Funner

I went over to The Crossings in Colonie last Wednesday nite to watch my friends Donna and Deanne and Jen M. run in the Craig Ryder 2nd Memorial 5K Run, and to cheer them on.

I wasn't running because my foot was still bothering me. I knew about the race because Deanne told me about it - she tells me about all the races that are coming up. In fact, if I don't get at least 3 emails from Deanne a week about this 5K or that road run, I would feel lost. She runs in most of them, too. For example, a couple of weeks ago, she did a 5K on Friday nite in Washington Park (23:56) at 6 PM, then a 10K on the bike path along the Hudson River at 8:30 AM the next morning (50:14) and then ran a 5K with Jen M the same morning at 10 AM! I think she would have run on Sunday, too, except they did a little too much celebrating of Jen's birthday on Saturday nite! Ah, Sweet Bird of Youth....

Anyway, I no sooner got to the The Crossing when I heard some familiar voices - Jess and Christina from my swim class at the Guilderland Y were there, along with Marilyn, also from the Y.

Jess - "Are you running?"

Me - "No - my foot still hurts."

Jess - "So you're a funner."

Me - " ? "

Jess - " A funner. You're not a runner, so you're just here for fun - a funner."

Turns out she was even more right than I thought. Everywhere I turned, I found people I knew, and of course, I talked with all of them.

Donna and Deanne and Jen M, were there, and Donna's brother Rick and his daughter Cheyenne.

And Sara P from work and her boy friend, Tom. Turns out Tom had run the Boston Marathon, too - pretty good runner - he was 9 minutes ahead of Lance Armstrong at the 30 K mark - I looked it up. I introduced Sara to a lot of the people I knew there. More on Sara and Tom later.

I was pleased to see my good friend Kelly there. She was with Roxanne, also from the Y.

Greg, who I met at the dinner the night before the Spring Runoff, was there.

And then, Out of the Blue of the Western Sky (or some sky), Captain Mike! He had just gotten into the Albany Airport from his week of pilot duty - just gotten back from San Jose, and he had driven the quick two miles over from the airport.

"Great to see you! I must know more than a dozen people here!"

"Me, too. The Albany Running Exchange, is organizing the race, and I came over to see my buds."

Kind of a funny start to the race at 6 PM. The walkers got off, no problem. But, the runners got off to a false start - all of them. I guess the starter was trying to tell everyone how he was going to start the race - only they all thought it was the start, so off them went. And back they came, and did it again. (Not without a few muttered unkind words among the group - I don't even know what some of those words mean!)

The first mile took them out of the park and then back in, so I walked over to the clock at the one mile mark and waited for them. Five minutes later, Sara's boyfriend Tom blazed back into the park, with Chris from OSC right behind him.

Standing all alone, right across the path from the clock so I had a good view of the runners as they crossed the bridge and came back into the park, I cheered loudly for everyone I knew and most the ones I didn't know. Some of the walkers who were now starting to appear wanted to know why I wasn't cheering for them - well, I didn't know any of them, but what the hay, I cheered for them, too.

I pretty much cheered for 9 minutes straight, until the 14 minute mark, when a lady came jogging by with her dog - and the dog was definitely not a puppy! At that point I really wished I had been in the race - I just know I could have beaten that dog! More on the lady and the dog later.

As soon as they went by, I hurried over to the start line, because I was pretty sure the boys were going to be appearing any minute. Sure enough, at the 16 minute mark, I could see Tom round the corner and head onto the start of the grass chute - the finishing two or three hundred yards were all on grass, with ropes and pennants defining the borders. Tom finished under 17 minutes and Chris shortly thereafter.

Then I could see the first woman - and it was my friend Christina. I gave her my best cheers and I could see her smile as she turned for home.


Christina, First Place - Women

And then my friend Kelly was there, running in 5th. She smiled, too.


Kelly, Fifth Place - Women

9 seconds behind her, Jess whipped through the chute.

Then Deanne, and Sara, and Donna and Jen and Marilyn. I cheered wildly for each one of them by name.


Jen M, Chris - Second Place, Men, Deanne

Finally the lady and the dog turned the corner and headed down the chute. She raised her arms in triumph and the crown roared. Wait - she wasn't raising her hands in triumph - she was raising them to show us the doggy bag! Damn, I knew for sure at that point that I could have beaten that dog to the finish.

I was also thinking, "I'm so slow, I never bring s**t home from a race - if only I could find a dog to bring with me, that would never be true again!"

Captain Mike stayed almost to the end, cheering on all his friends, until his cell phone rang, and he knew he was busted. Sure enough, someone wanted to know why he wasn't home yet. So, he high tailed it, muttering something like "At least I'm not out at some bar drinking beer..."

I had a great time talking with all my friends after the race. Almost every one of them complained about running over the uneven turf while they chowed down on post race vittles.

I didn't eat any of the bananas or bagels though - hadn't earned them. Wait - I never eat any of the bananas or bagels after a race.

I talked with Sara and Tom after the race, too. I asked Tom what his last name was and he told me. Then he asked if my son was Jon and if he had gone to Tufts. Turns out that Tom has played on a little league team I had managed a dozen or so years ago. He told he had just graduated and was off to Temple for graduate work. We talked about a few people we knew in common, and I asked him about some other Colonie kids I knew who had gone to the same school.

Sara listened to this, and then asked me, "Do you know everyone?"

No - but I know a lot of great people, and many of them were at this race. I had a terrific time - funner, indeed.

See you out there.

Fallen

I watched "Once" on DVD Saturday night. This sad and sweet indie movie is a tale of love lost, love unfulfilled, and perhaps, love regained. You may know it for "Falling Slowly",the Academy Award winning song, sung by its leads, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. If you don't know the movie or the song, take a minute,click the link, and listen to "Guy" and "Girl" on YouTube - it will help you understand why I'm a fallen man - totally in love with the movie, the leads and the music.

Sometimes I have such vivid dreams that I wake up so emotionally committed to the dream that I move through the day in a "dream hangover", knowing, rationally, that the emotions are not real, but feeling that they are, that they must be. All Sunday I moved through the waking dreamscape of Dublin in my mind, and knew - just knew - that these were real people, that they were just outside the fame of my vision. I sensed them.

Is there anything more evocative than music? As soon as the movie was ended, as soon as I watched the extra features so I could see more of these extraordinary people, I went to the ITunes store, found the soundtrack, downloaded it and then copied it into my IPod. Now I could hear them, and see them in my mind's eye, while I was at the computer, while I was in the car, and even while I was at the Y, doing penance on the stationary bike. (It's a surprise to those of you who know me that I can be a little intense with things?)

Here's the thing: though "Falling Slowly" is melancholy and wistful and haunting, not all the songs are. In fact, I pedaled furiously to "When Your Mind's Made Up", and especially to "Gold", - I love the way the IPOd lets you hit the back button on the scroll wheel and repeat songs. There are a couple of other songs on the soundtrack that are up tempo, too, and make for good riding and maybe good running.

So, there's the connection, the stretch, between this movie and the general subject of this blog - some of the songs from the soundtrack of "Once" are good workout songs.

But here's my true confession - I wrote about it because I love this movie and I wanted to share it with you. Maybe you will love it too. And that's reason enough.

See you out there.

DNS or "The Game's Afoot!"

For the first time ever - well,since I started doing tri's and 5K's two years ago - I entered an event and did not compete: DNS = Did Not Start (or Didn't Show Up, as one of my children termed it.)

Why? 3 reasons. First and best, my left foot hurts. It started bothering me a couple of weeks ago while I was running. It bothered me during the Spring Runoff and was really tender after my last training run. It's on the top, inside of my left foot, and according to what I found on the various internet sites - yes, I'm one of those - if I'm lucky, it's just tendinitis and will heal with some time off. If I'm not - it's a stress fracture of one of the metatarsals.

I was still going to compete in the Indoor/Outdoor Sprint Tri at the Southern Saratoga Y. After all, I had paid the entry fee ( a stiff $45! for Y members) and I was pretty sure I could tough it out. Kathy pointed out the inherent stupidity of this approach, and, uncharacteristically, I listened.

The other two reasons? It was cold and looked like rain, and I didn't feel like I had trained enough on the bike. Truth be told, if my foot had felt ok, they wouldn't have mattered. After all, the same two things were true last year and I started and completed that tri.

So, I will lay off the running for a while and see how it feels. What the hell, I needed more bike time anyway.

See you out there (but it looks like it will just be on the bike for a couple of weeks!)

Nattering Nabobs of Negativity

You'd think that after running a PR on Saturday that I would be energized and fired up, ready to surge ahead. Instead, I was tired, I slumped, had almost no energy, and listened to those NNN's in my head for three days. They almost had me convinced that I was a fraud, that I couldn't run, didn't want to run, didn't want to do any exercise at all. 5K's and triathlons were beyond my puny and feeble abilities. I was lazy, but what did it matter because I was no good any way. And I was fat - let's not forget fat.

A day off Monday became an off day and slid into Tuesday. I declined a noon time run because it was cloudy and cold - only in the high 40's. Never mind that I started running outside in January in the 20's - besides, that wasn't the real "me". Tuesday became woe-is-me Wednesday. I planned a bike ride for Wednesday night - but I really wasn't going to go. What difference did it make?

Except I asked Donna if she wanted to go and she did - she's training for the Pinebush this year and she was anxious to get off the stationary bike and outside on a real bike. So I met her on the bike path at 6 PM and we rode. And it was good. Not great - it my first time of the season. But I went up Blatnick Hill, didn't die and kept going. And I geared up Knolls Atomic Hill in 2:1 and was suitably impressed with myself for such an early in the season ride.

We went 5 miles out and 5 miles back and I felt pretty damn good when we were done.


At noon on Thursday, Donna went with me and I ran two miles along the river without stopping, and jogged a chunk on the way back, including the hills.

On Thursday night, it was back to the Y and the ministrations of Coach Aaron. That felt pretty good, too.

In other words, I took "The Cure" and the demons left me.

Frank Hu, epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health, had this to say in the Harvard Magazine, "The single thing that comes close to a magic bullet, in terms of its strong and universal benefits, is exercise."

I'll vouch for that.

See you out there.

St John's St Ann's Spring Runoff 5K

A flat, out and back 5K, on the river, on my "home course", the course I run twice per week, during lunch.

This was the Spring Runoff, and was a benefit for the St John's St Ann's Community Outreach Center in Albany's Southend. Our registration fee included a pasta dinner Friday evening and it was terrific - the food was donated by D'Raymond's Restaurant, and the food was delicious. Included a glass of wine, coffee and homemade dessert, too - not what I expected at all.

Good news - PR! Bad news - still didn't break 37:10, and 12 minute miles.

Time was 37:30, and rate was 12:06.

Used my IPOD, and listened to Ryan Adam's "Elizabeth, You Were Born to Play that Part" - 7 times. It kept me from going out too fast, and still got me thru the first mile in 11:33, another PR. Hit the turnaround at 18:36, and thought I had a shot at breaking 37, but I fatigued coming back in, with a lot of walking. I figured if I made it back to the boat launch at 30 flat, I had a real shot at breaking 37, since I had gone out in 7 minutes, but I was off by 33 seconds and while I came back in 7 minutes, I was too tired to make up any time. Too much walking, not enough kicking.

Oh, well - I'll just blame the wind, which was stiff and from the south today, and in our faces all the way home. It's usually from the northwest, so it's in my face going out and at my back coming home. So, I'll blame the wind for my 20 seconds. (Couldn't have been me, right?)

There was a 10K which went off at 8:30, and my swimming buddy Sky Pilot Mike ran that in a little over 50 minutes. I didn't recognize him, even though I was standing right on the edge of the path as he went by - because we were cheering for Deanne - who was right behind him. They don't know each other , but he followed her all the way out and back, catching her with a little ways to go. Small world. We introduced them after the race.

Pretty impressive for Deanne - she chopped about 18 minutes off the 10K she ran 2 weeks ago. Especially impressive since she ran a 23:56 5K just last evening. And then she turned around and ran the 5K with Jen M., who had also run the 5K last night. Jen is celebrating her 27th birthday today. Way to go, Jen.

Donna ran a 27 and change 5K today - her 10th race of the young season. She has been a great training partner for me, and there is no way I could have done so well today if she hadn't logged all those miles with me for the last several months.

Amusing story - as I was getting close to the turnaround point, the lead runners began passing me- as usual. I cheer for them, and often let them know how they are doing - first man, first woman, etc. When the second woman went by, I held up two fingers and said "Second Woman!" Well, she had her earphones in and must not have heard me, because she held up the same two fingers and said, "Peace!"

Lessons Learned
The IPOD and slower music really helped. Even though I was nervous before the race, the music calmed me down and I went out at a comfortable pace, yet still did a PR first mile, running all the way. Hopefully when I get stronger and faster I will need to choose some more up tempo songs to run to - but I'm not there yet.

I need to keep training, to get stronger. I'm up to 2.2 miles running without stopping in training, usually as part of a 4 mile session. I often include more jogging in the session, maybe as much as another half mile. I usually walk back, but try to run the hills. I just need to keep this up, to improve the distance I can run without stopping and to work on increasing my distance. When my base is better, I will work in more hills and add some speed work.

For now, though, I am reasonably pleased. B+

See you out there.

Boston Marathon 2008 - The View from Mile 18

We went to Boston - Newton, actually - to see the Boston Marathon and to cheer on Christina, my friend and Stroke Improvement teammate. Both were superb.

For thorough coverage and some terrific pictures, go to Boston.com. For some personal observations and a link to pictures of people who caught my eye from mile 18, read on, or go to the links posted on the right hand side of the blog.

Sunday night, we stayed at the Newton Marriott, a little over a mile from the corner of Washington and Commonwealth Avenues, about 17.5 miles from the start. We walked over to the course, carrying a two folding lawn chairs and a day pack with sandwiches, fruit and water. Turning this corner, the athletes begin to climb the first of the four Newton Hills, culminating 3 miles later with the famous "Heartbreak Hill". My friend tells me the first hill is the toughest. Heartbreak has the reputation, though, because it comes 20 miles into the race and it can break your heart, your quads and your spirit.


I Was Sad Because I Had No Shoes


The wheel chairs started in Hopkinton at 9:25, and the leaders rounded the corner and started the climb at about 10:15. There are two kinds - the traditional grab the wheel and turn chair, and the newer ones with hand cranks and gears. Big controversy in the handicapped racer community, with some of the traditionalists saying the newer chairs are more like bikes, and shouldn't be allowed. Very ironic - exclusion advocated by those who were excluded themselves for so long. If you are interested in a good article from the New York Times which explains this issue, let me know.

The elite women started at 9:35, and they appeared next. Among them was Albany's own Emily Bryans, who finished in under 3 hours. Deanne worked with her at one time and ran with her often, and had introduced me to her at a recent Corporate Challenge, so I felt like I had a small personal connection. She finished in under 3 hours.


Emily Bryans from Albany F106

There were no world class American women in this group, though - they had run the Olympic trials the day before. The race was won by Deena Castor, and included crowd favorite Joan Benoit Samuelson, who finished in 2:49:08, good for 90th place and an American age group record.

Both the women's and men's leaders are preceded by a pace vehicle, electronic timing clock prominently attached to the roof, officers on motorcycles, and tons of press: on bicycles, stuffing a half ton truck, and on electric motor scooters, with a driver, and a camera man, mounted on the back, facing backwards.

Speaking of motorcycles, cops on motorcycles spent a good portion of the day riding close to each side of the course, keeping the spectators back from the road. I guess that was a good thing.

The 4 women leaders were trailed by more women from the lead group, and a smattering of wheel chair racers. One of the lead woman had the men's lead vehicles right on her heels. You can see her, and the other elite racers in my webshots album, Boston Marathon 29008 Leaders and Elite.

Something I noticed about the elite runners - and you can see it in some of the pictures - when they stride, their heels come way off the ground in the back of their bodies - almost up to their butts. For me, each step is a struggle with gravity, and each step is more of a shuffle than a stride - I strive for minimal clearance, just enough to move me forward. Don't know how they do it.


Lead Male Runners Near Mile 19

After the elite runners passed, the street gradually filled up with those who followed, great athletes, but not quite world class. Eventually, the Wave arrived, and the streets were swollen with runners. You can see them in my webshots album Boston Marathon 2008 The Waves.

A very notable runner early in the wave - Lance Armstrong. I was lucky enough to get two pictures of him. (Mike - here's a wider shot - can you see your friend?)


Lance Armstrong and Fellow Runners at Mile 18


Also notable - Team Hoyt - very, very inspirational.


The Hoyts

There were about 14,000 people in the first wave, including my friend Christina. They started just after the elite men went off at 10 am. Each and every runner in this wave had to run a qualifying age-graded time at a sanctioned marathon to get in. To qualify at her age, Christina had to run a sub 3:40, which she did last year in the NYC Marathon.

If I wanted to qualify for next year's race, I would have to run a sub 4 hr marathon.

There were about 12,000 in the second wave, and almost every one of them had to qualify, too. The exception? About 1,400 charity runners, who raised a chunk of money for one of the official charities, including the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training, the Campus School of Boston College, and Dana Farber Institute, all wonderful causes. We cheered for every TNT runner - Kathy's cousin is a survivor and she, Kathy, walked a half marathon last year at Lake Placid and raised over $4500 for the cause; for the Campus School at Boston College Team - Em is a junior at BC; and for the Tufts Team (I don't remember what charity they were running for) - Jon graduated from there a couple of years ago.

The number of entries for the Boston Marathon is limited because it starts in the narrow streets of Hopkinton. This tight limit on entries causes some strange behaviors and even cheating - before the race starts. Great article about that in the New York Times last week, too. Interested? Let me know and I'll send it to you.

Also causes some hostile feeling among those who qualified towards the charity runners - they think the charity runners should be eliminated to open up additional spots for "real" runners. Too bad - the only way I would ever make it into this race would be as a "charity case" - not that I'm even fantasizing about that (well, maybe a little).

Two things struck me about the wave. First, it went on for hours. Second, after looking down the street at the wave for a while, whenever I tried to look across the street, I got vertigo - the runners surging up the street made the road look like it was sliding down the hill. Very odd and unsettling.

Lots of very serious runners with a lot of character in this race - but lots and lots of "characters", too. We saw 3 nuns; 2 angels, complete with halos; an indeterminate super hero, in costume; two young men wearing black spandex briefs and over the calf socks; a band of Korean runners, all wearing the same running outfits, carrying flags at the front and rear of their group,




and chanting while running up the hill;and a group of American women wearing red with US flags atop their baseball hats. And, of course, Elvis.


Elvis



We stayed until the sweep vehicles brought up the rear. We cheered and clapped for all the charity runners and we clapped and cheered by name for every runner who wore a name on his or her body, bib or running outfit. We especially cheered for the back of the packers - you just knew I'd be rooting really hard for them, didn't you?


Back of the Packers - But They Are in the Boston Marathon!

At the end of the day, we felt wonderful and knew we had been part of something very special. We had an internal glow (and an unexpected external one from the unexpected sun) that lasted for well over a day. We will be going back again - count on it.

See you out there.

I Am Inspiration!

I liked "Serpentine Swimming" - thought it was well written, had an illustrative photo embedded (a first for me), a link to an instructive article. I thought it was a good piece. But I wanted my son's blessing, wanted him to tell me it was good and well written. At 23, Jon has already had two paid internships, reporting for the Scranton Times Tribune and the Wichita Eagle, unpaid positions for the Medford Transcript and Boston's Sampan, and was Managing Editor for the Tuft's Daily. So, I asked.

"Jon - is it good, is it well written?"

"Yes, it's well written..."

"But?"

"The subject is boring. Who cares about "Serpentine Swimming?"

"My teammates and anyone else who might be thinking about entering the indoor/outdoor tri next month. Besides, you don't care about sports and think everything I write about them is boring. The only piece you ever got even remotely excited about was the one about my IPod, and that's only faintly related to sports."

"My friends and I are still talking about that one. In fact, it's inspired us to create a new blog!"

"Really? Wow, I'm flattered!"

"Wait a minute, I'll show you. Here it is: 'An Alien's Guide to the Earth'"

" 'An Alien's Guide to the Earth'?"

"It's a series of detailed and instructive articles about common things that an alien visiting Earth for the first time wouldn't know about. Like a spoon or chairs."

"Or an IPod?"

"We're going to use your blog as our first article!"

Every dad wants to inspire his children, but that wasn't exactly what I had in mind. Hey, at least I have a purpose in their lives - I serve as a source of endless amusement. Everyone's got to be good a something.

See you out there.