What Have I Been Doing Since Running a Marathon Four Weeks Ago?

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The Malibu Marathon was exactly four weeks ago and my training has not been focused on any particular goal. And that is a good thing, as I could use a physical and mental break.

Candy grabbing with the kids this holiday season. Darn you, WalMartI've been asked a number of times what my next race is. My answer: I dunno...yet. Gotta get my head back in the game, and that may not happen until the new year. Just too tired to think about it at this point. I was hoping for a more solid marathon performance (for me) that would propel me towards a Spring 2013 marathon. But since that didn't happen, I'm in "wait and see" mode.

The good news is that I feel I'm pretty much over all my nagging little injuries...calf strain that messed with my final marathon preparation...and nagging knees. Now I'm running just fine, but tired. Physically tired due to inadequate sleep. But I'm running and happy about that!

Here's what I've done running-wise since the marathon. Warning, this is quite uninteresting.

11/11: Ran marathon

11/12: Rest day

11/13: Walked 1.5 miles

11/14: Walk/jogged 2.5 miles

11/15: Ran 3.5 slow miles

11/16: Ran 4.5 slow miles

11/17: Ran 5.5 slow miles

11/18: Ran 6.5 slow miles

11/19: Ran 5.5 miles

11/20: Ran 6.5 miles

11/21: Ran 7 miles

11/22 (Thanksgiving): Ran 4 miles

11/23: Ran 5.5 miles

11/24: Ran 5 miles

11/25: Ran 5.5 miles

11/26: Ran 4.5 miles

11/27: Ran 4 miles

11/28: Ran 4.5 miles

11/29: Ran 3 miles

11/30: Ran 5 miles

12/1: Ran 8 miles

12/2: Ran 4 miles

12/3: Ran 2 miles

12/4: Ran 4.5 miles

12/5: Ran 5.5 miles

12/6: Ran 5.5 miles

12/7: Ran 5.5 miles

12/8: Ran 6 miles

12/9: Ran 8 miles

So after 3 days of no running, a total of 133 miles down the hatch since marathon day. This holding pattern will probably continue through December...

2012 ING New York City Marathon on November 4th Has Been Cancelled

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Today, Friday, November 2nd, it was announced that the 2012 New York City Marathon on Sunday, the 4th has been cancelled as a result of the impact of Hurricane Sandy. The announcement on the NYC Marathon website is below:

The City of New York and New York Road Runners announce that the 2012 ING NYC Marathon has been canceled. While holding the race would not require diverting resources from the recovery effort, it is clear that it has become the source of controversy and division. We cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event -- even one as meaningful as this -- to distract attention away from all the critically important work that is being done to help New York City recover from the storm. New York Road Runners will have additional information in the days ahead and we thank you for your dedication to the spirit of this race. The Expo will remain open tomorrow.

Not surprising to me given the devastation of Sandy. Many are criticizing the timing though as they indicated the race would go on a few days ago. To me this was a no-brainer. Either cancel the race or reschedule it. They did the right thing.

Australian Hurdler Michelle Jenneke's Warmup Dance; You Can Get Away With This if You're Good at What You Do!

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After sucking in some oxygen, I thought, is this too overtly sexualization of sports? But I paced myself, watched the whole video...29 times...and though, heck no. This 19 year old Aussie Michelle Jenneke demolished the competition so if she wants to do a little dance show to warm up, by golly, let her!

While she won't be at the Olympics in London next month, perhaps we will see her smiling face and wiggly, jiggly moves at the 2016 Olympics in Spain.

More at www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/michelle-jenneke-dancing-australian-hurdler-video_n_1686230.html.

Novel Approach For Eliminating the Dreaded Nip Chafing Issue While Running a Marathon

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A good friend of mine recently finished his first full, official marathon, the Taipei Expressway Marathon in Taiwan. If running an entire marathon on a highway ain't bad enough (sounds dreadful to me), it was over 80 degrees and humid. Call me a wimp but I'm not flying over to Taiwan anytime soon to run a marathon (though truth be told, I signed up to run the Singapore Marathon, which I ended up not going to).

In any case, one of the photos my friend shared was the one below. The dude with his arms in the air while reaching the finish line is wearing a shirt that could (theoretically) be the solution to runners' chafing of the nipples. Simply cut out those sections of the shirt and, wallah!! No more chafing issues, no more bleeding, no need for bandaids on the nips or other strategies for addressing this particular issue!

My thinking is, perhaps women should first try it to see if it catches on. I'm sure at least 3 of the 7 people reading this are women. Try it out and let me know. And send pictures :>

Boston Marathon Organizers Indicate 2012 Race to Occur in "Red Zone" Not Safe for "Unfit and Novice Runners"

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Boston Marathon organizer issued another precautionary email today with a more direct recommendation that "anyone entered in the marathon who has not met the qualifying standards for their age and gender strongly consider not running, and that they strongly consider deferring until next year."

That is very strong wording. They are obviously taking this weather very seriously. As mentioned yesterday, I think a deferment of this magnitude is unprecedented. Of course they still will ask those not running this year's race to pay for next year's race, thus giving up the $150 they paid this year. But it gives these runners another chance to run should they decide to take a pass.

Here is today's email from Boston Marathon organizers:

Update to Entrants in Tomorrow's Boston Marathon®

Sunday, April 15, 2012 as of 4:30 p.m.

 

Running any marathon involves risks

  • The weather conditions that we will be seeing on Monday, April 16 will involve even more risk.  It will involve an increased element of risk to all participants due to the heat.  Only the fittest runners should consider participating.
  • We have put in place a broad array of services and support for our marathon participants, but the risks that will be presented on April 16 will be higher than
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2012 Boston Marathon Organizers Urging Caution on Monday Due to Extreme Heat

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If you've been reading this blog you would know I signed up for the Boston Marathon but due to an eye surgery lost 5 1/2 weeks of training and thus opted to skip the marathon. My surgery was 2/6 and I started running again on 3/18.

Today I received the following email (excerpted below) from Boston Marathon organizers. WOW! I've NEVER seen this before. Race organizers telling runners literally "YOU SHOULD NOT RUN." They are definitely urging caution due to projected heat going into the mid to high 80s with 50% humidity.

Glad I'm not going! I strongly dislike running in heat and doubly so adding in humidity. Sounds miserable! And the race doesn't start until 10 a.m. Uggh. Well good luck to all that ARE running! Stay cool and hydrated! Thanks Phill for picking up my Boston Marathon race shirt!

Organizers take what may be an unprecedented (I haven't

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