Milling around Lowell

October 14th saw Cantabloggia make an outing to the historic mill city of Lowell, MA, 11 years and one day after my last, ill-fated marathon, which was in the same location. This time around I was entered in the half-marathon, and conditions were excellent: a cool, crisp, sunny day, with a little wind but nothing too challenging. I had run what was for me an unprecedented number of miles over the last 3 months, and taken it easy for a few days leading into the race. If I didn't race well, I would be struggling to find a good excuse.

The full marathon and the half started almost side by side, with the full marathoners getting a few yards head start. It took me the better part of a mile to make up those few yards on eventual women's marathon winner Kara Haas, and that was with me going out a little faster than I had planned, in about 5:45. I was encouraged by how easy that mile felt, but backed off the pace a little to make sure I didn't burn out in the early miles.

I had two personal records in my sights from the start. My fastest previous half (1:16:48) was in 2001, on a course that drops about 200 feet over its 13.1 miles, making it a "non-record quality" course in the eyes of those who certify road race records. The Lowell course, a loop run twice, is record-quality, any my prior best on such a course was 1:18:03 earlier this year. I hoped to get under both these marks but knew that things would have to go well to eclipse the lower one.

After keeping myself in check for miles 2-4, I started to move up through the pack, passing team-mate and middle-distance specialist Andy Colon. As the course reached the midpoint and turned back into a now noticeable headwind, I made a conscious effort to catch a runner in front of me to get some help into the wind. This was the first time I became aware of breathing hard. It was worth the effort though, as my new-found buddy and I took turns running into the wind for the next 2 miles, until the course turned around again, at which point he wished me well and I went on my way to try to catch long-time rival Mike Cooney (I don't think I've ever beaten him at any distance). It was never going to happen, but it gave me something to focus on as I tried to work as hard as I could in the final miles. My 12th mile was the fastest of the day as I began to realize that the 1:16:48 mark was in reach. Mile 13 snaked around the parking lot of the minor league baseball park that houses the finish line, and eventually I found myself on the warning track of the field running from left field to right and sprinting down the first base line to finish right at home place. 1:16:33 - a new PR, six years after my previous best, and on a more challenging course.

The musical angle on this story is that Christy and I broke with the old runners rule that the night before the night before is the most important one for a good night's sleep. On that night we had tickets to see the "punk-dance" band !!! (pronounced, roughly, Chk Chk Chk) at The Paradise, and with a certain sense of duty we took ourselves out to see an act coming on after our normal bedtime. (The evenings in a household where everyone is doing marathon training are not exactly high energy affairs). We had been listening to their new album, "Myth Takes" for a couple of weeks, and seeing them live was absolutely worth the late night. One thing that really got the night off to a good start was when the members of !!! spontaneously appeared on stage and started dancing during the closing song of the prior act, a pretty reasonable DJ. It seemed to send a message of "we're not too cool to hang out with the support act, and we're here to have fun". It really put the audience in a receptive mood when !!! re-appeared a few minutes later for their own set, which was great.

So I am forced to conclude that the night-before-the-night-before theory is looking a little weaker now.

Here is a bit of !!! - title track of the Myth Takes album