Chi town urbanathlon Oct. 18, 2008

I was excited at the idea of traveling to chicago and running a race, but the fact that this was an obstacle course over a good distance, 10.5 miles, intrigued both my adventurous and endurance sides. I was also pumped to see my high school buddy Todd since we had been planning this trip for a couple of months.

The day started at 5.30 am in the hotel. Normally, i enjoy staying at hotels because of the breakfast in the morning, so imagine my excitement when i found that there was no complimentary continental breakfast. NO FREE BREAKFAST!!! I was devastated. To add insult to injury, there was a resturant in the hotel that offered a buffet but that didn’t start till 6.30. We left at 6. Read more

The Breakers Marathon October 18, 2008

Ah, the marathon.  The culmination of months of training, endless hours spent on your way to the Guilford docks or on the way back.  And then the months of over analysis and “what if’’s”. 

2008 marked the second year that the Breakers marathon was run on the “new” course, that is, starting in downtown Newport, bimbling along the coast and then heading out to Middletown for the second half.  Fellow runners told me tales of yore when the entire marathon was run in Middletown, circling four laps of an unchanging course.  Happy for the variety in scenery I was about to experience I dashed off at the gun with approximately 700 other runners only to find myself negotiating some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Newport.  It was shocking to observe the blight of urban decay and the real life examples of how the credit market collapse has affected main street America - Rockefellers, Carnegies, and Astors sleeping in cardboard boxes on street corners, topiary animals gone wild, crumbling mansions by the sea.  I found myself wondering if I could manage to scrape up a few million dollars to purchase one of the many properties for sale along the course – do my part for the local economy.  But, who am I kidding?  Dan doesn’t have time to mow those lawns and train for Hellgate at the same time.  

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Superman at the Mohawk

On Sunday I ran the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon. The weather was perfect last weekend and I started out early enough on Saturday to watch Downhill finish the Hartford Marathon on my way to the race. I met up with Hardware and Quiet Man who had just completed the half. It was a good feeling to see Downhill qualify for Boston.

I stayed at the host hotel in Albany, NY and had to wait a little while for my room when I arrived. I decided to take the elevator down to the ballroom level to pick up my race packet per my runner instruction sheet. When I opened the door to Ballroom A directly in front of me I found the room filled with people wearing spacesuits with antenna’s on their heads. There was a science fiction convention going on in the hotel and i would spend the next day or so with these folks riding elevators and listening to them talk on weird communication devices. Imagine working there with these two groups of sci-fi nuts and runners doing all kind of silly stretching poses in the lobby. It was quite the sight. My race last fall at the Bay State Marathon found me in a hotel filled with old Quiltters from all over New England. I sure know how to pick them. Read more

Hartford Marathon

Okay, it’s Wednesday and I still see no race report for the Hartford Marathon. Granted it WAS a road race – yes, Ticket, a ROAD race – but since a few Bimblers and myself ran it, I figured I could step up to the starting line and write up my vague recollection of what happened (at least to me) that day. The race had one major thing going for it and that was perfect weather. Couldn’t have asked for better, and it was worth the chilly wait at the starting line. I wandered down the street, noting “New England’s Finest” (some of the most elite runners in NE personally invited to run the marathon), as well as a number of individuals planning on walking the half marathon, standing at the very front of the starting line. Read more

Diamond Hill and some other fun stuff

Okay, how is one brief when you pack a 22.5k race, major shopping , a run up and down  the most climbed mountain in the USA and a taste of a Grand Tree 50k course into one report? I will do my best.

First, the Grand Tree series Diamond Hill 22.5K

Shellygirl and I arrived about 1 hour ahead of the start.  The Diamond Hill/ Birchwold 22k was the first step in our annual fall get-a-way.  We knew it  would be an interesting race when we went up to the Haunted House ticket booth to register. Great shirts and a race day entry fee of $20 made us feel like we got our monies worth before we even started. Read more

Guthrie’s view from the Traveller

The strange noises at the beginning are animal sounds played over the PA. Plus I think the RD was addressing me directly at the begining (shame I didn’t listen)!

 

Breakneck 2008

8:00 Sunday morning.  Shellygirl and I drove up to the Killingworth traffic circle to meet Iggy and Ticket at the commuter parking lot and then head up to tackle the Breakneck 20K.  It seems Iggy had a rough night, unfortunately all work related, and decided to skip the festivities.  She still met us just to say she was not going. What a good girl!

Shortly after 8 we began the hour drive up to Bigelow State Park to tackle one of the more interesting races around. The three of us have all had some previous experience with races in this part of the world, with Shellygirl and I having run the Nipmuck and the Northen Nipmuck races and Shellygirl and Ticket running the Breakneck last year. Read more

Good Time Running

“Good Time Running” is the slogan for the Arkansas Traveller and the race yesterday lived up to that description. The race web site describes the course as mostly dirt roads which doesn’t sound too interesting and I was only there because it was going to be the last of the 2009 Slam races following the cancellation of WSER100. As it turned out I was glad I came, I finished 3rd overall in 19:11 or there abouts but even though my result was good, I would still have had a ‘good time running’. The Arkansas Traveller 100 is a well kept secret, an intimate atmosphere, well run and unrivaled aid station hospitality. Read more

Cankles, Bridge Piercings, and Infinite Massages

Ahhhhh…..the half marathon. A whole other beast in the racing world. Despite 2 1/2 years of running, a few ultras here and there and a marathon to boot, I guess it was time to take on the half. Yesterday was my first day back on the trails in close to 2 weeks and I don’t think I have done any roads over 10 miles in a year or more. With that I was excited to push myself.

The morning was far short from dull, since Iggy met at a different meeting point then she had originally posted on the BS. I found my was to exit 57, which she posted. Glen meandered off to exit 59, not to sure why, and Iggy patiently waited at exit 58. After a few phone calls, the crew of Donni, Suresh, Glen, and I piled up in Iggy’s car and made our way up to the race. Read more

Hanna, Ike, Curly, & Me

While this is neither a detailed race report, nor an exhaustive illustrated travelogue, I feel I must write SOMETHING to make up for my lack of chatter last week. And while my exploits are not nearly as exciting as stories from Spuds this morning of tours of Beaujolais, or Yellowstone for that matter, ANY sort of travel for me is somewhat remarkable. Read more

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