Wait...You Run...

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Most young men feel as if they’re Superman, you may know the feeling I’m talking about.  You know when you’re in your twenties and you feel as if you’re untouchable, unbreakable, and unstoppable.  I never felt quite like that, I was weird I always compared myself to another Super Hero, Wolverine.  Wolverine wasn’t just known for his retractable claws, or his bones being plated by Adamantium, his main power was his ability to heal incredibly fast.  That’s how I always felt when I would get injured; I always seemed to heal quickly.

Now that I’m older it takes me twice as long to recover.  To reiterate, at the end of January I stepped in a hole at the end of a trail run and unknowingly tore a couple of ligaments in my ankle.  After a few minutes in pain I got up and foolishly ran the last half-mile, and It didn’t stop there, I continued to run all of February and half of March.  Once the pain got unbearable I went for an MRI and got the bad news.  To sum this up, I was out for a month and today was the first day I could run again and I did.

I got my butt kicked, my lungs were screaming, I had stitches (cramps) that didn’t go away until about five minutes ago, but because of that pain I couldn’t feel any discomfort in my ankle.  It was funny to hear the curious newbies say they didn’t know I ran.  At first I looked dumbfounded at their comments, but soon I realized that I have been on the sidelines from the start of the season, so they wouldn’t have seen me run before.  It was good to be out there running with you all again.  Thanks for all your concerns.  Next up is the Hill Workout on Thursday and then hopefully my 9^th consecutive Broad Street Run.

Joining me for my first run back were 22 Speedsters:

Bharminder, Tim, Rob, Joe H, Paul, Brian, Maria, Kevin, Cory, Steve, Gabrielle, Lindsay, Neil, Rod, Sharon, Allyson, Glenn, Alex Cohen (First Timer! Welcome!), Joe Gorberg (First Timer! Welcome!), and making their first appearance’s this season Haydee Lowry, Christa Cleeton, and John O’Brien (Welcome Back!).

Tonights Workout:

1 mile warm-up

Group Stretch

6-8 400 (400)

1 mile cool down

Lab Rats

During the off-season I tend to conjure up workouts in my head, and when we’re granted some of those milder days (you know the kind that are actually warmer than today), I like to go out and give those workouts a test run.  Well, tonight’s workout was one of those.  So, if anyone felt like a lab rat tonight, the workout might have had something to do with it. 

We actually had a larger turnout then I had expected.  We have quite a few members racing this coming weekend, and I’m not just talking about a 5 or 10k (not discounting those distances, just those can be done without taking the speed workout off), I’m talking about a 50k and a marathon (where this week should be a taper).  Add those races with a cold dreary evening and you should get a small turnout.  We didn’t!  We had 18 runners (lab rats) come out.

Coming out tonight:

Tim, Cory, Joe, Rod, Steve I, Bharminder, Brian, Lindsay, Neil A. Brown (1^st Timer! Welcome!), Glenn, Scott, Gabby, Denise, Melissa, Maria Jimenez (Welcome Back!), Steve C, Eric, and myself.

Tonight’s Workout:

1 Mile warm-up

Group Stretch

Timed 400

“Negative Split Ladder”

200 (200)

400 (200)

600 (400)

800 (400) 10k Pace

600 (400)

400 (200)

200 (200) 5k Pace

1 Mile cool down (incorporating a couple of Bleacher Laps)

Next workout (Hills) will be Thursday at 6PM meeting at Council Rock North.  I hope it’s warmer.

Saturday will be our first Harvest Bread Training Run.  We will be meeting at Harvest Bread in Newtown (Off S. Eagle Rd McCaffrey’s Shopping Center) @ 8AM. We will do a relaxed 1 hour run from the bakery into Tyler Park and back. 

Till we run into each other again…

Track Recap & Paying Our Respect

Last nights track workout brought out higher numbers and mixed emotions.  Everywhere I look, I’m seeing runners coming up with ways to pay their respects to Boston and the running community (I can’t say “respects to Boston and all those affected” because as runners we have all be affected by this event.).  At first we had 22 runners come out for the workout.  They did their 1 mile warm-up and stretches, after that we bowed our heads and our hearts in a moment of silence.  It wasn’t terribly long, but it was enough time to pray or reflect back on Boston.  We continued with a timed 800 and an unusual workout.  I had planned on a ladder consisting of 400’s, 600’s, 800’s and a 1200, but Allyson (my wife) approached me with doing 200 (200), 600 (200) . 200 (200) doing the set three times (that’s what I put on the chalk board and also what’s pictured above). 

The most remarkable thing to take place last night wasn’t so much the workout or the moment of silence, it was the unity.  We could have easily stayed home and grieved or angered ourselves more by watching all the news coverage, but we came out and did what we do, what we know, what we love, we came out and ran.  The cherry on the sundae happened about half way through our workout, when the Schaal family came walking up the track(Dan more so limping) all decked out in their Boston Marathon 2013 gear.  Normally I wouldn’t allow the runners to stop in the middle of the workout, but how could I stop 22 runners from wanting to hug the Schaal’s?  What a great night last night was, I was very touched by everyone coming out, which is just another example of how amazing the running community is.  I hope to see you all on Thursday at the Hills.

Till we run into each other again…

Heavy Hearts Tonight

Picture taken by CBS

“So many tears yet to be caught, so many prayers yet to be answered” -Unknown

Let me begin by informing you that all Speedster members and their families have been accounted for.  Their accomplishments have been unfortunately over shadowed by the tragedy that struck our beloved sport of running.  I was sitting in a crowded cafeteria on West Chester’s Campus, with my MacBook open, and Facebook on the screen.  I wasn’t really paying the Mac any mind, as I was mentally involved with one of my textbooks in preparation of my last class of the day.  That was until I looked up briefly and noticed Facebook was buzzing with excitement.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  Runners were claiming that there were explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.  At first I didn’t believe it, I thought how could this be, I just had looked up all my runners thirty minutes ago.  Explosions couldn’t be accurate... could it?  I soon received a chill down my spine, eerily similar to the one I felt when the World Trade Center was struck by the first plane.  I quickly packed up my stuff and began calling, texting, emailing frantically.  I needed to know that people I care for were safe.

Between my attempts at locating those that ran Boston today, I was receiving calls, texts, and emails from other concerned members about the whereabouts of their friends and fellow runners, and from my none running friends confirming that Allyson and I were not at Boston this year.   It was hectic for a good thirty minutes.  I finally had confirmation that everyone we knew was okay, but others were severely injured.  Those people along with those that did survive will be in my prayers tonight. 

A good friend of mine, a mother of three was at the race today to support her husband with their oldest.  She posted on Facebook that she wants so badly to keep her entire family home tomorrow.  A friend of hers responded simply “Then they win…” This is so true.  We cannot allow crazed monsters to hold us at bay.  We must go on, even if this is extremely hard.  We must show our strengths when we’re actually feeling weak.  Tomorrow we will still have our speed workout; we will just be running with heavy hearts.

Much Love,

CT

Light Em Up

Picture from Marvelcomicfanon.

Fall Out Boy has a new song entitled "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark" which is a really good song with a nice hook that really pumps me up.  The "hook" goes like this: "So light em up, light em up, light em up, I'm on fire..."  That's exactly how I felt about the effort that was put forth at tonights  speed workout.  We did the dreaded Timed Mile tonight which in itself can be rough, but to do it when the temperatures are at 80 degrees this early in the season is amazing.  You all should be extremely proud of yourselves, I know I am.  Our bodies need time to get acclimated to weather temperatures, and unless you just got here from Florida none of you are.  That's why I was so taken back by the great times that you put up tonight.  We even had a higher number of participants this week.  We had 20 again counting me...

Jay, Joe, Allyson, Rob, Jimbo, Brian, Melissa, Kevin, Tim, Steve, Rod, Bharminder, Kelly Reamer (1st Timer Welcome!), Harris, Gabby, Tereza, Sharon, Cory, and Hilda.

Incredible work tonight Speedsters!

Oh by the way, they didn't just stop with a hard timed mile (see full workout below):

I will see you all on Thursday at 6PM at Council Rock North.

1 mile warm-up

group stretch

Timed Mile

4-6 x 400 with 400 rest

1 mile cool down

Drills

Till we run into each other again...

New Season Brings New Opportunities

We officially started our 2013 Speedster season this past Tuesday at the track, and the fun continues tonight at the hill workout.  My ankle injury may of forced me to the side lines, but its not going to prevent me from supporting you the athletes.  If anything its allowing me to focus more time than ever on all of you.  We had eighteen runners come out to the first workout of the season (we only had eleven  last year).  It may of been windy and cold, but that didn't slow any of you down.  There were only a few lane violators and a couple form mechanics that needed adjusting, other then that it looked as if you all didn't skip a beat.  Coming out on Tuesday:  Emily Grace, Brian Abrams, Rob Hoy (First Timer!), Cory Steiner, Allyson Thompson, myself, Harris Brenner, Steve Cickay, Bharminder Gill (First Timer!), Lindsay Cooper (First Timer!), Kevin Delaney, Jay Ricco, Joe Haughey, Eric Stern, Tereza Gowen (First Timer!), Hilda Tucubal (First Timer!), Denise Coll, and Gabrielle, DeiTos (First Timer!).
It was great to see many new faces out at the track.

I would also like to officially welcome our newest members:

Rob Hoy, Tereza Gowen, Melissa Lipari, Kelly Reamer, Angela Griffis, Mike Kane, Jill & Larry Leonard, Bharminder Gill, Gregg Holst, Darron & Jessica Smith, and Kara Coleman

I hope you enjoy your first season with the Speedsters!

Announcements:

Great Harvest Bread Run
First ever 1 hour run from Great Harvest Bread Co. in Newtown on Saturday, April 27th at 8AM.  We will be attempting to add a new monthly run.  If this goes well, we will continue to have runs starting from Harvest Bread on the last Saturday of every month.  The owners will be offering the Speedsters a discount on their baked goods and beverages after our run.

Beef & Bowl
The 2nd Annual Beef & Bowl will be held on Saturday, May 11th from 8-11PM.  We will be bowling, eating, and drinking all while we're having a blast.  Denise and Allyson have been working hard to get us some great raffle prizes for us to take chances on.  Currently we only have 2 people signed up for this event.  Online Registration is available on our website or you could sign-up at the workouts.  The price is $25 per person.  Bring your friends and family.  This is a BYOB!  We will only be supplying the food and entertainment.

Track Meets
We only have a few signed up for the two away meets.  Please email me if your interested in participating in these meets.  They're free to all members!  You can also sign-up at the workouts.

Well, I've said enough, and I have to start getting ready for tonights hill workout!

Till we run into each other again...

CT