From Phoenix to Boston in 26.2 Miles: My First Marathon

Start here at the base of the Usary Mountain, then it's only 26.2 Miles to go....

Spring of 2012 was about the worst time of life from a personal stand point.  Nothing seemed to be going my way and so I took a trip to Lansing and walked, with my dad, in the Lansing 5K part of the first ever Lansing Marathon.  My dad had just had knee surgery on his left knee, after having surgery on his right the year before.  He wanted to walk the 5K to celebrate all of the rehab he had been through the last year.  Plus my dad was a runner years before and had run the Detroit Marathon and was excited to be part of Lansing's first ever Marathon in some way.  As for me, I was in terrible shape, really, but I too used to run in high school and thought it would be a good thing to do with my dad.  So that Sunday morning in April we headed downtown and proceeded to walk the 5K in horrifically cold and windy temperatures.  It really was miserable outside, but it was a festive environment as we watched the Marathon kick off then the 5K started.  My dad was pleased and despite the wind and cold we made the most of it. Afterwards I traveled back home and really didn't think too much more about it.

About a week later, April 30, I was bemoaning my own personal strife with my good friend John Eloff when he mentioned that maybe I should start running again and maybe that would be good for me.  I'm not sure why it made such a difference when he said that, but it suddenly clicked and with that I went down to the Dick's Sporting Goods at the local mall and bought a pair of running shoes off the clearance rack.  Not being really sure if I would stick with the running, I figured I wouldn't spend too much money.  But I suddenly felt some excitement, drove home, put on my new shoes, did some stretching and proceeded to try and run a 3.5 mile path through my very hilly neighborhood.  I got about 1.5 before I had to stop, but I kept walking and then started running again and eventually made it home.  I was tired and felt woefully out of shape, but was glad that I did it.  The next morning I did it again and still only made it about 1.5 before I had to stop, the hills were really killing me, but I kept it up and for the next 2 weeks I did this every morning eventually being able to run the whole way even up the 2 killer hills on the course.

For some reason after those two weeks I decided I should try and run further, maybe it was bravado, maybe just a feeling of false accomplishment from what I'd done for a whole 2 weeks, but really it was just something that seemed like the right thing to do.  So I mapped out a 5 mile path through the neighborhoods and tried to run 5 miles.  The first time I went about 4 miles and had to walk a bit, but after a week or so I got to where I was running 5 miles every morning non-stop.  It didn't always feel good, but I never missed a day, never, and soon the hills that had dominated me, didn't seem so bad.  They were still challenging, no doubt, but they didn't defeat me like they did initially.  But the ritual was born and every day, without fail, I would wake up early, stretch, jump rope and then run the 5 miles.  Even when I had to travel or be to work extra early, I would either wake up at 3 a.m. and run, or run wherever I traveled too.  I became obsessed, maybe OCD, about not missing a day.  Maybe it was because at that point in time it felt like running was the only thing I could control or that I was literally trying to run away from my personal stuff, whatever the reasons that was how I felt at the time.  Many times I would even wake up at 2 a.m. and instead of waiting for 6 a.m., I was just too anxious and I would get out and run in the dead of the night.  Running was now part of my daily routine and the time out on the roads gave me a lot of opportunity to think and to sort through all the personal stuff I had going on. It helped for sure, it didn't necessarily solve anything, but it helped.

During this time I thought maybe I should run a 5K myself, see what kind of shape I was really in and it would also give me a reason to keep running, to train for the races.  The first race I ran was a 5K for my church/school.  I had only been running about 3 weeks at that point, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but it went well and the big surprise, I ended up taking first place in my age group and won a medal.  I guess that was good fuel because I then started finding other 5K's around the area and that gave me a reason to keep running every day, to keep training.  I eventually ran about 8 races last summer and fall and I won or placed in my age group in most of them, but more importantly to me, my times kept getting better and better and that gave me even more reason to keep running.

About 2 months into running 5 miles every day, I decided to try and run further, first 6 miles, then 8, then 10, not every day, but mixing it up 5-6-8-10-8-6-5, this became a typical week.  I got up every morning and ran, still never missed a day and after many talks with my dad about his many years of running and pounding the pavement(which ultimately led to him having to virtually replace both knees) he kept telling me that I needed to take a day off each week, let my legs and body rest.  Of course being a stubborn son, I refused to listen and never did take a day off, despite rain, cold, snow,but finally I realized that it wouldn't hurt me to do so and eventually once a week I didn't run and it may seem hard to understand, but it was almost torturous not doing so.  I'd still wake up early and I'd just sit there thinking about how I wasn't running.  Probably not healthy, I'll admit, but that's how I felt.

The Pony Express, sure its faster on a horse, but try running it!

Sometime in the early fall I googled marathon training, just to see what it might entail.  Never figuring I was anywhere near the level where I could run 26.2 miles, I was just curious.  Much to my amazement almost all of the marathon training schedules I found had you running from 30-50 miles a week.  With my current schedule I was already doing that and was having no issue whatsoever, so I started looking at Marathons in Phoenix and found The Phoenix Marathon on March 2.  It was now early September and the training schedule was for 18 weeks, which would have me start it at the end of October.  I kept up my running until then and by now it was a lot more varied, I wasn't stuck on the schedule like before and I was still taking the one day off a week.  Come October I was ready to begin and really the first month or so of training there was virtually no change to what I was already doing, just a bit more regimented-one long run a week on Sundays, but the big change was the schedule had you taking 2 days off a week.  That was too much for me, so for a long time I only took off on Saturdays, the day before my long run. 




This year it takes place 3-2-2013 that's when you can "Earn the Bird".

I ran a few more 5K's during this time and my times kept getting better eventually topping out at 19:55 which is good for my age group, but no where near what I ran in high school.  But I was more than happy as it had only been about 6 months that I'd been running and at times when I thought about it, even I was shocked at the progress.  I would run along the Arizona Canal with the Sole Sports Running Group sometimes and all by myself at other times, in the dark of the early morning, having stopped running at 3 a.m. thanks to advice from a good friend; even in Scottsdale nothing good can happen at 3 in the morning.  I also ran on Wednesday nights with my friend Gregg at Papago Park, running the foothills with the Aravaipa Running Group, a bunch of extreme runners who do 100 mile races, a different level for sure.  I have no illusions of EVER doing that, but running with others makes it more fun and interesting. 

The Arizona canal, it extends for approximately 30 miles across the Valley, I think I've covered most of it by now.

In early December I noticed the Fiesta Bowl 1/2 Marathon would be taking place and would literally run right by my place, my first thought was that I could watch it from my porch, then it hit me, why not run it?  By now my long runs were 10+ miles anyway, why not just make it my long run for the week.  Having run only 5K races at this point, I had some trepidation as racing 3.1 miles is a lot different that racing 13.1 and sure I'd run that far on my long runs, but those were never races, just Sunday runs on my own.  As the race got closer, I got more excited and I knew I had one advantage, the course was on roads I ran every single day, thus I knew the twists and turns in the roads, the distances between each, all the mental things one needs when running.  I soon learned how big this race was, this would be the 25th year and they were expecting 1500 runners, which was far more than the 100-300 runners in the 5K's I'd been running.

A few weeks before the race, over Thanksgiving, I took a trip to Salt Lake City to see my brother Jeff and his wife, Rebecca.  Of course the training never stops even for holiday's and I ran each day in miserable 20 degree temperatures and darkness.  But a big thing happened while I was in SLC; I have had an iPod for 3 years and have never put any music on it and it occurred to me that maybe when I was doing some of these longer runs that took an hour or two, that music might help. Well thanks to Rebecca my iPod got loaded with over 4 hours of great songs that I chose and I tried it out on my runs in SLC and it was fantastic!  However I then headed back to the warmer temps in Scottsdale for final race preparations.

Lake Marguerite with the McDowell Mtns. in the back, from my balcony, much nicer weather.

The night before the race I could hardly sleep and I was worried that I would be too tired come race time, but there was nothing I could do.  The race started at 7:30 a.m. and around 6:15 a.m. I drove downtown to get ready.  The place was crawling with people, runners, families, spectators, it was crazy.  The worst part for me before any race is the anticipation, the waiting before it finally begins.  I did my stretching, walked around, stayed loose and eventually they lined us up.  I had my iPod ready to go and got into position.  I noticed the runner next to me had a technical watch and he looked like an avid runner, I ask him what time he planned to run figuring he had the watch to pace himself and he told me he wanted to run 7:00 minute miles.  My goal was 8:00 minute miles which would have me finish in about 1 hour 45 minutes, 7 minute miles would be around 1 hour 32 minutes.  So I figured I might be slower by the end and I would try to stick with this guy as long as I could and then hopefully hang on to finish by 1:45.  The gun went off and we started and the adrenaline was pumping and running that first mile felt like nothing at all as we got to the mile marker, it showed 7:34.  I was right on this guy's hip and he said he was going to run 7:00's and I truly had felt like I slowed down to run with him.  This made me angry and I blew past that guy and just decided to run at my own pace, just like I did every day.  As I passed him I saw him look at me with surprise and I'm sure he figured he'd pass me back soon enough.  Well every mile had a clock and as the miles clicked off as I went down Scottsdale Road, a road I run virtually every day, I noticed that I was staying at the 7:00 minute pace, if not a little bit faster, so I just kept going.  Soon enough we turned down the street by my place which is almost exactly half way and I was still on track.  Around Mile 10 I started to feel fatigued and I should say at this point not one person had passed me, there were plenty of runners ahead of me and I'd passed a bunch, but no one had yet to pass me. That changed come Mile 11 and it was deflating as I knew I was slowing down and I was tired, but as we kept passing the mile markers I was still on track with a 7 minute pace.  Eventually about 6-7 people passed me but I soon enough came to Mile 13 with only the last 0.1 to go.  With a big crowd downtown I could see the finish line and gave it all I had left and ran in strong finishing right at the 7 minute pace in 1:31:58. 

I was shocked, surprised myself that I could sustain that pace for so long.  I was tired, sure, but I wasn't worn out. After about 5 minutes of rest I felt really good and I soon realized two things.  First, I ended up finishing in 57th Place out of 1200+ runners.  Second, the timers at mile markers were based on the gun start to the race.  Because there were so many people in the race, I didn't cross the Starting Line for about 30 seconds so when I got to Mile 1 and it said 7:34, it was really 7:04, just like the guy I was running behind was going for.  But the race was chip timed so your actual time is different then then what you see.  I hadn't realized that, but what a good error it turned out to be otherwise I may have never left that guy in the dust(he never did pass me back).  Turned out running my own race was the way to go.  When I was done, I texted my parents and Jeff and then John Eloff, who immediately tells me he just looked and if you keep up that pace, you can qualify for the Boston Marathon!?!?!

 After the 1/2 Marathon, feeling good, but wait that's only 1/2 way?!?!?!?

I was floored, that had never even occurred to me.  I've never run a single marathon and I'd only been running about 7 months at that point.  To think I could qualify for Boston in my age group, I mean that's the Holy Grail for a marathoner.  Well that has spurred me on to continue to train relentlessly to see if I can in fact qualify for Boston.  To do so I need to run the Phoenix Marathon in 3 Hours and 15 Minutes, a 7:30 mile pace.  Sure I ran at 7:00 for the Half, but that's only HALF!  But it has fueled my training for sure.  I have now done a number of 20 mile training runs and those have gone really well, thanks to my iPod and a chance encounter with two Olympic hopefuls. During a 22 mile run, around Mile 16 I came upon 3 runners, turns out two of them were training for the next Olympic Marathon and the third was their coach.  I had no problem keeping up with them, but as we talked my speech was labored, tired and I was tired, while they were talking as though they were sitting at the kitchen table, hardly phased as they had run 19 miles at that point. But they gave me lots of advice about running my first marathon and they also left me with something to ponder.  It may seem hard to understand, but even after all this time I never really thought of myself as a runner, running was just something I did, nothing more, just a routine, but as one of the Olympians said, "You got up on a Sunday morning at 6 a.m., its 25 degrees, pitch black and you're running 22 miles all by yourself-face it you're a serious runner." It was strange hearing that, but I guess it was true, I had just never thought of it like that, the Marathon had just become a goal that I was trying to hit, but I guess I am a runner.

So I've been taking 2 days off each week while still running 40-50 miles a week.  My initial marathon goal was to break 4 hours, but ultimately to break 3 Hours 30 minutes, the time my Dad ran the Detroit Marathon years ago. But now I think I have a chance to do even more and literally run from Phoenix to Boston in less than a year's time.  Will I do it, I don't know, but I do know I will give it everything I got and after all it will be my first marathon, so really finishing is most important.  There will be no disappointment no matter how I do, but know this with my iPod and the support of my family and friends throughout all of this and with my parents coming to visit and see the race, I will be well-prepared and ready.  Running has been good for me and has certainly helped me in a lot of ways.  But really is qualifying for Beantown, for the chance to run through South Boston with a bunch of tough-guy wannabees with horrible accents yelling and cursing with wicked awesome vernacular and attitudes, because you know Bostonians are so friendly, is that really a prize?  But then again, I can always curse back, and if you know me, you know I would, besides what are they are going to do about, I mean they'd have to catch me first and after all, I'm a runner.

Phoenix Marathon here I come!
 

High atop Squaw Peak, another day of training in the books, Fire Up!



 ****I will certainly blog about my Marathon experience after the race.  In the meantime feel free to send good thoughts my way on March 2nd, I'll need and use them all as fuel.