Princeton Half Marathon 2024 – Race Recap

December 8, 2024ianesenior Leave a comment

Finally !!! What? Yes, finally…

I originally signed up for this race in 2016 and finally I got to run this race. Only took a few years to make it to the start line.

My wife had run this race back in 2015 and enjoyed the event and recommended that I do it. Also, she had a really cool medal with a squirrel on it…I was in!!! So I signed up for the race in 2016 and was all set to run when my wife was accepted into the 2016 New York City Marathon which happened to be on the same day. I decided to forgo the half marathon and race chase her around the Big Apple. However, I was now on the Princeton Half Marathon mailing list and was always being sent emails to register. In 2017 I had planned to run the race and then I got accepted into the New York City Marathon too. However, we had a family event and I had to defer New York until 2018. Not sure why I didn’t register in 2019 but that was the year I ran two marathons and completed a half marathon among other events so I may have wanted to rest a bit. Then came 2020… In 2021 I completed an ultra marathon, a marathon and two half Ironmans so I think it was an idea to rest again. In 2022 I was in Athens, Greece running the marathon. I finally registered to run in 2023 and then I had my ‘incident‘. Luckily I was able to defer and finally this year I got to run the event. Phew!!!

The event itself was fairly low key. The race packet pickup was at a local running store on Nassau Street opposite the Princeton University campus. In addition to the race t-shirt I received a running hat. Bright orange. Most things in Princeton it seems are orange (Princeton Tigers) so that seemed to be the theme. No squirrels on the race merch as far as I could see. Oh well. My wife and I had planned to head up late on Friday evening and we made plans for dinner in the area and then walked around the Princeton campus. It was a nice relaxing evening and I was looking forward to Sunday’s race.

Evening stroll around the Princeton University campus

We had a family event on Saturday which led to a late night getting home, however I still had to be early as I wanted to arrive before the roads closed at 6am so I could park close to the start/finish line area. Let’s just say I didn’t max out on sleep the night before the race. The race was scheduled to start at 7am. I left home around 5am and made it to Princeton and parking around 5:45am. I was not the first one there…plenty of people had the same plan and there were a number of cars already in the parking lot.

‘Flat Ian’ ready to run the Princeton Half Marathon

It was a cold morning, probably the coldest morning in a while, and I headed over to the athletes village at the local YMCA. I was able to check my bag easily as there were plenty of volunteers and they were very helpful. I felt bad as they would be out in the cold for a few hours while everyone was still on the course. I had brought a large plastic bag to wear and keep myself warm so I just put it on and walked around the area until everyone headed out to the start line.

We all headed out of the athletes village and self seeded in the starting corral and waited to head out for our 13.1 mile journey.

I dressed up along with the orange theme

The race itself was a really pleasant run. There was nice scenery to run through. We started off running through some neighborhoods before running out into some open areas. There was a turnaround at Princeton Battlefield State Park and then back up towards the university campus. The first few miles were pretty much downhill. Once you did the turnaround and headed up towards the university you rediscovered the hill you had just run down. We crossed Nassau Street around mile 6 and then headed into North Princeton and through Herrontown Woods and the Autumn Hill Reserve. There was about a mile where we ran on a gravel surface but it was not too bad or uneven underfoot. The back half of the course was definitely more hilly than the front half but it was really beautiful to run through.

Looking focused…clearly one of the hills

Finally we made it back up to the neighborhoods near where we had begun the day. I was not in my best shape…it’s been a while since I can say I really was, but I held my own and even beat my expected pace. I’ve definitely run faster half marathons but I was happy with my time on the day. I didn’t want to push too hard with the Philadelphia Marathon just a couple of weeks away and I was technically in my taper to race day.

There were plenty of water stops and all well managed by the volunteers. There were more than I had actually anticipated and I think I only skipped one. They were all very well located on the course. While the crowds were not plentiful along the course, there seemed always to be people out to cheer us and there were definitely bigger crowds around the university grounds and Nassau Street and towards the finish line. I really enjoyed my run out there.

Made it. The race provided free photos too.

I definitely look like I enjoyed the run

Not my fastest, but better than I had expected

Not a squirrel on the medal but still happy to receive this

After grabbing my bag from the finish line area it was still early morning so I decided to go find a cup of coffee in town before I had to drive home. There was a Starbucks up on Nassau Street so I headed there….apparently so did everyone else. Wow, never had to wait that long for a cup of coffee at Starbucks. But seeing as I had been up early with little sleep I ordered a double espresso on the side. That helped.

I really enjoyed this race and I would happily do this again. I’ll see if I can coax my other half in joining me as, after all, she was the reason I signed up way back in 2016. It was worth it.

Thank you for reading.

Atlantic City Marathon 2024 – Race Recap

December 7, 2024ianesenior 3 Comments

On October 20th, my wife and I ran the Atlantic City Marathon. This was another of the races that was deferred due to my ‘incident‘ last year, but it was good to finally get to knock this off our list.

My wife and I have run a couple of half marathons in Atlantic City and I have participated in the Ironman 70.3 in Atlantic City in 2019 and 2021 but for some reason we had never signed up for this event.

We often vacation in the area so running down ‘the shore’ is something we are used to. We have spent many years treading the famous Atlantic City Boardwalk but this was the first time we would get to run over to the marina and back. Indeed, we spent 10 days down in Margate City, NJ this summer and ran the roads and the Boardwalk everyday during the vacation so there would be some familiarity to our adventure.

We headed down to the race expo on the Saturday afternoon and checked into our hotel. We chose to stay at The Claridge Hotel which is where I stayed when I participated in the half ironman events. It was connected to Bally’s Resort and Casino which was the home base for the event so it was easy to navigate around over the race weekend.

Getting ready to grab our race bibs and race shirts

We found our names on the participants list

It was a small expo but well run. They had a lot of finisher gear available…but my rule after Mont Tremblant is not to jinx myself and buy anything with ‘Finisher’ printed on it before the race. I’ll stick with that plan. We did stop and buy ourselves a few souvenirs at the store and then dropped our gear and gifts back in our room. As it was early afternoon we decided to walk along the Boardwalk before we headed for our pre-marathon dinner reservation.

We chose a place for dinner which we knew from many years down here. Although it had changed names from the time I first knew it back in 2001 when I first visited, the original sign to the restaurant was on display inside. It was a nice and relaxing evening and we were just enjoying ourselves and glad to be here this year after missing the 2023 event.

After a quick stop for my pre-marathon cookie tradition we headed back to the hotel to set up our race gear for the next day and try and get an early night….although we got sucked into a CNN documentary about the 2000’s…but eventually we did fall asleep.

The pre-marathon cookie tradition cannot be missed

We knew that the day would be fairly warm but were not sure how cold it might be at the start line. As we were close to the start line we dropped our overnight bags off in our car and walked through the resort to the start line just outside the Casino doors. The nice part of the start line being so close to the casino was that there were nice indoor heated bathrooms. We waited inside the lobby of the casino until just a few minutes before the start time to stay warm and luckily it was pleasant outside so we were okay heading out without needing to wear any extra gear.

Heading to the start line on the Boardwalk

At just after 8am we crossed the start line. The first few miles of the course would be fairly new for us. We normally would just run on the Boardwalk but the course sent us off the Boardwalk early and over to the Marina. Usually this would be accessible by car so we had to run through a tunnel to get there. Once through the tunnel you run around the Borgata, MGM, Harrah’s and Golden Nugget casinos. Well…you run around the back of them. Views of parking lots and back of house entrances. Eventually you head back towards the Boardwalk near the far end of Atlantic City near the aquarium (we didn’t know there was an aquarium there!!) and run up the ramp to the start of the Boardwalk.

We got some unique views running around here and it was busy with all the half marathon runners and marathon runners all in one pack for now.

Heading back from the Marina we had to stop for this photo

Once back on the Boardwalk it was a straight run down to the end of the Boardwalk which takes you past the finish line and the half marathon turnaround ending where the towns of Ventnor City and Margate City meet. It is a long straight run and narrows up once you get out of Atlantic City and head into Ventnor City, but it was a beautiful morning and the sun was shining. We made sure to stop at every water stop as there is not much shade along the route. One thing to be aware of is that the Boardwalk is made of wooden planks. While they are all secured, the ends can sometimes be a little raised and it is something to be aware of as you can sometimes catch your feet if you are not careful (more on that later). It is bouncy though so a little easier to run on than the hard top surfaces which would be coming up.

Once off the Boardwalk (actually most of the time on the Boardwalk too) we were in familiar territory. We had run this almost every day of our summer vacation. We were paying for the privilege this time. The half marathon runners had turned round before the end of the Boardwalk so now there were less runners on the course and as we had passed by the finish line area it was much quieter with few spectators.

Now we were tucked in on the side of the road which was coned off for runners and heading to Longport for the turnaround. As I said, we had run this frequently during our vacations…but not with 13-14 miles already under our feet. It seemed a bit further to the end of Longport today. The good thing about the course, as familiar as it was, is that it is essentially flat. Yes, I know that isn’t the most exciting thing, but as it was getting warmer it was good not to have to factor any hills into the course. As we were heading through Margate City we were close some of the buildings and it was still early enough that we were able to get some shade from the sun.

Once we hit the turnaround in Longport, which is a nice and logical turnaround point at the end of the island, we headed back the way we came before veering off to add some extra mileage by completing an out and back near the back bay. Once off the Boardwalk you are essentially running past people’s homes so it is not exactly the most scenic route and spectators were pretty limited. The volunteers were doing a great job though and the water stations were well managed. I kept us entertained by pointing out all the cool cars and big houses we would buy if we ever won the lottery jackpot. Hey, I can dream, right?

On the way back from Longport we turned left to the back bay for what was a few miles of out and back through neighborhoods. This was not the most exciting part of the run as it we essentially ran out and back on the same street. Some people were out cheering but as this was the off-season it was not very busy out. We did however bump into some family members who live down in Margate City and were tracking our progress. We met up with them at the perfect time of the race and it lifted our spirits around mile 20 and would power us on for the remainder of the race.

It was getting very warm by now and I think we were both getting a bit tired. With little on course support and entertainment for the last few miles it was just a matter of keep moving back towards the Boardwalk. Once on the Boardwalk it was still another 3.5 miles or so to the finish line. As it was just marathoners left on the course and by this stage of the race we were all pretty scattered, based upon everyone’s pace, so it was fairly quiet. We just kept running, occasionally counting the lamp posts so we could take walk breaks every few for about 30 seconds at a time.

We knew where we were and how much distance was left while running along which was good but it was getting hotter. I don’t think we expected it to be as warm as it was and there is no shade on the Boardwalk. This was the same place I struggled during the Half Ironman races. It’s just a slog at this point. This is when our infamous close shave with the Boardwalk wooden planks caught up with us. You could hear us occasionally scuffing our feet on the edges of the boards as we had tired legs and just before mile 25 it happened. My wife’s foot finally clipped an edge and she went over…like she was sliding into home. Ouch!!! Luckily she was okay (although she would be pretty badly bruised for the next few days) but at the moment she was just a little shaken so we walked for a couple of minutes. There was not much left to go.

Finally we both could see the finish line and powered through to the finish. This was our first marathon finish since Athens in 2022 so it was our longest run for a couple of years. I think it kind of showed, but we had done it. We finished another marathon. My wife’s 16th marathon finish and my 29th. We have still got it when we need it.

The post race village was just past the finish line. As this was not our fastest marathon (by far) some of the vendors had packed up. I am sure the faster runners had moved on as most people we saw just looked hot and tired. We grabbed a bagel and some Powerade and sat for a few minutes to catch our breath. There was a guy lying on the floor between the tables and he looked absolutely beat. At least I was still standing up (or sitting at this point).

We knew we had to get home so we walked (slowly) back through the casino and grabbed dry clothes to change into. Wearing our finisher jerseys and medals we made our way back to Margate to a fun restaurant we liked, before heading home (via one last stop for ice cream).

I’m glad we finally did the Atlantic City Marathon. We can check it off our list. Was it our favorite? Probably not because of the lack of crowd support and the familiarity of our run, however, it was very well run and for someone who has never been down to Atlantic City I would absolutely recommend. I would add that it was great to stay near the race staging area so you can just walk out in the morning without the stress of getting to a race, parking, etc. We had fun and we were all smiles.

Thank you for reading.

Don’t call it a comeback…it’s business as usual

May 11, 2024ianesenior Leave a comment

It has been a while since my last (somewhat dramatic) post…That was back in mid-October 2023 and we are now almost mid-May 2024. Lots of positive change and plenty to be happy about.

The challenge of my recovery from the bike crash was something I approached the same way how I prepare for a marathon or a triathlon. I know what needs to be done and I set myself to the task. In fact, I probably was more diligent with my recovery than any other race I have ever taken part in. Primarily as I wanted to get back to normal as soon as possible. Whatever was required, I made sure I stuck to it. I was doing my required rehab exercises up to three hours every day. I could feel I was getting stronger and looking forward to the future with a renewed and fresh outlook. The best part was when I saw the surgeon in mid-November. He was astonished about my progress.

My appointment with him was to determine if I needed the surgery on my clavicle which would have set me back another few weeks of recovery. Earlier that week I had to meet with the physiotherapist for a final report. The physiotherapist was really happy with my progress. Everything he set me to do I achieved if not a bit more. He put me through all the same tests we had performed from our first meeting six weeks earlier and declared that had he not known what and where my injury was he would not have known I had one. I was very hopeful when meeting the surgeon later that week. He declared that what I had achieved was amazing and based upon the x-ray and the tests his aide put me through there was no need for the follow up surgery. He even said he wouldn’t stop me if I wanted to ‘drop and give him 20 pushups’. That didn’t happen. He told me I had no restrictions and just try not to do anything really dangerous for a few months!!! I was elated. I came home and celebrated…by going for my first run in three months. Even if it was only around the neighborhood it was a victory.

I had told my wife earlier during my recovery that my ultimate goal was to make it to the start line of our annual Thanksgiving 5 miler race. She was really happy I was able to meet my goal…not so happy when I told her I had secretly signed up before I got approval from the doctor…but we made it to the start line together as a team. She was amazing through this whole experience and I can never thank her enough.

The day came for the Thanksgiving race. While it was cold, the sun was shining. We ran the whole race together at a comfortable pace and I started to get emotional as I knew I was going to complete the distance. I think it was my longest run since the accident. Needless to say I was overjoyed and humbled to cross the finish line with her that day. Thanksgiving for sure!!!

I spent the next couple of months getting back to fitness, running a little longer distances and keeping up with the arm exercises that they gave me at the physiotherapist’s office. I actually track my arm strengthening exercises now with the goal of doing them at least 5 days a week. I was never this diligent on other types of exercises other than running, biking and swimming, but it’s never too late to try new things…especially when they have a positive impact.

Over the holiday break we went out as a family for dinner. We had found a new restaurant near us we had never tried. On this particular night as we ended the dinner they brought over fortune cookies. My fortune made everyone at the table laugh…proving that they are completely over my accident for sure!!! Here is my fortune:

Great things indeed! Thank you Ironman Mont-Tremblant

As we had postponed all our fall races from 2023 as I recovered, my wife and I decided to look for a spring race not too far away which neither of us had done before. I suggested the Coastal Delaware Half Marathon down in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. It was near(ish) and would be a nice opportunity to see the shore for the first time this year. It was scheduled for mid-April and allowed us to get some outdoor running time in after the cold winter months.

Enjoying some early Spring weather on the Pennypack Trail

The course map for the half marathon race

Due to work, we could not get down early the day before to pick up our race packets, but the race allowed us to sign up for early race day morning packet pick up which was easy to do. As it was the off season at Rehoboth Beach there was plenty of street parking near the start line. Once we had our race numbers pinned on we had a short walk to the boardwalk where the race started and ended. It was a glorious sunny morning and not too cold so we did not need to check a bag.

Today’s goal. Just to get out and enjoy.

At the bandstand just by the starting line

Ready to race. A clear sky and looking forward to the run.

There were a number of different distance races going on at the same time but all were staggered so there was never any major congestion of runners running the different distances. Indeed, all the races were very well sign posted with different colored mile markers and direction arrows to match the color of the race bib runners were signed up for.

We started out on the boardwalk but were quickly off and running through the neighborhoods around town. The roads were easy to run on and the volunteers very helpful in providing the right directions to the runners. After 3 miles or so we entered the Gordons Pond and Cape Henlopen State Park for approximately six miles of the race. It was amazing. One of the prettiest and relaxing runs we have had in a long time. It was an absolute joy to be running in great weather with great views. There were plenty of volunteers in the park to keep us in the right direction and manage the water stations. The landscape was amazing.

Beautiful views from a beautiful place to run

Imagine this full of runners in single file. Lovely.

This was a relaxing part of the race. A nice flat area. Runners in both directions.

We were running at a comfortable pace pretty consistently the whole race. The terrain was mostly flat as we were running along the coastline and the temperatures were perfect. It was such a relaxing run. We were both smiling the whole way.

As we left the state park we only had a few miles to get back to the boardwalk and the finish line. The crowds on the way back in were really supportive and there were plenty of cheers as we ran up to the finish line. As we crossed the finish line we were give a beautiful medal and all runners received a really cool trucker hat with the race logo. There was an after party provided by Grotto Pizza one of the main sponsors. It was held in their restaurant courtyard and all runners were welcomed in for pizza, pasta, salad and drinks. There was even some race gear from the expo that we had not had a chance to attend. My wife found a cool race jacket that really suited her. I’ve never finished a race and be treated so nicely. For real. The pizza was great and we both plan for a return visit to the area. Maybe the marathon next time?

Great crowd support as we ran to the finish line

And that’s how you cross a finish line!!!

The medals were styled like a stain glass window and you can see the bridge we ran over represented on the medal. Really cool.

We stopped for ice cream and my wife found a couple of boutiques to visit before we left town.
I am wearing my newly earned race hat.

This was my first ‘big’ race since the Ironman and it was an amazing day. The race organization and communication was first class and I would highly recommend this race for anyone near the area. Or even if you want to travel to run. Well worth looking into.

A week later, and somewhat last minute, my wife and I decided to sign up for the Bookin’ for Lookin’ Foundation 10k. This is a local charity race benefitting the Bucks County Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired. It started and finished at Council Rock High School (where my wife went as a student) and runs through Tyler State Park which is about 20 minutes away from where we live. It was a little chillier than our previous race a week earlier in Rehoboth Beach and I may have been a little underdressed, but nevertheless it was a fun race for a great cause. I had not run in Tyler for a long time due to my accident and this race was a reminder of how hilly it is to run there. Still, we put up a decent time and as planned ran the whole race together. We were however glad to get back to the car and head for a hot cup of coffee.

People were more dressed up than we were. I’m in a t-shirt with arm sleeves.
Still, there’s always one guy in a tank top…although they are usually at the front!!!

The finish line is on the high school running track

Despite the hills we were happy with our run.

Our next event together was the 2024 Broad Street Run. This again was a last minute decision to sign up for the lottery when it opened. Both of us have run this race a few times before but we have never run the race together as there was always a reason why we could not both do it together. Maybe now that our boys are more independent and don’t necessarily have to be everywhere at the same time allowed us this chance. My first Broad Street run was in 2011 and at that time this was my goal race. The longest run I ever thought I would ever do if I was able to keep running…how things changed over the next few years.

My wife was not able to attend the expo with me so I headed down solo this time. It was a fairly small expo considering the size of the race (about 40,000 people) and I was in and out quickly, although I did get a chance to stop by a booth my friend Scott and his wife were manning to catch up with them. The hardest part of this expo was the logistics. It was being held the same weekend as a FanCon and I had to negotiate through people all dressed up and painted head to toe representing their favorite fantasy character or superhero. I will say there was some impressive efforts there.

All ready to go. All we have to do is run this thing.

The biggest challenge for the Broad Street Run is for all the runners to get to the start line on time. The race is a point to point 10 mile run. This year the start time was brought forward to 7:30am. This required us to get up a little earlier than prior years, drive down the sports stadium area and take a subway from the stadiums up to the starting line…with thousands of other runners. The subway station was crowded and we were the at the first station so as long as we could get on the subway car we would make it to the start.

We just missed a train but were first in line for the next one to pull up. My wife was very lucky to find a single seat by the door and was able to sit almost in her own private space while I was standing making new friends very close up for the whole journey. It’s funny when the train pulls into a station already full and more people try to cram on when there is clearly very little opportunity to add more people…yet, they do.

We got to the start line around 7:20am and there was no way we could make it down to our starting corral. There were just too many people in the way. We found a gap in the barriers and jumped in to the nearest corral we could which was close to our corral. The race had already started by the time we got into the corral and the first three or four corrals had crossed the start line before we had the opportunity to get moving.

Arrived at Olney Station – closest to the start line

Made it to start line. Wearing our best rainy day gear.

The weather the week leading up to the race was glorious and warmer than seasonal temperatures. However, the day before the race this all changed and it was raining lightly when we arrived at the start. Luckily we were prepared for this and ready to go. While it was a little wet, the rain for the most part held off for the whole race.

As we ran down Broad Street we were on the look out for my wife’s cousin who attends Temple University. We found him easily and he was waiting for us with a water bottles for each of us. That was very welcome. Despite the weather the crowds came out and the support along the course was amazing.

Great to have our own cheering section on the course

My wife and I settled into a nice comfortable pace and really enjoyed our morning. It was funny to see my wife high fiving everyone as she passed the crowds…that’s usually my job but she was clearly having a fun time. It’s a net downhill race so that definitely helps!!!

Just about halfway with City Hall in the background

We made it past the stadiums where we had parked at around mile nine and then continued down to the Philadelphia Navy Yard and the finish line. The crowds were out in full force along the last mile and we were happy to make it into the Navy Yard for the last quarter mile to the finish line. My wife had her name called out as we approached the finish line and we crossed hand in hand together.

As the race is so big the organizers rush you through the finish chute towards the field at the side of the finish area where there was after race food and water. It was not until we had gone through the refreshment tent that we received our medals. This year there were thermal blankets available for runners after the race. I had never seen them provide these before for the runners. It was very welcome as we had to walk back about a mile to the car. One thing that they didn’t have which is quintessentially Philadelphia is soft pretzels. After 10 miles that would have been fun. Oh well, maybe next time.

We were lucky, as soon as we got into our car and headed out of the stadium parking lot the rain finally came…and hard. We finished just in time to get the best of the day. It was a great time running this race again, this time with my wife. Not sure I’m one of those people who will sign up every year for this race but the chance to run with my wife and run fairly local with great crowds was fantastic.

Now we are setting our focus on the races we had to postpone after my accident last year. Up next is the Atlantic City Marathon in October which we will be running together. Next up is the Princeton Half Marathon in November. My wife has run this in the past and I have signed up before but had to skip to race chase her in the New York City Marathon. This will be my first time running this race. A little later in November is the Philadelphia Marathon. My favorite as it was my very first marathon. This year will be my 10th Philadelphia Marathon and it will also be my 30th (official) marathon overall. We already have a 2025 race booked…more details on that later.

Don’t call it a comeback…it’s business as usual.

Thank you for reading.

I’m Still Standing…

November 6, 2022ianesenior 3 Comments

Hello…it’s been a long time. Can it really be over three years since my last post? To borrow from Elton John, “I’m Still Standing”. I’m here, I’ve just been a little absent for a while. I have a few exciting updates so I need to do a big omnibus ‘catch up’ post. Strap yourselves in, there is a lot to cover and I’ll try to do this quickly.

My last post on the 2019 New Jersey State Triathlon was published way back in September 2019 (and even that one was a bit late for a race recap). It is over three years later now and while the world turned upside down I was already a little behind in my race recaps and posts before everything shut down in March 2020. I guess that’s life. Now while I had plenty of ‘downtime’ due to race cancellations, life just got in the way. Focusing on family and work is more important than my ramblings on personal race experiences but people have reached out to see if I still exist and although there has been a gap I have indeed had some great race experiences since I last posted. WordPress knows I exist as my renewal notice for the blog/blog hosting just came up. Let’s get my money’s worth.

The only way I can really do this (and memory permitting) I’ll give a quick recap on where I left off up to the present and share a very exciting event coming up in November 2022 which is sure to be a once in a lifetime event for me.

So, having left you in July 2019 with a (late) race recap of the New Jersey State Triathlon, my calendar was as follows:

September 2019 – Bucks County Alternative Half Marathon

This was a do no harm race the week before the Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City. Actually, I had forgotten I had signed up for the race and I think the only reason I had signed up was that there was a ‘Star Trek’ theme. The race was easy and uneventful and I was happy with my result. I finished with a time of 2:01:21.

It helps when you have race gear to match the theme of a race. — It helps when you have running gear to match the theme of the race.

September 2019 – Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City

This was a big race for me. It was my goal race for the year and a chance to make good from my last half iron distance triathlon (remember, the one I ended up in the emergency room!!). It was a good race for me, while I did not break my goal time I still finished in 7:04:49 which still made me happy. It was hot by the time I made it to the run and I struggled in the heat but I was not disappointed in my swim nor the bike (even though it rained and I was terrified cycling up the AC Expressway).

First win….didn’t drown or get eaten by a shark.

Gritting my teeth on the bike. Either through fear or determination.

You cannot lose me in a crowd wearing this outfit but it still got me to the finish line.

November 2019 – Philadelphia Marathon

Pretty good day out on the course despite the cold, wind and rain. Not breaking any records but this was my 8th Philadelphia Marathon and I finished in 4:10:20 which I think is my 4th fastest of the 8 (to date) times that I have run in Philly. I always love this race as it was my first and I consider it my local run. I would do it every year if I could and hope to run this as long as I am able. In this race I received my medal from my friend Robyn who was volunteering at the finish who we both realized was standing next to Des Linden, the winner of the 2018 Boston Marathon and a two time US Olympic marathoner. Cool.

In early March my family and I ran a (very cold) local 4 mile ‘Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup’ race along the Delaware Canal. Little did I know that would be my only ‘official’ race of 2020…

The hot soup was a blessing after this near freezing race. We do look happy though.

AND THEN COVID…

March 2020 – Love Run Philadelphia Half Marathon – Cancelled

April 2020 – Rutgers Unite Half Marathon – Cancelled and race has not returned

May 2020 – Broad Street Run – Cancelled

May 2020 – Vermont City Marathon – Cancelled and Deferred (twice) to 2021….however

Although the race was cancelled, I continued to train (hey, I was working from home and had no commuting so had extra hours each day). While the race was still cancelled I decided to run the distance as a virtual race, so on the Sunday in May when the race would have originally taken place I headed to Warminster Community Park and ran multiple 2.33 mile loops. Around 14 miles in I was joined by my wife who ran the remaining distance with me. A local race director (RunBucks) saw my post on Facebook and rode up on his bike and cycled alongside us for the last 8 miles. As I crossed an imaginary finish line after 26.2 miles he pulled out a (none dated) race medal and awarded it to me. Awesome. So great to have such a dedicated running community here in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. A fun day to make up for a cancelled race.

With RunBucks race director Pat McCloskey

June 2020 – Rev3 Williamsburg Sprint and 70.3 Triathlon – Cancelled and Deferred to 2021

July 2020 – New Jersey State Triathlon – Postponed and Deferred to 2021 but ultimately, I did not participate in the event due to conflict (actually a great week away in Miami)

September 2020 – Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City – Postponed and Deferred to 2021

November 2020 – Philadelphia Marathon – Cancelled and Deferred to 2021

May 2021 – Dirty German Endurance Fest 50K

I had often thought about doing this race as my first ultra and first trail race but it always coincided with something like the Broad Street Run or was not really compatible with a training plan. This year, as there was nothing else I had planned and I had been running regularly, I decided a couple of weeks before the race to sign up. I had never run trail races before, did not have trail running shoes and then the weather was an absolute washout the day before leading into the race. I bought myself a couple of pairs of good trail running socks (one spare to keep in my bag in case I needed to switch half way as it was a two loop course), lathered my feet with Vaseline to keep them fairly waterproof (in addition to the rain and mud there were four stream crossings) and turned up with a positive attitude. I didn’t set any records that day (other than my first official 50K so a natural PR) but made a good showing. It was very muddy and hilly and at times I was running because of both gravity and worry that if I stopped, the wet mud would just take my feet from under me, but I had a great time. I finished in 7:07:09 and found muscles in my legs that I never knew existed before. Trail running is a completely different experience and there is a lot of balance involved compared to running on asphalt. The great thing about this race is that it was in Pennypack Park which is only about 30 minutes from my house. It’s an enormous park right in the north east of suburban Philadelphia, but you would never know it was there. It was so much fun. Oh, and muddy.

You had no choice but to get wet. The first of many crossings.

Not many options. Needless to say, the shoes did not make it back into the house when I got home.

June 2021 – Rev3 Williamsburg Sprint and 70.3 Triathlon

Finally…the redemption race. Returning to the scene of the crime. My goal was to stay on the bike and finish with no trips to the emergency room. Besides, my wife decided she wasn’t going to drive me there so I was on my own for this one. I decided to do both the sprint and half distance races again this year. Yes, stupid is as stupid does. I never learn. While the Sprint course was pretty much the same, the half distance bike course was different…and much hillier than last time. I did however stay on the bike the whole time so that’s a win. It was such a hot weekend. The water was so warm it was like soup, not wetsuit recommended. Saturday’s Sprint triathlon was fine. It was really an effort to just keep loose and get the nerves out. I finished the sprint in a time of 1:43:52 which was quicker than 2017 but then I found out after the race distance was a little shorter by just over a mile or so. Sunday, the day of the half distance, was why I was really there.

I had two great swims both days (it helped that there was a strong current for sure). The bike course for the half, as I said earlier, was a lot more hilly than the last time I raced. There were a couple of times when people were walking their bikes up the hill (me included). It was relatively flat in 2017…which I still managed to fall off. Anyway, by the time I made it to the run it was about 99 degrees in the shade which made it a long plodding half marathon. I finished in 7:29:42. Not my best and was about as long as it took to drive home in the horrendous traffic. At least I survived unscathed. Not many official race pictures but just evidence that I finished both races with a smile on my face.

Finishing the sprint on Saturday. Smiling.

Finishing the half iron distance on Sunday. Not so smiley.

I got two medals for my efforts this year. There was no challenge as in previous years so no third medal this time.

September 2021 – Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City

This was my attempt to beat my 2019 time. I didn’t but I still had fun. The swim was interesting this year. The tide was so low that people just got up and walked…in the middle of the bay. I was swimming and there was so much silt you could not see where you were going. You would feel the bottom of the bay with every stroke. Weird. The bike was uneventful (thankfully) and as nerve racking as it had been the previous year along the AC Expressway. The run was impacted again by the heat. It got to me bad this year and my time reflected that. I finished in 7:22:00. I can do better than that but still, I’m always glad to finish a race. This year, the finish line was on the beach which made for a unique and fun way to run into the finish line as I finished my fifth 70.3 distance triathlon.

No picture of me swimming this year but another great picture of me looking uncomfortable on the bike.

Such a cool finish line. Not easy to run on sand on tired legs but I don’t look like I’m unhappy about it.

Always nice to add another medal to the collection. This was my fifth 70.3 distance triathlon.

November 2021 – Philadelphia Marathon

You know me by now. Guess what…there was a challenge for this race weekend. The ‘Liberty Bell Challenge’. If you completed the half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday you get another medal. Having done this type of challenge a number of times before (4 times at Disney and the inaugural ‘Rocky Challenge’ during the 2016 Philadelphia Marathon weekend) my wife just sighed and rolled her eyes as I told her I would be running both. This race had been postponed in 2020 and it would be the first marathon we were together as a couple since the 2019 Los Angeles Marathon.

Saturday’s race was smooth and uneventful. I ran the half in 2:05:26. The goal was to enjoy myself, finish without any injury and not beat myself up too much for the next days marathon. Mission accomplished. On Sunday my wife and I ran the full marathon together. This was my 9th Philadelphia Marathon and my wife’s 3rd. It was the first time she had run the altered course which takes a more scenic route through Fairmount Park and eliminates the horrible out and back near my 16-17 which I always hated. The day was fun and we supported each other well. We finished in 4:45:17 which is consistent with the two other times we have run this together.

At the finish line I received my second and third medal of the weekend. Another highlight is that we met Meg Keflezighi at the finish line. He is an Olympic Silver medalist at the 2004 games and finished 4th at the 2012 games. In all he has been an USA Olympian four times, three as a marathon runner. He has won the 2009 New York City Marathon and won the 2014 Boston Marathon (the year after the bombing). He’s an amazing person. This was really cool.

With my first medal after Saturday’s Half Marathon

With my Bride and Joy at the finish line. My second medal of the weekend.

With my challenge medal….they just keep getting bigger

Meeting Meb Keflezighi at the finish line.

May 2022 – Vermont City Marathon

After multiple deferrals (the race directors had tried to move the race to October each of the years) we finally got to run the Vermont Marathon. The course had been modified to limit the amount of volunteers that were needed to support the race (still just post COVID) so the route was a two lap 13.1 mile course. We took our youngest with us that weekend as the eldest (now a high schooler) had commitments with the high school marching band. He plays the bass drum…the big one!!! It also happened to be Memorial Weekend so we made a long weekend out of it.

We stayed in the race partner hotel so we didn’t have to leave to get to the expo…which was a good thing as the rains came down heavy that day although it did clear up later and it was an absolutely beautiful crystal clear blue sky for the rest of our time there. We did some touristy things with our youngest (I recommend a trip to the Vermont Teddy Bear factory) which was fun. He created a new buddy for himself and named it ‘Vermonty Python’. I’m proud he recognizes his heritage!!!

Race day was beautiful, running along Lake Champlain. The neighborhoods we ran through were amazing. Many of the residents were out cheering and spectating. Some provided refreshment stations. It was a hot day and they had freeze pops at one of the aid stations. It was great fun. We finished in 4:53:20. Did I mention it was hilly. People go to Vermont to ski.

The highlight of the trip (and kind of how I roped everyone in to the idea) was a trip up to the Ben & Jerry Factory after the race. Treats were had by all. We finished our night with a trip to the Von Trapp Family Brewery (yes, THAT Von Trapp Family).

I would highly recommend this race. The place is beautiful.

(Finally) Finishers of the Vermont City Marathon.

The beauty that is Vermont and Lake Champlain. Wonderful weekend weather. Perfect for a nice 26.2 run.

Let’s be honest…the only reason some people decided to make the trip.

So now the big reveal and the reason I have to catch up in an omnibus post. As I write this post my wife and I are three days away from heading to Athens, Greece to run the ‘Athens Authentic Marathon‘. It runs from ‘Marathon’ to ‘Athens’, celebrating the historic run of Pheidippides after the Battle of Marathon which inspired the modern day race. The race itself finishes in the original modern day Olympics stadium from 1896. The ‘Panathenaic’ Stadium. We are so looking forward to this trip and I cannot wait to share the details when we get back.

It’s nice to be back and thank you for your patience.

Rutgers UNITE Half Marathon – Race recap

September 5, 2019ianesenior Leave a comment

Admittedly I am falling behind on updating my blog. With a few big events coming up in the next few weeks I have to catch up so expect a few back to back posts over the next few days.

Back in April I ran my third Rutgers UNITE Half Marathon. I have not run this race since 2016 and as the last time I ran this I earned my half marathon PR this is one of my favorites. I had a quick time in both 2015 and 2016. Admittedly I am nowhere near the shape I was in in 2016 (I’ve been a little out of sorts physically since my accident in the 2017 Rev3 Williamsburg Half Ironman…okay, I’ve added a few pounds) but I was looking to a fairly decent time considering the course.

This race is put on by CGI Racing which is one of my favorite race organizers. Responsible for ‘The LOVE Run‘ and the ‘New Jersey State Triathlon‘ which are always well organized. Unlike the last time I ran, they were not offering race day packet pickup which meant I had to do the trek up and back to New Brunswick twice that weekend. It’s about an hour each way from where I live so not the end of the world. At least this year it did not fall on an alumni weekend and I was able to get quickly in and out of the expo.

The Expo as usual was contained in the campus sports center and it was easy to navigate in and out. Packet pickup was fairly easy and as it was small I wasn’t there too long and was able to get back home reasonably quick.

The Expo was held on campus in the sports center

A small expo but not crowded

Packet pickup was easy and the volunteers were helpful and attentive

This photo shows nothing more than I really needed a haircut!!!

Yup…still need a haircut!

Early the next day I woke up and headed out in the dark for what would be an early start to the day. The race was due to start at 8am but unlike in the prior years where I parked at the starting area and had to get a shuttle bus back from the finish line, this year I decided to park at the finish and shuttle over to the start. Knowing from prior years that it was usually cool in the morning and could warm up later, I dressed to run warm but made sure I had a few layers on prior to the race start.

When I arrived at the finish line I was early enough to get a parking space really close to the finish area and waited until I saw some other runners up and around the area to follow. The race guide suggested you could walk to the starting area and I started to follow a few runners but I realized that I needed some personal time (i.e. a bathroom stop) so headed over the to the shuttle buses that would take us over to the starting area. Needless to say, I’m glad I didn’t walk as it was quite a ride over there. Of course we couldn’t take too many short cuts with the bus but it was still a good ride that I’m glad I was not on my feet for too long before the race.

Arrived early and got a good parking spot near the finish area

I decided to take the shuttle buses to the starting area

It was a very foggy morning and I new it would be a humid run. It wasn’t too cold at the start so I checked my bag early and just hung around waiting for the start. As you can see from the pictures below, the visibility wasn’t great…but I wasn’t going to be leading the race so as long as I could see the guy in front of me I was good. A few people liked my InknBurn shirt and joked that there was no way anyone could lose me in the fog.

Entering the starting area

The fog was quite dense in the area.

You are not going to lose me in this outfit

…not to mention my shortish shorts

Ready to get moving

As the National Anthem was playing I was already in the starting corral. Having run 1:51(wish) last time I was here and although I knew I was not in the best shape I still thought I could hang with the 1:45 guys and settled myself near the 1:45 pacers waiting for the word to go. With little delay we were off.

I did a fairly good job of hanging with the pace group over the first few miles running near their pace and staying within ear shot of the pace runners as they chatted amongst themselves. As we ran through the more modern side of the campus I heard them saying they were actually running ahead of pace…as confirmed by all of us struggling to keep up with them. It was around mile 6 or 7 that a few of us commented that it was getting warmer and we seemed to be lacking aid stations in this part of the course. Nevertheless I hung on the heels of the pacers until around mile 8 when, as I was beginning to heat up, I decided that it was better to enjoy the run than to fight to maintain the pace.

The humidity was already beginning to take it’s toll on me and my heart rate was elevated so I decided to slow down and let the pace group go ahead of me. My pace dropped from 8:45 pace per mile to around 9:30 as I tried (unsuccessfully) to lower my heart rate which was now pretty much stuck in zone 5. I dropped to a run/walk for the back side of the course from mile 8 to the finish line. It was the right decision for the day.

As we crossed over from bridge high above Route 18 a fellow runner recognized me as the ‘Philly2Goofy’ guy and this cheered me as we entered the park for the long out and back. Although we drop in elevation on this half of the course it generally feels like it’s uphill for the remainder of the run up until the crest of the hill leading to the finish line.

Was I glad to see that hill, knowing that in less than half a mile we would be at the finish line. I honestly struggled on the back half. I could not get my heart rate down. I put this down to the more than a few extra pounds I had gained since running the New York City Marathon in the previous fall. It hadn’t been my best winter for maintenance. I certainly saw the results of that today as I crossed the line in just over 2:05. This was 14 minutes slower than my 2016 race or over 1 minute per mile slower over the course. Wow.

However, a finish line is a finish line and it’s always a good thing to get over it standing upright. Not my best performance by any means but far from my worst. I still like this race and would recommend it to anyone looking for a nice spring half marathon. If the weather is good it can be a fast course. Still one of my favorites.

It’s always good to cross a finish line

My 3rd Rutgers UNITE Half Marathon in the books

Post race area for the athletes

Great organization as usual

A great tasting pretzel. Earned!!!

Short shorts but a good backdrop on the old side of the campus

The finish line area is great as you are on the main campus and so there is plenty of space to sit on the grass and catch ones breath. The post race area was, as usual well, set up by the volunteers and after a soft pretzel and a cold bottle of water it was back to the comfort of my car and the journey home. Another Rutgers half in the books.

2018 Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon – race recap

December 30, 2018ianesenior Leave a comment

I wasn’t going to do it. No sir, I wasn’t going to do it. I have run this event every year since 2011 and after running the same course (pretty much) each year I decided to sit this one out. I think I even registered for the 2017 race before I ran the 2016 event this was how predictable this race became for me. So my wife and I (who has run this with me since 2012) decided to skip this year. End of story.

…So why am I writing a race recap? Well, in preparation for the 2018 New York City Marathon I had chosen a new marathon training plan. For most of my marathons I have been using Hal Higdon marathon training programs but with my build up to New York I wanted to try something different. This time around I picked a Hansons Running marathon training plan. This was a new approach for me and I had been following the plan strictly (more or less). I had all my paces set and programmed into my Garmin and was sticking to plan. This race happened to coincide with a 12 mile run on the training plan. Additionally, my company wellness program was promoting a discount code for people who wanted to sign up for the race weekend. With permission from my wife (she decided not to join) I signed up just over a couple of weeks in advance of the race weekend. This would be a chance to put this training plan to the test.

Arriving late on a Friday evening and rushing into the expo

Obligatory race bib photo…with my hand written corral assignment

I headed to pick up my packet on the Friday evening after work. As usual, it took forever to get into the City on a Friday evening and I arrived with about 45 minutes left before the expo closed for the night. I picked up my race bib and as I had signed up so late I didn’t have my name printed on the bib or a specific corral assigned. I had to go over to get a corral assignment based upon my estimated finish time. Not a big issue but I’ve never signed up for a race this late. Interestingly, the expo was much smaller than it had been in previous years. There had been years when the expo was really big, now it just seemed a little light. Brooks was still the main apparel sponsor but there was nothing unique that jumped out at me. Not that I got much chance to see the expo. They started to switch off the lights around 15 minutes before the end of the expo hours and they announced that it was time to pack up (so to speak). The hint was taken and I headed home.

Expo was pretty empty

Heading in to see what was on show

The expo wasn’t as big as I had experienced before for a Rock ‘n’ Roll race

I was feeling confident going into the race weekend based upon my recent training and was hoping that my recent hard work was ready to pay off. I got my gear ready the night before and looked forward to what the day might bring. My half marathon PR of 1:51 was back in April 2016. I was hoping to get close the next morning.

Flat Ian, ready for some shenanigans…well, it’s me…let’s just hope for some nice safe fun 🙂

Race day arrived and I got to the starting area early. I bumped into a colleague as soon as I arrived at the staging area and we chatted for a while which helped relax the nerves. I got into my corral. The weather was overcast, warm and muggy, not ideal for a fast run but I still felt good and ready to go.

You can see how muggy it is at the beginning of the race

Our corral was called and it was time to put my recent training to the test. The first couple of miles went off well. I felt good. Something weird happened with my GPS running around the tall buildings so by mile 3 I had a zany 6:29 mile appear on my watch which threw me off a little. I had to start doing math every time I hit a mile marker going forward. You will see from my mile splits below that I tried to reset my laps by hitting all the buttons on my watch until I at least matched with a mile marker (for the split distance at least). The training seemed to have been working through the first few miles. I felt good and my pace was where I wanted it to be.

Around mile 7 the sun started to come through the clouds and it started to warm up, and with that, I started to slow down a little. As I headed up Kelly Drive the sun became stronger and my splits started to get slower. Miles 9 and 10 were almost 20 seconds slower and by the time I crossed over the Falls Bridge to Martin Luther King Boulevard I was fatigued and the next few miles were about a minute slower. Hmm…I may have pushed just a little too much at the start. Not sure it was the training or the heat. I managed to pick it up a bit in the last mile and made it to the finish line in a good compared to prior years but disappointing compared to plan time of 1:55. One of my better half marathons but about 5 minutes slower than plan. It was warm by the time I finished and as I was relieved to get a cold towel and some iced water. Oh, and some chocolate milk. Always a win!!!

My lap splits (with a little glitch for laps 3-5)

Based upon my splits I’m not sure if it was my training plan or the heat or a combination of both. I see that my last mile split was more on par with my earlier splits but still, a good takeaway knowing that I felt strong for the first half of the race. I still had 6 weeks to go until New York and time to complete the training and taper for my goal race.

A medal and some chocolate milk. A win.

So, I know that next year I will definitely not be running this race (I have signed up for the Atlantic City 70.3 triathlon) so my streak is broken. I’m okay skipping this one for a while. I’m sure I will be back again though but a break will do me good.

2017 Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon – race recap

November 9, 2017ianesenior 2 Comments

Back on September 17th, my wife and I ran this year’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon. This was my 7^th time and my wife’s 6^th time running this event. We seem to be ‘repeat offenders’ when the email from R’n’R comes out the day before the race, offering discounted entry for the following year. (Spoiler alert…we passed on signing up for 2018 for now). This would be our second R’n’R run for 2017 after the D.C. Marathon back in March and therefore we were eligible for a bonus medal (the ‘Double Beat’).

The Double Beat medal

So going in, this race review will probably be similar to the ones posted about 2013 through 2016 (with the exception of the year the Pope caused the race to move to October 31^st). Rather than comment about the course (which was the same as last year) I’ll highlight the key parts of the weekend and any changes from last year’s race.

Our last 6 finishes together

Since I started my new job back in January I am much closer to Philadelphia so I made a trip to the expo on Friday after work (saving us a trip to the expo on the weekend with both boys). Interestingly enough, the expo seems to be getting smaller each year which surprised me. This year it was held as per prior years at the Convention Center in Philadelphia. I arrived just after 6pm (the expo was until 7pm on the Friday evening) so I had just under an hour to get in, pick up bibs and shirts and explore the expo.

Packet pick up with pretty uneventful. Very quick and easy as was the shirt pick up. They had an area for shirt exchange where I could sample a different size (although I kept my original). From there I headed to the merchandise area (again sponsored by Brooks Running). Some cute stuff but nothing blew me away that I would need to buy this year so I avoided the (smallish) crowd and headed out into the expo hall.

Arriving at the expo

None of the weekends races had sold out

Upon entering, everything was clearly signed

Bib and t-shirt pickup was pain free

Merchandise was the typical Rock ‘n’ Roll fare. Nothing that screamed out to be purchased.

Then it was quickly through and off to the main expo

I was very surprised by how small it seemed compared to previous years. It didn’t seem that there were as many vendors as prior years and even some of the bigger vendors had smaller booths. Well, at least I got home earlier than planned.

It seemed a much smaller expo than previous years

The morning of the race we arrived really really early. For some reason we told the babysitter to be there by 5am…we arrived in Philly at 5.45am and we didn’t really need to be there until 6:30am. Oh well, at least my wife had a lovely extra few minutes sleep until it was time to go.

Not quite ready

As usual it was fairly straightforward to deal with bag check and the port-a-potties were plentiful…as were the lines waiting to get in them. We arrived in fairly good time. I did get a chance to say hello to some fellow Team Shenanigans members before heading towards the corrals.

Ready for a nice run around Philadephia

Despite being early we are still smiling

Obligatory wife jump shot

We had a full agenda ahead of us after the race. We figured that we would be able to be done early as we were in corral 7. When we were in the corral people were moving up so we did too. No one was policing the corrals so we actually started up near corral 5 (that saved us all of 4 minutes).

In the starting corral

Okay, now we’re ready

It was a warm morning and once off and running we quickly heated up. What was noticeable was a lack of water early in the course. I know that this is a big race and they probably need to spread things out once the corrals are released but this was a warm and humid day (high 60s to low 70s) but the first water stop wasn’t until nearly mile 2.

Photo op on the course

The course was the same as last year (as mentioned above) so there were no real surprises for us this time around. We settled into our pace and were doing reasonable splits for the first 7 miles. We may have gone out a little too fast in the early miles and this caught up to us as the heat and humidity started getting higher around mile 9. It was a bit of a slog going into the last few miles but we persevered through to the finish in a time of 2:05.

Another finish line

At the finish line, in addition to the cool Benjamin Franklin medals, they provided us with towels dunked into ice water. That was a great relief, as was the chocolate milk that this race always provides. 🙂

Post race goodies to refuel

Our 2017 medal

As we were in a rush to be back home for the boys we just grabbed our stuff and headed back to the car. It seems strange that we treat this as a normal run these days and can pretty much predict our finish times so we can plan our day accordingly. Checking back on our previous years running this race we have run times consistently around 2:05 with our best being 2:00 and our worst being 2:07 (which was a much warmer and humid year).

I guess it is because we have done this race so many times now this seems not to be such a huge race for us as it used to be. Drop in…run…leave. Oh well, we might have to sit out a year or two on this one. We didn’t rush to re-sign up for 2018 as we usually would for that reason. Still it was another fun day and always a treat to be able to run with my wife.

Thank you for reading.

Rev3 Williamsburg Triathlon Weekend – ‘The Revolution’ – Race recap

September 3, 2017ianesenior 12 Comments

It’s just like falling off a bike…

It took a while to sit down and write this review, after all this race weekend was at the beginning of July and I am writing this in early September. There’s quite a lot to tell about this event both good and bad and I’ve tried a few times to sit down to recap this all. Here goes.

I completed my first half iron distance triathlon (70.3) back in July 2016 and when I was looking to do a second I took a long look around at the options, from price and timing as well as location. The factors that made me choose Williamsburg was that it was drivable, the timing meant that I could bring my family along and also that this was priced very reasonably (vs some of the ‘branded’ events). So Rev3 Williamsburg was chosen and I registered for my second half iron distance event in early September 2016.

So, you know how I like challenges which involve back to back and multiple races in the same weekend, (think Goofy Challenge, Dopey Challenge, Rocky Challenge), back in December Rev3 announced that this weekend would offer two challenge races, the first was ‘The Double’ (Sprint Tri on Saturday and Olympic Tri on Sunday) and ‘The Revolution’ (Sprint Tri on Saturday and Half Iron distance on Sunday). I’m not one to miss a challenge opportunity for a bonus medal and so I spoke with the race team and registered for ‘The Revolution’. Got that? A sprint triathlon as a warm up to a Half Iron distance. It should be a busy weekend.

I chose the same training plan for the Half Iron race that I chose for my first 70.3 last year (10 week novice plan from Endurance Works). This meant that my training plan started on May 1^st which gave me a few weeks of recovery from the Rock ‘n’ Roll DC Marathon back in mid-March. This worked well in the past and all I was looking to do was to finish both races not necessarily in podium position 😉

As this was going to be a family trip (we would be away Friday through Monday) I splurged a little and booked the family into Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg. It was about 20 minutes from the race site at the Chickahominy Riverfront Park. My family would be at the park for the Sunday race (families were encouraged to run the finish line with their athlete) so the kids would be busy and entertained on Saturday, Sunday morning and however long we would stay on the Monday before heading home.

As my boys were going to join me in the race I purchased these shirts online so they would look the part on race day 🙂

As I was getting all my gear ready for race day I was paying close attention to the weather forecast and also the river conditions. The Rev3 Williamsburg Facebook group was especially helpful in this. Based upon the feedback of the people in the group it was not worth packing a wetsuit as it was not going to be a wetsuit legal race. I had been experimenting with talking salt tabs due to the heat and I had picked up a new running handheld bottle for the run portion of the race that I planned to use to hold the salt tabs and also to refill at the aid stations as needed.

Saturday’s forecast

Sunday’s forecast

In some of my other races I had taken along a bucket to both store my equipment and also to use as a seat during transition. I hadn’t needed one for the half iron last year as there were stools provided to the athletes. I made what can only be described as an innocent mistake by asking the group if stools were provided or whether there was space for buckets and boy oh boy did that raise up a Facebook storm!!!!

Race weekend finally arrived; we picked our boys up from their day camp and headed down to Virginia. We arrived at 9pm that evening just in time for the late night kids activities at Great Wolf Lodge. This gave me plenty of time to check in and bring all my gear up to the room to prep for the Sprint tri on Saturday morning. As race packet pickup was on race day we didn’t need to arrive any earlier. With everyone settled into the room and my bags packed for the next day we called it a night and I tried somehow to get enough sleep before my first race.

It took a while but we made it safely

Made it to the Lodge

Saturday July 8^th – Sprint Triathlon

Saturday morning came early and I tried to very carefully get up without waking anyone else in the room. I did my best but my wife said she heard me. Luckily the boys didn’t. Although my gear was ready to go, I still had to take my water bottles out of the refrigerator and move my bicycle out of the room like a ninja in order not to make any further disturbance. I still have no idea how I managed that.

It was still dark outside when I left the hotel, packed up my car and racked my bike. The drive to the park was down a long unlit stretch of highway. I had been followed out of the hotel parking lot by a couple of cars that also seemed to be heading to the race. I was up in the front so they were relying on me to lead the way…uh oh. On the side of the road there were plenty of deer and other wildlife. I was very much on alert not to 1) get lost with everyone seemingly following me and 2) not get hit or hit a deer running across the road. Not the most calming of drives. Finally I (we) made it to the entrance to the park and we were directed by the race staff where to park.

It was still dark when we arrived and I was very grateful that I had packed my running headlamp in my transition bag so I could see what I was doing in the unlit field. Race packet pickup and gear pickup was very simple. They had a board listing all the athletes so they could look up their race numbers if needed. I grabbed my race packet and went over to pick up my special ‘Revolution’ gear and was able to head back to the car to grab my race bag and bike. They also gave me this awesome note in my race packet 🙂

Cookies? It’s like they really knew me.

The sun was starting to rise at this time so I was able to put my headlamp away, change out of my outer clothes (my tri-suit was underneath) and head over to the transition area. All were very clearly marked out and there were plenty of volunteers available to help out.

I found my spot to keep my bike. I was at the front with all the other ‘Revolution’ entrants. There were about 20 or so people doing the Sprint/Half Iron combination and we would have the same number both days. As we were at the front of the transition area, once I had set out my gear for the day, I was able to move my transition bag to the side to save some space. By the way…I saw people with buckets!!!! One bucket was even decorated with tinsel for the event 😉

All set for the Sprint tri (no bucket)

Ready to go

A nice clear morning

The race was due to start at 6:30. I was in the second wave so we were called out of the transition area just after 6:00am. It was a long walk to the boat ramp where the swim would start and I hadn’t thought to bring any throwaway sandals. I knew that this was going to be an issue for me and I would need extra time to get down to the water. I was fine walking along the grass but ultimately I had to traverse a gravel path bare foot….I’m a delicate soul and all of a sudden I was moving as if walking on egg shells. Not fast and not glamorous. I was walking so slowly I was blocking traffic when a minivan pulled up beside me and told me to hop in so they could drive me the last couple of hundred yards to the start line. They people who ‘adopted’ me in the minivan were camped by the edge of the river and this was a nice thing they did for me.

It was an in water start so although people were able to do a practice swim (I didn’t) you had to get out of the water to cross over the starting mat to get back into the water. After the National Anthem they started letting the waves of athletes out. I had two caps in my race packet, one for today and one for tomorrow. I was nervously checking everyone around me to make sure I had on the right one for the day.

They announced that the water temperature on the day was 83 degrees (definitely not wet suit safe for the swim). Each wave was called and they had a couple of minutes to enter the water via the ramp and then tread water until it was time to go. Once it was my turn I made my way in (towards the back of the pack) and waited for the announcement to go. Then we were off.

The swim was an out and back around the buoys in a sort of triangle shape. Some part was into the morning sunshine and you could feel the heat, some was in the shade and you could feel it cooler. The river itself had shallow pockets of river mud. In fact on the way out if you were to swim too far the right of the course you would swim through shallow grass. Indeed there seemed to be some sort of rise in the lake bed and a couple of people actually stood up around me in the early stages of the swim right in the middle of the lake. It was weird to say the least.

Once around the turn it was slightly with current and I made my way along towards the bridge in the distance. As we approached the bridge and moved towards the shore I could feel my hands brushing the bottom of the river. The next thing I know I’m practically crawling along the bottom. I looked up to see that everyone was slowly walking into the shore through the deep, sloppy mud. I stood up and joined in. The river bed was soft mud so as you took each step you sank down. This made it a little difficult and made for slow egress out of the water. It also takes a bit of extra effort at the end of the swim. Finally I made it to shore and made my way into transition. Total time for the swim 28:34 minutes.

Sprint Tri swim

With no bucket on which to sit(!) I was able to dry myself and as always struggle to get my Injinji toe socks onto my damp feet. Not my fastest transition (6:06 minutes). As I was close to the front I grabbed my bike and headed to the exit in front of me only to find out that it was the run exit not the bike exit so I quickly turned around and made a beeline for the correct exit.

The bike course was a simple out and back. There was a bridge that we had to climb immediately on leaving the park but this wasn’t too cumbersome. As the course was fairly flat I was able to get into aero position relatively quickly and powered my way down to the turnaround (by powered I mean my speed…not too fast). The ride was nice and cool as it was mostly in the shade. The road was open to traffic and so there were a few cars to contend with but not too many and never crowded. The turnaround took us off the road and onto the riding/running trail that was all paved so it was pretty smooth coming back.

We had been warned to slow down going back across the bridge as there was a 90 degree left turn back into the park at the base of the bridge and we risked overshooting it and riding into the 5K course if we went too fast. It was a nice ride on the day and I was happy to return into transition and quickly change into my running gear. My ride was 54:34 minutes at an average speed of 16.82mph. I grabbed a salt tab and my water bottle only as I didn’t think I needed a gel or anything to boost my energy levels.

Sprint Tri ride

The run was also fairly flat and out and back. We had to cross one road and there were police controlling traffic. It had started to become much warmer by this time and it was still before 9am. I held a pretty decent pace coming off the bike and my legs felt fresh. I ran the 5K in 27:55 minutes at a 9:01min/mile pace.

Sprint Tri run

The finishing chute had us run off the paved road and along the grass. This felt good underfoot and the crowds were really great. My total time was 1:59:30 for the sprint.

The race provided free finisher photos which was really nice of them.

Post-race we were awarded a medal and a bottle of water and Gatorade and I headed over to the post-race refreshment tent. This was great. They had pretzels, animal crackers, Goldfish crackers and I grabbed a back of Famous Amos cookies and chilled out for a couple of minutes before heading back to the transition area to pack up.

As I was racing the next day I didn’t need to return my timing chip. I would need to come back later in the day for the mandatory athlete meeting and to pick up the Quarq Qollector GPS tracker that I had I had rented for the next day so my family could track my position via an app on the phone. Also as I had the same race number for both races I was able to leave my bike in transition for the next day so I was able to travel back to the hotel with less logistics to work out.

I headed back to the hotel (with a short stop at Walmart to pick up a cheap pair of flip flops for the walk to the boat dock on Sunday) where I arrived just as my family had come down for the day. The boys were getting face paint in the lobby and my wife had just grabbed breakfast for everyone. I timed it well. Fresh coffee and a bagel were waiting for me as I sat down with them. They went off to the water park and I got showered and dressed ready to head back for the 1pm meeting.

I Tri on Dunkin’

All cleaned up and ready to head back to the expo/race site

Feeling refreshed I headed back to the park and took my time to take some pictures of the venue, walk through the expo tent, look at the vendors and then grab my GPS tracker for Sunday. The race meeting was held on the stage and I was early enough to grab a seat under one of the tents out of the sun that had been set up. It was really hot by this time and shade was very welcome.

Entrance to the expo

Packet pickup

Information center manned through the whole weekend

Really straightforward. Even I could figured this out.

Easier to find your number in the daytime than early before dawn. Make sure you come prepared.

Race packet pickup was very smooth

The Quarq Qollector I rented for the half. It was a bit bigger than I had anticipated and they had run out of the race belts. Fortunately it was small enough to tuck into my tri suit pocket and didn’t interfere with the bike or run.

They had lots of merchandise available

I came early enough to grab a seat under the tent for the race meeting. It was very hot out in the sun.

The race team did a great job of keeping everyone entertained. The race announcer was awesome and very funny. The race director and the USAT professional gave their brief course description, reminder of the rules and other comments before opening up for questions. It was all well run.

Pre race meeting was very informative and we were entertained while we waited

After that I headed back to the hotel to join my family and hope to grab a nice dinner and an early night. My boys were having too much fun though so I had to join in as they started their ‘MagiQuest’ throughout the hotel. They were having an awesome time but eventually (I think around 10pm) everyone was back in the room and ready for a good night’s sleep.

Sunday July 9^th – Half Triathlon – 70.3

Sunday morning started early. I’m not sure how well I slept but by this stage I was both excited and nervous to get through the day. Having learned my lessons from yesterday and not having to remove my bicycle from a room of sleeping people I was able to get out and on the road without too much disturbance. I had my goal in mind as I prepared. Beat last year’s time!!!!

The drive in was easier today having already made the journey twice the day before. When I arrived I saw that it was much more crowded than the day before.

Ready for day 2 of ‘The Revolution’

Much more crowded for the second day

All set. Ready for my second 70.3

The race director had advised that bike pumps would be available within the transition area provided by the race mechanics (Gonzo Gears) so I didn’t have to bring mine from the car. I took my bike to them, they asked what PSI I wanted and that was that. A few nervous trips to the bathrooms and it was soon time to head to the water again for the swim. This time I was prepared with my $5 flip flops from Walmart. As I arrived to the water’s edge the lady who had driven my in the minivan yesterday recognized me as she was spectating today and wished me luck. I also ran into Meghan from Team Shenanigans who was there to cheer on her husband who was also doing the half. We chatted for a while and that helped calm me down before it was time for my wave to be called.

My wave was called and I moved up a little from yesterday to make sure I wasn’t too far back when it was time to go. The swim today was a similar course (out and back in a triangle pattern) just further with a few extra buoys to swim around to reach the 1.2 mile distance. The temperature of the water today was one degree warmer at 84 degrees.

I swam steady and kept a fairly straight line. My sighting is not usually my strongest part of the open water swim. As we rounded the furthest buoy and turned for home we definitely had a slight current as I had started to drift a little. Similar to yesterday, as we approached the shore line the river got shallower and we were back in the mud. At least today I was able to anticipate this a bit more. Overall, I was very happy with my time of 41:49 minutes for the swim. I knew I had beaten my swim time from my first half last year by a good margin (54:32).

Half Iron swim

Out of the water and heading to transition

I made my way through transition and today I struggled with my Injinji compression socks. They were long…and tight. That probably wasted a little extra time than I should have needed. Maybe next year I just go with the short socks and my regular Zensah compression sleeves. My transition time was 8:28 minutes!!! Seriously??? At least I knew which way to go out of transition today so that probably saved a few minutes 🙂

The bike course started out the same as yesterday. However, this time we went past the Sprint turnaround point and continued on for what would be our 56 mile ride. Again, this was fairly flat and I was making good time and keeping my average speed/pace up high like the day before. I was touching between 16.5 to 17.0 miles per hour which is pretty solid for me and was going well and on pace to beat my time from last year (although that was much more hilly up in the Catskill Mountains).

Looking very focused on the bike

All seemed to be going well and I was in aero position for most of the straights and then…

At mile 24 I was down in aero position tucked in to the right hand side of the road (as was the rule for the race). The road was slightly cambered and I was pretty close to the edge. Too close apparently as I drifted slightly to my right and dropped off the road a couple of inches into the dirt at the side of the road. Instinct made me try to steer left back up onto the road but my wheel was too low below the black top to reach the flat paved road. With my wheel locked against the road and the speed I was going I was thrown over the top of the bike landing hard on my right shoulder.

I landed ahead of my bike and I looked back to see my bike and gear strewn all over the road. I knew instantly as I couldn’t correct that I was going to fall. It happened really quickly and I literally went down, rolled and pretty much saw stars for a few seconds. I tried to get up and out of the road but felt a searing pain on my right. I was able to pull my bike off the road and move my gear but I was clearly quite stunned at this time. Thankfully I hadn’t hit my head on the road as I came down really hard.

A couple of riders called out to me as they passed to see if I was okay…which I said “Yes” to without thinking. I could see that my chain had come of the bike and tried to get it back on the cogs. What was I going to do out here at mile 24?

Luckily, very luckily, within a couple of minutes after the fall two trucks pulled up behind me. One was being driven by EMS and the other by the bike crew and a member of the race team. The EMS asked if I was okay, I told him I fell on my shoulder and slowly lifted my arms in a rotating movement. It hurt like heck but I said I could move it. I asked him if there were any bones that looked out of place or anything poking out where it shouldn’t and he told me no and said if I felt okay he’d like to move onto another part of the course where he was needed.

The bike crew behind me meanwhile had fixed my bike and cycled through all the gears. The bike wasn’t damaged (a bit banged up on the right hood and aero bars) and was rideable. The race team member asked if I was okay and if I wanted to continue and whether I needed anything. I was still shaking at this point but I gave her my name, asked if she had any water or Gatorade (they did) and said I’d try and continue at least until the next aid station. One thing I remember from all this was that a member of the bike crew was called Micah like my eldest son. I don’t remember much else though 😦

I got back on my bike and tried to move on. I didn’t notice until after the race that the force of me coming off the bike had ripped of my bike cleats in half. Based upon my Garmin data I was off the bike for about 5 minutes. I still had another 32 miles to go on the bike. The first few meters were really painful as I had to use both my arms to steady myself on the bike. I realized that as long as I didn’t move my arm too much I could manage the pain. I knew immediately that going aero was no longer an option. I just couldn’t move my arm that way and although I could move onto the handlebar drops it was very painful. My legs worked and other than a slight graze to my knee (luckily I couldn’t see how much my shoulder was bleeding) I was able to pedal forward albeit at a much more careful and slower pace.

I made it to the next rest stop and struggled to slow down and dismount. I knew I couldn’t ride through as I would have needed both hands/arms to ride and grab refreshment and that wasn’t about to happen. I kept telling myself that my legs worked and I could make it in. The pain was bad and I was thinking of worst case scenarios about what I may have done to my shoulder but at least that was making the time go by (although not the most positive way of thinking).

At one point as we went past another plantation (this one owned by former President John Tyler) I almost went off the road again. My heart was racing. This was tougher than I had planned. It was a flat course and should have been really fast. I was really on course for a fast time before the accident. Plan B was just to finish the bike and see how I felt.

I was really grateful when I made the turn left back onto the home stretch. I knew that I was slow and probably near the back of the pack at this point. I could see the runners on the trail running the out and back. Many of them were close to finishing or were done with the first out and back. I felt having made it this far I had to continue. Again, my legs still worked and I’d figure out a way to make it.

As I come over the bridge and rounded into the park I made my way off the bike (awkwardly) and back into transition. My bike time ended up being 3:44:10 at an average pace of 14.88mph.

Half Iron ride

I had probably lost 30-40 minutes as a result of the accident. Back in the transition is when I felt bad pain. I had to lift my bike to rack it and then I had to reach down to put on my shoes. It was hot at this point. My transition time was 3:39 minutes. I picked up my water bottle and grabbed a couple of salt tablets as it was now really warm and headed out of transition. I couldn’t swing my right arm and in the absence of a sling to hold my arm I immobilized it by grabbing hard onto my shirt with my right hand to keep it from moving about too much.

As I headed out on the run I saw Meghan who was waiting at the turnaround point (the 13.1 was a double out and back…over the bridge twice!!). She asked how I was doing and honestly said I wasn’t doing great. I told her I fell but I was determined to finish, and with that I set off to run the half marathon distance.

The heat was a factor at this point and I was feeling pretty fatigued. It may have been a combination of the injury and trying very hard to focus but I was clearly off pace and struggling. All I could do was keep moving forward slowly. I was well off my regular pace (I can run a 1:50 half marathon) and although I anticipated running slower during a half iron distance I was much slower than usual. Last year I ran the half marathon during my 70.3 in 2:18 and I knew I could do better. This time however my run time was not going to be relevant. My goal was just to finish.

As I passed through the aid stations everyone was cheering and very supportive. A couple of people asked if I needed anything for my arm (remember I couldn’t see it) but I said I was fine and used the aid stations to refill my bottle with water and ice so I could carry on.

Weirdly I’m smiling…probably because I saw the photographer. I certainly didn’t feel like smiling.

The out and back is along the paved trail. It was somewhat sheltered by the trees but there were some exposed areas that you could really feel the heat coming down. I have to ask why are all my tri-suits black? I have to do something about that!!! One of the great things about a triathlon is that all the competitors seem to be very supportive of each other and people were really gracious in encouraging me along. As the USAT rules do not allow headphones to be worn, runners are not tuned out of what is around them and so it made for great camaraderie during the out and back portions.

Not smiling so much now. As you can see I was gripping my tri-suit to keep my arm immobilized as much as possible.

I finally made it to the first turnaround (it seemed to go on forever) and headed back to the second turnaround over the bridge. I was still struggling. I made it up and over the bridge and I saw my wife and the boys waiting at the turnaround for me (actually I heard them before I saw them). They were cheering loudly and all I could focus on was them. I didn’t actually see that Meghan was still there and that two other friends from Team Shenanigans were also there supporting me. Brittany and Kendrick had driven up to cheer me on. I didn’t actually realize that until a couple of days later. I told my wife I was hurt and she suggested I see a medic to which I replied I would when I was done. What more could I do? The injury had already happened but I was still running and so I just needed to keep going to finish and so up and over the bridge I went out into the distance. If they can adjust the course for 2018 to make the turnaround on the other side of the bridge that would be great.

On my way back from the first turnaround

I didn’t see this picture until a few days after the race had finished. Here I am coming to the half turnaround. My friends said that this was the first time in a race they have never seen me smiling. I was really struggling and knew I had to go back out again.

The second half was a struggle. It was very hot, it was early afternoon and I’d been out on the course for almost 6 hours at this stage. My arm still ached and I was run/walking (more walking) by now. Once I hit the final turnaround I knew I had only 3 or so to go. I started to be more optimistic. I’d made it this far when it would have been very easy (and excusable) to drop out. If anything this was going to make for a good story and perhaps my kids would remember this. As this weekend had been all about family and I had promised the boys we could cross the finish line together all I knew was that I couldn’t quit. The thought of disappointing them was too much for me and forced me to keep moving forward.

As I approached the mile 12 aid station I saw Meghan, Brittany and Kendrick waiting for me. I was so surprised. I had been in a bit of a fog for the last hour and it was great to see them. They told me they saw me struggling (again, I hadn’t noticed them at the turnaround) and they wanted to make sure I finished. They ran with me up and over the bridge. They all wore flip flops and kept up with me which pretty much shows you how slow I was at this point. As we approached the base of the bridge they let me continue on my own as they and my wife and the boys headed towards the finish line. I still had to go around the transition area first as part of the course.

It was so great to have friends supporting me as I made my way back in. Very special.

As we rounded the transition area I threw my bottle towards my gear bag (FYI, I made it) and made the final turn into the finish chute where I was joined by both the boys and my wife following behind. This is why I didn’t quit. This was what made the weekend for me.

With my family approaching the finish line

My reward for this weekend. Made everything worth it.

Crossing the finish line together – as promised. This was my motivation to get through the run.

Finally I crossed the finish line. I received my medal and an ice cold towel (how awesome was that?) and even my boys received their race medallions for crossing the finish line. I was handed a bottle of water and asked immediately for medical attention and was taken straight to the medical tent. I finished with a time of 7:26:37 with a half marathon time of 2:48:32. About 10 minutes slower than my 70.3 last year and I was much slower on both the bike and the run as a result of my fall. At this point it didn’t matter about my time, the win was that I actually picked myself up and finished.

Half Iron run – not what I had planned for sure

My family followed me into the tent and I was soon followed by Brittany, Kendrick and Meghan who had gone to grab me a cold Yuengling from the cooler. So I was able to enjoy a refreshingly cold beer as I was being attended to by the medical team. The prognosis was that I may have separated my AC joint judging by where the doctor was prodding my shoulder and how high I jumped when he touched a certain part of the shoulder. He advised I get a precautionary x-ray just to confirm there were no fractures. They washed out my wounds and patched me up while I chatted with everyone. I was pretty much on a high now that I had finished. Once I was in a sling they allowed me to leave the medical tent.

Receiving medical attention and some cold refreshment.

All of us proudly displaying our medals.

Temporarily patched up. I’m still smiling though which is a good thing.

I headed to get some food with the boys. There was a good amount of food and I opted for some vegetarian lasagna and some oatmeal raisin cookies. The boys had a lot of fun waiting around the vendor booths earlier in the day and so were really happy that I was back, (maybe so they could go back to Great Wolf Lodge for the rest of the day). We sat down to eat and to literally catch my breath. I couldn’t believe I had finished but I’m glad I really toughed it out.

The boys were great. As we were sitting they were announcing and awarding the prizes. They boys asked me if I needed to be over there to get my award. I love them 🙂

We decided that as we were staying over for the night and the boys would be entertained back at the hotel that it might be best while I had the time to head over to get that x-ray today as we were not too far from the hospital. We had planned to join Brittany and Kendrick for some post-race refreshments but I hoped they understood that I needed to get checked out. I owe them a beer or two for coming to support me. Kendrick helped me pack up my gear and also helped me put the bike back onto the car for the journey home. I definitely could not have done any of that without him. I guess that’s an extra couple of beers I owe him. It’ll be my pleasure to provide them.

We left the race site and my wife took me to the local hospital (incidentally it was where the medical team for the race were from). My wife dropped me at the ER and I said I’d let her know any updates but that I’d be fine taking an Uber back to the hotel. At least there was something for everyone to do there and it would be better than having to wait around for me. Luckily the ER wasn’t busy and I was soon taken in to the treatment rooms to be checked up. Once I was into the treatment area they announced that I was the first triathlete they had seen today. At least I came first in something!!!!

Made it to the ER

Luckily there wasn’t a long wait for treatment

The medical team (once they heard my story) were impressed that I’d got back on my bike and finished. I spent my time waiting before and after being taken for x-rays catching up and explaining to my friends and family what had actually happened. Thank you Facebook!

When the news came back that I had indeed separated the AC joint and thankfully not broken or fractured anything I was put into a sling that immobilized my arm (it wrapped around my shoulder and around my waist) and was told to follow up with my local doctor when I got home. The nurse practitioner who set me up in the sling told me that it would take time to heal and that a fracture would probably have healed quicker. Gee, thanks…

A fancy new sling. Nothing fractured thankfully.

Once all my paper work was in order (yes, the bills came soon after 😦 ) I called for an Uber and made my way back to the hotel. Luckily everyone was having fun and hadn’t really missed me, although my wife did show some concern. The boys were disappointed that I couldn’t do the water slides with them but they were happy I was okay.

I went back to my room to shower and rest. Do you know how painful and difficult it is to get out of a tri-suit with a separated AC joint, not to mention the lack of skin on my elbow and shoulder? Yes, not the most pleasant experience showering. Getting my t-shirt on and off took a few deep breaths. Finally I was all clean and took some time to rest before dinner.

Post shower. Ouch. Took a couple of days before I was brave enough to attempt to scrub the tattoo off.

A unique weekend. 3 medals and 5 x-rays.

Sprint Tri medal

Half medal (the ribbon for the Sprint and the Half was different

‘The Revolution’ – I conquered The Revolution (although it almost conquered me).

We headed over to a nearby restaurant for dinner as I had plenty of calories burned and there was no way I was going to use them all, although I did try. They boys were happy that we were able to spend the evening at the hotel to continue their MagiQuest.

I was able to get a reasonable night’s sleep that night and realized how truly lucky I was that all I had was an injured shoulder that would in time heal. There were no other riders involved, there were no other vehicles involved and I hadn’t fallen on my head. I was very lucky and relieved.

On Monday morning we let the boys finish up their MagiQuest. I accompanied them up and down through the hotel as they completed the scavenger hunt until it was done and their names were listed as having completed the quest. They were extremely happy. It was a great weekend and we definitely have lots of memories to take away from here.

We all had some good but different memories from this weekend

I was very fortunate that I hadn’t travelled alone to this race. I am not sure how I would have managed to get back from the race, go to the hospital or even drive home. My wife took the driving role as we left Williamsburg and even though we took an unexpected tour through Washington DC(?) we made it home in good time. I’d like to thank her for her infinite patience in putting up with all my training and putting up with what happened over this weekend.

In summary, accident notwithstanding, the whole race weekend was really great. I have nothing but good things to say about the Rev3 team. They put on a well-organized and well supported race and made it fun. They made it all about the athletes and their families. I would recommend that you give them a look and if you are considering a triathlon to check them out. I plan to be back in 2018 to do this properly and see what I could really do (when I’m fully upright). The race director even followed up with me by email after I got home once he had heard all about the accident. I hope to sign up again soon although my wife will not allow me to even discuss signing up for anything until I’m fully healed. I have time.

It’s like falling off a bike. Just make sure to get back on.

2017 Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, Washington D.C. – Race recap

May 1, 2017ianesenior 4 Comments

Back on March 11th, my wife and I were in Washington D.C. to run this year’s ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ D.C. Marathon. This was our first ‘RnR’ race outside of Philadelphia where we have run the Half Marathon each of the last few years. This was our chance to run multiple ‘RnR’ races in one year and earn one of the extra medals in their ‘Heavy Medals‘ series.

We had signed up for this marathon with the added incentive that Marathon Finishers were to receive a special jacket for completion of the race. We are pretty easily motivated by free swag and so that was the mantra for our all the winter training to be ready for the early (or just pre) spring race.

Our big fear training through the training was that it could be a bad winter. Actually, it was pretty mild. We did lose a couple of days of training due to snow and ice but for the majority of the workouts we were able to run outside, especially on some of the longer runs. In fact, the last long run for this marathon occurred in February when we were able to dress in t-shirts and shorts as the weather was so good.

During our last long run together I said we had been incredibly lucky with the weather which was when my wife yelled at me for jinxing us. Just because I had said this she started to say she would blame me if the weather turned bad. Oops.

As we got closer to race weekend the forecast kept getting colder and conditions worse. I felt a little unsure of my safety…I had to keep reminding my wife about the jacket…it’s all about the free jacket. In fact, the day we left for the race (Friday morning) there were a couple of inches of snow on the ground and the weather driving down to D.C. was pretty bad until we got to Maryland where it cleared up. As you can see from the screenshot below, it wasn’t going to the kind of weather for t-shirt and shorts.

Eek!!!

We arrived at the D.C. Armory early in the afternoon and were fortunate enough to find a parking space right outside the building. While the sun was still shining, it was far from nice weather. It was cold and windy. There was quite a lot of security to get into the building (every bag was checked and we were all scanned by a security wand). This led to waiting lines outside the building and it wasn’t exactly good weather for queuing up either. In fact, I had to run back to the car to grab some jackets as we were standing in line for a while.

Made it to the Armory – we had to go back to our car to get coats so we could wait in the line outside.

Once inside the expo we were led downstairs to bib pickup. We also had the chance to try on the Marathon Finisher jackets to make sure we had selected the right size. Bib pickup was fairly simple and t-shirt exchange was easy.

We’ve arrived

Bib pickup was on the lower level, the expo on the upper level (despite where the arrow is pointing)

Bib pickup was quick and easy

My wife has second thoughts about letting me personalize bibs in the future

The infamous jacket

Once we were done with pickup we headed up to the main floor for the expo. This was typical Rock ‘n’ Roll series expo where Brooks Running had a significant presence followed by the general expo out on the rest of the floor. We didn’t pick up anything at this part of the expo but I did get to see the special edition Brooks Adrenaline Rock and Roll shoe. This happens to be the shoe I run in so I’ll keep my eye out for some discounts.

Your typical Rock ‘n’ Roll Brooks set up

Brooks Adrenaline GTS 17 – Rock ‘n’ Roll Special Edition

Other than the jacket, this was what we were running for 🙂

We then headed out to the main expo. Interestingly it was quite a small affair than what I had expected. We were quickly through the floor and didn’t really see anything unique that caught our eye.

Obligatory race bib photo

Just before the exit to the expo Rock ‘n’ Roll had some race merchandise set up. Both my wife and I bought the same cool shirt, me the long sleeve and my wife the tank t-shirt.

We bought the Abe in the sweatband t-shirt

I had signed up on the website to reserve spaces on the bus that would return us from the finish line back to the start line (this was a point to point race). I asked the information booth where to pick up the tickets. I was told all I needed to do was to show my receipt (the email) to the driver the next day. Sounds easy, so off we left for our hotel.

Outside the expo we bumped into my friend John who hosts the Runner of a Certain Age podcast (we recorded a race recap a few days later which you can listen to with this link). He was running the half marathon the next day. We probably wouldn’t see him the next day as the marathon started at 7am and the half marathon at 8:30am so we wished him luck and will probably catch up with him again at another race.

We then headed to check into our hotel and then meet up with a friend for a pre race dinner. We made a reservation at a restaurant near our hotel in Dupont Circle which was recommended by a fellow Mickey Miler teammate who works nearby. We met up with our friend Robyn and it was a nice relaxing meal. It was obviously a popular place pre-race as more runners seemed to check in for dinner (we figured that with the sneakers and their Rock ‘n’ Roll gear bags they were runners).

Walking to dinner from our hotel. Notice the cherry blossom behind us.

After dinner we stopped into Starbucks for my usual pre-marathon cookie. It’s a tradition I work hard to maintain 😉

It wouldn’t be a marathon without a pre-race cookie

As the weather was not expected to get above the mid-20s the next day I set out warmer clothes than I would normally run a race in. I used a jacket that I could zip open or closed depending on the conditions. It was more worried about waiting around at the start but I did have a plan for that.

Flat Ian – a little warmer than usual.

As we were close by to the start line we were able to walk from our hotel. We got up at a reasonable time (my wife would tell you too early) and made our way to the lobby (she refused to leave until she saw another runner pass through the lobby). My wife was wearing her New York City Marathon finisher blanket and I was wearing my father’s old dressing gown that he left on his last visit from the UK. It was nice and warm and worked perfectly (although I looked like an escaped mental patient walking the streets of D.C.).

We look silly but warm

We walked to the starting area from our hotel as the sun was rising and noted other runners doing the same. As this was the National Mall where the Smithsonian Institute, the White House and all the other Governmental offices were situated I expected quite a lot of security around the perimeter. Certainly after how much there was at the Armory the day before. Instead there was none. There were no check points, nobody checked our bags. Really unexpected.

Once we were changed out of our warm gear (I decided to pack the robe rather than throw it at the start line) we headed into our corral.

The trash bags are out. That should keep us warm in the corral.

Not a bad view to start a race. Early in the morning – note the long shadows.

Ready to get moving

The starting temperatures were in the low 20s. There were not many marathon runners and they brought the waves through very quickly. In fact, as they moved the waves forward we ended up actually on the start line rather than back of a corral so it was kind of weird to be right up front waiting for the word to go, but once we got the word we were off (and hopefully giving us a chance to warm up). We had been out of our plastic bags for a couple of minutes waiting at the start line and already I couldn’t feel the ends of my fingertips never mind my toes.

Here is the full marathon course map:

Full Marathon Course Map

The first mile of the course took us around the Mall and a few of the surrounding Federal buildings. We actually passed by the White House within the first half mile (it was to our right). Again, I was amazed by the lack of any security…I wasn’t amazed by the lack of spectators as it was very early and very cold.

Thankfully it was a beautiful sunny day. As there were fewer marathoners overall and the half marathon wouldn’t start for another 90 minutes or so we had wide open space to run. When my wife and I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 2015 there were 40,000 people running at the same time. This race had about 2,500 people running and this made it comfortable to run.

After rounding the Mall and the Federal buildings there we ran around the Kennedy Center and the Watergate Building Complex and onto a short out and back that took us along the back of the Lincoln Memorial and along the Potomac River. I can tell you from comparison of the both this race and the Marine Corps race that you get to see more of the District during this race. I think during the Marine Corps Marathon (technically starting and finishing in Arlington, VA) you only get 2-3 miles at the most in the District.

Between miles 5 and 6 of the course was the ‘inspiration – run to remember’ Blue Mile. It was all uphill but the side of the road showed pictures of all the fallen who have served our Country. As we neared the second half of the hill, members of the military and families of the fallen were holding American flags out for us as we passed by. It was a big hill but puts into perspective that it is just a hill and there are people who endure more on a day-to-day basis. For that reason, we could make the hill with no complaints.

We ran through some genteel neighborhoods in D.C. and the weather was sunny but still cold. The sun helped but you could definitely feel the cold when you hit shaded areas. It was nice running through the Howard University Campus around mile 8-9 and the drumline that was playing was pretty great. In one of the neighborhoods during the first half some spectators were handing out champagne and donut holes. Sweet.

As we run through the Capital Hill district just before mile 12 we got a beautiful view. It was a gorgeous looking area and the view of the Capital at the top was the only time during the race we decided we needed to stop and take a picture.

In the Capital Hill area with the Capital in the background.

We rounded the corner into another nice neighborhood and we saw the markings where the half and the full were to split. The wind was picking up now and one of the directional signs blew down right in front of us. The split for the half occurred around mile 12.5 so we didn’t really see a glimpse of the finish line (actually it approached from a different direction than the full marathon). We still hadn’t seen any half marathoners as, although they would have already started, we were running a decent enough pace that even the leaders would have been a few miles behind us. We continued at a fairly decent pace. Pretty consistent actually and at this pace we would be on to beat my wife’s recent New York City Marathon PR from last November.

We hit the Washington Nationals Baseball Park just before mile 15 and the aid station before the bridge that would take us over to Anacostia Park along the river. This was the first time we saw that there were not enough volunteers manning the water stations. Most people were running the half marathon (13,000 vs 2,500) so we anticipated less spectators along the second half of the course but it seemed that also resulted in fewer people manning the water stops on the second half of the course. Don’t get me wrong, the volunteers were enthusiastic, there just were not enough to keep up with the runners. In fact, for most of the second half of the course water was the only thing available, no Gatorade, at many of the stops. You could see that the Gatorade mix was there in the boxes but there not enough volunteers to prepare the mixture let alone hand it out. It may have been something to do with the cold weather and I cannot fault Rock ‘n’ Roll because there were enough aid stations, just not enough people to manage.

The section from mile 15 to mile 18 is an out and back. Not much to see but you are always thankful when you reach the turnaround point. These are the tough miles in the marathon especially when it is an out and back. From mile 18 to around mile 21 we ran along the Anacostia River and a loop around the park. Although there wasn’t too much to see it was peaceful and thankfully all flat. The wind had again picked up and running along the water made the temperatures feel colder. We never really got warm during the race.

Okay then, here we go. As you leave the Anacostia Park area you enter Fort Dupont Park where there is an unfortunate hill, the second such hill of the day, however it was not a pretty sight at mile 23! It is both long and steep. We were becoming a little slower paced (still on for the PR) but we had managed to be caught by the 4:15 pace group. We watched them ‘attack’ the hill. The only thing I can tell you is that less than half of the group was still together at the top of the hill. It took a lot out of everyone. Unlike the hill around mile 5-6 there was not much to inspire, this was just a gutsy get to the top effort. We had to remind ourselves again about the jacket at the finish line 😉

Here is the elevation chart for the race. You can see both hills.

A couple of hills during our run.

That last hill, positioned where it was on the course, took a toll. We slowed down quite a bit. My wife began to feel some discomfort in her knee. I could feel my calf muscles twinge from the elevation. As we made our way back to the finish we had to walk a bit. My wife told me to go ahead but I was not intending to leave her so we walked probably close to half a mile or so until we saw RFK stadium rise up in the distance. It was then a run/walk to the finish (we had run straight through until the hill and were making good time). By now we had slowed down and the PR was out the question, still I knew we would still get to the finish around four and a half hours which was just a few minutes slower than my wife’s New York City time.

The stadium was on the horizon but it was like a wind tunnel running up to the finish line. The wind had picked up again and it was just cold. Slowing down had allowed us to cool down which didn’t help either. Nevertheless we sucked it up and made a run to the finish. We rounded a small hairpin turn within the last quarter of a mile which is where the half met up with the full. The finish line was divided into two different sides and the finish chute for each race started as the two races met up. We crossed the line in 4:31:16 which considering our big slow down over the last 3 miles was not a disaster.

We stopped for a quick picture before looking for a mylar blanket to keep us warm. It was still only 26 degrees at this time of the day even before the wind chill. Brrrr….

Made it. Another marathon down.

This was my 18th full marathon and my wife’s 9th. It was, despite everything, a good day.

We made our way through the finish line area to pick up some water and other refreshments. I like Rock ‘n’ Roll races as there is always chocolate milk at this finish line. This race was no different. However, as it was so cold it was like drinking a milk shake. I got brain freeze. My wife was so cold she couldn’t drink it. Our mylar wraps were blowing around and not really keeping us warm so we hurried over to the bag check to get our warm gear out again.

Feels amazing to be warm(ish) again.

We then had to line up for our Marathon Finisher jackets. After all, this is why we did this, right? Apparently, so did everyone else!!! Long lines but they moved fairly smoothly.

Look at all these crazy marathoners looking for a free jacket.

Once we had the jackets it was a matter of finding the shuttle back to the start. I had my tickets so I headed to the information booth. The lady at the information booth said that there were no shuttles and didn’t know what I was talking about. The map did however show a VIP shuttle area so we headed over to the VIP area to ask about the shuttles to the start line. No one had any idea what we were talking about. The map did say where they were supposed to be so albeit with little help from anyone who knew anything about RFK stadium we made our way to where the shuttles were said to be parked. There was a lot of walking involved….and stairs. We were not happy (or optimistic at this point).

Yeah…just what you want to see at a marathon.

The only problem was, no shuttles. Any empty parking lot. Ugh. We made our way to where the roads were open to traffic and decided to call for an UBER (this would be my first!!!) We had no money so the taking the Metro was out. This was not smart and totally my fault. I had four fully loaded Metro cards back in the hotel but I was relying on the shuttle so I didn’t bring them along. As we approached what appeared to be every UBER users’ rendezvous point we stood and waited for ours to arrive. Luckily ours seem to arrive ahead of everyone else and so we took it back to the hotel which was better than the shuttle would have done for us anyway. The driver even cranked up the heat for us in the back. We were very grateful.

Best UBER driver ever!!!

We made it back to our hotel and grabbed some coffee to warm up. We showered and got ready to head out for a late lunch. We took time to admire that darned jacket!!!!

Was it worth it? I’m not sure. I just like running marathons I guess.

So that we didn’t stiffen up we decided to take a walk from our hotel around the local area and grab a bite to eat. We filled up on warm yummy food and indulged in an awesome peanut butter milkshake (which we did share). Notice my wife is wearing her marathon finisher jacket 🙂

She had to make sure the jacket got into the photo.

We took another UBER into the District and spent the afternoon at the National Museum of American History. Specifically the Armed Forces exhibit which we didn’t get to fully see when we came with the boys last summer. We were in the museum until it closed around 5pm and then took the rest of the day walking through the Mall and back to our hotel where we were pretty much beat for the day.

Walking around to keep ourselves moving.

Marathon legs? What marathon legs?

36.3 miles? Yes, I was pretty much toast by the end of the evening.

The next morning we had brunch plans with a friend of my wife. We did have a reservation but it was still an hour or so wait for a table. We gave the restaurant manager our cell number and he said he would call us around 15 minutes before our table would be available. We took advantage to walk around the George Washington University Campus where we were and then headed over to the Lincoln Memorial. It was a glorious sunny morning (still not warm but warmer than the day before). What a great finish to our weekend.

At the Lincoln Memorial

Despite the cold we really enjoyed the race. The course was beautiful but the hills were tough. It was definitely worth more than just the jacket.

Thank you for reading (I know this is really really late).

October 2016 – Month in review

November 17, 2016ianesenior Leave a comment

October was a fun but busy month. It involved a number of days of business travel for both my wife and myself but also a marathon and continued training.

October 2016 – Nike+ Summary

My total mileage for the month was 132 miles. All running, as you can also see from the Garmin summary below, there was no swimming or biking this month. There were a number of rest days this month as I tapered towards and rested after the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon that I ran in the early part of the month.

October 2016 – Garmin Connect Summary

After the marathon I was into my back to back plan. There are six weeks between running the Mohawk Hudson race and the running the Rocky Challenge at this years Philadelphia Marathon weekend. The challenge is to run the half marathon on the Saturday and the full marathon on the Sunday. Although I have done this three times already at Disney (Goofy Challenge 2013, Dopey Challenge 2014 and Goofy Challenge 2015) this still takes a lot of effort and is not to be taken lightly.

I am using Hal Higdon’s multiple marathon plan which I have used successfully in the past. It is a 6 week program divided into 2 weeks of recovery, 2 weeks of training and 2 weeks of taper. I have been making sure that the days before the long run are at least half the miles I will be running for my long run in order to simulate race weekend fatigue on my body.

With all that mileage I am lucky that I have something to absorb the calories from another Halloween. I enjoy this holiday as I get to dress up with my kids and go trick or treating. I never had this growing up in the UK so I really go all in here in the US, decorating the house and for the last few years coordinating costumes with the boys. This year however, my eldest decided he wanted a scary costume and I was not allowed to coordinate with him. I was free to choose what I wanted.

I chose to be Captain Kirk as it was just after the 50th anniversary of Star Trek. I revealed my costume the week before Halloween to my kids, only for my wife to tell my youngest that Daddy was a ‘Wiggle’! What???? Thanks Honey 😦

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Ready to Boldly Go

This was not the look I was going for

Either way, I had the last laugh when it came to Halloween. I dressed up and went out with the boys. I wasn’t collecting candy (although I did hold the bag for my youngest…and saw to it that he wasn’t overstocked with Kit Kat’s) but I reached house who insisted I look at their license plate on their car and then gave me my own candy. Score!!!

Ready to beam up

Appropriately, I got candy from this house

I hope you had a good October. It was fun for me. I’m looking forward to November and returning to my local race, the Philadelphia Marathon and to cheering on my wife in the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon at the beginning of the month.

Thank you for reading.

philly2goofy

…and all the miles in between

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