Well I am falling behind in my New Years Resolution of posting more often.
At any rate, this past week was my first week back in full swing.
I was sick. I felt very run down, low energy and very congested.
It felt great to get out there and be active. I barely had enough energy to walk.
However I will say that it gave me some time to really think about my training.
I am going to continue to do as much cross training as possible. I have an indoor trainer that I have my bike hooked up to right now. Really can not wait until it gets warmer and dryer outside.
I have some weights that I will be using and some different aerobic programs that I will be using to help build up my strength and core muscles.
I also will plan on incorporating speed-work as well as hill repeats through out the week.
I really can not wait to get things going but I have learned enough that I need to take it slow at first.
I also will be looking at earning a spot with the Half Fanatics.
After running two Marathons last year, I am thinking that it is just not the distance for me. I really enjoy the Half Marathon distance and under.
I am impressed at the people who are part of the Marathon Maniacs and just recently found out that there is another group that is focused on the half distance.
I have found 2 that are within 30 days, one of them I am already registered and the other one will open up next week. I just need to find another that is close enough within 90 days of the first one. I believe it is possible but I need to double check the dates.
Well I had a great 7 mile run this morning in preparation of running the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in April. Really looking forward to it.
Well I am going to cut it short for now. I think that is some of my issue. I want to make sure that I have enough to write about.
Thank for reading.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Happy New Year - 2010 in review
Well Happy New Year!
2010 sure was a great one. I ran in some good races with no regrets.
Well I am going to start off with a post that should have been put up 2 months ago.
This is my race report for the 35th annual Marine Corp Marathon.
I woke up and was very excited. This was my second Marathon that I was running. The summer was hot and the training was hard. I don't like running in the heat, but I was happy when I saw that the temperature was forcasted to be in the low 50s. NICE!
So I got myself dressed and organized my gear. I had already arranged to hook a ride with a buddy who was running as well. I met him at the local shopping center and we drove to one of the DC metro stops. We talked about the training that we did, how hot the summer was and how great the weather was going to be. We also chatted about what our goals were. My goals were as follows:
Always to just finish - or beat the bridge in this case.
knock it out of the park 4:30
main goal: 4:45
what I would live with: 5:00
So just to cover it, the beat the bridge is getting to the 14th Street Bridge just after mile maker 20 at a quicker then a 14 minute per mile pace. If you are not able to keep that pace then you will be required to board the straggler buses, taken to the event finish area and thus not completing the marathon.
Well that was not going to happen to me! And it didn't but we will get to that later.
So we get to the Metro stop and I felt a little like I had to pee but decided not to for what ever reason. This will come back to haunt me a little.
The ride on Metro was fine. A lot of other runners and spectators were riding so it was empty but not jam packed either. We had to switch trains and that went fine, no issues, except my bladder was starting to feel full. There are no public restrooms available in any of the Metro stops we were at and with the amount of people that were around there was no way to tastefully relieve myself.
So we get to the final stop and I am starting to look for a place to pee. We were let out at the Pentagon and I just did not feel comfortable just peeing anywhere. The good news if you will, was that I was moving and not standing still so I could distract myself a bit.
We walked for a while and then had to go through a check point. No big deal. The lines moved very quickly. Then we got to the runners village and the portapotties where I got in line.
Well I was finally able to get into a portapotty to relieve myself, but not without missing most of the pre-race events. The one thing that I was able to see was the flyovers of the F18s and CH53s. I almost missed the UPS truck that I needed to drop my bag off with. They were closing the back doors as I was coming up to them.
Now on the way to the start line.
As I was making my way there, along with a lot of other folks, I was slowing getting my warm up cloths off.
I had a very baggy sweet suit on that my wife wanted me to throw out months ago. I don't much like throwing things out but I will save that issue for another time.
I was using this as a throwaway/donate outfit. It was keeping me warm but it was now time to get the blood moving.
I discarded the old sweet suit as I was very close to the start line. Music was blaring. Spectators were cheering. Blood was starting to flow. I kept telling myself "not too fast. not too fast. keep it slow."
My last marathon I went out too fast and could not keep the pace going and had to walk a lot of the second half of the race. I was not making that mistake again.
As I am getting close to the start line, what do my ears hear? Justin Bieber singing Baby.
Well my daughter is in love with Justin Bieber. So I crossed the start line listening to Justin Bieber, with A smile on my face as I had a picture of my daughter in my mind. What a way to start a 26.2 mile run in and around our Nations Capital!
So here we go. The first couple of miles were nice. I was going at a nice easy pace keeping in mind that the first 3 miles go up for an elevation gain of about 120 feet. As the elevation starts to go down we come to one of the most secluded parts of the marathon route. This is part of Spout Run Parkway and it is very wooded. There are not many spectators along this part of the route, but there are some. Now we are coming up to mile 4 and crossing the Key Bridge into Washington DC.
We come into the area know as Georgetown. I started looking for my Brother in law who was also running. He is one of the main reasons why I got into running and why I still continue today. Again, this we will hold off for another time. Well as luck would have I saw him. He was coming down from the Georgetown Reservoir and I was going on my way up it. This was just after mile 5.
Now, in my opinion this is one of the harder parts of the course. From mile 6 to mile 7 your elevation goes up just about 40 feet. That is not so bad, but then from mile 7 to mile 8 you go up about 80 feet. If that was not bad enough then you start to come down. From Mile 8 to mile 9 the elevation drop is about 100 feet, then you drop about another 40 feet to mile 10. We are now on part of the course for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler, which I have run before so there are really no surprises.
From here on out the elevation change is minimal, however we are now coming to East Potomac Park which is typically the dead zone. Not very many spectators. True to form, there were not many.
Well we come out of East Potomac Park and come around the Tidal Basin and head toward the Lincoln Memorial. This is on the Western part of the mall. We come around the Lincoln Memorial and start heading east down Constitution Ave. Just after mile 17 we pass by the White House on our left and the Washington Monument on our right.
What do my eyes see? My family and friends. What Joy! This was a good boost and pick me up that I needed. I was starting to feel tired and seeing them definitely picked my spirits up.
From here we are making our way on the mall toward the Capital Building. Here we had to deal with pedestrian cross traffic. It was not that bad. I had heard horror stories from some runners about how some people will walk right out in front of you while they are pushing a stroller and not even try to get out of the way. Well I did not see any of that here, of course I was also trying to pay attention so that I did not run into anybody.
Well we round the Capital and start heading back west. I was hoping that I might see some of my family and friends but I did not. The streets were really lined with people now, everyone was really cheering. It finally dawned on me as I turned the corner on to 14th street. We were headed toward the infamous Bridge. Here it is. Mile marker 20 at the start of the bridge. Well it was safe to say I beat the bridge, and no I really did not have any doubt that I would make it this far, but I am also smart enough to realize that anything can happen.
There was a sign that said something along the lines of "this bridge is your bitch". Well I could not help myself. I ran over and high 5ed the sign. I felt great. I accomplished one of my goals. By this point I was around 3:45. With just under a 10k left to go, I could see that my goal of getting in under 5 hours was there. Just needed to get over this bridge.
Well I am not really sure what happened after that. My feet started to hurt. My knees started to hurt. I was getting really fatigued. I did not feel like I was loosing energy, it was my body feeling tired. I tried pushing on but I felt the need to walk a bit. It did not help at all that the bridge was void of any spectators.
Well here I come into Crystal City. I am still hurting and now I am starting to look at my watch and focusing on the time. I was looking at my watch for most of the race, but earlier I was not looking at time, I was looking at my heart rate. I was trying to focus on keeping it as low as possible. For the most part I thought I did a good job at that. But now I was starting to get upset. As I was coming out of Crystal City, I started to see my goal of a 4:45 vanish, but I could still get under 5 hours. Had to press on.
Coming up on mile 25 near the Pentagon and the original start line my legs were really feeling it and I started to see the under 5 hour slip further and further. I started to get really down on myself.
After a brief absence of spectators while we were passing by the Pentagon, the streets started to fill up again. It was helping. I had taped my name on the front of my shirt and people were giving me encouragement. It was helping. There was a time where I wanted to sit on the side of the road and pout and cry like a little kid that did not get their way. I did not. I knew my wife was waiting for me at the finish, and so was my metal. I was going to finish!
Rounding the corner and up the incline to the Iwo Jima Memorial and the finish line.
I DID IT! I finished the 35th Marine Corp Marathon.
My official time: 5:05:37
My wife asked me if I would do another one. I was quick to answer. I said NO. Well, I have since changed my mind. I will do another marathon. I don't plan on in 2011 but I might in 2012.
I am going to change my focus now. I am going to work on improving my speed.
My PR for the 5k is 27:04. I would like to get down to 25
My PR for the 10k is 59:19 and I am really happy with that. Looking at getting under 55.
My PR for the 10 mile is 1:42:26. I would like to get it as close to 1:30 as possible.
My half marathon PR is 2:15:35. My ultimate goal would be to get it down to 2 hours.
So there it is in writing for me to look back at and say WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?!?!
No seriously. I feel that all of these are obtainable, but it is going to be a lot of hard work and cross training. I will get there.
Look for more posts from me. I plan on posting once a week.
thanks for reading. Any and all comments are welcomed.
2010 sure was a great one. I ran in some good races with no regrets.
Well I am going to start off with a post that should have been put up 2 months ago.
This is my race report for the 35th annual Marine Corp Marathon.
I woke up and was very excited. This was my second Marathon that I was running. The summer was hot and the training was hard. I don't like running in the heat, but I was happy when I saw that the temperature was forcasted to be in the low 50s. NICE!
So I got myself dressed and organized my gear. I had already arranged to hook a ride with a buddy who was running as well. I met him at the local shopping center and we drove to one of the DC metro stops. We talked about the training that we did, how hot the summer was and how great the weather was going to be. We also chatted about what our goals were. My goals were as follows:
Always to just finish - or beat the bridge in this case.
knock it out of the park 4:30
main goal: 4:45
what I would live with: 5:00
So just to cover it, the beat the bridge is getting to the 14th Street Bridge just after mile maker 20 at a quicker then a 14 minute per mile pace. If you are not able to keep that pace then you will be required to board the straggler buses, taken to the event finish area and thus not completing the marathon.
Well that was not going to happen to me! And it didn't but we will get to that later.
So we get to the Metro stop and I felt a little like I had to pee but decided not to for what ever reason. This will come back to haunt me a little.
The ride on Metro was fine. A lot of other runners and spectators were riding so it was empty but not jam packed either. We had to switch trains and that went fine, no issues, except my bladder was starting to feel full. There are no public restrooms available in any of the Metro stops we were at and with the amount of people that were around there was no way to tastefully relieve myself.
So we get to the final stop and I am starting to look for a place to pee. We were let out at the Pentagon and I just did not feel comfortable just peeing anywhere. The good news if you will, was that I was moving and not standing still so I could distract myself a bit.
We walked for a while and then had to go through a check point. No big deal. The lines moved very quickly. Then we got to the runners village and the portapotties where I got in line.
Well I was finally able to get into a portapotty to relieve myself, but not without missing most of the pre-race events. The one thing that I was able to see was the flyovers of the F18s and CH53s. I almost missed the UPS truck that I needed to drop my bag off with. They were closing the back doors as I was coming up to them.
Now on the way to the start line.
As I was making my way there, along with a lot of other folks, I was slowing getting my warm up cloths off.
I had a very baggy sweet suit on that my wife wanted me to throw out months ago. I don't much like throwing things out but I will save that issue for another time.
I was using this as a throwaway/donate outfit. It was keeping me warm but it was now time to get the blood moving.
I discarded the old sweet suit as I was very close to the start line. Music was blaring. Spectators were cheering. Blood was starting to flow. I kept telling myself "not too fast. not too fast. keep it slow."
My last marathon I went out too fast and could not keep the pace going and had to walk a lot of the second half of the race. I was not making that mistake again.
As I am getting close to the start line, what do my ears hear? Justin Bieber singing Baby.
Well my daughter is in love with Justin Bieber. So I crossed the start line listening to Justin Bieber, with A smile on my face as I had a picture of my daughter in my mind. What a way to start a 26.2 mile run in and around our Nations Capital!
So here we go. The first couple of miles were nice. I was going at a nice easy pace keeping in mind that the first 3 miles go up for an elevation gain of about 120 feet. As the elevation starts to go down we come to one of the most secluded parts of the marathon route. This is part of Spout Run Parkway and it is very wooded. There are not many spectators along this part of the route, but there are some. Now we are coming up to mile 4 and crossing the Key Bridge into Washington DC.
We come into the area know as Georgetown. I started looking for my Brother in law who was also running. He is one of the main reasons why I got into running and why I still continue today. Again, this we will hold off for another time. Well as luck would have I saw him. He was coming down from the Georgetown Reservoir and I was going on my way up it. This was just after mile 5.
Now, in my opinion this is one of the harder parts of the course. From mile 6 to mile 7 your elevation goes up just about 40 feet. That is not so bad, but then from mile 7 to mile 8 you go up about 80 feet. If that was not bad enough then you start to come down. From Mile 8 to mile 9 the elevation drop is about 100 feet, then you drop about another 40 feet to mile 10. We are now on part of the course for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler, which I have run before so there are really no surprises.
From here on out the elevation change is minimal, however we are now coming to East Potomac Park which is typically the dead zone. Not very many spectators. True to form, there were not many.
Well we come out of East Potomac Park and come around the Tidal Basin and head toward the Lincoln Memorial. This is on the Western part of the mall. We come around the Lincoln Memorial and start heading east down Constitution Ave. Just after mile 17 we pass by the White House on our left and the Washington Monument on our right.
What do my eyes see? My family and friends. What Joy! This was a good boost and pick me up that I needed. I was starting to feel tired and seeing them definitely picked my spirits up.
From here we are making our way on the mall toward the Capital Building. Here we had to deal with pedestrian cross traffic. It was not that bad. I had heard horror stories from some runners about how some people will walk right out in front of you while they are pushing a stroller and not even try to get out of the way. Well I did not see any of that here, of course I was also trying to pay attention so that I did not run into anybody.
Well we round the Capital and start heading back west. I was hoping that I might see some of my family and friends but I did not. The streets were really lined with people now, everyone was really cheering. It finally dawned on me as I turned the corner on to 14th street. We were headed toward the infamous Bridge. Here it is. Mile marker 20 at the start of the bridge. Well it was safe to say I beat the bridge, and no I really did not have any doubt that I would make it this far, but I am also smart enough to realize that anything can happen.
There was a sign that said something along the lines of "this bridge is your bitch". Well I could not help myself. I ran over and high 5ed the sign. I felt great. I accomplished one of my goals. By this point I was around 3:45. With just under a 10k left to go, I could see that my goal of getting in under 5 hours was there. Just needed to get over this bridge.
Well I am not really sure what happened after that. My feet started to hurt. My knees started to hurt. I was getting really fatigued. I did not feel like I was loosing energy, it was my body feeling tired. I tried pushing on but I felt the need to walk a bit. It did not help at all that the bridge was void of any spectators.
Well here I come into Crystal City. I am still hurting and now I am starting to look at my watch and focusing on the time. I was looking at my watch for most of the race, but earlier I was not looking at time, I was looking at my heart rate. I was trying to focus on keeping it as low as possible. For the most part I thought I did a good job at that. But now I was starting to get upset. As I was coming out of Crystal City, I started to see my goal of a 4:45 vanish, but I could still get under 5 hours. Had to press on.
Coming up on mile 25 near the Pentagon and the original start line my legs were really feeling it and I started to see the under 5 hour slip further and further. I started to get really down on myself.
After a brief absence of spectators while we were passing by the Pentagon, the streets started to fill up again. It was helping. I had taped my name on the front of my shirt and people were giving me encouragement. It was helping. There was a time where I wanted to sit on the side of the road and pout and cry like a little kid that did not get their way. I did not. I knew my wife was waiting for me at the finish, and so was my metal. I was going to finish!
Rounding the corner and up the incline to the Iwo Jima Memorial and the finish line.
I DID IT! I finished the 35th Marine Corp Marathon.
My official time: 5:05:37
My wife asked me if I would do another one. I was quick to answer. I said NO. Well, I have since changed my mind. I will do another marathon. I don't plan on in 2011 but I might in 2012.
I am going to change my focus now. I am going to work on improving my speed.
My PR for the 5k is 27:04. I would like to get down to 25
My PR for the 10k is 59:19 and I am really happy with that. Looking at getting under 55.
My PR for the 10 mile is 1:42:26. I would like to get it as close to 1:30 as possible.
My half marathon PR is 2:15:35. My ultimate goal would be to get it down to 2 hours.
So there it is in writing for me to look back at and say WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?!?!
No seriously. I feel that all of these are obtainable, but it is going to be a lot of hard work and cross training. I will get there.
Look for more posts from me. I plan on posting once a week.
thanks for reading. Any and all comments are welcomed.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Will be posting soon
Just to let you know that I am going to continue with this. I am working on up dating my blog.
I will be posting about my experience running in the 35th annual Marine Corp Marathon. It was a blast! I am in the processes of editing it and should be ready to do it this weekend.
I will be posting about my experience running in the 35th annual Marine Corp Marathon. It was a blast! I am in the processes of editing it and should be ready to do it this weekend.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Reflection time
Wow it has been a long time since I have posted. I feel horrible. Well it is time to reflect on the training that I did for the Shamrock Marathon.
Over all I was very pleased with my training. Except for that time that I thought it would be a good idea to go ice skating for an hour an a half and then run 16 miles the next day. That took me out of training for a good 3 weeks. Not fun. Had that not happened I am sure that my time would have been a lot better then 5:24 and change.
Well I have decided to give it another try. I did in fact register for the Marine Corp Marathon. This was originally going to be my first marathon. In looking back, I do feel that I made a good decision. I learned a lot about myself in the training and actually running the Shamrock Marathon. I have a hard time starting out slow, which was part of my down fall for Shamrock. I walked way too much toward the end. But this is a learning experience. I know what I can do, I know what I am capable of doing and I will do a lot better at MCM.
The Shamrock course is very flat. With the Marine Corp, its a little different. With in the first 3 miles there is an elevation change of about +120 feet. From there to mile 6 it is about a change of -90 feet. From mile 6 to 8 there is a change of about +110 feet then you go down again to about 10' at mile maker 10. If you can make it through all of that then the course is very flat until the end. I would say that there are gentle ups and downs until you peak at mile 25 around 30' they you go down to about 15' at mile marker 26 and of course the last .2 miles is about straight up finishing about 80' above sea level. What a climb.
So with that, Marathon training has begun. I have continued to run keeping a very modest base. Looking to start to increase gradually. One thing that I am changing is my overall distance for the weeks. I am starting small first and then gradually adding days and miles. I will also be looking to update my blog on a more regular bases to keep everyone, including myself, tuned into my training.
Thanks for readying and following my journey.
Over all I was very pleased with my training. Except for that time that I thought it would be a good idea to go ice skating for an hour an a half and then run 16 miles the next day. That took me out of training for a good 3 weeks. Not fun. Had that not happened I am sure that my time would have been a lot better then 5:24 and change.
Well I have decided to give it another try. I did in fact register for the Marine Corp Marathon. This was originally going to be my first marathon. In looking back, I do feel that I made a good decision. I learned a lot about myself in the training and actually running the Shamrock Marathon. I have a hard time starting out slow, which was part of my down fall for Shamrock. I walked way too much toward the end. But this is a learning experience. I know what I can do, I know what I am capable of doing and I will do a lot better at MCM.
The Shamrock course is very flat. With the Marine Corp, its a little different. With in the first 3 miles there is an elevation change of about +120 feet. From there to mile 6 it is about a change of -90 feet. From mile 6 to 8 there is a change of about +110 feet then you go down again to about 10' at mile maker 10. If you can make it through all of that then the course is very flat until the end. I would say that there are gentle ups and downs until you peak at mile 25 around 30' they you go down to about 15' at mile marker 26 and of course the last .2 miles is about straight up finishing about 80' above sea level. What a climb.
So with that, Marathon training has begun. I have continued to run keeping a very modest base. Looking to start to increase gradually. One thing that I am changing is my overall distance for the weeks. I am starting small first and then gradually adding days and miles. I will also be looking to update my blog on a more regular bases to keep everyone, including myself, tuned into my training.
Thanks for readying and following my journey.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Clydes 10k
Well with regards to improving my times over previous races, I am now 2 for 2.
On April 11th I ran in the Cherry Blossom 10 miler and improved my time from last year.
One week later, on April 18th I ran in the Clydes 10k in Columbia, MD. This was a very hilly course but I was still able to improve my time from my last 10k. My goal was be done in under an hour. My chip time was 59:19
This was a great time. The after race party is unreal. There is beer, powerade, sodas, chili, pasta, bagels, and tons of fruit.
Well this is going to be a short post as things have gotten really busy for me lately. Well that is life.
My next post will be a reflection of my training based upon my completion of the Shamrock Marathon.
Thanks for reading.
On April 11th I ran in the Cherry Blossom 10 miler and improved my time from last year.
One week later, on April 18th I ran in the Clydes 10k in Columbia, MD. This was a very hilly course but I was still able to improve my time from my last 10k. My goal was be done in under an hour. My chip time was 59:19
This was a great time. The after race party is unreal. There is beer, powerade, sodas, chili, pasta, bagels, and tons of fruit.
Well this is going to be a short post as things have gotten really busy for me lately. Well that is life.
My next post will be a reflection of my training based upon my completion of the Shamrock Marathon.
Thanks for reading.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Cherry Blossom 10 miler
Well it has been very crazy lately. I have been a lot busier then I thought I was going to be.
So back on April 11th I ran in the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 miler held in Washington DC. This was my second time running it and not only did I have just as good a time as last year, I even bet my time. Thats right I got myself a PR by 10 mins. I was really exited about it. It was a nice day, unfortunately the blossoms were about a week past thier peak.
Not much to say as far as a race report is concerned, except for the fact that I had forgotten how many people actually ran in this race. There were times were I almost had to stop running while out on the course.
Now here is something that I need some help with in understanding, and please tell me if I am over analyzing this or not.
The local ABC station was actually a sponsor of the event and had some cameras there covering the event. They aired that special this past weekend - here is the link of a short little news clip. The special was actually a half hour long. http://cfc.wjla.com/videoondemand.cfm?id=62845 Now the reason for posting this link has to do with the finish of the elite men, this is at about 20 secs in. The half hour special that they aired really showed this, but it looked like Lelisa Desisa (7 in red) held out his arm to try to slow down Stephen Tum (19 in green) who ended up winning. I view this as poor sportsmanship and, because there is money involved, think that Lelisa Desisa should be disqualified. Of course this is only my opinion but I would like to get other views about this.
I can not believe that this would be "standard practice". I looked at the web site www.cherryblossom.org and it still shows that Lelisa Desisa was in 2nd and won $4000 in prize money. Anyway, it won't effect me either way I just wanted to share a little of what I saw and see what other thought about it.
Thanks for reading. More to come on my recent PR in a 10k race that I ran over the weekend.
So back on April 11th I ran in the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 miler held in Washington DC. This was my second time running it and not only did I have just as good a time as last year, I even bet my time. Thats right I got myself a PR by 10 mins. I was really exited about it. It was a nice day, unfortunately the blossoms were about a week past thier peak.
Not much to say as far as a race report is concerned, except for the fact that I had forgotten how many people actually ran in this race. There were times were I almost had to stop running while out on the course.
Now here is something that I need some help with in understanding, and please tell me if I am over analyzing this or not.
The local ABC station was actually a sponsor of the event and had some cameras there covering the event. They aired that special this past weekend - here is the link of a short little news clip. The special was actually a half hour long. http://cfc.wjla.com/videoondemand.cfm?id=62845 Now the reason for posting this link has to do with the finish of the elite men, this is at about 20 secs in. The half hour special that they aired really showed this, but it looked like Lelisa Desisa (7 in red) held out his arm to try to slow down Stephen Tum (19 in green) who ended up winning. I view this as poor sportsmanship and, because there is money involved, think that Lelisa Desisa should be disqualified. Of course this is only my opinion but I would like to get other views about this.
I can not believe that this would be "standard practice". I looked at the web site www.cherryblossom.org and it still shows that Lelisa Desisa was in 2nd and won $4000 in prize money. Anyway, it won't effect me either way I just wanted to share a little of what I saw and see what other thought about it.
Thanks for reading. More to come on my recent PR in a 10k race that I ran over the weekend.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Shamrock Marathon Weekend Experience
Here is a report on my first full Marathon experience.
Friday night we drive down to Virginia Beach. Traffic sucked on 95 but then again it always does.
We get to the hotel and check in. We find some friends and talk about dinner plans.
Saturday comes and I plan on taking it as easy as possible.
We look out our window and see some the runner who are participating in the 8k run by. We cheer from our balcony on the 7th floor. I know what it means to hear some cheering going on so I try to give back as much as I can.
We gather up some things and go downstairs for breakfast. We meet up with our friends/family and have small talk. Next up is packet pick up at the expo.
We are less then a mile from the convention center so we walk on down. It was a good walk.
We get to the convention center and sign our waiver, pick up our numbers and shirts and then walk around the vendors.
They had some dancers from An Cor Rud School of Irish Dance. They were very entertaining. My kids, ages 13 and 10, really enjoyed watching them. It kept them busy as my wife and I walked around the vendors. There were a lot of good vendors there with some good deals, bought my wife some new shoes. Of course I had too as I took her bag out of the car while I was packing, some day I will learn......
So we all gather up and start heading back to the hotel. The kids and I get our bathing suits on and head to the pool. My wife and our friends who aren't running go walking around. I sit at the pool reading the latest issue of runners world while my kids swim around.
Carbo loading dinner comes. As I mentioned I was there with some friends and family. My brother in law runs with Columbia Strider's and we had about 30 people at dinner. It was a good time. We talked and ate. Now it was time to get some rest. We walked back to the hotel and watched some of the NCAA tourney then I went to bed around 9 pm.
Race day. This is what it is all about.
My alarm goes off at 5:30 am. I want to be able to wake up and get some food in me but not too much. I have my standard that I have been using before all of my long runs, a nice bowl of Apple and Cinnamon oatmeal. I drink a couple of glasses of water and I almost had a cup of coffee. I usually drink coffee however I never had any coffee before any of my long runs. I was always told, "don't do anything that you didn't do during training".
So I did some very light stretching in our hotel room while my wife and kids got dressed. We go down to the lobby and meet up with everyone else where the hotel had some food out for all the runners. I was too nervous and excited to eat anymore.
Our hotel was about a mile away so at 7 am we start walking down to the start line. It was a nice cool morning, great weather for running. The sun was starting to rise and it was just beautiful.
We make it to the start and I must say that it was kind of nice not having to deal with a huge mob of people. My previous races have been the Cherry Blossom 10 mile and the Baltimore half marathon. These races had maybe 5 times as many people as the Shamrock. So I was able to find my way to the 5 hour pace group with out any issues.
8:00 am comes, temperature at gun time was about 50 degrees. It was nice. I passed over the start line and was looking for my wife and kids. Well I ran right by them and yelled as I passed. Gotta work on that, anyway. As I mentioned it was not too crowded so I was able to get into a grove early and stay with it. We start out heading south to Rudee inlet. I am feeling good. I am right with the 5 hour group. We get to the second water stop right after mile 2 and right before the Rudee Bridge. In hind sight this might have been part of my "downfall". There was some traffic and I got behind 2 girls with very curly hair. All I could smell was hair product. Not really sure how else to describe it. Well with that and the excitement of getting over the bridge, I picked up my pace every slightly. I told myself "ok calm down, you have a ways to go. Just get over the hill and slow down." When I got to the top of the hill I am sure I slowed a little bit but I was feeling good. So from Mile 3 to Mile 8 there really is not much to say. I was just cruising along without a care in the world. At about mile 4.5 we met up with runners coming the other way. I tried to look for my brother in law, who was going for a Boston Qualifier, and other friends. Well I did not see any of them.
At Mile 8 there are no words to really describe the atmosphere. We were on the grounds of Camp Pendleton. We come up to a line of soldiers cheering us on and give us high 5's. This gave me a boost. I was extremely pumped and started to speed up very quickly. I was able to catch myself and slow down. I made a comment to one of the other runners near me that we needed them, the soldiers, closer to the end and not here. She agreed with me.
So on we go, off of the base and coming up to Rudee Bridge and mile 10. All is still going really well. I can tell that it is starting to get warmer so I tell myself to take water at every stop, sometimes 2 cups. We get to the "boardwalk" and there is a nice breeze the kind of cools you off a bit. I am carrying my cell phone with me, pull it out and take a picture of mile marker 11 and send it off to my wife letting her know that I am getter closer. I did the same at mile 12.
As I run past the starting line I can here my wife cheering for me. I made me feel really good. She takes some pictures of me and as I run by we blow each other a kiss. This gave me another little boost. I come up to the half way point and I am feeling ok. Not as good as I did before.
The only thing that I can say from mile 13 to 16 is that there was great crowd support. Could not ask for anything better. Here is where I guess you can say that I hit the wall. From Mile 16 to 22 is fort story, and there is almost nobody there. There are 3 water stops, 2 djs and one band. Here is where I could have used the soldiers from mile 8. Anyway, I kept telling myself that this is my first marathon and it is a huge accomplishment. Not very many people have the courage to do what I am doing. I did not want to walk, but I did. I am not sure where it was but the 5 hour pace guy went right on by. I got down on myself because I wanted to do it in under 5 hours. This is were I came to reflect on my training and all of the words of encouragement that I received from friends, family and strangers. At mile 21 I took a Carb boom along with some Advil, had a "come to Jesus moment" sucked it up and started focusing on a structured run walk plan, because I was damned if I was going to let the sweep bus catch up to me. I started out with run 5 min walk 1. Then started to add a min to the run if I felt good. At Mile 23 I was getting into a well defined groove and by mile 25 I was not walking anymore. I knew the finish was close and what was there besides the finish? My wife and kids!
I started looking at people in front of me and saying I'm going for that one. One by one I would pick off runners. Then we make our turn onto the boardwalk and there it is. I can see the big green finish line banner. My focus is so clear now, and then I see him. The guy that was speed walking the course. I was bound and determined that I was going to cross the finish line before him. I come up next to him, he looks at me and says "come on, I'm walking here, your not going to let me beat you, are you?" Well that was all I needed. It gave me an extra pep and I darted to the finish line at 5:24:29. There is almost no better feeling then to finish what you set out to do, have your family there to embrace you at the end, and to top it off, you get your name called out as you are crossing the finish line. WHAT JOY!!! I did it, and yes a tear did come to my eye.
What an experience. Feeling the way that I felt at the end makes me want to sign up for my second marathon, only problem is that registration has not opened yet. Now if you would have asked me between miles 16 and 22 I would have cussed at you.
I have learn a lot and plan on putting that to good use in the months and years to come.
Thanks for reading.
Friday night we drive down to Virginia Beach. Traffic sucked on 95 but then again it always does.
We get to the hotel and check in. We find some friends and talk about dinner plans.
Saturday comes and I plan on taking it as easy as possible.
We look out our window and see some the runner who are participating in the 8k run by. We cheer from our balcony on the 7th floor. I know what it means to hear some cheering going on so I try to give back as much as I can.
We gather up some things and go downstairs for breakfast. We meet up with our friends/family and have small talk. Next up is packet pick up at the expo.
We are less then a mile from the convention center so we walk on down. It was a good walk.
We get to the convention center and sign our waiver, pick up our numbers and shirts and then walk around the vendors.
They had some dancers from An Cor Rud School of Irish Dance. They were very entertaining. My kids, ages 13 and 10, really enjoyed watching them. It kept them busy as my wife and I walked around the vendors. There were a lot of good vendors there with some good deals, bought my wife some new shoes. Of course I had too as I took her bag out of the car while I was packing, some day I will learn......
So we all gather up and start heading back to the hotel. The kids and I get our bathing suits on and head to the pool. My wife and our friends who aren't running go walking around. I sit at the pool reading the latest issue of runners world while my kids swim around.
Carbo loading dinner comes. As I mentioned I was there with some friends and family. My brother in law runs with Columbia Strider's and we had about 30 people at dinner. It was a good time. We talked and ate. Now it was time to get some rest. We walked back to the hotel and watched some of the NCAA tourney then I went to bed around 9 pm.
Race day. This is what it is all about.
My alarm goes off at 5:30 am. I want to be able to wake up and get some food in me but not too much. I have my standard that I have been using before all of my long runs, a nice bowl of Apple and Cinnamon oatmeal. I drink a couple of glasses of water and I almost had a cup of coffee. I usually drink coffee however I never had any coffee before any of my long runs. I was always told, "don't do anything that you didn't do during training".
So I did some very light stretching in our hotel room while my wife and kids got dressed. We go down to the lobby and meet up with everyone else where the hotel had some food out for all the runners. I was too nervous and excited to eat anymore.
Our hotel was about a mile away so at 7 am we start walking down to the start line. It was a nice cool morning, great weather for running. The sun was starting to rise and it was just beautiful.
We make it to the start and I must say that it was kind of nice not having to deal with a huge mob of people. My previous races have been the Cherry Blossom 10 mile and the Baltimore half marathon. These races had maybe 5 times as many people as the Shamrock. So I was able to find my way to the 5 hour pace group with out any issues.
8:00 am comes, temperature at gun time was about 50 degrees. It was nice. I passed over the start line and was looking for my wife and kids. Well I ran right by them and yelled as I passed. Gotta work on that, anyway. As I mentioned it was not too crowded so I was able to get into a grove early and stay with it. We start out heading south to Rudee inlet. I am feeling good. I am right with the 5 hour group. We get to the second water stop right after mile 2 and right before the Rudee Bridge. In hind sight this might have been part of my "downfall". There was some traffic and I got behind 2 girls with very curly hair. All I could smell was hair product. Not really sure how else to describe it. Well with that and the excitement of getting over the bridge, I picked up my pace every slightly. I told myself "ok calm down, you have a ways to go. Just get over the hill and slow down." When I got to the top of the hill I am sure I slowed a little bit but I was feeling good. So from Mile 3 to Mile 8 there really is not much to say. I was just cruising along without a care in the world. At about mile 4.5 we met up with runners coming the other way. I tried to look for my brother in law, who was going for a Boston Qualifier, and other friends. Well I did not see any of them.
At Mile 8 there are no words to really describe the atmosphere. We were on the grounds of Camp Pendleton. We come up to a line of soldiers cheering us on and give us high 5's. This gave me a boost. I was extremely pumped and started to speed up very quickly. I was able to catch myself and slow down. I made a comment to one of the other runners near me that we needed them, the soldiers, closer to the end and not here. She agreed with me.
So on we go, off of the base and coming up to Rudee Bridge and mile 10. All is still going really well. I can tell that it is starting to get warmer so I tell myself to take water at every stop, sometimes 2 cups. We get to the "boardwalk" and there is a nice breeze the kind of cools you off a bit. I am carrying my cell phone with me, pull it out and take a picture of mile marker 11 and send it off to my wife letting her know that I am getter closer. I did the same at mile 12.
As I run past the starting line I can here my wife cheering for me. I made me feel really good. She takes some pictures of me and as I run by we blow each other a kiss. This gave me another little boost. I come up to the half way point and I am feeling ok. Not as good as I did before.
The only thing that I can say from mile 13 to 16 is that there was great crowd support. Could not ask for anything better. Here is where I guess you can say that I hit the wall. From Mile 16 to 22 is fort story, and there is almost nobody there. There are 3 water stops, 2 djs and one band. Here is where I could have used the soldiers from mile 8. Anyway, I kept telling myself that this is my first marathon and it is a huge accomplishment. Not very many people have the courage to do what I am doing. I did not want to walk, but I did. I am not sure where it was but the 5 hour pace guy went right on by. I got down on myself because I wanted to do it in under 5 hours. This is were I came to reflect on my training and all of the words of encouragement that I received from friends, family and strangers. At mile 21 I took a Carb boom along with some Advil, had a "come to Jesus moment" sucked it up and started focusing on a structured run walk plan, because I was damned if I was going to let the sweep bus catch up to me. I started out with run 5 min walk 1. Then started to add a min to the run if I felt good. At Mile 23 I was getting into a well defined groove and by mile 25 I was not walking anymore. I knew the finish was close and what was there besides the finish? My wife and kids!
I started looking at people in front of me and saying I'm going for that one. One by one I would pick off runners. Then we make our turn onto the boardwalk and there it is. I can see the big green finish line banner. My focus is so clear now, and then I see him. The guy that was speed walking the course. I was bound and determined that I was going to cross the finish line before him. I come up next to him, he looks at me and says "come on, I'm walking here, your not going to let me beat you, are you?" Well that was all I needed. It gave me an extra pep and I darted to the finish line at 5:24:29. There is almost no better feeling then to finish what you set out to do, have your family there to embrace you at the end, and to top it off, you get your name called out as you are crossing the finish line. WHAT JOY!!! I did it, and yes a tear did come to my eye.
What an experience. Feeling the way that I felt at the end makes me want to sign up for my second marathon, only problem is that registration has not opened yet. Now if you would have asked me between miles 16 and 22 I would have cussed at you.
I have learn a lot and plan on putting that to good use in the months and years to come.
Thanks for reading.
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