Getting back to Boston

Showed up for the monthly Friday happy hour fun run, but no one else did. Not sure if that was weather-related or if there just wasn't one this time. Went ahead and did a nice easy 3 anyway, AHR 126 even with that last uphill on Frisco Trail to get to Maple.

Absolutely beautiful morning in Northwest Arkansas after last night's rain. Once the early morning fog burned off, not a cloud in the sky. Temp in the low 50s. I arrived at Drake Field shortly before 8 a.m. for the Iron Pig duathlon and 5K. I figured the main deal was the duathlon and the 5K was just kinda tacked on, and that appeared to be the case once I arrived. Lot of white bibs, bike shorts and people writing their bib number on their calves with a Magic Marker. Not too many pink bibs for 5K people. So I'm starting to think I might have a chance for a decent finish.

The duathletes went off first, men, women, then relay teams. Then the 5K crew lined up. Less than 40 of us, not many appeared to be 40-plus. One appeared to be a football player -- tall, really muscular. Turned out he was, back in the day, by the name of Michael Snowden, who played for the Hogs from '96-'00, got an NFL tryout as a wide receiver with the Titans, and still looks like he could go over the middle at age 32.

We had chips on ankle straps for this one; no mat at the start but one at the finish. I'm not used to that setup yet, but I guess it works. PA announcer counted us down and off we went. Pretty quickly I figure out that I can see everyone in front of me, which makes sense on a wide-open airport property with no trees. There's a guy in a blue shirt, a guy in a white shirt and cap, a couple of young women, a couple of prepubescent kids motoring along at a pretty good pace, the football guy, and me. So I'm in eighth place. We get out onto the main runway, 6000 feet long, and I set myself on catch-and-pass mode. Pass one young woman, then four people all at once, including Mr. Snowden and the kids. Now there's Blue Shirt, White Shirt, and me. By the end of the runway, I've reeled in White Shirt and I'm in second. Blue Shirt has already turned onto the taxiway and disappeared behind some stragglers from the family fun run, but I know I'm in second. Goal is to stay there, and maybe reel in Blue Shirt if he hits the wall.

I'd planned to run sub-7 miles, but at this point I'm just cruising. Not horribly tired, not straining, it was cool enough and windless, so weather was zero factor, and I even remembered to wear sunglasses this time. I'm not looking at my watch, I'm just trying to maintain pace and pick it up when I pass stragglers. Turn off the taxiway, through the tarmac, back around the hangars, and suddenly there's the finish, not much more than 100 yards away. Just tried to stay smooth, heard the announcer call out my name, and crossed the line. Second place. Then I looked at the Garmin: 2.76 miles. Not only not a 5K, not even close. Rats, or other words to that effect. I really felt strong, and I would have obliterated my 5K PR if it had been a full 5K. But I was on the podium for the first time in my life.

Sure enough, there actually was a podium ceremony. Blue Shirt beat me by 1:16, and I finished six seconds ahead of White Shirt. We had our photo taken together. No hardware yet; that will be mailed to me. No age group award, I suspect, even though I was first masters finisher and first (and only) male 45-49. But that's OK. I will now have hardware that's more than just a finisher's medal. Michael Snowden finished fifth, won his age group, but I beat him by 1:40. He looked like he was just jogging when I passed him. He was probably still just jogging when he finished. And a 9-year-old kid finished sixth.

I hope I'm just being overly cautious here, but better to be overly cautious at this point, I think. Went out for a planned 12-miler this afternoon after the baseball game (which Hogs won 17-16 on a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth). It was warm, windy and humid. Didn't push the pace real hard, but didn't just jog either. Ran one loop to Shiloh, came back to the houe to get a drink, make a pitstop and change shirts, and was setting out to duplicate the same loop. On Camino Real, though, sensed trouble. I had a new pain in my right foot, really the right heel, that I've never had before. Didn't feel right. Don't remember twisting the ankle or anything, although the last mile of the first loop I had to run in the grass a lot due to heavy traffic on Silent Grove. Anyway, tried to see if I could walk it out, and it did stop hurting after 100 yards or so. Tried to run again, and the discomfort soon returned. I wouldn't even call it a pain, really, just a niggle that didn't feel right. So I shut it down and walked back through JBH to the house. I'll go soak it shortly and elevate it just to make sure.

Went out to test the heel/foot tonight. It passed the test nicely; no twinges. Hammies weren't quite so kind, but they eventually loosened up as well. ITB took a little longer. But eventually the main limiting factor on tonight's run was the failure to wear a headband. I found myself largely blinded very quickly, in spite of a nice breeze. Fortunately no rocks/sticks littering the trail to trip me up. Tried to run at about Daniels E pace. It was easy enough on the legs, but the HR was a little above recommended  Averaged 138, peaked into the 140s. Garmin called that zone 3. That's probably about right. I could blame it on the temp, which is still in the high 60s even at 9:30. Anyway, think I may take another easy run tomorrow and postpone intervals until Wednesday, blaming aftereffects of Saturday's race. Or maybe not. I may not decide until about two miles into tomorrow's run.

I'm not a happy camper tonight, but it has nothing to do with the home turmoil. I learned today that my online friend and mentor, Jim Fortner, known on RWOL as Jim2, lost his battle with cancer last Thursday at age 69. Jim had forgotten more about marathoning than most marathoners ever know, but he was never overbearing with his information or ideas. It was there, in his posts and his extremely informative website, and he helped me immensely. He's the one, for instance, that suggested I do a "spring training" of speedwork and training for short races instead of focusing on marathon training all the time. That, in fact, is what I'm doing right now, and my speed and confidence are immensely improved because of it. He also gave me confidence that I might actually be figuring this running thing out when he agreed with some ideas I posted on the MRT forum in the early days.

So, after learning of Jim's passing when I arrived home and logged on to RWOL, I liiked at Hudson's schedule. He had an extremely difficult "specific endurance" run tonight which I had never done before -- 8 X 1K at or near 10K pace with only brief recoveries. I wasn't sure I could pull it off, but I decided if Jim could be as brave as he was fighting cancer, I could HTFU and do a hard interval run. So off to JBH I went.

Warmed up for two laps, stretched some, then set out of the first interval. As usual, took me a bit to get my pacing bearings. Started out too quick on some, too slow on others. Paces for the intervals were 7:21, 7:21, 7:17, 7:23, 7:08, 7:21, 7:16 and 7:09. The range I had been shooting for was 7:15 to 7:25, so did a pretty good job of hitting those marks, and actually had to back off late on the 7:08 and 7:09 reps to get that slow. Then jogged home, which felt like I was crawling, except that it was low-9 pace.

I guess you could call this the Jim Fortner Memorial Tempo Run. Thanks, Jim. You helped me a ton, and you are already missed in our little corner of the virtual running world.

Kind of a scary run tonight. Left leg was bothering me at work some, but I took some ibuprofen and got through work OK. No problems this evening either, until I started the run. Then the bottom of my left foot went numb within the first mile and a half. Stopped, stretched, it eased off some, but then came back With the burning down the back of the left calf, I know exactly what it is -- S1 radiculopathy. Did I tweak it on that interval run last night? Maybe. Stumbled through three laps at the park, then decided that it was reaching the point of being stupid to continue and headed home. Still got in 4 and change.

Twelve this evening when I definitely didn't want to run. Or do anything else, except maybe drink heavily. I'll be living alone in a few days, and it feels like I already am. Got the official word last night, and I think I'm still dehydrated from crying. Not sure what made me get out and run, except maybe force of habit. Probably should have done just a quick 3-4, but nooooo, I had to do 12. Got it done, somehow. Felt terrible, but got it done.

Having to get back into sweating mode quick. It seems to have jumped from winter to darn near summer -- 75 degrees plus today, no clouds and not much wind. Made a conscious effort to keep it slow. Legs tight eaerly, loosened later. Ended up tacking about 1.7 miles onto the original plan, but still kept it slow. Just a tiny smidge over an hour for 6.4. AHR was 140, which I attribute to the temperature, and more uphills than usual for a recovery run. Got through it OK, though. Now I need to stretch some tonight; there's no reason the legs are as tight as they've been this weekend, because I'm not asking that much out of them.

Specific endurance intervals again. This time 4 X 1 mile with about 400 meters jog in between (I stretched that out just a tad). Wasn't sure I could do this tonight, had just felt blah all day after a enourmously stressful weekend, and legs weren't too lively anyway. But decided to HTFU and see if I could get 'er done.

First interval was not too spry, 7:30 pace. Didn't stretch beforehand though. After the first one, stretched during the recovery jog, which ended up at 0.27. Second interval was 7:01, which was really faster than I wanted. Jogged 0.28, including a pitstop. Third interval 7:04, jogged 0.30, then last interval was 7:11, which is really about the pace I wanted. Then jogged home about 2.5. Other than the usual bad pacing, mission accomplished. Got the legs to do what I wanted when they didn't want to do it.

Did the run tonight I should have done Saturday -- 12 miles with progression at the end. Didn't have the energy then to do it. Wasn't sure I had it tonight, but felt pretty good as the run progressed. I had thought I might only do 8 tonight thanks to stiffness after last night's interals, but that loosened up, the weather was not bad (upper 60s, not humid, bit of a breeze) and I decided to do 12. Then I tried to hammer the last three miles, and did. Marathon pace for the last mile and change to boot. Overall, very satisfying run. AHR of 134, not bad for 12 miles with progression.

My marathoning nightmare is that my legs feel like they did tonight when I line up for a peak 26.2. Heavy, tight, dead, you name it. Really never loosened up until the last mile. managed to squeeze out 8 at 10:00 pace anyway, but it was not easy. AHR was 125, so not a cardiovascular strain, but the legs were not cooperating.

The day I've been dreading for months finally arrived. It was zero fun, but I got through it better than I could have hoped.

My wife left me today. Not for anyone else, just left me because she doesn't want to be married any more. It was not a surprise at all; I've been expecting this since December. The only good thing is that that gave me time to prepare myself emotionally. If she had actually left in December, I'm not sure what I would have done. This way, I've trained for it, just as I train for a marathon. I'm not marathon-ready, psychologically, but I'm probably 10K ready. And that's allowing me to survive.

My strategy at this point is to fight the temptation to crawl back in my cave. Running is going to be a major portion of that. So, at 6:00 tonight, an hour after talking to my therapist, I was at the Fleet Feet store for the Thursday night fun run.  And darn if one of the four (yes, four) other runners was the guy who beat me two weeks ago in the Iron Pig. Nice guy, too. He invited me for speed work on Tuesdays and hills on Fridays. Might take him up on it later in the summer. The run wasn't bad; still upper 70s but a bit of a breeze. Should have done the headband and didn't, so I paid for that. It was 4.8, one major downhill/uphill, otherwise flat. Another one of the runners tonight ran Boston in '09, qualified for this year but didn't get entered in time, and will be up there with me in '11.

Pupe wants me to avoid making any major decisions. That's fine. Not interested in major decisions at this point. They're too much effort. Just interested in survival. Talked to T tonight. He's pretty upset too, trying to distract himself so he doesn't think about his parents separating. That makes two of us that are pretty upset. Maybe three, but I'm not ready to go quite that far on the speculation.

Really felt lousy Friday, physically and emotionally, so wasn't a hard decision to bag the run and spend time with my son instead. Got back out t his afternoon. it was cool and drizzly, really pretty good running weather, but the bear intervened. Twice. After the second one, decided to cut my losses and get home. Wound up doing 10 and change instead of the planned 12-14, so still got most of it done. Week was 51-plus.

Easy run this afternoon with 10 hill sprints after that. Loosened up as the run went on, which is good. Sprints didn't feel very fast, but I was still a bit stiff in the glutes. Adquate, I'd say.

Today is Patriots Day. Which means friends of mine, real and virtual, lined up in Hopkinton this morning and set out on the journey into Boston.

I'm kinda wistful about that. I wish I'd been there. I know I'll be there in 52 weeks, unless I screw up the registration or they change the qualification standards, but still. Boston has been my goal, but in the past I haven't known people who were running, with the exception of Bill last year (and he crashed and burned). This time, I have a lot of friends up there. RWOLites, fellow Crackheads, even someone who trains in J.B. Hunt Park too (she DNFd, crashed and burned in the last mile or so).

Next year, it's me toeing the line. My training put to the test. I have 363 days to get ready without getting hurt.

Easy run tonight, 5 or so. Intervals tomorrow at FHS with Jason after work, as I sharpen for Toad Suck. Which I am now officially registered to run.

Intervals at the FHS track tonight. Wasn't quite sure how this was going to work. Turns out that a local triathlon coach was running the thing; he assigned us to do 4 X 800, negative split -- second 400 faster than the first. Since my schedule for tonight was 4 X 1200, it wasn't that much less, and the intensity of this was actually better; the 4X12 was to be at 10K pace, and this was faster. Probably the first 400 was at 10K pace, the second one closer to 5K pace. Did that, warmed down for about 2 miles, then decided to do another 800 at GMP, which worked out pretty well. Only did 5.5 total, but I think it was a good efficient workout.

Fun run from Fleet Feet to Lake Fayetteville and back. Enough hills to make it interesting. Also snagged a free singlet upon my return to the store, which is nice. Tomorrow, another fun run from Clubhaus Fitness, with some beer involved afterward.

Fun run from Clubhaus Fitness on Dickson to and around Wilson Park. Hilly. Kept the pace pretty brisk, running with one of the guys from the Fleet Feet store. Average pace 8:45, with 8:22 for the last mile, so I'd call that a moderate pace. Couple of beers from Hoghaus afterward. Haven't had a brew in a long time, certainly not since the split. Tasted good.

As hard a non-interval training run as I've done in a while. Pushed the last 2.22 to MP and beyond, a bit. Still feel weak and exhausted, probably emotionally more than physically, but HTFU and pushed it anyway. Ran 10 in less than 1:25, which ain't bad for old and exhausted. Winding down toward Toad Suck (and the second half of the 12-day workweek).

Amazing what a good night's sleep can do -- and how long I've been operating without proper rest. Got, I think, about 8.5, maybe more, and had plenty of energy for a long day at work and then a 6 miler tonight. Even taking it slow, wound up averaging 9:10 per mile -- just about Daniels E pace. Which is encouraging with my last race of the spring coming up.

Tomorrow, intervals, probably at FHS, although I won't run the intervals the rest of the FF crew runs. I'll do 2 mile warmup, one mile at 7:00 pace, 4 minutes jog, then 8X400 at about 6:40 pace with one-min recoveries, then warm down for 2 miles. That will make a good final speedwork before Toad Suck.

Interesting. Tonight was interval night at Harmon Playfield. Although the Fleet Feet group was gonna be there at 6, I went there straight from work and started at 5:30 because I figured my workout would take a lot longer than theirs (which it did). Warmed up with eight laps, then a mile at 10K pace, then a four-minute (1.5 lap) jog, then 8 X 400 at 3K pace with a minute-ish (200m) recovery, more or less, in between, all followed by two miles of cooldown. That adds up to 33 laps of a 400-meter track. Since 400 meters is like .246 miles, that should have been 8.20 miles. But the Garmin says 8.02, and to get even that I had to run most of it in lanes 2 and 3. Is that track short, or is my Garmin 5% off (or at least 5% off today)? Dunno. But 33 laps is 33 laps, and that's what I ran on a certified track, so I'm gonna go with the track, not the Garmin. Might have even run more than that due to going on the outer lanes.

Anyway, the pace it gave me for that first mile (or 0.97 anyway) was 7:14, but I ran the four laps in sub-7:00 total, which is about what I wanted. Then the 400s were 1:32, 1:38, 1:38, 1:36, 1:36, 1:37, 1:37 and 1:35. Darn near perfect, since my goal was to run them at about 6:40 mile pace.

Take it easy for the rest of the week, then open up a huge can of PR Saturday morning in Conway. That's the plan. Hopefully we won't have a repeat of last year's toad-strangling thunderstorm (pun intended), although a 40% chance of rain is in the forecast.

Tonight reminds me why recovery runs are a good idea as opposed to resting. The legs were incredibly stiff when I started; felt like I was running in molasses. Took at least 3 miles to loosen up a little. Then by the time I finished they were loose enough to run decent hill sprints.

Plan to do 4 tomorrow unless I wind up mowing -- which is quite possible. Leave early Friday afternoon so that I get to Conway after 4 so I can pick up my packet and not have to drive up early on Saturday. But to do that, I have to mow Thursday night. And to do that, i have to pick up the mower before 5 Thursday. Would also like to have dinner with Pam Thursday, but that's gonna depend on when the paycheck arrives and how long the mowing takes.

Very easy run at JBH. Off to Bryant tomorrow and hopefully a big 10K in Conway Saturday.

No run tonight. Got to Bryant at 5, went to dinner with Mumb and Pupe and Scott and Tammy and Shannon. By the time we got back from that, the foul weather was rolling in, and boy, was it foul. Tornado sirens all over the place. Not running in that, no sir. Maybe the extra rest will help at Conway.