Summer's Top 5 reasons for more running

1-Warmup time is shorter
2-People are getting fitter and wearing less, the eye candy improves!
3-Jumping into some water after a hot run feel like being born again (the non-religious way)
4-A cold beer has deeper meaning after a hot run, riding the Runner's High and catching a buzz from your favorite summer brew...pure heaven. This week's selection: Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro!
5-You get to run with the sunset at 8pm just as the temps are as good as it's going to get.

Yeah, it's hot out there, but bring an insulated bottle for after or carry during if you need it. You'll survive. Have fun, be safe, see ya' out there!

Some guys I run with. Somehow I ended up being the only man to start this run with a shirt, it ended up wrapped around my hand for the last 2-3miles.

The good stuff, when I'm done running, we shall become one!

Bernard Lagat: Defying age or just breaking new ground?

Hmm, final lap 52 high...and he's 41? What do you think? (Photo: Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)

Has anyone been paying attention lately? The guy wins the U.S.Olympic trials 5000m race with a closing lap under 53 seconds. He is 41. He is one of the all time greats, but still it is simply stunning . There are a lot of skeptics out there that are quick to judge. I will admit, it is very hard to believe it is all on the up and up. I just watched a video of a Golden League 1500m race from 2001 featuring none other than Hicham El Guerrouj. The race had a rabbit, who seemed to more or less do nothing to help the pace from 1100m-1200m . The 3rd lap was 56, they closed in 54. Guerrouj wins by a narrow margin, .12 off his WORLD record of 3:26:00. They ran the 2nd and 3rd fastest times ever recorded on that night. Since that race, only Absel Kiprop has come close, running 3:26.69

Fifteen years later, Lagat beats a lot of very good athletes in a 5000m race, catapulting from 6th to 1st with a 52high last lap. A faster final lap in a race more than 3x longer than one of the fastest 1500m races ever run. Even if the 2016 OT 5000m race started in absurdly slow pace, the disparity of which I speak is still clear from my perspective. When you factor that Lagat has continued to perform at his current age, you might make a case to say he is the best 1500-5000m man ever!

I want to believe that it is possible to continue to develop past your late 30's into your early 40's for some top rate performances. I am just not sure what is probable here. I know of one fellow who has run lifetime PB's and he's 41-42 right now, it's incredible, but he wasn't training at or near the level that Lagat has for his entire career. It isn't a fair comparison.

Perhaps very few coaches and athletes have known how to adapt training methods for older athletes for enough years with willing and able subjects available. Still, performances in track and field have certainly been put into question and not since yesterday either. Cheaters are just getting to be more clever as testing methods are improved.

You might be thinking, "Hey Mike, don't pick on Bernard, what about Meb or that Australian guy, he's 40 too!?" Well those guys are marathoners, and that is a whole different story.

Truly, I want to see Bernard Lagat come through with no funny business in his testing samples. It would be amazing. Longer careers for track and field athletes would possibly mean that kids could grow up believing a "Hall of Fame" career in this sport is possible, the kind where you see a 20year span of excellent performance year after year. Maybe Track & Field could be like baseball in that way. In another generation will it be common place to see guys contending for Olympic teams past the age of 40 against people half their age? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

What do you think? Let's hear it!

Your Foot has three arches: treat them equally

It is true. Three. Lateral, Transverse and Medial. Most people are concerned with their medial arch. Those of us who work in running shop either hear from a customer or have fallen into the habit of saying "You have a high/medium arch" or "Your arch is low", "Your arch is flat" "Your foot doesn't have an arch". Any of these ignore that there are two other arches that can be imbalanced or needing support if pain exists.

The Medial arch is the one where most people experience the majority of pain or think the root of their problems in the rest of their legs/feet are stemming from.  We shouldn't ignore that the lateral arch, while difficult to support shouldn't be entirely ignored.  The Transverse arch is the one just behind the metatarsal bones or ball of your foot.  My meaning is not to drag us into a line of thought that helps sell insoles, I hold no stock in those anyway!

For general well being and certainly, enjoyment of running, realize you should roll and massage all three of these parts of your foot. But don't ignore your body's signals indicating that more support to any part of the foot is needed. As we age, continually forcing your foot into unnatural positions will cause a worsening of pain in the feet and toes.

So, sometimes, one of those insoles with the "funny bump" in the middle of your foot...can actually benefit you more than you think. I am  not a proponent of orthotics that elevate the heel, I believe this creates a greater challenge for overall foot balance. Support and protect all three arches, it will make a difference.

The 120th Boston Marathon

I haven't felt like there is much to say lately, nothing worth reading anyway.
"How ya' doin'?" "How ya' been?"...
These are the two hardest questions for me to answer lately. Can I even say "I'm injured.", just smirk and say thanks when someone expresses some empathy? The worst kind of injuries are the ones that seem to just linger or morph in a way that leaves you still able to run, albeit slower and shorter distances than you'd like.
I'm trying to figure it all out. Medical treatment isn't in the cards for me currently, considering all things financial. I know I can't complain too much, lots of people have worse circumstances than I do. But running well makes me happy, so I am a lot less happy.  That's it, that's what's real. 

It took me a while to decide if I wanted to do a write up about my 6th time racing the Boston marathon. I just felt less and less motivated as the days went by afterward and I am simply floundering in its wake. Yeah, it's July now and I'm running some easy miles and riding my bike some. No racing, no workouts. The cycling has been a fun change from everyday running. After these photos there is a bit more, so don't go quitting on me just yet, read on.

Fancy trinket of which I am quite proud

People feeling out the last 100m by the finish line on Boylston St

Me letting out everything that was left in the tank heading to the finish. As you can see, I had some company creep up on me. It was on the telly, proper famous now I is.

Walking away from the finish line post race, exhausted. To my left, good pal, Geraint Davies.

The GF and I doing the tourist photo op thing.

Twins

 My performance was better than average, but could have been so much more. I know there are still great races in me, but damn it; I need to get healthier to make them happen.  The winner of the race was 2:12:xx, this race has had top finisher 5-9mins faster. I'll tell myself, it was a hot day and I didn't execute entirely that well and was stricken by a classic pit stop around mile 9, certainly costing me 2mins. If I can speculate a 8min faster time than the 2:42:18 that I finished with, it exactly matches my PB. I still believe in myself, there is still plenty of time to achieve my lifetime goal in marathoning. It isn't that far away.

The race itself went like this:
I lightly jogged up to the starting corrals with teammates and friends, had my last visit to the Porta-john (before the race), and went into the 2nd corral where I was assigned. It was too warm already, we thought we would have low 60's, it was already 70.  Standing among the hundreds of other great runners in that corral I found a few who were simply beaming with excitement about being there and knowing that they were about to embark upon their goal of "running the Boston Marathon". I wished luck to anyone that surrounded me where I stood. The jets flew over as the national anthem was sung and applauded. Volunteers dropped the ropes separating the corrals and we walked forward about 10m to blend into the back of the 1st corral.

The race was started and we were off! I moved to the edge of the road when possible to find open ground to run; having decided that keeping pace with Will Appman would be a fine idea...if I could just find him in the thick of the 1st mile. Luckily, I caught him after about 1/2 of a mile and we stuck to 5:48-5:52 per mile. Jeremy Klapper ran along with us for about 5k, deciding to back off once the downhills were completed; ultimately finishing ahead of us both in 2:38. My GI tract was not on board with running 26.2 miles non-stop, so I bid Will a farewell and stopped for about 2mins at a Porta-john around mile 8-9.  This was a bit of a downer, I had trained a lot with Will this past winter and had hoped to run much of the race with him to shared success. Ultimately, Will ran a 2:40.

After I got back on the road, I simply struggled to maintain a sub 6 pace. I was in the low 6's and feeling decent. I was passing people, but I just couldn't go any faster. Running past Wellesley College was a fun experience as always, kisses for luck, why not?! I worked up the hills the best I could and held back from speeding down past Boston College. But sure enough, the higher than normal temps just started to hurt me too much. The Newton Hills were nasty as ever, I passed teammate Tim Seeley, and that was a double bummer. I could tell he was having a terrible time by that point (near mile 18 I believe), I caught and passed him with suddenness. We expected him to be our lead man, I've been in his shoes, it's a hard thing to finish a marathon when the wheels are coming off. Credit to him, he finished it up. I have to say that Tim trained better than any of us, and his consistent excellence in training motivated me to stay honest in training and not slack. After climbing all the Newton hills my pace faded a bit, the last 2 miles were verging on ugly, last mile in 6:53. Once I had calculated a sub 2:40 was not salvageable, I was definitely less motivated.

Yet, I saw some friends along the way at Cleveland Circle and the crowds just before turning on Boylston St were so thick with screaming fans, you just can't NOT run faster. I turned it on, gave what was left when I knew it meant I wouldn't collapse before finishing. So, now, this is the first time I have managed to run this race 3 consecutive years, hoping to keep the streak going. I was glad it was over, very happy to have another shiny medal to add to the collection. Later, I celebrated with my girlfriend, Anna, Will, Jeremy, various friends and everyone's supporters. Anna and I bumped around town to see some old historical stuff, got some Cannoli and just enjoyed the sunny spring day.

I hope this can inspire you, the moment you read this, that is drives you a bit; gets you to step outside when you are procrastinating for too long or feeling tired or sore. There are going to be good days and bad days, right?

Coming soon: Attempts at rehab for mysterious un-diagnosed injuries and prepping for XC!