Wednesday, November 28

Am:5mi/35min. Nice run. Pm: 11mi*/70min. Track workout w/Miller, Andy, and Boj. 4x1000 w/400rest (3:11,3:07,3:06,3:00) 4x200 w/200rest (33,32,32,29) Great workout! Felt nice and relaxed. Legs a little sore from yesterday's hill sprints.

Tuesday, November 27

Am:6mi/42min + lifted weights pm: 8mi*/50min in Pisgah with Griffin. Felt great. Did 6x8sec hill sprints after. I enjoyed running while a little snow came down. Just flurries but nice.

Monday, November 26

1mile with kids at school. Furnace needed some fixing (again!). Ugghh

Sunday, November 25

13mi/1:28 with Fyffe and George on the roads of Putney, VT. Great run in beautiful chilly weather. Nice and easy, feeling good. 62 total for the week. I want to lift 3 times next week and get higher mileage.

Saturday, November 24

9mi/58min on the roads of Corning, NY. It was fun running in the snow and wind. Picked it up and ran fast at the end. Long drive home after.

Friday, November 23

5mi/34min on the roads of Corning, NY. Also went for a 2hr hike in the Finger Lakes National Forest with Jen's family.

Thursday, November 22

9mi*/57min. Pie and Glove 5K Corning, NY. 15:13(4:55) 2nd place. This is my third year doing this race. They changed the course because it keeps getting more and more runners. The old course was flat but had 2 momentum killing 180 degree turns that slowed you down. The new course was fast flat and beautiful. The weather was perfect, sunny 34° with not a breath of wind. This is what I've been waiting for. A perfect chance to pr. I was tapered and ready. I had fast competition to push and pull me. Time for a break through. I got it. James Osborne (last year's champion) ran side by Side with me through the first 1.5miles. Then he slowly pulled away. I knew I was running a pr and just tried to hang on to second place. I kicked hard across the line in a huge Pr of 15:13.4. My first time cracking 5 minute pace for 5K. I was pumped! Later people with GPS watches had it at 3.09 miles but they said the miles were right on. That would explain my 25 second last .1. It was probably more like a 28. I'll take it either way, wish it was certified though! Splits: 5:01,4:47,5:00,25 Bring on indoors! I'm on a roll!

Wednesday, November 21

7mi/47min in Pisgah with Griffin and Jen. I'd run ahead and then wait for Jen to catch up. Griffin got a great workout running back and forth to check on us. Long drive to Corning, NY after.

Tuesday, November 20

Am: 2miles with kids at school pm: 8mi/60min in Pisgah with Griffin and Nick Coffin. Good run with good conversations. lifted weights.

Monday, November 19

Am:1mile with kids at school Pm: 8mi/52min in Pisgah with Griffin. Feeling good. Not sore from yesterday's race.

Sunday, Nov 18 - Lil Rhody RunAround

Sunday was one of my favorite races of the year. My top 4 are: Pisgah,Lil Rhody, KSC Alumni, and 4 on the 4th. I love this one because it's in my parents' backyard, most of my family does it, many of my Rhody friends do it, and it's my family's Thanksgiving. I warmed up with Jonny and Muddy. We got 2 easy miles in and then headed to the start. I took off fast with a guy right on my side, cruising with me. I didn't recognize him but he looked young and fast. After 3 minutes of fast running I started to pull away. I love to go out hard and then really accelerate once we hit the single track. This usually scares people from going with me and then I get to run solo and just focus on my time and taking the best line. I felt strong the entire race and knew I was running a good time. I hit Buckeye Brook Rd in around 245 min. This is my split just about every year. I cleared my watch and just decided to hammer without knowing my time. I saw Glenn and Gina in the woods after the water stop near the big ledges. Seeing Glenn always gets me fired up. I get a little pissed at the world that he has Crohn's Disease and couldn't race. I figure he'd like to be racing so I better give it my all. No feeling sorry for myself no matter how bad it hurts. I flashed him the number 6 and kept hammering. I hit the final road and I was really starting to hurt. I dug down hoping to break Stephen Herrera's course record of 44:36. I approached the finish line and saw the clock in the 44's. I sprinted and broke the tape in 44:52. It's a new pr for me. My first time under 45 and my 6th win. It was awesome seeing so many friends and family racing and doing well. I'm pleased with my race but I want that record!

Saturday, November 17

4mi/30min in Pisgah with Griffin and (Jen). Drove to Rhode Island for my family's Thanksgiving. Tomorrow racing Lil Rhody.

Friday, November 16

Am:4mi/30min in Waterville Valley with Pat Ard and Chris Reilly. pm: was gonna run again. Too lazy.

Thursday, November 15

Am:3mi/19min + lifted weights. pm:7mi/54min in Waterville Valley with Sontag, Pat Ard, and Sarah Titus. Great run. We climbed up Snows Mtn which is not very big, but it's steep at the top. Feel good.

Wednesday, November 14

5mi/33min in the morning. Had a lot going on at school today and that's all I could get in. I missed the workout in the pm. Tomorrow double.

Tuesday, November 13

2miles/13 min with Griffin. My furnace was getting fixed so I couldn't get in more miles. Did 5x8sec hill sprints and lifted weights. It's gonna be hard to get miles in tomorrow because of work. This is turning into an easy week.

Monday, November 12

0miles - Nice day of lethargy. My body was tired from the tough runs on the weekend. It seems a shame to not run on a 65° day in November, especially when I don't have school. Saw a porcupine with Glenn and the wolves on our walk.

Sunday, November 11

19mi/1:59 - Rolling along with Najem on the marathon road in Grafton VT. I love this run. It's 8.5 miles of climbing followed by 11.5 of gradual downhill. Ferenc drove out and met us at the top of the climb. He rode his bike along side us and probably only pedalled twice the whole time. He was bundled up like an Eskimo and Najem and I shed our shirts after 13 miles of running. We ran through the town of Grafton and there was a guy hammering around a turn coming towards us. My first thoughts were, "man this guy looks legit!" Turns out it was Fyffe coming to meet us. We ran the last 4 miles together and finished under 2hrs. Awesome day! Total for the week: 72 miles with 2 great workouts and a nice long run.

Saturday, November 10

11mi*/75min in Marlborough with Fyffe and Miller. After a nice warm up we did a tough hill workout on Mark's road. We did 8 hills with a jog back down for recovery. Result: 86,84,81,80,79,76,79,77

Friday, November 9

Am: 4mi/30min on the roads. pm: 8mi/52:30 with Griffin. Saw some hunters and hikers. Heard a deer grunt. It was probably a hunter blowing his deer call when we ran by. Glad that Griffin and I were dressed in blaze orange and moving too fast to shoot!

Thursday, November 8

1mile with kids at school. Lifted weights. Feeling lazy in the pm.

Wednesday, November 7

Am: 3mi/19min with Griffin on roads. 8.7 shuttle run in PE class. Grabbed rim on 10ft. Legs feeling snappy and fresh. Pm: 10mi*/66min with a track workout. 8x400 with 200 rest. result: (67,66,65,64,63,63,62,61) with Najem (Andy,Ben, and Fyffe there also) I'm really pleased with this effort. Feeling fit and fast.

Tuesday, November 6

Am:2miles with kids at school. Lifted weights. Pm:3mi/19min in Pisgah with Griffin + 3 x 8sec hill sprints. I need to make these hill sprints a weekly habit. I want to build to 8 x 8sec.

Monday, November 5

Am: 4miles with kids at school. Lot's of pushups. Pm: 7mi/48min in Pisgah with Griffin. Legs a wee tired.

Sunday, November 4

17mi/1:52 with Najem and Fyffe. Great run. Awesome day, feeling good. Total for the week: 80 miles, 3 days lifting, a speed workout and a nice long run. I need to keep this going.

Saturday, November 3

Am:9mi/58min in Pisgah with Griffin. Lifted weights. Pm:13mi/1:27 on Saxton's River trails with Boj, Lena and Ellie. Ran with the girls because Ferenc is sick. Great day of running and hanging with bros.

Friday, November 2

2mi with kids at school. Had an xc meet.

4x800 World Record 35-39

I'm excited about the idea of getting a team of New Englanders together to go after the world record in the 4x800 indoors for 35-39 year olds. Mike Galoob approached me about this idea this summer after a trail race. I loved the idea! The problem is we're having difficulties finding able bodies that are interested.

So here is my idea: We'll have a "try out" of sorts at the BU Mini Meets. Run an open 800. If you run 2:04-2:02 you hit the B Standard for the team. If you run 2:01 or faster, that's the A Standard. We would need to average 2:02.xx to get the record. This would give a person 3 attempts to hit the standard as there are 3 Mini Meets (I believe). The goal would then be to select the team and then go for the record at Terrier Classic in late January. This would give people 3 weeks to sharpen up for the record attempt. (I'd have to contact the meet director to make sure we could race there) If we fell short we could always try again at a later date. I would be running the "try out" as well. I'm planning to do at least 2 800's at the Mini Meets and hoping to hit the A Standard. I ran a 1:59 in 2010 and a 2:00 in 2011. I'm confident I can hit those times again.

If you're reading this and are 35 or older, and want to be a world record holder, contact me at ghammett@sau29.org or leave a comment on this blog. Hope to see people at the Mini Meets!

 -Greg

p.s If we get a lot of people interested maybe we could have 2 teams gunning for the record. That would make it even more exciting.

Thursday, November 1

Am: 2miles with kids at school. pm: 8mi/51:30 in Pisgah with Griffin. Legs feel very good. Lifted weights.