My First Marathon (x2)

After the DNF at Marine Corps Marathon, racing Monumental was a done deal. I hadn’t done too much damage to be ready to go based on where I dropped MCM and had two weeks to recover and regroup. All my training in between was good. On Thursday before the race I went to the expo to pick up packets, drop off some things, and head out for my run. All was good and it was nice to see people. The cold weather moved in Thursday night, but that didn’t stop me from being at the shakeout run with Deena Kastor at 6 AM Friday. Even though that meant I was on a bus at 5:15 AM. When I am normally still asleep. I had a too quick and very cold two mile run and even got to run part of it with Deena. Then I had to go to work for a bit, then back to the expo for coach Matt Ebersole’s talk and Deena Kastor’s talk. I took the bus home to have dinner with David and settle into final race prep. Saturday morning was blustery, but I had my gear ready to go. David came down early and gave me a ri

A couple weeks ago in the INEOS159 "race" we found that with perfect conditions a person could indeed run a marathon under two hours. The question at PBT then became "what's your breaking 2:00?" Since I broke 5:30 and have had some great training (and a few decent races) this year it seemed like breaking 5:00 was possible. It is now my breaking 2:00. After my last long run I went public with it on my little triathlon FB group in a video. Lots of friends and family were tracking me for the Marine Corps Marathon yesterday. I was going into the race fairly confident and with strong expectations of breaking 5:00 or at least a HUGE PR. The weekend started out to plan. Friday went nearly to plan and Saturday was perfectly to plan. I even figured out that indeed I wasn't going to be able to use the local bus to get to a Metro station to get to the race Sunday morning and sucked it up and scheduled a Lyft even though I am not a fan. Before I went to bed on Sa

About a year ago I learned that there was going to be a new 70.3 (half Ironman) in Traverse City. When registration opened I was on it and got in...which was good because it sold out within hours. We didn't know exactly where the course was going to be...just that it was going to be great. When the course maps came out the bike profile seemed a little more intense than we were anticipating. About 2,500 feet of climb, which is more than Chattanooga. Ok, another hilly race. Usually I am excited when I register for a race, excited when the courses details come out, excited when bib numbers and athlete guides come out...and super excited the week leading up to the race. I am also usually excited when I am going to see my parents. The week before the race my mom had to cancel them coming for personal reasons, which I was ok with. But then I just wasn't super excited about the race. Even coach said it felt like I was in a different place. When we got up to Traverse City I was g

Ok...I forgot to finish that series. When I did three events in three weeks. The last one was the You Can Call Me Al 5K, which is also the Personal Best Training World Championship. I hate, hate, hate 5Ks. I really do. And with a lack of communication from the race and it being a small church fundraiser I went a little off the rails in the days before (sorry Tom). Race morning I got there and got my bib...sat around talking to team mates for a bit, then went out to warm up. It was fine. Whatever. Got back to the tent to suck down a gel and some water and get lined up. It was one of those starts where I wasn't sure which way we were going so I wasn't sure where the back was...and needed to rearrange. Gun start so already behind, but it was a small enough race it was academic. The course was fine. A little narrow on the trail where there was also an aid station, but I was far enough back it didn't matter. Lots of negative thoughts in my head about how I am the team masc

Sunday was Tri Indy. I was racing the Olympic distance and went in wanting to PR and podium. I also wanted to have a good run. Two of three isn't bad. The swim wasn't supposed to be wetsuit legal for people trying for awards so I didn't bring mine. They changed it at the last minute, but it was fine in the swim skin and I would have been too hot in a wetsuit anyway. With the canal being dredged and cleaned this year it was an interesting experience. I've never been able to see in the canal and it is usually full of weeds. Very few weeds this year and you could see through the water and see the bottom - the later was not necessarily a good thing. I had been worried about hitting a scooter since there have been 17 pulled out since the canal was cleaned. In the end I swam over at least two of them, but I didn't touch anything but water (part of Matt's helpful advice). Fastest I've been out of the water for Tri Indy by a lot. I had started further up than I pr

On July 20th I started the Ride Across INdiana (RAIN) for the third time, knowing it would be my last. I was either going to finish or decide that the ride was just too stupid for words. I started a few minutes behind the group because I found a porta potty and took advantage while making my way to the start and then it took a minute to realize mostly everyone had gone already (there were people later than me). It wasn't bad to start there because it minimized some of the ridiculousness in the first few miles. It was still crowded enough that it was slow. At mile 25 I was stung by something, but it got caught in my arm sleeve and I got it off. Stopped to check and see if I was going to be ok. Looked like it barely punctured the skin so I kept going, but I grabbed my EpiPen at the first SAG (support and gear). I had forgotten to grab it before the start. I was feeling better at Plainfield (62 miles) than I ever had. Same at the official lunch stop (I had Subway in Plainfiel

The Peachtree Road Race, put on by the Atlanta Track Club (ATC) with primary sponsorship from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), had it's 50th running on July 4, 2019. It is the largest road race in the country, with more than 60,000 runners. The distance is 10K (6.2 miles) from Lenox Square to Piedmont Park in Atlanta.  To get into the race you have to be an ATC member or enter a lotto. I got in through the lotto. There are rumors that everyone from out of town (or at least out of state) that enters gets in. They also have a seeding system for the starting waves that is based on times for a qualifying race. I haven't run any of the qualifying races, so I was seeded in the last wave.  It's hot and humid in Atlanta, so starting in wave Y at 8:40 AM rather than closer to the wave A start at 7:00 AM is less than ideal. We did have cloud cover until my wave was about 2.5 miles into the race. The first 2.5 miles of the race are downhill and then the rest is mostly uphil

I ran the Monumental Mile as a Master for the first time on Thursday. It's not that I am new to Masters racing. I haven't race the mile in three years, last time was right before my 40th birthday. The mile scares and challenges me. If you can't run fast, run long - right? Well, that's what I do...but then there's the whole mile thing. Basically everybody runs it. Like 30+ from my team alone, plus other friends from clubs and other teams.  So I did the track workouts that were supposed to help. I couldn't get my head in the right place. It didn't help that my open water swim on Monday set off an allergy reaction that I am still recovering from. There were a lot of expectations around this race after my half marathons and 5K and 5 mile races since Ironman. Both mine and coach's. His were bigger than mine. I didn't believe (really) in either of them. That might have been part of the problem. I got to the race in plenty of time since I wor

I haven't been on here in a while...I'll do a catch up post later, but for now...here's the scoop from Sunday's Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga. This was a team race for Speed Factory Racing, the team that I swim and hang out with. Coach Sean has been my swim coach for a while. We had some team shenanigans on Saturday before the race. I knew a few days out that it was going to be hot for the race. I also knew we haven't had much of anything resembling heat to train in. I haven't had an opportunity to acclimate...physically or mentally. We went for a run as soon as we got to Chatt on Friday evening and it was really hot. Only ran 3K and a little over 11 min/mile. I felt ok about it. Saturday morning we rode easy on the riverwalk and it was part of the run course.  Sunday morning we headed over and D was nice and let someone turn into the garage ahead of us. Which was cool. But then that car got into the garage and then the machine stopped working. I had to wa

Yesterday was the 50th Anniversary Sam Costa half marathon. Years ago (maybe 2011) Costa was the first half I ran that had a tight (for me at the time) time limit - 3:00. I ran 2:57 and finished last that year. I have run Costa every year since except when I was in Dallas for RRCA and last year when I was tapering for Carmel full (still volunteered). This course is pretty tough and the weather has been everything. Hot, cold, snowing, raining, perfect. Yesterday was perfect if a tad chilly. I wore a baselayer that I had only gotten this week and test ran on Thursday under my singlet. I also had a fuel belt since I was wearing the capris that don't have pockets. Needed a beanie and gloves, but also sunglasses.  Friday night I didn't really have a great opportunity to eat right with leading the upstairs effort at setup even though I had ordered the food. The fruit bowl wasn't in the order and that was going to be my primary carb source even though it is a faster carb than