Season's Over

I started this blog as a training tool to keep me motivated during my mileage build-up for the marathon. I always thought there would be a grand recap after I finished-akin to my Alcatraz blog in May. I'm not motivated to write this blog because, quite frankly, I'm not satisfied with my marathon. My girlfriend gave me crap about not blogging for the last three weeks, and I figured I owe it to my reader(s?) to get this out there. In all seriousness, this is long overdue and I should have written it sooner.

I used to think finishing a marathon was no big deal. I still do. Anyone who puts in the miles can will his body 26.2 miles. Every year hundreds of thousands of people in America prove me right. When I started training, I had a very ambitious goal in mind--to break 2:30. I did not accomplish that goal. My goal for this blog is to reflect on why I fell short of my goal, and I what I could have done better to prepare.

The worst thing I ever did leading up to the marathon was race the Chicago Half Marathon. I had myself convinced that I would run the marathon at a modest pace, no faster than 1:15 a the halfway mark, and then do what I could coming home. I showed up at the CHM four weeks earlier with a PR of 1:13, and left with a PR of 1:10:45. My head immediately started wandering to "what that translates to" and I figured around 2:26-2:27. What that translates to, is a 1:10:45 half marathon (5:24 per mile), and what it means for a full marathon, is precisely shit.

My training following the half marathon was not great. I came down with bronchitis a week later, and it never really went away until about 4 days before the marathon. I didn't miss much time from running, but my mileage fell a bit more than I would have liked and I was jogging the miles a little slower than before. The last four weeks of training were: 50, 45, 42, 35. As the mileage got lower, I started getting antsy, but this really had a minimal effect on my running.

Still, I felt great on race day, and lining up, had no aches, pains, or concerns (except the heat, 65 degrees at the start, it would get up to 75 by the time I finished).

I really don't remember every detail of the race but here goes: my goal for the day was to run 17:30-17:40's for 5k as long as I could. I figured the excitement of the day would keep me going. That strategy might have worked really well, except I averaged about 17:15 for the first 20k, and came through two minutes faster than I wanted to. I took a power gel at the hour mark, seemingly without issues at the time. I hit the half marathon at 1:13:02, made it another 5k at that pace, and then fell apart. At mile 16, I had to pull over and hop in a port-o-let for about seconds. Over the next 8 miles I averaged about 6:30-7:00 minute miles, and my body basically shut down on me. I would stop periodically at water stations to make sure I took in sufficient fluids to battle dehydration. With two to go, I made one last stop at the John, and then calculated the pace I would need to run to break 2:40. Fortunately, I was able to will myself home at 6:00 pace over the last two miles to finish in 2:38:53. At the time, I was happy just to cross the line, because I was having serious thoughts of dropping out due to my stomach issues and dehydration.

My friends were phenomenal and really picked me up after the race. The support and congrats provide the emotional boost I needed. The truth is, I am not remotely happy with the last 10 miles of that race, and wish I had a mulligan. 2:38 is a very good time for a marathon, but doesn't satisfy me. That's a completely arrogant statement, but it's true. It's disappointing to not accomplish your goals, even if the results still seem amazing to everyone else. Goals are personal, and regardless of how high or low you set the bar, at the end of the day, all that matters is you did everything you could to accomplish them. That's my comfort. I did everything I could possibly do to get myself ready to break 2:30 for a marathon, but it just didn't happen for me on that day. I have to own that it just wasn't my day. I had some bad luck with weather, got a little over-excited with pace, went for it, and missed. There might be another day.

I haven't run much in the past 2+ weeks, hence the lack of blogs. I'm scheduled to run a 15k in 10 days, but I'm not sure if I will line up. For now, my goal is just to enjoy this wonderful time in my life that is business school, and recharge my batteries. At some point, I will be inspired and motivated to train for something again, but right now, I'm just completely burnt out from running and being "on" for the better part of 2010. My first priority right now is to do great in school, and get an internship for next summer. I'll probably blog sporadically for a bit, but once recharged, I'll be back.

I can say that it's been a phenomenal year. Starting with a 1:13 1/2 marathon in February, to 15:20 at Carlsbad, to a great showing at Alcatraz, winning two gold medals at the Allianz Games, and finishing my first marathon. What a great season! The only race I have left to cross off my bucket list is the Ironman Triathlon... someday.