More on the Jones-Town and Country

Here are some funny observations on yesterday's 10 miler. The race was won by local speed god Paul Low. He won the race easilly in 53:30. Under the heading of speed is in the eye of the beholder, Paul Low said, "It was so slow at the beginning." He lead the pack through the first mile in 5:27.

There were 361 finishers, first male was Paul Low, first female his wife Kelli Lusk in 1:03.09.

The turn out was low. It was clear, cold and windy day. The course is all about hills with three steep climbs in the last mile. This race is a must do for me. I love the course because you can not just run it. The course begins fast with a mostly down hill run over two miles, then a very steep mile up hill followed by two more miles of mostly up hill running. Miles six and seven are fast mostly down hill. Mile 8 is an up and down stretch. Mile 9 has a good long up hill in the last third. Then the final mile has three short steep hills, with a down hill finish in to the Wildwood School parking lot.

Post race is always the best part of a race, especially if the race went well. A piece of pizza, a yogurt, a powerade, and a small bowl of soup waited for the finishers. Then came shared race moments with friends and strangers.

Jones-Town & Country 10 Miler

It is an amazing gift that you have if you can line up on a starting line in February for a ten mile road race with the assumption that you will finish. Most people can not do this. So if you can, you really have no reason to get all wigged out because you did not finish as fast as you wanted to. We are all guilty of this. Once you can run a 10 mile race, you want to run it faster. And once you have run 10 miles fast, it seems to be the end of the world if you do not match or exceed your performance next time.

Fast is relative of course. I heard too many people say today, "I ran really fast, for me." For me. There should be no need for the apologetic acknowledgement of one's own accomplishments. You know if you ran fast, it should not matter that your definition of fast and another's definition are so far apart. I have run the Jones-Town & Country 10 Miler six times in the last seven years. It is one of my favorite races, and I have many times run great races there . Great is not what it used to be. Today I ran a good race. I have gotten faster over the last two years, so that a fast run today could not hav been imaged two years ago.

Right now I am sore, and exhausted. In seven weeks, bring on Boston.

Ben at Bushnell Park playing with Lisa while I ran the Hartford Marathon. 

Thoughts Before A Long Morning on the Road

Sunday morning 5:20A.M. (yesterday)

Do I really want to do this? It's cold out. It is warm in bed. I should go out. Yhea, right. Must do long run. Ben will be up soon. Can not wake up Ben.

It is dark out. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Press red button on Braun coffee maker. Italian Roast from Trader Joes. Brain beginning to function. Coffee good. Oatmeal in crock pot since last night, perfect after seven hours.

Okay, I am up. Am I really going to do this? 8 degrees outside, 65 inside. Time for breakfast.
Oatmeal with bannana, and brown sugar. Gatorade. Pack up a Power Bar and more Gatorade for the run. More coffee. Good thing I laid my clothes out last night, and ground the coffee. The weather guys said 10 dgrees. It is ten outside. I have synthetic every thing on today (except for the Smart Wool socks). Two pairs of tights, cool max shirt, Bergeline long sleeve, Hind long sleeve, wind proof top, and another pull over. Gloves, synthetic balaklava, wool hat and scarf.

This will be worth it. I hope it is worth it. Yhea, it's worth it.

Open the front door, step out side and turn on the Garmin. 6:40 A.M. It's cold, but here I go....

This is me

Hartford Marathon, October 2004
I am trying to get this picture in my profile. Until I do, this is me.

Nine Weeks to Boston

Yesterday I got off my second 20 miler in two weeks with a solo run to Amherst and back. I headed off just after dawn and ran on slippery roads through a thick snow squall. This is a flat course that ran one morning last summer. It is a good run when you want to check away from all that country road solitude that I usually run with.

I do most of my runs solo, including the long runs. I could not have made these runs a few years ago, simply because I used to get wigged out running alone for so long. The Amherst - Northampton railtrail was my running course of choice for long runs, I like to see that there other humans out there. I must be gettings older or something, but I no longer mind the three plus hours of solitude that my long runs provide.

I just got in from a 4.5 mile run around town. I headed out a little after 10:00 PM, and ran out to North Main Street to Routes 5&10, and back. There was a fresh layer of snow on the ground and a freezing ran was coming down. By the time I got home the rain had become heavy. Slippery cold and wet, it does not get any better. My late night roads are slow. I can deal with this.

Wednesday night I have board meeting with my running club, the Sugarloaf Mountain Athletic Club. Pizza, upcoming races and awards for the most improved runners come out. The web link to SMAC is http://www.sugarloafmac.org/ .

First 20 down, and 10 Weeks to Go

Running brings to mind the gifts we are given in life. For me running keeps me balanced in the rest of my life. Three hours out or even 35 minutes around town and my crazy existence becomes makes sense. Work creates stress, and running releaves it.

I ran my first 20 miler of the year yesterday with my friend Donna. We ran a hilly route through Deerfield in excelent weather. The temperature was about 25 at the beginning of the run , and pushing 40 by the end. No frozen Gatorade at the end of this run. Our pace was fast, steady and felt good for the whole run. More than logging time and distance it was great to share perspectives on running and training with another runner who is as serious about her running as I am with my own.

It is ten weeks from the Boston Marathon, and I will try to pack in 5 more twenty milers in the next 7 weeks. Six 20's have been the core of my marathon prep for my last two marathons. The plan is simple. Train the distance, run at least half of the long runs fast. I am not a person to plan out intervals, tempo runs and long slow runs in advance. A typical training week for me is this:
Monday - Think about running.
Tuesday - 5 to 6 miles around either before work and late night. Run slow because I am usually tired at night. Pace likely to be 6:35 to 9:35 miles.
Wednesday-See Tuesday.
Thursday - Speed work- This my tread mill time at the Greenfield Y. I will run 7 to 11 miles on the treadmills in 50 to 75 minutes. I also do a around on the nautilus loop. Once a week I do not mind running on a treadmill. The secret for me to enjoy the treadmill is to go fast enough that if I slip I'll be tossed into brick wall and killed instantly.
Friday - See Monday or Tuesday.
Saturday - 4 to 10 miles, slow because I am running long the next day.
Sunday - 16 to 24 miles. These are often the fastest runs that I will do all week (except for Thursday). I do about half my long runs under an 8:00 pace.

This is basically my running program. In the summer instead of the Y I run in a weekly 5K training race (then I will run the course one or two more times). My weekly summer mileage is higher than my winter running goals. Last summer I topped out my weekly mileage at 62 miles, in the winter I will not likely get about 55 miles. Most weeks will be bellow 50 miles.

Here I am about to head out for a 16 run on an 8 degree morning two weeks ago. 

Baby It's Cold Outside

This is how I dress when the temperature drops to 10 or less.

Running On

I had a long day of gettting little done at work today after I offered to bring the company truck to the dealer's service center in Westminster, VT (an hour's drive). The plan was simple:
1. Drive truck to shop for service.
2.Bring about 2 to 3 hours of work with me so that I could waite for the truck to be finished.
3.Be back by noon.
I should have just bagged it all early and called for a ride. At 5:30PM my boss picked me up because the truck had to stay for a computer issue. Oh well. Let's talk about running.

It should be a four day running week this week. I managed about 5.5 miles late night on Tuesday.

Tonight after work and a quick bite to eat with the family I headed to the Y for my Thursday night work out. I ran 10.9 miles in 75 minutes. For me this was a really great run. I imagined running the Boston Marathon, which I will do this April (ran it last year for the first time). My imagined run was absolutely wonderful with none of the pain and fatigue of the real thing.

Training is going well. My Thursday night tread mill runs have been fast, solid workouts. My Sunday runs have been done diligently, and this past Sunday's 18 miler had some moments of speed, I have not been in my groove for a long run in this training cycle. Maybe tonight is sign that things are about to turn around.

I am slowing learning how to post pictures to the web, and to this Blog. I still do not understand the process well enough. The picture of me in Holland was supposed to be in my profile. It is close.

I signed up for the Jones Town and Country 10 miler in Amherst. This is a great race that comes on the final Sunday of February. My goal is to finish in 66 minutes. The course is very hilly, and ends with a final two miles of mostly up hill running. Before the Boston Marathon I will run the 10 miler, the New Bedford Half-Marathon, and the Ron Herbert 8 miler. Should be fun.