My entire marathon day went basically as planned, from prep to strategy. I simply missed my target by 3 minutes. Once I got off the bus at the athlete’s village I walked straight over to the house that was offered to me by my friend. I was in the comfort of a stranger’s home, literally 100 yards from the start line. How cool was that? I was warm and had my own bathroom. Since before a race like this I am usually hydrating like crazy, a personal bathroom is a Godsend. With about 10 minutes to go before the start, I stripped off my first layer of clothing and headed to the start line. As I stood in the corral and I met an older lady who was a volunteer holding the start line rope for our corral. She was very gracious and was, despite being a long time resident of Hopkinton,  a first time volunteer. She was loving it and told me that she will now volunteer every year. She took my name down so she could look me up later in the day. She wished me good luck as we took off.

My strategy was simple: keep it in my shorts, try to run a faster second half than a first half, save something for the hills of miles 16 to 20.5 and then give it everything I had to finish. And that is essentially what I did. My goal was a 7:57 pace or better. At the 10k mark, I was right at 7:57. I was good with that. I had maintained self-control since the beginning of this race is downhill and I most certainly could have gone faster. But I wanted to save the quads for the dirty work coming. At the half marathon mark my pace was 8:02. This was about where I wanted to be. I knew that my second half would have to be a pace of 7:52 to equate to a 7:57 for the entire race. My quads felt good and my body was responding. All systems were go.

This year I ran with no music. I wanted to hear and catch everything in this glorious race. I am glad I opted to not have music. I enjoyed the experience tremendously. My most memorable moment was the Wesley College girls scream at mile 12. The reputation of this mile is well-known: virtually all the students (female) stand along the route screaming and they hold up signs soliciting the runners for kisses. They are quite creative in their posters and many of the runners do stop for a quick peck on the cheek. I had stopped last year but this year I did not. I did however, note that I could hear the screaming from literally about 1/2 mile away. It was incredibly loud. The entire scene is simply hard to explain unless you experience it. A great tradition in a race that is overwhelmingly supported by a ton of people.

As I got near mile 15 I knew what was coming and I was very prepared and excited to get down to the real business of the Boston marathon. I was determined to take these hills but not to attack them. I really felt like I owed this section of the race something since during last year’s event, this area sapped me of what little strength I had left. I was very determined to beat the hills this year. Quite frankly I am proud of miles 16 to 20.5. My overall pace at mile 18.6 was 8:01. I had improved on my half marathon time so I was indeed going faster. I came out the other side of the hills feeling reasonably good. Sure it took something out of me, it has to. But my times between mile 16 and 21 were fairly consistent, 2 of the miles were  a hair over 8:00, 1 was 7:55 and the other two were 8:15 and 8:35 (my slowest mile of the day, last hill, heartbreak hill). But I bounced back nicely and miles 22 and 23 were paced at an average of 7:51, right about where I thought I needed to be. But miles 24 and 25 were at 8:02 and I knew then I was running out of gas. I knew to hit a finish of 7:57 I had to be in the low 7:50′s or even in the 7:40′s for the finish but I just could not make my legs go any faster. Mile 26 was at 8:29, just not much left in me at that point.

My strategy was sound. The weather was perfect. I even had a tailwind. I just failed to perfectly execute. I performed well, just not the ultimate performance that would have gotten me the time I really wanted.

But this event is damn fun. Really, really fun. I finished upright and proud. No medical tent this year! And Diane and I did exactly what we did the year before. We had a great dinner at the Atlantic Fish Company. I ate and drank whatever I wanted.

The  race is now two weeks behind me. For the first 10 days after the race I did not do anything. No running, no swimming, no biking. I had two In-n-Out meals, a chocolate shake, some fries. I hit Baskin Robbins a couple of times. Hot fudge sundaes. I have tried to sleep in. But alas, I have grown restless and to some degree, guilty over the eating pleasures. I seek out the next challenge. I have not made up my mind exactly what it will be but I am now back on the bike, back to swimming and doing some light running.

To all of you I thank from the bottom of my heart. It makes a huge difference and I really appreciate it. I am sure that I will have the opportunity to run Boston again, I really want to. I for sure will not run it this upcoming year since I have other races in mind to do. But I will be back, it is too good to pass up.

Tally for the Day: 26.2 miles, running

I am disappointed yet I have no regrets whatsoever. Despite having a tailwind today (a rarity for this race), it is still a tough course. The event is awesome. I will provide way more details in another post.

I am tired, a bit sore but very satisfied. I am a lucky guy.

I have this whole thing in perspective. And I also had a great dinner tonight, ate everything I wanted, drank whatever I wanted. I am now heading to bed so I can catch an early morning flight home.

Thanks to all for support and kind sentiments. They mean the world to me.

Kirk

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!

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

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

Tuesday was a travel day to New York but before I left I jumped on the bike trainer for 45 minutes. Again, there was a warm up, followed by a small period of hard pushing and then a cool down.

Wednesday I was in New York and before my day went long, I swam in a hotel pool across the street from the hotel I was staying at. The pool was small but very crowded with swimmers. It served the purpose for me.

Tally for Monday: 6 miles, running

Tally for Tuesday: 15 miles, biking

Tally for Wednesday: 1600 meters, swimming

People have asked me how to best track my progress on race day. There are several options. I have a twitter account that Diane will post to from her phone during the race. Look me up and become a follower; kwaldron99. The other option is to sign up for a text message alert (although this did not work well last year as the service had a technical malfunction). Simply text the word “runner” to 345678 and you will get a reply text that asks you to insert my bib number: 11077. That is all there is to it. Then during the race you will get text messages at four milestones with my time: at the 10k/half marathon/30k and finish. If you go the Diane twitter route, you will undoubtedly get a bit of color commentary from Diane, but don’t expect four exact time updates from her. If you go the text message route, you will get only the times and no color commentary. Up to you. But either way, thanks for the support.

As previously noted, I did no exercise today. I did however receive a deep-tissue massage which I desperately needed. The masseuse said my calves seemed tight, so did my quads and my I.T.-bands. No surprise on any of that I suppose. She dug deep.

I also took the time today to compare year over year numbers. Needless to say I am a numbers guy so this should come as no surprise to anyone reading this. From January 1 thru this same Sunday last year in 2010 I had swam 25,200 meters, biked 236 miles and had run 570 miles. This year the numbers for the same exact period are 25,700 meters swimming, 476 miles biking and 450 miles running. So my swimming distance is incredibly similar between the two years. My biking is WAY more this year, virtually double. And my running has decreased by 120 miles, or an average of about 10 miles per week. I am okay with this. I think my workouts this year have been of significantly better quality, much more with a purpose and a whole lot more focus on hills and speed versus last year where I probably put in a lot of “garbage” miles. That means I probably ran last year for the sake of simply running and that does lead to garbage miles, whereby you are putting in the time but not really reaping any reward from the workout. Plus, with my foot the way it is right now, I am not sure I could have handled doing much more mileage this year. Lastly, having come off my ironman in November, I am working off of a much better and stronger base for my training this year.

8 days to go and the real taper starts now. I am itchy to get things going. Laying out all my stuff today sure got me fired up.

Tally for the Day: 0

Tally for the Week: 4,100 meters swimming, 25 miles biking, 34.6 miles running

Today’s schedule called for 5 reps of two miles each at 10k pace. It was unseasonably cold this morning, 37 degrees when I left the house. For Southern California, that is cold at almost any time of the year but especially in April. But for me, it was good trial run to figure out what exactly I want to wear on race day since the Boston weather will be similar to today’s Southern Cali weather. Deciding what to wear is is no easy decision and most runners do fret over it, especially in a locale that weather is foreign to them and can change quickly. If I wear too much I could overheat and I will certainly be uncomfortable. Or I will be stripping my gear off and discarding it, not something I want to do since it all costs money. On the other hand if I go light clothing,  I could get cold which could cause all kinds of problems for me, including for sure using some of my stored/critical body energy to warm myself. So I need to get this right.

I will undoubtedly way overpack in preparation for almost any weather Boston could throw at me but today I wore a short sleeve under-armour shirt, a tri-top over it, my arm sleeves, gloves, and tri shorts. I came to the conclusion that unless it is extremely cold in Boston, this was too much clothing once I got going.

My five reps were at these paces: 7:01, 7:06, 7:04, 7:14, and 7:28. I did a warm-up and a cool down and there was an easy jog of 3 minutes in between each rep. By my fifth rep I was completely gassed, I did not have much left whatsoever in the tank. Tough workout but a good way to end things since from here on out, things are going to be very easy on my taper. All in all, I did 13.5 miles at 7:41 pace, my average heart rate was 154.

Tally for the day: 13.5 miles, running

Thursday was back on the street with interval speed work. I warmed up with a two-mile run and then proceeded to do 5 one-mile intervals at 5k pace. I can’t say that I was exactly at my 5k pace but I went as hard as I could. Each one miler had a 2 minute easy jog between it. My five runs were at 6:52, 6:49, 6:56, 6:57 and 7:00. I can’t say there was a huge spring in my step today but I was pleased that I could keep all five of these at 7 minutes or better.

Friday was a swim. I warmed up with 400 meters and then proceeded to do some “speed” work with a variety of different lengths. For instance my first set was 4 x 100′s with 10 seconds of rest between each one. I then increased to 200′ s and then did a 400.  Not a bad workout and I like chopping the swim into smaller pieces, it helps me mentally. I am fairly slow in the pool right now and will have to get back to some stroke instruction after Boston, that is obvious. But for now, just keeping things moving.

Less than two weeks to go to Boston. I realize I cannot rely on the weather forecast yet but I have looked. Quite frankly I don’t necessarily care what it is but right now it is projecting to be a high 54 degrees and sunny on Patriot’s Day. I have to go to New York on business next week which has forced me to change my travel plans. Originally, Diane and I were leaving to Boston on Friday, arriving at night. We intend on returning early Tuesday following the race on Monday. But since I now have a trip to New York, I am leaving this Tuesday, arriving in NYC in the evening. I will do my business there and then leave on the train (Southern Cali guy on an east coast train, I love it) mid-morning Friday and will arrive in Boston in the afternoon. I have nothing planned for Friday night in Boston and will probably just hang out until Diane arrives on her plane from the west coast. The change in travel plans does not affect me really. I have already determined where my taper workouts will occur in New York: swimming in an Olympic size pool, biking at my hotel, and running in Central Park. It took a bit of planning, but I have it all figured out.

The weekend in Boston will be mellow. We will hit the expo on Saturday morning so I can pick up my stuff and get all the nifty free samples. We might hit a Red Sox or Bruins game on Saturday. On Sunday we will do nothing but visit with friends. Two different set of friends are in Boston (one is visiting (unrelated to the marathon), the other now lives in Boston) and we intend on seeing both of them on Sunday, probably one for breakfast and one for lunch. I do not intend on traveling to see them, we have requested they come to us. The last thing I want to be doing on the day before the marathon is running around etc. So for me, it is a day of complete relaxation.

Tally for Wednesday: 25 miles, biking

Tally for Thursday: 8 mile, running

Tally for Friday: 2,100 meters swimming

I warmed up with a 2 mile run. I then did three miles at a 7:38 per mile pace. It took a bit to get things “rolling” since I think my legs were still not completely recovered from the weekend running. I then slowed things down for a mile. From there, it was another three miles, this time at a 7:27 pace per mile. Again another mile of slowing down. But I could tell my body wanted more. And the schedule called for it. I did three more miles at a 7:16 per mile pace.

Basically, when you add up all my miles, I did a half marathon this morning(13.1 miles) and I did it at 1:41:32 and that includes three miles between my intervals that I slowed down to an 8:20ish pace per mile. Man, I could have run a personal best half marathon time this morning if I wanted to!  My average heart rate was 148.

I got up very, very early this morning to run this distance. I don’t really run this long during the work week but at this point in the training, I have to stay on schedule. I was up and running by 5:10 and was back in my house and done by 7:00 a.m. The funny thing was that I was late to work but not because of my running schedule, it was due to traffic.

Tally for the Day: 13.1 miles, running

Tally for the month of March (I forgot to post): 10,200 meters swimming, 175 miles biking, 155 miles running