"It was all a dream" - NYC Marathon 2019

"Hello. Yes, can you please wake me up at 4:57am? Thank you."

That is how I finished my work before i would awake to the day that i would run my first new york city marathon, and my third overall world major marathon.
A nice CBD capsule around 9pm, a belly full of days worth of carbs, an easy conversation with Josh Brewer on the phone, a goodnight facetime to my wife, and the luck of getting an extra hour of sleep with daylights savings time, I turned off the light in my room at the Double Tree Hotel in the Financial District, just a few minutes walk from the Staten Island Ferry I was set to ride on at 5:45am that morning.

I have been wanting to get into this race for three years. That is when i started pursuing it, yet I have hearing much about it from friends, and understanding it's general importance in the world of marathons since I began this long distance running lifestyle almost 10 years ago. Mike Mitchell did NYC as his first marathon close to a decade ago, David Brinkley was set to go before Sandy derailed him 5+ years ago, and my old teammate Carson Blackwelder has run it multiple times, I believe. Also, i remember when i was about to go to Boston in 2012, Stephen Spada expressed to me how much better NYC was compared to Boston, no doubt I took his comments with a suspected partiality but knowing his home and the friction of anything between those two cities - but also, when I visited my brother coinciding with the marathon, i would say around 5 years ago, i began to wonder and shift to thinking New York very well may be the best one.

So I entered the lottery two years ago, and also last year, both to no avail. As I was getting ready for the January 2019 Disney Marathon in Autumn 2018, I jumped in the Charlotte half marathon and ran a PR, that, as NYC operates, resulted in me qualifying still not a guarantee, to the race. So i put my name in the hat, the same week i had just finished the Disney race, and found out a few weeks after, that i had been accepted. Wahoo!

I knew I was in for something really special before I even got on the ferry, as i walked down the cold dark street where people were giving away free coffee, and volunteers were welcoming the runners with greetings of good morning and excitement. Here we are, 4 hours away from the gun, and folks are already happily volunteering, making no doubt a very long day. It was adventurous in feeling, going out from my bags and phone back at the hotel, where I wouldn't be "in touch" with people until I was done with the race...hours and miles much later far away, while going headlong into the throngs of people on the same journey. As I got into the Ferry port departure building on the Manhattan side, I immediately became away at how this even is unique in the fact that where typically in a large gathering you know in 2019 see about 85% of people looking at their device screen, but here it was about 45% - a drastic enough difference to be noticeable. Still, if you think about it - that is a LOT of people leaving it up to checked bag teams or carrying their phones during race! And yes, there were a lot that did carry, made easy by the fannypacks of pockets that some marathoners like to use. I digress...

A beautiful sunrise greeted us over the waters, while we ferry'd over to staten island.I was now for the first time in Staten Island, making that the last borough for me to have been to in my life. Being separated but still a part of the city definition, it had very much it's own personality apart from the other boroughs. A more blue color new england look, not as tightly packed like the other parts of NYC. It seemed like a great place to start this run, especially on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge - once the longest suspension bridge at 2 miles across, made for the most incredible start. Of course we were all ready to get going for the 9:40am start, as the waiting in the start village was over 2 hours for most people. Hats off to the race in so many phases, but in no small part to the complimentary bagels, energy bars, coffee, water, and bananas...and free dunkin doughnuts hats! I was very happy this was the case because i did not bring any fuel with me. Just a pair of sweatpants and a longsleeve t shirt which i would donate after stripping off before the start. It looked like a displaced migrant group that was laying on the grass and parking lots on cardboard, wearing plastic bags and random mismatched clothes. It was chilly, but thankfully not a cloud in the sky. The corral opened up, and the crowds began to get in line to get in line. It was getting closer and then they let us to the start, on the bridge. There we got in place, while the elites had the middle of the bridge, i was on the left side facing Brooklyn. It was cool being able to see them all get ready and do strides so close to me, while the starter over the load speaker introduced them. I recognized a couple of them from where I was, and then the music began after the star spangled banner. The fever was rising and we all were starting to bounce up and down with excitement. Then, we were off...

I didn't have much trouble getting out. I was about 15 seconds behind the starting line, and then only it took maybe a half mile to have it thinned out enough i was not effected at all by traffic. I knew given the incline i would not be quick, so when my watched hit 6:49 I was not alarmed at all. This was slower than the pace I had recently decided to go for (sub 6:30). Okay, so I had the best fitness i have gotten for any marathon going into this one, so I knew I wanted a big PR but up until seeing folks run great at Chicago, and Marine Corp, did I start to believe I had a shot at going sub 2:50. It's hard to say, but I don't think I totally expected to - but also I now was brave enough to think it was possible. Anyway, the downhill part of the bridge begun and the legs started to roll along with all the rest of the people. The view was amazing up here - my favorite on the whole course....such a clear autumn day, you could see Staten Island, Brooklyn, Statue of Liberty, the New York Harbor, and Lower Manhattan. It was majestic. Also, there were a half dozen helicopters humming parallel to the bridge beside us adding to the atmosphere, as well as a handful of other copters flying about beyond.

 6:01 for the second mile, and exiting off the bridge onto the days first bit of flat ground. The difference had been made up just like that and now was at a 6:25 average. Under 6:30 would be a little quicker than my old teammate and still friend, charly parsons ran in his marathon debut the week prior at Marine Corp 2:50:59 . Simply stunning. It was always fun competing against him, and he typically would set the mark, so this was like old times in chasing him. Signs, people, cheering, parties, and anything you can imagine that people do while watching a marathon go by out on the street on a beautiful day in new york city had begun. This was going to be a rocking party. A fitness parade hahah. With 53,000 runners, i believe this was officially the biggest marathon in the world on record. We would pass by over a million spectators. What an energy!

As i started to settle into my pace and rythm and began to keep my eyes open for any potential people i may join, either known to them or not. If headphone free I would say Good Job, and on the first guy i asked what he wanted to run I was surprised he wanted to run what i did, 250. okay, I'm seeing to be going faster than him so this is a good sign, and yes we are faster than pace, but I decided to go on after he encouraged me. I didn't leave thinking I wanted to go faster than 250 - but that i wanted to run what i felt was the appropriate pace....and this felt too reserved. This being my 8th marathon, i trusted my senses more than ever since i was properly trained. It's amazing how freeing that feelign is over having done the work. We think we can avoid training because may get away with it, and we will have saved time, or didn't have to sacrifice whatever else we chose to do instead of run. But then you get to the race and - like me at Chicago - you "trust" those feelings, and then have a hell of a time once the collapse takes hold. This is part of learning, and experiencing the lessons of the marathon. And not just the race itself, but what it takes in preparation to be able to execute a pace that you can maintain. Now, you can also slack in training and run restrained, but believe me - it's not as fun as how i felt - being in shape, feeling 615s like a breeze, and like you are about to do something special. So that was my prevailing feeling as I went full steam ahead into deeply uncharted territory. I definitely had room in my head that i might not increase, but that i was tough enough to hold on. And so after passing my family beside my brothers corner at 72nd and 4th Ave. in Bay Ridge just after the 5k mark, I through them my hat - which almost made it off the street, but not quite - to where they could not retrieve (sigh), for, at this juncture in the race, i was still on the opposite side of the road from them with a barricade in the middle as the runners from different corrals merged at a point elsewhere off the bridge to to where we had yet arrived with open streets that we could run freely in.

I had my first gel, Maurteen with Caffeine - at mile 6.5 after i crossed the 10k under 40 mins. I was in a nice groove now, and was enjoying the sun shine upon my face. On ward i went, feeling smooth and in control. The new Nike Next% shoes felt awesome on my feet. I think they sure are worth the hype, as well as thousands of others in the bright green and pink shoes. Miles 8-11 in Brooklyn were awesome. The crowds were so ruckus. Then we hit the Hasidic Jewish area and it was very quite. Quite a difference.

I hit 10 miles in a new 10 mile record for me, sub 103. Wow - just cruising. The conversation in my head was starting to pick up: Keep leaning forward/push off on your toes/keep your feet falling quickly to the ground/quick cadence/you got this/feeling awesome/etc.  I was not feeling fatigued, I was excited knowing the first half was coming up pretty soon. Here in this section there was a good amount of rolling hills and turns around Williamsburg, and then as we wound our way into Queens right around 13 miles. I started to take my second Maurteen gel, no caff, and hurry up over the bridge /overpass - which was small - before the Queensboro bridge - into the first half point at 1:22:38...just 10 seconds off my half PR, but it felt easy! I thought I may not be even or negative split, but I did feel I was going to be in for a great PR because I trusted my fitness if times got rough - which i still was hoping I may be able to unleash a good finish, but i wasn't totally sure being that I had 13 miles still to run and I was on such a pace. But no less I didn't dwell on that, just continued to stay in the moment and focus each mile based on the people around me making sure I was keeping pace, picking a target in front to stay equal with, or increase, and focus on a smooth form. Being this far in people had really settled and there were a few shirts I kept tabs on for many miles that helped a lot.

The Queens Borough was very short lived, but all the attention was on getting up and over one of the hardest parts of the course, that bridge - coming at mile 15. It was hyped up enough i was ready for the challenge but actually running it was not as hard as it was made to seem.  I definitely slowed down but just to 6:30 for that mile, but on the down I didn't speed up as much and the 16th mile, with some sharp turns, i hit 6:27 - still slower than my overall pace. Maybe this was the first sign of "uh-oh". We went left onto 1st Ave. and the crowds of Manhattan became very ruckus once again, welcoming us to the first glimmers of where we'd be finishing, just a few blocks over in Central Park. Now, these next few miles 16-19 were pretty tough IMO on the long straightway, wide street, headwind, and rolling inclines. This accelerated the slowing oncoming fatigue that I began to feel, yet was being held off from the new sights and sounds of this the very populated borough. The crowds seemed to be 4 and 5 deep off the street, on both sides. Madness. I was keeping my eye out for Charly who said he would be around mile 17, but I really thought I would never see him. Sure enough, he yelled out, up on his perch, and I got a little boost from that I carried on, despite the creeping dread that was in the back of my head.

I remember waiting for the bridge out of Manhattan that would take us into the Bronx. I had shifted gears into breaking down the course into mini segments as I was now relying on mental tricks to keep the pace. Once we hit that small bridge over, beside us was a band playing Smells like Teen Spirit and that provided a little boost, but I had realized I was having a tough time - and had now since about a mile earlier on the last wide parts of the straightaway - gone from eyeing people to stay with, to seeing a few here and there come up beside me and increase their lead. I was slowing down ever so slightly, and now, coming into "the wall" I was clearly beginning the fight.

We hit the Bronx, and at mile 20 and I was still on pace for a 2:46 but but that was beginning to feel very tough to keep replicating for 6 more miles what I had done. The crowds were thin here, the scenery not as vibrant, and we passed some spectators telling us 5 more miles, and my breathing started to get labored and I wondered just how well i was going to hang on. the Mile 21 split I was now at 247 pace, clipping a split of  654. The pace had began to rise at 19, but this was the slowest difference by far of the race. We were now back over the last bridge, into Harlem (Manhattan once again) and at the 22 mile marker I split a 7:10. Uh-oh. pace now was on for a 248. I knew I wasn't going to at this point stay there, but I still thought maybe i would get a last wind to still challenge sub 250. I looked down and tried to move my legs almost mentally but in taking inventory of my body, it seemed the lactic acid had set in and I may not be able to shake it.

backing up a bit, after the second gel, finished off around mile 15 I was happy to have it finished because with the ongoing sips of Gatorade as well, my stomach wasn't loving the sweet tastes anymore and i really had no desire to take a third one when the time came. The weather provided really not a great need for me to really go after the H2O but for the Gatorade I did try and keep regular, every other or few miles, to make sure I was getting replenished and would avoid cramping.
and what typically happens with me in the marathon, is that around the Wall i do tend to get some bouts of nausea. No exception here. Its tough because your body is starting to hurt, and people are starting to pass you and its all around demoralizing. so, the third gel (GU rocket fuel), at mile 22 i tried once suck and could not take anymore. that would be it for me. I almost wondered why try, but i was trusting they would help and if i relied on my feelings i would probably regret not being preventative with fuel, so it was tough exactly to know how to handle it. anyway i had to get through 4 more miles.

at mile 23, now entering Central Park, after having the last couple miles of throngs of people pass me, .i was- for the last time- still under 250 pace (2:49:39) and was at a 7:40 for the mile. I had began to come to terms with the fact that i would not be beating my old teammate Charly's record this day, despite having such a lead for so long. Yet, three miles to go though is very short when you train for marathons. It's basically a recovery or warm up, just a bit over 20 mins. Who can't suck it up for that long?! I had to trick myself, and make the most of this race i was having and see how much of a PR i could muster. Also, I was now in Central Park, I was having the race of my life, lots of people were tracking me and I just couldn't give up. I felt a lot of pressure, and i'm glad i did - i needed all the help i could get to not give in. No doubt the experiences of past marathons helped me from going through these times before and coming out the other side. I reminded myself that this is temporary. Pain is not permanent and that my future self would be relieved if I fought with all I had, verses the alternative where I couldn't go back and change the past were I to know I didn't give my all. So, that 24th mile I did not loose pace, but i was still falling off from my expected finish. 24th mile 7:40 once again. 2 miles to go and i saw the running clock read 2:36:30 and I thought just keep holding on and this will be a great race.

I think sensing that if I could push really hard for one more mile, I knew I could get the last mile in mentally, and so with everything I had I went for it and was able to bring the split down to a 7:19. This was no small feat given it's so hard to reverse course once lactic acid sets in, and you are in mile 25. But that seemed to totally whip me out. I had mental motivation with one mile left, but physically i was drained. I could not see normally, my vision was blurry and my head so light. This last mile was one of the most tenuous runs of my life. It felt as if i could fall over or my body just decide to stop on it's own if i wasn't careful. Balancing this feeling while also telling yourself to keep running because each second slower was a sacrifice to my new PR, i was in a really rough spot. I felt the finish close but it seemed to not come. The last straightaway before the final turn was taking for ever. I was swerving left and right, just trying to keep one foot in front of the other. Slowly, i hit the last turn, saw mile 26 and the clock said 2:52:12, and i gazed ahead for a line to run to. I couldn't see it. The last stretch was winding and I had to keep trudging until I got my view-able goal line.

 There it was, up on a little incline, and while the first part of the last .2 I had no kick at all, the last half of that .2 (.1) i looked at my watch and saw that if i did not kick i would miss 253. I did, and just snuck past the line at 2:53:57. OMG - i had done it. Right there at the finish line a black guy in jeans, a fleece, and a ball cap was shaking finishers hands. Whoa, he looked like Meb Keflezighi. It would make sense i thought, but nah, really? After a few paces beyond, i had to turn back to ask. With a big smile, he nodded it was him. Amazing - this is one of the best distance runners of all time. a 2004 silver medalist in the marathon, a 2009 NYC champion, and 2014 Boston Marathon. kind of a cool thing!

that's pretty much the race recap. the long chute proved too much for my lightheaded-ness and fatigue so i went to the medical tent to recovery for about 10 mins before finishing my exit. I had really left it all out there, after a daring race going much faster than I ever have, and giving myself a real shot for going well under 250, where my previous best was only 257. All this in less than a year. I felt i really have gained a lot of fitness and improvement in 2019, and I'm excited to see myself still ripping off PRs. in the last 12 months I have had lifetime PRs in: half marathon, 10k (twice), trail half marathon, and marathon (twice).

Mile Splits for the day: (1) 645, (2) 601, (3) 622,  (4) 614, (5) 612,  (6) 615, (7) 616, (8)620, (9)621, (10)608, (11)621, (12)613, (13)622,(14) 618, (15) 631, (16) 627, (17) 623, (18) 621, (19) 631,(20) 641,(21) 654, (22)710, (23)740, (24) 741, (25) 719, (26) 822, (.2) 145
underlined is when i fell off hard

I'm close to popping another BIG PR, and i'm excited to keep on ahead. Thanks for reading!

big day of running

Fall is no doubt THE season of the Marathon. Perhaps arguably by many, but it seems to me it's cut and clear as the time of the year when Marathoners are their busiest. Yes there is Boston, Tokyo and London in the Spring, but New York is the biggest marathon, and you have Berlin, the fastest of the marathons, and the hugely popular and participated Chicago Marathon. We come out of Summer ready to go, or ready to begin (for the Spring), and thus it seems everyone has the bug. And so, this weekend is Chicago Marathon weekend, and three weeks from now New York will go off. Just two weeks ago we had Berlin where the second fastest time was ever run, after the world record that was set last year. And to top it all off, you have today - where the second version of the man made lab to see if a human could run a marathon under 2 hours took place. And so, here in the wee hours of the new day here on the east coast, Eliud Kipchoge, over in Vienna Austria, broke the barrier - by 20 seconds! - to become the first human to do so. A feat, with such a clear bar to go under - like the mile for 4 minutes back in the 1950s. Of course this being in 2019 we didn't have to wait until the newspapers told us in the following days - no, we got to watch live, from anywhere a device and communication lines were present - so for me that meant by bed, until an hour into the pursuit i got so excited and went downstairs to see the rest on our big screen.

and so with sleep interrupted from 2:30-4:30, and waking up at 6am, at 645 i embarked on my longest run of this marathon training cycle, and lifetime training run as well, for 21.5 miles, attained in 2:30:01 for a pace of 6:59 per mile. Only 2:25 seconds per mile slower than Eliud just a few hours before me :)

this run was a huge success for me. As mentioned it being the farthest, it was at a pace that was my strongest as well. My fastest miles were the last few, dipping under 6:30 for my 20th mile. While i know it's been hard earned, it was a milestone of sorts to be able to run that strong that long in a training run, something i know is not atypical for skillful veteran marathoners, but that it really only applies to the aforementioned segment, which i suppose i may put myself in on - the cusp no less - since i felt a power and strength compared to a feeling of just holding on. I felt able to attack, and that was joyous - in a way that was different with it coming so far (time wise) into a run...it was almost like my legs were on auto pilot and i could control the speed with ease just by my thoughts. This was fun stuff! not only fun, but exhilarating. It was the runners high - but in a new way. A secret way almost that is only there for the seekers who stick with it long enough and consistently enough that come to it years later.

This notion, as it hit me in the moment, had me thinking later that it's not just competing that we get the rush in running. It's the body, mind, heart, and universe / God's way of giving back a token of interest for our efforts. I know the feeling i had at this pace was not vastly dissimilar to the feeling kipchoge experienced today. And one that thousands will feel as they race tomorrow morning.
Yes, running is relative. It's probably the most relative pace wise there is compared to the same feeling a human can experience in a shared way with millions of others, all across the spectrum of time. And that, is one of the big reasons i love it so.

Walt Disney World Marathon 2019 recap, Jan 13th 2019

One of the reasons I appreciate and enjoying taking on a marathon is that it has the potential to be one of the greatest teachers to life that one can learn from. It was after my last marathon, my 6th one, that this really became apparent when I went through my second hell race (hitting the wall hard and early and having to suffer, rather than compete, until the end of the line). And it's funny to think before i ever undertook a marathon that I would ever do more than one...but looking back each one has been a teacher in different ways, and to varying degrees, and there is still more i want to learn, experience, and soak up while I can as I continue to embark on this physical test that doubles as a reflector to your own interior make up and fortitude. With each one, we certainly carry our own preparations and expectations, but what you will find as you encounter the challenge that there still is that element of unknown fortune that will show up on race day....and that is why also I like it. Ultimately we can not control every variable, but we try to give ourselves the best chance, and we learn how to spend those saved up coins of fitness more wisely each time we go about the race, yet we march on with that bit of uncertainty that things can go south, or just as unexpectedly better than we hope, all while it unfolds before us.

about a year ago i was looking ahead to see what marathon I would give a go next, and with our third child arriving in April, I had the second half of the year to look towards. I, for the second year in a row, applied for New York Marathon via lottery, but when i didn't get in, and also when I discovered the Disney marathon was run in January, and that we were looking to take a family trip with our other children to visit the parks, it made sense that - while a year away, the Disney marathon 2019 would work well. I'm still in the mode of wanting to try new marathons rather than repeats, and this one was appealing in that it lined up with our vacation and was a nice big event, something memorable.

My recent posts tell you, without having to repeat too much here, that I had gotten myself in shape well enough to garner a PR this past November and that certainly was the beginning of small thoughts toward the potentiality of a new marathon PR, though I still considered it more unlikely than likely. As training continued well with long runs in December through some naturally hilly runs in Charlotte, my target eyes grew a bit more as I considered the flat terrain I would be working with down in Orlando. I felt it was about 50/50 going in to grab a PR, and when pressed, my answer to goal was 2:58-3:04 (as that would be nice to earn another BQ at this stage in my running). that is about 6:48-7:02 pace per mile.

The taper had gone well, and the carb loading also going into the race weekend. A nice Italian dinner at carrabas in Savannah Friday night, a shake out jog Saturday morning, a Mahi Sandwich for lunch the day before after the race expo, and a fantastic buffet at Chef Mickey's at Disney's Contemporary Resort for a pre race dinner where I opted for much pasta (and a Long Island Iced Tea!) served my diet well. I was hydrating well, as the weather was calling for 60 degree with 90% humidity and even an email to all runners to be advised of less than perfect weather and a caution to perhaps forget not going for an attempted best.

The wake up was earlier than anything I had ever woken up for. The last bus was leaving at 3:30 am from our resort at Disney's the Art of Animation, and so I figured looking back I got about 4 hours and change of sleep, with a wake up call at 2:55. A front row seat on the bus with a pleasant conversation with the bus driver who was a Vietnam Vet still in extraordinary shape started my day, as I brought with me coffee, a bagel and some peanut butter which I would eat around 4:15-30. From the bus drop off the runners are held in a parking lot complete with a full pre party stage that held a DJ (yes, working it and playing loud music). It was basically a late night club vibe except everyone was sober and wearing short shorts. Quite the scene at 4am! I continued to drink water after my coffee to make sure i was hydrated, and probably went to the bathroom about 5 times before the gun went off. once i break the seal i am guaranteed multiple times going.

I got to my A corral about 5 mins before the start as they were beginning to sing the national anthem, and I was feeling ready and good. The gun went off under the dark 5:30am sky, clear and star and moonlit, and I was off with 11,000 other marathoners. Even though i was in the A corral, behind the elites, I was not in the front of A and so the first mile was quite a bit of dancing around the crowds to where i could get into my pace, and so my first mile split put me behind the 8 ball with a 7: 17 split. Doing quick math in my head, I realized at about 30 seconds behind optimal goal pace I'd have to hit about 6 miles of 6:40 to make it up. When I thought about this i was a bit frustrated at how just one mile can really effect such a long race as a marathon, but I had the experience to not worry, as the marathon still had more than 2 hours and 50 mins for many things to unfold. Also, I was a bit agitated at this point as I already had to pee! I knew i wasn't going to hold it forever, but I wanted to not give in right away for the thought that if I was to go this early, it could lend itself to having to go again still early in the race, and so I used the opportunity to practice patience and my mind to go elsewhere. 6:42 split the second mile, and so I was pleased that I was moving in the right direction to start chipping away at the deficit I had put myself in. The first couple miles of the race send you off on wide open highways leaving Epcot towards Magic Kingdom, and around mile 3 you see the entrance to the first Park of the day. I was comfortable with the next 6:43 and as the next couple of miles led us through Magic Kingdom, complete with running literally through Cinderellas castle, the flair that makes the Disney marathon special was really shining through. The spectators, characters, music, and lit up park made it an outstanding environment and scenery and increased the race adrenaline as i continued to stay on pace with high 630s and low 640s through the park and past mile 6 until we exited and were on a dark road on mile 7 that i gave in to my bladder  and pulled over to empty the liquids. This was a full 30 second pee break. Part of holding it seemed to fill the bladder more and thus take longer for it to empty. I hated losing that time but it's part of the race and most runners have to go through it. Only once I believe have I not had to stop for bathroom (Charlotte 2011). about 10 runners passed me, and I kept the group in my sights as I got back into pace. 

I tried to have some small surges to chop away at lost time and my 8th mile was about 5 seconds faster than my miles yet, with a 6:33. the next couple of miles i started passing those guys that passed me, and took my first of 3 Maurten energy gels (actually had this around mile 7, right around pee time). Character photo ops continued to line the streets, as did Disney music as well as DJs on stages blaring loud pump up music. At mile 10-12 there was this long straightaway on a wide road that did an out and back, with screens playing inspirational music and movie clips that got me going along with seeing the faster runners make their way ahead of me as i noticed their stride and determination on their face that helped keep me focused and reactivated to a sense of purpose and pursuit. Seeing these fast male and female runners out in front leading a charge got my focused as i was about to begin the second half of the race. 

We were finally led into our second park, Animal Kingdom where we would cross the half way point, for me, as the sun was rising, and the music was sounds of African Serengeti tunes and live animals awaking as well in their habitat, occurring around 7am. I started to get a surge of adrenaline as I was half way home and still feeling comfortable on my pace for a PR, crossing in just under 129. I was about ready to take my second energy gel as we exited the park, and I started to gap the nearby runners behind me and began to close in on some runners ahead.

We made the exit and through the parking lot out onto the highways of Orlando that would take us to the next Park. Here, the course was long wide and straight, with plenty of good views of runners ahead to put in my sights. These were miles 15, 16, and 17 - all straight away with some moderate ascents as we over-passed highways underneath about two different times. The population was sparse, but there were several loud official stops with blaring speakers playing inspirational loud rock and roll and various other pump up music along the way. This is the stretch I began to feel a bit of a toll on the legs from the pace, and had to start running on faith and focus.

We entered ESPN Wide World of Sports at mile marker 18, and here, for the next 2+ miles would run around the campus that included sports fields, a 400m running track, and the outfield of a baseball stadium which was seated with spectators and a guy on the PA announcing our names and places of residence on the loudspeaker, providing a nice little boost of motivation. This park was peppered with tight turns and narrow chutes which made for some tougher miles, but i was holding still to a sub 6:45 pace. My fastest mile of the day was the 18th where I hit 6:28, followed by 6:42, and 6:44 for my 20th mile. We exited the park on the 21st mile, and this is where I started to put into focus my last 10 kilometers of the race to execute, having done the work so far for 20 miles. At this point I was on my 3rd and final energy gel, and it started to go down not as easy as the other 2. A little bit of nausea, and some upper GI pains began to creep in, but I had to ignore that as best I could and begin the "hanging on" part of the race, as I also was trying to begin my most focused part of "letting go" to caution and leave all I had out there.

Around mile 13 or so, I began to think about how I felt like I was holding back, with the adrenaline making the pace seem easy, and still having so much more to go. The marathon is all about patience and then determination. The first half (13 miles) you have to make sure you get to your point on pace, but it feels like you are running with the brakes on. It's a race, but it doesn't really feel like it, as the mental part is a repeated "hold back" mantra. You see runners ahead and you cannot let your competitive race instincts kick in, going after them. You have to be methodical. Then from the half way point to mile 20, you still have to hold back, knowing that the last 6 miles a lot of bad things can happen the way fatigue will jump on your back in a hurry, and can cause you to derail all the work you have done.  20 miles of 26 is 76% of the race, and so I will tell you - three fourths of the race you are "holding back" and the last quarter of the race, you are "holding on/letting go" - trying to keep it together while also letting all the gas out of your tank so that you are completely empty at the finish line.

that 22 mile i really started feeling the exhaustion in energy, and some soreness in the legs, but I was not red lining it so I kept going, as we went up another overpass. A hill here was very challenging, but there was a Toy Story Army Man with a megaphone barking out military like exhortations and encouragement. I played to him and pointed to him and gave him a firm look, and he subsequently bolted out more encouragement which propelled me up the ramp, to where i was able to ride the down ramp and into mile 23, as i passed another runner.

These last 3 miles of the race were the hardest, and the suffering seemed to exponentially increase here. That 24th mile we jut into the 4th park, Hollywood Studios, and while there was much attractions along the way, I had lost the ability to take in my surroundings. I only had the capacity to focus on my will to keep going and hold on to the pace. With another park to navigate, the turns became tight again and the paths more narrow. This was intensely more challenging that the previous parks, but it didn't last long as this park is not very big. When I hit the 24th mile marker, I had a bit of a sense of relief that I only had two miles to go. This was a point I wanted to reach when the pain started because I knew once i got here, I told myself i just needed to hold on for one more mile, then let everything I had out that last mile. And so, that 25th mile began and I could sense the end being near, and that I was on pace to go 258 or faster as long as i didn't crumble. The only point really the whole day, a runner started coming up on me, as I was passing a couple runners ahead, and here he latched on to my shoulder and forced me to either give up - which i think would have mentally led me to slow down via just negative thoughts coming in that i was slipping, or try and push him and there by holding on to my pace. I chose the hard way by not letting him pass me, and this was the hardest part of the race for me. The next mile we ran stride for stride. He didn't make a move to pass me, and I was giving it all I could to stay one step ahead, and so we raced. Into the last mile, around the lake of the nations at Epcot, where the motivational loud music was replaces with common park Disney songs, smells of food and funnel cake wafting in the air, and the heat overhead and sun beginning to make things all that much warmer...all while I was in tremendous pain and battling the aforementioned bouts of nausea. With less than a mile to go, he passed me, and I couldn't fight back. I knew I had made it without falling off my pace and I simply just had to get to the finish line - about two laps around a track I told myself, and then I could start to feel better.

The finish lines stands started up ahead, and I was almost there. I was thinking of my family during the hard parts of the race, knowing they were going to be waiting for me at the end. Here, I was started to get emotional knowing I fought hard to not falter in, and was proud of my efforts. My daughter Avery made me a bracelet i wore during the race that i would look down on from time to time, knowing that I had people looking up to me, and that I wanted to run my best for her and all my family. The pics Disney took, you can see my face writhed in pain, more so than any marathon I have ever done. The battles of Boston and Chicago to finish were excruciating and hellacious, but this race was the hardest in it's own way of me fighting to hold on, and doing the best I have done so so far - through a faster pace than planned, and fighting the 90% humidity with low 60's temps and many many water stops taking me off rhythm. I will say i think my training in Charlotte with hills did prove to be an extra benefit to translating a faster time on this flat course. I saw the clock up in the distance at the finish line just tick up to 2:57, and I knew i was going to break 2:58. I saw my family just past the finish line...Grace, Avery, Arden, Katie, Debby, and Kristen, and I welled up with tears and emotion just having gone through the whole ordeal - the only other time getting that way in a marathon aside from my first one back in 2010. I gave them a smile and a high five, and kept going down the finishing chute, to catch up with them soon.

A great race event, a surprising PR, and a hard fought battle. 7th time was a charm.

From Official race results:
5 mile split: 34:14
10 Mile Split: 1:07:55
Half: 1:28.44
20 Mile: 2:14:30
Finish: 2:57:25 (6:46 ppm)

44th overall, 39th overall male, 8th in age group 35-40

Miles via Garmin: 7:16, 6:42, 6:43, 6:38, 6:43, 6:36, 7:05 (includes 30 sec pee break), 6:33, 6:34,
6:36, 6:33, 6:33, 6:38, 6:34, 6:34, 6:34, 6:36, 6:29, 6:42, 6:44, 6:33, 6:41, 6:41, 6:50, 6:47, 6:58, 3:27 (6:54 pace....watch measured an extra .3)

Raintree 21 miler

Started off immediately feeling a little better and recovered, having taken yesterday off and the runs before so slow, but still the first 5 miles I couldn’t get out of the slow funk I’d been in and sub 8 seemed still a bit of a chore. But after 5 miles, I took a Gu brand gel and that plus I guess just getting loose and warmed up I started to get in a little bit of a better rhythm. 5-9 as I ran down Rea and onto Bevington, I clipped away nicely and as I got into the 9th mile heading back towards the house I began to feel the first sign of fatigue. I’ll say the miles solo and with no headphones or anything seemed to go by peacefully and quickly. I made it back home as planned shortly after 10am where Mike Oelz was waiting for me to join in. I was at about 11.8 here, and I quickly grabbed my first ever Maurten gel and switched into my new Zoom Flys, and away we went. Holy cow. The immediate feel of the new shoes felt like someone gave me leg transplants. I had springs on my feet. I have never felt a show like this. The result was a dip below 7:30 pace, but I knew Oelz had to get warmed up and I didn’t want to get too eager so I actually backed off a bit as we settled into conversational pace. More hills as we ventured up Four Mile Creek, and the time started ticking away nicely with the company. At mile 16 Oelz wished to back off and allow me to go, which was fine. I was starting to feel the itch to drop some miles and wanted to capitalize in doing so at this point of the run. I turned into Ballantyne Commons and into Alexa here solo again, and got excited as I knew was going to complete 20 with out a collapse. More hills during this stretch and back out to Providence Rd where I was past 18 miles. On the sidewalk past Latin I started to glide with ease and joy, and realized I was going to reach home past 20 miles so I started thinking about this being a great Run where id finish it at 21. Down the home stretch I passed home at 20.5 and so tacked on an extra half mile and finished the run with my last mile being my fastest of the day. The second half of the run was also a big negative split. A great confidence boost with the wheel falling off last week, and to pull it off with all the hills today, I’m seeing the glass half full (only not fully full, in a perfect world I would have liked the overall pace quicker, but each run has its own design-how we go along with it is what counts). The Maurten gel surely was also a great weapon. That stuff gave me a big second wind. Hard to see myself getting to the pace that will yield a PR, which has been looming in my head since my half marathon PR in Nov., but the taper is here, and race day can have some magic-especially at Magic Kingdom?! :). 

time and space

Nothing makes me more convinced that time and space are relative, than running the last 10k of a marathon. While the 6 marathons have all had unique experiences, the last part of the races have all shared a similar phenomena to varying degrees.

I believe a couple things start to open up during our runs. We begin to drift and settle into a trance of repetitive footfalls, breathing, and a lull of the speed of our vision the sights passing in our periphery. Mentally, we go from quick passing miles filled with adrenaline and optimism, into a drone of steady lapse during the middle of monotonous miles, until we start to hit, fight, and make our way through and beyond "the Wall." It is here where I have felt, along with countless other runners who may testify to the existence of what seems to be almost another dimension of the aforementioned shift of experience in time and space. I cant speak for all people, or even for all times of any given runner, but nonetheless having experienced this relativeness of our universal constructs shifting, where - time seems to almost freeze into a singularity of moment, and distance seems to stretch well beyond our conditioned experience of measurement, going through these final stages we come out on the other side of the finish line a new believer into worlds just beyond the veil, only entered through pain, trust, faith, fatigue, and strength synergized between mind, body, and spirit.

It was while listening to Audrey Assad's Joy of the Lord as I mowed the lawn today, that I began to muse on a collective thought from her words in the song, "The Joy of the Lord is my Strength", along with the pastor's reading in church today from Colossians 1:11, "being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance with patience with joy." As goes with most spiritual wisdom in the vein of counterintuitive-ness, it's not through an extraordinary portion of might or power that God gives, demonstrates, or teaches us in his showcase of strength, but it's through the ways of enduring, staying with, patience, faith, remaining, abiding, that we tap into and reflect and showcase the strength of God....that ultimately changes our trial into a joy, that is the result of a higher transformation, one that leaves us new and better, where as if we only were wielding the strength of God for our own advantage or short sighted, immature request to begin with. And so it goes, we come out of the refiners fire a better version or our self than we could dare even dream to ask going into our tribulation, trough, or dark night, that once again gives credence to God's ways being higher than ours.

the last thread that weaves into this post is drawing on the concept of time. Spiritual teachers of most traditions, including Christianity, will share that it is in the present that we can find peace. The hurt or pain of the past, and the anxiety of the future are not where we would be advised to spend our mental time. Reading C.S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters, he writes: "The Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity. It is unknown,  UN-Realized. For the past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays."

When you are hitting the wall in a marathon, as time slams to a halt, and the miles stretch on like a never ending horizon, the only friend you have is the present moment. It's as if we have reached a point in our bodily and mental fatigue that has stripped away all unrealities, shedding the unnecessary weight mentally and spiritually that we can no longer bare to carry, that we come to a stark and sober clarity of the present that gets us through to the finish. Recalling what we've accomplished thus far will either leave us with regret of how we went about getting to this point of pain, or a sense of pride of having done enough as is it, that those thoughts could derail us, just as much as thinking of how far we still have to go, and how we ever are going to get there, questioning how it ever could be, is also equally as dangerous. The mantra becomes "one foot in front of the other" in a lock step of present moment that eventually we find that finish line tape.

the strength we find in our endurance of the race in a marathon, or the just as real analogous 'marathon of life', is where we ultimately find our joy in the completion of being carried through by coming face to face with the present. There isn't a strength to achieve patience, but patience is the achievement of strength. amen.

New River Marathon 5/7/16--3:27:17

Fitting, perhaps, that my return to the marathon distance was with a race with "New" in the name. In a lot of ways, this dedicated block of life - the decision to sign up, train, and experience in the event itself - was something "New", from my approach in training, and my circumstance in life, even though I had experienced the marathon four times prior.

It was in December with Avery's upcoming 5 year old birthday - itself a milestone that just rings of an age that is stepping into childhood with more independence - that i realized my days are precious and ticking where my kids will have a chance for some memories of their father while they are young and impressionable. And so since I hadn't really been too active in committed running and racing since Boston in 2012, i knew i had to sign back up for a race and get things moving again. I looked up late Spring marathons which would give me enough time to train, and found one that not only fit my date target, but also had some icing on the cake in that it was in the mountains, near Boone, picturesque, and along a route that we did workouts in while I was on the cross country team at Appalachian State University. What's not to love?!

I won't recount my training here as this is mainly a race - recap, but during this entire training and through the race itself my approach has been different that it ever has in my life of running. When my GPS watch was lost I didn't replace it, i just used a regular stop watch. When that died, i stopped wearing a watch all together - this was about a year ago. So when my "training" began in earnest I stuck to form and didn't ever wear a watch. Also, going into the race I set aside time goals, as I just wanted to reclaim the fitness to complete 26.2 miles without having to walk, where i could compete the distance at a suitable jog/run pace-so getting there was mainly just building a base. I didn't incorporate any workouts, but what i did do back in Dec. was look to sign up for a race every month of the year leading up to it so i would then have some familiarity of pushing myself. Lastly, in a spiritual sense, I got some running books for Christmas that provided me a great orientation to looking at running in a more holistic way of benefit to mind body and spirit, which really opened me up to new awareness and contemplation while running. (Running with the Mind of Meditation...and Running and Being---both i highly recommend)  This all was very rewarding and made the training more attractive and steered off the dregs of drudgery and duty.

Anyway from previous posts on Cooper River Bridge Run, Trail Half Marathon, and me telling you here I also did a 10 miler in Feb, an 8k and a 4 miler in Jan. I had some races under my belt, and had hit my 20 mile run two weeks prior to the marathon thus completing my requisite training. The races were fun and i was able to pass people the second half of each with good negative splits, so i was learning to not go out too hard and to find the next gear and push myself towards the end, and got my long runs in with a 14-17-20 mile Sundays in consecutive weeks, although my 20 mile run was rough (made it through 18 but had to walk jog the last two) and took me 3 hours! After that, my rest was good and I stayed with my recovery and maintenance runs during the taper 2 weeks before the race. I noticed my legs had fully recovered and were feeling like "spring loaded rockets" on the shake out runs of Wednesday and Friday before race Saturday.

I was getting excited the week of, because I knew it was going to be a great course and that I would enjoy getting to participate in it more because my good good friend Josh Brewer was also coming to do it as well. He had just run Boston 3 weeks prior but was stoked and said he was feeling recovered enough to be looking forward to it as well. Quite amazing to do 2 marathons in 3 weeks! Also, i was looking forward to the race because my family was coming up and we were going to hang out in Boone before and after which is always a treat. My girls were going to get to watch me and be with me, making it very special.

I really carb loaded for this race. I slept well too leading up to it. I was healthy, not even battling any nagging injuries or even slight illnesses. I was going to need all i could get with my limited mileage. My highest mileage was 35 miles, which i did those last 2 weeks before the taper when i had my 20 and 17 mile long runs. I averaged about 4 days a week running, and would go about 45-65 mins so i was nearing the edge of "trained" and "not sure if i could make 26" - which is always fun :)

 Josh Brewer said he wanted to run along with me. That was great, Not only would it help me mentally with making the race go by quicker and easier with me feeding off him, but i was just glad to experience the day with a good friend, one who I've shared a running bond since 1998.  As he picked me up and drove us to the race that morning, i realized 25 mins before the start that I had forgotten my race number. This was crucial because my timing chip was on there, and without it i wouldn't register as a participant, thus making my entry fee for naught, let alone the ability to see my name and time after months of training. I called my wife and explained and she rushed over with my number just making it before the gun. Whew. Big shout out to her, what a save! This also explains the mood going into the race. Of course being low on great expectations, no watch, and the nonchalance of not even bringing my vital documents to line up to race, the mood was pretty slack. I was literally pinning my number to my shirt as we started on that first mile, and stuffing my energy gels and chews into my pockets while running. Josh decided to forgo the watch also, so we literally we just out there relying on internal clocks and feel, at the same time traveling down a course neither of us had been on nor exactly knew what to expect or lay ahead. it really was pretty adventurous and exciting, and not only that, we both were extremely chatty because of our excitement, and it seemed like we were just out for a Sunday stroll, as opposed to being in the vortex of a quarter of a years culmination of time and effort. In fact, after 3 miles I said - i think we better be quiet for a while and find the zone - but for whatever reason i thought, no - this is good - let it be natural because this is really going to help later in the race when it does seem like we have been out there for a while, so i need to embrace this early ease of doing business.

Legs felt good, pace felt comfortable, and the miles were ticking by effortlessly. We made a turn away from the New River about 4 miles in and hit our first hill climb. YES! i was excited about this and we both got up without hindrance and kept out easy pace.  We continued on, talking about running form, old friends, and silly jokes that suddenly came to mind from the past or present. Mood was light and were talked about the gratefulness of the natural beauty and the volunteer support in this race, feeding off the good vibes.  Josh got be on track with drinking liquids at just about every stop. I had been taking Sport Jelly Beans throughout the first third of the race, and around mile 8 or 9 i took my first Gel, after we climbed the second hill. This was steep, but welcomed as it provided a change of pace from the flatness that paralleled the river. We always were in sigh of other runners around us, although it was far from crowded. The race probably only fielded about 300 participants in the Full and Half together. As we made a loop back to the start/finish we passed our first crowd support. then we were back to the quietness of the course, onto the second loop.

Mile 10 i took stock of how my legs felt, and noticed they were beginning to feel a little wear which is to be expected after 10 miles. But i was good. No pains or nags, and cardio was still good because Josh and I remained conversational. Another gel around mile 14 along with waters and Gatorade along the way every couple of miles. Oh - the weather was perfect - 50 degrees and clear. Beautiful.
I remember us saying that we were almost kind of sad that the race was already half over, because we wanted to enjoy the experience as long as we could. Probably from our duration at that point, our minds and talks shifted to more spiritual, scientific, and  philosophical chats. I think this happens in the runners mind after the mind and spirit open up from the blood flow and movement, but we were able to put these to word together since we were side by side keeping our minds on the moment rather than at this point pushing for any time. We were bereft of competitive tendencies at this point.

We passed a group of volunteers handing out water who told us that we would see them again in 7 miles as we were on the loop which we would return back to the finish. After continuing down the road further we made a left and were leaving the river and going into the woods on a dirt road. This was about mile 17. The soft ground felt good from the pounding we were piling up from the pavement, and the air felt cooler as we entered into the trail surrounded by trees and foliage. The road, being away from the river, rose and we began to climb our third and last hill of the course. The beginning was rolling, and Josh and I were side by side here, but as it rolled the terrain started to send me into a different pace where I was beginning to speed up on the hills - i think subconsciously because i needed to handled them mentally in a quick way so i could concentrate back on the flat rhythm that would be there for the last 6 miles. As rolled along the easy hills of the trail, I found myself ahead of josh for the first time all day, and then came to the paved main hill on this last climb, where I decided I needed to keep it up because slowing down on the hill would prove to throw me off my pace and maybe unsettle my race. So I pushed that last hill and passed people, many of whom were subjected to walking up it - and once crested, saw the steep descent down with a pair of runners ahead that were moving well that i potentially could catch. I knew that the hill was an area I could tackle better than most given my long legs for a runner, so I used the downhill to open up my stride and try and catch them while putting distance behind my competitors. Yes, this is definitely when my competitive juices started flowing.

Once i was back on the flat loop heading towards the finish, immediately there was the 20 mile marker, signifying 10k to go until it was all over. Regardless of my lead on Josh at this point, I decided that I was in race mode and wanted to make these last 6 miles focused and competitive to see how many people i could catch ahead of me, and to come to the finish line feeling like i gave it my all. This is where runners experience the "Wall" as it's commonly known that at 20 miles the ballgame changes, and some runners succumb to lactic acid and fatigue so great that their last miles are a bit of a death march. I have experienced that - my last marathon in Boston 2012. And even when you don't "bonk" from my other marathons I have found the last 6 miles a true test of will and determination, where I have fought serious fatigue, and natural slow in pace even if it's not the wheels coming off, and even bouts of nausea and disorientation that one deals with during 20-26. Yet here, I was not only mentally coming into peak form, but physically my legs were responding to my demands of picking it up, and I was able to execute what my mind was telling me to do. Something I have not experience so well in any marathon I have done. This is surprising given I couldn't even run 20 miles 2 weeks before, but I think made possible from the early looseness of body, mind, and spirit from running with Josh those first 18 miles.

And so I pushed on. I passed the 20 mile drink stop without taking one but did ingest my last energy food. I started reeling in runners who were classically slowing down at this juncture, and passed water stop where I consumed my final time with some water and Gatorade. 4 miles to go. Ever since entering back onto the loop from the hill, a strong headwind and developed that we were facing that made things really like you were literally fighting the air. It felt like a bout with nature, self, and competitors on the course. Yet I was winning this fight. I don't know my pace from not having a watch but it felt so much faster than before. I was not only gaping Josh - who I don't think fell off his pace, just that I had found another gear (and also i do think the reality of him racing a marathon 3 weeks prior is something you are not fully recovered from to the deepest of damaged bodily makeup), but passing everyone I saw in front. With 2 miles to go I started playing games with my head where I would find a spot in front, just run to there i told my self, and then do it again, to help make the mile go by. It was coming true, something Josh and I talked about earlier in the race, where early miles feel like they are so short, and late miles feels never ending - yet they are measured the same. Perception is a funny thing, especially when you are in different states of fatigue. One mile to go. I knew I would make it and not fall apart. While I felt real confident that last 10k, I did have a sliver of "what if" where I might go to hard and then just totally hit a wall and have to walk/struggle in way off pace. But I could tell i was home free and this wouldn't happen. Less than a mile to go, a man who had done the half was encouraging runners, and gave me a visual marker of the last bend before i would see the finish. I ran to it, then saw the finish, then strode into my last yards where I saw my family who looked quite surprised to see me so soon. I remember I was just smiling with Joy the last few miles because I was running my best in such late stages and feeling like i was conquering all i set out to do.

It was the surprise of the day as to what the clock would show when i got in eyesight of it, and the surprise was pretty great in that I was much faster than I thought I might finish. 3 hours, 27 minutes. An overall pace of 7:54 per mile. Exceeding my expectation thoroughly. I know we had some easy mid 8 min miles, so closing the gap really pushed my overall pace per mile down, and i'm glad it was below 8 minutes. This was a little of a redemptive race from Boston where I literally went to Hell and back, but also a major step back into my loved world of running that gave me such a boost this 2016 from training day one to finish of marathon. And even after the race I felt great. I had energy, could walk, and wasn't dying - like i typically had felt after all the other marathons.  Josh came in 2 places behind me, and he closed very well passing just about all the ones we had in front after the hill as well. What a joy the race was all in all. Something i won't forget.

 Now, I'm ready to get back on the roads later this week and continue the journey. I'd like to continue doing one race a calendar month. For now, I'm thinking of doing a 10k here in Charlotte I found June 25th. Maybe I'll throw in some faster shorter runs to prepare now that i have a base, and see if this competitive bugs comes back out to play!

Thunder Road marathon 2011

I read my recap of last year's Thunder Road 2 or 3 times last week as I was becoming more and more excited as this year's race drew near. I must say it was some pretty good writing, and I don't really think I can recap as well as last year - but I'll give you my thoughts nonetheless.

Just like I don't think I can give as good as a report on this years race, as I did last year, similarly I thought going into this year's marathon that I wouldn't be able to repeat with a race that was as good as I ran last year. Despite a full year of running, and racing, I didn't fully have the confidence going into the race that I would be able to PR (personal record). Fully, being the operative word. I knew I had a chance, but that thought was kind of deep down.

I think the main thing that I doubted was my ability to hold the pace required to get under 3 hours. Yes, anything under 3:00:40 would give me a new best, but if I was going to improve I really wanted to break the 3 hour barrier. Another thing that was keeping me from really believing and being pysched about it was the fact that Boston 2012 plans have already been made, and that the whole point - at least when I decided, back in the summer, to run the Thunder Road - was to have one more marathon experience so that I could really use Boston as the race to lower my PR. Basically, I was looking at Thunder Road as an "experience" marathon rather than one to focus on getting a PR. At least that was the thought process back then, and I found leading up to this race, that I was lacking a little confidence and fire to go run something great.

Yet, my old highschool friend and teammate, Josh Brewer, was in town, and he was thinking about trying to break 3 hours - so I knew that I would have some friendly competition to get me going, not to mention David Brinkly.

The weather was clear and cold at the start. Mid 30's, and warming up as the morning went on. Really great running weather actually. I found my way to the start earlier this year, and with the new corral system, there were no issues on getting out, like there were for me last year.

I knew the first mile was downhill and fast, from experience, so I decided to make it feel like a crawl as Josh and I strolled along to a 7 minute mile on the opening stretch. My Garmin beeped signaling "mile 1" some 8-9 seconds before the first course mile marker, and from there on my Garmin would measure each mile little by little further and further from the course markers as the race went on.

Josh and I kept it easy the second mile, and by the third mile I noticed he was dropping back, while I was keeping an eye on David. - I must say in taking inventory of how I felt, my legs felt fresh, breathing felt good, no aches or nagging pains, and I was settled in and the pace felt easy and comfortable - all positive check offs a marathoner looks for early on in the race -. I slowly reeled in David and Jamaar until I caught them around the 4.5 mile mark.

As the 3 of us came along the crowd at the corner of Providence and Sharon at the 5 mile mark, I threw KT my long sleeve shirt, and took my first GU Chomps. As we ran throw Foxcroft, we sunk into a pace that was heading for a sub 3 hour marathon. In this neighborhood, David and I came up to the pretty good sized pack of runners around the 3 hour pace group leader, an older man named Jonathon who sounded very British. I was talkative, and introduced myself, and he was not shy to talk either - for I'm sure he was quite comfortable being a pace leader.

When our pack passed the 9 or 10 mile mark where I had to use the Porta John last year, I was pretty excited that I didn't have to stop, nor think that I would anytime soon. I was hoping I could get through my first marathon without having to use the bathroom.

As we came down Queens and made our way onto Kings, I found myself a few strides ahead of the pack and restrained myself from growing the gap but also not slowing down enough to let them catch up. I turned, and they followed, up Morehead and the hill didn't seem to be anything of a challenge at this point in the race at all. I was still feeling good. My splits to this point were close to the 3 hour mark, but I was a little thrown off from the beginning since my Garmin was registering miles long before the actual markers. (later that night after the race, i found out I can still hit the "lap" buttong on my garmin to record intentional splits I choose, despite it telling me when i have run a mile or not...next race i'll do that!).

There was the biggest crowd of the day so far when I came across the turnoff for the marathoners and the half marathoners. Speakers blasting some Switchfoot, and CRC and fans going crazy cheering. This electrified me and I started to grow the gap from the 3 hour pace group and found myself alone after the turnoff. The energy I got really increased my pace, and I started running away from the pace group, knowing I was flirting with the unknown as I was venturing farther and farther into sub 3 territory....so early too, as this was only mile 13. Mentally, after I crossed the half way point, I felt like the end would come soon, and I got agressive and decided to roll the dice. When my pace krept faster, I settled into that and didn't hit the brakes. I was going to try and maintain for as long as I felt in control, and hope I still had a good last 10k to bring it home to the finish line.

Keeping my spirits upbeat and quick, I passed Katie and my daughter and mother in law around mile 15 and started to reel in runners in front of me. The field was pretty thin, so I was hoping I would link up soon with someone going my pace to help me work. I passed a couple runners coming up Mint St., and as I passed Bank of America Stadium, I asked the runner who I just passed to come run with me, and what his goal time was. This would be Chris McFarlane (not to be confused with the creator of Family Guy). I remembered when he passed David and I around mile 5, and noted that he looked like he was a pretty good runner. Once he answered the call, he and I introduced ourselfs and talked about where we were in relation to pace, and how we wanted to finish. Realizing we both had almost identical PRs and goals, we decided we would work together forever how long we could for the rest of the race. Since I was pushing a faster pace at this point (having caught him), and keeping it there as I asked him to come up, Chris told me he was willing to try and stay where we were. This was a crucial point in the race. Looking back I might have talked to much in the race during my time with him, but perhaps it helped the miles go bye and me not dwell on how fast we were going, since we were doing the typical get to know you routine of our past. Pretty cool!

Chris and I clicked our faster mile for the race (at least mine) at mile 19 before we turned onto N. Davidson, and were quickly approaching the Wall zone, where runners start to bonk. As I took GU Chomps at miles 10 and 15 per the plan, I reached into my shorts and unleashed my last supplement - a GU Rocktain gel. I tried to suck/eat it around the 20th mile, but could only get about half of it down. I took some water and that helped, but the whole process wasn't as smooth as I would have liked, nor did it go down as easily as I had envisioned.

Again - I am reazling I'm not giving proper "props" to those fans who came to multiple spots like I did in my last blog, so let me apologize. Mitchell, Blackwoods, Family, and anyone else - you guys rocked and inspired me, so let me THANK you here. You guys posistioned yourself well along the course, and it was great to see you out there.

-now back to the race-

As Chris and I made our way on the Plaza, we were now into, I think, our 21st mile, and starting to come off the pace I had been pushing. I started to feel my legs getting tired and heavier as I ran down Plaza, turned onto Central, and made my way back into the residential neighborhood of Plaza Midwood. And during this stretch I was fighting bouts of nausea. Also, the conversation between us had stopped a few miles ago, and we were getting into the tough part. The mental zone. The fight to the finish.

I pushed through, and at the end of the 24th Mile, before we turned to Hawthorne, Chris passed me. As we came down Hawthorne Chris stopped quickly for a water/gatorade at the stop, and I passed him, and 2 others who had been ahead the whole race. This was short lived as Chris passed me back right before the Hawthorne Hill. While I was climbing said hill, I heard a guy yell "let's go shirtless!" Woah - could it be?! When I heard this I was shocked. I had left Josh Brewer - the only guy shirtless in the whole race - at mile 2, and had been looking behind throughout the race and hadn't seen him at all. Now, he's right behind me? I knew it had to be him. As I started the 25th mile, cresting Hawthorne and making my way towards downtown, Josh passed me like a flash. Another runner passed me soon after, and now I was watching "shirtless", Chris, and the Asian (guy who passed me after Josh) battle and pull away from me. I was hurting, but I wasn't dying. My pace wasn't getting out of control. I passed the 25th mile marker as the clock showed 2:50:xx and I knew that as long as I didn't fully fall apart, sub 3 would be mine.

As we made our way down the hill, and took the left onto the straightway which would run us up to MLK, where the race would finish, I was doing everything I could to keep it together. Just keeping one foot in front of the other, and knowing that I had to suffer because sub 3 was atainable. I remembered Theodan's mantra "you can tolerate more pain than you think you can". I was telling myself this the last mile, while literally shaking my head in an effort to snap out of the haze and push to the finish. As I made that last turn to the finish line, I felt my vision dwindle and my legs ache. My face was contorted and twisted and I read the clock tick from 2:58 to 2:59 and prayed I could get to the finish before it read 3. I didn't lock up for fall down, and I made it. 2:59.12. Thank God. I put my hands on my knees and couldn't move for a few seconds. I raised up, and hugged Josh who had broke 2:59 and congratualted him, as he did me.

I made myself keep walking down the shoot, and looked for David. He made it! A huge PR for him, and a BQ (Boston Qualifer), so that was just awesome.

As I got some water and gatorade, I kept walking around, hugged Katie, and waited for Jason. He made it too! just under 3:30 for his First marathon.

Marathons feel like Championships, as I told me wife earlier in the week. It's the culmination of long training, and the day is just so sweet. While I told myself during the aganozing stretch of this race that I would Never do another one, I'm already looking forward to resting and regrouping to attack Boston this april for hopefully another PR. Thanks again to everyone who supported me.

Here is a link to my Garmin Splits. You'll note it measured my race almost a quarter mile longer than a marathon.



Clock Time 2:59:17

Chip Time 2:59:12

Overall Place 14 / 907

Gender Place 14 / 605

Division Place 6 / 70 (3rd place age group award. A cool TR flag I will frame and put in my man cave!)

Pace 6:50

10Ksplit 42:33

13 1Msplit 1:29:30

20Msplit 2:15:33 / 13.1-20mil  46:03, 6.40 pace

2nd half(13.1mi) split: 1:29:42    /  last 10k 20-26.2mil  43:39, 7:01 pace

Thunder Road

After a pretty decent night of sleep, I got out of bed at ten after six and went downstairs to eat my light breakfast of a bagel with peanut butter and a banana. Washing it down with water, I then hoped in the shower and finished getting ready as Katie and I left our house at ten till seven to go pick Kristen up, and then head uptown. Once we got by the Convention Center, they dropped me off and I said my goodbyes, and went inside to take my gel, kill sometime, and, yes, use the bathroom again. I definitely wanted to do everything possible to not have to stop during the race, like I did in Feb.

The line to the bathroom was long, and once I made my way to the start, the National Anthem was already underway. I knew it was almost go time - yet I could tell I had missed my opportunity to get up near the front of the pack. In fact, I had missed my opportunity to get in the middle of the pack. Seemingly, a lot of runners grew frantic as the countdown started and we were all pushing our way to get lined up.




I managed to stay pretty calm, because I knew my chip laced to my shoe would trigger the computers to show my accurate result, like everyone else in the race. Still, once I crossed the Start Line, being so far in back, I had to fight my way through the crowds for the first mile to find any kind of room. Thinking I was going to be very slow the first mile given the crowds - and given the downhill of the start, I actually overcompensated and hit the first mile split about a minute faster than I had planned.

Oh well - I knew it wasn't drastic enough to ruin my race, so I pumped the brakes and eased into more of what I thought was a slower/smarter pace. I did slow considerably, yet was still faster than I wanted. Picking up on the cues, I decided to not fight my legs and trust my training and try and keep my pace where it was - because I could tell that it was definitely easy and comfortable and I was totally in control.

It was around the 3rd mile when I came up to a yellow shirted pace runner. I asked him what he was going to run and he told me 3:15. I considered this a sign of progress, as I was working my way up and making up ground from the chaotic start. I ran with the pace runner for less than a mile, for he told me that I shouldn't waste too much time in hanging with him if I was going to try and hit 3:10. Also, his pace seemed too easy and slow - despite the plan of starting off over goal pace. While I clipped off from the pace setter, a runner up ahead heard me mention I was shooting for 3:10, and said he was going to do the half in 1:30 and that he had run a 3:08 in a previous marathon. I thought I would feel the pace off him for a little bit, but I found myself leaving him unintentionally, and decided to not hold back.





As we went down south on Providence Rd., I saw my first of many supporters. Mike Mitchell was in his Appalachian State black Track and Field hoodie, and I told him as I passed "the pace feels so easy!" I was definitely enjoying the race so far. Before I got to the 5 mile split, I recognized my high school 4x800 state champion teammate Brain Baum! This was a surprise. I hadn't seen him in at least a year or two. We ran together for maybe close to a mile, while he was trying to hold to a pace that would garner him a 1:35 Half. Seeing my Dad like I had planned at the corner of Sharon Ln. and Providence, I shed my long sleeve shirt and threw it to him and got a little boost from his encouragement, as well as seeing the Blackwood family on the corner too. Going down Sharon Ln., I started to pull away from Brain - so I gave him a pound and wished him luck, and then headed into the tree lined street of Arbor Way - the entrance to the affluent Foxcroft neighborhood.

Now, despite being a native of Charlotte, I figured there would have to at least be someplace that was unfamiliar to me on the course. This neighborhood was it. It was a rolling, pretty, old-money type neighborhood with big yards, and pretty people out cheering on the runners sipping cocoa and mimosas. Miles 6-8 ran through here. I took my first energy chews right before I entered the neighborhood and finally found a rhythm to my pace for the long haul that seemed to settle me in and allow me to enjoy taking in the scenery and energy of the event.

Continuing to run alone, I cruised down Sharon Rd. towards Myers Park while giving the customary "good job" to the random people I passed. I passed Mike M. again around mile 9, and he said "How Ya Feeling?" to which I responded "good - just have to pee!" Before I was out of ear shot - he told me David was about 15 seconds up ahead. Of course I had my eyes open for him, Oelz, and Alan (my buddy who was doing the half) from the beginning, but hadn't seen or heard from them the start.

When I left Mitchell, I spotted David up ahead, but thought I had better take care of business before I came up to him. Realizing that I had been running sub 7 minute pace for the last 4 miles, I decided it was safe to use the porta john I saw up ahead during mile 10. I knew I couldn't hold it forever, and so I slid in and out and figured from looking at my watch it cost me approx. 35 seconds.







Heading onto Queens, I passed the Blackwoods for the second time and started slowly reeling in David. I was running a little faster this 11th mile to try and make up some time from having to use the bathroom. I passed Mark and Andy, and again my Dad who snapped a couple more pictures, and continued to make progress on David. After splitting the 11th mile, I took a couple more chews and started my way down Kings Dr. This was familiar territory, as this part of the course was the same as the Half Marathon from November. I got a big boost from the folks at the corner of Kings and Morehead, and started making my way up the hill. After we crested the hill and turned off Morehead - I finally came beside David and we exchanged pleasantries.

He said he was feeling pretty good, and we both commented on how we were obviously going along faster than our goal/plan, but that we both generally felt in control and were allowing the feel of the race to dictate our pace. It was pretty much perfect timing when I caught David, as it was just before the turn off for the Half Marathoners and the Full Marathoners. While the first half of the race I generally was running with people either beside me or within a few strides of me, as soon as David and I left the Halfers, we noticed that we were pretty much all alone. Thus, the perfect time to have someone with you. It was David and I, a few people strewn out behind us some 20 meters or more, and maybe 4-5 people spaced out rather far in front of us. Pretty thin.

We worked together miles 13-15, and I personally got some more "boosts" from familiar faces in seeing the Blackwoods, Dad, Jason Martin, Gary, and my sweet Mother in Law during this stretch. That 16th mile, as we turned up Mint St. David told me he was going to hang back on the pace, as we started creeping into the low 6:40s. (7:15 is pace for 3:10 - Boston Qualifying, both of our goals) I totally thought he was being smart, and not wanting to jeopardize the prospect of a good start to fall apart later was definitely a seasoned move.

The marathon is totally a strategy race, and one where you have to be patient and practice restraint. Yet for me, this was one where I was going on faith, hope and trust as I was keeping the pace well under goal, and not doing anything intentional to alter it. I guess I was in tune enough with my body, and also familiar enough from having a marathon under my belt, to trust my ability to maintain - and sensed that I still had a lot more in the tank. Ideally, I was hoping to keep the pace where it was 6:45-55, and be able to drop it the last 5 miles.

For the first time I was without people surrounding me, or a familiar face, and was in the midst of the more desolate stretches of the course as I passed Panthers Stadium and went into mile 17. Here, I took a couple more energy chews, tried to keep my focus, and think of all the 8-10 mile tempo runs I had done in my training, and tell myself I could hang on. Actually, I was also looking forward to getting out of downtown and into the, what I would hope to be, fun stretch of NODA and Plaza Midwood.

Before I left downtown, I saw wifey, Kristen, and Emily and gave them high fives as I passed, playing off the crowd and absorbing as much as I could of the cheers to give me another boost. I took that buzz as I went went away from uptown via windy, desolate, Caldwell St. It also seemed that the weather was turning greyer and gloomier here, but perhaps that was also enhanced by the state of mind I was in given my place on the course.

I saw my Dad and the Blackwoods again around mile 18, and I could tell that they were getting pumped up since I was holding a strong pace and making my way up through the rankings. Sensing that gave me a big boost, and I continued on up into the funky section of Charlotte - NODA.

This is where the race really shined, in my opinion. Obviously the last 6 miles of a marathon are the most grueling, but the folks did their part to keep you encouraged and motivated. Whether it was outdoor parties, music bumping from cars, guys playing guitars on their front lawns, Chariots of Fire playing from large amplifiers, or the homemade "Wall" that we passed through, the locals did their part in giving back to the community with their fun and honest support.

At mile 21 I took my last supplement, a caffinated energy gel, which I was told had protein in it as well. This was the magic ingredient/placebo that was going to get my through to the finish. Before I started cruising down The Plaza, I passed my Dad and the Blackwoods, as well as Mark and Andy, at mile 22 and totally fed off their buzz as they were really rooting hard and pumped as I was high up in place than when they had seen me last. Up until this point, no one in the race had passed me, and this would hold true to the finish.

I think seeing that support was huge, as my 23rd mile was my fastest mile of the race! I'd like to venture and say that that doesn't happen very much. Anyway, I did pay a little bit for it on mile 24, as it was here that I really started to feel the pounding, and had to make a strong mental effort to keep it up. Right before the big hill going up Hawthorne, I passed a recognizable "quality" runner - as he was someone who had edged me out the last few hundred meters of the Lung Strong 15k. I took energy from passing him, and charging up the hill - and savoring the fact that I was less than 2 miles from being finished.

As we made our way back into downtown, I spotted four or five runners ahead, one of them being a female, and noticed I was catching up to them. I thought, picking off a few more people is a good goal to ensure I finish strong. I was able to catch that group before I rounded my last turn and hit the straight away to the finish. With around 200 meters to go, I saw Mr. and Mrs. Oelz cheer me on, and charged HARD up the to the finish, while also catching my wife, and all the other friends on the side near the tape who were yelling for me. I ran alongside the chute and gave them five and finished feeling totally pumped up. I had done what I had set out to do....and then some. A lot of some. While I kept thinking (from about mile 20 on) as each mile ticked off, that I would be close to breaking 3 hours, I just wanted to make sure I finished as well as I could and put as much distance from breaking my goal as I could. I had pretty much done that - 3:01:50 as I took my last step. I wasn't sure until later what my accurate 'chiptime' was, but I realized right away I was surely sub 3:01.




A new HUGE PR, a negative split of 1:30+ from half to half, a strong finish, and a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon!




Thanks to everyone who was out there cheering me on, and to all those who sent me messages. Your support was huge. Thanks also to my wife who rolled with my training without complaint, and who always made me feel good each time I put on my running shorts with compliments of "I wish I had your legs!" haha. I joke, I joke.





Marathon (26.2mi): 3:00:40 (Chip time), 3:01:50 (Gun time)

10k split: 43:22
1st Half (13.1mi) split: 1:31:07
20mi split: 2:18:13    /   {13.1-20mi  47:06, 6:49 pace}
2nd Half (13.1mi) split: 1:29:33
                                    {last 10k, 20-26.2mi  42:27, 6:49 pace}


Overall (of 1,290): 27th Place (Gun), 24th Fastest (Chip)
8th Place Division (of 88): Male 25-29

Mile Splits:
1.) 6:34
2.) 7:14
3.) 7:02
4.) 6:53
5.) 7:18
6.) 6:52
7.) 6:56
8.) 6:54
9.) 6:44
10.)7:10
11.)6:43
12.)6:55
13.)7:04
14.)6:50
15.)6:41
16.)6:46
17.)6:56
18.)6:57
19.)6:47
20.)6:48
21.)6:59
22.)6:57
23.)6:33
24.)6:59
25.)6:54
26.)6:48
.2) 1:22

Pace: 6:53.44 per mile

Link to results

easy recovery

I am thinking about doing a post on the importance of nutritional intake post run for improved recovery. I think because I have bought into that school of thought, my recovery run with Oelz and David at Freedom park surprised me after doing almost double my normal mileage, the day before.

Miles: 5.23
Time: 42.20
Pace: 8.05

Met at the Freedom Park entrance on Princeton around 6, and from there we hit the greenway on the south side, ran up to Selwyn, back down Queens and into the park again before tacking on a little extra to get us over 40 mins for the day.

My legs felt surprisingly good after my long run. I was expecting much rougher seas. It was a good run though with David and Oelz. We talked about all doing the Charlotte Marathon - and as I write this, we all have now signed up!

I talked to Mike Mitchell and he is signing up as well tonight. I got to say, I am pumped up now to have 3 good friends all investing into this experience. I know it will be rewarding, and something we can all look back on with pride.

all but invested (financially)

When you hit the muggy trails of mcalpine on a hot summer's early eve, no matter how long it has been since your last visit, for me , I am always brought back to the origins of some of my fondest memories of running, conjuring up that feeling of being home. Highschool was lived out on those trails - and to have an old running buddy from then, and one from App - (but who none the less spent many runs on those trails - as did all highschool runners who ran competively in Charlotte) was pretty cool.

I have been blessed and lucky this week to have gotten to run with Mike Oelz, Mike Mitchell at McAlpine and Bohle and another old familiar face in one such Justin Cross (both of whom actually have a great upstart company in LADC)on the trails around Marymount University in Los Angeles. The latter being a farlek workout -which was one of the runs I can count on one hand with since the June Miles at Myers Park - and the one today with Oelz and Mitchell being an easier paced 5 mi. (Most miles I have done since the Marathon). Speaking of Marathon, that brings me to where I am currently.

I have given a good amount of thought lately as to running another Marathon this December. I probably wouldn't be thinking about this right now, but maybe it's good that I am - Mitchell is thinking about doing Thunder Road and Oelz is thinking about Kiawah. With the ability to run with my buddies, AND being able to knock one out before the baby is born in Jan., all gives me good reason to ponder such a thought. Not to mention, it wouldn't be so horrible to get to see what I can really do in a marathon not getting lost!

In the few runs that I have thought about potentially getting back to another race by year end, I have been upbeat as I am thinking it may not be as ardous to get back into the shape I was at in Feb. Perhaps the remnents of my training are there, just have to wake them up a little bit, and they will ready to serve as a foundation for great endurance and strength.

So it was muggy...and hot...and it felt like I was back in the comforts of home ((even passed old rival coaches and runners from Providence Day (rival school up the road from my CCS)). The closeness of my running buddies from spread across the country, and the great gap in difference of weather experienced on each of those runs, was just enough to decide, "let's go back at it for another 26.2" (exactly that mileage please).

Now just got get signed up - www.runcharlotte.com / www.kiawahresort.com/recreation/marathon/