Bib # 9399

My registration card has arrived!

I am number 9399, out of about 40,000 runners. I have been training for this since early July and I am physically and mentally ready. Mentally sound? that's another question....

So now the question is how to run this race?

This is where the answer to mentally sound may be found.....

Should I stick to the training group plan, run the first 16 miles at 8:30 per mile, the next 4 at 8:15 and then "race" the final 6.2 at whatever faster pace I have left in the tank?
This is the training plan. This plan (I believe) will bring me safely to the finish line without too much excessive pain and suffering at around 3 hours and 40 minutes if all goes well.

This is the simpler, gentler approach compared to my previous marathons. I'm about 80% sold on this plan. Enjoy the running group, enjoy the scenery, have fun. This is plan A for the "easy runner". The coaches plan, the team plan, the sane plan.

Sounds pretty good...at least to my kinder, gentler self.

The other alternative is to push the envelope, try to run 8 minute miles for the first 20 miles, and hope to hold on with that pace for the final 6.2 mile. If I feel okay at the end, maybe I can pick it up a bit for the final 2 miles. This is the old competitor in me saying..."push it, go faster, see what you still have in the tank, no guts, no glory". This is my scary self, willing to take on bigger challenges than necessary to see how I can do. This is the guy who wants to see if he can outrun the aging process. If I can run the race according to this plan, I should complete the race with a time of about 3 hours and 30 minutes.

This is plan B for the "no pain, no gain" runner. With this plan I am sure to have trouble walking for 1 to 2 weeks afterwards due to sore feet and legs. I also run the risk of running out of gas well before the finish line and "bonking" or slowing down to a snails pace just to finish.

I don't know what I'm going to do.

It will depend on how I feel the day of the race, what the weather is like and how the first few miles go.

Stay tuned to find out!

Cheers

Peers

P.S.
Now that I have proof read this post I'm 85% sure I'm going with plan A!

Saturday's running....

Friday's flight from Houston was delayed four hours, which meant I got home at 2 am Saturday. Although the team was running 11 miles in the city on Saturday, meeting at 7 am, I decided to sleep in. At 7:55 I woke up, and got my son Xavier organized, and off we went to his Cross Country race. He runs with the St. Joseph's team, and he ran a 3/4 mile race at Tibbets Brook Park. Xavier is so far a bit of a reluctant runner, but he is progressing, and loves being part of the team. He came in 9th place in his race, bringing in 2 points for the team...atta boy Xavier!
When we returned home I put on my running shorts and grabbed my ipod and headed for an 11 mile training run. I ran north along White Plains Rd, just past Scarsdale High School, then retraced my steps home. The first 5.5 miles were run in 45 minutes, and the return trip took 44 minutes, averaging 8:05 per mile. I felt pretty good on that run, didn't push too hard, but ran at a nice tempo.

In the afternoon, as I was raking leaves, my daughter Natalie donned her Nike's and her ipod and went for a 2.5 mile run. She reported that she ran one mile at an 8:20 pace, which is great for her! She complained she felt a bit slow and felt out of shape.

Her comments have changed. Natalie also ran with the St. Joseph's Track Team, but now is a high school freshman. I am glad to see she is now evaluating her own performance, feeling the condition of her body, and knowing with continued running she can be in better shape.

Maybe some day my kids will want to run longer training runs and races with me.

I can only hope so.

Cheers!

Peers

Taper time

This week begins the process of reducing the length of the weekly long run. Tomorrow we'll run 11 miles as a group. The course will be mostly the end of the NY marathon.

I ran on the treadmill twice this week, about 6 miles each time. I am still tired from last weekends long run, and from my trip to Houston. It is now 3:10 pm at the Bush airport in Houston, and my flight home has been delayed 1 hour....so far. So I may not arrive in NYC until after 10 or 11 pm tonight. Guess I'll try to get some sleep on the plane.
TGIF
Peers

Running with ordinary heros

Air Force Memorial

Saturday was to be the final long training run with Team for kids, a 23 miler in New York City. However our family was invited to join my in-laws at their Air Force Bombing group reunion in Washington DC and to attend the dedication of the Air Force Memorial. So Friday evening I took the train with my daughter and we arrived in Arlington, Va around 11 PM.

My chance to complete a long run meant getting up and going early. At 6 am I was stretched, hydrated, and out the door with a bottle of gatoraide in hand with the idea of running for 3 hours at an easy pace. Over the Key Bridge, with mist rising from the river, due to temperature around 45 degrees, I entered historic Georgetown. I planned to run three loops around various monuments.

It was very dark when I came upon the first monument, the Viet Nam memorial. It is lit up at night so the etched names stand out. This was a powerful experience.

Next up the path was the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial, leading up to the Washington Monument. It was still cold and dark, but I felt fine since I was moving along. At this hour, about 6:45 am, there were few others out and about.

Next up ahead was the long grassy "mall" which has dirt paths and leads your directly up to the Capital Building. Once around the "pond" in front and it is time to turn back toward the Lincoln Memorial.

I did this loop three times, until the sun was up and plenty of people were sightseeing and playing in the open spaces.

I returned to the Holiday Inn at 9 am, stretched, showered, ate a big breakfast, and boarded a bus to attend the dedication of the Air Force Memorial.

I sat with my wife's dad, George who was the navigator, and two from his 380th bomb squadron, the pilot, the turret gunner, and their wives. We were part of a crowd of about 40,000 mostly retired Air Force personnel who wanted to be part of this ceremony.

I am in awe of this group, the sacrifices they made for their country, their families and for us, their future. Not a single person I met could be spotted in a crowd as a hero, but each one surely was. Through their efforts, dedication, and sacrifice of their group, many who ultimately died for our cause, the Nazi's were beaten, the Japanese defeated, the Russians held at bay, communism was found to be unsuitable to sustain economic growth, South Korean's freed and so much more.

There are many current problems in this world, but I am proud of my Father-in-law's generation, who served our country faithfully, and came back to become good parents, citizens and role models.

A sincere thank you to all who serve this country and keep us strong!

Westchester Half Marathon

Sunday October 8th.

After watching the Yankees get dismantled by the Tigers, and my alma mater Michigan State get blown out by their arch rival Michigan the previous day, I had some steam to blow off in a race! Our coach said we should run this race at as fast a pace as we can hold steady for 13.1 miles. In other words, RACE !

Temperature when I awoke at 5 ayem was 46 degrees, so I ate a banana, had a cup of coffee and some gatorade and headed for the race. By 6:30 I was given my race number, #69, and a scoring chip, then I had a 2 hour wait until the start. Luckily I drove and brought a book, so I sat in my car, drank some more coffee and relaxed. At 8:15 I headed out to the start, about 100 yards from my car. I found my running mates, Jeff and Oscar, and off we went on a beautiful sunny morning. I was hoping to run at about a 7:45 minute per mile pace for the entire race, but found we were running at about 7:30 per mile after one and two miles. I felt good, so decided to just go with the flow. From that point on I just ran a steady pace, passing runners on the way, never looking at my watch for the time, just running according to how I felt, and I felt pretty good !

This course was run on the Bronx River Parkway, a two lane road, and rather flat. At the halfway point we turned around and headed back north up the other side of the Parkway. At this point I could see and cheer for my teammates as they passed by. There is great camaraderie among our group! By 10 miles, I started counting down to the finish as the pace was starting to wear me out. I could hear footsteps of other runners just behind me and decided I would not be passed from this point on, so I picked up the pace with 1 mile to go. When I reached the 13 mile marker and had about 100 yards to go I found a group of Team for Kids runners who finished ahead of me, cheering me on to the finish. They provided just the boost I needed to kick to the finish line. I finished in 1:37:26 or a 7:24 pace per mile.

This is the first time we have been allowed to really race as a group. Before this we have been using the races as training runs at a set pace. It felt pretty good, and was a good mental boost to know I can run hard for half a marathon. This race increased my confidence level for the big race on Nov. 5 th.



26 days to go.......

Stay healthy!

Peers

Recent runnings

Now that I have showed you how to map out a running course, where are we in the current training?

We have 2 more weeks of intense training, followed by a tapering process, leading us up to Nov 5th and the marathon. Last Sunday I ran 13 miles on my own at a pace of 8:11 per mile. Relatively flat course, finishing with one mile on the local track to check my speed. The last mile was at an 8 minute per mile pace. Not too difficult.

Monday was a 45 minute recovery run, followed by a speed workout of one hour on Tuesday. For this I ran about a half mile to the local High School track, and ran one mile repeats (5 of them) at about a 7:10 per mile pace. Each mile was followed by a quarter mile cool down. This workout ended up being about an 8 mile run, and was quite challenging.

Sunday October 8th we will run as a group in the Westchester half marathon. We are supposed to run this at a steady pace thruout the 13.1 miles. It is a pace that is as fast as we can maintain for this distance. I think I'll run between 7:30 and 7:45 per mile.

Our final long run before the marathon is the following weekend, October 15th, a 23 miler. I am planning to be in Washington, DC that weekend, so will have to find the right time and place to fit that into our family plans.

My body has been adjusting to the longer runs and increased intensity of the workouts, so I must be starting to get into shape. I read a story about Running Buddhist Monks, which makes my training schedule look like childs play. Here is the story.

"Buddhist monk finishes running ritual"

by Kenji Hall (AP, September 20, 2005)

Tokyo, Japan - A Buddhist priest dubbed the “marathon monk” has completed an ancient running ritual in the remote Japanese mountains that took seven years and covered a distance equivalent to a trip round the globe.

The 44-year-old monk, Genshin Fujinami, returned Thursday from his 24,800-mile spiritual journey in the Hiei mountains, a range of five peaks that rise above the ancient capital of Kyoto.

Dressed in his handmade sandals and robe, with a straw raincoat draped over his head, Fujinami was greeted at the end of his journey by a crowd of worshippers, who knelt to receive his blessings.

“I entrusted everything to God. I am satisfied,” Fujinami was quoted as saying.

Since 1885, only 46 other so-called “marathon monks” of the Tendai sect have survived the ritual, which dates to the 8th century and is believed to be a path to enlightenment, according to temple officials. The last monk to complete it returned in 1994.

A rigorous regimen dictates that in each of the journey’s first three years, the pilgrim must rise at midnight for 100 consecutive days to pray, run along an 18-mile trail around Mount Hiei — stopping 250 times to pray along the way. He can carry only candles, a prayer book and a sack of vegetarian food.

In the next two years, he has to extend his runs to 200 days.

His most difficult trial, however, comes during the fifth year when he must sit and chant mantras for nine days without food, water or sleep, in a trial called “doiri,” or “entering the temple.”

In the sixth year, he walks 37.5 miles every day for 100 days. And in the seventh, he goes 52.5 miles for 100 days and then 18 miles for another 100 days, before returning to the temple.

Once the New York Marathon goal has been accomplished, I hope to set a new one, but I don't think I'll go for the Monk's "simple" life.