Boston Blowout Blitz

Posted on April 17, 2008 by threlkeld

Coming up: the dufecta of big races in Boston. On Sunday all the fast, skinny chicks will toe the line at the Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials to see who gets to inhale coal in Beijing. And on Monday the excitement continues with the 112th running of the Boston Marathon.

The trials will be shown live on NBC.com at 8AM EST with a follow-up 1 hour summary televised at noon. More info here.

Boston will be carried live on the web at WCSN.com at 9:25 EST and on the Versus channel, which is probably located among the basement channels of your nearest premium cable provider.

Enjoy!

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In Iowa

Posted on April 13, 2008 by threlkeld

I’ve been in Iowa for the past few days. I flew out here on Wednesday to attend to what I suppose is meant when someone uses the term “family crisis.” My beloved 93-year-old grandmother suffered a stroke a little under two weeks ago and she was aiming to slip from this mortal coil, or so it seemed. She’d been in a great deal of pain and discomfort, with reduced capacity in key areas (can’t walk, can’t swallow, double vision in one eye). She raised her hand for the “no extraordinary measures” option and stopped taking water and food on Monday.

But you know what? My grandmother may be one of the few people I’ll ever know who left a hospice facility alive. She looked like she was fading on Thursday morning, and we were all getting prepared to say goodbye sometime during the coming days or weeks. I was even working on a draft of her obit. Then, in the afternoon, she perked up and began talking about wanting to fight on. From heartbreak to hope in the space of a few hours — Thursday probably ranks up there as one of the worst and best days of my life.

Now she’s out of hospice and back in the hospital rehab unit, taking food and water through a tube, as well as starting to manage food by mouth. She handled her first round of physical therapy yesterday like a trouper. Her sense of humor is intact, as is her fighting spirit. She has lots of hurdles in front of her: first, to learn to swallow, stand and walk so she can get out of the hospital. Next, weeks or months of work in the skilled nursing area of her retirement home. Then, if that goes well, a move over to assisted living. She even has an outside shot at getting back into her apartment.

I am in awe at her ability to survive.

I head back home tomorrow, but will probably make another trip out in May or June to cheer her on (and up).

Since this is a running blog, some obligatory running stuff is in order: I didn’t run for three days post-marathon, which seemed to be the perfect thing to do. On Thursday I did four miles at 10:30 on the motel treadmill, then five miles at 10:00 on Friday. Yesterday the entire exercise room was put out of commission until sometime next week due to a broken door.

So I headed out onto the streets of Cedar Rapids into 20 mph winds (I’m used to it!) and horizontal sleet. It ended up being a fantastic run. I hammered out six miles, despite the wind, for an average of 8:30 per mile. I’m running in my new Saucony Fastwitch 3’s and they are hands down the best running shoes I’ve ever worn. They weigh 6 ounces and make me feel like Gete Wami. Finished up the run at 7:50 (the tailwind helped on the way back), pleasantly relaxed and ready for the whatever the day had in store, which was good news all around, as it turned out.

I love running here. Cornfields, sky and flatness yield expansive vistas like this. The city is more or less a grid, with lots of major avenues, so it’s difficult for even me to get lost. And I rarely see other runners, so I get to feel like a local curiosity for an hour or so.

The weather is similar today (actually, colder at 20 degrees with the windchill), but I’ll head out for the same run in a few minutes.

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Two marathon movies

Posted on December 23, 2007 by threlkeld

Movie number 1, “Spirit of the Marathon” has been in the works for awhile. Like televised coverage of marathons, a movie about marathoning is probably not expected to be a crowd-gatherer…but I do see that they’ve hooked up with a distribution company to show it around the country on January 24. More info here.

Movie number 2, “3:15” is something I stumbled across on the Motley Fool “Running Fools” message board. I don’t know what the fate of this one will be in terms of distribution, although I’ve sent a note of inquiry to the original poster (who is a friend of someone on the crew). More info here.

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Ted Corbitt RIP

Posted on December 12, 2007 by threlkeld

A pioneer, an innovator and, by all accounts, a true gentleman. Learn more here. And here. And here.

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Too busy to post. Busy running.

Posted on September 18, 2007 by threlkeld

Well, I’m three months into my “build a big mileage base” program and I seem to have hit the point where I’m running lots of miles (for me), yet am not running them very fast. So it takes forever.

I’m up to 58 miles a week now, averaging about a 9:30 pace. I’ve thrown in some faster running here and there since it seems to help with weight loss efforts. But, still, between walking back and forth to the running path, showering and stretching, I’m putting in about 12 hours a week. It’s like having a part time job. With no pay. And lousy hours. And an expensive work wardrobe that wears out constantly.

The summer seems to have left us at last. But not before one last miserable weekend of heat and humidity. I ran in a race that weekend anyway, the South Nyack 10 Miler. I ran this race last year. My time improved marginally this year, 1:23:35 vs. 1:27:05. What irks me is I know I could have done better had it not been for the stupid weather. But, post-race, I recalled why I enjoy this race so much. They serve soft ice cream, ravioli and…wait for it…free beer. This year, they had what is a first for me: a “beer van”. This was a large van with a tap on one side (three actually), dispensing beer. I wonder if people ever pull up alongside it when it’s on the road and try to pour themselves a frosty brew…

Oh, well. I have lots of fall races ahead of me: the Westchester Half early next month, followed by a 5K in Iowa a week after that, and then the Harry Chapin 10K Run for Hunger a week after that. Then various and sundry turkey trots in November. I should have no trouble determining my fitness level when I go into marathon training in mid-November.

I’ve settled on a Pete Pfitzinger training plan from his book “Advanced Marathoning”. It’s an 18 week program that starts at 63 miles a week and tops out at 93. I think I’m going to use the plan pretty much as is (and adjust if I start to feel an injury coming on), although he seems to ignore hill workouts. So I’ll add those in, since Central Park has big hills on the north end, and I’ll need to fly up and down those twice in March.

I’ll have a comfortable base of 70-75 mpw going in, so I feel pretty good about being able to do it. So far, I’ve been injury- and pain-free, knock wood. And I’m about 15 pounds lighter, which helps. Nice weather, no injuries, and looking better in my underpants. I’m a happy runner these days.

I checked in on the NYRR site today, only to discover that the Norwegian Festival is scheduled for the day before the Westchester Half. Aside from the fact that I enjoy all things Norwegian, due to my weird Norwegian last name, I’d wanted to do Grete’s Gallop (and have some weird Norwegian food) but it looks like I screwed up on the timing. Maybe next year.

But in my trawlings I did discover that NYRR is going to be posting a series of videos entitled “Chasing Glory” — profiles of runners in the Men’s Olympic Trials in November — which takes place in Central Park the day before the NYC Marathon. They’ll have updates every weekday (new videos on Tuesdays and Thursdays, plus “insights” on Monday, Wednesday and Friday). See them here.

Filed under: inspiration, training, westchester | 2 Comments »

Photo Finishers

Posted on July 9, 2007 by threlkeld

In my previous post I reviewed a few running publications. One that was not included in that review is Ultrarunning magazine. With each new issue, I realize that I am not Ultrarunning’s ideal subscriber. This is because the more I read it, the more I become convinced that I never want to do an ultra event. On the other hand, a half marathon used to seem insurmountable.

When I read Ultrarunning, I get a glimpse into a subculture of which I’m not a member. One article’s subject is likely to appear as a byline on another article. This is a small community – maybe numbering in the thousands in this country. Ultrarunning is truly by, for and about ultrarunners. Printed on the kind of paper stock used in high school yearbooks, held together with staples, it’s charmingly amateurish — a labor of love for its publisher, perhaps.

The point of this post is that, if you look carefully, you can often find art in the unlikeliest of places. There is one regular feature of the magazine that I do look forward to every issue and that’s the “finisher photos” by photographer Larry Gassan. He snaps photos of people who have just completed events like the Western States 100, a grueling race up and down California’s Sierra Nevada mountains in summer.

These portraits are wonderful. They capture the exhaustion, elation and – most of all – the pride of the finishers. Here’s one of my favorites, from another race (the Angeles Crest 100), of Ashley Idema, first woman across the finish line. Sure, she looks like she’s been run over by a train, and more than a little relieved. But she also looks radiant and strong, ready to take on the world. Which she already has, in a way.

A good portrait photographer captures the personality of his or her subjects, but also leaves some mystery there to keep you guessing. That’s happening in many of these photos. And that’s what maks them art.

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Reading: Peak Running Performance and Marathon & Beyond

Posted on July 1, 2007 by threlkeld

You know you’re a runner when…

…you have more running magazines than news magazines coming into your home.

I recently got an offer to subscribe to Peak Running Performance for a buck. I love a bargain, so I signed on. For a mere dollar, I get a PDF version of the magazine dumped into my email in box every two months.

The magazine is on the short side, but the articles are of fairly good quality and offer a variety of topics. And they have titles that make me laugh, reflecting subject matter that appeals to, shall we say, a “narrow audience”? How about this months’ feature, entitled “Say Goodbye to Your Gastrointestinal Discomfort!”

It’s a bit like a miniature version of Marathon & Beyond (yet another one I subscribe to). That publication is like a little book. It has subject matter similar to PRP, but with the addition of race reports, historical pieces, personal essays and human interest stories. PRP’s content tends to be more limited to the nuts and bolts of training, nutrition, racing strategy, and injury prevention and recovery.

Anyway, both rags make for good post-run bath reading.

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Women’s 2008 Olympic Trials Web site

Posted on June 2, 2007 by threlkeld

I discovered a very nice Web site for the Boston 2008 trials. Chock full of interviews, photos etc. with those fast, skinny ladies. I only have to knock 1:09:03 off my best marathon time to join them!

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Recovering nicely

Posted on March 28, 2007 by threlkeld

Well, my pulse returned to normal sometime overnight. It was elevated 10 beats per minute Monday and yesterday. This morning it was back to a healthy 44 BPM upon waking up.

I’m also almost walking normally again. Read that again. This is a hobby that I choose to do. Where I say things like, “I’m also almost walking normally again.”

I went out shopping yesterday, as we were having a Milk Crisis. That was sort of a mistake, as I obviously had trouble negotiating stairs and curbs, and wasn’t even walking that well. I’m sure people thought I had hemorrhoids or somesuch.

The high has lasted, although it’s fading. I’ve been pretty obnoxious, reporting on my race to anyone who looks in my direction. So much for keeping a low, humble profile.

But the next one‘s around the corner, and I need to start thinking of what my goal time for that race is. Plus I’ve the Lehigh Valley Half Marathon at the end of April. I’m practically blasé about it now: 13.1 miles? Easy peasy. A mere training run.

I can see how this is like heroin. The 5K is the gateway race. Before you know it, you’ve lost entire weeks and months to ultra marathoning with other addicts.

I did some reading today about Susan Loken, who won the More Marathon for the third year in a row. Here I’d thought she was another one of these lifelong runners, but in fact her running history is similar to mine (with the exception of running a marathon well over an hour faster than I can…heh heh): A non-athlete in her youth, a blob in her twenties and thirties, followed by a casual interest in “jogging,” all the way to qualifying for the 2008 Olympic Trials. Pretty impressive.

Tomorrow I’ll probably do some walking on the treadmill, and then try out a very short, very easy run on Friday to see how my legs feel.

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This week’s inspiration: A hamster named Mike

Posted on June 4, 2006 by threlkeld

Sure, long distance running is an endurance sport, but have you ever considered what a hamster in a recycling plant has to go through? This story about a hardy hamster named Mike makes running 26.2 miles look like a cake walk.

Filed under: humor, inspiration | 2 Comments »

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