Run-Down Forums

[AM_Runner]

OK long over due but here it is the definitive Boston report from me.

Trip up was fine probably the quickest I have ever gotten up there a few days of rain soaked weather, no big deal...

The Expo - again I was amazed that I just walked in and picked up my number no wait whatsoever. However the lines started from there - this year the expo was in the Hynes convention center and the layout was less than optimal granted it was Sunday when I went but it was split between two rooms and everything had to go through a small choke point between the two - very poor layout and too many vendors to possibly fit. Plus basically all the gear had sold out of Mediums nothing to be found any where - I saw a pair of shorts on a rack away from the others and it was a Medium don’t know how it got there but at least I got one thing. There was also a meet and greet at the Adidas area and got to see and chat with Grete again with Emily - she gave her an Autographed picture as well and Emily was happy. They had a whole line up of Grete, Carrie Tollefson, Amy Rudolph, Sara Slattery, Todd Williams and Tim Broe - went down the line and kind of alternated when Emily wanted one and who gave them to me the girls especially were all just super great with both Emily and Riley it was a cool thing to see.

The Rain - Sunday was just a mess - I went out for 15 mins and it was just raw out there wind and rain just whipping but felt quietly confident not the super excitement from last year but I guess that would be expected just another race and long run right...

The trip to the Start - Picking up the bus at Hopkinton State Park was an adventure Ryan and I took off around 7:05 picked up some coffee and a bagel and headed over I was completely encased in cocoon of dryfit, cotton, and rubberized materials to keep me as dry as possible in the ensuing weather. Getting to the busses was tricky; the lake had almost covered the access road to the parking lot so they were slowly letting people through. Got there and hopped in the bus with the wind just tearing through and the rain beating down, figuring there that hey whatever happens I am still going forward with the race plan, just relax and don’t get yourself all crazy about it nothing you can do whatever comes, comes...

The High School - we get let off a ways from the school and walk along Main Street and Church - the sides of the road are just rivers but the temp is nice and the rain has abated to more of a mist. get to the school thinking they may let people in - no that’s the VIP entrance oh well I hear the announcements "The upper tent is full please head to the lower one for space " well there is a reason for the space - its almost completely flooded a virtual Everglades down there - a bunch of folks huddled on the high grass backs to the track so the wind is not hitting them its on a hill so its not too pooled - I hop the fence and walk around a bit There are people under the bleachers but you really have to climb down there and sit on Rocks... I see a house and a Sheriffs bus over in the first turn of the track I walk over there and although there are a good number of people sheltering in the eaves there; there is room so I hunker down with them to wait with some moms from California a lady from Toronto some guys from Michigan and young women who I hope did OK since she was just shivering uncontrollably already I thought Oh no this is not good if she is already this bad. Alternating bouts with rain and wind o by and its time to get ready - I pull out my stuff and get ready - leaving the trusty Air Zoom Haywards there At the start of it all next to the Hopkinton track I wonder if they got collected or left there until school a week or so later. I walk to the start tech shirt covered by the singlet which I plan to switch out once or twice during the race when I see Ryan. double t-shirts and double garbage bagged, and a throw away sweats to top it all with plastic bags over the shoes to keep them dry - hat and gloves as well just a plastic mummy shuffling to the start. I take a bathroom break on the way and get there with about 15 mins before the start no jets this year after the anthem or I just didn’t hear them with the dullness of the atmosphere dampened - I am relaxed and just shuffling around 5 minutes to go I toss the bags off and pants - ready to go now.

The Start - no one could really hear it all too well but the muffled thud and the advancement of the troops along Main Street signaled the commencement of the race. A bit more crowded early this year - takes a bit to get moving as well but the cheering as always is good. Mid way through the first mile I can feel I am moving along nicely and when I hit the mile in 7:40 I was unconcerned, knowing that was not my real pace at the time. Mile 2 we get cruising a bit but I feel sluggish - I am shocked when I see I am at 7:06. By now the t-shirts are gone I am a bit warm but I figure better that than shivering the rain is bound to hit us full force at some point. I miss the 3 mile check but catch the 5 K at 7:50 - still low 7 pace OK but why do I still feel so blah keep going. Mile 4 I get passed by a guy who I know is coming back he is making some odd wheezing sound. Another guy looks over at me and says - "if he sounds that bad already he is in trouble” Mile 4 is listed as 6:22 but because the last one was at 5K they both should be around low 7. Mile 5 I start to pull back a bit not wanting to go too hard 7:22 There was also a bit of a roll to this mile - but still don’t feel like I a m really clicking yet... feel sluggish but keep plugging on two identical 7:16's as Framingham slides by into Natick. I see Ryan around 10K he hands me my stuff but I don’t have much to say don’t really need the extra shirt but in hind sight I should have maybe ditched the lower layer because I was feeling warm - kept it as a just in case thing - in caps the weather took a turn for the worse. Around Mile 8 or 9 7:20, 7:19 I get both a blister in the center of my foot and my hip starts to hurt... stomach not feeling good but should hold up - I still feel like having to pee. I try once again to just go in my shorts but just cant. Miles 10 - 13 are just a complete struggle plugging along but the pace slows a bit which concerns me - 7:27, 7:28, and 7:21.

Mid race - I hit Wellesley and for a bit my mind is taken away from the task at hand I run along right next to the girls and hold out my hand slapping 5 down the e entire line - I don’t have to think about how shitty I feel for a few minutes at least - I think you know what I should respond to a sign and give one of them a kiss... but I think hey you know my pace is still not bad and I still have time if I can recover and get going to really kick some butt today... I decide then and there that one of these days I am going to stop and give one of them a kiss - what the hell but not today... a very welcome break but the pace slows 7:31 through the town in 7:28 and the little hilly sections up and down before the biguns 7:42 and 7:32 on a big downhill after which I say to myself if you cant make it down the hill faster than 7:32 what the hell is going to happen when I make the turn? Coming up to the stop where Ryan is a guy is seriously flailing all cramped up barely able to walk I hand him my extra Gu knowing Ryan will give me some - tell the guy to get some sugar in his system and plod on.... Ryan hops in at 16.5 worried about having enough time to get in and get back to the T to get to Kenmore. I tell him with disgust on my face "don’t bother hurrying its gonna be a while" I ditch the bottom shirt - Singlet only the rest of the race, and clip off the mile in 7:32 as noted above. The Fire station looms before me as I make the right turn on to Commonwealth.

The Hills - the Hills are here and I say to myself I don’t care how shitty I feel I am not stopping not like last year,,, and I start to climb - this isn’t so bad hip and stomach pain gone, I still have to pee but not so badly now. I start to pick some people off and others pass me but no one is pulling away no not here. The first guy I see is wearing a Wisconsin tri-outfit I slide up next to him and give him a go Badgers - he asks if I went to Wisconsin, I say no but I have to cheer for the Big 10 because I went to Michigan. There is a tall girl in front of me with black tights that say Tigers on the leg I think hmm is it Princeton girl Peter would not be happy if he found that out I pull up next to her and see the big Orange P on her check and give her a Go Tigers as I slide past her she slides past me and we run together for a bit but slowly I pull away and drop her... (I find out a few days later in conversation with Ed (PU Assistant Coach) that this is Lindsey Cole - a former Princeton 800 runner and that we have been within seconds of each other for a large portion of the race. she finishes a bit over 2 minutes back of me in the end... The first Hill down the respite before the double dip later the Kelly hill followed by Heartbreak. I feel OK maybe it is all the training I did here or all the miles period, maybe it’s the loss of the other shirt I don’t know but I feel I have something to fight and I start to whether it’s this diminutive woman named KP or some guys speaking Spanish we all fight our way up the Hills. The one guy looks dead on his feet the other moves ahead but keeps looking back, dead Spanish guy fights his way back up - Vamanos the hills roll by 8:02, 7:59, 7:54, 8:03, 8:18 for 17 - 21 and I am through.

BOSTON - Boston College is there I remember Dan saying run down the hills don’t think its over and suddenly the pace drops 7:41 coming off BC, people are starting drop away I get a little nervous about pushing and hold back a bit 7:53 as I weave along into Boston a group sticks there head out I feel good now I am mad for not running through earlier - it doesn't matter what I felt before no way you think real clearly at this point some girl comments on my green shirt and says something like kick ass I slap her hand and she is all pumped - another group comes to the road and doesn't cheer loudly I growl and yell so hard it hurts "Is that all you got!" and clench my fists screaming they erupt as do a bunch of others around I am mad now there is no easing in - maybe I cant get the time I wanted but I am going to romp in to Boston where is that damn Citgo sign... I sneer and roll out miles of 7:33, 7:39 hammering in feeling actually better than I have ever felt at the end of a marathon... its adrenaline and rage at this point yelling whooping it up as I come in to Kenmore - I look for Ryan and Dad and from the crowd I hear a way to go Kurt from Webb Friedly one of the Princeton Crew who must be here watching - I flip him the hook em horns sign and yell some more throwing my hands up in the air as I try to coax some more cheers out then I hear Ryan yelling and running along the other side of the street I give the big fist and push on to Hereford a quick right a little climb and a left on to Boylston - some cramping in the hamstrings now but who cares - High fives and barbaric yells down the street - hands in the air - I might as well enjoy it right? 9:05 for the last 1.2 miles - Final Official time 3:18:18

The Finish - I get through and yell and congratulate all around me - give the crowds a little something telling them to keep on cheering haha. Weave my way through the chip turn in and food lines trying to find my bus for my stuff. Of course it is the absolute last bus in the line and they have only two people in the bus it takes so long that some of the runners go in and pitch in. I get my bag and change only to realize that some stuff fell out of my bag so I go in and get it from the bus while there I take another ten or 15 minutes and help out as well tossing bags out to depleted runners. I get through that and go meet Ryan and Dad - find out what everyone else did David is already in at 3:30 by the time we get back to the same place we were last year for some big ol fat burgers and a few Pints of Guinness David and Dana join us soon and we have an enjoyable afternoon. Looks like this is now a tradition!

Thoughts - What happened today? Such an odd day and odd situation with the race after consideration I call it a good race - not the great race I was hoping for but a good effort. The miles and the training certainly had me prepared for the distance but what else could I have done - training wise to make this an even better day. Work, the huge effort around getting the house ready, and Illness played their part from time to time but enough to make me fail in the quest for that great PR race hmmm not sure. The weather putting a damper on the attitude early - maybe? Over dressed early as well felt hot but that subsided... Maybe I could have used a few more longer runs at a faster pace? Regardless I will be content with what transpired and look at it as a great base for training the rest of the year.
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The long run is what puts the tiger in the cat.

[Dan]

Wow, that's a full recap. I'll read it in more detail later, but good to hear from you again!

Dan
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[Dan]

Now that I've read the full recap, all I can say is, how the heck do you remember that much detail from such a grueling race???

In the "what happened?" category, the only real question that comes to mind is, why the blistering so early?

Dan
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[Indeurr]

Do not worry about Dan’s comments; I am a ‘bore,’ too. I do tend to over—analyze like you (“5—finger forehead” even if I were not getting bald; but not enough abstract conceptual ability; although, with practice, it did get better at one time).
Why did you feel bad?
Who cares?
Not everything is explicable (translation: not everything can be analyzed to achieve a satisfactory answer).
Please, be satisfied with your time.
Why? I hate “why’s?”
All, I have to say: compare yourself to a man who won the most grueling bicycle tour on the planet Earth; did he break 3 hours?
Hey – anyway, if you can break 3 hours for a marathon, you are a pro or semi-pro runner who is not getting paid for his pro-like effort.
I do mean it both as praise and as the polar opposite of the praise.
Yes – it is great that you have come so close to a pro.
No—why are you running so much and hard, put so much strain on your body, without getting paid.

There are benchmarks; I would say that 3 hours is a standard for the marathon as much as 60 seconds, 1 minute, has been the standard for both a quarter—mile (slightly over 402 meters) and 400 meters, since 1900’s.

Marathon is difficult; it may not involve an excruciating pain of the last 100 meters in 400 meters, but you cannot run away from the pain during the marathon (pan intended).


Hey is it "pan" or another spelling—please correct me.
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http://vincovitanj.tripod.com/Do_not_be_a_victim1/index.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u43o595CARQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x22Alfgv0DY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgcD2akmeJc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB0RcWYMwXU
one hand clapping

[AM_Runner]

Dan - response - I have no Idea - - wet feet obviously contributing to it and blsitering in general but the location also I have never had blistering there ever - dead center under the ball of the foot. very odd
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The long run is what puts the tiger in the cat.

[AM_Runner]

Not sure I agree with you there... sub 3 in my mind is an achievable goal. I would not consider that anywhere near pro ranking by any stretch of the imagination. Why do I run hard and such... hmm well that's what I am I do it and I love it. I do it because I like to see where I can go with it. A friend of mine once said to me "I think you do some workouts just to see if they can be done" he menat it as a knock meaning whether or not they have any bearing on what you are doing... I thought for a moment and said well that may be true but why not do them that way is there something wrong with that? Sure yes there is if there is a chance of injury, but I enjoy the experimenting and to the folks that I coach I give a challenge every year to find at least one new route during teh year - run somewhere you have not run before - even running you usual route backwards can hold some new interesting challenge. I take it as my "job or maybe duty as a runner to do these sort of things... yeah I know I am a bit cracked sometimes....

As far as who cares well I do thats enough for me. yeah he did break 3 hours but he did it on fairly low volume of training admittedly he underestimated the difficulty of the race.

You are right there you never will run away from pain in a race of that type for sure (I think you meant pUn) And I am not sure I would want to. For what is an achievement without some form of pain? You appreciate things more if you need to strive for them not for things that come easy and/or are given to you.

OK this is now way longer and long winded than I intended but what the heck... talk to you all soon... and hey when are we starting the Fantasy league?
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The long run is what puts the tiger in the cat.