Blue Ridge Marathon 2016 blog entry #1: Is this thing still on?

Hey Kids,

So it's been about a year-and-a-half since my last post. I'm happy to be resuming as an official blogger for the 2016 Foot Levelers Blue Ridge Marathon. It will be a slightly different story this time around. When I was a blogger for BRM 2014, I was the defending champion hoping to defend my title (which I did successfully). However, after skipping this year (instead I ran the Vermont City Marathon in May) and watching BRM stream online from my couch, I ended up suffering my first injury in eight years during July. I injured my right foot, and while it was never officially diagnosed as a stress fracture, it felt pretty stressy and pretty fracturey. I stayed in decent shape by biking a lot and swimming (badly), but I ended up having to take around 3-4 weeks off from running. I feel like a got back in pretty good running shape relatively quickly once I started running again, but this training cycle for BRM will still feel like a comeback of sorts for me.

Also, on a positive note, my injury in July gave me the impetus to finally break down and buy a bike.

Her name is Hypatia of Alexandria, and she will put up with none of your shit.

Anyway, while I don't plan on recapping the last one-and-a-half years of training and racing, I will hit a few high points from this year. After Jeannine and I managed to escape icy Philadelphia in March for a conference in San Diego, I was able to take 1st overall at the St. Patrick's 10K in Mission Bay Park in 32:25. I had no idea what to expect of my fitness since the icy conditions in Philly confined me to the treadmill for most of January and February (I logged over 200 treadmill miles in February alone). I went through the first mile in 4:47, and the other miles, um, slower. Also, the 85 degree temperature didn't help (but if felt fantastic before and after the race!). Then Ballast Point sponsored a post-race beer garden, so Jeannine and I got to drink free beers in the San Diego sunshine in mid-March. And I won a $400 GPS watch.

Not pictured: Winter, sadness

Then I continued my tradition of running the Virginia Creeper Marathon on odd-numbered years, finishing 1st overall in 2:39.

Icicle beard!

I won my fourth straight Dogfish Dash, although this year the 5K and 10K races were combined into one 8K race. My father-in-law, Dave, who ran the BRM half marathon in 2014 (and will be running it again in 2016), also joined in the running/beer festivities. 

Suck it, Falls Church!

Oh, and Sam Bernstein also defended his keg sprint title for the third straight year, and I finally got to hang out with Sam and my other friends from Battery Brewing at the Dogfish Head brewpub after the race, where we made plans to have a homebrew exchange next year.

"We love running. We love beer. We love everyone heeeeeeere!"

And then yesterday, I finished 1st overall in the half marathon at race #1 of the New Jersey Trail Series after sort of taking a wrong turn (I knew the race was two 10K loops plus a smaller loop, but I thought I was supposed to run the smaller loop at the end instead of the beginning, so the race director let me run it between the two 10K loops). This got me free entry into one of the other races of the series, so I will be running again on December 19th. 

So overall, an OK year. With yesterday's win, I ended up with victories at 8K, 10K , half marathon, and marathon. There were also some low points. In addition to the injury in July, I was registered for two races that I ended up not being able to run- the Finger Lakes 25K and the Bucks County Marathon. I also had a couple of sub-par efforts late in the Spring, namely a 53:30 at the Broad Street 10-Mile, when my training suggested that I should have been able to run sub-51:00, and a 2:36 at the Vermont City Marathon, when I thought I was in shape to run mid-to-low 2:20s. I'm optimistic about 2016, though. I plan on racing more frequently, and racing in January and February will keep me motivated to train and eat well during the holidays (increase my "miles-to-beers" ratio, if you will).

Outside of running, Jeannine and I finally got married last December (the culmination of events that began with Operation Chocolate Piranha Hurricane), and we're really excited about celebrating our one year anniversary in a couple of weeks. I'm also hopefully finishing grad school in the Spring. And of course, our beagle, Dr. Peter Venkman, is still in fine form.

Truly the people's champion.

Going forward, here is what one can expect from this blog:

- Excessive narrativizing of my training and racing (see literally the first paragraph of this entry)

- A delicate sprinkling of profanity (I was an aircraft mechanic for ten years, what do you want from me?)

- Pictures of my dog (you're welcome).

-A lot of parentheses, apparently.

-Trash-talking Roanoke-based runner Pat Woodford, who I believe is also running BRM in 2016.

As far as what to expect from me on social media:

Facebook: pictures of travels, links from The Onion, pictures of things I think are funny, pictures of my dog

Twitter (@bubbicus): shouting about whatever TV show Jeannine and I are watching, stuff about running/beer, live-tweeting Storywonk seminars and podcasts, discussions of hypothetical fights (most recently, GI Jane vs Sarah Connor from Terminator 2, Morgan Freeman as God vs Alanis Morissette as God), pictures of my dog

Instagram (jefficusrex): This is pretty new for me. So far- pictures/videos of my dog, race pictures

You can also follow the BRM-related action by using  #runblueridge on Twitter and Instagram.

Additionally, if you are interested in participating in the Foot Levelers Blue Ridge Marathon next year (full marathon, half marathon, or Anthem Star 10K),  you can register here and get 15% off of your registration fee by using the promo code TOUGHIS. 

I think that's all I've got for now. Have fun.

Jeff

Blue Ridge Marathon Weekend

Hey Kids,

At long last, here is my race report for the Blue Ridge Marathon weekend:

Jeannine ended up having to work a half day the Friday before the race, so we got on the road from Philly at around noon when she got off work. Torrential downpour while we were on I-66 notwithstanding, it was a fairly uneventful drive, and we ended up getting into Roanoke at around 7:00pm. After having to circle the City Market area of Roanoke a few times, we finally found a parking spot, and I was able to get out and pick up my race packet. I ended up picking up my packet around 30 minutes before they closed, and they still had plenty of shirts in my size (take notes, Philly Half Marathon!). I picked up some gels and clear plastic bags (due to heightened security, we were encouraged to have clear plastic bags to carry things into the race area). We went to the store and picked some supplies, namely english muffins, peanut butter, and a twelve-pack of Heineken (in Virginia, we can buy beer at the grocery store!). We checked in at the Cambria Suites, where Jeannine's parents, Janet and Dave, were also staying. They were able to come to Roanoke the day before and sightsee before Dave was to run the Blue Ridge Half Marathon on Saturday morning. We went to their room to say hi and bring an offering of Heineken. There, we were also joined by our friends Jeff and Betsy, who just had their first son, Charlie, on March 31st. Jeff and I were neighbors when we were kids, and we have literally known each other since we were two years old. We got to catch up with them, meet Charlie, and let them meet Jeannine's parents. Jeff will be a groomsman in my wedding this December (I was a groomsman in his wedding in 2011) , so Jeannine's parents appreciated being able to meet him before the wedding. We actually stayed with Jeff and Betsy for last year's race weekend, when they lived in Christiansburg. Betsy takes partial credit for my victory last year, citing the slightly charred pizza she fed me the night before the race. They took off at around 9:00, Jeannine and I went to our room, and I prepped for race morning.

I ended up getting to bed at around 10:00 and got a surprisingly good night's sleep for a pre-race night. I woke up at 5:00am, had some coffee and water and two english muffins with peanut butter, and then tried to stay relaxed. The hotel provided shuttle service to and from the race, despite there being two weddings at the hotel that day. They really went out of their way to accommodate the runners, and we all really appreciated it. Jeannine and I met Dave in the lobby at a little after 6:00am, and we waited for the next shuttle to take us to the start area. Since last year, Elmwood Park had undergone a major restoration, so the city of Roanoke was eager to showcase it. Thus, the start/finish area had been moved there. Once there, we basically just hung out near the start line, which was still being set up, talked to other runners, and tried to stay warm.

"And just think, in a few hours there will be a beer truck on this very spot!"

The race was set to start at 7:35, so at around 7:00, I started jogging lightly to wake my legs and digestive system up. There was a long line for the port-o-john, and there was an entire row of port-o-johns on the other side of Elmwood Park that were locked. I asked one of the officials why they were locked, and they told me that someone was going up there to unlock them at that moment. I hurried up there, and was able to, for the first time ever in my running career, use a pristine, unused, port-o-john! I felt like the universe was rewarding me for something. Voting? Something. Anyway, after christening the port-o-john, I jogged around a little more, and I headed toward the City Market area, where the start/finish area of the race was located last year. I sought out another restroom, because it's not race morning unless you use the restroom at least three times. It was in the City Market building that I discovered that they had opened the doors to the rest room area! Only a couple of other runners discovered this, but this, this heated, fully functional, undiscovered restroom- this was magical. Pristine port-o-john followed by secret, heated restroom, this morning was going my way so far. I jogged back to the start line area, did a few strides, and it was almost time to start. There was also a double marathon event which began at 2:30am. That's right, by the time I woke up at 5:00am, these crazy, crazy, people had already been running for two and a half hours. Among them were fellow Philly-based runners Emir and Amy, as well as Peter Morgan, who was my contest winner. They were set to finish the first half of the double marathon around ten minutes before the 7:35 start time. At 7:35, the horn went off, and we were off and running. I tried to just stay relaxed and run what I felt was a comfortable pace. Since the start line was moved to Elmwood Park, it was also moved closer to the beginning of the inclines. I remember last year going through the first mile in around 5:45 and not having run any uphill yet. This year, the one mile mark was well up the first hill, and I went through in around 6:15. This might be a long day. At this point, only one half marathoner and one 10K runner were ahead of me, and probably by around 10 seconds. They stayed about that distance ahead of me until the course split, at which point I head up Roanoke Mountain and they headed up Mill Mountain. I wasn't sure how big my lead was, so I figured I would wait until there was a switchback before I would check how much distance I had. This was around the five mile mark, and I was able to look pretty far down the mountain, and I didn't see anyone else. At this point, I basically decided that I needed to just maintain a steady effort for the rest of the race, and that would probably be enough to win. BRM offers a "King/Queen of the Mountain" award to the first man and woman to reach the top of Roanoke mountain. When I reach the peak of Roanoke Mountain, the longest and steepest of the three major ascents, a little girl yelled, "King of the mountain!" and a bagpiper started blasting a solo. I don't know if there exists a better possible way to have punctuated that end of the ascent. It was just magical. Once I crested Roanoke Mountain, I had to deal with the first of the major DEscents. A difference between this year and last year was since last year, the course became USATF certified, which meant that unlike last year, when I could run on the grass on the side of the road, I had to actually stay on the pavement going down the mountains. This meant that rather than being able to make up time that I lost going slow on the uphills by opening up my stride on the grass, I had to run conservatively on the downhills as well to save my thighs for the later miles. This would hurt my time (and legs of course), but I figured everyone else had to deal with it too, so I can't complain. A lot of the course was very sparsely populated, with occasional pockets of very vocal, supportive fans and aid stations. There was a lot of just me chasing a camera truck chasing a police motorcycle (and me trying not to be blinded by the reflection of my very white thighs in camera truck's tailgate).

My eyes were burning more than my legs at this point.

 The ascent up Mill Mountain was shorter and a much gentler grade than Roanoke Mountain. Once I crested Mill Mountain and passed the big star, there was a gravel section in which the camera truck took its relentless gaze off of me for a few minutes until I made it back to a road section. It was during this brief interval without the camera on me that was able to [REDACTED] without anyone seeing. After descending Mill Mountain, the course goes back into Roanoke for its final "sucks to be you" to the runners: Peakwood Drive. Last year, I took some friendly jabs at the spectators along Peakwood because they kept saying that I was close to the top, and it was just lies. I was on record with WDBJ 7 and the Roanoke Times jokingly insisting there was a "Peakwood Conspiracy." I later found out a lot of other runners were saying the same thing. This year, the spectators along Peakwood had such a good sense of humor about it! One lady yelled from her porch, "Hey Jeff! No conspiracy this year! We measured!" I laughed and then of course yelled back, "I don't believe you!" Also, since my bib number just said "Powers," it meant that at least some of the people who called me Jeff actually knew who I was, which was really nice. At the beginning of the Peakwood ascent, there were some giant speakers blasting Charlie Daniels, and the entire way up and down, everyone was just great. My sincere thanks to all of the folks along Peakwood. It's at this point in the race where runners start to need every bit of positive energy they can get. I crested Peakwood and began my final major descent. I knew that after this descent, if my thighs were still intact, I would have no problem finishing strong. I actually passed Dave on the descent, tapped him on the shoulder, and told him I would see him at the beer truck. After the descent, I didn't really feel any worse off. One major difference between this year's race and last year's race was last year, I had someone to chase, and this year I was all alone. It was around mile 21 last year that Diriba's lead over me (which had consistently been two minutes for like 13 miles) started to dwindle, so I basically chased him for three miles, caught him, and then tried to run away from him for the remaining two miles. It was painful, but there was also no loss of motivation. This year, it was mentally more difficult to push in the later miles. There were also more hills in the later miles this year. After successfully descending Peakwood, I never doubted that I would finish successfully, so my thinking was more along the lines of, "I'll be able to run these last few miles, but it's going to suck." I wasn't sure how big of a lead I had until the 23 mile marker, where a guy told me that the closest person to me was 18 minutes back. This meant that if I just kept moving for the rest of the race, I would successfully defend my title. There were a few hills after this that would be considered giant on any other course, but in the Blue Ridge Marathon, did not even warrant a mention. As I went into the final left turn onto Bullitt Avenue, the course marshall said, "You can see the finish line after you make the turn." And there it was, at the end of the final, merciful, downhill straightaway. Running down the final stretch, I had it in the back of my mind that this is the first time that Mammaw (my dad's mom), Sis (my aunt, but we all call her Sis for reasons I don't know), her son Dalton, and Dee (my oldest sister, Deanna), who had made the trip up from Abingdon that morning, had ever seen me run. I cruised across the finish line in 2:52:25, shook Ronny and Pete's hands, and gave a few interviews before being greeted by Jeannine, and then the rest of the family.

One of the first things I remember saying to the group was, "I am so glad to not be running anymore." As I mentioned in my last post, this was also the first time that members of my and Jeannine's families have met, so they were still early in the process of starting to get to know each other. I would go on to find out that Dave ran a 2:45 for the half and seemed very pleased. I would also find out that due to oddly terrible traffic on I-81, my family got there just a couple of minutes before I finished. This softened the blow of my time being so much slower than last year (when I ran a 2:39:48), since they wouldn't have seen me finish had I finished much sooner.

 Mammaw!

Janet, Mammaw, and Dave. Mammaw is wearing Dave's finisher's medal. Possibly the most adorable thing that has ever happened in the history of things happening. 

The awards ceremony was scheduled for 2:00pm, so we had about three hours to kill. The group walked to the City Market building and ended up having lunch at the All Sports Cafe. I had a giant cheeseburger and a local beer. My good friend, Michael, also a friend since childhood and a future groomsman at my wedding, was due to drive up that morning as well, and also had some trouble with traffic (the term "van on fire" was used more than once), so he ended up getting there as we were finishing lunch. He lives in Knoxville, TN, and we don't get to hang out very often, so this was especially nice. Also, Jeannine's parents got to meet yet another groomsman. After lunch, we headed back to Elmwood Park to hang out and hit up the beer truck before the awards ceremony. Jeannine and I each had Parkway Brewing Company's Majestic Mullet, a delicious Kolsch-style beer. Michael had their porter, also delicious. At the awards ceremony, I found out that the 2nd and 3rd overall finishers were women, which would end up being the headline in the Roanoke Times. I also found out that for the first time in the race's history, on both the men's and women's side, the King and Queen of the Mountain award winner would end up being the winner of the whole race. I received my awards (a nice Tag Heuer watch, a print from artist Eric Fitzpatrick of Roanoke's City Market building, a BRM hat, a trophy shaped like a railroad spike, and of course my "King of the Mountain" synthetic running shirt. I also got to meet Zoe Romano, who is the first (and thus far only) person to ever run the entire Tour de France course. She was the keynote speaker at the pasta dinner the night before the race, but I unfortunately didn't get to attend the talk since we got into town so late. I also got to meet Emir and Amy in person for the first time, even though we all live in the Philly area and have been interacting online for months now. They were exhilarated to have finished the double marathon and seemed more human and normal that they should have to have finished running "America's Toughest Road Marathon" twice in a row and having been awake since like 1:00am. My group, now nine strong (Me, Jeannine, Janet, Dave, Mammaw, Dee, Sis, Dalton, and Michael), headed back to the hotel. Once there, the Abingdon crew had to get back on the road. I gave them more godawful sweaty hugs to send them on their way back down I-81, and the rest of us went upstairs to our rooms. Janet and Dave went to their room (I think Dave went to sleep pretty soon after this. We made tentative dinner plans- never happened). Jeannine, Michael, and I headed to our room and killed the remaining Heinekens (I, of course, had my first one in the shower. Post-marathon shower beer is an unparalleled experience). Then we made a trip to the grocery store and bought a sampler 12-pack from New Belgium Brewing and ordered (incredible) pizza from Goodfellaz. The remainder of the evening consisted of Jeannine and I sipping New Belgium and shooting the shit with Michael (always fun- he and I literally have jokes that go back more than 20 years) with Spotify's Willie Nelson station in the background. He also introduced us to Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, so thank you, Michael. 

After race day, I took four days completely off from running. Since then, I've been running exclusively on trails while my legs have recovered. I got up to 13 miles today at around 6:00/mile pace, and it felt pretty comfortable, so I consider myself recovered. As such, tomorrow I will consider myself officially "in training" for the Philadelphia Marathon on November 16th. I will run a few trail races over the Summer, and then my Fall racing season will be in full swing. 

Anyway, my friends, over the past nine months or so, I wrote this blog as an Official Blue Ridge Marathon Blogger. After this entry, I'm not quite sure if I will continue it. Feel free to chime in one way or another. I would like to say that this has been a lot of fun- the running, the writing, the meeting people, all of the joy and pain that come with preparing for and competing in a marathon, and a really tough one at that. I learned a lot of other people's personal stories along the way, and I was glad that I could contribute this small slice of my own. I would like to thank everyone who supported me along the way. Most of all, I would like to thank Jeannine, who puts up with my nonsense seven goddamned days a week. The sun was shining and the cameras were out on race morning, but she was there to encourage me when the wind chills were below zero, there was a foot of snow on the ground, and I was finishing my runs an hour before the sun came up. So I hope you all enjoyed this too. See you on the roads!

Have fun,

Jeff

One Week Until Race Day

Hey Kids,

This is my first post since New Years eve, so it might run a tad long. Here we go...

 First off, congratulations to us all for surviving this snarling hell-bitch of a Winter. I never thought I would actually get sick of snow days, but lo and behold, here I am, telling Winter to her unfeeling, dead-eyed, fat fucking face that she can stay right the hell in Bob Ross paintings where she belongs.

 "Actually, Jeff, I say she can fuck off too. From now on, titanium white will only be used on clouds."

Since, as I said in my last entry, my training during the week this Winter/Spring would be done exclusively in the morning before work, there were a lot of excruciatingly cold morning runs (and a commensurate amount of swearing). On a positive note, this probably did help toughen me up mentally for the race.

It also led to my invention of the snow-hawk.  

Anyway, I did have a bit of a training setback in January. I had a little achilles tendon trouble, which is really annoying because it temporarily compromised my ability to run on hills, and running on hills is kind of my thing. Fortunately, I was smart about it, and I kept a small injury from becoming a big injury. I think at most I took off three consecutive days, and I was back up to full speed by mid-February. I have been working with Coach Mike again this season, and while I don't think I have the same number of miles or obsessive hill repeats under my belt that I had at this time last year, I am definitely a lot faster and have done a lot more race-specific long runs. 

I have only raced once this season, the Rumspringa 13.1 in Adamstown, Pennsylvania, on April 6th. It starts and finishes in the Stoudtsburg Village, right next to the Stoudts Brewery, and I have historically run well in races where I know there is a brewery at the finish. I had originally planned on running the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon on March 23rd in Wilmington, Delaware, but I wanted a little more training time before I tried to race again, and the Rumspringa 13.1 also seemed a bit more Blue Ridge Marathon-relevant, since it is a very hilly course. I wasn't really sure what to expect from myself, fitness-wise, going into it, so I was really surprised when I went through the first mile in what I thought would be around 5:30, but ended up being 4:55. Granted, there was some downhill in the first mile, but it still definitely didn't feel like I was moving that fast. I was also by myself by that point, so the rest of the race became about simply trying to maintain a constant effort over constantly changing inclines. Incidentally, this race (if you couldn't tell by the name) took place in Amish country, and it took place while a lot of the Amish were on their way to church, so I got to run against some very heavy horse-and-buggy traffic. They all seemed just as amused as we were at the sight of a bunch of people in short shorts running at them. There was a lot of smiling and waving from the people in the buggies, as well as the kids on bicycles. The race director apologized about it afterward, but I thought it made it more fun, and I told him he should use it as a selling point in the future (with the Amish community's consent, of course). Anyway, I went through ten miles in 54:35 without feeling especially taxed, and then I felt really strong over the last, mostly uphill, 5K to finish in 1:12:30, which was a course record by just under eight minutes. On a flat course, I think this would probably have been at or under 1:09:00. At the finish line, there was freshly-made bratwurst ("awesome sausage," as the lady serving me called it) and German potato salad. Then the party moved across the parking lot to the Stoudts Brewery. There, we of course had sweet, sweet post-race beer. There was also a lot of traditional German dancing, followed by the awards ceremony. It was here that I received the most epic, non-bear-related, trophy I have ever received: an authentic, hand-made German cuckoo clock. 

I can't wait to hang it on the wall and watch it scare the shit out of the beagle when it chimes. 

It also has a godmother named Jen, who lives in Redbank, New Jersey. This was because she was standing behind me at the awards ceremony, and after I received the clock, I put my hand on her shoulder, looked her in the eye and said, "Can I trust you to watch my cuckoo clock while I get another beer?" She said yes, did so successfully, and I told her that she was now the godmother of my cuckoo clock. So that happened. 

Anyway, upon reporting the race results to Coach Mike, he said that before the race he thought I was in PR shape, and the race confirmed it. I was pleasantly surprised to hear this, as I really didn't feel like I was as fast as I was in November, especially since I had been training for a full marathon instead of a half. This gave me a huge boost in confidence over my last couple weeks of training. My long runs and tempo runs have gone really well, and I think I'm definitely in shape to run BRM faster than I ran it last year. I am of course tapering now, so there is the usual, probably obnoxious, level of hyperactivity that goes along with it. The number of beagle-related songs I make up and sing around the house per day is up by around 60%. 

"Oh,  for fuck's sake."

Ultimately, I'm really excited to head to Roanoke next weekend. I think after another week of rest (relatively speaking, since I'm still running every day between now and then), I will really be ready to run well. Also, since Jeannine and I are getting married in December, and our families have never met before, we thought this would be a good opportunity for them to meet, since her parents live in Delaware and the race takes place in Southwestern Virginia, just a couple of hours from where my family lives. Her dad signed up for the Blue Ridge Half Marathon, so her parents will be making the trek to Roanoke, as will some of my family, which will be cool since many of them have never seen me run before. 

So I suppose the next entry I write will be my race report for the Blue Ridge Marathon weekend. Good luck to everyone running Blue Ridge next weekend, as well as Boston this coming Monday (this year's Boston Marathon will have 9,000 more runners than last year, because fuck you, terrorists). See you guys on the other side.

And if someone asks you if you're a god, you say YES!

Cheers,

Jeff

1,549 Doughnuts That I Now Regret Not Eating (my 2013 running year)

Hey Kids,

First off, since I am not reporting on any particular race, there are not really any new running-related pictures to post. However, I didn't want to have a text-only blog post. As such, this entry will be interspersed with pictures that I think are funny or maybe you'll think are funny, or because reasons.

Such as proof that Jeannine and I shouldn't be allowed in public. This wasn't set up at the Christmas Village. We made it at home. Probably.  

Anyway, as 2013 draws to a close, I'm looking back on what was, I believe, overall a pretty good year for my running. I had a few victories (Virginia Creeper Marathon, Blue Ridge Marathon, Dogfish Dash 10K-all course records), a few PR's (Dogfish Dash 10K, Philadelphia Half Marathon), and I finally adhered to my goal of actually maintaining an online training log. This website is also where I got the title to this post, since it converts miles run to calories, and thus into things like, "doughnuts burned," "televisions powered," and "gas saved." I also got to run in my sixth Blue Ridge Relay, where my team FINALLY WON THE FUCKING VAN DECORATING CONTEST!

Victory never tasted so sweet.

There were also some failures this year. I had my first ever DNF at the Delaware Marathon, where I had to withdraw at Mile 19 because what had been a nagging toe pain started to become excruciating, and I felt like continuing would have maybe sidelined me for months. Withdrawing when I did allowed me to only have to take a day or two off. Then, at the Finger Lakes 50K a couple of months later, I had to withdraw around 25 miles in for the same thing. I went to a podiatrist, got everything looked at, and more or less solved the problem. This was one of the reasons that I decided my Fall race should be a half marathon rather than a full marathon.

But then I got to wear a kilt to a wedding two weeks later, so I count that as a win. 

I ended up running around 3,400 miles this year (which is apparently around 1,550 doughnuts). My lowest month was 198 miles (March, in which I ran the Virginia Creeper Marathon), and my highest month was 452 miles (August, in which I busted my ass).

And this is my friend Kelly. He is #18 on Buzzfeed's list of 32 People Who Absolutely Nailed It in 2013.

 Looking forward, there will be some changes in the coming training cycle which I hope will be advantageous. For one, I have decided that, at least between now and the Blue Ridge Marathon, during the week, I will do my running exclusively in the morning. This is different from the past in that I will only run once a day and that my hard workouts will mostly be run before the sun comes up. As terrible as that sounds, let me tell you, it can't be worse than having to do a hard workout after a long workday. This Fall, things got a bit dark (figuratively and literally) when I would have to begin a hard track workout at 8:00pm after being on my feet for 11 hours and then be back out the door running a medium-long run (usually 13 miles) seven hours later. And since I am planning on writing and submitting my thesis proposal this Spring, having my running out of the way by 6:30 or 7:00am is a good thing. I do plan on continuing to work with Coach Mike. We only worked together for the two months leading up the the Philly Half, and I was definitely fitter, faster, and more prepared than I would have been on my own, and probably more so than I have ever been. I'm anxious to see what happens with more training time and for the full marathon distance.

Running Goals for 2014:
-Run at least 4,000 miles. I had some very solid months in 2013. I also had some lackluster months, largely impacted by my work schedule. If I get in all of my scheduled mileage before work, this can be averted. Also, by running fewer long races, there will be less tapering and less recovering, so I can keep my training at a more consistent volume.
-PR at the half-marathon, 10K, 15K, and marathon. Yes, ideally, these would be the goals for every runner every year, but I think that this year, given my schedule and my current fitness and plan, I can actually achieve this if I can stay free of injury.
-ACTUALLY stick to doing regular core work. This has been a hard one for me to stick to in the past. I have a pretty bulky upper body for a long distance runner, so it's hard for me to make time for exercise that is not exclusively running. To inspire me to do core work, I will watch this video of Bruce Lee playing ping pong with nunchucks.

"Bruce Lee Playing Ping Pong with Nunchucks" Badass is the only thing in my ranking system that rivals "Theodore Roosevelt Being Shot in the Chest and Finishing his Speech" Badass. 

Alright, well I believe that's all I have for now. If there's something I forgot, I can report on the other side of midnight tomorrow. 

Have a Happy New Year!

Jeff 

Philadelphia Half Marathon and my 2014 BRM contest winner

Hey kids,

It's been fairly eventful couple of weeks since my last entry. I ran my Fall goal race (the Philadelphia Half Marathon) and selected the winner for my 2014 Blue Ridge Marathon free entry contest.

The Contest
As I have been saying for the last several months, I would eventually be hosting a giveaway for free entry into the 2014 Blue Ridge Marathon. That contest began a little over two weeks ago. After compiling the entries, I selected the winner in the most scientific way I knew how: I put each entry on a separate sheet of paper, and then selected a winner at random from a top hat that I stole from a country club in 2009.

Dr. Peter Venkman- unimpressed at how long it took me to actually find a use for this hat.

The winner of my contest was Peter Morgan, currently residing in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He and I have had numerous seemingly-random encounters over the years. He first taught my Environmental Science merit badge class at Camp Davy Crockett in Tennessee, circa 1998. Shortly thereafter, I discovered that he actually lived in my hometown of Abingdon, Virginia, and even attended my high school girlfriend's church. Then, a couple of months ago, when I was running on Forbidden Drive near my apartment while wearing my Abingdon Football t-shirt (which I call my Miracle Shirt, since I've had it for around 15 years, have run literally hundreds of miles in it, and it still looks practically new), he flagged me down and asked if I was the guy that, "won the marathon in Roanoke." I recognized him right around the time he told me his name. Ultimately, his name was the one that I pulled out of the hat. This pleased me, largely because his entries were hilarious (see link to contest blog entry above). Anyway, he has confirmed to me that he will be running the double marathon event. I have confirmed to him that I will be running the "single marathon followed by setting up shop at the beer truck" event. Congratulations, Peter!

Philadelphia Half Marathon

In my entire running history, this was the first time that I had ever trained for a half marathon specifically. It largely stemmed from both the foot trouble that I had earlier this year and my overall need to just get faster. My training runs got all the way up to 18 miles, which was surprising to me, but I felt good about the faster workouts I had done over the last couple of months, as well as my handful of 10K-15K races. My only concern going into the race was that in the couple of weeks leading up to it, I was putting in a lot of long hours at work on my feet, and my legs felt sluggish and heavy. In the week leading up to a big race, ideally, of course, your legs feel life returning to them as you run less to rest up after months of abusing them. I felt no such return of life, and my concern for them was compounded when, on my last easy four-mile run the day before the race, my legs just felt like shit. They were really tight and sluggish and not what I wanted to be feeling after months of 5:00am and 8:00pm runs, both usually in the dark. I put on compression socks and stayed off my feet the best I could for the rest of the day and night and hoped that the months I had spent teaching my legs to rapidly recover would pay off. Since Meghan lives in Center City within walking distance of the start/finish line, Jeannine and I engaged in what has now become our Philly Marathon weekend tradition: We go to Meghan's, I walk to pick up my race packet, she makes us dinner, and Meghan and Jeannine do arts and crafts for the race the next morning. 

They did not disappoint. 

I ended up getting a really good night of sleep, waking up in time to have some coffee and do some reading, and get to the starting line with plenty of time to spare. I walked outside, and the first thing I thought was that the weather was perfect. I walked to the start/finish area, jogged around a bit, and then tried to get in line for the bathroom. This was a disaster. I stood in line for 20 minutes, and it literally moved less than ten feet. Realizing I would not get there in time, I tried to find a bathroom elsewhere with no luck. This means that in my time normally devoted to using the bathroom or warming up, I got to do neither. Seeing that the race was about to start, I just had to basically say, "Fuck it. Either this goes well or it doesn't." And so, with my cold-ish legs and my unsure stomach, the air horns blew to start the race, and I proceeded to throw myself down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in excess of 11 miles an hour.  Since my goal pace was 5:20 per mile,  my coach gave me specific instructions to go through the first mile at no faster than 5:20, maybe even 5:25. Naturally, I went through in 5:11 (dammit!). It definitely felt like I was moving, but it felt manageable. Any anxiety I may have felt was made somehow both better and worse by the fact that some of the mile markers were either inaccurate or had inaccurate clocks attached to them. They said that I went through two miles in around 11:10 (way slower than I was actually going) and six miles in around 29:45 (way faster than I was actually going). The middle miles went back through Center City, and there were a lot of screaming spectators lining the streets, which was great. I saw Jeannine and Meghan twice, which was a nice pick-me-up amid what felt to me like a pretty aggressive pace. There were a handful of runners near me, and we would take turns leading one another. We were probably in the 18th to 25th place range, with a big pack probably 30 seconds to a minute ahead of us, and then a couple of guys out front at sub-five-minute pace. Maybe not out of my league in a couple of years, but definitely right now. At around 8.5 miles, the cheers started to get louder, and I was quite sure that it wasn't because I suddenly became more awesome to look at. Just as I suspected, the lead pack of the full marathon started to catch up to me. We ended up running together from around mile marker nine to around mile 11. As we made the hairpin turn onto River Rd, I had the inside of the turn and had to make sure that I didn't elbow any of the tiny African guys surrounding me in the face. Once we made that turn, I took back off ahead of them and tried to make a strong drive over the last two miles. I was more or less right on pace to break 1:10, which was my goal. I tried to stay on the inside of the turns and run the shortest distance possible. As I passed the 13 mile marker, I got to hear the announcer incorrectly pronounce Bryn Mawr (it's pronounced brin mahr and he pronounced it brine mahr). Once the clock came into view, I saw it said 1:09:forty-something, and I started sprinting. I ended up finishing in 1:09:55, five seconds under my goal time. Especially given how bad my legs felt the day before, I was really happy with the time.

My stomach was quick to let me know that if this had been a 14 mile race, I would have enjoyed no such success. I found Jeannine and Meghan quickly (unlike last year, when I had to borrow a police officer's mobile phone), and shortly thereafter found Valerie's parents, whom I had met when she and I did the Philly Triathlon relay this past June. Valerie was also running the half, and she was due to finish at around 9:30. We all spoke for a few minutes as I put on my normal post-race attire (compression socks, sandals, and Wolf Hills Brewing Co. hat). Val finished in around 2:04:00, with which she seemed pleased. We met her at the "family reunion" station where meeting places are arranged by last name, and made lunch plans that involved, for me at least, a lot of beer and meat and fried things. We then waited for Jeannine's cousin Claire to finish running the half as well. We found her siblings Tom and Sandra, who ran Run the Bridge along with me two weeks prior, and we all waited together. Claire finished in a little over three hours, and seemed elated to be finished, and maybe even more elated that we were all waiting for her at the end. We got to recount this in greater detail when she, Sandra, and Valerie all came to our apartment to watch the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary episode the following weekend. Meghan, Jeannine, Valerie, and I went on to get lunch at Perch's Pub. We all had burgers. We all had beers. Happiness ensued. 

Anyway, I've been taking it easy since then. I've done quite a bit of easy trail running. Typically, my running group, the Manayunk Running Club, which is a subset of the Bryn Mawr Running Club, will see me for a few minutes on sporadic Tuesdays and Thursdays, at which point I usually show up late (thanks to my work), do my own workout, then leave immediately after while everyone else hangs out for a beer or two. I decided that the Tuesday after the race, I would make sure to be able to join them for beers and burgers. We all went to Kildare's in Manayunk for happy hour, and I got to feel like not the least fun person in the world for once, which was nice.
As for training I will consider myself "in training" again on December 1st. At that point, I will finally be training for the Blue Ridge Marathon specifically. This means that I will basically spend all of December running a lot of miles and hills. Then, in January, I will start doing focused speed work. For right now, my stomach is still hoping to return to normal size after Thanksgiving. You know who's really healthy? Future Jeff! That guy will sort it out! Now, time for leftovers!

Have fun,
Jeff

2014 Blue Ridge Marathon FREE entry giveaway

Hey kids,

At long last, it is my turn to host the giveaway for free entry into the 2014 Blue Ridge Marathon.

For those not privy, here are some of the details about the race:

The race takes place on Saturday, April 26, 2014. There is a total of 7,234 feet of elevation change. The course starts and finishes in Roanoke, Virginia. The course goes over three mountains, as well as many other hills that are small by comparison, but would be considered enormous if they were part of any other course. Thus, the tagline for this race is, "America's Toughest Road Marathon." The course records are 2:39:48 (male, full), 3:19:27 (female, full), 1:20:06 (male, half), and 1:29:17 (female, half).

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY FOR FREE ENTRY:

 Buy me beer.

In the Comments section of this post,  answer the following: If someone wrote a song to play as the background music of your Blue Ridge Marathon training montage, what would the title be???

 For additional entries, you may share this contest on Twitter, making sure to include the link to this post, my Twitter handle (@bubbicus), and the hashtag #RunBlueRidge. Each day on which you do this will be counted as a separate entry.

 All entries must be in by 11:59pm on Sunday, November 17, 2013, and the winner will be announced early next week.

Alright, go forth! I hope to see you next year at the finish line!

Jeff

Delaware Distance Classic, Run the Bridge, and Operation Chocolate Piranha Hurricane

Hey Kids,

It's been a little over a month since I've posted, so there's a decent amount to cover. Let's jump right in.

Delaware Distance Classic: The Delaware Distance Classic is a 15K race that traverses the riverfront of Wilmington, Delaware. It's mostly a flat course, so there is a potential to run some fast times. On this particular day, however, there was some pretty deceptive humidity afoot. The race starts and finishes outside of Frawley Stadium, home of the Delaware Blue Rocks.

"Come on in. We have Dogfish Head on tap."

A pack of four of us ran together for the first few miles. We hit the two mile mark in around 10:30, and it actually felt faster than the week before at the Dogfish Dash, when I hit the two mile mark in 10:10. I thought it just might not be my day. The legs were feeling heavy, probably due to both the training volume I had been maintaining and from the Dogfish Dash seven days prior. I backed off of the pace a little and let the other three get a little distance on me in hopes that they would wilt in the later miles. I was treated to no such opportunity. The first two guys ended up battling until the last half mile, when Graham, a runner from Baltimore, broke away from Darryl, who won last year's race. The third place runner, Joseph, another Bryn Mawr runner, got about 15 seconds ahead of me and then basically stayed there the entire race. There was one ambiguous turn that probably cost me three seconds, which would be more or less of no consequence except that I ended up finishing in 50:00.0. DAMMIT! Anyway, I ended up fourth and won my age group, so that's not so bad. Jeannine's parents live in Wilmington, and there was tax-free beer waiting at their house, so the remainder of the Sunday was delicious. 

Run the Bridge: This is a 10K that begins on the Camden, New Jersey, side of the Ben Franklin Bridge, goes over the bridge to the Philly side (but not actually into Philly), goes back over the bridge, and then weaves through Camden, before ending up at Campbell Field, home of the Camden Riversharks. 

It was just like this, except there were no baseball players and it was cold as balls. 

It was around 35 degrees at start time and really windy. It was hard to determine what kind of pace I should run in the early miles because the first 5K, which was on the bridge, was basically, "giant uphill, giant downhill, repeat." It was actually pretty cool running on the bridge, it just wasn't conducive to finding a rhythm. When the race started, there was a pack of about 15 of us that took off on the uphill. Once we crested the first hill, there was a pack of around eight who then proceeded to really take off. I hung back because, well, those guys were hauling ass, and I didn't have much of a choice. I figured I might finish in the 31:00 to 31:30 range, and these guys were going much faster than that. Anyway, case in point for how hard it was to determine a good pace, I went through the one mile mark in around 5:25 and the two mile mark in well under 10:00. Once I got off the bridge and hit Camden for the last 5K, the wind immediately let me know that the remaining flat part of the race would still be not much fun. There were a few really long straightaways that were into the wind the whole way, and they made that whole 31:00-31:30 thing seem less probable. Over the last half mile or so, I heard the footsteps of the person behind me get louder, so I picked it up to hold him off and ended up doing so successfully, finishing two seconds ahead of him. I later found out that he was the same guy who finished immediately behind me in the Delaware Distance Classic. Anyway, I finished 12th overall in 32:25. I was not so much disappointed with the placing, especially since the top five guys broke 30 minutes. Maybe in a year or two for me, but not yet.  This race drew runners from all up and down the east coast, many of whom run professionally. I did think I would run faster though. Coach Mike says I should be happy with my time as it fits into the context of preparing for my goal race (the Philadelphia Half Marathon on November 17th), so I'll go with that. I think my goal for next year is to be able to take off with that lead pack once we crest the first incline of the bridge.

 Also running the race was my lab mate and friend Anna (who was too elusive to be photographed), and Jeannine's cousins Sandra and Tom. Jeannine and our dog, Dr. Peter Venkman, hung out immediately outside the stadium, kept each other warm, and were, as usual, incredibly patient and supportive. 

Not pictured: Dr. Peter Venkman's dignity

Tom, Sandra, and Anna all hit their goal times and seemed to have a lot of fun. I think we are all planning on running it again next year. 

Run the Bridge was also on the same day as the New York Marathon. This year, for the first time in 20 years, it was on national television. This was also coincidentally the first year that I have ever had DVR. This means I got to come home (after sleeping in my own bed the night before a race, mind you), crack a beer, overeat, and watch the New York Marathon on my own television on my own time. It made a nice epilogue to Run the Bridge, and both the men's and women's races ended up being very compelling. An interesting footnote: Graham, the first place finisher at the Delaware Distance Classic, appeared on national television running his final strides of the NYC Marathon. He wasn't mentioned by name or anything, but I recognized him largely thanks to his wearing the same bright orange singlet he wore during DDC. 

Operation Chocolate Piranha Hurricane: Muahahahaha! This was the code name for my master scheme to propose to Jeannine. There was a short list of people who were in on it, many of whom have appeared on this blog before. Namely, my now battle-tested Blue Ridge Relay teammate, triathlete, and friend, Valerie; Uncle Mike, who found out about it during the pre-Dogfish Dash dinner while Jeannine was away from the table ("Fuckin' A right, man! Welcome to the family!"); and my Chief Accomplice, Meghan. Meghan actually went with me to buy the ring. Then we ate nachos at Moriarty's, when I was supposedly "working in the lab" on a Sunday. Subterfuge! Jeannine would later say of the subterfuge that occurred during the Dogfish Dash weekend, "I WAS RIDING IN A MINIVAN OF LIES!" Anyway,  I popped the question on October 4th at the Victor Cafe. It's an incredible Italian place where all of the staff are opera singers, and every evening there is punctuated by periodic arias. It is both Jeannine's favorite place in Philly and the place where her grandparents got engaged. It's also where Uncle Mike and his wife, Aunt Vanessa, had their engagement party, I do believe. Then she said, "Yes," and there were cannolis. 

Suck it, Falls Church!

There were also a few bystanders who took pictures of the event and sent them to me, which was really nice.

Anyway, I'm now in what you might consider taper mode. The Philadelphia Half Marathon (and full Marathon as well, of course) is in eight days, so I have a couple of shorter, fast workouts between now and then, and then it's time to go. 

I'll post next week after the race to say how it went. For those interested in running the Blue Ridge Marathon next year, I will be hosting a free entry giveaway on this blog in the very near future. So stay tuned... because free shit is cool.

Have Fun,

Jeff