Berlin -- Not there but wish I was

Well, the other downside of these broken ribs is that I was supposed to be in Berlin this weekend to run the Berlin Marathon with my youngest son, Keith (22).  He ran it and had a pretty good race, though he said it was hot and sunny the entire way.  He ran a 3:26 and change, only a minute or so faster than Boston.  I'm sure that the heat was a factor.  I can't wait to catch up with him via Skype here in a little bit (I hope).

It is a beautiful, sunny, Fall day in Boston.  I'm just back from a really nice walk with Juliet and Elin around the South End.  We stopped at the Espresso place/coffee shop up on Columbus and W. Springfield and had a cup of coffee and sat on their deck.  It was really nice.  That, after stopping in the park for Elin to play in the playground.  She is still a little gun-shy of the swing, not quite sure what to make of this feeling of being "suspended" above the ground, kind of dangling there.

I talked with Keith on Skype and heard all about the race.  Thanks to Greg at work, somehow Keith got the "VIP" treatment at the race.  He met the race director; also met the race director of the London Marathon; and got to line up for the race with the Elite Athletes, using the "elite tent" before the race.  He started just behind Haille -- but says in hindsight maybe that wasn't so smart since he went out too fast.  But, still what a great experience.  They replaced his number with an "Elite" bib (with his name, "KEITH" across the bib, instead of an actual number!)  Pretty amazing experience for a second-time marathoner and someone running in the middle of the pack.  He said the heat, sun, lack of water the first 5 km, all had an effect.  Plus probably still being jet-lagged; being on his feet too much yesterday with his friends sightseeing around Berlin, etc.  Anyway, just to finish is great.  To finish with a time faster than Boston, all things considered, is even better.  Couldn't ask for more.  Tomorrow he flies down to Florence, where he studied his sophmore year, to visit friends and professors/advisors from the Program. That will be fun for him.

Today, I'm going to TRY to ride my computrainer, easy.  I need to at least try it and see how it goes, even though the ribs and back are still bothering me.  Last night I slept on one side (ironically, it's the "bad" side that I can sleep on, I guess because it stays relatively "flat" against the bed -- when I tried sleeping on the "good" side -- just too painful) so ... well...I will see how the CT goes while I watch a little of the Patriots game (against the Jets) on TV.  I won't break any speed records, or watt output -- just an easy spin for 30-45 minutes so I don't make it worse, but so I can get a little sweat going and feel like I got my HR up above 100.

Well...hahahaha...I DID try to ride my bike.  I think I managed about two or three minutes.  I just couldn't comfortably get in to the aero position.  Too much "stretch" in the upper body, and I think supporting my weight on my forearms, in that stretch, just required too much from my back muscles.  It's just not worth taking the risk or either extending the injury, or making it worse.  So, I'll give it a few more days, and then try again.  Maybe on my road bike, in less of an aero position, it might be better?  I have to remind myself that it's still only been just over two weeks...and a month is probably the earliest I'll really be able to manage.  I'm just going crazy though....

After trying to ride, I checked out the Berlin Marathon on video on the internet.  Prior to the race, they had video of the elite athletes warming up, as they ran "to" the starting line, in reverse from the course.  There was Keith!!  Amazing, running there with all of the elite athletes warming up.  And, then at the start of the race, we could easily see him at the start -- he had a great place, considering there were probably 30-40,000 people running the race!!  And he starts within two seconds of Haile!!  Incredible.

I'm downloading a few hours worth of video of Elin from this summer.  I'll make a few videos of her tonight and hopefully get a few posted.  She is so cute ... she was watching the marathon video with Juliet and me and she kept getting excited, jumping up and down!!  So cute.