Today I did my first hike of the year (normally I would have done hiking already in the spring, but the combination of Abby's broken foot and my Pittsburgh Marathon training this year resulted in no space for hiking until after the marathon, which I did seven days ago).

My first hike of the year just happened to turn out to be a grueling Rachel Carson Trail hike.

Last year, I reported on the two Rachel Carson Trail Challenge goal training hikes I did in late April and early June. This year, I did the fourth of eight of the year's goal training hikes offered.

• Sunday, May 12
• Leader: Donna Stolz 412-303-6102, Eileen Lessman 412-760-8863
• 13.4 miles
• Elevation change: 5055 ft

“This hike begins in North Park and heads over to Emmerling Park, then up and over Rich Hill and Lefever Hill. We end at the Log Cabin Road checkpoint location. Meet at Log Cabin Road parking area. Take Route 28 to Exit #12. Turn right at the end of the ramp, then right at the stop sign onto Little Deer Creek Road (aka Russellton Road). Travel about 1.5 miles and turn right on Log Cabin Road. Park about 100 yards ahead on the right.”

As of this year, I've decided to do only one Rachel Carson Trail hike a year, so this was it.

Here is my report on the hike, as well as my long-awaited explanation of why this trail means so much to me.

So, four days after my disappointing Pittsburgh Marathon, I've recovered enough to first walk, and now do some light running as well. I did a very slow, short 3-mile run in Frick Park.

I'm guessing it will take me another two or three weeks to be completely recovered physically, but I'm ecstatic to be out and about again. I'm also happy that I'm emotionally recovered already; I was pretty unbalanced leading up to and after the ordeal. The big lesson I've learned yet again is that losing sight of what is important and focusing on narrow ideas of achievement backfired on me, self-destructively, just as it did when I played bizarrely poorly in a chess tournament last fall before relaxing and then winning the 2013 Pittsburgh Chess Club Championship.

What running is really about

Running for me is really about enjoying the outdoors, feeling alive and expressive through rhythmic movement, and getting to know my body better and accept it while working with what nature has given me, to improve how I move and feel. Now that this whole marathon thing is over, I'm back to running on the trails instead of the hard roads, and I'm back to not timing myself. I'm back to being out there alone, not measuring myself against anyone or anything.

So what about races?

That said, I do enjoy some element of competition, both against myself and against others, in the spirit of play and excellence. So, although I'll take it easy for a couple of weeks just enjoying maintaining and rebuilding fitness (not just for running, but also getting back to some neglected strength training), I'm looking forward to doing some races this summer, with an intent to run them fast.

The first one coming up for me is the Man Up Father's Day 10K in June benefiting the Obediah Cole Foundation for Prostate Cancer. I haven't done any 10K other than the idiosyncratic Great Race 10K in 5 years, so I look forward to getting back to doing other 10K races. Also, I have done this Father's Day 10k before, in 2004 and 2006. It would be nice if I could beat my 2006 time, getting back to my fitness level of 7 years ago, but ha, very unlikely.

Conclusion

I'm ready to have a pleasant summer of outdoors activities. Abby and I already have hiking and kayaking plans. Meanwhile, I'll continue running. The pain of the marathon season is already a dim memory.

It turns out today is the 180th birthday of Johannes Brahms, born May 7, 1833, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite music by this great composer.

Piano

I discovered Brahms while a freshman in college and a total newcomer to classical music, upon taking a course called “Piano Music of the 19th Century” because it sounded like it was an easy way to get required “core curriculum” credit (no musical background was required for this appreciation course). Instead of being just a throwaway survey course I took just to get credit, the course changed my life. Sometimes that actually happens, when the instructor is passionate and communicative!

We listened to and discussed various of Brahms' miniature piano pieces he called “intermezzi”, op. 116, 117, 118, and 119. Part of what we were supposed to do was tell stories about how the pieces made us feel and why (in terms of some kind of story that involved identifying musical ideas and development).

Although I went on to listen to other music by Brahms, for myself, I still have considerable nostalgia for the piano intermezzi Brahms wrote late in life, and this is so appropriate, I guess, given that they have a decidedly nostalgic, melancholic flavor.

I have many favorites among these sets of piano pieces, but decided to share just one of them today, op. 119 no. 1 in B minor. The melancholic arpeggiated descending thirds and ambiguous harmonies, with a longing melodic line above the inner voices, make this a perfect example of Brahmsian beauty.

Imagery

When I listen to this, I imagine sitting by a window, alone, as raindrops slowly and repeatedly drip down, and the clouds come and go, while occasionally a ray of sun peeks through and smiles, and occasionally there is a burst of thunder. Meanwhile, the wind is blowing and sometimes stops a raindrop from continuing to fall, or blows it back upward. I look through the window, and the world is gray and blurry, and the raindrops tell the story of what is going on outside.

Three interpretations

Here are three interpretations I found on YouTube. I personally like the raindrops to linger and accelerate and decelerate with rubato, and this guy “Ferien7” plays that up, taking a leisurely 3:44 for the whole piece:

I link to this video by an unknown because I like how YouTube can be a source of what I find to be good performances by people who are passionate about a particular piece but are not necessarily famous professionals or well-established recording artists. I have no idea who “Ferien7” is, but I like this performance.

Another interpretation along similar veins, but by someone much more famous, and tighter (3:38), is by one of my all-time favorite historic pianists, Sviatoslav Richter:

Finally, here is a very different, fascinating interpretation by Heinrich Neuhaus, actually Richter's teacher, which is very fast (2:52), and emphasizes the unbroken melodic line and the drama, over the individual notes:

More

If you liked this piece, check out the other intermezzi by Brahms.

I'm on the second day of recovery after my debacle of a Pittsburgh Marathon two days ago. The recovery has been going very well; I think I'll probably be walking “normally” (to a point) tomorrow. But meanwhile, I've been dealing with a lot of anger and sadness.

I feel the most angry and sad when people congratulate me for finishing the marathon.

A warning up front: in this post I'm going to talk about some things that might give the wrong impression and make you angry, but I assure you that I am just speaking from the heart, and that my own reaction to finishing my marathon has no bearing on how I feel about your finishing your marathon, or anyone else's. I simply have certain goals for myself when doing things like marathons, and I don't believe that everyone has or should have the same kinds of goals as I do, and I respect your own goals.

I'm also writing this because I think I'm speaking not only for myself, but for other runners who might also feel the same way but tiptoe around expressing their feelings, precisely because of the fear of offending those who might take the self-criticism the wrong way.

Yesterday, for my birthday, I ran the Pittsburgh Marathon for the second time. The first time was ten years ago, in 2003. That was an ordeal in which I had aimed at finishing in 3:30 and in fact run the first half in 1:45, but then faltered badly to struggle to finish in a chip time of 3:53:25.

My second Pittsburgh Marathon went even worse. I had wanted to finish in 4:00, but instead finished in 4:38:21.

This was my 135th race in my life, and the worst of them all that I actually finished (I failed to finish one 30K race because of severe illness that should have kept me from going to the start line at all).

Here's my report on what happened, why, my thankfulness for all the good that came from the experience, and my running plans for the future.

Tomorrow is my birthday, and I will be running the Pittsburgh Marathon.

I have no idea how it will turn out, because I spent the past week not knowing whether I would even make it to the start line!

Here's what's been happening.

The CMU Tartans won the 2012-13 Pittsburgh Chess League (division I)!

Out of 6 matches (there were 7 rounds with a bye round for each team), we won the first 5 matches, losing only the final match.

We celebrated by having dinner at Curry on Murray in Squirrel Hill, organized by our team captain, Jeff. Our team had 8 members, 6 of whom were able to make it to the dinner (Ruan and Ed were unable to attend).

Meet the CMU Tartans team

I should note that Carnegie Mellon University actually has more than one team. In addition to the CMU Tartans, there is also Carnegie Mellon University I, a lower-rated team in division I, and Carnegie Mellon University II, a team in division II. I assume that these teams are composed primarily of Carnegie Mellon undergrad students.

On paper, the CMU Tartans was a very strong team, with the highest rating in division I, and therefore a favorite to win (which we did):

Not all 8 of our team members played in every round. Since it is very important to have at least 4 members show up for each match, because the team match score is based on 4 official games for each team during a round, I would like to recognize, in order of number of games played:

• Daniel Malkiel: all 6 games!
• Jeffrey Quirke, Edward Dean: 5 games
• Ruan Lufei, Franklin Chen, Avi Schreiber: 2 games
• Iryna Zenyuk, Luka Glinsky: 1 game

Here are the team members, in board order:

Ruan Lufei, current rating 2569 (played 2 games)

Ruan scored 2-0.

Ruan is actually world famous, being one of the top woman chess players in the world. She has the Woman Grand Master (WGM) title and was the runner-up in the 2010 Women's World Championship, in which she faced Hou Yifan but lost. She is hard at work in the CMU PhD program in accounting, so she has these years been focused on completing her studies rather than on chess. She is far, far stronger than the rest of the CMU Tartans team!

Iryna Zenyuk, current rating 2327 (played 1 game)

Iryna scored 0.5-0.5.

Iryna has the Woman International Master (WIM) title and is one of the top ten woman chess players in the United States. She has been in the CMU PhD program in mechanical engineering, but has managed to find time to play in the US Chess Championships. Here is a recent interview of her leading up to the 2013 US Chess Championships.

Daniel Malkiel, current rating 2182 (played 6 games)

Dan scored 4.0-2.0.

Dan has an MS from CMU in Logic and Computation. He was the 2012 PA State Champion.

Jeffrey Quirke, current rating 2179 (played 5 games)

Jeff scored 3-2.

Jeff is also a CMU alumnus, with an MSEE in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Franklin Chen, current rating 2164 (played 2 games)

I scored 2-0.

I only played in the first two of the six team matches, my first games upon returning to chess after a long absence: round 2 and round 3. After that, I became very busy, unfortunately, and did not play for the team in the final four rounds. I took a complete break from chess early this year after winning the 2013 Pittsburgh Chess Club Championship.

Edward Dean, current rating 2136 (played 5 games)

Ed scored 3.5-1.5.

Ed is currently in the CMU PhD program in Pure and Applied Logic. He was Pittsburgh Chess Club champion in both 2011 and 2012. I have covered two of my games against him on my blog, neither of which I won: a draw and a loss.

Luka Glinsky, current rating 2032 (played 1 game)

Luka played in the final round, scoring 0-1.

Luka is a CMU undergrad in drama (acting), graduating with a BFA in a couple of weeks! I first met him on the chess scene when he was about 14 years old, a strong junior player. He has had very little time for chess in the past 4 years as a student at CMU, ha! We will miss him as he leaves Pittsburgh to pursue his acting career.

Avi Schreiber, current rating 1926 (played 2 games)

Avi scored 2-0.

I first met Avi years ago when he was an undergrad at Pitt playing for one of the Pitt teams, but since he joined the staff at CMU, he joined the CMU Tartans.

Some interesting discussions

During dinner we had fun just socializing for a while, but then of course Jeff pulled out a chess set, and we enjoyed solving chess puzzles together and analyzing some games.

I thought it was interesting that people had different opinions about the weight of “talent” versus hard work in getting good at chess, and how good an “average” person could get at chess. Some of us seemed very optimistic about how far one could get in chess simply through hard work, using deliberate practice; others of us acknowledged the importance of work, but felt that there was a lower ceiling of possibility because of talent.

We went through one of Dan's games that was particularly interesting that I plan to write a separate blog post about, and also one of Jeff's games that illustrated subtleties in apparently simplified positions.

Conclusion

The CMU Tartans rule again! It was a fun time. Thank you, Jeff, for organizing this dinner! I hope to be able to play more than two rounds for the team next year.

Two days ago, I reported on coming back from injury and doing a Steel City Road Runners evening training run.

It turned out that the unexpected fast pace that I stupidly went along with took its toll on me. I am now in serious trouble with just one more week to go before the Pittsburgh Marathon. This morning I did not at all feel like running, and so I skipped attending the final (and 6 mile) Steel City Road Runners Saturday morning run that I had so looked forward to all these months!! I take these Saturday training runs seriously and have really enjoyed them, writing about each one that I participate in.

I do not know whether I will be able to even go to the start line of the marathon in a week.

Five days ago, I reported on feeling overtrained and injured.

Today, I report on my progress with recovery and continued training for the Pittsburgh Marathon during the first week of my taper period.

Last week's 16-mile run with the Steel City Road Runners was my longest run during the past two months of training for the Pittsburgh Marathon. I knew that it was about time to start tapering, but I felt that because of my relatively low mileage (mostly under 30 miles a week), I should put in one last hard week of training, and then have two weeks of tapering before the marathon.

Unfortunately, this week I overdid things and today's 11-mile run was very revealing. I ended that run with a whole slew of real problems that I need to immediately fix, or else I will not be able to even make it to the start line of the marathon in two weeks!!