Twin Cities Marathon 2012

Right now I am sitting on a flight from SanJose to Kona for my 6^th time to Hawaii (everything in moderation right?).  Now I get the challenge of trying to preserve the memories of another race that came and went so quickly.

Prior to race
I don’t think I’ve had more time to prepare for a race than this one. Having just graduated and not having a job after doing Upward Bound in the summer, I had a little more than 3 months to train for my first time racing the TC Marathon. My goal was to finally get under 3 hours. I was excited to be racing TC on my own for after running it the previous 3 years with Tavis and Brandon.  I was excited that the TC course takes place on which 90% of my runs the last 5 years did. A majority of the marathon training runs were ran on E/W Riveroad so I coulnd’t be much more familiar with the course. Along with this, I would bike the course about once a week just to soak in the sites and become even more familiar with it. I wanted it to be that on race day, it would be automatic to figure out how much effort I needed to exert when. It seems like when I don’t know the course well, I’ll spend surprisingly a lot of effort just deciding when to give what. We learned a concept in one of my KIN classes called teleo-anticipation, which suggests that our bodies adjust levels of exertion/muscle recruitment based on the perceived distance/time the exertion will take place. A good example of this is how it’s not uncommon to feel the same level of fatigue after a 5-mile run compared with a 10-mile run. I guess a less drawn out version would just be saying that we prepare ourselves for what we plan ahead to do. The teleo-anticiaption concept mentioned that people who are doing their first few marathons have a difficult time perceiving the entirety of the race and inevitably slow down because they were unable to dispense limited effort efficiently through the race and save some for the end.  With this thought in my head, and after multiple failed attempts to break 3 hours (Eau Caire, Boston, Honolulu) I was very aware how I would feel after 20-miles at marathon pace and just had to figure out a way to prepare to deal with it mentally and physically.  Thankfully I was able to work with Chris and get a training schedule figured out (talk about a confidence booster knowing my plan was written by 3x Olympic Trial Runner).

            What gave me even more confidence was I would often imagine myself while doing training runs on the course that I was at that respective distance during the actual marathon (long winded, I know) A long-run that really boosted my confidence was ending a 22-miler at the 20-mile mark of the TC marathon route. This semi-simulated being more tired than I actually would be on race day for miles 5-20 of the actual marathon route. Chris had me mix in some strength training on distance-taper weeks which also helped me feel better. So many different factors changed for this race that I can’t really attribute what actually helped take about 7 minutes off my previous PR.  I do know though that it was a combination of different training, completely different diet, being about 5 pounds lighter than running any race before, and being so familiar with the course. What kind of drives me crazy (could also be now from all the coffee on the plane) but not knowing what’s the best way to get a PR for next race. Wish it was easier to have blind confidence in my decisions on why I do something.

Prerace

As I was going around chalking the course the night before the race, my transmission dropped in my car and I was stuck waiting longer than expected to eat the pre-race dinner (but huge thanks to Kayla/Trisha/Matt for helping me out during it) after getting the car towed back to the apartment, I scrambled to just eat anything. From what I can remember I had an enchildada, white rice with PB, Pizza, Icecream, carrot cake and cookies and downed it down with powerade (everything in moderation right?) I had not been eating much if any sweets before this, but read that more glycogen gets stored when high glycemic index foods are consumed so unlike being careful of eating “bad” foods before a race, I found myself eating a mess of different “bad” foods. What made my weight drop down to 164 was consuming mainly a plant-based diet thanks to Scott Jurek’s Eat & Run book and another book called The China Study. I attempted a slight carb depletion/repletion diet the last week of the race for whatever reason. Think that I spend so much time/effort trying to mess with less significant variables as compared to the actual running component of training for a race.  That’s why I’m excited to get into ultras and do the “JFR” plan “just flippin’ run”. But I guess in order to get fast at ultras it takes the same principles of consistent training and periodization that having quick marathon time does (not that I have one yet). Anyways after eating my mess of a dinner, hung out and relaxed until bedtime. Got to sleep around midnight and woke up a few times during the night. Ate some white bread w/ peanut butter, white rice and drank a little bit of power-ade. Kayla and Kyle then drove Brando and I up to the Metrodome. It was chilly in the AM and we were wearing old clothes that we would be shedding before the race. Gathered in the usual overcrowded Metrodome and waited until about 10 minutes before the race. Headed over to the start line and bid farewell and good luck to Brando. Got near the 3:15 pace group and listened to the national anthem(always love this part). Was standing next to a super fit East African (must have been his first marathon which didn’t help my nerves before we started). Then the gun was off.

Race
 As always, there was so much excitement with the start. I was feeling nervous about how I would feel later on in the race, although I also felt relaxed at how well I knew the course and excited to see family and friends at mile 20, along with other friends watching. It was suprising to finally be running in the race that consumed so much of my thinking for the last three months. I’m thinking to myself “this is actually happening now!”. Within the first mile, I was greeted by passing TCRC runner Tony K. who said he was shooting for a 2:45 I believe (he had an awesome race. At mile 2-3  I was then greeted by passing Steve who often runs at Hyland on Fridays and also had an awesome race.  The temperature had a nice chill to it and all things seemed within normal limits. I was beginning to heat up passing by lake Calhoun at mile 5 so through my long-sleeve under my TCRC shirt to my dad and continued on. Gada whom I met in the Upward Bound program and also wanted to hit 3 hours passed me after we exchanged words for a bit. The splits at this point were just a few seconds shy of being on at a 3 hour marathon pace so I was happy to not have went out to fast, and also not be too far behind. Passed Lake Harriet and hopped onto Minnehaha Pkwy.  A band at one of the bridges we ran under was playing The Final Countdown and was stimulating to hear that. I was getting very excited to hit W River Road because of how familiar it was to me. I was happy I could shut off mentally and just let my legs and the course bring me closer to the finish. Took a Ralph onto Cedar Ave and saw the usual Scottish Club playing their bagpipes as the planes flew over not too high above us. After turning onto W River Road, CA Caitlyn was there cheering me on and followed me almost until the Franklin Bridge. Saw Brian Peterson on this stretch and Kurt for maybe the 4^th time already during the race cheering.  On the Franlkin ave Bridge I passed Gada and told him that he had it in him, but knew he was struggling. As I was turning onto E River Road, heard some people screaming my name but didn’t find out who it was until after the race. Popped another Gu with some water and proceeded to the 20 mile mark. Saw Uncle GG and his friend biking along the path right before reaching “the wall”. Right past the Alarc Wall the whole immediate family was there along with some friends cheering on. Kayla and Kyle ran up to either side of me with Kyle playing Gangnam Style and Kayla handing me a GU and a cold wash cloth. Talk about first-class service! After running with them for a few seconds and getting the goods, I was own my own with the last 6 miles were ahead to run. Was almost exactly on pace at the 20-mile mark and kind of sped up during the excitement of the Franklin Bridge, and passing the family and friends. Heading up the hill leading to the Lake Street Bridge was a little worrisome for me because I knew this was the tougher part of the course. Surprisingly my legs were not as tired as they typically were at this point in a marathon, however I knew things could change in a hurry with a.) the last 6 miles of a race being the toughest and b.) the last 6 miles of TC are by no means relatively flat. I tried to conserve as much energy going up the couple hills before getting onto Summit Ave. Once getting onto Summit Ave, I was starting to feel more and more confident that I could pull off a sub 3 hour marathon. I remember a quote from the intro of the movie Unbreakable

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a26xp28jm0  (3:54) where I think Tony K. says something like “you start to get goosebumps on your arms, if I can execute for just the next 15 miles, it could mine” referencing a win in the Western States, but I slightly modified it to my situation saying to myself, “if I can hold onto this pace for the next 3 miles, I will finish under 3 hours. It still felt like there was some energy in my legs but I could tell they were starting to get on the verge of cramping in my hamstrings.  I got to the TCRC spectator section and it was crazy. Both of the RVs were out and there were so many people cheering. I lifted up my shirt and gestured over to the crowd as the DJ shouted out something that made the crowd go even crazier. It was such an adrenaline rush to run through all of that excitement and it was just the pick-me-up I needed at that stage in the race. I got a little emotional right after passing them because I was starting to realize that I only had to run 2 more miles to get this done. Despite thinking I had it in the bag for a few minutes, I realized that I needed to pick it up or it would be close and might miss it by a few seconds. I began to get really nervous thinking of something such as a cramp stopping me. I was trying to pick up the pace more and more to ensure of making it on time.  After struggling through the last bit and feeling my legs dangerously close to cramping, made it to the top of the hill where we can see the capitol. Tried to speed up as much as possible until I realized that I was going to make it. After knowing I was going to get it for sure, I laid off a bit to make sure I wouldn’t hurt something in my legs. Did the usual jump at the end and was pretty excited to have finally achieved something I failed out so many times before.

Post-Race.

After finishing, drank a few chocolate milks and met my Dad and Suzy. They drove me back to the 20-mile mark where the marathon party was going on and was greeted with an excited group of family and friends. I was happy to not have had to go back to everyone not meeting my goal like has happened in the past.  It was such a nice feeling accomplishing that and then spending time with so many people that came out to support the runners. Snacked on a few donuts as we watched more runners go by. Saw Gigi run by and was surprised at how strong she looked at mile 20 for her first marathon! Congrats to her!  Also Congrats to Tim for completing his first marathon! Had a couple drinks and after saying goodbye to the family, we passed out alcoholic beverages to some of the last runners advertising them as “carbohydrates” and “flavored water” although they knew what we were passing out. After watching the DNF bus roll throw, we packed up all the party paraphernalia and walked back up to the apartment where I got to having a feeding frenzy. It was such a nice feeling to have finally got sub 3, right at the end of the time staying at Kayla’s apartment, end of the time living on campus, and end of the time before leaving MN for Hawaii. I went on a walk with Jigon on the riverroad after and it was crazy to think about how after all that preparation and buildup of excitement, that it was all over. Kind of am getting used to that feeling but also am trying to figure out how to preserve all those good feelings. I guess that’s why I blog. Am in Oahu with Uncle Paul now doing a lot of physical work so am finding it difficult to run on a usual basis but I think that was a good thing for recovery right after. Am currently signed up for Honolulu marathon and am thinking about running it with a costume and just enjoying the atmosphere, rather than get worked up about meeting a time goal. Last year I was disappointed when I didn’t get sub 3 out here and wish I would have just absorbed the fun atmosphere more.  Well I guess until next time!

Splits:

Ironman Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 2012

It has nearly been two weeks since I participated in the 2012 Ironman-Coeur D’Alene and with the past weeks to reflect on this experience, it is safe to say it has been my favorite race to date. Many things contributed to this race being so enjoyable to me and just want to give a shout out to Aunty Sharon and Uncle Randy for making it possible. I guess things started with one day, Brando and I were at Twin Cities Running Company on my birthday (Aug) and I got a call from Aunty Sharon. After the usual birthday singing, she told me that she had got me something big and told me that she had signed me up for Ironman Coeur D’Alene (CDA). I was beyond surprised and had one of those moments where you know things are going to change. I did not really comprehend the entirety of the gift I had just been given or how much training would be expected to complete the event but I just knew that I had a massive adrenaline rush for the unknown physical challenge ahead of me. I had nearly 11 months to train for the event. Currently, I was signed up for Honolulu marathon (Dec) so decided that I would start training for the Ironman after that. During my research program that summer, I remember dreading to try and write my training program for the Ironman. I knew I was capable of coming up with something online and tailoring it to myself but less than half-heartedly believing in the effectiveness of all the planning and logistics that an IM training plan would have, I finagled together a training plan in the library one day. “Unfortunately” I logged off of the computer I was using without sending the training plan to my email so it was gone. At first I was super angry because of all the time I spent putting it together but even right at the library, I realized how much I was dreading to do all of the prescribed swims/bikes. With that, I was going to train when I could fit it in and just do what I thought needed to ben done to do to get by (cross the finish line). Unfortunately, I see myself using this wing-it “strategy” in other areas of my life and am kind of disappointed in myself for it. Perhaps I’ll learn soon.
 During the school year, I found out that I was going out to the Boston marathon (April) and I avoided biking much to not make my legs feel heavy during marathon training. Jeremy lent me his road bike and I was able to get out on it a few times before but not much substantial training on it before the marathon. I was trying to swim a couple times a week but found that without the structure of a training plan, it was easy to see a couple weeks go by without getting into the pool. I knew that after Boston I was going to be cramming a lot of swimming/biking in. The following week after Boston I was signed up to volunteer at the Trail Mix 50k/25k but impulsively signed up to run the 25k with Jeremy and a few of his friends. I think I just wanted to prove to myself I could run it, and it would give me another week or so to prolong the necessary swimming/biking I would do. Finding excuse after excuse, I was not even coming close to putting in the training time that people recommend to be able to even finish an Ironman. The end of the school year was approaching and I was feeling pretty anxious about graduating and the Ironman rapidly getting closer. After the Spring semester was over, I had to take a May-term biomechanics class to finish up my KIN degree. Even though this was an accelerated 3-wk class, I found myself having a ton of time to finally start focusing on biking/swimming. I felt confident in my running ability already but in the race if I started the run with nothing left after the swim/bike, I knew it was going to be a painful experience getting to the finish. With this motivating fear, I started biking with Jeremy’s bike 4/5 times a week and would bike from home to school (35 minutes if hammering) several times a week. I would throw in swims/runs pretty much anytime I could in-between studying. I did one 6 hour bike 4 weeks out and thanks to Spencer who I met out on the trail, it was surprisingly not as taxing as I thought it would have been. Of course, my muscles were pretty fatigued after but when I woke up the following morning, it was nothing like after grinding out a 22-miler on your feet. During this time, Tav asked me to be part of a corporate fitness contest were they tracked how many minutes of exercise per week teams would get and this motivated me to do as much as possible too. 3 weeks from IM, I slugged out a 3 hour run. I was able to get in 1 open water swim with Tav’s wetsuit however his wetsuit was sleeveless and after watching a youtube video of last years IM swim, I found out the cold water temps required a full wetsuit. Luckily, I was able to get a full wetsuit from Cody a week before. Since the bike I was borrowing from Jeremy was too small for me and would have costed about $300 to ship to Idaho, I decided to just rent one in Idaho. Getting dangerously close to the race, I was so caught up in starting a new job, putting things together that I was just in reaction mode.
 Idaho
 I got into Spokane, Washington Friday and met Aunty and Uncle there were we went right to registration to pick up our race packets.

We went to the house we would be staying at and where Aunty’s training friends from Hawaii were also staying. Uncle took me down to the water and I got to try swimming in the full wetsuit for the first time. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as I expected but with the water temp below 60 degrees, I found it super hard to relax in the water. The dark, cold wavy water in combination with Uncle giving me some stroke suggestions after I got out of the water, left me feeling very uncomfortable and worried that I wouldn’t even be able to finish the swim. This wasn’t a very good feeling knowing how much was invested to get me to do the race. The car ride home, I felt a little sick to my stomach thinking about having to swim double the distance I ever had before in water conditions that barely allowed me to swim. We got back to the huge place we were staying at not too far away from the race and had a large yummy dinner.

The group we were with rented out this house for the weekend and it was intimidating seeing all their bikes and gear set up when I got there when I hadn’t even picked up the bike. Needless to say, I felt very thrown together and was again flying by the seat of my pants. The following day we went to pick up the bike I was renting. When we got there, they took the bike off a rack and cut off a $2500 price-tag on it. It was my first time riding a triathlon bike with the gear thingys being on the aero bars.

I road the bike outside the shop for about 10 minutes and felt semi-comfortable with the gears. The bike felt like a bullet and that every single bit of energy I put in made it go forward. I needed this comforting feeling after the experience in the water the day before. We brought the bike to the check-in and after Uncle patiently shuttled me back and forth from the home to the course several times, all my stuff was set to go in their respective transition spots. We went back to the house and had another huge delicious meal.

I was worried how I was going to do gastrointestinally the following day at the race because I had ate so much and moved so little in the previous 2 days. The other 4 people who would be competing the following day were in bed by 7/8 and I knew I had no shot at going to bed that early. My nerves were really kicking in and I was preparing myself to get through whatever I needed to finish the following day. I was still scared that I wouldn’t finish the swim and all of the other expenses for the race would have been wasted. Surprisingly, it didn’t take me too long to get to sleep with the old fan that was blasting on me and after habitually waking up several times during the night before a race, I woke up to the alarm.
 Race Day
 Went downstairs and had a breakfast of banana/almond butter, almond butter on some type of bread thingy, and a glass of water. Things were happening very quickly and gathered my swim stuff and we were out the door. We got to the race course and people were buzzing around all over the place. Some people had their wetsuits on already but not feeling very comfortable in mine, tried to wait until the last second to do so. I vividly remember where I was sitting and the people around me while I was waiting to put the wetsuit on. Uncle helped me put it on and after waiting for a few minutes we started to towards the beach. When I had tried swimming several days before in Lake Coeur D’Alene, water kept getting into my ears from my swim cap so Sam borrowed me some of his wax to put in my ears. With the wax in my ears and two swim caps over my head to protect for the cold water, I could barely hear anything that was going on. We were being crammed into the beach entrance area filing into where we would be started and I remember feeling as if I was about to enter a war. With my hearing obstructed it was dead silent and we were all walking to the water.

The announcer was mumbling things as we waited for 7:00am. Prior to the start, they sang the national anthem and this was pretty nostalgic for me because it brought me back to the uncomfortable feeling of playing in the varsity hockey games as a sophomore. Suddenly, the cannon was off and we started are way towards the water.
 Swim
 I’ve heard from multiple people that before doing a cold water swim it is a good idea to get in the water before the swim starts to get over the initial shock of being cold. Even though I heard several times, I still chose to not touch the water before the actual race started because of how cold it was and again how long I wanted to delay the reality of having to overcome what I had feared. As a not-so-strong swimmer, I was in the back 25% percent of the people and after the cannon went off I held back for nearly 10 seconds watching the madness in front of me.
 Despite the water being in the upper 50’s, with all the adrenal that was pumping the water did not feel too cold at all. Of course there was the initial shock of being cold, but the mental power of the fear of not being able to complete the swim was overriding any feelings the cold water was physically supposed to be having on me.
For the first few minutes, it was nearly impossible for me to swim as I had been practicing in the pool. There were too many people around me, my body felt rigid and tense from the cold and I kept having to stop my stroke and look up to spot which direction I was going. (had not practiced spotting prior to the swim) Realizing this wasn't very efficient, I just tried to relax as much as possible and follow peoples bright feet under the water. Many of the people were wearing black booties to prevent them from getting too cold in the water which sometimes made my following strategy difficult. I remember just wanted to get out to the far buoy so then I could think to myself that I am at least 25% percent done because 25% felt so much closer to 50%. The swim course was counter-clockwise and consisted of 2 loops. Turning back towards land at about 20 minutes was heartening for me because right then I realized there was no way I was not going to finish the swim unless some disaster happened. This feeling helped me relax a little bit more and just continue the swim and look forward to getting out of the water. Things were manageable at that point and the only issue was my neck was getting tender from the wetsuit rubbing on it. I only felt comfortable breathing to the right side which didn’t help the rash that was developing. It felt like a long time heading back to the land and at about 40 minutes I heard the mumbling of the announcer on the speakers again. It was very energizing hearing something other than the sound of yourself blowing bubbles and the silence of the water. In addition, the half-way point can be exciting in any race. I made it to the end of the first loop and it was required of us to hop out of the water and run across the beach and get back in for the second loop. I was in absolutely no rush to get back in the water and remember chatting to another guy as we walked back into the water.
 It felt surprisingly good to get back in the water after being able to spend 20 seconds outside of it. My muscles were not as fatigued and could relax in the water more than the later portion of coming towards shore. It felt much, much longer to get out to the turn around spot and I remember mistaking the turn around buoy for an earlier one. This was a little flattening but dealt with it. As I made it out heading back towards shore again, the water was getting extremely choppy and I was getting more and more uncomfortable in the water. I was not able to get more than a 1-2 strokes in without having to sit up and breathe for a second. I wasn’t sure how much to attribute the sloppiness of my swimming to fatigue or the conditions but after talking with others after the race, the water really did turn crazy out there. A couple times I sucking in a bunch of water and I haven’t had that feeling since I was a kid in a swimming pool. At least I was hydrating.
On the way back to the beach, I just kept listening and listening for the sound of the announcer again as it would tell me when I am nearing the finish. My chest was really sore at this point along with hamstrings and calfs beginning to cramp a bit. I was nervous in the water thinking if I was already cramping what the rest of the race was going to be like. Because of this, I tried to use my legs as little as possible, as many people suggest to do in the swim. Finally, I heard the voice of the announcer and was crawling out of the water. It was an accomplishment in it of it’s own for me to finish the swim and I think I celebrated a bit after getting out of the water.

At this point I knew there was no way I wasn’t going to finish the race, however knew a lot still had to be dealt with it to be called an Ironman at the end of the day. After all the warm water sunk out through the legs of my wetsuit as I was getting in the water, unlike others around me, I was slightly jogging to my bike. Probably because the people around me at the end of the 1.5 hour swim were not so competitive, I felt to have had more urgency to get onto the bike. I was also excited myself to be doing anything other than swimming and get on the fancy bike. After nearly a 10-minute transition spending time drying off/warming up, putting socks on legs that were cramping and making sure to turn on my GPS tracker, I was out on the bike.
Bike
 Leaving the transition area was like leaving a blurry tunnel with all the excitement of getting out of the water and the spectators hollering at us. It is such a exhilarating feeling to be in a hurry and not having to worry about anything else other than the present. I saw Aunty and Uncle and they seemed pretty excited to have saw me out of the water. The ground was wet and I ran across a grass field in my clip-in bike shoes and was still was not able to clip-in to bike for almost 5 minutes and ended up having a volunteer on the course scrape out caked dirt in them before it allowed me to be able to clip in. Once in, I felt like turning up the notch but seeing how slow the others were around me, made me have seconds thoughts and I decided to just chill for a bit.
 Despite not going too fast, I was worried about how cold I was and was very jealous of the others around me who were wearing long sleeves. A few minutes after biking, I took a bite of one of the goodies we got in our race-bag. The good thing about the bike is compared to running, it is so so so easy to get in nutrition without having much GI distress (for me at least). I’m not too sensitive even while running when it comes to getting in nutrition so on the bike, I was able to grab a bite of anything that they were passing out at the aid stations nearly every 10 miles. The miles were going by quickly and it felt effortless on such a nice bike. Just after 10 miles I wasn’t really able to sit in aero position anymore because of having a full bladder but ended up waiting to go longer than I should have. After hopping off my bike and relieving myself, I had trouble clipping in again because of the dried dirt in my clip-ins. Once finally clipped in again, I was easily able to sit in the aero position without my bladder telling me not to.
With training on Jeremy’s bike that was too small for me and not getting aero bars on them until a couple weeks out of the race, trying to sit in the aero position became difficult and realized how bad of an idea it was to wait so long to put aero bars on the training bike. The course was super beautiful and I remember thinking to myself how much I needed to enjoy this because even though just several hours earlier I was not sure if I would be able to finish the race, I realized that it would be over relatively soon. Generally, I was passing more people than was getting passed by and kept getting pleasure out of passing the cone-heads (people in aero helmets) with expensive bikes. It was fun seeing the pros come flying by as we were climbing up one of the hills while they were going downhill. Their zipp wheels and disk wheels really howled as they flew past.
 The climbs were agonizing because everyone would be in their lowest gear and it felt like we were crawling up the road. Usually on the climbs people would pass me because of how much I would hold back on them. Knowing how easy it is to burn the legs while climbing, I held back as much as possible. Plus, for me, I would way rather save energy and fly on the downhills, than spend energy to go from 7 miles and mph 10 mph on the climbs. The downhills were so exhilarating with the scenic backdrops combined with the 40 mph+ speeds. I had my GPS tracker on and thought it was giving an instantaneous speed to the people looking online so I would really hammer going downhill to see what kind of numbers I could show. Found out later that the speeds were only showed as averages. Usually, I don’t feel too uncomfortable going downhill, but several times I had the feeling that if something unexpected happen, I might not be able to bike/run again. Hah..What a stimulating feeling that is though. After going to the bathroom at several non-specified spots on the course and starting to eat the mochi aunty had brought from Hawaii, I reached turn around point at about mile 28, and started to head back to Coeur d’Alene.
The ride back seemed to have longer downhills and it was such a blast cruising. Along the course there were several no-pass-zones which didn’t necesarilly stop me from passing people. I saw Aunty and Uncle again at the turn around in CDA and headed back out. It was fun making small talk with others on the bike. I saw several people wearing Bike Works (Hawaii) shirts and talked to them about knowing Aunty/Uncle and Andrea. Kept going back and forth between another Japanese guy and jokingly asked him if he wanted to eat some of my mochi. All of the riders had their bibs hanging in the back and their first names were printed on their bib. It was fun to say some of their names and sorta pretend to know them.
 On the way back to CDA the final time, my legs were tired and didn’t feel I could hold the same cadence in the gears I was before. I knew I was losing wattage despite never training with a wattometer? My feet were cramping up in Jeremy’s little shoes and I kept having to stand up and stretch my legs also giving my crotch a rest from the seat. How some people do the bike portion without bike shorts..don’t ask me. It was pretty cool to see the 90 miles sign getting closer to town and I realized I “only” had 30 left. This might seem relatively short if I was starting fresh but already had some good time out on the road. Knowing the finish of the bike was so close, just kept pedaling and was looking forward to seeing Aunty and Uncle again before heading out the run. I remember seeing the 100 mile marker as we were flying down a hill and let a pretty loud yell then for how excited I was. The last 12 miles went by quickly as the course became more and more filled with people cheering us on. I was super pumped up at the transition and was really excited to get the biking shoes off.

Naturally, I was nervous about how the run was going to go down because I had trashed my legs on the bike.  I had never biked that distance before and certainly nothing close to the intensity that I sustained for that long. The first thing I did after handing my bike off to a volunteer (so cool!) was take the shoes off right away so I could jog over to my transition area. I saw Sam W. who was just leaving the transition area as I was getting in. Changed socks, threw on my running shoes and switched into a pair of tri spandex that Cody borrowed me. This would be my first marathon not running with the orthotic inserts I have every other race in since I started running. Why I decided to try it on this one..couldn't tell ya. Even though my legs were pretty shot and it was hurting my knees to hobble out of the transition, I was excited to be in full control at this point. I had finished the two new event distances for swimming/biking and not trying to sound conceded.. all I had to do was finish the marathon.
 RUN!
 Again, it was relieving to know that I was going to finish but just didn’t have much of an idea what running pace I could hold. Even at the beginning, I was surprised by how quickly I was passing people who seemed like they were at a stand-still. The temp was starting to increase a bit and the sun had began to get stronger. Within the first mile my calves were cramping up pretty bad and I had to trot backwards down one of the hills. I was kind of just laughing outloud to myself as this happened and new I needed to get in some nutrition so gutted a couple GU’s and several cups of Perform at the aid-station.
The run course was also a out and back that you would do two times. It took around 5 or 6 miles before my knees stopped hurting from the bike and was starting to feel my running legs come back. Kept passing more and more people and for the last 3 miles or so of the first out and back, I ran into guy who was finishing up his second loop of the course and finishing the race. As I came up on him, he asked if I was on my second or first loop. Felt pretty cool to be asked this but, told him it was my was just my first. His name was Scott and we began to run together. It was really helpful to have someone to pace with but I think the 7:30min miles wore me out a bit. We split up going our respective course routes and when he was gone I started to feel more fatigue set in. Scott ended up getting second in the amateur division of the triathlon.
 As usual, the aid-stations were starting to seem further from each other and miles more spread out. Some of the hills were pretty tough and required a near walking pace to not cramp up or burn up the little energy left in the legs. At the aid-stations, I was starting to eat pretzels/potato chips as after about 7 GUs, my stomach did not want anymore of them. It was a good feelings getting to the end of the final turn around and knowing all I had to do was run the 6 miles back into town. Was starting to heat up and feel a little sick and swollen in my neck lymph nodes. Drank soup broth and a couple of the last stops as I remembered how much it helped during the 50-miler. It seemed to help again and was just continuing to slug my way back to town. Seeing some of the people were just heading out on their first leg of the run made me grateful to almost be done. It was kind of frustrating how much I slowed down when comparing to how quick of a pace I worked into in the first half. Was going through the residential neighborhood starting to have really high feelings. I remember tearing up a little a few miles out from the finish knowing that things went 100x better than I could have ever expected them to go. Heard the voice of the announcer as I turned the corner to see the final shoot towards the finish line. As usual at the end of a race, I don’t remember much as I have tunnel vision for the finish line. Was just trying to look as normal as a runner as possible. Crossed the finish line and it would take me a great deal of writing to try and be able to explain how good it felt for the rest of the day.

Post-race
 I walked over to find Aunty and Uncle and was excited to see their reactions because I knew at least Aunty was worried about me being able to finish the race. Received congrats from a sobbing sister on the phone. I was able to walk around alright after and navigated my way to chocolate milk and Little Ceasar’s pizza that they had for us. Got a massage after and went and found Aunty and Uncle again.
We went out to eat at a resturaunt right on the final shutte of the race and it was so cool to watch others come through the last stretch of their races. After a delicious meal, Uncle dropped off Aunty and returned to the course to watch the finishers until the cutoff at Midnight. I was on such a high during this time and got close to as much pleasure of watching them finish as I did myself. We watched the last finishers come through just 20 seconds after the cutoff. They didn’t officially recognize them as finishers but still announced them as an Ironman.
 As quickly as the Coeur d’Alene Ironman came up, I was on a plane the morning after the race and was slapped back into the dorms. Experienced some of the "post race blues" after all that adrenaline, excitement and anticipation I had because of the race and how suddenly it ended. It took a while for me to re-adjust to things and have been allowing myself to slip on what I have ate/drank the last week and a 1/2 . Getting back into the swing of things now as far as diet/lifestyle after the 4th and will try to get some speed back in the legs once they fully recover. Trying to figure out how to sustain training for triathlons with all the expenses they require. For this race, the only things that belonged to me was literally just my running socks and shoes. Everything else was borrowed or given to me. Actually the socks were given to me too..hah So thanks to all those people who allowed that to happen.
Have been moving around quiet a bit following the Ironman and my legs feel pretty uncoordinated and not so responsive so am continuing to take it easy. I write these blogs to try and preserve these memories but it is tough to try and convey the feelings by writing. If it were a little bit easier, maybe I wouldn’t already be on the hunt for the next race. Currently, am planning on dialing -in on the Twin Cities Marathon and finally hope to break 3:00.

Boston Marathon 2012

First time in a while writing a blog post on here. This will be a fun one, but hard to capture all the fun and excitement that the 2012 Boston Marathon had to offer.

Running the Boston Marathon, for various reasons, is a marathon that many runners shoot for. I remember my first year of training for a marathon with Lucas Reece, he would often mention the Boston Marathon. With this race requiring a qualifying time to enter, I knew this would be something I would shoot for evnentually. With the qualifying time for my age group/gender being 3:10 and my first two marathons being 3:30, I obviously had some work to do. Thankfully, I got hooked up with Pitty and Tommy in the marathon training class, who have much more running talent than me, and tried to stick with them on a majority of the long runs. Cody would occasionally join us and we would try and hang onto them. I remember just trying to settle in behind them and thinking about nothing else besides finishing the run for however long we were out for. With the help of these runs I was able to get 3:06 at Eau Claire/Grandma’s marathon which “technically” qualified me to register for Boston. However, this year was a little bit different. Due to the super high registration rates for the Boston marathon the previous year, the BAA established a priority registration system where registrants who beat their specific qualifying time by 20 minutes could register first, then 10 minutes, then 5 minutes. Unfortunately having a 3:06, I missed any early registration privileges and had to wait until all of the priority registration rounds had finished before the general registration would begin. Having to wait several weeks after submitting an entry, I got an email saying I was officially accepted into the race.
With having a couple of races on the schedule still for the remainder of the year, I put the excitement of going to Boston on the backburner and focused on training for Honolulu. After pacing Adam in the HURT 100 several weeks after Honolulu, I got back to Minneapolis and put together a training schedule for Boston. My training time spanned from 1/30-4/15 and I was pretty excited to not have any races in between that (however wish I did now to get a little more race experience leading up to Boston). I kind of merged a training plan that Chris Lundstrom put together for me for Honolulu with a bit of another training schedule that Professor Ingraham wrote for me back when I did Eau Claire. It feels nice to write your own training schedule however, I actually like having the blind confidence in somebody else telling me what to do everyday. It seems like I have a little more obligation/convinction to stick to something else somebody tells me to do, rather than if I only have myself to be accountable to. Maybe this will change as I get more confidence with putting together training plans.
Initially, I planned on making the training plan include triathlon training but after a stressful jaunt at the library of writing out all the swim/bike intervals for the 3.5 months I would be training, I forgot to send the file via email and lost what I put together. Not wanting to redo the work again, destiny and/or laziness determined that I would mainly be just running the next three months but that was more than fine for me.
Looking back at my training schedule for Boston and some notes I would scribbled in, I did not stick to this plan like I have to others in the past. Again, this could be because I wrote it myself, rather than having Chris/Stacy do it or it could just be me getting burnt out of having these detailed schedules to follow. Regardless, also not having any running partners with similar goals made it difficult as well. A great example of this is how I would do many of the beginning long runs with Jeremy who was training for a 100-mile race. We would often joke about despite how different our events were, we still did a bit of training together.
Hearing from various sources how tough the hills were at Boston, I tried to include more hill workouts with also some emphasis on downhill running (Boston is a net downhill). Doing these runs in addition to some occasional impulse runs led me to having sort of a bum knee for a couple weeks and really limited the amount of quality training I was able to do. Surprisingly this “injury” was one of the first problems I had since started running and it was pretty frustrating to not be able run freely like before. After slowly progressing to be able to run at a decent clip with no pain, I had lost a good chunk of training and confidence about a month out from the race. Also spent some time out in California with Brando over spring break which lead to some fun but sporatic training.

My run 3 weeks out was a scheduled 22 miler and it was on the same day as the U of M Half-Marathon that Chris holds for the Marathon Training class. I decided to go out for 5 before, run the half with the class and do 5 after. The half time was 1:32 which isn’t very impressive but I wasn’t too worried as I was just coming off a semi-injury. I don’t feel this was that good training run for me though because pretty much everytime in a marathon, I can hold whatever pace I start out at until around 18/19 then start slowing down. In hindsight, it would have been much more smart to have scheduled my long runs with pick ups at the end, rather than just having a tempo in the middle.
Rode the taper until Boston and found myself leaving Minneapolis on Thursday to meet Uncle Mike out there. We would be staying at his super nice friend Paige’s house for our time out there. She was more than accommodating for the race, driving the route the day before the race, and doing pretty much anything she could to try and help out. It was tough to stick to my semi-decent eating habits once getting out to Boston as we went out to eat for every meal. Trying all the different foods in a new place is fun, but maybe not the best idea leading up to a race. With the excitement of being in Boston for the first time, having the nerves of a marathon coming up, and not eating the typical UDS food that I do in the dorms, my bathroom schedule was pretty off, and left me feeling sluggish on the remainder the taper. I really take for granite how much I get to move in a day here at school and how structured everything is. Walking up and down the stairs to UDS, walk/biking to classes, ect. I definitely feel that I will try to be more active in my next taper.
After driving the course and picking up the race packet down in Boston, we went out to eat at a restaurant near Paige’s house that served pasta.

Had a large portion of it and before I knew it I was in bed trying to sleep. Luckily, my “friend” Jing had introduced me to the book “Hunger Games” and I had finished the first one and was reading the second that Paige had borrowed to me. This allowed me to focus on something else other than my anxiety for the race. Despite doing the marathon distance 14ish times, I always feel a bit uneasy thinking about how tough the following day will be. After getting to sleep around 12:30am and waking up 3/4 times throughout the night, we got up at 5:00am (sorry Uncle Mike and Paige!) and got ready to head out to Boston. Despite the race starting at 10:00am, we had to drive to Boston, then waited in line to take a bus from Boston->Hopkinton where the race starts. It was wild to see all of the other runners waiting in line to catch the bus. Thankfully, again I had my book to save me from any unnecessary nerves overwhelming me. I remember one of the volunteers came up to me and asked what book I was reading to pump me up. I replied that I was reading Hunger Games to calm me down (definitely recommend the books if anyone hasn’t read them!).
I got on the bus and was struggling through having the heater right under me pre-heating me for the cook to come later in the day, accompanied by another runner who saw me reading and claimed she would not bother me..which then led to me having to listen about her Ironman stories (Cody your joke is so true about Ironman). After 45 minutes or so on the bus, we made it to Athlete’s Village in Hoptkinton and there was already a ton of runners hanging out and trying to find some shade to sit in. Already it was beginning to get warm and I could only imagine how warm it would get later in the day (forecasted to 88degrees). I spent some time hanging out in the shade and ate another bagel and drank some water/gatorade mix. Having the race start this late was new to me as most races usually start around 8:00am (Honolulu 5:00am). This meant there would be time in between my initial meal of a peanut butter bagel and a banana once waking up and the race. We all hung out for a bit until our wave and corral was called off. About 20 minutes before the race I got up and headed over to the starting line. Found it was a little tough to get out and warm up like I usually do for races but I figured I needed to conserve as much as possible so settled with less than a 5 minute warm up with just a few pickups. We were all herded into our corrals and we heard the elites being released. It was super cool hearing the announcers talk about some of the famous Kenyans I have heard about before and the dude Mutai who set the world record last year running it in 2:03 (cripes!)
We began running and we were very congested. Despite the congestion, the people around me were pretty much all running for the similar time goals that I was so it was not like your typical marathon of having to run around everywhere at the start. It felt like for the first mile or so I just kept passing people so I wondered what kind of pace I was hitting. The first mile ended up being 6:52 on the dot (3 hour marathon) and I was pretty happy with how effortless it felt. It felt like such a slow pace and I probably would have put money that I could have sustained that for another 25.2 miles. I asked several people around me what kind of times they were shooting for and the 3 people I asked all said they were shooting for sub 3 but already had given up on the idea. I told them that I was also shooting for 3 and had not given up yet, but I will see them when they catch me after I blow up. Not even 3 miles into it, I was starting to get pretty warm and seeing everyone else around me wearing singlets or no shirt at all, decided I needed to ditch the shirt. I took the pins off my bib and redid it to my pants (easier said than done while running) and held on to my shirt trying to find someone who I could give it to that I thought might be nice enough to return it. After getting sick of looking for people and thinking of what to say, I went over to the side and asked a dude to remember my bib number and look me up on facebook (hoping he would look me up on the website then message me about the shirt) and I told him I would send him some money. Have not got a message back but whatevs. I need practice and getting rid of material goods and at least it wasn’t the TCRC shirt I borrowed Brando to run the OC marathon in (you better wear it Brando). It probably doesn’t help either that I bumped his iPhone out of his hand in the process of him trying to take a pic of my bib. Anyhow, it felt awesome to get rid of the shirt completely and not to have and carry it much longer. I was starting to heat up even more and was stopping at every water station to at least splash water on myself. I was still generally passing more people than was getting passed by and tried to settle into a pace. It was tough though because I would try to shift sides of the road with the turns and also try to find any shade spots on the road to hide from the sun that was only increasing in intensity. We went through several diverse towns with lots of people there cheering and the next thing I remember was rolling into Wellesley. Before even getting to the school, I heard super loud screams from far away and knew from other people’s stories that it was the Wellesley all-girl school. Once getting to all of the screaming chicks, there was so much energy. Pretty much all of them had signs saying “Kiss me, I’m from Vermont”

“Kiss me, I’m from blahblahblah”, there had to be over 300 off these signs and I probably used more effort than necessary reading these signs as I passed through but despite it going on for a several blocks or so, I managed get through without stopping (good/bad I don't know) and just had silly thoughts about how many people will be kissing them later. This was a little bit before the halfway point and I hit the halfway at 1:31 and felt alright, but was very aware of how hot the sun was, how hot I was, and how tired my legs had already felt. Despite knowing the pace would not last, I kept trying to stick with the same people who were around me and enjoy the course as much as possible. It was super helpful driving the course the day before with Uncle Mike and Paige, as everything I was going through was the second time. Being familiar to a course can be such an advantage. Makes me want to race Twin Cities soon after how much time I have put on the course over the last 5 years. My fuel plan started out pretty structured with having a gel every half-hour and an S-cap every hour, but ended up dropping a peanut butter GU (best flavor out there☹) and was left with 1 GU short of want I anticipated consuming so I fell into temptation of eating Freezepops being handed out by some kids. I was just too hot from the sun beating down on us from our right hand side that I decided to just start consuming whatever I thought would help cool me down. They tasted too good. I probably had 5 of these throughout the course. At mile 16.5 or so I was able to grab 3 more GUs. At this point I was getting increasingly warm and noticed many people were dropping pace from what they started at. These areas started to be really filled with hollering fans on either side of the road and it so different from any other marathon I have done. Monday (Patriots Day) is a holiday in Boston, so many people get the day off of work/classes and come out and watch the race. This combined with the race going through 3+ large colleges kind of allows one to think of how nuts it actually was. It was pretty encouraging to hear how sincere people were about their cheers. I remember trying to pop my last S-cap at about mile 22 and so I put it in my mouth seeing a med-tent ahead of me thinking there would be water there, only to find Vaseline and other useless things there. For some reason I kept the little pill in my mouth for the next quarter mile or so, as I felt the contents begin to hit my tongue and cheek. After drinking water and doing my last GU, almost puked from the taste and all the other things I had consumed throughout the run. Around mile 19 I was pretty happy for how not tired my legs were but after the Newton hills did a series on my legs, I was again thinking of how I am going to hang on until the end. After heartbreak hill, my calfs started to feel crampy so I had to adjust how I was running a bit to avoid them from violently tensing up. Stopped by one of the college kid gatherings and drank some beer for the crowd (cold at least) Ended up having to go to the bathroom (2x) which unfortunately I am started to get used to during marathons but doesn’t help my time one bit. I remember as we approached the later water stations I would just hope for cold water because some of them we would receive what would feel like we were drinking bath water. Probably 3 times I grabbed a cup and wasn’t able to drink anything from it because the temp was too warm to force myself to swallow it. From 22 to the finish, I was carried by the super energetic and boisterous spectators and tried as much as possible to not slow down the pace. Getting nearer and nearer to the finish, my legs would just not let me go any faster and anytime I tested them to see if I could pick it up, they would begin to cramp up tightly, restricting me to progressively slowing down more and more with each mile. This gets pretty frustrating happening at every marathon and you would think with Kinesiology being my major and how many marathons I have run, that I would have figured myself out by now but still looking how to not slow down so much. Saw Uncle Mike, Paige and Christine at around mile 24 and Paige handed me a icewater filled towel that I squeezed over my head. This helped cool me down and I threw the towl back to them, with my calf cramping up just from turning and throwing something. Even though I only had less than a mile to go now, my pace was still getting slower and slower and I kept telling myself how mental it was but the calves were really not cooperating. I almost had to walk at some spots because the cramps were getting dangerously close to locking up and not releasing but the crowd luckily was screaming louder than my neural impulses were to my legs, letting me slog to the finish. I intended on backfliping at the finish because Boston always makes a “spectacular finish video” but if I had attempted that with how my legs were feeling, I would not have been able to type this blog up. Since I could not flip decided to roll across the finish.

Still will do it sometime though. What is strange too is even my biceps were cramping up, despite not using them for much during the race. I ended up finished at 3:14 when my goal was again 3:00.
Crossing the finish line it’s definitely mixed feelings with the relief ofbeing done with what just made you so exhausted, and when you look forward to an event for so long, and then you realize it is done before you know it.. it’s kind of a bummer. It was also pretty wild to be running on a course that has been run for the last 115 years with all the legendary runners who have been there, and just all the history in general created from that 26.2 mile stretch from Hopkinton to Boston. I anticipated this race for so long and it was gone in an instant! Having been through this experience several times now, I realize how important it is to enjoy the present. One of my professors today said how sport can be a microcosm of life and I totally agree. I often try apply what I learn through running to other areas of my life. Another lesson I learned from this race was to just roll with whatever happens because we weren’t able to control the weather but we are (to varying degrees {no pun intended} ) able to control how we react to it.
After the race, I went and got a free massage real quick while waiting to meet up with Uncle Mike and Paige at the family meeting spot.
We drove back to North Reading and I showered real quick, Paige had heated me up some of the leftovers from previous nights outings, and I ate them on the way to the airport. It was sad of how quickly everything was ending and I just wanted to (stop time and chill -Jaime) and enjoy the present more. Kind of crazy the treatment I got at the airport..first they saw the Boston medal and let me skip to the front of security, then when I tried to switch flights to an earlier one to MSP they not only let me but upgraded me to business class, then the gait worker announced and said “Would Boston marathoner Mr. Langen please run up to the gait”. Then on the plane the pilot congratulated the ones who ran it and everyone started clapping. Did not feel right to be recognized for running 26.2 miles while my buddy Jeremy had just finished running 100 miles that weekend! Congrats to him and best of luck on his gnarly bandit pursuit!
Overall, it was such a great weekend spending time with my Uncle and getting to meet his friend Paige. They were too nice to me the entire time and I owe them bigtime! It is also nice to be able to remember this race and have the opportunity to chat with other Boston marathoners about such a special experience we are able to share.

Now the new qualifying time is 3:05 so looks like I need to get to work soon here. Next race is Eau Claire marathon May 6th with the marathon training class!

Hawaii HURT 100 Mile (crew/pacing)

Just how the Honolulu Marathon began the long vacation in Hawaii for me, the HURT 100 Mile would be ending it. It is also difficult to begin writing these blogs and I also get a little anxiety because I know that through my scattered thoughts and sentences that come out, won't be able to completely reflect the experiences and memories that happened, especially for this.
I ended up having this opportunity to crew/pace Adam Schwartz-Lowe at his 100 mile race from Brian Peterson linking us up. It is kinda funny how small the ultra world seems with the more people you meet. Brian and I were just talking during one of the Hyland Friday loops and he told me that his friend Adam was going to be running the HURT 100 Mile. I guess there are not too many people out there that get much pleasure out of running 100 miles. Regardless, I was giving the opportunity to crew/pace for the first time and I was super jacked.
The race was on Saturday January 15th and I ended up meeting Adam and his wife Amy at the pre-race meeting the day before the race at the Hawaii Nature Reserve. There was a ton of energy seeing 100+ people that would be starting to run 100 miles within the next 15 hours. It was also fun getting to speak to many of the runners and hearing of other ultra races they have done. Some wild people in the ultra world, that’s for sure.
Met up with Adam and Amy at the park reserve and went back to their condo in Kailua where they were staying for the time in Oahu. Seeing Kailua was totally different then the last month and half I had spent in Waikiki with my sister Kayla and her boyfriend Kyle. Things were much more laid back, not too many affluent tourist running around buying things, and it was a total different feel. After hanging out at the condo for a bit, we decided to check out a place Amy had found in the Oahu guidebook called Pinky's Pupu's. We got a pupu (appetizer) of Kailua pig quesidillas, Adam and I each had a plate of pasta and Amy got a dinner plate with rice and mac salad. Having lots of questions to ask Adam about all of his previous races, I pestered him with whatever questions came to mind and listened intently as I am interested in getting into the ultra-world myself. He told me about his other 100 mile races, including the Western States which was actually the first 100 he did, and briefly talked about the Gnarly Bandit series(he was the only one to complete this in Minnesota).
http://www.umtr.net/trail-series/gnarly-bandit-ultra-series/
After finishing eating up getting back to the condo, Adam began to do his final preparations for the race. He laid out a lot of his supplies, including the 72 power bar gels that he would be taking throughout the 100 mile race (I haven't been able to stomach more than 10 in a race before). It was pretty cool seeing how structured and planned out he had everything, with supplies for just about anything that could happen during a race.

He had things like Salt-Caps, Bodyglide and other anti-shaffing sprays, ginger candies, extra shoes, ice bandanas, and a ton of other stuff. This definitely showed me how much planning and preparation should be done when doing these types of races. In the past you can say I have kind of winged my "ultra" distance races of 50k and 50miles by just eating what the course aid-stations offered and luckily haven't ran into any GI problems..yet. Before doing a 100 though, I will need to get more structure in my nutrition because I don't think my current habits will fly with that long of a race. (Saw a few people puking throughout the course and probably can guess it had something to do with their fueling during the race.
As Adam was getting his final things ready, Amy and I went to the grocery store to get some food for us throughout the day while we would be crewing him at the 3 aid-stations. We got things for turkey sandwiches, almonds, and curry quinoa! Want to start in quinoa more often now. Was pretty cool to see that Amy was also health conscious with the foods she got, as it makes eating healthier much easy for me. We got the groceries and headed back to the condo. With needing to wake up at 4:30am, lights out was at about 8:30pm and laid down in the couch with so much energy and excitement, only imagining what Adam was feeling at the time. Woke up with Adam saying something silly like "good morning sunshine” and that was all it took to snap me out of a sleepy mind. I def consider myself a morning person, especially when there is something exciting to do, and at this time, this is nothing I would rather be doing then getting to experience what a 100 mile race was like. I have volunteered at many marathons before and ran several before, but many times during the race I think to myself how cool it would be to simply spectate a race, and this was what I had the opportunity to do for a whole day, before it was my turn to start running with Adam. Adam stated how he was nervous for the race, and with this being his 6/7th 100 mile race, I'm guessing that is a testament to how grueling these races truly are. We drove in the dark early morning about a half hour to the starting point at the Hawaii Nature Center and were welcomed by a very lively crowd at about 5am. This reminded me of how much energy was on the bus for the Superior 50 mile as we were bussed to the starting point. Not many things are more energizing than seeing all these people ready to seriously HURT.
Got to great Clem, who I had met on a hike earlier on in the trip, and Dave who I had met with a running club in Waikiki. Again, pretty crazy how small of a community it is to keep seeing the same people around. It feels pretty special to be unified to a group through running and I really appreciate being able to meet a bunch of wild-hearted individuals. We greeted some other runners from Minnesota who would be running/attempting to run the HURT and as it began close to the start Amy and I hiked a couple minutes into the trail so we could snap pictures. Sitting in the pitch black woods, with almost no noise besides the stream not too far away, was so bliss. Despite how tranquil it felt, the runners probably had balls of fire inside of them as they were about to begin their full day adventure. I had some feelings of jealousy again, just like at the 50, wishing that I was capable to be running the race with all of them, but knowing that my current fitness would probably not allow me to (or would be risky to try) I tried to put aside the competitive feelings and enjoy sitting on the sidelines at a race. We heard the runners begin screaming, barking, howling, and with a loud 3-2-1 they were off. Within a couple minutes we saw a ton of headlights bouncing up in down coming from the dark toward us. This reminded me of the Hyland loop that we do on Fridays and seeing the people who run the 4:50am people coming out of the woods. Pretty amazing just watching that can make your blood feel like it is bubbling. We snapped some photos

and within a few minutes and grateful words from many of the runners, they were off into the early morning. From here Amy and I would be driving to the next aid station Paradise Cove where Adam would be coming after about 7.5 miles. Saw the first few guys and a lady come in to the aid stations and was interesting to see their different strategies. Some had hydration packs and would leave the aid station quickly, others relied on a single water bottle. Adam would be coming in with a hydration pack and would need 5 gels to be restocked in it. Here is a pic of the setup we would generally set out for him.

I was pretty nervous for the first time he came in because didn't want to mess something up or slow him down at all, as he likes to get in and out of the aid-statoins as quickly as possible.
After seeing him in good shape at the first aid-station he was off onto the next 5.something mile stint where we would meet him at the Jackass Ginger aid-station. To get to this aid-station the runners had to cross a creak across stones with the aid of a rope, and then up a hill.

Even though we would be doing the same thing throughout the rest of the day, it was always exciting. I guess sympathizing with what Adam was going through, and what he still had to go through, it always left me on my toes thinking about what we could do to help out more. It was a real feeling knowing that people are royally struggling out there, yet all pushing through so many mental/physical barriers. We did this cycle of the aid-stations, Nature Center, Paradise Cove, Jackass Ginger throughout the day until about 9pm when he was finishing up his 3rd loop at the Hawaii Nature Center, where I would begin running with him. It is WILD to think that up to this point he had already ran 60 miles throughout that time frame of Amy and I driving between aid-stations, hanging out and eating, and checking out a Japanese bakery(yum). Through the whole day, I had been looking forward to running with Adam, and getting to see what the course looked like besides from the outside perspective that I had as his crew.
My only account of the trail was the pictures that Adam had sent me before the race, and the small sections that Amy and I had hiked while waiting for Adam at the aid-stations. I was also pretty nervous because although he told me to run however much I wanted to, I felt the need to prove my adequacy to him. Knowing that he got 2nd place at the Superior 100 mile, this was even more intimating for me. Got to lay down for an hour or so before he got to the last aid station at night, however with the attempt of catching some sleep before he got there, this proved to be impossible. There would be other runners coming into the aid-stations and I would perk my head up every time to see who it was and couldn't believe how much work they already did, along with how much work they still had to do. The runners already ran from the dark early morning to the dark night, and now would be running throughout the whole night. I changed into my running clothes and waited anxiously for Adam. I was super excited to be able and experience what he had been and try and help out however I could. Not super sure of what my role of a pacer was, I just tried to make sure he was doing fine and try and keep his mind of the fatigue. It helped that for our whole first 20 mile loop, we were with another runner, Jaime who had run maybe 30 other 100s so it was nice to hear what kind of conversations seemed to go well for them at that point. They talked about many races they did in the past and I couldn't believe how much they knew about each others races. Again, another example of how connected the ultra world is. Jaime even talked about how he knew Brian Peterson from the Cascade Crest 100 mile, although he was from another state.
It's funny how 2 runners who have never met before, can meet in a race and have more in common than many of my other friends that I've had for years. Ultra running sure creates quick bonds between people, especially 100 mile races. We would get to the aid-stations and I would either take Adam's pack and fill it up with water, or restock his gels for him and during the first couple aid-stations, I kind of forgot to hydrate myself as much as I should of for only caring a handheld water bottle in-between the aid-stations.
Knowing I wouldn't be able to pace very long if I kept this up, I had to tell myself to put more time in for me at the aid-stations, especially with how quick Adam liked to get out of there. This was pretty consistent with what Brian and Kurt and told me before the race, that you think about your runner so much, that you kind of neglect yourself. With having Amy there to help Adam at the aid-stations I was able to slam some water/succeed at the aid stations and grab some food. After the first 20 miles, my legs were pretty dang tired and could not even slightly imagine what Adam's legs felt like after doing 80 miles of this. Hah He seemed pretty tired mentally (as he should in the middle of the morning after running for so long, but his legs just kept on moving. We did have to do a bit of hiking, because of the gnarly terrain and giant roots not being very conducive to running. My ankles were feeling very unstable and sore, from never running on stuff like this and I was getting nervous to ask Adam if I could check-out after mile 33 before the last leg of the race. I was thinking of ways to bring this up to him but and after asking how much he needed me for the last stint and him kind of gesturing to me that I could quit if I needed to, I decided to just finish it out. It's funny that he was able to tell that I was getting tired, despite how tired he was at the time, and kind of embarrassing for me to have him addressing my issues, when it should be the other way around. With these thoughts in mind and even though the last 5 miles felt like it took ages, I decided I would regret too much if I didn't at least attempt to do the last 7.5ish miles with him. It is motivating to know how much pain he had to be feeling at the point, and that allowed me to push much further than I would have been able to just on my own or with a friend who had been doing the same distance as me. After seeing other runners having hiking poles, we ended up getting hiking sticks (bamboo sticks) to help us on the gnarly rooty uphills and downhills.

This really did seem to help out and Adam ended up borrowing some hiking poles from another runner who DNF’d.(Did not finish) The trails were super technical and having to run with headlamps at night time only made it more challenging. Adam said something funny when the sun came up that he almost liked running at nighttime better because then he couldn't see how challenging the trail was ahead of him. Instead we were limited to our little space that our headlamps illuminated until the sun rose. The view from the top of some of the climbs was amazing. Getting to see all the lights from the popular tourist areas was very cool. It was such a good feeling to see all of that energy in the distance, but be so far away from it at the same time. Sometimes throughout the night with Adam, I found myself laughing pretty hysterically at the smallest things. An example of this was when Adam and I were approaching a very technical section of roots and Adam says, "It looks like these are roots". For some reason this gave me a good 2 minute giggle attack and found the other stuff he was saying to be so comical. Many times throughout the 2 loops and 40 miles we ran together, I would laugh at how tired he was, not in a pitiful manner, but more of a sympathetic manner and not really knowing how else to express my feelings besides laughing. Despite how it was over a 24 hour event, time just seemed to fly by, whether I was driving around with Amy to the next aid station, or running right behind Adam. Here is a pic of Adam after the race:

People have told me that crewing at a 100 mile race is a great way to see what it is really like and boy did I get to learn a lot. My motivation for running a 100 has increased 10fold, despite not being able to perceive the difficulties that lie ahead, but I guess that’s what it was like when I signed up for my first marathon. I am very excited for the running adventures that lie ahead of me, and also the people I will get to meet along the way.
Currently am in a little debate with myself if I want to fully hop into the ultra-world or if I want to try and get a faster marathon time. Because my marathon time is mediocre at best, I am interested in testing my luck with a 100, but it would be cool to be able to bust 3 hours for a marathon. Still need to decide whether I want to try and break 3 hours at Boston which is 88 days away. If I do, it will take a lot of time and structured training but what else do I got to do..study? I’ll pass on the latter choice.

Honolulu Marathon 2011

Well, it looks like another marathon has come and gone, but fortunately I am able to look forward to the next one already. It’s crazy how slow time goes while waiting for a race and then how quickly it is over. Right now am writing the blog on Kuhio st. at a Starbucks in Waikiki and it is pretty wild here.

I kind of signed up for Honolulu marathon compulsively while at the library working on my summer research paper. With the previous summers me spending in Japan and working with kids, the research environment was not working out to well for me. Luckily, I had support from my advisor and a couple friends Lily and John to get me through at the time. Anyhow, while I was at the library I had been contemplating quitting the research program, but deciding if I signed up for Honolulu it would be my mental escape allowing me to sit in the library longer, knowing I would be going to paradise to visit my sis and run. So anyhow, signed up for the marathon, booked a flight and about $1100 later and deciding to miss almost 2 weeks of school, I was able to finish my research requirements for that summer

Training-
Initially, I just planned on running Honolulu as a fun run because of the busy race schedule I had in the summer/fall.
From that spring I did:
Eau Claire M
Superior Trail 50k
Grandma’s M
Voyageur Trail M
Chisago half-tri
Superior 50 mile
Twin Cities M

Intuitively, with not being used to doing this many races in 1 summer, trying to get a PR at Honolulu would have seem pretty ridiculous to a person who can think on logic, but with not being able to do moderation very well, I asked Chris Lundstrom to throw together a training schedule for me, and had a sub-3 hour marathon cemented in my head.

Was able to get to Hyland every Friday for the loop which was always fun. Also Brando and I would do the early morning what we called “Lundo Runs” starting on Summit and E river road. With these runs being approx. 7.5 and 12 miles respectively, I was able to build a bigger base than I have in the past for previous marathon. Not being a person who has ever put in a lot of miles for a training schedule, it was giving me confidence to be able to get in some moderate distant runs during the week. On top of that, it was what I would look forward to every week. I have vivid memories of Brando and I rolling to Hyland early in the morning and bumpin’ some Foster the People. About a month out from the race Brando headed out to Cali to ski instruct and Cody and I were able to get in some rockin tempo runs on Sunday. 4 weeks out we did a slow 22 and 3 weeks out we did an 18 with 12 at MP. That last long run was pretty tough with the winter conditions not really allowing for a 6:50 pace but we had a good idea what 6:50 effort was.
Then leading up a little bit closer to the race, was a stressful time, trying to finish up all of the academic work, and also the CA position work that Vall and I had to finish before both of us going outta town for winter break. With the thought of going out to Honolulu on the mind, was able to get through and before I knew it, was on the plane heading back out to Hawaii for the 5th time.
With the taper leaving me over-energized and anxious the planeride was a bit stressful. I ended up standing for nearly 2 hours from LAX->HNL from how anxious I was getting. Once getting to Hawaii, it was pretty hectic with the race less than 2 days away. I still had to pick up the race packet and get mentally prepared. Scootered to the expo on Saturday and couldn’t believe how crazy it was Met Honda-san for the first time there.

We had met on the Honolulu Facebook page and both running had no problem connecting as both of us were running the marathon. So many Japanese people walking inside into the the convention center. Inside of the Honolulu Convention Center, it felt like I was in Japan, with nearly all of the booth’s information in Japanese and also the people working there were Japanese. Took a quick photo with the JTB Santa Claus

It was completely overwhelming being at a marathon expo with almost everything in Japanese. With my overall energy up from tapering combined with so many things in Japanese, it was a recipe for sensory overload. We walked around talking about each others training leading up to that point, and ate curry rice at the convention center. mmMh. After eating wonderful curry rice, met up with Aunty Sharon, Uncle Randy, Andrea, and Bella and Aunty Share gave me some of the peanut butter Mochi which I had been craving for months. After meeting briefly, we split up and Hondasan and I headed back to Kayla’s apartment. After being stopped by the police for riding 2 people on the moped, we made it to Kaylas without a ticket. We had all been planning on having our carb loading night there so we were beginning to prepare for that. After de-alcoholizing and cleaning her apartment, we greeted Hondasan’s roommate Sakamoto-san over. It was a little awkward hanging out there with Sakamotosan because he was a little bit older and didn’t speak much English, but with both of us having running as a common interest, that’s enough to beat any language barrier. Aunty Share and the crew came over and we ate delicious pizza and pasta from a restaurant and Aunty Share and Andrea cooked up some awesome pasta. After eating and hanging out for a bit, they left and then my anxiousness really picked up. I was just 1 “sleep” away from running the race that I had occupied my mind for the past 3 or so months. The race started at 5am so set the alarm for about 3:30am. Got to sleep at around 12 or so and was a little worried from the lack of sleep I got the night before. Anyhow, woke up at 3:30am and despite being a little sleep deprived, felt more awake than I had anytime in the last 3 months. Felt my thoughts narrowed into the marathon and had the prerace jitters going on. Kyle moped’ed me over to pretty much the start of the race and the experience was about to begin. There were thousands and thousands of people (mainly Japanese) all over town who were getting ready for the marathon as well (many first timers). It was super energizing and I tried to run around some of the sidestreets for a warmup. I can feel my heartrate pick up as I write this part. After doing some warmups and drills, I hopped one of the fences where the startline was and found a spot. Even though they put up marathon pace signs, it seemed that people didn’t really follow that and there were many people who just wanted to start up front. With this being semi-understandable for me, I also though it would be semi-understandable if I just hopped one of the fences to get a spot where I wouldn't be stuck behind a bunch of people. I ended up randomly bumping into another person wearing a TC RUN CO shirt and he was a older guy on the race team. We talked for a bit at the start, he gave me some of his Gatorade before he tossed it, and after standing around herded into the start shoot for almost 10+ anxious minutes the race started.
The start of the race was accompanied with a firework show to our left. This definitely didn’t help for me and my problem with starting out to fast.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUaXMCFiLCI&feature=related
For some reason I had a symbolic experience while we were all running the race in the dark with fireworks going on. It kind of reminded me of WWII and all the tragedies that happened, however it was very unifying to be running together on this play run, with American and Japanese running together with a common goal. It was one of those goosebump moments for me and probably was a factor to hitting a couple of 6:25min/pace miles. It was a little confusing at the start too because there wasn’t mile markers at the first few miles, however they were marked in kilometers every few of them. However with this confusion, I tried to dial into the 6:52 pace that I had been training for for the past few months. It was too awesome running past the large groups of people (mainly Japanese) with the screaming ganbare!(fight, do you best) to us. Think the Japanese fans were mainly screaming at the Japanese runners, so strategically, I tried to pace with one of them, for the increased superficial support. A few miles into it, was realized that I was sweating a lot more than I should be, and was a little getting pretty warm. During the race, it was my first time getting in hot conditions for more than a few miles. Prior to going to Hawaii, I was trying to get in some warm training runs i.e. running with a long sleeve indoors with a hat on at the metrodome, and putting on extra layers outside, but with the Minnesota weather around 0 degrees when I left, it definitely felt like I was more adapt to the cold weather. Having long hair and sporting a TC RUN CO hat, got pretty warm and gave the hat to Kayla at around my 7. She handed me a gu, ran with me for a few minutes, and wished me well as I was off. It felt surprisingly more cool with the hat off and now I just would have needed more aid stations to stay cool and hydrated. I popped an S-tab and about every half hour, depending where the aid stations were. I was a little surprised that there was not many aid stations at the beginning of the race and found myself waiting for a few miles sometimes just to get some water. The later aid stations had water and sponges which helped get all the salt off the head and arms and was just overall refreshing. Ended up sticking behind some American guy for a while and we right at a 3 hour pace. Early on the race, I felt pretty confident that I could sustain that pace for the rest of the race, but as I got into the later miles, that started to change. I remember at mile 13 thinking only 10 more miles to go, imagining that all I needed to do was run to the Ford Bridge and back from Middlebrook, but realizing my stupid mistake, had to wait until mile 16 until I could reimagine that in my head. Was getting pretty warm throughout the race, but would cool off at the aid-stations and would try to rehydrate with 1 or 2 gatorades/water at each aid station. Legs were starting to fatigue and was getting nervous if I could keep the pace as I snuck up on the later miles. I ended up getting with a group of 4+ runners and stuck with them for prob 5+ miles. The gusting winds made it tough to stick to the pace, but the benefit of running with the group was at least an artificial feeling of using less energy. It’s crazy how much of a mental game running is. Another problem that I attribute to mental fatigue is my stomach was getting a little upset and had the feeling of needing to use the bathroom coming up. I think because of the fact that I was beginning to think that I couldn’t keep pace much longer, I might have allowed myself to succumb to this feeling. Added on to being fatigued, that might have expedited how quick I actually needed to use the bathroom and since I was on exact pace of what I needed to hit, I knew if I stopped to go to the bathroom, it was goodbye to a sub 3. Holding on to not going to the bathroom for as long as possible, I decided to just go. It was pretty frustrating knowing that my goal that I had shot out for and thought about so much the past few months was out the window, but also realizing that I didn't have much control over it at this point, I didn't let it overwhelm me, or ruin the rest of the race experience for me. Hopped outa the biffy and was happy to have an aid station not long after that to wash off after sitting in a sauna-like biffy for some time. I was back on the road and was just running at whatever pace I thought I could sustain until the end. It was a bummer though I lost the people who I used to pace throughout the beginning of the race. Having to readjust to the new runners around me, I tried to just tried in a groove. It was so so cool running along the busy road with the other runners on the other side of the road running towards us. There was just thousands of runners running by and they would just stare at (at least my) zombie like body stumbling around at around mile 20. Despite taking 3 S-tabs, as always around this time, my calfs were starting to cramp if I took too long of strides or pushed off too hard so just tried to keep it conservative and see how fast I could go without a cramp sneaking up on me. Seeing the other runners was pretty entertaining with many of them wearing costumes and doing other silly things, but all this stimulation was kind of overwhelming at that point. I would try to close my eyes and run for 5+ seconds just to take a break from it. Next time I do Honolulu, for sure I will be costuming it. It was cool to get the ganbares (goodlucks, keep goings) from the older Japanese ladies too, because even though they knew I didn’t understand it, the tone of them saying it was enough to express their feeling for the non-Japanese speakers. Seen Uncle Randy and Kyle at around mile 25 and was a little shameful to come into them at a later time that expected, but with their unconditional support, was excited to finish the last mile of the race. There surprisingly weren’t too many people on the course the last mile of the race which is completely different than the crowd at Twin Cities. At later in mile 25, I saw Andrea and she cruised me into final shoot. Here there was tons of people but with just hyperfocused on the finish, I only saw the finish line mats. After finishing, walked around for a bit trying to find the finish shirts area and after doing that I went and got a shiatsu massage from a Jlady who works on the island. After getting an awesome massage I tried to stand up and both my calf and my quad cramped up, and had to have her actively get the cramps out. Being a little greedy I went to another guy giving the massages and got another. Walked back over to the finish and met up with the supporters who had been overly gracious to me the whole time. It was too emotional for me to sit with all the family and friends so I went further towards the finish line so I could cheer on the finishers by myself. It is one of the coolest feelings in the world for me watching people come in at the end of the marathon. Seeing their relief to be finishing what had just been torturing them for hours is pretty cool. Usually being a nut for getting in calories after a run, I just found myself staying there wanted to cheer on all the people who were finishing all day. The people who would run by also seemed to appreciate the support, which made me want to stay even more. It was cool seeing the large running groups that came over from Japan, such as the JTB runners, Konami Sports Club, and even a few highschool groups! I couldn't believe how fun of an idea it would be to train a group of highschoolers and fly them to another country for a marathon(although not sure how safe). I think I remember the school’s names were Kokoku highschool and also Tohoku highschool. I would try to yell out for them ad they always seemed surprised to hear a foreigner supporting their group. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see Hondasan run past me to the finish but he came and found me after the race. Congrats to him for his first marathon! After heading out of the marathon wanting to stay even longer, we got a ride back to Kayla’s apartment from Uncle Randy and Kayla gave me a couple of cold beers. mmMm. Again, it was sad how fast the race came and went and I am kind of bummed to be sitting here after the race, wishing it could happen again tomorrow. It was sadistically pleasing for me for some reason to see almost the whole town of Waikiki limping around everywhere the following days after the marathon. Wish I could interact with more people around here. I am always grateful to be hanging out with other runners. Overall, a great race. Kind of wish I would have got a better time but wharves.
Now I am just hanging out in Hawaii until mid-Jan when I will pace Adam Schwartz Lowe for the HURT 100 mile race. Really looking forward to that. Need to try and get good nutrition and recovery runs to get back on schedule. Next race is probably Boston. Thinking of sporting a costume for that because don’t think I will be trying to throw down a quick time in the middle of training for the tri. Better hop in the ocean today and learn to swim! Excited to spend time on the big island pretty soon and start swimming/biking. Get to hike Koko head soon too!