Compression

I finished off the week with 45 miles of running and 4km of swimming; one of the best weeks I have had in a long time.  I ran 5 days this week and swam on the other two days.  This kind of balance and mileage is perfect for my marathon base building and I am hoping to keep it up through August and into September.  Once the weather cools down, I will start increasing the mileage again, but for now I hope to stay consistent.

The first half of the week is recapped here.

Friday: 8.33 miles, 3.25 hard on the track
Saturday: 12.11 mile long run, easy pace
Sunday: swam 2km

One thing that I really like about running is that participating and improving in the sport does not require a lot of equipment or money.  Compared to a sport like cycling, where the gear is very expensive and is a major factor in one's ability to improve, running requires very little gear.  I think this makes the sport very accessible and reduces the barrier of entry.  The baseline for participation in running used to be a pair of running shoes, but now with barefoot running gaining momentum, we could argue that even that has gone out the window.

That being said, getting new running gear can be really nice.  I don't do it all that often (except replacing shoes every 500-600 miles), largely because if I don't need to spend money on stuff, I try not to.  That being said, with more than 15 years of running behind me, it's inevitable that some of that running stuff needs to be retired and replaced.  I've been making a recent effort to replace the bulk of my running socks, which were cotton NB socks that are 6-10 years old and no longer resemble white.  The problem with the socks has predominantly been that they are so stretched out that they bunch in my shoes, but I digress.

Aspaeris pivot shorts

I recently decided to try compression socks and shorts, with an air of skepticism and disdain for what I felt was an exorbitant price.  Why did I want to try them?  Well, typically if my leg muscles are sore or tight, the discomfort is concentrated in my calves and hamstrings.  In April and May, these muscle groups caused me a lot of trouble, as I frequently found I had to stop mid run to stretch them out.  I waited for some online deals and purchased Pro Compression marathon socks and Aspaeris pivot shorts.  I was able to get the socks for $30 (regular $50) and specifically chose this brand because they often run discounts online (and several people had mentioned success with them).  I got two pairs of the pivot shorts for $45, regular price is $60 for one.

ProCompression marathon sock

I first tried wearing both the socks and shorts for recovery, i.e. in the evenings at home, or during the day under pants at work.  The short story is that I like both of these products and find them effective!  I always felt like the following day, my legs were more recovered than usual.  Both products are designed to be tight, which makes them a little tricky to get on, but once they are in place, I definitely feel like it hugs my muscles and increases circulation, leaving my muscles feeling much better recovered compared to an occasion when I do not use them.  

I also tried the socks and shorts during runs.  I didn't notice much of a benefit if any wearing the socks.  I think it probably looked cool, as the socks are super bright, but my calves would still feel achy and tight.  They did sop up some of the sweat that normally drips down my legs, so that was sort of nice.  I have worn the shorts both for a track workout and for a hilly run.  On both occasions, I liked wearing the shorts and felt like it prevented my hamstrings from feeling uncomfortable.  It made stretching and running uphills, during which I normally feel my hamstrings in an unpleasant sort of way, much easier.  I did notice that I had more trouble keeping my Nathan Speed 2 water pack in place with the pivot shorts, but it wasn't so inconvenient as to motivate me not to wear the shorts.

My pink Pro Compression marathon socks and my legs

Basically, I like both of these products and will continue to use them several times a week.  With two pairs of socks and shorts, I do not foresee my supply expanding in the near future.  I do laundry enough times a week that this should suffice for now.  I can certainly recommend these two brands, but I would suggest that if anyone is interested in trying compression gear to scope out the options and wait for a promotion, as the full price for all of this stuff just seems so high (at least to me!)

Running in Bordeaux

Running this week...

Monday: 8.25 miles, slow & hilly

Tuesday: swim 2 km

Wednesday: 8.27 miles with 5.27 at solid tempo pace

Thursday: 8.28 miles, slow and hilly

It's still central TX, so it is still hot & humid every morning, making me a hot sweaty mess <1 mile in.  Running with a water belt is definitely helpful this time of year, although I do not like the added weight.  Without it though, I really can't do more than a couple of miles.

Last post, I talked about running in Biarritz, France.  After finishing my conference in Biarritz, I met up with Boyfriend and we traveled around a bit together.  Because of the timing of flights from TX to Paris, and the train schedule, we were unable to meet up until two days after my conference finished.  So, I had some extra time and decided to visit the city of Bordeaux in southwestern France.  Why Bordeaux?  Well, all the high speed trains to Paris from Biarritz pass through Bordeaux, so it was a convenient stop over point.  Plus, as one of the largest cities in France with a rich history (mostly related to wine), I knew it would be interesting enough to pass a day.  I should mention that I speak French conversationally, so traveling by myself is not a problem!

Checking out the wine museum in Bordeaux, France

In retrospect, more time would have been very nice and I would like to go back so I could visit the vineyards and surrounding countryside.  The city was pretty, but mostly monuments, shopping, parks and history.  I only got to taste a little wine because it was a Friday afternoon and that is not a good tasting day (a lot of places were closed).

Basilica St. Michel

Fountain at Place des Quinconces

Suddenly, I was in LA!

The cathedral

So after arriving by train, I checked into my hotel (an Accor right by the train station) and set off on foot to explore the city & find food.  Fortunately, the weather was beautiful, sunny and clear skies but not too warm.  I covered a lot of ground, and even though the city has a light rail, I managed on foot, which was good because I was going to be spending plenty of time on trains.

I had some great food while I was there!  I had lunch at Viva Las Vegans, which is a vegan/vegetarian cafe in the old, pedestrian section of the city.  For dinner, I had Thai at a little corner shop that was so tiny but the food was fresh and excellent.  This choice was pretty spontaneous because I was really hungry and tired, but none of the other restaurants were going to open for dinner before 7:30pm, which is very typical of the French!

After a full day, I headed back to my hotel before dark (I was by myself after all), and got up bright and early the next morning for a run before catching the train to Paris.  Bordeaux is situated along the Garonne river, which I could see from my hotel, so naturally I ran along the river.  I like running along waterways, especially in new cities, because it reduces the likelihood that I will get lost.  Often, they have great trails/walkways as well.  I was a little disappointed by my run though, as the pathways along the river only stretched for about 2 miles on either side.  As I was aiming for 7 miles, it made things a little repetitive.  I prefer to just keep going a long ways in one direction.  Nonetheless, I did enjoy crossing the beautiful Pont Pierre several times.

Pont Pierre over the Garonne (full disclosure, not my picture)

I noticed many others out for a run, which was nice, and probably not atypical of a Saturday morning in France.  After my run, I cleaned up and headed to the train station for the trip to Paris.  I enjoyed my brief visit to Bordeaux, but intend to come back again to fully enjoy this wine region.  I think the best way to see it is with a rental car.  I can only imagine the beautiful running in the countryside...

Running in Biarritz

I didn't get as much running in this weekend as I'd like.  Yesterday I ran 8.05 miles at a leisurely pace and I was hoping for a long run of ~12 miles today to finish off the week with 5 days of running and 2 of swimming.  Sadly, I turned off my alarm and promptly fell back asleep and slept until after 9am.  Unfortunately, it is too hot this time of year in TX to run if I do not get up quite early in the morning, so there was no chance of making it up.  Boo.  But, I desperately needed the sleep.  I think what I have realized is that I cannot run both mornings on the weekend, and I should move one of my swim days from the weekday to the weekend.  That would allow me to sleep in one day, because I can't swim until after 10am (when the pool opens) anyways.  Solid plan for next week, hopefully I can execute it.

I did have the extreme pleasure of watching the women's Olympic marathon this morning, which was awesome!  I DVRed it and watched every minute.  It is so rare for marathons to be broadcast on tv, so it was a treat.  I was sad for Desiree Davila, who is my fav of the three US women.

Desiree Davila, my facebook friend! (That is actually true)

So one of the reasons I lapsed on the blog was a work conference extended to vacation trip to France in June.  I was attending an engineering conference in Biarritz, France for one week, and afterwards met up with Boyfriend to take a week and a half to explore some other places in western Europe.  I ran the whole time I was there, as that is something I love to do when I am in new places, and the running was actually great.  I had come from TX where it was already in the high 90s everyday to european temps in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

Biarritz is in the southwestern corner of France, bordering Spain.

It is a very small and pretty seaside resort.  It is known for gambling, golf and surfing.  The coastline is very dramatic here and the city is small and walkable, with most of it along the sea.

Surfers, heading down to the beach

It was a great place to run!  I did six runs while here, starting with the first afternoon I arrived.  I either ran along the sea wall or around the two lakes in Biarritz.  The sea wall route took me past all the major attractions and tourist center, including the former palace of Napoleon the III (now a very expensive hotel), up to the lighthouse, and into the next town.

There aren't many pictures with me in them because I was traveling solo

View of the main beach, casino, Hotel Napoleon & Lighthouse

I stayed in a cute little hotel (Hotel Eduoard VII), which was a converted home and has 18 rooms and a beautiful salon where breakfast was served daily.  It was only a 6 minute walk from the convention center and main beach.

my Hotel

You can see the convention center on the left, which had gorgeous ocean views

Although I really enjoyed running along the sea wall, it was always a little crowded and I enjoy variety in my runs.  So, I used google maps to spot some nearby (within 2 miles from my hotel) lakes, which dirt paths around them.  I ran there half the time.  This took me towards the non-tourist center of Biarritz, which was a fresh perspective and it was always very quiet.  Sadly no pictures, because I do not run with a camera.

Dramatic rock outcroppings

Overall, I really enjoyed Biarritz.  It was quaint, pretty, walk-able and the running was a nice way to see so much of the city!  The terrain was very varied, along the sea it was quite hilly, but in the town center much flatter.  If you find yourself in SW France, definitely check it out and go for a run!

Coding like a Nerd

So I realize that it has been a LONG time since I posted something.  Suffice it to say that the glamorous grad school life has been busy and once I fell off the bandwagon, it got hard to get started again and easier to just not write.  I'm still debating if I should do this regularly, as I am getting close to defending my PhD and getting a job in the real world (i.e. real employers).

Running has been going as well as one might expect, given the intense heat of a TX summer.  I think I might finally be catching on to the TX lifestyle after 4 years because I have actually been pretty consistent the last month.  Here is the week so far:

Monday: swim 2km
Tuesday: 8.69 mile run
Wednesday: 8.19 mile run, including 3 miles of track work
Thursday: 8.15 mile run
Friday: swim 2km after work (planned)

I'm planning on running Sat and Sun too, for roughly 45 miles for the week.

I think I'll write more about running in upcoming posts, but for right now, I want to address my recent adventures in the land of programming.

Most of my time at work is devoted to maintaining the health and happiness of many cell lines, setting up and running experiments, analyzing very simple data about those experiments, reading research papers and responding to mass quantities of email.  In the world of science PhDs, I am known as an "Experimentalist".  This means the data I produce comes from experimental measurements.  Contrast that with the "Computationalist" who uses sophisticated computer software or their own code to model in silico (that means in the computer) how something works in real life.

I recently took on a side project at work that involves a lot of computational work.  I decided to work on this because I felt it would compliment and expand my skill set, which is heavily experiment based.  Also, Bioinformatics is a hot area in Biotechnology and I want to be competitive for the job market.  At first, it was a little daunting because I haven't programmed in a long time (about 4 years).

Guess what?  I am totally enjoying this!  I actually forgot how much I love writing code, it is like a puzzle and so logical and these are things that I love.  Of course, this shouldn't surprise me because I did got to MIT and I am a nerd (I totally embrace this).  As a freshman at MIT, I had to learn my first programming platform, which was MATLAB.  MATLAB is really popular for engineers and I had to use it all throughout my chemical engineering core courses.  I remember being totally lost at first, but by the end of that first class, I really enjoyed it.

A few years later, I was hired by a small company in Cambridge to design a database for their cell culture data, so I taught myself VisualBasic, which is the programming language built into Excel and allows you to write your own functions that run over Excel.  Pretty useful if you do a lot of stuff with Microsoft Office.  After learning VisualBasic, I made my dad a database to keep track of his wine inventory in Excel.

In my senior year at MIT, I took an intro to programming class through the Computer Science Department (i.e. people who really know how to code) and learned Python.  This class was a lot of fun because all of the assignments were building complicated games that utilized the programming skills.  It was also really well taught and covered a lot of concepts that I had not previously learned on my own.

So, when I had to write some code to analyze long sets of DNA sequence for my work project, I busted out my Python skills and am super proud of my script!  It elegantly does all of the analysis I want and then saves it nicely formatted in Excel spreadsheets for me.  I was dragging my feet getting started on this because I hadn't used Python in so long, but really enjoyed doing it.  Everyone who uses it LOVES Python.

Sadly, I also had to use another computer language for this project, the dreaded R.  Yup, that is the name, just 'R'.  This language was written by statisticians and I hate it.  The reason I hate it is that the syntax makes.no.sense.  Pretty much all the other languages I know (MATLAB, VBA, Python) and languages I don't know but hear are useful (C, C++, Perl) use very similar syntax, so it is really easy to learn them once you know at least one.

R does not follow this pattern and I have tried three times to really learn it and I keep failing.  It doesn't help that the documentation is really poor.  Everyone I know who uses R HATES it.  Sadly, I needed to use R to analyze publicly available microarray data and was forced to figure it out.  Fortunately, I have an amazing friend on campus who is pretty proficient with R and he gave me some scripts he wrote and taught me how to modify them.  So, now I am confidently using a tiny portion of R, but I still hate it.  Anytime something goes wrong, it takes me 243571x longer than it should to correct, because I only have the vaguest idea how the language works.

So now I have probably left you without a doubt that I am one of the nerdiest runners out there.  But, maybe some of you like coding?  Do you?  Please share!

In other news, today is Bailey's 2nd birthday and 1 year mark of living with us!  She is so great and makes me very happy.  And now some pictures of her, because she is way cuter than me :)

I'm super spoiled, but my M&D wouldn't have it any other way

I love my cousin Ike

I like window gazing, pillows and my personal couch.

2012 Blue Bell Fun Run - Race Review

On Saturday, April 14, I ran the 34th Annual Blue Bell Fun Run in Brenham, TX.  This race is sponsored by Blue Bell ice cream, which is headquartered in Brenham, TX, about 90 miles east of Austin, TX.  This event included a 5K, 10K and 10K relay event, as well as a 1 mile run for kids.  I did the 10K run, which was scheduled to start at 8:30am and cost $20.  The race start and finish was held at Brenham high school.  This was a very family friendly event and I noticed a lot of kids and parents participating in the events.

Packet Pickup
Packet pickup was handled on site prior to the race inside Brenham high school.  Race day registration was available.  Packet pickup was very well organized, and despite lots of people was handled very efficiently and took just a few minutes.  Volunteers did a great job.

Parking
Ample parking was available at and around the high school, where the event was hosted.  Parking attendants were present and once a lot was filled, cars were directed to the next lot.  I got there just before the high school lot filled, so I got a great spot.  However, getting out of the parking lot after the race was a SLOW and arduous process.  Too many cars from too many different places all trying to exit on small roads, so it took about 30 minutes for me to get out.

Pre-Race
Because Brenham is about 90 minutes outside of Austin, I had to get up pretty early for this race (5:15am) and was out the door at 5:45am.  This gave me plenty of time once I got to Brenham to park, pickup my packet, use the indoor, high school bathrooms (a nice perk!), do a warm-up jog of 1.3 miles and stretch.  It was another warm, humid morning, high 60s and 90% humidity, so I was sweaty early on.  Although the race was supposed to start at 8:30am, it got off a little late.  The kid's 1 mile and 10K relay start were scheduled before the regular 10K start, and because the kid's run took longer than expected, everything was shifted slightly and we started a few minutes late.  Signs with per mile pacing (sub 7 minute, 8 minute, 9 minute etc) hastily went up, and participants were encouraged to file in accordingly.

The Course
This course is very pretty and mostly flat, with just a couple of small, rolling hills.  The roads were completely closed to traffic and we left the high school, running on downtown streets and quickly approached quiet, neighborhood roads with pretty houses and big green lawns lining either side of the street.  The 10K has an extended loop that turns back and meets up with the 5K route at about 5 miles.  The extended loop takes runners on some back roads with small farms and grazing animals on either side.  It was picturesque.  The course ends with a pretty long uphill (about half mile), followed by a quick downhill for the last 0.2 that brings runners back to the high school and finish line.  I did have one complaint regarding the course; the 5K and 10K merge with about 1.2 miles to the finish.  Because the 5K starts after the 10K, most of the 5Kers that I merged with were moving at a much slower pace than the 10Kers and a lot were walkers.  They took up the entire road, forcing 10Kers to literally weave around them to keep moving forward.  Although the road was wide enough to split 10K and 5K with cones, the race directors did not attempt to do this and I think that it would have improved the experience for everyone involved.


Post-Race
The atmosphere after the race was very festive!  HEB was a sponsor and provided sliced oranges (which were delicious), granola bars and bananas.  Blue Bell was the major sponsor and had a big ice cream truck with boxes and boxes of ice cream sandwiches and other frozen treats on a stick.  I was expecting to have to skip the ice cream (as I am vegan) but was delighted to find a strawberry fruit bar with no animal products in it.  The frozen snacks were especially delicious on such a hot day.  The high school remained open for people to use clean, indoor bathrooms, and the field house was opened up for people to shower.  That was pretty neat!


The Race Stuff
Participants received a technical t-shirt in the size of their choice.  This was the first year that the race switched from cotton t-shirts to technical shirts, even though the race is only $20 to register!  In addition to the shirt, race bags included lots of coupons (related almost exclusively to businesses in and around Brenham) and a packet of TX wildflower seeds, perfect for spring!


My Race
As I mentioned, I had to get up quite early to drive to this race, 3 hours before the race start.  Because my legs were pretty sore, I wore my newly purchased compression socks (will discuss in upcoming post) the evening before and on my drive to Brenham.  They definitely helped with tight calves.  This was another host, humid race and my time was an uninspiring 56:38. I definitely did not run my best and even had to take a walk/stretch break around mile 3.  I think my poor performance was a combination of weather (what happened to spring, TX?), hamstring soreness and problems, and running much later than I am accustomed to.  I usually start my run within 30 minutes of getting up in the morning, which mean no later than 6:30am.  The three hour gap between my alarm going off and the race starting was definitely not something my body was used to and this time period was long enough for me to start getting sleepy and lethargic again.  In fact, on my drive back to Austin I felt completely exhausted, which is not good when one is driving alone!

All in all, I enjoyed the Blue Bell Fun Run, although I wasn't impressed by my own performance.  It was a fun event, well organized, inexpensive, geared towards family and is a pleasant course.  That being said, I do not expect to do it again, because the drive is quite long coming from Austin.  In fact, there were two other events that same weekend in Austin (Longhorn Run on the same day and Austin 10/20 on the following day), which might be better options for me next year.  That being said, $20 for a 10K and technical shirt is a good deal that should not be ignored!

2012 ZOOMA Texas Half Marathon - Race Review

I realize this race review is long overdue.  The primary reason for that is because I had a pretty crappy day and have had a hard time motivating myself to summarize it in gory detail.  Nonetheless, I hope this race report is of some use to others interested in this particular race!

I ran the ZOOMA Texas Half Marathon on Saturday, March 31 2012.  It took place in Bastrop, TX and the start and finish were at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort.  This race was geared towards and marketed as a race for women, although men were allowed to run.  There was also a 5K race that started just after the half marathon.  Half marathon entry was $85 at the time I registered (may have been $80 for very early entry).

Packet Pickup
The packet pickup process for this race was not well organized, and I would say this is my primary complaint.  Because it was a Saturday race, it seems logical to me that runners should have been allowed to pick up their race packets just before the race.  This was not the case, there were only two narrow windows to pick up packets; 3-7pm on Thursday and 2-8pm on Friday.  Thursday afternoon the packet pickup was in downtown Austin, TX in a location that has has high traffic density and is very difficult to get to during rush hour.  Friday, packets could only be picked up at the host resort in Bastrop TX, a location even harder to get to during rush hour traffic than downtown Austin, especially considering Austin residents were the primary demographic participating in the race.  I think any Saturday race should allow day of packet pickup, as most people work during the weekdays.

Parking
The race started at 7:30am and on site parking was only available for participants staying overnight at the Hyatt.  The rest of us had to park near the Austin airport and take shuttle buses back and forth from the Hyatt. I was initially very annoyed about this and thought it would be a disaster, but the race organizers did a great job with the shuttling process.  There was plenty of parking near the airport, it was free, and no one was waiting for a shuttle.  Non-runners (family members, significant others) were allowed to take the shuttles as well, no extra charge.  The downside is that it did mean getting up earlier on race day and added time on the return trip.

Pre-Race
Waiting for the race start was pretty nice.  There was a bag check, but I elected not to use it.  The Hyatt allowed any runners that wanted to wait inside and use indoor bathrooms, but it was a very warm morning, so I stayed outside.  I found some pristine and unused porta-potties with no line, which was a nice perk.  In fact, porta-potties were ample for this race and lines were less than 3 minutes.  The race had pacers every 10 minute interval, starting with 1:40 finish.  The race started right on time after a few quick announcements from race sponsors (including Sara Hall).  It was a warm and muggy morning, low 70s at the start, 90% humidity and no cloud cover.

The Course
The first 10 miles of the course left the Lost Pines Resort and meandered along neighboring, 2-lane, back country roads.  It was very picturesque and beautiful because we were mostly surrounded by green fields filled with wildflowers, which are in bloom that time of year in Central TX.  Although quite pretty, the course was tough, with hardly any flat terrain and constant rolling hills.  This was probably the hilliest of any race I have run in TX and would be hilly by New England standards too.  The last three miles of the course are back on the Lost Pines Resort, meandering through their gold course, which is also pretty.  This part winds a lot though, so you think you should be done and there are three more turns you can't see.  Water was available about every mile, along with Cytomax Sports Drink and GU gels were given out at mile 8.

Post Race
The post race for this event was very good, one of the best I have seen.  They hosted an "Expo" on the Hyatt Resort, with lots of vendors and swag (bike, apparel, jewelry companies etc.)  I thought that was interesting to do it after the race and seemed like a nice family affair.  The location was beautiful too, so I think that added to the appeal of hanging around with family and friends.  HEB provided post race food, including bagels, water, oranges and bananas.  I thought the food could have been better but was pretty pleased that they gave out reusable shopping bags.  Muscle Milk recovery drink was the primary sponsor, so they were handing that out as well, but because I'm vegan and they use casein, I passed.  Barefoot wine was also a sponsor and they were doing a tasting.  It was hot, early in the morning and I was very dehydrated so I did not partake in that either!

The Race Stuff
This race gave all registered participants a black technical t-shirt with the race name, logo and sponsors on it.  This shirt fits nicely and is true to size.  Finishers of the half marathon received finishers necklace in silver with a turquoise charm.  This is the first time I have received a necklace in lieu of a medal and I think it is a nice change of pace, especially for a women's event like this one.  However, the necklace is not very good quality and not something I will wear much, so I wouldn't want one from every race I do.

My Race
To make a long story short, I had a personal worst (by far) of 2:18:03 that included many, many walk breaks and a few stretch breaks for cramping legs.  Although the course was beautiful, the day just wasn't mine and I bonked.  In fact, only a few miles in it became apparent to me that I was going to have a tough finish.  I contemplated quitting several times and am proud that I resisted the urge and pulled myself through all 13.1 miles (especially when my thoughts of quitting came as early as 2.5 miles).  Why did I have a bad race?  Well, number one I haven't been training correctly.  I hadn't done sufficient long runs and my training had been inconsistent.  I also haven't done speed work in a long time and that really showed in my recent races, with significantly slower times than in the past.  I am working on turning that around, but it will be a many month process.  Second, the weather was pretty awful.  I consistently run better in cool, dry weather and although out of my control, it definitely played a major role on the day.  This also led to dehydration, nausea and some stomach cramps late in the race.  Finally, the course was much hillier than I expected.  I have been having a lot of problems with tight calves and hamstrings, which are easily aggravated by uphills and downhills.  If I run the course again, I will plan hill training that mimics this course.

Overall, this was a well organized, nicely run and reasonably priced half marathon.  Although I did not have a great experience day of, I would recommend it to others and even consider doing it again.  I would like to see packet pickup available day of and maybe even an earlier start (7am) to combat unpleasantly warm temperatures that central TX often gets in March and April.  The Hyatt Lost Pines Resort is beautiful and a really nice choice for the race location.

Missing Boston: The View from Austin

Yesterday was Patriot's Day, which means it was the running of the 116th Boston Marathon.  Because I grew up in MA and went to college there, Patriot's Day was always a holiday, that is until I moved to TX.  Although some businesses are not closed in MA on Patriot's Day (especially those that only observe banking holidays), the schools and colleges give the day off.  Not only did that make this Monday special because of a long weekend, but I grew up close enough to Boston that I would always go into the city and spectate (except the two years I ran as a qualified runner, 2006 & 2007).  Spectating is a big deal on Marathon Monday, there are tens of thousands of people who do it every year, regardless of the weather, and it is truly a wonderful and fun experience.  There is nothing like the excitement of the world's best runners and all the energy that comes along with it.  Plus there is swag.  In high school, I would have to hurry home as the race was winding down for an evening track practice.  Even though school wasn't in session, we still had practice.  In college, the day was one long party with maybe a little time devoted to finishing problem sets.

The big news of the day with J. Cassidy breaking the push
rim course record.

Now that I am in TX, my enthusiasm for the race has hardly waned, but people around me just don't have the same appreciation that my fellow Bostonians did.  While my family members headed into Boston and Hopkinton to volunteer (proud of them!), I watched the live streaming coverage provided by Universal Sports online.  At least as much as my work allowed me to.  I was really pleased with their coverage, although it just focused on the lead finishers in each race and did not talk about any "mid-packers," and unlike in previous years it was free!  I also charted the progress of all my friends that I knew were running and the new mapping feature that the BAA had was excellent.  Like every Boston marathon I have watched, the 116th was no exception in making me feel inspired and nostalgic.  In fact, it makes me very much want to focus on re-qualifying so I can run a third time.  As they showed sections of the course, I was reminded of the many long training runs I did on the Newton hills or Beacon St in college.  And while I really enjoy trying new marathons, I firmly believe that Boston is the greatest marathon in the world.  Of course, I am probably biased because it is firmly embedded in the culture I grew up in and attending those races year after year is what inspired me to run a marathon in the first place.

There is something magical about Patriot's Day in Boston and I hope everyone who wants to gets to experience that someday.  Congratulations to all who ran the race yesterday in some very tough conditions.  I think you deserve some honorary TX status after that heat!