Tag: boston marathon

running

Reflections

beersandmiles

I’m sitting on the Downeaster train from Boston to Maine with some time to kill. This weekend has been an overwhelming mix of emotions and it’ll take a bit longer to unpack I’m sure but for now I’ll use this space to get my thoughts somewhat together before I spend the next couple days enjoying one of my favorite cities in the country.

My main takeaway from the weekend is one of disappointment. Ultimately the race was far from what I wanted. Boston graced us with a pretty incredible day of racing and I failed once again to live up to the expectations I have for myself. While there’s obvious disappointment in not performing to that standard you’ve set in recent years, the big thing is my reaction to it.

You kind of get a sense early on when it’s not your day and this was about as early as I remember this happening. When you’re counting down the miles as early as mile 8 you know there’s a problem. Each passing mile couldn’t come soon enough.

I love this race. I know this course. I come back to a race that’s known for being a tad slow and unpredictable for a reason. It’s the challenge and atmosphere of it. Instead of trying to roll with the punches, I found myself spazzing a ton and trying to reset constantly.

I’ve failed at Boston before. It comes with the territory. I have fond memories of still getting after it with others and still trying to pull positives to get me through. Monday was me trying to get myself out of a battle between myself and my own thoughts.

It’s not to say that Boston wasn’t a memorable and enjoyable experience as a whole. I worked and battled with some talented individuals over the course of 26.2 miles. I just can’t say that I took in as much as I had in other years.

As I try to piece in my head my recap from Monday I find myself focusing more on my own battle with my reaction to the circumstances of the day than taking those shots and saying, it’s Boston, take it in and fight.

I noticed signs of this in my block heading into CIM. The obsessive nature that I once had in undergrad was beginning to show its ugly claws again. It’s a one story when you’re tackling a new distance and there’s just no expectations. It’s a completely different one when the goals are more pointed.

After the race I was met with a flow of conflicting emotions. The lows of running a disappointing race combined with the highs of getting my second First to The Track House. I’ve been frustrated with my running for quite a bit. It’s been a long time since I’ve run a race I was proud of. My emotions as I walked up those steps on Newbury Street were raw. Sure it’s a dumb little challenge. But it was a win. I needed something man.

So I guess it brings me back here, sitting on this train reflecting on this weekend.

Ultimately I knew I wasn’t 100 percent heading into this. Despite my PTs miracle work over the last couple weeks I’ve still been struggling good over the last couple weeks. I knew that this race spits out any that are banged up. I’ve faced it myself. And I got spit out again.

But we line up. I love this race. And even with another one in the loss column, I can’t say I regret this. I’m proud of my performance and how I worked with what I had on the day.

Going forward I need to get myself to 100 percent again. But just as important, I need to reframe this running thing again.

With rumors going around that the standard is dropping 2 more minutes I need to have something that keeps me around, not focusing on the number on the board. This sport has felt a little bit lonely in the last year and maybe I need to lean into enjoying community once more. Maybe being healthy will tame the awful thoughts. Running continues to be a net positive in my life, I just need to stop it from being that poison it once was those years ago.

It’s very easy to be positive and happy go lucky when you’ve had breakthrough after breakthrough. It’s time for me to take my own advice and find that why again.

Despite these thoughts, I look through and see just how incredible this weekend was. Yeah, I didn’t run what I wanted to run. But I was a part of a really cool program, had multiple picture of me used for thousands of people to see and most importantly saw, met, and put a face to a name, so many amazing people.

Most importantly, so many people I care about ran fucking great. And if you can’t be happy for your friends, then what’s there to be happy about. I saw one of my best friends come back from a surgery that had him terrified he’d ever be back to his normal self. I ran with him for a short time before he put me in the ground as he had himself a day, slower than he’s run before but potentially more meaningful than his past top 30 finishes. I remember how excited I was to hear JP run 2:10, Sam run 2:19, and Brady run 2:24. The marathon takes but it also gives and I’ve had plenty of people celebrate my accomplishments. It’s time to be happy for others who got that day.

I spent this weekend with some of my favorite people in one of my favorite places at one of my favorite events of the year. From my patient and loving partner, to some of my closest friends, to those I’d finally get a chance to meet in person. I’m very blessed to have so many in my corner.

I arrive to Portland Maine thinking to myself just how much I love this stupid freaking event we spend so much money on.

Boston I’ll be back eventually. We’re going to 7.

running

If you’re lost, hold onto something familiar. If you can’t, lean on those around you.

beersandmiles

It was my first Boston. If you would’ve told me a year prior that I’d be in Athletes Village shielding myself from the rain before embarking on my second marathon, I’d probably laugh at you.

Second marathon? Wait. There was a first one?

A year prior I had no desire to try my hand at the distance. Boston? Yeah, no. At this point I’d been competing (albeit relatively mediocrely) for about 10 years. I was in what I’d like to call my sabbatical of running, a 2 year stretch where my own running would be pub runs throughout the city. No structure, no goals, just running with the intention to enjoy this again.

Through this time I met a lot of people in the community and being one of the faster pub runners I’d often get the question.

Have you run a marathon?

No way dude.

Typically the conversation would change fairly quickly but a few choice times I was met with the well you don’t know about running until you’ve run a marathon schtick.

Needless to say, that didn’t help the cause too much.

I signed up for my first marathon out of spite, and because one of my good friends was attempting to qualify that weekend. And it was 70 bucks.

I’d qualify for Boston and then not sign up.

Well that didn’t happen.

I traveled to my first Boston alone. I didn’t know who else was running or realistically what time to even shoot for. This one be a one and done. I’d found a training group that Fall and I was ready to get back to taking it seriously. As with most mid 20s post college guys, I figured I’d stick to the 10k/Half Marathon.

I traveled this weekend with my mom, brother, and a friend I had met through instragram that by chance had been staying in the same hotel as I was. He was coming from Mexico City, had no idea where to get around, and had issues with seeing a bit in the dark. I happily offered to have him tag along with our group.

Having someone else there doing this for the first time helped ease the nerves. His reason was powerful, in memory of his brother. Kind of put things in perspective here. That aura of gratefulness and humility helped soften me a bit.

As I made my way to our respective corrals I began to get overwhelmed by the sea of humanity around me. This was by far the largest race I’d ever been a part of and I was a bit intimidated.

Before I had a chance to spiral, I saw a familiar face. A guy with a New Mexico singlet? Of course it was Russell, a CMS athlete I’d competed against in undergrad

As I made early aggressive moves that would eventually seal my fate I passed a crew of gentlemen wearing the same singlet I wore for my first marathon.

That’s Fine Track Club

Oh shoot! It’s Paul Balmer!

As I cratered over the final 10 kilometers, a victim of my own naïveté, I remember seeing the same two singlets a Dark Blue one and a George Mason. Keying off of those kept me in it when it got dark. I limped off the line with a bruised ego by an almost 7 minute personal best. I made sure to grab a photo with them afterwards.

Over 2 years later, I was back on the line.

As we packed like sardines in the first corral I found another familiar singlet. Pittsburgh Track Club! We all shuffled in and realized we had a similar goal, sub 2:30. Alright. Let’s get after it.

In those early miles it was Noah, a former Buckeye, who kept me company for those early miles. It’s tough to not let the energy of the day pull you into the deep but having someone there with me brought levity to those early miles.

As we passed the scream tunnel I took a look around at the state of our pack. Another familiar face, Thaer! We basked in the craziness that that the crowd provided before the weight of the first half proved to be too much.

As our pack imploded over the second half I found myself fighting silently with a gent in electric blue. We matched each other stride for stride as our respective bodies began to splinter under the stress of the distance. I’d like to think there was a common understanding that our quest to break that barrier had closed but with that cruel clock still ticking we both made our best attempt to finish strong.

Another failure, but a course PR.

6 months later I was back. Two times beaten, but determined to get one on the board.

This time I wanted to be in control of a race plan. I posted it on Instragram the day prior and had a couple of guys that were happy to join in trying to attack that 2:30 barrier. We stayed together in the parking lot behind CVS that morning, our bus getting lost and leaving us closer to the start than expected. It didn’t feel like a race morning as Jamey, Chris, Liam, and I were just all fairly relaxed, or at least gave off the vibe that we were.

We may have broken away from each other (I had to jump in a bush early at mile 1 to pee), but having some familiar people to be with before lining up was a welcome break from the nerves. I would go on to break 2:30 for the first time with a 2:28:23. My race plan worked spectacularly as I went out the slowest out of any sub 2:30 guy that day (75:10) and brought it home strong.

2023 I was a different runner. After a 2:23 at Chicago I wanted to be aggressive. Coach had a plan for 71 minutes. Early on I attempted to go with a group. They were out too fast. As I floated through no mans land I heard a familiar voice.

Ope!

Bromka had pulled up alongside me. My brain had started to haywire as I struggled to settle into 5:25 pace but his guidance and calm demeanor helped me reframe and relax. It was a long race and there was still so much work to do. I stopped looking at the watch and focused on just racing and feeling it out. Eventually I was able to put it back together and start chasing.

Miles later I battled back and forth with a stranger from Heartbreak Hill Running Company. We kept each other sharp when things got tough and as I began to falter he would gesture at me to latch on, if we were going to hurt let’s at least have company.

I would go on to run a new personal best that day in 2:23:28. An almost even split.

7 years ago I couldn’t imagine that I’d be sitting here typing this up before my fifth Boston Marathon. While the challenge and humbling those first times out kept me trying, the community that I found on the course is what kept me coming here. At this point running a massive personal best at Boston is far from likely so why pay all this money to run a race on a course that isn’t super fast?

It’s because as a racer, Boston presents one of the best experiences to challenge yourself and fellow competitors. Boston can even the playing field. It can make for heartbreaks as much as it can make for breakthroughs. It can humble even the GOATs just like it can humble a novice. You race the course, not the time on the clock here. If you’re lucky you get a nice day too. In the sea of competitors I have formed friendships, celebrated, commiserated, and fought with whatever our bodies had left. There is a beauty in building these friendships with strangers as you make your journey to Boylston.

Tomorrow I’ll find comfort in familiarity. Comfort in the course. Comfort in the high spirits that comes with seeing friends you haven’t seen in years. Excitement in the possibility to see surprises. I don’t know what Boston has in store tomorrow but I’m excited to take on those challenges and hopefully come away with more stories to tell.

If it’s your first Boston and you feel alone in the thousands of bibs, lean on to others. Work together, fight together, and if the cards play out right, celebrate together. The human spirit is tougher when others are there with it. It may not be the silver bullet, but it may just be what you need to keep you fighting when things get hard.

To those racing, best of luck. Let’s have some fun out there.

running

Road to CIM 2025: Project 13.1 (March 17-23)

beersandmiles

It’s race week, season starts now.

Unlike past Boston Marathon blocks, this winter featured no “real” racing on the schedule. I’ve enjoyed hitting the track a couple of times but realistically I don’t think I would’ve been very happy with my performances had I tried my hand out at some track races this Winter.

I can’t say I was too confident heading into the week. The last couple of workouts had gone fairly well but I was still fairly uncomfortable with any paces under 5:10. Sub 5? Yeah, that’s not been fun. I couldn’t really pinpoint much of the reason for this. I feel like I’m in close to the best shape of my life when I’m running longer workouts but I had a much easier time with these threshold reps when I was a 2:23 guy.

Wednesday did very little to give me confidence. A tuneup workout before I flew out to New York the following day. 3 reps of 1 mile at half marathon pace, 200 meter jog, 400 meters at 5K pace, 400 meter jog. A pretty standard workout.

I wouldn’t be able to race in the shoe’s I’ve been working out in this block so I had a decision to make. My Strikes had a little more wear than I wanted for a race like this so I had two options here. Pull out the lightsprays or break out the newest pair I got in the mail thanks to the BAA, the Adidas EVO Pro 1. What an enviable position to be in right?

Seeing as the EVO 1’s were just one use only and the sticker price, I figured I’d hold off here. I wasn’t peaking for this one so why use them. Lightspray it is.

Nothing about this one felt great. Breathing felt incredibly uncomfortable despite a perfect morning. But we got through it and I got increasingly comfortable as it went on.

5:06-71
5:02-70
5:03-70

I’m usually snappy when it comes to these workouts. I felt tired. If today was a sign of what to expect on Saturday then I would need to take things out conservatively. Even on fatigued legs I thought I had a good chance at PRing. Based on my marathon personal best, my half PR is a bit soft.

The Thursday travel day went as smooth as one could hope. I felt solid on my preflight shakeout and no issues on the flight out. Burks was kind enough to pick me Josh and I from JFK. We had some traffic issues on the way back but all things considered, it was a very calm travel day to New York. After an easy hour run catching up with Burks through Mamaroneck, we enjoyed some pizza and called it a night.

Friday. Well. That’s definitely a run I’d like to forget. Nothing like fighting for your life over 6 miles at 8 minute pace. I felt awful. Too many layers, my body just didn’t want to go, and the crazy wind wasn’t helping either. That was awful. But the miles were done and there was not much left to do but get after it the next day.

We made our way out to Rockland to grab our bibs and made a quick detour on the way back to visit a beer shop Burks raved about. He wasn’t kidding, one of the best selections I’d ever seen.

Witty would arrive later that afternoon just in time for dinner. A big plate of spaghetti and meatballs as a little household. It was a time to catch up and discuss plans for what was to come in just a couple of hours.

It would be an early bedtime for this household. 4AM wakeup for this 7AM race.

The morning went without much issue. I woke up fairly easy, excited to get out there and see what I could do. The drive to Rockland went without a hitch with a car fairly quiet as we all prepared for our own respective races.

I can’t say any of the warmup was memorable. It was still dark by the time we arrived and it was tough to make out who was out there. It was cold but not too horrible. We went to use the facilities and met back at the car to get our warmup started. Easy two miles to get the legs warmed up before we ripped around this lake for just over an hour.

The hour went by quicker than expected and next thing I knew I was jogging off to the start.

The start of our heat was fairly bunched up as we tried to see who our respective pacers would be. I had my decision made pretty much after my tuneup and experience from last time out. I’d stick just behind the 68 minute pacer and then take my time over the first half til I got comfortable and then start moving. Basically the same plan as last time. I still wasn’t very confident in my ability to get out hard and I figured keying off the pacer would be a good move for me.

And we’re off.

The field jostles for position as people try to maneuver to their respective pace groups. The confident go to the pacers 66 and below. Separation looks almost immediate. The pace feels fairly easy I think to myself as I have the 68 pacer within arms length. 

Yep, we’re way slow here. And he knows it. Like he was struck by lightning the pacer hits the gas, HARD. We scramble around the U-turn at 1K, quick around the curve and no nonsense like two years ago. Everyone knows what side to head on. Regardless, it’s almost a complete stop at this line. 

The pacer looks like he’s over corrected and I have no plans on making that move with him. 

Settle in with this makeshift pack you’ve found and find rhythm. Make a move on loop two. 

5:14 through 1. 5:12 through 2. Clock shows even worse. Oof. We’re really slow here. This doesn’t feel great. But it didn’t feel great last time. Relax. 

It was flashbacks of last time out as Vinnie and I begin to run stride for stride. We have a good pack of us and the “68” pack has created separation. Either they were going to have a day or it was going to be a painful last couple loops. No matter, that was their race. 

The first loop felt much harder than it needed to be but I maintained connection with this pack. Let them do the work while you compose yourself. 

Full loop 1 (2.95 miles): 5:12 pace 

The second loop felt easier and I started to forget about what was going on. Quickly I was woken up by Vinnie saying we were slow. The pace began to dawdle and we needed to inject some pace. 

Vinnie and I went to the front of the pack and started charging. We made separation from the pack for a bit and I figured this would be the decisive move I needed to have my legs wake up. It was time to start getting after it. 

The injection of pace may have been instantaneous but the slow decay felt like hours. My legs just didn’t want to go. I felt heavy and the erratic injection of pace wasn’t much help the cause. 

Full loop 2 (2.95 miles): 5:13 pace

The packed swallowed our pour souls soon after. I latched on to the tail end of the pack. I wasn’t redlining; my breathing felt comfortable. I felt flat. There was no drive in my stride and I was working so hard to just hold 5:10s. But my pride wouldn’t let me go. As this pack began to make the important moves I held on. 

I’m not going to die. I’m not going to be that guy who makes that charge early and blows up. They’re going to have to bury me. I’m not dropping off this pack. 5 miles to go, don’t be a baby.

As we approached the 9 mile marker I made a decision to press. The legs weren’t feeling great but my breathing was still comfortable. I was going to make a play for home. 

Full loop 3 (2.95 miles): 5:11 pace

I had company. The guy that had been doing the brunt of the work in this pack wasn’t going to go out without a fight. Company is good. Let’s keep it going. 

The clock showed 52:55. I would need about a 15 flat here if I was going to break 68. I had learned early on that this race had gone sideways but not breaking 68 out here was not the mark I wanted to have here. I’d run a fast last loop before. I could do it again. 

I pressed hard as I crossed the finish line for the penultimate time. Down to 5:05. Okay now we’re talking. Keep the hammer down. Wait, why aren’t my legs firing again. Dude they were fine for a mile. 

The guy makes another press almost as though he noticed me shifting down a gear. A 5:09 mile followed and with a little over a mile out I pressed again. 

He will not die. I want them to think that. Hard to kill. Hard to kill. Go. Let’s show some fight. 

I charged hard for that final mile, my breathing now becoming labored as powered through as hard as I could. The watch buzzed ahead of the mile marker again, 5:01. Man where the hell was this earlier. 

Looks like I wasn’t the only one that was hard to kill. 

The guy made his final push for home and hit a gear I could just not match. Watch tells me that final quarter was a 70 second. He had that extra gear and I didn’t. 

Full loop 4 (2.95 miles): 5:06 pace

Final time: 67:55

It’s been a while since I’ve been out kicked like that in a longer race. That was a hell of a fight.

You just wouldn’t die dude I laughed as we caught up after the race. 

Yeah man that was fun racing out there

I believe that was his personal best. 

I brought in the boys as they finished their respective races, collected the gloves and head band I tossed off mid race and got ready to cooldown. I had a long one ahead of me. 

I jogged a bit with Burks and the boys before heading out for a single loop to myself. My legs didn’t feel destroyed. They were flat but just fatigued as though I had a big workout effort. It was frustrating knowing that this was the case. I came here to race, not to feel like this. But so it goes. 

With that final loop finished I was at 20.6 for the day. I grabbed breakfast with the boys graciously provided by the crew at Trials of Miles. We caught up with some pals that flew out for the race, chatting about the past year of running for ourselves. Thousands of miles may separate us but I feel like we all tend to keep an eye out for each other, celebrating those big moments when they inevitably happen. 

Man I feel like I’m going to break 2:19 before I break 67 I laughed. 

That’s how it happened for me. I broke 2:19 before 67. 

That definitely made this feel a bit better.

With food in our bellies we left ol Rockland State Park. It was time for Bagged Chicken and most importantly, beer duddde. 

Saturday was a blast. I don’t get to see Burks too often since he lives in Denver, I only see Witty a couple times a year, and Josh, while running with him, I don’t often get to hang out with. 

We popped a couple early beers we’d assembled and played board games for a bit before Witty made his trek into the city. Burks, Josh, and I drunkenly battled through furiously competitive games of bananagrams as I infuriated Josh by yelling 

PEEEL

and 

THANK YOU SIR 

The afternoon with the boys made the weekend worth it. Burks went to bed and Josh and I celebrated with ice cream from the shop down the block. I bullied Josh into eating the entirety of his ice cream. You can’t go to bed until you finish your sundae. 

Sunday surprisingly went significantly better than Friday. The legs were definitely sore but it was a beautiful morning for running. Burks took me through a big tour through the town and I added on to hit my mileage for the week. 11.4 miles for the day to get to 75.

We cleaned ourselves up and made sure to leave the house as we found it and made our way to Brooklyn to catch up with my buddy Greg at one of my favorite breweries. We popped some bottles and enjoyed some great beers all afternoon. What a way to cap off the weekend

The journey to the Newark Airport from Other Half was well, an adventure. 

Burks and I went on the same train back but I bailed out a couple stops in. Nature was calling. 

I looked around anxiously for a bathroom. By some stupid chance the exits I took was at a park. Boom. 

Back on the train I went. Out to manhattan, then a bus to the airport. 

Arrive to the bus stop. Patiently wait. I’m gonna make it with about an hour to spare I think?

Is this the bus to Newark I ask the bus driver.

Newark? I don’t know what you’re talking about. 

Shit.

Detour to Penn Station. I need to grab the train in time or I’m shit out of luck. I make a mad dash to catch a train to the station. Pay for my ticket. Board the train. Okay. One more to go. 

Of course the sky train is experiencing issues. On the train. Wait for another one to take us to the terminal. 

I book it to the kiosk. I make the cutoff.

My flight? 7:59. Bags checked: 7:14. Talk about a close one.

My decision to get TSA precheck paid off and I’m through security fairly quickly. I arrive at the gate as we’re boarding. Wow. 

Reflecting on this week I think I was a bit too hard on myself. My previous week was 85 miles and we didn’t taper for this one. With how little I’ve been racing in the last 15 months, it’s still frustrating to not have a performance that I can be super happy with but I need to remember that the A race isn’t in March.

running

Road to CIM 2025: Managing (March 10-16)

beersandmiles

How many miles do I need to get out of the way early to not dig myself into a hole this weekend…

Carryover fatigue has become expected at this point. It’s healthy fatigue, the type of dullness you expect to have after a couple weeks over 70 miles.

I’ve hit higher mileage before and have felt better than I do now. The sessions are tougher and they’ve felt as such since the Fall of ’23. It makes sense; that was the build I leveled up. I’m no longer just trying to see how big of a PR is out there every race, it’s more incremental now. It’s stupid to think that I will continue to see exponential gains at this distance. The journey from 2:41 to 2:19 was built off finally stacking some consistency for the first time in my almost 20 years of running. It was actualizing potential that was probably always there but wasn’t taken advantage of due to a combination of stubbornness, injury, laziness, and at times good old fashioned bad luck. Gone are the days of 4 minute personal bests; it’s just now about seeing what’s going to be that final number behind your name at the end of the day.

Those peak weeks tend to give you a lot of time to reflect on that I guess. Experience tells me that these weeks can often be that break or breaking point for an athlete. You either get just enough of what you need from those important last couple weeks or leave everything needed on race day somewhere in the middle of one of those sessions.

At this point I figure Tuesdays are going to feel a bit dull. Nothing exciting about 10-12 maintenance miles ahead of workout session the next morning. Despite my best efforts to wake up early to run, I am once again relegated to a PM guy, to the dismay of Cris twelve hours later.

It was a longer track session on deck for Wednesday morning. 10x 1K with 200 meter float recovery starting at marathon pace.

It’s a much easier session on paper than the week prior but the floats make it a bit dicey. Get too ahead of yourself in the early reps and those float recoveries become harder than they need to be. With this easy of a pace it’s easy to hit the gas harder than was intended. I opened up with the thought that I can get away with a slower rep on the first one if that meant that things were in control. Better to be off by a second or two on the slow end than jumping in the deep end.

I’ve done enough Kilometer repeats at this point that the workout seems to be just in my sweet spot. Once you go through 4-600 meters it’s fairly easy to get through each rep. It’s not long enough to bite you too hard and short enough where 200 jog is really all you need to get yourself back into the next one.

The workout went exactly how I wanted it. 3:21 to start and worked my way down to 3:13 with floats averaging between 6:10 per mile to 6:16 per mile. It felt manageable enough but looking over the workout was a gentle reminder to not get too ahead of myself here. Anything under 3:16 isn’t really necessary right now. I feel like I’m in PR shape but not 2:16:00 shape. Just got to be realistic. But this was a good workout, a workout where I didn’t feel like I was straining. We’ll take any of those at this point, considering how my leg has been feeling.

Reps: 3:21,3:20, 3:20, 3:19, 3:17, 3:16, 3:17, 3:16, 3:15, 3:13

7.50 miles, 5:28 pace

A good session to honor Crime Mob’s hit single Knuck if You Buck turning 21.

Normally at this high of mileage, I’d expect a decent mileage weekend to make up most of the mileage. With Project 13.1 the following weekend, my long run would be 18 miles. That meant that these midweek miles would need to be a pretty healthy amount to get to 85 while keeping things light on Sunday.

A six mile shakeout at run club brought the Wednesday total to just under twenty. Boy did I feel every mile of that the next afternoon. Another day I slept in meant another afternoon run. I wanted to hit the morning double to make things easier on myself but at this point I kind of knew that I was going to hit the snooze a couple too many times to make that a reality. So 12 miles at 5pm with the legs feeling awful until nine. Cool. Cool.

Missing the Thursday double meant doubling on a Friday. Yuck. A 10/4 double on the day. First 10 miles in the morning because the thing about a 10/4 double is you gotta hit the 10. After a day of work and managing Twitter for D3 Glory Days it was time to lace up the shoes again for another run, at 7PM… Because that’s the thing about a 10/4 double, you gotta run the 4.

We had rain on the forecast for the weekend. Pick your poison, Saturday or Sunday. I opted for the Saturday group run to get it out of the way and give me another day to recover ahead of the Half the following weekend.

Weather had me thinking that we missed the storm. I quickly realized that I was in for a wet and slippery two hours ahead of me with a workout that I hadn’t had the best of luck with in previous blocks.

18 miles, 5 miles easy then 15 minutes at 5:40-45, 15 minutes at 5:20-25, 15 minutes at 5:15-20, cooldown back to the store. Knowing this section of the path well, I knew I was in for a tougher section heading back than heading out. Two sections with uphills weren’t too bad when you’re running 5:40’s but they sure are a bitch when you’re running 5:1x’s.

With the 14 in my legs from the previous day I expected this to feel like a bit of a slog and a failure to come as soon as I came through the second section of this workout. I attempted to keep controlled and pull back to closer to 5:45 as I relived a past blowup I had in Savannah the previous year. My wet tech tee felt like it was choking me as I started the uptempo. After some adjustments and wringing it a bit I finally was able to take comfortable breaths. The first mile was a little faster than I wanted. 5:41. That’s fine. Nothing under 5:40.

5:39. Man….

Back off. 5:41. Okay good. Next section.

While the first section had some varied sections to it, the trees provided ample protection from the wind. This next section I would be exposed to it. As I ran parallel to the highway I could feel the gusts picking up. It was a nice tailwind for me taking to my turnaround point at nine.

5:24. Good.

It wasn’t so nice coming back. It was a fight to get myself under 5:25 as I moved to get myself back into pace after stopping to turn around, the wind smacking me around as I inched closer to the safety of the trees. I knew that once I cleared this section things would be manageable. Another 5:24 came like clockwork. The final 4 minutes? Yep, 5:24 again.

Two down, one to go. On the toughest section of the path. I gave myself a little bit of space for heading into the winding turn of the overpass on Henderson Ave. The loop always made it tough to establish rhythm but I focused on form and keeping uptempo off the bridge. Not much time lost. As I raced down the hill the watch beeped, 5:17.

There we go. One mile at a time.

The next section felt much more comfortable. The gentle curves provided a welcome break from what felt like an endless road ahead.

Keep it controlled. You know what’s next.

5:16. Perfect.

The next five minutes wouldn’t be fun. A slight incline to kick things off, a quick right and a light flat section. A gentle curve left, a dip, then a longer climb and a sharp turn to Broadway Ave. The section isn’t all that hard on paper but anytime you have an incline heading into a sharp turn going up is shit, no matter what pace you’re going. But what comes up, must come down. It would be a hard 400 meters but the light at the end of the tunnel was a downhill stretch to the finish to make up time. And I got in there right where I wanted.

5:17 pace. Done.

I’d like to say that was the hard part.

As I finished the final section of the workout, the rain began to pour hard again. Then the wind. 5 miles into the wind. My legs were frozen 3 miles out. 7:00 pace was a struggle. I got back to an empty store, soaked, tired, and hungry. But I did it. It was done.

The physical therapy seemed to be working too. My flexibility had improved tremendously and I could actually do leg swings without feeling like my leg was going to rip out of socket. My knee stopped hurting to the touch or any sort of lateral movement. My PT showed relief as he worried it may have been an MCL issue. Sleeping with a knee brace and consistent visits is what it needed and I was hopeful that I could be 100 percent by Boston. This week was tiring, but it was manageable and that’s just what I needed.

I enjoyed a nice little 9.5 miles the next morning with the fellas to get me to 85 on the week. Week complete, time to set sights on New York. Project 13.1 was next.

running

Road to CIM 2025: Next Gear (March 3rd-9th)

beersandmiles

Alright, time to bump it up a little. 

After a few weeks in the 70s it was time for my first week above 80 for this build. While this may not have been the highest mileage build I’ve had leading up to Boston, it was nice to at least start finding some consistency in the last couple weeks.

Zach had sent over a basic outline of my workouts for the block, week by week, which made it easier to build out my week and not have to chase miles by the time the weekend came. 

This week would have two sessions as always, one Wednesday and some kind of long run workout. We’d be back to kilometer repeats on Wednesday and an extended uptempo session for the weekend. 

The week began pretty unremarkably. Another Tuesday run where I wasn’t particularly excited about running. Thankfully I had some company and the run went from hating the action to being somewhat enjoyable in the span of 75 minutes. But I guess this is just how general runs will be coming off big weekend efforts. Just do enough to feel decent enough to knock out some reps Wednesday morning. Nothing flashy.

These morning threshold sessions have taught me that more than likely the first quarter of the workout would feel tough. I’m very much not a morning person and trying to get the legs to start spinning early isn’t something that I can do anymore. Seeing as I need to get to the office at a reasonable hour, the most I’m usually able to do in terms of activation or plyos is maybe some leg swings and a couple of strides if I’m feeling saucy. 

Workout on deck: 8x1k @ half marathon pace with 200 jog or float recovery 

Just as the run was yesterday, and pretty much any Wednesday workout, the opening reps were fairly mediocre. The first four felt like I was just trying to establish some kind of rhythm. The recovery was just enough with a jog so I decided against pushing for float reps here. If I felt great towards the end, we’ll tweak the recovery reps. For now, just enough was alright. 

First couple of ones: 3:10-3:11-3:09-3:09

The last couple of reps weren’t all that fun but my legs were at least warmed up to knock out what I wanted out of the session. Wind on the home stretch was annoying but it wasn’t freezing cold for once so that was manageable. The tummy ache devil decided to make itself known over the last two reps but I was already far enough in to fight through it. With two to go I just thought, it’s less than eight minutes. Just get it done. 

3:09, 3:07, 3:07, 3:07

Good. 

Could I hold this for a half? I wasn’t particularly sure. I hadn’t really raced a good half in a while and I contemplated pulling back on future workouts until I had a sense of my fitness. I felt like I was in better shape than my 2:19 year, but it was hard to say for sure. I was recovering from these midweek sessions well enough. Whatever, we’d find out in a couple weeks.

Once I hit that threshold of high enough mileage I can pretty much guarantee that any Thursday and possibly even Friday run would be absolute dogshit, especially if I didn’t wake up to run a double before work. Once again, I struggled to get myself out of bed to get my run in before work. That meant some post work miles and potentially a visit to Short North Running Club. Since I didn’t run in the morning I needed to hit at least 12 here to make sure I didn’t put myself in a hole trying to hit mileage over the weekend. The first half wasn’t all that bad but I definitely felt the time on feet towards the end. Good chats when I needed them in those last couple miles and 12.6 on the day. That’s fine. I wouldn’t be working out until Sunday anyway. 

I signed up for this local race series thing at the beginning of the year. They had implemented a new challengers series that meant that the people in the series would be a bit more fairly matched than previous years. Instead of having to figure out what races others were doing, a couple of them would be marked as a special part of the series. I signed up for a 5k earlier in the year but missed it due to my Grandmothers passing. Since a lot of races would be conflicts with my current race schedule I needed to figure out some races to stack up early and get points. This weekend would be one of those races. I had 20 on the schedule with 10 miles at 5:20-25 average. The plan was to run a 5 mile warmup, get my workout shoes on and knock out 4 on the course and then hop in just as the gun went off. Knowing this was a first year race I figured that I’d have no competition. A workout and an easy race win? Yeah I’ll take that.

I got a good amount of miles in on Friday with Breydon. 11 easy around his neighborhood. I’d run an easy 11 the next morning with Breydon and then I’d feel fairly snappy for workout day. As I’m driving home and discussing my weekend plans with Shelby, she asks the question. 

Wait, isn’t your race tomorrow? 

A couple minutes pass as she checks. 

Yep, it’s Saturday, not Sunday.

Yo Breydon, I’m gonna have to cancel tomorrow, turns out my race is tomorrow. 

Oof. Well that changes my night. Time to get off my feet and prep for my workout tomorrow. 

Race mornin’: 20 miles w/ 10 at 5:20-25 average.

I used the warmup to run on the course a bit. I’ve run countless miles on this section of the path but it was still nice to remember what I had ahead of me especially since I hadn’t run a bunch on this during this block. The rolling course ran next to the river that runs through the middle of Columbus. A nasty wind gust greeted you as you went out but made for a fun second half. Even at this slower pace I had a feeling of how I should attack this workout. Since it wasn’t completely flat, we’d have to work on averages to finish this successfully.

I can’t say that I felt all that great on the day but I chalked that up to the wind and rolling of the path. 

I tossed my workout shoes, grabbed a couple gels and set off for the first part of my workout. I wanted to get out fairly conservative for this. While 10 isn’t a ton, it’s still long enough to experience a blow up, especially on a day like this. I’d use the first two to kind of see how I was feeling and then work from there. I felt fairly tight for quite a bit and decided on taking the conservative approach on this one. I wasn’t very confident in hitting this workout. The race was a bit of an afterthought, I figured I could blow up hard in this workout and still win fairly easily.

In my prep for the session I had lost track of time a bit. I had about 23 minutes til the gun went off and I was still at my car. It would be 10 minutes out, 10 minutes back with a slight buffer in case I needed to make a stop at the portapotty.

I hit the watch and made my way out. The pace difference was a bit shocking to start and after working out in a different pair of shoes recently this took a second to get somewhat calibrated to the effort I was running. First mile approached quickly. 

5:30. Alright not bad here for the first one. We’ll hang around there and then start moving down. 

I passed by the water station and gave the folks a little heads up since I had my bib on and was running fairly uptempo. 

Don’t worry! The race hasn’t started!

I’m sure they were very confused.

10 minutes came quicker than expected but in an very unfortunate spot. A turn around spot after a steep little hill? Yuck. 

A couple quick steps out and I passed by the mile shortly after.

5:35. Oof that’s not ideal. Stay calm, a complete stop and a hill will do that. No over correction. Let the downhill and tailwind take you through. 

This next mile would be all about figuring out what kind of morning this was going to be. The back section was much easier than the out and if I was having a tough time there than I was in for a long morning. 

I stayed calm as my stride started to open up a little bit. Just enough. Get to the tail end of this pace goal and work from there. A 5:20 now isn’t needed. Not today.

5:25. Good! That’s a start. 

As I got back to the start line I hopped in a portapotty then went to the line. One minute to spare here. 

The front of the line was bunched up a bit. A couple people looked familiar from the series but I didn’t really see anyone I typically would race against. The guy with a luchador mask standing next to me on the line confirmed my thoughts that this was probably going to be a lonely affair. 

Bang!

Immediately the luchador gets off the line and makes his space. He got off the line better than I did but his top speed was probably closer to 6 minute pace and I was left having to try and find a way around. I got bumped for a second before the guy let me past, apologizing for an absolutely inadvertent bump. It happens, no harm no foul. I get around and immediately feel like I’ve gapped the field. 

The excitement of the start got me a little ahead of myself as I went through the next mile in 5:18. Chillll out dude.

The way out felt significantly easier than the last two times. I waved at the water stop crew letting them know that we had actually started this time. 

5:22. No issues and the rolling felt pretty good. This out was nearly done. Hard part should be over at this point. But first a quick left turn, down a slight section and then a U-turn. What comes down must  come up in this case. Nothing like coming to a complete stop and then having to running up a hill…

Well that made this next mile real slow. 5:35. Remembering the last 5:35, I stayed calm. A U-turn and hill was bound to make it slow. The fun section was coming anyway. Time would be made up there. 

Sure enough it was. With the wind hitting my back and some light downhill sections I went through that next mile in 5:16. Breathing was comfortable, I didn’t feel like I was straining. 

Next one up, little bit of a tougher section with some sharp turns heading back to the start but no issues. 5:20 mid was just where I wanted to be. 

I approached the section of the course I hadn’t run before. The race had 5k that would go back directly to the finish while the 10k would break off to hit an outside section to get to the distance. 

Another hill to tackle and then the easy part I was sure. 

Well….

With construction happening on the bike path it was pretty hard to find an easy way back onto the path without some sharp turns. What this meant was coming off the hill you went down to the path with two sharp turns that basically brought you to a halt. I wasn’t aggressive with these turns knowing my foot issues. No need to roll it because I want to catch some time. Another slower mile because of it, but a full stop will do that. 5:32. 

Last mile felt good. As I inched closer to the finish line I realized I was going to be pretty short. I crossed the finish line in first, grabbed my medal and kept running for almost a quarter mile, dodging race finishers. It was a chaotic finish and I could hear the announcer confused about it but I needed to finish this workout. 

5:22. 10 miles at 5:26 average. Just off the goal for the workout but considering I came to a complete stop multiple times I went ahead and called it a wash. Mission accomplished. 

I can’t say the workout itself was all that spectacular but I got some strong work in and sometimes that’s all you need. 

I finished the week at 80 with a 11 mile Sunday. 

running

Road to CIM 2025: Mic Check (Feb 24-March 2nd)

beersandmiles

Anyone else check the weather for the week before they start up?

While most of the last couple weeks have been mentally preparing myself for bitter cold miles of each day, I was finally excited to head out for the week.

Wait, a clear 55 degrees? In late Feb? Count me in.

It would be another week up at 75 and coming off a great workout Sunday I was pretty pumped to head into the week. The legs were a bit tight from the run early in the week but I figured that fatigue was to be expected given the workout.

What I didn’t expect was to have one of my worst workouts in years on Wednesday morning.

A light dusting had gone over the track and I was too stubborn to move the workout to the roads. I fully expected this one to be easy. 1200-800-400 at 5:00-4:50-4:40 with 200 jog recovery then 4×200 on/200 off. None of these reps were long enough to bite me. I just didn’t expect my legs to not cooperate.

I didn’t even get 100 meters in without some kind of discomfort. My left knee had been facing issues for a couple weeks or so. I thought it was tightness from the IT band issue from the end of the year. I had no pop and I just felt like I was struggling to get into a comfortable rhythm.

5:00 pace? How about a 5:11…
4:50? How about 5:07…
4:40? How about 5:00.

I couldn’t even break 75. This was ridiculous.

I wanted to call it after one rep. This was pitiful. I couldn’t get into rhythm and this just felt labored. Maybe it was the drop in temps that was giving me issues breathing (I should’ve gotten that inhaler years ago I told myself as I struggled through another rep) or maybe it was the little layer of dewey ice that somehow wouldn’t come off the track. I stayed in. Even if it was going poorly I could just adjust. If this was my effort today so be it, stay engaged and do what you can.

Set 2:
3:54, 2:33, 73

Alright a little bit better.

Set 3:
3:51, 2:31, 72

Okay, that’ll do for today. On to the 200s.

If I was having issues on the longer reps, that was nothing compared to the 200s. I struggled to feel any sense of power in my left leg as I wrapped around the curve. Nothing felt natural but it couldn’t be that slow right?

34 seconds….

Wooooooof.

Alright, one more here. If I’m under 34 here I’ll finish it out. If not, we’re done.

Click.

I work hard to drive through the first 200, trying to get grip around the turn. Arms pump hard, 100 to go. We’re definitely under.

34.

Alright we’re done here. This isn’t feeling good and I’m worried about what another 200 is going to feel like. I have a meeting scheduled with my PT the next day.

Every time I visit my PT he’s visibly disgusted by how tight my hamstrings are. I’m incredibly inflexible and can’t really bend past my knees. I think by this point he had said this is enough and we needed to fix it. So we started doing light cupping today targeting three specific spots, hamstrings, calves, and IT band. My knee continued to have issues and basic lateral movement and touch caused me pain. The questions he asked were akin to someone facing a tackle at the knee or something. I didn’t have any traumatic incident on it. Not any that I could think of.

Wait. I fell really hard on both sides of my body last month. Could that be it?

Possibly.

Welp that’s great.

He suggested I get a knee brace to try and stabilize my knee a bit. I wouldn’t wear it while running but I would start with walking around the house and sleeping in it to see if I had any improvement.

While there has been signs that I’m in really good shape, I know Boston enough to know that any little issue will be a death wish for me on race day. The course is cruel to those that are coming in with any sort of small injuries.

So time to get on a serious rehab schedule. Better late than never right? Consistent rehab stretches and using any tool to my disposal. I have what I need to get better (I hope), I just need to do it.

Sunday came quicker than expected. Another cold morning. I had all morning to prep since I wanted to try and knock this out when we at least had a little bit of sun out there. 18 on the schedule with 3 x 3 miles with 1 mile float recovery. I had a brand new pair of shoes and I felt pretty solid heading into it. Leg had improved a bunch over the last couple of days and I was actually responsible all weekend.

The goal of the workout was:
Set 1: 5:30
Set 2: 5:25
Set 3: 5:20

I set out a variation of my workout loop from the previous week (without the big hill section) and made my way over to the loop.

I came in with the thought of just being cautious off the gun. After the issues earlier this week, being a hero and trying to force things sounded like a recipe for disaster. If today was starting at 5:35-40, so be it. Just get some work done.

Mile 1: 5:29.

Well looks like I’m feeling better than I thought.

I had a slight bit of gust as I finished off each loop but I felt incredible out there. Finally my left leg was cooperating and I felt like I was back into a rhythm for once. The hardest thing early on was trying to stay controlled. Sure, this might feel good now but you have 10 more miles to go of this workout, don’t be an idiot.

Mile 2-3: 5:31-5:27

The next set would be where I’d see if this was going to be one of those good days. By the time you get to the 2nd mile of the set, you basically have an idea of how things will be going for the next one. The only struggle was pulling back. 5:25 was the goal and my first mile was 5:23. I brought the second one back to 5:24, but got ahead of myself again on the third one with a 5:21.

After a quick stop at the portapotty I started up my next rep. Okay. 5:20 is all you need here. Nothing fancy. Well, today was one of those good days. With about a minute to go in the first mile I worked to try and pull back a bit. But I had locked into this pace. This felt good?

5:14. Yeah, chill out dude.

The next mile was closer. 5:19.

Okay… nothing flashy, just bring it home here.

5:13. Oops.

There’s signs of a breakthrough coming. I feel it. I’m still working myself back to one hundred percent and I’m able to knock out workouts like this. But I can’t get greedy, especially as the miles increase and we get closer to peak. But after a tough winter and heck, a tough week, I’ll take this. Just need to practice control.

75 Miles done.

running

Road to CIM 2025: Back to the Tundra

beersandmiles

My extended week in California meant that I was fortunate enough to miss the snow front that smacked the midwest the week of Valentines Day.

Snow ain’t too bad. Ice? Well that’s another thing. For some reason our snow fronts this season have been followed by a bitter cold chill that turned a pillow soft patch of snow into something resembling a Super Mario level. If it wasn’t hard packed snow that could roll your ankle, it was a patch of black ice that could put you on your ass in a second.

I arrived back into town late afternoon Sunday and thankfully had a holiday to catch up on sleep. 12 hours did the trick.

I scoped out our workout loop on Tuesday, not horrible but still some visible patches of ice to keep an eye on if you were gonna take the chance to workout. I wasn’t going to be one of those brave folks. It would be a treadmill day for me. Temperature in the low teens and still working on getting myself in order? Yeah that was an easy decision. An easy double with very little runnable areas that afternoon helped solidify my choice.

Wednesday morning runs are always a bit of a struggle for me but coming off two weeks on the west coast… Yeah, I was on autopilot. I joined the crew for the warmup loop and packed my gear for a post work date on the treadmill.

I’m gonna be honest, I had no motivation to do this workout. Maybe it was the first early morning back on the east coast, maybe it being back in the office after a bit, maybe it was just a lingering emotional fatigue from the previous couple weeks. But man was I sluggish. So I packed my Lightsprays. If I was gonna have to do this workout, at the very least I’d be excited to wear one of the cool shoes I have.

The workout? Fatigued Miles. 5 Miles @ 5:55 average, half mile easy, 3 x 5 minutes @ 5:00 pace.

I don’t care how fit you are, workouts on the treadmill are terrifying. The uptempo first five went off without a hitch, though boring as I looked at a bare screen with just my time and distance on it. I was sweating, a ton more than I’m used to, which is basically anything. I don’t sweat too much so it’s can be a bit touch and go if I’m not prepared. The 5 minute reps felt like a fight to not get thrown off the belt. I can’t say this felt all that great but I got the work in and I was happy I didn’t bail on it.

Despite having no laces, the Lightsprays provided adequate lockdown and were fairly comfortable. These are probably going to be the shoes I use for Project 13.1 since all of my other supershoes have a fairly good amount of wear on them.

I ran my cooldown with Hoof Hearted Run Club. Remember how I said things could be touch and go if I’m not prepared? Well, I was okay for the workout. The cooldown? I felt absolutely crazy. I got back to the bar and immediately took a Gu and had an IPA. That put me back together.

Thursdays continue to be the bane of my existence. You don’t kick off a run at 6:30pm because you were motivated. I felt like I spent all afternoon trying to will myself to get out the door. Real feel of 7? The warm apartment was begging me to stay. But I put my shoes on and went out the door to do whatever psychotic loop I could figure out that would keep me off the ice/not put me in the direction of traffic. Less than half a mile in and I see someone running up the hill towards me. Holy heck it’s Ian Pierson out for an evening trot.

How much you doing?
Whatever you’re doing.

After a couple weeks away I’m reminded of just how lucky I am with this community. I can be out on a random run and see pals out hitting the pavement too. The fact that I have such talented athletes within a couple miles of my apartment is something I tend to take for granted a bit. Maybe a bit of time away running alone every day at home was a nice reminder that I have a very special community here.

Needless to say the run went much better than I thought it would go. Aside from my hands freezing despite two pairs of gloves… Ohio, man.

After work runners?

A couple Friday miles with Evan in Clintonville, a drive home to run in the neighborhood and some beers with Max while we watched some of the best in the world compete at BU. The toughest days of the week were done. It’s the weeeeekend man.

Long run was set for Sunday, 18 miles with 7 miles @ 5:20-25 over rolling terrain. I was concerned about this one. Lingering tightness and a couple failed extended long runs didn’t give me a lot of confidence that I was going to tackle this one but I was going to do all I could to make sure I was ready to attack it.

I forgot to mention that I got accepted into Puma’s Project 3 Program for Boston. The first week featured some seminars that went through sports psychology, an introduction to the brand, and a seminar with Maurten. The latter was something that was something I was excited to dig into as I’m using this build to nail down my nutrition schedule for CIM this Dec. Last year I tried the bars and 320 drink mix and it didn’t react well with my stomach. The seminar provided a bit of guidance of how to layer in these products. So this would be my first attempt at it. A bottle of Maurten 320 before bed. Some tailwind, a couple quesadillas, and a Maurten bar in the morning. I was a little full and slightly uncomfortable for the warmup but I needed to get used to just being full. Prime the stomach to be able to take more calories.

I made a ~3 mile loop that featured a couple rolling sections and a long uphill just after 2 miles that did a great job simulating Newton. A couple hard turns also gave me some chances to work on getting back into rhythm after a break in stride. I took a caf Maurten, laced up my Cloud Boom Strikes and made my way out to the loop. My left knee was tight. I figured it would loosen up after a bit but I would be cautious and start at 5:30 pace just in case.

Mile 1: 5:24. So much for that.

I settled myself down a bit since I was still fairly hesitant about my body and didn’t want to put myself in a hole early, especially with a long uphill coming up after two.

5:26, time for the hill, focus on form, drive drive drive. Okay, a couple quick steps out of it. Back into rhythm but not too hard down the hill. Got it. Stay comfortable.

BEEP

5:26. Good.

The legs are feeling great off the hill and I’m in good rhythm. Just need to keep things controlled. Nothing too crazy here since I’m not even half way done yet. How bout a 5:18 for your troubles. Ooooo.

Am I fit? What is this… Settle back. 5:20-25. Now’s not the time to test anything.

5:20. Okay, we’re at the bottom of the hill for the start of this mile. Your overall pace is going to be in a hole but don’t freak out. Just focus on staying strong. No need to grind here. It’ll be a little slow, that’s okay.

5:28. Solid. The rest of the workout would be a cakewalk. Just nothing under 5:20. Just need to do just enough. The last two miles went by quickly with a 5:21 and 5:20. I knocked this one out. The scary one wasn’t so scary and despite nothing seeming like it was going in my direction, there was some semblance of comfort in my running. Man it’s been a while.

That was 75 for the week. Much colder than I wanted but a successful week and one I’m proud to walk away from. Being back felt weird in a lot of aspects of my life but to lean in that consistency that I’ve built with this running thing is nice. I can’t say that that running was a mental health boost here, but having something just there to be on the schedule helped me get back into rhythm back here. I’ll take it.

running

Road to CIM 2025: Strength Through Wounding

beersandmiles

You’re coming with me to LAX Monday foo.

Talk about a hectic start to the week. With a large portion of our family coming from Tulsa, my cousin and I would be responsible for picking them up from LAX in the days leading up to my grandmother’s funeral. Seven would be arriving Monday, a couple more Tuesday night, and some stragglers would trickle in Wednesday ahead of the wake.

I would be working for about half of the week so this would mean early work mornings and trying to fit running as well as I could. Thankfully for me, Monday went without a hitch. Aside from the craziness that is LAX, this went better than expected.

In all that craziness, Shelby was able to get flights to come support during this week. Booking flights to California one day in advance wasn’t ideal but somehow it ended up working out. With one cousin landing late Tuesday, this would actually fit work out perfect.

Tuesday would be a day of front loading mileage. Knowing full well that I needed to account for disruption, anything that could fit in this free time would help.

You’re on your own foo

My cousin’s flight was cancelled due to the storms. I’d be on my own heading to LAX Tuesday night. Thankfully my brother and neighbor were happy to join me for a late drive to LAX. We arrived home safe and sound just past midnight. Knowing we both had workouts in the morning, a late night dinner was not the worst idea. The bright side of California? Taco places open at wee hours of the night. Shelby was introduced to the time old tradition of Alberto’s Carne Asada Fries past midnight. It wasn’t the best fuel but considering we both had big sessions in the AM, this was necessary.

The morning brought a new meaning to “Fatigued Miles”. I was able to sleep in a little bit since I was fortunate enough to have some bereavement time to use. I’ve done this workout enough at this point where it didn’t really scare me too much. Paces across the board were much slower but I was also still fairly banged up. Goal was 5 miles between 5:50-6:00, half mile jog, then 3x 1 mile at 5:10 pace with 2 minute jog recovery.

The five out would be on an out and back that I used to do in my college days. It’s funny revisiting these old routes in the days where you have GAP information and such. The out felt fairly easy but the way back was a lesson as to why we always ran so fast heading back to campus. Turns out it’s a slight uphill back to Claremont. No matter, the paces were hit pretty much where I wanted it.

6:00, 5:57, 5:55, 5:53, 5:47

It was a brisk morning to be on the track with the overnight rain making things a little slippery. I can’t say the miles were comfortable here but aerobically I felt fine. Still so much lingering tightness to worry about but I was happy to hit all of the paces. Where last week I felt like there was just a fog hanging over me, this felt like a normal workout day.

3x 1mile: 5:10, 5:09, 5:09

Now that the workout was out of the way, the focus was on being present. I can’t say that I’ve been very good at that, especially over the last year. Knowing what was to come over the last week didn’t make things any easier but having family around was a comfort that we all needed.

I’ve been fortunate enough to not have experienced much immediate loss in my life. The thought of it is often something that tends to keep me up at night. The idea of my own mortality scares the shit out of me. Even weeks later, I still find a lot of trouble putting to words those two days. It was a realization of a lot of things, a lot of missed opportunities but also a reminder of the opportunities presented.

The following day after the Funeral procession we welcomed over sixty people in our home to celebrate the life of my grandmother. This was the largest get together of our family since her 90th birthday celebration and I was taken aback by the feeling of love that we all had for each other. I grew up with about 25 or so cousins that were within about 10 years of me. All of us were around each other so often growing up that we were more akin to brothers and sisters than cousins. I was fortunate enough to meet the next generation, the children of my cousins and it was just a great experience to see everyone grown up. We were all the same kids, we just had a couple more responsibilities now.

That celebration definitely made those Friday miles a bit tougher. Shelby and I were able to knock out some miles before the sun came down and enjoyed a relaxing night with some good friends and some wine. Nothing crazy, we had a busy Saturday ahead of us.

A 1PM flight out of Long Beach for Shelby meant we needed to knock out our respective workouts early. I had 16 with 12x 1K with 200 jog recovery ahead of me. Shelby had a long run. We’d have to be right on if we were gonna make this happen.

I made my way back up to Claremont for this session. My left side was fairly tight over much of the workout but once again, the paces weren’t much of an issue. It felt muggy out but I’d happily take 45 degrees over the 20ish degrees we had at home.

I was pleasantly surprised with how this went. I was still pretty exhausted emotionally from the days prior but this wasn’t a hard enough session to put me in the ground. After the pathetic attempt at a workout last weekend, I needed this.

Reps:
3:22-21-20-22
3:17-18-17-17
3:14-13-14-13

Thankfully we had no issues getting to the airport and I was able to have a great day in Orange County for my last day in California. A pour of Pliny the Younger and a beer with some college pals made for a good last day there.

In typical Cris fashion I procrastinated on my run on a travel day. Flight takes off at 10:55? How bout starting a 7.61 mile run at 7:59. I was going to run earlier but I decided to catch my mom before she went to LAX first. I overdressed for the run and paid for it dearly over the first 3.5. But after ditching the fleece, it was smooth sailing.

Made it to the airport in time for breakfast and a beer. 70 miles on the week. We did it.

I was pretty proud of this week. While staying consistent with the mileage goal was one thing, my running schedule did not take away from me being there with my family. Running was a priority, yes, but it wasn’t THE priority. I did what I could and made it a point to just be there, present. Those two weeks in California, and well just the overall trip away was an emotional rollercoaster than I was not expecting or really ready for. Even weeks later I’m still trying to get back into rhythm. But there is a strength built through experiences like this. Some I hope to take advantage of later.

running

Road to CIM 2025: Through the Fog

beersandmiles

It’s been a long couple of weeks to say the least. After 2+ weeks on the road I’m back in this tundra that is Columbus, Ohio. Aside from almost slipping on some ice outside of my apartment, it’s really nice to be home.

I landed in California Monday afternoon exhausted from the long day of traveling from Boston. My left knee continued to be a bother throughout the trip and an almost 6 hour flight to my connection in Salt Lake City didn’t help much. I was dehydrated, a bit hungover and the only food in me was a smoothie bowl I had at 8am and whatever the nice stewardesses would provide us on the plane. A lot of tiny Sunchip bags would be what would keep my from passing out.

But we were home. No one aside from my cousin knew I was coming. I greeted those that were home when my Uber dropped me off. My uncle from Oklahoma and my mother’s boyfriend. My mom wasn’t home so I waited for a bit while she returned from the dentist. I sat in the living area as she came in from the garage.

Got any coffee?

My mom looked back and the smile on her face told me it meant the world for me to be there. I was home.

That week ahead would be tough. 5am mornings to log into work and trying to fit in a week of milage where I could. I was not prepared to be back in California. My running gear? Tops: I had a T-Shirt I bought in Boston. The closest thing I had to “warm weather gear”? A brighton base layer. I had a couple or running shorts thankfully that I could cycle through. Some running shoes and a workout shoe. All my socks were long, warm weather ankle crew Injinjis. I had planned on getting a hair cut this coming week. A NB ball cap would be my temporary fix for this scraggly hairdo.

Thankfully my mom tossed me a couple tourist cotton tees. This would do while I was here. A crazy fit, but I’d do my damndest to get that fit off.

With school being back in session I worried about being able to find a suitable place to workout. Thankfully I had a friend that confirmed that the CMS track would be available for workout I had on the day. I’d only be here until Saturday so that would be all I needed. I’d fly back Saturday, race Sunday in Columbus and then come back the following week for the wake and funeral.

Wednesday’s workout felt weird. I’m not sure if it was the early work days or just general emotions of the week. I opted to shakeout that morning as I was just feeling off. It was nice to be home but the lingering aura of why we were here felt like an enormous emotional weight that I could just not shake. Also sleeping on an air mattress for two days will do that to you too. I tossed on a heavy cotton tee and split shorts and went off to the track after work.

8x1k w/ 200 jog recovery at 5:20 down to 5:10 pace. I was sure this wasn’t going to go pretty. I felt heavy out there. But cotton tee be damned this was a good session. Every rep finished exactly where I wanted and aside from a tight left side, this felt fairly comfortably all things considered. The weight wasn’t off the shoulders but this felt nice to get uptempo and not blow up in the process.

Splits: 3:19-19-17-18-16-15-14-12

The next two days I focused on trying to get as much milage ahead of me so I didn’t have to do much on the morning of my flight home Saturday. I would need just under 6 on Saturday. Easy peasy. Flight is all checked in. We’d be back in Columbus soon enough.

Late Friday night I received the news, by some miracle everything had come together and they were able to have the wake and funeral that coming Wednesday and Thursday. I reached out to my managers and made arrangements. I somehow was able to change flights to the following Sunday at my nearby airport at no additional cost. Somehow everything lined up. Family would be arriving throughout the week. I’d be off Wednesday through Friday to be with the family but this was sure to be a tough week.

I’m not sure if it was the combination of everything being confirmed or a night of drinks with the family and late bedtime but I was a shell of myself on Saturday. I met up with one of my closest childhood friends and I was just off. Even some mead and In-N-Out couldn’t fix me. I got home at 5pm and told myself I’d get out and run. Then I went down for a nap. Then it was 7pm and I told myself I’d get out and run. Then I didn’t. I felt so tired. I just stayed in bed.

It’s been a while since I’ve truly experience a bonk during a training block. But boy was that Sunday long run something. Low 60s isn’t too bad, but picking a route with no cloud cover on a sunny day made for a disaster of 2 hours. I guess I should’ve made that realization when I struggled in my opening miles. The goal was 6 miles at easy to moderate then 4 miles at 5:25-30, 1 mile easy, 5x 3minutes @ half marathon pace w/ 1 minute recovery. 6 went okay, albeit just a bit sluggish.

Then I started the workout. I felt like I was pushing harder than I needed to. This didn’t feel comfortable. Looking back now it was because I was running slightly uphill. I hit that first mile at 5:45 (5:31 GAP) and tried to push. I blew up, hard as I approached another climb. 6:19. Now the gap was 5:55 for that section but the wheels had completely come off. This workout wasn’t going to happen. I focused on just a moderate long run and that worked for a bit until I started feeling like I was going to pass out 3 miles out. The funny thing about out and backs are that you have to get back. They don’t tell you that. I left part of my soul on the bike path section between Euclid Ave to Benson. If you find it, let me know plz.

I was frustrated obviously but much of this was pretty self inflicted. I knew that I had a tough week but I really should gone out earlier and just been more responsible. But man, it was really hard to find motivation on a week like that. The miles were there, so it was just a week to have a short memory about. That was my stumble, just gotta get back on track.

On the bright side I got to test new types of fuel. Since I opted out of my ambassadorship with Nuun this year I figured it was an opportunity to test out new stuff. This Boston build would be the chance to lock in new stuff before deciding what to use for CIM later in the year. Huma gels and Tailwind were first up. No issues. Good.

Just under 65 for this week. None of this was particularly exciting. But I had a tough week ahead and maybe running would be the consistency I needed to pull me through it.

running

Road to CIM 2025: Perspective

beersandmiles

I have to admit, finding energy to recap this past week is a bit tough. Over the last week I experienced such a hodgepodge of emotion that really writing about my week of training just seems like such, well, so small in the grand scheme of things. Jotting my thoughts out has always helped a bit and adding an Instagram post just doesn’t seem right for the moment or topic so I’ll just use this. Seeing as I paid another year of subscription for this domain, I better keep using it.

This past week began with a bit of an outline for what the remaining block was to be. After setbacks over this past month and issues with what feels like my entire right leg, this block would be much more cautious than previous blocks. 60 miles on the week. I would be traveling to Boston on Thursday after work so this would be a welcomed week to be a little bit down in milage.

The week kicked off on a high note with some early miles with Ian. The morning was a bit chilly but I’d highly welcome a real feel of 19 than -10 like we had the previous week. Chats around shoes, the state of running culture, and of course running influencers. It was an hour or yapping. The adjustment to my social media intake and these weekly checkins have seemed to be a bit of a help for just my general energy surrounding all things running in this day and age.

Wednesday would be my first workout where I’d try to scrape some of the rust off. It was a modified fatigued miles type of workout. 4 miles at marathon pace + ~30 seconds, half mile jog, then 5x 3 minutes at 5:00 mile pace with 1 minute jog recovery. Max joined me without hesitation. I continued to still have issues with my left leg, lingering tightness around the knee following it locking up before Christmas break, but the uptempo miles weren’t too tough. We tried not to get too carried away with ourselves there:

5:49-5:47-5:49-5:47

Knowing the state of my left leg, I decided it was probably best that I took these next reps off the road and hit the track. I ran out of time with the half mile jog and started my first rep on the roads just as parents were dropping their kids off at school. I successfully made it to the track without being run down but my pace took a hit. No worries, we’d get on it. I was almost right on with the next four but man did it feel like I was doing a lot of work to get myself into rhythm. Aerobically, not horrible but this leg was not having it.

Double at Hoof Hearted went fairly well compared to the previous week. Great chats and another great crowd for our gnarly squad program. Closed Wednesday off with 16 miles on the day.

No matter how often I do it, trying to fit a run in on a travel day is always a shitshow. Thursday was no different. Knowing I had a long run on Sunday and was out of GU, I decided to round my loop out to Columbus Running Company, grab a couple to get me through Sunday and then place an order for a case to get me through the block. Knocked it out during the lunch break but jumped right back into work and didn’t have enough time to eat before getting to the airport. A sandwich and a beer thankfully helped. We were off to Boston.

Landed in Boston with no issues thankfully. Made it in time to meet one one of the team members, Ashley, who greeted me with a cool tote bag that included socks, a hat, a nice note, notepad, and a new pair of 880’s. Truthfully, I didn’t know what to expect beyond the Grand Prix on Sunday but I was really excited for what was sure to be a weekend to remember. I made it in time to grab dinner with some of the other members of the group and got to chat a little bit about our respective run clubs, Val representing Good Boys Denver, Hanna and Carolyn representing Hoboken Track Club, Mak & Yves representing Society Track Club, and Zach an artist/designer based out of SF. The night ended fairly early for me as I was tired and was going to be working a half day prior to the first event that afternoon.

The next morning a group of us met up for some coffee and then a run. There I was formally introduced to Matt, Tim, and Tom before we got to running. We got a chance to tell our stories of how we ended up in the cities we were and I got to tell how I ended up in Ohio by accident. Tom, Matt, and Aidan were working out this morning and Tom was all good with joining me for some easy miles. We talked a bunch about our respective running journeys, clubs, and scenes. It was a refreshing conversation.

I got back to the hotel just in time to clock into work for a couple hours. Knocked everything out and got out there just in time for lunch. And what a lunch it was. Tasty apps and a lobster roll for me. Man, I love the east coast.

This kicked off what could only be described as a running nerd’s dream weekend. We kicked off the afternoon with a tour through the New Balance Sports Research lab. As someone who was a massive shoe nerd starting from his college days, I was locked in here. All the details and tools used in shoe and apparel technology were showcased to our group. It was the first tour of the weekend and I was already so blown away. We spoke with a team from merchandizing/apparel and had a feedback session with some of the more east coast members of our group. Hearing the feedback from the other members of our group and current needs and wants from their respective communities was incredibly insightful, especially as I look to see what the future of Ope Athletic Club is to be in 2025.

The night ended with some duckpin bowling/dinner and a nightcap of live music with a smaller group of us. I was surprised (well I shouldn’t have been at this point), that a lot of us had one degree of separation with each other without even knowing it. Whether it was racing against mutual friends or even unknowingly racing each other in college, it was pretty cool to see how small this community could be.

The next morning I awoke to a missed call from my mom at 2:30AM EST. My mom is not known to call me very late and a chill went through my body knowing there could be some bad news coming. With it still being early morning I went off to our morning run with a larger group that were here with run specialty businesses. I got back to a couple missed calls and text messages. A quick glance to a message preview told me everything.

My condolences for your Grandmother’s passing.

I immediately called my mother. My grandmother had lived at our home for about the last 20 or so years. She saw me through my formative years and much of the years I’m not proud of. From an angry, insecure, high schooler looking for his way to the man I am today. I was a very angry kid for many of those years, and then distant as I left to find myself in college and then ultimately in Ohio. I can’t say I was ever really that close to my family in those years. Language barriers made it tough for me to have full conversations or express myself to her. But there was a love and patience that transcended language barriers that was unwavering, even when I didn’t want it for all of those years. I came to appreciate it all as our family came together to celebrate her 90th birthday almost 3 years ago. I caught up with the cousins I grew up with that were now adults with families and careers of their own. It was a reminder of the importance of family and almost a homecoming of the self if that makes any sense at all. The happiness that came with that weekend is something that will stick with me for a lifetime. Many of us who had not seen each other for almost a decade, gathered around and celebrated a kind, selfless human being that gave so much love for all around her. It had a lasting impact on me, even years later.

The rest of the weekend could’ve been a tailspin of emotions. I worked on trying to adjust my flight on Monday to surprise my mother while also trying to be present in such a once in a lifetime opportunity. Things eventually worked out where I would fly home to California instead of Ohio, so in a weird sort of way I was lucky. As I try to unpack it all over a week later, the thing that sticks with me is how life can have a way of providing experiences that are hard to fully categorize in column A or column B. The entire weekend provided me with an experience that I can confidently say was one of the best of my life. The incredible individuals that were involved with this program made me incredibly thankful to still be involved with this sport almost 2 decades later.

I completely blew up in my long run workout that Sunday but part of me wanted to run with others moreso than getting after it in chilly/icy conditions. I spent most of it running with friends new and old and while the workout portion itself went poorly, I had to be realistic as to how much energy I had in me. I was emotionally drained from the weekend.

I capped the weekend off watching some of the best athletes in the world compete while I enjoyed some wine and chowder with fellow track nerds. Then we all sang our hearts out in karaoke. A much needed escape from what was sure to be a tough week ahead.

As you can probably tell, this was written in two parts. I put it off for a bit after writing most of it early last week. Sitting here, in my childhood living room, it’s still hard to really express out this week. But that’s life I guess. I’m thankful for one of the best experiences a track nerd like me could have ever had and found myself refreshed about community again. I’m grateful for the life I’ve had the opportunity to have and the kindness of others around me. We were in for a tough time, but I didn’t feel alone in that. I often find myself so caught up in small annoyances or issues and this was one of those reminders of just how inconsequential most of it can be.

Til next time.