A Starting Point...At The Finish Line

It's over. I completed the Chicago Marathon in 3:36:48. Happy that I finished strong having never run that distance before. A little disappointed also. I felt a sub 3:30 was certainly possible but I made a critical mistake prior to the start of the race: I stood to far towards the back of the pack. I knew this might be a problem but I assumed there would be open running lanes that would allow me to move up quickly. Nope. People were running shoulder-to-shoulder and I exhausted a ton of energy criss crossing from one side of the road to the other trying to pass. Whenever an open curb presented itself (like in the Lincoln Park area), I raced up on the curb and passed dozens of people before jumping back into the stream at the next obstruction. I did not anticipate the running pack would be this dense. I bet I passed well over 20,000 people along my race. I was never able to recover my time enough to challenge 3:30. Next time, I'll know better. Still, I'm very pleased to have finished with a sense that I could do even better. That is a nice feeling and one to carry into the next marathon. So, at my finish line, I found a starting point on what to improve on for the next one.

Short and Sweet

I'll keep this brief. I don't want the people who don't read this blog to not have to spend time not reading it. Make sense?

The Chicago Marathon is a few days away. My aching foot has been sore since my last long run (see previous post) and has caused some chinks in my normally unwavering confidence. However, some decent results, foot soreness-wise, on a 13 miler and 9 miler have patched over a bit of the confidence pot holes. So, I'm ready to roll. Looking for a sub 3:40....hoping for a sub 3:30...not sure what to expect until I complete this first marathon.

Short and sweet....like the marathon course right? Right!

No Fear

For me, I need the reassurance that my body can handle the physical and mental pounding 26.2 miles exacts on the body. During this entire summer of training, I've been working toward getting to that level of confidence that (1) my body could handle this and (2) I would be happy with my time. I know time isn't everything but I'm a competitive person and it has been important to me. That's why I love running. There is no one to get angry at. No opponent that outplayed you. No referee that made the wrong call. Just you against the clock. How hard you trained can be directly measurable against your results (give or take for other incidental factors). I love that. It is a very emotionally introverted sport. It allows you to be happy with yourself as well as all of the other contestants independently.

That being said, on Sunday,I finally reached that level of confidence I desired. It has been building all summer and yesterday's long run of 21.5 miles validated my physical and emotional readiness. I left my house shortly after 7 AM and did three 6.2 mile loops back around to my house. After the second loop, I popped back inside to wish my now-awake daughter a Happy 5th Birthday. At each break, I had GU and water (and changed shirts once due to the embarrassing red splotches on my chest from you-know-what). Then, ended with a 3 mile trip up to the local high school and back. 21.5 miles in 2:49. Three minutes ahead of 8 mins per mile pace!! Maybe 3:30 is attainable after all. Very satisfied. Despite the extreme ankle pain that has hit me later that day (and caused a slight limp this morning), I consider the last long, long run a big, big success.

On to Chicago with full confidence! No fear.

Winding the Top

Twenty miles are in the books. Actually, I can't be sure it was exactly 20 miles. The path I was on claims to be a mile in length. It is a circular track and I tried to stay in the middle. Did they measure from the inner edge, outer edge, middle? It makes a difference. My time seemed to be roughly 20 seconds faster per mile than I would have thought so lets estimate conservatively and call it 19 miles (20 laps X .95 miles). It's a nice, flat run except for a few minor 12 foot elevations just to make sure you are awake. Plenty to look at around the park to keep you interested. The problem is that when you circle a track 20 times you start to feel like you are winding up a top or - for the Superman fans out there - turning back time by circling the globe counter clockwise. Each training run winds another loop around the top. That's the hard part. The marathon should be just a matter of pulling the string and letting it spin! (Yeah, right.)

As I was unwinding from this run, however, I was immediately assaulted by a man rushing towards me just spewing questions at me like: when I was marathoning? how much had I trained? how many miles would I do next week? All of this would have been fine and good but I just finished 2 1/2 hours of running, dude. I'm whipped. I'm thirsty. I'm pretty sure my calves are going to lock up rendering me immobile for the next several hours. And is that a pain in my liver? Is that normal? C'mon give me a chance to rest. I tolerated him for a moment until I realized that what he really wanted to do was tell me about his first marathon experience and proceeded to give me a bunch of advice. I had heard it all before so I politely (at first) ended the conversation and made the exhausted walk to the car. Talk about bad timing. I'm thinking this dude is the type that hits on the widow at a funeral with the "you here with anyone?" line.

19 miles (20 laps) in 2:32. 8 minutes per mile. On pace!

What's in a number?

20 miles...that is my next milestone. I have run far enough now during my training runs where finishing the marathon doesn't seem quite as daunting. Something about a nice round number like 20 seems much more impressive than 18 or 19. If I get the 20 knocked down with relative ease, I will feel supremely confident going into October 22nd and the Windy City. Chicago Marathon, here I come.

Making Progress

Going good from 13-15 miles. Need to increase stamina and distance. Starting to cramp and fade a bit around 11 miles. 10 weeks to go...

Flexing...

Is a blog like a muscle? If you don't use it, do you lose it? I don't know what the rules are of the Blogger Nation but, in my continuing effort to defend my little .25 acre in the Great Blog Subdivision, I felt I should make an update (i.e. flex) at least once a month.

Still, not much time or energy to add anything of value right now. I have my eye on one of the new Gateway products with all the bells and whistles. If another Pre-Election-Vote-For-Us check appears in my hands, I might have new motivation to become a more active poster. New computers are fun. As it appears a desperate politician (with a check in his hands) isn't anywhere on my horizon, I'll go back to picking the lint, dust, fingernails, and food crumbs from between my old Dell keyboard keys. Good day.

Knowledge is Power

James Madison wrote in 1822: "A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance. And a people who mean to be their own Governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."

Hunter S.

Much quoted, much beloved:

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!"--Hunter S. Thompson

Redirection

Until I'm motivated to add an entry which, sadly, is not now, I'd like to redirect you to a friends blog:

http://www.mikehasathought.blogspot.com/

April 25, 2006

Just thought I'd mark out a little territory in the blogspot just in case I'm so motivated which, sadly, is not right now.