Bucks County Duathlon – race recap

September 3, 2014ianesenior 4 Comments

Bucks County Duathlon

This weekend I participated in the 5th annual Bucks County Duathlon. This is a combined 2 mile run, 10 mile ride and 2 mile run which starts and finishes at Washington Crossing Park on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River alongside the Delaware Canal (the same location of my recent marathon).

I had participated in this event in 2011 (on a borrowed bicycle) and in 2012 (on my own bicycle) and had to miss it in 2013 for a family wedding. It’s a small event, less than 200 people, but some of these folks are serious triathletes and their clubs were represented by team tents at the staging area. It is used as a fundraiser to support Missy Flynn, a local triathlete who suffered a brain aneurysm back in 2010 and needs help and support for ongoing medical costs.

Race packet pickup was held at the Newtown Bike Store in the week leading up to the event. Race swag was a technical t-shirt with a silhouette of the famous ‘Washington Crossing the Delaware’ painting.

I set up my gear the night before and planned to wear my INKnBURN ‘Rock and Roll’ shirt with my tri-shorts. Ever so stylish, although the British theme for a race at Washington Crossing Park may have seemed like an odd choice 😉

‘Flat Ian’ the night before

The race started at 8am on Sunday morning but you needed to leave enough time to set up your bicycle and related gear in the transition area. I arrived with enough time to check my tires, pick a spot near the end of a row and set out my cycling shoes (my bicycle uses clip pedals), helmet, gloves, etc. I also brought out my old Garmin 305 multisport watch. Having run with the Garmin Forerunner 220 since earlier this year it seemed huge but does what I needed. I only switched to the 220 because the 305 took forever to locate my position. I had plenty of time for the GPS to find me on race day.

It’s big but it does the trick

I set up my gear and waited for the start of the race.

My wheels

All set up

The race consisted of a 2 mile loop starting in the park, out along the canal and back to the transition area. There was a timing mat at the entrance and exit of the transition area where you had to walk (run) your bike out and back in. The ride consisted of an out and back 2.5 mile ride which we did twice for a total of 10 miles before the returning our bicycles and running the second loop which was the same as the first.

Ready to start

Start and finish was in the same location

Transition area

Transition area

The race director gave pre-race instructions around 7:45am and we all lined up according to our waves. It was elites first then age groups male and female every minute after. One of the athletes played the National Anthem on their trumpet and then the horn sounded and the waves all went off as directed.

I ran the first loop pretty steadily. As each running leg was short I decided to not use my usual run/walk/run method and just go for it. I didn’t go all out as I knew I still had a ride and a second run to do but I did push a little harder than my regular pace. This paid off with a first leg of the duathlon running splits less than 8 minutes/mile.

First leg of the race – 2 mile run

Even though I was passed by many runners soon after the start, along the course of the 2 miles I managed to keep a steady pace and reel a few of the runners back and pass then in the last half mile or so. Based upon the results I was placed 68/141 for the first run.

From there it was on to the transition area. This seemed to go fine although I did struggle to put on one of my running gloves in the humidity and rush of the morning. Then I ran my bicycle out of the transition area to where we were allowed to mount the bicycle and headed off on the road for the ride leg of the event.

Leaving the transition area

This is where I was separated from the real triathletes in the race. I own a hybrid bicycle (Trek FX 7.2) not a road or tri bicycle that it seemed the majority of folks out there were riding. Now as fast as my legs could pedal I was being passed constantly on the second half of the ride. Those with the right gear (lightweight/aerodynamic) just flew past me on the road.

Being followed by a local police cruiser…not for speeding obviously!!!

I averaged about 16 miles per hour on the road (it was fairly flat) but the speedier folks were pushing well beyond 20 miles per hour and it showed as I saw all the folks I had run past were now ahead of me. I was placed 114/141 for the bicycle portion. Ouch!!!

Second leg of the race – 10 mile ride

Then back to the transition area. This is the point in the race that I always joke that the difference between the first and last runs are you start out like Forrest Gump and come back like Lieutenant Dan. I started to run on the third and final part of the race and my legs were like jelly. I could just about feel my feet and it just felt weird for at least the first half mile. I just made constant motion and moved forward as best I could.

I was a little slower for the third part of the race, but then so was everyone else. Like before I didn’t use the run/walk/run method and just went for it as best I could. Not flat-out as my legs probably would not have taken that effort, but just fast enough to maintain a sub 8 minute mile. I noticeably passed more people on this second run and this showed as I finished this final leg 44/141, better than the first run even though the time was 2 seconds slower. I pushed hard for this last leg.

Final leg of the race – 2 mile run

Overall I came in with a combined time (including the two transitions) of 1:11:37, a PR of 5:01 over my 2012 efforts placing 84/141. Next to all those serious tri-guys I was happy with this result. 🙂

Final Results

Boom!!! A new PR

In the post race area there were places to check your final times as well as post race refreshments (bagels with cream cheese, bananas and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches). I took to a picnic table to cool down and stretch and enjoy my bagel as I watched the other competitors run in. It was a beautiful but warm morning. I worked pretty hard on the day but was very happy with the result.

With all the runners in I decided to grab my gear and head home (my wife had an 18 mile run planned and it was getting warmer and later in the day). The volunteers in the transition area made sure that everyone’s bib number matched the bicycle tag number (for security reasons) and I headed home. This was the end of my bicycle riding for the season and so I put my Trek back into storage with my bike rack. Now back to focusing on my upcoming running events. Perhaps next year is the year I turn the ‘Duathlon’ into a ‘Triathlon’…

A good day for a PR as I headed home.

Thanks for reading.

Upcoming races:

September 21 – Rock and Rock Philadelphia Half Marathon

October 18 – Baltimore Marathon

November – Thanksgiving race in Florida – TBD (anything from a 5K to a Half Marathon)

January 10-11 – Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge

If you are interested in any of the INKnBURN gear, please feel free to use my Ambassador code (INBians14) on their site for a 15% discount on any of their merchandise. Take a look at their site and hope you find something you might like to try.

‘Chasing the Unicorn’ Marathon race recap

August 26, 2014ianesenior 8 Comments

Last Sunday I completed the ‘Chasing the Unicorn‘ Marathon along the Delaware Canal at Washington Crossing in PA. The good is that I completed the race, the bad, well let’s just get it out of the way, I missed my goal…by a lot. However, I’m not going to dwell too much on what turned out to be a great weekend anyway. In summary, it was one of my worst races but one of my best finishes. I’ll explain below.

I had signed up for this race based upon the fact that I PR’d earlier this year at the New Jersey Marathon and this included running the last 9 miles into what felt like a wind tunnel. I felt that I could do better. This race was created in 2013 by the Race Director of runBucks (Pat McCloskey) as a late summer chance for folks trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2014. The unicorn is the symbol of the Boston Athletic Assocation.

Boston Athletic Assocation

You can read about my reasons for signing up in my previous post (‘Chasing The Unicorn…or at least trying‘). So with sights set on improving my PR I followed Hal Higdon’s Intermediate 2 plan. This was a bit of a step up from the Intermediate 1 plan that I typically use and had higher mileage and an extra 20 mile run in the program. Luckily it was a pretty mild summer in comparison to recent years so all those extra early morning miles were actually quite enjoyable.

Anyway, back to the weekend itself.

On the Saturday evening before the marathon runBucks hosted the Washington Crossing 15K which started at finished in the same place as the marathon on Sunday. My wife had run this race last year and she had registered for it again this year. My wife and I run a lot of races, some together and some separately. Mostly we run separately as one of us is always staying with the boys as these races are typically early mornings. This race started at 5pm on Saturday which meant that we could all attend the race as a family and my wife would have her own (very loud) cheering section.

So after a breakfast of Mickey Mouse waffles (the best way of carb loading) and a full day at Sesame Place with the family we headed to Washington Crossing to cheer my wife on as a family.

Sharing our signs with our favorite runner

Asher’s sign

Micah’s sign

My sign

Ready to go

After the race had begun and everyone was off on their way the race director opened up the bib pick up for the marathon the next day so I headed over and grabbed my bib and race shirt. Then we sat around and waited for the first runners to come back in before taking our place along the finish line chute to cheer on Shari.

Waiting for Mommy and watching the other runners

Here she comes…

Sprinting to the finish

…there she goes

My wife beat her time from last year, running a nice pace and pushing hard at the end.

Finish time. Good pace.

Of course she was then mobbed by the boys who had been without her for over and hour and were probably tired of me and the waiting around!!!

Her best cheerleaders

Sharing her bling

There was a pavilion at the park where the race director had set up a pasta dinner buffet for post-race and also as a pre-race dinner for tomorrow so we headed over to eat. You would think my boys had were prepping for an ultra-marathon the next day…but they do have good appetites for sure. We even had to make a dessert stop on the way home (although I may have partaken in that too).

Once home we got the kids to bed and now it was my turn to prepare for the marathon the next morning. Based upon the forecast and my wife’s feedback from her race I began to wonder if I should carry water for the race. It was August and I have never run a marathon at this time of the year. The course itself being a double out and back on a narrow footpath meant that water stations were somewhat limited and my wife told me that crossing the two way traffic for water stops might be tricky. With that said, better to carry water and not use it than to run and need water. I decided to race wearing my Nathan Speed 2 hydration belt.

I set out my gear the night before as usual. I planned to wear my new Buddha shirt that I received from my recent INKnBURN grab bag. The grab bag is a selection of shirts that are either no longer made, one off samples or some of their current selection. You don’t know what you are going to get until the package arrives. I was very happy with my selection and opted for a nice bright color. Who says running gear has to be boring. It wasn’t as if I was going to win this race but perhaps I could make the ‘best dressed’ list 😉

‘Flat Ian’ the night before

It’s strange and nice to have a race local and be longer than a 5K. I got up around my usual time when I go out for a long run in the morning and got ready, grabbed my Powerbar and headed out to Washington Crossing. I had stated that I was shooting for a goal time of 3:50 or better. I wasn’t going to qualify for Boston but I knew this was perhaps a stretch goal having only just run 3:54 a few months earlier, but I had trained hard and felt good going into the race.

When I arrived I saw all these elite looking runners and was feeling a little intimidated at first. The night before they had announced that about 30% of the field planned to run 3:25 or better. Eek!!! What was I doing here??? But as I made my way from the parking lot to the starting area I saw other runners who were ’50 State’ runners and ‘Marathon Maniacs’ that looked like they were there for the ‘taking part’ and not just for the ‘BQ’. I also saw a few other runners wearing hydration belts and packs so I felt comfortable with my decision.

Ready to get started. Wearing my INKnBURN Buddha shirt.

It was a cool morning and as we got into the corrals it actually started to rain lightly which was a little unexpected given the forecast. There were about 300 entrants into the race. They had a small early group start around 6:15am and this consisted of some walkers as well as those that may not meet the planned cut off time. The full race was to start at 7:15am. Each wave included about 50 runners. The waves would set off 30 seconds apart so being in wave 3 was just 90 seconds behind the leaders (at the start line).

The course itself was a double out-and-back loop along the Delaware Canal Towpath from Washington Crossing, PA to the turnaround point in New Hope, PA. The path itself is a soft easy trail of mostly crushed stone. It is narrow in places, almost single file, but mostly you could have two-way traffic so we got to see the leaders 2 to 3 times depending upon your pace. The elevation is minimal and for the most part the course is in the shade.

Here is the ‘Map My Run’ version of the course from the runBUCKS website.

Waiting in the corral for my wave.

Okay, to the race itself, and also the reason it has taken me over a week to actually post the write up to my blog.

With all the confidence in the world I knew in the back of my mind going in that this was a stretch goal for me. I had reduced my PR already this year by over 4 and a half minutes and I was looking to do the same. I don’t have a coach so I follow a plan and to all intents and purposes I am the one who manages my day to day training. With that in mind all I can say is that I learn a lot from experience. This was going to be one of those learning experiences but I didn’t know that when I started out…

As we started out I quickly went to the front of my wave so I could get ahead of folks early on and make sure that I could maintain my run/walk Galloway intervals (4:00/0:45) without interfering with a big pack of runners. I knew that the canal was narrow and this may be a difficult task (in fact I did have to walk through some messy places to get out the way of folks during the walking intervals) but I seemed to be maintaining my pace with the same folks for the first few miles. I used the same intervals that led to my PR back in late April.

During the first 6-7 miles it rained steadily. This was actually quite cooling and not heavy like the rain I had to run in during The Love Run earlier this year (although it was about 20 degrees warmer which helped). As you can see from my initial splits below I was on pace (actually a little faster) for the first 8 or so miles. To hit 3:50 according to my pace band I should be pacing at 8:47 per mile. I was feeling confident although I noticed that my heart rate was elevated in the normal range but not returning back as normal during the walk breaks. I tend to reach 160-170 bpm’s during the run and it usually hits 120-130 bpm’s at the end of the 45 second walk. This time I was still around 150 bpm’s after the end of each walk break. At this point I hadn’t taken any caffeine or a caffeine infused gels so I wasn’t sure why.

The first part of the race. So far so good.

It wasn’t until around miles 9 to 10 when I started to feel a bit uncomfortable. I developed a pain in my side, not so much a stitch but an ache. It was a little strange but I couldn’t get rid of it even with a walk break and some water. Thankfully I had my water belt on as the water stations were a little sparse due to the course constraints around the turn around. By mile 11 I had an ache in my stomach which seemed to be more of a hunger pain than anything but I hadn’t done anything different in preparing for this marathon than in any of the other marathons I had run.

I reached the half way point at 1:55 so I was still only a minute or two back from my goal time but I knew I was slowing. The 13.1 mile turnaround was being managed by Tammy, a fellow ‘Mickey Miler’ who I had met with at the race the day before and was volunteering today. It helped to see a smiling face to cheer me at the halfway point. I was hurting at this point. I knew that my goal was probably not going to be met and pretty much made peace with that. It was a stretch goal after all but I figured if I could maintain a decent pace for the second half I might still PR for the day.

The hard part about an out and back, especially a double out and back, is that you know exactly how far you are in to the race and how far you have left to go. I wasn’t tempted to quit at the halfway point even though I could have. That was never on the cards for me. I knew whatever happened I still had to finish whether I made my goal, PR or was struggling.

I struggled for pretty much the second half of the race. It wasn’t a case of the wheels on the bus go round and round…they fell off. Here are my splits for the remainder of the race. You can see the decline in pace. It is quite a drop from 8:30s to 11:30s.

My second set of splits – the wheels are coming loose 😦

My third set of splits – the wheels are completely off!!!

I will be honest with you here. I never considered quitting, that’s just not what I want to do or set as an example to my boys. I did consider walking it in. I felt dreadful, empty inside, not in pain but not great. I just made sure I kept shuffling on. It wasn’t my best performance by any means. I set myself little goals in a hope to get to the finish. My heart rate was still high so I started to adjust my intervals to 3:45/1:00 and ultimately I ended up running 2:00/1:00 just to make sure I could keep going as the day got longer and the temperatures got warmer. My goals moved a little but I tried to make them attainable, for example, maintain the pace and break 4 hours. Once that goal was missed I set myself a goal of getting home in less than 4:10 and so on.

It was a little demoralizing but as I struggled in I noticed that no one was passing me. The faster runners had long finished (the winner ran 2:38) but I was still out there going forward. I knew I would eventually finish and as I had spoken with my wife the night before I expected to see my family at the finish line. I had told them that I hoped to be crossing the line around 11am (that would have been a 3:45 goal). My wife and kids were very patient as I missed that time by 30 minutes.

Finally, with about less than 2 miles to go I pushed as best I could. I could see the finish area across the park and buckled down to finish. As I was heading towards the finish line I saw that it was blocked by an ambulance. I younger runner had gone down less than half a mile before the finish line. My wife later told me that she was very worried it was me as she had expected me earlier and there was no news at the finish line other than a male runner had gone down. The EMS crew waved me around the ambulance and then I saw the finish line…and my family.

As I ran towards the finish line I heard my kids yelling out for me and jumping up and down with excitement. They had no clue as to how I was feeling at that point and there was not reason that they needed to know. As I ran up towards them they just beamed their big smiles at me. There was no one else coming in to finish at that time so I went over to the boys and told them to run in with me. I may have been feeling low over the last few miles but their being there for me totally lifted my spirits. We crossed the line as a family and I’ve never been happier to have finished a marathon. Goal or no goal, this finish is the best so far.

My best ever finish.

You cannot be that feeling. I may not have made my goal, I may not have PR’d, heck this was my slowest marathon (I ran 4:15), but at that moment it felt like my best. I totally got over any disappointment as this is a memory I will cherish. Having my boys run alongside me was absolutely awesome.

I made it through the finish line and got my medal and we headed over to grab the gear they had left when they joined me to run to the finish. I was beat. I think it shows.

I was cooked. This is what a tough marathon feels like. Better to have experienced it and come out feeling positive.

So, I have two young boys who hadn’t seen me since the night before. I had no time to feel sorry for myself. They were all over me like a bee is to honey. They needed my attention more than I needed theirs so this was a very quick healing for any blues I may have been feeling at the time. No point in setting a bad example of being a misery in front of the kids. Get up, brush yourself down and know there are things more important than just PR’s. There will certainly be other races and many where my kids are not able to see me at the finish line. I aimed to savor my time with them. It really cheered me up. As you can see from the photo below I don’t look too disappointed. After all, I had still finished another marathon. That’s still something of an achievement.

Kids didn’t even mind sweaty hugs. They were excited to see me after all.

We headed over to the pavilion where there was food for the runners (and apparently for my offspring who again ate like they had run an ultra-marathon). The race director had catered well for runners both the night before and after the race today. In fact, I’ve never eaten French toast sticks as post race food before but they weren’t too bad. A little carbs with a little sugar. I was happy.

Post race food was provided. We ate well.

After a little food and some time to relax we started to head back to our cars so we could get home. After all it was still early enough in the day to have a full afternoon of activities with the family. By the time we headed out I had really forgotten how bad I had felt during the race and was pretty much over the fact that I had missed my goal. It was as simple as that. Over and done. Move on.

Happy to be with my family at the finish. The best cure for a bad race.

Still smiling. I still finished a marathon.

Okay…so not my best time.

At the end of this all I can look back knowing that yes, this was a stretch goal, but I still finished another full marathon. I am not disappointed. In fact I may remember this as one of my favorites just because I got to share it with my family. I remember back in January when I finished the Dopey Challenge. As happy as I was to finish that event I remember feeling a little sad at the finish line area as I had no one to share it with at that very moment. The support makes all the difference between highs and lows.

Hard to be sad with support like this.

I’m not sure I would rush back for this event again (unless I feel like redemption). This is not a negative on the race at all. I had a goal in mind and I didn’t meet it. I used this race for a specific purpose and as I train here a lot (for free) I’m not sure I would return unless I felt like it was the right opportunity. This race is designed as a BQ race specifically so it doesn’t have all the fancy bells and whistles of other big races. The race director did an outstanding job both days. I may return for the 15K next year as that will be fun to race.

The rest of the this year and into next I am running races with my wife. I’m not looking to PR in any of these but looking to have fun and enjoy the experiences together. I didn’t know what to say about my experience in this blog post (again, that is why it took me over a week), but now a week out from the race and reading what I have written above it really does have a silver lining. I may never catch that Unicorn but for me that is not the most important thing. I came late to running and every marathon finish line is a victory, fast or slow.

Thank you for reading.

June 2014 – Month in review

July 2, 2014ianesenior 3 Comments

Lots of fun times in addition to running this month including a couple of nice surprises.

June 2014 – Nike+ Summary

I reached a new milestone this month. This was the first month since I started running that I ran more than 200 miles in a month (202 per my stats). No wonder I’m tired. This is mostly due to me using Hal Higdon’s Intermediate 2 plan which has more mileage midweek and an extra 20 miler in the plan (1 down and 2 to go as of June 30th). So far all is going well even as the heat and humidity makes the runs more of a workout than normal. I guess training for an August marathon will test your endurance.

The month started with me continuing on the training plan for the marathon but now the distances are becoming greater every week. The good thing is that it is lighter in the morning and with the exception of when I had to travel out of town for work (more on that below) I have been able to run in the daylight and on a few occasions see the sun rise. It’s been fun. I am seeing a lot of familiar faces and a few new faces as I run my usual laps of the park. Good to see some folks out there making their first strides. I encourage with a smile and a wave as I run past as it seems everyone is plugged in but it is paying off now and I get the smiles back. Runners etiquette. Love it.

We finally said goodbye to our BOB Ironman double stroller. Our boys are just too big for this now and I was really struggling to run and push them and keep up with my wife when running. They really had exceeded the weight limit and my eldest son’s knees were pretty much touching his ears. We had lots of fun with that stroller over the last couple of years and we put on a good number of miles together. It was great while it lasted but when casual observers commented that my son was big enough to push me we knew it was time.

Our first stroller run – Memorial Day 2012

Our last stroller run – Memorial Day 2014

On Father’s Day I ran the Gary Papa 5K for Prostate Cancer and met up with my fellow Mickey Miler, Joe. It was nice to meet him and it was a fun day. I travelled down with my father in law and it was good to see him back running races. He is signed up for a few more this year including the Rock and Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon in September. Together with my wife, my sister in law and future brother in law we have a full caravan of cars heading down and it should be a fun day.

At the start with my Father in law

At the finish line with Joe.

On Father’s Day we also go to celebrate my son’s team winning the Flag Football Superbowl. They were unbeaten all season. Now I have to start building my son’s trophy shelf. He was very happy and we are very proud of him and how he played with the team.

My little champion

This month also included the Cycle Bucks County event. This was the third year I have taken part in this event and it was a really beautiful sunny day. I opted for the 25 mile route (actually 27 miles) and there were also 10, 50 and 60 mile routes to ride. It was very hilly but a good workout. I did walk a couple of hills (as did many others) as I didn’t want to fry my quads and also as I had a 19 mile run on the training plan the day after.

I earned my ice cream on this ride.

With a net elevation of almost 1,900 feet it was a very good workout. You can see the route here.

We had a pleasant surprise when my in laws offered to take our two boys up to Albany, NY for the weekend to visit family. My wife and I had free time which we had not planned that weekend and we took advantage of having some personal time on Saturday to get some stuff done which we wouldn’t have had a chance with the boys around, go out for a nice relaxing dinner and catch a movie. The next day we could sleep a little later and both get our long runs in. I had 19 to run as I said earlier and my wife joined me at mile 8 and we ran my last 11 miles together. She took me to some places in Tyler Park that I had never visited and some hills I had never run before (probably not planning to run those again either). We then had a nice quiet brunch and then headed out to an evening concert (The Steve Miller Band and Journey). A great weekend.

Running the ‘Covered Bridge Trail’ in Tyler Park. A first for me.

Work took me to Atlanta, Georgia this month (and I will be heading there a few times this year). My hotel was nearer Piedmont Park this time around and the office I needed to visit was next to my hotel. With the exception of my first travel day when I headed straight to the office I was able to run every morning. With my short commute (next door) I was able to get my longer training runs in without getting up so early. I usually commute about 55 miles each way so I have to get up early to get my running in. This was also the first of my big weeks on the training plan and it called for runs of 5, 10, 5, 10 and 20. The sun does rise later as we are further west so I had my headlamp for both of the midweek long runs but was able to finish in the day light. It was warm and humid but good training for the heat I will expect in August.

While in Atlanta I got the chance to catch up with ‘Fast Eddie’ McCoy. He is a big part of the Mickey Milers running team and is a big inspiration to many as well as lots of fun. He met me on Wednesday evening while I was there and took me out for a group run from one of the local breweries (Red Brick Brewing Co.). It was about 90 degrees when we ran and it we hit some pretty big climbs. Eddie is fast and his slow is my fast. I was keeping up but it was a hard and fun workout, especially considering the heat. We shared a couple of beers and then had a really nice dinner at Tin Lizzy’s Cantina in Midtown Atlanta. I will definitely be heading back there when I next visit. The last couple of trips to Atlanta I have participated in group runs. I will be looking into doing another one evening on my next trip as I will be travelling solo next time.

Post 5K run with Eddie.

I finished off the month with a 20 mile long run when I got back from Atlanta. It went well and I felt good even the day after when my boys and I had a crazy busy day together using our membership at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey.

Enjoying time at the Adventure Aquarium

Great times at the Adventure Aquarium

Enjoying a 'Cake Batter Shake'. I claim only 1/3rd of the calories :-)

Enjoying a ‘Cake Batter Shake’ with my boys

Also new this month, for me anyway, were my new shirts from ‘INKnBURN‘. I took advantage of some discount codes online and purchased a few items. I’m really happy with them. I think the shirts are great and they work well as technical running shirts. Very comfortable.

The ‘Healing Mandala’ tech shirt

The ‘Ganesha’ tech shirt

The ‘Rock’n Roll Run or Die’ tank top

It was a busy month and I had lots of time on my feet outdoors both training, running with friends, running with my wife and playing with my boys. I’d say June was a success. Looking forward to the rest of summer.

While I have your attention (if you have stuck with me this far I guess I have) I’d like to remind and ask you if you would be willing to support me in my fundraising efforts for Autism Speaks. As you may know from this blog I will be running the 2015 Walt Disney World ‘Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge’ with Team Up / Autism Speaks. This will be my third year running for this team and I hope to take my total raised over the years to over $10,000. I cannot do this without everyone’s support. If you feel you can contribute I would very much appreciate this. I thank you in advance. You can donate by using this link.

Thank you for reading and have a great summer.

April and May – Month(s) in review

June 3, 2014ianesenior Leave a comment

As I was starting my review for May I realized that I never posted the month in review for April. It may have been that I was a little busy around the month end (see here) which took my mind elsewhere for a few days and I never actually realized my oversight until just now. April, after all, was a pretty big month for me.

April 2014 – Nike+ Summary

My monthly stats show 152 miles but that is not the whole story for the month. I set a new Marathon PR (3:54:30) at the New Jersey Marathon. In addition I ran a the inaugural Philadelphia Hot Chocolate 15K and the Bucks County Half Marathon. With the inaugural Philadelphia LOVE Run back on March 30th this made for a very busy few weeks of training and racing. The cool thing about that is that all my race times were around my marathon goal pace so I actually went into the marathon with confidence. All the hard work paid off. I was a very happy fellow for a few days…until I had to take about 10 days of unforced rest.

Philadelphia Hot Chocolate 15K

Bucks County Half Marathon

What else…oh yes, my wife and I signed up for the Baltimore Running Festival. We will be running the Baltimore Marathon together. My hope is that we can bring her marathon PR down further. I’m confident she can. We also signed up for the 2014 Rock and Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon. I was hesitant to do this again as I have run it for the last 3 years and we had discussed skipping this but for some reason we decided to give it another chance this year. After all, we have a family wedding later this year and we want to look good in the pictures.

April was also registration time for the 2015 Walt Disney World Marathon weekend. Again I signed up with Team Up/Autism Speaks for a third year but this time ‘just’ the Goofy Challenge. My wife also signed up with Team Up so we are fundraising together (harder than training if you ask me). As part of our fundraising efforts we are running two virtual 5K fun run/walk events. This proved both popular and successful for me last year and we are hoping for the same this year. We actually have some really great medals and vendors have been generous to offer some cool prizes for participants this year. I hope you take a few minutes to take a look, perhaps join in one of the events and please do share this with your friends/running partners. It should be fun. Here are the medals designed for the events.

005K medal

Going Goofy

With a rather abrupt end to April (running wise) and a short break in training in May I had some ground to make up…well, really I was antsy and wanted to get back out there ASAP. Here is my recap for May.

May 2014 – Nike+ Summary

I still managed to get 113 training miles in during the month and was very grateful to be able to do so. The weather outside in May has been glorious. Yes, there have been some cool mornings but with the exception of a couple of rainy runs it has been great to be outdoors in the early mornings as the sun is rising and get my runs in. Now that I am training using Hal Higdon’s Intermediate 2 training program my weekday mileage has crept up a little. I’m glad for the extra sunlight so I am not so reliant on the headlamp right now.

My wife ran in a couple of races this month. Early in May she ran a new PR at the Broad Street Run 10 miler in Philadelphia and on Mother’s Day I signed her up for a local 10K where she came back with a 2nd place age group finisher award. Go Shari!!! I’m a big fan (when I can keep up with her).

My wife with one of her awards (2nd place age group – Mother’s Day 10K)

The rest of this month has really been focused on managing the new training program and the increase in mileage. I am trying to follow the program diligently and doing the pace runs before the long runs. So far so good. Holding about an 8:30 min/mile pace on the hilly course where I train so I’m pleased with that.

On Memorial Day I finally took the bike out for my first ride of the season. I’m pleased to say that I got in 20 miles and felt comfortable. I have signed up for a third year now for the Cycle Bucks County riding event in June so I’m looking forward to that. I think 25 miles is my comfort level when it comes to cycling right now. I’m not yet ready for the Ironman training.

Memorial Day was also the last time we did a family run with our double stroller. The boys are just too big. We bought the double stroller back in 2012 so that my wife and I could both run together with the boys. We have put on well over 150 miles running together with the stroller including three 5K races as well as a couple of long vacation runs. We figured that the boys were on the cusp of the weight limit at the end of last summer but held on to it over the winter. We took it out on Memorial Day and I just couldn’t keep up with my wife. My boys are getting bigger and we were not able to keep up with each other. It was time for it to go but we had some great times running and a lot of fun. It went to a good home.

As you can see, the boys are big enough to push me.

With the good results of the medical procedure behind me I can now concentrate on other matters. One thing I wanted to look at since I PR’d at the New Jersey Marathon is a chance to better it. I think I can do it. I signed up for a local marathon held in late summer on a flat and fast course along the Delaware Canal Towpath. It is in August so there may be some heat to deal with but that is my goal and after that I can enjoy Baltimore and then Goofy with my wife.

I’ve also signed up for the Gary Papa Father’s Day 5K in Philadelphia. I ran this back in 2012 and this is still my 5K PR (23:31) although I don’t run many anymore. I haven’t decided if I am going to race this for a PR or do this for fun. We shall see how I feel closer to the date. It is a good fundraiser for prostate cancer awareness and draws a large number of entrants. It is a fairly flat and fast course down by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. That is coming up on Father’s Day (June 15).

Also, I finally I decided to sign up for a race that I had been tempted to in the past but had not done yet. A midnight 8 miler in July as part of the ‘philadelphia#in24‘ series of races taking place along the banks of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia on July 19 through the 20th. It is a 24 hour event featuring an ultra marathon, a relay challenge, a midnight run and a 5K. Should be fun. I’ll be there all lit up in lights and reflective gear.

I have a pretty busy season coming up and lots to look forward to. It’s not all running though. As much as my wife and I pack in with our training and racing we still have plenty of time for our boys. There is a swimming pool in our development for those hot summer afternoons, we just bought a trampoline so our kids can tire themselves out (hopefully) as well as memberships at Sesame Place, the Adventure Aquarium in New Jersey, the Philadelphia Zoo and the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia (thank you Groupon for all you do!). We are also planning a weekend in New York City with the boys and are planning a trip to the Statue of Liberty. As I said, running is just part of our lives…not all that we do.

Thanks for reading. Hope you are having a good start to the summer.

2014 Bucks County Half Marathon – Race Recap

April 18, 2014ianesenior 3 Comments

Last weekend I ran the 2014 Bucks County Half Marathon. This was my very first half marathon back in April 2011 (my wife convinced me to sign up two weeks prior to the event that time). I also ran the event back in 2012 but it didn’t fit into my training program for last year’s New Jersey Marathon. This year, however, the plan called for 12 miles so this was a good fit.

It is held in Tyler State Park in Richboro, PA and is about 10 minutes for my house. I have trained in there for a number of my marathons. It is a great place to run. As I was driving to the event that morning I realized I became one of those people who paid to run somewhere I typically run for free. I guess that makes me a ‘real runner’ LOL.

The packet pickup was pretty simple. It was held at the Newtown Athletic Club. There wasn’t an expo but they did have some race merchandise (new this year). The club was local so I was able to run in/out quickly so as not to mess up our day. This was great because my last few races have had packet pickups which have not been very convenient. Did I tell you that I love local races?

The weather forecast for the event was much better than in the previous two weeks (see LOVE Run and Hot Chocolate Run recaps) so I was looking forward to actually staying warm and dry. I set up my gear the night before as always before a race and chose to wear my newest shoes which I plan to wear for the marathon to get a few miles/long runs on them before the big day. They are a little red don’t you think?

Race ready with my red shoes

Being a local race I didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn like usual. With a 10 minute drive and no parking issues that I knew of I planned to leave the house around 7am for an 8am start. No problem…or so I thought. It looks like everyone else had the same idea. Yup…panic sets in when you are stuck trying to get into the park and it is already 7:30. I took a couple of pictures outside the park as I and dozens of others were trying to get to the starting area.

So....I guess everyone is local and had the same idea

So….I guess everyone is local. This was the line outside trying to get into the park

This was the line inside the park waiting to park

I finally made it into the parking lot, stretched by my car and walked a couple of hundred yards to the starting area. First things first when you get to a race close to the start time…you hit the port-a-potties. Again, everyone had the same idea. Ugh! There were about a dozen port-a-potties for about 700 people. I stood in line as the clock ticked down to the start time. The line didn’t really move. Ugh! Well…I looked around and saw that a few people were making their way across an adjacent field. What happens in the woods, stays in the woods.

Nature literally calls…

The race was set to start at 8am (at least I thought it did). Actually, and thankfully, it started around 8:15am. I think there may have been a deliberate delay as when I was walking from the parking lot there were a few folks from the race crew running up and back with walkie-talkies. I figure they recognized the bottle neck of people trying to get into the park so pushed the start back.

Folks relaxing in the starting corral

There were no corrals like in bigger races. The faster runners placed themselves up near the front and everyone else kind of either stood with friends, near the back if they were walking or just stood where they were. I saw someone I knew (Jason) and headed back to wish him good luck. The National Anthem was sung and off we went.

Now the one thing about starting near the ‘Arts Center’ at Tyler is that by the center there is space to mill around (see the corral photo above) but within a couple of hundred yards from the start line the pathway significantly narrows. At best you can have 3 people run side by side comfortably. As you progress down that path (it’s a downhill) the sides off the path drop away so there is not much opportunity to pass other runners unless you like to live dangerously and don’t need both ankles to run on. Needless to say the first half mile pretty soon became a bottle neck. That is not the fault of the organizers but more a limit of the terrain in the park.

The race didn’t have waved corrals and the one corral we did have wasn’t stacked by pace like I have seen in other races. I have been to other races when everyone goes in one big wave but they have put out signs within the corral based upon pace so people could line up under 7:00/mile, 8:00/mile, 9:00/mile, etc which meant that people would start out with similar paced runners and that would somewhat alleviate bottle necks and people trying to pass in the first half mile or so. Just a thought.

It was actually too crowded that it was really unsafe for me to do my usual run/walk interval (currently using 4:00/0:45) because I feared it would be too dangerous for me to stop. Now I don’t necessarily have to take my walk intervals so I ended up skipping the first two intervals and ran the first mile with the other runners until there was enough space around me to make it safe to move over to the side for a walk break. The temperatures were already rising so I took water in early and pretty much skipped only a couple of water stations when they were close together.

The course for the race is a small loop of 3 miles and then two 5 mile loops. The 5 mile loop is my usual circuit so I knew what to expect and where the hills were. Interestingly the 3 mile loop was different from when I ran in 2011 and 2012. Where in previous times I had run an outer loop of the park down a steep hill back to the boat house area, this took a slightly less elevated route through the local elementary school parking lot and through a parking lot within the park and back along the creek which we had run on the way out on the 3 mile loop. It was nice as I was not looking forward to the larger hill that early in the race. Nice to run something a little different.

Heading downhill on the initial 3 mile loop

From here it was the usual (or should I say ‘my usual’) loop past the boat house and around the back of Bucks County Community College, past the farm and up the big hill towards the residential side of the park (I envy those houses every time I run past them). This loop repeats twice and with its long winding up hill direction it is usually my slowest part of the run. Today was no different. I seemed to be managing a decent pace considering and was able to keep my pace per mile below 9 minutes given the rising temperatures and the inclines. I was monitoring my heart rate as I have struggled in the past in this section and slowed myself down once I was close to 170bpm. This time I was doing fine and enjoying the run. You can see from my Garmin Activity the course and elevation.

This is one of the 'smaller' hills which we ran around miles 4.5 & 9.5

This is one of the ‘smaller’ hills which we ran around miles 4.5 and 9.5

Once you hit the part of the loop past the houses there is a nice downhill section where you can easily make up time until you round the corner to the starting/finish line area which we would run through on the first loop. The course was open to walkers. On the first loop we passed the walkers as we came back on ourselves before mile 3. We (or I) didn’t pass too many walkers until the second loop. I will commend them as a group as even in the narrow parts of the course no-one was blocking runners coming up behind them and they all seemed to be having a good time.

Personally this was a race that I wasn’t totally ‘racing’ but did have a time expectation not a time goal. I have been trying to focus on improving my speed going into the New Jersey Marathon at the end of April and I figure a good run in Tyler with all those hills is a good sign of my fitness/conditioning. The last two races I had run (LOVE Run Half Marathon and Hot Chocolate 15K) had been good performances for me averaging 8:34/mile for the half and 8:46 for the 15K so I was keen to keep my pace under 9:00/mile in Tyler which would lead to a sub 2-hour time. I wasn’t looking to push too hard or PR as I was supposed to be in ‘taper’ mode and this was scheduled to be a ‘long run’. The run itself felt comfortable. I never felt like I was pushing nor did I feel like I was running too easy and ultimately my finish time reflected this. I was very happy with my time. I was under 2 hours and beat my 2012 finish time. That made for two sub 2-hour half marathons in 15 days. I finished with an official time of 1:56:45 with an average pace of 8:54.

Happy at the finish line

The medal goes well with my very red shoes. I think I need a running outfit makeover.

A good day

The finisher medal was in the shape of Bucks County, PA and was nice. Very impressed that the actual medal ribbon had different scenes of Bucks County printed on it.

The ‘Bucks’ bling

I joked that the medal was in the shape of a map in case I got lost. That is not too far from the truth. The very first time I ran in Tyler park was a week before the event in 2011. I printed off the course map with a plan to run 10 miles (at that point my longest run to date). I learned quickly that there are many routes in Tyler and also being new to this park its best not to hold the map upside down when you run. I’m definitely better at that these days 😉

The finish line area was in the small parking lot to the side of the start line. There was water, soft pretzels, bananas and even pizza. There were some local vendors who were sponsoring the race so they had samples of their wares. There were smoothie samples (which I skipped) and there were bread/cake samples (which I didn’t skip…multiple times). The crowds were decent at the finish line for a local race. I only saw a few folks around the park cheering others on but seeing as this was a 5 mile loop it made most sense to stay near the start/finish line area as you would see your runner pass by as they began the second and final loop and it was great to hear the encouragement.

One thing I did notice was that there were spectators in the finish line area eating some of the pizza and other refreshments. I didn’t stay too long as I had a busy family day ahead. I heard from another member of my running team (Mickey Milers) the next day that for the walkers the post race refreshment area was packed up by the time that they finished. Only the timing mats were out to record their finish time. The race website said that the race was open to walkers so it seems a shame that they didn’t get to experience the same benefits that the runners did. I hope in future years that everyone is treated equally.

Overall it was a great day for a run and a nice (if not familiar) race. Would I return again? Perhaps depending on my schedule. The novelty of running a half marathon in Tyler Park where I do a lot of training doesn’t thrill me as much as it used to but the atmosphere was good. I would recommend this race to folks who don’t train here as it is a good challenge in nice scenery.

Up next I have to get through the taper, learn to manage with limited mileage and catch up on my sleep. I take away from this the confidence that I am maintaining my goal pace of sub 9:00/mile going into the New Jersey Marathon. Fingers crossed I run a sensible and comfortable race. This was a nice warm up for me.

Thanks for reading.

Thanksgiving 2013

November 29, 2013ianesenior 2 Comments

Yesterday was Thanksgiving here in the USA. Having grown up in England and living here since 2001 I never grew up with family traditions but since I’ve been here, married and started a family we are making our own traditions which we hope to carry on for many years.

Our day started with the Bucks County Road Runners 24th Annual Thanksgiving 5 Miler. Back in 2010 this was my first ‘real’ race as I had only just started running a couple of months earlier. It was the first race I ran with ‘proper’ running shoes from an actual running store. I was joined in 2011 by my wife and we have run this event every year since. Typically it is only a few days after the Phialdelphia Marathon although last year I felt fresh legged enough to post a 5 mile PR of 40:33. This year with the Marathon being a week earlier and training for the Dopey Challenge in a few weeks I wanted to take it a little easier.

Bucks County Road Runners

Other than the run itself it was a special day for me as my parents had flown in from the UK for the holiday and they were taking part in the 1 mile fun run with our two boys. We were also joined by my father-in-law who has run this race many times and my sister-in-law and her fiance.

Our family just before the start of the race

Other than the company, a big difference this year was the temperature. In 2011 I remember running this race in a t-shirt and shorts. Last year I wore a long sleeve t-shirt and running tights. This year was frigid. I was wearing 3 layers on top, cold gear socks, mittens and a beanie and I was barely warm enough. We arrived around 8:30am for the 9:00am start (a nice late start for me) and I left everyone in the car to stay warm while I headed for bib and t-shirt pickup. It was crowded at the sign in tables even though we had pre-registered. I was standing in line for over 10 minutes and by the time I had picked everything up I was shivering so bad my hands were shaking and I couldn’t pin the bib to my sons jacket without hurting myself on the safety pins. I had originally been wearing a pair of thick Brooks running gloves but pulled out the double layered mittens. In addition, the ground was icy underfoot in the parking area (luckily not an issue on the course).

Race day temparatures
Real feel 17 degrees (brrr)

With waiting so long to get our bibs and then heading back to meet everyone we didn’t really have much waiting around at the start line (thankfully as we all looked a bit miserable in the cold). My wife and I hurried to the start line and my parents waited back for their start time about 5 minutes later. It was a big crowd and we started near the back of the line so even though the race was chip timed, the timing mat was only in use at the end so our time was a minute off from the gun time as it took us that long to get across the line at the begining of the race.

My wife was cold and she wasn’t hanging around…she took off like ‘Little Red Rocket Hood’ from the start and held a good pace as we weaved our way around the runners at the start to where the race began to open up. We managed a good time and some pretty good splits. Here is the Garmin activity and below are the stats.

Our splits

Course map – Core Creek Park, Langhorne, PA

This is always a very popular race and people are out to have fun. There are the serious racers…other than being the fastest you can always tell a serious racer, they are the ones running in a singlet and shorts when the temparatures are below freezing. Not for me.

Being a social race there are many members out as support on the course as volunteers which is always appreciated. My only complaint about yesterday was the water station (one station which served mile 2 and 3) which used plastic cups (not paper) and that although this was a social run the volunteers at the aid station stopped to speak to runners in front of them causing a collision for me and someone else spilling water on someones back just in front of me. Not a big deal for such a small race but in temperatures below freezing you don’t want a lot of spilt water around an aid station.

My wife and I kept up our pace and ran a respectible 43.58 race for the 5 mile course. We ran fast to stay warm but then stood in the cold chatting with friends for 20 minutes after (yes, I know….). My parents had long since gone into the nearest coffee shop with our boys to stay warm rather than wait at the finish for us. I can’t say I blamed them 🙂

A smile at the finish

We then went back home for what has been our own Thanksgiving tradition since before the boys were born. Watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and eating Mickey Mouse waffles. My Mickey waffle maker comes out only twice a year, Thanksgiving and snow days. The tradition continues but I may need to invest in a double Mickey waffle maker as we had additional guests this year with my parents, my father-in-law, my sister-in-law and her fiance all heading back to our house after the race.

Our Thanksgiving holiday tradition

Yum (strategically placed maple syrup)

Armed and ready

After we had our fill of waffles it was time to get ready to head out to visit our family and join in their Thanksgiving celebrations. I have lots to be thankful for.

Heading out for Thanksgiving dinner

2013 Trenton Double Cross Half Marathon – race recap

November 9, 2013ianesenior 11 Comments

2013 Trenton Double Cross Half Marathon

The motto for today’s race was ‘do no harm’. My wife and I are a week out from the 2013 Philadelphia Marathon and we decided to sign up for this race as a way of practicing running together under race conditions before the marathon next week. Usually we wouldn’t schedule a race this close to a big event but seeing as this was just over a week from the big day which would allow for a couple of extra rest days and the fact that one of use has done something ‘Goofy’ in the past we thought we could pull it off.

What a great race. I will go through the details in this recap but overall it was such a nice event. Very easy expo, great souvenir race shirt, easy logistics (well somewhat), close to home (20 minutes from my house) and the sun was shining. What more could we ask for?

Packet pickup took place on Thursday and Friday (although they pretty much set up the expo again outside the stadium this morning). It was pretty easy to get the packets picked up and I did so for me, my wife, my (future) brother-in-law Mike and a work colleague and her husband. I was pretty much in and out of the expo in under 25 minutes and that included a tasting of some kind of chocolate milk(?) and picking up a couple of odds and ends at the National Running Center stall for my wife and Mike.

Easy packet pickup

A small expo which was not overwhelming

A half zip top which is a change from just a race shirt

Race day morning weather called for temperatures in the low 30s getting up to the low 40s. It was every bit of the low 30s for sure when we set out. Mike met us at our house at 6:30am and we drove to the Pennsylvania side parking lots and took the 10-15 minute walk across the bridge over into Trenton, New Jersey. The race is called the ‘Double Cross’ as you cross the Delaware River twice during the run. First from Trenton, NJ over to Morrisville, PA around mile 4 and then back later in the race around mile 6.

It was a chilly start and we were all pretty numb in our fingers and toes despite all the winter gear. Bag check was not complicated and the port-a-potties were plentiful. The race was to start at 8:00am and the 10K at 8:30am. There was a slight technical hitch at the start line and the race started about 8:10am. Not a big deal but we were standing there a little longer than planned. For some reason they set up the starting chute between two banks of port-a-potties which made us shift up more towards the front of the line as it was kind of, well, stinky…

Arriving at Arm & Hammer Stadium before the start

Lined up in the starting chute waiting for the gun

The announcer did a great job of describing the sights we would see as we ran around the historic area. This is in the area where General George Washington crossed the Delaware River in December 1776 to defeat the Hessian forces in Trenton, NJ (this is a history lesson coming from a British expat with dual citizenship). There was a group of Revolutionary War re-enacters at the start line with pipes and drums too trying to get everyone into the spirit. After the National Anthem the gun (or probably a musket) went off and we set out on the road.

It was strange running on these streets as these are the roads that I travel to and from work everyday and I never really get to see them at this pace (or from the outside of a car) and it was nice to look around a bit more at the surrounding areas. My wife and I set off at a planned pace of 10 minute miles using Galloway walk breaks with intervals set at 4:00/0:40. This was to be practice for the marathon next week. We ran together at the Philadelphia Rock and Roll Half in September and paced around 9:10 per mile but today as said earlier the plan was to ‘do no harm’ before next week.

Early selfie in the first couple of miles. Sun low in the sky but still chilly.

A running selfie in the first couple of miles.

The route took us through some of the historic sites around Trenton and past the State Capital building, Thomas Edison College and some of the surrounding neighborhoods before heading us out and across the historic ‘Trenton Makes, The World Takes’ bridge across into Pennsylvania.

A trip around historic Trenton

Trenton Makes, The World Takes…we run

Crossing the State lines

Crossing the bridge…don’t look down

Made it to our ‘home’ State

As we ran across the bridge we noticed that it wasn’t paved and that it was a metal grid which you could see directly straight down. Two things crossed my mind…(1) don’t look down and (2) thank goodness I’m not on the barefoot/minimalist shoe bandwagon. Ouch. The bridges were not very long and once we crossed into PA we took a small route along the river (past the parking lot with my car) and up just beyond the Delaware Canal (at which point we were able to recognize where we were in relation to where we usually train) and then down alongside the river up to the second bridge. This was probably the most crowded part of the race as we were merged with the 10K runners for this period. Once we crossed the second bridge (my wife and I snuck onto the sidewalk at the edge of the bridge (which was just a wooden boardwalk and still not paved) we split again from the 10K runners as we reached mile 7.

Speaking of mile markers they were all a little off. Don’t get me wrong, the race was indeed a half marathon (my Garmin said 13.16 which was close enough) but the mile markers seemed off. Myself and many people around me had their watches beeping at a mile distance about 0.1 miles before we reached the mile markers. This happened consistently through mile 8 when suddenly we were ahead of the mile marker at mile 9 then behind the mile marker at mile 10 again. It didn’t make much difference to my wife and I running with our Garmins but I’m sure if you were to run with just a stop watch your head must have been going crazy as your splits would have been all over the place.

Between miles 7 and 9 there was a pretty big hill as we ran a loop around Cadwalader Park. It was a nice run. The surrounding neighbourhood had lots of old historic houses and I have to say I really enjoyed the scenery throughout. As we turning out of the park we were getting close to the last 5K of the race which had us run up Route 29 and up into Arm & Hammer Park home of the Trenton Thunder baseball team. We entered the stadium in right field and ran the warm up track to cross the finish line in front of home plate. It was great that they had the announcer over the p.a. system announcing everyone crossing and even had the stadium big screen showing the runners running in. It was very much like running through the stadium at the ESPN Wide World Of Sports during the Walt Disney World Marathon earlier this year with the only difference being a 50 degree difference in temperature and this being at mile 13 vs mile 19. My wife and I crossed the finish line together in 2:06:59. We actually ran under the 10 minute pace (around 9:40 minute pace) but both felt good coming through the finish.

The medal itself was really nice. It was big, heavy and detailed. A nice touch for a race only in its second year.

At the finish line with our medals

The 2013 Finisher Medal

Myself, Mike and Shari

It was already a great day for us but we got to witness a couple more great things today also. Firstly there was 5-year-old Anthony Russo who broke the world record for being the youngest person to run a half marathon. Wow. He ran alongside his mother for the race and sprinted the last 200 meters to the line to the roars of the crowd.

5-year-old Anthony Russo running with his mother

The finish line in sight and all on the ‘jumbotron’ for the crowd

A 5 year old Half Marathoner. Impressive!

The other wonderful thing to see was a friend of my wife, Abby, as one of two guides leading a blind runner to complete his first Half Marathon. Way to go Abby, it was inspiring watching you run in.

Abby running as a guide entering the stadium

Once we had seen all the excitement it was time to grab our stuff from bag check and make the trek back over the bridge (our 4th crossing at this stage) back to the PA side of the Delaware River to pick up the car and head home for a nice hot shower and lunch with the family.

Mike and I showing of our race shirts and medals

Mike and I showing of our shirts and medals

This was a great race which I would highly recommend to anyone. There are a couple of challenging hills at mile 4 and mile 7 but the rest of the course is relatively flat and there is plenty to see on the course. This may be one I return to next year.

Thanks for reading.

2013 Run The Bridge race recap

November 4, 2013ianesenior 5 Comments

2013 Run The Bridge

Yesterday I took part in the ‘2013 Cooper Norcross Run The Bridge 10K’ race. This is a race across the Benjamin Franklin Bridge spanning the Delaware River between New Jersey and Pennsylvania and then through the streets of Camden, New Jersey and along the waterfront before finishing in Campbell’s Field home of the Camden River Sharks baseball team.

This was the first time I have run this race although my wife has run this the last two years and my father-in-law has also run this event a few times. This was also a 10K race and I do not seem to run many of these. My PR for a 10K was set back in August 2011 of 52:07 at the Philadelphia LiveStrong Challenge. I hadn’t run a 10K race since then. I had it in the back of my mind that I was going to see how I felt given that I was 16 weeks into marathon training and if I felt okay I was going to go for a new PR. I wanted to see what I had in my legs going into the marathon and still I had a couple of weeks left for recovery and rest (the dreaded taper) before race day of the marathon.

We set our clocks back on Saturday night which provided an extra hour of sleep (not that I really took advantage of it) and the plan was to meet up with my father-in-law, my sister-in-law and her new fiance (see what I did there Mike?) at a central meeting point and drive down to the starting line together at the baseball stadium to pick up our race numbers and packets. Needless to say not all of us set our clocks to the correct time (not mentioning anyone in particular) but the good news is that we were all together before the race with our numbers on and ready to go.

All of us pre-race with the Benjamin Franklin Bridge as our backdrop.

I had done a 10 mile training run early on Friday morning and the weather was great. I was running in a t-shirt and shorts. What a difference a couple of days make. I woke up to find it was about 40 degrees and the wind made it feel about 10 degrees less. I dressed in my winter gear (tights, long sleeve shirt, gloves and a beanie). I wasn’t sure if I should wear an half zip over my t-shirt but I thought if I was pushing it I was better a little too cold than too hot as that would impact how I felt during the race.

Meeting the Camden River Sharks team mascot ‘Finley’ the shark before the race

We wished each other luck and headed for the walk to the start line. I wanted to get a little ahead so I wouldn’t get stuck in the pack and everyone was fine with that (they probably prefered that but I’ll say it was to encourage me, right?). The start line is at the base of the bridge on the New Jersey side. It’s probably a half mile walk from the stadium up to the start line. I had not eaten before the race so I had a Gu (yummy Salted Caramel) with me and a bottle of water and headed out.

I had turned my Garmin off when I was inside the stadium bathrooms as it had lost its signal and when I went to turn it back on it crashed. I rebooted it twice on the walk up to the start line. No good. Uh oh. I had also forgotten to stretch while I was getting my gear together and checking my bag. As I still had a few minutes I pulled over to the side of the road, rebooted my watch a third time and did my stretches. Third time was the charm with the Garmin. Well, almost. It had reset itself completely. I quickly set the watch up from scratch and changed the display to what I needed for the race (Distance/Time/Average Pace) and headed to the start. Once at the start line you actually had to jump a barrier to cross to the start line. I did that very carefully.

Wearing an extra layer at the start line waiting for signal to go.

There was a decent crowd at the start. I think in total there were about 3,200 runners. What you see from the start line is the climb up the bridge. Nothing too exciting really. It was pretty crowded. Having run the Golden Gate Bridge earlier this year and having driven this bridge many times I remembered that you cannot really see much over the sides especially from the center lane of the bridge which was where I started. The starting horn sounded and off we went. Not much time for selfies or bridge shots when you are aiming for a PR so this will pretty much be a recap and you’ll have to take my word for what I saw on route 🙂

View from the start line

The run up the bridge was pretty crowded as expected. It took almost the first mile to really start spreading the crowd out so there was quite of bit of weaving for me at the begining. I know it’s a bad habit of mine but I wasn’t as far up as I really needed to be among the pack of runners. Once I had reached the crest of the bridge for the first time I was able to let loose a little on the downhill section. I was wearing my Jeff Galloway Gymboss timer but I ignored the first couple of walk breaks as I wanted to get into position for the race and I felt okay. I was pushing hard but it was comfortable.

The turnaorund is at the base of the bridge on the Philadelphia side and then you are faced with running back up the bridge again. Honestly I just put my head down and didn’t think about the incline. I was running comfortable and it didn’t seem to bother me. There was a water stop on the way back across the bridge so I took my first walk break which was a little out of sequence but I took it for the full 40 seconds and then headed up the bridge and down into Camden.

Once across the bridge the race seemed to be pretty flat for a while. There were a couple of turns and I wasn’t sure when the next water stop would be so I took a walk break only to find the water stop around the corner. Ugh. Well, never mind, I can run and drink at the same time but I am useless at making the trash with an empty cup while running. As we were now running on the city streets and were sheltered from the wind it started to feel warm. I was still wearing my beanie and gloves so I pushed my sleeves up a little and rolled the beanie up to let me ears out.

The race along the streets was fine and then we turned and headed towards the navy yards entering it through a back entrance. This took us up to the waterfront where we ran alongside the pier where the SS New Jersey now stands as a museum. At the waterfront the wind picked up and I’m glad I had my warm gear on. From there pier the race headed up a small incline and down back to the streets of Camden. My time was going well and I felt that it was going to be possible to run a new goal under 50 minutes. We turned to the left and I saw the stadium and was thrilled that I could see the finish line location up ahead and my time was great. What I hadn’t done was read the course map correctly. D’oh! We didn’t run directly back to the stadium but took a turn right and ran around some rehabed condos and approached the stadium from another angle. Was I going to make it in goal time?

I entered the stadium into right field and the finish line was in left field. I dug deep and ran to the finish line. I hit my watch and it read 49:08:55 (49:09 was my official time). I felt great. I didn’t hurt and I made a goal that I set myself. Here is my Garmin file with the map and my splits http://connect.garmin.com/activity/399334028.

New 10K PR

The event was run for the benefit of the Larc School. The students of the school were on hand to hand out the medals to the runners. From there I grabbed my water and goodie bag, picked up my checked bag, stretched and headed down to the finish line area to wait for everyone to finish. I grabbed a good spot and was able to cheer everyone on and get some great pictures of everyone coming down the chute to the finish line.

A big shout out to my father-in-law who was running a race after a lay off from running for about a year. He looked good and said he felt good after the race so I’m pretty happy about that as is he. Mike and Rina ran into the stadium with smiles on their faces (I think they knew I was taking pictures) but as far as I know they had fun. Mike is running with my wife and I in next week’s Trenton Half Marathon so I am looking forward to running alongside him for the first time then. I like racing with family and friends. It is rare that I really go all out for a PR but as I made my goal today I felt justified for being solo. There will be many races I run to be with others but there are the occassional challenges I set myself. Today was one of those days and it felt great.

Mike running in

Looking good – my father-in-law running in

Rina – all smiles

The race itself was fun. There was no expo for this race. Packet pickup was from a local running store in South Jersey but seeing as none of us were able to get there we did race day pickiup (as it seems most people did). There was also a walk and a Kids race but as I was running I didn’t get to see how these went. Everyone seemed to have fun and the ability to park in the stadium parking lots, walk up and get your number on the day and check a bag was really convenient. I’d recommend this race for anyone looking for a fun 10K.

New 10K PR –
2013 Benjamin Frankling Bridge Run

Thanks for reading.

Marathon Training – Week 5

August 18, 2013ianesenior Leave a comment

Week 5 Training

This weeks training went well. Again, I crossed trained for 30 minutes on the bike on Monday and ran my scheduled runs. The main highlight of this weeks training was my 12 mile long run today.

I woke up to the sound of rain. I’m usually the first person to head indoors to the treadmill when there is inclement weather. I quickly looked at the radar maps to see if there was a slight chance that I could get out but it showed rain for the next two hours. I packed up my gym gear and as I was headed out of the front door it didn’t look too bad. I reminded myself that marathons don’t have rain dates and that I should ‘man up’ about getting wet! I’m so glad I did. Today’s long run was awesome.

I decided to start off on a familiar route through Langhorne Borough and reached a point where I usually turn left and head back in a loop to where I started. Today I decided to turn right. Having only driven this route before I knew it was a little hilly but you don’t factor that in to your regular commute. Running hills is slightly different. I have driven this route probably close to 12 years now and today was the first time I had a chance to really slow down and take in my surroundings. Today’s run was by no means my fastest 12 mile run but it was really one of the most rewarding.

Here is my Garmin file from today’s run – http://connect.garmin.com/activity/360906889

One of my favorite pieces of running gear is my trusty Garmin Forerunner 305. I bought it for my Birthday the year I started running and have used it 4-5 times a week for over two and a half years and over 3,600 miles. It records all my run data accurately. Recently I have had some trouble getting the watch to lock on to the satellites and I’ve had to stand outside my house for longer than I would like with my wrist in the air looking like an idiot (although many runners can probably relate). I’ve been prompted by the watch at least twice if I was indoors or had moved more than 100 miles since my last run. Nope, my house is still in the same neighborhood I was the day before. Also, I’ve been experiencing difficulty uploading my runs recently and it has been taking 2-3 attempts everytime to upload the data. I finally bit the bullet and upgraded this week to the Garmin Forerunner 310XT.

Garmin Forerunner 310XT

I’ve had two runs with it so far and it picked up the satellite signals with no problems. I also got a new heart rate strap to accompany this. It is very similar to the 305 but obviously there are some nice upgrades. I’m still investigating the watch but a good source for a review would be the DC Rainmaker blog. If you are interested in this watch here is a link to Amazon.com (full disclosure – I have an affiliate account with them) and I would recommend reading the reviews there too.

One new thing with this watch is that I am now able to upload my runs to all the sites I use without needing to boot up my laptop. Again, I will turn to the DC Rainmaker blog if you want to know how. I used this method for the first time today after my 12 mile run and I was very happy with it. It will be a little more practical on a day to day basis.

One thing I did notice this week was the wear on my shoes. I have used Brooks Adrenaline’s since August of 2011 and have worn the models from 11 to the current 13’s. I track my shoes in my running log and seem to get around 400 miles from each pair. I rotate my shoes between two pairs every other run and usually keep a difference of around 150 miles between the oldest and the newest. I’m now wearing two pairs of 13’s, one has reached just over 300 miles of running and the other around 125 miles. The tread on the oldest pair is pretty close to the point I would normally swap out which is a suprise as I usually can get another 100 miles or so out of my shoes. I noticed similar wear on the newer pair. I’ll be keeping a close eye on these and may end up swapping to a newer shoe around 350 miles this time around. I’m not sure if they changed any of the materials making up the sole of the shoe from the 12’s to the 13 model but I don’t think my running style is that much different than it was last year. We shall see. At least the 14’s will be launching soon and I’ll be definitely thinking about those come January at the Dopey.

My wife is also training with me for the Philadelphia Marathon this year. This will be her second marathon after the 2013 Walt Disney World Marathon. She had a 9 mile run planned for her long run this weekend and it just happened to coincide with the Washington Crossing 15K race along the Delaware Canal Towpath (a place where we frequently run with the boys).

Washington Crossing 15K
(photo courtesy of RunBucks.com)

It was an evening race and the weather was still a little warm. This was going to be my first race as a spectator and also allowed us to bring the boys along to cheer their Mommy. As you will see below we all got into the spirit of cheerleading and made our own special signs (although I may have helped Asher a little). The boys were surprisingly patient as we waiting at the finish line (although my iPhone battery was put through its paces entertaining the boys). Shari ran a great time and she looked god doing it. Below are some of the highlights from the race.

Shari with the boys before the start

The boys waiting at the finish line

My first race as a spectator.
Any encouragement is good right?

Shari at the finish line showing off the bling

It was a fun experience and the boys were very excited for the whole thing. We were all proud of her and cheered as loud as only we can 🙂

Next week is the second step back week so my long run is going to be 9 miles. I felt good this week having upped my mileage a little. I feel good and after today’s run refreshed and looking forward to the week ahead.

Thank you for reading and have a great week.

Marathon Training – Week 4

August 12, 2013ianesenior 1 Comment

Week 4 Training

After last weeks step back week I started to up the mileage again. The planned long run this week was 11 miles.

Because of a family trip to Lancaster County, PA this weekend I had to squeeze my runs into the work week so I missed out on cross training on Monday and missed my rest day on Friday. I rested over the weekend (if you can call a family vacation a rest).

The runs were pretty easy. I had a decent faster pace run early in the week on the 3 miler. The run/walk ratio of 4:00/0:40 (a 6:1 ratio) seems to be working well for me. The temperatures were pretty cool early in the week but it was getting progressively warmer as the week went on. Getting up a little earlier these days means that I have to get the headlamp out again. It was time to change the batteries as the lamp didn’t do much for me early in the week.

Friday was to be my long run but I had to get it in before I left for work. Three of the weather forecasts I checked called for lightning storms (or a 50/50 chance of them). I got up at 4am Friday and checked the weather radar maps and it looked like I could get my run in. With a fresh set of batteries in my headlamp and a new battery in the RoadID Firefly lamp I was out the door and seeing clearly. It was already 70+ degrees before 5am but the weather held steady. Apart from being very humid it was a nice easy long run.

I also use these early long training runs to experiment on some gear. This week I again tried the Pro Compression socks vs my usual Zensah sleeves for the long run. Although my legs felt fine with the compression, the sock itself is rather thin for me and about 9 miles in my toes were feeling the inside of my shoes more than I would like. I think I will stick with my medium thickness socks and the leg sleeves going forward. No damage done as I wasn’t going too far.

I also bought a sample pack of GU in a new flavor (Salted Caramel) to try. I’ve used GU in the past but find the consistency a little thick for my liking but like to try new flavors from time to time. I still have plenty of samples of other products but these will get into the rotation soon.

New flavor to try

A nice highlight of our trip to Lancaster County was that we took the boys to Dutch Wonderland. I was very surprised to find a ‘Dole Whip‘ stand. For those of you who don’t know what this is (and I confess I didn’t) this was something I heard was something only served at Walt Disney World in the Magic Kingdom near the Magic Tiki Room in Adventureland. It was really refreshing on such a hot day. It was my first taste of this frozen treat and I had a second taste (!) before we left later in the day. Now I have another excuse to go to Disney to make sure it tasted exactly right 🙂

My first Dole Whip

Have a great week.

philly2goofy

…and all the miles in between

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‘Chasing the Unicorn’ Marathon race recap

June 2014 – Month in review

April and May – Month(s) in review

2014 Bucks County Half Marathon – Race Recap

Thanksgiving 2013

2013 Trenton Double Cross Half Marathon – race recap

2013 Run The Bridge race recap

Marathon Training – Week 5

Marathon Training – Week 4

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