November 4, 2018: The TCS New York City Marathon

The New York City Marathon is always held on the first Sunday of November, which coincides with the end of Daylight Savings Time; thus all of the participants get an extra hour of rest!  I had set the alarm for 5 am, but I awoke at 4 am and didn't really get back to sleep.  I dreamt about running too fast because the great New York City band The Ramones were playing along the route: 

             "Rock-Rock-Rockaway Beach, Rock-Rock-Rockaway Beach,
              Rock-Rock-Rockaway Beach, we can hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach."  

Hmmm. 

My name on the wall at the Expo

I got up around 4:50 am and began to get ready.  I enjoyed a cup of hotel room coffee and light breakfast of cereal with almond milk.  We were in the subway station shortly after 6 am, but had to wait awhile for the #1 local, arriving around 6:30 am.  We reached the South Ferry station at 7:00 am, 30 minutes ahead of my official time to board the ferry.  There was a large crowd of excited runners, and Bonnie and I enjoyed soaking in the atmosphere.  We were onto the next ferry by 7:20 am, taking a wonderful 30 minute trip across the harbor.  Despite the thousands of runners on the ferry, it was remarkably quiet.  Many of us took photos of the Statue of Liberty as we sailed past.  We had a NYPD boat escort across the harbor.  It was a beautiful morning, hardly a cloud in the sky, about 50 degrees F, and no wind at all!  As we swarmed into the terminal, I said goodbye to Bonnie, and headed up the steps to the exit.  I found myself following a woman dressed in a tiger outfit, with her tail behind her.  I thought that wasn't such a great idea for a costume, considering that I was trying not to step on her tail as I climbed the steps. 

Waiting for the subway, and then on the #1 line heading south

Statue of Liberty; police escort for the ferry

Waiting 30 minutes or more for the bus

Here was the first surprise of the day: there was a very long line to the busses. Fortunately we must have all listened to the advice to stay calm with regard to the logistics.  There was no complaining to be heard while we inched our way forward.  A few men ran outside of the line, but perhaps they were wave 1 runners.  It must have taken at least 30 minutes before we reached the street where the buses would arrive.  i just remembered the advice from Rogue Running, "Just be patient, if someone pushes ahead of you, let them go ahead, everyone will get there. Races are lost at this stage!"  Finally a long line of buses arrived.  I was the last person onto a bus and was glad not to have to wait, but ended up standing for 30 minutes or more as the bus inched its way through the streets of Staten Island. When we finally reached the starting village, and cleared security, we had a 15 minutes walk to the green start village, 2 full hours from the time that we got onto the ferry in lower Manhattan.  The women's race had already begun, but we heard the cannon shot as the men's race and wave 1 began at 9:52 am.  I tried to check the progress of the women's race, but the local cellphone service was overwhelmed.  In any case I had just enough time to use a port-a-potty, get a free bagel, stretch a little, make sure my shoes were tied just right, then walked to corral A, Green wave 3. 

From the Green Wave starting village

We seemed to wait only a moment, when the gate opened and we surged onto the bridge. Now the energy of the runners was really high! The music was playing 

             "Roadrunner, roadrunner; 

              Fifty thousand watts of power; 

              Going faster miles per hour; 

              With the radio on..."  

The atmosphere was definitely not conducive to getting into a mind-set of starting slowly and conservatively!  I tried not to burn any extra energy waiting for the start, energy that I knew that I would desperately need in 2, 3 or 4 hours.

10 minutes before the start, standing on the approach to the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge

One of the runners in wave 3 sang a beautiful rendition of "America the Beautiful". Then we surged closer to the line, and the announcer gave instructions for starting, "On your mark" and then an enormous cannon boom sounded followed immediately by its reverberation sounded!  Just as I had heard on the televised broadcast, the sounds of Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" started on cue.  Within a minute I crossed the starting mat!

My goal for the race was to finish in 4:30, running a slight negative split.  I had memorized the following splits: 5K in 33 - 34 minutes, 10K in 66 - 67 min, 13.1 miles in 2:17, and 20 miles in 3:27.  I intended to use intervals of 4:30 running, 30 seconds walking, and/or walking through water stops. 

I was heading up the Verrazano-Narrows bridge, taking care not to run too fast. I had aimed for a 12 minute first mile.  As runner after runner passed me on the bridge, I remembered the Rogue Running advice "If people aren't passing you on the bridge, you're going too fast." I settled in behind a couple at an appropriate pace: the woman was wearing a purple shirt with the slogan "Pancreatic cancer is tough. I'm tougher."

Looking over the harbor toward Manhattan, it was a beautiful day to run!  How fortunate I was to win the NYC marathon AND the weather lottery this year!  Several people jumped onto the raised walkway to take photos, but I just kept slowly running, all business. 

At 4-1/2 minutes, my watch signaled for a walk break. I was on the far left but runners were passing on the side on the raised walkway, so I couldn't find an option to get out of the way.  I just kept running at a very easy pace.  That was going to be a pattern for most of the race.  The 4:20 pacers starting in corral B passed me, followed by the 4:25 pacers.  That's OK, I wasn't planning to keep up with them, aiming for a 4:30 finish.  At 9-1/2 minutes we had spread out a bit.  I looked behind me, and felt I could safely take a 30 second walk break.  Shortly afterwards, we were near the top of the bridge, as my watch sounded 11:30 for mile 1, but the mile 1 sign came up about 30 seconds later, so I was probably right on track.

Now we were heading downhill toward Brooklyn. I could still see the beautiful towers of lower Manhattan to the left, and Brooklyn up ahead seemed forested along the coastline. As we came off the bridge, I was just gliding along very easily, yet my watch was reading sub-10 min / mile.  As we came off the bridge, we saw a large sign "Welcome to Brooklyn!"  Those of us in the green wave took a slightly different route from the other two waves, staying on the highway while we saw the other runners came off the upper level of the bridge to our left.  Then I saw a familiar red jersey: "Thanks Atlanta Track Club @silversue"  And it was Sue Landa!  I called her name and gave her a quick hug as we ran together for most of the next several miles. At that moment I said "This is probably the only time that I'll get to run New York, so I'm looking for a great experience." 

The crowds in Brooklyn were enthusiastic, just as advertised!  What a blast!  The runners were equally enthusiastic, exchanging high-fives with the children lining the route.  Mile 3 came up quickly, followed by the 5K mark, which I crossed exactly at 33 minutes on my watch:  "Nailed it!"

Now I settled in to just run at an easy pace, finding my rhythm. In some places it was convenient to take the walk breaks when the watch sounded, in other places it was a bit narrow and I just kept running. I did slow down or walk through most of the water stops, accepting a cup of Gatorade, even though I was carrying a bottle of Nuun in a 23 oz SmartWater bottle and another 16 oz on my water belt. Sue and I were "leapfrogging" a bit with my walk breaks, but she seemed to be running well. At the 10K mark, I registered 1:05:30, a little fast! (Aiming for 66 - 67 minutes)

Before getting ahead of Sue around mile 8, I had amended my thinking on future New York City marathons, as I said "These crowds are incredible, I can see coming back again, in a few years start entering the lottery again!"

After mile 8, we turned from 4th avenue onto famous Bedford Avenue, with more enthusiastic and cheering crowds. and then at mile 10, it began to get quieter. Ah, this is the famous Hasidic neighborhood of Williamsburg. I saw a few men dressed in black on the sidewalks, some going about their business seemingly oblivious to the runners, but others were watching us. None were cheering, but hopefully they enjoyed seeing the parade of runners. There were a few other people on the streets in western dress who were cheering, and even a group of women who may have been Hasidic by their conservative dress but were also watching us.  On the right side of the street, a side advertised Moishe's Hatters.

We ran a few miles along Bedford Avenue, during which the crowds of spectators gradually increased again.  Around mile 12, we made several turns, and I noticed a sign that seemed specifically for the marathon "Caution sharp left turn slow down. I had never before seen that in a race, but then realized that was for the wheelchair races moving at 20 - 25 miles per hour.  Hay bales provided some padding, probably protecting from some hazardous steel behind the bales, which fortunately all seemed intact.

Then it was time to cross the Pulaski Bridge, as we left Brooklyn to enter Queens. I looked at my watch as I passed the mile 13 marker. 2:17 and change, yet I was aiming to get to 13.1 in 2:17. I had imperceptibly slowed over the last several miles. But I held back from speeding up, as I was determined to maintain pace discipline through the third quarter of the race.

The Pulaski bridge was higher and longer than I had expected, but of course this was just another hill by Atlanta standards. I ran past quite a few people who had slowed to a walk. On the bridge, a young man wearing what appeared to be a Hasidic black hat jumped up on the platform alongside the bridge to take a selfie. Other than the hat, he was wearing the usual running clothes.

We entered Queens, with plenty of enthusiastic crowds, but I mostly remember making several turns in this area. Then suddenly we were running up the approach to the Queensboro Bridge. As warned, everything became very quiet. There were just the sounds of thousands of feet on the bridge, and the occasional bus passing overhead on an upper deck. That was a pretty tough uphill section.

And now, my left knee began to ache.  What?! That wasn't a problem in the months of training! My watch showed that I was running 15 min/mile pace. Surely that wasn't right, it must be the metal of the bridge interfering with the signal. But when we reached the official clock for mile 16 (I started 51 minutes after the wave 1 men) it looked like I had just run a 13 minute mile. After a long mile, we began heading downhill. Quite a few runners were stopped and stretching, a few others took photos. Many others were passing me. Then we headed downhill just a short distance and I started to hear the crowds cheering ahead. 

Making a U-turn off of the bridge, and then a left turn, we were on 1st Avenue. As promised, we enjoyed incredible crowd support in this section, with people several rows deep. I knew that a former graduate student from my lab would be watching but I wasn't sure from which side of the road.  I decided to stay to the left. Unfortunately my knee was hurting pretty badly, but I tried to stick with the plan: only walk every 5 minutes, and through water stops.  At least I kept moving, more or less in the mid 11 min/mile range. I had heard that 1st avenue was downhill as we would run north, but to me it seemed to be rolling hills.

Recent doctoral student Jessica Hurtak,
now a postdoctoral associate at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center,
made this great periodic table-themed sign!
She snapped my photo on First Avenue, below

There were great bands throughout the race, including in this section.  At one point a band was playing: 

                 "Because I'm happy, clap along if you feel like a room without a roof,

                  Because I'm happy, clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth,

                  Because I'm happy, clap along if you know what happiness is to you, 

                  Because I'm happy, clap along if you feel like that's what you want to do!" 

Did everyone start running just a little bit faster?!

As we ran north approaching Harlem, the crowds thinned out a bit, but also encroached into the street. The blue tape was flexible, so naturally as people looked down the street at approaching runners, they would step forward if the person in front of them did so, etc. etc. At one point, a policeman realized that and was trying to get the crowds to move back, but as we ran north the route became fairly narrow. 

Then ahead, I saw the Willis Avenue bridge. And it was another hill! Struggling quite a bit at this stage, I took an extra walk break. Then we were in the Bronx. To our left was a series of tables advertising Biofreeze. I decided to pull over, squeezed a big squirt of green gel into my hand and rubbed it my sore knee, then another squirt onto my calf, and at least one more squirt all over the lower left leg. I muttered "I had hoped that I wouldn't need to stop here." But the volunteer said "that's what we're here for!" and I remembered to smile and thank him.

I could feel the cooling numbness on my skin but I'm not sure that it got down into the muscles. And now I had to be very careful not to rub my eyes or any other sensitive areas! After about 5 minutes, I made another 30 second stop, to do some leg swings, hoping that would ease the soreness. Again I'm not sure if it made a difference, but I resumed running. When I was moving at what I considered was an easy pace, I was passing people, then I would take a walk break, then repeat.  There was a section in the Bronx where we were running northbound and I could see the runners ahead running southbound, separated by just a block.  What a temptation to cut the course at that point!  But I didn't want to become the lead article in the next release of "Marathon Investigation"!  I noticed at mile 20 my elapsed time was 3:37.  Was that what I was trying for?  Was it 3:17, 3:27, 3:37? 

We left the Bronx via the Madison Avenue bridge.  Someone held up a sign reading "Last Damn Bridge!"  Thank goodness that bridge was flat!  As we re-entered Manhattan, I noticed that we were at 138th street, and I knew Bonnie was waiting at Marcus Garvey park at 124th street. 14 blocks to Bonnie! That kept me going, as the blocks quickly ticked down. Around 126th street, I took a walk break, because I was determined to run when I saw Bonnie.  And then I made a right turn.  I stayed to the left side, scanning the crowd ahead for Bonnie in her pink hoodie.  We saw each other at the same time: I heard Bonnie shouting "Frank! Frank!" as I shouted "Bonnie! Bonnie!" waving my hands in the air so that she could see me. I ran past shouting "Oh, the pain!!"

Bonnie caught my photo in the 22nd mile

Turning the corner, there was the mile 22 sign. I was really hurting now. I started thinking about my father, 13 years deceased.  I began saying in my mind "Dad, be proud of me, Dad, be proud of me."  Again and again.  I know my father was always proud of me, I don't know why that thought came.  The mind goes to some strange places after mile 20 in the marathon.  I don't really believe in the afterlife, but I suppose I was channeling my father.  Did someone once say, "There are no atheists after mile 20 in the marathon"? 

Bonnie's family was waiting
for me at mile 26!

A woman held up a sign "Pain is French for bread" and I laughed at that one. I saw the 23 mile sign, around 110th street, had to go all the way to 59th street! But I could see the green expanse of Central Park to my right. I started thinking about my grandparents, everything that they went through during World War II in Europe, at least my pain was nothing compared to that.  The crowds were cheering, but all of the runners were silent, unlike our boisterousness in Brooklyn three hours earlier.  And I started running a little faster. At 90th street, we turned into Central Park. After the mile 24 sign, I started thinking about Han Choi. He ran the 2014 marathon. At the time, he said it was the toughest thing he had ever done, because he didn't train for it. Then Han got pancreatic cancer and 3-1/2 years later he was gone. My pain is nothing compared to that.

At mile 25 sign, I remembered coach Carl's advice to think of laps around the track. 5 laps remaining, I can do this. Fight fight fight! And I suddenly accelerated, passing people left and right in the last part of the park. Was that the woman in the tiger outfit that I was passing?  She was still holding her tail to keep other runners from stepping on it.  Turning onto 59th street (Central Park South), running running running, staying to the left, looking for Bonnie's sister and parents near the intersection with 7th Avenue. I never did see them although they were screaming, but their cheers were drowned out by the pain in my legs. Running running running, trying to beat 4:48, I thought I was going to better that time by a minute or two, until I got into the park again, and there was no mile 26 marker anywhere in sight.

Running running running, finally there was the mile 26 marker, and I was past 4:46 on my watch. Oooh, I'm not going to make it, or maybe? Running running running where is the finish line? Running past the first grandstand, up a hill, and a slight left turn, "Shalane's turn" and there was the finish line, thankfully with the timing mat in front of the finish sign. Over the first mat, then kept pushing over the second mat to make sure I really finished, remembering Meb Keflezighi last year collapsing over the second mat: 4:48:33 on my watch.

Within a minute, I checked my phone to see a flood of messages of best wishes, mid-run photos, and congratulations. Will told me the official time, 4:48:23. I missed a personal best by 11 seconds!  But what I was really looking for was the great experience that I had, absolutely superb! 

There was a long walk ahead, during which we received our medals, a warming sheet, and a food box.  The apple was the most delicious ever!  Downing a bottle of water and then a bottle of Gatorade revived much of my energy, as we continued walking through the park.  Still the parade of walkers was extremely quiet.  I wanted to shout, "We just finished the New York City Marathon!!!!"  but either I didn't have the energy or didn't want to disrupt the decorum.  Finally we made our way around to the exit where they were handing out blue ponchos.  Amazingly my legs weren't too sore.  I was even able to make it down the stairs in the subway, two stops from 72nd to 96th Street, up the stairs in the station, proudly making sure my medal was showing outside of the poncho, to the hotel, up the stairs and to the room!  

Although my time wasn't quite what I had hoped for, this was definitely the first marathon where I didn't feel beaten up afterwards.  In fact I was even able to jog around a little bit on Monday.  Thank goodness for all of the training, to prepare myself for this challenge! 

At the finish line, on the day after 

Checking my watch at the Fred Lebow statue

My name and time in the New York Times, Nov. 5, 2018

Upon returning to Atlanta for my Tuesday morning Chem 522 class, the students gave me a treasured gift!  

October 21, 2018: PNC Atlanta 10-Miler

Goals: 

1) Don't mess up 7 months of recovery and 4 months of training doing anything that's not on the training plan! 

2) 4 miles easy, then practice a slow start for the first 5 miles, followed by race pace in the second half of the race. 

3) Try out cold weather gear for the first time this season.

4) Remember that today's race is just another step to prepare for the New York City Marathon in two weeks from today! 

Saturday night: lay out gear, prepare two bottles of Nuun, try to get to bed by 10 pm, with alarm set for 4:30 am.  

11 pm: actual bed time.

Sunday morning: 

4:27 am: awoke 3 minutes before "ass o'clock", temp 51 deg F, warmer than expected.  Breakfast of cereal, too sleepy to remember to make coffee, but remembered to wear and bring all gear, including application of squirrel nut butter and nipple guards to prevent chafing.

5:15 am: in the car, heading to Atlantic Station, to allow plenty of time for traffic and finding parking.

5:35 am: no traffic, plenty of parking at Atlantic Station!

5:45 am: having stretched, I jogged 2-1/2 easy miles including part of the 5K route, wearing only 1 long sleeve shirt, tights, and a cap.  Getting colder, 46 deg F, and I'm running too fast!  I thought that I wouldn't get back in time for the Tucker Running Club photo, and mistakenly thought it was scheduled for 6:15 am, but instead at 6:30 am.  Ran another 1/2 mile. 

6:30 am: Tucker Running Club photo, then off to the porta-potty for insurance, and one more mile making two loops around Atlantic Station.  Temp 45 deg F, ran to the car to put on a second shirt. 

7:00 am: Gathering for the start in wave D.  Last year I was in wave B.  In a moment of wisdom, when I registered this year, I must have given the track club a slow expected finish time.  No problem, I needed to start with a much slower group to avoid starting too quickly. 

7:15 am: Wave A started, then waves B and C took off with a 2 or 3 minute break between each wave.  I let myself lag back as wave D walked to the starting line.

7:26 am: "Runners set: GO GO GO!!"  And wave D has begun!  Temp 41 deg.  As I turned onto 17th Street, a gust of wind nearly removes my cap, and confirms that I made the right decision to wear a second shirt.  It's often windy during the New York City Marathon, especially the first two miles over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.  During the first walk break at 4:30, I see Teresa Ducuara and Heather Garner coming up.  We ran the first four miles together, as they seemed happy to run my pace and my run:walk ratios.  

Mile 1: 11:55, exactly as planned!  Lots of people cheering us on, thanks! 

Mile 2: 11:42, a minute slower than planned, but better to start too slow than too fast.

Mile 3: 10:55, a slow easy run down Cardiac Hill on Peachtree Road.  3053rd out of 3891 runners crossing both timing mats.  My fingers were frozen: it took me a couple of minutes to pry the package of ShotBloks from my running belt.  Maybe I shouldn't have left the gloves and hand warmers in the car. 

Mile 4: 11:01, running through the Peachtree Hills neighborhood.  Lots of campaign signs in the yards, "Brian Kemp for Governor."  Not a good neighborhood: ran a little faster.  The sun has risen as we run to the east, time for the sunglasses.  As we turned onto Piedmont Road, I lost track of Teresa and Heather as we passed through a water station.  45:32 through 4 miles.  Amazingly, that was 1 minute slower than planned.  Oh well, I wasn't racing this part of the route, I call that a win!  I hope I can remain as calm in the first four miles in New York. 

Mile 5: 10:13, Heading downhill into the I-85 underpass, I'm beginning to pass people, even with the walk breaks.  Crossed the 5-mile timing mat at 56:30, 2769th out of 4003 runners, movin' on up!

Mile 6: 10:16, before the race, I had thought that this might be my first sub-10 minute mile, but there was a net elevation gain.  

Mile 7: 9:57, uphill to the entrance to the Botanical Gardens, then a fast downhill into Piedmont Park.  I'm passing quite a few people as I speed up around the Active Oval.  My fingers have thawed, now I'm glad that I'm not carrying gloves. 

Plenty of hills, but no heat or humidity today, thank goodness!

Mile 8: 9:20, running out of Piedmont Park and up the 12th Street hill.  Normally I would take it easy, but I had a walk break right before we left the park, and I ran up the hill non-stop.  Most people were walking, I was sprinting!  Strava confirmed that was my fastest time up the hill in 13 tries, which included four Hotlanta Halfs, two Georgia Marathons, and last year's 10-miler.  Turning south onto Juniper Street, I passed Samantha Andrews, with whom I often run on Thursday evenings at Big Peach Decatur.  She was sporting a BibRave shirt and called out, "Hi Professor!" as she always does when we meet.  She is a professor herself, teaching biology at Georgia Gwinnett College, but I guess it's a matter of respect for our two-decade age difference.  1:25 elapsed.  I was back on pace to finish in 1:45.  I decided to skip every other walk break for the rest of the race. 

I steadily sped up from the start to mile 10:
after walking through the finish area, I ran two easy cool-down miles.

Mile 9: 8:25, I seemed to pass everyone, trying not to run over anyone.  Much of the time, we were restricted to a single lane, so it was a little crowded, even this far into the race.  I passed Becky Caldwell, a fixture with the Tucker Running Club, former swim coach at Tucker High School, and a dedicated triathlete.  At the only water station that I used today, I accepted a cup of Gatorade from Olympian and Atlanta Track Club coach Amy Begley.  

Mile 10: 8:24, as we turned onto 17th Street and cross the overpass, we ascended the last hill of the race.  The watch signaled a walk break approaching 1:35 overall.  I took my last ShotBlok and a swig of Nuun, then returned to a run.  I hadn't been passed by anyone for miles, then a young woman with a blonde ponytail passed far to the right.  She looked much younger than me, no problem.  Then either she slowed down or I sped up and I passed her.  Into Atlantic Station, less than half a mile to go.  I was driving myself pretty hard, pumping my arms strongly, passing everyone in sight.  Turning onto State Street for the last two blocks of the race, the Atlanta Roller Girls had the best cheer team of all, encouraging us into the finish, with their leader's chant amplified by a megaphone.  Passing, passing, passing, and then downhill to the finish line.  I saw two young women ahead of me, did I have enough room to catch up to them?  Not quite, but I crossed the finish line at 1:43:05 chip time, 1:54:26 gun time, 2001th out of 4004 finishers, just ahead of the 50th percentile.  I saw Bonnie to the right as I cleared the timing mat and raised both arms into the air in celebration!

The number 10 on the medal spins!
It seems to be a new gimmick in medals over the past couple of years. 

9:10 am: After accepting the medal and a bottle of water, I cleared the finish area and turned back to run 2 easy miles to cool down along the last mile of the race route, cheering on a few people that I knew.  On my way back on 17th Street, a woman had fallen near the corner with State Street.  I don't know what happened but from her cries it sounded like she had a severe cramp.  Two Atlanta police were standing around her and with another person was kneeling holding her down on the hard cold street pavement - I'm concerned that might have made things worse for her - but then Rich Kenah, director of the track club, arrived to see what had happened.  I hope that she will be OK.  

The watch measured 10.14 miles for the race route.

16 miles for the day, and I had plenty of energy left, despite running the last 2 miles of the race considerably faster than marathon race pace.  After a few minutes of leg swings, I was ready for a celebratory brunch with Bonnie at Murphy's in Virginia-Highlands. 

Calorie replacement programme

October 13, 2018: The Race, presented by the Unity Collective

The months of September and early October have been unusually warm, but my training has gone very well over the past month.  A few days ago, the outermost bands of Hurricane Michael brushed the metro Atlanta area with about 1-1/2 inches of rain - and also brought overdue fall temperatures.  This welcome change in the weather came just in time for my last long run in this training cycle, three weeks in advance of the New York City Marathon.  The plan for today was 22 - 23 miles, as a dress rehearsal for marathon day.  

I decided to combine my long run with a new half marathon and 5K race organized by Tes Sobomehin of runningnerds, and Da'Rel Patterson of Black Men Run, who joined forces as the Unity Collective, to put on "The Race", inviting runners of all backgrounds to explore the diverse neighborhoods of southwest Atlanta.  The Race began and ended at the Impact Center next to a church by the same name, located on the northeastern edge of East Point, a suburb nestled between the City of Atlanta and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.  

For a link to the race site and their interview, click here.  

I should have gone to the Porta-Potty one more time before The Race began, but was chatting with Sheelagh O'Malley in the corral and then it was time to begin!  The temperature was 57 deg F as we began running, with the first glow of sunrise lighting up the clouds to the east.  Over 700 runners ran the half marathon, followed by nearly 500 registrants for the 5K.  We immediately ran up a massive hill on Sylvan Road, approaching Langford Parkway, one of the east-west arteries through the area.  When I saw the elevation map for The Race, I imagined this would simulate the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, although it probably wasn't as long of a distance.  Nonetheless I took my time heading up the hill, maintaining an easy pace.  Quite a few people cheered for us in the dim pre-dawn light as we ran north on Sylvan Road into Atlanta proper, through the Sylvan Hills residential neighborhood.  Around mile 1, I passed Jordan Eison for the one and only time that I will ever do so in a race: he served as a pacer for the 2:45 group, having run the Chicago Marathon last weekend.  

After about 3 miles, we entered a more industrial area and then into the West End neighborhood, just south of Interstate 20.  By this stage, I was running with Jennifer Butz who formerly joined the group runs at Big Peach Running Company in Decatur, before she moved across town.  She was on a slightly different run-walk pattern but we were leapfrogging each other for awhile.  Crossing under the highway, we reached the manicured campuses of Spelman College and Morehouse School of Medicine.  On a couple of out-and-back sections, I saw several friends and running associates, including Brian Minor just behind the 2-hour pacers, Tommy Daniels serving as a 2:15 pacer, and a bit later Beverly Ford Minor.  I had rarely visited these parts of Atlanta and never before on foot.  It was nice to see the parks in the area, and smile to the locals who had woken up early on Saturday morning to cheer us on our Race!  

From the Map My Run site for The Race (above),
which is a little neater than my own map (below), since I
tacked additional miles on the same or similar route. 

The miles ticked by surprisingly quickly.  I used my typical intervals of 4:30 running and 30 seconds walking, and maintained a consistent pace, between 10:15 and 10:30 minutes per mile for the middle part of The Race.  I crossed the 10K timing mat at about 1:07 gun time (1:05:40 chip time), a little faster than expected for an easy run, but with the cool temperatures, I ran smoothly and nearly effortlessly.  Around the 7 mile mark, I began to feel a little soreness in the left Achilles, but later in The Race I realized that the pain had almost disappeared.  That is one of the great benefits of the run-walk method!  The only problem was that with every passing mile, I felt more and more regret about skipping the Porta-Potty before The Race. 

About 8 miles into The Race, we entered the Westside Beltline.  The last time I had run on this path, the temperature was 90 degrees F and I was fighting off the beginnings of heat exhaustion - this morning with temperatures 30 degrees cooler, I was running smoothly and thoroughly enjoying every minute of the run.  I avoided overtly "racing" anyone, but nevertheless I gradually passed people with every run interval.  At the mile 10 marker, I thought, "just a 5K ahead" and then realized that today, it was more like 13 miles to go!  Then I consciously slowed down, a little.  In mile 11, we left the Beltline, where I caught up to and passed the 2:30 pacers, David Bloomquist and Angie O'Neal.  My original intention was to tuck in with them and not pass them, but they had obviously started out much too quickly.  I was on pace to finish in 2:20, and they were walking, so I just said "hi" as I passed and kept truckin' on.  Jessica Rudd and Kristi Swartz were running together about one or two minutes ahead of me, as we passed each other on another out-and-back section. 

Approaching the mile 11 marker, the Atlanta Track Club manned a water station, with executive director Rich Kenah handing out cups of water.  But I focused on the porta-potty next to the water station.  I slowed to a walk, but the door was locked.  At least, the red slide was showing.  I decided that I could hold on for 2.1 more miles.  We returned to Sylvan Road, running in the bicycle lane.  I waved to a man sitting on his front porch strumming a guitar, and gradually passed more runners as we went up and down the hills.  Then I saw Langford Parkway in the distance at the top of the big hill, just after taking walk break at 2:10.  I bounded on fresh legs up the hill, and through the busy intersection protected by the police.  Passing under the Langford Parkway, and a little more uphill, my watch signaled time for a walk break at 2:14:30.  And just as I reached the Reggae Runners cheer group at the top of the hill!  Well, it would really be poor form to take a walk break through the most enthusiastic cheer group of the morning, so I could wait a moment - but then more people cheered for us as we continued toward the finish, so I just kept running, trying not to press too hard.  Gliding into the long finish chute, there were hundreds of people cheering us (me!) into the finish, seemingly most of the 5K runners and many of the 263 half marathon runners who had already finished!  I crossed the finish line at 2:20 gun time, official chip time 2:18:26.  That was more than 11 minutes faster than my goal time for The Race, but I wasn't too tired and was ready for 9 more miles - once I had stopped at the Porta-Potty! 

Bib and bling sporting the colors of Africa

Relieved of my burdens, I stopped by the car, dropped off my bib and medal and picked up a cold bottle of Nuun (having drank a 23 oz bottle in the first 13 miles), and set out again before any leg stiffness set in.  Fortunately I didn't have much trouble getting back into the swing of running.  I ran a little slower, trying to stay out of the way of the other official runners or the cheer groups.  Upon entering City of Atlanta, I moved onto the sidewalks and just tried to encourage some of the other runners - there was Beverly Ford Minor less than a mile from the finish.  Instead of remaining on the official race path, I decided to simply continue north on Sylvan Road.  The sidewalk was nearly continuous, if cracked in a few places, and so I just focused on keeping my footing.  I didn't want to ruin an excellent training cycle with a fall or another broken collarbone.  I wanted to re-enter the Westside Beltline, but as Sylvan Road turned onto Murphy Avenue paralleling the MARTA tracks, I couldn't find an entrance to the Beltline.  I must have passed over it, as I remembered a long tunnel just past the mile 10 marker during the race.  

Before long, I had crossed interstate 20 and was near the Spelman College campus, well into the 18th mile.  I had planned to turn around after completing mile 18, but I decided to turn a little sooner, hoping that I might still find part of the Beltline for the return trip.   Just before my watch signaled the end of mile 19, I saw a long ramp heading down to the Beltline (I had noticed the ramp earlier in the race) and went back onto the protected and pristine surface of the Beltline.  I passed the point where we had turned during The Race, and just continued south along the Beltline, which was nearly deserted.  Reaching the southern terminus, I saw ahead a big housing project with the front door missing from the nearest building.  Hmm, should I go back?  I stopped for a moment and checked the map program on my phone.  I realized that I could get back to the Impact Center by running straight past the projects to turn right on Metropolitan Parkway, parallel to and one-half mile east of Sylvan Road.  

Heading south on Metropolitan, I reached the intersection with Dill Avenue.  I recalled an intersection of Dill Avenue with Sylvan Road, and saw sidewalks ahead on both sides of the street, so this was a good place to make a right turn.  This was the Capitol View neighborhood, with modest but well-maintained single family homes.  With 20 miles done by this point, I turned onto Sylvan Road to return to home base.  Momentarily, I thought that I might have turned too soon and would have to find some additional streets to run around, but the mile 21 alert sounded well before I saw Langford Parkway once again.  Heading back up the hill, all of the other runners were long gone.   There were no police directing me through the intersection, so I waited for the light to turn.  And upon entering the city of East Point, the sidewalk ended, just as the mile 22 alert sounded.  Oh well, I had officially run the minimum mileage for the day.  I slowed and cautiously ran on the grass shoulder, watching for any holes in the ground that could twist an ankle.  Disaster avoided, I stopped at the intersection to cross over to the Impact Center.  Music was coming from the venue, as volunteers were in the midst of packing up.  Running easily through the parking lot, I kept going until I reached my car at the far end of the lot.  22.45 miles for the morning in 4:00:42, not counting the short breaks when the watch paused in the Porta Potty, or waiting at a few intersections in the final 9 miles.  

Amazingly, my legs didn't feel too sore.  Had I really just run 22-1/2 miles?  I was still good for 4 more miles, if had I needed to cover more ground today.  As I stretched by running backwards through the partially empty parking lot, Brian and Beverly came from the expo, sporting The Race jackets.  We caught up for a few minutes, and I proudly showed them my elapsed distance on my watch!  Brian achieved his goal of breaking 2:00, with a 1:59:37 chip time, and 1:59:53 on the clock!  

With my mission accomplished for today, I'm definitely ready for New York - at least if the weather is cool and clear!  Coming next: three glorious weeks of taper, including the Atlanta 10-miler next weekend as part of a short little 16-mile workout. 

And as for The Race, this event was very well-organized, along a nice route that was new for me and perhaps for many of the other participants.  Congratulations to Tes and Da'Rel for your success in creating year 1 of The Race! 

September 22, 2018: The Wingfoot Cross-Country Classic 5K

Although the weather has remained warm, my running has improved over the past week.  The speed workout in Tuesday evening went better than any of the earlier speed runs in this cycle, as I ran the prescribed paces without too much trouble.  Thursday evening I ran on a nice new route through Decatur with the Big Peach Running Company, taking the route a little faster than expected, but knocking out 5 miles at a 10:01 min / mile overall pace, thanks to speeding up for a 9:20 minute final mile. 

I ran the Wingfoot Cross Country 5K a couple of years ago, when it was a morning race under pleasantly cool conditions.  Last year, the Atlanta Track Club turned the event into an all-day cross-country meet, concluding in the evening with a Community 5K.  I missed this race, as Bonnie and I were on a weekend trip to New York City for her high school class reunion.  After my difficulty in the Monday Nighter 10K in June, a hot evening race, I wasn't looking forward to another warm evening race.  But I've completed all of the Atlanta Track Club Grand Prix events to this point in the year, and with today's race and the 10-Miler in late October, I'll get a little award for completing all of the races in the series.  

Bonnie and I drove up to Cartersville, arriving about 2 hours before the start of the race, plenty of time for me to get in 7 easy miles before the 5K race.  Even though the temperature was 90 deg F, I felt fine throughout the run, thanks to hydrating throughout the day, and bringing plenty of water on the run.  I found a nicely shaded gravel trail around Dellinger Park for the middle part of the mileage.  At one point I came across a group of 8 - 9 deer.  I tried to run quietly and smoothly past but most of the deer bounded into the safety of the trees, except for a young buck that stared me down, as I ran past taking care to remain on the gravel path, and staying off his turf!  

Sizing up the competition? 

By the time that I checked in to pick up my bib, my clothes were soaked with sweat, and my legs were a little sore.  I spent most of the minutes before the race with dynamic stretches, trying to work out the soreness before the start of the race.  I lined up on the far right side of the starting line arc.  The sun was dropping toward the horizon as the time drew near for the 7:30 pm start.  I had told people that I was taking it easy, trying for a progression run, etc., but when the starter's gun sounded:

 (Link to video for course preview) 

Coach Carl's recommendation

I began to run madly across the field.  However the field wasn't completely even, and so I decided to slow down a little, to ensure that I didn't take a bad step on the crushed corn stalks covering the ground.  Nonetheless near the bottom of the field, I took a quick look at my watch: 7:06 min / mile pace.  Oh well, I felt really good and strong, and decided to keep pushing forward.  Might I run a 23 minute 5K this evening?  Let's see.  I started passing people as we ran the lanes criss-crossing the field.  Shortly before the 1-mile mark, we bounded across three rows of hay bales - no problem.  Bonnie called out and I gave her a smile and a thumbs up, as I accelerated past a few more runners.  I reached a timing mat at mile 1 at 8:00 even.  

I was still racing across the field, feeling strong and fast, until about 11 minutes in, when the cumulative fatigue of 8 miles for the evening finally caught up to me.  I felt myself slow down, as a few people that I had passed a moment before caught up to me.  Oh well, this is a learning experience, no harm done, just don't do this in the marathon 6 weeks from now.  Nonetheless I didn't let myself take a walk break, I kept pushing as best as I could.  Crossing the timing mat for mile 2 at 17:00 even, I realized that I had really slowed down!  

As the hay bales came into sight, I heard Bonnie call out again.  "Gotta look good for Bonnie" I thought as I smoothly leaped over the hay bales, channelling the graceful running of the deer that I had seen earlier in the evening.  (On the video that Bonnie took, I don't look as graceful as I had felt.)  

About 21 minutes in, I started to push myself to speed up a bit, but I couldn't maintain speed for more than a minute, dropping back down.  Then the band began playing "What a Wonderful World" and I started to speed up again.  The finish line must be coming soon, I thought, then a volunteer called out "Only 400 meters to go!"  That was at least 300 meters more than I had expected, and I found myself slowing again.  As I passed the 3 mile marker at 26:40, the band switched to ZZ Top's 70's hit "La Grange".  Now I could see the finish line, and I forced myself to speed up, even though we were going uphill.  Finish time: 27:42, just under a 9 min / mile pace overall.  

I was parched and completely out of breath, but after a bottle of water, a bottle of Powerade, and most of a barbecue chicken sandwich, I had recovered.  Unfortunately my legs were really sore from the effort and tightened up on the hour-drive home.  Nonetheless, the event was a lot of fun and definitely worth the drive.  Although I didn't run the race very strategically, it felt good to push myself in a race, after a long summer of overly cautious running.  

Featuring Tucker Running Club members Becky Caldwell and Linda Bode Phinney,
and a barbecue chicken sandwich in my right hand! 

Another McDonald won this race!

September 8, 2018: Pacing the Craft Classic Half Marathon

At the ATL 20K a couple of weeks ago, I was encouraged to volunteer as a pacer for the Craft Classic Half Marathon.  I ran the race last year, and had considered repeating this year.  However, the marathon training schedule for this weekend was originally a "drop-back" week, 8 - 10 miles.  However, after I decided not to "race" the Big Peach Sizzler 10K on Labor Day, and discussed this with Coach Carl, he encouraged me to go ahead and pace as a medium long run.  I volunteered for the 2:30 pace group.  That was 30 minutes slower than my finishing time last year (nearly a new PR at that time), yet the pace would be fast enough to be a good training run and not so slow that I would get bored.  

I've been curious about pacing, and have seen it done well on several occasions.  I owe my 10K PR from the 2017 Big Peach Sizzler to a great 50 minute pace group.  And my half-marathon PR at the 2017 Jeff Galloway race was also aided by the 2:00 hour pace group: they helped me hold back for the first few miles, saving enough energy to run a negative split race and to a dramatic 3-minute improvement on my previous best.  The night before, I printed out a pace chart at an 11:25 min / mile pace, which would get me to the finish line 20 seconds ahead of time.  Last year the Craft Classic course felt a little long, but the start and end sections would be different this year.  Anyway I figured that gave me enough flexibility to speed up a little if needed near the end, and would work out fine if the course was an accurate 13.1 mile distance. 

7:30 am start, 2:30 finish, equals
80 deg F at the end of the race.

When we arrived at Grant Park around 6 am, it was already warm and humid.  As I didn't need any extra miles, I restricted my warmup to dynamic stretching.  Sonia Watson, the other 2:30 pacer, and I found our places evenly staggered from the start line, with 1:45, 2:00, and 2:15 pacers in front of us.  Sonia and I shared our plan with the runners around us, 2 minute run with 30 second walk intervals, and walking through the water stations.  I encouraged everyone around us to hydrate at every water stop.  After the National Anthem concluded at 7:30 am, the crowd began to move forward.  We crossed the starting mat about 30 seconds after the gun start.  Sonia and I settled into an easy jog, and when my watch sounded at 2 minutes in, I called "Walk break!" and raised my hand.  30 seconds later, "Let's go!" and we resumed running in a loop around the northern half of the park.  At first we were running about a 12:00 min / mile pace, but gradually sped up to finish the first mile in 11:12.  We were well into the second mile before we left the park, heading through the Summerhill neighborhood.  Some of the early water stops were crowded, and so I relied on the Nuun bottle that I was carrying for my own hydration, letting the other runners patronize the water stops. 

With pacer partner Sonia Watson.
Photos taken shortly before sunrise. 

A few Tucker Running Club members ran this morning,
including Lindy Liu (2:45 pacer) and Leigh Chestnutt (3:00 pacer)

The benefit of running through the park for the first mile-plus shortened the amount of time we spent in the middle lane of busy Decatur Street, after which we headed into the Inman Park neighborhood.  We were right on pace at mile 2, and about 10 seconds ahead of pace at mile 3 and 4.  Somehow we slowed down a bit on the Freedom Parkway pathway, even though mile 5 was level or slightly downhill, falling behind by 20 seconds.  I tried to push through mile 6 on the level part of Highland Avenue, but lost another 5 seconds.  Mile 7, on Virginia Avenue, was the last downhill mile before reaching the Eastside Beltline.  We shaved about 10 seconds off our time, being 15 seconds behind pace as we began running southbound on the Beltline.  At this point, Sonia and I became separated, as I kept pushing to avoid losing any more time, even though we were running a gradual but steady uphill.  I would turn around and call back with each walk break and run resumption, but it seemed that Sonia's group was falling a little further behind.  Was I going too fast?  At mile 8, crossing Ralph McGill Blvd, I was still 20 seconds behind.  I suppose that I was exactly on pace if we eliminated the 20 second cushion that I had planned with the pace band.  A few people were running with me, and I assured them that I was close to the pace, even with my run-walk intervals.  

Elevation profile for this race

Crossing Irwin Street at the 9 mile mark, I took a cup of Gatorade at the water station, and noted with satisfaction that I was now less than 5 seconds behind the desired pace.  Approaching the southern terminus of the Beltline, the route up the ramp was not marked, but I called out with authority "Up the ramp!"  I just hoped that I was right about that!  I looked back onto the Beltline as I headed up to Edgewood Avenue, and didn't see Sonia at all.  Fortunately I saw a sign at the top of the ramp directing us to turn right onto Edgewood.  Whew!! 

The route was well-marked the rest of the way.  I didn't intend to speed up, but having sped up a bit to get on track with the plan on the Beltline, I was now running ahead of pace, reaching mile 10 nearly 25 seconds ahead of schedule.  Hmm, how did that happen? I had been regularly informing the runners around me approximately how many seconds behind pace in the early miles, and now apologizing for being a little ahead of pace.  I tried to encourage everyone, "If you finish with me, you'll definitely break 2:30; if you're behind me but can see me, you'll probably finish right around 2:30."  The runners around me didn't complain, and a few were following my run-walk intervals.  I tried to take it easy, but at mile 11, I was 40 seconds ahead.  Even so, I was feeling the temperature, and just trying to stay strong and enthusiastic for the runners around me.  I continued to hold my pace stick above my head with the number clearly visible from behind.  

The beginning and the end of the race,
along with the elevation profile

Re-entering the park, I spotted the mile 12 marker, still 40 seconds ahead.  What to do?  Last year the route was long and it took me a full minute longer to finish based on my Garmin.  The thirteenth mile was a big struggle.  A substantial uphill section that forced me to take a walk break 30 seconds earlier than planned.  I hated to give in, but I just couldn't push up the hill without the break.  I was out of Nuun and was feeling parched.  To my shock, the mile 13 sign came up after just over 9 minutes of running, even though my watch indicated I had slowed to a 11:45 min / mile pace for that section.  At 2:25:50 at that point - how did I mess up this badly?  I slowed down a bit more, and all of the runners with me pulled ahead as I had hoped they would.  The music from the finish line drifted across the park, "Eye of the Tiger" by 80's group Survivor.  Yep, that was fitting, but the thought that came to me, I think I even vocalized it, was "Long runs put the tiger in the cat!" 

I decided that the 13-mile marker was definitely misplaced, when I had to run nearly a quarter of a mile to get to the finish line.  The clock was just past 2:29 when I crossed the timing mat, with my watch showing 2:28:25 for my finish, and 13.04 miles elapsed.  As a volunteer wearing a Big Peach Sizzler shirt gave me my medal, I wondered, was my Garmin off, or was the course too short?  I calculated that if I ran the same pace for 13.11 miles, I would have finished closer to 2:29:30, which would have been perfectly acceptable.  

I grabbed a cool bottle of water and guzzled most of it down within a couple of minutes, then took a second bottle, which I drank a little more slowly.  A few runners came up to thank me, but unfortunately I was so tired I was having trouble making conversation.  Sonia crossed a few minutes later, so I don't think that she finished in 2:30, but the heat and humidity was really tough.  Finally I decided I had better sit down on the curb, as I was a little dizzy.  I wasn't sure that I would be able to get up, but after Lindy Liu and her pacer partner crossed just a few seconds ahead of 2:45, I managed to get up without too much trouble.  A few cups of Gatorade helped me regain some equilibrium.  

I certainly didn't expect that pacing would be that difficult!  And I said to Lindy, who is also training for New York, "If it's hot like this in New York (in November), I won't be able to finish the marathon distance."  Yet I did everything according to my plan: hydrated well yesterday, ate a decent breakfast this morning, and ran over a minute / mile slower than my eventual marathon goal pace.  Whew, I have a long way to go with my training.  I just hope that it begins to cool down before much longer. 

September 3, 2018: The Big Peach Sizzler 10K

Last weekend I wrote about my contrition in failing to complete the 20-mile run on my training schedule.   By the time I saw Coach Carl at the Tuesday evening track workout, I was no longer too upset with myself, knowing that I still had plenty of time to properly prepare for the New York City Marathon on November 4.  

Back in late June when I asked Coach Carl to set up a marathon training plan, the one race that I hoped to "race" was the Big Peach Sizzler 10K on Labor Day.  In last year's race, I broke the 50 minute barrier for the first time, thanks to a relatively level course and unusually cool weather, and I wanted one race at a midpoint in the program to see how I might perform.  Carl accommodated my request as a "checkpoint" race, even making the Saturday before the race a recovery day.  But after several weeks of serious training, I realized that I was no longer interested in trying to improve on last year's PR performance, unless it helped my preparation for New York.  Frankly I was concerned about overdoing things and injuring myself again.  I talked with Carl about this a few weeks ago, and he recommended that I simply run the first 5K at an easy pace, and then run the second 5K at my 10K goal pace. 

To ensure that I would complete at least 12 miles today, I arrived and parked near the finish area by 6 am.  After a few minutes of dynamic stretches, I took a shortcut from Buckhead Station to Peachtree Road, and headed outbound, using a small flashlight mostly to make myself more visible.  The right lane of Peachtree Road was already coned off, even though it was an hour before the 7:00 am start of the 5K race.  I encountered a verbal argument between a couple just outside of the Buckhead MARTA station - which spurred me to run just a bit faster - but I don't think they noticed me.  As I worked my way up Peachtree Road, I reached an enthusiastic group of volunteers setting up the water station at the 4.7 mile mark, then another group at the 3 mile water station in Brookhaven, and as the sky grew light, came upon a few dozen volunteers ready to serve water at the 1.5 mile water stop.  After crossing Clairmont Road and turning right onto Miller Street, it was 7:10 am and I was just a quarter-mile from the start.  I ran past other runners warming up for the race, and finally stopped the watch at 5.75 miles, far enough to guarantee that I would reach 12 miles for the day.  I took the intervening 15 minutes to stretch a bit and catch up with a few friends preparing for the start.  

With a few friends in the tucker Running Club, 5 minutes before the start

After posing for a photo with a few Tucker Running Club members, I headed into the group of runners starting behind the 10:00 min / mile pace sign.  With the conclusion of the National Anthem, we moved forward toward the starting line.  We waited for a couple of minutes, and then heard the report of the starting gun.  After a moment, we began walking, and finally the starting mat came into view.  I started my watch and started jogging.  I could have raced around the runners in front of me, but was thinking "When I begin the New York Marathon, I need to start slowly!" and I held back for the first mile, at a 10:24 minute pace.  Someone asked in the first minute, "Are you running the Galloway method?"  As I heard the watch signal the first walk break at 4:30, it seemed too crowded to safety slow down.  So I did the next best thing: I found an opening in front of me and decided to surge forward for 30 seconds until the end of the "walk" break signaled at 5:00 minutes.  Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to change my plan on a whim, but ... my legs felt good, and these were essentially "stride" workouts.  I continued to do surge every 5 minutes, just for 30 seconds for the first six miles.  And as the miles ticked away, I was gradually speeding up, 9:28 for mile 2 (OK, that wasn't too gradual), 9:24 for mile 3, 9:10 for mile 4, and 9:06 for mile 5.  I was annoyed, no, let's say amused, as a couple passed me somewhere in mile 3, while they were complaining about their current injuries.  Even though I was growing tired as we approached and then turned right onto Piedmont Road, I covered mile 6 in 8:53 miles.  Passing the mile 6 marker, I used every last bit of energy to propel myself to a strong finish, running at a 7:48 min / mile pace.  Not too much further!  Turning right into the road entering Buckhead Station, I saw 59:45 on the clock, and really hustled to ensure that I would cross the finish line before the hour was up on the race.  Not that I was racing!  58:47 chip time, around 9:25 min / mile average pace. 

Happy finishers!  Flanked by ATC run lead Megan McGuigan, age group winner Susie Kim,
another age group winner Kilsun Hogue, and ATC run lead Michelle Vail

12 good miles gave me a great
anandamide buzz!

I was pleasantly surprised to see three graduate students from the organic chemistry cohort at Emory!  Between our department chair (who has climbed six of the seven tallest mountains on each continent, hoping to try Everest again soon) and at least three other faculty members who have run marathons in 2018, we're a pretty athletic group of scientists!  

And I finished the full 12 mile workout prescribed for the day, both in the distance and in the quality of the run.