Reboot for the New Year

Happy Holidays and an early New Year!

The last few weeks for me have been joyously, and decidedly, non-active. However, with the near year looming it's time to start planning my next year's races. I've already booked myself into the National Marathon in D.C. on March 21st, which is exciting. I hope that with an invigorated training schedule I can bring down my time a bit from last year.

In the New Year's Spirit I've decided on a few New Year's Resolutions -
1) Complete a Half-Ironman Distance Event
2) A sub 20 minute Corporate Challenge
3) Win the Run Around the Block race on Block Island

To do this I'll need to train for intelligently and specifically for each race. Something I've neglected to do in previous years.

Check back over the next few days to see my race schedule start filling up!

-S

Nerd Ranting

Ok, I'm sorry to the 1 or 2 people who actually read this but I need to tell the world.

This is a public service message regarding the word 'damp'

'Damp' functions in many ways, for example as an adjective - "This chair is Damp", meaning, it is slightly wet. As a verb you can 'Dampen' the chair and make it slightly wet.

HOWEVER, and please take the time to understand this, Damp can also be used to describe the action of lessening a vibration, for example shocks on a car will damp the vibrations caused by uneven streets.

Notice the difference between DAMPING a vibration, and DAMPENING something to make it slightly wet. NO ONE GET'S THIS RIGHT! AHHHHH! Et tu, Gizmodo?!?

Happy Birthday Jackie!!! See you around Jesus-time!

That's the thing about open doors...

Sarah Palin appears to be desperately trying to regain her face and image after GOP scapegoating and a national refusal to buy what she's selling. The Times has this great follow up regarding to which degrees she is succeeding (and mainly failing) to do so but it ends on a great, hokey and Palinesque note:

“And if there is an open door in ’12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I’ll plow through that door.”

I'm going to love watching her go down in flames a second time but it's a little sad that she seems to be missing out on one key element of open vs. closed doors here - if the door is open Sarah, it's already open, you can just walk in, if you need to plow through, perhaps you should reconsider the door's open-ness! 

Oh, and I hate you.

Off-Season

Alicia suggested I add some of my daily web-comics to my links... 2 of my daily web-comics are down for the week due to Fallout 3....

End of the Season Thoughts

So, I'm technically still signed up for the Philly Marathon this Sunday but I don't think I'm going to be running it. After a practice run yesterday afternoon I'm feeling pretty beat up. So that's it for all my big races of 2008, 3 marathons, a couple of half-marys and my first two triathlons. It's been a great year for me. So many firsts. My first multi-marathon year. My first sub 6 minute mile (more than an hour into a triathlon I might add) My first top 3 win with my first trophy and a many more great memories. So what's to come for next year? I'd really like to either have my first half-ironman distance triathlon and to qualify for Boston. I don't know if I can do both in one season but they're both top priorities. 

Yesterday, I had a truly magnificent run. It's already well into the fall in Prospect Park, there are more leaves on the ground than on the trees and the air has the faintly acidic tinge of decay. After a couple of quick miles I decided to take off my headphones and wander the trails where I was assaulted with a rustic peace which one rarely encounters in a major city. With every footfall I swished and crunched the wrack; more than once I frightened the skittish squirrels as they sprinted about. Feeling the cold air become heavy in my chest I contrasted the feeling of the walk/run with my racing as of late. 

These are the bipolar personalities of the runner. The physical and emotional stress of running a marathon are difficult to overcome and as an athlete, you have to step up to these challenges. Alicia calls me an 'athlete', I'm not sure I can handle that tag yet. I have never, ever been an athlete. I have been pudgy, I have been a smoker, I have played more than my own fair share of videogames, magic cards and I live to eat. I have played sports, admittedly, but I've never felt at home on the field. I felt like the smiling ethnic kid photoshopped into a candid college advertisement, more of a gesture than a reality. Yet in the last few years, as I've run more and more, my daily challenges have been coming from a footpath, and not a screen. So I suppose that I am becoming an athlete. Maybe that'll be my New Years Resolution, accept my athleticism. 

But there is a different side to running that's easy to forget. A non-athletic side that I was reminded of as I walked through the fallen leaves. A childish, gleeful and enrichingly playful rush of delight that comes from the exhaustion of playing in a park. At one point I caught myself jogging down a crunchy, leafy hill, breathing in the musk and humidity with a cool and collected demeanor. While in my mind I was 5 years old, playing in a freshly raked pile of damp leaves with my arms out-stretched yelling 'Weeeee!'. 

I'm certainly not old enough to be jaded; I still vote democrat, I can eat an entire pizza by myself, my Dad will comb my hair and my mom still puts ketchup out on the table for me when she makes steak. But I am old enough to sense that I am no longer the pudgy little boy throwing muck and pine cones into the air before dinner and, quite frankly, that's not ok, not just yet. For time being I am perfectly content to escape my job, and my rent and my debt and run off to a little hill in Brooklyn, throw my head back, scare a few squirrels and play in the leaves. If you'd like, you can come too but... (gets closer)... shhhh, I know a secret place... don't tell anyone... 

New York Marathon Race Report

Well last Saturday morning Alicia and I went to the Javits Center for the NYC Marathon Race expo. I wanted to show up right at opening because I've seen what can happen at poorly run race expos (Ahem, Philly, we're looking at you) and wanted to be out of there before dinner time. That was silly of course, because if any marathon has their act together it's NYC. It took about 10 minutes for me to get my bib and enter the expo (read : runner's flea market) area. 

A quick note - the bib, shoe chip, safety pins and quick-ties were all self-sealed into one tiny bag so there could be no losing the tiny pieces, GENIUS! (We're looking at you, Philly....) 

Expos are like crack for runners. All this great gear, shorts, tech-shirts, energy bars, gu's, applications to other races, all for cheap cheap cheap. I made it out with no less than a new parka, mug, gloves, hat and about 15 applications to destination races I could never afford. We stopped by the Team For Kids table (my charity) and started chatting up the volunteers. After a few minutes they assigned me to a later bus (6:30 instead of 5am) and gave Alicia two free passes for seating in the marathon finish grandstands. How awesome is that? 

Did I mention that this was my birthday? After the expo Alicia took me to the museum of natural history (we held hands and laid down under the whale, how perfect for a birthday?) Afterwards we rowed boats in the park and ate sushi with Reed. This was one seriously, seriously awesome birthday. 

Now, that was also Day Light Savings so with the clock change and my new bus I got an extra 2.5 hours of sleep. Feeling tired by pre-race giddy I boarded the Team For Kids bus in midtown and made a friend with my seat-mate Dana. This was her second marathon ever and she just wanted to get it out of her system before trying for a child this winter (best of luck Dana if you're reading this!) She was racing in honor of her sister-in-law who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer 5 years ago. They gave her 2 years to live and so that she could experience her remaining days to the fullest she took up running. Now, 5 years later, she is both still fighting the illness but also running in her 5th consecutive NY Marathon. How's that for inspiring? 

The buses dropped us off and we made for the TFK tents. This is the bonus of running for a charity, not only do you get guaranteed entry, but they also take good care of you. Our own area, our own bathrooms (either share 1000 portalavs with 50,000 people or share 200 with 500 people.. hmmm) bagels and coffee! Dana and I sat chatting, eating our bagels, applying body glide and Vaseline to our faces. Another thing about runners, we don't mind telling you all about how, when and where we chafe. In a way it's gross, but in another way it's a red rash of courage and accomplishment. Anyway, my baggage stowed, I went to the starting line. 

They interviewed Abdi Abdirahman, one of the more famous american runners, and they questioned him on his nick-name, the Black Cactus. 

Asinine Reporter- "So you're from Arizona, the land of the cactus... And they call you the Black Cactus... why is that?"

Abdi -  "Uhm...Well...I'm from Arizona... land of the cactus... and well, I'm black..."

A.R. - "...Oh..."

And the race was off! The climb up the Verrazano Bridge could have been troublesome, but we were fresh and it was a breeze. Down into Brooklyn and up 4th Avenue all the way to Atlantic Terminal. My calves were tight from the very start due to the the Dublin Marathon only 6 days before. My ankle which had been troubling me since Galway was so far silent and I felt great. Down Lafayette Ave (my old home!) and down Bedford to Williamsberg. I was expecting to meet with Alicia around N.9th Street so I turned Coheed down and starting peeking around. I first saw Chris's shock of red hair and ran over for some highfives. Of course, I forgot to give Alicia my gloves and hat so I had to throw them away in Queens... damn.

The crossing from Queens to Manhattan via the 59th Street Bridge was hellish. It's a dark, mostly enclosed lower level with the ominous echoing for footfalls. I actually passed 3 runners ON THEIR CELLPHONES! WTF?!? Bah, almost an entire mile on that crap. 

Them BAM, we're in Manhattan. There had to be 10,000 people cheering in the 2 block turn around towards 1st Avenue. The course was a straight shot from 59th street to the bronx and there were people just going wild, such great energy! By this point my ankle was really starting to bother me and even me ITB was starting to ache. I learned that walking actually hurt more than jogging so this was motivation enough to keep the pace. Basically, the entire race was run around 7:45, very flat timing for me. I usually start around 7 min/mile and drop to around 10 or 11 average in the last few. 

From mile 21 or so until the end was down 5th avenue, around the Plaza hotel and then around Columbus circle and up to the Tavern on the Green. I saw Chris and Tracie again around the top of the park and what a difference it made! Thank you guys so much. Seeing friends on the race, even for a split second helps draw you out of the agony and introspection of racing and reminds you, hey! This is awesome! I'm running the New York Marathon! 

I finished in 3:29:03, only 5 minutes slower than Dublin. Let me tell you, I have never been in such agony after a race. I felt as if I had been dipped, from the waist down, into boiling water. For the first time in my running history, I was one of the marathoners who needed help walking. Again TFK was awesome. I had not one but 2 volunteers help me walk to the post-race tent. They plopped me in a lawn chair, got me water and when I got scared because they couldn't find my bag it turned out to be because someone had already seen me struggling up the hill and went off to get it for me before being asked. TFK is really a class act. If I ever do the NY Marathon again, it will be with them. Anywho. That's my story! 

Oh, and afterwards my mom took Alicia and I out to a big greasy Belgian breakfast. YUM..I friend eggs with pancetta and two types of cheese. Muahahahaha.

I have never in my life been more proud to be an American. 

Dublin Marathon Race Report

Sorry, this is a bit late, but blah blah blah excuses excuses... 

Had a wake-up call around 5:15 and went and got some breakfast. (I had brought my usual bag of oatmeal w/ craisins and cinnamon with me.) A few cups of a coffee and I was ready to go! My dad was nice enough to join me on the adventure the race start which was a whopping 2 blocks from the front of the hotel. There were about 13,000 people and it was all one big ol' mass start. I cranked the Dropkick Murpheys and took off!

Miles 1 - 3 were in downtown Dublin and it was really special to see many of the places that meant something to me, but that no would could possibly want to visit. Like that warehouse in which I bought sheets of plexi-glass for my research project, or that coffee shop I used to be quite fond of, ohhh! we used to get fish and chips there! Some really special memories were flooding my mind (the DART station! what the hell was that called... we took it to 40 Foot Beach that day and saw the Martello Tower from Ulysses...) and as I crossed the O'Connell Bridge it sudden dawned on me where I was and what I was doing and yes, ladies and gents, a few quick tears of soulwarming bliss were shed before I remembered I was a big tough man and not a little baby. 

For a while the course wound through Northern Dublin, nothing too great, passed 78 Eccles Street, of Ulysses fame. Then we entered into Phoenix Park and spent about 6 miles there-in. A terrific park, now, a FANTASTIC PARK. It's one of the largest urban parks in the world and about 7 times larger the Central Park. There are many monuments, a few embassies, several Polo fields, about a dozen football pitches, a zoo, a couple pools and probably a couple pubs on it's grounds. It was the hilliest portion of the race but the views of fogswept Dublin in the distance were well worth the climbs. The course led us zigging and zagging through trees, down promenades and across a dewy field. (That sounds so much nicer than rank peat-bog... poetic license) 

The second half of the race was both less visually spectacular but also a bit of a haze due to my rapidly deteriorating coherence. It was brutal. Fortunately the weather was gorgeous, in the low 50's, and it actually didn't rain. Dublin is a beautiful city despite the fact that its an ugly one. It's a city that has known centuries of oppression, poverty, disease, misery and hardships, yet the people and streets seem to radiate an obstinate willpower that might not warm the heart, but certainly braces it against the worst the world may throw at you. Such are the people that the last few miles of the race will be forever with me. A huge crowd was constantly offering chocolates, sweets, delicious "fruit gums" (i.e. gummy bears and other type snacks), bananas and water bottles. 

This generosity made the difference and I was able to rocket through to the last mile when just as I turned the corner around Dame Street *WHAM* my entire left thigh seized up. This was no cramp, this was an amputation. I couldn't even move. I managed to the side of the road and tried to stretch out to no avail. Here I was, less than a mile from the finish, totally unable to move an inch. So I hobbled, and I stretched some more and I tried walking, and I stretched some more. I gathered my last wits and really tried to just throw myself step by step forward when a passing racer claps me on my on the shoulder yells a few words of encouragement and disappears into the fray. Suddenly I'm fully recharged and with a small dust outline of where I was a moment ago, I'm off and onto the finish line. I can't say it was the the easiest finish, but I crossed, and that's all there is to it.

Results- 

3:25:03, AG  - 362, Total Place - 1009 / 9398

Also, future reference, Marathon in Dublinese = Mairtin. 

It's raining again. How long was that?

Dublin or Bust

I have been in Dublin since around 6am this morning, local time, and it is now just before 1 as I write this. The flight was a bit miserable, some serious chop around Nova Scotia and then the saltiest "Chicken" I have ever had. Renting the car was easy enough although I was given the task of being the navigator from the Airport to the hotel. Now, this wouldn't be that bad if it weren't for the fact that in Ireland they drive on the left side of the road and my dad just couldn't get the hang of this. No, we weren't driving in the wrong lane, but rather he drove without any sense of where the left half of the car was. So then entire time on the highway to the city was spent either in 2 distinct lanes, or with my half the car literally inches away from the curb... at 45 miles an hour. I actually screamed 3 times.

I am amazed how well I remember the city, after my dad got flustered with the roads and whizzed through downtown at 50 miles an hour I was able to redirect us back the hotel without a map, which I thought was pretty impressive. At the hotel we ate some light breakfast (or Dinner #2 kinda) and met up with a sleepy headed Jackie. She looks terrific. Greece has her much more tanned than I've seen her in a long time and her hair has become very fair in the island sun. With the Dennis clan fully united, we left for the city.

It was a very nice walk, through Stephen's Green, down Grafton's Arcade, by the Bank of Ireland/Trinity College, through Temple Bar back to the Millennium Spike-thing and then back to the hotel. With everyone taking a brief nap I decide it time to pick up my race bib.

I know the general route to the expo center which I expect to only be about a 5 minute jog, so I head out. One block takes me to the Grand Canal and the feel is incredible. For those of you who don't already know, I first started running while I was spending a summer in Dublin in '05. I learned how to run on the Grand Canal, I started with little loops and then gradually extended my routes block by block to extend all the way to the bay. The minute my feet landed back on the footpath I felt a true swelling in my chest. Potent. It's hard to explain but running the same route day after day really bonds one to the area, perhaps its a survival complex. Of course there is one HUGE difference between then and now... oh, say about 40 pounds. Thats right, last I cruised down this drive, past the geese, swans and barges, I weighed 190 pounds. Perhaps this is part of the reason why I didn't remember the Canal and being so short?

Picked up my number and made it back to the hotel (Dublin, the fickle mistress has already rained on my 3 times. It is a beautiful blue sky right now. It could rain again in 2 minutes. ) Showered up. Jackie, Chas and dad are all asleep. I think the siblings are going to break off for the afternoon and let the old man snooze. I'm just starved for lunch (I mean Dinner #3).

Possibly Kilmainham Gaol and the Brewery? We'll see! Race starts at 9 tomorrow so I'll be done around 12:20 hopefully which means I should have results posted by 9 am new york time! wish me luck!

Banana Bread for a Half

Alicia made fresh Banana bread in honor of my running a half marathon last weekend. This was my last long run before my marathon adventures. She is just an obnoxiously good baker, check out these delicious pict-... damn it... not again...

A Shoe Debacle...

Have you had a favorite menu item at a local eatery? Let's say you've been craving their turkey sub for days and you finally make it in. Wait on the line, your mouth all watery, get to the cook and say in your most anxious voice, "I'll take the chicken salad please!" Of course your mind is so aflutter for your turkey sub you don't realize your error until you get the cashier, one chicken salad... Wait, what did I just do!? NOOO! But by then it's too damn late. Why does this happen? Perhaps your Id just enjoys popping up every now and then screwing you over, like shouting your first girlfriend's petname during intercourse with your wife of 20 years. 

Anyway, this happened to me the other day only (the former and not the latter, thank god) instead of a $5 sammy, it was a $100 pair of running shoes. Since I've been wearing the same pair of shoes for the past 2 years I don't even look in the box, let alone try then on when I purchase a new pair. Of course I get home and prepare for a triumphant run (oh the joys of a new pair of shoes!) when... wait... what the heck are these... green... silver.... wuh? Oh... nuts. 

So in the same week as losing $4000 worth of my stuff that I now have to replace, I spend $200 for a pair of running shoes. Of course this isn't terrible either, I now have a new pair of really, really, really nice work out sneakers and I get to donate 2 pairs of shoes to Africa for fledgling Kenyan runners, and I can take some small amount of credit for helping the next record breaker get the heck out of the Rift Valley and into the global spotlight.

A week of Not-So-Good

So, for those of you who don't know, my apartment was robbed last Monday night. Luckily, no one was hurt and nothing vital was taken. They did however nab my bike and my laptop... So yeah. As of right now there are no triathlons in my future only foot races so it doesn't throw off my schedule. Hopefully the old STI will be generous to me this Christmas time and a new bike maybe in the works then (the plasma just looks so fine!) but otherwise we'll see... 

Coffee Cake!

To celebrate my completing the marathon yesterday morning, Alicia brought me over a celebratory coffee cake! Doesn't it look gr-.... wait.... uh-ohhh, my bad.

So Friday was a bad day, the weather and a some problems at work combined to my bailing on the East Hampton's Marathon. In it's place, I decided, I would have my own marathon through Brooklyn. With this evil plan in mind, I arose at 5:30 yesterday morning, strapped on my shoes and headed out. 

The weather was actually pretty nice around a quarter after six when I made it to the streets. Miles 1-3 were down Flatbush Avenue towards Prospect Park, the into the park and south towards Ocean Parkway. Miles 3-8 are on the parkway itself and it was here that the sun came up, quite nice and quiet. There was absolutely no one on the streets. Coney Island arrived with mile 9 and I slowed the pace up on the boardwalk so that I could enjoy the view of the ocean at dawn and the march of old Russian women, like Cold War apparitions clad in translucent plastic hair wrappings, smiling and waving to their friends. 

I turn down the long pier with the fishermen and I see a small Chinese man struggling with this thing he just caught... It's called a Sea Robin and I have never seen a fish like it, definitely some unique adaptations. It's about 4-5 inches long with HUGE side flippers, about the size of my entire hand as well as these specialized spines along the sides of it head that is uses to crawl around. I first though it was sitting on top of a crab, they looked so much like actual legs! Well anyway, this is so interesting I stop running and just stand there watching as the man starts rummaging through his bag. I'm not much of a fisher, but I could tell that the fish had swallowed the hook, and that sucks because it's near impossible to get out, 9/10 you just have to cut the line. The elderly man finally removes a pair equally ancient needle nosed pliers from his backpack and proceeds to expertly handle the fish with his free hand. (You can't quite tell from the picture but this thing's got all kinds of extendible spikes on it's back and sides) Using the pliers I expect the man to either just cut the line and toss the fish back or delicate extract the hook. (To me, this was clearly not an 'eating fish' although admittedly, Asians and Stephen can have differing views on what can be fooded) Instead, the man just goes to town on the under side of the fish use the pliers to just grab, twist and tear off chucks of the fish!!! NO! I didn't see this coming! What was the thought process? "Oh man, this living thing has my five cent hook! I gotta get that back!" Anyway, I actually couldn't watch, it was pretty messed up, just something about the pliers, ugh, a little too Hostel for me. 

So I head back out, after a loop all the way to the of the boardwalk and back I've returned to Ocean Parkway at mile 12. My original plan was to reloop the park head up to the brooklyn promenade cross the brooklyn bridge - - yeah, not going to happen. Instead I meandered the side streets for a while and turned up back in prospect around mile 22. Perfect. A loop around the park made mile 25 and low and behold! The Farmer's Market! I had actually planned on this, I walk over to the nearest cider purveyor and pick up 2 pints of delicious goodness from the ice-bath and hand the lady my five-spot. When the retirement-aged woman turns back around to hand me the change I return to her the now empty pint bottles... 

"Wha?" She says, a shock of whispy  blonde hair flutters free from her hair-tie as if to punctuate how little she grasped the situation. "What just happened?" 

I smile demurely and in a little humorous miracle actually let rip an  enormous   burrrrrrrrrppppp. Now my siblings can tell you, I never burp, ever, it's just not my 'gift' in life. So she smiles with a "My! I think that's the best compliment anyone has ever given me!" I wave and shuffle home, my leg muscles now full of what appears to be boiling water, used syringes, lead weights and the angry ghost of one messed up looking fish. 

Final verdict was 26.5 miles in a little over 3:40, not bad at all. I actually felt physically great when I walked home, I just had no willpower left over. I enjoyed a 20 minute ice bath with a scathing cup of coffee ( after-all, I am a man of mysterious contradictions)... (what?) and after some time rubbing down my legs with the stick and the roller, I felt good as new.

Oh, and polo practice today!!! More on this later but I finally found a polo club that would have me!  See ya!

Coming Up - NYRR Half Marathon - Grete's Great Gallop, 13.1 Miles, Central Park

*Special Note: I'd just like to point out, I found the link to the picture of the Robin Fish by googling "Messed Up Looking Fish by Coney Island", apparently I'm not the only one totally interested by that thing...

Emotional Growth

There comes a come in every young man's life where he must accept the fact that he has eaten the entire scone, and that there is now none left for him to eat. For Stephen Dennis, that time is now....

No more politicking, I promises!

Care of Drew

Ironman World Championships - 1st of a series

This is a bit of a magical time of year in the triathlon community. For a sport that mainly skirts well under the main-stream-news the World Championships in Kona, Hawai'i come very close to breaking that surface. It's a special race not only because it's the 'big race' all triathletes dream of competing in (it's qualification only, much like the Boston Marathon for runners) but also because it's where the 'Triathlon' as we know it was born. 

Over the next few posts I'll be giving a little background, history and 'language' that'll help anyone watch and enjoy the event. So here is the first, the history of Ironman.

In the mid-to-late 1970's endurance sports were booming in popularity, women were finally allowed to run marathons (it was too 'demanding for them' before that) and were even included in the Olympic Marathon. There started to be a lot of trash talk between the worlds top bikers, swimmers, runners, climbers, hikers, etc, on who was the most power athlete in the world, who was the iron-man.  

Enter U.S. Naval Commander John Collins. Stationed in Hawai'i, he competed in the three most demanding endurance racers there in the 70's. A swim across Waikiki, a 2 day bike around the entire island, and the Honolulu Marathon. His challenge to his friends was that the true iron-man could complete all three of these things, back-to-back, in the shortest amount of time. 

On February 18th, 1978 Fifteen men attempted the slightly touched up course (the bike ride was reduced to 112 miles to better align with the marathon course). Twelve men finished and Gordon Haller broke the tape at 11 hours, 46 minutes as well as became the world's first Ironman. 

With no advertising whatsoever word of mouth ballooned the 1979 race to over 50 athletes. The race was then moved to Hawai'i's Big Island and changed into a relay event in hopes of drawing even more competitors but just after the announcement Sport's Illustrated Magazine devoted 10 entire pages to the race and it's unique brand of insanity. Within days, hundreds of athletes were writing and phoning Collins to the point where the relay was called off and the event was born. 

Ironman has since grown to dozens of events around the world (both full length as well as the half Ironman 70.3 mile event) and become a racing corporation. Still, every year the triathlon world's best of the best gather on Big Island in a display of the same endurance, brawn and recklessness that has been endemic for 30 years. 

As the first t-shirts handwritten in sharpie said, "Swim 2.4 miles!!! Bike 112 miles!!! Run 26.2 Miles!!!  ... and brag for the rest of your life..."

Just a funny note

I just checked and if I had been timed, I would have come in 283rd of 13,810 runners. 

Last year I came in 284th.... yeah for improvement!

Philly Distance Run Race Report

I'm only disappointed that the race is over. After two runnings this is still my favorite race of the year. All the factors coincide for perfection - the best course, the best weather, the best trip. Here's the report. 

I travel down to Philly about five times a year. My brother and his family just bought a home fifteen minutes on foot for city centre and it's a terribly convenient train ride from Penn to 30th street station. My pre-race tradition of eating a large chocolate dessert the night before was born exactly a year ago before the '07 distance run at Naked Chocolate, a boutique chocolate shop on Walnut btw. 13th and 14th. This is typically where we meet after I hit up the expo. 

After a yarge piece of smooth chocolate fudge cake we walked back to chez Dennis. Please note the all inclusive 'we' - Zoey Jane is now mobile! Liz still insists that no child of hers is going to be an athlete but I'm forever going to be a source of insurrection. Perhaps a little pair of baby Nikes is in the works? For dinner we travel to the Belgian Cafe and enjoy frites and a chicken aplenty. Since this wasn't exactly an 'A' race for me, I enjoyed a couple of fermented beverages with my sandwich. Apparently Philly is rapidly becoming a hot bed of Belgian styled ales, so when in Rome right? After dinner my brother and I joined his neighbor on the roof deck and enjoyed a round of barleywines. A terrific view of downtown Philly. Bed around 10:30...zzz

Race Day- 

Let it be known now that Zoey has a new favorite toy. My 3 year old cell phone. So as I'm putting on my race gear, pinning my bib and chowing some oat-meal she manages to call Coach Aw (at 6:45 am) 3 times. Coach Aw has been away in upstate NY at a 3 day music festival so when she calls me back, thinking that I've broken my legs or something, neither of us are the most coherent. After reassuring her that I'm only going to be aiming for a 1:30 (about a 40 sec/mile step up over last week in preparation for the Marathon) I lock my phone and give it back to the inconsolable niece. 

There are so many things to love about this race. It has quite possibly the best weather, ever. 55 degrees, sunny and just a hint of wind. It also kicks off at the steps of the art museum (a la Rocky) and has about 40k spectators all cheering and going wild. A hugely energetic atmosphere that gets all the runners pumped. The first few miles are in downtown, past the Liberty Bell, City Hall and another 10k spectators. 

First Mile - 6:25... oops. I had checked the math when I got up and a 1:30 half equates to roughly 6:52, so I was going way too hot. Some math at the second mile showed 6:30, a little better. By mile 4 I was still averaging just a pinch over 6:30 but since I felt fine I just kept it up. It's a really fast course and going any slower would have felt like I was walking. I also noticed around mile 3 that in my confusion with Coach Aw in the morning I had left my new-fangled timing band-thingie on the kitchen table. No office score for me. No big loss however, I wasn't in this to win. 

It became apparent around mile 8 that I need new shoes, my turn around was getting a little jaunty, un-cushioned. But I actually started speeding up after the Falls Bridge turn around and pulled consistent 6:15 miles from 10 to the finish. I had just read an article in the latest Runner's World about how the mind controls your fatigue level by extrapolating all these variables like body temp, weather temp, the distance to your goal and a few others. Long story short it really emphasized just how much the pain is 'all in your head'. Using that as a yardstick your mind 'creates' a level of fatigue, but it's still all in your mind. I know this is all a cliche but just thinking about this on my run helped me really push through and finish strong. Time on the clock at my finish was 1:24:56, not too bad considering how little I had prepared mentally for the race. I attribute it all to the chocolate. 

Coach Aw returns from her 10 day vacation/conference/festival this afternoon, just in time for my taper week. Awesome.

Coming Up: East Hamptons Marathon 9/27/08

Hampton's Marathon Course Map

So, the race officials have posted the finalized course for the Philly Distance run. This race is my favorite so far for several reasons. First and foremost is a gorgeous course, it starts in downtown Philly and passes all the best sites - city hall, the liberty bell etc. After this brief jaunty (only about 3 miles downtown) it heads up along the river for some really fast straight aways. There is a reason it's such a fast course, it's A. extremely flat and B. extremely straight. Runner's World magazine described it as a "track meet instead of a half-marathon". 

As if these weren't good enough reasons for the race it's also in a perfect time of year in Philly, the very beginning of Autumn, great weather for a race. The course is also, basically, just a condensed version of the marathon in 2 months, so I get to stretch out and see the what's ahead of me on the marathon so it's helps there as well. Finally, my brother and his wonderful family are in Philly so this is also a chance to see them. I here that Zoey is finally walking around! I can't wait!

Ok, I lied. The biggest reason this is my favorite race? This is the place where my 'Pre-race chocolate' tradition was born. Naked Chocolate is a located just past city hall and is quite possibly the best gourmet chocolate in the world (certainly the best I've ever eaten). No trip to Philly passes me by without a quick visit! This will be a great weekend!

 

Tired, No Coach

Day #4 without Coach AW. Oh lordy life is tough. She's been good though and phoning me her instructions from across the nation. Last night I was strictly forbidden to run so a bike ride was in order, just a couple of loops around the park (also forbidden against anything too intense). Tonight the plan is a mile and a half of swimming, the most I've done since polo season. To give you an idea most sprints are between half and 3/4 mile swims, which I can do in about 20 minutes. I'm headed to Philly this weekend, no word yet on whether or not I have permission to go all out. This'll be fun tonight...Thanks coach....

Humans are meant to run!

Check the this article from Discover Magazine - http://discovermagazine.com/2006/may/tramps-like-us

It posits some very interesting evidence that humans are quite possibly the best runners on the planet - better even then antelope, cheetas, horses, even dogs! The theory is that our lack of fur and our abundance of sweat glands combine to give us greater than endurance than any other animal (indeed, I had heard that in 2004, 20 mile race between a horse and a man, the man won!). Obvious we can't out sprint a cheetah, but as some Native Africans can still show us today, two people can manage to out run an antelope to the point of exhaustion in order to bring back meet to their families!

The big surprise is that every other prodigous runner has one advantage over us - a tail. It is the easiest way to maintain balance during the tumolt of muscles vs. inertia of running. Complicated analyses of human locomation illustrate that we make up for the lack of a tail with a feature unique to humans - our gigantic, fat asses. No other primate can hold a candle to the human in terms of ass-muscle volume per body size, and electric impulse testing shows that our rearends are finely tuned to help runners maintain balance and not fall on our faces with every step.

The hypothesis is that running helped us chase down our game after humans decended from the trees and that without the rich stores of fat and protein garnered from fresh game, we could never have maintained the biological requirements of our developing brains. The evidence for this is a special ligament that attaches our shoulders and backs to our skulls, allowing our skulls to remain fixed and focused during an all out sprint. This is a feature unique to predatory animals that are chasing after a goal, say, a yummy bison on the horizon, rather than just sprinting like hell to escape a lion.

Read the artical for further information but I found it very interesting! Or better yet, go out there and run! Run like you were meant to!

 "Hard means hard, easy means easy, and rest means sitting on the couch eating krispy kremes." - Samantha McGlone, 70.3 Distance (triathlon) World Champion, on how to train for an Ironman

NYRR Half-Marathon Grand Prix- Queens

Finally, a race report that won't be all glowy and happy. This is a race that I will not be running again - the logistics are just too inconvenient.

I left my apartment around 4:30 in order to catch one of the chartered buses from the Subway station to the race start. I took the 2 train from Bergen to 42nd Street, and from there I took the 7 train the entire length to the Flushing stop. To those of you who aren't from New York, I just described one of the longest subway rides it's possible to undertake.

Arrived in Flushing around 5:45 and got on the bus, the ride was about 15 minutes... ugh, so there is no way one can walk from the race back to the subway, just too far...

My pre-race was uneventful enough, just changed and packed my stuff up. Since the weather report threatened rain I wore one of my heavier tech-shirts and packed a bag of spare warm clothes. Well, it didn't rain, it just hot and humid - very humid.

Coach AW instructed me to take it super-easy on this race so I placed myself a little further back in the line up. I can usually do a half at around 6:25min/mile so I set a goal of 7:30min/mile which is about an extra mile-minute slower. It's also close to my marathon pace which is even better for training for the East Hampton's Marathon.

The race itself was pretty uncomfortable due to the heat and my heavy clothes but I walked through each other aid stations and still managed to come in 288th of 3000 runners, final time 1:39:14 or 7:34min/mile. I also managed to run into Serge (see Block Island RR) after the race, he's headed to Berlin in 2 weeks to run the marathon there, fair play to him, it's one of the more notorious races in the world.

So after the race the buses weren't coming to pick us up until 10:30! I finished the race around 8:30... sheesh. So I walked the 4 miles back to the subway (which took over an hour) then rode the 7 for 45 minutes, then took the 3 back to Brooklyn, another half-hour. All said I walked back in the apartment around 11 and proceeded to do nothing for the rest of the day... When does Coach come back again?

Coming Up - Philadelphia Distance Run 9/21/08 13.1 Miles

Queens Half-Marathon

Just got up and am working on a mug'o'coffee in preparation for the Queens Half-Marathon. It doesn't appear to be raining and I'm all packed! *coffee sip* It's also 4 am. *coffee sip* 

Just got a 'Go Get 'Em' Text message from Coach AW, she's in California for the weekend and well be following my exploits via texting and gratuitous phone calls. Ok... I should go.

-S

Updates and Thank You's

My legs are still a bit stiff from Saturday's performance but the prospect of the season's races is just too exciting. I have a half-mary on Sunday in Queens for which the team AW coach (AW herself) has given me the burden of relaxing through. I must take it easy in preparation of the Hampton's Marathon next, next weekend. We'll see how that goes. I did an easy mile in the pool on Tuesday and yesterday a leisurely jog throughout Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights. Tonight I'll try and hit the gym, then do a couple of miles at a bit higher intensity. 

In case you didn't notice from my tally on the left I have recently broken the 50% mark on my fundraising efforts for the New York Marathon. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed so far, your generosity will help make a big difference both to me (I get to run the NYCM)  but to thousands of children across the country. For those of you who would still like to donate the cut off date is October 31st and you can access the Team For Kids Website at the link below! Thanks again!

Team For Kids,  and my runner # is 232291 with the last name Dennis. If you leave out those two pieces of information the donation will not be reflected on my personal tally. 

Alicia's Photography!!

Run Around the Block RR - 9/7/08

A pretty surprising race overall. Alicia and I arrived on Block Island Friday night and just relaxed, I can't lie, we spent most of it asleep. Saturday morning we enjoyed the 1661 Inn's amazing breakfast buffet. Forgetting that I had a race that afternoon I pounded eggs and corned beef hash and a muffin and seconds... oh man, lovely. We were expecting the remnants of the hurricane to hit at any moment but the sky seemed to be fighting it off. The humidity was rising to be sure but the sky maintained a fairly light overcast cloud cover without turning evil on us. Around 12:30 we grabbed some coffees and jumped aboard the bus towards the race start.

The race began on a nice stretch of lonely road near the center of the island. Most people were warming up in an old Indian Cemetery (macabre I know, but still cool), T-shirts were handed out, numbers, etc. A quick estimate of the distance led me to guess around an hour to finish but after warm up run in the humidity I mentally amended this to around 1:15. The weather at this point was still moderately sunny but sticky, I was starting to sweat just warming up. Alicia gave me a good luck kiss and I jogged down the 300 yards or so to the race start. 

Not feeling my best I took a position closer to the middle of the corral than I usually do and did my usual pre-race nervous stretches and only then realized I hadn't brought GUs or my iPod. Oh well, something always falls through, good thing I wasn't go to be to aggressive on this race, ehh?

Well the gun went off a little bit after 1:30 and the pack starts it's usual canter over the line. Within about 20 steps I had already passed nearly the entire group, I remember thinking "Why isn't anyone going anywhere?" before I got that 'blood in the water' scent. Oh man, I'm only going 60% and I'm already in the first 10 runners... so, yeah off I went. Within 30 seconds of the race start, I was in first place. By the time I turned that first corner and saw the spot where the bus dropped us, I was a good 100 yards in front of the second place runner. When I saw the pace car start it's engine and lights and pull away from the spectators it actually hit me, "Oh man... I'm actually in... in first place..." So for a good 20 minutes it was just Steve and the pace car. I passed spectators who jumped up with the pace car and start cheering me on as I went past. I smiled and thanked the ambulances parked every 3/4 of a mile or so. It feellllt goooood.

But then around mile 2.5 it hit me. Damn it's hot. We hadn't passed the first water station yet and my shirt was well soaked through. I had started hearing the foot falls of another runner a little while ago and I was starting to see a shadow over my left shoulder. I battled him for a little bit, cutting him off when we tried to over take me, yelling well before hand to grab water at the first station and indeed picking up a few seconds on him. In all honesty I just wanted to pass where-ever Alicia had parked herself and just show off "Hey! I'm in first place! Check that out!" but by mile 3 I knew I couldn't match this guy and backed off. He over took me just before we crested a big turn and did spy Alicia fumbling to get out her camera - didn't I say it would be a slow day for me? I continued for the next mile or so enjoying second place all to my lonesome. 

Then again around mile 4 the heat picked up, only 1 water station so far? No gatorade? Jeez, this heat was lethal. Pretty shortly after that the number 3 racer caught up to me and mad did we fight it out. From mile 4 until mile 8.5 or so we matched each other stride by stride. The only sounds I could focus on were the clumping of our feet and our breathing. I spent a good half-hour pondering nothing else than the differences in our breathing rhythms. His was a deep through gasp that sounds almost like a full glottal stop, froggy, like he was chugging a gallon of water. It was even and constant. 'gulp... .gulp....gulp...gulp' My own breathing on the other hand has a uneven syncopation to it. deep breath, shallow exhale, shallow breath, deep exhale, a sort of onnnnneee, twothree, fouuuurrrr that I chant in my head. For four miles I don't think we ever separated by more than 20 feet. With the beats of our breathing, our foot falls, the blood churning in my head, my turnover felt like an instrument in a orchestra kept by a demanding conductor, I couldn't let the pace slacken, 1..2..3..4.. 

Strategies formed in my head, "I'm damn tired and uncomfortable so he must be. Maybe if  I just let him set the pace, he'll be focusing more on me and he'll get tired emotionally faster than I can get tired physically, that'll be my advantage to beat him." or "Just stay on his heels and than out-sprint him.." A few times we were able to grumble out a few words on how little water there was on the course... Together we grew tired, hot, sweaty, uncomfortable, but we couldn't break the beat. His gulping, our foot falls, my uneven breaths, I remember little else. Finally around mile 7 it occurred to me that I was always beating him a bit on this hills, I would gain around 15 feet or so going up but he would power 20 feet past me going down and I would have to pick it up or else I'd lose him. What's more, with every hill (and that's all this race was... hills) I'd gain less and he'd pick up more. I was losing my power and we both knew it. Finally around mile 8.5 we turned a corner with the final water station, a man was miraculously spraying a hose and we both got dosed (heavenly), a group of kids had the cups on ready. My competitor grabbed two, put one over his head and drank the second instantly and went on. I shouted at the first kid "Just throw them at me" only to see a pair of saucer like eyes stairing... "Please throw them!" Nothing from the first kid, #2 didn't even hold them out. "THROW WATER AT ME!!!" After 5 other kid-statues I just grabbed two cups from the last boy, threw on in my face, drank half the second and by the time I looked up, I had fallen officially into 3rd place. Mr. Gulper was 200 feet in front of me and not letting up a bit. 

I remember removing my glasses and placing them on my head (too fogged up to see anything) and checking behind me once or twice but I saw no-one. I cresting the final turn only see the race directors ultimate joke. There was a 700 foot climb to the finish and up I went. I pulled into the chute and saw the clock 59:50...51...52...53... I just couldn't make it! I wanted under and hour so badly. Pushhh! Pusshh! The last thing I saw I went under was 59:59:00 and then I was in the finisher's corral. The volunteers took my tear away label from my bib and I remember saying something about there being no water on the course, I got a smile, "Didn't seem to hurt you too much though!" The last space was a tennis court. There was a trough of ice filled with gatorade (finally). To give you an idea, the ice was steaming like boiling water in the heat of the day. I drank one bottle at a draught and drew a second before placing myself under a hose. The cold water was sooo good I nearly collapsed. Every muscle in my legs strained to stay up, balanced. 

The Gulper's name was Serge and he was from Colombia. We shook hands and spent a moment just laughing at each other before he put an arm around me and told me that I had lost the race on the hills. "But, you were started in #1 place!" He laughed. "You will be a great runner. I run one hundred race a year! You just learn the hills, take it easy, don't push, then you beat me." With a final handshake I left the court.

I walked off the race with Alicia, took a dip in the pool (the raced ended in a yacht club of some sort) and saw the results. I finished in 1:00:00 exactly and finished 3rd over all and 1st AG 21-29. For the first time I took home a trophy, a small metal cup on a wooden stand. We took the bus back I suppose.. I was tired... I needed and took a nap, ate a big bowl of seafood paella, did some hardcore snuggling, and slept like the dead. 

Coming up - NYRR Half-Marathon Grand Prix - Queens 9/14/08 13.1 miles  

Preliminary Results

3rd place and the race finished up before the storm hit! I am tired, full of paella and very happy. I'll have the RR tomorrow. 

New Kicks for Team AW

Went with Alicia to the Park Slope Jack Rabbit Sports. And she picked up a new pair of Asics! Aren't they sexy? Maybe we'll do a little bit of a fun jogging this weekend on Long Island. Either way, she'll be the prettiest runner in Brooklyn!

New Format.... yayyyyy

Alicia's Photos from the race! Scroll down for race report!

LI TOBAY Triathlon

First, let me say.. wow, what a day. Perfect weather, perfect race, perfect company. This RR is going to be pretty long so skip to the bottom for the times or see the individual events below. Thanks!

I slept surprisingly well the night before and thrashed to consciousness at the 4:45 alarm. An extra large bowl of oat meal and a few cups of coffee before loading the transition bag and bike into the car. Alicia and I left Brooklyn around 5:45am and were cruising down the LIE before we knew it. Alicia was very excited to see 'orange on the horizon' around the time we exited towards Oyster Bay. (A special thanks to Ms. Regina Spektor for the pre-race 'get pumped' music) 

I was worried that we were cutting it a bit close to race start as we pulled into town but sure enough all we had to do was follow the other bike laden cars and we snagged a parking spot in down town Oyster Bay. It really is a pretty town, then again, anywhere with an average yearly income over $300k tends to be. It must have been an odd site for the locals to see all the streets and sidewalks filled with maniacs in spandex and wetsuits walking carbon fibre bikes more expensive then their cars. The race grounds were already packed by the time we got there, around 7am, and there were about 1200 racers setting up in the transition area. Much bigger then I had ever seen before! I grabbed my packed, t-shirt, timing chip and wandered off to claim my rackspace. 

If you have ever seen how OCD I can get with silverware, just imagine how I am while setting up my transition area. I laid out an old shirt on the ground and then I begin my Zen arrangement. It's thus from the top, going clockwise- Gatorade, Water, sunglasses (silky cover removed, but still in the clam shell in case someone scrambles over them), GU, Right running shoe with sock on the tongue, left running shoe + sock, hand towel then my running hat. I rearrange these items relative to each other about 5 times. Then a water squeeze bottle goes in the bike holder, helmet gets hung on on the right handle bar. The bike itself gets hung just to the left on my # on the rack and the front tire is pressed flush my hat on the ground. I snap my bib onto my belt and strap it on. Anything superfluous gets placed back in the bag and shoved under my bike. This being done I grab my suit and head back out. 

Alicia meets me back by the entrance and we head to race start. I'm 7th wave so I done start about half an hour after the race starts, which leaves me about 45 minutes of free time. I don my suit and jump in the water to stretch, get used to water and fiddle with my ankle timer for about 15 minutes. Then we wait on shore until my wave is called. Alicia must have thought it funny as each wave brings me closer to anxiety. By the time wave 5 is called I have to sit down and relax, think about the upcoming race and plan my routes. After a kiss and a knowing look, I excuse myself and take my place in the water and prepare. 

The Swim - In this case, the usual irritating race announcer was a Theodore Roosevelt impersonator, very cool, and with a cheer of 'What a Bully day for a race! Bully!' we were off. The swim was a dead straight away, one turn and then back the way we came. It actually felt a bit like tip off in water polo where everyone is just floating there one second and the next full out sprint. I felt good and fought for my place early on, despite a few elbows to the face (I still have a bit of a fat lip) found a good pace and a coveted spot on the inside corner. I felt great, my breathing was good, I wasn't freaking out at all about the depth, drowning, etc, and before long I had caught up with the 6th wave. On the return route I began actually fighting through the thickest portion of the 6th wave and had to crawl over a few ladies (sorry!). One lady turned and said 'Oh, jeez, I thought you were fish!' to which I gasped 'Oh yeah! A big one!' followed by a terrified yelp somewhere to my 4 o'clock 'EKK! Really? WHERE?!' but by then I was already gone. I made it to the exit ramp and scrambled up and back to the corral. 

T1 - I just couldn't get my act together. First I put on my hat, then put on my helmet... oops, hat comes off, then sunglasses come on, oops, helmet goes first, then glasses. Then I just can't seem to get my suit off my left leg and of course the last thing your body want to do at point is hop on one foot and tug a rubber suit, it's comical really just how unresponsive your body can be, I felt as coordinated as a walrus. Finally I get the thing off and throw it to the ground in a fit, as if it were a killer ninja midget or something, then I tug the bike off the rack and I'm off. 

The Bike - I say Goddamn. The bike begins with a few hairpin turns and brief trip downtown Oyster Bay before heading up the coast. I have just enough time to admire how beautiful the late summer trees and shrubs are before I hit an effin' hill four times as steep and an order of magnitude longer than I've ever tried before. I was proll'y going 2 miles an hour up it. Suddenly in a group of 30 bikers all struggling with each turn of the crank, people had actually gotten off their bikes and were walking! It's amazing, I never would have been able to even think about biking that hill unless I were in the middle of a race and not thinking coherently. After what seemed like forever I crested the hill totally blind (sunglasses fogged up with sweat), I did however notice a lady dressed as a devil-cow playing the trumpet and cheering people on. Want to know what it's like to be hopped up on endorphins? It's like seeing that, and not thinking it's weird at all. The rest of the bike was very tough indeed but otherwise uneventful, got passed by a ton of really really sexy bikes. Note to self - get one of those water bottles that hangs off your handle bars so all you have to do is reach your lips to the straw, that's vital. 

T2 - The bikes come in through the same portal as the swim start so I have to run all the way to the rear of the corral where my rack is. I put the bike back, grab my hat and down half the gatorade. The run start is all the back by where the bikes came in, I was coherent enough to realize that that was a bit unfair and messed up, but hey, all I care about at that point is running. 

The Run - I can't help but to smile during the run. I feel so much more natural while running, like I'm out of my cage. I'm still doing my loopy post-bike weak legged cant as I return to the course. I remember hearing a lady comment 'My! He looks fresh!' but then again it I felt great so I'll take the complement. Within half a mile of the start we hit the first hill and I just motored up it. After the discomfort of biking up the hills this actually felt good, like stretching or scratching a really bad itch. The entire run was basically one long hill, up and back and I passed everyone, I like the look on their faces. Once my legs awoke and I found my cadence I just opened up and felt like I moved effortlessly (for the first time all morning). The last half mile or so was flat and curvy as we were funneled into a separate finishing chute. The chute itself a good 100 meters long and who can't help but sprint that? Thanks to my coach Alicia for snapping my favorite shot of the race as I cruise into my finish.

Total Time: 1:16:47, 9/41 Division, 108/1165

Swim: 20:33     181/1165

T1: 3:32 (ugh! damn wet suit!)

Bike: 32:06 367/1165  

T2: 1:34 (more I likes it)

Run: 19:03  18/1165

Not too bad! Oh, and for some reason they gave me a ladies medium sized shirt... So yeah, anyone want a shirt?

New RACES!!!

Ok, so speak of devil, I am now running three new races!!!

NYRR Half-Marathon Grand Prix: Queens Sunday, Sept. 14, 7:00 a.m.

Grete’s Great Gallop Saturday, Oct. 4, 9:00 a.m.

NYRR Grand Prix: Staten Island Sunday, October 12, 9:45 am

All half marathon distance

.... Awesome...

I think I said something about short races...yeah, never mind that...

Roboot for the fall season

Sooo, it's been a while. Mid-summer is a horrible time for running and as such I don't really get too much done. Lots of miles, too much sun, gallons of ice water and gatorade. My training really has 4 phases over the course of the year. Spring time is spent building a running base and getting back in the hang of things. Spring races are typically just a wake up call and an indicator of how much endurance you've lost over the winter. Fun, but no one is out for blood. The summer heat becomes a brutal endurance training and a lesson in why A/C is a godsend. July and August have no races really to speak of because the last thing I feel like doing is going all out. Then comes the delightful fall. I love fall. The latent heat of the summer still radiating from the ground, the smell of the leaves in the air and a nice chilly wind all around. This is the big race season and I can't wait. 

So here's the deal. Next Sunday, I have my kick-off race for the season, a sprint tri on the island. My amazing girlfriend, Alicia, has somehow been convinced to come and watch and be my support team which fantastic. I fully acknowledge that seeing me for a few fleeting seconds in passing every now and then may not be the most engaging thing, especially considering we'll have to be leaving around 5 in the morning to get to the there. She is wonderful enough as it is, more so that she's willing to come. 

September 6th finds the two of us traveling to Block Island for the annual 'Run Around the Block' race, a 15k foot race. I expect to spend the rest of the weekend snoozing, cuddling on the beach and dining on fresh sea food. Heaven if you ask me.  Then down to Philly on the 21st for the ING Distance Race, where I PR'd last year. A very quick course and I hope to have a repeat of my results.  6 days later I'm in East Hampton with Reed for the Hampton's Marathon - his first. After that I have about a month off before my birthday races- Dublin, NYC and Philadelphia Marathons. Then that's it! I'm sure I'll work in some short NYRR races here and there but that's all for now. I'll start posting more, I promise....

Philadelphia

Morning 2 in Philly feels much better than morning 1. I arrived late Tuesday evening and Charles and I went to a local pub to drink Rogue and wax philosophic. 2 hours, many beers and a long conversation on everything from my Appalachian Trail bid, to fatherhood, to the apocalypse later, we literally had to stumble home and pass out. Yeah, yesterday morning was a bit rough but I still managed to be out of the house by 11 and get some coffee and a very necessary bagel. I spent the morning wandering Philly and found a nice little place to get my haircut, which was another vital piece of the mission. Finally by 3:30, I was feeling good enough to take a ran so I went by the Art Museum and up the river to Falls Bridge about an hour, hour and a half. Uhh-oh, I hear baby's awake! Gotta go and deal with the Zoey... YES

First Long Run in a While!

Sunday was fantastic. I met up with my training partner (ie- Roommate and best friend) planning on doing a nice early long run... We didn't end up getting out the door until around 9:15, oops, but I had my fuelbelt filled so I wasn't too worried. 

Nutritional Load for Run (estimated 17 miles, 85 deg. F high)

Pre-run - Extra-Large Bowl of Plain Oatmeal w/ Craisins est. 600 Cal

Fuel Belt - 16 oz water, 16 oz Orange G2 (for 50 cal) 2x Gu (Vanilla and Triberry 110 cal each)

Route - Left our apartment and ran down to Smith Street towards the Manhattan Bridge, averaging around a 8 min/mile. The bridge was fantastic and offers a great view of the East River and downtown Manhattan. Once in Manhattan, we curved around back towards the South Street Sea Port and down around the southern tip of the island. We got onto the West Side highway and took in our first gus. On the Hudson park route we stepped up to around 7:30 min/mile and cruised while taking in the view (lovely ladies, what I can I say). At this point Reed was really flagging (he was 'too cool' to wear my spare fuel belt) and getting crispy (Irish people in the sun are like metal in a microwave). A turn around at the Javits Center marked mile 8,  then a stop at mile 10 for water & gu. 

After a long spin around Battery Park and the Seaport we returned via the Brooklyn Bridge and here is where replenishment became evident. Once the sun and incline of the bridge hit I was really able to open the gap, pulling around a 6:30 mile while Reed, who didn't have any water or G2, slowed up to around an 11. By the time we were back in Brooklyn I was feeling better than I had all day while Reed was hurting badly. After about 10 minutes of light jogging we had to walk the last mile back to the apartment out of fear of heat stroke. We made it, but in vastly different conditions. I took a quick shower and headed out to do some laundry while Reed spent his time lying on the floor chugging literally about a gallon of gatorade. 

There's a lesson here children - get your replacement drinks early, and constantly. Just 16 oz of Gatorade was enough to keep my chugging along the whole time (plus about 32 oz water) where as Reed's intake of 16 oz water left him wasted. 

I had a quick 4 miles last night, about 5:50 min/mile and felt great, my ITBS is starting be behind me. Stay tuned for some fun updates over the next few days from Philly and New Hampshire! woo! 

New Speed

Wow, sorry I missed a few posts. Work killed me last week. So the big news is that I PR'd at the Gold Coast Tri and found myself with a newly improved sub-6 min/mile. It's crazy to look back and think that three years ago I was running a 9 minute mile with an extra 40 pounds around my waist. Suddenly, I am my age-group champ in the running leg of my first triathlon. It really put things in perspective. For the first time I'm actually wondering if I have what it takes to become an age group athlete, if I could shave a few minutes off of my bike (a few of which should come by switching to clip ins and aerobars) I would have finished within the top three age group over all. Looks like I'm going to have something riding on the TOBAY race after all!

Last Wednesday was the corporate challenge, a 3.5 miler in Central Park. My time last year was around 21:40 and I was really hoping to break 20 minutes this year. I came close but I finished with a 20:21, or 5:49 per/mile. Again, it feels amazing to be breaking that barrier. 

Sunday I had the Road Runner's Achilles 5 mile in central park and just had no energy. Most likely caused by running 3 races in less than week... duh... Well I just jogged it out and relaxed and had a 37 something. The storms held off from ruining our race but the humidity was still brutal. 

I had a brick yesterday and cruised so I think today I'll just relax and bike. One of these days I'll rest... I promise....

It's Official!

It's now official! The 7-second run score has been removed from the race records and I am now the age-group champ in the run leg!... Now if only I could bring down the biking.....

Future Marathon Hall-Of-Famer

I would just like to introduce my niece Zoey Jane Dennis, who I am proclaiming now will win the 2024 Olympics. Yeah....

Long Island Gold Coast Sprint RR

Wow, what a first race. A great morning over all, really. The night before we had a bit of a storm on the island so I was a little scared to see the result on the course but everything was great! Here's the RR

Morning- My five alarms sprung me from bed at 4:15 Am. I jumped into my tri top and bottom, some sweats and then downstairs for coffee and breakfast. I plugged through my monstrous bowl of oatmeal and two cups of Kona java [to get into the spirit  of the day ;) ], loaded my bike into the car and then went through my race bag two or three times. As I grabbed the directions and my water bottles from the fridge my Dad came downstairs to wish me off. Perhaps it's silly, but his getting up at 5 am just to give me a hug and encourage really meant a lot. He doesn't pretend to understand why I'm doing these things, but he recognizes how important they are to me and his encouragement feels great. He dug out an additional water bottle for me and wished me off.

I was in the car by a few minutes after 5am and after an uneventful drive, arrived at the course by 6. As I unloaded my kip and checked my race bag another 3 times and walked over to the race start. I would have liked to set up my gear a little more relaxed but the gnats where out in force and it was really tough to gather myself. I spent a few moments sitting on my towel just breathing and meditating before grabbing my wetsuit and heading down to the water... or where I thought it water was....

Nothing. The fog wasn't pea-soupy, it was more like cream-of-mushroom soup. I couldn't see more than 4 feet into the water. Regardless I donned by suit and jumped in. Moment of honesty.... I had only worn my wetsuit once before and that was in the changing from of R&A Cycles in brooklyn. The experience was a little enlighting as the suit snugged up to my body and tiny squirts of icy Sound water entered through the rear zipper. I wasn't really comfortable swimming too far out into the fog so after some quick strokes and stretches I returned to transition area only to find the mornings first emergency... 

No water!!! I had left all my water bottles in the car! With 10 minutes until race start I had no time to grab them!! I frantically searched by bag only to find... the small bottle of poland spring my father had handed me going out the door. With a blessing to him under my breath I downed a Gu and only a few sips of water to conserve for later. With my goggles in my hand and my cap tucked into my top I returned to the beach to await my fate.

Thankfully the fog blew off rapidly and they were able to set up the final buoys with only a slight delay to race start, I formed a crowd with my age groupers and did the pre-race chat. With a minute to our start, a fellow AG'r I had met back in the transition area gave me one piece of sage advice "Start the swim slowly. You'll want to shoot out at first but hold back or you'll lose your steam 200 yards out." I nodded, thanked him and put on my cap....

The Swim - 

I started maybe 3 rows behind my AG leaders and fought to maintain my space early on. I felt my old highscool water polo skills kicking back in as I did a few roll dodges to avoid getting kicked in the face and just swam swam swam. Within the first 100 yards I felt my lungs SCREAMING at me that I had started much too quickly. Dooh... so much for that advice. As I started to panic (am I going to drown? I'm in 15 foot deep water, what happens now!??) I poked my head up from the waves and beheld a glorious sight. .... white caps... A quick look around revealed that I had indeed sped too quickly and had joined the wave that had left before my own. The emotion must be akin to how a shark feels when it smells fresh chum. I had this. Suddenly I felt great. I wish I had a picture of that moment, it felt like my whole body was grinning. I swam for my life and learned the importance of looking around while swimming, I found myself entirely out of the pack a few times only to backtrack and rejoin the group. 

Swim - 15:42 for 9th place Age Group. Not too bad, ehh?

The Bike-

I don't yet own clip in pedals so I had to put on my running shoes which cost me a long T1 (12th place) and my bike was on the far side of the bike start so I had to jog it a little ways to the mount up area. This wasn't bad actually as it helped my get my breath and my focus back from the swim. The ride itself was two loops on a pretty flat course, but with 2 very tight turns. On my first attempt I didn't slow enough and blew through the cones... oops. I passed a few people on mountain bikes but for the most part my bike was marked by wrrrr of zipp tires shooting past me. For some reason I was convinced that I had a flat rear tire (turns out I didn't..) so I didn't quite push the course as hard as I felt I had in me but I still finished 12th in my AG. Not terrible considering I've only owned a bike for less than a month. Over all, I left the course feeling like a good amount left in my tank.

Bike - 38:30 for 12th place AG

The Run-

The only thing going through my head at the start of the run was "Finally... mua-hahahahaha". The run is definitely secret weapon and I felt good immediately. It seemed my competitors were in slow motion as I cruised by them. It was a bit hot by this point (remember - no water for me) but I knew that it was only a 5k and that's a distance I have absolutely no fear of. My turnover felt great, I had no sluggishness possibly due to holding back on the bike a bit. It was a two loop course and once I turned for the second lap and knew how to play it, I just let it all out. I was on a total race high and didn't really know what was going on I was just plunging ahead. The final 200 yards or so was a straight away and I just took off like a bat out of hell for this. Time on clock - 1:22:51

Run: 17:52 for 2nd place AG 

Total 1:14:52 for 7th place AG and 98th place over-all

Wow. What a first race. I felt so great afterwards I was just stunned. I knew in my heart that I had rocked the run and that for one of the first times in my racing history I had no regrets, I felt like I had really given it all up. A great great day and to think.. I have 2 more sprints this year!!!

After-Note: My run is under a bit of contention. After checking the results I saw that no-one else in my age group had less than a 18:45, so who to whom did I lose? Well it turns out that some racer was clocked as having a 7 second 5k. Unless s/he's a F-22 Raptor I don't really see how that's possible. So my brain tells me that chip errors aside, I'm #1 AG in the run but my heart tells me, "TOBAY is in a few weeks, you think you're fast? Make it official this time." 

Thanks for reading guys! 

In other news- This race also marks my PR in the mile. My previous record was a 6:04 min/mile in a 5m earlier this year. This race marks my new mile as 5:45 min/mile after swimming and biking. I have a 5k race later this week and I'm hoping to PR on that as well now that I know I have it me to maybe even push it further down.... 

Long Island Gold Coast Tri

My first Tri is on Sunday and I can feel the nervous rush already. It's a sprint distance race and starts in Port Washington, NY. For those who are reading this and aren't already exposed to triathlons, there are 4 basic distances for races: the Ironman - super long distance race - 140.6 miles and broken down into a 2.4 mile swim, 112 bike and a 26.2 run. The Half Ironman a.k.a. 'Tinman' (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run), Olympic Triathlon 1.5 km swim, 40km bike and 10 km run and then finally the Sprint Triathlon at 750 meter swim, 20km bike and 5 km run. 

I picked up my race package yesterday uptown and I seem to have made a mistake in my registration... I'm in the second swim wave (meaning I am logically, in the second fastest group of athletes)... uhm... oops. I fully anticipate getting passed by the 4 and maybe even the 5th swim waves while still in the water. A lot of people have warned me to expect getting kicked, slapped, and grabbed during the water start because it's hard to see where you are going but I'm hoping my polo experience can prepare me for that pretty well. 

I'm going to pack tonight much more fully and I will see what I'm missing. I'll write more soon!

Back on my Feet

Last night I went for the training run with a few members of my company team for the Corporate Challenge. The good news is that I made it about 4 miles before my knee started to cry out and then finished another 2 with only the mildest discomfort. Ahh, progress is sweet.

This year, like last year, the STI Corporate Challenge is being handled by the extremely capable Nicole O'Hagen and she arranged for last night's practice run. There were four runners; Matt, Cassandra, Hermann and YT, and it was great to see how we were all different levels. This event tends to attract a huge variety and it isn't just the Elites coming out of the woodwork. 

The course is the same as last year and surprisingly tough. It starts by the daniel webster statue at W.72nd streetish and heads all the way up and around the park back to the east side of the 72nd street transverse. A lot of hills and turns for just a fun 5k, it truly is an accomplishment for those that finish regardless of timing. Of course it also helps that the course ends at the base of the infamous Central Park Hill so the last leg everyone gets a little help from gravity in order to sprint out the finish.

After the run we headed up as a group to a local bar/restaurant and had dinner and some delicious beers. (for the beer geeks reading this, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this nondescript UWS restaurant carried both Dead Guy and Anchor Steam... very delicious after a run). It's a very interesting experience to unwind with your coworkers and get a little boozy, especially in the construction industry when everyone is so emotionally shielded by layers of exasperation and frustration in the office and field. 

Any who, this is all good news, knee is feeling better, apartment is nearly livable. Life is good. We'll talk soon!!

Oh, and the fundraising efforts have brought me up to $175.00. That only leaves $2325.00 to go! Thanks all of you who have donated!

Injuries, races and life

Ahh, what a couple of weeks. It seems that I am just falling apart lately. Injuries galore. My ITB injury hasn't poked it's head up in a few days so I'm hoping the worst is over. I just have to slowly rebuild my miles up and not be a jack-ass running in old shoes for too long, logging too many miles, etc... Just a road to senseless injury.

This afternoon I have a training run with my company for the NYC Corporate Challenge coming up in 2 weeks. It's a 3.5 mile race for some charity or other. In reality it's just a great way to get out with some coworkers and blow off some steam. I suppose that since I had the best time in the company last year, and my budding reputation as a "running/idiot" I have been volunteered to be STI's figurehead in this run. So this afternoon I'll see what I have to work with and maybe I can turn a few of my co-workers into true champions! HA! Anywho. I still don't have internet in my new apartment so I'm currently racking up the $$ in a Brooklyn internet cafe. I'll write a longer post when it's not so expensive. 

See you on the path friends!