New Jersey Marathon Recap - (Very Very) Long Version

I wanted to use the New Jersey Marathon to test myself: for pacing myself evenly; for what a comfortable per-mile pace would be; to gage my own fitness level for targeting a Boston qualifier at Chicago in the fall. I figured I would go out at a bit faster than my Boston qualifying pace, and just see how long I could hold it. I needed a 3:15:59 for Boston, which is a 7:28 pace. I downloaded a pace-band off Marathonguide to come in at 3:14:00, which is a 7:23 minute mile. If I could hold this most of the way, even if I faded in the last few miles and did a 3:20, I’d be happy, and I'd better know how much work I had left to do for Chicago.

Unfortunately, last Monday, I felt like I pulled something in my left hip. This was disturbingly reminiscent of a year ago when I felt like I pulled something in my right hip and it turned into full blown bursitis. I was worried, and the minor discomfort during the last week of my taper left me seriously considering dropping out of the race. By Saturday, I was really depressed and actually prepared to not even go down to Long Branch. But I took my running friend's advice and decided to try anyway, promising myself I'd drop out if the pain was too much. I headed "down the shore" at noon with fellow Flyer, whom I'll call Scottie, in his Jeep. Scottie put me in a much better mood as we chatted in the car en route.

We checked in to the hotel in nearby Ocean Grove and headed over to the expo for our race number pickup. The expo was... small. I wasn’t expecting anything like NYC, but I sort of thought it would be somewhat similar in size as Vermont. In fact, it was even smaller than the MORE expo, where I volunteered in March. I looked around at the few vendors, picked up my timing chip and number, and received the ugliest tech shirt ever. It was baby blue with the crudest New Jersey Marathon logo on it. The half marathoners got a lime-green one. Yay for them.

We came across a few other Flyers, and before leaving, we got our body fat inaccurately measured. I came in with 4.8%, which put me just at “essential body fat” on the chart. I know I’m not overweight by any stretch, but I definitely have more than 4.8% fat on me. Scottie measured in at just over 2%, which is ridiculously low, and I think he'd probably be dead if that were the case.

Later, we hit an Italian restaurant in Asbury Park for pasta, and many other Flyers joined the party. Our group coordinator had us play a Jersey trivia game, which, despite our moaning about it, was actually quite fun. I even contributed a bonus question: Which NJ city shares the same name as one of the Canadian provinces? It proved to be a good question, and only a couple of people guessed correctly. A few other Flyers asked what I was shooting for in the race. I've been asked this a lot recently, and when I tell them 3:15, they usually follow by asking what my current PR is. When when I tell them 3:32, the expression on their face basically says: Yeah... well, good luck with that. You're going to need it!. I also added the disclaimer about my hip problem, and that it may result in a DNF for me.

Back at the hotel, I laid out my things for quick morning assembly, ate a Clif Bar and banana, and went to bed at 10 PM.

Let me just say here that I love sleeping. I can't understand why people get so nervous before marathons that they can’t sleep. I always sleep well before a marathon. It’s not like you’re going in for a job interview the next day. The marathon’s not going to change your life, and if you have a bad day, you can always just come back next year. Thus, I sleep well.

I woke to my alarm at quarter to six and the group of us drove off to the start together shortly after the top of the hour. We grabbed a bagel along the way, parked, and went to take care of out individual needs separately. I used a porto-john, drank some Gatorade, and even though I never really chafe, I put on some Vaseline over areas where I thought I might, and then headed to the start area on the boardwalk, at 7:10.

The weather was perfect. It was chilly at the start, overcast, with a bit of a cool breeze blowing. It actually drizzled a bit before the race, but hardly anything to worry about. Scottie showed up, and I hung out with him at the start, in between the 3:10 and 3:20 pace leaders, as there was no 3:15 pace group. We agreed that even though we wanted to finish in a similar amount of time, consciously not pace with each other.

For a while I talked to a woman from Ottawa who was disappointed that she couldn’t find the Senators game playing at any of the local bars the night before. I empathized that it was hard to find a hockey game on TV, even in NYC, and refrained from admitting that I’m not as much of a fan as my fellow Canadians.

I was surprised that the race didn’t start on time. They kept making announcements, and didn’t finally blow the horn until about 7:40, which was ten minutes behind schedule.

The initially crowded field kept me from going out too fast. It was about the density of the average NYRR race for the first half-mile, before it loosened up a bit. I bumped into a fellow Essex Running Club member early. We chatted, both acknowledging that my 3:15 goal was “overly-optimistic”, and then separating.

I kept the 3:10 pace group in site for a while, thinking that if I gradually let them disappear over the first few miles, then I was doing a decent pace towards my target time. My splits for the first few miles were a bit fast, but not too bad, and I eased in closer to my goal pace.

Then there was my hip. It did hurt during the race, but mildly. It didn't get any worse - not enough to affect my pace and cause me to stop running, anyway. I ran through the pain.

The race course itself was really nice. Not as much along the beach as I would’ve liked, but it wound it’s way though mostly quite nice neighbourhoods. Almost all residential, with a couple smaller commercial areas along the way. With the exception of a small bridge, it was as flat as advertised! I'm also becoming a big fan of double loop courses. When you hit the later miles, at least it's familiar ground, and you know where to expect to see the mile markers. I liked that about the Queens Half as well.

That crowds along the course were fantastic, and very supportive. Lots of people were out cheering; more than I’d expect at a smaller marathon. I did, however, see the worst sign ever, at about three and a quarter miles into the race: “Only 23 miles left to go!!”

Scottie passed me at around mile 8, I think. He just gave me the thumb's up, and continued ahead. The temptation was there to catch him, but I thought, This guy can run a 4:57 mile. I‘m definitely hanging back. I used him as a rabbit, though, for the next few miles, as it seemed he settled into a pace similar to mine, and I kept him in my sights. This worked well for a long time until around mile 17 when I started catching up to him. I didn't know if I should pass him - Was I going too fast now? But I was on pace, so I passed, giving him back the thumb's up. I learned later that he realized that since his Boston qualifying time gave him 15 min. more on the clock than me, he didn't want to put that in jeopardy by pushing too hard and wearing himself out. Smart move.

It was shortly after that that I conducted my mid-race nutrition experiment.

I gave up caffeine almost four weeks before the marathon. Because I was approaching this race as a test, I also wanted to test out whether the drug would give me a boost in those late miles and, as this article indicated, help me not hit the wall so hard.
I had already consumed one non-caffeinated gel at 13 miles. Now I was getting tired, so it was time to step it up and bring out the big guns: a Double Caffeine Tangerine Gel, at mile 18. At this point I also put the iPod on to give me a mental boost. They both worked: the music pepped me up right away, and the caffeine kicked in within the next mile or so. In fact, I felt so zippy that I started to sing.

Yep, you read that right. I was every other marathoner-within-earshot’s worst nightmare, running with my headphones on, and singing along, loudly. Rufus Wainwright, Queen, U2, Wilco... I really got going. I started passing people. I was hi-fiving people at the aid-stations. I was pumping my arms in the air for the cameras. I did a 7:08 mile split. All at mile 22! I wouldn’t have thought it possible! I began thinking that I really was going to get a sub-3:15, and it was even going to be easy! I was smiling ear-to-ear.

But a mile and a half later, things changed, and I started to pay for that expended energy. I began to fade again, with over two and a half miles left. My progress started slowing, and my legs really wanted to walk... just for a little while, the devil on one shoulder said. The devil on the other shoulder just kept whipping me to keep going. There were no angels here. A couple of people I passed during my caffeine buzz passed me, and actually disappeared in the distance. Things were slipping away, and I feared losing my 3:15. After coming this far, 3:20 wasn't good enough.

Miles 24 and 25 never seemed so long. I wasn’t smiling anymore. But I turned and headed onto the boardwalk for the last mile to the finish. Somehow I kept running. I’ve always stopped in each marathon I’ve run previously, but I was determined to keep going. The last mile was very difficult, but knowing it was the last mile helped a lot. When I finally hit 26, the clock time was something like 3:13:45. I figured I might actually make 3:15 and saw the big archway ahead. As I approached, I started gunning for it, albeit feebly. The clock time said 3:14:30 and I thought That seemed really quick… as I got there, I realized tat it was not the finish, but the 26.1 marker, and the finish was still a tenth of a mile away! If I could get in with a 3:15:59, I could get my BQ, but I watch the seconds tick away: 3:15:56, 3:15:57, 3:15:58… and as I passed the finish banner… 3:16:07, 3:16:08. I stopped my watch and looked at it: 3:16:01.

Um... Do I celebrate? I thought, I'm going to be that guy who's net time is 3:16:00 and misses the BQ by one second. I figured I'd wait until they posted the results. Even if I didn’t BQ, it was still an awesome personal record. I collected my medal, and a finisher's cap (pictured), and some water.

I hobbled to the car and changed. Scottie limped up a few minutes later. He finished in just under 3:23 and got his qualifier, and I congratulated him. He decided to crash in his jeep for a while. I called a friend from NJ who was spectating, and moved my legs ever-so-slowly to meet up with her.

She brought her new dog to the race. It was this cute little thing, a mutt named Gus. I wanted to pet him, but couldn't bend over, so I asked her to pick him up for me and she obliged. Nice doggie! After chatting for a bit, I headed in to look for results and grab some food. The food was good - bagels fruit salad, veggie chili, cornbread. Yum! I grabbed an extra bagel and apple and banana, and saw where a crowd had gathered looking at the race results. There were no net times posted, though. I asked, and an official said that there was some (blah, blah, blah) problem and that they would be available online later.

On the way back to see my friend and her dog, I bumped into the other band of Flyers, most of which were half marathoners. We shared stories, took photos, and parted ways. Most of them seemed pretty happy with their results, and I was glad to catch up with them.

I headed back to my friend and Gus. We people watched for a bit and then she walked me part of the way back to the car before we said goodbye. At the car, the other group was just pulling away, but stopped to let me know that they had found the net times posted. “3:15:47!” they shouted. “You did it! Congrats on the BQ!” I felt happy, and relieved.

I gave Scottie a bagel and offered to drive. He gladly accepted. Along the way home I got a text from sistersmile, who verified the results online, with congratulations.

Despite the good company and conversation, it was a long ride home to NYC, especially for my legs. The good thing was that Scottie let me drive all the way back to my apartment, so I didn’t have to hobble around on the subway with my bags and stuff to get home from his garage.

I took a shower, and eventually did hobble off to the subway, and went to the office to get some work done for a few hours.

It was a good day.

Mile Splits:
1 - 7:40
2 - 7:04
3 - 7:17
4 - 7:21
5 - 7:21
6 - 7:27
7 - 7:18
8 - 7:27
9 - 7:25
10 - 7:17
11 - 7:26
12 - 7:31
13 - 7:21
14 - 7:29
15 - 7:27
16 - 7:18
17 - 7:14
18 - 7:23
19 - 7:33
20 - 7:32
21 - 7:36
22 - 7:08
23 - 7:20
24 - 8:00
25 - 8:15
26 - 8:25
26.1 - 1.32

Official times:
1st Half 1:36:32
2nd Half 1:39:16
Net 3:15:47 (7:28 mpm)

(Previous Personal record: NYC 2005 - 3:32:22. That's a PR of 16:35.)

NJ Marathon Recap - Short Version

Gun Time: 3:16:08
Net Time: 3:15:47

That's a Boston Qualifier with 12 seconds to spare.

It was a good day.

Awards, Part Two: The Building Tomorrows 5K

Saturday morning, like I said earlier, I decided to forgo the Brooklyn Half and instead ran a small 5K in Bloomfield, NJ. Everything went well - the weather was perfect, I got there well ahead of time, saw lots of friends, and got a good warm-up run in. There were only 300 people running the race, and some walkers behind them. I collected my race packet and goody bag... and what a goody bag! Take a gander at this:

First there's the usual ugly race shirt, and some advertising propaganda. Two pens, a useless plastic water bottle, four packs of m&ms (4!), three types of energy bars (SoyJoy, Promax, and Clif Nectar - all disgusting, by the way, but that's not the point), a sample of Propel powder mix with a coupon for a buck off a box of ten (which I bought today), one of those red blinker lights that you can clip onto clothing (something I've actually wanted for awhile), and a real glass pint glass. Oh yeah, and the canvas bag that all the stuff came in. Can you believe it?! All for a 17 buck registration. These are some kickass sponsors.

Could it get any better than this? Oh yeah, I still had to race.

I have to say, I was optimistic. I ran a 5K last year in 20:11, and this time I figured I could break 20 minutes for sure. I was all ready to go... the race was at 10:00 AM and it was 5 to. I asked someone where the starting line was and they pointed me in the right direction. I went around some trees and saw the crowd ahead of me. In hindsight, I'd say about 75 feet away, behind some shrubs. That was midpack, the front of the field was further ahead, maybe by about 50 feet or so.

Then I heard the race director announce "Runners, on your mark..."

I looked at my watch. 9:57. Huh?

The horn went off. Oh, shi...

Now let me add that this was a small race. No chip timing. All based on gun time. That was not going to work to my advantage here.

I probably lost about ten seconds just getting to the start, where I was caught in the elbow-to-elbow of the mid-pack runners. This was ridiculous, I could hardly get going. I jumped to the outside of the first turn, over the curb and onto the grass. I was technically off the course, but I wasn't cutting the course. I was actually making it longer, but at least I was passing the slower runner. Then I got pinched off between the runners and some parked cars, where I had to actually slow down. At this point I thought to myself about actually dropping out because my time was going to be so bad.

But all that happened within the first two hundred meters of the race. Then I managed to clear the slower runners, and the course opened up, and I got going. Unfortunately, I panicked and took off like a cannon, and when I hit the 1st mile marker at 6:23 (which really meant the considering my slow start, I was probably doing a 6:05 pace) I knew this was going to be bad. At a mile and a half, I hit a big uphill, and started to burn up. Second mile was something like 6:49. Then a big downhill, and I laboured to keep up some kind of strong pace in the last half mile. One of my teammates almost caught me, but I managed to kick a little at the end and get him by two seconds. I finished in 20:24, and 19th overall out of 302 runners. And while I didn't get the sub-20 that I wanted I did place second in my age group and got my very first piece of hardware to take home.

Lessons learned:

1. Be at the start before the gun goes off.
2. Stick to chip timing if you want to shave seconds off a PR. Still, you might get an award.
   
3. Go for the goody bag

The cold, the month, and the races.

Today seems absolutely balmy compared to the last week. I revel in the heat of above-freezing temps! On Monday morning, the temperature was a -24ºC (-11 F) with the windchill. That was nothing though. My brother e-mailed me to let me know that in Canada, it was -40ºC, which is also -40ºF, the temperature at which both scales meet (I will never understand why America uses such a nonsensical, outdated system). This is as rare in Winnipeg as our ridiculously cold temps here in NY this past week. They occur on occasion, but not with the frequency that most people tend to believe they do in Canada. And with that, I will also reiterate that Winnipeg sees 100ºF in Summer (39ºC). Both extremes happily happen in an extremely dry prairie climate, which makes them, albeit marginally, not as bad as the humidity that burdens us in New York City.

February has, for a long time, been my least favourite month, possibly because of having endured the cold of winter and the darkness of the season for some time at this point, but also because, for some strange reason, I historically have had just a whole lot of crappy luck in February. I acknowledge that it might be the aformentioned cold and darkness that have me put on my grey-coloured glasses and thus enhance the bad luck feelings that I have, but nonetheless, it's still the way I feel. Case in point - after my very intense month of work, you'd think things would look better. Instead, I feel a sore throat that I've had since earlier in the week evolving into something of a minor chest cold. Ugh. The one redeeming aspect of the month is of course how short it is, and I rejoice in knowing that, as of today, it is well over a third of the way over and, after only this coming Tuesday, half done.

Today, despite how nice it is outside, I'm not running. Oh yeah, did we forget that I run? Seems that I haven't posted about running specifically since well before the New Year. Anyway, today I'm resting up for the Bronx Half Marathon tomorrow, which will be my first race since December. I'm very interested to see what this course is like in winter as opposed to the heat of July when the event has traditionally been held, but I don't expect any personal records to be broken. I'm still not to the performance level that I was at Queens last April, when I was intensely focussed on 60-70 mile weeks in preparation for my marathon in Vermont. My weekly mileage is probably about 5 miles shy of where I want it to be, due to how extremely busy I've been with other things lately and, to a lesser extent, my aversion to recent weather trends. That said, I've kept my mileage for the last month between 35-40 miles, but only through running typically three runs during the week of 7.3 miles each, and a long run on the weekend. Normally I prefer to run 5-6 days total.

Tomorrow's race starts at 8 a.m., and despite my potential cold coming on, the early start, and the forecast of -12ºC with the windchill (10ºF), I am determined to make it to the starting line. I just have to look at my subway schedules.

At any rate, the weather can't be as bad as last weekend at Nyack State Park, where I went with Jonathan, our Flyer of the Year, our German Rockefeller expert, and a few others. I did two out-and-backs with the German for a total of 18+ miles. It wasn't all bad, as much of the trail was sheltered from the wind, except for about 3 miles, where it was nearly unbearable. I do recommend the paths there, if you've got a ride to get you out of the city.

My target now, should I be able to increase my mileage to at least 55 miles per week within the next month, will be the NJ Marathon at the end of April. Some time ago I was thinking about running Atlanta among others, but taking a vacation in the immediate future just isn't in the cards for me.

We'll see how the training goes.

Congratulations, me!

Given my recent pathetic physical condition, and the fact that I can't run for the time being, I decided to pick up my spirits and, well, head over to Jersey, of course!

My other club, Essex, had their monthly meeting last night in Montclair. I missed the meeting in April, which is the anual awards dinner, and of course, given that it was the first awards dinner that I missed in four years, I got my first Essex award: Most Improved Runner 2005.

Getting the award placated my need to run for the moment. It almost felt like I received it for just finishing a great race. And it was good to see old friends in NJ again, and hear the many congrats on the award and the great race times I had (You know, back in the day, when I used to run). They also had a good guest speaker: a young elite runner named Aiden Walsh, who shared some interesting running advice and tips. It was interesting to hear that he and Paul Tergat have been to MacDonald's together... something you'd never thing an elite would do.

As a bonus, there were quite a few injuries at our table, where we swapped war stories over beer and pizza. We covered plantar faciatis, trachonteric bursitis, and a broken leg. Normally the PF would be the cool injury in the group, but the guy with the broken leg trumped the rest of us, because he actually broke it on a long run. That's a pretty cool injury, and he should've really gotten some kind of award for it.

He just can't have mine.

A Different State

I went to a wedding in NJ this past weekend. Getting married was a friend of mine who I've known almost the entire time I've lived in America. She was one of those people that you never envisioned settling down. A real party girl.

But there we were, me and my old NJ crew of friends, at her wedding. I don't hang around much with them anymore, and it was a lot like old times, but in formal dress. We wondered aloud: if we were all there, who was at the local pub where we used to hang out?

I don't have friends in the city like I did when I lived in Montclair, the New Jersey town I where used to live. It was a community, a tight group, and a smaller neighbourhood. Unlike Manhattan, where the choices seem limitless, we only had a few options for our nights out. You always knew where to find someone, and you were always bumping into people you knew. To some extent the smaller neighbourhood exists in other areas, like Brooklyn, Hoboken, and Queens, but their proximity and subway access to Manhattan make them different. I walked to local bars in Montclair. I had a local coffee shop, and knew the best places for pizza or Mexican food. In the City, there are so many different places, and it's all so hit-and-miss. And so, when friends get together in NYC, it's usually a pretty organised Let's get together event, as opposed to a I'm around the corner, why don't you come by event. That's what I miss about Montclair and my friends there the most. That's not to say it never happens here, just not as much. It surprises me after watching Seinfeld and other TV shows that portray NYC neighbourhoods as very tightly knit. Only a few of them are, really.

Then again, maybe I'm just older and reminiscing about something in my life more related to my age than geography. After all, the friend who got married this past weekend wasn't the first of our little clique. A handful of others had already made that leap. Some of them are already parents, who don't go out much anymore. Things change, and people move on.