A not too brief history of my running, I got on a roll.

I became a runner in 1977 when I joined the junior varsity indoor track team and realized immediately that I would never be a sprinter but I likely running distance. I ran the two mile indoor race, very slowly. I do not remember my finishing times, but I was almost always that last one across the finish line. I was 15, and liked running. The training runs included 6 and 8 mile loops up Heart Break Hill, and around the Chestnut Hill Resevoir on the Newton /Brookline line. I was a sophomore at Newton North High School, the running craze was huge, and my family would watch the Boston Marathon on Comm. Ave, near Braeburn Country Club, on farther along near the Newton City Hall.

My dad thought that sports would be good for his nerdy younger son (my brother was more of a natural athlete). I remember what a big deal it was when my dad brought me to Quin's Sports Shop (I think that is what it was called) to buy my first pair of running shoes. They were Addidas Country, white and with green trim, leather, and they cost an unbelieveable $30.00. I ran just one season of indoor track, but I saw myself from that moment on as a runner.
For the next 8 years I was a bicycle racer, and I lived on my bicycle. Then after college I did not have time to race, or train or even ride my bicycle. Flash forward and I am 30 years old. I am overwieght, and out of shape and on a day hike with my wife and our friends. We start running up and down the trail jsut goofing around. I looked my wife and I wife and said "I have to run. I need to buy a pair of running shoes and start running. But I don't know if I will be able to do this unless I try." We had very little money so the idea of buying a pair of running shoes to see if I could be a runner was a bit a leap.

Bang! I became a runner again. After a 15 year break I was running again. I ran most summers, and stopped in the fall when it got dark and cold. In 1996 I ran my first road race a 5K. My race goals were simple, do not finish last, and break the 10 minute mile. I was not last, and averaged a 9:27 pace.

In 1997 I ran two road races. In 1998 I ran 8 races and in 1999 I ran a dozen races including the Cape Cod Marathon. I thought that I would run one marathon a year but life gets in the way some times.

November 2002, I had just turned 40, my mother had died in September after a long battle with cancer, and again I was really overwieght again and out of shape. I had avoided a few of my favorite races that year because I did not want to know how slow I had become. My clothes were tight and my job was just burying me. My son was 2, and my wife and I were getting more confident in our ability to raise him. I decided that exercise (running and going the local Y) had become a priority. My wife and I had also decided to join weight watchers in January.
I started running again that December. With the support of my running friends and a desire to run a fall marathon I worked out pretty hard. Weight Watchers was a godsend for me. When I joined weight watchers I was up to 195 (I had been down to 170 when I ran the Cape Cod Marathon) I lost weight quickly. By February I ran a PR in a local 10 miler that I had been running for years. By the end of April 2003 I had lost 40 lbs.. I was running PR's in all of my races. Weekly speed training became apart of my regular work out routine.

It has been quite a ride for me. I qualified for Boston at Hartford in 2003 with a time of 3:09:36. I ran Boston last year in the heat in 3:20:42. I ran Hartford again in 3:09:01 (I went out hard and fast to break three hours, crashed and burned), and now I am running Boston again in 5 days.

A Fast Five Two Weeks Before Boston

It really is two weeks til Boston. I just stepped out for a five mile jaunt more to burn some calories than for any desire to train. When I train I am very disciplined, and when I taper - I really taper. That said I had a great run tonight. It was 42 degrees and mostly clear. I have been a walking zombie for much of today, but tonight's run really brought me back.

Work is insane these days. I am the greenhouse manager for an herbaceous perennial nursery in Deerfield, and it is still too cold to put plants outside, but our greenhouses are full. We make room by shipping plants out to our customers, often begging them to take the plants early. Of course we will soon be on the phone with a number of growers explaining that their plants are on the way, but delayed. Every week I go through my crop schedule and decide what plants need to be planted now, and what can wait. Besides the greenhouses the farm has 35 + acres of field grown perennials. The field is my biggest customer in 8 weeks I have to deliver about 500000 plants to the field. We are propagators. We grow small plants and sell them other nurseries that will pot them up and sell them to garden centers.

That is my life. Work, play with Ben, and run. Occasionally see my wife when we are not working.

Balance is what life is about. When I find some I will post its secret here.

Good night.

Two Weeks Til The Boston Marathon and It's Time to Taper

I have not posted any thing in four weeks, so a quick update is required. I feel better prepared than I did when I made my last post. I have run 2 more 20 mile runs and the New Bedford Half Marathon over the last three weekends. Sunday I will go out for 12 miles, if Mill Village Road is not washed out ( four inches of rain is predicted).

Last year my number in the Boston Marathon was 4540, this year I ran Hartford 35 seconds faster and my number has improved to 4144. The official race information has arrived that includes a postcard that I have to bring to the race expo to retreive my number and chip. I am getting excited about the marathon. I hope the weather is not insane.

At the New Bedford Half Marathon I had a great day and ran a PR time of 86:19. This was unexpected and really wonderful. My pace was 6:35 per mile, which strikes me still as hard to believe. The great thing about this race for me was that I was not trying to run a specific time. I wanted to run the best race that I could, and I did. I ran a very measured race, and found my self running strong and fast through mile 12. I now believe that I can run a PR at Boston and I am going to keep my goals simple.