A Run with a Boston Qualifier

  My son’s school principal is a fast runner, well, fast to me.  He’s a Boston qualifier, and runs between 3:00 and 3:20 marathons.  I had been wanting to talk to him about the Newton Hills at the Boston Marathon for a while. 

  Well, I saw him out running on Tuesday morning, and thought, what a better way to talk than to run with him.  So, I turned with him and started to quiz him about Boston.  Well, I ran with him for about a mile before he turned.  During that run, I learned two things.  First, the Newton Hills aren’t that bad, it just where they are placed.  They’re nothing like the hills for the Pig.  Second, I can keep up with a fast runner for a mile, and probably longer.

  Now, the sad part is that this was his easy run.  When he’s really running, it’s 6:00 minute miles.  That’s faster than I’ll ever be.  I’m just glad he wasn’t doing a tempo run, because I’d be dead.  It did make me feel good that I could keep up with him, even though he was going slow.

  I also talked to him about doing both Boston and the Pig.  He said that both times he’s done it, it wasn’t that bad.  His suggestion was to treat Boston as a long training run.  He said that you are NOT going to PR on the course, and to just enjoy it. Even take a disposable camera and take lots of pics.  Some good ideas, if I do say so myself.

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Hey Amye, did I mention…

… that the Dayton River Corridor Classic is a flat course?  Geez, I’m not going to let her map the course again.  We are training for a half marathon in October, and we have a group training for it.  Today, we ran 9 miles, all on the Flying Pig course.  Of course, it was the up hill section.  Yes, I know, it’s good training, and we get to come down those hills too.  Still, 700 feet of climbing in 4.5 miles is a lot.

  But, with that, it raised a question.  Why are the Newton Hill’s in the Boston marathon so feared.  From what I can tell, the biggest hill is about 100 vertical feet over about a quarter mile.  That doesn’t sound too bad, considering what I did today.  Maybe it’s the fact that you run to fast in the beginning, and then when you hit the hills you’re just fried.  Not sure, but I’ll have to find out.  I have an aquaintence, my son’s principal, that runs it every year.  Maybe he can give me some pointers.  More about that later, when I have more than five minutes.

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Drunken Foot – Boston Bound

  Today, I was on my way home from work, driving on I-275.  I was singing along to some music, I don’t remember who, and my TSX Bluetooth tells me I have a call.  I look at the number, it’s listed as 513-556-0000.  I think to myself, I recognize this number but I can’t place it.  I answer “Hello?”, and the ladies voice on the other end asks “Is this Mark Buschle?”  “Yes,” I say, recognizing the voice as that of my pulmonologist.  At this point, I’m thinking that she either saw a lab value she didn’t like or wanted to discuss the Patient Advisory Council.  She says, “Is this the Mark Buschle who will be running the 2009 Boston Marathon?”  I say “Yes” in a happy voice.  It appears that she heard back from her contact at Mass. General.  He’s committed to giving Amye and I each a bib for Boston next year. 

  Now, before any of the fast runners out there yell at me, listen to my story.  I didn’t qualify.  I may be able to qualify, if I train hard for the next 5-6 years.  But, that’s still a maybe.  And, that maybe comes with a huge caveat, if the CF doesn’t get me….  I’m not a pessimist at all, but I’d like to run it when I know I can.  So, if you have a problem with it, then run in my shoes for a while and then talk to me.

  As for the drunken foot part, I’ve moved to the next step in treating my Morton’s Neuroma.  I had my first alcohol injection on Tuesday.  We are hoping that after 3 or 4 the pain goes away.  It’s weird, my middle two toes on my left foot have been numb since yesterday.  I ran tonight, and now I can finally feel them.  It’s just weird.  The neuroma doest feel better tonight, so I guess that’s good.  I’ll be running again tomorrow morning.  It’s going to be 58 F and low humidity.  Very weird for Cincinnati in August. 

  Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted.  The summer has been VERY busy.

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