Race #44 - Sugar Free 5K - Wilmington, DE - 20:35

Normally I wouldn't travel 90 minutes each way to run a little 5K, but since it was for a good cause, and I also got to see my daughter Leigh Ann. Leigh has been running since she started her second year at UDel and she requested I run this race with her. Bob's 50@50 is all about raising money for JDRF and this race was sponsored by many of the companies devoted to finding a cure. For those of you who don't know, Leigh was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was seven and has been dealing with it for the last 12 years. One way to keep it under control is to exercise which is another important factor for the 50@50.

The race started at 9am so it meant another early wake-up for me so the alarm was set at 5am which gave me about an hour for a shower, coffee and some food. I would get to Leigh's dorm at 7:45 and then we headed over to Wilmington which was 15 minutes away. When we arrived, we picked up our number and t-shirt and then took the customary 50@50 banner picture.

All of the vendor tables had to something to do with diabetes products or diabetes related issues. Leigh and I met John Schlee who worked for Medtronic which is the company we use for all of Leigh's pump supplies. John was also a runner and ran the race in a time of 22:56. John filled Leigh in about the latest updates on the line of Medtronics products.

The weather was perfect except for a slight breeze. The course took us out of the Christiana Care Center onto the roads then into Rochford park, which has a nice size hill. The other race I ran in Delaware in March also ran through the park so I knew I was dealing with that hill again. I pushed the pace and made an effort not to let anyone pass me as I tried to keep the leaders in sight. My plan was to run hard then double back to finish with Leigh. She was hoping to break 30 minutes and just missed by 4 seconds. She had to tie her shoes during the race so I guess she did not double knot them.

She was surprised that she came in first in her age group, but usually the 19 year olds are sleeping on a Saturday morning so sometimes you just need to show up. I knew I had a good chance to finish in the top 3 because the field was so small. I ran a good time so I was happy either way.

Afterwards Leigh and I headed back to Main street in Newark to grab breakfast at the The Post House. After filling up on pancakes and eggs, I said goodbye to Leigh and head back home. I will be back in Delaware in two weeks for parent weekend. I may sneak in another race if I can work it into our schedule.

Next up is the Army Ten Miler in Washington DC. I am meeting up with Brad Hunt and Dale Hoth. I have run a lot of good races this year but I think the ATM might be the best.

It is never to late to get in shape. Stop procrastinating, get out there.

Race #43 - Philadelphia Distance Classic - 1:34:05

I made a rookie mistake today. I used new Asics that only had 7 miles on them and then tried to run 13.1. My old Brooks were wearing thin so I have been meaning to see the guys at The Running Company in Princeton, but was just to busy. I also decided to switch back to Asics which I used for many years. I was able to buy them just 5 days before the race and thought 2 days of running in them would break them in. Wrong!!!!!!!!

I have run this race the last 3 years and really enjoy it, but don't like the early wake-up. Race starts at 7:45 so it means I have to be on the road by 5:30 because with over 10,000 runners, you need to get in your corral early. John Liptak was doing the driving so he picked up Ken White and I at 5:30. We got into Philly at 6:40 which gave us about an hour to get ready. After a quick change into our running gear and a not so quick bathroom stop we headed over to the start.

John and I were planning on running together at a 7:15 pace and Ken was planning on running a 1:50. John and I were in corral #2 so we got going only 45 seconds after the elites. The initial pace seemed quick but John thought is was 7:45, but I knew it was quicker. Our plan was to go out in 7:30's for the first 2 miles and then gradually get to 7:15's. We hit the first mile in 7:08 and continued at sub 7:10's for the first 5 miles. It was faster than we wanted to go, but my legs and breathing was fine. My only issues was my feet, which were hurting because of the new shoes. It felt like I was developing blisters on the bottoms of both of my feet, but I knew it wasn't. The pain was under the balls of my big toes on both feet and I tried flexing while running to rid me of the discomfort. It seemed to go away for a bit, but hurt like an SOB the last 2 miles.

John and I ran together for about 9 miles but he pulled away and I had no answer. We held a the sub 7:10 pace for most of the race but when he pulled away I think I was running 7:20's for the last 3 miles. My time of 1:34:05 was the second fastest 1/2 marathon, second only to the 1:31 I ran in Virginia earlier this year.

John finished with a 1:33:20 and Ken with a 1:51:01. It was a perfect day for running. The temps were in the 50's at the start and by the finish the sun was shining and the ice foot bath felt great. My feet were fine after I took the shoes off so I am still not sure what the problem was.

We headed over to Jim's Steaks on South Street (which is where all the hippies meet) for our post race feast of Cheesesteak sandwiches. The steaks were average. I like Tony Luke's better.

Next up for me is a run in Delaware with my daughter Leigh. It is a race which benefits diabetes so I will make the 90 minutes to see and run with Leigh.

Reduce health care expenses, exercise 15 minutes per day.

Race #42 - Jimmy D 5K

The Jimmy D 5K is only 5 years old but this race gets a huge turnout, mainly because its a tribute to Fire Chief Jimmy D'heron and the hard work of his daughter Erin. Mr D'heron died fighting a fire five years ago and his daughter Erin works tirelessly to honor his memory. I never met the fire chief but he must have been a great man by the turnout of runners and volunteers.

It was a perfect day for a morning run, with temps in the high 60's. This was a huge change from my last few races which have been in heat and humidity of the summer. Most folks the last few days have been a little down because summer is coming to an end but I bet most runners don't mind. We get to run again in the cooler weather.

Today I ran 20:04 and was able to keep a good pace for the 3.1 miles. If it wasn't for me snapping a few pics along the course and the last hill, I would have gone sub 20. My first mile was 6:21 and I hit mile 2 in 12:50. I was happy with the time and now look forward to the fall running season. This course has sneaky hills and a quick finish on the track which I like because I also feel I have some speed left at the end and use the track as motivation.

It was great to see many of my running friends today. I think there must of been about 15 of my running buddies at today's race and many wore the official Bob's 50@50 t-shirt. After the race, I took advantage of the free beer and chatted for about an hour with friends.

I want to thank all who came out today to support Erin and join me in another great race. I don't have a race scheduled for next week but it's the anniversary of 9/11 and I would love to do one.

My next big race is the Philly 1/2 on September 20th.

Keep running and feel great.

Race #41 - End of Summer Classic - Hingham, MA - 34:04

I was in the Bay State for the 2nd time in the last 20 days, but this time to drop my son Bobby at his home for the next four years and not for a vacation. He is attending Boston University and Ro and headed up on Friday morning so we can get an early start for him on Saturday. Of course I found a Friday night race which I just had to run. I was hoping to get my son to run or possibly Mike Mulka who lives in Boston, but both declined. They missed out because this race was very nice with a great post race party afterwards.

The was the 2nd "End of Summer Classic" and according to the race director, it doubled in size. I predict this race will grow immensely in the coming years. I ran this race after a 7 hour drive in the rain to Quincy where we were staying for the night. My legs were certainly stiff so I needed plenty of warming up.

The race was held at Bare Cove Park and was run along the roads as well as some trails. I am not familiar with the park, but part of the course was run along the water which was very nice. There was also the Bare Cove Fire Museum near the start which was extremely cool.

positioned myself at the front of the pack, more for a picture opportunity than to get a jump on the runners. I was hoping to run sub 7's with an outside shot to got 6:45's. I wasn't sure of the course, but if it was flat I thought I could go fast, mainly because it wasn't hot or that humid. It wasn't flat, but not too hilly either.

At the front, this very fast looking young girl asked me what my pace I would be running, which flattered me, and I quickly responded, "hopefully 6:45's". She said she didn't know what pace to run, but she obviously figured it out because she won outright, beating all the men as well. Not a huge surprise, but that doesn't happen much in these races.

I hit the first mile in 6:33, but some of it was downhill which was nice, but I figured I would to tackle it on the way back. My 2nd mile was 6:50, 3rd at 6:58 then a 7:03 but I finished with a 6:45 but it was a fast downhill. There was one women in front of me that I just couldn't catch the first 4 miles and a guy behind me that was closing in on me. I was determined not to let the guy behind pass me which helped me pass the women in front. I sprinted past her in the last 100 yards finishing in 34:04. It was good enough for 5th in my age group.

The post race fare included hot dogs, pasta, watermelon, and ices. The was also a band and lots of tents handing out information on various running related items.

Ro and I didn't hang there to long because we had Bobby back in the room and we were meeting her cousins who live in Boston.

Race #40 - NYRR Half Marathon - 1:45:15

All I will say is that it was hot from the start. Course was great but Central Park takes a lot out of you, especially on a hot and humid morning. Thanks to Oleg, Ray and Rosanne for getting me into the city but the two mile walk after the race to the car was terrible.

Race #39 - Falmouth 7 Mile Road Race - 48:46

I know I have written in previous blogs about past races that the weather was great, but today was absolutely spectacular. This course is probably one of the best of any race I have ever run. Race time temp was about 75 with a slight breeze and the crowds wonderful. I was fortunate to be given an elite number which landed me in the first corral with all the Kenyans, Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, Meb and Joan Benoit Samuelson, not to mention countless other very fast runners.

I left the Pier 7 Condos in South Yarmouth at 6:30am to catch one of the hundreds of buses to take the runners to the start in Woods Hole. I parked at John Wesley United Methodist Church about a 1/2 mile from the buses. I boarded one of the buses at 7:30 and was at the start by 8AM. It was two hours before the start so I had plenty of time to kill. I knew I would see elite runners as well as former elites, such as Shorter and Rodgers. I got myself a cup of coffee and just relaxed at the front and stalked the elites for a picture. I got to see the start of the Achilles runners and the wheelchair competitors. I made friends with other runners such as Brian who has run all 36 previous Falmouth races.

The organization was superb and with 10,000 runners, that's not easy to do.

After a fly over by the Coast Guard and Air Force, the gun was sounded and the elites were off. I was about 15 feet behind them and planned to run sub 7's for the 7 mile race. It didn't seem like a difficult task but the course is full of little hills. In fact I caught up with Bill Rodgers of Boston Marathon fame at the start and ran with him for the first 400 meters. As I sped ahead, I heard him caution me that the initial 3 miles was full of hills. I ran this race 15 yeas ago so I was well aware of the hills in the beginning and at the end. It was hilly but also in the shade because the next 4 miles was basically flat but in full sun. Not sure which I liked more.

I hit the first mile at 6:53, second mile at 6:52 but I wasn't feeling comfortable. The hills were getting to me. Mile 3 was 6:59, 4 - 6:59, 5- 7:00, 6-7:00 and mile 7 was 7:02. I felt like I was running even splits early on but thought I was going faster in the later miles. In fact, I pushed hard at mile 7 knowing I didn't have much time to give back if I wanted to go sub 49. The last 1/2 mile was rolling hills with a nice sized hill just before the finish which I hit hard but paid for the last 250 yards. I was happy with going sub 7's and knew I pushed as hard as I could. The crowds were great along the course as there was lots of water.

The post race party in a park near the finish was to notch with hot dogs, Cape Cod chips, Bear Naked snacks and other FREE goodies. Cigna was the main sponsor and they were great, handing out all kinds of stuff.

I would run this race every year if I lived nearby. Great course, great people, great sponsors and very scenic.

I now have the balance of the week to spend on Cape Cod to run and bike.

Race #38 - Prineton Free Wheelers Metric Century

Ok, so race #38 wasn't a race actually, but a bike ride through New Jersey. I said I was going to mix it up during my 50 @50 and I did so in July. I love bike riding, but never seem to have enough time to do so. My neighbor and friend Marshall Samtur has been riding a lot the last few months and is always asking me to join him. When he mentioned the Princeton event, I checked my scheduled and immediately said yes once I knew that date was open. I have been getting on my bike for at least 50 miles per week in July so I felt good about the ride. I just wasn't sure how far I could go. I have done these tours before but never more than 50 miles. One of my goals is to ride a century (100 miles), but never could train enough to feel confident that I could do it without much pain. When Marshall suggested the metric century, I was in. It's not a race so you do rest along the way to fuel up or get your legs back. We were also joined by Marshall's sister in law Renee and her daughter Rachel as well as his friend Tony.

I headed over to Mercer County Community College for 7am with the thoughts of starting at 7:30. Both Marshall and I had other kid events to attend later in the day. Marshall's daughter Liz is an excellent swimmer and had championships and I had to run over to my son Michael's baseball game to help coach.

We picked up our t-shirts and ride instructions and then headed out. Renee & Rachel were doing the 50 so we weren't riding with them. These rides are well organized with arrows of different colors spray painted in the streets to match up with the distance you plan on doing. This was their 29th year of putting on this race and it went off without a hitch.

We started out easy thinking we would do the first ten miles at a comfortable pace. One thing to note, I was riding my Ho Koo Hi Koo which is my Gary Fischer mountain Bike and 98% of the riders had skinny tire road bikes. My comfortable pace is about 15 MPH, but on a road bike it is easily 18-20 which makes me work harder the whole way. I bought the mountain bike to take advantage of the canal path by me as well as when I go up north in the mountains in the spring. I will need to get a road bike and Jason at Halter's in South Brunswick has been encouraging me to stop by to get fitted for a nice one. They have one great bile shop and it's in South Brunswick.

Back to the ride. We opted to do the 65 less hilly ride which was the right call. Once we got going, I felt great. Marshall was nice enough to hang with me for a while, but he loves to push it especially on the downhills. It's just so hard to keep up with him with my knobby tires. With Tony, its a fair fight for me. He had me on the flats but I was stronger on the few hills that were out there.

We stopped after mile 20 for the club's rest stop which included watermelon, bagels, nut bars and muffins. We hung around for 15 minutes to chat with other riders then headed out. After another 20 miles we were back at the same rest stop to fuel up again. The weather was turning out to be spectacular with cool temps early and plenty of sunshine later. It was turning out to be a very nice day.

The first 40 miles took us through quiet roads and lots of farms filled with shoulder high corn. The Princeton free Wheelers Club mapped out a great course. There was limited traffic and great scenery. I know we passed through Robbinsville, Allentown, Bordentown and other Burlington county towns.

By mile 40 my legs were getting a little fatigued but knowing there was only 15 miles to go motivated me to keep riding fast. The next five I lost sight of Marshall but he was kind enough to wait for me so we could ride the last 8 miles together. Tony had left early at the second rest stop but we caught up with him with about 5 miles to go. Once we hit the campus of MCCC, we sprinted back to the parking lot and our cars. Tony filed in right after us and Renee and Rachel were less than 60 seconds behind us. We finished up in less than 5 hours which I thought was good. Marshall said we averaged 16+ miles per hour. My heart rate never got above 133 and my legs felt fine.

We headed over to the nice spread of food put out by the PFW and chowed down like we hadn't eaten for weeks. Nothing like a 65 mile bike to work up an appetite. One question I asked myself, could I do another 30+ miles now? I know I can, it is a matter of how will my legs feel in those next 30 miles. I won't do unless it's a road bike. I would be crazy to do on my mountain bike. I plan on doing one or two more before the year is out but i won't count them towards my 50.

Next up for me is the Falmouth 7 mile road race in Falmouth, Cape Cod. This is one great race and I hope to run it fast. It is hilly so I won't be breaking any personal records, but I would like to average a sub 6:50 pace. I will be away on vacation the week of the race and there are great rail to trails bike paths on the Cape. I know of one that is 25 miles long so I am sure I will be on that one a few times. Bobby and Mike will be joining me for the rides.

I have 12 races to go so if you haven't joined me yet, you better take a look at my schedule of remaining races. I would love to see a few of you at these races. You know who you are.

See you on the roads.