Mission Accomplished in Las Vegas

In case you haven’t heard, FL rocked the Las Vegas Marathon and punched her ticket for the 2009 Boston Marathon with a sensational time of 3:37:40. It turned out she really didn’t need my help all that much as she ran her own pace, managed her own fuel/water, focused her own thoughts and pushed herself through the difficult miles all the way to a fantastic finish and marathon PR! I for one am very proud of her as I know how much training, both physical and psychological, it took for her to reach her lofty goals. She went from a broken pelvis in her first marathon to a B.Q. in less than 365 days, for crying out loud. [As an aside…I’m trying to convince her to publish a book about that…it’d be a bestseller!] If ever there was a reason to believe that anything is possible if you are smart, have a good plan, and are willing to work hard, this would be the prime example. It is such a great and inspirational story that I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn't come and got to experience it firsthand. (Please go over, if you haven’t done so already, to congratulate her on a job well done!)

As for my own marathon experience, which is really beside the point as far as this weekend goes, it went as I had predicted. Finishing time was 3:15:09. This was my second slowest marathon finish ever. I had a late start, spent too much time bobbing and weave amidst the crowds and ran the race without a specific goal in mind. At multiple points during the course, whenever I would pass by a fast food place, I would think of sneaking in, grabbing a burger and sitting by the road to wait for FL. I knew she’d kill me though so I didn’t dare bother. I spent the bulk of my race worrying whether she was still on pace or not. I ended the race really struggling today, but just kept reminding myself that this marathon really wasn’t about me – not my pace, not my time, not my finish. There will be other races and marathons for that. I was running today for a higher purpose, and when that purpose came rushing through the finishing line about 20 minutes later, I was emotionally choked up and as happy as a clown because I knew I had done my job this day.

Congrats FL for a fantastic marathon and allowing me to share in the experience of your magic carpet ride through the streets of Las Vegas!

The Countdown Begins - Las Vegas and a Boston Qualifier Awaits

It’s funny how things turn out sometimes.

A year ago, I decided to reach out to FL who suffered a broken pelvis while running her very first marathon. She had some underlying hormonal disturbances which caused her pelvic fractures, and since I am somewhat of an expert in that sort of thing, offered my virtual assistance in the off chance she needed any. Eight months ago, I was here, spending some days and nights in the heart of the Las Vegas strip, helping a friend celebrate his final days in bachelorhood. The only running related highlight of that trip was one small incident involving a runner (me), a city bus, a side impact collision, and a story for the guys that I was involved in a fistfight at 9am (link). I vowed after that brush with death that I’d never run in Las Vegas again.

So what do those two stories have in common? Well, both incidents have led me to this day, as I’m sitting in bed in a hotel suite less than 24 hours away from the start of the Las Vegas Marathon with FL in the other room. We spent almost all of yesterday walking and sightseeing all over town: From our hotel on the center of the strip to the race expo at Mandalay Bay (which was right next to a rodeo convention/cowboy marketplace), from the beautiful yet disoriented Italian river décor at the Venetian to the spiraling escalators at the Forum Shops. All the while, we reviewed pacing strategies, course details, and race apparels. The magnitude of this B.Q. attempt on her part weighed so heavily that at times I felt as if I was the one needing to run a specific time to qualify for Boston. I think I’m more nervous this time coaching someone else to B.Q. than I was when I prepared for my own B.Q. race! Oh brother. I did a good job hiding my own anxieties from her however. She never suspected a thing.

At the end of the night, because of some “drama” surrounding her own living arrangements, I invited her to spend the night over at my hotel suite so that she could one final night of peaceful sleeping prior to running the race of her life. After dinner and before retiring for the night, we got to preview the hot tub located right in our suite and make plans how we’d celebrate in it with some champagne come post race Sunday! Wahoo! Both of us can hardly wait…now less than a day away!

We’re officially ready for you, Las Vegas. Bring. It. On.

Weekend Potpourri (NYCM Edition)

On this next-to-last weekend before the big dance, here’s a bunch of NYCM-related tidbits to keep you all informed and entertained.

• If you’re one of the lucky ones that got a green start at this year’s race, rumor has it that you can get peed on if you run too close to the edge when you’re under the bridge. Of course, as far as I know, no marathon runner has ever come forth in the history of the race claiming to be a victim of this excretory humiliation so as far as I’m concerned, it’s all just an urban legend, just like the one where a man is supposedly walking down 5^th Avenue and is struck and killed by a penny thrown down from the observation deck of the Empire State Building [link] or the one about gator colonies running rampant in the NYC sewer system [link]. Yeah, us New Yorkers are dense like that.

• I’ve been asked by no less than five people this week if I’m going to break 3 hours at this year’s marathon. What? If I hadn’t known better I would’ve suggested that they all get an EEG because obviously something in their prefrontal cortex isn’t connecting right with their Broca’s area. Yes, I know that based on my 1:25:44 at last week’s Staten Island Half, most of the well-known race calculators (Runners World – 2:58:45; Marathonguide – 2:59:33; McMillian – 3:00:49; Running Times – 3:02:12) predict that I will be crossing the finish line right around the 3 hour mark, but all of them fail to factor in the fact that a) I’m notoriously bad at pacing myself in a marathon, b) I don’t run negative splits or even even splits and c) I don’t train nearly as hard as a 3-hour marathon runner ought to. Most runners I know who has broken that magical time barrier puts in an excess of 50 miles a week (and over 70 miles during their peak). I, on the other hand, average no more than 38 miles during my training cycle and max out at no more than 48 miles. Not to mention that NYC is a notoriously challenging course, full of bridges and hills at the most inopportune places. Yeah, so sorry to disappoint my fans, and I know there are many out there, but three hours isn’t really in the works for me…at least not this year. In my opinion, race calculators should incorporate both training intensity, course difficulty and maybe even weather conditions to increase the accuracy of their predictions. I’m sure some running guru with an advanced degree in mathematics can come up with a formula to help us out with that. Get on it!

• I had a lousy last long run yesterday. Don’t know why. I hydrated well, slept well, ran my usual 2-bridges west side course that I was familiar with, but for some reason, had to really struggle just to finish 16 miles at 7:30 min/mi pace. For comparison, I raced 13 miles the previous week at 6:32 min/mi pace. I think the cold weather and strong winds really threw me out of sorts as I was never able to get my breathing in sync with my running. Towards the last couple of miles in Central Park, I even started to develop some pain in the bottom of my right feet. Plantar fasciitis. How irritating! I rested, iced, and elevated afterwards, but still ended up walking the rest of the day with a noticeable limp.

• My first reaction after I ate, showered, and rested from my humbling run was that I should get a new pair of shoes just in case they were the culprit of my latest injury. So, I did something which I had never done before…I asked my guy friend to go shoe shopping with me. It didn’t occur to me until after the phone conversation ended how funny and ridiculous that would've sounded if it weren’t for the fact that a) we were going running shoe shopping, b) he was what I’d call a shoe nut (C’mon the guy bought a pair of the Limited Edition Asics NYCM Gel Kayano 15s the day it came out!), and c) I was desperate. Still, I can’t believe I called up another guy for company on a shopping trip. The ironic thing was that after trying out the new GT-2140 and Gel Kayano 15, I decided not to buy anything yet because I was still too sore after my long run to make an accurate assessment, while my friend ended up making yet another shoe purchase. Go figure.

• My last tidbit is something I’ve been secretly planning for a while now but just haven’t told anyone yet. But since I decided to let the cat out of the bag last night at a friend’s birthday dinner, I guess this is as good a time as any to make an announcement. This December, I’m returning to the scene of an earlier crime, where I got sideswiped by a bus and lived to tell about it [story], and joining some Flyer buddies and a special blogger friend going for her first BQ, to run the Las Vegas Marathon. Eat your hearts out, people. And no, contrary to what you might think, I’m not picking this course because it offers the quickest escape to debauchery after finishing a marathon.

Have a happy, fun, and safe rest of the weekend, everyone.

P.S. Please head on over and congratulate sRod on his amazing finish at the Breakers Marathon yesterday. He finished in 3:50:25 and knocked 19 minutes off his PR. He’s such the Rockstar of the Day! Now if I were so inspired to even knock just 9 minutes off my marathon PR, I’d come in under 3:00 and can join him on the stage. That’d be so cool. Just sayin’.