It’s official, I signed up today so that’s the next big race I’m doing. My wife’s father is serving as one of the race directors, so looking forward to showing support… and trying to get friends and family involved. If you’re interested in joining us, let me know!

http://www.vianet.org/events/marathon/index.shtml

J

Over two weeks post marathon and I still haven’t finished my recap! Gonna try to finish fast and with as much detail as possible…

So the next big step in completing the race was going off road for a while. Miles 18-20 were in a city park with a relatively narrow path. It was one of my favorite legs of the race because it seemed like such a departure from any marathon or half marathon course I’ve run (central park doesn’t count, its different on so many levels). Immediately prior to entering the park, a good Samaritan was passing out gels and I grabbed one more to take later in the race.

My stomach was starting to feel a little sloshy. I took my mile 20 gel which actually made my stomach feel better as I think I was just plain getting hungry by this point. When I hit mile 20 it was a definitive point in the race for me… I almost felt better than I did at 16 (at least mentally).

Lots of people talk about the runners high but I’m not sure that all other people experience it in the same way I have. It’s such a rush. It’s happened to me about a half dozen times, usually in races where I end up PR’ing. I think it’s the consequence of being in the homestretch of a meaningful race, and having the confidence that you’ll be able to finish strong. So you pick up the pace a notch and that feels pretty good, so then you kick it up another gear. Repeat process until you have what can only be described as an out of body experience. Where you know you’re pushing yourself to a point where you should be feeling pain, but all you feel is pride.

This surge of energy comes with a price… It’s hard to recall specific details once this instinct kicks in, but that’s because you’ve given up on thinking about much else besides putting one foot ahead of the other. And that’s how I took down the last 6 miles, all heart. People around me were dropping like flies. I would pick a runner 100yds ahead of me, and a minute later I was preparing to pass. But not before drafting behind them for a few. It was pretty damn windy coming back up Bayshore Blvd.

The last few miles there were significantly more spectators than at other points in the race. Anytime I was approaching someone who wasn’t cheering for me I would throw my arms up the way that pro athletes do when they want to rally the crowd at a home game. This would generally illicit a shout of “go Jason” (all runners’ first names were clearly indicated on the race number) and I would surge on with a burst of speed.

I thought back to my favorite Prefontaine quote: “someone may beat me, but they’re going to have to bleed to do it.” If that’s not one of the best running quotes of all time, I don’t know what is. And that was it. Those final miles just blew by (final 4 miles in 7:55 splits) and I doubt I’ve ever felt so good crossing the finish line. I was almost able to go into full out sprint. Final time 3:45:22… 8:36 splits.

After the race I got breakfast with my parents. Lots of breakfast. An omelet, pancakes, home fries and what had to be a dozen strips of bacon.

I was happy with my time, but the strong finish and 5 minute proximity to a PR had me wondering if I could have PR’d and broken 3:40. Then I thought back to the fact that I emailed the race director 3 weeks prior inquiring about the possibility of dropping back to the half. And I told myself to stop being such an idiot. With all the trials and tribulations of winter marathon training, I was just grateful it was over and I had another successful marathon under my belt.

Chip Time 3:45:22
Gun Time 3:46:20
Age Grade 55.4%
Top 17.2% Overall
Top 23.4% of Men
Top 31.7% of Men 25-29

After taking the pit stop to tie my sneaker at mile 8, I caught back up to the pace team with relative ease. In fact, from this point on, I began to keep my distance from the group running about 20yds ahead since there was much less congestion the further I strayed from the team.

The sun really started making its presence known at around miles 9-10 and I slid my newly purchased sunglasses down to block the rays. At first I found them to be uncomfortable, but I’ve never really been one to wear sunglasses. I kept them on only at the points where we ran directly towards the sun. The rest of the time I slid them back up to my head where they rested snugly. I would go on to use the sunglasses more and more as the race went on, eventually leaving them on for good. I’ve had too many long runs this winter where I’ve come back with a headache from the bright snow reflecting the sun back into my brain. So I knew it would be wise to avoid that potential discomfort if I was going to have a successful race.

My sneaker pit-stop happened around mile 7-8 and somewhere around mile 9-10 it was time to set out on my next mission: peeing. Although there were ample port-a-pottys on the course, I felt I could save a few seconds by just gliding off the course and peeing against the wall of an isolated overpass. It went off without a hitch.

At mile 10 I took my second gel (first one was at mile 5).

As our group approached the halfway point we saw the lead runner and he had about 4 miles left in the race (which makes perfect sense, since we were at about 1:55 and he finished in 2:20 ). He had at least a 10 minute lead over the next competitor and it was motivating to see the course’s best runner looking strong on the homestretch.

At mile 15 I took another gel.

Now, the story arch isn’t complete unless I share a brief moment of self-doubt that I experienced at around mile 16. I think it was 25% physical and 75% psychological. Physically I noticed my right knee starting to bug me, as well as the area directly above my left achilles (which had actually started giving me trouble a few days prior, but felt ok after warming up in those first few miles). Fortunately, I packed a couple tablets of ibuprofen and put them to good use.

Psychologically I think mile 16 is where I’ve started to get concerned while running the NY Marathon as well. It is of course that moment when you realize you’ve completed fairly substantial mileage… and you still have double digits to go! Moreover, this is the point in NYC where you’ve just made your way over the 2nd major bridge after a series of lightly rolling hills throughout Brooklyn and Queens. And of course the crowded NYC course makes it almost impossible to run tangents (unless you’re really fast and at the very head of the pack) so that by the time you reach 16 it feels more like 18. The brief rush you get from witnessing millions of spectators quickly dissipates as you fight the uphill battle of 1st avenue.

I digress. The point is that the 16 mile mark of Gasparilla is where I started to get concerned about the final 10 miles of the marathon. But Gasparilla was different, I told myself. There were no hills or bridges, there were no crowds to weave through and almost no wind. It was a beautiful day, the ibuprofen kicked in quickly and the 8:47 pace felt just fine…

We made great time to Tampa, leaving me with about 45 minutes to warm-up, stretch, release bio-fluids/solids and find my pace team with goal time of 3:50 (or 8:47 mile splits).

The pace group leader’s name was Dave. He introduced us all to each other and ran through some last minute thoughts on the race. A few moments prior to race start, I downed the rest of an energy shot, turned on my iPod and readied my stopwatch. I made sure all my gels were in the right locations. 1 in each pocket, 1 in the pouch of my water bottle (which itself was loaded with my proprietary mix of Gatorade and 5hr energy shot) and the final gel I carried in my free hand The gun went off and we crossed the start line about 30 seconds later.

Miles 0-8

It was still really dark out when we began running. So for the first couple miles while the runners were still densely packed onto the course, I spent most of my attention focused on avoiding potholes, puddles and other difficult to see imperfections on the road. God forbid I landed wrong on my weak right ankle and put the outcome of my marathon in jeopardy.

It was around this time that I realized what a valuable service our pace group leader provides. I didn’t have to expend even the smallest amount of energy on worrying about my pace! I know that sounds completely obvious, but having never worked off of a pacer before, I simply didn’t realize how big of a difference it makes. And although I was plugged into my iPod, overhearing the jokes and banter within the group also helped lift my spirits.

So like I said, the first few miles are kind of a blur, mostly because it was so dark out. But I remember cruising through some of the nicer neighborhoods Tampa has to offer. Our pace group ran the first mile at a roughly 9:20 pace due to the typical congestion at the start of a race. That meant we had to pick up the pace for the next few to get back on 8:47 pace. At some points I was fine with that, and 10 seconds ahead of pace felt fine. At other points I was kind of concerned that it felt fast. By the time we caught up to pace a few miles later, I was happy to adjust back to 3hr 50min pace.

This was also around the point where 2 other things started to concern me. First, I noticed my left sneaker wasn’t laced tightly enough. This has been an ongoing problem I’ve had for the last few months. I’ve been having a really difficult time finding the sweet spot between too tight and too loose. Too tight and the arch of my foot starts cramping up. Too loose and my ankles feel unstable. I decided at some point I would need to pull over and rectify the situation. That would probably require getting a little ahead of the pack, stopping to tie, then catching up with the group. I was worried that it might not work out as planned and I would lose them in the very early stages of the race which would be a problem.

The second problem was that I had to pee. Not a bladder buster by any means, but uncomfortable enough that I couldn’t just forget about it. This would now require 2 separate stops. 1 unified lacing/peeing stop would set me back too far. I triaged the lacing situation to the top of the list but still wasn’t quite ready to stop and deal with it.

We crossed over the bridge onto Bayshore Blvd and I took my first moment to reflect. The sun was beginning to rise and the water was completely motionless. One of those scenic moments you really appreciate whilst marathoning on a course you’ve never run before. As I touched down onto Bayshore Blvd, I noticed I was slowly drifting ahead of the group and decided it was time to break away for the shoe tying, which went off without a hitch. As I joined back up with the group we were approaching mile 8 when pacer Dave remarked “we’ve already completed a sizable piece of the race and everyone is in good shape.” It was a simple observation, but nonetheless it was very motivating to realize we’d completed about 1/3^rd of the distance.

More to come…

J

I really didn’t adjust my routine much at all in the days leading up to the marathon. In a perfect world, I would have gotten more sleep. Unfortunately our neighbor and his appreciation of dolby 5.0 surround sound and late-night action movies/euro-trash music got in the way. And our dog Charlie is of course not a great sleeper and wakes us up at all hours. But other than that, I ate exactly the same. I exercised pretty much the same.

My last long-ish run was on Sunday, Feb 21^st. I did just over 11 miles at a roughly 8 minute mile clip. This was after doing 2 weekends of back to back 20 milers, which I think really paid off in the end. I took off on Monday, then biked Tuesday, ran on Wednesday and swam on Thursday. I may have taken it a little easier than usual, but still got in a pretty decent amount of activity.

Some bad travel-related news came on Thursday when we learned that another winter storm was making its way along the northeast. I woke up at 5:26am Friday morning to a phone call from Dial 7 car service. They told me that the car I booked 3 days ago would no longer be coming to take me to JFK airport since the roads were basically covered in snow.

I then sat on the phone with JetBlue for about 30 minutes waiting to see if my flight was going to be cancelled or not. Upon confirmation that the 7:55am flight was still on, I made my way to the airport via the Subway followed by the JFK AirTrain. Thank god I wasn’t flying out of Laguardia.

I got to the airport and things were looking good. I made it to gate 17, my departure gate for Tampa, just in time to see people were beginning to board. “Too good to be true” I thought to myself. And of course it was too good to be true. Even though gate 17 said Tampa on it, these were actually people boarding an Orlando flight scheduled to depart about an hour prior. So about 5 hrs later, my flight took off. Not the best start to race weekend.

Flight landed at about 3:30pm, mom picked me up from the airport and we made our way over to the Tampa convention center. In addition to picking up my race packet, I snagged a pair of light weight sunglasses for $40 which turned out to be worth every penny. I also snagged a racing singlet and a long sleeve tech shirt for $9.99 each.

The remainder of the day was less chaotic. Went home, ate a great home cooked meal, and was in bed by 9:30pm. Despite waking up a few times, it was a good night’s sleep and I woke up around 7am for about 9.5 hrs of sleep.

I woke up Saturday, ate some breakfast and hit the gym. Did some stretching, spent some time with the foam roller and then hopped onto the treadmill for about a mile’s worth of jogging, running, sprinting, hills, etc. Just wanted to make sure my legs were working in every capacity I would need them to on Sunday.

It rained pretty much all day, so I spent most of the day indoors on the couch… exactly where you want to be on pre-marathon day. In-between couching, I meticulously picked out the items I wanted with me for race day. I laid out my clothing, second guessing myself a half dozen times about whether or not to wear shorts or running pants. And whether or not I should wear 2 long sleeve shirts or 1. Or if I should wear a tank top underneath. Or if I should wear gloves. Should I wear a baseball cap and sun glasses? Or just sun glasses. Would they slide off my head while I wasn’t wearing them for the first 2 hours in the dark? I did a test run around the block to test it out. They fit like a glove.

Had an early dinner at 5pm and continued to lounge. I spent a lot of time on Twitter looking up other Gasparilla Marathoners and trying to get a vibe of what everyone was thinking about the weather situation. Eventually 8pm rolled around and surprisingly, I was pretty tired and ready for bed. And for a 4am wake up call. More to come over the next few days…

J

That’s right, 3hrs 45 min. Have to say I impressed myself a little.

Full race report on Tues/Wed.

J