One of my goals this year is to break the 1000 mile barrier. I’ve been in the 900s the last two years since I started keeping track and running more miles. However, discretion has been the better part of valor, and while dialing back the miles after fall marathons I’ve come up short. This year might give me a better shot, since my 1 month running break started in December and ended part of the way through January. Last year my layoff was the month of March, with no spring marathon.

I went over 500 miles Saturday the 8th. It’s looking good so far!

It’s taken me some time to cope with this run (June 1st) so I’m just now getting to blogging about it.

I had set a lofty goal of breaking 1:30. I ran a 1:31:28 – a PR by roughly 6 minutes for me. On the other hand, measuring it against my two other half marathons, that’s not saying much. One was my first endurance race, the second was with an abbreviated training schedule after coming off of a layoff.

True confessions – I was really hoping I could breeze to a sub 1:30, which would give me some confidence for a sub 3:00 marathon. (The ULTIMATE goal in my sights right now). I still think that’s doable on a flat course in good weather conditions.

So, I’m a bit disappointed. I feel like I had a sub-1:30 in me, but just didn’t push hard enough. The main lesson I learned from this race is “run your own race.” I had hoped to lock in with the 1:30 pace group and coast to victory. In retrospect, they went out slower than I would have, and tried to make up a 1 minute deficit too quickly. I clocked a bunch of miles in the middle of this race that were well under my goal pace – and one of them was while I was getting left behind by the pacer. However, I’m not passing the buck. I’ll just be wiser next time. I have run some good races with and without pacers – but I have never crossed the finish line with one. I have found them most helpful in dragging me out to a faster pace than I might go out at, then hanging on (I know, this is not exactly the “preferred” negative split strategy).

The rest of the rundown, for personal posterity:

Overall place: 144 out of 4279
Age grade: 67.84% (I’m sniffing Regional Class at 70% but still in Local Class at 60-69%)
Pace: 6:59 (Goal pace was 6:51)
Age group place (M40-44):14 out of 284

I ran in the Asics Piranhas. More blistering than the recent Garmin marathon, but on a hillier course. Nothing major. However, I think I’ll need an alternative for the KC Marathon in October.

Props to Nelson for running his own race, and getting his sub-1:30!

I thought I’d use my last blog post before the HHR to wish everyone a great race and pass along a few thoughts on pre-race day prep.

For some of you, this is all going to be Mr. Obvious stuff. It wasn’t to me as little as 3 years ago though, so here’s my personal pre-race prep.

Starting the Friday morning before a Saturday morning race, I shift over to a low residue diet aka low fiber diet. If I’m not making myself clear, there’s always Google. As with any of this stuff, if you haven’t tried something new before race day, don’t. Try it in training first. I have a marathon ritual that’s more extreme than my half-marathon prep. For the half, I’ll emphasize carbs in the last 24 hours, but I’ve never experienced a glycogen depletion wall under 20 miles. I figure if my glycogen stores are near normal, I’ll be fine.

If you’re like me and you’ve ever forgotten to charge your Garmin etc. before a long run, maybe a checklist is a good idea. I’m not exactly a morning person so I lay out all my gear the night before. No new gear! You don’t want to discover that your new shirt feels like sandpaper at mile 8. Try to get a good night’s sleep.

On race morning, I get up a couple of hours before the race and have my usual double espresso along with some sports drink to get hydrated and top off the glycogen stores. The last thing I want to do is find myself in a porta-potty 5 minutes before the race starts (or worse…) I follow the advice of getting any eating (not me, liquids only) and carb-intake out of the way at least an hour before the race starts.

Pump yourself up with some music in the car! Arrive early enough that you don’t stress out about parking, that last-minute bathroom stop, and getting to your corral on time. I like to do a little active stretching in the corral just before the national anthem – squats, lunges if there’s room.

Have fun out there!

No, we didn’t both participate in a cage match. The answer: toe trouble. And no, I’m not going to post a pic of Jon’s toe. It’s kind of the Joe Theisman of toe injuries. Googlers beware.

This wasn’t a running injury or related to an athletic endeavor in any way. It was just one of those freak klutzy maneuvers. I had made a u-turn on the stairs to turn a light back on, and when I rotated to head back downstairs, my toe got hung up in the carpet. It’s not like it’s a thick shag or anything. If only that were the end of the story – I also had to tuck and roll down to the landing after losing my balance. All of this was much to the stifled amusement of my daughter and niece. The RHSW gave me a gracious “are you alright?” as I fumed down the rest of the stairs. No, I am definitely not all right, I said only to myself.

I recently finished Scott Jurek’s Eat & Run, and my toe trouble caused me to recall Scott’s broken toe – stubbed on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night just before the Spartathalon – a mere 152 mile race in Greece. I wondered if this was going to wash me out of Hospital Hill, or at least make it significantly more painful.

Well, the good news is that despite clearly doing “something” to cause bruising at the interphalangeal joint (I’m not a doctor, I don’t play one on tv, and I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night), it’s held up pretty good this week through multiple runs, including a barefoot 5 miler. I think I’m all right now.

Before running the Garmin Marathon this Saturday, I took my family to see Josh Cox, Desi Davila, and Scott Jurek speak at the expo. As you can see from the power point, their talk was titled “Life of An Elite Runner.” Alternate title: awesome stuff only a few gifted people will ever have the talent and opportunity to achieve.

There were lots of cool race stories, training tips, etc. However, I thought there was an unintentional life lesson that shone through that has application for all of us whether we are training, racing, or just living. All three of these athletes stressed the importance of having a goal race to work towards. Something to circle on your calendar. Something to accomplish.

As I’ve said before ad nauseam, I’ve run off and on my whole life. However, it wasn’t until about 3 years ago that I started racing. Nothing has improved my overall fitness and enjoyment of running more than the simple act of signing up for races. At first, one of my friends would spring a “hey, I’m running this 5K in a few weeks, do you want to do it too” on me and I’d join him. When I discovered that my tastes ran towards longer distances like the half and full marathon, I also discovered that a multi-month training plan was the only way to adequately prepare to race at those distances.

Hopefully you are in the home stretch of a training plan for Hospital Hill. If so, you are starting to smell that finish line as May is almost upon us. Having that finish line circled on your calendar gives you something to work towards. I’m in the recovery zone of a goal race right now – but I’ve already had HH circled on my calendar for months. I love having something new to look forward to and work towards already. I’ve already got another goal race planned after Hospital Hill. Do you? Whether you emerge injured or healthy, exhausted or raring for more – target something. When we stop setting finish lines out there in the future we stop the race. Never stop racing.

I PR’d (3:11:03) at the Garmin Marathon in these shoes last weekend, so my opinion of them is obviously going to be a little skewed. (“Money it’s gotta be the shoes? You sure it’s not the shoes?”) Actually I think it’s probably the course – less elevation change than my previous three marathons.

About two months ago I started thinking about using some racing flats in this marathon. I had tried on the Mizuno Wave Universe a few years ago and really liked it – but the store I was at didn’t have them in my size. When I started searching for a pair this time around I wasn’t finding anything that wasn’t in triple digits. I did find the Piranhas on closeout though. Billed as the lightest racing flat out there, (4.7 oz size 9), they also fit my minimalist sensibilities with a 5 mm drop (22 down to 17). I suppose “racing flat” predated the term “zero drop” by several decades. Being a fan of the “Instinct” I would like to try a pair of Altra’s “The One” – their take on a minimalist racing flat – but they had just come out and the price was right for the Piranhas.

One of my requirements is a shoe that won’t crowd my toes. I am really careful about this after a very scary experience with the Newton MV2 a few months back. Despite a somewhat pointy appearance, the Piranhas do have the roomy toe box some reviewers actually complained about (I know – seriously?). I had zero problems with friction on the sides or top.

Btw, check out that sweet “Japan” reference just below the laces. I can feel the Fukuoka vibe.

Mainstream wisdom is that the marathon is too long of a distance for a racing flat. For most people, that is probably excellent advice. I have run a marathon in less shoe than this though, so I knew what to expect. I also tested this shoe 5 times prior to the race (total distance 36.68 miles, but who’s counting). I used it for most of the speedwork I did in the last month, and also put in a middle distance goal pace run of 9 miles in them. I was pretty confident they wouldn’t present any major fit issues on race day.

The shoe feels so light in your palm it’s almost imperceptible. This translates to a great feel on your feet. I tried on my true size and a half size up and found they ran true to size. If you’re expecting cush, don’t. There is cushioning material in the forefoot, and more at the heel (more on that in a minute). The mesh is whisper thin.

I was pleased with how these shoes performed in the race. No significant blistering or foot pain. I did have a minor blister just to the side of the ball of my left foot. It wasn’t a concern during the race. I’m not sure what shoe would have been blister free on this course – the entire second half is on a creek trail, the kind that doesn’t show hills on an elevation map, but in practice has lots of little ups and downs and tons of curves.

I am a devoted but apparently not dogmatic forefoot striker. These shoes easily accommodated my forefoot striking stride. However, with about 3 miles to go I was keeping a very nervous eye on a right calf cramp (which I attribute to the really watered-down gatorade at the aid stations). I got to a nice flat stretch of wide concrete sidewalk where the trail runs through the campus of a small university, so I decided to stretch it out by going about a quarter mile heel-striking. Thanks to the 5mm drop of the shoe and some cushioning in back, I was able to do this fairly comfortably. It seemed to help quite a bit and I got back on stride and back up to speed. I did get the distinct impression that I must have looked like a race-walker though.

It’s hard to rate durability at 63.06 miles, but the shoes are holding up pretty well. I think they might have a few more speedwork sessions and races left in them.

After I recover I’m going to try to decide whether or not to attempt the Hospital Hill Half barefoot. If I’m not barefoot, I’ll almost certainly be wearing these.

Friends, I’m a runner. You knew that. You may not know that I’ll be running the Garmin Marathon this Saturday with a heavy heart and (hopefully) light feet. The route starts and finishes at Garmin’s Olathe headquarters, and comes right through the heart of where I live. If you live here too, we’d love it if you cheered on the 3,000 of us who’ll be running on Saturday. You may also wish to join me in contributing to The One Fund Boston, intended to raise money to help those families most affected by the bombing at the finish line of Monday’s Boston Marathon.

The horrible, awful events of today have my emotions wildly vascillating between anger and sadness. Initial reports would seem to indicate that most of those killed and injured in this senseless attack were spectators and race support. Many of us know someone who ran Boston today, and some of those runners brought families and friends along to celebrate their achievement.

As you join me in praying for those whose lives have been forever altered today, remember to also give thanks for those who support you as you train and race. Thank them personally too. Our families and race volunteers sacrifice their personal time and their time with us to help us achieve our goals. How many of us have been urged on by spectators who don’t even know us? Thank you all.

If you don’t like cryptic titles, you probably aren’t reading this. I was in Chicago on business this week, and I had dinner at Smak-Tak!, a Polish-American restaurant, on Wednesday night. When I came in the tv was playing a Polish language sitcom. The lady who waited on me clearly didn’t speak English as her first language, but she must have noticed my Kansas City marathon shirt. A few minutes later I noticed that she had changed the channel to NBC Universal, which was showing a re-run of the Paris marathon. Coincidence? I think not.

I had a delicious meal – white borscht, some potato pancakes, and a grilled kielbasa with a fanastic sauerkraut side.

I get to indulge my Greek heritage food-wise a lot more than my Polish heritage. There’s a dearth of Polish restaurants where I live. On the other hand, it seems Greeks gravitate to the restaurant business (my grandfather included). Just about everywhere I’ve ever lived, there’s at least a “Pizza and Steak” Greek restaurant with a few Greek dishes on the menu, if not a full-blown Greek-focused menu.

Btw, MARATON is Polish for marathon!