Icarus and Achilles

I had my first training run with the local chapter of Achilles International last week, and, unfortunately, I was out of town this weekend, so couldn't make it to one this week (which was eventually canceled, as it turns out). However, that didn't stop me from practicing how I would handle the "course" that I was on for my outdoor run on Saturday.

I went up to Vermont this weekend for the opening of my goddaughter's senior project art installation. She is studying to be an art teacher and had pieces in many different media: sculpture, photography, watercolors, ceramics, embroidery, collage, and possibly one or two others whose types I don't know the proper names for. Suffice to say, a rather eclectic mix, mostly because she wants to make sure she is conversant with the different media that she will need to be teaching to elementary and/or secondary school students. If you are in the vicinity of VT University, Castleton, up through December 19 (and possibly even as late as mid-January), you should swing by the Fine Arts Center and take a look. My favorite pieces from the show:

(No, despite the title of the blog post, these wings are not made out of wax, rather feathers. Over 1,000 feathers glued onto tulle.) 

It was a nice, albeit chilly, weekend. When I went outside on Saturday morning, it was about 34F. Surprisingly enough, my MCM mock, running pants, knit cap, and (relatively thin) knit gloves (sans hand warmers) did a decent job of keeping me warm enough during the first mile until I was generating my own heat.

The scenery was definitely a nice change of pace compared to the same stretches of road or W&OD trail that I run on when going outside, and I was encouraged that outdoor running in those temps really aren't so bad. The hills were a little taxing, but a couple of the houses were really cute. While one had a "flock" of pink flamingos standing out front, another had a large variety of bird feeders on tall colored poles. I can only imagine just how unique a scene it is in warm temperatures with a wide variety of birds flitting about and dining from the differently shaped and colored houses.

Despite it being a simple rhomboid 2-mile loop (that I ran 3 times), there were enough tricky spots for me to pretend I was tethered to someone else I needed to lead through the area. There were several sizable inclines/declines to be pointed out, a couple of large swaths of fallen leaves to be mindful of a slipping hazard, spots where we would need to be single-file because of it being narrow (typically because of an obstacle in the way), and some tricky zig-zag type turns to navigate. While it felt a little awkward to be talking out loud to a phantom athlete, 1) no one else was around to hear/observe and 2) it didn't matter if anyone was able to understand what I was doing as it is helpful to become better accustomed to doing all of these activities when running outside. It will behoove me to continue doing at least one run per week outside while also practicing this, whether it be during an actual chapter run or just on my own. I'll certainly need to refrain from it while doing my regular pacing duties, though -- I think that could be rather confusing. (Though, frankly, some of the same warnings apply, regardless, when it comes to any sizable hills (up or down), obstacles upcoming, or other oddities that really need to be called out.)

I also interviewed with Achilles International on Friday for one of their very limited (read: five) bibs for the Boston Marathon. As I understand, everyone who interviewed will find out in the next few days (as they said they would decide before Thanksgiving). Fingers crossed that I didn't put my foot in my mouth -- at least too egregiously. I was truthful, potentially to a fault, providing slightly more detail than was necessarily warranted. At least I don't have much additional time I will need to wait for a final verdict.

Achilles International (tm)

                                         

Anyone who has run in or spectated at some of the larger marathons has seen people running in Achilles International shirts -- either athletes (be they amputees, blind, mobility impaired, or those in racing hand cycles) or guides. While non-runners often marvel at how the runners are able to go for 26.2 miles, we runners are similarly floored at so many of these Achilles athletes being able to overcome whatever their particular impairment is to persevere and go the distance.

Today, the newly formed Loudoun County chapter held its first training run, and I joined in. Slowly but surely, the word will spread. We had many more guides (or newbie guides, like me) than we had athletes, so several of the newbies were paired up with some veteran guides to help simulate -- in my group's case -- guiding a blind runner.

It's one thing to have seen lots of these small 2 or 3-person groups in dozens of marathons over the years, but this training run very much opened my eyes as to just how difficult it is for a blind runner to navigate a race, a guide to provide the appropriate directions and communication, and the trust that a blind runner must place in their guide, possibly meeting that person for the first time at the race itself.

At least for the time being, unless someone has and transports their own racing chair, our chapter will be focused on those athletes who are ambulatory. I'm looking forward to being able to expand my repertoire in races where I'm not running for myself. While I expect most of the time will still be as a pacer, whenever otherwise possible, I hope I can be used as a guide.

I'm also in the process of applying for their charity team for the Boston Marathon next year. Regardless of whether that pans out or not, I will continue my journey to guide Achilles athletes and do more than simply yell "Go Achilles!" on the course.

Harrisburg Marathon

The Harrisburg YMCA puts on several races throughout the year. This year was the second time I was set to pace the marathon. It's a very small field (both for the marathon and relay, and the half marathon), but for those who want to get an early shot in the season at a BQ, this really is a great race to do so -- the course is mostly flat (the few hills are relatively brief -- basically on/off-ramps as far as some bridges are concerned being the "worst" of them) and, at least for the past two years, the weather has been great -- nice cool day, and the start line so close to the parking lot that if you really wanted to, you could keep warm inside your car until about 10 minutes before race start.

I arrived early afternoon on Saturday to packet pickup in the Y itself -- a painlessly fast process. I took a chance at not bothering to pay for the on-street parking as I figured I'd be in an out in less than 5 minutes. It was even faster than that -- maybe 2 minutes total. Later in the evening, I went to an Italian restaurant (and piano bar), but unfortunately the pianist wasn't set to start performing until about 7pm (and I was finished with dinner before 6pm).

The morning arrived quickly enough and I "caravanned" down to City Island with one of the other pacers who was also staying at the same hotel. It was perfect weather -- in the upper 40s, mostly cloudy, and barely any wind. We pacers picked up our pace signs and gathered for our obligatory group photo.

(The time on the clock on the right was how long the walkers, who set out first, were already underway. They get a full extra hour.)

We all lined up in our respective spots and awaited the start. I warned the few people who self-identified to me as running for 4:30 a couple of the places on the course where they would need to be extra careful -- which I repeated each time we approached them on the 2-loop course; spots that are easily visible but that if one is "in the zone" might not be paying sufficient attention to recognize.

While it's a somewhat awkward/tight start at the beginning, and a little precarious given the condition of the asphalt in the parking lot we start/finish in, quickly enough we were spread out and coalesced into our respective groups. This year my pace group was pretty small -- from what I could tell, I didn't even have a dozen people at the start.

It was a little difficult to determine just how many people were in my group, because most of them weren't all that responsive when I engaged with questions and goaded them to shout "Oorah!" (a habit I maintain from Marine Corps Marathon -- I think it's a great cheer usually). Only the two or three people who were directly next to me engaged, and even prompted their own questions to me every now and then.

Once we finally made I way down directly along the river (around Mile 2 for several miles), the river was a gorgeous clam sheet of glass. Pacer Patrick shared a photo (not sure if he took it or someone else did) which gives a good indication of the sorts of views that we had along the river.

Given how small a field runs this marathon and half marathon, there are relatively few people who come out and cheer. While there are a few pockets of loud cheers, many of the miles are quiet. I attempted to break up that silence with some of my usual questions and prompts, but didn't get much responsiveness, which made it all the more difficult (I think) for some of the people in the group to keep on task.

To me, the water stops on this route are pretty awkward. They are *very* brief  (basically a single table), and the water (more often than not, from what I could tell) is in sealed large (16 oz) bottles -- lots of waste, as people aren't generally going to take and hold onto the bottle for many miles. And picking up the various snack items (candy/chocolates, goldfish/other salty snacks, bananas) very much required a full stop to find what you wanted to take and head back out -- it didn't seem like there were sufficient volunteers to assist with the snacks, just enough to assist with the drinks.

(One of very few unique signs found on course. When you've run as many marathons as I have -- with this having been #91 -- it's hard to find a sign you haven't seen many times before.)

While I did see a couple of photographers on the course, and it looked like they were taking photos of our group, it seems the only ones that were taken of me and those around me were at the start/half/finish line of the 2-loop course.

One of the people in my group was using this race as a qualifying race for his entry to the Comrades Marathon in South Africa next year. For those who are unaware, the name is a misnomer, as the race is approximately 85 km long, not "just" 26.2 miles. While he eventually fell off our initial pace, he ultimately beat the time that he needed (5 hours). (Thanks, Robert, for the correction on the distance being about 56 miles. Going to the website, they say 88-90km. Oops!)

Another person in my group was running her very first marathon, with her 40th birthday being next month. 

The one person from my initial group who stayed with me the entire time was a 17-year old running his first marathon (on the right side of the above photo). He took me up on my insistence that he charge ahead of me as strongly as possible by the time we hit the Mile 26 marker. While I was nearly exactly on pace for my 4:29:30 target, he had enough gas in his tank to finish in under 4:29:00. (Congrats, Esteban!)

I stuck around after the race for a little while cheering on some more runners making their way around the last turn before the finish line gets in sight and then headed on out for my regular post-race lunch: a good cheeseburger at a local joint. That it was barely out of the way on my return trip home was a bonus.

GWR Update

Well, the rejection of my attempt at Boston stands. Alas, I don't have a specific reason that would help me understand what could have been done differently.

However, all is not lost. There is one category that already exists (so I don't even need to pay to have them determine if they will follow the category) but does not yet have anyone having established the record: fastest marathon dressed as a comic book character.

While there were many people who called me "Paul Revere" while running, the more apt name (which many did call me, too) was "George Washington." It's much easier to find images in the same outfit that I wore for depictions of George Washington, rather than Paul Revere. Other categories I considered were "fastest marathon dressed as a film character" and "fastest marathon dressed as a comic book character" -- but those are right out for my submission since they exist with times faster than 3 hours.

Yep, there are many comic books which had appearances by GW. The one which seems most applicable?

The thing which has me most concerned is what the minimum time to break was. For other records, it was four hours. But there was one part of the application which implied three hours. If that's the case, this attempt is officially closed/rejected. I'll find out in the next several weeks.