Boston Marathon Bombings

In the early afternoon on marathon day, I was sitting in Burger King, of all places, watching a big screen TV when I first heard about the bombings. I had spent ninety minutes or so watching the marathon on-line earlier that day before going out to lunch. The whole terrible incident left me feeling sick to my stomach.

While driving home, I couldn't stop thinking about a number of bloggers that I occasionally converse with. They were running Boston. I immediately went home and tried to find out if they were okay. I've never actually met these fellow runners, but feel connected to them after reading posts about their running exploits and lives. Over the next several days, I learned that Laura at "On Your Left Please...",  Nicole at "Amazon At Another Level", and  Katherine at "Neon Blonde Runner" all finished before the explosions and luckily weren't physically hurt. But incidents like this can obviously affect you emotionally and the signs aren't so evident.

I've always felt comfort in difficult times in the company of family, but even more so with people who have experienced the same incident or similar things. Only they truly know what you're going through. That's why I'm suggesting that people at the race reach out to each other through blogging or whatever means they can. It can really help in my opinion. You don't have to be a runner to do this either. 

The Boston Marathon has been on my bucket list for a while. Unfortunately, my left knee issues have kept me from training  for a marathon lately. I've run three Hartford Marathons, each one slower than the last, back in 1997, 1998, and 1999, and have lacked motivation.  Do I have it in me to qualify for Boston? I don't know. It makes me so mad when I think about what happened. I haven't run longer than 8 miles in three years so it's a lofty goal.  It would be great to be able to pull it off. I'm older now, but  the qualifying standards recently got tougher.

Anyway, I'm betting next year's Boston Marathon will be one of the best!

BIG EAST FAREWELL

If you look at the interests on my profile page, you'll discover that I'm a college basketball fan. As a UCONN alumnus, basketball has sustained us UCONN fans through winter into spring for a long time. The UCONN women have won seven national championships behind Geno Auriemma. The UCONN men have won three national championships under now retired Jim Calhoun. Despite these accolades, it's been about being part of something even bigger than any single team. It's been about being part of the Big East. With great coaches like Thompson, Massimino, Boeheim, and Calhoun, and exceptional players like Ewing, Allen, Hamilton, and Walker, it's made for a competitive college basketball season every year for over thirty years.

I challenge anyone who doubts that the Big East will go down as the greatest conference in the history of college basketball. Sure, UCLA won eleven NCAA Men's basketball championships and Kentucky won eight themselves. But from top to bottom, year in and year out, the Big East has rocked college basketball for a long time. A look at the men's national champions in the last decade reveals that of the ten championships, teams from the Big East won four times, UCONN in 2004 and 2011, Syracuse in 2003 and Louisville this year. The story's the same for the women's national champions, UCONN won five times.
 
Again, this year's men's and women's final four participants include five Big East teams, three on the women's side, Louisville, UCONN, and Notre Dame, and two on the men's side, Louisville and Syracuse. With one more game tonight, UCONN versus Louisville for the women's national championship, today marks the end of the Big East as we know it. There's no changing that fact, but for a moment think about all the fun and excitement that we've been able to experience as fans. It's been quite a ride. So farewell Big East. And GO UCONN!

Quite Frankly Charlotte, I DO Give a Damn!

The Northeast just got whacked last night with anywhere from 24 to 36 inches of snow from Blizzard Charlotte. I was scheduled to run five miles early this morning, but it looks like my plans will have to be adjusted. I still plan to snowshoe later after I clear the snow from my driveway, porch, and back deck. Calvin has that look in his eyes too. He wants to go out with me when I snowshoe. But he's never had to run through this much snow on the trail before. 

Several weeks ago we did two or three workouts in the snow and Calvin loved it. At the time, there was only about eight to ten inches to get through, with the exceptional foot and a half snow drift.  It was snowing during one of the workouts, which made it even more challenging. With wind gusts of twenty miles an hour, the trails we made were soon buried. But we weren't the only ones out there. We saw a guy with his golden retriever out and about. They appeared from around a corner of the trail from a blast of snow.

Well, I'm just about to start my snow clearing activities this morning. This after my son and I cleared the first sixteen or so inches of snow off of his car and our driveway around 11:30 pm last night. I'm hoping that the second time through is quick and easy to finish. It's still snowing though.

Take care and happy running.

Ken

Running in Snowshoes

My area has been the recipient of some significant snow lately. With the trails covered with 8 to 10 inches, it was time to break out the snowshoes for trail running. My first snowshoe run this year was this past Sunday. Calvin, my lab, and I had to cut trail since there were only several spots where deer had patted down the snow. These runs are always a challenge because every mile covered is like going twice that distance or more. I covered about 3 miles that day, while Calvin, with his zigzag approach, probably went 3.5 miles.

The trail we run goes by a large open field. We did an out and back route, which had us retracing our steps past the field. Well, with the strong wind blowing across the area, our tracks were completely covered. So much for it being easier on the way back.

We went out again this morning. It was definitely easier because other people had followed our tracks. There were even a set of cross country ski tracks, which helped smooth things out. Calvin was wearing his usual bright blue doggy coat, which has a few battle scars on it from Calvin's occasion ventures into the pricker bushes along the trail. I let him off the leash for most of the run except for a few spots where the trail is close to a road and one where the trail actually crosses it.  

I swear that Calvin loves running more than I do. He does 360 degree turns in the air beforehand when he sees me putting on my running gear. Then the barking starts. He has to make sure all the other dogs in the area know that he's going for a run and they aren't. He's funny like that.

Anyway, did anyone else venture out in the snow for a run recently? I'm curious. Let me know.

 

Ken

2012 Annual Christmas Run

Every year our small group of runners get together for a "special" run just prior to the holidays. Last year, some of our usual members were unable to participate for various reasons so our numbers were down. But we made a nice comeback this year, with eleven people showing up.

Our annual Christmas run involved two elements, a short run and a stop at our local watering hole, the Arch Street Tavern, to toast the year and remember those runners not with us anymore. Our short run this year was on a course we refer to as "The Zimmerman (aka "Z" man's) trail. We lost Doug Zimmerman several years ago. This course was one of his favorite routes and is entirely on the west side of the Connecticut River. 

In past years, we've run on a course that goes over the Connecticut River called "The Cherico Trail" in memory of Dave Cherico, who we lost back in 2001.  This route is a little bit longer and crosses the Charter Oak Bridge.

So in memory of Doug and Dave, we wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season.

Ken

Sorrow in Newtown

As many of you know, I live in Connecticut. During my work Christmas party yesterday afternoon, I learned of the tragic events of the morning at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. I was busy working all morning and hurried off for a lunchtime run before my Christmas party. It's not that uncommon for me to wait to read the newspaper later at night and to not watch television until returning home. I typically play CDs in my car and therefore missed any reports on the radio too. So I was totally shocked and saddened to hear that a lone gunman had killed so many people, including 20 children under the age of 8.

Many people experience loss in their lives, but to lose a child is the hardest thing to deal with. You're not suppose to outlive your children. As I thought about the parents of these children, I couldn't help think about how my wife and I lost our son, Brian, who was born three months premature and died shortly after birth. No matter what the cause of death, the pain is excruciating, with very little relief, despite the efforts of family and friends to comfort. This is a fraternity that no one wishes to be part of, but so many are.

 

My advice, being a member of this fraternity, is to seek professional counseling, join a bereavement group, and try to honor your loved one is a special way. Twenty-four years have passed since my son's birth/death and events like this hit you in the gut. It took a long time for us to learn how to cope with things. However, we found comfort in being around others who had experienced the loss of a child at birth or shortly thereafter. Only they truly know what you're going through. That's why we went to bereavement meetings for a long time.

Let me finish this post by sending my love and condolences to all the families that lost loved ones in this terrible incident.  

Ken

Manchester Thanksgiving Day Road Race-2012

WARNING: This post gets a little graphic and gross so read on at your own risk!

Well, this year's turkey day race turned into a bit of a bust for me. My training and conditioning was messed up by my fire crew assignment and Wiffle ball leg injury in September. Then at about 2:00 am on Tuesday morning, November 20th, I woke up with Montezuma's revenge from both ends. I'd venture to say that this experience was close to my colonoscopy  preparation purge and possibly broke my regurgitation record from back in college. I won't say the cause of the purging back in college. You can fill in the blanks yourself.

I almost bagged the race, but early Wednesday afternoon, I started to feel like a human again rather than a  spurting volcano. That evening I actually ate something. Can you believe it? Granted, I was still drinking stirred, not shaken ginger ale. So at 7:30 am on Thursday, November 24, I got up, put on my running clothes, ate a piece of bread, grabbed a bottle of water, and headed over to Main Street, Manchester at 8:50 am, to park and stretch before the 10:00 am race start.  If you leave early enough and you know where to go, you can usually find a real cherry spot to park near the start of the race. Keep in mind people, that this race gets about 15,000 runners and maybe twice that many spectators so this is big.

I parked in one of my favorite spots right behind a local bank right off of Main Street. Then I was treated to this drunk guy taking a pee just outside my front window. He didn't even notice me sitting in my car. Yes, I looked the other way. Several minutes later, I headed to the starting line to make sure I could get into the under 40 minutes carded area. If you show up a little late, it's almost impossible to get into the reserved starting areas with the mass of humanity trying to get to the regular starting area.

I reached the under 40 minutes area and handed my access pass to one of the security people at the gate at 9:40 am. They even had some policemen near the gates to try and keep the peace. After some stretching, I slowly moved up to the area closest to the temporary barrier. Before I knew it, the gun went off signaling the official start of the race. I felt okay, but nervous that my body might actually rebel against me for daring to run the race. It was too late to turn back now so off I went along with the other 14,999 runners and probably 3,000 unregistered runners. The number of unregistered people running was undoubtedly higher this year given that the race committee shut down registrations on Monday because the 15,000 mark had been reached.

I started conservatively at a pace that felt just under 8 minutes per mile. At the 1 mile mark, I confirmed that indeed I was running around a 7:50 pace, about 35 seconds per mile slower than last year. That was okay though because I didn't want to repeat my spurting volcano routine on the course. I passed the 2 mile mark at around 16:40. Not too bad considering that mile is almost all up hill. Miles 3 and 4 were similar in pace, as I settled into a semi-death march behind several Spandex-wearing ladies. Okay, I used these sights to help motivate me. Shoot me.  As I turned the corner onto Main Street, I tried to pick the pace up, given that the last half mile was mostly down hill. I finished at 37:29 minutes, approximately two minutes slower than last year. Well, at least I made it to the finish in one piece. Here's hoping that next year turns out better.

Did anyone else run a Turkey day race?

Ken