Marathon Me

“Luna herself is a stern schoolmistress, and those who have lived through her harsh lessons have no cause to feel ashamed” — Professor Bernardo de la Paz addressing the Federated States on Earth after the coup.

In many ways this quote from Robert Heinlein’s 1966 book rings true for me. When I started runnings marathons in 2002, I didn’t really know much about the Boston Marathon. My first marathon I “trained” pretty half-assed, whereas now I train sort of three-quarter-assed. After finishing the marathon I started reading more about the history of the marathon and marathoning in the United States, which of course led me straight to Boston. My first marathon was a 3:53 and in order to make it to Boston I’d have to knock 43 minutes of my time. This I knew I must do.

Ahh, the joys of ignorance. This didn’t seem like it should be that bad given that I barely trained for the first one. I started reading all kinds of training books and running 5ks to plug into race calculators all trying to get down to a 3:10 marathon time. My second marathon was realistically the only marathon I’ve ever really trained for. I waited almost 9 months between (Feb. 17th, 2002 - Nov. 2nd, 2002) my first and second marathon. I ran lots of 5ks trying to improve my speed and it turned out that training actually works. Go figure. My second marathon was a 3:11:56, so I missed it by just under two minutes. After dropping 41 minutes, I assumed it would be trivially easy to knock the remaining 2 minutes off and be on my way to Boston. Not quite.

I figured that since I was already in shape I could just run another marathon three weeks later and “Boston here I come.” Alas, it wasn’t to be, I ran the next marathon with the flu, and with the worst positive splits I’ve ever done. The first half was 1:35, second half was around 2:45 and I finished in 4:21 and then threw up black. This was not my best moment. I happy to be still married, as at this point I think my wife wanted to have me committed. I would rally two months later and in my 4th marathon and pick up my first Boston Qualifier with a 3:08 in Mississippi. Thus began my love-hate relationship with Boston.

I ran two more marathons between Mississippi and Boston (3:09 and 3:32), and thought I’d be ready come April.

Actually running the Boston Marathon is an event like no other. The only thing that really comes close would be the New York Marathon, but Boston still has it beat. When you fly down those early hills thinking you are invincible, you don’t realize how much you will pay for it in the last 10k, or the following morning. But the crowds screaming and drinking beer, kids giving out high-fives until there little hands are bright red, the beer, the girls at Wesleyan College (which sounds amazingly like a fighter plane taking off from an airplane carrier), to heart break hill, to the Citgo sign, and the final turn down Boylston, the beer, the massage tent with the chicken broth, and did I mention the beer, are unmatched in any marathon. This is what keeps people coming back. That and the fact you have to qualify to get in. If you didn’t have to qualify I don’t think anywhere near as many people would ever run this race more than once, let alone 5, 10, 15, 20 times.

The logistics are a huge pain, up until recently it started at noon (the time when you should be done running a marathon, not starting one), waiting outside for 2-3 hours before starting always sucks is not pleasant, the course is hard and the weather is vary variable.

But maybe that’s why I do go back. The course is hard. I like hard courses, if I ever start only running flat-fast courses I will gladly hang up my running shoes, as that isn’t at all what I am interested in. Sure, I want to run fast, but not at the expense of the challenging courses and the different places you get to see by seeking out hard courses.

So back to the story, my first Boston was pretty hot and I was majorly dehydrated, I struggled into finish at 3:49:46, just happy to have squeaked under 3:50. Riding the T back out to our car, I started feeling ill and had to get off the train, I then collapsed laid down very gently on the ground and some EMTs got of the T and took my blood pressure, informed me I needed a lot of fluid and I needed it quickly. I recovered and went on to run another 8 marathons before Boston in 2004.

This time I felt sure I could at least run sub 3:30 but worst case I’d beat last year’s time. Wrong! the 2004 Boston Marathon was one of the hottest on record, and I just cratered. I struggled/shuffled/crawled/cried/whimpered my way home in 4:01:43, my second worst time ever. I couldn’t believe how bad I felt during the race, but afterwards with the help of a massage and some chicken broth I bounced back. There were no additional passing out incidences this year.

I would miss the 2005 race as my fastest time was a 3:11 and not good enough to get me in, so I’d had to wait until 2006 for another shot at redemption.

2006 came and I just wanted to survive the race. I didn’t care how fast I went (well I still wanted to at least go under 3:30) but I just didn’t want to be stuck in another death march this year. The weather cooperated nicely and I came in at 3:24:54, and better yet I felt great.

2007 came and it was the Great Nor’eastern. It was snowing, sleeting, and just being really cold in general. I like the cold a lot better than the heat so I’ll take a winter storm over Texas-like temperatures any day; but it was really windy. I think we all overdressed that day, but I was able to knock a couple seconds off my 2006 time to finish in 3:24:47.

So that brings us back to next week. In 8 days I will take on Boston for the 5th time and it will be my 70th marathon or longer distance since that first race in 2002. I’ve come a long way and feel mostly ready. One day I plan on qualifying for Boston at Boston, but not this year. I ran a marathon last weekend so I will have only a two week rest between that marathon and Boston. History has shown that I need at least 3 weeks and 4 or 5 weeks being even better in order to recover to run a fast marathon. But I am planning on going sub 3:20 and lowering my Boston PR. Also working against me is the fact I have started riding my bike in order to prep for Ironman Idaho, and so I will be a little beat up from that. But if the weather smiles on me, I will go sub 3:20. I’m calling it out like Babe Ruth. If I don’t make it, feel free to come laugh at me on this site.

TANSTAAFL as Mr. Heinlein would say, and I feel like I’ve been paying for a few years now, and hopefully someday soon I will breakthrough at Boston, make the turn by the Citgo sign and bask in the crowd without stumbling or wanting to just go to bed.

See you next week.

Frank

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Tags: General, Marathons, On the road again..., Training //