Happy New Year!

Wow have I been negligent here!  2014 ended on an excellent note with me running two more races after NYC (an unplanned half marathon and XC Club Nationals - more about both later), 1800 miles, and more importantly, me staying injury free.  I attribute the injury-free status to my work with Coach Emily who tailored my mileage down a bit so that I could take advantage of rest and recovery, to my trainer, Jake, for making me realize that I'm stronger than I think, to Meredith and Cindy for those agonizing 5:50 am classes, and to my running buds here in Cleveland (Anne, Chris, Karyn, Amy, Brenda, Elizabeth, Jen, Dianne, Brittany, Kathy, Liz, Tim, Mike P, Michelle, Jennifer, Mike E, Big Mike, etc., etc., etc - you know who you are) and my summer runs with Mary Pat and Chris. Finishing on the high note was great, and I hope after a bit of rest and down time for the end of December and early in January, I can maintain the level of fitness to get me through a strong spring. After all, I am once again planning on running Boston in April (with Mary Pat - her first!) and the NYC Half marathon(very exciting) and the Publix Half.  First up though is the Rock 'n Roll New Orleans half on 1/25 - a race that I am ready for distance-wise, but I doubt will be anything but a good, solid effort which is what I want.

As for the last two races of 2014, the Fall Classic Half Marathon was intended to be a solid run for me while attempting to pace Chris to a sub 1:49 half so that she could automatically qualify for the NYC Half Marathon.  I had been lucky enough to previously run a qualifier earlier in the year and after having so much fun at the marathon, we thought we'd try the half.  Unfortunately, Chris had suffered a calf strain the week before, and smartly she dropped out after 3 miles so as not to hurt herself more.  I decided to continue by picking up the pace to tempo pace and seeing how it went.  I finished in 1:45 and change and ended up not only being 3rd Master, but 1st Grand Master (over 50!). Of course, my first remark was "How did I get so damn old?"

In early December, I ran a bit of a redemption race at the XC Club Nationals held in Bethlehem, PA on the campus of Lehigh University.  My good summer friend, MP, talked me into this race as I really wanted to run it, and as a now "out of stater", I could no longer represent the Atlanta Track Club as I had in the past, and I thought I was "too slow" to run for Team Ohio.  As it turned out, I could have run for either the ATC or Team Ohio, and they probably could have both used my finish as I ran an excellent race for me finishing the 6K in 26:12 which was good enough for 98th place (out of 255) overall, 22nd in my AG, and 1 min faster than I ran in Seattle in 2011.  I was the 1st finisher for my Greater Philadelphia TC team, and I would have been the 3rd scorer (and only seconds behind) for the ATC and the 2nd scorer for Team Ohio.  Needless to say, I forgot how much I loved to run XC, and even if I didn't have such a great result, I would have enjoyed every minute of the race.

Maybe next year, I'll look at running in San Francisco.  It has been years since I ran XC at Golden Gate Park (1987 was the last time as a member of the BAA), and boy, would that be a fun time.

As for 2015, things are starting off as they did last year with cold and snow, and the Boston Bomber in the news.  Yup, jury selection has begun, and it is hard for me to believe that there are impartial beings in the Boston area, but there is always someone who is not in tune with what might have happened or doesn't pay attention to such things.  Another high profile trial in the Boston area will be occurring as well - that for Aaron Hernandez, the Patriots wide receiver who through away his life by believing he was above the law when he killed someone.  Very sad circumstances surround both cases.  What amazes me most is the group of "girls" who have banded around the Boston Bomber calling themselves the "Dzhokar's) (pronounced jokers) claiming that he is so cute and innocent.  I know that this always occurs, but it is still a tough one to swallow.

Well as the cold temps come in and the wind blows, the miles will begin in earnest for April once again.

Boston Bomber Revisited

So the first of the trials/questionings of the alledged friends/accomplishes of the Boston Bomber are coming to a conclusion this week, and I'm really not sure what to make of these "kids".  Yes, they are indeed kids, the same age as my daughter and also students at a Massachusetts university, just as she is, and in a way, their actions dictate those of naive, idealistic kids. Tazhayakov, the first of these friends to stand trial, admitted disposing of a backpack and laptop belonging to the bomber and then telling the FBI where to find and recover the said backpack.  His attorneys are arguing that his admission should not be allowed to convict him since they were alledgedly obtained in a interview with the FBI when Tazhayakov felt he couldn't leave the custody of the FBI.  This is where I disagree with his "defense" even though I know he is entitled to one. You cannot make me believe that his actions were just not those of a kid simply caught with his hands in the "cookie jar".  The same friends also admitted that the bomber met with them a month before the incident and told them he knew how to make a bomb and discussed various forms of martyrdom with them.  I know these are kids and as college kids we all live in our own "dream" world so to speak where we believe in very purposeful ideals and basically don't sway from those ideals.  Shoot, many of my friends in college felt strongly about this or that, but never enough to act in a terroristic way and hurt/maim others.  I think that even the parents of these kids believes they did wrong as one stated that his son needed "to pick his friends and acquaintances better and pick the right ones".  Why are their actions any different from friends of Terry McVeigh's or the sibling that turned in the unibomber?  I guess that I'm waning over time, but their is still no excuse for their actions or the actions of the bomber himself.  I'm inclined to be in the camp that they should all rot in hell.

Boston Bomber

Last year my life was affected in a way that I could not imagine would ever happen.  And although I'm pretty rational and nothing physically happened to me, I still think about that day and what could have been.  I am a runner, and I've run 45 marathons and soon (God willing) to be 46 in April and countless other races - half marathons, 10Ks, 5Ks, 15Ks, 10 milers - you name it.  I've run pretty consistently for over 30 years and it is a part of me.  I used to be "fast" back in the day but I can still hold my own in my age group.  Running defines me to some extent.  In fact, the title of this blog is taken from a joke that I have with my own daughter.  When we travel to a place where I have run a race, I will say to her, "Mom ran here", and it has become our own little inside laugh and bond over the years.  However, I was not prepared for the events of last April 15th.

You see today, I found out that the Boston Marathon Bomber is to be tried and if found guilty, the prosecutors will press for the death penalty.  I have very mixed emotions regarding this.  I was there, at mile 26, when the 2nd bomb went off.  I had heard the first, but kept going, but I saw the 2nd explosion.  I remember noise and fire and thinking that someone on the sidewalk got hurt.  I remember people running back at me and police telling us to get off the road.  I caught a singed twenty dollar bill that flew at me in the whirlwind,  and I remember hiding in a parking garage and using a strangers phone to check in with my parents (who live around mile 12) and my daughter whom I had just stopped to hug at mile 24.5.

I'm a rational being - an engineer by trade and not a super emotional person.  But I still think of the what ifs from that day?  What if I had been in better shape and run faster? What if I hadn't stopped? What if I hadn't old my daughter and her friends to go the the BU area rather than the finish? What if?

The death penalty is a tricky thing.  It is one thing to get the monster off the earth and another to think he may be martyred because of it.  He is guilty, there is no doubt in my mind.  Heck, my friend's son has a video of him walking away from the site.  And I would love to see him rot in prison with his legs amputated so that he has to learn to live the way many of his victims do.  But I also don't think that any good taxpayer should have to pay for him to rot there.  For him to get an education or for him to file a billion appeals to get an "out of jail free card" on some technicality.  We live in a great country.  One that allows us to express such thoughts and to remain innocent until proven without a doubt that you are guilty.  But it is this same country that he and his brother wished to denigrate and bring down.

I'll stop for now as I feel much better.  After all, it is time for me to go "run there".