Dope Threads...

So my wife and I have a tradition, as a photographer she is always looking for cool shots, so we started laying out my race day gear the night before major races.. and she takes this pic.

I was reppin' the Crow Athletics and of course Saucony to the fullest!

Next time I rock this outfit.. April 18 2011

Enter the BQ... (26.2 Chambers of Death)

SPOILER ALERT:  I'm going to Boston!

Just in case you didn't want to read this whole report, I saved you the hassle with the spoiler, but if you want to re-run this race with me, please read on... it was wicked.

     Saturday

     Saturday morning I woke up after a great nights sleep, and to my surprise Brianne went to my running trail (Kennebec River Rail Trail) with me, and although she's 8.5 months pregnant she walked a couple miles while I did a very easy 3 miles to shake out my nerves.   From there, we had an awesome breakfast at A1 Diner, got our stuff together for the trip and we were off.

     Portland is 50min from our house, could we have just stayed at home and woke up early? Yea, of course.  But, it's my marathon, and I didn't want to chance ANYTHING, so we grabbed a hotel room in Freeport (15min from race).  whateva..

     The expo/pick-up was at the University of Southern Maine, which is my wife's alma-mater, so she was thrilled to walk the campus again and show me some of the sites, it was cool to hear some of her stories, even if all I was thinking about was the race... (sorry baby).  

     Grabbed my race packet, walked around real quick and bounced ASAP for some veggie-pizza and an organic IPA at Flatbread, then hit the hotel to put my feet up and watch Notre Dame trounce BC!

my wheels on raceday.. Saucony Fastwitch (awesome shoe)

Race Day!

      So, I know I have some friends whom have kids, so they can relate...but trying to get some sleep before a marathon, next to a pregnant wife (no matter how beautiful she is) is rough.  So after a solid 2-3 hours of shut eye, Im up at 5am ready to go.

     Usual pre-marathon bagel w/PB, banana and some coffee to get going, and we are off to the start.  Brianne walked me to the start area and took my warm-ups, we had our little pre-race moment, and I kissed her belly to get some luck from Abrahm.  I told him his dad wouldn't let him down today, and I nearly cried...  

     It's about 46 degrees now, which is chilly but perfect for the start.. so I head out for an easy warm-up.  Did a mix of jogging/walking/active stretching for about 3/4 mile before lining up in the pack.  Found my friend Aaron who was running the half, and we decided to run the first mile together to warm up.

I never heard the director talk or give announcements, just heard a canon BOOM.. and we're off...

Mile 1 - 7:21

Glad I started a few rows deep, kept me from going out too fast.  I thought I was running a lot slower than this, as I went by feel vs. my Garmin early on.  Estimate it took me 10-15 seconds to cross the start mat (finish time says it took 9).  Aaron and I take it super easy, and joke around as we easily pass a lot of people.  At the mile 1 mark I tell him to go to work, he's only got 12 more to do, and I've got 25!

Mile 2- 7:03
Mile 3 - 7:03
Mile 4 - 7:00
Mile 5- 7:02
Mile 6 - 7:08
Mile 7 - 7:06
These early miles always seem to go by so damn fast!  I was trying to run 7:10 miles, but these low 7s felt so easy, felt like I should just go with the flow.  I wore my Crow Athletics race singlet, manly because I really like the club philosophy, and also because wearing all black worked well for Johnny Cash.  The advantage of wearing a Crow singlet in Maine, is that people recognize it and I got a lot of cheers because of it.. dope.

Somewhere around here was the turnaround for the half runners, so I got a real big boost seeing some of the half-leaders turn around and head back to Portland.  My friend Bunker was in 2nd place and I was stoked to see him, he finished a disappointing 2nd due to injury. 

It was funny after the turnaround.... because it went from real noisy... to dead silence, now it was just the marathoners.  Time to do work.

Mile 8 - 7:13
Aside from mile 1, this was my slowest mile so far (but still on great pace), due to a slight incline...

 Mile 9 - 7:09
Hit mile 9 knowing I have one more to go before my friend Bob Wiles was planning on jumping in to pace the last 16 with me.  Without embarrassing him, google his running results... dude is fast.  From my hometown, and played high school football with me, and also never started running until almost 30 (just like me).  He inspires the shit outta me!

Mile 10 - 7:12
This mile is a tad slower because it was so much downhill I had to hold back a little, out of nowhere Bob jumps in with me and we are off... 10 mile warm-up was over.

Mile 11- 6:59
Mile 12 - 7:02
The boost of energy I got when Bob jumped in showed with these mile times.  It was great to have him with me, and really calmed me down.  I mentioned we are running these a bit fast, and he tells me to run how I feel and not worry about the watch. I like that.   Somewhere here I pop a Hammer Gel, tasted like crap.

The cool thing about having a pacer who is capable of a 2:45 marathon, was that he'd cruise up ahead... grab my fluids for me and run next to me with them...  THATS service!

 Mile 13 - 7:02
Right before the mile 13 marker is the most odd section Ive ever seen on a race, you do down a short dirt road for maybe 75 yards, turn around a cone, run back, then continue down the main route.  Weird... 

Timing mat was at the 13.1 marker and I cross in 1:33, perfect!  Bob says "Ok, 7 mile warm-up, then we got a 10k race.."

Mile 14 - 7:02
Mile 15 - 7:12
Mile 16 - 6:54
These miles seemed to tick off rather easy, we were now headed back towards Portland and I was passing a lot of runners both in front of me, and those who were behind us who had not yet hit the turnaround. 

Mile 17 - 7:22
This is one of the biggest climbs of the day, and caused us to drop off pace a bit, Bob assured me we were OK, we had banked enough time, and a slow mile wasn't going to effect much.  Real happy at this being a "slow" mile!

 Mile 18 - 6:56
Another fast mile (would be the last one)
 Mile 19 - 7:17
 Mile 20 - 7:18
These miles clicked off as I knew it was about to become a 10k race.   We start talking about the only thing that matters now is how far under 3:10 I'm going...  I liked the thought of that.  I'm still passing a few runners whom went out too fast.  Until....

Mile 21 - 7:40
I start to doubt myself.  I developed the most horrible side-stitch ever during this mile.  I can't get a full load of oxygen, I can't swallow anymore Gatorade, and I tried to take my 2nd (and final HammerGel), but as soon as it hits my lips I nearly puke.    7:45 pace feels like 5k race pace to me right now, and my mind is yelling at me to quit.... no fucking way.

 Mile 22 - 7:28
 Mile 23 - 7:35
 Mile 24 - 7:26
Try to focus on my legs, as they actually felt fine.  Which is attributed to my fitness and training... but still, the stitch has overcome my body/mind.  I know I have enough time "banked" that a few 7:30-7:45 miles will still PROBABLY get me to Boston, but it's getting scary.

 Mile 25 - 7:32
Some math lets me figure out I can get it if I just keep this pace, no matter how much my stomach hurts... I'm getting it, which is a decision I made 5 miles ago... and I was not going to stop.

 Mile 26 - 7:15
With one mile out I knew I had it.  I just needed to harden the fuck up & keep running.  Heading into Portland I knew the finish was going to be within sight soon, as the cheers grew louder, the crowd more dense, then finally... the most fantastic thing I have ever seen THE CLOCK!  

It read 3:09:XX, and was within striking distance..... I had calculated I was :18 seconds off (chip time/gun time) so knew I had a bit of play.  I did my best Kevin Garnett, as I nearly ripped my singlet off before going into victory pose as I crossed the mat.  The clock reads 3:10:10, my Garmin read 3:10:00.  I know it's a BQ, but inside I'm praying for a 3:09:59 (why... because it just sounds better!).

punched my ticket to Beantown

     So there ya have it.  I BQ'd.  Come to found out, that side-stitch was a strained muscle in my abdominals.  Never would have thought my only injury in a marathon would be ABOVE the waist.  The pain was worse about 48 hours after the marathon, and it took some adjusting to find a comfortable spot to sleep for a few nights, as I write this in Friday morning it's feeling better... and I plan on heading out for some easy miles this weekend.
    
     I started running in late-June 2009, 15 months (and 35lbs.) later I qualified for Boston.  As happy as I am with what I just did, I am in no way satisfied... and can't stop thinking about how much more work I have to do to find out what I'm really capable of.  For now, I'm going to enjoy this.

     Whats the future hold?  Well, running is on the backburner for a while, because in a few weeks I'm going to be a father, (he's due on Halloween!).  I can not wait to welcome Abrahm into the world, and I hope he is proud to know his dad is a runner, a legit runner, who he'll see run Boston.

my support team at the finish

Sugarloaf 05.16.10

"The marathon can humble you"

Yea? No shit Bill Rodgers!

To be brief, I ran the Sugarloaf Marathon yesterday at the beautiful Sugarloaf Mountain resort up here in Maine.  http://www.sugarloaf.com/

I finished in 3:14, 4 minutes shy of my goal, 4 minutes shy of punching my ticket to the 2011 Boston Marathon. Goddammit!

I woke up around 4:45am on Sunday, got somewhere around 4-5 hours of sleep which was a pleasant surprise, as my nerves were insane in the brain! Had usual pre-race breakfast of a bagel smothered with peanut butter, a banana and all the coffee I get chug. The coffee did the trick, and um.."cleaned me out" as I needed.

The resort provides shuttles to the start (about 11 miles away), but after talking to a couple dudes I met at the dinner they said it's stupid to board a bus and wait at the start for an hour if you can just convince your wife to do it. Since my wife is fucking awesome, and the greatest human being on the planet she had no problem getting up early with me... I love her so much. So I laughed as I enjoyed my coffee and looked out the window as runners were herded onto school busses... suckers.

Race start is 7am, so at about 6:20 we hopped in our car and drove to the start... you have to drive the course in reverse to get there, so for every downhill we hit... it would be an uphill for me, yea that sucked. Got to the campground area which is the starting point, and it looks like LOTS of other people did the same, as runners are chillin' in their cars with other loving wives/husbands.

I'm instantly surprised about how warm it is already in Northwest Maine at 6:40am, and take my warm-ups off. Brianne (my wife), takes my warm-ups, kisses me goodbye, wishes me luck and says she'll see me at the 10k mark. I talk to 2-3 runners I recognize, but am too nervous to just chill so I go for an easy .5 run to loosen up until I hear a bull-horn yell "5 MINUTES!!!!"

So a weird thing about this race, it's not chip-timed... I'm not really down with that shit, so I lined up about 2 deep from the guy who won it last year. Then a dude (obviously a local) comes out in the middle of the road with a huge double-barrel shotgun.... umm, I guess this is the "start-gun". 5,4,3,2,1..BOOM! Tap the Garmin and Im off....



Mile 1 7:12

Wasted no time finding a fast pace. From my research, I planned on being super conservative in the first 5k and just use it as a warm-up, and I actually thought I was running slow…keeping it below 7:10 was a struggle as my feet wanted to propel me to the finish already. I eased back as much as possible, but with such a small crowd, there wasn’t much holding me back.



Mile 2 7:19

The pack starts to thin out as the fast people take off, the people that started too fast get passed, and us “leaders of the middle packers” start to settle in. Hit this mark with ease.

Mile 3 7:17

Ok, 5k down..and Im feeling awesome. There was a water stop somewhere right before this, and I grabbed a quick rinse of h2O.

Mile 4 7:18

This is the first time it hit me in my mind that “holy shit dude, you’re going to do this”. My splits were right exactly where I wanted them..a tad slower than 3:10 pace, but I was being conservative. It’s here I really settle in and meet this awesome dude named Jeremy. He’s from Boston, we talk sports, life, and about how we’re gonna chill out at 7:15ish pace and get this done.

Mile 5 7:23

We head through a small downtown area, with a few “fans”. A little slow.

Mile 6 7:11

Right before the marker Brianne is up ahead with a Hammer Gel and my water bottle… I run ahead of Jeremy and grab a gel and a swig of G2…. I throw my bottle back to my beautiful one-woman support crew, but I miss her and it breaks..oops.

Mile 7 7:20

Shit, here come some hills.

Mile 8 7:24

Steady, Jeremy and I keep eachother on task, checking in with eachother, talking about our tactics for the upcoming climb. Still feel awesome.

Mile 9 8:02

Big climb here, I cut my stride down, and stay in control going up this climb…. Figured if I got around 8min/mile I could still make it up on the downhill.

Mile 10 7:39

Climb evens out a bit, but these rolling hills suck.

Mile 11 7:12

Sweet, back on pace.

Mile 12 6:50

A COMPLETE downhill. Like, fucking gnarly, hold on tight, touch the brakes or you’re out of control downhill….

Mile 13 7:10

This brings you back past the resort, still cruising from the downhill, I meet Brianne again.. hop over to the side of the road and plant a huge kiss on her face. Some woman came up to her and said that was the sweetest thing she ever saw.

Mile 14 7:11

Still cruising. Hit the 13.1 mark at 1:35, just what I was looking for!

Mile 15 7:13

Stoked that Im right on pace, I continue thinking if I just take a few seconds off per mile, I’ll have no problem..

Mile 16 6:56

It’s downhill, the weather is beautiful and Jeremy and I are CRUISING! We laugh a little when we accidently get under 7min/mile again… this shit is easy (hah!)

Mile 17 7:03

At 16.2 we start talking about imagining that 10mile route you have, the one from your front door and back that is exactly 10 miles..and that’s all we have left! Start the countdown!

Mile 18 7:20

A tad slower than planned, but we are counting the single-digits to Boston!

Mile 19 7:18

Cruising, cant wait to see that 20 mile mark!

Mile 20 7:23

Something goes wrong, and my buddy starts falling back. For the past 6 miles we were joined by another dude, and we supported each other the whole way. Besides us 3, you can barely see anyone in front or behind us…. We are in no-mans land!

Mile 21 7:19

Jeremy is dropping back farther, and my new buddy and I say that we just cut that 10 mile route in half!



Mile 22 7:16

I feel my toe EXPLODE! (check out the pic). I’m still on time, but my foot hurts like a mutha… (this will be my last race in Nike!)

Mile 23 7:16

Doing my best to forget the pain, but now I’m all alone. Both my partners dropped off my pace, and the doubts start creeping in my mind. Looking back, I doubt if I’ll ever run such a small race again (at least not trying to BQ). Being alone in life is scary, being alone in a marathon is HELL!

Mile 24 7:22

More doubts creeping in my head, I start trying to do the math to figure out if Im close to a BQ or not? I should have prepped better and figured out my splits… goddammit why didn’t I do that??

I’m still running alone, but I’m creeping up on runners ahead…I think if I catch them they can get me to Boston, but it’s a mirage because they crashed and are jogging in..

Mile 25 7:31

Still alone, I realize a 3:10 is not going to happen, and to put it frankly… I said “fuck it”, started crying like a wimp, and basically gave up.

Mile 26 9:54 (seriously?!?)

Mentally I was gone, pissed, and hurt. Physically my legs burned, but I had more in them. I’ll admit right now I had more in me, and if you know me… it hurts to say that. I turn around and can see Jeremy around the bend, so I slow to that stupid walk/jog people do when they cross in front of you in a parking lot… he catches up and we both apologize to eachother for not getting us there.

There’s a waterstop somewhere before the marker, I stop grab a full cup of Gatorade, walk for a minute to collect myself and turn it on for the final .2 to the finish.

26.2- FINISH 2:20

Embarrassed as I see my wife cheering for me, she knew once she saw the clock strike 3:10 and I wasn’t in sight how angry I’d be. I try to smile for a picture or 2, but have a hard time being excited…

So, looking back I can already see mistakes (which is good), and writing this actually pissed me off. I had a BQ in my reach and I let it go, but I learned a ton about the distance and even more about my ability.

I’m not blaming the guys I ran with (I blame the desolate course) but when they dropped off it sucked. I’m 100% sure that if we could have stayed together, we’d have our rooms booked for next April.

Oh well! On the way home Brianne and I had a blast, we stopped for pizza, for ice cream, and hopped out of the car to take some beautiful landscape photography. When I got home, I put my feet up, watched the Celtics bet the Magic, Oh…and signed up for the Maine Marathon on Oct. 3rd… where I WILL get that BQ!

So, I made my return to running after an 8 year lay-off in June 2009.  I weighed 205lbs, and wanted to get back in running shape, and beat my old PRs.  I ran my first marathon just 5 months later in 3:36, and yesterday I dropped 22 minutes off that.  I'm now 170lbs, and even though I'm faster/fitter than ever, I still have a ton of work to do, all things considered...  that 3:14 doesnt seem too bad now!

Finally, I need to give major props to my amazing, beautiful, 16 week pregant wife Brianne for not only putting up with this stupid addiction I have, but supporting me 100%.   I could never do this without her, and knowing that at 26.2, I win her.  Every single time.
 
Not too shabby for only being a "runner" for 10.5 months huh?  Jay-Z says it best... "On to tha next one.."