Details
- September 12, 2020
- Entry: Charity Bib
- Marathon Number: 1 (sort of)
- Finish Time: 4:39:16
Preparation
Prior to starting the training cycle, I signed up for the BAA 1/2 Marathon in October of 2019 and set distance PR’s in the 3 weeks leading up to the race. Instead of building slowly and smartly, I slapped together longer and longer weekly runs so that I could give myself the confidence to tackle the distance for the first time ever. My strategy partly worked, and I was able to start strong and finish weakly in a time of 1:55:10 – hitting my goal of getting under 2 hours.
The part that DIDN’T work out so well, was the IT band that I wrecked as a result of my very ill-advised training strategy, and I wasn’t able to run pain-free until late January 2020. Despite the pain and discomfort I was able to get started on my first ever training schedule, and was really starting to feel like I was getting into top shape (relatively speaking) until we got the news in March that marathon was being postponed… officially to September. It was definitely frustrating, but that was a crazy time in everyone’s lives (to say the least) and my desire to run a marathon the next month felt a bit trivial.
Our team’s coaches prepped us with an updated training plan and I got back to work. A few months later we got the news that we were dreading – the official cancellation of the in-person marathon, with a virtual option being the only one. The real blow was that even if pre-registered runners decided to complete the marathon, they would not be awarded credit towards the six world marathon majors. Despite the unfortunate turn of events, credit to the BAA for doing the best they could, and for an incredible supporting cast for making it as best as they could.
Lessons Learned
Make sure you know how your technology works before you start
The BAA has a tracking app (as do most major marathons) which allows your friends/family/super fans to track your progress along the route. The app is loaded with information about splits, benchmarks and anticipated finishing time. With the route not being along the regular course (which was strongly advised against), the tracker would just pretend you were progressing down the route, regardless of where you were actually running.
I began my run at the official starting line for the Boston Marathon, but veered off course after about 50 yards. Before running I had opened the app and started my run, but it wasn’t until a few miles later that I found out that I needed to keep the app open the entire time for it to continue tracking me. That meant that my actual distance was a few miles behind what it said on the app.
Having a support crew along the way means everything
My incredible wife was waiting for me every 4 miles, and it was a lovely way to break up my first crack at the marathon distance and be greeted by a supportive (and beautiful!) face throughout the time. She was my rock the whole time, and was refueling me with water and snacks, which was a huge help because it meant I didn’t have to carry everything. After having seen my wife at miles 4 and 8, I was totally surprised to hear and see a party waiting for me at mile 12. Much to my surprise, my amazing co-workers brought my two amazing children and had made a poster and custom shirts for everyone. It was a huge boost and helped gear me up for the second half of the day.
Listening to something stimulating helps distract your mind
If you’ve never experienced it, running for 2+ hours alone and only listening to music can end being quite boring. Especially when you do it somewhat regularly. I started switching over to audiobooks after a relatively short time, which ends up serving as double duty of “reading” books while also exercising. If you are anything like me, you never read as much as you would like to, and this was the perfect solution. As a former sprinter, the audiobooks also help me keep my pacing slower so I don’t burn out on longer efforts.
For this run, I was listening to the audiobook of Hiroshima by John Hersey. I can’t tell you exactly why I had purchased this book, but it was actually quite helpful during this run. If you’ve never read or listening to this book, it provides very graphic detail about the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima, Japan during World War 2. I highly recommend the book for a number of reasons, but for the purpose of my run, it took any self-pity I may have felt away.
Pickle juice cures? cramps
Never in my life did I think I would pound a bottle (albeit small) of pickle juice. I found out in the training for this run that there are actual pickle use products, and I was given one to try… so why not?! I didn’t have a horrible cramp, but I’ll give it credit for getting me to the finish line.
Pack more fuel than you think you need
As I already said… my wife is amazing in all ways, and I could not have done this without her. With us being so close (~2 miles) to the finish line, she decided to join me to the end and I was thrilled to have her company. About 400 yards into the last leg, she asked for a sip of my water (which I gladly shared) and we kept moving… slowly. Another 600 yards later she asked for some more. This continued at regular intervals until we were about 1 mile out from the finish and she had drank all of MY water….
Fortunately I was able to limp into the finish line and quickly get some more to drink, but we couldn’t help but laugh at the scenario we were in and that my wife had cleared me out of my most valuable fuel.
Celebrate your accomplishments
Even though I wasn’t able to run the actual Boston Marathon, even after raising over $10,000, it felt great to actually run 26.2 miles at once and cap off the end of many months of training. The coaches, the staff where I work and my amazing friends and family made it an incredible first marathon finish and I have no regrets with how it all worked out.
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