Spooktacular!

Happy Halloween to those who read my blog by accident! Halloween at my office is taken as a serious event and all the employees are “strongly encouraged” to dress up for the day. And by “strongly encouraged” I of course mean “dress up because if you don’t, you’ll get a stern talking to about playing on a team, etc.” People are even given a hard time if they take the day off! Last I checked, the markets aren’t closed on Halloween and the federal government is still operating. Thus, this is not a serious holiday.

My plan for next year is two-fold. If I can, I’m taking the day off and not even bothering with the whole thing. If I get some push back on that (corporate speak for catching flak), I can either use the old “St. James Aluni Council meeting” excuse or I can drop it and come to the office. This is where the second part of my plan comes into play.

This year I went as a masquerader from Venice (think of the hooded guys in spooky masks from Eyes Wide Shut or, the costumed guys from the Mozart opera Don Giovanni). It’s a great costume because it’s mysterious and spooky but it’s damn near impossible to explain to people. Two people today got it right away without an explanation, which surprised me. However, most people are just kinda freaked out by it because they can’t see your face. I’m keeping this costume for the future because it’s easy to wear, always cool looking, and easy to maintain. I’ll put a picture that Annie took over the weekend on my Flikr album. I am definitely going to keep an eye out for a better mask to use, preferably one that covers my entire face and has a creepy look on it like these from Eyes Wide Shut.

But, for next year, should my attempts at getting out of Halloween fail, I will get back to my roots and come as a stereotypical WVU fan. Accent and all. Having been born in West Virginia (OK, actually Virginia, but I grew up in WV), I speak hillbilly fluently and can switch back and forth at will. So, with that in mind, I don’t feel quite as desperate to get out of the day next year.

On to running issues. I did my fastest easy run to date last night. I ran 4.5 miles at 9:50 or better. I ran the first mile at 9:50 and then the rest at 9:30. Even though I felt tired when I stopped, I wasn’t exhausted and felt like I could have kept going by mixing in some short walking with my running. Tonight I’m going to do a shorter tempo run of 3 miles, with one-mile warm-ups and cool-downs.

Also, if you didn’t catch it last night, I would strongly urge you to find a re-running of the NOVA Marathon Challenge episode. I TiVoed the episode but watched it immediately after it was done. That way I can keep it on my TiVo and re-watch it without spending the $20 for the DVD from PBS. It was really interesting, though, They took 13 non-runners and gave them 9 months to train for the Boston Marathon. During that time, they had two coaches from Tufts University working with them to help them prepare properly. It was interesting to see how each member faced the prospect of running a marathon and how they responded, both physically and mentally, to the stresses of training for that long a distance.

I’d be interested to know more about the details of each member’s training because it seemed that some of them just weren’t prepared to run 26.2 miles, despite having completed a training program successfully. Their longest training run was 20 miles, which is huge, but leaves that last 6.2 miles unexplored. I’m not sure if you need to run 26.2 miles during the training process, but the difference between 20 miles and 26 miles is enormous. I have seen programs that recommend final training runs of 22-24 miles to get your closer to that exhaustion point that most runners reach after mile 20. The Team NOVA runners didn’t have that experience and so most of them fell apart after the halfway point, although they all finished the marathon eventually.

I was checking my bank account statement last night and saw an odd check that had been cashed for $20.00. I thought it was odd and couldn’t remember writing a check for $20 recently so I took a look at the check because I get free imaging with Bank of America. And what did I write a check for $20.00 to? Why, the Great Strides Against Prostate Cancer 5K! The very race that I was sure I had forgotten to register for back in late September (see September 29th’s post, “I’m an Idiot”)! So apparently I not only registered for it, but I totally failed to document the registration both physically and mentally. Nice. Well I donated to the St. Joseph’s Medical Center so all is not lost. I would have felt bad if the race had been done through a race company because my money would have gone there instead of a medical center treatment program. Nonetheless, this is a good lesson to always document your race registrations.

Back to Normal

OK, so it was a crazy week at work. I’m sorry, I know I should have told you before I just went off working and not posting. But don’t worry, my running also suffered. I ran on Tuesday night and then failed to get to the gym again until Friday night after the week was done and my huge project had been delivered. So both days I did the usual 4.25 miles. I had planned to go running on Saturday, but instead we went to Target and got some errands done. So, yesterday I got up and went to the gym and did my long run. Forces were conspiring against me, though. First of all, it was cold and windy outside, but that could not deter me. Secondly, I got to the gym and warmed up and then turned my iPod on to find that it had frozen just like it did a few months ago! This time, however, I had a backup. My company gave us all new 2nd generation iPod Nanos with the company logo on them. This was my emergency backup so I went back to my apartment, downloaded my running playlist onto the other iPod and returned to the gym. Screw you, Forces Conspiring to Keep Me From Running.

I got my 8 miles in, although I was stupid and failed to drink n much water afterwards, which had me feeling like crap the entire day until I finally got 3 full glasses of water in my system. Literally within minutes I felt worlds better. Stupid. I won’t do that again.

So, tonight I am not going to the gym to give my legs another day to recover. I am setting my goal for the week as the same as last week, with higher hopes of actually meeting that goal now that work has quieted down considerably. Once again, for those who don’t feel like scrolling down, is my goal schedule:

Monday (10/29): OFF

Tuesday (10/30): Easy run, 4.5 miles

Wendesday (10/31): Tempo Run (1 mile warm up, 3 mile run, 1 mile cool down)

Thursday (11/1): Easy run, 4.5 miles

Friday (11/2): Easy run, 4.5 miles

Saturday (11/3): OFF

Sunday (11/4): Long run, 8 miles

Total: 26.50 miles

This is ambitious, but I need to get my act in gear here, because the Zoo Zoom is the week after next and I’d like to put in a good effort there if possible.

Ever Closer and Ever Farther

I really hate Mondays, but not because I have to go back to work after having two days off, although that certainly sucks. However, I’ve gotten to the point where I get bored if I have more than a few days without any structured time consuming the middle of my day. I feel lethargic and lazy if I’m not doing something from 7 AM to 6 PM.

No, I hate Mondays because they are the day when the shit hits the fan at work. All the work that people put off on Friday suddenly becomes really important and it all needs to be done. Mondays are the biggest days for work coming into my inbox, by far. Today was not too bad, although still not an easy Monday. Boot.

Anyway, the weekend was good. I broke another distance record on Sunday by running 8 miles. I took my sweet time doing it, but hey, that’s the point of a long run: endurance rather than speed. I was very pleased with that effort but won’t be upping the mileage again until at least the weekend after this one coming up. For now, I will keep it at 8 miles. I think I will also stay at 4.25 miles as well on my easy runs.

Tonight I am not going to the gym so my legs can fully recover from yesterday, even though they feel OK right now. I’m supposed to be going to a performance of French opera scenes at Peabody tonight, which hopefully won’t last more than 2 hours. So, my tentative schedule for the week is going to be:

Monday: Totally off

Tuesday: 4.25 miles (easy run)

Wednesday: Tempo Run (1 mile warm up; 3 mile tempo; 1 mile cool down)

Thursday: Cross training

Friday: 4.25 miles (easy run)

Saturday: 4.25 miles (easy run)

Sunday: 8 miles (long run)

If all goes according to plan, that should be just about 26 miles for the week. If I get caught at work or lose the motivation to wake up early one morning when my schedule demands it, then there’s always next week.

On another note, I am still holding out hope for getting up to New York next Saturday to see the U.S. Olympic Marathon trials in Central Park. However, hotel rooms in Manhattan are killing my budget so we’ll see if I can find something relatively affordable. The cheapest I’ve found is $200 a night, which isn’t terrible because I haven’t gone anywhere in a while. And finally, I’ve posted the photos from the Baltimore Running Festival on my Flikr site. Check them out by clicking on the link on the toolbar!

Getting Back on the Horse

So after my long weekend in the Midwest, it’s been tough getting back into a running rhythm. Thursday evening I went and did 4.25 hard miles. I’m not sure if it just seemed hard or if I was actually working harder. I did the whole distance at 6.3 mph (9:30 min/mile) and at 1.0 incline. That and the fact that it had been several days since the Baltimore Running Festival may have made it tougher. Oh, that and the fact that I had eaten a bag of M&M Peanuts ad drank a Mountain Dew around 4 PM so I could make it through the rest of the workday probably didn’t help either.

I’m happy that I got through the entire distance at that clip. It’s evidence that my endurance is picking up slowly and that my body can handle that stress, even with Mountain Dew (liquid cocaine) and M&M’s in my stomach. However, I was really getting tired by the end of it, which made me mad at myself. I guess it was just the frustration from Saturday, my shirking of running while in Cincinnati and then the sluggishness I felt when I got back to the gym that all came together at once. I was planning to stop at 3 miles because I was feeling like crap and could feel a slight pull forming in my lower left calf (is that the beginning of your Achilles? I think so). But I was pissed off so I walked long enough to take a couple drinks of Gatorade and got back to it. I got to 4 miles and wanted to stop again, but again I was still angry at myself for wimping out on Saturday and not running like I should have, so I kept going and finished the allotted 4.25 miles. At that point, I did stop because that’s as far as my mileage has naturally progressed thus far; going any further would have really risked injury.

As it was, my lower left calf was tightening up as I cooled down. I stretched it out thoroughly but it still twinged as I walked home. I was concerned that I had really pulled something so I stretched it again once I got home and cooled my body temp down. I took two ibuprofen to help prevent further swelling, and took it easy after showering. Luckily, it wasn’t anything serious and healed up nicely by yesterday mid-morning. Today I can’t feel anything wrong down there, so no injury report is forthcoming.

I had intended to run yesterday after work but Annie came over and we just chilled since she had opened at Starbucks the last three mornings (getting to work at 5:15 AM each day!) and was tired. In retrospect, it’s probably a good thing I stayed off the calf last night o give it an extra day to regain its strength. I’m not running today because I spent the late morning at the office trying to get this enormous project done that’s due this upcoming Friday. This afternoon we might go to my firm’s company picnic, but Annie has rehearsal until 2:45 and it takes 40 minutes just to get out to where the picnic is being held. The picnic ends at 5 so it might be a waste of time to drive out there for all of an hour. We’ll see. I won’t be heartbroken if I get to spend Saturday afternoon on the couch.

Tomorrow I will do my long run and will aim for a base of 7 miles, with aspirations of 8 miles. I’ll do that in the morning so I have the afternoon to watch football and generally not move too much beyond eating and napping.

I’ve now registered for the Baltimore Zoo Zoom 2007 race on November 11, which is World Run Day and just four days before my birthday. According to the MacMillan Running Calculator, I should be able to run that in about 45 minutes (just under a 9 minute mile pace), so that will be my goal. I am going to try to also get an idea of the course itself so I can have some intel going into the race. Running Smarter. That’s my new motto.

Also, Annie and I are planning on going up to New York the first Saturday in November. She has at least one audition scheduled for that day and I will be going to see the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Central Park. I’m so excited for this; it’ll be awesome to see some of these elite runners in person and to get to see who will make the Olympic team! I’m pretty pumped. We will be back on Saturday night so she can sing at her church job the next morning.

Annie has finally caught the running bug. I knew it would only be a matter of time before she wanted to get in on the benefits of running. I’ve started her off with the walk-run program to build her stamina and her confidence in her running ability. She’s already been doing spinning classes and lifting weights, so she’s not starting from scratch. I’m hoping that I can talk her into running a 5K with me sometime next spring. She’s already running for 8 minutes and walking for 2, which is great! She’ll be hitting the 3.1-mile mark before too long. Her sister just did a 100-mile bike ride down in Salisbury, MD so she has a high bar to meet!

And finally, I was very happy to see that the 2008 Baltimore Marathon will be held on October 11, 2008, which is one week before our wedding. I was concerned because I want to make that my first marathon but if it had been held the third weekend in October for some reason, I would not have been in town. This way, I can run the marathon and have a week to recover and regain the ability to walk before we get married.

No Real Surprise

So I actually woke up at 5:50 AM this morning, sat in bed for about 20 minutes and then came to the realization that one of several things must happen for me to actually get up early:

1.) It has to be work-related (i.e. I will get fired or not paid if I don’t get up)
2.) It has to be vacation related (i.e. I will miss my flight/train if I don’t get up)
3.) There must be fewer than 2 obstacles between bed and my activity (i.e. shower, dressing, walking to said activity exceeds this limit by one)
4.) The sun has to be expected to be up within 45 minutes.

This morning, none of those criteria were met. Running is the opposite of work-related and I wasn’t flying off to Maui to run a race on the beach, so that nixed 1 and 2. The sun wasn’t supposed to rise until about 7 AM, so number 4 was out. Number 3 was close. All I had to do was get dressed and go outside either to the gym or just on the streets of lovely Baltimore. I would classify that as 2 obstacles. The third, of course, is the fact tat Baltimore is a terrible city to run in. There are not that many places close to downtown to run through.

In other words, I’ll be going to the gym tonight after work. This is going to be more difficult than I anticipated. Maybe I’ll get up tomorrow morning. I know it’d be better if I got up in the morning, I wish there was some way to translate that knowledge the night before to my brain at 6 AM.

Baltimore Running Festival Race Report and Reflections

So, after many weeks of running and trying to get to a point in my endurance where I could run 3.1 miles in a respectable pace, I have reached two conclusions:

1.) I have reached said point in my running
2.) I need to move on to the next level of running longer, faster and smarter

Annie and I went to the Health and Fitness Expo on Friday night after work, where I got three running shirts (two short sleeved for $10 each and one ¾ length sleeved for $15) and a pair of running shorts. However, by the time we walked back from the stadium, it was almost 9 and I hadn’t eaten yet. So I ate some leftover pasta, a bowl of cereal and a big cinnamon bun with the last of my milk (trying to get rid of it before we left the next day). Needless to say my stomach was not too happy with that and I had to take some serious Pepto Bismol before going to bed. It didn’t keep me up throughout the night, but it wasn’t what I should have eaten the night before a race, even if it was just a 5K.

Saturday morning I woke up and got dressed. It was cold out, but I didn’t want to wear my long sleeve shirt. I was bent on wearing my awesome Run to Cooperstown 5K shirt that I had waited two months to get. So I threw my long sleeve in my bag just in case. After going to Starbucks to get Annie some coffee to wake up (it was just after 7 AM), we walked down to the festival, which was between M&T Bank Stadium and Camden Yards. We got a great front row spot for the beginning of the marathon, which was set to begin at 8:00. It was awesome to see all the people who were running, from the elites down to the 5 hour plus pacers. I can’t wait to get to that point where I can run a marathon!

After the marathon started, I left Annie and did a quick warm up of some jogging and stretching so I was somewhat loose and hot for the beginning. There were almost 1800 people running the 5K, which was by far the biggest race I’ve run in to date. I crossed the starting line slowly and I think Annie got a really good picture of me (I haven’t looked at them yet…probably do that tonight) before heading off. I forgot to start my watch at the starting line, so I started it about a minute late. The first mile was uphill most of the way, so I kept it nice and slow because I remember burning myself out running up a hill at the Run to Cooperstown back in July. The first part of the race went through a sketchy part of Baltimore and more than one homeless person was cheering the runners on, which I thought showed a surprisingly good side of Baltimore. Not good as in “in Baltimore our homeless population serves as a built in cheering section” but that noone was being rude or interfering. I don’t know, maybe that’s insensitive but poverty is a big part of Baltimore city, unfortunately, so I liked that the course didn’t just stay in the “prettier” neighborhoods. One guy was out cheering and yelling, “Keep going! Run! It makes you happy!” which I thought was funny and awesome at the same time. When you think about it, that statement is completely true if you’re crazy enough to run for the hell of it.

Anyway, the course turned 180 degrees and headed back downtown towards Camden Yards, and was mostly downhill. We ran down Eutaw Street and then through Camden Yards (very cool), along the spine of what used to be Eutaw Street to the finish line in front of M&T Bank stadium. I was running fine the entire way and only got tired as I reached Camden Yards. I made sure to remember to keep my head up as I crossed the finish line for the photos. My watch said I finished in 25:52, however with the extra minute, I was hoping that I broke 27 minutes…my chip time was EXACTLY 27:00.

I’m not sure how I feel about that time. On the one hand, I cut another 17 seconds off my old PR from the Bay Café, which was a faster course anyway. If I had run Saturday’s race on the Bay Café course, I would have had a better time, I think. However, it was not as good as I would have liked, nor as good as I think I am capable of. I was really hoping to get into the 26-minute range. This is where my desire to run smarter comes into the picture.

Physically, I think I can someday get down below a 7 minute mile with the proper training and time and dedication. However, to get there will require becoming a more intelligent and ambitious runner. Throughout the race on Saturday, I was overly concerned about feeling tired and exhausted before the end. Then when the end came, I wasn’t able to push as hard as I wanted, and lost precious seconds. As soon as I stopped running, I felt fine and actually was ready to keep running, which is a bad way to race. I should have been totally spent at mile 3.1. To successfully run future races of longer distances will require better mental preparation and a better understanding of my pacing. The former can be done by simply analyzing the course ahead of time using Map My Run and other tools to get a handle on elevation, surroundings, etc. The latter can be helped with the use of a Garmin or other device to better monitor my pacing.

So, Baltimore was really a lot of fun and while I didn’t run as well as I could have, I think there are some valuable lessons to be learned. I’m going to run at least one race in November, probably two, and will really seek to run smarter in both events.

On another note, I think I am going to begin not only running in the morning, but also outside as well. I know I’ve said this about 56 times and have done it like never, but running outside is so much better than doing it on a treadmill. Moreover, doing it in the morning gives you the street to yourself and makes it a quieter run. As the weather gets colder, I’ll have to probably run outside a few days a week and then do the treadmill the rest of the time. But it’s something that I think has to be done to start the long training process for the National Half Marathon in March. Plus it’ll free up my evenings as well.

In conclusion, Baltimore was awesome and, if it doesn’t interfere with the wedding next year, I will be running the full 26.2 miles by then. In the meantime, my first Baltimore Running Festival experience has given me lots to work on in my running an racing techniques.

Race Report Coming Soon!

I just got back to my apartment from my weekend in Cincinnati. We were supposed to get back much earlier, but due to accidents on the way to the Dayton airport, we missed our flight at 1 PM today and had to take a flight at 6 instead. So here I am, back late and unpacking. I'll post a race report as soon as I can dig out from the piles of work at the office tomorrow.

Festival Eve

So here we are, finally less than a day away from the beginning of the running portion of the Baltimore Running Festival. Really that’s the entire Festival and the Health and Fitness Expo is just tacked on to get more money from non-runners. Nonetheless, Annie and I will be going over to the Expo after work today to do some serious shopping for shorts, shirts, socks, etc. I’m taking about $70 in cash to blow on running gear, which I am really excited about because I’ve been holding off on buying any new running stuff for about 2 months now. Technical T-Shirt for $10? Don’t mind if I do!

I’m feeling good about my race tomorrow. Yes, I know it’s just 3.1 miles but I’ve been looking forward to this 3.1 miles all summer. It’s been one of my long term goals since I started running as a hobby back in June and even so despite the shortness of the race, the fact that I have kept to a training regimen that has not only kept me in good enough shape to complete 3.1 miles, but has allowed me to modestly improve both my distance and speed. Running in the festival tomorrow is a major milepost (running pun alert! God I am so clever!) on my path towards the National Half Marathon in March. Of course there will be other races between tomorrow and March 29, 2008, but the Running Festival was the first really big goal I set back in June. I knew that I didn’t want to push myself from being a non-runner to being a half marathoner in 4 months. I wanted to take my time and make my first 13.1 miles really rewarding. I’d rather struggle to complete 3.1 miles in July ( see my race report for the Run to Cooperstown 5K) than struggle to complete 13.1 in March.

I have a good feeling about my time tomorrow. I’ve been running solidly in the low 9 minutes per mile range for a couple weeks now and my body doesn’t feel tired, nor have I had any serious injuries beyond some aches and pains to deal with since the blisters and arch pain back in August. My super awesome new Brooks Adrenaline GTS shoes have helped keep me in the game. I’m taking today off to fully rest my legs, which were still sore yesterday from walking down 34 flights of stairs and then running. Today they feel good and should be 100% by tomorrow. I’m not doing anything tonight except for going to the Expo and then maybe going to a dinner party (they’re serving pasta, so at least I’ll get some good fuel for the furnace!).

There is a group of people from my office who are running the 5K tomorrow as well, so part of my goal is to finish in front of most of them if at all possible (I think I could compete in just about anything). They’re meeting at the office around 7:30 to head over to the Festival, so Annie and I will meet up with them as well since the office is on the way to M&T Bank Stadium. She’ll be my official photographer so hopefully I’ll have lots of pictures to add to my online album after the weekend.

Other than that, I’m just going to prepare for the race and enjoy the experience.

On another note, there is a great Op-Ed in today’s New York Times written by an Olympic Marathon champion about the conditions at Chicago last weekend. I agree with his points about amateur runners learning to listen to their bodies in those conditions, but also the possible steps that could be taken at future events where heat and humidity become the main factors on the course. Check it out.

After the race tomorrow, Annie and I are going to hang out for a bit at the Festival but then we have a 4 PM flight to Cincinnati to spend a long weekend doing some wedding planning. As a result, don’t look for a full race report until Monday at the earliest. However, Tuesday evening is probably more realistic since we don’t get back until Tuesday afternoon.

Final Set of Runs

Monday night I went to the gym and did my 4.25 miles at around 6.2 mph, which is a nice little improvement in speed. I wasn’t exhausted afterwards, either, which is good news for the race on Saturday. I think that if I keep my legs fresh, I can push it on Saturday and really improve my time. To that end, I am doing a tempo run this evening and then will see what Thursday offers. Annie and I are going out to Bel Air on Thursday evening so if I want to hit the gym, I may have to get up early and do it before work. I think that would be the best option, mainly because I want to use Friday as a shortened taper period to rest my legs and ensure they’re fresh for the race but I also don’t want to take two days off from running beforehand.

While I have yet to run a race that is long enough and demanding enough to merit a true “taper” period, I have come to the realization that one should not really need to taper in preparation for a 5K. I know that many experts who have run like 4500 marathons say otherwise, but I think they’re not completely correct. More to the point, I think that for older runners or less fit runners, etc, they’re right. However, for 25 year olds with a decent level of fitness, I don’t think tapering for a 5K is needed. In fact, I would argue that it can actually hurt your chances of running your best. If you’re already running 3-4 miles, or more, several times a week, running 3.1 miles at race pace should not be so taxing as to necessitate anything beyond taking the day before off and maybe the day after for good measure.

Anyway, I want to take Friday off to rest the legs for Saturday, which means finding some time to run tomorrow, either before work or after we get back from our errands. Looks like an early day tomorrow.

I didn’t go to the gym yesterday for several reasons. First of all, we had a fire drill yesterday afternoon and the entire building was evacuated. For those of you not familiar with downtown Baltimore, the building I work in is 34 stories tall and I work on Floor 21. Not too bad, but going down 21 flights of stairs gives your legs a punishing without you knowing it. However, I could have gone running without any problems, really. But the drill put me further behind during a day when I was already running 2 hours late. So I decided to nix the gym in favor of staying at work later to get some more stuff done. As a result, I must go running tonight.

I Gotta Race Comin Up!

Another weekend has come and gone and with it, my time away from the office. Even though I was here on Saturday for about three hours, I managed to take an entire day (Sunday) away from work, which was nice. This weekend coming up we’re flying to Cincinnati to do some wedding planning and generally to get out of Baltimore for a few days. It’ll be nice to have a long weekend away from work.

On a super awesome note, my Run to Cooperstown 5K technical t-shirt finally arrived on Saturday! After two and a half months of waiting and hounding the PR company, I finally got it. It looks totally awesome and I’ll be wearing it on Saturday for

Anyway, this weekend I really didn’t feel compelled to run that much. For some reason that escapes me right now, Friday night after work I decided to skip the gym. Then Saturday I was at work for part of the afternoon and then Annie and I went out for drinks that night, which of course led to no time for running. Sunday I did get some miles in, although I did not do my long run. Annie wants to start running, so I gave her some tips for starting slow (the walk/run combination) and by the time she was running, I had yet to start, which meant that I wouldn’t be able to do the 8 miles that I would have liked. So instead of did 4.25 (I am increasing my mileage this week) and was happy with that. I wasn’t too tired by the end and I ran the entire length at 6.0 mph or faster. The progress is slow, but it is noticeable, which is encouraging. With continued training, I hope I can drop some more time off my splits and increase the mileage as the end of the year approaches. I have about 5 months to train for the National Half (with other shorter races between now and then) so I’m looking forward to running a fast first half.

Sunday was also the Chicago Marathon. I’m sure most people have by now heard about the heat and humidity and how hundreds were affected by it and one runner died from it. Another runner died at the Army Ten Miler down in Arlington on Sunday, but they haven’t said if it was heat related or not. Certainly running a marathon in 88 degree heat with matching humidity is trouble. I think it was probably a good idea that they closed the course early after about 4 hours. I think that had I been within a few miles of the finish when that happened, however, I would have kept going and finished, albeit at a slower pace.

And while I haven’t really heard anyone saying that the organizers were to blame for letting the marathon go on that long, or anything like that, I think this brings up a good point about personal limits and where race organization policy intersect. Of the 45,000 runners who registered for the marathon, roughly 9,000 stayed home because it was too hot. I think that was probably the safest bet for those people. They probably assessed the weather, the distance, their own level of fitness, and their desire to run in such a miserable day, and said, “Eh, I can run it next year.” Chances are that the weather next year will be much more seasonable (this was the hottest marathon on record in Chicago by 4 degrees!) and thus safer. However, for at least 0.85% of the runners who ran in spite of the heat, it was a bad decision. It’s tough to tell if they over-exerted themselves, failed to follow a hydration plan, or simply weren’t in good enough shape to run a marathon in any conditions other than the most ideal (cloudy, mid 60’s sounds ideal to me personally). Or maybe a combination of those or something else entirely. Regardless, in choosing to run, they put themselves in danger. One man chose to risk his life and lost. With so many people running and completing marathons and half marathons (not to mention the ultras) each year, it’s easy to see that for the most part, running is a very safe sport. It’s also easy to see how some people who shouldn’t’ be running a marathon, feel and believe they can.

On one level, I firmly believe that the final decision to do most things such as to run a marathon, reside with the individual. In the end, you’re the one who has to train for months, run hundreds of miles, pay the entry fee, and finally actually run the race. You are the one who has to go through the trouble and pain and everything else involved in preparing and then running a marathon. Only you get to say that you did it, too. It’s only logical that the responsibility for running the race safely rests with you. People can advise you not to run due to the weather, but at the end it all, you step up to the starting line or you stay home.

Yet, race organizers tend to take a more caring approach (as well they should). Very few races will not have medical teams and water stations and volunteers along the course to help struggling runners. Very few will say, “Hey, you should have known better than to try this race. Now regain consciousness, and get up off the road before you trip someone else (which would also not be our fault.)” No, many races want every racer to complete the course, obviously. And the more runners who take part, the more popular a race might become in the future, which means more entries and more funds to help make the race better. However, where do race organizers draw the line between making a race accessible to anyone who wants to run it, and protecting runners from themselves and potentially killing themselves on the course?

The use of qualifying times at some races like the Boston Marathon could be one method of doing this. However, that creates the problem of keeping physically qualified runners (runners who could complete a marathon, but not within the given time parameters) out of too many races. Moving the marathon season to later in October might be another option, however then the problem is cramming so many races into a few weekends. Of course many marathons in hot climates (Houston, Disney, etc) hold their races in the winter. Maybe moving some of the big races like Chicago or Philadelphia or Baltimore to the spring would work to space out the calendar a little more?

I don’t know what a good solution would be. People will always want to run the big marathons; it’s part of the attraction of the races themselves. However, people who shouldn’t be running for one reason or another will always step onto the course and put their lives at risk unnecessarily. Perhaps in that way, running a marathon is not all that different from other risky sports.

For a more academic and articulate explanation of why smart people do seemingly stupid things (and often die as a result), I would heartily recommend Laurence Gonzalez’s, Deep Survival: Wo Lives, Who Dies, and Why. I’m just about 4 chapters into it right now, but I just got through the section that describes how people can have irrefutable evidence that the danger level of whatever activity they are about to undertake is abnormally high, and yet still go and do it and die. He gives real examples to back up his findings. One is an example of a river rafter who saw that the river was too high from snowmelt and rainfall and did not go down the river. As he and his friends sat in camp on the bank of the raging river, he saw trees with 18 inch trunks being tossed in the water like toothpicks. He also knew that the flow of the river was more than 4 times what it should be. As they sat there, they saw two groups come down the river. Later they’d find out that both expeditions had been flipped and one person from each group (both experienced guides with years of experience on that very river!) had drowned.

It’s an awesome read and helps to really analyze your own decision making, even if it’s just during your everyday training.

Tempo Runs

It’s after 5 PM, which means my workday is technically over. Thankfully, while I have tons to be done during this month, I’m staying afloat for now, which is a change from the last quarter-end period, when I let things simmer on the backburner until they were due immediately all at once. Not good. This time around, I’m prepared and I’ve been busting my ass to get everything done. It doesn’t help that I’ve picked up several more responsibilities which are taxing my time. However, it makes the day fly by so I’m not complaining. Besides, it’ll all be (hopefully) worth it when my annual review comes around in three months. The more I do now, the more I can ask for when the question of a raise comes along.

Anyway, this week I have also made an effort to get back into a running/exercise routine. The Running Festival is but 8 days away now. I just got an e-mail telling me so to prove my widget countdown correct. I’m so excited, and I hope that I can really turn in a great PR. I’m also very excited about the Health and Fitness Expo taking place before the race. I am going to take about $75 and get some totally sweet technical shirts and shorts and socks and other stuff. It’ll be awesome because if there’s one thing I like more than an enjoyable hobby, it’s all the kit (that’s British for equipment) that comes along with it.

So, back on topic. I went to the gym on Tuesday night after taking a nice power nap once I got home. Of course, it being Tuesday, the gym was packed and all the treadmills taken. I turned right around and walked back to my building and ran my 4 miles in the workout room there, which is a nice backup place. Unfortunately, the treadmill there sucks. It’s noisy and when you run on it, it sounds like you’re banging a 2X4 against a thick plastic sheet. I had my headphones on, but I can imagine how annoying that was to the other girl working out. Unfortunately, I can’t fix that. So, the run was fine and I felt great afterwards.

Yesterday I tried running a tempo run at the gym. So far as I can tell, a tempo run is nothing more than a run at a “moderately uncomfortable” pace. The Smart Coach tool at Runner’s World’s website is very helpful in finding that pace for you, so I used that as a barometer to gauge how fast I wanted to run. Since this was my first attempt, I ran one mile at a 10:30 min/mile pace and then bumped it up to 9:30 min/mile for another 3 miles. I think I got it about 60% right. I ran faster for a farther distance than I ever have, and by the end I was getting tired. And I by about the second mile I was moderately uncomfortable, but not terribly so. When I stopped, I felt like if I had to, I could have kept going for a while. I’m not sure if that’s the goal with these runs or not. It felt good though and I felt great afterwards, which is always the sign of a helpful run.

And today my legs aren’t tired, but I have some mild soreness, another sign that I was working hard enough to merit some muscle building. So I will run another one next week and see what happens. I still need to figure out how and where to do speedwork around here. So far as I can tell, there isn’t a high school track around here and I’m not about to drive somewhere to do sprints. I’ll think of something.

So, tonight is an off night. I might go to the gym and do some cross training in the form of a spinning class. But maybe not. I have 30 minutes to get there so I may not be able to sign up. We’ll see.

Take it to the Limit!

So yes, I missed the Great Strides Against Prostate Cancer 5K on Sunday morning because I had forgotten to sign up way back in August. I swear I have a master’s degree. Really. I went to a very good school. And yet here I sit, one race short for September. Well, next time I will have a system in place to prevent such a thing from happening. And I know that I have registered for the Baltimore Running Festival 5K because I have the confirmation e-mails saved as well as a Xerox of my entry application. So I’m set. I even got a phone call from the race director today telling me how excited he was that I was running. OK, so maybe the call was pre-recorded and went out to the other 14,000 or so runners who will descend on Baltimore next weekend. But hey! I registered just like everyone else. OK, so maybe I used Legg Mason’s sponsorship of the festival to get an exemption and be able to run the race for free. And I’ll probably do that next year when I run the full marathon. That’s right, the whole 26.2 miles. October 2008. I’ll be ready, you can count on it.

Which brings me to the topic of this post: short term limits versus long term possibilities. As the title implies (al a Tony Montana), you have to be willing to go all out in some things (most things, I would argue) in life to realize them. In other words, you have to have the balls to even consider something, but then you have to have the guts to go out and try it. That is how I look at my running, such as it is. While I may not be able to run a half marathon quite yet, I know I will be ready in a few months. And I know I can’t run a full marathon right now, but in a year, I’ll be crossing the finish line. Having that confidence in my abilities (or rather, my ability to develop and progress my abilities!) is critical in achieving anything. It’s very close to the process of visualization that many athletes use when competing.

For example, when you see Tiger Woods in a tournament, he always stands back and looks at the ball, then up the fairway to where he wants to hit it. If they show his face, he’s actually looking at the air, not at the ground, most of the time he does this. He’s seeing the ball flight and him hitting the ball in his mind, examining what will be required (club selection, swing type, strength of the swing, etc) to affect that shot. Only after doing that, followed by his pre-shot routine, does he even consider hitting the ball.

This is a good process for me to use in my running. I have no illusions about my abilities as compared to the elite runners in the world. Their daily job is to train for these races and to win them. My job is to sit at a desk and analyze performance for an asset manager. I run as a hobby and because I feel good after each run. I race because that’s fun too, and I like competing against myself and my limits. However, I always want to improve. I want to turn a 9:00/mile pace into a solid 8:00 and I want to feel better at the end of a run now than I did last week. Visualizing what I want out of myself helps me get there.

To that end, I want to start improving my speed. I think I am ready and I don’t want to hit a plateau, which I feel I am close to. To this point I have resisted starting speedwork, fartlek, and tempo runs into my routine because I wasn’t sure I was conditioned enough to make them worthwhile, and I wanted to get my mileage up a little before moving to that next level of training. Now, I feel that I’m ready, if not willing.

I’m not going to impose a strict training schedule on myself at this point since I don’t have an immediate race goal coming up. I think I am going to select the Wirefly National Half Marathon in D.C. (March 29, 2008) as my first half marathon. I’m up to 7 miles right now in my long runs, which is more than halfway there. I think in the intervening 6 months I can get up to over 13 miles and really cut some time off my pace too. Hence, my desire to start incorporating advanced workouts into my routine. Running in the National Half Marathon would be totally awesome because of the following reasons, in no particular order: a.) it’s in Washington, which would be a great place to run one’s first long distance race; b.) it’s relatively flat so my legs won’t break; c.) it’s close enough that Annie and I could drive down on Friday, stay in a hotel overnight and drive back home (assuming I have not destroyed my leg muscles) that Saturday evening; d.) most of my family could be coaxed into coming and seeing me willingly run myself into the ground for about 2 hours or so.

So, tomorrow I will do my first tempo run. I’m almost certain I will hate it and it will hurt, but that’s the way it goes. For today, I’m doing my usual 4 miles since I was off yesterday after the 7 miles I logged on Sunday. Next week I may increase my mileage from 4 miles and 7 miles (easy/long runs) to 4.5 and 8 miles. Depends on how I feel.