Back home!

Insane London Marathoner runs 99 miles home after the marathon, London pictures (warning "mankini" might burn your retinas), Emmanuel Mutai wins London in a blistering 2:04:40 (Keitany wins women's race in a PR (2:19:17), the legendary Grete Waitz passes away, Mary Wittenberg's thoughts on Grete, remembering Grete, Waitz and Lebow and Justin Mock in Rotterdam.

Boston, Americans creeping closer and closer, Boston petitioning for Mutai's performance as a world record, the fun tailwind may have not been so much fun, no wonder why Kim Smith dropped out, Kara, Ryan Hall called it, and the 2 hour marathon doesn't seem as ridiculous as it once did.

A lot to cover with one of the busiest running weekends ever, so here we go:

London: Emmanuel Mutai lived up to his promise with a blistering 2:04:40, and he is truly a force on the running scene. Welcome back, Martin Lel - hell of a kick to get 2nd place, and he is definitely a name to watch in the fall (NYC, perhaps?). Mary Keitany may be the early Olympic favorite as well with the first sub 2:20 female race in a few years.

Boston: Wow, wow, and more wow! Mutai, Hall, Desi - can't say enough of all of them. For anyone saying that Mutai's performance isn't a world record hasn't run Boston. The fact that he negative split on that course the way he did is just ludicrous. The downhill of the first half pretty much hammer your quads and legs, and you can't make up any time whatsoever on the Newton Hills. Also, no pace setters - with all due respect to Haile, his record was manufactured with the help of people paid to go out at a certain pace. In Boston and NYC, you have no pacesetters, and it is truly a race from start to finish. Boston is not known as a "fast course", so even more impressive that they shaved 57 seconds off that record. Scary that Robert Cheriyout's record performance last year would have gotten him 5th this year.

Ryan Hall - the world may need to apologize to you - apparently God has written a pretty damn good plan, and it's pretty clear that he is doing something right. Hope he can keep up the momentum and run a strong qualifier in Houston this January. Loved the fire, loved the aggressiveness, and maybe he can put it all together again on a different day where he isn't upstaged by some mindblowing, record breaking performances.

Desi - you captured the hearts of all Americans. You had the coach of your top American rival screaming for you to win down the stretch! Hell of an effort, even more thrilling when you watch the highlights. She ran according to plan, and made the Kenyans work for the win. She propelled her way to arguably the number 1 woman American marathoner currently (sorry Kara), and can't wait to see her attack the Houston trials course this January on her way to London next summer.

The Field - Kara, hell of a performance, hell of a PR considering she just had a child. Kim Smith - bad timing on an injury, but pretty damn cool to watch her take control of that race. Watching the pack coldly gobble her up and spit her out post injury was chilling. Gebremariam - a force to be reckoned with. NYC winner, Boston podium finish in a stunning 2:04 - he is one of the top runners out there.

Just got back from yet another amazing weekend in Boston. Fun times all around, had the most enjoyable race where I got to enjoy the sights and sounds of what is probably my last Boston. Final time was 3:29:49, but was an amazing ride the entire way, and awesome to be part of a record setting race. More specific race recap to come...

Boston Bound!

Ryan Hall, Ryan Hall, Desiree Davis - America's best hopeful?, Brett Gotcher out, Alan Webb and his new coach, and the lovely Miss Kara Goucher. Wed, Apr 13 - 5 miles (3x1 mile MP). Gorgeous evening to be out. Ran the Village Circle loop, and brought out the new cones that Crystal recently purchased for quarter mile markers. Warmed up by measuring out the split points (and dropping cones), then got into the workout. In a nut shell, felt great and we were cruising at conversation pace. Way too fast in fact. Goal was to hit 7:15's - our splits were 6:53, 6:49, 6:32. Highlight of the workout was when I let Crystal pace us on the last mile, and we hit the 1/2 mile split in 3:17. I remarked we were waaay ahead of where we needed to be. She gave the quote of the year, "You just sit back there and look pretty." Consequently, she was fired from pacing us in slower paced runs. Legs felt amazing, really amazing. Afterwards, Crystal made a wonderful dinner - fresh salad, lemon crusted pasta, and a delicious raspberry cake! This is probably the last post before Monday. We fly out tomorrow, and easy runs everyday up to the marathon. No time goals, will discuss race strategy with Shane and Crystal over the weekend. As far as I'm concerned, this is my victory lap, and I intend to enjoy every step of the way. Bib #4158 for those who care to follow. Thank you to all for all your support!

I love you Taper Week!

Couldn't have phrased it any better, Kara. Competition for Pat and Megan, Mo Trafeh's marathon debut in London this weekend, US struggles in Boston. And Joan-Benoit is running Boston!!!

Tuesday, Apr 6 - 15 miles: 2X6 miles, 3 down. Gorgeous day outside. Hit the trails in hopes of doing the Ben Rosario/Hansons marathon workout of 2X6 miles (5 seconds faster than MP), but completely overshot it big time. Haven't done as much marathon pace runs this training block, so pacing is not the easiest for me. Felt heavy legs on the first rep, (6:33 first mile will do that) but definitely settled in coming back and was locked in. Dropped a 6:30 last mile to finish it out. Splits were very aggressive, and worked for it. Felt pretty tired on the cooldown, but very happy with the workout. First 6 miles was 6:51 average, 2nd 6 miles was 6:46 average.

Wednesday, Apr 7 - 6 easy and slow

Thursday, Apr 8 - 0! Late dinner after work, switch off days

Friday, Apr 9 -6 easy and slow? I don't remember

Saturday, Apr 10 - 4 miles - Go! St. Louis 5K, small warmup and cooldown. 19:50, 7th place. Fun day to be out - huge rain storms in the morning and traffic made it a mess to get to the start line, but eventually parked a ways and made it to the start. Since we were far away, ended up having the wear my cotton race shirt since I had nowhere to store it. Went out with a small lead pack on the Forest Park loop that Crystal and I have done so many times, and was cruising. Let them go a little past the first mile around the Science Center (going up that hill), and settled into cruise control/tempo speed. Maybe settled a little too much, as the 2nd mile split was 10 seconds slower than I had planned. Cruised in at that point, let the 6th place guy go (who was looking over his shoulder literally every 3 seconds to check on me) and ran back around so I could watch Megan finish. Fun times, splits were mediocre at best, but this was a planned workout with Boston so close. Splits were: 6:08, 6:28, 6:31.

Sunday, Apr 11 - 0! Volunteered all morning with Crystal at the Go! St. Louis Marathon. A very hot and sunny day to be out, and unfortunately more hot and sunny than it should have been (75 at the start, got up to 89!). Great to see all the Big River Runners out and about, sucks that Karl got outkicked at the end, but he put up a fight. Sunday at the Masters took over the rest of my evening, and had 0 energy. 36 miles this week - eek!

Monday, Apr 12 - 4 miles. Nice and easy, looped around town.

Tuesday, Apr 13 - 0! Gorgeous day to run, and I skipped out. Got out of work late, just couldn't get myself out the door for the run. Slight burnout for me (physically and mentally), and taper week so not too upset right now.

Tonight, some pace work, then small jogs here and there before the big race. Headed out on Friday, so looking fahrward to a wicked fun time in Baaaaaston!

Wanted: Dead or Alive

Franklin is a dead cat. He stole my medal, and inhaler and mutilated it thinking it was a toy. He may look sweet and innocent, but he is now number 1 on my s*** list. 1 case of beer reward (not $4000) for anybody that can successfully make my cat understand that inhalers are off limits!!!

No hard feelings between Alberto and Alan Webb, Meb is runinng Boston!, Magdalena chat, Cherry Blossum, and a chat with Mary Wittenberg.

Thur, Mar 31 - 4 miles. Tired legs, but felt ok for the most part. 270 loop plus a little more. Slow pace... 209 miles for March (woo-hoo!), 559 for 2011

Fri, Apr 1 - 0! Scheduled day off.

Sat, Apr 2 - 6 miles, 52 minutes. Out and back on the trail, kind of windy. Felt really sluggish. Crystal was unsuccessful in recruiting me on the scheduled long run, but couldn't do anything hard because of my destroyed inhaler. Took me all day to find most of the pieces, not very happy with my cat right now.

Sun, Apr 3 - 15 miles (8:30 average pace). Ran with Mike and Crystal on a warm, windy day. Did out and back trail loop, very windy in open parts. Kept it pretty slow, and it got rough on the way back because of the sun and 70-80 degree temperatures. Highlight was dropping down to marathon pace and catching the group of bikers on the last mile, which has to be embarrassing for the bikers. 49 miles this week - I'll take it.

Mon, Apr 4 - 5 miles. Legs felt tremendous on the trails, and got this in albeit on a late, cold evening. No concept of time, but didn't push it either.