Couch2Boston

I'm now telling everyone I know NOT to go to Ironman Connecticut 70.3.  That bike course sucks, with a capital SUCKS.  I wasn't really there to race and I would have been pissed, or hurt, if I was.  I'd estimate that about 50 miles of the bike course was unsafe.  Most of the roads deserved maintenance 30 years ago, but I'm getting ahead of myself... I had a good time driving to the race with my neighbor John, which is a good thing because I'd estimate that we drove 8-9 hours on Saturday between getting to CT, driving the bike course and the usual running around.  The day before the race was sunny and warm.  The amusement park where transition is located wasn't very big so it was a little annoying getting in/out, but overall I liked the setup.  After getting our bibs and racking our bikes we drove the bike course.  I kept joking that it was a course designed by M.C. Escher.  The course had lots of hills but it seems like they kept going up...

This is really a Boston 2019 Race Report, it is just going to take a while to get there.  You should feel free to skip ahead if you would like, but I don't think I can tell the story of this year without spending some time going back down memory lane to recap everything that happened in the prior 12 months. Boston 2018 broke me.  I totally underestimated how bad the weather could get and kept assuming that with beautiful weather the week before, and beautiful weather in the forecast for the days after that the hellacious storm would move out of the way.  It didn't.  I was in really good shape going into Boston 2018, but by mile 5 I was hurting bad.  At mile 7.5 I almost walked off the course.  The only thing that kept me out there was fear that the Associated Press reporter that interviewed me at the Athlete's Village would call for a follow up and I didn't want to be the quitter outted on the newswire.  I was walking by mile 10 and had to partner wi...

Totals Swim - 400020 yards Bike - 1705 miles Run - 1241 miles Duration - 465 hours

I had a great time in NYC over marathon weekend. I now want to go back with my family and be a tourist. I stayed at a friend's house in West Nyack about 30 miles North of NYC. It was really nice getting caught up with him and his family. His name is Jason and he deserves more credit than anyone for helping coach me through creating a running habit way back in 2012. Jason was the guy that I reached out to for every ache and pain. He helped reassure me that it would all be OK as long as I stuck with the habit. I wanted to get plenty of experience getting around in the city, particularly on the subway before race day so it worked out well that some friends all wanted to meet up for lunch on Friday. I took the train from the suburbs to Grand Central Station and then walked to the Javitz convention center, got my bib and went over to the pizza place we agreed to meet. After lunch it was time to play on the subway, so I took a subway ride over to the South Ferry Station to look arou...

So I did the Rochester 13.1 yesterday. It was a blast. High 40's, no wind with a sunny day on a heavily shaded course. Basically, very fast conditions on a slow course. It is hilly, with a net uphill from start to finish and 2 short climbs that are at a pitch that can only be described as obnoxious. Both of them make you feel like you are going to stall out while climbing. I finished with a 1:33:42 which felt great for a day that I was just out to have fun. I started behind 2 women but blew past them on a fast downhill right away. They caught me on the uphill so I tucked in behind them and let them set the pace. After a couple of miles I asked what they were planning and they said an average around 7 minutes a mile. Cool, that works. We chatted for a while off and on and it was nice having some running partners. I left them behind on another big downhill and said I'd see them in the middle of the next big uphill about a mile later. Sure enough, halfway up that big hill they s...

I got into Erie around 2pm, hit packet pickup on Presque Isle and checked into the hotel. During the weekend I think there were more Boston jackets per capita there than anywhere else in the world outside of *maybe* Boston and most of them were from 2018. I was at a Microtel and had specifically booked a room at the end of the hall because I thought it would be quiet. What I didn't realize was that I booked a smoking room. I didn't even think to look. I can't remember the last time I saw a hotel room with ash trays in it. The room smelled bad, but it could have been worse. The hallway was much worse. Oh well, the window opens to the outside so I turned off the wall unit and opened the window. I stopped by a Wegmans to buy snack food for the morning of the race and wound up with 3 packages of sushi for dinner. Back to the hotel to relax for the evening where my sinuses started bothering me and it sounded like the guy in the next room was working on a construction project. ...

Welp, that just happened.  I was doing an extra long bike commute to work after switching the bike over to race configuration in preparation for USAT Age Group Nationals next weekend and a deer hit me.  I didn't hit the deer.  Bambi hit me.  I was cruising along just as the sun was about to rise when a deer came out of nowhere and ran in front of me.  I was about to react when I saw her friend out of the corner of my eye.  Her friend, Bambi, was 5 feet away from me and charging full steam ahead.  I was going 26mph.  I got to watch as she buried her head into my thigh, crumpled up her entire neck and threw me off the bike.  I think she was Canadian.  It was a perfect hockey move.  She body checked me in the middle of the road.  After laying in the road screaming my head off I eventually gave up on help.  None of the lights were coming on in the houses I could see.  I got up, retrieved my bike and was grateful to see ...

So, I can't tell the Pocono Marathon story without starting in Boston so I hope you don't mind a little diversion first. The past few years in Boston when hanging out in the Athlete's Village, I've actually been disappointed getting called to the starting line.  The weekend is such a great experience that the race itself has become a secondary concern.  This year I spent a lot of time during the weekend leading up to the race thinking about why I go back to Boston every year.  The easy answer is that years ago I set a goal to make it back 10 years in a row.  I liked that goal because if I reached it then it meant that I was able to keep a healthy lifestyle going for a long period of time.  I also absolutely love training for marathons, but I really don't like racing them.  These days the draw to go back to Boston every year is all of the people out here.  Our annual reunions are *the* highlight for me every year.  The energy in Boston is amazing...

The race was insane, it was in the high 30's with heavy rain and a 25mph headwind.  I a brief recap is below, but here are some stats for you... 5% of the runners DNF'd 2,547 runners got medical treatment on the course, according to the medical director runners were coming in with body temp in the 80's 81 runners went to the hospital 60% of the elite field DNF'd.  5 elites bailed before the start, 23 gave up during the race. Only Boston I've ever seen emergency vehicles with lights/sirens transporting runners on the course. I had a rough day. Before the race, I gave an interview to an AP reporter and did a 3-4 minute segment on the morning show for the local Boston CBS affiliate.  It all got worse from there. By mile 5 my legs were toast.  Every muscle I had was crazy tight. I had friends at the 7.5 mile mark and I spent 10 minutes before seeing them debating walking off the course.  I honestly kept going because I didn't want the AP reporter...

Totals Swim - 456669 yards Bike - 3602 miles Run - 1570 miles Duration - 602 hours

OK, Here's my race report.  The funny names referenced below are online friends from a Boston Marathon forum. It was a fantastic weekend. I had a fun time at Beerworks hanging out with fellow forumites Saturday evening and then went to the Expo on Sunday. Sunday morning I did the usual Aussie Carb Load. There was a suburban office park with no traffic that made for ~1 mile loop. So, a short warmup run over to the park, then a 5:56 mile and a cooldown back to the hotel. I chugged a ton of Gatorade powder and then it was off to the Expo. One challenge with driving in from the 'burbs was that I didn't know that the toll lanes have all gone automated so at some point there is going to be an additional bill from Hertz and I'm a little scared what the extra convenience charges are going to look like. Before heading into the Expo I went to the Runner's World pop up store and scored some free gloves with the name of 8 of the towns on the fingers. Molly Huddle was gi...