13.1 plus 3.9 equals 17

What do you do when you have a half-marathon and a 17 mile training run scheduled for the same day? Both!

It was a beautiful day for the Parks Half Marathon, a scenic race almost completely on paved trails through parkland from Rockville to Bethesda, Md.

Since this was part of a longer training run and also my first half-marathon, I wasn't sure if I should push myself or take it easy -- in the end I ended up doing both.

I was running with my buddy, Alan (on the left) who didn't train for this whatsoever, but still managed to cross the finish line in 2:21!

Since we were late to get going for the 7 a.m. start, we were literally the last people to cross the start line before they picked up the starting mats and we started winding our way through a crowded field.

After about two miles we entered the park trails where we would remain for the rest of the race and things started to thin out a bit and we were going about a 10:00 a mile clip.

We held that until mile 9.5, where we stopped to have a gel and agreed to meet at the finish line.

My official time was 2:09:52.


Since this was part of a 17 mile training run for NYC, I ran another 3.9 miles home where my protein bar and ice bath awaited me.

All in all a somewhat crowded, but fun race, though they could have used more fluid stations in my opinion.

Total time was 2:49:29.



Here are my splits, according to Garmin:

1 00:09:32
2 00:09:29
3 00:09:59
4 00:10:07
5 00:09:53
                      6 00:11:29 (stretch break)
7 00:10:01
8 00:10:05
9 00:09:26
                10 00:10:54 (piss stop)
11 00:08:59
12 00:08:58
13 00:10:15
14 00:09:37
15 00:09:38
16 00:10:17
17 00:11:39 

Backpacking

What better way to bond with your father than sharing a tent the size of a bathroom lavatory during a four-day back packing trip?

I figured a back country camping trip in Shenandoah National Park would be a good break from marathon training, while still providing plenty of exercise.

Since this was a guided trip through REI, my Dad and I joined four other people plus our guide, Chuck, and headed off into the wilderness.

Highlights of the trip included a steep climb up Neighbor Mountain on our last day, multiple bear sightings, and spotting two of the regions three venomous snakes, including a baby copper hear and this Water Maccosin lying in the middle of  Jeremy's Run Trail.

All  in all, we met some interesting people, and my Dad and I got to spend some great quality time together, in spite of some very close quarters inside our humid tent.

After spending three nights in the woods, I didn't feel ready to return to civilization, but the wife didn't seem receptive to setting up a tent in the front yard.

I plan on resuming marathon training as soon as my legs recover from the trip -- though for some reason my knee doesn't quite feel ready yet.

Running Home From Work

I've been wanting to try this for some time now, and I figured the 15-mile run called for by my marathon training schedule would be a great opportunity. Of course, the one day I set out to do this, I had to cover a late breaking news story and wasn't able to leave the office until 6:30. I had to run the last five miles in the dark -- not an easy thing to do on wooded trails. Still, it was a great run, 100 percent on trails, and very scenic too with a good portion of it along the banks of the Potomac River. Beats taking the Metro's Red Line anyday!

The route started out along the Mt. Vernon Trail, cut over to the C&O Canal via the Key Bridge, and then finished along the Capital Crescent Trail where my wife was waiting for me at a pre-arranged time -- 9:10 P.M. All in all, the entire journey took 2:36, with an average pace of 10:25 per mile, according to the stats from trusty Garmin. I even stopped for a Gatorade at a 7-11 along the way.