Mad's Philly Marathon

**I apologize for the terribly late posting of this... It was a long week. But without further adieu...

It was the perfect day for a marathon this past Sunday, 11/20/2011 (sorry it took a while to get this one up!). Cool in the morning with temperatures hovering around 55 degrees for the majority of the race. Maddy did the work, and she was ready to go. Her bff Leslie was in town doing the half marathon as well, also her first, so there was a lot of excitement around the apartment. Living in Philadelphia is nice because we got up at 5am and still had plenty of time to head over to the race start. Another friend of ours was doing the half mary too, so we hitched a ride over to the start. Bag check, stretch, shake out, and wait in the port-o-pot line...pretty standard pre-race. We were still in line for the port-o-pots when the gun went off actually, but with 27,000 people racing and Maddy not being one of the elites chasing an Olympic Trials qualifier, we were still OK. Finally the girls were in and out and starting on their way across the starting line at about 7:25am.

waiting in the port-o line

just crossed the starting line

I decided to watch them take off down the Ben Franklin Pkwy and then cut right over to Chestnut st where the 10k marker was. I got some coffee and headed over just as the 3:00 pace group was coming past. I could picture exactly where I was last year at that moment. After meeting up with some other friends who were spectating we got out the cowbells and started cheering. Mad and Leslie flew by looking great and with smiles all around! They were right on pace and looked super strong.

Here come Mad and LB around mile 6.5!

From there I headed back to the apartment for a little liquid encouragement (beer) with my buddies and then hopped on my bike to see them at the half way marker. They came through half way a little faster than I was expecting so I almost missed them. Again, they looked super strong. Maddy came through the half way mark faster than she did in 2009 when she was only racing the half! And Leslie, who decided to throw the whole "formal training plan" thing to the wind looked great too despite only having done a 4 mile long run in preparation... Leslie peeled off for the finisher's shoot while Maddy turned and started heading out to the loneliest part of the course, Manayunk. Well, actually there are a ton of supporters in Manayunk, but the 6 miles out and 6 miles back are pretty desolate and mentally tough to push through.

pretty crowded

almost missed them at half way

mile 14 (looking great!)

 I stopped my bike just past mile 16 to cheer Maddy on and then crossed the street to catch her at mile 23 headed back into town. The marathon is a tough distance. I saw a lot of people break on Kelley Dr. I also saw a lot working hard though.

mile 16 (still great!)

mile 23 (starting to hurt a little...)

200m to the finish!!

What a day. Just spectating was exhausting. I remember how hard the marathon distance is, and I was glad not to be partaking this year. I can't express how proud I am of my bride to be.

Giving the legs a break after a long day

After the marathon Mad took a couple days to rest the legs, but we got them going again on Thanksgiving morning in a local Turkey Trot! And we were joined by a friend from the north (Boston), Maddy's sister Lesley

I won a pie!

Hope you all had a great turkey day!

XC State Championship and races to come

Yesterday was the Delaware XC state championship down in Killens Pond, DE. Tatnall came in favored to win and did not disappoint. The quick summary is that both boys and girls teams won the division II state title, by substantial margins. The individual winners of both races were also Tatnall runners, and they both broke state records at the course.

It was an amazing day. And, something I didn't realize until I got home after the post-meet party last night, it was the first state championship team I have been a part of. Pretty cool stuff. The kids won't put race anymore this year in the black singlet, but they will race again. In 2 weeks we head down to Cary, NC to race in the Southeast Regional Championship race as "Wilmington XC". The top 2 teams get to fly out to Portland Oregon the first weekend in December to race the Nike Cross Nations (NXN) right on Nike's campus. More on that later.

Some upcoming races for me - I signed up for a turkey trot 5k on Thanksgiving morning, which I'll use as my speed workout going into Saturday's SE Regional Open 5k. It's supposed to be a flat, fast course, and I'm hoping to better my recent 5k PR. All movement in the right direction!

The week after I'm going to see a specialist that should be able to take care of my sports hernia, which is actually an "athletic pubalgia". In an ideal world I will have surgery the week before Christmas, use the break to heal, and hit the pool hard for the winter months.

Thanks for reading!

**Oh, also should throw out there that I signed up for a Tough Mudder with a couple of my buddies for the spring. It's 11 miles of mud, muck, obstacles, and apparently some electric shock! It will definitely be something...

Don't do it, Asics...

Dear Asics,

Please don't get stop production of the Hyperspeed 4! It's the best running shoe I've come across yet. And for the love of god, don't replace it with the Hyperspeed 5... It's just ugly. All things being equal, it's probably still a pretty good shoe, but those colors are horrendous. I might have to order a couple pairs of the 4's before they do stop production. The bottom line is that I've been running all fall with the Adidas Adizero Rocket, and mixing in my old Zoot TT 3.0 (I have the previous model in yellow), and I just purchased the K-Swiss K-ruuz a couple weeks back because I found a deal for $45, and none of those shoes, nor any that I have run in before, compare to the Hyperspeed 4. My ONLY complaint about the hyperspeed is that the sole wears quickly. I would love to get 500+ miles out of a shoe, and by 250 miles the forefoot portion of the sole is worn through. Granted I run predominantly on pavement, which definitely takes it's toll, but 200 some miles just isn't enough. All the other shoes I have ride very hard. I mean to say that there is very little cushion, which I would expect since I run predominantly in racing flat type shoes. However, the Hyperspeed 4 is like the perfect hybrid between a flat and a trainer. AND the simple white and red of the HS4 looks great!! It's simple and stylish. Asics - don't do it!

Anywho, this fall is flying by. I'm off to talk with a surgeon in just couple minutes actually about how/when this sports hernia surgery is going to happen. I'll check back with more on that later.

Maddy banged out a long run of 20+ this past weekend! I'm very proud of her and excited to watch the marathon in 2 weeks. It's going to be a great day!


Chrissie Wellington is supposed to put out a book some time in 2012 and I can't wait to read it... Chrissie Wellington's book.

That's all for now.

The best race I've ever seen

Yesterday was the New Castle County XC Championship race at beautiful Winterthur Park in Wilmington, DE. It's a 2 loop course that has some decent hills, the most notable going around the round loop at the top of the course where mile 1 and about 2.5 pass. There's also a moderate incline heading up the shoot to the finish. It's an honest course. And yesterday was a truly gorgeous day that let me see one of the most amazing races I think I will ever witness.

There were 5 races in total yesterday. First the Old Timers race, which I raced in. Last year I ran an 18:55. All I really wanted was a PR, and I got it! 17:58. The 5k distance hurts! But all the speedwork I've been doing really helped out. I also set a mile PR earlier this week mid way through a workout - 5:12. Another Tatnall coach and Brooks sponsored professional runner, Daryl, took 2nd with a 15:20. There were some fast guys. But enough on that.

Both JV boys and girls had breakout days. I was taking mile 1 splits all day and the kids looked great. They were all reaping the benefits of months of workouts and tired legs. It was great to see.

The girls varsity race was the one for the books. Tatnall's best girl runner is currently ranked in the top 3 in the nation, I'll call her H. So is Charter's number one, I'll call her J. A couple weeks back Charter's girl beat our number one in a local meet. Our runner was set back about 3 weeks at the start of the season with some foot problems, and she still isn't where she wants to be. However, she was not going to take 2nd again without a fight. I saw the race from the start and H and J were out front in the first 500m running side by side. They came through the first mile shoulder to shoulder, H with a half step lead, in 5:17 (FLYING!). There was a look of determination in both girls' eyes that I can't put into words. Up around the first hill after mile 1 they stayed attached at the hip. Through mile 2, the same. They were pushing hard. It seemed that J was just going to sit back and let H set the pace. I was worried she would sit and then kick past H in the shoot, but the pace H set was intense. I saw them again heading up the hill for the second time about 2.4 miles in, J tried to push up and took the lead, but only momentarily. H responded and opened up a 25m gap coming down the back side of the hill. It was amazing. I got chills. I saw her coming down the hill with a lead that she couldn't lose. Coming down the hill though, her form was falling apart. It looked like she rolled an ankle. I called out words of encouragement as she passed. The course was completely lined with people cheering them on. J had started to lose her form as well. Coming up to a hairpin turn about 100m to the finish H started to stumble. Then she collapsed. She pushed herself up, still in the lead, and started to walk. Then she stumbled again. J was obviously in pain too. Her pace had slowed tremendously. H passed a row of bushes and pulled out of the race. She laid it all out there, but the pace was just too much; she completely exhausted herself. It looked like J was going to limp to another victory. BUT, what no one saw coming, our number 2 runner, a stud junior girl came through the hairpin turn 40m back. She kicked through the last 100m. With 10m to go to the line, R (our #2), caught and passed J for the WIN!! Because of where I was standing I didn't see the girls cross the line so I had no idea Tatnall had won! I didn't know how we could have... J took second just 2 seconds behind R. I am still in awe with what happened. The guts it took to go out that hard by both H and J is unbelievable. They pushed and just hoped to hold on. Sometimes when you take a risk though, it doesn't work out. It's unfortunate, but I admire H tremendously for her bravery in pushing beyond her own limits for what she wanted so badly. And of course R, running her own race, allowing only herself to dictate the pace she set, and somehow being in a position to strike that late in the race... It was all remarkable.

The rest of the girls varsity team also raced their hearts out. They all were named all county runners, and Tatnall won both the individual girls title and the team girls county title.

The boys varsity race was also an amazing race, but with less drama. Our number 1 boy won this race last year in a tactical masterpiece. This year he set the tone early going through mile 1 in 4:52. He stayed out front the entire race and won in 15:52. Second place was had by another Tatnall runner, a 9th grader in 15:57. We also took 4th by a junior in 16:01. The boys also came away with quite a few all county runners, the individual win, and the team county championship win. Not a bad day for the Hornets.

For their privacy I've left out names and any pictures, although they are amazing. More details about these amazing kids can be found here: http://www.n5cta.com/.