The Newman YMCA 10K Turkey Trot Full Report

Today is the day, a little over 500 days since my last race, and that streak is about to come to a screeching halt.  I have signed up for the Newman YMCA 10K Turkey Trot, and I don’t think we are going to have a cancellation.  Here we go.

I wake up at about 5:45 in the morning, sort of.  My brother sends me a text wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving and a brief description of his day.  I wake up to wish him well and, since he is a meteorologist, ask him if today's weather conditions will really consist of 0° wind chill values.  He tells me bluntly that I will freeze a certain couple parts of my anatomy off.  Time to get up.

I do not have a lot of experience racing in cold weather, and no experience at all running in this kind of cold, so I am going to go heavy on the coldgear and de-layer if at some point it seems like I overdressed.  Winter hat, alpaca headband, running gloves, old school balaclava, a face something that my son gave me, everything is going along for the ride.

A forty-minute drive sees my anxiety level increase dramatically.  I am unsure of the course, I am unsure of my general fitness level, and I am unsure about how to deal with the cold effectively.  Luckily, I arrive at the Seekonk YMCA a little early to get in a warm up and get the lay of the land.  The first thing I notice is that none of the other runners seem to be overdressed for the cold.  It seems like most have planned for a general cold, not a brutal cold.  I am in and out of the bib pickup, and ready to try a warmup run.

I head out of the parking lot and go north on Arcade Ave., which is the course route.  The first thing I notice is that I feel pretty good, unlike my warmup runs in Georgia.  I end up doing about a kilometer at a quicker than expected 6:48.  When finished, I am shocked to find that I am rather warm with the headband as a neck gaiter, so I ditch it in the car and head inside (with pretty much all the other runners) for some water and warmth.

After twenty minutes or so, the race is about to start.  I don't really have that pre-race rush today, due to the conditions and fear of failure.  At exactly 8 o'clock, the starting gun goes, and we head out the parking lot north on Arcade Ave.  My pace is pretty good, just over 6:15km.  I'm finding the cold bearable and the scenery kind of interesting.  Houses of various age and architecture, Seekonk High School, and the Turner Reservoir.  First turn at 2k, time at about 12:30.

We go right unto Newman Ave.  After a short distance, the runner's split occurs, 5k to the right, 10k straight.  While my pace is still holding steady, I think this is my first sign of mental weakness.  The thought of "if you did the 5k, you would be about fifteen minutes away from the finish line and a nice warm room" dances around my head.  The 10k'ers bear right onto Woodward Ave., which we will be on for the next 2k.

Woodward Ave. starts off looking a lot like Arcade Ave., but changes quickly into sporadic large houses, fields, and the occasional body of water.  I put in splits of around 6:25k while jostling with other back of the packers and my thoughts, mostly of worst case scenarios.  The director said that he would be patrolling the race course in case anyone did not think they could finish, while I did not think I was close to that point that fear was definitely on the mind.

We take a right on Prospect Street which is about at the 4.5k make, and my time is a somewhat respectable all things considered 29:08.  Prospect Street is the most rural part of the course, nothing much to see except woods and farmland.  I also notice some not very steep at all hills, which are now seeming like 10% grade.  Halfway home at 5k I am at 31:26, which is still under 6:20.  It is here that I start noticing that I am feeling very warm from the run.  I start to strip off some of the headgear, but it does not help too much.  Then at about 5.5k, I decided to take a walk break.  It was short-lived but just enough to see anyone I was in sight of shoot away.  I pick it up again after about thirty seconds, but I don't seem to have the same speed or intensity that I had before.  I also decide to take off my gloves and store them in my pockets.  Guess what fell out of my pockets?  Guess who didn't notice?

We take a right onto Jacob Road for about .5k, then a sharp right unto Ledge Road.  The Ledge Road turn is about 7k in, after splits of about 7.00 for the last two kilometers, my time is up to 46:05.  There is a water station at the turn with young ladies shouting out things like "you're doing great" which makes me chuckle since I am clearly not doing great.  I do find that Ledge Road is slightly downhill and a little bit more inhabited and developed, but by this point, all I want to do is finish.  I have a pretty decent split at 8k (6:20), however, I choose to take another short walk break for a 7:04 split at 9k with a total time of just under an hour.

This brings us back to Newman Avenue and the homestretch.  I am feeling much better since I am somewhat familiar with this part of the course, and it is looking like a "DNF" is not going to be next to my name.  After some very slow and not too straight running, I turn into the YMCA parking lot at about 1:04:00.  There is still a little ways to go, thru the parking lot and into an odd sort of narrow dirt pathway in the rear of the property.  I am struck by the fact that there does not seem to be a finish line, or any kind of marker indicating a finish line.  I just run through to the coral, while the time clock gets blown over, landing with a big thud.  The volunteer at the end of the coral implores me to rip the tag off of the bib, which I don't fully comprehend due to my cold, fatigued state.  She pulls it off herself (probably thinking I am some kind of an idiot) and I collect my medal.  I am figuring my time to be just south of 1:06:00, and, woo-hoo, I am not in the last place.

Checking my phone to shut down the Wahoo, I am horrified to find that my iphone shut down due to the cold.  My watch seems fine, however, and I am thrilled to find that my backup tech plan worked.  I spend the next few minutes mulling around the warm gym, trying to get my phone to work and warming to human type level.  I do manage to get it working again, just in time for me to beg one of my fellow runners to take a picture.  The ensuing, obligatory facebook entry takes about two minutes to post.

I decide to take a post racecourse ride to see if I could locate my gloves, and to my surprise, I find both of them, nowhere near each other.  I then treat myself to a Honeydew Donut Vanilla Chai, where I find the customer in front of me telling the cashier about the road race.  I chime in, telling both of them this was my first race since the accident and how happy I was to finish.  Bring on that application for the Peachtree 10k.  I have a time.  And I really don't care if you put me in group Y or Z.

The ride home was relaxing, and the nap I took upon was short but satisfying.  I even got my stats to transfer to Strava, albeit taking quite a bit of effort.  I also have great things to say about the race itself, nice course and well organized.  It will be great to try it again, hopefully in better shape and a few degrees warmer.

STATS
Time official	1:05:17
Time unofficial	1:06:09
Overall place	55/65
Overall age group place	4/6
Pace metric	6:36 kilometer
Pace imperial	10:38 mile
Strava Score	196
Best Kilometer	6:13
Best Mile	10:12
Average heartbeat per minute	151 bpm

This is a First.......

Well, today is the day for my first race in 488 days.  A 10K on a great course in Warwick, RI.  And then I look at the email.....

"Due to unfavorable weather conditions, today's race has been canceled.  We hope to see you next year."

Yes, the rains were coming down pretty good.  Yes, the wind gusts were over 40 mph.  Yes, calling it off was probably not the worst decision ever made.  But it was tough to feel like everything was ready to roll, only to be stopped by something beyond your control.

I did nothing productive the rest of the day.  I will need to run a 10k before March to get a time for my application to the Peachtree 10k so I will keep you posted on that.

And I will keep you posted on the status of my race t-shirt.

10K in the ATL, time to see if I can do it.

Today is Halloween and I think I better dress up as a runner.  Having a 10K race on Saturday and having not run 10K outdoors in about fifteen months, I am finding it somewhat imperative, if not for a state of ataraxia, to give it go.

I am still in Atlanta visiting my daughter, so I have to plan out a route that is going to be 1) accurate in distance 2) not overly hilly 3) heavy on trails (you know how much I love bike paths) and 4) ending up somewhat close to my daughter's apartment while at no point being too far from said apartment in case I have to abort.  After checking the local maps, I decide on starting on the Stone Mountain Trail, then switching to the Beltline Trail to Piedmont Park, then somehow getting back on Tenth Street to Argonne Avenue, which turns into Central Park Place.  The issue seems to be leaving the park with three-quarters of the run complete; while the park seems to have an extensive network of roads and trails, it is somewhat difficult to get a handle on distance or continuity.  But finding out is half the fun, right?

Stepping out, some quick leg swings, and time for another weak warmup run.  I have been having some trouble with this lately, the warmup route was somewhat uphill but not too much.  I decided to "walk-run" about 1K and let the chips fall.  After navigating a brutally busy intersection, I am at the start of the Freedom Park Trail at the corner of Boulevard NE and Route 10.  Here we go.

I start off at a pace of about a 10:30 mile.  I am not too concerned about time or speed, this is going to be strictly a distance run, but I am feeling good about the pace.  I am also pleasantly surprised that the trail is both downhill and virtually empty.  After a mile, I am surprised to find that the trail follows an offramp and circles around to the bottom of an overpass.  Taking a right as planned, I find myself on a new trail, the Eastside Beltway. 

I am immediately struck by the sudden, almost instantaneous, increase in trail traffic.  Mostly bicyclists, at this point.  I go below the overpass and am struck by the overwhelming graffiti on the side walls.

I didn't want to lose too much time, so I only took one photo.  I really should have taken a picture of the giant pink elephant on the other wall, but I didn't want to look too touristy.  On we go for about a mile and a half. 

The difference between this trail and the previous trail is unmistakable.  As mentioned before, the amount of traffic could best be described as heavy.  Bikers and runners blowing right be me.  Walkers not blowing by me.  Rollerbladers and even a guy on what looked like a modified Segway.  Since this trail was a railway many years ago, you can also find some abandoned railroad structures, such as platforms and standpipes, the latter sometimes affixed with modern steel art sculptures.  (I promise, more photos next time)  There were also quite a few posters depicting events from the civil rights movement of the 1960s and Dr. Martin Luther King.  I also found it interesting that some housing units had gated entry to the Beltway at certain points.  Still generally downhill, my pace fluctuates between 10:00 and 11:20 before hitting the Monroe Drive intersection at about 2.5 miles. 

I decide to take Monroe Drive north to Park Drive and enter Piedmont Park over the bridge.  I am wanting to leave the Park at about 7.5K, but have no real plan on where to run in the park grounds.  I pass some bocce courts and hit an office building and a much-needed water fountain as my Garmin beeps 5K.  Still having no plan, I do a sort of U-turn, blow by some tennis courts, and to my surprise, see an oval gravel track enclosing four soccer fields.  Can't get lost here, right.  It turns out the track is marked at 800 meters, so I give it a lap and step off to circle Lake Clara Meer (I still have no idea who Clara Meer is), hitting about 7K at this point.  My pace is still about 10:30 to 11:00, but I am definitely feeling my quads.  I'm still going slightly downhill, but that is all about to change.

I leave the park at a little over 7.5K as planned and head west on 10th St.  Time to pay for the downhill.  Just about all of 10th St. is uphill, at some points reaching about a 13% grade.  My pace drops to between 11:30 to 12:30 and my legs are feeling heavy.  My search for Argonne Ave.  starts to get critical, however, it was only about a half mile and I was turning left for the last leg of my run.

Argonne Ave. sees hills at the beginning and the end, with a downhill in between.  The real problem here is uneven surfaces on the sidewalks.  I navigate it pretty well, hit the final hill, and get an unexpected, if not very much needed, break at the intersection.  The Ponce is very busy, and instead of chancing it, I wait for the signal.  I can feel my bpm decrease to about 120.  But we're almost done. 

Central Park Place is my final road, and only for about .8K.  My pace varies wildly, but the final steps are uphill, so I decide to kill my run at 10.01, scaring the bejeebers out of a couple of city workers.  The final pace was 11:13 mi., with an end time of 1:10:29, and a Strava suffer score of a whopping 190.  I also crossed a total of ten segments, mostly on the Beltway, and I am mostly way, way down on the speed charts.  No matter.  I got the outdoor 10K I wanted, getting my psyche ready for my first race on Saturday.  And I burned quite a few calories, so much so that I felt absolutely no guilt about having chicken & dumplings and Georgia Peach Pie at Mary Mac's with my wife and daughter. 

 Full race report on Saturday.  Thanks for reading.

Sunday Morning Run. Outside. In the ATL.

I am currently in Atlanta, visiting my daughter on vacation.  Our first full day (Sunday) saw me take my first outside run of over 5k in a very long time, my first run in the state of Georgia at all, and my first outside training run for my 10k in a little less than a week.  It is also the first run I ever took where I got flat out lost.  Here is how it went.

I started gearing up at about 8:45, much to my surprise I looked out the window and saw that a race was taking place on one of the streets adjoining the apartment complex.  Having no interest in becoming a bandit or generally interfering in any way, I finished gearing up and headed out to the opposite street to do a quick (and somewhat unsuccessful) warm up run.  At its end, I still had my bearings somewhat intact, but my course plans were all confused.  Gotta start somewhere, right?  I head north on Parkway Dr. , and away we go.

At about 7:00 a kilometer, I stride north.  The residential neighborhood is mostly quiet, save for a teenage girl talking on her phone sitting on the hood of a car, and a well dressed gentleman and what I assume to be his well dressed mother in a wheelchair waiting at the end of his driveway.  (Yes, he did smile and say hello.)  I ended up taking a left on Ponce De Leon Ave.  I wanted to somehow turn around and head the other way; there was what looked like a mosque across the street with open gates but no cars in the parking lot, however I figured that people who want to go and worship would not be crazy about seeing a sweaty gray haired runner turning around near their entrance.  I maneuvered around a couple of small streets and ended up heading east on PDL Ave., passing said mosque on the left side.

Ponce De Leon Ave turns out to be a great road for a run.  There were some challenging hills, some downhills that countered the hills, lots of things to look at to distract my attention (the huge iron cross in front of Grace Methodist Church was intriguing) and my pace and stride were just about where I wanted them to be.  My problems seem to start in front of the CVS at the bottom of a hill.  I look up to see a iron bridge running over the street, and assume that it is the trail that runs near my daughter's apartment, however there seems to be no way to get to it.  I have not seen a street running south in a while, and I just hit 3k, so it would seem like a good time to begin to circle around to home.  The first road I see seems a little too big, so I pass it and end up taking a right unto Highland Avenue at about 4k.  Pace, stride, and wind still fine.

I go about another .5k when I see a park, with a trail.  As luck would have it, this trail is hosting the very same race I saw out my window when suiting up.  Had I had the cajoles to bandit, I would have found my way back home perfectly, but I was a nice guy and moved on.  I hit an area with some quaint shops, many dog owners out walking their pets, and, you guessed it, a hill.  A very sharp hill.  I have no bearings as to where I am, and at the top of the hill I hit 6k, so I decide to run a little further at a fast pace and call it a run.  Now to get my bearings.

It turns out that the last street I turned onto runs sort of straight, then diagonal, then straight again.  It did not connect with the street my daughter's apartment is on, however if I cut through the park the race was being held at, I probably could have found it.  I ended up on an overpass with the Beltway Trail running underneath it, so I tuned in Wahoo Maps and got reoriented.  Two short cool down runs later and I was in front of my daughter's apartment.

My pace was 11:04 mile, a little slower then I wanted but I figured the hills cost me some time.  My distance (3.89 miles) and Strava relative effort (87) were just about where I wanted them to be.  I did cross four, count 'em, four Strava segments.  One, the "Ponce Climb" (the hill on Ponce De Leon Ave.) put me at first place in my age division.  And yes, there were only two people in this category.

I am planning on running an outdoor 10k either Tuesday or Wednesday, then going easy in preparation for Saturday's race.  I'll study the maps and make out a full report.

All Signed Up!! Ready to Go??

Well, I finally pulled the trigger.  I am officially signed up to run my first race since the accident.  I thought that my first race should be the 10k by the Bay out of Warwick, RI, so I went ahead and registered.  I felt this would be a good race back for a number of reasons.  1)  Familiarity.  I have run this race twice before and know pretty much exactly what to expect.  Interestingly enough, the race this year takes place about three weeks later then in previous years; great for me since it will fall on the tail end of a vacation week.  Even little things, like knowing where to park, where the water stations on the course will be, and where to warm up can make a big difference.  2) Course.  I will go a little more into detail about the course itself when I post about the race report, but I can tell you this much about the course right now.  It is flat.  Pancake flat.  I mean if you step up on a curb, that will be your only elevation.  I have done about 98% of my training on a treadmill, mostly because I am still a little leary of running with traffic.  I have done all of this treadmill training without hitting the incline button, so a flat course offers a great deal of optimistic comfort.  3)  Past Success.  My 10k PR is at this race; 52:52 three years ago.  I am very confident I will not come anywhere near time, but it would be a great boost to my morale to put in a decent time.  I am hoping for under 70:00; I think for a first race in sixteen months this is not too much to ask.

As I eluded to before, the vast majority of my training has been treadmill based.  I have hit 10k on the treadmill a few times, but I have yet to do it outside in real life since the accident.  This is really my only concern.  Even if I did not hit that 70 minute mark, a DNF would have to be considered a fail.  I am going to try for a training run of 10k tomorrow, just for the sake of knowing I can pull it off.  I think the course I am going to try is very hilly, so a finish would help my psyche a great deal.  I will try to post on Wednesday with an update on both training and how I am feeling.

Thanks for reading.

Big Milestone! It feels like I am Back!!

Friday I hit the gym treadmill hoping to score an 8km run.  Turns out I had a little more in me.

I felt very good going into the run.  I also had the unusual circumstance of having to get a DOT physical later in the day.  When I was younger, a DOT physical was more of an inconvenience than anything else.  About an hour of meaningless paperwork and various motor skills tests.  But now as the years start to add up, you start to wonder what they are going to find or what test you are going to fail.  I figured that, if nothing else, telling them that i ran five miles before the exam would count for something. 

I warmed up for about seven minutes covering a little over a half mile.  I still felt good but knew that there would be some issues.  The biggest would be pace.  I knew that my pace would be no better than an eleven-minute mile; it is difficult to watch the pace go by slowly on a treadmill.  However, I find that the treadmill TV has a couple of new channels, and my favorite satellite radio program, "Grumpy Pundents," is on channel 157.  The first kilometer goes by slowly, but I am still feeling good,

5k goes by, and I am now wondering how far I can go.  I am moving at a very slow pace (about 7:08 km) which is frustrating, but I am getting close to the 6km mark, which is as far as I have gone since the accident.  6k comes and goes.  7k comes and I declare the run a success; if added to my warmup I have hit the 5 miles that I wanted to go.  But I still keep going.  At 8k I am starting to wear down somewhat, but "The Grumps" have a great topic on their show, and I am thinking that if I made it to 10km it would be not only something of a landmark, but it would open up a possibility of running a 10km in the near future.  Here we go.

At about 8.5km, I hit the one hour mark, and the treadmill shuts off.  Frantically, I try to get it up and running at my previous pace.  Looking like Mr. Whoopie when he opens up his closet looking for the 3DBB, I am pressing buttons and trying not to look stupid.  I finally get things back online, and I think it helped give me something of a break.  Twelve minutes and 1.5km later, I hit the 10km mark, and once again get that feeling of running accomplishment that had been missing for about eighteen months.

Yes, all I could think about was signing up for my favorite 10k race in November.  And yes, I passed my DOT physical.  You should have seen the look on the assistants face when I told her I ran seven miles this morning.  Yes, that is what I think I have missed the most.

Big Day, My First Outdoor Run in Quite a While

This week has been busy for me, and for all the wrong reasons.  Unfortunately, my mom passed away early this week, so I have needed a good deal of TCB (takin' care of business) time for the rest of the week.  The service was Friday, so we drove up Thursday and stayed at a hotel in my hometown of Windsor Locks, CT.

Friday morning I decided to try a 100% run outdoors, something that hasn't happened since my accident one full year ago.  I had a very good treadmill run Wednesday and it helped alleviate some of the stress associated with losing a loved one.  I thought an early morning Friday run before the services could do the same thing.  I was fairly familiar with the lay of the land, and I knew it was pancake flat and relatively close to the hotel so if I had to abort it wouldn't be a long walk back.  Everything seemed to fall into place.

I was planning on a 25-28 minute run at roughly an eleven-minute pace.  If things go well, maybe I could bump it up to a half-hour, or go for four kilometers.  I decided to warm up on the hotel's treadmill, so about three minutes on that, and then out the door.  A quick walk around the hotel to get the GPS to kick in, and off we go.

The hotel's parking lot led into a Dunkin Donuts parking lot, then I headed south on Old Colony Road.  This road sort of separated the business side of the airport (Windsor Locks is home to Bradley International Airport, the main terminal for the Hartford/Springfield area) with the residential surburbia that I was raised in.  Feeling very good at this point, the pace was right about where I wanted it to be.  I took the first left unto Ash Drive, and suddenly I was transported back in time to a high school or college training run.

My pace slowed somewhat, as my thoughts drifted back about forty years.  "Palm Drive?  That's new."  "Didn't Mary Ann Ingari live on this street?"  "Didn't Pete Wrable on this street?"  "Didn't Judy Van Schelt live on this street"?  "Through the park to Elmwood Drive, or cut through to Denslow?"  At the end of Ash Drive, there is a playground/baseball field where I cut my little league teeth and I decided to cut through and surprise a group of dog walkers.  "Cornwall to Andover," plotting my route with a few fewer memories of friends addresses, so after a brief detour on Trinity (oops, dead end)  I find myself about halfway home on Southwest Ave.  Pace, slow but consistent.

I cross Elm Street unto Woodland Street, a long side street that parallels Elm Street.  Now I am starting to feel like I want to finish.  I hit three kilometers a short distance onto the street, and I know when I finish up on this street, I am almost done.  My thoughts seem to drift to the sixties architecture of the houses and the postage stamp playground on the north side of the street.  Almost there.

I turned back unto Elm Street for the home stretch.  I decide to call it quits at four kilometers, so after passing the condos on Windwood Drive and the clinic my mom used to take me to when I was a kid my Garmin beeps and I come to the end.  2 1/2 miles, 29:22 for a time, which was a pace of 11:43.  Hey, you have to start somewhere.  Why not your hometown?

A few quick thoughts

I had my first over 20 minute run today, 21:27 for 1.87 miles.  I was really sucking it up towards the end, however, I pulled it off.  It's the little things, I guess

I am pleased to report that my new Brooks Glycerin 15s are great.  Nice cushioning, good support, and the fit is outstanding.  Granted, I have only used them on the treadmill, but they seem to be doing the trick.  For what it's worth, I also wore the Louise Belcher running socks that I got for Christmas today, they were also very comfortable.

I am probably going to get into this a little deeper in a future post, but did anyone see the current issue of Runner's World?  There were quite a few changes.  I can not say right now that I am a big fan, but I think I will let another issue come in before posting a complete report.

Hey, where have you been?

It's been a while since my last blog post.  I have been trying to get back to a running system, but unfortunately, my training has not been met with any success.  It has ranged from sporadic walking (smart, but with no real plan), a run\walk combo (smart, but with no real plan), running 3k at the gym after lifting (kind of dumb, but able to adjust the speed to a quick walk), running 5k at the gym (dumb, but most of the time it reverted back to a run/walk thing), and attempting to go out to the bikepath and running 5k, on the assumption that I have does this before (incredibly dumb, but again, it turned into a run/walk session).

Last week I was at Barnes & Noble and came across a book entitled "The Born Again Runner" by Pete Magill.  It is basically a guide for either new or returning runners.  Two things caught my eye right away.  The first point he made was that if you try to go out for a run without building up to it first you will fail so miserably that after about five or six minutes you will be doubled over sucking wind.  Yep, I had this experience.  Well, almost; I only lasted about two minutes.  The second point was that you can build up to the fitness you were formerly at with a training plan that includes a steady buildup of work.  It seems so simple to figure out.

Magill stresses to go at your own pace since everyone has different goals and starting levels.  The training schedules are broken down into several grids, such as new runners, returning runners, level of fitness or activity, competitiveness, and so on.  I decided to try the schedule for returning competitive runners, and start off on week 3, which is a walk/run, alternating a one minute walk with a one minute run.

The training session, much to my surprise, was a complete success.  After 30 minutes of alternating walks with running, I managed to cover about 2.2 miles at average pace of 13:45 (you probably figured that out).  My average heart rate was about 130 bpm, right about where I wanted it.  But most importantly, at the end of the run/walk, I felt very good physically, and I also felt like I accomplished something for the first time in many, many months. 

My next training today will consist of a distance run, 2 x 10 minutes with a three-minute walk in-between.  I would have done it yesterday, but I did not want to push anything to set me back.  So far, so good.  And yes, I would definitely recommend this book, I have only had it for a week and it seems to have all the answers I have been looking for.  Thanks Pete!

A Big Thank You to my Salesman at Marathon Sports in Shrewsbury

Saturday was a big day, it was time to go get new running shoes.  Now I know what you're thinking; "hey, you're not running at all, and you think you can retire a pair of shoes?"  Well, yes and no.  It's true, I have not done any running in a long time.  My Garmin Connect Brooks Ghost 9 meter still reads 86%.  So, yes, I still have about 14% of life (that is about 55 miles), and yes, that 14% is not going to come off in a week's worth of runs once I do get back.

My wife and I were going to visit my daughter at UMass Medical School in Worcester, so I decided it would be a good time to cash in my birthday gift card at Marathon Sports in Shrewsbury, which is about a 15 minute run from her house.   I walked in about an hour before closing to find two other shoppers testing various running shoes and opining on said equipment.  I figured I was in for a wait so, eyes fixed on the running shoe display wall, I dug in and mustered some patience when I was greeted by a smile and a "can I help you?"  I pointed to the other clientele, demonstrating that I was the last in line when Mr. Salesman quickly surmised that everyone is well taken care of and I was "in the blocks."

I told Mr. Salesman that I currently have a pair of Ghost 9s and they were the most comfortable pair of shoes I have ever had and if he could recommend something similar for my next pair of shoes.  "Well," he said, "let's start with the obvious.  Why don't you try a pair of Brooks Ghost tens?  What is your size?"

He brought out the Ghosts and I quickly tried them on.  Mr. Salesman assessed the fit even before I started to walk around.  "They look a little snug.  Are your current pair 10.5's?" he asked.  I told him yes, and that I have been wearing 10.5's since I started running.  "Hmm," you know, the kind of "hmm" that signals some kind of concern.  "I have another Brooks shoe that is similar to the Ghost.  Let me get some in a size 11.  I'll bring out a few other similar shoes you can try on" said Mr. Salesmen, and off to the abyss of the back room he went.

It gave me a little time to think.  No other running shoe salesmen has ever said that the size of my shoes is too small.  Heck, I haven't even realized that my shoes have been too small.  I thought that that cramped feeling was the way it was supposed to be.  Granted, some of my shoes have been more cramped than others, and I can not say that any injury or soreness was caused by shoe size.  Anyway, I guess it couldn't hurt to try a size up and see what happens. 

Mr. Salesmen comes back with a pair of Nikes, a pair of New Balance, and the Brooks that he was referring to, a pair of black Brooks Glycerin 15's.  I tried them on, and, to my amazement, they felt just as good as my old pair of Ghosts, with one exception.  They felt less cramped.  Not too loose.  Not too tight.  My test run around the parking lot went smoothly, again with the shoes feeling fine.  I told Mr. Salesmen how good they felt and he offered to have me try one more pair of shoes, a pair of Hoka One Ones.  (If you are not familiar with running shoes, Hokas look like a cross between a balloon and astronaut boots)  I had a test run, but still the Brooks felt much better.  Sold.

Things started to get busy in store, it looked like a bunch of high school kids came in wanting gear at the last minute, so I really did not get a chance to thank Mr. Salesmen.  And to be fair, I still have not actually had a run in these new shoes, so for all I know they could still be duds.  But I think that Mr. Salesmen went above and beyond to help me out, knowing full well that I am no way any kind of elite runner.  So let me thank you here.  Mr. Salesmen at the Shrewsbury Marathon Sports store, thanks for your helpfulness, patients, kindness, and professional acumen.  See you when I retire these shoes!

Running History 101: Why I Was a Lousy Runner in College.

Back in college, I was a four-year starter on our soccer team.  As you might imagine, training for college soccer included plenty of long distance running.  You might think that if I like running enough to start a blog about it, that I would not have had that much of a problem handling the running aspect of training.  But I did.  I struggled with it nearly every run.

Now you might be saying to yourself, "Soccer.  That's the kind of football that you have to run about six or seven miles per game.  That's the sport with no timeouts.  That's the kind of football that doesn't have twenty-five minutes of commercials after the kickoff."  (Uh-oh, my hatred of football americano is taking me on a dark tangent.  Reboot.  Reboot.)  Well, I had a few things in my favor.  First and most important, I was a goalie.  My training regiment was quite a bit different than the field players and the fact of the matter is I did not need the same VO2 max as the field players.  Second, in college soccer, there is an unlimited substitution, unlike club or professional soccer.  Anyone who needs a quick break can get one.  Third, while the struggle was real, it was not impossible.  The majority of runs I did finish, I just had a great deal of pain to go along with it.

Looking back, I can point to a number of reasons as to why I struggled, some of which were in my control, some of which were not.  Here is a list in no particular order.

1.  Technology, or a lack thereof.  My college years took place in the early eighties.  No smartphones.  No running watches.  No computer programs to access and analyze your running data.  No online forums about running.  No online forums.  No internet.  No computers.  I find that the ability to track and analyze my running data is one of the things that keeps me motivated.  Can I make it up "Acushnet Heartbreak Hill" or "Main Street Hill" faster than I did the day before?  What was my heart rate at the end of five miles?  And, to be perfectly geeky, I am fascinated by the online maps of your runs that your device can generate.  The only data that we could compute back then was approximate pace and time (taking a quick look at the library clock at the start and finish) and distance (getting in a car after a run and re-tracing the route).

2.  Footwear.  As a runner today, I am not only spoiled by the choices I have in running shoes, but I can also go to my local running store and get expert advice from a trained professional about the best type of shoe for my stride and training.  These shoes are able to cushion the runner's footstrike, thus minimizing the overall pain factor and chance for a running-related injury.  Back then, the majority of my footwear budget was focused solely on boots for the soccer pitch.  Running shoes were usually purchased from a bargain bin with absolutely no thought as to fit or comfort.  I would imagine that there were running stores around in the early eighties, however, I do not remember any of them in my area.  Even if I had an idea about running footwear, I am willing to bet that the price tag would have prevented a sale.

3.  "The psychology of short legs." My legs are short.  I walk kind of goofy.  My right foot points out at a slight angle.  Not really a huge deal......unless you think so.  I always figured this was my root problem, the angle and shape of my lower extremities would make any type of running difficult.  So difficult that giving up was sort of, well, expected.  This thought process stayed with me throughout my life; I was always looking for alternative methods of aerobic training.  When I did start running, I was extremely hesitant to run over 5k, thinking that the leg pain would be too much.  Think again.  With a good warmup and cool down, and some adjustments in stride, this was an easy hurdle to overcome.  And speaking of stride........

4.  Stride.  For the reasons mentioned above, my stride was pretty bad.  There was no one around to correct or even adjust it.  There was very little information around to educate myself about improving.  This is one area of running where trial and error just does not cut it.

5.  Stretching pre-run. I think this might have been conventional wisdom back in the early eighties.  Stretching before a run was the best way to warm up the muscles.  Well, we did this as a team, and it didn't work.  Clearly, a more dynamic, active warm-up would have made the body more ready for a run.  Interestingly, if we had games on back to back days, we would do an early morning dynamic warm up, and you could feel it help.

6.  Gear.  My college was based in Southern Maine, right along the coastline.  Our runs took place in the early morning before classes.  The weather varied greatly, and even if we did know what was coming, the gear we had access to was useless.  It was either cheap sweats, or goofy shorts for bottoms, and a windbreaker or a heavy t-shirt for a top.  Any way you played it, it was not comfortable or efficient and made for a grueling run.

7.  Nutrition.  I was in college.  Beer, Captain Crunch, and hot dogs were staples.  There really is not too much more to say here. 

I am glad it is all different today.  Sometimes I wonder what things would be like if I had the tech/swag/knowledge I have today with the twenty-year-old body I had then, but then I start running and calculating my pace, and I am just happy that at my age I can still run. 

My Birthday and a running anniversary

March 19th; not only the anniversary of my birth (57) but also the anniversary of my first half-marathon (1).  The New Bedford Half Marathon was run yesterday, evoking all kinds of strange emotions, so I thought today would be a good day to post an update on my recovery.

I am currently in a type of physical therapy called "work conditioning" or "work hardening."  It is considerably more involved than regular physical therapy.  A typical day consists of a warm-up of a twenty-five-minute treadmill walk, workouts on various weightlifting machines, picking up heavy boxes and either lifting them, lowering them, walking with them, or (in rare cases) dropping them.  There are also some other extras to confuse the muscles, such as climbing up and down stairs, pushing a small box of metal weights, and pushing a makeshift sled with a bunch of cinder block inside of it.  My therapist, Barbara, has a keen sense of trying to mix up the various disciplines to get the maximum effort out of the session and working toward a slow but steady progression.  Barbara is also an accomplished runner; she has qualified for the Boston Marathon this year and has run several marathons in the past.  It is good to know that I can ask her about my recovery "runner to runner."

I have not tried a training run yet; something of a fearful combination of not knowing if I can make a certain pace or distance, being caught under surveillance by the wonderful worker's comp insurance people, and flat out not having any goals to base my training on.  I am hopeful to be both back to work and on the roads again very soon.