Winter of My Discontent: February Racing (2/1-2/22/15)

(With apologies to the Bard of Stratford) 

Barded Steeds: Super 5 (2/1/15)

Oh, Captains, my Captains (wait wrong poet...)

Race One: Super 5

Location: Cambridge, MA

Goal Time:  ??:??

Actual Time: 36:56

Now is the winter of my discontent;

Last year had shone beneath the bright gold sun.

Short pants did I deem dare to wear back then.

This great annum no such cold gold was spent.

Championship Sunday icy frigid

The winds did blow. Aligned as knights to fight

Against the sun, Lancastrian hibern

Girds its shining armor: black steel, rigid.

From past winters I thus did take the leads

Battling miles but five; each l’il faster

At end Catching on Carrie-Anne then Scott

Running as I was mounted barded steeds.

                Ere long, the run n’er fast nor slow was done

                Neither by me the race was lost nor won.

Lour’d Clouds: Martha’s Vineyard 20 Miler (2/14/15)

Martha's Vineyard - 2014
There was apparently more snow and problems this year so they had to cancel.

Race Two: Martha’s Vineyard 20 Miler

Location: Vineyard Haven, MA

Goal Time: 2:30:00

Actual Time: --:--

The White Winter blizzards coldly did blow

Then feet, now meters, are piled mountain-

Like high. Fuji-esque mound do climb about

As white frost falls first once then thrice as snow.

For then the fourth cold storm came forth aloud

Not hiding deep among ocean’s bosom.

Instead the race - twenty long clicks - cancelled.

Again we are lour’d  o’er by winter clouds.

Nat and I ran: Carriage Road and Comm Ave

Meeting the girls at Newton Fire House

Then over Newton hills – marathon pace(?)

Oh times are slipping down what the legs have.

                A long run back along the course to home

                And over the river of frozen foam.

               

Average RunMute (2/18/15)

11 Miles from Cambridge-Seaport-Cambridge

Inman Street, Cambridge

Back Bay from MIT

Esplanade

Boston Common

Snow Farm, Seaport

Skating Rink, Common

Comm Ave

Detour?

No Delight: Five Colleges 10 Miler (2/22/15)

Finishing under my goal time!

Race Three: Five Colleges 10 Miler

Location: Amherst, MA

Goal Time: 1:10:00

Actual Time: 1:09:19

The race in Western Mass of No Delight

Away fast from Amherst High School we dash

Into the rural fields and roads of snow

Third mile climb: fifty three meters in height.

Appearing distrustful of Tom at Mile One
photo by Tom Cole

Then, across miles of snow mush and dirt road,

The sixth – the first to race running hard down

Before it climbs again – seventh and ninth.

But, the eighth I get into sprinter mode.

Finally catching up to Michael Quinn

Passing many who left me back for dead

Slowing with miles of muddy roads ahead

The tenth I dashed with lightning speeds and grins.

            Survived I have the winter months but one;

            Man, soon I hope the sun of York will come.

photo by Tom Cole

One From the Vault:

That time Culla let Harrison drive, Martha's Vineyard February, 2014

"Now I'm driving the bus!"

Rumble in the Bronx: Bronx 10 Miler (9/27 - 9/29/14)

In the shadows of Yankee Stadium

Sunday 9/28/14

Race: Bronx 10 Miler
Location: Bronx, NY
Goal Time: 1:06:00
Actual Time: 1:07:04 (PR!)

I heard my name called - "JESSE!"  There on the other side of the race was Corey.  We gave each other a High-5.  Right after was was the five mile mark.  I looked at my watch: 34:19.  Speedy and I felt good.  I decided to see if I could put in some more effort.

***
10 Miles and 10 retired numbers*

The race starts in the shadows of Yankee Stadium at Grand Concourse and 165th.  By virtue of my half assing the 14 degree Manhattan Half Marathon in January, I was put in the 3000s corral.  I was at first worried that with such a massive race - 10,000 people, I'd be forced to run too slow during the beginning.

1. Billy Martin
In 1977, Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson almost went to blows in the dugout of Fenway Park because Martin took the best hitter in baseball out for casually playing a Jim Rice hit.  In 1983, he managed to get George Brett's go ahead home run annulled for too much Pine Tar.  George Steinbrenner fired him 4 different times as manager of the Yankees.  His number was retired in 1986.

I started the first mile slowly.  In the pack with runners that were normally not as fast as I, I decided not to do the freak out bobbin' and weavin' through the crowd.  I took my time.  At a little faster than 7 minutes, I would have liked to go a little faster but it was still a success.

2. Derek Jeter
Perhaps my favorite moment of Jeter's career was the day he was honored for having "144 fewer hits than former journeyman designated hitter Harold Baines."

I ran the second mile a little bit faster than the first.  However, I was still in comfortably-a-little-hard mode and probably still many seconds slower than former journeyman designated hitter Harold Baines would have run it in.

3. Babe Ruth
While at Lone Gull I was using the Triple Lindy.  At the Bronx I was using the Rock Island Line Maneuver. Each mile I was "picking up a little bit of speed, picking up a little bit of steam."  Three was the first one I was swatting.  Despite a small piriformis grab, that I just ran through, I was able to drop the speed a bit.

4. Lou Gehrig
Some people might think I had gotten a bad break being in the wrong corral.  But, by mile four it had opened up and this mile... mile...mile... mile, was the fastest... fastest...fastest...fastest of the first half ... half ... half... half

5. Joe DiMaggio
Where have you gone mile 5?  The fourth mile was so good, that I realized it might be too good.  A couple of turns slowed down the race and by the half way point, I was ready to drop the pace.

6. Joe Torre

Pascuel Perez once drove around I-285 in ATL 3 times to get to the game.
Torre was not happy.

Joe Torre was the manager of my favorite baseball team of all time - 1982 Atlanta Braves. (I was at game 4 of the 13 wins against the Astros.)  His Yankee years are unimportant to me...

I had managed to split the race nicely. Now it was time to start the second half 13-0.  I also got quick shouts from Carl and Corey as we passed.

7. Mickey Mantle
Mickey Mantle could be greatest player to be still overrated.  There are New Yorkers of a certain age (about Billy Crystal's age) who act like he's the Wayne Gretzky of baseball.  And this at a time when the Wayne Gretzky of Baseball was still playing right across the Harlem.

Well, my seventh mile was not as good as Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle, so I won't overrate it.

8. Yogi Berra
Ninety percent of running is half mental.  This part started the countdown where each mile was one fewer to run.  Just kept in my head to not slow down and I did so by running the same speed or speeding up.  Felt good at the end of the eighth mile but remembered: "It ain't over til it's over."

9. Roger Maris
You know Roger Maris held the single season home run record longer than Ruth did?  And, he would still hold it if people like Mike Lupica were as indignant in 1998 blaming other people for ignoring steroids as they are today.

The ninth mile was the record for the fastest mile.  However like Maris did it in 162 games instead of 154, it was mostly downhill.

10. Phil Rizzuto
Holy Cow!  Like the Money Store, I did it again!  I came in, even with the slight uphill, with another fast mile.  And at 1:07:04, it was my third Personal Record of the fall!

Saturday 9/27/14

And, in more important news... The day before the race, Urvi and I went to a great dinner on 2nd Avenue

Urvi at dinner

And then we went to the Empire State Building...

Grand Central Station

Where we got engaged!

Engaged!

Monday 9/29/14

Scenes from the Park

 On Monday, Urvi and I went to the American Museum of Natural History:

Urvi and Elephants

Gas Giants

Me & TR

Otter

Blue Whale

Lucy

Urvi and Ivory

Dinosaurs

Clydesdale weigh-in n the moon

* - #2 isn't retired yet.  The Yankees will probably schedule that next year so they can get fans to come out and see their not so great team once.

Official Pic from Empire State Building

3 Koans and a Growler: 10 miles on the path to Zen (2/23/14)

Finishing straight
photo by Joe O'Leary

Race: DH Jones 10 Miler
Location: Amherst, MA
Goal time: 1:08:37
Actual Time: 1:09:19

This is the second year I have run the DH Jones 10 Miler.  After last year's battle through the hills, I feel perhaps I have learned something:

The Muddy Road

Shaku and Ekido were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was still falling.

Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection.

"Come on, girl" said Shaku at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.

Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he no longer could restrain himself. "We monks don't go near females," he told Shaku, "especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?"

"I left the girl there," said Shaku. "Are you still carrying her?"

Miles 3.5-5 are on a dirt road.  It's the first time you can actually step into a comfortable pace.  The first 3.5 are such roller coasters.  One moment you are running up such a steep hill that you think it'll take all day; the next you are on the backside thinking you are fast enough to qualify for the Olympic Trials.

The clock is ticking here, while it's generally uphill, it's less steep than other parts of the course.  I was passed around mile 4 by Mike McGrane - a much faster BAA runner than I.  But, for some strange reason, I thought I'd stay with him (or, try to beat him).  This of course failed and through miles 6 and 7 I was on this chase - still carrying him...

Great Waves

In the early days of the Meiji era there lived a well-known wrestler called O-nami, Great Waves.

O-nami was immensely strong and knew the art of wrestling. In his private bouts he defeated even his teacher, but in public he was so bashful that his own pupils threw him.

O-nami felt he should go to a Zen master for help. Hakuju, a wandering teacher, was stopping in a little temple nearby, so O-nami went to see him and told him of his trouble.

"Great Waves is your name," the teacher advised, "so stay in this temple tonight. Imagine that you are those billows. You are no longer a wrestler who is afraid. You are those huge waves sweeping everything before them, swallowing all in their path. Do this and you will be the greatest wrestler in the land."

The teacher retired. O-nami sat in meditation trying to imagine himself as waves. He thought of many different things. Then gradually he turned more and more to the feeling of the waves. As the night advanced the waves became larger and larger. They swept away the flowers in their vases. Even the Buddha in the shrine was inundated. Before dawn the temple was nothing but the ebb and flow of an immense sea.

In the morning the teacher found O-nami meditating, a faint smile on his face. He patted the wrestler's shoulder. "Now nothing can disturb you," he said. "You are those waves. You will sweep everything before you."

The same day O-nami entered the wrestling contests and won. After that, no one in Japan was able to defeat him.

The last few miles were bits of survival up steep hills, peppered with blasts downhill.  Briefly, I thought I might have a chance at a personal record.  This fight for speed was driving me up hills that maybe I should have backed off and saved for the down hills.  In fact at mile 9 I charged up one of the last hills.  On the way down that same hill back to the school, I was being passed by people.  (My 220 lbs usually isn't passed down hill.)

Instead of travelling with the waves, I was a Boston Lobsterman trying to fly into the teeth of a hurricane.  Risking tomorrow's catch for a little cash today...

Nothing Exists

Yamaoka Tesshu, as a young student of Zen, visited one master after another. He called upon Dokuon of Shokoku.

Desiring to show his attainment, he said: "The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no realization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received."

Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing. Suddenly he whacked Yamaoka with his bamboo pipe. This made the youth quite angry.


"If nothing exists," inquired Dokuon, "where did this anger come from?"

Robert mentioned that this race is not for a big guy like me.  Yet, it's still hard to not run what you think you are capable of.  Between the ice and the hills, I will be slowed down.  On top of that racing has not been a priority for the winter, so my training has yet to get to a point where I want it.

It turns out I ran faster than even last year's race.  Without training for this race and tired from last week, this should be a moral victory if not a real one.  If I am not training for racing, I should not anger at a race that means nothing to me.

But, is that enough for me?  I hope to one day to chop down the entire forest of attachment.  One day, I can become Shaku and O-nami and Dokuon.  One day, I can remove myself from the attachment of time in a race - absolute of training and terrain.  But now the clock still ticks and I feel its glare like the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg: "dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground."

SRR Shoutouts

Kath was 3rd overall
Robert won his age group
SRR Open and Masters' women each took 3rd in the Team...

Finished up taking home a growler of Amherst Brewing's Cascade IPA -
in the end I preferred their Saison I had with dinner.

Buddha is Dry Shoes: Jones 10 Miler (2/24/13)

Atop the Last Hill at Mile 9.5.

Photo by Thomas Cole

Race: Jones Group Realtors 10 Mile Road Race
Location: Amherst, MA
Goal Time: 1:07:30
Actual Time: 1:09:37

I remember a story from chronicles of Zen masters. 

There was a monk whose Korean name translated to “Block Head.”  He was not intellectual enough to study the sutras and what-not so he was given the job of “working Zen” in the fields and kitchen.  (Yes, this sounds a little iffy to me too).

The master of the monastery told him: “Buddha is mind:”  a typical Zen koan meant to make you think past rational thought and into the metaphysical. Well, apparently, in Korean “Buddha is mind” sounds a lot like “Buddha is grass shoes.”

Well, Block Head was more confused by this then even the Buddha is mind.  But in his “working Zen” he was to “meditate” upon this thought while working in the fields.  (Yep, I bet Southerners told slaves the same thing.)  Anyways, while “meditating” in the fields one day, Block Head slips and falls, breaking his straw sandals – “grass shoes.”  It was this point that he achieved enlightenment.

He returned to the master and pronounced: “I get it.”  And then flung his broken shoes at the master.

“Buddha is grass shoes and my shoes are broken.”

The master laughed in delight at this enlightenment.

I had a mini-enlightenment after today’s race in the snow and I finally got to change: Indeed, “Zen is now”; and “Buddha is Dry Shoes."

****

For those keeping score at home that is 4 consecutive weekends of the big run of the week being in a snowstorm:

1.  Super 5k
2.  Twin Towers in a Blizzard
3.  Martha’s Vineyard 20 miler
4.  DH Jones 10 Miler

Yep, it’s typical February in New England.

****
We thought we might miss the snow this time.  But it was pelting a bit of sleet by the start of the race.  By mile 3 and then the dirt road (or shall I say mud road) it was creating havoc in puddles and slipperiness.  My paces were everywhere.

The first 5 miles wandered about in the abyss of easy running, tough hills and snow squalls.  I had given up staying on anything like a “pace” or even the idea of “pace.”  At the 5-mile marker I did look at my watch and it was 36 minutes and some unknown seconds.  I thought that I might be in real trouble.

Fortunately, this race is that anti-Applefest.  It’s a tough first half.  Then Mile 6 was almost normal – I caught up with Sean McDonough, Sr. and had a brief conversation.  Miles 7, 8, and 9 were FAST.  I was feeling good and kept the hammer down through some 6:15 miles. 

Mile 10 was not easy by any means.  There were two short steep hills.  But thankfully, I was able to keep it into perspective and at the top of the second Tom was there: “This is the last hill, I promise.  I looked down into the parking lot where there is an odd extra 200 yard mini-loop (?) and gutted the last quarter mile.  Round the parking lot and in under 1:10:00.

While I am not unhappy with my race, I am not happy with it either. Meh.


Shoutouts:

Liz Cooney had ANOTHER PR and finished second in her age group.
Urvi had a 1 minute PR (Joe said that’ like a 10 minute PR on another course.)

Teams:
SRR Men’s Open – 10th; Masters’ – 9th
SRR Women’s Open -15th, Masters’ – 8th; Seniors – 4th

"Buddha is Dry Shoes"

A Good Clip: Yankee 10 Miler (7/30/2012)

Clipper Dreadnought, at Full Tea Rig

Race:   Yankee Homecoming 10 Miler

Location: Newburyport, MA

Goal Time: 1:07:00

Actual Time: 1:08:38

In 1860, the Clipper ship Dreadnought sailed from New York to Liverpool in 9 days, 17 hours.  This was the record and has never been broken by any sailing ship.  Within 9 years, as the last great merchant clipper – the Cutty Sark – was completed, the Suez Canal was opened and the Clipper Age was coming to a close and oceans “watched the men who sailed [them] switch from sail to steam.”

But the Clipper Age (1843 – 1869) was part of the internationalization of American Capitalism.  Combined with later the railroad and the telegraph, the Clipper helped to globalize the world.  During the Clipper Age, Newburyport stood right in the middle of it.  Shipyards along the Merrimack built clippers – including the aforementioned Dreadnought – for the burgeoning China trade and the gold rushes of California and Australia. 

The beauty of the clipper was the sleek lines that made it easier to carry high value items (such as tea, silk and opium) at incredible speed.

*****

152 years after the Dreadnought I was hoping to use          the clipper speed in the annual Tuesday night tradition – Yankee Homecoming 10 Miler.  Like the square sails of a clipper I was ready to fly.

Course Sail: Miles 1-2.5

As the race started, I saw Mariah running off to the right.  Knowing the two of us run similar race paces, I decided I would catch up with her – slowly.

It took a good three quarters of a mile, but I was able to catch her and run with her.  We dropped into what Jim calls “comfortable hard” for the 10 mile race pace and chatting.  I believe it was first about Artificial Intelligence and the seeming every five years that somebody says: “Soon computers will be smarter than people.”

Top Sail (which oddly isn’t on the TOP really): Miles 2.5 – 5

So the next few miles the conversation was more dedicated to training and our upcoming marathon (in ICELAND!!!).  In doing so we kept thumping out our 6:45 – 7 minute miles. 

Top Galant (which is on top of the Top Sail): Miles 5-7.5

This is probably the hardest part of the course.  Mariah and I’s conversation turned to her talking and me making grunts of recognition.

Konigssegel: Miles 7.5 – 9.85

The course had one last hiccup (so I thought) as we ran on the overpass over I-95.  I fought up this bit ready to start really running.  Mariah started really running.  At Mile 8 she had pulled away from me.  While I picked up the last two miles she still peeled away from me.

I still felt good as I ran in the last mile and then made the last turn.  But it wasn’t the last turn!

Wreck!:  Miles 9.85 – 10

The Dreadnought wrecked just four months before the Suez Canal opened.  The crew watched as it crashed into the rocks at Cape San Diego in Tierra del Fuego. 

The last turn of the race led into the Newburyport High School parking lot.  It was a steep climb and while I passed one person two guys sprinting each other for the line split me like I was road furniture.  I still finished with a 16 Minute PR in the 10 Miler.

At the end of the race no less than THREE people commented that Mariah and I did well but could have done much better if we didn’t spend the whole race talking.

Shoutouts –

Anthony continued his fantastic summer with a 1:04

Diona and Chris Smith both took 3^rd in their age groups

Mariah “Morah” Tinger – 2^nd in her age group

The SRR Women took 2nd Overall!

SRR Men took 7^th (with no help from your truly)

Trials, Trails, wrong Turns and Turkeys: Blue Hills Trail Races (4/10/11)

Trials

Its 13 miles to Milton, we have a full tank of gas and full cup of coffee - HIT IT!

I definitely cut this one to the last minute. After hanging with Glenn and watching yesterday's Spurs-Stokke game with him for far too long - I had one hour 15 to get to Milton. I took Ajax Telemon and hurried down Mass Ave. My normal ride out to Milton would be down the Orange Line trail to Forest Hills and then thru Franklin Park. But when I got to Jackson Square I realized that was dumb since I can just ride the mile through Egglston and get to Franklin Park. Sure enough cut off a mile!

Made it in just enough time to get my number and stretch a bit. (better than the National Marathon.)


Trails
Race: Blue Hills Trail Races, Fox Trot 10 Miler
Location: Blue Hills, Milton
Goal Time: 1:30:00
Actual Time: 1:32:something

Last year I ran this exact same race. This year, however, I put this on the C level race. Sandwiched the weekend between the Dighton Rock 200K and the Voluntown 300K, I just wanted to get a workout. I figured 9 minute miles would be cool. They would have been!

Despite not living up to my own half hearted expectations, the race once again did. The Colonial Road Runners and their volunteers make these two races fantastic. (There is a concurrent 3 miler too - the "Bunny Hop"). They manage to make it both well organized AND low key.

I might do this one every year - regardless of fitness.


Wrong turns

En route back from the race, I rode straight up Blue Hill Ave to Franklin Park. I took a right only to ride RIGHT INTO the Doyles 5 mile race. I saw quite a few SRRs who were looking like they were running well - including Sarah who was one of the ones I'd seen yesterday on the Minuteman! (She probably thinks I'm stalking her runs now). Aaron Beer had a PR at Doyle's.



Turkeys

Saw an entire rafter of turkeys (I swear a flock of turkeys is a "rafter" - look it up; I had to).

Trailing Away - Fox Trot Trail Race (4/25/10)

Race: Fox Trot Trail Race, Blue Hills, MA
Distance: 10 Miles
Goal Time: 1:30:00
Actual Time: 1:26:14

So it was about 4.5 miles in when I officially confirmed to myself that a ten mile trail race is WAAAAAY harder than a regular half-marathon:

I was briefly talking with a guy. He asked me how much trail running I had done.

"This is my first time." I said.

"It's my first race, too. I've only been training on trails for a few weeks."

This is when I officially confirmed to myself that I was a moron. "No," I said, "this is the first time I've ever done any trail running. I suppose I should have done it at least once before."

By Six miles, I felt completely finished. I had to walk up one of the hills. (something I've never done in a race.) Then I threw up at the top.

This is when fortune smiled upon me. A woman in a 2010 Boston Marathon shirt ran by me during my expelling of the morning's coffee. She was running slightly faster than my brain wanted to but in a speed my legs could handle. "I'm following her," I said to myself and that I did until about 7.5 miles. She tripped up a little bit. I tried to process the trip to avoid the root or stone she tripped on only to find myself flat on my back! "Awesome!" I exclaimed. Well, as she tied her shoe I got up started running. (The small blister on my right foot was no longer bothering me since there was a big strawberry on my left knee now that was killing me.)

A little past eight miles was the last real tough hill and by then I wanted to quit. Well, once again fortune smiled. The same woman in the 2010 Boston shirt passed me again. From there a strange random memory of a friend's band hit me: I am on top / I can do anything. So, I was just determined to just follow her footsteps.

For the rest of the race until I could smell the finish, I just followed that turquoise (maybe, aqua-marine?) shirt. As we reached toward the end, I realized I could probably beat somebody in a sprint who ran the hardest marathon major a mere six days ago. While I almost killed myself in the sharp slope that led down into the Trailside Museum parking lot, I happily blew by the woman who spent Monday out on the hills of Newton while I sat on my couch eating nachos - wondering where Meb had dropped back to.

My goal time was surprisingly close to my finish time - considering I had NO earthly knowledge of translating road times to trail times. I think I might run some more trail races (but practice trail running at least once before hand). And I know I won't complain about the Great Bay's hills again.

Tino pai,


Jesse...