I considered several titles for this post, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Pirates Game”, “Tale of Two Halves”, “Good, Bad, and Ugly” were a few. It all started when I started looking at the schedule for Pittsburgh Pirates. I have a friend in Pittsburgh, and try to go to at least one game ever year. Then I began looking http://www.marathonguide.com/ at the marathon calendar. I noticed there was a marathon in Athens, OH the day before the Pirates home opener. I thought “that's doable”, I'll run the marathon on Sunday (for fun), then drive to Pittsburgh for the Pirates home opener. I tried to get some of my running buddies to come along, but they were all smarter than me. So after promising my wife that I wouldn't kill myself during the marathon (“I'm just running it for fun”), I made plans for the trip.

Saturday morning, I dropped Jill at the Monument Ave. 10K start, and the kids at my mom's, and headed for Athens. It was raining in Richmond when I left, but by the time I hit Charlottesville, the sun had come out. I thought about Jill doing the 10K in the rain, and hoped isn't wasn't too bad. It was about a 6 hour drive to Athens, and as pulled into town and drove through Ohio University campus, the students were out in full force enjoying the sunshine. Every roof top was covered with students, drinking and partying seemed to be the agenda for the day. I quickly found the packet pick-up site, ate my spaghetti dinner, & checked into the Hampton Inn (I didn't want to be mistaken for a “townie” by the college students).

It was still fairly early in the evening, I took a nap, watched some TV, checked out the weather forecast for Sunday's race. I felt pretty confident, even though I hadn't done a real long run since the B&A marathon, I convinced myself that a long taper would allow me to run at a comfortable pace, and the weather forecast was just about perfect (high 30's forecasted for the start and only warming-up to the mid-50's, light breezes).

I'll leave most of the race details for Dave Klisz's blog (Running in the Center of the Universe - http://www.townhound.com/blog/dave.php) as he has promised to air my race report, but give some of the highlights. The forecast was dead on at the start. It was perfect running weather, but with a 9:00 start, I knew in the back of my mind, it would warm-up pretty quickly. I ran about the same pace as B&A for the first 10 miles and felt good, but by the half-way point things started going south. The temperature was climbing rapidly. I drank plenty (even though the students manning the water stops were only putting shot size amounts of fluid into the cups). At about mile 15, I noticed I wasn't sweating enough to cool my body. I knew the temperature must be close to 70 degrees (NEVER BELIEVE A WEATHERMAN). I remembered the promise I had made to Jill (not to kill myself), so I decided to take some walk breaks.

Anyway, for next 10 miles, I walked, jogged, and ran, stopping to talk to students manning the water stations and others that were struggling like me. It was fun, but my legs were cramping badly. The last 3 miles, I ran & walked with a guy from Cleveland (he wasn't having a good day either). I found out he had run the half at B&A, and was training for the Cleveland marathon. We had a good time, joking about how bad we were feeling. I ran the last mile, and we finished with a lap and half on the university track, which was kinda cool. The announcer called out each person's name as they finished. I immediately called Jill to let her know I was still alive.

Well, another marathon under my belt. It was an experience. It wasn't my slowest time ever (I finished in just under 4 hours), but I really missed having my family and running buddies at the end. I think part of the appeal of running marathons is the “sharing” of the experience at the end. I'll give Dave a more detailed report, and maybe that'll fill the void.

I concluded my trip, by heading to Pittsburgh Monday morning to see the baseball game (the “real” reason for my trip). After struggling to find a place to park (I swear it was somewhere in western Philadelphia), I had to hustle to the stadium in time to make the first pitch. Of course the game went into extra innings, and the Pirates lost to the Cubs. I arrived back in Ashland after midnight.

What's next you ask? Well, I just signed-up for a marathon in Wilmington, DE on May 18th. That'll give me 3 marathons in 3 months, which would qualify me as a “Marathon Maniac” http://www.marathonmaniacs.com/, I hope this next one goes a little better. At least I'll have Jill & the kids there at the end. This will be my last one until the OBX marathon in the Fall, which I'll be running with Bob Brown as he makes his marathon debut (more pressure applied).

I'm looking forward to coaching a Half Marathon Training team for the Patrick Henry Half Marathon (8/23/2008). We will be having an info night this Tuesday (4/15/2008) at the Ashcake YMCA (wet Y, as the locals call it). More details can be found at http://www.quickteams.com/rrrc-hmt/. We have a great group of coaches, and will hopefully expose more people to joys of running longer distances.

See ya on the streets,
Tom

It's good to be back in Ashland after a week in “the land of a million dreams” (if my math is correct, that's about a half a dream per person that was at Disney ;>). I've done several marathons, but Disney was more exhausting than any of them. But the smiles on my kids' faces made it all worthwhile. I have to say, Disney was one of the most friendly and cleanest places I've ever visited. Just about every park worker had a “trash-picker-upper-thing”. I thought it would be nice to have those for Dave's Pick-up 150 project.

I did manage to get in a few runs during my time in Florida. The first few days, we stayed near my sister on Bradenton Beach. It was cold (50's and 60's) and windy most of the time we were there, not great beach weather. I did a 4 miler on Saturday on a really nice bike path they had on the Island. On my way back with the wind at my back, I was feeling pretty good, & was keeping up with an old couple riding their bikes. The lady looked over at me after a few hundred yards and said “nice running”.

On Monday, I started out for another run, thinking I might go 5 miles. The wind was really strong & coming from the North, so I headed up the beach into the wind. There were a lot of people out for such a cold & windy morning (not like my beach in NC which I'm sure would have been almost deserted on such a day). I noticed a few runners were out. As I got a couple of miles into the run and I could see the point where the Gulf of Mexico met Tampa Bay. Something told me I should keep running to the point, which looked like it was a couple more miles. As I made it to the point, fighting the wind gusts and blowing sand, looking out at the Gulf I noticed the waves breaking in two directions, against the shore and against the bay, it was kinda neat to see. Just before I made the turn-around to head back, I noticed a runner headed the other way. He looked to be going about the same pace, so after I made the turn, I decided to pick-up the pace a little to try to catch up with him. As I pulled up beside him, I said “a lot easier running this direction”. As we ran, we talked a little. I found out Steve was from Green Bay, and was down on vacation with friends. He was training for Grandma's Marathon, and had run about 15 previous marathons. He was an avid racquetball player, and we talked about the risk of injury when doing other sports while training for a marathon. We talked about our running groups at home, and what a great group of people they are. I learned like me, he had two daughters but both of his were grown, with his youngest in college.

We were having such a good conversation, Steve asked if it would be okay to keep running with me past where he was staying on the beach (he thought he might be slowing me down), I said that would be great. Then Steve told me that last year, he had surgery to remove a kidney that was cancerous. My dad had that same surgery about 15 years ago, and I remember how much we worried about him. Here was a guy that had the big “C” less than a year ago, and was now training for a marathon, and he wasn't just jogging. We were running along a pretty good pace. After running together for about 3 miles, Steve said he was turning back, as he had friends waiting on him. He asked if I would be running on the beach anymore that week, but I told him, we were headed to Disney the next morning. We shook hands (while still running) and he turned back up the beach.

For the next mile I thought about Steve. About how frightened he and his family must have been when they found out he had cancer. About what a tremendous recovery he had made. Sometimes I think, God must look out for runners. He must figure, we put ourselves through so much voluntarily, He'll give us a break from time to time.

Anyway, I was glad I met Steve. I had been bumming about having such lousy weather in Florida, and he completely changed my attitude. I was happy to be running. I was happy to be on vacation with my family. I was happy to see my sister, Sherry and her husband Ray, their daughter Jennifer and her two kids, CJ and Tori. I was happy that I got to spend some quality time with my parents, who rode with us on our 14 hour drive down (& the 14 hour drive back). I was even happy to go to “the land of a million plus people”. I probably wouldn't recognize Steve again if I saw him, but I will always remember running with him.

See ya on the streets,
Tom

The weather couldn't have more perfect Saturday morning for the 30th Ashland Railroad Run. We were all watching the weather forecast the week leading up to the race, and the threat of rain had us all worried. Our prayers were answered though, as we woke-up to a beautiful morning. I think all the races (kids' one mile, 5K, & 10K) had about double the number of participants from last year. A big congratulations goes out to Jo Ann Hunter and all the volunteers for a very successful and well run event.

I had the pleasure of running with both my daughters. Claire ran the Kids' 1 mile race, and didn't complain half as much as she did last year. She broke 10 minutes and remembered to put her hands up as she broke the tape at the finish. Mattie and a few of her friends ran the 5K, I ran behind them & tried to get them to agree on when to run & when to take walk breaks. I think they had a good time, cheering on 10K runners as they passed and trying to catch the Proffitt boys, who kept a close eye on them, and would sprint ahead every time the girls got close. I hope the girls will enjoy running as they get older, but right now I think I enjoy watching them run more. I was proud of both of them.

The whole town of Ashland should be proud of the level of support, participation, and cooperation shown with putting on this event. I think Ashland Dave's video on his blog really captures the small town spirit of the event.

The weather was not so good for the Sunday option of Ashland Railroad Run 10K. Cold and rainy for the 7:15 start, the crowds and number of participants were definitely effected by the weather. I had a chance to interview the eventual winner of the Sunday option of the Ashland RRR 10K, and here is his story.

“Well, first of all things got screwed-up with a friend of mine, who was suppose to run the race with me, but a miscommunication issue caused him not to show. I don't mind the cold and rain unless it's pouring like it was this morning at 6:00 a.m. I almost decided to bail too, but I started the race with steady pace, not too hard, but I quickly noticed I was in the lead. About a half mile into the race, I got a pain in my left hip. I actually had to stop for a second to stretch it out. The pain quickly went away, as fast as it came, and I was still in the lead.

The next couple of miles were relaxed, I didn't look back to see how close the other runners were behind me, but I knew they must be right off my shoulder, waiting for me to slow, so they could blow past me. As we ran past my church, St. Ann's, I decided to pick it up a little to put some pressure on. I felt good as I rounded the corner by Henry Clay Elementary, and the wind seemed to pushing me as I headed up Center Street out towards Gwaltney Church. I used to run this stretch of road a lot when I trained, but I forgot how peaceful it could be early in morning. I still felt good as I approached “Mount Ashland”, the only real hill on the course. I pushed up the hill to the turn-around. The wind that was a friend a minute ago, now was the enemy. I put my head down, determined not to let the wind slow down too much. The rain had pretty much stopped, and I was actually getting a little warm. I knew I only had about mile to go, so I decided to just try to keep the pace up & not look back to see how close my nearest competitor was. As I crossed Ashcake, I noticed my legs were starting to burn from the lactic acid that was building up. Running down the center of Center Street, my shoes made little squeaky sounds on the wet pavement. I concentrated on the sounds, and tried to ignore the pain in my legs. I saw the finish. I looked back, and I could not see the next runner. I knew I would win easily, and slowed a bit and smiled as I crossed the finish line. This was my first win since middle school track, and I was happy I decided to run today.”

Sometimes, you have to use your imagination to motivate you to get out there and run. I did come in first (and last) on the First Annual Sunday Option of the Ashland Railroad Run 10K ;>).

See ya on the streets,
Tom

Hey,
Can I ask you a favor? If you read this blog, could you take a minute to comment (to comment, you have to click on the Title of the entry, ex. "Favor", then scroll down to the end of the text). Thanks, I enjoy writing this stuff, but it's kinda nice to know someone is reading it.

The Ashland RRR is coming up. Hope everyone is planning on running or cheering. I think we'll have record numbers this year.

See ya on the streets,
Tom

It's over. The marathon that has occupied my mind & much of my “free” time for the last 18 weeks has come and gone. So how did it go, you ask? The best way I know to describe it is, “Perfect”. I can only remember a few other “perfect” days in my life, my wedding day, the birth of my two girls. Sunday March 2, 2008 ranks right behind those. I did qualify for the 2009 Boston Marathon, but if that's all there was to it, I don't think it would be such special event in my life. No, what made it “Perfect” was that my family was there to support and cheer me on. Dave, Dennis, and Alan were there to share in the “Marathon Experience”. Our support team (our families) met us at least four times on the course to cheer for us & make sure we had everything we needed. Bryan drove all the way up Sunday morning to run in with all of us. I knew many of the Ashland Track Club members were pulling for me, as well as the Grub Kitty runners. Maybe it was a “runner's high” but at some point late in the race, I could actually “feel” the prayers that were prayed for me. I feel truly blessed to have such a great family and friends. That's what made this day so special for me.

Some race details:
On the drive up Saturday, the wind was gusting at over 20 mph. The Rappahannock River literally had ocean size waves as we crossed it. I thought to myself, a injured hamstring, something like the flu, and now gale force winds, what else could go wrong. I had been able to convince myself that the hamstring injury & the flu-like illness had been blessings in disguise, forcing me to take it easy, but the wind had me rattled. I remember the wind at Shamrock last year & it was brutal for about 10 miles. Luckily, I checked the weather forecast that had originally called for the same windy conditions on Sunday, but it now said light winds. What a relief! I actually slept for a solid 5 hours that night.

Race morning went off without a problem. I got up early and ate a bigger breakfast than normal. I was determined not to run out of fuel. Dave & I picked up Alan, and made our way to the start at Severna Park High School. Dave gave us a good course report on the way. He had scoped it out a little on Saturday.

After some confusion on which direction we were to start out running, we were off. I estimated there was about 30 seconds difference between the clock starting & me crossing the start line. Just in case my timing chip didn't work, I wanted to make sure I knew how much of a time difference there was between my watch & the official clock. This happened to Dave at Shamrock, so he had to take the clock time instead of his chip time.

The early miles were a lot of fun. I ran with Dennis and talked with a bunch of local runners. One guy said he ran the route so much, he knew ever inch of it. He was only running the half, but gave me a detailed report of the second half of the course. He also let me tuck in behind him anytime the wind kicked-up & would look back to make sure he wasn't running too fast.

I've never really met a rude runner. That was until I cut over to say “hey” to Dave & Alan after the 7 mile turn-around, and accidentally, very slightly, touched the heal of an older woman. She yelled at me, “Hey, watch it”. I apologized to her twice, but got no response. I noticed she was wearing a Boston jacket & Boston shirt. The fact that she would not accept my apology was really bothering me, and putting a damper on a great day. I decide to slow a bit and try to talk with her. I apologized again, and asked if she was going to Boston this year. She said “Yes, that's why I responded like that”. I smiled. I talked to her some more and explained I was trying to qualify. I think she finally forgave me, but I never saw her again. I guess she was just doing the half.

I ate every time I saw food. Jill gave me a power bar, cut up into small pieces, at the half-way point. The miles were clicking by. I was hitting my splits within 30 seconds to minute under my goal pace. I had hooked up with a couple of local runners that were running the same pace. There was a younger guy and an older guy named Tom that everyone seemed to know. The younger guy kept saying “all we had to do is keep up with Pops”. I think I ran the from about mile 13.5 to mile 23 with these guys somewhere around me. At mile 22, the support team was there to give me my last bottle of poweraide.

It was about mile 22.5, I started thinking “this is where the wheels came off at Shamrock”. I prayed “God, please don't let me feel like that again”. Then I saw Bryan waiting for me beside the path. My spirits were lifted. We actually picked up the pace and left Tom & the younger guy. Bryan kept my mind off any negative thoughts I might have had, and the last two miles clicked by just as the first 24 had.

Something about that last right turn hit me. Maybe it was the wind, the slight up-hill, or maybe I just ran out of gas. I only had .2 miles to go, but bad thoughts started rushing in. I couldn't calculate the time I had left. I told Bryan just to run ahead of me, which he did. I focused on keeping up with him. For some reason, I thought we had to run around the track when we got back to the high school, but was very happy to see we just had to run half the way down the bus loop.

I could hear Jill yelling “You did it, you did it”. The announcer called out my name, “Tom Grant from Ashland VA”. The clock read 3:28:54. WE did it.

Dave was trying to break 4:30:00 and I was very happy to see him coming in well under that, with his famous “Baltimore Kick” that I can't keep up with. Dennis also had a PR. Alan completed his first marathon. It was great day.

If you haven't read Dave's Blog and seen the video, go do it at: http://www.townhound.com/blog/dave.php

You have to click on the word “Video” in the first sentence to get the video to load. It's great.

Well that's it. What's next? I was thinking of touring those restaurants that challenge you to eat something (like a two pound hamburger) & if you do, they give you a hat or something. That sounds like an easier sport.

See ya on the streets,
Tom

First, let me apologize for not updating the blog last week. I came down with something like the flu, but tested negative. I tell ya, it's the sickest I've been since I was little.

Well, there's good that comes out of everything, right? Not only was I forced to take it easy last week, but I dropped about 5 lbs. I'm feeling pretty good going into the Marathon this Sunday, except for a lingering cough, but even that's getting better everyday.

I noticed Dave has a great write-up on "Mental Toughness" on his Blog. I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for that "moment" in the marathon ("the wall") when your brain tells you to "STOP DOING THIS". I hit that point in Shamrock last year about mile 24. I'm going to try to eat more during the race, hopefully the weather will be perfect. and the thought of pigging-out after the race will be enough to get me over (or through) the wall.

We're getting into a great time of the year for running. Seems like there is a local race just about every weekend. Judging from early registration numbers, this year's Ashland Railroad Run will draw a big crowd. We recently found out that Blue Ridge Mountain Outdoors Magazine has added the Railroad Run to it's tour to promote healthy living. They will be at the race with door prizes and lots of freebies. Should be a great event.

I'm sure Dave will have a great race report on B&A (hopefully with some video footage). I'll also let you know how we all fair.

Thanks to all that have emailed me about the blog. I'm thankful to everyone that reads this stuff.

Well, nothing left to do except eat a bunch of carbs.

See ya on the streets,
Tom

I've been thinking about what I should write about this week. I thought about elaborating on the adventure we had getting to the Ashland Track Club's practice this Sunday (during the wind storm), but that would be pretty short. By the way, congrats to the ladies training for the Frederick Marathon Relay, who ran 5+ miles in the 40 mph wind gust, trees snapping around them, fires breaking out, power lines down, nothing stopped these women! I also thought about promoting www.steverunner.com, who does great podcasts & organizes the "Worldwide 1/2 Marathon & Kick the Couch 5K", but I thought I'd wait until the event got a little closer. Then I thought of an old saying, "If you want to be successful and happy, you have to love what you do". I'm not sure who said it, & I'm sure I butchered the exact words, but it got me thinking, "What do I love about running?" That led me to think about other things that I love (wife & kids, Ashland, COFFEE!). As I begin to think about it more, I realized that a few of my favorite things all had some common characteristics. So here ya go, common traits of Ashland, Starbucks, & Running.

No Waiting:

I hate to wait (not sure there's anybody who loves to wait). Living here in Ashland, we rarely have to wait more than 5 minutes for anything. Even El Azteca on a Friday night isn't that bad. Try going for a quick bite to eat in Short Pump on a Friday evening. In Ashland, we can invite the whole town to a street party & not have to worry about traffic or standing in line for beer too long.

Starbucks has their system down, if you are in front of me, ordering one of those fancy drinks with a multitude of ingredients, your order is taken, but then you are quickly moved to the side so that the attendant can get me my Grande Coffee in a Venti cup. Then I can add a ton of half & half so that it's not too hot to drink right away,

For group runs, we have a 5 minute rule. If you are not there 5 minutes after the official starting time, you are left behind. No guilt, everyone knows the rule. Unlike other sports, there is no waiting to get in the game or waiting to use the field or court, the road is always open & you are always in the “game”.

It's Simple:

Living in Ashland is simple. Need groceries, there's Ukrops & Food Lion (for some, Wal Mart, but I'd rather take a beatin'). Hardware, there's Ace. Need to know something about something, you probably know someone or know someone who knows someone. Wanna know how to get somewhere, there's only one way to get there in Ashland.

Starbucks, ... coffee. Of course, they have other things, but that's for people who like to wait.

I love the simplicity of running. Shoes are about the only complicated thing that you need. No special skills are required. Oh, you'll probably see me write about interval training, tempo work, the importantance of core training, but when it comes down to it, to run better, you just have to run more (to a point).

It's Quiet:

Except for the passing trains, Ashland is a quiet town (especially where I live just outside the town limits). Of course, if you live near New Street, it hasn't been very quiet lately, but this too shall pass. Ashland provides just enough excitement to still be a quiet little town without being boring. I remember a friend of mine was visiting from the big city (Richmond). We had gone to pool, visited the library, and went for ice cream with our kids. He kept looking at his watch, and finally said “even time moves slower here in Ashland.”

I often think of taking my laptop down to Starbucks and working from there. They usually have great music playing but not too loud (I'm sure they have done a study on the type & volume of music to play to make their customers feel comfortable). You know when you go to some places & there's so much confusion and noise, that you can't wait to get outta there. I never get that feeling at Starbucks.

Even if you run with a group, there are great moments of silence (of course I've never run with that group of ladies training for the Frederick Relay, I have a feeling there's not much silence in that group). I remember running laps on a cinder track in high school, where the only thing I could hear was my own breathing & the soft crunch of my feet hitting the track. I think I could sleep to that.

No Crowds:

We may think we have crowds in Ashland, but nothing like Short Pump Town Center at Christmas. Our crowds are 20 people & we most likely know 75% of our fellow “crowdees”, so it turns into a social event.

Our Ashland Starbucks is never very crowded. I can't attest for other locations, but it seems they have the system down to move people in & out quickly. So if there is a crowd, it'll be gone soon.

A big crowd for a training run is 6 people. Of course, you could decide to run a big race like Monument Ave (gotten too crowded for me) or the Chicago Marathon, but for the most part even races are only crowded at the start. After the first mile or so, you're back down to 5 or 6 people within spitting distance.

As I thought of my similarities, I did think of one contrast. I like my coffee hot, I like Ashland when the temperature is medium, & I like to run when it's cold.

Next week? Who knows, maybe how running can bring about world peace ;>)

See ya on the streets (or Starbucks),
Tom

I don't have much to say this week, training is going good, the weather is nice (actually a little warm & humid for me, but it'll change back soon), and I'm heading into my last long run before the B and A Marathon.

As I wondered if the weather will be favorable (35 - 40 degrees is perfect for me) on March 2, I started thinking that I've developed some habits on race day. I'll list them here, but I'm not suggesting that you follow any of them.

Rule #1: Never wear the shirt they give for the race until you've finished the race. I use this as my reward for finishing a race.

Rule #2: Never wear another race's shirt in the race you are running. I follow this one for a couple of reasons. One, I like to keep people guessing, if I see someone at a 10K race that is wearing a marathon shirt, I know they are an experienced runner, vice-versa, if I see someone in a 5K shirt lined up at a marathon, I think "better not pace off this guy, it's his first marathon". The other reason is, I would like the people who organized the race I'm running to think that their race is the most important race. It's like showing up to baseball game with a jersey from another team, other than the two teams that are playing, i.e. I'd rather be at a Yankees game, but I'm sitting here watching the Braves vs. Nationals just because it's local.

Rule #3: Never sprint past people at the finish line. If someone is slowing dramatically, I will pass them, but if they are holding their pace, I won't try to nip them at the line. I compete against the clock, & if I pace myself correctly, I shouldn't have the energy to sprint at the end of the race. Sprinting at the end is a great way to injure yourself.

Rule #4: Always ask "How did you do?", not "What was your time?" after the race. Most people will tell you their time, but you'll likely to get better conversation with the first question over the second.

Rule #5: Try to thank as many people involved with organizing the race as possible (even if you didn't have a good race). I try to say thanks to all the course marshalls, police, and water stop volunteers that are out on the course. If it's a well organized race, I'll try to find the race director & thank them, or send them an email afterwards. It is a lot of work to put on a race, & most of the time, it's done by volunteers.

There you have it, my 5 rules to race by.

The 30th Annual Ashland Railroad Run is coming up fast (March 15,2008). We're hoping for a record crowd this year, so come out & run or cheer on the runners (or even better volunteer to help). Infomation & registration at www.hanoverarts.com. The Ashland Track Club is holding practice for kids who are planning to run the 1 mile & 5K. The practices are every Sunday at 3:00 at the Gandy Track. If you have a kid that might want to run, come on out & join us.

After this weekend, I'll begin tapering (cutting back on my distance & intensity) for the marathon. I always tell people, "I'm an average runner, but a world-class taperer";>). Pray for good weather on March 2!

See ya on the streets,
Tom

Okay, so maybe because I'm a statistician in my real life, I'm a little obsessed with keeping track of my mileage. There's a free online training log that I really like on www.runnersworld.com. It's got cool graphs & links to a mapping program so you can map the routes you run. You can even make your log public so others can see it.

Nike + has a neat running community site where info from your Nike + ipod device can be uploaded and shared with others. You can even join running challenges online. I like the idea, but tried the Nike + system at the Baltimore Marathon last year. I was disappointed when I finished the marathon and the ipod read 14.6 miles completed instead of the 26.2 miles I know I ran ;>).

Garmin is coming out with a new version of the Forerunner that looks more like a regular watch. Same great GPS functions (time, pace, distance), but simpler controls and a scroll wheel (kinda like the ipod). It has wireless sync to your computer, and will upload your data to an online communtity/log (currently only available with the new model). It's kinda pricey ($300), and will be out in February sometime.

I like the idea of the online running community. The idea that you could virtually train with others from all over the world, compare workouts, race times seems interesting. Maybe the "world is flat".

Here is a sample of my log from the runnersworld site, hope this works ;>)





See ya on the streets,
Tom

BTW: If you been following my belly aching about being injured, I'm happy to report, I was able to run 20+ miles on Saturday and then run the Frostbite 15K on Sunday (PAIN FREE)!

The last couple of weeks have taken their toll on me. Taking on a new project at work (which was left by an exiting colleague), employee evaluations (I hate doing those), and the fact that I haven't been able to run (due to my hamstring injury) had all contributed to a higher than normal level of stress. So we decided it was time for a trip to my favorite place on earth, the BEACH. We go to a small beach in NC (which my wife doesn't want me to name so it'll stay “our” secret). There are no big attractions at our beach (other than the Atlantic Ocean), kind of a Mayberry at the Beach (hint) setting.

So, even though the weather was supposed to be crappy, we packed up the kids as soon as they got out of school on Friday for a long weekend at the beach. I love the beach. The most difficult chore I do there is empty the dishwasher. We stopped for dinner at Cici's pizza (all you can eat, I also love pizza), and after about 4.5 hours of driving, we arrived and unloaded. Our condo had been winterized, so I needed to get the water turned back on. This is usually a fairly easy task, however this time the valve seemed to be stuck. After several trips up & down the stairs, I bent down to look under the kitchen sink to see if maybe there was another shut-off under there. When I bent my knee to look under the sink, “BANG!”, I felt an explosion in my injured hamstring area. I don't remember feeling much pain, just an incredible amount of blood or something went rushing through my leg. This, on top of not getting the water turned on, was adding to the stress that I had come to the beach to escape. At this point, I think God finally intervened thinking “okay, he's had enough”. I went down to the valve one more time and this time it turned with no problem, water on!

After a great night's sleep, we woke up to drizzly conditions. We went out for breakfast, noticing the lack of any traffic, and we pretty much had the entire restaurant to ourselves. We drove around the beach to see what was new, bought a few groceries, stopped by the coffee shop, and then headed back to the condo to relax. I noticed that I hadn't felt a twinge in my hamstring all morning. After checking the tide charts, I found that it was about peak time for low tide. I decided that I would attempt a run on the beach and promised Jill that I would go easy and stop if anything started hurting.

Temperatures were in the mid 40's with a slight drizzle, perfect running weather. There was a slight breeze coming from the north, so I decided to head into it in case I had to walk back, at least the wind would be at my back. The beach was completely flat and packed down. We must have had a really calm but high tide the night before. The waves were barely rolling in making the Atlantic look more like a big lake than an ocean. Perfect I thought.

I started north on the beach at an easy pace. I kept doing a self check on my body, but not even the slightest pain. Even though I was running against the wind, it felt effortless. I looked down at my Garmin expecting to see a slow pace after the alarm for the first mile sounded. I was surprised to see I was going at my usual pre-injury pace. All was going well so I decided that I would try for 6 miles (3 miles up & 3 miles back).

I usually don't see too many other runners on the beach, but usually a few people walking their dogs or looking for shells. About 2 miles into the run, I noticed I hadn't seen one person. I usually look for sea glass and sharks teeth while I'm running so I can bring them back to the girls so they'll know I was thinking about them on my run, but today there was hardly even a shell on the beach, nothing but hard packed sand. My only distraction was the occasional pack of seagulls who seemed to think I was chasing them up the beach. They would finally figure out if they just stood still I would run right by them.

I made it to an old pier and beach shack that I frequently use as a land-mark for my turn-around, just over 3 miles. I stopped for a brief moment and thanked the Lord for allowing me such a peaceful and pain-free 3 miles. I turned and headed back toward the condo. I thought to myself, this has been a perfect run. If all runs felt like this one, everyone would run. I felt so good, I had to remind myself not to push the pace (I wasn't suppose to run until Thursday the next week). I was excited that I was running pain-free, and started re-thinking my marathon plans.

Then I thought maybe, this run is just a gift from God. I should just enjoy this and not make too many plans yet. I had almost given up hope of finding anything to bring back to the girls, when I happen to look down at one of my footprints I had made in my trip up the beach. Just beside the indention made by my running shoe was a piece of white sea glass. It was part of the mouth of an old soda bottle that had been frosted & worn smooth by the ocean waves. I thought “how could I have missed that on my way out?” Maybe another gift? I picked it up & preceded to finish my run, 6.2 almost effortless PAIN FREE miles. I paused to take another look out in the ocean and up and down the beach, still not a soul. For almost an hour I had enjoyed one of God's greatest creations all to myself, how lucky was I?

See ya on the streets,
Tom

Here's another great race report from Dave. Dave finished 3rd in his age group!

Swinging Bridge 35K Race Report 2008

The race was held at Bear Creek State Park in Cumberland County on Saturday,
January 19, 2008. It was a lot of fun but also a very difficult race for me. In
my opinion, I found the difficulty of running the distance plus terrain of this
20+ miler easily compared to the difficulty of the two marathons I have
finished.

I met up with my brother, John, in Midlothian around 6:30am and we rode out to
Cumberland together. We got there around 7:15 (race started at 8am). There was
a park ranger instructing runners to park at the bottom of the hill which was
several hundred yards from the packet pickup and staging area. John signed up
to volunteer.

The race organizer made some announcements. He warned us of the creeks being
higher than before. He also said he placed white ribbons at several places
along the route so we wouldn't get lost. As a final gesture, he had a box of
whistles and offered them to anyone who felt like they would get lost. I didn't
take a whistle but was surprised how many people did. All told, I guess there
were about 70 runners.

Once we finally got started a few minutes after 8, I warmed up pretty fast. It
stayed in the lower 30's all morning. No sunshine. It didn't snow although I
heard some people hoping for it (for me, I prefer it to snow when I'm indoors,
not in the middle of a state forest area (a.k.a. BFE) where it's hard to tell
north, south, etc).

At the first creek crossing, there was simply no way to avoid going in past
ankle depth. Some people scampered up the creek bed to look for shallower water
but I just plunged in behind the others. It was going to happen inevitably. The
water was a little deceiving and my pants were wet all the way up to my calves.
Funny how the water quickly left my shoes though. They didn't feel heavy once
the water was expelled.

Many areas of the trail had muck. Just plain old muck. My shoes were covered
with mud early on. Some of the muck was deep enough to almost snatch the shoe
off of my heel.

My brother was at the 5 mile aid station. They had cookies, coke, frozen green
bananas, some green carbonated liquid and water. I think the green stuff was
mountain do. I was feeling okay at this point and didn't spend a lot of time
taking a break although it felt good to stop for a few minutes. I remember
thinking to myself how far I had to go and would I be able to do it?

At the halfway mark (just over 10 miles on my Garmin) was another aid station.
This one had M&Ms and there were several runners hanging out. No one was in any
hurry at all. I probably spent close to 10 minutes eating M&Ms and cookies and
drinking water. There was a photographer in the area and he took my picture in
front of the actual 'swinging bridge' the race is named after. We didn't run
over the bridge and I would not have noticed it at all had I not seen the guy
taking someone's picture. I had my picture taken but I had a mouth full of food
at the time. I thought the route had the bridge in it. It was a little
disappointing.

I felt very good during the few miles after the halfway mark. It was probably
the sugar in my system.

I made it through miles 16, 17, and 18 feeling great. I was in a good place.
But just before 19, I started crashing. It's the same feeling I had on
Chamberlayne Avenue in 2006 during the last few miles of the Richmond Marathon.
It's a terrible feeling. Simply awful. Feelings such as having an overall bad
attitude, wanting it to be over, thoughts of walking it in, etc. I didn't
understand it because I ate a Clif bar earlier and I took two Power gels. I
knew I was plenty hydrated. I'm guessing it was my endurance. I was fueling my
muscles but I didn't have them trained for the duration they would be needed
for.

Since I knew the end was near, I just gutted it out. Everyone knows what that's
like. I had no energy left. The finish line came at the perfect time. I drank
several cups of coke which I've adopted as my new recovery drink.

I finished in 4:17:something. The winner of the 50K came in 5 minutes after me
at 4:23:something. He ran 30+ miles in the time it took me to run just over 20!
I left the finish line area after that. I didn't need to see any other “elite”
runners come in.

I forgot to wear my heart rate monitor. It would have been interesting to see
how high my heartrate got when running/walking up the hills. There were some
times I thought my heart would beat right out of the chest.

The race route was different than the Bear Creek route. I think the route
actually left the state park and entered the Cumberland State Forest area
because we had to cross two state highways.

I thought the race organizer did a good job of marking the route with the white
ribbons. It had to have taken him hours to do so. There were some points where
the trail wasn't definitive but the white blazes were. In those areas, runners
seemed to take different routes through the woods because it wasn't obvious
where the trail was.

Would I do this race again? Not sure on that one. I think it would be more fun
to run it with someone else. I didn't know any other runners out there. I saw
some familiar faces from other races but no one I knew personally. Trail
running is a lot different than road running. I can see why some folks really
get into it. It's very peaceful in the woods, whether you're in pain or not.

It was a good overall experience. I had wanted to do a trail endurance race for
quite some time just to see what it was like. The race t-shirt is cool.

I'll work on my video and get it up on townhound.com as soon as I can.

Happy Running!

Ashland Dave

Hello,

If one of your New Year's resolutions is to start running, there are some great opportunities to get you started. First is the Ukrops Monument Ave 10K training group (http://www.sportsbackers.org/10kymcatrainingteam.htm). The program starts in a couple of weeks (1/26/2008) at the Ashcake location of YMCA & is perfect for beginners & those getting back into running. Sign-up deadline is 2/2/2008, so you can come out to the first run & see if it's for you. I think I'm going help coach, and if you're not into big races (expecting 30,000 runners this year), we can adjust your training so that you'll be ready to run the much smaller 30th Annual Ashland Railroad Run on 3/15/2008 (I'm thinking we'll have somewhat less than 30.000 for that one).

Once, you've completed your 10K, now you're ready to set your sites on the Half Marathon. Plans are in their infancy stage to offer an Ashland training group for the Patrick Henry Half Marathon slated for August 23, 2008. We're trying to gauge the how many people would be interested, so if you are please email me at tom.grant@comcast.net.

Once you've completed the PH Half Marathon, you'll be ready for the ultimate runner's challenge (no not Blunt's Bridge, although that will be on the schedule), the Marathon. You can either join the Sportbackers training team, or perhaps a smaller group like the "Bob Brown's 1st Marathon" training group in Ashland (that's right Bob, it's documented now ;>). The plan is to run the OBX Marathon (it's usually held the Sunday after the Richmond Marathon). I believe OBX is a better alternative for a first marathon, as the course only has one hill & if the wind is like last year, you'll have a tailwind for about 25 miles.

On a personal note, seems I've torn my hamstring. I managed to struggle through 18 miles last weekend, but in the process also injured a tendon in the opposite ankle (when it rains, it pours). Maybe there's lesspn to be learned ... NAW, the more I dumb, the runner I get! Anyway, I'm still planning to run the B&A Marathon with Dennis, Bryan, & Dave, but hopes of qualifying for Boston are slim to none. It'll be fun anyway.

Dave's running another trail race again this weekend, the Swinging Bridge 35/50K. Looking forward to his race report (video, Dave???).

That's it for now. One week, one commitment met (up-dating the blog).

See ya on the streets (SOON!),
Tom

I've been kinda slack in updating the blog (sorry). I'm going to make it goal to at least add one new post weekly (hopefully more). Luckily, Dave Klisz has provided a video & a run report (previous posts). Check out the video, hopefully Dave will bring his new camera out to future training runs & races.

Speaking of races, Dennis Johnson, Dave, Bryan, & I are planning to do the B & A Trail Marathon near Annapolis, MD on March 2. I've been following Hal Higdon's 18-week marathon training plan. It's a pretty tough plan (6 days of running per weeK), but I thought I'd give a shot (my goal is to run a 3:30:59 marathon which would qualify me to run the Boston Marathon). The plan was going great until this Saturday when my hamstring started hurting. By mile 13 of this Saturday's training run, I was feeling a sharp pain & stiffening in the back of my left leg. We stopped at 13 miles to get water, & meet Ashland Bob & Molly (Dennis's daughter) for next 6 miles (I was scheduled to run 19 total). Dave & Alan completed their runs at 13 miles & headed home (we ran the Patrick Henry Half marathon course, starting from the Ashland Train Station, running the course backwards). I coaxed Bryan into running a couple more miles with us. For the last 6 miles. we were running the Ashland Railroad Run 10K course backwards, but as we started I knew I was in trouble. My hamstring was really tight & I couldn't stretch it out. I had only missed one training run in the first 10 weeks of plan, so I decided to keep going, trying to get the 19 miles in. At 18.3 miles, we were back at the train station, I told Bob "close enough". I got home & things got worse. My hamstring swelled (I could feel it creak like an old rubber-ban). Anyway, I'm going to see Dr. Teresa Stadler in the morning to see what she thinks.

I'm telling the above story for a few reasons:
1. If I don't qualify for Boston on 3/2/2008, I have a documented excuse ;>)
2. I know many runners out there are experiencing or have experienced an injury that keeps them from running.
3. Just venting my frustration at being side-lined.

Here are a few things I've learned:

1. There is a grey area between good pain (being sore) & bad pain (being injured). Good pain goes away quickly after running has stopped. It is not present at the beginning of your next run, or if it is, it goes away quickly. Bad pain gets worse the more you ignore it. It's there almost all the time. Non-runners say "if it hurts, stop. What are you stupid?". They don't understand that if stopped everytime it hurt, you would probably never have gotten started in the first place. But sometimes, you need to listen to your body & not your stubborn head (wish I had).

2. It takes a while to begin to really enjoy running. It helps to have running buddies to get you over the top. Once you're there, it becomes part of your life. Every runner likes running for a particular reason(s). Whether it's stress relief, health benefits, social interaction, weight loss, etc. Whatever satisfaction you get from running, you miss it when you can't run. Maybe because running is so simple, no other form of exercise fills the void left when you can't run.

3. Injuries are a given. I don't think I know of a runner that hasn't had an injury that kept them from running at some point in their running life. Injuries always seem to happen when you're making the most progress. Running is a balancing act, you want to do enough to improve and reach the "peak" of your abilities, but do too much & you'll slide right off the other side.

If you are injured, be patient. Realize it's just a bump in the road. Don't ignore "bad" pain. Remember, if you're an injured runner, you're still a runnner, and you'll be back.

See ya on the streets,
Tom

P.S. If you have content about your running experiences or anything running related that you would like me to post, email it to me at tom.grant@comcast.net. Thanks again to Dave for his recent & past items.

Thanks to Dave for providing another great run report, & be sure to check out his video (previous post).

Blunts Bridge Challenge December 2007 - Dave Klisz

Several folks made it out for this very unofficial challenge run but
first I have to explain how this "run" was born.

Several times last year, I ran into Dennis Hansen of Virginia Street.
Even though Dennis and I run different finishing times and at different
paces, I frequently saw him at races and sometimes on training runs. On one
occasion, Dennis said something about how his house to Old Ridge Road and back was
fourteen miles. Dennis said he liked the route because it gave him a
good long distance for marathon and half marathon training runs. I asked him what
route he took. Dennis said it didn't really matter too much as long as you got
to Blunts Bridge Road somehow.

I drove the route a few times to check the distance from various points
around Center St. and my house just down from Dennis' on Virginia Street (these
were pre-Garmin days for me). I also checked the distance using various
websites such as usatf.org.

So, in February 2007, I asked Bob Brown (a.k.a. Ashland Bob) if he
wanted to try the route. Bob and I had been training for the Shamrock half
marathon and a 13 mile run in late February was timed just right for our training plan.
We set out in the early afternoon because it was just too cold earlier in the
morning. We didn't really know what we were getting into. We finished the out and
back route with minimal physical problems. I had stomach issues when we were
in Doswell and it wasn't good.

Anyhow, Bob coined the name of the route and decided it should be
reserved for special occasions because it was so difficult. Bob called the route the
"Blunts Bridge Challenge."

The distance isn't really the hard part. It's the hills. Three sets of
hill to be exact. That's six sets of hills for an out and back route. One of the
hills that goes north from the Newfound River almost requires a roadside
staircase (or ladder). Local road cyclists call the route the "Three Sisters." I
have to say the remaining hills are pretty tough by this runner's standards. In
fact, I trained on one of the hills in order to handle the hills of the
Baltimore marathon. Generally speaking, runners don't intentionally seek out
routes with serious hills because it's silly to do so. Blunts Bridge Road is made
for road cyclists!

Since almost a year had gone by, I felt like it was time to throw out
the idea to see if anyone was interested in running the route. I had a 35K trail
race coming up as well as an early spring marathon. I needed something
different for my weekly long run.

I knew there were some people in the area who wanted some road abuse. I
sent an email to my current training group (Team Incognito) but most folks were
either out of town, injured, or didn't have their mileage up to double digits
yet. Michelle Clore and Chris Schmidt expressed interest. Michelle is making
a comeback from an injury and she wanted to run part of the route.
Michelle is very reliable and usually likes running in different areas around
Richmond. We made arrangements for her to get a ride to the turnaround spot. Chris
said he would run the whole way because he's planning to run the Shamrock full
marathon in March. Michelle brought along a friend named Shannon.

Alan Abbott of Ashland signed on right away. He's got the full Shamrock
marathon in his sights for 2008. Bryan Cline sent out the invitation to
his Grub Kitty group and we had Dennis Johnson, Charles Smith and Michelle
Quinn show up as well. Ashland Bob also said he would participate since he
pioneered the whole thing. He didn't have "match fitness" for the whole route so
he rode with the SAG wagon to the turn around point.

Everyone met at the train station at 8:30am but it was raining! It's
pretty tough to run in the rain for two hours but fortunately the heavy stuff
never quite came down. Eventually the rain stopped altogether and we set out
for an excellent training run.

Michelle Quinn ran into some trouble around the 5 mile mark. Apparently,
Tom Grant had described the hills as "rolling" and not as they truly are.
Michelle was mad! She made it up to the SAG and got a car ride back. She's still
getting her mileage up and wasn't planning on an "abuse" run. We picked up three
runners at the SAG and made our way back to Ashland.

Everyone did fine. Shannon didn't like the hills one bit! Alan picked up
his pace and we didn't see him until the end.

I considered it a compliment when Dennis Johnson called me a "sick
puppy." Anyhow, we all headed over to Sullivans for a much deserved beer and
some fellowship before everyone headed for home.

So, will there be a Blunts Bridge challenge 2008? Probably so. Maybe in
December or really anytime anyone just needs a little more hill work.

See you on the streets.

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