april 21st - disappointment!

patriots day, april 18, 2011 did not turn out as i had hoped. after months of training and pushing myself i felt ready for a top notch race. mentally i was ready and had what i thought was a solid race strategy. race day started out just fine. grabbed the first bus to athlete's village and staked out a nice place to relax. soon i was joined by 2 fellow RWOL friends, Nick and Karyn. it was a great pleasure to be able to chat with them since it helped me stay relaxed. 10am race started. 1st 5 miles went well. split was 34:19 and remained consistent. the next 10 miles i clicked off miles at an even pace. legs felt good and i seemed to be in a good rhthym. the next 5 miles i hit the newton hills and yet i still managed to hold court. hit 20 in 2:16:51 @6:50 pace. if i finished the last 10k in 6:55 pace i would have been under 3 hrs. at that moment i definitely felt that was a reasonable goal. legs still had some left and i was ready to go. then disaster struck, a sharp pain in my right chest just underneath my rib cage. i could not breathe. simply put i ran till i could not breathe then i was forced to walk till i could catch my breath. the last 6.2 miles was a slow death march. to keep me going i high fived the fans who offered there cheers and great support. the fans there were absolutely magnificent. as i approached the finish, my friend Nick came up to me and we finished together. 3:22:40. not what i had hoped but i did finish the greatest marathon.

some takeaways from this experience. breathing is important to running. my training was dead on. i know i have the endurance. i would not change my training regimen one bit. i was definitely ready. its time to look forward, not backwards. nothing to be gained by dwelling what has happened. focus on what lays ahead. gettysburg on 5/1 and cleveland 5/15. as a sticker on my car says: 26.2 miles- what could possibly go wrong.  alot can happen, you just have to move on. focus on the positive, not the negative. i live to run another day!

April 7th - 11 days!

11 days out from the holy Grail of all marathons! That old saying 'the hay is in the barn' is ringing through my head yet I can't help wonder if I have trained hard enough! I have logged 1172.62 miles so far since 1/1/11! I have run 7 marathons so far and logged 3 consecutive 100+ mile weeks! Each of those marathons had a specific goal and I did not alter my training at all. The last 3 marathons were all run during those 100 mile weeks. Everyone wants to know goal times and all. Yes, I would be lying if I said I did not have a goal time. But in my opinion to judge each marathon simply by time is not fair. Running is to be fun, if it is not fun then why do it? Yes I enjoy my 20+ mile runs, progressive runs and speed workouts! I enjoy the pain that is associated with the marathon. I love all aspects of marathon training! I thrive on challenging my body to the limits! Shirts and medals are nice to have but I do not need them to run a marathon! Do I want a sub 3? Yes it's been a goal of mine for the past 6 years. But it will not determine whether 4/18 is a success or failure! No matter what happens it is a success! Just being able to stand on the start line is a success! Running should NEVER be taken for granted, it's a gift! On 4/18 I will toe the line in Hopkinton and run 26.2 miles to Boyston Str and give it everything I have and whatever happens, happens! I will be satisfied.