The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.

Light rain - 47°

At least that is the prediction for Sunday morning's weather.

I can handle light rain - and I can handle that temperature (although I do wish it was a few degrees cooler than that.)

Picked up my race packet tonight after work - the shirts are this really cool red color - and to think that I just bought a new red shirt. And for a large it is mighty small - well, smaller than a large should be.

Feeling a little down about this race on one level - the fact that I'm running it alone - no one at the start wishing me luck - no one at the end saying congratulations. For someone who's still fairly independent, this bugs me. Just remain positive and motivated.

Okay, so yeah, it really bugs me. I know that I have struggled with this before, and I'm sure that I'll struggle with it again - doesn't make it any easier. When I ran the Seattle Half in November, W(endy) said she'd come up - but didn't. At least when I ran the full Tacoma Marathon last May, Claudia was there at the start - but again, no one at the end.

However - Emily from work said she'll be at Wright Park on Sunday when I go by - that will be very cool if she was there - just that one person waving and cheering you on.

2008 was my second full year of running. My first full year, 2007, I managed to log 700.13 miles.

For 2008, my total logged mileage was 1020.99 miles. While not quite 100 miles a month like I attempt, I can't complain too much about that total mileage. An 85 mile per month average is nothing for me to sneeze at.

Total races ran:
5k x2
5k+ x1
10k x1
Half Marathon x1
Full Marathon x1

2008 featured my very first full marathon. I say first because I do have every intention of running another one in the future - possibly two this year (that plan is still far from being finalized.)

This year also featured my first canceled race - but I do have free entry for 2009 - I just hope they will allow Olive to run it too.

For the most part I'm pleased with the running I've done this year. I definitely want to keep improving - especially on my longer runs. When I ran my only 10k this year, I did manage to better my time from two years ago, and that makes me quite proud. My half and full marathon times aren't spectacular by any means, and I would definitely like to improve on the half marathon time at the very least.

Seattle Half Marathon Pictures!!

I look awful in these, but this wasn't by far not my best race, or even an average race for me. I think I looked much stronger the first time I ran a half - hell, I think I looked stronger when I did the Tacoma Marathon six months ago!

With no help from the official website, or the race organizers, I finally found the race pictures from the 10k that I ran a week and a half ago. I was really curious since I know that I ran by one of the photographers and thought I was looking good. That picture must be the second here - the first, not sure how I was feeling.

Trying to decide - do I need one of these? Or will my "stolen" versions be good enough for me. Which reminds me - I need order my marathon pictures - got the final reminder this last week. Good thing payday is Friday.

Today I ran my second Bank To Bay 10k that's held annually (this is its 9th year) in downtown Tacoma.

The first time I ran it - back in 2006, it was the third race of my running "career" and I surprised myself by just how good this race went off for me. I finished those 6.2 miles with an official time of 56:26 and a chip time of 55:32. Using my chip time, I somehow managed to run what was at the time, my longest run yet, with a pace of 8:56 per mile. To this day, I am still surprised at how well this race went off for me.

Flash forward two years - eleven additional races - one of which was three legs in a nearly 200 mile long relay - including a half marathon and a full marathon just four months ago - and I'm running the Bank To Bay 10k again. (I didn't run it last year, since my hip was still bugging me quite a bit after Hood To Coast.) Would I be able to equal my first performance? And the bigger question for myself - could I somehow manage to better my first performance the second time out?

My first goal was to run this race and finish at or below an hour. That time would be with a pace of 9:39 per mile - something that should be easily obtained.

My second goal was to beat my time from the first year - which as I have said above, would be faster than an 8:56 pace. I would be happy if I beat it by one second.

During the run, I had no idea what my time or pace was - I was just running. For the first five miles, everything was great (did have a side stitch every now and then that I had to breathe out of.) But when mile five hit, that's when I started to have some problems. In fact, mile five is why I have some disappointment with my overall performance - I actually had to stop and walk TWICE for about 30 seconds each. I was running all out when I passed the photographer though!

Looking at the data from my Garmin, my first mile was my fastest, my last full mile was my slowest. Every mile after my first got slower and slower - not the right way to run a race. So much for negative splits.

Unlike when I ran my marathon in May, the last point two miles were easy this time. When I passed the mile 6 sign, I ran all out because I wanted to finish strong, and to make up for my walking time, plus, for the first time, I had some sort of idea as to what my finish time could be, and even though I am a little bit disappointed because of the walking breaks, I was pleased with where the clock was when I ran over the finish line.

From my Garmin, my mile times were as follows:

Mile 1 - 8:19.49
Mile 2 - 8:20.80
Mile 3 - 8:31.18
Mile 4 - 8:37.22
Mile 5 - 8:51.65
Mile 6 - 9:16.02
Point 2 - 1:50.76 (mile pace of 7:26)

Final time: 53:47 (my Garmin time and my chip time matched.)
Official time: 54:15

So - YES - my 2008 running of the Bank To Bay 10k had a faster finish time than my 2006!

Pace time: 8:39

2006 Chip Time: 55:32
2008 Chip Time: 53:47

Time difference of 1:45 - I almost chopped two whole minutes off.

Out of 421 men, I finished in 271st place. In my age group of 30-34, I finished in 28th out of 44 men. Not too bad.

Now I just have to wait for my race picture . . .

When I did my marathon a few months ago, I was able to run in front of my brother's house - so I requested that he be waiting for me to do a water exchange when I ran past. I also asked if it would be possible if they could snag some pictures of me.

Two months later, I have finally seen said pictures, and of course, promptly stole them.

In this first picture, I'm turning off of the bike path onto the city street:




Here is a better picture of me as I ran by my brother and his friends:






And one last picture - but this time of Josh - my running lackey:

I just discovered that I'm mentioned by name in an article written about the Tacoma City Marathon back in May.

I remember the author - he was an older man that everyone, and I do mean everyone, seemed to know. We ran together for a mile or two before I went on ahead.

It's kind of cool to see me mentioned - and that he remembered me.

You can read his race report here.

( Just in case the link disappears over time . . . )

Race pictures are finally available. I'm quite impressed with just how many good pictures the photographers snapped of me. Yeah, there are the occasional "OMG what is wrong with him?" shots, but there are enough "Yes! I look like a runner!" ones to offset those.

Now - which ones do I want?



This was taken early on in the race - you can tell because my "Rambo" belt is full, and I'm running with two full bottles of water.



This one was taken on the waterfront of Tacoma - Chris, who I ran with for about eight miles, is on the right.



This is before the finish line - so after mile 26 while running the longest point two miles ever. I look very tired here.



I like this one a lot - especially since both of my feet are off of the ground - see, I'm a real runner!



Just the next one in the "Finish Line" series.



I'm looking quite strong here - even though by this time I had no idea what was going on.



Almost to the end.



Finish line is in sight! Little embarrassed that I have the typical racer shot here - runner reaching down to turn off his watch/GPS.



I almost beat the little girl, but dammit, she was a hair faster than I was.



At the end, the photographer asked if I wanted a shot with my medal which was really cool. You can see my fancy thermal blanket here too.



But then he realized that I had my number on my shorts, so he asked to take another picture, but this time with my number visible. And yes, I realize that I look like a total dork in the shot with that smile going on.


I'm thinking about buying a few of the shots - one of which I am planning on getting framed with my number and medal since this first marathon was such a huge thing for me.

Talked to my friend Phil today about the race and he did mention that the Tacoma course is rough - and agreed that those hills on the second half are not easy at all and was quite impressed with how good I was feeling afterwards. Go me!

Part One

After leaving Point Defiance (little past the half way point,) I hit the second of the three hardest hills - but with some major talking to myself (something I find that I do on my long runs - I totally talk to myself) I was able to make it to the top running. Once at the top, I walked a little bit.

At this point, I wasn't very familiar with the marathon route since I hadn't ran it before - for the most part it was just up and down random streets in North Tacoma (I made a comment to Chris earlier on the run that the course felt like someone mapped out where they wanted the marathon to run, but ended up being about 6 miles short, so there are all these random side routes to make up distance.)

Somewhere at around mile 18 I actually stopped and had to stretch out my legs - they were getting very tight and burned like nothing else before. Aerobically I was still feeling great, it was just my legs that weren't cooperating very well. I read something recently that said your mind gives out before your body, but that wasn't what I was feeling at this point - my mind was willing, but my body just wasn't.

Eventually I hit the 20 mile mark - I was now on a section of the course that I had ran many, many times before. In a mere three miles I will be cresting the little hill in front of my brother's house where he would be with water.

By this time, I was trying to maintain my goal of running for five minutes, then walking for one. For the most part, I did pretty well at this goal (even though I would love to run a whole marathon.)

I got to my brother's house about 30 minutes later than I was expecting (I was slowing down compared to the first half) and grabbed my last water bottle and gave him my hydration belt (it was empty and I was tired of wearing it.) Three of his friends were waiting for me and they all cheered me on as I ran by which was great. Only three more miles.

The rest of the run is kind of a blur - I didn't feel much physically or mentally - I just kept going. It was probably a good thing that I had ran the last part of the course before, otherwise I might not have known what to do since everything was just on auto pilot.

I know that I stopped at mile 25 to take a picture - I was so close to the finish:



My pace picked up quite bit around this point, but I forced myself to slow down - I wanted to run across the finish line and not be carried.

Right before mile 26, I ran into Chris again (I lost him at around mile 11 or so) which was funny. I said hi, waved, tossed in some encouraging words and then kept going.

The last point two miles were so long - I can't believe how long they felt - I was getting worried that I wouldn't have enough strength to make it to the finish line.

But yet I did. I ran across the finish line. I completed my first marathon. I even took a self portrait of me wearing my medal:



Here's a better picture of the medal:



I can't wait to see the official race pictures - I believe that they got a few good ones of me that I'll end up buying - I do know that one of the photographers took my picture at the finish line with my medal.

Here's the marathon route:




And the elevation graph:




My official chip time was 5:21:13, whereas my Garmin's time was 5:19:58 (my stopping to stretch is the reason for the difference in time.)

---

I'm still surprised at how good I felt at the end. Yeah, I was exhausted in a way that I've never been exhausted before. I was sore, I was tired, and my brain still wasn't working right it seemed, but I felt great. Engergized. I just completed my very first marathon - I, someone who never ran until a little over two years ago, just ran 26.2 miles - and loved every second of it, especially the parts where it felt like I wasn't going to be able to make it.

Saturday afternoon and evening, my legs were very sore and stiff, but that went away by Sunday afternoon, and now today I barely feel anything, other than a slight hip pain every now and then, but that's probably because of how I am sitting in my chair.

---

I think I'm ready for another one . . .

Since the race started at 7:00 am, my day started at around 5:30 when my alarm went off. I needed to get up and be able to stretch out as to not have any problems during the run - especially with my lower back since it always seems to give me problems when I run early in the morning.

Got up - got dressed - got ready. The starting line was a bit further away than I thought it was, but I still made it there on time to hear the pacer introductions and the national anthem. It was quite the big production.

I was surprised by how few people there were for the marathon - looking at the local paper's website, the half and 10k races had a lot more people. If I remember right, they said about 500 ran the full marathon, while 1500 people ran the other two races.

Here's a picture of me right before I started - note how dorky I look smiling - and wearing my hydration belt:



I tried to run slow in the beginning, and found it more difficult to slow down than I was expecting. While I was running slower than I am able to, I wasn't running as slow as I wanted to. I'm sure that part of that was because there were only about four people behind me and I definitely did not want to be last.

The first ten miles were easy - surprisingly easy. My back wasn't bothering me, but my right hip had some weird flashes of pain every now and then. Met up with a guy named Chris right around mile two, and we ran for the next eight miles or so. It was his first marathon too, and it was great having someone to talk to for a bit and run with. (We got separated in Point Defiance Park at around the eleven mile mark or so.)

While running down the Tacoma Waterfront, someone slapped my shoulder and yelled out my name - it was Scott from my Hood to Coast team. He was running the half marathon, and their route ran up from behind us, and then turned around and ran back at us. (I also ran into Scott at around mile 18 or so - I believe he was part of the staff of the marathon and he was checking out some of the "road directors" to see how they were doing.)

There's a hill on the other side of the Ruston tunnel that gave me some problems on my last training run, and today it was the same - this long drawn out hill - but I didn't stop - I kept plugging at it until I reached the top.

My first slowing down came at around the first mile of Point Defiance. I was starting to feel some burning in my legs and I just couldn't go on, so I had to walk (something that I knew I was going to do.) The walking/running alternations kept on for the rest of the race and by looking at my lap times I can totally see at around mile 11 or 12 is where I definitely started to slow down at.

Did the dorkiest thing at the half way point - I grabbed my phone and took a picture of myself:



Guess that I wanted everyone to know that I had made it this far.

My halfway time was just a hair under 2:28 - pretty much right where I wanted to be.

To be continued . . .

Can't see my medal very well, but it is there. Yea me!

Total mileage for the week: 30.33
Longest run: 19.3 (4/27)
Weight on 5/2: 187 pounds (1 pound more than two weeks ago) (Not trying to be concerned about putting on one pound every week for the past two weeks - it's just numbers.)

Month end mileage for April: 125.89 (best month ever)
Mileage plateau hit on 5/1: 1500 miles (since 4/24/2006) (Took less than one month to go 100 miles)

One more week untl my marathon. Seven days. Actually, less than that since the run will be in the morning, and it's afternoon now.

Lots of feelings - mainly nervousness and excitement. The nineteen miler last Sunday was a huge confidence booster for me. And it came at the most ideal of times - I now feel like I can actually do this.

Yesterday was a pretty significant milestone for me - I logged the longest run that I have ever done. I set out to do 20 miles - as close to the first 20 miles of the marathon course as possible, but ended up only doing 19.3 miles. Yeah, only 19.3 miles. After leaving Point Defiance, I veered off the course and just ran straight down Pearl Street.

Even though I didn't do the whole 20, I am VERY happy about the 19 that I did log. I feel that my confidence is back, especially since the next six miles are six miles that I have ran quite a few times and there shouldn't be any issues with them.

I was dreading running the 5 mile loop of Point Defiance due to the hills that are there, but I can honestly say that they weren't too bad - I won't go as far as to say that they were easy - which they weren't - but they weren't as bad as I was expecting.

My time for my run was 3:43:39 - an 11:35 pace - is a bit longer than I would have liked, but I'm still on track to meet my second of three goals for this race.

First Goal: To finish safely

Second Goal: To finish safely - under 5 hours

Third Goal: To finish safely - under 4 and a half hours (this isn't possible - maybe next time)

I want to thank Josh and Nicole for helping me out yesterday - having them at the beginning and end of the Point Defiance loop was exactly what I needed.

One thing that amazed me yesterday was that after running all that distance, I wasn't even breathing hard, but my legs were on fire. While I was moving, everything was fine, but whenever I was forced to stop (traffic, or a stop light,) my legs would just refuse to want to get going again, and then they would burn like nothing else. Suppose that that is what I'm going to have to tell myself during this run - just keep moving and it will all be okay.

Less than twelve days to go . . .

( Map and elevation graph here . . . )

Just found out today that there is going to be a new half marathon in Tacoma that will run over one of the Narrows Bridges - I might have to keep that in mind this August. (Guess that the Tacoma Narrows Bridge Run - first and only time across the bridge - wasn't exactly as advertised.)

Funny - how I could just decide to run a half marathon - 13 miles doesn't see so bad anymore . . .

Total mileage for the week: 12.52
Longest run: 4.05 (4/23)
Weight not taken this week
Ran 3.1 miles with Koda today

It almost looks like I started to taper off for my marathon - which is 14 days away - but that's not the case. I decided to give myself a weekend off - I didn't dive, I didn't run - just relaxed. My reasoning for this includes how much difficulty I've had with the longer distances, plus there are quite a few trainers and plans that seem to recommend doing long runs every other weekend.

On Sunday I'm going to head out to attempt my 20 mile training run - Josh is going to help me out by being a water boy at the beginning and the end of Point Defiance Park - which is a five mile stretch that is probably going to be the most difficult part for me due to the number of hills inside the park. At lest the temperature will be a lot cooler due to the tree coverage.

Crossing my fingers that I can get over this distance hurdle . . .

Total mileage for the week: 36.78 (best week yet)
Longest run: 15.35 (4/13) (longest run yet)
Weight on 4/18: 186 pounds (1 pound more than last week)

With less than three weeks until my marathon, I don't have a whole lot more running to do. The unfortunate part of that is that I'm struggling with distances over 14 miles.

My run on 4/5 was supposed to be 16 miles, and I only managed 14.5 - and had horrible stomach issues at around mile 8. (Thankfully Starbucks has public restrooms!)

And then on 4/13, I was supposed to do 18 miles but only managed 15.35. Not a good record so far.

I think I have a couple of issues - one is dehydration - for these longer training runs, I have to bring all my water with me, whereas during the actual race, there will be plenty of water stops.

Secondly - my pace time. I have come to realize that my 10:00 minute/mile pace is unrealistic for these distances. For a half marathon - yes - I could definitely manage that fast of a pace, but not for a full marathon. So I need to slow down - somewhere between 10:30 and 11:00 (at which I would still finish below a five hour time limit.)

My mid-week long run - 11.25 miles - went off very well. No issues at all, and I managed to maintain around a 10:36 pace or so. Quite pleased with that - plus I felt great the whole run - and continued to feel great after the run.

Today was supposed to my longest run - and last long training run - 20 miles. But I didn't run today. I'm going to run next weekend instead. Since I put in almost 40 miles this week, I decided to give myself a break this weekend and not run. I was supposed to a short 4 miler yesterday, but lost track of time and that run never happened. Poor Koda - she was supposed to go with me too.

Total mileage for the week: 20.15
Longest run: 10.15 (4/10)
Weight on 4/11: 185 pounds (0.5 pounds less than last week.)

Only managed four running days this week, and my long run ended up being on a work day. The reason for this was because I did my normal long run on a Saturday instead of a Sunday. This coming weekend I will be back on my normal schedule - Sunday will be my long run (18 miles.)

Forced myself to go a few seconds slower than a 10:00 pace on Thursday - while it was a bit difficult at times to maintain that slow of a pace, I did manage to complete the run with no stopping or walking (other than a walking to fuel break in the middle) breaks.

Going to run in a completely new place on Sunday - figure a change of scenery will be good for me - I've seen this neighborhood and the trails at work so often now, I need somewhere new to run. Plus I've decided that while I don't particularly care for out and back routes, the best part of them though is that I'll be forced to run my mileage - you go out 9, you've got to come back 9.

Total mileage for the week: 34.14
Longest run: 14.5 (4/5) (longest run yet)
Weight on 4/4: 185.5 pounds (0.5 pounds less than last week.)

I decided to do my weekly long run on Saturday instead of Sunday this week. It was supposed to be 16 miles, but I couldn't get my body to go any further than 14.5 miles. I am quite a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to get that last mile and a half in. Having quite a difficult time getting past that 14 mile wall - and I'm going to need to since the marathon in now officially less than five weeks away.

Thursday's long run at work was good though - did ten miles and I "aimed" for running a bunch of hills. The route I took is kind of funny to look at since I got around quite a bit around work:

( Elevation and route for Thursday )

The long run on Saturday was harder than I wanted it to be - had a "bathroom emergency" at about mile 8. Not sure what the cause of that was, and it's definitely something I'm not looking forward to repeating ever again. I wonder if it was because I was starting to get dehydrated? That's my biggest concern right now - water. I know what I can carry, and on my training runs, I'm using every drop of it. But the race course will have water stops, so I just need to make sure that I get water at every stop, whether or not I think I need it.

Like last week's run, I was really struggling mentally - tried to convince myself that I could do this. I'm just hoping that when I do the marathon, since there will be other runners around, I"ll maintain that momentum that I need. Plus I'm trying to recruit people to be there for me. Josh seems pretty set on supporting me at some point in the race. Not exactly sure what I'll want him there for, but at the halfway point, it might just be enough to have a friendly face to encourage me.

I ran the first 8 miles or so of the marathon course - and I don't think the first portion is going to be very hard. The hills are quite manageable, and I believe the only hills of any significance will be through Point Defiance. I have no ran close to about 75% of the full course, albeit at different times, but at least I am quite familiar with what to expect. The section through Point Defiance concerns me since I hadn't ever ran that portion after running 10 miles, so it will be that more difficult.

Only two more long runs of any significance are scheduled - next Sunday will be an 18 miler, and then on April 20th, will be my 20 miler - the longest training run before the marathon.

Total mileage for the week: 24.5
Longest run: 14 (3/29)

Total miles for March 2008: 105.4 - my third highest month (January 2008 had 109.73 and then April 2007 had 105.42.) I was sick the second to last week of March, so my mileage took a stumble, otherwise this month would have most definitely been my best month.

Weight on 3/21: 186 pounds (0.5 pounds heavier than last week)

This week brought me my longest run. Ever. Fourteen miles. And let me tell you - it was the hardest run I had ever done.

My first issue was that I didn't dress properly - the weather was quite varied. When I started out, it was in the high 40's, no rain, no wind and clear skies. During the next two and a half hours, it rained, turned super cold, had some sleet here and there and then some more sunshine.

Looking back at my Garmin data I can see that I started out too fast - I need to learn to slow myself down in the beginning so I have the strength to run during the latter stages of the run.

Aerobically I felt GREAT on the run, I just had issues with my calves getting super tight on me after mile 12. I kept having to stop to stretch them out, but it never seemed to do have done any good - they remained tight for the next two miles.

This was the first run so far where I started to doubt that I am capable of doing a full marathon. I did beat my half-marathon time - that was a goal on Sunday, but then the last mile was even worse than the one before it. Even the promise of a hot shower and greasy cheese pizza couldn't convince me to keep going without stopping.

This coming weekend I have the first of my last three long runs. This weekend is 16 miles (18 and 20 are on the next two weekends.) April 20th will be a 20 miler and the beginning of my final tapering before the big day - May 10th - 26.2 miles.

I have just about forty-six days until my first marathon.

And for the first time, I am legitimately concerned about my training.

After last week's 9 mile run, I started to feel sick, and as of yet, I haven't been able to kick that sickness. I missed my long run on Sunday (my longest run ever) and I missed my first official run this week. This weekend is an easy weekend, but it's my last chance to make up any lost time. After this Sunday, I have three long runs - 16, 18, and then 20 miles on April 20th, and that's it. The last time I ran any distance over ten miles was on the 9th of March - over two weeks ago.

My training schedule this week shows me doing a 5 miler on Thursday, and then I'm supposed to have a 10k race on Sunday. I think what I'm going to end up doing is about three tomorrow (depending on how I feel,) then five on Thursday, then up to maybe seven or eight on Friday, and then Saturday do five or so (maybe take Koda for a run again,) and then Sunday do a make up 14 mile run, that way, the 16 miler scheduled for the 30th won't seem to long. Of course, this all depends on how I'm feeling.