Marathon Update

December 4, 2011.  Now 50, I ran my seventh Dallas White Rock Marathon.  Rain, overcast, cold, wind, soaked and exhausted.  6,000 runners suffered together for 26 miles.  Reaching the finish line I hugged the barrier, collapsed and barfed my guts, a sign that everything was laid on the field of competition.  One day I'll be a bedridden invalid, so we have these fine moments to remember.  Credit goes to 3,200 fine volunteers and Dallas Police Officers who made the race possible.  Cold weather, however, works for me, even when wet.  My time was 3:22:46, a personal record by four minutes, and good for 265th place, my highest position in Dallas.  I finally broke 3:25 after heavens knows how many years trying, and qualified for the 2013 Boston Marathon, including the 5 minute pre-registration cushion necessary to guarantee registration.  In the final five miles, I fought up the hills on the back side of White Rock Lake, caught up to my wonderful pacer, and pushed ahead, blocking out all thinking and existing solely in the moment of maximum running effort.  We struggle and succeed together.

For those of you interested in techical aspects of running, here are a few.  I ran my longest run, 30 miles, precisely three weeks before the race.  Then I did almost nothing until race day, other than lazy 2 and 3 mile jogs.  I ran 30 miles (about 8:22 pace) because I wanted to push the pyschological barriers out a bit and reduce the intimidation of 26 miles.  In addition, I ate 12 GUs during the race, with the first at the starting line.  For me, at 140 lbs, I cannot carry energy on my frame and I need the additional calories of GU.  In four minutes the carbohydrates reach my muscles and I can feel them strenghten.  I ate 3 GUs during the final three miles, which supplied the last moments of effort to reach the finish line.  At water stops, I pulled off the road out of the way, drank the entire cup, and caught up with the pace group.  Which leads to the next benefit of running the White Rock, having the angelic asistance of Clif Bar Pace Team, in the form this year of an inspiring and capable young woman, Rachel.  I ignored my watch, stayed in sight of Rachel, closed behind other runners, and stayed running in the moment.  (Thank you, Rachel.  Thank you fellow runners and volunteers.)

October 9, 2011.  Tyler Marathon.  George Lewis puts on a wonderful race and we in Tyler are fortunate to have him.  There were about 250 marathon runners and many more inspired half-marathoners.  Weather was warm -- dang near hot -- which wore me to walking by mile 18.  I stumbled in with an unremarkable 3:55 or so.  But any day with enthusiastic runners and gracious volunteers is a day well spent.

April 18, 2011.  Boston Marathon.  My fourth.  Another glorious day.  Perfect weather.  Wind at our back.  I was precisely on target at mile 23 for breaking the elusive 3:25 at mile --- dead on 3.00 hours.  All I had to do was to hold pace at under 8 minutes and I could do it.  But again dehydration reached its ugly hand up for me and dragged me down.  I fought it out for a 3:27:42, slightly slower than last year by 20 seconds, and down to 6,966 overall.  But what an honor to compete in the Boston Marathon.  For those of you strugging to qualify, it is worth it.

December 5, 2010.  My sixth Dallas White Rock Marathon, one of the best races in the country.  Well organized and a scenic tour through Dallas neighborhoods and lovely White Rock Lake.  Despite weak training I stayed on pace.  My left IT band went into convulsions and I nearly hit the asphalt at mile 22.  Struggling to stay upright, I fought out the next mile in agony and terrible form, but the pain subsided, resurfaced, then subsided, and I managed to reach the finish line at 3:29, another Boston qualifying time for 2012.

November 2010.  The Boston Athletic Association graciously allowed me to register for the 2011 Marathon.  I am humbly grateful to the BAA.

October 10, 2010.  I ran the first Tyler Marathon with 200 other fine runners.  The race was wonderfully conducted with dedicated volunteers willing to surrender a Sunday morning.  Unfortunately, I blew up at mile 14 and crawled to the finish line with a sad 3:55.

April 22, 2009.  I ran the 113th Boston Marathon in 3:38:39.  Temperature was perfect:  upper 40's with cloud cover.  Runners suffered a challenging 18 mph headwind from the east (the Boston Marathon runs west to east) which could not be avoided by any amount of ducking and drafting.  But the wind was offset by enthusiastic fans from start to finish, screaming encouragement and demanding best effort, and supportive, generous volunteers who gave time and talent for four days or more.  My 3:38 was two minutes slower than last year and reflects age, wind or training deficiencies.  Boston is made difficult by the number of hills, large and small, throughout the course.  There are few flat spots along the way.  So while I stayed under 8 minute pace for the first twelve miles, by mile thirteen I never saw 8 minutes again.  Next season I will add more longer runs and leg weight training.  Still, Boston is Boston and there is no better race and no more honorable achievement.  And while a bit slower, I left nothing behind, laying out every gram of effort on the roads to Boylston Street.

Tyler marvel Harold Wilson, now 76, ran another sub-four hour Boston Marathon, this year 3:59:44, and placed second in the new 75-79 age category, a fabulous performance.

January 19, 2009.  Wonderful running news concerning Tyler running legend Harold Wilson, 75.  Wilson probably set a new state record and possibly a national record for 75+ category in the Aramco Houston Half Marathon January 18, with a remarkable time of 1:37:22, which may be a state and federal record.  By comparison, my time in the Tyler Half Marathon last October was 1:38 and change.  Wilson’s pace for 13.1 miles was 7:26, and he actually increased speed in the final three, to 7:21 average.  His photos are impressive; Sports Illustrated could put him on a cover.

Wilson ran an astonishing 3:59:45 in last year's Boston Marathon at age 75, placing 11^th in the 70+ category.  (He won the 70+ men’s category in 2005 and 2006.)  This year, the BAA added a 75–79 and 80+ categories, perhaps prompted in part by Wilson and his supporters.  If he runs Boston against this year, and is healthy, he will win his age category for the third time.  Wilson began running at 54 to lose weight.

I ran the Chevron Houston Marathon Sunday, January 18.  The weather was a concern as the date approached – worrisome steadily warming trends.  Forecasts were disappointingly true as it turned out.  As I left my parents’ house in north Houston, the dashboard temperature read 60F, and rose to 61F then to 62F by the time I reached the Convention Center.  Still, the temperature did not feel unduly warm during most of the race because we started early, 7 a.m., and because helpfully much of the course is shaded.  Only in the final three miles as we approached the return to downtown in full gaze of the warming sun did temperature climb to the 70s.  At mile 12 a knawing sharp pain attacked the outside of my right knee – an IT band inflammation obviously which threatened to put me down.  My leg buckled in fact at 14, frightening me.  I tried leaning to the left, rotating my foot outward, then inward, and switching sides of the road without success, and finally survived by stopping ten seconds for water, then shifting weight to my toes.  I ran almost entirely on my toes to the finish, and the pain eased until I crossed the line where it flooded back with a vengeance which worried the medical staff studying a limping and staggering runner.

In retrospect, I stayed on pace rather well, knocking down sub-8s one after another, then picking up some 8:05 to 8:20 times mid-race as I paused to collect water or stopped for a restroom.  But as any distance runner knows, by mile 18 the pain and discomfort dig hard and I had to steel up to stay with the 3:30 pace group which I had 30 or 40 seconds in front and which reached me at about 19.  During mile 24, having stopped again at a port-a-john, I fought hard, now in the sun, to catch the pacer, a fine runner named Peter, my age, and stayed with him another mile, the group down to three women and me.  At mile 25 he said we were on target with 10 minutes left and two minutes ahead of schedule.  Almost out of juice at this point and out of PR range, I eased up to use some of that two minutes for survival and let them go, but still reaching mile 26 at 8:05, and finally the finish at a respectable and Boston qualifying time of 3:28:56 chip time.

December 2008 - I ran a strong run today, 13.1 miles in 1:45 flat, an even 8 minutes per mile.  For August in Texas with 76F temperature and 75% or 80% humidity, that is fine for this point in the year.  I will take tomorrow off and then run 21 miles Saturday, capping the week with 60 or more miles.  I want to keep the mileage north of 60 miles per week leading up to the Dallas White Rock Marathon in December.  In October and November I will peak with a few 70 and 80 mile weeks, and then taper the mileage to the marathon.

The Dallas White Rock will be my tenth marathon in four years.  I ran the Boston Marathon, my first, in April with a mediocre 3:37.  I have run the White Rock three times (PR 3:26:50 in 2007), Little Rock Marathon (4:21) once, my first, the Austin Marathon (3:38 - in 2005 when it was last point to point), the New York City Marathon in 2006, Oklahoma City Marathon (3:54 - blew up at mile 17 in the heat), and the Chicago Marathon (3:55) in 2007 just before it was canceled for excessive heat.

If you are contemplating running or are new to running, do not start with a marathon.  Begin with reasonable goals which you can envision yourself accomplishing, such as the next 5K (three miles) in your area, and train by counting mailboxes, not miles.