Post Phoenix Marathon and Onward

After taking a much deserved week off, and this past week of easy trotting around to reflect more clearly on my performance from the 2017 Rock n Roll Arizona Marathon, I've decided I need to jot some things down.  I know my performance of 2:35:37 isn't much to write home about compared to my previous times, but it was an all-out effort and a stride in the right direction as I set my sights on faster times to come this year.  After toeing the line in Arizona and coming across the finish, I was pleased to feel stronger and fitter than the abysmal effort that occurred in Boston last year (I don't even like to mention that marathon).  Honestly, I wasn't ready to run a marathon in Boston, so I set my sights on Arizona as a lower key race to get the wheels back.

As I look back at my training, I know I could have done more... we always think we can do more.  And I feel it was enough for my body at the time.  Now, I know I can start to push the envelope a little more for a spring marathon, and reevaluate the training that proceeds that race.  I am not getting any younger, and perhaps my best marathon days are behind me, but there is still a carrot leading me to accomplish a huge goal, and that would be to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials.  Those standards came out earlier this year and they seem within reach, even for this old man.  It's truly a privilege and honor to be able to just run freely.  I never seem to forget how quickly it can disappear, or how we can take it for granted.  All I have to do is step out the door and enjoy the freedom of being outside.  It's a gift, and I don't want to take it for granted.  And with that gift, comes a small personal goal.

Olympic Marathon Trials Standard (rumored):
Men - "B" Standard 2:19:00 Full Marathon

With the right attitude and smarter training, a sub 2:19:00 is within striking distance.  It sure is easy to talk about, or write about, so in the meantime I'll just focus on improving upon my most previous marathon time and strive for something in the 2:20s this spring.  Right now, I feel excited to train more effectively for a spring race, and hopefully I make another step in the right direction.  As for my training for Arizona, I was able to accomplish the following:

- Over the course of 15 weeks, I only averaged 55 miles a week
- Over the course of those 15 weeks, I averaged 6 miles of tempo runs a week
- Longest run was 23 miles
- Cross trained twice a week for the duration of 15 weeks

After looking at that raw data... there's plenty of room for improvement and more importantly, HOPE.

  

Getting Back Into Rhythm

After a wonderful school year and countless hours spent thinking about a wonderful wedding, it was time for me to get back into "real" training.  I needed to decide on a marathon that I will do this fall, and come up with a training plan for that race.  And since the window to qualify for the Olympic Trials is slowly closing, I've decided on the Chicago Marathon in October.  I believe there will be a ton of guys looking to run the standard, and that race gives me roughly 4 months of training from after the wedding.

As soon as school got out, I finally got the motivation and energy to build up the miles again.  If I can recall, I was only running about 40 miles per week since the beginning of the year, and hadn't wrote a single mile in my running journal since my stress fractures in March of 2014.  So, I need to get back into a routine and get my act together!  I finally logged some miles in my journal at the end of April to keep myself accountable, and to my surprise, my mileage only stuck around 40/week.  But with school over, things are looking brighter.

I need to keep posting on this blog as well, so this will be the first of many weeks leading up to Chicago, and an OTQ time.  Also, after racing the Rock 'n Roll San Diego half marathon last Sunday, I now have a pretty accurate account of my fitness and where I should be training... (slow), but it's a start.  And in case you're wondering, I ran 1:10:54.  One of my slowest half marathons ever!  It sure is a kick in the ass, and now I have zero excuses to get back out there and train my brains out!

Racing outta shape, and too cheap to buy the photos...

With the Fiance at the finish!

Week 1 of marathon training:

Mon - drove back to ABQ
Tue - pm. 10 miles
Wed - am. 7 miles / pm. 9 miles
Thur - am. 4 miles / pm. 11 miles (bonked in the heat)
Fri - am. 6x1 mile w/3min rest (5:36, 5:30, 5:34, 5:25, 5:26, 5:23) 10 total
Sat - am. 12 miles in the foothills
Sun - am. 18 miles

Total: 81 miles

Twin Cities Marathon/USA Marathon Championships

It's been more than a week since the USA Marathon Championships, and I think it's time to post my thoughts on this wonderful race.  I've spoken to many friends about how the race turned out, and the positives and negatives I took away from the weekend, but haven't quite put it into written context.  One thing I want to touch base on, is how well I felt leading up to this marathon, compared to how busy I was with "life".  This marathon was my second fastest marathon (2:20:57), and as a full time teacher, I can honestly say I was happy with the out come.  My fastest marathon came when I was finishing up Grad School, and student-teaching; nowhere near as stressful as having your own class(es).  Nevertheless, there are many different factors that I took away from this cycle compared to my PR cycle.  And that's what I'll be comparing the most.

So the weekend started off as soon as I got off work the Friday before the race.  I was done with my 2nd grade class at 2:50pm, and Arlene and Loren were in the parking lot ready to go.  Our flight was at 4:10pm, so we were cutting it a little close.  But of course we made it into Minneapolis without incident.  Liz was there at 10:30pm to pick us up, and we in bed at midnight after some chatting and late night snacks.  Arlene, Liz and myself slept in till about 9am, and went on a short 30min shake out run.  A pleasant jog through some Minneapolis parks and some light drills were enough for me.  Once we got ready, the whole group of Turner's (Liz, her mom and dad) took me to the host hotel and let me relax on my own.

I ventured around a little bit on Saturday to the elite hospitality suite and to a local coffee shop for a decaf vanilla latte.  The majority of the afternoon was set aside towards getting my bottles ready, and watching movies in the hotel room.  I had a nice time catching up with John and Ariel Heitzman for lunch, but besides that, I wasn't doing a whole lot.  And once it was time for dinner, Arlene and company came and picked me up for an awesome dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory - one of my favorite places on earth!  John and Ariel were there, along with many other Albuquerqeños.  Dinner was amazing, and then it was time for a long night of nerves and tossing & turning.

Race morning provided us with some perfect weather!  I had my usual breakfast, and boarded the elite bus.  I sat with an old friend of mine; Nick Arciniaga, and we chatted a bit about race nerves and goals.  I knew he was going to race well when he pointed out how nervous he was.  I also had a feeling that I was going to run well too, but things slightly changed.  Once, we got to the staging area, I got in a short warm up and was ready to go.  I knew there would be a solid pack of runners in the front going out in 66:00 for the half, so I didn't want anything to do with that.  I was looking for a 68 minute group.  Well, after about a half a mile, the race looked like a tear drop, with a ton of guys in the front group, and a dwindle of guys stringing out to where I was.  I would guess I was in about 30th place at the mile, which was hit in 5:14.  I wasn't wearing a watch, so after that I had no real idea of where I was at.  Mbarak came up on me just after the mile and I was with him for a bit, but wanted to catch anyone in front of me.  I saw another familiar head up front - Solomon Kandie, so I raced up to his little group of 4 runners.  Once I caught them, I decided to keep the momentum and continue on.  I felt pretty comfortable running by myself and catching a guy or two every mile, but that ended when I reached the halfway point.

When I came up on the clock at 13.1 miles, I had no idea that the clocks were off.  The clock read 66:47 when I passed it, and I was a little freaked out at how fast that could've been.  In reality I came through the half in 68:24, a time I wanted to be at, but I didn't know it at the time.  So, I was thinking that I was going to blow up hard.  Another thought I had was that I might blow up a little and still run a pr or the Olympic Trials Standard.  Either way, the wheels came off at around 20 miles.  I remember two guys coming up on me at 18 miles, one Hansons guy and a BRC guy.  A tried to run with the Hansons guy for about a mile, then faded off of him and attempted to run with the BRC guy.  We ran a few strides together, and I asked him his name.  "Sean", is what he said, and then he wanted us to work together.  I've heard that phrase so many times in the later stages of a marathon, and always believe I can stick with them to the finish.  Well, in this case, I ran another mile with Sean and faded.

I came to the hill at mile 20, and slugged myself up it, and kept on moving until Mbarak and Solomon caught me at mile 22.  Again, I rallied myself to go with them, and faded at mile 24.  The last 2 miles were a struggle, and once I could see the clock, I made out a 2:20 something ticking away.  I wasn't too surprised, and still didn't want that number to tick any higher, so I kicked it in to finish 20th in 2:20:57.

After all the mayhem at the finish, and getting ready to come home to Albuquerque, I started to assess my training.  I figured I had a solid 19 weeks of high mileage, but once I plugged the numbers in, it turned out to average 87 miles a week.  This was a little surprising to me!  I now know that working really takes a ton of time, but if I can squeeze a few more miles in, I know my performance in the marathon will improve.  2:20 is a good start to another training cycle, and a great spring marathon attempt at the standard.  Cheers to many more miles!    

From Instagram user bethholine

Mt. Taylor 50k Race Report

First off, I'm not sure how much you want to use this information for a "race report", as I've stolen that title from the more seasoned ultra runners out there.  Nevertheless, I will do my best at a recap from my perspective...

The Mt. Taylor 50k!  When the abbreviation of Mountain is included in any race, it would be wise to note that you'll be racing up a mountain, and in this case an 11,306' mountain.  I was completely aware of this, as I visited the website more often than I checked my email in a day, but it was hard not to as the website [http://mttaylor50k.com/] was gorgeously and simplistically made.  I must include that the race director, and lofty ultra runner himself - Ken Gordon, put together one of the greatest races I've run in New Mexico!  Every detail was taken care of, and all the runners had a remarkable time.  I couldn't have asked for a more well organized race.  Thank you Ken!

So let's talk a little bit about the race, or in this segment, the pre-race.  As usual, I had a wonderful amount of company going into this race.  My two roommates, Loren Wohletz and Chris Peverada were entered in the race, along with Dana Patton.  A new member to our club, was a youngster by the name of Alex Peterson.  I say new member to our club because we've had this approach that, "If you're not against us, you're with us" mentality, which I'm sticking to it.  It's kind of an absorption thing... Anyways, there were five of us and we were all ready to take on the mountain.  The course profile is something like this:

Where the first 3 miles is straight up, but in reality it wasn't that bad.  So, as the gun went off at 6:35, the race organizers planned it so that once we made it to La Mosca Lookout, we'd have a perfect view to the east of the Sun rising over the Sandia Mountains.  This view was surreal!  And before I even got there, one of the Navajo runners who was far ahead of me, yelped out an Indian War Cry, which got the race field excited to see the sun rise that laid ahead.  Also at this point of the race, Chris broke away from the field and took charge of the pace.  After about 5 miles, I never saw the top 2 runners until the finish.  I decided to run a more comfortable race since I wasn't use to this type of terrain or elevation change.  I was pretty comfortable in 8th place, but I could see the other runners gaping me as the downhill section to the second aid station was approaching.  Alex and I ran together for a little bit, but I couldn't keep up with him along the downhill sections.  Also, my Camelback was bugging me.  I think I was the only idiot in the top 10 to wear a hydration pack, but I didn't want to risk blowing up out there.  I was finally able to fix the comfortableness and plot along on the course.

As the fall season just hit New Mexico, the Aspen trees were already spouting off their bright yellow leaves. At some points of the course, it felt like it was raining large yellow droplets all around.  This was very hard to ignore, but I couldn't quite embrace the poetic beauty just yet.  I had to stay relaxed and keep hydrated so I could finish strong.  I also had a piddling thought that I could get top 5 for an "award" of some kind.  So, holding on to 6th place, and running with Alex, we ran on towards the 10 mile aid station at Spud Patch.  I started to realize that in the ultra running community the aid stations all have names of their actual location, unlike the road where they are just given mile marker numbers to make it easy and boring for the runners.  Anyways, I was excited to grab a quick energy GU to replace the Powerbar Gels I used for my pack.  At some points of the race; I found it very arousing to add another element to the race experience, which was the method in which you carried your fuel across the course.  I really got a kick out of literally unzipping something and eating on the go.  Very weird, I know, but it's a requirement for the even longer races.

Well, after 10 miles passed, and the course was more suited for my stride, I was able to get moving and catch some guys.  I eventually made it into the Rock Tank aid station; where the race starts, and got to see Arlene and Lauren hanging out waiting for us to come through.  I slipped off my pack, filled it up and got rid of some trash.  By that point, I was in 3rd place, but the other two guys that I just passed came into the station and one was able to take off before me.  I guess I wasn't too concerned at the moment as I was drinking a coke and attempting to get ready to leave.  This aid station was the halfway point of the race, with the hardest part yet to come.

Once you left Rock Tank, it was a nice gradual climb out on a single track trail until you hit a wide jeep trail. That portion of the race I was moving along fairly quickly towards Gooseberry (mile 21.2).  I came up on that station quickly, but for some stupid reason, I didn't stop to get anything.  And, as soon as you leave Gooseberry, it's all up-mountain from there.  Luckily, the tree cover hid some parts of Mt. Taylor Peak, but if you were sick enough to stare through the trees, you could spot the top of the mountain.  At that point, I had a doubt I could hold a top 5 finish.  And as soon as you got out of the tree cover and made a slight left north towards the peak, my heart fell into my already empty stomach.  This portion of the race I could only manage a slow hike/walk up the mountain.  It was nearly 1000' of climb over the course of a mile.  Not something I can do compared to these other veteran ultra runners.  Alex came up on me pretty quickly, then 2 more guys passed me.  But, once I summit the peak, I was running again and slowly catching the crew that passed me.

At the Caldera Rim aid station, I grabbed a quick coke and speed off after the 3 guys.  As soon as I caught up with Alex, his knee that he had surgery on started to bother him and he slowed down.  He eventually felt better and finished very strong.  But I was just plotting along at a good pace when I passed the other 2 guys who seemed to be working together.  I later found out they are both from Las Vegas, Nevada and train together.  The rest of the race had it's ups and downs, both literally and physically.  The last set of switchbacks were tough, but the last 2 miles were even tougher.  So, with only 2 miles to go, it became a downhill ski adventure.  Those miles were the steepest quad-killing miles I had ever run in my life.  Partly because I had just run 29 miles prior to it.  Nevertheless, the race was nearly over, and I was pretty happy to finish in 3rd with the award of a hand painted portrait of Mt. Taylor, which I will get it framed!

After running that race, and thinking about it compared to all the other races I've done, I would have to say that I am not only satisfied with how it went, but excited to do more of these events.  The community, the course, and the challenge of navigating that course made it one of the most amazing races I've done.  My roommates and friends always talk about Ultra's and how awesome they are, but until I did one, it was truly an experience worth suffering through.  I had a good idea of what to expect after having the opportunity to crew for Loren at Hardrock, and it's a whole different ballgame when comparing a 50k to a 100 miler, but I think I will venture into more of these races in the future.  Don't get me wrong, I still have New York City Marathon, which will only go well because of this race, but I think in the spring I want to attempt a 50 miler, just to see if I can do it...

At the finish.

The DTC crew! (From Left) Me, Loren, Chris, Dana, Alex

Nothing to Lose, and Everything to Gain... California International Marathon

Boom! It has all paid off... 2:17:19 for 6th place at the California International Marathon was something I can't even fathom!!! I knew I had it in me, but I just had to do it on the right day, with the right circumstances, and those circumstances can barely be transcribed, but I'm going to try...

This epic weekend starts off on a now winterish Friday with a cold front moving in on Albuquerque. I knew this, because I planed on teaching all day and would leave for Sacramento at 5:30pm to arrive there at around 8:45pm. In the classroom at S.Y. Jackson Elementary, the day is going as planned. Students are learning, and I'm learning how to become a better teacher from them... Once the day is over, I leave for home to an already packed bag and head for Sacramento. The flight was extremely delayed, and I assumed I was going to miss my connecting flight out of LAX. But, that didn't happen as the wonderful people at Southwest held that flight and I made it out of LAX and into Sacramento at 8:45pm.

Kris had an entirely different ordeal, as he left Abq in the early afternoon, flew into Oakland, rented a car and would drive to Sacramento. This, astonishing as it is, would save him time, and it did, as he arrived at the airport to pick me up. We zipped out of there in the spunky compact sized rental car as Kris handles it as a formula 1 racing car. We're weaving in and out of semi-trucks to get to downtown Sacramento so that we can grab something to eat. But, once we park the car in downtown, we had the unfortunate, and fortunate experience of meeting what I will call a "troubled" women. She had so much disparity about her, and the very detailed and long story she expressed only lead Kris and I to help her in what little way we could. Not to get into the detail of what we did, but to express the amount of emotion that came from this experience was very eye-opening. Here I am, fortunate enough to travel across the country to chase a dream of qualifying for the Olympic Trials, and this destitute of a women is here asking for help in more ways than one. The outlook I had on what I was there to do seemed to matter little to the struggle this women and her family would be experiencing. I decided to keep this thought as the weekend progressed... So, after a quick dinner, we headed to our hotel on the outskirts of Sacramento, checked in, and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

So, the next morning we went on a run and the theme of destitution arose once more. Kris and I ran along the American River Trail and ran by what is called "Tent City", due to the hundreds of homeless people living in tents along the river. One guy looked pretty cold and mentioned something about gloves. I didn't understand him, but Kris did, and decided to give him his favorite pair of gloves. That was an emotional detachment, that looked like it hurt. Well, the rest of the day was pretty mellow. We headed out to get bottles and drop them off, got our race numbers, had a nice lunch, picked up Solomon (another Dukes Track Club member and Kenyan) and went to dinner. Solomon and I went with my parents to Old Spaghetti Factory, and Kris went with his family somewhere else. After this, the real action starts...

Solomon and I got home and just relaxed and went to bed around 9:30. This is when Kris barges into the room with a panic stricken voice, stating that "We have a situation!". I thought that at this point, Maria was going into labor (his wife was due on the 12th of December and would most-likely be early), but Kris made it clear that there was a bat on the staircase. A freakin bat that wouldn't fly was laying on the staircase and Kris wanted to rehabilitate it back to health... I told him, "who cares, it's a freakin bat!". Solomon just laid there trying to sleep peacefully, and I knew this whole weekend was too good to be true with all the chaos going on in our room. Here's a little background history: Kris cannot relax before a big marathon! The past three marathon's I've been to with Kris have been an emotional roller-coster. The guy, simply can't chill out! It's the combination of tapering for a marathon, and Kris Houghton genetics. So why shouldn't he relax before CIM?!?! Well, he's frantically running around the room on his iphone trying to google: what to do if you find a bat, and I'm surprised it didn't tell him to pull his head out of his A$$ and leave the damn thing alone! They have rabies!!!! So, after an hour of running back and forth from the room to the staircase to his iphone, he finally made a bat bed, put the damn thing in it, and placed it in a cabinet in the hotel room until this bat lady showed up to take it to a conservation place or something... Just as long as everyone was in bed, and "trying" to rest for the morning ordeal, I would be a little more at ease.

Then, at around 2:50am Kris' phone rang, and Maria was on the other end explaining that her water broke and she'd be going into labor. Now, this was for real! Kris was able to get a flight out of Oakland at 7am and would be back in Albuquerque by 10am. He organized this in a matter of minutes, and told me sorry he wouldn't be able to race. He also told me to qualify for him, since he wouldn't even have the opportunity to... Those emotional words stayed in my heart as the morning went on.

Finally... it's 4:30am and my parents take Solomon and I to the host hotel so that we can get bused to the start. I get separated from Solomon and end up in the back of a random school bus sitting next to a nice girl who happens to work for Brooks and is attempting to qualify for the trials as well. The 45 minute bus ride goes by very quickly as we talk about running and Brooks as a company. Once we arrive at the start, the temperature seems colder and all the "elite" runners huddle in the Elite Tents. The thought of claustrophobia sets in, as a few dozen runners are packed into these tents. I leave immediately after I get my socks and shoes on for a short warm up. This lovely girl comes along, but I never see her after I sneak off into the brush to water the bushes from over hydration. I frantically get back to the tent and attempt to strip down so that I can get to the starting line. I notice how cold it is, and leave my gloves on, and I almost kept my watch on, but decided at the last minute that I would run back to my bag and ditch it. I'm thinking, I'm just going to race off of feeling and not worry about splits. So, with the luck of my entire 5th grade class and their signatures on my racing flats, I feel ready to go.

I am finally on the starting area and I still don't see Solomon or anyone else that I recognized. I thought there'd be a slew of guys that I knew, like: Paul Wellman, Nate Pennington, Mario Macias, Ryan Bak, Mario Mendoza... but I didn't see any of them at the start, only at the tent area. There was just too many people in this race, and I knew at that moment it was going to be a gagglefest of runners trying to hit the Olympic Trials Standard. A lot of dreams where going to get crushed, and a couple were going to come true. Well, the National anthem was sung and a quick count down was started right before the barrage of runners took to the streets! And the mayhem began!

In the first mile I could finally see everyone settle into a rhythm. There was two distinct packs forming and I was cruising behind the guys in the chase pack (2nd pack). The lead group of about 15 runners had Ryan Bak leading the group and Mario Macias in the mix of African runners. In this first mile with a slight downhill I decided to keep my composure and stick behind this chase pack of bobbling idiots. We come by the first mile and I hear an array of GPS/Watches clicking and beeping off all around me. One runner (who happens to be a Hansons runner) is directly to my left and is signaling to me as a police officer directing traffic, that he wants to move across my line of running to be next to his "teammate". He couldn't wait in this wonderfully long marathon race that he anxiously jumps across my path to get next to his teammate. I'm thinking that there's too much anxiety going on around these idiots and I have to get out of here. "5:14... perfect!" is called out by one runner. Another asks what pace they want to run, and a conversation of "Well, 5:18 pace, just what everyone here wants to run..." is going on right in front of me. Again, I can't stand this and immediately move to the right and leave the group of digglefucks, never to see a single one of these runners again until I finish. But, I didn't know that at the time...

I see the original leader Ryan Bak relinquish the lead and ease up behind the lead group. I figure I could catch him so that I wouldn't be alone, and neither would he. We could work together in-a-sense. So it takes me a little less than a mile and I run up beside him. At this point I feel like the old school marathoners from the 70's, especially since Ryan's wearing the nostalgic Oregon Track Club singlet, and I've got the Dukes Track Club singlet on, and we are about to have an unnecessary conversation.

He looks over with a questioning tone and says "Jesse?".

I acknowledge quickly with a "Hey Ryan.".

And now a quick question of, "What are you looking to run?" is asked.

And I reply, sounding like a tool, "Something FAST...!".

He nods his head, and I continue my with another quirky response of, "Lets do this!".

We are now stride for stride, watching the lead pack gain ground on us, over, and down, and up hills. With each mile marker being past, I can hear Ryan's Garmin beeping. I never bother to ask him what pace we are on, but it was a curious thought. At each designated elite aid station, we grab our bottles and take in the desired fuel. Miles start to come up quickly and the lead group is still putting ground on us, but only at the cost of a few African runners fading off for us to overcome. The crowds are cheering us on and the pace feels great. The lead pack is now shedding guys from their pace and the winner of this marathon is being determined right in front of us.

Ryan and I turn a bend and head up a slight hill that leads us to the half way spilt and a clock ticking away. I see 1:07:10 as we approach, and we ran pass the mat in 1:07:16. This meant nothing to me. I felt pretty good and under control at this point, and that split could have said anything. I guess at halfway, the time doesn't matter, and the effort is all that matters. It was a complete arbitrary number. I just knew I had to keep the same effort for the next half of the race. Well, after coming up on mile 14, I started to feel really good. The leaders where coming back to us, and I had these thoughts of grander... maybe I could pick all these guys off and win this thing... this performance could change my life! Well... I started pressing harder and harder at this point. A few Africans fell off and I started feeling better! Ryan must have kept his cool, because he was now a few meters behind me. I tried to keep pressing, then at around mile 18, I couldn't push the pace anymore. I was overcome by Ryan and couldn't respond to the continued pace I had started. I started to fade a little, but not much...

Mile 20 came up pretty quick after that mess, and I just kept cool and looked forward to my last aid station at mile 21.5. I may have been slowing down, but I had no idea by how much. Mile 21.5 came and I saw my bottle, but failed to grab it tight, so it slipped out of my hands. I could hear the aid station crew regurgitate what just happen by saying, "oh, he dropped his bottle.". Yes, I dropped a bottle of precious fuel, oh no, the world is going to end... not exactly! I just kept going, and kept my cool, grabbing whatever was offered at the water stations. Things would be fine. The next couple miles were painful as I hoped I didn't just screw up this race by sprinting my brains out from mile 14-17. Oh well, time would only tell.

By the time I got to mile 23, this buster comes up on me and tells me to come with him. I attempt to move my legs, but I can't match his stride for more than 400 meters. He takes off on me, and I think to myself that if this guy just flew by me, then the whole train of guys are coming soon! It turns out that he was on the relay team, but I didn't know that at the time. Now, some guy on the street is looking at his watch and tells us we still have a shot at qualifying for the trials. I am in denial at this point, there is no way we are going to hit a sub 2:19. I also think, I might run an okay PR. About two miles or so go by, and I start to hear more foot steps. I look at the street signs and still see 30 something street, as the finish is closer to 9th or 8th street, so this only means I am going to get passed by more guys. Well, once those footsteps come next to me, a familiar voice with a Kenyan accent tells me, "hello, lets go.".

It's Solomon! Now, I have to go with him. I can't let him down. I also think, I still have a shot at a PR. His momentum and stride is very smooth, so I muster myself together to stay with him. My muscles are pumping nothing but battery acid at this point, and are as heavy as bricks. But, I still must stay with Solomon. The finish line is near, as we pass the capitol building on out left and mile marker 26 appears! 400 meters is all that's left! Solomon's speed is increasing, and the steeple chaser in him is coming out. I try to go with him and think to myself that I have plenty of pain to push out of this body to finish as strong as I can. With about 100 meters to go, a clock is on the corner of the street with the lucky digits of 2:17:00 clicking away...! My heart and lungs suddenly open up and take in that emotional feeling that I've already accomplished everything I wanted. And with this flood of emotion overcoming inside of me, I start to sprint harder than I've every felt; maybe not faster than every, but gut wrenching and teeth grinning fast! I lose control of my senses and start fist pumping and screaming inside! Arms are waving and the last reaction I have is of victory as I am looking to the heavens and just thanking God from my heart with my hands held high!

One

Two

Three

Victory!

And it didn't stop there... I saw my parents, and my mom screaming her brains out with joy. My dad was practically speechless while a volunteer place a medal over me and I was trying to catch my breath. I could feel all the emotion pouring down on me that I couldn't even breathe. A slight bit of hyperventilating was occurring as I was so freakin excited. I also had a stupid grin on my face for hitting the time, but I didn't care. I went over to my mom to give her a hug as tears of joy were about to stream down my face. Needless to say, she was very happy, as well as my father. I was so glad they were there to share this with me. I love them with all my heart, and thank God I have such wonderful parents to support me throughout all those years of training and being there for me when it counted. They are my motivation, inspiration, and keep me determined to do the best I can! Like the rest of the Armijo's in my family, we always do things at the last minute and up against the clock, as this was literally the last chance to qualify for the trials!

To everyone else that has supported me through this crazy ordeal:

THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU ALL!

And baby Alma Rose Houghton was born on this same day during this race! Congratulations Kris and Maria!

Results:

http://www.flashresults.com/2012_Meets/CIM/searchind/Results.htm

Marathon Training & Cross Country (Week 9)

A little over due, but nevertheless, it's here... cross country season that is. Well, at least college cross country, the "real" cross country season doesn't start until the winter. So, to clarify some things, our Dukes Track Club put together a pretty solid cross country team to go up against some local colleges including the UNM Lobos. The Lobo Invitational, as it is rightly named, was held on Saturday. Before that, I had only one workout leading up to the race. The rest of the days were just easy miles and some strides here and there.

The workout was conveniently held around the Lobo cross country course, which is held on the UNM North gold course. The cross country course is a nice well groomed grass golf course with many angulating hills and quite a few turns. But, the tempo workout we planned was not on the course, but rather around it on a 2 mile dirt perimeter loop with some hills. The plan was a simple 20 minute tempo, then 10 minutes jogging rest, then another 20 minute tempo. I wore a garmin to get some mile splits, which were: 5:51, 5:26, 5:43, and 5:45 pace for the remaining half mile in the 20 minute segment. After that, we had a nice 10 minute rest and hit the 20 minute tempo again, with mile splits of: 5:46, 5:26, 5:41, and 5:32 pace for a little more than half a mile. It wasn't that fast, but a good workout over some different terrain.

The rest of the week leading up to the 8k cross country race consisted of easy runs and some strides. Once race day came on that Saturday, the Dukes Track Club had a full team, along with a few more guys totaling 10 guys. The meet wasn't scored, but we knew were going to score it once the carnage subsided. In my opinion, this was one of the best teams I've ever been on for a cross country team! The team consisted of the following with times and placing:

4th - Jesse Armijo 25:20

11th - Allen Wagner 25:47

12th - Neal Holtschulte 25:50

14th - Kris Houghton 25:56

17th - Soloman Kandie 26:04

37th - Chris Peverada 26:56

51st - Loren Wholetz 27:57

52nd - Mark Pepple 28:02

76th - Trevor Manzanares 31:05

79th - Dana Patton 33:58

With a 1st man to 5th man spread of only 44 seconds, this team beat out: Utep, New Mexico State, UNM and a few other's that aren't that significant... The race itself was pretty sweet, since out track club is a bunch of rag-tag road racers that don't give a crap of what other people think! So, as the race started, Kris took the lead with about 800m into the start. Allen and I crept up to make it a Dukes TC 1 through 3 through the mile. But after that, I got a little excited and took over for about a mile and got taken over to settle in 4th place. Most of the hilly and tangly course I remained in 4th, while getting past by some guys here and there. Towards the end, I was in 6th and was kicking with about 800m to go. At that point, I managed to take over 3 guys and found myself in 3rd place, yet once I got to that point another Kenyan/Utep runner flew by all of us to take 3rd; leaving me in 4th place. Nevertheless, after crossing the line in a time faster than my previous attempt on this course, I watched as more and more Dukes TC guys came barreling down the straightaway! After everyone came in, we tallied up the score and figured out we won... unofficially, since the meet isn't scored. Oh well, we had our glory. The next day was just an easy 22 miler, which felt hard as I was very tired.

Week 9

Mon - am. easy 10 miles / pm. easy 4 miles w/3x hill strides

Tue - am. easy 4 miles

Wed - am. tempo workout, total 12 miles / pm. easy 8 miles

Thur - am. easy 8 miles / pm. med 12 miles w/some strides

Fri - pm. easy 8 miles

Sat - 8k xc race, total 10 miles / pm. easy 8 miles

Sun - med/easy 22 miles

Total: 106

Flu and another Epic Run

A few weeks ago I got the flu which totally put a damper on my training.  But now in my second week back I am feeling 100 percent and ready to be more consistent with my training.  After a moderate 95 mile week after having about a week off from the flu, I was ready to run with our team.  That week included an unexpected Epic run... well, it was expected just not from me coming back from a sickness.  Regardless, we decided to get back on our marathon schedule which entailed a lovely Epic run up La Luz and back.  When I got word of this on saturday night, I contacted a few other team members: Kris (who planned this epic run), Juan (who has joined us before in a 35 mile run to Belen),  and two newer members Josh (who ran one Epic run before and can't get enough of them) and Dustin (who moved here from North Carolina to train for the marathon).  Yes, our crew has grown from 3 to 5 insane individuals...

This run was more of a mental challenge than anything else.  Even though it took us 3:25 to cover the 9000ft of accent and decent over 24 miles, it still was a culminating factor of mental toughness and physical toughness.  I was happy to see everyone get through this run without any injuries.  There were doubts and frustration at times, but in the end it was a great experience.  It was also surprising that we finished 20 minutes faster than the last time we did this God forsaken run.  And I didn't feel completely dead at the top, compared to last time.  Everyone was in good posture...

Now, with that run under our belts a few of us have 12 or 13 weeks till our marathon.  These should be the crucial weeks leading up to the race, so I'm hoping things will continue to progress as they have and the Dukes Track Club get better throughout the months.  Things are taking form and it's real exciting to see new addictions to the team.          

Focused

So the past couple of weeks have been pretty good as far as training goes.  Not too many distractions, and surprisingly I've hit some high mileage weeks without even noticing it.  A few of us did our traditional Epic run over the Sandia's, which we completed in a much faster time than the previous times, and I felt a lot better this time.  Maybe it was due to the fluids I was taking... Either way, it was Epic and exciting.  We will be doing two more "Epic" runs leading up to Twin Cities Marathon in October.  Besides that run and tempo runs, we will be adding some fartleks into the training regimen starting tomorrow!  This I am excited for!  Some speed should help us out just as it did last fall.  

Our team also has another member; Dustin Hicks, who drove out here from North Carolina with his girlfriend to train with us for the marathon trials standard.  The group/team looks promising and all the guys are getting along.  As I titled this blog "Focused", it does seem as if many of the runners are very focused and determined to reach our goals.  There are so many personal and team goals that I have for us, which I know we can accomplish.  Some are broad, like wanting Albuquerque to be an American Distance mecca.  This will take time, support and collaboration, but its worth it.  And some are more personal, of course like hitting the US olympic trials standard.  Whereas others would be to have our team (Dukes Track Club) become a known training group where aspiring runners can train and develop.  Its all in good fun, and I'm excited to see everyone enjoying themselves.  

Once our damn website comes up, I'll have to post it on here.  Also, a congratulations to our temporary roommate, UNM athlete Matt Ashton, who finished 16th at NCAA 10k this past week.  This Brit is a great guy and brings a different aspect of life to us.  His teammate Chris Barnicle also placed well in the 10k, with a 13th place finish.  And of course Lee Emanuel was 3rd in the 1500m final, which was won wire to wire by German Fernandez.  Either way, these UNM guys are putting New Mexico on the map, and I only hope a tiny post-colligate group can add to the allure that Albuquerque offers.      

A.R.T. and the Dukes Track Club

So I was referred to an A.R.T. specialist for my planter fasciitis.  A.R.T. mean Active Release Treatment.  It seems to work.  Kris has been talking about it for a couple of years, and last Thursday was the first time I went.  It is pretty interesting, just a combination of breaking down scar tissue while creating a range of motion.  Of course it was painful, but tolerable.  After last weeks session, i felt a huge improvement later than evening on my run with the guys.  Speaking of which, last Thursday was an official team meeting for the newest track/running club in Albuquerque.

The Dukes Track Club!  Right now we have 11 guys that are very interested in training together and having fun.  We have been organizing for a couple of months now, but last Thursday was an exciting time for everyone.  One of the guys on the team (Tristan Willey, who helps out with Flotrack) got a new video camera and did some filming and interview about the Dukes.  You can find the video here.  Its funny and interesting, which parallels who we are and why we train together, its all about having fun!  Soon we will have a website and that will be posted here as well.