“The man at the top of the mountain did not fall there.”
- Unknown

To me, the sound of the alarm clock at 5 a.m. is like fingernails being dragged across a chalkboard. It startles me out of my slumber, causes my ears to bleed and makes me wish I had gone to bed earlier the night before. But it also provides notice that I have a chance to get my fat butt out of bed and get my run on. I’d love to be able to tell you that I have the discipline to lace up my running shoes every time the alarm goes off, but sometimes I’m just not feeling it. It all comes down to motivation.

Motivation is an odd thing. I’m sure some runners run for the sense of accomplishment at the end of the race or because they’ve always run and can’t imagine not running. I wish I fell into one of those two buckets, but the truth is that I run for some combination of accomplishment, health and solitude.

Accomplishment

Nothing beats the feeling of finishing a run. I’ve run three half marathons over the last couple of years, and that feeling of crossing the finish line is one of the greatest natural highs anyone could ever feel. That said, I really get a similar charge out of a long training run.

There’s something about being up at dawn and seeing lights come on around the neighborhood an hour into a run. I really feel like I’m accomplishing something special. Plus, I feel great for the rest of the day. I’ve had weekend mornings where I’ve put in 8 miles and then met friends at the golf course for a 10 a.m. tee time. It’s kind of fun to be able to say that I’ve already gotten in a 90-minute workout before even reaching the first tee. Plus, it provides me with an excuse to play worse than bogey golf.

Health

I really started to get into running as I got older and my cholesterol numbers began creeping upward. My doctor pretty much scared me into running to maintain (gain?) a level of physical fitness. I’ve found that keeping a good training schedule and pushing myself has not only had a good impact on my blood scores, but I also see a corresponding drop in the numbers on the scale. The only downside to this is that I have to keep buying new pants, but I guess that would fall under the header of “Vanity” instead of “Health.” Either way, it’s definitely part of my motivation.

Solitude

I don’t think anyone who knows me would be surprised to hear my Myers-Briggs scores indicate that I’m an extrovert, but I still need some solitude every now and then. This is the primary reason that I have eschewed training with a partner. I think having a running partner would definitely help me get out of bed at 5 a.m. more often, but I feel like having a training partner would prevent me from using an early morning run to clear my head, plan out my day and just enjoy the silence.

What motivates you to run? Why are you running 13.1 or 26.2 in October?

To get to the finish line, you’ll have to try lots of different paths.”
- Amby Burfoot

Last year when I first started running, I spent the majority of my time on the treadmill. I was slow (still am), didn’t enjoy running in the cold (still don’t), and didn’t want to go running with a bunch of people who would likely leave me in the dust (I’ve gotten over that one). After moving off of my treadmill and onto other courses, I’ve really come to appreciate the value of a good running path. I thought a good way to kick off my first training blog of the year would be to share my thoughts – pros and cons – of different routes for the neophyte who is starting this year where I was in early 2009.

The Treadmill in My Basement

Where it all started… I used to use my treadmill to hang wet laundry, but now my wife and I are putting enough mileage on it that it might be time for an upgrade. The big advantage of using a treadmill is that I can watch baseball games while I run, which is fun because the Reds are awesome this year. Also, the treadmill is perfect for runs that require controlled paces and distances, like intervals.

But there are a few things that limit how much I enjoy treadmill running. First, depending on when I run, sometimes the only thing on TV is a soccer game. Don’t get me wrong, I love to watch soccer. But I’ve made the mistake of starting my run at the beginning of a game. It’s disheartening to run for 45 minutes and feel like death, and then seeing Landon Donovan on TV at halftime of a game looking like he hasn’t even been challenged. The other downside? Two words: gripple trouble.

My Neighborhood

It should be easy for any of us to just step outside and start running. I have a pretty well-defined path that I follow through my neighborhood, so it’s easy to track mileage and prepare for changes in terrain.

The big downside to neighborhood runs happens on holiday weekends when the trash pickup is pushed back a day in the week. Several of my neighbors leave their trash at the curb for an extra day. It’s not pleasant when I can identify whose kids are still in diapers and who threw away a big part of their fish dinner earlier in the week just by running past their driveway. A second risk in my neighborhood is dogs. A couple weeks ago I was less than a mile into a planned 4-mile run when a vicious poodle nearly gnawed off my leg. My neighbors will tell you it was just a nip on my calf that barely drew blood, but to me it felt more like a shark attack. It was bad enough that my wife had to stop watching The Bachelorette with her friends to dress my wounds (read: “put a band-aid on it.”)

Blacklick Woods Metro Park

My first outdoor route… I love the running trail at Blacklick Woods. It’s relatively easy, well-marked, and safe. And the full loop is four miles, which is a good distance for my short-mileage run. The only negative about the path is that there aren’t a lot of hills, so if/when I run a course with a big change in elevation, I won’t be as prepared as I could be unless I branch out to other parks. Also, running a four mile loop means that on a 10-mile run I might get lapped by someone training for a 1:30 half marathon.

Olentangy-Scioto Trail

I’ve only run on the Olentangy-Scioto trail a couple of times, but if you work downtown or live close to the trail, then it’s a great resource for your training. It’s also especially great for cross-training on a bike, as it runs from German Village all the way up to Powell Rd. You can get in a 30-mile ride without any traffic issues. For me, the only con is that the closest connection point from my house is 12 miles away. If I’m going to use the trail, then I pretty much have to get my runs in after work, which isn’t easy on a humid summer day

I’m always interested in other people’s routes. What recommendations do our readers have for good places to run?

Also. if you’re in town this weekend, we hope to see all of you out at RunFest on Saturday, July 10 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Frog Bear & Wild Boar, located on the corner of Nationwide Blvd. and Front St. in downtown Columbus. There’s no admission and the event is open to the public. Best of all, there will be lots of free stuff – food, giveaways, live music, running-related exhibits, activities and more. Plus, you’ll be able to witness the unveiling of a brand new NBHCM event logo. Just come to hang out, have fun and kick off your training in style.

“If you want to accomplish the goals of your life, you have to begin with the spirit.”

– Oprah Winfrey

I can’t believe I’m opening my last blog post for the 2009 Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon with a quote from Oprah Winfrey, but it seemed very appropriate. Finishing a marathon or a half marathon is a great accomplishment, and without the right spirit it would be difficult to stay motivated. That’s part of the idea behind the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon Spirit Awards; recognizing people who have overcome significant obstacles to achieve their goal of participating in the event.  So… don’t tell anyone, but I agree with Oprah on this one. You need to begin with the spirit in order to accomplish anything.

Now that the race has come and gone, I thought I’d use this final post to update you guys on my report card and share my race day experience with you. First, my report card:

1. Run two half marathons in 2009 and at least three 5K races

Grade: trending toward an A+

At the last update, I had run the Capital City Half Marathon and the Race for the Cure. Now I have added the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Half Marathon and the Homestretch 10-miler to my list of races in 2009. I’ve probably already exceeded this goal by subbing a 10-mile race for two 5Ks, but just to be safe I’m going to run another race – at least a 5K – before the end of the year.

2. Finish the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Half Marathon in less than 137 minutes

Grade: C

I improved my time from May, but didn’t meet this goal. That’s mostly because I spent about 6 weeks this summer injured and unable to train. Back in August, I said when I was finally healthy again that my revised goal was to finish the race without injury, and I accomplished that.

3. Reach my high school in-season weight of 160 lbs by race day in October

Grade: D

Again, the six weeks that I lost hurt my chances of hitting this goal. On race morning, I weighed 171 lbs, about 6 lbs more than my weight on the day I graduated and 11 lbs over my goal of weighing the same as I did during soccer season in high school. I’m going to extend this goal into December and revise my weight target to 165. That way I’ll be able to potentially get down to 160 in time for the spring races.

By my calculations that works out to a C average, which would be enough to keep me eligible, but nothing I’d write home about. Let’s not dwell on it and move on to my race day experience.

I wedged myself into the starting corral with my one of my closest friends – and a 2009 Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon Spirit Award winner – Aaron Irwin and his sister Jocelyn. This was Aaron’s first half marathon and my second, but his sister is an accomplished marathoner who ran Boston a few years ago. It probably pained her to move so slowly to keep pace with us, but I had warned her ahead of time that I wasn’t too proud to ask her to slow down. As the starting gun sounded, we took off our old sweats and tossed them into the crowd like everyone else. The sight of 15,000 people all throwing clothes in the air reminded me of middle-aged women at a Wayne Newton concert.

It took us almost five minutes to cross the starting line, but once we did, we set off at a nice even pace. The first familiar face I saw in the crowd was at Mile 1… my wife Jennifer was standing there shivering, but still smiling.

Those next two miles heading east on Broad Street were an easy run and got more and more scenic as we got deeper into the course. At the corner of Parkview and Broad we saw Aaron and Jocelyn’s parents, who snapped a few pictures of us turning north onto Parkview. As we headed up the street, the road got a lot narrower and everyone bunched together – it was snug, but still comfortable. About halfway up Parkview I saw my boss Jim, who gave me a shout of encouragement. I also got a high-five from Governor Strickland, who was standing on his front lawn with First Lady Frances Strickland cheering the runners on.

The run through the rest of Bexley was one of the highlights of the morning. The crowds were vocal, supportive, and very familiar faces to my running partners and me. During that three-mile stretch, we saw Aaron and Jocelyn’s parents one more time, and some other people that you most likely won’t know, but I want to give them a shout out, anyway – Gerry and Eileen, Susan H, Tom B, Ted S, and several other familiar faces were all cheering us on, with several other people screaming out Aaron’s and Jocelyn’s names as we ran past. We stopped for a few pictures, chatted with friends in the crowd and generally just enjoyed that stretch of the course.

Since most of our friends were lining the street in Bexley, the turn from Nelson Road past Franklin Park Conservatory and back to Broad Street gave us a chance to talk more without having to look for friends in the crowd. I told a couple of stories about my kids, Jocelyn saw a new friend either in the crowd or on the course every three minutes and Aaron kept plugging along, looking like an Abercrombie & Fitch model the whole time. We also caught up with Nicole G and ran with her for a couple miles.

I saw Jen once more as we made the turn south from Broad onto Monroe and then West onto Bryden, where we made a quick stop at the port-a-potties. While approaching City Center, we got a few words of encouragement from another friend of ours (a collective friend, not a “friend of ours” in the Sopranos “friend-of-ours” way) Emily H, who said that she has been reading the blog and that she read about Aaron’s Spirit Award along with the nine other amazing stories on the website.

The run south from downtown into German Village was pretty uneventful, save for about half a dozen guys from Aaron’s old basketball team screaming for him from the sidewalk close to The Book Loft on South Third Street. As we came to Schiller Park, I got a “Who Dey” from my friend Jon M, who was tracking his wife and sister-in-law as they were running their first marathon that morning.  Our lap around Schiller was a nice run and provided a great interlude to the uphill run back into downtown.

We could see the Nationwide building – our last turn before heading to the finish line – as we headed North through the Brewery District. I had to stop and stretch my leg a couple times, but was able to recover enough to handle the slight incline back into downtown. The final turn onto Nationwide Boulevard was like the scene in The Wizard of Oz when everything turns from black and white into color. It felt like there were ten thousand people cheering during that last 400 meters. We saw Aaron and Jocelyn’s parents, our friend Kevin R, and heard several people in the crowd screaming our names as we accelerated toward the finish line. The three of us crossed the finish line together in 2:29:02 feeling happy, exhausted, emotional, hungry, tired, proud, sore, and cold, but also looking forward to next year.

I’d love to hear your stories about race day. Please use the comment space below to tell us about your race day experience.  Thanks everyone!!!

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There are a lot of people who have helped me over the past several months with the blog – either directly or indirectly. I thought a good way to close my last post of the year would be to thank a few who have helped produce the blog, given me advice, or kept me motivated:

• Kara, Marwan, John, Christa, Todd, Carrie, Tim, Matt, Lisa, Kevin, Joe, Bill, Sara, Julie, Jocelyn, and all of my other runner friends: Thanks for the knowledge about Gu, Body Glide, stretching, and countless other things that I used in my training.
• The team at Huber+Co: Thanks for being willing to work the blog into the website. BTW – the TweetMyTime idea is a winner. That was awesome. My wife was able to track my half marathon progress because she could see my tweets via the Facebook application on her BlackBerry at the starting line and 10K mark. On a side note, had you told me fifteen years ago that someday I would write a sentence that included the words wife, half marathon, tweets, Facebook application, Blackberry, and 10K, I would’ve assumed I was writing it from a padded room.
• Sarah Irvin Clark and Scott Weaver: Thanks for all of the Facebook support, the tweets, and the traffic steerage to the blog. You are consummate professionals and have been a pleasure to work with.
• Ray Smithberger: I love the report card idea and will probably carry that forward in a few different parts of my life.
• Dr. Dennis Schone and Dr. Tony Blevins at HealthFirst Chiropractic in Pickerington, Sara Jacobowitz at Hands On Therapy in Gahanna and Dr. Jeff Bare: Without your help, I probably would have spent Sunday morning curled up on my couch with ice packs all over my body. I owe you each a huge debt of gratitude.
• Ted Hill: Your guest blog spot was hilarious. Thanks for being willing to put yourself out there and to needle me a little bit. Maybe next year I’ll join you for 26.2… Ask me again in a few months.
• Randy Benedict and the team at Second Sole: You guys REALLY know your stuff and have been a tremendous help. Without reservation, I’d recommend to any new runner that they head out to your store in Gahanna to absorb as much knowledge as they can from you guys.
• All of the readers and people who commented: You are the reason the blog works. Without comments and engagement from readers, then the blog is just a bunch of words on a screen. The comments and hits to the site are what really indicate whether the blog is useful or just the blogger’s useless drivel.
• Aaron Irwin: It was an inspiration to run 13.1 miles with you. I enjoyed every minute of it and look forward to us maybe doing it again next year.
• Jocelyn Irwin: Thanks for throttling back your normal pace to keep us company on Sunday.
• The brains of this operation, Ashley Heilman: A lot of readers probably don’t realize the amount of work this blog takes. The content of the blog is my style and my personality, but Ashley is the one who takes the time to turn my rambling commentary and fungus-like jokes into something that’s actually readable. Your countless hours spent improving the blog have not gone unnoticed. Thank you for all of your work over the last several months.
• My family: Thanks for the support and the comments, especially early on in the blog’s life when you were probably the only people reading it.
• My wife, Jen: I don’t think I even need to say it, which it good because words wouldn’t come close to expressing it. Thanks for being supportive through this whole crazy thing.

Take care everyone, and I hope to see you all next year!

Well folks, we’re into the home stretch. All the training and sweat, all the pain and ice, all the miles, all the pairs of new shoes, all the runner’s rashes, gnarled toes, shin splints and effort comes down to 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, October 18. But there’s no need to be nervous. This is everything you need to know on race day:

Don’t do anything for the first time on race day. It’s not a time to experiment. If you always stretch before a long run and someone is telling you now that you shouldn’t, don’t listen to them. Same thing with new shoes, new socks, new GU flavors, etc. Avoid anything new on October 18 and stay in your comfort zone. If you think you need to switch sports drinks, then do it on your first run after the race. This piece of advice trumps anything else I’ve written below.

Go heavy on the body glide. You may not pay for it during the race, but you’ll definitely pay for it afterward.

Make sure you eat something before the race. I’m sure you’ll be smart enough to carb up in the days leading up to the race, but make sure you eat something that will sit well in your stomach for a few hours. Too heavy and you’ll need to stop during the race. Too light and you might not have enough of a calorie reserve to maintain your pace.

Be prepared to stand around for a while before the race. If it’s cold outside, bring your oldest and rattiest pair of sweats, or an otherwise tattered outfit to wear before the race. You’ll appreciate the warmth for every extra minute, and you’ll likely never see those clothes again after you take them off as you enter the starting corral.

Don’t be afraid to walk through the aid stations. That is, unless you’re trying to qualify for Boston or set a personal record. A ton of people walk through the aid stations to pick up water or Gatorade. There’s no shame in walking for a few seconds to replenish. Just make sure you are aware of others around you when you are doing so.

Bring an extra GU packet. Energy gel will be available on the course at mile 7.5 and 16, but it’s probably good to avoid a situation where you wish you had one but didn’t.

Don’t wear an iPod. I know that I’m a bit of a hypocrite on this one because I love my iPod for training, but there will be 65 bands and tens of thousands of people lining the course on race day.  If all that music and all those people yelling out encouragement to you can’t keep you motivated, then nothing will.  Trust me, you won’t need the iPod.

Bring your own watch. It will take you a little while to cross the starting line unless you’re up with the elite runners, so your start time will not be 00:00:00 on the official clock. It will be easier for you to track your pace if you start your watch once you hit the start line rather than trying to think through the pace calculations at each mileage marker.

In addition to the info above, there’s only one thing you need to remember as a first time runner. It happens to almost every first time marathoner and half-marathoner and is usually an absolutely critical mistake: whatever you do, don’t ever – EVER – even think about

Know anyone who wants to be a part of the NBHCM, minus the walking, running or wheelchair/handcycle racing? It takes more than 1,200 volunteers to put on the NBHCM every year. With nearly 15,000 athletes expected in Columbus on Oct. 18, it takes lots of support from the greater Central Ohio community to make the NBHCM a great experience for everyone. Any person or group is welcome to volunteer for the NBHCM. Numerous positions are still available, including support at the Expo on Friday and Saturday, course marshalls at stations throughout the course on race day and even finish line volunteers. It’s fun, easy, and also a great activity for any group that wants to support the event. Help do your part to make the NBHCM 30^th anniversary a year to remember. If you have family or friends who would like to help out, please send them to columbusmarathon.com/volunteers to sign up for one of the many volunteer opportunities.

Does anyone else out there have tips for race day?