Rob S.

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Did a 5k this morning.  The race was held in the morning.   The temp was 82 degrees and the humidity was probably just as thick.  I started out good, but withered away slowly.  I lost about three minutes when I stop help hydrate a 12-year old boy that was just about passed out on the side of the road.  I finished the race in less than stellar time, but I finished, and had to wait around for about an hour for the medals.  We thought my running partner came in third in her age group, but actually came in seond since the first place finisher was actually male.

The race was for a good cause (see below)., and one that I was not familar with until today. 

This event benefits The National MPS Society , on behalf of Ryan (5) and Brayden (2) Kapes, who are currently battling the genetic lysosomal storage disease called Sanfilippo or MPS III. The MPS Society exists to find treatments and cures for MPS and related diseases and provides hope & support for affected individuals and their families through research, advocacy and awareness of these devastating diseases.

So Saturday morning I tackled another duathlon.  This one at Sea Isle City. 
Friday night we headed to the event late at night and bedded down at Ocean City.  My friend's brother has a beach house at Ocean City which was great since we didn't have to worry about lodging.  We got to the house around 11p and went right to sleep.  We got up at 4:30a to a downpour and feared the worst for the actual event.  Grabbed my oatmeal and rolled right out of the house.  By the time we got to Sea Isle City at 5:30a it was overcast, but their beach never got rained on.  Thank goodness, because I didn't bring any of my rain gear.  When I go to the beach I expect sun, not rain.  We got dropped off with our bikes, grabbed our numbers and racked our bikes, and proceeded to wait for the the start at 7am.  I hate waiting for anything so I walked around the beach for awhile. 

They kicked off the duathlon and the elite tri guys right on schedule.  The first run was up and back the boardwalk for a distance of two miles.  My running partner forgot all of my pacing instructions and took off like a rabbit.  I kept her in my sites for the entire run but couldn't catch her.  When I got to the first transition I grabbed my bike, my shoes, and helmet headed right out.  The transition area to the mount area was a long distance, which is a real pain in bike shoes.  From the time I left the transition area it was another 90 seconds before I could acutally mount the bike.  The ride was a short 9 mile up and back, but the road was real patchy, and it didn't allow for real good acceleration.  The back part of the ride was head wind.  The ride was ok, but the dismount again required about a 100 yard run to the transition area (next year I will just remove my shoes and go sockfoot).  Transition was quick.  Dumped my helmet and shoes, grabbed my running shoes, a bottle of water (turned out be smart decision since there was only one water stop on this run), and downed a couple of sport beans.

The last run was just under four miles.  I decided I wasn't going to break any records today, so I paced myself well and proceeded to just run the whole distance.  The work my  chiro did on my foot and hamstring was great so I didn't experience any pain on the whole event.  The last mile is down the boardwalk and you can actually see the finish line when you get to about 1/2 mile.   There were a lot spectators out for the event, and it was great to see all the marines.  I spent a lot of the second run thinking about my dad who passed away several years ago, but was colonel in the Marines during the Korean War.  I decided to dedicate the race to him.  I finished the race strong, actually regretting that I hadn't pushed a little harder earlier, but what can you do.  I finished third in my age group (M55-59), and my running partner actually finished second in her age group (F40-44).  We waited through the medal presentations, but were disappointed when we found out they were not giving bling out to duathlon age group winners.  Oh well, other than waiting a long time for no bling, at least we got meet a lot of great people.

We rode back to the beach house in Ocean City (about 14 miles) in about 40 minutes with all our gear on our backs.  I headed straight home to Wilmington since I wanted to try and get some chores done.  This was a great event and I'm sure I'll participate next year,  I'll just work harder on running with my bike shoes. 

OK, my first half marathon wearing the PostOP-PR shirt is in the books.  It was a great day for a race.  The weather was perfect, the parking was perfect, the festivities were awesome.  My time was ok.  The course is nice but includes four hills that are back breakers.

The race starts at 6:15am for slow marathoners, followed by a 7:00am for the rest of the marathoners.  The relay runners start at 7:05am.  They only allow 2,000 participants total for all three events.  The half marathoners started at 7:20a. 

The first two and half miles follow the Christiana Rivers and loop around the shipyard.  It is a nice flat run, and I kept a fairly decent early pace.  The next two miles slopes upward toward the main part of the city and then a short downhill to the Brandywine River.  You then run around the Brandywine River and cross the swinging bridge and then head up a steep mile long hill toward the Art Museum.  My running partner decided at this point to up her stride and proceeded to incredase her pace.  Needless to say, I let her take off without me.  I would see her two additional times before the finish line, but had no aspirations of keeping her pace.  The hill was the best part of my run, but then I had to figure out how to run flat.  In addition, I was surrounded by a lot of people doing the run-walk method, and they must see a sign on me saying -- Please stop right in front of me!  Three times people decided to brake  right in front of me.

At the seven mile mark we ran through a nicer old neighborhood in the city and then over to Little Italy.  My toes were really bugging me since they hadn't healed well from the last major event I did two weeks ago.  I plodded along for the next three miles, running as well as possible.  Getting lapped at this point by some of the elite marathoners (they run the same course twice) was extremely disheartening to the psych, but I continued.  At mile 11 I was back running along the river, my toes were very aggravating at this point but I knew I could finish and I also knew that my running partner would be waiting for me (she gets my free beer).  As I rounded the turn away from the river at the 12 mile mark, the last major hill was just daunting.  It was just putting one foot in front of the other, and plodding to the center of town.  The last half mile was downhlll and felt pretty good, but I was a little worried about getting a charlie horse before the finish line.  As I hit the train station with .2 miles I decided it was time to finish strong.  I was able to pass several half marathoners and several relay runners right before the finish line.  My running buddy was yelling at me to finish strong, so I had to hightail it across the finish line.

I had registered with a time of 2:40 to finish this race, and I finished in 2:40:11 so I shouldn't be too disappointed.   The good thing is I have no pain in the feet (other than the toes), or knees, or hips.  So I got my first PR (2:40) while running for team PostOp PR.  Not my fastest, but I'll take it .

So today was my third running of the Philadephia Broad Street Run.  So got up at 4:30am this morning and downed a bowl of oatmeal.  Got myself packed and ready.  Since I was expecting hot and muggy weather I didn't think that sweats would be required.  I went outside to grab my sunglasses (don't do any runs without them) and lo and behold it was raining.  That was a surprise, so I grabbed some disposable ponchos that I keep on hand.  Sure enough, Susan, my running buddy, arrived at my house at 5:20a on the dot.  We hauled up to Philadelphia, and arrived at the parking lot at 5:50a.  Just a side note, it is really great to have someone that drives to these events.  Especially after the event, not sure how I could get my feet to respond to the accelerator and brake.

So we caught an early Septa train up to the starting event.  This is a 30-minute train ride, and the train is packed with early runners wanting to get situated before the big start.  So at 6:30a we are sitting on the field wondering why we are here this early.  Five visits to the johnny-on-the spot for Susan, and three for me, validated our early arrival.  I would have had additional visits but I found that men have an advantage and can use the "wall" to take care of themselves.

When we tried to leave the field at 8:15a and get out to Broad Street to get to our corral we found that we were blocked  by about 2,000 other runners.  The actual start for our corral was around 8:50a and we eventually merged onto the crowded street and got over the starting line.  This year they used a timing chip built into the bib which is more effective than the shoe version. 

So we got across the starting line, and started to jog, then stopped, restarted several time, until we finally broke into a consistent jog.  The weather had turned from wet and cloudy, to muggy and temperatures in the 80's.  We tried to stay to the left where there was more shade, but found most of the fire hydrants were spraying the crowds from the right.  After two miles I had a good gait and was feeling full of myself.  We were going at a 5k pace.  Too fast for me.  I was already developing brow sweat, and feeling heated.  I slowed down and took about a minute off my pace.

At the three mile mark, we hit the firs****er stop, and I grabbed gatorade by mistake, and my system felt horrible.  Mile 4 and 5 were brutal.  I told my buddy to head out and set her own pace, which is much faster than mine, and kept jogging but a reduced level.  The reason this event is so neat, is that the streets are lined from start to finish with people cheering you along the way.  At the five mile mark, I got adopted by five young women.  They asked if they could help pace me for a couple of miles, since I guess I must have looked pretty pitiful.  They talked about their parents, and how they wished they could get them out running.  They were a lot of fun and kept my mind off the run for the next thirty minutes.  I started downing a few sport beans every mile to stay energized.  When we got past City Hall at mile 6, I felt rejuvenated, and felt like I would could finish the race, and who cares about the time.  At mile 8, I said goodbye to my girls, and decided to pound out the next mile.  The last mile I decided to finish strong.  As I ran through the entrance to the Naval Yard, I almost collided with a group of people who didn't realize the finish line is another quarter mile within the Naval Yard,  I crossed the finish line, looked at my time.  Not great, but I did creep under two hours.  The heat took it's tole.  They were a lot people being carried away in ambulances.  Hopefully they will recover quickly after getting some fluids.  Amazingly enough they did not give out finisher medals this year.  So I can't even add in more bling to my collection. 

So I crawled back to Susan's car, and the legs were really pounding.  We spent about two hours getting out of Philadelphia, and back home.  Ice water is my best friend today!   Hopefully the weather will be a little cooler for our next event, a half-marathon in Delaware in two weeks.

Thanks for listening.  BTW, I did skip the Ginos.  Can't stand the site of liquid cheese.  In Delaware, the real home of the cheese steak, they only use authentic cheese.

Well my second marathon of 2009 is now complete!  It was a great event and I finished, but it wasn't easy.  I drove down to Rehoboth Beach on Friday afternoon and checked in the hotel about 3pm.  Once my running partner, Susan, and her husband (Scott) got there, we headed over to the Rehoboth Running Company to pick up our packets and get our pasta dinner tickets.

The three of us had dinner at Catcher's Seafood, right next to the Running Company.  It was a big bowl of pasta and salad.  Even though we had prepaid, the waitress actually ended up returning money to us, since I didn't have anything to drink with my meal.  I just left it as extra tip money.  After dinner we headed back to the hotel and I was asleep by 8:30p.

Since the race started at 7am, and the start was only 5 minutes from the hotel we wanted to wait till closer to the start time before heading over.  I woke up early, got myself set, dressed, put on my toe sleeves and compression socks went outside to check the weather, and decided to go with long-sleeves and tights.  The toe sleeves are the recommendation of my podiatrist to try and protect my second toes from losing the toenail during the race.  Well this year the toe was in pretty poor condition prior to starting the race, so I didn't want to take any chances.  More on the toes later.

We got to the start about 30 minutes prior to the start, used the facilities (no waiting in line).  This is a small race by the way.  So standing at the start I said hi to two people who turned out to be these crazy "Maniac" marathoners.  These people are in there 60s and run marathons all the time.  Both of the guys were running today, and then one of them was going to run the Philadelphia marathon on Sunday.  Larry Macon was going to run some "monkey" marathon on Sunday.  Larry ran 105 marathons last year, at the age of 64.  If your interested, here is a video link describing one of his three marathon runs in one weekend.  

http://www.runnersworld.com/video/1,8052,s6-21-0-7,00.html?b cpid=2888992001&bclid=1508311825&bctid=26423738001  

I must throw in at this point that I beat Larry by about five minutes. 

So it was cold standing there at the start.  The temperature was about 37 degrees at the start.  Even though this is only the second year for this event, they had to change the route since the boardwalk got swept away by the storms last weekend. The weather after the first hours hovered in the low 50s. It was a great day to race.

Luckily they started right at 7am. The half-marathoners and full marathon runners all started at the same time. I was under strict instructions to not get carried away at the start, and to keep my pace at a good level. Susan and I headed down Rehoboth Ave. for about a half-mile before turning onto some smaller streets. We ran along the beach roads for about 2 ½ miles before being hitting the turnaround and running back through several beach neighborhoods. It was great scenery, and there are some amazing houses down in this are. It was easy to run and enjoy the scenery. At five miles we passed the Visitor’s Center and had one more mile of regular road. At mile six we were routed onto a trail. The scenery was great, but the trail was covered with leaves and twigs from the storm the prior weekend. A few people took spills. I was lucky and stayed on my feet, but it took a lot of concentration.   At mile 7, we had our first incident. Susan told me she was experiencing double vision, so we stopped and let her recover. Her vision snapped back, but it was pretty scary, because she has never had any kind of physical ailment. I decided to fuel up with a couple of Sport Beans and water, which I was carrying with me. At least she recovered and started running again at a good pace. I was not so lucky. I got a stomach cramp, and started experiencing a lot of pain. Then I started getting pangs of pain in lower back. I started to slow my pace, and finally told Susan to go at her own pace and I would just try to get through it. At 8 ½ miles, the half-marathon did a turn-around, and I was very tempted. But figured I would keep plugging away. When we got off the trail at mile 9, I was getting very worried.   I was running alone for the next three miles, with just my Ipod blaring in my ear, and the occasional race helpers riding by on their bikes and shouting encouragement.   At mile 11, I crossed over the canal, and could see Susan was really putting some distance on me.  At 12 ½ miles right after passing the Cape May Ferry, my back spasms got so bad I got down on the ground and decided that this was going to be my “DNF” race. I stayed on the ground for about 15 minutes. I was pretty upset. A spectator (they were rare), came over and asked me if I needed help, and as I got to my feet, I told him that I was going to just walk and let someone pick me up. So I started walking, grabbed some Tylenol and water, and just kept walking. No one came by to get me, so I just plodded along. At 13 ½ miles, the clock read 2:45. So despite my time on the ground I had run a decent half. I entered Cape Henlopen State Park, and was greeted by a bunch of enthusiastic race helpers.  One man ran with me a short way explaining the course through the park, and warned me about the hills (including Heartbreak Hill). He was waiting for his wife, so he asked if it would be ok to accompany me through the park. He really helped. The park is awesome, passing bunkers, lighthouses, and spectacular ocean views.   I was definitely moving along at a slow jog, but I was moving, and I actually enjoy going uphill for some reason, so I made up some time. The route in the park was crazy. I would run up a trail for about a half-mile and then hit a turn around and come back. One particular hill the volunteer sent me up was real hard but the scenery at the turnaround was awesome. I did let the volunteer know that it just mean to send me up that hill and then have me turn around and come back. Coming out of the park at 17 ½ miles I knew I would finish the race even if I had to walk it.  Here’s a gripe. I really don’t like run-walk racers. When you are trying to keep a pace and these people keep passing you and then stopping right in front of you, it really gets aggravating. That’s it. Off my gripe box. As I jogged passed the Cape May Ferry on the return at the 18 mile I switched to PowerAde at the water stations. No more beans for me on this run. I saw a runner (walker) in the distance and decided that I would keep him as my reference point. I passed him at the 19 mile mark, and headed across the canal. At this point, my toes starting hurting and I figured they were goners.    The next two miles were just a constant jog. I didn’t see a single runner during this stretch. A couple of the bicycle guys checked in on me, but I brushed them off. I was moving pretty slow and wasn’t even sure when I would finish. At 21, Scott pulled alongside me in his car and gave me a motivational speech. I would have preferred a lift, since I thought I was finished,, but he really helped me. I picked up my pace and decided to start ticking off ½ mile marks. The longest part of the race started at mile 22 when I reentered that trail. This time I was all alone, and it was 3 miles without any liquids or fuel.  Since I hit the wall at mile 8, I didn’t have any of those problems, but I really needed to focus to avoid taking a major spill. I actually got a pebble in my shoe. Certainly never had that happen before. When I exited the trail just before the 25 mile mark, I knew I was going to finish. One woman passed me and just took off. As I got back to Rehoboth Avenue, another runner passed me and headed down the street. I maintained my slow pace, determined to save enough energy to look really good running that last quarter mile. So at the lighthouse I knew it was finally time to kick it into gear, I could see the finish line and the clock and a few spectators. I ran as fast as I could and when I crossed that line I really felt a sense of accomplishment. When they gave me my lighthouse medal and my foil jacket, I just started shivering and realized I had actually beaten my Disney time, despite the back and feet problems. I headed into the tent and found Scott and Susan. They figured I wouldn’t be crossing the line for at least another half-hour so they didn’t bother waiting at the finish line. Thanks for listening in. This is a great race, because I can actually say that I finished among the top 200 racers.  Now I need to get back to training this weekend to figure out why my body broke down so early, and figure out some new goals for 2010. Sorry for the long account, but I figure if I have to run 26.2, you need read about it.

DE Running Rob

An aggressive schedule but it sure makes life a lot of fun.  I have signed up for most of the events so at least I'm committed.  I will sure get a lot of t-shirts this year (may have to start throwing away some of mine).

2-Mar	Snowball 5 miler
9-Mar	45th Citizen's Bank Caesar Rodney Half Marathon -Wilmingon, DE
16-Mar	9th Kelly's Logan House 5k run
5-Apr	3rd  Robot 5k
6-Apr	4th Salesianum Blue Gold 5k run
11-Apr	City of Newark 250th Anniversary 5k
13-Apr	Inaugural Sugar Free Miles 5k run
19-Apr	4th Annual Charter -Anti Tobacco Club 3k\5k
20-Apr	9th Annual Make-A-Wish / 10k
23-Apr	19th Ronald McDonald House of DE 5k
26-Apr	Inaugural Cystic Fibrosis  5k Run
3-May	Crankin for a Cure 2008 (50-mile ride)
4-May	2008 Blue CrossBroadstreet Run 10m
6-May	26th Flower Market 5k run
10-May	12th Race Against  Domestic Violence 5k
18-May	5th Annual Christiana Care Health System Delaware Marathon™ 4 Person Relay Race
26-May	7th Friends of Mary Husty 5k run
29-May	3rd Delaware Smash 5k run
7-Jun	Bike MS Tour de Shore
14-Jun	8th Miles for Molly 5k run
15-Jun	21st Sprint Tri at St. Andrews
22-Jun	Kid Shelleen's 5k for Cliff
25-Jun	2nd Annual Prevent Child Abuse DE  5k run
28-Jun	2nd Annual Race For Time 5k run
1-Jul	Double Cross Metric 62-mile ride
4-Jul	23rd Firecracker 5k run
19-Jul	6th Summer Blood Challenge 5k run
23-Jul	3rd Annual Wilmington Games 5k
26-Jul	2nd Jeff Marks Memorial 5k run
9-Aug	4th Annual  Pace for Prevention  5k run
13-Aug	4th Tour de Lance  5k run
17-Aug	Lums Pond Duathlon  Run 2 miles, Bike 19.5 miles, Run 3 miles
23-Aug	6th Race For Literacy 5k run
25-Aug	Shorefire Century 65-mile ride
13-Sep	Fox Run Duathlon  Run 3.1 miles, Bike 20 miles, Run 3.1 miles
20-Sep	Doggie Doo 5k
27-Sep	MS Bike to the Bay (150 miles)
5-Oct	26th Delaware Distance Classic  15k
26-Oct	6th MHA Erasing the Blues 10k
2-Nov	11th Annual AmeriHealth Ben Franklin Brige 10k Challenge
22-Nov	35th Turkey Trot 10k
27-Nov	30th PNC Bank Run for MS 10k
28-Dec	15th Race Against Time 5k
1/4/2009	33rd PSCI Icicle Ten Miler (depending on taper)
1/11/2009	Disney Marathon

All right, this was cold for me!  They said it was 43 degrees so why was I shivering so much.  This race started at 12 noon with about 300 runners.  It was again 1 mile slightly downhill, mile 2 uphill, and mile 3 flat.  The biggest problem with this race was a runny nose and boredom.  I ran a slow 30'28" race.  Finished in the middle of the pack, but I know that I did not give a very good effort.  Maybe it is the season.  Maybe I do better when it gets warmer.  Maybe I just have to many excuses for my own good.  Anyhow, I'm just going to move on and get ready for the next run in 2008.

I ran a slow 31' 5k today.   This was my first cross-country run (and probably my last).  The race was held at Brandywine Creek State Park.  It was grueling, cold, muddy, and wet.  There were so many hills that I felt like I was on a broken escalator the entire race.  The downhill stretches were worse than the uphill, since you had to be so careful about not tripping on stones or tree roots.  I knew I was in trouble when all of the other runners were wondering whether they had the right spikes on for the run.  Spikes, are you kidding?   Think I will stick to the street races from now on.  

This was my Thanksgiving day race!  A cold morning running a chill through my whole body.  I think I was the only runner out there not wearing tights.   About 800 runners started the race, and 600 finished.  The first mile took us from the Central YMCA into the heart of Wilmington and down to the Brandywine River.  I ran the first two mile at my 5k pace, so I was tuckered out when we hit the first big hill along the river.  I walked about 20 yards to get my breath, and then struggled to get to the top of the hill.  When I got to Rockford Park tower I was exhausted but figured with a little water at the aid station I could pick up my pace.  I proceeded to run fairly well to the turnaround at PMRI, but realized I needed to pick up my pace.  I ran fairly well for the next mile and decided to keep the pace to the finish.  When a pack of runners came up to me with less than a k left, I decided to lay it all on the line.  With arms flopping and legs driving, I picked it up an crossed the finish line in 59:08 (9'33"/mile)   Not bad. 435 out of 650 runners who finished.   I was pretty excited to finish and know that I need to do some additional training on the hills if we want to get some additional distance under the belt..

One thing for sure, I have earned my Thanksgiving dinner!

This was a tiring race, but nice and flat.  I went out fast and finished in 27:54 (or 8:57 per mile).  The 2nd mile is still causing me problems and I don't seem to get my rhythm correct.  Running along the river on the boardwalk is nice but I think it distracts me a little when I am running.   I felt pretty good after running the 10k last week.