It's All In My Head

Is it Monday yet? Seriously, can this thing just get here already? I could be the most unproductive person on earth right now waiting for the race to get here and I apologize in advance to all of my family and friends if I drive them crazy between now and Patriots Day. Supplies have been bought, hotels have been confirmed, dinner reservations have been made and spectators have been told where to watch the race. Now, I just need to get my head in order.

With allergy season here, coupled with the fact that I have the worst sinuses in the world, I'm on the cusp of having a sinus infection. I went to the Dr. last night and I now am the proud owner of an emergency script for antibiotics, on top of 3-4 over the counter items that I will use and abuse over the next few days. Good times.

There have been quite a few "Jackisms" tossed around the last few days across the blog sphere (pennies in the barn, hay in the bank, or something like that), and all of them mean the same thing: keep yourself in check for the next week, or potentially pay the price next Monday. Like everyone else, this is going to make for a long exercise in patience (something I have very little of) over the next 5+ days. Like an idiot, I momentarily contemplated running 13 miles instead of the 12 on the docket last Sunday. Fortunately, Mike convinced me to not be stupid and stick to the plan. As a result, I ended up having a really good run and felt great. I need to make sure I maintain this type of level-headiness for the next week.

It's amazing that the 26.2 miles I run next week will equate to roughly 4.8% of the almost 550 training miles I will have logged. I'm also amazed that, this being my first marathon, I've been able to stay injury-free throughout the training. It's tough to see some of the folks in the group go down and not able to participate next week due to injury. I've been in their shoes in a prior lifetime when I used to be an athlete, and it is not a fun place to be so close to a big event. I'm sure that those of us that are running will keep them in mind next Monday and wish them the best in future races.

I'm looking forward to friends and family coming out next week to see the race and cheer us on. I'm hoping and praying for decent weather and no extremes (don't mess with me, Channel 7):

"Monday: Marathon Monday and it's great running weather! Mostly cloudy with highs in the low to mid 50s. "

I'm going to get in 2 more runs this week (today and Friday) and then sit tight until Monday. Man, it's going to be a long weekend.

A Beautiful Day and a Brush with Greatness

With a Saturday looming full of activities for my little guy (swim lessons, baseball practice, etc.), I decided to fit in my long run of the week on Friday, thanks to out Good Friday holiday. For the last time before the race, I drove to the other side of town grabbed my stuff, locked the car and headed east down 135 for an out-and-backer of 16 miles.

The weather was beautiful and I felt pretty good through the first 6 miles or so. But my the time I hit the 9 mile mark, I felt tired and my motivation was slowly waning. At one point, I just wanted to walk. I'm not sure why I hit the wall when I did, but I hit it all the same and as I went past Wellesley College on the way back home, I felt like crap. That's when things took a turn for the better.

As I went past the college and started back up the hill heading towards Pond St., I could see a girl standing on the sidewalk at the crest. I thought this was very odd. She had running gear on, but she wasn't running. Just then, someone cams hauling butt over the hill down the sidewalk towards me. The guy was flying down the hill and he grabbed a water from the girl who was standing there. That's when it hit me. The guy running down the sidewalk at me was Ryan (Freakin') Hall (his wife Sarah was the one waiting with the water). As I ran by him, I gave him a "Go get 'em, Ryan", to which he responded with a thumbs up and a smile. I also gave a "good luck" to his wife as she went back to the car on Pond St., which received a "thank you" in response.

Needless to say, I was pretty jacked up at this point and I got rid of my blahs. I mean, how often can a hacker like me in a specific sport be practicing on the same playing field as the guy who is the best in the country and one of the best in the world at the same sport? That's why running is cool. Stuff like this never happened in baseball, that's for sure. Keep your eyes peeled for him over the next few weeks if you're running the course.

This all happened the day after I saw the President drive by me in his motorcade on the back roads of Marlborough. Random and weird all around.

The next mile that I ran was the 2nd fastest for the run (my heart rate raced up a bit as well) and I ended up finishing the last few miles pretty strong.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/28718167

I tried to do a better job of going out slower today and keeping some in the tank for the second half, and I almost ran a negative split for the run (missed by 6 seconds). From here, the taper continues. It will be nice to get rid of some of the creakiness I'm feeling right now in my knees and hamstrings leading up to the race.

Happy Easter!!

Perspective

For all the dads (and future dads) out there. I thought this was accurate in terms of things I've thought of and reflected on over the last several months while training. I know who will be the first three people that get a sweaty "thank you" hug from me when I cross the finish line.

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-243-297--11806-0,00.html#

Caught 22

On Sunday morning, I hopped in the car and headed out to the starting line in Hopkinton. Not having seen or been on the course in that specific section, I felt that it would be a good idea to hit it at least once before the race. With 22 miles staring me in the face, I was already tired. Both of the kids were up for various reasons beginning at 4 am, so I was short on sleep and long on grogginess. I originally wanted to start the run by 6:30, but due to the lack of rest, I stayed in bed until 7 and ended up leaving the house around 9.

When I parked the car at the center of town, I counted 2 school buses and 1 touring bus full of runners. The green was packed with people. I wasn't expecting that many people out there, but I guess I should have, given the fact that this is the week before the taper begins for most people. Seeing all those runners made it a little more real and fun to see that many people at the starting line. I got my gear together, fired up the music on my IPhone, made sure I didn't lock my car key in the car, and headed out.

I had heard that the first few miles were downhill, but it didn't hit me how much downhill they were until I started out. My first two miles were way too fast and I tried to put the brakes on a little bit once I hit Ashland. Once I got to Framingham, I was able to get into a decent pace through Wellesley. Meanwhile, the course was packed with people from start to finish, with people running in clumps and passing each other all over the place on the sidewalks and the breakdown lanes. I only saw one person fall all day (a girl took a huge digger in Natick, but to her credit, she got up and kept right on going).

Once I hit the 128 overpass, I could feel myself getting tired on that little bit of an uphill. As I passed the hospital, I tried to hold back a little bit knowing the bigger hills were coming. Once I turned onto Comm Ave., I realized I was really low on water and that I was going to need some over the next few miles. Fortunately, Adidas had a tent set up with water for all of the runners, so I stopped to fill up my water bottle at the oasis, said "thanks" to the volunteer, and kept going.

Due to the fact this was the first time hitting the hills in Newton after coming from Hopkinton, they absolutely trashed me. By the time I got halfway up Heartbreak, I felt like someone ripped my legs off and started beating me with them. I ended up laboring through the last couple of miles to finish with and even 22 miles and a really tired body.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/28304481
(In my post-run haze, I must have forgot to stop my timer on the Garmin and I realized it was still going when I was driving home, so I had to post the run manually.)

As I walked down to Cleveland Circle to meet up with Katie and the kids, I started to wonder if breaking 4 hours was a reasonable goal or not. If the race is anything like it was on Sunday, it's going to be a close call, and I'm going to have to be smart about how I approach things that day. The good thing is that I've seen the whole course at least once, and I now have a better understanding as to what to expect at each interval along the way. And now for the taper.....

I had a few more donations this week, taking me over the $4,500 mark, which is great. I'm planning to get a few more emails/reminders out within the next week or two. I really hope I hit my goal.

Another Brick in the Wall

My legs are dead, I'm tired everyday by 4:00 PM, I haven't been able to get out of bed to run this week and, when I finally made it out today to bang out an early 8 miles, I thought I was going to fall asleep while I was running. The damned snow this morning didn't help my mindset either. I guess this what people refer to as "hitting the wall" near the end of training. I need to get over the hump and fast.

I'm trying to rally to knock out a solid 22 miles on Sunday from the starting line to BC. Hopefully the NCAA games will all be blowouts so I can get to bed at a decent hour the next few nights (I got sucked into the Cornell game last night night, which didn't help my cause).

Good luck to those doing the group run on Saturday. Only 9 days until opening day/night/Easter or whatever you want to call it.

Flying Solo

This past weekend's plan from Jack called for a long run of up to 18 miles. Due to prior commitments made for Saturday (my little guy's swim lessons and my annual baseball fantasy draft), I decided to skip the group run and bang out the run on my own early before my house woke up. In keeping with my goal to get on the actual marathon course as often as possible, I headed out at 6:30 am to the other side of town, parked my car and walked across the street to mile 7 of the course. My goal for the day was to run to the actual finish line on Boylston, which would be just over 19 miles.

The weather was great and the sun came up just after rolling through "downtown" Natick. As I continued in to Wellesley, I spotted Mike driving past me looking for the group run location. Noticing that I didn't have any water with me and knowing I would not have water stops available via the group run, he asked me if I needed anything. I told him I was good and felt alright and I kept going after wishing him well on his own run.

I popped into Dunkin' Donuts just over the Newton line to grab a water. After having half a GU and a few sips, I kept going. I ended up carrying the rest of the water with me, for fear that it was still early and some of the smaller stores, bakeries, etc. ahead may not be open yet. In hindsight, I was right and it was good to hang onto the bottle, even though it was a little annoying to carry.

Having never been able to participate in the Thursday night Crossroads' runs, the furthest I had ever gone out on the course was on Comm Ave. at South St. when the group has run out of the Mt. Auburn Club. Once I crossed that intersection, I wasn't sure what to expect (besides a little more traffic). After going through Cleveland Circle, I stayed on the left hand side of Beacon St., which I now realize is hillier than the other side of the street. The only issues I had involved not timing the crossing signal correctly at one intersection (oops), and literally dodging another charity's runners coming at me for a mile or so, to the point I had to get off the sidewalk for a stretch. I hit the wall at Kenmore, finished off my bottle of water while walking a few steps and then headed for the finish line. Due to the fact that it was a beautiful day, Boylston St. was packed so I had to dodge a few more pedestrians and other runners (the marathon route was filled with people from Wellesley to downtown).

I ended up making it to the finish line around 9:30 AM and felt a really good sense of accomplishment. As planned, Katie was parked with the kids in the car and waiting for me with water and a dry shirt right next to Trinity Church. After a quick stretch, we jumped back on the Mass Pike and headed home.

All said and done, I finished in under 3 hours and with a pace under 9:00/mile, which is better than I expected. My other moral victory was making it through the Newton Hills without walking once, so that was nice due to the fact I had yet to accomplish this.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/27509924

I'm probably going to miss next week's run from Hopkinton to BC due to John's baseball tryouts, so I'll be going solo (again) on Sunday for the full 22. I'm debating whether to run the same run again and tack on the extra miles around downtown or backup my start on 135 into Ashland.

Fundraising spiked up again with a few more really generous donations, which was great and a little unexpected. I'm hoping to hit the $5,000 milestone very soon.

What Are the Odds?

http://news.sc/2010/03/16/jogger-killed-on-hilton-head-beach-by-emergency-plane-landing/