Tom's Racewalking History at 4/29/2010

TCF Racewalking History as of April 29, 2010

October, 2004 - Naomi finishes five months of training and completes Nike Women’s Marathon

1. April 30, 2005 Nashville, TN Country Music ½ Marathon – 3:17:10 = 15:03 “Trained” on my own for 2 months - managed to complete it. Not fast, but finish.

2. August 7, 2005 Chicago Distance Classic ½ Marathon – 3:09:06 = 14:26

3. September 4, 2005 Virginia Beach R&R ½ Marathon – 3:13:53 = 14:48

I. October 23, 2005 Nike Women’s Marathon – 6:50:24 = 15:39 Major back spasms from mile 20 onward, but finished.

4. January 15, 2006 Phoenix - P.F. Chang ½ Marathon – 3:21:13 = 15:21

5. March 12, 2006 Tucson - Arizona Distance Classic – 3:17:14 = 15:03

6. April 9, 2006 St. Louis ½ Marathon – 3:13:22 = 14:46

7. May 7, 2006 Cincinnati - Flying Pig ½ Marathon – 3:22:31 = 15:27

8. September 3, 2006 Virginia Beach R&R ½ Marathon – 3:13:53 = 14:48

II October 22, 2006 Nike Women’s Marathon – 6:34:40 = 15:03

October 29, 2006 Marine Corps Marathon 10K – 1:25:45 = 13:50

9. January 21, 2007 Carlsbad, CA ½ Marathon – 3:18:39 = 15:10

10. May 6, 2007 Vancouver, BC BMO Bank ½ – 3:10:16 = 14:31

11. July 15, 2007 Carneros Wine Country ½ – 3:11:02 = 14:35

III October 21, 2007 Nike Women’s Marathon – 6:35:19 = 15:05

October 28, 2007 Marine Corps Marathon 10K – 1:26:00 13:52

12. May 18, 2008 Marine Corps ½ Marathon - 3:21:50 = 15:24

13. May 31, 2008 Zooma Annapolis Women’s ½ Marathon – 3:18:19 - 15:08

14. August 10, 2008 Chicago Distance Classic ½ Marathon – 3:03:22 - 14:00 Course measurement error +.1668 miles, “chip time 3:06" not correct

IV October 19, 2008 Nike Women’s Marathon – 6:30 = 14:53

October 26, 2008 Marine Corps Marathon 10K – 1:26:28 = 13:57

November 9, 2008 Veteran’s Day 10K – 1:25:45 = 13:50

15. November 15, 2008 Richmond, VA ½ Marathon – 3:13:36 = 14:36

16. January 18, 2009 Bermuda Challenge ½ Marathon – 3:20:05 = 15:16 1mi Friday, 10K Saturday

February 14, 2009 GW Birthday 10K – 1:28:02 = 14:12

17. April 18, 2009 Dismal Swamp Stomp ½ Marathon DNF back spasms @ 11

18. May 17, 2009 Marine Corps Historic Half - 3:08:16

May 30, 2009 Zooma Annapolis 10K - 1:26:22

19. August 30, 2009 Marathon des Deux-Rives Levis/Quebec Demi-Marathon Marche (Quebec City Half Marathon) - 3:08:07.24 = 14:21.62

V October 18, 2009 Nike Women's Marathon -- 6:57:09 (see Blog for details)

October 25, 2009 Markine Corps Marathon 10K - 1:25:04.4 = 13:30 = PR

VI February 13, 2010 Caribbean Islands Marathon Cruise - see Blog re "staged marathon"

March 27, 2010 Marine Corps Run to Register 10K - Quantico - 1:23:57.92 = 13:32.56

20. May 16, 2010 Marine Corps Historic Half - 3:20:40 - see Blog

June 6, 2010 Zooma Annapolis 10K - 1:33.49

21. October 17, 2010 Nike Women’s Marathon – 3:18:43

VII November 1, 2010 Marine Corps Marathon – 7:00:28 - last Full Marathon

November 20, 2010 Cranberry Crawl 5k – 41:04 =PR

February 13, 2011 Love the Run You’re With 5K – 43:26 (bronchial asthma)

February 19, 2011 GW Birthday 10K - 89:00.01 (into 50mph wind gusts on 1st half)

March 12, 2011 4 Courts 4 Miler - 58:08

March 26, 2011 National Marathon ½ Marathon Relay – 5 Miles in 1:09:000

April 1, 2011 Crystal City Friday 5K #1 – 43:22

April 8, 2011 Crystal City Friday 5K #2 – 43:10 in cold rain

April 10, 2011 GW Parkway Classic 5K – 40.31 = PR

April 15, 2011 Crystal City Friday 5K#3 – 42.10

April 22, 2011 Crystal City Friday 5K#4 – 42:01 = PR for that course/event

Nike Women's Marathon 10/19/2008

Sunday morning, 3:00am Pacific Time and the alarm is buzzing. Time for Naomi and me to get up and get moving, the bus departs for the start line at 4:30 and we need to be ready by 4:15. The good news is we have only been in San Francisco for two days and kept our bodies more or less on Eastern time. Nice day on Saturday, breakfast from the "Primavera" kitchen set up at the Farmer's Market behind the Ferry Terminal Building - outstanding food. Then I hopped on BART for a visit with some Porsche friends at EASY in Emeryville (Thanks to Jim Breazale and Ron LaDow for the rides from/to BART stations), capping the day with a TNT Pasta Party. Having gone to bed about 8:00 the night before the Sunday morning hour is not quite as beastly as it sounds. Almost, but not quite.

Up and dressed quickly, then I'm off to the Denny's a block away from our Fisherman's Wharf Hilton hotel. It's an easy way to get a real breakfast before a long day using lots of calories (about 2926 calories burned during the race). Back for a team photo before we board the bus for Union Square and our 5:30 start time.

It's dark out there at 5:30 am, and with about a 10mph wind off the bay, and air temperature below 50, not exactly a warm and cozy place to wait for the starting gun. Temperature feels almost right for a penguin - and guess who turned up at the Start Corral? None other than our friend John "The Penguin" Bingham, there to wish us all well and support his friends. Somehow despite the hour and the chill we all manage to smile for the camera once more before the start.

The course is very scenic, with dawn just breaking as we pass the base of the Golden Gate bridge, then turn to go up Lincoln Blvd. over the Presidio. Our route rises from 30 feet above sea level to 240 feet over about 1.25 miles, but they keep telling us "we don't use any cable car hills".

Across the Presidio heights we go, passing Robin William's house, winding our way up and down then over to Seal Rocks, past a very small coffee shop which reminds me of a Harry Chapin lyric "It was an early morning bar-room" from his song "A Better Place to Be"). Then we go by the Cliff House restaurant and down the hill onto the Great Highway, where we can see the finish line tents. The bad news is we are only at mile 10, and have to turn in to Golden Gate Park.

Through GGP, all the way back (and up) to the art museum, with the Half Marathon course cutting off before mile 12. Why am I doing the full instead of the half? Turn around at the art museum and go back towards the Pacific, with the Half Marathon course rejoining about 1/2 mile before we exit GGP. They turn right to their finish line about .2 miles away, we have another 10 miles to go. I ask one of the course marshalls if the left turn is for the fully certifiable and he just laughs. There must be some good reason I'm doing the full instead of the half?

The Full Marathon course turns South on the Great Highway, past the Zoo, 3 miles or so around Lake Merced, then back up the Great Highway. No pictures, this part of the course is pretty boring until we come back onto the highway, by which time one is usually brain dead and has forgotten they even own a camera. By some supreme mental effort it seems to me my goal is perhaps within my grasp, but to attain it I absolutely must move faster. Trust me, after 18 or so miles on the course, your ability to do math is lower than a 3 year old's, but somehow I figured it out.

Finish line is literally in sight (you can see the tops of the tents for over a mile) and I managed to work up enough energy to make the last mile my fastest mile. Met my goal of finishing in 6 hours and 30 minutes. My first time in 2005 was 6:50, so it's getting better. There to welcome me is our friendly Penguin, John Bingham. Nice to see a friend at the finish, thanks for all your support John. Just to make it easier on your eyes, here's a finish line photo of Naomi getting her Tiffany sterling medal from the firemen at the finish. We all get the same medal, but we don't equally appreciate the delivery method.

We (the 4000 TNT walkers and runners doing the Nike Full and Half Marathon) raised $18 million for leukemia and lymphoma research from this event. Even got a nice write-up for some of our folks in the San Francisco paper on Monday morning. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/20/BAH413KMD3.DTL

Here's a link to photos by Naomi and I during the weekend. http://adobe.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=d4oq73e.6mafb412&x=0&y=1ogxjt&localeid=en_US

Tom
- Faster than I was, slower than I hope to be if I ever do a Full Marathon again.

Zooma Annapolis Half Marathon

This was our second "Inaugural Event" this year, and turned out to be a very nice smaller event. Pretty course, starting at the Navy/Marine Corps Stadium, going past the Naval Academy, across the Severn River, out the Baltimore-Annapolis Road, then onto a "rail trail" on the roadbed of the Baltimore-Annapolis Railway. Several miles on the B-A Trail, then back-track to end at State Park before recrossing the Severn.

Course map at http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/md/annapolis/209549241453

Photos are at http://adobe.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=d4oq73e.93kipfre&x=0&y=-ieqda5&localeid=en_US

More detailed description of the event is best summarized by this email sent to my coach via Blackberry while Naomi was driving home:
Coach, there is a lot of good to be said for the Zooma event today.
1st - Naomi had a good race (We were concerned about her endurance after her hospital stay in Nepal.)
2d - I proved to myself that going 5 weeks with no training, then doing the MChalfM & following that 2 weeks later with a Zooma Half Marathon is not the way to have great times. The good news there is that you don'thave to give me the lecture about it.
3d - Naomi was willing to slow down for me.
4th - The course was .14 miles longer than the advertised 13.1 (Event chair assures me it's USATF certified as 13.1 miles, so my Garmin must be reading long.)
5th -Wearing a TNT singlet with your name on it results in lots of encouragement, especially from the TNT Baltimore Chapter water stop crew.
6th - We still managed some decent if not wonderful times, on a prettycourse, at a nice & well run smaller event.

In other words, we both recommend it for next year.

Tom & Naomi

Sunny, 70deg, 90%humid, C shoes
1-15:14 1.04mi. 14:42pace
2-15:06 1.02mi. 14:47pace
3-15:06 .97mi. 15:34pace
4-15.11. 1.03mi. 14:48pace
5-15:10. 1.01mi. 15:03pace
6-14:50. 1.00
7-14:48. 1.00
8-15:43. 1.01 15:30pace - &removing rock from shoe
9/10-30:19. 2:0015:09pace
11-15:10. 1:00
12-15:13. 1.02 14:54pace
13-14:45. 1.02. pace14:32 Got the negative split
13.1-1:38

Total 3:18:19 13.24mi

Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon - 18 May 2008

This was the inaugural Marine Corps Half Marathon, held May 18, 2008 entirely within the city limits of Fredericksburg, VA. They limited the entry to 5000 people, had a course with a few hills (nothing compared to San Francisco) and managed beautiful weather for the event. The expo center was less than a block from our hotel, well organized and although small had the usual gear, food and so forth.

Our TNT walkers from the DC area were well represented, with seventeen alumni there in purple and green to show our colors. Althugh this was not an official TNT event, we all had a great time, including our own private pasta partySaturday night before the race. Homewood Suites gave us a kitchen, complete with pasta pots, so a little "bring your own" and we were eating well.

Kevin Frederici did a great job cooking pasta to go under the sauces provided by Naomi and Tom, Pam Parks and Ellen Cohen brought a salad, John Phillips furnished the bread, Katie Collins made a fine cake for dessert to go with the one Marni Matyac brought, Karen Brooks provided vino, and John Park brought good beer. Guaranteed to be better than any $30/plate banquet center pasta party. Photos of the pasta party and race at http://adobe.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=d4oq73e.c2xg59oa&x=0&y=8gvyc6&localeid=en_US

Sunday morning was sunny and about 60 degrees, with the start/finish line directly in front of our hotel, no buses needed. Most of us started at the back of the pack, since it's not a lot of fun to have the runners elbowing you out of their way, even if we do pass many of them before the finish. Course was well marked, good water stops and other necessities, even later in the race when walkers sometimes find them out of water. A couple of the early stops had not been equipped with rakes or brooms so had more cups on the ground than we like (they get slippery) but even there some of the Marines were picking them up by hand.

Don't know when I've seen so many smiling local residents out to cheer us along, lots of Marines all along the course, and they all seemed to appreciate us being there. The Marines even interviewed a couple of us for the Quantico post, don't know what they will do with those tapes but they surely made us feel welcome. Several of us have already made hotel reservations for next year's event, which will be on May 17, 2009. See you there.

Stupid Bowl Party & Early Training for MC1/2M

First the sad news - we had to "scratch" both the Victory Junction Run half marathon with John Bingham and the Petty family and the Carlsbad Half Marathon. It was just not possible for us to take the time off necessary for the trip to High Point, NC or California. Much of the time pressure was created by our trip to Bhutan/Nepal in April/May of 2008, but more about that later.

Having given Naomi a big screen (46 inch) TV for Christmas, and successfully mounted it on the ceiling of our sitting room, it seemed only appropriate to have a "Stupid Bowl" party. (Since both the St. Louis Rams and Washington Redskins were long out of contention, and neither of us are big football fans, using my friend Lee Ski's description of the Super Bowl seemed appropriate.) We invited TNT friends, our neighbors (just in case we got raucous) and told everyone to bring a snack. Lots of fun, even if we did not always focus on the game.



February is not a great time for being outdoors in the DC area, but we are a bit intrepid, and there is a race (Marine Corps 1/2 Marathon) coming up for us in May, so we joined some TNT friends in Behesda for a training walk on the 17th. Pictured is one of the favorite parts of these outings - coffee and conversation after we finish. Even managed a semi-respectable 1:27 for 10K.