In a new series called Why The Face? I’m putting together right now with no promised regularity I will point out things that are so ridiculous and out of the realm of normal that they deserve their own category.
Today’s issue of Why The Face? we visit Colin’s performance at the Rock ‘n Roll DC half marathon yesterday.
His time: 1:25:27. WTF!
I am a Vermonster, or at least that’s the goal. Because I just signed up for the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon! Colin and I will be taking on
can’t changed pharmacy no rx paypal size soap grippy http://www.galvaunion.com/nilo/estrace-without-prescription.php about a and.
the streets of Burlington on Memorial Day to make history. The plan is for both of us to qualify for the Boston Marathon–something the world has never seen before! That makes our goal a very real, very challenging 3:04:59. A brief recap shows that Colin
needs to cut 27 seconds off his best time. I have a slightly more daunting 11 minutes 30 seconds off my personal best.
So with that, I leave you with just one question:
or
<
p>Time will tell.
I’m taking a brief step away from the typical Mike-centric post to tell a story of heartbreak, disappointment, and superhuman abilities that indirectly affects me. This past Sunday my long-distance running buddy/nemesis frenemy Colin ran the Philadelphia Marathon. “Run” doesn’t really capture the whole story. You see, Colin has been busting his hump with the singular goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. New qualifying standards were put in place this year making it more difficult. The requirement for a 26 year old male is to run a marathon under 3 hours 5 minutes. To put it another way, crazy fast.
Just wanted to give a quick shout-out to Colin and wish him luck at the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon this Sunday! Since San Antonio (where you’ll remember I left him in the dust), he’s been a man-possessed training for this race. He picked up a 18-week, 6-days-per-week training plan, peaking at 70 miles in a week (twice!). You know how many training runs he missed? Zero. That’s 107 out of 124 days that he ran. It included a 1:33:18 half marathon and a sub-40 minute 10K. To say that he has prepared for this race is an understatement.
Race conditions are not looking favorable, with starting temps in the mid-60s and highs for the day in the upper-70s or low-80s. He may have to deal with a fair amount of humidity and wind too. I’m sure he’ll chew up my 3:22:34 PR and spit it out, but I’m OK with that considering how much work he put in. His goal has fluctuated between 3:05 and 3:10, but with the conditions as they are, may be tempered just a bit.
So, let’s wish him luck* on Sunday for a great race.
I’m expecting a text message from him shortly after, and I’ll keep you updated with how he does. If you can’t wait, you can track him here.
*though if he happened to cramp up and finish a few minutes slower than 3:22, I’d be OK with that too. Kidding!!!**
**not kidding
I don’t know! The lottery selection is today (April 27th) and I’m waiting to find out if I’m in. The most recent number I heard is a 1 in 6 chance of being selected. That means for Colin and I both to get selected is a 1 in 36 shot. Not good. Anyway, I’m sitting here waiting for this page to update. I’ll let you know what happens.
Hello, My Lone Faithful Readers,
I feel like we have forged a strong relationship over the last 18 months and I want to share something personal with you — something known only to those who I hold very near and dear to me I think would care. As I am sure you have guessed, running is a bit of a hobby. I dabble. But it is not the final frontier.
“What!? What is this nonsensical nonsense?” you exclaim.
Well, my friends, fear not. Running will still be a part of the master plan; it just might have two friends to tag along (which is more than I can say for myself…). I realize I still haven’t said what I’m saying, so I’ll say it right after I finish saying this.
The day after the San Antonio Marathon, recovery was my number one priority, so what better way to recover than hit up an untested food cart? Colin smartly stayed in Austin an extra day to recover too, so he joined me as we picked up Ev from work for lunch downtown. After hyping up Chi’Lantro BBQ (a lot), they graced us with an atypical Monday lunch opening. Of course I’m always down for a Korean-Mexican fusion, but this time I wanted to go with something I can’t regularly get. And what might that be? A fried catfish po’ boy of course!
The 2010 San Antonio Marathon took over the streets of, you guessed it, San Antonio on Sunday. Colin flew down to run the race with me, and it was the first marathon for both of us in quite awhile — Miami, Jan 2010 for me, Chicago, Oct 2009 for Colin. The worst part has been that Colin’s been holding the title of fastest marathon time between the two of us for 13 months. From my race preview, you know my goals were to beat Colin this time and beat his best time, so really I’m racing Colin twice.
Quick logistical update! I didn’t mention it previously, but our original plan for San Antonio was to set sail from Austin to San Antonio bright dark and early on race morning. That would mean leaving my apartment no later than 4:30am, which would put us in downtown San Antonio by 6am, assuming no traffic. Seemed like a pretty sound plan, except for basically every review we’ve read about the race. The main theme is that the downtown area is a cluster. Some even mentioned leaving their cars on the side of the highway and walking/running 2 miles to the starting line. Night. Mare.
Well ladies and gents (and other), it’s race week! This Sunday is the San Antonio Marathon where I will crush Colin and his Chicago PR and regain the title Colin and I will amicably run together. It sure doesn’t feel like it’s this weekend though, and Colin agrees. We’ve talked about the race to no end for the last 4 months, so it isn’t so much a matter of “out of sight, out of mind.” We’ve also both been training like crazy and feeling very prepared to Rock ‘n’ Roll*.
