I’m planning to get back to running this week, at least on the treadmill… the weather is getting perfect for long runs in the park though.

It may only be the recent trip to Texas, but Kelly and I are now addicted to Friday Night Lights.

The only back-in-Brooklyn run I’ll comment on was yesterday’s 18 miles. I got a bit of a late start and was feeling quite sluggish all along. The splits tell a sad tale– I went to my dark place at the end of mile 15 and walked .25 mi or so for each of the last three miles. It turns out that I was really only supposed to go 16 (an error on my fridge sheet!), so I can’t feel too bad about it, but I know that getting up the endurance to run it all the way through will be slow to come. I have another chance this weekend, with 17 on the same course. The first 15 miles were right where I need to be pace-wise. I took an ice bath afterward, and though I was moving slowly this morning, I feel ok now. You should have seen me get off the bus this morning at work, though.  Here’s the links to my runs:

18 miles Sunset Park to Coney Island & back
8 miles in Prospect Park
4 miles on treadmill
8 miles in Prospect Park
4 miles on the treadmill
10 miles in Prospect Park
7 miles in Western NY
3 miles around Lake Erie State Park
7 miles SUNY Fredonia to Lake Erie State Park
3 miles around Lake Erie State Park
14 miles Lake Erie State Park to SUNY Fredonia & back

The trip to Fredonia was great, and we got to see many people. Had tons of great food, but I’m glad to be back on a regular diet again. The one bad part about the trip was that I ended up in the hospital with stomach pains one morning, but it seems like it was just a bug (though they mentioned the possibility of an ulcer!). The hospital in Dunkirk has a bad reputation, but it was about the best ER experience I’ve ever had. Got checked out by my own doctor this afternoon, and it seems like I should be fine– he took more blood to check to see if there was anything to worry about. He gave me the additional good news that my cholesterol numbers were great (which I wasn’t expecting) and that I have the blood pressure of a pre-teen. I’m interpreting that as permission to eat buffalo wings and bacon at every opportunity.

There is probably so much more to tell, but I have a million other things to do. Including finishing my redesign of this site. The upgrade went pretty smoothly, but left me with the irresistable opportunity to overhaul everything. Some stuff still points to older pages, but that should be over soon. Let me know if anything starts looking kooky.

P finishing the Buffalo Marathon

Originally uploaded by activitystory.

I finished my second marathon, this time in much higher spirits. I did a bit better than I expected to, I ran it in an official time of 3:44, though according my watch, my time was 3:39, since it accounts for every step, the extended bathroom break I took in mile 21, and some stops to stretch my hamstrings in the later miles. But whatever, either way, I’m ecstatic.

I didn’t really stick to my gameplan, which was to keep an 8 minute mile pace. Each of my miles up to 11 was well under 8 minutes… which I tought was ok because it felt good and I was banking under-pace minutes for later on. Once I got past the half-marathon point though (another personal record– ), I started to feel some fatigue in my quads and couldn’t keep pace. Miles 13 to about 16 were dark times for me… I’d stopped passing people, the road was uphill, there was a headwind, and the pack had totally spread out. Pretty desolate feeling, but I did my best to keep my spirits up. I can’t explain why these long races are so emotional for me, but I spend the whole time bouncing between emotional highs and lows that I tend not to experience in normal life. Probably endorphins.

Miles 17 to about 22 were in a park a ways north from the rest of the race, and the twists and turns broke the monotony a bit. Also, Kelly and the Mulvilles showed up to cheer me on right when I needed it. These were my slowest miles; I found myself walking through the water stations and in a few other spots.

Once I hit mile 22 or so, I got super psyched again and picked things up. Had to stop to stretch my hamstrings a few times, but I certainly was excited to be in the homestretch.

I saw Kelly and the Mulvilles near the end of the race, this time they’d met up with Kelly’s mom. It gave me a nice little burst of energy to finish strong. Right when I got to the finish line, I saw Mark snapping away. .

After the race, my ice bath was not as scary or painful as I had imagined, and I think it worked… I’m much less sore than last time. I’ll definitely try that again after the NYC marathon in November.

Along with the cheering and up-to-the-second pace and distance updates from my Garmin, music also got me through the tough times in this race. I repurposed some of my training mixes and had a playlist of tracks just for this race. Here are the training mixes, which Libby has already distributed over the last few months:

• Mix from P (weirder stuff from Charlotte Marathon playlist)
• Marathon Mix 2 (rockier stuff from Charlotte Marathon playlist)
• March training mix
• April training mix

I’ll put together a mix of the “loose” songs I listened to later in the week.

Thanks for all of the support. I’ll be posting my progress for the NYC Marathon in the coming months as I work out how to make myself go faster for longer.

IMG_6572.JPG

Originally uploaded by our silly family.

Nathaniel and I finished the Thunder Road Marathon in Charlotte yesterday. My foot/ankle wasn’t fully healed from what was probably a sprain a week or so ago, so it was pretty painful for me. I ended up about 35 minutes off my goal time, but I’m glad just to have survived. The first half was really hard on me, and it took me a while to adjust, but I knew I had to finish.

Beth posted more photos here.

So, once I got everything straight with my shoes and my new gait, I got to where I could run most of every mile. My final time was about 4:24, splitting 9:05 on the first half and 10 something on the second. Physically painful, but I feel really good to have gotten through it depite it all.
The track was more hilly than anything I’d ever attempted, so if I’m healthy for the NYC marathon, where the Verrazano Bridge is the only real hill, that’ll seem easy in comparison (I hope!). But the verdict is in– I’m definitely gonna run more marathons. Nathaniel seems to feel the same way.

Here’s my big nasty bruise that is probably evidence that I shouldn’t have run:

& if anyone cares, here’s my run playlist– “The Clap,” by Cherry Valence was the first song to come up, and Colin Meloy’s acoustic cover of “Sister I’m a Poet” was, strangely, the track that I was listening to when I crossed the finish line.

A Certain Ratio    Do the Du
ABBA    Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
ABBA    Mamma Mia
ABBA    SOS
ABBA    Super Trouper
Aceyalone    The Faces
Air Miami    World Cup Fever
Bardo Pond    Tommy Gun Angel
Bauhaus    Kick In The Eye
Baxter Dury    Gingham Smalls 2
Baxter Dury    Lucifer’s Grain
Baxter Dury    Oscar Brown
Black Moth Super Rainbow    I Am The Alphabet
Blur    To The End
Bowery Electric    Fear Of Flying
Brian Eno    Here Come The Warm Jets
Broker/Dealer    Can’t Believe
CAM`RON     Hey Ma
Cherry Valence    Lose That Smile
Cherry Valence    The Clap
Chromeo    Fancy Footwork
Colin Meloy    Sister I’m A Poet
Cub    New York City
De La Soul    Brakes
Devo    Jerkin’ Back ‘n’ Forth
Dub Narcotic Sound System    Shake A Puddin
E.S.G.    You’re No Good
Egyptian Lover    Egypt Egypt
Flin Flon    Upper Ferry
Four Tet    Smile Around The Face
Garden Variety    Harbored
Gary Numan    Films
Glass Candy    Digital Versicolor
Glass Candy    Rolling Down The Hills (Spring Demo)
Gwen Stefani    Crash
Happy Mondays    God’s Cop
Henry Badowski    Henry’s In Love
Hercules and Love Affair    Athene
Honeymoon Killers    laisse tomber les filles
Huon    Complex
Ian Brown    Gettin’ High
Ikara Colt    At The Lodge
Jawbreaker    Boxcar
Jesus & Mary Chain Featuring Mazzy Star    Sometimes Always
Joanna Newsom    The Book of Right-On
Joe Jackson    A Slow Song
Joe Jackson    Another World
Joe Jackson    Look Sharp!
Joy Division    Disorder
Joy Division    Isolation
Justice    D.A.N.C.E
Koufax    It Had to Do With Love
Kraftwerk    Spacelab
Ladytron    Seventeen
LCD Soundsystem    Someone Great
Le Tigre    Well Well Well
Liz Phair    Support System
Lou Reed    Hangin’ Round
Luscious Jackson    City Song
Lynnfield Pioneers    Crossfade
MAKE-UP    They Live By Night
Mayo Thompson    Black Legs
Mayo Thompson    Good Brisk Blues
Mayo Thompson    Side Two To You
Mayo Thompson    Venus In The Morning
Michael Jackson    Rock With You
Mikkel Metal    Microho
Motorhead    White Line Fever
My Bloody Valentine    Only Shallow
My Bloody Valentine    Soon
Neko Case    Deep Red Bells
Neko Case    Hex
Neko Case    Hold On, Hold On
Neko Case    Knock Loud
Neko Case    That Teenage Feeling
Neko Case    Things That Scare Me
New Sweet Breath    Bring It On
No Doubt    Hella Good
Old 97′s    Timebomb
Oxford Collapse    Lady Lawyers
Oxford Collapse    Please Visit Your National Parks
Palace Music    Work Hard/Play Hard
Polvo    Vibracobra
Princess Superstar    Bad Babysitter (Featuring High & Mighty)
Public Image Ltd.    Socialist
Pulp    Party Hard
Pylon    Feast On My Heart
Ratatat    Seventeen Years
Redd Kross    Look On Up At The Bottom
Royal Trux    Let’s Get Lost
Shocking Blue    Inkpot
Silkworm    Couldn’t You Wait?
Silkworm    I Must Prepare (Tablecloth Tint)
Simian Mobile Disco    Hustler
Smiths    Girl Afraid
Snow Pony    Easy Way Down
Sole Sides Greates Bumps    Latyrx_Lady Don’t Tek No
Solex    A Round Figure
Solex    Oh Blimey!
Solex    Shoot Shoot!
Sons & Daughters    Awkward Duet
Sons & Daughters    Taste The Last Girl
Spoon    Anything You Want
Squeeze    Squabs On Forty Fab
Stephen Prina    Cums For Shove
Stereolab    Miss Modular
Stereolab    Our Trinitone Blast
Stereolab    Tone Burst
Subhumans    Mickey Mouse Is Dead
Suzi Quatro    Strip Me
Talking Heads    Dream Operator
Talking Heads    Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists    Hearts Of Oak
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists    The Ballad Of The Sin Eater
Television    See No Evil
The B-52s    Legal Tender
The Field    Everyday
The Lilys    lilys_nanny_ext
The New Pornographers    From Blown Speakers
The New Pornographers    It’s Only Divine Right
The New Pornographers    Sing Me Spanish Techno
The New Pornographers    The Laws Have Changed
The New Pornographers    Twin Cinema
The Odd Numbers    Holiday
The Stone Roses    I Am the Resurrection
The Stooges    Loose
Warren G & Nate Dogg    Regulators