Wishing a great racing weekend to all!
04/14 tetsujin - Cottontail 12-hour Fun Run Carkeek Park, WA
04/14 Opie - County Senior Olympics 10k, Las Cruces, NM
Our RA representative in Boston this weekend is Pfriese. Anyone else?
04/16 pfriese - Boston Marathon, Boston MA
"Champions are everywhere; all you need is to train them properly..." ~Arthur Lydiard
Great 10k at the Senior Olympics! Another AG win & 3rd OA. NM/elevation PR. As my Coach has explained, elevation def makes a difference even just going from about 4000 ft to 1200 in OKC a year ago when I ran 2 minutes faster.
"I didn’t run a race until I was 41 and that was a marathon! Let that sink in for a minute." -me
Labrat
Ran a glow run (Glow it up Blue) last night.
If nothing else it shows just how out of shape I have got compared to last year, this spring has really not been good.
Finished in 23:27 enough for AG 2nd (I should really have been 1st in AG on prior form).
Did like the Heroic look to the medal.
5K 20:23 (Vdot 48.7) 9/9/17
10K 44:06 (Vdot 46.3) 3/11/17
HM 1:33:48 (Vdot 48.6) 11/11/17
FM 4:13:43 (Vdot 35.4) 3/4/18
I had a race on Saturday, April14. iRock 5k in Cold Spring MN, but it was cancelled due to a snow storm.We have gotten something over 12 inches so far this weekend with the snow still falling. I have a half marathon next weekend, Earthday Half Marathon in St Cloud.
Huge "CONGRATS!!!" to Opie and Catwhoorg on your respective AG win/3rd OA, and 2nd AG - great racing!
Sorry, Spinach, but then again, racing in 12" of snow is probably not most people's idea of a good time.
Jay
Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos.
MM#209 / JapanJoyful#803
no hardware here but a packet of wild flower seeds for sticking it out for all 12-hours of steady rain in the Carkeek Spring Cottontail 12-hour Fun Run fundraiser for Washington Ultra-Trails.
Timed ultramarathons are perfect for me and other runners who like the exercise and fitness value of longer events but who don’t want to feel guilty about keeping volunteers out on the trail into the wee hours, sometimes in very inclement weather, ‘til we finally finish four-five and more hours after everyone else. Not so at the semi-annual Carkeek 12-hour Fun Run (October Halloween and April Cottontail) ubp-and-down the two big hills dominating the park’s 1.93 mile perimeter and totaling 436' of ascent (and descent) every loop., In fact, the ascents are so daunting that getting up-and-down takes nearly 150 railway tie stairs dug into the slopes of each hill. .Faster runners regularly reach 50-60 miles in the allotted 12 hours (11:50m/m pace). Though I could churn out 40+ miles (21+laps) when I first realized about ten years ago that regular marathon runners could finish ultras up to 100-miles simply by walking a lot, finishes soon slipped to 50K (16+laps) a couple of years ago and this year was the first time I added the marathon distance (at least 14 laps) to my lap/pace chart..Except for about a half-of-a-lap, weather all day was as usual and as predicted for this time of year: rain/rain/rain. Stupidly forgetting to bring along my plastic-lined Japanese sugegasa straw hat that was all ready to go by the door, I used a black binder clip to keep the poncho hood secured to the bill of a baseball cap so I wouldn’t be getting any of the heavy rain down the back of my neck during loop-after-loop. With a hand towel around my neck too, it worked. I usually wear my Merrell Bahria trail thongs for these kinds of trail ultras but with so much water in puddles and rivulets on the trail this time, I switched to Japanese cloth jikatabi split toes. No question about continuing to rely on the trekking poles that have been invaluable in helping boost me on up the ascents, though.In fact, everything was all working so well that, by the six hour mark, it was seeming that 50K might even be possible again but, if not, there would be almost an hour in the bank to cruise in after 12 hours to, at least, a marathon distance. Unfortunately, the 53-min/lap needed for 26.2 miles gradually slipped away too and the last lap from 11-12 hours was just going through the motions of a slow-motion shuffle for only 25.09 miles total. Afterwards, I shuffled off up the park entrance road for a mile-point-one for DW to pick me up after, at least, for me, and for me only, a marathon distance for the day. Lots going on to blame for the slowest ever result by three laps but being slow couldn’t dampen the same joy of sharing the final lap with the all the remaining faster runners also all glad just the same as me to be done with their 12-hour day on daunting hills and adverse weather. By that time, almost half the 12-hour starters had dropped out or down to six hours so my 11th place finish this time was the best ever, . . . even though it was still an accustomed DGL (dead-glorious-last). .This time, however, I think I’ll stick to my post-race vow that, after 220 marathons in the last 42 years, I don’t need to subject myself running for so long in such conditions anymore, . . . at least until the next edition in October.
... ...... ....
"Enjoy yourself. Your younger days never come again." 100yo T. Igarashi to me in geta at top of Mt. Fuji (8/2/87)
Short version: As I've already said in one form or another on social media sites, messaging apps, running forums, or in person; this race had some tough conditions to race in. Most of my friends running finished ~20 to 30 minutes slower than expected. I had expected to finish somewhere between 3:50 & 3:55.
Short summary: It was windy (headwind), rainy, & cold at the start and got worse the closer we got to the finish. Slower than planned, but still had fun.
Official results from the Boston Marathon website for me: 4:08:01
Long version (tl;dr):
Intro: I wanted to BQ & run Boston again when I turned 60 and set about qualifying in 2016. I targeted 2 races; Light at the End of the Tunnel Marathon in June of 2016 & a backup plan of Skagit Flats Marathon in September of 2016. I missed qualifying at the Tunnel Marathon by 26 seconds (3:55:26). And had GI issues at mile 16 at Skagit Flats with spending way to much time in the loos was an unsuccesful attempt. I ended up with an ugly 5 hour marathon there. I’m not sure that I would have done any better at Skagit anyways. I knew I would have to knock several minutes off that to gain Boston entry. I used Pfitzingers plan for both marathons & felt good going into both . I decided it was time to try something new. A group of local runners had been using Hanson's Marathon Method with good success & met every Tuesday & Thursday for speed & strength workouts. The OKC Running Club had regular weekend long runs with water stops. With this local support group, I got on the Hanson plan to try to qualify at 2017 OKC Marathon. Training was great & I qualified with a 3:47 time in April 2017.
Training: Since Hanson's worked so well for qualifying, I used it again for Boston training. Once again I had no trouble maintaining the mileage or speed/strength workouts in the plan. I had noticed that my training times were about 5 to 10 seconds slower than in 2017 and adjusted my goal time for Boston to 3:50. I wanted to BQ at Boston.
Pre trip: Well, 2 weeks before the marathon I came down with a bad sinus/cold. It was very slow clearing up & by the time we left for Boston it had settled in my chest (bronchitis/asthma). It did not seem to be affecting my training paces so I thought I'd be OK. The trip up to Boston was fairly short. We planned on leaving Saturday morning & planned on returning on Tuesday afternoon. The airline canceled our Saturday morning flight so we had to scramble to get on the last flight out to Boston (arriving at 1:00am Sunday). Even that flight ended up being delayed & we did not arrive until 2:00am. When we finally got to the hotel... our room wasn't ready?!?!? They finally got that straightened out and we were checked-in by 3:00am. Believe it or not, I never got stressed over any of this. Though I was very disappointed to cancel meeting Marj & Henrun for dinner Saturday evening at Legal Seafood.
Day before race: Of course we slept in the next morning, but still made into the Expo before 10:30am. I'm not much for Expo's or the crowds attending them. So, it was a quick in & out to get my bib, t-shirt, & packet. We were back to the hotel by noon. A small snack then we headed to Robin's (rtravers) partay at the Lir on Boylson. Drank a beer and visited with coolrunners, RA, & FB friends. Robin, Deez, Henry, Marj, Lou, Harriet, Kirsten, Hally, & more to be named when my brain wakes up or if Robin posts some pics on FB to jog my memory.. Our son & girlfriend met us there too and afterwards we went for my traditional marathon-eve dinner of Pho. After dinner, straight back to the hotel to put feet up & relax. I even got a pretty good nights sleep!
Weather: 30F starting line temperature & 38F finish line temperature with 32mph winds and drizzle with occasional downpours.
Weather stats from from the baa website: *Coldest Boston Marathon in over 30 years. *Torrential rain and high winds occurred in 2007 (50F) & 2015 (44F) *Prior to 2018 the lowest temperature on record accompanied by driving rains & sleet was 1970 (38F) It was going to be unpleasant.
Gear: Black 2XU running shorts with old Nike running tights on top (plan was to leave them at the village); my lucky black HHFMM race shirt; black 2XU compression calf sleeves; white Balega socks; and yellow Newton Distance Elite running shoes. On top of all this to keep warm at the village; I had on an old pair of sweat pants, an old sweatshirt, an old race jacket, and a clear plastic pancho with hood.
Pre race: The walk to the bus stop was not too bad. I was plenty warm & it was just a light mist with 10-15mph breeze. On the bus I visited with the runners around me. Always fun to do. Sitting next to me a 67 year old ultra marathoner from Florida running his 2nd Boston. Behind me a school teacher from King of Prussia PA running her 1st Boston. Also behind me a set of identical twins from New Hampshire running their 3rd Boston. I asked them which sister was faster. Their PR's were identical! Their BQ times were identical! Truly identical twins. In front of me was a bartender from Boston running his 1st Boston. He was a riot with his bar stories & Boston accent on the ride out to the village. Also, in front of me was a young lady from South Africa also running her 1st Boston. We talked about Comrades Marathon in South Africa since I've thought about running it. Her stories of spectating were very interesting. The bus ride passed rapidly & we didn't even think of the weather though we had noticed that it was raining harder.
Athletes village: Got off the bus at Hopkinton Middle School to a driving rain & gusty winds. We made our way to the ball fields/recreational area behind the school. You would have thought it had been set up for a Tough Mudder. The water was a couple of inches deep everywhere & the field was nothing but mud which completely covered your shoes when stepping out onto it. My bright yellow shoes immediately were a very dark brown and my feet were soaking wet. They did have large tents for us to huddle under to stay dry but the mud was just as deep in them. My timing for arrival to the village was pretty good as we only waited for 10 minutes before they were calling our wave to the start line. I shed the sweats but kept my tights on along with the plastic poncho still planning on taking it off somewhere long the course. The start line is ~1 mile from the village & by the time I reached my corral the driving rain had cleaned my shoes back to a bright yellow. I did see a few runners that I knew from Oklahoma on the way to the corrals. Then it was just wait for the start .
Goal: My goal was to BQ at Boston in other words < 3 hours 55 minutes. I wasn't sure how likely that was considering the weather conditions, but I was hopeful that my Oklahoma wind training would help.
The race: The start is pretty uneventful. It is well organized and the minute you cross the start line you are running at race pace. For those that don't know the course. Boston starts with a steep downhill into Ashton & then really a gentle steady downhill clear to Wellesley at 13.1 miles. The danger with Boston is going out too fast on that downhill portion. Well, running into a 25-30 mph wind I had trouble maintaining my goal pace (8:45/mile), My shoes were already soaked & on the steep downhill my shoe insoles came loose & slid up into the front of my shoe. A bit uncomfy but not much to be done to fix it. This only happened on steep downhills so was not much of an issue. Also, for the first few miles my feet were cold & numb, but this was the only time I felt cold on the course. I went ahead & slowed to a more comfortable pace that ended up being a little over 9:00/mile. This downhill portion was pretty uneventful other than needing to empty my bladder & check my shoe which I did at the 5K water stop. It was a quick pit stop & I was back running pretty quick. However by the 10 mile marker I needed to stop again. Once again, a quick stop. This area is a bit rural with small towns along the highway. The amazing thing was their were just as many spectators as there were in 2012 and that was great spectating weather. Wellesley was as loud as always (too loud) and I made my way to the far side of road. There were a thousand Wellesley students out there in driving rain, cold, & wind screaming & getting kissed! Mile 15... another pit stop. This one a bit longer due to a line. Also, took my first Gu here while waiting. The wind & rain were really picking up, coming down in sheets by this time. I didn't think I could get any wetter, but I did. I noticed that the Med tents were filling up & people were already walking.! Made it to the fire station in Newton. This is the start of the climb up the Newton Hills. Over the next few miles would be 3 (4) hills. Rain had eased up a bit but the wind was still gusty. My poncho was really slowing me down like a big sail with that wind, but I was not ditching it. Head down & just keep running. Finally made it to Heartbreak Hill & was passing a lot of runners/walkers. I really wanted to join the walkers but knew if I did, I would be done for the day. Heartbreak hill is a bit deceptive, just when you reach what you think is the top turns out to be just a short false flat before starting the steep climb again. Finally made it to the top to be greeted by even gustier winds and sheets of rain! There was a medical tent there. It was overflowing & volunteers were out on the course looking for struggling/hypothermic runners. They announced via bullhorn that there was a warming station at the church in the next block along with a bus that would be shuttling dnf runners to the finish area. After cresting the hill just past mile 21, I had hoped to pick up my pace on the mostly downhill to the finish. That was not happening as I was slowing down by a few seconds each mile. Was having a touch of asthma, but that was not slowing me down. We finally made it to Commonwealth Ave & I was ready for the race to be over. Spectators were thick starting here & would be all the way to the finish line. I am still amazed that there were so many out in that driving rain & wind. Finally made it to the Citgo sign at mile 25.2... 1 mile to go!!! But believe it or not all I wanted to do was slow to a walk. I felt like I could walk faster than I was running. Wasn't true but I had slowed to a 10:00/mile pace. However, I was still passing other runners. I guess the Oklahoma wind training paid off a little. Finally, “right on Hereford, left on Boylston” & the Finish Line was in sight. Crossed the finish , a volunteer wrapped a thermal finish poncho around me while congratulating me. Then it was water, medal, food, & finally to the exit. This was the first time I actually felt cold since early in the race. After exiting the finish area, I had a mile walk back to my hotel, but the wind was at my back & the rain had turned to a drizzle. I was getting colder & colder though. When I made it into the hotel, I was shivering & chilled to the core. Athena helped me out of my soaked running gear. And I took a nice long hot shower while she went down to get me a hot bowl of chowder. That chowder really warmed me up.
Post race: I wasn't very pleased with my result even though I gave it all I could. I really felt like I should have been able to run a sub-4. Then I started checking on friends finish times. Almost all were finishing 20-30 minutes slower than expected. It was then that I realized that the conditions were really that bad out there. And running into a 30mph headwind with driving rain will sap your energy & slow you up. I relaxed for a bit while reading about the elites, friends, & weather. Then we met up with the kids for an early supper at Legal Seafood.
Stats: Net Time - 4:08:01; Overall - 17320/25746; Gender - 10334/14142 (Male); Division - 480/1019 (M60-64 Age Group); Splits - 5K-27:44, 10K - 55:51, 15K - 1:24:33, 20K - 1:52:49, Half - 1:58:56, 25K - 2:22:51, 30K - 2:52:26, & 40K – 3:54:09. A positive split, but that is normal for Boston with the big downhill at the start and then Heartbreak Hill at mile 20. So, I was about 20 minutes slower than expected overall. While running my lack of speed was bothering me. But looking at everyone’s results & considering how bad the conditions were, I am pleased now.
Even more stats: OK, I'm going to geek out on stats most of which came from the marathon website. From here on this will be even more tl;dr territory and will be mainly for me to look back on maybe at some point in the future.
Registered: 29,978.
Started: 26,948 (*3030 no shows).
Finished: 25,764 (*1202 dropouts).
As shown by the above stats from baa.org, there was a huge attrition rate. One of my side goals for the race was to beat my bib number. Your bib number should reflect where you should finish in the race based upon your BQ time. My Bib # was 21182. So, I finished ahead of that in 17320 place. Take off the no shows & drop-outs & I finished about where I was predicted to Finish.
A breakdown of the medical & weather info from baa.org. Needless to say, it was atrocious weather!
Medical emergencies: 1,298 medically treated on course, 992 medically treated at the finish line, 89 hospitalized, majority of injuries were hypothermia most on course cases of hypothermia occurred at 13 & 18 miles, and 3 elite runners were hospitalized.
The next table is very interesting & a bit scary.
All runners: 95% finished
AG 18-39 96% finished
AG 40-44 97% finished
AG 45-49 96% finishedAG 50-54 96% finished
AG 55-59 95% finished; AG 60-64 95% finished
AG 65-69 90% finished; AG 70-74 84% finished
AG 75-79 65% finished and AG >80 44% finished.
Looks like the weather took it’s toll in the older age groups.
I'm sure I'll add a few more things, fix formatting, typos, etc.
Paul
Paul's blog
Paul - awesome report. Having seen you at mile 24 totally zoned out and moving strong, you had a great race and I'm glad you got to Legal Sea Food. As to the older folks - the New England 65+ running club gets 8 waivers, 2 of the 8 did not finish and several were close to an hour over their expected times.
And belated congrats to Tet, Opie, Cat and Spinach for greta races and reports
marj
an amazing likeness
Paul -- wow, just wow, that reads as one rugged performance. Very bad ass.
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
Thanks Marj. Got a few minutes and have to choose between starting Deena Kastor's new book or reading Paul's report. Easy choice-Paul!
---such a good report!
MM #5615
Very bad ass.
Perfect!
I am so impressed, Paul. Congratulations and thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed report.
Congratulations to Opie, catwhoorg, and tet, as well!
Wow Paul. Although I read it earlier and didn't comment, now I see you edited something but don't know what. But still, just an incredible race you had. I don't envy you those conditions, but glad your shoes came clean!
Unbelievable Paul. A great race in really brutal conditions. Even though you didn't reach your time goal, a huge ^5 just for toughing it out. I enjoyed reading your RR, and let me just say I agree with the "very bad ass" comment!
It was windy (headwind), rainy, & cold at the start and got worse the closer we got
I was hopeful that my Oklahoma wind training would help.
Fantastic. However, have you ever experienced such a triple whammy of cold rain and wind in any previous marathon? Even running 220 marathon for 42 years mostly up here rain country, only two, the 1990 Seattle Marathon when one of the floating bridges sank and the cherry blossom blizzard of 2009 around the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, came close to combining all three odds and, even those had warmer temps nowhere near the frozen thirties you endured. It doesn’t matter, though. I think mental fortitude, not training has anything to do with it. In this regard, do you think you think that, vs. other marathons, honoring the extraordinary history, tradition and fame of the Boston Marathon in person might have been a factor in your outstanding success?.
ps - neat about the bib numbers.
pps - not that it won’t stop any of us but you’ve made it very hard for anyone else ever to whine about the weather again.
Thanks Tet.
Nope never experienced that kind of triple whammy. Excluding some pretty hot marathons (Chicago 2007 & Boston 2012), the closest would be a White Rock Marathon in Dallas where temp at start was 45F & 25F with sleet at the finish. While the wind was pretty strong it was generally behind us.I'm not sure about mental fortitude, but it was the FREAKIN' BOSTON MARATHON.... So, that may have had the most to do with focusing & continuing the steady effort to the finish. Just keep running.