Sunday, March 29, 2009

Eastern States 20 Mile Run to the Border


How do you spell miserable? Today was the Eastern States 20 mile Run to the Border. The race consists primarily of Boston Marathon bound runners desiring a final act of self flagellation before the big race three weeks away. Nearly 600 brave souls endured bone chilling wind and rain from start to finish in the 20 miler. Another 150 entered the Half-Marathon which is run simultaneously. It is a point to point shot from Kittery Maine to just over the border in Salisbury, Massachusetts. You begin the day by parking at the Hampton Beach Casino and are then bused 20 miles north to Traip Academy in Kittery Maine. From the moment we got up in Amherst at 5:30 A.M. we knew it wasn't going to be pretty. We actually debated whether to bag the race and run indoor at the Hampshire Dome. With Boston just three weeks away we erred on the side of giving it a shot. Temperatures when we arrived in Hampton were 40 degrees but with wind gusts of 10-15 mph and rain coming down at a steady clip. Bone chilling as a description would be mild. Just before the race I had a nice surprise from my younger sister Anne and her son William who live in 10 minutes away in York and came by to see us off. The visit made the act of actually stepping out into the pouring rain in Kittery a little more bearable.
My goal was to run somewhere in the 2:28-2:30 range (about 7:30 pace) but despite the efforts of my running partner fellow Flash coach Rick Collopy (who I qualified for Boston with in Scranton, Pennsylvania's Steamtown Marahon) to keep the pace sane we were closer to 7:20 pace most of the early miles. We passed the 5 mile mark in about 36:20 and the 10 mile at 1:13 (my plan was 1:16). The effort was pretty steady and I felt strong despite my nagging adductor and/or psoas musle strain. We passed the 13.1 mark in 1:35 which was about 2-3 minutes faster than my plan. There were some incredible seaside ocean views especially along Rye Beach that we might actually have been able to enjoy if the weather hadn't been so brutal. Rick and I reached the 15 mile mark in about 1:49 and I could see Cathy and a few other runners from our club not too far ahead so I pushed forward. Steve Piper, who is a top area masters runner from Hollis, shortly after pulled up next to me (despite running a first mile 40 seconds slower than mine) and along with Manchester attorney Mike Craig we ran miles 16 & 17 stride for stride. Steve and I finished together in 2:25. As we closed in on the finish I was closing in on Cathy (she didn't realize ) and I planned to take her on the final turn but another women runner passed me and was about to take Cathy...when I yelled a whooping call only known to my family (invented by my mother) she suddenly heard me, sprung to attention and picked it up holding off this other runner. While I wanted to beat her, team first. I shouldn't get too confident as she had minor foot surgery this week and doesnt run real well in cold damp conditons due to her arthritis. http://www.coolrunning.com/results/09/ma/Mar29_Runtot_set1.shtml
That's it for now, I'm pretty exhausted. I'll post the results from other runners either later tonight or Monday.



Posted by Mike Merra at 6:14 PM  

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Sunday, March 22, 2009

Final 23 Mile Boston Training Run




This weekend we ran the same 23 mile course but on separate days because Cathy attended the annual Massachusetts Track & Field Coaching Clinic on Friday evening and Saturday (with Jack Daniels as one of the guest speakers). I have attended the clinic the last few years but took a pass this year due a busy work schedule and a desire to get my last and final 20+ mile training run out of the way on Saturday. We have been doing most of our long training runs this winter on Kendall Hill in Mont Vernon, a three mile long series of four hills very similar to the Newton hills but closer together. Kendall Hill is no secret, as we encounter many other Boston Marathon hopefuls and various "Teams in Training" on the same hills each weekend. Sometimes we high five each other as we pass. To keep it interesting, we have tried to vary how we approach these hills, sometimes approaching starting from the Amherst Village, sometimes taking a route out by Baboosic Lake Rd. in Merrimack then over to Souhegan Woods golf course and back through the Village and a few times (like this weekend) the most boring option of starting at our house on Nathaniel Drive and heading down Horace Greely then up Austin Road. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2677330 For most of our runs we have run Kendall Hill from the Village and then come directly back down and repeated this act of stupidity again (meaning about six of the roughly 20+ miles involve steady up hill running not including a few other random hills). I find it mentally tough to repeat the same course twice in one long run so this week I changed it by running Kendall Hill just once and taking a right onto Joe English Road which (as I described in the last post) is another series of hills running up to about 1000' in total elevation at the base of Joe English Hill in New Boston. Its probably one of the most beautiful runs in the area with many farm houses, farm animals (I was chased by chickens on my way back down Tater on Saturday including one odd one with no feathers) and incredible vistas looking northwest toward Mt. Kearsarge.
In total the course had 9 major hills. The last hill on Joe English Road in New Boston before turning around at Jessica Lane was so steep it felt like I was literally walking for close to a mile. My training runs have always been generally on the slow side, especially on these mega-hilly training runs. For some reason I have trouble keeping within 30-60 seconds of my goal marathon pace as my McMillan plan recommends. For Saturday's run, I was 3:15 for the 23 miles, about an 8:31 pace. I felt ok throughout and I thought I was going faster than my overall pace indicated but running alone with a large water pack I suppose slowed me down more than I thought. After a little stretching and a couple of Bud Lights later I really didn't care. On Sunday I ran an easy 11 mile recovery on a portion of the same course with my Amherst (and hopefully 2010 Boston Marathon entrant) buddy Charlie Lawrence. While Charlie and I slogged along Cathy ran the same course I ran Saturday in exactly 3:00, about 7:50 pace. Next week we have the Eastern States 20 miler. I'm looking forward to finally running on flat ground although my training plan has me running 10 seconds slower than marathon pace the first 1/3, marathon pace the middle third, and (hopefully) a little faster than MP the last1/3.

Posted by Mike Merra at 7:18 PM  

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Joe English and Running Through Three Towns-Amherst, Mont Vernon & New Boston


On Saturday March 14, 2009 we headed out at 1:30 P.M. for our weekly bout of suffering. We were up in the air as to exactly what route we would follow, but as usual found a way to incorporate Kendall Hill Road in Mont Vernon into the run. We ran from our house for about five miles before crossing into Mont Vernon. After reaching the peak of Kendall Hill two (all uphill) miles later we decided to head down Joe English and the roads quickly turned muddy.
Joe English Road runs right under Joe English Hill, which is one of the most visible landmarks from a birds eye view when you fly into the Manchester airport. It sits less than a mile from what appears from the sky as a large white golf ball (which up close is more than six stories high) which in fact is a geodesic dome that protects satellite tracking antennas of the 23rd Space Operations Squadron of the U.S. Air Force. The antenna is located at the New Boston Air Force Station which served as a practice bombing range in the 1940's and still apparently has a few unexploded bombs in the woods as the sign above warns. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Boston_Air_Force_Station
According to the Town of Amherst website, the hill is named after Joe English who was what early histories called a "friendly Indian." He was the grandson of Masconnomet, the "sagamon" or chief at Agawam. Though Joe's real name was Merruwacomet, the settlers called him "Joe English" because of his affection for the local townspeople. According to Charles J. Fox's History of the Old Township of Dunstable, the local Indians had no affection for Joe and were determined to capture him. In approximately 1697 they unwittingly gave Joe English Hill its name when late one afternoon as Joe was hunting along the nearby Piscataquog River, he was surprised by two Indian hunters, who immediately pursued him. He ran east, toward the hill, which was a gentle slope on one side but an abrupt drop on the far side (see photo above...the cliff is much more dramatic in person but its the best one I could find online). Followed closely by the Indians, Joe ran up the hill and slipped over the edge onto a ledge. By now it was dark and his pursuers who were not as familiar with the hill, saw him go over the edge and, naturally enough, assumed he had fallen onto the rocks below and died.
As we ran under Joe English Hill we could look up and see the steep cliff which made Joe famous and to our left we could see nearly 40 miles into the distance to Mt. Kearsarge in Sutton. We made our way into New Boston, and at about the 11.5 mile mark turned around for the trip back. We faced many monster hills on the way out but fortunately had more downhills on the return trip and somehow traced our way back home to Amherst and after more than three hours on the roads (3:11 to be exact) were done. Just one long training run left.

Posted by Mike Merra at 10:29 PM  

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Friday, March 13, 2009

The End is in Sight

We are now in the midst of our heaviest weekly mileage loads. The brutally cold weather in New Hampshire is starting to lift and last Saturday I was able to actually run in shorts for the first time since late last year. Last week I also ran 80 miles for the first time in my life, this week if the long run (23) goes according to plan, it will be 83. People ask, why are you running so many miles? My response is always the same: if I was truly talented I could get away with less. Due to schedule conflicts Cathy ran the exact same course for her long run on Sunday as I did Saturday, and was 12 minutes faster. Last Tuesday we also did a solid speed workout (1m, 2000 meters, 1m,1m, 1m, 1m) in the Hampshire Dome with fellow Gate City Striders (Karen Long, Karen Pattelena, Trevor Ward, and Brian Kane) at about 6:45 pace with 2:30 rest in between. So far, my legs including my arthroscopically modified knees have held up pretty well but I’ve developed persistent bi-lateral pain in my adductors that I can feel nearly every step. The pain, which runs from my pelvis (on both sides) down into the inside of my quads is not too severe (yet) and I’ve found several sets of stretching exercises online that seem to help a little. The above chart is my weekly mileage since January 1. We have just two long training runs left (excluding the Eastern States 20 miler on March 29) and they can't be over soon enough.

Posted by Mike Merra at 9:13 PM  

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Saturday, March 7, 2009

Ivy League Heps, Heartbreak Hill and US Indoor Nationals






Sunday March 1, 2009:

I'm about a week behind in updating my blog due to work and family commitments. Last Saturday and Sunday the Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track Championships were held at the Gordon Track at Harvard and we traveled to Cambridge to watch our oldest son Anthony run the 5000 m for Columbia on Sunday afternoon.

Before the race on Sunday we headed down a few hours early and parked at the Brae Burn Golf Course in Newton at the base of the 2nd of the five Newton hills. It was snowing lightly as we crossed into Massachusetts but the snow was coming down at a steadier rate by the time we arrived in Newton. We first ran backwards to the Newton Wellesley Hospital via Rt. 16 which put us just about 5 miles from the top of Heartbreak Hill on the Boston College campus and then changed directions. If I run the hills again I’ll just park at the hospital. Despite the steady snow there were literally hundreds of other runners on the hills and several running clubs had actually set up water/Gatorade tables along the way! The previous day we had done a grueling three hour run at 6:45 AM with lawyers John Stanzel (2:58 Vermont) and Mike Craig (3:18 Boston) on the Kendall Hill course in Mont Vernon and they had done a good job of pushing the pace and leaving me exhausted for Sunday’s run. For some reason having so many other runners on the marathon course gave us a psychological boost and I actually felt ok going up the hills. The Newton DPW kept salting the carriage road throughout the morning. Cathy and Chris dropped me pretty early, but I caught up to them at BC.

As we turned around and began our descent I saw two runners literally blazing their way up the hill toward me. The runner on the left had a familiar stride. A very familiar stride, one I had thought I had seen on TV. I glanced up….it was U.S. record holder and 2008 Olympic Marathoner Ryan Hall. He was (I later learned) on a 20 mile training run after racing in Tampa Florida the previous day and in Boston that day to watch his wife Sara compete at the US Indoor Championships at the Reggie Lewis track. I yelled “go Ryan” and he waved and then was gone.

Anthony ran a good race at the Heps later in the afternoon finishing 9th out of 27 runners in the 5000 as a sophomore. His time of 14:42 was a PR for him and a decent time on an indoor track and he seemed happy after the race. He began his running career as an 8 year old doing duck duck goose at the Gate City Striders Fitness University program to which we are eternally grateful. Its funny, before his race’s I’ve learned (the hard way) I can’t go near him for fear of saying something or doing something that will get him upset. After his race, he’s back to his friendly self. My parents and my sister Kathy and her son Michael (an up and coming star at Hingham High School) braved the terrible driving conditions and attended the meet which gave Anthony a big boost. The Columbia men’s team had a great day finishing 3rd overall and there were many former New Hampshire high school stars runners as well as two former Flash runners (Julianne Quinn-Manchester West/ Columbia and John Schroeder Dartmouth/Nashua North--pictured with Anthony above).

Saturday February 28, 2009:

A Fun Day Under the Bright Lights

On Saturday my Flash Youth Boys were invited to participate in the Youth Boys 4 x 200 meter exhibition relay at the USATF Indoor Championships at the Reggie Lewis Track in Boston. It was a thrill for our runners to compete on the same track with many top U.S. runners and Olympians. Prior to the race we are allowed to warm up in the specially designated area with the likes of U.S mile record holder Alan Webb, three time US 800 meter champion Khadevis Robinson and 2008 Olympians Christian Smith (800m) and Lolo Jones (60m hurdles) to name a few. Our team of Cam Dumont (Hampton), Ben Platt (Amherst), Kevin McIntire (Londonderry) and Scott Johnson (Bedford) finished a strong 4th in a time of 2:00.69.

Posted by Mike Merra at 9:53 PM  

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