Training Log: February 24-March 1

Sunday
9:15 AM - 10.2 miles, 1:08:10. A variety of factors forced me to put the long run off till tomorrow, which given how shitty I felt this morning probably isn't such a bad thing. 6 x 20-second strides on the way home.
5:25 PM - 4 miles, 30:00. Hit the mean streets of Westboro after work for a short shakeout. Plan was to keep it slow and I executed that plan very well. Cause for concern, however, with my left posterior tibial tendon. It's been annoying me to some degree all week but flared up like a sunavabitch this afternoon.

Monday
12:15 PM - 21.1 miles, 2:13:20. Out-n-back from miles 9-19 on the marathon course, starting and finishing at Roche Bros. on Speen Street in Natick. Nice tailwind heading out (61:55 at 10 miles), annoying headwind on the way back (2:05:37 at 20). Felt really comfortable except for left tibial area, which tightened up quite a bit as the run progressed.

Tuesday
AM: OFF. Got to the end of my road before having to turn around and walk home. Left tibial area absolutely killing me. What's a more pathetic sight than a skinny guy running down the street in tights? A skinny guy walking down the street in tights.
5:50 PM: ART with Dr. VanNederynen at Performance Health Center in Natick. Not expecting a miracle cure out of this but glad I was able to be seen on such short notice. The ART treatments sure helped after Vermont, so hopefully I can have similar success this time around. Going back on Thursday morning.

Wednesday
OFF. Suspect area feels a little bit better but is still pretty tight and painful. Running didn't strike me as the brightest of ideas.

Thursday
AM: OFF. Took another zero, but had my second round of ART this morning with Dr. V. Lower leg has loosened up a lot but still hurts a little bit. Going in for treatment again tomorrow morning and might try to run on the treadmill after work if everything is feeling better.

Friday
8:30 AM - ART and an adjustment with Dr. Weiss. Left side way out of whack and needed straightening.
7:00 PM - 3 miles, 22:30. Treadmill after work. Better than Tuesday's attempt, which isn't saying a whole lot. Suspect area still pretty tight, pain is very localized and the combination of the two has me concerned.

Saturday
OFF. Didn't run but did shovel my driveway this morning. Posterior tib area very creaky and sore all day at work.

Totals: 38.3 miles, 4 runs. Shitty week on the whole but despite the lower leg troubles I did manage to salvage a good long run on Monday so all was not lost. I've made some progress treating what I think is posterior tibial tendinitis but fact of the matter is I don't know what it is for sure and whatever it is, well, it's still there. I pretty much hit rock bottom mentally mid-week but with the help of a few very close friends I've started to dig myself out of it. I've decided that come hell or high water I'm running Boston in 7 weeks and I'm not going to Hopkinton on April 21 just to see if I can make it the 26.2 miles to the finish line. I'm going there to see how fast I can do it.

Quote of the Week

"Mind is everything. Muscle, pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind."
- Paavo Nurmi

Training Log: February 17-23

Sunday
10:10 AM - 17 miles. Old Fashioned 10 Miler (2nd, 53:03). 22:00 warmup, 30:35 cooldown. Goal for Ryan and I was to start at 5:25-30 pace and cut down from there. The wind altered those plans a bit but the effort was right where it needed to be. Solid effort, felt very strong and in control from start to finish. Full race report is in the entry directly below this one.

Monday
8:45 AM - 6.6 miles, 46:45. Note: Mileage totals from now on will come straight off the Garmin. No more Mario Miles so let's all get used to looking at decimal points. As for the run, it was windy and wet but since it was 50 degrees out I won't complain too much. Legs didn't feel all that bad, either.
5:00 PM - 6.9 miles, 48:40. Last run in the Inspire 5 before they get shipped back to Atlanta. These guys served me well during their short stint in my rotation.

Tuesday
8:15 AM - 12.1 miles, 1:20:25. Third day in a row wearing shorts. Looks like it will be the last day for a while, too.

Wednesday
7:30 AM - 8.3 miles, 56:15. Cold, windy and felt pretty sluggish to boot. 6 x 20-second strides on the way home.
7:00 PM - 4.1 miles, 30:00. Same ol', same ol' on the store treadmill.

Thursday
8:25 AM - 12.5 miles, 1:20:25. Had a tough time getting out the door for this one but didn't feel too bad once I got going. Need to try and get something of quality in tomorrow or Saturday.

Friday
7:35 AM - 10.5 miles, 1:13:10. Out-n-back into Millbury by way of the Bike Path. Tried to get out early and beat the snow but was greeted by an unwelcome 1/2 inch of the white stuff when I stepped out of the garage. Almost fell three times in the first 2 miles before finally hitting the ground about a mile later. Nearly went down again about 7 miles in but managed to stay on my feet. Fuck winter.

Saturday
7:45 AM - 8.4 miles, 53:45. 15:00 easy, 9 x [2:00 hard/2:00 easy], 4:45 easy back home. Hard stuff started at 5:30 pace and got down to 5:00-5:10 effort by the last couple repeats. Felt good to stretch the legs out a bit.

Totals: 86.4 miles, 9 runs. Alright week. Overall quality was less than I would have liked but I got in a good effort at Foxboro on Sunday and Saturday's fartlek was better than nothing. Motivation has plummeted along with the temperature and I feel like I've just been going through the motions of late. Hopefully I can turn the corner again soon.

Quote of the Week

"It's contagious. You don't put up any barriers. Anything's possible."
- Matt Tegenkamp

Race Report: Old Fashioned 10 Miler

Call me old fashioned but I can't think of a better way to spend a Sunday morning in February than running 10 miles straight into a stiff headwind.

OK, so maybe I'm not thinking hard enough or I need to find a new hobby but that's exactly what I and 427 other people with nothing better to do did this past weekend at the Old Fashioned 10 Miler along the scenic backroads of Belichickville, I mean Foxboro, Massachusetts.

This is the third straight year I've partaken in this preferred form of tomfoolery and considering the absence of arctic temperatures and slush-laden roads, along with the fact I ran 44 seconds faster than last year, I really have nothing to complain about. OK, so the soup offering after the race was a little skimpy, but I'll stop there.

Moving on, the pre-race plan laid out by my running mate, Mr. Ryan Carrara, called for us to cover the first few miles at a 5:25-30 clip before gradually ratcheting things down to a pace we can only one day hope to hold for an entire 26.2-mile footrace. The aforementioned headwind altered those plans a bit but the effort was where it needed to be and nobody left with wind burn so I'd say we executed our strategy pretty well.

A large pack of multi-colored singlets hit the first mile in a dead-on nuts split of 5:30 before someone, likely me, got a little bit excited and towed that very same group through a faster-than-desired 5:13 reading for the second mile. The wind was a blowin' at this point, so much so that Ryan offered me a small sum of money for my NB skullcap, a deal that ultimately fell through, however, due to a lack of readily available monetary funds on the part of Mr. Carrara. I would have proposed a counter-offer for an apple-cinnamon Hammer Gel, but bartering for goods while skimming the road at 11.5 MPH is almost as dangerous as texting while driving. There's just no need for it.

Anyway, Mile 3 came and went in 5 minutes and 22 seconds and our merry little group had been whittled down to a half dozen or so folks at this point, including myself, Mr. Carrara, D3 alums Adam Fitzgerald and Dan Vassallo, Timmy Tapply and a pair of BAAers, Eric "Mountain Man" Blake and Terry "Sandbagger" Shea, who was plotting a blitz of Belichick-like proportions at the back of the pack. Mile 4 dipped back below 5:20 and was marked by idle chatter and idle bodies unwilling to move, but that all changed a mile later when Dan the Man must've got sick of listening to Ryan and I babbling away and dropped a 5:02 fifth mile to take the lot of us through halfway a little ahead of schedule in 26:28.

17 seconds from one mile to the next wasn't enough of an adjustment for Blake and Silent Terry, however, as the two of them kept things up for another mile, putting 10 seconds on the pack with another low 5-minute split for the next 1,609 meters before Eric realized Terry was in no talking mood on this sunny Sunday morning and he'd be best served to rejoin the moving chatterbox that was idling on down the road just a few yards behind him.

And as for the race, my friends, that was all he wrote. I'll keep writing, of course, but by Mile 7 Terry had put his pen and notebook away and decided that this story was over. Our little chase pack stuck together though and took turns breaking the wind until Mile 9, which happened to fall at the appropriately-named Ryan Place, where Carrara got excited to see his name on a road sign and started to pick up the pace. Since I told myself before the race that I was going to do whatever Ryan did -- heck, if he stopped in the middle of the road to do a chicken dance I would have been flapping my wings right behind him -- I just stuck to my guns and went with the move, even though I knew he was only pulling such a stunt so I would break the wind for him the last mile. And if you look at the results, you'll notice Ryan entered the finishing chute exactly one second behind me. Now I'm no strategist, but I'd say his plan worked to perfection.

Training Log: February 10-16

Sunday
9:25 AM - 8 miles, 57:55. Only had time for an easy hour this morning. Didn't feel like doing much more than that anyway.
5:00 PM - 4 miles, 30:00. Round and round on the rat wheel after work. Started at 8 mph and got down to a blazing 8.5 by the time it was over.

Monday
7:30 AM - 10 miles, 1:08:30. Late start this morning but with the wind chill well below 0 I was in no rush to get out the door. Survived with all my limbs still intact, even threw in 6 x 20-second strides on the way home.

Tuesday
7:30 AM - 8 miles, 50:00. Easy running for the first 2 miles or so, 6:00 pace or faster the rest of the way. Left ITB screamed at me for the first 5 minutes before quieting down.
7:00 PM - 4 miles, 30:00. PR treadmill in my 826's. Other than the new shoes, same old shit - short and slow.

Wednesday
OFF. Spent 45 minutes shoveling my driveway this morning if that counts for anything. Planned to run on the treadmill after work but grabbed dinner with Jeff instead.

Thursday
7:25 AM - 8 miles, 54:45. Plan was to fartlek but ended up ice skating instead. Horrible road conditions. ITB, hips and calves all took a beating.
5:30 PM - 4 miles, 30:00. "Belt of death rumba" on the PR treadmill. Didn't feel like starring in Ice Capades tonight so I went belt dancing instead.

Friday
4:20 PM - 10 miles, 1:07:15. Busy day = late run. 6 x 20-second strides on the way home.

Saturday
7:20 AM - 8 miles, 56:30. First run using my new toy, the Garmin 205. Same loop as Thursday morning, which is precisely 8.39 miles according to the gadget.

Totals: 64 miles, 9 runs. Had a down week on tap which ended up sinking a little lower than planned thanks to a little inclimate weather from Mother Nature and lots of dicking around on my part. Any hope of quality work was washed away with the rain on Wednesday, so let's hope I can get my ass back in gear at the Old Fashioned 10-Miler in Foxboro tomorrow morning. The plan is to start out at 5:25-30 pace for the first few miles and cut it down from there.

Quote of the Week

"You need to train hard for a long time to get good...The most incredible training means nothing if you are not healthy on race day."
- Nate Jenkins outlining his marathon training guidelines. Read this.

Training Log: February 3-9

Sunday
9:15 AM - 18 miles, 2:06:00. Backward version of yesterday's run with Ryan, Christy Mae and Uncle Fire. Tired, left IT band a bit tight the first mile or two, right soleus twinged on me a couple times but otherwise I didn't feel too bad.

Monday
10:15 AM - 8 miles, 56:15. Tried to come up with a clean 8 but fell a bit short and had to add on up the hill. IT band was doing some silly things again the first 1/2 mile or so but didn't act up on me again after that.
4:00 PM - 4 miles, 30:00. Short shakeout before dinner. IT band was well behaved this evening.

Tuesday
8:55 AM - 12 miles, 1:24:40. Bike Path into Millbury, back home via Greenwood Street. 6 x 20-second strides during the run. IT band tight early, then OK. Soleus OK early, then tightened up.

Wednesday
7:25 AM - 9 miles, 1:01:45. Shorts, light gloves and a non-waterproof jacket were probably poor choices of attire this morning. OK, so they were definitely poor choices. And to think it's part of my job to help people decide what to wear outside in this crap. I've only failed myself.

Thursday
8:55 AM - 10 miles, 1:07:15. Almost came up with a clean 10 but fell a bit short. Felt like a pile of dung but at least my IT band and soleus didn't give me any trouble. 6 x 20/40 strides on the way home.
8:00 PM - 5 miles, 37:00. Short shakeout on the treadmill after work. First time on this thing in a couple weeks and can't say that I really missed it all that much.

Friday
7:25 AM - 10 miles, 1:06:35. Reverse of yesterday's loop with a small addition to make it a clean 10. Tried throwing in a few pickups but they weren't very productive.
7:00 PM - 4 miles, 30:00. If the after-work treadmill shakeout is good enough for Brian Sell, then it's good enough for me.

Saturday
7:25 AM - 10, miles, 1:04:35. 6 x [2:00-1:00-0:30] hard w/1:00-1:00-2:30 easy jogs for recovery. First quality effort in a week - first time I felt good in a week, too.

Totals: 90 miles, 10 runs. Tough week but I got through it. Lessons learned:
1. Three 18-mile runs and two workouts in the same seven-day stretch is never a good idea.
2. Moving is an exhausting process.
3. There is nothing worse than running in a downpour in February. Nothing.

Quote of the Week

"We haven't had a day over 35 degrees since Christmas, and the other day when we did some speed work it was 7 degrees. We got about four inches of freezing sleet. It took me an hour to shovel the pure slush off of my driveway — we're getting hammered up here."
- Brian Sell, summing up the shittiest winter in recent memory. This week was no exception.

Training Log: January 27-February 2

Sunday
8:15 AM - 18 miles, 2:01:00. Solo in the snow before work. Felt like hell when I woke up but the legs felt pretty good once I got going and my energy levels weren't too bad either.

Monday
9:00 AM - 8 miles, 53:45. Felt kinda sluggish for the first 3 miles, better after that. 8 x 20-second strides on the way home.
7:15 PM - 7 miles, 50:15. Easy does it around Easton with Bergie. Short of 7 miles but I'll make up for it tomorrow.

Tuesday
8:25 AM - 10 miles, 1:06:40. Out-n-back fartlek on McCracken Road, 10 x [2:00 hard/2:00 easy]. Wanted to call it quits after #6 but managed to hang in there for the final four.

Wednesday
OFF. Since I don't have much stuff, I thought moving would be anything but time consuming, tiring or a big pain in the ass. Boy, was I wrong.

Thursday
8:45 AM - 8 miles, 58:00. First run from the new place. Like the current state of my living area, I was feeling a bit rough around the edges.
4:20 PM - 8 miles, 1:01:00. Easy run around town with Erin. Tired, but not as bad as this morning.

Friday
8:55 AM - 10 miles, 1:08:50. Hit the roads before the rain hit me. 6 x 20-second strides on the way home.

Saturday
9:50 AM - 18 miles, 1:53:00. Squires long run # 2 with Ryan from his place in Hudson. 30:00 easy, 6 x 8:00 on/2:00 off for the next hour, 23:00 easy to finish up. "On" stuff started at ~5:45 pace and got faster from there. Felt real strong which was encouraging given how crappy I was feeling earlier in the week.

Totals: 87 miles, 8 runs. Solid week, even with the day off. Since I had the week off from work my plan was to try and hit the century mark for the first time in a couple years but I didn't think moving would be so time consuming, not to mention tiring. I still managed to hit all my key workouts though, so I didn't miss out on anything other than some nice looking numbers in the old log book. S'alright - no harm, no foul.

Quote of the Week (this one's sticking)

"It just takes something a little more, a lot of faith, diligence. You have to keep at it all the time."
- Jen Toomey

Training Log: January 20-26

Sunday
9:20 AM - 16 miles. Frostbite 15K (1st, 48:40). 23:00 warmup with SKinney, 23:00 cooldown with Andy McCarron and Nick Weidman. Solid race, best one in a long time. Complete race report is in the entry below this one.

Monday
9:40 AM - 7 miles, 51:15. Easy run with Hodgie-San on the wind-strewn roads of Sterling, Mass. Loop was probably a hair short of 7 miles. Legs didn't feel all that bad.
5:05 PM - 7 miles, 52:15. Took my new Glycerin 6's on their maiden voyage, my first run in a non-posted shoe in quite some time. The loop came out to 7.6 miles according to this online tool.

Tuesday
7:50 AM - 10 miles, 1:09:00. Out-n-back to the Horgan track w/8 x 100m strides on the back straightaway. A crisp 14 degrees out there this morning.

Wednesday
8:30 AM - 10 miles, 1:02:30. First 6.5 miles easy/moderate (42:36), last 3.5 steady (19:54 - 5:43, 2:58 [0.5], 5:47, 5:26). Felt real good from start to finish.
4:25 PM - 7 miles, 51:55. Fallon Clinic out-n-back with a stop at Summerhill Road on the way home for 6 x 30-second hill charges. Needed to let the legs and lungs burn a little bit.

Thursday
8:30 AM - 14 miles, 1:30:00. First 7 miles in 46:46, last 7 in 43:14. Planned on a fartlek but felt way too tired and flat to go through with it.

Friday
7:25 AM - 8 miles, 55:30. Face went numb but everything else felt good. 6 x 20/40 strides on the way home.

Saturday
7:30 AM - 14 miles, 1:26:25. Course work with Ryan and Liam from Loring Arena in Framingham. 22:10 warmup, 8 mile PMP from Miles 3-10 and back to 9 in 43:40 (5:47, 5:35, 5:25, 5:27, 5:26, 5:21, 5:27, 5:12), 20:35 cooldown. Solid workout, felt comfortable and in control from start to finish.

Totals: 93 miles, 9 runs. Another good week in the books, nothing super crazy just super consistent. The race was a great way to kick things off and this morning's PMP wrapped it all up very nicely. Ryan and I will continue to kick the poop out of one another for 10 more weeks with a steady diet of long runs, a few more PMPs, a couple of track workouts and a handful of races before resting up for two weeks and crossing our fingers for a good day on April 21. Feel free to join us at anytime - or at the very least, cross your fingers.

Quote of the Week

"But the team motivates you to get out the door in the morning. Of course, my teammates will also hammer me into the ground if I slack off."
- Brian Sell, U.S. Olympian

Race Report: Frostbite 15K

Yesterday marked my first race of 2008, the appropriately named Frostbite 15K in Raynham, MA. This is the second straight year I've contested this midwinter classic, and I think this race has cemented its spot in my winter road racing schedule. Ridiculous entry fee aside, it's well organized, draws a good crowd, features a nice course and offers a generous post-race spread. Bottom line, you'll get your money's worth, and then some.

Anyway, onto the race itself. I'm not gonna lie, this was a very good result for me, as good as any I've put up in the past couple of years. The win, and the 100 bucks that came with it, were added bonuses. I improved four places and 57 seconds from last year, which was a bit of a surprise since it was about 30 degrees colder and a lot windier out there yesterday morning. I felt strong from start to finish, ran pretty consistent splits but most importantly I raced well. I haven't been able to say that too many times since 2004, so yesterday's effort has me feeling pretty good about the direction I'm heading. This was definitely a good first step toward Boston. Hopefully I can keep the momentum moving forward over the next 13 weeks.

As for how the race played out, here's the Cliff's Notes version...I led the pack through the first mile, spent 2-6 chasing after fellow Central Masser Andy McCarron, finally caught him at 6 miles and pulled away over the last 5K. Here's the mile-by-mile data from my watch, along with the self talk going through my head at the time.

1. 5:03 - That was quick. Oh well, nothing you can do about it now.
2-4. 15:42 (20:45) What...the hell...is McCarron doing? Don't worry about it. It's way too early and way too cold out here to do anything stupid. Relax Mario, REEELAX!
5. 5:15 (26:00) Right on schedule and he's coming back. It's just you and him, no one else. Close the gap!
6. 5:11 (31:11) Got him! Here comes the hill...use it!
7. 5:34 (36:45) Houston, we have clearance. Relax and roll, relax and roooollllll!
8. 5:10 (41:55) Man, this wind sucks! I wonder if Tilton's arms fell off yet.
9.3. 6:45 (48:40) Quit thinking and keep fighting! You're almost there - bring it home!

Quote of the Day

"That is, you are enjoying the act as much as the outcome."
- Yolanda Flamino, women's Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier

Training Log: January 13-19

Sunday
8:45 AM - 19 miles, 2:05:00 - Westboro. Backroads long run from home to Westboro, ending at Casey's place to shower before opening the store. 6 x 100m strides @ WHS track. Felt great!

Monday
10:15 AM - 10 miles, 1:14:40 - Auburn. Easy run around town in the snow; last 3 miles in 7:03, 6:59, 6:37. Footing was less than ideal.

Tuesday
8:05 AM - 10 miles, 59:50 - Jarrin 10. Fartlek before work. 15:00 easy, 25:00 of pickups, steady mile in 5:19, easy 1/2 mile in 3:23, 2 miles of pickups back home in 5:42, 5:21. New PR for the loop!
7:00 PM - 4 miles, 30:00 - PR Running. Short shakeout on the treadmill after work. Need to get an iPod.

Wednesday
7:30 AM - 8 miles, 57:45 - Horgan Track. Easy out-n-back to the track. Cold and tired but otherwise no complaints.
7:00 PM - 4 miles, 30:00 - PR Running. Rat wheel after work. Started out real slow and worked my way down to slow.

Thursday
7:55 AM - 13 miles, 1:24:10 - McCracken Road. Out-n-back on the McCracken Road rollercoaster. First 3 miles easy in 21:35, then 10 miles steady progression in 1:02:35. Last 2 miles in 5:47, 5:34.

Friday
7:25 AM - 10 miles, 1:08:10 - Jarrin 10. Easy does it in the rain and slush. Too sloppy for strides.

Saturday
7:30 AM - 7 miles, 47:00 - Rockland 7. Relaxed run before work. 6 x 20/40 strides on the way home.

Totals: 85 miles, 9 runs. Solid week on the whole. Mileage was good, long run went well and the fartlek and progression run both served their respective purposes. I'm racing the aptly named Frostbite 15K tomorrow morning in Raynham and I'm excited to lace my flats back up again, even if I won't be able to untie them afterward.

Storming ahead

10:15 AM - 10 miles, 1:14:40 - Auburn.
RockPak 8 with a Shaw's add-on, plus 8 minutes of looping around the AHS parking lot mid-run. Hit 4 miles in just under 29:00 and clocked the last 3 in 7:03, 6:59 and 6:37. Likely north of 10 but definitely short of 11.

Apparently running in this shit was photo worthy.

Quote of the Day

"One of the biggest things I’ve learned over the years is that there is more than one way of doing things and no single workout works ideally for everyone."
- Matt Folk, Team Good River, and 39th place at the 2008 men's Olympic Marathon Trials

Run long, then get a ride home

8:45 AM - 19 miles, 2:05:00 - Westboro.
Long commute into work, ending at Casey's place in Westboro to clean up a bit before opening the store. Took the backroads through Auburn, Worcester, Millbury and Grafton, adding on 2 miles at the WHS track (6:06, 5:58) toward the end of the run with 6 x 100m strides mixed in for turnover. Solid run.

My normal commute into work usually takes me about 20 minutes, 25 tops if I stop for coffee and get stuck in a long line. This morning I decided to take the roundabout route into Westboro, spending just over two hours cruising at an average speed of 9.5 miles-per-hour through the scenic backroads of Auburn, Worcester, Millbury and Grafton. It was by far the most pleasant trip I've had into work in recent memory. I didn't use a drop of gas, just a packet of GU. I didn't sit in traffic but ran right by it instead. I didn't stop at red lights, I just ran through them. And best of all, I didn't wait in the drive-through line at Panera, just walked in and out of there in less than two minutes. I did, however, catch a ride home after my shift ended. Something tells me taking the long way home wouldn't have been so pleasant.

Quote of the Day

"It's amazing when you're in front, you feel nothing can stop you."
- Michael Aish, winner of today's Rock-n-Roll Arizona Marathon

All together now

10:40 AM - 14 miles, 1:25:00 - Windham Road.
Out-n-back in Pelham/Windham, NH with Casey Moulton. 2 miles easy (6:46, 6:28), 10 miles in 56:09 (5:37, 5:48, 5:41, 5:40, 5:33, 5:37, 5:34, 5:26, 5:24, 5:25), 2 miles easy (15:37). Solid workout, talked the entire way. Felt strong and in control throughout.

Casey Moulton and I aren't teammates. No, we're not coached by the same guy. We don't work together. Hell, we don't even live in the same area code. We do, however, share a similar goal - to go as fast as we can on April 21.

It's not a Hanson's, Team USA or Zap Fitness, but there's something truly unique and special about the New England running scene. Regardless of the singlet one wears on his or her back, runners from this region really do support one another like nowhere else in the country. Need proof?

Head out to the marathon course any Sunday morning from now until early April, or the Reggie Lewis Center on a Tuesday or Wednesday night, or to a rainy backroad in New Hampshire on a Friday morning in January and you can see it for yourself. All for one, one for all. It's a beautiful thing.

Quote of the Day

“He’s like the guys on the auto assembly line. You just keep doing the same job, over and over, but it’s what it takes to build the car."
- Keith Hanson on Brian Sell, U.S. Olympian

40 degrees of separation

8:15 AM - 13 miles, 1:26:00 - Worcester State.
Same loop as last week only much more pleasant weather conditions this time around. Man, what a difference 40 degrees makes.

Today was a long day and tomorrow will be a long workout so I'm gonna do the smart thing and get some rest.

Man, I'm even boring myself to sleep. Oh well, goodnight.

Quote of the Day

“Right now I don’t feel any pressure. That will change as we get closer. I just go out and prepare myself to run on the track and that’s all I can do. The amount of pressure I put on myself is usually enough.”
- Gary Reed, Canadian 800-meter stud

Fart-lekin' good

7:25 AM - 8 miles, 51:45 - RockPak 8.
15:00 easy, 5-4-3-2-1 minute fartlek with 1/2 time recovery, 14:45 easy back home. Good little workout, 5K effort or thereabouts on the fast stuff. Felt pretty strong.

7:20 PM - 6 miles, 43:00 - Westboro.
Post-work shakeout through the affluent streets of Westboro with a stop at the high school for 6 x 20-second hill charges mid-run. Hit the hills at a good clip, otherwise just plodding along.

It's getting late, I'm pretty tired and to be honest I really don't have much to babble about, but I stumbled upon this website today and it's chock full of cool links and other dorky running stuff worth giving a look. Check it out!

Quote of the Day

"I love running, so that in itself keeps me logging the miles. In terms of training at a high level, though, I guess I ultimately want to see how fast I can become."
- Josh Ordway, 21st at the 2008 men's Olympic Marathon Trials

Zapping my fitness

8:15 AM - 10 miles, 1:06:40 - Jarrin 10.
Reversed the regular direction just to switch things up a bit. 7:40, 7:17 and 6:40 for three of the early miles, no clue after that but apparently I picked up the pace. Legs expectedly tired but the effort felt comfortable.

That's right Rob, I named this loop after you brother. It will be a staple from here on out.

So I was feeling pretty tired when I rolled out of bed this morning, no doubt a direct result of an increased training load the past few days. Once I got going my legs felt a bit zapped but my stride felt smooth and aerobically I was never laboring. Combating the effects of cumulative fatigue will be the overarching theme from now until early April, so since I'm expecting it I'll try and keep my complaining to a minimum.

Heading into this training cycle I've got 15 months of mostly uninterrupted training under my belt, unlike before Vermont City last year when I was working off a few months of mediocre mileage and purposely conservative workouts. The end result there, given my abbreviated period of preparation, was both successful and encouraging, but now that I'm healthy, strong and structurally sound it's time to up the ante a little bit.

I'm coming off a fall of consistent training with some average cross country results and an unexpected half marathon PR, a combination of positive factors which has me excited about what I'll be able to do on the roads this spring. Over the next 12 weeks I'll be increasing my mileage, introducing some heftier workouts and racing some longer distances which will hopefully have me in rip-roaring shape come April 21st.

Another thing I'll be trying to do more of over these next few months is sleeping. A little rest goes a long way when one is training hard, so I'm going to make a real good effort to hit the hay at a decent hour from now until April 20. And now is as good a time as any to practice what I'm preaching. Goodnight.

Quote of the Day

"Then the guy whacked me in the face with a two-by-four. Talk about a buzzkill."
- Mark, physical therapist extraordinaire who refers a buttload of patients to the store, telling Rich and I about one of his adventures in Providence.

Dub 7's

8:50 AM - 7 miles, 46:45 - Rockland 7.
7:12 first mile, 27:10 for the middle 4, 6:15, 6:06 to finish things up. 6 x 20/40 strides on the way home.

7:05 PM - 7 miles, 51:00 - Easton Y.
Pre-Owen's jaunt from the Y with Bergs. Beelined it down Main Street and cut through campus before looping back. Clocked a 7:08 for the marked mile along outer perimeter.

15 weeks till Boston - one, five - in case you were wondering, counting or lost track.

Quote of the Day

"I always believed that not everyone could be a great natural marathoner, but if you had some ability, motivation might well get you there. I felt that in particular that the longer the event became, the more willpower, a lot of mileage, work and luck became the major factors."
- Bill Rodgers, Marathoning, page 85

An epic morning

Sunday, January 6th

8:30 AM - 17 Miles, 111 min
Back roads of Hudson, Stow, Maynard and Bolton w/Ryan

Today I had a chance to experience running along the backroads of the forgotten towns of Hudson, Stow, Maynard and Bolton. You likely have never heard of any of aforementioned towns, and that's unfortunate because they're home to such slices of Americana as the Horseshoe Pub, the Honeypott Hill Orchard, Mark Mayall and numerous Indian uprisings during King Phillips War, respectively. Well, more importantly, these towns are also prime running real estate during the winter months, governed by none other than the elder statesman of New Balance Boston, Ryan Carrara.

On a gorgeous January morning, we started the run from Ryan's house and ran down scenic Route 62 for a skosh until we reached solace of the backroads of Stow. We followed the scenic asphalt trail through Stow (about 5 miles long), cut briefly through Maynard and Bolton and looped around to eventually follow the same way back to historic Hudson. It was a really great run and I couldn't have asked for a better location. I now know why it is one of Ryan's favorite places to run for hours on end. After the run, we concluded our morning by going to brunch at Christy Mae's cafe in the dining room and had some great home style food, including the infamous Swedish tea ring, reheated waffles with real maple syrup, canned pineapples and the best instant coffee this side of 495. Overall, it was a great morning and gave me some quality time with quality friends.

Training Log (Dec 30-Jan 5)
Sunday: 18 Miles, 125 min
Monday: AM- 8 Miles, 56 min. PM- 6 Miles, 45 min
Tuesday: 6 Miles, 48 min
Wednesday: AM- Miles, 36 min. PM- 1 Mile, 7 min
Thursday: 13 miles, 88 min
Friday: AM- 5.5 Miles, 40 min. PM- 8.5 Miles, 60 min
Saturday: 10 Miles, 66 min

Total = 81 Miles, 10 runs
Great week. Daily runs are feeling easy, I'm recovering well after one-mile treadmill runs and can't wait for April 21st.

One at a time

7:15 AM - 10 miles, 1:06:00 - Jarrin 10.
16:00 easy, 10 x 1:00 hard/1:00 easy, 31:00 easy back home. Felt good to stretch the legs out a bit.

81 miles for the week, one good long run, one easy maintenance workout and one minor lapse in focus. Got back on track pretty quickly though and managed to put a decent chunk of steady mileage in the bank before things really start kicking into gear this coming week. The fun gets underway roughly nine hours from now at la casa de Carrara with the first Squires fartlek of the Boston buildup. Better get my ass to bed. Goodnight.

Quote of the Day

"I would like to see how good I can get. There’s only a short window to find that out. I do not want to live in regret years from now, wondering if I could have run a faster race."
- Pat Rizzo, Hanson's stud

Friday fun

8:35 AM - 5.5 miles, 40:00 - Hopedale.
Many a loop around Hopedale with Mark and Katie, just counting down the minutes to a long-awaited Town Common breakfast.

3:30 PM - 8.5 miles, 1:00:00 - Stonehill.
Random romp around campus and the sheep pasture with Sean and Di. 6 x 100m strides afterward, alternating between turf and track.

Got in some good miles today with a bunch of great friends, a fitting end to what has been an awesome couple of weeks.

My exhausted ass is going to bed. Goodnight.

Quote of the Day

"C'mon man, even Babe Ruth got to play at Yankee Stadium."
- Sean, justifying jumping the fence to do strides on the brandy new Stonehill track this afternoon.

Chillin' out

8:30 AM - 13 miles, 1:28:10 - Worcester State.
Worcester State loop with Sean, which came out to exactly 13.1 miles on his Garmin. Good run - cold as balls outside but my Sugoi wind briefs worked like a charm. Nice rebound from yesterday.

You know a guy's your best friend when he meets you without hesitation for a 13-mile run at 8:30 in the morning when it's 6 degrees out with a windchill that made it feel 15 degrees colder than that. I can't think of too many people, never mind someone with a mailing address in San Diego, that would be up for such a ludicrous endeavor.

And believe me, 90 minutes out there on the roads this morning was indeed ludicrous. Still, it was a helluva lot better than the 7 minutes I spent on the dreadmill last night. The fresh arctic air soothed my soul and froze just about everything else, and by the end of the run I was slurring my words worse than Joe Namath trying talk to Suzy Kolber. Hey, at least the roads were clear.

Quote of the Day

"We will either find a way, or make one."
-Hannibal

Sad 6

7:15 AM - 5 miles, 36:40 - Pakachoag.
Easy run on the roads before scheduled meeting with the electrician, who inconveniently decided not to show up - again.

7:25 PM - 1 mile, 7:15 - Treadmill.
Planned on doing a progression run on the treadmill after work but realized after about 5 minutes it just wasn't happening. Pathetic.

Quote of the Day

"Circumstances - what are circumstances? I make circumstances."
-Napoleon Bonaparte

Burn, burn, yes ya gonna burn

I'll blame neither the weather, the holidays nor the writer's strike for my recent blogging hiatus - heck, I'm not going to blame anyone or anything except myself and my own laziness - but now is no time for brooding over excuses, it's time for me to write and you to read, so let's get to it.

Today marks the start of a new year, new beginnings, new this, new that, yada yada bullshit. I'll save you from the boredom of resolutions I've made to myself, goals I hope to achieve, races I want to win, states I'd like to visit, drugs I'll try to quit, weight I'd like to lose, countries I plan to conquer, cures I hope to discover and languages I'll attempt to make myself fluent in.

Sorry, I'll be sharing none of that here. I will, however, dive headfirst - or perhaps more appropriately, backflip - into the running year that was for me, one number at a time.

C'mon now, this is a running blog, what the hell did you expect? If you want access to all the juicy shit that goes on away from the roads, track and trails I'll have to start charging a subscription fee. Sorry folks.

So let's see. Miles. For the year I logged 3,364 of them, or an average of 64.89 per week for 52 weeks. If you discount the 2-mile week and the two full weeks I didn't run a step due to the tarsal tunnel trouble I experienced after Vermont City, that average jumps to 68.65 for 49 weeks of healthy running. Given that I logged a paltry 2,681 miles for an injury-riddled 2006, those numbers don't look so bad.

Races. There were 13, not counting a handful of Monday night runs from the An Cu Liath. I completed my first marathon at Vermont City in May, finishing 6th overall in 2:28:25. I ran two half marathons, PRing by almost a minute at New Bedford in March with a satisfying 1:09:53 on a windy day. Unofficially, I PR'd for the 10 miles in the same race, splitting 52:55 before hitting a wall of wind head-on the last 5K and finishing 8th. At Bay State in October I shaved 5 seconds off my time from New Bedford with a 1:09:48 5th-place finish, which was a pleasant surprise given the rocky road I was traveling in the months proceeding Vermont City. As for wins, I managed two of them in 2007, both of them in Central Massachusetts, which was good for my hometown pride if nothing else. I also returned to cross country for the first time in a couple years this past fall, competing in three races, the best of the lot being a 31:55 13th-place finish at New England's. Average-at-best cross country results aside, it was exciting to lace the spikes up again and be a contributing part of a kickass team. I really missed that.

On the whole, 2007 was successful and satisfying, mainly because I made it through relatively unscathed, which was my main goal at the outset of the year. The small flame which was merely flickering last January is now shining bright. The base has been firmly set, the logs have been carefully arranged and this fire isn't going to be put out anytime soon.

So here's to 2008. Let it burn.

Quote of the Day

"Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another."
- John Dewey

Doubling my fun

10:35 AM - 8 miles, 58:00 - Millbury.
Out-n-back in Millbury with Sean and Di. Nice to see the sun come out again.

6:15 PM - 6 miles, 42:40 - Industrial Park.
Easy does it in the dark.

Quote of the Day

"I don’t like people messing with me when I’m running. That’s my protective space."
- Brian Pope, U.S. master's stud

Line 'em up

7:10 AM - 10 miles, 1:09:05 - Auburn.
The week of random road runs around town lives on. Kept the pace easy/steady for the most part, then threw in 6 x 20/40 strides on the way home to stretch the legs out a bit.

Between work, Christmas, catching up with old pals, a whole slew of house-related stuff and an increase in my training load I've been one busy dude of late. No complaints though, as I've got most of my ducks in a row. At least I think I do, anyway.

Due to the aforementioned goings on, the content of this here blog has taken a hit similar to the ones Eli Manning will experience on Saturday night. While I'm trying to scrape my creative juices off the ground over these next few days, let me offer some alternative reading material to make the time pass by a little quicker. Rest assured, this blog will rise again; as for ol' Eli, it probably won't come as easy for him after this weekend.

Quote of the Day

"Like the marathon, I kept putting one foot in front of the other. Whenever I ran up against a wall, I looked for ways around it and ultimately succeeded."
- Jon Dunham, writer, producer and director for the film "Spirit of the Marathon"

Booooooring

7:25 AM - 10 miles, 1:03:00 - Auburn.
Same loop as Monday morning but solo and 8 minutes faster this time around. First 6-1/2 miles in 42:29, last 3-1/2 in 20:31 [5:43, 3:23 (0.5 mi), 5:44, 5:41].

Sorry, but I'm going to be boring for a couple more days...

...as if I were ever all that exciting to begin with.

Quote of the Day

"Nilan dika hasara." Whatever happens, happens.
- Kenyan philosophy

17 for Santa

9:30 AM - 11 miles, 1:21:30 - Pakachoag.
3rd Annual Christmas Run with KG, along with new additions Sean and Erin. Awesome run, might have to start flying more people in for this one next year.

5:50 PM - 6 miles, 42:55 - Fallon 6.
Easy does it after a day of gluttony. 6 x 20-second strides on the way home.

'Tis the season to be icing

7:35 AM - 10 miles, 1:11:00 - Auburn.
Random road run around town with Rob - 10.25 miles according to his Polar RS 400SD. Might need to get me one of these gizmos.

You know you're in rough shape when you stop at home between family visits on Christmas Eve so you can ice various parts of your ailing anatomy.

No worries though, just preventative maintenance so I can take part in the annual Christmas Day run tomorrow morning. Can't wait!

Quote of the Day

"We've come here to find something out. I want to see what those bastards are made of, and remember this is only a stepping stone on the way to what we're after."
- Peter Coe, to his son Sebastian, before he went out in a blistering 49.3 seconds for the first 400 meters at the Prague 800 in 1978. Coe was eventually passed in the final straightaway by Steve Ovett and Olaf Beyer, who won the race in a world-leading time of 1:43.8.

Sunday stroll

8:30 AM - 12 miles, 1:30:00 - Milford.
Easy first hour with Rich & Rob, then solo for the last 30 minutes w/6 x 25-second hill charges to get the heart rate up a bit.

Quote of the Day

"There's always room for improvement, always something you can do better. I learned that if you can't do everything you want to do, you've still got to keep plugging."

- Alan Webb

Early 11

7:05 AM - 11 miles, 1:13:30 - Auburn.
Another random road run around town before work, 11.75 miles according to G-Maps. No wind, no traffic and relatively clear roads made this one pretty enjoyable.

70 miles in 8 runs for the first week back after the mini-break. Weather wise it was tough going but I managed to get the miles in without too much trouble. I'll gradually keep building mileage and intensity from here but I've got 17 weeks to get where I need to be so no need to rush anything.

Quote of the Day

"So if you want to be exceptional at something, you have to make hard choices. You have to be brutally honest with yourself."
- Nate Jenkins in this month's New England Runner

A healthy dose of rhythm

12:45 PM - 10 miles, 1:15:30 - Milford.
Rhythm workout w/Rob. 13:03 warmup, 3 miles at 18:45 (6:00, 6:23, 6:22), 6:00 easy jogging, 2 miles at 12:42 (6:15, 6:27) 25:00 cooldown w/6 x 15-second strides.

My day off from work was chock full of a bunch of bank-related house bullshit to take care of, but the good news is that a good chunk of it is finally out of the way and life should be a little less hectic from now until I close on the place in a few weeks.

After a morning full of running around from this office to that bank, signing one document and initialing another, I finally met up with Rob at Rich's house in Milford. Rob's a good friend of Rich's who is up here visiting from DC for a few days, and he's also been training under my watchful e-mail eye for about a month now. My afternoon off from work allowed the two of us to meet up for today's scheduled rhythm workout of 3 miles at half marathon pace (~6:25/mile), 6-8 minutes jog recovery, 2 more miles at HMP. For the first time in his 37 years, Rob is finally training and not just running - yes, there is a HUGE difference - and we pretty much went 3 for 5 today on hitting the prescribed pace while only seriously butchering one of those miles, which was no one's fault but my own. All things considered the workout went very well, and it was pretty neat to do the hands-on coaching thing and see the prescribed training plan in action. Come February, Rob's race results will show if said Rx is strong enough or if the dosage needs to be adjusted.

Quote of the Day

“It's a spiritual thing. It's like breathing to me. It's who I am. I think psychologically, certain people, that's just who we are.”
- Dave Dial, who ran 2:24 at Boston at the age of 19.

Kickin' it old school

8:35 AM - 12 miles, 1:22:00 - Worcester State.
New loop down Hope Ave, past the cemeteries, into Webster Square, across to Mill Street, around Worcester State and back. 7:18 first mile, 6:17 for the last one. Felt pretty good.

Today marked my longest run in the past few weeks and other than slogging through two inches of fresh slush it actually wasn't all that bad. This winter thing is getting real old, real fast but since it's not going anywhere anytime soon I'll just shut up, deal with it and keep my complaining to a minimum. Casey's blowing out the belt on his treadmill, Jeff's sneaking in miles on the job, Terry and Voce are spending their Sunday mornings running in a parking garage, Nate's throwing down 17.6K progression runs at 5:30 average on sloppy roads and I have no idea what Ryan's been up to since he doesn't update his blog anymore but I'm almost positive he's been clicking off sub-6 minute miles on Raytheon's treadmill during his lunch hour.

Bottom line is I've got no excuses. None of the aforementioned fellas make excuses, old-school Mario never made any, and there's no reason for the present-day version to be doing so, either. If I want to bust out at Boston I've got to suck it up and get going, shitty road conditions and woeful weather be damned.

Quote of the Day

"People want to be good -- right now. They think that a couple months of training should put them in great shape. But it doesn't happen overnight -- you're changing tissue: heart, circulatory system and muscle cell tissue. Katie McGregor's running isn't about what she did this year, it's about what she did last year, what she did the last four years. The most important thing in athletic improvement is consistency."
- Dennis Barker, coach of Team USA Minnesota

'Tis the season

7:30 AM - 8 miles, 51:20 - McCracken Rd.
First 4 miles pretty easy, last 4 at 5:40-6:00 pace on mostly clear roads. Felt good to move a little faster for once.

It's the most wonderful time of the year - cold temps, accumulating precipitation and sloppy roads notwithstanding. No, this isn't another bitch session about the woeful winter weather we've experienced so far this season but rather a brief acknowledgment of good friends returning home for the holidays, the accompanying increase in seasonal training partners that comes along with those very same friends returning, family coming together, gifts exchanging hands and the general good cheer brought on by all the aforementioned.

'Tis the season, and despite the recent weather woes, it's definitely the best time of the year.

Quote of the Day

"Live the dream."
- Stephen Haas, spreading the universal message of the WHTC

Enough already

8:20 AM - 10 miles, 1:13:00 - Auburn.
All over town on whatever clear stretches of road I could find, which wasn't many. This shit is getting real old, real fast.

I don't feel much like complaining in detail about the weather, whining about the road conditions or writing about anything else for that matter. I do feel like going to bed though, so that's what I'll do instead. G'night.

Quote of the Day

"Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired."
- Jules Renard

18 and counting

8:30 AM - 6 miles, 45:15 - Industrial Park.
Roads were a sloppy mess but not nearly as bad as I anticipated.

7:10 PM - 4 miles, 30:00 - AHS.
Back-n-forth on a ~150-meter carpeted stretch of the second and third floor hallways at the high school. 6 x 20 second strides during the last 10 minutes to mask the monotony.

I had these grandiose plans of summarizing my summer/fall of racing and training in this entry but it's amazing how fast my motivation waned over the course of 12 hours today. Lots of non-running related life stuff to take care of on my day off from work, but better to worry about those things now than on a Monday in April.

Like the one that happens to fall exactly 18 weeks from today.

That's right, 18 weeks. Let the countdown to Boston begin.

That leaves me 126 or so days to get myself in the most rip-roaring, run-till-I-drop, kickass shape I've ever been in for a long distance race. I'll need to stay healthy and train consistently to get to there, and if I'm able to do that I'm confident I can bust out a big one on Patriots Day.

As far as training goes, the general idea will be to get my mileage back up over the next 6 weeks and follow that up with 10 weeks of specific marathon prep and a two-week taper. I have a handful of races penciled in, including the Frostbite 15K, Paddy Kelly 5-miler, Stu's 30K and the New Bedford 1/2 Marathon. That list will likely change and be amended accordingly depending on how things progress over the next few months.

There will be pretty good-sized group of local studs and studdesses hoping to make a big splash on April 21 and I'm really looking forward to pounding the pavement with some of these fast folks as we prepare for Patriots Day. If you're not part of this crew, it's OK - just give us a good shout on Marathon Monday.

Quote of the Day

"What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from."
- T.S. Eliot (swiped from Casey)

Bitchy weather

4:35 PM - 9 miles, 1:00:00 - Treadmill.
Round and round on the rat wheel during/after work. Started at 7:30 pace, got down to 5:25-30 for the last couple minutes but kept it between 6:15-45 for the most part.

OK, so the elements didn't stop me today but they sure as hell kept me inside. Six fresh inches of snow, 30 mph wind gusts and freezing rain coming at me sideways forced me to alter my plans of throwing down an hour on the roads this morning. All was not lost, however, because I did have to work today and luckily we have one of those big fancy electric conveyor belts at the store that allowed me to do my best Casey Moulton impression without worrying if I was going to end up flat on my ass or not. I'm very fortunate to have this redundant option at my disposal for inclement occasions such as today but let me tell you that sucker sure is boring as hell. I don't know how you rat wheelers do it with any sort of regularity, but better you guys than me. I want nothing to do with that contraption if I can help it, so hopefully Mother Nature can give the road warriors amongst us a break and quit being a bitch. Judging by the forecast though, it looks to be that time of the month and we're just going to have to suck it up and wait out the storm. Fact of life, I guess.

Quote of the Day

"I think when you're hot and it's your time in the sun you've got to get out there and do it."
- Todd Williams on why you can't be afraid to get out there and race.

Celebratory Saturday

7:40 AM - 7 miles, 47:15 - Rockland 7.
Sub-7's felt pretty easy despite temps in the low teens. 6 x 20/40 strides on the way in. Maybe I need to take more days off, sleep less, or drink more often. Or not.

Work is done for the day and I'm off to the New Balance Boston festive occasion to celebrate a great season, great teammates, a great coach and a whole slew of other great things. It will most assuredly be a great time.

As for running this week, there wasn't much of it. 28 miles, two days off, too much beer, too many desserts and not nearly enough sleep. It's back to business tomorrow morning, weather permitting.

C'mon now, like a little precipitation ever stopped me.

Quote of the Day

"If you work hard, you are sure to improve."
- Ted Corbitt

Preventive post

A few unexpected occurrences prevented me from posting yesterday, namely a big development on the house front, a nasty nor'easter and a chance encounter with an unforgiving spirit named Patron.

Oddly enough, the aforementioned occurrences took place in the aforementioned order, and by the time Patron cast his spell on me I was in no shape to type a coherent entry. Hey, it's my week off and I'm using that as my excuse - for everything, apparently.

10 inches of snow doesn't help matters either. The excessive accumulation of fluffy white shit yesterday was just that - excessive and shitty - and forced me to crash at Casey and Kate's place last night rather than drive home from Westboro after work. No blog, no problem though. We had a good time.

As for big news on the house, I'll no longer be moving into the cypress green dwelling at 65 Sophia Drive I've pictured on here many a time. My request to upgrade the living room and dining room carpets to hardwood floors turned into something of an entire house upgrade instead. Well, sort of. Let me explain.

At the time of my upgrade request I was informed of a similar style unit to mine with all the same features that was left over from the first phase of the development because the buyer backed out of the sale at the last minute. If interested, which I was, I could give it a look and decide if I'd like to switch houses, close a couple weeks earlier and save myself some dinero in the process.

If I decided not to do it than I probably wouldn't blog about it, so if you hadn't figured it out already, yes, I switched lots to 40 Sophia Drive. What's this mean? Not a whole lot, no pun intended. In a nutshell, I'll no longer have to climb a hill to get to my house, my backyard will require less maintenance and the exterior color scheme has shifted from green to gray. Like I could tell the difference anyway.

Quote of the Day

"Have other activities and interests...Good running alone will end up with you 35 years old and showing up to Sunday road races in a 1972 Volkswagen bus that you live in."
- Mark Wetmore

Weekend Update, Part Deux

So I left off yesterday's entry with me getting back to the hotel in the wee hours of Sunday morning after an evening of sanctioned debauchery gone bad at the meet's host hotel. After a brief phone chat with my best bud Sean out in San Diego, I got to bed somewhere around 1, woke up to a clattering of beer bottles in the fridge just after 2 and quickly fell back asleep before a thundering knock on the door at the ungodly hour of 4:45 forced me to actually get my ass out of bed. Maloney, the intended recipient of all the commotion, was not getting up. Luckily for him, however, the little lass with the loud knock entered with a vengeance, gave the poor bastard a good tug and after some persuasive prodding, all was again silent. I quickly fell back asleep, only to wake back up again two hours later wondering what in the hell had just happened.

After a quick scan of the room revealed Maloney left behind his Reach the Beach jacket and the clanging I heard some 4 or so hours earlier was my 6 bottles of Sam Winter apparently sneaking themselves out of the refrigerator, I needed to remove myself from the premises. So what does one do first thing in the morning after 4-1/2 hours of choppy sleep? Go running, of course. Luckily for me, Shauneen, who probably slept a lot more soundly than I did and awoke without the stress of worrying about a half dozen wounded soldiers, was down for an easy 30 minutes.

OK, so the easy out-n-back on the deserted roads of Mason actually took 31 minutes, but the good company and good conversation made it well worth the extra 60 seconds. Afterwards, I showered quickly, saw my remaining teammates off to the airport, got confirmation that my six missing soldiers did indeed end up in good hands, packed my bags, met up with Driscoll and K.Gwyth, checked out of the hotel and made the short walk over to Bob Evans for an epic 2-hour-and-45 minute breakfast while waiting for our ride up to Ann Arbor. The atmosphere at Bob's restaurant was comfortably quaint, the food was actually pretty good and the coffee went down smoothly, perhaps too smoothly as evidenced by the half or dozen or so refills the waitress filled my cup with.

Around noon time the three of us hopped in a car with Anna Willard and her boy toy/third-place finisher from the men's race the day before, Jon Pierce of ZAP Fitness, for the 3+ hour drive up to the land of the Big Blue. Despite riding bitch the whole way in a cramped backseat, an increasingly sore ass and pulsating hamstrings the last 45 minutes, the ride north passed by pretty quickly.

In the interest of not further boring those of you still reading this, rather going into sickening detail about the rest of my brief, but very kickass stay in Ann Arbor with Driscoll and K. Gwyth, I'll conveniently provide the Cliff Note's outline version instead. Here goes.

1. Dropped off bags.
2. Stopped by Tortoise & Hare. Purchased souvenir t-shirt.
3. Went out to dinner with Driscoll, K. Gwyth and a 5-foot-4-inch African named Boaz.
4. Sat down to aforementioned dinner in a wet pair of pants. Learned that Boaz is "crazy man, just crazy." He also doesn't like pasta, bagels or french fries, in case you were wondering.
5. Hit up the State Theatre with Driscoll for an 8:45 showing of No Country for Old Men.
6. Crashed hard. Real hard.
7. Up and at 'em by 7:45 on Monday morning, drove out to a dirt road, slid down the hill in Driscoll's truck, realized our original plan of running on soft ground wasn't going to work and elected to run 5 miles in downtown AA instead. Followed an icy little jaunt up with a greasy breakfast at the Fleetwood Diner, which is no Town Common, but more than did the trick.
8. Showered back at the apartment, sat around on the couch and shot the shit for a couple hours, grabbed some coffee with Driscoll, tooled around downtown Ann Arbor for a bit, picked the brain of a fellow running store manager at Running Fit before finally meeting back up with Katie for lunch and gelato at Zingerman's Deli, which gets my vote for the best lunch spot anywhere, ever.
9. Took a couple pictures, dished out some hugs and headed to the airport with Marky Mark, who never fails in keeping me entertained.
10. Checked in for my flight(s), grabbed more coffee, hopped a plane to Baltimore and eventually ended up in Providence where I was picked up my padre at 9:45 PM, thus ending one of the best extended weekends of my life. Definitely a top-3 candidate, right up there with Vermont City Marathon weekend this past summer and Cape Week '04.

And with that, I'll end my second straight day of rambling and get my ass to bed. I hereby excuse myself from any extended entries of any sort for the rest of the week. Goodnight.

Quote of the Day

"You're all nuts."
- K. Gwyth, speaking the fortunate - that's right, no "un" necessary here - truth.

Weekend Update, Part I

The race results and the police reports may indicate otherwise, but let me tell you it was a great weekend in West Chester, Ohio and its surrounding areas.

So without further adue, here's the blow-by-blow, I mean day-by-day, recap of the 2008 edition of USATF Club Cross Country Nationals.

It all started on Friday morning when I was picked up by an identically-dressed sharp looking teammate with an equally awesome Italian last name and shiny silver Saabaru for the quick trip west on I-90 out to Chicopee, where we would meet up with Ned and Shauneen, the charter members of a select faction known as New Balance Boston-West.

After arriving at the East Coast headquarters of Skybus buslines, I mean airlines, we sat around on some of the most comfortable folding chairs you'll ever find in an airport terminal while waiting out a brief travel delay. Before we knew it, the four of us were flying the friendly (and cheap!) skies all the way out to Columbus, Ohio on a brandy new orange jet that was so chock full of innovative engineering even Ryan was impressed. Upon landing in Columbus, Ned took command of a not-so-pimped-out Chevy Impala and kept us wildy entertained (unprepared folks would likely have been mortified) on the relatively non-scenic 90-minute drive down to the strip mall metropolis of the world - Mason, Ohio.

Since a 45-minute wait for dinner and an 11 o'clock bed time don't exactly make for entertaining commentary I'll skip ahead to Saturday, which for me started at 7:30 AM when I rolled out of bed and right into my 767's for a 10-minute shakeout and some easy strides. I followed that up with a quick stretch and my standard pre-race breakfast of a couple mini bagels with peanut butter, strawberry yogurt, banana and well-timed trip to Starbucks with Jess and Kevin for the oh-so-important pre-race cup of coffee. It's a tried-and-true recipe for success, in theory anyway.

The rest of the morning was relatively low key and consisted of me watching Sports Center about eight more times before meeting up with Ryan, Ned and Justin for the short ride over to Voice of America Park. Short might be a gross under exaggeration, but we made it to the race with 45 minutes to spare and had no trouble finding a good parking spot next door to the course at - you guessed it - a strip mall.

As for the race itself, it was a cross between mud wrestling and distance running that had me feeling more like I was an Excitebike rider without his wheels than a cross country runner with 1/2" spikes on his feet. This was not a course for a rhythm runner who couldn't find his rhythm and as a result I was left stuck in the mud, literally.

All things considered, I didn't have that bad of a race. 34:59 for 156th overall certainly doesn't qualify as a good one but it was far from a total disaster and I did have some fun out there while managing to escape in one piece. I can live with that. Fact of the matter is I'm not a mudder - never have been, probably never will be, and while I claimed to more than one person at the post-race party that this was probably my last cross country race ever, in reality it probably wasn't. That was the free Bud Lite talking.

For NB Boston on the whole, it turned out to be a pretty successful afternoon. We finished 13th out of 50 teams on the men's side and the women went home with some silver hardware for their outstanding second-place efforts. Jeff, Justin, Ned, Ryan, Jess and Erin all turned in solid individual performances to round out a good day for the guys and gals in green.


The post-race festivities apparently couldn't wait and 5 minutes into the cooldown the first beer of the day was cracked as a Heineken keg can from who knows where made its way amongst the mud-laden boys of NB Boston. Probably not the most conventional means of refueling after a hard effort, but cross country is anything but a conventional sport so nobody questioned it.

The rest of the evening was full of food, beer, awards, more food and more beer, socializing, dancing, chicken wings, more beer, more socializing, tasering, walking, finding a ride back to the hotel, icing, texting, talking and finally bed. I didn't extend my evening at the Brazenwood like most of my other teammates did and elected to turn in early instead. Getting back to the hotel was an interesting adventure but luckily I was in good company. Besides, the roof rack was the only available seat left in the team van and it was starting to get pretty cold out.

And right now it's starting to get pretty late so I'm going to chop this long entry short and finish it up tomorrow. Like any of you are still reading anyway.

Quote of the Day

"I am not going to bring up who was looking mighty ridiculous dancing with a skinny red head from Michigan who looks like he lost his razor to a funk band in an Irish pub."
- Ryan Carrara touching upon the weekend antics of one of this blog's most frequent commentators.

Weekend pre-Update

So everyone out there in Blogland is waiting for a weekend update - and believe me, there will be a no-holds-barred Friday-through-Monday, leave-no-mile or beer bottle unaccounted for, blow-by-blow report from Ohio, Massachusetts and everywhere in between, rest assured - but it will have to wait until tomorrow evening when I am done working and have hopefully regained some semblance of cognitive function after an assuredly long, but highly entertaining, wildly successful and flat-out fun weekend.

In the meantime, check out Ryan's rousing recap from the strip mall capital of the world, otherwise known as southwestern Ohio. I'm going to not run tomorrow morning and catch up on sleep instead. Goodnight.

Quote of the Weekend

"I was standing there eating chicken wings feeling like I was watching a live episode of Cops."
- Kevin commenting on the post-race melee at the host hotel.

Go Midwest, young man

8:45 AM - 5 miles, 35:00 - Pakachoag 5.
Easy does it before boarding the plane. OK, well before boarding the plane.

This will be the last you'll hear from me for a few days as the ol' laptop is staying put on my desk this weekend. With a little luck, some free time and a convenient internet connection, I may provide an update sometime between now and Monday night, but I wouldn't count on it. Otherwise, expect a full recap sometime on Tuesday, perhaps Wednesday if I'm still feeling a bit knackered. I'm off to Ohio for the craziest cross country race I may ever contest, then spending a couple days in Michigan with two of my favorite transplanted New Englanders. It will be a great weekend. Adios amigos.

Quote of the Day

"If I'm still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a board and knock me down, because that means I didn't run hard enough."
-Steve Jones on the proper way to race cross country

Ready or not...

8:50 AM - 6 miles, 42:00 - AHS Track.
Out-n-back to the high school, 6 x 20/40 strides on the way home.

...West Chester, Ohio, here I come. The bags are packed, my scalp is freshly shorn, the hay is in the barn and the 1/2" dagger spikes are ready for battle. I'm prepared for whatever this weekend throws at me, whether it's 500 lunatics in long spikes and the expected 10-kilometer slopfest at Voice of America Park to...well, I don't know what else, but whatever it is, I'm ready for it.

And so are my teammates. We've got two solid squads representing New Balance Boston and I think, check that, I know, we're ready to make some noise on the national stage. Get your earplugs ready.

Quote of the Day

"My strategy was to run the best race for me and not worry about what others were doing."
- Good advice from John Mentzer, 24th at the 2008 Men's Olympic Marathon Trials

Show me the light(s)

7:30 AM - 7 miles, 48:30 - Rockland 7.
Same loop as Monday morning, 5-1/2 minutes faster.

Apologies for yet another short and admittedly boring entry. Lots going on this week and a lot still to get done before making the trek to the not-so-great Midwest on Friday. OK, the race itself and the atmosphere surrounding it will be great, visiting with Mark and Katie in Ann Arbor will be even greater, but the Midwest in and of itself not so much. I'd elaborate more, but I need to go look at light fixtures tonight. Man, I can't believe I just typed that.

Quote of the Day

"The Olympics are always a dream. I just want to focus on becoming a etter runner and improving my times. That’s my main focus right now."
- Michelle Gallagher, who qualified for next April's Olympic Marathon Trials with a 2:43 debut at 2:43:31 at Cal International this past weekend.

Tuesday tuneup

7:50 AM - 4 miles, 30:45 - Hampton 4.
Little leg stretcher before work. Butt ass cold out there this morning.

6:10 PM - 8 miles, 59:00 - BC Res.
23:00 warmup, 8 x 1 minute hard/1 minute easy w/Fenton, 20:00 cooldown. Final tuneup before Saturday; felt pretty good.

Quote of the Day

"There is nothing special about training. You have to believe in yourself."
- Marilson Gomes dos Santos, 2006 NYC Marathon Champion

Shit show

7:15 AM - 7 miles, 54:00 - Rockland 7.
Shitty weather + shitty roads = shitty run.

Sorry Greg, I liked this title just a little bit better. Thanks for the algebraic equation, I mean suggestion, though.

I could have sworn it was mid-February when I stepped out the door this morning. The skies were gloomy, the footing was atrocious and I was slipping and sliding all over the place. I'm usually one to keep quiet when running by myself, but I actually yelled "this sucks" out loud at about 5-1/2 miles. Yes, it was that miserable.

While I'm on the topic of misery, hopefully tonight's Pats game is slightly less agonizing than last Sunday night's nail-biter. 30- point blowouts might not make for good TV, but they sure help me sleep easier. Plus, I want to try and keep the flying F-bombs to a minimum this week, especially since I'll be watching the game at someone else's house.

Actually, it's about time I get my ass over to said house. Go Pats!

Quote of the Day

"That's what cross-country's about, it's about racing. And the race is about knowing there's someone who can beat you."
- Emily Jones, a youngan who "gets it".

The trial of the Trials

8:50 AM - 13 miles, 1:34:00 - Hudson.
Sunday morning stroll through the woods with Ryan and Christy Mae. 6 x 15-second strides on the road afterward.

So the qualifying standards for the 2012 men's Olympic Marathon Trials have been changed to 2:19 for the whole enchilada, 1:05 for the half or 28:30 for 10,000 meters on the track. Forget running under 2:20 and the all-expenses trip to the Trials that goes with it, and never mind just settling for a sub-2:22 pay-your-own way "B" mark, if you aren't running 5:18 per mile or faster for 26.2 miles you better hope to hell that you've a damn good half marathon or fast 10K somewhere in your legs or you'll be watching the 2012 race from the same place I did the 2008 edition four weeks ago - the side of the road.

That was a good time and all but I'd really rather not have to do it again four years from now, so what it comes down to for me is this. Instead of chopping 6 minutes and 25 seconds off my debut time from Vermont last May, I've now got roughly three years to shave off that amount of time plus another 3 minutes, or an average of about 3:10 per year at minimum.

My long division may be off but at two marathons per year I think that leaves me about six chances or a 1:35 improvement from one marathon to the next in order to hit my goal.

Forget about the 10K - I won't even go there - and unless I catch one hell of a tailwind some cold March morning in New Bedford, I'm not banking on hitting the half marathon mark either. Fact of the matter is - and I've already accepted it - is that I'm going to have to suffer for no more than 2 hours and 19 minutes on a certified course with a start-finish separation of no more than 30% of the race distance and an elevation loss of no more than 1 meter per kilometer of race distance or I can forget about running in the Olympic Trials.

I've got to have the race of my life sometime in the next four years. Anything less than that isn't going to get me anywhere, anywhere I want to be anyway.

Quote of the Day

"Qualifying for the Trials has long been a point of pride amongst USA distance runners, and with the bar raised for 2012, qualifying will become an even greater badge of honor."
- David Monti

Week ending

7:40 AM - 6 miles, 43:10 - Industrial Park.
Easy does it to end the week. Legs seem to have some life creeping back into them.

73 miles for the week. 1 good long run. 2 solid workouts. 6 days until Club Nationals. Nothing else to add.

Goodnight.

Quote of the Day

"The important things in life are not really things. They are family, friends and the experiences along the way."
- Amy Yoder Begley