Unleash the Cracken!

I don't know why that phrase was stuck in my head today as I ran 8 miles of the Middlebury Rev 3 Half Iron run loop, but it seemed to motivate me. For those of you who don't know about the Rev 3 course it's hilly. I figure that next year this is going to be my season opener as I didn't do any long distance races in 2010. Anyway I've been trying to train on the Rev loop whenever I have the chance. Today the weather was an absurdly warm for November 65F. My initial plan had been to run the full 13 miles but since I ran 8 miles yesterday and didn't really eat much today I bailed after 9 miles. The opening 3 miles are flat to down hill, and follow the bike loop for the Pat Griskus tris. At mile 4 or 5 the road goes from tar and chipseal to a weather beaten trail for about a mile to a mile and a half, likewise the trail rolls. There's a quick detour through a housing development to the turn around and then the loop continues around the backside of Lake Quassapaug. The changing leaves yet warm temperatures made it feel kind of surreal, that it was late November but it felt like spring again. It was good to run in short sleeves on a training run, granted since we got our first snowfall of the season on Monday I have a feeling winter is going to be pretty crazy, probably frigid one day then unseasonably warm the next.

But back to today's run. Today my focus was on just getting some miles and hill work in as I have two short road races. A five miler in Waterbury next Sunday, then the Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving. I kept thinking ahead to next June, when I would be trying to attack on this leg of the race. I kept thinking about what some of my training partners had said during the summer. One comment was I'm one of the most underestimated local athletes. Let's face it at 175lbs. I'm not one of these skinny, anorexic, cyclist, marathoner types. I don't eat tofu, Ice cream is not the devil, and I'm pretty sure I eat enough red meat to be declared PETA's public enemy number 1. But where was I oh yes, I'm underestimated. Many a muscled bound athlete has looked at me at the start line and is like "No Prob I've got this pudgy kid beat I'll collect my medal, and probably have two beers and a few tofu burgers under my belt before this kid leaves T-2." Only to see me huff and puff by them on the run, or just not see me period until I'm going to the award stand...at least that's how it used to be. 2010 was the first time I felt vunerable. My training wasn't where it should have been. My mind wasn't with it and I was in a constant state of adjustment. So as I ran today I was trying to focus on staying positive, I was focusing on becoming stronger, I wanted to be that determined SOB that wasn't intimidated by distance, pain, or the fact the guys running against me had better muscle definition and six pack abs. Essentially I wanted to get back to the point where I would be able to take my run to a whole nother level. I guess the best motto for it would be "Unleash the Cracken." After all if the Cracken was a mythological beast that would bring about a difficult situations and shake the strongest of heroes to their core, then that's what I want my run leg to be. I want the uber cyclists looking back with dread. I want to be back at the point I was at Ironman New Zealand a few years ago, when I was passing more people on the run than I was being passed by. I want to know if I get beat that the people who beat me truly were the better athletes, so as I churned out the miles today I was thinking about how best to attack the hills. I was debating on how I should plan my runs, if I should start surging. I was trying to get back to a place where I was in 2007 when I was training for my first Ironman, I'm hoping 2011 will be the year I'll be able to get back to where I was in before I got tossed a life curveball.
Today's run was good my legs took a beating but they needed it, the soul needed it, the mind needed it. In general I needed the run because it's helping get back to where I belong. So this week I'll prep for my 5 miler, in another week I'll get a 4 mile road race and some turkey in my system and then the planing for 2011. Rev3's there and maybe a marathon before it, it's taken me a while to try to fight it but sport is my life and I need to take it back.

R.D.

God help me...

Yep I signed up for a life changing experience today....well ok...maybe not too life changing. I didn't join the Navy, I signed up for the Manchester Thanksgiving day Road Race for the second straight year. My run training has been scant as I've had life stress on max overload for the last couple a weeks with a pretty ugly head cold thrown in for good measure. But this weekend I managed to get back on track and have cranked out about 19 run miles in 4 days. Thursday's race isn't anything too big to worry about it's only about 4 miles and change, but I would like to defend my sub 35 min seed card. Yes this race is hardcore as there are over 11,000 entries and they have to seed anybody planning to run sub-45 minutes to try to avoid traffic jams and twisted ankles. The race ( like any big event.) caters to ultra professionals, to weekend warriors to complete psychos running in wacky costumes. Like the reflector wearing saftey man, and more guys and gals in skivies and body paint than I'd care to count. Thankfully the weather looks to be warmer this year so I'm not really upset at Josie for twisting my arm into doing this race. Up until last Thursday I wasn't planning on it I was just about to toss my seed card and entry form on to a pile of used kleenex when I got the text along the lines of "dude you're running Manchester." So tonight we drove out there braving the terrible log jam that is the I-84, I-91 merge through downtown Hartford and got out to the race site after sitting in traffic for 45 minutes the 2 seconds it took to register and leave felt, well, kinda anti-climatic...especially compared to last year's last second mad dash to enter the night before Thanksgiving. So I'm in and if any one of you lives in Connecticut tune your TV to Fox 61 at about 9AM you might catch a glimpse of me waving into a TV camera like a doofus ( as the TV stage is set up right where the 35 min and under corral is.) I think I'm also going to shout out a request to those bag pipers at mile 2 I hope they can play Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" because let's face it Scotland Brave is soooo over done...

The Turkey Trotter
R.D.

The 72nd Manchester Road Race Race Report.

Yes that's right for 72 years strong, some psychos have been lining up in downtown Manchester and getting in a nice 4.78 mile jog. In recent years the Field has topped 10,000 runners and this year by some "coercion" by a few of my customers I joined the huddled masses this Thanksgiving. Wednesday I went up to register and use my hard earned "winnings" from the Cicchetti to enter. After talking to the director of seeding ( Doug) I managed to talk myself into the 30-35 minute corral so I wouldn't be mowing over power walkers starting in the unseeded mob. Entry paid and seed card obtained and nearly dying most horribly on I-84 through Hartford I went out for coffee with my sisters and then home to try to get some shut eye before the race.


Thursday I woke up about 6AM to get to Manchester in time to catch the first shuttle to the start line. ( Figured I would park at the community college and ride over on the buses and avoid traffic and being boxed in until the race ended.) Well I arrived at 7:00AM and sat around waiting for the bus, I managed to talk to a couple of people,who like me, were doing this shin dig for the first time. I began talking to this fellow first timer, Jeff, as we waited for the first shuttle to arrive, he was meeting up with some friends before the start. The first shuttle showed up at about 8AM "Man this is cutting it close for a 9 AM start." I thought to myself. We arrived in "downtown" Manchester about five minutes later the bus parked in a lot about 1 mile from the race start. As we walked down I noticed people going in and out of the school where they were doing registration. I talked to Jeff to see where he and his friends were meeting up before the race, ( he had offered to stow my race bag in his friend's car.) I went into the school and found it was not only open but that there was a team of massage therapists setting up for business. I stripped down to my shorts and short sleeve Nutmeg State Half iron race Tee and a set of gloves ( after all it was a tropical 35F at 7AM) I bumped into No Bike Mike from HEAT who was also rocking the Nutmeg Half Iron shirt and shot the shit for a while before I went to warm up. I ran down to the Webster Bank lot and met up with Jeff, his friend Prospect Jeff (who will now be know as PJ) and Prospect Jeff's son Matt. I stood in the sun trying to stay warm figuring I had only 15 min. before race start. Then PJ chimed in " You do know this thing kicks off at 10am right?" Damn I has prepped to go an hour early. Jeff turned on the car and I was able to stay warm for another 15 to 20 min...on "company gas." I really had to pee, and the line to the portolets was curving out of the parking lot. Now I'm going to go on a rant about how runners seem to bred to using portolets, At the Nutmeg State Half Marathon I made a similar observation, that there were 500 people lined up for the portolets while there was no one even thinking of using any of the available flush toilets. So I jogged back down to the school, went into the nice warm clean rest room, ( past yet another mass of people waiting for the portolets in front of the school.) did my thing, and began to talk to this tri chick from Mass. Yevette, as I stood inside trying to stay warm until 9:45. at about 9:45 I made my way down main street to the 30-35 min. Starting corral, handed in my seed card ( a postcard with the picture of the race director standing next to some pro.) and tried to stay warm. The odd thing was I was standing right behind the Fox 61 mobile studio so I tried to wave to the camera a couple of times as the race commentators did their usual pre race jabber. Seriously I hate when non-athletes are the commentators, I mean even if someone is a recreational runner they know a little bit about the sport, but some times you end up with total Yutzes ( read Al Trautwig) destroying epic moments in athletic history with their commentary....also I hate it when Yutz runners ( read me.) try waving to the camera...so I guess it all came clean in the wash. Enough of all this pre race crap Let's talk turkey...trot.


The Race:

( Note the dude wearing bib 11675 staring at his watch that's me.)

At 9:55 they did the National Anthem, as runners continued to file into corrals. One kid in a Navy shirt was debating sneaking into the corral. I talked to him for a bit and foundout that it would blow for him to have to start in the back. ( He was a sub 30 runner.) As soon as the Volunteer's back was turned I was like " dude now or never." he snuck under the blue fencing and that was the last I saw of him. The Vollies removed the blue fencing seperating the corrals, 2 min. to go then the 60 sec. countdown, the gun went off and off we went. As soon as I hit the timing mat I started my watching, gluing myself to the kid infront of me riding right against the barricades. As we ran down main street, some bandits jumped in on this thing, and unlike Boston the race directors were cool with it. The first mile was pretty flat, a couple of bottlenecking turns, I saw No Bike Mike running by me, he shouted "come on Rob..time to get moving." We hit "the hill" at about the 1 mile mark I hit the clock at 6:11. We started up and I passed three guys wearing nothing but their sckivies and red white and blue body paint, I began to pass some of the herd as some of the faster runners who were bottlenecked in the back starting coming forward. the hill Continued up for about a mile and really slowed the average speed. I hit the 2 mile mark at the summit and my split was a 7:19! 7:19 more than a minute slower than my previous mile. We approached the summit of the hill only to be greeted with screaming crowds, bag pipers, Music Blaring and lots of signs bearing Over the Hill Jokes. For as gradual as the hill went up it went down in a hurry, I tried to control my pace but it seems everyone behind me had the "Shin Splints be damned" Angry Runner approach to desecending. I watched almost helplessly as about 10 of the people I had out ran up " the hill" were getting sweet revenge. We hit the three mile mark in about 20 min. my mile split was a 6:27 worlds away from the grind up the hill. It was about this point the kickers were coming forward...to explain what a kicker is, if you ran track in high school do you remember the bum that used to tuck in behind you for say 3 and 3/4 laps in the mile (7 and 3/4 laps in the 2 mile) and then on the last straight they just opened up and would lay waste to you like you had been standing still....yes these guys/gals have grown up and started running road races too. It was about this time some kid in black shorts and a singlet came along side and started to make his way forward I tried to keep Mike in sight but with all the passing and getting passed it was like rush hour in Hartford, with everyone zigging left and right in and around, eventually the pack strung itself out as I tucked in behind someone going my pace. we hit the 4 mile mark at about 26:30 a 6:34 mile. there was a little over 1k or .75 of a mile left and we were heading for down town, the crowds got louder, it was like being in a human tunnel because everyone was just going crazy. Dude in the black track get up was over by the side of the road "reliving breakfast." the pace had gone from fairly hard to "daddy stop the pain" in a little less than a quarter mile, I was now begining to feel breakfast making a reprise, and decided to tone it down a notch hey I didn't want to drive an hour plus back home with a sick Coffee and bagel and stomach acid combo after taste in my mouth. So the kid in his black singlet got his bearings back and decided to go until he puked twice, and he flew on by as I conservatively sprinted toward the Huge American Flag and the Start finsh line. As we approached the line we were told to fan out into one of six chutes, I was locked in a dead sprint with about 5 other guys, I couldn't really tell who won but I was pissed when I looked at the results and they put some kid who had the same time ahead of me. Official Time 31:29 Net time: 31:24. 363rd overall 107th in my age group.

In a field of 10,000 not a bad day at the office. I made my way through the finish chutes and back to the school, got a quick massage and got dressed in my "warm clothes". I bumped into one of my classmates, Ashley, and her boyfriend, told them about the massage tables, foundout that they had not made the official start. Apparently a few of the shuttles were delayed in getting to the start line and by the time they made it down, the volunteers were already installing the finishing chutes because the wheel chair racers were coming in and the elites were about 5 minutes away.So they jumped on course and ran it out. I managed to go back to the finish line area but I could find no sign of Jeff or PJ so I made my way back to the shuttle pick up and after about a 20 min. wait made my way back home for a hard earned shower, turkey and a nap. I think this might be the start of a new Thanksgiving tradition.

R.D.