One Step Beyond

With the onslaught of fall, a few things start to occur around the South Jersey area that I truly love: Cooler weather (although this mornings run was made more difficult due to heat and oppressive humidity), playoff baseball, fall foliage, outside fires, football at any level, comfort food….I could go on & on. The other this that will occur is the training miles required for the Philadelphia Marathon will begin a serious spike up. This Saturday’s training under the Hal Higdon plan will require me to complete 15 miles.
Shouldn’t be a problem, right? After all, I completed 13 miles just a few weeks ago & felt pretty good afterwards. The only cause for concern is one indisputable fact: I’ve never run more than 13 miles in my life.
I’m hoping that every stride after 13.1 miles will carry with it less knee pain & more a sense of accomplishment. Fifty eight days to go.
Thanks for reading,
Pat

PDR or PBR?

Sunday morning one of my favorite runs, The Philadelphia Distance Run will take place. A few of my friends will be running, but I’m going to sit this one out this year. The PRD coincides with my daughter Faith’s birthday, and it’s always difficult to pull of and organizing a children’s birthday party with ice bags strapped to both knees.
It’s supposed to be beautiful weather Sunday morning, so I’ll be thinking of you guys as you make your way through Old City, past The Art Museum & transverse both sides of the Schuylkill River. Before you know it, you’ll be at Boat House Row, and then just up the "hill of pain" to the finish back at The Art Museum.
Good luck to everyone & thanks for reading,
Curls

Lone Wolf

One of several of my motivations for running the Philadelphia Marathon was I knew how fun it would be to toe the line, joke during the many miles & the share the thrill of crossing the finish line again with Rossi, Ron, Kate, Rick, Harry The Hat, Ira & Rob Haney. While my training has been progressing nicely, the camaraderie I was hoping for on November 22 is in serious jeopardy. Registration for The Philadelphia Marathon was topped out at 18,000 & closed last week before many of my friends were able to register. While some of my friends are going to take less than honest methods in order to get on the course, others have decided to sit this one out. Undeterred, and since I signed up in April, I’m pressing forward with my training.
Week 8 is behind me. Thirteen fun filled miles were completed in the early hours Saturday morning. In years past running a half marathon would have put me in the Lay-Z-Boy for several days. However, this time I felt surprisingly good afterwards. The Hal Higdon training schedule really does work. Runs of 3, 7 & 4 miles await me this week, and a fall-back run of 10 miles is coming up this Saturday. After that, things get kinda intense as I’ll be averaging over 30 miles a week cumulating with a 40 mile week right before Halloween. Talk about scary.
Thanks for reading,
Pat

You Talkin' To Me?

Ahh, the cool weather of September has arrived right on schedule. I was able to completely enjoy running three miles this morning while temperatures hovered in the high 50’s. When I made the decision to run The Philadelphia Marathon, one of my main concerns was training in the heat of late July & August. A slight measure of relief is upon me as I know (for the most part) cool runs await me for the remainder of my training.

The mileage is starting to pile up now as I’ll be running 24 miles this week. The Hal Higdon training schedule I’m following offers this nugget of advice for week seven:
"You'll be able to accomplish tomorrow's long run much more successfully if you are rested and ready. This means getting a good night's sleep tonight too. Social considerations aside, you probably don't want to hang out all night at the bars, then be forced to get up the next morning and train hard. What's important in life to you? Make that decision and follow up on it."

It looks like the old boy Hal was may have had Rob Haney, Ira Krassan, Rossi, Ricky Haney, Ron Rossi, Harry "the hat" and me in mind when he penned that paragraph. With football season upon us, I have to make more of a concerted effort to pass up one last beer and the forth quarter of the Tulsa / Tulane game in lieu of a good nights rest.

Thanks for reading,
Pat

The Run For Tony

Today I’m running probably my favorite run of the year, The Run For Tony.
It has all the elements I look for in an organized run: It’s close to home (within three blocks of my house), it’s an easy distance (5K), there’s a post run party & it benefits a good cause. I’m thinking back to the first time I ran this race six years ago & how difficult I thought that running three miles would be, and it was. Now, in my mid-forties, I run this course at least three times a week. If I need to put in six miles, I’ll run it, turn around at Van Sciver School, and run it backwards. Some may find this boring, but for the most part, I enjoy the familiarity of running a course I know by heart. Also, since I’m often up and running before sunrise, I know where just about every divot, pot hole & bump on the road is.
Since I have to pound out five miles today, I’ll have to finish, then turn around & run two miles backwards. I’ll hear the inevitable "You’re going the wrong way!" from my neighbors, which will be fun to hear. My son Gavin is also running with a few of his buddies. I’m hoping his broken wrist & cast won’t slow him down too much. It’s supposed to be around 86 degrees at race time, so I can say with a fair degree of certainty that the post-run beer on the front lawn with my family will be most welcoming.
Thanks for reading,
Pat

Are you ready for some football?!?!

Well, I must take a detour from blogging about running today to "tackle" another topic.
Anybody that knows me is well aware of my fascination (perhaps obsession) with football. I come from a football family. My Dad was a high school football coach and complied a .728 winning percentage on his way to becoming a member of the Haddon Twp High School Hall of Fame, the South Jersey Coaches Football Hall of Fame and New Jersey Coaches Association Hall of Fame. For better or worse, my Dad’s games were the centerpiece of each fall for my sisters, my Mom and I. I had the absolute privilege and honor to play football for my Dad’s team at Haddon Twp. in the early 80’s. My son Gavin has played in the Haddon Twp. Hawks youth football program for the last five years while one of his teams went undefeated. To say that Haddon Twp. football and the Curley family have been intertwined since the mid 70’s may be a bit of an understatement. The day my daughter Faith was born, my son Gavin and I had spent the morning watching a Haddon Twp football game. Well, today a new chapter begins between Hawks football and the Curley family as my daughter Faith becomes the first girl to play football for Haddon Twp. Faith (on her own account) has decided she wants to play on the 60 lb. and under team. This is not a flag football or touch league. Faith will be in full helmet and pads on a 100 yard field. My wife Patrice and I have always told our kids that they can do and try anything they want. When Faith approached us to request to play football, her argument was "girls can do anything boys can do." If you know my wife even a little bit, you know this is basically the Gospel According to Patrice. Faith’s team will be compiled of five and six year kids and her coaches (who put the emphasis on having fun) are thrilled to have her on the team. Faith will most likely face a number of challenges this year, but for the most part, I’m sure she’ll enjoy the experience.
Faith, your parents and brother couldn’t love you more or be more proud of you.

Where do I take this pain of mine? I run but it stays right by my side.

Well, I’m through four weeks of my 18 week training program for the Philadelphia Marathon. 96 days to go.
So far, things have been going pretty well. I’ve been up at 5:00 on most running days to avoid running in the mid-day heat. I’ve enjoyed most of my runs, but running in the heat & humidity of an August in South Jersey is starting to get a bit old. Every morning that I’m out running, I notice more & more fallen leaves & I’m counting the days until I’m running on a nice crisp fall day. Most of my runs so far have been between three & seven miles, which is right in my wheelhouse. This past Friday was supposed to be a rest day for me. I didn't run, but I took my kids Gavin & Faith canoing in the Pine Barrens. It was fun, but paddling two kids around Atsion Lake is not what I consider restful. Still, I was up Saturday morning to complete nine sweaty miles & still had enough energy to go canoing again.

This weekend, we'll up the miles to 10, which I will complete at the Livestrong Challenge Philly.

Good luck to Team Margaritaville or Bust runners, riders & walkers.

Thanks for reading,

Pat