Resolution Kept

There were periods late this winter, through the spring, even up until the week of the race that I rued making the New Year's Resolution to run the Vermont City Marathon because I (like 99.9% of New Year's Resolvers) never keep my resolutions. Well, this year, I've kept at least one of them: I finished the VCM and while I can't say it was always fun, it was a great experience.

Formalities
The course was tough and challenging; the race was well organized; the atmosphere was amped up and intimate. I ran a 4:27:10 (gun) 4:24:10 (net). I was happy with my results though I finished in the bottom third of the field, overall, and I screwed up my time measurement so I don't really have a mile-by-mile breakdown -- but I ran this race faster than I ran NYC in '04. I covered the first half in 2 hours; crossed 20 miles at 3 hours and bonked hard between 21 and 25, and rallied to finish strong. I feel pretty good today, and the more I move around the less sore I am. I think I might go out for a little run tomorrow. Scrambling on boulders at Smuggler's Notch on Monday was actually good for me. My ankles and knees feel fine and I'm ready to keep going.

Friends
The best part of this experience, without a doubt, was that I saw my friends and family all around the course and it was an awesome experience. VTR and Mrs. VTR put us up and fed us and were just rocking hosts, and, as always, great friends. The Free Artists were on-hand as well and it was special to share this with them -- again, rocking friends. I've run a bunch of races, and high-fived little kids all along the courses. It was so amazing to high five Child One, and FA's oldest (my God-Daughter). It was just incredibly special. VTR yelled and cheered for me, from his bike, along a rather brutal part of the course, and that helped tremendously.

Impressions
The first 10 miles of the course went really smoothly. Running through town at the start was great, and the fans were amped. I worked really hard to limit my pace. Seeing my cheering section within mile one was awesome! I was reminded of my theory about the dearth of Indian distance runners. There was an Indian guy and his wife, at the start. They were all lovey and smiley. He had on red and yellow-striped (at the top) cotton socks that were taller than crews but shorter than knee socks. I passed him around mile two while he was walking . . . that's a long day. If he hadn't eaten Naan, Dal and curry the night before I think he would have been better-off -- I know from personal experience. It was fun to run along Rt. 127 -- a closed down (for the day) highway. Despite lack of fan support out there it was early enough in the race that it didn't really matter. They had some Brazilian drum troupe out there and that was really cool.

Miles 10-14 are sort of a blur. I messed up my laps and didn't realize it until the halfway mark. I really have very little memory of this part of the race except for crossing the halfway mark and then running along a very narrow portion of bike path, over some small bridges and near some RR tracks, with Champlain to the left. Mile 13-14 was run in a too quick 8:05. I recall coming off the bike path with this guy in an orange tank and big long braid and then starting the climb of Battery Hill. The Japanese drummers were awesome and my cheering section was even louder. I committed to crushing that hill and I think I did. I was pumped up for it and it was fun, fun, fun!

I paid for Battery Hill later -- around mile 16! My legs felt like they were totally filled with blood, trying to stave off injury and the going got tough. VTR was awesome helping me through that section talking it up and keeping me going. It was really sunny out there, and sort of fan-less and this is where lack of fans starts to hurt. I slogged on through 16, 17, 18 and the course dove into a residential neighborhood which was no fun to run in. Some people were into it, most were totally desultory spectators, just watching us slog on. At 19 I was racked, and walking quite a bit. I ran through 20 and fell into pace with a young woman named Laura and we slogged on for about 2 miles together both wondering when it got fun.

At 21 a short, sharp downhill hammered me, Laura continued on and I kept shuffling. I walked half miles and ran half miles of each of the remaining miles up to 25. My pace was down around 14 mins/mile, but I at least ran through each mile marker. Another funny set of interactions out in the last chunk was with a woman with a pink running skirt and a long red braid. We kept passing one another and wise cracking about the last few miles. It was all minor stuff, but it was funny. She kept calling me Orange Guy. I geared up to finish it strong with a guy that I'd been passing and then he'd pass me. We came into the chutes just after 25 and I saw my cheering section again and got a huge adrenaline jolt from everybody as well as the general crowd. I finished with a nice kick (I love adrenaline!). I don't know, unfortunately, what happened to my final mile partner, I out-kicked him and not on purpose. Through the last half to quarter mile my calf was really starting to ball up and I willed it not to cramp and stop me.

After the finish I headed into the runners' food tent and was getting some grub when I saw this young kid sitting in a wheel chair. I lost it and started crying. I felt so blessed to have done what I did, to have had the experience and seeing that kid just brought it all home to me. It was very emotional and very cool, and it was a great experience surrounded by family and friends on a beautiful, if hot, day. Overall, I was happy with my time -- I improved from NY '04 -- and though I didn't meet either of my reach goals it was a positive experience. I learned much about training, and pacing and even though I said this is my last marathon, there might be another in me. My kids totally got it -- a couple of weeks ago they were running around the house saying that they were running a marathon. I'd undertaken this partly to be a good example and to be an active father and show them commitment and dedication and I think that it worked. For that I'm truly grateful, and it was a great experience. Thanks the VTRs, FAs for being a part of it. Special thanks to Mrs. A for all her patience and support and also to C1 & C2. It was an awesome experience.

Last Weekend

Alright, so this was my last weekend. I went for 5+ Saturday, and 1:45 today -- probably in the neighborhood of 12ish, though I'm not sure. I felt OK both days but I have to admit, I really think I'm under-trained for this event. All in all though today went pretty well except for the serious tightness in my left hip flexor -- it was killing me for the better part of the run and I stopped about 15 minutes from the end and stretched it out and finished pretty strong. I've had much tightness and soreness in that muscle for the better part of this training course and it's actually been making me feel like I'm not ready.

The feeling is different than fatigue -- it's just out-and-out sore and super tight. Well, whatever, next Sunday is it, I'll take a few more easy runs this week, hydrate as much as possible over the next several days and probably do some stretching to stay limber and try and fight off this hip flexor thing.

Thanks for the support, boys. I make no promises about next week except that I'll be on the starting line and run as much as I can, and when it's all over, I'll be drinking some beers at VTR's house Sunday night.

Dirty Water

I jumped out at lunch today and took a run with a colleague -- we used to run together when both worked at Mullen. Our current office in East Cambridge and we ran from there, in front of the Museum of Science, up Storrow along the Charles to the Mass Ave Bridge -- 364 Smoots long -- and back down Memorial Drive to our office. It was a nice loop and a beautiful day, although super windy. We ran for about 36 minutes and that was good for me since my quads are still sort of tight from Saturday.

I've never run along the banks of the River Charles, and it was a cool experience. It was an experiential run to start off my summer of experiential running.

Saturday, 2.66

I did get out this weekend, I just haven't taken the time to post it up. I went for a whopping 2.66 hours. I covered about 16.5 miles and was painfully picking my away along when the family truckster appeared to pick me up and take my tired, sore, chaffed, cold body home. I was doing pretty well for the first two hours but it all fell apart in the third and I was VERY happy to be rescued. My quads were fairly shot (and they were really painful on stair descents yesterday), my nipples were scorched and bleeding and I was wiped. It was good that I got out, and I feel some sense of accomplishment but I'm nervous about this marathon. I might get out for another couple hours this coming weekend just to harden things up a bit more. I know that this is totally not how you train for a marathon but I figure if I situate the race in a continuum of long runs then maybe I'll be stronger. We'll see, what do I know.

As far as experiential running goes I was thinking about some runs along the Charles River; between App Gap and Lincoln Gap and trying to do a run where we could just run for like 5 hours, in one direction at a leisurely pace and just see how far we get . . . could be interesting.

Another Twist

Child Two requested that we go running again this AM so I obliged him. We laid out his stuff the night before and prepped his snack. It didn't save us much time because I didn't get out of bed right away. He also asked that we go back through downtown, so we did, even though I was going to run another route. He did not however want to go back the same way -- I'm just doing out an backs right now and trying to cut down on turns etc. and just try and go out in one direction. So we did make some turns and ran through some side streets. I didn't have my watch today, so no data, but we went out for about 40 minutes again. It is a nice time together and the weather is beautiful. Child Two calls his sneakers his running shoes and he always wants to wear his running shoes. Yesterday he and his sister were running around the house, running a marathon. That was kind of cool. Perhaps my activity is setting a good example for them. It's one of my goals of being active, and it seems to be seeping in.

A Twist

I went out this AM with Child 2 in the stroller -- mid-week kid run, that's the twist. We were up around 6:10 but didn't get out the door until about 6:40. We went out for 40 minutes and it was fun. He was talking the whole way, it was a beautiful, brisk morning and we totally enjoyed it. I slowed down to a walk near the last hill to navigate around a car and psyche myself up to push him over it and he says to me "how come we're walking, Dadda?" I started running right away. It was classic. We saw a nasty dead opossum and he was sort of fascinated by its corpse -- all bloody and gross, and also by a tennis ball in the gutter. He was talking about the ball when we got home -- for some reason its presence in the gutter really grabbed his attention and his imagination. It seemed to me that he realized that there was some story behind how the ball got to the gutter.

Anyway, I took a new approach and adopted a new attitude. I went out because I like to run, and I like to run 30+ minutes. Whatever happens with training the rest of the way happens and whatever happens in Burlington also happens. I'm just going to run to run and enjoy the experience. I'm not competing with anybody but me, and even with myself I'm taking a more experiential approach. It is what it is, and running needs to fit with my life. Marathon training doesn't really, but I think it will someday. I know I just spoke of a sprint tri in one of my comments, but that could work for me -- nothing major, maybe like a 1/4 miles swim, 15 mile bike and 5K run -- totally doable and not overly brutal to train for. Experiential, that's my watchword this summer.