Marathon XXXI - Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon - April 28, 2024

I have run more than a few marathons with a camera or phone in hand, snapping photos and taking video, and I have always enjoyed viewing that footage later.  More often, though, I take in the sights, sounds, and smells, and try to burn them into my brain.  This has usually served me well, for even the ones that were most visually pleasing (Missoula and Park City come to mind) have an unforgettable place in my memory despite having no photos.

But if there was ever a time where I had wished I brought my camera, it was Sunday in Oklahoma City.  Not since Boston have I run a marathon in which every twist and turn, through every neighborhood both urban and suburban had sights to see, people cheering, parties happening on the sidelines, and a general spirit of the whole city coming out for race day.  And while the reason for the occasion is the sad remembrance of one of America's greatest modern tragedies (the domestic terrorism of the bombing of the Murrah federal building in 1995); the celebration of unity, survivorship, and city pride is anything but somber.

It is not a cheap race to enter ($186.43 when I registered on March 31), but every penny felt well spent from the minute I showed up at the Convention Center on Saturday to pick up my bib.  I can not overstate how well-organized and well-executed every bit of this race was - from the ease of pickup, to the interesting and useful booths at the expo, to the corralling of 14,470 people to the starting line.

At the race expo on April 27

Plus, this event had an incredibly comprehensive smartphone app that featured every bit of information any runner, spectator, or friends and family from afar could possibly need.  My parents even put the tracking map on their TV and watched my little dot progress across the course from the comfort of their home in New York.  For those who prefer good old-fashioned paper, a fold-out map with all the information was distributed to everyone, too.

The starting corrals

So, from the moment I started the race at the memorial where the Murrah building once stood, never once did I worry that I would miss a turn or that Gloria would not be able to get to me if something went wrong.  Off we went, through the lovely downtown that included the basketball arena and a minor league baseball park.  I am sad I did not notice passing by Flaming Lips Alley, though!

The first two-thirds of this race included no straightaways that lasted more than a mile.  That meant that with turn after turn after turn (something that would have normally frustrated me), there was something new to see and hear.  

The goal was to keep it comfortable but measured, and with the huge field of runners, there was not much wiggle room anyway.  I corralled myself with the 8:30 pace folks and that was where I would need to stay until things opened up, so an 8:40 first mile was pretty much on target.

We crossed I-235 at Mile 2 (8:23) and spent a mile running toward the Capitol Building from the south, turning away from it (Mile 3, 8:23), then back toward it from the east, underneath its plaza (Mile 4, 8:20) and back over I-235 (Mile 5, 8:10).

My better side, Mile 2

Now in a residential area, I started thinking about how it reminded me of the Boston suburbs as people cheered from their porches and driveways, with music playing (some playing radio or playlists on loudspeakers, some live DJing, some playing live instruments).  More turns through the neighborhood led us to Edgemere Park and I was reminded of Baton Rouge, where we looped around a park with beautiful houses and even more residents showing up to give runners some love (Mile 6, 8:27).

But nothing, except maybe New York City, compared to Gorilla Hill.  These folks on Shartel Avenue came out to play, bringing the good times onto the streets like it was an old-fashioned block party.  Music was blasting, the crowds lined the street as we ran the steady incline toward a giant inflatable gorilla at the apex.  Many folks were dressed in banana costumes.  Several were giving out food and drinks (and I'm talking about mimosas!).

But wow, it got tight on that narrow roadway (Mile 7, 8:41), so when the half-marathoners split off to head back south to the finish and we continued north it was literally a breath of fresh air - the stench of the body odor of thousands of runners packed so tightly was starting to get to me.  

It also got quiet as we crossed I-44 (Mile 8, 8:11).  So much so, that I remarked to a nearby runner that while we may be the better athletes, the half-marathoners are the better partiers.  He was not amused.

We made a few more turns (Mile 9, 8:30) before heading north (Mile 10, 8:32) and west (Mile 11, 8:40) into the Nichols Hills neighborhood, with big houses and bigger mansions, especially on Nichols Road (Mile 12, 8:34).

That's me way back there in the green shirt around Mile 12

The turn onto Britton Road into The Village section of town brought more love and support from the locals and from race volunteers (Mile 13, 8:24) as I hit the halfway point at around 1 hour and 51 minutes.  That left me an 18-minute cushion to finish under four hours.  

I had been hitting the mark beautifully as I continued through that neighborhood (Mile 14, 8:32), but as I got into the Lakehurst section (Mile 15, 8:41), and past Hefner Park (Mile 16, 8:45), my splits started getting slower and my legs started getting heavy.  I was working harder and getting less for it.  Time to readjust my goals and use that cushion.  New goal - nine minute miles.  Hey, I have nothing to prove anymore.

There was one neighborhood that had a Jurassic Park theme, with one guy dressed as John Hammond and others in dinosaur costumes, but I do not remember where because my brain started checking out along with my legs by then.

What I do remember was that even though there were 10 miles to go, I was crapping out and I told Gloria so where she met me somewhere around Mile 17 (8:53)...or was it Mile 18 (9:01)?  I also remember that for the first time the entire race, I was on one road (Grand Avenue) for more than two miles (Mile 19, 8:59; Mile 20, 9:18), only to get onto one other road (Classen Boulevard) for another three miles.  Worse, this whole area was about two or three miles of long, slow incline - murder on my already wrecked quadriceps.

Starting to crap out at Mile 18

The 21st mile (9:44) had a nice pick-me-up where a spin class was being held outside so all the stationary bike riders and other folks could cheer the runners.  For such a small group, they were loud and encouraging and amazing.  It did a lot (briefly) for my spirits, but not so much for my split times.  

As I passed by photographers and DJs and musicians, I put on the happy face and tried to look upbeat, but inside I was dying a slow death into miles 22 (10:20) and 23 (10:19).  But I was also doing a lot of math and had determined that I could do well over 11 minutes per mile in the final 5K and still make it under four hours.  It did not quite feel like a lock anymore, but it felt doable. 

The turn into the Mesta Park neighborhood was another genuine feel-good moment - going under a balloon arch and suddenly being in Super Mario World with many of the residents dressed as the game characters (Mile 24, 10:14) and another big block party.

Out of that section and with downtown in view, it was finally almost over.  I remember there a small hill that felt like a mountain and a downhill that felt like it was crushing my calves to bits, but I have no idea where exactly they were.  And with a 10:12 for Mile 25, I was happy to know that even a 15-minute mile would get me to a sub-4 finish. 

I made a final push to Mile 26 (9:55), heading into Scissortail Park for the final two-tenths of a mile, where a row of photos showed all the people that perished on April 19, 1995 - a solemn reminder of the reason we were running this race.

The sidelines of the final stretch had photos of those who died in the Oklahoma City bombing

Across the street in the green shirt, I am making my final push to the finish

My official finish time was 3:55:40.  I was hurting and tired, and had a lot to think about regarding my goals for future races.  But for the moment, I was satisfied with my result and could check off a 26th state in which I ran a sub-four-hour marathon.

There is nothing better than being greeted at the finish line by my wonderful wife

All photos by Gloria Galioto

Marathon XXX - Sandhills Marathon, Brownlee, NE - June 3, 2023

For my first Nebraska marathon, I chose a tiny race in a tiny town, way up near the border of South Dakota.

How tiny was the race?  There were 22 runners.

How tiny is the town?  The sign read, "Welcome to Brownlee, population 15 or so".

How close to South Dakota?  Gloria had breakfast over the border while I was running.

There is almost nothing in Brownlee.  Nothing, that is, except the beautiful Sandhills for which the marathon was named.  The race course was on one road, out and back, past the hills and ranches of this town where the cows exponentially outnumber the people.

The packet pickup was in the neighboring (and larger) town of Valentine - some 45 miles north of Brownlee - at Young's Western Wear.  Could this event get any more country?  Wait, put a pin in that.

At packet pickup, the gentleman admitted they were not very good with their communication, but I already knew that.  Their website had not been updated in years, their Facebook page provided minimal information, and the two emails I received prior to the race did not mention much more about the course except a vague instruction of where to meet ("in Brownlee") and to watch out for snakes (yikes).  But we did eventually find out from the guy that the race would be entirely on Seneca Road (the first time that road was ever mentioned).

We stayed in a little town called Mullen at the Glidden Sandhills Motel - some 40 miles south of Brownlee and just far enough west that we ended up in the Mountain Time Zone.  I had to set my alarm for 3 a.m., which was really 4 Central Time, so we could leave at 5 CT to be at the race by 6 and start at 7.

We actually drove the length of Seneca Road to get to the start, but we could not actually see the course as it was pitch black - the kind of dark that you can only get with no street lights and no light pollution because there is not a damn thing in sight that is illuminated except your own headlights.  Freaky.

The race started with little fanfare and I stayed near a cluster of runners for the first mile (8:46) but even though that pace would have comfortably gotten me a sub-four-hour marathon, I felt the need to go faster.  Big surprise there.

So I pushed it a bit, but not too much, keeping it in the low-to-mid 8s, which felt great.  We were very fortunate to have an overcast day because if the sun was out, it would have been relentless, with no shade anywhere.  Instead, it was a great morning for running.  Plus, I was completely calm knowing I could not miss any turns, since there were none.

I happily enjoyed the scenery of the countryside - the miles of hills, and the cattle grazing and roaming - for the next few miles (7:46, 8:06, 8:16, 8:06, 8:21).  There was mostly silence except for the roving port-a-potty that drove past me and the volunteer on a bicycle checking in with me (as they would do for every single runner throughout the race).  I was in a solid third place with big gaps ahead of me and behind me.  There were no water stations, save for some coolers with water and Gatorade every few miles, and no spectators except for the aforementioned cows.

Despite the soothing nature of the serene atmosphere, silence is dangerous for me because it allows me to get inside my own head.  So I put my ear buds in and started Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony 36 in C Major as I ran up some small hills, in a slight total ascent toward the halfway point, through the next three miles (8:36, 8:34, 8:08).  I followed that with Mozart's 29th Symphony into the halfway point (8:21, 8:19, 8:10, 8:13), reaching the turnaround.

With an elapsed time of around 1 hour and 48 minutes at the halfway point, I started thinking. And doing math.  Which is what always gets me in trouble.  The way I figured it, I only needed to keep going at an 8:24 pace to get a negative split, which had been the goal of all my runs for the past several months. 

Time for Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra" to get me through the next few miles.  I cautiously forged ahead, hitting 7:52 for Mile 14 and waving to the school bus full of half-marathoners on their way to their start at the turnaround point. After a few more miles (7:59, 8:04, 7:59, 7:57, 8:10)., not only was I heading into a negative split, I was creating a nice little cushion, too, for the inevitable slow-down at the end.

Next on my playlist was Dvorak's Symphony 8 in G, which I figured would get me through Mile 23, after which I had the full nine-part suite of Pink Floyd's "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" at the ready to take me to the finish. I felt so good at Mile 20 (8:05) that I texted Gloria, "Mile 20.  Hoping for a 3:35 finish."

Mile 21, 8:00.  Mile 22, 8:21.  Nailing it.

Mile 23, 8:38.  OK, that is why I have a cushion.

"Shine On" had begun and I hit Mile 24 with a 9:05.  Uh-oh.  Why am I suddenly falling apart?

Mile 25, 9:22.  My energy is sapped.  "Shine On" is more than half-over.  I am reduced to a slow trot.  My 3:35 and negative split got away from me.

Mile 26, 9:35.  Richard Wright's elegant keyboard outro to "Shine On" has long faded away and I am left shuffling toward the finish.  A runner passed me by.  Ugh, I hate getting passed so close to the finish. 

Gloria was near the finish line and, in addition to cheering me on, she let me know that another runner was gaining on me at the last second.  So I pushed just enough to cross the line ahead of him, but it turned out that both he and the previous person were half-marathoners.  My third place standing was still, somehow, intact with a 3:37:00.

Remember how I said the race could not get more country?  Well, instead of a medal, I was handed an engraved boot spur for my finish.  Now, that's country!

If only I had cowboy boots.

Oh, and no snakes.

The Sandhills

Start line - That's me in the blue shirt.

The home stretch

Me approaching the finish line

My boot spur trophy

Marathon XXIX - Eisenhower Marathon - Abilene, KS - April 29, 2023

Training for a June marathon, I needed to do some long runs in April and May.  Since the catalyst for my recent move to Kansas was my experience at the Eisenhower Marathon 14 years ago, I could not resist going back to Abilene and using it as my long run.  But since it was a training run and not the actual race, I set one ground rule for myself - take it slow; nothing but 8+ minute miles.

The course was a bit different than the one from 2009, and I studied it as best as I could.  It was a lot of loops and out-and-backs.  First, it was a mile loop around the block with the plaza with the Eisenhower resting place, statue and library, at a 7:56 pace.

OK, too fast.  Broke the rule already.  Slow down.

But it was a chilly morning and I was wearing shorts and a lightweight long-sleeve shirt, so maybe I was chasing warmth.  South on Buckeye Avenue for two miles...8:00 and 7:52.  Slow.  Down.

A turn onto 2000 Avenue and then Hawk Road before turning into Brown Memorial Park, my biggest hope was that there would be enough volunteers and signs in the park to point the way through the twists and turns of the path.  Thankfully, there were plenty of both, so all I had to do was focus on the run, with a 7:53 fourth mile and, after a turnaround in the park, an 8:04 fifth mile (finally!).

Out of the park and back onto Hawk, heading south, with an 8:01 sixth mile, there was a turn onto 1900 Avenue and a turnaround at mile seven (7:58).  Approaching the turnarounds, I kept seeing the 3:30 pacer and I had to resist the urge to catch up and join him and the group of people around him.  

This is NOT that kind of race.  It's not even a race - it's a training run.

So I backed off a bit and hit an 8:03 for the eighth mile going back north up Hawk.  Then it was into the park again for another loop, and a 7:49 and 8:00 ninth and 10th mile. Out of the park and north again on Hawk and onto 2000 and Buckeye toward town, I started thinking about how almost all of my training runs have been negative splits.  

Maybe, if I slow the next two miles down even more, that will give me a cushion to make this marathon training run a negative split. So it's not really racing, right?

I felt great about the 8:10 and 8:14 splits in miles 11 and 12, and at the 13 mile mark, approaching the halfway point, I hit a 7:53.  Elapsed time at the half was around 105 minutes.  To negative split it, my end result would have to be under 3:30.

Alright, then.  It's go time.

I had to run the exact route again...and faster.  A 7:25 14th mile had me feeling like it was do-able but the sun was out now, and it was starting to get warm, so I needed to be a little more measured in these early miles of the second half.  I did so, with a 7:57 and 8:05 in the 15th and 16th miles.

For the 17th and 18th, I hit a 7:38 and a 7:44.  At the park turnaround, I noticed that the group of people around the 3:30 pacer, who was still ahead of me but with a smaller gap, had dropped off.  A 7:57 for mile 19 and an 8:12 for mile 20 had me rethinking if the 3:30 was still possible.  With an elapsed time of around two hours and 39 minutes, it was still feasible to do the final 10K in 51 minutes.  I had built up enough of a cushion that if I kept the pace in the low 8s, I would have it made.  At the turnaround on 1900 Avenue, I told the pacer, "I'm going to catch up to you!"

Into the park one last time after mile 21 (7:44) and passing a few people, I managed to do just that. We talked for a bit as I did an 8:00 22nd mile and learned that his name is Matt O'Reilly from Lawrence and that he had just the previous week run the new marathon in Jersey City, N.J.!  But talking took a little bit out of me and I fell behind him with an 8:25 for mile 23.  

The elapsed time was around three hours and three minutes - I needed to do the last 5K in less than 27 minutes.  I knew I only needed sub-9s to make it under 3:30 but I pushed to catch up to Matt again before turning onto Hawk Road, with an 8:10 24th mile.  He asked me if I wanted to get in under 3:30 and of course I said yes, and all he did for the next 17 minutes was give me encouragement.  

Matt rallied me, coached me, and kept my mind strong even as my body was telling me that this was not what I had come here to do.  Yet there I was, doing it anyway, with an 8:15 on Buckeye Avenue and the finish line within reach.  I dug deep...8:04 for mile 26. 

Turning the corner toward the train station and the Old Town area where the finish line was, Gloria was there cheering for me as Matt let me cross the line ahead of him for a 10th place overall finish and a final result of 3:28:53.  A 7:58 total pace, a negative split, a second-place age group win, my fastest marathon since 2018 (when I almost beat the personal record that I had set at this race in 2009).

So much for a training run.  This was the marathon I had been hoping to run for the past five years.  Whatever happens at Marathon XXX in June will merely be the icing on the cake.

(Click here for a video of my finish!)

 

El Dorado Half Marathon - April 1, 2023

One of my top priorities after moving to Wichita, Kansas, from New Jersey was to find a marathon in a neighboring state.  And halfway through marathon training in Hal Higdon's Intermediate II program, the instruction is to run a half-marathon.  For that, I found a race in nearby El Dorado, a cute little town that we had visited when Gloria and I came to check out the area in 2021.

On the evening before the race, I went to El Dorado to pick up my packet and bib and to drive the course; or at least as much of it as possible, as some of it was on a trail in El Dorado State Park.  In addition, I used the course map to write down every turn, just in case things were not marked well.

I felt pretty confident on race day.  I had no plans for a PR or anything too crazy, but a solid sub-7-minute pace was definitely on the agenda.  There were 70 half-marathon runners (as well as 37 5K runners), so I planted myself in the front, expecting to end up behind most of the people around me but at least going out strong before settling into my pace.  

We started on Third Avenue near the train station and then proceeded North on Main Street to 12th Avenue and I hit a 6:38 for the first mile.  Excellent!  I could even slow down a bit, right?

Oh, you know me.  Off the road and onto the trail leading to the park I did another 6:38, putting myself in the top 10. Some turns along the path led me over the small river and into the park proper with a 6:27 third mile and a 6:38 fourth mile.  The fifth mile brought me to a road beside the lake and a legitimate hill.

A hill!  Here in Kansas!  It had been months since I had run on hills - something I had left behind in New Jersey - and here I was running up a 100-foot incline.  Back in Jersey, that was something I could do with no problem, and maybe I could have mustered up the muscle memory to do it here in Kansas.  But there is one thing in the Midwest that I had not gotten used to yet - the constant, relentless wind.

My fifth mile was 6:59.  Continuing up the hill, I hit a 7:17 for mile six.  A turn onto Myers Road to head out of the park (with a beautiful vista of all the nothingness that I love about Kansas) kept the wind and the hill coming, giving me a 7:16 seventh mile.  

Finally turning onto Main Street after a descent and a 7:02 eighth mile, though I had briefly gotten myself into third place, I had now secured a spot in fourth.  But more importantly, it was time to do some math.  With a 54:59 elapsed time, I suddenly felt like just finishing with a sub-7 pace (which would put me at a 1:31:33 finish time) was not enough.  I wanted to finish in less than 90 minutes.  That meant I had 35 minutes to run 5.1 miles.  

Every mile had to be several seconds under seven minutes and the flat straightaway in mile nine gave me the chance to kick it back into gear.  Catching up to the third place runner, 20-year-old Paul Cornwell, I made up some time with a 6:34 as I told him, "I'm not trying to make a move to pass you," because I knew damn well I could not, "I just want to get in under 90 minutes."

I had about 28 minutes to go four miles, so all I needed to do was keep them at sub-7.  We turned onto McCollum road and did a bunch of turns throughout the residential neighborhood.  I clocked a 6:53 for mile 10 and 6:50 for mile 11.  Paul was long gone ahead of me, but keeping up with a guy half my age was not the goal.

Turning off of Country Club Road onto 12th Avenue with a 12th mile of 6:46, I got back on Main Street, pushing with all my might to get that sub-90 finish with time to spare.  I hit mile 13 with another 6:46 and an elapsed time of 1:28:50, leaving me well over a minute to do the final tenth of a mile.  I turned the corner onto Third Avenue and finished with a final time of 1:29:19 (6:48 pace) and a fourth place overall finish.

Photo by Brandi Lake

It was my first public half-marathon since 2017 and my fastest half-marathon since 2018.  I won my age group and I met some great Kansans and a Coloradan.  Sure, there are no more PRs, but there are some amazing things that can still happen for me at races.  I am excited to see where that takes me in my new home state.

Photos by Daniel Galioto

Visit eldoradohalf.com for the full results and lots of photos.

Phish on Jan. 4, 2003 - Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA

Oh memories, memories

Here is what I actually remembered from the show before listening to it again recently: I was happy to hear the new "Anything But Me" (love those "Round Room" ballads!), "Saw It Again" rocked out hard, "What's the Use" was gorgeous, and I had fun walking through the coliseum's corridors during set break. Twenty years later, that is the entirety of my memory of a show that was the longest commute for the shortest return on music. 

Unfortunately, my more vivid and lasting memories had a lot less to do with the actual show. But I will get to that.

A ticket stub in your hand

When Phish announced their return from a two-year hiatus with the New Year's 2002-03 run, I submitted my early ticket requests for all four shows and received one for Jan. 4. When the tickets went on sale on Ticketmaster, I got nothing.

It made absolutely no sense to drive to Hampton, VA, from Parsippany, NJ, for one show, but I did it anyway.

I arrived at Hampton Coliseum and was wowed - it really did look as cool on the outside as the pictures on Phish's "Hampton Comes Alive" album portrayed. Unfortunately, I got stopped at the gate and was told that the parking lot was full and I should park at one of the nearby shopping centers.

Rock and roll 

Hearing the show now, I am once again put off a bit by Trey's crunchier guitar tone that feels not quite right for some tunes, but the first set is a good, if not quite essential, listen (save for the aforementioned "Anything" and "Again"). "Split Open and Melt" is interesting because you can hear the seeds of the hot messes of 3.0 era "Melt", though it does stay more rooted in the actual song for much longer.

So do "Rock and Roll" and "Mike's Song" at the beginning of the second set, but they do rock pretty damn hard, with Trey's new, fat guitar tone working to his benefit.  The latter, however, eschews it traditional ending - and though it gets pushed into the key of F, where "Simple" would have been the expected segue - the song breaks down to quietude and segues instead into "Mountains in the Mist".  Four shows in, the 2.0 era is showing that unusual song selection and a penchant for not properly ending songs are among its oddities.  A heavy duty "Down With Disease" jam ends in a similar manner later on.

"Weekapaug Groove", which fades upward from Trey playing the main riff and eliminates Mike's bass intro starts at a medium pace, but Fish picks it up, and by the middle of the jam, there is some great interplay between Trey and Page that is worth checking out.  And just when you think it is going to come back around to the chorus for the end, Trey finally gets his chance to play "What's the Use".  

After a silly ending to the set at the conclusion of "2001" after some heartfelt words from Trey, the encore drops one more new song, "Friday", a 'Round Room' ballad that vaguely recalls "New Age" by Velvet Underground.

On the whole, it was decent, but it was after the show when the real debacle began for me. 

Bummed is what you are *

In the parking lot, I met a guy that was looking for a ride to New York.  I told him I would get him to a train station in New Jersey.  So, we walked to the shopping center where my car was parked and....no car.  Sure enough, there was a sign that I did not notice on my way in to this lot in which *I was told to park* indicating that cars would be towed. There was a phone  number to call for the towing company, but these were the days before it was standard to include the area code. I had a cell phone, but a seven-digit number in an unfamiliar area code did me no good since these were also the days before smartphones and I could not simply look it up. 

We found a store that was open and found out the area code, called the towing company and sure enough, they had towed the car and told us where it was impounded.

I honestly have no recollection of how we got to the place or how far away it was. But I do remember that when we got there, there was a long line of Phish fans in the same predicament, each having to pay a hundred bucks to get his car back. 

My long journey home

We finally got on the road sometime around maybe 1 or 2 a.m. and now I had to drive through the night after being up since the early morning. My passenger fell asleep in no time, and eventually, so did I. 

Being jarred awake after drifting off the road and into the dirt is a scary experience. I was lucky there was no guardrail or other obstacle into which I could have collided. My passenger woke up, too, and I assured him everything was OK, trying to make it seem like I had been fumbling around with the CD player and not falling asleep.

After that harrowing experience, I somehow mustered the energy to keep it together through the long winter night, finally dropping my guest off at the Harrison PATH station sometime after sunrise. I got home to Parsippany, around 9 a.m.-ish, if memory serves. 

I had been up for more than 24 hours, minus however many seconds I had slept at the wheel. I had commuted 14 hours, plus a couple of hours dealing with the towed car. All for one decent but unremarkable Phish show. Was it worth it? 

*thanks, aLi!

Phish on Jan. 3, 2003 - Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA

Usually, nothing indicates a throw-down more than a "Tweezer" opener.  Usually, if both "Tweezer" and "You Enjoy Myself" are in the same set,  you are in for a wild ride.  But 2.0 was anything but usual.  

Why they chose to play "Tweezer" at a tempo so glacial it makes the 2022 performances seem speedy is beyond me, but I guess that is a testament to the unpredictable nature of the era. Just as oddly, it never picks up, wandering around at that tempo until it segues into a similarly-paced "Theme From the Bottom". 

Trey is always most excited to play his newest songs, so even though an adequate "Foam" picks up the pace a bit, it is "Pebbles and Marbles" that finally injects some needed energy. But it is quickly deflated when "YEM" begins so disastrously that Trey calls it off and restarts it just as badly. Blowing their signature tune was such a major low point that it was what I remembered most vividly about this holiday run, 20 years later. Which is a shame because the jam ended up being a rocker.

The "Birds of a Feather" opener for the second set helps to wash away the stink; as does the "Wolfman's Brother" that spends some time as a battle of the wah-wahs between Trey and Page before finally breaking into a traditional jam for the final few minutes.  As will continue to be the trend for the next year and a half, the song eschews a proper finish ("Twist" does the same) and leads into a very weird "Makisupa Policeman" (or is that redundant?).  Another new song, "All of These Dreams" is dropped into the set and I am reminded of how much I love the 'Round Room' ballads.

In the encore, the band has a little bit of fun with stops and starts in the middle section of "Contact", which is a unique change, before closing it out with the "Tweezer Reprise" bookend.  This is a wildly uneven show and I still cringe at that "YEM" opening, but there are bright spots that should not be overshadowed by that.

Phish on Jan. 2, 2003 - Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA

Upon their return from a two-year hiatus, Phish flipped the New Year's run to start with the Eve and play through the beginning of January.  Also for the first time for the holiday run, they did the bulk of it at Hampton Coliseum in Virginia.

After taking New Year's Day off, they come out swinging on Jan. 2 with "Chalk Dust Torture" and "Bathtub Gin" and right away, the 2.0 jamming style is cemented.  Straying way out of the confines of its typical jam for a solid four minutes in the middle, it is almost miraculous that the former somehow found its way to the ending of the song.  The latter stays more within the "Gin" realm, but combined they take up the first half-hour of the show.  Later in the set "Stash" provides another rager, and for those who think that it took until 3.0 for "Back on the Train" to become a surprisingly fun jam vehicle, look no further than this first version of 2.0.

The rest of the first set keeps it closer to the old formula with shorter, tighter songs from its 1989-1999 period, including a rocking ending with "Character Zero" (that starts with Trey not quite hitting all the right notes on his guitar); though the band does toss in one new tune - the title track to "Round Room" with all its Mike Gordon-led odd-time-signature rhythm.

Continuing to sprinkle new songs into the shows, the second set features the quiet "Thunderhead", but starts with the rocker "46 Days" that, like the previous set opener, runs so far away with itself that by the time they get nine minutes in, it has shed the skin of the actual song.  Somehwhere around the 14-minute mark it becomes almost an entirely different beast that eventually breaks the 20-minute mark with no return in sight.  So Trey swerves into the key of F and blasts into "Simple", which gets quiet after about seven minutes but still also manages to break 10, meaning that the first two songs once again ate up a half-hour.  

Elsewhere in the set "Limb By Limb" and (especially) "Run Like an Antelope" provided such raucous climaxes (not to mention the reliable I-IV of the encore - new song "Mexican Cousin") that my inclination to poop on the 2.0 era seems unfounded.  This is all quite a bit different from my memory of the era.  There is definitely a different vibe from where we left off in October of 2000, but this is still a band that is pushing boundaries and creating excitement.