Race #27 – Boston, MA (The end of The Boston Marathon)

The grand finale of The SmoothToe New England Marathon…One Mile At A Time took place on Boylston Street in Boston, MA. The Boston Marathon finishes directly in front of the Boston Public Library. We ran the last .2 of the Boston Marathon to mark the end of our event. We started with the first mile of the Boston Marathon on July 1st and ended with the last .2 on August 30th.

In looking over the distance that I was going to run for the finish, I became aware of the history of the marathon. .2 of a mile is 352 yards, but ever since the 1902 Olympics when the Queen of England wanted the marathoners to finish in front of her, the official marathon distance became 385 yards. So it is really about 26.21875 miles…I thought it was exactly 26.2 miles, but I was wrong, it is 33 yards more. Here is short video of our finish down Boylston Street:

The official time for completing The SmoothToe New England Marathon…One Mile At A Time was 2 hours, 7 minutes, 9 seconds. I finished way below the cumulative 2 hours and 11 minutes. I was shocked how good my body felt throughout the event. We all thought that there would be days that this 46 year old body could not crank up any speed, but there was not. 27 times I put my toe on the starting line, nervous and excited, and 27 times I felt some speed in my legs. This was all due to my recovery methods, recovery products, and training. Here is photo with the clock at the finish line with the Official timer from The Last Mile Racing Management Company, Charlie Olbrias:

It was a bittersweet celebratory breakfast as we were so pleased how the event went, but sad to see the tour come to completion. It was an amazing journey around New England. The challenges that The Last Mile Racing Management Company overcame setting up and running this event were many, but we came through tired and successful. Thanks to The Last Mile Racing Management Company for making The SmoothToe New England Marathon…One Mile At A Time such a professional, well-run event. It could not have taken place without them.

Thanks to our title sponsor, SmoothToe Energizing Socks for supporting this amazing trip around New England. The short recovery time between races showed how important The SmoothToe Energizing Socks were to my preparation, performance, and recovery.

As some of you have already heard, www.OneMileRunner.com is going international in 2010. We will shortly announce our 2010 event as we attempt another challenging feat – this time overseas.

Race #26 – Hartford, CT

Race #26 took us to the capital of Connecticut – Hartford. This was the 5th Capitol we visited on our journey. Charlie Olbrias from The Last Mile Racing Management Company had run the Hartford Marathon five times. He knew a good, flat spot around mile marker #12 for us to put on The Capitol Mile #5 race. We had an opportunity to show a different look at running the mile. Check out this short video of my last quarter mile. You can hear me breathing from far away. If you run the mile hard, it hurts. This race was no exception.

All that is left is the .2 of The SmoothToe New England Marathon…One Mile At A Time taking place down Boylston Street in downtown Boston Sunday morning. Let’s hope for very little traffic!

Toe Touch Your Way To Stronger Legs

Here is a video showing The Toe Touch Matrix. This exercise really works the proprioceptors in your feet. It mobilizes your hips, knees, and ankles. Instead of touching with your hands in a balance reach, touch the 10 matrix spots with your toes. Spend close attention to the back corners of the matrix as those spots really hit difficult areas of your body. Again, this is a multi-directional, multi-joint, and multi-muscle exercise.

Take a few moments to shake up your balance and fire this one-legged exercise that you will feel way up in your glutes!

Race #25 – Hudson, NH

The last couple of days have been one of my highlights of “The SmoothToe New England Marathon…One Mile At A Time” as it marked the first time that I presented a speaking engagement and raced in the town that I grew up in – Hudson, NH. For many years, one of my oldest friends, Bill Nadeau, has been asking me to speak in Hudson. We thought that 2009 would be a great opportunity to present two talks: one to the teachers of Memorial School where I attended junior high and then a sports talk for the public taking place at The Hudson Community Center. I presented both talks on Tuesday and then raced to The Community Center on Wednesday evening. It was very special to see the support of so many old friends and their families. It was a very windy night and I was fortunate to break 5 minutes in 4:59.08.

Thanks to Bill and all his preparatory efforts. We had a wonderful time sharing The O’Meara Process with the teachers of Memorial School. There were still a few teachers on the 2009 staff at Memorial School that were there when I was in 8th grade in 1977! In the evening, I spoke about some of the new fitness exercises at my talk at the Community Center.

Here is a video of Race #25:

Now we travel to Hartford, CT for Race #26 and our 5th capital of a New England state. We race in Hartford on Friday evening and then finish in Boston (6th and last Capitol) for a quick .2 on Sunday morning.

Races #23 and #24 – The Derby Mile and Brooklyn Fair

It was an end to a busy week and a half as I completed 5 races in 9 days. Race #23 took us to The Derby Mile in Salem , MA. The Derby Mile is put on by the Salem Parks and Recreation www.salempd.org. Race Director, Doug Bollen, does a fantastic job and I was happy to make his race Mile 23 on The SmoothToe New England Marathon….One Mile At A Time. I raced The Derby Mile last year as part of my 20/20/20<5@45 event in 2008 posting a 4:56 on their demanding course. You can check out the blog post from last year under “My Daily Journal 2008.”  It was a stronger and larger field this year and we had to run into a head wind the whole point-to-point race, but I managed to run 5 seconds faster in 2009 at 4:51. This was a great sign that my recovery in 2009 has been very successful. Here is a photo of Doug Bollen addressing the crowd at their fabulous post-race party:

Race #24 brought us back to the country roads of New England. Sunday evening we raced in Brooklyn, CT which hosts the oldest continuously run agricultural fair in the United States.

Our race took place out by the beautiful area of Hillandale Farms. It was a wonderfully flat course, but I did not have much bounce left in my legs and could only record a 4:58.43.  Here is a photo of Charlie Olbrias from The Last Mile Racing timing company. With only a week remaining on our tour, Charlie and his crew have been invaluable in making The SmoothToe New England Marathon…One Mile At A Time a professional event. Due to their creativity, care, and dedication, we are in the final leg of our logistically and geographically challenging tour around the New England states.

Race #25 brings us to Hudson, NH where I grew up. I have two speaking presentations on Tuesday. I speak to the teachers of the school district in the afternoon and then a sports presentation to the general public at the Hudson Recreation Center at 7pm. The following night I race to the Hudson Recreation Center for Race #25…this will be the first time I speak and race in Hudson.

Running Stretches

In this training video, I am working with my trainer, Juan Ruiz Tagle. These are some of the stretches that I use in my post workout. After training or competition is the best opportunity to elongate muscle tissue. These exercises are not used as a warm-up, but as a cool down.

After suffering from Achilles tendinitis and plantar fasciitis in late 2008 and early 2009, I added these moves into my program.This video shows some of  stretches that I do to protect and stretch my lower extremities. I can continue to do these diligently throughout The SmoothToe New England Marathon…One Mile At A Time. I hope these stretching exercises help you develop greater flexibility.

Race #22 – Concord, NH

Capitol Race #4 took us to Concord, NH for Race #22 on The SmoothToe New England Marathon…One Mile At A Time. I went to a summer program back in my junior year in high school at St. Paul’s School, then did an internship there in the summer of my junior year at college

Push-up Matrix


Traditional push ups are a wonderful way to build upper body strength. This video shows the variations that you can do to work different upper body muscle groups. Have fun with your new push up routine!