April 17 – Evening Thoughts & My Strategy

I am ready. I will go to bed tonight at around 9:30ish and I will wake up at 5:30 a.m. I will shower, eat my usual “pre-game” meal of toast and Gatorade. I will put on my racing gear. I will then put on my two layers of clothing (one to throw into my retrieval bag and the other layer to throw away). I will then say goodbye to Diane and step out onto the Boston street at 6:30 a.m. I will walk over a mile to get to the bus pick up point. I will board a bus at around 7:00 a.m. to catch the ride to the athlete’s village in Hopkinton which is 26 miles away. I will probably arrive in the athlete’s village at around 8:00 a.m. My friend Bill Nawn has access to an apartment literally at the start line and he has graciously offered me access to it. So I will make my way to the house and sit there until about 9:50 at which time I will make my way to my “corral” starting point.

Once in my corral, I will keep an eye on my watch until about 10:15 a.m. at which time I will strip off my last layer of warm clothing. I will say a prayer and mentally run thru my head thru my strategy for the day………

I will run easy for the first couple of miles. Though the ultimate temptation is to pick up speed (especially since it is down hill) I have every intention of NOT doing this. I will hold back and settle for an 8:00 to 8:10 pace. Once I get to mile 3, my intention is to pick it up ever so slightly, just a hair below an 8:00 pace. I will try to keep things in check and save something for the Newton hills that start at  mile 16 and run thru about mile 20.5 (ending with the infamous heartbreak hill). I do not intend on attacking these hills but I do intend on getting thru them feeling good. Once I get over the top of the Newton hills, my intention is to pick things up as hard as I can. With the combination of reaching the end of the hills and also having the opportunity to see Diane (our meeting point is at about mile 21), I know that it is now time to hit it with everything I have. If my strategy works, I should have fuel left in my tank to make the last 6 miles good and to finish strong.

I believe I will reverse split this race. My second half will be faster versus my first half. I will be smarter with nutrition, with hydration and I will respect the hills. And I will take in every moment of this awesome event.

I have waited one year to redeem last year’s time. I have waited two years to achieve a personal best in my marathon time (better than 3:28) and I have trained hard for months to get ready for this.

It is, after all this……time to kill it. Thanks for all the support. Time to giddy-up!

April 15, 16 & 17 – Arriving and Prepping in Boston

I arrived in Boston via train at about 1:30 in the afternoon. I checked in immediately, relaxed for a bit and then headed over to the expo to pick up my bib etc. I feel very different versus last year. I know exactly where to go adn what to expect,  but more importantly, I really feel like I belong. There is no awe to the event whatsoever, not after doing it last year and not after completing an ironman. Once I picked up my stuff, I ventured around the expo, eating all the free samples and meeting tons of people. It was a great decompresser to my week. I followed that up by hitting dinner and then retreating to my room to await Diane’s arrival around midnight. Thankfully there is a lot of hockey on the television to keep me company.

Saturday was fun. We both went to the expo to simply visit the booths and allow Diane the opportunity to see everything. I bought several souvenirs and from there we went and had lunch with a friend from Los Angeles we had not seen in 20 years. Ironically, she is on vacation in Boston and our schedules lined up for a visit. It was great. The afternoon and evening were spent doing nothing. We watched a lot of hockey in the room with my hydration and food intake definitely sharpening. The weather is cold here, the high today was only about 45 degrees but it is supposed to warm up by Monday. I ran 4 miles and things felt better. I took it easy but made it a point to have several moments of picking up speed. I am ready to go.

Sunday was more of the same. Our day started by going to Mass (it is Palm Sunday for Catholics). After the Mass, the priest asked all marathon runners to come up to the altar where we received a special blessing. There was probably 25 of us in the crowd that made our way to the front. Not a bad touch and never a bad idea to have God on my side.

We then visited with a former Thousand Oaks soccer parent who now lives in the Boston area. It was great to see her, it has been almost two years. We then hung out for a while in Barnes & Noble and spent the remainder of the afternoon, early evening doing more of nothing. Just making sure to stay off my feet.

I am ready. I am also tired of doing nothing this weekend. The taper is over. The training is over. I want to hit 3:25 tomorrow.

Tally for Saturday: 4 miles running

April 14 – Last Day in New York, Running in Central Park

Today was going to be long, intense business day and it was going to start with a leisurely run thru Central Park. I have run in a lot of places throughout the world, and in my opinion, there is something special about running in Central  Park. I have had the good luck to do it on numerous occasions and it never gets old to me. My country, great city, awesome location. I ran 5 miles at an easy pace. I felt a bit sluggish. My legs did not respond until almost the 4th mile.

I have spent the last two days with sick people. Both executives I am travelling with are sick and two of the people we are visiting with and spending a lot of time with are sick. So I have been in close quarters with all of them and combined with the intensity of the week, I think it has caught up to me. I felt I had the aches this morning, a touch of sniffles. Luckily, it was an easy run and just something to get the blood flowing.

I am beginning to hydrate more and despite keeping religion on my diet the whole week, I have stepped things up today by taking additional steps, eating more fruit, power bars etc.

I just need to get today’s business behind me and get to Boston.

Tally for the Day: 5 miles, running