On Streaks and Kicks

A post in today's New York Times "Well" Blog talks about runners who have run in multiple consecutives races (i.e. Streakers, in the running sense of that word.) It's a brief but interesting look at three runners, two in New York and one in Chicago, who have been running those respective marathons for over three decades since their inception.

The post characterizes the pursuit of streaks in running as akin to obsessive, and I think I would agree with that assessment. I would venture to guess that the general personality of long-term runners (those who have been running for a year or more consistently) is in the neighborhood of Type A. I know that while I may not be as consistent a runner as I'd like, my desire for order in my running (creating a plan, mapping my runs ahead of time, registering early, etc) puts me in the ballpark of Type A. And I have to admit, there's some intangible attraction in potentially running the same race every year, creating a multi-year streak.

The only streak I have going right now would be the Baltimore Running Festival, which is this Saturday. This will be my third year running in the festival, although I've run two different races each year (5K in '07 and half marathon in '08.) So, it is a more technical streak. However, I think that until I get my fitness to a level where I can keep running half marathons or longer every single year, my streaks will be limited to the festival or to shorter distances.

A second streak that I have going is the Celtic Solstice 5 Miler held every December. This will be my third year running that race as well, and since it's only 5 miles, it's doable at a range of fitness levels. Once we move away from Baltimore in a few years' time, I'll have to make a choice as to which race I come back here for each year (assuming we move farther away than DC or Philadelphia.) I think I'd choose the running festival if I'm running the half or full to make it worth the weekend trip, but that could change.

In other news, I think I'm finally going to splurge a little and get some new running shoes. Although my current shoes aren't ready to be retired just yet, as they've only got about 380 miles on them. Even though shoemakers say you should replace your kicks every 400 miles, I think that's just a good way for them to get people to unwittingly trade in perfectly good 400-mile shoes for perfectly NEW 0-mile shoes at a fat margin.

Anyway, I'd like to have two pairs of shoes I'm running in at any given time, with the idea being that I'd be replacing one pair as the other was still in the early mileage days. I figure if I get a new pair now, I've still got probably another 200 miles in my current pair, which will be good for replacing them sometime in 2010.

I was going to just go with the next generation in the Brooks Adrenaline series (which is now called Defyance), but my go-to website, Runners Warehouse, won't have them in stock in my size for another 30 days, and really, I don't want to wait a month or more for shoes. So, I'm going to instead try the Nike Air Pegasus +26, which got good reviews in Runners World in August and are very affordable for running shoes: MSRP of $75. Turns out Runners Warehouse has them in stock in my size (just one pair left) and they're discounted down to a cool $58.00. Combine that with a little searching on the web for a coupon code that garnered me another 15% off, free 2 day shipping and no tax and I picked up my new shoes for just $50.00 total. Not bad when most running shoes run twice that or more. Now, the true test will be how they feel, but Runners Warehouse has free returns too, so I don't have to pay to send them back if they don't feel right.

All in all, not a bad deal in my opinion, as until I have more discretionary income, I don't see the point in spending tons of cash on things you pound into nothingness anyway. I don't even like buying running shirts and instead just make sure the races I run hand out free tech t-shirts instead.

So, with new shoes on the way and set to be here on Monday, I am going to try to find some nice discounted shorts at the expo tomorrow night, and maybe a long sleeved running short to add to my collection, as I could still use a few more cold weather shirts considering we're into October now!

Freedom's Run 5K Race Report

Bottom Line on the Top Line: A well-run, well attended inaugural race with a largely flat course with a HUGE hill around the 2.6 mile mark that made times slower than usual.

We're back from WV and from running the Freedom's Run 5K on Saturday morning so here's my race report.

We left Baltimore on Friday night around 6 so we could pick up our race packets before the 8PM cut off in Shepherdstown. With some rainy weather and general traffic on the way up there, we walked into Shepherd University's swanky new Wellness Center at 7:54 PM and literally picked up our shirts and packets minutes before they took everything down and cleaned up. The shirts are pretty nice and I like the design, is that was a definite plus.

The next morning, we got to the race a little early (about 8:10) and parked without any trouble. It helped a lot that I know Shepherdstown like the back of my hand so we didn't wander around in the car looking for parking lots. But there were volunteers and signs around so I can't imagine people had too much trouble with finding parking anyway.

The full marathon had actually already started in Harpers Ferry, WV earlier in the morning (around 7:30, I think) but the half, 10K and 5K were all starting around 9AM. Everything was centered around the football stadium and they had several tents set up for coffee, day-of packet pick-up, etc. I think they were expecting fewer people for the races than they got because there were only a handful of port-a-potties, but Annie waited just about 5 minutes in the line so not too bad, really. I think somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 people signed up for this race, which is good news for its future. The weather was perfect for running, in my opinion. Mid 50's, just a slight breeze, no clouds in the sky and no rain in the forecast. Perfect!

After some remarks from the race director, during which we learned that they were sending a bunch of race shirts to troops in Afghanistan who were running (actually due to the time difference, they'd already run) 26.2 miles in Afghanistan. Pretty awesome. Quick rendition of the national anthem and the countdown began. The half marathoners took off at 9:00 AM sharp (kudos to the race director for being punctual...some races start 10-15 mintues late which is aggravating) and the 10K folks were off five minutes later. The 5K was last since it was the shortest and fastest of the three, and we started at 9:10.

The 5K was crowded at the beginning, as 357 people were running it. So that slowed me down at the very outset. As I crossed the bridge, I tried to stay slower than I thought was acceptable since this was my first race in close to a year and I'm rusty. Also, the farthest I've run since starting up again is 4 miles so it's not like I had the endurance of a a half-marathoner to pull from. Anyway, we turned onto the C&O Canal access path after crossing into Maryland, which is a switchback trail curling under the bridge down to the towpath. Once I got to the towpath, it was narrower and gravel for the most part. I picked it up a little bit going out and began passing people, although I had to pass on the right because the 10K leaders started whizzing by us on their return trip to West Virginia.

I could feel about halfway out to the turnaround that I wasn't running as fast as I had hoped, but I didn't want to go any faster for fear of flaming out way too early. We turned around and started heading back to the bridge and I passed Annie on the way. She was doing really well and ended up finishing 10th in her age group (out of 29 total) and shaved another 90 seconds off her time. She's catching up to me fast so I need to get on my horse! Anyway, we hit a sign on the path that said "1 mile to go!" and I looked down at my watch to see that I had already surpassed the 20 minute mark. Crap. No way was I going to run a mile in under 7 minutes to beat my PR. I was bummed, but quickened the pace until I got to the access path, which I now had to go back up. It was monstrous and I had to walk because it got so steep at one point. That added some time, for certain. But I got to the bridge again and really tried to lower my pace.

I had assumed that we'd cross the bridge again into WV and immediately turn left and head onto the football field to the finish line. Hence, my pushing my pace beyond comfortable. I thought I'd be able to hold that pace to that point. Unfortunately, I got to the stadium and realized that we had to run around it and come in the back, at which point I flamed out...it just deflated me to see that I had so much farther to go. As I approached the stadium, I passed some more people and got to the field. Even though I was in pain (flashes of me barfing at the 50 yard line danced in my head), I kept the pace decent. Of course, some woman sprinted past me in the final 20 yards, and it was one of the people who had been walking just 50 yards before that, which pissed me off. Way to go; you mis-ran the entire race and walked for 5 minutes to build up enough steam to sprint across like you'd been running that pace the entire time.

I call shenanigans on that runner and anyone who does the walking the last quarter mile and then sprinting across the line. That's not finishing strong; that's running the other 96% of the race poorly.

That may sound harsh, and I certainly don't consider myself a running purist, by any means. But come on...the object is to run the whole 3.1/6.2/13.1/26.2 miles effectively, not sprint out in the beginning, stumble to the last 0.25 mile, walk half of it and then sprint across the line and make the runners who tried to maintain a consistent strategy throughout the race look like chumps.

And yes, I know people aren't thinking that way when they do it and yes I know I'm probably being unreasonable in my bitching, but as Eric Cartman says, "Whateva! Whateva! It's my hot body. I do what I want!"

Noetheless, the finish on the football field was pretty cool and I was moderately happy with my time and effort. I think I just need to run more 5Ks and get more practice racing to feel out a better pace next time. They had lots of fruit, but little else after the race, which is all well and good, except I like to have something substantial after a race, like a bagel with cream cheese or something. And while there were bagels, there were no toppings to be had so I ate a few bites of a cold wheat bagel and hrew it away. They also didn't have anything other than water, which further bummed me out. I could have gotten a Roaring Lion energy drink, but I wanted Gatorade or something that would actually replenish something in me and not wire me up again. Hopefully next year they'll have a better spread afterwards.

Annie and I milled around briefly before walking back to the car and heading home, as we weren't going to buy anything at the post-race party since we'll be going to the Baltimore Running Festival Expo this Thursday.

Overall, I was glad that I ran this race, as it was well-run and organized and the course was beautiful and very challenging at parts. It was well-attended, which was both good and bad, as the course was crowded due to there being so many runners, but it also wasn't me, Annie and two other people running the thing or anything. The post-race spread was disappointing, so hopefully they'll improve that next year. In sum, I'd run this race again next year, although by then I'd hope to be ready for the half marathon so I could get to see more of the course.

Taking the Legs Out for a Spin

After some thought and rumination, I've opted to approach tomorrow's Freedom's Run 5K as an opportunity to PR at the distance for the first time in over two years. My reasons:

1. As I said on Saturday, the course tomorrow is going to be pretty flat, with an uphill coming at the very end (maybe the final couple tenths of a mile, max) and the start is on a decline, which should help me out as well. Compare that to Baltimore next Saturday, which is essentially 1.6 miles uphill and then 1.6 miles downhill. Unsurprisingly, the last time I ran that course was the '07 Baltimore 5K and I missed a PR thanks to those hills. So, with the generally flat course and optimistic weather forecast (partly cloudy, little chance of rain, mid 50's at race time), this is a great opportunity to lower the bar a little bit.
2. This is the first 5K I've run in over a year and my PR still dates from 2007 so why not try to extinguish that record? A two year old PR that isn't all that special to begin with needs to be erased.
3. I've neglected racing in a 5K for over a year and have put up disappointing numbers each time. Since running in my first road race ever in July '07 (and setting a default PR), I've run just two 5Ks: the Kelly Shamrock 5K in March 2008 and the Cheetah Run 5K in Cincinnati in August 2008. The Shamrock race was not a good effort considering I had to dodge people the whole time and the time for the Cheetah 5K was unreliable at best. So, I need a solid, reliable 5K time and tomorrow should give me that opportunity.
4. I feel confident enough in my body now that I've taken it slow and gradually ramped up my mileage over the past two months that I can handle running hard for 3 miles. I'm interested in taking the legs out for a hard spin tomorrow and seeing how I do during the race, how I feel after the race, and how I feel on Sunday.

So, those are my reasons for attacking the Freedom's Run tomorrow. I'm excited about it and am hoping the next four hours of work pass quickly. Once we get back from WV I'll post a race report with the results. If nothing else, I'm hoping for a cool race shirt!

Last Minute (for me) Racing Decision

I got some good runs in last week, although I moved some workouts around due to laziness and overall exhaustion from work, but I feel OK with getting three runs in and not four. This week's plan got a bit adjusted last minute, but should come out to four runs, hopefully.

Initially, I had decided to make the Baltimore Running Festival 5K on 10/10 my first race since starting up with running again. However, I had seen advertisements for a race called Freedom's Run, being held just about 15 minutes from my parents' house in West Virginia. It sounded like an awesome race and they are offering a full, half, 10K and 5K. I had hoped to be ready to run a 10K by October, but am pleased that I have adhered to my main goal of taking it slow and adding distance very gradually. I think that has helped me a lot, and I'm about 30-45 seconds faster on all my runs this year than I was last year, which is great.

Anyway, Freedom's Run is being held this upcoming weekend, but I didn't think that I'd be able to do it, which bummed me out since I've yet to run a race in my home state. Plus, you get some serious swag for the race: a technical t-shirt, a water bottle with hand strap, free stuff sack, and a beer mug (for 21+ runners, of course.) Pretty nice for a $25 5K entry fee, right?

As fate would have it, we had a free weekend this weekend (no friends visiting or auditions in NY or mountains of work, etc) so we decided it'd be a nice weekend to head up to WV to see my parents since we are going to be in Cincinnati for Thanksgiving this year. So, Annie and I will get to run the 5K after all, which is awesome.

So, I'll get to test out my training to date on Saturday. Based on the elevation profile of the course, it should be somewhat fast, although the hill at the end is going to be murder. But by then, I'm hoping I'll just not care and will run through the pain.

Tonight, in between watching the first installment (TiVoed, of course) of Ken Burns' documentary on the national parks and reading some investment research for a new company I'm covering, I'll think about a race strategy and decide just how hard I want to run this race. Do I want to aim for a PR, considering how flat much of the course is? Do I want to just run it kinda hard and save up for Baltimore in two weeks? Do I want to treat it like a training run and just enjoy it so I can do a longer run on Sunday?

My initial reaction is that I want to run it hard and try to PR on it because the Baltimore 5K is much hillier. So if that's my overall attack, what is my underlying strategy? So many questions, but nonetheless, I'm excited to be running a race this weekend!

New Office, New Attempt at Mid-Day Running?

I had originally intended to post about my firm moving offices at the end of today from our current location in downtown Baltimore to a new high rise in Harbor East. But then I realized that unless you live here, none of that makes any difference. The move only matters for this blog in that it might change how and when I run once winter rolls in later in the year.

Last winter I temporarily moved my running from the early morning to the middle of the day as an experiment to see if that worked better for my schedule. It was OK, but not really much easier than getting up early and braving the cold elements. Part of the reason for that is that running from downtown Baltimore to any of the neighboring areas is a challenge. You're dodging not just traffic, but tourists and pedestrians and the generally unpleasant people who aren't awake yet at 6 AM when I normally run. The traffic signals are also longer downtown, making the run very segmented. All in all, a disappointing experience.

Harbor East (see map below) is much more pedestrian friendly and is not all that far from Canton and Patterson Park, so that's much better than dealing with the Inner Harbor. Once winter really rolls in and running in the cold pre-dawn darkness gets old, I may try mid-day running again and see how it goes. Of course, there is always the challenge of finding an hour in the middle of my day to get out of the office.


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The Motor City: Where Public Transit Is Against the Law

Back from our weekend wedding adventure to Detroit and I am ever so happy to be back on the East Coast. Don't get me wrong; I'm not an Eastern snob who thinks that the vast expanse of the country between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts is full of hicks and Red state idiots. Not at all, as my wife and her family are from Cincinnati and I have always enjoyed my visits to the middle of the country.

However, I like the tenor of life here in the East and prefer it to the Midwest. And while I only saw a small sliver of the Detroit metro area (I would have liked to have seen downtown Detroit, for example), I can safely say that I like living in a city here I can walk everywhere I need to go or that I can take trains further afield. If you don't on a car in Detroit, you are literally stranded. Everywhere we needed to go this weekend was 30-40 minutes away, which is really FAR for a city dweller such as me. I'm already mad that my walking commute to the office each day will grow by about 10 minutes when e move to our new tower next week.

I did get a run in over the weekend, though. I did a brief 3.5 mile run from our hotel through a neighborhood nearby and ended at a local Starbucks for a 0.5 mile cool down walk back to the hotel. The weather was fantastic for both the wedding and the run: sunny, low humidity and in the mid 70's in the day, high 50's in the mornings.

The run was good and I only needed to stop once to figure out which way I wanted to run. I basically stuck to my MapMyRun.com route and only overshot by a tenth of a mile, finishing at 3.6 miles. Not bad. It was relatively early in the morning (8:00 AM) so car and foot traffic was light and I only saw one other runner. On a Sunday morning in Baltimore, I'll usually see scores of people (mostly down around the Harbor) running or walking but it could have just been I was in a neighborhood that lacked runners. I did run past several vocal dogs ho were not happy to see a runner encroaching on their yards though.

I had meant to get up today and run but I've been dragging all day and ran out of time. So, I'll get up tomorrow and get a few miles under my weekly belt. Unfortunately, it's back to the grind tomorrow and I won't have another holiday break until Thanksgiving since the market's next holiday is Thanksgiving. This is probably the longest drought period for a holiday, sadly.

Thinking On The Run

I've noticed recently that my posts tend to be shapeless in their subject matter. That is, I tend to not have a plan for what I want to post about and end up blathering on and boring even myself. So, I'm going to make a concerted effort to post only when I have something worth writing about and to try some structured posts. By structured, I mean posts with specific topics in mind.

My first stab at this will be a series called "Thinking On the Run" mainly because I didn't want to spend 20 minutes trying to think of a more clever title. I occasionally have interesting (well, I consider them interesting at least) thoughts or small soliloquies with myself about a particular topic. Even though I didn't run this morning, this post is running-inspired, and that's close enough for a first try.

I was walking to work, as I do most mornings when it isn't pouring down rain or so bitter cold it's painful. With the recent spate of fall-like weather, I've seen more people out running in the mornings, although I've yet to see many runners out at 6 AM yet. THey're usually out around 7:30 when I head to the office. Anyway, today was no different. I was walking and saw a young woman running towards me on my side of the street. She passed me by but a few seconds later I heard a guy who must have been across the street behind me call out to her saying something like, "Hey, you enjoyin' yo run, sweetie?" or something like that. I presume she kept on running or maybe didn't even hear him if she was listening to music.

Nonetheless, cat calling women seems to be a past time of lots of guys in Baltimore and with women who are running, it always seems even more foolish/desperate. I'm never sure if those guys think women will stop and talk to them or what...maybe they do, maybe they just want a reaction out of her. I've yet to experience any female runner respond to a cat call, though. It just seems like a complete waste of time because what woman in her right mind would hear a strange guy call after her, stop her workout, turn around, and end up striking up a conversation with him? In Baltimore, no less, where we've had somewhere around 200 homicides this year thus far.

There's also no consideration for how it makes someone feel to know that whenever they go out for a run in their neighborhood they'll likely be accosted at least once. But in Baltimore, it's expected, unfortunately.

I put cat calling a female runner up there with taxi drivers honking their horns at attractive women as they drive by as two of the most non-sensical things that I see routinely in Baltimore. There are others like walking out into traffic no matter what's coming at you (literally daring the cars to hit you), traffic cops refusing to penalize drivers blocking intersections while getting angry at pedestrians crossing at proper times, and taxi drivers who ask you for directions when you get in the cab.

On another note, I found out today that my company will again be sponsoring the Baltimore Running Festival and that I managed to score a sponsor's registration for the 5K. So, I'll get to run the race for free and participate in the festival for the third year in a row. Sweet! In a recession, saving that $45 registration fee is key.