"The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long"*
~Lao Tzu
The two weeks after Bay State Marathon, I ran two races in two states.
Race #1: Queen City Architecture Run Location: Buffalo, NY Distance: 3.5 Miles Goal Time: 21:00 Actual Time: 22:14
We went to Buffalo for the wedding between Karen and TomBWarrior. The morning of their wedding, Tim, Mark and I ran a race at the Big Ditch Brewing Company, around the corner from our hotel.
The first mile was reasonably fast and downhill to the lake. But, Tim and I took it too fast. The first split was 5:40. Both of us were in survival mode for pretty much the rest of the race.
But, when it was all said and done, I won my age group and Tim and Mark took 2nd and 3rd in theirs. **
Flight of beers from Big Ditch
The Hayburner IPA (and the Mac and Cheese) were well worth the trip.
Race #2: Cape Cod Marathon Relay
Location: Falmouth, MA
Distance: 26.2 Miles - team (6.13miles - me)
Goal Time: 39:00
Actual Time: 39:29
The next weekend a large group of us went down and ran the Cape Cod Marathon relay. My SRR's Coed Open team. My leg was the second one. Still two weeks after my marathon, I was still burnt. Then, as Melissa warned, my leg looked flat but was actually generally up hill for 6 miles. I never found a groovy pace. Fortunately, Kieran and Tim held off any challenges and we won our division!
** - Also, we went to Niagara Falls!
Niagara Falls
From the Rainbow Bridge: Urvi, Roisin, Nat, Paola and me
Race: BAA Half Marathon
Location: Boston, MA
Goal Time: 1:27:20
Actual Time: 1:28:59
The last time I ran a "distance medley" was in same place White Stadium. Of course that was 22 years ago, a relay and the distance were track distances. Mark ran the 1200m; I think Donavin ran the 400 and Benjamin ran the 800. (I could be wrong; it's entirely possible I forgot the salient details of a minor race at the Boston City Championships back when George Bush Sr was still President.) I finished the race with a 1600m. It was one of the best runs of my life. I managed to get us into second place. I remember trying futilely to close that last 100m on South Boston High School. (In retrospect, with some knowledge of game theory, it would have been better to run easy for that last few and accept 2nd place to save myself since I had to run the 2 mile the next day and the mile the day after that. Maybe I would not have been so tired at the end of the mile and dropped to third?)
Well, the BAA distance medley was not a relay and the distances were longer. They were also over a longer period of time. April was the BAA 5k and June held the BAA 10k. Columbus Day weekend finished with the Half Marathon. The half marathon starts right next to where I practiced high school football. It runs along the golf course and out of the park and onto the 203 bridge that goes over Forest Hills. At the base of the bridge is the mile one marker. I hit it at 6:30. While this is a little quick, I figured it was okay since it was downhill, but then I heard Mark Duggan - and his Irish accent - behind me: "Well, that was too f---ing fast." indeed. For me, the next five miles continued at that too fast pace. But - once again- they were downhill. So while my plan had been to speed up each mile, I just kind of kept the even too fast pace. So that by mile 5, I plan had caught up with my speed...
The Medley was a big target for me this year. It was the first year with age group prizes and I really felt that I could get into the top 3. After the 5k in April, this was confirmed. My 18:59 had put me into second place in my age group.
Around mile 3
Photo by Thomas Cole
Age group or not, the turn around at mile 5 of the half marathon offered me an opportunity. At the start Matt had told me to line up with Megan. I had not wanted to push my way to the front. So I figured I'd catch up with her on the road. The turn around was the first time I saw her. And then as I pushed harder (now going back uphill from Fenway back to JP and Roxbury) I was slowly pulling Megan back. I wasn't speeding up but somewhere in my head I thought that was okay because I had banked time in those first five miles. So every downhill I would close the gap with Megan to about 20 yards. And every uphill, she'd open it back up again. But each time I closed it by a little more and she opened it by a little less. By the time I had made it to the 10 mile turn around: a) I had put myself in perfect position to catch Megan, and b) at 1:07 flat, I was at the perfect spot, if I could run the last 5k at 6:30/mile, I would achieve my goal.
I had been less prepared for the 10k than I had the 5k. It showed. My 40:40 dropped me from 2nd in my age group to fourth. That meant I had to beat one of two names on a page Jamie Hull or Zach Mills in the half, if I planned to crawl back into the top three.
Mile 11.5, the last time I saw Megan (212)
Photo by Tom Cole
There would be no clawing my way back this time in the distance medley. 22 years ago I had made an exciting charge trying to catch Chucky from Southie High. Today, my piriformis just made the rolling hills back to the Shadduck and the uphill back toward the zoo just painful. Then when we entered the zoo - I got a side stitch. As we weaved through the walking paths of the zoo (but unlike Miamiman - didn't see a single animal) I felt knew 1:27 and then 1:28 were slipping away from me - as fast as Megan was. The only thing that kept me running was the desire to beat two people I didn't know - Zach Mills and Jamie Hull. Finally we left the zoo and through Playstead to turn toward White Stadium - home of virtually every track meet and football game in my high school career. On the path from the zoo to the stadium, my mom and Aunt Judy and Uncle Larry were cheering for me and other Somerville runners. This brief second in the park really pumped me up a bit and I was able to gather myself for the last quarter mile. I came in right under 1:29: 1:28:59. It is my 3rd fastest half marathon ever and might have put me in good with the medley.
Looking at the results later, I had beat both Hull and Mills. AND I beat Mills by enough that should have put me into third in my age-group for the medley. Alas. Two elite masters runners who didn't sign up for the medley per se did run all three events. So those two took first and second - I took 5th. bummer.
Shoutouts
Liz and John Hadcock both won their age groups.
John won his age group in the Medley!
SRR Teams -
Mens' Open (of which I was the lead scorer) - 3rd
Mens' Masters (of which I was also the lead scorer) - 3rd
Womens' Open - 3rd
***
Also on the Weekend
Saturday - New Bedford Whaling Museum
For my mom's birthday we headed South to New Bedford -
There be Whales, Captain
I think the North Star is that away
Urvi aboard the Lagoda
Even Urvi has to watch her head aboard
Sunday - Canucksgiving!
Thanks to the awesome spread from Amy and Maple Leaf Joe Lauer
Beauty, eh?
Joe carving the Turkey
Monday - Tufts 10K and MiT Museum
Liz K.
Jen
Barbara
Polaroids, Polaroids everywhere and not a drop to drink
Actual Time: 1:30:55 (10th in my Age Group and 104th Overall)
So I went to Detroit to celebrate Scotchtoberfest. But then I found out there’s no such thing as
Scotchtoberfest:
SCOTCHTOBERFEST!
So, instead I continued Halftoberfest and ran the Detroit
International Half Marathon. My goal had
been to run a 1:27 flat. While I trained
for this to be my A race of the season, I haven’t been taking the fall too
seriously. The real reason for the race
was Urvi. This was her first Marathon
since she didn’t complete Chicago last year and her first Marathon that wasn’t
New York.
We stayed in town at the Marriot Renaissance Center. In the morning we only had to go ½ mile to
the start line. That was great. I figured we’d leave at 6:15 and still have
20 minutes to do a couple of miles of warm up before the race started.
This is where I lost my race. The last corral was Corral “L”; I was in
Corral B. I said goodbye and good luck
to Urvi as she left for gear check. I
then spent my 20 minutes fighting from Corral L to Corral B. I got to the corral with 2 minutes to
spare. No chance for a warm up.
2 minutes after the wheelchairs and hand bikes went,
combined Corrals A (like 5 guys) and Corral B were sent off westward into the
morning darkness. I ran down Fort at
steady 6:30 miles. The end of mile two
begins the first tough bit of the race.
The road wraps around as it joins the on ramp to the
Ambassador Bridge. The Bridge heads
SOUTH to Windsor, Canada from Detroit. It
is a slow going more than mile climb of 152 feet to the 5k point. I kept this steady. Finished it right around 21 flat.
Down the bridge I kept my head trying not to go too fast
(avoiding the edges of the bridge since there are no guard rails. At mile 4 you leave the bridge and run through
the customs booths (where someone with a mike was welcoming us to Canada –
CANADA!)
CANADA!
Once we are off the ramp, we were there – CANADA! The colours of the sunrise were disbursing on
the river; but, it was still dark.
Despite the darkness, Canadiens lined the road sitting in chairs cheering
runners from all over the world (including every state AND every
province). There were three miles in
Canada, including the first relay hand off and the 10k point. I was still doing well at 10k – 41:30.
You left the waterfront with a left toward the tunnel and at
mile 7, we were heading to El Norte again via the underwater mile. Miles 7-8 are in the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel
with its harsh slope down and gentle up back into Detroit. Half way through the tunnel there is the
border and they have place a line with flags in the wall tiles. The guy next to me commented that he thought
people got immediately ruder…
We came out of the tunnel next to the Renaissance
Center. The sun was fully up and the few
angiosperms I saw were filled with their autumnal colors. Across the road there was a sign that
welcomed you back to the United States.
USA! USA!
We ran down West down Jefferson and Civic Center Drive
toward Joe Louis Arena. We passed the 15k
mark on 6th Street – 1:02:40, which would have been my 15k PR! This is where the no warm ups really caught
up with me. By mile 10, I had a tight
left hamstring and both hips with pains.
@#$&$%!!
While, I probably would not have run my PR, I knew I couldn’t
now. I figured at this point I would
just enjoy the rest of the run. This was
of course depressing; I just hurt badly and everyone around me was now passing
me as they built up speed to finish strong and all I could do was virtually
limp. I crossed 20k at 1:26:20 – losing 45
seconds a mile in that 5k.
The 20k saw the Half/ Full Split. I
gained my composure briefly. I put
everything I had into the last kilometer.
Sprinting down Fort Street to the end, I brought in a strong finish
passing half a dozen people in the last km.
I finished 10th in my age group and 104th
overall.
More importantly, I got to the 40km point in time to catch
Urvi. I ran with her up the last hard
hill – up to mile 25!
SRR Shoutouts
Gwen ran the International Half also – 2:19:56
Urvi ran the full – 5:15:47
Andrew Darien and his “Washed up Wolverines” took second in
the Master’s relay
Often in my months off from specific training I like to give myself a physical challenge. This month I have not only done that but come up with a clever name:
HALFTOBERFEST!
Halftoberfest will be four half marathons and a full marathon run all in the calendar month of October. It will take me to 3 states, a province, 2 countries, 2 mid-race border crossings and two weekends of back-to-back racing.
Location: Buffalo, NY
Location: Falmouth, MA
