I know a few of you thought I was a philosophy professor instead of what I really do for a living. Trying to hold that reputation (Hello, my name is Socrates
), I have a few thoughts I'd like to share about January 6 and 7, 2007.
1. The conditions were the absolute worst I've ever run a long distance event in. We lived in Austin from 1980 to 1989, and Tucson from 1989 to 1994, and marathon weekend felt like those long ago summer days in Austin. 70 and brutal humidity at 6 a.m. and then furnace like heat and humidity as the sun came up. The worst part was at 4 p.m. on Monday the front came through with cool and dry weather. GRRRRRRRRRRRR.
2. My congratulations and awe go out to those of you who finished the Goofy in those conditions. For sure I have Howard, Lilly, Colleen, and Stephen in that group. If I missed anyone else I am sorry, but all I can say is good form. To do those miles in that time frame in that heat in humidity is most impressive. You have earned my respect.
3. My congratulations to the second power for those of you who stepped up to a distance you've never covered, and completed it in the conditions. You did it in the worst of the worst of the worst. It wasn't fair, but you did it. Nice work.
4. My congratulations to the third power for all who kept at it and finished and got the medal, but not the official time and the certificate. I know of 2 lovely ladies (Cam and Rhonda) who fit in this group, as I saw them in the following days, and I believe a few more are in this group. I feel really strongly about this, but that certificate means zip to me, and I hope the lack of it means the same to you. The medal and racing bib (number) are what I cherish. I carried that bib around the course, and received the medal in the finishing chutes. I'm happy to be a bit disgusting here, but that bib has your sweat, maybe blood, and perhaps tears on it. That means so much more than a certificate generated by a computer after the fact in an air conditioned room. You carried that bib, be proud of it.
Tangent: 10 years ago we were visiting my in-laws in Colorado and in the local soccer shop I was told of a pick up match every Saturday at a local field. I went to the match, played for a couple of hours, and came back to the house. My mother in law asked how it went. My response was, "I got dumped a few times and have the grass stains to prove it, plus I have a good bit of mud all over my body, and I got kicked twice and the cleats opened wounds which are still bleeding." My MIL said "oh so it wasn't fun," to which my wife, who many of you met and understands me like no one else on earth said, "no mom, he had a ball."
Your bib carries your grass stains, mud, sweat, and blood. Be proud of it. Display it proudly and show it off. You earned it.
5. It was very nice to meet so many of the group. I know I'll leave a few folks out, sorry, but meeting Mel (NY), Colleen, Mel (FLA), Vic, Carrie, Scott, Pat, Rhonda, Mike, Cam, Howard, Lilly, Lynne, Judy, Lisa, Stephen, Krista, and many more. I'm an only child and always a bit taken back by large groups of folks I don't know, but after that wore off I felt at home.
6. Christa, Gatorphipps, is the biggest stud I've ever known, although I sadly never met her during the weekend. To run that time, 4:12, in those conditions, under 10 minutes per mile is absolutely amazing. All I can say is wow. You are THE MAN!
7. I was at the Adventurer's Club Monday evening with some of the gang, and I thoroughly enjoyed being heckled about being dumb enough to run the marathon, and I especially enjoyed Pamelia Perkins' making me sit in a chair in front of her so the crowd could laugh at my attempt to lower my body with completely blown quads, including clenched teeth and wimpers. It almost made it all worthwhile.
8. My own race was very tough and discouraging. I intentionally did not check the weather channel on race morning, as I knew it would be horrible. Unfortunately I didn't know it was going to be that bad that soon. I was running easy (although sweating buckets before 1 mile) with the 4:30 group, not straining, feeling comfortable. In miles 6 through 9 I realized the only "breeze" was coming from the south at 6 mph, and I was running from the south at 6 mph, so a bubble of my own body heat was building around me and following my every step. Almost instantly in mile 11 in the MK I broke down, and felt doubly horrible to be walking to try to recover while everyone I was running with took off. I thought hard of a DNF at the mile 12 water and food stop, and if I had been at home I would have stepped off, but having trained for 1 year and come 1300 miles, I couldn't quit. By mile 13 everyone around me had also blown up, and yes misery loves company as I was happy to have others jogging and walking with me, just keeping moving forward.
True Story: On Tuesday morning Lesley and I went to the AK and rode Expedition Everest 3 times. After the 2nd ride I put it all together and told my daughter that we had run by the **** mountain Sunday, and I hadn't even noticed it. She laughed at my pitiful condition and I justified it to her that I just kept going and looking down.
Every mile to the finish was slower than the one before until mile 26 when something came up in me and ran me in. Yes I finished, and yes the time was unbelievable disappointing. 38 minutes slower than 2006 when I did the Goofy, and 55 minutes slower than my target finishing time. It's not so much the time that disappoints me, as the fact that I felt so ready mentally and physically before the marathon and the weather just destroyed me and made the last 15 mile completely horrible.
9. Next Year? Well all along the course I swore to myself if I got in I'd never do it again. Now I feel more like I have to go back to prove to myself that 2007 was atypical. I suspect I'll register for the full in a few months after the memory of the pain has subsided. I cannot guarantee I'll be there, however, as this year is certain to be a year of major change in our house. Lesley graduates on May 19 and is looking for a job (her interview today went well, and she liked the people and the work, but the pay is absolutely silly, 35% below market for new grads of the college, not enough to live on in Boston), and Martha is looking for a new job, either in the Boston area or Colorado. If the 3 of us all remain in the Boston area in 12 months, I'll be in Orlando and hope to see you. If we are scattered to 3 of the 4 points of the compass, then I'll spend my winter break with my ladies instead of in Orlando.
10. Finally, what a funny group of folks I met this weekend. Engineers who went to school on the UP. Accountants from NY. Pharmacists from Florida. Dedicated and funny moms from Texas and Carolina. Students from Delaware. I enjoyed you all, and your hospitality made Martha and Lesley feel like they were with old friends. Thank You. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
I'll likely be on leave for a few months. In the next 5 months I have a killer semester coming, plus 4 weeks of trips to really cool places. I hope to run a 10K at the end of April, and Martha is quite serious about making it to the Minnie Marathon in early May (feel free to contact her at mstephenson@babson.edu to lobby her). I'll try to keep up with everyone, but I'll likely not do well at that until the summer.
Good luck to you all. Hopefully I'll see you in January of 2008.
Craig
(One really sore and disappointed pirate)
), I have a few thoughts I'd like to share about January 6 and 7, 2007.1. The conditions were the absolute worst I've ever run a long distance event in. We lived in Austin from 1980 to 1989, and Tucson from 1989 to 1994, and marathon weekend felt like those long ago summer days in Austin. 70 and brutal humidity at 6 a.m. and then furnace like heat and humidity as the sun came up. The worst part was at 4 p.m. on Monday the front came through with cool and dry weather. GRRRRRRRRRRRR.
2. My congratulations and awe go out to those of you who finished the Goofy in those conditions. For sure I have Howard, Lilly, Colleen, and Stephen in that group. If I missed anyone else I am sorry, but all I can say is good form. To do those miles in that time frame in that heat in humidity is most impressive. You have earned my respect.
3. My congratulations to the second power for those of you who stepped up to a distance you've never covered, and completed it in the conditions. You did it in the worst of the worst of the worst. It wasn't fair, but you did it. Nice work.
4. My congratulations to the third power for all who kept at it and finished and got the medal, but not the official time and the certificate. I know of 2 lovely ladies (Cam and Rhonda) who fit in this group, as I saw them in the following days, and I believe a few more are in this group. I feel really strongly about this, but that certificate means zip to me, and I hope the lack of it means the same to you. The medal and racing bib (number) are what I cherish. I carried that bib around the course, and received the medal in the finishing chutes. I'm happy to be a bit disgusting here, but that bib has your sweat, maybe blood, and perhaps tears on it. That means so much more than a certificate generated by a computer after the fact in an air conditioned room. You carried that bib, be proud of it.
Tangent: 10 years ago we were visiting my in-laws in Colorado and in the local soccer shop I was told of a pick up match every Saturday at a local field. I went to the match, played for a couple of hours, and came back to the house. My mother in law asked how it went. My response was, "I got dumped a few times and have the grass stains to prove it, plus I have a good bit of mud all over my body, and I got kicked twice and the cleats opened wounds which are still bleeding." My MIL said "oh so it wasn't fun," to which my wife, who many of you met and understands me like no one else on earth said, "no mom, he had a ball."
Your bib carries your grass stains, mud, sweat, and blood. Be proud of it. Display it proudly and show it off. You earned it.
5. It was very nice to meet so many of the group. I know I'll leave a few folks out, sorry, but meeting Mel (NY), Colleen, Mel (FLA), Vic, Carrie, Scott, Pat, Rhonda, Mike, Cam, Howard, Lilly, Lynne, Judy, Lisa, Stephen, Krista, and many more. I'm an only child and always a bit taken back by large groups of folks I don't know, but after that wore off I felt at home.
6. Christa, Gatorphipps, is the biggest stud I've ever known, although I sadly never met her during the weekend. To run that time, 4:12, in those conditions, under 10 minutes per mile is absolutely amazing. All I can say is wow. You are THE MAN!
7. I was at the Adventurer's Club Monday evening with some of the gang, and I thoroughly enjoyed being heckled about being dumb enough to run the marathon, and I especially enjoyed Pamelia Perkins' making me sit in a chair in front of her so the crowd could laugh at my attempt to lower my body with completely blown quads, including clenched teeth and wimpers. It almost made it all worthwhile.
8. My own race was very tough and discouraging. I intentionally did not check the weather channel on race morning, as I knew it would be horrible. Unfortunately I didn't know it was going to be that bad that soon. I was running easy (although sweating buckets before 1 mile) with the 4:30 group, not straining, feeling comfortable. In miles 6 through 9 I realized the only "breeze" was coming from the south at 6 mph, and I was running from the south at 6 mph, so a bubble of my own body heat was building around me and following my every step. Almost instantly in mile 11 in the MK I broke down, and felt doubly horrible to be walking to try to recover while everyone I was running with took off. I thought hard of a DNF at the mile 12 water and food stop, and if I had been at home I would have stepped off, but having trained for 1 year and come 1300 miles, I couldn't quit. By mile 13 everyone around me had also blown up, and yes misery loves company as I was happy to have others jogging and walking with me, just keeping moving forward.
True Story: On Tuesday morning Lesley and I went to the AK and rode Expedition Everest 3 times. After the 2nd ride I put it all together and told my daughter that we had run by the **** mountain Sunday, and I hadn't even noticed it. She laughed at my pitiful condition and I justified it to her that I just kept going and looking down.
Every mile to the finish was slower than the one before until mile 26 when something came up in me and ran me in. Yes I finished, and yes the time was unbelievable disappointing. 38 minutes slower than 2006 when I did the Goofy, and 55 minutes slower than my target finishing time. It's not so much the time that disappoints me, as the fact that I felt so ready mentally and physically before the marathon and the weather just destroyed me and made the last 15 mile completely horrible.
9. Next Year? Well all along the course I swore to myself if I got in I'd never do it again. Now I feel more like I have to go back to prove to myself that 2007 was atypical. I suspect I'll register for the full in a few months after the memory of the pain has subsided. I cannot guarantee I'll be there, however, as this year is certain to be a year of major change in our house. Lesley graduates on May 19 and is looking for a job (her interview today went well, and she liked the people and the work, but the pay is absolutely silly, 35% below market for new grads of the college, not enough to live on in Boston), and Martha is looking for a new job, either in the Boston area or Colorado. If the 3 of us all remain in the Boston area in 12 months, I'll be in Orlando and hope to see you. If we are scattered to 3 of the 4 points of the compass, then I'll spend my winter break with my ladies instead of in Orlando.
10. Finally, what a funny group of folks I met this weekend. Engineers who went to school on the UP. Accountants from NY. Pharmacists from Florida. Dedicated and funny moms from Texas and Carolina. Students from Delaware. I enjoyed you all, and your hospitality made Martha and Lesley feel like they were with old friends. Thank You. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
I'll likely be on leave for a few months. In the next 5 months I have a killer semester coming, plus 4 weeks of trips to really cool places. I hope to run a 10K at the end of April, and Martha is quite serious about making it to the Minnie Marathon in early May (feel free to contact her at mstephenson@babson.edu to lobby her). I'll try to keep up with everyone, but I'll likely not do well at that until the summer.
Good luck to you all. Hopefully I'll see you in January of 2008.
Craig
(One really sore and disappointed pirate)
, Colleen, and Steve. They settled me down, and allowed me to have fun out there in those horrible conditions. I also owe it in no small part to my fellow WISHers who were out there in the hot sun cheering us on. I really felt like I was part of a team out there on that day, and I felt like we all came through for each other. What a great group we have.
Maybe Lesley would like a nice job in sunny Florida?? 
And now, I can even out a face with that.
