Holy Cr@p! Age Group Championships?

How the heck did this happen?

In 2022, I got off to a raring start with a 2:59:55 (subsequently updated to 2:59:56) at the Mesa Marathon. However, I was not able to come close to repeating that. My 2nd best result was the following month at Shamrock Marathon, with 3:17:02. My total points (with the manner that qualifying was determined at the time) placed me well down on the list. I had no expectation that I would wind up getting an invite.

So, color me gobsmacked earlier today when I looked in my e-mail and got the above notice that I have earned a place at the Age Cgroup World Championships at the Chicago Marathon. Sweet!

Taking the plunge

For the past few years at expos where I have seen vendors selling the various brands of inflatables (Hyperice, Air Relax, etc.) I've taken advantage of the free 10-minute session. It's barely enough to spark one's curiosity about whether this could really be all that beneficial. (10 minutes really doesn't do anything, but lets you know what the activity of the inflating sections of full-leg "boot" feel like.)

These systems are all pretty expensive, which is what further kept me from buying a system. But I just did my taxes last week and wound up getting a tax refund larger than the cost of the system, so I decided to take the plunge and get the Hyperice Normatec 3.0.

These arrived on Thursday, so I've only used them twice so far. Legs definitely feel good afterwards. But I haven't been using them for long enough to be able discern if there is a long-term benefit for me. Nor have I had the opportunity yet to use them right before going for a run, or shortly after returning from my run, given the lack of sufficient time to do that around my weekday workouts -- early morning before leaving for work. To take the extra time to use these would considerably delay my arrival at work, so I'll have to reserve the pre- and post-race use for weekends, etc.

Worth it? You make the call.

Amazingly enough, the jacket arrived today, three days earlier than expected. Nice when that happens, rare though it is.

So, was it really worth it? As far as jackets go, I don't think so, not particularly. But when you factor in the ego boost of knowing that you earned the spot in the marathon and the cache that comes with it? Yeah, I suppose it is, to an extent. It's an expensive collection, but one I intend to keep building on for as long as my legs will let me.

As far as the characteristics of the jacket...

As noted by others, there is no mesh lining. While it may take a slight amount of time to get used to, as far as putting on the jacket is concerned, I am quite happy to not have that mesh lining, since it was always being shoved out the ends of the sleeves while putting on the other jackets. Similarly, on taking off the prior jackets, it's always a little tricky, especially if wearing my Garmin which far too often got stuck in the mesh. No issue with that, now.

The double-zipper on the front... What's the point of being able to zip/unzip from both directions? Bizarre. But at least there isn't any fabric "cover" to hide the zipper, which previous zippers would frequently get caught in. While that cover makes for a more appealing look, it was always getting in the way.

Pockets... There is the one in back, which I don't really understand the utility of. I have no idea how one would be expected to use it for packing the jacket into it, given its orientation and relatively small size. They don't provide any instructions on the website or with the jacket - god luck figuring out this spacial orientation problem. And then there is the single pocket on the front of the jacket, on the left side. (Whereas most normal jackets and any of its Celebration predecessors have pockets on both left and right.) This pocket is so tiny as to be virtually worthless. Kinda like what I understand is the case in women's pants. You'd be able to fit a flip phone in it, maybe. Certainly not even your entire hand (with nothing else in the pocket). False advertising, in my opinion, where they say "it has plenty of pockets to store your phone and gels." Plenty? Ha! And how many people want to keep their phone in a pocket on the back of the jacket? Because that's the only way you could put a phone in this jacket, with the size of phones nowadays.

With the venting and the lack of mesh, it looks like it might be something decent to run in in cool temps. I don't see any claim to it being water resistant, so not necessarily all that helpful if you're running outside in wet conditions.

No embroidery. Come on, man! That's one of the aspects of the prior jackets that helps the cache of the jacket. Merely printing on the logos, now? Sigh. Definitely cheapens the jacket, even though not reducing the price of it at all.

And there's a label awkwardly placed inside the back pocket where you can write your name and finishing time. Ooh, ahh. Maybe if there were a known way of folding the jacket into the pocket inside out (as depicted on the Adidas website), thereby having the label on the outside, it might be possible and slightly meaningful - for identifying which jacket is yours - but if you want your time emblazoned on the jacket, you'll need to do something else. (I miss the (free) embroidery of finishing times the day after the marathon in 2017 and 2018 - my first two years running it.)

So, do you think the jacket was worth the $120 price? (Thankfully I paid only $100 given a deal on Adidas' website.)

Who Am I Kidding? Take My Money.

Let's face it, the Boston Marathon jacket is iconic. It's hard to resist purchasing it in any year that you get into the marathon. I've been running Boston since 2017, and every year I buy the jacket. But about a week ago, amid lots of joke posts providing very funny "possibilities" for this year's style of jacket, someone found a legit photo of the real thing prior to it being officially released by Adidas. It was instantly panned by a large number of people -- at least in the groupsto which I belong.

Is it grey? Purple? (Officially, it's Silver Violet.)

Why is the logo on the back only screen-print, as opposed to the standard embroidery?

What's the deal with the flap/cape design on the back and the zipper on the back? (Some have said that the zipper is there so that you can roll-up the jacket into itself, though that's not something advertised.)

Yeah, based on the photos on the website, I'm not all that enamored with the jacket. But, as the title implies, who am I kidding? I got into the race again this year -- therefore, I will be getting this jacket. Take my momeny, Adidas. And, as I am one of the rare breed that actually wears the jacket prior to running the race (since I consider the Celebration to be getting into the race -- this is not a finisher's jacket), I'll be wearing it until the 2024 jacket comes out. (I already have a BQ for the race, and am pretty sure it will be good enough to secure a spot.)

What do previous years look like that I've bought? 

2017: The "Band-Aid" jacket, at least referred to that way by the women (women's jacket on the right):

2018: Oh, myyy... The orange...

2019: So-so light blue

2020: Patriotic - really nice design (but largely unworn at any races, thanks, COVID)

2021: Iconic ("traditional" Boston Marathon colors of yellow and blue)

2022: Meh. (Purple and green, really? Officially, "Victory Blue," given the main color, though I keyed in more on the arms'/shoulders' colors.)

2013: The Ideal (classic Boston Marathon colors), and all the more meaningful when I see anyone wearing it, given the bombing that year.

What do you think about the design of this year's jacket? Or any of the previous years' jackets?

Mesa Marathon

Last week I was excited to give another shot at running a sub-3 marathon in Mesa, AZ where I accomplished it last year. A few things were different, to include the location of the expo (at Sloan Park, rather than Bass Pro Shops) and the tail end (~1 mile) of the marathon route to end right next to Riverview Park.

The line that I was in to pick up my bib was RIDICULOUSLY slow. The kid who they had behind the counter for those of us with last names starting with "L" (and, from what I could eventually see, all of the bibs were actually in alphabetical order by last name) had no idea how to quickly get to the approximately right area of the bin. Instead of trying to skip over as many of the "La" and "Le" last names to get to the area near mine, he went one by one through the entire bin of bibs. Come on, man! You can see my last name, it WILL be after everything starting "La" and before everything starting "Li" (or later). To quote Holy Grail, "skip a little, brother."

Pick-up aside, the rest of the expo, relatively small though it was, was decent. They have a method of getting codes from various vendors that would enable you to get discounts of future race registrations. And they had a coach there giving a detailed overview of the half marathon and full marathon courses, and good advice on how best to tackle both the downhills and the main uphill.

I must admit though, the biggest disappointment of the expo was when I went over to the pacer table. While they were nice enough, the disappointment arose when they told me that (yet again, despite claims to the contrary on the race website) they would NOT have a 3-hour pacer. Ugh! Come on! Don't promise a pacer that you're not going to have. (Near as I could tell, the fastest pacer they had was for 3:15.)

The morning of the race was gorgeous. It was just chilly enough (mid-40s?) that I donned my NYC Marathon poncho for my walk from the hotel to the bus loading area. Upon arrival at the start line, most of us stayed on board the bus for a while, given that it was colder there, and was also rather breezy to start.

Finally, I got out of the bus, got in the very brief line for the portapotty, dropped off my bag (poncho dropped in and mylar donned), and met up with my fellow Maniacs.

Then, it was off to the corral to attempt to meet up with the 1 or 2 people from one of my Facebook groups who  I was chatting with in advance. Jason (the guy I was with last year for about 20 miles) crossed paths with me, and pointed out that his goal this time was 2:50 -- great! And I didn't really meet up with the planned individual, but wound up chatting with many other people standing at the 3-hour time, all of whom were disappointed to hear there was no official pacer for 3 hours but, upon hearing that I managed it last year, seemed to coalesce around me as their unofficial pacer. Lots of pressure, but I was up to try it again.

That said, it was really dark, and NONE of us were wearing headlamps. I advised them what my plan was for the start -- doing 6:40s until getting to the uphill around Mile 4-5.5. The starting gun finally went off, and just about everyone around me was off with a shot, out much faster than what I wanted to do. I instantly let them all go -- I had no interest in going out overly fast like I did last year. So, only the two or three people closest to me stuck near me at all, only one (Tromeric, from Norway) right next to me where we could still converse at all.

The first four miles were great - right on planned pace. Then we got to the main uphill section and I kept the same level of effort, but slowed down a fair bit more than what I had intended. I was unconcerned, as there was plenty of time to make up the extra difference down through the half-way mark. And while Tromeric wanted to pull away, he slowed down to stick with me.

We finally got to the downhill portion again, and we picked the pace back up again. But not enough. And it didn't look like I would be able to increase the pace enough to make up the difference. After a couple of miles of this, he slowly drifted off, aiming to make up the time sufficiently to hit sub-3. I didn't attempt to hold him back at all, since I knew I wasn't going to hit the goal.

By the time I got to the half-way point, my time was over 1:31. Since I was already planning a positive split (i.e., slower 2nd half than 1st) and it was clear for the last several miles that my pace was slowly decreasing, my goal then changed to 3:05 -- still possible.

Somewhere around Mile 16, I saw Tromeric in front of me, walking very slowly. I called out to him as I approached to see if he was ok. Seemed like he was injured to some extent, but still mobile. I wished him good luck and kept on going, hoping that I would at least be able to see him again after the finish so we could talk further.

Gradually, the course's downhill became shallower and shallower (nearly flat), and my pace gradually slowed further. I finally got into the area of town that had us running through the neighborhoods, and I got frustrated with all of the turns that seemed to be taking us the wrong way compared to the finish line (since I hadn't memorized the course to know what was coming).

It felt like it was taking forever to finally hit Mile 24, which I knew was right around the spot where we had our last long straightaway on Rio Salado, with a nice last, fast downhill kick just past Mile 25, and then only .25 miles remaining when I hit the front side of Riverview Park. (I had run that part of the course on Thursday when I arrived in town to have my landmarks and timing in mind to know whether I would need the same uber-painful push at the end for crossing the line under the mark.)

I had already seen 3:05 pass as a possible goal, and even 3:10. But what about 3:15? The turn made, there was less than .1 miles left.

Alas, no. 3:15 was already showing on the clock.

Still, could I be under 3:16, at least? CHARGE!

Yes. Final result, 3:15:53.

I took my sweet time in the finisher's village, getting and consuming the post-race refreshments, getting stretched and a massage. Finally, I got my bag and headed out backtracking the course until about the 25.5mile mark (which was where I would need to turn down to finish walking back to my hotel), and cheered some of the later runners for about 45 minutes. Mercifully, where I was "standing" was actually where a barrier that enabled me to sit was placed - making it an easier effort.

"You can do it!"

"Less than 1 mile to go!"

"You really ARE almost there!"

"Last downhill right here!"

After a fair bit of cheering, I was intermittently feeling a bit light-headed, so I needed to get back, soak, shower and change, and get out for lunch. A very late lunch, as it turned out.

But Bobby's BBQ was really a great find. The smokehouse burger was scrumptious, and I wolfed it down rapidly.

Dessert? The mini donuts look tempting, but I can't eat a dozen (which is the size of the order on the menu). Could I get a half-order? "Well, they're complimentary with your dine-in lunch. Should I bring you 5 or 6?" Ooh, yes, please!

These were fantastic. Similar to zeppoles, but much lighter. They were gone in maybe 1 minute. Oh! Mmmm...

Back to the hotel again to do a little more resting. Would I be bothered getting dinner? After all, lunch wasn't until about 3:30pm. I shouldn't think about dinner prior to 8pm. Yeah, I went for it. Yet a different Chinese restaurant than earlier in the weekend, and these ripped noodles with pork were wonderful. And the live music (zither, I think) was pretty good, too.

So, do I concede that sub-3 is not happening again? Should I really accept the fact that PRs are likely behind me, so that now I should only think of PRs with respect to my age group? Quite possibly. But I've been tempted by the profile of this course for next year, because based on the website, it looks like they have removed the uphill portion at Mile 4 - 5.5 so it's a completely downhill course. Hmmm... I've got time to decide. After all, it would be nice to do more pacing for others and to get more states -- I only have 17 states + DC, so far.

More anxiety-inducing than actually running a marathon...

Today was the big day... the day when the New York City Marathon registration period opened. The vast majority of spots up for grabs in the many different methods of registering are not first-come-first-served, you can take the entire 2-week registration period to enter. However, for those of us who have run a time qualifying race at a non-NYRR event, we HAD to register today, since our limited slots are first-come-first-served (rather than using Boston's method of fastest times compared to age group qualifying time).

NYRR never specifies the time registration will start, though it is typically noon. Such was the case again today.

I was part of a Facebook group chat trading tips and tricks, including ways to "game" the system and get as many different browser windows open as possible while still being able to track them to make sure to jump on whichever one gets through the virtual queue to the actual online registration first. I set up my several browsers and was on NYRR's website about 30 minutes ahead of time. Tension was rising within the group with each passing minute, worrying about whether we would have to wait eons to get in, despite best efforts, and registration would sell out before we got to register.

Noon arrived, and I was dutifully bouncing between the 6 windows (4 in one browser, 1 in a second browser, and 1 on my phone) checking the "running man" status bar. In less than 5 minutes, the singleton window in the Safari browser in incognito mode finished its race and got me into the registration site. "Holy cow! I'm in!"

I quickly signed in (since that was necessary anyway, and helped autofill information), got to the registration page and filled it all out. Less than 5 minutes later, I was done. Yes!

Less than two hours later, I got the confirmation e-mail about my entering (though not confirmation yet that I've got my slot), and the "pending" status is visible in my NYRR account. Phew! I can now relax and don't need to cancel the hotel reservation I made about a month ago (since I don't plan on entering NYC via marathon again; I'll only join via time qualifying given I've run it multiple times).