~The BOT Battalion~ BOTS On The Run

[lourodrigis]

Lou, Dave and Chester, start sweet-talking DWs!

Man, I must have been away for a while. When did this cruise thing come up? When r u thinking of going? Nicole and I were actually looking to avoid Disney for a while and see the rest of the USA but a cruise is different. I could be up for that...depending on how soon you're looking to go.

Chester - I need to start an architectural firm, not engineering. I am looking at all your races and realizing I am in the wrong business. I think you will cover all 50 states in like 2 years. By 2012 you'll be working on races in the other continents.

Walked by the Philly convention center today and realized, I am running another marathon on Sunday. Not exactly sure how I feel but there is a bunch of family coming out for this race for some reason. Not exactly sure what my bib # is yet but I'll know soon enough.

Jen, there will be no frozen water stops this year. Looks like 50 degrees and clouds.

Lou

 

[Jodi]

YEah Jen! Now you're talking!!

Mindy, I will buy the first bucket of beer on the ship!!

Jodi, get ready to change your cruise dates!

Mike, put Kathy on the phone, let me talk to her about the Disney Dream!

Lou, Dave and Chester, start sweet-talking DWs!

Cam and Howard will be there, I'm sure!

Sara, you can start planning when you get back from Jamaica!

CindyLouWHo, what a better way to meet all the BOTS!

I already have ideas for the Castaway Cay 5K awards! Y'all will love them.

WOW, someone has got an agenda!!

We're definitely going in February '11 2/17 & 2/20 B2B to make it 7 nights. You're thinking of June? My kids don't get out of school until late June....I think you guys should just come down in FEB!! Take the kids out of school for a day or 2...they're brainiacs. And I'm sure everyone ELSES kids have President's week off..

Chester - Wow, can I come to some of your events? You've got quite an itinerary for '10 AND '11 already.

Lou - Hmmm....another marathon, eh?. You'll be fine, just go easy & enjoy.

 

[lourodrigis]

Hey BOTS!

2.5 miles this morning in almost perfect weather (little breezy). Sunday is supposed to be mostly cloudy and between 48-60 degrees with 10% chance of rain. By far the best weather I had for a Philly Marathon. No need for chicken broth this year.

By the way, I booked an ADR for my crew (4 adults 3 kids) at the Beirgarten on Sunday at 4:45. I'm sure they can find a way to get us close to everyone.

Lou

 

[KeenHo]

HELLO BOTVILLE!!!

I am catching up with all of the activity for the last two days or so, I've been burning the candle at both ends this week with work. So, no running here this week...no daylight to use to get a run in.

Hmmm a BOT Cruise? I'll get Cam to check in here. I think a cruise would be easier on her knee than a half marathon somewhere. Plus they have those Conch Coolers we both love so much.

Speaking of which, we'll be sipping some of those very soon. We leave for an overnight in WDW next (Black) Friday. On Saturday we'll have breakfast at Kona Cafe (Yum!!!) and then head to the airport to pick up Judy and Charlie and then head for Port Canaveral for our 7 day Western on the Magic!!! I fully expect to run the Castaway Cay 5K either alone of with Charlie.

Before the packing starts this weekend, I'd like to get a couple of runs in - 5 or 6 tomorrow and a longer run on Sunday.

Lou~ Best of Luck with the Philly Marathon! I'll be running it again sometime soon, just not this year. I'll be thinking about you running through Manyunk and the turn around. Jessica, Cam's partner from the law firm, was supposed to have her baby today (scheduled C) up at Penn, you met her at the PDR.

I need to run, but will check back in later on. Hello to all my BOT friends. Looking forward to January, but in the mean time hashing out a BOT event for 2010!!!!



Howard

 

[Theta]

HELLO BOTVILLE!!!


Hmmm a BOT Cruise? I'll get Cam to check in here. I think a cruise would be easier on her knee than a half marathon somewhere. Plus they have those Conch Coolers we both love so much.


Howard

OH, SO EXCITING!! You two deserve it! Have a wonderful time. Oh, a few more BOTS considering this cruise. I am flexible with the dates, if everyone decides to go President's Week of 2011, I will consider pulling my kids out of school for a few days. I still like the summer, our school year is so wacky, our only 5+ days off is Christmas, Easter or summer.


Lou, good luck with the race this weekend!

 

[rKyDeX]

Chester - I need to start an architectural firm, not engineering. I am looking at all your races and realizing I am in the wrong business. I think you will cover all 50 states in like 2 years. By 2012 you'll be working on races in the other continents.

Lou
Hey, I've seen your Facebook posts. Believe me, you seem to have a better wokload than we do right now. The real reason I am able to branch out now is that my kids are both in college now and I don't have to take them with! It's still goning to take a long time to cover all 50 states. I hope I live long enough.

Tear it up Sunday!

Lou, Dave and Chester, start sweet-talking DWs!

Colleen
You might be on to something here. It's only been 25 years since our last cruise, maybe I can be talked into another one! I'm sure Tracy wouldn't have to be asked twice. Just tell us where and when to sign up.


Have a BOTtastic weekend everyone.

Chester

 

[Jodi]

Cruise:

Me, going on a 3 night 2/17/11 & a 4 night 2/20/11. The earlier you sign up the cheaper it'll be..Colleen, we'll go on our Feb. cruise, but would be open to maybe another later in the year???? Good luck getting this together...we can't even figure out where to run!!

Have fun, Lou!!!!

Chester - Feel like heading out to Seattle in June???

 

[KeenHo]

GOOD MORNING BOTS!!!

I got out this morning for a run.

Miles: 9
Time: 1:28:21
Pace: 9:49
Splits: 8:46, 10:08, 9:26, 9:43, 10:18, 9:15, 9:21, 9:57, and 11:25.

Last week towards the end of my 12 miler, my right calf felt tight and twinged of pain. Nothing too exciting. Today within two miles it was screaming and I had to stop numerous times to try to stretch it out. It was really painful throughout. I'm going to dig out "The Stick" and give it a whirl (with some ice) to see if that helps.

I asked Cam to check out the thread this morning. I'm sure she'll post when she does.

Lou~ ROCK IT TOMORROW!!! BQ HERE YOU COME!!!!


Have a great day!!!




Howard

 

[lourodrigis]

Hey BOTS! Just checking in. Man, the waiting before a race stinks.

Lou~ ROCK IT TOMORROW!!! BQ HERE YOU COME!!!!

I don't expect any BQ times tomorrow. Plus, if I do well some guy named Ryan will get all the credit. However, he's 27 and looks like he can put up some fast times. I am going to drag down his average tomorrow.

Expo was nice. The shirts are similar to last year but maroon (I like the black ones). They actually had running gloves in the bag that had the Philly Marathon logo on them (very nice). And the bag was a cool black bag that you could actually use again instead of the usual plastic ones. Philly does a nice job.

Feeling a tiny bit under the weather today (slight sore throat and cold symptoms). Shouldn't be a problem for tomorrow but I fully expect to be sick as a dog for Thanksgiving next week. Oh well.

If you want to track me online just look for runner 9155 and pretend that I really am a 27 year old male.

Lou

 

[jbucci]

Lou: good luck tomorrow-- have fun, the weather looks way better than last year. wish we were going to be on the course with you but we will follow you in your 27 year old didguise

 

[Optimator]

Howard - Here's hoping that the calf thing is a temporary thing.

Lou - Great luck tomorrow. Enjoy your new found youth!

I'd like to think I'm wiser than I was at 27 but I'm pretty sure I am still just as dumb (if not, I was a total idiot then)!

Just a quick shout out to the only reason I can get by being an older, wiser, not quite but almost total idiot: Kathy did 18 miles on the TM this morning. WAY more dedication than me.

 

[keenercam]

Good morning, everyone! Thinking of Lou today and hoping he is enjoying his run in the sunshine. Fortunately, the conditions seem MUCH better than last year. Can't wait to hear all about it!

So, what's this I hear about a BOTs cruise in 2011? Sounds great. By then, Andrew will be suffering senioritis, and hopefully Jenn would be able to go but it would all depend on whether she is still in school or teaching. We should try to iron out the details this week, since Howard and I would love to book while on board next week, and get whatever discount that would afford us.

I'll be at work all day, but I'll check in here to see if there are any more ideas floating about dates.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Good Morning Everyone: Popping in quickly - I hope Lou is having (or had) a great run in Philly. That was such a great weekend last year. The dinner at Howard and Cam's house was the highlight. What a great night.

I had another good week of training last week. I got 4 runs in again. I even increased my mileage yesterday for my long run of....

4 miles.

Whoo hoo!

I'm in such bad shape right now, but I'm trying to get back in shape.

 

[keenercam]

Dave -- Kudos to you for getting in 4!!

My long "run" last week was -- ready for this? 1/2 mile. Yes, you read that right -- 1/2 mile last Monday on the TM walking at a 3.0 mph pace with every step hurting worse than I could have imagined. And it made the next several days after that a living hell. The good news is that my 1 mile on the elliptical on Monday was ~15 minutes and I was able to do 12:34 later in the week. I am hoping to do 1 mile on the TM tomorrow. I'm taking drugs ahead of time. LOL!

 

[lourodrigis]

Hey BOT! Quick race post and then I'll do a full race report tomorrow.

The Philly Marathon went real well. Temps were in the low 40s at the start and low 50s at finish...big improvement on last year. Felt real good for the entire race. Actually felt much stronger than I did at NYC. I finished in 3:49:45.

It was great having mom, dad, Nicole, the kids, my sister Diana, bil Jordan, and my childhood friend Paul at the finish. Felt like a baseball game when I was a kid with that crowd. Even ran into a WISHer (Megan) around Mile 21 or 22, at about the time I needed a lift to get me to the finish.

I'll catch up tomorrow but figured I would let you know I'm alive. Although my feet didn't look so good. It will take at least a week for the blisters to heel. That may give me time to find another marathon in 3 weeks.

Lou

 

[mla1977]

Great job Lou! I was posting Facebook updates until I saw you. I got over to the bridge as the 3:30 group was passing so I figured that you would be passing soon. Of course, I had to jump and shout when I saw you. I was out there until 1:15 cheering on the last of the TNTers. Glad I could keep you motivated!

 

[Optimator]

Lou - Hey! Way to go! That's a fabulous race. I'm glad you had good weather, good support, and a good time. Even more impressive considering the effort you put in a few weeks ago at NYC.

Cam - Take care of yourself. It's not supposed to hurt that much. Listen to what your body is telling you.

 

[lourodrigis]

Okay...here's the long winded race report.

Man, I feel good today. I feel good about the race yesterday but I also just feel good...too good. I just ran around the house (up and DOWN stairs) putting out the trash this morning and my legs don’t feel like they just ran a marathon. I have to thank my friend Carmen for suggesting I try to find a way to run Philly because he was right. He did the same thing 3 years ago and I had the same results he did.

Philadelphia Marathon 2009 Race Report (Part 1)

I got off to a late start and arrived in Philly about 6:30AM, 30 minutes from the start time. I had to jog to the start area and had just enough time to check my bags and jog straight to the corrals. The weather was real nice but a little chilly at the start (probably around 40 degrees and clear).

For whatever reason the guy that I bought the bib from was assigned to a corral way in the back. I just ignored that and managed to sneak into wave #3. Unlike NYC, Philly is not as strict about enforcing the corral placements.

I did not have any defined goal for this race; other then I wanted to beat the NYC time so I was thinking 3:55 was a good number. My wave got started at 7:14AM. I settled into a groove real fast and managed to run an 8:05 first mile, even with the crowds. I carried a small 8oz bottle of water so that I could avoid the first 2-3 water stops and that was smart because people were tripping all over themselves at the first stop.

There’s not much to say (except this long-winded report) other than I cruised through the first half of the race at 1:50:01. Felt just as good at Mile 12 as I did at the start. Nicole, the kids, and my parents were waiting along the side of the Art Museum and it was nice seeing the family. It was right after I passed them that I thought I might have a shot at 3:50 if I don’t break down in the second half.

As I made my way into the second half of the course I felt almost too good. Mile 13-14 is mostly uphill and I trudged up that hill at a great pace. I concentrated a lot on running form and breathing this race so that when I ran uphill I took quick baby steps and exhaled deeply a lot. I resisted the urge to sprint downhill and used the time between Mile 14-15 to catch my breath and slow down my HR. Once I hit Mile 15 I felt real good, because unlike NYC, I know this course like the back of my hand and knew there were hardly any hills left to worry about. There would be no bridges to worry about.

My only hiccup of the day was between Mile 17-18. I had this “sloshy” feeling in my stomach and got a little panicky. The only time I had this feeling before was at WDW in 2008 and it killed me. This time I decided to seriously increase the Gel and Gatorade intake figuring that the feeling was due to lack of something in my system. I usually take a gel every 5 miles but decided to pop one every 4 miles for the rest of this race and hit Gatorade more often. It worked.

 

[lourodrigis]

PART 2

The feeling in my stomach dissipated after about a mile and as I entered Manayunk at Mile 19 I felt strong. I just kept wondering when I would hit the wall, which came at 22.75 in NYC. Unlike NYC I avoided the urge to look at the cheering crowds along Main Street. I just kept my eyes on the pavement and the runners in front of me so that I wouldn’t get dizzy. I hit that turnaround at the end of Main Street and knew there was less than 6 miles to the finish.

I managed to pick my head up long enough to see the people at LeBus bakery handing out chunks of brownies. I grabbed a chunk and chewed on that for what seemed like a mile. For whatever reason that brownie really hit the spot. My stomach was totally settled and I had a serious burst of energy as I ran out of Manayunk and headed back onto Kelly Drive for the home stretch.

There was a little hill leading up to the Falls Bridge and Mile 22 that had me winded for the first time and I wondered if the wall was coming. It was then that I heard someone screaming “Lou” as if they knew me. I picked my head up and saw fellow WISHer Megan cheering me on. Unlike last year, when I heard Howard yell my name, I was still coherent and had some gas in the tank. That was cool because seeing a familiar face gave me a little pick me up.

As I headed into the last 3+ miles I had the same question go through my head over and over. Should I basically coast the rest of the way and beat the 3:56 NYC time or should I take a shot at breaking 3:50 (which seemed like an impossible feet 3 weeks ago)?

I could not believe it because I managed to trudge along at around a 9:30 pace for the last 3 miles. Usually I break down at this point but for some reason there was no wall today. I resisted the urge to look ahead towards the finish and just peaked to side to catch familiar monuments along the river that gave me an idea of how close I was to the end.

When I got to the Art Museum I looked at my Garmin and knew I had a shot at 3:50 if I just kicked my butt in gear. I literally sprinted the last half mile at about a 7:45 pace. I knew the family was out there somewhere and I wanted them to see me running across that finish line, instead of limping like I did last year. At about the time I actually saw the finish line I heard the kids screaming “DAD” but kept my eyes on the Garmin because it was going to be real close. My HR got up to 179 during that last 100 yards and I crossed in 3:49:45. It was an awesome feeling, even better than the feeling of breaking 4 hrs at NYC because Philly is the home course and I felt I had to make up for a lousy run last year.

The medals were awesome, actually better than last year which is rare for races anymore. In fact, as Colleen pointed out, the NYC medal was really weak which was the only disappointment of that race. Philly had a nice big medal with a colorful ribbon, unlike the cheesy orange ribbon that ING had.

I found the family which had increased in size for the finish as my sister, her husband, and my friend Paul showed up. Paul lives 2 blocks from the finish which worked out well as my family was able to park in his garage before the race. Worked out even better after the race as we all walked over to his place and he made the best Bloody Mary’s I ever had.

With the exception of a couple of nasty blisters on my feet I got out of this race injury free. Below are the Garmin splits.

Time...Distance...Split time...Split pace
0:08:05...1...8:05...8:05
0:16:12...2...8:07...8:07
0:24:13...3...8:00...8:00
0:32:34...4...8:20...8:21
0:41:07...5...8:33...8:33
0:49:20...6...8:12...8:13
0:57:34...7...8:13...8:14
1:06:02...8...8:28...8:28
1:14:11...9...8:09...8:09
1:22:42...10...8:30...8:31
1:30:55...11...8:12...8:13
1:39:25...12...8:30...8:30
1:47:46...13...8:21...8:22
1:56:14...14...8:27...8:28
2:04:41...15...8:26...8:27
2:13:14...16...8:33...8:33
2:21:54...17...8:40...8:40
2:30:36...18...8:41...8:42
2:39:41...19...9:05...9:05
2:49:00...20...9:18...9:19
2:58:05...21...9:04...9:05
3:07:21...22...9:15...9:16
3:16:52...23...9:31...9:31
3:26:39...24...9:47...9:47
3:36:36...25...9:56...9:57
3:46:08...26...9:31...9:32
3:49:43...26.46...3:34...7:46

 

[Jodi]

Lou - WOW, wow, wow!!!! That's all i can say!! I am soooo happy for you!!!


OK BOTS (Kathy). Let's pick out a race for 2010 so we can actually BE there to cheer each other on for races like this!!! I'm thinking east of the Mississippi is the best thing, given $$, kids' commitments, etc.! Let's go, let's go Kathy.