Monday, May 03, 2010

Weekend, April 30-May 2, 2010 - Door County Half Marathon

Went up to my place in Door County for the first time since Labor Day. The cherry trees blossomed several weeks early so we had nice scenery along with the great weather.
My running friend Rich from Milwaukee also came up. We both ran the Door County Half Marathon in Peninsula State Park (Fish Creek) on Saturday morning. It was a beautiful course with lots of hills and nice temperatures. I came in 10th with a time of 1:25:38 (6:32 per mile), took second in the Masters category and first in the 50-54 age category. I have a little sunburn but otherwise and doing fine. Wasn't fully recovered yet from the Boston Marathon less than two weeks earlier so could have probably run a few minutes faster under normal conditions.

My friend Rich ran a 1:38:05 (7:29 per mile pace), coming in 48th overall.

The weather Sunday was cooler and cloudier, so we came back to Milwaukee in the early afternoon. On the way home near Sheboygan, a car was swerving back and forth between lanes and almost hit me when he went past at 80 mph. He almost hit a number of other cars and even ran off the shoulder briefly on both sides of the road. I called 911 and reported the guy. Don't know if he was on drugs, drunk or trying to text while driving, but he scare the hell out of a lot of people.

Till next week....

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Weekend, April 16-19, 2010 - 114th Boston Marathon


I ran my 11th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 19. I ran a 2:56:19, not a great time, but also not a bad time for a 50-year-old man. The weather was nice and a cramp in the right calf 1 mile into the race almost ended it. I slowed quite a bit and just toughed it out. I didn't think I would break 3 hours. But eventually the cramp went away and I had a very strong finish.

I flew to Boston on Saturday, went to the expo to get my race number and shop, then went back to the hotel. It was dark, rainy and cold Saturday and Sunday. By Monday, the weather cleared and conditions were ideal for running. After finishing the race, I went back to the hotel to clean up, then went to the airport to come home. I am not too sore today but that calf is all red and swollen. It will heal in a few days and I should be back to normal.

The Model of Consistency -- I ran almost the same pace the whole race, even through the big hills from mile 15.5 to 20.5: