Welcome to my blog! Here, I will be sharing race recaps, updates about my training, my goals for the future, and any other running related news I may have. With my first post I wanted to give a recap of my recent marathon on November 14th, 2015 in Charlotte, NC. In preparation for this marathon I peaked at 75 miles per week for a period of 4 weeks with a long run up to 24 miles.
Tier I Goals:
Sub 2:50
Top 5 Overall
Tier II Goals
Sub 2:55
Top 10 Overall
Tier III Goals:
Boston Qualify
– Sub 3:02
Top 15 Overall
Actual:
7th
Overall
2:53:16 (6:36
Pace)
My goal for this race heading
into it was Sub 2:50, but the main objective was to qualify for the 2017 Boston
Marathon, which I am proud to say I accomplished! I arrived in Charlotte at
around 3:00pm on Thursday because I wanted a day or so to adjust and not feel
rushed at all in my preparation. Went home and started to carb load up for the race! Fast forward
to Friday night, I went on a 15 minute shake out run with my brother, Cole, and did some
pick-ups at or around race pace to loosen up my legs. On Saturday morning I
woke up at 5:40am and put on my race outfit and bib. Went downstairs and had a
glass of water and half a bagel with earth balance. Left for the race at 6:25
after my girlfriend, Hannah, got to the house. The hour leading up to the race happened so fast
I almost couldn’t believe it. Usually, the hour or so before a race seems to
drag on for me, but not here. Cole and I made a trip to the bathroom as soon as
we got there and then set of to run for around 10 minutes or so. Afterwards we
made our way to the starting line where I did a few strides to get the legs
moving. The field around me looked particularly fast so I wanted to make sure
that I did not go out too quickly. Cole was running the half marathon and he
was planning to run with me as long as possible before dropping off. Took a few
pictures, stood around for a few minutes, and then we were off!
One of the
biggest issues for me right away was the fuel belt I was wearing. I had not
used one in training, which was a big mistake. It would not stay still and it
took a lot of messing with the first two miles to finally secure it. I had
placed my Honey Stinger chews in there and planned to take them at miles 6,
11.5, 16, and 20.5. I made sure my breathing and legs were relaxed the first
mile, which we hit in 6:27. At Thunder Road, the first half is renowned for its
hilly route while the second half is flatter, but much lonelier as there are
not as many spectators or runners. Cole and I hit the next three miles in 6:25,
6:32, and 6:28. The largest hill on the course at mile five was a little
taxing, but not too bad overall. We hit that mile in 6:31 and five miles total
in 32:24 (6:29 Pace). The next few miles passed by in 6:25, 6:32, and 6:28. I
was feeling good overall. Took water at every stop and my first set of chews at
mile six. At the second largest hill on the course at around mile nine Cole and
I tucked behind a pack of three other runners because the course had been
pretty windy up to this point. I realized that we had slowed down going up the
hill, but I wanted to wait on passing them until we crested the hill. Hit one
of my slowest miles of the day in 6:44. At this point I ended up dropping Cole
and the others because I needed to get back on pace. The tenth and eleventh
mile were in 6:26 and 6:27. My next set of chews I was supposed to take at mile
11.5, but the water station was much closer to mile 11 than I expected. I had unzipped the fuel belt and also
simultaneously tried to take water and the result was that around half of my
chews ended up falling out of the bag. I tried not to let this bother me and I
instead focused on taking advantage of the large downhill section of mile
twelve, which ended up being tied for fastest of the day in 6:16. After that, I decided to regroup and slow
down my pace a little bit, but I did not end up slowing down that much the next
mile. At around mile 13 the half marathon and the marathon split. I got to see
Hannah, my Dad, and my other brother Trevor cheer me on there! They told me that I looked pretty
good, and I felt pretty good too, but I could feel the fatigue in my legs already
coming on. They told me that I was currently in 10
th place overall!
I hit the 13
th mile in 6:20, and the half marathon split in 1:24:48,
right on pace for sub 2:50. The next two or three miles were very lonely and a
little bit windy. I managed to pass one guy, and could see another guy around a
minute or two up the road and I focused on slowly reeling him in. These miles
actually went by pretty quickly though in 6:26, 6:19, and 6:22. The best
section of the course, on the first half and the second half, was going through
NoDa and hearing everyone cheer. This gave me a little spring in my step and I
started to close pretty quickly on the guy ahead of me. Around this section
though, I could tell I was starting to run out of energy. I did not know it at
the time, but I had run out of chews after I had taken some at mile 16. There
were some very nice, long, downhill sections at this point on the course.
Passed the runner I had been tailing at around mile 17 and he told me that I
was still on pace for sub 2:50! I had written the splits I needed to be at for
miles 15 and 20 on my arm to be under my goal of 2:50. Miles 17 and 18 were
6:22 and 6:25. At this point my legs were really killing me and I was wishing
that I was done. I had another runner in my sights, who I found out later was
the same guy that narrowly beat me in the half marathon event last year, but I
never managed to catch him, although I did get within 7 seconds of him
according to our 20 mile splits.
Once you pass Mile 18 of the course though there are
a ton of turns at certain sections that can really kill your momentum. Mile 19
was one of the last good mile before my wheels started to fall off. In
retrospect, maybe if I had taken this mile a little easier, which I hit in
6:16(!) I may not have had the problems in the next few miles that I did. In
reality, it was probably caused by my lack of fuel intake due to all of my
chews falling out back at mile 11. Mile 20 and 21 came and went in 6:35 and
6:31, but at this point I was really hurting and could tell my legs were
starting to feel heavier and heavier. I knew that I was in damage control mode
now and I just worked on keeping my legs moving. Mile 21 featured an absolutely
brutal uphill section that just seemed to last forever. Hit Mile 22 and 23 both
in 6:48. Around this time I could tell that my hands were starting to go numb
and my vision was starting to get a little blurred. My legs were also starting to
quiver, a problem I had in the last few miles at my first marathon in Myrtle
Beach. Mile 24 featured a ton of turns and ended just before we hoped on a greenway. Mile 24 was in 7:04, but I could still feel myself slowing down.
Running on the greenway was not too bad, but I had a trouble in my disoriented
state telling if I was going the right direction as there were very few people there directing runners and I was also running alone, but thankfully I was still on track. I knew the
last mile was going to be slightly uphill, but nothing prepared me for how
brutally awful it actually was. I hit mile 25 in 7:23 a little bit after exiting
the greenway and headed up what was appropriately named “Stonewall St”. I felt
like I was moving at around a 10:00 minute per mile pace and I was doing
everything I could to prevent myself from walking. I can honestly say that this
had to be one of the single toughest miles I have ever run in my life. My hands
at this point were completely numb and my vision was shaky at best. What got me
through this mile was all the hard work that I have put in for this race and my
goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. After what seemed like an eternity,
I finally turned right on a street and passed mile 26 in 8:04, by far my
slowest mile of the day.
I wish I could have enjoyed the last two tenth of the
mile where I finally realized that I was going to qualify for Boston, but all I
could think about what finishing. I crossed the finish line in 2:53:16 which
was over a 13 minute PR and a Boston Qualifying time! I was given a medal and
then I slowly walked over to get something to drink. My vision was almost gone
at this point so I was rushed to the medical tent to be looked at. I spent over
25 minutes in the medical tent drinking more Gatorade than I ever wanted to
before I finally felt a little better and was allowed get up and walk. While we
were in there my Mom, who had raced the half marathon, told me that I had come
in 7
th Overall and first in the 01-24 Age Group! After exiting the
medical tent we took a few more pictures and then left. The finisher’s medal I received
was the biggest I have ever seen, and I also got a pretty sizable framed award
for coming in first in my age group. Overall, this was a great event put on by
Run for Your Life! Even though I did not exactly hit the time goal that I
wanted, I am so excited to finally have my biggest dream come true and run the
Boston Marathon in 2017! Up next is 1-2 weeks of recovery before I take on the
Turkey Trot 8K when I come back to Charlotte for Thanksgiving, and my biggest
test yet, the Weymouth Woods 100K in January!
Splits:
6:26
6:25
6:32
6:28
6:31
6:25
6:32
6:28
6:44
6:26
6:27
6:16
6:20
6:26
6:19
6:22
6:25
6:24
6:16
6:35
6:31
6:48
6:48
7:04
7:23
8:04