It's been a while since my last blog post....I pretty much went dark once the real training set in for the Philadelphia Marathon. This will be a race report but first some random thoughts....
The Colonial Winter Fun Runs start up again this weekend. The Raynham version starts Sunday at 9am at the Lions Club on King Phillip Street. It's pretty much the same course as the Summer Fun Run, just a tad bit longer at 4 miles. They get the extra 3/4 mile bypassing Gardiner Street and turning left on Lakeview on the way back to the Lions Club. Jeez, I hope I have this right.....I am confident it is 4 miles.
Anyway, for those that I will spend the winter bugging to run the KofC Race here in Raynham, this fun run series is PERFECT training. A timed event so you can monitor your progress....and all for $2.
So Philly.....I originally chose this race as it fit my two main criteria for a marathon. Flat (supposedly) and no heat (pretty much a guarantee for Philly in late November). My single goal for this, my third marathon, was to qualify for Boston. To do this, I needed to run 3:30 or better. Anything under that time technically qualified me, but to be safe I really needed 3:28:00. The Boston registration process is complicated but all that is important to know is that there are usually more qualifiers than spots available. So to be safe, runners need to have a couple minutes cushion as slots are filled first by those that qualified by the most (time under standard).
My training for this race went really well. Pretty much injury free and I didn't skip a single workout. Not one. 5 days a week culminating with 2 weeks with over 50 miles of running. Sprinkled in were 1-2 speed workouts per week. Intervals, threshold runs.....they really ran the gamut and they were all very challenging. The upside was they were all "short". Meaning all of them were less than an hour and ranged in distance from 4-9 miles. But they were tough.....like almost puking tough for the last 1-2. Sweating through clothes tough.....get me through this tough.
I could write an entire blog post on my training program, and probably will some day. But for now, this blog is about my race. We left for Philly around 8am Friday morning. I figured around 6 hours and thats just about what it took. We got settled in at the Downtown Marriott and then walked over to the 30th Street Amtrak station to pick up middle daughter who was coming in from DC. Dinner was a big plate of pasta marinara at Maggiano's, which happened to be right across street from Marriott. Good planning. After dinner, I strolled over to the Convention Center for packet pickup and some browsing of the vendor fair. Pretty quiet and glad I got it over with.
Saturday consisted of a big breakfast of Banana Bacon French Toast at the Reading Terminal. Decadent but I need my carbs, right? A couple hours of touristy stuff including the Liberty Bell and Constitution Hall.....right in my wheelhouse and the family obliged. Back to the hotel and another plate of pasta for lunch....my last meal. Oh yeah, snuck in a hair cut which is a great story......but since I have no idea who reads this blog, I have to save it for friends and family. I did head back to the Expo as I wanted to hear a speaker talk about the course. Also got to see Bill Rodgers. Still looks like he could run sub 2:20 if he wanted to. After laying out my race day stuff and planning the family meeting spot for viewing and post race, I drifted off to sleep....and slept well.
5 am came quick. Nice hot shower, dressed and out the door in about 20 minutes. I had already staked out a 24 hour Dunks so I grabbed a multi grain bagel and a medium coffee for the one mile walk to the start. I t was dark.....and eerily quiet. Except for us runners....it literally looked like an episode of the Walking Dead we solemnly trudged up Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the start area. There's something about runners that's hard to explain....as we made our way to the start area it was as if we were all sympathetically being drawn to a distant light....proceeding with trepidation but never wavering. Hard to explain, but the sense of a common purpose was abundant.
STOP: This is the point in the race report where things happen that might cause you to say WTF? Why is he sharing THAT! Well, race reports serve two purposes. First, to tell your story. But as important, all marathon runners scour the internet in the weeks leading up to their race looking for race reports from their race. There is NO better way to get an idea of what they are about to put themselves through than real life race reports. As such, I have always found the best reports are the reports where the writer is brutally honest. About the race.....about themselves.....about everything. So here is your warning....read no further if bodily processes make you queasy.
6am-7am - Pre-Race - cleared security and immediately started to scope out a porta potty. A previous report had a great tip that the facilities on the left side of BFP are virtually unused in the hour leading up to the race. Apparently there is some human default mechanism that causes us to gravitate to the right when we are lining up. Well, that tip was spot on. Found about 50 porta potties and no line. My tendency of nerves before big runs was starting to reveal itself in its normal way. Yup, apparently my body has programmed itself to empty itself at the first sign of anxiety. So with plenty of time to spare before the start I obliged. It was dark and cold inside my little green dookie chalet. Apparently I was its first tenant as the paper was still wrapped in its original packaging. I laughed as I struggled mightily trying to unwrap the roll and find the start of the first sheet. This humor would come back to haunt me much later. Suffice to say I felt much better and I continued my journey to the start. Finding my corral I settled in for the 45 minute wait. Oops.....apparently my anxiety did not completely leave my body......off to find another chalet. This time, I had to wait 10 minutes but it was worth the wait.
6:45 - popped 3 Clif Blocks to top off the glycerol stores. I had spent a lot of time thinking about proper nutrition for this run. Both pre-race and during. My plan was 3 Clif Blocks every 5 miles and alternating water/gatorade at the water stops as needed. I also had about half a bottle of Gatorade with me at the start. I knew the first couple water stops would be crowded and crazy so I wanted to just run through them without slowing down. Worked out well. I also discarded the $7 sweatshirt that I had bought at Marshall's as well as the satin Boston Celtic warmup pants. I have fun with my throwaway clothes shopping. It's my one opportunity to dress like a complete idiot and I take full advantage.
7:00 AM Start - Miles 1-7 Just to recap. My 3:28 goal meant approx 7:55/mile pace. I had a dilemma. I have always found the Clif Bar Pace Teams to be very helpful. These guys really know what they are doing and it helps to run with a group with a similar goal. Problem was they had a 3:25 group and a 3:35 group. Do I run with the faster team and hope for the best or start with the 3:35 team and then breakoff at some point? I chose to let the 3:25 team get out in front of me for the first 1/3 of the race. Keep them in sight and then see how I feel at mile 10. The first 7 miles of this race are run through the downtown area and are very flat. We went out and it was tight. Very tight. You could not run your pace, you pretty much had to run the pace of those around you. Which was fine as I fell into a groove running around 8:05's. Yes, off my pace but very, very easy to make up once the crowd thinned out. I was feeling really, really good. The only concern was I couldn't get my heart rate down under 160. I really needed it to be around 156-159 if I was going to have a chance at maintaining sub 8:00 pace later in the race. Something wasn't adding up.....at the pace I was running there was no way I should be having a HR of 175-180. I thought maybe the coffee was the cause so I didn't let it bother me too much. But I have to admit it was starting to piss me off. Finally, around mile 6 I started registering sub 160. Yes, time to settle in. It was also about time to look for Lisa and the girls. We had arranged for them to be at Chestnut and 13th Street, on the right side, about 5.5 miles in. Problem was we were still jammed in like sardines so I was literally 10 feet from them when we saw each other. About 3 seconds to wave and say hello.
Miles 7-13.1 - We left the downtown area and headed out to the Drexel/Penn neighborhood. I was felling great. Physically and mentally. The weather was perfect and the crowd was thinning which allowed me to start to work my way up and get closer to that 7:55 average pace that I needed. There are two formidable hills on this course and they are back to back. Mile 7-8 is all uphill. Mile 8-9 goes back down and then mile 9-10 goes back up. It's a test and its still early in the race which means if you screw this up you are in for a long day. I had been training to run on effort, not on pace, all summer. Meaning listen to my body, in this case my heart rate, and not chase a pace. I figured theses two hills would cost me 30 seconds each. In other words, I would run them at 8:25 pace. That would be time I could make up later. The key here was to respect the hill, keep my HR under 160 no matter what my pace. Did I mention I was feeling great? I ran the first hill mile in 7:52 with an average HR of 159. I then proceeded to run the downhill mile 8 at 7:26 with an avg HR of 156. One down, and it was friggin awesome. Hill 2? 7:54 with average HR of 158. The downhill? 7:37 with average HR of 153. I know this is all technical, but for someone that trained exclusively with HR training methodology, this was an absolute home run. I was in running nirvana. Mentally, I was on my game. The only thing nagging at me was that apparently the 3:25 pace team was also having a very good day. I really should have caught them on that second downhill but apparently they were putting time in the bank. Miles 11-13 were very flat and uneventful, although I did put two sub 7:40 miles on the board. This amy have been a mistake....more on that later.
Mile 13-20 - Mental check time. I always take a physical inventory at the half way mark. At mile 13 the half marathon runners peel off for their finish. It was really tempting to follow them but that was not happening. The rest of the course is an out and back along Kelley Drive. 6 miles out to Mayanuk and back. I noticed once the 1/2's peeled off that we were on a pretty long, steady decline. Which was great as I ran a 7:38 mile. But being the pragmatist that I am, I though to myself that the hill would be an uphill on way back......at mile 25.....when we are running on hope and a prayer. I tried to dismiss the thought and I settled in. I still felt good. The usual soreness in the quads, probably from pounding the downhills. A little twinge in my left achilles which has been a chronic problem for years. Hips felt great which was a welcome sign as they had given me trouble in my two prior marathons. I also noted a pretty steady headwind had developed. Not enough to freak me out but enough to notice.
****In virtually every race, a runner has to deal with some sort of adversity. Maybe a cramp, an injury, poor planning hindering performance. It's inevitable, you deal with it. At this point, around mile 15, I was running at an average pace of 7:50. Put another way, I had a little over a minute in the bank. But something wasn't right. I had taken my Clif Block at mile 10 and out of nowhere a burp filled my mouth with vomit. Not a lot, and not enough to make me stop (sorry people behind me), but enough to cause me to wonder what the hell was going on. I was fueling exactly as I had for my previous races and long runs. Oddly, I maintained pace and felt OK.....for about a half mile. It was then that I went from BQ in the bag to BQ on the bubble. At mile 16 I hit a porta potty and proceeded to empty my gut through the southern exit. Not pretty. Apparently whatever exited through my mouth had some buddies that chose the other way. The good news was it was quick. Similar to my morning visit to the dookie chalet, I was the first occupant here as well. This time I did not find it amusing that the paper roll was impossible to unwrap. I finally gave up on finding the first sheet and cleaned up using the paper packaging.....uncomfortable but effective. I exited having lost my minute in the bank and more. By my count approx 75 seconds. I was now running right on my mark, 7:55 average pace. That meant I had no wiggle room left. Mentally I was crushed. I had planned on using those 75 seconds over miles 21-26.2. The 15 seconds per mile would allow me to run 8:10's after hitting mile 21....totally doable even with the hill. Now, I would have to run 7:55's through the end. Again, I was crushed.
Miles 20-Finish - The turnaround for the out and back is at mile 20 in Mayanunk. Very cool little town and they come out to support the race. Over the mile leading into town and the mile leading out of town, I was offered a beer no fewer than 10 times. Tempting and some folks were partaking. I still had a goal and it would not be easy so I put my head down and grinded out of town. There is no more lonely place than the last 6 miles of a marathon. You are left with nothing but the voices in your head. Stop! Walk! Slow Down! Quit.......I had read that one strategy to use was to have a phrase to quiet the voices. Say it out loud if necessary. So if anyone reading this passed or was passed by a guy muttering "pain is temporary, BQ is permanent", that was me. It worked, sort of.
Funny thing about the last 6 miles of a marathon. Your mind will play all kinds of tricks on you. From mile 23 on, I felt like I was running 10 minute miles. I was barely picking up my feet. Everything hurt by now. Around mile 16 I had noticed a sharp pain developing in my left foot every time it struck the road. By mile 23, that pain was an all out emergency. Every foot strike felt like I was stepping on spike. Never had that pain before.....weird. Despite the mental anguish, and the physical pain, I ran mile 23 in 8:01 and mile 24 in 8:05. I know this now but at the time I was incapable of doing the math in my head so I was sure that my BQ was gone. The hill at mile 25 truly was every bit the nightmare I thought it might be. It ended up being an 8:25 mile. If you had told me 6 months ago that the worst mile in my marathon would be mile 25 at 8:25 I would have laughed out loud. That is fast than any mile I had done at the Marine Corp Marathon just one short year earlier. Finally the top of the hill and mile 26 was 8:21....a negative split to finish. OK, not technically but faster than the previous mile. The last 1/4 mile was a blur and I crossed the line in more pain than I had ever felt from running. I hit my watch and looked down to see 3:28:55. Jackpot, right? Well, no. I knew that I had my Garmin set on auto-pause. It's a feature that stops the clock when you physically stop moving. I use it because I often run in cities when I travel and all i really care about is my pace when I am moving. I didn't turn it off because I couldn't have foreseen stopping during a race. Never happened before. So I started to do some rough math. Remember I thought I had spent about 75 seconds in the mile 15 Ritz Carlton? If I had that right, my time would be approx. 3:30:10.......or 10 seconds short of a BQ.
Finish - I got my medal, my Mylar blanket, a water and a pretzel and set off to find the family in the family meet zone. Philly did a nice job with this aspect of the finish area. I found them all under the C-D sign. It was then that Erin informed me that the text message she got when I finished said my time was 3:29:49. If that was my official time, then I had my BQ. Apparently my 75 second break was really closer to a minute. That made me happy......even knowing it wouldn't be good enough to actually get me into Boston for 2016. From there we had a long, slow walk back to the hotel where a hot shower awaited. I rewarded myself with a disgustingly juicy cheeseburger and fries. Finally it was time to get Erin back to the train and for us to hit the road. About 5 hours later we were back home and I finally exhaled. What a trip it has been.
Thoughts on Philly - As I mentioned, flat and cool. The weather cooperated but to all those that run Philly thinking it is a fast BQ race, I disagree. The two hills at 7 and 9 are tough. Yes, there are the downhills but those will trash your quads if you aren't careful. And being careful means not making up the time lost on the uphill. The first 6 miles are tight and crowded. If you don't do well in close quarters, this is not your race. The out and back for miles 13-26 are tough. Very little crowd support, potential for wind along the river, at times lonely. And of course that hill at mile 25. All that being said, Philly puts on a great race. Very well organized and a great course. Just keep reasonable expectations. If you are training for a BQ, there are better options. I would run it again without reservation, but I would run it recreationally.
JD
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