Ground Hog Day in December

Today is Winter Solstice: The darkest day of the year.

I had my latest visit to the doctor today, and x-rays and a conservative return to running suggests another three weeks on the sidelines. I saw my shadow, and hibernation continues. - I say "conservative" because my main goals at this point is to avoid re-injury, and avoid pain when I return to running.

This is extremely frustrating, being that the standard 8 weeks of recovery would've had me running at the end of this week. Instead, I'm afraid that about 10-11 weeks will be more appropriate, in spite of some rather aggressive treatment.

I have no doubt that the week following my initial break was probably the main cause for this extended recovery time. In that week, I went untreated between when I received the MRI and my follow up appointment to see the doctor. Hence, I most likely compounded the injury as the fracture went unstabilized for 6 very important days.

At this point, my foot still doesn't feel a hundred percent yet so I can understand not being allowed to run. But I'll say that it is feeling better with each day that passes. I've had a couple instances over the last few days where I've jogged very briefly and haven't had much or any pain.

I abandoned the boot a couple weeks ago, at an effort to save my aching hips and knees. I'm still using the bone stimulator once or twice daily. I'm still loading up on calcium supplements (I'll probably keep with this longer-term). I'm still icing and/or applying heat - though not every day. I'll be going a few weeks without acupuncture due to the holidays, but I have been getting treatment at least once a week.

The fat negative: I've had very minimal physical exercise in the last 8 weeks. I've gone from being in the best shape of my life to feeling completely, 100% out of shape. This break has me gaining about 10 pounds from marathon morning, in October. I've been eating and drinking like a pig, and it shows. I feel disgusting; I feel like that damn movie "Super Size Me".

I keep saying that I'm going to start swimming or biking - but it's too cold to bike now, and swimming... eh, just doesn't appeal to me at the moment. Maybe tomorrow? (I've had that attitude for the last few weeks)... I've lost my motivation. That needs to change ASAP.

The London Marathon is 5 months away. I'll basically have to start training from scratch in mid-January. One month to ramp up, and accounting for cut back weeks and taper – that leaves me with only 2 months of training. It's not going to be easy and it's not going to be pretty. Thoughts of PR'ing at that race may be all but a pipe-dream at this point.

Treating a stress fracture

I'm trying to be as aggressive as I can with treating this stress fracture. Until a week and a half ago, I was solely relying on the RICE formula with some anti-inflammatories. Now I'm basically throwing everything but the kitchen sink at my foot.

Ideally I'd like to get back to running as soon as I can, but I'm going to force myself to wait as long as possible. I'm still hopeful that 8 weeks will be the magic number, which puts me at around Christmas time before I can roll again.

Here's the run down of my current regimen:

1) Rest. I really can't do a whole ton right now, as my foots still very sore - though the soreness has shifted from being very localized on the 2nd metatarsal to spreading across the entire foot. Basically I've put myself on complete shut down for at least another week. I've accepted that November is a bust. December will probably have me getting back into swimming and some cycling. This will be the most rest I've taken in probably 5 years. I'm sure it's much needed too, since I've been pounding away for so long without much of a break (except when I've been injured).

2) Das Boot! In German, that means "the boat". I'd agree. It's a boat. A giant canoe strapped to my foot at all times. I hate it. I can't help but complain about it. The only time I'm not wearing is when I'm sleeping or showering. Basically a plastic removable cast with a stiff bottom and cushioned support + compression. The goal is to remove flexibility and the risk of putting too much pressure onto the metatarsal heads and toes. I acquired this wonderful piece of equipment a week and a half ago.

I have to rant for a second: What amazes me is that the medical community is willing accept these things as a means of treatment. Sure, it does offer pain relief while walking, but at a huge cost. My left foot is propped up at least 1 1/2 inches higher than my right foot. I'm totally off kilter. Walking, let alone even standing in the boot throws everything off in my body. It's killing my knees, my hips, my back, my posture... all in an effort to stabilize a few small bones and joints. This thing is horrible. A monkey could designed something better. Unfortunately, most doctors are so narrow minded and fixated on their areas of "expertise" that they fail to recognize the damage that something like this causes elsewhere in the body.

So much for the months and months of strengthening my hips and feet to get me to where I was. I feel like a week in this boot has trashed it all!

On the flip side, I've read that cycling shoes can be used instead of das Boot. I've tested this theory by walking around in my shiny Pearl Izumi's, and I think this could be a good substitute. I'm not willing to ruin my babies though, so this weekend I'll try to look for a decent pair of mountain biking shoes. The key is, the soles will need to be ultra stiff. Probably fiberglass or a composite material instead of a flexible plastic/rubber. There can't be any give if I'm gonna sink das Boot.

3) Icing. Still doing this at least once a day, 10 minutes on 10 off, 10 on again. I was icing a lot more, but there really isn't much swelling or inflammation at this point.

4) Pill popping. Calcium supplements. I need as much as I can get. I believe it's recommended that the body gets 1000 mg a day, upwards to 1500. I'm taking 1000 mg twice a day, combined with Magnesium and Vitamin D to help with the to absorption. I'm also taking some Chinese herbs to promote the healing of "traumatic bone injuries." I honestly really don't know what they are, but I'll take my acupuncturist's word for it.
I was taking Motrin/Aleve to help with the initial inflammation and pain, but I abandoned that a couple weeks ago after I read that anti-inflammitories actually can slow the healing process.

5) The Exogen 4000 Ultrasound Bone Healing System. It's a beauty! Long story short - as the name says, it's an ultrasound device promotes the healing of bone injuries. Apparently it's proven in phased studies and FDA approved. I've seen a number of articles and forums that suggest it can reduce the overall time required to heal by well over 30% with a very significant success rate (like 75%+).

Thanks to our awesome medical system in America, they're typically $3,500-4,000 new! Of course, the only people who actually buy the things are those with big PHat insurance plans to help pay for them. They then resell the devices on Craigslist or eBay after they're finished with their treatments. I was able to snag one on eBay that was barely used for $350. The battery life can get 300+ uses at 20 minutes per use; mine's only been used 8 times! Not a bad deal.

Anyway, it's purpose is to significantly speed up the recovery process. If that's the case, then it's well worth the $350! Recommended use is for 20 minutes, once a day. I'm going twice a day. So far it seems to be helping.

6) At least once a week, I'm getting acupuncture. I'm slowly starting to believe more and more in Eastern medicine. Acupuncture helped probably more than anything else when I was treating my hip back in the spring. I'll go out on a limb here and say that I'm seeing similar results with my foot. I've had 3 sessions recently. It's like a flood of fresh blood and energy through the foot, and all the muscles totally chill out. Even if the effects only last for a day, afterwords the foot feels great.

8) Moxa therapy once a day. Also recommended by my acupuncturist. It's a treatment with heat to get fresh blood, oxygen... energy... and qi all into and out of the foot using a burning cigar looking stick - called Moxibustion. It totally relaxes and loosens things up down there. Not sure how much it's helping, but it feels good.


SO - Like I said, I'm basically throwing everything I can at this thing. It's been a little over two weeks since I believe I officially broke my foot (technically about a month since I first incurred the stress reaction). I haven't seen much improvement yet, but I have a feeling I'm starting to turn the corner.

2nd Metatarsal Stress Fracture

It's official. Results back the other day confirmed my fears via a MRI. I have a stress fracture in the second metatarsal of my left foot.

Think of bending a pencil... it may not necessarily break, but it does receive small cracks along the surface. One of those cracks would be akin to a stress fracture. The pain is very acute and has been very localized to a specific point along the top of my foot (approx where the arrow is in picture). It is at it's worst when I apply pressure to the ball of my foot, thereby putting upward pressure on the break.



In the mean time, I'll be in das Boot for at least the next 3-4 weeks. I'm already attempted to swim a little, but in moderation. No kicking, flip turns, or pushing off the wall... in otherwords, lame. Otherwise I don't anticipate much physical activity until I feel more comfortable on my foot.

Bummer.

Hitting Bottom

It's been 2 weeks since that fateful rainy night, when I first experienced a mysterious pain on the top of my foot.

I'm honestly still not sure where I actually went wrong. I can only speculate that I must have mis-stepped somewhere late in the run while going around puddles.

I've been told by many people that this injury should be obvious:
I ran about 55 miles in my Vibram Five-Fingers over the course of 3 weeks... POST MARATHON. I over did it using a new training technique.

OK, not the smartest thing to do in the world, but I was going off a percent of base mileage. So if I typically would've run about 200+ miles in those 3 weeks, then 25% in VFF's shouldn't seem all that far-fetched - especially when I've spend months strengthening my stride and feet by consistently running in racing flats and occasionally in Newtons.

I was also basing this off the sage rule: Listen to your body. I most certainly was listening to my body - My feet had never felt better in my life!... or at least until the 9th mile of my October 27th run. My cuboid pain had eased up significantly, my shin splits finally went away, my ITB and hip even felt better. These are things that have plagued me for YEARS!!

Something I did not consider with my VFF's:
Both feet have very small bunions. Nothing ridiculous, but big enough. I believe this has been caused by some of my dress shoes being too tight around the toe box. The resulting effect of the bunion is the second metatarsal actually gets forced upwards slightly. The foot muscles adjust and atrophy accordingly.
While running, there is then an increased force on my 2nd metatarsal, particularly when running more on my forefoot - and especially if my toes are forced to be separated (like in the VFF's). Typically this wouldn't be a problem for me in normal cushioned shoes.

SO, remove all cushion, separate my toes and there's absolutely no protection to that 2nd metatarsal head when striking on the ball of my foot. Add 55 miles and jumping around a bunch of puddles for a few weeks in one of the rainiest Octobers that Chicago has ever seen... and I have the makings of my own catastrophe. It appears that the muscles in my feet were simply not built up enough to handle the work load.

So much for listening to my body. This was a complete blind siding injury. Absolutely no prior indications that I was having a problem. No prior symptoms. No warnings. No way I could have recognized that my second metatarsal was bearing too much of the blow.

Hence I strongly feel that I couldn’t prevent it. In hind sight I don’t think I would have changed anything, except for what I've done since then. I clearly should not have run another step. I did a track workout the following day (when it still didn't feel too bad), then took 10 days off, then ran 5 easy last Friday per the recommendation of my doctor. Those were both not wise moves.


I have to accept this. The pain at this point is undeniable and not going away. I need to move on and concentrate on fixing it.

As of Sunday, I'm self-diagnosing this as a Stress Fracture of my 2nd metatarsal - in spite of my doctor telling me that it wasn’t on 2 separate occasions, and in spite of much research on numerous barefooting/VFF blogs (where people claim the exact same pains were soft-tissue related).

I had a MRI yesterday. It was a very sobering experience. I hit bottom. I'll see Dr Baker again on Friday for confirmation of the results. Unless some miracle occurs and he sees something that he can manually fix (ie, some sort of dislocation or pinched muscle/tendon) - then treatment for a stress fracture will take about 8 weeks. Doing the math from my diagnosis: that means I'm laid up until basically New Years Day.

A complete travesty, considering I was in the best shape of my life 2 weeks ago. Now I could only dream to walk without a limp. I will certainly lose fitness from here.

Instead I have to work on healing it, and as meticulously as possible so I can return without any trace or potential for relapse.

It remains to be seen how this may affect my plans for the London Marathon in April, 2010.

It's raining this week.

My last entry was "When the sun's shining, make hay."

Well, the sun's no longer shining.

It figures. I talk about it, and I jinks myself.

It's amazing how quickly things can change. I felt awesome last week. I felt like I was finally and fully recovered from the marathon. The 10K was smooth and no problems whatsoever. I took Monday off. Tuesday night, I felt awesome again......... until the end of the run.

For some reason late in Tuesday night's run, my foot started to get sore. I have no idea what caused it. I was a spry little fucker during most of the run, hopping and dodging puddles on the path. Yes, I was running in my Vibram Five-Fingers (more discussion about these later). So whatever happened, it wasn't anything noteworthy. I didn't sense a specific moment that pain started to occur. I did notice that with about a mile to go in the 11 mile run, that my foot was getting sore. It wasn't too annoying to stop, but was enough to want to ice it after the run.

Wednesday morning, it was very tender. My initial thoughts were that it was related to some foot pains I previously had in the weeks prior to the marathon: The top of my 1st metatarsal had been sore, right along a big honkin' vein. I thought that that was the cause of my racing flats being too tight. I can't rule out that these two might be related.

This time around though, the pain is along the top of my second metatarsal. A very small spot. Not radiating pain. No swelling. No discoloration. The pain comes as I push off on the ball of the foot, and stresses the metatarsal at top of the foot.

Anyway, as a typical runner - I spent Wednesday contemplating bailing on our planned track workout. I iced throughout the day, took some Motrin, and by 4:00 I determined that it really wasn't a major issue. I figured that I might be sore after, but it would still be worth hitting the track... especially if I was to continue with my push to get some CARA Circuit points. (Famous last words).

So Wednesday's track workout was great. The first "real" speed since the marathon. Chris, Verdo, and I did 5x 3x 200m cut downs. Similar to in the past: 35ish pace, then 33, then 32. The final 200, I buried at 30 and probably had plenty left in the tank to do a few more sets... but I didn't want to push it. Cardio and muscular wise, I felt great. I was back. It was a good tune up to run the Hot Chocolate 15K. Little did I know that I was creating more damage to myself.

Unfortunately, on the cool down, my foot was not happy with me. When I woke Thursday (yesterday) morning, I could barely walk on it. Immediately, I realized that I might have a serious problem.... aka stress fracture.

I contacted Jill Lohmann (a PT on the Fleet Feet team) as soon as I could, and she was able to take a look at it in the afternoon. In the mean time, I continued an aggressive treatment with ice, compression, and Motrin. After ruling out many different possibilities, Jill wasn't able to rule out a potential stress fracture.

Brings me to today - Woke up feeling no different. I made the call to see a doctor. All day long I iced, compressed, pumped Motrin into the system. By some miracle, I will say that as the day wore on and after I walked around a little to get lunch, I did notice it feeling marginally better. Not much - but enough to give me a ray of hope.

Luckily I was able to get into see an ortho-podiatrist this evening. After he did a few tests (though no X-ray / MRI / Bone-Scan) - he actually ruled out a stress fracture. Apparently it doesn't have quite the same characteristics. That's not to say that a stress fracture isn't possible in the future, if I'm not careful. His claim is that he believes the metatarsal has merely been "stressed." I pushed it to a near extreme. I'm going to need to be aggressive continuing with the ice, compression, and anti-inflammatory. ......No running! At least for a week. I can't imagine wanting to run at this moment, so that's not a terrible thing.

SO - for now I'll just do that and be extra cautious. My circuit season is over. No more points. No more racing... at least now. I can deal with this. It's not the end of the world. I still PR'd in every distance I touched this year. And I'm still not ruling out the USATF XC Club Finals in December. We reassess in a week and in the mean time, I can get back into swimming for the next couple weeks to help maintain my fitness.


And for those of you that have been DYING to say, "I told you so!!"... OK, have your glory now... Yes, quite possibly ONE contributing factor in this has been my running in the Vibram Five-Fingers. To my defense, I'll say that I have NEVER felt better about my running -at least until I woke up the other morning. That is total honesty here. Those Five-Fingers have cleared up some major, long time issues of mine... and only in a matter of a few weeks. But for now, as much as I love those shoes, I admit... I might have pushed the envelope just a little too much for post-marathon running.

Disclosure: This is the first time I'm actually admitting on this blog to my Five-Finger running - I've been doing some of my easier runs in them for the last 3 weeks. Including a couple runs the week of the marathon. I'll explain more in another post. First let me get things back to an even keel.

So, I leave with this - Run every run like it's your last run! Enjoy it. You don't need to blow it out, but soak it up. You never know. I learned a good lesson the other day... I did absoultely NOTHING wrong on the run. I never mis-stepped; I never tripped; I never rolled an ankle; didn't kick anything... NOTHING. I felt great until the very end. And yet, I wound up pissing off something somewhere along the miles.

The trials of miles... and the miles of trials!

When the sun's shining,

make hay!

I'm still in great shape. Why should I just hang 'em up and walk away for the season, if I'm still feeling good? So what if I just ran a marathon? I don't have anything holding me back. I'm not sore anymore. All of my runs since the marathon have slowly felt better. I've had a good recovery thus far.

Hence, the CARA Circuit still has a few more races. I might as well try to pull a few off.


Oak Park - Frank Lloyd Wright 10K

My quick 2 second email reply to Dan McDowell was:

"It actually went well... Except fucking Mike Egle and a bandit drafted off of me for like 6 miles and then crushed me in the last quarter. Egle must have clipped my heels like 10 times too - seriously! I even called him out on it, and he continued to do it. Anyway, it was actually a really cool race experience, right down to the last wire."

That pretty much sums it up.

It really was a cool race though. For once, I knew it was going to be a true race at the very end. Nothing mattered until the kick. Pulling a quote from Once a Runner: "It doesn't matter how fast you can run, it matters how fast you can run when you're tired."

Unfortunately, the other two racers were significantly less hung over than I was, and they were the real deal (Kyle and Ricky's Halloween party was the night before). The two scum suckers rode me until they were finished using me, and then kicked at the perfect moment when they knew they could beat me. I tried throwing in a few surges earlier on, but they steadily matched everything. It went to the wire. When they threw moves on me, I had nothing. I ran for time. They ran to win. I did all the work, they stole the glory. Annoying, but a very good learning experience. Bastards.

The three of us each finished within 6 seconds of one another. I placed 6th overall... technically 5th because one of my guys was a bandit; top 3 were sub 33 and out of the picture. I won my age group; snatched a new 10K PR.

Splits were:
1 - 5:30
2 - 5:41
3 - 5:36
4 - 5:37
5 - 5:36
6 - 5:32
7 - 1:09 (5:22 pace)
= 34:43, 5:35 avg

MY CHICAGO MARATHON

The Chicago Marathon

2:39:38 (PR), 6:05 pace, 180 place overall, 3rd Illinois Age


The whole concept me running a 2:39:38 marathon AND an 82 second negative split is still absolutely mind blowing to me.

Five years ago, I did something that I thought I'd never do... nor ever cared to do. I ran a marathon. It was one of the worst experiences of my life! I cursed the thing many times over. I finished in 3 hours, 39 minutes and change. A few years and 9 marathons later, and I've dropped an hour off that time!! AN HOUR! UnFuckingBelievable! So much for a kid that could've cared less about running when he was growing up. It's taken a week to let this set in, and I'm still having difficulty grasping it.

I'll try to give a recount of how I remember it, but really that's just a memory at this point... and a hazed one full of lactic acid, at that. To have experienced it was quite different. That can be said for any race or marathon.

The whole thing literally just flew by. The anticipation and days leading up to the race absolutely crawled. The waiting game was brutal. Then the miles, which may seem like they dragged on, unfolded so quickly. In reality, it was a very short experience in life. It's one of those things that I couldn't wait until it was over with, but now I absolutely regret wishing it away. I wish I could go back and enjoy every step and breath I took. I want to re-experience the numerous feelings of anxiety, joy, pain, fear, uncertainty, confidence, my runner’s high, and camaraderie,
...and now elation....


I nearly missed my alarm in the morning. Luckily my back-up woke me at 5:35. Thank you, trusty Ironman! The race started at 7:30, and Chris was going to be here in a 40 minutes; I needed to get moving. I packed my gear the night before but still triple checked it. I showered up quickly, and wolfed down a bagel w/ peanut butter and a shot of espresso... and I was out the door. No time to think, just go.

It was a cold 35 degrees, but the wind actually "wasn't all that bad". In Chicago terms, that means it wasn’t a 20mph steady in-your-face-all-the-time wind... only maybe 5-10mph. It was coming out of the North-West. It would hurt late in the race, but if we’re gonna have to have it, we wanted a NW breeze. ...Immediate relief came to me when I walked outside and realized the weather wasn't gonna be a game breaker.

Chris's girlfriend was dropping us off near the starting area. Grant Park was its usual pre-marathon madhouse. 40,000 wiry runners were bouncing all around. Bathrooms and gear checks were a mess; people were doing pointless warm-ups, and stupid pre-race rituals. We were among them. I must have peed 10 times. I choked down Gatorade and a banana. I layered on clothing, only to pitch it all a little later at the starting line. We left our bags at the gear check, and made our way into the "A" corral to meet up with Verdo.

At that point, nothing else mattered. There was no turning back. I completely blocked out the rest of the world. A bomb could’ve exploded somewhere, and I didn’t care (as long as it didn’t interfere with the course). When we finally got into the corral, we had 15 minutes for the gun. Now the waiting game really began. The anticipation and anxiety swelled with every minute. I pealed my extra layers of clothing. I needed to keep my heart rate down, but the cold didn't help. I tried to stop thinking. It was all just a waste of calories.

-----
My race plan was simple: split it as close as I could to 1:20:30, and then throw whatever I had at it in the second half. So easy to say, not so easy to do. In the back of my mind, my most aggressive goal was to roll a 2:39:59. It was going to require a 1 minute negative split in the race. All in, 6:06 average pace... but 6:08.5 through the split, then 6:03.5 to the finish. That thought made me sick. My conscious wanted me to just lay up, and keep it even in the second half. 2:41 would be fine. That would be a nice PR. It was a safer bet. I've never run a negative split in the marathon, in spite of trying. My conscious was being a pussy. In the minutes before the gun, I had to keep telling myself, "Don't think, just do." Stay calm. I had miles of miles in the last 10 months... I had no game breakers today.... I had to go for it. Stay in control, and patience would be rewarded.

Chris was to pace me through the first 8, then I'd pick up Jason around 18 and he'd work with me until 25. Verdo had just run the Berlin Marathon 3 week earlier, so I wasn't sure what to expect from him. I had a feeling that he'd try to go a little faster if he was feeling good, or he'd just hang with me through the half and see what happens after that. I wasn't banking on him though, he had his own plans in the back of his mind.
-----

When the gun went off, I remember being very surprised. It's not as if I didn't know it was coming, I think I just lost myself in the moments before the race. I became very calm. All of a sudden, we were off.

It took 15 seconds to get across the starting line. We probably could’ve gotten closer, but it didn’t matter. As annoying as it may have been, the crowd around us actually helped to keep the reigns in for a little while. The first 1/2 mile was spent weeding through that congestion.

Mile 1 - 6:26.8 - Slow but ok.

Mile 2 - 6:12.1 - A little smoother...

Chris, Verdo, myself, and another guy trying to run with Verdo all worked together. We started slower than we wanted, but I found comfort in that. My heart wasn't shooting through my chest. I didn't go anaerobic out of the gate. I have a feeling that played a huge factor in with me having a successful race.

We ripped down State Street, made our way to LaSalle, and started head out of the loop. The hoards of people spectating in the loop were crazy, as usual. Crowds were deep and the sounds were like deafening walls all along side the first 3 miles. Once we got out of the Loop, it didn't seem quite as chaotic as I remembered in the past. That's a cost of running as aggressive as we were. Most spectators cheer the masses.

Mile 3 - 6:06.2 - Perfect!

We may have gotten a little anxious in the next mile, as we jumped from pack to pack, to avoid some of the headwinds.

Mile 4 - 5:59.6. Too fast, too soon!

If I wasn't careful, this would get out of hand and I'd be dragged to a sub 120 half. That wasn't my plan. We entered Lincoln Park running with a small pack, and not many other runners around. A decision had to be made. Stick with the pack and be protected from some of the light headwinds, or relax, set my own pace, and hope that Chris could and I could manage the wind on our own.

I let the horse race go. Chris stayed with me and we watched them slowly pull away. We were on our own now, with only a few stragglers in front of or behind us.

Mile 5 - 6:09.4 - Much better. Give some back after last mile.

Gave a nod as I passed my apartment.

Mile 6 - 6:06.7 - Perfect.

Chris was immensely helpful by now. I became very comfortable and just followed his lead. We worked along side one another most of the time, but if a wind came he often jumped in front of me. We were slowly picking off the victims of Verdo's pack from ahead. Some of these poor souls (or soles?) went out too fast. A few joined us only to fall off a couple miles later; Verdo's machine continued to pull away.

Mile 7 - 6:09.2 - GU#1; nice work considering the wind.

By now, we were onto Broadway and rolling South. The infamous party in Boystown was just getting started, but they really weren’t ready for the early runners. It was surprisingly quite through this area. It didn’t matter. I was starting to get into the zone.

Mile 8 - 6:09.8

Chris’s selfless pace making task was finished. He got me through 8, and then jumped off at Belmont. His presence was much appreciated. I remember feeling nervous as he left. The easy stuff was done. Now it was time to go to work.

I had 10 miles before I’d see Jason. I needed to start plugging away where I could. A couple guys were around me, but it really seemed like a free-for-all; road kills and killers. Nobody wanted to slay it together for the next several miles. Verdo was easily 20 seconds ahead of me, and after his pack it was very sparse. I just set it on cruise control, and let my stride do its job. For the next 17 miles, I only recall being passed a few times – and anyone that did pass me, I killed them later... with the exception of 1 or 2 guys.

Mile 9 - 6:05.6 - Rolled over Clark and Fullerton - my backyard.

Crowds in the Lincoln Park neighborhood picked me up a lot! I started seeing people on the sides that I recognized. Rock on.

Mile 10 - 6:02.5

I wound through Oldtown, and got a big boost from the people around the Fleet Feet corner. Seeing more teammates and friends on the sidelines was very encouraging. In spite of dropping some slightly faster miles in here, I felt great.



Mile 11 - 6:04.7

I had to pull back a little after Oldtown. I didn’t want to over do it.

Mile 12 - 6:10.2 - Regroup & Hill (my slowest mile of the marathon).

Up and over the Franklin Street bridge. Its one of the few "hills" on the course. It really isn’t that significant, but it did require me to change my effort and stride. I had been on flat ground for so long, that the change was welcoming.

Crowds became deafening again as I re-entered the loop. This was awesome! It would be some of the densest crowds I would see. Literally thousands of people were crammed in on the sidewalks, screaming and cheering. Very cool considering there weren’t many of us passing through. It was difficult to hold their energy back and keep things in control.





Just to show how differently some guys choose to run races, the fellows in the above pictures all went through the split around the same time as I did. I may have put a few seconds on them, but not much. They had been in my sights for a few miles, and sometimes even pacing with me. They were dead after the loop. Bib 909 finished 2:47; Bib 1341 finished 2:43. Not very clean races. To the best of my recollection, in the second half of the race, I was only passed by 1 guy – and it took him over 10 miles to finally do it.

Mile 13 - 6:08.3
HALF SPLIT - 1:20:29 - I mean I went out honestly thinking 1:20:30 for the split. Obviously not everything was the same exact pace, since we were slow in early miles, but could have I possibly timed it any better?? Fucking incredible!! I was completely shocked from what I saw.

Verdo went through the split maybe 20 seconds ahead of me. I could barely see him on this long straight-away. It looked like he was still rolling in a decent sized pack. I think he shredded it up, because that was the last time I saw him.

Heading West away from the Loop, the wind picked up again. Spectators dwindled. Aside from Verdo’s group, it was a single filed line of runners.

I was passed by Bib #725. That was the first time I was passed in a while. He wasn’t rolling much faster than I was; yet he was clearly strong and put about 10m on me. If I was going to man up, and try to go negative, I needed some help - and NOW. I couldn’t sit back and wait for someone else to come along. He was all I had. I made the move and jumped on his back.

Mile 14 - 6:02.2 - It hurt with the wind, but it had to be done; GU#2 down the hatch.

We exchanged the lead a few times as the wind became more annoying. We were approaching the Bonks’ville... the place where so many make it to, yet so few make it through feeling strong. This is typically the beginning of the end for most marathoners. If you don’t feel good by 15-18, then it’s not gonna be pretty! It wasn’t clear how long either one of us would last. I was still strong though; and if he kept rolling up on me, then he was too.

His shirt said something like "Running for Dad Turner" with a DOB/DOD, and he was from Arizona. A nice gesture, considering most guys running this fast don't often give up real estate on their singlets. "Turner" commented to me that this wind was annoying, and said he didn’t think it was supposed to be windy today-? I said, "Welcome to Chicago racing."

Mile 15 - 6:09.9 - Lots of head wind, but we turned at the end of the mile.

We started heading back into the city. Turner was now in front of me. For the first time, I actually felt like I was starting to get into a race... as opposed to a mere execution of miles. I didn't want to go too hard too soon, but this was the beginning of some big kills. A number of the guys that had been with Verdo or between us, were slowly blowing up. Turner and I were picking them off. Just rolling right by them with ease. Some would try to run with us, but nobody would hang on.

Mile 16 - 6:06.6

Turner lit the fire. That was exactly what I needed. I took the lead and charged down the rest of Jackson to Halsted. He would ride on my back or at my side for most of the rest of the race. It eventually got annoying that he never took the lead, but he was still helping to push my effort. Cost benefit analysis: I’d rather have him than not have him. Some tail wind also helped a little for the 17th mile. I was slowly getting my shit together.

Mile 17 - 6:00.9

We killed probably 10 runners in that 2 mile stretch. I was still more concerned about pacing over killing though. As we entered University Village, I saw a giant prize up ahead! I couldn't ignore it. Two Brooks Hanson jerseys. It was one of the last girls on the course that I saw, with her pacer. She didn’t look like she was dying, but if she was going slower than us - then it wasn’t going as planned for a Brooks girl. Dead. I pulled up for a better look, then surged and dropped her. Turner matched my move. Monster Mike and some of the FF crew were on the sidelines screaming at me as it happened. I loved it!



Rounded the corner onto Taylor Street and headed away from the city again. I was looking for some help from Turner, but I got nothing. He clung to my shoulder and off my back. He wasn’t going carry any of the load as we went into the wind for the next mile. I needed to keep strong. Little Italy now. I saw the guy that started the race with us, and then hung with Verdo. I don’t recall his name, but he was a solid runner and he was toast. He even said it. I suspected that many of that pack were falling apart. We rolled on.

After the race, people complained about it being too cold for a marathon. It was 35 degrees. Sure there wind, but not blowing us off the course. All I could think of was my success back in the spring time - Cary and the Shamrock, as opposed to some of the heaters over the summer. I love racing in the cold! I don’t get dehydrated. This was my time to shine.

Mile 18 - 6:07.9 - The last of the wind for a while. It hurt. Turner didn’t help one bit.

I needed a breath of fresh energy. I knew that it would come. He had to be around here somewhere... He was waiting in the wings.

When I saw him towards the end of Taylor Street, where there were very few fans around. I was happy, but I was equally upset. I didn’t understand what he was doing. I thought he was making a mockery of my race. What the hell? Here I was, jamming 6 minute miles, 18 miles deep, trying to do meticulously execute something here, and "You are dressed as fucking Batman!?.... Dude?!?"

It took me a minute to settle down, and stop cussing and laughing. The crowds were scarce at the moment, so I didn’t get it right away. Then someone screamed at the top of his lungs, "GO BATMAN!!!!" This wasn’t a cheer for someone I didn’t know and didn’t like. I couldn't disapprove. He was screaming for the guy that was trying to help me. It became clear... I had my Dark Knight.

The masked man and I were going to blaze the streets. Turner would ride on our tails. We surged.

Pilsen was first to see us. About a half-mile stretch, and they fucking lit up!! Since there weren’t many other runners around us, it meant that much more to have the crowds get into the cheering.

Mile 19 - 5:58.5

Mile 20 - 6:02.2 - 2:02:19 deep, 10K in 38 min if I could hang on; Gu#3.

We passed a handful of guys since picking up Jason. We were just getting started. Turner clipped my heel. He was wearing out his welcome now that I had someone else to work with. He still never took the lead. He knew it, but he needed us and we were still stronger together.

Jason then asked an interesting question, "Do you want Verdo?" The thought didn’t even occur to me. I couldn’t see him, and I didn’t care. Jason said he was a minute ahead, and if we pushed then we might be able to catch him. I didn't want this to get out of control. I told him to keep it nice and steady. The last thing I needed was to start dropping 5:50's. Let him come to us. He merely became a target of a guy that I could've been running with, had I not stuck to my plan.

Mile 21 - 5:58.2

Chinatown blew up as we rolled through. They loved the Caped Crusader! The dragon was out in the streets, people were screaming at the tops of their lungs. Drums were beating. It was a very festive place for Batman and anyone else around him to be running. It made me smile and grimace at the same time... Was I happy or was I tired?



The first 21 miles weren’t a big deal. They rolled by. I barely flinched. This was starting to become a task now. Nothing was nagging. It was tiring and dealing with my old friend, Lactic Acid. Muscles were becoming numb. Arms started to weigh more. Foot falls became work. Ignore the pain and just follow the leader. Don't think, just run. We immediately took a few more road kills. There weren’t many left.

Mile 22 - 5:57.6

We ran along the Dan Ryan expressway for the next mile. This is typically a dead-zone for any crowd support of any kind. Runners become victim of their own mental collapse. Jason said "Lookie what I see!" To my surprise, Verdo was up ahead. I tried to ignore it. I wanted to ignore everything.

When we approached the turn at 33rd St, typically one of the most barren parts of the Chicago Marathon and only places where you could usually hear a pin drop... all we could hear was utter chaos. Music was blaring; easily a couple thousand people lined the street and overpass; a guy was screaming over a loud speaker... He kept hammering, "Batman and Robin everyone!!" The place absolutely exploded!! "Batman and Robin!"

It was impossible to ignore that thunderous mass! They practically threw us a half mile, from Wentworth to State Street.

Mile 23 - 05:56.6



I was exhausted after that. Once it quieted down to a thin line of fans on the streets, I had a brush back with reality. "I was blowing out sub 6 minute miles, Jesus." The lactic acid was real by now. No cramps though. Still OK. I told myself that I could deal with "only Lactic Acid." I didn’t want to think. Thinking burns calories. I didn’t have any calories to burn.

Verdo was getting closer now, he was 50m away. Then all of a sudden, Turner manned up. He was no joke either. He was done with us. As we turned from State onto 35th, he took us out. I felt was so used. That bastard. Ride on my ass for 11 miles, and now he crushes me. Sandbaggin, son of a bitch.

Jason recognized that I wasn't going to match him, so we kept it steady. We hit Michigan Ave. Wind immediately blasted us in the face. He jumped in front. I had to swat his cape a couple times. It was funny, but I didn’t have the energy to waste playing silly games.

About 3 1/2 miles to go. The next 2 or 2 1/2 would be the most difficult miles of the course. I needed to be strong as we approached to Verdo. I wanted him to work with us. I wanted to help him. I wanted him to help me. In my years of running, I’ve learned one very important thing: this is not an individual’s sport. It’s a collective effort. You’re stronger as a whole than as one. Unfortunately, it was too late here. We passed him, and he slowly fell of the back.

Mile 24 - 6:01.8 - Slow pace due to the wind.

No more water or Gatorade! I had my fill from all of the earlier stations. I had been drinking a little every other mile until now. I actually couldn't remember the last time I took any Gatorade? Maybe a couple stations ago? It didn't matter. The thought of it now made me sick, and yet these kids were crowding into the middle of the street trying to force it down my throat. No more! This was like letting go of my binky. I knew if it wasn’t in my tank now, with a little over 2 miles to go, then it wasn’t going to help.

We crossed over the Rte 55 expressway. My heart was pounding. Everything hurt now. The simple front-to-back and repeat movement was all I could do. I rode on Batman’s cape as much as I could. I tried to ignore everything else. Shut it all out. Jason not-so-kindly reminded me that the race wasn’t over yet. Many people quit here. Some very good runners. We were passing a number of them. We blew by Joe Guinness, another fellow Fleet Feet runner. Joe’s a much better runner than I am. He must have been having a very bad day; I was having a very good day.

Mile 25 - 06:02.4 - Wind.

I felt like molasses. Still, we blew by a guy that was hunched over, staggering. The lactic acid had become too much for him. His body was shutting down. I tried not look, for fear I'd become infected by his plague. I wasn’t ready to quit. No matter the struggle, I wasn't done. We were still maintaining pace, albeit with more effort. I knew at that moment that I was strong. Unlike 99.99% of people at this point of a marathon: I had confidence.

We passed by Pflip’s place, and amongst the masses of spectators was a whole crew of my friends going totally berserk as they saw Jason and I hammer by.

Jason turned to me, and screamed at the top of his lungs, "GOOO!!! Go into it! You’ve got 2:40, but you’re not done yet! Don’t give it up! GET AFTER IT!!!" He pealed off. I had just under a mile to go on my own.

It was like a rocket being fired out of a cannon!! Looking back at my splits, it didn’t improve much or at all. Mostly because of wind and Roosevelt hill, but the effort and intensity went through the roof. I felt like I was going faster then, than at any point during the race.

Crowds were ear-piercing by now. Didn’t matter. I was blind, deaf, and dumb at this point. All that mattered was getting to the finish as fast as I possibly could. I used a few guys in front of me to pull my way through. They had nothing on me. I took them at the turn onto Roosevelt, and buried a slew up the hill.

Mile 26 - 6:02.5 - Hill.

I finished the hill, and rounded the corner onto Columbus. My heart was screaming out of my chest. My body wanted it to be over. This push wasn't kind. My mind wouldn’t let go. I barreled down the straight. One last guy in front of me, but there was no way I could catch him. He kicked just as hard as I did.

A hundred meters to go now. All in. Every second counts. I saw the clock as I approached the finish line, and I knew - I was under 2:40!

Finish read 2:39:52, but I had 15 seconds of cushion on the clock. 2:39:38 was the official time.

I couldn’t believe it. I fucking crushed that thing!!

Turner finished about 40 seconds ahead of me - he had to have thrown down sub-5:50’s in the last 2-3 miles to get that. I never saw him in the chutes to Congratulate him / Thank him / Tell him "You’re welcome!"

Verdo rolled up a few guys behind me. As much as he hates to admit it, he had an awesome race considering he just ran 2:47 in Berlin a few weeks earlier. He split in 1:20:08, and finished 2:39:58. An 18 second negative split! Very solid, though I know he wanted faster and was disappointed.

Split recap:

.......SPLIT.../...LAP.../...PACE
5K – 0:19:22 /19:22 / 6:14
10K - 0:38:18 / 18:56 / 6:06
15K - 0:57:21 / 19:03 / 6:08
20K - 1:16:22 / 19:01 / 6:07
HALF - 1:20:29 / 6:08
25K - 1:35:19 / 18:57 / 6:06
30K - 1:54:09 / 18:50 / 6:04
35K - 2:12:45 / 18:36 /5:59
40K - 2:31:22 / 18:37 / 6:00
2nd HALF - 1:19:09 / 6:02
OVERALL - 2:39:38 / 6:05.3

82 second negative split!

180th Place out of 34,000 finishers
169th Male, only 11 Women ahead of me
32nd Age Group
3rd State/Age

An absolutely perfectly executed race!!
If I was an artist, this would be my masterpiece.

When I finished the race, I still had energy. For some dumb reason, just like after Boston... I felt great! I trotted through the recovery area. I bounced around for a few minutes. I eventually settled down, and received a great big hug and kiss from Sarah at the end of the recovery area. Chris Woods was also waiting there - no kisses for him, but definitely a hug.

Once I calmed down - I recognized how cold it actually was. I mean 35 degrees in a singlet and short shorts isn't all that comfortable. The pain would soon settle in, but it was soooooo worth it!

After party at Stanley’s was as nuts as a bunch of tired marathoners could’ve made it. Many beers, and a giant team Car Bomb in honor of numerous PR’s.

A huge thank you to all of my friends that braved the cold and came out to cheer on the runners on! Especially thank you to Jason and Chris for pacing me though the thing. You immensely helped!

A week later, and I'm still on cloud-9.

It was truly MY CHICAGO MARATHON.

12 hours until...

The Chicago Marathon

This is my 10th go at the marathon... Chicago # 5.

You'd think I'd know what I'm getting myself into and would be able to relax a little. But all I have to say is that I'm still nervous as hell. Butterflies like mad in my stomach until the gun goes off at 7:30AM.

Tomorrow I'm going to attempt a ridiculous effort. I'm afraid to even talk about it because I'm concerned that I'll jinx myself. When all is said and done, this should be a large PR.

Before that happens though, I have to continue to deal with going stir crazy.

----------------------------

The other day, I ran a 4:58 mile on the track. Not especially something to cheer about, but it was my mile PR and I'm happy to have cracked the 5 minute mark. Far from what I should be able to run. It was 6 seconds faster than the OMM a few months ago though (we'll ignore the fact that was done after a long run). It was also about 4 seconds faster than my fastest mile last year.

Point being: in the last 20 weeks, I've run a shit ton of miles - more than I ever have. I feel like my training has been solid and smart. I've improved my stride a ton, and for the most part, I am injury free.

As for the race itself: The weather is looking to be colder (high 30's) with some light wind (but probably the typical steady Chicago wind)... but nothing game breaking. I'll have some pacing help from Mr Woods, Mr Creamers, and hopefully Mr Giorty. As long as I can keep things calm, cool, and under control... I should be set up for an incredible run.

The 2 Week Itch

The Itch is starting to set in.

In spite of being a far cry from my peak, I still ran 61 miles in the last 7 days. I'm only a week an a half a way from the marathon. I want to run more - I'm hungry today, but I need to cut back. I'm gonna have to take the day off. I'd like to take 2 days off, but I don't think that'll happen. I'm itching like a crack addict right now.

Irrational behavior begins in the marathon taper. I've mentioned this in the past, with Boston. A marathoner will start obsession about his race... and pretty much anything that revolves around it. So far this week I've been good, but the itch will start soon enough. The fact that I'm even writing about this means it's already begun.

I'll soon wind up being completely useless at work... spending the entire day building excel models that try to give me a mile-by-mile strategy... Of course, the weather could fuck that up so I'll have to spend hours staring at 5 different internet weather sites. Obsessing about everything. I'll start shopping for gear that I don't need. I'll probably make some sort of big purchase (actually, I already did - I bought Sarah a sweet camera last week)... so I'll make another one. I also attempted to buy some Vibram Five-Fingers. Those are very cool and I think could be a useful too - but they certainly won't help my taper. Someday. Probably won't work well going into the winter either though...? WTF? Why would I even look at them? Fortunately, they were out of stock in my size. This will go on and on and on. I'm gonna go stir crazy.


Anyway, in the last week I've had a few solid runs:

Last Saturday's long run was 17 miles w/ about 12 at race pace'ish. I'm not really sure the actual pace because I didn't have markers. It felt smooth and fast. Some of it was probably faster than race pace.

Monday night tempo was at race pace again. 8 miles worth. The temperature has finally started to drop a little, so it made for a very pleasant run... minus the 20-30mph winds from every direction. It was pretty much a futile effort. My 1/2 mile splits were anywhere from 2:50's to 3:20's. I hammered the last mile at 5:40 though... and into the wind. So much for knowing what race pace under ideal conditions feels like.

Wednesday night's speed - absolutely perfect marathon weather!! (See I'm obsessing about this!) 5x 3x200 cut-downs. It was all about quick feet, a smooth stride, and pushing the pace... but not draining myself too much. The last 200 was at 30 seconds. It left me wanting more. Hence, I'm itching today.

Over the next week, it'll be a handful of easy runs, probably 1 more shorter goal-pace run (just to wake my legs up a bit), and 1 more short distance track workout next Wednesday (the 1600 should be interesting).

In the mean time, my ADHD and OCD is clearly taking over.

Yeah, so... ?

Last bigger track workout before the marathon.
Yasso's 10x 800's... run at 2:35 pace w/ 1:30 seconds of rest.

I've done this workout a number of times. The last time I did it, it was 10x 800 back in August at basically the same pace (...If I remember correctly, it may have actually been marginally better weather though - last night was cooler but extremely humid).

Bart Yasso's theory is that if you can run 10x 800 before your marathon, you should be able to run the marathon at the pace of your 800's. Such as, if I can run at a consistent pace of 2:35 without being destroyed, then I could shoot for a 2:35 marathon. From experience, I know this isn't true... at least not for me. But it's definitely fair to say that if I couldn't run a 2:35 workout, then I have no business even attempting a 2:35 marathon... or a 2:40 marathon, for that matter.

Point being - I ran the workout faster than I intend on even attempting the marathon. 2:35 is way out of my league right now. But 2:40 may not be. Let's call that 5 seconds of cushion built into Yasso's theory.

In spite of the humidity and being sluggish for the warm up and first rep, I felt pretty smooth and comfortable for the entire workout. The consistency in my splits shows this. After the cool down, I was still hungry for more miles, and the thought occurred to me after that maybe I should have done 12 reps instead of 10? I don't think it would've been a problem. Oh well... after all, I am in a taper.

Splits:
1 - 2:40.5
2 - 2:35.4
3 - 2:35.6
4 - 2:35.7
5 - 2:35.5
6 - 2:36.8
7 - 2:35.8
8 - 2:34.6
9 - 2:35.3
10 - 2:30.1
2:35.5avg (77.5 pace)

The only thing I have to fear, is fear itself.

Last night's tempo run was ridiculous. Hands down, it was the best workout I've had all year.

I was sweating the run all day. I was tired. I was still feeling last week’s mileage. I was especially still feeling some remnants of Sunday's nasty hangover. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to pull together mid-5:40's for a total tempo of 8 or 9 miles.

Once I finally got moving though, that pressure let up. My body woke up from its self-induced coma. On the warm up, I started to realize that maybe I needed to man-up and hang with the big boys. Rob Chenoweth and a few others were going an eye popping 10. I've never done a 10 tempo before...

It was myself, Rob, Derek Holland, Mark Wherman, and another guy. They're all faster and more experienced runners than I am. Since we were basically going out with my half pace, I figured I should be able to hang with them to the turn and then see what happens from there. The goal would then become to hold that pace until the finish.

I never really fell off the back of the pack. Everything was going smoothly. I was particularly paying attention to holding my stride together... and it did! The pack eventually shook up around me. Derek went shorter and starting hammering some blistering sub 5:20’s; Rob dropped off after 6 with some stomach issues; and I rode with Mark and the other guy until they dropped the hammer at 8.5. Myself: There was no way I was able to hold Mark’s pace at the end but I pulled my own trigger late in the run. I went from 5:40's to posting a nice 5:36 in the last mile. I have to admit it was pretty motivating to roll with them, and hang on the way I did.

We rolled about 9.95mi (the 2nd and 9th mile are a little short). 57:09 total, 5:43 average, a big 41 sec negative split! Not only was it my longest, but also one of my fastest tempos of the year! It was also roughly my 10mi PR to boot. Not too shabby considering it was on the heels of my peak week. A nice consolation prize for my Chicago 1/2.

I'm gradually pulling together what looks to be a potential ballz-to-the-wall marathon in 3 weeks time.


Splits:
1 - 5:55.6
2 - 5:38.4
3 - 5:47.5
4 - 5:41.3
5 - 5:52.2
6 - 5:40.1
7 - 5:40.0
8 - 5:41.0
9 - 5:36.3
10 - 5:36.7
Total - 57:09.1
5:42.9 avg, 41sec neg split

100

ONE HUNDRED.

100.

It is such a nice number. So clean. So round. So big!

Years ago, this would've been an unfathomable goal for me. I would've called bullshit anytime I heard that anyone ran over 100 miles in a week. How’s that even possible? Isn’t it like 15 miles in a day??

Then as I ran more, I thought only true studs hit 100. Certainly not me. Disclosure: I’m not saying that everyone who runs 100 is a stud, nor that you can't be a stud if you run fewer than 100... I'm just saying... It’s a shitload of miles. Most guys that do it AND can live to tell about it 2 or 3 weeks later… are kind of in good shape.

100 really wasn't even a goal in my current training. When I built my marathon schedule back in the spring, I was planning on only topping out around 90 miles. However, after feeling comfortable pushing well into the 90's over a 7 day period at the cabin, I decided that I needed to make a go for 100.

After last Sunday's 1/2 marathon I was pretty banged up. My right ITB got knotted up. Both calves were a mess at one point or another. I had something with my left achilles for a day. The top of my left foot had some sort of soreness...(And still does?)... Going for 100 in my peak week seemed once again improbable.

I'd be lying if I told you it felt good. It's debatable if it was a smart thing to do. Only time will tell. Recovery from that half was a big struggle. Garbage sleep didn’t help the cause. 3 of my runs felt like death marches by the final mile. I did have some good runs though.

So did it hurt? Yes.

Was it fun? No.

How's my social life? Yeah, take a guess. If you need help, ask my girlfriend, Sarah, or ask Myra.

Did I need to go 100? Probably not.

Did I consider bailing on this stupid goal? Every day. But fuck it, it had to happen at some point. Be a man.

That glowing, shiny “1-double-0” kept staring at me. Now was as good of a time as any.

That was my motivation.

So I did it. I clocked 100 miles in a week. I'm proud of it. I've come a long way. If nothing else, I can say at the end of the day (or week) that I can run 100 miles

An HUGE special thank you to Sarah! She gave me two much needed massages during the week. After the 1/2 marathon, that made it possible to keep going. By the time Saturday's 24 miler rolled around, I was pretty much back to normal.
The 24 was mostly at an easier 7:15 pace, and then I felt totally fine picking it up and hitting a 6:10s for the last 3 miles. I felt like I could've easily (if that's possible) gone another 5 or 6 miles. But I had to stop at some point... I mean come on, that would've been overkill! 100 was good enough.

The peak is in. Now I taper my mileage for 3 weeks, then it's Chicago Marathon #5. Marathon #10.

Chicago 1/2 Marathon

The Chicago 1/2 Marathon was my first decent race since the Boston Marathon. It was also my first opportunity to gauge how well my training has been going. Unfortunately, I don't think it was an accurate gauge.

The race took place on the south side of the city - near Jackson/Hyde Park area. It’s a large competitive race (nearly 20,000), but unfortunately the directors and sponsors have changed hands a number of times in the last few years. As best I can estimate, the course was a little long - probably by about 150-200m (or 30-45 seconds). The fact that the race started 15 minutes late also gives a little validity to my lament. An attempt to re-draw the course on USATF.

I wound up finishing 1:16:43, in 32nd place, 7th age group. I'm guessing I would've come close or broke 1:16 if the course was accurately measured. That would’ve been faster than my Cary 1/2 back in March.

Mind you, I’m not crying about my time. More importantly, I just wanted some sort of measure of my current fitness. I haven’t had much in the way of tempo or track work since August. I certainly have had my share of hill work and distance though. From as best I could tell, I ran this race with an honest / even effort and pace. Knowing that, gives me a little confidence in my training.

Race recap:
I went out somewhat easy through the first three miles and then settled into a steady mid-to-high 5:40’s effort. Weather was warm and sunny (maybe 70 for the race); wind was a steady 10mph from the north.

The first three miles snaked its way around Jackson Park, before going on a five mile out and back on LSD. By the time I hit LSD, I had set myself up to draft off a string of 10-15 runners while heading into the wind for the next 5 miles. Packs were far and few between by now, but 2 or 3 of us were able to work together for quite some time as we jumped from wind-blocker to wind-blocker.

Here's the annoying part: Mile 8 was blatantly long. In spite of a small side-stitch from drinking too much gatorade, I don’t believe my pace ever faded. In fact I had a small group of 3 that I was working with at the time, and none of us were giving anything up. Yet the 6:11 split was way off! For all I know, we even picked it up? I don't remember getting a jump back on the following miles either. By the time mile 12 rolled around, I was having some tightness in my ITB. But again - here I was actually pressing the pace and gaining ground on anyone near or ahead of me. Somehow that was clocked at 5:59. That had to be off. Mile 13 could also be suspect...? It's difficult to tell if any of the other miles were 'obviously short or long' though.

Bottom line: After talking to a few others with GPS watches and re-drawing the course on USATF or mapmyrun.com, I have slightly more confidence that the course was in fact long. And hence, I'm less concerned about the 1:16:43 time and could say that I might be in similar condition -if not better than I was back in the spring. That gives me a lot of comfort in my current training. I suspect I have a lot more endurance at this point though. I'm certainly putting in more miles right now.

This next week is my peak week of training. I’m sore from the 1/2, but I’m forging ahead with an attempt for 100 miles.


Split recap:
1 - 05:47.4
2 - 05:50.2
3 - 05:52.4
4 - 05:45.7
5 - 05:45.5
6 - 05:53.5
7 - 05:45.8
8 - 06:11.7*Long
9 - 05:48.8
10 - 05:48.8
11 - 05:43.3
12 - 05:59.6*Long
13 - 05:53.4
13.? - 00:37.2
Finish - 1:16:43

ADK Running Camp

Since 2004, my annual pilgrimage up to the family cabin in the Adirondacks has been turned into my own personal running boot-camp.

The landscape is a deep forest chalk full of rolling hills, mountains, dirt roads, trails, lakes, and rivers... my typical 16 mile loop has 2400 feet of elevation change... all perfect for beating the hell out of my body. I've always been hyper-active up here, but in each of the past 5 years I've pushed the limits.

Since I started running more aggressively, I typically try to hit my peak or near peak mileage in the Adirondacks in preparation for a fall marathon. I then ice over the running with water skiing, swimming, bridge jumping, cliff diving, rock climbing, four wheeling, hiking, tree clearing, log splitting, building, and busting my ass with countless other chores around the cabin. ....And in each of the past few years, I've wound up breaking those limits in one sense or another. I've often gone home with some sort of aggravated injury, or chalk full of difficult to cure knots.

This year was different (aside from rolling the four wheeler and almost killing myself)....

It's a great testament to the "base" mileage that I've put together in the last 8 months, and 5 years... This is bigger than my recent two months of basing. My hip injury from the Boston training has forced me to improve my stride and clean up some of my weaknesses, namely in the glutes and my core. For the first time since Boston, I can say that the injury has actually helped me to be a stronger runner. ADK proved that.

My ADK milestones this year: From 8/17-9/3, I streaked for 18 days. A total of 225 miles. I peaked with 97 miles over a 7 day period.... the most I've ever put in a week. 225 miles over 3 weeks isn't anything new to me, but it was steady build that included days off at the beginning and end of the 3 weeks; and all of those miles were on the hills. It used to be that if I touched 80, I'd cry like a baby. That's now a thing of the past. 97 miles and not one double... and it left me chomping at the bit for more.

Since then, I've taken 2 days off. Then turned around and ran 2 doubles, 2 days in a row. I'm often afraid to say this, but I'm feeling good. Aside from some occasional side stitch/psoas problems, I'm rolling. Coming back to the flat lands of Chicago seem like a joke after climbing thousands of feet.

My first post camp test comes this weekend: the Chicago 1/2 Marathon. It should be a flat and fast course (I believe only 1 hair-pin turn). Weather can be a bit dicey in September - hot, humid, raining, windy... whatever. There's no telling. This is my first 1/2 since Cary. My favorite distance. I'm going into it as a training / long tempo run. But if I feel good, I'll roll.

Next week will be my peak week. I'll give it another go for 100 miles.

The King, Norb, and a big 8

August enters with a few bangs. Last week, I hit 80 miles for the first time in this round of training. It included the Elvis is Alive 5K, and 21 miles up at Ras's homestead... revisiting our old friend, Norb. And after a long 8 mile tempo run last night, I'm actually feeling pretty good today.

Some highlights:

Last Monday (8/3) was a pretty cool run with w/ Claudia, Paul, and Jason. Excluding a warm up and cool down, we ran 10 miles at about 7ish. We then ran 5x 400's. Theory was to simulate finishing very strong at the end of a 1/2 marathon. To my surprise, I blazed the 400's. 77, 77, 75, 73, 68. That 68 was awesome! For some dumb reason, I felt great. After that many miles, I would've expected to be dead.
I think I'll try to incorporate this workout up at the cabin, over the next 3 weeks...

Thursday night race: Elvis is Alive 5K
This was a majorly disappointing race for me. More like bomb, not bang. I was hoping that I'd be able to redeem myself after the Bastille Day Massacre. In theory, I should be able to run a 5K somewhere around 16:30ish. With Elvis, I went out thinking mid-5:20's, and then push for 5:20 in mile 3. That should put me around 16:30. Instead, I choked a 16:55. It may have been a PR, but it's not worthy of counting it as one.

Mile 1 was 5:26ish. It seemed to feel good. Too good though... Unfortunately, once I settled into my pace (just before passing the 1 mile), it took another mile to figure figure out that I was rolling too slow. Mile 2 wound up 5:31. Since I didn't have a soul around to push me, I just sucked it up and tried to get to the finish. A far cry from dropping the hammer. I'm guessing 3 was about 5:27-28, and a 30 second kick. I ran 16:55/56.

I let the heat wear on me (which really wasn't all that bad), and a lack of motivation get the better of me. My excuse is that I've only had 1 month of good training... maybe a month and a half. But in the end, it was a flop. I've got to stop coming up with lame excuses in these 5K's. I've been hammering my tempo runs and getting some good distance. My racing has been pathetic lately though.

Saturday was I went up to Wisconsin with Ras, C-well, and Creamers. We ran the Ras circuit: a 21 mile route in the hills. In spite of the down pour early in the morning and humidity that followed, I still managed to have a strong run.

Splits from last night's 8 mile tempo, which works out to be my last tempo before going to the cabin:
1 - 6:06.5
2 - 5:46.5
3 - 5:47.5
4 - 5:48.9
5 - 5:51.0
6 - 5:49.0
7 - 5:46.5
8 - 5:44.3
5:50 avg, 19sec neg split.

July Basing

My wheels are slowly starting to come back, and so are my miles. Through the end of July, I had 5 good weeks of basing with 60+ miles each week (including 2 weeks at 70+). In the process I've had some decent tempos, track workouts, the disappointing Bastille Day 5k, and a so-so Waterfall Glen Xtreme 10 miler. In all, I feel "decent". The hip isn't bothering me as much. No other major aches or pains to speak of, aside from a reoccurring side stitch and some consistently chronic dehydration. I'm still not feeling fast, and the couple races that I've run were slower/less intense than I wanted, but I'm slowly getting there.

Recap:

Tempo run, 7/20th:
1 - 5:54.6
2 - 5:46.7 (short)
3 - 5:45.0
4 - 5:37.5
5 - 5:33.6 (short)
6 - 5:35.9
5:42 avg, 39 sec neg split

All in all, a great run. The thought crossed my mind to push for 7 miles, but held back. It was hot. I might've died with that pace too, as we started out pretty aggressive (and taken away from my 10 miler). 6 was a good call. 7's will roll in August.

Track workout, 7/22:
8x 800's at 78 avg w/ 80 rest. It was shaping up to be a great workout. I felt comfortable rolling through the first 6, but bombed the last couple reps w/ a nasty side stitch.

Waterfall Glen Xtreme 10mi, 7/25:
Well it lived up to its name. A hot and humid July race, with a XC start for the first mile, a number of rolling hills including the last couple miles being up hill, and a nasty XC finish in the last 1200.

My straight up goal for this race was to break 60 minutes. I did that. I'm a little annoyed that I didn't run harder in the last couple miles. Looking back, I certainly could've, but I wasn't motivated for some reason. Also, I was out kicked by a guy that I had been chasing in the last 3 miles, and finally passed with a mile to go. He passed me back in the last 400. I easily should've buried him. I just didn't have it...? Lame.

1 - 5:46.9
2 - 5:58.7
3 - 6:02.5
4 - 6:05.6
5 - 6:00.9
6 - 5:45.2
7 - 5:48.6
8 - 5:47.7
9 - 6:07.6
10 - 6:08.2
59:30, 5:57 avg, 17 sec neg split

Track workout, 7/29:
17x 400's at 76 avg w/ 75 rest. Goal was to actually start out closer to 80, then push towards 75. I started a little faster (77), and still finished faster than expected (the few sub 75). My strength was a good confidence booster.

1 - 1:17.5
2 - 1:17.9
3 - 1:17.9
4 - 1:16.6
5 - 1:17.7
6 - 1:16.6
7 - 1:15.6
8 - 1:16.3
9 - 1:16.4
10 - 1:16.7
11 - 1:15.6
12 - 1:15.9
13 - 1:16.2
14 - 1:13.8
15 - 1:14.1
16 - 1:15.3
17 - 1:11.3
1:16.0 avg

20 mi Long run, 8/1:
This was my first 20 mile run. I ran alone, with the help of a hot water girl tailing me on the bike (Thank you, Sarah!!). First half was into the wind, and the first several miles were around 7:15, then 7's. As I got about 5 deep, I started slowly pushing sub 7. By the turn, I was hitting 6:45's. Then with the wind at my back, it started flowing. By about 13, I was committed to pushing sub 6:30 thru 18. 7/7:15 for the cool down. A very solid, progressing long run. I was dead by the end, but I felt better than some of my previous long runs. The big speed may not be there, but endurance is definitely coming back.

Progress this week

I've had a bit of a roller coaster in the past week, but things are starting to look up.

I was getting some nasty dehydration issues a week ago that I was never able to overcome.

It seems like Tuesday tipped it off. Whatever I ate for lunch was causing me some cramping and dehydrated me before the track workout. I don't think I ever fully recovered from that. After that, Bastille Day 5K was a flop. Then Friday night's 10 miler was supposed to be an "easy" run with Jason, but it was far from easy. The humidity hurt. Could've been worse though, I guess I could've been hurled over on the side of the path sticking my finger down my throat...?

Saturday's 18 was the low point... I didn't get a lot of sleep Friday night, and I swear everything I drank to rehydrated myself went in one end and right out the other end.
I was supposed to do a long workout with Mike and Jason, but pulled the plug before we even kicked it off. It was a good thing too. I would've died. I instead hung back and still had a death march in the last few miles. That was my ugliest and most difficult long run in a month.

A couple good nights of sleep, and swamping my system w/ fluids put me back on the map though...


Monday night's tempo was great. Whatever recovery I did since Saturday worked wonders. It was the first time in a while that I actually felt fast + strong. Splits were 5:49, 5:40, 5:47, 5:44, 5:30, 5:34... (those are Chicago miles, so #'s 2 and 5 are short by probably 6 to 8 seconds).... but the important point is, I did the same exact workout a couple weeks earlier in some nasty heat and pulled a positive 30 split. This week, the weather was slightly better and I was now a negative 28 split... and had gas in the tank. That was a big and much needed confidence booster after some of the recent garbage runs.


Wednesday night we did a time trial at the track for Claudia. Goal was 3200 w/ laps 1-5 @ 82, #6 @ 81, #7 @ 80, #8 sub 80.

We loosened up with 4x 200 @ 36+37's w/ 200 outs. Then a 5 minute recovery.

3200 went 79.6, 82.5, 82.7, 83, 83.5, 80.9, 82.4, 75.9 = 10:50.7 First 200 was a little fast, and a couple of the laps with some strong head winds in the final 100, but otherwise it was about as perfect as we could've run it.

Topped it off with 4 nice 400's @ 73.4, 72.2, 71.4, 70.4 w/ 60 rest. I think I was actually more happy with the 400's than the 3200 - each was 1 second faster than the prior.

That was a very cool workout! I'm going to try it at least 1 more time before October.


Saturday will be my first long run w/ hills. Going out to Waterfall Glenn. We're going to run two laps of the Xtreme 10's route.

They can't all be winners

I've had a couple solid weeks of training... I'm back towards 60 miles/week, with some quality work. I’ve had a couple decent tempo and track workouts, albeit slower than I'd like. Some very good 15/16 mile runs, which included progressing the pace towards some sort of "marathon goal pace" for at least a few miles near the end of those runs.

I am still feeling some tightness in my hip, but it seems to be manageable. I haven't had a massage in about 3 weeks and am probably due for one, and I'm still getting acupuncture once every other week. My sleeping patterns are horrible right now… I’m barely getting 7 hours.

That said, I've had a reintroduction into racing as I've participated in 3 events in the last 2 weeks. All three have been very humbling experiences. In spite of some ultra conservative goals, they all fell short of my expectations - and I have lame excuses as to why they weren't good races.


6/27 - Old Man Mile @ 5:04
Goal was to go sub-5. I don't care what happened earlier in the day... 4:59 was still a conservative goal. Instead, a very poor showing for my 1-mile debut. 5:04 was slower than my fastest mile, which was about 5 flat in a track workout... and far from what I'm capable of, which should easily be sub 4:50.
It was a fun experience, considering I've never raced anything that short before. It was over so quickly though! I mean only 5 minutes. I’m used to dragging it out over hours. I felt like there wasn't even a chance to get into a rhythm. More like "just run a fast 800, then hang on to as much discomfort as you can for the next 800, and try not to die." Unfortunately, I was a great big giant pussy about it... I was trailing a small pack, and then I mentally caved. After 800, it was either hang or be done and run comfortably... I chose the latter. The excuse was, I ran 16 miles at a solid pace in the morning, then spent the day at the beach, and even had a few beers. It was a long day, and I was tired... so I told myself after 800 that I didn't care. But of course after the fact, I did care! 2 weeks later, and I’m still pissed about it. 19 miles total that day, and I was still a pussy.

7/4 - 4 on the 4th @ 22:40
Here's a great idea... let's go run 16 miles hard the day before a race (slowest mile was 6:50, average was sub 6:30)... then hit the beach, get all dehydrated, watch a bunch of fireworks down at Grant Park, eat very little, drink no water, drink a ton of alkihol, get drunk, then go to bed after midnight... then get up at 5:45 am to run a 4 mile race.... Serious, I was still drunk when I woke up, and I felt like a crumpled up $1 bill at the starting line. A couple mile warm up shook some of it out of me, but it didn't stop me from having a terrible race. It was a miracle I didn’t puke! 5:30's for the first couple miles, then 5:50's for the second couple.... hence 22:40 when I should've easily gone sub 22. I really had no goal at the starting line, other than get back to bed ASAP. This was pathetic.

7/9 - Bastille Day 5K @ 17:01
I should've PR'd this race. My 5K PR was (and still is) 16:55 from Oakpark in April 2008. Last year I ran 16:57 at Bastille Day. I'm long over due to reset the 5K bar.
Admittedly, this race is usually a heater, and avoiding a fade in the conditions is almost impossible. I thought to myself that this year might be different though... it was only like 75 degrees (better than 85!). Yeah, think again.
I'm really not sure why, but throughout the day I had some stomach/digestion issues going on. I’ve actually felt it all week long. I had a big salad for lunch and in hind sight, this probably killed me. After lunch, I wasn't able to hold anything in my system. I became very dehydrated well before the race. Even on a warm day, this would’ve been a mix for disaster. And of course, going into the race I thought about this all too much. More than likely, I probably convinced myself that this was going to be my excuse and it was OK to bonk.
I hung with Chris and Michael through the first mile... we rolled 5:19. Jason and a couple others were slightly ahead of us. Sub 16 guys had their own pack up front. 5:19 was slightly faster than I wanted, but I didn't feel too horrible. Thinking I had some time in the bank, I decided to relax and back off slightly. I let Chris and Mike go... Second mile was 5:27. Maybe I pulled back too much? But I was still doing fine. Just holding that pace would’ve given me a sub 16:50. Mile 3 was a bomb though. My gut was wrenching and only gas pedal I had was the kind that desperately required a pit stop... and I was badly in need of it. My body was done. Towel was thrown in. Mile 3 was a 5:40, and there was no kick. 17:01. I don't care how out of shape I was a month or two ago... and I don't care how many track workouts I haven't had... I should've been able to walk this thing backwards faster!
(A shout out to Mike and Chris – Huge PR’s! Nice job guys!! I wish I could’ve been there with you.)

SO, ripe with excuses... 3 disappointing race. The good news is that I'm starting to feel good about running fast again. Bad news is that I still have a lot of work to get back to where I was pre-Boston.

I need to start acting like a competitive runner again. I need to kick the excessive toxins out of my system, eat better, and definitely get more sleep. If I'm going to train hard and run races, I can't give myself any chances for excuses to enter my head.

Talk is cheap. Time to get to work.

My next race is in 2 weeks: Waterfall Glen Xtreme 10 Miler. It's a tough and hilly course, and generally very hot. Unfortunately, I haven't had any hills since April... and that heat will be a bitch... so, I'll probably be happy with anything under an hour. If I can pull my shit together though and everything clicks, I should be able to go sub 58.

Is it Hades or Haiti?

Which ever it is, it's pretty hot there... and it's just as hot here too!

Weather in this city is shit. Chicago has 2 seasons: Winter and Summer. We go from bitter cold to blistering hot over night. OK, that's a lie. There's like a 2 week window on either side when we get pleasant 60 degree temps. All other times of the year, we're either below 50 or above 80.

Last week, I was bitching about having to run in TWO SHIRTS. This week, every run is a shit show with 90+ degrees. That switch got flipped last Friday. Summer's here until mid October. Now I'm not complaining - because I do looove the heat and the summer - but man, I feel like that heat's gonna kill many of my hard workouts this season.

Monday's tempo was brutal. Easily mid-80's. 5 mi, averaging probably 5:50's... excluding warm up and cool down. Most of the other guys went 6 or 7 miles. I have no idea how they managed. At least I managed to negative split the run as the last three miles were sub 5:45.

Last night, Chris and I struggled through 10x400's. The surface of the track had to be about 90-95 degrees. I was dripping buckets of sweat the moment my heart started beating north of 120. We were pretty steady though... splits were mostly 74-75's. A couple 73's. The heat took it's toll and we had to go from 60 sec recoveries, up to 75, then 90 seconds by the last couple.

After both of those hard workouts and a 9 day streak... my longest in probably 3 months... my hip has tightened up a bit. Not horrible, but defintely to the point that I need to give it a break. Taking today off. Hopefully a little rest will get let me bounce back on Friday feeling fresh.

Slowly but surely the rabbit returns

I've now had 3 weeks back in the 40's, and so far so good. No new injuries. Still some tightness in my hip, but the pain is significantly less aggravating than a few weeks ago. For the most part, my runs have all been "painless" (I don't want to say 100% pain free, but the pain has definitely been less noticeable)... So far, a successful come back from some very garbage post-marathon/injury mileage.

The only major problems is that I still feel physically out of shape. My cardio is no where near where it was. Just lots of easy runs, no major quality or speed... but my fitness is starting to show improvement and a come back.

My diet has consistently been garbage lately too. I'm easily 5+ pounds heavier than when I ran Boston. That's not a bad thing... but I feel like I need to give up some excess junk like cappuccinos, garbage carbs, alkihol, eating out, and too much cheese. Too much fat. I need more lean. Oh how I love my cheese though! At times, I think I'm single handily keeping Baker Cheese in business.

One noteworthy run: Last Saturday's 15 miler was much easier than the previous 15. It was during the first hot day of the year too (easily 80 w/ some intense sun). The first several miles were around 7:15 pace... then Claudia and I started to slowly pick it up. About 6 miles were at 6:45 or faster. I felt strong the whole way... though the dehydration and lack of gatorade hurt by the end. That was my first "solid" run in months as I actually felt my endurance coming back.

This week I should be above 50 miles. A good tempo run tonight, another 15/16 at the end of the week... and get this... an Old Man Mile on Saturday night. ...Sure to be a shit show given my lack of speed lately, but fun nonetheless.

Electric Boogaloo Wins Again!

MC200

My EB posse and I competed in a relay race from Madison to Milwaukee to Chicago last weekend. 203 miles, 36 legs split between 12 guys (14, including 2 VERY dedicated van drivers).

We won for the second year in a row. 20hrs, 43 min. A blazing 6:08 pace!

On a side note: A 203 mile relay race is a pain in a ass! When you're running, you're trying to maintain 1/2 marathon -or faster- pace. When you're not running, you're driving to the next exchange area where runners cycle through the line-ups. All the while, you're crammed in a sweaty, stinky, trash filled van with a bunch of other dudes... The only time for stretching is when you're out cheering for teammates. Warm-ups and cool-downs are a joke. You get no sleep. Food is garbage. Your body is constantly in race mode (ie, very dehydrated and shitting non stop). After 15+ hours, it takes a huge toll. You get extremely sore, tired, slap-happy, and cranky.... and you have to keep racing!

Last year, we ran with 9 guys (rotating the line-up 4 times each). This year we ran with 12 guys (3 legs each). It was significantly hotter last year, which really took a toll on our 4 legs... Simple math would say that it should've been easier with 12 guys this year, than 9 guys last year.... but I swear this year was equally, if not more difficult than last year.

Maybe for me, it's because I'm still just coming back after Boston and my hip troubles? Maybe I just didn't like being late in the line-up, and waiting longer for my final leg? Either way, last year or this year... the final legs hurt! There's something about staying up for 36 hours while doing intense physical activity. It isn't what I'd call fun. We were all pretty spent by the time we got to the finish line at Montrose Harbor.

Of course I can whine about it after the fact... but the victory was totally worth it! The sweet's not so sweet without some bitter.



There were about 115 teams in the race. We started at 4pm with 4 other teams. The 110 other teams started a little earlier in the day. Starts were staggered so that slower teams went earlier, and ideally everyone crossed the finish line relatively close to one another.

Our goal was to 1) claim overall victory in the race for the second year in a row, and 2) be the first team to finish line, road killing everyone else.

Our line-up:
1 - Johnny Lance Romance
2 - Pflipper Kepler
3 - Monster Martineau
4 - Kfan...dell
5 - Paulie Johnston
6 - Mark the kid Wehrman
7 - Hi Guy wanna be, Chris Woods
8 - Dan the hairless McDowell
9 - Eric Shak 'n Baker
10 - Verdo Giorty
11 - Jason Creamer
12 - Rabbit


After the first couple legs, only 1 of the teams starting with us put up a fight. The other teams were very respectable, but we were averaging sub 6:00 min miles through the first 2 rotations... that's kind of aggressive, given a 203 mile race!

Courgar Running Club became our challenger. They're from the western Chicago burbs... a bunch of college and high school punks with muscles made of rubber. We were the old farts (or at least in their eyes)... but with miles and marathons of experience on our legs.

Through the first rotation, the Cougars were actually ahead of us by about 20 seconds! The lead had exchanged number of times. We knew it wasn't going to be easy, but we didn't think it would be this intense. We were actually sweating it. In spite of having a few very solid college runners though (even faster than us), the cumulative distance running favored us. We knew eventually at least some of their team would crumble. It was just a matter of miles and time.

By the end of the second rotation we were up by about 3 minutes, and running in some steady rain and humidity. Far from a comfortable lead, given there were 70+ miles to go... but it was a small improvement over the first rotation.
Late in the second rotation, the Cougars technically disqualified themselves by illegally changing their line up. That didn't really matter to any of us though. We still were adamant about beating them. This thing had gotten ultra competitive. Emotions were flying. We were sweaty, soaking wet from the rain, and had ~7 hours uf running ahead of us. Both teams were clearly stressed. The easy road kills were starting to roll in at this point, but that no longer mattered. We wanted Cougar blood, and they weren't going down without a fight.

Going into the last few legs of the race, we held the lead but it was difficult to tell the spread... it could've been 5 minutes... 10 minutes...? We weren't sure. The kicker was they had some solid studs for closers. In the first leg, they sunk about 3 minutes on Jason and I over 15 miles... which meant they could handle sub 5:30's without a problem, and possibly do it again. We needed a 10 minute lead to feel comfortable.

I had no idea how much cushion I had as I took the final leg. I got the baton from Jason and just started rolling with a constant eye over my shoulder. I was tired and dehydrated. I knew I could maintain 6's, but I needed to save a little energy in case I had to throw down 5:30's. It was like an invisible hand behind me at all times. In my mind, all of the previous 20 hours and 195 miles had come down to 2 runners and 8 miles. At finish though, the sweat went for naught... we claimed the victory by about 22 minutes! All but 1 road kill was caught by the end... but it didn't matter, because Back2Back baby!


Ultimately our experience did prevail. I mean come on, our average marathon time between all 12 of us is probably 2:50 - and we all have MULTIPLE marathons under our belts. What do they got... a few 5Kers?? I definitely give them props though. It was close, and could've probably been closer. Give them a couple years though, and those cougar cubs will grow up to be menacing lions.


We inked ourselves into the Great Midwest Relay / MC200 Results once again:

Year - Overall Winning Team - Time - Distance
2005 - Fleet Feet Chicago - 20:42:51 (6:27 pace) - 192.4 mi
2006 - Stephanie Skladzien - 21:52:44 (6:54 pace) - 190 mi
2007 - Victorious Secret - 19:55:45 (6:17 pace) - 190 mi
2008 - Fleet Feet Electric Boogaloo - 21:31:40 (6:27 pace) - 203 mi
2009 - Fleet Feet Electric Boogaloo - 20:43:37 (6:08 pace) - 203 mi

3 out of the 5 years running, our Fleet Feet team as dominated this event.

Here's copy from the Electric Boogaloo Twitter:

8:12 AM Jun 12th - Time to cowboy up!
8:34 AM - 40% chance of precip in Milly - WAU - KEE tonight - we might be able to out-run this thing.....PJ's house at 11 bells, the party begins.
10:00 AM - In 6 hours, we'll be burning the streets of madtown!
10:39 AM - Waiting for the other boogalooers.
11:47 AM - JoJo, the boys and the vans are headed to Madison.
11:53 AM - Getting lost on a detour.
12:05 PM - Kathy just mooned a 'Benz.
12:18 PM - Approaching Schlongburg... no time to stop at Ikea tho.
12:41 PM - Listening to one of Ken's cds. awesome!!
1:01 PM - J - you have to see a doctor about that.
1:24 PM - Made it to the land of cheese.
1:51 PM - Saw road sign for gentlemans club: chasin chubbi's.
2:03 PM - I'm been driving 3 hrs from Chicago, you just have to get into it.
3:02 PM - Wally World done. Death star approaching the hotel.
4:04 PM - And were off, lance is bringing up the rear.
4:53 PM - Phlip closed the gap.
5:50 PM - Lance picked off 2, Phlip took 1, monster took the lead.
6:35 PM - 2nd place after leg 5. The cougars are feeling confident. Suckers!
7:03 PM - Van 2 is killin time.. Cw is getting ready.
7:24 PM - Stride for stride through 6.
8:06 PM - Is Dan killing cougar?? Time will tell if we're allowed to mark our 4th road kill. Still havent caught the earlier runners.
8:08 PM - Baker shakin and bakin! Dan gave him 1:30 lead... Cougars are for real right now though.
9:27 PM - Pulling away slowly, new roadkill have been sighted.
10:45 PM - Through 1 rotation- tight race, Cougars brought out the college boyz for the last legs.
10:52 PM - We've got a race! Thru the first 12 runners, we were 20 seconds in 2nd place. They got solid closers!
11:42 PM - After 14 legs we're back about 2 minutes.

12:03 AM Jun 13th - After 15 we're up about 3 minutes.
1:46 AM - Thru 18 - 15 secs up. This is going to be work.
2:39 AM - 20 seconds up after woods... both teams got lost for about 2 mi!
3:17 AM - After Danny boy, solid minute.
3:58 AM - Man down on Cougar's!! They're moving runners up 1 slot. Lance's guy will go 4 legs.
3:58 AM - Thru baker, Verdo had a 245 lead.
4:01 AM - Verdo's guy down, so their studs slide up. Pay attention to your competition!
4:16 AM - Verdo put the smack down. about 4 min spread.
4:18 AM - Their guy is getting stopped by a train crossing!!!
5:23 AM - Competition DQ'd. We are still trying to finish first though.
5:25 AM - There's no trying about it. we MUST beat them to the finish line!
5:26 AM - Lance was in the toilet when his leg started. About 4 min spread.
7:19 AM - Up by 4 min over the DQ'd Cougars after leg 27.
7:27 AM - Cougars DQ'd when injured runner went down, then illegally changed roster.
7:27 AM - ~40 roadkills out there to be had. We must finish first.
8:03 AM - Last leg for van 1. ~5 min lead. Less than 30 roadkill left.
8:04 AM - FF rock steady in our sights.
8:32 AM - Entered ILL.
8:49 AM - 22 to go.
9:13 AM - 15 to go. Go Dan.
9:18 AM - Why so serious, Robert?
9:20 AM - Road killing at its best right now!!
10:04 AM - Dan picked off 8, 7 to go Baker.
10:06 AM - Watchin some talent.
10:30 AM - Three legs to go. At least 8 minute lead.
10:48 AM - 3 more roadkill ahead. They have 22 min lead.
11:22 AM - Somehow we got a girl in our van. And she immediately started stripping!
11:30 AM - Another road kill down.
12:00 PM - Last leg. Go get'tem rabbit. Our championship awaits.
12:12 PM - Roadkill sighted. Robert it's yours.
1:00 PM - Back2back.
3:09 PM - After party at Emerald Loop 6:00.