Category: Races

So, Jake’s not an eater. Not quite sure exactly how it happened, he’s definitely my kid in pretty much every other ways – loves books, talks too much, gets a dopey grin when he’s busted. But the boy doesn’t like to eat. Honest to goodness, pretty much every evening he’s still working on supper after Missy, me, and Nate have chatted and had dessert. He’s not chubby, so it’s not that we’re trying to feed him too much. The boy just doesn’t like to eat (probably takes too much time away from talking)

Anyway, tonight he starts eating pretty well, but after about 5 minutes, he says “I don’t like this, can I be finished?” Uh, … no. “Um, I meant to say, I don’t feel good. Can I be finished?”

So, up until now, it’s just another evening – Nate, Missy, and I have dessert, and are chillin’ in the living room next to the tree, Jake is at the table pushing his food around the plate. Missy decides to step out and see the lights. Since Jake helped hang them, I drag him out, and the dog cleans his plate in the literally 2 minutes we’re outside. We decide that Jake’s done, what with the holidays and all, and get ready to hang some more ornaments He asks to go to bed.

Oh, crap.

Turns out he’s actually sick this time. Pukes all over the kitchen.

Ah, guilt.

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Turkey Trot –

Thursday was chilly, chilly. Snow on the ground when we woke up, rain falling. Dragged the family to the Y, Nate still in his footy pajamas. Jake was bouncing off the wall – slept in his sweats. At the Y, he kept running, warming up and all. They let us mill about the gym and assembly hall. Cute, huh?

Run was really informal – no clocks, no chips. Great t-shirts, though.

The race started well. The first hill, between the rear parking lot and the front was no problem. Jake was flying, and Nate was having a blast in the stroller. As we left the parking lot, one of Jake’s instructors from the Y was officiating, and cheered him on. Really, really boosted his spirits about a quarter of the way into the race to get a cheer.

Over the top of the big hill mid-course, and I thought that all would be well for the rest of the race. Jake really took off on the downhill, and made it about another 30 yards when he took his first walk break. Either that, or he really wanted to stomp that puddle.

The rest of the race was walk/run. He made a huge effort coming back into the Y – ran the whole way from the entrance to the finish. Nate even got into the spirit, saying “Go, bubba” for most of the half mile back. Then – playing at the beach. In the rain. Good Stuff.

Missy had a great race – most likely sub-9’s the whole way. She easily finished in the top half of the field.

Oh, since there’s a beach at the Y, it was a “Turkey Trot and Dip”. Most of the runners jumped in as soon as they finished, carrying a little warmth from the run into the water. Me? I’m having none of that. Chilled with the kiddos about 10 minutes waiting for Missy; Jumped into the Mystic River in late November at room temperature. Yep, it’s cold.

Oh, forgot to mention I’m going to be racing again!

Mystic YMCA does an annual Turkey Trot and Dip. Missy’s doing the 3 mile race; Jake is running the 1 mile race, and Nate and I are going to be chasing Jake in with the stroller!

The funny thing? Since it’s my first official mile race, Jake and I are both going to set PR’s!

We drove the course on Sunday after Family Swim; Jake is a little bit intimidated by the hill between the start and the turn-around. I told him he’d be fine…

First, I’ve got to admit I love going to New York. The energy is intoxicating. I’m not the best traveled person around, but having been to at least Paris and Amsterdam outside the US, I’m pretty sure that New York is, indeed, the center of the Universe. It’s got a history as long and colorful as, say, Boston, but, unlike great historic cities, New York continues to evolve, paving over the past in favor of the future. Amazing.

OK – here’s the scoop: Continue reading Thoughts on NYC

Finished the NY Marathon. Will write more tonight, but wanted to say “Thanks” to all, and give a couple of thoughts:

1. Absolutely a great race if you’re interested in either adding it to your palmares, or interested in just doing one. The course is great, the spectators are amazing, and the race is pretty well supported.

2. It is official – running a second marathon two weeks after your first is a dumb, dumb idea. I completely ran out of gas about mile 18, and walked the majority of the last eight. Partially to avoid excessive pain on Monday, partially because I just couldn’t summon up the will to make my legs turn over at a running pace.

3. In sport that is available to “the rest of us”, NYC deserves a really special place. Coming off of the Queensboro bridge onto Manhattan was amazing – thousands of people waiting at the bottom feels like coming into an Olympic stadium. Then the turn onto First Ave – incredible. Runners and screaming spectators quite literally as far as the eye can see; a swarming mass stretching all the way to the Harlem river. Wow. That was good for an extra two miles out of exhausted legs.

4. I can now say that I recall Central Park in fall. The race promoters must be in on the whole global warming conspiracy – the leaves were golden and releasing as the race entered the park, the sunlight was phenomenal. If not for the pain, I would mark that down as the best 2.5 miles of my running career.

For those keeping score, I came in at slightly over 5 hours. Was on pace for about 4:15 until I completely fell apart at mile 18; the extra 45 minutes are from walking 5 of the last 8 miles.

As I mentioned, I’d recommend the race. Due to the sheer volume of runners, though, I wouldn’t plan on setting a PR at this race.

A huge thanks to the RBF – You stood by me through my venting, laughed at silly jokes, and, through your continued dedication to your own training programs, have continued to inspire, amaze, and encourage me. Huge thanks to Susan for showing up at the finish – sorry I was far from witty and erudite.

The short of it – I finished. 403 out of 577, 62 out of 72 in my age group. Just under 4:30. My little bro, god bless his heart, finished too. Sister-in-law provided brilliant on-course support, wife and boys were at the finish line, and Jake ran the last 100 yards with me.

The long of it – Continue reading Mystic Places Marathon

So, following the performance of which I’m becoming increasingly happy, I was pretty much a slug for most of the weekend. Friday – best laid plans and all, but wound up blowing off the workout.

Saturday was 0701 hop-on-pop, as always, followed by T-ball, trip to the Stonington Farmer’s Market (mmmm, littlenecks), yardwork, and re-grouting the bathtub. Sunday, we took the bikes, trailer, and boys downtown – I tweaked the front deraileur on the MTB so I can get into the BIG RING now, so we were really hauling heading downhill. Stopped at the hardware store on the way down to buy some two-part plastic weld to do a little repair work on a turntable I picked up off of EBay, so we headed down the Stonington side of the river instead of River Road. Still not so bad as far as traffic went. The ride was good – no residual knots from the tri.

Today, work was hectic all morning. We’re hammering out a proposal for the folks I support’s boss – spent about 2 hours working out details in the morning before my clients had other meetings. I did some tweaks, and right about the time I finished, Chris calls up from the Lab to see if I want to head down to the Atlantic Beach Club for lunch. No, I say, but if you don’t mind me riding along, I’ll go for a quick jog along first beach while y’all eat. Whatever, says he.

So I tag along – I work with great people. They sit down to eat, I sneak into the bathroom, change, and head down the beach. Low tide, so I get to run on firm, packed sand. Nice and springy, but not smooshy. First Beach is great, too, since it’s got a really shallow grade – when the tide is out, it’s WAY out. Head up to the Cliff Walk at the other end of the beach, out past Ruggles where the nice portion ends, and turn around. Back to the ABC in about 35 minutes – good run.

Only downside is that this ends up being the quickest lunch in the history of ABC lunches – guess no one wanted “dessert” on Monday, and the folks are packing up as I walk onto the patio from the beach. Darn. The upside is that we stop by Dunkin’ D’s on the way back, and I wipe out any caloric deficit from the run by sucking down a Turbo Iced Coffee w/ cream and sugar. Ah, well – that’s why I run.

I’m revising race goals for the year after getting drawn for NY. Part of it is NY, the other part is that my wife’s sorority is having a big to-do over our Alumni Weekend, and she’s been asked to help put it together. Downside is that the shindig is the same weekend as Mystic Places – she’s headed to San Antonio; I’m staying with the boys. It all works out in the end, I suppose – I still get in a marathon for the year. I’ll run locally next year. I may still see if I can get up for Hartford.

Rough race schedule is as follows:

6/30, 7/14 (Bastille Day! Allez!), 7/28, and 8/11 – Terramuggus Tris. Oh yeah.
7/10 – may break down and do a race on a Sunday – Sailfest Road Race (5K)
August?
9/5 – New Haven Road Race (20K)
Oct? – may still try Mystic Places – my bro was talking about coming up, and may bring babysitting. Plus, I think this is my best chance for qualifying for Boston (Total pipedream, but such is life)
Nov – NYC Marathon.

Will update as soon as I have a chance to screw around with style sheets…