I found this quote years ago in a magazine tore it out and have kept it as a reminder to never give up no matter what. Why do I bring this up now??? Well my bloggy friends, once again I have trained my a@#@#s off and fell short of my goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon.
The good news is I have tons of excuses....the course was much tougher than previous years and in fact was quite hilly, it was windy, it was humid, the roads were bad, it rained, I blistered, it got sunny and hot..need anymore? I think not. Anyway here is a brief recap of the day.
We headed down to the course as planned right at 6am, the race was to start at 7am. Running was Jerry, Jaime and my cousin Butch who I had not seen for the better part of 20 years but was super happy he was there. Supporting was Sue, Courtney and Linda. The runners lined up at the starting line and the gun went off right at 7am and off we ran. At that point it was a little windy and somewhat humid. I lost Butch right at the start but could see Jerry and Jaime moving quickly down either side of the road and they both looked to be having a great start. I chose to run down the middle and did not have much of a problem threading through the crowd to some open space where I could settle in. Right from the start you had to pay attention to the roads. They were tore up pretty good from this past winter, with lots of holes and loose gravel to worry about. This was the case pretty much through the entire day. I settled into a nice pace and was running just below an 8 min pace and feeling pretty good. The first few miles had some slight, steady upgrades but were not to bad at all and things were going well. After mile five things started to get a little dicey. The course now included a series of overpasses that were not by themselves anything to bad but string them all together and they start to take a toll. I made it through halfway and was treated to one of the many cheering spots where Sue, my niece Courtney and Butch's wife Linda were set up to encourage us...I was right on pace at that point and very happy to get the encouragement. Right after the halfway point there was another of the long steady uphills, that again shouldn't have been much but really took a lot of energy to get up. After that i started to fade a bit and by mile eighteen I was off pace and in trouble. I saw my cousin Carole and her son at mile 20 and dropped my fuel belt with them and limped the rest of the way to the finish line to a disappointing 3:47:52 finish. I was 23rd out of 65 in my age group.
Several things happened that day that really have me thinking things through. First just before mile 25 two ladies passed me, one obviously pacing the other. They were almost there and whatever her goal was it was going to be close and the pacer was really pushing the pacee. Just before the 26 mile marker I came along the two again. The pacee was crumpled on the ground and they were calling for medical..her day was done and she had only .2 miles to go. Second, when I crossed the line my people both runners and supporters were so happy to see me and seemingly proud that the fact I missed my goal by 17 mins never crossed my mind. Third, when I was running toward the finish line I was pumping my arms, the crowd was cheering and I heard some guy yell out.."be proud, you know what you just did!!". Finally, in recapping the race I voiced my disappointment to my cousin and his response was something along the lines of...are you kidding, you just ran a 3:47, I would kill for that.
In any event here is where I am at and it feels really good to put it out there. Its not that I am not going to try and qualify anymore and be a failure, its just that it can't be my main goal as it is sucking all of the fun out of running marathons. From now on my goal will be to run marathons as fast as I can and if I qualify that's great and if not that's great too...after all isn't this supposed to be fun??
Before closing this out it wouldn't be right if I did not recognize the other runners in my group who all ran the half marathon. Jerry, despite some severe stomach issues, finished 12th out of 80 in his age group. The only one of us to grab any hardware was Jaime who finished 2nd in her age group out of 25 and Butch finished 20th out of 60 in his age group...not bad, eh??
That's all for now
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Long Overdue Update
Like I said when I first started this..it is going to be harder than I thought keeping up on the updates. That remains a true statement although it is actually harder than I thought when I thought it was going to be harder than I thought. Does that make sense???
Anyways since my last post I have had lots of things going on. Here is a list and I will give a brief highlight summary of each after.
1. ran a half marathon in New Philadelphia, Ohio
2. Spent 5 days riding with friends in Hot Springs, NC
3. Won my age group in the Silver Springs Duathlon
4. Graduated a daughter from college
5. Did an adventure Triathlon in Maumee, Ohio
Not to shabby, huh??
Starting with the half marathon, Sue and I traveled down to New Philly the morning of the race. It did not start until noon or maybe one) so we were able to hang out together in the Am and then leave around 10:30 or so to get down there. We both had never been to New Philly and were very surprised at what a cool town this was. It was a small race and the route was designed so spectators were able to see the runners often. It was nice having Sue there cheering me on although sometimes it doesn't appear that way because I either get fussy or focused depending how the race is going. I did this race as a tune up for Buffalo, although this course was really hilly and Buffalo is dead flat, and it was a great confidence builder. I ran a 7:54 pace and felt good the whole time.
Hot Springs is an annual trip although we had a couple of newbies this year. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm all four days of riding. We rode just over 200 miles in four days with around 20,000 ft of climbing the North Carolina hills. Of note is the climb up Doggitt Gap, which is a seven mile climb and is the hardest climb I have ever done. We also enjoyed the trail fest which is a gathering of Appalachian trail hikers, the hot tubs, some margaritas, a cavs win, a big steak dinner and some really nice camp fires
The silver springs du is a small race in Stow, Ohio that includes a 5k run a 17 mile bike and then another 5k run. The day was perfect, clear and cool. Sue and I headed over early so we could set up a tent for Team ER, the team I race for, and Sue was acting as official team photographer for the race. Overall things went really well for me. My first run was at a 7:00 min pace and I averaged just over 20MPH for the bike and than 7:25's for the second run. I had a great day, Sue took lots of cool pictures and oh yeah did I mention I won my age group!!
Kate's graduation was awesome. Sue, Jerry, Grandpa and I went over to BG the day of the graduation, had a quick lunch at Kate's place and headed over to the ceremony. The ceremony was really nice and I could not have been prouder of Kate then I was. College was not easy for her and she stuck with it against all odds. She defined what it means to be tough and persevere. I can't wait to see where she takes it from here. Awesome dinner at a restaurant named Biaggis following the ceremony. The butternut squash ravioli was to die for!!
Finally the Maumee adventure tri. This is the third year in a row that John and I were partners for this race. Last year we got lost on the bike and put ourselves out of the race and we were out for revenge this year. Although we fell short of our goal of winning it, we did win the bike overall (averaged 22.7MPH for 36 miles. We were then passed on the canoe by a team that was only 30 secs behind us on the bike. One more team passed us on the run, which was done on a trail with 20% of your body weight in a pack on your back which for me was 36lbs!!!, so we came in third but had a really solid race.
Other than that, Sue and I have been working the yard hard to try and overcome the effects of the winter. This has been no easy chore. Work has been challenging as ever, Sue is training hard for the three day walk (and working hard to raise funds) and we continue to enjoy the freedom of being empty nesters!!
Next up Buffalo Marathon, Clays Park Triathlon, family vacation in the keys and a sincere effort to keep things up to date on my blog!!!
That's all for now
Anyways since my last post I have had lots of things going on. Here is a list and I will give a brief highlight summary of each after.
1. ran a half marathon in New Philadelphia, Ohio
2. Spent 5 days riding with friends in Hot Springs, NC
3. Won my age group in the Silver Springs Duathlon
4. Graduated a daughter from college
5. Did an adventure Triathlon in Maumee, Ohio
Not to shabby, huh??
Starting with the half marathon, Sue and I traveled down to New Philly the morning of the race. It did not start until noon or maybe one) so we were able to hang out together in the Am and then leave around 10:30 or so to get down there. We both had never been to New Philly and were very surprised at what a cool town this was. It was a small race and the route was designed so spectators were able to see the runners often. It was nice having Sue there cheering me on although sometimes it doesn't appear that way because I either get fussy or focused depending how the race is going. I did this race as a tune up for Buffalo, although this course was really hilly and Buffalo is dead flat, and it was a great confidence builder. I ran a 7:54 pace and felt good the whole time.
Hot Springs is an annual trip although we had a couple of newbies this year. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm all four days of riding. We rode just over 200 miles in four days with around 20,000 ft of climbing the North Carolina hills. Of note is the climb up Doggitt Gap, which is a seven mile climb and is the hardest climb I have ever done. We also enjoyed the trail fest which is a gathering of Appalachian trail hikers, the hot tubs, some margaritas, a cavs win, a big steak dinner and some really nice camp fires
The silver springs du is a small race in Stow, Ohio that includes a 5k run a 17 mile bike and then another 5k run. The day was perfect, clear and cool. Sue and I headed over early so we could set up a tent for Team ER, the team I race for, and Sue was acting as official team photographer for the race. Overall things went really well for me. My first run was at a 7:00 min pace and I averaged just over 20MPH for the bike and than 7:25's for the second run. I had a great day, Sue took lots of cool pictures and oh yeah did I mention I won my age group!!
Kate's graduation was awesome. Sue, Jerry, Grandpa and I went over to BG the day of the graduation, had a quick lunch at Kate's place and headed over to the ceremony. The ceremony was really nice and I could not have been prouder of Kate then I was. College was not easy for her and she stuck with it against all odds. She defined what it means to be tough and persevere. I can't wait to see where she takes it from here. Awesome dinner at a restaurant named Biaggis following the ceremony. The butternut squash ravioli was to die for!!
Finally the Maumee adventure tri. This is the third year in a row that John and I were partners for this race. Last year we got lost on the bike and put ourselves out of the race and we were out for revenge this year. Although we fell short of our goal of winning it, we did win the bike overall (averaged 22.7MPH for 36 miles. We were then passed on the canoe by a team that was only 30 secs behind us on the bike. One more team passed us on the run, which was done on a trail with 20% of your body weight in a pack on your back which for me was 36lbs!!!, so we came in third but had a really solid race.
Other than that, Sue and I have been working the yard hard to try and overcome the effects of the winter. This has been no easy chore. Work has been challenging as ever, Sue is training hard for the three day walk (and working hard to raise funds) and we continue to enjoy the freedom of being empty nesters!!
Next up Buffalo Marathon, Clays Park Triathlon, family vacation in the keys and a sincere effort to keep things up to date on my blog!!!
That's all for now
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