~Philadelphia Marathon 11/23/08~

[lourodrigis]

Steve - Thanks. Sorry about the foot. Have fun with the yard works. That sand is your tax dollars at work.

Mike - Thanks. I here you about running in the heat. I'll probably start running very early starting next week to avoid as much heat as possible.

Cindy - Thanks. Glad you got a chance to enjoy some rest. Don't work too hard.

Jodi - Thanks. Can't wait to hear the war stories from the ultra. Just get pumped up tomorrow and remember the movie quote below if you get tired...

"Now remember, if things look bad and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. 'Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That's just the way it is." - Josey Wales
Memorable quotes for
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)​

I love the IMDB web site.

Sara - Thanks. Good luck with the LR or race this weekend. Hope you are injury-free soon.

Yes, it's the big 4...0 today. Being 40 hasn't hit me yet. DW and I went to Buddakan (Asian fusion) in A.C. (Pier @ Caesars) last night. Buddakan is a trendy restaurant in Philly that we love and they just opened one in A.C. It was nice but the atmosphere in Philly is better.

The allergies are in full swing now. I spent yesterday in a complete allergy haze. It will be interesting to see how I feel after the 20K. Despite the alleries it will be fun to run around Philly and into Franklin Field.

 

[SilverE]

Lou:

Happy Birthday!

Wow, man--40? Starting your 5th decade on this planet? Geez, you aren't a kid anymore--take it easy with all that running; you are just asking for a hip replacement. Just kidding; you are as young as a spring chicken--I am an entire 14 months older than you.

Glad you had a nice b-day night out with your DW. Now, go hammer that 20K; show those whipper-snappers that 40-somethings "got some skillz" (as those pesky kids would say! )

 

[CynthiaCindy]

Good luck tomorrow Lou and Jodi!

Sara - I hope whatever run you did today went well.

Mike - looks like we're going to be getting wet. I'll be looking for your hurt your eyes WISH gear. I'll be wearing the same blue hat I wore to the National Half - I can't wear my new WISH visor because of my stupid hair issues. I'm probably going to race it tomorrow because I am stupid and want to try and get a medal. Only the top 100 finishers get one. Apparently there are over 280 people registered for the half, so its not likely, but . . .

Matt is definitely a slave to the 18 miles. He is doing a different schedule than I am with only a 2 week taper and he doesn't want to deviate from it at all. He is also nervous about hurting his knee/hip again, so is trying to be careful, I can understand that.

Gotta go, dinner is ready.

 

[Theta]

Good Morning from Boston!

We arrived yesterday morning and we are checked into our hotel, the Westin Copley before at 11:55 a.m. The Westin is connected to the Copley mall, the Prudential and the Hines Convention center where the expo was held. We headed over the the Cheesecake Factory in the Prudential building and had lunch. It was great but there was way too much food. Then we walked over to the expo. DH picked up his race pack and the famous Adidas poster with all the runners names on it and we looked around a bit. DH will probably head back today to look for a t-shirt. I was disappointed because they didn't have any marathon mugs. We have been collecting mugs from all the marathons we have done, 7 in total, but now we don't have one from Boston! How can that be? They did have a free photo booth where you could print off a pic of yourself on a Boston Marathon postcard. We had three made, one of me and DH, one of DS and one of DD. The kids LOVED this!

We also met the Hoyts! DS had his pic taken with the son. The father looked amazing, something that struck me was he was really stocky but very fit, not your typical marathon runners physique more the physique of a body builder.

We walked over the Boston Common and the Boston Public Gardens and took pictures of all the statues including the Make Way For Ducklings Ducks. I read that book a million times to the kids when they were small and they loved to see the little ducks in the park.

Trinity church was only a few blocks from our hotel so decided to pop in and view the stain glass. It was a good experience for the kids. The cost was $12 for a family of 4. But listen to this, DD left he hat in the pew and DH went back about 45 minutes later to retrieve it and it was gone!! I can't believe someone didn't turn it in.

It was now 6:00 and we had reservations for the Boston Duck Tour. It was AWESOME!! DH said it was the best guided tour he had ever been on, very informative and really FUNNY! More on that later. Remind me to tell you the President of Iraq and the sniper story.

Finally we walked over the Maggiannos for dinner, we had a 7:45 reservation and although it was full we only waited a minute or two for our table. It was packed with runners and I overhead the waitress telling other customers there was a 2 hour wait. DH and Ishared a special, Chicken and Shrimp in a Red Pepper Alfredo sauce, awe, it was awesome!! I think that was the best pasta dish I have ever had. DD8 fell asleep on my lap before the bill came, the day had come to an end and she finally hit the wall.

Both kids did so well, today will be a slower day so DH can rest up for the rest tomorrow. Today is the woman's Olympic marathon trials. The run a loop four times so they will run by us just a few blocks away from our hotel. We are going to head out and watch that.


More later peeps!

Jodi, thinking of you today.

Lou, Happy Birthday.

 

[lourodrigis]

Colleen - Thanks for the birthday wishes. Glad to see you are having fun in Boston. I hope the weather there is as nice as it was in Philly today. Enjoy!!

Jodi - Can't wait to here about the utlra. Here's some cheers from South Jersey.

I did the Penn Relays 20K today. I put a race report here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=24602098&posted=1#post24602098 for anyone that wants the details.

Cool race. The weather was perfect. Mostly serious runners so it was nice to get the competitive juices flowing on my second 40something day. I did very well. The goal was to stay under an 8.00 mpm pace for the race and I did it. I finish in 1:37:05 for a 7:47 pace. That's the Garmin time so it's not official.

I am really love these mid-distance races. I seem to have no problem holding my pace for these types of races. It's nice to go all out and know by Mile 10 you only have 2 more to go. If this were a marathon I would have been dead.

Have a nice day everyone!!

Lou

 

[msblrobs]

Colleen - Glad you guys are having a BLAST and thanks so much for posting. Best of luck to Jeff tomorrow .

Lou - YEAH!! Awesome race report and you must be feeling real fine with the excellent result. 40's looking real good .

Jodi - The girls and I have been praying for you all morning . You ROCK and I hope it's going well for you today.

Cindy and Mike - Ditto for you guys I sent up good thoughts on my run this morning and I hope the weather cooperated.

I did go out for 5.5 today but I'm paying the price now. My speed is great and running is not painful at all but when you can't walk after the fact it is kind of beat . I will catch up later tonight for more race reports but I've gotta take my DD's shopping now .

 

[CynthiaCindy]

Colleen - glad that you are having a good time in Boston. I'm excited to hear what you were able to see of the trials. I hope your DH has a great race tomorrow.

Lou - awesome pace! Looks like Philly was a better place to be racing today than D.C. (see below).

Sara - hopefully you will be able to get some answers when you go for the MRI follow up.

Jodi - I'm thinking of you and hoping that everything went ok for you.

My race report

This was an unexpectedly good race for me.

It rained the whole time. Actually, that's not entirely true, it did stop raining for a bit before the race started so that at the start time it was not raining, but then the rain started up again before I got to the first mile and never stopped. At some points it was light rain but at other times it was pretty heavy. I was soaked but, except for my feet, I was pretty comfortable for the entire race. It was around 60 degrees and I was comfortable in shorts and short sleeves. My feet were less comfortable because so much water got in my shoes that it was like there were little lakes in there and I was squishing and squashing around.

The race was run on the Washington & Old Dominion Trail which is actually the trail to which there is an entrance across the street from where I live, so it is the trail that I do 99% of my runs on. So that was kind of cool. We live near mile 4 and the race was run from mile 30 something to mile 40 something. I had never been out that far. The race started at the County fairgrounds (complete with parking in the mud). Out there the trail ran mostly past farmland and big expensive houses. All the trees were very green and it was kind of pretty. In a way, it was probably good that the weather was so bad. The trail is pretty narrow and on nice days there are always tons of bikers out (at least on the parts of the trail that I have run on there are) so it might have been a little tight with people trying to pass other runners and bikers trying to pass them.

The race was an out and back, which I know some people don't like, but I actually love. I like watching the runners going in the other direction. I knew that only the top 100 finishers got medals so I actually counted the people ahead as they turned around to see where I stood. There were about 130-40 (I didn't say I was good at counting ) people ahead of me, so I knew I had no chance, which is fine, I figured I didn't have much chance going into the race. In the end, I got something better than a medal - a PR I broke 2 hours! Going into the race, I thought there was no way that I would beat my National Half Marathon time of 2:01:11. I actually ran the first 4 miles way too fast (all under 9 minute) because this was a very fast crowd. I figured I was going to pay for that later but wasn't too concerned because I had no real time goal. After the 8 mile marker, I checked my total time and realized that I had a very good chance of getting under 2 hours if I didn't fall apart. My splits did start to get slower and there was an uphill during the 12th mile and after the 12 mile marker, I didn't think I was going to make it, but then there was a slight downhill that helped me get my pace up and I was able to finish the 13th mile under 8:30 and then charged up the last .1 uphill finish (seriously, why do I always pick races that have uphill finishes? The 8k last weekend did too). Results have not been posted yet. I have a watch time of 1:59:24. I assume the official time will be a bit slower, but I know the clock had not yet hit 2 hours when I crossed the finish line.

Mike and I met up before the race and chatted and then he waited around until after I finished (which I really appreciate - thanks Mike!) after his smoking fast time, which I will let him tell you about. The only food that they had was bananas, but soon after I finished, the Papa Johns delivery man showed up. Lots of pizza! Totally hit the spot. After the pizza, Matt came back after finishing his 18 mile run (I actually ran into him a little before the 11th mile and he ran with me until the 13th mile when he went off to finish the last 1.5 miles of his run) and we all chatted and then I was getting really cold by that point, so we left.

Wow, sorry that was so long. I'm a little excited, can you tell?

 

[Optimator]

Colleen - Glad you and the family are enjoying yourselves. Did you get a chance to see the trials? Tell Jeff good luck! I hope you all get a decent night's sleep.


Lou - Wow! Way to go man! See, being 40 'aint so bad after all.


Sara - I hope you are feeling better. Nice job on the 5.5 though.


Jodi - Are you still running loops??


Cindy - It was great spending some time with you and Matt this morning. Congratulations again on the sub-2! That's fantastic. I guess I won't believe you next time you say "There's no way I could run faster than (insert race here)".

Did you guys hit the outlets?


I was waiting for Cindy to post because she is so much better at the course description. I can just be lazy and say "See Cindy's post" then add a few of my own inpressions.

This was my first non-chip timed race, my first out and back race, my first race in a monsoon, my first half where I was concerned about time. Lots of new stuff.

It was a good experience inspite of the nasty weather. In a weird twist for an out and back (and much appreciated), to me the slight uphills didn't seem as uphill as the downhills seemed down . That really helped for miles 7 through about 9. I'm happy to say that no one passed me after about mile 3 and I was able to pick off quite a few over the last half. I ran a little faster than I planned (seems to be a recurring theme with me) but was able to keep the pace throughout (not always a recurring theme ).

I finished in 1:41 and some change so I was really happy with that.

Plus, the hot shower when I got home was fantastic. Unfortunately, I felt like a slug the rest of the day and took a big nap this afternoon (Sorry Kathy!).

Gotta go!

 

[SilverE]

Cindy: Fantastic race! Congrats on the PR! (and in less than stellar weather, no less). Thanks for the race report; great effort out there!

Lou: Smokin' race there old man (see post #1742 for your over-the-hill b-day message ) Seriously, great job on the 20K.

Mike: I shall give you a pre-race report congratulations, since Cindy referenced you. I assume the sonic boom I heard here in Maine today was most likely you breaking the sound barrier during your race today? [Geez, now I'm editing because you beat me to posting--what, you already run way faster than me; you have to type faster as well?

Jodi: for those Ultra Details to hear if you received a shirt.

Sara: Glad to hear you got the 5.5 run in; sorry the post-run effect is not kind to your hip/leg. Did shopping with the DDs bring additional pain and anguish? (I know it sometimes does for me ).

Colleen: Wow! You are packing in the sites in Beantown! Glad you enjoyed the Duck Tour and all the other sights; you certainly have had some great weather. Again, my best to Jeff tomorrow.

Hello everyone else! No running for me today; just shooting hoops with my 3 children on our new basketball hoop (that required 4 hours of labor to construct on Sat.)

 

[msblrobs]

Cindy & Mike - Sweet race reports and PR's all around! Congrats to you both, especially despite the less than stellar race conditions today.

Jodi - I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep tonight if you don't check in !! I am getting ready to go to bed and I told DH "I have to turn on the computer to make sure my teammates all made out okay." I do hope you had a good race and you know I'll be logging on @ 4:00 a.m. when I get up to see if you checked in here .

Steve - Shopping was SO painful . Luckily I had the knee excuse to get me out of there when I couldn't stand it anymore .

Off to bed now and I'll be sending up prayers for Jeff tonight !! Have a great day in Boston tomorrow Colleen !!

 

[Jodi]

OMG, I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to post. I don't have the gumpshun to post a full race report or respond or react to all the posts I've just been reading...I'll do that tomorrow & as well as post a race report.

Let me just say this; Congrats to Lou, Mike & Cindy on awesome races . I'll delve into my accolades in more depth tomorrow. And thanks, Colleen, for checking in from Beantown - Another big GOOD LUCK TO JEFF for tomorrow...Congrats to Steve for assembling the basketball hoop in 4 hours & of course, congrats to Sara for getting a decent run in today (so sorry the after effects suck!).

I finished the race in 5:30 (that's Garmin time, so it's prolly more like 5:40) & I didn't have to take a JodiStop the entire time!! (just a quick one for weewee, but that hardly counts in the grand scheme of things-that-happen-in-the-portapotty-when-I'm-running). The day was perfect, the course & people were terrific & Guess what??? I got a tech-shirt AND a medal (thanks for the phone call, Mike). I feel ok now, but my toes are like hamburger meat . Guess I didn't tie my shoes tight enough or something b/c I have some WICKED blisters on 2 toes...one on each foot .

I'll post more tomorrow! Thanks for all the positive thoughts, guys & all your support, it did me well!!

 

[CynthiaCindy]

Jodi -

 

[msblrobs]

Jodi - You ARE a beast!! Congrats to you on the awesome race time and it's great that you sound real pleased with the way it went for you yesterday . I can't wait for the full report .

 

[Optimator]

So UltraGirl - Where the heck is the race report??? I can't wait to hear all about it.

Great time!! What's that you Northeasterners say? Wicked Fast!

BTW Dingleberry, the race time is supposed to be less than the Garmin time (unless you waited a mile or two to push the button)!

 

[Jodi]

Hey Bots!

I'll try & keep this short & sweet, but first

Cindy - Terrific job on your run! Another PR...in the rain?? I would have rolled over & gone back to bed if waters was in the forecast...honestly, I would have. Great job!

Mike - Ditto! I can't believe that you just keep getting faster & faster ...and with no ill-effects. And you're so old, too.. Go figure!

Colleen - Hope you are having fun right now watching Jeff run!!
Sara - Sorry about your leg issues. We need to get to the bottom of this .

Lou - It appears as if turning 40 agrees with you! Nice race, dude! Glad you had nice weather!

Steve - It took us at least 5 hours to put our basketball hoop together last year! NICE!

OK, here goes:

Woke up late @ 5:15, ate oatmeal. Bruce & my step-daughter, Skye came with me. The boys bailed out & stayed in bed . So it's an hour drive, the start is at 7:30, obviously i was speeding on the hwy...what's new?

The course was loops around Lake Waramaug in the NW corner of CT, plus 2 out&backs. The weather was cloudy, breezy & cool... Thank you, Earl!!

Got there w/ a whole 20 mins to spare . Very informal event, no chips, but USTAF (whatever) sanctioned. I was excited to pick up my packet & pull out a nice dri-release t-shirt (thanks to Mike's persistent phone calls to the director ). "OK" I figures, "this'll make up for the soda thing".

So we're off to our official start @ 7:30 ("ok, go", was pretty much it). The course started with a 2.2 miles out & back - I chitchatted with some people who tried to make pretend that running these distances was normal, but the crowd (about 50 runners total) broke up quickly & I found myself alone...again .

You have to understand that Bruce has told me over & over again that he wondered what would happen to me without the fanfare of a Disney race, Iheard all sorts of stuff for the last week - "Maybe we'll do a carboard cut out of the castle; I'll dress as Goofy; we'll sing 'Small World' when you run by" and on & on it went. So b4 we left, Skye packed up all her various Disney stuffed animals that she's gotten over the years & brought them with us . They put a blanket on the ground & layed them all so I could see them every time I ran by...between that & Bruce yelling "run honey, run, Bejing is calling..." people thought we were insane. THere was a guy (not running) there with a GOOFY '08 hoodie on! I told Bruce to punch him out & take it from him b/c I wanted it...

So I run by my pit crew & they cheer. I go a lap around the lake (7+miles) & feel ok. B4 rounding the corner to pass the start area again where everyone was gathered, I pick up a running partner...a big 'ol dog ran with me for about a 1/2 mile... My pacer!

I keep running after a small wee break (these are the ONLY portapottys along the course ) so it's either here or on someones lawn (million $ homes). This made me a little nervous, as I didn't want to have to wade into the lake & leave a floatie! . During this lap I meet up with one of the founding fathers of the race who's just cruising along, we run around 6 miles together & he's annoyingly energetic...singing Harry Chapin & Janis Joplin songs with the wrong lyrics . Wonderful man with unlimited energy & great conversation (I just listened). He was doing the 50 miler. One guy I ran with drove from OH the a.m. b4 w/ a buddy & was leaving to go back after the race 'cause he had to be @ work this a.m. . Everyone was nice, but truly insane!!

I must briefly make mention of the aid stations: They were the BEST I've ever seen! Items included; your usual fluids; pretzels, chicken noodle soup, PB&J sandwiches, banannas, chips, M&Ms, cookies (different varieties), granola bars, peanut butter & crackers, crackers, oranges, gummy bears & some other stuff I can't remember! Advil/tylenol, vaseline, handwipes, bug juice, suntan lotion. I mean, they thought of everything. All my fears about this being a mom&pop run were unfounded...and then some!

I get my ipod the next loop & listen a little, but most of that lap was taken up by the aforementioned crooner.

I felt ok during the race. It really helped my brain that it was loops, which I didn't think would be the case. But it let me relax about the mileage, instead I knew where I had to go & how far it was, gauging how much was left was easier. If I kept looking @ my Garmin to count the miles I would've went nuts! I finished & got a MEDAL! Couldn't believe it! I took my shoes off & saw my toes & nearly vomited. I can't believe I didn't feel what was going on down there. My feet actually went numb somewhere around mile 20...good thing. I've got a nasty blood blister on my left "ring" toe - I'm considering amputation - I some funky look blisters on 2 toes on my other foot. It makes it kinda hard to walk, so I'll pop them tonight...not sure I'll pop the blood one though . I'm sore in all the usual places today, but nothing too heinous .

The best part of this is that my stepdaughter videotaped a lot of stuff & made a "documentary". It is sooo funny, I'll have to post here when I figure out how.

Thanks to all of you for your support & believing that I could do this. I did do it, but not sure I will ever again . I thought about each & every one of you during my run & smiled (just a little). It's nice to have this little community to share stuff with. As soon as we got home Bruce said "you better get on line & let your Bots know how you did" . Yep, even my cynical husband knows a bunch of good Bots when he sees them!!

Oops, sorry it was so long.

 

[Optimator]

Cindy - I see the results are up.

http://results.active.com/pages/displayNonGru.jsp?rsID=61766&orgID=234639&pubID=2

Again, great job. 36 seconds to spare. No sweat! You could have coasted up the little hill at the finish .

Pretty good turn out considering the weather.

 

[msblrobs]

Jodi - Would you think I was a total loser if I told you your race report made me cry at work and that we do know deep down how much you really love us .? Seriously, you're really going to have to give up that slacker persona now. Holy crap, I am completely envious , especially in my current delicate condition . It sounds like the perfect day and how blessed you were to have Bruce and Skye there to keep your spirits up .

Mike - Wicked fast for sure !

I hope to run some tonight. A guy from my running club ran Boston in 2:48:36 today . I've been tracking Jeff as well so hopefully Colleen won't leave us hanging too long for a race recap .

Have a great day guys!!

 

[CynthiaCindy]

Jodi - you did awesome! (Wicked awesome). I'm so happy for you. Thanks for the race report, I really enjoyed reading it.

 

[Theta]

Hey Bots!

We are back! Just really quick because DH is starving now.

Just a little background first, he qualified for Boston in December 2005 with a 3:28. Yes, that was a LONG time ago because he had to defer last year with an injury. He pretty much took most of 2007 off from running, but with some (well a lot) of encouragement from me, he decided to run Boston this year. Knowing he would never qualify again, (too many aches and pains and no time to train) he decided to give this marathon a try. He threw together a 13 week training plan felt OK going into this marathon. Last night I asked his 1st, 2nd, 3rd goals for this race.

1st - If all stars align, 3:45

2nd - Happy with the run, 3:55

3rd - Hope to finish under 4:00

Anyway, his finish time was 4:05. I saw him at mile 16 and I thought he looked great. He said he would be around 4 hours, but I thought he would definitely be faster because he was not limping at all, but what I didn't know was that he was having stomach issues and had made a few Jodistops! Poor guy. His said his legs were fine and the Newton Hills really didn't get him because our city is pretty hilly, but his stomach just wasn't cooperating.

More later, Jeff is ready to eat! By the way, he said thanks to all my DisBOts friends for the well wishes!!

 

[Optimator]

Jodi - You snuck in your report somewhere between me telling you to post your report and my post to Cindy!

Sounds like it was a great race! I'd go for some of those snacks.

Tell Bruce he's gonna have to fire off a few verses of "Small World" for all of us in Philly!

That's cool about DSD (What the hell is the secret internet dweeb code for step daughter??) lining up the Disney toys for you. Somehow, I kind of pictured you as more of the wicked step mother type that would result in the step tossing rocks at you as you ran by .

Can you post a picture of the medal?


Colleen - Congrats to Jeff from us. Too bad about the GI problems. Is he happy with his result, all things considered?