A solid and interesting weekend. Five weeks to New Orleans, and I feel ready to go tonight. Next Sunday in Cambridge is the Super Sunday 5, a little pre-marathon party around Kendall Sq. Then, Patriots.

Song of the week, back to another Bon Iver track that swirled up around mile 16 yesterday. It’s entirely possible I need some new music.

Today marks the end of week 12 of 18 for training for New Orleans Marathon training, as well as week 1 of 18 for Green Bay (woo! for overlapping). This morning was also the Boston Prep 16 Miler in Derry, NH. I was (and I guess, am, or am trying to be) happy with my times today – despite a (“moderately challenging“) hilly course the first 13.1 was the fastest gun time (1:48:31) I’ve run in a half-marathon since… 2004? And my total 16 mile time was a PR (I have a local 16 mile route I run and my time today was ~2 minutes faster than my best there). Honestly the only thing that is bothering me is that I placed 47/50 in my age/sex division (M30-39) – this is disheartening. I know I really should be assessing myself against myself but it’s hard to look at the rest of the times and realize how slow I am in comparison with a competitive, motivated field.

But the Patriots won & are heading to the Super Bowl again so who am I to complain. All in all, all is well.

Song of the day is from Florence & the Machine – this came up randomly and kicked me across the last half mile.

So – New Orleans. I’ve bit the bullet, booked my flight and hotel and now just need to find some sort of Sunday night tourist-type plan beyond the race to help justify the trip. It needs to fit into the realm of activities possible after running 4 hours (ie, nothing walking or standing) and in a best case scenario would involve a single impressive alligator or multiple smaller alligators. Ideas?

Run mix song of the week (please send new music):

Today ends training week #7 of 18 for New Orleans Marathon. The past few days have been the toughest temperature of the season but I am still frostbite free.

Today ends week 5 of 18 in my training cycle for the New Orleans Marathon. I’ve had a pretty good week, both mileage and pace-wise, taking advantage of our extended moderate temps. As long as the snow stays away, I’m optimistic about the possibilities for this March.

Oh also, today was our annual joint birthday party for my sister & her daughter. It was pretty much exactly like this with slightly older nieces pieces. Isaboo went with me to the mall to help me find gifts for everyone, for which I am extremely thankful.

My rough recollections of yesterday’s Baltimore Marathon with highly inaccurate mile marker estimations.

Mile 0: The 8am start was cool but not quite chilly, a beautiful day to run. YJP, VK & I start together, but I lose them within the first few hundred yards.

Mile 2: Without a lot of forethought I had decide to try to run with the 4:15 pace group. I lose them ahead when the leader puts his sign down. I catch & pass them, and decide to run & time my own splits rather than worry about hanging with them.

Mile 3: The first three miles have been great, negative splits as the crowd thins. Into the zoo – the entry gate is flanked by two ravens. No Orioles in sight.

Mile 5: Team HB is there cheering, for me! I am lucky. There’s an absolutely gorgeous lake here, particularly given the early morning light (Druid Lake). I’m giving back a lot of the early elevation gain which makes these miles fast.

Mile 6: Johns Hopkins. The neighborhood here is not nice, lots of boarded up townhouse but the locals are out and cheering for us. There are several stretches throughout the race like this, obvious pockets of poverty. Somewhere around here I notice the Federal Land Bank of Baltimore building which makes me wonder how many of these empty buildings will be condemned or taken via eminent domain. Across the street from the land bank building is a large empty fenced lot, no urban farming here. Later I find out that particular building is actually luxury condos now, go figure.

Mile 9: Back to the inner harbor to find CNHB & Ebs! Chrissy told me later she had been in that spot for only one minute before I came by. Lots of energy in the air here, the half-marathon is getting ready to start. It was around here I realize the field for the half is bigger than full – the area is packed.

Mile 10: Federal Hill is a gorgeous neighborhood. This is one of the areas we had been considering living in had LZ & I moved here back when Johns Hopkins was on the table.

Mile 11: We loop around the Under Armour headquarters. There’s a DJ here, far too loud, painful to the ears. Regardless, a good sponsor, the shirt is cool.

Mile 12.5: I see YJP across the way, heading the other direction. I shout but she doesn’t hear me.

Mile 13.1: I reach the half-way mark in under two hours, about 4 minutes slower than last week’s half. I’m fairly sure I’m running too fast, lessons from NYC unlearned. I see all of Team HB for a happy high-five.

Mile 16: Here we merge with the half-marathon field. There are tons of them. Given how stretched out the marathon field is by now, it feels like they outnumber us 20:1. In reality the numbers are more like 5000 full, 11,000 half.

Mile 17.5: I pick up my pace runner. This is against the rules and turns out to be absolutely necessary. I feel no guilt.

Mile 19-20: This is where things start to fall apart. I have 19 in my head as a goal since that’s where the NYC meltdown happened, but passing this mark does not help as it’s been mostly uphill since mile 16. There’s another lake here (Montebelo) and it’s beautiful, but suddenly very windy, challenging. Our mile splits are plummeting to the 10:30 range, I’m forced to give up my fleeting delusions of sub-4 hour grandeur.

Miles 21-24: These miles are mostly a blur. I’m having a hard time breathing, I can hear an audible wheeze that should not be there. Rolling hills, feels like more up than down. I have a vague memory about two furries in tiger suits standing on top of a station wagon. These neighborhoods are all out for the marathon with swedish fish and bands but I’m not in mental shape to appreciate any of it. SMB helps me fill my water bottle whenever possible – I’m drinking twice per station and as much as I can in between and can tell I’m still dehydrated.

Mile 24: We cross a bridge (in retrospect, the pretty cool looking Howard Street Bridge) and even that little incline kills me. SMB tells me later about the cool views of the city coming in but I’m only watching the ground.

Mile 25: I know it’s all downhill from here, but it’s not easy. Feeling really, really sick, hard to catch my breath.

Mile 26: The finish is just beyond Camden Yards. I touch Cal Ripken’s #8 on the way through. I remember seeing Christine shout but am having a hard time not crying, emotions & body chemistry are way out of whack. There are two instances when I think I’m having an asthma attack, my lungs grasping for air and not able to take any in. My right calf has a sharp cramp at 25.8, the left at 26. I think I might fall but don’t. Then, just like that, we’re under the last bridge and it’s all over.

After some time passed out on the concrete behind the bagel tent we recover enough to cheer for the others. Later we saw a mysterious dumpster fire behind my hotel (a metaphor for something), had a very many bananas and somewhat fewer celebratory beers and tried not to fall asleep at dinner. Ain’t no party like a post-marathon party!

The marathon itself is six day hence, Saturday the 15th, starting at 8am. I’m going to try again to get Glympse to sync to Facebook if you’re interested in tracking along. Until then, short runs & rest, no twisting of the ankles. I’m mostly trying not to psyche myself out mentally at this point.

Six days to go.

Team HB helped me make number twelve into one of my best training weeks so far (notwithstanding today’s disaster of a run). I’m over my mileage target and am feeling confident about my goals for Baltimore. Now, to just focus all remaining psychic healing energy in the general direction of YJP’s all-broke-up feet and we’ll be good to go.

Some bad things have been happened to me and to my family in the last month and a half which have preempted updating this blog. But in the meantime, I’ve still be running in preparation for the Baltimore Marathon. I thought I was doing pretty well, staying mostly on top of things (barring odd hurricane here and/or road trip to Canada there), but when I look at the table laid out like this, I see I’ve been behind every week (other than 8). It’s a little disheartening.

Seven weeks to go.