Race Report – Cooper River Bridge Run

Saturday marked the 36th running of the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston, SC.

Technically, I suppose the race “takes place” in Mt. Pleasant, SC as I spent just about 2 hours there waiting for the race to start, and a much shorter period of time racing through the streets of the Holy City.  But we are already getting way too far ahead of ourselves.  But on my final day racing as an “independent” or a self-coached runner, the racing Gods laid down an absolutely picture perfect day for a footrace.

Sunny skies, light winds, although high atop the Cooper River Bridge the breeze was slightly in the face of the runners and slightly from the right side of the course, 48 degree temperatures and 85% humidity.  The humidity was a little bit dicey, but that is what you get racing on the coast in April.

The CRBR is the 3rd largest 10 Kilometer race in the United States and the 7th largest in the world.

It’s big.

It is almost like running the Boston or NYC Marathons where you have an early rise to deal with, busses to line up for, a trip out to the starting area, a long wait to corral up, limited room for a proper warm-up and of course, a crowded course to navigate from start to finish.

The Pros:  For an amateur runner like most of us – you get the full rock star treatment.

The Cons:  For an amateur runner like most of us – there are a lot of variables to deal with which makes running a “great” race a lot tougher.

You have to sacrifice a little time on the clock for the “experience” of running a huge mega-race like the CRBR.  One or two of these events a year really can make road racing a lot of fun.  But if you are looking to run a PR or a smokin’ fast time.  This is not the type of event to do it in.

The other thing about the Cooper River Bridge Run is that it is not for the meek if you are going to really try to race it.  There is a famous saying that if a hill has it’s own name, it’s probably a pretty big hill.

Well if a race is named after a bridge.  Chances are the bridge is a pretty big one.  The Arthur Ravenel Bridge or “The Cooper” as it is referred to locally is a big bridge.  The climb from start to finish lasts just a tick over a full mile and rises 187 feet.  Yes it is steep, but man, it is long.  It is the long that gets to you in my view.

Cooper River Bridge

The incline is 4%, which is pretty nasty to do battle with at race pace.  But when it takes you a solid 7:00 minutes lets say to get over it, running at 6:00 flat effort it can really take it’s toll on you.  You then have the other side to run down, which further taxes your straining quads – and just when your breathing returns to normal and you start to feel a little better about things, you exit the bridge, make the hard 90 degree left turn onto Meeting street for two more miles of flat running.  The road may be flat, but it feels anything but when you come off of the downstroke of the bridge.  It feels just like yet another hill to climb.

Needless to say that our 37:30 10K PR was more than safe on Saturday morning.  I figured that if I added a full minute for the climb, and then :10 seconds a mile to the remaining miles (5) – we would have a 1:50 disadvantage.  That gave me a goal of 39:20 – if I could nail that time, I would call this a big win and declare myself “over” my injury from the winter.

My other goals were all pretty arbitrary in nature, but being my last race B.C. (Before Coach Carmen Troncoso) – I wanted to make it a little fun:

1.     Break 39:20

2.     Break the top 200 Male Finishers.

3.     Age Group (finish in the top 5% of my age group up to 25).

4.     Be the fastest Texan.

I had a feeling that If goal number one was met, the others had a darn good chance of falling into place.

Pre-Race:     I set the alarm clock for 4:15 a.m. for the 8:00 a.m. gun.  Man, that is early.  I got to the bathroom, took care of all the usual tooth brushing and face washing business and decided on a very quick shower to get the muscles loose under some hot water.  I decided that by race time shorts and a singlet would be all we would need, and to avoid any post-race complications I would not check a dry bag.

I purchased some sweat pants and a hideous Orange Clemson Sweatshirt at TJ Maxx on Friday to wear to the start that I would discard just prior to the gun and allow the local charity to receive my fresh clothes for those less fortunate.  As a South Carolina Graduate it pretty much killed me to be rocking the Clemson Orange, but staying warm was far more important to me and the sweats did the job.

I carried a couple of bagels, a Gatorade and a water with me and would be racing to Charleston with my gloves tucked in the waistband of my shorts.  All of this worked out perfectly.

I parked on the west side of the course about 3 blocks from the busses and took a nice leisurely trot up to the staging area downtown.  I met a 60 year-old runner named Fred from Hilton Head and we rode to the start together chatting away about running, racing and goals for the day.  A 2:40 Marathoner “back in the day” – Fred was still a top age-grouper in the area and I was sure he was going to run a great race on Saturday.  We talked a lot about marathoning and working with a coach.  He like so many before him said to me, “Joe, you are a sub 3 hour marathoner with your ability to run a sub 1:24 half on multiple occasions, you just need it to all come together for you on race day ….”

One of these days I am going to prove all of these folks right.  Hopefully October 13, 2013 at Steamtown.

We hopped off the bus and made the long walk to the corrals.  I found a nice quiet picnic table at a small park to sit on and stretch, chatted with a  few runners, had breakfast and as the sun rose over Mt. Pleasant, I took a short 1-mile warm-up run 30 minutes before go time.

I hit the porta-potty, stretched some more and with 15 minutes to go and people were starting to fill the corrals I went for another 1/2 mile warm-up with some strides mixed in to mimic ramping up to race pace.  I ducked into the Seeded Corral with 800 or so of my new friends, just behind the professionals from Kenya, Russia, S. Africa, Egypt and a handful of top Americans and peeled off my sweats.  My legs felt great, I was very relaxed.  Maybe a little bit too relaxed and I cozied up behind a group of runners that looked just about “right” for my target pace.

The Start:     The announcer counted us down to the start, staged us just behind the mat and with a “Runners, to your marks!  Horn!” we were off.  We ran under the large start scaffolding and screamed down Coleman Boulevard toward the bridge.  I ran the first 400 and settled in nicely, I felt as if I was running just a hair under 6:00 min./mile pace and glanced down at my watch.

Time of day.

I hit the start button as I crossed the mat, but for some reason it was not recording the run.  Garmin error.  Happens to the best of us.  I pressed the satellite portion of the dial and my watch began the process of triangulating my position.  I was running blind.

Something that would have bothered me a couple of years ago, I really never batted an eye.  I decided I would wait until the first mile sign, press start there and get an accurate picture of the final 5 miles of the race.  No big deal, just spin up and run easy.  As we approached the first mile sign I was curious to see how our pacing was.  I hit the line in 5:53, meaning that I ran an opening split right at 5:51 pace given the :02 it took us to cross the mat +/-.  Maybe :04 seconds faster than I had been hoping for, but nothing that was going to harm our race.  Dialed in Joe.  Go get that bridge.

I backed off the pace just a bit to load up for the climb ahead and ticked off the second mile in 6:05 – solid.  we made the slight switch from the right side of the street across three lanes to the left, ran a tangent onto the exit ramp to Mount Pleasant (running against the normal direction of driving traffic) and started to pick our way up the hill.  I decided to stay even, no extra effort, but no backing off either.  Let the 4% incline slow our pace, but keep the intensity identical.  In my view the most economical way to tackle a hill.

I glanced once at my watch and it was tracking us at 7:11 pace up the incline, we were giving away a little bit north of 1 minute per mile pace to the bridge, which had us just about spot on our goal pace.  But the incline seemed to be stretching forever.  I found a runner to run next two and we stayed lockstep in pace to the top.  we finally reached the large crown of the bridge, which lasts a good 200 meters longer than you think it would to reach the absolute apex.  We reached the 3-mile flag and I made a conscious effort not to back off.  Just stay even and lock back in – you are running perfect I thought to myself.

Half-Way Point:     As I passed the 3.1 mile clock the time read 19:53.  I needed to run the second half of the race in just a hair under 19:30 and we were home, goal time met by the slimmest of margins.  My mind flashed back to the last time I had not broken 19:30 in a stand alone 5K and I could not draw it from my recesses.  Finally I had to go back all the way to my first Holland, TX Cornfest 5K in 2009.  On a 85 degree hot June morning I ran a 19:43 to take 1st place in my Age Group.  All I needed was a 19:30 from here on out.  It wasn’t going to be a cake-walk by any means, but it was absolutely something we were capable of.  Just keep pushing.

Downtown:     we came off of the bridge and made the left turn onto Meeting Street with drums sounding from one of the local High Schools, I decided to grab a quick splash of water to wet my lips and I powered up Meeting Street toward the College of Charleston.  My legs were starting to feel very heavy and I knew the bridge had done what it is designed to do.  Sap your strength.  I focused on form, stopped looking at the road in front of my feet as I had done climbing up the bridge so I wouldn’t be intimidated by how much bridge was left and I fixed my eyes directly on the horizon.  Head perfect and still, breathing in rhythm, form smooth, light on my feet and I could barely hear my flats hitting the road.  I was still running strong.  Just needed to hang on to that last mile.

I can do anything for a mile.

We hit the mile 5 sign and I did some quick math in my head.  I was running at 6:18 pace and had not wavered over the last mile+.  One more identical mile, hit the left turn on to Wentworth street with 2/10 to go and surge.  Hit the left turn back on to Meeting Street and Kick.  Race = Over.

I was running alongside a taller, younger runner stride for stride as we took King Street across Calhoun.  I looked over at him and said a single word that I knew he would relate to.  I simply said, “Hurting”.

He replied with a, “Got This”. and on we went stride for stride.

There is something about race crowds when they see two runners battling it out at the end of a race.  No matter how far back they are, the spectators can identify with the very primitive battle of wills taking place.  Tall runner vs. short runner, young runner vs. old(er) runner.  Who is going to give in first.

As we passed the thickening crowd we were getting shouts from the sidewalk, it fueled us both on and just before the left turn to Wentworth Street I got ready to tangent on the inside and decided to surge just a few strides early.  I moved away from the runner on my right and in a moment that makes racing so interesting, he had no response.  He was flat out at that point and I had been holding just a little bit back.

It is something that you never know about the runner next to you, ahead of you or immediately behind you.  Who has something left?  Will it be me today or will it be them?  If you ask me the one thing I love most about racing – that is honestly it.  In the most basic terms, who is willing to hurt more?  On Saturday it was me.

I dropped him on Wentworth, slid past another runner at the turn onto King Street and with 1/10 of a mile left we dipped down to 5:40 pace, a place we had not been for almost 6 miles, but it was nice to see that it was still there.  A final kick to the finish and the announcer said to the crowd, “We’ve got some strong closing kicks here to the finish, and all the way from Austin, Texas …. Joe Marruchella”.

Finish:     After running a 19:51 first 5 kilometers, we needed a 19:29 to make our time.  We ran a 19:27.

Goal time of 39:20.  Race time of 39:18.

Goal of finishing in the top 200 Male Runners – Number 179.

Goal of Age Grouping – Met placing 8th among Men 45-49 years old.

Goal of being the fastest Texan - Met by more than :30 seconds.

I would call that a clean sweep of the list we put together prior to the race.  To be completely honest I am most proud of being able to run a smart, strategic and well put together race.  It may have been one of the 3 or 4 best executed races I have ever run.  Not the fastest of course, but we knew that was going to be the case before we ever boarded our flight from Austin to Charleston.  But for our final race as a self-coached runner, I am really happy to go out this way.  I don’t have a lot of “what if’s” or “I hoped this or that” - I can put this one in the book, place it on the shelf and start a brand new chapter when I get back to Austin.

To coach Carmen, I am fired up, healthy and ready to go.  I know that you work with a lot more talented runners than I and that you certainly work with runners who are much faster than I will ever be.  But I am ready to work hard, do anything and everything you say and on race day I am willing to put it all on the line for the both of us.

We’re certainly going to have our wins and losses, our ups and downs, that is just the nature of the sport.  But put me in a position with a mile to go on October 13th to make it happen and I promise I will not let you down.  Let’s get this party started.

Two Weeks to Boston – Who are we taking with us?

I’m not sure who the first runner was to put names or initials on their race flats. I can’t say for sure why they did it or what it meant to them.

But for me I can say that the first time I did it was to honor Dom.

I did it because I wanted him with me on race day, in body, mind and spirit. Partly because I wanted him to be out on that race course, feeling my flats rush down the road, runners around us, battling the course, the weather and our own body as it began to break down and try to ease off the gas.

I wanted him to experience the sensation of “racing” as I knew that he would never get the chance to do so again after he lost his battle with cancer on August 15, 2010.

That fall I lost a good runner-friend of mine in Austin named Scott Birk. He was killed while out for a training run, struck by a motorist. Scott was a tremendous runner and an even better person.

One of the first to congratulate me in the finishing chute after a race, or keep the crowd loose by joking around at the start – Scott was one of a kind.

After the gun fired however, Scott was a fierce competitor and a tremendous athlete. When he was lost to his family and friends, the Austin running community also lost one of its great contributors.

I find comfort looking down and seeing his initials on my shoes in the starting area before the horn sounds. Scott had been there before.

He understands.

Well at Boston this year I will have two more names on my shoes. A middle and high school friend of mine David Roitman will have his name on my right instep. David who is one of the nicest and truly funniest people you would ever meet, with an infectious energy and zest for life fell ill earlier this winter.

A very strange and sudden illness which robbed David of his strength, ability to walk, talk, or communicate in any way. He has since battled back after relearning all of those skills and continues to make tremendous strides. By late spring or early summer we hope to have David back 100%.

If anyone deserves to hear the roar of the crowd as we make the left turn off of Hereford Street onto Boylston and past the grandstands on the way to the finish line in Boston it is David.

Roitman – you are coming with me.

And of course, my Mom. I haven’t shared a lot about her in this space but her battle with brain cancer at the age of 81 was truly something to marvel at.

Surgery, treatment, medication, rehabilitation and she never, EVER, complained or asked “why me?” which is something I know for a fact I would be wondering.

She moved from step to step in the process, never doubting for a moment that she would beat it – made it to her appointments, listened to her Doctor’s and quite frankly, kicked cancer squarely in the ass.

I’m not sure how often children talk about being “proud” of their parents, but I am here to tell you that I am so very proud of my Mom. Aside from some mild complaining about what the radiation therapy did to her hair, she took it all as it came and never wavered.

So Dom, Scott, David and Mom – ready or not, here we go.

Your names will be the last images I look at just prior to the gun sounding in Hopkinton before I cast my eyes on the race course. When I pull off my flats 26.2 miles and 3 hours later, you will be the first images I see.

Boston Marathon Race Shoes

Thank you for providing me and many others with the inspiration to keep fighting when things are most difficult. I am most definitely going to need each of you on race day – I hope you all enjoy the tour of Massachusetts and the beat-down we are going to put on the Boston Marathon.

Clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose.

26 Days to Boston – Bib Number 5280

On Friday as I was arriving in Virginia Beach for our final tune-up race before Boston I got a text message from a friend telling me that Boston Marathon Bib Numbers and Corral assignments were up on the Boston Athletic Association website.

With the exception of elite athletes who are “seeded” by their bib numbers at major races, where the “favored athletes” or those most likely to win the race are given the lowest numbers – a bib number to the rest of us is usually just a function of how early we registered for a race.

The lowest numbers go to the “early-birds”, while the higher numbers go to those runners who register later in the process.

Boston is a bit different however as for the runners who have “qualified” for the race – everyone is seeded.  The fastest runners down to the very second in their qualifying races are given a lower number than the runner just behind them.

Runners are then separated further into groups of 1,000 into one of the nine starting corrals for each of the three starting waves.

Wave 1 will accommodate runners with bib numbers 1 – 8,999 or the first 8,999 athletes.

Wave 2 will accommodate runners with bib numbers 9,000 – 17,999.

Wave 3 will hold the balance of the athletes from 18,000 and above – including the charity entries with the lowest bib numbers.

The first wave will go off at 10:00 a.m. EDT, the second wave at 10:20 a.m. EDT and the final wave at 10:40 a.m. EDT.

All of this is done with great care to enhance the race experience for all of the athletes in the event.  The thought being that each runner will be paired with runners around them of similar abilities and pace strategies.  This will make the trip from Hopkinton, MA to Boston along a relatively tight course easy to maneuver for more than 26,000 runners.

This year our qualifying time at the New York City Marathon of 3:08:09 earned us bib# 5280.  Wave 1, Corral 6.

A perfect spot.  With a goal time under our qualifying time, we will be in the corral with runners who have finished a marathon between approximately 7:08 and 7:14 pace.  This will play to our advantage if the majority of the group around me does not go out too fast as I am hoping to run the first two miles of the race right about 7:00 min./mile.  Gradually increasing our effort to fall into goal pace of 6:52 by mile 4.

As I have said before, Boston can be a cruel race.  The opening 15-16 miles of the race is decidedly downhill.  You couple the topography with the added adrenaline at the start of one of the largest and most prestigious road races in the world, and it is very, very easy to get sucked in to a pace that is too fast, too soon.

Disaster in the marathon.

One of the things that I found most interesting looking back on our three half-marathons over the course of this training cycle is that the slower I started, the bettter I finished.

Opening Miles vs. Half Marathon Results 2012

The longer the race, the greater the penalty for starting too fast.  In a 5K or 10K a runner can tough out the final mile or mile and a half and “hang on” to the finish.

In the half-marathon this gets far more difficult after mile 8 or 9 leaving more than 4 miles to go to the finish.  A :15 or :20 slow down can mean as much as 1:30 added to your race time.

In the marathon, this can start as early as mile 15 or 16, with 10 grueling miles to go, including the final 10 kilometers where the athletes body is already depleted of those precious glycogen stores and is now resorting to burning fat as fuel which is much less efficient.

Now a slow-down that might be :20 or :30 a mile could be as much as 1:00 to 1:30 each mile.  Adding 10-15 minutes onto your race time.

When I talk about my goal of negative splitting Boston, or running the second 13.1 miles faster than the first I get quizzical looks from many of my friends – runners and non-runners alike.

How can you plan to do that with all of those tough hills in the second half of the race?

The reality is the “tough hills” in Boston are the down hills over the opening 15-16 miles of the race, not the 4 climbs from miles 17-21.

Running 15 downhill miles will take far more out of a runner than 3 miles or so of uphills.

Running in control and clicking off marathon pace miles at or just above 6:52 pace will mean that I am actually running 7:00 to 7:05 “EFFORT” over the opening half of the race.  Problems will arise if I am running 6:52 “EFFORT” at the start of the race, translating to something closer to 6:40 pace over the first half.

You would think that you are “banking time”, allowing for a larger fade over the course of the final miles of the race, but what you are really doing is robbing yourself of any chance to dig deep and hold pace late.

We are going to try to thread the needle in Boston this April with a 1:30:30 first half and a 1:29:29 second half.

If the hills in Newton rob us of our strength to close out the race strong – we should still have enough left in the tank to ward off a huge late fade and finish with a strong race and a new PR in the marathon at Boston.

But if we get it right, and all of the hill work, racing and high mileage has done its job, maybe, just maybe we can pull this off and come through that chute with our “A” goal of 2:59:59 or better.

A 1:23:46 half-marathon translates roughly to a 2:58:00 marathon.  Add a couple of minutes for the course in Boston and we are right in that 3:00:00-3:01:00 range from a capability standpoint.

Right now it’s up to health and the weather.  I’ve got to work a little soreness out of the top of this foot and hope that the race day weather Gods are kind to us in April.

What started out 18 weeks ago as a journey with many, many variables is now down to only two.  One of which I can control by being smart and patient with this sore foot, the other I really can’t do much about at all.

In 2010 we ran out of corral 8 with bib number 7929 affixed to our shorts.

Two years later we are 2,649 athletes closer to the starting line in corrral 6.

Two years older, two years wiser and with any luck, we’re about to finally get this race exactly right.

Race Report – Shamrock Half-Marathon

It seems that every time we toe the line on race day there is at least one lesson out there to learn.

Just because things during race week don’t necessarily go your way – it doesn’t mean that when the gun fires you can’t just set all of that aside and lay down something special.

Sure getting a cold a few days before race day, taking a cross-country trip after losing your wallet the day before and spending time at the Department of Transportation, calling around to credit card companies and tearing apart your home and truck is not an ideal, calm way to prepare for a tough race.

But as I woke up on Sunday morning at 5:00 a.m. and shuffled to the bathroom I was determined to try to set all that “stuff” aside and do what we came here to do. Run our race, put in our last “tough” effort of this training cycle and post one final indicator as to our fitness and training for Boston in four weeks.

I could tell that my cold had broken up a bit more overnight, my nose wasn’t as stuffed up as it had been, and my voice was coming back to me. After a great Italian Dinner with my friends Steve and Ally Speirs the night before, I felt fueled up and ready to race.

I took a hot shower to loosen up the muscles, ate my pre-race bagel, chased it down with grape Gatorade and decided on my race gear. The temperature was just a bit above 50 degrees, with a East/Northeast wind gusting between 12-14 mph.

Not picture perfect race conditions, but coupled with an extremely flat course, I felt like the day would be “neutral”. Not helping runners to quick times, but definitely not restricting them either. It was a fair day on a fair course.

Effort would equal results on a day like today I thought.

Time to go to work.

I threw on a fleece top I bought locally the day before that I would drop at the starting line just before the gun fired and made my way to check my dry bag with warm clothes at the race start.

Being my first experience in VA Beach running a Shamrock event I was very impressed with the job J&A Racing did organizing the event. Great bag-check service. Plenty of porta-potties for the 10,000+ half-marathoners and a very organized coral system for the athletes.

King Neptune overlooking the boardwalk in Virginia Beach

There was the usual mess of runners forecasting faster times that they are capable of running during the registration process to get a spot “up-front” – but that happens at virtually all events where previous race times are not a requirement for seeding.

I decided to start about 25-30runners from the front, thinking that I would more than likely run in the top 60 runners at the end of the day +/-. There was a “dual starting chute” on both sides of the divided road on Atlantic Avenue. 30 deep on my side seemed about right.

Just before it was time to get ready to roll my friend Steve shouted to me and gave me the thumbs up. I returned the gesture and thought to myself, man – this really is what it is all about. I had been listening to some Springsteen in the hotel the night before the race, specifically Jungleland from the Born to Run album.

There is a passage that says – “The poets down here don’t write nothin’ at all, they just stand back and let it all be.”

A calmness came over me in the start area and I told myself to just relax, run an even, easy opening mile, sit back and let it all be ….. let the race come to you. Don’t force anything.

The Start: On a countdown from 10, the starters horn blasted and out we went. I had to navigate around a few runners over the opening 400 meters, but quickly I found an even cadence and locked in. My legs felt strong, the air was a bit humid, but racing at sea-level provides some oxygen advantages. I just let the race come to me and ran three very smooth, very even miles:

6:22, 6:24, 6:24.

PR Pace for me in the half-marathon is 6:23 (1:23:55). I was right where I needed to be.

Shore Drive: Just after the start of mile 4 the course turns to the West/Northwest and takes runners up along shore drive. Oddly, moving away from the beach. This was a very lonely stretch of the course where we had caught and passed a dozen runners or so and were now running in a very small group of 2-3 runners.

There is a very slight false-flat through this section – but for the most part a very beautiful and serene part of the race course. The road had a definite camber to it however and I found myself trying to find the “flattest” part of the road to run. After experimenting with the middle of the road and the center of each lane, I settled on the right shoulder. It seemed to be the flattest area.

It would not let me tangent the curves, but it would take pressure off of the lower of my two knees as well as my hips fighting to stay upright. I was willing to sacrifice some added distance for a better footstrike.

I hit the water stop in the middle of this stretch for a quick sip of water. So far my sore throat was not a factor at all, nor was my stuffy nose. All systems were full go.

Splits here were: 6:28, 6:17, 6:22.

Fort Story: We made a right turn to head through the West gate of Fort Story and gradually make the wide arc back towards the finish. The wind from the East was blowing slightly into the face of the runners until the exit of the base at mile 9. I decided to stay as even as possible as we ran through the base – nothing faster, nothing slower – just lock in.

Splits over the next three miles were: 6:21, 6:22, 6:20.

Back on Atlantic: We exited the base back onto Atlantic Avenue and for the first time could see half-marathoners heading towards us coming from the opposite direction, 6 miles behind.

I was able to stay steady through mile 9, but as mile 10 began I was having a hard time keeping my cadence steady. The lack of hills on the course which is a positive in some ways can be a detriment in others. With no changes to your stride length or cadence your legs start to “fall asleep”. I tried to mix up my stride, add a surge every two minutes or so for :15 seconds, but I could feel my pace starting to fall off a bit.

I was still right on PR pace, if I could stay around 6:25 on the way in, I would have a great shot at pulling it out along the boardwalk.

Splits for the next three miles were: 6:21, 6:26, 6:30.

Closing Stretch: As my watch sounded at the mile 12 marker I glanced down and saw a mile above 6:20′s for the first time of the day – I knew it was time to snap out of it and gradually start putting the pedal back down. As we approached the turn off of Atlantic through the loudspeakers that were placed along the curve I heard the familiar drum kick from Max Weinberg and the Fender Stratocaster of the Boss belting out Born to Run.

I smiled.

We made an arching turn at 45th street and entered the boardwalk at 37th. With 1/2 mile to go I started to force the issue just a bit.

On the right I caught a glimpse of Ally, Steve, Shannon and Caroline and saw a big smile come across Steve’s face. “Finish this thing off strong”he said, and I knew I must be looking at a PR with a strong kick.

Closing Kick captured by Ally Speirs

Mile 13 was my fastest mile of the day at 6:16.

I kicked over the mat with a final 1/10 at 5:39 pace.

1:23:46 official time. A new PR by :09.

PR’s don’t come around very often, especially in the middle of a tough marathon cycle. I am proud of this one more than most as it finally knocked down my 3M Half-Marathon time from 2010 set on a notoriously fast, downhill course to second best.

My 10K, Half-Marathon and Marathon PR’s have all been set within the last 6 months, all with that 45th birthday creeping closer and closer.

By the looks of things, that marathon PR stands a good chance of being erased and replaced with a shiny new number in Boston. One lesson I am taking with me next month is that in a long race, forcing the issue and pushing the limits early is NOT the way to go.

April 16th we’re going to do just what we did during the Austin Half in February and the Shamrock Half on Sunday.

Stand back and let it all be.

Race Weekend is here! Ragnar Florida Keys

With New Year’s Day falling on a Sunday this year, the local Resolution Run 5K at St. Phillips Methodist Church was moved to 2:00 p.m. so it would not interfere with Sunday services. The late start time and the need for me to log a long run of 18-20 miles on Sunday conspired to make me unable to participate in this year’s race. We will be back in 2013 for sure as I hated to miss such a great event and one that sets the tone so well for the coming year of training and racing – but I won’t have long to wait to lace up my shoes and race in the new year.

In just a few minutes, I leave for Miami, Florida to race again with my “Where’s the Damn Van?!” teammates in the Ragnar Team Relay Race. This is the same group of crazies that I raced with last February from Wickenburg, AZ to Tempe as part of a 12-person, 2 Van, 200 mile race.

A video recap of last year’s oddessy is here - vimeo.com/21041736

This year we are entered as an “ultra” team, meaning that there will only be 6 runners on our team, each running 6 legs instead of 3 as we cover the 199 mile course from Miami, FL to the Florida Keys. The format for the race is the same as one runner puts on the slap band bracelet and heads out onto the course for their leg, while the remaining 5 teammates climb into the van and drive ahead to the next exchange area.

The next runner gets ready and as his/her teammate approaches, the team number is called out by a race volunteer. The slap band is exchanged and the next runner is off. After a short cool down, the runner who just completed their leg hops into the team van and the process is repeated all over again. Over and over and over. There are a total of 36 legs to the race – all of various distances which allow runners of different endurance levels and different abilities to compete with a team. In our case, as an ultra-team of six runners, we will run essentially two legs instead of one every time we take to the course.

I will be running out of the number 1 slot, meaning my assigned legs are:

Leg 1: 5.7 Miles, Leg 2: 4.4 Miles = 10.1 Miles Total

Leg 13: 8.8 Miles, Leg 14: 4.7 Miles = 13.5 Miles Total

Leg 25: 3.0 Miles, Leg 26: 9.1 Miles = 12.1 Miles

Total Total Mileage: 35.7 Miles

Based on the predicted pace of my teammates I should be running at 1:00 p.m., 11:30 p.m. on Friday starting my final leg at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. Our team should complete the 199 mile course in 24-25 hours putting us at the finish line sometime shortly after lunchtime on Saturday.

I heard that down in the keys, every hour is happy hour – I expect our post-race carbohydrate recovery to start shortly after we come through the chute. This is indeed a race, but it is falling in the middle of Boston Training – something that I for one moment am not losing sight of.

The difference between running relaxed and smooth at 7:30-7:35 min./mile pace and pushing it to 7:00’s is about 15 minutes total in a 25 hour race. Simply put, it’s not smart for me to go out there and really try to hammer double-digit length runs every 6-7 hours. I am going to lock in to a comfortable pace and just cruise – using this Ragnar event as an endurance and stamina workout on the way to Boston. After easy running on Monday and Tuesday – I will be taking off completely from running this week on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday – letting my 35.7 miles in Florida push our weekly mileage to just 54 miles – a 10-12 mile reduction from the previous two weeks of training.

Then it will be back to “normal” – whatever that means nowadays as we prepare for The Texas Half Marathon on January 28th – our first in a series of three half-marathons, one each month, on the way to Boston. I am going to let it all hang out on January 28th, just as I will at the Austin Half Marathon in February and the Shamrock Half in Virginia Beach in March.

Those three races are going to go a long way in predicting our abilities in Boston this April and whether or not we will be setting our sights on a sub 3 hour attempt or just continuing to move the needle closer to that mark and settle in around 3:05-3:06 after our 3:08:09 effort in New York this November. Big gains at this point are challenging – dropping 7-8 minutes off of a marathon time, which is what I did from Austin to New York was one thing.

Doing it again 6 months later is something else entirely. That would mean I would have shaved off 15 minutes from my marathon PR in 14 months. Starting from a 3:15:01, that is a tall order, but one that I feel we have a legitimate shot at should the remainder of this training cycle go the way it has been going to this point.

Last Tuesday night’s second run of the day was an 8.3 mile tempo run that I completed at 6:25 pace. That run came just 11 hours after 7 miles in the morning at 7:11 pace. We are certainly running strong and fast right now – something that I know I will need to continue to improve on to hold on to that 6:52 pace that we need to break three hours late in the race at Boston. We were able to do so in New York through mile 20 until the last of the bridges took their toll on us.

Boston sets up very differently with the tough climbing between miles 16 and 21, then it is a downhill 5 miles to the finish on Boyleston Street. If we make it up and over heartbreak hill on pace with just 5 miles remaining – we have a real shot in Boston. The next 15 weeks will all be about preparing for those 5 miles.

This week? It comes as a perfect time as training for a marathon is hard. It is physically demanding, which everyone knows – but it is also mentally draining. 109 workouts make up my Boston Training plan. It is tough to “get up” for 109 runs. This opportunity to run with my good friends Thomas, Sean, Jenny, Ally and Steve in sunny Florida to the Keys and take in some amazing sights (One of my legs will take me across the 7-mile bridge) will be as restorative mentally as it will be physically exhausting.

Running over 35 miles in less than 18 hours is not supposed to be easy – add in the van, little to no sleep, poor nutrition – I’m not sure Twizzler and Gatorade is going to cut it this year – and you have a pretty tough physical test. But spending time with the team that I haven’t seen in more than 10 months is going to make it all worth it. Make sure you come back on Monday for a race report – it will certainly be epic.

You can also follow us on Twitter throughout the race at: @TheDamnVan @Joe_RunforDom Below are the various legs that I will be running and the accompanying maps courtesy of the RAGNAR Relay Site. The start times are estimates based on the pace that my teammates and I will be running.

Leg Number One – Start Time 1:00 p.m. Friday

Leg Number Two – Start Time 1:50 p.m. Friday

Leg Number Thirteen – Start Time 11:30 p.m. Friday

Leg Number Fourteen – Start Time 12:45 a.m. Saturday

Leg Number Twenty-Five – Start Time 7:00 a.m. Saturday

Final Leg – Start Time 7:25 a.m. Saturday

Next year Steve Speirs and I are talking about running this as a two-man team – 100 miles each.

Just kidding Dawn.

Wanted to make sure you were still out there reading and paying attention … Seriously, it’s three-man team.

Just kidding.

Race Report – New York City Marathon

There is something about the marathon that differentiates it from other foot races, and I don’t mean just the obvious difference being its length.

It is a race that has a way of bringing people together that makes it so special.  Perhaps it is shared misery or shared elation that make those two emotions all the more powerful, I’m really not sure.  But one thing I know is that this race has a special hold on me that even though I uttered the famous quote heard thousands of times by the volunteers handing out the NYC Marathon 2011 Finisher’s Medals, “Never Again”. 

I know for a fact there will be more marathons.

But its time to make sure we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves and start talking about the finish of the race because this was a day that I will remember for a long, long time.

Pre-Race Saturday Night:

To me that marathon doesn’t really “get serious” until I am sitting down at dinner on Saturday night.  I don’t know if it is my Catholic upbringing that harkens back to thoughts of the “Last Supper”, but I can be calm, cool and collected all the way up until that plate of pasta is put in front of me, but as soon as I take the first bite, the jitters arrive.

This pre-race meal was different than any other of course, as it was Landry’s first time at the table with us the night before the marathon.  I was joined by close friends Jolyn and Connie who made the trip in to watch the race with Dawn and Landry and two very special guests who made their way in from Long Island.  My runner friend Bob and his daughter Hallie.

Bob and I met back in 2010 as I was making my way to the Boston and then Pittsburgh Marathons for Dom through Dailymile and have been “virtual” friends and training confidants for a couple of years now.  Originally the plan was for Bob, myself and our friend Winston from Wichita to all run NYC together, but Bob has been struggling with injury for over a year now.  He was unable to run with us, but he was there for me on Saturday night, which meant more to me than he will ever know.

We had a tremendous dinner at Tony Di Napoli’s on 43rd street in the city – and as always, Landry was the star attraction.

Landry at dinner

Don’t know where she gets this ability to ham it up in front of the camera from – but late on Sunday I think I got a new perspective on that.

After dinner we said our goodbyes and made it back to the Renaissance Hotel in Times Square for a fitful night of nervous sleep.  Landry of course had a great time in the city – even meeting a celebrity while we were out heading to breakfast on Saturday.  She had a lot of fun in the Big Apple.

Landry, Dad and Mickey

I was careful to hydrate even more than usual as I was fighting a cold which I knew was going to have me dehydrated before we even started the race on Sunday if I wasn’t paying close attention, laid out all of my race gear for the morning and tried to get a little sack time.  Daylight savings would add an hour to our evening which would normally be welcomed, but it actually made Sunday’s 9:40 a.m. start time even “later” for me – which I was not happy about being an early morning runner.  I hoped that the lessons I learned about nutrition and hydration pre-race at Boston in 2010 would help me on Sunday.

Hell, I was hoping for a lot of things.

Travel to the Start:

I opted to take the Staten Island Ferry to the starting area instead of a city bus.  It would add a trip on the subway to the Ferry to my morning, but I looked forward to being able to walk around the boat and use the bathroom if I needed to instead of being stuck on a bus in NY traffic.

I woke up at 4:45 a.m. – 5 full hours before the start of the race – took a shower to warm-up, dressed in my race gear, packed my breakfast in my small bag that I would check before heading to the starting line and said my goodbyes to Dawn and a sleeping Landry.  I quietly left the hotel and walked one block North to 5oth street and one block left to Broadway to catch the number 1 train down to the Ferry.

A runner coming through the subway turnstile was having trouble with his metro card, so I reached back, handed him mine and paid for his train.  I thought that I could use all the “good karma” I could find on Sunday.  Best $1.50 I spent in New York.

I got to meet Michael from Washington State who was running his first New York Marathon, number 8 marathon overall.  We talked about our families, previous races and our hopes for the day.  Michael was hoping for a 3:30 and asked me what my plans were.  I told him that I wanted to PR above all else (sub 3:15:01), but thought I had a great chance to run between 3:05 and 3:10 if I had a good day. 

3 Hours was my pie in the sky goal, but that is something that you don’t really travel to a “Mega-Marathon” on a tough course to do.  I would need a near miracle to pull that off, but I would run the first half just quick enough to give myself a shot at it, and hang on as long as I could.  We made our way onto the Ferry and ended up having to split up to find seats.

I ended up next to a runner named Tracy from Atlanta.  He was running out of the Green Start or the bottom of the Verrazzano Bridge just as I was, so Tracy and I rode the bus from the Ferry to the athletes village and talked about our families and goals for the day.  Tracy who was relatively new to the sport as I am was hoping to run a Boston time, which for his age would mean something around 3:35 or so.  Tracy was very interested to hear all about “Run for Dom”and then shared with me that he is a cancer survivor.

Walking to the Athletes Village on Staten Island

I shared one of my bagels with Tracy and a banana in the start area and as they started to call runners to the starting corrals we split up to go into our assigned areas.  I wished him well and for the first time all morning I was alone.  That is the thing about the marathon that never fails to get me.  No matter how many people you are surrounded by, in this case 47,000 other runners, another 6,000 volunteers and 2 Million spectators cheering on the runners along the course – you find yourself all alone battling your own demons along the way.

You find out a lot about yourself during the course of a marathon, some good, some bad – but it is all honest.  All 100% genuine.

The Start:

I found myself a spot in the starting corral with about 45 minutes to go until the gun at 9:40 a.m.  I was still in my throwaway wind pants and wind jacket and my Philadelphia Eagles knit winter hat to keep me warm.  Underneath were my navy shorts, USA Track and Field Singlet, Arm Warmers and light Gloves.

I was fairly certain that my arm warmers and gloves wouldn’t make it out of Brooklyn, my hat probably not all the way over the Verrazzano Bridge, but the race weather was absolutely perfect.  44 degrees, very light winds and a sun-splashed sky with the sunrise off to the East and my right shoulder.

With 10 minutes to go the released us to the starting line and I jogged slowly and comfortably up to the start for about 600 meters to shake loose and get the stiffness out of my legs and glutes from sitting on the curb for so long.  I felt strong.  I felt rested.  I felt 100% healthy from my training and even my cold wasn’t bothering me.

I was also scared and nervous.  Anyone that tells you they don’t feel that way at the starting line of the marathon is either certifiable insane or a liar.

I’m neither.  I was scared.

As requested I removed my hat for the Star Spangled Banner and eased out of my sweats.  I tossed them to the side and realized that all of the runners around me were not from the United States.  Chile, Canada, France, Japan, Switzerland – but in my immediate area I was the only runner from the States.  I puffed out my chest a little more than normal and proudly showed off my USA singlet.

Let’s do this I thought.

The Start – Staten Island:

Right at 9:40 on my GPS watch you could hear the announcer from the top of the bridge declare over the loudspeaker – “Runners, the streets of New York are yours!”  BOOM! and as the recoil from the cannon start faded Frank Sinatra’s voice came over the sound system:

“Start Spreading the News ….. I’m leaving today ….. I want to be a part of it …. New York, New York …”

I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand on end as I made my way across the timing mat and took my first strides toward the finish line.

All of that nervous energy, fear, apprehension, doubt vanished immediately.  The race starts and your body and mind take over. 

My legs started to do what they do and I took stock of my systems about 2/10 of a mile into the climb up to the top of the Verrazzano bridge – my legs had indeed made the flight to New York.  I felt perfect.

The incline over the first mile is pretty staggering.  My watch was not able to detect satellite signal from the lower deck, so I had to run completely by feel.  I could not track any speed or splits and there were people all around me.  I decided to “run easy” and whatever my opening mile was would have to be good enough.  With 25.2 miles to go it is basically impossible to run the first mile “too slow” – but you most definitely can run it “too fast”.  I was going to be a smart, even paced marathoner and I was going to run my race on Sunday.

Just stay smooth, stay tall, stay even I told myself.  Stay smooth, stay tall, stay even.  Stay smooth, stay tall stay even.

We quickly came up on the 1 mile sign and my GPS watch had me at .58 miles.  I knew my data was going to be useless, so I just ran at even effort to the top of the bridge.  I had tucked my gels into my Spibelt, but they were bouncing around a little too much and irritating me.  So I pulled the half-packs of 3 Clif Blok Shots I had cut in two smaller packages before the race out of my Spibelt and tucked them into the pockets on my arm sleeves.

I decided to carry the gels that I would need at mile 5 in my left hand to warm them up and make them softer and I pitched my Spibelt onto the side of the Verrazzano bridge, careful not to hit another runner.

The bridge covers the fist 2 miles of the race.  The first mile climbs 150 feet to the top of the Verrazzano Bridge, the second mile the same 150 feet down the other side.  Without being able to gauge my speed, it was going to be tough to really know how fast I was going.  My pace felt comfortable and natural, not too quick, not too slow – just right.

Whatever that pace was, it was working for me.  When we got to the 3-mile mark I knew we would hit the first water station and I could get my clock time from the course clock.  We crossed the starting line only :10 seconds after the gun, so I would just pace off of that mark each mile.  Not exactly as scientific as I am used to – but runners did that for years and years – I was sure that without technology my legs would still know what to do.

Brooklyn (Miles 2-13):

At the start of mile three we ran underneath an overpass and heard the first fans on the course welcoming the runners to Brooklyn.

Loudly.

It was tremendous to see all of the spectators on the course, I pitched my hat to the side of the road as I felt the first bead of sweat hit my left eyebrow.  I was warmed up, feeling great and we were racing.  Greatest feeling in the world.

We hit the 3 mile mark and my split was 21:25 (6:53 pace).  I had a decision to make.  7:15 pace is a 3:10 marathon.  7:02 pace is a 3:04 marathon.  something around 7:05-7:08 was what I had in the back of my mind for the opening half of the race.  6:52 pace is a 2:59:59.  I was running free and easy, my pacing felt perfect and I was on pace for basically my pie-in-the sky “A” goal.

I took a few strides and processed everything, my watch was trying to recalibrate itself making up for the “lost distance” it couldn’t track me.  But it was now triangulating me to a new point 3+ miles away from the point when I punched start.  It was showing 4:45 pace – which I knew was wrong and in fact worthless.

I decided that I would just continue to run “identical”.  No changes, nothing slower, nothing faster just stay exactly where you are and don’t change a thing.  Let’s see just how far and how long we can hold this.  Let the hills, bridges speed us up or slow us down, but run with the same exact effort.  That is the most efficient way to run a marathon.

The reality of the situation was clear to me.  You are 3 miles in to one of the greatest foot races on the planet.  You have a great venue, great crowd support, perfect weather and you are on pace for a 3 hour marathon.  How many times in your life are you ever going to hold this situation in your hands again?  How many runners would give just about anything to change places with you at this exact moment.

Make the most of it.  Don’t tell the story later about how you almost went for it that day.  Tell your daughter about the time you decided to risk it all and go for it.  That the results at the end of the day would not change or take away from my choice and the experience.

So I went for it.

At every mile to come with the exception of the two-mile stretch over the Queens borough Bridge (miles 14-16), the story repeated itself.  There would be a Gatorade Station on the left and right of the course, then a sign letting the runners know when the cups would be filled with water instead of Gatorade, then 100 Meters later a timing mat that recorded your time for that mile and a race clock.

On a day where my trusty Garmin had let me down – I didn’t need it.  I was running the New York City Marathon entirely by feel and I was locked in and killing it.

We sped through Brooklyn and mile markers never came to me quicker on a course.  I do not know if it was a combination of the crowds encouraging the runners, the fact that I was running the NEW YORK FRICKIN’ Marathon …. or if because I wasn’t checking my watch every .50 miles, but the course was flying by.

My pace through Brooklyn was:  (Through Mile 3 6:53), 6:52, 6:51, 6:50, 6:49, 6:50, 6:50, 6:49, 6:50, 6:51, 6:51.

We reached the Pulaski Bridge finally leaving the wonderful crowds in Brooklyn to head over to Queens and as we crested the first steep climb since the opening mile up and over the Bridge I hit the timing mat at the half-marathon point in 1:29:45 – 6:52 pace.  I had run the opening half of the New York City marathon in a word …. perfect.

Queens (Miles 14-16):

As we made our way off of the bridge we were greeted with shouts of welcome to Queens!  The crowd of runners was now thinning out and you could start to hear the occasional shouts for individuals.  Just ahead of me was a runner named Steve who had his name printed boldly on his chest.  Each stride a different spectator would yell out – “Go Steve”.

After this took place for the seventh or eight time a runner off to my left looked over at his friend who he was running alongside and said, “Man, I wish my name was Steve right about now ….”

That is one of the best parts of the marathon – that amid all of the struggling, there is still plenty of time for a few laughs.

Just then off to my left I heard for the first time of the day – “Go USA!” – I had been running down the center of the course through Brooklyn staying out of harms way and keeping the course as short as possible, giving up the chance to have encouragement shouted to me through the crush of runners on both sides of the road.

But now I was starting to get some attention as spectators had been cheering wildly for France, Chile, Spain, Italy …. now it was my turn and it was very welcomed.  At each shout I would give  a thumbs up or a quick wave – trying to make sure I didn’t burn too much energy – but it was getting harder and harder to do as the shouts of encouragement got longer and louder.

Miles 14 and 15 in Queens came and went quickly, my pace remained steady 6:52, 6:53.

As we made a turn to the left I could see the on ramp to the Queens borough Bridge.  There would be no spectators for the next two miles only the bridge and the biggest hill I’ve ever seen in a marathon.  I pulled my arm sleeves off and threw them to the side of the road to cool myself a bit.  It was time to climb. 

Manhattan (Miles 16-20):

I did what I do on any hill, stayed even and started to pick off runners in front of me.  To be passing people on the bridge made the challenging climb feel just a little bit better.  Not much, but a bit.  I was able to stay strong to the top on a climb that seemed like it would never end.  I dropped my gloves off as we crested the top and now was down to just my singlet, shorts and shoes.  With about 1/4 mile to go before we would be coming off of the bridge I could see down the hill to First Avenue below.

The crowd was absolutely huge.  10-12 people deep lining the street.  I glanced over my left shoulder toward lower Manhattan, saw the buildings shining with the sun hitting them from the East.  What a day I thought.  Enjoy this for a moment because in the next couple of miles, things are going to get difficult.  It wasn’t a matter of if.  Just a matter of when.

We came off of the bridge and I made my first mistake of the day – as the chants of  U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A. greeted me I ran with my left arm up toward the crowd.  I should have been using this next mile as a recovery mile, maybe ease off the gas a bit, but I couldn’t make myself do it.  I knew better.  I knew that this precious energy I was expending would be needed over the last 10 kilometers, but I ran on fearlessly anyway.

There would be a price to pay.  I knew that much.  I just didn’t know how badly it was going to hurt yet.

Up First Avenue we went, I zipped into water stations, took my third package of gels and was cruising along.  As we reached mile 18 to my absolute shock a New Yorker walked right out onto the marathon course, had hopped a barricade to do so in order to cross 1st Avenue.  My view of him was blocked by a runner just ahead and to the left of me and at the last moment he was directly in front of me walking slowly like he was out for a stroll.

I reached across my body with my right arm to my left side and grabbed his backpack to shove him as hard as I could out of my way. 

My right foot scraped his right leg as I barely made it past him, throwing me off of my stride.  I was pissed.

For 18 miles I had been locked in, smooth and steady and in an instant I was knocked off of my rhythm.  I tried to block it out and forget about it, but it was hard to do.  You are always amazed at the things you see in a marathon – but this one was something I wished I had missed.

Over miles 16-20 my overall pace started to slip:  6:54, 6:54, 6:55, 6:56, 6:57.  We were about to climb again over the Willis Avenue Bridge.  I was now :05 per mile total behind 6:52 pace.  A sub 3 hour marathon was not going to happen.  But my goal of coming in under 3:10 was a very real possibility.  I knew that the mileage and the course were about to team up on me at this point only the way they know how to do after mile 20 in the marathon.

In many respects, this is truly the “half-way point” of the race.  13.1 is only the half-way point in the marathon mathematically speaking.  Only the people who have  been to this point can understand just what the final 10 kilometers is really like.  Your heart, mind and spirit feel like they are working just as hard as they have been for well over 2 hours, but your body just won’t stay with the program.

Your legs feel heavy, aches start to accumulate and soreness develops seemingly in an instant.

Welcome to the marathon Joe.  Your race just started.

The Bronx (Mils 20-22):

The Willis Avenue Bridge climbs about 50 feet in 1/4 of a mile.  It felt like a mountain.

I made it to the top, crested the hill and headed down into the Bronx for a short stretch of 2 miles leading back to the 138th street bridge and back into Manhattan for the final time.  The crowds in the Bronx were great, another round of shouts for the U.S. of A, but I could only manage a thumbs up at this point and a quick smile as they cheered for us.

As we made our way out of the Bronx our total pace for the race dropped yet again 6:59, 7:01.

Manhattan Part II (Miles 22-24):

Fifth Avenue, we finally reached it.  now it was just a matter of running from 138th street down to Central Park and entering on the East Drive.  There was the final major climb ahead of us 100 feet over miles 23-24 and then the rolling hills of Central Park itself.  A stretch of New York I had run several times in the past - but never after a 22-mile warm-up.

The outside of my right knee began to tighten on me, my IT Band was rearing its head for the first time in close to four years.  I was hurting and I glanced at my watch for the first time in about an hour and a half.  My pace was clocking now around 7:35 min./mile  As long as I kept it together and didn’t completely blow up I could break 3:10.  It was going to be a war of attrition. 

Finally the entrance to the park.  Time to finish this thing.

Central Park (Miles 24-26):

I hit the Gatorade station at mile 24 and decided that would be my final nutrition stop for the day.  I had managed my hydration plan perfectly, now it wasn’t worth disrupting my breathing or using the energy to slow, grab a cup, drink it, drop it and merge back around other slowing runners.  Just two miles to go to the finish.

I thought about the 2.3 mile shake-out I had run Saturday morning that seemed like it was over in the blink of an eye.  Why couldn’t these two miles be just like yesterday’s I tought in a moment of weakness.  Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way for the marathoner.

At mile 23 my overall pace had slowed to 7:03, by mile 24 it was 7:06.  As I reached the mile 25 marker and clock we were at 7:09.

C’mon Joe, hang in there, just 1.2 miles to go.

The Finish:

We exited the park onto Central Park South and the crowds were going crazy.  I started to feel my legs turn a little faster, but I tried to keep steady.  We had one more turn to make back into the park at Columbus Circle, a route I ran just a little over 24 hours earlier to feel the finish of the race.  I knew that Dawn and Landry were going to be on the right side of the course in the East Grandstands at the finish line.

Don’t forget to run right I thought …. stay to the right.

As we made the last turn into the park I couldn’t control my excitement any longer.  I raised my left arm and waved to the crowd on the West Side.

I ran a straight tangent off the turn to the right side of the road and I waved to the crowd all the way in.  U.S.A., U.S.A. was being chanted and I was hoping that Dawn and Landry would see me.

Instead of dropping the hammer and sprinting the final 200 yards like I normally would – I just took it all in.  Every bit of it.  Dawn saw me approaching and took this photo of me as I had just 100 yards to go.

Now I know where Landry gets it ...

The course straightened out, I raised my left arm up and ran through to the finish line.

Home Stretch

Final time of 3:08:09.  7:11 pace for 26.2 miles.

Our time was the 1,860th fastest of more than 46,500 finishers.  The 1,730th fastest male competitor and 328 of the 5,858 Men in our 40-44 year old age group.

For me this race was perhaps the most memorable I have ever run.  The city, the course, the event, the weather, my training and my effort all came together revealing the true meaning of when someone describes their race result as a “Personal Best”.

On Sunday I was the very best marathoner I have ever been.

I also got to spend it with the two ladies who mean the world to me.  In their eyes I know that fast or slow it wouldn’t have made any bit of difference – all Landry and Dawn wanted was to see Daddy finish.

Dawn and Landry in the Grandstand

All I wanted to do was hug them and tell them that I love them.  New York, thanks for the memories.  You certainly know how to throw a party.

Final Statistics from the Race:

Race Report – 2011 Holland Cornfest 5K

The third Saturday in June is the celebration of the local cash crop – corn – being harvested in the small town of Holland, TX – population 1,233.  It also marks the annual corn festival now in its 37th year.

For me it means race day.  Our “A race” 5K of the late spring/early summer.  The first road race after we make the switch from marathon training and racing in the fall and winter months to the shorter, faster races held in the heat of our Texas summer.  Even though the race attracts only a little more than 250 participants, it is a well organized event that returns many of the same runners year after year.  Holland, just north of Georgetown and just south of Temple is about an hour by car from our home in Northwest Austin.  A little far to travel for a 5K, but every year the event is more and more fun.

I plan on keeping it on my calendar for many years to come.

As is usually the case before a race that I care about, I had a hard time sleeping on Friday night.  I slept soundly until about 4:00 a.m., then dozed on and off for the last hour and a half before it was time to get up, grab a quick bagel for breakfast, slam down a grape gatorade, shower and dress for the race.

It was going to be another hot one on Saturday morning, 82-85 degrees at the start of the race at 8:00 a.m., but more troubling was the humidity which was hovering around 84%.  To make matters worse, the wind which had been relatively calm for the last couple of weeks was back on Saturday.  It was blowing out of the West 12-15 mph.

I tried to play the race course over in my mind when I walked outside to check on the conditions, wondering if the wind would be in our faces on the way out or on the way back.  I thought that it would be blowing into our faces on the first 1.5 miles, then helping us slightly on the way back to the finish line if I had remembered correctly. 

No matter.  The elements are the same for everybody, you just have to block that stuff out and race hard.  That is the only way I know how to do it when it comes to dealing with less than ideal race conditions.

Pre-Race:  My friend Neil picked me up at ten minutes after 6:00 to make the ride up to Holland.  Dawn and Landry would be making the trip up a bit later to take in the awards ceremony and the parade.  With no traffic Neil and I made our way to the race start to pick up our race packets and retreive our bibs.

I opened up my bag and saw my number.

Rule Number one, I'm number one.

The number seemed fitting as I wanted to really run my race on Saturday after the events of the past week.

I was going to leave it all out there and try to break through the 19:00 minute mark, which would be a :23 second improvement over last year at this event and :42 seconds faster than my time in 2009.  It was a time I was capable of on the rural, hilly course.  But with the heat, humidity and wind, it certainly wasn’t going to be easy.  Not too much is when it comes to racing a fast 5K.

Warm-Up:  I got back to the car, pinned my bib to my shorts and fired up my GPS watch.  I wanted to run an easy 2-mile warm-up.  Something around 16:00 minutes total, just enough to get a good sweat going, but easy enough not to sap my rested legs.  I ran out onto the race course and covered the initial .25 miles up to the first turn and the next .75 miles down to the first foot bridge at the bottom of the first climb. 

I turned around and ran back to the finish to wrap up my warm-up, looking at the curves in the road and planning out how I was going to tangent the turns.  I wanted to run the shortest route possible, making sure my race was as close to 3.1 miles exactly as possible.

I hit the 2.00 mile mark in 15:54.  Just :06 seconds fast.  I was pretty much dialed in.

Mile 1:  I had chatted with my friend Paul from Temple, TX, his son and his friend about their goals and pace for the race.  It sounded like they wanted to run about a 6:30 opening mile.  I was thinking more along the lines of 5:55.  We were all tucked into the starting chute and a couple of minutes ticked by.  I felt my legs tightening a bit, so I ran two quick striders in front of the starting line.  Just two :15 second bursts – just enough to stay loose.

I tucked back in to the chute and at the horn we were off.

I surged out in front of the pack and got into the line I wanted to take the the first turn to the left.  The road has a significant camber to it and falls off quite a bit to the left.  I wanted to make sure I was running on the flat part of the street, about 30 feet from the left edge.  I would cut hard to the corner and make a tight left turn. 

As we approached the turn I was running in third position, no traffic on my inside and I was able to nip right along the edge of the turn.  Perfect.

I felt a few runners coming up on my hip as we approached the first 1/2 mile split and realized it was Paul and his son.  My watch beeped with an opening 1/2 mile of 2:53.  I called the time out to the runners with me and Paul and his son backed off the pace, they had started out a bit too fast which is an all-too common occurance in short distance races.  It takes a lot of discipline to lock in on your pace and not waver no matter who is running around you and how fast they are going.

We hit the slight downhill section leading to the bottom of mile 1 and two high school runners moved ahead of me.  I passed Paul’s friend and settled in to 6th position.  At the beep my second 1/2 mile came in at 3:01.  I had run a 5:54 opening mile, just :01 second ahead of my goal for that split.  Perfect.

Mile 2:  In any 5K this is the “money mile”, it is the mile where your pace starts to slow and you have to increase your effort to hold the same time.  The trouble is if you have opened the race too aggressively, you don’t have anywhere to go.  The pedal is already to the floor, so you can’t run harder.  Your pace then slows down and you fall back from the pack.  The key to running a solid second mile for me, is running a solid first mile.

Too fast over mile 1 and I’m cooked too early. 

At Holland, this also marks the beginning of a 51 foot climb over the next 1/2 mile to the turnaround point.  It is spread out over two hills.  Put together they are a little bit higher than a 5 story building.  This would be my slowest 1/2 mile split of the race unless I fell apart at the end.  That was not the issue.  The issue was how slow it would be.  I was hoping to run this stretch in 3:10 or 6:20 pace.

I pulled past one of the two high-school boys ahead of me and was running alone with nobody to help cut the wind.  Tough break.

At the beep I glanced down at my watch and caught my third 1/2 mile split – 3:13.  I was :03 slow.

I navigated the cornstalk turnaround and grabbed a quick splash of water at the aid station.  I didn’t want to take more than one sip as my breathing was perfect, so I just wet my lips and pitched the cup.  We could now see the runners who had been behind us, as I pulled past the second high school runner I was now in 4th position.  No threats from the rear, but unfortunately I was a solid :15-:20 seconds behind the third place runner.

Unless they came back to me I would be running the final 1 1/2 miles alone.  Nobody to push me, nobody to chase.

I focused on my form and keeping my legs churning.  I needed to make up a little bit of time lost on the uphill split.  At the top of mile 2 my watch beeped once again marking my 4th 1/2 mile split at 2:58.  2:58?  I was right back on track.

Mile 3:  The next mile has a slight uphill tilt to it.  Nothing too terrible, but it is long and gradual.  I focused on running up on my toes a bit and tried to keep my stride long.  Not letting the change in the grade shorten my length.  Split number 5 came in at 3:04, Split number 6 at 3:01, I had just run a 6:05 third mile.  It was time to kick, we had a real shot at that sub 19:00 time.

The Finish:  Thankfully this part of the course tilts in the runners favor to the finish – my final 1/10 of a mile clocked in at :39 seconds.

As I hit the timing mat the clock read 18:51.2

During a week where I lost a good friend and a tremendous running partner in Scott Birk to a tragic accident, I had turned in what was easily my best race since the last time I ran with Scott, the 3M Half-Marathon back in January.

With Scott’s initials on my left shoe and Dom’s initials on my right – I wanted to make sure I left it all out there on the course for those two men on Saturday.  Not to be overly dramatic about it, but I placed their names on my race flats with the ultimate measure of respect.  They deserve nothing short of my very best.  It felt really wonderful to deliver the goods for them.

I grabbed a quick sip of water and caught my breath.  I saw Paul Lopez and my friend Erin Ruyle come through the chute finishing up their races then I jogged back up to the top of the final stretch of the course.  I told my friend Neil that I would pace him in over the final 1/4 mile and help him close out strong.

My timing was just about perfect as I got in position to run in with Neil with .30 miles left in his race.

Running just ahead of him, challenging him to get on my back, run harder, run through the timing mat – push all the way to the finish.

Neil came to the race with a goal of running a time under 24:00 minutes.  As he hit the mat I looked at the clock:

23:55.

Tremendous.

Dad, Landry and Uncle Neil

Awards Ceremony: Dawn and Landry made it to the race to join the party as Erin, Paul and his son Jonathan would all receive age group awards for their performances on Saturday.

Superwife Dawn and Landry

As for me, I finished in 4th place overall, my highest finish at the Holland Race.  We also came away with our third straight Age Group 1st place award.  As I was walking up to the stage the Race Director said, “1st place in the 40-44 Male Age group with a time of 18:51 …. wow, that’s a fast time …. is Joe Marruchella …..”  Hearing the comments of the Director was quite a compliment, he seemed genuinely surprised that one of us “old guys”, could throw down a time under 19:00 minutes. 

The goal was to go for the three-peat.  Mission accomplished.  We’ll be able to come back next year, our final year racing in the 40-44 age group and see if we can make it 4 straight.

Three-Peat ....

Landry was kind enough to make the trip up to the stage with me to pick up our Cornfest Trophy.

Landry and Dad

Great race, great day and to be totally honest something I really needed after learning about Scott’s death on Monday.  I know that if he had been at the race on Saturday he would have been the very first person to come up to me, offer me a big bear hug and tell me just how wonderful a race I had run.

Of course, he would have beaten me by a few seconds.

Maybe that’s why I was running all alone over the final 1.5 miles on Saturday.  Scott Birk was missing.

Race Report – Congress Avenue Mile

There has been something different about racing so far this summer that I have not been able to put my finger on.  Last year seemed like there was more “electricity” in the air before my races.  There was more excitement.  I could feel it in my legs as I stood in the starting area, and I could feel it in my heart as I tried to settle down and focus on my opening segment of the race.

Whether that was the first mile of a 5K or the first loop of a course, I feel like I was much more in tune with what I was trying to accomplish.

As this summer race season is now three races old, I feel like something is missing.  Is it me?  Is it fatigue from the additional triathlon training?  Is it Dom?  I’m just not sure.

Saturday morning was the Congress Avenue Mile.  A race that I was hoping would snap me out of whatever funk I seem to be in.  One mile on a fast course, literally letting it all hang out in a first class event put on every year by RunTex.

The race has several open division heats leading up to the State of Texas High School Boys and Girls Mile championships.  The Congress Avenue Mile would also be the first race this summer that I raced one year ago.  Over the next few months before NYC Marathon training reaches its serious level in late July/early August, I will be running the same local races that I did 12 months earlier.

Same race, same course, just one year older.  Weather of course will be a variable I can’t control, but these races should serve as a pretty good litmus test to judge where I am as a runner right now vs. where I was at the same point last year.

The Congress Avenue Mile was the first such race for me to draw a line in the sand and ask, “Am I better today than I was a year ago?”  Closing in on my 44^th Birthday in July I am a realist.  I know that at some point I am going to ask that question and the answer is going to simply be “No.”  On Saturday morning I was hoping that we were not quite at that point just yet.

Pre-Race:  I decided that I would for the first time at a short distance race, do an actual “warm-up”.  Not just a quick little quarter mile jog to get the blood going in the legs, but a longer warm-up.  A couple of miles.  Everything I have read about racing short distances says that you should run a longer warm-up than you do at long races such as the marathon.  It helps get the muscles firing, the blood flowing to your legs and will reduce the amount of time before you start accumulating lactic acid in your legs when you start running at a faster pace.

Still learning after only 5 or 6 years in the sport, I decided to give it a try.  I had always been worried about “tiring” my legs before the race, despite all of the advice and studies to the contrary.

I parked at Magnolia Café at the top of South Congress Avenue where Dawn, Landry and our friends Sarah, Tedd and their 3-month old Tyler would be meeting for breakfast after the race.  I strapped on my watch, tied my race flats and took a nice leisurely jog down towards the starting area a little more than 2 miles away.

After a mile or so, my legs were feeling really great.  I had rested from running on Thursday and Friday and felt like I really had some snap, crackle and pop going on.  The first time I could say that in a long time.

As I made my way downhill towards Riverside Drive, in the early morning light my friend Andy appeared on the right side of the road, he yelled over and we jogged to the start together.  Keep in mind that Andy and I were literally the only human beings on South Congress at that hour; it was a miracle that we happened to bump into each other.

I had not spoken with Andy since his great performance at the Boston Marathon (3:04:00~), so we chatted away about our summer race plans and made our way to the start.

After about :20 minutes I decided to run another leisurely paced mile so I could take in the race course and the right hand turn we would have to navigate from 11^th street onto Congress Avenue.  The last time I had run on 11^th street, I was in the closing 200 Meters of the Austin Marathon.

I would be going a lot faster on Saturday.

After a few quick strides I hopped into the starting corral next to Andy and near my friend Mick from Georgetown who had been training to break through the 5:00 minute mark at this race.  Pretty heady stuff for a 43 year-old runner just like me.  Mick had been hammering his track work and was very confident.

I knew that Mick and Andy had me by about :10 or so, this distance is not what I train for, but I was hoping that I could stay somewhere near them and close strong.  I had run a 5:26 mile a year ago.  Something around 5:15 would be a huge improvement.  Just keep them within striking distance over the first quarter I thought, then hang on.

Opening Quarter:  They called for the start and we all crouched down, fixated on starting our watches.  When the countdown from the starter went from 6 to 5 to 4 to 3 we were all coiled like springs.  Just then we heard a loud car horn sound out.  Beep!

It was the chase pick-up truck that was moving into position.  It was sideways across the starting chute just 20 yards or so ahead of us.

I would have raced right into it along with a hundred other runners.

After a couple of minutes to calm back down and get set, 3, 2, 1 – and we were off with the blast of the horn.

I fell immediately in with the runners I was hoping to stick with, we navigated the turn onto Congress Avenue with no issues, no tripping or spills and I picked out the white center line I wanted to follow straight through to the finish.

I wanted to stick on the line to avoid the camber of the road on the right, as that tends to bother my knees.  I also wanted to run as close to “point to point” as possible.  In a short race like this, every second counts.

I felt very strong over the first quarter and it came and went in the blink of an eye.  I had changed my Garmin GPS Watch to record my splits every .25 miles instead of every mile – so I could see where I was with pace.  At the beep we had run a 1:14 opening quarter – 4:58 pace.  Yikes.

Middle Quarters:  Over the middle two quarters I was hoping to “float”.  Just take a bit off of my pace to leave something for the final quarter when my legs were heavy and we were trying to push hard.

I have been having trouble lately keeping the “hammer down” in the middle of my races, ever since the 3M half Marathon back in January.  The last race where I really felt like I stayed focused on every mile of the course – not backing off when things got a little bit difficult.

Quarter number two came in at 1:18, I was losing contact a bit with Mick and Andy, but I was not losing any track position.  There was a runner up ahead of me serving as a solid pacer, and another runner just off of my right shoulder.  I felt like I was locked in to as comfortable a pace as I could find, just short of an all-out sprint, but pushing harder and harder as my legs tired.

Quarter number three was the first time I felt like I was slowing.  I tried to keep hammering away with my race flats, but I could see the distance between me and the back of Mick’s yellow shirt lengthening.  It was too early to push hard, I would have to save that for the bridge, so I kept track of the runner on my right shoulder, pacing to just stay in front of him.

My watch sounded at the end of the third quarter, I glanced down quickly but couldn’t make out the time, turned out that it was 1:20.  Still in great shape for a new PR.

Closing Strong

Closing Quarter:  At the start of the final 400 Meters I passed the runner who was just ahead of me and started to wind the watch.  I envisioned gradually increasing my leg turnover each 100M until the final 100.  Then sprint to the end of the line.

I could feel the footsteps off of my right shoulder falling away.  I was now all alone on the bridge just racing the clock.  I could make out the display above the finishing line up ahead, it was still reading numbers starting with 4:5X – Mick had just entered the finishing chute – he had made his goal time.

I closed hard with the clock reading overhead 5:05, 5:06.

My final quarter was another 1:14.

5:07as I crossed the line.

Photo by Dawn a.k.a. Super-wife

Post-Race:  I immediately caught up with Mick as I was catching my breath, congratulated him and my friend Andy (4:57) on tremendous races and then caught up with another good runner buddy Tom.  He had finished with a new PR of his own.

Dawn and Landry made their way into the finishing area and it was time for us to head back up the hill to Magnolia Café for breakfast.  (Royal Toast was the call for me, French Toast with Scrambled Eggs …)

As Dawn and I were walking to the car, I shared with her that something seems to be missing right now in my running and racing.  Could I have dug a little bit deeper over the middle quarters and made a run at a 4:59?

Perhaps.  I think most of the time immediately following a race, you feel like you could have given just a little more effort.

A :19 PR over a year ago should be a celebration.  But again, I’m just not sure.

I feel like the physical side of things is there, the knee injury I had to deal with this spring is now a distant memory, but mentally, I’m still searching.

I have a couple more tune-up races before we run the Holland 5K on June 18^th.  Our summer “A” race 5K, where we’ll be going for a third-straight age group win.

Whatever it is that’s missing, I hope to find it in the next few weeks.  There is no denying it right now, I’m just not where I need to be.

Whole New Dad Training Program – Week 11

Photo Compliments of ManoftheHouse.com

Below is the eleventh and final weekly contribution to the:

Whole New Dad Couch to 5K Series featured at www.manofthehouse.com

Welcome to week 11 of the Whole New Dad couch to 5K program. It’s race week!

Now before we dive in to race day strategy, the type of things you are going to run into out there and the obligatory “rookie racing mistakes” to avoid, we do have a couple of workouts to talk about. This week is the final formal week of our training program. It includes two training runs and then your 5K race this weekend. If your race day is still a week or two away, not to worry. You can simply duplicate the workout this week for all three of your training days.

In fact, you can make this your baseline weekly training plan for the next few weeks until it is time to start talking about your next challenge. Perhaps your goal will be to safely add a fourth day of running to your weekly regimen, or to start shaving seconds or minutes off of your average mile time.

Who knows, after your debut at your local 5K you may want to race at another 5K event to lower your time or chase a longer event, such as a 10K. That is what is so great about where you are today. You have safely managed to increase your fitness level and running experience gradually and hopefully without injury.

You have established a great base from which to work and have built a consistent, sustainable exercise habit. Your options from this point forward are limitless. Each goal or training plan to follow will be born from these same principles. But let’s not get to far ahead of ourselves, let’s stay in the moment and enjoy this.

Click HERE to read the rest of the article.

Whole New Dad Training Program – Week 10

Photo Compliments of ManoftheHouse.com

Below is the tenth weekly contribution to the:

Whole New Dad Couch to 5K Series featured at www.manofthehouse.com

Check back next Wednesday for the next installment in the series:

Welcome to week 10 of the Whole New Dad program. It’s a big week this week. Three tough workouts on the schedule that will move you ever-closer to the starting line of that 5K race circled on your calendar.

Just like last week you will be completing the identical workout during all three of your sessions. Only this time you will be extending each of your runs by another ¼ mile. You will be asked to:

• Warm up with a brisk 5-mile walk.
• Jog 2 ¾ miles or 28 minutes.

You will want to reach the 2 ¾ mile mark on your runs even if it takes you a bit longer than 28 minutes. Don’t worry about the time so much as covering the distance at this point. A faster or slower pace from one workout to the next is not important.

The key is for you to get out there three times this week and cover those 2 ¾ miles without fail. Remember as always to leave at least one rest day in between workouts for your body to recover to the increased load.

In just 2½ months you have made some pretty remarkable progress. You have transformed yourself from someone struggling to find time to exercise on a regular basis to a runner.

That’s right. I said it. You are a runner.

Now back in week number one when you and I started this journey together I poked a little fun at “the runner”. The guy or gal who is out there in any kind of weather, decked out in all the latest gear, glancing down at their wrist every few strides, counting the minutes, the seconds, the hundredths of seconds.

I came clean at that point and told you that I was in fact “one of those guys”. No doubt about it if you could have seen some of the conditions I trained through on my way to the starting line of the Austin Marathon on February 20th, I’m sure you would have been shaking your head.

Click HERE to read the rest of the article.