had purposely only racked up 30 miles on the week up through Saturday, my legs were still feeling dead from the prior two weeks of Boston training totalling 150+ miles.

It was actually nice to finally get a down week from Boston mileage, and just focus on recovering and preparing for New Bedford.

This half marathon was actually put on for the first time 34 years ago for this very reason, it was used as a final tune-up for Boston. There are a ton of other races in the area that claim to be the "Boston Prep", but in my book, New Bedford is the best RACE to race before Boston. The timing is perfect and the course is very forgiving if you do decide to race it. And many do.

15 minutes in the hot tub was all that I needed to feel like a young sprite again before heading off to downtown NB to help Richie and Bill set up the race.

I managed to get four wonderful NBHM volunteers to help me enter in over 300+ race day apps.

Interesting fact: once the race sold out at around 10AM, people were still paying and registering knowing that they weren't going to get timed - that's how awesome this race is!

It was 10:30AM when I was finally got done with timing work. Now it was time to put on the slimelet and have some fun.

I've run this race two previous times and the weather was decent both times (2001 & 2010), but today ranked up there as absolutely f'n perfect! The temps were in the low 30's at the start, but the sun was out in full force so it felt closer to the upper 30's.

The biggest worry with this race is the wind since you're exposed to the sea-side for 2-3 miles of the run.

Tuck and hide is usually my motto for those stretches, but the gusts were blowing around at 5-10 MPH today, which is considered a cool breeze for these parts. It was also a good sign, when I drove the course on Saturday, and saw that the flags were blowing out towards the ocean, meaning a possible tailwind for miles 10-12!

(nature always wins. always.)

With these optimal conditions I opted for just the calf warmers, since I'm not a full-fledged triathlete yet. Mittens, cap, a thin Under Armor layer up top and down below beneath the GLRR gear, and the Kinvaras rounded out the rest of my attire for this dress rehearsal.

This would be my first race in the Kinvaras, and this would be its only opportunity to audition for Boston. The Newtons were waiting with baited breath in the wings. No pressure.

I got out to the start hoping to find some of the some other Green Chickens to warm up with, but the area around the start was buzzing with pre-race activity and finding a green chicken in a sea of runners was like tryng to find a green chicken in a sea of runners.

I was now looking for City Hall since this was where I found the shortest bathroom line last year. I ran into Liane and she pointed me in the right direction with about 15 minutes to go before the gun went off.

The line inside City Hall was definitely much shorter than the cluster F by the port-a-johns outside.

No disrespect to this great country of ours, but I was busy on the shitter when I heard the beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. OH SHIT!

This pre-race dump ranked up there as one of my best, but it would cost me dearly. I hurriedly got outside (don't worry, I washed my hands) and tried to make it to the front of the corral. I had less than one minute to get myself into pole position before the gun went off, so I jumped through the barricades anywhere I could. I knew I was in trouble when all of the runners around me were Ipod zombies!!

(I, Hate, Running.)

I managed to only move up about 10 feet within the corral, hoping to find some racing singlets, but I was still in no runners' land.

I was still about 25 yards from the starting line, so I just resigned myself to my fate. I actually thought that a sub 1:20 was in serious jeopardy even at this point. The last thing that I wanted to do was weave in and out of the pack this early on. I've made that mistake too many times in the past and its never worked out well.

The gun went off right at 11AM, and everybody around me were still making sure their Ipods were working.

10 full seconds passed before my section started inching forward towards the start. Thank goodness for net time!

It was another 30 seconds before I officially started the race with 40 seconds in the hole. DAMN! Rueben Sanca was probably at mile 1 already.

(and he's off)

My worse fears came to light shortly after the starting line. I was weaving in and out, ducking and dodging my way to the front. I got a couple of WTF's from the zombies as I blew past them. I swore back, but they couldn't hear me.

I finally caught sight of a couple slimelets and other familiar running strides in the dense pack. I got a nice ribbing (deservedly so) from Fil, EJ, James, and Jeff once I passed them (I think they were all holding hands).

The Water Buffalo even tried a little persistence hunting on me, but quickly gave in for easier prey.

I also passed the Bournes, Cullen, Matt, Andy, Frank, and Glenn as I got closer to where I should have been at the start. I was one mile into the race and my breathing was already out of control and my legs felt heavy. I could literally feel the lactic acids building in my legs.

My originally planned opening salvo was to start out with 6:10's through the first 5K, and bring it down from there. As EJ likes to say, mortals plan, etc, etc, etc...

Mile 1 passed in 5:24 for me! It was now a matter of not if, but when I was going to pay back the piper for the fast start.

On the bright side, my fast first mile made up for my extra time in the penalty corral.

I knew I was exactly where I should be once I started seeing red at Mile 2.

I first made out (not with) Jennifer Lee (female winner of this year's Andover XC race) of the GBTC, and then I saw my prey: MICHAEL SHANAHAN, former Greater Lowell Road Runner, and the current Benedict Arnold for the GBTC.

(Arnold also ran a 1:25:36 half in his prime. I'm just saying.)

I performed my own persistence hunt on Mike for about a quarter mile before my drooling gave away my position. We exchanged quick "pleasantries", and then the duel was on.

Checking my watch, I knew that Mike was currently on pace to break 1:20, as he had hoped for, but my goal was to break Mike Shanahan.

Now was a good time as any as we approached the first of many steady hills on the course.

I kicked it into another gear and shot up the hill and out of sight of Mike.

And then the duel was off.

(Next time, bring a knife)

I now had bigger things to conquer up ahead, like getting to the finish line in one piece.

Miles 2 & 3 were more on target pace-wise with a 5:59 and 6:10, respectively.

I crossed the 5K mark in a little under 18. The amazing part is that this was the first time I had broken 18 over 5K, under race conditions, this year! Only 10 more grueling miles to go!

There's a nice dip followed by the steepest climb to the highest point on the course after the 5K mark. This section is actually a 'harder" climb then the hill at the end of the course, but like Boston, it just all depends on when you face these things.

I always get sick of this climb because it runs on for a little under a mile. It's also the best place to leave others in your wake. I love taking advantage of other runners struggling on this hill at Mile 4. Today was no different.

I pushed the pace and pulled out a speed burst that Frank would have been proud of. I got through the hilly Mile 4 in 6:05.

The course drops back down to sea level through miles 5, 6 and 7. This is where you can really get your pace down if you're willing to take the risk of doing prolonged damage to your quads. I rolled the dice and slammed on the gas.

Mile 5: 5:52

Mile 6: 5:50 (I also managed a 10K PR - 36:15!)

Mile 7: 5:56

Any advantage you gain there is usually given back over the next three miles as you run along the sea wall of wind. Like I said earlier, the winds were a bit tamer this afternoon, but it still made its presence known.

Unlike prior years where I found myself in no man's land, and all alone, I was fortunate enough this year to find a Cody Freihofer lookalike, less the fighting, and hid behind him for about half-a-mile.

The problem with drafting is that your pace will be whatever the person your drafting behind is running. I glanced at my Garmin and saw my overall pace drift up a little to match my current pace of 6:20's.

I knew I didn't have much extra time in the bank, so I made the decision to go it alone for the next two miles at my own pace, wind be damned!

I love miles 8 & 9 on this course, they're right along the beautiful waterfront and there's a deceptive climb that's once again great for taking out tiring runners.

I made a quick note of a flag to check on the wind conditions, and it was blowing across our path and out to sea. This meant that the tail wind that I experienced yesterday was still there for miles 10, 11 and 12!

Mile 8: 6:04

I sprinted to the top of mile 9, anxiously looking forward to a very fast, wind-powered 5K to close out the race!

Mile 9: 6:09

My suspicions were confirmed when things got eerily quiet, I couldn't feel ANY wind, and started to sweat like a pig in heat. These are the classic signs of the wind to your back.

(Doh!)

I crossed the Mile 10 marker right when the official race clock hit 1:01:00. This now gave me less than 19 minutes to get in a 5K in order to meet my A goal for the day.

I felt like crap at this point last year and I remember struggling over the final 5K to only miss my 2010 A goal of sub 1:23 by a mere 7 seconds.

My legs were still feeling strong and oddly I only had two thoughts literally running through my mind at this point, track workouts and Frank Georges.

Track workouts for how I currently felt and what I had left in the tank. My legs were reaching their breaking point, but like at Thursday night track I knew I had something left for the end. Up to this point, this whole race actually just felt like a really tough track workout.

The piper was going to get a rain check today. Sorry.

The reason I was thinking of Frank was due to the dreaded 6:01 overall pace that he experienced here a few years ago, and the regret that he's lived with since (not really, but I'm sure it eats at him every night when he goes to bed - again, not really). Frank missed the "only cool to runners" milestone of sub-6 for the half by about 10-15 seconds the year he ran NB in 1:18:46.

I didn't want that on my tombstone, even if it killed me.

(this is what I want)

One other thing that drove me over the final 5K was the fact that my gun time and net time were going to have a relatively large discrepancy due to my pre-race Mile 14 ritual. I definitely didn't want my gun time to say something like 1:20:10 and my net time to say 1:19:45. I wanted everything to say sub 1:20.

With all of that on my mind, I decided to go for broke.

Mile 10: 6:03

Mile 11: 5:50

Mile 12: 5:50

It was around this point that my ears perked up when I heard "Go Greater Lowell!", and it wasn't for me! Who else is out here at this time of the race?!

I squinted and looked ahead about 50 yards and saw Andrew Biancheri of GLRR! He was having a heck of a race and still looked comfortable. He was running with some CSU and Whirlaway folks.

I gave it my all and finally caught up to Andy before we started the "monster" final climb. He warned me about the hill as I sped off like a spoiled brat just told not to do something stupid.

The final climb was over in a blink mainly because I closed my eyes and just prayed for the end. That wasn't so bad...

When I re-opened my eyes, I saw that the Whirlaway runner in front of me was Ephraim. We had done a Boston training run together a few months ago, and I knew he was VERY strong.

I was about 20 yards behind him coming down the final hill and turn for the straight-away finish.

There's absolutely nothing better than a straight-away finish down the center of a downtown street with people screaming at the top of their lungs i.e. Boston.

NB is no different and something inside my head just turned off the pain in my legs and I sprinted the final quarter mile managing to pass two other runners and almost catching Ephraim at the line (I did however catch him in the final results. Thanks to net time, again).

(just like during our training run)

The final 400 meters at NB would later indicate a pace of 4:55 on my Garmin, which works out to roughly a run time of 1 min and 18 seconds, which is something that I try to consistently hit during my 400's at track.

Of course, it's also by no coincidence that I ended up running a 1:18 half marathon. I think Bart might be onto something...

(DOH!)

Oh yeah, I also crossed the line in 1:18:35. Rounded to 6 min/mile on the official results, but it works out to something like 5:59.999999999999. Eh, close enough. Mission(s) Accomplished.

(3:50)

I think I'll just keep running and take the scenic route all the way to Boston 2:45?

Congrats to all of the runners at this year's NBHM!

Reno pointed out the fact that there were 371 runners under 1:30 at this race! That's just unbelievable, but yet, not surprising given the caliber of dedicated club runners in this area.

A BIG Thank You to all of the fine folks and volunteers that makes this incredible race possible!

Now where's my fish sandwich?

El Pollo Loco Results:

1. Ally Maslowski - 1:48:02 (PR)

2.    Andre Chandonnet - 1:26:41
3.    Andrew Biancheri - 1:19:38 (PR)
4.    Ben Bourne - 1:38:44 (PR)
5.    Cullen Madden - 1:34:50 (PR)
6.    Dave Oliver - 1:19:52
7.    Douglas Sylvester - 2:43:48 (PR)
8.    EJ Hrynowski - 1:21:14 (PR)
9.    Fil Faria - 1:27:51 (PR)
10. Frank Georges - 1:27:42
11. Glenn Stewart - 1:30:36
12. James Sullivan - 1:30:52 (PR)
13. Jason Bui - 1:18:35 (PR)
14. Jeff Thomas - 1:27:11 (PR)
15. Jim Scotti - 1:54:50
16. Joseph Ferris - 1:55:30
17. Liane Pancoast - 1:44:12 (1st Place Female GLRR)
18. Linda McCarthy - 1:58:08 (PR)
19. Mark Corbett - 1:55:41
20. Mark Reeder - 1:14:01 (1st Place Male GLRR)
21. Matt Story - 1:32:31 (PR)
22. Meb Keflezighi - DNF
23. Michael Brodeur - 1:39:58 (PR)
24. Nancy Dorn - 1:53:19
25. Nancy Flaherty - 1:40:33
26. Nicholas Kanaracus - 1:39:32
27. Patty Foltz - 1:49:30
28. Steve Kanaracus - 1:45:29
29. Tom Amiro - 1:38:15
30. Tom Foltz - 1:47:58
31. Tom Peters - 1:36:10
32. Trish Bourne - 1:38:46

(All Aboard!)

Overall NBHM run:

Splits:

First 6 Miles: 35:15 (5:53)

Last 6 Miles: 35:51 (5:59)

Great pictures courtesy of Melissa Sylvester:

The Battle for New Bedford

2011-03-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

Looks like there will be a nice contingent of GLRR's at this year's half marathon in New Bedford.

Here's the current list of GLRR folks ready to do battle for 13.1 miles in some, currently forecasted, beautiful running weather (running gods are preparing to LOL):

1.    Ally Maslowski
2.    Andre Chandonnet
3.    Andrew Biancheri
4.    Ben Bourne
5.    Cullen Madden
6.    Dave Oliver
7.    Douglas Sylvester
8.    EJ Hrynowski
9.    Fil Faria
10. Frank Georges
11. Glenn Stewart
12. James Sullivan
13. Jason Bui
14. Jeff Thomas
15. Jim Scotti
16. Jocelyn Marion
17. John Stone
18. Joseph Ferris
19. Liane Pancoast
20. Linda McCarthy
21. Mark Corbett
22. Mark Reeder
23. Matt Story
24. Meb Keflezighi
25. Michael Brodeur
26. Nancy Dorn
27. Nancy Flaherty
28. Nicholas Kanaracus
29. Patty Foltz
30. Steve Kanaracus
31. Tom Amiro
32. Tom Foltz
33. Tom Peters
34. Trish Bourne

(nothing to fear, but us chickens)

Out With The Old...

2011-03-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

...In with the New Bedford Half.

This is going to be my only other race between now and the Boston finish line, so I'm going to make the most of it and see where I stack up.

The goal is to break 1:20 and/or kick Mike "GBTC" Shanahan's butt for jumping from the GLRR ship. I know we're sinking, but sheez, at least let the women, children, and chicken off first.

(You've been naughty)

Me and the New Bedford Half go way back. Ten years to be exact.

The story that I love to tell, and the one that people are sick of hearing, dates back to 2001 when I ran my first road race. Yep. I ran New Bedford, one of the tougher half's around, as my first true test of pure stupidity.

Training? Pffffttt. For running club losers.

I still don't know what the hell I was thinking, but I ran the 2001 New Bedford half with a bunch of my idiot friends as our one and only training run before banditting Boston one month later. Sort of like this year.

My claim to fame at that year's New Bedford half was that I left a piece of my soul out on the course around Mile 1, and then limped over the final monster hill and into the finish at a blistering 11:06 per mile pace!

I can honestly say that some of the people that finished ahead of me that year have probably since passed away, due to natural causes, at ripe old ages. Even Fil might have had a chance against me that year (not really).

I ended up running what would have been an awesome marathon time....

(Who the hell's that?!)

As you can see, I quickly changed my name after this race in order to avoid further embarrassment.

Like most idiots, I didn't learn my lesson the first time around, so I went back last year to run for the green and gold.

This time I was a little bit more prepared based on my overall performance and how I felt throughout the run.

(What a difference a decade makes)

I'm looking forward to this weekend and running one of the best road races around as my final tune-up for Boston 2:49:59.

Wait until you see what I have up, and over, my sleeve on race day.

Take 14

2011-03-14T18:33:00.000-07:00

March 12th, 2011 - So how do you stay young and enjoy running for a very long time? Just ask Gary and Larry Allen.

Many folks will be training on the Boston course over the next few weeks, but not many will drive 4+ hours to do it....for fun!

Gary started driving down from Maine around 1AM, and his brother Larry had quite an adventure getting to the starting line from NYC.

Poor Reno and I had to drag our carcasses out of bed at 4AM and make the arduous 30 minute drive to mile 14 in Wellesley before carpooling to Hopkinton to meet the Allen brothers by 6:15AM.

We were all coming together once again to give fellow runner Gary McNamee a hand with the filming of his ultra top secret project for his company Outside-In Virtual Running. Like Gary Allen likes to say, if we can't help out fellow runners, then we're all screwed (something to that effect).

This was basically the same group that ran on New Year's morning, less a couple of other Maineiacs and locals.

Back on Day 1 of the New Year, we completed the entire Boston course with Gary M. joining us at mile 14 to film the second part of the course. The plan for today was to escort Gary through the treacherous first 14 miles of the course in order to complete his pièce de résistance.

After leaving my car at the Mile 14 marker, Reno and I drove towards Hopkinton and got there right at 6:15AM with the morning sun to warmly greet us. Both Garys were already there, flashing us their signature smiles. It looked something like this:

:)

Of course, only runners could be this happy, this early in the morning, when the streets are quiet and the roads are ours to divide and conquer.

Gary, Reno, and I did a quick one mile loop to the port-a-john at One Ash St while we waited for Larry to arrive, and for Gary M. to prep his high-tech gear.

Reno showed us a house about 50 yards from the starting line where he hangs out before the race. It must be nice to be an elite.

Larry arrived right on cue, and right at 6:30AM the four of us departed from the starting line and began our 14 mile journey towards...Mile 14.

Japan was on our minds this morning and not much else. It was a quiet run for the most part as we became one with the hallowed pavement.

We spoke about the intricacies and undulations of the opening miles. Places where it's easy to get sucked in and tricked into thinking you're running the best marathon of your life. "Look, a new 5K PR!"

We noted variations in the course that's hard to notice on race day when the streets are lined with spectators, roads crammed with runners, and your adrenaline is pumping at 175+ beats per minute.

Like the New Year's run, I just sat back on my heels and took it all in. It was a free clinic, put on by the best around, on how to run Boston. Priceless.

It was a beautiful morning and we knew how lucky we were to be able to enjoy something like this while many others are suffering a lot worse half-way around the world.

I always joke about how all of my training runs are "nice and easy", but this run was truly nice and easy. This is how all training runs should be, otherwise you're doing something wrong.

Don't worry about your time. Throw your pace out the window. To hell with your splits! JUST HAVE FUN!

Lo and behold, this run ended up being one of the best progression runs I've ever had the fine pleasure of running:

(If it ain't fun....)

Speaking of fun, when you run past by the Mile 14 marker on April 18th, look up to your right and you'll see and smell Gary's well-worn sneakers:

(A Crow put them up there)

And that's a wrap!

Heart Attack Thursday

2011-03-11T11:38:00.000-08:00

March 10th, 2011 - Tonight's heart attack inducing workout consisted of lasagna with meat and meat sauce dipped in meat, meat lover's pizza with extra meat, meat pies, shells and meat, something Italian with meat, and meat with a side of meat.

(slice of heaven)

Even though Bash and I raced the entire night, we paced ourselves really well throughout the 8 x 1 slices, taking time to stay dehydrated and leaving a little bit left on the table.

EJ on the other hand went all out and would regret it later on, but I believe he managed a new PR for the single course interval.

Frank was smart about his workout and did his own thing, ordering up something healthy to compliment his plate of meat.

Fil is watching his figure and took it easy tonight, ordering up a small veggie lover's pizza with a side of wuss.

Glenn, Jim, James, Chris, Keith, and Paul did their usual Mario's workout.

Oh, and we all did a nice track workout too at the Rat Dome, but we won't discuss what happened there.

You'll just have to join us next WEDNESDAY to find out.

In A Flash

2011-03-09T19:31:00.000-08:00

March 9th, 2011 - She was gone.

75

2011-03-06T20:08:00.000-08:00

(no turning back)

March 6th, 2011 - I accomplished a major milestone in my Boston training this week. The magic number at the beginning of the week was 75.

75 miles was going to be the peak of my mileage for this training cycle, and it ended up being harder to obtain than I originally thought it would be.

I knew I needed doubles in order to have any shot at it, but even then it was nearly not manageable.

Between work, life, drinking, eating, and trying to get off of the phone with Fil, something had to give. Sleep ended up being the sacrificial lamb.

My day started at 5AM every morning this week.

I'm definitely not an early bird, and I'm also not a night owl when it comes to putting in meaningful miles, so logically I opted to do both as much as I could.

I also figured that I might as well put my new BSC membership to good use, so I decided to try to do a morning routine that included a run and swim for as many days in-a-row as possible. I am now definitely convinced that jumping in the pool right after a hard run is helping with my run recovery. It's as close as I can get to an ice bath without the ice and the bath.

Monday: This morning started off with a 7 mile run that capped off another milestone, 250 miles for the month of February.

Tuesday: I knew that I would be running at least 5 miles later that evening on the Bad Times course, so I did another morning run/swim at BSC to go for the first double of the week. I opted to test out a prototype pair of racing VFF's on the treadmill and then again that evening with James at Bad Times.

The originally planned 5 miles from Hookslide's turned into 7 after James and I got lost while playing cops and robbers throughout the Lowell run.

It must be a very odd (or common) sight for an Asian kid to be chasing down a white kid, at break neck speed, through downtown Lowell. The authenticity of it all probably became more convincing when I screamed, "He stole my Garmin!"

Needless to say I got in 13 very fast miles (averaging 6:45's) on the day. Racing VFF's are for real, but I never did get my Garmin back.

Wednesday: This day of the week had been reserved for my usual 16 mile BU Death run over the past month, but I had to be home in the evening to take care of the boys while Rachel went to class. I could only manage a 5 mile run/swim at BSC in the early morning, so I was now deep in the hole for the week, and 75 didn't look like it was going to happen.

Thursday: Things looked a little more promising with another double on tap. 7 miles in the AM at BSC and then the weekly GLRR track workout at Lexington.

The Rat Dome looked different, probably because we hadn't been there in over a month. I forgot how good we had it here (banked track, easier turns), so I'll stop ragging on the Rat Dome, unless of course we get bumped from their schedule again.

The 4 x 1 mile workout plus warm up/cool down miles helped add to my weekly total. 15 on the day and 40 for the week.

The track workout was pretty intense with a very large group of GLRR's in attendance. I fell asleep on the second interval and misjudged my group's pace halfway through, but Frank was kind enough to kick my ass into the correct gear and put us back on track.

The Water Buffalo was on my track tail the entire night, including the redonculous final interval when we hit 5:33 for the 1.07 lap (works out to a 5:13 mile!). I'm convinced that someone made the track longer while we were away.

1st Mile:   6:00
2nd Mile: 5:56
3rd Mile:  5:57
4th Mile:   5:33 (whoops)

Friday: Surprisingly my legs felt OK even after the pretty intense workout the night before. I was actually averaging a faster pace then during Speed Week the week prior when I logged only 50 miles in order to compensate for the intensity of those workouts. It looks like the base building leading up to this week was starting to show its benefits.

After the morning run and the casual Friday at work, I wanted to hit the gym again in the evening in order to take some pressure (and stress) off of my weekend mileage, but BSC was closed by the time I got my act together.

I would now need 28 miles total on Saturday and Sunday to hit 75. GULP!

Saturday: I was looking forward to show off what I had taught myself during the BSC swims at the UML swim lesson. I had previously always ran the 10 miles to the UML pool, but decided to try for a run after the swim lesson in order to save my legs for the swimming. The swim lessons have been getting more intense each week, and plus I wanted to experience what an actual tri would be and feel like.

Paula C. and I were kicking all of the other students' butts today, proving that running stamina was starting to translate really well to swimming stamina. We were both still going strong by the end of the 45 minute swim lesson while the other students were either grabbing the pool wall or getting out of the water completely due to leg cramps.

I managed to finally freestyle swim the entire length of the pool three times near the end of the lesson.

My running plans went down the pool's drain when Rachel opted to skip out on the swim lesson, otherwise she would have driven me to class and I would have ran home. In the end it worked out for the better.

I got home from the swim and quickly transitioned to my run leg. I only had a two hour window to get in as many miles as I could, so I went to Catamount Rd to put in a hill workout.

3.5 miles to the base of the hill, 8 x Catamount (8 miles - 300 feet up and down each way), and 4.5 on the way back home for a total of 15 miles at 7:10 pace for the day.

All of this within two hours, giving me about 20 minutes to walk the dogs, shit, shave, and shower, and then head over to my dentist appointment. In other words, I'd rather be doing another set of Catamounts.

Sunday: I was slightly relieved to know that I only needed 13.1 miles today to hit 75 for the week. I definitely was not relieved to know that I would need to do it on the Stu's 30K course, and very early in the AM to add insult to a good chance of injury.

I had to be out there by 8:30AM to time the actual race, so that meant that I would need to get in my Stu's Half-Marathon run before that. I started my run for 75 at 7AM and calculated that I would need roughly a sub-7 minute pace to finish up my run by the time Richie got to the race site to begin the setup.

I went out about 5.5 miles on the unbelievably silly Stu (convinced that Stu is really short for stupid) course, and came back to the start 11 miles later. Richie pulled into the Clinton Middle School right as I hit mile 11. I told him that I'd be back in 15....

15 minutes and 13.1 miles later I was done.

75 for the week.

(I can sleep when I'm dead...soon enough)

Now to write up what I think will be a very long post for this very long week...

CONGRATS TO ALL OF THE GLRR'S THAT RAN THE ENTIRE STU(PID) COURSE!!

If It Ain't Fun

2011-03-03T09:06:00.000-08:00

March 3rd, 2011 - Then it ain't worth doing.

This is the mantra of the GLRR's, and it appears to be also the secret to successful running according to "Born To Run" writer Christopher McDougall.

Here's a great talk given by McDougall on the secret behind humanity's advantage for running long distance, running injury free, and running forever and ever (he only goes into his barefoot running spiel briefly, and near the end of the clip).

I wholeheartedly agree with McDougall's point on just having fun when you're out there running. Stop obsessing over things like qualifying times, equipment, and other stupid things like trying to run sub-2:50 at Boston. Sheez!

In Like A Lion

2011-02-28T17:36:00.000-08:00

Feb 28th, 2011 - Most of us are a little more than halfway through with this Boston training cycle and it's going pretty well for some, and a little less well for others.

(not naming names)

99% of running Boston is getting there injury free.

Personally, my legs still feel fresh and I haven't hit the training doldrums yet. This is partly due to my new found discovery of swimming and spinning to break things up a bit, and having a new long run each Sunday has also helped. Speaking of which, this looks like a new GLRR tradition (new group run host every week on a different course) and it's developing nicely.

All of this running has made me yearn for the swimming, the swimming for the spinning, and the spinning for the running. It's one vicious cycle that I actually don't mind, and highly recommend.

I am, however, itching to throw down some serious miles at a middle distance race, like New Bedford in three weeks. This past weekend was tough as a lot of my fellow runners were out there clocking in some serious training and racing miles, while I pussied out of a GLRR group run because of 4 inches of snow!

Other than the Super 5K and a couple of Fudgecicles (the racing kind) earlier this month, my schedule has been devoid of any racing. At this point last year I had about 20+ races under my belt and only my stupidity to show for it. I still can't imagine how the elite marathon guys can focus on just one or two marathons a year. I would go bat shit crazy just from the training!

(The President)

I've managed to increase my miles per week average, and overall pace since January, without injury or issue. I've also been able to hold it steady between 65-70 miles per week (not counting this past week, Speed Week, where I clocked in only 50) for the past three weeks.

My goal before the taper in early April is to try to get in 300 solid miles for March with New Bedford thrown in as a final tune-up. My goal at New Bedford Half is to break 1 hr and 20 minutes, or beat Mike Shanahan depending on which singlet he wears, GBTC or GLRR. Yeah Mike, I'm calling you out!

(just like the good old days)

With a recent change in my work-life balance I'll have to start putting in a couple of doubles throughout the week in order to hit 75 miles each week.

Like they say, March will come in like a lion and out like a ~~lamb~~ chicken.

Speed Week

2011-02-25T08:54:00.000-08:00

Feb 25th, 2011 - My main focus for this week was on speed, more specifically, seeing what it feels like to run at my marathon goal pace of sub-6:30's for an extended period of time.

I remember when I first BQ'ed at Portland in 2009 that all of my training runs leading up to it were at marathon pace. Back then marathon pace was a relatively brisk and easy sub-7:10 pace and my weekly mileage was no more than 40 miles per week. Ah, to be young and smart again.

I also remember how effortless the Portland BQ'er felt, and I attributed that mainly to the fact that I was so use to running at that pace before I even got to the starting line.

I've upped the mileage this year (60-70), but I haven't really focused on the marathon pace.

Taking more than 40 seconds per mile off of that 2009 pace during my training runs this year has proved to be tricky. It's been hard to get in that much speed work unless I'm either on the track or on a nice stretch of road. As many of you local runners can attest, this winter has made both options very difficult.

The snow and ice has finally taken a brief vacation, enough for the roads to finally clear up to do some speed runs outside, for long stretches, without fear of slipping on ice and getting sidelined by an on-coming vehicle.

Speed Week started on Sunday with a run with some really fast dudes. We completed the 18 miles averaging 7:07's with only a handful of miles below sub-7. It wasn't my fastest 18 miler this year, so I chalked it up as a warm up for the rest of the week:

Monday is usually my rest/recovery day so I went down to Dorchester and did 10 very easy miles at 8 minute pace with Reno.

I also hopped into the pool later that evening to continue with the recovery process. Getting in the pool after a tough workout has definitely been the key factor in my recent recovery. I can't recall feeling this refreshed only a little over 24 hrs after a hard run like Sunday.

I was now ready for the rest of the week.

I picked up the pace again during Tuesday night's Bad Times Winter series run with Glenn, Frank, Scotty, James, and Jeff through Lowell/Belvidere.

We typically do this 5.20 mile hilly course in 42-44 minutes for a decent workout.

Even I thought I was joking around when I told James that I was shooting for sub-6:30 tonight.

The conditions were ideal, but there were still some slick spots on the course, and you're never 100% sure if that's NOT black ice when you're running at night.

Even after throwing some caution into the head-wind, I managed to get in a 10K at 6:43 pace, with the last 2 miles close to 6 minute pace. And of course, back into the pool I went to cool off the jets.

I was hoping for some company on my weekly Wednesday night BU Death Run from Burlington to BU, but alas, it was just going to be me, RoadID, and my organ donor card on this cool night.

As it turned out this run was forced to be an abbreviated version (14 vs 16 miles) due to time constraints. I didn't get on the road until 7PM and Rachel would be done with her class by 8:30PM, so that gave me only an hour and thirty minutes to get my ass to BU.

This time constraint actually worked in my favor, since I was now forced to run pretty close to my marathon pace in order to get to BU on time to catch my ride home, otherwise this would turn into the first and last 28 Mile BU Death Run.

Right from the get go, and right when I got out of the bottle neck of Burlington, I slammed on the gas and didn't let up until, appropriately enough, I passed the Citgo sign near the unofficial finish line of my run.

The only "glitch" in the Matrix occurred at mile 6 when I climbed Park Ave at 7:48 pace, but managed to regain all but 2 seconds per mile on the other side.

Parts of Mass/Comm Ave turned into a speed track as I managed to easily and effortlessly hold onto marathon pace over the final 8 miles after coming off of Eastern Ave in Arlington.

Speed Week wouldn't be complete without a track workout, so once again GLRR found themselves locked out of Lexington and over at the Shamrock's home in Woburn.

Mark, Jim, EJ, Bash, Glenn, John, and Jeff were in attendance for the ladder workout (400 --> 1600 - up AND down).

I didn't have any set goals for this workout other than to see how my legs would hold up after three already tough workouts on the week.

Unfortunately, I arrived late and my crew needed my rabbit skills to lead them around the oval, so I opted for the less-than-ideal half mile warm up (kids, don't try that at home). This was going to be a true test of my stupidity.

We completed the first 400 in 1:24, which is about right for a typically workout, but my legs were already screaming at me, so I was a little hesitant on the 800.

I was pleasantly surprise when we managed the 800 in 2:49, which is my Yasso equivalent marathon time. Legs were still tight, but a little more loose now. That was basically my warm up.

Joyce doesn't have the 1200 interval marked, so we were all over the place on this one. We definitely came up short since we completed the supposed 1200 interval in 4:01. It should have been a lot closer to 4:20. I think it ended up being only a little more than 1000. No matter, the group still managed to hold onto our overall pace, which is the more important aspect.

The mile interval was going to be the true test. I felt that myself and the group could only manage a 6 flat at this point, so again, I was really surprised when we completed this final upside rung in 5:45!

We descended the second-half of the ladder in an orderly fashion and even stronger, which is perfect for a ladder workout since your main goal is to try to simulate race conditions (Fast -> Steady -> Even Faster).

The overall workout looked like this:

400: 1:24

800: 2:49

1054: 4:01

1600: 5:45

1200: 4:19 (that's more like it)

800: 2:45

400: 1:11 (whoops)

My legs felt fine after the workout, but of course, I once again jumped back into the pool while the rest of the boys enjoyed their pizza, PBR, and Icy Hot over at Mario's.

The one thought that kept on going through my mind during the track workout was that GLRR's got some pretty damn good runners once again! We've got a tough group of runners willing to put in the work and effort. The results will speak for themselves come Boston and beyond.

With less than 40 days to go (not including 14 days of taper), I'm starting to get that nagging feeling. The feeling that I am ready for Boston 2:49.

Work, Run, Swim

2011-02-23T10:39:00.000-08:00

Feb 22nd, 2011 - I managed to complete my first multi-sport event today in preparation for Kona 2030. Here are my splits and race report:

Work: 9 hrs 52 mins

I spent most of the morning by the water cooler, and then it was time for lunch. I was already bonking by 1PM, so I ended up taking more calories than I actually needed. This strategic mistake forced me to take a nap around 2PM. I woke up at 5PM and realized that I was close to the finish line. I had a snack and managed to get into the transition area by 5:52PM.

I need to focus on shaving off a couple of hours from this leg, which I think is very doable.

Transition 1: 19 mins 48 secs

My transition time sucked! There wasn't much I could really do with the other race participants causing a major back up on Route 3 North from Burlington all the way to the Lowell Connector. I guess I could get a motorcycle and weave in and out of transition traffic like a prick.

Run: 41 mins 34 secs

Like riding a bike, actually, it's more like running. I threw on my speedos and mowed down the 10K Bad Times Winter Series course in record time with Frank, James, Jeff, Glenn, and Scotty "Lowell Sun" Graham on my tail the entire way.

Transition 2: 15 mins, 23 secs

My transition time here was much better as most of the other race participants went for a beer and skipped out on the swim. I got over to the swim area at the BSC in Woburn by 8PM, removed my speedos, and started doggy paddling by 8:05PM.

Swim: 30 mins

I didn't drown.

I felt refreshed after all of that and I am convinced that doing the swim last, and after a long day, did the trick.

Now if only they would move the swim event to the end of the Ironman...

(Bike, Run, Swim, Cramp, Drown, Hospital, Dead)

What Would Joe Do

2011-02-20T11:49:00.000-08:00

Feb 20th, 2011 - One of my goals during this Boston training cycle is to put in a training run with every local runner that would otherwise kick my ass in a race. After today's run I can cross Titus and Jim St. Pierre off of that fucket list.

Besides Jim and Titus, Andy C. and Jim R. also met up with me at the Church of Running on Leavitt St. in Dracut for another Sunday service led by Joe D.

Temps were in the high teens and the winds from yesterday were still blowing just as strong. The only thing that's really changed since the last time I ran around here were the hills. I think they grew a little bit. Stupid tectonic plates.

(Beer and Cigs Run)

Our group of six hung together through the first 7 miles until Andy wisely decided to run his own training pace and fell back. The rest of us had Daytona on our minds and tried to draft behind Joe and Titus through the wind tunnel known as NH.

After picking up their tax free beer at the border, Joe and Titus decided to re-enact their duels from Good Times 2010. That had to be the case because the nice tail-wind over the final 6 miles is definitely not enough to explain their sub-6 minute pace to finally pull away from us for good.

The remaining J crew were left to fend for ourselves in NH where we came upon a loose, but friendly, boxer (see shit stains in my shorts).

We still managed 7's for the rest of our run, even without the help of Joe and Titus to drag our car-casses around the semi-oval course.

We actually picked it up near the end in order to get Jim S. back home before his ITB turned into a pumpkin.

(18/7:07/5 Cats/2 Dogs)

Other than the wind, cold, hills, pace, and 18 miles, it was another excellent training run with the best around.

I even sent an e-mail to Runningahead.com to find out if they could add a race/tempo/hill/interval/fartlek/long run category to the training log.

One of the reasons why I like to train with better runners is to learn their secrets and to push myself past my perceived limits.

Today I learned that Titus turned "46" (I can't wait until I am in the same AG as Titus in 10 years), and that I can kick Jim S.'s ass as long as the race is longer than 15.7 miles.

(Yeeeehaw!)

Running From The Past

2011-02-18T20:23:00.000-08:00

I Have An Asshole About This Too!

2011-02-17T09:56:00.000-08:00

Feb 16th, 2011 - The BAA today released the new qualifying standards for Boston 2012, and beyond, in an attempt to uncluster the cluster-f that occurred during the 2011 registration.

(What say you with this heathen alchemy?!)

It looks like they got fed up with the complaints and just said, "**** it! Screw them all!"

Here's an easier way to understand where you fit into the new standards:

(BAA Pyramid Scheme)

This new format is obviously going to alienate some and make it more interesting for others.

Personally, I see it as a formidable challenge to try to hit the new standards, but I know of a couple of fellow runners that are severely disappointed because they were already on the fringe of the old qualifying standards.

In my opinion, I think that most runners will step up to the challenge and go beyond what they thought they were originally not capable of, except for Fil (that's my personal challenge to you).

To be honest, this is what most competitive people look for. When you make something harder the only thing you'll do is get even more people to try to conquer it. People don't pay $40k to climb Everest because it's there. People pay $40k to climb Everest because you stand a pretty damn good chance of dying! It's human nature.

To personally summarize the new standards, I would need to run a sub-2:50 in 2011, before the Sept deadline 2012, in order to be able to register on Day 1 in 2012. My goal at Boston 2011 is to run sub-2:50, so I should be able to succeed or come close, and therefore increase my chances of not getting locked out of registration. Locked out? WTF, still? Yeah, see below.

It's a different story come 2012. I would need to run a sub-2:45 in order to have the same bragging rights for Boston 2013! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The BAA also got rid of the :59 second window, which I always thought was silly, but we'll see how silly that is when I run 2:50:01. Again, I'm getting ahead of myself. Stop it.

The biggest glaring flaw in this "new" registration process is that it still doesn't fully resolve the initial problem that started this whole revamp mess: runners getting locked out of online registration, even though they ran a qualifying time, because they didn't get online in time to register!

In theory, I could technically run a BQ time per the new standards and STILL, albeit a smaller chance, get locked out when it comes my turn to register on Day 4 because Cluster-F II happens or becuase I fell asleep at the keyboard.

(I Needz a Cofee)

Or doing something else at the keyboard.

(I Needz a Tisue)

I won't even get started on what my good friend EJ says is a glaring omission in the BAA system, which is the nonsensical difference in qualifying times between men and women. Sheez!

And streakers (the clothed variety), that's a whole different can of worms!

OK. I have an asshole just like everyone else that has an opinion about this thing. What would I do?

Without giving much thought to it, I would K.I.S.S.

Cap the field at 22,000 qualified runners. Evenly divide the 22k spots between the current number of Age Groups/Genders (11/2). This gives you roughly 1000 spots per age group per gender.

Accept all qualified entries. Take the fastest qualifying times and fill in the 22k open spots by age group and gender.

Obviously, you're not going to fill all 2000 spots for each age group/gender (are there really two-thousand 80+ runners "dying" to get into Boston?), so what do you do with the remaining available spots?

People like to gamble, right? So you go to the lottery system like NYC, drawing from the pool of remaining qualified runners that did not get in because they weren't the fastest qualifiers, until you fill all 22k spots.

For race day, you let in an additional 3000 or so charity/club runners, and you taser all of the bandits.

(I Needz a Loyer)

And there you go! Under my system you get the fastest runners, an element of chance, and some shock value!

What it all comes down to in the end is to just stop bitching and do what Coach Stronach always says, RUN FASTER!

But what about all of the runners that ran a BQ, but are still locked out under your proposed system?

**** it! Screw them all!

iWatson

2011-02-15T18:52:00.000-08:00

Feb 15th, 2011 - While being aided on my 7 mile progression run by a machine, I listened to "Won't You Be Mine" by GnR from the Terminator 2 soundtrack on my iPad, all the while watching Watson go ape shit on Ken and Brad during round two of the IBM Ass Kicking!

It's fitting that we are witnessing the end of humankind on a show called Jeopardy!

During all of this a serious, but intriguing, thought popped into my relatively pre-historic mind.

What would happen if HAL and the Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey had cybersex?

(TORONTO????????)

I, for one, welcome our new Jeopardy! playing overlords.

To be honest, if I were IBM, I would have developed and perfected Watson in secret, miniaturize the hell out of it, implant it inside a human player, get that player onto Jeopardy!, and win like a gazillion dollars.

(MUHAHAHAHHAHAHA!)

Short and Sweet...

2011-02-13T15:19:00.000-08:00

Feb 13th, 2011 - ...like Fil. Actually, that would be sweet, sour, and old, like chinese food.

Excellent long run today with EJ, James, Jeff, Fil, Frank(lin) & Bash.

(Start of the Three Hour Tour...)

All of the above Good Looking Road Runners have a great shot at finishing Boston in sub-2:50. But all seriousness aside, everyone in this photo has the potential to finish sub-3:10, with the exception of those two Gatorade bottles.

EJ hosted from his snowed in abode at the bottom of Arlington Heights, where it's unusually very warm...

(Hell Hath Indeed Frozen Over)

We started out by tackling the Wollaston and Park Ave hills before going flat along Mass Ave into Cambridge and around the Charles in Boston. Perfect conditions with some minor icing.

To make the experience even more like the actual Boston course, we even had a Boston Bandit named Brian jump in at mile four and join us for about 15!

Most of us ended our run with a free-climb straight up the beast called RT2 (300 feet over the span of a mile!). Frank the Tank earned the coveted Polka dot jersey today for turning on the afterburners and reaching the top first.

(King of the RT2)

Frank and I also tackled Wollaston one last time over the final mile of our 22 mile run for a nice bookend finish. Now I know why there are hardly any road races in Arlington. It would be inhuman.

(that's purty)

I ended up averaging a 7:50 overall pace, but that wasn't the point today. The goal for today was to put in a nice and steady long run with a great group of runners. Mission Accomplished....well, on the long and steady part at least.

(tick tock)

(Now that's fucking hard-core!)

Time To Get Serious

2011-02-11T20:43:00.000-08:00

Feb 11th, 2011 - Because the epic battle begins in less than 65 days.

Fudgecicle + 8 on tap for Saturday, and 20+ for Sunday around Arlington/Cambridge/Boston with the new running crew.

(Why So Serious?)

I Scream for Ice Cream

2011-02-10T21:01:00.000-08:00

Feb 10th, 2011 - After barely surviving my 16 mile BU Death Run last night (see yesterday's missing post), I was looking forward to an indoor track session tonight.

Surprisingly, the Lexington High field house was once again off limits for our use, so James, EJ, Bash, and I made our way over to the usually reliable Joyce Middle School for our weekly hit of 11 laps-to-a-mile self-mutilation.

Unfortunately our track workout at Joyce was preempted by...wait for it...a track meet!

Bash, using his newly purchased iPhone frantically called around to the other tracks in the area, but to no avail. After waiting around dumb-founded for 30 minutes, hoping the meet would magically clear out by 7PM, the four of us parted ways into the cold, cruel night.

Disclaimer: I'm just guessing at what I think the rest of the crew did after they left Joyce.

EJ would go on to put in another treacherous 8-miler around Arlington. Bash headed over to the BSC in Woburn to take advantage of climate controlled running, and James called up the rest of the J crew for 6.63 miles in 48:26.34 from his house...but I could be wrong.

What did I do?

I went back to the apt and decided to do what I set out to accomplish tonight, a track workout.

There are three things I hate most:

1. Track workouts
2. Treadmills
3. Running out of ice cream

I got on the treadmill and did a 2-mile warmup just as Jesus Shuttlesworth broke the NBA 3-point record.

A mini-ladder workout was on tap tonight: 800, 800, 1600, 800, 800

The treadmill will keep you honest and easily on your workout's target pace, but I had to first figure out the pace I needed to hit. Besides converting my track brain from 145 meters to a 400 meter treadmill track, I also had to convert the miles-per-hour display to seconds per lap, etc, etc.

Let's just say that my cromagnon brain was hurting more than my legs by the end of the workout.

To help ease the pressure on my frontal lobe, I kept it simple by doing Yasso 800's for the 800 intervals, and just dialed in a 10 mph (6 minute mile) for the mile.

I just did the 800's in 2 minutes 50 seconds since I'm going for sub-2:50 at Boston, (this is the thinking behind Bart Yasso's simple, yet intriguing, 800 theory).

800 - 2:50
800 - 2:50
1600 - 6:00
800 - 2:50
800 - 2:40 (whoops)

At least tonight wasn't a total wash-out. I had a great workout considering the events leading up to it, and the Celtics were up HUGE when I was done....

...but then, I went upstairs and found this in the freezer:

(AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!)

The Perfect Storm

2011-02-07T18:06:00.000-08:00

(See, there's no mention of 'liquid refreshments')

Super Bowl Sunday, 2011 - I knew the running gods were smiling down on the Super 5K in Lowell when another supposed wintry blast turned into a mild drizzle the night before the race, melting away much of the hazardous snow. This is the same hazard that forced a number of the other local races to cancel on Sunday. In the end this would indeed turn out to be the perfect storm.

Sunday started out cold, but it soon warmed up and melted away the thin layer of black ice covering the surrounding area. The temps were in the upper 30's by 10:30AM, and the big ball of fire complimented the rare blue of the winter sky. The only real danger now were the dickhead speedsters on the boulevard, and the sharp elbows of the SRR's.

I got out to the Elks club, registered, and did a warm up loop on the 5K course by 11AM. I managed to time it perfectly as Glenn & Co. (thanks guys!) were in the process of putting out the safety cones and signs. I even succeeded in beating Glenn, and his tree-battered Baja, back to the finish line. Ba-Ha!

My original plan was to put in 5 easy miles before the race, run the race, and then put in at least 8-12 after the race to get in a total of 18-20 on the day. By the time I got back to the Elks all of the usual suspects from GLRR were there including future GLRR'er Bash Z.

Bash and I went back out on the course for his warm up and my second loop. We nearly got clipped by one of the boulevard dickheads as we tried to avoid 1 of 4 large puddles on the course. There was also definitely some wind, but it was a tailwind for 1.5 miles, and then a crosswind for the rest of the way up the boulevard to the finish. At this point this was turning into an ideal day to race along the mighty Merrimack. Of course, the key phrase being, "at this point".

I told Bash that I was looking to break my time from last year (18:27) or go for sub-18. Whichever came first. With the current conditions and my training-to-date I knew I could easily beat my course PR, since I recall a nasty headwind during last year's race. There's no way we would get the same nasty headwind...

The race crowd was busting and bustling out the front door of the Elk's by the time Bash and I got back to the start at 11:40AM, 20 minutes before race time. Everyone and everyone was now here for the race.

I actually wasn't that shocked to see some of the runners in attendance given the fact that all of the other Super Sunday races were cancelled. The top Whirlaway, CMS, RUN and SRR runners were here, including the brothers Quintal (Dave & Mike), defending champ Joe O'Leary, two-time winner and GLRR'er Eric Beauchesne, Titus, EJ, and Lou Peters. Needless to say, this year's field was stacked.

Double J was in also attendance, but he arrived shortly before the start just to wish everyone luck. He came by foot....from Salem, NH....17 miles away.

Other familiar sneakers included a few that I hadn't seen since Good Times including Jonathan Morris and Tom O'Leary. Former SRR runner Frank Georges was decked out and debuting his slime green jersey. It's no coincidence that Frank ran faster this year than last. It's all about the singlet.

The race itself, specifically mine, was uneventful. Not surprisingly, I fell back behind the lead pack of 10 right away, and only gave up one pole position during the run and that occurred before Mile 1. And as it so often happens, the headwind was back with a vengeance over the final 1.5 miles along the boulevard. It was just as bad as last year.

EJ hung with with me over the first part of the course, but he fell back only to be replaced by the women's winner who had to check out my ass over the final 2 miles. Poor girl, but I hear her eyes are recovering well.

I completed the run with a time of 18:08, which was good for 12th overall and 2nd in AG. I bettered my time from last year by 19 seconds, so I haven't peaked just yet.

Splits comparison:

	2011	2010
Mile 1	5:37	5:40
Mile 2	5:46	5:53
Mile 3	5:53	6:07
.10	0:52	0:47
	18:08	18:27

Results

Photos

I completed my 18 mile day with a 9 miler around the surrounding neighborhood. John Rheaume and Frank accompanied me for the first two miles as part of their cool down. Unfortunately, by the time I got back to the Elks all of the liquid refreshments were gone, along with all of the satisfied and slap-happy runners. Must have been one hell of an after-party!

Only Richie the Timer, Frank the Green, Jim the RD, and a handful of broken imitation Oreo cookies were there to greet me.

A perfect end to a perfect day.

The only other race on my schedule before Boston is the New Bedford Half in March. After Boston? Super 5K 2012 of course.

(Over here, Jim!)

Like A Fish Out of Water, In Water

2011-02-05T15:40:00.000-08:00

Feb 5th, 2011 - In case the BAA ever decides to turn the Boston Marathon into the Boston Triathlon, I went out and started my Scotty Graham training in earnest early this morning.

I started out at 5:45AM (I hate this already) on the 10 mile run from my apt to the UML pool for my first EVER swim lesson.

Yep, I'm learning how to swim. As in not learning how to be more efficient or faster in the water, but learning how NOT to drown, or more importantly, how NOT to drown those around me.

Rachel is my training partner in this whole fiasco and she'll be tackling her first Ironperson once she decides that running isn't stoopid. Fellow GLRR'er Paula C. is also joining me on this life-changing event, and also skipping out on Frozen Fudge, over the next few months.

Let's just say that my swimming ability is similar to my running ability when I first started running at the age of 6 months old, and we all know how that turned out. In short, if you were to ever book a cruise on the Unsinkable II, then don't make me your Jack to your Rose. I want to be Rose.

The first lesson went really well. I only had to stop at one water stop and had my fill. I only panicked twice and kicked Rachel in the face once. Speaking of Rachel, if there's a sandbagging award in swimming, then she wins that prize. We started out together and the instructor promoted her from greenhorn to assistant instructor in the matter of 10 minutes. In short, she's my Jack and I'm her bitch...in swimming.

The first lesson covered proper kicking technique and...nope. That's all I had time for and barely manage to figure that out by the time the kid's session started. If I hear one more kid laugh at me!....

The instructor did say "You rock!", but I was on the bottom of the pool at the time, so I might have misheard her.

In the end, we all agreed it was a great workout (much better than stoopid running), and I'm looking forward to not drowning again in two weeks. Stay tuned.

(Ohhhhhh, now I get it!!)

Man vs. Nature

2011-02-03T20:05:00.000-08:00

Feb 3rd, 2011 - Nature always wins. Always. But Man will always find a way to get a run in.

(Nature!....you cute)

The Streak at Lexington Field House continues. This marks either the 5th or 20th week in-a-row that they've cancelled our Thursday night track workout. I've lost count, sort of like running on their track.

Speaking of 11 laps to-a-mile, we (EJ, James, and I) found ourselves, and our $5's, over at the new GLRR home for winter track, the Joyce Middle School in Woburn, where it's $3 for the same workout. The $2 savings goes towards the BYOB fund.

4 x 1 miles at roughly half-marathon pace was on the docket for tonight.

2 mile warm up

1 - 6:02
1 - 6:17
1 - 6:14
1 - 5:45 (whoops)

2 mile cool down

For comparison, here's our previous 4 x 1 workout on 11/10/10:

1 - 6:38
1 - 6:38
1 - 6:18
1 - 6:07

Of course you cannot not waste a good workout by not not going to Mario's afterwards, so in GLRR Thursday track tradition, we once again found ourselves across the street from where they filmed three minutes of The Fighter.

We were joined by our good friends P, B, & R for dinner. Thanks, EJ!

Looking forward to not not running again in Lexington next week.

10 on tap on the treadmill for tomorrow. 14 on the road on Saturday. And Super 5K on Sunday wedged in between two 10 milers.

On target for another 70 mile week. Not bad considering the conditions and my body is holding up well with the increased mileage. I can't say the same about my mind though, but that's par for the course for me.

I Like The Way It Hurts

2011-02-02T06:52:00.000-08:00

Feb 1st, 2011 - With snowpocalypse on our doorstep and pretty much everything cancelled, including indoor GLRR track (might be open on Thursday), it's time to take drastic measures. I plan on being on the treadmill a lot this week starting out with tonight's 4 x 1 interval workout at half-marathon pace (6's).

Doubles planned for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, so roughly 30 miles on the meat grinder this week.

I hate getting on the mill, but by the time you're done you feel great! It's an excellent option for interval training during these dark days of winter. You just have to get through the first 2-3 miles before you begin to zone out and stop thinking about hurting yourself. Remember, no sharp objects nearby when running on the treadmill.

Super 5K

2011-01-31T06:33:00.000-08:00

Jan 31st, 2011 - No, this isn't Groundhog Day (well, not yet at least). One last shout out for this great race taking place this weekend.

I don't have too many other races on my calendar this year besides Boston. One of those other races just happens to be the Super 5K in Lowell, directed by the 365 Days Race winner, Jim Rhoades.

This is a great race held on the greatest American Holiday, Super Bowl Sunday. I've run this race every year since I started to seriously run and race early last year.

Although our underachivieing New England Belichicks won't be in the big game this year, you can still come out and burn off some of that lingering frustration with a 5K run on Feb 6th at 12PM.

Don't drop the ball like Deion Branch and go sign up early and often!

Going Back To Your Roots

2011-01-30T13:07:00.000-08:00

Jan 30th, 2011 - It was almost exactly a year ago today that I participated in my first GLRR group run from Gold's Gym in Drum Hill. I can't recall the last time I ran from this location, but it might have been almost exactly a year ago today.

I went back to my roots this morning and ran with some of the same people that I ran with back then.

Today's group included Glenn, Frank, Fil, James, Mike B., Jill, Paul K., and Andy C. We were all running different distances and paces, but pretty much over the same course: Drum Hill to Chelmsford to Tyngsboro to Lowell and back to Drum Hill via Technology Drive, 3A, Dunstable Rd., Westford St. back out to 3A, Tyngsboro Bridge, Sherburne/Varnum Ave, School St/University Ave/Aiken St., Pawtucket St, Wood St, Westford St, and finally, the finish at Courthouse Lane.

My plan was to get in at least 18 to get myself up to 70 for the week and 250 for the month, both of which would be personal highs. Goal pace for today was 7:15 when I started, but that always changes depending on how I felt during the run.

Weather was mild with temps in the low 20's at the start, so I opted for the shorts and calf sleeves. I went with one layer up on top per Jim Rhoades' advice since two layers trap in moisture. It was the perfect advice as it was just enough for the temps and I stayed dried and cool throughout the run. Thanks, Jim!

I took off with the group a little after 8AM and opened it up a bit at the end of Technology Drive and when we got onto the long stretch into Tyngsboro. Much less traffic out here and the shoulder wasn't too bad considering the amount of snow that we've been getting.

These were my old stomping grounds when my parents use to live near Dunstable/Westford for over 10 years, so it was like running down memory lane. I later discovered that Jill lives less than a mile from where my parents use to live, basically in the same development. It's amazing that I never ran into her during one of our workouts in the old neighborhood!

I was so nostalgic that I took a detour up the steady hill on Chandler, around mile 4, and then up another steeper hill on Joco Dr before running past my parents' former abode. This detour tacked on about a mile and put me roughly 5-8 minutes behind everyone else at this point.

I figured that an 18 mile run would be kind of boring without a challenge, so now my goal was to try to catch as many of them as I could before the end of the run. This gave me a chance to lay down some marathon pace miles (6:30's) over the next 5-8 miles in order to catch up. I figured that I'd be able to catch some of them by mile 10 and the rest by mile 13 if they were continuing at their original 7-8 minute paces.

I caught glimpse of Glenn in his orange jacket after the first hill on Sherburne at mile 9. I passed him, Paul, and Mike a little after that and I continued on for another two miles before catching James, Fil, and Jill running 7:30's at mile 12. Frank was about a quarter mile down the road and I ran with him for about a minute before passing him at mile 13. Frank quickly mentioned that he hadn't seen Andy for quite some time, so I knew that it was highly unlikely that I'd be able to catch Andy who was "only" doing 16 today.

I continued down the boulevard and headed up towards the UML north campus before crossing the University Ave bridge for the turn home. This part of the route always puts me to sleep due in part to the fact that I basically lived on this stretch throughout most of last year and in a previous running life. Very boring.

Things got more exciting by Market Basket on Wood St where there was more street traffic and hardly any running room on the shoulder. I just ran as hard and as fast as I could just to get through this short stretch in one piece.

I got back to the Gold Gym's driveway entrance at exactly mile 17, so I had to tack on an additional mile along the first part of the Carson 2 Mile course to hit 18. I purposely red-lined myself over the final mile to see what I had left in the tank and managed a 6:11 to put me right at 6:50 for an overall pace.

This ended up being my fastest 18 mile training run ever.

This was my first lone long run in a long time, so it was a nice mental test to see if I was ready on that front. I felt fine throughout the run, but more importantly, I stayed focused and was very comfortable with the pacing. The miles once again just came and went with ease, which is a sign of a great run.

Looking forward to coming back here again next year for the 3rd Annual Gold's Gym Group Run.

Since tomorrow is a rest day (gotta do some drinking and eating at the GLRR club meeting tomorrow night), I'm closing the book on Jan '11 with 250 miles (7:30 pace).

This is the most mileage I've put in for one month since August (237) of last year when I was getting ready for RTB Ultra/Hartford/Baystate/JFK.

Jason's Revenge

2011-01-29T13:31:00.000-08:00

Jan 29th, 2011 - The plan for today was to squish the southern style stomach sickness with a dosage of Fudge 5K fun.

I actually woke up on time today, but still managed to cut it real close getting to the starting line with my two mile warm up run from the apt. The temps were a balmy 25 degrees at the start, so an almost record crowd (87) turned out for this week's Fudge 5K festivities.

I got to the school minutes before the start, which was once again a little after 8AM. So far, the Fudge has been 4 for 4 with the late starts. Must be the new management. No complaints here since I've also been perfect with my tardiness. Thanks for coming out and volunteering gang (Pat, John, Mike, Scott, Zach, Glenn, Nancy, Jim, and everyone else I forgot)!

Dan Verrington made his first appearance of the series and we talked a little before the G-O command was given. He asked me what I was shooting for today, and I said today felt like an 18:30 run. He said that he hasn't done any speed work recently, so he'd try to hang with me. HA! Good one, Dan.

I believe either Dan or one of the other CMS boys holds the Fudge 5K course record. Correct me if I am wrong, Glenn. UPDATE: Dave Dunham holds the course record and we believe it's 14:58.

Dan and I ran together for the entire run with us exchanging leads about a dozen times throughout. One of which was when we ran pass the Tewksbury High Girls XC team (Dan), and the other time as we passed the heard of wild turkeys (me). I think the turkeys were quite impressed.

(fear the turkey)

We went through Mile 1 in 5:50, Mile 2 in 5:56, and Mile 3 in 5:55. I crossed the finish line, in front of Dan, faster than I had planned in 18:29. Sorry for the poor pacing, Dan.

We heard John R. pretty much over the entire final mile, so we thought he was going to make a move, but he held back and eventually arrived in the chute 10 seconds after us. Nice running once again, John!

Results for my final Fudge 5K of the season (more to come on this later).

My butt cheeks managed to hold Montezuma at bay throughout the run, but I definitely still felt the remnants of his anger right on my tail. I'll just say that I am glad my entire workout this morning was once again within a two mile radius of my toilet. Me thinks that Tex-Mex lunch from Monday is going to be with me for awhile. I've got a feeling that I'm either going to eventually end up on that Animal Planet show, Monsters Inside Me, or a remake of Alien.

Saturday has turned into one of my favorite workout days. I love incorporating the Fudge 5K for race pace, a few miles at tempo pace, and then the 3 x Catamount Hill workout for a total of 13 miles. A fantastic overall workout that keeps things interesting and the miles just fly by.

Looking forward to a long run with the Gold's Gym group tomorrow morning. Just like the good old days of last year.

Katy, sorry to hear about the passing of your cousin. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. I know running is the last thing on your mind right now, but send me a message if you're up for a long run. It's been too long.

Remember the Alamo

2011-01-27T20:25:00.000-08:00

Jan 26th, 2011 - 3+ days of southern hospitality was enough for me, so I was more than ready to make like Santa Anna and leave the Texans alone.

I got in a slow 5 mile recovery run to shake out the legs in preparation for the 7+ hour flight home to the frozen north. I did most of my final SA run around, appropriately enough, the Alamo. During the run I wished I had had more time to check it out (and to also confirm the basement question), but time did not allow for it...

Even though we knew that there was a major snow storm (again) making its way up the coast towards Boston, we all still hopped in a cab and went to the airport in the hopes that we could get out before the worse of it arrived.

...As luck would have it everything going into Boston was cancelled for the rest of the day, and the next flights out of SA wouldn't be until tomorrow morning. We all got back on our horses and made our way back to the hotel deep in the heart of Texas.

After lunch we decided to head over to the Alamo and explore it a bit more now that we had ample time on our hands and feet.

(Photo Courtesy of Richie Blake)

This historic attraction is an amazing monument to one of the greatest sacrifices in US history. This was the site of the final stand of the 200+ brave defenders of the Alamo vs Santa Anna's overwhelming army of 2400+ well armed soldiers.

These odds didn't really hit home until we saw the detailed depiction of the EPIC 13 day battle in a gorgeous diorama in the gift shop.

It's definitely something that I won't soon forget.

Local Flavor

2011-01-26T22:04:00.000-08:00

Jan 25th, 2011 - As much as I enjoy running in shorts and t-shirts in 60 degree weather, while my New England brethren chisel out their running sneakers, I do have some complaints about running in San Antonio.

My Tex-Mex lunch from Monday is still lingering somewhere in my GI tract and its made for some really bad "runs". I had to remind myself to stay within a mile of my hotel on my latest run to make sure I could take care of business, in a civilized manner, just in case Montezuma decided to exact revenge.

(from beyond the grave)

I remember when we went to the Tex-Mex place and the waitress said that even the locals ate here. I think what she meant by locals were the pigeons perching in the tree above our table, and the homeless guy battling with the pigeons for table scraps.

The food overall has been decent, but it's Texas, so if ain't meat, then it ain't edible. I've eaten more meat in the three days that I have been here then I have eaten in the first 26 days of the new year. My stomach feels like a meat grinder, and my body is probably more tired from processing my carnivore diet than from the 40+ miles I've put in.

The running routes haven't been much to write home about either (blogs don't count). Every inch of San Antonio is covered in either poured concrete or slate, which makes for a hell of a lot of pain for the joints. I would actually rather run on frozen asphalt up in Mass than...um, maybe not.

I thought I might have found some running reprieve from the concrete jungle of downtown SA when I stumbled upon a sign that read, Mission Trail ----->. I optimistically followed the concrete walkway into the park only to find out that the concrete walkway continued on for about four flat miles along the San Antonio river. This was the trail, and it definitely wasn't what I had in mind i.e. trails!! Ah, it's always great to be separated by a common language!

For the second half of my double today I decided to look for the longest and straightest road that extended away from downtown SA. I found it in East Commerce St and it suited my goals perfectly. It was wide, had light automobile traffic, and was scenic (I could actually see all three major highways and overpasses at one point!). The only problem was that it ended abruptly, due to road construction, at mile three of my planned ten mile run.

I discovered that this tends to happen a lot in SA. Roads, trails, and walkways ended abruptly without any warning. No traffic cop. No detour signs. It's like somebody was playing SimCity and ran out of funds to continue building the road. WTF?

So I turned around and continued on down Marting Luther King Jr Ave before turning onto an interesting looking side-street that contained the first hill that I'd seen out here.

And then there were the dogs.

After today, if anyone asks me where pit bulls come from, I will say without hesitation, San Antonio.

Every single house and shack (Disclaimer: I SHIT YOU NOT) on this three mile long side-street had AT LEAST one pit bull in their fenced-in yards (thank god). This either means San Antonians really love dogs or this is a good indication of the crime rate here.

(hey good lookin')

Even behind their weak looking enclosures, I was completely terrified that one of the Cujos was capable of jumping the fence and using me as a teaching tool for their little pups.

And then somebody let the dogs out. Who?

I have no idea, but HOLY SHIT! You read about this on the news every few weeks, a jogger getting mauled by a pack of dogs.

I would slow to a walk when I came upon these collarless, leashless, and worse of all, ownerless packs of pit bulls patrolling their neighborhoods. I couldn't believe what I was seeing since I come from an area where you get yelled at for not having your Yorkie-poo on a leash, let alone three or four pit bulls hanging out at the street corner waiting for the school bus.

And then Montezuma came looking for payment.

I didn't know if it was the Tex-Mex or the fact that I was being stalked by ravenous hounds, but whichever it was, I just knew I had to get back to the hotel, and fast! NO! Dogs. Slow down. But I have to really go! Poop in shorts or sport for pups?

I'll spare you the gory details and just say that it was a very long, slow, and shitty run by the time I got back to the hotel 11 miles later.

Five Star Run

2011-01-25T13:47:00.000-08:00

Jan 24th, 2011 - I wish I could say the same about the Omni Hotel, the hotel at which I'm staying at for the Chronotrack Conference. It's supposedly a 4 star (formerly a 5 star hotel), but it does everything possible to make you think it was a Motel 6. Apologies to Motel 6 because that would be an insult to all cheap motels near truck stops.

I've been here for two days and I still can't figure out the physcial layout of this hotel. Is it a U shape? A horseshoe? A human shoe? It was probably designed by a casino in the hopes of you never finding the exit. Just think of the most organized and most well-laid out hotel plan and throw it in the trash. That's the Omni.

I swear that the maids are changing the room numbers while I'm at my meetings because it takes me a good 15 minutes just to find my room again at the end of the day. I pray that this hotel never suffers a fire. The poor souls. 3 stars.

Well, there's nothing you can do about layout at this point, but at least have a gym or a room with some workout machines in it! Yeah, I know, the Riverwalk is in your backyard, but have you tried running on the Riverwalk during peak hours?! Think single track trail running with a very good chance of drowning. 2 stars.

So you advertise yourself as a conference center that caters to the needs of the business crowd? Um, no. One requirement for this is a very useful thing called the Internet. Google it. 1 star.

All of this makes for a very unpleasant experience to hang around the hotel during my down time, so this gave me plenty of motivation to put in 7 miles in the early morning and 7 miles in the early evening for my first double on the year. 5 STARS!

(cozy)