2.6 Mile Solidarity Run for Boston

Yesterday I and hundreds of other runners and walkers gathered at Woodlands Park right here in Perrysburg for the Solidarity Run for Boston. Dave's Running put it all together quickly and did a helluva job! I even got to help, even if just a teeny-tiny bit; Tammy, Rob, Alex, and I planned and measured the course during our Sunday run.

A sea of great people.

The Solidarity Run was a 2.6 mile run/walk to benefit those affected by last week's tragedy at The Boston Marathon. Dave's collected donations of money and each contributor received a commemorative t-shirt, which I rocked at work today. One-hundred percent of the money collected is going directly to The One Fund Boston. Rumor has it that we raised more than $16,000. It's one of the many affirmations that people are so good. Let the record show that I was blown away by the turnout. I expected maybe 100 or so, but the unofficial count is at least 800--there were 800 t-shirts available and every single one was gone before the run started.

I arrived solo around 6:30 in some fresh new kicks, made my donation, snagged t-shirts for me and Joe (since he was at class), then waited on the rest of our running group to arrive. Just before 7:00 we lined up to run and out of nowhere, there was Joe! He made it out of class early because he killed a final exam, so he rushed home to get into his running digs and arrived just in time for the run to start. I thought that we were going to take it easy, but I was very, very wrong. Keep in mind that I had just run 20 miles at an awesome pace one day before. Add to that the fact that the number of runners and walkers far exceeded what a lot of us predicted AND the path at Woodlands park is narrow and only three-quarters of a mile around. It was a huge, ahem, clusterfuck at the start. I started my watch anyway.

There I am with Joe, Rob, Jordan, and Steve.

With the aforementioned cluster-you-know-what, we started mile one at a killer 29:11 pace. We bobbed and weaved out of the crowd and finished at a respectable 8:10. Despite the short distance, I hadn't planned on anything like that. After all, it wasn't a race, but an opportunity to help a recovery effort. Oh, AND Jordan and Steve hadn't run for months having both come off of injuries, one a stress fracture and the other some serious plantar fasciitis. Get Joe and Rob together, though, and everything gets all serious. When we finished the second mile in 7:35 I felt a little worn out, but I knew that I could maintain for another point-six. Heaven forbid we'd "maintain," though. At some point, we lost Jordan and Steve, then Joe and Rob took off. I didn't want to be left alone, so I did my best to keep up. We finished the final .66 in 4:41, which was a 7:09 pace.

Finish time: 20:26. And all for an awesome cause.

On the next day, I feel fine. I was ready to go out and do 4 or 5 miles, but a scary-looking storm is coming in, so I'd rather stay inside to eat nachos, chicken wings, and other finger foods.

Oh, yeah, I slipped in there that I got some new shoes. Goodbye, Launch!

Hello, Wave Rider 16! As the left photo demonstrates, my feet have been in the Brooks Launch for a while. One pair didn't make the photo because I donated it last year. The Launch has been good to me; it offered more than the Pure Flow did, but let me feel the road more than the Ghost. Sadly, the future of the Launch is uncertain, so I decided to try something new to prepare for its looming end. Enter Mizuno's Wave Rider 16. Joe has been dissing me for getting shoes that look just like my old shoes, but my other option was light purple. You understand, right?