Late To Boston

The Boston Marathon's finish line is supposed to be one of the most epic lines to cross in this life. For marathon runners, there's no greater honor than to run fast enough to toe the start line of this exclusive race.For many who ran Monday, this was their dream come true- an item they could scratch off their bucket list. To earn the privilege and train for this most prestigious event is glorious enough, to complete the 26.2 mile course is the dream of many just like me who have yet to make a fast enough time together.

Running in 4 marathons to date, I know the thrill of the final mile that leads to the finish line. That's where the largest crowds gather; where thunderous applause and cheering fill the air. The finish line is the place where spectators urge weary runners to the end. It's the place where runners hear their names called out by loved ones in the stands who have propped them up after months of training far from the course they're about to finish.

Normally the finish line is a happy place. On Monday it wasn't. Shouting spectators were encompassed by clouds as strong blasts bowled down onlookers. Runners staggered more than normal, bewildered by the surreal events just seconds from crossing the finish line. In moments people were falling down, screaming in terror, as order quickly turned to chaos. In moments, sirens filled the air as police and safety workers were pushing people in wheel chairs and loading bodies onto ambulances. Just like that, a place of celebration become a crime scene. The race was halted. Lives were lost and many wounded. The City of Boston was shut down as an anxious world watched on.

There are so many sad stories coming from this tragic day. Dreams became nightmares. It's heartbreaking to think of the people who are forever affected by this act of terror upon so many peace loving people. Perhaps in the months ahead there will be answers and ultimately justice will prevail. Like many I hope for a speedy remedy to this hideous crime. 

On a personal level, I have a dream of going to Boston. In Chicago I came within 13 minutes of qualifying for this year's race. While happy for the significant progress I made to get in striking range of this year's race, I admit to some disappointment that I did not quite have the speed needed to qualify. If I had, I have no doubt I would have attempted to be one of the 23,000 entrants to this prestigious event. But for a little more speed, I could have been a participant in this greatest race of my life. 

Thirteen minutes stood between me and dark history. Who knows how things would have turned out? I am typically a driven runner when I'm training. I have goals and marks I want to hit with time and distance. Yet I wasn't quite there with my time. I have to admit that as much as I wanted to make it this year, being late to Boston was like the Japanese tale of a father and son who were delayed by a series of events on the way to the market with an ox cart full of produce. The father bemoaned the tardiness of their business to the big city full of business opportunity. As he was stewing over lateness of the hour and the city he could see far off in the distance, the father and son stood in complete shock at the sight of a big flash and rising mushroom cloud  over the Hiroshima. At that moment, he realized the blessing of a tardy ox cart. And I get it too!

I still want to run fast enough to qualify for Boston. That has not changed at all. But I'm reminded, once again, that being late to Boston, is certainly not the worst thing in my aspiring dreams as a runner. My thoughts and prayers for the runners and families forever touched by the 2013 Boston Marathon.

Chicago Chaos

Well first it was O'Leary's cow that created mayhem in Chicago and then there were the riots outside the 1968 Democratic convention and more recently it city headlines have been about the escalating numbers of homicides.Some pretty big things have taken place which puts into perspective the problems surrounding the Bank of America Chicago marathon registration fiasco this year.

I have run the past two years through the Windy City.and I must say it's an amazing experience! The crowded streets of 45 thousand lined with spectators nearly the entire route on a flat fast course is tough to beat. I decided to make it three years in a row and had my card in hand last week to register the moment registration opened. Unfortunately after going through all the registration steps, I was booted off the active.com website with the last step undone. Then there was word that the site was closed due to substantial failures with the registration process. By the time the smoke cleared the word was that 30,000 made it in and 15,000 spots were left to be filled when a fair system was in place for the final third of the field. I found myself on the outside looking in and realized that my goals for the year would face an immediate threat.

In honesty, I struggled to justify doling out the escalating fees to get in the race. It left me wondering if it was worth it to try to get one of the last slots with all the chaos that swirled around first day registration. Here was an elite marathon trying squeeze a little more from runners while floundering in serving their participants' registrations and sounding confused with information sent to the unregistered. Maybe it was pride but I thought, I am not going to be like some puppy waiting by the table of its master for a scrap or in runner's terms a bib number.

I decided not to wait and searched for a closer marathon that serves as a Boston Qualifier. I was relieved to see that there was one just an hour away in Columbus for nearly 100.00 less! I immediately decided it was time for decisive action and so by the end of the day of "so called" registration for Chicago, I found a bargain with less headaches.

I hope this serves as a lesson to the greedy who view marathons not as a sport but as a business... not as passion but as profits. I hope Chicago coordinators take a hard look at the way they handled the 2013 marathon registration and figure out a way not to treat people as cattle but as a community of people who love the experience of running in what has had a reputation as one of the great marathons in the world. So this year I run the streets of Columbus which cut through the Ohio State stadium onto the field from where the Buckeyes football team emerges to the cheer of the crowd. So "GO BUCKS!"

Marathons For 2013

I looked over several marathon options for the year. 

The Maui race looks like a no-brainer but then there's that financial issue that holds me back. 

In the mix were 

Cincinnati's Flying Pig, 

Cleveland, 

Pittsburgh, 

Indy, 

St. Louis 

Dayton, 

Akron, 

Columbus... 

Lots of options and lots of considerations. 

And this year's winners are... I've decided to revisit the road courses I ran last year for this year's spring & fall marathons. 

So it's back to Louisville and Chicago once again

The reasons for picking these races are three. 

1. Confidence Building- Since I did very well on both courses, having consecutive personal bests, I already have a mental advantage. Experiencing the nuances of both routes previously allows me to apply the right training program to meet the challenges ahead.
2. Boston Qualifiers- 3:30!! With my goal to shave a little more than 13 minutes from my personal best to get into Boston's prestigious race, both the Derby & Chicago marathons present me with two opportunities to qualify in 2013. Being BQ races, they serve as carrot sticks that inspire me to put it all on the line.Every mile matters... every minute counts!
3. From Hills To Flats- Louisville has hill climbing involved. This means I must train hard/smart by attacking some hilly roads in the Mansfield area. If I prepare as I did last year, I will gain upper leg strength and increased cardio to meet the demands of the Derby Marathon. As the spring race gets behind me, I will focus on flat routes, such as the bike trail, with a priority on tempo runs for long distances. Last year's combo of hills to flats worked perfectly for me and so it makes sense to repeat what worked.

Maybe next year will feature a different race... say B-O-S-T-O-N  ??? 

My Kind of Job

Late after last night's hotel audit I had time to look into the business section of the USA Today. I came across an article that might make my hotel job far more interesting. "Runners Combine Jogs & Sightseeing." Hotels and airlines are catering to customers who like sight-running. Westin hotels has the RunWestin program, with running concierges who will take guests on free guided 3 or 5-mile "discovery run." Now that sounds like my kind of front-desk job- one in which I don't have to stand there thinking how nice it would be to go out on a run! Imagine getting paid to run for a hotel! If I could get that job, I'd be tempted to tell people, "Yeah, I'm a professional runner."

Illness & Running

I have been logging my runs in a brand new runner's journal with the 2012 edition nearby to compare how I'm doing versus last winter. In late January I saw that I was down for three days due to illness. I figured if I could skip that this year, I'd be ahead of last year's pace. Sometimes it's best not to entertain such thoughts as I find myself coughing, achy and fatigued by what I hoped to dodge this month.

On the bright side, it's frigid outside right now and so if I have to take a break, it's better that it's today and not the 60 degree temps I ran in just days ago. I was just boasting that my running seems to bring a certain immunity to my system. Well, I think I said it shrinks the recovery time anyway. I hope it does anyway!

Being goal-oriented, physical limitations like a cold, flu, or whatever this is that has got a hold of me, can frustrate me. I only have like 1466 miles to go for my distance goal this year. I should keep in mind that it's early that my marathon training plans both call for about 700 miles each in training. This is when I have to remember the unmeasurable goal I set for the year of running wisely too. Is it smart for me to run when I am physically tapped out? If there's one thing I'm trying to learn in my life it's that respite is not evil. Running on empty accomplishes nothing and in fact may set me back further.

I guess we'd like to imagine that as we gut it out on the side of a roadway, people will deeply admire our tenacity and that perhaps "Rocky's" theme will start mystically playing in the heavens. Is anybody going to wonder why I'm not running today? Who knows or even cares that I'm feeling sick but opted to run anyway? WHOOP -DEE -DOO! So I guess I'm a scratch for training today. I will rest up and keep the bigger picture in mind. Hey, it's only January for crying out loud!

Running Goals 2013

I've been a runner since 2006. At the start of each new year I pick up a blank runner's log knowing that by the end of the year it will be tattered and filled with numbers and notations. It serves to remind me that I have a clean slate of possibilities as I lean into another year of running.

The blank log also tells me it's time to clarify why I still do this and what worthwhile goals should I aim for as I start over. So late tonight I seek to answer both the why I run and where I aim to take running in 2013.

WHY I RUN:
I'm 50 and it would be very easy to say, it's time to turn in my active badge for a nice soft couch and a remote control. Who needs to suffer unnecessarily at this point in life? If I lost my passion for this habit of grown fond of, I'd retire my shoes and prop my feet. But the truth is I still love running for these reasons:

1. Keeps me fit. I like to feel healthy and not feel winded after a few flights of stairs. I like the prospects of feeling energetic and happy when I step on a scale
2. Makes my brain smile. Running relieves the crazy stress that sometimes assaults me. It allows me to get to a happier and more restful state of mind.
3. Love the feeling of progress made. Occasionally I am taken back by a surprisingly good pace or relative ease I felt on a normally tough stretch of a course. To shave time off marathons is kind of addictive. To look back on a log filled with miles over 52 weeks brings a sense of accomplishment.
4. Undiscovered potential is still out there. I love the thought that I can still push my mind and body beyond self-imposed limits. It's fun to discover that I can do things I use to think impossible.
5. Love the journey. It's not all about getting to the finish line, it's about taking in the sights, sounds and scents. It's about the reward of a good sweat during a hard work out and the satisfying gulp of cold liquid or the zing inside muscles and tendons  at the end of 15 miles. It's the little small wonders that would often go unnoticed if I didn't get out there today.

GOALS THIS YEAR:
Some of these goals may be similar from past years but there are a few that are a bit more audacious.

1. THE BIG ONE Qualify for the Boston Marathon. I need to run a 3:30 marathon to make it there. This demands that I trim back 15 minutes from last fall's Chicago race. I will have to learn how to run 25 seconds faster per mile than I did that race. I have work to get there but it's amazing that I can even consider this lofty goal that is more in reach than I ever dreamed.
2. TWO MARATHONS again this year spring & fall. Got tot rain hard yet smart!
3. 1500 MILES for the year
4. TROPHY I'd love to train for a 5k and get a trophy once again. Speedwork! speedwork!
5. FUN I want to love my running more at the end of 2013 than I do right now. 

So tonight I have clarified why I still run and have set some pretty big goals to the new year.
Look forward to seeing what the year has in store for this runner!

Things That Bring a Smile

A lot about running in the winter is predictable. It's going to be cold, it's going to take longer to get geared up for the elements, pot holes and ice patches are going to force you to stay alert to the immediate terrain under foot, and rarely should you expect to break any personal records in this season. I confess that training in January is more like the need to push instead of the feeling of pull.

Today's run involved a lot of effort. It was the least comfortable run of the month so far. I don't think it was due to the fact that it was my third consecutive day but more as a result of pulling out the wrong shoes. Instead of hunting for my trusted blue Addidas, I went for my more subtle toned Reeboks. I hated this pair of shoes two weeks after I purchased them last spring but I can't stand the thought of discarding them. still, I'd be the wiser to throw them in the heap. They have no give at all in the soles and as a result create a bunch of discomfort on already sore heels and insteps. When the shoes aren't right, your natural running form suffers and you fatigue quicker. So today, I just decided to gut out my scheduled 4 miler.

As I was approaching my final mile I was distracted from my small misery by an unexpected running partner. This one stood a whole 12" from the ground- a frisky little yippy dog who decided that it would be more fun to run with me instead of simply bark at me. I was amused as this little mutt ran beside me and then decided to go into an all out dash ahead of me, looking back with a satisfied smirk, to let me know he was faster. When he looked back and saw me lingering 100 yards behind, he circled around a nearby mail box, as if to act completely oblivious to me catching up with him. But when I got beside him, the tiny dog would surge ahead again, repeating these antics over and over. Soon I found myself chuckling at the game this bitty canine decided to play with me. He stayed with me for about a half mile but soon found something more interesting to pursue for the afternoon.

So on a typical winter day when training was less than pleasant, I stumble across a new partner to share my running experience. It's nice to be distracted by amusement in sometimes the simplest of ways. And that's one of the beauties of going out for a run--- you may come home with something to smile about and even novel to post at the end of the day.