15 Miles On The Erie Canal.

I've got a mule and her name is Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
She's a good old worker and a good old pal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal

Well, I really don't have a mule named Sal.  I guess that it would be kind of interesting if I had one though.  "Hey, come here you jackass".  I would be giggling like a school girl all the time. 

I did go fifteen miles yesterday.  But, it wasn't along the Erie Canal.  I wish that it had been though because then I would have been back "home" in Lockport, NY.  The site of locks 34 and 35 along the historic Erie Canal.  I spent so much time along the towpaths there as a kid where Sal and her fellow mule friends pulled packet boats many moons ago.  I digress though. 

My fifteen miles were spent "horsing" around (I had to put that in!).  Actually, I ran a long run for a total of 15 miles.  Boy did it feel good to get into Boston and run until my heart was content.  I spent a couple days beforehand mapping out all the routes that I could take.  All the new places I could check out.  But, in the end, like how good old reliable Sal used to hoof her way along the same paths day after day, I decided to go with the course that I knew so well and had run so many times this past winter/spring.  It was my Boston Marathon training route.  It was great to see the old familiar sites like the seagulls at Black Falcon Pier (thank you to the friendly gull that posed so that I could take a fantastic shot- I'll post you to Instagram soon), the families taking in the sites at the Aquarium, the tourists posing with the actors dressed as soldiers at the Charlestown Navy Yard, the spectacular granite obelisk that is the Bunker Hill monument contrasting against the vibrant blue fall sky to the sailboats maneuvering their way in the center of the Charles River (I had to stop and take this picture of them). 

It was an absolutely fan-frickin-tastic day for a run.  Beautiful weather.  Beautiful sights.  It brought back a lot of great memories of preparing for the Boston Marathon earlier this year.  A lot of great memories.  Hmmm...  That gives me an idea...

Get up mule, here comes a lock
We'll make Rome 'bout six o'clock
One more trip and back we'll go
Right back home to Buffalo

Until next time, keep on runnin'!

It Takes Two.

It takes two to make a thing go right
It takes two to make it outta sight
Hit it!

What the frig am I talking about?  OK, I had to stretch it a bit and go back to my DJ days to find a song that would go along with today's post. 

I'm Rob Base and I came to get down
I'm not internationally known
But I'm known to rock the microphone

Back on topic.  Two.  Two updates on past posts.  The first?  Refueling gels.  Back in February/March I compared several different energy gels and rated them.  Guess what?  What Keith?  The first place finisher "Body Glove Surge All Natural Energy Gel- Chocolate", they stopped making it!  Say what?  What?  I love that one.  So much for the influence that my first place nod for it had on the manufacturer.  Oh, well...

The reason why, man, I don't know
So let's go, cause
It takes two to make a thing go right
It takes two to make it outta sight

 

Never fear!  Replacement Gel is here!  A new 1st place winner has been crowned (I used it during the B.A.A. Half Marathon two weekends ago).  It is an all natural product called "Accel Gel Rapid Energy Gel" and which is made by the same manufacturer as the "Body Glove Surge Gel" was.  It has all the same chocolately goodness as the original first place winner but without all the, let's see now, how did I put it before... that's right "texture".  It was as smooth as "(insert your own favorite phrase of choice here- example: baby's bum, silk, glass, velvet, butter, a southern drawl or aged whiskey- just to name a few).  It is a  dry, medium-bodied red, offering sappy black cherry and plum sauce flavors, with dried herb and olive tapenade notes. Balanced, with a moderate finish.  Sorry, wrong blog for that one.  It does however have a mild natural chocolate flavor and pleasant aftertaste.  The Accel Gel has a great consistency and is easy to get down while you are re-fueling mid-run.  It supplied an even and consistent level of energy and is made of all natural ingredients.  The only downside that I have with it?  It only has 20 mg of caffeine versus Surge Gels' 150 mg.

Cause I'm Rob, the last name Base, yeah

And on the mic, I'm known to be the freshest

 

Number 2.  No, not that "number 2".  Boy that stinks.  That's crappy.  Courtesy flush please?  OK, the second update is on the B.A.A. Distance Medley results.  My official results over the three races are:

 

	5K Finish	10K Finish	Half Finish	Cumulative Time	Overall	Percentile	In Age Group	Age Group Percentile
	22:01 (613)	45:41 (522)	1:37:53 (449)	2:45:35	150 / 833	81%	25 / 147	82%

My 5K and Half Marathon times were PRs for me as well as the Half time being a course PR for me.  I'll take all of those stats any day.  And that is no steaming pile of number 2 but it does take two to make a thing go right!

Until next time, keep on runnin'!

That's A Wrap.

What a fantastic morning for a race.  Today was the B.A.A. Half Marathon which wrapped up the B.A.A. Distance Medley for 2014 with a big old blue and yellow bow on top.  What a great trio of races throughout the year.  Starting with the 5K in April, 10K in June and the Half Marathon today.  Great courses and absolutely the best organized and run races anywhere. 

I ran this same half last year so I knew what to expect along the way.  I loved it then and still loved it today.  It is one of the more challenging due to the many hills throughout the course (especially that beauty at mile 11).  Maybe that is why I love this course so much.  Maybe it is the beautiful scenery along the route in the Emerald Necklace.  Maybe it is the throngs of spectators who cheer all the runners on with their cow bells and goofy signs that make us runners giggle as we are pounding the pavement.  Maybe it is all of these things that makes it one hell of a wicked pissah race that wraps its shoelaces around you and makes you run it year after year.  Just maybe.

Race day started with the alarm clock rudely waking us up at 4:30 AM this morning.  How dare it?!  What was it thinking?  Well, if it wasn't the alarm clock, it would have been the alarm on the iPad or the alarm on the iPhone both set for 4:35 AM.  Yes, I am always paranoid that I'm going to wake up late and miss a race.  Always have to have a backup to the backup.  Ah, I totally forgot that I could have set my son's devices too so that there could have been a few more backups!  Darn it.

We got on the road and made it to the shuttle bus location at the Bayside Expo Center in Boston wicked early.  Like seriously wicked early.  Early bird catches the bottle of Gatorade or something like that.  We boarded the bus and made it to the field at Franklin Park next to White Stadium where the finish line is.  Boy (or girl if you prefer) was it friggin cold out this morning!  It was so cold that you could see your breath as you crunched the patches of frost on the ground.  Perfect weather for a run. 

My plan for today's race was to just beat last year's finish.  Plain and simple.  Well, that plan worked out well as I finished with a PR for both a half marathon and for the course as well as shaving 5 minutes 30 seconds off of last year's time.  "Gillette, the best a man can get".  Sorry, "shaving" made me think of that jingle (now it is stuck in my head)!  I'll take that "stubble", sorry, "faster time" and the stats below any day:

Net Time 1:37:53
Pace 7:28
Overall 553/6211
In Gender 451/2682 (Male)
In Division 52/330 (M40-44)

The B.A.A. distance medley was such a great trio of runs to participate in as they were nicely spread out throughout the year, are great courses and well run.  I'll post my final medley time and place as soon as they are posted on the B.A.A. site.

Thank you to my wife Jen for getting up early today to go and support me in the freezing cold!  We both got to listen to "Back in Black" being played over the event speakers while we waited for the race to start!  How appropriate (see my last post before this one)!

Until next time, keep on runnin'!

Back In Black.

I been too long I'm glad to be back

Yes I am

Cause I'm back

Yes I'm back

Well I'm back

Yes I'm back

Well I'm back back

Well I'm back in black

Yes I'm back in black

Thank you so much AC/DC for the intro (albeit a long one)!  That song reminds me of sitting up in the nose bleed section of TD Garden with my son watching Boo-ins/Buffalo Sabres games (as-in boo they're bad- sorry I'm a true blue Sabres fan bleeding the blue & gold).  Love when they crank a little Back In Black while waiting for the puck to drop and game play to resume. It's a hockey staple!  

Wow, I cannot believe that it is October and the race season is coming to an end.  I've run a few races and have continued training since my last post back in May.

• Ran a 5K race in May to help fund Celiac Disease research in Merrimack, NH- First time ever placing in a race. I took third in the men's division. 
• Ran the Lawyers Have Heart 5K in May in Boston, MA.
• Ran the BAA 10K in June in Boston, MA (2nd race in the BAA medley- you know, the "Rice Medley"-  I love that one!)
• Strolled, no, of course I ran the Finish At The Fifty 10K in July in Foxboro, MA.
• Ran the Old Port Half Marathon in July in Portland, ME. This was hands down the best course I've run. Such an experience that I'll never forget. 

Cause I'm back

Yes I'm back

Well I'm back

Yes I'm back

Sorry, that's right, we've already established that I'm back.  "Back in black" to be more specific. 

• Ran in the Thompson Island 4K Trail Run in September on Thompson Island in Boston Harbor in Boston,MA.

It is all culminating in my last race of the season coming up this weekend.  It also happens to be the last race of the BAA "Rice Medley". There I go again.  I meant to say "Rice Pilaf". No, that's not right either.  "Race Medley". There we go. A half marathon winding through the Franklin Park area of Boston on a fall morning.  

I have to go and make sure that I've got all my 80's hair bands in the right order on my running playlist. Heaven forbid if Journey comes up before Loverboy!  

Until next time, keep on runnin'!

Back In The Saddle Again.

Sunday, May 4th.  Two short weeks after the Boston Marathon. The day that I took the reins back and got back on that horse.  That full marathon horse that is. Neigh!

I was beating myself up ( figuratively of course as I didn't want to get charged with assault and battery on myself- how embarrassing would that have been?) in the days after Boston. In hindsight, I knew what went wrong and what I needed to do if I were to try another marathon. 

It was the Thursday after the Boston Marathon when I woke up and entered the second phase of the grieving process.  The "stop feeling sorry for yourself man and do something about it" phase.  The "get back in the saddle and ride this puppy like there is no tomorrow" phase. I wanted to run another marathon so that I could finish and have closure to the emotional scar that I inflicted on myself. I was in shape from the months of training and didn't want it to all go to waste. I knew the Cox Marathon in Providence, RI was fast approaching so I checked to see if registration was still open.  Hoping that it was but figured it would be closed due to the proximity of the date of the race. Luck would have it. The registration was still open. I talked it over with my wife and son and got their blessing (thank you Jen and Simon very much for supporting me in that decision).  I signed up that night. 

Race day. It started out rather on the cool side but then became warm very quickly.  The sun was out in all its blazing glory. It reminded me very much of that morning on April 21st. It didn't matter because I had a new game plan and was going to stick with it this time. There was a very different vibe for this race. I was much more relaxed and focused. 

The national anthem was sung.  A stirring pre-recorded version by Beyoncé. Well, maybe not stirring but it did invoke a lot of emotions. The pop of the runner's pistol.  I took off out of the gate, sorry coral, like a thoroughbred chasing victory. 

The course wound it's way through downtown, neighborhoods, semi-industrial areas, along the Ocean and down a rail trail. It even featured a "heartbreak hill" (elevation is the same) which had to be completed twice as it was an out and back course.  There was a lot of great spectator support along the way to give cheer and provide needed breaks from the task at hand. A special thanks to the couple blaring the Rocky theme at the end of their driveway out in the middle of nowhere!  

This race turned out to be much more of a mentally challenging race than a physical one. I found myself second guessing every single thing that I was doing. Every decision went before a judge and jury. Afraid that I was going to make that one mistake that would keep me from finishing again.  There were two points in the race that I let my head momentarily get the best of me. However, I knew that I had to make that short lived and dug deep to regain my composure and focus. That second time was not an easy task at all but I knew that I could, make that "had to", do it.

I finished the race in 4 hours 30 minutes. Did I want a faster time?  Absolutely. But in the end what was more important to me?  Finishing.  I had nothing to prove to anyone else except myself. I didn't have to try and best anyone else's time.  No PR to achieve.  This was my race to complete. Complete and bring closure.  Neigh, neigh. 

Until next time, keep on runnin'!

Thank You.

The Boston Marathon is now a week in the rearview mirror and I'm in a good place now with the results.  I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported me along the way.  Family, friends and colleagues.  Those who supported my fundraising effort.  Those who provided kind words of encouragement.  Thank you to each and every one of you.

I want to especially thank my wife and son for all of their support from the start back in December to race day and the days afterward.  I appreciate their understanding, unwavering support and their commitment in helping me get to where I did with all of this.  I appreciate everything that they did for me.  For all of the weekends that we couldn't get out and do things as a family because I was in Boston training.  Thank you for understanding.  For all of the hours that they stand around waiting for me during races.  Thank you.  For all of the fundraising efforts that my wife did for me.  Thank you.  I thank them both so much for helping to support me with this running addiction.  I could not have done any of this without them.

Thank you all.

Until next time, keep on runnin'!

Heartbreak Before The Hill.

Well the marathon is over and here it is two days after and I'm finally posting about my experience.  It has taken me a couple of days to come to terms with Monday and to compose myself enough to make this post.  Here it goes.  My run unfortunately ended at mile 18.3 due to a medical issue that had me in the hospital instead of finishing the race.  I pushed myself too much and didn't factor in the heat during the run (I was on pace to finish with a 3:43 finish which would have beat my marathon that I ran in October of 2013).  All of my training was run during the frigid cold temperatures of the winter so I was still in that mindset (my last long run a couple of weeks ago was 22 fantastic miles).  I've second guessed myself on every aspect of my choices on Monday.  I know that there are things that I could have done differently and that I should have done differently.  However, I cannot change the past now but just learn from it.

I have had a difficult time emotionally dealing with this even with the tremendous support of friends and family.  It is hard to focus on the positive messages when I feel that I've let people down including myself.  I'm being hard on myself about it all because I know that I should have stuck to my plan and had the outcome that I had thought about so many times.  I've reflected so much that it makes my head hurt.  It is now time for me to move on.

While I didn't finish, which was my own goal and something that I wanted to prove to myself, I did raise $6,716.40 for the Curley K-8 School.  I have to remember that my main goal and purpose for all of this was to raise money for this worthwhile cause.  Not to prove something to myself as paces and PRs really don't matter to anyone else except for me personally.  I have learned a lot about where my focus should be and what is important in my life.  That is my family.  I've also learned a lot about myself and where I can and need to improve.  This has been such an experience.  All the highs.  All the lows.  This journey has ended but a new one will follow behind it. 

Until next time, keep on runnin'!