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

8 Days till The USA Marathon Championships

With only 8 days left until the biggest race of 2013 for me, I sit patiently in a city that has given me so many great memories - Houston.  The reason for my trip to Houston starts in the summer, a time when I thought my life would revolve only around running and not teaching. Boy was I wrong. I'm here in Houston for training, but not the running kind; the kind needed for a new teacher who has entered the Independent School system. You can call it Professional Development, and I'll call it a life changing experience. You see, I got hired as a Physical Education teacher at Manzano Day School (private school) and have fully embraced this new lifestyle. Let's rewind...

It's spring time, and I'm actually finishing my first year as a classroom teacher, a day I never thought would happen. 180 days in what you would call a school or learning environment, a safe haven, a place for growth. Well, it was the excact opposite and I was ready to leave and never look back. I was going to "run" away from that place and not have to think about that school again. Well, I did, and I searched for something else. And as luck would have it, a dream position opened at a very impressive school that I applied for a year earlier. MDS was hiring a P.E. teacher and I got it. I was a bit afraid of the expectations and how "perfect" everything seemed, but as time pasted everything is falling into place. 

So back to Houston. I'm here because I needed to see how our school is connected to other successful schools in the Southwest and what learning is suppose to look like. And it looks joyous! 

The school, the kids, the parents, the other teachers and staff all make this job a great environment.  And more importantly make me a better person. You can even ask Arlene (my girlfriend); since signing that contact with my school, I have found NO excuse not to wake up before the sun rises and hit the pavement. I have no reason to sleep in and dream of a better school to be at. I can leap out of bed with a clear focus on making the 2016 trials, while other athletes sleep in and rest all day.  I can gain inspiration from amazing kids that I'm around everyday, and return that favor by accomplishing a goal that I want more than anything - to make the Olympic Trials Standard as a full-time teacher! The only barrier I had was myself, and now I have everyone in my corner helping me along this path.

From Houston Hobby airport after my last day of Professional Development. 

Skagit Half Marathon: 19 days from Twin Cities Marathon

After coming back from the Skagit Half Marathon in Burlington, Washington with a 1st place finish and a decent time of 1:06:47, I can honestly say I am ready for Twin Cities.  Granted, I would've liked a quicker performance at Skagit, but nevertheless, I am content to be running pain free and focused on the target at hand.

Just as the title says, we only have 23 days left until the Twin Cities Marathon.  And for marathon training, that's nothing.  "The hay's in the barn" is what my old coach - Steve Scott would always say.  So from this standpoint, there isn't much work to be done, just maintaining fitness and staying healthy.

So I will recap a little bit on the Skagit Flats Half Marathon:

The town of Burlington is about 1 hour north of Seattle, and has a small town charm to it, mixed with strip malls and suburban shopping centers filled with familiar shops such as Starbucks, KFC and your local Albertson's.  The race starts at the High School and heads west, but on race day, there was so much fog in the air you didn't really know which direction you were going, but that was a good thing.  I did my usual early morning shake-out run, then a hot shower, breakfast and headed out to the race with a coffee in hand.  The weather was perfect and I was ready to run fast, but I was a bit worried as the first mile had course arrows along the sidewalk... this made me nervous, as I didn't want to be racing on sidewalks that dipped every 10 feet for a driveway.  However, once the race started we followed a police car that cleared the traffic on the road for about 2 miles.  After that point in the race, it was all farm land with a brief house breaking up the open fields which were being swallowed by the foggy air.  The race heads out for about 6.5 miles, then comes right back.  It was pretty much flat with an ever so slight incline heading out.

Skagit Marathon and Half Marathon Start.  Perfect Conditions

Coming back would have a nice little decent, but nothing too noticeable.  Then once you get within a mile of the high school, you venture through the neighborhood, into the school and finish on the track.  It was pretty straight forward and I didn't really have anyone to run with the entire time.  I was fortunate enough to have 4 people on the lead bike for me, but after the 6.5 mile turnaround, I only had 1 bike, and they weren't really "pacing" me, just leading me throughout the course.

8am was the start time and I took off by myself with an easy 5:02 opening mile.  My second mile was 4:57 and I basically stayed around 4:50's-5:10's till the turn around.  Now, I wasn't quite sure if the turn around was exactly half way, or just the correct distance out to make the round trip equal 13.1 miles, but I hit that point in 32:21, and was attempting to figure the math out...  I thought that I had enough time to be under 65 minutes and hit the qualifying time, but I was wrong in many cases.  All in all, it was a great effort and time trial.  On to Twin Cities and whoever shows up.

37 More Days and 3 Goals in Mind

Well, it's about 5 weeks until the USA Marathon Championships, and I am getting more and more excited about it.  I know training is going smooth, and I feel confident with each passing week that this race will be one of my best performances.  I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I feel that things are going to go the way I foresee them.  At this point, I am not 100% sure who will be on the starting line.  I have a few guesses towards who will be there, but the full list hasn't been posted yet.  The prize structure is excellent, the course can be a bit challenging, and the competition will be excellent.  With all these factors in mind; I have set 3 separate goals that I would like to accomplish.

Goals:
Run a PR
Qualify for the Olympic Trials
Top 10 finish

First off, my number one priority is to run a PR.  By running a person record, I would accomplish 2 goals, and quite possibly all 3 goals.  You just never know who'll be in the race, and a 2:17 or 2:16 could be 11th place...  Either way, I would be extremely happy if I ran a marathon faster than I've ever gone before.  So with that said, yes, I want to PR and I feel that I am in PR shape.

The second goal would be great to accomplish if things went south during the race, and would alleviate a lot of pressure when picking other races to get ready for.  If nothing else, this is a huge priority and something I should be able to do.

The third goal should happen if I am as fit as I think I am.  I really want to compete and race well, and by finishing in the top 10 would accomplish that.

When it is all said and done, I am going to approach this race just as it is - a Race!  The only times I've done well are when I race the marathon against those that are in the field.  Every time I calculate the race and pace myself, it doesn't end too well.  I am not going to kill myself and race from the lead thinking I can win it, but I am going to assess the runners and my own fitness, and see how well I do against those that show up to the Twin Cities.  Now I just need to figure out which Brooks shoes to race in...

Which Brooks T-Racer shall I pick...?

A New Chapter

Well it's been a busy 4 weeks since my last post, and life is going swell.  A few key notes to add are as followed; I have a new job teaching the youth of Albuquerque some Physical Education, and that training is still going strong.

Unlike last year; when school started and I fell into a numb state of existence, I actually feel great and energized by the positive atmosphere I am in at my new school.  Manzano Day School is like teacher heaven, at least that's what other teachers have been telling me.  But, it truly feels welcoming and nurturing.  And it doesn't just feel that way for the students, I believe the staff and faculty feel the same way when showing up everyday.  This has been a great change for me, and I think my running is going to improve with this kind of positive environment I'm in.

Now the running - it's good!  Twin Cities is 42 days away (but who's counting), and every week has been getting better and better.  I don't expect a miracle to happen, but I feel confident that something good will matriculate on the streets of Minneapolis/St. Paul.  Since Twin Cities is the USA Marathon Champs, and the bar will be high, I better run my best.  I feel a pr coming...