Cape Cod Marathon Relay, Leg 4

The fourth leg of the Cape Cod Marathon Relay was fun and mildly painful. I'm a bit more sore today than I was yesterday, so am resting one more day. I enjoyed the team experience very much this year and it was great to run with so many old friends, and new runners.

Last year I went out and ran the same leg in just under 48. I was hoping to run the same or better this year. I wasn't sure where I'd net out though. With nights of broken sleep from Child 3 etc. I downgraded my expectations, though I was still hopeful that I could hammer it. Leg Four is sort of a bear, with a ton of climbs and descents and a particularly brutal climb at mile 20. Some woman said, her as I and others were running by her at the 20 mile marker that the top of the hill was at a car that was parked part way up it. Deep in my memory banks though, I remember it being longer than what I was looking at. It was. The hill actually turns at the point where the car was parked and continues up. I know that I wrote about this last year, but this is a big climb at this point in the marathon and I have tremendous respect for the runners who did the full course yesterday -- this means you VTR.

Speaking of the full course the CCM is a nasty little marathon. I'm quite familiar with about 20 miles of the course and it is a hilly, climbing extravaganza. As I said I was reaching for 48 minutes and came in at 45:54.1 so I was pretty pumped. I gritted my teeth up the last few hills, leaned into them and shifted my drive from my quads to my calves. I passed a lot of relay runners and was only passed by one relay-gazelle. He was a tall skinny guy and I heard him come up behind me and then disappear over a long hill around mile 18 of the course.

Based on some rough calculations I received the baton at 14.9 miles, and handed it off at 20.9. Here are my splits:

First 1/10: 0:59.3
15-16: 7:57.9
16-17: 7:38.3
17-18: 7:47.5
18-19: 7:52.7
19-20: 7:54.4
20-20.9: 5:44.0 ( this is s 6:22/mile pace, and granted there was a long down hill in this stretch but this also included the huge uphill, so I'm pretty stoked about this split)

I had a blast running this challenging leg and even more fun running with my old friends. Running is so solitary 9 out of 10 runs that it's great when it becomes a team sport. Nice job to the FAs, you worked hard and hit your goals and should be proud of yourselves. Way to stay on the course this year PR. Finally, way to tough it out VTR, it was an impressive performance. Let's all do it again next year.

CCM Eve

We had great pasta feed at the Quarter Acre this evening with VTR, FA and PR as well as the respective Mrs.. We're all fired up about the CCM tomorrow. It was awesome to get the gang together and interact in real space.

I got in a pre-race 3.3 this morning. Nothing big, but it felt good.

Stay Frosty

My morning started at 5 AM when Child Two came into our room with a chill, and Child Three started nicking for his feeding. I had planned on running today and when I couldn't C2 back to bed and his volume kept rising I figured I'd take him with me. It took nearly an hour to get him ready and motivated -- mainly about using the potty before departing. We did our downtown route (4.75 miles) in just under 40 minutes.

With all of the preamble resolved I bundled him up and off we went. He was totally fascinated that we were running in the dark (it had been darker about 20 minutes before we departed with a sky full of stars. I've been having major issues getting out these mornings because it's DARK. Initially, everything was covered in frost and it lent a ghostly air to everything-- it was amazing. It got prettier though as the sun came up and the sky lightened. The trees started blazing and the frost was sparkling. When we got home C2 told Mrs. A that "we ran in the dark and then the sun came up!"

WIndy Sunday

Well, at least on thing that I said I wanted to do, I did: 10 K on Sunday. IT was windy and cool and a gorgeous fall day in that unsettled, variable weather way that only come in the fall. The sky was overcast, and sometimes hazy with an interesting, cold light and at times the sky was blue. The foliage is beautiful. I covered the distance in 48:06 and I felt good. I started reeling a guy in about four miles out and caught him around mile five out -- he'd been about a quarter to half mile ahead of me and just as I pulled up to him he started his homestretch kick. I was avoiding passing him outright because I wasn't sure how much I had in the tank and still had three hills to go. He out-kicked me but stopped at his house right at the base of my penultimate and largest hill. I told him "good run" and he said "Thanks buddy" and I think he said something else about next time we'll go together . . . I wasn't sure but it was a good running moment. Thia was one of those runs where I am so happy that I went and I feel great. I'm psyched, I feel fairly ready and I'm looking forward to next weekend, it should be a blast.

Better

I got out this AM at about 7:15 -- much later than usual but I got on a late train and rolled into the office at 10:15. I'm still on the beach . . . good times. Anyway, I was actually up at 6:10, but had to make peace between the children, get them set up with some juice and sustenance and then head out. There's not much to report except that my lung capacity was better and I shaved off about 2:40 from my previous time and finished today in 26:45 on my 3.3 mile course. Still not my fastest but closer and an improvement even if it was a bit painful. Oxygen is very important for running, amazingly, and I had some more today so I feel good about my plan of action over the next week-and-a-half and will hopefully be at some semblance of full-strength come the CCMR -- at least 80%. It was nice to run at 7:15, I can't get too used to that.

Atonement

Last week marked the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement and some of my neighbors were suffering through their fast. This week marks my week of atonement. Child Three's arrival disrupted things a bit but I was hopeful that I'd get out during the week -- what with paternity leave and all that. Fat chance, Child (or should I say Vector?) Two got a wicked cold that turned into a cough about the same time it took root in my lungs and I spent the week battling through that. Couple illness with totally broken sleep, and tons of bad treats around the house and my running is a mess.

I went out yesterday with a neighbor for 3.3 and did it in a glacially slow 29+ minutes. Ten days off and much diminished lung capacity hurt me. I've been hacking and wheezing since Thursday (wicked tight in the lungs) but I couldn't let another beautiful day go by without a run. I got out again this morning on the same route and ran only about 30 seconds faster but I did stop to watch hawk that landed on a telephone pole and also stopped to work out a nasty little stitch in my ribs around the two mile mark. I'm bummed about the pace and I think it's more related to running sick than anything else right now, hopefully my lungs return and I can rebound nicely. My goal is to get out three more times this week at this distance and then go longer on Sunday and knock out a few more runs the week before the CCMR. It will be fun, see you all soon.

Hookey Run

So, I was sitting around work yesterday, doing nothing (should I be getting worried?) and decided to bail. I headed home and went for a run after fueling up on some pretzels and peanuts. I was starving for some reason. I definitely did not have it yesterday -- everything felt leaden and slow.

I took a brief turn to do my 5 mile route but decided against it. I opted for my 4 mile route instead. I worked hard on just running a moderate pace and felt pretty good in the last mile. Overall though, this was sort of a tough run physically and mentally but I'm glad that I got out. I also found an iPod shuffle that I need to see if it works. It seems to, but I'm a bit hesitant to plug it in for fear that it's holding nasty viruses to bring down the financial system by turning my machine into a zombie . . . oh, that's already happening, guess the iPod is not a messenger of ruin.

On another front I was toodling around Twitter last week and came across an interview in which the guy was talking about the 100 Push-ups program. I think I'm going to give it a go. Is anybody else interested? I'll probably start it within the next week or so -- depending on the arrival of Child Three, who is resisting entering our world as of this morning