The run down

After a day off I am back in the saddle with an hour and a half ride on the bike trainer. The major fallout from the marathon---my quads do not work, essentially making it impossible to go down stairs or hills. Lots of elevators for me.

But before we move on, a little race recap.

Before the race, I broke the course up into a couple of areas. I called them:

1)Tour de Kentucky
2)Dahntown
3)The Hill
4)My Hood
5)Welcome to Mariemont
6)The Death Zone
7)The long stretch home

First, the Tour de Kentucky---The race starts almost in the dark. A an abandoned house fire on the course delayed our start by fifteen minutes. That explains why I kept hearing sirens all night long.

I started out with a plan to folllow a group planning to run the race in 5:30, a super slow time. I should digress and comment on Mike Tyson. A reporter once asked him how he was approaching an upcoming fight since the opponent "had a plan". Mike's comment was, "everybody has a plan until I land the first punch".

In those first few mile I felt horrible. Legs were dead and tight and I watched as the SLOWEST pace group in the race was out of sight in the first two miles. First punch--New Plan--run within your heart rate and maybe finish. Over the Ohio and through Kentucky before heading back over the river to Cincinnati. I must say that things looked pretty bleak , but lets see what can happen back in Ohio

Amazing

I just had to relate this story.

During the marathon I was behind a guy who had on full firefighter gear including an oxygen tank. I first thought it was a fun stunt of sorts but soon realized that he was running with a crew. That crew was to honor the death of two firefighters who recently perished in a blaze.

Pretty amazing stuff. A little down the road I came upon the same guys who had stopped and were just getting finished doing something. That something involved attending to a guy who collapsed and had sudden death. He was revived and taken to the hospital. I am not making this stuff up. The firefighters finished their work and rejoined the race. I have no excuse for a slow time but I think these guys get a pass

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080504/NEWS01/80504008

I think I understand Rosie Ruiz just a little bit better

Quick post to let you know that I finished the Flying Pig Marathon. Super slow but had a great time. Huge crowds--even in downtown Cincinnati.

More details later

I am not sure this was a good idea

A week or so ago I promised a "nice story" but then diverted into my usual abyss. So now back to the nice story, sort of.

3 years ago, almost to the day, Lisa underwent her transplant. On one of the mornings when I was headed up to the hospital to see her i saw this line of people running up the hill. As I got closer I realized that it was Team in Training out for their final long, 20 mile , run leading up to the Flyng Pig marathon. I thought to myself, "if you people only knew how important this is to us". You are running for me and my family and especially my wife.

Fast forward 3 years and I am out on the very same run. Lisa is home in bed and the kids are watching TV and nobody is going to the doctor. A side note--the weather turned cold and windy on that training day and we had to send a few hypothemics to the hospital--but why ruin a heartwarming story?

Now I must admit that I performed poorly on that training day and I am not anticipating doing much better in the actual race tomarrow. I'm not sure if we have come a long way or if we have made little of a second chance. So the bottom line is to learn from tomarrow and then try to move on.