Sometime last week, while I was aimlessly surfing the web during lunch, I noticed that a fellow runner hadn’t updated their blog since March, so I shot a quick e-mail to that person to see if they were alive and well.
And just seconds after I sent it, it dawned on me -- when was the last time I wrote anything on my blog? It’s been a month and a half and 10 races ago! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
Well, it’s time for an update, so I’m just going to empty out my mind for the next several paragraphs or so. Here goes:
-- The first thing I have to say is that when I went grocery shopping at Super Stop & Shop last Wednesday night, I sniffed out the bargain bin and came across the No. 1 thing I need for running marathons -- the one thing that you can’t find at expos at Boston and Las Vegas, but you can buy at Super Stop & Stop, and if you’re lucky as I was, for only 75 cents …
… Charmin To Go bathroom tissue (55 sheets) in a nice pull-out dispenser that would fit great on the side of my running shorts!
As most folks know, I have a problem with old No. 2 when I run marathons (in seven out of my nine marathons, I have hit the Sani Can or any nearby woods). I usually carry a huge wad of toilet paper with me on my runs, but now that I will have this wonderful tool by my side, I feel like I can take on the world! I scooped up two of these babies and I’ll have one by my side when I run in the Barbados Marathon in December. Thank you very much, Charmin!
-- As you can see, I took a picture of one of the tubes (very light, fits in the palm of your hand), and also pictured with the tube is a bottle of Snapple’s Compassionberry Tea from this past spring’s Celebrity Apprentice. If you followed the show, you know that Bret Michaels, the lead singer of one of the greatest bands around, Poison, won the show in a very close battle with Holly Robinson Peete, and their final test on the show was to make a brand of Snapple that appealed to consumers.
Even though I wanted to see Holly lose and lose badly, I have to admit that the Compassionberry Tea she invented is extremely good, and that’s coming from a guy who doesn’t even like Snapple! It’s very tough to find this brand or Bret’s Troparocka Tea (I have never tried that and I have no idea where it is sold) and Compassionberry Tea hasn’t been on the shelves in a couple of months. But right after I discovered my Charmin To Go tubes, I lit up when I saw a six-pack sitting there in the aisle. I haven’t been that excited about a six-pack of anything since I was underage in college!
-- As I just said three paragraphs ago, I will be running in my 10th marathon, the Barbados Marathon on the first weekend of December. The air and hotel reservations are done, it’s just a matter of dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s on the race application. And unlike the Boston Marathon, there’s no need to rush and get in my application -- 128 people registered for last year’s race.
I took a look at last year’s results and only 81 people finished. Two made it halfway through the race, but weren’t able to complete it, and who knows if the other 45 entrants ran, but didn’t get across the 13.1-mile mat to count in the results, decided not to run at all, etc.
The race starts at 4:30 a.m., but heat still figures to be a factor in this race as it progresses. But that’s OK. I’ll have my Charmin and Garmin nearby!
The good thing about this marathon is that I could have a truly terrible race, trudge across the line with a 4:40, and still finish 50th overall! Obviously, I want to do a lot better than that, but if things fall apart mid-race a la Boston, I can still save face and suck up a top-50 finish!
-- I vowed last year that I would never, ever run the UnitedHealthcare Half Marathon in Newport again, especially after what happened with the crazy Nor’easter that hit the area and the lack of shelter, bus transportation, and any help by the race directors to stay safe. But when the new race directors stepped in and offered my running club 40 percent off the registration fee, how could I say no, especially when you get to run a course as nice as the one this race offers?
I do have to say that this race was far and away better than last year’s event, and that’s not just because of the weather, which was sunny and a bit cool. There were more folks helping out with the race, at least 20 buses (not five) shuttling runners to and from the parking area, a beer tent with Harpoon and IPA brew, and lots of bagels, pizza, hot soup, water, and Gatorade, and more importantly, I got a feeling that everything was very well organized.
The only problem I had was not getting to the parking lot at Newport Grand (the former Newport Jai Alai) early enough to catch a bus that got me to the start on time. I showed up at Newport at 7:15 a.m., figuring I’d have enough time to get a bus, arrive, stretch out a little, and get somewhere close to the start. But instead, I ran right into a long line of cars trying to bottleneck it’s way into the parking lot, and by the time it was 7:50, I was finally boarding a bus.
When my bus arrived to the start and I jumped out of it, the race had started. I ran to the start, finally crammed my way into the start area, and began the race three minutes late. And things got a lot worse. I found myself having to duck, dodge, and weave around some of the slower runners in front of me, and having to run uphill for most of the first mile on the race’s new course didn’t help matters.
Once we hit the first mile marker, I checked my watch and saw a 9:43. For one mile!? Then I stepped on a cone that I didn’t see as I ducked past a wall of four runners (they may have been walkers) in the middle of the road and fell on my left arm, but I bounced right back up before I could get trampled or take anyone else down with me.
My second mile was 9:30 on the dot, but just before I could have an anxiety attack, the crowd began to filter out and I finally had room to run. My third mile was 8:47, I didn’t run a mile worse than 8:35 after that, and I ended up settling in with a 1:55:45 finish.
If there’s one thing I didn’t like about the race, it was the medals they gave out to the finishers. They were exactly two inches wide and an inch-and-a-quarter high. I just looked at all the medals I ever received at races and this is by far the smallest in my collection. When I wrapped it around my neck, I honestly had to look down and check to see if there was a medal attached to it because I thought it fell off! But nevertheless, this was a very, very good race, and yes, it’s in my good graces.
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