OBX Marathon: Victory Lap

What was I thinking? The very question that I was asking myself about mile 18 just outside South Nags Head. One week after Inland Trail Marathon...and at this particular moment I was feeling every bit of marathon number 6 of the year.

It was great getting back down to the Banks like I did last year. The Outer Banks (I really don't like the term OBX) is great in the fall. Things are a bit cooler, but the sun is still nice and warm. The leaves in the area are in peak and everything is just nice and relaxed.

I got to spend some time again with my Aunt and Uncle who have lived there since 1983. That is when my sister and I started heading down to spend the summers with them in Kill Devil Hills. We stayed with them every summer growing up and the area is like a second home to my sister and I. I like to be able to say, I used to come to the Outer Banks before it was OBX. It is a bit built up compared to what it used to be, but when I am down there outside of tourist season, it is the same old laid back place.

I was able to head around and do some site seeing while I was down there. After packet pickup, I head north to Duck. Then I decided to head back to up Corolla. This little cafe, the Wild Horse Cafe, up there I like to hit when I am there, was closed. I decided to head a bit further north, heading past the Corolla Lighthouse to the 4x4 beaches. I realized when I got there I had come full circle. In June, I started my fall marathon training plan right there on those very beaches and roads. Six months and a several hundred miles later, I was back. I looked around for my four legged friends I had made last time I was there, however, no sign of them. It was starting to get dark, so I headed back south and time to get dinner at Dirty Dicks.

Now, back to the race...

After my BQ (ah yeah) at Inland Trail, this marathon was going to be a "victory" lap for me. The course is great and was also a great excuse to just spend some time down there. I secretly wanted to keep things under 3:20 or at least beat 3:25, which was my time there last year. Half way through, I was still on track for that. But by mile 18, that had all but faded.

My official time was 3:28. I felt fine with that considering the previous week. I really backed off and enjoyed the last few miles, which by some strange reason were pretty easy considering my legs felt like lead between 18-21.

One other very cool part of this race was getting spend time with my younger cousin, Steven, who has recently taken up running. He ran his first half marathon there and did quite well. Good to see another runner in the family! Great job, Steven! I was also rather amused to see that during the post race festivities, I returned with a drink to see him talking to a young lady he had met during the final miles of the race. What can I say, it runs in the family. I am guessing he will he running a few more races in the future.

Inland Trail Marathon: Shipping up to Boston!

Ok, I guess you can figure out how this went down by the title of the entry. Now, the song by the Drop Kick Murphys, Shipping up to Boston, has been pretty much the unofficial theme song this year. If you have seen the movie “The Departed,” you know the one I am talking about. Every race, every workout, this song has played at least once. Just a reminder of what the primary goal of 2008 was...Boston.

So...here is how it all went down...

It was a tough call where to make my next attempt at Boston after my near-miss at Wineglass in New York. I needed a cool if not COLD and a flat, fast course. After running the numbers it came down to Inland Trail Marathon or site of last year's best marathon: OBX. The deciding factor came down to Mother Nature and the planets aligned for Inland Trail.

Inland Trail is a flat out and back course on a rails-to-trails all purpose bike path in Elyria, Ohio. Did I mention FLAT. Like flat flat.

Race day arrived and things went pretty well. I was a bit worried due to the fact I wasn't quite feeling 100% but chalked it up to stress and a pretty rough week at work. Most importantly, the weather was perfect. 39 and sunny. Cold and dry.

Packet and chip pickup went very well and we headed outside the school to the starting line. No buses this time to screw up my start. I was not going to fall for that one again! At the start line, I got to talk to some familiar faces and fellow Vertical Runners. Pretty good crowd there actually. Also, at the start line was the infamous Dan Horvath. I have always enjoyed running and talking to Dan. Not only is he a great runner, his blog and running stories are fantastic. The race got started and I headed out with Dan and we got settled into a nice quick pace. A bit fast, but it felt good.

As the race crowd thinned and things started to fall into place Dan and I grouped up with some other folks. Two other fellow Boston seekers of 3:10 and a guy name David, who I had recognized from VR runs and other races. Now, the pace didn't change and the group ran really well together. The miles went by fast as Don told some stories. At about mile 5, Dan split for a pit stop and we pushed on. So far...so good! We were actually ahead of schedule at this point.

Now at mile 9, Murphy's Law kicks in and my old reliable Garmin was beeping it's database was full. Great. Then it just started beeping. And beeping. And beeping. In fact it beeped about every second the rest of the damn race. Beep. Beep.

The group kept chugging away and soon it was down to three folks. David and I lost the Boston seekers, but picked up another guy also looking for a 3:10. The three of us went through the half in 1:33. Whew! By rough count I was in 20th place at this point. Beep. Beep.

After the split, I saw the VR crew pacing Brett (who really doesn't need pacers, the guy is as solid as they come). Beep. Beep. Among them was Theresa who ran with us at Erie. I was happy to inform her she was first place female as they headed to the turn around. Beep. Beep.

We pushed on and still hit things pretty well. David and I lost the other Boston seeker...and then there were two. We were climbing in miles and still on track...but things were slowly getting tougher and I knew it. Beep. Beep. We maintained the pace and things were really getting tough. I was glad to have sometime in the bank. Surprising, after a gel we were back to low 7s again and chugging along. Beep Beep.

A bit after we entered into the 20s I was starting to get very nervous. The mile markers were not matching up with my Garmin at all. A quick check of David’s Garmin showed our watches were dead on. Markers had to be off. However, here was the problem: if our watches were right…we were still on schedule. If the markers were right, we were 1-2 minutes behind schedule! NO! Beep Beep.

I hit mile 21 and saw Lloyd who just ran a sub 3 hour at MCM. He had been out taking pictures and cheering folks on. His girlfriend, Andrea, was running the half marathon today. I had saw her on the outbound trip a while back yelling some nice encourage meant. Lloyd confirmed I was on pace still and looking good. At this moment, I wasn’t feeling it. Beep Beep.

We hit mile 22 and David (who was trying a new fueling method) really started to kick it in. He began pulled ahead of me and I decided it was time to get out the iPod. I had hit a low point so it was time for a gel and had to make a decision. I can hit it hard and hope my watch (which had been beeping for 14 miles now) was right and not the mile markers or just cruise in and go for Boston another day. Beep Beep.

I caught a few more people and made my decision if I am going to go down…I am going to down swinging. All this wasn’t supposed to be easy, right? No progress without struggle, right? Missing by 81 seconds SUCKED a month ago really sucked and I wasn’t looking to experience that again! So, I dug in and gave it a good old college try. Beep Beep.

I got to the end of the towpath section and turned onto the road and caught another runner. Doing math in my head, I started to realize, I did have a chance. It was going to be CLOSE, but still very possible. I hit the school parking lot with 3:09 on my watch while passing one last runner. As I ran through the parking lot, I was able to see the finish. There was a bunch of people yelling and there was David, who had finished jumping up and down. Then I saw the clock. Beep Beep.

3:10

I dumped everything I had left and sprinted to the finish line. And hit the button on my beeping watch. David rushed over to me as a lady at the finish line put some medals around my neck and informed me I had won my age group. “You did it! You did it!” yelled David. I looked at my watch…it read 3:10:49. I had done it. With 10 seconds to spare! Beep Beep.

The last guy I had passed actually was right there behind me. Seems he sprinted in just behind me. He, too, had qualified. We looked at the clock now reading 3:11 and started laughing. A bit too close for comfort. Beep Beep.

I head my breath until I saw it posted by the timing guy to make it official. 12th place overall and most importantly….heading to Boston in April! Beep Beep.

With that behind me, I am still heading down to the OBX Marathon in North Carolina this weekend to spend time with my Aunt and Uncle. I haven’t done back to back marathons since 2005 when I was training for JFK 50. Should be interesting….

Beep Beep.

Happy 10th Birthday Zorro!!

With fall comes falling leaves, shorter days, and of course Halloween. And Halloween is Zorro's birthday...as it is every year!

Hard to believe the little dude is 10. Even harder to believe we have survived 10 years together without taking each other out. Don't get me wrong, most people who know us, know it has come close for one of us a few times.

So, we celebrated Z's birthday in the traditional fashion....the coveted BIRTHDAY TACO!


Have to say this year did not bring a new record. However, it did still bring one of his fastest times of 5 minutes. I think he savored this taco being the 10th and all.

The video of the event is in post production and should be done very soon.

Wineglass Marathon: 81 Seconds

Well, the big day finally arrived. Not to throw more drama on it than needed, but this race has been 4 years in the making. I finally was ready to take a stab and break 3:10 in the Marathon and qualify for Boston.

Now the rough part has been watching a group of runner friends get soooo close. Like less than a minute and yet be so far away. I was scared this, too, might be my fate.

Registration for the race went well. Some sort of issues with the numbers. Mine had I was age 44 so they changed it and I got my shirt. Well, sort of. They were out of certain sizes. This sweet old lady was passing out shirts. She took a look at me, squinted, and said..."yeah, you're a large." Girl next to me in line started laughing when I reacted, "Wow...that makes ya feel good!"

I got situated for the night the best I could. Got a few nice messages on Facebook (thanks Mark, Steve, and Michelle) and tried to watch some TV until I fell alseep. Eventually, I did, but never really did sleep very good.

The morning pre-race activities went well. I pretty much had everything ready to go the night before so not to have any pre-race stress. Did I mention my #1 goal before the race was..."NO STRESS." Yeah...I had enough in my head already. Didn't need anymore. Remember that mantra..."NO STRESS" in a bit.

So, I headed to the bus stop to take us to the beginning. Got there early..as planned and waited for a bus. NO STRESS. And waited. And waited. NO STRESS. And wait...NO STRE...WHERE IS THE FREAKING BUS!?! C'mon man! I gotz to run this ^*$#%ing race like right &*%^&ing now...SERIOUSLY. No bus. 30 min to start. NO DAMN BUS. I was about to cut it and drive to the start...when the bus arrived. Whew. Ok...NO STRESS....

The ride seemed to take for ever but gave me time to zone in on the race. 7:15 minute pace the whole way. Easy out at the start...hold the hills in the beginning. Flatten out and steady the rest of the way. Easy enough. Just running..nice and easy...NO STRESS. Why is this bus ride taking so freaking long??? Man...this is like FOREVER. C'MON! STEP ON IT!

Whew. Ok...there is the start. No Stress. Everyone is lined up ready. Whew we made it...NO STR...

Then we head on the bus from the start line "RUNNER'S SET....GOOOOOO!"

Huh? Go where?

HOLY COW (Not at all what I was thinking or saying...but this is a family show). We were still on the bus when they just started the race. Helloooooo! I was told the next thing out of my mouth was, "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE &$%^ing KIDDING ME! OPEN THE *&$*(* DOOR!" And out the emergency door I went. Flying to the start...jumped the gate and off I went. NO *&%(*(* STRESS. Oh screw it. Too late now!

After a quick pit stop behind a gas station...in font of an extremely mad gas station owner...and right in front of his door that read "Restrooms." (I didn't see it until I was already doing my thing.) My bad. What is he going to do, chase me? "It was the guy in the shorts with the number!"

It was now time to get my head straight and start running. And I did and started hammering out 7:15s. One after another. Uphill, downhill. Things were even splits and perfect the whole way. All in all, a great course. More hilly (is that a word?) than I expected, but beautiful regardless. The race went exactly as planned...mile 5, mile 10, hit the half way mark in 1:34 (quick note....a half marathon PR), mile 15, Mile 20...all on. It was then time for mile 23.

Now, if you know me you will recall that I have had this little problem with mile 23. Recently, it is the point in a race when the wheels come off and I have some leg cramping. Not this time! 24...still on track but things are getting really tough. Mile 25....very tough to hold the pace. I had now drifted to 7:45 pace. C'mon! PUSH! Mile 26...not looking good...I hope chip time will save me.

As I got to the finish, I saw "3:12" on the clock. Overall average pace of 7:18 minute miles. Bummer. 81 seconds. 81 stinking seconds away from Boston. I had joined the club. Not the "Boston" club..."the oh soooo close, man that has so suck feeling" Club. It was really great to see the race had about 100 photographers to capture that magical moment on my face as I crossed the finish line. But that all faded pretty quickly. I was really happy with my time. From my first marathon to now I had taken off 45 minutes which is 2,700 seconds. So, what's another little 81?

So, now, time to initiate to my secret "Plan B for Boston." Details to follow, but step one is to rest and enjoy some NY wine then have Sean from HPL make me 81 seconds faster.

Run Streak: 76 Days

I really don't know how it started, but it did. During the summer, I noticed something strange in my running log...I hadn't missed a day in a few weeks. Quite a few. So I decided to see how long I could run everyday. The rule was (according to the Official Run Streak Website) you have to at least run one mile a day to continue a streak.

So, I ran for 76 days straight without missing a day for a total of 612 miles. That averages out to 8 miles a day.

All good things come to an end and with Wineglass coming, it was time to break the streak.

Akron Marathon: Irish Jig Race Team

For the fourth year in a row I have particapted in the Akron Marathon. Three times running the marathon, and twice now running the 5-person relay. This year I was running the third leg. This worked out great. I didn't really want anything too hilly and just wanted to run my planned race pace for Wineglass Marathon (my first run at Boston) the following week.

The morning went well. I got to meet up with my family at the start. My bro-n-law was running the full with his new flag back pack (more to come on this) he built for the Air Force Marathon a week earlier. We watched the start, then had time to catch everyone heading past mile three.

We then headed over to watch the 8K US Women's championship. We had just missed the start, but still had time to head down to the finish to watch them fly in. Wow. Very fast. Once that was over, it was time to take our positions. I decided to run to the exchange point to get a few extra miles in for the day.

So, here is how it went down...Tom was our lead off and was off to a great start. His hand off went well to Stacey who also ran awesome. Her hand off didn't go so well. Why? Well, I wasn't there. Pretty good reason. Yeah, the most veteran person on the team was tooling around taking his sweet-ass time. I did manage to get to her and off I went towards the University. I had forgot this is actually a pretty cool part of the race. I passed Mom and Dad at one of their usual spots with a wave.

Just after that, I ran into Vince who was running with Mailman Mike just past downtown. Talked them a bit until I hit the downhills heading down to the Towpath section. I did pick it a up a bit here hitting a sub 6 minute mile pace. I backed it off once I got to the towpath and tried to settle back into my planned pace of 7:15.

While on the towpath I ran into tons of folks. E-speed was pacing the 3:50 crowd. Sporting a cool mohawk. Brett with fellow Coach Chef Bill was with the 4 hour crew. By buddy Jim and Rob were there, too. Jim was running his first marathon and was doing awesome. another fine product of VR Training! (PLUG!)

The towpath came to an end and so did my leg. I was the Indian statue and headed to the exchange point where Jeff was waiting for me. We decided it would be more fun to rid back together on the buses so I ran with Jeff up Sandrun. Always a treat. Jeff did awesome despite the extremely difficult portion of the race. His hand off to Missy went...well..fine. Better than mine was! HA! Missy hit it hard back to the finish and brought us in at 3:55!

Way to go Team Irish Jig! Thanks for having me on the team!

Next up...Wineglass Marathon. The big day.

2nd Place Overall at the Hudson Chilli 5K!!

On a spur of the moment, I decided to run the Chilli 5K in Hudson. Still not feeling 100% from the cold wasn’t sure what to expect. I had a chance to run the course the night before. A bit rolling with about ½ mile uphill at the start and ½ downhill at the end.

I met up with Jim, Kevin and saw Brett at the start. Talked a bit with Kevin before the start and off we went. The first mile was a bit slow and the pace car didn’t get moving very fast. Kevin and another runner had taken the lead and a few guys and I were chasing them. Things thinned out after mile 1 leaving me just behind Kevin when he went off course. I tried yelling his name, but he didn’t hear me and headed down the wrong road…leaving me in second place. First place guy had really pulled ahead and I had a few guys on my back. We held pace until the big downhill at the end rounded the last turn. By now I was thinking I might actually be able to PR if I can hold the pace.

Heading to the finish line I could see the clock…I might be able to! No! I crossed the line hitting my 5K PR to the very second…18:49. Well maybe next time!

The next morning I headed up to Cleveland for the Heroes 5 mile. I still needed a 5 mile on my PR list. This one looked pretty fun. The weather was perfect and the course was great, but not easy. We ran down into the Brecksville Reservation. I hadn’t run there since the Green Jewell 100K. Things worked out well even with a killer hill at mile 4. Pulled off a 5 Mile PR! Leaving just 5K and Marathon!

The race was a great event. Well ran with lots of folks there. The proceeds went to the Families of fallen Police and Firemen of Cleveland. Post race was really nice. I had to laugh…at the finish line was the biggest assortment of doughnuts I have ever seen. Cops know how to eat after they run! I had to point that out to some officers who ran the race I was talking to afterwards. After some laughs, they then asked me how I did. My reply was “Great! I have been running from cops for years and now I finally have proof!”

It’s Cold Time

Once again…like clock work. Ran a half and got in a plane. Guess who has a cold!?! Same thing happened almost to the exact day last year. Going to be a long winter I can tell already.

Erie Half Marathon

Each fall race season, I like to kick things off with a half marathon. Half marathons are great, because just when it starts to suck…it’s over! Except with Erie this year…when it starts to suck, you still have a looooong way to go.

At 5 AM on race day, it was already 80 degrees and the humidity really bad. Now you would think that I would take that into consideration and adjust my goal of trying to break 1:30. Noooooo. Why would I do that???

I still managed to finish. That, in itself, was an accomplishment. I seriously have not been that close to hanging things up in a race without actually quitting. My real goal for the day was to mark the half marathon off my 2008 PR list, which I did. It wasn’t easy. I wasn’t the only person out there hurting I guess….I managed to place 23rd out 456 finishers (not sure how many dropped) and 3rd in my age group. Even got a little lighthouse trophy with my name on it!

But the real kicker for the day was to find out one of my running buddies, Rose, has a brother who was actually a friend of mine in college when I was a freshman. After my freshman year, I had lost track of him. How cool is that??? We actually just stood there for a while laughing and scratching our heads and looking at Rose wondering how we this was possible.

“It’s a small, small world. But I wouldn’t want to paint it.” –Steven Wright

Indians Game

Got to catch another Indians game. One of the last games of the year. I finally got to see Cliff Lee pitch. It was a great game. Weather was perfect and the Tribe won!

During the game, they showed one of Jeff’s videos on the jumbotron. It was very, very cool. People in the stands around me commented about how good it was.

When the game was over, they had some fireworks. I am really starting to realize that the summer is over…