The Greatest Throwback Thursday of 2016 So Far

It's been awhile. I've been following an advanced marathon training plan that includes daily running and workouts. That's right, I said DAILY. As in... Every. Single. Day. Running. I've put in more miles in the past five months than in most full years of training. If you read my last post, you can probably guess that's because I qualified for Boston in October by 31 seconds and, as we know, that's a lot of work for not likely being able to register this September. So, I've been working as hard as I can for the race I am going to review today: Sugarloaf Marathon 2016.

I did this race last year and chose to do it again this year in attempt to qualify by a bigger margin. I chose Sugarloaf, because it's a point to point direct course with no twists and turns. It has a little uphill and a lot of downhill. It's within driving distance. The temperatures are perfect there this time of year. And it's a pretty small playing field as far as qualifiers go.

Sugarloaf Marathon Course and Elevation

As soon as the weather began to appear in the 15 day forecast, I was all over it, everyday, sometimes multiple times (you know you've done it) and kinda freaking out a little. Sometimes it showed thunderstorms, sometimes more rain and sometimes less, but always some sort of weather event. I've run in the rain during training and enjoyed it, but never in a race and never for more than 26 miles. I was scared. I worked way too hard to not PR because of hypothermia or wet feet and a blister.

Scary Race Day Prediction

Mallory and I arrived Saturday afternoon in time to receive our bibs and shirts. The line was loooooong and probably took us 30 minutes or more, but Maple Water was passed around and I tried that for the first time, which was good. We also signed up for the pasta dinner (first time doing that) and I recommend it. Pasta dinners often cost more than going to your local Olive Garden, but for Sugarloaf, it is a particularly good idea, because there is no local Olive Garden or really much of anything close by and it's all you can eat and delicious. There was also beet salad, chick pea salad and cooked veggies to add to your pasta or side as well as yummy dessert. There's also meat sauce if you're into that sort of gross stuff. The speaker was Gary Allen and he showed us a video of his friend Michael Westpahl who qualified for Boston and raised a lot of money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Michael Westpahl has Parkinson's Disease. This is his documentary and it's inspiring!

We stayed in a motel about 30 minutes from the finish and parking area and I slept as well as I could considering I needed to pee every hour due to hydrating the bejesus out of myself all day Saturday. The morning car ride to the buses was foggy, rainy and included flashes of lightening. We took the bus up from the finish line and Mallory commented on how far we would be running, which had been pretty terrifying last year the first time I bused that distance. I had brought my phone up this time and had told Mallory how beautiful it is up there. It wasn't so beautiful this year, because it was POURING! No gorgeous photos of the starting line. We both had these amazing Patagonia Houdini Jackets and were trying to decide if we should wear them or stick with our trash bags and rip those off later. These jackets are light, collapse into themselves for easy carrying and can breath amazingly well for something that keeps water off of you. I put mine on, but took it off and put it into the bag check at the last minute. We found a bathroom and hid from the rain in there until it was time to start.

This is our only pre-race photo and we are hiding from the rain in a bathroom.

It did dump on us for a bit during the race, but the temperatures were around 50 degrees Fahrenheit, so it actually felt pretty comfortable. I wore shorts, compression socks, a singlet and arm warmers and didn't feel annoyed or need to adjust anything throughout the race. I also wore a visor to keep the rain out of my eyes and this gave me something to think about with my form. I knew if I was seeing much ahead of myself, I was craning my neck, bringing my hips forward and breaking with my heels. I kept my head down and leaned into much of the race not knowing what was ahead. I told myself not to look at my watch or the hills when it got tough and nailed my pace on the downhill. Days before I began to plan what I would think about throughout the race to keep me inspired and my mind off any discomfort I might feel. I added Michael Westpahl to my list.

Something that has happened over the past year, which I may write about more at another time, is that I have lost some of my competitive spirit... kind of. I don't get excited and race from the starting line anymore. I don't get caught up on anyone passing me in the middle. I keep my head down and run my own race and get feisty at the end with whatever is left, trying to beat the clock to the best of MY ability. I think this is due to running full marathons and trying to qualify for Boston. I know I don't have the time and energy to play around and am more focused on my own goal.

Crowd support is really good for a race of this size, because half of the road is open, so spectators can drive along the road and catch racers at several points.

I used the pacing feature on my Garmin Fenix 3 to pace my predicted finish time of 3:33:54. This time had gotten into the low 3:20:00 in the middle of my training, but I figured it was better to play it safe and get the BQ rather than test what I might be able to do. It was showing me way ahead of schedule for much of the race and predicting my finish at 3:28:00 more or less. I noticed I was hitting my splits way before the mile markers, but trusted my watch more than the race organizers. That was wrong. My watch was .7 miles off! Luckily, I ended up running more on feel and keeping it "easy" more than sticking 100% to my pace. I finished at 3:33:50, four seconds faster than my goal and my watch prediction! I qualified for Boston by over 11 minutes!

Best predictions during my training. Unfortunately, these numbers only show up from time to time and don't stick. Yet!

This is what the pacing feature looks like. This was a test and not during the marathon, obviously!

Mallory was still on the course and had her phone. She had asked me to text her when I finished. I wanted to verify my time and went to the timing truck with the big screens scrolling through results. Naturally, after waiting for my time for several minutes, the screen restarted... so I went to get my own phone, put on some warmer clothes and come back to check again. When I saw my name come up with my bib number and time of 03:33:50, I saw something else. First place in my age group!!!

Sugarloaf 2016 Finisher Medal and Age Group Plate

Of course, I am most happy about my safe cushion of a qualifying time and my first place, but I am also very happy about how I felt during and after this race. In the past, I have begun to feel the wall around mile 18 and by the finish I could barely walk and felt HORRIBLE. This is what happened in my head around mile 18 at Sugarloaf in 2016... "Here it comes. Just fight this out the rest of the way. You can do this... wait, shut up! You're fine, stop looking for a wall and be in the now. Now, you are fine. What the hell? You're fine?  You're actually feeling okay right now." This happened every mile or so at the end. Around mile 25, I was ready to be done, but felt nothing like I had in past marathons. When I finished I was able to walk around, eat some food, stand on the podium and sit in the car for 5 hours without crying. Maybe, marathons do get easier the more you do them.

I'm going to Boston!

I DID IT! Newport, RI Marathon Review

I slacked a lot on the blogging lately, but there was very little slacking on the marathon training. I'd like to skip the updates on training right now though to share the story of my BQ and the Newport Marathon held this year on October 11 in Newport, Rhode Island.

I was nervous. Even though I put in the training and ran the course for a few of my long runs, I knew a lot would come down to weather and how I was feeling on Sunday. This is a tough course with a lot of hills and twists and turns. Brutal winds and pelting rain are not out of the question this time of year in New England. Although I was only 5 minutes off a BQ time in May and had remained injury free plus trained harder than ever since then, I still had worries. This was no Sugarloaf Marathon, which is mostly straight and downhill. Also, my legs felt pretty pooped most of the time during my training, especially as I started to taper. Did I overtrain? Was the course too difficult to get this done? 

As race day approached, I have never been more excited for packet pick-up and was first in line when they opened on Saturday. In terms of race review, this was the bare bones packet pick-up: Get your number, get your shirt, get a little goodie bag (and a free beer glass thank you very much). No sales of running gear, headbands, massagers, blah blah blah. 

My license plate and bib were matchy match.

The night before I fretted over everything: compression sleeves or no, arm sleeves or no, bib on shirt or shorts, how does my iPod feel on my arm. I decided to go minimal. No sleeves, bib on shorts for easy shirt removal if I got hot and iPod ready to rock. 

I felt a little queasy at the start, knowing how much time, money and miles I have spent on getting a BQ and knowing how many people I had told about my goal. I didn't want to finish with a story of wimping out, getting hurt, throwing up, crying or peeing my pants, but a lot can happen in 26.2 miles. On the positive, the world was conspiring to help me accomplish my goal. I had slept well, carb-loading was good, hydration good, weather was ideal and legs were fully charged. Everything was going smoothly. 

The sun came up like this just before the start.

Pre-race

We started at 7:30am for the half and the full marathon: 1680 runners for the half and 575 for the full. The plan was to run conservative for the first half. However, as per usual, I felt amazing and just booked it. I always have this overly optimistic idea that maybe I am faster than I think. What if my training paid off so much I can run way faster than I imagined and miss out by playing it safe? I felt like I was running easy in spite of the hills. The course was GORGEOUS. Although I have run it before, I haven't seen such perfect conditions. Just a light breeze, decent temps and the sun over the water on Ocean Ave. Really great. I tried to pay attention to coordinates and do my best to minimize all the turns. I was under 40 minutes at 5 miles (beating my best 5 mile race time by almost a minute).  I watched my watch as I approached 13.1 miles and just for fun decided to see if I could beat 1:46:50, which was my PR at Covered Bridges. The answer to that question was yes, by the way. I hit 13.1 miles at 1:45:59. Best of all, I still felt strong and could keep the pace onto the second half. Was this real life?

Mallory rode the course and cheered for me in several places. 

Around mile 18 as I trudged up a very long gradual hill, I realized this was, in fact, real life. I watched my pace begin to plummet and I found what I thought was the wall. Then the downhill came and I was over it. Still not feeling as strong as the first half, but confident I still had enough fight in me to get it done. I just kept running, doing math the whole time and predicting what I would need to do pace-wise.

As I got further into the race, I watched the time slipping away. I was putting everything I had into it, but kept slowing down. It was time to pay the bill for my ambitious foolish start. There were hills all over and I might have been dying. I kept running anyway. I knew the worst hill was around mile 24.5, a short, but steep climb and then an easy stroll to the finish. I passed the last water stop, not wanting to take any chances as volunteers offered me Gatorade, a banana, gel or water. Ain't nobody got time for that! I waved them off and "charged" the hill, which meant jogging as fast as my dead legs would go while those around me walked. "Get that guy!" the police woman directing traffic yelled at me. "Pass him!" I did. 

Faces of Death, Marathon Edition

Even after the hill and knowing I was almost done and probably gonna BQ if I didn't die, I couldn't get my legs to run in strong. I continued to do math and realized at mile 25 I would BQ if I could finish in 12 minutes. Should be easy. Not easy! I grunted. I groaned. I yelled at myself in my head and out loud. My Garmin hit 26.2 miles at 3:43:?? and the finish wasn't there. I couldn't even see it yet! What the hell? Getting a BQ would depend on how close I got myself to the finish. In the meantime, Mallory watched the clock and wondered where I was. Had I fallen? Was I hurt? She didn't know if I would make it. She thought I was done for when the time left one minute to spare and she didn't see me. And then there I was. I was still under my BQ time and gave everything I had as I stared at the seconds piling up and dragged myself across the finish line. 

I have never been more sore and tired than at this moment.

A+ Medal Design! Favorite Medal Ever!

I finished in 03:44:29 which is 31 seconds under qualifying standards. I cried a little. I cried part pain, part happy and part disappointed. I can call myself a qualifier, but I know 31 seconds won't get me registered for Boston in 2017. However, I'm already registered for Sugarloaf and have the confidence from this tough course in Newport to know I can beat my time on an easier course. I will still be there in 2017. 

I also accomplished another dream on October 11, 2015. I won first in my age group! I have wanted to place in a longer race for years and didn't think that would be in the cards for a good long time. Nope. Did it! 

Medal, Finisher Shirt and Award

So, what happened on October 11 in Newport for me? A lot!

1. I beat my 5 mile PR.

2. I beat my half marathon PR.

3. I beat my full marathon PR.

4. I qualified for the Boston Marathon.

5. I won first place in my age group.

Special thanks to Jason Fitzgerald of Strengthrunning.com for the plan that helped me accomplish this day without injury and confident to do it again and better in May at Sugarloaf!  Also, extra special thanks to my lovely wife Mallory who has cheered me on, kept me on track and supported all my time spent on this endeavor for months.

Ready to be my personal cheering section all over the course.

Now for more goals. Many challenges to come. Stay tuned.