We Put the Train in Training

Since I had a day off today, and neither of my usual local routes are great for morning runs right now, I headed down to the rail trail for the first time since mid-December. It was a cold, clear, beautiful morning for a run. Did I mention cold? Weather.com said it was in the 40s, which for me means short sleeves or sleeveless. (I never said I was smart.) It was fine, except for my hands. It took about 3 miles before my hands warmed up. I was sure I was going to lose some fingers. I still might. Except, I'm typing; so probably not. I've got to remember to keep a pair of running gloves in my car for mornings like this.

At any rate, it was a very nice run. 3.5 miles north toward York from Brillhart Station, and then back for a total of 7 miles in 1:04:19. Good pace, and I felt great...except for my frostbitten fingers. I really feel like I've got my strength back these last two weeks. I can't yet run the mileage I was running last year, but I'm feeling confident that I can get back to it.


I also saw for the first time, and was briefly impeded by, a train using the tracks along the rail trail. That train stops in York, but this train (I know you can't see me because it's a blog post, but pretend I'm pointing at myself) isn't stopping until it crosses the finish line in Virginia Beach.

Hillbilly Hills Hell

This morning, I headed for the hills. Not to escape the long arm of the law, or anything like that, but to try my hand (er...feet) at the hills between Manchester and Mt. Wolf again, in an attempt to get a better idea of how much of my strength is back. Last Friday's run was very good, and I had a 9:03 pace at 10K distance on Monday night. I'm starting to feel fast again, and I wanted to test myself on the hills.

I ran a 3.8 mile course that started in an unfinished development in Manchester, ran past the middle school, and down Chestnut Street toward Mt Wolf. The climb into Mt. Wolf never seemed that bad to me, but I definitely noticed it more than I remembered. As I started back toward Manchester I was dreading the longer, steeper ascent going in that direction, but that climb actually didn't go as badly as I thought.

(The elevation chart doesn't do it justice.
It's not Mt. Washington or anything, but the hill going up into Manchester is really steep!)

I don't think I could run the Dreaded Druid Hills 10K right now, or do the 2 or 3 out and back loops over this hilly section of Chestnut Street that I was running in preparation for the Dreaded Druid Hills. I'm still a long way from where I was during the summer when this hilly section was the last two miles of my normal 10 mile route, but I thought it was a promising (uphill) step in the right direction.

In fact, the worst part of my run wasn't the hills at all, it was that I had forgotten the iPod and had "Redneck Yacht Club" stuck in my head almost the entire time.

(Redneck Yacht Club!)

A Fogged Up, Rambling Sort of Blog Post

I've not been the best at getting my morning runs in over the last two months. However, I'm determined to do better, especially with summer's warm temperatures already here, meaning that if I don't get my miles in in the morning, I'm unlikely to at all. I've done a good job this week at getting up early on Monday morning for a run in Virginia Beach and then out for two morning runs on Wednesday and today.

Unfortunately on both Wednesday morning and today, I've woken up, checked weather.com, and found a Fog Alert. My York Haven route, with it's curvy, hilly, no-shoulder stretch of York Haven Road, can be scary in perfect weather. My other route, in Manchester, is annoying for morning runs during the school year. There's a lot of school traffic, and there's lots of pedestrians and kids waiting for the bus, which makes me feel like people are watching me. I know. Get over it.

So, on a day where visibility is a concern, my best option becomes loops around Cousler Park, just north of York. In the summer of 2008, I did most of my running around a 1.5 mile loop at the park, trying every day to run my two laps as fast as I could in training for 5Ks. Later that year, I started slowing the pace down a bit and gradually adding distance. As my runs more consistently were going 4-5 miles and taking longer, it became easier to run at a park closer to our house, even though it's hillier and doesn't have as many paths.

Aside from it being 20 minutes from home, I just don't like running anything longer than 3 miles at Cousler. It's not the park. It's me. I don't like running the same loop over and over again. At about 1.5 miles, it's short enough that I need several laps to get a good long run in, making it boring, but long enough that the laps seem to pass slowly. I'd much rather run a long out-and-back or 2 laps of a 3-mile loop than 4 boring laps around Cousler.

(In summary: If you're reading this and are from the York, PA area, Cousler Park is a really nice place to run -- it's just a bad fit for me and my picky route preferences.)

But anyway, I returned twice this week to my old stomping grounds. Wednesday's fog warning proved to be much ado about nothing. It was warm and very humid and gross, and between that and a little bit of a late start it was a struggle to just get 3 miles in.

Today's fog warning was the real deal, but it was a little cooler and I was a little more resolved to have a good run, and in doing so I discovered the exact combination of distance (5.5 miles) and humidity (100%) that renders a normally reliable iPod Shuffle almost completely nonfunctional*.



According to Garmin, this run, at 6.3 miles, was my longest run, since the comeback tour began and according to me, it's a good ending to my best week of running since a mid-December week when I logged 17 miles (13 of which was on my last real long run of the year).

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*It would randomly stop playing every few seconds. It seems to be working again now that it's out of the fog. Phew!

**I guess my Garmin knows that I'm just looking for an excuse to throw it in some body of water -- it functioned perfectly in the fog.

The Running Gods Will Punish Me

I've already blogged about the cursed shirt, a t-shirt from the 2009 Philadelphia Marathon that I really don't feel comfortable or honest wearing since I didn't run the 2009 Philadelphia Marathon. I ran the half, and it was one of the most enjoyable races of my career, but unlike most of the race-logo merchandise they sell at the Philadelphia Marathon Expo, this particular shirt doesn't say "26.2 13.1 8K" on it. It seems like it's ONLY a shirt for the marathon. I tempted the fates by purchasing it, and was punished for my transgressions with a miserable time at the Philadelphia Marathon when I did run it last year. Seriously, that's the ONLY explanation for my 5:07 marathon, right?

I didn't get to run the Shamrock Marathon this year, but I bought something at the expo that makes me a bit nervous:







I wanted to buy one of last years' finisher hats so that I would have a duplicate one to actually use as a running hat (It was $3, awesome!), since I don't to ruin one of my favorite mementos, but I had reservations about buying any other Shamrock Marathon merchandise this year. This post, and the Cursed Shirt post, are mostly tongue in cheek -- I don't think people should wear shirts from races they didn't run (essentially bragging about that race), but I don't think I'm really superstitious. I was just feeling a little down about being at Shamrock packet pickup but not being able to run the marathon.

On the other hand, we were at the expo a day earlier this year and the merchandise selection was better. This was the type of jacket I was hoping to get last year. I'd wanted a jacket, but had to settle for an obnoxiously day-glow green Brooks Podium 1/4 zip that is comfortable but is really styled more for not getting hit by a car at night than for casual wear.

Though I leaned against buying the jacket, I changed my mind after thinking about for a few minutes (Chris encouraged me to buy it, too, for which I'm thankful.). In my defense:

1. The jacket doesn't have a year on it. If it had a year on it, I definitely wouldn't have bought it.
2. It does say "Shamrock Marathon, Half Marathon, and 8K Run". I ran the 8K this year and did quite well.
3. I'm already signed up (courtesy of shinsplints) for the 2013 marathon.

Still, I'm afraid the running gods are going to punish me for this. Then again, today, March 21, was 60 degrees with 92% humidity. It's going to get into the 80s this week, and I seem to be missing out on my favorite running weather this year (cool spring mornings and cold nights). It seems they already are punishing me.

Running and Other Adventures in Virginia Beach

My 8K PR was just the beginning of a very successful and fun long weekend in Virginia Beach. A few minutes after I crossed the finish line, Chris, who wasn't even going all-out because she was in the Half the next day, cruised to a new 8K PR of her own. Train in the hills of Manchester and Mt. Wolf; PR on the Boardwalk.

Now, not only am I thrilled with my 8K PR and the race I ran, more importantly it allowed me to feel like -- and actually be -- a participant in Shamrock Sportsfest and not just a spectator. The post-race party is what really distinguishes the Shamrock races, and we got down to business! It was a warm morning for running, but a perfect for a post-run party that spilled out of the giant tent and onto the beach. My work was done, my only remaining responsibility was to help make sure the beer didn't get skunked.


After cleaning up, we made our way to Abbey Road, a Beatles-themed Belgian beer bar. That combo is awesome, but I admit I was a little beered-out from the post-race party, so I stuck with water and, "The Beatles Burrito", THE BEST BREAKFAST SANDWICH I'VE EVER HAD.


After brunch (it was really lunchtime, we just both got breakfast foods), we drove back over to the Expo. We'd gotten our packets and some Shamrock merch the night before, but hadn't really had time to look around before the expo closed. It was a nice expo, but you've seen one expo, you've seen 'em all. I'm glad we looked around, but neither of us saw anything we had to get.



On Saturday evening, we carb loaded. Chris because she was running the Half, me because I love carbs. We returned to Il Giardino, our Saturday night dinner spot from last year, and had the exact some thing: 1 Peroni each, penne ala vodka, and for dessert chocolate gelato for me and napoleon.

We were tried from our 8K, post-race party, and carb loarding, and Chris needed to be up at 5:30 the next day for a 7:00am race start, so we spent our St. Patrick's Day evening in bed by 8:00, watching March Madness followed by an episode of "Too Cute", an Animal Planet show about adorable kittens.

On Sunday, we headed over to the Half Marathon start at 6:15, and arrived at around 6:45. I said goodbye to Chris as she headed to her corral and got a vantage point just past the start. It was fun to watch the elites go by, and amazingly, I did see Chris as her wave went by. I started my stopwatch and walked back to our hotel to get breakfast.

Because I wanted to avoid the feelings of regret that I'm sure walking by the marathon starting area would foster, I walked mostly on the boardwalk and took pictures of the sunrise over the beach and the famous Neptune statue. Here's the one that I think turned out the best:


Breakfast was amazing. The coffee was amazing for how bad it was -- I should get a finisher medal for drinking it all, but I'd been up since 5:15 so it was much needed. The positive amazing part of breakfast was the advanced technology deployed by the hotel's breakfast buffet: A pancake machine! It was like a copier that shot out pancakes. Awesome! (The pancakes were pretty good, too, though not as good as I'd have the next day...foreshadowing!)



I killed a bit of time reading in our room, watching the clock to see when I should head down to watch Chris finish. I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get a good spot. A little while after I'd grabbed a spot along the railing at the 13 mile mark, Chris ran by sooner than I expected to see her!

I know she'll blog about her her race and share the pictures she wants to share, but I want to just say that as cool as our PRs in the 8K were, she annihilated her half marathon PR by an amount that was ridiculous! A very emphatic highlight to our trip to Virginia Beach, and we celebrated accordingly again in the party tent.


This was the highlight of our trip, but our fun hadn't quite ended yet. After a walk around Atlantic Avenue and the boardwalk and some rest, we headed to CP Shucker's, another favorite from last year, for dinner. Unfortunately, we don't have pictures, but Bay Chips=awesomeness.

It turned out my work wasn't quite done, after all, either. I'd hoped to take a run on Monday morning, and I did get myself up early and head out for 6 miles. I'd planned to run loops along the boardwalk, but as I headed out I realized that I wanted to try to recapture a little of the feeling of my marathon finish one more time and finish my run heading south on the boardwalk past the statue. So, I headed about 2.5 miles north on the boardwalk and Atlantic, ran about a half mile into and out of a nature preserve past the entrance to the Cape Henry Trail (I didn't want to do any trail running, since it had rained overnight). I ended up finishing my six miles just past the statue. It was a good run, especially given the humidity. Though hopefully next time I run by Neptune, it'll be the end of a much better run!

We finished our visit to Virginia Beach with delicious breakfast at Maple Tree Pancake House, and then headed north. At the advice of a friend, I chose to take the Bay Bridge Tunnel and head up the Delmarva Peninsula rather than brave 95 again. I think it was wise; we slid in the home stretch just ahead of Baltimore rush hour traffic. A great trip all around.



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Now I feel like I have a little bit of closure on my marathon DNS, too. I'd been afraid that being down there without running in the marathon would just make me feel sorry for myself, but except for a little while at the expo (which you'll see in a separate post) and while I was walking up the boardwalk on Sunday morning on my way to breakfast, it never really hit me. Instead, I just had too much fun running, post-race partying, eating, exploring Virginia Beach, and watching Chris destroy her half marathon PR. I'd debated whether to sign up for the 8K, and I'm so glad that I did.

All that said, though, being down there motivated me even more. The hotel reservations are made already. The race entry is a done deal (deferred from this year). The running itself seems like it's starting to go well again. I hope to be in Virginia Beach again in a year, picking up a new marathon PR to go with my 8K.

(I'll be back!)

Race Report: TowneBank Shamrock 8K

This was a strange race for me. It definitely wasn't the race I wanted to be running this weekend, as I mentioned previously, but it was the only one I was in, and I so really wanted to run the best race I possibly could. I didn't care about my time, as long as the effort was there.

The odds did not seem to be in my favor. Our trip down to Virginia Beach had been a long and stressful one. We sat for hours in traffic on 95 south before wisely forsaking it for US 1 (we probably should have much earlier) and made it to the expo at around 8pm (it closed at 9). On the way down, the scenario of not getting there for packet pickup for the 8K ran through both our heads. Such a situation would have eliminated Chris from the Dolphin Challenge (the 8K and the Half) and completely washed out my racing schedule. As we were stuck in traffic, a friend's advice re-routed us to route 17, which would bypass Richmond and take us more directly toward Virginia Beach.

Unfortunately, I missed the turnoff for 17 South, and we headed toward Richmond on 1. At least traffic moved, and it became apparent that we make it just in time. We picked up our packets at 8:00, bought some merchandise (Great selection this year, as I'll discuss in a future post), checked into our hotel, and at dinner around 10:00pm, making for a short night. As we left for dinner, our hotel fire alarms were going off, too, and we saw fire trucks heading toward it. Luckily, it didn't burn down.



I lined up in Corral 3, near the back, since I didn't know what to expect. My 8K PR was 42:42 at Al's Run in Milwaukee in 2009. I didn't really expect to touch that. I was tired, and my stomach didn't feel great, but my legs felt good.

And when my corral charged forth from the start, I gave it everything I had. It was strange to be running southward down Atlantic Avenue again, but with a bigger crowd and a faster speed. I think of the course as a highlight reel from the marathon course, the boardwalk and downtown portions of the course, and the finish southbound on the boardwalk just past the Neptune statue. But I didn't even notice the scenery for the most part, just the people I was passing. Complete focus was on weaving through the crowd. I did almost run over a middle-school age kid who cut from all the way over on the right to get to a water stop on the left. No problem, he probably should have looked, but I probably should have been a little more aware of my surroundings, knowing I was passing the water stop, and not calculating pace in my head and looking for the next opportunity to pass.

I didn't have my Garmin, and I missed the mile 1 and mile 2 markers, but I passed by mile 3 at 25:07, which would have been a very solid 5K time time for me. I continued to push myself as hard as I could, and I hit mile 4 at about 33:30. I knew at that point that a PR was in reach, but I'd run this 8K race as if it were a 5K, and I wasn't sure I could hold pace.

The journey up Atlantic seemed interminable, but I finally turned onto the boardwalk for the homestretch. My trainer had warned me last year during the marathon training to not sprint when I saw Neptune -- he's farther away than he looks -- but my whole race had been a sprint this time. Halfway up the boardwalk I tried to drop the hammer, but there was no hammer left to drop. But I'd done enough.

41:40 -- a new PR by over a minute, and I was fired up. It should probably come with an asterisk, as this course has a completely flat elevation profile. I still think I ran a better race at Celtic Solstice, which is pretty hilly, but fast course or not, I gave it everything I had and I'm thrilled to come home Virginia Beach with a PR.

I was very emotional during this race, especially for the boardwalk stretch at the end. The 8K was a flashback the end of my first marathon, except I was moving much faster and in much less pain at the end; a preview, I hope, to the end of my next attempt at the Shamrock Marathon in 2013; and a substitute for the marathon I was supposed to be running the next day. During most of the race, my brain was turned off, but I think other racers probably heard me reciting my new mantra to myself at times throughout the race. Unfortunately, my mantra is "Revenge!" I lost it a little as I crossed the finish line, because I felt like this race allowed me to feel like I accomplished something at the Shamrock Sportsfest this year, even though I couldn't run the race I was originally registered for. A small measure of revenge, perhaps?


While it's hard for me to talk about this race without its personal context for me, I want to be very clear that the TowneBank Shamrock 8K is an excellent event in its own right. The course is scenic and fast, the participant shirt was an very nice long-sleeve green t-shirt, absolutely one of the best race shirts I've ever received, all finishers get medals (I know they're just glorified participant ribbons, but I love 'em), and the post-race party is awesome. Just like the post-race party for the marathon and half marathon the next day, the party features a huge tent with beer from Yuengling, stew from Murphy's Irish Pub (I didn't have any this year, since it was 9am), and live music from Borderline Crazy, a fun cover band that Chris and I could both enjoy, due to their mixture of rock and country covers.

The unmatched post-race party, three distances, swag that's in my opinion as good as you're going to find w/o earning that "Boston" windbreaker, and a fun, scenic destination make me enthusiastically recommend the Shamrock races to any runner.

I focused on just my experience in the 8K here, but it was just part of a great long weekend in Virginia Beach, and I'll detail the rest of our Shamrock 2012 adventures in some other posts this week.

TowneBank 8K

This was not the race that I wanted to be running in Virginia Beach this weekend, but I ran the **** out of it. New 8k PR -- 41:40.

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