Barely Beat the Cutoff

Yesterday I ran the Publix Florida Marathon in Melbourne, FL, and boy-howdy, what an adventure it was.

The day started out at 70F with humidity somehwere around 90% or higher. Well, so much for even attempting my 3:10 - 3:15 goal time. Play it safe, make sure I can finish properly -- pull back to a 3:30 goal time.

The race had several dozen rows of dots socially distanced on the ground in the starting corral for us to line up on. However, their speaker set-up only sufficed for those people in the front of the corral. The rest of us, around the bend on a different street, could only hear that announcements were being made, but couldn't make out any of the words being said. Apparently they announced the possibility of cutting off the marathon early.

We took off at 6:10am for two laps that would have us twice going over two nasty-steep bridges at the top and bottom of the loop. Around 1 mile into the race, I had settled into an acceptable pace that would get me ~3:30 or so, and wound up striking up a conversation with someone else shooting for sub-3:35 -- she was interested in finally getting a BQ (unconcerned about actually having a buffer to enable her to get into the race). I stuck with her, since there wasn't any pace group (despite the race website implying there would be pace groups). We paced each other.

We got through the first loop ~1:47 -- right on track for her to hit her 3:35 time if we keep pace or negative split. And we were waved on by the people pointing marathoners straight and half-marathoners (also racing at the same time) to the left where the finish line was. Turns out that less than 5 minutes later, the Race Director decided to "call the race" and end the marathon for those who hadn't yet mae it past the halfway point. The 52 of us who had made it past were allowed to finish the course.

My mom had taken her car from our hotel to the area, so she was able to drive up the open portion of the course and informed us of the race being called. However, since the race was not doing anything to get us off the course, we continued running, figuring if the race wanted us off, they would make the efforts to do so. Not much later, when we reached Mile 16, the driving rain began. As long as she could, my mom slowed creeped along to be ahead of us, and every time I would wave her off.

Then the rainstorm was clearly a thunderstorm. As we were on the bridge at the top of the loop (around Mile 20) we saw a bolt of sky-to-ground lightning off in the distance. And the worst of the driving rain was blowing us down the back side of the bridge/hill. Oh, that rain was such a relief from the heat of the day.

Alas, given the strong winds and the wicked steep hill of the final bridge, we finished shortly after 3:35, me about 20 seconds ahead of my newfound running buddy. She was thoroughly upset with herself about missing her goal by less than a minute, but on further reflection, has come to appreciate how good a time she had given the conditions. And she was 5th place overall female (Top 10 got awards).

(Pictures not properly uploading right now. Hopefully I can update this sometime later to add some photos. Especially the two of us get dumped on by the driving rain.)

Travel more tiring than a double?

Quite possibly. As you know by now, the Boston Marathon will be held the day after the Chicago Marathon. The logistics of getting to the expo and picking up the bib for Boston on Sunday are ridiculously unwieldy and risky. 

We may find out in the coming weeks that BAA makes some arrangement for people doing the double. But I'm not counting on that. So, the only reasonable way to go about doing this is to fly into Boston early on Friday and immediately go to the expo with my bags to pick up my bib and packet. Upon doing so, and maybe buying the Boston Marathon cap that is my traditional in-person merchandise purchase, immediately return to the airport to catch a flight to Chicago. Even if I can't get to Chicago's expo on Friday, I have plenty of time on Saturday to do so.

Then, immediately after finishing Chicago (hopefully in 3:15 or less), get back to the hotel to shower/change and rush off to the airport. I have always made it a policy to wait until at least the following day to fly out after a marathon, but that is impossible to do in order to run the Boston Marathon on Monday. Hopefully there will be sufficient time available to get to the hotel and drop my bags off, go to the Marathon dinner at city hall (assuming they're going to be holding that, still), and then crash early enough to rest up for the early wake-up to get to the buses and head out for my fourth in-person Boston.

The only differences I would suggest in this plan would be either arriving in Boston earlier or staying overnight Friday (if you want to do more of the expo). However, by staying overnight on Friday, you still risk problems in your travel to Chicago to arrive in time for their expo.

No matter how you slice it, the travel (and stress of it) just may be more tiring than doing this first-ever World Marathon Majors back-to-back double. Good luck!

Lots of fall races. Lots of COVID testing.

Yesterday, the BAA finally announced the date they are shooting for to hold the next in-person Boston Marathon: October 11. This came as a pleasant and unpleasant surprise to those running the Marathon Majors, as it is the day after the Chicago Marathon. Assuming that the New York City Marathon takes place on their traditional first Sunday of November (they haven't formally announced just yet), that would make for a hugely packed fall schedule:

Sept. 26: Berlin Marathon

Oct. 3: London Marathon

Oct. 10: Chicago Marathon

Oct. 11: Boston Marathon

Oct. 17: Tokyo Marathon

Oct. 31: Marine Corps Marathon (true, not a World Marathon Major, but still highly popular race)

Nov. 7: New York City Marathon

Like last year, there's still plenty that is in flux and the above schedule is far from certain to go off without a hitch. In addition to all your usual registration and travel arrangements to hit any/all of the above races, as of now you will also need to be mindful of the travel restrictions in place. As of Jan. 26, US citizens returning from overseas must have negative COVID test.

Germany: https://de.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/ (in short, US citizens not currently allowed to enter)

UK: https://uk.usembassy.gov/covid-19-coronavirus-information/ (while negative COVID test is required, quarantine may still be required)

Chicago: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/covid-19/home/emergency-travel-order.html (negative COVID test or 10-day quarantine required)

Boston: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-travel-order (fill out travel form and either negative COVID test or 10-day quarantine required)

Japan: https://jp.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/ (Travel for tourism and most other short-term purposes is still not permitted. Visa-free travel is suspended)

Arlington, VA: https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus/coronavirus/travel-to-areas-with-widespread-ongoing-community-spread/ (no testing or quarantine requirements)

    NOTE: If you plan on visiting DC for more than the relatively brief time it takes to run the portion of the MCM course, be mindful of DC's requirements: https://coronavirus.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/coronavirus/page_content/attachments/COVID-19_DC_Health_Guidance_for_Travel_2020.11.07_FINAL.pdf

New York: https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-travel-advisory (fill out travel form, negative COVID test before arrival, quarantine for 3 days, AND negative COVID test administered on Day 4 in state)

More regular posts? We'll see.

Hmmm... maybe. It's been tough to post regularly because of all of the COVID-related cancellations. There's only so many times I can post about my training runs -- I doubt that's of much interest to anyone. Here's what I had as my goals for this blog when I first posted on March 8, 2020 -- less than two weeks before EVERYTHING changed:

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1. Training runs -- especially particularly difficult or disappointing ones, and how I got through them
2. The many races I'll be running this year (I've got 8 more on my calendar as of today for a total of 9), from traveling to them, to the expos, to the crowd support and race logistics, to the bling, and to the recovery
3. Destination races (both domestic and overseas)
4. My big three goals for the year:

• Break a second Guinness World Record (yes, I've already broken one -- we'll get to that)
• Finally break through the 3-hour barrier
• Run my 50th marathon at the 50th New York City Marathon

     5.  Factors beyond our control:

• Particularly bad running weather
• Cancellations due to COVID-19 and other natural (or manmade) disasters

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I didn't have all of those races, but I did wind up running a total of 4 during the year. I'll try to be better about post-race posts this year. I'm currently set to run one in Feb, April, possibly May, October, and November if everything continues apace -- we'll see.

It's unlikely that I'll even have another GWR attempt, as I don't expect to be running in London, Sydney, Berlin, or Toronto -- the locations where I don't need to do any paperwork after the application is accepted, merely need to run the race.

I didn't manage to break 3-hours yet, either, despite having trained for it and run a proper race on a mostly flat course with that as the goal.

It's still a possibility to run my 50th marathon at the 50th running of the NYC Marathon. Fingers crossed that that works out.

My biggest concern at the moment is my right Achilles tendon. Earlier tonight, it decided to scream at me. Ice, compression, elevation -- so far it seems to have helped. And with tomorrow being a rest day from running (since today was a (tapering) long run), that should also help. Wish me luck with keeping healthy for my upcoming race.

Domino effect

Well, the Gulf Coast Marathon in Biloxi, MS has come and gone. And with it, most likely, my opportunity to be in the Abbott Age Championships in London next year. I needed a sub-3:02 performance to get the combined score to be in the Top 85. However, despite starting off conservatively and aiming for a negative split (rather than even effort), by Mile 7 or 8, I couldn't keep even the 3:05 pace that I was on. My right glute started to get tight, and I progressively slowed down throughout the rest of the race. Given that the Biloxi course is pancake flat (except for a nasty uphill ramp after Mile 24 with the commensurate downhill after Mile 25), I never had any way of gaining additional momentum. Final time was 3:23:29, which puts me at over 400 points outside of what I needed, likely somewhere around 212th. Once I am able to claim the points on Abbott's website, I'll know for certain.

So, what dominoes? Well, naturally I didn't work out the following day -- that was my travel day home. I wouldn't have worked out anyway, since my right hip/glute were hurting. Tuesday I wound up getting out of work a little late and didn't take the opportunity to go to the gym. I also had a bit of a sorre throat that I had chalked up to my last hour at work where I was doing the bulk of talking in a conversation. Wednesday, I still wanted to take things easy. The sore throat had mostly subsided, and on Thursday throughout the day my runny nose (which is an intermittent but rather perpetual thing for me) was getting worse and I was getting congested. So, after getting home, I took it easy (no gym) and took some DayQuil to deal with the nose, congestion, and nasty headache. Today has been a bit of a rough day. While I haven't had a headache at all, there's only so much that the DayQuil can do for the rest of this. While I'm currently feeling fairly decent, I'm going to hole up way from the gym again. It's all I can do to prevent entering the downward spiral of no gym *and* eating poorly. When I'm feeling good and working out, food isn't a problem. But with the COVID precautions, even though I'm 99% sure this is just the same sort of cold I've had before (there's nothing new presenting itself), I need to stay in. And it's infuriating.

Moral of the story: Take care of yourself. Always eat reasonably well (occasional cheats help the mind, but don't make those poor choices a habit), and exercise as regularly as possible. When you treat your body well, it will treat you well in return. Occasionally some bug will slip past your natural defenses, but hopefully your regular good habits will allow you to persevere in short order.

Even harder goal for Sunday

Hitting 3:05:00 is tough enough, but I just checked one last time to see whether there were more people who have popped higher scores into the Top 85 and, lo and behold, there are. Now, instead of having to beat 3:05:00 to be pretty confident of being in the Top 85, I now need to PR, cracking below 3:02 to be pretty sure of being in the Top 85. Now to figure out what the best strategy is to make sure I hit that time. How much of a negative split should I attempt? Hmmm... (And, of course, this all assumes that the winner of my age group does NOT finish faster than the Platinum standard.)

Drumroll, please...

So, there are only two races left in the qualifying period for the Abbott World Marathon Majors Age Championships -- both happening next weekend. My current ranking is 2103 (415th in the U.S.) based on only having one qualifying race under my belt for the current qualifying period. 3430 points.

The top 85 overall qualify for the Age Championships. Currently, those who are tied for 84th have a total of 6790 points between their two races. So, if I were to tie with them, that means that I need to get 3360 points (and bringing our collective ranking down to 85, assuming no one else does similarly). Given the scoring mechanism, that means I would be finishing less than 32 minutes behind either the 1st place finisher in my age group or the Platinum standard of 2:34, whichever is faster.

I have to assume that our age group winner will finish in a similar time to last year's -- 2:43:35 -- which means the comparison for points would be against the Platinum standard. So, I must run faster than 3:06:00 to have a shot at a qualifying spot, assuming no one else in the two races is "in the running" for jumping into the Top 85 (and would jump me to 24th in the U.S. -- wow).

I'm sure I've got it in me. (3:02:02 is my PR from just over a year ago.) Now, it's really down to making sure I take good enough care of myself during this next week and the weather conditions are good enough on race day. No more tweaking of my diet beyond what I'm already used to doing. And as of now, the temperature at the start of the race should be in the low 50s (ideal), with mild crosswinds (9mph from the north), but a decent chance of rain showers (grr...). Hopefully it's only a light rain and intermittent (enough to keep me cool, but not so much as to have the shirt stuck to my skin even longer or soak through my sneakers and socks). Nothing I can do about the conditions, just mentally prepare myself for them, and keep myself as dry and warm as possible in the time before race start.

Fingers crossed!