December 28

AM: 7 miles easy

I met Fellows over at Westminster for an easy run on the same trails that we ran in high school, catching up on life's developments over the last few months.

December 27

PM: 15:00 tempo, 5:00 jog recovery, 6 x 500m hill repeats (Manor Ridge) - 11 miles

Valerie and I both waited until the afternoon to run after meeting some friends for brunch. I ran the tempo around Memorial Park, hitting the 2.96k mark in 9:48 (so about 5:20 pace) before jogging over the Manor Ridge hills for repeats in 1:44, 1:46, 1:48, 1:47, 1:48, and 1:42. I was pretty spent by the end and jogged home as the sun was setting.

December 26

AM: 10 miles easy/moderate

I got in a steady 10 miles over the hills of Peachtree Battle and Memorial Park in Atlanta in 1:06, feeling pretty good.

December 25

AM: 12 miles easy

I stuck with my Christmas morning tradition of running at Bobby Jones Golf Course near my mom's house. It was beautiful and characteristically quiet, with just me and a few other golfers sneaking in some free holes.

December 24

AM: 10 miles easy/moderate

I met Jason early in the morning during a stopover in Durham before leaving for Atlanta later in the morning. Sadly, this is probably my last run in Durham for a while.

December 23 (82 miles/week)

AM: 16 x 1:00 on/off - 11 miles

I drove up to the Park N Ride from Valerie's parent's house and got in a workout on the hilly fire road in Calvert Cliffs State Park, which is probably my favorite place to run in Southern Maryland.

December 22

PM: 8 miles easy

After getting into Lusby at 2:30 last night, I was feeling pretty creaky today, so I just ran around the neighborhood with Valerie and Tom for a relaxed recovery run.

December 21

AM: 15 miles moderate

I took off in the morning at a quicker pace, finishing a shorter long run around Foster City in 1:36, only to return home to find that my flight had been delayed three hours. That being said, it's still a great feeling to be heading back east for the holidays.

December 20

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: weights, core

After an easy run in the morning, the thought of running again on the treadmill was repulsive, so I got in another session in the gym.

December 19

AM: 5-mile tempo - 10 miles
PM: 6 miles easy, treadmill

I got in a workout this morning around Bayview Park, running two laps (12:48, 12:54) before finishing up the near hill around 26:30 to call it 5 miles. I ran again on the treadmill in an attempt to front load some miles this week with travel coming up.

December 18

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy, treadmill

Runs before and after work.

December 17

AM: 8 miles easy
PM: weights, core

I woke up dragging a little bit, so I kept today to just one shorter run this morning.

December 16 (91 miles/week)

PM: 18 miles easy

I waited until after watching football (this is becoming a reoccurring theme) and head out for my long run around 2:00. I wrapped around Foster City and looped up to Coyote Point before heading back home through Seal Point Park and Mariner's Island. I added on a hair when I got home to make it 18 in 1:59.

December 15

PM: 2 x 1200m, 2-mile, 2 x 1200m with 400m jog recoveries - 11 miles

After a week of just maintenance miles, I sucked it up and drove to CSM for a solo track workout in the cold rain. The effort wasn't anything to really anything to boast about, but it's still a needed positive step following last weekend's lackluster effort, and I hit my modest targets (5:00 pace on the 1200s, and 5:15 pace on the 2-mile). The shorter recoveries (2:30) made for a good effort, which I'm happy about given that I basically just made up this workout during my warmup. My fitness, however, is still a work in progress. Splits: 3:44, 3:43, 10:29, 3:45, 3:43.

December 14

AM: 6 miles easy
PM: 11 miles moderate, treadmill

I got in a shakeout run in the morning, and then sucked it up and got in another run on the treadmill after work in the evening.

December 13

AM: 8 miles easy
PM: weights, core

I was stuck in traffic on the way to work this morning, which left me rushed to get in a truncated run in the morning. I made it to the gym after work as well.

December 12

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: 6 miles easy, treadmill

I drove to Shoreline in the morning and got caught in a little bit of rain on the way in. After work, I ran again on the treadmill at work, watching the Bo Jackson "30-for-30," which was really enjoyable.

December 11

AM: 10 miles easy

I got in a crisp 10 miles in the morning from campus to Bayview Park, but that was it on account of an evening working late. I'm going to take this week to just log maintenance miles (though I'd like to get on the track Saturday) to recovery from the weekend and figure out what the plan of attack is for running in 2013.

December 10

AM: 11 miles easy
PM: weights, core

I shook things up this morning by running from campus across the Dumbarton Bridge over to the dike trails that extend out into the bay. I need to run here more often because it's unquestionably the best running that's accessible in the morning.

December 9 (52 miles/week)

DNR

I actually went out the door from our hotel in Lexington to run this morning in a cold, miserable rain on the shoulder of a highway, but I couldn't even make it my planned 30 minutes because my right calf was locked up. I couldn't run without limping, which gave me a 10-minute walk home in the downpour. Like yesterday during the race, I had a few bleak moments where I was feeling sorry for myself, and that needs to stop.

All in all, while it was great to see a lot of friends (the part of the trip going in that I was honestly most excited about, given the lack of confidence in my fitness), this was a miserable trip beset by a horrible tragedy. Though I didn't know Lauren personally, though I'm still close with a lot of the GRC, her passing put a major black cloud over a weekend that was already pretty awful. It hit a little too close to home for me because my dad passed away in a similar accident, and it occurred on his birthday, no less, right outside of the bar where Valerie, the BCTC, and the GRC guys were enjoying post-race revelry. The whole day left me feeling pretty rattled.

Needless to say, today was more of a day of reflection and reevaluation for me. Running starts in earnest again tomorrow. If I can take away anything from this weekend, it's to stop treading water with my running and tear down some personal barriers in 2013.

December 8

PM: Club XC Nationals, 34:08, 208th place - 12 miles

What an awful day all around. I started going out in what I thought was a conservative pace based on everyone around me, only to whip through the mile in 4:52. It started to officially unravel on me around  4k when my sub-par fitness (compared to last year) caught up with me. While I was catching people on the downhills, I was getting my butt handed to me on the uphills and in the mud. I limped in for what may have been my worst showing a Club Nationals. Unfortunately, it wasn't the greatest day for the team, either (36 of 42 teams). It's time to hit the reset button.

December 7

AM: 6 miles easy

I got in an easy pre-race jog on the Foster City trails before catching a flight to Lexington for Club Nationals.

December 6

AM: 7 miles easy

Relaxed morning run on the Foster City trails before work....Kentucky tomorrow.

December 5

AM: 10 miles easy/moderate, treadmill

Another morning with cold, dark rain pushed me to the treadmill in the gym. It's not something I like doing every day, but it doesn't bother me to just zone out for the run with the TV on, especially for recovery runs. Though I sweat like a whore in church.

December 4

AM: 5:00 hard, 3:30 recovery jog, 4x400m with 1:00 recovery - 9 miles

I ran a tune-up workout this morning from work, meaning that everything was on the Bay Trail after a 25:00 warmup to Bayview Park. The marked 400m stretch is a bit slower than the track, so I was happy to hit times I'd normally see on the track (:70, :69, :68, :68), though nothing earth-shattering.

December 3

AM: 8 miles easy
PM: weights, core

I got in an easy recovery run from work in the morning, followed up with the gym in the evening. I'm cutting my mileage way back this week in preparation for Club XC Nationals on Saturday.

December 2 (75 miles/week)

AM: 15 miles easy

I waited until the monsoon ended in the morning for an easy long run along the Foster City trails. The extra cup and a half of coffee I drank while waiting out the storm meant too many pit stops during the run.

December 1

AM: 6 x 800m with 400m jog recovery, 4 x 200m strides - 11 miles

I went up to the CSM track for a quicker sharpening workout in spikes, but a consistently stiff wind on the home stretch and on again, off again rain literally dampened my effort. I love working out on this beautiful track because it's fast, near my apartment, and you can see half of the San Francisco Bay up on the hills, but the trade off is sometimes the wind can be brutal.I was trying to average 2:20 or better, but I didn't have much luck in the conditions. I shrugged that off an cooled down afterward on the infield for 20 minutes with my lactic-acid filled legs reassuring me that the effort was there. Splits: 2:18, 2:21, 2:21, 2:22, 2:26, 2:21.

November 30

AM: 10 miles easy, treadmill
PM: weights, core

It's been raining for about three days non-stop, and I couldn't bring myself to go out in the cold, dark rain from campus in the morning, which meant another run on the treadmill in the morning followed by a gym session after work.

November 29

AM: 9 miles easy

I got in a tired shuffle around Bayview Park in the morning, but that was it for me today.

November 28

AM: 5-mile tempo, treadmill - 9 miles

Back to the grind after the holiday, I only had time for this one run on the treadmill after work because I came home to find my car had been towed last night. I gradually notched up the pace at 5:21, 5:19, 5:19, 5:19, 5:16 for each mile.

November 27

AM: 6 miles easy

Today was a long travel day back to the west coast that started with a pre-dawn run around East Campus.

November 26

AM: 11 miles easy/moderate
PM: 4 miles easy

I met Jason and Monk in the morning for a run around Durham, catching up on life over the last few months. I'll be seeing them again in less than two weeks in Kentucky. Rattle, rattle...

In the early evening, Valerie and I went for a shake-out run around East Campus before meeting the Askey's for dinner.

November 25 (75 miles/week)

AM: 17 miles easy

I got in a long run around Lake Monticello, running a full lap plus an extra 5 miles on the rolling roads. Valerie, Wilson and I drove back to Durham in the late afternoon.

November 24

PM: 12 miles with 10 x 2:00 on/off

I struck out from the house in Virginia for a run around Lake Monticello: a 10-mile loop around a lake on quiet neighborhood roads. The relentless rolling hills made for a good workout as I darted past people raking leaves and putting up Christmas decorations.

November 23

AM: 10+ miles easy

I went with Valerie's dad, John and her brother-in-law, Tom out to a trail at the southern tip of Shenandoah for 90 minutes of trail running that included several river crossings. We ended up seeing a bunch of wild turkeys and a waterfall after briefly straying off the beaten path. I used my winnings from yesterday to pick up a nice fleece on the way home, which made me feel like this after a morning run in the cool mountain air.

November 22 - Earlysville Turkey Trot

AM: Earlyville Turkey Trot 5k - 16:35, 1st place - 10 miles

Valerie and I drove from one side of Charlottesville to the other in the morning on Thanksgiving. To my surprise, I was a little slower here than last year (16:11), but most of that was in a slower first mile (5:10 versus 4:55 last year). It's a tough course with a lot of climbing in the last 3k, and I'm coming off of an XC race just four days ago, so I'm not too bent out of shape about the slower time. I had to fight a guy off who hung with me in the first mile or so; I was honestly happy to do enough just to win.

November 21

AM: 12 miles easy

I ran for the first time in Durham in months, covering one of my favorite old loops through Forest Hills Park, the WaDuke trail, and back home through campus.

November 20

AM: 5 miles easy, treadmill

I got in an early pre-dawn run on the treadmill at home before catching a flight back to the east coast for Thanksgiving.

November 19

AM: 9 miles easy
PM: weights, core

I took my morning run really easy around Bayview Park, and then knocked out a session in the gym after work.

November 18 (PAUSATF XC Championships)

AM: PAUSATF XC Championships - 32:55 (6.15 miles), 31st overall - 15 miles

I opted to run what turned out to be a really competitive XC race in Golden Gate Park as a tune-up for Kentucky. I probably would have gone out a little more conservatively had I known the course, which was an honest cross country course, but I feel like I hung relatively tough. After a long warm up and cooldown, I got in 15 for the day, and it felt amazing to put on spikes again. I'm psyched about Kentucky in a few weeks.

November 17

AM: 10 miles easy

I took in a relaxed run on the Sawyer Camp trail in the late morning on account of the cross country race tomorrow.

November 16

AM: weights, core
PM: 11 miles easy, treadmill

After a hard effort last night, I wasn't up for running in the morning, so I ran easy after work on the treadmill...again.

November 15

AM: 6 miles easy
PM: 4.5-mile"Uphill" tempo, treadmill - 9 miles

After a shakeout run in the morning, I got stuck at work and couldn't meet Kevin for a workout, so I had to wing it with a hard effort on my own in the evening. After a 4-mile warmup, I set the treadmill at 6:00 pace and at a 1% incline and increased the incline 1% every mile. I was definitely working at the end. Daniel's conversion chart put the last half mile somewhere under 4:45 effort for the last half mile, so I was definitely working by the end.

November 14

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: weights, core

I made it down to Shoreline for the first time in a couple of months. I felt great bounding along the soft surfaces of the shore until I tripped over this small mound in the gravel amphitheater parking lot, completely ravaging my hand like I'd slid my palm across a cheese grater.

November 13

AM: 9 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy, treadmill

I still felt pretty flat this morning running around Bayview, though my morning run was a little better.

November 12

AM: 10 miles easy

After a few heavier days of running, I took this morning easy and slow from campus around Bayview Park.

November 11 (85 miles/week)

PM: 12 miles moderate

Reed and I met in the afternoon to run on the Sawyer Camp trail up at the Crystal Springs reservoir. It was a crisp but beautiful afternoon, and we agreed that we felt much better than expected, closing the last 6 miles in around 36:30 without pushing at all.

November 10

AM: 7'/6'/5'/4'/3'/2'/1' with 50% time recoveries - 14 miles
PM: Journey to the End of the Night - 4 miles

I had a big albeit unconventional day of running with a morning workout around Foster City followed by a reprise of an epic event I ran with Murphy a few years ago, this time with Reed and Varner, which basically involved me chasing people around the streets of San Francisco for a couple of hours with intermittent running and sprinting. Looking back on that served as a reminder that my marathon PR is getting older, and so am I.

November 9

AM: 6 miles easy
PM: 12 miles easy/moderate, treadmill

After a shake-out run in the morning, I was going to run with Carlos and Kevin, but we bailed on our plans at the last minute, so I just got in another run on the treadmill after work, averaging under 6:30 pace.

November 8

AM: 9 miles moderate, treadmill
PM: weights, core

I had another early morning with an 8:00 AM trip to a team offsite at work, so I had to get started early and was limited to about an hour.

November 7

AM: 8 miles easy, strides

I had an early morning meeting, so I had to cut the run a little short, though I still got in strides.

November 6

AM: 10 miles easy

Another easy run around Bayview Park from campus. At least now I have daylight in the mornings.

November 5

AM: 10 miles easy

Easy run this morning from work with loops around Bayview Park.

November 4 (92 miles/week)

AM: 18 miles easy/moderate

I drove down to Rancho San Antonio to meet Kevin, starting a little bit early and adding on afterward with about 1:15 with him in the middle. It was surprisingly warm in the mid-80s, but I felt surprisingly good after workouts on Thursday and Saturday. Things are starting to click and I'm seeing the early signs of getting fit, which is timely with a race coming up again in two weeks.

November 3

AM: 4 x mile with 400m jog (3:00) recovery, 4 x 200m strides - 11 miles

The last time I went up the the College of San Mateo a few weeks ago, the workout was pretty forgettable. Today was much better. I won't say that this was a breakthrough workout, but it more just represented a return to normalcy. It's nice to start feeling sharper after months of treading water, and consistent splits are always a positive sign for me.

Splits: 4:54, 4:55, 4:55, 4:55

November 2

AM: 9 miles easy, treadmill
PM: 6 miles easy, gym, core

After an easy run in the morning indoors, I got in a run after work on the Bay Trail and added on some light strength and core work.

November 1

AM: 5 miles easy
PM: 10 x 500m with 1:30 jog recovery - 9 miles

After a shake-out run in the morning, I got in workout on the campus trail, running a little bit faster than the last time, averaging right around 1:30 for the 500s.

October 31

AM: 10 miles easy/moderate

I got in a run on the treadmill before work. Fortunately with the time change this weekend it will be a little lighter in the morning, keeping me off the treadmill (except in the evenings).

October 30

AM: 10 miles easy

I ran from campus and around Bayview Park. I had a dinner for work in the evening, so just one workout today.

October 29

AM: 14 miles easy/moderate

I ran on the treadmill for 1:31 at the gym at work in the morning but felt pretty good despite flying back west last night. It's still pretty dark in the morning before the time changes, limiting the runs I can do from work for the time being, especially early runs.

October 28 (71 miles/week)

AM: 8 miles easy

This was designed to be somewhat of a recovery week, so I'm going to do somewhat of a shorter long run tomorrow morning. I just went for an easy 55 minutes today instead before I left Atlanta.

October 27

AM: 11 miles easy

In Atlanta, I got in an easy run through Peachtree Battle, looping up to the governor's mansion before coming back down to Memorial Park.

October 26

AM: 3 x 2.96k with 3:00 jog recovery - 11 miles

I contemplated bagging this workout around Memorial Park because I felt a little stale during the warmup, but I reconsidered, wanting a solid effort in this week. I'll have to go back to compare this to workouts of old, but generally this wasn't too bad, hitting 10:10-13 pace on the reps.

Splits: 9:36, 9:32, 9:31

October 25

PM: 6 miles easy

This was just a short shake-out run after flying back to Atlanta all day.

October 24

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: 6 miles easy

I got in a couple of runs before and after work from campus. Headed to Atlanta tomorrow.

October 23

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: weights, core

After I easy run in the morning from campus, I got in a good session in the gym after work.

October 22

AM: 9 miles with 4 miles tempo, treadmill

The trails around work were wet and muddy, so I opted for a treadmill run. I felt good enough that I throw in a short tempo run, starting at 5:27 pace and working down to 5:00 pace in the last half mile.

October 21 (90 miles/week)

PM: 9 miles easy

I ran in Bidwell Park in Chico after a hike in the morning.

October 20

AM: 9 miles easy

Easy run in the morning on the Foster City trails before I drove to Chico to visit my sister.

October 19

PM: 20 miles easy

My 10 miles after work turned into 20 miles. I "slept in" an extra hour until 6:30 this morning and got to work early to get a jump on my day. After work, I went out for a new run from campus over the Dumberton Bridge and found this quiet network of trails along a system of dikes in the East Bay. I turned around at 7 miles when I got to Coyote Hills, and then I added on some of my usual morning routes when I got back to get in 20. I battled the wind in some stretches on the water and wasn't that fast, but generally I felt pretty good.

October 18

AM: 5 miles easy
PM: 1600 (400 jog recovery), 1200 (300), 800 (200), 400 (400), 1600 - 9 miles

After a morning shake-out jog from campus, I met Kevin and Carlos after work in Los Altos for a track workout. The goal was to hit 5:00 on the first and last mile, and cut down the pace on the shorter reps. This wasn't anything to go crazy over, but it was certainly my first meaningful track workout in months, so I'm calling that progress.

Splits: 4:53, 3:40, 2:22, :69, 4:59

October 17

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy

These were just a pair of recovery runs, both from campus before and after work.

October 16

AM: 8 miles easy
PM: weights, core

I was really dragging ass on my morning run, so I kept it shorter and only ran once, though I did make it to the gym after flag football.

October 15

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy

These were just a pair of recovery runs from campus. Nothing major to report except that my stride felt a little asymmetric and it was really windy.

October 14 (87 miles/week)

PM: 18 miles with 4 miles tempo

I took the morning very easy, sipping coffee, eating pancakes and watching the Falcons game before driving up to the Sawyer Camp trail. I ran the length of the trail, which is flat for the first three miles, one way, and then starts rolling along a series of reservoirs from San Mateo to Millbrae. I stopped about 80 minutes in, took a gel, and then tried to run 4 miles at 5:30 pace. Factoring in the terrain, I was pretty much there at 5:25, 5:31, 5:38, and 5:28, which felt like it was plenty enough. I used the rest of the run as a cool down back to the car, where I added on a few minutes up the road to get over 2 hours.

October 13

AM: 14 miles easy, strides

On a sunny and beautiful Saturday in the Bay Area, I got in a nice run on the Bay Trail that wrapped around Foster City before hooking around Seal Point Park and heading back home. I finished up with barefoot strides on the grass field next to home.

October 12

AM: 9 miles easy

After an easy hour in the morning, I booked a much-needed massage in the evening after work. I wasn't surprised to find that my calves and piriformis were ridiculously tight. It made for a some painful but necessary moments.

October 11

AM: 5 miles easy
PM: 15 x 400m @ 5k pace with 200m jog recovery - 11 miles

After a morning shake-out run, I met Kevin and Carlos in Los Altos for a track workout. We ran somewhat of a rust-buster effort, starting at :75 and cutting down to :67 by the end and getting progressively faster. It's been many months since I've seen anything that fast, so it felt good to get back at it. We shared the leads, and generally it felt pretty smooth.

October 10

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: 6 miles easy

My legs are gradually feeling better, but still not perfect. I managed two runs from campus today before and after work.

October 9

AM: 8 miles easy

My calves were a little better today, but not much. I got in an easy hour in the morning before work, but it was pretty slow. I got in some core work and stretching in the evening.

October 8

AM: 6 miles easy
PM: weights, core

Both of my calves were so tender from yesterday that I could barely muster 8:00 pace this morning. Yesterday's race really rocked me. I could barely walk today.

October 7 (94 miles/week)

AM: Rock & Roll Half Marathon - 1:12:43 - 18 miles

Well, this sucked. It genuinely feels like a missed opportunity given the fast course and solid field of competition. In short, I went out a little over my head for where my fitness is right now, covering 4 miles with a small pack in just under 21 minutes. I told myself, right or wrong, that I should stay with them because I'd be better off running with a pack than running by myself.

Shortly after the 4-mile mark, I fell off the pack storming at 1:08 pace and toiled into no man's land for the rest of the race, trying to close the gap but falling off into a steady 5:40-5:45 (marathon) pace that I just couldn't seem to shake out of. This happened despite several attempts at surging, picking up my stride, and other similar efforts to get my shit together. The rest of the race was really a constant and futile fight to stay focused and work my way back up. I was alone until the end, when I barely held off the women's winner.

Not to make a list of excuses too long, but there were just a number of issues today. For one, I made the rookie mistake of trying a new pair of flats. Unfortunately, the Lunarspiders I opted to race in tore up my feet pretty badly, leaving me with painful blood blisters on both feet that I could feel festering as the race wore on. After the race, my stomach was completely rocked. I spent a lot of the afternoon suffering in the bathroom, so clearly something was wrong there (my guess is poor hydration, but I can't be sure).

Beyond that, I can't point to anything that was really bad about the opportunity. The conditions were great; the competition was stiff with a bunch of guys under 1:10; and the weather was cool in the 50s. There's nothing more to do at this point than recover, put my head down, and keep working to get better.

October 6

AM: 9 miles easy

I made it out for an hour on my own from home through Foster City.

October 5

AM: 6 miles easy
PM: 10 miles easy

I ran before and after work, both times on my own.

October 4

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: weights, core

I was surprisingly tired this morning, so I kept it easy and flat from campus to Bayview Park.

October 3

AM: 5 miles easy
PM: 6'/5'/4'/3'/2'/1' with 2:00 recovery jogs - 10 miles

With a race this Sunday at the Rock and Roll San Jose Half Marathon, I opted for a lighter solo workout this week, just running from work to Bayview Park to get it done. I felt good enough despite some G.I. issues toward the very end.

Speaking of which, I got a surprise call from the San Jose Mercury News to be interviewed about "second-tier" professional runners trying to make it in the sports. While it's more than generous to call myself "second-tier" next to the other guys mentioned above me in the article, I can see where I provided context for framing the struggle and sacrifices that some guys make to live the dream. Here's the link to the story:

http://www.mercurynews.com/olympics/ci_21698945/danville-native-ready-rock-n-roll-san-jose

October 2

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: 6 miles easy

I got in an easy run at Bayview Park in the morning, and I went to a newer, shorter trail near the Dumberton Bridge from campus at sunset after playing flag football.

October 1

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: weights, core

I got in the standard run from work and made it to the gym afterward.

September 30 (84 miles/week)

Above Donner Lake

PM: 10 miles moderate

While my friends from Duke went rock climbing en route to driving home from Lake Tahoe, I used the time to get in a nice run around Donner Lake. I floated down the mountain highway and around the lake at 6:20-6:30 pace...at least until I had to go back up to where the above photo was taken near where we'd parked the cars. The last 1.5 miles were straight up the highway toward Donner Pass, leaving me thoroughly taxed by the end, especially at above 6,000 feet. I definitely felt the altitude, but like yesterday, today's run was pleasantly invigorating.

September 29

View of the north shore from the Tahoe Rim Trail

AM: 17 miles easy/moderate

I struck out from the rental house in Tahoe, having an idea of where I wanted to go, and I knew that I wanted to get in at least 13 miles. I headed down the main highway that circumnavigates the lake before turning up a highway that connected with the Tahoe Rim Trail. At 6000-7000 feet, I could start to feel the altitude during a 2.5-mile climb to the trail.

Once I got there, I ran up 1.5 miles to an overlook of the lake. After drinking in the views for a few minutes, I turned back and headed down the highway before turning down a fire road. This was by far the quietest part of the run. Several miles went by where I didn't see another soul, but I knew that the trail was taking me gradually back down the hillside toward home. I finished the run with some uneventful shoulder-hugging on the roads to make it 17 miles.

With all of the climbing, altitude, and trails, I barely managed 8:00 pace for the race, but this was a really solid effort that left me totally wiped out by the end. This was probably for the best given that the views weren't the only thing I drank this weekend. I felt the need for a long, tough run, and I certainly got one.

September 28

AM: 9 miles easy

I got in an easy hour in the morning from work before driving to Lake Tahoe in the afternoon with some friends from grad school for the weekend.

September 27

AM: 6 miles easy
PM: 7 x ~500m hill repeats - 10 miles

After a morning shake-out run, I met Carlos at Shoreline for a set of hill repeats on the same hill near Google that we ran with Kevin a few weeks ago. We both conceded that we weren't feeling our best, but we still averaged close to what we did last time (~1:46) with one more rep. Unlike last time, we didn't see any rattlesnakes.

September 26

AM: 9 miles easy

I had an early meeting this morning and had to knock out my run quickly from work.

September 25

AM: 4 x 8:00 on/2:00 off - 12 miles
PM: 4 miles easy

I made up for yesterday's aborted workout with a solid effort this morning. I felt good enough that my two-lap split around Bayview Park was with 30 seconds or so of the straight tempo run I ran just last week.

I played flag football in the evening, but I felt good enough afterward that I got in another 30 minute run in the wetlands near campus.

September 24

PM: 7+ miles easy/moderate

I caught an early flight back to San Francisco in the morning, which left the evening as my only running option. I attempted a tempo run but had to abort it about 10 minutes in because of some stomach issues.

September 23 (90 miles/week)

PM: 10 miles easy

I got in a late-afternoon run, finding a couple of new paths above the lagoon in Carlsbad.

September 22

AM: 11 miles easy

I got in a run mid-morning from Eric's house to the soft trails of the lagoon while meandering through some other neighborhoods.

September 21

AM: 15+ miles easy
PM: weights, core

I got up early to do my long run this week, got to the gym after work, and then caught a flight to San Diego for the weekend to visit my brother and his family.

September 20

AM: 5 miles easy
PM: 4 x Wake Forest Miles - 11 miles

After an easy shake-out run in the morning in the wetlands, I met Carlos and Scott after work at Rancho San Antonio for some "Wake Forest Miles" on one of the park's wide dirt paths.

The gist of this workout is that you run 800m up a slight incline at around 10k pace, immediately turn around, and "recover" on the downhill at tempo pace: roughly even splitting the two. This could also be reinterpreted as holding tempo pace on the way out and dropping to 10k pace on the way back, but factoring in the terrain.

The recovery between sets is tiny, which makes it tough. We took between 60 and 90 seconds recovery for each.

I tried to hang with Carlos but with limited success as he crept away from me on each rep as we flew past other runners, a flock of quails pecking at the brush, and a few wondering deer. I was working, but  that old familiar sting is starting to feel good again. For me, working out with groups, especially when you have someone else pushing you, gets you in shape much more efficiently than trying to go at it alone.

Splits: 2:36, 2:38, 2:39, 2:30, 2:38, 2:30, 2:41, 2:26

September 19

AM: 8 miles easy
PM: 4 miles easy

I had to cut my morning run short on account of an 8:00 meeting. I wasn't planning on running again, but I mustered up another half hour after playing flag football after work.

September 18

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: weights, core

I ran from work again in the morning and made it to the gym in the evening as well.

September 17

AM: 25:00 tempo - 9.5 miles
PM: 6.5 miles easy, treadmill

I got in an early morning tempo run around Bayview Park, which has a nice 2.25-mile flat loop circumventing the park. I negative split the laps, but other than that I felt a little flat, running about 5:30 pace. I'll give myself some slack given that I started the workout at 6:30 in the morning.

After work, I went to the gym and got in a second run on the treadmill while watching the Falcons play on Monday Night Football.

September 16 (81 miles/week)

AM: 12 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy

I got in a couple of runs, first on the Sawyer Camp Trail and second from home in Foster City, on an otherwise uneventful Sunday to cap off the week.

September 15

AM: 15+ miles moderate

Today's run on the Dipsea Trail was memorable.

I drove up to Marin to meet Varner and Sam in Mill Valley to trace the route of the Dipsea--a famous trail race that runs from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach. To give you an idea of the difficulty of the terrain, we covered not quite 16 miles in 2:22. Normally for us, that would easily be 20 miles or more on reasonable terrain. Not today.

The trail is an old hat for Varner, who's won the Dipsea and Double Dipsea trail races a bunch of times, but relatively new for Sam and completely new for me. With more than 4,000 feet of climbing, the trail reduced us to hands-on-knees power hiking, especially on the trails infamous sets of stairs. On the steeper descents (especially the stairs), Sam and I settled for carefully staying upright, cursing under our breath as Varner bounded down like a frightened jackrabbit, knowing where to put every footfall.

One stretch on the way out included a 20-minute climb, and another stretch on the way back included a climb that lasted nearly a half hour. Despite our pedestrian-on-paper pace, there were several times where I could hear my heartbeat in my ear drums, but we were rewarded with some great views of the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean flanking us to either side at the top of the highest of a series of named climbs. Once we got to Stenson Beach, we took just enough time to slurp down a gel and some water before during back and doing it all over again.

I finished tired, dirty, and dry mouthed, but days like today make you tougher and stronger.

Some of the aforementioned stairs.

September 14

AM: 11 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy, strides

I felt a lot better when I woke up, so I made it back to work and jumped right back into running. I felt surprisingly spry in the morning. I ran both runs from work along the Bay Trail and Bayview Park.

September 13

Sick - DNR

I felt bad enough that I stayed home from work today. I'd rather go all in to kick this now and resume normal running tomorrow.

September 12

PM: 6 x 520m hill repeats - 11 miles

I'm still fighting a cold, so I slept in and met Kevin and Carlos at Shoreline Park for a set of hill repeats on the XC course by Google. We started slower (1:49) and ended up down to 1:42 by the end. Kevin and I hurdled a rattlesnake at one point. It was only about a foot long, but that was more than sufficient to scare the crap out of me.

September 11

AM: 8 miles easy
PM: weights, core

I woke up with a sore throat and the onset of a cold, so I cut my run a little short. I made it to the gym after work, but even that was a little uninspiring as I just felt drained.

September 10

AM: 4 miles easy
PM: 10 miles easy

I shuffled a half hour around the neighborhood before a DMV appointment, and then went out for a real run after work around Bayview Park. I saw a skunk at one point. We exchanged looks and very clearly wanted nothing to do with the other, so I went about my business.

September 9 (88 miles/week)

AM: Garrin XC 5k - 16:43, 12th place - 15 miles

After a long warm up on the course with Alex and Sam, I jumped into the first race of the fall season in one of the PAUSATF XC series events. Despite the relatively small field of about 100 guys, these races draw the Northern CA competitive teams and are thus pretty, well, competitive.

The course in the southern East Bay hills was as tough as advertised, featuring a flat first and last 800m but lots of shorter but steeper hills and tight turns in between. Given that I wasn't that confident in my fitness going into the race, I feel like I actually competed well, even fighting off a WVTC runner in the last quarter mile. It's not every day that I out kick someone, and though I'm still on the upswing to racing shape, I was happy to fight a good fight.

I struck out on a long cool down with Sam and a few of the Transports guys, but about 30 minutes in I started to seriously bonk. I made it about 50 minutes before calling it a day, quaffing down some water and inhaling a Quiznos sub with Sam.

September 8

AM: 12+ miles easy

I made it up to the Sawyer Camp Trail. I'm still unpacking boxes during my rather gradual move in to my new place.

September 7

AM: 6 miles easy
PM: 11 miles easy

After a solo shakeout run in the morning from campus to Bayfront Park, I met Kevin and Carlos after work for a run at Rancho San Antonio.

September 6

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: weights, core

I ran easy in the wetlands in the morning from campus, though I was slowed a little bit because the trail was really muddy this morning. The gym session after work was solid as I continue to creep up to what I'm hoping will be a faster, fitter destination by November and December.

September 5

AM: 12 x 400m with 1:00 jog recovery - 9 miles
PM: 7 miles easy

Simply put, the workout this morning was shitty. I was faster en route during my 500s last week on the same trail around the FB campus. Even with a little bump in the trail, averaging :72s felt pretty rough. I'm assuming (hoping) this is just training finally catching up to me, or just a tired body after a lot of air and road travel last weekend. I made it out after work but didn't feel a ton better.

September 4

AM: 5 miles easy

I got in late last night and was running on little sleep today, so a five-mile shuffle in the morning is about all I could muster.

September 3

AM: 13 miles easy

I drove up with Valerie to the Park-N-Ride from her parent's house after driving from New Jersey to Maryland last night. I ran down to Solomon's Island and back, slogging through a two-minute downpour early on that made for a muggy remainder of the run.

September 2

AM: 9 miles progression run, treadmill

Valerie and I got up mid-morning in New Jersey, shaking off the previous night's dancing and wedding celebration. I jogged the first 5 miles easy at just under 7:00 pace before cranking the machine up to 5:30, 5:27, 5:24, and finally 5:21 pace. It felt great to run hard after a bunch of travel this weekend, though I was sweating like a harlot in church by the end thanks to the still indoor air.

September 1

AM: 6 miles easy

I snuck in a run at the hotel while in New Jersey between our friend Pat's wedding ceremony and reception.

August 31

PM: 6 miles easy, treadmill

I woke up early and jogged an easy run on the treadmill before flying back to the east coast.

August 30

AM: 16 miles easy
PM: weights, core

Because of travel this weekend back east for my friend Pat's wedding, I rose early and knocked out my long run from campus. I made it around Bayshore Park and then added a loop in the wetlands. I made it to the gym after work as well.

August 29

AM: 10 x 500m with 1:30 jog recovery - 11 miles

The bike trail that snakes its way around the perimeter of the Facebook campus has kind of a peculiar set of markings: six hash marks set 100m apart, totaling 500m. I lost the splits for this, but I was shooting for goal 5k pace and averaged around 1:30, which is fine given that there is a slight rise in the middle of the rep.

I am taking this as a sign from above, at least for the short term, that I need to be working on my speed. Given how accessible this for me in the mornings, whereas any tracks are kind of out of the way, I anticipate a lot of weekday morning 300-500m repeats in my future, at least this season. I

August 28

AM: 10 miles easy

Easy run in the wetlands from work.

August 27

AM: 11 miles moderate

I got in 11 miles on the treadmill while waiting on the movers. I've been living out of a suitcase and on an air mattress for a month, so that's quite enough.

August 26 (97 miles/week)

AM: 20 miles easy

I met Sam Robinson, who I hadn't seen in about two years but trained with a fair amount during my 2010 summer in Berkeley, for a run in Redwood Canyon Park in the East Bay hills. It's a pretty massive place that let us catch up on and meander through the trails for almost 2.5 hours, reminiscing over long runs past. I called it a day before he added on a few more.

This was my highest week of mileage since March. Next week will need to be a little flexible because of travel and my friend Pat's wedding in New Jersey, but I want to see some triple-digit weeks and more workouts in September. I'm ready to get down to work in earnest.

August 25

AM: 3 x 2k with 400 jog recovery, hurdle drills - 10 miles
PM: 7 miles easy

A scenic but windy new home for track workouts.

I made it to the track for my first workout since May (at least). I'm officially tired of base-building, and if I'm going to be living out here on my own for the next five months, I'm determined to use that time to get fit: ideally, really fit. Fortunately, my new place is just a five-minute drive to the College of San Mateo, which has a very pretty mondo-surfaced track in the hills of its namesake.

The downside is that it was incredibly windy up there today, and I also got there right as a football game was getting started. So not only were my splits slow, but my fourth rep was truncated at 950m when the football team ran on the field for its scrimmage. The coaches moved benches blocking lanes 1-3 on both straightaways, and with a wind that starched flags, I'm guessing I was losing 2-3 seconds per lap. Splits: 6:27, 6:30, 6:35.

Honestly, that doesn't really matter because I felt reasonably good despite the slow times, and I'm officially ready to get back on the track again after four months away from it. After warming up and cooling down around the campus, I did hurdle drills for the first time in two years as I try to stay committed to doing the "little things" this season.

Later on in the evening, I went out for a shake-out run in Foster City, feeling a little cold as fog and darkness rolled in.

August 24

AM: 10 miles easy

I repeated the same run as yesterday. The new trail is a little muddy, but other than that I have no complaints. I headed up to the city to see the Braves play the Giants after work.

August 23

AM: 10 miles easy

I ran through the wetlands from work in the morning, adding on a couple of extra miles on the bike path around campus.

August 22

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: 4 miles easy

I ran at Shoreline in the morning. In the afternoon, I jogged over to look at the substation near Facebook's campus to discover a pretty awesome trail that winds through the adjacent wetlands. They were a little muddy, but it was really quiet out there. This definitely will be a place where I do a lot of running.

August 21

AM: 10 x medium hills repeats plus 10:00 tempo - 10 miles
PM: weights, core

I got in a session of hill repeats on the north side of Bayfront Park. The first couple were around :40 up to the antenna, but I lengthened the rest to be around :50. I took maybe a minute of recovery before rolling right into the tempo, stretching back to Facebook's campus from the park.

August 20

AM: 9 miles easy, strides,
PM: 6 miles easy

I ran along the bike path from work to Bayfront Park in both the morning and the evening.

August 19 (91 miles/week)

PM: 12 miles easy/moderate

I went up to the Sawyer Camp Trail in the afternoon. It's hard to believe it, but I think this is my highest week of mileage since Boston in April. It's been a hectic summer up to this point.

August 18

AM: 17+ miles moderate/hard

I joined Varner for the Angel Island 25k trail race this morning, treating it as just  award long run. He disappeared pretty quickly at the front, so I was left to my own devices for most of the run but felt generally good. Aside from dodging other runners on the out-and-backs, I was just cruising but pushed the climbs a little.

August 17

AM: 5 miles easy
PM: 9 miles easy

After a shake-out run in the morning, I met Kevin for a run at Rancho San Antonio, which had a ton of soft trails.

August 16

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy

I ran at Shoreline again and added on a shake-out run on the Bay Trail after work.

August 15

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: core, stretching

I repeated my same run as yesterday at Shoreline and made it back to the gym, though I stayed away from weights because my legs were still pretty tender from Monday.

August 14

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: 4 miles easy

I ran at Shoreline Park in Mountain View in the morning, and then jogged a shake-out run on the bike path after work.

August 13

AM: 9 miles easy, strides
PM: weights, core

I ran from work to Bayfront Park along the bike path and finished up with strides. I made it over to the gym for the first time in a while after work.

August 12 (54 miles/week)

AM: 9 miles easy
PM: 6 miles easy

I drove into the city to met Reed in the Inner Sunset for a run through Golden Gate Park with a quick stop at the beach. We made our way over to a greasy spoon and inhaled breakfast before I headed back to San Mateo.  I got in another shake-out run on the Foster City trails before dinner as well.

August 11

PM: 17+ miles easy

After dealing with more moving stuff in the morning, I went up to the Sawyer Camp Trail. I felt fine until I hit the turnaround, right at an hour at 8.6 miles. It was a little hot with temperatures in the 90s, and I got massively dehydrated on the way back despite stopping at a water fountain. I'd be lying if I said that the last five miles were the best I've ever had, but I think it was mostly a product of waiting too late, not drinking enough water while traveling, and generally it being my longest run in weeks.

August 10

AM: 10 miles easy

I got in the best run I've had this week in Sweden, running along the Stockholm waterfront and meandering through the old city. Again, there are walking trails everywhere, so it makes running pretty easy. The rest of the day involved more than 13 hours of plane travel.

Stockholm waterfront with trails all over the city: high five!

August 9

DNR - 0 miles

I've not been sleeping well and have been dragging ass through my afternoon meetings, so I slept in this morning before a long work and travel day.

August 8

AM: 6 miles easy

I got in another run on the waterfront in Lulea. With the wind coming off of the water this morning, I was actually a little cold.

August 7

AM: 6 miles easy

I ran along the shoreline on a quiet morning in Lulea. There are bike paths and trails everywhere in this town, which makes running convenient, even while I'm facing a tight work/travel schedule this week.

August 6

DNR - 0 miles

I basically didn't sleep on the flight over and got int Lulea around 5:00 PM before jumping right into a client meeting, so there was no running to be had today.

August 5 (72 miles/week)

AM: 8 miles easy

I ran with Reed in the morning from my place in San Mateo, heading over to Seal Point and back. I was a little short on time to get to the airport to head to Sweden.

I'm writing this on a layover from London, which is a massive tease being this close but so far from the Olympics. For work, I'm headed to Lulea, Sweden over the next few days: a small town in Northern Sweden where Facebook is building its newest data center about 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

I'll follow this up with a quick stay through Stockholm before flying back on Friday. My running schedule will probably be erratic, so I'll just try to do it when I can, where I can, although it sure beats the hell out of trying to run up there in the winter. Still, between the rapid time change and 22 hours of daylight, I'm prepared for my mind and body to get pretty weird on me

This is the first time I've been overseas in more than 10 years. While I won't exactly be sightseeing, I'm still pretty psyched to see and do some new things.

August 4

PM: 70-minute progression run - 13 miles

What to do after watching one of the greatest races I've ever seen? Go out and hammer the hell out of a run.

I drove up to the Sawyer Camp trail, a solid bike path next to the Crystal Springs reservoir up in the San Mateo hills. This was bar-none the best run I've done in terms of both effort an scenery. It starts of above the reservoir before going deeper into the hills under a shaded canopy the entire way. The paved section is 6 miles, but adding unpaved trails can make it 15 miles in one direction. I've been hungry to find some of the areas good running, so this made me incredibly happy.

I was also justifiably pumped up after watching the Olympic 10k final, so I started at a quicker clip (6:15s) and picked up the pace from there. I did include one ~30 stop to look at a map at the turnaround, and one stop for #2 about 8.5 miles in, but other than that it felt incredibly good to open up and just roll for a little while. I added on a mile cooldown at the end before calling it a day.

I started taking splits about 3 miles in once I realized that this was turning into a quality day: 5:49, 6:14, 6:40 (uphill), 5:45 (downhill), 5:59, 5:59, 5:49, 5:55, 5:35. Given that my workouts over the last couple of months have been crappy in the summer heat on the east coast, it's nice to feel good good running relatively fast again.

August 3

PM: 11 miles easy

I parked at Stanford after work, running the Dish and looping around campus. I ate what was obviously too heavy of a lunch and paid for it dearly through several stops on the run.

August 2

AM: 9 miles easy

I ran from work north on the Bay Trail to Bayfront Park: a grassy piece of (what I'm guessing is) former landfill in a quasi-industrial area. There were some decent trails, but the place stunk, literally. I'm guessing this will be my go-to shake-out run after work given how easily accessible it is.

August 1

AM: 7 miles easy

I got in a run in the morning around Stanford's campus, winding through the grove.

July 31

AM: 7 miles easy
PM: 8 miles easy

In the morning and evening, I ran through Foster City to find my way to the Bay Trail, which is about 3 miles using both routes. The evening run was a little more scenic, taking me to Seal Point Park. Once I'm a little more settled and have the time, I need to do some exploring of the Peninsula's more notable trails.

July 30

PM: 9 miles easy

After my first day of work at Facebook, I got in a run in the evening from my place in San Mateo, finding my way up to Laurelwood Park, which had some decent albeit short trails and some steep climbs.

July 29 (81 miles/week)

AM: 8 miles easy

Reed and I crashed at Will's place in Glen Park and ran to the Panhandle and back. It feels great not to run in the heat.

July 28

AM: 5 miles easy
PM: 7 miles easy

I stayed with Varner last night and ran easy with him in Marin before his marathon on Sunday. Later in the afternoon, Reed and I took a break from apartment hunting to run the Dish at Stanford.

July 27

AM: 11 miles easy

Last run in Durham for a while. I met Jason, Monk, and Rob and showed them the Forest Hills Park-WaDuke loop. In the late afternoon, I boarded a plane for San Francisco, culminating in one of the biggest months of change in my life.

July 26

AM: 10 miles easy

With me working out yesterday and Billy giving blood, we made it out for a very easy run through Umstead in the morning. This will be my last run here for a while. For now, I just have a ton of packing ahead of me.

July 25

AM: 6'/5'/4'/3'/2'/1'/30" with half-time recoveries - 13 miles

I got in a long, 40+ minute warmup around campus before knocking out a fartlek around the East Campus trail. Typically, it's tough to run this time of year in the middle of the day (11:00) and be happy with your decision, but some unseasonably mild weather made it more bearable.

July 24

AM: 9 miles easy

PM: 5 miles easy

I met Monk, Brendan and Billy at Umstead for a little more than an hour on soft surfaces and single track with a trip around the hilly Turkey Creek Trail. In the evening, Valerie and I went out for a shake-out on the ATT.

July 23

AM: 8 miles easy

Not much to report here other than it was hot and muggy again.

July 22 (81 miles/week)

AM: 15 miles plus 15:00 tempo

I met Billy at his place for a run through Umstead, tackling a lot of climbs through what felt like an exceptionally muggy morning, even by North Carolina standards. I picked up the pace over the last 15 minutes, starting with the climb from the lake up to Harrison Ave before running the roads back to Billy's place near Lake Crabtree.

July 21

AM: 12 miles easy

I ran the Forest Hills Park-WaDuke loop with a new armband for my iPhone, so I could listen to the Braves radio broadcasts during long runs (the games come on at 10 AM on the west coast). Unfortunately, the damn thing really ravaged my arm, leaving me with a nice gash by the end of the run.

July 20

AM: 10 miles easy

I met Billy and Jason for a morning run through downtown Durham, beating the heat.





Big Changes


Outside of running, my life has undergone some major changes in the last week. Over the last few days, all of the following took place:

1.) I asked Valerie to marry me.
2.) I announced plans to move to the west coast. I'm moving to the Bay Area next week.
3.) I accepted a job to go work for Facebook.

Of those three, only the first item was on my radar as recently as a few weeks ago. In that case, sometimes life takes its time, but in the latter two items, sometimes life can move awfully fast. The common thread is that these are all some of the best changes that I could have asked for, and I'm thrilled about all of them for different reasons. I'm going to be out there solo for the first six months, and then Valerie and Wilson will join me around the end of the year.

July 19

AM: 12 miles easy

I ran the Forest Hills Park-WaDuke loop, but other than that all I have to report is that it was warm and muggy (not surprisingly).

July 18

AM: 8 miles easy

I snuck in a late-morning run on the ATT while helping Mike move his stuff out of Durham and down to Atlanta.

July 17

AM: 14 miles easy

I met Monk, Billy, and Brendan for an awesome run in Umstead earlier in the morning, covering a mix of the park's wonderful dirt roads and single track. I'm going to miss both the location and the company when I leave next week.

July 16

AM: 16 x 200m hill repeats - 10 miles

I meandered my way over to Forest Hills Park for a session of reps on the Wise Rd. hill. I averaged around :41, though the distance is approximate.

July 15 (83 miles/week)

PM: 9 miles easy, plus run-for-my-f**ing-life surge in the middle

This will go down as one of my weirdest runs ever. Valerie and I spent last night and this morning in Asheville for a mini-weekend with some hiking. That left me with a night run when we got back to Durham.

I ran through campus on a loop I've run hundreds of times before. While heading back along Campus Drive, I suddenly and unexpectedly felt something grab my hair from behind and tearing at my scalp. My initial thought was, "Crap--I'm getting mugged." 

I turned around in horror to see instead an enormous owl hovering above my shoulders, flapping its wings in a deathly silent attack. I yelled "HOLY SHIT" (what else does one say when being attacked by a large bird of prey?), but miraculously didn't break stride and scrambled down the dimly lit street with bird in hot pursuit. The owl looked down on me with this really intense, piercing gaze, readying for another pass, so I started hollering all kinds of nonsense at it and waving my arms. Fortunately, between all of the hollering and hauling butt down the sidewalk, that was enough to get it to fly back into its roost. In that sense, I won the "race."

My best guess is that this was a barred owl, but I'm not sure. It felt like I was out there for an eternity running away from this angry bird, but this all transpired in about 10 seconds. It was weird enough that I spent the rest of my run trying to convince myself that all of it had literally just happened. These are things that are supposed to happen in Hitchcock movies, not in real life. I ran home feeling very real fear, hauling ass through downtown and looking over my shoulder.

When I got home, I babbled in disbelief to Valerie, who inspected my head for damage (none to report, thankfully). I reported the menace to Duke's campus police and commenced a slow draw-down from an intense half hour of freaking-the-fuck-out.

Believe it or not, this exact same thing happened a couple of years ago to my old Durham training partner Liam, and I guess there's some other precedence for it locally. I've come across rattlesnakes, cars, pit bulls, and a lot of other typical running hazards that we all deal with at some point, but this was unquestionably the scariest moment I've ever had running.

Good lord, look at those talons. Those things were in my scalp.

July 14

AM: 15 miles easy plus 10:00 tempo

I met Billy at my place for a run through campus and the WaDuke loop before adding on more miles on the ATT. I picked it up on my own for the last 10 minutes, which proved to be plenty in the heat.

July 13

AM: 8 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy

I met Billy and Monk for a low-key morning run on the ATT, and I headed out with Valerie again in the early evening for a shake-out run.

July 12

AM: 11 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy

I met new North Carolina resident Billy Askey for a run in Umstead early in the morning before work. It was super muggy, but otherwise fine. He scored a great pad right on Lake Crabtree, at the foot of miles and miles of dirt trails in Umstead, so I'm admittedly a little jealous.

July 11

AM: 11 miles easy

I shook off the cobwebs from flying and traveling and got in a humid but uneventful morning run through the Forest Hills Park-WaDuke loop.

July 10

AM: 4 miles easy

I got in just a short run on the treadmill in the morning before an interview in Arlington. I kicked around DC for most of the day with Mike before flying home in the evening.

July 9

AM: 5 miles easy
PM: 10 miles easy

I got in a shake-out run before flying to DC for an interview tomorrow. Murphy and I met up for a run in Arlington along the Custis Trail, looping down to TR Island and back in the early evening after work.

July 8 (71 miles/week)

AM: 10 miles easy

I got in a run through Peachtree Battle and Memorial Park before packing up with car with Wilson and Valerie and driving back to Durham. I have a quick trip up to DC Monday and Tuesday on deck this week.

July 7

AM: 11+ miles moderate

I ran at a moderate clip over to Westminster from my mom's house and floated a mile on the track in 4:58 before heading back home. "Floating" may be a bit of an understatement on the effort in this heat.

July 6

AM: 14 miles easy

I wound through Peachtree Battle and Habersham to get in a shorter long run. There were a lot of hills.

July 5

AM: 8 miles easy

Easy run through the neighborhood in Atlanta before playing some golf. I'm more tired than sore from yesterday's race.

July 4 - Peachtree Road Race

AM: Peachtree Road Race, 33:30 (?), 57th overall (?) - 11 miles

The question marks are because I wasn't included in the race results for some reason. I'm trying to get that resolved and will update this here when I do. The short version of the story is that it wasn't my fastest Peachtree, but it felt "good" to get out there and race.

It wasn't that great of a showing on my part, due mostly to fading badly in the second half. In an effort to keep this summer low-key and actually try my hand at periodization, I didn't really put in the work post-Boston to conquer Peachtree and its hills, either, to be perfectly honest with you. This being said, it's always fun to toe the line with a loaded international field. It's a lot like going from playing low-A ball to waking up in Yankee Stadium.

With Peachtree's course profile, you basically float along for the first three miles, thinking you're cruising, which I did today, hitting three miles in 15:25 (5:11, 5:04, 5:09), just about my PR pace. But after that, a series of hills that begins with the toughest, Cardiac Hill, sends you from floating to redlining in about 90 seconds, compounded my Atlanta's notorious July mugginess. You can do the ugly math on the second half of my race. In retrospect, I probably should have gone out a little more conservatively than bank time for the second-half sufferfest, but this was along my 10th Peachtree, and the second half is always pretty uncomfortable no matter how I've approached it.

Even though I faded on time in the second half, I still don't think I lost many (or any) places after 4 miles; the fact is that the second half the course is pretty tough, as were the conditions. At 71 degrees with 85% humidity at the race start, I couldn't stop sweating after about two minutes into my warmup. That makes Kirui's win in 27:37 all the more impressive (and the course record of 27:06 that much more unbelievable).

After a couple of ugly miles in the 5:40s in the hills, I rallied to about a 6:30 final 10k, hurting like hell the entire way. I wasn't close enough to out kick anyone, but I managed to hold off some guys who were close to me, which was a moral victory. I still think this is my highest finish ever at Peachtree, which is certainly tough to complain about, but that may have to do with a weaker American field than year's past (Raleigh's Bobby Mack was 13th, but was really the only men's US stud in the field). That will all change next year when the USATF 10k championships comes back with its deeper American prize purse.

July 3

AM: 6 miles easy

I got in an easy shake-out run on the ATT in the morning before driving with Wilson and Valerie to Atlanta, picking up my mom's new labradoodle en route.

July 2

AM: 11 miles easy

This morning was considerably cooler on the Forest Hills-WaDuke loop. I'm driving to Atlanta tomorrow for a trip that will include the Peachtree Road Race: one of the toughest and most competitive races around. My expectations aren't high based on my current level of fitness, but it should feel good to get out there and battle a little bit.

July 1 (90 miles/week)

AM: 14 miles easy, slow

Unlike yesterday, I waited until almost 11:00 to run on the ATT on account of sleeping in this morning. What a horrible decision. This run was a suffer-fest. The heat index was 106 when I finished: just brutal.

June 30

AM: 13 miles easy

I got up early to meet Monk at 7:00 for a run through the ATT and the trails around Woodcroft. That turned out to be a great decision, as temperatures were already in the mid-80s by the time we finished.

June 29

AM: 1 mile @ tempo with 5:00 jog recovery, 8 x Cameron Hill repeats (~400m) - 11 miles

I opted for the WaDuke trail for the entire run because it's 80% in the shade, and I didn't start until about 10:30. I wanted to get a mix of paces and efforts today, so I started with a mile at tempo pace going from the 1 to 0 markers on the WaDuke trail (rolling hills). I hit that in 5:20 and then rolled right into the hills. I lost the splits on my watch, but I averaged about 1:30. That may seem slow, but I'll forgive myself given that it was literally 100 degrees outside when I finished.

In other news, I pulled in two job offers today, which is a major relief. It's nice to get closer to some resolution on where we'll be living in a month or so. I'll write more on this later when I make some final decisions.

June 28

AM: 10 mile easy
PM: 4 miles easy

I got up early to run with Rob through campus and the WaDuke trail. After that, I made it out later for a shakeout on  the ATT with Tom, who's staying with us for a couple of days.

June 27

AM: 11 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy

I made it out for two runs on my own today: first on the Forest Hills Park-WaDuke loop, and then again on the ATT.

June 26

AM: 17 miles easy

Back from Boston but still in Maryland, I ran through Calvert Cliffs State Park to the beach and back, and then ran to Solomon's Island before turning back to the car. I felt just OK, but mild mid-day weather was an amazingly welcome change.

June 25

AM: 5 miles easy

Easy shake-out run on the treadmill in Boston before an interview.

June 24 (66 miles/week)

DNR

It wasn't ideal to take a day off, but I was prepping for a presentation for an interview in Boston tomorrow before going to an O's game with Valerie and her parents and then immediately getting on a plane at BWI. This is a low-key time of year for running for me, so a day off isn't the end of the world by any means.

June 23

AM: 6'/5'/4'/3'/2'/1' with half-time recoveries - 9 miles

Valerie and I drove up to her parent's house last night, so I got in a workout on the service road at Calvert Cliffs State Park (a small but underrated running gem in Southern Maryland).

June 22

PM: 6 miles

After running in pleasantly mild Palo Alto yesterday, I returned home, sleep-deprived from a red-eye last night, to slog through six miles in the heat and humidity of the mid-afternoon.

June 21

AM: 8 miles easy, treadmill
PM: 7 miles easy

Amid a 24-hour trip to Menlo Park, CA for a job interview, I somehow managed to get in two runs. I ran in the morning on the treadmill because I was paranoid that I would get lost, roll an ankle, get attacked by a starving mountain lion, or something else that would make me late for my interview. I interviewed for five hours, and then I suddenly found myself with an abundance of free time before my redeye back home. So, I decided to go for a second run...somewhere.

The Stanford Dish Trail

With my shorts soaked from the morning I bought a pair of running shorts from this outpost in Palo Alto--a brilliant hybrid of coffee shop and running store. I then headed over to the Dish, which is sort of like Stanford's version of the WaDuke trail, or the place where everyone runs. It's a beautiful open space and even if just for a day away from the East Coast, I felt amazing to run in 60-degree weather, too. The In-N-Out I inhaled afterward went down easy after a stressful day and two runs.

June 20

AM: 9 miles easy

Sweet Poseidon's trident was it hot and muggy this morning, even at 8:00 AM. The first day of summer came down with a hammer. I picked a good day to hop on a plane for a 24-hour trip to San Francisco, where I'm headed for a job interview.

June 19

AM: 12 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy

I got in an awesome run with Monk in the early morning at Umstead, mixing up single track trails with the main road for about 90 minutes. We had some great conversation as well. I followed that up a little later in the evening with a shake-out run on the ATT.

June 18

AM: 10 miles easy

I got in a quick 10 on my own on the ATT in the morning. This week is going to be a little chaotic because I'm juggling a lot of job interviews, but I suppose that's a good thing.

June 17 (88 miles/week)

AM: 16 miles easy

I got out early-ish with Rob for a run through Duke Forest. He showed me a different route on the way back through some neighborhoods that cuts off the worst part of the run (on the shoulder of 751).

June 16

AM: WaDuke tempo - 9 miles total

Despite not getting out until 11:00, it was neither oppressively humid or warm, thanks to the mostly shaded WaDuke trail. I drove to campus with Valerie and warmed up on my own before hitting the tempo in 20:25, which is about in the neighborhood of what I thought I would do over the relentlessly hilly 6k loop. Anything under 20:00 usually indicates PR fitness, and I'm definitely not there right now.

June 15

AM: 12 miles easy

Amid a bunch of job interviews, I snuck out for a mid-day run on my own over the Forest Hills Park-WaDuke loop.

June 14

AM: 10 miles easy

I got out early for an easy run with Rob through campus and the WaDuke trail.

June 13

AM: 55:00 easy plus 8 x 200m - 11 miles
PM: 4 miles easy

I met Monk for a run in Duke Forest, changed into flats in the parking lot, and jogged up to Wallace Wade for a quick session of 200s, all in :33/:32 (though the last one was :30), for a little bit of turnover. Those felt really smooth. In the evening, I threw on my sweats for another short shake-out run.

June 12

AM: 12 miles easy
PM: 4 miles easy

I went out to Umstead in the morning for an easy 12, where another 70-degree/90% humidity morning made for a muggy run. In the evening, I went out for a half hour in sweats.

June 11

AM: 10 miles easy

Slow out-and-back on the ATT in the morning. Running in 90% humidity kind of sucked. I got in weights and core work later in the evening.

June 10 (80 miles/week)

AM: 17 miles easy

I ran an extended version of the Forest Hills Park-WaDuke loop this morning. I'm still acclimating to the summer heat, so I wanted to have access to the water on the WaDuke loop. I felt generally OK, but I was totally spent when I was done.

June 9

AM: 4 x 6:30 on/1:30 off - 13 miles

I foolishly procrastinated until about 11:30, leaving me with a hot run on tired legs. That being said, an crappy uptempo effort was better than nothing. I tried to keep this in the shade on the Forest Hills Park-WaDuke loop, but that also meant a lot of hills.

June 8

AM: 8 miles easy

After an early-ish morning flight and a restless night of sleep (my guess is from late coffee), I shuffle-jogged an easy 8 after getting home from Atlanta on the ATT. I got in some core work and weights in the evening as well.

June 7

AM: 12 miles easy

I ran from my mom's place in Atlanta around Memorial Park with a trip around Westminster on a mild and beautiful morning.

June 6

AM: 8 x Manor Ridge Hill reps (500m) - 10 miles

Atlanta was a little muggier than yesterday, leaving me drenched after a tough hill workout. I called it a day after pushing the eighth rep I called it a day and shuffle-jogged home.

June 5

AM: 13 miles easy

I ran a hilly 90 minutes in Atlanta mid-day over an 11-mile loop I am henceforth calling "The Governor" because it runs past the governor's mansion about halfway through, and with the hills it's also kind of stubbornly unforgiving: not unlike Georgia's most recent governors. I added on an extra loop around Memorial Park to make it 13 for the day.

June 4

AM: 7 miles easy

I flew down to Atlanta last night to head to a wind energy conference, and I took off for a short-ish run in the morning from my mom's house before heading to the conference all day.

June 3 (65 miles/week)

AM: 16 miles easy/moderate

I got out in the mid-morning for a long run on the ATT. It was again not oppressively hot or humid, so I took advantage of that and dropped to under 6:00 pace on the way home for a few stretches.

June 3 - Running of the Bulls 8k

AM: Running of the Bulls 8k, 26:29, 6th place - 11 miles

I probably got what I deserved today after more than a month of running 60-70 miles per week with only light workouts: a slow time and one spot out of the money. Still, I want to get back on the wagon to prepare for Peachtree in July, and this race started just three blocks from my front door.

I didn't have a ton of confidence in my fitness coming in, but I should have hung on longer when the pack started to separate from me after the first mile (5:10...the race has an uphill start). Instead, I dropped back, knowing that it was an honest road course with a bunch of hills, but all that did was put me into a vacuum, running the rest of the race alone.

There isn't a ton else to report beyond that. Despite a 2nd mile that was short (4:59) and a 4th mile that was long (5:43), I actually ran somewhat consistently today. Like I said, I wasn't confident enough in my hodgepodge training post-Boston to really take a ton of risks today, but I clearly should have.

I lost a little time about a half mile from the finish line when I thought I'd made a wrong turn, stopped, and figured out what direction I was running. Even though it is June in North Carolina, I can't put any blame on the weather, which was a really pleasant 60 degrees and overcast.

June 2

AM: 8 miles easy

I met Jason early in the morning to run the Running of the Bulls 8k course through downtown, and then we added on a little extra on the Dinosaur Trail afterward.

June 1

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: 47 miles bike

After an easy 10 in the morning, I went out for a ride with a friend from business school, Jonathan, who's on the Duke cycling team, and then met up with another guy en route who just won a collegiate national title last weekend. Needless to say, they were much better biker than me.

We ended up going a little farther than I thought, but I felt fine given that they weren't hammering. This was probably my longest ride in at least a year.

May 30

PM: 14 miles with 10 x 1:00 on/off

My legs felt a little cranky after driving back from Charlottesville today, but I got out in the afternoon for a decent longish run with a few pickups en route on the WaDuke trail.

May 29

AM: 6 miles easy

I sleepily shuffle-jogged down and around Bethany before we left the beach after a relaxing weekend with old friends.

May 28

AM: 23 miles bike

I went on nice ride with friends Lauren and Dave through some farmland, looping up around Ocean City before coming back up to Bethany.

May 27 (77 miles/week)

AM: 8 miles easy

Patrick and I ran an abbreviated version of our run yesterday, which was fine because I had to make a pit stop en route. There isn't a ton of shade here in Delaware, making most of the runs fell pretty warm.

May 26

AM: 10 miles easy

I got in a humid 10 miles with Patrick through downtown Bethany and around the beach neighborhoods.

May 25

AM: 10 miles easy

In Charlottesville, I ran an out-and-back from Brittany and Tom's house to Lake Monticello and back before driving with Valerie to Bethany Beach for the long weekend.

May 24

AM: 8 miles easy

Liam was in town visiting, so we ran an easy out-and-back on the ATT, just like the good ol' days.

May 23

AM: 8 x 800m @ 5k pace with 1:30 jog recovery - 11 miles
PM: 4 miles easy

I met Jason at the WaDuke for a track workout in the morning. With an 8k coming up in less than two weeks, I wanted to get some slightly faster work done than the unstructured workouts I've been doing post-Boston.

This was the first time in many weeks for either of us on the track, so I wasn't sure what to expect. While the temperatures were in the mid-60s, we also faced 90% humidity, which made me a little concerned about how all of this was going to feel, especially with relatively short recoveries. To my pleasant surprise, I felt reasonably good and under control. Jason and I traded the lead with each rep.

Splits: 2:27, 2:29, 2:29, 2:28, 2:30, 2:29, 2:28, 2:23

I ran my first post-Boston double today as well.

May 22

AM: 14 miles easy/moderate

I'd planned to run an out-and-back on the ATT, but a broken iPod and bathroom stop made me to a 180-degree turn a mile into the run back home. I ran the same loop as yesterday after that.

May 21

AM: 12 miles easy

I got out on my own in the late morning for a Forest Hills-WaDuke loop.

May 20 (80 miles/week)

PM: 17 miles easy/moderate

Because we've lucked out with mild weather all weekend, I was able to wait until the later afternoon for a long run on the ATT. I ran the full length of the north side of the trail, adding on a loop through Forest Hills Park on both ends to make it 17+. That made a reasonable 80 miles this week, at least in singles.

May 19

PM: 11 miles hill fartlek

After sleeping off some jet lag, I took off in the afternoon to hammer the Forest Hills Park-WaDuke loop, making my "ons" on the rolling hills that cover the route. This meant finishing on the long hill that starts below the lower bridge and snakes up Cameron Blvd for a solid 4 minutes of climbing that always does a number on me. This was another unstructured workout, which is exactly want I'm looking for right now.

May 18

PM: 10 miles easy

After a flying back from the west coast all day, I met Jason and Monk for a solid run at dusk through Umstead, meeting them on the way home. We finished up right at nightfall.

May 17

PM: 8 miles easy, strides

Reed and I took off from his friend's place in Hayes Valley for a run through Golden Gate Park. I was in San Francisco for a job interview in what was a whirlwind and last-minute 48-hour trip to the west coast and back.

May 16

AM: Mile (2:00), .5-mile (4:00), .25-mile (2:00), .25-mile (4:00), .5-mile, (2:00), mile

I ran a rust-buster workout along the ATT before jumping on a plane in the late afternoon to go to San Francisco for a job interview. Based on where the mile markers are on the paved section of the ATT and where there are traffic lights, my rests were a little all over the place. The mile was a slight incline on the way out, and a slight decline on the way back. Waiting until late morning on a warm and muggy North Carolina day probably wasn't the best idea, but it felt good to get the legs turning of again. Splits: 5:18, 2:32, :74, :74, 2:29, 4:57

May 15

AM: 12 miles easy

One last run with David and Reed through campus and the fitness loop before we all head our separate ways out of Durham.

May 14

AM: 12 miles easy

I got in an easy campus run with Reed, adding on afterward on the ATT and just missing the rain. It's a tough week with a lot of my friends and colleagues from school leaving town and scattering in the wind.

May 13 (67 miles/week)

PM: 18 miles easy/moderate

After a day with family and more graduation stuff, Reed and I trucked out to Duke Forest, burping up champagne and coffee along the way. We both remarked feeling good in what was my longest run since Boston to cap off a low-key week that included a vacation and grad school graduation.

May 12

AM: 5 miles easy

I got in an early morning run on the ATT on my own before graduation all day.

May 11

AM: 8 miles easy

Easy run with Reed through campus.

May 10

AM: 10 miles easy

Easy run with Reed through Campus in the morning.

May 9

PM: 7 miles easy

This was a pretty awful run on the ATT after almost six hours of driving back to Durham that included an unplanned pitstop in the woods. At least the weather had cooled off.

May 8

AM: 8 miles moderate/hard


I ran a short run on the bike trails in SC again, picking up the pace for a mini 15-minute tempo run throughout. The miles I measured ranged from 5:04 to 5:35, so I'm not really sure how fast I was going exactly, which is absolutely fine for this stage of my running right now.

May 7

PM: 11 miles easy

I headed down to Palmetto Bluff, SC with a small group of classmates for a mini-vacation between finals and graduation. I took off on my own in the afternoon on one of the myriad bike trails covering Palmetto Bluff, not even coming close to scratching the surface of covering everything. I wish I had more time down here to explore, just for the running alone.

May 6 (72 miles/week)

AM: 13 miles easy

I ran from home through campus, covering the first hour with Billy, who was visiting from out of town. It was brutally humid today, so I added on another half hour afterward for a shorter long run this week.

On a side note, huge props go to Bull City Running Company owner, teammate, and friend Jason Page for bouncing back from Boston to win the New Jersey Marathon.

May 5

PM: 12 miles progression run

I went on my own through the ATT, going out at 6:20 pace for the first six. On the way home, I cut down the miles to 5:41, 5:37, 5:26, 5:56 and 5:11 on the last one. I passed David and Megan in the last quarter mile and hung out with them for a couple of minutes at the trailhead before heading in.

May 4

AM: 10 miles easy

Easy run through The Forest Hills-WaDuke loop with Reed.

May 3

AM: 9 miles easy

Campus run with Reed. The humidity was off the chain this morning.

May 2

AM: 12 miles with 25:00 tempo


I ran the Forest Hills-WaDuke loop and decided to push a middle stretch covering the back neighborhoods and the hills of the WaDuke. I was pretty spent afterward in the heat.

May 1

AM: 10 miles easy

I met Reed for an easy run through campus. The weather has taken a turn toward muggy in North Carolina.

April 30

PM: 6 miles easy

I went out into the muggy evening air after two finals: my last exams as a grad student. My legs were kind of sluggish, but honestly my right hand was probably more sore from writing non-stop for five hours today.

April 29 (65 miles/week)

AM: 15 miles moderate

I met Reed mid-morning for a Duke Forest long run. I actually felt pretty good despite a little mugginess in the air. We finished running in the 6:30s, which is solid for Duke Forest.

Overall, it was a decent first week back from Boston. I'm pleasantly surprised with how fast I'm coming back compared to last time at Boston, which beats you up more than other marathons, but the 16,000+ miles I put in between the two races may have something to do with that. The plan now is to dip my toe back in the workout waters next week.

April 28

AM: 9 miles easy
PM: BCTC Beer Mile, 6:42 (PR!)

I ran an hour easy with Reed before running in what was probably my last BCTC beer mile. It was once again painful but a lot of fun, and I shaved 30 seconds off of last time. Reed was pretty smug about waxing me again, but I was really just doing it as a tempo.

April 27

PM: 12 miles easy

I ran with Reed from Fuqua after finishing my last class of grad school in the middle of the day. Darn it if I didn't lose my student ID on the last day of classes when it fell out of my pocket during the run. We backtracked a little through Duke Forest to look for it, making my longest run in more than two weeks.

April 26

AM: 6 miles easy

I worked a little late last night finishing up a paper, so I just got in a short run on my own this morning on the ATT and in Forest Hills Park.

April 25

AM: 8 miles easy

I met Dan for an easy out-and-back on the soft side of the ATT. I'm feeling progress.

April 24

AM: 6 miles easy

I felt a little better this morning on my own on the ATT than yesterday. I'm trying to remain patient coming after Boston, but I know I have a ton of good fitness build up from the past few months that will come in handy over a light summer racing season. I finished up the day with some core work in the evening--something I'm consciously going to try to stay on top of while my mileage is a little lower.

April 23

AM: 8 miles easy

I met Dan at school to test out my legs for the first time in a week since Boston. Honestly, I felt like total crap, but I guess that's to be expected. Two days of cycling probably left them feeling a little weird as well. Still, it's nice to be running again, but I won't be much over 50 miles this week, and it will all be easy running. This all being said, I'm surprised to find myself chomping at the bit to get racing again.

As I continue to look back on Boston 2012 for what it was and what it wasn't, I really liked the following quote from top American Jason Hartmann:


"Any race I go into, I run to compete. I figure if I compete well, the fast times will eventually come. At Boston I was determined not to waste mental energy on anything I couldn't control. You could say that I didn't want to be controlled by uncontrollables. The heat was a factor, sure, but I just focused on running smart. I didn't want to be thinking about excuses before we even started racing. If you do that, you're just beating yourself."

April 22 (27 miles/week)

PM: 1:30:00 bike

I plopped the bike stand up in front of the TV on a slow Sunday afternoon and spun for 90 minutes. I sweat up a storm and was tired and ravenously hungry afterward. My legs feel fine, so I'm going to shoot to do a workout tomorrow, though it will be a few weeks before I start to sniff workouts again.

April 21

AM: 23 miles easy bike

I took the road bike out for my first real ride since last summer with my classmate Will. I got in some core work afterward as well. Today is the first day that I can definitively say that I don't feel any lingering soreness from Boston.

April 20

PM: 50:00 ergometer

This was my first real quality day of cross training after Boston. Rowing on the erg always leaves me pretty cooked when I haven't done it in a while.

April 19

AM: 25:00 swim

I got in a light swim workout in the morning to loosen up a little bit. The lingering soreness from Boston is really just in my quads now.

April 18

DNR

No running today, either. I just played golf in the morning. I'm still pretty sore.

April 17

DNR

Running was absolutely out of the question today. Instead, I hobbled around Boston and Cambridge with Liam. Today begins a self-imposed week off from running to let myself heal from yesterday.

April 16 - BOSTON MARATHON

AM: Boston Marathon, 2:36:22, 49th place - 27 miles

Two days before the Boston Marathon, all of the racers received an email warning about the perils of racing in hot weather, urging runners to exercise caution and offering a deferment option for 2013 because of predicted hot weather. In that context, the email contained the following note:

"For the overwhelming majority of those who have entered to participate in the 2012 Boston Marathon, you should adopt the attitude that THIS IS NOT A RACE. It is an experience."

I disagreed. Maybe this puts me in the underwhelming minority, but marathons aren't events; they're foot races. The hot weather in Boston simply meant that times were out the window, which isn't at all like a cross country race or trail race. All of us would have to deal with the heat. My goals going into the Boston Marathon were twofold: break 2:30 and finish among the top-50 men following 2:31 (my PR going into thr race) and a 59th-place finish in 2008.

To be fair, I'm pretty sure that the ominous BAA emails simply meant that runners shouldn't expect to PR. I had no expectations that I would based on the weather forecast, so I simplified my pre-race strategy of running by feel and making absolutely sure I was in the top-50.

Following approximately 1,164 trips to the bathroom in Hopkinton while hanging out with my friends and former teammates from the Georgetown Running Company, I reunited with the Bull City Track Club at the start line. One thing was certain: we were sending a fit team to the line. Jason and Monk were coming off of big PRs in the 5k last week, and we were joined by gritty veterans Brian, Ulf, Alex "Pleather Pants" Varner, and a host of other BCTC allies. Just before the gun, the race announcer said that temperatures were already at 80 degrees.  With that, the surreal race that was the 2012 Boston Marathon began seconds later.

Opening Miles

In the opening miles, I tried with mixed success to keep my pace in check. To play Monday morning quarterback here, Jason, Alex and I probably should have curbed our pace, but the 5:35-5:40s we were ticking off were on target for what I'd hoped to run. Maybe we could handle the heat? We were running in the shade at this point, and I think that sparked an irrational confidence.

Speaking of irrational confidence, my personal favorite and most obvious "this dude is going to blow up hard" candidate was the guy we passed in the first couple of miles who was racing in the replica jersey of Minnesota Timberwolves star Kevin Love. While Kevin Love may be a great at rebounding, there is no rebounding from going out too quickly in Boston. Other than a lot of quips with my BCTC teammates as we slinked past him ("That guy's having a great year! Isn't he averaging 20-20?"), Kevin Love served as a great reminder to keep the pace under control.

I'm big on running as a team for as long as possible to share the work in a marathon, so I tried to make sure I was staying around Jason and Varner because we had similar pace goals. BCTC ally Kevin Pierpoint took off after a few miles, and while we didn't follow suit, he stayed relatively close enough that we could pace off of him. By the time we got to Framingham, the effect of the conditions became obvious. Our BCTC group had splintered, and I decided to try to gradually work back up to Kevin to try to work with him.

I was trying to take in the scene that surrounds the Boston Marathon course in the mean time. In the mild weather of the race in 2008, the first 15 miles felt like a glorified training run and offered a chance to observe a lot of the crowds. That wasn't the case this year at all. As Monk brought up after the race, this felt like 100% race mode from the gun. The race was devolving into a battle of attrition. The pounding on my temples gradually increased in force and rhythm, and I started taking water and Gatorade every chance I could, one mile at a time.

A little bit after 10 miles, I caught back up to Kevin. I asked if he wanted to work together, and he politely declined, saying that he was worried if he didn't back off, he wasn't going to finish the race. Hearing this from a seasoned and really fast marathoner did no less than scare the shit out of me. However, I was committed to try to hold a sub-2:30 pace to give myself a chance to run well, so I pressed onward with the grim realization that I no longer had any teammates or known allies in front of me.

Splits: 5:49, 5:35, 5:35, 5:36, 5:49, 5:45, 5:40, 5:43, 5:41, 5:43, 5:48, 5:43, 5:47 (1:14:58 Half Marathon)

Battling and the Newton Hills

So I dug in and fought. I worked for every place through the echoing estrogen in Wellesley and into the hills of Newton while trying to keep my pace in the 5:40s. At the same time, I was committed to working together with the guys around me to collectively move up in the race where possible. The packs I was racing with started grabbing the unused bottles from the elite tables, passing them around to dump water on our heads. One particularly friendly guy shared a partially frozen bottle; had I gotten his name, I probably would have named my firstborn child after him at that point. I passed a bottle to a Japanese runner who replied politely, "Thank you very much sir." There was a pretty clear understanding of the mutual suffering on the course.

My plan through the Newton hills was to try to average 5:55s to keep a puncher's chance at breaking 2:30. The field started to get really strung out. I stupidly miscounted the hills, realizing around mile 19.5 that, no, that last hill wasn't Heartbreak. I fought back thoughts of bonking and made it to 21. When I saw a 5:55 split after the first post-Newton mile, I really believed that I had a chance to secure at least a PR, though I really wasn't thinking clearly enough to do the math to support that optimism. At one point, I reached down deep to give a crowd high five in attempt to rally some adrenaline, but I nearly ruined my race in the process when my hamstring immediately locked up (I go all-in with my high-fives). I probably dodged a bullet there as it was fine 100 meters or so later.

Splits: 5:41, 5:46, 5:38, 5:50, 6:03, 5:50, 6:02, 6:30 (Heartbreak Hill)

At 30k, I was still on track to run a PR or close to it, but the heat really started to bear on me. I tried like hell to keep fighting and catching guys in front of me, but it was becoming clear that I was starting to fade despite what I thought was a pretty convincing internal monologue of complete and total denial. That being said, the mile splits don't lie. In 2008, I attacked after Newton and ran my fastest mile split at mile 22, but any ammunition I had left this was about depleted at that point this year. What was "only" 8 miles left in the race less than a half hour before had become a completely unthinkable 4-mile gauntlet of noise, personal agony, and unrelenting abuse from the sun all in front of me. The field inevitably gained on me for the first time in more than 20 miles. I got downright angry every time a runner I thought I'd put away in Wellesley or Newton came limping by me again, but my body had no will to give anything that resembled a pursuit.

Every photo I've seen looks like
I've just had the shit kicked out of me.

When I'm not dying at marathon majors, I sometimes have reoccurring nightmares of running in races where my legs feel like they're made of concrete and won't move, and eventually I'm reducing to crawling on my hands and knees to try to catch up with a field fading away in front of me. That's a lot what the last 5k in Boston felt like for me--but only if you also poured warm saltwater onto my head and into my eyes and ninja-kicked me in the stomach.

I knew that any shot at PR was out of the question in the latter stages of the race despite giving it the good fight in the first 30k of the race. Top-50 was still in reach. I heard a spectator yell at one point that I was in 44th, but I was running 6:30-7:00 miles and genuinely concerned that I wasn't going to finish the race because a stiff breeze would have blown me over (not that there were any stiff breezes out there...ever). I want to provide more detail here about the final miles, but it's honestly pretty hazy.

The rush of the crowds in the last mile faded into barriers of blurred faces and my own desperate yearning to put myself out of my misery. In every marathon I've ever raced, no matter how badly I've hit the wall or depleted, I've always been able to burn off my last fumes of energy and kick down the last .2 from mile 26 to the finish. I couldn't even muster that much: I tried to drive my knees and got absolutely no response whatsoever.

Splits: 5:56, 6:31, 6:30, 6:59, 1:32 (.2), 7:07 (last mile)

My bloody post-race foot.

After about five steps across the finish line, I leaned onto a volunteer to keep myself upright and avoid a mouthful of asphalt. My sides and back throbbed, so much that I couldn't get in any oxygen. That meant my first trip real trip to the medical tent. However, after lying down with some ice while a bunch of staff took my vitals and got some water in me, I felt like I was just in the way from the people coming in with more serious shit wrong with them, to which I assumed there would be many, so I hobbled out about 10 minutes later. Outside in the sunlight that I really wasn't ready to see again, I looked at the faces of runners crossing the line. I saw the same ghostly visages of emptiness and utter exhaustion, and I exchanged a lot of random nods and wordless handshakes that basically all implied the same thing: "What in the hell did we just go through?"

I've been asked a few times, and I don't have any plans to race again any time soon. Boston 2012 was all-in for me. I'll figure out what's next once my quads and back don't feel like hamburger. I understand that training for a marathon means putting all of your eggs in one basket means that getting a day of bad weather (like this year) is just as probable as getting a day with awesome weather (like last year). It's just part of the sport of road racing. I'm of course disappointed that I didn't get a chance to use PR-level fitness to get an honest-to-goodness PR. I'm pretty psyched that I snuck under my top-50 goal by the skin of my teeth 49th, but even that is somewhat bittersweet when top-40 or better was in reach at some point out there.

Sitting back in the hotel room with the Bull City Track Club, we traded war stories while thoughts became more lucid and sentences more coherent, and I felt the deep sense of satisfaction companionship that you get when you train and race as a team. This was very much a shared experience, and it wouldn't have been nearly as rewarding without my teammates and friends there, both past and present. Despite it's reputation for loners, running will always be a team sport to me.

In summary, I'd be lying if I said that Boston 2012 was an enjoyable experience, and I'm not even sure as I write this if it was even a rewarding experience, but it unquestionably was memorable. That was the hardest damn race of my life.