Blasting out 2.88 Miles: Spring Classic 5k (4/28/13)

Race: Spring Classic 5k
Location: Cambridge, MA
Goal Time: 19:00
Actual Time: 19:31

I pretty much listen to whatever Joe O'Leary says to do with any race and training.  One of his things is to "blast out a 5k the week before a marathon."

So, when the Spring Classic came around, one week before Pittsburgh, that's what I did - sort of.

I did really well for most of this race.  I didn't take off too fast in the first half mile;  At the 1 mile I was at 5:55 - not bad.  Then, through the second mile this 19 year old and I kept pushing each other and reining each other in when needed.  We crossed mile 2 at 11:51.  Mind you there were a few times in high school I didn't finish the 2 mile in that time.

We got to 2 and a half and I knew I was in trouble.  It was a third of a mile of telling myself: "don't vomit; don't vomit."

At 2.88, I vomited.

I recovered and ran in the rest of the way for a respectable time... but not the PR or sub-6 min/mi, I had had a chance at...

Sweating for the Hub in the Steel City

When I line up at the Pittsburgh Marathon, I will be doing so to raise money for the One Fund Boston.

Please donate here:

http://www.sweatforacause.com/challenge/82

Or if you don't want to give to this challenge but still want to to One Fund:
http://onefundboston.org/

In the Wake of Terrorism: Lining up at Pittsburgh

As a Boston area runner, it has been a dream of mine for 30 years to run the Boston Marathon.  This year, I was motivated to run the Pittsburgh Marathon to qualify for it and to have a fun weekend with the 14 other members of the Somerville Road Runners who are going to run either the full or half marathon in Pittsburgh.

But that all changed yesterday.  Yesterday, I stood at our club’s cheering zone at 30 km in the Newton Hills of the Boston Marathon.  After the bombing, we frantically called every person in our club who had already run by.  As we accounted for all our runners and family members who were cheering on route, my heart changed.

Before yesterday, I was going for me, for selfish reasons: to qualify and to have a good weekend with friends.  Today, I am going for more than that.  I will be at the starting line in Pittsburgh because I will not be cowed by terrorists; WE will not be cowed by terrorists!

Five for New England: Great Bay Half Marathon (4/8/12)

Race: Great Bay Half Marathon
Location: Newmarket, NH
Goal Time: 1:27:00
Actual Time: 1:28:59

This small race in New Hampshire is one of my Top 5 favorite races.  I said that despite never figuring out what my Top 5 races were.

So here they are in no particular order:

Run the Goose 7k:  Quirky little race in Gloucester on Labor Day.  It runs concurrently with the Cape Ann 25k.  The course is beautiful, most of it running through a town nature preserve.  There is also a weird spot where you have to run over a damaged dam that includes a 3 foot drop down and then run back up.  I ran it in 2011 and 2012.  Tommy B. also thinks the 2011 shirt is the best race shirt ever.

Martha's Vineyard 20 Miler: One of the key Boston Prep races.  Starting perfectly at the ferry terminal in Vineyard Haven, you can hop off the ferry and almost right into the race, like I did in 2013.  Or, with the island off season (and demand for vacation housing through the floor in February) you can make a weekend of it like I did in 2012.  The course rounds around the island past the gingerbread houses in Oak Bluffs, down the coast and through the state forest in the center of the island.  The "No Weenies" motto is both cute and valid.  The race also has a Clydesdale category, which is always a plus.

MDI Marathon Relay: The Mount Desert Island Marathon was voted the second prettiest course by Runner's World the year I did the relay.  The course through Acadia National Park in October and along the island's fjords is breathtaking.  The "shirt" is a pull-over half zip jacket and the medal was large but not gaudy.  I huge group of us went and rented a house.  Scott, Bolt, SoRad, Evan and I all climbed Cadillac Mountain the next day.  Kelsea and I ran it in 2011 and finished in 4th.  As we each get better, one year the two of us have to go back and win it...

Blue Hills Races (Fox Trot 10 Miler): A spring race through the Blue Hills.  The Colonial Road Runners have it perfectly organized (no "which way do I go?" problems prevalent in other trail races).  While there are no t-shirts (which is fine to me now), the awards are really cool: home-baked bread for overall; homemade cookies for age-groups.  I've run it in both 2010 and 2011 and I hope to return when it's not held the week before my spring marathon as it has the last two years.

Great Bay Half Marathon: I don't know why I like this one so much.  Felix found it in 2010 and we ran it together; so, it is a race that predates my SRR days.  And of course two years later Urvi and I ended up going up together (after two others had bailed last minute).  It was the trip that started us dating so it is important for that.  But the race itself is hard.  It's hilly: tagline: "These legs climbed the hills of Great Bay."  It's the week before Boston, so few New England distance runners do it.

This year made it the third time I've run Great Bay.  This year I was looking to improve on last year's PR.  I didn't.  But, I still loved the race and the little town that gets involved with musicians and belly dancers through most of the course.  Any year I don't run Boston, I'll be climbing the hills of Great Bay

Chris Smith did take 7th overall and won his division.

Day Shift: Shifters 5k (3/31/13)

Race: Shifter's 5k
Location: Waltham, MA
Goal Time: ??:??
Actual Time: 21:04

Today was the "Jesse Morrow Double"; made up of the Boston Tune up 15k and then the Shifter's 5k on the same day.  While 9 people ran the double, I did not.

Instead I met Aharon and the girls in Davis to run 11 miles out to Waltham for the Shifter's 5k.  Claudia accidentally ran into us and came along too. We took a lovely (and at times well paced) run along the River and the Blue Heron Trail into Waltham.

After a warm up with Aharon and Tim, we were ready to run the actual race (with 16 miles already on my legs).  Needless to say I did not expect much.  Needless to say, I didn't do much.

Running in Circles: The Longest 5k (3/23/13)

Race: Malden Rotary Race 5k
Location: Malden, MA
Goal Time: 19:00
Actual Time: 23:01 (3.7 miles)

I lived in Malden for 2 years at the turn of the century and I ran the very first Malden Rotary Road Race in 2004.  Back then there was a 15k and a 5k; at some point it became a 10k and a 5k.  From these two experiences I thought I knew the course and was ready to run well on this 10th edition.

Apparently I didn't because after a good and easy first mile there were a lot more turns to get to Salem Street then I remembered.  Also, at one point it felt like we were heading away from Malden Center and instead back up the hill.  But, I was pretty sure I was wrong:  there were volunteers everywhere, I could still see 5th who must be able to see the leaders...

Then I got to the corner of Forest and Pearce: Someplace I'd already been.  I realized all my fears had been right - I am ridiculously off course!  I looked at the cop and he said "5k? go left."  To which I immediately thought - no, but I'm already off course and that is the fastest way back...

So, I ran back to Main Street.  As I took the left a woman caught up with and we ran down the center of the lane with no traffic control - since we had already ran this part in the other direction.  I looked at her and said, "Sorry we're way off course.."

"Really?" she asked.  "Since when?"

"We should have broken from the 10k before we did.  By the time we did, we were about a mile off course.  I'm guessing we'll run about 3 and a half miles."

"Shoot... I thought I would win this."

She was right.  We passed 5k according to my watch at 19:22, well enough for the women's victory in a small race like this.  We got back into the Center of town (next to the Chinese restaurant I had Christmas dinner at in 1999) and the cop at that intersection yelled toward one of the race people: "Here come two more that were sent the wrong way!"

Sarah, as I later found out was her name, and I went through the intersection.  I didn't try to sprint her or anything, hoping that her 23 minutes would stand up as race winner.

Later it was determined that we should have turned off of Sylvan Street a block before we did (splitting from the 10k).  One guy in a blue hat was talking to the RD and telling him how he saw three girls with signs the block after what was supposed to be the turn and how he thought all the leaders went the wrong way.  I interjected that I realized we were off course too late but me and the girl who would have won went down Main to get back - trying to make sure they at least acknowledged she was getting screwed.  As we cleared up that I was one of the "leaders" of the race (odd thought for me but I was in the Top 10, I guess that's a "leader") and that everyone from the leader leader to blue hat had missed the turn.  some had followed the lead bike who took them the way I went, 3 people apparently followed me because it looked like I knew where I was going, several others just ran with the 10k to the finish.

"So you ran more than 5k?" he asked.

I said, "yes" showed him my Garmin at 3.71 "everyone ran more because we ran back to Forest."

Officially, I came in fourth and Sarah came in third (1st woman).  There were three guys unaccounted for who had been in front of me at the fateful juncture...

Per Coolrunning website:  "There was a mixup at one of the intersections with directions Some runners ran off course and ran longer than a 5K"

As a sign of my improvement, despite running a 6k ~ I won my age group and it was STILL an event record for me, beating my 2004 by 2:33!

Shoutouts -

Sarah Phillips for still winning the women's race anyway

John Wichers took second in his age group in the 10k

A Whale of a Tale: New Bedford Half Marathon (3/17/13)

Slamu the Whale (notice, not a penguin)

Race: New Bedford Half Marathon
Location: New Bedford, MA
Goal Time: 1:27:00
Actual Time: 1:28:07

Call me Jesse.  Some years ago, having lost interest in the sports of grass and parquet, I set myself asail in the world of running.  A return to the basest and rawest of sports (along with wrestling...) was my own slip from the world of relying on others to show up for basketball or soccer games.

In continuation of that rawest of sport, I returned to the whaling city for another attack on my white whale - the goal of a 1:25 half.  (Yes, I'm making myself Ishmael AND Ahab in the same blog...) However, my goal is to work my way down toward it.  The first step is to break 1:27.

The beginning of the New Bedford Half is always a little crazy.  The corrals are too small for the number of people trying to fit into them.  I had issues getting anywhere near where I was supposed to at the start.  Instead I was able to get myself right up front.  Realizing this would probably put me both in danger and just in the way of people running sub - 1:10s, I scooted off to the side.  Kevin and Wendy soon joined me.

As the start approached they moved everyone to the starting mats, I slipped into the 8th or 9th row (still way to far up).  Slamu, the mascot of the New Bedford Bay Sox, was at the start rallying the runners.  I gave him a thumbs up and next thing I know... I'm hugging a whale to start the race (not a penguin...).

This seemed like it would be good karma for my assault on the white whale.

I mapped out a plan of attack.  First, I would take the first 3.5 miles in the 6:45 to 7:00 per mile range.  (The 3.5 mile mark is the highest point on the course.  The hill is early and long but more like one that will kill pretenders to the overall title than one that should effect most average runners.) Then the next four and a half was largely gentle downhill to the water where I would hit an easy tempo 6:30s.

I successfully summitted the hill at 23:45, within my 45 second goal window.  I then eased into stamping out the 6:30s and hit mile 7 still in my goal window.  This was not before I was passed by Tim Harden at around mile 6.5.

At the water is the first real challenge of the course.   It is a four mile loop along a peninsula. Victor always says it sucks one way or another.  Either out or back will be a massive head wind.  Tom Derderian says the head wind is like having a two mile hill.  My goal was to fight through the wind at 6:30 whether out or back and then easy 6:30 when it was at my back.

Once again, I achieved this for the most part; I had slipped to 6:40s into the wind through miles 10 and 11.  The issue was that at 11 when I was ready to explode toward my 1:27: if my chest had been a mortar, I would have burst my heart's shell upon it.  The wind kept blowing in my face.  Joe described it as fighting for so long into the wind, eventually you lose the battle and slow.

Indeed, by mile 12 and the last challenge - the big hill - I had virtually no chance at a PR.  I took every remaining bit of strength in me and spit my last breath at thee to charge the hill without redlining.  But, it was to no avail.  I turned toward home and hit the 13 mile marker right at 1:27:30.  I heard others sprinting behind me toward the finish, so I eased over to the right to get out of their way and ran a in the last of the distance.

The drama's done - 1:28:07 - second fastest half ever and a course PR.  But alas, I am not satisfied.  I stood at the finish high-fived Megan Hyland and talked with Brian Keefe who in a wave of Personal Records for others (to follow) were like me orphans of such glory...

SRR PRs (soon to be retitled: the Liz Cooney Report)

Liz Cooney, Brendan Caffery, Andy Marinelli, Jess Dombrosky, Amy Diertofupup, Tommy B., Tim Harden, (The Tommy-Tim race was apparently a knock down drag-out sprint) Alison Lackey, Claudia, Chris K., Bradley, Jake Barnett and Larissa.

Larissa also took 3rd overall - (precursor to a good showing in Pittsburgh?)