I got my Philly BIB # !!

With the Philly marathon down to just days away, I got the email I have been waiting for! I got my bib & corral starting gate. #3682 in the Green Corral !!

This past week, I had my last long run of 15 miles, but the day before, I had a scary moment during our trail run. It was Indian Sprints the entire 6 mile run, and at one point we had to kick it up a hill we call "death hill", because of it's length. Last one up had 20 push ups to do. Our quasi leader Nate was along side of me, and I was on his right shoulder starting out, and I knew he would bite at a challenge up the hill, so I pushed it. All was going good, until I felt a twinge where my butt & left leg meet. NOT GOOD ! I finished the rest of the run, and was hoping it was nothing. All day it didn't feel right, and when I got up to run my last 15 Sunday morning, it still wasn't right. I wanted the last long run, to do at my goal pace of 8:20's, and struggled to do 9-9:20's. I didn't have that "explosion" I am used to going up and down hills. I actually thought of bagging the run, only 2 miles into it. I gutted it out, and took the next 2 days off.
I got out Wed, and ran 7 strong miles, in my goal pace of 8:20. While it doesn't feel 100%, I think being in taper time, will help it heal.
Best of luck to all who are running the marathons in Richmond & Atlantic City this Sunday ! Hopefully the weather will work out, and the nor'easter will be done!

19 days to Philly !!

Hard to believe that I am in the home stretch, towards marathon #3. Philly is only 19 days away !
I had a great week of running. Did my 6-8-6 mid week runs, and hit was spot on with the pace I wanted to run them in.
Saturday, I met up with the trail group, and Nate killed us with a 6 mile run, filled with mountain climbers, sprints, oh and 125 push ups, mixed in.
Sunday, I met up with Shoreturtle, who was running his last 10 miler before his marathon this coming Sunday, in Harrisburg, Pa. He wanted to run at his MP of 8:20's, and we were right on target. We had a couple of quick miles, but he kept us in check. It's awesome to run with someone at that pace, and carry on a conversation, like it was nothing. It proved to me that the hard work I have put in the past 3 months should pay off in 19 days!
FYI... I did some checking, and I ran 167 miles for October, and 517.5 so far in my training for Philly!
Homestretch.. here I come!

Last 2 runs in Wildwood !

The wife & I headed to Wildwood for a little weekend away,sans kids. While back home was getting rain, we lucked out, and only had rain overnight.
I was able to run on the boardwalk Saturday morning. Nice 4 miles at 8:00min pace. While I didn't get the rain, the wind was kicking. One thing about running the boards this time of year, it was pretty empty. Hard to believe only a few short weeks ago, it was full of activity.
We had a great Saturday, walking around Cape May, and a nice dinner in Wildwood. We had a few raindrops Saturday afternoon, but really nothing that bad.
It was nice not to have to set the alarm for 5:00am, to go for a run. I ran when I got up Sunday, a nice 10 miler on part of the Ocean Drive course. It's almost exactly 5 miles to Cape May,from our place, so out and back it was. I did the 1o miler at my MP goal of 8:30. A few of the middle miles where tough with the wind kicking! I managed to finish the last 2 miles at 7:53 & 7:56.. another nice confidence building run.
I plan on running my remaining long Sunday runs at my marathon goal pace.
Hard to believe Philly is less than a month away !
We are scheduled to close the place around Thanksgiving, and I found a local 5k on the schedule that Saturday, so I will try and run that. Maybe there is one more run in Wildwood this year.

BACK TO BACK CHAMPIONS !!

CONGRATS to the Back to Back NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES !!

Asbury Park Relay Marathon recap

This past Sunday was the 1st AsburyParkRelayMarathon. You could run this race 2 ways, as a relay team, with up to 8 members, or as a team of one, which is how I ran it.

It was also an 8 lap marathon, the 1st lap was 2.75 miles, and the remaining 7 were 3.35miles.

The weather called for highs around 40, 20mph+ winds and rain, in other words, a Nor'easter!

When I arrived in AP, it was raining, not that hard, and I met up with Progman2000 & his wife at the host hotel. I also met up with a hardcore NJ shorerunner, Steve, who has a website dedicated to all of the races held at the Jersey shore, http://www.njshorerun.com/.
Going into this marathon, I had a 22-23 mile run in my plan, and when you see a marathon that falls perfect into your plans, AND only costs $30.00, I ask you, how can you pass it up?

I had no goal for time, and wanted to run the 1st 20 miles at a easy pace, and kick it up to my marathon goal pace for the final 10k. I told Progman that I was going to tether myself to him, so I won't pull my rabbit BS, and take off.

When the race started, the rain was down to a misty drizzle, but the winds where kicking! It was a U shaped course, with the finish / transition area actually inside the Asbury Park Convention Center. That was really cool. The winds on the boardwalk were brutal, but when you entered the convention center, the crowd was loud and it really pumped you up. Way cool!

We really lucked out with the rain, and by the 2nd lap, the rain had ended, and we just had the wind to deal with.

I stuck to my plan, and around mile 18, I started to pick up my pace, and work my way to my Philly marathon goal pace of 8:30's. When I hit mile 20, I said to myself "FU Last 6, you won't break me!". I repeated that to myself a few times over the last 2 laps, and did exactly what I planned. Everything went according to plan, easy 18-20, and MP last 6.2. When the garmin clicked off mile 26, and I looked at the time, I was really excited! 8:09... fastest mile of the day, was Mile 26 ! The garmin had me at 4:12:46, 26:59 miles.

I am a sore, but not near as bad as I was after Philly last year. I will try and run 2-4 on Tuesday, and 6 on Thursday.

Progman & I before the marathon.
Progman & I after the marathon, with our bling. Doesn't even look like we just ran for 4+ hours!

Here I am passing the WonderBar, during the later part of the race.

FYI.. Here are the mile spilts.

1. 9:57
2. 9:59
3. 9:49
4. 9:39
5. 9:16
6. 9:33
7. 9:25
8. 11:40 (bathroom break)
9. 9:45
10. 9:44
11. 9:50
12. 9:44
13. 10:30
14. 10:02
15. 9:35
16. 10:27
17. 10:04
18. 9:46
19. 9:17
20. 9:35
21. 8:35
22. 8:19
23. 8:22
24. 8:30
25. 8:23
26. 8:09 .59 4:48

Overall this averaged out to 9:30 miles.

Here's hoping my goal of a 3:40 Philly marathon is reachable!

3 days until Marathon #2, Asbury Park Relay Marathon

Hard to believe that I am 3 days away from running my 2nd marathon. I found the AsburyParkRelayMarathon earlier this year, and how could I pass up a $30.00 marathon? I am doing this strictly for training. My goal is to run the 1st 20 miles easy, and try to pick up to my marathon goal pace, for the last 10k. I know, easier said than done. It's going to be a mentally tough run. This marathon has 8 laps, the first is a 2.75 mile loop, followed by 7 x 3.35 mile loops. On top of the 8 laps, the weather is not looking good right now, for the race. We have 2 nor'easters hitting us, and the 2nd is coming in Sat nite, into Sunday morning, highs in the low 50's. Hopefully it clears by 10:00am on Sunday.
My running has got back on track after my 21 mile meltdown. I ran a strong 14 miles on Sunday. I averaged 9:09 for the run. The only problem I encountered was my Garmin wasn't fully charged, and died at the 9.64 mile mark. I felt like I kept the pace for the remaining 4+ miles. It was a nice confidence builder.
My weeks runs, 6-8-6, Tues _ Thurs, were also great. I had a nice speed run on Tuesday, 7:58 min avg. Wed, was 8:05 avg, with a 7:35 last mile! I took it easy in the rain today, and ran my 6 miler in a 8:31 avg. One thing I will say was that I didn't have crazy laps, they were all consistent.
Hopefully I didn't run too hard this week, and have it catch up to me on Sunday.
I feel pretty healthy and fresh, so we'll see how it goes. It's the last "long run" before Philly.

Fun run on the Boards & 21 miler back home

It was a quick recovery week, as the countdown to Philly is less than 8 weeks away.
My oldest son & I went to Wildwood for the weekend, to check out the Monster Truck races on the beach. We got up Saturday morning, and after breakfast, headed out to the boardwalk. He was on his bike, and I was running alongside him. We did the whole boards... 4 miles. I was proud of him, he was pushing the pace. We did the 4 miles in 35:16, for a 8:48 avg. He pushed me the last mile, and we did that in 8:24. He had the hammer down!
We got home early Sunday morning, so he could make his noon soccer game. Around 3:00pm, I got out for my 21 mile run. It was pretty warm out when I started, my guess is the low 70's.
I had seen that my running buds Shoreturtle & Progman2000 met up and ran 20 in the early morning. They kicked butt, avg. 9:30's with mile 20 at 8:00min. Pretty impressive. The one thing between Turtle & I is this silly competitiveness we have. After seeing their time, I felt the foolish need to best their time. I started out running 8:45's for the 1st 12 miles. I slowed a bit for the next 5 miles, avg. around 9:30's, but the damage had been done. My legs were toast. I hung on for the remainder, actually hit 10:53 for a mile, and finished the 21 miler in 3:18:27, a 9:27 avg.
I need to be smarter about my long runs. Maybe I'll learn someday.