MCM history lesson courtesy of Kim!

So as Monica announced, the two of us are now officially committed to running the 35th Marine Corps Marathon on Halloween in Arlington and Washington, DC. I’ve been set on running it since about December, and am super excited that Monica will be joining (I can’t say I expect to be able to keep up with her…I have no desire to do anything but finish, and maybe not be picked up by the stragglers’ bus at mile 20). I’ve been marginally involved with the MCM for the past two years through running the MC10K, which is held at the same time as the marathon, and ends up at Iwo Jima a couple hours before the first marathon finishers cross the line.

The MCM bills itself as “the People’s Marathon,” primarily because it doesn’t do anything to try to attract professional runners—there is no prize money, and no appearance fees paid to the professionals who boost the standing of some other marathons which will remain unnamed in case I ever decide to run them. As a result, I think the MCM is about as unintimidating as you can get for marathons (you know, one you get over the fact that it’s a marathon and all).

Despite the lack of big names and prize money, the MCM is one of the biggest marathons in the country, with about 20,000 finishers (at least according to Wikipedia). This year, it sold out in less than 6 DAYS, which means there are 30,000 people set to start training. The marathon is always run on the last Sunday of October, and that weekend in DC, it’s pretty easy to pick out at least a few dozen people in town for the marathon (not including the thousands flocking to the convention center or armory, which normally host race packet pickups, and which have now successfully motivated me to make the jump from the 10K to the marathon).

The MCM manages to hit a ridiculous amount of DC landmarks on a loop around the Mall and Capitol, at least two bridge crossings (I think there’s more, but the last time I watched the 4+ minute video just tracing the course, I started getting tired, so let’s avoid that for now—the video is actually being updated, so no links available). I’m looking forward to the loop around the reservoir and through M Street, personally.

The MCM will be set up at the expo for the Broad Street Run, so as Mon put it, “we can be sketchy and excited super early and take tons of pictures for the blog!” It’ll be nice to get an early dose of enthusiasm, too.

Registration for the Marines Corps 10K opens on May 5th. Everyone who isn’t quite ready for a marathon, but looking for a great race should sign up!

In any case, I’ll be needing some serious encouragement through this process, and hope that I’ll see you all at the finish line!

Broad Street 10 Mile!

So turns out after all I AM signed up for the Philadelphia Broad Street 10 Mile race this Sunday! Confirmation was lacking until this morning when Kim found my bib number on their website (thanks, dear). Like many other long distance races, the Broad Street 10 miler sold out for the first time in its 30 year history. Online registration closed earlier than expected in March so I was forced to snail mail in my application and wait for written confirmation that I had a spot. Radio silence. However, according to their website I got in and am all set for Sunday! Lesson learned that I shouldn't procrastinate race reg in the future so all this confusion can be avoided, especially since more and more races are filling up faster than ever.

Really looking forward to this race as first and foremost it'll be a lovely Hoya reunion to run with Kimi-chan, Mike, and Tim! This is the second of many races Kim and I will be running together in preparation for this fall's Marine Corps Marathon. Woot! Also this is my first trip to Philly (I know, total East Coast fail) so Kim and I will do a little exploring on Saturday. Perhaps we'll even run into a veryvery drunk Greg who's skipping out on this race to go to his friend's 4 day bar-hopping bachelor party. His liver may never be the same again.

Anyways, if any of y'all live or find yourself in Philly this weekend, we'd love to see you at the finish line!

Running mojo

Totally nosegaming responsibility for my lacking of posting over the past two weeks to earnings season. That and a bad case of spring fever that has left me totally unwilling to touch a computie after walking (read: SPRINTING) out the office every evening. Very excited to report that my knees have finally stopped bothering me and my running mojo has returned after two months of icing, knee straps, and MOTRIN. So happy.

Last week's runs included:

1. Tempo Run: 2 miles warm-up at 9:45mm, 4 miles at 8:45mm, and 1 mile cool-down at 9:30 for a total of 7 miles
   
2. Speedwork: 2 miles warm-up at 9:30mm, 7 x 900 at 7:45 pace with 1 minute jogs at 9:20mm, 1 mile cooldown
   
3. Long Run: slow 10 miles at 10:00mm. Circled downtown Manhattan per usual and enjoyed the GORGEOUS weather on Saturday.
4. Recovery Run: Chill 5 miler at a comfortable, untimed pace. What? Not every run has to be aiming for a new PB.
   

Now that it's spring (and sometimes warm), running attire etiquette is definitely a topic on my mind/in my field of vision... In the winter, it's no big deal - everyone piles on layer after layer of fleece and spandex to stay warm. Well except for this NYRR runner, who bares it all no matter how cold it is. However as soon as the temp inches past 60degrees, many runners drop their clothing like it's hot. The Runners World jury was divided on if it's ever okay to run without a shirt. Let's be honest, if a guy's in great shape I'm probably not going to complain if he nixes the shirt. But generally those aren't the runners who've decided to bare it all from the waist up, and so I'm often left with retinal scarring. Sadly I'm resigned to the fact that this phenomenon will only increase as we enter the brutally hot and humid NYC summer.

Thoughts - yay or nay to shirtless running (or sports bra for the ladies)?

Stay tuned for a recap of Dasha's and my adventures in the NYC Scavenger Hunt (!!) and how running actually makes you good at life/helps you win free food. Mwuahaha!

Live and learn

After a week off the blogging train in order to pay a little attention to life/work/drinking (my liver was feeling a little too healthy), I'm back with running updates that are: a.) fun, b.) interesting, c.) intellectually stimulating, d.) psychotic or e.) all of the above. I'll leave it to y'all to decide.

1. After over a month of responsible running, knee straps, ice packs, and an obscene amount of ibuprofen, my knees no longer drive me to long for amputation on every run. Victory! Knock on wood they stay this way. I'm restraining the urge to ramp back up to running 6 days, however. Until I'm forced to log killer mileage during Comrades training, I will be sticking to running a mere four times a week with crosstraining/yoga on the other 3 days.
   
   
2. As you can see (or probably not given the suboptimal quality of a BlackBerry camera), I busted out the old graph paper and charted my training plan for the next 9 weeks. Don't get me wrong, I love the Runner's World Smart Coach training plans, but since my schedule is so wonky and I have some traveling coming up in the next couple of months (Italy!!), it's often difficult to put together a plan that I can consistently execute. My new schedule sticks to the aforementioned 4 runs a week, focusing on quality miles over quantity. Each week includes a tempo run, speedwork, long run, and one recovery run. Mileage increases every week by 10% then drops back in the third week to allow for additional recovery or to accommodate a race. The goal for the next 3 months is to maintain a base mileage of around 30 miles/week, AVOID injury, and incorporate some good fast running to keep my times down and sanity in check.
   
   
3. Marathon training starts in earnest on July 12th!
   
   
4. "Running in Marathons: Facebook Made me Do It" - what is Facebook, the new excuse for every good/poor life decision? Possibly. Stumbled upon this article last week during my daily morning blog/newspaper run through. Although a bit simplistic in its analysis, the article raised some interesting points on the intersection of the Internet, social networking, and running. Little old blogging me is clearly in no position to judge. At least I haven't created a Facebook fanpage for this blog. Yet...
   
   
5. Oh. Umm. Lastly. About that race and long run this past weekend. First and foremost, I'd like to place full responsibility on Shaun Gregory Smithies for the massive consumption of hefeweizen that occurred on Saturday, April 10th. There generally is no way that 7 hours of daydrinking will bode well for athletic performance. Case in point, Sunday's Run as One 4 miler in Central Park. Despite massive hydration the morning of, I was clearly still in a tipsy/hungover state upon pitching up at the ungodly hour of 8am. Minor details. The course started off on the east side of 72nd Street and proceeded immediately up Cougar Hill in the first mile. After assessing my subprime running condition, I made the intelligent call to run conservatively the first two miles at a 9:30 pace then speed up a bit on the downhills for the final two miles if I was feeling up to it.
   
   Per usual intelligence was short lived. I bounded up Cougar Hill in the first mile, sprinted along rolling hills and passed the second mile marker in under 16 minutes. Against my better judgment, however, I grabbed a water cup at the aid station before mile three to take a tiny sip in order to soothe my parched mouth. Quite possibly the worst call ever. As soon as that ice cold water hit my injured, battered stomach, I thought there was no way I would survive, let alone finish that race. Enter boot and rally - very clearly not my classiest moment. Nonetheless, pulled myself together and finished the race in a skotch over 36 minutes (~9:15 pace). Not as great of a time as I'd hoped for, but the fact that I even crossed the finish line was enough of a victory for me and a legit excuse to skip my planned 8 mile run home. Win some, lose some?
   

Live(ish) blogging the NYC marathon lottery

12:31pm Sadface. Wasn't accepted into the NYC marathon. But will be running the 2010 Marine Corps Marathon with Kim!!

"Dear Monica K. Munn,

YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY REGISTERED FOR THE 35th MARINE CORPS MARATHON! Your registration confirmation includes any items purchased. For your convenience we have included the waiver you consented to during registration. "

12:22pm As for the elites field, Mary just announced that Deena Kastor, one of the all-time greatest female marathoners, will be competing at the 2010 NYC marathon. Equally exciting will be an appearance from Meb Keflezghi, the male winner of the 2009 NYC marathon and the first American winner since Alberto Salazar in 1982.

12:18pm 9th and final name from NYC is Lenn Burman (sp?)! I have no idea who you are, but I'm jealous you're in!

12:15pm Called the first three runners from the States to get the marathon, representing Oregon, Detroit, and Dallas so far. Just a small slice of the diversity that is the NYC Marathon.

12:11pm Win! Finally got the live stream to load. However, Mary Wittenberg, the CEO of NYRR, is speaking in slow-mo and sounds like a robot thanks to the crappy quality and overwhelmed site. Minor details.

12:04pm Okay, NYRR site, it's time for your video streaming to start working. Reality check is that I will probably have to wait till 12:30 to find out if I made the marathon as that's the time runners can check their online profiles to confirm status. Boo.

11:52am Less than 10 minutes now and the video link is active! Woooo!!

11:24am Speaking of lotteries, NYT had an interesting article a few weeks ago about the rising popularity of endurance racing events, which has forced many marathon organizers to adopt lottery systems to select participants.

11:00am ONE. HOUR.

10:14am Paul's insightful BBM commentary on my foray into live blogging - "What is this liveblogging crap? 'I got it' or 'I didn't get it.' Riveting." Thanks, friend, see if I let you GUEST BLOG at any point in the future.

9:56am For your reading/procrastination/personal edification, here are some random facts about the NYC marathon:

1. Over 2 million spectators line the bridges/streets/parks of NYC to cheer on runners. That's roughly the population of Namibia!
   
2. An 8-year old ran the marathon in 3 hours! WTF. Apparently a pint sized runner from MO finished the marathon in 3:00:37 back in the late '70s. Feeling grossly inadequate now.
3. Only 55 runners finished (out of 127) the first NYC marathon in 1970. Compare that with the over 40,000 runners who completed 2009's race. Crazy CAGR whaaaaaaat?
4. P Diddy ran the New York Marathon in 4:14:54 and raised over $2 million dollars for charity, setting a ridiculously high bar for charity runners everywhere.
   

9:30am Oh, p.s., you can watch the lottery LIVE here. Gotta love technology.

9:02am I am officially spazzing out. In less than 3 hours, the results of the 2010 ING NYC Marathon lottery will be posted online, making thousands of runners incredibly giddy and countless more despondent. Regardless if you're in or out, NYRR is hosting lottery parties at bars across the city to celebrate/drown your sorrows. LOVE IT.

As I clearly will get negative work accomplished this morning, expect a semi-constant stream of word vomit, a close cousin of live-blogging, about the marathon, random trivia, and general excitement.

We are always running for the thrill of it

"You're running HOW far? At WHAT time?' Unsurprisingly this was my parents' reaction when I casually dropped that I planned on running 11 to 12 miles at the god awful hour of 7am on Sunday morning. I intended to head up to Ronald Reagan Airport then loop back to my house, a distance that my stepdad would literally have had to bribe me to BIKE with him when I was younger. While I've kept my parents abreast of all the races from the past few months, I suppose that seeing truly is believing, especially when it comes to their formerly commitmentphobe runner daughter.

Speaking of which, I finally discussed my Comrades ambitions with my parents. Obviously I have no qualms broadcasting this goal and its progress over the internet to my friends and friendly stalkers, but something about vocalizing it to my parents carries so much more weight. In many aspects of my life, I frequently delay telling the rents about major developments, be it a new apartment, the end to an ongoing break-up, or even my class schedule, preferring to wait until things are utterly finalized.

While my parents have always been incredibly supportive of anything I set my mind to, I suppose part of my reluctance stems from my fear of disappointing them if I don't go through with endeavors, coupled with a small desire to avoid fielding questions about things/people/places who's 15 seconds of my fame in my life have already passed. However, at this point I can firmly say that I am committed to running Comrades (body allowing) so it's important to loop in my family on my next big life goal. My parents' reaction to the Comrades discussion was slight skepticism (which is COMPLETELY understandable), but mainly support and encouragement for which I am very very grateful. Looking forward to many copies of Born to Run for my birthday. Always need the relevant research material!

What inspires you to get out there? Totally tangential but has anyone read Born to Run - thoughts?

I DID follow through with my 7am long-run on Sunday morning, getting up before even my mother. First time for everything. Fueled up with my standard pre-race/long run meal of a slice of whole grain bread topped with peanut butter, sliced banana, and honey. Perfect mix of quick acting carbs and protein. The goal for Sunday's long run was more for time than distance. It'd been over two months since I'd ran for longer than an hour and a half(ish), and with marathon training looming on the horizon in 3 months (SO SOON!) I figured it was time to start bringing back the lengthy long runs. So I decided to go out at a comfortable pace, run for two hours for the endurance/psychological challenge, and not really worry about distance. Running from my house to the airport and back turned out to be about 12.7 miles, which I finished in around 2hours! Even better, legs and knees felt totally fine afterward, thankyouholymotherofchrist. Returned home just in time for a super tasty brunch of challah french toast, bacon, and fruit salad. After snarfing that down, I was obviously hungry a few hours later, but luckily had lots of spring veggie risotto to chomp down on for dinner. Mmmmmm, carbs. All in all, a fantastic weekend home!

Up next: Wednesday is marathon day of judgment! The results of the 2010 ING New York City Marathon lottery will be announced. It's only a 1:8 chance that I got in so pretty please keep your fingers crossed for me! Otherwise, it's off to DC on October 31st to run the Marine Corps Marathon with Kim!

Home is where the Diet Coke is

As you can see from the lovely tree in our front yard, spring is in full bloom here in the pseudo-South. I tore myself away from the city for the weekend and am back in Alexandria to catch up with my family. And raid their cupboards.

Although it may only be the beginning of April, it certainly felt like freaking summer on my run yesterday. I fueled up with a tasty whole grain salad from the Whole Foods salad bar (Paul, I now understand how it is your crack) then set off on a nice 6 mile run down the GW parkway to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. The weather definitely impacted my speed a bit since I'm not used to running in 80degree weather yet. Give me a snowpocalypse any day! Well, maybe not. Wished I had brought a water bottle with me around mile 3, but luckily the park service has turned the water fountains back on along the trail. That is one thing I definitely miss when running in NYC. For long runs, you're practically forced to carry a water bottle since fountains are few and far between. I'll have to pull off some logistical feats to stay hydrated and fed once I start racking up 15+ mile runs this summer.

What's your favorite time of the year to go running?

Only a short post for now, my nieces are shouting up the stairs for "Auntie Monica." That makes me feel awfully old... Going to sneak in a 12 mile long run this afternoon or tomorrow. Perfect way to enjoy the weather!