The past couple weeks were big marathon weeks for me.  I had been attempting to run two marathons just one week apart, in NYC and OBX.  But things didn't quite work out as planned.  I completed NYC, albeit a little slower than I would have liked.  I won't go into detail here because there's a complete write-up of it on my Race Results page (linked at left). 

 

But very soon after that race, I started to feel ill.  By Wednesday of that week, I was sick with the flu.  I went to my doctor and he suggested that it was probably the swine flu.  Not good news.  I never actually got tested for the swine flu, so I don't know for sure if that was really the case.  I didn't have a very serious case of it, and the treatment would be the same as it would for regular flu (lots of rest, lots of fluids, etc) so getting tested would do nothing but satisfay curiosity.  So be it.

 

Anyway, because I had some sort of flu, I had to cancel my planned trip to North Carolina, and thus I bailed on the OBX Marathon.  Oh well, if I ever want to try two in a row, it will have to be some other time.  So now I have no races whatsoever on my calendar.  I am looking at adding a marathon in January, and right now Phoenix is the leading contender.  We'll see...

On Oct 25, I ran a 5k race in my old hometown of Summit NJ.  I had run this race last year in 21:54 (then a PR) and I came in 4th place in my Age Group.  And I was only 5 seconds away from 2nd place!  I had since improved my PR to 21:16, which would easily have gotten me an Age Group award last year.  My goal coming into this race was a new PR of 21:00.  So for the first time in my life, I was going into a race actually expecting to win an award.  Of course, I knew that it would depend on who shows up.  In most races, I'm nowhere close to an award.  But if this year would be like last year, then I thought I could do well in this crowd.

In order to hit my goal of 21 minutes, I needed to keep about a 6:45 pace.  A few years ago, I never would've dreamed that I'd be able to hold a pace like that for any amount of time.  So the fact that I wanted to do this over a 5k race means that I've come a long way.

Anyway, I was feeling good that day. First mile was 6:55 and the second mile was 6:39. After about the Mile 2 point, I was pretty much by myself. The people ahead of me were way up there and the people behind me were way back. Maybe I got a little lazy. Mile 3 was 6:47, which wasn't bad. But I think I could've pushed it a little more.
 
Well, this is where the frustrating part comes in. Again, I thought I was running all by myself. But with about 100 yards to go, I hear a guy coiming up behind me. And he was RIGHT behind me. I had no idea he was there. Well, just for fun, I decided I didn't want him to pass me, so I turned on the juice a little. But it was no use, he was coming up too fast, and he passed me with maybe 50 yards to go. At that point, I momentarily took my foot off the accelerator, so to speak, and I just figured he was gonna beat me.

But then with maybe 30 yards to go, I said to myself "Dang it, I want to catch this guy". So I really aired it out, and I caught back up to him with about 10 yards to go. Now, he hears me coming up behind him, so he turns on the juice, and ends up nipping me at the finish line. Seriously, he beat me by maybe 6 inches.

No big deal, this kind of thing happens all the time, right? He and I actually had a laugh about it right afterwards, and thanked each other for helping us shave a couple seconds off our times in that little bout of competitiveness.

But as it turns out... he beat me for first place in the M35-39 age group! We both clocked in with 20:58, but he got first place. Ack!

I guess I can't complain too much. I was hoping for an AG award, and I came in second place. Pie in the sky goal was 21:00 and I beat it by 2 seconds. But darn it, I know I could've shaved at least one more measely second off my time somewhere in that third mile if I knew he was that close behind me. Dammit!

Oh well.  If nothing else, it gives me confidence that I can occasionally compete for an award, as long as the field shapes up the right way. 

And now, the New York City Marathon is just three days away...

Today is our daughter's second birthday!  I can't believe two years have gone by already.  Time sure does fly...

 

Anyway, I hope she has a wonderful day.  She is the light of my life, and I hope she has many many many more wonderful birthdays to come.

Oops, it's been a while since my last post, eh?  Oh well.  Once a slacker, always a slacker.

 

I haven't said anything about college football this season yet, have I?  Well, we're a few weeks into the season already.  My Gators are still undefeated, but with Tim Tebow on the sidelines with a concussion, that might not last.  Thankfully, this coming Saturday is the bye week.  Will he be ready for the LSU game on Oct 10?  I guess it remains to be seen.  I think the Gators' schedule is weak enough that the team might be able to continue winning without him.  But it won't be easy.

 

Of course, what would a blog post be without some comment about my running.  I've got the New York City Marathon coming up in just about a month (Nov 1) and the Outer Banks Marathon in North Carolina the weekend after that.  I know I'm crazy to be attempting marathons on consecutive weekends, but so what.  If I'm going to get all 50 states in a reasonable amount of time, I have to take some chances like this.  I'm fairly confident that I can complete both races.  It might not be pretty in the second one, but I can get it done.

 

Hopefully I won't wait this long again until the next blog entry...

The Run With The Horses Marathon is now behind me.  It was the most difficult one I have done so far, topping the previous marathon in Deadwood, South Dakota.  I have a detailed report of the race on my Race Reports page, which is linked at the left.  There are also a number of pictures from my weekend out west there.  Please take a look.

 

So, New York City is up next.  It should be completely different from these last two.  It will certainly be a lot more crowded, and it will also be a heck of a lot flatter.  And hopefully I will consider it much easier.  I guess we'll see.

 

This coming weekend I will be running the New Haven Road Race 20k for the 6th straight year.  I always find this race very enjoyable, and I look forward to doing it again.

 

Well, that's it for today's update...