55 & Counting (Laps)

A miler as a youth, I'm a 5K guy now by dint of availability of races.

As I near 56 in a month, I see that I hit a time of 21:42 as a 55 year old, a time trial on a track at the 5000 ft. altitude of Oaxaca. Received knowledge among statisticians gives me a 25 second allowance for the altitude, I'll take it.

Today at sea level, I ground out a 22:28.3, again on the track.

I didn't hit the roads too much this year, my best being a 23:05 at altitude. I was not in shape and it was a hot day.

Onward, through the years, I always think I can run faster, and I pretty much always get slower, but I love the game and continue.

As a youth on the UMass track team, I ran 10 miles in the woods on an easy day in 70 minutes, about my race pace now!

My best ever over 5K, 16:10, came in a low key race where I loafed then had way too much kick over the last 400. I think my best effort over the distance came in a high school XC race in Boston, where I hit 16:22, exhausting myself.

Yup, Rupp "Got Somewhere" with his Olympic 10,000 Silver Medal

Last December I posted comments on Galen Rupp's American 10,000 meter record of 26:48. As usual, a gaggle of Rupp haters had posted on the message boards at the premier running site Let's Run that Galen was a wimpy loser who would never get anywhere.

I'd opined that Rupp had guts and could well medal in the 10,000 meter run at the London Olympics. I'm happy to say I called it right--track and running fans know well that Rupp kicked hard past Tariku Bekele of Ethiopia for the silver medal right behind his training partner Mo Farah. I watched the race on live TV with an old friend, and I have to say it was the most exciting Olympic moment ever for me.

Prior to the Olympics, Galen put together a stellar season: American indoor 2 mile record, a fast 3:34 1500 meter race in April, a sub 13:00 5,000 meters at the Prefontaine Classic meet in Eugene in June, and best of all, a thrilling sprint victory over the incredible Bernard Lagat in the closing meters of the Olympic Trails 5000. Yup, I stood up and yelled my head off at the TV. I love Lagat, but it was time for Galen to move ahead.

Update, Spring 2014. Galen Rupp broke his own American Record in the 10,000 meter run with a 26:44.36 at the Prefontaine Memorial meet in Eugene, Oregon.

Not Grumpy Today

Turned 55 last week and I'm happy with the running just now, feeling very fit. Close to three months in with a strength build up. Been doing lots of 6.5 - 7 mile runs from my house in Oaxaca, up on a ridge north of town. The run starts at 5000 ft. and climbs to about 5600, then returns. It features a 600 meter steep hill at about 2.5 miles, quite a test.
At this point I can keep a strong rhythm on that particular incline.
It's a glorious early morning experience for me, running in crisp air and looking down on the jewel like city of Oaxaca. I'm often a bit sleepy feeling, starting before 7 a.m., but often I find a spring in my step on the ridge road and jam it strong back into town.
The plan from here is to add some intervals at my 5K race pace. I'm hoping to run a few races this spring in Oaxaca at both 5 and 10K. They actually offer prize money here in the "veteran" category. My experience is that there are some very tough old buzzards around here gunning for the prize money, but I will have a darn good time going stride for stride with these guys. Gotta remember to run smart, keep it cool at the start and build into a strong finish.
The real fun could come this summer, when I bring my altitude training to the states to do some sea level racing.

The Man Who Outran a Bus

My current fave run in Oaxaca goes for close to 7 miles--it starts at my house, winds through a couple urban neighborhoods then begins a climb of some 500 feet above the city's richest neighborhood, San Felipe del Agua.
Crowded streets give way to quaint cobblestone avenues, then I pass Parque Colosio and begin the dirt road ascent up the big hill at about the 2.5 mile mark.
I'll tackle the hill with a quick rhythm if I'm feeling good, and I was this morning after a slow start. I cruised the abandoned ridge road at the top at a slow pace at first before settling into a nice rhythm for the run back to town.
The ridge road, at about 5500 ft. altitude skirts the mountain side, winding up and down thru some curves then dumps you at the top of the bus turnaround where San Felipe del Agua hits the mountainside. The view, running at dawn, is a breath taking -- the Mexican baroque city of Oaxaca.
I noted a bus headed down just before me so I ducked through a warren of side streets to avoid running in it's fumes.
Springing back out to the main street, I see I'm about 40 meters behind the darn bus and it's gagging fumes. It stops to let cars by on the narrow cobblestone streets and I ease by it.
Once in the clear I pick up the pace a bit, get a good rhythm going to keep ahead of this beast.
Oaxaca has a great public transport system, but great for riders, not great for runners in their proximity!
Soon enough I hear the driver roaring up behind me. These guys put the pedal to the metal every chance they get. Up ahead, I see a trash truck stopped in the narrow country road, people scrambling out with their garbage.
OK, so I may be past my middle distance glory days by a good 30 years, but those miler instincts rise to the fore. There is no thought, just a burst of acceleration--BEAT THE BUS TO THE GARBAGE TRUCK!
I know the driver will have to slow and inch by, ever so careful.
Once past the garbage truck, I slow just a tick, but with the slight downhill and only a mile and a half to go, I'm feeling my oats. All I have to do now is to beat the bus to the intersection of Colon and Jacaranda, and he'll have to turn right while I continue straight on non-bus roads.
I guess the driver noticed me chuggin' away, 'cause I hear a virtual roar of his engine coming up quick behind me. These guys are given to a somewhat macho approach to driving. I round the bend and see I'm only about 70 meters from the intersection in question. The bus is careening down the road, gaining REALLY quick!
Again, no thought, just BOOOOOOOOOOM! This time I really goosed it. I noted the school drop-off traffic to Colegio Teizcali, on the corner, had virtually stopped traffic in the intersection. Some unconscious part of me plotted a path through the frustrated motorists and I high stepped by them. Bye bye bus!
OK, so I had to slow down then. Paying for my injections of pace. Fun it was, but heck I'd just dusted a bus!

Lincoln Sudbury Indoor Track Team '74-'75

The Lincoln Sudbury indoor track team from 1974 and 1975.
What a wonderful time I had with all my team mates. We were giddy with the challenge and fun of trying to do our best on the track.

What is Running Good For?

If you run a lot, you'll be fit enough to race. This is fun and gratifying. If you run enough, you experience health benefits like a strong heart and immune system. Run far enough and the endorphins flow, delivering relaxing benefits such as peace of mind.
Now that's where I'm at. As an artist and musician, I get the endorphin rush at about the 35 minute mark. I'll never forget a one hour run I took on the side of the mountain range behind the city of Oaxaca in spring of 2009. I looked up at a corn field that was pitched down a slope about 5500 feet above sea level, and started singing to myself.

Ripe Pineapple Drunk. You gotta level the hill, plant the corn. Gotta get in and out by dawn. Don't really wanna be around when the owner of the hill come back from town.
ME & THE BOYS MADE A LITTLE MISTAKE / A COUPLE RIPE PINEAPPLES WE DID TAKE!
And now we're Ripe Pineapple Drunk. I'm an old hippy but I wanna be a punk! Ripe Pineapple Drunk!.

Weirdest thing, these lyrics (and a melody, such as it is) popped into my head unbidden about 36 minutes into the run. I was in the flow, and beautifully so. The run delivered this to me. I didn't want to forget the tune, so I sang it out loud and drummed my dog stick to it all the way home. The Oaxacans who saw me flit by musta thought I was one loco gringo.

In any case, I got home, picked up my Epiphone acoustic and here it is, Ripe Pineapple Drunk.

Rupp's 10K Record

After the world championships this year in Dagau, Galen Rupp ran an American record of 26:48 in the 10,000 meter run at the Brussels Diamond League meeting, placing third behind Kenenisa Bekele, the great Ethiopian world record holder and Olympic Champ.
I was greatly amused to see Rupp's naysayers erupt as usual with criticisms of him on the message boards at the Let's Run site. One wag complained that Rupp will never get anywhere, as Bekele gained a good four seconds over Rupp on the last lap.
While Bekele and a Kenyan runner did indeed out sprint Rupp, let's take a look a the race. With just a few laps to go, the lead pack of seven or eight runners quickly winnowed down to three contenders for the win, Rupp among them. Why was Rupp's final lap a bit slow for an international 10K race at this level? Simple. The man was giving his all in pursuit of the win.
Rupp was not content to let any runner get away from him, and he did not back off to protect his finish. He went balls to the wall.
He could have run a 56-57 last lap if he'd backed off the pace. Instead, Rupp bent his will towards winning, and paid a price for it.
When a guy wipes more than 10 seconds off his national 10K track record, I define that as getting somewhere.
Can Rupp win a medal in next year's Olympics? I say yes, it is well within his capabilities. But, there are a dozen guys who could put it together on the day of the Olympic 10,000, not the least of who are Bekele and Rupp's training partner Mo Farah.
But anyone who saw the Birmingham Diamond League 5,000 last summer knows Rupp can do it. He ran second in that race behind Mo Farah, outkicking Ethiopian great Merga.
Merga is a top echelon runner with a splendid kick, and Rupp handily out-sprinted him in the stretch at Birmingham. That tell me that our man Galen has medal potential.