[Watcher]

Hi Treasur, FaithWalker, OffRoad, UrsaMajor.

Montreal was marathon #10 and I have New York City and Tokyo on my upcoming schedule. I need to find one for Fall 2025 and I'm always working on gaining entry into Boston to complete the 6 World Majors.

I have run 1,550 miles thus far in 2024 and have just surpassed 7,000 miles in year #7 of running. I have run 172 races of varying distances of which 45 have been half marathons which is my favorite distance.

I love the traveling aspect and I'm always hiking or enjoying the lake scenery in upstate NY on 3 or 4 day weekends. I was having coffee the other morning and a woman picked my brain for about an hour.

She only asked me about 5,000 questions and I answered them all. She marveled about my travels and I sensed she was ready to take flight herself. Maybe she was divorced or maybe it was just her time now to go explore. I used explore and she stole it from me. She was very excited.

Anyway she was on crutches and I think she wanted to travel with me so I put the brakes on that as I reflected how Ted Bundy used a fake cast on his arm to lure some of his victims.

She mentioned she had a lake house and all I could imagine was her wielding those crutches like nunchuks and me waking up like James Caan in Misery 😂.

[OffRoad]

As a crutch walker myself, she probably just wanted to live vicariously through you. For those of us who used to adventure, being unable to do what you normally do or did is very limiting. Listening to others adventures takes you back to your own.

And hey, I'm sure you are great pick up material. 

[Watcher]

Marathon #11 is in the books. 55,646 runners finished the NYC Marathon on Sunday to set a new marathon record. Perfect weather at 52° with sun.

Up at 4:30am, on the bus at 6am and arrived at the cold morning starting village area by 6:30am for my 10:20am start.

I have been battling plantar fasciitis in one foot since prior to the Montreal Marathon so I had to scale back my running in October and took a lot of rest days. So I taped my foot with kinesiology tape and added plantar fasciitis insoles to combat the problem.

The race starts on the Verrazano Bridge which is 2 miles long. Excitement and adrenaline carried me over so not a real issue at the start. Brooklyn is relatively flat so the first 13.5 miles are quite easy to knock out.

The nemesis is the Queensboro Bridge around mile 14. It's roughly a 2 mile span and the climb is steep. This bridge did me in back in 2022. I read an interesting running article last week that stated other people's pain is not your pain. So I just kept reminding myself of that mantra as I saw so many people walking up it.

We cheered as we summited the bridge, lol. My next concern was First Avenue which is a 4 mile stretch of an incline road and it offered me no problem this time around. First Avenue leads to the Willis Avenue Bridge and I navigated myself up it and made it through mile 20 knowing that I was running a good race.

The marathon really comes down to that stretch of roughly 6 miles starting at the Queensboro Bridge and finishing atop the Willis Ave Bridge. Conquer that section of the race and the race is yours.

I stopped briefly at miles 22 and 24 and had to force myself to get moving again as I was beginning to get sore legs.

I finished in Central Park and took an hour off of my time from 2022. This is my 3rd fastest time behind London and Chicago and this course is really difficult so I am ecstatic about the finish time.

The crowds were great and the course was packed consistently with runners making for a great atmosphere.

I have sore legs and I'm walking slow however I think I scared that plantar fasciitis away. 😂 Sometimes you have to show who's boss.

Four months to Tokyo on March 2nd.

[Flummoxed]

This is amazing to say the least, Watcher! Shaving an hour off your 2022 time is insane, and with plantar fasciitis to boot.