The Day Before

I forgot my traveling pen. The one I always use to write in my little Moleskine. I love looking back and seeing where my mind was the day before a race, so I figured I'd go ahead and spill the beans out here and see how it goes. The weather forecast has changed from dire to pretty awesome. Low 40s at the start (borderline on the chilly side - we've got to be out there for an hour or more - but perfect for the beginning of a race. Mid (and maybe high) 50s at the finish. Let's hope it's closer to mid. The sun will be up by then and, I found out today, it's a hot sun. Forecasts as of when I left were for good temps but for steady winds of 30mph gusting to 45-50. Directly into our faces. Yikes. That's total death. Wind forecast now? Max of 3-5 for the whole course! I'm very psyched about the weather. Not so entirely psyched about the course.

I've made the decision several times to run a particular marathon based on a "favorable" elevation profile. By that I mean: net downhill. Each time, I forget that the race directors have a product to sell and that the do their best to make their race the most appealing. They do things like show you the net elevation change for each mile. This does not, however, take account for the rolling or sometimes massive hills. If you go 500 feet up and then 500 feet down in the same mile, the net can still be naught. This is definitely the case for this course. There are several very intense hills. Mountains, you might say. This will, no doubt, be quite a test.

This is my excuse. Already. It's like I can't help myself. I'm setting the stage for when I don't achieve my goal. I really have vacillated though. When I chatted with the Clif Bar Pace Team (the guys that run a specific pace so that you can just follow them and not worry about pacing) at the Expo, I got really charged and KNEW that this would be the one. It's happened several other times randomly. I am in shape. I've got a little niggle in my left calf, but even that is much better than it has been recently. There's the aforementioned awesome weather. There's really a lot going for me this time around. So if I can just beat the course, then this time will be it.

Me against the course. Always me against the distance. Me against that little voice in my body telling me to stop.

I can't tell you how much I want to be writing another post here tomorrow brimming with post race ecstasy. If you've ever met me, you probably know. A coworker of mine predicted my time as 3:08:54. My response "If I run 3:08:54, I will buy you dinner." I've never wanted to buy someone dinner more.

It's Baaaaack!

I'm watching the finals of Wimbledon right now. It's 14-14 in the final set of the longest match in Wimbledon Finals history. A true marathon match. Just crazy. And speaking of crazy...

I read a book yesterday about running.... about ultramarathoning... about the evolution of our species and the meaning of life ... called Born to run. Most books that have anything to do with running are, unfortunately written by runners. And, because of this, read like they've been written by, well... a runner. Born to Run was fortunately written by a journalist who happens to also be a runner. Ahhhh. Plot devices. Complex structures. Evocative diction. Suspense and Discovery. As this is a running blog and not a book review blog, suffice it to say that it was a page turner despite being about running.

More importantly for me, it put a new spin on things that managed to give me a great big warm and fuzzy. 9 times out of 10, when someone tells me that they are a vegetarian, it makes me want to immediately shut them out. I'm long since past the stage when it made me want to throttle them, but I usually can't resist the urge to ask them: why? If the whole of their answer is "because eating animals is cruel," it's over. The simple truth is that all omnivores and carnivores eat animals. Our unusually large brains became that way because we had access to the high fat / high protein source of sustenance provided by animals we managed to kill. Our species evolved as omnivores, not herbivores. This is what I would explain to the vegetarian, usually garnering a blank stare and a get-the-hell-out-of-my-face reaction.

Born to Run (BTR) also points out, rather convincingly, that our species evolved to run. But wait. Wouldn't the big muscles and big brains provided by mammoth meat just make us less efficient for running? Indeed. Think about it. Neanderthal man had the most solid body and the largest brain of any hominid species EVER. Yep, their brains were bigger than ours. Evidence suggest that they may have even had speech long before previously thought. But Neanderthal man wasn't our ancestor. Neanderthal man was a competitive species. And, contrary to what you see on Geico commercials, Neanderthal man no longer exists. Who does? WE do. And why? Because when the earth came out of the cold period, animals got nimbler on the plains opened up by the receding forests. The huge muscular Neanderthal man lost his element of surprise. The big game he hunted also lost the cover of the forests as well. As we all know, the predator goes the way of the prey. So instead of ambushing and overpowering big prey, hominids were forced to chase and out-endure their prey. So we evolved to run. And run long. Humans, in fact, can run longer distances faster than any species on the planet. Hands down. It's not even close. Game, set and match. That's why we live everywhere and have dominion over all other beasts. That's why we have civilizations and spaceships and food for everyone (well almost everyone).

But how does this have anything to do with vegetarianism, Dave? Well, I'm glad you asked. Gazelles are fast. Antelopes are fast. Out enduring an animal doesn't always work. And ALWAYS takes a ton of energy. So our endurance hunter ancestors had to fuel themselves somehow, right? Right. Nuts, berries, fruit, veggies, roots are all great sources of calories and can not only be grown and stored at home, but can also be found out on the trail while in pursuit of prey. So we fueled up on fruits and grains, set off in pursuit of an ibex, ran for a few hours, refueling on the run with berries and such, and, if we were lucky and smart, we were rewarded with a high protein and high fat snack. Otherwise, we'd go home, sleep it off and refuel again with the stand-byes at home. So that means that most of the calories on which our species evolved were of the herbivorous persuasion.

Fascinating stuff. Don't get me wrong, I know that those 9 out of 10 people I come across are not thinking of evolutionary morphology when they make the choice to become veg's. But now I must temper my distaste for their decision even more.

But that's all one. The real goods of BTR came in the form of 2 cold hard tips. Im not gonna attempt to sum up the first - the importance of mindset when it comes to running. The author sells his books because of his ability to use words to express the sentiment effectively. But, basically, I have, in a sense, re-discovered the importance of having the right frame of mind and motivation for running. The second nugget is a little easier to distill. Easy, Light, Smooth, and Fast. This is the basic formula for the most efficient stride for running. And, as one key character in BTR points out, you only have to master the first three, the fourth will follow automatically. There is, of course, lots more nuance involved, but this is, again, a blog, and not a book.

It's back. What's back, Dave? I don't know... Whatever it was that I had lost earlier this year. I was smiling for all 11 miles of my run this morning. I was singing in the shower after my run. I wasn't sore. I wasn't grouchy. I refueled with beans and rice and a banana. I feel great. Body and mind. I'm so excited. Sure, I can't wait to qualify for Boston. It's still my white whale. But, if life can be like this until I do?, then I'm not in too dire a hurry for the finish line. ... And, speaking of the finish line, Federer wins the 5th set - 16-14 - for his 15th major title. The most of any tennis player ever.

Commencement

Ok. Let's begin at the end. Prologue: 21 posts along my journey to the Dublin Marathon. Epilogue: Yet another episode in the litany of weather-related impedance. A steady diet of 30 mph winds broke me down and relegated me to an official PR of 3:15. I was ready, but the cosmos was not. Or more more to the point, I wasn't ready for everything.

Words are funny sometimes. Sometimes we say words for concepts and ideas that are generally understood, but that most of us have never considered the meaning of the word intrinsically. We drive on a parkway. We park on a driveway. Wait, what? And, at the end of high school, we have a commencement. Sure, nothing funny going... WAIT. You commence with something at the BEGINNING! Commencement? What the hell? Hrmmm. Oh I get it, it's not to celebrate achievement, it's to commemorate the beginning of the next major chapter in life.

Well I guess commencement day for me over the past few years has been the day when I get home from my last marathon and sign up for the next. Everything is fresh and new and I'm ready to take on a new cycle. A new way of looking at things, a fresh approach. When I got home from Dublin, my legs felt pretty good. I took a few weeks off, but I jumped right back into running. I ran a fast 10k and took that as a sign that I hadn't lost fitness. I signed up for a spring marathon and started training. I'll spare you the details of the "fresh" approach that I took but the basic idea was that I knew what I needed and to hell with a 'program.' Things never felt quite right. I had a sinking suspicion throughout that something was wrong and, in Mid-February, those suspicions came to life.

Everything broke down. I was exhausted. Nothing was 'injured' per se, but I couldn't run. I just couldn't. My legs hurt. A LOT. My body hurt. A TON. But, infinitely more importantly, I hurt. My 'being' hurt. I wasn't enjoying forcing myself to run. This was a first. In 5 years of marathon training, not ONCE did I feel like not running. In times of injury, I knew that I shouldn't run. But that's totally different from not wanting to run. And I'm not talking "It's 5:30 in the morning and I had 3/4 of a bottle of wine last night" not wanting to run. I'm talking about "I'm done with this shit. I hate how I feel and I just wanna go do nothing" not wanting to run. I tried taking a week off. I tried taking two weeks off. Two weeks turned to three. Three weeks turned to 4 and I had already reached as far as I had ever gone without running since I started.

A little less than two MONTHS after stopping running, the 2009 Boston Marathon was contested. Aww hell. The excitement. The anticipation. The drama! Two Americans with legitimate shots at winning. I took a half day off work to stay home and watch. By the time the little montage introduction to the race had finished (and I finished wiping away a little tear of confused emotion), I had almost made up my mind that I would be running a marathon in the Fall. The brain started coming around. I was excited. The Americans came in 3rd, mens' and womens'. To get in the mood, I had gone for a run the Saturday previous. All of my aerobic fitness seemed to be gone. I still had my pace, but I got winded after only a few miles. I knew I'd have to start slow. But I knew I had to start. A few runs later and I pulled out the books and materials.

I started a training cycle with a plan a week ago. Today, however, is commencement day. Today is when my body felt the groove, and it felt good. Not the groove of the run, but of routine. It felt really good. I was excited to get up at 6 this morning because I knew at the end of a short run, I was allowed to do a few hill sprints! I was excited that one whole week of mileage was under my belt and I hadn't broken down. I was excited to get home and read more of the Brad Hudson training book from which I'm deriving my training plan for this cycle. It felt good that, even though it's a Friday in spring, that there's nothing important on the social schedule for the weekend. That all I need to worry about is keeping healthy for my long run Sunday and for my key workouts next week. It felt so good that I had to share. Maybe this time will be the one. Hope is a pretty awesome thing.

Welcome to Commencement Day. Let's try this again.

21 Posts

My blogging tool informs me that this is my 21st post. 21 is my lucky number. And speaking of numbers, I got my confirmation email from the Dublin Marathon Organizers; I'm bib number 759. A goodly number. I don't know why. At least it's not 666, or 0, or 13 or anything. I digress...

In recent weeks, I feel like I have been lacking a signature workout that gives me a sense of security going in to the race. For the most part, I've done all the work. But none of my recent workouts have really knocked it out of the park. I did a 20 miler with 15 of those miles at marathon pace, but I really had to work for some of those miles. My tempo runs were going well, but at only 7 miles of tempo, they're not exactly world class (Ryan Hall runs 15 mile tempo runs!). When planning out my workouts for this week, I remembered an old favorite called Yasso 800s. I read about them way back when I first started training for marathons. If you check out the date of the article, it was published before I started running. It's a great article but, since you don't even read this blog, I'll give you the Cliffs Notes. A man named Bart Yasso figured out by pure dumb luck that it just so happens that there is one particular workout that is a great indicator of marathon fitness. It is both training tool and planning tool in one. The math, though, is the magical part. Basically, the goal is to run 10 times 800 meters at the pace that corresponds to your goal time in the marathon. That is, if my goal is to run a 3-hour 10-minute marathon, then I run my 800s in 3 minutes and 10 seconds. I know! It really is cool! ...and pretty hard to believe. But study after study has backed it up.

Quick calculations brought me to the fact that 10x800m = 5 miles. Add a few for warm up and cool down and it's exactly what I was looking to run. The workout was an unexpected success. Not only did I comfortably complete the workout (which I've never actually done before), but I paced with an avg below 3:00! Check out the splits from my watch.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not waltzing to the start line or anything. But, man, I really needed this. I needed something to bolster my fickle confidence. The hay was already in the barn. But there was nothing really satisfying in the way of indicators of fitness. My ambitious resting heart rate goals are way off the mark. My weight is still at an immovable 150. But this, this is meaty. Maybe most importantly, it's solid enough that I wont be stupid and push myself any more before race day. All easy stuff from now on.

The weather is looking like it's gonna be colder than expected. Maybe even some 30s. This is an entirely new ball of wax. There are still 11 days until the race, so I'm sure it will change about 11 more times. But I need to start thinking about being prepared for the chill. Confidence is high, anxiety is lower. Crunch time is here. Can't wait to get it done!

The Hay is in the Barn

Alright faithful non-audience, the hay is in the barn. From this point on out, I will not tax my body in any new way. I will not perform any harder workout. I won't increase distance. I will do no full-intensity workouts. That's not to say that I can take the next 19 days off. (19 days, that's it!) Just that for the remaining 3 weeks, the goal is to repair and maintain.

Repair

Starting with the massage I endured (yes, endured, details to follow) yesterday, my legs, joints, connective tissues and psyche will have 19 days to repair and refresh themselves before I put them to the test on Oct 27th. I have been continuously introducing my body to new stressors for the last 21 weeks (or 4 years, one might say) in the hopes that my body would adapt to each new stress and be able to handle the progressively tougher load. There have been 'micro'-cycles of tearing down and repairing stronger at least 2 times per week, every week (the so-called "quality" workouts of the week's training). In each of these cycles, I broke down my muscles and subsequently slept and fed and stayed off my legs giving my body time to repair all of the damage and make them stronger. All of these cycles add up to the 'macro'-cycle that is my 24-week training plan. The macro-cycle starts with all of the micro-cycles of the first 21 weeks and, mirroring the microcycle, finishes wth a final 3 weeks of sleeping and feeding and "staying off" my legs to let them repair.
To kick off the repair process, I elected to get a massage. The masseur was the former massage therapist of the Hungarian National Team. Both of my hands could fit loosely into one of his and two of his fingers could crush my bones without much effort. I have several very stubborn muscles, so a strong therapist sounded like a good idea. As I write this, I am bruised and sore as if I have just played a game of tackle football. The massage could be described as ... punishing. tolerable. exhausting. Not words usually associated with massage. I left the office tired and beaten, wondering if I had made the right decision. Only time will tell, but he was able to work out all but one of my major issues. The remaining issue, I believe, is caused my my seated position at work. Today I modified my desk, chair, keyboard/mouse configuration and have hopes that will do the trick.

Maintain

As I mentioned, I can not just take the final three weeks off. Just as during the micro-cycles, I didn't simply run the two quality workouts and call it a week, I ran 3-4 more times during the week to maintain the levels of fitness that I was achieving. To stop now would allow my body to start using all of the resources I have been using to repair (i.e. get stronger) for other things. That is to say, I'd lose muscle strength and fitness. So, for the next 3 weeks, I will run similar workouts to those I've already run. Workouts to which my body has already adapted. That way, my body knows that it still needs to be able to do all the things that it has been doing - with the added benefit of not stressing it further. There is, of course, a fine line to this tapering business. The jury is still out as to the extent of benefit from tapering. But all agree that some form of tapering is absolutely essential for peak performance. I'll do my best with the information I've gathered and hopefully that will bring me the desired result.

So there you have it. The hay is in the barn. All of the hardest physical work is done and now I need to just relax, prepare mentally, and allow my body to do what it does. 19 days, folks. 19.

Now It's Getting Close

49 Days. 7 Weeks. 3 of those are tapering, which means for those three: no improvement, just repair. 4 weeks. That's less than a month.
I think I have the calf thing figured out. The legs were already fatigued from high mileage. They were also locked into the "easy" stride that carried me through all of those miles. That stride left me on my heels and overstriding, leaving my feet on the ground for a long time. It was ok, because I had built up a tolerance, if you will. I had built up all of the muscles that would support such a stride. But with the new speedwork the week of the injury, I changed into both new shoes (the racers) and a new stride. My calves were just not used to either yet. My brain was, though. Even after that day, I kept running with the new stride. I hadn't - and haven't quite - built up my calves to handle the full load of the new stride, but I am getting there. My long run of last night (yeah, night, cuz Tropical Storm Hanna kinda messed with my plans) was done fully in the new stride. It puts me on the balls of my feet. I feel like my feel actually feel the ground. Pretty cool. Maybe it's all in my head. Heh. Even if it is, things feel good right now. I feel like im back on track. I had never made it to that speedwork I hoped for last week. In fact, after being so distraught because of a 4 day hiatus, I followed it up with another 4 day break. 5 good days of training over the last week though, so looking good.
Looking towards the future. 49 days. Let's do it.

Calving Calves?

Hey faithful readers. I know it's been almost another three weeks, but I also know that no one reads this, so I don't feel so bad :) Let's see, in the past three weeks...
I finished that awesome week I was having when last I wrote. 62 Miles and an awesome 20 miler. Probably one of my best weeks of training ever. However, it had taken a toll on my body. I caught a cold. I get sick very rarely, so this was indeed a bummer. But the combination of the hard week and staying up late every friggin night to watch Michael Phelps win yet another gold medal just didn't let my body recover like it needed. Luckily, for the most part, I kept up with my key workouts while I was under the weather. The 20 miler the following weekend didn't feel nearly as spectacular though. I got through it and pushed onward. On the following Wednesday, I continued to test myself. I was worn down after a week of being sick and a second 20 miler that took a lot out of me, but decided to go ahead with a very tough Tempo (speedy) session. The session went swimmingly, splits like I rarely see! But after slowing down, my left calf staged a coup. It was done. The union strike continued that night. And when I tried to force the strike to end the next morning, the union rallied back. My first purely injury related down time of the training cycle. 4 days. 4 days off with no running. Not quite as bad as the dreaded Montezuma break, but time off is always hard for me. I ran a great 5 miles this morning. And hope to be up for another Tempo workout on Wednesday morning. (the forecast is for mid-to-low 60s!)

In general, right now, I am tired. Like full-body-and-mind tired. But at least those NBC-ruined Olympics are over and I can get back to full nights of sleep. I think that alone will go a loooooong way to getting me back to normal. Only time will tell.

In other news... I have decided on a path of full teetotaling abstinence until race day. I have already abandoned my friends to an extent that stretches any sort of loyalty to the breaking point. That being the case, I absolutely have to achieve my goal this time around. Consequently, I have to eliminate ALL of the factors that may jeopardize the goal. No booze of any sort. No going out of any sort. No bedtimes after 9-9:30pm each night. No missed workouts of any kind (save for injury). I spoke before of sacrifice, of choices. This is really where/when this gets put to the test. I am making the decision that this is it. I WILL achieve my goal this time around. Now I need to make the choices at every step of the way to get me there. I said before that, even if I don't make it this time, that I now know HOW to make it next time. But those sound like justifications, like reasons and rationalizations for not stepping across the finish line in less than 3:10. No excuses. Like Yoda so famously and eloquently commanded, "Do or do not. There is no try."

Half and Half?

Yo Peeps. Good to see you again. I know it's been entirely too long since last we spoke, but I'm back. When last I wrote, I was questioning the authority of running shoe store employees. Well, question them anymore I shall not. My very unscientific results indicate that neutral cushioned shoes should not be worn by your trusty host. Basically, after the last blog post, my legs went to goo. I had trouble running even 5 miles and I felt a kind of pain that I had never felt before. Whole leg pain. My whole legs hurt, both of em. It felt like shooting pain, which I am totally used to, but it completely blanketed my legs from toe to hip. In the week leading up to the NYC Half Marathon, I think I ran about 18-20 miles. If that much. I probably could have run more, but I figured my body was trying to tell me something and that if I really took that week to rest, I might be able to salvage a respectable race that Sunday. So, back to the Kayano's ... But first!

July 27th, 7am, 78 degrees, rain showers, 80% humidity.

NYC Half Marathon. At go time, I had already broken two cardinal rules of racing. The first of which I was previously aware and had chosen to break. The second of which almost got me disqualified. Even the greenest of competitors in a race of longer distance knows that you never try anything new on race day. No new foods, no new vitamins or drugs, no fad shortcuts, no new outfits, and most importantly, no new shoes. I had never even worn my brand new Asics Gel Bandito racing shoes on a training run. Hadn't even worn them out of my apartment. But there I was on the starting line in shoes light as a feather. The second rule that I broke was exiting the starting corrals. My awesome family (Mom, Dad, Aunt Mary, Uncle Bobby, cousin Emma, and buddy Sean) had made the trip up from the District to watch me race and had somehow managed to find the starting corral in which I had been seeded. They shouted out their support and, seeing as the gun was not to go off for about 5 minutes, I jumped the fence and a rope... and another fence to try to climb up the hill where they were perched. This was apparently a big no-no. A race marshall quickly called me out and radioed my bib number to the race hq and indicated that I had been DQ'd. I made my way back down the hill with about 3-400 runners watching my walk of shame and crossed my fingers that my complete embarassment was punishment enough. The race went great though. One whole loop around the entire Central Park, dodging a sea of wet, steaming horse manure - up and down hills I didn't think were possible in the midst of a big city. The second time around (not another full loop), the manure was good and trampled, so no one bothered to avoid it. Out the south end of the park onto 7th Avenue into a sea of screaming fans. Just awesome. Probably only matched by the sound I heard in Chicago at the finish. Straight down the middle of one of the most famous strips of road in the world to Times Square, where the sound and the crowd redoubled. I wasted probably a mile's worth of energy speeding up and cheering and flying around with my arms out like an airplane. Out 42nd street to the Hudson river and all the way down to the tip of Manhatan Island at Battery Park. The numbers from my run can be seen in their entirety here. And my results made me very happy - 1:29:48 for 398th out of 10,506. At the finish, my Aunt Mary asked me what happened. Not entirely sure what she meant, I recounted what happened in the race. But she stopped me and pointed downward at my foot. "This is why one never wears new shoes to a race." I was a bit battle worn. Heh. Good times.

The Second Half of the "Half and Half" is the fact that I am now in the Second Half. My official training cycle started with 24 weeks to go. I am now past the hump, with a little less than 12 weeks remaining. As of this morning, I am back to feeling great. My 18 mile run on Sunday felt totally solid and I had a great speedy session this morning. There is absolutely no pain, soreness, or stiffness in my legs and my energy is fine during the days. I really think the combination of the time off because of the race and the switch back in the shoe department have brought me back to where I need to be. 8 easy miles tomorrow, then rest up on friday for a 20 miler on Saturday. If both of those go well, I will be at 62 miles for the week which is just about as high as I've ever gone in the past. Rock and Roll. With a 62 and a solid 20, I will feel confident that my foundation is all there, and not worry about mileage totals anymore. I can focus on speedier stuff, race specific stuff, and things like fueling and routines. The excitement is back, after being on hiatus for a while.
I've got 81 days of training left to add the two halves together to make a whole lotta noise in Dublin. Bring it on.

Neutral

Hey, Peeps. Long time, no blog. My apologies.
Several years ago, sitting in a lecture given by Arthur Lydiard, I was told that choosing a shoe is easy. "Have as little under your foot as is possible to keep you from getting injured." That's it. Since then, I've wanted to follow his advice, but I always heard conflicting opinions from the experts at the shoe stores. They seemed believe that my stride requires manufactured stability to control minor over-pronation of my foot. (Pronation is the natural rolling movement of the foot while it is in contact with the ground. Too much or too little can cause issues from the ankles all the way up.) For about a year now, I have suspected that my stride is much more neutral than I've been lead to believe. So, armed with a coupon that was in my Cap. Hill 10k race packet, I made my way thursday to the City Sports in Chinatown to experiment with neutral-cushioned shoes. I found one that lived up to its name, the Asics Nimbus, by feeling as soft as clouds underfoot. With today's 16-miler in mind, I wore them around all day yesterday to try to get a feel for whether they would cause issues. Everything felt peachy. I was a little tentative when I set off this morning, having not worn them for a run before his long one. But they didn't disappoint. The case is not closed yet, though. I will need to wear them consistently for a week or more before I can conclude that my stride is, in fact, more neutral and that I've been duped for years. Duped into thinking that I need to pay for the extra devices for control in my shoes. During the run, actually, my stride felt more balanced than ever. And the post-run stress and soreness is finally equal in both legs! Heh. Am I the only person in the world who gets excited that both my legs are sore? The other news to report is that I am back on track in terms of training. Even after losing an entire week to illness, I managed a 54 mile week this week. 54 is 90% of my goal of 60 a week. I've got 15 more weeks of training to go, so I am right on schedule. My goal for the coming week is to reapeat 54. Should I be able to do that successfully, I will have a week to cut back and recoup a bit before the NYC Half Marathon at the end of the month, and then jump right back in at 60. From there, it will be smooooth sailing. No increases in mileage, only increases in intensity (speed). I've got about 400 Miles in the legs so far for this go-'round. The rest of training will add anywhere from 600-900 more. That will EASILY be enough "hay in the barn" for me to feel confident toeing the line in Dublin. All I have to do is stay healthy. Sounds so easy!

5k from Saturday

Hey peeps. Just a quickie to update. I ran a 5k this weekend. It's called the Harbor Hustle 5k. From the Tennis Center in Rock creek park, down 45 meters in elevation to Beach Dr., then back up. A toughie, no doubt. I came in 5th, which sounds good until you consider a few things: a) there were only 175 finishers, b) last year I came in 3rd, and c) I ran 30 seconds slower than last year at 19:06. I was very disappointed at first. But then I plugged that number into the race equivalent calculator (these things are remarkably accurate) and it came up with a Marathon equiv of 3:06. Now, I surely would not be confident running the marathon right now and hoping for a 3:06. But if you consider that a) I have 17 full weeks of training until my real marathon, and (more importantly) b) I have done exactly ZERO speed or hill workouts at all, then the picture becomes a little more positive. So, to recap, I am not ready to either run a fast 5k OR run my goal marathon, but the race was a very positive indication that I have good fitness and that I am ready to begin speedwork and hill training so that I will be ready to run my goal marathon in 17 weeks. Check out the Garmin output from the race.