Race Recap: 2014 Grandma's Marathon

I'd be remiss if I didn't begin with a thank you: thanks for reading, and for the kind, supportive texts/tweets/posts/photos/tags/etc!

I ran my final long run 7 days prior to the race, an easy-ish 2 hours (17 miles). The week of, I forced myself to run a couple 8 milers despite being pretty tired of running/training (I ran 3-5 easy on the other days). I also forced myself to stop biking to work on Thursday. Thankfully I only had to take CTA to/from Niles Thursday as I was able to work a half day from home on Friday before leaving for the airport.

After rushing to O'Hare (I'm usually late-ish), my flight was canceled shortly after arriving (late) to my gate. This was about 16 hours prior to the 7:45am start of the 2014 Grandma's Marathon.

Standing in the customer service line at O'Hare, I decided that my best course of action was not to find another flight but to drive. Even if I was re-booked on a later flight, how could I trust that it wouldn't also be cancelled? On my shakeout earlier in the day, I came to the realization that the time had come to be stubborn. Training without injury is a dance of compromise, changing or shifting plans in favor of consistency. Racing when the fitness is finally present is about courageously/stubbornly pursuing your goals: maintaining the pressure and not backing down or changing course when things get uncomfortable. It was a shift I was not so sure I had prepared to handle. That said, the first challenge came much earlier than expected when my travel plans fell through.

I felt good about driving, but I could not have done it without help! My parents kindly shifted their weekend plans in order to allow me to use their second car to make the drive to Duluth. Meg and Bess who were already in Duluth were able to pick up my race packet and room keys as I'd be arriving much too late to do either.

Arriving around 1am, I ate some food (two bags of microwavable rice if you must know, should have just done one bag), prepped my race gear, and rolled out my legs in an effort to mitigate the effects of 8 hours of sitting in the car. Getting to sleep at 2am, I was happy to finally be in Duluth. Having done the first portion of the drive up to Duluth many, many times driving to/from Carleton College where my sister, Rachel, and brother, Jonathan, went to school, the drive it self didn't really bother me too much. I knew I was capable of making the drive solo. The lack of sleep didn't really bother me either as my sleep as been somewhat inconsistent of late and prior to my fastest marathons I hardly even slept the night prior due to nerves. They say it is two nights prior that really counts.

5:00am came quickly, but I still felt good (not groggy or tired) when I woke up. I went for an easy 10 minute shakeout on the St. Scholastica campus where we were staying (I'd stay there again, it was great!). The legs felt pretty good, not great but good enough. We took the 5:45am bus to the start which picked us up from just outside the dorm where we were staying. Once in Duluth (haha), pre-race logistics were pretty painless.

We were fortunate to have a cool, but not cold day which made the pre-race waiting much more tolerable. That said, I can't believe I forgot any type of throwaway garments and warm-up tights for the start line. It ended up being totally fine, but in the moment I could have used a little something.

On the start line, they dropped the men's and women's elites in front of us normal folks so there was about 60-70 (?) runners already a head of me. Which was more or less totally fine. I hoped would help me stay controlled over the first mile or so.

When the race finally started, I started slowly, keeping in mind the task at hand, but not as slowly as in Boston where I split a 6:35 first mile. I split 6:10 with an approximate 6 second delta between gun and chip times. So I was just about perfect, pace-wise. The first portion of the race, I was just trying to run as comfortably as possible, as close as possible to 5:55 pace. 6:10s, 6:05s, 6:00s, were permissible as long as I was comfortable until at least mile 20-ish. I was trying to replicate my memory of cresting Heartbreak Hill feeling good aerobically (unfortunately that day, my muscles were totally trashed and were the limiting factor).

Without the elevation profile of Boston, I wasn't sure how to segment the Grandma's, however after being pleasantly surprised after feeling out the first few miles, I decided that the segmentation that Dan Daly had suggested for Boston was probably still applicable to Grandma's Marathon (and perhaps most marathons now that I think about it). Specifically this entailed:

1. Starting conservatively
2. Running goal pace, strong and steady through mile 17 (in Boston this is where the Newton Hills begin)
3. Surviving miles 17-22 (the Newton Hills, typically my mentally toughest miles regardless of the course)
4. Unleashing the kraken on miles 23-Finish

Miles 2 and 3 were 5:50 and 5:52. It was here that I began to trust a bit more in my intuition that my run at 13.1 Chicago was probably pretty close to marathon pace (I ran 1:16:47 (5:52 pace), but only had one gear the whole race). I was still cautious and backed off a bit, hoping to run 5:55s through mile 13-17.

I ended up splitting 6:01 for the 4th mile, but then put together a nice string of mid 5:50s: 5:54 and 5:54 for miles 5 and 6 then 11:53 (5:57 average) for miles 7 and 8. It was here that I got to chatting with Adidas Running Rep, Ben Kampf. Having a full blown conversation during a race is a weird experience, but I enjoyed it immensely. It took my mind off the miles for a moment, and kept me relaxed and hopeful I hadn't gone out too aggressively.

We slowed a bit in mile 9, splitting 6:00 and I broke away from the group I had been running with at an aid station and forged on. I was still pretty focused on running 5:55s, telling myself that I needed to stay as comfortable as possible through at least 15 miles. Mile 10 came pretty quickly and was the first time I really started to feel a bit of fatigue. Splitting 5:44, I pushed any irritation at my inconsistency out of my mind and backed off a bit.

Miles 11, 12, and 13 were a bit slower than I would have liked, but I found myself still clicking off sub 6 minute miles despite a very aggressive 10th mile so I couldn't be too upset. Splitting 5:58, 54, and 59, I found myself crossing the half-way point feeling pretty comfortable in 1:17:45. I was on pace to even split a 2:35:30 which was just a bit off one of my goals of running the sub-2:35 Fleet Feet / Nike Racing sponsored athlete qualifier. I figured with how I felt, I could find 30 seconds over the next half so I was encouraged a bit though still plagued with doubts as I've gotten to half-way in every marathon I've run still on or around my goal pace. The carnage usually ensues within just a few miles.

I told myself at half-way to hang tight and run comfortably for another couple miles to mile 15. Then revised my thoughts and told myself to chill until mile 17. Then mile 20. I've had too many races become death marches in these middle miles.

That plan went out the window when I was passed just after half-way by a guy running just a bit faster than my planned mid-5:50s. We ended up running 5:45 for the 14th mile. At that point, I decided to back off a bit, but to try to start running 5:50 pace. I was still feeling good and I figured that had I shot myself in the foot by running the earlier miles too fast, there was nothing I could do about it at this point in the race.

The next few miles went by pretty quickly as could see a pretty big group a couple hundred meters a head that I told myself I wanted to catch by mile 20. I hit 5:50, 5:47, 5:51, and 5:49 for miles 15, 16, 17, and 18. Then split 11:31 (just off 5:45 pace) for miles 19 and 20. I managed to catch up with the group I was trying to run down that included the top American woman as well as a couple guys from Lincoln Running Company Racing.

I had managed to survive to mile 20 without hurting too bad (it wasn't easy, but I wasn't totally suffering).I kept on telling myself that after I took my last gel at mile 21 I just had to run a sub-30 minute 5 mile tempo. Then I decided to break things up a bit more, using other runners on the course to motivate myself. I selected my next target and told myself to push slightly to catch him by mile 23.

The final miles contorted themselves in time seeming both short and long. I ran no slower than 5:50 over the last 10k, splitting a 5:38 for mile 25, my fastest of the day. I was able to pick off a few more runners over these final miles and received some well appreciated cheers from bike-mounted Chuck of Brooks Running and Dan and Allie Walters (if you're on Facebook and like running you should follow Dan Walters Running)!

Crossing the finish line less than two minutes off of my PR felt great, I laughed with relief and joy. I hadn't come closer than within nine minutes of my PR over the past three years and it was beginning to be difficult to believe I'd ever be able to achieve my goals. The marathon can be a cruel event and apparently I have been slow to learn my lessons.

I hope to follow up this race recap with a bit more of a dive into the last few weeks of the training cycle and the race itself to pull out some of the principles I think others can apply to their training and racing. Check out my race review on BibRave. The short review is that Grandma's Marathon is a must-run American marathon. In my opinion it is up there with Boston, particularly if you want to run fast as the field up front is very deep. They did a great job producing the event.

At Grandma's Marathon, my expectations aligned with my fitness/reality. Can you share a time when this happened for you? What were the key factors driving this alignment?

Race Recap: 2014 Boston Marathon

First off, thanks for reading and for the kind, supportive texts/tweets/posts/photos/tags/etc!

I've been terrible at keeping this space up-to-date for the last 8 weeks or so, but I wanted to make sure to get down my initial thoughts about my 2014 Boston Marathon experience:

The race itself presents some pretty interesting logistical challenges as it is a point-to-point course. Of course one of the biggest perks of the Boston365 program is that we got to ride in a chartered bus (instead of the race provided school buses) and could wait (as long as we wanted) on the warm buses. This was great for the first couple hours, but by about 9:10 am, when I began walking to the start corrals, it was nearly warm enough outside to stand in a singlet and shorts and not be chilly at all (a slightly ominous sign, but at least it wasn't pouring rain).

The walk over to the corrals was filled with greeting various other Chicago-area runners and in my corral (wave 1, corral 2), I quickly found a group of guys I knew from Chicago. Once in the corral, I was thankful to have read about Sage Canaday's hilarious attempt to pee into a bag at the start of his Boston Marathon experience in 2010. Instead of a bag I chose a 20 oz. Gatorade bottle which served me well.

After the gun start, we seemingly very slowly moved in the direction of the start line, ultimately crossing the timing mats around 45 seconds after the gun. I fell in step with Chicago guys, Jason Ream and Craig Taylor. All three of us were focused on a sub-2:40 finish and a very conservative start.

Our first mile was a very pedestrian 6:35 which made me pretty uncomfortable knowing that we had run some pretty significant declines and had perhaps been actively breaking during this mile. I stuffed any fears away, hoping I'd gain tens of seconds back charging into Boston after mile 22.

The next few miles were conservative but not slow as we ran between 6:00-6:10 for miles 2-5. I was feeling good, but not great and was hoping that I'd really be able to get into a rhythm when we dropped the pace below 6:00. The roads were crowded with runners and spectators. So much so that it was difficult to see the aid stations early on. I immediately started drinking water and after the first couple stations also started dumping water on myself as it was pretty warm.

After mile 5, the course flattens a bit and we started trying to get a bit of time back from the slower early miles. We started running our miles in the mid-5:50s. Jason fell off a bit. The pace felt a bit hot and Craig and I had to do a fair amount of weaving as we were already passing slowing runners, but I decided I still felt like I had enough in the tank for the Newton Hills so I kept it up. 

By mile 10 or 11, my left quad was starting to bother me.  Anytime you feel something like that before the half-way point in the marathon, you know you're in trouble. That said, I kept relaxed and enjoyed high-fiving some of the coeds in Wellesley around mile 12. By half-way, the discomfort in my quad hadn't gone away and I considered slowing down, but I again decided that otherwise I felt okay and that slowing down wouldn't necessarily make running on a sore/strained(?) quad less painful. 

Around mile 14 or 15, I ran into Boston365 runner Andrew Kaehr and tried for a short bit to pull him along (while simultaneously dropping off of Craig's pace). After this failed attempt, I regrouped and began setting my own rhythm for the first time in the race this allowed me to feel a bit more comfortable as I was just about to enter the famed Newton Hills.

Running the Newton Hills with fellow Chicagoan Rob Chenoweth.

(Photo credit: Jason Dement)

The Newton Hills are a bit of an enigma as the final hill is somewhat appropriately named Heartbreak, but at the same time they're often down played by experience marathoners. I had made it to Newton, MA on pace and ready to tackle whatever was in store. I was hurting, yes, but generally still running okay, I was happy and hopeful that I'd still be able to pull this one out of the fire. As we began climbing, I noticed that the inclines were taking pressure off of my left quad! I was passing people left and right (literally) the first three climbs and felt good. I had even almost caught back up to Craig. The only problem was that I was getting caught between climbs as it was painful to run downhill and even on flat surfaces. By the time I got to Heartbreak, I was beginning to tire as the rolling terrain was starting to wear me down. I also knew there is a pretty significant descent the mile following which didn't bode well for how the shorter descents had been going. Heartbreak was long, but that's about it. The pain kicked in as soon as I crested it. My quad was shot and I couldn't really use the downhill portion to my advantage.

I went deeper into damage control mode (versus racing mode) and tried to stay as smooth as possible while still moving towards the finish line. It felt like I was crawling along, but really I was running around 6:40 pace (then 7:00 pace for mile 25). I had wanted to get to 22 feeling good, read to "unleash the kraken" in the words of Dan Daly, but instead I was just trying to keep myself going. It felt like I had eons to deal with the disappointment of this development. I did my best to let the crowds carry me (and they did) and I also did my best to enjoy the experience. Jason, who had held back earlier blew by me.

With 1000m to go (underneath the Mass Ave overpass), I knew there wouldn't be anymore quad pounding declines so I decided to do my best to run hard through the finish. I was a bit surprised at how much I had left. I took the right on to Hereford feeling pretty good and passing some runners. I took the left on to Boylston and picked it up again. The stretch to the finish seemed never ending and I did my best to stay engaged mentally, but I probably slowed down after the 26 mile marker.

Looking back on my race, I am disappointed I wasn't able to run more strongly in the final 5 miles. I don't mean this to be an excuse at all, but based on this experience, the Boston Marathon course is hard to train for in Chicago, specifically it is difficult to prepare your legs for hard (marathon pace) downhill running. Sage mentions the 10 x 1 mile workouts he did downhill when preparing for Boston with the Hansons. No doubt 1-2 of these sessions would have been helpful in my preparations. I also could have done a little more of a warm up before the race to loosen the quads and slowed the second mile down a bit (6:35 to 6:08 is a pretty big jump). Other than that I would say I am pretty satisfied by my performance and am happy to have made it to the finish line healthy (not needing 2 months off unlike my previous couple marathons). The 2014 racing season is just beginning and I am optimistic about future success!

It is a bit embarrassing to admit, but I did not really understand how much the Boston Marathon means to the people of the Boston area, other participants, and the running community in general. Prior to this experience, I was certainly guilty of a certain cavalier attitude towards the event (rather foolish, I know, perhaps this was also a way to dissociate from the pressures of performance). While at its core, a running race, the Boston Marathon more so than any other race in which I've participated, reflects the hopes and dreams of the watching world, its host community, and its determined participants.

For me, the 2014 Boston Marathon was a gift from the people of the Boston area, an opportunity not only to leave behind terrestrial cares for fleeting moments to chase a dream, but to be celebrated for this act. The Boston Marathon is my reminder that racing and running are valuable because these acts require and inspire hope.

What does the Boston Marathon mean to you?

*For my thoughts on the 2014 Boston Marathon weekend experience... Check out this blog here.

Race Recap: 2013 BoA Chicago Marathon

I'll start by just putting down the numbers:

Mile splits:
6:06, 5:57, 5:55, 5:42, 5:57, 5:47, 5:53, 5:54, 5:50, 5:57, 6:01, 5:47, 5:57,

5:54, 5:52, 6:00, 6:03, 6:07, 6:11, 6:22, 6:17, 6:29, 6:39, 6:45, 6:59, 8:38 (1.2 miles).

My 5k & Half Splits

Half splits: 1:17:32 (5:54 min/mile) followed by a 1:23:45 (6:23 min/mile).

Race morning, I woke up around 3:45am and started fueling with water, the new Clif Bar hydration drink, and an All in Almond Picky Bar (which despite being an allergy sensitive brand is the only favor that really works for me). Did a ~1 mile shake out, went to the bathroom. Generally felt good with the exception of my left shin which to be perfectly honest for the past 4 weeks or so has been bothering me.

I did a 5 mile shakeout with a few soccer turf strides with some of my Fleet Feet Racing teammates on Saturday as my second run of the week. The shin, specifically the areas where my posterior tibial tendon attach, felt "runnable." Some fleeting pain, but nothing I couldn't tough out.

Anyway on my shakeout, the left leg felt "tight" and the pain was fairly acute. At this point though I was already committed to starting the race. Looking back, I should have committed to finishing the race at this point as well. Things had felt good the day before so I tried to stay positive and did a bit of self massage and took a hot shower after shaking out to help loosen things up.

Obligatory Pre-Race Gear Photo

Still feeling pretty good otherwise, I got down to the race site pretty early (~5:50am) as I typically allow myself a bit too much leeway for city races and didn't want to be stressing about getting to the race on time.

Up until actually starting the race, things seemed to be going very smoothly!

The Race Itself

The plan was to run with Fleet Feet Racing teammate, Dave Strubbe through 10k at around 5:55 average pace then slowly accelerate and hold 5:50s for as long as possible.

The first mile is typically very quick so I was actually somewhat relieved to find that I hadn't gone out in 5:20 though also bit disturbed by the fact that my first mile in 6:06 didn't feel as easy as it should have. Perhaps there is something to allowing the energy of the start into your brain and legs. I intentionally slowed myself several times over the course of this mile. I also chalked things up to being a bit "stiff" after only putting in about 15 miles on the week.

The second and third miles were my attempt at continuing to stay relaxed, running by feel, and attempting to stay out of trouble (trying to run on the smoothest portions of pavement and not doing a whole lot of leading). Around this time, Strubbe got about 5-10 seconds ahead of me. I let him go and decided to work up to him slowly as I was still not feeling smooth at the pace we were running.

The fourth mile, I got a bit antsy and dropped my fastest mile of the day, catching Strubbe in the process. This was also about  the time I got to see my family for the first time on the course and  that we started running through the familiar areas of Old Town and Lincoln Park. Seeing this split, I backed off a bit. But as you can see splits 5, 6, and 7 were all over the map. I was still having a difficult time feeling comfortable at this pace.

It is here that I think I should have adjusted my expectations. Running up Sheridan, I was pretty much all alone. There was a big group about 10-15 seconds ahead (which I ended up catching at Addison) and I believe a whole slew of runners behind (not sure by how much, but it couldn't have been more than 20-30 seconds). 5:55 average pace wasn't feeling comfortable (I was forcing the pace even though it didn't feel particularly hard). I should have dialed things back to 6:00 or 6:05.

Instead I pressed on up Sheridan hoping to catch the group ahead for some protection from the wind. It was about here that I also took most of my Honey Stinger chews. Honestly I hadn't ever practiced with them, but I had decided I'd be taking something with whole food-ish ingredients probably once early on in the race. I landed on the chews as gels just haven't been appealing to me lately and some of the other Fleet Feet guys were going to be using them.

After turning onto Broadway, I was safely tucked into a group containing most notably, 2012 Olympic Trials qualifier Laurie Knowles, the "Michigan Guy" I ran with in 2012's BoA Chicago Marathon who was running with a couple of his Club Northwest teammates, and fellow CPS-alumni Steven Bugarin. We rolled together for quite sometime though I was still struggling to stay comfortable. Which is exactly what I told my good friend Mark Wehrman who joined in for a couple miles at this point. He reminded me to stay positive. I kept telling myself things would loosen up and feel more smooth by the halfway point.

Our pack rolling through Old Town

I hung with this group through around mile 15 when we split at 5:52. Things weren't feeling any more comfortable and I knew that mile 16-18 is usually where the struggle really begins particularly if the early stages of the race were not particularly good. I decided to allow the group to go ahead and focus on relaxing and running 6:00 pace through the next stages of the race.

This lasted just a couple miles before I started to slow even more. I was hurting pretty bad both mentally and physically. In retrospect, probably more mentally than physically. I was tired of running hurt. It was pretty clear I was not going to loosen up at all and that my mechanics had been compromised enough by a sore shin that my right leg was taking more of a beating than my left. I was regretting running in my soft, cushy training shoes which helped support my shin, but made my feet work extra hard.

Looking back, I am realizing that while I had committed to starting the race after having a decent shakeout, I hadn't really committed to finishing the race mentally. I spent the "middle miles" of 19-22 making this commitment. Mark jumped in again around mile 20. Running down Halsted, I looked up and saw a mullet and a bright Fleet Feet Racing singlet. It was my teammate, ColeSans who was running his first marathon and based on talk pre-race had gone out with three other teammates at sub-2:30 marathon pace. We caught him quickly at what has become one of my least favorite parts of the course:

View Larger Map

I really, really wanted to stop and jog it in with Cole, but Mark wouldn't let me. It was at that moment, I was almost 100% committed to finishing the race. The frustrating thing about this for me was that I couldn't make that decision "on my own." Without a commitment to finishing, Mark had to talked me into finishing mid-race. My mental environment had become too negative with anxiety surrounding running injured and not meeting performance goals for me to realize that running a 6:17 at mile 20 is still actually pretty decent.

While this was probably the watershed moment in terms of successfully completing the race, I still carried a little backup drop out plan in my back pocket for another couple miles. I was expecting to see my family a final time around Chinatown. If I was feeling really terrible, I would drop out in front of them so the would know I was done with the race.

It was running through Chinatown where the wheels really started falling off in earnest. Things were pretty uncomfortable and I think sort of warm since there really isn't much shade on this portion of the course (I don't recall feeling hot though). Mark continued to run with me. I saw my family just before turning east on 33rd street.

The rest of the race was me struggling just to put one foot in front of the other, not cramp, and maintain as much pressure as I could. I felt like I was halfway between racing and jogging it in. I was running slowly for a race, but I maintained sub-7:00 pace until the last 1.2 miles which was about 7:00 pace exactly.

The final turn onto Columbus, I got a bit dizzy and saw a flash of black. I told myself if I had to that I would slow to a walk to make sure I crossed the finish line. I didn't want to run all that way to pass out less than 200 meters from the finish line. Fortunately my body held together long enough for me to run across the finish mats.

I'll have to write another blog outlining the many things I learned and am continuing to learn from this race, but for now this will do.

Did you run the 2013 Bank of America Chicago Marathon? 

Share your thoughts on the race (or a blog recap) in the comments below!

Flowchart: Getting Over a Bad Race

We've all had bad races. Follow this simple flowchart to help you move on.

If only it were that easy.

What are some takeaways from your worst races?