I just finished a 10-mile “short” run yesterday, my last long run before I do the Boston Marathon on Monday April 20, 2009. I never wrote here about my experience with my third marathon when I qualified for Boston. That was the 2008 L.A. Marathon. But I did submit something about it to my running club, and you can read my Boston Qualifying story here:

http://ierunningclub.sports.officelive.com/BQ.aspx

Last week, Sunday October 14, 2007 I ran the Long Beach 2007 Marathon. Finish time 4:15:12. A Personal Record, even if it wasn’t my dream-goal of finishing in 4 hours. I do consider it a success, especially because I have had no injuries since July and I finished the marathon and am recovering well with no injuries during or after the race.

I guess one of the problems that I have, is trying to make myself wake up early enough. Race start time was 7:30 and somehow I believed it would be good enough to arrive at 6 am, an hour and a half before the start. I should’ve allowed 2 hours minimum, though. Well, hindsight and all that…

I really just didn’t want to get up before 4:30 am. We woke Jennifer up at 4:45 and were out the door at about 5:20. But as we approached the race area, the traffic was so backed up. We must’ve spent over 45 minutes getting from the freeway off-ramp to our parking place near the Convention Center, which would normally take only 10 minutes. Then a half hour in the potty line. I barely finished with 15 minutes before the race to go and get into the starting area.

Obviously this didn’t leave much time at all for warm-up or stretching. I did try to jog a bit to the starting area and stretch some in the starting coral. But it really was not sufficient for the long run ahead.

My hubby and daughter Jenny came to lend support and both my parents, too. What a boost for me, knowing they would be along the course to cheer me on. I confess that at mile 20 when I felt like walking, knowing they would be there waiting for me at mile 21 kept me running to stay on the expected pace. (If only I could have kept running the last miles after I passed them at mile 21!).

The Long Beach course is beautiful, at least the parts along the ocean. The Long Beach Press Telegram sent photographers to cover the race, and there is a very nice video along with some beautiful still shots on this page. I would very much enjoy running this particular race course again.

Well, in any case, I manuevered to a position near the middle of Coral A for the start. I was fairly close to the front. When the race started, everyone was near me was running right about my pace. I didn’t have anyone in my way that was walking or going too slow to be near the front of starting pack. I was trying to hold myself back to a 9-minute-per-mile pace for the duration of the race, going for about a 4-hour finish. It is important not to go out too fast, and I was well-rested and excited, so very tough to hold back. And I probably ended up running my first 10K (6.2 miles) about 12 seconds per mile too fast. All I know is that I was soo tired for the last 5 miles, that I suppose I may have just used up too much energy early in the race.

Somewhere around mile 7 or so I noticed cramps in my right glutes. Ugg. We were running along the bike path on the beach, and I was just telling myself to relax, relax, relax. But that muscle was just cramping up anyhow. At Mile 10 I stopped to use the porta-potty and stretched a bit, and then somehow I did relax and started in again with the running. I felt really good. In fact, I felt great up until at least Mile 14. I did walk through the Mile 14 water stop, but picked right up again with the running. At Miles 13 and 14 Jennifer came out onto the course and ran for a short bit with me. My Mom also jogged a bit with me at Mile 14, calling out advice and support.

Somewhere around Miles 16-18 it started to require some effort, and there were some brief walking breaks and parts where I stopped to stretch. Still, I was on pace and doing OK. By Mile 20 though it was getting quite hard. But as I mentioned before, I knew my family would be waiting for me at Mile 21, and knowing they expected me on a 9-minute-pace somehow kept me going. But after Mile 21 I really broke down. I wasn’t hurting. No injuries or pain. But just tired. And not much will-power. Didn’t want to go. Just wanted to walk. Even though I’d read quite a bit the previous week about the psychological aspects of the last 6 miles of a marathon, even though I knew I would be tired and want to quit, even though I knew it was all just in my mind and I had vowed to just tell myself to keep going and not quit, none of that seemed to matter at that particular point in time.

And so there was walking. I still thought in a way that if I just took maybe a short walk break I would feel more able after a short rest to pick up and run again and that I might still make my 4-hour goal. But after a while I realized there was no way I could make the 4-hour goal (it is REALLY hard to do mental math when you’re this tired and worn out!). And once I realized I couldn’t make that goal, another huge piece of my motivation evaporated. Plus the cramps in my right glutes had come back somewhere around miles 17-20, so I was hurting a bit.

And so I must’ve walked at least half of Miles 22-24. Or more. But as I got to Mile 25 I realized that I wasn’t even going to make a time of 4:15 if I didn’t start to hustle. I had set myself three goals: Dream goal of 4 hours. Acceptable goal of 4:15. I can do it in my sleep goal of 4:30. Well, knowing I might not even make 4:15 did all of a sudden motivate me towards the end of the race. So there does seem to be some purpose to setting goals. Once I got to about a half-mile out from the finish line I was able to focus and will myself to keep running and no more walking, and I ran that last 200 yards in at a pretty good clip.

After the finish I did need to keep walking for a while. I was a bit stiff. Some gentle stretching, and then walking to our car and then the long drive home. An ice bath followed immediately upon arrival home. I really think the ice baths help a lot with the recovery. The next day I took a 30-minute walk/jog at an average pace of about a 13-minute mile, so slow and gentle. And Tuesday (two days after the race) I swam laps for 20 minutes at the local pool. Wednesay I did a 4-mile run and got a massage.

So overall my recovery has been going very well. But the 4-mile run on Wednesday may have been stupid. I think my right glutes need some extra rest and recovery time. My hip on the right side isn’t feeling 100%, although it doesn’t feel “injured” either. Just needs some extra rest. So after Wednesday I told myself no more running until this coming Monday (4 days off from running). So I rode my bike for an hour yesterday. That was tough, but good. Today was complete rest. Tomorrow I will go rowing and swimming and then try a gentle run again on Monday. We’ll see how it goes…

So where to now? Well, Chris (my hubby) and I are both training for the Los Angeles Marathon on March 2, 2008. I still have another 2 or 3 weeks of recovery time before I will start my training in earnest. I’m going to try a new program from this book: Runner’s World Run Less, Run Faster: Become a Faster, Stronger Runner with the Revolutionary FIRST Training Program (Runners World) by Bill Pierce (Author), Scott Murr (Author), Ray Moss. I’m really excited about this book, which has a program of 3 days of hard running at fast paces, with 2 or 3 days of cross-training mixed in. I’m looking for it to reduce my chances of injury, speed me up, and improve my overall endurance. A friend of mind in the Pacers Running Club has been using this book to prepare for the Santa Clarita marathon on November 4, 2007 and she says it has been working well for her. So we’ll see… I’m excited to test it out myself.

PostScript: Photo Gallery by my hubby of marathon shots, for those who would like to see more pictures: Long Beach Marathon Photos

I also ran very little at all the week before the marathon…

… Would I be
ready for the race with so little practice shortly before? I’d even
talked with online friends about whether I’d even be able to run the
race at all, with my recent injuries. But I was feeling pretty good,
and the groin injury wasn’t bothering me much at all the last couple of
days before the race.

The morning of the race I woke up late (alarm clock was not set
properly). I was supposed to meet Miriam to go to the metro station from our
hotel rooms at 5:30 am. Instead I woke at 5:30. But we were out the
door by 6 am and despite the long line at the metro station, we were
quickly aboard a train.

It was not a cold morning. Maybe in the low 50′s…possibly warmer.
While this was nice in the early morning, it would turn out to be too
warm later in the day during the race, with temps at 11 am approaching
80 degrees, little shade and not much breeze.

The starting line area wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. We were
able to make it through the crowd and find my running club, the Pacers
Running Club, at Ralph’s. The potty lines were insane, and
when we finally went to line up we wanted to hook up with Miriam’s
friend, Billy, who was going to pace us for a sub-four-hour marathon
(around a 9-minute pace). We were able to find Billy in the crowd
(amazing!) thanks to cell phones and some luck.

The race started about 9 minutes late. We were off and up the hill on
Cahuenga Blvd. for about a mile and a-half. And then downhill to mile 3
around Hollywood Blvd. and Highland. Chris got this great shot of the
three of us (from left to right: Miriam, me, Billy). Yeah, we were
feeling pretty good at mile 3. (Surprise)

We ran a sub-9-minute pace for most of the first 15 miles, mostly
around 8:50. Miriam and I did stop at porta-potties at mile 8, and then
when I got out of the porta-potty, she was nowhere around. After
calling her name a bit, I decided they’d gone on without me, and I
started out. Running along, trying to go faster to see if I could catch
them, scanning the crowd for Miriam in her purple racing outfit. I did
see Miriam’s parents about a mile later and shouted to them whether
they’d seen Miriam. Yes, they had, ahead of me. So I ran after her and
Billy. But I was doing an 8-minute pace and this was just too fast. It
was tiring. I was just getting ready to give up and run the rest of the
race by myself, when my cell phone rang. (Billy and I were both
carrying phones.) They were just ahead of me and I was able to catch
up. I do think that burst of 8-minute pace really took something out of
me, though.

Miriam would ask me every 2 or 3 miles how I was doing and how my groin
felt. It had been just a bit tender that morning before the race, but
we were running along and it didn’t seem to be getting worse. Just
staying the same. She wasn’t having knee problems at the beginning of
the race, but later on she said she started to feel them. By the time
we got to mile 10, when Miriam would ask me how I felt, my response
was: “Tired”. The groin wasn’t bothering me, but I was just tired. I
think we were running a bit faster pace than I really wanted to,
especially for the first half of the race.

There were lots of water and aid stations along the route–about every
mile–and we were drinking water like crazy. Sometimes I would grab two
cups of water at the stations. I stopped at most stations, but after
mile 10 or so some of them I skipped and just stopped at every other
station. I was also eating Clif
Shot Bloks every 5 miles, to try and keep my energy up.

By the time we got to mile 15 the outer edge of my left
knee was starting to hurt and I told Miriam I needed to walk for a bit.
She gave me a hug and then she and Billy were off. (Yeah for Miriam!
She did finish her sub-four-hour marathon: 3:58. She credits a lot of
it to Billy’s encouragement in the last 5 miles when she wanted to go
slower and he pressed her to keep it up.)

In the last half of the marathon, there were quite a few places where
the fire hydrants had been turned on for the racers to run through the
spray of water if they chose. Some people in their front yards were
spraying their hoses for us to run through. And there were even some
fire trucks along the route that were spraying water for us. I ran
through it sometimes, and sometimes not.

I walked a bit at Mile 15 and then picked it up and started running
again. Repeat at Mile 17. Then I looked for the Pacer’s Running Club
tent at Mile 18. Raj was there and I said, “I need a hug.” LOL. He
didn’t seem like the hugging type, but I needed one, so… Coach Stacy
walked and then ran with me to Mile 19 at the Staple’s Center where
Chris and all other family members were waiting. I stopped and talked
to them. I stretched. LORDY my calves were tight. Jennifer wanted to
know why Miriam had gone by so much earlier than I did. Heck, I
finished the first 19 miles in less than 3 hours. I was still on pace
to do a sub-four-hour marathon.

But I couldn’t. When I left my family I tried to start running again,
but I only got about 100 feet or so and returned to walking. My knee
hurt too much. So I resolved that even if I walked the last 7 miles I
should be able to finish in 2 more hours. I walked most of the way to
mile 22, and was having stomach cramps. 10-minute time out in a
porta-potty, and then I pressed onward.

Since Miriam and I had pre-registered for the race, we had our first
names printed on our bibs. This was kind of fun early in the race.
People on the side of the road would call support out to you: “Go
Miriam! Go Sheila! You can do it!” We even had a contest going between
us, as to who got the more support calls. And the clear winner was
Miriam. She liked reaching out to the people on the curbside and giving
Hi-fives, while I was concentrating on my race.

However, at mile 21 walking along and hurting, people calling out to
you to pick it up and go kind of pissed me off. Well, I was hurting…

Every once in a while I would try to pick up and jog a bit, but that
was always short-lived, and I would return to walking. I tried to keep
walking at a speed of 4 mph.

At Mile 23 there was another Pacer’s tent with Coach Eddie, Marie, and
others. I got some encouragement from them and continued along. But not
much further, I had to sit down and rest by the side of the road. I
thought I was going to throw up. I didn’t though, and got up and
continued on, walking about a 4 mph rate.

After passing the 24 mile banner, I thought I would like to run in the
end of the race. So at about 24.5 miles I picked it up and started
running again. Once I hit stride and got to a 9-minute per mile pace, I
was able to hold it and I didn’t even hurt or feel any pain. Finished
the last 1.5 miles at a steady, consistent pace.

And finally it was over. Oh, so tired. When they put the medal on me, I
sobbed just a bit, shoulders shaking and heaving a couple of times. And
I didn’t want to eat anything even though I know I should. I managed
some Gatorade and a couple of bites of banana. When I found my family,
I got a chocolate soy milk that I’d had Chris bring for me. After that
we walked back to the hotel (about a mile away) and I took an ice-bath.
Ahhhh, that felt so good. And then out to a restaurant with family for
good eats. By that time I was hungry and feeling pretty OK.

Later in the evening Chris and I went out to The Cheesecake Factory for
dessert. When we came back home I took ibuprofen and iced my left knee.

Today I’m feeling awfully darn good. Not even sore, really. So I’m very
glad of that. I went out and did a bit over 3 miles in 30 minutes
today… just an easy run. And then some yoga. Tomorrow I’m going for a
massage in the morning and then sit on my butt for the rest of the day.

The groin injury that I’ve been trying to heal for the past 3.5 weeks
seems to be all better, practically. It’s almost as though running the
marathon healed it. I wish I knew why I got the knee injury during the
race instead. And I’ve never had an outside-knee injury before, so this
is new. Even though we were running a slightly faster pace than I had
anticipated, I doubt that was the cause. Perhaps it was due to the
crown in the road? With my left leg slightly longer than the right, and
in most places the crown on the road was higher on the left than on the
right (because we ran on the right side of the road mostly), this may
have aggravated the knee. Also, I didn’t have time for a really good
warmup and stretch before the race.

Although I was disappointed in my time of 5:02:06, I’m really pleased
that I was able to finish the race, and that I was able to run in the
last 1.5 miles. I’m also extremely pleased that I am feeling so darned
good today. Because I feel so good the day after, I really consider
this race to have been a success.

During Mile 23, as I walked along hurting and feeling sick, I was
telling myself that would not do any more marathons. That I would just
stick to half-marathon and shorter races. Those were better distances
for me.

However, after an ice-bath and a good night’s sleep, I’m feeling pretty
darned good. I will do another marathon, I just will hope for cooler
weather.

Here we were at about Mile 7 (a little over half-way through the race). I’m afraid I’m blocking Miriam from view. Oops!:

We were expecting a cold morning (for Southern California) yesterday…

… mid-40s. But it certainly didn’t feel that cold, or else I was super hyped. I was just in my shorts and short-sleeve top and felt perfectly fine.

It was a chipped race, which was good, because the traffic approaching the race was bad and we were running a few minutes late. We got there about 30 minutes before the race, and still had to find my running group, warm-up, stretch, porta-potty and get in position for the race.

We were in the porta-potty lines 15 minutes before gun-start-time. As I was shoving Clif Sports Blocks and Fig Newtons into my pockets they were singing the national anthem. We (my sister-in-law, Miriam) and I were making our way towards the start line. But the gun went off before we were in position. We crossed the start about 2 minutes after gun-time.

We ran a pretty fast race. The first mile was a bit slow, because we were behind a lot of people, but it was still under a 9-minute mile and we picked it up pretty quickly. We had a number of miles well-below 8-minute pace.

By mile 7 the Garmin was showing us running at an 8:02 average pace.

However, Miriam has been having shin problems this past week, and started having pain in the last 2 or so miles. She even told me to go on without her, but I wanted us to finish together, so we slowed especially in miles 12 and 13.

We still have a very good finish and crossed together at 1:47:51, which is an 8:14 average pace.

I got 8th place in my division (F 45-49) and Miriam got 13th place in her division (F 25-29).

Here we are approaching the finish line area:

Here we are coming into the finish line:

And here is a “finish photo” that was actually taken over an hour after we finished…oops!

So, it looks like we will probably do a half-marathon together again next month on Feb. 4th
http://psmarathon.com (Pacific Shoreline Half Marathon)

She is still having some qualms about injuries for the marathon and it is possible that she will not run the L.A. Marathon with me, or that she will start it and pull out if she gets injured. I am keeping my fingers crossed that she will be able to heal and be OK to do the race with me.

I am very lucky and feel great (I had been having knee problems a while back, but they seem to have healed). Yesterday I felt like I could still run some more, even after the race. Today I only managed to get in 2 miles for a run. Oh well, plenty of time for more running later. We have a 20-miler scheduled for this coming weekend…

~ Joe Henderson (Runner)

Anyhow, as recently as a month ago I said I’d never do a marathon. Just sounded like too much. But, I guess it’s not, since not only have I signed up to run the L.A. Marathon in March 2007, but also I’ve found the new champion of “too much”

Dean Karnazes, author of UltraMarathon Man, will be running 50 marathons in 50 states on 50 consecutive days.

Now this makes me hurt just thinking about it. Forget the pain of doing a single marathon, and the recovery that ensues over the following days. When is this guy going to recover?