November 26, 2008 by gregshore.

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November 19, 2008 by gregshore.

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November 17, 2008 by gregshore.

We started out with an Indian Run. I could only do two or three laps before my quad started bothering to the extent that I didn’t think it was smart to continue to sprint. I just worked on staying with the group. Moved to body bars - I grabbed an 18 - should have grabbed the 24. I had to leave a little early to get to work. (We started the day with a men’s breakfast.)

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November 17, 2008 by gregshore.

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November 16, 2008 by gregshore.

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November 14, 2008 by gregshore.

My friends and I have done something we call the New Food Challenge (NFC). The average American eats only about 35 different foods each week. We started out buying five new foods each week. And they had to be unprocessed or minimally processed. That usually meant produce or dried beans and grains.

I’m still doing the New Food Challenge but I usually only grab one new thing in the store each week rather than five. In the challenge, I have discovered some things I like - bok choy. Some that I didn’t like as a kid but discovered I like as an adult - corn on the cob. Some that I have always liked but found either a new way to prepare or prepared it like Mom did - cabbage. I even tried beets. My mom usually bought pickled beets for holiday relish trays - I always found them to be a particularly nasty food.

I have really tried to come up with a way to eat beets. Root vegetable - boil it like a potato - no, that didn’t work. Try my hand at pickling my own beets - that experiment ended up in the compost heap. I don’t even like pickles - I don’t know what I was thinking.

So then I tried roasted beets. 40 minutes @ 400, covered with cooking spray. Peel them when they’re cool enough, drizzle with olive oil and chopped basil and sea salt. Everything is better with sea salt and fresh basil.

There are exceptions to every rule. Beets are still nasty.

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November 14, 2008 by gregshore.

Thursday was what we call a RTD day or Run Till You Drop. Run, drop at the whistle, do the assigned exercise, run in place, start running again at the whistle. I’m still not back from the marathon. I’ve been feeling particularly worn out this week but I wanted to start working on speed so when somebody faster would go by, I would jump out and run right behind them as long as I could and then recover. That wore me out.

At the end of the workout, we did animal crawls - alligator, inch worm, and bear crawl. I was the last one to finish each one. I haven’t been in that situation for awhile. It was awful - not being last - I don’t care about that. I had a hard time finishing. It’s been awhile since one of the Marines has helled in my ear to keep going. He knew me well enough to know that I would push through pain rather than give up. He asked me at least three times whether it was pain or soreness. It was actually more fatigue but it certainly wasn’t pain. I was almost as glad to be done with that bear crawl as I was with finishing the marathon.

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November 12, 2008 by gregshore.

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November 11, 2008 by gregshore.

I have been lax in writing about my marathon experience at the Marine Corps Marathon on October 26. You really do need to time to not only relax but mentally process the run. Part of the reason why I took time off from work was so that I didn’t have a need to answer the question, “So, how was it?” I didn’t want to give half-baked answers.

First, I need to say a huge thank you to my friends at Boot Camp, Healthy Charleston Challenge, and from St. Andrew’s. Folks from Boot Camp and HCC gave me cards wishing me well, along with a dog tag incribed with well wishes from them. At work, my co-laborers and friends, other friends, and their families left a box of cards on my desk, all wishing me well and pledging their prayers. They also included a koozie to keep my post-run beer cold, energy bars, deodorant (because I would stink afterwards), and two dimes. The two dimes were to be used for phone calls - one was in case I got bored while running and wanted to call somebody just to chat and the other was to call in case I got lost afterwards. I was really overwhelmed by it.

I flew to Washington on Friday and stayed at the Hampton Inn in Springfield, VA. I didn’t want to travel on Saturday because traveling itself can tiring and I wanted to rest. As soon as the plane landed, I headed to the Washington Armory to attend the race expo and pick up my race packet.

I have never been at a race where the packet pick up went so smoothly. Then again, I’ve never attended an expo manned by Marines, either. I wandered through the expo, chatted with Bart Yasso, bought a shirt and a sticker. The expo wasn’t any bigger than the Cooper River Bridge Run expo, with the exception of the Brooks running store.

Saturday I spent resting. I hoped to catch the Navy-SMU game on television - I knew it was being covered locally but the hotel didn’t have the channel it was on. I played with the idea of going to Annapolis to see the game but they moved the game time to 3.30. Too late in the day for me.

It rained most of Saturday but it had cleared up by Sunday morning. I woke at about 4.30, ate an energy bar and drank some coffee and headed to the Metro station. The Marine Corps Marathon pays the Metro to open early on race day - 5 am. Smart move. You exited at Pentagon City and then had to walk all the way around the Pentagon to get to the pre-race area. It was cold - about 48 degrees.

I was one of the first people there and chatted with someone who had run the race before while we walked from the Metro to the race. He had a few insights about what to expect. Cathy, my training partner, and I found each other and I tried calling my old Boot Camp instructor, Anthony. I knew he would be on the race course somewhere but wasn’t able to get him on the phone.

The Start

After a couple of hours of standing in line and waiting in the port-a-let line a few times, it was time to head to the start line. I tried calling Anthony one more time and found that he had left me a message. He would be at Waterstop 11 - mile 22.

Cathy and I headed over to the stop - she headed further toward the front. I lined up with the 5.30 pace group. I was pretty confidant I could stay with them. The race begins on a highway and the runners line up on both sides. There are no corrals but people seemed to really understand that lining up according to ability really does work quite well. Or maybe they were intimidated by the Marines nearby.

Once the race started, I just went along with the flow of the crowd. (I started my GPS about 1 mile from the start, if you look at my splits). I was surprised to find out later that I ran the first mile sub-11. That wasn’t my plan and I really don’t think it affected me later.

Miles 1-5

The first few miles are through Rosslyn and then out through what is a secluded road through the woods before crossing the Potomac River. Once we got away from the spectators, men just lined up along the road to use the bathroom while the women took a few steps into the woods. It was fun running and chatting with people with no others around.

Miles 6-10

The next section went around the Georgetown Reservoir. Running up the second (and last) of the larger hills, I saw one of the coolest things. Again - a secluded wooded stretch and the sunlight was filtering through the trees. When I looked up, there was a stream of people rising above me and there was the huge steam cloud rising off the group. It was at about mile 8, at the top of the reservoir where I was passed by Kermit the Frog. I think that’s when the psychological beat down began.

Miles 11-16

Kind of non-descript. Not a lot of spectators once you’re out of Georgetown. You’re running along the Potomac and near the Mall but you can’t see that but you do catch glimpses of monuments. I came upon a runner with a Naval Academy jersey and greeted him with, “Good morning, Shipmate!” He immediately introduced himself and said he was from the class of 1964. We ran together for a few miles.

I didn’t stay with the 5.30 pace group during the race because my side of the road got to the start line quicker than they did. At mile 13, they passed me and started walking. I literally bumped into people in their group when they did. I pushed my way through and they passed me again at about mile 14. I started to run with them but it was painful so I backed off.

At that point I knew I would get over the bridge by a long shot and not get picked up by the sweep bus. So, I let my time goal go out the door and really just enjoed myself. Once we were back near the mall, it became more interesting. I recognize where I was but at times was really turned around.

Miles 16-22

At this point we seemed to run around in circles and not making any progress in getting across the river. At every mile marker, there were usually at least two Marines who were calling out times on a bullhorn. The highlight of the day was the Marine at mile 17 who was not calling out times. I’m a solid back of the pack guy and to anybody who walked by the mile marker, he would exclaim, “I can’t believe you’re walking by MY mile marker!”

I really started to get beat down badly in the mind at mile 19. The race literature states that you need to cross the 14th Street bridge at mile 19 by 1.30 so that it can be re-opened to traffic. I wasn’t worried about missing the cut-off time. I just wanted to get across the stinking bridge. It wasn’t there at mile 19 or 20. You didn’t cross the bridge until mile 21. The course had changed this year but nobody updated the narrative portion of the course description.

Mile 22-26

Mile 22 was at the end of the bridge and as I got to the water stop, I started looking around for Anthony. I was at the point where I was getting ready to start calling out his name when he saw me. I was never so happy to see a face I knew. I told him that even though I was later than expected, there was no way I was going to do push-ups for him. He loaded me up with Powerade and water and sent me on my way.

At this point you run into Crystal City and then back out. I hate out and back portions of a course in a long race. They let those of us that back KNOW that we’re really at the back of the pack. My feet were very painful at this point and I actually walked for about two minutes once I reached mile 23. Then I decided I wanted to RUN this race and not pack it in three miles from the end.

Saw Anthony again at the waterstop as we came out of Crystal City. At that point you could see the Pentagon and you ran around it to get back near to where we started. Ramps on and off of the highways seemed to be particularly hard at this point.

The Finish Line.

The race ends at the Iwo Jima monument but not before you turn off the highway and run up a hill. I was so happy to see the finish line that I practically sprinted up the hill. As I crossed the finish line, a Marine stuck a bottle of water in my hand which I immediately drained. I walked a few more steps and another wrapped me in a space blanket. All greeted me with “Well done, sir,” or “Congratulations, sir.” Tens of thousands had crossed the line before me and yet the guys at the end kept on speaking to everyone as they crossed the line.

A young Marine lieutenant hung a big fat medal around my neck and some people took some pictures. Someone else handed me another bottle of water and other handed me two bags of post-run snacks. That was huge. I usually completely bypass food tables at big races because I have neither the energy or the patience to push my way up to a table to get something.

At the end you do need to walk probably a mile to get your gear off the package truck. That’s a good thing because it does keep you moving. When I got to the baggage truck, Cathy and her mom were there waiting for me. She had finished almost two hours before me but they wanted to wait for me. She’s a great friend and training partner.

We ended the day at a great restaurant in Alexandria. We even had dessert.

Would I do one again?

I don’t know at this point. I wouldn’t rule it out but I’m not sure I would do one in the fall. Dehydration was definitely an issue for me in training during the summer so my next one would probably be a spring race. There’s also the time to consider. When you commit, you’re committing to doing a long run every weekend for at least four months. I’m not sure I want to do that part.

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November 11, 2008 by gregshore.

My recovery from the marathon has gone a little slower than expected. I was feeling out of sorts last week in Boot Camp. Thursday evening I ran some with Steve but still had some lingering soreness and so stopped running intervals with him and just ran the recovery laps.

Saturday, we started out to do two miles. I had to quit at 2.

Boot Camp was ok Monday but I did fall behind on a group run. Today we did a lot of lower body exercises. Sets of body squats. Then we did sets of 20 burpees and ran a lap in between. Some did as many as seven sets. I did three. Not sure at all about tomorrow’s run or Saturday’s run.

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