Last 2 runs in Wildwood !

The wife & I headed to Wildwood for a little weekend away,sans kids. While back home was getting rain, we lucked out, and only had rain overnight.
I was able to run on the boardwalk Saturday morning. Nice 4 miles at 8:00min pace. While I didn't get the rain, the wind was kicking. One thing about running the boards this time of year, it was pretty empty. Hard to believe only a few short weeks ago, it was full of activity.
We had a great Saturday, walking around Cape May, and a nice dinner in Wildwood. We had a few raindrops Saturday afternoon, but really nothing that bad.
It was nice not to have to set the alarm for 5:00am, to go for a run. I ran when I got up Sunday, a nice 10 miler on part of the Ocean Drive course. It's almost exactly 5 miles to Cape May,from our place, so out and back it was. I did the 1o miler at my MP goal of 8:30. A few of the middle miles where tough with the wind kicking! I managed to finish the last 2 miles at 7:53 & 7:56.. another nice confidence building run.
I plan on running my remaining long Sunday runs at my marathon goal pace.
Hard to believe Philly is less than a month away !
We are scheduled to close the place around Thanksgiving, and I found a local 5k on the schedule that Saturday, so I will try and run that. Maybe there is one more run in Wildwood this year.

BACK TO BACK CHAMPIONS !!

CONGRATS to the Back to Back NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES !!

Asbury Park Relay Marathon recap

This past Sunday was the 1st AsburyParkRelayMarathon. You could run this race 2 ways, as a relay team, with up to 8 members, or as a team of one, which is how I ran it.

It was also an 8 lap marathon, the 1st lap was 2.75 miles, and the remaining 7 were 3.35miles.

The weather called for highs around 40, 20mph+ winds and rain, in other words, a Nor'easter!

When I arrived in AP, it was raining, not that hard, and I met up with Progman2000 & his wife at the host hotel. I also met up with a hardcore NJ shorerunner, Steve, who has a website dedicated to all of the races held at the Jersey shore, http://www.njshorerun.com/.
Going into this marathon, I had a 22-23 mile run in my plan, and when you see a marathon that falls perfect into your plans, AND only costs $30.00, I ask you, how can you pass it up?

I had no goal for time, and wanted to run the 1st 20 miles at a easy pace, and kick it up to my marathon goal pace for the final 10k. I told Progman that I was going to tether myself to him, so I won't pull my rabbit BS, and take off.

When the race started, the rain was down to a misty drizzle, but the winds where kicking! It was a U shaped course, with the finish / transition area actually inside the Asbury Park Convention Center. That was really cool. The winds on the boardwalk were brutal, but when you entered the convention center, the crowd was loud and it really pumped you up. Way cool!

We really lucked out with the rain, and by the 2nd lap, the rain had ended, and we just had the wind to deal with.

I stuck to my plan, and around mile 18, I started to pick up my pace, and work my way to my Philly marathon goal pace of 8:30's. When I hit mile 20, I said to myself "FU Last 6, you won't break me!". I repeated that to myself a few times over the last 2 laps, and did exactly what I planned. Everything went according to plan, easy 18-20, and MP last 6.2. When the garmin clicked off mile 26, and I looked at the time, I was really excited! 8:09... fastest mile of the day, was Mile 26 ! The garmin had me at 4:12:46, 26:59 miles.

I am a sore, but not near as bad as I was after Philly last year. I will try and run 2-4 on Tuesday, and 6 on Thursday.

Progman & I before the marathon.
Progman & I after the marathon, with our bling. Doesn't even look like we just ran for 4+ hours!

Here I am passing the WonderBar, during the later part of the race.

FYI.. Here are the mile spilts.

1. 9:57
2. 9:59
3. 9:49
4. 9:39
5. 9:16
6. 9:33
7. 9:25
8. 11:40 (bathroom break)
9. 9:45
10. 9:44
11. 9:50
12. 9:44
13. 10:30
14. 10:02
15. 9:35
16. 10:27
17. 10:04
18. 9:46
19. 9:17
20. 9:35
21. 8:35
22. 8:19
23. 8:22
24. 8:30
25. 8:23
26. 8:09 .59 4:48

Overall this averaged out to 9:30 miles.

Here's hoping my goal of a 3:40 Philly marathon is reachable!

3 days until Marathon #2, Asbury Park Relay Marathon

Hard to believe that I am 3 days away from running my 2nd marathon. I found the AsburyParkRelayMarathon earlier this year, and how could I pass up a $30.00 marathon? I am doing this strictly for training. My goal is to run the 1st 20 miles easy, and try to pick up to my marathon goal pace, for the last 10k. I know, easier said than done. It's going to be a mentally tough run. This marathon has 8 laps, the first is a 2.75 mile loop, followed by 7 x 3.35 mile loops. On top of the 8 laps, the weather is not looking good right now, for the race. We have 2 nor'easters hitting us, and the 2nd is coming in Sat nite, into Sunday morning, highs in the low 50's. Hopefully it clears by 10:00am on Sunday.
My running has got back on track after my 21 mile meltdown. I ran a strong 14 miles on Sunday. I averaged 9:09 for the run. The only problem I encountered was my Garmin wasn't fully charged, and died at the 9.64 mile mark. I felt like I kept the pace for the remaining 4+ miles. It was a nice confidence builder.
My weeks runs, 6-8-6, Tues _ Thurs, were also great. I had a nice speed run on Tuesday, 7:58 min avg. Wed, was 8:05 avg, with a 7:35 last mile! I took it easy in the rain today, and ran my 6 miler in a 8:31 avg. One thing I will say was that I didn't have crazy laps, they were all consistent.
Hopefully I didn't run too hard this week, and have it catch up to me on Sunday.
I feel pretty healthy and fresh, so we'll see how it goes. It's the last "long run" before Philly.

Fun run on the Boards & 21 miler back home

It was a quick recovery week, as the countdown to Philly is less than 8 weeks away.
My oldest son & I went to Wildwood for the weekend, to check out the Monster Truck races on the beach. We got up Saturday morning, and after breakfast, headed out to the boardwalk. He was on his bike, and I was running alongside him. We did the whole boards... 4 miles. I was proud of him, he was pushing the pace. We did the 4 miles in 35:16, for a 8:48 avg. He pushed me the last mile, and we did that in 8:24. He had the hammer down!
We got home early Sunday morning, so he could make his noon soccer game. Around 3:00pm, I got out for my 21 mile run. It was pretty warm out when I started, my guess is the low 70's.
I had seen that my running buds Shoreturtle & Progman2000 met up and ran 20 in the early morning. They kicked butt, avg. 9:30's with mile 20 at 8:00min. Pretty impressive. The one thing between Turtle & I is this silly competitiveness we have. After seeing their time, I felt the foolish need to best their time. I started out running 8:45's for the 1st 12 miles. I slowed a bit for the next 5 miles, avg. around 9:30's, but the damage had been done. My legs were toast. I hung on for the remainder, actually hit 10:53 for a mile, and finished the 21 miler in 3:18:27, a 9:27 avg.
I need to be smarter about my long runs. Maybe I'll learn someday.