Category Archives: 52 Weeks, 52 Runs

52 Weeks, 52 Runs. No. 19: Strengthening the corps

Posted on May 7, 2012 | 16 comments

Last week, despite my race containing many, many hills (on which I will say no more), I somehow managed to get absurdly close to running a 5K in less than 30 minutes. I am partially convinced the race clock was wrong (seriously, if you had seen me trudging along, cursing the asphalt and the trees and the clouds and … well, everything, really … you’d be doubting the veracity of the timing instruments too). But the official results say I was three seconds away from this milestone, so who am I to argue?

Hell, I thought, If I can do that well in the presence of many, many hills, just think what I can do in their absence. In your face, 30 minutes! Next time you see me I’ll be relaxing with a cold one and basking in the post-race glow …

Which brings me to this week’s run, the Boston Marine Corps Honor Run 5K at Carson Beach, No. 19 in my 52 Weeks, 52 Runs challenge.

Boston Marine Corps Honor Run

Prepping the start.

This run had huge potential. The website said so:

“This is the flattest and fastest course you will find in the Boston area. Perfect for beginner runners or for experienced runners looking for a PR!”

Huge potential. I am not really a beginner, nor am I experienced. Rather, I like to consider myself an experienced beginner. And I was definitely looking for a PR. Perfect …

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52 Weeks, 52 Runs. No. 18: By George!

Posted on May 2, 2012 | 26 comments

Since I started running last year, I’ve packed in a lot of races. So many, in fact, that you’d think one thing would be painfully obvious to me by now: There. Will. Be. Hills. I figure the fact that hills continue to elicit from me such breathless rage either means I have some unresolved hill-related issues from my past or I really need to take an anger-management course.

Looking back through some of my recent posts, I’ve noticed a pervasive “hills = evil” theme. And while they are evil, all this complaining has made me concerned that I’m turning into Stride and Killjoy.

To that end, I have decided to issue a moratorium on hilly rants. Although, this doesn’t apply if a hill is a) unnaturally steep or b) occurs at a particularly inopportune place in a run, such as right at the freaking end. Which brings me to this week’s event, the Lake George Half Marathon and 5K, No. 18 in my 52 Weeks, 52 Runs challenge.

Lake George Half Marathon and 5K

Lovely Lake George on a chilly – but thankfully still – Sunday morning.

I love how the most idyllic settings have produced, for me, some of the most challenging runs. Salisbury Beach, MA; Riverside Park in NYC, the covered bridge in Henniker, NH, and, now, Lake George, NY.

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52 Weeks, 52 Runs. No. 17: A walk/run in the park

Posted on April 24, 2012 | 24 comments

This week, the running gods decided to remind me who pulls the strings. I’d had a series of good runs, posted one PR and then another, and was feeling pretty chuffed about this whole sweaty business. (Not even the speedy bullies from the B.A.A. 5K could truly dampen my spirits, although they gave it their best shot.)

So it was clearly only a matter of weekends before things unraveled. They did, in spectacular fashion, at Sunday’s Melissa Fund Sun Run, No. 17 in my 52 Weeks, 52 Runs challenge.

It wasn’t a pretty sight.

The setting for the spectacularly un-sunny Melissa Fund Sun Run.

Actually, I lie. It was a very pretty sight. This event took place in Manhattan’s Riverside Park, which was awash in that bright new-green you only see in the first weeks of spring. Lovely. We had never been to Riverside before and were excited to see it and run somewhere new. Also, we were thrilled to benefit the Melissa Fund, which aims to eliminate skin cancer. It was established to honor Melissa Bambino, who died from metastatic melanoma at age 29.

There was certainly no sun to be seen as we milled about before the run. In fact, the weather gods looked as though they were going to unleash their soggy fury. But despite the prospect of a damp 30 minutes, I was happy. It was cool and the surrounds idyllic. What could possibly go wrong …

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52 Weeks, 52 Runs. No. 16: Ranting and sweating

Posted on April 18, 2012 | 19 comments

A note to all the compression-socks-wearing, tank-top-and-shorts-sporting, giant-GPS-watch-bearing runners who started way too far back in the pack at the B.A.A. 5K in Boston on the weekend. We know you’re awesome. You know you’re awesome. How about giving those of us who aren’t so awesome a break and not crashing into us as you speed through a 6,000-strong crowd of runners (a moveable beast?) in a misguided attempt to get to the front. Did you spend too much time at Starbucks and forget that the race started at 8am? Or maybe you just wanted the rest of us to see your awesomeness in action. In which case, mission accomplished. This is exactly why compression socks give me the fear.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, here’s a photo.

B.A.A. 5K

Crowds gather in the shadow of a couple of Boston landmarks (Trinity Church and the John Hancock Tower) for the B.A.A. 5K.

I always try to find the joy in this running lark. Otherwise what’s the point? But this weekend’s 5K was packed with folks who take the pastime seriously. Very seriously. Which is fine, of course. I am full of admiration, awe, respect, etc., for people who can a) run a marathon; b) run the Boston Marathon; and c) run the Boston Marathon in extreme heat, which is what I know many of the 5Kers were doing the day after this run. So, go ahead, take running as seriously as you like. But do it from the front of the pack.

Wait, am I ranting again? Here’s another photo.

B.A.A. 5K

More milling in front of another Boston landmark: the public library. It’s very old.

I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything different from a 5K put on by the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.), which hosts the world’s oldest and most prestigious marathon. If ever there were going to be a collection of uber-runners in one place, it was this weekend in Boston.

There was a benefit, though. This run was fast. Really fast.

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52 Weeks, 52 Runs. No. 15: To hill and back

Posted on April 9, 2012 | 19 comments

This weekend’s 5K had a tough act to follow. A duo of tough acts, in fact. My two most recent runs, the North Carolina motor speedway 5K and the Ukrop’s 10K in Virginia, were both brilliant, festive, flat, speedy, spirited events that left me with renewed enthusiasm for my 52 Weeks, 52 Runs challenge. During one I set a PR (yes, I talk like this now); and during the other I ran farther than I ever had before (with only a mild case of jelly legs).

So the Great Bay Half Marathon and Beyond the Rainbow 5K in lovely Newmarket, New Hampshire, part of the wonderful-in-every-way Will Run for Beer series, had its work cut out for it.

Correction: We had our work cut out for us. (There’s a reason the back of the half-marathon shirt has the slogan “These legs conquered the Great Bay Half Marathon.”)

Great Bay Half Marathon & Beyond the Rainbow 5K

The innocuous start under lovely sunny skies at the Great Bay Half Marathon and Beyond the Rainbow 5K. No rainbows, though.

The last two runs were so fabulously flat, I think I had forgotten that there are many hills in the world, and that they are all positioned to cause runners (OK, me) maximum discomfort.

This run was not flat. And I was ill-prepared (which is slightly pathetic given how many of these suckers I have done).

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