Philly Marathon Race Report

Now I understand what Lance Armstrong was talking about when he claimed that running a marathon is tougher than any feat that he had claimed in his previous life as a professional cyclist, including those miraculous climbs up Alp D'huez.

My goal for the race was to run a 3:15. Nothing more nothing less. When I arrived at the start line however the pacers were 3'10 and 3'20. I chose the 3'10 group and decided to hang on as long as possible. I stayed within 50 yards of this group until I ran into a problem with the need for bathroom breaks. The porta johns were few and far between....I went where I could (I will spare you the details) and sprinted back to the pace group. However, after my third stop (somewhere around mile 17) i simply didnt have it in me to pull a Michael Johnson. I lost the pace group and decided I would try to clock 7'30s for the remainder of the race.

Somewhere around mile 22 my pace took a nose dive. It was all I could do to manage an 8'00 pace. I felt boston slipping away. It was at this point that I noticed alot of entrants resorting to walking...I was so tempted to stop. My calves were screaming for me to stop....i simply didnt have anything in me...it was at this point that i tried to focus on things unrelated to running...i thought about my billable hours at work, i thought through several partnership tax issues, and then I decidd to stop thinking about work and instead to pretend that all of the spectators were heckling me.....as silly as it sounds it worked...i got angry and was able to crank it out for the remaining miles.

I finished in 3:13:40. I am very sore...and at this point very much craving another race.

Philly Marathon-Boston Bound

I did it! I finished in 3:13....more to come.

Bethel Half Marathon

Last Saturday I ran the Bethel Half Marathon, which is held just outside of Canton, NC. It was a small event (160+ runners) which was in many ways nice. The entire course was roadway/pavement which ran along side a beautiful rolling hill landscape.

The hills were noticeable but nothing like the Sunset Stampede.....I kept my pace to about 6'33 and finished with a time of about 1:25. My official results were 1:22 but I know that there was a mishap given that the guy in front of me finished in 1:24.

I finished 8th overall and 2nd in my age group which was enough to win a really cool pottery dish. I'm stoked about my time and am feeling pretty confident as I head towards Philly next month.

Thanks for reading.

Fourth Place in my fourth 5k

This past saturday night I signed up for the Montford hot summer night 5k. I was expecting a hot, balmy, summer night what I ended up with was 70 degrees with a slight breeze. It was perfect.

Given the relatively cool temp, I decided to exert a bit more energy. I started the race in the lead with a 4:50 pace...this lasted all of a 1/2 mile when I hit a pretty good size hill. IT was at this point that the eventual winner of the race passed me....he was followed by two others.

Eventually I settled into a 6:00 mile pace and finished with a PR of 19:13. I ended up fourth out of 200 overall and first in my age group. It's hard to believe that last summer I ran a 22:10 in my first 5k....Ive improved by at least a minute in each subsequent race. Im pleased but I know I have much more work to do before I can move to the next level.

Brain Training

this is week three of Matt Fitzgerald's brain training. Last week I put in 38 miles this week I will be right at 40.

Tonight was a difficult hill repeat session. the program called for 8x45 second reps with two minute breaks at 5:55. It sucked Sucked sucked. I got through it and I was somewhat satisfied that I made it through the repeats but the hill training is enough to cause nipple bleeding.

I finished with a total of six miles for tonight and ended with a smoothie spiked with accelerade.

Sunset Stampede 10 Miler Race Report

Yesterday' sunset stampede in Asheville was supposed to be a slow long training run. My goal was to simply finish. I told my wife (who was to meet me at the finish line) to expect a finish of somewhere between an hour and a half to two hours. I havent spent too much time training on hills and I had my concerns about my endurance....it didnt help that i read a race report from the famed Kenyan runner (and 2003 Sunset Stampede winner) David Kipngetich in which he stated “I liked the race....The way it was organized-excellent. But the problem was the course; it was so hard. Out of all the events that I’ve run, I think this was the toughest.”

The Kenyan was right....it was a brutal course....but somewhere along mile five of the race (my thoughts of treating this race as a slow training run changed (it helped that the remaining miles were downhill). With each mile my confidence increased as reflected by my splits:


Mile 1 8'11
Mile 2 8'06
Mile 3 8'22
Mile 4 8'24
Mile 5 8'52
Mile 6 7'15
Mile 7 6'39
Mile 8 6'59
Mile 9 6'58
Mile 10 7'40

Time 1'17'24 (Garmin) 7'44 Pace/Official Time (1:18'01)

Tied for 17th Overall
Age Group 4th

Overall Im really happy with my results and I plan on running the Sunset Stampede again next year. It was a great race to build on in anticipation of the Philadelphia Marathon in the fall.

Night of the Ninja

Saturday night's 5k may have been my first experience with running a sub-20 5k. I say maybe because I (and about 10 others) took a 20 second detour off of the race route before being alerted that we were off course.

Even with the detour I ended the race at 20:13, not far from my goal. I finished 15 over all and 2nd in my age group (35-39).

In any event I took a minute off of my 5k time from three weeks ago. How can that be? The course was pretty hilly...one possibility is my red Asics Pirahna. They felt as light as slippers.

Im feeling a bit more sore this time compared to the Fallafel 5k a few weeks ago.
Hopefully I will be fully recovered before this coming saturday's 10 mile sunset stampe race, where the first 5 miles are straight up. The race flyer brags that its enough to make Kenyans squeel. I'm aching already.