Bret

AM - 4.5 miles with Dan and Finn in the neighborhood.   Temps got significantly cooler but did not go below 30 as predicted - but right at 32 and very windy.   Got the running tights and windbreaker out for the run today.  Once we got rolling, the cold was not very noticeable at all. 

AM - just a 5k with Dan and Finn at Milton HS - cold again today (28 degrees in my jeep) - Running in NYC on Sunday so kept it flat and comfortable with not too much volume.   Honestly though I am too old and have not been 100% healthy most of the year with various injuries to be thinking about running a "good time".   Mainly now I am running to complete the course and enjoy the social experience at a manageable pace.   I am registered for Tokyo in March and likewise don't want to overdo this one and end up with an injury that keeps me out of getting my 6th World Marathon Majors medal.  Hopefully Richie's fitness will have improved some since Berlin last month and perhaps we will run closer to 9 min pace in the first half of the race and edge faster in the second half if he's feeling well.  Oddly both of us are running this one as our 13th NYC race.   Richie actually has 13 starts, but he DNF'd in the early 90's when he was young and over-zealous with his pace early-on, only to crash and burn late.   If I understand the rules at NY correctly, if we complete 15 of the races - we become a "Legacy" runner and will obtain guaranteed entries to the event without going through the lottery system or charity entries.   (Odds are that if I could complete 2 more after this one, that I may not have any more desire to do another one! :) ) 

AM - 3.25 miles in the neighborhood with Dan and Finn easy.  Heading out late this afternoon to NYC.

AM - a little over 3 miles with Delaney in Brooklyn - we met up with a group at the local Tracksmith store which is close to her apartment.   I thought I may find something to buy there too - but nothing caught my eye.   I awoke with a GI issue that had me in the bathroom repeatedly - so I took some pepto - hoping not to mess things up for the race on Sunday.

2023 New York City Marathon - this was kind of a mixed bag for me.   I had intended to run this as a pacer with Richie and his employee Johnny to get them under 4 hours.   Similar to Berlin a few weeks ago, I expected to go out easy with a pace around 9:30 and begin lowering average pace over the course and enjoy their company.   Also, I did not feel all that great having a stomach bug yesterday and I did not want to push hard and end up with more aches and pains leading up to Tokyo in March.  

Unfortunely those plans evaporated almost immediately.   We started the race on the lower level of the bridge, which I think I have only done one time - and we met up with a friend of Richie's who was running at the starting area - and her plan was to run with us; and so the coordination of running with 4 runners became a little more complex.   Being on the second level of the bridge, caused problems with the Garmin GPS - so I was uncertain if the effort was accurate when we came through the mile at 10:30.   At that point, I think I looked over and back and suddenly noticed Richie and the others had dropped back about 7 yards.  I caught his eye, and he gave me the thumbs-up that they were good and could see me.  So I slowed down but at this point we were on the downside of the bridge and gauging my effort was tricky - I was really just floating and allowing gravity to carry the pace without pushing it.   Unfortunately, when I looked back again, I could not see them at all.   I slowed almost to a stop and still could not locate them.   At this point I thought I would just run easy and hope they would rejoin...but it never happened.   By the time I got to 3 miles I was conflicted - but decided to run at an easy to moderate training pace as long as I could keep my HR in the 140's for the early part of the course - but I would give up the effort for now to try to have the group rejoin.

The GPS on the Garmin seemed to right itself in the middle miles - lining up fairly well with the mile markers with the autolap feature and it was showing me running 8 minute pace.  So, then of course I started thinking, well maybe if 8 min pace is easy, and the day is nice, I wouldn't mind pivoting to running 3:30.    Things seemed to proceed well along those lines until we climbed over the 59th street bridge and my HR went up to 160 and the GPS got wonky and was nearly a half mile short and got progressively off from that point onward.  

I tried to dial down my effort on 1st Ave - and still my pace was in the 7:30 range - but I could feel the bright sunshine dehydrating me despite my best efforts to keep things under control.   Perhaps the stomach bug from yesterday was the primary culprit - but this course is very exposed for almost the whole race - and even though everyone said the weather was great (52 at the start with no wind) the sun was a factor.  Anyway - as I crossed the bridge out of the Bronx - I began to have cramping in my leg muscles - and having experienced that in the past and having tried to run through them with little success - I decided to convert the last 4 miles to a walk/run.   So I went from an average pace of about 8:17 at mile 14 and 8:23 at mile 20 to a finishing average of 8:56 - the last 4 mile at 10 min plus pace.  

But on the brighter side of things - I completed my 13th NYC Marathon - ran under 4 hours; got to spend time with my daughter in Brooklyn and she came out to support me with her friends at the 12 mile mark and then at the finish.  Richie was able to get in just under 4 hours and though Johnny was not as fast, he did PR with a 4:17.   They were not upset with me getting away from them early on and we enjoyed each other's company back at the hotel with a great meal from room service.   So although the race did not go as intended or expected - it was just one more in the memory book of marathons and overall a nice way to spend the first weekend in November in New York for another year.

AM - about 1.5 miles very early in NYC before my flight home.  I had dropped my phone before the start yesterday and the screen was smashed and needed to be replaced.  Fortunately NYC has a 24 hour Apple Store - and though the process was lengthy to get Applecare confirmed to approve the repair (3 hours) and I had problems restoring the backup on the hotel wifi, I was able to run to the store at 4:45 am and have them assist me in getting it restored.   And I kept my run streak alive - legs were not all that bad.

AM - easy run on the trail with Dan and his dog Rosie.   Finn has some type of injury where he yelps when he jumps up on to the couch or the bed - and he guards his right front leg.  It happened over the weekend that he started showing these symptoms - and since I was away, it could not have been from me running him too much.   He's kind of a baby when it comes to aches and pains, so we will keep an eye on him and give him a few days rest before letting him run again.   

Had a very nice jog on the trail which was groomed and the fields were all low cut and dead from the freezes we had last week, so the soft terrain and light pace were just right for the post marathon recovery effort week.   Ran in the Kinvaras and had very little discomfort in the achilles and though the legs were sore to start, they were not really too bad for the remainder of the miles - I think it is key that we kept it very easy at 10+ min pace and I will try to do that over the next several days.

AM - 3.5 miles again on the trail, same as yesterday but this time with both dogs.   Continued recovery effort post-marathon. 

AM - 3 miles with Dan and Finn in the neighborhood, slightly earlier ahead of an early morning work committment in the office.  Running very easy to allow for recovery from the marathon on Sunday.  Felt fine, but noticing post run mild achiness throughout the day - so I will continue to take it easy and keep the volume low and the effort slow for a bit. 

AM - 3 miles with Dan and Finn at Milton HS - faster pace, but still easy recovery effort. 

AM - 5.25 miles with Dan and Finn in the rain.  

AM - 3.25 miles with Dan and Finn in the neighborhood.  

AM - 3.75 miles with Finn in the neighborhood - as Dan is out of town on business for a week.  Intentionally keeping the distance between 3-4 miles again this week.   I feel fine, but want to be deliberate about recovery.  Ran in the NB Fuel Cells today and Saturday.  The larger size helped with the friction on the ankle collar quite a bit; I like these for how they seem to make the achilles feel better for the remainder of the day.   Still alternating between shoes to get a range of impacts - it feels like I am so close to resolution with this lingering discomfort; it has been many month with only the most marginal improvements from month to month. 

AM - 3.25 miles with Finn in the neighborhood - a little faster paced since I wanted to get back before Delaney's car picked her up to take her to the airport.   Experimenting/rechallenging the lipitor after nearly 10 months of non-use.   Trying the dosage every other day versus everyday.  

AM - 3.75 miles on the Milton Trail with Finn.   My weather app said it was raining, but it was really just low clouds and humid, but cool.   

AM - 3.75 miles on the trail.  Fairly good feel to the run today.  Started taking Coenzyme Q-10 to neutralize statin side-effect.   At least for the first day, it seemed to make a difference.   

There was a fire in the woods across the trail from my house overnight - I was out with Finn around 4:30 and smelled the smoke and saw the flames - but heard no emergency crews - so I called 911 - and they got out there quickly getting what appeared to be a brushfire under control;  my surmise is that it may have started in someone's backyard perhaps from a careless extinguishment of a fire pit.   Lots of dry leaves on the ground - so probably spread fairly easily if that was the case.  

AM - 3.25 miles with Finn in the neighborhood.   Have a cold again. 

Sacred Selections - Run for the Babies Turkey Trot 5k - this was a race organized by members of my church as a fundraiser for an adoption organization called Sacred Selections.  Small event with mostly congregation members on an out and back course in a park along the Chatahoochee River.   I was sick this week and also in a down week in recovery mode from the NYC marathon 2 weeks ago - so I did not want to really push in this event.  In fact I did not even know about the event until earlier in the week.    I expected to have a chance to win given the small turnout - but was a little uncertain what the day and my body would bring.  As it turned out it ran fairly conservatively keeping close to the competition before pulling away in the second half with about a 30 second cushion for the win.  

This was an out and back course, but in an unfamiliar area to me - and I was not sure I would know the course well enough to lead.  Also, I wanted to run this more "socially" than aggressively racing - and I think this was just the right approach.  I let a couple of the guys lead by about 5-7 yards early on until just past the 1 mile mark.  There was a group of 4 of us.  This was mostly uphill and I could hear from their breathing that they would not be able to push beyond that pace later.  As we approached the turnaround (which was not entirely obvious to me) I conversed with Brigham who was running by my side (as the others had already dropped back) to confirm we were at the right spot for the turn; and then I just gradually pulled away from him until I felt like I had a good enough lead that I could coast in.  Ended up running 7:15, 7:05 and then 6:45.  It was a fun event, and I got to cheer and encourage everyone making their way outbound on my way back - and then hung around afterwards for some good conversation.    

AM - 4 miles early with Finn in North Valley before church.  

AM - 5 miles on the trail with Dan and the dogs.  We ventured into the backwoods section - which turned out to be a poor decision.  Way too many thorn bushes across much of the trail, with lots of debris and logs navigate whilst untangling gloves and shirts from the thorny brambles in the shadowy daybreak dimness.   Cuts and scratches on arms legs and even face and ears was enough to satisfy my curiosity for the next several months.  

AM - 5.5 miles with Dan and the dogs from his house on the horse farm trail roads - windy, drizzly and a little chilly.  Lots of starts and stops with the dogs today.   Heading up to NYC to be with Delaney for the Thanksgiving Holiday later today. 

AM.  7 miles from Delaney's apt in Brooklyn across the East River on the Williamsburg bridge and then down to the Brooklyn Bridge along the River Greenway.  Never crossed those bridges on a run before, so it was a bit of an adventure run.  Weather was rainy overnight so the roads were wet and it was windy and I have been a bit stiff and achy from the statin - will give it another few days to see if I can get used to it - so the sights and views were cool, the run was not itself did not feel all that great.  

AM - 3 miles around Williamsburg Brooklyn before heading into the city for the Macy's Parade   

AM - 6.25 or so miles from Delaney's apartment in Brooklyn down to the Manhattan Bridge (instead of all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge) and up through Chinatown and back on the Williamsburg Bridge.  Better running conditions than the last bridges run.  The New Balane shoes continue to cause odd blisters around the ankle collar in different places.  Had a nice Thanksgiving yesterday - went to the parade and had a great dinner at Delaney's apt with a few of her friends - great conversation and interesting people.   Head home tomorrow.  

AM - 3 miles early from Delaney's apt in Brooklyn before heading to the airport.  Much colder today - below freezing.    We had such a nice stay. 

PM - 3.25 miles with Dan and the dogs on the trail before sunset.

AM - just under 6 miles with Finn anti clockwise on the Thompson Redd Freemanville road loop. 

AM - 4.5 miles with Dan and the dogs from his house out to the horsefarm roads.  Quite windy and cold this morning.  He had an early doctor's appointment so we cut it a little shorter than our normal route this morning.  

AM - a little over 3.5 miles this morning with Dan and the dogs on the Milton trail.   Tried to go earlier but it did not happen and had to get back to get Tracy to the airport to visit her folks - as her dad has been in and out of the hospital quite a bit lately.  Will try to get a couple of miles in later today. 

AM - 5 miles with Dan and the dogs through the neighborhood across Birmingham to the Grove subdivision and back.  Quite cold this morning at 23 degrees.  

AM - 3.5 miles with Dan in the neighborhood ahead of an early morning meeting in the office.