The training will definitely be new and different for me this time around, given that my PR is 4:26 (Shamrock Marathon, Virginia), and I’ll need to finish in under 3:15 to qualify for Boston. Yes, I’ve got my work cut out for me…drop at least 71 minutes from my PR!

Despite having finished 10 marathons in the last 9 years, I’ve never done any focused or purposeful speed work or training with a time-goal in mind. My training and racing has always been quite relaxed and focused on enjoying the experience. So, to help me with this new training approach, I’m very fortunate to have partnered with coach Craig Howie, of the Howie Endurance Project.

Workout #1 last night was a short run (3mi over distance) with 4×100m repeats thrown into the middle. Although I don’t have a clear idea yet of what my HR zones should be, I estimated based on perceived exertion and pace. I surprised myself by running my speed-up sections at a sub-5-minute-mile pace…kinda didn’t know I still had that in me! Granted, it was only maintained for 100 meters at a time, with the knowledge that I was only going 3 miles in total, but still a good confidence booster.

I’m hopeful for a solid lactate profile and fuel test soon that will give me (and Craig) more indicators of the best training zones and goals, as well as some nutritional strategies. More to come on that topic.

For now, I’m just glad to be “engaged” again, with a race in my crosshairs, and a big, hairy, audacious goal of qualifying for Boston! Stay tuned!

What an unforgettable experience this was! I finished the New York City marathon on Sunday, for my 10th marathon, and 10th state completed, and it was remarkable for all kinds of reasons. Records were broken all over the place, with the top three finishers all coming in under course-record time, and total number of runners (almost 48,000) and spectators both shattering records. I also broke a personal record, but not the way I wanted to.

Although I didn’t have a time goal, I really didn’t expect this to be my slowest marathon finish ever…especially at nearly 90-minutes slower than my PR! But, with a fractured thumb that was more of a bother than I expected, and training that wasn’t my best, I ended up making the most of the 26.2-mile party in the big apple. Since I knew I’d get the same medal as the fourth place finisher, why not make it last as long as possible, right? Sure, I got beat by notable celebs such as Mario Lopez, Apolo Ohno, Christie Turlington, and Mark Messier, but I got to meet some inspiring people in the back of the pack.

One of those was Melissa, an Iraq war veteran, with her left leg amputated at the hip. She was running on a prosthetic running leg, and finished in 6:36!

Another was a guy wearing a sign proclaiming “15 NYC finishes and going strong!” He told me it was his 78th birthday, and he ran his first NYC (and first marathon) at age 63. He beat me too.

There was also a constant flow of mobility challenged athletes with guides, including the marathon world-record holder for mobility-challenged athletes.

It became increasingly difficult to complain or feel any self-pity about my painful thumb.

So, I shuffled across the finish in 5:54 (unofficially), for a painfully slow 13:22 average pace. The race itself was intense, challenging, inspiring, and overwhelming in many ways. Never before have I experienced the support of what seemed like the entire host city. Almost the entire course was lined with cheering fans packed 25-deep or more, on both sides of the course. The parts that didn’t have fans were the bridges, where instead of fans on the sidewalks, there were helicopters hovering next to us and above us.

The fans were in a frenzy, and almost painfully loud in many areas. It was almost too much stimulation, and I found myself wanting to tune it out sometimes. But, maybe that’s because I was in so much pain, and so frustrated at the kind of run I was having. My fractured thumb seemed to be absorbing the impact of every step. It was really painful, and I could often feel the sensation of my bones moving against each other in my thumb. I’m sure I adjusted my running posture and stride, because I experience all kinds of pain and discomfort that I’ve never experienced in my previous marathons. My feet were killing me at mile 8…yes, eight! My shoulder and neck were screaming by mile ten (I must have been holding my arm differently because of my thumb). The crowd of runners was so thick, for most of the race, that I struggled to find any kind of rhythm or comfortable stride, and was soon paying for it with blisters forming on both feet (forefoot)…another new experience for me. I must have been adapting my stride to the crowd, and landing very differently than I usually do. I’m sure it didn’t help that my shoes were near the end of their mileage life.

The high points were many too, however. There were bands, gospel choirs on the steps of many churches, neighborhood cheering squads, taiko drummers, dancers, creative and funny signs (my favorite was one held by two little kids that said, “This parade sucks!”), and always lots and lots of cheering and high-fives from kids (which eventually forced me to run the middle or left side of the street, to avoid giving a high-fives with my broken thumb). When the weren’t bands, there was always someone in an apartment up high with their stereo speakers blaring out their windows, often so loud it was distorted, and usually it was a song from Rocky, or a 70s disco tune.

The bridges were brutal, and eerily quiet compared to the rest of the course. It was a strange sensation to hear the roar of the crowd ahead getting louder and louder as we reached the bottom of the bridges. Sometimes, it picked me up and carried me on that energy. Other times, I shut down entirely, almost feeling overwhelmed with anxiety and claustrophobia, especially in the narrow sections of the course.

Aside from the bridges, there were plenty of other hills too, long gradual ones, and short steep ones. All of them seemed to catch me off-guard, even though I had studied the course and knew they were coming. I just couldn’t ever gain a sense of running the course…it was running me instead…and running me into the ground at that.

The start and the finish were two pretty emotional moments though. After a frustrating 2-hour wait in the runner’s village before being allowed into the starting corral, hearing a New York firefighter sing “America the Beautiful” at the start was downright awe inspiring, standing at the bottom of the longest suspension bridge in the world, with the iconic skyline in the distance. And the approach to the finish gives me chills even now, just thinking about it. It was like I somehow blocked everything out while simultaneously giving in to all of it. After almost 6 hours on the course, it was almost a tear-jerking moment to reach the finish line amongst the roar of fans, hoopla of announcers, TV cameras, and photographers all over the place.

The post race experience, however, was when the real nightmare began. After getting a nice-looking finisher’s medal, and a race-blanket draped over me, I was instructed to keep walking. We were handed finisher’s bags, and still we kept walking. Almost 50,000 runners were funneled into a cattle chute about 20-feet wide, for about a mile beyond the finish line. Just walking. Only, not even walking, because it was so crowded all we could do was shuffle-stop-stand-shuffle in a repeating kind of human traffic jam.

Every 50-yards or so, there was a race staffer on an elevated stand with a megaphone shouting out encouragement like, “Looking good! Almost there! Keep up the good work!”. Funny, but wasn’t that what everyone was yelling BEFORE we got to the finish?!? Why should I be hearing that for 2 MORE HOURS beyond the finish line, in a shoulder-to-shoulder human cattle chute, bordered by 12-foot high fences draped with signage and tarps so we couldn’t even see out? Anyone who was truly claustrophobic was living a real life nightmare. I was having trouble managing my anger and anxiety at what seemed like a grossly irresponsible way to manage a marathon finish area.

While there is clearly a physical benefit to SOME walking after the finish, this much of it, in these conditions, was absurd. By the time I reached the first spot to exit Central Park, I was already shivering from the dropping temperature (it had actually started to get dark before we were even out), and hadn’t had anything to eat yet. The medical staff also had been making frequent forays into the sea of race-blanketed zombies to rescue fainters and pukers and those who were having anxiety attacks.

At this point, we finally reached the row of UPS trucks with our bags that we dropped off at the start. Here, we could recover the warm clothing we discarded in our specially labeled bags before the start of the race. It was yet another crowded shuffle, down a row of about 100 UPS trucks, numbered in descending order. Of course, my truck was near the farthest end. It meant that I didn’t exit Central Park until at least a mile-and-a-half past the finish line, and in the opposite direction from my apartment. So, I still had to walk back that same distance, plus another 10 blocks beyond the finish, before I reached the apartment…and FOOD, finally, at 8pm…even though I finished around 1:30pm. The little baggie of pretzels in my finisher bag just didn’t cut it.

So, race organizers, if you’re listening, this part of the experience needs to be fixed. Badly. It was a disappointing ending to a truly epic day. It seemed unsafe, uncaring, and irresponsible. It’s sad that the post-finish experience is casting such a shadow on how incredible the actual race experience was, despite my personal challenges on the course. As a finisher of 10 marathons now, I expected more from what is billed as the greatest marathon in the world. Your city delivered. Your race organizers did not.

I’m glad I ran it, I feel lucky to have gotten in, but I feel absolutely no desire at all to run NYC again. And that’s just sad…but I refuse to let it ruin a very memorable 10th marathon experience, overall. Thanks NYC!

Whole Foods was a zoo! It was almost impossible to move around the store, let alone get to the food on the shelves. Then, I entered the Disney-like maze of a line to access the 30-some cashier stations. It took me about 35-minutes to get to the cashier! I commented to her about how busy it was, and she said,

“This? Nah, the marathon crowd must not be in yet, this is much less than our normal crowd. We actually just let some staff go home because it’s so slow! You’re not from here, are you?”

Um, no, how’d you guess? As I walked out with my groceries, I noticed that there was now a line to get into the store, stretching out of the store, up the escalators (which were now stopped), and out into the Lincoln Center shopping plaza. I guess I made it just in time?!

As I stepped outside, the fireworks at Central Park had just started…I got goosebumps, and even a little teary-eyed, realizing that I was actually here. I was wishing Bethany and our kids could be here too.

After a good night’s sleep, and a lazy wake-up around 9am, I made some breakfast, then headed out to the marathon expo for race packet pick-up. I found the free shuttle easily, just a few blocks away, and arrived at the Javits Conference Center not long after. Walking in was when it really hit me…I’m at the NYC Marathon!!

It was crowded, but very well organized, starting with a security check and ID check just to get in. I got my packet, goodie bag and race tee, and checked out the vendors for a bit. The highlights were meeting Ryan Hall (US record holder, 2:04:58) and Josh Cox. Ryan autographed my bib. That’s about as close as I’ll get to running anywhere near him!

Another highlight was the marathon theater they had set up. It was literally a movie-theater in the middle of the expo, with a huge screen and surround-sound. They played a feature movie about the NYC Marathon every 30-minutes, and it was awesome! Parts of it gave me chills, and I really feel lucky to be running it tomorrow. It also reviewed the course from a runner’s view, so I could see where I’ll be headed tomorrow, and what the feel will be like for each section of the course. Kudos to the New York Road Running Club for a really inspiring and well-done movie!

Taking a break now, and making sure to eat and drink well, then headed to a dinner with about 35 other Marathon Maniacs who are running tomorrow. I’ve never met any of them, but we’re all part of the Marathon Maniacs club, and it’ll be fun to get us like-minded folks together tonight!

On Friday, I played indoor soccer with my team. I managed to get in the way of a defensive clearance with my thumb…probably fracturing it in the process (I’m actually waiting for X-rays at the hospital as I type this, now Monday). Can’t wait to see how it feels to swing it back and forth on a 26.2 mile run!

On Sunday, my family and I loaded up the car and headed to the Colorado Rapids playoff game! On the way, we came upon a road closure, and followed the detour. Another guy, who was already lost, also followed the detour, which confused him even more. He ended up rear-ending me at an intersection because he didn’t see all the brake lights ahead of him, especially mine.

No injuries, thankfully, but kinda sore all over today, and the car is pretty smashed up in the tailgate. It’s one more thing to deal with during a week that I was hoping would be calm, and would allow me to get mentally prepared for NYC.

Today is Halloween, so how do I turn a weekend like that into lemonade? Well, I become the “mayhem guy” from the Allstate Insurance commercials, of course!

Now, being in the hospital dressed like this is getting me some interesting reactions! Either people are recognizing it and chuckling, steering clear of me, or just looking at me like I’m really some kind of weirdo.

So, how do you protect yourself from mayhem like me? Just have a positive attitude and a good sense of humor, I guess! Happy Halloween!

I finally got out the door around 8am, and trotted off on my own, frustrated and chagrined at my missed run with Suz. It was already warm out, and definitely more humid than I’m used to, but I figured on a short and quick tempo run of about 5-6 miles, with a slower first-mile and last-mile, and middle ones faster than my planned race pace.

About a mile into the run, I saw another runner ahead of me merge into my path. He was making light and quick strides, a clear sign of a current or former marathoner. He stopped and turned towards me as I approached, and invited me to join him. I was happy for the company, and we trotted off together, doing intros as we ran.

Bill, visiting from Kentucky, had just arrived on Sunday too. He was out for a short run (a couple miles), and was moving at a quicker pace than I was. We both adjusted and found a happy medium around 7:00-8:00/mile pace.

As we ran, Bill shared that he was indeed a marathoner, with a 2:20 PR at the Boston Marathon, and he ran with winner and legend Bill Rodgers no less! Though it was years ago, Bill still had the look of someone who was effortlessly floating forward…a stride worth emulating. I, on the other hand, was bobbing up and down like I was trying to smash grapes into wine, all while still working on that mid-foot strike.

We had a nice run, covering just over five miles together in 39 minutes before we parted ways. I had close to a mile before, and about a half-mile after, for a total of 6.5 miles in 56 minutes…a pretty quick 10k tempo run for me. Considering my first and last miles were at a 10-min/mile pace, we were cruising those middle miles.

Thanks Bill, for the good company, and for pushing my pace too! It turned into a good quality run! Hope to see you on the paths again on Friday morning! This time, hopefully with Suzanne too!

Mrs. Gudmundson's Kinder class

I had planned to accompany my son and his Kindergarten class during their assigned running time. The preschool was up first, so I went with them, then stayed outside for the Kindergarteners. The energy right from the start was infectious, with lots of parents there to cheer on their kids around the 0.1 mile oval course on our grassy field.

I loved running “with” Garrett, despite the fact that he seemed to have only one speed – all out! He finished the first lap a good 100ft. ahead of the closest runner behind him, and then crashed to a walk until I caught up to him again…at which point he sprinted ahead again, and the cycle continued.

Garrett's in his first-lap sprint!

Soon, the announcer proclaimed, “Hey, the Principal and the Dean are dueling it out! Who’s going to run more laps?” Of course, that was all it took for Mr. Moore and I to feel a bit of competitive spirit. This was about the time I had wished I had a better dinner the night before, and a better breakfast that morning! By that point, we had each run about 30 laps, several of which were at 7-min. pace! As we went on, and Mr. Moore acknowledged that the only time he’d run farther than 8-miles was last year’s jog-a-thon (he ran about 14 miles), his relentless forward progress became downright inspiring! He finished with over 21-miles of laps, and a huge smile on his face!

I love that I got to run with Garrett!

So, grade after grade came out and rotated through the event, bringing with them a constant recharge of energy, support, and Flagstaff spirit, as well as a new batch of fans around the course. During 3rd grade’s time, I distinctly remember hearing someone yell, “Go PuggerRunner!” I’m guessing that was from Mrs. Reh’s class (thank you!). At a couple points during the day, I was even accompanied by my 3-year-old daughter, Gillian, who ran 3 laps with me, wearing her black frilly skirt and Halloween shirt.

It was the first 20-mile training run I’ve ever completed in 0.1-mile laps (all the left turns ended up giving me a blister!) and that included my family, friends and co-workers, students, water stations, a live DJ and announcer, chip timing, fan support, a dancing mascot, and LOTS and LOTS of high-fives along the way! Thank you Flagstaff Dragons and volunteers for a memorable and amazing day!

Around mile 12, I turned up my music as “I Can Only Imagine”, by Mercy Me, came on. Every time I hear this song, I think about Dick and Ricky Hoyt’s adventures, and this video, which uses the song behind it. Dick and his son Ricky have become very well known for competing in many, many marathons and Ironman triathlons together. What makes this noteworthy, is that Ricky is in a wheelchair, and his dad pushes him the whole race. In the Ironman, he pulls him on a raft during the swim, then has a specially outfitted bike that has a place for Ricky to sit up front, then he pushes him in a running wheelchair in the marathon. Totally inspiring, as you’ll see when you check out the video.

So, yeah, I cranked this song, and it was like a magical cue. All of the sudden, I felt total euphoria, and somehow I also became Dr. Doolittle on the trail. I was heading around the edge of a lake, and the whole landscape suddenly awoke with wildlife all around me. A couple horses started running across the field towards me. A few cows looked up from their breakfast, and waddled over to the edge of the fence ahead of me. A huge herd of geese took flight in the field to my left, flew within 5 feet of my head, and landed on the lake to my right. There must have been 200 of them. All of this while the sun was rising across the lake, and mountains glowing the other way.

After that, a bunch of bright orange butterflies crossed the trail in front of me, and an eagle screamed overhead. There was even a snake on the edge of the trail. As I’m writing this, I’m realizing how unbelievable all of this really sounds. In the moment, however, it seemed like it was all supposed to happen, with this music as the soundtrack. I seriously couldn’t stop smiling, and I think I was actually singing out loud too while I was running. All of this happened in the span of about 2 minutes, and then it was done…again on cue, as Eminem’s 8-mile happened to be the next song in the shuffle. I’m lucky I didn’t get whiplash.

Now, to Lucile’s Creole Cafe for brunch!

I had been drinking plenty of water, and had two Clif Shot blocks, but they weren’t enough to keep me out of electrolyte depletion, and it hit me all of the sudden with a mile-and-a-half to go. All I could do was walk the rest of the way home…and that was a struggle.

Once home, Bethany noticed my lips were white, and I noticed that the way I felt was going from bad to worse. I tried to make myself some lunch, but couldn’t stand up in the kitchen. I felt lightheaded and a bit disoriented. I sat on the floor of the kitchen, as Bethany put a wet towel around my neck, and brought me some Gatorade.

About an hour later, I was able to get some lunch, and then a shower. I’m still feeling a bit out of it, but coming around as I continue to replace my fluids and salt.

This was a tough reminder about how important it is for me to have about 100 calories per hour during a long run.

Without it, I got myself into trouble that came on fast. I know better, but fell into the trap anyway.

Now, to recover, and prep for the week!

For example, last weekend, although I didn’t get my long-run in, I pushed myself pretty hard in “The Amazing Race”, an annual event organized by the school where I work. It is modeled after the TV show, and was really well put together. I competed on a teacher-team, and we were the only team to do the race on bikes (all other teams used cars).

The challenge involve 10 checkpoints, with challenges at each. When we found the correct checkpoint, and completed the challenge, we got the clue for the next checkpoint. Some of the challenges were physical, some were logic puzzles…all were fun!

Competing against teams using cars meant that we biked really hard throughout the race, which covered about 30-miles, and took us about 3-hours to reach the finish. I was definitely sore the next day, and decided to count that as a valuable cross-training day.

Then, this week was our annual outdoor-education program for the middle-school. We took 204 middle-school students, along with 36 teachers and parents, to the mountains for 3-days of science discovery, ropes course challenges, hiking, and team building. It was a fantastic trip, although it was a TON of work for the teachers, parents, and I.

As the one who was overseeing the trip, I spent a lot of time getting from one group to another (there were 10 different groups, rotating between different activities all around the valley) in order to monitor progress, and help to solve problems. I was on a mountain bike to help me respond quickly, and probably ended up biking about 8-10 miles each day, sometimes over rocky or steep trails.

Again, although I didn’t do any training runs on those days, I think there’s a training benefit from all the biking I ended up doing, especially at altitude.

Looking back, I think the “substitute” training may serve as a good way to bridge the gap in my training, but now it’s time for me to get back on track with running-specific training!

This weekend will be a long-run of 15-17 miles, and it will be interesting to see how my body responds, since the longest run I’ve done so far in this training cycle is 13.2 miles. Check back here for the update of how it went!

It was a gorgeous morning, kicked off by 5 hot-air balloons over the mountains. A cool breeze and blue sky told me it was going to be a great run. I headed throughout downtown Lafayette and onto the Coal Creek trail for an out-and-back 13.2 miler. My pace was slow and relaxed, aiming for a solid two-minutes slower than my race-pace, with a 60-second walk-break at each mile.

Training entry:
8am, 65-degrees and sunny
13.2-miles in 2:40
12:30/mi avg
Fastest mile was mile 8 in 10:23