TheRunningRev.Com

Grandma's Marathon

The day started off well, we woke around 5:00 am after falling asleep at 9:30. I had a good breakfast, whole wheat bread with marmalade, banana, glass of orange juice and a small cup of coffee, my usual pre-marathon meal.

When we boarded the bus for the start line I was feeling very confident that I could run somewhere between 3:20 and 3:30. My training had been good and I felt everything pointed to a good run. The weather wasn't quite perfect, a little warmer than ideal, low 60's at the start and feeling considerably warmer when the sun popped out of the clouds. The west wind was blowing at 10-15mph but wasn't much of a factor.

When the horn sounded to start the race I placed myself with the 3:20 pace group. It was a beautiful start as we headed south along the scenic Highway 61 with Lake Superior on our left.

The guy leading the group was the same person who led this pace group at the Twin Cities marathon and the first couple of miles where very similar. Mile one was a few seconds slow but then he ran hard to make them all up in the second mile. By the third mile I knew I wasn't going to have a good day.

Entering into the water station at mile three I grabbed a water and a Powerade and downed them both. My quads were already starting to burn and I couldn't figure out why but I immediately decided that I would walk through the remaining aid stations to try and keep my legs as fresh as possible. I quickly lost touch with the 3:20 pace group and came through the 10k in 47:39. By the half way point I was being caught by the 3:30 pace group as I struggled to a 1:44:45 split for the half. I was feeling terrible, everything hurt.

The next seven miles took 1:04 to run, although "run" may not be the right term for what I was doing. When I reached mile 20 in 2:48:21 my new goal was to get to the finish and if lucky break four hours. The run into Duluth was fantastic, great crowd support and a welcome change of scenery. I felt energized but my legs simply refused to respond. At mile 22 I arrived at Lemon Drop hill and enjoyed the climb followed by the downhill run into downtown Duluth.

Miles 20-25 took 53 minutes to run!

With 1.2 to go I decided to speed things up and finish strong. So I gave it all I had and ran the last 1.2 in 12 minutes, a blistering 10 minute/mile pace!

It was just one of those days. I have no explanation for it, 25 minutes worse than I'd hoped for, I just gutted it out as best as I could to the end. If there was any mistake in training it might have been that I didn't do enough long tempo runs but that doesn't explain everything going wrong at mile 3.

Twin Cities Marathon 2009

It was a perfect morning for a long run, overcast and cool. Having taken the shuttle from Saint Paul to Minneapolis we waited in the Metrodome staying warm until 7:40 when we made our way to the start. I headed into Corral 1 and Jenny into Corral 2.Pushing my way near to the front I hooked up with the 3:20 pace team and hoped to hang with them until the end securing a Boston qualifying time.

As the race got underway I felt great until about mile three when I realized that I was going to have to pee soon! By the time we hit mile 5 I had to stop, it only took about 20 seconds but it put me 20 seconds off pace, I took the next half mile to catch up with the pace team, I should have taken longer to do this as it meant I ran a 7:20 mile but probably closer to 7:10 for the half mile, way too fast, burning a lot of energy. I soon settled back into the pack.

One of the other miles (don't recall which) in the first ten was also a little fast as we hit a 7:25 mile but I seemed to be doing OK. It was great to see my kids just past mile 10 and then a couple of friends between 11 and 12.

We were through the half in just over 1:39 so we right on pace for our 3:20 finish. At mile 14 my back started to tighten and the lower left part of my back felt like a rock. By mile 15 I started to fall off my pace a little as the back tightening eased and transferred into my hip flexor which ached for the rest of the race. I continued to race through about mile 18 as I could still see the 3:20 group a few hundred yards ahead of me. By the time I hit mile 19 they were gone and so was my desire to push hard for a BQ.

I had a choice to make, chose my next goal... push hard and maybe get a PR or relax, have fun and enjoy the rest of the race. I selected the latter and treated the rest of the race like an ultra, steady and slow, walk the hills. I took time to stop and say "Hi" to Brian, Barb, Darrell, and then stopped to hug and high five my kids. I took time to thank volunteers at the water stops for giving of their time to make the race possible. I was glad to be able to take in all that Summit Avenue has to offer in crowd support.

I crossed the finish line in 3:39:50. Not a bad time considering how much fun I had over the last 7 or 8 miles!

So what went wrong? Why no BQ? Well the answer is simple... relationships and life! I took a trip to Viriginia to catch up with friends and see U2 in concert last week. Not the smartest way to prepare for a marathon. Wednesday night I was up until 2:00 am enjoying time with a good friend. Thursday night I spent a litlte over 5 hours standing at the U2 concert and didn't get back to the hotel until 2:00 am. I woke up with a serious calf cramp the next morning. Of course there is no guarantee of a BQ in any race and I while the timing was bad I wouldn't have done anything differently. There's always another race but only so much time with friends.

MCM Marathon

It was a beautiful morning for the race. The sky was clear and mist hovered over the water, it was as still as can be. I felt great at the start of the race and plodded along with the 3:20 pace team. I was doing great through mile 12 when the top of my foot really started to hurt, after the half way point (1:39) I stopped to adjust my laces to see if that would solve the problem, but it didn't, every step hurt. I thought about dropping out but I'd paid my $$$ and I was past half way and wanted my finishers medal! I knew I could walk in if I had to and still beat the cut-off. In trying to compensate my left hip flexor started to get aggravated so I decided that since a PR was out of the question I'd enjy the second half.

I took my time, walked a lot, (it was a beautiful day for a walk) soaked up the sights and ran a little! My 1/2 split was a PR for the half, the rest of the race was a lot of fun (albeit quite painful).

MCM In 36 Hours

With less than 36 hours to the start of the Marine Corps Marathon I am starting to feel the excitement building. I am still undecided as to the pace I am going to try and run! What's my goal? Certainly a PR and that means going better than the 3:34 I ran in March.

My training has been OK, but my long runs almost always felt laborious. Hopefully I'll feel better on Sunday after the 12 mile mark than I have done in my training. I can't wait to hit the 20  mile mark, from there it's only 10k to the finish!

Olympic Mararthoner's Bigger Goal

Olympic marathoner Ryan Hall has a bigger goal for his life than winning races!

I want to run Boston!

I've stepped up my training this week, hoping to run a Boston qualifying time within the next ten months. I've reconciled myself to the reality that it will take higher mileage weeks and longer tempo runs to to bring my marathon time down to the 3:20 that I need for Boston.

Can I do it? Yes, I believe I can, I'm going to work off a base of 40 miles a week building to about 55 at the peak. I'm following Hal Higdon's Advanced I plan and I believe that should give me the edge I need to drop my 3:35 time to a 3:20. It's not going to be easy but I plan to follow Hal's schedule for Marine Corps and try to run a sub 3:30 and then stick with it for a spring marathon, either the Shamrock Marathon or the National Marathon,  where I'll go after my BQ. If the conditions aren't favorable on race day I may go for Grandma's in June. Either way 2009 will be my BQ year (I hope)!

My wife, 25:40, Marine Corps Marathon

The Marine Corps Marathon is still months away but the race is now full. Unless, that is, you decide you want to run with one of the charity partners. That is exactly what my wife, Jenny, has decided to do. Yesterday she signed up to run with team 25:40, an organization dedicated to the AIDS orphans of South Africa and taking its name from Matthew 25:40 which reads, "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." (TNIV).

I couldn't be more excited for her, it's been 13 years since her last race over 26.2 miles and it's about time she had a chance to run this distance again. I'm also delighted that she's running, not just for herself but to make a difference in this world of ours.

If you would like to sponsor her you can go to her site and click on the "sponsor Jennifer now" button.

Recovery Week

It's been a week now since the race. I had a great massage on Monday and then took the rest of the week off, doing nothing. Yesterday I laced up my shoes and ventured out for a three mile run. It was great to get out and run again, it was the longest break I've taken since my vasectomy grounded me for a week! My legs still felt a little heavy and they still have a little healing to do. Perhaps I should have taken today off but I decided to go out and run four today. I really enjoyed it, 7:46 pace, but still that heavy feeling.

Tomorrow I plan to run three miles and then take Tuesday off, depending on how I feel I may take Thursday off as well.

Official Results Are In

Time 3:34:54
Pace 8:12
Overall Place 335/1386
Division Place 66/175

10k Split 49:23       7:57 pace
Half Split 1:42:53   7:51 pace

National Marathon - my race in review

I'm still alive and kicking after today National Marathon. It was really cold at the start, somewhere in the mid-30's and the wind was blowing, but the sky was clear and we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise.

So how'd I do? Here's the good, the bad and the ugly of the race. It was a slow start with the first mile taking 8:46, that's the trouble of running in a crowd. No wonder I felt like it was a comfortable pace. The second mile was my first "mistake," I knew I'd have to pick up the pace to gain those 46 seconds back, only I overcooked it and knocked 41 one of them off in the next mile. It wasn't fatal and I settled in at a pace slightly ahead of my goal pace of 8:00. The first half went great as I hooked up with the Naval Academy pacers for a 3:30 finish.

They took us through the half a little faster than I would have liked but I was feeling great and it was a new PR for a half-marathon (I think it was about 1:42:40 I'll know for sure when the results are posted). I was looking forward to the GU that would be available at the half. I planned to grab one to eat at this point and another to take at mile 17. As normal I slid over to the aid station to grab a drink and some GU but there were only two people handing out GU and they were the first two people at the aid station, I missed it! OK, I thought I would just dope up on Gatorade to help out and on I went.

By mile seventeen I was getting a little sore and tired, but that's to be expected, so I walked through the aid station to make sure I got enough Gatorade. That set me back about 30 yards from the pace team, not a problem. At mile 20 I was still ahead of goal pace, but the lack of GU was starting to get to me, as was the wind that was funneling down the river and right into our faces, I not sure how hard it was blowing but blowing it most certainly was.

I grabbed some GU at mile 20, there was no way I was going to miss it this time, but by now I was a good quarter mile out of touch of the pace team and I had hit, not the wall, at least not if its made of bricks, but something more like a big marshmallow that I had to run through. I could still run but it was an effort and now it was just me. By mile 21 I knew I wasn't going to get a 3:30, but that was OK. Between the wind, running by myself as opposed to a group and no GU at 13.1, I was happy to still be going at a nice clip and knew that pending disaster I'd still have a PR.

Just short of mile 26 I took a short walk break but then I heard a booming voice behind me, "Blue shirt, get your ass moving!" It was the 3:35 pacer from the Naval Academy, another runner came by tapped me on the shoulder and off we went, a dash for the finish, could we get in under 3:35? Officially I don't know if that happened but the time by my stopwatch was 3:34:54, so I made it by six seconds.

I would have liked to have run a little faster and apart from a couple of blips I might well have done so. I'm really happy about my finish today, I ran a good, no, a great race for me.
My other bonus, I didn't have to stop to pee during this marathon!!!