Say it ain't so!

Ahhh, the longest of the long runs are behind me. The grueling weeks of high mileage have past and over four months of focused conditioning will soon be put to the test.

I've run in exceptional heat and humidity. I've run in the cold. I've run in the rain. I've run so early in the morning the dog won't even get up with me. I have run late at night when most rational people are sound asleep. I have run past farms at the exact epicenter of nowhere and I have run through the very heart of the media, finance and cultural capitol of the world.

I've eaten veritable mountains of salad and ginourmous plates of enriched wholewheat pasta. I was surprised at myself by how annoyed I was with the spinach / e coli outbreak. I want my spinach salad!

I've gone so far as to deprive myself of beer, wine and cocktails. Even my beloved Bombay Sapphire & tonic has been banished from my glass these past six weeks (okay, okay, okay... I did have one small glass of Bordeaux on my Anniversary but that was a special occasion).

Now, as I ease into the next two weeks of taper I can rest assured that I have done the work. But wait... What's this tender soreness I am feeling in my left hip and knee? Drat! It cannot be!

I am no doctor but based on location of the pain and a little research I think I my have done something to the adductor muscle group in my left hip / groin which may also be causing the tenderness in my knee.

I've read that this can be caused by inadequate arch support in shoes which causes the ankle, knee and subsequently the hip to pronate and thus become misaligned.

I shall give my self a couple of days off and I have scheduled an appointment for an orthopedic massage. I will also retire my neutral Asics Gel-Nimbus shoes which have approximately 400 miles on them and use my secondary pair which have about 200 miles on them.

Question for the blogoshere:

1. Do I have time to get a new pair of shoes and break them in in time for the marathon?
2. Has anyone had a similar experience and have sage advice to share?

"Do not consider painful what is good for you."
-Euripides

Mocha Frappuccino

One February day in 1999, I had a fateful incident with an exploding Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino and a beautiful woman. That currious moment would forever change my life.

Three years ago today that beautiful woman became my wife.

I am a very lucky man.

"Love is something eternal— the aspect may change, but not the essence."

-Vincent van Gogh

Conquering What's Next

As Marathon Sunday draws nearer I find myself filled with mixed emotion. I'm excited by the prospect of running through the streets of New York with 2 million spectators cheering me on. I am also keyed up about the prospect of achieving a significant personal record. I feel pride in all the miles of training I have put in over the past 3 months but I'm also a little nervous about the payoff.

I am grateful to my wife for pushing me out the door on those days I'd rather stay in bed, for her awesome homemade penne alla vodka and her killer angel hair with fresh pesto before those long runs. And I am especially grateful for her being so understanding of my stubborn and time consuming commitment.

I am humbled by the generosity so many have shown in their support of my fundraiser for the Alzheimer's Association in my grandmother's honor. I am inspired, encouraged and challenged by the words and actions of my teammates, by this blogging community of runners and by the broader world of running.

Interestingly enough, I am feeling a sense of “what now,” or perhaps more aptly put “what’s next.” The marathon is almost here and I still feel as though I have improvements to make, fitness to achieve and goals to set and conquer.

Maybe I should see how I feel tomorrow after my last long run of 22 miles before setting off for Everest.

UPDATE (10/15/2006): Ouch. I am having difficulty climbing stairs. Everest will have to wait... For now.

“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”
-Sir Edmund Hillary

Tune Up

Who thought it would be possible to pull a 900° turn while airborne on a skateboard? Tony Hawk did.

When Pete Sampras exploded at the US Open in 1990 with his 120+ mile per hour serve the tennis world was stunned. In 2004 Andy Roddick served a 153 mph serve at a match in London.

On May 5th, 1954 there were those who believed it impossible to run one mile in four minutes. Roger Bannister proved them wrong on May 6th with a time of 3:59.4. Just six weeks later John Landy ran a mile in 3:58.0. Today the record for the mile is 3:43.13 and is held by Hicham El Guerrouj.

Years ago I was a heavy smoker and was 40 pounds heavier than I am today. My first runs (if you can call them that) consisted of two to three city blocks worth of huffing and puffing followed by 20 minutes of walking.

Sport provides constant challenge and we’ve invented various ways to measure progress - whether it’s rotations while airborne, speed on a serve or how fast we can run a given distance.

Running, in my opinion, provides the most pure form of challenge. Half pipes have gotten bigger and skate boards stronger. Tennis racquets have gotten lighter and more rigid. While the manufacturing, material and arch support of running shoes have improved the basic challenge of running has remained the same. Runners compete against themselves, time and distance.

On Sunday, I ran the New York City Marathon Tune Up, an 18 mile “preparation” race in Central Park. The race was by most all measures a success. I arrived early. The weather was delightful. I ran even splits and ran them faster than my intended marathon pace. At mile 17 Morrissey passed by me and I had enough juice to stay in contact with him and then slip by in a finishing kick. Thanks for the inspiration Morrissey!

When I ran this race in 2004 I finished in 2:51:59 – a pace of 9:33/mile.

The following year I ran it in 2:37:29 – a pace of 8:44/mile.

On Sunday I finished in 2:16:35 a pace of 7:33/mile.

On paper these are huge improvements. I should be thrilled. I should be delighted. I should feel confident about the forthcoming marathon…But my elation is tempered by the competitor in me. I’ve already got my eye on a sub-7 minute pace.

Who knows what the future may hold for me but sport in general will continue to amaze as athletes continue to press the boundaries of what is possible.

"It is impossible to travel faster than the speed of light, and certainly not desirable, as one's hat keeps blowing off."
-Woody Allen

Change

As you can plainly see, I've updated the look and feel of my blog.

Well? What do you think?

"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."
-Sir Winston Churchill

Retired Marathon Runner

My commute into work each day generally takes about 40 minutes, door-to-door. On my way in I typically read the paper, a book or listen to podcasts (every now and again I nod off and dream of the beaches of St. Martin).

Among my favorite podcasts are the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, the Slate Daily Podcast, and the Onion Radio News.

Fairly recently the Onion ran a story about a retired marathon runner which I found very funny and would like to share with you. If you are not familiar with The Onion it is a tongue-in-cheek satire news source.

You should be able to hear the podcast by clicking here. If you have trouble with this link you can also find the podcast here.

UPDATE (10/5/06): I should note that the podcast is all of :30 in length.

"I'll publish right or wrong. Fools are my theme, let satire be my song."
-Lord Byron

Grete's Great Gallop

Things got off to a fairly decent start today. The alarm went off. I made coffee. I took Harry for a walk. I drank the coffee. I finally woke up.

I gathered my things and headed out of the house for the Norwegian Festival Half Marathon in Central Park with plenty of time to stretch out and warm up but the subway line I need to take into Manhattan refused to leave the station.

After some time, fellow runner and Hellgater, Alan, stepped into the same subway car and we passed the time chatting about running. Unfortunately the MTA had chewed into our warm up time and we were now a bit rushed. Compounding the issue was a light rain and the faulty instructions I had to the race start which put us about 10 blocks north of where we needed to be. Sorry about that Alan!

The light drizzle turned to a outright downpour and as I dropped my belongings at the baggage check the air horn sounded - marking the start of the race. Drat.

Rather than wrestle with the thousands of people inching their way through the starting chute, Alan and I decided to wait a couple of extra minutes to get a clean - if late - start. I also took the opportunity to use the Port-a-John. Hey, the race had already started so there were no lines... Carpe Diem!

Alan got out in front of me and I spent the next few miles zigging and zagging around the back of the packers chasing him down. Somewhere around the hills at Harlem Meer I caught Alan and then slipped by.

The next few miles went well but I began to fatigue as the course made it's second loop around the north end of the park. At mile 10 I said to myself "Self, you've just got a 5k to go. Stay strong." I listened to my own suggestion pressing on the flats, kicking up the hills and motoring down them. With about a mile to go I began to push hard to the finish and sprinted the last 400 meters.

At first I was a little disappointed in my final time of 1:37:05 but given the poor start, constant rain and hilly course I should be pleased with this race. But there's always that voice in the back of my head saying you should have prepared better, run faster and kicked sooner...

Here's a photo of me after the race debating with that voice.

"You should listen to your heart, and not the voices in your head."
-Matt Groening

And the winner is...

The votes are in. The hanging chads have been scrutinized, counted and then counted again.

Much like his professional acting career, Actor Josh saw some modest success but not the big time. In his concession speech Actor Josh was quoted as saying, "I'll be back" in a poor attempt at an Austrian accent.

Goofy Josh ran a strong campaign and had a respectable showing, appealing to many moderates and those with a soft spot for dorks.

Calvin's worldwide name recognition and universal likeability failed to deliver due in large part to the copyright infringement scandal uncovered by Deep Throat, er, I mean Mark.

Incumbent Josh never stood a chance...

At the victory party Runner Josh graciously praised his competition, reiterated several of his campaign promises and took off in running shorts and his campaign signature Hellgate running singlet muttering "what the hell, we're all the same person anyway..."

The Women of Hellgate

The women of Hellgate - or at least Suzanne and Janine - have made it known that they are displeased with my profile picture... Obviously, I'd like to keep my most loyal readers pleased!

I have decided to let you, my dear reader, choose the image that will represent me in the virtual world of blogging. I have posted 4 images for you to vote on. The image with the most votes will become my new profile photo.

The first image is "Runner Josh" which was taken at a recent race. The second image is a headshot from my days as an actor, why don't we call that "Actor Josh." The third image is well, just "Goofy Josh." Finally, the fourth image is "Calvin" from my favorite comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes by cartoonist Bill Watterson.

Without further explanation, let the voting begin...

Runner Josh

Actor Josh

Goofy Josh

Calvin

Marathon for the Masses?

I recently came across this article on Slate.com in which the author, Gabriel Sherman, decries the exploding popularity of the marathon as sport for the masses. In particular, the article focuses on “how sluggish newbies ruined the marathon."

I hope to run a 3 hour and 30 minute marathon this November at the ING New York City Marathon. Having fewer runners ahead of me, clogging the streets, would likely help me attain that goal and thus, I initially agreed with Mr. Sherman.

After my biased and self-serving initial reaction I applied some thought to the matter and frankly I couldn’t disagree more. The growth in popularity of the marathon is good for almost everybody – from the first time marathoner whose aim is to finish, to the middle of the pack runner right on up the starting chute to the sub-elite and world class athletes like Deena Kastor and Meb Keflezighi.

In general terms, the popularity surge of the marathon has inspired more people to get fit, something that America desperately needs. Six of out ten American adults are overweight. Nearly 20% of children in America are obese and many have, or are at risk of developing, Type 2 Diabetes. Methinks repetitive use injuries like stress fractures, tendonitis and shin splints are laughable as compared to diabetes, elevated blood pressure and heart attack.

Increased marathon popularity also means more races and more well managed races – obviously a good thing as this translates into greater opportunity for success for competitive runners. If it’s a small marathon you want you’re not forced to run with 40,000 others plodding down the streets of Chicago. Thanks to the growing popularity of the sport there are plenty of well managed, USATF certified marathons with a smaller numbers of participants to choose from.

This trend also translates into a growth in the Prize Purses for the elite athletes of our sport (the NYC marathon purse is $500,000 this year). And while we’re talking about money I just fail to see how the $660 Million that many “newbies” have raised for Team In Training to fight Leukemia and Lymphoma is a bad thing.

Even if the growing popularity of marathons means I will have to work harder on Marathon Sunday to reach my personal goals, I am glad to run with 37,000 “newbies,” veterans, world class and Olympic athletes. Afterall, it was the the sight of so many running the New York Marathon after 9/11 that inspired me to train for and run my first marathon.

"All human beings should try to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why."
-James Thurber

Weekend Mileage

In terms of running mileage, this past weekend was pretty good – I logged about 25 miles in two days.

On Saturday morning I headed up to Rockefeller State Park for a 20 miler with a bunch of runners from the Hellgate Road Runners Club. We were also joined by Chelle - a remarkable runner who gave several of the Hellgate guys a very serious workout!

I opted to run with Alan and Janine at a more conservative pace of about 8 minute per mile pace - give or take. We’d never been to Rockefeller State Park and we promptly got lost in the 1,233 acre preserve. Heading this way, then that way, then back again we ended up somewhere off the marked trails and our sweat soaked map was fairly useless. After frequent stops to attempt to orient ourselves we finally found a knowledgeable runner who pointed us in the right direction and with his help we soon found our way back to the named trails on our map. At about this point it also started raining... Fortunately the rain only lasted 15-20 minutes and we didn't get too soaked because the forest canopy is still pretty thick with foliage.

The trails themselves are great. They provide gorgeous scenery and the packed-dirt trails offer softer footing than New York City streets. The more forgiving running surface is very friendly on the knees but it also absorbs much of the energy return that would normally help propel your stride. As a result, more effort is needed to maintain the same pace on a trail than on the street. And let us not forget the hills!

Personally, I was ready to call it a day at about mile 16. Janine had something else in mind. To quote her: “I feel like shit, but, I came up here to run 20 and I am going to run 20!” Well, that was all the inspiration I needed. I took off and ran the last 3 miles all out (7-min pace). Thank you Janine!

I was a touch stiff on Sunday but still felt ok despite not stretching out much after the 20. Salena and I had some personal obligations and errands to take care of during the day so my “recovery run” had to wait until afternoon. When I did get out for an easy 5 miler it turned faster and faster with each mile. Whoops…there goes my easy workout! Instead I ran a series of negative splits.

• Mile 1 – 8:23
• Mile 2 – 8:03
• Mile 3 – 7:50
• Mile 4 – 7:33
• Mile 5 – 7:18
  

Regardless, it felt great to get out and push the pace. Maybe I’ll take it easy today. Maybe...

"You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement."
-Steve Prefontaine

The Standard Taxi

Taxi! TAXI! TAXI!!!

We all know how annoying it can be to hail a cab in New York City. This is particularly true at rush hour, in the rain or near heavily trafficked tourist areas. God forbid you ever find yourself in Times Square, in the rain, as the Broadway shows finish their curtain calls and the gussied up tourists meander to the corners in search of a ride back to a hotel or some restaurant featured in their edition of Fodor's travel guide.

Now imagine for a moment that you use a wheelchair. The annoyance of finding a cab becomes a huge and potentially disabling problem.

My father, brother and their colleagues recently designed, built and unveiled a brand new taxi cab which addresses this and several other issues. They call their vehicle the Standard Taxi. It is less expensive to purchase and is far larger and more comfortable for passengers than the typical Crown Victoria taxi cab.

Of all the well thought out features of the Standard Taxi perhaps none is more impressive than the fact that the Standard Taxi is also fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Gawker recently bashed it for being ugly but I can tell you that function, not form, is the primary goal of this vehicle. It is cheaper to purchase and operate than the Crown Victoria, almost twice as fuel efficient, roomier (4 adult passengers can sit in the back), has a duty-cycle that will significantly outlast any taxi on the road today and is fully wheelchair accessible.

Here is a link to their website, a press release and an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Finally, here are some pictures... What do you think?

Shout Out

A friend of mine recently launched his very first blog!

He's not much of a runner... But as nutty as I am about distance running he is about music. He's suggested many great songs for my iPod running playlist.

Please stop by and say hi to WeCastMusic.

Civic Duty...?

I am furious!

One of the great attributes of my modest apartment is its proximity to Astoria Park – a 65 acre public park complete with an Olympic swimming pool, tennis courts, basketball hoops, children’s playground, Bocce ball court, a nice track and lots of paths for runners and walkers. Unfortunately some of the people that frequent the park are slobs.

This morning while running (circa 7:00am) I noticed a man littering. This was not your typical New York homeless person either - just your average, run of the mill jerk tearing pages out of a calendar book and callously tossing them on the ground as he meandered past the many garbage cans that line the pathways.

I don’t know if it was civic duty, moral arrogance or if I was just tired and grumpy but I couldn’t resist. As I passed this litterbug I looked him straight in the eye and said four little words:

“Use A Garbage Can.”

This set him off in a huge way and he launched into a verbal tirade that would even make Andrew Dice Clay blush. He shouted just about every curse and profanity in the book at me. I am sure he offended all the nearby dog walkers and the good folks doing Tai Chi halfway across the park with his high decibel verbal refuse. Had he been able to keep up with me he probably would have tried to take a swing at me too.

Personal safety aside, was I wrong to address this man’s behavior?

"I have found little that is good about human beings. In my experience most of them are trash."
-Sigmund Freud

Post-Run High

I just got in from a 6.5 mile at an 8 minute per mile pace through Astoria Park. I ran start to finish in the rain. I am sweaty, muddy and completely soaked.

In other words I feel great! Don’t you just love that post-run high?

Run To Remember: Update #1

I'm now heading into the 11th week of my marathon training. My weekly mileage is up to 45-50 miles a week. I've managed to stick fairly close to my schedule, missing only a few days of running due to inclement weather or extenuating circumstances at the office.

My weekly running schedule includes speed intervals consisting of 4 x mile repeats, hill work (basically running up and down hills for 3-4 miles), tempo runs of 5-8 miles at a brisk pace, long runs of 13-20 miles plus "easy" or "junk" miles on days where my training isn't specific.

At this point I still feel confident that I can achieve my goal (fingers crossed) of a sub-3 hour and 30 minute marathon, which, if I achieve will be a personal best by 20 minutes and put me a little nearer to qualifying for The Grand Poobah of marathons: The Boston Marathon. I realize that this is a pretty aggressive goal, but hey, people who jump out of airplanes aren't normally known for being the most cautious folks.

As you may know I am running the marathon this year as a fundraiser in honor of my grandmother. I committed to raising $2,620.00 for the Alzheimer's Association - that's $100 for every mile of the marathon.

I am very pleased to report that my efforts are coming along well. I am about half way to reaching my fundraising goal but I still have a ways to go. In runner jargon I am about to "hit the wall" and I'll need your help to get over the hump and to the finish line. Please do consider making a donation to this very worthy cause here.

I extend my most sincere gratitude to those who have offered words of praise and encouragement and to those who have already given so generously - thank you!

"In charity there is no excess."
-Sir Francis Bacon

NYC Half Marathon: A Personal Record and a Public Debacle

This past Sunday the New York Road Runners teamed with Nike to present the inaugural New York City Half Marathon. Of course yours truly was among the 10,294 runners who completed the race. Cool.

I dragged my bleary-eyed self out of bed at 4:00am to allow plenty of time to get to the 7:00am start in Central Park. On my way in, I passed my neighborhood bar. Though all the lights were on and the chairs upended on tables a few bar patrons lingered, finishing their icy, watered-down “last-call” cocktails. I hope they tipped well!

I also bumped into a few other revelers stumbling their way home after a long hard battle with Dr. Booze. Waking up at 4:00am is decidedly not cool.

Fortunately enough for me I was granted a preferred start for this race. This put me up toward the front of the starting queue just behind the elite and sub-elite runners rather than cramped in the back with the slower, inexperienced, huddled masses. Obviously this helped my start tremendously. I got off clean and found my pace right away. I still had the urge to go out hard but fate once again smiled on me and prudence outweighed stupidity - I took it easy. Perhaps I was calmed by the lovely string quartet at the starting line (very nice touch – kudos to the race planners!).

Somewhere around mile 3 or 4 I bumped into Eamonn, a teammate and running buddy. Eamonn was good enough to come up from behind and pass me. This immediately triggered the friendly competitor in me and I was off to catch and pace with him. Thanks for that Eamonn!

At this point, about 6 miles into the race, I was still feeling strong and knew that the toughest of the hills were already behind me. It was time to start pushing a little harder. Coming out of Central Park and heading down into Times Square I was probably running a pace of ~6:00/mile. Methinks this was maybe pushing it a little too hard but what can I say… Up to this point I was running a very smart race and I was feeling strong.

As the race made its way to the center of the universe (er, I mean Times Square) I noticed it was oddly devoid of traffic and the usual throngs of tourists. Cool.

We turned right onto 42nd Street and over to the West Side Highway. At this point the fatigue began to set in and my legs began to tire. Not cool.

“Push you fool!” I told myself “Don't be a wimp!” and before long I found myself cooking down Manhattan’s West Side Highway (also closed to vehicular traffic) towards the finish. Then, without warning and without care for the day’s events, Mother Nature decided to rinse off her sweaty runners and thus unleashed the rain! It was a cool and driving rain and I was immediately soaked through. My expensive lightweight running shoes took on water like a sinking ship but still I ran onward, splashing through the flooded thoroughfare.

“Josh!” “Go! Josh!” came the shouts from Hellgater’s Jared, LuAnn and Alan. I smiled, waved, absorbed their awesomeness for coming out and cheering in the rain - and then grimaced. With 2 miles to go, it was time to see if I had any kick left. My splits break down as follows:

• 5K – 23:01 – 7:24 per mile pace
• 10K – 45:49 – 7:22 per mile pace
• 15K – 1:08:54 – 7:23 per mile pace
• Finish – 1:34:14 – 7:11 per mile pace

Apparently I did have a little something left as I pushed hard through the rain to a new personal record for the Half Marathon – 1 hour 34 minutes and 14 seconds.

So there’s the account of my personal record and now you’re wondering what the public debacle is all about... The short answer is baggage.

As you can imagine, the logistics and organization required for an event of this scale are tremendous. The New York Road Runners have in my opinion always risen to the challenge and consistently put on some of the best and most organized races in the country.

For the benefit of those readers not familiar with how baggage claim is supposed to work at a race like this let me explain. The race starts at one point and ends 13.1 miles away. Runners generally bring personal belongings to the start (a cell phone, dry clothes to change into, maybe a bagel or a piece of fruit). You load your personal belongings into a bag that has a number identical to your race bib number. That bag then goes in a truck which in turn corresponds to the last digit on your race bib number.

In my case my race bib number was 7617. Since the last digit is a "7" I put my things on the "Number 7 Truck." The trucks then drive to the finish and await the runners. Friendly volunteers retrieve your bag from the chronologically packed truck. See how easy this really is? Organization is really the key element here.

Unfortunately for all the runners with their belongings in the "Number 7 Truck" the club failed miserably. I waited for an hour and fifty minutes to retrieve my bag. That’s right and hour and fifty minutes. It took less time to actually run the race than it did to retrieve my bag!

I was cold, wet, furious and exhausted. The patience and restraint that many runners were exhibiting began to wear off as time passed. By now the large and still growing crowd was irritated and began pushing in toward the truck, clamoring for their belongings. A few women were reduced to tears and I actually thought at a few points that the pushing and shoving would turn to fisticuffs.

Luckily cooler heads prevailed over clenched fists of fury and eventually - if slowly - things were sorted out. Mine was one of the last bags to be “found” and as luck would have it, it had been stepped on and trampled causing a Gu pack to rupture leaving my things a nasty, sticky, sweetened glucose mess. Also decidedly not cool.

I generally think of myself as a proud member of the silent majority but I was so perturbed that I actually I emailed the Road Runners Club to politely and professionally inform them of my experience. I was delightfully surprised when Saul Zuchman the Vice President of the New York Road Runners Club emailed me back 10 minutes later. He apologized that I had such a poor experience with baggage and that he and the race production team would take my comments and experiences into consideration when planning future races.

While I won't be able to get my wasted time back nor will I forget the frustration and anger I felt while waiting in the rain I will admit that my confidence in the New York Road Runners organization is restored.

Run To Remember

To My Fellow Runners, Bloggers & Readers,

As many of you know I am training for the ING New York City Marathon which will take place this November 5th. This will be my 4th marathon and I plan on making this a "Run to Remember" by completing it in honor of my grandmother who passed away due to complications related to Alzheimer's disease.

A talented artist and unabashed lover of life, my grandmother was also remarkably physically fit. She generally whooped me when we played tennis together and on her 80th birthday Grandma Connelly borrowed a pair of Rollerblades and started zipping up and down the street!

My goal is to raise $2,620 for the Alzheimer's Association in Grandma Connelly's honor ($100 for every mile I run). But, to reach my goal I need your help and generosity. I hope that I can count on your tax-deductible donation!

"Run to Remember" Donation Levels:

• $26.20 ($1 per mile) Athletic Supporter
• $52.40 ($2 per mile) Cheering Spectator
• $131 ($5 per mile) Race Volunteer
• $262 ($10 per mile) Race Director
• $524 ($20 per mile)Marathon Record Holder
  

There are two ways to donate:

1. Hand me a check payable to the Alzheimer's Association

2. Make a secure online donation at http://josh.kintera.org/marathon

I genuinely thank you for you generous support. Your gift means a tremendous amount to me personally and may help to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease.

Sincerely,
Josh Morphew

Time Flies

My, oh my. Time does fly.

Admittedly, I have been a touch negligent in keeping this blog updated with fresh content about my life and times. Shame on me.

In my defense, I've found it challenging to think of a worthy follow up to my jumping out of an airplane. Really... Where does one go after that?

I began by re-reading some of my recent posts and realized that it has been over a month since I have posted anything about running. Eureka! I've found some subject matter.

I'm in my 8th week of marathon training and things are going well. I've been fortunate and have not experienced the debilitating plantar fasciitis that crippled me for three key training weeks last year. I have been able to get in all of my long runs - including a couple of 16+ milers.

It's my speed, or more aptly put, lack of speed that's troubling. It happens every time my mileage ramps up. The higher my weekly mileage the slower I seem to go - even during my races, tempo runs and interval sessions my 'fast' is noticeably absent.

In terms of fitness I am in better shape today than I was just a few months ago. Yet I struggle running an easy 5-7 miles at my marathon goal pace of 8:00/mile. As a point of reference I ran a 10K in late May at a 6:48/mile pace. Right now it would be nothing short of a miracle to run a 5K at that pace.

Frustrated, I went out early on Monday morning and did some speed work - 4 x 1 mile repeats. I didn't break any records out there by I did manage to run some decent splits:

• Mile 1 - 6:16
  
• Mile 2 - 6:19
  
• Mile 3 - 6:20
  
• Mile 4 - 6:23
  

In the search for my 'fast' I have decided that I am going to take a mini taper this week and go all out, 100%, full throttle, balls to the wall, pain be damned at the NYRR's inaugural New York Half Marathon. If I crash and burn, so be it. If I PR then I know my training is moving in the right direction.

So where is my 'fast'? I am not too sure but I hope to find it this Sunday on my way from Central Park to Battery Park. I'll be sure to let you know...

PS - Congratulations to all that ran so well at the Team Championships 5 Miler! For me, the race was the middle 5 miles of a 16 mile morning. The NYRR photographers did happen to get a good photo of me... Looky, looky... I'm famous! (third row from the bottom - far right column - in the Hellgate singlet)

The Jump Part 2

"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time." -Jack London