Coming up at the end of this week is my first marathon in two years, and my 20th overall. Tom Petty's "The Waiting is the Hardest Part" always come to my mind pre-marathons. I'm concerned about how three weeks of sickness has negatively affected my training, but otherwise feeling good and ready to go. Obviously this week and next will feature much lighter running volumes and efforts.
Monday: 0
Planned day off this week. In fact, I only plan to run four days, including the marathon itself.
Tuesday: 5
Late afternoon. 29 degrees and very windy. Scrapped the road run. Went to Bradford Preserve, and seeing a good dozen cars at the trailhead, opted to keep driving. At Grills, there were only two cars and once on the trails, I never saw a soul, save a white-tailed deep on the yellow trail along the Pawcatuck River. In the pine barrens, I could hear the wind whipping above the trees. Easy run.
Wednesday: 0
As part of marathon tapering, I had planned to run today and take tomorrow off. With rare snow forecast for Thursday morning, I switched plans to be able to get out and play in the snow tomorrow. Let's see how this plays out ...
Meanwhile, time to start packing:
Thursday: 6
Woke up excited for the forecast 2-4" of snow, only to find 1/2" at most. Ugh. Local roads through Misquamicut. Last run in RI for probably about a week.
In the afternoon, I went to Ray Willis for three packs of GU. After selection and purchase, I browsed the pretty new bikes, and the new owner came over and talked to me. No pressure at all; I told him I was just window shopping and thinking about it.
February miles: 190
Friday: 3
So far the travel is not off to a great start. Probably the first time ever flying out of or into LaGuardia. I booked LGA to save a few dollars (to be fair, a few hundred dollars, and a direct non-stop flight to Myrtle Beach). But it sure doesn't seem worth it as I sit on the floor (literally) at LGA now. The planned two hour drive turned into four hours as I sat in bumper to bumper traffic on the Merritt Parkway (yes, I know NYC salaries are higher, but how people from CT drive this day in and day out is beyond me). LaGuardia airport is dirty and under construction, and I had to really pay attention to snake around the detours once inside the airport and get to parking.
Tough to find a parking spot, but Jana saw one on the 5th floor of Terminal C parking garage. OK, now off to Gate D2 in Terminal D. Walked to Terminal D before learning that due to construction, getting to this part of Terminal D first required entering through Terminal C. Ugh; that was clear as mud. Hightailed through the dirty passageway back to Terminal C, proceeded through security (fortunately light as we're pretty late now) and then the cut-through to Terminal D. Looked up at the flight board to see it showing same gate and on-time. Hurried and got to the gate as a flight is boarding, but it shows "Detroit" instead of "Myrtle Beach". Huh? Asked an attendant and was told the Myrtle Beach flight is delayed two hours. Ugh.
OK, we'll go get something to eat and come back. In the main terminal, I double-checked the board again to see it still shows on-time. Frustrating! Bought lunch, came back to the gate, and looked for an open seat. Nada. Oh, so that's why so many people are just sitting on the floor in the terminal. So here we are sitting on the floor with hundreds of others. I even overheard one cop say to another, "This place is like a nuthouse!" Um, yeah, it is.
Remind me never to book a flight out of LGA again!
After finally boarding, the plane sat on the tarmac for 1/2 hour, and once airborne, no more issues. Arrived Myrtle Beach mid-afternoon, checked in, and went for an easy shakeout run with Jana on some of the roads that the course would be on (the course went right past our host hotel on Ocean Ave).
Saturday: 27
Myrtle Beach Marathon. Full write-up forthcoming in next day or two.
Sunday: 0
Rolled and stretched the legs out pretty good this morning. Quite sore, but actually not as bad as I feared or have experienced in the past. Still, it will be several consecutive days completely off from running for me.
Weekly mileage: 40
Weekly synopsis: I'll leave the marathon review to a separate focused post, but otherwise the week besides the marathon itself, as expected, featured scant running. In fact, just 13 miles! Looking ahead, next week will also be a really low mileage week, and then I'll need to gradually shift the focus of my training away from road running and into mountain/trail running, as my first mountain circuit race is just seven weeks away.
Weekly highlight: Of course, the Myrtle Beach Marathon!
Weekly lowlight: LaGuardia Airport takes the cake by far, with a second place award to Spirit Airlines.
Monday: 0
Planned day off this week. In fact, I only plan to run four days, including the marathon itself.
Tuesday: 5
Late afternoon. 29 degrees and very windy. Scrapped the road run. Went to Bradford Preserve, and seeing a good dozen cars at the trailhead, opted to keep driving. At Grills, there were only two cars and once on the trails, I never saw a soul, save a white-tailed deep on the yellow trail along the Pawcatuck River. In the pine barrens, I could hear the wind whipping above the trees. Easy run.
Wednesday: 0
As part of marathon tapering, I had planned to run today and take tomorrow off. With rare snow forecast for Thursday morning, I switched plans to be able to get out and play in the snow tomorrow. Let's see how this plays out ...
Meanwhile, time to start packing:
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| Yuk. Pretty sure that form it will take at recovery would be pretty useless. Let's Run forum can sometimes have some funny responses, as this one in response to the same question I had. |
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| While the first answer was funnier, I think I'm going to go with this one. |
Thursday: 6
Woke up excited for the forecast 2-4" of snow, only to find 1/2" at most. Ugh. Local roads through Misquamicut. Last run in RI for probably about a week.
In the afternoon, I went to Ray Willis for three packs of GU. After selection and purchase, I browsed the pretty new bikes, and the new owner came over and talked to me. No pressure at all; I told him I was just window shopping and thinking about it.
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| Am I just over the hill and boring, or are these new GU flavors getting a little too weird? I stuck with one of my usual go-to flavors: Vanilla Bean Who craves Cucumber Mint during an endurance race? Please do tell; I won't judge. What on earth does Tastefully Nude taste like? Please elaborate, anyone, as I'm not familiar with that flavor. |
Friday: 3
So far the travel is not off to a great start. Probably the first time ever flying out of or into LaGuardia. I booked LGA to save a few dollars (to be fair, a few hundred dollars, and a direct non-stop flight to Myrtle Beach). But it sure doesn't seem worth it as I sit on the floor (literally) at LGA now. The planned two hour drive turned into four hours as I sat in bumper to bumper traffic on the Merritt Parkway (yes, I know NYC salaries are higher, but how people from CT drive this day in and day out is beyond me). LaGuardia airport is dirty and under construction, and I had to really pay attention to snake around the detours once inside the airport and get to parking.
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| This is the Merritt Parkway and while a stock photo, this is what the traffic looked like today for miles and miles and miles. |
Tough to find a parking spot, but Jana saw one on the 5th floor of Terminal C parking garage. OK, now off to Gate D2 in Terminal D. Walked to Terminal D before learning that due to construction, getting to this part of Terminal D first required entering through Terminal C. Ugh; that was clear as mud. Hightailed through the dirty passageway back to Terminal C, proceeded through security (fortunately light as we're pretty late now) and then the cut-through to Terminal D. Looked up at the flight board to see it showing same gate and on-time. Hurried and got to the gate as a flight is boarding, but it shows "Detroit" instead of "Myrtle Beach". Huh? Asked an attendant and was told the Myrtle Beach flight is delayed two hours. Ugh.
OK, we'll go get something to eat and come back. In the main terminal, I double-checked the board again to see it still shows on-time. Frustrating! Bought lunch, came back to the gate, and looked for an open seat. Nada. Oh, so that's why so many people are just sitting on the floor in the terminal. So here we are sitting on the floor with hundreds of others. I even overheard one cop say to another, "This place is like a nuthouse!" Um, yeah, it is.
 |
| No, this is not LGA, and while not THIS bad, it certainly felt cramped with literally hundreds of us sitting on the floor. |
After finally boarding, the plane sat on the tarmac for 1/2 hour, and once airborne, no more issues. Arrived Myrtle Beach mid-afternoon, checked in, and went for an easy shakeout run with Jana on some of the roads that the course would be on (the course went right past our host hotel on Ocean Ave).
Saturday: 27
Myrtle Beach Marathon. Full write-up forthcoming in next day or two.
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| Saturday afternoon: time to reverse the trip. Myrtle Beach airport: clean, attractive, inviting, efficient. |
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| LaGuardia Airport: unsightly, off-putting, chaotic, confusing. I'm guessing over the years I've flown into or out of at least 50 different airports, and I would rate this one the worst. (That's including airports in India and China.) Balanced feedback: unlike the rest of the airport, the bathrooms are surprisingly clean. |
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| Our flight parked at Myrtle Beach Airport. First time taking the yellow airline; think hard about it if you ever consider it. We knew what we were getting into with a bare-bones discount carrier in terms of no amenities at all, but didn't think the dirt-cheap prices would come with dirty seats or insolent, nonchalant customer service. Balanced feedback: The lead attendant was witty and funny. Upon landing back at grimy LaGuardia, she announced to a big laugh, "I want to be the first to welcome you to sunny Hawaii!" (Then we sat on the tarmac for another 35 minutes before a gate became available to taxi to.) |
Sunday: 0
Rolled and stretched the legs out pretty good this morning. Quite sore, but actually not as bad as I feared or have experienced in the past. Still, it will be several consecutive days completely off from running for me.
Weekly mileage: 40
Weekly synopsis: I'll leave the marathon review to a separate focused post, but otherwise the week besides the marathon itself, as expected, featured scant running. In fact, just 13 miles! Looking ahead, next week will also be a really low mileage week, and then I'll need to gradually shift the focus of my training away from road running and into mountain/trail running, as my first mountain circuit race is just seven weeks away.
Weekly highlight: Of course, the Myrtle Beach Marathon!
Weekly lowlight: LaGuardia Airport takes the cake by far, with a second place award to Spirit Airlines.
Jeff - I believe 'Tastefully Nude' is the rebranded version of their 'Plain' flavor, which is actually my favorite. Also, we are spoiled by TF Green. Sure, we can only fly direct to like three places, but the speed (parking, security, taxiing, pretty much everything) makes up for that in my mind. Congrats again on the marathon!
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