Saturday, 1:22 p.m., 53 degrees, mostly cloudy out, mostly sunny in. Aqueduct Road and back, 6 3/4 miles.
Sunday, 6 p.m., a crisp 46 degrees. Seneca, Nott Street, Wendell Ave, Union Street to McClellan Price Chopper, 5k.
Monday, 1:45 p.m., I want to say high 40's? 4x 400-meter speed repeats on the track, finish at the Gazette on Maxon Road, then home, 5 1/2 total miles (10-minute break at work to talk to my editor).
Just when you think you're a real runner, you get assigned to cover the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon and see the real deal. It's humbling, especially when people like Andy Allstadt pops a two-minute course record 1:07 in the US Marine Corps Half Marathon and 2002 Stockade-athon champion Chris Hartshorn, who had been out of training for five years, runs 2:26 in the full marathon.
That said, I had a productive three days and took today off to rest up a little for a big push the rest of this week, a race on Sunday (USATF cross country championships in Saratoga) and possibly a full coverage of the Stockade-athon course. That might get a little tricky, because the best day for it is probably Saturday very early in the morning, to avoid traffic, and I'm not sure I really want to beat myself up the day before the Saratoga race. We'll see how it goes.
I ran into Tom Dalton at the marathon, walking his dog Rusty, and he said he's recovering from a torn hamstring. Guess how this happened. He was involved in a hit-and-run while biking on Pangburn Road at 7 a.m. This jerk clipped Tom's left handlebar with the sideview mirror just enough to twist his front wheel and send him tumbling to the pavement. It was particularly galling because Tom was on the bike getting in shape in the wake of a knee injury he suffered stepping into a pothole on a run. The driver stopped for a second, then took off. Tom got the make of the car but no license plate, so the police couldn't do anything about it.
This needs no reminder, of course, but I'll say it again: BE CAREFUL OUT THERE. And please look out for each other.
Another person I ran into at the marathon was Stockade-athon race director Vince Juliano, who informs me that he has a commitment from a very fast former Syracuse University runner. Chuck Terry said he's looking at a top five finish himself, but Allstadt, the 2007 Stockade-athon winner, said he won't be there because he's running the New York City Marathon the week before and wants to get under 2:22. Yikes. He is on fire right now.
My longish Aqueduct Road run Saturday was good, despite a little left heel pain. I've been finding that this goes away when I pick up the pace a little, which is all the motivation I need to not loaf. On Sunday, I was a little creaky and stiff at first, and going up Nott was a great idea, because the long, gentle uphill forced me to concentrate and exert myself. Found a real nice rhythm on Union, and on the gallop-out, felt lively and alert. Equibase comment says: "Midpack move, finished willingly to get a piece."
Monday was terrific, in several ways. The quarter repeats went well. After sitting down in the office for a few minutes, I was going to just jog it home, a mile and a quarter, but I was loose and feeling strong, so I actually attacked the bikepath and Seward and felt like dynamite when I was done, ready for a few more miles, but shutting it down so as not to overdo it, especially since I went hard on the track with those repeats. Just an overall encouraging day. Equibase: "Breather on the turn, rebroke in the stretch."
This month marks the two-year anniversary of the last time I was sick. Not a sniffle. I know some people could think I'm crazier than a rat in a coffee can for verbalizing this fact, because karma is sure to bite me in the next few weeks, but I'm not scared.
Wildlife Watch: My footsteps treed (well, telephone poled) a raccoon on Wendell Avenue near Douglas, so you learn something new every day. I didn't know raccoons had any diurnal tendencies. Then a little dog started yapping like crazy at me, and I was ready to introduce him to my new friend. Raccoon wins that one every time.
