Archive for the ‘Fall 2008’ Category

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Sunday Long Run Breakfast

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

Just like the Sunday Long Run tradition of capping off each long run with a little breakfast, another tradition is to cap off the Sunday Long Run season with a big breakfast. In the past few months we’ve worked together to reach for very individual goals and astonishingly most exceeded their goal. To celebrate that we’ll be meeting at Cappa’s Trackside Kitchen (1 Grove St, Melrose) for a big celebratory breakfast! That’s right, no Breakheart, just breakfast!!! Sure it’ll cost you more than a buck but it beats the Gu and Snickers we had for breakfast from July through October. If you’re interested post here so we can know how many to expect. The Trackside is small, so similar to our runs we might end up getting split up in packs but we’ll still be celebrating as a group.

ROLL CALL! Who’s in? Trackside 9AM!

Posted in Fall 2008 | 22 Comments »

The final week – Congrats, Thanks, and So Long

Friday, October 24th, 2008

BREAKHEART – 11.9 Mile Run

This week will be the final long run of the Fall training session and with that we’ll try to rap a few things up.

First, congratulations to all that ran Baystate. We had a mix of goals going into that race, some looking to qualify for Boston, some hoping to just complete their first marathon, and others just putting another notch on their marathon belt. Amazingly I think everyone was successful in doing what they planned to. Great to see!

Second, thanks to all that contributed to my very nice and very generous gift. Its been a pleasure to work with all of you to put together a very successful long run programs. Seeing our speedy runners excel at races around the globe, our veterans push themselves through the familiar grind of training in hopes of reaching new goals, and (my favorite part) the rookies heading into places they’ve never been before with wide eyes and great hopes. Seeing all that and knowing I had a little to do with everyone’s experience is thanks enough for the times I pick up the water, Gatorade and Gu and figure out which hill to make you climb each week.

For those that weren’t there Tuesday, after the fancy gift with the money to treat my car to a nice de-water-stop cleaning, for some reason my car turned on me and refused to start late Tuesday night. $500+ dollars later its back up on its tires and ready to go. I’m thinking twice about giving it a treat though, I might just treat myself to many many Snickers bars after my marathon is done 🙂

And now for the So Long… this is the last long run of the season. One final 12 mile run, most likely out Main St and cutting over to Breakheart for one last jaunt through some big hills. I’ll post a map tomorrow and will need help for two water stops. I don’t have any water stop supplies. I think Lois has one bin and Sue has two? We can discuss how we want to do this after I know who plans on coming.

ROLL CALL! Who’s in?

Posted in Fall 2008, Roll Call | 21 Comments »

Week 12 – It’s the Big One

Friday, September 26th, 2008

CLICK FOR REVISED 21.7M MAP 

CLICK FOR REVISED 9.0M MAP

Week 12 of 15 in the fall is a big week. For those running the Baystate Marathon or the Hartford Marathon this is your final long run before your two week taper. For our BAA Half Marathon runners this is also your last long run before your one week taper. That is 22 miles for the marathoners and 10-13 for the half marathoners, depending on personal training preferences.

The routes will vary slightly, look for an update to them as a comment to this message sometime tonight or tomorrow. The water stops this week: WS1/4 will be handled by Walt. WS2 will be at Marianne Stanton’s house on RT38 in Medford. WS3 will be at the field on Mystic Valley Pkwy by the Middle School in Winchester. I’m still figuring this stop out. If there is anyone looking to run about 10 miles perhaps they could be picked up there in the morning and run back to their car from Brueggers. The final water stop is on Highland Ave in Medford near the Flynn Rink, which Kelly and Catherine will handle. Please confirm if you’re part of this plan or volunteer if you want to be.

It’ll be a rainy Sunday if the forecasts are correct (Walt?). I suggest a coating of vaseline on your feet to prevent blisters. I also suggest that you wear as much of your planned marathon/half-marathon day clothing as you can (conditions may hamper this) as its a great opportunity to find out if certain shirts/shorts/bras/socks will cause chaffing or other issues. It’s also an opportunity to test out your pre-race meals, Saturday’s dinner and Sunday’s breakfast should mimic race weekend in content and meal time. One last suggestion, if you haven’t tried a Gu on your run you should this week. It’s designed to get people through long runs, see how it works for you before you’re race.

That’s enough from me for now. Who’s in?

See you Sunday Morning, 8AM, Brueggers!
Jim

Posted in Fall 2008, Roll Call, Week 12 | 29 Comments »

Marathon du Medoc

Thursday, September 25th, 2008
Medoc Marathon
The Medoc Marathon is run for a FUN time, not a speed time. It’s definitely missing the point if you run this as a Boston qualifier. Its location near Bordeaux France (Pauillac, southwest corner of France) is in distinctive wine country (Merlot reds). This is well south of Paris.  This year’s marathon with about 8000 finishers…probably 90 percent in some sort of costume… started at 930am France time, (3:30am in Boston) on Saturday September 6th.The photos seen are from start to finish. Showers pelted the start with rainbows over the vineyards during the nearly 1 hour bus ride north of Bordeaux, France. Otherwise it was a partly sunny run in temperatures, probably in the 60s.

Only about 200 US citizens are permitted to run, and all US entries apparently are through tour groups. I went with Marathon Tours with the company president Thom Gilligan and his wife Sharon as guides. We had 99 in our group, with a couple – Phil and Mary Anne Hailer from L Street and myself representing the Boston area. Our group had representatives from Canada and India as well. Accommodations were good. It was a 5 day wine tasting party…arrival midday Thursday French time, departing Tuesday midday. The cash outlay was substantial — $2000 for the trip, including most meals, hotel, marathon entry, some transfers etc. Another 1000 for the rt flight: Boston-Frankfurt on a big aircraft, with regional aircraft and 4 hour layover from Frankfurt to Bordeaux. Add your expenses for purchasing wine and other gifts… So, my suggestion going over, if you do…plan to wine taste all day and evening, lots and lots of LONG bus rides into the vineyards.  

The marathon was the sweetheart for me… wine and live music at virtually every water stop (~every 2K). I sipped only at 28, 34 and 39K, enjoying raw oysters at 39K, had an ice cream given to me at 41K for the finish push and there was lots of food at tables enroute. I thought the finish food the best… though word has it, Nashville R&R Marathon and New Orleans Marathon are even better.

To open the photos, my Island Paradise theme, leis, Hawaiian shirt, and wore a grass skirt. I left the Garmin at the hotel-no need for this run. No starter mat, so if you started back you added a minute or 3 to your time. There was a clock at 20K to give you an idea of how you were doing near the halfway point. The bib had the chip in it… in this case a rectangular wiring system.The rainbow had two meanings… both a pre-race spark and pre-race reality check that there is rain around.Next the starting line, followed by a sampling of runners, band and wine stops with the finish.It was a training run for me… an expensive one. I wont go back, since I like to add a little history to these but… I am glad I got it out of my system. If you like sampling wine for 5 days… this trip may be for you! 

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Walt’s Full Photo Gallery

Posted in Fall 2008, Race Report, Recap | 2 Comments »

Week 11 – Off to the Races

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

This Sunday many of our long run regulars will be waking up after a day of relaying around Lake Winnipesaukee, including me. So Walt has agreed to step in and manage the long run for me on my week off. We have a route that wanders around the Swains Pond neighborhood before cutting past Oak Grove to the Fells. From there the routes will be familiar for everyone.

Water stops. Walt will manage them but he’ll need his help. First piece of business is the water stop materials. I have plenty of water/gatorade/snacks but I need to drop them off to someone before I head to NH. Preferably someone in Melrose. Any volunteers? Walt can coordinate with you and whoever helps with the waterstops for getting the boxes in the morning, parking cars in spots, and collecting everything back up in the morning.

The waterstops on Sunday are: (1) In the parking lot of the Citizens Bank in Malden, on Main St near Forest St. (2) The knoll across from the Melrose Middle School, (3) the Saugus parking lot of Breakheart.

Thanks Walt for taking the reigns this week! Thank you in advance to all who help with the water stops. Now its time for the Roll Call!

Posted in Fall 2008, Roll Call, Week 11 | 38 Comments »

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