Together at Shiloh National Park

My mom came to town for Gracie's birthday and was kind enough to let
AB and I out of the house for an early morning 8-miler at Shiloh. It
was cold and beautiful. We ran nice and easy. It was a good recovery
run for the first Saturday after the St. Jude Marathon. My feet have
been sore all week, but felt noticably better this morning. I bought
some arch supports. I'm pretty sure that's the difference. As long as
my recovery has taken it is hard to imagine the day after day grind of
the Transrockies. Luckily, I won't have to worry about it for a while!

Boston: The Other Zone

In the euphoria following the St. Jude Memphis Marathon, I began wondering how much faster I could get? Kenneth Williams or "Koach" called on Sunday to congratulate AB and I on our times and told me he'd be glad to make me a training plan to help me improve my time. When I mentioned Boston to him, he asked what my qualifying time would need to be. I told him 3:10. There was a long pause on the phone. Finally, Koach said, "That's another zone." I'm pretty sure that was his nice way of saying, "Why don't we come up with a more realistic goal for you." 

In order to qualify for the Boston Marathon, males 18-34 must run a marathon in 3:10. That's three hours, ten minutes. In order to run a 3:10 marathon one must run just over a 7-minute mile for 26.2 miles. That, my friends, is fast.

I'm not sure if too many endorphins are running to my brain or if I don't like being told I can't do something (not that Koach said that, exactly), but I really really want to run a 3:10 marathon. 

My foot hasn't even quit hurting from Saturday's run, and I'm ready to get outside and start hoofing some miles. If I'm going to knock 47 minutes off my time I better get moving. 

Does this mean the Transrockies is out the window? Hardly. The way I see it, the Transrockies will be great training for Boston. It takes alot of miles to get ready to run a 3:10 marathon. I stumbled on John Kearsing's blog trying to learn more about Boston Marathon training plans. He ran 70 miles in one week! The really cool thing about John is that he completely bonked in his qualifying run, the Chicago Marathon due to hot weather. He got leg cramps and finished in 3:59. Undeterred, he ran another marathon 20 days later and got his 3:10. Wow. 

The next challenge is the Country Music Marathon in late April. I'm going to train my butt off for the next four months and see how many minutes I can knock off that suddenly slow 3:57:29. I realize I won't run a 3:10 in April, but I want to see how much faster I can go to see if 3:10 would ever be an ascertainable goal for me.

St. Jude Race Report

The months of training really did pay off. I finished the St. Jude Memphis Marathon in 3:57:29! Anita Beth finished the Half Marathon in 2:09:32. More important, we had a great time! 

Here's how it all went down: 

Accompanied by AB's training buddy Kimberly Labas, we arrived at the Marriot in downtown Memphis at 10 p.m. after some good old italian carbo-loading with a long list of Corinth friends who were also running the Half Marathon. 

Our first mistake was not checking into the hotel before dinner and picking up our race packets. We awoke at 6 a.m. Saturday morning, threw on our clothes and headed to Autozone park to pick up our packets. If you've ever been to downtown Memphis you probably know that the Marriot is not close to Autozone Park. We walked briskly through the subfreezing early morning. We had our packets by 7 a.m. and headed back to the room to drop off our shirts and goody bags and make the final preparations. It was a wasted 30 minutes going back and forth to Autozone Park and burned some energy that would be needed for the race. It also made me late. I was supposed to meet my training partners at a Starbucks near the start line, but I didn't make it to the start line until five minutes before the gun. Luckily, my friend Lee Rogers is sort of tall. I spotted him and Greg Cooley amongst the throngs after a couple minutes of scanning the 9:10 corral. 

We lined up just in front of the 3:55 pace runners. My Garmin linked to the satellite just before we crawled up to the start and we were off! Me, Lee and Greg ran just behind the 3:55 pacers for the first mile or so. According to my Garmin they were running about an 8:30 per mile pace, which was too fast for my blood. I didn't want to burn out in the first two miles, so I let them go. Lee ran ahead of me after the first two miles. He was only running the Half and I didn't want to let him run me into the ground. I was all alone, but feeling good as I was moving comfortably below the 9:10 pace or four-hour pace.

For the next six or so miles I ran behind and around a girl wearing a pink hat. She had a steady 8:45 to 9:00 pace. I didn't speak to her, nor her to me. She probably though I was stalking her, but I find that when I'm by myself I like to have someone to keep within sight to help keep my pace even. Otherwise, I'm tempted to run too fast or drop off too slow. I eventually passed her around mile 10. 

Around that same time I found myself running beside a lady with a very steady pace. You could look at her and tell she was an experienced marathoner. I must have been getting lonely or something, but I asked her if she was running the Half or the Full and she replied the Full. It was nice to have someone to talk to as we approached the part of the course where the Halfers split off the course to go to the finish line. I still had a vivid memory of that same part of the course from my disastrous 5:03 marathon last year. The course is a desolate place when you pass the split as all the Halfters break toward the finish line. Last year I completely bonked at mile 14 and walk-ran the final 12 miles. I did not want that to happen again, so I made the decision to hang with this experienced marathoner as long as I could. 

After the race I would learn her name was Amy Leahy. Around mile 13 or 14 Amy told me she was trying to qualify for Boston and she needed to run a 3:50 or better to do it. I looked at my watch and the pace on the Garmin said 8:23. Hmmmm. A little fast, but I felt comfortable. On we went. The miles really ticked by from 13 to 17. We chatted a little bit and I just stayed with her. We caught and passed the 3:55 pacers. A few minutes later we caught and passed the 3:50 pacers. I couldn't believe there was a chance I was going to beat a 3;50 marathon, but I wasn't going to slow down now.

After mile 17 I began to notice that I was straining. I slugged on, keeping Amy by my side. At mile 18 and 19 I was straining alot. I took another GU, hoping that would pep me up. At mile 20 my legs said NO MORE! They didn't cramp, I just couldn't make them move at at 8:30 to 8:45 pace anymore. Suddenly, I was behind Amy.

She began to pull away after we passed the 20-mile mark, and was nice enough to notice. Her parting words got me through the rest of the race. She looked over her shoulder and said, "Whatever you do, DO NOT WALK!" I assured her as best I could that I wouldn't and off she went. 

The next four miles were positively grueling. I would close my eyes and just keep my legs running, but much, much slower. I probably averaged a 10 minute plus mile the rest of the way. It hurt. I did not walk. I refused. I knew if I walked it would be over. There's no way to describe how hard it was to keep going, but I did. 

I had announced to anyone who would listen that I wanted to beat a 4:00 marathon. I knew Anita Beth would be waiting for me at the finish line. I wanted her to be proud of me. I visualized myself crossing the line in under 4:00 and her hugging me. I kept running. I kept looking at my watch and assuring myself that I could do it if I just kept pushing. 

Without prolonging it any further, I did it. I sprinted through the gate at Autozone Park and across the line at 3:57:29. It was thrilling! Unfortunately, Anita Beth couldn't hug me because they wouldn't let people down on the field, but she gave me a big shout as I crossed the line. It was good to see her, and it was good to be finished.

Anita Beth and Kimberly finished the Half in 2:09 and both were thrilled with their performance as they should have been. We had a great time. I think the three of us are going to run the Country Music Marathon in April. I can't wait. 

I did think about the Transrockies run in the first hours following finishing the run. The challenge of 125 miles in six days has grown immensely following yesterday's marathon. As I lay here on this Sunday afternoon, I cannot imagine running the day after completing 26.2 miles. There is much to do in order to be ready to take on the Transrockies.

St. Jude Marathon

We did it!

My marathon time was 3:57.

Anita Beth and her friend Kimberly finished the half in 2:09.

We all accomplished our goals! What a great feeling. More on the race
later.

Transrockies, Reason No. 2

Transrockies reason No. 2: Seven days away from the stress of work at
the office and at home. The only worry I'll have is getting to the top
of a mountain and back down.

Forecast for the St. Jude Marathon this Saturday is 22 degrees
according to my iPhone and 28 degrees according to Channel 5. Either
way it's going to be cold. I'm trying to decide how to dress. Long
pants or shorts? Fleece or long sleeve shirt?

The Transrockies run is in August. I'll be looking forward to summer
as I stand in the freezing a_ _ cold waiting for the start Saturday
morning.

Transrockies, Reason No 1

I am expecting lots of people to ask us why we are running the
Transrockies Run, so I've decided to blog my reasons.

Reason Number 1: I love the Rocky Mountains! When I am in those
mountains I know there must be a God as only he could create something
that majestic and wonderous. I can't wait to see the stars sleeping
underneath that big mountain sky.

Winding Down

After two days rest, I breezed through six miles this afternoon on Corinth's Coca-Cola 10K loop. My goal for the St. Jude Marathon is to run it in under 4 hours. I ran a 3:52 my junior year of college. If I could run a sub-4 Saturday it would be like being 21 again. In order to get under four hours I will need to average a 9:10 minute-mile or better.

Nine-minute miles have gotten easier and easier over the last few months, but I haven't tried to run a nine-minute mile on a long run. I hope I can do it 26 times on Saturday. 

I've been training for St. Jude since last May. It feels good to be this close to reaching the goal. Last year, after I crawled across the St. Jude finish line I didn't run again for the rest of the winter. I gained 10 pounds and by the time I started running in May I felt like I had never even run the marathon. 

Not this year. 

I'm setting goals to keep myself in shape and hopefully achieve some new milestones. I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life and I don't want to lose it again. It helps that AB has started running. She is so excited about finishing the half marathon Saturday. I can't wait to train for the Country Music Marathon with her this winter. We have really enjoyed having something in common other than crying babies and favorite televisions shows. And I really can't wait until this summer when we start training for the Tranrockies Run! 

How do you train to run 125 miles in six days? Luckily, Transrockies offers this handy dandy training program, which AB and I plan to follow to the mile. Check it out. It's been so cold outside the last few days that I have been daydreaming about running on hot sunny days. There must be something wrong with me.