Heroes at the finish line, cowards on the run

Anger and sadness

Today's run (street): 3.6 miles

Yesterday afternoon I had just stepped out of a meeting in midtown and looked at my phone. My wife had sent me a text about the bombs that went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. I was stunned by the news and had difficulty with the idea that it happened. I hoped it was a prank, perhaps something innocuous like a smoke grenade, but I had the feeling it was much more than that. I had a little time before my next meeting, so I stopped into a nearby hotel to watch the coverage on CNN. As the story unfolded, it felt eerily similar to that day in September back in 2001 (my look back on that day).

I'm not going to talk about the horrible events themselves, or why some people decided that their twisted view of life was worth the life of a child, along with the deaths and carnage of others. The story that the world is hearing is about how the workers, spectators, police, EMTs, firefighters and residents responded immediately to those who needed help. If there is any justice, the malevolent animals who picked easy targets will be quickly captured and shown to the world as the cowards that they are. I suggest they be forced to run the Boston course indefinitely until they expire.

I had a weird run this morning. Besides having a lot on my mind, I'd gone to an industry event last night that put me well past my bedtime. If you looked at the metrics of the run, it would appear that I under-performed compared to my usual level. The entire time that I ran I couldn't shake the post 9/11-like feelings that resulted from yesterday's news. I think I ended up pushing harder than I normally would have on a weekday training run and, by the end, I was pretty tired.

It wasn't a particularly notable run for me, but I think I processed a lot of thoughts and have come out better for it. I'll bet being a runner would have come in handy on September 12, 2001. I can't go back in time, but I'm happy that I was a runner today.

The price of self esteem is apparently $7.99

Divide it by two and we'll talk

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the 1,500th Emerging Runner post. It all started here.

Happy Boston Marathon Day. I grew up in the greater Boston area and have always felt tied to this event. The Boston Marathon used to be held on April 19th (Patriot's Day), which happens to be my birthday. That was, until Massachusetts began observing the holiday and running the race on Mondays. It was great that the Boston Marathon route went right though my hometown, and we could watch the runners go by from a hill behind our house.

I never thought about actually running the Boston Marathon (or any marathon for that matter) because it seemed like an impossible thing to do. Even now, the thought of running a full marathon seems abstract and unlikely. Having crossed the line on a couple of half marathons, I cannot conceive of running that distance twice, all at once. It's no longer impossible for me to imagine it, but I'm not willing to commit the time and effort that would be required. I fully admire those who do run marathons, but I'm sticking with halfs.

The Jan/Feb issue of Running Times featured a product that runners can use to brag about their marathon accomplishments. I'm not talking about the ubiquitous 26.2 decal. Apparently anyone can buy one of those, no questions asked. ProvenSport (I'm not including a link because I think this is a stupid idea) will only sell their $7.99 decals to people after they, "...validate every achievement and certify [your] legitimate bragging rights." This, for only $5 more than that unverified 26.2 decal!

I'm also offended by the poorly designed product

I know that every runner's motivation is personal and racing supports our self esteem. Those oval race decals are fun, and they don't bother me when I see them on cars. I never question the veracity of the statement, and have never thought once about the owner's possible finish times. Those who need to push the point of broadcasting to the world that they ran a marathon really, really fast probably need more than a decal to address their own self esteem issues.

A practical replacement for a postponed race

Ran it in spirit

Today's run (treadmill): 3.25 miles

Today was the scheduled date of the Marcie Mazzola 5K that was postponed last week. I'm not into racing as much as I've been the last few years, so I didn't look for another race to run in its place. While I love the whole experience of racing, I tend to put too much time and attention into the preparation. Lately, I've enjoyed the opportunity to run without having to focus on either distance or speed training.

I'm still feeling guilty for not running one of the RXR LI Marathon races. A quick check on the site shows that registration is still open. But the price to run the LI Half is almost $63 (including "convenience" fee). I've run it the last two years, and I think I'm ready for a change of half marathon scenery. Frankly, I would rather put the $63 toward a pair of Saucony Virratas, that are high on my wish list.

Virrata - just a credit card away

In deference to the Marcie 5K, as well as a lack of time to run this morning, I picked the treadmill over the street. I figured that if the race was still happening, today would been a fast run. Instead of playing with the treadmill's controls, and increasing speed as I went along, I gunned it from the start. There are times when this tactic doesn't work, and I need to back off a bit. Today the fast pace felt sustainable, and I even increased my speed over the last mile.

By the end, I felt like I'd run a 5K. It may not have been the Marcie 5K, but it was no ordinary treadmill workout either. I could have made it even more like that race by ramping up the elevation of the treadmill (to simulate the big hill on Woodhull Road), but that seemed a little much. After all, I didn't even get a tee shirt for doing all that hard running.

Avoiding redundancy on a neighborhood run

Today's run (street): 5.4 miles

After yesterday's gloomy weather, it looked like spring was finally coming back. It was still fairly chilly when I stepped outside this morning, but it was mostly due to the wind. I stood in a patch of sun to stay warm, while my GPS took its time finding a signal. Today's route was around the neighborhood, and I thought about the combination of roads I'd have to take to meet my distance goal of five miles.

I wore my Brooks Pure Drift prototypes, rather than my Kinvara 3's. Lately, I've been wanting less cushioning in the forefoot, and the Drifts are similar in that respect to my old beloved Hattoris. I definitely prefer to run with shoes that have a low "stack height" and minimal cushioning in the mid-sole. The Kinvaras have been excellent, and I'm a stone's throw away from 500 miles with them, but I've been missing the feel of a firmer-landing shoe.

I felt great from beginning to end on today's run. It was one of those rare training runs where I felt I could just keep going all day. Adventure Girl used to call it "perpetual motion running." Since I only planned to run five miles, I figured I could spend some energy on speed. I opened up the throttle every few minutes without affecting my high energy level, and it paid off when I saw my overall time.

I managed to cover most of the streets in my immediate neighborhood without doubling up too much on any one road. For some reason, I dislike running on the same section of road twice during the same run. Even if it's just seeing different houses and cars on other streets, it's still a different view. I noted that my hip seemed completely fine, and I can probably stretch my base runs to six miles now. I haven't been to Bethpage in a few weeks, so it's a possibility for tomorrow. I guess it's as good a time as any to buy my 2013 Empire Passport

Hesitation forces a Plan B run

The soggy price of procrastination

Today's run (treadmill): 3.2 miles

All of today's business related activities could be managed by emails, calls or virtual meeting rooms, so I didn't need to go into the city. Knowing that, I took my time getting ready for my planned outside run. The weather was cold and the skies were overcast, but the local news channel was saying we'd see no rain until noon. I waited until both kids had gone off to school and headed upstairs to change.

The reported temperature was 43 degrees, but it felt colder than that. I put on two long sleeved shirts and a pair of medium weight running pants. I took my time getting dressed, including HRM strap, GPS watch, RoadID and SPIbelt. I was just about to head outdoors when I heard my wife call from upstairs, "Do you know it's raining!?" I looked outside and saw the water coating the back deck. Ugh. I headed back upstairs to implement Plan B.

Some people don't mind running in the rain, but I really dislike it. Besides the visibility issues that come from wearing glasses, the experience is worsened by soaking wet pants, jerseys and socks. Plan B is usually the treadmill, unless I feel like a change and use the elliptical. Today I wanted to run, so after a quick change into running shorts, I was on the treadmill once again.

There's never much to say about a treadmill workout unless something unusual happens, and today nothing did. If I had spent less time on my laptop this morning, and instead, headed out by 7:00, I would have enjoyed a refreshing outdoor experience in dry conditions. And if that was the case, I'd probably have something more interesting to write about today.

Transcendental treadmillism

Be the treadmill

Today's run (treadmill): 3.2 miles

Rainy weather put me on the treadmill this morning, but I was fine with that. I'm way behind in my magazine reading (I blame the lack of a daily commute) and have been catching up on recent Runner's World issues. I came across an article about meditation and running, and was curious to learn how the two might be linked. Were they suggesting that runners should meditate during a run? If that's the same as zoning out, I guess it could make sense.

Much of the article covered mental preparation for a run, but the writer also suggested some specific meditative running techniques. One example was taking a breath every three steps and exhaling for two. I tried that on the treadmill this morning with mixed results. Just like when I tried to calculate cadence by tracking my steps per minute during a run, I found it extremely hard to keep my counts. The challenge was maintaining synchronization between my steps and my breathing. I gave up fairly quickly. 

The one idea in the article that proved viable was simply acknowledging the tedium of the run and the pain and fatigue that may come with it. Instead of relying on TV or music, the meditative approach is to understand the discomfort and appreciate what's good about the experience. As I ran today, I thought about how I felt (strong, mentally energized), how the floor fan was keeping me cool, and how nice it was to have a schedule that didn't involve 4:00 AM workouts. I may not have reached the highest mode of consciousness today, but meditation did do a fine job of distracting me from the damn treadmill.

An eight mile workout on top of another

Supremely lucky

Today's workout (elliptical): 30 minutes + 8 mile walk

It's another beautiful day in NYC, but I ended up doing my workout indoors this morning. No matter what, time always seems to influence action. I needed to make a mid-morning train and I'd squandered the early morning hours putting the final touches on my new business website. The elliptical made the most sense in terms of time efficiency, so I picked that over the road and the treadmill. If I'd known how much walking I would do today, I may have skipped my workout altogether.

My travels took me all around NYC today. With exception of a subway ride from Penn Station to Chamber Street, I walked up, down and all around. When I got back to Penn at the end of the day, my Fitbit showed 18K steps and 8 miles walked. My feet were fairly sore, but that's what recovery shoes are for. I put on a pair the second I got home.

The purpose of my trip downtown was to visit the Manhattan County Clerk's office at 60 Centre Street. I needed to do some legal work related to my new business. The Clerk's office is located in the basement of the Supreme Court building, and it looks like it hasn't been renovated since the 19th century. Seriously, go there and see for yourself.

It turned out that the filing (and its sizable fee) was unnecessary. Except for the cost of a subway ride, I came out well ahead. I walked from Centre Street to midtown, and eventually, back to Penn Station. Today showed that not every workout needs to involve aerobic intensity to make an impact. Sometimes it's a matter of taking some steps - maybe eighteen thousand or so.

Spring running is great, so the laptop can wait

Such that it is

Today's run (street): 3.4 miles

Yesterday was my scheduled rest day and I spent a good part of it in front of my laptop. Consequently, I  "achieved" a pathetically low step and distance count. If my Fitbit could talk to me right now, it would probably wouldn't. I'm under the gun with business related tasks, but I have been making great progress. After all that intense work, I needed to run today. The beautiful weather certainly helped get me out the door.

My treadmill workout on Sunday was short but extremely difficult. I thought this morning about the fact that the Marcie Mazzola 5K was scheduled for next Sunday. Sadly that race has been postponed due to the death of a Mazzola family member. The way I've been running lately, I don't think I would have been very competitive. I prepared to struggle as I took my first steps on today's run, and was surprised to find that I felt great.

It was a beautiful early spring morning and I'd taken the chance of wearing running shorts and a short sleeved jersey. Sunny skies and low humidity powered me through one of my fastest runs in weeks. I wasn't sure at the time how I was pacing, but I took advantage of my energy level and threw in some "speed play" a few times every mile. I covered the last mile at 10K race pace and finished feeling refreshed and energized. That was a good thing, because before long, it was back to the laptop for the rest of the day.

Business exhaustion + run exhaustion = redemption

Wheel of redemption

Today's run (treadmill): 3.1 miles

I thought that leaving my job might profoundly change my life. Actually, it has, but not exactly in the way that I expected. I'd imagined myself taking leisurely runs on the trail each morning, followed by a variety of activities that I've put off for years. Despite those expectations, my running schedule hasn't really changed. Highly anticipated activities, like returning to playing my classical guitar, have been put on hold. I may not be getting up at 3:30 AM anymore, but I'm working harder than ever.

Much of my attention has been diverted to a consulting practice that I recently started. Creating a business requires many steps, ranging from setting up legal and business resources, to selling services to clients. So far it's been energizing, but all the meetings, calls and proposals can wear you out. That became evident this morning when some work I was doing distracted me past my scheduled run time. After forcing myself to stop, I realized staring at web code for hours had given me a pounding headache. Instead of a run I felt like I needed a nap.

We were up late last night, but I'd found it impossible to sleep past 6:00 AM. I'd planned to go to Stillwell for a trail run. Soon enough, I started self-negotiating to shorter distances on local roads. The wind was blowing hard outside, further eroding my motivation to do my run. I started thinking about forgoing my workout altogether.

In the meantime, my wife who was similarly tired from our late night, had completed her workout and taken a shower. She said it made her feel better, although she felt her run was harder than usual. Inspired by her, I made my way to the guestroom to face the treadmill. I made no pretense that I'd make it a speedy run. This workout was far more about maintaining commitment than improving fitness and conditioning.

I started by running a pace that was 15% slower than usual, and stuck with it until the display showed one mile. From there, I began to increase the treadmill speed every couple of minutes. By the time I'd reached two miles, it was feeling like five. The experience of watching the readout slowly tick toward three miles was torturous, especially since I'd increased my speed to a relatively brisk pace by then.

Considering the short duration, I haven't had many runs that felt as hard. I was thrilled to kick down the speed after 3.1 miles for cool-down. Although I was wiped out, I was also energized, and my headache was gone. This workout felt like redemption and I was very pleased that I didn't skip my workout. On the downside, I realized that I'd failed to transfer my Fitbit to my running shorts so I didn't capture all those steps and distance. I may have lost all that data but I gained back some self esteem. 

SNAP'd out of the gully

Surprisingly good energy snack

Today's run (street): 5.2 miles

Unlike blogger friends A.S.E., Petite Pacer and A Running Chick, who regularly do long distance training runs, I've seemed to settle into the 3 to 4 mile gully. This time last year I was gearing up for the LI Half Marathon and regularly running 8 to 12 mile weekend runs. With no half to prepare for in May, and a recent bout of pain around my hip, I've lost some critical base conditioning. I went out today determined to cover at least five miles and I managed to do that.

Non-runners think that a long distance run would be hard, because they perceive the challenge as not "having enough wind." Runners know that the toughest part of a long run is battling both tedium and muscle fatigue. Let's face it, much of running is voluntarily suffering and while we've all found "the zone" at one point, most runs are teeth gritting experiences. Nature's way of getting us to keep doing it involves the release of endorphins at the end. This make us forget how much we hate running.

I headed over to the local business park by way of a loop through the neighborhood. I'd forgotten to turn left into the middle school that has a passage to my planned destination. I ended up doubling back a bit, and taking the penalty of running up an unplanned span of inclined road. In the scheme of things, that mistake probably made it easier to achieve today's distance goal.

Before I left on my run, I tried a half portion of SNAP infusion "super candy" that was given to me by my friend KWL. I went out later than I expected and was feeling pangs of hunger as I prepared. This was due to only having a small breakfast hours earlier. SNAP contains a combination of antioxidants, electrolytes and carbs and the whole package (I had just half) is only 110 calories. I expected it to taste good, but this was legitimately great. Good enough to compete with real candy.

It didn't occur to me until I'd reached the first half mile that my effortless running may have been enabled by the supplement. Despite forceful winds chilling the already cold air, I felt great, engaged and ready to cover more miles. I didn't work out yesterday (though I covered a lot of ground on foot) so perhaps that break from running helped me today. But the positive experience I had with SNAP made me want to try it again.

I covered the business park and an adjacent neighborhood before turning back towards home. I enjoyed the run, but maybe I'm just brainwashed by the endorphin effect. I'll blame my middling performance on the combination of head-on winds and the hilly route around he park. No matter, I finally broke 5 miles for the first time since early March. Compared to the others, it's still not impressive distance, but it did push me out of my gully.

No race next week : (

I had no opportunity to run today, but I did cover enough territory on foot to reach my daily distance goals. I know this because my Fitbit has a full charge and it dutifully recorded my every move. I'm planning to go for a few extra miles tomorrow instead of doing speed work. Here's why:

This would have been my fifth straight year running it

I'm sad that this race (that my family enjoys so much) is being postponed. I hope it's due to something bureaucratic and not a personal issue affecting the race organizer's family. So no race to train for at the moment. Maybe it's a good opportunity to return to the Bethpage trail this weekend.

Battery failure, goodbye data

Today's workout (elliptical): 26 minutes

I was able to sneak in an elliptical workout this morning. I didn't do a full 30 minutes because of my schedule. I figured that all the city walking I'd planned to do would constitute a full workout. I just checked my Fitbit to see how much ground I'd covered, but it had shut down due to having a low charge. I wouldn't mind, except the device doesn't warn you when the battery is low. Neither does it provide you any way of checking the level while in use. I'd write more today, except the battery on my phone has dropped below 10%, so I need to conserve. Technology tools can provide great data, but this dependency on batteries can be annoying.