Ironman Mont-Tremblant race recap (a.k.a. When things don’t go as planned)

October 15, 2023ianesenior 2 Comments

Pre-read:

This will not be a typical race recap for me. I participated in Ironman Mont-Tremblant 2023 but was not able to complete the race. This was my first ever DNF (did not finish) in a race. I will write about my experiences leading up to race day and the highlights of the Ironman experience below, but I will share ahead of the recap that I had an accident during the bike portion which resulted in me ending up in hospital. I know I am lucky to be here writing my recap and on my road to recovery.

For those not familiar with an Ironman triathlon event, this is a race combining the following activities and distances:

2.4 mile (3.9 kilometer) swim, 112 mile (180 kilometer) bike ride, 26.2 mile (42.2 kilometer) run for a total of 140.6 miles (226.3 km).

I began my journey to Ironman Mont-Tremblant by signing up for the event in October 2022. My training plan was 39 weeks long (I used a plan from MyProCoach) and was optimized for a ‘Masters’ athlete (40+ years of age) with a career and a family. It was a good fit and allowed for some flexibility which would permit me to work around my family obligations. I picked this specific race based upon the timing (late August) as both my boys would be away together at overnight camp during the heaviest training period of the plan (the 6 hour bike rides and long swims and runs) between June and August, and race day was before they went back to school so not interfering with everyday life. While I recognize triathlon is a very selfish sport, I did my best to balance life, family and work, and this plan worked best. I would highly recommend MyProCoach as the plans available are numerous and the coaches were very responsive and informative.

I also chose Mont-Tremblant as a location as I would be able to drive there. This would minimize logistics for me (it was roughly a 500 mile/8 hour drive) eliminating the need to plan flights as I didn’t know initially if any family would be coming with me. As it ended up, my wife and youngest son were able to join me, but unfortunately my eldest son had obligations with his school marching band. We were lucky that he had recently obtained his driver’s license and was able to stay with family and drive himself to and from school.

It was announced just ahead of the race that, after 10 years, this would be the last full Ironman event to be held at Mont-Tremblant, although the half Ironman (IM70.3) would continue. This was going to be a very special weekend for everyone involved.

This would be the last Ironman at this picturesque location.

In terms of getting my bike to Mont-Tremblant, I chose TriBikeTransport to ship my bike to the race location. While I have always taken my bike to races on my own using my bike rack, having a trusted service provider really took a lot of stress out my weekend. I found a local bike shop from the TriBikeTransport list of approved locations and arranged with the bike shop to perform a thorough bike tune up in advance of pick up. All worked out well.

We set out for Mont-Tremblant on Thursday August 17th. It was an incident free drive with no major traffic issues. All the passengers (aka my wife and son) were happily relaxed and entertained and my only job was to drive and get there safe. We did stop at a quaint town in upstate New York for lunch which looked like an old movie set, before arriving in Canada in the early afternoon. The border crossing/passport control was really our only slow down but we made it through there and headed on to our final destination in the early evening. The scenery was fantastic. I know now why this was considered one of the best locations to do an Ironman race. As we arrived in Mont-Tremblant, our home for the next few days, we were surrounded by many cyclists riding the course (which was well marked by signs along the road) and the most wonderful rainbow. We thought (at the time) that this was a sign for a great adventure and good luck for the weekend.

After checking in our hotel (Tour des Voyageurs), which was full of athletes, we spent the evening walking around the village and finding a place for dinner. Our hotel was walking distance to the Ironman Village and the finish line. This was recommended as a hotel through a number of reviews and I’d made sure to book it as soon as I signed up for the race. After dinner we took a stroll down to the finish line that I would hopefully be crossing on Sunday evening before heading back to our hotel for the night.

Thinking good wishes at the finish line. It was all ready for race day.

We woke up on Friday morning to rain. My plan was to do a practice swim in the designated swimming area to get familiar with the water temperature and to make sure I was comfortable in my wetsuit. After rubbing my neck fairly raw during my last half ironman event I was testing out using some KT tape on the back of my neck while swimming. My wife had planned to go for a run (we were in training for the Atlantic City, NJ marathon) and she seemed okay to be running in the rain. As I was swimming, the rain didn’t really bother me.

I signed in at the swim beach and got myself all suited up to swim. My wife zipped my wetsuit up and headed out for her run as I headed to the lake. Once I entered the water I was shocked by how cold the water actually felt and once I was starting my swim I found my breathing rate elevated as I was struggling to maintain my composure in the water. I had planned to do 10 minutes out and 10 minutes back but I had to stop and tread water a couple of times to slow my breathing down and my planned out and back swim ended up to be only 15 minutes.

I was a little startled by the water conditions as all my swimming had been in a pool and I hadn’t done an open water swim since my last half Ironman back in 2021. I’m glad I made the time to practice and figure out conditions, but I’m also glad that my open water swim freak out happened on the Friday rather than on race day. At least I could mentally prepare for what I would face on Sunday. As I got out of the water to walk back to the hotel the heavens opened and the rain became really heavy. Let’s just say I think I got wetter walking back to the hotel than actually swimming. My wife was still out running and she was as equally soaked (dedicated but soaked).

The practice swim area was away from the actual race marked course which was on the other side of the trees seen on the right.

After a hot shower back in my room, I left my family getting ready for the day and headed to the race registration area to check in for the race. Race registration was held in a building by the side of the finish line. As the half Ironman had been postponed from July due to the Canadian wildfires, it was also taking place on the Sunday and the registration area was split into two sides. Once I showed my registration information at the front I was guided to the full Ironman area and given my race number, my Ironman wristband and all my gear bags for race day. I quickly went over to the Ironman village to pick up my official race backpack but did not want to shop until I was with my wife so I headed back to the hotel.

Registration was quick and well organized.

The official backpack provided to all full Ironman participants.

After getting all my race provisions, I picked up my bike from the TriBikeTransport area by the side of the transition area and headed back to the hotel. On my way back I passed the unofficial underwear runners which is a tradition at Ironman events. Due to the weather I think this was a pretty small but determined group. I declined to join!!!

Really grateful for this service. They made transporting my bike easy.

Considering the conditions, these people must have been very dedicated.

Following a quick shop in the official Ironman Store with my family, noting that they still had not received all the race specific gear, I headed over to the mandatory athlete briefing while my wife and son enjoyed time in the village.

There were two mandatory briefings on the Friday and I attending the earlier one for the day.

We headed to St-Jovite, a nearby village, for lunch and to investigate the area before heading back to Mont-Tremblant for a rest and a walk around the host village. I headed back to the hotel to get my gear bags packed ahead of Saturday’s mandatory bike check in and gear drop before meeting up again with my family for dinner and an early night.

Having read many Ironman race reviews I followed advice and made sure my bags were decorated with identifiable marks to find them easier to spot on race day. I did have to raid my son’s art supplies but I made my bags easily identifiable.

Grateful for our stash of Philadelphia Eagles Duck Tape.

On Saturday morning my wife headed out for a 13 mile run, and following some advice from other athletes in a race specific Facebook group, she was able to follow most of the marked race route that I would be running the next day. There were so many people out running, swimming and biking all over the area each day we were there leading up to the race. I double and triple checked my gear bags and headed over to the athletes village just after 10am when mandatory bike check in and gear drop off started.

Checking my gear one more time before heading to bike check in and gear drop.

I racked my bike and dropped my bags off and timed it perfectly that I got to the official store just as my wife finished her run. The official race merchandise had been delivered that morning (they sent a note through the official Ironman race app) and we stopped by the store to buy some race specific headwear before heading back to the hotel.

After lunch at a great spot in the village, I headed back to the hotel for a rest while my wife and son entertained themselves around the village now that the sun had finally come out. I met up with them for an early dinner reservation and headed back to the hotel alone to get my special needs, race morning gear and bike food and fluids ready before heading to bed for an early night. I had packed ear plugs and an eye mask so my family knew they wouldn’t disturb me when they came back to the hotel. I just hope I did not disturb them when I woke up at 3:30am the next day. Judging by my Garmin data I managed to get about six and a half hours of sleep so I was happy with that.

Having woken up early, I ate my breakfast, had a cup of coffee and dressed for the day. I had been as strategic as possible in positioning my supplies so not to wake anyone and around 4:45am I headed out for the big day.

Once in transition I headed over to my bike to add my water bottles and pump up my tires. Bike transition was super crowded and busy but it was fairly straightforward where to drop my special needs bags for later in the day and even though it was dark when I arrived I was able to get everything ready without much issue.

Having dropped off all my gear, all that was left was to walk to the swim start. There I would change out of my morning clothes and into my wetsuit, drop off my morning gear bag and hope I had time for a short practice swim and at least get some water into my wetsuit to get used to the day’s temperature.

The walk was a bit longer than I expected and by the time I got to the race start it was crowded. I quickly got into my wetsuit but just as I finished zipping up they announced that practice swim time was over and participants should get out of the water. Oh man!!! Luckily I had a bottle of water at room temperature in my morning bag and I had read in all my preparation for the race that if you cannot swim, pour a bottle of water down the wetsuit to get a layer of water between your skin and the wetsuit to provide a layer of insulation. With that done I headed to the beach to line up for the start of the race.

Based upon my training speed and my most recent long swim I lined up with the 1 hour 40 minute to 1 hour to 50 minute swimmers. My goal was to swim under 1 hour 50 minutes with a stretch goal of 1 hour 45 minutes. I put in my ear plugs and put on my swim cap and my goggles, said a quick personal prayer, and followed the mass of competitors to the front. While the half Ironman was also taking place on the same day, they would be starting 2 hours behind us so this was all full Ironman participants. I wondered how many first timers there were like me as there was no way to identify that in the mass of swimmers.

Rather than a mass start, like Ironman races traditionally had, I preferred the timed corrals as it was much less intimidating, especially for a first timer. We funneled down the chutes which were divided into 6 lanes and swimmers were sent off every 7 seconds. The weather was glorious and I was just excited to have made it to the start line of an Ironman race after all my training.

My wife, unbeknown to me, had heard me leave and headed down to the start area before venturing out for her morning run and took photos of the swim start and had even caught me entering the water.

I’m there….wearing a wetsuit and a green swim cap!!

Once in the water, knowing my experience from Friday’s practice swim, I had prepared mentally to keep calm, breathe slowly and just get into a consistent rhythm with my stroke, imaging I was in a swimming pool. The water was fairly clear and allowed me to follow the feet of swimmers ahead of me so I was not constantly having to look up and sight the buoys. The KT tape I had applied to my neck when dressing in the morning seemed to be holding up in the water and I just focused on my stroke and my breathing.

Such a beautiful morning and amazing experience

Below is my GPS tracking for the swim. I swam pretty much the exact distance of the course without veering too far off the line. After swimming in a pool for the whole of my training cycle I am very proud of this.

However, what I am more proud of is my swim time. Based upon my watch, I swam around 1 hour 30 minutes, and according to the official Ironman timing I actually swam 1:29:20! 15 minutes ahead of my goal time.

During the race briefing on Friday, competitors were advised to keep swimming until they touched the bottom of the lake before standing up and from there it was quite a short walk to the swim exit. Once I touched the bottom I stood up and looked at my competitors around me and said “I did it! I swam the Ironman swim course!” I was so happy I was grinning from ear to ear. A fellow competitor nearby smiled back and said “Yes you did!”.

There were stairs to climb out of the lake and we were assisted up by volunteers. I quickly went to the nearest wetsuit peelers and two volunteers helped me out of the wetsuit in no time. I was so excited I could not stop smiling. What was more, I saw my wife at the side of the barriers cheering me on as I ran to transition. What a lovely surprise and a great start to my day.

It was so great to see my wife cheering me on.

The run to transition was about a half mile and was fully carpeted to the transition area. I quickly ran to pick up my bike gear back and was led into the changing tent and guided to a seat by the race volunteers. It was a hive of activity with so many athletes getting changed and ready for the next leg of the race. Once I had dried off, changed into my bike gear and stored my swim gear I made sure to stop to eat food I had packed and grab water as well as making a quick bathroom stop before dropping of my swim gear bag and heading to my bike.

After grabbing my bike, I gave my wife a quick kiss before heading out to the bike mounting area and heading on my way.

Heading out for the start of the 2 loop course.

The Mont-Tremblant bike course was a challenging ride but with some spectacular scenery. Below is the course map from the Athlete Guide and the elevation chart of the course. It has approximately 4,800 feet of elevation. This is when you remember the race is based in a ski resort. I had done all my training using my bike trainer and the Fulgaz application as you could ride the Ironman course in the app. My training plan also synced to the app so I was getting my power and speed workouts simulated over the course.

The bike course is two loops of 56 miles each.

The volunteers on the course were exceptional and also entertaining. Ironman events have strict rules on littering and athletes can only drop litter in a designated area without incurring a penalty. This is clearly sign posted at each aid station. Being in Canada, the litter throwing areas at some of the aid stations were hockey nets and being manned by volunteers with hockey sticks. Funny!

Clearly there were parts of the course that I enjoyed.

The road and scenery were great and there were some good stretches of the course where you could settle in and cruise.

The hardest part of the course for me was the climb to Lac Superior between miles 45 to 50. A solid 5 mile stretch with several “stair step” climbs. Whatever speed I had been averaging was easily sapped in this stretch.

Based upon my Garmin data I did the first loop in just over 4 hours which would be cutting the time allowed close. This was my slowest ride in any of my triathlon events and may have been a combination of just how hard the hills were for me and the heat that was rising. It was the hottest day of the weekend so far. Luckily for me I had gained around 40 minutes from my swim but it would be tight with the overall time limit for the race. Cycling is my weakest part of the three sports of the events and I’m not really speedy on two wheels, however, with the elevation I was hitting speeds just over 40 miles per hour on the downhill portions of the course.

After negotiating the climb up to Lac Superior there is a steep downhill which takes you to the halfway turnaround point by the side of the bike transition area. It was here that I saw and was cheered on by my wife and son as I turned around and headed back out for my second lap.

I felt a little more confident having gone through the course one time already and knew where I could push and where I could take it a little easier. But before heading back on the course my first stop was at my special needs bag located on the course about half a mile past the transition area. I grabbed replacement liquid fuel that I had packed and more gels and bars, but primarily I stopped to read the notes that my family (including my eldest son who wasn’t with us) had written for me and had put in my bag to give me a boost at the halfway mark. They had even thrown a few pieces of candy in there for me. From there it was back out for miles 57 through 112.

This is where my memory gets a little sketchy. Based on the course map and my Garmin data I made it to Route 117 and completed the three mile climb to the turnaround point where I crossed over the official timing sensor at mile 60 (96km) and started my decent down La Conception…

…the next thing I recall was being in an emergency room in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts surrounded by medical staff with my wife and son nearby. Based upon the conversations I’ve had with my wife since the event I have very little recollection of what was going on. For that, I am glad and at peace that I do not remember my experience.

This is the view that unfortunately greeted my family.

I’d had a bike accident which resulted in a concussion with a brain bleed, I broke my right clavicle in 2 places, I had 5 broken ribs and had a punctured lung in addition to a lot of skin abrasions across my body and over my face. It could have been so much worse and I know how very lucky I am. While my bike helmet is damaged to the point it is no longer practical, it no doubt saved me. Let this be a PSA for bike helmets.

After the accident, the Ironman crew contacted my wife and she and my son were able to get transport to the trauma center to see me before I was then moved to Sacred Heart Hospital in Montreal about 90 minutes away, where they had appropriate facilities to care for me. I don’t remember which location took CT scans and X-rays but I do remember being moved a lot.

From what I have been able to piece together from my GPS data and members of the race specific Facebook group I was part of, my watch stopped recording at mile 66.98. Eye witnesses tell me I was descending La Conception at high velocity when a wind gust caught my front wheel causing me to lose control and I went over the front of my bike and rolled over and over down the road about 10 times before ending up lying on my back in the middle of the road.

Thankfully I was close to an on course medical team and they responded immediately to stabilize me until an ambulance arrived. I have since connected with the first responder who filled in more of the gaps. He was the person who got to me first and stabilized me before calling for the ambulance. He said I was disoriented and only responded to physical stimulation and had difficulty breathing.

While we should have been returning home to the USA on Monday August 21st, my wife had to pack up our room in Mont-Tremblant and relocate to a hotel In Montreal. Fortunately my father in law flew up on the Tuesday when I was being discharged and between him and my wife they were able to drive me home that night.

This is how ‘good’ I looked before being discharged from the hospital in Montreal.

It was on the Thursday night after we got home when my concussion/head injury finally raised its ugly self and I ended up in an emergency room for more head CT scans and was admitted into the ICU on the Friday. I had an additional CT scan the following morning and the doctors were okay to discharge me on the Saturday afternoon but I had yet another visit to the same ER on the following Tuesday for changes in my vision leading to more CT scans and X-rays. Thankfully I was not readmitted and have been home sleeping in my own bed since August 29th.

I saw an ophthalmologist the day after my ER visit who confirmed there was no damage to my eye and the vision change was a result of pressure on my optic nerve as a result of the head injury and hopefully will go away as my head recovers. Later that week I was back for some additional X-rays on my chest and my ribs but was allowed to go home.

Since then I have been recuperating at home and getting better. I received home visits twice a week through mid-September from a nurse, an occupational therapist and a physical therapist. I have been doing physical therapy at home 3 times a day as I build back my stamina. I was discharged by the neurosurgeon and referred to a neurologist for follow up. My appointment with the neurologist was positive.

I have made progress and on my recent visit with the orthopedic surgeon, he decided (for now) not to operate on my shoulder based upon my hard work and instead has prescribed ‘aggressive’ physical therapy which I recently began. I have a follow up with the surgeon in mid-November and hoping the good news continues. I’m finally able to sleep on my back again after having to be propped up on pillows since the accident.

I did quite a number on my clavicle but it is healing.

During a follow up visit with my primary doctor he sent me for an X-ray on my right hip and it isn’t fractured, there’s just some muscle and nerve damage which will get better with time. Similarly, my vision is about 99% back to normal and the neurologist says it should return to normal with a little more time.

I wear my Garmin Forerunner 955 device 24/7 and rely on my Garmin for health data. My watch was pretty much beaten up in the accident. I contacted Garmin and for a small fee was able to replace it with a refurbished version of the same device. I have gradually seen my health data return to near normal. I’m still a little away from my pre-race condition but all metrics are moving back to where they should be.

As I write this post it is 8 weeks from the event and I have just been cleared to go back to work, albeit with some restrictions for the near term. I am finally sleeping through the night again and my ribs are no longer bothering me, although if you make me laugh, sneeze or cough I will remember very quickly that they were broken.

My triathlon adventures are now over for good and personally I am fine with that. I will continue to swim for fitness once I am back to full health. As soon as I am fit enough I will be back to running, chasing my marathon goals and will continue to travel and run to races with my wife. My goal is to be fit enough to participate in our local Thanksgiving 5 miler. So much to look forward to. My wife wrote to all the races that were scheduled for October and November and was able to have me deferred until next year. My wife and I were scheduled to run the Atlantic City, NJ Marathon in late October and I was scheduled to run the Princeton Half Marathon and Philadelphia Marathon in November. I have goals and something to work for in 2024.

Personally I’m at peace with the fact that I will never cross an Ironman finish line and be declared “You are an ‘Ironman’!”. I’m proud that I have completed 5 half Ironman races and even more proud that I trained for and toed the line for a full Ironman. How many people can claim they have done that. The training showed me I was capable and unfortunately the race didn’t work out as planned. I don’t feel that I have to prove it to myself. Considering where I began my health journey back in 2010 I have accomplished so many amazing things and had fun doing them.

Throughout all this, my wife, family and friends have been incredible. The kind attention of friends who put meals together for us, called, texted and visited showed me how lucky I really am. For this I’m so grateful.

Thank you for reading and please make sure you wear a helmet when riding a bike.

Athens Marathon 2022 – Race Recap

July 8, 2023ianesenior 1 Comment

Yes, I know this is late…again. This race recap is from our November 2022 trip to Athens, Greece. Actually, when my wife I got back from Greece I put together a video recap which I included at the end of the post so the memories are still fresh.

Let me start by saying this should be a bucket list race for any marathoners out there. Is the the best course ever? Probably not…Is it the fastest course? Definitely not…Would it contend to be a world major?…Nope. So why the bucket list race? Because of the history. It’s not Boston and it doesn’t have the prestige or longevity of that race but what it does have is ‘Authenticity’. You also get to finish the race in an Olympic stadium. This is the home of the modern day marathon. It was here in Athens, Greece that the modern day marathon race was created and introduced to the world at the first modern day Olympic Games in 1896. The Boston Marathon would not appear until 1897.

So why Athens? In 2022 I celebrated a big birthday and my wife and I decided to do a big trip to celebrate. As we are both runners we thought about a destination race. We both have very busy work schedules and there a plenty of school activities we need to manage for our two boys. The timing of this race and the lead time to plan all the logistics made this our pick. Also, come on, it is the ‘Authentic’ marathon. How many people are going to be able to say they did this?

The race itself starts in the town of Marathon and runs to Athens and is inspired by the route that the Ancient Greek legend Pheidippides who ran to bring news of the Greek victory over the Persians at the Battle of Marathon in 490BC (yes, I looked that up, not from memory). We will skip over the part where he collapsed died after completing the distance and sharing the news of the victory!!!

First of all, let me say that this trip would not have been as amazing as it was without the help of Paul and his team at Apostolos Greek Tours. They put this whole package together and also provided some advice for us as we travelled on after the race. Paul and his whole team treated us to first class service and made this trip so memorable for us. They have three tours. Race support only, which is a group that stayed in Athens and only dealt with the race logistics, and a 6-day and 12-day tour. We opted to do the 6-day tour but added an extra day with the group before heading off for our own private vacation.

We flew out of New York/JFK and arrived (via Paris) early Thursday before the race. The team from Apostolos Greek Tours met us at the airport and provided transport to our hotel in Vouliagmeni. This was approximately 45 minutes outside Athens itself on what is considered to be the Greek Riviera. A beautiful location away from the hustle and bustle of Athens itself. After checking in and a brief introductory meeting with our host Paul we had the rest of the afternoon and evening to ourselves. We found ourselves a great restaurant along the beach and did our best to try and stay awake as long as possible to manage our jet lag and stay awake long enough to talk to our boys back home with the 7 hour time difference….spoiler alert…we didn’t make it and called it a night.

Made it to our destination and enjoyed an evening stroll along the shore at sunset

The next morning our tour group headed out for an early morning shake out run before heading back for an amazing breakfast and then heading into Athens for a day of sightseeing on a private tour of the Acropolis. Before we arrived at the Acropolis we stopped outside the Panathenaic Stadium, home to the first modern day Olympic Games and the finish line of the race on Sunday.

After the tour and a group lunch at a tavern at the base of the Acropolis we headed over to the race expo. The team from Apostolos had registered us as part of our package registration and handed out to everyone our race registrations so we could go inside the expo and pick up our race packets. Each runner was provided with a small race backpack (a proper backpack which has come in very handy) and a race shirt (good quality Adidas shirt). In the backpack was small towel with the race logo and an envelope with our race bib, bag check drawstring bag and numbers to tag the bags. The envelope had the race map and course elevation details.

The expo itself was a decent size and a mix of both international brands and lots of local vendors. It was set on two floors of the arena. Outside the expo there was a timer counting down to the race start where we were able to take some pictures.

Following the expo we headed over to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center were we saw a documentary about and saw the actual silver cup awarded to the winner of the first Olympic Marathon, Spyridon Louis.

Silver cup awarded to the winner of the first Olympic Marathon

After that it was an evening on our own where we found another great restaurant and got an early night before our tour the next day to Cape Sunion and the Temple of Poseidon.

Following lunch at a beachside restaurant we had some free time back at the hotel before a pre-race briefing where we went over the next day’s logistics, how to pace for the race and an overview of the course. This was followed a pre-race pasta dinner put on at the hotel for the group.

Pasta dinner for the tour group. Their support and encouragement was appreciated.

Flat ‘Me’ getting ready for race day.

Up early the next day. The hotel started breakfast early for us as we had to leave early for the nearly hour long ride to the town of Marathon and the start of the race. We met downstairs in the lobby for some pictures and final words of encouragement before heading off for the day. Each of us was given a small blue ribbon to wear so the tour group team could recognize us during the race. They had arranged to have their own pit stop for runners around the midpoint of the course to allow runners to drop off items or pick up anything they needed. And then we were off.

We arrived just outside the football stadium in Marathon where we followed a sea of runners into the stadium. We were lucky enough to arrive early enough to see the torch lit at the stadium. We even got to pose with the torches used to light the flame. Cool experience.

We were assigned a group based upon our pace and assembled on the field in individually roped off areas until we were released to the start line. There was so much going on it was easy to be distracted and this helped pass the time. It had already started to warm up and there were no clouds in the sky. It was going to be a warm sunny day. You can see on our video how busy the pre-race staging location was.

Once were were off we were pretty tightly packed but that would open up as we progressed through the course. One big change for us was that the race was measured in kilometers instead of miles. It actually felt good to see race markers more frequently, although there were many more of them.

The first part of the race took you around the tomb of the Spartans. It is a quick out and back that adds the extra 1.2 miles that was added to the marathon distance in 1908 (the Queen’s mile). The spectators were great and they were handing olive branches out to runners along the route. We grabbed a few and stuck them in our hats.

The first water stop was at the 5 kilometer mark. It was needed as it was warming up. Luckily the water stations were closer the rest of the race. About 2 miles between each.

The course was a series of rolling hills but nothing too demanding from about the 5k (3 mile) mark until mile 10. After that the course was uphill, pretty much with no breaks until mile 20. The day was warming up and the trick was to stay hydrated. At each water station we grabbed a bottle of water (no cups of water) and drank a bit, poured some over our heads and then kept the bottle to keep sipping until the next water station.

Just before the halfway mark (mile 13/kilometer 21) there was a minibus with an Apostolos Greek Tours sign. There we were able to get a quick rest where we met up with a couple of other runners. We drank a cold can of Coca-Cola between us before setting off for the rest of the race. This tour operator really went above and beyond for our group.

With beautiful blue skies it was hot but we buckled down and kept running…uphill. We did take some regular walk breaks to allow us to stay on track. Many runners were down at the sides of the road for taking it too hard. Hey, we still had a vacation after this so we decided to just enjoy the views and the experience. Not to do any harm to our ourselves for the rest of the trip.

The small towns we ran through were all out to cheer us on. We were smiling despite the hills.

Finally around mile 20, we reached the top of the hill. You definitely know when you are there. There is no more ‘up’ left. From there it was downhill all the way to the finish. We were in Athens itself by then and it was definitely more of a city vibe with less crowd support. As we got closer to the finish line the crowds started to pick back up. The runners were well spaced apart at this point and so with no crowds it was pretty quiet other than the sounds of feet hitting the pavement.

As we headed closer to the finish line we started seeing some of the sites in Athens proper. We passed the Presidential Palace and the famous Presidential Guards and also past the amazing ‘Dromeas’ (The Runner) statue.

As we approached the stadium we could hear the crowds roaring. As we entered the stadium and ran the track to the finish line we held our hands high. What an amazing finish line and what an amazing experience.

Once across the finish line we followed the track around to receive our medals and make our way out from the stadium. From there we picked up our checked bags and met back up with the Tour group as they were able to set up a tent right by the side of the finish line. It was a place to sit and catch up with everyone we had met on our trip as well as have some food and drink while we waited for someone to take us back to the bus for our trip back to the hotel.

With Paul our tour group leader at the finish line tent

Back on the bus and admiring the medal we had just received.

Once back at the hotel we were able to shower and relax before heading down to have celebration dinner with the group. Everyone was celebrated and we were all awarded a small Greek amphora (urn) and a laurel wreath similar to the original Olympic athletes. This was followed by some traditional greek dancing with a local dance troupe and then a disco. Such a fun group and a fun night. The wine was flowing. You would never have believe any of us had been up since the crack of dawn and had run a marathon. This was a highlight of the tour.

The next day the tour took us to back to Athens for a tour of the Agora and some time in the Plaka. We decided that would be an opportunity for us to leave the tour for the day and then make our way back to our hotel by ourselves later in the day. We said goodbye to our tour guide as the 6-day tour was over and enjoyed time by ourselves shopping in the Plaka and a dinner reservation at a restaurant overlooking the Acropolis.

The next day we stayed with the tour for the extra day to visit the islands of Poros, Hydra and Aegina. We spent a lot of the on the ferry between the islands and caught up with the people we met on our trip. It was a long but relaxing day.

Our last day on the tour and a visit to the Temple of Hydra

The next morning the 12-day tour people got up early and left the hotel for the duration of their trip. We got up for an early run, had a relaxing breakfast and said our goodbyes to everyone before heading off to finish our vacation on the island of Santorini. It really is a picture postcard location. We loved it.

What a great trip. What a great tour operator. What a great experience. Put it on your bucket list!!!

Here is my recap video. While it documents our whole vacation (I am not forcing you to watch it all, the Expo is from 3:25 to 5:25 and the Race is from 7:07 to 25:47). It was an amazing trip.

I’m Still Standing…

November 6, 2022ianesenior 2 Comments

Hello…it’s been a long time. Can it really be over three years since my last post? To borrow from Elton John, “I’m Still Standing”. I’m here, I’ve just been a little absent for a while. I have a few exciting updates so I need to do a big omnibus ‘catch up’ post. Strap yourselves in, there is a lot to cover and I’ll try to do this quickly.

My last post on the 2019 New Jersey State Triathlon was published way back in September 2019 (and even that one was a bit late for a race recap). It is over three years later now and while the world turned upside down I was already a little behind in my race recaps and posts before everything shut down in March 2020. I guess that’s life. Now while I had plenty of ‘downtime’ due to race cancellations, life just got in the way. Focusing on family and work is more important than my ramblings on personal race experiences but people have reached out to see if I still exist and although there has been a gap I have indeed had some great race experiences since I last posted. WordPress knows I exist as my renewal notice for the blog/blog hosting just came up. Let’s get my money’s worth.

The only way I can really do this (and memory permitting) I’ll give a quick recap on where I left off up to the present and share a very exciting event coming up in November 2022 which is sure to be a once in a lifetime event for me.

So, having left you in July 2019 with a (late) race recap of the New Jersey State Triathlon, my calendar was as follows:

September 2019 – Bucks County Alternative Half Marathon

This was a do no harm race the week before the Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City. Actually, I had forgotten I had signed up for the race and I think the only reason I had signed up was that there was a ‘Star Trek’ theme. The race was easy and uneventful and I was happy with my result. I finished with a time of 2:01:21.

It helps when you have race gear to match the theme of a race. — It helps when you have running gear to match the theme of the race.

September 2019 – Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City

This was a big race for me. It was my goal race for the year and a chance to make good from my last half iron distance triathlon (remember, the one I ended up in the emergency room!!). It was a good race for me, while I did not break my goal time I still finished in 7:04:49 which still made me happy. It was hot by the time I made it to the run and I struggled in the heat but I was not disappointed in my swim nor the bike (even though it rained and I was terrified cycling up the AC Expressway).

First win….didn’t drown or get eaten by a shark.

Gritting my teeth on the bike. Either through fear or determination.

You cannot lose me in a crowd wearing this outfit but it still got me to the finish line.

November 2019 – Philadelphia Marathon

Pretty good day out on the course despite the cold, wind and rain. Not breaking any records but this was my 8th Philadelphia Marathon and I finished in 4:10:20 which I think is my 4th fastest of the 8 (to date) times that I have run in Philly. I always love this race as it was my first and I consider it my local run. I would do it every year if I could and hope to run this as long as I am able. In this race I received my medal from my friend Robyn who was volunteering at the finish who we both realized was standing next to Des Linden, the winner of the 2018 Boston Marathon and a two time US Olympic marathoner. Cool.

In early March my family and I ran a (very cold) local 4 mile ‘Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup’ race along the Delaware Canal. Little did I know that would be my only ‘official’ race of 2020…

The hot soup was a blessing after this near freezing race. We do look happy though.

AND THEN COVID…

March 2020 – Love Run Philadelphia Half Marathon – Cancelled

April 2020 – Rutgers Unite Half Marathon – Cancelled and race has not returned

May 2020 – Broad Street Run – Cancelled

May 2020 – Vermont City Marathon – Cancelled and Deferred (twice) to 2021….however

Although the race was cancelled, I continued to train (hey, I was working from home and had no commuting so had extra hours each day). While the race was still cancelled I decided to run the distance as a virtual race, so on the Sunday in May when the race would have originally taken place I headed to Warminster Community Park and ran multiple 2.33 mile loops. Around 14 miles in I was joined by my wife who ran the remaining distance with me. A local race director (RunBucks) saw my post on Facebook and rode up on his bike and cycled alongside us for the last 8 miles. As I crossed an imaginary finish line after 26.2 miles he pulled out a (none dated) race medal and awarded it to me. Awesome. So great to have such a dedicated running community here in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. A fun day to make up for a cancelled race.

With RunBucks race director Pat McCloskey

June 2020 – Rev3 Williamsburg Sprint and 70.3 Triathlon – Cancelled and Deferred to 2021

July 2020 – New Jersey State Triathlon – Postponed and Deferred to 2021 but ultimately, I did not participate in the event due to conflict (actually a great week away in Miami)

September 2020 – Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City – Postponed and Deferred to 2021

November 2020 – Philadelphia Marathon – Cancelled and Deferred to 2021

May 2021 – Dirty German Endurance Fest 50K

I had often thought about doing this race as my first ultra and first trail race but it always coincided with something like the Broad Street Run or was not really compatible with a training plan. This year, as there was nothing else I had planned and I had been running regularly, I decided a couple of weeks before the race to sign up. I had never run trail races before, did not have trail running shoes and then the weather was an absolute washout the day before leading into the race. I bought myself a couple of pairs of good trail running socks (one spare to keep in my bag in case I needed to switch half way as it was a two loop course), lathered my feet with Vaseline to keep them fairly waterproof (in addition to the rain and mud there were four stream crossings) and turned up with a positive attitude. I didn’t set any records that day (other than my first official 50K so a natural PR) but made a good showing. It was very muddy and hilly and at times I was running because of both gravity and worry that if I stopped, the wet mud would just take my feet from under me, but I had a great time. I finished in 7:07:09 and found muscles in my legs that I never knew existed before. Trail running is a completely different experience and there is a lot of balance involved compared to running on asphalt. The great thing about this race is that it was in Pennypack Park which is only about 30 minutes from my house. It’s an enormous park right in the north east of suburban Philadelphia, but you would never know it was there. It was so much fun. Oh, and muddy.

You had no choice but to get wet. The first of many crossings.

Not many options. Needless to say, the shoes did not make it back into the house when I got home.

June 2021 – Rev3 Williamsburg Sprint and 70.3 Triathlon

Finally…the redemption race. Returning to the scene of the crime. My goal was to stay on the bike and finish with no trips to the emergency room. Besides, my wife decided she wasn’t going to drive me there so I was on my own for this one. I decided to do both the sprint and half distance races again this year. Yes, stupid is as stupid does. I never learn. While the Sprint course was pretty much the same, the half distance bike course was different…and much hillier than last time. I did however stay on the bike the whole time so that’s a win. It was such a hot weekend. The water was so warm it was like soup, not wetsuit recommended. Saturday’s Sprint triathlon was fine. It was really an effort to just keep loose and get the nerves out. I finished the sprint in a time of 1:43:52 which was quicker than 2017 but then I found out after the race distance was a little shorter by just over a mile or so. Sunday, the day of the half distance, was why I was really there.

I had two great swims both days (it helped that there was a strong current for sure). The bike course for the half, as I said earlier, was a lot more hilly than the last time I raced. There were a couple of times when people were walking their bikes up the hill (me included). It was relatively flat in 2017…which I still managed to fall off. Anyway, by the time I made it to the run it was about 99 degrees in the shade which made it a long plodding half marathon. I finished in 7:29:42. Not my best and was about as long as it took to drive home in the horrendous traffic. At least I survived unscathed. Not many official race pictures but just evidence that I finished both races with a smile on my face.

Finishing the sprint on Saturday. Smiling.

Finishing the half iron distance on Sunday. Not so smiley.

I got two medals for my efforts this year. There was no challenge as in previous years so no third medal this time.

September 2021 – Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City

This was my attempt to beat my 2019 time. I didn’t but I still had fun. The swim was interesting this year. The tide was so low that people just got up and walked…in the middle of the bay. I was swimming and there was so much silt you could not see where you were going. You would feel the bottom of the bay with every stroke. Weird. The bike was uneventful (thankfully) and as nerve racking as it had been the previous year along the AC Expressway. The run was impacted again by the heat. It got to me bad this year and my time reflected that. I finished in 7:22:00. I can do better than that but still, I’m always glad to finish a race. This year, the finish line was on the beach which made for a unique and fun way to run into the finish line as I finished my fifth 70.3 distance triathlon.

No picture of me swimming this year but another great picture of me looking uncomfortable on the bike.

Such a cool finish line. Not easy to run on sand on tired legs but I don’t look like I’m unhappy about it.

Always nice to add another medal to the collection. This was my fifth 70.3 distance triathlon.

November 2021 – Philadelphia Marathon

You know me by now. Guess what…there was a challenge for this race weekend. The ‘Liberty Bell Challenge’. If you completed the half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday you get another medal. Having done this type of challenge a number of times before (4 times at Disney and the inaugural ‘Rocky Challenge’ during the 2016 Philadelphia Marathon weekend) my wife just sighed and rolled her eyes as I told her I would be running both. This race had been postponed in 2020 and it would be the first marathon we were together as a couple since the 2019 Los Angeles Marathon.

Saturday’s race was smooth and uneventful. I ran the half in 2:05:26. The goal was to enjoy myself, finish without any injury and not beat myself up too much for the next days marathon. Mission accomplished. On Sunday my wife and I ran the full marathon together. This was my 9th Philadelphia Marathon and my wife’s 3rd. It was the first time she had run the altered course which takes a more scenic route through Fairmount Park and eliminates the horrible out and back near my 16-17 which I always hated. The day was fun and we supported each other well. We finished in 4:45:17 which is consistent with the two other times we have run this together.

At the finish line I received my second and third medal of the weekend. Another highlight is that we met Meg Keflezighi at the finish line. He is an Olympic Silver medalist at the 2004 games and finished 4th at the 2012 games. In all he has been an USA Olympian four times, three as a marathon runner. He has won the 2009 New York City Marathon and won the 2014 Boston Marathon (the year after the bombing). He’s an amazing person. This was really cool.

With my first medal after Saturday’s Half Marathon

With my Bride and Joy at the finish line. My second medal of the weekend.

With my challenge medal….they just keep getting bigger

Meeting Meb Keflezighi at the finish line.

May 2022 – Vermont City Marathon

After multiple deferrals (the race directors had tried to move the race to October each of the years) we finally got to run the Vermont Marathon. The course had been modified to limit the amount of volunteers that were needed to support the race (still just post COVID) so the route was a two lap 13.1 mile course. We took our youngest with us that weekend as the eldest (now a high schooler) had commitments with the high school marching band. He plays the bass drum…the big one!!! It also happened to be Memorial Weekend so we made a long weekend out of it.

We stayed in the race partner hotel so we didn’t have to leave to get to the expo…which was a good thing as the rains came down heavy that day although it did clear up later and it was an absolutely beautiful crystal clear blue sky for the rest of our time there. We did some touristy things with our youngest (I recommend a trip to the Vermont Teddy Bear factory) which was fun. He created a new buddy for himself and named it ‘Vermonty Python’. I’m proud he recognizes his heritage!!!

Race day was beautiful, running along Lake Champlain. The neighborhoods we ran through were amazing. Many of the residents were out cheering and spectating. Some provided refreshment stations. It was a hot day and they had freeze pops at one of the aid stations. It was great fun. We finished in 4:53:20. Did I mention it was hilly. People go to Vermont to ski.

The highlight of the trip (and kind of how I roped everyone in to the idea) was a trip up to the Ben & Jerry Factory after the race. Treats were had by all. We finished our night with a trip to the Von Trapp Family Brewery (yes, THAT Von Trapp Family).

I would highly recommend this race. The place is beautiful.

(Finally) Finishers of the Vermont City Marathon.

The beauty that is Vermont and Lake Champlain. Wonderful weekend weather. Perfect for a nice 26.2 run.

Let’s be honest…the only reason some people decided to make the trip.

So now the big reveal and the reason I have to catch up in an omnibus post. As I write this post my wife and I are three days away from heading to Athens, Greece to run the ‘Athens Authentic Marathon‘. It runs from ‘Marathon’ to ‘Athens’, celebrating the historic run of Pheidippides after the Battle of Marathon which inspired the modern day race. The race itself finishes in the original modern day Olympics stadium from 1896. The ‘Panathenaic’ Stadium. We are so looking forward to this trip and I cannot wait to share the details when we get back.

It’s nice to be back and thank you for your patience.

2019 New Jersey State Triathlon – Race recap

September 10, 2019ianesenior 1 Comment

This July was my fifth year (attempting) racing this event. My first attempt (my first triathlon) back in 2015 was cancelled mid race and in 2017 I had to withdraw following my bike injury in the 2017 Rev3 Triathlon. So this was my third finish. The weekend is split into a sprint triathlon on Saturday and an olympic distance triathlon on the Sunday. I was entered into the olympic distance event. I’ll sum this up quickly….it was HOT but I finished!!!

The weather conditions for the event this year…all were ‘outdoor activities’

It had not done much pool or bike work since last year’s event and it did show at the beginning of this training cycle. However, I was signed up for IM70.3 Atlantic City this coming September so I was using this as part of my training on my journey into the half ironman. Having completed the Los Angeles Marathon back in March I took April easy and started my triathlon training cycle in May this year. The goal was to use a 12 week training plan into this race and roll into the half ironman training for the balance of the cycle.

Going into race week we were in the middle of a sustained heat wave in the area. I kept looking at the temperatures hoping that there would be some relief. A couple of days before the event the race director sent out the following announcement:

“IMPORTANT EVENT UPDATE

We are excited to have you compete with us at the 2019 New Jersey State Triathlon. It’s set to be a hot one this year! Due to the warmer-than-normal conditions forecast this weekend, our operations team will be implementing the following course changes in consultation with local public safety officials:

Sprint Distance – Saturday, July 20
No changes to the swim and bike portions. The run course will be approximately 2 miles. The event will begin as planned at 7:30am.

Olympic Distance – Sunday, July 21
Athletes will complete a 750m swim, one loop of the bike course (13.5-miles) and a 5k run. The race will also start at 7:30am.

We sincerely appreciate the understanding and cooperation from all of our athletes as your safety is our paramount concern. Additionally a comprehensive heat plan will be instituted above and beyond the extensive medical support we have always provided on site.

We’re here for you and the whole New Jersey State Tri team are ready to support you having your best event yet! Good luck this weekend.“

Phew….Essentially they halved all the distances for the olympic triathlon.

My goal for this was to complete the distance. The weather was not going to be conducive to a hard effort and I was not in any danger of pushing anyone of a podium place. I’d use this as planned as an organized (and well catered) workout on the road to my half ironman.

On the day before the race I drove up to Lake Mercer (in Mercer County Park) to pick up my race packet. It was so hot. All the volunteers out in the sun were amazing for their dedication. Race packet was quick and easy (I had registered for the correct event this year) and I also took opportunity to register early for next year’s event. There were some iPads set up for early registration. Unfortunately they were left in the sun and were hot to touch…the one that still worked that is. I took advantage of the early discount for registering for 2020 and signed up for the olympic distance again, only to find out when I came home that we have family plans…luckily a quick email to the race director rectified my error and I was adjusted down to the sprint. Crisis averted. It was so hot I was literally dripping with sweat under the tented areas. It was dangerously hot. The New York City Triathlon was held on the same weekend and it had been cancelled completely for the safety of the athletes. We just had our distances cut back. I was good with the downgraded distance.

Attending race packet pickup – a view of the finish line for tomorrow’s race

Packet pickup was quick and easy

Transition all empty and quiet before the next day’s events

Lake Mercer – where we would be swimming tomorrow

All packed and ready to go the next morning

Arrived early with enough time to set up and try to relax

Early on Sunday morning I headed down to the race site, got to body marking and made my way into transition with enough time to set up my gear and have time to hit the bathrooms before transition closed. With my age group placing I was not due off until after 8am and the race started at 7:30am. Transition closed around 6:45 so I had plenty of time to walk around before the race. I took a Hammer Gel, some salt tabs and some water before heading out. It was still warm. The race was too warm to be wetsuit legal although that wasn’t really a factor as I’ve never used a wetsuit for this event. It’s usually too warm this time of year.

My gear is all set up

Ready to make a fun day of it

Finally my age group was called and we went across the timing mat and into the water to the sounds of ‘The Who’ blaring over the speakers. And then we were off.

I did my usual routine of watching everyone go, counting to ten and then setting of myself. The water was warm and visibility as usual was pretty much zero. I sighted pretty well but got bumped and battered a bit on the out part of the swim course. As I was on the back straight of the swim course I started to be passed by some of the faster female swimmers in the group behind but no major incidents. No one dug their fingernails into me this year!!! Once down the home straight I set my sights on the buoys marking the route to transition. Although the swim felt okay I didn’t seem to be making much progress to the swim exit but eventually I reached the swim exit and made my way to transition. Another example of my lack of training was that I pushed the stop button on my watch and not the lap button to move my GPS into transition mode. I noticed that before I jumped on the bike so I missed a couple of minutes but nothing major. My swim time was 22:09 (a 2:57/100m pace). Much room for improvement.

Transition was 6 minutes. I’m not going to move away from Injinji socks any time soon but that does take time each event trying to get the toes in the right place with damp feet 🙂 . At least this year I remembered to apply sunscreen before heading out on the bike. I grabbed a Lara Bar on my way out of transition and downed a couple more salt tabs before making my way out into the heat. I headed out on the bike course for what would now be one loop. I felt okay going out but towards the last couple of miles my legs were getting tired. It’s a flat course so there was nothing serious in terms of effort was required. I put this down to the heat. I was drinking plenty but I’m sure I was losing more than I was drinking. At this point I was happy to be done on the bike. Bike split was 52:25. Not my fastest. Time for the run.

Before I headed out to transition I took a couple more salt tabs, downed some more water and made my way out to the run course with my 20oz hand held water bottle. It was here with the current heat conditions that I was most grateful that the course had been cut in half. The normal 10K run starts with an out and back going left out of transition and the run for the most part is shaded as you approach the turnaround but with this heat 5K was enough for me.

The course winds around the boundary of the park and as it was close to the transition areas and finish lines there were crowds on this part of the course. Within the first mile volunteers were handing out towels soaked in ice water. Welcome relief for sure. I took a towel and squeezed as much water over my head as I could and placed it around my neck as I ran. Turning the corner I saw a trash can full of towels so naturally I thought we had to throw them away. Little did I know that there was another ice station ahead where we could re-wet the towels. Oh well, lesson learned. This part of the course is also an out and back. On the way out I could see that on the other side of the course cold showers had been set up for runners to pass through if they so wanted to cool down during the run. I’d think about it as I ran further out.

The volunteers on this side of the course were offering to throw water on our heads if we asked for it. I was stopping at each aid station for Nuun electrolyte fluid which during a 5K I would typically skip a couple of aid stations. Not today. I don’t recall seeing hoses spraying runners out on the course as in previous years but I’m writing this so long after I may be mistaken. Certainly they were very accommodating for the runners, trying to keep us cool and healthy.

After the turnaround you retrace your steps until you reach the finishing chute. I was so happy to see this and pumped to cross the finish line. Based upon the pictures below you can see I was more than relieved to be done. Run time 33:30. Let’s just put that down to the heat shall we?

Almost home

Finally!!!

Water was handed out to us as soon as we crossed the line. The race also had a mist tent beyond the finish line. Essentially a big tented area spraying cold water on participants. Let’s just say it was very well utilized. While we stood in line for the food tent, volunteers were handing out ice pops to all participants to help cool down. I grabbed my refreshments and headed back to the transition to sit for a while, catch my breath and try and cool down. Not easy.

Another finish line is always a reason to smile

As I was sitting in the transition area with the remaining participants who were still there we heard a ‘pop’ and someone pointed out that because of the heat, tire tubes were beginning to over heat and explode. Yes, it was that hot. I took my time to pack up and then made my way back out to my car where, once my bike was racked and my gear stowed, I sat in the car with the air conditioning blasting on me for about 10 minutes before I attempted to leave for home.

All packed up and ready to head home

CGI Racing put on a great event every year and their focus on runner safety is respectable. I’m a fan of their races and as already pointed out, I’ll be back again in 2020.

2019 Broad Street Run – Race recap

September 6, 2019ianesenior Leave a comment

This May I ran the 2019 Broad Street ~~Swim~~ Run. It’s 40th year. My third and the the first time since 2012 (pre this blog).

I had gained entry for this race without the need to go through the Broad Street Run lottery process as I had signed up for the Philadelphia Marathon. As the race organizers are now in charge of both races, if you register for the Marathon (or the Half) you are allotted a place in the race if you register before the lottery. I don’t think I would have entered if this had not been the case. This is the biggest race in Philadelphia and is very much an achievable distance for many people who do not want to run a half or a full marathon. With over 40,000 runners filling into a very narrow street it tends to get crowded. Very quickly.

The weekend forecast called for rain. Not just rain, but lots of rain. In fact, the local TV weather man was on TV showing people how to duct tape their shoes to keep their feet dry during the race. 😦 Hmmm….and I was already looking forward to this weekend so much!!!

I wasn’t able to get to the expo due to a family commitment and a friend who was also running grabbed my race packet and bib for me so I had to do nothing more than show up on the Sunday morning of the race and get to the starting line. With 40,000 people picking up bibs the expo would be jammed. The last time I ran this we were in line wrapped around the building waiting to go in. As this was the 40th anniversary of the race, the race shirt was a nice tech material. Typically they give out a cotton shirt and you have to pay a fee if you want a tech shirt. Surprising for a race of this size. A nice surprise was that my race corral was further up front than I had been placed in prior years so I would be off earlier. I used my 2017 Bucks County 10 Miler as my proof of time (1:22). That was my 10 mile PR so that helped propel me forward.

Having run a marathon in the rain and having done long training runs in the rain I wasn’t planning to duct tape my shoes but I would use my usual rain guard of putting vaseline generously over my feet and between my shoes. At worst I would have ruined a pair of socks but at best I would have blister protection for the run. I packed a poncho to wear before the race to keep me dry and I packed second poncho for after the race in my race belt. I was ready for the weather.

The race is a point to point race. You park at the sports complex nearby the finish line (which is about a quarter mile away at the Philadelphia Navy Yard) and take the subway up to the start line in Olney 10 miles away. The ride is free for runners wearing their bib in the morning.

It’s pretty much a straight run and mostly down hill

When I arrived at the sports stadium in the morning the rain and wind was pretty hard and steady. I wasn’t late but there were no parking spaces close to the subway entrance so I would have to stay as dry as possible just getting to the start line. I still had to make the journey to the start so I donned the first of my ponchos and headed to the subway station. People were out to make a buck and were selling rain ponchos in the parking lot for $5 a piece. I saw a few people shelling out money. I was happy with my $1 poncho from CVS (that I had a stash of for emergencies like this).

Arriving with plenty of supplies

Ready to make the dash to the subway station

I got to the subway a little damp and climbed aboard the first train that pulled in. It was just before 7am. It was an Express train to the start line. It was jam packed and already steamy with damp runners. Standing room only and then they added more people. The race start was 8am. I had about an hour to get to the start line and I was on the Express train. I figured I was going to make good time. Well, if this was an Express train I would hate to see how slow the Local train went. As I was getting out the subway I heard the National Anthem and I was still behind the back of the last corral. I made a hurried dash up front to my corral through the hoards of people without any opportunity to find a bathroom pre-race. Eek!!!

The rain was already steady and pooling on the sides of the road. It was going to be steady for most of the morning. We had to suck it up. My friend who had grabbed my race packet had bailed. I’m sure they were not the only one. So as my corral moved forward towards the start line I wished those around me good luck, ripped off the poncho and waited to get going.

It’s not a steep downhill but its a net downhill with a fast start. With such large groups of runners the first mile or two you are dodging in and out trying to find position relative to your pace. People who arrived late and were coming in from another subway station were jumping into earlier corrals which jammed things up a bit. Also…it was not the warmest day so this added to the overall fun LOL!!! By about mile 2 I needed to find a restroom but none were to be seen…I had to leave the course for a couple of minutes to get myself sorted out. Once back I joined the throng of runners and headed down towards Center City Philadelphia.

Between mile 5 and 6 (running by Temple University and City Hall) the rain really started to come down heavier. As you round City Hall the 6 lanes of runners compact into 3 lanes until reaching the other side. The sides of the road were beginning to pool heavily with rain water so if you took an inside line or were positioned on the left you pretty much were running through water until it opened up further down Broad Street. I’m glad I was very liberal with the use of vaseline on my feet. I was stuck on the inside 😦

Once you get past City Hall you are over halfway. Only another 4 miles to go. Broad Street always has great crowds and even in this weather people were out in force to cheer on the runners. That really helped as conditions were not the most fun. I was keeping a fairly consistent pace running between 8:30 and 8:45 minute miles through mile 8. However, I began to slow to 9 minute miles as we approached the last stretch.

As you enter the Navy Yard there is a sign overhead letting you know that you have another quarter mile to go. I dug in hoping to get under 1:30 hours and put in a sub 9 minute mile. I clocked 1:30:09. Oh well. Given the weather conditions and my physical conditioning (I’m a long way from my PR shape) I was happy with my time.

Finally finished but not quite out of the rain yet

Once through the finish line I grabbed my medal and my food bag and immediately pulled on the fresh poncho that I had been carrying with me through the race. BEST DECISION EVER. I saw everyone around me start to shiver as they cooled down after the race. It was windy and rainy and I was already wet but the poncho stopped me feeling any worse. It was too wet to start eating my food or taking any pictures (okay…I took a picture) but my focus was on getting back to my car, turning on the heat and getting out of my wet clothes. It was just under a half mile back to the sports stadium and I probably got my feet more wet than during the race as I walked back to the car. I had managed to miss any severe puddling during the run, not so lucky on my walk back.

Once dry(ish) in the car and in some dry clothes I sat back, enjoyed my post race refreshments and warmed up with my car heater on for a few minutes before heading home for a hot shower. Glad it was over. Glad I ran well. I am signed up for the Philadelphia Marathon in 2019 and probably will sign up again in 2020 but I may skip the free entry for Broad Street Run next go around.

Even my medal needed a towel to dry off

Rutgers UNITE Half Marathon – Race recap

September 5, 2019ianesenior Leave a comment

Admittedly I am falling behind on updating my blog. With a few big events coming up in the next few weeks I have to catch up so expect a few back to back posts over the next few days.

Back in April I ran my third Rutgers UNITE Half Marathon. I have not run this race since 2016 and as the last time I ran this I earned my half marathon PR this is one of my favorites. I had a quick time in both 2015 and 2016. Admittedly I am nowhere near the shape I was in in 2016 (I’ve been a little out of sorts physically since my accident in the 2017 Rev3 Williamsburg Half Ironman…okay, I’ve added a few pounds) but I was looking to a fairly decent time considering the course.

This race is put on by CGI Racing which is one of my favorite race organizers. Responsible for ‘The LOVE Run‘ and the ‘New Jersey State Triathlon‘ which are always well organized. Unlike the last time I ran, they were not offering race day packet pickup which meant I had to do the trek up and back to New Brunswick twice that weekend. It’s about an hour each way from where I live so not the end of the world. At least this year it did not fall on an alumni weekend and I was able to get quickly in and out of the expo.

The Expo as usual was contained in the campus sports center and it was easy to navigate in and out. Packet pickup was fairly easy and as it was small I wasn’t there too long and was able to get back home reasonably quick.

The Expo was held on campus in the sports center

A small expo but not crowded

Packet pickup was easy and the volunteers were helpful and attentive

This photo shows nothing more than I really needed a haircut!!!

Yup…still need a haircut!

Early the next day I woke up and headed out in the dark for what would be an early start to the day. The race was due to start at 8am but unlike in the prior years where I parked at the starting area and had to get a shuttle bus back from the finish line, this year I decided to park at the finish and shuttle over to the start. Knowing from prior years that it was usually cool in the morning and could warm up later, I dressed to run warm but made sure I had a few layers on prior to the race start.

When I arrived at the finish line I was early enough to get a parking space really close to the finish area and waited until I saw some other runners up and around the area to follow. The race guide suggested you could walk to the starting area and I started to follow a few runners but I realized that I needed some personal time (i.e. a bathroom stop) so headed over the to the shuttle buses that would take us over to the starting area. Needless to say, I’m glad I didn’t walk as it was quite a ride over there. Of course we couldn’t take too many short cuts with the bus but it was still a good ride that I’m glad I was not on my feet for too long before the race.

Arrived early and got a good parking spot near the finish area

I decided to take the shuttle buses to the starting area

It was a very foggy morning and I new it would be a humid run. It wasn’t too cold at the start so I checked my bag early and just hung around waiting for the start. As you can see from the pictures below, the visibility wasn’t great…but I wasn’t going to be leading the race so as long as I could see the guy in front of me I was good. A few people liked my InknBurn shirt and joked that there was no way anyone could lose me in the fog.

Entering the starting area

The fog was quite dense in the area.

You are not going to lose me in this outfit

…not to mention my shortish shorts

Ready to get moving

As the National Anthem was playing I was already in the starting corral. Having run 1:51(wish) last time I was here and although I knew I was not in the best shape I still thought I could hang with the 1:45 guys and settled myself near the 1:45 pacers waiting for the word to go. With little delay we were off.

I did a fairly good job of hanging with the pace group over the first few miles running near their pace and staying within ear shot of the pace runners as they chatted amongst themselves. As we ran through the more modern side of the campus I heard them saying they were actually running ahead of pace…as confirmed by all of us struggling to keep up with them. It was around mile 6 or 7 that a few of us commented that it was getting warmer and we seemed to be lacking aid stations in this part of the course. Nevertheless I hung on the heels of the pacers until around mile 8 when, as I was beginning to heat up, I decided that it was better to enjoy the run than to fight to maintain the pace.

The humidity was already beginning to take it’s toll on me and my heart rate was elevated so I decided to slow down and let the pace group go ahead of me. My pace dropped from 8:45 pace per mile to around 9:30 as I tried (unsuccessfully) to lower my heart rate which was now pretty much stuck in zone 5. I dropped to a run/walk for the back side of the course from mile 8 to the finish line. It was the right decision for the day.

As we crossed over from bridge high above Route 18 a fellow runner recognized me as the ‘Philly2Goofy’ guy and this cheered me as we entered the park for the long out and back. Although we drop in elevation on this half of the course it generally feels like it’s uphill for the remainder of the run up until the crest of the hill leading to the finish line.

Was I glad to see that hill, knowing that in less than half a mile we would be at the finish line. I honestly struggled on the back half. I could not get my heart rate down. I put this down to the more than a few extra pounds I had gained since running the New York City Marathon in the previous fall. It hadn’t been my best winter for maintenance. I certainly saw the results of that today as I crossed the line in just over 2:05. This was 14 minutes slower than my 2016 race or over 1 minute per mile slower over the course. Wow.

However, a finish line is a finish line and it’s always a good thing to get over it standing upright. Not my best performance by any means but far from my worst. I still like this race and would recommend it to anyone looking for a nice spring half marathon. If the weather is good it can be a fast course. Still one of my favorites.

It’s always good to cross a finish line

My 3rd Rutgers UNITE Half Marathon in the books

Post race area for the athletes

Great organization as usual

A great tasting pretzel. Earned!!!

Short shorts but a good backdrop on the old side of the campus

The finish line area is great as you are on the main campus and so there is plenty of space to sit on the grass and catch ones breath. The post race area was, as usual well, set up by the volunteers and after a soft pretzel and a cold bottle of water it was back to the comfort of my car and the journey home. Another Rutgers half in the books.

2019 Los Angeles Marathon – Race recap

July 6, 2019ianesenior 2 Comments

In late March my wife and I traveled to California to take part in this year’s Los Angeles Marathon. I’ll say it now…it was a great experience and I highly recommend it.

In looking for a spring marathon together we had originally set our sights on running Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans. We had some logistical issues (no babysitter for a long weekend) so we searched around a little more. I still had some airline miles from my previous job that were going unused, so we threw caution to the wind and figured that we’d go big or go home. LA was the chosen destination and it proved to be a great choice.

So, if you know anything about us we don’t just go to run. We sightsee. A lot. My wife is an event planner by profession and as soon as the registration for the race had been processed then the planning spreadsheet was created. I should note that this blog may turn out to be more a whirlwind tour of Los Angeles with a little run thrown in the middle versus a race recap LOL. What do they say about keeping off your feet before a marathon? We seem to ignore that and go by the rule ‘No sleep until Philly’ whenever we go on a road trip. As this was going to be a special trip for us I invested in a refurbished GoPro for the trip. Lot’s of experimenting including running in my local park to see how I could manage this on race day. I think the local wildlife must think I’m really weird.

Training for a spring marathon means training through East Coast winters. Although this was not a terrible winter (save for a really cold snap) we didn’t have too much snow compared to prior years but it was just the cold that was bone chilling. Hence, most of the training took part indoors on the treadmill. Knowing that we would be running soon in sunshine with palm trees framing our streets this was motivation for pushing through those endless hours running and not getting anywhere. I think I made it outside for long runs about 50% of the time but I did log at least one 20 miler inside on the treadmill. Plus side is that I got to catch up on a lot of Netflix shows.

We headed to LA on the Thursday before the race. We had an early morning flight but with the time change we arrived early afternoon. We stayed in Culver City which was fairly close to the airport so the drive was short. We picked Culver City as the race finished in Santa Monica about 10 minutes away and being a point to point race the buses left from there to the start on race morning. It was close enough and just being a few minutes away from Santa Monica itself was cost effective. We dropped our bags and headed straight to Santa Monica and some warm sunshine. We scoped out the area a bit and rented bikes to travel along the beach towns towards our destination for the evening in Abbot Kinney.

Friday was race expo day and we got up early to head to downtown LA to pick up all race bibs and gear for the weekend. We got up early because we had heard many times over that driving in LA was really bad. That’s all everyone seems to go on about when talking about LA. However, I must have been lucky the whole visit as we never seemed to have any traffic issues the time we were there and we drove around a lot….again, the event planner with us.

The expo was at the Convention Center just behind the Staples Center and we had fun walking around before we actually got into the expo. Once inside everything was clearly marked and identifiable. As we walked in we bumped into Rudy Novotny the race announcer. I know Rudy from meeting him at runDisney events in the past. He gave a shout out to ‘Team Shenanigans’. Good times.

The marathon sponsor this year was Skechers and the merchandise area was full of cool looking and very reasonably priced gear, definitely not New York City Marathon pricing for sure. I ended up buying a fun shirt representing the course and my wife bought a fun hat. She had more luck at the Lululemon pop up store outside of the official merchandise area. Doesn’t she always seem to have ‘luck’ at Lululemon??? The expo was not huge for a race this size and we went through fairly quickly. A lot of sponsors for local races which wasn’t going to be of much interest to us visiting for the long weekend. I did bump into my friend Michael who was using this marathon as a stop on his way to his 50 States goal. I also took the opportunity to treat myself to the Normatec vendor’s offer of a free leg treatment. Very relaxing.

After the expo we took a trip up to the Griffith Park Observatory for the afternoon after a stop at the steps famously used by Laurel and Hardy in the short film ‘The Music Box’. I had seen this movie many times over the years and had planned to make this a stop on our trip as I noted it was near the Convention Center. That’s a lot of stairs before a marathon. Mind you, the hike up to the Griffith Observatory isn’t less of a work out either. The views at the top were worth it. From there we took a drive to Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. We would be running through these streets on Sunday so we took the time today to enjoy them at a more relaxed pace before grabbing dinner and a reasonably early night. We had accomplished a lot and we still had a day to go before the marathon.

Saturday morning was the day before the marathon…surely we would stay off our feet today? Nope. We came all this way for this race so we had to pack in as much as we could. We started the day with a ‘hike’ to the top of Runyon Canyon. The views of the Hollywood Hills were spectacular but the sign warning of us to be on the look out for rattle snakes was just a tad disconcerting. Following an insanely crazy breakfast at ‘The Griddle Café’ in Hollywood we spent the afternoon exploring up and down Hollywood Boulevard. Again, we would be running this the next day but I was on the hunt to find some of my favorite stars on the Hollywood ‘Walk of Fame’ as well as the hands and feet in cement at the ‘Chinese Theater’. We also took a tour of the Warner Brothers Studio where my wife and I reenacted scenes from some of our favorite shows on the actual sets…and were given ‘that look’ from the tour guide. Hey, we were having fun. After a nice pre-race pasta dinner at a fancier than I was expecting restaurant (I was fully prepared to be turned away based upon what I was wearing) we headed home for our early (and I mean early) wake up for our 4:30am bus from Santa Monica the next day.

Race day

Waking up at near Disney race times is not always fun but we had a great tour of Los Angeles and it’s surrounding neighborhoods planned for the day. I had pre-reserved parking in one of the lots closest to the finish line and we headed out around 4am for the short drive to the buses. The drive was short but the lines to get into the parking was longer than we expected. Nevertheless we were soon parked and on route to the buses. It was quick and easy and the drive from Santa Monica to the starting area at LA’s Dodgers stadium took about 20-25 minutes.

We got there with plenty of time to spare. It was dark so we just followed everyone else into the stadium where all the bathrooms were open on the concourse. These were much better than waiting outside for port-a-potties. Plus we got to sit in the stadium and relax for a while before having to head out to the corrals.

Go time for the race was 7am and so we headed out to the corrals while it was still dark. We missed where to enter into the starting chute and ended up with a whole crowd of people at the barrier at the side of our predicted race pace. It was a bit of a mess trying to get in. People were shoving here and there. We had asked a couple of volunteers early where we needed to be and they didn’t have much of an idea. Anyway we made it into the corrals (with the mob) and set about heading to the starting line and out of Dodgers Stadium. The race announcers mentioned the number of runners participating in the ‘Students Run LA’ program who were running in the marathon today. About 3,000 students would be running their first marathon on the day. They were clearly identifiable in their bright yellow shirts. More on this later.

The LA Marathon is advertised as the ‘From the stadium to the sea’. The course starts in Pasadena at Dodgers Stadium and the course takes you through the streets of Los Angeles and its surrounding neighborhoods to finish along the Pacific Coast at Santa Monica Pier. It is a grand tour with some fantastic sites. The following list of mile markers is from the official LA Marathon website.

Starting Line
Mile 1 – Dodger Stadium
Mile 2 – Cesar Chavez Blvd
Mile 3 – Downtown LA
Mile 4 – Disney Concert Hall
Mile 5 – Downtown LA
Mile 6 – Echo Park
Mile 7 – Silverlake
Mile 8 – Los Feliz
Mile 9 – Thai Town
Mile 10 – Hollywood Walk of Fame
Mile 11 – Grauman’s Chinese Theater
Mile 12 – Hollywood
Mile 13 – Sunset Strip
Mile 14 – West Hollywood
Mile 15 – West Hollywood
Mile 16 – Doheny Drive
Mile 17 – Rodeo Drive
Mile 18 – Santa Monica Blvd
Mile 19 – Westwood
Mile 20 – Westwood/Sepulveda Blvd
Mile 21 – VA/Wilshire Blvd
Mile 22 – San Vicente & Bundy
Mile 23 – San Vicente & 26th
Mile 24 – San Vicente & 14th
Mile 25 – Ocean Ave/Palisades Park
Mile 26 – Santa Monica
Finish Line

As you can imagine, we were excited by the prospect of some fantastic opportunities to see this city on foot and we weren’t to be disappointed. Conditions on the day were amazing. Clear blue skies and streets lined with palm trees. Just like the brochure 😉

I’m not going to go into detailed description of the course but I will share some of the highlights of the day. At the end of this post I will attach a link to my video (from the GoPro) of our day out on the marathon course. As for the course, in summary, it was great. Lots of eye candy. Plenty of photo opportunities and more hills than I imagined (hey…’Hollywood Hills’, ‘Beverly Hills’…how did I not see that coming). I wouldn’t say this was a course if you are looking for a fast time unless you were going to be near the front. This was the Olympic Trials course for 2016 so it could be considered fast but it was quiet congested mid-pack as there were a lot (or so it seemed) of first time marathoners out there. Going back to what I was saying about the 3,000 Students Run LA participants, you have at least that many first timers and it just made it that much more congested. Don’t get me wrong, these kids were amazing. Running a marathon at that age is such a great achievement but there were many ‘packs’ of runners along the course.

We did have a great time and there were many highlights. Around mile 7 we had our first personal cheer leader of the day. I had met Phillip through my connection with Autism Speaks many years ago. He has since moved on to work with the Arthritis Foundation but as an LA local he came out to support us and even made a sign for us. That was a great boost early in the race. Around mile 20 when things start to get rough during a marathon a cousin, Paul, who loves out in the LA area came out to support us. He was there to cheer on his fellow gym team (Paul competes in stair climbing challenges). He ran along side us for a little while and gave us another much-needed boost. We would get back together with him for brunch the next day. Finally, as we entered Brentwood in the last few miles of the race, Kristen who is another LA local and a member of Team Shenanigans had a cheering section out on the course. So much fun to meet her and to see that she had chalked our name on the ground in anticipation of our arrival. That was awesome to come all this way and have people we knew come out to cheer for us really made the day.

There was so much to see out on this course and the crowd support and the neighborhood support was amazing. There weren’t many quiet stretches along the course. It was crowded but it never really felt quiet. So many people out there. It helps when there is great weather to begin with.

Towards the end of the race it was heating up. The sun was shining and there was not much shade. Neither of us struggled with this but judging from our time we were not pushing it. Not our slowest time as we still seem to take more time out on the course during the Walt Disney World Marathon but an equal number of unique photo stops for sure.

As we headed up Santa Monica Boulevard towards the pier at the end of the race I can truly say that we enjoyed our time out on the course. It was not a matter of wishing the finish line were closer. It was great out there. A wonderful medal and a memorable experience.

It was however a longer than anticipated walk back to the parking lot where we had arrived several hours earlier. We stopped at a Starbucks on our way to the car for a quick refreshment and some much-needed air conditioning before returning to our hotel for a quick shower and more sightseeing. We spent the afternoon driving up the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu where we had a celebratory dinner by the beach. Cannot beat that for a post marathon celebration.

The next day we had a late night flight so we had a relaxing morning. My wife had thought ahead and booked us massages for after the race. I usually like a deep tissue massage but I was discouraged of this notion by the masseuse for the day after a marathon. She was probably right. We then met up again with cousin Paul and his wife Evelyn for a nice long brunch before taking our sweet time of driving back to spend the rest of the day walking along the beach in Santa Monica before heading off to the airport for the red eye back to Philadelphia…where we could finally get that sleep we needed.

Here is the link to the video I made of the race. It was my first attempt at making a recap video so you may have to cut me some slack. Hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for reading.

2018 Philadelphia Marathon – race recap

April 8, 2019ianesenior Leave a comment

Let’s pretend I own a time machine and I can take you back to last November (which is a sneaky way of saying I am late posting this recap). Okay, now that you have suspended disbelief for a while I will take you back to late fall where my wife and I ran the 2018 Philadelphia Marathon together. I like to do this race every year as (1) it was my very first marathon and will always be special and (2) it is essentially my local marathon, I can drive there in the morning and be home by noon(ish). I have run this every year since I started ‘marathoning’ and only missed one year (2014) as we were on vacation for Thanksgiving. This would be my 8th Philadelphia Marathon and only the second time that I have run this together with my wife. We last ran this together in 2013.

In addition to running with my Wife again this year a new challenge for me was that this was only two weeks after running the 2018 New York City Marathon which is the shortest time I have ever had between marathons. I was a little nervous and hoping I would be able to manage the distance and support my wife the whole way. Although a little apprehensive going in, I’m always excited when this race comes around. I have many good memories from this race.

Before the race was the expo. This year was located as usual at the Philadelphia Convention Center. I made the trek to the expo the day before the race to pick up our race packets and to also pick up our pre-ordered merchandise. This year was an anniversary year, the 25th anniversary of this version of the marathon, and I was hoping that they would be making extra effort for all the runners. In 2013 when my wife and I ran together it was the 20th anniversary race and they awarded us with a special gold (colored) version of the race medal.

Arriving at the expo

Arriving at the expo

Arriving at the expo

As I picked up my bib, one of the volunteers noted my New York City Marathon race shirt and said something to the effect that they didn’t know if they would be able to run two marathons so close together…at this point, neither did I. It would make for an interesting weekend.

I headed in to get our bibs and as this was the first year of the new ‘Philadelphia Challenge’ I headed to grab the special fleece that my wife earned for running the ‘Broad Street Run‘ back in May and the Philadelphia Marathon this weekend. I picked up a fleece that showed 36.2 miles for the Philadelphia Challenge.

The merchandise area was set up as it had been for the last couple of years. I took a quick look knowing that I had already spent my race weekend budget on pre-orders. I saw a couple of jackets similar to the one I had pre-ordered but in different colors and slightly different logos. As I tried them on I suddenly realized that the sizing seemed a little off from what I was expecting. The size large that I had ordered (while trying these jackets on) was huge. I would be swimming in the jacket. I looked around in vain to see if there were other sizes of the jacket I ordered but no 😦 . I told a member of the event staff my pre-order details and also asked if there were any medium jackets back behind the merchandise and not on display. They came back with my order and said there were no other sizes. As this was the Saturday before the race they were pretty much sold out. I checked the bag to make sure I got what I ordered and lo and behold, I had ordered a large jacket but there was a medium in the bag!!! Wow! It fit great. Day made 🙂 .

After passing through the merchandise section I headed out into the main hall. As I mentioned earlier this was an anniversary race and so they had on display all the t-shirts, bibs and medals from each respective year through 2017. These were pretty cool to see.

My first marathon finisher medal – 2011

I headed through the exhibitor section of the expo. Having been to many of these I was used to seeing a number of the vendors and didn’t spend too much time. I did make one purchase of racedots to try out for the weekend. FYI, the magnets are really strong and (spoiler alert) they worked well for the race. I did see a funny t-shirt for any spectator that made me chuckle.

I also stopped by the CGI Racing booth to ‘spin the wheel’ and win a prize. My wife had asked me to stop by and see if I could pick up a coupon for a race discount for ‘The Love Run‘ in March as she wanted to run again in 2019. I did one better…I spun the wheel and won her a 50% discount for the race. I picked up a discount coupon for the ‘Rutgers UNITE Half Marathon‘ in April which I planned to run and hadn’t run since 2016.

After the expo I headed home to get ready for the race and set out my gear before an early dinner and an early night. I was going with the understated look this year as you can see.

Race day arrived and after an early morning wake up and drive to the City we were primed and ready for the race. The temperature for the day looked great for running, a little cool to start but in the mid 50s for the most part of the day while we would be running.

Arriving at the race

We were soon in the starting corral and ready to go. A chilly start but we hoped it would feel comfortable soon as we set out running.

I got many cheers of ‘Go Brexit’ which was not what I was going for. My wife thought it was funny though.

We started out running an even pace in the mid-9’s for the first few miles. The pace was agreeable and we took in the clear morning and crowd support. All was going well. We had headed down through Center City to Columbus Boulevard and then through Queen’s Village and South Street and then back up Chestnut Street.

As we headed up past 30th Street Station and onwards towards the Drexel University campus (around mile 8) my wife took a fall. Completely face planted. Her first fear was that she was going to be trampled by the runners behind her but myself and another runner were quick to pick her up and I made sure she was okay. I think she was a little stunned for a moment so we walked a little to make sure she felt okay and was calm. She had fallen on her knee but nothing of major consequence that we noted at the time. Later after the race there was a little grazing to the knee but no major injury, just a little shaken up.

The fall had stopped our momentum a little (and understandably so). We took it easy as we set off again hoping that there were no ill effects. After the Drexel Campus there are the two biggest hills on the course. The one leading up to the Philadelphia Zoo and then the one leading up to Memorial Hall. These are the only two significant hills you have on the course. Our pace dropped as we hit these hills but we were still in the low 10s for the most part through Fairmount Park and then up Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard as we made it to the halfway point just before the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was a really beautiful day. One of the best things about running this race are the views as you run alongside the river.

As we rounded the Art Museum (mile 14ish) and headed out along Kelly Drive towards Manayunk, my wife started to struggle a little. Not from the fall (her knee wasn’t bothering her) but she sometimes gets hip and IT band pain during long runs. It doesn’t happen in every marathon but we had just done the hilliest parts of the course and I think it was beginning to catch up with her. It was also warming up so that may have added to the stresses. We had already run 14 miles and that is no mean feat in itself. Our pace slowed as we started to take some walk breaks and we were now running miles in the 11 minutes per mile range but at least we had forward momentum and were making our way along the course.

The crowds are thinner from the point at which we leave the City through the park and up Kelly Drive which sometimes makes that stretch seem longer than it is. We finally reached Manayunk (miles 19 through 21) and this is where the crowds pick back up. We were welcomed by residents handing out oranges, beer and other goodies. The crowds were thick and loud as we reached the end of the main street and hit the turnaround. Once you get to that point around mile 21 you know you are going to make it home…although it does seem more than 5 miles to you at this stage. We were doing well, taking walk breaks as needed.

On the road back from Manayunk it is just a matter of keeping focus and committing to getting to the finish. People are dragging at this stage. We just kept focusing on form and moving along and not trying to think of any negative thoughts. At one point a local running club was offering some relief for runners during the last few miles. My wife stopped at one of these stations and had a lady massage her IT band with a running stick (like a rolling-pin being pressed into the muscles). It brought tears to her eyes. Not sure if it was pain or relief but she wanted to hug the lady and thank her. Relief I guess as she wasn’t complaining.

As we hit mile 25 and rounded the corner we could see the Art Museum in the distance and knew we were almost home. As we approached mile 26 the crowd was deep and loud and we saw people we knew out there cheering us on. Any moments of discomfort or pain were behind us now as we sprinted toward the finish line to cross with an official time of 4:42:56. Not our fastest but it was quicker than my wife’s last Philadelphia Marathon. She had made it through the discomfort of the back half of the course and overcome a little fright from her fall earlier in the race. I was really proud of her. I had finished my second marathon in the space of two weeks so I was thrilled.

We passed the finish line and went to collect our medals. Our friend Robyn was at the finish line as a volunteer passing out the medals and it was such a nice surprise to see her and receive our medals from her.

Always great to finish another marathon and as you can see we pretty happy.

As usual, we didn’t hang around too long. Always somewhere to be. In this case it was a birthday brunch for one of my wife’s friends so we dashed to the finish line to pick up our car and head to our sister and brother in law’s house for a quick shower. As we were dashing to the car we bumped into another friend who was out there cheering people on.

Always fun to have cheer leaders out there

Done and headed for brunch

We walked into the brunch (although we Uber-ed to the restaurant) wearing our medals. We had earned our food and it tasted really great. Our medals were replicas of the Liberty Bell and we had the sounds of ringing in our ears all day as we wore our medals.

No surprises here. I’ve already signed up for the 2019 race.

2018 TCS New York City Marathon – race recap

December 31, 2018ianesenior 1 Comment

This was the big one, the one race I have been looking forward to running since I decided to enter the New York City Marathon back in 2014 for the first time. I didn’t get in that year or the year after. My wife got in through the lottery in 2016 (read the race chase recap here) and in 2017 I finally got in through the lottery…which then clashed with a family event which led to me having to defer. Quite a build up. 2018 was going to be the year. I had a long time to plan for this.

As you may know from previous races I have run to raise funds and awareness for autism charities over the last few years. This year I chose to run for the Organization for Autism Research (Run OAR). I had met members of this charity group at expos over the years and always promised I would run for them one day. With my own entry I was able to choose to run for them with no minimum fundraising commitment. They were a very gracious team and they provided everyone with a free training plan. Although I had already chosen a specific plan (which I will talk about later in this write-up) I was still able to interact with the team coach and take part in some of their online pre-race presentations.

This was going to be the largest race I have ever taken part in. As soon as I was a year out I was able to book my hotel room. I followed the same trip plan that we my wife and I took back in 2016 when she ran. Staying in ‘Hells Kitchen’ mid-town about a 10 minute walk from the Javits Center and about 10 minutes or so from the New York Public Library where the buses would leave for the race village on the Sunday morning.

So, re-winding a few months before the event I decided to choose a new training plan. This time using the Hansons Marathon Method. This is a unique approach to marathon training and the plan has had a lot of success from professional and amateur athletes alike. I decided to put this to the test for myself and committed to a 14 week plan which would start early August about a week post the New Jersey State Triathlon. The 14 week plan started off at 40 miles per week peaking at 60 miles per week. The longest run on this training plan was 16 miles where previously I would have run 20-22 miles in preparation for the marathon distance. This plan is highly structured and includes two specific speed workouts each week. The mid-week distances were greater than I was used to and with the ‘shorter’ weekend long runs this would explain the distances run each week. One of the key factors behind this plan was ‘cumulative fatigue’ which essentially is to use speed/strength workouts with minimal recovery to build up a stronger base. The aim is not to train for the first 16 miles of the race but the ‘last 16’ miles of the race. I decided to give it a go and programmed all my workouts into Garmin watch ready to go each day. By the way, they were not exaggerating about cumulative fatigue. This training plan pretty much wore me out but I was committed and stuck to the plan as best I could. Whether or not it would work for me would be seen on November 4th!!!

A very structured approach to marathon training

The weekend finally arrived (thankfully…I guess I was getting a bit obsessive about it) and I made my way up to NYC on the train. I met up with our friend Stephanie (who also traveled up and ran in 2016 with my wife) on the train and we traveled up to New York City together. Once we arrived in Manhattan we dropped bags at the hotel and headed to the expo at the Javits Center. Stephanie and I were in the same starting village and wave (blue-wave 2) so we planned on meeting up the next day.

Arriving at the expo

I travelled up with Stephanie who was running this event again. We planned to meet up again at the race village the next morning.

This was a huge expo. I remembered when my wife ran it there was so much to see. The expo volunteers were great. The logistics for getting to and from this race are involve selecting your mode of transport pre-race (bus or ferry) and selecting post race poncho or bag check (it’s all about the poncho). The volunteers made sure that I had all the right details in my packet including wave and corral, wristband for post race poncho and the timing of my transport to the race. Following this was the t-shirt pickup. There was a selection of shirts of different sizes to try on before picking up the shirt. This was a good job as they ran small for their size and so I was glad of the opportunity to make sure I got something that would fit.

Welcome to the NYC expo

The T-Shirt sizing area. What a great idea.

The official store had lots of (highly priced) memorabilia for the weekend

From there it was onto the official gear store (run by New Balance this year vs Asics when my wife ran). I tried (in vain) not to spend too much money while there. My goal was to get a jacket from the race. I did get one in the size and color I wanted (one of the last) and I have to say that the Asics jacket my wife got a couple of years earlier was much nicer. Still I would wear this jacket everywhere and as much as I could after the race (weather dependent…it wasn’t a warm jacket).

After checking out of the official race gear store there were some great opportunities for unique photos to remember the weekend by before entering the rest of the expo. Once we were in the main expo, Stephanie and I bid each other farewell until the next day and I was able to spend some time exploring. I stopped by the OAR booth and picked up my charity village wristband which would provide me access to the specially reserved area at the athletes village on Sunday morning.

Making memories

The money shot for the day

Previewing the course for tomorrow’s race

I found my name on the runners wall

After spending some time in the expo I made my way back to the hotel to formally check in, get my gear ready for the next day and relax before heading out to the charity dinner at Carmine’s just off Time Square.

Finishing up at the expo

My big purchase from the expo was a NB running jacket

Flat Ian making an early appearance

One of the things my wife had me do before leaving for New York was to grab a Sharpie and write my name on my shirt. There is so much information on the NYC marathon bib that there is no space for the runners name. She remembers people shouting out names from the crowd and remarked that it was such a great experience I had to find a way to get my name on my shirt. So a Sharpie it was.

After relaxing in the hotel and charging up all my devices for the next day I made my way to the team dinner. It was a great evening with so much food. This was a great team to run for and everyone seemed very excited to be a part of the team. They kept bringing out more and more food but when the mountain of cannolis was brought out I bid my farewells and made my way back to the hotel for an early night…via Starbucks so could get my regular pre-race cookie. The clocks went back an hour during the night so I was pleased to get home early and take advantage of that extra hour of sleep. It was going to be an early wake up the next day.

Walking through Times Square on the way to dinner

My pre-race cookie. Keeping the streak alive.

After a pretty good night’s sleep, the first of my ‘4’ alarm clocks went off at 4:00am. I had set 4 alarms for 4:00, 4:01, 4:02 and 4:03…I wasn’t going to take any chances. My bus was set to leave the New York Public library at Bryant Park at 6am and I still had to check out, stow my luggage and walk across town. I also recalled the long lines for the buses from when my wife ran in 2016. I had a cup of coffee and a breakfast bar for what would be my first breakfast of the day and got myself bundled up together with my race bag (to be disposed of at the race village) and headed out to Bryant Park. I was wrapped up in a few layers and had brought with me a spare mylar blanket and some spare towels to sit down in the starting village. We would be waiting around for a long time.

Wrapped up for the cold start.

It was a brisk walk to the buses and once I arrived it was very well-ordered. You get on a bus, it is filled and they go off with minimal fuss. I got settled in for what would be at least an hour ride. I sat towards the rear to the bus and was surrounded by a whole group of British runners, some from my hometown. I tried to start a conversation with my seat mate for the journey only to find out he was Italian and spoke no english. Ha, just my luck. I settled in and enjoyed (?) the ride to Fort Wadsworth over in Staten Island. We arrived at 7:15am. Having been up since 4am it was time for my second breakfast. I wasn’t set to go off until 10:15am so lots of time to wait around although we needed to be in the starting corrals by 9:45am.

Once through security and entering the village I searched out the charity tent area to check in with the team, grab a cup of coffee in the heated tent (and the reserved port-a-potties for the charity village). Getting to the charity village involved moving through a sea of people. With 50,000+ runners in various waves there were plenty of people milling about before the race. Once my wrist band had been checked I went into the charity tent village area to relax for a while. I had plenty of time to wait around and I would spend some time here before going out to meet Stephanie.

The view from the bridge into Fort Wadsworth as we arrived in Staten Island

Arriving at Fort Wadsworth and waiting to clear security

The sign says we have arrived

A sea of people relaxing and waiting for the start

Heading to the charity village which was much less crowded

Warming up inside the heated tent with some coffee pre race

After chatting with the other OAR runners I made my way out to meet up with Stephanie in our color village (Blue), after another stop at the private port-a-potties. Although there were signs everywhere as the place was so big it took a while to walk and find Stephanie. Once we were together we hung with a crowd of runners and chilled out until our wave was called. In the meantime we heard the cannon go off for the elite runners and the first wave. A loud bang in the distance. It wouldn’t be long before it was our turn.

Signs, signs, everywhere signs…

The sun was coming out and it was starting to get warmer. I had already lost a couple of layers at this point.

We had been chatting with a group of runners from all over and there happened to be another British runner with us. This would be his second marathon and he and I were in the same wave and corral so we hung out until the start of the race. Stephanie was in corral B and I was further back in corral F so we wished each other good luck and made our way off to our respective corrals when they opened at 9:45am. I left my hooded jacket with one of the runners we were hanging with as they were not going off until Wave 3 at 10:45 and it was still cold enough for an extra layer.

Once in the corral we made our way up to the base of the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge where the race was to start. I was feeling relaxed and ready and now it was all up to my performance on the day and to see if the Hansons training would truly pay off.

In our corral and waiting to go. That’s my Starfleet command hat.

Walking up to the bridge

I see it. After all these years I was finally at the start line

It still took a while to even reach the start timing mat

After all these years waiting I was finally at the start line. My goal was to hit my pace as best I could with a goal of 3:45 (stretch goal) second goal 3:54 (PR) or break 4 hours if possible. My iPhone was switched off, I would need to save the battery to find everyone at the finish line, and I didn’t plan to listen to music. My wife told me when she ran the crowds were so loud she couldn’t hear her music anyway. Let’s do it!!

The start of the race is from Staten Island from the foot of the bridge so we start the race by essentially running up hill. We would reach Brooklyn by mile 3. The sky was sunny and clear blue. The view from the top of the bridge right into downtown Manhattan was truly breathtaking. Let’s just stay the up half of the bridge was a little steeper than I had expected. This would be the first of 5 bridges we would be crossing during the day. Once clearing the bridge we were welcomed by the first of what would be a lot of very vocal crowds for the day. Welcome to Brooklyn. This would be our home for miles 3-12.

The race is split into 3 starting waves. The green and blue waves start from the top of the bridge and the orange wave starts from the lower deck and all three waves merge at the 5K mark. If you think it is crowded for the first couple of miles it was nothing to when everyone merged at mile 3.

The crowds were amazing and having my name on my shirt was a really good piece of advice. The water stations were plentiful and clearly signed so that you could see them from a distance. Despite the crowds I was still able to keep pace. My first mile was over 9 minutes but that was due to me going easy up over the bridge and weaving a little through the field where I could. I was holding a low 8 minute pace for miles 2 and 3 and still under 9 minutes through mile 4 including my first water stop. The field of runners were packed into the streets which sometimes appeared narrower. The first water station was at mile 4 and as it was beginning to warm up I decided to walk through each water station and alternate between water and Gatorade at each station.

I was slightly behind pace but maintaining in the region of my goal pace through mile 7. By mile 8 I needed to take a potty break which slowed me down somewhat but I was able to get back on pace shortly after. I was over an hour into the race by now which meant it was 11:30am. I had been up since 4am. Usually I would be done by a marathon at this time and I still had another 18 or so miles to go.

As I said before, the crowds were great, well maybe, except for the Orthodox Jewish neighborhood toward the tale end of our time in Brooklyn. The sheer number of runners still didn’t stop people trying to cross the roads in their neighborhoods. We even encountered an old lady in the worlds slowest powered wheel chair who was determined to cross the street regardless of the oncoming surge of runners. All part of the on course entertainment I guess.

We spent 9 miles in Brooklyn which was by far the longest stretch of any borough during the race. The road ahead was rolling hills and all you could see ahead was a mass of people. We then entered into Queens across the Queensboro Bridge around mile 14. I was beginning to notice that this course was hillier than I had expected. The bridges also added more to the overall elevation. We hit the halfway point as we were going up towards the Queensboro Bridge. At this my splits were already slower and I passed the timing mat at just on the 2 hour mark. I figured out very quickly that NYC was not the place to PR. The crowds are too much to get a clear pace and you cannot help but weave about as the roads are not that wide. I also think that as we were already past noon the heat was becoming more of a factor. PR gone, let’s see how I would handle the second half and see how close to 4 hours I could get.

My splits for the first half

My goal for Queens was to enjoy the race and maintain my pace. This was a more quiet part of the course but this all lead up to entering Manhattan for the first time as we crossed the 59th Street Bridge onto First Avenue. The run across the bridge was pretty much a silent march. Yes, another hill. As it was a bridge there were no crowds. All you could hear was an eerie silence and the footsteps of your fellow runners. I will admit that at this stage I had to stop and walk up the bridge for a little. I knew that once I rounded the corner after crossing the bridge I would be in Manhattan and the noise and crowds would be insane. I needed to regroup so I would be able to enjoy my experience. I knew my wife and other family members would be waiting somewhere along the route at mile 17 so that motivated me to go onwards.

Once you get away from the silence on the bridge into Manhattan you are hit by what I can only describe as a wall of sound. Think ‘THe Beatles at Shea Stadium’ kind of noise. Utterly crazy. And what a spectacle. Crowds multiple people deep on each side of the street. Again, I’m glad I had my name written on my shirt. These crowds were keeping me motivated. I kept looking left and right for my wife (she’s not that big LOL). As I had put a Red Fraggle puppet on a pole to help her find me in 2016, this year I was looking for Super Grover on that same pole. Pretty easy to spot from a distance I thought.

We spotted each other

I was very relieved to see her

Always time for a little TLC

She had prepared a few signs for the route. This was the first.

I have to admit that seeing my wife really helped. She was tracking me and she knew my goal time so she must have known I wasn’t hitting my splits. When she asked me how I was doing I had to admit that I was struggling a little. I think the heat was getting to me by this stage. My heart rate was more elevated than normal. It could have been a combination of many things, adrenaline, caffeine in my energy gels (not doing that again) and perhaps just the whole being up for multiple hours playing trains, planes and automobiles getting to the race start. I was just feeling tired. But after having seen my wife and family I had a new pep in my step as I made my way up First Avenue and headed out towards the Bronx.

This was probably the shortest part of the race after Staten Island as you are really in and out of the Bronx very quickly. It is just miles 19 and 20 and for that you have to cross two more bridges. People around me were definitely starting to tire at this stage. I wasn’t doing so great myself but I started recognizing people I had either started with or had passed me in the earlier miles of the race. I’ve never truly ‘hit the wall’ in a marathon but I was definitely feeling it a bit here. Was it the training plan that only took me up to mile 16? I don’t think so based upon the Facebook group from Hansons Marathon Method runners who all seemed to be PR’ing left and right, it must be me. I would later find out from all my friends running the race that they were all fading around the second half of the day. I think I mentioned before that this, although not the hilliest marathon I’ve ever run (see Baltimore, Pittsburgh, DC and Delaware), it was just relentlessly rolling.

Once back into Manhattan we had another 10K to go to get to the finish line in Central Park. I remember my wife saying that the run up Fifth Avenue to was tough at this stage in the race. It was all uphill until around mile 23 where we reach Central Park for the first time. This was the second location where it was planned to meet up with my wife and family again. Time to start looking for Super Grover.

They found me again…or I found them.

The best kisses are at mile 23

Another motivational sign

My splits for the second half of the race were disappointing for me. The race goal itself was a bust but I made a choice to just soak in the atmosphere as this may be the only time running this race and experiencing this marathon major. It was an incredible experience and one I had been looking forward to for a long time. All I wanted to do now was to finish under 4:20 and enjoy the last few miles. After my brief but energizing stop for a kiss with my wife I certainly picked up the pace over the last two miles. Central Park is not flat by any means but as we left the park and rounded Central Park South before returning into the park, the crowds were huge, the noise was amazing and it was a really great way to motivate myself to get to that finish line. And there it was. I saw it and made my way across under 4:20 (4:18)…although Tiki Barber crossed at the same time and they shouted out his name….who does he think he is??? Well, he’s Tiki Barber!!!

Not my best but I still finished and that’s always a good sign

See, I finished!!!

I was cooked. I was tired. I was relieved. I made it through the five boroughs of New York CIty. The biggest marathon in the world. In fact, I ran the race faster than it took to get to the start line. That is truly crazy. I was so happy to get my medal.

This guy!!! My personal medal handing out volunteer!!! I was so happy to see him.

Hey, look!!! It fits!!!

I got my mylar blanket from another volunteer and made my way to where the post race goodies were being handed out. We were given a clear bag which contained water, gatorade, an apple and something else…I cannot remember. All I wanted was the water. I was so tired. Then came the walk out of the park to where the ponchos were being handed out. That was a loooong walk. I actually had to ask a volunteer to loosen my laces on my shoes as I just couldn’t bend down at that moment to undo my shoes without the fear I could not get back up again.

Cooling down and happy

Amongst the many leaving the park….all walking slowly

Finally we excited the park onto Central Park West where the ponchos were being handed out

The view suddenly changed

And this is why I ran this race…well, one of the reasons

I was finally able to get through the crowd and had arranged to meet up with my family at the JCC in Manhattan where a good friend had provided me with a guest pass so I could get showered and change into some fresh clothes which my wife had brought along. What an amazing shower. Loved it. Felt so good. It was around 3pm by the time I was able to feel fresh and clean. We left the JCC and headed out to get a cab, grab my luggage and head for a nice post race meal.

There was no way we could get a cab at that time of night at that location and Uber was pricing us at around $90 for a journey down town so we decided to head to the subway on 72nd street and ride down to 34th street which was near my hotel. Luckily runners ride for free on race day. 🙂

We grabbed my bag from the hotel and headed to Ben’s Kosher Delicatessen which was on the same street as my hotel and where we had celebrated my wife’s New York City Marathon in 2016. I was very hungry. I had been thinking about being here since I passed the deli on the way to the buses at 5am that morning.

Heading to Ben’s. Both wearing our respective NYC Marathon jackets.

Ready to indulge and treat.

Some great matzo ball soup to help refresh and revive.

Don’t question why I am wearing my Delaware Marathon shirt and not my New York City shirt. That was packed in my bag and I was too hungry to change my clothes at the hotel. This was what I had put in my change of clothes bag. The medal, however, was a giveaway that I had run. That and the way I was walking probably were the hints.

After dinner we made it over to the train station in time for a 7:30 train back home which meant I would probably be in my own bed just after 9pm. It had been a long day and I was still going to work the next day. Once on the train my Garmin buzzed and told me I’d been sitting still for too long and to ‘Move’. Ugh…as you can see from the picture below, after 33 miles on my feet, moving was the last thing I wanted to do at that moment. I won’t discuss here how I lost my car in the parking lot carrying all my luggage for an extra mile only to remember I parked the floor above. As I said…it was a long day. Finally I got home and other than doing my teeth and going to bed I cannot recall much once my head hit the pillow.

Really???

It was not the PR race that I had been planning for. I’m not sure I would jump straight back into another Hansons plan without losing a few extra pounds (yeah…that doesn’t help). It was a truly memorable event logistics aside and I was really happy to be able to run for this charity. In fact, I received a thank you card and a team medal in the mail soon after the race. Very thoughtful. I would run this race again if the opportunity arises but would love to run it with my wife next time.

A nice surprise from the charity after the race.

So that’s my (very long) New York City marathon recap. It was almost as long as my build up to the race. Memories 🙂

2018 Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon – race recap

December 30, 2018ianesenior Leave a comment

I wasn’t going to do it. No sir, I wasn’t going to do it. I have run this event every year since 2011 and after running the same course (pretty much) each year I decided to sit this one out. I think I even registered for the 2017 race before I ran the 2016 event this was how predictable this race became for me. So my wife and I (who has run this with me since 2012) decided to skip this year. End of story.

…So why am I writing a race recap? Well, in preparation for the 2018 New York City Marathon I had chosen a new marathon training plan. For most of my marathons I have been using Hal Higdon marathon training programs but with my build up to New York I wanted to try something different. This time around I picked a Hansons Running marathon training plan. This was a new approach for me and I had been following the plan strictly (more or less). I had all my paces set and programmed into my Garmin and was sticking to plan. This race happened to coincide with a 12 mile run on the training plan. Additionally, my company wellness program was promoting a discount code for people who wanted to sign up for the race weekend. With permission from my wife (she decided not to join) I signed up just over a couple of weeks in advance of the race weekend. This would be a chance to put this training plan to the test.

Arriving late on a Friday evening and rushing into the expo

Obligatory race bib photo…with my hand written corral assignment

I headed to pick up my packet on the Friday evening after work. As usual, it took forever to get into the City on a Friday evening and I arrived with about 45 minutes left before the expo closed for the night. I picked up my race bib and as I had signed up so late I didn’t have my name printed on the bib or a specific corral assigned. I had to go over to get a corral assignment based upon my estimated finish time. Not a big issue but I’ve never signed up for a race this late. Interestingly, the expo was much smaller than it had been in previous years. There had been years when the expo was really big, now it just seemed a little light. Brooks was still the main apparel sponsor but there was nothing unique that jumped out at me. Not that I got much chance to see the expo. They started to switch off the lights around 15 minutes before the end of the expo hours and they announced that it was time to pack up (so to speak). The hint was taken and I headed home.

Expo was pretty empty

Heading in to see what was on show

The expo wasn’t as big as I had experienced before for a Rock ‘n’ Roll race

I was feeling confident going into the race weekend based upon my recent training and was hoping that my recent hard work was ready to pay off. I got my gear ready the night before and looked forward to what the day might bring. My half marathon PR of 1:51 was back in April 2016. I was hoping to get close the next morning.

Flat Ian, ready for some shenanigans…well, it’s me…let’s just hope for some nice safe fun 🙂

Race day arrived and I got to the starting area early. I bumped into a colleague as soon as I arrived at the staging area and we chatted for a while which helped relax the nerves. I got into my corral. The weather was overcast, warm and muggy, not ideal for a fast run but I still felt good and ready to go.

You can see how muggy it is at the beginning of the race

Our corral was called and it was time to put my recent training to the test. The first couple of miles went off well. I felt good. Something weird happened with my GPS running around the tall buildings so by mile 3 I had a zany 6:29 mile appear on my watch which threw me off a little. I had to start doing math every time I hit a mile marker going forward. You will see from my mile splits below that I tried to reset my laps by hitting all the buttons on my watch until I at least matched with a mile marker (for the split distance at least). The training seemed to have been working through the first few miles. I felt good and my pace was where I wanted it to be.

Around mile 7 the sun started to come through the clouds and it started to warm up, and with that, I started to slow down a little. As I headed up Kelly Drive the sun became stronger and my splits started to get slower. Miles 9 and 10 were almost 20 seconds slower and by the time I crossed over the Falls Bridge to Martin Luther King Boulevard I was fatigued and the next few miles were about a minute slower. Hmm…I may have pushed just a little too much at the start. Not sure it was the training or the heat. I managed to pick it up a bit in the last mile and made it to the finish line in a good compared to prior years but disappointing compared to plan time of 1:55. One of my better half marathons but about 5 minutes slower than plan. It was warm by the time I finished and as I was relieved to get a cold towel and some iced water. Oh, and some chocolate milk. Always a win!!!

My lap splits (with a little glitch for laps 3-5)

Based upon my splits I’m not sure if it was my training plan or the heat or a combination of both. I see that my last mile split was more on par with my earlier splits but still, a good takeaway knowing that I felt strong for the first half of the race. I still had 6 weeks to go until New York and time to complete the training and taper for my goal race.

A medal and some chocolate milk. A win.

So, I know that next year I will definitely not be running this race (I have signed up for the Atlantic City 70.3 triathlon) so my streak is broken. I’m okay skipping this one for a while. I’m sure I will be back again though but a break will do me good.

philly2goofy

…and all the miles in between

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