~The BOT Battalion~ BOTS On The Run

[lourodrigis]

Dave - Nice job getting in 9 in the drizzle.

Cindy & Matt - COngrats on finishing your races. Hope you had some crabs and beer in Baltimore.

Jodi - I guess I better plan the post race stuff for NYC. I may just have to take a train home so I can hang around late. I can't anyone flack for Hersheyquirts. That's always my fear before races.

CindyLou - Good job on the 14. I wouldn't worry about the pace. It's hard to get up for LRs. I struggled mightily with my 20-miler last week but did much better running 18 at LBI despite sore muscle and blistered feet. You'll be fine when you get to the marathon but I would oad up on the vitamins. I am afraid of catching something myself.

Hello to everyone else.

Below are the details for LBI. The race was actually real nice. The weather was perfect...60-65 degrees, sunny, and no wind. Got there around 8:30 to pick up my bib, hung around the cafeteria for a few and then jumped on a bus to the start. You park at a church community center in the middle of the island and get bused 7 miles to the start. Lots of serious runners on the bus. Seems like everyone I spoke to was either running NYC or Philly and had run Boston at least once.

I was at the start area, which is a beach, by 9:30 so I just laid on the beach for 45 minutes waiting to start. This is by far the best start area of any race I ever ran. Everyone just lounges out along the beach and watches the surfers. Rather than getting all pumped up by crowds and loud music you can really mello out here.

The plan was to just take it easy for this race. I didn't even check my previous times before I left so I would not be tempted to shoot for a PR. Well, that didn't last long because with my iPhone I was able to pull up last years time (2:35) while on the beach and decided I would at least try to run at that pace (8:36) for as many miles as possible.

It worked out well. I resisted the urge to shoot out of the start and just ran at a comfortable 8:25-8:30 pace for the whole race. I also walked through water stops which is not normal for me. I was sore for most of the race. The first 3 miles my calves cramped up, probably due to dehydration because of the late start (10:30AM) and the fact I hadn't drank water since the night before. By Mile 4 that bone problem on the top of my left foot started bothering me a lot (hurts like heck today). I think the slope of the road was aggrevating it so I tried to find flat sections of road to run on whenever possible. The other killer was that I felt blisters early in the race and that pain never went away. I never had that problem before but I do now. Need to figure out a way to deal with them at NYC.

I ran the last 2 miles real strong, finishing with an 8:01 final mile. A close friend of mine from childhood was waiting for me at the finish with his wife and newborn baby. He has been surfing at LBI his whole life. It was great catching up with him afterwards.

Another cool thing about this race is that afterwards you can go back to the St Francis community center to get a shower at their fitness center. They also have a free buffet for the runners. I literally gorged myself with food and brought a doggy bag for the 90-minute ride home. I listened to the Eagles game the enitre trip (we won 33-14) home.

All in all it was a pretty non-eventful and easy race. The NYC marathon is up next. I will be seriously tapering for the rest of October.

Place: 219/747
Bib#: 510
Chip Time: 2:32:52
Gun Time: 2:33:29
Pace: 8:32
9-Mi Time: 1:16:06
9-Mi Pace: 8:27
12-Mi Time: 1:41:39
12-Mi Pace: 8:28

Lou

 

[Theta]

All in all it was a pretty non-eventful and easy race. The NYC marathon is up next. I will be seriously tapering for the rest of October.


Lou

Good job Lou! YEs, let the taper begin. I hope to say that in about 6 hours if I can get my 20 miler in today. If not it will have to be tomorrow.

Cindy, nice easy 1/2 marathon! I hope you got home in a timely fashion.

Jodi, MIke, CHester, Matt how did y'all do?

 

[Cindylou]

Lou: Congrats on your PR. It seems like you ran a real steady race. I have no advice on the blisters other than maybe body glide. Hope the foot pain goes away. Enjoy your taper.

Colleen: Hope you are able to get your 20 miler in today.

I had 12 miles scheduled for yesterday. At about 8.5 I had a sharp pain at the top of my knee. I stopped and walked for a while and it eventually went away. I cut it short to 10 miles since I was pressed for time. Not sure what the problem was, just another thing to stress about over the next 6 days.

Have a great day everyone.
Cindy

 

[Theta]

just another thing to stress about over the next 6 days.


Cindy

Cindy, no stress, what knee pain, it went away, it's all good, you'll be fine!

 

[Jodi]

Hey BOTS

CindyLouNoFlu - Try not to stress about that arbitrary knee pain, getting sick, etc. Go easy the next week...you run way too much, lol. You'll do fine, positive thoughts, positive thoughts.

Lou - Excellent LBI, dude! Massage that foot, soak them in hot water & epsome salt to toughen up those blisters & use Bodyglide from here on in.

Colleen - Good luck on that 20 today! Go easy so you feel good tomorrow, just like you last LR.

Boy, I'm just full of advice today.

No residual effects from the Hartford 1/2. Heel's feeling fine??? Go figure. I've been seeing an awesome new chiropractor who practices ARC & it seems to really be working.

That's it for now!

Waiting to hear from all the other BOTS who ran RFFT & all.

 

[StitchAttack]

Lou Congrats on the PR. LBI sounds like an interesting race, 18 miles is such an odd distance that I'm intrigued and sort of want to run it next year. A free buffet at the end is even better.

JodiGood job on the half. Sounds like you had similar weather on Saturday as Cindy and I had in Baltimore. Way too hot and sweaty at the start, then cold, rainy and windy later on.

Howard, Chester and Cam Glad to see that you guys survived running in the heat of Disney. I can't believe how hot it still is down there! I enjoyed looking at the pics you posted from Disney on Facebook. The medals look really cool. Cindy and I are heading down for the tower of terror 13K in two weeks. I hope it cools off, because I can't imagine running 13K in 90+ weather.

Cindylou Don't worry about the aches and pains in the week before a marathon. I had a million random aches and pains this week leading up to Baltimore and for all of my issues during the race (which I'll go into below), none of them were related to injuries or the aches and pains I felt in the prior week. I think this is normal. Just take it easy this week, and let everything heal up.

Ok now on to the race report (sorry it's so long).

Pre-race and Expo

Since the Baltimore marathon was on Saturday, Cindy and I left work early on Friday so we could get check into our hotel, get to the expo, eat lots of pasta and hopefully get to bed at a reasonable time. Traffic in DC on Friday is TERRIBLE, so we decided to take the MARC commuter train from DC union station to Baltimore Camden station. This worked out really well as the Camden station (which is at Camden yards, the Orioles stadium) was about a 5 minute walk from our hotel and a 10 minute walk from the expo. Plus train tickets were only $7 each, what a deal!

So we go into Baltimore right on time, checked into our hotel (which was right on the water on the inner harbor) and headed out to the expo. The expo was at the Baltimore Ravens stadium on the club level. I've only been to a few pro football games, and I usually sit in the cheap seats, but being in the club level of the stadium made me feel like I was in some secret high class football world, where only the rich and powerful belong. It is all enclosed with nice bars, restaurants and lounge chairs everywhere. The expo was decent, but not as good as Disney or Marine Corp. The best part was the underarmor race shirts. They are very nice technical shirts and for once both Cindy and I got shirts that fit well.

After the expo we walked over to little italy to have our pasta dinner. The restaurant we went to was decent, but it was a little over crowded with runners. Lots of stuff on the menu looked good, but I stuck to plain old spaghetti with meat sauce in order to avoid the "Hershey squirts" the next day. The food definitely wasn't as good as the meal Cam served us at her house last year before Philly. Thanks again for having us all over, Howard and Cam.

The Race

The next morning we got up at 5 am and started getting ready for the race. The half marathon wasn't going to start until 9:45, the full started at 8 am, but Cindy was going to come with me to start to see me off. I really appreciated that, since I tend to get nervous before the start of races and having someone to tell me to relax and chill out helps a lot. The start of the races was actually set up really well. The had lots of porta potties at the finish line, where the bag check was. The start was a short walk away near Camden Yards and they had most of the bathrooms in Camden Yards open for the runners to use.

There were all sorts of crazy people at the start and the energy level was really high. I saw one runner in farmer overalls with a straw hat on. I saw another guy dressed up like a cowboy. I had decided to run with the 3:50 pace group (8:47 per mile pace) and I located them and squeezed into the corral. I ran with the 3:50 pace group last year in philly and lasted about 18 miles with them. With a whole year of training since then, I figured I might be able to keep up with them for the entire race this time, or maybe even pull away from them near the end. This turned out to be wishful thinking, since it was 70 degrees and pretty humid at the start.

There were only about 4,000-5,000 runners doing to the full, and the half starts 1 hour 45 minutes later, so the start cleared up pretty fast. The first mile was slow at 9:30, but otherwise the start was good. I even spotted Cindy in the crowd cheering for me, which made me happy. The first 4-5 miles of Baltimore are all uphill, but this early in the race the hills felt easy and I even though I was sweating quite a lot, I felt good. We picked up the pace a bit and by using the downhills in miles 5-7 I was right on 3:50 pace. For the first time ever in a marathon, I decided to start the race with a bottle of gatorade. I think that this worked out well, since I was able to skip the crowded water stops and drink at my own pace. 6 miles in I had finished my gatorade and I started pouring cups of gatorade from the water stops into my bottle to refill it.

Around the 9 mile point, the race runs right past the start of the half marathon. All of the half runners were on the side of the course cheering us on, which was really cool. I saw Cindy again and gave her the thumbs up--I was still feeling good at this point. At this part of the course you could see faster runners on the other side. Remember the guy in farmer overalls and a straw hat? I saw him blaze by on the other side super fast. He was at least 5 minutes ahead of the 3:10 pace group at this point, so I'm guessing that he ran a sub 3 hour marathon in overalls. CRAZY! How does he not chafe with those on?

After mile 9, however, the race heads out around Fort McHenry (of star spangled banner fame) and is very exposed to the harbor. The wind started getting really strong here, it was about 15 mph or so and it started to get really cold and rainy. Around mile 12 I started feeling not so strong, and I dropped back from the pace group a bit.

I got through the half marathon point at 1:55:17, which is pretty much right on pace, but I was already slowing down. For some reason I felt like I was running out of energy and every mile from 13-16 got slower and slower. I also started to get really really cold at this point. During the start of the race I was hot and dripping with sweat, but now I was soaking wet and shivering and had goosebumps all up and down my arms. I also knew that my pace was slowing and I was feeling really mentally low also.

At mile 16, another long set of hills starts. The course is pretty much uphill from mile 16 to mile 20 and combined with the wind, the rain and the knowledge that I was feeling terrible and had a long way to go this really did me in. Also at this time the half marathon and the full marathon groups merged. To be feeling so bad, with all of the half marathoners feeling so good at mile 3 of their race didn't help either.

Around mile 17 or so, I started alternating walking and running. Mike said it in an earlier post, and I totally agree, that once you start walking in a marathon it's pretty much over. No amount of walking is going to put fuel back in the tank. From 17-20 I managed to do mostly 12-13 minute miles, but I was still feeling miserable, about as low as I ever have felt during a race. There was also a marathon relay race going on and one of the exchange points in the relay was at mile 19.5. I was feeling so bad at times that I seriously considered dropping out and taking the relay bus back to the finish. All I could think about was how cold I was.

Fortunately I eventually started to feel better. While I was walking, I realized that I was super super thirsty. I ended up drinking 2-3 cups of water at each water stop and I think this helped a lot. In retrospect, I wonder if drinking just gatorade and not drinking water early on made dehydrated or something. Another odd thing was that I had a pretty bad side stitch for the entire race. It just never went away, which is strange, since I rarely get side stitches and they almost always go away fast if I do get them. I ran a large part of mile 20, which is flat and around a lake, but then I walked most of mile 21. After mile 22 it was all downhill to the finish, but by this point the downhills were almost as bad for me as the uphills. My quads were destroyed from the earlier downhill running and with all the walking I was doing, they got really tight.

Some notable things from the last 6 miles of the race are that I saw the 4:30 pace group caught up to me around mile 23. I figured "hmm maybe I can run with them for the last 3 miles" and I actually did run with them for a mile, but then we hit another uphill and I didn't want to run uphill again, so I walked some more. Around mile 24, there was pretty large guy dressed up in a full head-to-toe tiger outfit standing on top of his car dancing. His car stereo was playing "eye of the tiger" non-stop and he was pointing at the runners and growling like a tiger. That was pretty cool and made me smile. Sometime around this point, a passed a relay runner who was dressed as a HUGE can of miller lite. One fan yelled at him "Nice job Miller Lite, but I prefer BUD ICE!".

At mile 25 I figured I'd try to run the rest of the way in. The last 1.2 miles are pretty cool, you run through Camden Yards and the fans are really packed in cheering you on. Somehow I was able to run at a 9 minute mile pace for a mile or so here and I finished at 4:38. Not my worst time by far, but very disappointing considering I was hoping for a 3:50 or at least a sub 4-hour hour marathon.

Thoughts

This whole race was really rough for me, almost as much mentally as physically. In retrospect, I'm not sure exactly what went wrong here. The weather didn't co-operate for sure. I probably didn't hydrate with water as well as I should have (I drank only gatorade for the first 16 miles) and I definitely went out too fast for the conditions and the hilly course. I felt my training was good, but knowing what I know now, I should have trained on hills more. To blow up so spectacularly, really threw me during the race. I could have run more than I did and pushed harder at points, but once I knew I was probably going to run somewhere between 4:30 and 4:50 I sort of gave up mentally.

Anyway, I'm really glad now that I toughed it out and finished. The medals are really cool. They show a Maryland Blue crab running with his claws up in the air. Cindy and I also got these really nice "Maryland Double" medals for running both Frederick and Baltimore. All in all Baltimore was a very well done event. The course was very tough (I don't think I'll do the full here again) but I'd like to do the half. The whole weekend happens around the inner harbor, which makes for a very fun weekend trip, and since the race is on Saturday you can eat and drink all you want Saturday night and all day Sunday.

Up next is Richmond. I'm definitely going to do the full there and hopefully I can make up for this bad race. The weather should be better and I know the course isn't as hilly. I think I'm also going to go out more conservatively with the 4 hour pace group this time, instead of the 3:50.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Thanks for the race report Matt. Wow, it sounds like a really tough race for you. I'm impressed you finished, and your time wasn't so bad at all. I can't imagine feeling as bad as you did at mile 16 and still thinking you had 10 miles to go. Good for you for finishing it up. Good luck at Richmond.

Are you and Cindy still doing the ToT13k? How long are you guys staying down there?

 

[Theta]

Hey Matt,

Don't sweat the bad stuff, course sounded heinous. Too many hills for my liking. Chalk it up to a training run with a cool medal and concentrate on Richmond.

Jodi

Glad the heel is behaving! No LR for me today, DD home sick from school. Hopefully tomorrow.

 

[StitchAttack]

Are you and Cindy still doing the ToT13k? How long are you guys staying down there?

Yep. We are flying down on Thursday and flying back on Monday. I can almost taste the cheese soup at food and wine already. That and the escargot are my favorites.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Yep. We are flying down on Thursday and flying back on Monday. I can almost taste the cheese soup at food and wine already. That and the escargot are my favorites.

Bummer, I'm getting down there on Tuesday. I was hoping we might overlap a little. Oh well, I guess I'll see you in January.

 

[Optimator]

Hey All,

Jodi - Any race details since I not a FB friend? I'm happy to hear your not feeling any ill efffects.

Lou - WTG on the PR. Nice to hear the conditions/wind cooperated and you had a good time.

Cindy - Great race! Did it boost your confidence enough for Richmond?

Matt - Sorry to hear your race didn't go as planned but nice job gutting it out till the end. Even better to hear that you are already set to give it another go in Richmond.

Colleen - Here's hoping DD feels better soon (and that you can get your LR in).

CindyLou - I can always count on my "easy" runs right before a race being the most painful, miserable experiences ever. Don't let it worry you.

Dave - Nice job on your LR.

Chester, Howard, and Jen ????

Sorry if I missed anyone.


Short little race report:

The Towpath Marathon/Half/10K runs mostly on the Towpath of the Ohio Canal just south of Cleveland. Oddly, the full and half/10K start seperately at the only 2 ski resorts in that part of the state. I'd be willing to bet not many races that start in a ski lodge parking lot are almost compelety flat like this.

We got there early Sunday AM and were rewarded for our promptness by getting directed to the parking lot half a mile away vs. the one right next the the start. The half had 1,000 runners and 10K had over 400. Porta-port city consisted of a bank of 10. Let's do the math: Almost 1,500 runners. 10 toilets. Hmmm, I don't think everyone is going to start on time. Luckily, we got through, checked our bags (write your name on a piece of masking tape, stick it on your bag, pitch it in the back of this here van, and we'll take it to the finish area for you), and had 10 minutes to spare.

The high-30's weather was pretty cold for standing around but perfect for running. 3+ miles around some country roads then onto the towpath for a 5 mile out and back. The towpath was a completely flat but pretty narrow hard packed trail through the woods. It was really very nice with the leaves changing and all. I haven't looked at my splits but from period glances at my Garmin I think I ran a very consistent pace throughout. I got to see Kathy after the turn-around and she was doing great and happy with her time.

O.K., so maybe this isn't a short little report after all.

Anyways, I finished in 1:38:53 which I was very happy with. I finished, went and eventually found my checked bag (piled up against the side of that building over there), put on some warmer clothes and went down the trail a bit to cheer Kathy home. Her goal was sub-2:45 and she finished at 2:43:58 and was rightfully ecstatic as well. We then milled around for a while, bought some kettle corn and a beer, and waited for a friend of ours from this area that was trying to BQ. She needed 3:50:59 and finished with 25 seconds to spare!

It was a good race overall but had some oddities for a race with 2,000 total participants that's been around for over 10 years; extreme lack of toilets (there were only 9 or 10 in the whole "finisher's village" as well), there was no medical tent (1 ambulance at the end and no place for Kathy to get a bag of ice for her knee), they tried to hand you your medal just as you crossed the mats (I had to grab it while I was still running), the food tables were set up about 30 feet past the mats (wobbly runner's dodging people eating bagels), and the final timing is a bit woogy (a bunch of people, including both of us, have gun time and chip time as the same. It seems that if you crossed the line less than 50 seconds or so after the gun they just ignored the difference. Maybe we would have been better off getting stuck in the port-pot line.)

Alright, enough about that.

Take care everyone.

p.s. Colleen - Tell Jeff that running + drinking = gagging + wet shirt

 

[Optimator]

and the final timing is a bit woogy (a bunch of people, including both of us, have gun time and chip time as the same.

Hey! They seemed to have corrected the issue.

Kathy now has an official time of 2:43:25 and I have 1:38:22.

I bet they probably have 3 times as many potties out there today too!

 

[Theta]

Hey! They seemed to have corrected the issue.

Kathy now has an official time of 2:43:25 and I have 1:38:22.

I bet they probably have 3 times as many potties out there today too!

Wow, you two ripped up that course!!

Good job Kathy and Mike. Jeff says your pace is/was GREAT!

 

[Jodi]

Matt - Wow, dude, that sounds like one heinous run! I give you a lot of credit for finishing. Sometimes the only reason I keep going in a race (or training run) is because I know I've done it before. The weather sounds like it played havoc with you - it was a very strange morning w/ the humidity followed by a cold wind (we didn't get the rain). I don't think drinking the Gatorade exclusively would dehydrate you, but I DO think you got wet then cold & that's always a recipe for disaster. Wear that medal like a badge of courage! Glad you stuck it out, congratulations. Do you eat Gu @ all?

Mikey - Excellent race! Even if you did have to JodiStop in the woods & keep your own time. Sounds like I organized the dang thing! Congrats to Kathy, too, on achieving her goal. Ready for Richmond? Just stop & drink the water next time, dude! You don't Gu either, do you? You NEED to.

Colleen - Hope Lauren feels better soon! , poor little thing. Hope you're able to sneak that LR in soon.

Waiting for those RFTT reports.

Mike - I didn't really do a race report for Hartford 1/2, so here goes.

Left home @ 6:45; parked on the street; walked to the start; it was humid - around 60; started running; sweating profusely by mile one; knew it was gonna be tough from the get go - didn't feel strong like I sometimes do; course was pretty boring - don't remember much of it, although I was looking up; got a bit windy & cold around mile 7; felt tired around mile 10; too many hills (actually they were slight inclines); walked up a hill for about 40 seconds around mile 11; enjoyed the locals standing on the side of the road smoking & shouting to eachother across the street in Spanish (I think I picked up a little bit of "look @ these friggin' idiots"); tried to get it going again for the last mile or 2; finished grimacing; official time of 2:02:00; got in free-beer tent line; drank 1/2 of my cup; food line amazing; Ready for this? All prepared by Whole Foods Market: multi-grain salad; mac&cheese (real M&C); minestrone soup; big CChip cookie w/ cranberries, nuts, etc.; Stonyfield yogurt smoothie; Myoplex smoothie; fruit cup; bagels; banannas;. Ate & walked back to car; dropped 1/2 my cookie; couldn't finish all the food, though. Will definitely sign up again next year for 5k.

 

[Jodi]

Hate to bring it up, peeps, but we GOTTA start thinking about a BOT event for '10. Forget the relay thing, I can't handle dealing with you freaks about that. I'm talking a regular event, here. Things to consider:

1. $$$
2. Family
3. $$$
4. weather
5. $$$
6. location
7. $$$

I'd LOVE to do Seattle R&R, but don't know if getting out west is feasible for everyone (including myself). Should we keep it on the East Coast? I'd prefer colder time of year, but will sweat for you guys if I must. Should we maybe consider a designated 1/2 this time around????

Let's start this conversation now so we don't find ourselves writing on the tablecloth @ Macaroni Grill again .

 

[Optimator]

Jodi - Wow! That's a great time! What's your half PR again?

I was just telling Kathy today that I think you should do another ultra, one of those 50 mile jobs. You are rock steady no matter what the distance, the conditions, or how much (or little ) you've trained. You'd keep zipping along at your normal pace ALL DAY LONG!

Sounds like I organized the dang thing!

Something tells me if you organized an event there would be PLENTY of porta-pots, with large banks of them spaced every 4 miles or so!

And yes, I do eat the Gu, not like Dave doing 10 of them in a half, but I do eat a couple in a full.

 

[Cindylou]

Good Morning Bots,

Jodi: Here are a few races on my list for 2010 (Not that I'm committed to doing them, just thinking about doing one of them). In October: Toronto, Newport, RI, Mount Desert Island, ME, or Outer Banks, NC in November. Several of them do have Half Mar. too. The food after your half sounds great. That makes it worth the effort.

Mike: Great job by you and Kathy on your race.

Matt: Sorry your race was so tough. I think most of us have had one (or more) of those races. I'm sure you can learn something from it, if nothing else you know you can keep going when it's so tough. Great job on not quitting. You should feel proud about that. Glad you're looking ahead to the Food and Wine Expo.

All the other Bots: Hello, hope things are well.

I'll be stopping by to pick up my race number today. The early forecast for race day is cold (upper 30's at the start to mid 40's by the end) and cloudy. That's ideal for me unless it's windy. I'm sure it will change before Sunday so I won't worry too much, although I'm trying to figure out what I'll wear. I'm thinking long sleeves, can't decide to go with shorts or capris. I don't want to be too warm, but think the extra layer on my legs might help them from getting too tight.
The "slowest" pace group they have at this race is 3:50. That's going to be about 10 sec/mile too fast for what I was planning on doing so I'm pretty sure I'm not going to try to keep up with them. If I can keep them in my sights for a while that would be OK.
I have 4 whole miles on the schedule for today. We'll see how the knee feels. My cough seems to be hanging around, but it's not too bad. I now have a stiff neck. I went to the chiro yesterday and he worked on it a bit. Still sore today. Just the usual pre-race problems I think.

Have a great day everyone.
Cindy

 

[lourodrigis]

Jodi - I agree we should start looking at something for 2010. Here's my two cents...I'd like to plan for something next fall. I'm considering running the Ocean Drive Marathon in the spring since that's close to home. You guys are welcome to come to lovely Cape May in March (cold) if you want to run it. I'd prefer to stay east of the Mississippi if possible.

Mike - Nice job on your half. That finish sounds a little chaotic. Maybe next year the volunteers can just try to throw the medals around the runner's necks like a ring toss. The porto pottie thing sounds nuts. I bet a lot of runners improvised.

Mike (ps) - Please thank the Indians GM for me today. I'm still not sure how the Phillies picked up Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco without giving up anyone on their roster. First the Red Sox and now the Phillies...the Indians are the next team that will reverse their curse. I need to find a way to curse the Yankees like I did the Mets.

Kathy - Way to go with the PR!! Very nice.

Cindy - Those races on your list all sound good to me. Newport, RI, and Mount Desert Island, ME would be places I know I could convince the family to see. We have been to the Outer Banks and are not huge fans of the place. RI would probably be #1 on the list as I have family a few miles from there.

Hey all!!!

No running for me today although I may try to get in a few later today. I actually feel much better today but I still have this bone problem with the left foot. I'm sure it will go away by 11/1 as long as I take it easy. My new concern...could the Phillies be playing the Yankees in the World Series during that NYC weekend? That would make for an interesting weekend.

Lou

 

[StitchAttack]

Mike That race sounds like my worst nightmare. Porta-potties are my number one concern for a race, at least if it was a trail race you can use the bathroom bear style...aka in the woods.

Jodi I did eat one gu around mile 11 when I started feeling bad. Up until that point I had probably drunk 30 oz of gatorade, which should be enough fuel. I didn't have any water to go with my gu, though, so I had to wash it down with more gatorade. Usually in training I take a gu every 45 mins-1 hour and I drink mostly water. I think I'm going to stick with this plan in the future during races. During philly, my best marathon, I drank hardly any gatorade at all and just stuck with gu. Then again it was so cold there, that I wasn't sweating too much.

Cindylou Sounds like good fast running weather. I can never figure out what to wear for mid 30s temps, though. Do I go with shorts or pants... long sleeve shirt or short sleeve? I think gloves are a must, though.

As for a BOT race next year, I am totally in. Any of the rock n roll races would work for me; they are always fun events. Right now, my top two would be:

San Antonio: Mid november
Las Vegas: Early December

Las Vegas would be an awesome place for a BOT weekend. Flights to and from vegas are always cheap and the hotels are usually cheap too. I keep getting offers in the mail to stay at the luxor for $49 a night.

 

[CynthiaCindy]

Lou, Mike, and Kathy – Congrats on great PRs!

Mike and Kathy – happy anniversary (a week late)

Mike – In answer to your question about running the half making me feel ready to run Richmond, I’d give that a big no. I don’t doubt that I could finish a marathon, I just doubt that I can finish it in a reasonable time and without being in serious pain after. So, I’m still undecided. If it were Disney we were talking about, I’d definitely run it. I have no issues with running a 6 (or more) hour marathon at Disney – I know that there will be people out there with me. I just don’t want to be out there all alone in Richmond, with everyone having gone home by the time I finish. My current plan is to run as much as possible during the week and run 16 this weekend, next weekend we’ll be in Disney, weekend after that run 18, weekend after that hiking in Shenandoah, weekend after that Richmond. I probably won’t decide until the expo (I did ask the person at the Richmond table at the Army Ten Miler and she said that they would absolutely not be closing the half, so I will be able to transfer to the half at the expo if I want).

Jodi – Nice time on the Hartford Half! Post race food sounds great!

Colleen – I hope Lauren is feeling better and you are able to get your run in.

Dave – Love the pictures of your kitties on FB. Matt and my blended cat family has never gotten along that well. You are going to Disney in Oct.? What for? For how long?

CindyLou – best of luck this weekend. I’ll be thinking of you and really hope you get your BQ. You’ll post here and let us know, right?

Chester, Howard, Cam, and Jen – Any reports on RFTT?

BOT EVENT 2010 - I think sticking to the east coast makes sense for $$$ reasons. Matt and I were talking about times of year to race when you can pretty much guarantee good (meaning cold) weather. Later in October or early Nov. would work (I’d do either Philly or Marine Corps again if we made it a Bot event). March is also a good time. As Mike can attest to, it’s been pretty good running weather for the National Marathon here for the past 2 years (and, Jodi, if you want to see a sad expo, you really should come run that race). I’d also be interested in RI or Toronto.