10/25/08 A Great Day

The last "great" running day I had was on October 25, 2008. It was the day of my 11th wedding anniversary. I awoke and decided to run the Red Cross Vampire 5k. Even though it rained torrentially at times I still went out and had a great run. Now "great" is a relative term. Sometimes you feel great, but you can feel worse than other days when you wouldn't have said you feel great. My point being that like most of the English language we describe things in ways that can usually make no sense.

Not today. Today was what I would deem my first "great" running day since October 25, 2008. Seven months and one week to the day (put together you've got 71 so I expect Evgeni Malkin to have a GREAT night tonight drawing the Penguins even with the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals).

I went out with the intentions of going nice and easy and continuing to build a base that I can draw upon in a few weeks when Chicago training begins. By the time I finished I hit the stopwatch and continued to walk down the alley behind my house. I immediately said, "I feel great". No pain in any part of my body for the first time in awhile and I went fairly hard for a Sunday long run of 5 miles (37:37).

I may have another setback. In fact, I expect one at some point. But for today I can say that I feel great. It really gives you the perspective and the necessary mindset to not take any day for granted.

Let's hope today is also a Great Day for Hockey in the city of Pittsburgh.

Finding My Way

Hope I'm not jinxing myself again but it seems that I've been able to settle into a tiny bit of a rhythm the past few weeks after getting going a bit prior to the Pittsburgh Half. After taking four days off to recover from the aforementioned half, I've been able to settle in and up my daily mileage to four miles. Seems like small potatoes in the larger picture, but in looking back I am absolutely ecstatic.

No racing until the Daily American 10k on June 13 so for the next three weeks I will continue to try and settle into that elusive rhythm. My body is not 100% but it's as close as it's been in seven months.

Kids

And so here I sit, typing away on my blog wondering what happened in my neighborhood. When we moved in ten years ago this July I recall a comment I made to my wife; "this neighborhood needs more kids". In probably one of the worst examples of "be careful what you wish for", we're now overflowing with plenty of youth. And I can't be more unhappy about it.

Make no mistake, I am not much of a kid guy. I think it had something to do with the way I was brought up, although I cannot be 100% certain. Let's just say that I don't particularly want kids of my own and leave it at that. Don't get me wrong. I don't mind kids, most of the time. I've dealt with kids my whole life. As a football coach, an ice hockey official, and umpire and a teacher I am fairly comfortable in dealing with kids. But perhaps it's those experiences that have given me insight into why I wouldn't choose to have my own.

With the weather turning nicer, our neighborhood has turned into an all-out playground screamfest. The high pitched shrilly screaming that sounds like blood-curdling murder is happening. And we're not talking about "every so often". This weekend it's been constant for like 9 or 10 hours. It has made living here difficult to say the least.

But it also got me thinking; again. What is wrong with kids (in general)? I truly believe it has a lot to do with the parents and/or adults that interact with these kids. And just in case you're a parent, I am speaking in general terms here. There are definitely good parents, good kids and good families. I'm not even saying that these local kids are 'bad' kids. All I'm saying is that if we screamed and yelled and hollered ALL DAY LONG like that when we were kids; well, it wouldn't have happened. Our dad, if not our neighbors first would have put a stop to it after a little while. But nowadays you deal with it because it's not your place to yell at your neighbors kids. And from what I can tell, you don't yell at your own kids. You let them do what they want to do for as long as they want to do it. And that, my friends is the symptom of the greater problem with what I believe is a societal issue. What's all this have to do with running? Absolutely nothing. It's just one of my rare rants on here.

Let me go back to half-marathon weekend two weeks ago in Pittsburgh. Saturday evening we're sitting at PNC Park enjoying a Pirates game. A foul ball is hit back behind the visitors dugout and a fan makes a beautiful catch to the point where he receives a round of applause. Some guy who is sitting about 15 rows in front of him and in the next section over goes up the steps a way and yells to the guy, pointing at a kid who was sitting with him. Now, even though I was sitting too far away to hear what was being said the message was clear. "How about tossing that ball down here for the kid?" The guy who made the outstanding catch flipped the ball to the other guy who then gave it to the kid and he received another round of applause. My point? When I was a kid, it was every man and child for themselves. No adult within 15 feet of me ever caught a foul ball and said, "here you go". Generally speaking I wouldn't have had much of an issue if the kid was sitting within a few feet of this guy, but a section over and that many rows away? What was the message given to that kid? Personally, I think it was, "here you go...people will give you things for no reason at all". It's a symptom. And around here I'm in the midst of an epidemic. Gonna be a long summer....

The Event

With the passing of the Pittsburgh "Half" Marathon for me, I have had a week to reflect back on not only that event, but the past 6+ years. And after thinking about all that I've done thus far with my running I have realized something. Running and all things associated with it are things that I crave. The better health, the ability to control my weight, the overall general good feeling that it brings. But it also brings with it collateral damage from time to time. And althought those times bring struggles with it, I still cannot help but feel that it is well worth it. Nowhere is that more evident than at a large race. I hadn't been to a "large" race since I ran the Philadelphia Marathon in November of 2007. I've done some "larger" races, but there truly is nothing like the big city events. Going into the expo and seeing all of the people who have this commonality among them. There really is nothing like it. Seeing thousands of runners converging on one place for an annual event brings out all of those feelings felt throughout the year as to why you do this. It's an air, a feeling that I have a hard time describing. The race is the event, but all of the outlying associated events are what makes it special. It's a 2-3 day event that celebrates the city in which the race is held. I felt that feeling last weekend in Pittsburgh again. The same feeling that I've felt getting ready to run 26.2 miles is the same feeling that had me toeing the line last week with disappointment and feelings of sadness. My nightmare issue(s) continued that began over 6 months ago. I re-lived the feelings of hopelessness and an inability to do something I love to do. But to be at the event once again and fight my way through the half is rewarding in its own way and gave me the motivation I need to press forward. In five months I will hopefully toe the starting line once again. But it's the few days leading up to it and the feeling you get afterward that I crave so badly. It is what carries me through these troubled times. An eye on the prize, so to speak. A vision of a greater day that lies ahead in the not too distant future. Hope. It is alive and well. I only hope that my body follows along soon. I'm sure it will, but it's been a long road back and the twists and turns continue. Fortunately, I've got an event to look forward to that will help carry me through the tough times this summer.

Stupidity Has A Name

And his name is me. Despite all the common sense in the world telling me not to even attempt a half-marathon today (I had only run the 5k distance in the past six months and only 40 miles since January 1), I decided to head out onto the streets of Pittsburgh to prove......who really knows? My knee issues had subsided for the most part after getting treatment for a week or so, but Friday afternoon issues with my broken foot came out of nowhere. It was the stabbing shooting pain that comes when twisting or turning a certain way. Not constant, but enough that common sense should have taken over. But like always, it didn't.

Survival is how I describe today. I went into this half with the same thought process and intention that I had in my first marathon in Cleveland back in 2006. Just get through it. Run it and know that I can still do it. Risky? You bet. But I had help. We met up with a high school friend at the spaghetti dinner on Saturday night and his wife Kris was doing the full marathon. Her intended pace was going to be around 9:30. Almost a full 2:00 slower than my normal marathon pace, but I decided that perhaps we could help each other out. I offered to pace her for nearly a half and so that's what we did. I met up with her and two of her friends and I was their pacer and distraction.

I decided that if I could get through 10 miles, I would "run", no "race" the final 5k. It worked like a charm. We paced out to about an hour and 36 minutes (just slightly slower than their 9:30 intentions) for just over 10 miles. It was there that I said good bye, good luck and I was off to make up some time. Despite some discomfort in my foot and knee(s) I wanted to break 2:00. I got close, and made up enough time to cross in 2:01:35. The crazy thing about that time is that it is just a few seconds slower than half of my time from Cleveland (4:02:02). I suppose mission accomplished, but if stupidity had a name today, it would have shared it with me.
















Finish line is across the river in front of the convention center. The Pens playoff beard is in full swing.