Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced earlier today that the Marathon, previously postponed to Sept. 14, would be canceled. This is extremely disappointing, though not overly surprising. The silver lining in the subsequent announcement by the Boston Athletic Association is that they will refund everyone's registration fee -- specifics to be sent out within the next few weeks. And that they will off a virtual marathon.
Now the uncertainty has shifted from whether the race will be held to what the logistics will be surrounding registering for the 2021 Boston Marathon -- assuming that Boston permits it to happen. In normal years, the qualifying period for one year starts on the Sunday after the 1st week (I think) of the registration period for the preceding year's race closes. So, when the registration period for 2020 ended in mid-September 2019, races being run at that point were eligible to be used for the eventual registration period for 2021 Boston. Where there is a normal 52-53 weeks usable, races started postponing/canceling in Feb/March 2020, so there is less than 6 months' worth of races where qualifying times could be earned. So, what do they do with all the people who qualified for 2020? hat do they do with the people who qualified for 2021 in the truncated timeframe? And which age do they use compared to the date of race day in 2021 compared to the BQs that were run for 2020? There are many permutations possible, and only BAA will be able to tell us. But that won't stop the endless speculation over the next several months.
I'm confident that I will be able to get into 2021 Boston regardless of what they do, since if they allow the times from the truncated period from Sep 2020-Mar 2021, I have a BQ-17:58. But that doesn't mean that I won't be one of the thousands involved in the endless speculation that is yet to come. (Never mind all the speculation about the other 2020 races, including the remaining 4 Majors that could still wind up canceling.)
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Sunday, May 24, 2020
Second Attempt at Breaking a Guinness World Record -- Success
Having come off London with a failed attempt at a record, I went to the website to see what other races I could make a similar attempt, and was very pleased to see that the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in October was one such race. I had enough time to plan something out, add that race into my already busy fall schedule, and train. I even got a trainer for the effort.
Having decided immediately after London that I wouldn't attempt that specific record again, or anything else that required carrying something nearly that heavy, I went with something much simpler, and even somewhat aerodynamic: fastest dressed as a super villain. In my particular case, The Riddler (as portrayed in the movie by Jim Carrey).
Lesson #1: When running in a country that just might have a different way of measuring distances compared to what you are used to (even if you know how to make the conversions), find out in advance what they use for "mile markers." Typical American, I think in mileage. Toronto had markers every KILOMETER. I didn't realize this until I hit the first marker. And that they didn't include the intermediate mile markers. D'oh! Given how horribly my Garmin was acting up (which I didn't really know during the first half), I had no real idea how well I was doing until I hit the half-marathon mark (a time that I had on my pace band). Beautiful -- 1:29:29. I was ahead of pace.
Now all I had to do was keep it together. In hindsight, it looks like I had played all sorts of mind games on myself in terms of trying to figure out what my pace was and needed to be for each of the successive kilometers.
Lesson #2: If you carry some form of ID and/or payment with you during the race (I typically do, just in case there's a medical issue, and insurance card if racing in the U.S.), make sure it is fully secured. At some point in the race, mine fell out of the belt I had always carried it in. Amazingly, not only did a runner see it laying on the course, but they stopped to pick it up. And miraculously, not only did they know who I was -- presumably from posts in one of the FB groups I'm in about my record attempt -- but they wound up overlapping with me during one of the out-and-back portions of the course. Given that day's extremely unique outfit, I was instantly recognizable, they shouted out my name, held out the cards, and handed them to me as we were both full steam ahead. To whomever that kind soul was, again: THANK YOU.
The kilometers kept piling on, and despite getting ever so slightly slower during the second half, I knew I would make it as I was seeing those last few signs inside of 1km to the finish. And I had a peak at the official clock when I was a couple of tight turns away from the finish. I was going to make it -- but by how much. Pour on the steam to make it as much as possible. Full attention focused on the finish line, I didn't hear my friend who was there specifically to cheer me on shout out that I was going to make it. (I only heard it once I saw video of my finish.)
Whereas in London, when I crossed and locked eyes on the Guinness adjudicator I shook my head, this time as I crossed I knew I had succeeded. She started to approach me, but I needed to cool down just a bit. I walked in tight circles out of the way of other finishers until I could stop and take the "money shot" photo:
Set your sights on a goal. Put in the work. Be confident in yourself. You can succeed.
I've got another one I'm aiming for later this year, but don't know if the race will be held. More on that when the attempt finally happens.
Having decided immediately after London that I wouldn't attempt that specific record again, or anything else that required carrying something nearly that heavy, I went with something much simpler, and even somewhat aerodynamic: fastest dressed as a super villain. In my particular case, The Riddler (as portrayed in the movie by Jim Carrey).
In the weeks leading up to the marathon, though, I had a big shock -- a change in the time I needed to beat. When I originally submitted the application, the record had not yet been set, so all I needed was 4 hours -- a mark I can usually easily hit nowadays unless everything goes wrong for me. I only knew of one person chasing this record in the Berlin Marathon in September, I followed his results, and he didn't finish under 4 hours -- I was set! But, no, it turns out there was a second person who also chased the record that day, and set it far faster than I had previously run: 3:03:03 -- nearly a full 9 minutes faster than my then-PR of 3:11:54. Gulp!
I had originally gone into training looking for a 3:10, and my coach was insistent that with the way everything had gone, 3:05 shouldn't be a problem. Nice, but did I have enough in the tank to drop another 2 minutes beyond even that? Race day would tell.
Just as was the case with London, the weather was ideal: cool (about 50F), mostly cloudy, relatively low wind -- it was all on me, my training, and the prior few days leading up to the race. I was feeling confident. I had my pace band on, my Garmin all set to show me my splits, all my nutrition and water -- show time.
Lesson #1: When running in a country that just might have a different way of measuring distances compared to what you are used to (even if you know how to make the conversions), find out in advance what they use for "mile markers." Typical American, I think in mileage. Toronto had markers every KILOMETER. I didn't realize this until I hit the first marker. And that they didn't include the intermediate mile markers. D'oh! Given how horribly my Garmin was acting up (which I didn't really know during the first half), I had no real idea how well I was doing until I hit the half-marathon mark (a time that I had on my pace band). Beautiful -- 1:29:29. I was ahead of pace.
Now all I had to do was keep it together. In hindsight, it looks like I had played all sorts of mind games on myself in terms of trying to figure out what my pace was and needed to be for each of the successive kilometers.
Lesson #2: If you carry some form of ID and/or payment with you during the race (I typically do, just in case there's a medical issue, and insurance card if racing in the U.S.), make sure it is fully secured. At some point in the race, mine fell out of the belt I had always carried it in. Amazingly, not only did a runner see it laying on the course, but they stopped to pick it up. And miraculously, not only did they know who I was -- presumably from posts in one of the FB groups I'm in about my record attempt -- but they wound up overlapping with me during one of the out-and-back portions of the course. Given that day's extremely unique outfit, I was instantly recognizable, they shouted out my name, held out the cards, and handed them to me as we were both full steam ahead. To whomever that kind soul was, again: THANK YOU.
The kilometers kept piling on, and despite getting ever so slightly slower during the second half, I knew I would make it as I was seeing those last few signs inside of 1km to the finish. And I had a peak at the official clock when I was a couple of tight turns away from the finish. I was going to make it -- but by how much. Pour on the steam to make it as much as possible. Full attention focused on the finish line, I didn't hear my friend who was there specifically to cheer me on shout out that I was going to make it. (I only heard it once I saw video of my finish.)
Whereas in London, when I crossed and locked eyes on the Guinness adjudicator I shook my head, this time as I crossed I knew I had succeeded. She started to approach me, but I needed to cool down just a bit. I walked in tight circles out of the way of other finishers until I could stop and take the "money shot" photo:
Set your sights on a goal. Put in the work. Be confident in yourself. You can succeed.
I've got another one I'm aiming for later this year, but don't know if the race will be held. More on that when the attempt finally happens.
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Motivation
Despite the weather turning around from chilly, blustery, and wet to moderate with only intermittent rain, I've still been having a bit of a hard time motivating myself. (Seems like that might be self-evident given how long it's been since the last blog entry.)
While I am still intent on hitting my big goals for later this year assuming the races will be held, the uncertainty about them and it being a lull between my last "race" (virtual marathon) and the beginning of my training cycle for Chicago has left me unenthused for my runs. Most of the days each week, I'm just running 5-6 miles at a reasonable pace, and I've noticed that on most of them, my last 2 miles are successively slower than the goal pace for the run. There is no particular reason for this that I can discern other than lack of enthusiasm for the run.
Today was the first day in a couple of weeks where the above pace problem didn't happen, though I'm not entirely sure why -- my head was still in the same space. I need to change it up a bit, but don't want to do the sorts of hard workouts that I have during my training cycle -- no reason to risk injury. Not sure what will be the best way to get back "in the game," as it were.
While I am still intent on hitting my big goals for later this year assuming the races will be held, the uncertainty about them and it being a lull between my last "race" (virtual marathon) and the beginning of my training cycle for Chicago has left me unenthused for my runs. Most of the days each week, I'm just running 5-6 miles at a reasonable pace, and I've noticed that on most of them, my last 2 miles are successively slower than the goal pace for the run. There is no particular reason for this that I can discern other than lack of enthusiasm for the run.
Today was the first day in a couple of weeks where the above pace problem didn't happen, though I'm not entirely sure why -- my head was still in the same space. I need to change it up a bit, but don't want to do the sorts of hard workouts that I have during my training cycle -- no reason to risk injury. Not sure what will be the best way to get back "in the game," as it were.
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
First Attempt at Breaking a Guinness World Record, Part II
I had my application approved a couple of months in advance of the London Marathon. Right around the time that I was running the Dopey Challenge on Walt Disney World Marathon weekend in January. And after that, I had a short amount of time off and was then doing a short training cycle for the Tokyo Marathon at the beginning of March. And I also had the Boston Marathon a little over a week in advance of London. So, how was I going to do this?
Given my work schedule and how I can't deal with working up exceedingly early to go to the gym (having attempted that at least twice in recent years), I was always running after work. So, I would bring the stock pot with me and run on the treadmill with it. Yes, it was as strange as you can imagine. Knowing the kinds of reactions I would get, I made sure to put a couple of signs on the treadmill each time, giving a brief explanation, inviting conversation/questions, and promoting the fundraising effort. It was all the more necessary on those few occasions that I ran *in full costume* on the treadmill. I was recognizable beforehand (since I'm always training for another marathon -- running for typically 1 hour or more on the treadmill during heavily trafficked times), this certainly upped that -- for good or ill.
The day finally arrived. The weather was absolutely PERFECT. (It was about 45-50 degrees, mostly cloudy, and only an intermittent slight breeze. Ideal for me to not overheat nor need to attempt to douse myself at water stops.) The camaraderie of everyone making record attempts was wonderful. Unfortunately, I didn't have my phone with me to have any photos taken, so the various pics that others took with me, I have never seen since. (Shame -- I really wanted the photo of my as a chef, one person as a giant wooden spoon, and another dressed as a lobster -- how perfect?) I couldn't have asked for more. I was confident in my training generally, but was unclear as to just how much the stockpot would drain my energy -- having never done more than about 10 miles or so with it during training.
The race itself was fabulous. I couldn't have asked for more from the crowd. Nearly the entire length of the course is packed with people (only New York City sports more spectators, I think), and there were literally thousands of them cheering specifically for me: "Go, Chef!" It was a huge lift to my spirits.
Alas, despite my arms being fine (I figured out a decent way of handling the pot, and shifting it every few minutes between hands), the sheer fact of having that much extra weight being carried and not being able to swing my arms per normal took its toll. I slowed enough to recognize when my goal time was out of reach. I hit the wall late in the race. There were times when I got enough of a boost from the crowd to start running again, but it was more to acknowledge them than anything else -- since the record was already gone.
I wound up rebuilding enough reserves so that I could run (though not full speed) the last kilometer. There was no way I wasn't going to be running when passing Buckingham Palace and across the finish line. And fortunately, there were few enough others at that moment that I was shown on the big screen at the finish line and noticed by the commentator -- a few good-natured quips and comments about the costume. Despite being an introvert who usually shies away from being the center of attention, it was fantastic to be there for about 15 seconds as I approached the finish line.
In the end, I missed my goal time by approximately 20 minutes. But I was a Six-Star finisher.
Despite that, I was one of the finishers who made it into some of Abbott's posted Facebook videos:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=saved&v=2172309489691023 (about :45 in)
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=288792248672597 (about :25 in)
Several weeks afterwards, I was even featured on Abbott's website in a written interview that had been conducted via phone:
https://www.worldmarathonmajors.com/news-media/latest-news/six-stars-and-a-stock-pot/
But that was only my first attempt. My second attempt at breaking a record less than 6 months later worked out very differently.
Given my work schedule and how I can't deal with working up exceedingly early to go to the gym (having attempted that at least twice in recent years), I was always running after work. So, I would bring the stock pot with me and run on the treadmill with it. Yes, it was as strange as you can imagine. Knowing the kinds of reactions I would get, I made sure to put a couple of signs on the treadmill each time, giving a brief explanation, inviting conversation/questions, and promoting the fundraising effort. It was all the more necessary on those few occasions that I ran *in full costume* on the treadmill. I was recognizable beforehand (since I'm always training for another marathon -- running for typically 1 hour or more on the treadmill during heavily trafficked times), this certainly upped that -- for good or ill.
The day finally arrived. The weather was absolutely PERFECT. (It was about 45-50 degrees, mostly cloudy, and only an intermittent slight breeze. Ideal for me to not overheat nor need to attempt to douse myself at water stops.) The camaraderie of everyone making record attempts was wonderful. Unfortunately, I didn't have my phone with me to have any photos taken, so the various pics that others took with me, I have never seen since. (Shame -- I really wanted the photo of my as a chef, one person as a giant wooden spoon, and another dressed as a lobster -- how perfect?) I couldn't have asked for more. I was confident in my training generally, but was unclear as to just how much the stockpot would drain my energy -- having never done more than about 10 miles or so with it during training.
The race itself was fabulous. I couldn't have asked for more from the crowd. Nearly the entire length of the course is packed with people (only New York City sports more spectators, I think), and there were literally thousands of them cheering specifically for me: "Go, Chef!" It was a huge lift to my spirits.
Alas, despite my arms being fine (I figured out a decent way of handling the pot, and shifting it every few minutes between hands), the sheer fact of having that much extra weight being carried and not being able to swing my arms per normal took its toll. I slowed enough to recognize when my goal time was out of reach. I hit the wall late in the race. There were times when I got enough of a boost from the crowd to start running again, but it was more to acknowledge them than anything else -- since the record was already gone.
I wound up rebuilding enough reserves so that I could run (though not full speed) the last kilometer. There was no way I wasn't going to be running when passing Buckingham Palace and across the finish line. And fortunately, there were few enough others at that moment that I was shown on the big screen at the finish line and noticed by the commentator -- a few good-natured quips and comments about the costume. Despite being an introvert who usually shies away from being the center of attention, it was fantastic to be there for about 15 seconds as I approached the finish line.
In the end, I missed my goal time by approximately 20 minutes. But I was a Six-Star finisher.
Despite that, I was one of the finishers who made it into some of Abbott's posted Facebook videos:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=saved&v=2172309489691023 (about :45 in)
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=288792248672597 (about :25 in)
Several weeks afterwards, I was even featured on Abbott's website in a written interview that had been conducted via phone:
https://www.worldmarathonmajors.com/news-media/latest-news/six-stars-and-a-stock-pot/
But that was only my first attempt. My second attempt at breaking a record less than 6 months later worked out very differently.
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
First Attempt at Breaking a Guinness World Record, Part I
In the months leading up to the 2019 London Marathon -- what was to be my sixth star, completing the World Marathon Majors Six Star Challenge -- I heard lots about "fancy dress" (a.k.a. costumes) that were ubiquitous to that race. And at the same time, I heard that Guinness World Records were set up in such a way that people attempting records at the London Marathon can have their attempts certified as they cross the finish line with no additional paperwork/evidence needed to be submitted by the people making their respective attempts, which is otherwise onerous. (Berlin, Sydney, and Toronto have this same relationship.) I was running on a charity bib (for Whizz-Kidz) and figured, "What the heck? It might help with the fundraising. And how awesome would it be to set a world record at the same time that I finish the Six-Star Challenge?"
Basic decision made to make an attempt, the choice was to then decide what record to try. I first submitted applications for "Fastest Marathon Dressed as a Star Trek Character (male)" and "Fastest Marathon Run by a Member of Mensa". Some of the general criteria relate to whether there is the reasonable possibility of others beating your record. But they also relate to their being sufficient difficulty in what is proposed. Since I had seen a record (too fast for me) related to Star Wars, I figured Star Trek would be accepted. It wasn't -- I'd have to change it to either movie character, but that was WAY too fast for me. And my second application was rejected because of there being nothing inherently challenging about being a member of Mensa vis-a-vis runnin a marathon. Oh well. Time to choose something that existed already to break.
When you look on the Guinness website, there are LOTS of marathon-related records (well over 100) in all sorts of outfits: dressed as a fruit, organ (of the body), tree, mascot, awareness ribbon, celestial body, and many more. Below is a group photo from my attempt. Alas, I'm mostly hidden.
From the full list, I instantly discarded all records that were already set well faster than my then-Personal Record (PR). In fact, I wanted to give myself a bit of a buffer. I was comfortable giving myself a goal of 3:20. And of all the records available, I chose to run dressed as a chef.
Most of the outfit was fine: Checked chef's pants, chef's jacket (short or long-sleeved), apron, and tall chef's hat. No problems. However, there was one very difficult part: having to carry in my hand a stock pot (or various kitchen utensils) weighing at least 3 kg (6.6 pounds). Lifting that -- easy. It's not that heavy in the grand scheme of things. But running with it? Let alone for 26.2 miles? THAT was the challenge.
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