Boston 1 Me 1

Scored settled.

I can't believe that I can say that running 26.2 miles was fun, but it actually was. The race didn't go as I had planned but that ended up being for the better. I was on track to break 3:40 when at about mile 15 my ankle started acting up. So I had to make a decision, go for 3:40 and risk another blow out or dialed it back. I ended up backing off my pace and as a result I had no problem with the last 11 miles. This was way better because I was able to really enjoy it and I did. The only problem was that I never saw the family who were screaming for me as I turned towards Boylston. I ended up with a 3:49 but couldn't have been happier. After finding Kate I hooked up with the rest of the family, my kids who had some killer signs made, my sister and her two kids, my mom and of course my dad. My dad tried to shake my hand but instead I gave him a hug. And for about a minute he returned to his old self, he knew what I had done and mentioned his past marathons. He was also smiling which he doesn't do as much as he used to. Soon after he returned to his quiet self, but for that one moment on Monday April 18th the Ed Daley that everyone knew had been back and that made all the 5am runs and the 20 mile training runs worth it. Dad and I can finally share something else, we are both marathoners.

And while I can't wait to start playing hockey again next week I am not ready to leave the running thing behind. There are more marathons in my future, but not any in my immediate future, just some IPAs.

Here goes nothing.

Nothing much to say the night before. Pretty excited and just hoping the ankle can make it, even sprinkled a little holy water on it at church today. My team coach gave me a 3:33-3:34 goal based on New Bedford half and training runs. I would love to break 3:40 which seems very doable as long as everything goes as planned. I could really dial it back and play it safe with the ankle but what's the fun in that. I want to race this thing not just run it. Thanks to everyone for the support of the cause, together we have raised about $5500 for Alzeimers research and as a team we raised over $150,000.

The race will be a breeze compared to what dads going thru. See you in Boston.

Finally, I get it.

"Mothers, there's a mad man running in the streets, and he's humming a tune, and he's snarling at dogs, and he still has four more miles to go. "

This is a classic "Nike ad from before I got into the ad business and even though I always thought it was a great I never really "got it" until the last few months. I understand what makes someone get up at 5am in the dead of winter and worry about their pace when no one is watching. Over these months of training I have covered over 1000 miles* with one goal in mind, have the tendon in my ankle last 26.2 miles so I can meet my dad at the finish line. Thats why this ad hits home, my ankle blew at mile 22 and I feel like I am that mad man who still has four(well actually 4.2) more miles to go.

I can't wait until Monday. I've got unfinished business in Boston.

*Legal disclaimer: Some of those runs were without my Nikeplus and therefore have not been registerd.

A question for the B.A.A.

So today my five year old son, Declan, asked me if I would like it if he became Darth Vader and used his Jedi Force to "Force" me to the finish line of the marathon. And while I am not sure I want to see Dec go to the dark side, I am intrigued by the idea of flying by every Kenyan while exsurting very little effort. I do however wonder what the B.A.A. ruling would be.

Had I known this was an option I probably would'nt have spent the last four months logging all those miles.

I hope they don't make me pee in a cup before this thing.

So my training is coming to an end and I am entering the last week of my taper, thank god. The ankle has held up but not without a little help from my morning cocktail of pills and vitamins. It's funny, I remember growing up and my dad would be constantly taking all sorts of crazy vitamins to help with his running (Dyno-Vites was my fav, I never knew Jimmy Walker was a Pharmacist). This was the early eighties so who knows what the hell was in them. And now here I am thirty years later doing the exact same thing. I have to be honest, if Greg Anderson walked in my house and said he had some miracle cream/pill I would probably try it.

It's better than pulling a Grete Weitz, but just barely.

While at first running appears to be a civilized sport after further examination it turns seemingly regular folks into savages. This past weekend I had the joy of banging out my last real long run, of 22.5 miles one(the fourth 20+ run). Most of the charity runners were shipped out to Hopkington to the starting line and then ran into town, stopping at BC. The nice part was they had some amenities which you usually only find on race days. Well I am not sure how nice it was but at least they had them. See the thing with runners is they make up for the fact that their sport is fairly civilized by pounding cups of coffee and Energy gels and then destroying Port O Johns before there run. I would take a Port O John in Somalia over one near a road race. And while I suppose this is better than the Weitz alternative, she was the German marathoner who was known to just let go of her bowels while racing. It would be one thing if a guy like me in the middle of the pack did it but she had cameras on her. Hell, Grete makes Matt Cooke of the Penguins look polished.

Anyway, back to the training. After battling a fever Thursday and into Friday night I was not sure if I was going to be able to do my long run with the team, I had to skip my run Friday because I felt so crappy. I felt ok at the start but at mile 17 I started to feel a bit achy(sick achy not running achy). It took a lot to keep going because my house is just past mile 17, but I sucked it up and finished off my goal which was 22.5. If you are one of the two people who read this blog you remember that two years ago my ankle blew at mile 22, well at least I know it will last a half mile longer. And even though I felt like junk for the last 5 miles and was not pushing too hard I still ended up running 8:33's which wasn't too bad considering. I was also happy that even with a fever, three Energy gels, one cliff bar and a bunch of Gatorade I still held it together better than Grete.

Something about the city of New Bedford makes me want to run for my life.

Ran the New Bedford Half Marathon today. There is something about that place that makes me want to run fast, maybe becuase I want to get the hell out of there as fast as possible. After a week in the Bahamas drinking Kalik Lights and sitting by the pool with Kate and the smalls I figured I had better make up fo the fact that I missed my long tempo run while I was down there. Felt great during the race, even after a week of the ankle acting up (apparently Kaliks don't heal bad ankle tendons).

One more bad week and then the taper begins, thank god. The world is running out of ice thanks to my bum ankle.

Michael Cooper was a genius

Growing up in the 80's as a Celtic fan I despised the Lakers. But thirty years later I have to admit that I am forever indebted to Michael Cooper. That guy was the forefather of the compression sock. I picked up my first pair of compression socks a couple of months ago and I am sold. My ankle feels better when I wear them and I even picked up a pair to wear after my runs to prevent swelling. The only downside of these things is that it costs 60 bucks to look like a dork, but man do they work. So while I can't forgive the Lakers from stealing a few titles from Bird and the guys, I will give credit where credit is due.

During my 20 mile run in LA I think I hit a runners high, or was that an actual high.

So I am back out in LA for a week and in the middle of the toughest training weeks. Today I headed out for an 18 miler but ended up doing another 20 miler. Even after having 6 beers last night, I felt really fresh and had no problem banging out the mileage. While running thru Venice I couldn't help but wonder if I was experiencing a runners high or an actual high, thanks to the permanent smell of pot all along the boardwalk. Either way I felt great and now that I have a couple of 20 milers under my belt I am starting to feel like I am getting ready for this thing. I just hope the ankle holds up.

How to make Jelly Beans taste like steak.

So I woke up this morning planning on an 18 mile run with my teammates in Ashland. Then my car got stuck in a snow back on a little side street near our house and I needed to have AAA pull me out. Needless to say that took long enough so that I was unable to make the team run. So instead I punished myself with a lonely 21 miler(my first 20+ of this training). I can honestly say that by the end of the run I had run out of stuff to think about. On these long runs I have been carrying a small bag of Jelly Beans and man those things taste good when you are burning thru 2400 calories.

So this is what the sun looks like.

Out in LA for two weeks on business. And while I miss Kate and the kids I don't miss the east coast weather. I have been getting all my runs in, some easier than others due to our shooting schedule. Fortunetly we had a down day on Saturday and I was able to get my 18.5 miler in, followed up by some day drinkin with my buddy Dave. Not sure the Kenyans follow up a long training run with pints of IPA's but what the hell, I'm not catching them come race day anyway. Ankle is sore but still holding up, the pints helped.

Time for new kicks

After 330 plus miles on the Frees I figured it was time for a new pair. Decided to change up the color, the Black ones looked fast so I wnet for those. Not sure how fast they will be under my creaky ankle but we will see. Training is going well, have a few 16.5 mile long runs under my belt as well as some 10 mile tempo runs which seem to be helping my pace. I was altering shoes but since the Frees have been feeling so good I am sticking with them for all runs.

I would like to see the Kenyans run in this.

So yesterday we got nailed with over two feet of snow. The roads were a mess and the trains shut down so I decided to work from home. Around noon I figured i would get a quick run in. With the storm still going strong and the roads barely plowed it turned out to be the longest eight miles I have run in a while. Sometimes my dad will say to me that he is losing his mind, after running in those conditions I feel like he is not alone.