Post-Marathon Thoughts

I only ran once this week, for just over five miles, so in lieu of the typical week-in-review post I thought I would add a "training in review" post. Here is a week-by-week breakdown of my marathon training, going back to the first of August:

August 2-7: I have on record 26+ miles, but I think I ran without the watch once this week, so it was more than that. I botched a tempo but got in a good long run. This was the week I permanently gave up on Brooks and started training in the Nike Air Pegasus again.

August 8-14: I botched another tempo run. This was an uneventful week. 41 miles.

August 15-21: I ran two workouts plus an awesome long run in the mountains that included something like 1,000 feet of elevation gain. Solid week, 37 quality miles.

August 22-28: 43 miles, including me upping the ante on the long run for the first time, to nearly 16 miles.

August 29-September 4: Only 27 miles. I came down with a mild virus and as a result missed a long run. This was the beginning of a major freefall in my nutrition, which wasn't great to begin with, and likely caused the virus. I did however run a season-best in the 5k on a difficult course.

September 5-11: 46 miles, including a really good long with Eggers, Brinkley, and Baum, plus a fantastic workout. I started some noticing some pain in my heel about this time, however, which I would later self-diagnose as achilles tendinitis.

September 12-18: One run for 9 miles. Took the week off to rest my achilles tendon.

September 19-25: 46 miles. I felt horrible all week but got back in the swing of things with a half-decent workout and a painful 18-miler with Mitchell.

September 26-October 2: Only 38 miles but I got in a good workout and my first 20-mile run of the cycle, which I did by myself.

October 3-9: 33 miles. I'm back to slacking off again, but I rolled on a tempo run with the Meetup runners and on a solo speed workout at McAlpine. This was a planned cutback week as far as the long run goes.

October 10-16: 44.4 miles. Good week, bad week. I screwed a tempo run - again - but ran my longest run of the cycle, and tied for longest of all-time (later surpassed by the actual marathon, of course) at 22 miles. I also retired the Pegasus I had been training in and got a new pair.

October 17-23: 46 miles. I got in two really good tempo workouts with the Meetup group and my second 20-mile run...and yeah, that's about it. My training had clearly become "quality over quantity" at this point but at least the quality was good. Besides, I was still fighting that sore achilles at this point.

October 24-30: 44 miles. I ran a double on Thursday, getting in some intervals at McAlpine and then a tempo run with the Meetup group for their costume event. I also ran 13+ with a pickup at the end for the Sunday long run.

October 31-November 6: 24 miles. The taper had begun but I did run 19 miles of the course between Saturday and Sunday.

November 7-13: 36 miles. Race week! I ran two short shakeout runs and then the race. My legs felt very fresh through the first half, but they got heavy through the center city and I eventually fell apart due to some bad cramps. I still finished in a time of 3:29:47, good enough for 83rd overall out of nearly 1,000 competitors.

The question now is this: What caused the muscle cramps that ruined my day on November 12? I ruled out poor race-day fueling; I had that down pat. I did wait until two days before the race to start carb-loading, so that likely had something to do with it. Again, my nutrition intake went from bad to worse back in September, which affected some of my workouts and probably led to a vitamin deficiency. So step one for the next marathon is to discipline myself to eat better. Step two, however, is to increase the mileage. As I write this I have since parlayed marathon training into my best race of the year at the Turkey Trot - less than two weeks after the 26.2. So I want to build on my training, stay healthy, and get faster. I have also dropped 15 pounds since July and 30 since March, and think I can get a little bit lighter. That won't hurt, either!

2011 Thunder Road Marathon

Race: 26.2 miles.
Time: 03:29:47 - 8:01 ppm. 10k split, 45:26; Half split, 1:36:29; 20 mi split, 2:31:28. 83rd overall, 12th in age group.
Full Results

Well, where to begin? I am about to write the details of how I finally became a marathoner. As I write this the following Monday, I still don't think it has sunk in yet. I spent most of Saturday after the race being disappointed that I didn't run faster - I thought I could at least get 3:15, and was well on my way all the way through mile 18 before my leg muscles started cramping up. That's crazy talk though - I finished the thing, and in a very respectable time. I'm hungry for another shot at it, but I'm very proud of what I accomplished. I'm going to describe this event in detail, breaking it down into sections.

Pre-Race
After a restless night's sleep, I jumped out of bed at 5:20 a.m. and ate some oatmeal and a banana. I showered and took care of some pre-race grooming and then proceeded to put together my racing outfit. I was going to wear my longer, pocketed Under Armour shorts and an Upgrade Lifestyle tech tee. On top of that would be a long-sleeve dry-fit, my Advantage Parking hat, and some North Face gloves. These items would be shed when I deemed myself properly warmed up.

I left home and arrived at the Bank of America Corporate Center around 6:45 - plenty of time. I parked there and hung out in Founders Hall for a bit. It was just me and a couple security guards - very quiet. Around 7 I jogged down to Three Wells Fargo, where I would meet David Brinkley, his girlfriend Alisha and sister Karrie, Daniel Eggers, Josh Brewer, Brian Baum, and Mike Oelz. David's friend Jeff was also there. I stretched out for a bit and put the two gels I would be using last - including one with caffeine - in my shorts and put the other two in my gloves. It was under 40 at the time and I figured I would keep the gloves on for awhile. Baum actually joined us later and informed me of a bathroom at Panera Bread that had been empty when he used it. All the buildings downtown were packed with runners, surprisingly. That's surprising because normally everyone crowds into the convention center. I later found out the city decided to throw another "Screw You" at this event by locking the convention center at the last minute. Wow... There was no sign of Oelz or Brewer yet as I jogged down to Panera, making sure my watch was working, used the bathroom one last time, and then jogged back to Tryon for the start, right in front of the Levine Center for the Arts. Adam Mull spotted me and we exchanged a man-hug and wished each other luck. Stephen Spada yelled out good luck from a distance. I found Oelz and Eggers in the corral, and then spotted a long-haired, shirtless Josh Brewer. We embraced and he mentioned, ever so stoically, that this was a great cause for the three of us to be reunited. I agreed and mentioned that he was a beast for running this thing shirtless. I looked around for Stan Austin and anyone else who looked like a pace leader, with poor results.

Miles 1-6: Feeling the Pace
I left Eggers, Brewer, Oelz, and Baum and settled further in the corral because I didn't want to get caught up in running too fast. I had lost Brinkley and Jamaar, who had planned on attaching himself to David in the hopes of running a huge PR in the half. There was still no sign of any pacers. The national anthem really got me fired up, and after a casual command of "Go" we were off. Here I was, actually running a marathon. Surprisingly, I had never really gotten nervous. I knew this was going to be a very long morning and that I had plenty of time to ease into things. Before we turned onto Third Street, I looked down at my Garmin and noticed that it wasn't measuring distance or pace. Are you kidding me? I shut it off and restarted it as we jogged down Third and into the morning sun. The watch began the process of locating satellites, and I tried not to panic as minutes passed by and it still hadn't come on. We crossed the first mile marker just under I-277 and finally, my watch came on. I could still use it to gauge my pace, which is all that really mattered, but unfortunately it's useless for judging the data post-race. Oh well. I knew something was bound to go wrong but I didn't need it that badly.

We ran up Third/Providence, turned on Charlottetowne, and then again on Randolph. I tried to hug the curbs so as to avoid running further than necessary. There was a large crowd of us running together and I made a point not to let myself get stuck behind someone who was running too slow. Doing so led to me running a 7:02 mile around the third mile, which unfortunately would prove to be my fastest mile of the day. Other than that, though, I was doing a great job of keeping the pace easy. We ran down Colville and turned on Providence and I tried to ask the people around me if they knew where the pacer was. No one had seen anybody. I sidled up next to an older woman and began chatting with her. I never introduced myself but given the results I discovered her to be Julie Spitzer from Greenville, SC, aged 40-44. She looked like she knew what she was doing and told me she was shooting for around 3:20 and that she kept an even pace if I wanted to hang around. She told me this was her 11th marathon so I figured she knew what she was doing. Julie is about 5 feet tall, if that, so I had a hard time keeping track of her amongst the other runners, but I tried not to let her get too far ahead of me. She put some distance on me up the steep Providence Road hill, but I never let her stray too far away. At mile 5, the intersection of Providence and Sharon Amity, I passed my parents and Eggers' wife Katie for the first time. I could barely see them because the sun was in my eyes.  After that I took my first gel and split the 10k at 45:26 - 7:20 per mile, perfect. I was truly keeping things easy at this point, which is all I really wanted to do.

Miles 7-15: Enjoying the Sights and Sounds
I saw Ryan Watson in Foxcroft and talked to him for a little bit; he and his friend were running the half. I left them and ran down Sharon, waving and pumping my fist every time I passed a crowd of people. I was now gearing up for the Booty Loop section, where I was prepared to shed some clothing, knowing my parents would be there. I took off my gloves and hat, then immediately put my hat back on as I felt it was still a bit cold. I tossed my parents the gloves as they waved and cheered, then passed Kati Robertson and Ben Malmquist as they did the same. Several people later told me they didn't recognize me on account of the hat, but oh well! Running down Queens Road West, I found myself catching up to Julie, then running by her. I knew I may regret this but I wanted to go on feel, and I was feeling great as I began to put some distance between myself and her. The half-marathoners were about done and I continued to reel in several of them. I turned splits of 7:19, 7:14, and 7:17 on this section of the course, even though it was hilly. When I got to the big hill on Morehead I eased back a bit so it wouldn't hurt too much, then turned and waved as Jason Martin and John Compton (and Caitlin? I heard a female voice cheering but couldn't see who it was) cheered me past. Jason remarked that I was incognito with the hat and long sleeves. When we got to the half-marathon split, I pumped my fist and slapped hands with Rob Ducsay, the Chic-fil-a cow, and several other people. There was a raucous crowd and some music at this point and I really fed off that. Immediately, though, things got pretty lonely. The half-marathoners were gone now, and so too was most of the crowd support. I passed John Fillette and Dezi Kabouris and came through the half in 1:36:29 - on pace for a 3:13 marathon. I had not started out too quickly and was still feeling great at this point.

Running down Tryon Street, I came upon another runner who appeared to be struggling a bit and I asked him his goal. He said he was hoping to run 3:30 but had no idea whether he was on track or not, having failed to properly do the math after seeing the clocks. Someone get this guy a GPS watch. I told him that he was way ahead of schedule and may want to hang back as the course was about to get pretty rough. He thanked me and I went by him. Helping other runners, and being helped in return, was about to become a big theme at this point in the race.

I rolled down Camden Avenue and tried to ignore the aroma from Price's Chicken Coop and Phat Burrito. Emily Hansen was here cheering with a bunch of other girls, and she even ran a few strides with me, remarking that I looked like I was doing great. Well, I was feeling great! I passed my parents in front of Pike's and tossed them my hat as they waved and cheered.

Waving at Mom and Dad as I approach them on Camden Avenue.

Miles 16-20: A Turn for the Worse
I found myself unpleasantly surprised at how awful the downtown section was. I knew there would be some hills on Mint, Third, and Trade, and I knew the pavement would be rougher on the legs in this section, but the placement on the course combined with the sudden lack of crowd support made this, in my opinion, the worst part of the course by far. I passed Theoden Janes near the stadium and called out, "How long is this race, again?" He laughed and told me I was looking good. I soon started hurting, though. After we came down Trade and turned on Caldwell, Julie came trotting past me and quickly disappeared up the road. Oops. Maybe I should have stayed with her back on the Booty Loop. I passed Mike Mitchell on Caldwell Street and gave him the so-so signal when he asked how I was feeling. I passed my parents again at the corner of Parkwood and Davidson and tossed them my long-sleeve shirt.

I ran up Davidson and started walking. I had stopped a couple times previously to shake out some leg cramps but this was the first time I had actually stopped to walk. My left foot was completely numb, and when I tried to stretch my legs my calf locked up and I kind of fell down onto the curb. A runner passed and asked if I was ok. "Just leg cramps," I responded, "my legs just quit working but I'm ok." "Just try to run through it," she said. I found that even just walking for about thirty seconds seemed to make me feel better, so I just tried to shake things off. At this point I had taken three Gu gels and water at every stop, so I didn't think I was dehydrated. I hadn't started out too fast and I hadn't stopped to use the bathroom or for any other reason at all. Everything had been perfect up to this point, and now leg cramps were ruining what had been shaping up as an incredible marathon debut. For awhile I simply ran through the pain but it would get to the point where my legs would actually lock up completely, and I had to catch myself on the curb to avoid falling down.

The Final 10k: Toughing it Out and Staying Positive
The clock at mile 20 read 2:31:28, and so I realized that even if I ran the last 10k in an hour I would still be right at 3:30, and that would be a time I could be proud of in my first marathon. The fears of hitting the wall that clouded my brain when I was downtown had subsided because I had, in fact, hit the wall, and now it was just a matter of getting through it. I composed myself when I ran through NoDa, passing through the "wall" which I found was about as wide as a doorway. I was wobbly at this point and almost ran into it. I was disappointed at the lack of crowd support here - I had been told it would be good and it was almost nonexistent. I managed to put together an 8:36 mile in this section, which I can assure you took everything I had. I was still running when I turned onto the Plaza, when once again my legs locked up and I almost fell down in front of a startled police officer. I had passed Dave's friend Jeff downtown, and he had passed me back on Davidson, and we continued to go around each other a few times in the last part of the race. I also did the same thing with another runner who introduced himself as Devin. Devin told me this was his 20th marathon and that I was really blowing it out of the water for a first-timer. I thanked him and we tried to encourage each other as he was also half-running, half-walking on account of leg cramps. I passed my parents and chugged an entire bottle of water as Devin and I limped down the Plaza. There was a large crowd in the middle of the road, and the runner in front of me took a beer that he was offered, which caused the crowd to go nuts. He drank a little bit of it and dumped the rest on his head.

I was no longer worried at this point because I knew we were almost done. I left Devin and passed Jeff for good on Hawthorne Lane. Some older guys asked me if I knew the course and I told them there was a big hill coming up and then they were home free. They thanked me and wished me luck as they trotted past and soldiered on. Several runners passed me when I was walking and said something to the effect of, "come on man, you got this." I appreciated the encouragement but I ran when I could and walked when I got to the point of falling over, and this was basically how the race went for me all the way to the finish. I am proud to say that I actually ran all the way up the Hawthorne hill, partly because Jason Martin was screaming at me. Thanks, Jason. Without the support of other runners and my friends, this race would have been a whole lot tougher. Jason seemed legitimately concerned when he saw me and I told him I was dealing with cramped muscles and just trying to get through it.

When we turned on Martin Luther King I found myself ecstatic and in disbelief that we were actually about to be done, and that I was about to complete my first marathon. I heard two women coming up behind me, saying something "You go this, so close, now here let's get around this guy (meaning me).." They passed me with a male runner who was finishing up. I thought, "Oh hell no.." and then passed them back, along with several other runners. I pounded my chest and blew a kiss to the heavens as I crossed the finish line. My legs gave out one final time and this time I really teetered but once again caught myself and put my hands to my knees. A couple people asked me if I was ok. I was more than ok. This was, all at once, the greatest feeling I'd ever experienced and the worst feeling I'd ever experienced.

Hobbling in to the finish.

Post-Race
Someone handed me one of those plastic bag-looking things and draped a medal around my neck. I grabbed the medal and kissed it. A whirlwind of thoughts raced through my head, ranging from confusion as to how things fell apart for me to elation that I had actually finished a marathon. My parents found me and I hugged them, thanking them for being there for me as they always have (more on that in a moment). I tried to sit down but my whole body locked up so I realized that wouldn't work, so I walked around and sampled some of what was there for me: Gatorade, water, bananas, Great Harvest bread (my mom loves that place and sneaked away with a couple samples), beer, garlic pizza, and a granola bar. The Gatorade and the garlic pizza really hit the spot. The beer made me feel like I was going to pass out. I found Stan Austin and congratulated him on finishing his eleventh marathon of the year. He had paced for 3:30 - Stan can run sub-3 - but said it was a rough day for him.

I was walking around aimlessly when I heard a familiar voice say, "Well how was your first marathon?" It was Eggers, who had just notched another PR by running 2:59. Brinkley PR'd by ten minutes from last year and qualified for Boston with a 3:04. Josh Brewer outdid both of them by running 2:58. Baum ran 1:27 in the half, Jamaar 1:31 for a huge PR, and Oelz finished it in 1:38, which means I must have nearly caught him before the split. Billy Shue finished second in the marathon with a new PR of 2:38.

I found Billy, John, Clayton, Paul, and Carolyn after the race and tried to soak up the moment. This was an incredible experience and I cannot wait to do another one. My favorite parts were touring the city and playing to the crowd - every time I passed a large crowd I waved and pumped them up, receiving loud cheers in return. And this is a small race - I can only imagine what that must be like in a big marathon.

Dedication
I was brought up in a home where I wasn't allowed to play video games or even watch tv during the day, unless the weather was bad. This led to a childhood of constantly running around in the yard - pretending to be Jerry Rice or Desmond Howard or Marshall Faulk - or playing basketball in the driveway for hours on end, until I literally could no longer stand up and my mom had to berate me to come inside and join the family for dinner. I have led a life full of athletic achievements, ranging from the mundane to the pretty outstanding, and my parents have been there every step of the way. In a society where laziness and poor habits are almost encouraged, I was raised to be an athlete - and I'm now a marathoner. Thanks, Mom and Dad. I dedicate my first marathon to you.

Proudly wearing that medal, and actually managing a smile.

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!

Decision Time

I left my doctor's visit less terrified about my long-term status but no more encouraged about Saturday's race.  I trust my doctor because he happens to be a marathon runner; otherwise I wouldn't have bothered going to see him.  He poked and prodded my lower leg for awhile, did some x-rays, and informed that it didn't look at all like a stress fracture - but also said that he didn't see how I could run a decent marathon with shin splints.  Continuing the conversation, he stated the obvious - that I could sit out and rest and hop in another local marathon in February, such as Myrtle Beach, which had been my secret backup plan originally had I found myself in his office the day before the race.  We left the conversation as follows:

Him:  "My advice as a medical doctor is to sit out and not run for awhile.  My advice as a runner, knowing how much work must be put in for a marathon, is to give it a go if you feel you should but drop out if it doesn't feel better early in the race."
Me:  "That's exactly what I'm going to do - see if maybe it loosens up but I assure you I'll drop out if it doesn't."

Fast-forward to this afternoon, when I met Eggers at the convention center to go check out the expo.  I found myself wishing I had brought deeper pockets because they were carrying Nikes for 50% off.  We picked up our packets and did a test scan of our chips to make sure we were who they said we were - I didn't want to have that problem again - and looked around for a bit.  Everywhere, people were repping their running-related products.  We found a booth that said something like, "Hippie Running Inc." and a smiling girl that looked like...well, a hippie.  Eggers rummaged through a pile of head-warmers that had peace signs and various other symbols on them before deciding that they weren't warm enough.  We found the Charlotte Running Club booth and I met Aaron Linz in person for the first time.  Eggers asked him questions him about the club and the race and if he thought Jordan Kinley would have any competition in defending his title.  Aaron said he thought not but figured the half-marathon would be very fast, given the number of people also in town for the Cross Country Club Nationals to be held at McAlpine later in the day.  I told him that I was trying to run the race with severe shin splints, and he sheepishly wished me luck while adding that compression sleeves probably wouldn't do anything and certainly weren't worth forty bucks.  We joked about how everyone was telling me that Lance Armstrong ran his first marathon while suffering through shin splints.  Hey, if Lance can do it... I thanked Aaron for always responding to my e-mails and told him I thought the CRC was well worth the recently introduced membership fee.

After the expo, I headed to my parents' house to open my birthday gifts and eat a large pre-race dinner.  Those are all things that I enjoy - my parents, birthday gifts, and large pre-race dinners.  In lieu of pasta - thanks, Mom! - I had salmon, rice, a salad, and some bread.  We were scheduled to have a conversation about where I wanted them to show up to watch me at various parts of the course, and to have me detail a plan for them to travel around.  Instead, I decided I wanted them not far from the start of the race.  That way, if I had to drop out I wouldn't have to sit there and be carted around in a rescue vehicle; instead, I could ride around with my folks and cheer on my friends.  We set the Bojangle's at 3rd Street and Charlottetowne Avenue as our meeting point, at which I would either give them a thumbs-up or hop in the car.

Think about how absurd that sounds.  On my way home, I finally came to my senses, picked up the phone and informed my parents and my friends that I would not be racing.  I was obviously devastated at this awful turn of events but figured I'd rather run my first marathon at full strength.  Besides, I couldn't even run to the stop sign at the end of my street without tripping.

Officially Registered!

I am pleased to announce that I am officially running in the Charlotte Thunder Road Marathon next Saturday, December 11.  So, how exactly did we get here?

Back in the summer, I made a commitment to start running to stay in shape, eat cleaner, and get to the gym.  I kept putting off the gym part, however, and it quickly became apparent that I was going to be a full-time runner again.  My goal at the time was to train to get into decent shape, then train hard to get into racing shape so I could compete in a lot of the local road races, most of which are 5k or 10k. I knew Eggers had already planned to do the local marathon.

Dan had one marathon under his belt already - the Fort Lauderdale A1A Marathon from this past February.  I killed some time at work by reading his race recap, and I found myself overcome with inspiration.  I thought about how the marathon training would include some heavy mileage but would actually be a lot less intense than training for 5k, and could be a great way to build up a base before switching to lower distances.  Then, I noticed the date of this year's race:  it was my birthday.  I was in.

Let's get into the details of this race and how I plan to perform:

History

Charlotte has been putting on a marathon since the late 1970s, when the running boom was in full swing here in the United States.  The winners were regularly running under 2:20, which is elite by any standard.  The Charlotte Observer Marathon suffered a scandal, however, when the race director was convicted of mail fraud about then years ago and the Observer pulled its sponsorship, effectively ending the race.  In 2005, another marathon was introduced, called "Thunder Road," with an attempt to build a NASCAR theme.  Boogity-boogity, let's go racin'!! (that's Darrell Waltrip, kids).  Last year's winner was Jordan Kinley, who recently announced that he's going to run it again.  You can read his excellent recap of last year's race here.

The Course


The Thunder Road Expo is held next Thursday and Friday at the Charlotte Convention Center.  That's where I'll go to pick up my packet.  I skipped out on the course preview runs that Run For Your Life sponsored, but I did take the opportunity to drive most of the course ten days ago.  Naturally, we will start and finish uptown, with the starting line being somewhere around Tryon and 1st Streets, which is exactly where we started for the Komen Race a couple months ago (Was that really a couple months ago? Wow!).  From there we will leave uptown on 3rd Street and make our way over to 4th, which becomes Randolph, then turn down a road called Colville that takes us to Providence.  We go away from town on Providence before touring the affluent Foxcroft neighborhood at the edge of Southpark and Myers Park.  This part of the course is essentially my back yard.  I have run down Colville and these sections of Providence and Randolph more times than I count in the last eight months.  Obviously, that's a good thing - but this gets better.  We leave the Southpark area by way of Sharon Road, turn down a street called Chilton and do the Queens Road loop before heading to Morehead.  This section is all a part of my 7-mile loop that I've done quite a few times recently.  I expect fantastic support from the neighborhoods throughout this part of the race.

I had some trouble staying on track with my car, because the map isn't labeled that well on the site, but the halfway point is somewhere on Morehead Street.  This is where things will get interesting; suddenly, there won't be nearly as many runners (there is also a half-marathon which uses the same course, I believe).  The course takes us around South Tryon and through the South End area after leaving Dilworth, and we run along Mint Street, headed back uptown.  This will be a neat stretch because we run right towards Bank of America Stadium.  From here we head north on 4th Street and come back up Trade, right past the arena.  At this point, I plan to take my 3rd and final gel packet, although I will probably have a 4th one on hand just in case.  The 18-mile mark is somewhere around the arena.

We leave uptown again, this time on Caldwell Street, and head towards NoDa.  I am really looking forward to this part of the course because I have always wondered what it would be like to get shot at in the middle of a 26.2-mile race.  In all seriousness, this stretch is considered to be the most mentally challenging part of the course because there is no spectator support, the pack continues to thin out, and the area is a bit drab, to put it nicely.  Things will get fun after that, however: I'm told the party crowd gathers in Plaza-Midwood as this course runs right by Thomas Street Tavern and the Penguin.  Spectators have been known to offer drinks to runners, and I'm sure some of the stragglers will take them up on the idea. 

At this point, I decided to head home but I can tell you that we make our way over to Hawthorne Avenue, which features a famously awful hill, and from there head back uptown to the finish line near the convention center.  Hopefully I will still be alive at this point.

Objective

When this training cycle began a few months ago I figured I could run Boston Marathon-qualifying time and I set that as a goal.  That time is 3 hours, 10 minutes - I'm told they accept 3:10:59 - or 7:15 pace per mile.  That seemed awfully daunting back in September and I thought about adjusting the goal to around 3:20 or so.  Then, something happened:  I started running really well, and Boston Q seemed possible again.  Then, I started running even better and began entertaining crazy ideas of breaking 3 hours.  Look, things would have to go really well for me to break 3 hours.  That's a 6:52 mile for 26.2 miles.  Not only would I have to run very, very well, but I also wouldn't be able to afford any extended bathroom breaks or stretching sessions during the race.  I have decided that 3:00 would be the ultimate goal but 3:05 more reasonable, and if things don't go as well as I hope I will be more than happy with the 3:10/Boston time.

So, that's that.  I do believe my training has prepared me for this thing.  I still feel a little banged up but I think I have time to switch to a new pair of shoes and I believe that will help, so stay tuned!