Kafka

A couple weeks ago, I finished reading Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. I was really excited going into this book because of how much I enjoyed The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Unfortunately, it was not "as powerful as the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle," as the cover promised. And I must admit some disappointment.

Kafka is a coming-of-age story of a 15-year-old runaway from Tokyo that quickly spins out into Murakami's "normal" bizarre world where metaphors actually invade reality; it addresses memory and the soul, especially how people can become trapped in the past. And the fact that I could sum up the book in a single compound sentence is the problem! For example, HBWEW dealt with many of the same topics (and Murakami performed a half-assed recycle of much of HBWEW's symbolism for Kafka), but left so many unanswered questions for the reader to deal with that after I finished it I was completely confused. On the other hand, Kafka winds up in such a neat way, all loose ends tied up -- everyone happy -- that it could be broadcast on Lifetime (well, maybe not Lifetime, but definitely WB). If you need a beach read that's challenging enough to actually be interesting, Kafka's a good choice. (As Erin put it, "Some stories are just stories.") If you're looking for a great book, I'd go with one of Murakami's other works.

In other news, I'm pace-leading the 8:00/mile group on NYRRC's 20 mile training run this weekend with the other Flyers. The instructions I received included this:

10:00 pace and up - the NYRR will begin to breakdown the water stops at 11:00 am [the run starts at 7:00] - if you notice the water tables are disappearing while you are finishing your run, make sure to know locations of water fountains on the 4 mile loop and ask your group if they need to stop.

If I haven't expressed my amazement at people who run marathons slower than 4 hours on this blog before, allow me to do so now. It's not so much the amount of time and dedication during the race itself that I find so impressive, but the amount of dedication required to put in the time to do the miles of training. I mean, for each 20 miler a 10:00/mile person is out 40:00 minutes longer than I am . . . week after week after week. And longer on the other runs too. You guys are ridiculous!

Wednesday: 11.3 mile Queensboro Loop, 1:28:11 (7:48/mile).
Thursday: 5.0 mile Williamsburg Bridge O&B, 38:40 (7:44/mile).

1883

Slow down rabbit-run. Must have been excited about getting my MCM bib number (1883), because I tried my best to fly through today's run, which was the Pulaski O&B modified so I could hit McCarren Park's track for some intervals. I caught my watch at 2/3 of a mile . . . 4:00 flat including time waiting on traffic! Where the hell'd that come from?!? Last week I couldn't break 8:00mm for a run and this morning I'm going faster than my planned interval pace on the warmup? I, ahem, slowed down at that point but still went through 2.75 miles at 7:17 pace. For those of you keeping score at home, BQ pace is 7:15.

I was actually kind of nervous at that point. I mean, this was supposed to be the warmup for 5X600m and I still had 1.25 miles to go before I even got to the track! But the intervals went off pretty well. They were a little tougher than the same workout two weeks ago. On the other hand, in the workout two weeks ago my "warmup" wasn't quite so tough. In fact, the prior workout had an overall average about 20s/mile less tough.

Oh, and the knee felt fantastic today. Back to normal, back on the horse.

8 miles: 57:55 (7:14 avg pace), including
5X600m@ 2:15, 2:05, 2:10, 2:10, 2:08

Such a Klutz

Had an unplanned day off this weekend. My apartment's a duplex with a tight, spiral staircase. Friday night, I became rather intimately familiar with about half the steps after my sock clad feet learned why friction is useful, and my ass, knee and shoulder learned exactly how hard wooden steps and an iron railing can be. So, rather than doing the 20 mile Palisades Run with the Flyers on Saturday, I was instead (when I woke up) trying to just straighten my leg without feeling like an ice-pick was rooting around in my left knee, and (later in the day) trying to figure out just exactly how much weight I could put on my left knee before cringes were induced. Ugh.

After taking it easy, by Saturday night, the knee felt solid enough for normal walking around and, when I woke on Sunday it'd only re-stiffened a little. So, I decided to plan to run for a couple hours and see what happened. If the knee was a problem, it's fortunately never far to the subway and I could bag it. Well, let me tell you, despite some stiffness in the early miles, and some soreness on the downhill side of the Williamsburg Bridge, it held up well and I managed to get in 18.25 miles in 2.5 hours. Did a little exploring too, since I was so bummed about not getting to run across the GW Bridge. (If you haven't noticed from my routes all over New York, exploring is one of my favorite parts of marathon training.) Cut up the Upper East Side's East River Promenade to Randall's Isle, an island in the East River between Manhattan, Queens and The Bronx that I'd never been to before. Randall's has a lot of park land, which would likely be quite bucolic if it weren't dominated by the Tri-Borough Bridges. Sunday was a beautifully cool, and sunny day, although I could have done without the north-wind beating back at me the whole way up the East River. The image is of Boreas, the North-Wind, abducting Oreithya from a red-figure oinoche on display at the Louvre. ("Rape of Oreithyia by Boreas," by the Salting Painter, ca. 360 BC)

I'd thought to perhaps move the 5 miler I missed over the weekend to Monday morning, but after my long run the knee stiffened up again. So, I've decided another day off is probably for the best. Then, hopefully things can proceed normally beginning tomorrow. I think another day of Tylenol will take care of this problem, but I have to admit to being really t.o.'d Saturday morning when I thought my marathon was going to be derailed by my Friday choice of work socks!

Week in Review

Monday	Rest	--	--
Tuesday	6.1 miles	49:20	8:05/mile
Wednesday	11.3 miles	1:31:06	8:06/mile
Thursday	12.15 miles	1:39:30	8:11/mile
Friday	Rest	--	--
Saturday	Rest	--	--
Sunday	18.25 miles	2:30:00	8:13/mile
Total	47.75 Miles	--	--

Work with me, People!

So, the weather in NYC post-Ernesto has been fantastic. I went for my Tuesday run and the first thing I thought was, "Gee, it's a little nipply out here." (OK. That was the second thing. The first thing was, "Why did I not run the day after that 21 miler? My quads are killing me.) And although this fantastic weather makes me want to run fast and far . . . traffic's been killing me! I may have to rethink some of my routes, because with NYC schools back in session, I can't recall when I've spent so much of my "run time" waiting for lights to change. For example, I counted off over 4 minutes of downtime in today's 12 miler waiting on lights. Geez! See, the problem (at the risk of sounding like NY Flygirl discussing Central Park) is that I get slowed down by the extra school traffic and buses pre-7:00, and then I don't make it home before rush hour picks up. Come on! The weather's great people! The kids can freakin' bike to school!

Let's see . . . I feel like complaining today, but the only other thing I've got's work. As I've said before, doing 12-13 hours and getting home at 10:15 makes getting up at 5:30 for 12 miles tough. (Speaking of Nyflygirl, looks like she's joining me on having life winnowed down to office and running.) It was somewhat disconcerting to, after realizing that I've run 29+ miles for the past three days, which is pretty good, to also realize that I've been in the office waaaay more hours than that. On the other hand, it's pretty cool the inbox is overflowing; at least it makes it less likely I'll be downsized. ;)

On to running . . . As I mentioned, the quads were killing me Tuesday. Good it was a recovery day. They were still tender on Wednesday, so I decided to take a page from Ryan and Mouse's handbook and skip Pfitzenger's proposed 7 mile tempo run, replacing it was a G.A. run instead. Really, a 7 mile tempo run? I'm not too shabby, but that'd take me well over 45 minutes at the fast end of McMillan's tempo range (based on my 5 mile time). That means that for a lot of folks, if tempo pace is approximately the pace that could be maintainted for an hour, a 7 mile T-Run is pretty damn close to a full out race! Perhaps someone with a little more physiology knowledge can explain this one to me? Today was a scheduled rest day, with 12 scheduled for tomorrow. Switched those so that I can (hopefully, assuming work doesn't interfere) do 20 with the Flyers in the Palisades on Saturday. Although all the runs the past few days have been slower than normal, leg soreness, lingering fatigue from Sunday's 21 and heavier vehicular traffic account for enough of a difference that I'm not concerned about it. But you better believe some of my routes are going to change!

Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
Billy Br. O&B +McCarren Park	Queensboro Loop	Prospect Park 12
6.1 miles	11.3 miles	12.15 miles
49:20	91:06	99:30
8:05/m	8:04/m	8:11/m

Why alcohol and 20 milers don't mix . . .

But first . . . something completely different:

---

So, Saturday, thanks to Ernesto's aftershocks, I hit the gym for the first time in long time for an "easy" 6. I was running on the treadmill and saw what I thought was one of the best college football signs I've seen in a while. The program was GameDay on ESPN, and the hosts were on location at Georgia Tech doing pre-game analysis of the GT-Notre Dame game that'd occur that afternoon. Game Dayy is set up with the analyst desk in the foreground and hoardes of screaming college students in the background. The last piece of this story, GT has an All-American wide receiver named Calvin Johnson.

So, the sign . . . It says:

Calvin
Defeating the
Catholics
Since 1509.

Despite the fact that 1509 was John Calvin's birth-year, and he didn't publish his major works until 30 years later, I remain impressed that someone came up with these connections. AND, it's all the more impressive because I'm sure that someone came up with that sign after downing at least a six-pack of beer. I only saw it once; Erin thought that ESPN had probably decided to cut away from it before it offended someone. Great. You can't even make clever remarks about guys who've been dead for 400 years any more.

For the run, I did an easy 5 and then dropped it to MP (6:58) for the last mile.

On Sunday, I took a hit of LSD -- 21.5 miles in 2:58:30 (8:18 pace). That's significantly slower than my last 20 miler, but I intentionally slowed the first miles way down and I added in some extra hills (the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges) early so that on the later miles I'd be more fatigued. And, of course, 8:18/m is well within Pfitzenger's recommendation to run LSD's within 20% of MP. Fine run, pleasant day, I'd be up for more but . . .

After the run . . . it's Labor Day weekend. So, last night I pulled my dehydrated, fuel deprived body over for a gathering of folks who're off work today. Didn't have all that much to drink (a couple wines, a couple beers, a Manhattan), but felt totally hammered this morning. Note to self, give at least a day after the long run before a night out on the town. Anyway, at least today's a quasi-off-day from the office.

Week in Review

Monday	9.0 miles	70:00	7:47/mile
Tuesday	7.0 miles	53:00	7:34/mile
Wednesday	Rest/Travel	--	--
Thursday	8.0 miles	60:55	7:37 avg 5X600@2:10
Friday	Rest	--	--
Saturday	6.0 miles	46:00	7:40/mile 1 mile@6:58
Sunday	21.5 miles	2:58:30	8:18/mile
Total	51.5 Miles	--	--

That makes three of the last four weeks over 50 miles. Rockin'.

Hello Fall, Hello Hurricane

Well, I'm back from vacation and I can tell from the total lack of blog comments that my friends were totally worried about my leaving Lexington, KY on Sunday. Sarcasm aside, this was a horrible tragedy that hopefully won't be repeated anytime soon. We were able to see both emergency vehicles and the huge morass of news vans on our way out of town Sunday afternoon. It's just plain sad.

Moving on to more personal news, after a week of barbeque mutton, golfing, spending time with the family and the in-laws and Ale-8-One (which I simply must have shipped to me), it's back to NYC and the daily grind today, just in time to welcome Hurricane Ernesto to the City tomorrow. Oh, and congratulations to Cat and Nathan, whose wedding was the reason for the whole trip!

Running-wise, I finally got to check out Muhlenberg County's brand-spanking new Rails-to-Trails conversion, which is a fantastic resource to the County's health. (For those of you unfamiliar with my home, John Prine immortalized it in an old Bluegrass protest song, "Paradise." Download it and you've pretty much got the picture.) It's somewhat shocking, but everyone that I talked to had been out to bike the length of the new 6 mile trail. I'm so impressed with this health resource (that's totally being used -- I saw dozens of people) as it's the largest such conversion in Kentucky. It's a great effort for the Nation's fifth fattest state. I also took runs in the super-hilly UK arboretum and along the old mine road across from my parent's house, where I scared the pants off a flock of quail and saw a tugboat floating down the Green River. The mine road was a fantastic cross-country run, involving gravel, mudholes, beanfields and animals (sheep, cattle and goats!). Definitely back to nature after all the time in the City.

I think that's a pretty solid summary; and I'll leave out more detail so that this post doesn't turn into a small book. All told, despite the trip I'm still more or less on plan, with only the two exceptions of a failed MP run (hills + 85F + 30s/mile faster than MP for first 2 miles = crash!) and a missed 6 mile general aerobic run (hung-over from wedding), which I have to consider a total success. Here's the last week:

Aug. 24	6.1 miles	46:22	7:36/m
Aug. 26	14.5 miles Arboretum	MP Run (failed) 1:51:22	7:39 avg.
Aug. 28	9.0 miles Rails-2-Trails	1:10:00	7:47/m
Aug. 29	7.0 miles Mine Road	53:00	7:34/m
Aug. 31	8.0 miles	60:55 5X600m@2:10	7:36 avg.

Goals for the unstable

It was pointed out to me that just because some algorithm made to predict times says that I can run a 3:06, I should not assume a 3:05 is a good goal. That is all too true. Lest I appear too greedy, let me assure you all that 3:05 is NOT the goal for this marathon. 3:03 is! Why you ask? Because it's a 6:59 pace, of course.

Obviously, like all marathoners, I have a range of goals. However, I can assure you that "just to finish" is not among them. Really, "just to finish" was the minimum acceptable goal even in my first, under-prepared marathon. I'm competitive. Unfortunately, from a data gathering perspective, I bombed my last real distance race, and although I've totally moved on from that, it's somewhat disconcerting to have not had a chance to do a real live-race fitness test at an endurance distance. So to date the goals have not really developed beyond the tentative stage they were in way back on the first day of this training cycle, June 27, to wit:

The tenative goal is to hit about 3:05 for the race, beat all but about 250 people in the field, and then have a grand time in Hopkinton, Mass. in April.

So, this 3:05 isn't something that I've just pulled out of an algorithm. However, until I actually, really race a race (which will happen October 1 at Grete's Gallop) I won't really know how good this or any other goal is. On the other hand, that the predicted equivalent of my 5 mile time -- quite fatigued, in heat and humidity, on a hilly difficult course -- is 3:06 makes me feel good for a marathon for which I'll be fresh, on a very flat course that I'm familiar with, after 10 more weeks of fitness gains. The only real potential hang ups are injury or weather, but if Jesus really does truly love me, the high on October 29 will be 62F.

Just to put things on the table, here's the breakdown of how I'd like the MCM to shake out:

• C: 3:22 -- my time in my first marathon. Since this was on an average weekly mileage of 20 with a peak of 30, and I'm now averaging 43 with a peak (so far) of 55, I'd consider only getting 3:22 an unmitigated disaster. Really, since MCM is an easier course the the Pig and I've done so much work, anything slower than about 3:15 I'd lump into this category too. This would be worse than running "just to finish." Unless it was due to weather or something dire -- like a broken limb -- I'd seriously consider a new hobby.
• B: 3:10 -- My required time for Boston. Really the minimum acceptable goal.
• B+: 3:05 -- Doable. Will be a challenge, but reachable.
• A-: 3:03 -- Even more challenging. 6:59/mile. I'm not even sure if this is doable yet. Grete will tell me.
• A: 2:59:59 -- This would require a tail wind, and a tectonic shift to make the DC course no longer flat, but a net downhill, and a pack of rabid dogs chasing me during the last 2 miles. Might also require a hand from the Marines.

So, that's it. Some of these will be challenges. Some may be pie in the sky. But although from dreams begins responsibility, meeting responsibility allows one to reach for dreams. And with that said . . .

Tuesday: 6.1 miles - 47:57 (7:52/mile)
Wednesday: 14.8 miles - 1:58:06 (7:59/mile)

Check, Check

So much has happened in the past week, and I've been so lacking in diligence when it comes to posting that I'm not even sure where to start. I guess since this blog is ostensibly about running, I should write about the Club Championship races yesterday. However, before I get to that, let me just say first that Dave Eggers is freaking brilliant! If you have not already done so, stop reading this drivel and go buy, borrow, or beg for a copy of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. This book is, in Egger's terms, a "memoir-y thing" that he's admittedly conflicted about because he's not Irish. Although the work is indeed heartbreaking in places, Eggers avoids all the "woe-is-me" aspects that breed like a putrescent bacterial glob in many memoirs and one finishes the work with the impression that he views the entire genre as a giant joke. Please, please. Go read it.

OK. Moving on to the race. I considered this a "pseudo-race." By that I mean, that I intended to race it as hard as I could, but I was doing no taper nor otherwise materially changing my training leading up to it (other than to replace a Friday tempo run with a regular run on Thursday). Add to that my having just finished a week with my then highest mileage ever (54) and my being in the middle of my new highest mileage ever week (55) and I was in no shape to really hammer this one. My goals were as follows:

• 32:30 -- this is the time that the Magical McMillan Calculator tells me equates to a BQ marathon effort.
• 31:48 -- my time in my one and only 5 miler, back in June; running the same time on fatigued legs would bode well for my training program.
• Anything faster -- that'd just be cake.

So, the race honestly could not have gone better except for two minor (and I mean very minor) snafus. First, when I arrived, I didn't want to race. It was bizarre because normally I'm totally all about competition. Hell, one of my biggest training flaws is that it takes a huge mental effort for me to not try to race people over the Williamsburg Bridge on easy days. But for some reason, yesterday morning I did NOT want to run. Didn't want to race, didn't want to warm up, didn't want to stretch. Kept having thoughts like: "Why am I here? I could be in bed. This will suck." The really weird part is that my thoughts completely shifted about 5 minutes to start and I was totally into kicking ass. I'm really at a loss, but I have no doubt that all this "doubt" cost me some mental sharpness.

The second snafu was that I was nearly hit by a garbage truck. That's right. Less than 800 meters to the finish and a garbage truck pulls out onto the closed to traffic Central Park loop through a stream of runners. To top it off, he's oblivious to the race and commences yelling at the racers while being yelled at by the race official. For the runners' part, we all yelled and scattered around the truck and off the course. Ridiculous. However, the best part of the whole thing was when, after the race while I recounted the story, NY Flygirl responded with one of the smart-ass lines I had written on her blog in response to her complaints about the crowded park: "But isn't this little inconvenience worth it to race in the greatest park on Earth?" Touché Mademoiselle. Touché. So, in the end, the race went off, I finished in 31:41, which is a 7s P.R. (for what that's worth, since it's only my second ever 5 mile race). But more importantly, this fatigued time equals a predicted 3:06 marathon according to McMillan. That makes 3:05 a reasonable target and means that things are progressing more or less on pace.

---

Shot of me in the last 200m. I caught the GNY guy at the line.

---

After the race, I joined a group of Flyer guys as we ran the course backwards so we could cheer on the women racing who'd be coming towards us. It was a really fun 5 mile cool-down and I hope we do it again. After the women finished up, we had a picnic with all the other Flyers and lots of Flyer kids. Bagels and what had to be the best orange juice I've ever had in my whole life! It was nice to see so much of the club; so many people I'd never seen before. But, as Dorian put it, the Flyer's have so many events you can't make them all!

Today I finished off the week with what I'm calling 14.5, a run across the Williamsburg Bridge, then across the Manhattan and Brooklyn, around the Battery, up to 40th Street on the West Side and then back down to the subway at 14th and 8th Ave. Time was 1:58.

Week-in-Review

Monday	Tuesday	Wed.	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
Rest	13.1 miles	6.0 miles	11.5 miles	Rest	5 mile race 5 miles	14.5 miles	55.1
--	7:53/m	7:43/m	7:50/m	--	6:20/m 9:00ish	8:10/m	--

Runner's High

Not a lot of time for posting today, but wanted to put up a quote from this article on sun tan addiction. (Sorry for the source. I'd seen the same content on CNN yesterday, but couldn't locate the piece.)

The study [was] published in the journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. . . . Half of tanners were given an inactive drug and half were given a drug (naltrexone) to block the effects of endorphins and other brain opioids.

The researchers found that with the opioid-blocking medication . . . surprisingly, four of the eight frequent tanners reported nausea or jitteriness. . . . "The finding was unexpected and is consistent with the hypothesis that frequent tanning may be driven in part by a mild dependence on opioids, most likely endorphins," said co-researcher Steven Feldman. "The nausea and jitteriness induced by the medication are consistent with symptoms of mild opiate withdrawal."

While the study is small, it supports the hypothesis that tanning behavior may be driven by endorphins in much the same way that the so-called "runner's high" helps to motivate runners.

Perhaps we do need a 12 step program?

Ran 13.1 today, the Queensboro Loop plus an add-on of two loops around McCarren Park in 1:43:13.

If you'd told me 2 years ago that I'd run a half marathon in sub-8's, I'd have just barely thought it doable. If you'd told me that I'd do it before work I'd have thought you crazy. If you'd added that it was three days after doing 21 miles also at sub-8, I'd have probably had a coronary from laughing so hard. Oh how things do change!

On Strength

Zeke has been conducting an informal survey of marathon times versus mileage over the past few weeks and just posted the results. It's really interesting in that it shows an almost linear correlation between average weekly mileage run and marathon time improvement, that is, up to about 80 miles weekly average where the line begins to flatten out. The survey results depict graphically what many people know (even if we've never personally experienced it) to be true -- more miles equals better results. Although statisticians may quibble over the details, it's sufficient to alleviate whatever doubts I may have had about mileage.

However, I would note that the survye doesn't take into account a person's being on the so-called "improvement curve" as a new runner. In personal experience, my half-marathon time dropped over 15 minutes after 2 years of averaging about 20 miles a week. On the other hand, in a way this further illustrates Zeke's point that more mileage equals better results. The weekly view simply doesn't capture what was happening. Allow me to illustrate, although I was running 20 miles/week during my first half marathon build-up, my 3 year rolling average was much less:

• Year 1 = 0, Year 2 = 0 Year 2.0-2.5=0 Year 2.5-3.0= 20/week.
  
• That comes up to about 500 miles over three years--an average of about 3 miles per week for the period

In my second half-mary, the three year rolling average was more like:

• Year 1=15/week, Year 2=15/week, Year 3=20/week
  
• That comes up to about 2500 miles over three years -- a rolling average of about 16 miles per week for the period

So, even though weekly mileage didn't increase, leading into the second race my yearly average mileage was much, much higher. This is why the most successful marathoners are in their late 20's and 30's. It takes time to build up the yearly rolling average necessary to be a great marathoner.

Fascinating. This is a fantastic survey in that, if nothing else, it promises continued improvement over time for anyone willing to put in the effort to succeed. This is truly a sport that rewards the patient.

Week-in-Review

Monday	Tuesday	Wed.	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
Rest	10.7 miles	4.1 miles	11.3 miles	Rest	21 miles	6.75 miles	53.9
--	Tempo	7:39/m	7:46/m	--	7:43/m	7:47/m	--

This is my first week over 50 -- ever. However, in line with Zeke's survey, I can report some personal successes that I'd attribute to the increased mileage. In my first marathon training, wherein I averaged approximately 20 miles per week for the duration, my 21 mile run knocked me flat for 2 days. In this cycle, as you can see from this week, I followed up 21 with a relatively quick 6 and change the following day. Also, I find it encouraging that this 21 mile training run was faster than my marathon race pace during my last Mary. Some of that is due to starting training at what I peaked at the last time (30 miles/week). Some is due to having a few more years to build my rolling yearly average mileage. Hopefully these positive signs will carry forward. There are 11 weeks to go, and I'm itching to hit a fitness-gauge race to see where I am and what goals I should shoot for. I don't think my ability to hit the 3:10 BQ is in question, I'm wondering how far below that to aim. Although the Club Championship next week should give me some good information, I'm dying for Greta's Gallop Half Marathon, which is four weeks before the MCM and should give me a solid view of what I can expect. Can't wait!

Memories

It's funny how life can suddenly put you in a place that you've been before, but everything is different. For today's run, I decided for a change of scene to loop around Battery Park and then head up the Hudson. The upper Hudson part of the route passed through Riverside Park, which was a run that I used to do quite often when I was in Law School during my first New York life, but haven't at all since I moved back to the City at the beginning of the year. So, it shouldn't have been a surprise as I headed up past all the sights and sounds of the West Side that I'd think back to the last time I did that run and how things have changed.

It was the spring of '04. I'd just picked up running regularly after I'd gone home for Christmas break and my Mom had told me I was putting on a few pounds -- as she patted my belly. Love you, Mom. I'd targeted the Brooklyn Half Marathon as a race because (1) I'm a competitive S.O.B., (2) if I didn't have a target on the calendar that'd be a challenge I wouldn't stick with it, (3) the race was in April, which would let me run it as a farewell to N.Y.C., if Erin and I needed to move away.

I hit this point in the reminiscing at the northern part of the Cherry Walk portion of Riverside Park, with both the tower of Riverside Church in sight and Grant's Tomb, which I'd see at the finish of every run from Columbia and I viewed as a giant beacon calling me to the finish. That really brought back some memories of how things were then. See, at the time that this was going on, Erin had a job offer in D.C. I had nothing. Thanks in part to the economy's tailspin in '02 and in part my own uncertainty and lack of direction, I'd utterly and miserably failed at landing a post-graduation job. If I could list the firms I interviewed with -- and had callbacks to -- it'd be impressive. A who's who list of the New York legal world that impressed (I later learned) the friends I'd make in D.C. simply because they'd offered me interviews. "wow, they talked to you?" Of course, that was neither the standard for myself nor any other Columbia graduate. I must have done 50, maybe 75, interviews over my second and the first half of my third year of law school, and the rejections flowed like water. So, we were going to move to D.C. Erin had a job there. I could get a fresh start -- although we were really uncertain about how things would turn out. I don't think either of us were really thrilled about the move, but both viewed it as the best shot we had of coming out ahead.

And through all of this, I'd started running. I'm not sure if it was to get away or to get ahead. The goals at the time were modest. 9mm on training runs. 1:45 for the Half. I was thrilled every race where I put in a sub-8 time. Success after success was an amazing (and sometimes melancholy) counterpoint to my professional career. And, by the way, on that Half, I finished in 1:49:44. Four minutes off the pace. Which I was upset with for about 15 minutes -- until I realized that, unlike my job search, the answer here wasn't zero-sum. Even though I missed the goal, the race remained a success. And perhaps, that was something that I could learn to bring to other areas of my life -- sometimes, success isn't winning; sometimes the success is the full effort of the attempt. The simple fact of participating in a sport was uplifting. And, in the end, for every failure we must succeed at something. Too much failure beats down the spirit, tramples the will to even try to excel. I think the running helped in ways that I could only appreciate later.

So, I was on this run in my Second New York Life. Erin and I had spent a miserable 18 months trying to make D.C. work until on a wing and prayer we decided we needed to try New York again. Now, I'm in a career that (although I often bitch about the hours) I enjoy and am proud to be a part of. Erin's in a job that she really likes and can take her places. We've gotten our lives out of the morass of uncertainty that followed us as we left NY 2 1/2 years ago. And the running, well, the goals are a bit different now. So, I ran. Stronger, happier, more certain of my path and my objectives than the last time I'd crossed this way. In a way it was the same. In a way, completely different.

Route: Williamsburg Bridge, Battery Park, N. on Hudson R. to 125th Street, S. on Hudson R. to 14th Street.
Distance: 21.0 miles
Time: 2:41:54 (7:43 pace)

Resolution -- Failed

After reading this article on Joe LeMay, a 2:13 marathoner who works a 9-6 job with a 40+ minute commute and runs two workouts daily, I made a resolution that I wouldn't complain about how work interferes with my running hobby anymore. I figured that if I wanted to do it and do it well, I'd just need to suck it up and make time. However, I've found that I just have to get in one last whine. Getting home from the office at 10:30p makes getting up at 5:30 for a 11-miler really suck! (If I wanted to lawyer-ize this, I'd say I wasn't complaining about work, but lack of sleep. But I can take responsibility for failure, damn it! No arguing on the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin at this blog.) In lighter fare, Joe LeMay has published the best endorsement for fiber supplements that I've ever read -- ever. (Uh, not that I've read that many plugs for fiber supplements. . .)

Halfway through the 50 mile week! Tonight's the Flyers Summer Social, which should be a good time. I've pre-paid on the theory that'll make me more likely to actually leave the office by 8 to go. Despite lack of sleep the last few days, my runs have been excellent. I think it's that the temps have dropped down into the upper 60's to low 70's in the mornings combined with last week's step-back in mileage. For example, today I felt like I was going slow, but every checkpoint was ahead of plan. Of course, it could just be that I bought new shoes.

Wednesday: Pulaski O&B: 4.1 miles in 31:23 (7:39 pace).
Thursday: Queensboro Bridge Loop: 11.3 miles in 87:44 (7:46 pace)

By the way, the Queensboro Loop's one of my favorite runs. Not because it takes you past the UN, or treats you to vast panoramic views of Midtown, or because it let you run directly along the East River. Oh No. It one of my favorites because it takes you past the Long Island City Taxi Garage! All those bright yellow cabs in the morning make me smile like the bright yellow sun does.

Like a record baby! Right Round Round Round!

Today's workout was supposed to be 10 miles with 5 at tempo pace, which I do at the McCarren Park track -- round and round and round for 20 laps. There's a 7 mile tempo later in the schedule; I may have to come up with a different system by then . . . 28 laps?!? Oh my! Because I missed a turn, the overall distance was closer to 11 than 10, and my 2.5 mile warmup turned into a 3.2 mile warm-up, which I guess is ok. More warmup's better, right?

From the apartment, I went straight down Metopolitan Ave to Kent Street. Kent's an odd street along the Williamsburg waterfront. The pavement's been torn out mostly and the lots closest to the river either hold vacant warehouses that are clearly being stripped out to make room for future yuppie condos or lots that have been leveled and cleared to make room for future yuppie condos. Off the side streets are warehouses that now house stores (some vacant) that will cater to the people who will live in the future yuppie condos. Because Kent's on the water though, it provides clear panoramic views of the entirety of Manhattan below, say, 50th Street. Hopefully, when they start building highrises there, they'll at least build some type of waterfront park that has public access and a bike path. Also, hopefully by that point Erin and I will have enough cash socked away for a down payment on a future yuppie condo. Finger's crossed.

The tempo run went fantastically. The first lap was a little quick, 1:32 instead of 1:40, but by the second lap I'd settled into a steady 1:38-1:40 pace. Felt much stronger this time that two weeks ago too. Unlike last time, where it took a while to find the rhythm, I settled into the fast pace almost immediately and held it strong for most of the run without much difficulty. On the other hand, like last time, I started to struggle a little about a 1.25 miles from the end (but, obvously, this time that was a mile farther along), which isn't surprising to me. However, I held onto the pace knowing that by the time there were only 3 laps left I'd be close enough to home to be mentally over it. Two tough laps out of twenty? I think I can handle that. And if the marathon only involves 800 meters of toughness, I'll be golden!

10.7 miles with 5@32:52 (6:34/mile)

Hey! That's too fast!

So, yesterday I joined a number of other Flyers to pace lead for the NYRCC Long Training Group runs, where:

Participants will be divided into groups by half-minute intervals from 6:30 through 11:00+ minutes per mile. All groups will cover 20 miles, but individuals may shorten their distance to suit their training needs. Runners faster than 7:00 may begin before the 7:00 group; however, no pace leader will be provided.

Since this was a cutback week for me, I only paced for 11 miles with the 8:00 group.

Crack of Dawn
Actually a little before. By the actual crack of dawn, I'd already laid in bed staring at the alarm for ten minutes wondering why it was going off at such an unholy hour, showered, had coffee and a bagel, changed, woken up and hit the subway (in that order). The trip in from Williamsburg to E. 102d Street is a hike at the best of times; I allowed 75 minutes for travel before 6 on a Saturday morning. Fortunately the trains went perfectly. Flyer Nicole, when she, JBL and I went looking for some pre-race snacks, suggested that the run start earlier to beat the heat next time. I was like, "Dear god, Nicole! I'd have to be up at 3:30 to get here earlier. Cut the Brooklyn guy some slack." And honestly, after the heat wave earlier in the week, the 72˚ start seemed downright chilly, which I believe led to . . .

A little fast there
I ran sweeper duties for my group on the first 6 mile loop. Ran at the back of the group to work at keeping up with the stragglers. We were zipping through a little quick, about 7:30 on the first mile and then 7:45's for the next 3. After the second mile, when I got to the mile marker, I'd hang out until my watch said 8:00 to let the people coming know they weren't slow, just the group was fast. The pack slowed on the last two miles to around 8:10's, so a lot of people who'd been strung out behind managed to catch up in the last 1/2 mile. Chatted with a guy who'd run a 60K recently, but said it hurt his knees. He also said that he was running in trail shoes with over 600 miles on them and, because of work, was only running 3 days on a good week. I was thinking, "lucky it only hurt the knees. Nothing about what you've said says, '60K's a good idea'." But, I did my encouragement thing and then moved over to chat with a 47 year old lady who told me all about how Dave Matthews is God's gift to music. "He's very big on the college campuses." It's so funny the stories you here in packs.

The breakaway
On the second loop (5 miles) I switched to the front. However, we absolutely flew through the first mile -- my watch said 7:00 flat, which caused some consternation amongst the pace leaders until we realized that the mile marker was short. We'd only actually done about 7:30. Still way too quick for the 8:00 group. This is where having someone with experience plays in. Our lead pacer notices a group in the front and asks how far they're going. "11" "11" "11" So, he says, "You guys should pick it up then without the group. Go strong to the end." At this point, I volunteer to pace lead the 7:40 group, so we can split off the people pulling the 8:00's too fast. And off we go. I have about 9 runners and we pick up a few more over the next mile or two, 7:40, 7:45, 7:40. The group holds together really well until we start to catch up with the first 8:00 pace group, but by then we were all in the last two miles so it didn't matter so much.

The perks
Free tank (That Erin says makes me look like a road cone) and company for a long-ish run. Also I got to be an expert for a day. People asking about plans, training advice . . . but I'm not a coach. The Flyers should really think about putting disclaimers on our shirts! And to see some other folks and bloggers (NY Flygirl has a list.)

The downside
Had to go into work afterwards. Into the office by 10:15, but because of a horrendous cab accident on Lexington (I heard the screaming from my 15th Floor window) and the 1/2 hour I spent gawking at the cab that'd jumped the curb, the ambulances and police, etc. I didn't actually get started until about 11:00. Left at 6:30. The reward for this diligence? After I meet a friend who's in town on a salsa tour, I get to go back to the office this afternoon.

Week-in-Review

Monday	Tuesday	Wed.	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
Rest	8.6 miles	5.0 miles	8.2 miles	Rest	11 miles	4.25 miles	37.05
--	8:00/m	7:46/m	7:36/m	--	8:00/m	7:17/m	--

Next week: 50 miles. I shouldn't be nervous about it, and I don't think I would be if the target were 49.5 instead of "50". Tomorrow's a day off. Focus starts on Tuesday.

Ouch!

I noticed from your blog that you seemed to be a fan of floyd landis. What do you think about him now that he has had a positive drug test and everybody knows he is a cheater.

... and similar comments from several (about a dozen) other people. So, although I was ignoring it, here's my take on Landis.

First, let me point out that I'm not the only person who was enamoured with the guy. Team CSC rider Bobby Julich said on July 20:

Floyd Landis' Stage 17 ride on Thursday was the most amazing ride I have ever seen in my life and will go down as one of the best rides of all time, and Landis will go down as one of cycling's gutsiest riders.

And similar comments were made throughout the world of cycledom. And why not admire the guy? As I quoted earlier from an article, this was a guy who not only said that he worked harder than everyone else, but published his workout schedule, in a beat me if you can sort of way! That sort of open, "I have more talent and work harder, so screw you" attitude's fantastic in an athlete and worth admiring. (Incidentally, a discussion on Landis with Coach Joe of the Flyers led to one of my new favorite quotes: "The only person who trains too much is the person who beats you.") Work hard and prosper is a great thing to admire for runners especially, because unlike swimming (which is all technique) and amateur cycling (which is very equipment dependent) running is totally based on work. If you do the time, you will improve.

But I digress, let me throw out the first conspiracy theory of the day, because no matter what the results of the 'B' sample, when President Bush says the guy has "amazing strength of character," then there can be no doubt that this is all just a big French plot. Our great leader would not lie! And Lance has said that he's "skeptical" of the lab performing the tests, which has been investigated for questionable practices in the past. It must be a Frenchie plot! We believe in you, Floyd!

Nah, I'm just kidding. If the 'B' test comes out positive on Friday, which is likely, then forget it. The guy's done. Two year ban from cycling. Two more years from Professional racing. Four years out of the sport pretty much ends the Landis career. You may think of cycling as dirty, but a lot of that perception is due to its actually trying to punish (and punish brutally) people that it catches. (How effective it is at catching them is another story.) And note that there's no presumption of innocence in cycling, as shown by the reinstatement of 18 riders suspended on suspicion before the Tour, after they'd been cleared by the Spanish courts. One has to admire cycling for at least trying, unlike most American sports. And if Landis cheated, he gets exactly what he deserves for being stupid and winning a Stage on a day that (1) he knows he's doping (2) with a drug that wouldn't really help him and(3) when he knows the stage winner is always tested.

Of course, if you're an ESPN addict, then you have probably followed their advice and just don't care. For me, I'm going back to my pre-Tour pick: Levi Leipheimer, who's now switching to Team Discovery.

Here's the last few days. . .
Tuesday: 8.6 miles, 68:49 (hot and miserable), 8:00mm
Wednesday: 5.0 miles, 38:48 (treadmill, I love AC), 7:46mm
Thursday: 8.2 miles, 62:21, 7:36mm

Coming up
Saturday: 11 miles as a pace leader (8:00mm) for the NYRRC's Long Training Run.
Sunday: 4 miles, easy.

Decadence

That's how it feels to have two whole days off work! Saturday was the first day I did nothing for my job since July 4. Yay! Sunday, I just feel lazy.

Erin and I had a fantastic vacation day to a Le Refuge Inn, a B&B on City Island, off the coast of the Bronx in the Long Island Sound, which you can get to by subway! We were treated to the owner's room and had a fantastic dinner. I had escargot, peppercorn-encrusted steak and creme brulée -- yum! Erin had . . . Who cares? Did I mention that I had escargot, peppercorn-encrusted steak and creme brulée? YUM! We met another couple from the B&B. They were taking their first vacation from their daughter in the 2 years since she was born and the four of us hit a bar for martinis before dinner. (They were $2.25 EACH! Can't get that in Manhattan!) Unfortunately, husband had a few too many and passed out before dinner. Finally, we were treated to fantastic views of Eastchester Bay, Pelham Bay and the Long Island Sound -- assuming we were willing to walk the staggering distance of 2 blocks across the island. And it was really nice for Erin and me to be able to spend some time together for a couple days since we've both been stretched a little thin over the past month. Of course, when we got back the first thing we did was go get Italian ices from Ralph's. I guess no matter where you go, there's always something you'll miss from home.

At the B&B, Erin was interviewed by News 12: the Bronx -- "As Local As Local News Gets". (Note: this is a pay link! BOO! News shouldn't be for pay.) The station was doing a story on the B&B we were staying at and we were accosted for an interview on our way in -- after we'd been walking around antique and ice cream shops for for the better part of 2 hours in 95˚ heat. All sweaty and gross and just perfect for dinner-time television. Erin did very well on the interview. I, on the other hand, was completely tounge-tied. The interviewer, although an otherwise attractive woman -- about 5'10", slender, athletic build -- had about 10-12 6" long black hairs sticking out of her neck. Every time I was asked a question, I deflected to Erin because I was totally afraid I'd do a Freudian, "This place has great beard . . . uh, I mean bread. And I love the hairs -- chairs, I meant chairs." We apparently got airtime in the Bronx last night at 7.

Otherwise, the weekend's been really relaxing. A very nice way to spend the anniversary.

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Me with Eastchester Bay in the background

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Erin, chilling in the "nook" in our room

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The Lobster House

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Me looking cool

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Erin showing off

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Pelham Bay

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And, the week-in-review. Saturday, did what I call the 5 bridge run. This is a very challenging 17.8 mile loop that I recommend for anyone who needs to run an 18-20 flat run (i.e., run this loop instead of the 20). I left it about 1/2 mile short for only 17.2 miles. That was plenty on a hot, hot, hot Saturday morning. As of today, we are at less than 3 months to the MCM. On the one hand, it seems like it's so close. On the other, my god there's a lot of training left to do!

Monday	Tuesday	Wed.	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
5.0 miles	9.0 miles	5.0 miles	10.33 miles	Rest	17.2 miles	Rest	46.53
8:56/m	T: 4 mile @6:40	8:19/m	7:46/m	--	8:08/m	--	--

Acclimation

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So, I must be becoming acclimatized to the warm weather. Whenever you look at the weather at 5:30 a.m., it's 80 degrees with 82% humidity and you think, "Gee, that's not so bad," then it must be August! Six days of running in a row are down. I have to say that I'm glad that's over. Despite the strong pace for today's BS Run (80:15 for 10.33 miles, 7:46 pace) I could really feel the fatigue of the past week. Start to finish. But it's good to have moved some weekend runs because now I know that I can definitely relax over the weekend. Erin and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary (today!) by going to a B&B Saturday night. Now, over this weekend the last things that would be acceptable would be for me to (i) get up Sunday morning at the B&B and leave to do a run or (ii) me not going running but being cranky because I missed my goals. And since I'm a spaz, the second possibly's too much of a risk to not plan for. I don't want to be a jerk and ruin things, so a little fatigue now's well worth it. And Saturday, we're going to have bubbly, dinner and relax! Fantastic.

Weird stuff's been happening in my neighborhood. I know I've mentioned neighborhood composition a lot, but again . . . it's older ethnic Italians, hipster spillover from the East Village, blue collar Puerto Ricans and Orthodox Jews. With this mix, it might not be surprising to learn that there aren't a lot of people out running at 6 am. In fact, in the last 2 weeks, I've seen exactly . . . 2 (between my apartment and the Williamsburg Bridge.) So, when I started regularly running in the neighborhood in March (treadmilled through the winter) I was something of an anomaly. People out gave me looks that ran the full spectrum from complete indifference to incedulity that some skinny, sweatty, white kid with no tattoos or leather was running through the neighborhood. However, now that I'm a regular that's all changed. Today marks the FOURTH time in the last two weeks that I've been stretching out in front of my apartment after a run and some older gentleman's come by to offer encouragement. I've gotten thumbs up, "good job"s, and "way to go"s. All have been from older men -- well over 60 -- often either overweight or having some other ailment, e.g., one was walking with a cane. The whole thing's weirding me out a little bit.

Anyway, this'll be the last post until next week because of this weekend's trip. Bye all. Have a wonderful weekend.

Maybe there was something to that Easy Run

Yesterday was an "easy" day, replacing a "rest" day because Erin and I are going "out of town" for our anniversary this weekend, and I've rearranged the schedule. By "out of town," I mean that we're leaving Brooklyn for a B&B in the Bronx, which really seems like it's a different country. It's going to be fantastically fun, but the travel is revealing my inner spastic-ness, in that I immediately rearrange the training schedule. As Ryan, who's also shooting to BQ (but in Chicago), and who's running the same schedule as me (but a week ahead) put it: "I'm finding that I'm not only committed, but borderline compulsive about keeping my training plan." Yup. That's it in a nutshell. I'm such a spaz.

Today was 9 miles with 4 at tempo. I expected this to be really tough, since it'd be my fourth day running in a row, something I haven't done since several weeks before marathon training began in earnest. It was tough, but not awful. Most of the difficulty was in congestion on the track (really, do you need to walk 4 wide across the inside three lanes on a turn? Is that really necessary?) and a headwind into the near turn, although there was definitely some residual fatigue from Sunday's 15 miler. Despite challenges, the tempo was in 26:39 or 6:40 average pace. Perfect. The worst part of the run though was during the easy portions -- the 5 miles of warmup/cooldown that I did on the McCarren Park 2/3 mile dirt loop. At the north end were two bums, passed out on the park bench laying on top of each other. No problem except I passed them 4 times and I think the smell was worse each time. The last time through, I'm not sure what happened, but one of them was laying on the ground. Don't know if the one on the bottom decided he didn't like being smothered or if the one on top just rolled off the bench and couldn't get up.

By the way, remember a few weeks ago the post that mentioned the Orthodox Jewish man running in dress slacks and an oxford on the Williamsburg Bridge? I was browsing some Flyer photos during a break yesterday and apparently someone else noticed him at a race. Honestly, this is the guy. I remain impressed.

Photo Run #1

I've been toying with the idea of a photo-run, where I take pictures as I run around, almost since I started the blog. Since I've rearranged the schedule to take away a rest day and replace it with an easy run, I figured today's a good day for the experiment since the camara will force it to be a really easy run. The route's the Williamsburg Bridge O&B. (Note: the photos are in reverse chrono order) Hopefully this'll be a recurrent feature.

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Early morning commuters

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East River from the Williamsburg Bridge, heading back to Brooklyn

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Good morning Chinatown!

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More commuters on the J Train

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East Village from the Bridge (Erin points out that the lamp is somewhat phallic.)

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Bridge's tower

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Halfway across the Bridge; speaks for itself

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Although it looks like just a fence, it's really a shot of Manhattan

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Oy Vey!

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The worst part? Where the path goes out of sight is only about 1/2 way up the bridge.

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Statute in square at base of Bridge in Brooklyn

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Bank, with the Williamsburg Bridge's pedestrian walkway passing in front.

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Graffiti

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Driggs Ave

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More Graffiti, I'm not really sure what it's supposed to be

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Left over Italian flags from the World Cup (as if this blog doesn't already have enough photos of Italian flags).

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The start, right in front of my apartment.

Race Walkers?

For a change of scenary (and since I needed to head into the City for work anyway) I decided to do today's long run in Central Park. I'm super bummed to have missed JW's Ventillator Run, but with the L train on the fritz, I wasn't willing to travel 3 hours involving multiple trasfers and shuttle buses for it. Bad timing.

So, when I arrived in the park, the Metropolitan 15K Racewalk Championship was in progress. Now, I've seen a lot of silly athletes in my life. Runners with silly strides, arm motions, butt wiggles. Runners in silly outfits, but more often bikers in really silly outfits. I've even seen runners with silly arm swings and butt-wiggles in super silly biker outfits. However, I've never seen anything quit like racewalking. It has the silly arm-swing, a super-silly butt wiggle (especially for the faster, uh . . . walkers) and some fantastically silly racewalker outfits. If any of you remember the episode of Malcolm in the Middle where Hal becomes a racewalker, there was actually a guy dressed like THAT! Of course, any sport where the average age at a Championship event appears to be pushing 60 has got to be somewhat silly . . . or possibly shuffleboard.

The best moment was when a guy with his kid in a jogging stroller, stops to deal with the kid. He pulls into the race-walking course to avoid getting hit by a runner or cyclist while he's playing dad. A race official runs up and yells at him. At this point, the closest racewalker was in sight, about 1/2 mile away -- at least 4 or 5 minutes. Guy says, "I'll be done long before they get here." But race official won't let it go and yells at him. Dad starts jogging away, but flips the guy off on the way. Weird. I guess that race official had the power go to his head. Lest you be outraged, the kid was oblivous to all of these shenanigans and looked to be having a great time watching the people in the park. He waved at me as I ran by. I waved back.

So, the run. One full loop (6 miles), one lower loop (5 miles) and the Middle 4 (4 miles) for a grand total of 15. This was hard. I know I've said it before, but Central Park's a hard place to run. On a good note, it was only about 70 degrees when I got started and was raining slightly, but that didn't quite make up for the difficulty of the terrain. Oh, well. It'll toughen me up for later, I suppose. Time was 1:58:45 (7:55 pace).

Week-in-review
4 down and 14 to go! Second week in a row over 40. Legs are starting to feel fatigued now. Most runs, they don't feel quite fresh, but I don't know how much the crazy-a$$ work loads been inhibiting recovery and how much is related to actual training.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
Rest	8.0 Miles	5.0 Miles	10.33 miles	Rest	4.0 Miles	15.0 Miles	42.33
-	7:17	7:54	7:49	-	7:02	7:55	-