2006: The Year in Running

For Lisa, 2006 was a banner year for her. She began running in March and was able to complete her first 10K only a month later (Pike's Peek, Rockville, Maryland). She continued to build on that and finished her longest race to date, the PriceWaterhouseCooper Half Marathon in September. She topped this off by being one of the 16,000 finishers in the Army 10 miler is October.

Things were a little more bumpy for me. I was super motivated to start getting back into shape with perhaps an optomistic goal of setting a sub-3 hour PR in the Columbus Marathon in October. Things seemed to be on target through the end of August, but I quickly found that unlike when I was younger, things tend to break a little easier than they used to. An Achilles tendinitis forced me to stop running for 6 weeks. Fortunately, it did seem that rest was the elixir, and I gingerly started back by running the Army 10 miler with Lisa in October. I cancelled the Columbus Marathon, but was able to slowly build my mileage back up over the next few weeks and ran the Philadelphia marathon in the end of November. I ran the best race that I could under the circumstances but my 3:16.14 left me 15 seconds over the qualifying time for Boston. I sent in my application anyway, and the powers that be were kind enough to let me slip in. This has done a lot to keep me motivated- I want to run a good race in order to justify my entry, when I line up in Hopkinton on Patriots Day in April 2007. It's the end of December, and I feel like I'm back in the shape I was in before my injury. We'll see what happens over the next 3.5 months...

Running: Week minus 18 and 17 training summary*

*weeks until target marathon (Columbus)

Week -18:
Mon: off
Tues: Run Track 12x400 w 200m recovery (range 77-89 sec; median 85) 6m; Avg HR 167; Max 193
Wed: Bike (spin) 40 min (3m equiv)
Thur: Off
Fri: Run (indoor track) pace; 48 min (approx 6 m+); avg HR 172; Max 191
Sat Bike (spin) 3 mile equiv HR avg 153/max 164
Sun: Run 14 m Bethesda-Union Station w excursion around monuments and East Capitol; Avg HR 156 (Approx 2 hrs)

Total miles :32

Week -17:
Mon: Run 3m easy
Tues: Off
Wed: Bike (spin) 35 min (3 mile equiv)
Thur: run track 12x200 w 200 recov. (34-40; 36 median); and 2x400 (80,82)
Fri: Off
Sat: Bike (road) 30 miles (8mile run equiv): approx 2hr, rock creek park
Sun: Run 16m KenGar north (approx 2 hours)

Total Miles 35

Weekly mileage has climbed above 30 for first time, w long run of 16

Running: week 19 training summary*

19 weeks until target marathon (Columbus)*

Mon-4m easy
Tues- Spin 30 min (3m equiv)
Wed-6m moderate
Thur- 6m, intervals on treadmill (thunderstorm). 14 x"400" (6min pace, level 10, 90 sec) with 90sec recovery
Fri-off
Sat-off
Sun-5m (5k Race 19:20, 6:15 pace)

Weekly Miles: 24. A bit on the low side, but did race on Sun instead of long run. I'm slowly getting used to speed, as it has been many years since I've done any consistent interval training or run any race shorter than 10k

Race to Replace (my old marathon PR)

Primary Objective: marathon PR ( under 2:59)
Secondary Objective: Qualify for 2007 Boston Marathon (3:15)

Target Race: Columbus Marathon (OH) October 15, 2006
Weeks Until Race: 18+
Why Columbus: flat, fast. Two previous PRs set there (3:07, 2:59). Medium sized race- not crowded, but good support, lots of people to run with.

Why try?
1. Motivated by Lisa's newfound interest in running
2. Not getting any younger
3. Survived my first "chronic" injury ( hamstring) resulting from idiotic training (or lack thereof) for marathons...need to get more discipline
4. Metabolism is slooowwwing down
5. My version of a mid-life crisis

Race times (PR/Recent time)
5K 16:55 (1986); 19:20 (2006)
10K 36:10 (1986); 40:20 (2006)
10 miles 1:03 (1987); 1:10 (2006)
Marathon 2:59 (1998); 3:17 (2004)

Status of current training: 20-25 miles/week; 14 miles- current long run (7:50 pace).

Experienced Marathon Training Program with the Montgomery County Road Runners Club begins mid-July...

Running with the MCRRC

I managed to roll out of bed at 730am this past Sunday to meet up with the Montgomery County Road Runners Club (MCRRC) at Ken-Gar Park in Kensington, MD. Although I plan to run in their Experienced Marathoners Training Program which begins in July, I thought it would be worth coming out to meet some of the other runners who get together every weekend to put in long runs. I jogged down to the park which is a mile from our house for a warm up. Another MCRRC training program, the First Timer's Marathon (FTM) Training Program was already in full swing. There were probably a good 50-60 runners at the park when I arrived. The runners divided up into pace groups based on their current level of fitness ("there's a place for every pace" is the FTM's motto. I joined up with a pace group of 6 other runners, where we averaged 7:50 miles for 10 miles. Our actual pace was around 8 min miles for most of the run, but an enthusiastic 6:25 final mile skewed things towards the faster side.

Ken, one of the runner's in my pace group happened to have a cooler full of beer left over from a party the previous day, that he broke out to share with the other runners (unsanctioned by the MBRCC of course) so I hydrated myself with a Corona, met many of the others who had gotten this beautiful spring morning off to an early start, and jogged home.

All before 10 a.m.

Pikes Peek 10K

[Pics: Who keeps moving the finish line? Lisa wins award for biggest smile at finish; being congratulated by the gecko; metro ride back]

Lisa and I ran the Pike's Peek 10K in Rockville, Md. this morning. It was Lisa's 1st race since she started running in earnest. She was a bit nervous at the start only having run longer than 6 miles once before the race, as well as because her training had suffered over the last couple of weeks due to severe allergies. However, once the race started, she found the going was easy and finished quite comfortably in the goal time that she had projected for herself.

Although I didn't set the road on fire, I ran a respectable time.

Boston Marathon 2006

Last Monday was Patriot's Day in Massachusetts and Maine. This holiday commemorates the first skirmishes between America and Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War. It also serves as the official date of the Boston Marathon. This race has been dominated by Kenyans over the last decade, and this year was no exception. Benjamin Maiyo set off at a suicidal pace, and at the half-way mark, was 2 minutes faster than Cosmas Ndeti's Boston Marathon Open Men's Record set in 1994 (2:07.15) [as an aside, I named my first cat, Cosmo, in honor of Ndeti (not Cosmo Kramer as most people thought). Ndeti also inspired me to train for and qualify for the 100th running of the Boston Marathon, that I can say I was a part of, in 1996]. Even more amazing was that he wasn't alone. Fellow Kenyan Robert Cheruiyot and naturalized American Meb Keflezighi trailed desperately not too far in his wake. Maiyo eventually faded to finish second to a charging Cheruiyot, who set the new men's record by one second in 2:07.14. Keflezighi ran his own personal best to finish 3rd, and lead a contingent of Americans who took the 4th and 5th positions as well. Having that many Americans in the top 5 was the first time that has happened since the early 1980's.

NYC Marathon 2006: Yin vs Armstrong?

I started running again this year in an attempt to harness eternal youth. In this regard, I decided to apply to the NYC marathon to be held in November, 2006. This race is a massive circus with 30,000+ runners, essentially a 26.2 mile parade around the 5 boroughs of NYC. Like running the Boston marathon, its a pilgrammage many runners feel like they must try to do at some point. Unlike Boston, where there is a qualifying time that must be met before one can apply, Entry into the NYC marathon is a lottery with people all over the world trying to get one of the coveted race numbers. I was somewhat surprised when my on-line application automatically announced I had received one of these sought out spots. My initial plan was to run a marathon in October (Columbus?) and to run NYC for fun in November. However, I am considering delaying my entry (which you can do) til 2007, in order to run it with a couple of friends. Rick and Kara live and run in NYC where they are attempting to obtain guaranteed entrees for 2007 by running a minimum number of NY Road Runners Club sponsored races.

However, my ultimate decision may be influenced by Lance Armstrong's announcement that he would be running this year's NYC marathon. Said Armstrong: "I had initally planned to run Chicago, but when I heard Phil was running NYC, I decided to do it instead. I felt that I owed it to the sport of distance running to give them this match-up that they have always dreamed about. I feel racing against Phil in a marathon would be a rivalry equal to the one I had with Jan [Ullrich]." -www.SI.com

Piece of Cake 10K

(Don and Erica showing their early season form)





I joined the Montgomery Road Runners Club this year, something I've procrastinated doing since Lisa and I moved to Maryland in 2003. Lisa has also started running for the first time and will likely join as well. This race was one of their club series races to commemorate the MCRRC birthday. It was held on a crisp morning in late March, on a rolling course in Seneca Creek State Park, MD. Although I had run several marathons over the last couple of years, my 'minimal training' program left me hobbled with my first chronic injury that, like the spirits that haunted Ebeneezer Scrooge, warned me of the horrible toll that age would take on my body if I kept up the abuse. When I was finally able to start running again in February, I swore I would change my evil ways.

This was my first 10K in 2 years;as my legs screamed for more oxygen, I couldn't help but wonder ab0ut how narrow my coronary arteries had shrunk after 30+ years of McBurger abuse. I finished with a respectable time, but more importantly my heart didn't explode. I would live to run another day.