2010 Thunder Road Marathon

As discussed, this race recap is from the viewpoint of an injured spectator, not a competitor.  That said, I'm quite pleased with how things turned out, as I was able to hit six different spots along the course without ever getting stuck in traffic.  Since my parents had already planned to watch the race, they agreed to come with me and help me support my friends.  So, who are those friends, exactly?  I'm glad you asked.

I've only met Jordan Kinley, and while I was curious to see if he could break the course record of 2:24:20, I had a feeling I'd never see him as he would be too far ahead of everyone else.  There's Billy Shue, who ran about a 2:43 in this race last year and has steadily improved since then.  Then there's Daniel Eggers and David Brinkley, familiar names to anyone who reads this blog, both with stated goals of breaking 3:10 in order to qualify for Boston.  Then there's Mike Oelz, who has dealt with nagging injuries but unlike me was smart enough not to run through them.  Oelz had told me several months ago that he just wanted to be around 3:30.  Finally, there was Philip Martin and Justin Riddle - two childhood friends of mine who decided to take on this task as a new challenge and said their goal was to simply finish after being a bit banged-up going into the final week.

With my parents in tow, I had a course map and a tentative plan to follow everyone.  I knew Rob Eggers, Daniel's dad, would be at mile #5 - the corner of Providence and Sharon Amity - and I hoped to run into him so that we could coordinate our viewing activities.  We made it there shortly after 8 and, by the looks of how fast the runners were that passed us, had just missed Kinley and the other leaders.  There were a LOT of runners moving well - mostly half-marathon competitors, for sure.  I met Danielle Crockford and her husband Chad at the CRC Halloween party, where we shared marathon goals and they basically gave me lots of good advice.  She came by with Brian McMahon, the 3-hour pacer, and some other runners.  I watched them pass and kept my eyes peeled.  I was looking up toward the turn when I heard Brinkley shout, "Hey Jason - Happy Birthday, buddy!"  I turned around and saw him wave at me, trotting along at a comfortable 7:00 pace-per-mile.  My mom got a kick out of that.  About a minute passed and I began to wonder if we had missed Eggers.  I thought it odd that he and Dave wouldn't have tried to meet and run together at the start and, knowing Eggers, realized he probably showed up too late to get a good spot in the corral (it turns out that's exactly what happened).  Not long after that, he passed by with the race shirt on his chest and a goofy smile on his face.  Oelz spotted me in the crowd and shouted my name not long after that, and when we saw Philip and Justin we cheered for them before leaving to go to the next spot.

I drove well out of the way to avoid course traffic and made it down Selwyn Avenue to where Queens crossed it on the Booty Loop.  I got there just in time to shout, "Let's go, Billy!!!" as Mr. Shue streaked by in an orange-and-black blur.  Here I found a large group of Queens girls cheering the runners and passing out noisemakers and balloons.  I retrieved a little plastic clapper and took the time to elicit sympathy by explaining to the girls that I had planned to run in this race before being injured.  Awww, you poor thing!  The course was still jam-packed with runners as the half wasn't quite finished.  I spotted Brinkley and cheered for him as he reached out and slapped my hand.  When Eggers came by I informed him that David was about thirty seconds ahead, and later found out that he had closed on him before having to stop to urinate.  We hopped back in the car and scooted over to the South End area to the intersection of Camden and Tremont - just before mile #15.

We got to the corner and there was a group playing Christmas carols right in front of Pike's Restaurant, a South End favorite.  My mom was greatly amused and started snapping pictures of them.  She enjoyed it so much, in fact, that we had a hard time pulling her away later.  We missed Billy Shue but caught some of the other front-runners, as well as Danielle and Brian again.  Running with them was a guy in a CRC singlet that I'm pretty sure was Kevin Ballantine.  I cheered for Danielle and noted that they were way, way ahead of Eggers and Dave, who were nowhere in sight.  If that group is pacing for 3 hours then my boys were going to be cutting it close to break 3:10, I thought.  I spotted them, running together with no one else close at the moment, and cheered wildly as they came by us and turned up Tremont.




Eggers, in front, with Brinkley on Camden Avenue on mile 15.

 David told me later that Eggers caught him somewhere in the Morehead Street-Berkeley Avenue section and that they ran together through miles 13-15.  Shortly after they passed us in the spot above, they agreed to part ways.  "I looked down at my watch and saw a 6:39 mile so I decided to hold back a bit," David told me later.  After starting slow, Eggers was beginning to gain ground.  My parents and I, along with Rob, drove over to the intersection of Parkwood and Davidson - just before mile 20, I believe - to cheer the boys on at what was no doubt one of the more desolate stretches of the course.  There was a man playing music on loudspeakers at the intersection, and once again I made it to the corner just in time to cheer on Billy Shue.  He looked like he was zoned in but was all alone by a wide margin - no one anywhere near him on either side.  I had no idea what place he was at the moment.  As the other runners came through, mostly alone, several looked confused as to which way to go so my mom took it upon herself to start pointing up the street and shouting encouragement.  The Brian-Danielle-Kevin group passed us again and we cheered them on.  I was pretty sure Danielle was the second female at that point but there were several women that looked to be within striking distance of each other for the title.  When Eggers came past us this time, he was a lot closer to them and was passing a lot of people.  We shouted and hollered as he came through, knowing he was doing well, and waited for David.  I finally spotted him about a minute later and began to worry about him.  I knew he would finish but he looked like he was beginning to question things.  The 20-miler was his longest run so he was about to enter uncharted territory.  I shouted at him to stay strong and remember all that training...

We made the short drive up Parkwood to catch everyone again at the corner of The Plaza, just before mile #22 - I think.  When Brian and Danielle approached, I told my mom not to cheer for Brian because he was the pacer.  We both shouted encouragement, then Brian turned around with a crap-eating grin on his face and said, "Yeah, thanks!"  - to which my mom replied, laughing, "Not you, her!"  I doubled over in laughter before quickly composing myself - because there's our boy Eggers!  Holy freakin' cow!  He was several minutes behind Brian and Danielle at mile 15 and was now right on their heels!  He was passing people like they were standing still and looked like he wasn't even breathing hard.  We got back in the car, afraid we might miss him at the finish from trying to find a parking spot uptown, and when we drove by the runners on Parkwood we were able to shout more encouragement at David.  I could tell he was slowing down but I now realized he had been running well under 7-minute pace for most of the early part of the race, so I was confident he could still break 3:10. 

Thanks to my dad's extensive knowledge of the area, we found some shortcuts and a VIP parking spot on Davidson Street for the finish.  As a few runners came through I looked up at the big clock and saw "2:52," meaning we weren't too late.  I found Eggers' wife, Katie - who is about eight months pregnant with their first child - plus her sister Kristen and Dan's mother.  Let the waiting begin.  I couldn't see very well so I moved up the chute a bit and found Emily Barrett and Kati Robertson, who told me that Jordan won the race easily but missed the course record by 26 seconds - a bit cruel - and that Billy ran a personal-best time of 2:41 or so and finished fifth.  Several of the other front-runners were out-of-towners and one of them was 50 years old, which is very encouraging to those of us who just turned 29. 

We saw Brian and Danielle turn on MLK Jr. Blvd. and head towards the finish, and it was announced that Danielle was the top female.  In a classy move, Brian held back to let her savor the moment and she raised her arms in the air before crossing the line just under 3 hours.  I knew Eggers wouldn't be much further back, and sure enough there he was, booking it up the street.  From my spot on the side of the chute, I looked up at the clock, saw it was just a few ticks past 3 hours, then looked back at him.  I threw my hands in the air and shouted, "Boston Q, baby!  Easily!!  You're my boy, Eggers!"  With a huge grin on his face, he ran over to me and slapped my hand before heading into the chute with a clock time of 3:01:50.  I later found out that his chip time, which is official, was actually 3:00:40.  What that means to those of you not versed in race timing is that he made it to the starting line of the race 70 seconds after the race started.  In other words, he had a bad starting spot and had to fight through a huge crowd the first few miles.

All of which makes the performance that much more impressive.  A 3-hour marathon is an excellent mark, by any standards, but to me it's not Dan's time but how he did it that stands out.  He ran about 1:34 for the first half and 1:27 for the second - a negative split of 7 minutes!  His fastest mile was #23 - how often do either of those things happen in a marathon?  I feel it's important for me to recognize this, not only because it's awesome, but also because the excitement of seeing Dan do so well had temporarily washed away my disappointment in being injured.  It also helped me realize some errors I had made in training and strategy, but that will be detailed in another post.

After waiting around for a bit, I saw David fight to the finish for a time of about 3:14.  I knew he would be disappointed that he didn't hit his goal, but a 3:14 marathon debut on a tough course is something to really be proud of, and I was happy for him.  It was tough for me to see this knowing I would have been up there with him, but those feelings will also be detailed in another post that will likely have to be edited for brevity in order to maintain a PG rating.  I saw Theoden Janes of "Run With Theoden" fame come through the finish chute under 3:30, and I went up to introduce myself and congratulate him.  He was surprisingly friendly and chatty for someone who had just run a marathon.  Not long after that, Mike Oelz showed up with a look on his face that said, "Thank God this is over, and someone remind me to get some new friends."  Good race, Oelz, and don't worry, we're definitely going to make you do another one soon.  Mike is getting married next summer, so congrats to him and Emily.  We saw Philip Martin come through about ten minutes later and Justin  Riddle another five minutes after that, and everyone was hugged and congratulated by yours truly after they came out of the finish chute. 

All in all, I had a blast out there today, and I'd like to add that watching a marathon is a lot more fun than it sounds.  If you have a friend running one in your city, I strongly suggest you get out there and support him or her.  I could tell by the faces we saw - even those of runners who didn't know us - that our support meant the world to them.  Plus, it's a pretty neat way to view the city and understand the experience.

Full results here.
Daniel Eggers' excellent race recap here.
Theoden Janes' recap, in which he gives me a funny shout-out, here.
Read what the reigning two-time champion had to say about his race, here.

I'll leave you with a few quotes from what the participants told me:

"Very, very happy about (the race), Jason!!  I came in with some big goals and that helped push me to a 3-minute PR from last year on this course.  I went out hard during the first half shooting for a goal that I wasn't ready for yet and tried my best to stay with the #3 and #4 guys during the first half, but was able to stay strong and dig deep during the 2nd half to run a big PR from last year.  It was great seeing you at Parkwood-Davidson!!!"  - Billy Shue

"Basically, I made some rookie mistakes.  But I learned a lot from the race.  It took me 53 minutes to run the last 10k...which hurt me.  I know what 'the wall' feels like, but I can also say that I gave it everything I had and left everything out there on Saturday.  I've analyzed every way I should have run that race, and basically just ran it like a rookie."  - David Brinkley

"Ummm..NoDa supports runners."  - Justin Riddle

"I can't wait for you to get a marathon under your belt - it's such an experience.... I averaged 6:49 pace for my second half - whew!"  - Daniel Eggers

"First half was fine.  Brevard (I think he means Caldwell Street) was tough.  Other than that the course was fine with the exception of my legs.  Glad I did the marathon.  I know what I need to work on for training so that I can run the next one quicker."  - Mike Oelz

"A marathon is a complete physical and mental drain, but the reward at the finish is worth every ounce of pain."  - Philip Martin

'Til next time, folks - thanks for reading!