20in24 - The Aftermath

As I said, I was home in bed by 4AM.

Before getting my shower I spent some time on the couch using The Stick to rub my calf muscles. This hurt a little too much so I gave up and went to sleep but as I was laying in bed I was just AWARE of them. They didn't really hurt, they weren't in active spasm, but I could tell that they were angry with me. I was concerned but mostly just tired.

Around 8 AM my husband woke up and I woke up too, I spent a little time talking with him (he hadn't had an update from me since about lap 4) and he was about to head out on a bike ride so I had him bring me a dose of Advil and big glass of water before he left. Then I rolled over and went back to sleep until around 11:00.

Getting out of bed was a challenge. I was afraid to set my feet on the ground for fear of what it would feel like. Luckily, things weren't much worse than the day after a marathon. My quads, which are usually sore, were just fine. My hips were tight, my calfs very sore and my feet were kind of swollen and stiff. They didn't really hurt so much as they just felt worn out and stressed.

I spent most of Sunday sitting with my feet up, drinking lattes and relaxing. I was pretty tired all day long but not horribly exhausted. I ate alot too. Random stuff, mostly healthy, but alot of food. (eggs, toast, tuna fish, pastry from Starbucks, steak & potatos for dinner). I made myself stay awake until 10PM before turning in for the night.

Monday I felt really good, aside from the one small heel blister I'd developed on Lap 6 and my swollen feet I was in pretty good shape. Stiff and zombie like when getting up after sitting but mostly feeling good. Still tired.

Monday night I slept with my feet propped up on a giant pillow and by Tuesday the swelling was gone. Not sure if that was coincidence or not.

By Wednesday the muscles & feet seem fine. Blister still there.

Still don't want to run.

Here it is Friday. I'm still obsessed with the event. Over the last few days I've come around from "never again" to pretty sure I'll be back next year. I'm not sure I have the motivation to do a 50 mile race without the cushy support sytsem in place along Kelly Drive. It's nice being able to duck into the air conditioning to rest every 8 miles. I think I'd like to RUN a shorter ultra event someday. A 50K seems feasible. No matter what I'd like to be better prepared for my next ultra endeavor.

It was hard, but not as hard as expected. It was fulfulling but also not quite as fulfilling as I expected. It was a good challenge and a good experience.

20in24 - The Final Loops

Laps 5 and 6 were when this really got hard.

The start of Lap 5 was great. We were in our night-time gear, reflective vests, headlamps, glowing arm bands etc. It felt silly and fun and like we were some kind of warrior people sticking this crazy race out no matter what.

It was also nice to hook up with my sister at this point. We'd both been alone all day and it was good to have a buddy to talk to - especially one where you didn't have to start with the really basic small talk like "what's your name and what's your goal for today?".

She was on her 6th lap which meant she was 8.4 miles ahead of me and moving towards her 50 mile goal. We agreed that we'd take it easy on this lap and do mostly walking. We stuck to that plan, only breaking it up a few times to relieve pressure on my toes that were feeling sore again. Oddly, for me it felt better to run at this stage than to walk.

As the night wore on, I was starting to get really tired. I'm sure quite a bit of the fatigue was related to the race, after all by the end of lap 5 I'd have covered 44 miles, but mostly it was because it was approaching my normal bedtime. On the 2nd half of the loop I was having a really hard time trying to decide if I should press on to get to 50 miles.

What was the point? I kept asking myself. I don't get a medal or a t-shirt. There is no finish line, this was just an arbitrary goal I set for myself. I'd already accomplished a PR for one day distance. There wasn't much incentive to continue other than it sounds a lot more impressive to say 50 miles than it does to say 44 miles.

But I was tired. I felt OK physically, but I wanted to stop. I couldn't find it in myself to decide either way what to do. I could see good reasons (well, reasons anyway) for choosing each way. My sister wasn't much help. She'd hit 50 but was feeling some pain from blisters and was willing to stop if I really wanted to quit.

Checking into Lloyd Hall I collapsed into the beach chair still undecided about the plan. I took another Tylenol. I ate a couple slices of pizza. I talked to some college girls who were running the relay. They were impressed enough with the 44 miles that they sort of made me want to throw in the towel.

Luckily I decided around that point to check my cell phone for messages. I had two texts that both were encouraging me to press on to get to the full 50! Thanks Joan and LaDonna for helping me make the decision! About that same time, I got a call from my friends Tom & Maureen who were there to run the Midnight Madness Loop.



He won the prize for the best costume "Most Illuminated Runner". We could see him clear across the river!

Anyway, seeing them and getting the texts pushed me over the edge so around midnight we struck out on our last lap of the night. By this time our Garmins were dead so we were just out there on our own hoping that we were maintaining some kind of normal pace.

We did OK, not slowing down much over the last lap even though it felt like we were walking though molasses the whole time. I don't think there was much if any running on this lap.

The Lone Rangers were all tired and cranky and SILENT at this point. You'd see groups of them chugging along together but nobody was saying much of anything.

About a mile from the finish line my left calf started to feel funky -- like it was about to go into cramping spasms or something. That was how I knew it was smart to to quit at Mile 50.

By the time I sat down in my beach chair the right leg was getting the same feeling. Luckily they didn't really get much worse. A few twinges on the way home but nothing too bad.

What did it feel like to finish? Kind of anti-climactic! Because everybody stops this race at different times there was no finish line hoopla or anything. I went from the finish area (where the nice volunteer did mark my bib with exclamation points and a happy face) to Lloyd Hall were everybody was sprawled on the floor sleeping. I was happy but kind of in a state of total disbelief that I'd done this crazy thing and that I didn't feel too bad.

I was dreading packing up all the junk and lugging it back to the car so we ended up abandoning some stuff there in the gym. The cooler, the aerobed and some other stuff I think. I sat there taking in the scene and drinking another Slim Fast before heading SLOWLY back to the car and driving home.

I was showered and in bed by 4AM.


Video (after lap 5, kind of sad):

Video (after Lap 6):

20in24 - Even MORE about the race (it's a really long race)

Can you believe how long it's taking to tell this story? It's a really long race!

So by now I'm on lap four, still feeling good and still in somewhat familiar territory. I've done this distance before at the Brandywine Trail End-to-End Hike but only one time. I took some Tylenol 8-hour during my rest break after lap 3 and that really helped with my sore toes. They didn't really rear their head again until late in Lap 5.

I stuck to the same plan of walking mostly on West River Drive and running mostly on Kelly Drive and was still maintaining that 14 minute pace. My breaks were about 15 to 20 minutes between laps. Mostly due to shoe changes and the a memory of a blog I read about a guy who did Lone Ranger in 2008 who rested that long and said he didn't think it was long enough.

As I'd be walking along I'd stretch out my shoulders and arms and upper body and try to keep myself feeling pretty loose. I was still shocked about how good I felt at this point.

Getting back to Lloyd Hall I'd find notes from my sister who was also out on the Lone Ranger course. She was taking fewer and shorter breaks than I was and therefore was a full lap ahead of me! The system of writing on a clipboard to one another was great. Very good to keep tabs on one another in a super easy way.

There was a great aid-station around mile 2.5 that tried to keep things light and fun all day long. At some point folks from Baltimore BOMF were there in costume cheering us along. My favorite part was the tribute to Brian Dawkins they had for awhile. For those of you who don't follow the Eagles, Brian Dawkins was the heart and soul of the Eagles for many years. He gives everything he has every game and he's also a big fan of the X-Men. I loved this sign that was at the aid station next to a B. Dawkins jersey.

I finished Lap 4 around 7:30 at night. It was cooling off and I knew that the next lap would see me in the darkness. My sister had left on her 5th Lap at 6:16 so I decided to take an extra long break and wait for her so we could do our night-time laps together. This was great because it gave me time to change my clothes and eat some stuff while I waited. I'm sure the rest was good but it also kills some momentum. It's a mixed bag but as I said, mostly good.

Food/Hydration: Only thing of note is that I had a Chocolate Slim Fast after Lap 3 (marathon distance). Went down easy and tasted really good. I felt great on Lap 4 and I think it might have been my fastest lap of the day. During the very long break before Lap 5 I ate about half to 3/4 of a ham on wheat bread sandwich that the race people provided. didn't want to eat it but I thought the protein & salt would be good for me. Continued with the hand held Gatorade bottle and water refills out on the course. During one of my laps (probably lap 3?) I lost between 1 and 2 pounds even while mostly walking and drinking along the way. Dehydration is pretty amazing!

Before leaving for Lap 5 I put on my reflective gear.

Video (Lap 4 recap):


Video (starting Lap 5):

20in24 - More about the Race

The first three laps (up to about mile 25) were just fine. Beautiful weather, nice conversation, little to no fatigue.

I found myself walking at first out of the base camp area and in the narrow section along West River Drive and then jogging some until getting close to the medical station where I would try to slow myself down and relax before having to check in (This never worked...my only good readings were on loop 4 when I was walking & talking with another Lone Ranger who was by my side until they slapped the BP cuff on my arm. No time to worry...totally normal BP.) Once clearing the medical tent I always took off jogging and I'd usually jog most of the 4 miles of Kelly Drive -- especially the parts where I was able to run on the soft dirt path that paralleled the sidewalk.

The bottom line was that I was averaging right about a 14 minute mile and that was well within my range of acceptable pace for this event.

Finishing lap 3 was essentially marathon distance and I felt great, not at all like I usually finish at the end of a marathon. It was different physically and emotionally. Really strange to have there be not one bit of fanfare or relief at crossing that distance milestone. I was doing so much more walking than I am used to and my body could really feel it. Tension in my hips and rear end that I never feel when running and SORE TOES that I haven't felt since the long end-to-end hike or my walking marathons.


Food/Hydration/Other Stuff: Between laps I would duck into Lloyd Hall to cool off and refill my bottle with Gatorade. They were serving Gu2o on the course which I thought tasted like poison so I avoided it as much as possible. I also changed socks between each lap. A couple of times I reapplied sunscreen and body glide. (No sunburn or chafe marks at the end of the day, yay!)

I had another Roctane at some point but mostly I was eating small bits of food at Lloyd Hall base camp or at the stocked aid stations. Snacks included soft pretzels, regular pretzels, salty popcorn, peanuts, trail mix, raisins (LOVED the little boxes of raisins) and some bananas.

Video (during Lap 3):

Video (after Lap 3):

Video (start of Lap 4):

20in24 - the Event itself

We were super lucky to have the storms blow through on Saturday night to clear out the horrible humidity. Saturday was a gorgeous day: blue sky, puffy clouds, even a breeze. Just ideal.

The course is along a public use trail in the middle of downtown Philadelphia along the banks of the Schuykill River. It's busy with tourists and locals and people rowing on the river. It was a great place to do this type of long race because there was so much to look at to distract you from the matter at hand.



I was really anxious in the morning, mostly because of the medical stuff, and I successfully hid from the medical team in the early hours. We arrived well before the 10AM race start and set up our base camp and I sipped some Gatorade and ate a banana during the pre-race meeting. My nerves were calmed when I literally ran into the St. Joe's Hawk in the middle of Lloyd Hall. The Hawk is awesome and he seemed like a great omen for me today. A few times over the next 16 or so hours I had to remind myself that The Hawk Will Never Die!



Just about 10AM after the Star Spangled Banner we were off. After about a minute of slow jogging most of the Lone Rangers near me slowed to a casual walk. This was great and allowed me to get to know a handful of people and learn their strategies for the day. Most were planning to take it slow for the daylight hours and then pick things up later when the sun was heading down. Many had plans for 50+ miles or for staying all night but some, like me, were in it with 50 miles as the goal.

At about mile 4 we came across the first medical tent where some of us, like me, were dragged aside for a mandatory medical check. Of course, I freaked out. I was wearing my Garmin and watched a 20 beat spike in HR walking from the trail to the medical tent. Isn't that crazy? They weighed me, took pulse and BP, and commented that it was high. After swearing to them that I was OK, not dizzy, flushed, headachey or anything else they let me go. This would happen on every lap of the event. I think being able to show them my low average HR and knowing facts about my normal resting HR and BP helped them come to grips with the fact that I was OK. Plus, I was clearly never in any kind of distress other than being tired late in the day. I do think it's great that they pay this much attention. There wer 15 maybe 20 people who were made to do these mandatory lap check-ins.

I finished the first lap feeling great but went inside to record a video and to change my socks just because that was the race plan.

Food/Hydration plan: I was carrying a 20oz hand held amphipod bottle, drank this plus water at the aid stations. I think I filled the bottle up with water on the 2nd half of the loop. (I carried this thing for 5 of my 6 laps and it never bothered me a bit.) Had a Roctane gel at mile 4.5. Did not eat any food at the well stocked aid stations on this lap.


Video (at base camp):


Video (at starting line):


Video (start of lap 2):

20in24: The Night Before / Packing up

The Friday before 20in24 was just plain gross. Super hot, super humid, disgusting haze. We drove downtown to collect our t-shirts and numbers and were surprised that they wanted us to check in with medical.

I was a basket case at this point. Heart Rate was off the charts and of course, my famous white-coat hypertension was in effect. I sat down and they tried to calm me down by telling me that everybody was nervous and was getting abnormally high readings. Perhaps not as crazy high as mine, but still high. They sent me home, told me to get some rest, and to check in again in the morning when it was cooler and when I'd be more relaxed.

I did not relax. Instead I went home to run around like a maniac packing up my junk and fretting about how they might not let me do the race at all. (Which would be sort of awesome and sort of awful.)

We were thinking like relay people and packed A TON of stuff to take with us. Here's what we took and my verdict on if it was a good item or not:

Big cooler with ice (contained Gatorade, diet Coke, Slim Fast and uncrustables). Verdict: Good. We used everything in it, including the ice. The flaw was it's size. We ended up leaving it behind when we drove home because we were too tired to lug it up the hill to our car.

AeroBed/blanket/pillows Verdict: Bad. Ours didn't inflate but even if it did we probably wouldn't have used it. Only good for relay teams or those truly planning to stay at LLoyd Hall all night.

Sleeping Bag Verdict: Good. Opened this up and used it as a big cushy beach blanket. A nice place to sit in between laps.

Beach Chair Verdict: Good. Who doesn't like a chair? Especially after 50 miles!

Changes of Clothes Verdict: Mixed. We brought changes for each lap. This was because our experience for this event was 2008's 100 degree day. This year was cooler and breezy and we were not as disgusting as in years past. I changed my socks between each lap, so that I'd do again. I changed my entire outfit after 4 laps (about 33 miles) but I don't think I'd need more than one complete change of clothes.

Extra shoes Verdict: Good. I changed from old shoes after 2 laps and wore newer shoes last three laps. I think my feet were happy with that.

Extra Food Verdict: Bad. We had pretzels, cheetoes, and pop-tarts but didn't open any of it. There was plenty of food on the course and at Lloyd Hall. We didn't need this stuff.

Medical Stuff Verdict: Good. Used glide, sunscreen, a couple of band-aids and Tylenol. Didn't need most of the other stuff but it was good to have it handy just in case.

Baby Wipes Verdict: Mixed. Not really needed but nice to have anyway.

Towels Verdict: Mixed. Big beach towel not necessary because small hand towel would get the job done. Was nice to wash face a couple of times and to dry off.

Camera Verdict: Good! Used it to take some photos and to record video.


Here's a video from the night before. I look pretty tired and miserable and be warned, it's an extreme closeup!

Delaware Half Marathon

Yesterday I ran the Delaware Half Marathon. It was the first time for this race (prior years they had a 10 mile run) on a new course that took in all different parts of Wilmington. I had no idea that there were so manu beautiful sections of town!

This course was more challenging than the loop used when then DE marathon was 4 loops but less challenging than the Caesar Rodney Half-Marathon in March. I really liked the course a lot. There are a lot of twists and turns to navigate but over all it's just beautiful and while it's hilly, there is enough flat and downhill to make it all even out.

I was really, super undertrained for this race and the weather wasn't so great yesterday and I wasn't sure it was such a great idea to be running. During the first 3-4 miles, when it was pouring rain and cold and windy I thought I should just quit when we ran past the finish line. But I kept going, and as it turned out, I had a pretty decent run. I walked the uphills, since I knew I didn't have the fitness level I needed to run up them, and then I ran most of the rest. My legs felt great, my mental game was just fine, and I felt awesome at the end of the race -- probably because of the long downhill finish!

I also used Roctane gel for the first time yesterday and it tasted OK and my legs feel great today. Not sure if that's related to the roctane or just a coincidence.

This gives me hope that I can get my act together for the marathon in Seattle without being a miserable wretch by the end of the run.

34.4 miles is a Looooong way

Yesterday, Brian & I completed the Brandywine Trail End-To-End Hike, a once a year opportunity to traverse the entire trail system. Normally the trail runs 36 miles but this year due to some re-routing it was a mere 34.4

OUCH OUCH OUCH

I have never been so blistered and miserable in all my life! My trail shoes have done right by me on many a hike, including the crazy Megatransect (see blog post from September 2007) but yesterday, by mile 12 I had a blister. By CP2 at mile 21.8 I had too many blisters to count. By CP3 at mile 27.7 the blister pain had been replaced with worry over the sorry state of my big toes and I began wondering how many nails this little adventure was going to cost me.


I can't figure it out! The terrain wasn't dreadful like the steep hills of the Mega and the sock/shoe combo should have been fine. General consensus of the folks on the trail with us (who also were covered in blisters) was that the mud and occasional foot soaking during trips across soggy meadows were what doomed us. Perhaps. Either way, our feet were trashed by the end of the day.

It was the longest distance and the longest time I've spent on any trail. I'm not anxious to do it again.

The worst part? No medals and the t-shirt isn't all that fabulous.

No wait! That's not the worst part! The worst part is that my road-racing nemisis (a truly awesome 70+ year old guy who always beats me) was there and this time he didn't just beat me -- he CRUSHED me. I was pleased to learn though, that he is the race nemesis of several other people, and they are even younger than me!

In the last month...

Since I posted, I ran a super fun 5 mile race in Ambler (The Frostbite 5-mile) which was truly cold. My feet felt frozen until mile 2.5. I did OK at that race considerig it was the first time I'd run 5 miles since the marathon and the flu and I did OK even though I was surprised by all the uphills in the race.

I finished in 52:03 which is fine by me. I was hoping just to finish under 55 minutes and I did that.

The race itself was pretty awesome with excellent goodie bags (chips, pens, and massage rollers) and a cute t-shirt. Post race food was awesome (hotdogs, fruit, chips, cereal bars, OJ and gatorade) and they had tons and tons of door prizes. Including an awesome yellow knit hat that I really, really wanted to win even though I hate wearing knit hats.


After the Frostbite race I didn't do much running until I spent some time in Washington, DC where Brian and I "ran" along the trail in Rock Creek Park. Really, we just walked a lot, and tried to run at times. It was extremely poor training for the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon that I did for the third time yesterday.

Caesar Rodney is HILLY. Very, very hilly. I was very, very unprepared. That, coupled with the freezing temperature and the blustery wind (20mph with 40mph gusts) it was a crazy day for a race. Not totally awful, but pretty tough.

Check this out from the webpage of the race results:

"Race Day Conditions: "Not user friendly." But hey -- it's March. Cold & windy.
But sunny and no rain. Go for it. And that is what so many awesome finishers did.
Not a day for a personal P.R. A day to be aware how strong & dedicated all the finishers were. Looks like a good 2008 to you all -- to us. "

Anyway, I knew at the halfway point that that was about all the distance I was properly trained for so I just resolved to get through the rest of the race and that led to me walking up just about every inch of the hills and then trying to run every bit of the flats and downhills. It was a slightly different course than in prior years but I'm not sure where all the changes were made. The bottom line though, is that I finished in 2:24:20 which is only 7 seconds slower than last year when I felt pretty good about the results. So, I'm not thrilled, but I'm not disappointed either and I was never miserable out there on the road, and that's always one of my goals.

One funny note -- I backtracked a couple of feet to hand off a gel to Brian. That probably cost me a PR for the course. That's the last time I'll be nice! (Only kidding!)

Goofy Challenge – Day Two. The Marathon.

Marathon day dawned even more humid than the half-marathon and this time there was no relief. The sun even came out to make things hotter and more uncomfortable, but luckily that didn’t happen until mile 20 or even later.

Waking up early for this race (3AM) is the worst part of the whole thing. I have a really hard time eating that early in the morning and it was all I could do to choke down some oatmeal before heading out to the race. It was a mistake that could have proved disastrous if not for Brian. I was carrying my fuel belt, loaded with Gatorade Endurance and 4 gels. I typically carry more gel for a full marathon but this time I knew Disney was going to give us two on the course and they usually supply other food too. Since I was carrying the camera again AND a pouch holding the Donald medal (had to have it for post-race photos) I decided not to carry extra gels to save some space and weight in the belt. This was a poor decision and next time I’d force them into the belt or leave the Donald at home (but if you can, carry the Donald.)

My game plan today was the same as for the half. Take it easy, stop for photos, walk on the uphills and during the water stop. Brian & I were together in the starting area and he came to my rescue when I started to get REALLY hungry with about an hour to go before the race. This was bad. I knew I was too hungry for a gel to solve the problem and that eating more gels would cause trouble in the race. Luckily, he was carrying a spare Powerbar so I was able to eat ¾ of a chocolate power bar pre-race. This saved my whole day. Even with it, my nutrition plan was out of whack, but things turned out fine. It added a level of stress to the day that would have been a real problem if I had been trying to run for time. We had a plan to try to stay together because taking photos together would be fun, but we agreed that it was more important to run our own races. As a result – I lost Brian about a half a minute after the starting gun sounded and I didn’t see him again for miles. Amazingly, I stopped at a porta-potty, posed for a few pictures, and then suddenly, there he was! I’d guess it was mile 5 or so? I know we were together at mile 7 because we filmed a short video with the camera at that point. Anyway, the day was hot and humid and I was glad to see Brian. I was able to do a slow run with him at his awesome fast-walking pace and we covered the next few miles without incident.


The Magic Kingdom was really fun we stopped a bunch of times, had official photos taken at the Castle, we met the Toy Story crew and generally just really had fun in there. It was like a training walk with lots of other people around. Leaving the MK things got a little less fun for awhile and I started to fret about my nutrition because I started to think we were missing out on food where it had been in the past. I know for sure that at one of the gel stops before the Animal Kingdom they had nothing for us when it was clear that they’d been providing supplies for those ahead of us.

We stuck together through most of this stretch, posing for more pictures, sharing Gatorade, and stopping to stretch for quite a long time. I still felt good physically although my mind was getting a little weary. I remembered reading on a message board in the week leading to the marathon that the mind gives up before the body does – and this was certainly true for me at this point. When I got my legs to move, I could run with ease, but getting them to run after a walking break was a real challenge. As we approached the Animal Kingdom, Brian was tired of posing and he stayed in his fast-groove while I stopped a lot to take shots with Donald and Daisy, Minnie and a few others. I ran really well inside the Animal Kingdom and along the paths outside too. I fell into place with a TNT coach pacing a runner and stuck with them for awhile. I’m sad I didn’t hang with them for longer. Unfortunately, some of my prior posing had me approaching the Mickey Mouse photo shoot just seconds after he retired to his trailer for some rest. He’s the only big character I didn’t get this weekend. Bummer!


The stretch between Animal Kingdom and the Studios was a bleak as I remembered. It’s long, it’s boring and the sun had come out. Highlights: bananas (thank god! I needed food) and Captain Hook (at the top of a hill, of course). I also met a funny lady with an exhausted Goofy sign that I posed with. I didn’t really feel terrible here – I’ve certainly felt worse in races even of shorter duration – but I was tired and anxious to finish this thing up. One other small highlight: high school marching band playing Rocky theme as I was forcing myself to run on a sunny stretch. I would have certainly been walking without those tunes.


Entering the Studios was fun as I got to meet Mr. Incredible and my total fave: Frozone! If only he could have frozen the air a little to make the final stretch more pleasant. A funny volunteer reminded us all that our friends who were not racing were “big losers” and that we were “awesome”. Yes, we are awesome! I got a fabulous photo of me, Minnie and Goofy just before leaving the Studios. That was particularly fun since I got to but in front of about 30 regular people and go to the front of the line. Anything for a Goofy photo today!
The miles between the Studios and Epcot are mostly just a blur. Pushing, walking, trying to force myself to run. Legs are really tired by now and the tide has turned. At this point, my mind is willing but my body is weak. Running through World Showcase I’m listening (and singing) Remember the name: “10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure, 50% pain, 100% reason to remember the name.” Yeah, it was like 99% pain at this point.

Around China I finally spotted the Top Secret Medal. It’s awesome. Really awesome.



Around Mexico I see Brian’s head up in the distance. I can probably catch him but it’ll be hard. I’m tired but I want to catch him. Try to run harder. Want to throw up. Walk. Run hard. Walk. Getting closer. Finally near the fountain and Mouse Works, I catch up to him. I can barely say anything to him to let him know I’m there. I must look better than I feel since he says he’s at maximum speed and he tells me to run ahead of him. As if!

We’re together until the finish. How fun! He got to high-five Stitch. I just ran along side of him. Yay! We’re done!


39.3 is a long way. But the medals are totally worth it.

I got the worst cold/flu whatever a few days after the race. I'm still trying to shake it off 12 days later. But the medals are still worth it!

Goofy Challenge – Day One. The Half Marathon.

The Goofy challenge was a really interesting experience for me because it’s been a long time since I’ve headed into a race when I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t sure how to structure my race plan, I wasn’t sure what kind of time I could run, and I wasn’t really sure how prepared I was for what lay ahead of me. I felt really goodheading into the weekend, and I was solidly prepared to run either of the races, but I wasn’t sure how I’d do running both of them.

The weather was not unexpected for Florida, warm and humid, but I was anticipating a cooler weekend for the races. Saturday was extremely humid at the start – close to 100% -- but luckily that seemed to break about halfway into the race and conditions improved considerably.

Humidity and I are not friends. I really, really suffer when I try to run in humid weather. So oddly, the conditions on Saturday really turned out to be ideal for me. The humidity forced me into the “lazy but fun” race plan that I adopted for the weekend. I wore my fully loaded fuel belt, so hydration was not an issue, and the belt allowed me to carry an extra amphipod case to hold my digital camera. I decided to embrace the whole Disney scene and take photos with every character along the way and pictures of anything else that struck my fancy along the course. This day was to be about taking in the scene and having a good time while saving up my legs for Sunday. To this end, I decided not to even try to run on the uphill, to walk through water stops even when not drinking, and to generally take it easy.

Amazingly, even while following this plan, stopping mid-race at a porta-potty (I never do this!) and posing for tons of pictures even when there were big lines (I’m talking to you, Captain Jack Sparrow) I still managed to run a 2:29 – and 2:30 was my game plan for the day. At the end of the half, I felt like I hadn’t done a thing except for the tiny hot spot I had on the ball of my right foot. I think this was because I was wearing almost new sneakers (they only had about 15 miles on them prior to the race) and they were not laced tightly enough at the start. I had to stop around mile 11 to tighten them because I was starting to be aware of the hot spot and I wasn’t willing to risk any problems with the marathon on Sunday. As it turns out, nothing came of the hot spot. Whew!

11/18 - Philadelphia Half Marathon

I didn't decide to actually run this race until Saturday night. In fact, until I went to the pasta dinner with my running buddies, I was 100% sure I wasn't going to run. I've been feeling sick all week and the weather was looking grim (cold, wet, possibly even SNOW!) and I just didn't see the point. But then I got my number, and my shirt, and everybody encouraged me so I decided to go.

Sunday morning, it dawned cold, but mostly dry and while I made a feeble attempt to wimp out, Brian wouldn't listen to me, and we were up and getting ready by 5AM (the race started at 7AM!)

A minor setback when my pre-race favorite meal (overnight oatmeal in the crockpot) was ruined because I cooked it on high instead of low but we still left the house on time.

Conditions were really perfect for the race and I found myself in a really insteresting situation. Completely unprepared and really not invested in how I did. It was just like a training run - a way to stretch out my long rested legs and to see how my Garmin would work out in a race.

As it turns out, I had a great day! Not quite a PR but very close: 2:20:48 officially.

Mile 1: 11:27
Mile 2: 10:43
Mile 3: 10:20
Mile 4: 10:22
Mile 5: 10:45
Mile 6: 9:51
Mile 7: 9:49
Mile 8: 11:06
Mile 9: 10:20
Mile 10: 11:33
Mile 11: 9:57
Mile 12: 10:29
Mile 13: 10:55
final: 2:55

Total time: 2:20:39 -- the Garmin time. It's a little off and it measures 13.3 but it's close enough for me!

New York Marathon - Race Report

Well, I survived the New York Marathon on Sunday!

I finished in 5:09:08, which is about 2 minutes slower than my PR (setlast year at NYC) and I'm completely astonished that I was able to pull off that time since I started struggling at mile 15 and was actually thinking about quitting at mile 17. The worst part is that there wasn't any real reason for the glum attitude -- it was all just my own negative thoughts working against me.

My plan for the race was to stick like glue to the 5 hour pacer and try to hang with him all the way to the end. On a perfect day, I thought I'd be able to do it. But it would have to be a perfect day.

My training has been spotty at best since the 25 mile hike I did in late September and when I did my longest run in preparation for NewYork (only 18 miles instead of the scheduled 20) I felt horrible. Really horrible. My legs hurt until Wednesday and typically they don't hurt at all after my long runs. At that point, I knew that New York was probably going to be really hard but I still hoped for a miracle.

I started out with the pace guy and struggled to stay with him in the early miles because I really wanted to be running faster than the pace (11:26). I kept having to slow down to stick with him and it was a frustrating battle but one that I thought would be worth it in the long run. By mile 13 we were running 1 minute ahead of pace for a 5 hour finish. He told us that that was intentional because we'd lose 15-20 seconds on the bridge into Queens just past 13 miles and we'd lose the rest of the lead on the Queensboro bridge between 15 and 16. Somewhere along that stretch I lost touch with the pack. And the11:26 pace that had seemed too easy now seemed pretty hard.

On the bridge, it was dark and it's uphill and many, many people began to walk. I joined them. For some reason during this stretch they have mile markers at every 10th of a mile and at one point I started to run and didn't even make it to the next 10th marker. Now that was demoralizing! I thought to myself -- how can I possibly go more than 10 more miles when I can't even run a tenth of a mile at time? UGH!

Turning off the bridge onto 1st Avenue in Manhattan is a pretty exciting part of the race because there are big, rowdy crowds there. This is just past mile 16 and there is a sign there that says "If the definition of easier is less than 10 miles to go.......welcome to Easier!" Unfortunately for me, it didn't feel easier.

For the next several miles up 1st avenue I was really in a very bad place. I was walking a lot, felt like I had nothing in the tank despite following my proven fuel plan, and was just completely miserable and grumpy. Even the crowds, who were awesome, weren't doing much to help me. I started trying to figure out if I could drop out and walk back to the hotel from where I was. Then I started thinking that I could just walk the rest of the way. I calculated I could walk the whole rest of the way and still finish under 6 hours. Not a great time, by any stretch, but it was achievable.

Finally, we made it into the Bronx and the people there were just fantastic. They were loud, and fun, and dancing and really gave me a nice boost. They got me running a little bit more but I still felt rotten. Entering Manhattan again is also a really nice push because even though you still have about 6 miles to go, at this point you are heading towards the finish line and that makes it seem a little better.

I couldn't maintain any consistant running so I was trying to walk as fast as I could and run as much as I could. This was mostly on downhill sections, when somebody called my name (thank goodness this happened a lot), and when I spotted a photographer. I was also aided many times by this gang of runners dressed as Darth Vader, Yoda, Chewbacca and Princess Leia. I started out enjoying them but by this time Darth was getting very sloppy with his light sabre and he kept whapping people with it because he was trying to get around them or was just not paying attention. He whapped me with it three or fourt imes and he was so incredibly annoying that I kept having to run to get away from him. He kept catching me though and then I'd have to run away again. I hated him, but in retrospect, he really probably helped me quite a bit.


By now I was closing in on Central Park and the last few miles of the course. This is about when Nike+ decided I had run 26.2 miles so it started congratulating me. I love that it thinks I ran a 4:30 race when I was really struggling through some kind of death march. That perked me up a bit, and I was in the park, which is filled with people and long downhill sections. Awesome!

This is also when I realized that my time wasn't nearly as terrible as I had feared. By this time I had talked myself off the 6 hour ledge and was figuring that I'd probably finish more like 5:30, but I realized that while my 5 hour goal was out the window, it was still possible for me to beat my PR of 5:07. Shocking!

I tried running more but I was still not maintaining many long running periods. Around here I started to think about Ryan Shay and was wondering where it was in the park that he had fallen on Saturday and tried my best to pull some inspiration from him too keep on going. That helped. Then I spotted the "1 mile to Go" sign and that reminded me of all the awesome Nike+ people, and that pushed me on a little bit, but then we exited the park and it got a little less exciting, and it got a lot more smelly (lots of horse manure from the carraige rides) and I couldn't run anymore. I'd also figured out that I'd have to run an even 10 minute mile to finish with a PR and that really seemed impossible to me, so I figured I'd walk a little around here hoping for a strong finish up the last hilll and across the mat.

I didn't quite pull that off either, but I'm amazed to have come so close tothe PR time when I felt so bad for so much of the race.

They handed me my medal and I read the back of it which had this quote from Alberto Salazar: "....a triumph of the will over all limits." I actually cried when I read that. I've never cried at the end of a race before but that got me. Luckily, it was a very short burst ofwaterworks and they were all cleared up by the time I got my finisher's photo.

What a day!

What I find completely amazing is that the race was almost identical to the race I had in 2006 NY marathon. But last year I felt prepared, and excited, and absolutely exhilerated for the whole race. I had nothing but energy running to the finish line, I was practically jumping for joy! (Check out my athlinks profile picture -- that's just a few feet from the finish line at the marathon last year.) I think the only real difference between the two races was the dialogue I was having inside my own head. I was my own worst enemy....but I still ran my 2nd best marathon ever. So all in all, I'm very happy.

Now I get about a week off before I start back on the training for Goofy. Clearly I have my work cut out for me, but it's very obvious that I need to schedule a lot of long runs. I'm solid over 13 but after that it's all downhill.

For the numbers people, here are the splits that were sent to me bythe athlete tracker:

Location Time Pace/mile
5 Kilometers 0:35:04 11:17
10 Kilometers 1:10:38 11:22
15 Kilometers 1:46:14 11:23
20 Kilometers 2:21:12 11:21
Half-Marathon 2:28:58 11:21
25 Kilometers 2:58:12 11:28
30 Kilometers 3:34:59 11:31
35 Kilometers 4:13:59 11:40
40 Kilometers 4:53:05 11:47
Finish 5:18:24 12:08 ------------- This is confusing. I think the 5:18 must be the clock time but all the other splits seem like chip times.

Bald Eagle Mountain Megatransect - Race Report

Despite that awful picture I posted, the Megatransect is really a pretty amazing event. The folks who organize it do a great job and the volunteers were all over the place making things go smoothly for the runners/hikers.

Friday night we got to the start/finish area to collect our goodie bags and race numbers. We were greeted with music, a nice fire, and food. They had typical happy hour stuff: cheese and crackers , chips and dip, salsa, some pizza squares, and some mini meatballs and some other kind of sausage type thing. Good snacks but not a real meal. It also looked like there was beer and wine, soda and Red Bull, but I was only interested in the water. Lots of runners were camping out and socializing at the pre-race party.


The goodie bag was fine – nothing too exotic but Brian did get lucky and found a really nice nalgene bottle in his bag. There were also some Clif bar samples and some Hammer Gel in the bag. On the table of food there were also boxes of Hammer Gel and the Hammer version of e-caps with signs that said “Take as many as you want”. So I helped myself to a couple of each flavor. I haven’t tried them out yet but it will be fun to finally have a new gel in the rotation.


It also included a nice gray Asics tech shirt with the logo on the left breast. It’s a very nice shirt –much like my shirt from the New York Marathon. I was hoping for something a little more flashy since this is such a strange event but it’s fine. I was a little jealous of the guys wandering around camp with the long-sleeved cotton shirts from years past because those had nice elaborate designs. Oh well. It’s not about the shirt, right?


Saturday morning, we were up and out before the sun rose. We arrived at the start/finish area and had time to collect our chips, use the rest room (indoor, yay!) and have some breakfast. I had some scrambled eggs to augment the Oatmeal-to-Go bar I had eaten in the car. They also had two big pots of oatmeal (one with raisins, one without) and a ton of bagels and cream cheese and peanut butter. It also looked like they had coffee and maybe juice but I’m not 100% sure. At this point, you could even see the pigs cooking away for later.



As the sun rose, and 7am approached, the race director addressed the crowd, thanked us for coming and did a quick survey to see who was returning for their 5th time (a shockingly high number) and how many were attempting the Mega for the first time. It seemed like at least half of the group were first timers. After that they wished us luck, started to play the Rocky Theme and then somebody shouted GO and we were off!

Take note of Brian's Camelbak in the photo. If only we had known what was ahead of us, he never would have dared to wear that sign!

The first three miles are on paved road through a little town and it leads to the base of the mountain and the first big climb. At this point most people were just walking at a decent pace -- the runners were out of sight right off the bat. We were sizing up the competition and didn't see anybody particularly scary. I'd seen some seriously fit women during breakfast and in the ladies room but I was sure they were at the front of the pack. The folks in the back looked like us -- just normal people. Some old, some young, some a little pudgy.




We thought we'd be able to hang with this group. HA! We stopped along here for a brief - like maybe 5 minutes - of stretching and they left us in the dust. We caught a few people by the time we got to the first climb, called the Jump Up, but we lost what little ground we had gained as we ran into a little bit of trouble getting our hiking poles to lock into place. So, we started up the mountain in close to last place.

The climb up the mountain is just beyond brutal. They warn you that it's steep but it's worse than you think it can be. I don't know how anybody could do it without poles. It's like completely straight up the slippery, muddy, side of a mountain. We were actually able to pass a couple of people here who were just huffing and puffing beyond belief. We were huffing and puffing too, but we did get up to the top. I was slightly encouraged here because I knew it was hard but I could tell I didn't feel quite as bad as some of the other people around us.


This is a really hideous close up of us at the top of the Jump Up. You can totall see how sweaty and gross we were already. We have 21 miles to go! At least we're smiling. That didn't last much longer. On the next stretch of trail, which was made of up of gradual rolling hills on super rocky and slippery terrain (so tricky that a few times I felt the rocks starting to pull my shoes off!) that Brian says "I'm not having fun". Behind us I can hear another couple talking and the woman asks the guy what his Garmin is saying about pace. We're moving at 1.9 miles per hour. We haven't even reached mile 6. This is when I had my first gel in anticipation of what was to come.




Mile 6 is the Boulder Field called the Bald Spot. We're greeted at the base by a group of volunteers who offered us encouragement, advice and candy. We made a mistake here and didn't pack up our poles so we spent the next hour or so climbing up the boulder field and handing them off to one another. This part is hard, but it's actually fun. The views are really quite spectacular and since there were no snakes (at least not that I saw) it was enjoyable. Really hard, but enjoyable!





This picture is taken maybe a quarter of the way up the boulder field. You can see the brown patch in the center of the photo - that's where the volunteers were and the woman in the picture (she's on the left and she kind of blends into the rocks) is one of the people we were able to pass on the Jump Up. She eventually had to drop out of the race because she couldn't make it to the Checkpoint before the cut-off.






The views from here were incredible and this part was well worth doing. What's the reward for making it to the top of a mile of boulders?
A trip on the technical, rocky Crossover that race descriptions call the part of the course most likely to cause a twisted ankle! If you look in the photo to the left you might see some people wearing red shirts. The girl that was part of that couple fell three times during the descent on the Crossover.

At last we came upon the first aid station/checkpoint and were rewarded with a variety of sports drink (Gatorade, PowerAde, Heed) and water. They also had tons of food: fig newtons, bananas, oreos, chocolate chip cookies, gel, peanuts, m&ms and more. I ate a section of banana, and a fig newton and had some gatorade. Our brief lift at arriving here was ruined when runners started passing going in the other direction -- they were at mile 18 and we had barely reached mile 7. We had until 12:15 to make it to the first official Checkpoint at mile 10.2 and we had about an hour and a half to do it. Time to hustle.



Luckily this section is kind of an old rutted dirt road and we were able to power walk and jog along here to make up some time. About a half mile from the Checkpoint we found a runner who was lost - she had been running around in circles and couldn't find her way to the aid station. We showed her the way but had to keep moving, hoping that she would keep us in her sights. She did manage to make it to the cut off in time.




We arrived at the Zindel Park checkpoint with abou 15 minutes to spare. We were able to take a port-a-potty break, refill the Camelbak (I was carrying 70 oz. of Gatorade in mine. Here I was about 3/4 through it and I topped it off with water), and get some snacks. I drank two or three cups of Gatorade, ate a small cup of peanuts, a small cup of Raisinettes, and a half of peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread. I can't even begin to list all of the food options they had here. PB&J, Just PB on both wheat and white bread. Cookies and candies of all sorts. Awesome spread and lots of it! With a warning that we had just 7 minutes to leave before the cut off we, made our way across the chip mat. Our band of back-of-the-packers included: me & Brian, the couple in the red-shirts, Mr. Green shirt who had been close behind us since the Jump Up, and a family of three that was a mom & dad and a college age daughter. Brian joked here that our best possible outcome for the day was finishing DFL. And we'd be lucky to manage that!



Next up was the newest and most difficult section of the race. It's called the Goat Path and it's a seemingly unending climb straight up a ridgeline and across the face of a cliff. It goes up and up and up and it tries as hard as it can to kill you. I stopped halfway up to ditch my long-sleeved shirt and to take some Tylenol 8-hour. My legs were feeling OK still but my wrists were killing me from the hiking poles. Our merry band of slow people were passing each other all over the place here - leapfrogging one another and then falling back again for one reason or another. It was just brutal.


On the way back down, on the section called the Lightening Bolt (it's terribly steep) Brian really started to suffer with IT band pain in his right knee. He was really struggling to keep a decent pace and talked to a couple of EMT guys who were along the course. I gave him some 8-hour and told him about a couple of stretches but nothing was really helping much. At about mile 13 the EMT guy told him that it was probably just pain from doing this unusual activity and that if he kept going he wasn't going to do permanent damage. He said everybody had been moaning about that downhill and that he'd probably be OK once the pills kicked in. Brian wasn't ready to quit yet (rats!) so he took an Ace bandage from the EMT and decided to press on and see if we could make the 3:45 cut off at the next checkpoint at mile 18.1.




While we were waiting, all the people we knew passed us, and so did the lost lady, and an old guy with a pink bandana. Mr. 500, the guy with the Garmin who was going at 1.9 mile pace also passed us. He told us that his girlfriend had to abandon the race because she couldn't make the Zindel Park cutoff. We were officially in last place and in real danger of having to give up.




Luckily, the pills started to kick in and the terrain leveled off a bit and we were able to pick up a little bit of speed. We were hoping to make it to the next checkpoint,and thought we could, but we weren't sure. It would be close. Have you noticed that I don't have any pictures to post? That's because we couldn't spare a minute to take any we were so worried about not finishing!

We passed the old guy with the pink bandana and the Lost lady and then we came upon a different lady in a red shirt and passed her just at the approach to Fleming Way, another wickedly steep climb. On this climb we also caught up to Mr. Green Shirt and the Red shirt couple, and Mr. 500. We all wound up at the water stop at the top of Fleming Way but were sad that there was no water left. Thank goodness for the Camelbak!


Brian took a minute to eat a protien bar here and then we started to book it as fast as we could along the flat section. We really did great here and passed everybody ahead of us, including the family of three who we hadn't seen since Zindel Park. Eventually though, we came across another downhill section that killed poor Brian. The leapfrogging started to happen again but we pulled ahead of the gang by the time we got to the 18 mile checkpoint. Along here I ate another gel and a Soy Joy bar. We were less than 15 minutes ahead of the 3:45 cut off when we arrived. The best part here was that we had reeled in another person! This was a new guy in a red shirt. I was so thrilled by this fact because I couldn't believe that nobody ahead of us had fallen off the pace. Finally we had reeled somebody in!


This checkpoint was low on food by now, but they did have peanut butter and animal crackers as well as water and gatorade. I topped off my Camelbak again and chowed down on some animal crackers. Time was still ticking and we had to make it to the base of the Chilkoot by 5 or we'd be swept. No time to waste.


I think the trail here was pretty but I'm not even sure. There was a stream along one side but mostly we were just like zombies moving along the trail trying to get where we needed to go. It was around 4:00 and we had until 5 to make to to the checkpoint and it was 2.5 miles away. We should be able to make it with ease but you can never be sure after you've been on the trail for nine straight hours. You heard me right -- nine hours! And just about every step of it you had to be concentrating on where to put your feet to avoid tripping and falling. You just can't imagine what it felt like. Luckily, my legs felt pretty good and I was in shockingly good spirits. I think I was just stunned that we were still moving along.


At last we got to the checkpoint and we were in the clear! It's only 4.4 miles to the end and one cheery volunteer kept saying "and three of them are flat". Unfortunately, that part wasn't true. Two of them were flat. The others were either brutal up hill, across rickety boulders with lots of weeds and bees, or an incredibly steep downhill made up of loose dirt and rocks that was a total knee killer. But I'm getting ahead of myself!


We got to the checkpoint first, but soon Mr. 500 and the red shirt couple caught up to us. We had a few more snacks (more raisenettes for me) and then quickly moved on. We couldn't wait to get done.

The Chilkoot starts with a trail so steep that the race people have installed a blue rope that you can use to pull yourself up. This is a shot of Mr. 500 heading up the rope. We let him go first while we stowed our poles.


This part was hard too but sort of fun in a bizarre way. What was at the top of the rope -- not so fun. This was another boulder field, only this one had smaller, more unstable rocks and also had a bunch of bees. It also tricked you because you got to the top, and there was a flat road, but then the boulders kept on going. I hate you, stupid boulders!





Towards the top a college kid was waiting and warning you steer clear of the bees nests.


He was nice, we were all joking about how slow we were but he was really nice and told us how impressed he was that we were all sticking it out and getting through it. While we were here taking some pictures, the Dad from the family of three popped up over the top of the mountain surprising us all. He'd taken a different line up the mountain but he still made it. That was pretty funny.


This is us smiling before we begin the descent from hell. I don't know how Brian toughed it out here -- his poor knee was killing him every step of the way. We got passed by everybody here except for the Lost Lady, the old man with the pink bandana and the sweeper. It was so hard for him I wished I could have made it easier but there was no way down short of making some kind of makeshift sled out of our backpacks or something.





Luckily, at the bottom of this hill we were back on the pavement and with that came our ability to use the Turbo Boost to catch some people Brian's fastwalker ability came to him and I started to jog along side him and before you knew it we were passing the pair of Mr. Red Shirt and Mr. Green Shirt and then the red-shirt couple. Amazingly we were not going to finish in last place!! A small victory, but HUGE to us.


It took everything I had to run (I can't even imagine how slow I was running) along that road to the finish. It seemed to go on forever even though it was only a couple of miles. I kept thinking to myself what good practice it would be for the final stretch of the New York Marathon and then I remembered that last year, along Columbus Circle I saw that guy ahead of me with the "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". That mantra got me over the finish line in Central Park and it did it for me again at the Megatransect.

Of course between repeating the mantra in my head I would talk to Brian and my grouchy, miserable self was saying stuff like "we're not going to make it in 11.5 hours" and "they might not give us a medal" and stuff like that. I should have known that wouldn't happen because as we were running it in people were driving out of the campgrown beeping and waving at us and shouting encouragement from the windows. It didn't seem like the kind of crowd that would deny us medal for finishing a few minutes past the cut off.

As luck would have it, we crossed in 11:38 just as the sun was setting. We were greeted by loud applause and a guy shook my hand as I finished and said "Congratulations, Megatransector!". Which made me think that's probably as close as I will ever get to hearing "You are an Ironman!"


We stopped and they handed us our medals and my legs were just shaking from being so tired. I've never had that happen before. This is certainly the hardest medal I've earned.


We were able to sit down and eat our awesome pork BBQ dinner with yummy peach/berry cobbler for dessert and I also scarfed down a couple of slices of Domino's pizza too. We watched the last few people finish: first the red-shirt couple about a minute behind us and then Mr. Red Shirt and Mr. Green Shirt finished together about 8 to 10 minutes after us and finally, about 20 minutes after us, Lost Lady and Pink Bandana guy.

Hats off to all of them and to the absoultely mind-boggling fit people who finsished this crazy thing in 4 hours, and of course, all the other people who got through the ordeal.

I think if Brian didn't have knee pain, and we didn't take pictures, we could have been at the very most an hour faster than we were and probably not that much ahead. We were just completely overmatched by the whole event and I'm really, really proud that we were able to stick it out and finish even though we were close to last. Brian especially impressed me since he had pain for at least half of the course. He's tough.

We hung out and socialized for awhile after we ate and people seemed to be having a great time, drinking beer and talking and listening to the music. We were just beat so we headed back to the hotel (by way of Dairy Queen for some ice cream) and then snuggled into bed for some much needed rest.

Here's a shocking thing: we slept for 9 hours -- less time than we were on the mountain!

It's Monday now and my legs feel pretty good. My right calf is pretty sore still, but other than that, just typical soreness that you'd expect after a marathon. Brian's knee is feeling loads better and he's happy about that.

So that's the tale of the Megatransect. By far the hardest thing I've ever done.

I'd like to say thanks to the Megatransect people who really put on a great event. It was hard for us, but it was really well done. The fault wasn't theirs, it was our inability to grasp just how intense this thing really is that did us in.


As the red shirt girl said at one point along the way "This is clearly for crazy people - not typical Outdoor enthusiasts." She couldn't be more right!

It's a Beautiful Day in Philadelphia!

Nice medal, huh? Course record for me at 2:23! Yay!

I'm back from my half marathon today and I had a pretty good day overall.

Here's my race report done as a tribute to one of my favorite kids books (it's called Fortunately).

Fortunately, Philadelphia was blessed with perfect race weather today! Beautiful blue sky, and sunny with a light breeze, in the low 50s at the start. Even now, at about 3:00, it's only in the mid-60s.

Unfortunately, this gorgeous setting had me off and running way faster than my normal snail's pace.

Fortunately, I knew that was not good, so I tried really hard to force myself to slow down.

Unfortunately, that totally ruined my rhythm for the first 5 miles.

Fortunately, things started looking up when I spotted some friends and they kept me on track for the next 3 miles.

Unfortunately, they stopped at a port-o-john and I was on my own again.

Fortunately, the course takes a turn at mile 8.5 and heads into a long straightaway to the finish.

Unfortunately, my fashion choices started to backfire on me on this stretch. (Cute running skirt, why did you decide that today was a good day to chafe?)

Fortunately, I am too tough to let a little chafe ruin a PR for this course!

Unfortunately, they moved the finish line this year so my finishing kick ran out of juice a little short of the finish like so it was really more of a finishing shuffle.

Fortunately, they still gave me a totally awesome medal!

Also Fortunately, my 15 year old niece did the race too and finished with her own PR of 2:16 and Mr. hmonkeyruns also finished with a PR.

Pace Splits & times from the website:

5K: 10:40 33:07

10K: 10:43 1:06:43

10 mile: 10:55 1:49:04

overall: 10:59 2:23:49

Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon - personal Course Record

So the Rock'N'Roll Half was on Sunday and once again the weather tried to kill me. Actually, the weather was probably the best we've seen for this race. I'd say it was in the low 70s when we started running, with a nice breeze, and relatively low humidity. By the time I hit the finish it was probably just over 80.

I had one and a half Oatmeal-to-Go bars with a small cup of Endurance for breakfast and sucked down a caramel PowerGel right before our corral started around 7:20. I wasn't wearing my fuel belt. I started the run with the 2:22 pace group and hung with them for the first half of the race but between mile 6 and 7 (Camp Pendelton) I faded, despite taking a gel at mile 5 with the specific intention of avoiding the doldrums at Camp Pendelton. I'm convinced that my fade was totally mental because while it was sunny in that section, there was a great breeze and I should have been able to run right through. Instead I slowed to a walk and kind of took stock of things. I didn't feel able to keep up with the pacers and according to my watch they were running close to a minute ahead of the pace and that was just too hard for me to maintain.

Anyway, as we left the Camp I was a little bummed out that the neighborhood gang that usually has the best cheer station was missing. I guess their leader must have moved away. I did Ok on the return miles and walked over the bridge but I did manage to run on the roundabout section. I tried running as much as I could down Atlantic Ave but this section (about 2 miles) always seems to me like twice as far. I really wish they'd put a water stop in the middle of Atlantic Ave. I ate my last gel right before 10.2 when they handed out the free ones on the course.

Rounding onto the Boardwalk I still felt OK but I knew that there was no chance of hitting 2:22 but I knew that I would be unde 2:30 which was my primary goal for the day. The Boardwalk was really sunny, like usual, but there was a breeze blowing from behind and slightly off the ocean so it didn't feel as awful as it has in years past. I also knew that the whole distance was about 2 miles and that's really not far and that helped me feel better. At this point I was really feeling tired and I was thinking I was dehydrated, despite drinking at every water stop. I'm really used to taking in much more fluid on my long runs and I was beating myself up for not wearing my fuel belt.

Along the boardwalk I also started to take extra cups of water to pour on my neck and back to cool me off a little and I did head into the misting stations when I saw them. I usually hate that kind of thing but at this race it feels really good and I know that even if my feet get wet, I'm really close to the finish line.

I was playing this annoying game of pass and fade with a racewalker guy -- who was really awesome and kept an incredibly steady pace -- but I think I finally passed him for good about mile 12. It was around that time that my crazy Nike+ decided that I'd finished the race. There's nothing quite as pesky as hearing a voice tell you that you're all finished when you have more than a mile left to run!

I ran it in, and felt pretty strong in the last quarter mile or so. My final time is 2:25:16, which is about a 9 minute improvement over last year (2:34:11) and is by far my best time on this course. I probably could have been more disciplined and run more in some sections when I let my brain get the best of me, and I think I would have run better if I had my fuel belt (if only for a security blanket). My point is that I might have shaved a minute or two of the 2:25 but there was no way in the world I could have bested my PR of 2:19 yesterday, and therefore I'm pretty satisfied with my overall race.

I'm hoping to do better at the PDR in 2 weeks but we'll see. I'll be wearing my fuel belt!

They served Accelerade on the course, which I actually liked quite a lot, I just don't think I drank enough of it.

Blogger is going crazy and is squishing this whole message into one giant paragraph even though when I look at it in the editor it has normal paragraph spacing. Hopefully that will sort itself out and this post will be more readable.

Belated Report: Lehigh Valley Half Marathon

That's me wearing the magical Quadrathon shirt that powered me to a big PR at the half marathon. It's kind of a miracle that it happened since I spent the week leading up to the race in Jamaica. I landed in Philadelphia at about 6:30 on Saturday night and at that poitn I didn't even know what time the race started on Sunday morning!

Anyway, we drove up to Allentown and checked into our hotel where I had the worst night of sleep ever. It had nothing to do with the hotel -- except the change from King bed on vacation to double bed at this hotel really did not work for me. Brian on the other hand, had a great night of sleep and had his very own great race on Sunday morning.

Weather was ideal for racing: slightly overcast, light breeze, mid-50 temps. We had no problem at all picking up our stuff pre-race (nice long sleeved tech shirt and free teddy bear (?) and best of all Goldenberg's Peanut Chews!) and we checked our stuff before heading to the start line.

At this point I discovered that my Nike+ had died. My iPod had been acting funny in Jamaica, freezing up at times, but I determined that was due to wild fluctuations in humidity. This was something different altogether. After I tried to start my workout and the lady says "walk around to activate your sensor" nothing happened. Try as I might, I couldn't get it to link. I tried to reset it a few times but no go -- I had to just run without it. I did manage to time my race with the iPod stopwatch (which even has lap features but I am not sure how to do that) and that was good since I wasn't wearing a watch. Of course, even if I did know how to work the lap counter, I couldn't have used it since I saw almost no mile markers all day long. I was the only one to miss them, so I must have been in some kind of zone.

I positioned myself between the 2:20 and 2:30 pacers and my plan was not to get in front of the 2:20 pacer until the very end. This turned out to be an ideal plan because I started slowish and then caught 2:20 lady but didn't pass her. She dropped me at about mile 8 when we hit a pretty big hill but then I caught up again and passed her.

I felt really good through most of the race (until that hill) and those last few miles are hillier than the beginning portion of the race and I found myself walking on hills and running the rest. I just listened to my body until the final mile and then tried to push as best as I could. I still walked a bit towards the end of the final mile because the race finishes on a high school track with lots of spectators and I did NOT want to walk during that segment. Instead, I walked a bit on the lead up (and the nasty Marine Corps Marathon-esque hill into the stadium) and then ran as fast as I could to the finish. I even tried to nab the inside lane but I didn't quite get there.

Post race food was really good (soup, vegetarian sausage, muffin tops, bananas, and water) and we even got mylar blankets which felt great because the wind was kicking up and it got kind of cold waiting for everybody to finish.

I really enjoyed the race and can't wait to do it again next year. The course is pleasant too, mostly through a park. Some people did not care for the gravel path that a large portion of the race is run on but that didn't bother me since it's my typical running surface.

Broad Street Run: good, bad, and ugly

The good: beautiful day, good race, another PR

The bad: we were late, the race felt almost as awful as a marathon

The ugly: we were late, which caused me to be in a HUGE snit, and made us at least 5 minutes late to the start, and now there is a glitch in the results reporting so my 1:43 PR is showing up as a 1:51 Personal Worst.

Still, this is a good race, and I'm happy with my (unofficial) time of 1:43:44. I figured I'd run 1:45 and considering how much I struggled, I'm thrilled with 1:43.

I'm going to have to do a lot of training for the Goofy Challenge because this race was way too hard after yesterday's Urban Dare.

MORE half marathon in NYC

I ran the MORE half marathon with two of my sisters on Sunday. It was my 13th half-marathon and my 3rd of 2007. I finished in 2:27 and change -- and that includes a pit stop early in the race since the pre-race porta-potty set up was horrendous. Much worse than in previous years.

As usual, the Central Park hills kill me -- especially on the 2nd loop of the park. I tried to push as hard as I could on the downhills and flats but was pretty wimpy going uphill on the second lap. Even the first lap was bothering me, enough that I popped some 8-hour and considered the possibility of quitting at the half-way point. Luckily that thought had left me by the time I actually ran through the finish area.

I'm curious how I'd do on this course if it wasn't my 2nd race in 2 weeks and my legs were fresher?

In any event, this is my #2 time of 2007. Caesar Rodney is still my PR but this was a course record for me at MORE.

Caesar Rodney Half Marathon

I had a great run! The weather was awesome and I finally got to have some of the awesome post-race food so it was a great day. I was still really at the way back of the pack but I'm really happy with my race -- that's was like a 4 minute PR I think! You gotta love the downhill!