Angela convinced me that we absolutely needed to do the marathon training team again this year. It would be difficult for me to put down in one post just how much we learned doing this last year. In short, we went from people who go jogging occasionally to runners. Here would be my top list of things I took away from last year:

• Good equipment (clothing, shoes, GPS, hydration, etc.) won’t make you a good runner, but bad equipment will make you a miserable runner.
• Training is a never-ending process. Training never ends after one race, it just peaks and then ramps down between races.
• Mental conditioning really is that important. Your mind will make you stop long before your body will.
• You have to pay attention to what you’re eating. You can’t eat too few or too many calories; you have to find the right balance.

That only scratches the surface, but there some of the key things I’m trying to keep in mind going into my second marathon. We’re signed up to run the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C. / Arlington, VA at the end of October. We wanted to have a change of scenery this year and give a sort of test run to the idea of running vacations. Angela and I had talked about doing marathons in other cities or even other countries, and then just a couple of weeks ago I read an article in the Christian Science Monitor about how that same thing is getting to be very popular¹ Anyway, it seems like a great way to see more of a new city and meet some of the local people. Of course, Angela will tell you that I’ll stop every 100 yards to take a photo and be worthless as a result.

By joining the training team, we are also signed up to run the Richmond Marathon as well². It’s only 12 days after the Marine Corp, so you’ll have to ask me later if I’m going to run it for sure. Right now, I’m planning on it, but there’s really no way to predict how I’ll be doing then.

Also, I’ve signed up for a free account at WeEndure.com, which is a handy way for me to log all my miles online. I’ll try and keep it going during the whole training. I’ll also add all the races on there for anyone interested. If you’re thinking about visiting us sometime, why not making it a running vacation?

1. One of my new things on my life-to-do list is visit Antarctica and run a marathon there. A training team coach of mine did that last year and became the youngest women to run a marathon on all seven continents in one year.↵
2. It’s included in the fee for the team. After you subtract out the $65 marathon registration, the $15 for the team color t-shirt, and $20 for your marathon racing singlet, the training team only costs $30. That means that you get six months of running advice, access to physical therapists (new this year), free clinics, snacks and energy gels, and more. I mean, I used $30 in energy gels alone last year. Seriously, it’s one of the coolest things in Richmond.↵

This morning I ran my first race since Thanksgiving. Sad to say, I haven’t kept up my (self-)promise to run at least one race every month of the year, as I didn’t do any last month. What’s worse, I really didn’t run much at all last month.

Well, Angela and I have at least started the new year off right by trying to run 3-4 days a week. This morning, I ran the 22nd Annual Frostbite 15k. I’ve been wanting to run this race ever since moving to Richmond, but never had the guts to go out and run 9+ miles in the cold. Well, after learning a great deal about running over the past year, I knew I had it in me this time. I certainly could have been better prepare; I haven’t run more than a 10k since the marathon, which was 2½ months ago! However, it still went about as good as I could have hoped for. I was shooting for 80 minutes and ran it in 1:21:33. Not the fastest I’ve ever ran, but I felt okay upon finishing and Angela still let me back in the house upon my return.

Now, I’m going to go enjoy some well earned breakfast and be lazy until noon.

Last Saturday morning was the 2005 Richmond Marathon, which was the first marathon for both Angela (my wife) and myself. We couldn’t have possibly asked for a better day to run a marathon, or for that matter, better conditions in which to have prepared for the marathon over the past six months. We’ve been members of the Sportsbackers Marathon Training Team, which is an outstanding organization here in Richmond which has become one of the largest of its kind in the country. I thought, since I’ve spent so much of the past six months posting updates on the blog, I’d write a final recap of the event, including what I was thinking at the time and what I’ve learned in doing this.

Pre-Race

I had a good night’s sleep on Friday, save for the three times to get up to use the bathroom (I’ve never been so well hydrated in my life was already looking forward to drying out). I’d been told I’d be lucky if I slept at all, but any nervousness I was feeling wasn’t really keeping me up. I was forcing myself to only concentrate in getting to the start line in order to prevent the overwhelming thought of having to run for hours on end. I’d worry about the immediate step and just wait for the next one to come.

Angela bundled up in the cold as we take some photographs of the training team groups (photo courtesy of Angela Robinson).

Angela and I left to meet with the training group before hand for some large group photos. She was able to locate her running buddy but I kept losing her all morning. The last time I saw her that morning was as we were finding the UPS trucks serving as bag checks to hand over everything we weren’t running with. I tried hunting around for my wife right up until the mass of runners began surging forward as I wanted to give her some last words of encouragement. It turns out she didn’t really need it, but I had the next four-and-a-half hours to feel bad about it.

The First Half

The course represents most every part of the city (save the East side) and is really very great scenery. Since I had lost my usual running partners (the ones who made the race, at least) while looking for Angela, I was on my own for most of the whole race. That was okay with me, since running has always been my "me time." I am usually perfectly content to just enjoy the views along the way. I ended up seeing a few familiar faces along the way, both runners and bystanders alike, which was good enough for me.

While running in a tank-top and high-steppers seemed like a good idea, it resulted in an uncomfortable run (photo courtesy of Brightroom Photography).

The temperature had warmed up so much in the sunshine that I ditched my jacket and gloves after only a mile or so, while still on Broad Street, just in front of the Science Museum. I had been wearing one of those throw-away Tyvek jackets and a pair of cheap cloth gloves which I wouldn’t feel bad about not returning home with. My race dress consisted of just a team singlet and high-cut shorts for the entire race. Since these are essentially what the elite runners wear, I felt good about wearing these. As it turns out, that was my biggest mistake of the race. Looking back over my training, I think that correcting for that was quite obvious. However, I had convinced myself that if that’s what the fast, elite runners wore then it must be beneficial.

My body chemistry is such that my sweat leaves behind an extraordinary amount of salt crystals. You remember that steamy Heart Shaped World video for Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game; the one where they rolled around in the beach sand? Well, I look just like that, once you’ve removed all the sexy and cool. That being the case, I had brought along a small stick of Body Glide to help ward off the skin friction. I stopped just past the half-way point, and even again at 18 miles, but to no good. Dragging a waxy stick across gritty, raw flesh just only makes the problem worse. Also, running and sweating only makes the problem worse, but that’s just what I had to do for another 13.1 miles. I figure wearing a pair of tight, spandex shorts and a t-shirt would have prevent most, if not all, of these problems. It was far too late to do anything about that now, though.

The crowds cheering for me and all the finishers near the end of the race felt incredibly great (photo courtesy of Brightroom Photography).

A simple little running hack I learned from other members of the training group who had been through the program before is that many runners in the "rest" of the pack write their names across their racing shirts. It is really hard to describe just how great it feels to have strangers in the sidelines cheering you on by name. There’s that small drip of adrenaline that comes from having your named called out that lifts your chin up and makes you run tall. Running through a large crowd with people standing rows deep on each side can shave miles off of the run already behind you. Of everything that I did just before the race, taking ten minutes and a Sharpie had the highest dividend. I can’t imagine really doing this on just a 10k, but I honestly don’t know how I’d finish a marathon without doing it. It really is that encouraging to have so many people out there cheering you on in the cold and treating you like the hero of the, if only for just a split second.

The Twenty

Angela enjoys the views and the sunshine along Riverside Drive, just before reaching mile nine (photo courtesy of Brightroom Photography).

Somewhere around mile 15 (I think), I saw one of the coaches for the training group who worked with Angela’s group (her name is also Angela). She recognized me and told me she had talked to Angela just a short while ago and that she was looking great. That was a great boost. Just thinking about my wife’s smiling face when she’s around people always cheers me up. Of course, I’d soon find that thinking about my wife too much was going to bring up too many emotions.

I stopped just before running onto the Lee Bridge at about mile 15 to take a snapshot of the runners spread out ahead of me.

I carried my camera-phone with me to take a few snapshots of the race course along the way. I stopped at either end of the Lee Bridge and took some photos. I didn’t need the break too much at that point, but to see all those people running across that bridge was kind of an awesome sight. I don’t think my little camera quite captured the moment, but then again, there’s a lot of things that are hard to even describe about the race. I did realize, though, that I wasn’t there as a journalist but as a runner. Of course, there were other people snapping photos all along the way and I can understand why. This is a huge deal for most of us, and we want to remember it and share it with others. One thing that amazed me was the fact that so many people were talking on their cell phones during the race. While it’s easy to dismiss this as cell phone addiction, I can appreciate the idea of hearing from some distant family or friends to bring some encouragement during the course. My brother, Dave, even tried calling me but I didn’t hear the phone ring since it was buried down in my Camelbak.

I had essentially been walking at every water stop along the course, just long enough to get down a cup of water and then run on. Stopping for a potty break at mile ten had added some more time as well, but none of those had really been because I needed a break from the run. After about mile 16, though, I began needing walk about a block during the water stops, which were about every two miles. I kept telling myself to just run a little bit further; just to the next water stop and then take a break. Then, I had to fall back to taking a break every mile. This was becoming sort of a mental challenge now, and I needed to prevent myself from having to take any more breaks than necessary.

The Last 10K

I had reached the 20 mile split at just under 3:30 minutes, which was faster than I had run any of the three 20 milers during training. That was a great feeling that picked me up for just a bit. I had managed to maintain a fairly even pace for the first 20 to keep on track for finishing in my goal time of 4:30. However, I still had 6.2 miles to finish. While I had run further on my own, prior to this training a 10k was the longest race I had ever run. I knew I was going to finish, the only question was how many walking breaks. I would need for between here and then end.

One of the things I really hadn’t expect was the emotion component of the run. A friend had told me how he irrationally sobbed for nearly a mile while running past the 22 mile mark on his second marathon. I imagine when a person’s body starts reaching this level of exhaustion, it can be expected that their nerves start to become a little raw. It effects everyone differently, some people not all, I’m sure. I found myself suffering from a next-day soup of emotions any time I though about Angela. From having a overwhelming sense of pride in what she was doing, concern for her since she’d had some problems with shins and cramps earlier, as well as regret for not seeing her immediately before the start; it was all starting to wear on me. I was having to force myself to concentrate on other things, namely the task at hand, and not on her. However, making one force their wife out of their mind can be equally emotionally troubling. So much so, in fact, that my eyes began welling up several times uncontrollably. I did my best to refocus and in fact, running by several crowds helped to take my mind off of it long enough to calm down.

Other than the emotional troubles, there was also the fact that the flesh on my legs and and under my right arm was looking increasingly like raw meat. The cold, wet hand towels being passed out at mile 23 were like a soggy piece of heaven. I was able to clean off the Margarita rim like salt crust off of my forehead as well as try and wipe off the salt crystals in some of the more damaged areas causing trouble. Then, I ran out of sports drink in my Camelbak just before mile 24. Not too much of a problem, in reality, but there’s nothing like sucking on an empty water hose to fill you full of that "you’re done for now" feeling. I was drinking two cups of red sports drink at the mile 24 water stop to reassure myself when one of my coach friends from the training team came running up beside me. He asked if I was doing some sort of run/walk thing, which was no doubt a sincere question and he was simply checking in with me. My raw nerves took this as a accusation (of what, I don’t know) and I answered that yes I was walking the water stops to give my body some short breaks. However, it jolted me into the realization that with just over two miles to go, now was not the time to be walking. He also asked if I had had any muscle problems during the run. I had been extremely fortunate in the fact that I had not had any sort of muscle cramps for over four hours, but I was beginning to notice some in my calves. I took one last moment away from running on the Belvedere bridge over I-95 to stretch both legs and then ran the remainder of the race.

Crossing the finish line in just under 4:40. My final chip time was 4:36, just a few minutes more than my goal (photo courtesy of Brightroom Photography).

The last half-mile of the race (maybe more, actually) is all downhill into a funnel of cheering fans and blaring commentators. Hearing those people shouting and then the announcer call my name and number as I came up to the finish line was like having blinders taken off. Had I really just done all that? My mind, in a matter of seconds, retraced the route I had just been on. Sure enough, I had just run a marathon.

After The Race

Runner’s receive medals and are covered in foil blankets after crossing the finish line. They’re also handed a bottle of water and have their timing chips removed from their shoes before heading out of the corral.

Upon crossing the finish line, you’re given a foil blanket, a bottle of water, and a finisher’s medal. The medal is the sort of thing that normally would feel somewhat cheesy to me. I didn’t exactly come in for bronze, let alone first place. However, having some 20 year old kid put that chintzy piece of steel around my neck felt special. If a person can actually have a huge smile at the same time they’re cringing in pain, then that’s exactly what I was doing. The achievement pales in comparison to what so many people ran that day, including a winner with a new course record. However, the achievement was mine. I just needed one last reminder of that.

Just as I was leaving the chip removal corral, I saw the owner of one of the local running stores. This guy has treated my wife and I like crap every time we’ve gone in his shop (and most friends tell similar stories). I felt like telling him "You know, I just ran a f^@*ing 26.2 mile race, so next time I come in, why don’t you at least treat me like a customer, huh?" But why? I didn’t run it for him, or anyone one else. I did this to prove to myself I could do it. I had to know, and now I did know. I was capable of going further than I had ever before. I just walked on past him. He will probably never consider a guy like me an athlete. However, I don’t have shop at his place and frankly, I don’t consider myself an athlete, either. I’m just a guy who enjoys running and just learned his limits are way beyond where he ever thought they were.

I walked down to the UPS trucks which had held onto my bag for the past few hours. I found a small sidewalk edge near an alley to sit down and put on some pants and a long sleeve t-shirt. I put all my things away, but kept out the medal and my race number. I wanted people around to know that I belonged. More than that, I really wanted to enter the runner’s food tent for something solid and not sugary. Luckily, they had pizza and bagels. I sat down for a while eating my slice of pizza and drinking some more sports drink. After all the sugar I’d had all day, I really didn’t want anymore, but at least this was a different flavor. I found myself obsessing about brushing my teeth.

Angela is just beaming smiles as she runs towards the finish line. You did it, baby! (photo courtesy of Brightroom Photography)

After a while, I got up to walk back uphill to the finish line. There was no way I was going to miss Angela coming across that gate. I cheered for the runners who were still flowing down the hill. They had all been out struggling just as much as I had with the same course and and been enduring it for even longer. They deserved to have people cheering for them, too. After a while, I saw Angela running down the hill. Her coach had said she looked great, and she did. She looked so cool and collected; as if she’d just been out for a casual jog and not the six hour ordeal she’d just been through. Her running pal, Heather, was running along the far side line cheering her on and we both met Angela down outside the corral.

After having some time to collect myself earlier, I was much more stable emotionally than I had expected to be. Angela checked back in with the training team tent and found some food to eat. We walked back to the finish line to cheer on some of the last runners and then headed home. We’d both successfully run the race and had one another together again to congratulate ourselves. It was a long journey, which really lasted six months, not just six hours. The feeling of knowing a little more about what we carry inside of us is going to last a lot longer.

Well, Angela and I both completed the Richmond Marathon this afternoon. We both finished in (nearly) our goal times; Angela a little bit faster and me just a hair slower. However, the important part is that we finished.

After running, we cheered on some of the last folks coming across the finish line and then headed home to get cleaned up. Angela had kindly booked a couple’s massage for the two of us, which was absolutely fantastic (hey, two another first for me today!). Then we met some friends out for dinner: Angela’s running pal, Heather, and her fiance and our friend, Robert, who ran a great 8k this morning.

We’ve had a great day of running in some beautiful weather, but it’s time to go to get some rest. I’ll update this post soon with all the gory details, but I just wanted to say thanks to our friends and family who encouraged us and a special thanks to all the Training Team staff and runners who really made this so much fun. You’re all terrific.

Marathon Preparedness

Originally uploaded by super_structure.

Well, Angela and I are as ready as we’ll ever be. In less than ten hours, we’ll be on the way to running 26.2 miles. It’s been a long time coming (well, six months) and we are ready for it.

We went to the pre-race pasta dinner put on at the Presbyterian church just down on Monument Ave this evening. The pasta was some of the best I’ve ever had, too. Angela’s got her stuff all ready, her plans to run with her buddy for at least the first ten miles, and her iPod loaded with fun songs.

Me, I run at least half the time alone and just looking around at all the sights. One of the best parts of running is getting to notice things at street level you’d never see even from a car. Tomorrow, I’m going to take in the city of Richmond and love every minute of it. All 270 276 of them.

I’ve held off writing much about running the past few weeks. Okay, so I’ve held off writing about much of anything the past few weeks (up until this weekend anyway). Well, that was mainly because I wanted to wait until after this morning to write about what we have accomplished so far.

Yesterday morning, on a sunny and cool day, Angela and I ran together for 20 miles. We finished in 4 hours and 45 minutes, which won’t exactly break any records. However, the point is that we finished and we did it together. It is really hard to write just how proud of her I am. Just a few years ago, not being a runner as a kid or in college, she ran her first 5k. Just this past Spring, she ran her the Monument Avenue 10k, another personal record for distance. Now, she has reached what is considered by most to be the longest training used in distance running. That is no small feat and it requires real dedication to achieve. Further, while it may seem counter-intuitive, running slower on those long runs means being out there for just that much longer. Nearly five hours of strenuous physical activity is tough on anyone, and she finished with her usual big smile, as if we’d just been walking around the block.

Because of the way our training was set up, Angela was on the novice team which would have one 20 mile run. My team, which was for somewhat more advanced runners (which I do not claim to be; it was decided for me), ran three 20 mile days, the last coinciding with the novice group. I ran the first one at a relatively slow pace, as it was a first for me. The second, I really wanted to see what I was capable of doing, so I ran faster. I had thought all along that running this last one with Angela might be fun, especially to keep her company. One of the coaches agreed that using the middle 20-miler as the more strenuous test run would be a good idea, so I went with that plan. I have to say, that although the company I had on the first two was great, the one yesterday with Angela was so much fun.

Way to go, Angela. You proved to the running group and everyone we know that you can do it. What’s more, you finished with a smile and then took me to lunch. Who could ask for a better partner to run with and hang out with for the rest of our lives? You’re awesome.

Click on the Maymont sign above to see my Flickr photo set of the Friday portion of the X-Country Festival.

This weekend is the 3rd Maymont X-Country Festival I’ve ran in; in as many years. The previous two (results on my running page), Angela and I both ran the cross-country 5k. Maymont is an incredible park and it is so much fun to run a race there. However, there always seems to be something wrong each year. The first year, the 5k was divided up by sex/age groupings (which isn’t normal for a 5k, in my experience). Our groups were both on Friday night, with Angela’s starting last at 6:30. Of course, she finished in pitch black darkness, but she did finish. Last year, we ran on Saturday morning but the clock got messed up on the men’s 5k (I don’t think I set a PR by nearly three minutes on that course).

This year, I ran the new 8k course, which was on Friday at 5:30. Of course, I’m usually at work on Friday at 5:30, but I made an exception today. However, I was still running late to the park and was quite literally still getting my number pinned on as the starting gun sounded. This feeling of being rushed coupled with being badly dehydrated (I had been sweating it out on a job site earlier that day) led to a less than optimumly pleasant run in the heat of the setting sun. All the same, as I said, Maymont is a beautiful park and the race was lots of fun. I’m sure I’ll be back next year. There’s a half-marathon as well I’m hoping to try.

Also on the subject of running, today marked the last time I’m running in my current pair of sneakers. They are starting to both look and smell like all of the 400 miles on them, so they are being retired to gardening duty. I have a nice new shiny green & white pair waiting for me in the closet.

This weekend is the half-marathon point in out training schedule. I’ll be running the Battlefield Half-Marathon in Eastern Henrico County. Angela is registered for this race as well, but unfortunately, she has to work all weekend long. So, we are starting the first-annual Angela’s Birthday Half-Marathon, scheduled for Monday at 7:00 am. This will be a 13.1 mile tour of Richmond’s West End (now referred to by some as mid-town Richmond, due to the Western Sprawl that is Henrico and Goochland Counties).

So, in the span of two days, I will now have run a marathon. I’m either a very foolish person with no regard for my legs or a very loving husband, willing to endure pain for my wife. I’m most likely a fair amount of both. At least I’ll have an extra day this weekend to recover from my foolishness.

My race on Sunday morning is a traditional half-marathon, with volunteers manning water stops, signs marking each passing mile, and a timer at the finish line to call out how I’ve done. Angela’s on the other hand, is the two of us running in a series of two-three mile loops centered around my truck parked at a nearby intersection.

Stretching before the race.

Update 2005-9-4: I finished my race in 1:52:39, according to the RRRC website. My own numbers were about the same. That’s an average pace of 8:36 minutes per mile, which is really fast for me. I’m not as proud of the results as that may sound, though, because I really pushed myself harder than I should of, and to what end? I had never run a half-marathon before, so it’s not like I was trying to beat a previous time. There was no way I was going to place in anything (I was barely in the top half, 146 out of 215 runners, and number 6 of 8 in my age/gender group). Basically, rather than use the experience to learn how to run this distance, I learned exactly how not to. I’m going to have to work on pacing myself better if I have any hope to surviving the marathon.

Overheard while running the race at about mile 5-1/2:

Minnesota Guy: Yeah, the people who run with those huge fuel belts with like eight or ten bottles, or even those big heavy bags, they look like compete geeks. It’s like they’re running with a full water stop for the whole race.

J.R. (Girl From Training Team): Yeah.

Yes, Minnesota Guy (who sounds just like Garrick Van Buren), I am a geek. I run with a Camelbak with the exact amount of fluids I’ll need to finish the race. I’m also right behind you. I may not be that fast, but I also know that it is not the 2lb pack I’m carrying that is slowing me down. Especially since I’m sweating enough to loose about that much during the course of the race anyway.

Success! We both ran 13.1 miles today in the First Annual Angela Dyer Birthday Half-Marathon. It was great day to be out running, although since we got a late start, we didn’t finish until 1:00pm, when it was about 85°. I’m really proud of Angela, though, because she stuck it out and ran the entire time.