With Love From Me To You

This is me at mile 20, also known as Heartbreak Hill.


Do you know who Uta Pippig is? She won Boston 3 times in the 80's, and doesn't want to be remembered for the way she won one of those runs, where she had terrible stomach cramps and the commentators kept talking about the blood and feces running down her leg. And that's not how I think of her. Uta is an enthusiastic supporter of Dana-Farber and many other charitable endeavors, with a great personality, a wonderful sense of humor and an energy within that is pretty contagious.

Here she is at the church in Hopkinton where all the Dana-Farber runners are lucky enough to congregate before the race, giving us one last pep talk and description of strategy for the really tough course. Be sure to hit the play button.

Overall this was a great weekend for me. Saturday at the Marathon expo and then the Red Sox game, Sunday a leisurely day in Hopkinton with our hosts Alan and Beth, visiting the starting line area, where the food vendors have nothing for a runner to eat (fried dough, I don't think so). Sunday night I had my preferred premarathon dinner of brown rice and cheese, and I slept well Sunday night. Monday I ate my preferred marathon breakfast of oatmeal. And still, my stomach was a little finicky, so I arrived a little later at the church than I had planned while my stomach hopefully calmed down.

It was a cold and windy day, and I had a long sleeve shirt under my singlet for most of the morning. Here is our coach Jack getting us in the right frame of mind for running into the wind. (And how many people get not one but two Boston Marathon winners giving them advice on Marathon morning?) I don't know if all 550 Dana-Farber runners got their picture taken with Jack, but a lot of us did, including me.

Jane and an elite runner both convinced me that a singlet was enough for me, so I ditched it after the pictures just before we went outside, and didn't think to put on sunscreen on my shoulders as I had on my face earlier. The sun on April 20 is as strong as the sun on August 20, so the fact that it was in the 40's and windy was irrelevant to how burned I would get.

As a past winner, Jack was announcing over the public address at the starting line, and I was very happy when he saw me and recognized me and wished me luck by name. I was determined not to go out too fast. I was helped in that regard because my legs felt a little heavy and I felt a little bloated, but not too bad. I saw our hosts Alan and Beth at around mile 2.5 and was doing well at that point.

I was very happy that I found my training partners Charene and Susan at about mile 4.5. I ran with them for less than a full mile. They were keeping up a pretty good pace, and after a while I just declared that I didn't feel like I had a four hour marathon in me, and I was going to back off a little. My legs were a little less heavy, but I still had that bloating feeling and was getting a few cramps.

After we parted, the cramps got worse, especially when I drank water or gatorade or had my Cliff Shot Blocks. That was a horrible feeling because I obviouslyhad no choice but to keep hydrating. Still, the predominant thought I was having was that the discomfort was not that bad, it was not the pain of being injured that I had from my Boston Marathon in 2007, so just stay focused and be smart about pacing. Sorry I am being so graphic, but the cramps got better when I could pass some gas.

What made the race so wonderful was, as always, the love from the crowds, cheering "Go Neal" and "Go Dana-Farber". The scream tunnel at Wellesley was as wonderful as ever, but I didn't even want to wasted energy high fiving any of the students, never mind kissing any of them despite their written invitations.

I was happy to be so familiar with the course, especially miles 10-21 which I had run just three weeks before. There is a nice public park in Wellesley we run by, and all of a sudden I had my sharpest cramp yet, so sharp I stopped in my tracks. Then I realized I wasn't going to be just passing gas. There was nothing to do but hop over a wall into the park, and since this was Boston with a ton of spectators, try to be as discreet as I could and have my Uta Pippig moment. As I pulled myself back over the wall a woman said I was lucky to be a guy, and I just smiled, though I was thinking if she only knew how much I had in common with women runners at that moment.

So now I was disgusting, and realized that if I spent the time waiting for a porta potty, there was only so much cleaning up I could do, so I just decided to keep going. And I did feel a little better, the cramps were hardly noticeable the rest of the way, though as I made my way through the hills of Newton, I felt the quads aching, not as bad as my first 20 miler, and I just think that is what the course does to you with so much downhill before you get to the uphill. I saw my aunt Martha and cousin David at mile 19. I was carrying the names of over 200 people who had been stricken with cancer and David was the only one of those who I actually saw during the race. It was extra inspiration as I made my way up Heartbreak Hill, still feeling overall pretty good. Yes I was gross, but I was thinking I was going to easily make my revised goal of running in under 4:30.

Lots more great crowd support along Beacon Street as we approached the Dana-Farber cheering section with some children patients from Dana-Farber. Then I saw my friend Anne, who ran for Dana-Farber with me in 2007, and she got what she described as a salty hug. Sorry Anne, I couldn't help myself, and I wish it was only salt. Then we posed with coach Jack for the official Dana-Farber photographer, and I still thought I was not going to be cutting it close for my 4:30 goal.

A half mile further down the road I saw Jane, but she didn't see me right away, so she had me turn around for one more picture. Now I realized that I was not really figuring in the .2 in the 26.2 miles, so I had to get moving, but happily made my goal by finishing in 4:29:52.

While I am very proud of my effort and happy with my time, like Uta, I don't want to be remembered for running with gastrointestinal distress. Personally, I will remember this Boston Marathon for all of your support which has helped me raise over $22,000 for cancer research at Dana-Farber, and for the love I have received and tried to give back and for the inspiration of all those whose names I carried with me on race day. I love you all. And because I can't help myself, its still not too late to donate. http://www.runDFMC.org/nealb2009

Here are some miscellaneous pictures of me in the church with friends, gathering for our team photo, and during the run. More might be added later.

Me with Judes, Gathering for the team photo at the church

with Kristen and Andrea, the Southeastern CT chapter of DFMC, and the names I carried

Mile 25.5, no idea why these are so dark, and stopping and turning around after passing Jane.

Another DFMC team member's daughter took this.

Thanks again.

Final Countdown

It is all coming so quickly. I am leaving on Saturday for Boston.

I wanted to let everyone know that if you want to follow me during the race, there are three ways to sign up for the AT&T Athlete Alert program:
Simply text RUNNER to 41234. You will then receive an SMS text message confirming how to complete registration.
Continue to the registration page for the AT&T Athlete Alert program on the race website at BAA.ORG. Sign-up using your US mobile phone number for SMS text message updates, or by entering an email address for email updates. Please note that this method will require that you have an athlete’s bib number and date of birth. My bib is 22038 and my date of birth is 10/25/58.

I have raised over $21,000 for cancer research, and its not too late to donate.

Weather forecast has been all over the map, right now its looking good, yesterday it wasn't. Welcome to New England.

Here's hoping the wind is at our back.



I am

One last chance to make it real

My running and fundraising is going a lot better than my blogging.

Next Saturday I will be at the Marathon Expo, then the Red Sox game with Jane, and our great friends Alan and Beth, who are our hosts in Hopkinton for the weekend, as they have very generously been since my first Boston in 2005 . After a long seemingly endless winter of bad weather, it is hard to believe how quickly the last few weeks have flown by. We are just about here.

Here is an update on my long runs and how I felt about them.

Saturday March 7, I ran 15.5 miles by myself in 2:35:20. I was happy enough with being able to sustain the pace of my recovery run.

March 14, I ran with Boston Bound friends Charene and Susan, whom I first met at a marathon training program run through our local hospital. The program lasted a few years and I made a lot of great friends through it, but eventually the funding vanished. It is so much easier to train with other people.

Our run was from my house on a course which is much more hillier and more difficult than the marathon course. I did the first 10 miles in 1:33, 13 miles in under 2:02, but then the hills really got to me and my quads started to really hurt and I finished my 20 miles in 3:20, not exactly a negative split. My last couple of miles were over a 14 minute pace. That hurt as much as my quads. What was nice was that two friends commented on Facebook about seeing me near the end of my run, and thinking I looked fine.

March 15 I ran out of Waltham with my DFMC teammates and had a pretty good run of 15 miles in 2:25. Mile 14 was still being done at a 9:45 pace and my quad felt a little better. I did stop and take pictures of Paul Pierce's house and the Celtics practice facility at the gym we ran from. Jane and I stayed both Friday and Saturday nights in Waltham, and my blog worlds collided as we had a great time with Stephanie and Maria from our Around the World Trip.

My last 20 miler was on March 28, on the course. We ran the first 10-11 miles backwards on the course from Heartbreak Hill to Natick, then turned around so that miles 10-20 of our run were miles 10-20 of the marathon course. There must have been over a thousand people running on the course with us. I had one goal, and that was to try and run a negative split, or at least an even one. This means that the second half of a run should be at least as fast if not faster than the first half. If its not then you probably went out too fast and are too tired to keep your pace. This is especially true in Boston with the hills from mile 15-21. It is a siren call to try and bank time, thinking it is ok to speed up at the start so you can accomodate a slower pace at the end. If you go a minute a mile faster than you can handle for the first 13 miles, you won't slow down by just a minute a mile for the second half, you might slow down by 4 or 5 minutes a mile. This rule I have honored by breaching it, no matter how much I know the rule. Those Sirens were pretty gorgeous and had great voices you know.

So I went into this training run determined to run more intelligently, and have to thank Judith, another Dana-Farber runner who ran a negative split by 6 minutes in last year's Boston, mind boggling to me, for her encouragement and advice. I ran my first ever even split over such a long run. Here are my splits.

1. 9:40, 2. 9:03, 3. 9:21, 4. 9:29 5. 9:43 6. 10:08 7. 9:27 8. 9:37 9. 9:39 10. 9:49 (Total at mile 10 was 1:36) 11. 9:41 12. 9:02 13. 9:04 14. 9:28 15. 9:25 16. 9:10 17. 10:06 18. 10:01 19. 9:33 20. 10:10 (total at 20 was 3:11:41) 21. 10:48 I ran a total of 22 and a quarter miles, although I accidently turned my watch off so I don't have a split time for the last mile. I was pretty excited, and now am more determined than ever to run a smart Boston, and despite the downhill first half, to try for an even split.

So here I am. Unlike Chicago in 2006, I do not know that I can run this marathon in under 4 hours. But I don't know that I can't, either. So, I am going to try and run a really smart race and enjoy myself and think of the cause that I am running for.

April 4 I was in Sarasota, Florida, one of the prettiest places I know to run. I ran the marathon there last year. We belong to a gym down there and I while my mileage was in taper mode, I worked out like crazy. Between the heat and the week of hard exercise, I am not unhappy with the fact it took me 2:13 to run 13 miles. When I told DFMC coach Jack Fultz that I was headed for Florida, he quickly replied, "So I guess you are done with your hill training." So I am posting a few pictures of Sarasota, to show you how gorgeous it is down there and to show Jack the bridge I ran over 4 times. You have to take the hills where you find them.

So now there is but 10 days to Marathon Day. If you want me to carry the names of your loved ones who have suffered with cancer during the marathon, you should email me at nmbesquire@gmail.com by Thursday April 16th, and you can make a donation to support my run and cancer research here. 100% of all donations go directly to cancer research, no part of it goes to overhead.

Marathon Notes

I am afraid that once again life has interfered with my blogging. I am working on a new post that will hopefully be ready in a day or two. Sneak preview, I am doing well with my fundraising and feel comfortable where I am at in my training, although part of that is subscribing to the Beatles philosophy that "Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be. It's easy. All you need is love."

In the meantime, I am reposting from Facebook an entry I did called Marathon Notes, which asks questions that different marathoners can answer and post. Hope you enjoy, and I am sorry for my Facebook friends who now realize they have been duped into a rerun. (That happens to me on those Monday nights at 11:00 p.m. when I find out Jon Stewart is on vacation for the week. )

1. Number of marathons you have run: Ten. Eleventh will be Boston 2009 ! :)

2. Where was your first marathon? Hartford (2002)

3. Favorite Marathon course: Chicago, it is flat, there are 1 to 2 million people cheering you on, the neighborhoods are wonderful and usually have performers to entertain, and I love Chicago, there is so much to do and the people are so friendly.

4. Most memorable race: Chicago 2006 -- Not only is it my PR, but I actually fell on my hip at mile 2. For a few moments, I had no idea if I could continue, and worried that all my training was wasted, but I picked myself up, started to walk, then jog, then run, and I found my pace and was fine. This was the Chicago where the men's winner slipped on the finish line and ended up in the hospital. So I couldn't even compete with the elite for having the worst fall. It was an ideal temperature for running, but with a little rain, it got slippery.

5. PR? 3:54:03 (Chicago 2006) There is something not right about my PR being faster than Kristina's, because she could beat me in a marathon 364 days of the year.

6. Ever run in a costume? No, but I do enjoy watching others who do.

7. The only running shoes for me: New Balance.

I like the stability and that they are made in the USA. I also won a contest for their 100th anniversary and they paid for my trip to Chicago for the 2006 marathon.

8. Ever injured? Yes! Usually its a strained calf muscle. I was also injured 3 weeks before Boston 2007, and I did great running for 5 miles during the race, then reinjured it, visited a medical tent, did better till mile 12, strained my quad, visited another medical tent, this one didn't help, had to change the way I run to finish, but I did. After 4 weeks of physical therapy, I could walk normally, and couldn't run normally until September.

9. Hot or cold weather runner? I like hot weather better, in general I love summer and hate winter, but I do better running a marathon in the cold.

10. Morning or evening runs? Morning, but not too early.

11. What is your motivation? I started running out of a fear of my family's bad heart history, and while health is a primary factor, I just love the friends I have made, and the feelings of accomplishment, and the knowledge I have gained. Any the fact that I can use my running to raise money for cancer reseach at Dana-Farber and run Boston is just one of the best feelings I will ever have.

12. Ever DNF? I have heard Bill Rogers talk about his DNF's, and know other elites who think nothing of it. For me, if I have trained, and I can run, no matter how slow, it is difficult for me to imagine myself starting a race and not finishing. So my answer is a big No.

13. Marathon I'd like to forget: I don't really want to forget any, but if I had to forget one, it would be the worst one, Hartford, 2005. I had already run Hartford once in the rain, and I wouldn't have really run the full, except my FB friend Hannah and my friends Darcy and Martha were all running their first, and we had a blast running together all summer. It was so humid it was hard to breathe, but after a few bad miles I started to get it together, and was fine until I ran through a huge puddle at mile 14 and got a blister, and the next 12 miles were the worst. I was hoping to find someone at mile 20 to at least give my non-functioning mp3 player to, since it was causing abrasions on my hip, but it was raining so hard no one was out. Afterwards I was so upset in the locker room it took me a while to come out. But I want to remember, because Hannah who ran well for the whole, and Helen, who ran the half, spent the whole car ride back home cheering me up, except when we were celebrating Hannah's first. I finished in 5:04:14, blister and all.

14. Favorite post race nosh: Bagels, rice and cheese, yogurt, banana's, cookies, pretzels, there is nothing like running 26.2 miles to justify eating whatever you want. After one marathon, all I wanted was pizza.

15. Galloway or Higdon? My cousin Rachel has used Galloway, and while Hannah and I tried it in a 12 miler for fun, I don't think I ever would use walk/run in a marathon. I have used Higdon, and love his commentary that accompanies his plans. But to copy part of Judith's Marathon Notes, I will never have a better coach than Jack Fultz, who won Boston in 1976, and is the coach of the Dana-Farber team.

16. Flat course or hills: Flat, and my PR in Chicago backs that up. I am getting better at Hills, but I am still not a strong hill runner! At least I am not a strong uphill runner. I book running downhill, so a downhill marathon might work well for me.

17. Back, Middle, or Front of the pack? I would get trampled to death at the Front, so for the most part, Middle

18. Run alone or with a partner: Both. I love the music on my MP3, being a former DJ in college I think I have a great selection, or at least one that is meaningful for me. But there is nothing like a good conversation with a running buddy to make those miles go by in no time.

19. Ever win your age group? No, but my secret plan is to keep running forever and enter a race with no one else in their 70's.

20. Favorite post marathon indulgence: Judith mentioned the ice bath, and while I do it because it makes recovery so much better, I can't call it an indulgence. I would have to go with a good meal, my most memorable was at this great Greek restaurant in Chicago that Adam told us about, the grilled octopus is to die for and at least half the room were wearing marathon medals. That is an indulgence too, wearing the marathon medal in public for the rest of the day. I wish it weren't weird to wear it after the day of the marathon, how pathetic is that.

21. Funniest T-shirt spotted on another runner during a marathon: I have forgotton the best ones, but remember the running club shirts that say, "A drinking club with a running problem" Also, "My sport is your sport's punishment" And I never saw it, but I loved what Kristina had designed when she was going to run Philly's full while her dad ran the half. His said, "Twice the age and half the distance", and hers said "Half the age and Twice the distance."

22. One part of your body that has never seen body glide: My face is only for suncreen, all the rest is for body glide.

23. Best part of running: There are just some great moments all the time, I particularly remember a run with friends on a cold winter morning with the sun reflecting off the water, we just had to stop and admire the beauty and the fact that we were sharing it together. Someone said, if you didn't believe in God, if you were with us you might have to rethink that.

24. If I didn't run I_______________. might already have had my first heart attack. Ok that sounds too rough, so my alternative would be:would be a lot less pleasant to be around.

25. I can't run without______________________. my Garmin. And when in shorts, body glide.

26. Ever lose a toenail?Very close, I have had bleeding that turns to black and hurts like a son of a gun, but it hasn't actualy fallen off. Unfortunately, I have a black big toenail now, after smashing it on a sidewalk at mile 19 of last weeks run.

27. Gatorade or Cytomax? Gatorade.

28. Favorite gel flavor? Strawberry flavored Cliff shot blocks.

29. How many days after a marathon do you usually start running again? Usually at least seven. After my first marathon in Hartford, I ran on the 7th day with my training team from our hospital's now defunct marathon training team. Most of them were doing their first, and I ran 5 with them well, and 4 more that hurt. But I had run with them all summer, and that helped get me through the 9. I told them my plans to run with them the following weekend to support them, and one of them said, "you know, we will be there to support you too." And so I finished my 2nd marathon just 15 days after the first one. But I am not crazy enough to do that again.

30. I run, therefore I ________________________. am a better person.

31. Pre-race routines? (night before or morning of) Oatmeal, coffee, 24 ounces of water, but no more after 3 hours pre race, bathroom breaks, then figuring out the fastest port potty line, or where one can go outside without being arrested.

32. How often do you cry during a marathon? Just once, in Boston 2007, see my injury description above. In a big city marathon, I usually run by the side of the rode. I wear my name on my shirt and this is the only time in my life where thousands of people scream "Go Neal" . But in Boston I was so embarassed by my crying I ran in the center of the road. It wasn't just the physical pain, but I was wearing the names of over 400 victims of cancer on my shirt and I started to focus on them, particularly the ones I knew, and thinking that no matter how much I hurt, that they had suffered much more, and I was just a big bawling mess. And in addition to my pain, it was also the Boston with the Great Nor'easter. One of my friends who had run for Dana-Farber with me in 2005 was volunteering at the top of Heartbreak Hill, and when she saw me crying she ran out into the center of the road and gave me the biggest hug. I can't even begin to describe how much I needed it. I did stop crying by mile 25, because that is where all the Dana-Farber patients were waiting to cheer me on, and Jane was just beyond them.

33. What was your worst/least favorite marathon? Hartford, 2005, see above. And I am glad that ran New York once, but I am not eager to go back, the logistics are horrible and its a tough hilly course for me.

34. What is your typical night before the marathon meal? Maybe whole wheat pasta, but more likely brown rice with cheese.

35. Would you run a marathon again? Yes, until my body won't do them anymore.

Neal 20, Illness 17.

One of the things I love as a sports fan is seeing what I call the comeback look. I associate this look with some of my all time favorite athletes, Larry Bird and Tom Brady being just two of them. It only happens at the end of a game after the other team has scored to go ahead with little time left for a comeback, leaving a bad feeling in the pit of the stomach of many fans. No such emotions seem to exist for the athlete with the comeback look. Rather, I see them take a quick glance at the scoreboard, and at the time remaining, and can see them absolutely focusing on a quick analysis and formulation of a plan on how they are going to go right down the court or field and take back the lead. No self pity, no self doubt, no panic, just total devotion to the task at hand. That is how we should all handle adversity, which too many of us, me included, forget.

Believe me when I promise you I am not comparing myself to a great athlete. However, I am very happy with my comeback from my two and a half weeks of illness that I was complaining about in my last blog post. On Thursday I changed my Facebook status to say that I was just going to pretend that the last two and a half weeks never happened and run 20 miles on the marathon course. I drove to Waltham Friday night and Saturday morning, the last day of February, I headed back to the The Mount Auburn Club with two goals, to finish 20 miles and not to get lost on my way back this time. I also made sure I had a satellite lock on my Garmin watch before I went into the club before the sign in and the announcements.

The run went much better than I thought it would. Here are my splits, which I had hoped to be able to import from my Garmin through Map My Run, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet.

1. 9:26 2. 10:01 3. 10:06 4. 9:15 5. 9:35 6. 9:19 7. 9:15 8. 9:23 9. 10:22 10. 9:32 11. 9:43 12. 9:01 13. 10:05 14. 10:46 15. 10:28 16. 11:14 17. 11:39 18. 9:57 19. 10:15 20. 11:39

By running all the way to mile 14 of the marathon course in Wellesley before we turned around, we hit Heartbreak Hill, which is mile 20 of the course, at mile 17 of our run, so it was a fairly close approximation of the level of exhaustion we will be feeling in the actual marathon. And there was no snow to be found, so I felt a lot safer running. Most of the time I was by myself, but I kept running into the same group of Dana-Farber runners at the water stops, and occasionally ran with them. You can see some of them ahead of me as I stopped to take a picture of them running up Heartbreak Hill. I hope you can tell from the picture how steep and long it is. As I have said before, it is not that horrible a hill, what makes it so tough is that it is at mile 20 and its the third of the three Newton hills.

I used my new Blackberry Curve to take these pictures. I also stopped since there was no snow to take a much better picture of the Johnny Kelley statute than I posted previously, and finally, a picture of our post race spread, to once again, where I celebrated and had a great time talking with my fellow Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge runners.

The Neal 20, Illness 17 title refers to two things, my 20 miles, which I obviously feel was a last minute triumph over my illness, and 20-17 happens to be the final score of the first Patriots Super Bowl win, when Tom Brady brought them down the field for a winning field goal when the commentators thought they should run out the clock and try to win in overtime. Because this post is all about celebrating comebacks. And the fact that I didn't even get lost on the way back to the Mt. Auburn Club.

Long Runs, we don't need no stinkin' Long Runs.

Well, actually I do. I just haven't been able to do any the last two weeks due to illness.

Since I last posted, I had an uneventful 13 mile run as scheduled on February 7. It wasn't as fast as I would like. I have got to stop saying that phrase so often, though I would doubt that I am popular enough with the college crowd to become a drinking game where everyone imbibes whenever I write "not as fast as I would like. " I do intend this to be a family blog, so let's just say the drink in this game would be gatorade.

On Sunday, Feb. 8, I spent a few hours getting videotaped and coached in swimming at the Mystic Y by Coach Al and a couple of his friends, which is where I suspect I caught my bug. By Monday afternoon I had to leave the office early for bed. I was awake for very little of Tuesday, and my wife says that in 20 years of marriage she has never seen me so out of it. What was really frustrating was that Tuesday was to be my last training day with Stacy, and I had to miss it. I did go in to the gym on Wednesday to say goodbye in person. After being so ill on Tuesday and only gradually recovering, I took Jack's advice and took it easy, doing a yoga class on Friday, and a four mile run on Saturday, instead of my scheduled 18 miler. By Sunday I was feeling a lot better and went to my normal weightlifting and yoga classes, and had a good speedworkout on the treadmill Monday morning, running one mile at 7:35 pace and then two miles at 7:45 pace. I even went to my triathlon swim class Monday night, though it seemed extra challenging. Tuesday morning I did my first weight workout without Stacy, and felt I did fine being my own coach.

Jack had warned me that a lot of people he knew had my bug, and that it had a nasty habit of coming back to a lot of them. I don't know if that was the case with me, I suspect I have had two independently nasty bugs since the symptoms have been different, but sure enough by Tuesday night I was starting to feel less than 100%. I still went to my biking class on Wednesday, but faded at the end and by Thursday morning was feeling sick again. My scheduled 10 mile on Thursday turned into a hideously slow 3 miler. We were going to be in Boston on Saturday so I could run with my DFMC teammates out in Waltham. I like the gym where we run from because it is a very nice gym where the Celtics also train, and we run by Paul Pierce's house, but after consulting with Jack I decided it was best not to try my scheduled 18 miler. I kept getting worse after making the decision, and gave Jane my bug as well, so it turned out there was no decision to have been made at all. I simply could not have run even 100 feet.

Today, Sunday, I am feeling somewhat better, I managed to do a 3 mile run on the treadmill at 10 minute mile pace that was at least less uncomfortable than my run on Thursday. So the plan is to get healthy and increase my training so that by next Saturday, I can run a good 20 miler in Boston on the course, again running out of the Mount Auburn club. I will have two challenges, not only running well for 20 miles after two weekends of no long runs, and not getting lost getting back to the club this time.

Boston is in 8 weeks from tomorrow. I am not giving up on my goal of running it in under 4 hours, but the last two weeks of illness have allowed a little doubt to settle in. Nothing that a good 20 miler won't fix, however.

I want to leave you with this article from the Boston Globe. As I say about Dana-Farber, it brings out the best in people and brings out the best people. And there is nothing like reading about children with cancer to make one feel a little ridiculous for complaining about a couple of weeks of mild illness.

And once again, if you care to donate, you can do so directly at http://www.runDFMC.org/nealb2009

See you after next week's long run, with pictures if I can manage to stay healthy.

How We Decide

I left a somewhat cryptic status update on my Facebook page last week stating "Neal may or may not have run 18.5 miles, may or may not have run for 3 hours, and may or may not know how he feels about it." At the time I wrote it, on Saturday in our hotel after the run, I was exhausted from living the tale I am about to tell, and really not sure whether I was happy with my run or not. On Sunday we had brunch with our niece Sarah and her husband Jonah Lehrer, where we talked about his new book, How We Decide which is just out. A programming note, Jonah wason the Colbert Report on Comedy Central on Thursday night, February 5th. It reruns on Friday at 8:30 p.m. His interview is on his blog here, and the full show is here. Among the many things we discussed was what happens to the glucose in your brain during a long run, as good an explanation as any I have heard as to why simple decisions and math get so difficult in a marathon, if you have ever tried to calculate the pace you will need for the last 6 miles to reach your goal you understand the issue.


The topic of how we decide applies not only to your choice of Cheerios but to all decisions, including, I believe, our choice of whether we want to be positive or negative in general outlook.

So, here is the story of the long run, which I have decided that I am going to be happy with, even if that was not my initial reaction. I believe Jonah calls that thinking about thinking.


Jane and I got up at 5 a.m. in order to drive 90+ miles to the Mount Auburn Club in Watertown, which was generously hosting the Dana-Farber training run, and we got there in time for the 8:15 announcements, one of which was my being recognized for having surpassed the $10,000.00 amount in my fundraising for cancer research. Here is a picture of our fearless leader, Jan Ross, right before she called my name. My rewards were a pair of gloves and a key chain, nice enough, but certainly not any part of my decision to run for Dana-Farber.









There were several reasons I wanted to run from the Mount Auburn Club. I have run from there in previous years, and it is a wonderful club, and its Executive Director, Paul, is a great guy and great DFMC supporter. And 3 miles away is Commonwealth Avenue and a chance to run on the marathon course.



I usually love my Garmin 305 but if you own any type of GPS devise you know that they are useless without a connection with a satellite. It is somewhat funny to observe the start of any group run, with runners holding their watch arm to the sky trying to get a signal before the other runners take off. It somehow reminds me of a religious ceremony, so maybe it should be formalized, we could call it the"Gathering of the Satellites" with all of us facing the direction of Garmin headquarters, and have our own rituals like popping Advil. It is supposedly much harder to get a satellite signal if you are running. In this case, I could not get a signal, and when every other of the 80 plus Dana-Farber runners was running and quickly vanishing from my view, I decided I could not wait any more and hit the start button and took off. I have no idea where I picked up a signal, but when I got to the third water stop, I was told that most runners had 8.6 or 8.8 on their Garmins, and I was showing almost a mile less.



We pretty much climbed uphill until we reached Comm Ave and I caught up to and passed many runners. We were running with traffic on the street single file, as the sidewalks were covered in snow and ice and a sure ticket to a slip and fall injury. It was a great relief not only to get to the top of the hill, but to get to Comm Ave, which has a lightly travelled parallel local road which is safe for runners. Despite this being my third Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge, I was pretty much running by myself, except for a brief time when I talked with two runners running their first Boston. They did not know about the existence of the Johnny Kelley statute, so we stopped and they took my picture in front of it. Well sort of anyway, I did not dare get any closer to it given all the snow on the ground. And take a look at the snow on the sidewalk so you can agree that it was not safe to run on.




The picture immediately above was taken as I approached the second water stop, and is meant to show you just how much stupid snow we have had this winter, aided by the snow plows, and to praise the volunteers who come out to help the runners, no matter what the weather. I volunteer at least once a winter in years I am not running. In the group of volunteers in the picture are parents of one of my DFMC teammates, they drive about an hour each way each weekend to volunteer. Dana-Farber just brings out the best in people and brings out the best people.

The majority of the DFMC runners were doing 14 or so miles, which meant they did not have to make the turn at the Firehouse at the corner of Route 16. Of the few runners going further, I was the slowest, and I was the only one who wanted to go 20 miles instead of their 17. Running on Route 16, a four lane major road, with no sidewalks because of the snow and ice, was a major energy drain, as my concern was not getting killed rather than my running. Still, I felt ok going up Grossman's Hill to Wellesley, and the third and last water stop. The volunteers had been waiting for me for 15 minutes since the next to last runner had come through, so I changed my plan to run another 1.5 miles into Wellesley, and turned around and headed back, being the last runner at the final two waterstops. It was again harrowing until I got back to the safety of the side road on Comm Ave. I was tired and somewhat slower from the hills, but did not feel really tired and slow until I did the final rise of Heartbreak Hill. Until that point, I really did feel good about the run, despite the guilt of being the last one and keeping the volunteers waiting.

After turning off Comm Ave, I had to retrace my route to the start, and it was mostly downhill. Unlike the start, this time I was alone in traffic. I knew I had to cross some major roads on a bridge and had to turn on a street to get to the bridge, and because my sense of direction sometimes betrays me, all of a sudden I knew I had made the wrong turn. To make it worse, my only safe option was to walk on an icy sidewalk. I asked someone for help, but she was probably the only one in the area who did not know where the Watertown Mall was (not far from the club). I did have my cell phone with me, but did not want to resort to calling and admitting I was lost, so I turned to my Garmin, and for the first time used the feature that can direct you back to your starting point. My instincts were telling me to turn and run east. So much for my instincts, Garmin told me to go west. I had somehow gone over the wrong bridge. Now the problem was that Garmin had me going on a major highway, with impassable sidewalks. More nervous energy expended, but it turned out Garmin was correct, and I was able to get back to the club. I could see other DFMC runners leaving, some after stretching, eating, showering, maybe even updating their blogs for all I could imagine. And I knew Jane was inside waiting with the DFMC volunteers. So I did run up and down the street, but after seeing 17.5 on my Garmin and figuring it was 18.5, I decided that despite my blog promise of getting to 20, that you would all understand my decision to not keep everyone waiting and call it a day.

The last part of the run I felt sore and slow, and another 1.5 would not have made me feel I accomplished a lot. On the other had, under these conditions, to still show that I probably did 18.5 miles in about 3:05, even with the slow walks over icy sidewalks, is something to be postive about. And I am reminding mysef that I still have four more 20 milers scheduled, and that, all things considered, I did well enough on the hills to give me hope, and struggled enough to keep me working hard on hills without being discouraged.

My final decision is to listen to everyone who has suggested that I need to be more concise in a lot of areas, from answering the simple question "How are you?" or "How was your run?" to this blog, so I am going to publish now, rather than try to make it perfect or to tell you more about my week than you are really interested enough to read.

The final decision is yours. The question is whether you will support me in my run and make a donation for cancer research at Dana-Farber.

Thank you.

Time Flies and so do I? And so does my trainer.

Today is 12 weeks until Boston. Maybe it's because I have been so busy, but it doesn't feel like I have been training for six weeks. Which is great. And I am very happy with my last few workouts.

What I am unhappy about is that I have a case of the Minnesota blues, as my trainer, Stacy, whom I have been working out with twice a week since last summer, is moving back there on February 13th. So it is going to be up to me to push myself as hard as she has been pushing me, which has never been one of my strongest points. She has offered to be in touch by webcam and computer, but its going to be hard for her to correct my weightlifting form that way. Despite this change, I am very positive.

On January 15th, I was scheduled to do 17 miles at 9:50 pace. It was again too cold for me to go outside, so I ran on a treadmill at the gym. The gym recently spent money on new treadmills with individual televisions, and while I wish they had used the money to make Stacy an offer she couldn't have refused, the distraction helped. I did the 9:50 pace for most of the run, with a few 10 minute pace miles thrown in, and for the first ten miles I did have the elevation at 1%. I had to stop at mile 15, not because I couldn't go further, although it seemed my heart rate was really up there, but because we had to get to a memorial service for our friend Ruth. Ruth accomplished so much in our community in her 58 years that the service was held in the Garde Theater in New London, and I would estimate the crowd at over 700. Her husband Lee was also a fellow Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge Runner (and I am pretty sure he will be again), and her death from cancer certainly reminded me of why I am running to raise money for cancer research.

My wife and I both grew up in Southeastern Connecticut, although two years apart we have known each other since I was in seventh grade when we both attended Pine Point. Our parents were involved in the community and as a result of all of the above, we go to more funerals than almost anyone we know. At one point this summer we had 14 funerals, calling hours or Shivas to attend in a three week period. So it won't surprise you that we also went to still another funeral and Shiva last week. This service was for a 90 year old, so more celebration of a live well-lived than anything else. I particularly enjoyed talking to a couple who have known me since my childhood, and learning for the first time that the women's mother had once been in a book club with my grandmother Molly, who died of cancer in 1968, the first death I remember. And this couple had taken dance lessons with my now divorced parents, which is an image of them that had never before entered my consciousness.

After the service, we were off to New York for two nights. Beyond seeing my college friends Harry and Sharon and their twins, we saw the play"Speed the Plough" with William Macy, Raul Esparza and Elisabeth Moss, and the movie "Waltz with Bashir". We also went to Harlem to see the Studio Museum, which had an exhibit by Barkley L. Hendricks, an artist who teaches at Connecticut College whom we know slightly. We then walked from 125th street back to our hotel at 48th in the snow. Before we left, we ate at our favorite Ethiopian restaurant. We love this cuisine on its own merits, although there is that little part of me that hopes that somehow it will make me run more like an Ethiopian.

As a result of coming back late Monday night, driving through still more snow, I blew off my speed workout for the week, and my Monday night swim. I did my Tuesday a.m. workout with Stacy, and my one hour Wednesday bike class with Coach Al at the Y. Thursday I ran a couple of miles outdoors, and then Friday at lunch I worked out with Stacy, then yoga Friday night.

Saturday's slug run was in Mystic, so I ran 5 miles in my neighborhood, then got in the car and drove to the slug run and ran another 13 miles to make 18 total. I was very pleased to do the whole 18 miles in under 3:10. Some of my comments here and on Facebook, where I couldn't resist posting my result, were surprised that I am up to 18 miles so soon (and doing 20 next weekend). This three day a week program does get your mileage up quickly, and I have five 20 milers scheduled. Most programs have you do three. I think for my body, the more 20 milers the better, as my body adapts to the distance and keeps doing them faster. Of course too many and I could get sick of them and the training altogether, or maybe get injured.

Sunday I did my usual Group Power class followed by Yoga. Which brings me to this morning. I planned on doing last weeks speed workout, 3 separate mile repeats at 7:25 pace (8.1 mph setting on the treadmill) with a couple of minute break in between. I had some doubt I could do it, my wife says I need to have more positive thinking, but regardless, I did it. I am exhausted, and still have my swim workout tonight, but with twelve weeks to go, with continued progress like this, I am starting to have positive thoughts about my four hour Boston goal.

To top off the positive developments, I have now lost 5 pounds since the start of training and am at 163. (New Edit) On Tuesday, Jan. 27, I had my body fat measured again and am down to 15.9 from my original 17.2. Stacy said that I probably lost 8 pounds of fat and put on 3 of muscle.

With any luck, and no snow, I am planning on doing my 20 miler with my Dana-Farber teammates from a gym in Watertown, where we then do the majority of the run in Newton, on a series of hills, the last one of which has its own nickname, Heartbreak.

Sorry no pics for now, but I may have the slug run picture to add to this post below so you don't have to just look at my writing.

"No one, I think, is in my tree

I mean, it must be high or low That is, you can't, you know, tune in, but it's alright That is, I think it's not too bad"

The above lyric is from Strawberry Fields Forever, and John Lennon explained in an interview before his death that "Well, I was too shy and self-doubting. Nobody seems to be as hip as me is what I was saying. Therefore, I must be crazy or a genius — “I mean it must be high or low,”
I quote it here because it's how I have been feeling about my training, with only 4 official weeks gone and 14 left to go before Boston, I am alternating too much between euphoria and disappointment about my workouts. My last big workout was a 15 miler on Saturday in 2:35, which left me very happy. It's probably just as well that I didn't blog after one of my less satisfactory runs. However, I am reminding myself that I need to look at the big picture of progress and not put too much stock on any one workout; one reason being that I don't need to be making those around me ride the roller coaster with me, and another that a positive attitude leads to positive results. I actually am rewriting this after blogspot ate the first draft, and in the writing and reviewing I became much more optimistic about how things are going. I don't think John Lennon was a genius or crazy, but pretty darn good, and overall, my training has not been the running equivalent of either genius or crazy, but overall, I am pretty darn happy (today) with where my training is at.

Today's completely random and unrelated to running thought. I am now 10 years older than John Lennon was when he died. Somehow it makes his murder even more wrong.

Back to running, and back to the last time I posted, I will summarize my life and my training, and I can't believe its been since December 18th when I last posted.

On December 19th, not yet officially winter, there was a big snowfall. I did my first ever foreclosure sale on Saturday, and between the weather and the economy, and the fact that the bank had let people know their faxed in bid was pretty high, not a single person showed up. It was fairly depressing to be in the empty house the Saturday before Christmas, wondering where the family now was. When I got home I did a 13 miler on the treadmill at home, and I don't remember a thing about it, except that I was grateful to have a home and to be running in it.

Monday December 22nd would be a euphoric treadmill workout. I did a "ladder" speed workout where, in between a 10 minute warmup and cool down jog, I ran 400 meters, then 600, 800 1200, then back down the ladder for 800, 600, and 400, with a 400 meter rest in between each set, at paces between 7:15 for the 400 and 7:30 for the 1200. When I run these on the treadmill, as opposed to the track, I measure the meters by time, so for 400 meters I run for 2 minutes, 600 for 3, 800 for 4 minutes etc, so I was probably exceeding the distances at the paces I was going. While I had no elevation on the treadmill, so I would be going at a slower pace if I were outside with wind resistance, I was thrilled that I did everything called for in the workout plan.

Tuesday afternoon, December 23rd, we left for Boston to attend my first Celtics game in Boston since 1986 (although we had seasons tickets to 4 Celtics games in Hartford through the early 90's, when they stopped coming). One of the radio announcers said it was the worst traffic in Boston he could ever remember, and Route 128 looked as it did during the blizzard of '78, sans the snow. The team bus for Philadelphia took 55 minutes to go from their hotel, the Four Seasons ,(the NBA is not a bad gig) to the Garden, a distance of 1 mile. And the Celtics center, Kendrick Perkins got to the game 15 minutes before it started. We missed just a few minutes of the first quarter. We took our niece Sarah and her husband Jonah, whose wedding we had attended in October. Jonah was born and bred in L.A. and is a Laker's fan, who took it very well when the lead in the 4th quarter was large enough so the "Beat LA" chant was started.

The next day during a nice visit with friends I had a talk with Jack Fultz, the Dana-Farber coach and the Boston Marathon winner in 1976. When I mentioned my training and my goals, he did mention that if one has trained well, it is possible to set a personal record despite the hills, since the course is a net downhill run.

On Christmas day I ran 13 miles in an unimpressive 2:22. I ran by myself as I got stood up by a priest, on Christmas. Actually, I was honored that Father Tom would want to run with me badly enough that he would ignore the likelihood that he might just be a bit too tired to run after midnight mass and early morning mass. We had intended to run together for a couple of years, at least since I had helped coach him for his first marathon but it had never happened. I am Jewish, and my wife is Catholic, so we are into interfaith understanding and celebrating diversity, and I did like the idea of running with a priest on Christmas, but instead waited two more days to run 6 miles in about an hour with Father Tom and my friend Tim, on Mason's Island, adjacent to Ender's Island where Father Tom lives and works. I have attached a couple of blurry pictures, the first I took with the new light camera, of that run.

Monday, Dec. 29th, was another treadmill speed workout, scheduled to be 6x 800 meters at 7:25 pace. This is where my lack of diligence in posting shows up, as I don't really remember what I did, I think I did 4 or them. I confess this so I will make more of an effort in posting more regularly.

Below is a picture of how I spent New Year's Day, in 2004. It was far too cold and windy to consider that this year, and in addition we had snow on New Year's Eve. So instead I headed to the gym to run 13 miles on the treadmill. My receptionist/legal secretary Nikki is running her first half marathon in Phoenix on January 18th, the same race as Kristina is doing the full marathon in, and I have been having fun giving her advice and talking running. Nikki ran on the treadmill next to mine, which made it more bearable, especially because someone had cranked the heat up way to high in our gym. I even went outside in my shorts to cool off after 6 miles. So I was very pleased to run my 13 at mostly 9:30 pace, for a mile with the proper elevation of 1%, and a couple of the miles at 10 minute pace. I was amazed that despite the miserable cold, Tim and 200 other runners still did the New Year's Day race and went in the water. It leaves from Boston marathon winner John Kelley's house in Mystic, and goes 5 miles to Groton Long Point and the beach, and then some hardcores run back to Johnny's house. The editor of Runner's World, Amby Burfoot, always shows up to run despite having run in Central Park at midnight on the night before.

Saturday, January 3, (finally my blog is in the right month and year), I did the first slug run in New London. Slug runs are another indication of how wonderful our region is for running. They were started by some of our elites training for Boston, I think about 20 years ago. It is so hard to train in the winter, they started to do their long runs together, and it has evolved into quite a large group, there are hundreds on the email list, and as you can see from the traditional before the run photo below, turnout is usually over 40 people. At one of the first runs in the beginning, if not the first one, someone fell and injured themselves, making their shirt a bloody, dirty mess, yet the person kept running. The shirt has never been washed and every year is presented to the person who, during that year's slug runs, does the dumbest thing as voted by his or her peers.

Yet the slug run has evolved into a run for all abilities. Each week a host puts out courses of at least 3 different mileages, people bring food and drink, and after the run everyone socializes. This happens every Saturday from the first Saturday in January until the first in April. The one on January 3rd happened in New London, after still another snowfall. The six mile course I ran went by the house I grew up in. And some things haven't changed a lot since I grew up, New London is still the leader around here when it comes to poorly clearing snow from the roads. I was supposed to do 6 miles, with 2 easy, 3 at 8:15 pace, and 1 easy. I never came close to 8:15 pace, but finished in an hour.

I am up front in the olive. Nikki is in here and so is Helen, my friend and one of my blog followers.

Monday the 5th was 15 weeks before Boston, and I did not have a good speed workout. That night, I started a Monday and Wednesday night swim program for triathletes at the Mystic YMCA that continues through February, figuring that I need to get better at swimming for tri season, and that the swimming would do my body and my running some good. Tuesday night I met up with Coach Al again, who is giving free lectures for the month on the three elements of triathlons, plus nutrition. I don't want to take the time here to describe my history with swimming, but can say I learned more in 1 hour about swimming than I learned in many years previously.


Wed. Jan 7, I was supposed to do 7 miles at 8:45 pace, and was happy that I did 5 of them.

Sat. January 10. I already told you I ran 15 miles in 2:34. I did it without ever leaving my street, which is just under 3.8 miles long, or 7.5 roundtrip, of which I did two. I was throwing in a 9 minute mile as late as mile 9, and didn't really tire until mile 12. I was supposed to do this long run in Boston on Sunday with my Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge teammates, but the run was cancelled due to the snow forecast. We still went to Boston after the run, to have dinner with Stephanie, the doctor from the Around the World trip described in my other blog, and her significant other, a land use professor at Harvard. He was quite interested in my take on Kelo v. New London, with my having grown up in the City and knowing so many of the players.

Monday, Jan. 12. I don't think I fully recovered from my speed work, and managed only 3 miles of so-called speed on the treadmill.

Wednesday, the 14th, I took a bike class at the Y instead of swimming. This was taught by Coach Al, and many of the best area bikers and triathletes showed up, and me. It was incredibly hard, but one of the nicest and best athletes in our area, T.J. told me his running never really took off until he started to bike. So I am debating trading the Wednesday swim for this class, but I don't think my hamstrings have fully recovered yet.

Thursday, the 15th, I did a tempo run, 5 miles at 8:45 on the treadmill. I would have gone 7 if I had more time.

So I am pretty much caught up at last. It is so cold out that I am going to do 17 miles on the treadmill. I have run a bunch of 20 milers on the treadmill, so I know I can do it, a lot of runners refuse to go that long on one, but it still won't be as much fun as going outside. I have run in 5 degree temperature before, and I only lasted a mile. This a.m it was minus 6 at my house. It probably can't happen, but if it is minus 6 on April 20th, I am not running Boston.

Next post will be much quicker, I promise.

Loose Lips Sink Ships, Loose Hips Win Marathons

As promised, this is all about my speed lecture. Last Sunday, I drove to the West Hartford Fleet Feet Sports Store, for a clinic by Coach Al with the promising title of "LEARN THE SECRETS TO RUNNING EASIER AND FASTER! " Al has run a 2:39 Boston without ever running more than 40 miles in a week, because his body would break down. Quoting from his web site, "His approach to coaching revolves around a more holistic, balanced approach that includes Yoga, flexibility and mobility training, and smart functional strength training. Most importantly, he advocates a balanced approach that blends training and racing goals within the context of the “triangle of life,” which is family, work, and sport. "

Since his body would not support more than 40 miles per week, he analyzed running form and the body and adopted a workout program to address what the body is doing during a run. For instance, he told us about the difference between concentric (contracting) muscle motion, and eccentric (elongating) muscle motion. When you are running, your quads are generally in an eccentric motion, so a runner wants to be building strength in your quads while they are enlongating. That machine in the gym you sit in with your knees starting at perpendicular, and pushing your ankles up to parallel, is a concentric motion, and thus not helping you with running. Of course, he has lots of exercises, some using balls and the bosu, that build up your strength for running, especially your inner core strength. Of course my wife Jane has been telling me for quite some time that I need to be working with the ball and the bosu, and she was so happy that someone else told me about it that she didn't even gloat when I told her she was right.

The first thing we did was go into the parking lot of Fleet Feet and run in the cold while he videotaped us. He will use software to analyze our running and send us the video. We then watched video of the men's Olympic marathon leaders running and we were able to see several things of importance. What makes up speed is stride length and pace of leg turnover. What helps both those items is strength and flexibility in the hips, thus the title of this post. We could see in the video how fluid their hip motion was, and with their strength, how their stride length and pace did not lessen after mile 20, like mine always has done. While we got a DVD of some of the exercises that Al prescribes, I bought the full DVD for Runners. I also hope to go to some lectures he is giving at the Mystic Y on Tuesday nights in January.

Al had a lot of other interesting ideas, including doing some of the exercises immediately before running, to train you body to use what it has just had strengthened in your running. It was interesting that he had not heard of my 3 day a week Furman university marathon training program, and was a little sceptical that you could train for a marathon on only 3 days of running, but I really didn't get to explain how the thoughts behind that program and his are very similar, that cross training can take the place of more running.

I also want to give a shout out to Stephanie, the owner of Fleet Feet in West Hartford for hosting this and many other useful programs for runners. Since we had about a dozen of us in the front of the store, there were a lot of potential customers who wondered if the store was even open. If you look at her interesting biography, you will see she took her diagnosis of Lupus and fought back by running marathons.

And I do want to reiterate about how friendly and supportive Al is as a coach. One of the things that I love about running and triathlons is that the vast majority of elite athletes are welcoming and supportive of us everyday competitors who aren't ever going to be at their level. I have met many of the elites, including Boston Marathoner winners Johnny Kelley, Jack Fultz, , Joan Benoit, Bill Rogers, and Utta Pippig, as well as Grete Waitz and Dick Beardsely, and they all just are happy that we are out there doing the sport they love to the best of our abilities. I will never forget a 5k in Providence where the Ethiopian contingent was relaxing at the post race party and talking to anyone who approached them with huge smiles on their faces. While I have met one or two very good runners who are a little condescending, they are such a small minority that I wonder why I ever thought Al would be anything but down to earth. The only thing that I can say in my defense is that his accomplishments are amazing. Again from his website, Al "is a 25-time marathon finisher with a Personal Best of 2:39 at the Boston Marathon, as well as being a 9-time Ironman Triathlon finisher, including having qualified for and finished 3-times at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. His other Personal Best’s range from 16:30 for 5K, to 7 hours 19 minutes for a 50 mile run, and 4 hours 29 minutes for the Half Ironman/70.3 distance. " So who would have thought he would be so helpful to someone like me.

168 and 17.2

168 is my current weight and 17.2 is my current body fat, as measured by my trainer Stacy. That measurement was necessary for me to see where I am, because we have been changing my body by making me stronger, including the use of free weights, thereby increasing my weight, but with muscle, not fat. Before this change, I would have said my ideal running weight would be in the low 150's, I think I was around 156 when I did my PR of 3:54 in Chicago in October 2006. Stacy and I agree that I will be in great shape for Boston if I can take off about 10 pounds before April 20, so 158 would be fine. In case you don't know me, I am just 5'8"although some day I am sure that a government agency is going to indict me for claiming to be that tall when I might be closer to 5'7 and 3/4ths. And yes, I am a big (as opposed to tall) Dustin Pedroia fan since he won the MVP award while being by all accounts shorter than me, even though he is officially listed as 5'9.


From my heaviest I lost 28 pounds, and at some point I will tell you how I did it since its good for me to remember, having given some of those pounds back. My pre weight loss Marathon PR was in Tampa in 2004 when I ran a 4:16. And it certainly makes sense that you can run faster carrying less weight.

After my run of 12.5 on Saturday, I was pretty sore on Sunday, so I skipped my weight class and went to yoga. From there I went to this seminar on running faster, which will be the sole focus of my next post, the title of which I have already posted to Facebook, increasing the pressure on me to post this and finish and post that.

This week has gone pretty well. Monday was the official start of my 18 week program, and I was supposed to do my speedwork with a 10- 20 minute warm-up, then do 12x 400 with a 90 second rest in between at 7:15 pace, then a 10 min cooldown. On the treadmill I did 8 x 400 with a 90 second rest in between at a 7:18 pace, (8.2 mph) and a total of 4 miles. To estimate 400 meters on the treadmill I just ran for 2 minutes, which was probably more than 400 meters at that pace.

On Tuesday, no cardio, just an hour training with Stacy at the gym, which does get my heart rate up.

Wednesday I was scheduled to do a 6 mile run, 2 miles easy, 3 miles at 8:15 pace, 1 mile easy. And I did a 5.5 mile run, with 2 miles at a 10 minute pace, 3 miles at 8:18 pace (7.2 mph), and then a half mile cool down. I did the miles with no elevation on the treadmill, maybe that's cheating but I wasn't sure I would be able to do that pace otherwise.

Today, Thursday, I was going to do an easy treadmill run, but Jane guilted me into going outside since it wasn't so cold, and I did a very slow 2.5 miles. I am scheduled for 13 miles on Saturday, but I can't do it in the morning, as I am doing my very first foreclosure as the committee of sale. It happens no matter how cold or how much snow is on the ground, (barring the owners' declaring bankruptcy) and I guess I have to treat my run with the same attitude. I don't want to do it on the treadmill, so hopefully the streets will be clear.

The owners have moved out of the house which will make it a lot easier to do the foreclosure sale. I know its my job but it would be really much more emotionally difficult to do the sale if the people still lived there.

18 weeks and a day

I keep having these great ideas for posts to the blog, but have had trouble making it to the computer to post. So here I am at the computer, but without the great ideas. As the Supremes once sang, "One Day, We'll Be Together".

On Wednesday I met my friend and blog follower Helen for coffee. With only five followers so far, I can take all of you out for coffee, pretty much on demand. Maybe I will try and improve the blog before I start begging you to tell your friends.

Inspired by Helen, I went home and did a speed workout on the treadmill, with a warmup for 10 minutes, then between minutes 10-14, 16-18, and 20-24 I ran at 8.0 mph, or a 7:30 pace, with a two minute rest in between. Its not an killer speed workout, but its a start, and I do find it difficult to work myself really hard after work. Then Thursday I did a steady treadmill run, and Friday my trainer Stacy worked me fairly hard with weights at lunch, all the while telling me she was trying to leave me with something for my long run on Saturday. Of course I didn't want to wimp out, so I kept telling her it was ok and to keep pushing. Stacy is also preparing me for the hearbreaking day when she moves to Minnesota, so we spent some of the workout going over how to do workouts on my own.

So Saturday comes and its time for my last long run before the Boston Marathon training schedule kicks in. My friend Tim was sick all week and couldn't run. Helen's sister Hannah wasn't answering either phone or my Facebook inquiry, and I would have called Helen but her Facebook entry said how glad she was that she had already done her run. Since I had been in Florida the week before, for an indoor 7 miler on the treadmill, it took me a while to remember how I wanted to dress for a cold blustery day in New England. The good news is that I made 12.5 miles. And I don't care that it took me 2 hours and 26 minutes to do it, yes its an 11:37 pace, but it was my first run over 8 miles since last June.

It is getting late and hopefully tomorrow I will tell you about this running clinic I went to today. I know this blog will be better with pictures, so I am going to include a couple. I tried carrying a disposable camera at the Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving, it wasn't the easiest thing to carry during the race, so I have ordered a used small digital that should arrive this week. And since I was planning on writing a little about runners in costumes, here is a picture of Wonder Woman. I almost tripped over my own feet taking this picture. And because its cold, here is a picture of me in the Sarasota marathon last March.

time to get going

On Monday, December 15, I will start my marathon training program, as Boston will be "only"18 weeks away. On the one hand, it doesn't seem like enough time for me to be in the shape I want to be in. On the other hand, since this is Marathon number 11, I know that somewhere in March I will be begging the marathon to just come already. I will try not to whine about that, keeping in mind that my friend Kristina had to deal with getting pneumonia the week of her November 23rd marathon, which she correctly bagged, and is continuing her training for January 18th's Phoenix marathon, which she correctly terms the" longest marathon training season evah ." ( We love that dirty water, and the accent).

First, a little about me, and I acknowledge that one of my shortcomings is that I can talk about myself far beyond the tolerance of any normal human being's interest, so maybe it won't be just a little, but I will try. I just don't think I am going to be able to cure myself as long as I am a runner, for telling long stories actually makes me a desireable companion on 20 mile training runs.

I have always loved sports, both watching and participating, and while I was a decent skier, my accomplishments in other sports were limited by a lack of natural talent and a lack of conditioning. I have known both sides of that running t-shirt I sometimes see that says "My sport is your sport's punishment." I did enjoy running a few miles now and then, but I did not know any family members who exercised consistently, and I continued the same pattern of frustration, starting up again for a few months, then off again for an even greater period of time.

I did, however, know family members who had heart attacks. When I was just not yet 23, my dad had one, when he was age 51, and a triple bypass a year later. My uncle had his at age 55, and their dad had died of one at age 55. Since my body type tends towards my father's, I had and have plenty of reasons not to gamble that I inherited my mother's genes.

Still, the year's went by without change on my part, and at the age of 42, in December of 2000, I finally was ready, and with my wife buying me a gift certificate, I started going to a personal trainer twice a week. Having an appointment made all the difference in fixing the inconsistency issue.

Southeastern Connecticut, where I have mostly lived from nursery school through the present, is blessed with a lot of great runners, starting with Boston Marathon winner Johnny Kelley who then coached Boston Marathon winner and Runner's World Editor Amby Burfoot. There are too many others to mention, but my new trainer had won the Hartford Marathon in the 1990's and gone to the Olympic trials. And I had always thought that one day I would be a runner, like every time I was at a friend's house and saw a picture of them racing hung proudly on their refridgerator. So in June 2001, at the age of 42, I ran my first 5k, at the Mystic Aquarium, where I had worked one summer as a kid. I also ran the course the week before since I wasn't even sure I could finish with the hilly terrain, but I did, in over 32 minutes as I recall, and I loved it immediately. I found our running community very supportive of beginners and all ability levels.

So I started training and did my first half marathon in Hartford in October of 2001, and now here I am with 10 full marathons and 10 half marathons on my resume.

My range of marathon times range from a worst 5:09 in Boston 2007, with wind, a torn calf and torn quad and two visits to the medical tent, to a pr of 3:54:03 in Chicago in October, 2006. At my current age of 50 I need a 3:35 to qualify for Boston. It will be tough, but not impossible, but it won't happen in April in Boston. However, if I can do a 4:00 Boston, on a hilly course which is not my friend, then I think I might give it a try and go for the 3:35 later in the year on a favorable flat or downhill course. If I have a terrible Boston, I am going to type some word that appears here, and you will immediately forget that you ever read these goals. God I hope this Hypnosis for Dummies book is on the level.

When I first started with marathoning, I used Hal Higdon's training programs. I loved his conversational style of explaing what you were doing each day and why. However, I did my pr in Chicago using the Furman University 3 day a week running program. It requires you to make your own pace for the different runs based on your best 10k time. I think it will be easier to tell you what I am doing each week, but here are my thoughts about the program. The old school of running said, that in order to get faster you needed to put in more mileage. I am sure that works, if your body can handle it, and the older you are the less likely that is. But the old school also says, quietly, that there really are just 3 important runs a week, a speed workout, a tempo run and a long distance run, the other mileage is not to be run as hard. Furman just has you do cross training instead of those nonhard runs, whether it is spin class, yoga, swimming etc, which are things I like to do anyway, and keep me from getting a little sick of running during the training period. So I don't think the Furman program is that radical, although some old schoolers would beg to differ.

This program also gives me five 20 mile runs, which I find works for me, rather than the three of some other programs. And there is no easing into it. Here is my schedule ahead. My first run, on December 15th, is a speed workout, with a 10- 20 minute warm-up, and running a total of twelve 400 meters runs ( that is a quarter mile, once around the track), at a 7:15 per mile pace, with a 90 second rest in between the twelve sets, then a 10 minute cooldown. Now, there is no way I am going to be able to do all twelve at that pace, but that's ok with 18 weeks to go. The goal is to get to as many as possible as well as I can. Then, on Wednesday the 17th I am supposed to do a 6 mile run, with the first 2 miles easy, then 3 miles at 8:15 pace, then 1 mile easy. Again, I will have to get somewhat close to that 8:15 pace, but don't expect to be there this early. Then on Saturday, the 20th, I am supposed to run 13 miles at 9:25 pace. Well, I expect to be at 10 minute pace for the first 6 or 7, then slower than that, and may not even make it to 13, but again, I am ok with just pushing myself to get there, even though I am not there yet. I reserve the right to change or modify this program if I find I am not catching up.

Even though I have not been running a lot, mostly 6 to 8 miles for my long run of the week, I am still optimistic about my chances of a good run, because I have been working hard at getting stronger, and feel like I have corrected some of the weak points in my body that prevented me from doing better.

Well, that is one long post to make up for my absence. I will try to start posting more regularly, and give you a little more in the way of yucks. Until next time, feel free to comment away.

The first mile is always the hardest

Non runners may find it hard to believe, but even experienced marathoners have days when they don't feel like going for a run. There is a bargain to be made, which is similarly applicable to other life events. Run for 5 minutes, and if you still feel like its not a day to run, that is all you had to do for your end of the bargain, no guilty feelings allowed. On the majority of those days, however, one settles into a rhythm and the run gets easier. So that is the attitude I start with as I start this blog. It is time to put something, anything, to the page, and it will be easier from here.

This is not my first blog. As you can hopefully see somewhere on this page, http://nealandjane.blogspot.com/ was a travel blog of our trip around the world. You will see one post where I was expressing my frustration that this blogspot page was showing up in Vietnamese in Vietnam. Now of course, in starting my second blog, I see that there is a button to push in set up where the page will be translated into English. So there is another of life's little lessons that I can prove in the disobeying; Read the Instructions First!

My next post will be about my fundraising for Dana-Farber by running in this year's Boston Marathon, but here is the link to my Dana-Farber Web page. http://www.rundfmc.org/nealb2009 Until then, thanks for reading.