And We're Back...

...From Vacation. FYI- vacation is awesome. We got back last night from 9 straight days in Pure Michigan, and aside from the nightly booze-fest that comes along with being on vacation with a dozen or so friends in town, I actually stayed pretty much on the straight and narrow. I did my runs on the assigned days, and largely stayed a little ahead of the pace I require of myself (10min/mile). On Wednesday, I actually only ran 4 miles instead of the 5 on the schedule, but I didn't actually have the schedule with me, so I'm chalking that one up to a brain fart.

My long runs were good, and this was the first double-digit weekend run of the program. As I mentioned in my last post, I did my long runs on the Little Traverse Wheelway, a continuous trail that runs all the way north from Charlevoix, through Petoskey, and up to Harbor Springs. My wife's grandmother lives right in front of the path, so it was nice and easy to park at Grandma's house and hit the trail. Here's a stock photo (from trailscouncil.org) from a couple years ago, but the scenery hasn't changed much- and hopefully it never does! This week is a step-back week, so Saturday's run is only 7 miles, but the 3-5-3 schedule is a slight step up for the mid-week activity. This week's rule is no booze. I think I drank enough for two weeks while we were up north.

Side note, I did get in 3 rounds of golf and a tennis match against the lovely Mrs. I won, and she had to buy the ice cream afterwards. It tasted like victory.

All is well in Camp BYT. We booked the hotel for the night before the Marathon last weekend. I'm very excited we'll be staying right across the street from Grant Park, so I'll be able to walk directly over on race day. This will eliminate my pre-5am wake-up call I needed when I lived on Chicago's north side in 2009 (breakfast, "natural break," CTA trains at ungodly hours of a Sunday morning, etc). I'll check in again later this week.

Till then, keep on runnin'

-BYT

Sundays are for Church...

...and final rounds of golf tournaments. And mowing the lawn. And working in the garden. And doing laundry. And for cooking a good dinner.

Sundays are NOT, however, for running 11 miles. We're 2 weeks away from the Fifth Third Riverbank Run (25k) here in GR, and I figured I needed to do a long one this week. I also happened to have a neighbor who was interested in playing golf on Saturday (when I would normally have done my run), so I pushed the run off to Sunday. Bad decision.

Knowing that I had to be at church this morning, I mapped out a 14 mile route home from church and packed a bag. I changed in the car in the parking lot, and off I went through East Grand Rapids, Kentwood, and Cascade. Running mid-day is new for me. I usually do long runs right after waking up in the morning, so having eaten breakfast and being active all morning was a bad way to get going.

Covered 11 miles in 1hr, 50min, which is exactly 10 min/mile. I bailed out on the 14 mile route knowing I didn't have another 3 in me today, and ended up doing this lazy pace for almost 2 hours. The weather was nice, but that's about all that was nice about this run. Oh, well. I'll probably try for another long one next week, but I'll definitely plan on doing it at 6am instead of noon.

Lesson learned.

Holy Smokes- Blazin' in Boston

2:03:02

Wow.

That's the finishing time for this year's Boston Marathon by Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai.

Here's the kicker- it's 57 seconds faster than any marathon EVER, and it's not being considered a record by international racing bodies because of a "strong tailwind."

My take- the guy got screwed. I firmly believe in the expression "don't hate the player, hate the game." It's not his fault he had a tailwind. He got a once-a-century opportunity to kick some major ass in the premiere competition of his profession, and his rightful crown is being withheld due to Mother Nature. That's the same Mother Nature everyone else had to deal with today. Don't kill this guy's buzz just because the conditions were right for an epic day. Sounds to me like an epic fail.

My hat's off to you, Geoffrey Mutai. You ran it. You earned it. You're the best. Enjoy it.