1000

Saturday, while running errands (literally) around Park Slope, I logged my one thousandth mile of the year. I would expect such a milestone would prompt reflection, but in truth, I’ve been reflective for weeks now. So I’ll just continue on that mind jaunt like a skipped stone over a calm lake. The type of calm that comes before a storm- antsy and impatient, achy... but calm nonetheless.

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Our San Francisco Nike Women’s Marathon and Half Marathon participants have returned with triumphant tales of guts, glory, and firemen in tuxedos. That fateful Sunday morning in the Bay area, they faced fog and rain. I and many of our teammates waited in anticipation of news. And we received it almost as it happened via text messages and facebook. It’s a pretty amazing thing, this facebook. I was fairly opposed to it back in January. Coach Lisa convinced me to give it a shot because it had developed into such a great communication device specifically for TNT. And I can say I’m thankful for it. Just moments ago, Brian posted a pre race video from Dublin. Pretty sweet.

The latest charity poker night was a success!

We are three events down, three to go. Our Dublin runners are lining up at the start line as I type this. I’ll be cheering from London, literally screaming “Go Team!” I’m sure the Brits will think I’m just another overzealous crazy American. I’d rather be on the streets of Dublin, but oh well. I gotta make a living too. Running doesn’t pay the bills. How can I make that happen? Hmmm.

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Saturday’s GTS covered the last 10ish miles of the NYC Marathon course. We skipped The Bronx because the Willis Avenue Bridge isn’t open to foot traffic. So I didn’t see the spot of my infamous conversation with my legs from 2009. Our run took us over the 59th street bridge and back, then up 1st Avenue to 125th street, and over to 5th Avenue to meet the remainder of the course. I ran the majority of it with Erin. She's great company- much better company than my cramping hamstrings were a year ago. We went along at an easy pace for both of us on that lovely autumn morning.

The team crosses the 59th Street Bridge

I had to make an unscheduled, GI induced pit stop due to the 5 day old pizza I ate for breakfast. No, I don't know what I was thinking. Shut up. Erin offered to wait, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to run more so I sent her off. After taking care of business, I felt much better and tempo-ran the last 1.5 miles or so. Alone, I reflected on how I barely remember any of that last mile from 2009. I remembered the Mile 25 marker. That’s about it. There’s an incline right at the end. I didn’t remember that. I missed my sister and Lisa cheering as well as some work colleagues at Columbus Circle. I was really out of it.

Post run smiles

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The marathon is 13 days away and I am in taper mode, which challenges my discipline more than going out to run the Jim Purvis Hardcore Hill & Interval workout. Runners like to run. The difficulty is cutting back on mileage and convincing one’s self that doing so is good. What is helpful is having fellow running friends experiencing the same and constantly reminding me to behave. How about you? Are you behaving? Tapering properly? Just checking.

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MP sent me his copy of Bart Yasso’s book. I blew through it. Great read. It’s funny how after 4 years of marathon running I still didn’t know who he was until this month and within 10 days, I met him, read his autobiography, and want to emulate his running career. ‘Funny’ probably isn’t the right word- maybe ‘intrinsic’. I bet everyone who has met him and read his book feels the same way.

Christy and Bart at the Chicago Marathon expo

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The Boston Marathon sold out in 8 hours. Last year it took 2 months. So Boston 2011 is no longer an option for me, even if I qualify. That actually takes some pressure off. MP ended up not getting into it either. It appears they changed the qualifying race rule. His winter 2009 qualifying race is already too old to be used. I’m disappointed that we will not be able to run it this year, but am also excited that the popularity of the sport has exploded. I think Boston should make their qualifying times harder. Once upon a time (1989) a male under 25 years old needed a 2:50 to get in. Time to bring that back it appears. So we are aiming for Boston 2012 now. And we are both looking to get some clock smashing times, just in case Boston does adjust their qualifying times. It looks like we will be taking a trip to Fargo, ND, where the course is fast, flat, and friendly.

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Is planning the next marathon like cheating on this marathon? I suddenly feel dirty. NYC, it's you and me, baby. I'll stop turning my head when other marathons walk by, no matter how sexy they are. I promise. We have a date with fate. November 7th...

Thanks for the pic, Melka!

Rocktoberfest

The weeks since my last post have been bumpy. My body is a bit beat up. My Ghost 3s (shoes) seemed to break down quicker than my DS Trainers used to. Katie has the same shoes and she made the same comment. They feel great, but don’t last very long. I had already given up long runs in them, but it became apparent that doing speed work just to get some more use out of them would be too risky. My shins and calves were aching.

I crossed the Williamsburg Bridge 5 times on our Three Bridges run a couple weeks ago.

Another factor was my heavy weight leg training. It has always been a challenge to get into a proper rhythm with this workout. I push too hard, breaking my muscles down so much they don’t really have time to recover for the rest of my weekly workout. Yet, this work really pays off and I don’t want to abandon it. I like the free weights. It reminds me of high school football days, of working out with my good friend Matt in his basement where we’d follow Arnold Schwarzenegger’s book as a guide. But if I don’t stay disciplined with the weight, I ruin my week.

I guess that’s kind of like pacing during a race. If my Monday workout is too heavy, my Thursday workout will suffer, and by the time Saturday long runs come along, well, it isn’t pretty. So last week was my last officially scheduled weight session for my legs. It’ll just be my X-Circuit from here on out, which will limit me to using my own body weight as resistance. My tapering has begun with this switch. Sometime this week or next I will schedule a sports massage to work out some kinks. This weekend will be my last long run. Then I focus on some speed drills and pacing exercises while my mileage totals eek down to allow my body to fully recover.

But on to more exciting things… Yesterday was 10-10-10, and TNT hit the roads of Chicago for our second event of the season. The prior weekend had a couple hundred of our NYC TNT team travel out to the Hamptons for the Half and Full. It was a success, perfect weather and lots of PRs. Chicago had another story to tell, with about 25 of us traveling, temperatures in the 80s, and lot’s of PWs (Personal Worst, coined by Amanda H). Nonetheless, it was a success. Everyone completed the event and no one ended up in the Med tent!

TNT NYC at the Navy Pier in Chicago

Chicago was my 3rd event as a coach on the course. It has always been a pleasure to share this day with the participants. The reality is, all the hard work is done during the season. Event day is the celebration of what the TNT participants have already accomplished. It’s the exclamation point at the end of a long run-on sentence. Sometimes that exclamation is a “YAY!” Sometimes it’s a “F#@k!” We had a little bit of both in Chi-town.

TNT waits for the start, anticipating the run ahead.

I went to the expo the day before with Syed, Amanda H, and Christy where we got to meet Bart Yasso. Christy, who totally has a crush on the running legend, was almost too shy to say hi. It was cute. Syed egged her on and we all benefited. We chatted for about 5 minutes or so and he gave some brilliant and obvious advice. “You can’t go too slow out there in the beginning tomorrow. I think it’s going to be hot. You’re gonna see that anyone who goes out too fast is going to fade in the end.”

The 2008 event is remembered as having horrible race conditions, with temperatures that reached 89 degrees and water stations going empty. The course was closed early because of this. Weather-wise, 2010 didn’t fare much better with temperatures in the mid 80s. But the organizers and volunteers were on top of things this time. I was out on the course still seven hours after the start, and there was plenty of water, Gatorade, and beer (yeah, I had a beer at mile 23).

In the end... smiles!

Some of the team had amazing races despite the weather which was quite impressive. Some had terrible times. But everyone gutted it out till the end. And though some time goals were not reached, we were all well reminded why we were even there in Chicago pounding the pavement. Together the TNT-Chicago event raised over 1.2 million dollars for the LLS. Coach Sandy from Manhattan was the top fundraiser in the nation (and ran quite an excellent race I might add). Coach Lisa topped $10k by Saturday night. And Christy shared her personal connection with the cause, giving the inspiration speech at the pasta party, by introducing all of us to her mother who passed some 20 years ago. It was very touching. Christy’s mom was obviously a remarkable woman.

I feel fortunate to be a part of such a great organization and to have met such wonderful people. Some who will be life-long friends, I think. We’re at that stage of the season now where there’s an event almost every weekend. A Rocktoberfest, if you will (name inspired by the beer I drank at last night's victory party). Things are wrapping up, and fast. And while I’m here I’ll do what I can to reflect upon the time and really take it all in.