PHILADELPHIA -- The ING New York City Marathon is Sunday morning, and I go off at about 10:20 a.m. I expect to finish in around five hours, and more than anything I expect to finish and have a great time. There will be 2 milion spectators and 100 bands. There will be pain and perseverance, there will be Glycerins and glory. I am ready. But it almost never happened . . .
Wow. How do you describe what this week has been like. My profession is Major League Baseball, and I work the postseason from city to city. The World Series was thrown into a state of uncertainty in the fifth inning of Game 5, and after the game was suspended for the first time in the history of the 104th Fall Classic, it struck me that I may have just lost my marathon.
Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, had to fall into place. I need some breaks. Then the news got worse. Tuesday came and went, and we had to wait another day because the weather was so bad in Philadelphia -- where I am blogging from now. I knew there was a good chance I was toast. I envisioned a Game 7 Saturday night at Tampa Bay, with no hope of getting home in time. Then some breaks finally started to go my way.
The main one was when I found out before the general public that if there was a Game 6 in Tampa Bay, it would have been on Thursday and we would have canceled the usual travel day off. We would have flown there and played the same day. That assured me of a Game 6 on Thursday and a possible Game 7 on Friday, and since it's a dome there, no problem. The only remaining issue was whether the weather would let us resume Game 5 on Wednesday, and then finally, after a 46-hour delay, the action resumed and I was in the clear.
Then I got another break: The Phillies won. I have no rooting interest in a World Series, because I work for 30 clubs. I am on the phone with a VP of the Rays one minute, and talking with senior management of the Phillies the next. It is my life and I love it. My job is to promote the greatest game on Earth. But I have to say that I'm pretty happy Philly won. It means no more near-all-nighters this week. I will have some semblance of rest for this 26.2 when I go back. First I will be working the big parade, on Friday at midday and into early afternoon in Philly. Then I go home, hit the Expo on Saturday at the Javits, and then enjoy the Barilla Marathon Eve Pasta Dinner, and then hopefully I will be prepared and get up at about 3:30 or 4 and head for the NY Public Library area to catch my 6 p.m. bus to Staten Island and the start.
It has been a blur ever since I got on a plane to Beijing at the beginning of August. I feel like I have lived out of a bag ever since. I have trained for the NYC Marathon on official Olympic venues; along the shores of Lake Michigan; on Hermosa Beach and Seal Beach in Southern California; twice on St. Petersburg (Fla.) Beach with my dreamy hammock there waiting for me; in this Philly airport hotel's health club treadmill; and back home at Central Park wherever I was able to have some home time. I am healthy, whereas one year ago I went into my marathon debut with wicked plantar fasciitis and limped the last 14 miles for a 6:08 finish. I remember the pure joy and pride of just finishing, my Dad looking down on me and carrying me home. I will again dedicate this one to my late father and to my three awesome boys. They are my world, and I started distance running to show them -- and me -- that anything is possible.
Congratulations to the Phillies, the world champions of 2008. Congratulations to the Rays for a special season and a great run. Now it's my time for a major sporting event -- the only major sporting event in the world where anyone can sign up and participate with the elite. I am ready. I will be rested thanks to the running gods and Brad Lidge. It's time to run.
Now introducing: My shoes that will fly me for 26.2 miles through five New York City boroughs and into the clouds on November 2.
Biggest thank-you in the world to my great friend Carmen, who works at the Super Runner Shop on the Upper East Side. She is in the NYC Marathon field as well, always gives me training advice, and I call her coach. I walked into the store today before work, told her that my Li Nings from China didn't work out being a half-size too big, and that my green Brooks Glycerines I was wearing into the store had been absolutely perfect in a healthy running year. She went into the back room, and came out with exactly the same shoe, only yellow instead of green.
I returned my gel inserts that I had bought at the store for those Li Nings, thinking they might help. That knocked off $30, so the shoes cost me $99. Fastest, most perfect shoe-buying experience in the history of civilized footwear, and I wore my new shoes onto the 4 train, then on the L over to Chelsea and our outrageously awesome MLB HQ.
Since I will be here late-late again tonight working Game 4 of the American League Championship Series (will travel to World Series next week), I just ran from 5:30 to 6:30 along the waterfront on the West Side of Manhattan, starting around Chelsea Pier and going down by World Trade Center and then back up again. It was just enough to give them a first breaking-in. By November 2, they will be good to go. Yeah we fly high, jus' my Brooks and I.
Game 2 of the ALCS was a 5:27 thriller in Florida, and I worked all night in our MLB.com offices in Manhattan. I was planning to run the Staten Island Half Marathon in the morning, making it 5-of-5 in running each borough of the year-long New York Road Runners Half-Marathon Grand Prix series. I had my stuff laid out and set the alarm for 6:30 with plans to get to the Staten Island Ferry and same-day registration. Alas, at 6:30 I got up, fell asleep standing up after 2 hours sleep, and decided to listen to my body and not be tough guy. I went back to sleep, woke up at 11 and ran my own Half Marathon at Central Park, relaxed pace in about 2:27. I did the bottom 5 loop, then the full 6-mile loop including Harlem Hill, and then I tacked on the lower (1.7 mile) loop. Throw in the short run from my place, and it's 13.1 miles, a makeup Half.
Now it's time to taper. No more heavy fuel belts for me. No injuries, 100-percent healthy and strong. Inside of three weeks until participation in a real, major sporting event. A great baseball postseason, and an in-progress, MLBAM-record consecutive streak of nightly big-picture articles for the MLB.com homepage. The World's Greatest Marathon, with an untouchable 2 million spectators and 100 bands ready to be part of the show. Reading "Double Cross" by James Patterson, unputdownable. A great MLBlogging community that's growing like crazy. My own book up my sleeve. A certain someone. Things are pretty cool.
24 DAYS TO GO JUST RAN 7 STRONG PARKBENCH PUSHUPS PUNCH THE SKY CAGED LION NOW WAITING WAITING STRONGER STRONGER IT'S THE HEART OF A IT'S THE HEART OF A
That's my theme song when I'm training for a marathon. No doubt about it. Nelly time. I will play that over and over on my Nano in my Nike sportband while I run. "Free Bird" over and over, too. These are amazing times. My total focus is on my position with MLB, working an October that is the greatest month of the year bar none. In the morning I'll be off to Philly by train, and then work Games 1 and 2 vs. the Dodgers and then fly back to LA for the second time in a week. I may be there up to five nights, and I have scheduled my final LONG RUN for Sunday morning on an LA beach TBA -- probably Huntington Beach.
The ING New York City Marathon is on November 2. It is so close now I can feel it. I am visualizing the race route on a frequent basis. I know the areas where I will battle myself, and I will push myself over the Queensboro Bridge at Mile 16 and then up the long First Avenue straightaway to get to The Bronx for Mile 20. I will do whatever it takes, I will keep thinking about my form, I will have the HEART OF A CHAMPION with me the whole way.
And I have to give some major props to my high school junior who is sacking quarterbacks like they are going out of style. He literally threw one kid (term used loosely; these are big, strong, corn-fed Midwest dudes) off the field and over to the sideline on a tackle. When he was just learning to walk, he used to brace himself against my leg and open his mouth so I'd give him scoops of my ice cream. Ha! I smell a college football scholarship now! Gotta brag about these guys when I can. My oldest is on the Dean's List as a finance major in college, learning golf, and my youngest is kicking butt as a freshman and about to try out for freshman basketball. They rock. Dad is trying to show them how it's done, and my playlist is definitely better, but honestly I am getting training tips from them. :)
Next stop Philly. Tapering my training and on course for a 4:50 marathon time and constant and never-ending improvement in life. That's what it's all about!
That is what I looked like on my Birthday in Beijing.
Gold, silver and bronze had just been handed out moments earlier to Korea, Cuba and USA baseball teams. I had to see what it felt like. One of the Korean players had left the bouquet behind, so it's one of those you see on NBC all the time. Here is up-close of what a silver medal looks like, as I took a pic of it while talking to Pedro Luis Lazo, who has four medals now.
I wanted to get my picture taken on the podium because I set another PR on an Olympic venue again before the gold medal baseball game today, and because I was was celebrating what proved to be a truly memorable birthday. I ran 35 laps around Field 3, and at 3.5 laps per mile that equates to an Olympic 10-Miler. I started at 4:39 exactly according to the two security guards below and my watch, and I finished at exactly 6 because that was start time of Korea vs. Cuba. I ran it in 1:21, 15 minutes faster than my Colon Cancer 15K (9.3 miles) time, so I am destroying PRs at this point, largely because I am running on the world's fastest/flattest surface -- perfect warning track clay of a Major League-caliber baseball field. I had run 47 laps (Olympic Half Marathon) three days earlier, in 1:56, and Half PR had been 2:12.
I feel incredibly good in my seven training runs here in Beijing. I am going to be so ready for the New York City Marathon on November 2. I have to get back to some reality of hills when I return Tuesday to Upper West Side and Central Park. But I at least did the Great Wall hill repeats so hey, bring it on! I have to again say what B.S. the media show about Beijing air pollution was...it filled time more than smog filled air. If that's because Beijing citizens aren't driving as much, because factories shut down, because of those rockets blasted up into the atmosphere that break up the water crystals above the clouds...whatever the reason...I don't ever remember having better air to breathe for marathon training. I didn't even use my Breathe Right Strip for the 47 laps (Half). I used it for the 35 (10-Miler).
More pictures...and be sure to see new Giant Panda video added in previous post!
One of my 35 laps in the second run. It takes 3.5 laps around the field to make a mile.
Friends always...my two buddies who are security guards for Field 3 at the Wukesong Sports Complex. They would cheer me on, count down the final laps, bring over bottles of water. They were like the best raceday volunteers ever -- always with a huge smile on their faces. Afterwards we all tried to get the pronunciation of each other's names down-pat. I have gradually learned quite a bit about Mandarin and the meaning of characters in Chinese lettering. It would take a long, long time to become fluent.
High light towers...pitching mound dirt from Petco Park in San Diego...soil conditioner brought in from a (literally) slow boat to China from America...and so on. What a field.
One World One Dream...
After putting iceback from dugout onto my right knee, I snapped this shot and then headed over to Field 1 and changed back into my clothes (in "medal" picture above) to work the Korea-Cuba game.
Baby let me be, Your lovin teddy bear Put a chain around my neck, And lead me anywhere Oh let me be (Oh let me be) Your teddy bear.
Welcome to the world of the teddy bear. Once again, I walked out of a place in China saying to myself: "I can't believe I just saw that."
Today was our second rest day during the Olympic baseball competition, before the semifinals are played on Friday between Korea-Japan and Cuba-USA and then the medal games on Saturday. Sunday is men's marathon and Closing Ceremony, and Monday I fly home to NYC.
This was a true pleasure. I love these Giant Pandas so much it is goofy. They just make you LAUGH. I probably was giggling 100 times and local couples and their children would look at this American laughing and then they would laugh. All these pandas do is tumble around, roll onto their back with a big bamboo shoot and munch on it laying on their backs, then kind of wobble around, find a comfy position and snooze for a while. They like to lay back and have their bellies rubbed. They like to see what other pandas are up to.
On a constant-rain day, I jumped into a taxi, went to Wukesong to retrieve a laptop power pack I left behind last night, and then taxi'd to Beijing Zoo. Here is how you get to the Palace of the Pandas:
Then these are some of the 200-plus pictures I took. See my Photo Album for the captions on each if you'd like. My Canon A540 did OK, very reliable, but if the pics seem just a little hazy it's because of the thick glass and it's not really all that clean because of all the visitors. UNREAL VIDEOS COMING SHORTLY!
After spending a few hours with the big teddy bears, I hailed a taxi and went to the Silk Market. It lived up to everything I heard about it. It was wall-to-wall Olympians, wearing their warmups, representing dozens and dozens of nations. It was fun to just introduce yourself to any of them and ask what sport they were in. They want to know about you, too. Everyone here wants to know something about the other person's culture. That's the Olympics.
Several guys on the U.S. Baseball Team told me you could get top-shelf suits for a little over $100. That's exactly what I did. They start at a high number and wait for you to come in low, then you barter to basically whatever you want, because no way will they let you go. It is Attack Foreign Shoppers time! You get grabbed and yanked and you hear "Change! Change!" -- which means they want to trade Olympic pins with you. I was wearing a USA Baseball pin. I traded it for a cool India pin with their flag and the 5 Olympic rings.
Anyway, the woman started at 3800 yuan (US550) for a charcoal-gray, pinstriped, double-breasted Armani. I decided my strategy would be to play brokeybroke/airhead. I start at about 600 yuan, under US100. (Exchange rate is 6.8) They make you sit down while you think...they don't want you to wander off. "Oh, I thought I brought more money with me. Sorry." Here is where they latch on like a vise. The woman actually went with me to the ATM, saying to me: "I go with you. Already have time with you. You don't break my heart." OK, we go upstairs, I withdraw some China currency (Mao is on the front of all bills of currency). We settle on 820 yuan, or $120. I have it altered downstairs, and I negotiate from 2 hours down to 1 hour. I wait around, and only 110 yuan to have some massive tailoring done, as the sleeves were too long and buttons needed re-cut/re-sewn. Absolutely perfect. I have a an awesome new suit for low 100s.
Made a lot of friends today, traded cards with the boxing coach for Sri Lanka (nice guy) and Anika of the Sweden women's handball team. She told me what floor they're staying on in the Athlete Village. Unfortunately I'm not in the Village, but will be staying in touch, as she's also a Journalist (when not practicing 20 hours a week to get here). She said this is her swan song at age 30, and they had just lost a 5-8 placement match earlier in the day to China at the National Indoor Gymnasium. Everywhere around me, the same. Belarus, met a woman from their delegation. Met some guys from the Philippines, and was shopping in the same spot as two female athletes from Romania. Who knows -- might have been gold medalists, gymnasts...you never know who you're around. There were basketball players, weightlifters, families of athletes, buses and buses that bring them here from the Village to Silk Market, where there was a story today about the massive revenue they are taking in from all the foreigners...like me.
It's been a great day. Giant RolyPoly Pandas. Armani suit. Now time to work. The New York City Marathon is not far in the distance. I look forward to getting up in the morning and going for a great training run before the 10:30 a.m. first semifinal game here. Everyone, I really appreciate your comments, it is fun to "share" this stuff...can't believe how cool Beijing is. Get here at all costs.
BEIJING, China -- Ni Hao! Something amazing just happened for a U.S. athlete at the Summer Olympics in Beijing.
I won an event on an official Olympic venue, with a personal, Olympic and world record to show for it.
Yes, I did it again. I invented my own race and this one is big.
I ran a Half Marathon before tonight's USA vs. Chinese Taipei baseball game. 47 laps around Field 3, the warning track all the way around the field, which is one mile for 3.5 laps. It was arranged for me by my friend Murray who is head of field operations at the Olympics. I also BLEW AWAY my Half Marathon PR with a time of 1:56 (2:12 was best), and it was all witnessed by Murray and by three security guards who counted down every one of my final laps and kept bringing me water and by about 40 Olympic volunteers who had gathered to see what I was doing.
I can't believe this just happened!!!
I can't believe how good I felt! It was just at the end of sunlight. On Field 1, the United States baseball team (almost all future Major Leaguers) were taking batting practice before their 7 p.m. game. On Field 2, the Japan team was preparing for its 6 p.m. start. On Field 3, it was me.
The warning track is beautiful red China clay, the field is flat as a pancake, and that all added up to great conditions. I already have told you that all the air pollution scare was media hype to have something to burp about before the Games finally started. I have now had six training runs and this was my big one, with the New York City Marathon just 9 weeks away.
I started running at exactly 4:23 p.m. local Beijing time (did you know that China has only one time zone despite its massive size?). I finished at exactly 6:19. That gave me time to spare, so that I could change into my khaki shorts, Elvis T-shirt and red Crocs, and get set up in the "press tribunes" behind home plate.
Murray is the person responsible for this miracle of Wukesong, which are MLB-caliber ballfields for the Olympics. We are almost done with the preliminary round now. Friday is the semifinal round, then Saturday are the medal games. I got here at 3:30 before a 7 pm start, saw the USA team get off the bus upon arrival, asked Matt L how he was feeling after his mild concussion the night before, found out he wasn't going to play tonight, called in a few paragraphs, and then looked for a place to run since I brought my gear. Murray said I could use Field 1. It is indescribably beautiful.
I started out planning to run 10 miles. I was able to grab water bottles from the dugout coolers along the way, so I was well hydrated. I had brought one GU with me. I hadn't eaten a bite all day because I finished working at 3:45 a.m. this morning. Everything felt good. At one point I bailed off into the perfect, soft outfield grass and did 50 crunches, and as I looked up at the sky, at exactly 5:00, I got chills. Clouds were swirling above me, and I realized that these were AUSPICIOUS CLOUDS!!! You see them every day if you watch the Olympics! They are the curly designs, representing "auspicious clouds" that bring rain and good fortune to farmers through the centuries. I saw Auspicious Clouds!!!!
I did some stretching, then resumed running. Ten miles would have been 35 laps. No hills, flat as a pancake, great on the knees and Achilles, the dream running condition to me -- even in August heat.
Once I got into the 30s, I decided I wanted to do something special. I started thinking about doing 50 laps, for the 50 United States. But calculating the math in the my mind, I told myself I was going to run the first Half Marathon at the Summer Olympics. Here I am, on an official Olympics venue, inside the security checkpoint that spectators and media have to go through to get here...I was going to seize this moment and push myself.
It hardly took any pushing. I was having a blast. I was in my element. I calculated that it would require 46 laps. Indeed, I am checking my laptop calculator now and it required 45.85 laps. As I got to 7 laps remaining, each time around home plate the two security guards in blue shirts would look at me and we would show each other the number on our hands, speaking the same language in that moment. They would bring me water bottles. I would dump one on my head, wring out my shirt and keep going. I would keep two bottles, and toss one on the grass in right field and one on the grass in left field. Then each time around I could reach down and grab it, take a swig or pour it on me, then toss it back onto the grass.
I heard the roars coming from Field 2 as Japan was starting to score on host China. I was inside of five laps left, and then each one came and each one seemed so easy! This was something really new for me. Oh, for no hills ever. The last lap, I sprinted the whole way, and I acted like I was breaking tape when I got to the area behind home plate, and the security guards were cheering. I had made new friends. Then check this out! I went into one dugout and in the cooler were about 20 perfect icebags, used in the morning for Olympic athletes to ice their arms or whatever. I sat with my legs extended on the infield grass for 10 minutes, with an icepack on my right knee, just what the doctor ordered.
Here is what the dirt looks like, so you can see a perfect running surface. I took this pic of LaPorta last Friday:
Now I am working. I just wanted to tell you about that. There is no real gold medal, but I am acting like I just won one, because I just ran the Olympic Half Marathon on an official venue with witnesses and in record fashion. Most importantly, I know now that I am going to KICK...MONSTER...BUTT...at the ING New York City Marathon on November 2.
MLB/Olympics Trip: The Trading Deadline is Thursday so we have been a beehive of activity with deals and rumors galore. Then my attention turns to the Summer Olympics, where I will be working throughout for MLB as baseball/softball make their last stand as an Olympic sport. Major thanks to The New York Times, which came out with an Olympics edition of Taxi Cards, available at beijingtaxicards.com. Today I eagerly accepted my own set, all 1 x 2 1/2-inch flash cards on a keyring. All you have to do is show the appropriate one to a local in China -- especially good for taxi drivers, obviously -- and you're set. Flip to Forbidden City, Beijing Zoo (pandas), Great Wall (at Simatai or Badaling), Olympic venues (including Wukesong Stadium, which will be my "office" for most of August with USA Baseball Team), etc. I am also gradually learning key Mandarin useful phrases. "Thank you" is "shay shay." "Cold beer" is "bing pee-jo." "I don't understand" is "wo-ting boo-dong." This was a very good day on that front. Thursday I see a doctor for my shots. I am pretty much good to go for non-stop flight from Newark on 8/5. Opening Ceremonies are 8/8/08 (8 is lucky in Chinese custom, which is why it starts on that date), and Closing Ceremonies/Men's Marathon are 8/24. I depart Beijing 8/25. For the second time in three days, a friend or colleague who runs marathons advised me to avoid running outside there at all costs or risk Black Lung. It is apparently that bad. This time it was someone based in Colorado who runs lots of Ultras and wins lots of events. I hate the thought of dreadmilling it for three weeks. It is not going to be pretty for Olympic runners, especially the marathoners. The big difference is that this is their be-all, end-all. They "go for the gold" no matter what, then whatever consequences are their own. Me, I am following an 18-week training program and am on a track to gradually lower the times of my first three marathons from 6:08 (plantar fasciitis/NYC) to 5:21 (St. Louis this April) to 4:45 (goal).
Marathon Training: Today I proved again to myself that you can have a bottle of Merlot at night and then put up your strongest workout the next morning. I looped Central Park, including two interior loops of the Reservoir, bailed off in the grass across from The Met and blew through 70 crunches, planks and my PT stretching like it was nothing. I left 2002 Merlot sweat all over the park, felt wonderful, and mega productive afterwards. This Saturday I am in the New York City Marathon Long Training Run #1 at Central Park, treated just like a race event except that it is unscored, and the mile signs are posted for just the first 5 miles. There are four loops for those who run the full 20 proscribed miles, and it's 16 if you run 3. I will run 16 miles, and then will make a judgment call on whether to go up to 20. I did 16 in this last year and it was my last run of feeling good before a series of injuries set in and impacted my marathon debut.
Trees and Numbers: Rejected today by a literary agent who had been so interested in my book proposal that she was thinking about it during a recent road trip and asked me for the full manuscript via email. Within 24 hours she reported back that it didn't match the intrigue of the proposal and wished me the best. That's how it goes. All you can do is keep networking and present yourself. No means not yet. Walt Disney was rejected by more than 100 bankers before someone finally saw the value in his theme-park idea. Another top lit agent is interested but wants me to write a baseball book first as the logical "rollout of a future author" given my platform on MLB.com for millions of readers every day. I have a feeling that's where this is going, but I have been reluctant to start one from scratch because I spent five years on "Trees and Numbers" and want to give it everything I have with the agent search first. Ongoing ups and downs, today a down. That's when I remind myself that life is just Trees and Numbers...like the original street names in my hometown in Indiana. I thought about that again today as I passed a monolithic Sycamore near the NE corner of the Reservoir, along the East Drive run lane. I was about five miles into my run at that point. Everything in my consciousness right then is Trees and Numbers. One day there will be a book that tells all about it. Agent wanted.
That is how long until my third 26.2 mile journey of discovery. The 2008 ING New York City Marathon is scheduled to start on November 2 at the base of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and this time I will be ready. After building up my base recently, it is now time to officially start training.
I finished that event in 6:08 in my marathon debut last November, landing each right step on a different area for the last 14 miles due to excruciating plantar fasciitis pain. I had tried to compensate by crosstraining at hotels while working the entire month of October on the road for our Major League Baseball postseason, but I felt ill-prepared for what I would face. Although ecstatic about just finishing, I looked forward to progress and in April I ran a 5:21 in the hilly St. Louis Marathon, which included my best Half ever. So my goal now is to go from 6:08 to 5:21 to 4:50.
Here is my plan of attack, and I ask that my marathoner friends feel free to offer any suggestions as appropriate. I am driven.
HEALTH CHECK
I just got off the phone with my local sports medicine doctor's office in Manhattan, and made an appointment for 9 a.m. Thursday. I have three issues to monitor:
(a) There is a growing issue with my right patellar tendon area, tenderness just below the kneecap. I have been icing after I run. Last night I ran around Central Park late after work, and came home and iced it. It ached really bad after the icing. I can tell that at my present "base pace" I could be headed for knee trouble.
(b) Left Achilles tendon. This is the same problem I had leading up to the St. Louis Marathon. It never went away, so it was chronic. During that run last night, it was daggers at about the 2.5-mile mark, and a few times it made me want to stop, though I didn't. I don't want to push it to the brink of rupture, so I also need to have the good doc show me how to manage it. (I hope I don't get a layoff.)
(c) Weight. The last week I have been trying to eat smarter, and still I squeezed in a PB&J sandwich and milk just to apparently piss myself off. I was just raised that way. I can't survive just eating almonds. I am trying my best, and I am drinking water constantly, and I know I should eat a little something every few hours. Eating late is my biggest problem due to my schedule, I think. This is the area where I drive myself crazy and I will do my best, but right now I am carrying too much weight and I would like to drop at least 10 as fast as possible. I have a ton of nutritional guidance including from my athletic sons; hopefully I can be strong in this area. I often suck really bad in this area.
RUNNING SCHEDULE
I am not running with Team for Kids this year, so I'm on my own somewhat. I am going to use one of the training schedules that are thankfully posted on the NYC Marathon site. This is the one I will follow:
There are other plans from which to choose, suiting many different levels. You should take a look at this page for yourself.
My base right now is just fine for the start of this. But again, it might be affected by whatever the doctor has to say Thursday so stay tuned.
Bob and Shelly Glover are the two authors of the Runner's Training Diary that I use, so I am very happy to follow their plan. I know that many thousands of other NYC Marathoners follow it so I'm in good company. It has all the speedwork breakdown I will need to know as well.
STRENGTH TRAINING
Time for me to get serious about my NY health club membership. I will use the Xpress Line with its eight machines to work all the major muscle groups. That will help me avoid the natural wear that otherwise happens to the joints, causing knee and hammy trouble. I was doing this before the STL Marathon and I know it made a difference; my quad lift was much better in that race. That is where I will work the core as well, and as usual I will bail off in the middle of many runs onto the grass of Central Park and just do crunches, side-ups, planks, leg lifts/etc right there under the sun to sweat and hopefully lose more weight.
PROFESSIONAL CHALLENGES
If it's like last year, once again I will deal with a tough (one I love!) October schedule, where I am constantly traveling and at ballparks for the Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series. Last year I got lucky with a World Series sweep in Denver. This year's World Series starts on Oct. 22. If there is a Game 7, it would mean that my travel day is Friday, Oct. 30 (Expo day). And if I'm on the West Coast (let's say the Angels are Game 7 home team and I return from L.A.), there will be some jetlag to go along with the obvious challenge.
This time, there is another big challenge. I will be working the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. I leave Aug. 5 to get there in time for Opening Ceremonies, and will depart on Aug. 22, the day after Closing Ceremonies (and men's marathon, which I can't wait to watch). I will be going everywhere the U.S. Baseball Team goes, buses to the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, other events, wherever they choose, so those Olympic athletes will dictate my schedule. While I am there, I will try to adhere to the above training schedule as religiously as possible. I have been told about the occasional "black air" as pollution is worse there than anywhere on the planet, but others have told me that it clears away for extended stretches. I will deal with the schedule and the air, and I will deal with a full day of flying one way and a full day of flying the other way, and unless something changes it will be hello middle seat for me on both of them (knees).
EQUIPMENT AND MUSIC
I have the tunes to rock the bod with the pod, but papa need a new pair of shoes. The Brooks Glycerines I bought for the STL Marathon have been gold, at least as far as I can tell (knowing the knee is barking). The woman who sold me those correctly discovered that I have high arches, which no one bothered to check before. That made a difference. I might get the same ones, but I am tired of green, and I am up in the 300s with them now. I need to rotate shoes. I am good on other equipment, a closet full of the right gear. I need more GU, lots of GU.
FINISH LINE DANCE SONG
I already have a reputation as that guy who dances across marathon finish lines. No one else does so I guess I am 2-for-2 and officially the solid gold dancer of the marathons. I am undecided on what song to dance across the NYC Marathon finish line to this time, so it's TBA. I am open to suggestions. Last year, in honor of my TFK lime green racing singlet, I danced across the finish line to Peaches & Herb's solid gold classic Shake Your Groove Thing:
EXPERIENCE
I just know that this is going to make a huge difference in my second New York City Marathon. I know what to expect. I am not going to stop at a pay phone booth on the street in Brooklyn this time and call my Mom collect or stop to pet an English Bulldog for five minutes (that put me over 6 hours!). I am going to "chunk it" and focus on 10-10-10: 10 miles, 10 miles, 10K. I am going to stay in the middle of the streets, rather than last year when I hugged the right shoulder so that I could high-five 1 million kids (seemed like it)...that saps energy.
There is a long way to go, but I know from last year that 4 months flies fast. Especially when you factor in one month spent in China and one month spent working the MLB postseason. That's half of my upcoming training, so that tells me right there that I have my work cut out for me. I will be disciplined, I will try my best to eat right and keep guzzling oceans of water, I will remember that not long ago I was smoking cigarettes and lifeless, I will have the heart of a champion.
Please come along for the ride and leave comments and tell me what's up in your world, too. It's time to train for the New York City Marathon!
Today I celebrated my one-year anniversary as a member of the great Big Cats Running Team. This has become a tradition in my life obviously, so once again I found myself running on a beach in Florida and having "the best day ever." It was the perfect way to celebrate one year in "the club."
The day after our 2007 MLB Draft at Disney World, I ran on Cocoa Beach and watched Atlantis blast off. That same day I traded messages with Bob (El Tigre Blanco) and he inducted me into the Big Cats as Mark aka Monster Cat. I had to choose the cat name. I was No. 82 on the rolls.
I worked the Draft against yesterday at Disney, and this morning I headed over to Siesta Key in the Sarasota area. It is listed commonly as one of the 10 best beaches in the entire world, something I just found out from my friend who is our former VP of Marketing at MLB and whose brother lives five miles from Siesta. I went first to the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce, and the man there gave me the map below. He and the woman there both told me to park at one of the yellow-highlighted parking access areas, so I parked at No. 5. He also circled the Siesta Public Beach Access main area, which is more toward the middle of the key. He told me that Siesta Key is 3 1/2 miles long and "it should be perfect for you to go out and back and get in seven miles." And he was a Cubs fan, so naturally we then talked for a while about baseball and he gave me his card.
I wore my new Nike shorts and blue tech shirt that I bought the day before at the Premium Outlets Nike store near my hotel at Disney. I had stopped and bought four powergels at a local GNC, and I downed one of them right before the run and put the other in my pocket. I swallowed two of those little salt packs you get from a typical fast-food joint, and drank a lot of water in advance. I also had stopped and bought a Coppertone Sport spray. I had no idea that you could now get suntan lotion in a spray, and I was amazed at how well it worked.
After parking at 5 Access, I walked out onto the expansive and incredibly white beach and down to the Gulf of Mexico and proceeded to run south.
It just feels so good it's amazing.
It was 11 a.m. The temperature when I started was 89 or 90. Humidity was high as you probably know of a typical June day in Florida -- quick rain later in the day because it just evaporates all day. My first concern was that I didn't bring my Nathan's Fuel Belt, so I was wondering how I was going to stay hydrated. I didn't want to die of heat exhaustion/dehydration at age 48.
Once I got down to the Siesta Public Beach Access area, there were lifeguard stands, and I stopped and got water. Then I asked a lifeguard if there was any other water on the beach, and he said no. Like, tough dude. He was an idiot and should be fired. Fortunately standing nearby was an elderly gentleman who lived on the key, and he told me to just go up to any condo building and use their shower station or hose that is typically there before you enter a pool. He pointed especially to a tall white-and-blue building down the way. I wound up making that my go-to place on the way there and back.
I proceeded to run through thousands of beach-goers. I was dodging kids building sand castles. I was leaping over tiny rivers of water stretching from the Gulf. For the most part, the white sand was packed pretty well. It was far better than at Cocoa. The slope is more radical on the Atlantic side. Here is wasn't too bad.
I had my Nano Red with me as always, but most of the time I tucked the earpods into my sportband so that I could hear the surf. I really wanted to appreciate this. At times I would find myself just running like usual, focusing on form and one foot in front of the other, and then I would remind myself to really soak this all in. I don't get many chances to do this lately. I asked one woman laying there, "Whatcha readin?" She said something-Picault, and I came home and realized it was the NYC Bestselling paperback Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picault. I was just making conversation. It was nice to see all the people enjoying themselves. I always wonder about their circumstances, what they do the rest of the year. I heard one man tell another man, "...and they can tax that to the maximum allowed..." Talking shop.
I ran the 3 1/2 miles to a dead end on the south point. Funny thing happened there. I looked around, and it was a complete carpet of seashells. THAT'S where they go. So many people were looking for shells along the way, but the surf takes them into that corner at the end. Then I turned around like Forrest Gump at Santa Monica Pier and started running north again.
At this point it was a constant detour to a condo that had water. At one point I took my shirt off, hosed it down, wrang it out and put it back on. I had the other powergel at the halfway point. I constantly soaked myself. My nice Brooks Glycerins were all soaked with salt water and covered in sand. I probably am ruining them. I'll have to get a new pair. I didn't care, though. This was just a dream run. My right lower kneecap area hurt much of the way, but I am dealing with it and not making a big deal about it. I wound up icing it while I was driving back later.
When I got back to the 5 access area of the beach where I had started, having run 7 miles, I stripped down to just the Nike shorts. I went into the Gulf of Mexico and just had a blast. I was bodysurfing. The turquoise water, resulting from the pure white sand, was gorgeous. Nice moments.
Then I got a bite and headed back up I-75 for I-4 and back over to Orlando. Then I spent the rest of the day poolside. I then flew back to NYC, a great trip accomplished. Our Draft was unbelievable, magical. Soon I will be back in the rush of making this book franchise happen, following my current leads and continuing to refine chapter 7. For this brief shining moment, I got to just exhale, celebrate my Big Cats anniversary, and continue to build my own little tradition of running on a Florida beach. Thank you, Siesta Key.
Then I got another break: The Phillies won. I have no rooting interest in a World Series, because I work for 30 clubs. I am on the phone with a VP of the Rays one minute, and talking with senior management of the Phillies the next. It is my life and I love it. My job is to promote the greatest game on Earth. But I have to say that I'm pretty happy Philly won. It means no more near-all-nighters this week. I will have some semblance of rest for this 26.2 when I go back. First I will be working the big parade, on Friday at midday and into early afternoon in Philly. Then I go home, hit the Expo on Saturday at the Javits, and then enjoy the Barilla Marathon Eve Pasta Dinner, and then hopefully I will be prepared and get up at about 3:30 or 4 and head for the NY Public Library area to catch my 6 p.m. bus to Staten Island and the start.
