Boston Marathon Race Report

This race report from Boston Marathon is long overdue, but I've been too tired and sick of training to even get to it. Now that recovery is well underway and I'm actually running for fun again, here it goes.

A few years ago when I started running, then training a bit more competitively, then racing and then finally racing some longer distances, I had set a goal for fun to try to break 3 hours in the marathon. My first marathon I did 3:01. Then at Grandma's I had a great race for 21 miles, crashed and came in at 3:17. Then Chicago had an OK race but struggled to come in at 3:13. From Grandma's forward I had increasingly difficult issues and injuries with my hips, glutes, etc. that made competitive running difficult and impossible sometimes. Knowing that the trend was worsening, I decided to use my Chicago time as my Boston qualifier and just do it, in the back of my mind not knowing if I'd get another chance. So that's why I registered for Boston in the first place.

Winter training was wicked this year. Often times I'd need to get in an 18-20+ mile long run the day after a storm, the trails in poor condition most of the time, needing to skip workouts, deal with my worsening hip issues, etc. In a nutshell, it was only into March that I was able to even get my mileage up to above 40+ per week and the long runs were slow and painful. About 3 weeks before the race I did my last long run, 23 miles, and it was not pretty. In the 2-3 weeks leading up to race day, I had at least 2 good weeks of taper with speed work, hills, yoga, nice walks, etc.

So in the final days leading up to the race my mindset changed day-to-day, one day thinking I'd just go easy and enjoy it, the next day thinking I'd race it and try to break 3 hours. I'd go from being super motivated and ready to race one minute, and just wanting to get it over the next.

I ended up going out to Boston myself -- the guys I had run with at work all missed out on the registration. I booked a B&B type place in Cambridge on the Harvard campus and it was OK, it was just a hassle getting from there to all the events downtown on the subway.

Day before the race I did the routine at the Expo, took the subway out to Heartbreak Hill to have a little psychological chat with that thing and then ate early at the pasta dinner. I was back at my room early enough, took a few hours to get things together, then had about 7 or so restless hours of sleep before the 5am wakeup call.

Race day weather was perfect, start temps in the 40s with a decent wind from the West. After the usual breakfast routine of draining the system, proper nutrition, getting the right things in order, etc. I had to take the subway in to the Finish line at Boston Common where the Buses were waiting to take us out to the Start in Hopkinton. The hour ride out there was kind of cool, everyone talking about their running situation, qualifying, race strategy, etc. Hopkinton was an amazing feat of logistics - thousands of runners needing portapotties, water, etc. and needing to be staged and herded to the starting line.

The whole scene was a blurr and quite a sight that I can barely explain. I was in Wave 1 corral 5 and was surprised at how many runners were staged ahead of me. It was cool and windy at the start so I had to shed a lot of clothing as things got started. As the gun went off I think it took me about 3 minutes to even cross the starting line and I distinctly remember how slowly we were going at that point, like 7:20 miles and there was nothing I could do about it. People were packed in all around me and all you could do was go by that same pace. The first 10k was steep downhills with some uphill as well. I was consciously going conservative, really holding back and settling into a slower pace.

We wound our way through wooded hills and small towns, eventually through Wellesly and into Newton. Wellesly was about the half marathon point and I came through there at a pretty slow pace, about 1:33 I think which might be 7:15 miles at best. My hips were tight at that point but nothing else was wrong and I was thinking that I'd be able to hold on. As soon as we got into Newton the hills began. My pace crawled into the 7:30s on the major uphills and then I'd to back into the 6:50s on the downhills. By the last of the Newton Hills, Heartbreak Hill as it is known, I struggled to crest the hill, made it and then started to pick it up around Boston College. This is right around mile 21.

As I got past Boston College, that's where I had the first of 3 crashes with total body-seizing cramps. On Heartbreak Hill my calves and feet started to cramp up but I could keep going. At BC I went into total convulsing full body cramps and I had to pull over. After 10 minutes I am guessing, with spectators massaging my calves, quads and arms, people feeding me oranges, etc. I was off again for another 1-2 miles before it all hit again and I was on the sideline another 10 minutes. After that recovery I went again another mile before the last cramping session, recovered yet again and hobbled my way across the finish in well beyond my target time. Its a bummer that I probably lost 30 minutes just standing with cramps. All I could do those last 5 miles is shuffle stiff legged and it seemed like there was nothing at all I could do about the cramps. I just put my head down and ran as much as I could.

The crowd was totally amazing despite the cramps. People came out of the crowd to help me along, some people yelled at me to get my ass moving and that worked I have to say. I was pissed off and pretty happy all at the same time.

After the race I felt completely awful physically. Emotionally I was relieved to have it over and be done. I was exhausted, not just from the day but from the winter training through the injuries and hip pain and the time commitment.

As far as what I will do next, I have no plans to do any future marathons or any races of any kind in the near future. I will however, after recovering and getting healthy again, continue to run for fun and likely for shorter races, do yoga, do other sports again, be with my family like a normal person again, etc. I am in no way ruling out a future attempt at that 3 hour barrier again either.

I'm not sure if there's any wisdom in any of this, but this is my race report and story about Boston Marathon.

Pre-Snowstorm Long Run 5 of 9

Today was long run 5 of 9 in training for Boston Marathon, now just 2 months away. These long runs are still slower pace than I'd like to see but right now its all about getting in the base miles. It was cool and sunny when I left the house finally, after stalling and dilly-dallying around for at least an hour, about 9am. The trails were nearly free of ice and debris, a welcome change from the last 2 months. This morning's route was around L. Harriet, along Minnehaha Creek, across the Ford Bridge into St. Paul, north along East River Road to the Lake Street Bridge with the return route south along the Minneapolis side. 21 miles in total, 2 hours 52 minutes, no hydration and no carbs. I think progress was made compared to the last run, I don't think I switched over to burning fat until about 18 miles this time.

Next weekend will be one more long run to end the peak mileage for this cycle. It will then be 1-2 weeks of lower mileage before the next and final phase, which will consist of 3 long runs (> 20 miles each) over 4-5 weeks, with tempo runs, LT runs and speed work built-in.

Boston Marathon Training Motivation

After 6 weeks of absolutely no running, I finally started again in late November, although very slowly. In many ways it was kind of depressing not to run, and in other ways it was kind of nice just to loaf around and cycle, hike, kayak, go for walks, etc.

On the now infamous registration day, after about 15 refreshes of the submit screen, I was very fortunate to be able to register for the 2011 Boston Marathon, to be held on 19 April 2011, Patriot's Day.

During the time off I also consulted with one of Minnesota's top orthopedic surgeons about my hips. After reviewing digital x-rays, I was told that I have a condition called FAI, or femoroacetorial impingement. Essentially this is a condition in which the head (ball) of the femur is slightly bulged or oddly shaped so that it does not rotate perfectly inside the hip socket. Official diagnosis was acute glute pain/stress injury secondary to FAI.

Now what? Basically no, idea. I probably will not do any kind of surgery but I want to keep running. So in a way I guess it's back to the drawing board wit core work, hip and glute strengthening, stretching and yoga, etc. to just manage the condition. I was given the name of a PT who could help with strengthening so will probably get around to seeing her sometime soon.

In the meantime, it's now roughly 4 months out from Boston Marathon, I'm not all that motivated at the moment with 8,000 inches of snow in the ground in Minnesota, but I'd better get it together. With that in mind, here I sit typing this blog post when I should be out getting in my 10 miler on the snow packed trails around the Lakes.

OK, now signing off to do my 10 miler.

2010 TCM 10 Mile Race

The 2010 Medtronic TCM 10 Mile road race held on Sun 3 Oct turned out to be much more than I could have every asked for. Even though I had continuing hip and glute injuries before the race, which were made a lot worse by an in-line blading marathon a few weeks earlier, I was just a few second off from a PR with no additional or worsened injuries. My goals for the race were to finish in one piece, have fun, enjoy the weather and see friends.

Breakfast was a cup of strong green tea, 1/2 banana and 1/2 granola bar. Bike ride down to the dome along Lyndale, through Loring Park along Nicollet Mall was super easy and un-eventful. No other pre-hydrating or other special arrangements.

At the start line I knew it was going to be a perfect weather day and was loving every minute of it just being there at the race scene. I was probably about a dozen runners deep or so back from the start line and went out at about 6:30s with friend for a while. As we headed down to W River Road on the downhill I was in about the 6:05 range for the first 2-3 miles and OK with that pace. I remember fingers of fog floating in the river valley, heard birds chirping at one point and several times I almost started laughing at how fun it was.

My mood changed a bit once I was around the top of the hill onto the Lake Street Bridge as pace slowed into the 6:20s. By the time I approached the hill at St. Thomas, roughly 5 mile mark, I was really feeling it in my quads and hips, not pain thank goodness, just fatigue. The long slow incline up Summit was pretty brutal at times but was surprised to see that I was still mostly in the 6:20s or 6:30s through that stretch. A few people passed me around mile 8-9 before I got a second wind at that point and was able to bring pace back into the 6:10s and 6:20s.

I'll admit being happy to be done, yet with great memores of the race/pace. I have to say that this was one of the most perfect races for weather in my book. Post race I got out of there pretty quick (men's changing tent this time) so I could meet my family along Summit to watch M racers. Saw friends Eric, John and Mike at the finish.

1:03:57 was my total official finish time which I am more than happy to take given all these hip issues.

Miles according to GPS were:
6:05
6:04
6:27
6:11
6:25
6:34
6:35
6:23
6:32
6:14
6:07

I'm going to take 4 weeks off now to re-boot and also register for Boston M on Oct 18.

Oktoberfest Long Run

Friday 17 Sep was my first workout of mile repeats in maybe 18 months and it was not pretty. Barely able to do 8 miles with 3 x 1milers @ 6:00 pace, in fact the miles were 6:11, 6:12 and a difficult 6:24. Felt like a total train wreck.

Today was not really a true long run, just a 13.1 miler, a practice run of sorts, at nearly marathon race pace this morning before Oktoberfest activities. Perfect training conditions, partly cloudy temps in the 50s with little wind, leaves just starting to change around the lakes. Glutes were a bit sore and even somewhat painful from remnants of last weekend's blade race. Total pace today was 7:03 with mile splits of 7:25 7:12 7:16 7:07 7:01 7:06 7:10 7:13 6:56 6:28 6:23 7:02 7:01. It's now 2 weeks out from Twin Cities 10 Mile and the plan this week is some 10 milers with some of those miles @ target 10 mile race pace.

October 18 is registration for Boston Marathon.

2010 North Shore Inline Skate Marathon

Our 3 man team of 40-something endurance/outdoor sport enthusiasts survived a rain, mist and fog soaked running of the 2010 North Shore Inline Skate Marathon with all skin surfaces, elbows and knee caps in-place and un-damaged.

Finish times this year were at least 10 minutes slower than our planned 1:25:00. DC came in at 1:35:44.4 #166/1900, JB was 1:35:37.3 #158/1900 and me (Bimibatoo) at 1:35:41.5 #163/1900.

According to my GPS our first few miles were nearly on-target for breaking 1:25 as follows:
mile 1 > 3:36
mile 2 > 3:21
mile 3 > 3:27
mile 4 > 3:22
mile 5 > 3:36
mile 6 > 3:19
mile 7 > 3:43

However, we lost a lot of time in the middle miles 10-18 when at times our draft lines nearly came to a complete stop with some people in those lines moving at a snail's pace. The main issue for us this year seemed to be no racers other than the 3 of us willing to continue at the 3:20 or so pace needed to break 1:25.

It was actually pathetic to some extent how racers performed in Wave 1. There were huge long line of racers drafting, but only a handful of people willing to lead the pace. Absolutely no trading off and no team work whatsoever. This in fact was our limiting factor -- we definitely could have take on a 3:20 pace but we would have needed at least 5-6 additional racers to go along with us. Despite several breakaway attempts to do this no one else went along. To some extent, every racer is limited by how fast the fastest pace line in his/her wave goes.

The roads were mostly totally soaked along the whole route from Two Harbors to Duluth. In some places, most notably the water stop past the half marathon mark, the footing was literally like butter and I thought I would spin out.

As we entered Duluth just across the Lester River I got a third wind and tried again to make a major break and push from the pack. To no avail, no one went with me and I ended up back in the pack going up Lemon Drop Hill. 35E was a total catastrophe with new grooves cut into the concrete, it made for very difficult blading conditions where we lost additional speed. The last climb up the hill I was finally able to let things go, and JB and I were able to drop most of the remaining pack of wave 1 racers at that point.

However, the drop down the hill toward the harbor was another disaster waiting to happen, with a sharp left hand turn covered with giant puddles waiting for racers barreling down the hill. At that point I threw up my arms and my race was for all intents and purposes over -- there was no way I was going to go flying into that turn and risk major wipeout. In fact, as I was finishing the first turn, several skaters completely crashed into the cement/chain link fence barriers and it was not a pretty scene.

Post race assessment is a potential upgrade to real racing boots/100 or 110 wheels and a bit better preparation for next year as we go for sub 1:25 again.

Rutabaga Fest 2010

Once again nearly perfect weekend weather for the Rutabaga Run 12.4 miler in Cumberland, WI. This year I was in at 1:19:24 / 6:24 per mile pace according to my GPS, which is at least a minute off from 2008 but at least what I was expecting. However, I think the actual final results will show my final time at around 1:21:something due to typical Brian style starting line issues.

Week before the race I was in Toronto for work and just doing very easy short runs Mon-Tues-Wed-Thu with rest on Fri. Two of this nights I just did not sleep well so I arrived home sort of exhausted. Friday evening after dinner at home I drove up to Cumberland to stay with an aunt and uncle and it was such a cool drive, huge orange moon was rising in the east with the windows open and great music. After catching up on things with my aunt and uncle I slept absolutely like a rock that night.

Saturday morning I was up at 6:45 with just a granola bar (which turned out to be too much) and Gatorade. Arrive at Cumberland H.S. to register at about 7:10 and then took the car to main street to drop a bag of dry clothes for after the race. Kind of took too much time doing that and ended up leaving the car there and jogging back to the starting line at the H.S. As I came back to the start people were still milling about so I thought I had plenty of time to hit the can one more time and offload some extras, so that's what I did.

As I was finishing up in the bathroom inside the school then gun went off! And as I was running out of the bathroom the second gun went off as I was still getting my GPS turned on to track. Anyway, needless to say I started off way behind and spent the first mile just catching up to the main mob of runners in the 5k. By the time we were through downtown and the 12 mile runners were separated from the 5k runners, the pack really thinned out but there were at least a dozen or more people ahead of me and probably more that I could not see.

By mile 3 or 4 I was slowly passing people and it seemed like I was settled into a 6:30 or so pace. And by mile 6 or so I had settled a good quarter mile behind a woman runner who seemed to be at a solid pace, so I just made it my goal to try and catch her by the end. It was tough going and I really had to push things just to stay the same distance behind her, let alone make up time. By about mile 11 I had made it to within yards of her with another runner maybe 30 yards behind me. So we traded positions several times before I finally dropped the pace a lot as we came into town.

For the last mile and a half I was well under 6:00 per mile and I never saw either of those two runners until after the finish line. Post race was really relaxed recovering, sipping water and sports drink and watching the other runners come in. My friend Tim, originally from Cumberland does the race nearly every year and was there again this year with family. We did the pancake breakfast afterwards as the final runners came in.

And most hilarious is that I'm able to still place in my age group, despite the pre-race goof up. After the race I took a good long dip in Beaver Dam Lake at Eagle Point, before exploring the new Straight River State Park near Luck, WI on the way back home. Another totally great place that I will explore again sometime soon.

Cumberland and this whole area of NW Wisconsin is a great area and would like to figure out a way to spend more time up there on the lakes, on rides through the countryside on all those small paved roads, exploring the parks and the small towns, etc. It's definitely God's Country.