10 Years Running

When I celebrated my 39th birthday back in November of 2008 I also celebrated a decade of running. Back in 1998, when I turned 29 and weighed 230 lbs, I decided it was time to get in shape. Recently I decided to go through some of my old training logs and reminisce a bit. Below is some of the information that I found to be interesting and worth sharing.

Early Training:

1997 - Ran/walked a 2.5 loop from house. Tried to PR course every time out.

1998 - Started to do bigger loops up to 7 miles. Still ran in Nike high top sneakers.

1999 – Increased long run up to 16 miles to “prepare” for Boston.

Early Training PR’s:

1997 – 2.5 (10:00)

1998 – 2.5 (7:00), 4 (7:15), 5.5 (7:30), 7 (8:00)

1999 – 2.5 (6:15), 4 (6:20), 5.5 (6:30), 7 (6:35), 9.5 (6:45), 13.5 (7:15), 16 (8:00)

Early Races:

1999 Marblehead 5 Miler – 35:43, 7:09 pace. First race ever. 1 week before Boston.

1999 North Shore Half – 1:49:48, 8:23 pace. Brutally hot. Finished right behind Andrea Pierce.

1999 Bear Run 10k – 48:35, 7:49 pace. Tired from midnight showing of Phantom Menace.

Firsts & Bests (Races):

1m – (5:30) 2001 & (4:42) 2005 – Difference:48

5k – 19:53 (6:24) 2001 & 17:49 (5:45) 2007 – Difference: 2:04

5m – 35:43 (7:09) 1999 & 29:35 (5:55) 2007 – Difference: 6:08

10k – 48:35 (7:49) 1999 & 36:45 (5:55) 2006 – Difference: 11:55

10m – 1:10:34 (7:04) 2000 & 1:02:20 (6:08) 2004 – Difference: 8:14

Half – 1:49:48 (8:23) 1999 & 1:23:10 (6:21) 2007 – Difference: 26:38

25k – 1:54:30 (7:23) 2001 & 1:40:00 (6:27) 2005 – Difference: 14:30

20m – 2:27:24 (7:22) 2001 & 2:10:28 (6:31) 2005 – Difference: 16:56

Mar – 4:31:00 (10:20) 1999 & 3:05:18 (7:04) 2007 – Difference: 1:25:42

Other Firsts & Bests:

Derry 16 - 2:11:53 (8:15) 2001 & 1:48:24 (6:47) 2006 – Difference: 23:29

HP 16 – 2:03:36 (7:36) 2005 & 1:52:23 (6:54) 2006– Difference: 11:13

Leg #4 Mill Cities – 1:05:32 (6:53) 2000 & 58:40 (6:10) 2007 – Difference: 6:52

Leg #7 Winny – 59:19 (6:58) 2003 & 54:10 (6:22) 2005 – Difference: 5:09

10 Years of Training:

1997: 112 miles = 12.5 miles/week

1998: 1003 miles = 19.3 miles/week

1999: 1305 miles = 25.1 miles/week

2000: 1549 miles = 29.8 miles/week

2001: 1747 miles = 33.6 miles/week

2002: 1638 miles = 31.5 miles/week

2003: 1957 miles = 37.6 miles/week

2004: 2180 miles = 41.9 miles/week

2005: 2292 miles = 44.1 miles/week

2006: 2730 miles = 52.2 miles/week

2007: 2984 miles = 57.4 miles/week

Total: 19,497 miles

10 Years of Marathons:

1999 Boston - 4:31, Ran as a bandit. Walked as a broken man.

1999 New York – 3:49, 35,000 runners. Like sardines for 26.2. Peed off Verrazano Bridge.

2000 Boston – 3:31, Ran as a bandit, again.1 hour better than previous year.

2000 Bay State – 3:19, Mmm. Flat courses are way better for running fast.

2001 Hyannis – 3:27, Snow, sleet & freezing rain. No fun.

2001 Boston - 3:33, First with club number. Sucked. Had run 3:29 in training run on course.

2001 Bay State – 3:24, Divorce year. Missed kids terribly. Questioned everything at mile 21.

2003 Clarence Demar – 3:13, First BQ. But, didn’t know until later. Thought I needed 3:10.

2004 Boston – DNF, Nagging calf injury. Dropped out @ mile 16

2004 Bay State – 3:07, Finally put it all together. Most enjoyable marathon to date.

2005 Boston - 3:07, Miserable 80+ degree heat. Flew over the hills. Hollis runs helped.

2005 Bay State – DNF, Coughing. Dropped out @ mile 18. Later diagnosed with Bronchitis.

2007 Clarence Demar – 3:05, Sick, again. Was gunning for Sub-3. Finished with PR.

2007 Cape Cod – 3:13, Crashed & burned at mile 22. Tired from Clarence a month earlier.