- Want to be inspired? Stand at the finish line of a marathon. As I wrapped up supporting Marjie's completion of her second 1/2 marathon, I snapped as many local pictures of local runners as I could which included standing in a perfect spot at the finish line as people crossed their very own finish line. I showed up when the clock read 2hrs, 55min...a great time to see some great marathon finishes for those attempting to break the 3hr point and beyond. It was inspiring to watch each and every runner and their emotion as they reached their goals. For many, it was their ticket punched to the Boston Marathon, for one man it was crossing the finish line of his 110th marathon, and for many, many others it was arms stretched high to the sky as they celebrated their accomplishments. Pain as well was there. There were many who made that last turn off of 9th St. limping...often with one leg straight/stiff as a board with clearly a bad cramp or muscle pull. Watching them push through and not quit was a great testimony o
f mind over body and crossing that finish line regardless of the obstacle. I also was witnessing 1/2 marathoners who at this point, were registered as 1/2 marathon walkers. Marjie, my wife, was one of them. She did the Buffalo 1/2 Marathon last year while I ran the full marathon. This year, she cut off an entire 25 minutes, or about 2 min per mile finishing in 2:51! She walked with Amy B. who she trains with and also walked Buffalo with last year (in the picture, you see 2:58...that was clock time but she didn't cross the starting line for over 7min so her time started late...and thanks to the chip she was wearing, she got the correct time) Great job to her! I gotta say, though, that when I saw her at Mile 12 and she was running...well, that just made my day! Hopefully, you can understand why. :-) Here are the 60 photos I took of many local runners. Congratulations to so many of you for a really great performance yesterday. It was a blast to be on the course seeing you all on a very rare good-weather day for the Cleveland Marathon. Afterwards, we celebrated with a packed Winking Lizard in downtown Cleveland...where everyone was wearing their hard-earned finisher medals. The finish line buzz and endorphins were certainly in the air!- As I reported on Saturday, I wrapped up my training for the Kettle Moraine 100 on Friday with my last long run of 35 miles. I headed out for a recovery 12.6 mile trail run on Saturday morning and I'll admit, I was exhausted. It was a good run but still, I was cooked! The saturated air with a soon-to-be-unleashed thunderstorm made sure we were all soaked by the end of the run even though we didn't get rained on one bit. Afterwards, I had my favorite Vegetable Scramble at Fisher's in Peninsula with Greg D., Jim C., and Rob L....sort of a 2008 Tecumseh Marathon road-trip reunion...only missing Vince and Brandon!
- Well, the Kettle is 19 days away now. The registration fee took a bump on Saturday so there was a rush of registrations last week. The count is now up to 119 registered runners with a race limit of 150. I doubt it will sell out and I'm sure not all of those 119 will show up. I'm guessing that I'll be with about 100 others on race morning combined with another group running the 100K distance. Actually, the last person to register is from Richfield, OH...though I've never heard of him before. Registration list here.
- Congratulations to the handful of locals who ran the 2009 Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 Miler this past Saturday/Sunday, known as one of the hardest, if not the hardest, 100 miler east of the Mississippi. Lloyd Thomas, Bob Combs, and Roy Heger all crossed the finish line at Skyline Ranch before the 36 hour cutoff on Sunday. A few others (Brian Musick, Dave Peterman) also ran but ran into some obstacles along the way. All these guys ran through rain, thunderstorms, hail and lightning while on the course. I look forward to hearing all the reports! Results here with the splits.
- For anyone looking for a recovery trail run or a mid-distance trail run this Saturday, I'll be toeing the dirt one last time before the Kettle for a 14.5-15 mile trail run starting from Lock 29 at 6:30am. I'll cover the Pine Lane to Boston Store portion of the Buckeye Trail and a trip to the Brandywine Falls via the Valley Bridle/Stanford/Brandywine Trails. Look for 2.5 to 3 hours on the trails. After that, I'm done with dirt until June 6th!
- This Wednesday night is the kickoff meeting for the Fall 2009 VR Training program. It's hard to believe, we're already talking about fall marathons! Jim Barnett, Race Director of the Akron Marathon will be there to talk about his race, changes this year to the event, and to answer any questions. The VR Training group leaders (myself, Greg, and Vince) will also be there to answer any questions. All runners (young, old, new runners, veteran runners) are invited! Hudson Libary, 7pm, on Wednesday...join us!
- Alright, it's taper time. Time to behave and take it easy and to do nothing stupid to injure myself. To kick it off, I headed out on a rare 37F, crisp morning run this morning. I headed out on Mr. Moon's rolling 7 mile course looking for peace and quiet. I found it along with frost covered cornfields, a pasture with 4 horses dancing around, birds singing, heavy mist laying atop tree-tops and slowly rising from ponds, and a brilliant blue/orange sunrise as I returned home heading east in the light. It was the perfect way to start the new week and my taper. The even better news is that I have zero physical issues from head to toe. No aches, pains, discomforts, or anything. Awesome!
Have a great week, everyone and Happy Trails!
1 comment:
Thanks Nick, and congrats to Marjie!
Rest up for KM. You've trained well this cycle and no doubt ready to buckle.
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