After the fiasco that was the Rocket City Marathon, and my lack of recovery since, I am officially bailing on a race I am registered for, the Mississippi Blues Marathon. My first DNS (did not start) is also breaking my string of 14 straight months with at least one marathon finished.
  Now I just need to concentrate on recovering from my injuries so I can race the other marathon I am registered for in the middle of February.

Huntsville, Al
3:27:23
197th out of 1121 finishers
35th in age out of 133
      The people who know/listen to me knew that, at one point, I had planned on this being a PR attempt marathon. In the space of 8 weeks, it went from being a PR attempt to my worst marathon ever. Ugh, it was bad. I was not mentally prepared, physically prepared for what I tried to do, etc. It was just a really bad race.
    Before I start beating myself up, let me talk about who ran this race with me. My good friend and running nemesis, Coach Brian Olsen beat me again. He has been fighting what is believed to be a ‘sports hernia’. He started out strong, and crashed late in the race, but beat me by a massive 24 minutes and got third in his age group. We also ran with 4 of our cross country runners. Their season finished 6 weeks ago, but they kept their shape, did some extra log runs, and ran it just for the life experience. I was tasked with giving them their ‘extra’ marathon training which included every tip and trick I knew. You would think after 25 marathons in 30ish months, I would know what the hell to do. You would be wrong. Sorry, back to the other runners.
     One of our runners, Will D. was suffering from serious knee pain the week before the race. He decided to start the race and get as far as he could. Han managed 10 miles before bailing. Mike D. ran a great race finishing in 3:20. He passed me at about mile 18 when I started to really crash. He looked strong and slowed only near the end and finished 3rd in his age group.

      
    The girls, Hanna O. and Brittney B. however, kicked butt. Both of them have been suffering with serious knee issues for a while. Not only did they finish strong (both crossing the finish at 3:50), but they went 1,2 in their age group, and even negative split (something the other 3 of us failed to do) They ran smart and consistent the whole way. I was so proud of them.  
     Now, the bad news… Moments before the race start I gave last motivational words to my runners and made myself toward the front of the pack. You see, I wanted to break 3 hours, and I was in a great mood, my shin feeling ok and pent up runners energy from not having run at all since my last marathon, 4 weeks ago. Granted I have been working out on an elliptical machine that whole time, but I was still itching to run.
     I went at what I thought was a reasonable pace, mile 1 at 6:36. At mile 5, I was still humming along at 6:41 pace. At mile 7, a group of 10 or so people I had been running with left me behind.  I started to fade, 6:46, then 6:50, then 7 flat. At mile 9 or so Brian showed up. Had been creeping up on me for quite awhile.  He is the most competitive person I have ever met, and has more ‘guts’ than anyone I know. I tried to hang with him for as long as I could, but that was for a little more than a mile. By mile 11, he was gone. I knew he would crash later, and had hope I might get him.
     My pace just got slower and slower. Early in the race, about mile 2, I started getting a familiar pain in the side of my knee, familiar in that I got it for the first time 4 weeks ago in Tulsa. The knee pain did slow me, I know but that is only a part of it. I ‘crashed’ early, like mile 18. I had gotten too cocky. 25 marathons in just over 30 months, and I thought I could do it with little prep. The last week before the marathon I did not do my standard carbo load and Gatorade/water drinking/ taking it easy. No, I was an expert now, right? Wrong. The marathon is not for wimps, and she always will have control. Disrespect her and she will crush you. I learn something in every race I run, and I like to think I remember all those hints. This was my reality check race. Gut check, so to speak.  This one will linger longer and harder in my mind, but not for good reasons. A whole lot of bad news, but as with other negative examples, this was a learning experience for sure.

Ok, So I left my work at 2:30 pm on Thursday, 11/13, and arrived back at my work 2:30pm on Monday 11/17, exactly 96 hours later. In that time frame the following happened…
Miles driven: 1833
Time spent driving: 30 hours
Number of States passed through: 5
Marathons ran: 2
Miles ran: 52.44
Time spent running: 7 hours, 4 min, 3 seconds
Time spent sleeping: Not enough
Mass of ibuprophen consumed: 4000 mg
Total weight lost/gained: 35 pounds
Large Mochas consumed: 12
Different hotels stayed at: 4
Muscles sore: Number of muscles in my body-6, but I am not sure which 6.
New t-shirts obtained: 3

Now THAT was a life experience I will never forget…

Tulsa, OK
3:42:31
171st place overall (out of 1003)

     So I roll into downtown Tulsa at about 5 pm local. My legs are sore, I am dead tired, and so I plan on hanging out at the official race expo as short an amount of time as possible. I think I was there for less than 15 minutes, enough time for me to get my packet, check the chip, walk (quickly) in front of each booth, just in case something was cool, drank 3 glasses of Gatorade at their booth, and I was off to find my hotel. These expos always have the same crap, none of which I need, so I expected to spend as little time as I did.
    A quick check into my hotel, fresh ice applied to my shin, and I was off to Applebee’s for dinner. Fiesta Lime chicken and Blue Moon. Anyone surprised by that has not been paying attention…Back to the hotel, I was in bed by 8pm, tired and sore.
    Race morning was standard (peanut butter sandwich, tea, shower) with the notable exception of a large bag of ice on my shin. It felt worse than when I went to bed, but that was to be expected. I had always planned that if I felt too bad, I could still walk the entire Route 66 race and still finish under the 7.25 hour time limit. Honestly, 2 hours before race start I was still very concerned as to if I was going to be able to finish. Race start weight: 172 pounds.
     So within the last few months, I have become a member of the Marathon Maniacs. An on-line organization of freaks like me who run marathons at a frequency that border on (ha!) maniac. One of the marks of a marathon maniac is the bright yellow racing singlet. This is the first race (weekend) I have had mine, so of course I wore it. During yesterday’s marathon, nobody really mentioned it, but during this race I got several (read: more than 10) people who acknowledged it. I heard ‘Go maniac!’ cheers and every time I saw another runner with a maniac singlet, I did a high 5 with them. It is cool, having sortof a built in cheering squad. I must admit, I like being a member of this organization. The 50 states club is also pretty cool.
   I got to the start line about an hour before race start. Weather conditions really were perfect, about 45 degrees with a small wind, finishing with a temp in the low 60’s. I lined up with the 3:20 pace dude (I had originally planned on doing exactly that, pacing the 3:20 group before I decided to do the double) Turns out, I let him go about 800 meters into the race. :). About 90 seconds before the start, I saw my inspiration (again), Chuck Engle. I went up to him, said hi, and told him that this was my first double weekend (something he does all the time) He congratulates me and tells me that after 4 or 5 miles, my body will get back into the groove, cutting through the soreness. Sure enough, he was right. What a nice guy….
     I plugged along in the beginning, again just trying to run gentle, staying relaxed and not getting upset as people were passing me left and right. At about mile 6, the 3:30 pace group caught me. Knowing how nice it is to run while talking to someone (it makes it go by faster, trust me) I hung with them until mile 19 or so. Since it was a pace group, there were about 20 people running together as a pack. I talked to a whole bunch of people. I should note here, that I told many people during the weekend that I was running two marathons in two days. Each time I got one of two responses. One response was ‘Wow, that is really amazing!’ The other response was (not surprisingly) ‘Wow, you’re a freak’.
    At mile 20, a mere 46+ miles into my weekend, I had to take a walk break. It was short, maybe 400m, but I needed to. I continued to walk fast, pumping my arms, and it hurt the first 10 steps when I started running again, but I just needed to. I alternating running and walking all the way until mile 25. At mile 25, I decided I was running the rest of the race, no matter how I felt. With less than half a mile, the magnitude of my achievement hit me, and I started to cry. It was a happy cry, like the moment your daughter is born. Happy happy joy joy type of tears.
   A hand stand at the finish (every time since Miami, baby!) and I was done. Almost 52.5 miles in a total time of just over 7 hours. There was Chuck Engle at the finish. I got to say hi to him again, and his words of congrats were felt deep. We were steered like cattle through the food tent which had burgers and pizza. With over 1000 marathoners and zillions of half marathoners, the line moved slow. I got through it eventually and headed for the beer line. On everyone’s bib were two little tags for free beer. No joke, they ran out of beer 2 minutes before I would have been at the front of the line. Granted, I finished this race about 50 minutes slower than my standard marathon pace, so I was really bummed to be 2 minutes short of free beer. Oh well.
    I got back in my car and started the 2 day trip back to Michigan. My shins were just a little worse for wear, but that was to be expected. What was not expected was a new pain on the side of my right knee. Again, probably an impact issue. I had said before this weekend that I would go with crutches for 2 weeks if that was the price I had to pay for the double, so this new issue was not unforeseen, unfortunately. Here, 6 days later as I write this, the knee is still an issue and my doctor has essentially said that I am not to run for the next 3.5 weeks (until my next marathon in Alabama) A price I knew I might have to pay, and that is why I am not too upset as I ‘run’ on an elliptical machine now, which gets my heart rate up and gives me essentially the same workout as a normal run, but with no impact. Boring, yes, but at least I can keep my cardiovascular system in tune during this down time. I need that endorphin rush or else I will kill someone.

Moutain Home, AR

3:21:34 (2nd place overall, out of 52)

    So my long 96 hour odyssey started at 2:30 ET on Thursday. A long week for sure up until that point complete with an appointment with my sports medicine doctor telling me I need to be very conscious of what my body tells me when I try to run back to back marathons on a good case of shin splints. My drive started out ok, arriving in Bloomington (~5 hours away) I spent the last 45 minutes of the drive on the phone with Stephanie who had a hard day at work. As I get off the interstate I let her go as I needed to get ready to check into my hotel. She called me back 2 minutes later as I am pulling into the parking of the hotel. She informs me that I seem to have forgotten my suitcase in the living room of the house. I turn around and sure enough, it is not in my car. A plethora of profanity later, and I check into the hotel, sans shaving kit and clothes. The good news is that my running bag with all my running clothes, shoes, etc. did make it into the car (I loaded that one first, priorities you know) so all was not lost. A quick stop at a local Goodwill store and Wal-mart and I was back in business. Chicken wings for dinner and I was in bed by 9 pm.
     Friday morning I got up before the dawn, drove through a Starbucks and headed south past the St Louis arch into the heart of Missouri before I turned south into BFE, also known as northern Arkansas. Surprisingly hilly, the last part of the drive was actually very scenic. I checked into my hotel, checked my email using a community computer (oh yeah, my laptop was also in my forgotten suitcase) and then headed to a local movie theater to see Quantum of Solace. I had forgotten that this Bond flick was sort of a sequel to Casino Royale so I was desperately trying to remember how that one ended. In the end, I thought Quantum was a good flick. Later reviews from my father were also positive, my brother, negative. Oh well.
     Since there was no Applebee’s within 60 miles, I had to settle for dinner at the Las Vegas Fire Grill in Mountain Home for my pre-race dinner. Not being very hungry, I had a small chicken pasta dish that was very spicy but quite good. There was (obviously) a Las Vegas theme to the restaurant, complete with a 10’ x 14’ aerial picture on the wall of downtown Las Vegas at night. What was cool is that that picture, if extended another 1 foot to the right the picture would have shown the hotel I stayed at last December when I ran the Las Vegas marathon. The thought brought a very big smile to my face.
     The race morning ritual went off without a hitch, peanut butter sandwich, tea, shower, head to race start. The weather was cool, mid 30’s, but the wind was 15-20 mph, so that kind of stunk. Those were pretty much the conditions for the whole race, actually. While waiting for the race to start, I was talking with several other runners and met two women from Minnesota who were doing the same double I was. They both ended up finishing both marathons in just over 4 hours each. Right on time, at 8 am we started off. There was a half marathon and 5K all starting at the same time, so it was kind of crowded.
     I have ran more than a few races, and I would say this was one of the most well-supported races I have competed in. At almost every aid station there was (of course) water and Gatorade, but there was also fruit, pretzels, candy and even the occasional Gu pack. I was amazed how much they had for such a small race. By comparison, the next day I ran in a race with 20 times as many marathon runners and they had only ONE aid station that anything but water and Gatorade, and that was only Gu packs.
     Knowing I had ~52.5 miles in front of me, I started off slow with the crowd in front of me. About a mile into the race, I met a really nice 49 year old guy from NW Arkansas, Greg, We start talking and we both are ‘running easy’. About 6 miles in, two running friends joined us. The four of us stayed together for the next 13 miles. Hills, a little hail, a little rain, a lot of wind, we all stayed together. We weren’t really paying attention to our place until we neared the half marathon turnaround point. The two friends remarked that most of the people they thought were in front of us were coming back (meaning, half marathon runners) Once we passed the actual turn around, we realize there is only 1 guy in front of us. Great, I am running easy, and now I am in the 2,3,4,5th place pack at mile 7.5. The race was small, yes (only 52 finishers) and considering what the winning time was I should have easily been able to win this one, but with the shin issues and my next race being 22 hours later, I did not want to push it. The four of us stayed together, and at about mile 12 we came upon a port-o-potty that contained our race leader. Before then, we knew we were catching up on him. As we came upon the port-o-potty, I joked ‘Should we stop and wait for him?’ So now the 4 of us were in the lead, and stayed there, together, until mile 19.5. At that point, the running friends starting pushing the pace, and I picked up the pace. I know what I have in me, and even with the shin splints, I knew I could push it a little bit. Getting a 4th win would have been nice. At mile 20.5, I looked back and I had about an 800m lead on one of the guys. I decided to keep running hard, thinking if I could hold him off for a little while longer, he would give up and then I could go back to my comfortable pace and relax with a win. About a mile later, I turned hoping not to see him, and he was literally 10 feet behind me. I talked with him briefly as he flew by. Turns out, he is the faster of the two and was running slow to stay with his friend. When his friend decided he needed to take a walk break, this guy took off. He looked strong. I asked him if he had ever won a marathon before, he said no. I told him congratulations, please take it. Off he went and I slowed way down, knowing that I was not going to get the win, and that was fine. I was more than happy to roll in with a comfortable second place finish.
     During the race, my feet never got more than 2 inches off the ground. Shin splints are considered an ‘impact’ injury, so I was running as gentle as humanly possible. Each and every step was as soft as I could make it. My shins felt ‘ok’ afterward. I am sure my excitement cut into the pain a little. They were a little worse, but not significantly. This was the first run I had done in (no joke) 2.5 weeks, and I felt pretty good afterwards.
     A quick shower, a huge bowl of homemade chili (yum!!), and a very nice massage helped me recover for the most part. The awards ceremony was not going to be until 2 pm, so I kindly asked the race director (who was wearing a jacket that I also have, the official Boston 2007 windbreaker) for my award. When I explained I needed it because I needed to get to Tulsa by 6pm, she smiled and said ‘good luck’ as she handed my fleece blanket with the Marathon logo upon it. Quite a nice award actually. Salacia loves it as her new blanket.
    I got on the road about 12:30 pm CT, and headed west along state highways. Shins a little worse, and a little tired, but ready for my next challenge. I brought along a bathroom scale just because I was curious. The morning of the race, I weighed (a huge) 175 pounds. After I crossed the finish line (and before I ate any chili) I weighed 160 pounds. A nice workout, losing 15 pounds, eh? I ate plenty to make it back up, have no fear.

      After three years of consistent running (the longest string of my life) I have finally come to terms with my first ‘injury’, a serious case of shin splints that has been bothering me for almost 4 weeks. I have not run really at all for the last 2 weeks, choosing to do bike rides to keep my cardiovascular fitness up. I have been icing it several times a day and yet, the problem does not seem to be getting better. Two days ago I finally got into my sports medicine Doctor and we established the most likely cause, a bad set of running shoes. Great, we solved the source problem, but now we have to get over the outcome of that source problem. Later today I will go in and have a bone scan to see what is going on.
      Why am I even writing about this? Well, mere hours after the bone scan (before we even get the results) I am leaving for my first ‘double’ marathon weekend. Yes,  I am going to Arkansas and Oklahoma for consecutive days of marathons. 52+ miles in two days. I could survive it just fine if I was 100% healthy, but I am not. My sports Doc did not say ‘don’t run’, but he did tell me to pay attention to it. I need to make sure it does not get significantly WORSE, meaning it turning into a real fracture. I will be going slow in the first race and doing a serious evaluation afterwards. If I can’t run the second one, I will volunteer for the race. Who knows, I might walk race #2 as the time cutoff is 7.5 hours. I honestly believe I could walk a marathon in that time. Point of information, the last run I did was two weeks ago. It was an 18 mile run at 7:10/mi pace and my shin felt no worse afterward than it did before or does now. It is because of THAT run I am even making the trip this weekend.
     The PR attempt in December is already out, which is a serious bummer. I need to survive this weekend, as best I can, then get this shin issue put to bed.

Newport, RI
3:07:08 (7:09/mile)
19th overall (out of 610 finishers)
9th in division (out of 160)

Another runner’s blog entry  Elite woman marathon runner’s blog entry

    So, Rhode Island, is not exactly nearby. In fact, to get there from Michigan you need to roll through Ohio, Pennsylvania, Parts of New Jersey and New York, and even the long axis of Connecticut. It ended up being about 14 hours of driving, so I broke it up into two days of driving both ways. As such, I got to the town of Newport about 2 pm the day before the race.
    In the course of this trip I drove to the eastern end of Interstate 80. That means I have now driven (in the last 8 years) the entire 2902 mile length of that interstate, from San Francisco to just outside New York City. Not all at once, mind you. There was a sign in the middle of Pennsylvania that said “highest point along I-80 east of the Mississippi, elevation 2250 feet”. I laughed out loud and sarcastically said to myself ‘Whoopie!’ The 7239’ elevation peak on the other side of the Mississippi is much more beautiful. I have previously done all of I-90 but it will take me a while to knock off I-40…

     A quick stop at yet another unexciting race expo gave me time to take in the local tourist attractions, which in the case of Rhode Island is big yachts, ocean views and really expensive houses (actually, they are mansions, behind huge gates and stone walls) I am what you might call a ‘speed tourist’ in that I can take in many different things very quickly. I stopped by a local state park, did the whole ocean drive thing, and even went by many of the mansions on the official mansion tour. This was old money at its finest. The views of the ocean, I must admit, were not that exciting. This is my 5th marathon along the Atlantic Ocean coast, and ocean vistas never really tripped my trigger. Mountains are my thing, I guess. You can tell this city had been here since the early 1600’s.  The locals I talked to were all very friendly, especially the people I met with respect to the race. The one notable exception would be the young woman working the desk of my hotel. She was not nice.

    Just because I am lucky, there was an Applebee’s nearby and for the third marathon in a row, I had Fiesta Lime Chicken for dinner the night before the race. Delicious, as usual. I have dreams of getting a sponsor for my all my racing, and Applebee’s seems like a natural for a sponsorship I should look into that…
     So I could park for free, I showed up at the race start over an hour before the race. I sat in my car for a while listening to a book on CD that I brought along for the trip and then made my way to the start. As hoped, I met up with the two ladies I saw at Stumpy’s trail marathon (you know, the ones in the picture) and we talked a for a little while and then off to get this thing started.
       The race had a late start, 8 am, and the temperature was a perfect 55 degrees. What was not perfect was the 15 mph wind that we had for the majority of the race. I am not complaining, per se, it was just annoying. The overcast sky added the so-so nature of the course. Oh well. The aid stations were unique in that the people handing out the water and Gatorade were so motivating. Screaming and cheering you on with such vigor, so different from most marathons. Each aid station was run by some organization with one aid station at about mile 16 having ~20 people dressed in Halloween costumes, and these were serious Halloween costumes. Darth Vader (full regalia), a bishop, numerous ghouls and witches, it was awesome. They looked out of place holding glasses of Gatorade and water screaming ‘You’re doing great! Keep it up!’
    The first half of the course was mostly along the water’s edge, the last half mostly inland running along residential streets, sometimes by large beautiful mansions, sometimes by boring single family homes. Not the most exciting course, but not the lamest, for sure. This marathon again being just another long training run allowed me to relax and enjoy the day. I never ventured more than 3 seconds off my goal pace for the entire race, finishing within 1 minute of my goal time. That is what you call consistency. At mile 25, you run a ways along (no joke) Purgatory road. You know someone did that on purpose…
   The post race festivities were actually kindof cool. There was no wait on the 10 massage beds laid out, so I actually got both of my legs massaged at the same time by two young ladies who were just waiting for more customers. That was the best post race massage I have ever received in my life. My legs felt great afterwards, honestly. No sore quads whatsoever. The only pain I have is the shin issue I started the race with, which only got a little worse. The food was catered and delicious. High end pasta, pizza, and (apparently) really good clam chowder. I hate chowder, so I didn’t partake, but everyone said it was great.
    Another memorable trip, for sure. Next up, my first double in the middle of November. That will be fun, for sure…

     So most times when you run a marathon, you get a medal for finishing, no matter what your place. Marathon freaks like me then tend to have quite a collection. People do many different things with theirs, like hanging them on the antlers of a mounted deer head, hang them on a door knob, or even worse, put them in a drawer, but no, not me. See, I am proud of my marathon running. Is not the whole PR tattoo thing telling of that?

    Well, meet Murphy the marathon finisher medal holding sculpture. Murphy ( Marathon Running PHinishers medal) has all my finishers medals epoxy’d to his wood body (3/4″ plywood with alumnimum bar bracing on the back) and my age group awards are epoxy’d to the base. When I built him earlier this fall, I used the finishers medals I had to judge how big I would have to make him. With my huge dreams, I had to make him rather tall (see second picture for size reference)

     In case you were curious, I do think about where to put each medal. The ‘head’ location is very precious. The 4 that are currently there are all significant, including 2 of my marathon wins, Boston, and my very first marathon.

     Let me know what you think!

8 year old girl for size reference:

Corning, NY
3:09:53 (7:15/mile)
41st place overall (out of 550)

Another runners blog entry

      My parents, bless their souls, were very smart to raise me the way they did. One of the many ‘good’ things they did for me was teach me that experiences were much more valuable than physical objects. Me and my siblings grew up in an upper middle class house but lived (for the most part) a middle class lifestyle. What we got in exchange was travel. In my youth I got to travel all over the country. So much so, that by age 25, I had visited all 50 states, many of them more than once. It is in that vein that I truly love to travel, especially by car. When I started this marathon thingie a few years ago, I got to merge some passions with my lifestyle. I got to mix my love for travel with my obsession and ability for running marathons. 22 marathons is just over 2 years, in 17 different states is a testament to that. This marathon trip is a perfect example of just such a marriage.

      I left 2 days before the race to enjoy the trip. The race was on Sunday, but I left on Friday afternoon, stopping late Friday night in Hamburg, NY. On Saturday morning I did the quick trip up to Niagara Falls. I had not been here for a few years and it was (as usual) beautiful. Then, I decided to take in some culture. Stopping at a Buffalo Starbucks early Saturday morning, I talked to a very nice employee and he let me know that there are a few art galleries in town. I did some research and sure enough, there was an awesome art gallery (with lots of abstract stuff, which I love including a Jackson Pollack) so I took that in as well. A quick drive to Corning, NY on Saturday afternoon got me to the marathon check in/expo (unexciting, honestly) and then I hit the Corning Glass Museum to round out the ‘tourist’ part of my marathon trip.

     I ate dinner at a local Applebee’s (which seems to be a standard for my night-before-marathon dinners) and met 3 women who were planning on running the 3 person marathon relay. It turns out one of them got diagnosed with a stress fracture mere days ago so the third leg will be split by the other 2 runners. At the first transition point (9 miles in) I saw two of them waiting for their teammate. I sacrificed the 15 seconds to stop and say hi to them. They were still all smiles.
      Race morning I stood outside my hotel room for 10 minutes at 5:30 am trying to decide what clothes to wear for the run. It was about 40 degrees, and I ultimately decided that shorts were not the right choice. I was not racing, so I wanted to be comfortable, so running pants it was. After a 30 minute bus ride up to Bath, NY and I had about 30 minutes to hang out. The temperature stayed crisp, and the fog was very dense.
     Since I am shooting for a PR in Alabama in December, I decided right before race start to run a 3:10 (7:15 pace) because that is what my training schedule calls for. I set my GPS watch, wished some nearby runners luck, and we were off.
     About 0.6 mile into the race I met Dovid (no, not a typo. He is the guy in that really crappy finish picture above. Sorry, it was my cell phone) from New York City. He lets me know he is shooting for a Boston Qualifying time, which for him was (ha-ha) 3:10. We start chatting and next thing you know, we decide we are going to run together for a while, and we end up staying next to each other the entire race. We talked about where we grew, up, or respective running history and stories, marathon and other. It really was a pleasant conversation, making the miles fly by for both of us. He was born in the Bronx, grew up on Long island, now lives in Queens and works in Manhattan. He said he has never lived more than 20 miles from downtown NYC.

    At about mile 15, a group of 3 guys (all from Philadelphia) caught up to us, and sure enough there is another guy trying to qualify for Boston. They remark to me that they have seen me for a while and hate the fact that I am not sweating that bad and my form is smooth and relaxed. They are jealous when they realize how slow I am running this. So, I became an unofficial 3:10 pace group leader.  At about mile 20, everyone pretty much stops talking except me. They were starting to get weak and I started playing full time cheerleader. Getting them to relax their arms, keep their heads up, etc. As the assistant cross country coach at JCC, I have lots of practice yelling at runners, but they are usually only for short periods of time as my athletes run by me. It is different when you are running with them. I have thought before about being an official pace group leader at some of the bigger races I run. Today, I decided I definitely want to do that as it was way fun, especially seeing those two guys achieve their goal. It made me feel like a first time Boston qualifier all over again.
     The fog stayed with us for almost 20 miles. At mile 6 the view was literally picture perfect. We were on a lonely stretch of road, with farm land on both sides. We were running towards the sun, but visibility was only about 400m. The runners in front of us were literally silhouettes disappearing into the distant abyss. It was totally awesome.
     Post race food excellent (pizza and soup along with standard post race fare) and I defied my rule, eating 3 pieces of pepperoni pretty much right afterwards (after a bottle of water) What I thought was post race rot-gut due to eating solid food is (new evidence says) actually from consuming too much sugar afterwards. With lots of water, I can eat solid food right after a race, well a race that I run a 3:10 in :).
     After a short walk and shower, my legs felt fine. Here, 10 hours later (after a 8 hour drive) my legs feel almost normal. I massaged them as much as I could while driving and every time I stopped. My double in November seems more possible.
     This ranks up there as one of the most memorable marathon trips I have ever taken. Great tourist stuff the day before, a fun race, it was awesome.

So a while ago I realized that I seem to be a marathoner. I enjoy the distance much more so than shorter 5 and 10K’s. The mistique of the marathon is what draws me to it I think. People respect the distance and I am good at it so…

Last year I decided to be creative in my personal quest and got a ‘PR’ (personal record) tattoo. Putting my ever diminishing marathon PR on my ankle. To add to it, the words ‘Rejoice! We Conquer! is placed below the numbers. This is in reference to the man whom the marathon is in honor of, Pheidippides, who said those words right before he died.

I set a new PR back in April at the Kentucky Derby Fesitival Marathon and thought about getting my new tattoo then, but I got cocky. I felt great that day and had not really trained specifically for that race. It was just good weather, nice pacers, and me feeling well that resulted in such a great race. I decided to wait a few months to see if I could beat that new PR before I got the tattoo to save me some time and $$ at the tattoo parlor. Well, I still have not broken it, and it was time to get it done.

See, for the first time in 1.5 years, I am actually focusing on a future race. In December, I am running the Rocket City marathon in Alabama. I am actually training for it, following a training schedule and everything. Yes, I am running 4 other marathons between now and then, but those will be treated as long training runs only. December is the attempt. I figured I am not going to break my PR until I get the darn thing put on my ankle, so that is why I finally broke down and did it. As you can see the ‘Rejoice! We Conquer!’ portion looks new, but it is not. When I got the new time placed on, my tattoo guy went over it again as it was starting to fade. We decided to leave the old time to fade, because that was a cool effect. As my PR’s slowly grow up my ankle, the older times fade into the past. Cool symbolism there, eh?