Motivated to Succeed

7:30 PM - 42 degrees and dark when I started. Went to the track. Today was a very eventful day. My lessons went awesome. I didn't know what to expect, considering I had two activities planned, the first on Civil War Espionage and ciphering (aka coding), and then the second which was on Civil War Medicine (an intro to it). All five periods went really well today, despite the rushed 35 minute schedules! I really like the 8th graders and I am going to miss them when I switch to the next school at the end of the month. One of the highlights I had today was when a kid named Austin came in after lunch to borrow one of the cipher disks to work on his homework. He ended up writing his own coded message for me to decode, and I did decode it. It read, "Mr. Griffin Rocks". I told him thanks! and made him autograph it for me. I put it in my binder to save. It truly meant a lot to me.

My observation went really well. The coordinator from St. Rose, Hazel said all my lessons are really well done, and then she said, "you really make my job easy! You just... get it!" I was grinning ear to ear. After my observation, I grabbed lunch quick (selzter and pb&j on whole wheat with a banana), then helped some stragglers with the work from class since we didn't get to finish it. 8th period brought its own fun. We had the opportunity as a district (K-12) to hop on a "trail" around the school for 25 minutes and walk. It was truly something to see all 1200 students and faculty going outside and walking around the nature trails, track and school. I think we covered about 1.5 miles in all. I could really tell the kids loved it.

Highlights of the walk: Saw the eagle mascot (found out it was one of my 8th graders, KC Hersey who is like 6'3" and was a super good sport). Then saw Obama on the playground waving to us. Then the RiverRats (local hockey team) mascot who is a rat. Also coming up the hill at the end of the walk I see this old guy with a blonde wig and sunglasses on jamming out on a guitar. 100+ kids are gathered around him, and he's jamming out to Beatles Rock Band. The kiddos like groupees yelling, "One more song! One more song!" I get up close and the 8th graders I'm with go, "Hey, Mr. G? Isn't that your DAD?!". HAHAHA! It was truly amazing, and I wasn't too ashamed to say, "Yup! That is my good ol' dad!" He truly has the best job in the world as an elementary principal!

Tonight after doing a bunch of homework and unit plan stuff, I went to the track. I wasn't the only one there though surprisingly! The guy that drives the 18-wheeler showed up right about when I did. We ran in the same direction, me in outside lane 6, he on the inside lane 1. No race. Just jogging. Each time I passed him (about once per mile-mile and a half) we would talk a bit. I laughed when he said, "Phew! At least I'm not the only nut out here running in the dark!" I told him it makes me feel fast running in the dark. He laughed too. Never realized how obnoxious headlights were until they kept shining in our faces as people took second and third looks seeing two night runners running in circles. They must have thought we were lost and maybe seeing the light would save us. Haha. Splits tonight were good for a recovery run:

• Mile 1: 9:02
• Mile 2: 8:59
• Mile 3: 8:55
• Mile 4: 8:38
• Mile 5: 8:23
• Mile 6: 8:55

Total Time: 52:56 Total Distance: 6.00 miles Average Pace: 8:49

1:00 PM - Overcast in the 50s. Looked like rain. Pretty foggy. I drove to Emmy's house and we went hiking after grabbing a snack at her house. Drove to Monument Mountain. It's my favorite, though I'm biased since the proposal last year ;). It does have spectacular views though! We had a great time, hiking up the trail. You could actually see some colors in the foliage already. Peak foliage in the Berkshires won't be for another week or so. It started to rain about 10 minutes from the car. Such a great time. She put up with me talking about steeplechasing and then nearly wiping out and cracking my knee, head, and elbows trying to hurdle fallen trees. I'm such a goon sometimes! It was amazing how fast Emmy is at hiking up and down mountains. I told her, no joke, that she'd be a kick butt trail runner. She is built for it withoutadoubt. Now I just have to try to convince her! Finished in just over an hour even with a short break at the top!

4:40 AM - "Moonshadow! Moonshadow!" Passed out after a super long day yesterday. Had student teaching until 3ish, then down to Albany for class at 4:30-7, then a meeting 7-815pm. Finally got home at 9:30 and passed out. Woke up at 4:30 and went to the track. I have decided that putting out clothes the night before aids in getting out for a morning run because you figure, "Hey! I already have the clothes picked out, and if I don't go running now, then the clothes are going to feel neglected the entire day I'm at school!" Well at least that's what I told myself, haha! Got up and to the track. No one else out, though some more cars were on the roads by the time I finished up at 6am. Felt strong. A little soreness from the hike the other day in the ankles and left knee. Won't push it this week with the race on Sunday. Plus I am more than swamped with homework. Too much stuff due in the next couple days. Eek! No sleep for me! Splits were:

• Mile 1: 9:09
• Mile 2: 8:56
• Mile 3: 8:56
• Mile 4: 8:45
• Mile 5: 8:33
• Mile 6: 8:30
• Mile 7: 8:21

Total Time: 1:02:00 Total Distance: 7.10 miles Average Pace: 8:43

7:30 PM - School went well today. Helped the kids learn to use note cards and paraphrase texts rather than just "googling" it or wiki-ing it. It is getting closer and closer to the time to move to the next school and I'm really going to miss these kids. I would rather spend the whole year at Galway then have to say goodbye. I feel like I am just getting to know the kiddos :(.

After working on some lesson plans I went to the track. Got there and stretched. Temperature was about 49 at the start. Got about 1.5 miles into the run when the truck driver from last week showed up. I am beginning to think he is a "Ghost Runner" because he will vanish for 7 or 8 minutes and just when I think that maybe he has decided to call it quits, I see his shadow over in lane 3 as I swing wide in the turn and come up on his right shoulder. I stuck in lane 6 the whole run. I like running in lane 6. Less laps that way and you really use the whole track. I felt pretty good, aside from a slight pain in my knee and some fatigue in my feet from being on them all day. Really felt strong today and ended up with over thirteen miles for the day. Las tmile of the run I did 200m "on" with 100 m "off" recovery to switch things up. Felt good. Off to finish another lesson plan before bed! Splits were:

• Mile 1: 8:40
• Mile 2: 8:35
• Mile 3: 8:39
• Mile 4: 8:22
• Mile 5: 8:06
• Mile 6: 7:08
• .34: 2:37 (7:44/ mi)

Total Time: 52:08 Total Distance: 6.34 miles Average Pace: 8:13

7:45 PM - Dark, cool, breezy. Temperature of 49 degrees. After yesterday's marathon of unit plan work, I was pretty beat and felt like my brain was Jell-O. Today at school the kids were great, albeit a bit talkative, especially since they get a four day weekend this week. Interesting that we celebrate and memorialize Columbus, a despicable human if there ever was one, and the "finder" of the Americas, though Vikings made landfall four hundred years before. Oh well, water under the bridge.

I have been working especially hard on my unit plan in preparation of solo week at the first placement. Am absolutely spent. I don't see how teachers could actually do a unit plan for each unit they teach. There are so many things to do just for one lesson, especially in the format that St. Rose wants me to. Decided to get a jog in, so I laced up and went to the track.

When I got to the track, it was dark, not like the moonshadow run earlier this week on Tuesday morning and night. As I was pulling into the track, I saw the shadow of the "Ghost Runner" and his 18-wheel rig sitting in the parking lot. I missed him though, because aside from hearing him shuffle one lap on the track, he was gone and soon I saw the truck hang a right out of the parking lot and on to better things. It was better this way though, because I like the quiet. It allows me to decompress.

I warmed up with 2.19 miles in my trainers before stopping to stretch. First two miles were: 8:37 and 8:29. After stretching, I pulled on my Vibrams for an 800 workout. Wanted to get a couple faster 800s in, without expending too much energy so that I'd be dead come Sunday. Just enough to let off some steam. Did 4 x 800s with 200m recoverys inbetween. Splits were:

• .51: 3:16 (6:29/mile) - .13 recovery in 1:09
• .51: 3:14 (6:19/mile) - .12 recovery in 1:12
• .52: 3:10 (6:09/mile) - .12 recovery in 1:14
• .51: 2:57 (5:46/mile) - .13 recovery in 1:08

Changed back into my Brooks's trainers and cooled down the rest of the run. Did .26 in 2:21 @ 9:04 pace and then hit the lap button at the 5 mile mark. Did a bit more than two miles more of cool down. Next two splits were 8:38 and 8:15. Stretched and drove home to do laundry and rest up for conferences in the a.m. Note for fun: max speed today was 4:51 a mile pace!

Total Time: 55:55 Total Distance: 7.07 miles Average Pace: 7:55

9:30 AM - Got up early this morning with Emmy. Had a cup of coffee and said good morning to my sister in law Rose and my niece, Jane. Hadn't seen Jane in about a year I think. She is absolutely adorable and huge! She isn't even TWO yet, and is already 3 feet tall! Suited up and drove with Emmy about the one hour trip up to Monroe State Forest. We had to drive up to North Adams and then east. The fall foliage was spectacular as we made our way up Rte 2 and around the "Hairpin Turn" which resembles the switchbacks on the Tour de France. We had to drive all the way up and over a mountain, and then down this scary roller coaster hill. We finally got to the bottom, in the bottom of a big valley.

WARM UP: I signed in and got Emmy registered. I signed up for the 10.5 miler and she signed up for the 2 miler. After getting our bib numbers we did a short warm up jog around the picnic area. The picnic area resides right along the aptly named Dunbar Brook, and all day there were people yelling and hooting and hollering as they kayaked and rafted down the rapids. We jogged around the perimeter road after hitting up the restrooms. It was quite chilly, especially in the valley. I would suspect that the temperature was only about 40 degrees at the start of the race. We ended up doing a 1 mile warm up in 10:27.

THE RACE: There was surprisingly a decent amount of people at the races today. As the 2mile and 10.5 mile started at the same place, I told Emmy that I would run the first mile of her race with her. Only once we were ready to go, we noticed people standing around and asked and found out the 2mile started after the 10.5 miler. Oops! I got a quick kiss and told her I'd see her at the end of the race.

MILES 1-2: I stuck myself in the middle of the pack because 1) I hadn't done this race before, 2) I didn't want to overdo it and 3) It is always more fun to pass people rather than to be passed. Hm.. perhaps next year I will opt to go out a little harder at the beginning just to get a place. The first 2 miles are singletrack and we ended up hiking them because there wasn't any place to pass people. So I didn't get to the 2 mile mark until about 38:00 in! Oii. Luckily there were several sections on fireroads on the horizon.

MILES 3-5: Once I got onto the fireroad after mile 2, I picked up the pace and saw some people up ahead. I ended up coming up on this guy running without a shirt, a shorter, stocky guy. Found out his name was "Harold" and boy was he funny. We ended up running the rest of the race together. He was a character and the best running companion a Howling Commando could hope for. At the first aid station at mile 3.6, he yelled, "TIME FOR HAMMMER GELLL!". I told him I had one too, testing it out for the first time. He said he swore by it. No other gels are as good. He bent down and took a gallon of water (unmanned aid stations at this race) and yelled, "D*MN that's good!" Then he made some kind of guttural roar and took off down the trail. I topped off my ampiphod handheld and finished my gel, and took off into the woods after him. The high point in the race comes at mile 5 at the summit of Spruce Peak (elevation of about 2800ft). The views were gorgeous, and I was pointing out the awesome colors to Harold as we were traipsing through a brief clearing where the power line towers come up the mountain. He goes, "Pshaw! I WANT MY MOTHEREFFIN MONEY BACK!" He sounded serious, but was totally kidding. He told me to pass him because he was slowing me down, so I passed him about .5 miles from the summit, making sure to choose my footing carefully. The trails today were even less travelled than the ones at Curly's, making descents especially harrowing. I got to the 5 mile mark and could hear him getting closer again.

MILES 5-7: The descent to aid station #2. As we came down Spruce Peak, Harold had caught up to me. I asked if he wanted me to move aside, and he said, "Oh no. You're doing fine. Damn fine. Trust me. Anyone that knows me knows that I will tell you when to move over. But you're doing a damn fine job. You have quick short strides. That's great. Just great. You're a born descender. And I have a feeling that we are tearing it up." We absolutely flew down the mountain, probably doing 8:00 miles. I wanted to stick with him just because I didn't want to get lost like last race. Mile 7 is marked by an aid station, this time with two young gentlemen there. They were really nice. One of them was saying, "Man. You two look good! You're monsters! Monsters !!!". I filled my water bottle. Harold took another Hammer Gel, and then we ran down the riverbank to the first of two stream crossings.

MILES 7-9: Stream crossings are an absolute blast I've decided! I had never done a stream crossing like this in a race before. And while we had technically already crossed 3 or 4 streams before this point, we had two stream crossings in a 2 mile stretch that were each 100-150 feet long and knee deep. I tried stepping on rocks to avoid wet feet, but found they were actually too slippery and were going to probably turn me on my rear end. So I just traipsed through the water. I heard Harold behind me yelling "HOoooAAAHH!" and as quickly as we entered the stream, we were out and on a really fast downhill trail through the woods to the next crossing. This course was great. Marked without pin flags, but still had the ribbons in the trees. We hammered out mile 7 and mile 8 was going great. Harold by this time took the lead as I did for 3 seconds or so take a wrong turn. But I caught right on his heels and we were descending like the natives in Last of the Mohicans. It was so much fun. All of a sudden, as we jump from a rock, Harold's foot caught the edge and he tumbled. But what was amazing is that he did a ninja roll, stood up and kept running! He is a beast! I luckly hadn't fallen yet, but I ended up falling once after the second stream crossing taking some prickers to the hand. No biggie. We sliced and diced and got to the second stream crossing. Almost missed it because you had to go around a boulder to see it. But I got out and was doing fine, but stubbed my toe because my feet were so numb. Took a little spill, but saw some people with the 2-mile bibs on saying, "Great job you're almost there. Only about a mile left!"

MILES 9-10.5: Harold and I pounded out the pace on the trail. I led until about .5 miles to go. He had his burners cooking. I was just holding steady. I'm pretty sure that the 10th mile was a 7:30 pace. It felt amazing! I followed hot on his heels, and before I knew it I was crossing the road down the last downhill and then boom, out into the last 100m home stretch. Pushed it hard, felt strong and held my form. My form truly is getting better! Hit the tape and then saw Emmy and smiled. What a great race!

Ended up 53rd overall out of a field of 103 in the 10.5 miler. Was 2nd in my age group. Some 28 year old finished in about 15th place though and stole the swag. I was the youngest competitor though by 5 years. And there were no other 20-somethings in the race on the guy side, and only one on the girls'. Really great pace, considering how slow my first two miles were! Sub-10:00 pace overall for the last 8.5 miles, including stops at aid stations, water crossings, etc.

Total Time: 2:02:54  Total Distance: 10.5 miles Average Pace: 11:42

COOLDOWN: I did 1.5 miles down to the bottom of the gorge, watching the rafters as I went. Turned around and came back to the car to talk to Emmy. Did 1.5 miles in 15:00, 10:00 pace.

**Emmy ended up getting 7th place out of 18 in the 2 mile. She said she had fun, but that she was scared on some of the single track on the riverbank because she didn't want to fall down. She got 2nd in her age group too! Her time was around 20:51, only a couple minutes behind the winner! She did great!

So... this race is in a remote part of Franklin County, just to the east of the Berkshires. Monroe, Massachusetts is listed on epodunk.com as the "second smallest town in the state of Massachusetts" and in 2000 the census I believe reported 93 people living here. Well so I knew Emmy would be done first. And I trust runners. I told her I'd leave the car unlocked and hid the keys. And after she finished the race to come and grab the keys and whatever. That way she could warm up since I know she gets cold easily. Well I finish the race and Emmy's looking at me and says, "Benn? Yeah, so I was reading in the car and got out and forgot the keys." I said, "Wait. That shouldn't be a problem though. I left the window down in the back." (as a 'just in case' ) precaution. Oops! She rolled it up too because she was cold. Doh! So here we were in the middle of the most remote place in this part of the state. Oh yeah, no cellphone signals and no pay phones in the park. Thankfully we bummed a ride into "town" with a nice lady and a guy. We went to this no name bar, the only place open and I believe the only store in the town. There was a sketchmo looking guy there with two dogs smoking at the bar. We asked to use his phone and he said we could. We called Emma's mom, and my mom. Everyone was busy doing stuff. Finally got through to my mom and she had Jonn (younger brother) google AAA to get the number for us so we could call. Well he googled AAA alright, but instead of Triple A the car service he gave us the number for the American Auditory Association or something! Oii. We left a message and Emma's mom ended up coming to get us, arriving right at the time the AAA guy got there. He opened my car in a matter of seconds. Haha. So, note to self: Invest in a magnetic key holder for car! We drove home and made dinner and relaxed.

While we waited for the AAA guy to come, we hung out munching on some yummy snacks and listening to all the runners talk while we huddled around a fire barrel for warmth. I was dying and actually ate a hotdog believe it or not. I just knew I had to replenish carbs and calories or else I would crash later. We ended up waiting about 2.5 hours before they got there. Emmy waited much longer because she finished earlier. I stole one of her jackets. Thank God she had it! I would have been hypothermic I think without that!

All in all an amazing day. Great race with great support. Saw Laura Clark from Saratoga. She did really well, getting 2:31 or something for the 10.5 miler. She's getting ready for another trail marathon she said next month and is doing the Hairy Gorilla 1/2 marathon as well in a couple weeks. Hopefully I can still get Emmy to do more trail races, even though she said that she doesn't really like racing. I told her, "Neither do I. But trail racing's different.. it's FUN!" Hahaha! Hope everyone enjoys Columbus Day. Nothing better than celebrating the utter destruction of the Americas by a short, egocentric, Napoleon-complexed, rapist, molester, womanizer. Long live Cristobal Columbo. Oii ve. :)

7:30 PM - Windy and cold. Clear skies. Lots of stars out. I think temperature was 41 at the start, about 39 at the finish. Supposed to be in the low 50s for the whole week. A little cooler than usual. Got dressed and headed ot the track after getting my lessons done. It's my last 8 days at Galway and I'm going to really miss these 8th graders after next Friday. I start right in on my second placement the following Monday before Halloween. Oii. Got a note today from an 8th grader that said "I am really going to miss you Mr. Griffin. I hope that you will miss us (me) too." I don't think you ever truly forget anyone you meet, especially kiddos that you spend 8 weeks teaching. I just hope they don't forget me, the old bearded guy!

Got to the track, and was expecting to see the "Ghost Runner" but no truck driver tonight. Warmed up on the track. Was wearing a fleece on top, but shorts on the bottom. The first mile is always the toughest. I struggled in the wind but got warmed up, doing 2.18 miles warmup (9:04, 9:04, 1:43(9:25pace)). After the warmup I stretched out my quads and calves and hammys, which were all a bit sore from the race. It's kind of funny but for some reason, unlike road races, with trail races I seem to get more sore the second day after a race. Anyone know why this is? Another runner, Laura that I know who runs trail races affirmed the same is true for her.  After the stretching for a minute or two, I hit the inside lane for 4 x 800m with 200m recoverys. My splits for them were:

• .51: 3:23 (6:41 pace); .13 recovery in 1:09 (9:08pace)
• .50: 3:22 (6:42 pace); .13 recovery in 1:13 (9:45 pace)
• .50: 3:16 (6:32 pace); .13 recovery in 1:12 (9:22 pace)
• .51: 3:12 (6:18 pace); .12 recovery in 1:12 (9:40 pace)

After the 800s, I jogged .29 in 2:44 (9:25 pace) and then hit the lap button at 5 miles to be back on track. Cooled down another 2.7 miles. Splits for the cooldown were 8:52, 8:45, and the .7 in 6:00 (8:36). About 1.5 miles from the finish my "Ghost Runner" pulled up in his 18-wheeler. I saw him twice. We said hey and asked how the week was going. He told me to keep on plugging away. I told him to do the same and we agreed it was quite the crisp, cool autumn night and that we were indeed crazy for running out here in the dark without any lights. But then again, I am the Howling "Crazy" Commando!  HoOHaAA!!

Note: I really had to push to do the 800s. My quads were numb from the cold and a bit sore from Spruce Mountain two days ago. However, I felt relaxed and completely at ease on the easy recovery and cool down paces. I think this indicates my aerobic fitness level is getting along nicely. It's just I haven't really done much work on speed. Should I even worry about the speed since I want to concentrate on the longer races?

Total Time: 1:04:18  Total Distance: 7.70 miles Average Pace: 8:21

7:30 PM - Chilly and clear. Temperature was 34 degrees at the start, 30 degrees at the end. It was a good run at the track. Ran in long pants and spandex, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, hat and gloves. Didn't want to freeze like last night. No "Ghost Runner" tonight, but there were an awfully lot of people up at the school that kept shining their car lights down on the track at me. Probably thinking, "what is that crazy fool doing?". Jonn asked me tonight why I run at night, and after futilely trying to explain how homework comes first, and that jogging at night is a way to unwind for me and also a reward for getting work done, I simply said, "so you'd wonder why".  Only downer about running tonight was ate dinner too soon to jogging and I got bad indigestion. Ended up running easy and then picking it up a couple laps from the end doing 100m "on" and 100m "off".

Found an article about Lydiard today, and was reading that about building up base mileage. I really want to use the winter to try to build a nice base for the 2010 season. I have never really trained consistently through the winter as far as running is concerned. The closest I came was 2007/08, when I got injured in January last year. Probably from logging too many miles too soon after Vieques. I am determined to build slowly and steadily and err on the side of caution. Splits tonight were:

• Mile 1: 9:05
• Mile 2: 9:08
• Mile 3: 9:06
• Mile 4: 9:18
• Mile 5: 9:00
• Mile 6: 9:03
• Mile 7: 7:52

Total Time: 1:03:29 Total Distance: 7.10 miles Average Pace: 8:56

7:10 PM - Went to the track after catching up on some homework. It was chilly and pretty windy. A snowstorm is moving in tonight as I'm writing this. It's a good thing I got to the track when I did! Brrr. Can't believe it's already time for the dreaded "s" word. Today at school the Middle School Principal and High School Principal were walking around with pink bookbags during lunch to collect money for a Breat Cancer Awareness walk down in Albany this weekend. They said that for every $10.00 they raised today they would each walk/jog a lap on the track. I did my part and dropped in a $10 roll of quarters. Although I would have liked to see them man up and do a mile for every 10 dollars. After all just to get middle school students to donate money takes a bunch as it conflicts with their "munchies" fund. If my 8th graders noticed right away, "Hey that's not right. 10 bucks is a lot just to get Mr. Barry to walk one lap on the track. We have to RUN 4 for gym and don't get paid anything!", then something should be tweaked. If I didn't have to work tomorrow I would have offered to do the laps for them and run. Biggest kick my 8th graders got today though was walking in and seeing Mr. Griffin in a pink button up shirt. "Woah!" a lot of them said. "We didn't think you'd wear pink! It takes a real man to wear pink!" haha. It made me smile. I really like making the kids's day.

During the run today, nothing but silence and a lot of headlights pointed my direction. I realized today that all these late night jogs at the track are actually breaking the law. It says clearly on a posted sign "Notice: Track open dawn to dusk". I suppose if a cop ever actually stopped to see what the heck I was doing, I'd either play dumb, claim I was doing a favor by staying off the roads and staying on a "contained circuit", or man up and get a ticket. It would be something to brag about getting a ticket for night running. :) Splits tonight were good considering the wind. Felt good.

• Mile 1: 9:01
• Mile 2: 8:49
• Mile 3: 8:50
• Mile 4: 8:54
• Mile 5: 8:53
• Mile 6: 8:53
• Mile 7: 8:43

Total Time: 1:05:27 Total Distance: 7.40 miles Average Pace: 8:50

10:25 AM - Drove to Wilton Wildlife Preserve to get a run in on trails before a day of homework. Got there and there were a few cars in the parking lot. Only came across one lady walking on the first loop. Said hi. She seemed nice. There were a lot of leaves down, and the trails were covered in dried ones. So basically all I heard besides my breathing and the occasional gunshot was CrunCh! cRUNcH! CrUncH! of leaves beneath my feet. I went by feel, wanting to maybe hit consistent 9:00s or so. Felt good through the first lap, though took one tumble because I was busy thinking and not picking up my feet. On the second loop, about a mile from the end of the 5k course, I came around a corner and saw what I thought were two scarecrows facing opposite sides of the trail. Turns out as I got closer, they were hunters in camoflauge! I stopped and gave a wave and a "Hey there!" and asked if I could pass. I apologized, but they let me through, and as I was finishing, I couldn't help but think, "Wait. It's called the Wilton Wildlife Preserve and hunting's allowed?" There were about 200 Canadian geese in the little pond at the end of the course. Sure enough when I got to the end I was looking around and there were these orange sheets tacked underneath the POSTED! signs. I guess today was the first day of musket season for deer. For some reason they allow hunters in the preserve now. Note to self: no more running at Wilton Wildlife until after hunting season's over :( Drats! Splits were:

• Mile 1: 9:20
• Mile 2: 8:45
• Mile 3: 8:58
• Mile 4: 9:00
• Mile 5: 8:59
• Mile 6: 8:46
• Mile 7: 7:55

Total Time: 1:02:41 Total Distance: 7.12 miles Average Pace: 8:48

10:00 AM - I got up early and had half a bagel with some fat free squirt butter. Cup of coffee, and then I got Jonn up. He came to run the 5k too. The whole morning I couldn't help but get nervous because this was my first "big" 5k race since I started to run again. Didn't know what to expect. It's funny how throughout undergrad all I thought about was 5k/10k races. Now anything shorter than a 5miler or 10k and I feel like I'm not even warmed up. Today was to be a true test.

WARM-UP: Got to Spa Park. It was nice to finally have a race close to home after all the traveling to races lately. Was able to leave with Jonn at 9am and got there 9:20. Walked to the registration table. As Jonn got his shirt, Laura Clark handed me my bib number and shirt. "I saw  you walk in, Benn! Here's your stuff." She's so nice! Got pins and walked back to the car with Jonny. After pinning on our bib numbers we went for a warmup jog. Did 1 mile warm up in 9:56. Nice and easy. It was the first time Jonny's run since this summer's 5k series. All he does lately is lift weights and hang out with his girlfriend. Imagine that! Haha. After the warmup we stretched and got ready and went over to the starting line with about eight minutes to go.

THE RACE: Made small talk with Jonn, and got ready to go. Was looking around and saw a lot of serious runners from the Capital District. The 5k race also doubles as the Upstate New York Masters' Championship. So there were a lot of 40+ year olds that looked ready to slice and dice. I saw Chuck Terry there, as well as Shaun Donegan, who just ran a 15:48 on a flat road course last week and set a :30 PR.  Can't wait to see results to see how he did. Right before the gun went off I noticed a guy in the Brooks-Hansen team jersey. I don't think you can buy them online, so he's the real deal. And sure enough from the gun he took the lead. From what I could see he still had the lead at 600m when I lost sight of him around a corner.

MILE 1: (6:41) I followed people out, not used to the fast starts. With all the races I've done this fall, I always start off at 10 minute+ pace! Settled into a rhythm next to Jonn, and followed him to the turn at the end of the straightaway. We made our way over the asphault to the trail, and I noticed a guy running barefoot. After the race  I found out this 6'4"ish guy runs against Jonny sometimes in XC meets so he's still in high school. He had really great form, and even kept running at a pretty good clip when he hit the sharp rocks on the downhill. I don't think the back of his foot even touched the ground. I flew down the hill, across the parking lot and bridge, and then up the hill towards the Pearless Pool. I realized here that my long runs on the trails were starting to pay off. I passed people left and right on the uphill. I am not a super great descender, but ascending, I can push pretty hard. I just shorten my strides and keep the same cadence (must be my bike riding mindset that helps me here). Flew past the 1 mile guy and he yelled out 6:30 I think. I'm surprised that my Garmin was more or less accurate despite some of the thick foliage above me as I ran.

MILE 2: (6:55) The pack had started to thin a bit, and I ran the perimeter of the pool, pulling up behind a group of three or four masters runners. Jonn had faded behind me by now, and I kept pushing. We pushed down the hill on the left side as some of the slower runners continued to make their way up it. Running alongside the river, we came to the bridge and I got stuck behind a college guy wearing an iPod. I couldn't ask him to move and even if I did he wouldn't have heard me no doubt. Waited until after the bridge to breeze by him and then started up Fern Dell, one of my favorite parts of the course. It is a nice gravel trail that is steady uphill for about .3 miles before leveling off for the remainder of the race. Pushed hard and hit the 2 mile mark around 13:20 the guy yelled out. Super Benn! I thought. Last time you ran the course you were somewhere in the 17-18:00 range! Flying!!

MILE 3+: (6:56) I find that after going up an uphill, I need to take a minute or two to let my breathing go back to the 3 steps in 3 steps out racing pattern I favor. I crested the hill out of Fern Dell, beared to the right and kept my sights on the pack in front of me. No one else passed me during the race, aside from one guy whom I smoked and caught at the 200m to go mark. Mile 3 is awesome because there is a .6 mile loop through the woods before spitting you out to run the last .35 miles on a grass/dirt/gravel straightaway. I kept it steady, breathing pretty heavy. This was about the fastest I've run in two years remember! Spit out into the clearing and headed for home. I closed the gaps on the pack in front, but only caught 2 of them. Then passed the final guy in the 200 m to the end area. Felt strong. My arms are stronger (just from lifting the 12lb weights!) and despite carrying my water bottle, my form was good. Arms were a lot higher than they used to be. Hit the finish line, and ripped off my tag. Not sure of the place yet because results aren't posted. Jonn came home about 22:00; I was 20:36. Finally kicked his butt in a race. Only it took his inactivity to help me hahahah.

Total Time: 20:36 Total Distance: 3.106 miles Average Pace: 6:37/MILE!!

COOL DOWN: Did a cooldown mile with Jonny in 9:38, stretched and booked for home. Went to an Indian restaurant today with my family, Emmy, Jonny's girlfriend Ellen, Emmy's parents, our friend Kara and my Aunt Debbie and my cousins Kara, Kevin, Laura, Naomi, and Miriam. Oh and my Uncle Lee showed up too! What a great time was had by all! Now I'm home to do homework and laundry. Blah!

 Preliminary results posted. I got 54th place, only 4 seconds off a top 50 finish. Doh! Jonny got 77th. Total Field size was: 226. Not a bad place considering it was a championship race!!

 TODAY WAS AWESOME. Only :52 seconds off of my 5k PR of 19:44; And I am about 30 pounds heavier than when I set that PR. This bodes well for future races. Without doing too much speedwork, I am starting to gain speed again! Fight on friends, and keep on truckin'!

4:55 PM - Went running at Spa Park after school with Emmy today. She came up for this afternoon and tomorrow just because we never see each other any more and she will be gone next weekend to Boston for a Halloween Party. We went to Spa Park after stopping to switch cars with my mom who picked up the van from Sam's Auto. Went over to the park and there was a dual meet going on between Saratoga and Columbia (and maybe a third team). They all looked strong. The boys must have been hitting sub 5:00s easily.

Since the XC runners were using the course (at least at first), we started on the roads running about 1.5 miles before picking up the cross country course. We ran the whole thing and then did an out and back along the golf course. I dropped Emmy off at the car at 5 miles like she wanted and then I did another 2 miles. During the 5th mile on the way back we saw this cute kid riding a bike. We caught up with him and he was making weird sounds with his mouth, buzzing his lips. We hit a max speed of 12.5 mph duking it out towards the car. Emmy is fast when she wants to be! I can see her 200m speed! The only downer during the whole run was me being a doof about 2 miles in and tripping and rolling my left ankle. It hurt something fierce. My right one I roll all the time and it doesn't ever hurt any more, but my left I do left often so it hurts a bit more. I'm icing it right now. Hopefully I can still run on it tomorrow! Splits today were:

• Mile 1: 9:41
• Mile 2: 9:57
• Mile 3: 9:42
• Mile 4: 9:38
• Mile 5: 9:06
• Mile 6: 8:38
• Mile 7: 8:35

Total Time: 1:05:24 Total Distance: 7 miles Average Pace: 9:20

Got my full 8 hours of sleep last night. Only three more days left at my first placement. All my 8th graders keep saying "Don't go, Mr. Griffin! Why do you have to go?!" I hope they aren't angry at me. I truly would like to stay but I can't I told them. They need me in another school. I have something planned for them on Friday for a little fun and such. Woke up at about 6am with a Charlie Horse in my left calf, the same leg that had the rolled ankle last night on the run. No bruising visible on the ankle and only a little tender. I am going to try to stay off of it as much as possible though today.

9:30 AM - Temp was 50ish and blustery cold at the top of the mountains. 50 is an overstatement. After going to bed at about 8:30 last night, I woke up wide awake. Wasn't sure what to expect with my ankle but decided to do the race anyways. I've wanted to do it for the last four years but haven't had the chance to. Loaded up the car and drove down to Thacher Park outside of Albany in the town of Voorheesville. It's kind of weird driving yourself to a race, and I got there about 9:00. But didn't have to make small talk with anyone. Had just enough time for a warmup (the cars were about .3 miles from the sign in table) and then some light stretching. My friend Laura told me to go out faster than normal because since the HGH and the Squirrely Six Miler are run simultaneously, you get a lot of hooplah at the beginning that can cut you off and bog you down. I was shooting for about 2:30 I told Emmy on the phone because I didn't want to over do it. Ankle felt pretty good on the warmup so decided to go for it.

THE RACE

MILES 1-3: Ran pretty consistent. Started off a bit fast, but settled into a good rhythm. The first 100m of the race you run through a manmade graveyard that lists various entrants and supporters which is funny. In the mad dash from the line I saw a Gerard Butler 300 Warrior, A candycorn girl, Little Red Riding hood, A runaway bride, a few gorillas (on the side) and loads of other funny costumes. One girl was dressed as Superwoman and a guy yelled "Hey Supergirl can you carry me up the first hill?!" Haha. Ran to the 600m mark around a field and then we went into the woods. The woods are treacherous to say the least. Supposedly they were worse last year, but woo doggy they were bad this year! We got a ton of rain dumped on us yesterday and in Saratoga it was monsoon-like. The trails were washed out, filled with puddles, which, after about 600 runners go traipsing through them turn into thick mud milkshakes. What's fun about the HGH is that it's put on by the ARE (Albany Running Exchange), a running group founded by SUNY Albany college kids. They know how to put on fun races. And this one delivered! A couple uphills and then boom, somewhere between miles 1 and 2 I rolled my ankle again coming downhill. I caught myself before I actually stepped on it. I don't know if it's the shoes or what, but not cool. I slowed up and stood to the side of the trail to check it out. Nothing too major I don't think. It's a bit sore now 4 hours after the race. We'll see how it goes. Hit the 3 mile split in 26 something.

MILES 4-6: After further reflection I have come to realize the course, while loads of fun, was probably more suitable for the 6-miler than the half. As there was no 3 or 4 miler, the 6 miler was the "short" race. Most of the costumed runners ran in the 6 miler, though I did come across a witch picking up bananas during the last .5 miles of the course. (They have an award for whomever picks the most bananas up). No way I was letting a witch beat me! So I hightailed it and beat her to the finish. I popped out of the 6 mile mark and stayed to the left and ran under the finish line and on to the second half of the course. Turns out the runaway bride I ran most of the race with was named "Emily" and she was actually Emily Gravelle. Her fiance Chris was one of my buddies on the xc team at college and also he played a good zombie today at the race, scaring me three times jumping out of the bushes! Hahaha! I believe I hit the 10k mark around 55:00.

MILES 7-9: Here there were a ton of puddles, lots of mud, and loads of fun. I kept getting the song lyric "Slip sliding away" stuck in my head. It was fun jumping into puddles and slipping into them even when you thought you were staying on the "dry" side. There were a ton of out and backs during these miles (I think 3 total) which made for slow going in parts because you have a trail that's five or six feet wide with divits from 4x4s and ATVs that's hard enough to navigate. Throw in rain, mud, and runners coming AT you.. a whole new ballgame. It was fun though to challenge yourself and make it out of there alive.

MILES 10-13.11: These miles were mainly downhill, backtracking on the course we took in. There was a cool section at about miles 10-11 that was winding through conifers at the top of a ridge. Made it seem like you were running faster than you were. I started to gain ground during the last mile and was hitting a solid 8:00 pace in the last bit. Really surprised I ran so strongly considering I ran so poorly last week. Nice to get a good run in even if it's on a shaky foot. Will ice after a shower I think and see how it feels. Picked off a couple runners in the last mile including the witch. (No, I did not say "A witch? Burn her Burn her!) though I did laugh because it crossed my mind. Finished strong and got my medal, a stuffed orange gorilla!

**Results just posted. I got 94th out of 271 runners, good for 15th place in the 20-24 y/o division for guys. Not bad considering rolling my ankle on Tuesday and again today. I wish it would just heal already!

Total Time: 2:02:19  Total Distance: 13.11 miles Average Pace: 9:20

COOL DOWN: Stretched and did a cooldown mile in the blistering wind at about 9:40 pace. Changed and got in my car and drove to Albany. Emmy and I had lunch at a tavern on Wolf Road called JT MAXIES. Really good food! And had a Guinness to celebrate the loads of fun I had today :).

My finisher's award :)

My Brooks's are a bit dirty. But I love them that way!