Roxbury Marathon (and marathon goals for the year complete)
What a weird day, let’s start in the middle with the Roxbury Marathon. I’ll use Strava today, just to be fair, I haven’t gone with Strava before for you guys. Originally the plan was to try and do 4 hours, but that didn’t happen. I had a bad night’s sleep and my back just did not loosen up all day, it got quite painful the last couple loops. Roxbury is a very tough course, there’s lots of uphill, lots of downhill, and a very short portion where you actually don’t have to do too much work. Yes even downhills are work. Keeping your balance and staying under control and not injuring yourself, particularly when fatigued, is taxing. You use lots of muscles that usually we just don’t, because how often do we run down hills? So something to think about, practicing good form on the downhills can really help you out. But this is a taxing course, but scenic, with great volunteers, and friendly folks to run with. It’s a very small race, in a very small town.
That being said, if I ran this course last year in the same time I did today, it would have stood as a PR for me until Hartford of this year. Just beat 2014’s Philly time by 1 minute. So I will definitely be happy with my race performance, plus I got to see and hang out with a bunch of really great people I’ve met through running. That right there, if anything else, is a reason to get out strap on some sneakers and go for a run, and then plunk down 20, 30, 40 bucks running some races here and there. You’re going to meet some really awesome people. Join a club, have some fun, challenge yourself, watch yourself improve. Forget everything else, running empowers you, and much of it comes from the fantastic people you meet out there, because they’ve all been through it, they all know how tough it is and how much work you’ve put in to be where you are, no matter WHAT level of running you’re at, no matter WHAT time you’re finishing in. Amazing stuff, really amazing. So that’s my 11th marathon, with the 50k and the 6-hour pajama romp making 12 months with at least one 26.2 mile race in it. That goal is settled. Between now and December 31 I just need 39.52 miles to hit 1500 for the year, so I’m fairly confident of that happening. That also makes 18 marathons in the last 16 months. I need a short break from marathons, and that starts today, just a 5k tomorrow, when I could have run a 50k.
Also the weather was beautiful today, it is not December in the Northeast US at all, it was so warm I almost put my singlet on. Sun was out, a little breezy, it was a very nice day. Great for running no doubt. Better conditions could not be asked for. That probably helped, particularly over last year’s freeze-a-thon. In that respect it was a good day.
There were a couple things that bothered me today that deserve a mention. First, on my drive up to Roxbury, I end up behind this guy in an orange Jeep Wrangler (the long one with 4 doors, not a REAL Jeep). For those that don’t know the official nickname of Connecticut is the “Constitution State”. I will now explain why this bothered the crap out of me. this guy, with an American flag sticker on his fake Jeep, that he paid way too much money for, had the word “Constitution” blacked out on his license plate. Here’s the problem, it shows massive ignorance about our state. Regardless of your opinion of the running of the State of Connecticut, the fact is the moniker “Constitution State” has to do with the influence the original Connecticut Constitution (called the Fundamental Orders) had to do with influencing the US Constitution, not with the Constitution itself. During the Revolutionary War, we were called the “Provision State” because we basically supplied the entire Continental Army. Apart from sending many people to fight in the war, among whom were Cpl John Gilbert, who is an ancestor of mine. The fact is, while often overlooked due to our small size, Connecticut has been, and continues to be an integral part of the fabric of this nation since before its founding. Also, frankly, none of the laws we’ve passed get struck down by the Supreme Court, so clearly we are well within the bounds of the US Constitution, so this guy can pretty much go get fucked. Sorry folks, I really do love Connecticut, it’s such an historic place, even if it is crazy expensive to live here.
The other thing that bothered me was Manchester United losing to Bournemouth, terrible and tragic. They played with no heart at all, it was devastating to listen to as a fan. I fear, unless something drastically changes, this year’s campaign is mostly over, and there my be no chance at the Champions League next year either. Shameful.
So a good day, with a couple little annoyances that were worth mentioning, haha! Hope you all had a good time out there, hope if you ran a race you ran it well, and had great weather. If you didn’t run, I hope you at least enjoyed your day. Have fun, keep running, and remember; If Gil can run, then so can you!
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