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Tough Mudder Beaver Creek
I had to go to Denver for business, just a couple of days before the Tough Mudder in Beaver Creek, so my friend Ben talked me into racing. Well, it didn’t take much convincing. 🙂 It looked like a fun event to run, and one that I would love to do closer to home in NC. There’s one in VA in October, but I hope to run the NF 50miler at that time.
Once I got the go ahead from Kelly, I was all set.
My meetings were Wednesday, and when they were done, Ben picked me up. That evening he and I met Harry at Highline Canal for an “easy” 5 mile run. That “easy” run, while at an 8:30 pace, felt more like a sub 7:00 pace to me — where are my mountain lungs!!! After that, Ben and I headed out to Deer Creek for another 5 mile run, this one with about 1500 feet of elevation change. I was certainly trying to force myself to adapt!
On Thursday afternoon, Ben and I took off for Elk Meadow for a 10 mile run that got us close to 10,000 feet. I would have loved to bag another 14-er, to add to my six, but it was not to be. Most of them are still covered in snow, and while possible, it probably would have been a bit too much two days out from the Tough Mudder.
Friday was a rest day. 🙂
Saturday we left Highland’s Ranch around 7:45 a.m. and made the two+ hour drive to Beaver Creek. We had to stand in a few lines to take the shuttle bus from the parking area to the base of the resort, check in, etc. It was packed! 5000 runners over two days was pretty impressive to pull off as well as they did.
Our wave was set for 12:40 so we got to watch a couple other waves take off, hang out, get ready, etc. About 12:00 we headed up the steep hill 100 meters or so to get ready for our wave. I wish I had brought some water — it was hot and dry up there!
Here is a course map TM provided. I’ll try to walk through each obstacle as best I can, but I’m not so sure this map matches up exactly. For an interactive map, click here.
Here is an excellent video that shows a bunch of the obstacles live. (It is not me — just some random posting to youtube!)
Also, I don’t have a lot of photos of Ben and me on the course, so let me just link to the photos TM has on their site.
Here we are right before we headed to the start. As you can see, I chose the inov8 x-talon 190’s as my shoe – they have nice lugs that I thought would do well in the mud and snow, and I was right. I saw a few Vibram Five Finger wearers, as well as several people in road shoes or shoes with no real traction — and they all struggled on the slippery stuff.
After about a 15 minute speech, telling us what to do, what not to do, what to expect, safety rules, etc., a recording of LeAnne Rimes singing the slowest version of the National Anthem I have ever heard, we were off! We started on a very steep descent, maybe 30-40% grade, for 100 meters or so. Ben and I had positioned ourselves in row two, and took off. Well, he took off — he is much faster on the steep downs than me! (Well, much faster than me everywhere these days — especially at 8000 feet! 🙂 )
After that short steep descent, we had an easy little run on a paved walking area, before we started a gradual climb. The gradual climb took a hard left straight up the slopes, and then it got steep. And steeper. I was already red lining! Not good. But I switched to power hike mode and just made my way up as best I could. Looking ahead, there were only 8-10 people in front of us, so I didn’t feel too bad. (We quickly mingled with the waves in front of us, so we have no idea how we did relative to the rest of our wave, though I think top 10 is probably about right.)
The map above shows the 1st obstacle as “cliff hanger.” I don’t really remember anything like that. There was a muddy area from the snow sprayers misting us, which felt awesome, but that was it. The 2nd obstacle were a couple sets of the “Berlin Walls,” which weren’t too hard. If you use the leg stands on the side it’s very easy, but even without that, a quick step into someone’s hand up, grab the top and pull over.
After that we had some more slope climbing and a little single track running. I ran whenever the grade allowed and power hiked the rest. The 3rd obstacle was the Boa Constrictor, which was just two ~20 foot black pipes, perhaps two feet in diameter. In between the two at the bottom was water, so you crawled down into a bit of water, then out. Again these were not tough, but I was glad we were pretty close to the front of our wave so that we didn’t get backed up in a bottle neck. After that we had some more single track running along a pretty level grade. Here we started to pass people from the 12:20 wave.
The next obstacle on the map was the High Stepper, just walking across a net over something like water. I don’t recall it right here on the course, but I do recall a couple similar obstacles.
Next up was the Kiss of Mud, a crawl through mud with barbed wire on top… The bobbed wire was probably just 18″ above the mud, so you really had to belly crawl. This cut my knees a bit, but other than that was not too bad. We had started to stack up a bit with the next wave or two, so it was getting a bit crowded, but not terribly so. We finally hit a water station, which was much needed!
Next was the Swamp Stomp, a walk through mud at about waist level. There were a couple of hidden rocks in there, that many of us ran into, tripped over, or fell down on. 
(Or perhaps that was one of the river crossings later?? They kind of blur together…..)
After a bit more running, we hit one of my most dreaded obstacles — the Underwater Uunnels. Here’s a photo from the TM site — I just want you to see it. This perspective makes the tunnels look a bit closer together than they really were!
We walked into freezing water — 36F — to about waist level, and then had to dive under each tunnel. 36F on your head is COLD!!! I took a couple of deep breaths, went under, and came up. Ouch! Brrr! A couple of steps and it was tunnel #2. A few more deep breaths — now starting to shiver — and I went under. I opened my eyes and it was pitch black. I came out the other side, and now the water was shoulder level — a couple more steps to the next tunnel, a few big breaths, and under again. This time I came up and I could NOT TOUCH the bottom! That was unexpected. I had to swim the 20 feet or so to shore and I was not happy at this point. It was very cold. I got out and grabbed a couple of the emergency blankets to wrap myself. I was ready to go but Ben was back at the water looking for me. I kept yelling but he could not hear, so I had to go back to get him.
We started running up a gradual slope, me still wrapped in the emergency blankets, towards the next obstacle, the log carry. I dropped the blanket after a few minutes and then grabbed a log. Ben and I ran up the hill carrying our logs, and now it was starting to get really crowded. The log carry had us going through the woods on single track, and there were a couple of bottlenecks on bridges. We snuck around the crowds as best we could, wrapped through the woods, back to where we dropped the logs.
From here it was a pretty long run down…. And down… Sometimes gradual, sometimes a bit steep, but nothing too bad. Ben did take a roll at one point, but he was always in front of me. We reached the Chernobyl Jacuzzi, which you climb up and jump into some bright colored FREEZING water… (They start the day with 200 bags of ice, and keep adding ice all day!) We ended up in the bright green, but there was also blue and pink. I should have cannon balled. Once you jump in, you progress forward and reach a bar that you have to go under, so your head gets totally wet, freezing, and colored. Climb up and out, and start running again, mostly down.
We next reached the Turd’s Nest, which was just netting across the river. Some folks chose to roll down, while I just walked it. We ran down from there to water station number two, where I forced down a gel and drank some water.
After that, we headed up. Steep steep up. 40-50% grade maybe? At some point, we reached the Devil’s Beard, just a net on the climb. I tucked in behind someone tall and just followed. After that, there was still more climbing. This was a quite steep hill, and it took a while to get up.
The map shows the next obstacle as the mystery obstacle, though I don’t recall it at this point on the course. I’m pretty sure it was later, but I’ll write about it here. Anyway, it was a long windy tunnel made of plywood, with black plastic on the ground. They had said it would be filled with smoke, but it was not, thankfully. I was able to slide on the plastic using my arms for the most part, saving the knees, which were already cut up a bit.
The climb continued until we reached The Gauntlet, which I don’t see on the map. The Gauntlet was a 50 or 100 meter run up the hill, with some hay bales on the ground to slow you down a bit. There were 4 high powered hoses on each side– think fire hoses — with folks manning them. They would shoot you as you ran up. They waited for me until I hit the 1st bales, and one went high and one went low — they were trying to take me down!! I made it up as best I could, and I have to admit, this one took a bit out of me! At the top, I was hurting. And we had a long ways to climb still….
Just a minute or two later, we hit the Sweaty Yeti’s, which were large snow mounds with orange netting over one of them, that you had to go under. Again, it was a bit crowded here, but we made it through… Just to have more climbing. And more climbing.
Next was the Mud Mile, which was a series of 5 or 6 deep mud pits, about waist level, that we had to trudge through. Then we hit aid station 3, which was totally packed! I got a little water and had a honey stinger. I wanted more water but it was too crowded to wait.
After that there was a bit of running to the log jam, just a series of logs that you had to go under or over. It was pretty easy. Now it was a long dirt/gravel road to run down, so we let gravity do its thing. There were only a couple other runners — everyone else was walking.
The map shows the hay bales next, but I am pretty sure it was a series of 3 Berlin Walls. Again it was getting very crowded so we had to wait in line a bit, but we helped a few teams over, and other teams helped us.
More down hill running on the the dirt road… The Hay Bales came, but they were pretty torn up from the thousands of runners that had already gone before, so it was an easy jump up and through. The hay on the other side was thick, and I did fall in a hole in a couple of places.
(The map shows a super G slalom, but I don’t think we ever did anything quite like that.)
After the hay within just 50 meters or so, was the Spider Web, just a high net wall that you had to climb over. There were a bunch of people holding it down for us, so we held it for another round of other runners, and then it was back to running down, down, down.
We finally saw Allison and Isabella and she snapped this photo — still smiling after about 9 miles!
The map shows Mud Slide and Greased Lightening, but I only recall the big slip and slide… Greased Lightening. There was a bit of a line to the left, but the right was wide open. The volunteers were telling us to go left, as people were getting hurt on the right. I choose to go right so I wouldn’t have to wait, but didn’t dive quite as fast as I would have due to the warnings, and ended up not having quite enough speed to make it to the bottom without a little bit of help from my arms pushing and pulling…
A bit more running down, and we made it to the Monkey Bars, where we had to wait a bit… We took our gloves off, and used the dirt to dry our hands. We both made it over pretty easily, though Ben had a bit of a longer time than I did. The lady in front of him took a while. 🙂
Next up was Everest, a large, greased, half pipe you had to run up and over. Most people take a few steps and dive for the top, pull them selves up, and keep going. I watched Ben do that just fine, but I missed! So I had to come down and try it again, and then someone grabbed my arm, though I had made it anyway.
A bit more running and we were at the final obstacle, the Electric Shock Therapy. I had dreaded this all day — I don’t like to get shocked! There was a long line, but we again made our way up front. I pulled my arm warmers up to protect my arms, crossed them in front of my face, and made a mad dash behind a group of other people. I never got shocked! Woohoo!
There was a short sprint to the finish, where we saw 14:50 on the clock — we had finished in about 2 hours 10 minutes. No official times are kept at Tough Mudders, though you can submit them later – if you are in the top 5% of any event you can get invited to the World’s Toughest Mudder, a 24 hour event in December. I think we’ll be close, but I doubt either of us will run it. Just not a good time of year for that kind of thing! (Plus, it’s in New Jersey!)
It was super crowded in the finish chute as everyone was getting their head bands, their shirts, and their free beer. Ben and I got separated, but we of course eventually found each other. A bit of a clean up with the hoses, picked up our bags, changed, took the shuttle bus(s) to get back to the car, and we were off… Heading towards Idaho Springs for Pizza, though we got stuck in some pretty good traffic on the way.
All in all a great run. I question the “Probably the Toughest Event…” on the shirt — if you are going to call it the toughest, don’t say “Probably.” 🙂 Ben and I both agreed we’ve done tougher races in our years of adventure racing and ultra runs, though I certainly see that an event like Tough Mudder is much more accessible to many people than those kinds of races. So it is “probably” the toughest for many of the participants.
I found out later that a few people actually run the course two (or more?) times on their day, so I may consider that in the future. Once to go fast and hard, and a 2nd time to run at a more leisurely pace where I can help out others more.
Vivobarefoot Ultra
The text below is from an interview with the lead designer at Terra Plana… I have to admit, I am loving this shoe and running in it a lot more than I thought I would. I figured it would be a summer casual shoe, for walking around, maybe hiking, boating, paddling, etc.
But in the few weeks I have had it, I have been running on roads, trails, and the track. I just completed a backpack weekend of 20 miles, that included an additional 8 miles of trail running. The backpacking miles included something like 9 river crossings, and the shoe performed amazingly.
I would not run fast (race or tempo speeds) on the trails in them — just too much chance of a bruise from a stray root or rock. But they were never meant for that. This is perhaps the most versatile shoe I have ever worn. I use them with the sock liner and without, and when without I have used it with and without the tongue insert.
Great shoe.
MRS: Let me start with the newly released Ultra. Tell me a little more about the dual density EVA.
AC: The product uses a modern EVA injection molding technique which enables you to inject a soft density EVA in the uppers and a higher density EVA on the outsole. This product (Ultra) is only possible using this method which is the reason the Ultra was born and exists today. The upper part of the ultra is durable but very soft allowing the foot to flex and move naturally. The outsole section is injected second and is 6mm thick, a lot more firm than the upper which is vital for the ground feedback. It is also special high abrasion EVA which has increased durability for heavier running specific use.
MRS: How is it different than the Evo, Evo II, and Neo?
AC: Evo and Neo are high abrasion rubber outsole running shoes. Although of course they are everything VIVOBAREFOOT: thin sole, zero cushioning, puncture resistant, zero heel-to-toe differential, anatomic wide toe box. They are made like a traditional running shoe – strobel stitched with cemented outsole. And of course, they are not amphibious and quite as light weight.
MRS: Who is this shoe designed for?
AC: We saw an opportunity in this process that we can create a product that would span across a lot of activities but fundamentally, it is an impossibly lightweight running shoe and the feedback is that key buyers are using it as a pretty serious running shoe. You can run in and out of water without water lock and the very nature of it is like a functional Crocs-like product that can be used on the beach or kick around summer shoe or as a travel shoe. We hope that this product will transcend the current barefoot niche and perhaps help take barefoot to consumers that were just looking for an active functional water shoe.
The Perfect Health Diet
Before I start this post, I just want to note that I am a bit hesitant to use the word diet. The typical connotation these days is a diet is used to lose weight, or perhaps to gain muscle. But most of the books I have read and post about, diet is more a long term lifestyle change than a short term change.
With that being said, let me also say that I read this book 6-8 weeks ago — I’m still way behind on writing all my “reading notebook” blog posts! But I did take about 30-45 minutes to review all my highlights in the book, to try to freshen it up in my memory a bit. That is always beneficial! 🙂
Of all the Food/Diet/Paleo/Primal books I’ve read in the past year or so, this would be the one I most recommend to anyone asking. Nina Plank’s Real Food would be up there too, though she is more preindustrial than pre-neolithic. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, and with the recent move towards “Paleo 2.0,” where you only use evolutionary biology as a framework, while regarding current science and research and results quite high. I won’t get into all those details here — go read Kurt Harris’s post above!
Of course, there are a couple of things I don’t fully agree with in PHD, which I’ll get to below, but I think this is the best plan overall and perhaps most accesible to both the scientific minded as well as those not quite so technical.
Rather than review the actual content and give a summary of the diet, let me just point you to the web page, which covers the everything in the book and more. In fact, this link gives a high level overview of the recommendations:
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?page_id=8
Of course, the book goes into much more detail and the science behind the reasoning, and is well worth the read.
There were a couple of things I did not agree with. One such example is that they tend to discard egg whites and just eat the yolks, as “egg whites are almost entirely made of protein; we discard them to keep protein levels down.” But overall, I would certainly recommend this book.
Sitting is killing you….
Running with Joy. Ryan Hall.
[ I’m so far behind on my “reading notebook,” but I’ll try to catch up over the next week or two! Or three… ]
Going in to this year’s Boston Marathon, I was a little low on running confidence due to slight lack of motivation and subsequent fairly light training load. The night before I was reading the BAA’s Competitor’s Guide and found an excerpt from Ryan Hall’s new book, Running with Joy. It was pretty good, so I downloaded the book to my kindle app. I thought that if I read the introduction and his entry on race day that very night, that maybe I’d find a little spark…
The book starts with a couple of Bible verses, though this one is most relevant:
These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. — JOHN 15:11
Goes well with the 1st catechism in the Westminister Shorter Catechism:
What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God an to enJOY Him forever…
Most of the book is Hall’s training journal along with his thoughts and reflections leading up to Boston last year. Hall is a very devout Christian and walks (runs?) with God in all he does, as he reflects on his running, racing, and life as he journals his training.
The final entry covers the actual 2010 race for Hall, when, though he didn’t win, he found what he was looking for — Joy in running. I do think the book helped me find my own Joy in the 2011 race. I ran much faster than I expected I would (could!), and I had joy for most of the race! The final six miles were a bit of a slog, but I only slowed a little and I’m still quite happy with how I ran.
A few quotes:
- My body responds best when I go to the well only on race day.
- Being okay with running slower than I have before and being patient enough to not force all my workouts to be at that same level is very challenging.
- The only way to prepare for the pavement is to practice on the pavement.
- In a world where it is all about the guy on the top step of the podium and we are defined and define ourselves by the time on our watch, at the end of the day I am trying to spread the word that it ultimately isn’t all about that.
- Enjoyment is a big part of unlocking our hidden potential.
- Pushing yourself to the brink is an acquired skill. It develops with time and practice and takes self-confidence and the boldness to test the body’s limit.
Boston Marathon 2011
2010 – The Seeds are Planted.. Last year, I was able to watch my Dad and sister run the Boston Marathon. I covered about 15 miles of it on foot, and the seeds were planted. I last ran a road marathon in 1993 — the Marine Corps Marathon. Since then, I’d somewhat lost interest in roads, and, in fact, only in the past 6 or 8 months have I run any road races — a couple of local 5k’s.
But, Boston is special. I knew it then, just watching Dad and Kim run, and I told them if they were going to do it in 2011, I’d love to run it as well.
2011 – The lead in… One of the (many) reasons Boston is special is because you have to qualify. For me, a 40 year old male, that means a 3:20, or a 7:38/mile pace. I’m close, but certainly not there (yet!). This spring I’d run about 6 or 7 miles at that pace. Adding 20 more would certainly be tough! Other ways “in” are by running for charity, and this year my friend and co-worker Greg raised ~ $8000 for the Children’s Hospital! Way to go Greg! And then there is another way in — comp’d spots. Last year my friend Jeff got in via Addidas — then again, he was able to run 2:45.
I was able to run via a “comp’d” spot (thanks Dad!), though I’m no 2:45 runner! And the comp’d spot didn’t become official until just a few weeks before the race date. I have to admit, after my 40 mile run at Uhwarrie in February of this year, I was ready for a break from running. And with the Boston registration not being fully confirmed until just prior to the race, I had lost motivation and my training really suffered. Additionally, I traveled a lot the prior three weeks before Boston. Here’s a graph of my running from Daily Mile:
Looking back, I had run an average of 15 miles per week the 10 weeks after Uhwarrie leading up to Boston, and just 6 miles per week the last 3 weeks.
Predictions… With the lack of training, I thought at best I could manage a 3:45, or about an 8:30/mile pace. My sister Kim, on the other hand, had run four 20 miles runs — at tempo! I knew she was running fast and strong and thought she could break 3:30.
Boston is special… Boston is special for a lot of reasons. Last year I had a fantastic weekend, spending time with Dad and Kim… Lots of good food, the marathon Expo, a trip to the American Girl store in Nattick (:-/), great conversation, etc. And following them on the run — seeing the crowds along the route in all the different places such as Wellesley College, Boston College, etc. was amazing. This year was no different and just as great. In fact, Kelly was able to fly up, so the four of us shared an amazing weekend in Boston.
All weekend, Kim and Dad said I was “sand bagging,” but I really did not think so. I would have been super happy with a 3:45. Kim even said she would not talk to me again if I beat her. But I knew she was going to be the stronger runner…
The night before… With my lack of training, and therefore lack of confidence, I thought I’d read Ryan Hall’s book, in which he described his training for last year’s race. Much of it is just his daily training log and reflections, so probably not much interest to non-runners. I read the intro and the race day entry. The Intro had Ryan’s insight into finding God’s joy in running, with the following Bible verse:
These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. — John 15:11
Ryan speaks of the Joy he found in running when he was able to just run, and drop all the goals and expectations surrounding his running. As America’s fastest marathoner, he had a lot of expectations placed on him. But when he let all of those fall aside, and run for Joy, he really found his groove.
Race Day I slept well, only waking up just once during the night and my alarm actually woke me — normally I wake several times and always just before the alarm! I had a quick breakfast of eggs and the like at the hotel restaurant, and then we walked to loading point where the many many buses were waiting. Here’s a shot of the people waiting in line, and Dad, Kim, and me waiting as well.
We rode the buses to the start in Hopkinton, which takes about an an hour. TheAthlete’sVillage was full and bustling, but not for long. We were in the 3rd wave, which started at 10:40, so the village cleared out pretty quickly as the other two waves headed to the start. Just before we left the village, I ate a chocolate glazed donut Dad had bought from Dunkin Donuts that morning — gluten problem or no, I wanted one of my favorite treats and figured the sugar would give me a good rush! 🙂
The Start…
It was finally our time to go, so we first had to find our bus to put our drop bags in. Dad and I had very high numbers, and our bus was outside the village which took a while to find. I dropped my warm clothes and just kept my arm warmers and a black garbage bag on to stay warm and keep the wind off. It took Kim a while to find us after she had dropped her things, and then we started making our way to the start.
Wow, it was crowded! In fact, the 2nd wave had not even made it past the start, so those of us in the 3rd wave were kind of stuck for a while. Eventually we made it towards the starting line, and then headed towards our corrals. Dad was in corral 9, and I was supposed to be there as well — neither of us had marathon times submitted on our applications. Kim was in corral 1 as she had run a 3:49 last year. I wanted to sneak in there with her, so we made our way in that direction.
Due to the delay with wave 2, we had to jump out of the crowd and run on the grass and side walk towards the front. We arrived at the gate to corral 1 and there was a large crowd trying to get in. The “gate guards” were actually checking the corral numbers on the bibs! I hoped to sneak in with the garbage bag covering my number, but I wasn’t so sure it would work now. But then the announcer stated “one minute to start,” and the gate keeper of corral 2 dropped the rope, and all of those runners moved forward, and the gatekeepers at corral 1 were over run, so I was able to sneak in. 🙂
As we got into the corral and moved forward, the gun sounded and the race was off! I lost Kim in the 1st few seconds… She took off, and I had a head phone malfunction. As I was trying to get that adjusted, I lost her, and had no idea where she was!
The 1st few miles The race starts downhill for petty much the 1st 5 miles. I wanted to get some separation so the crowd wouldn’t be too bad, so I had a nice little tempo going. Kim was gone, but I kept looking for a pink shirt in front of me, and run for it, hoping to find her. I looked at my Garmin and saw 7:40 pace — oh no, too fast! I told my self to slow down…. But every time I looked at my pace (and I tried not to look too often) it was at 7:40…
Slow down….. 7:40. run run run 7:40
Slow down…. run run run 7:40
It felt easy and smooth.
Slow down. run run run 7:40
Slow down. run run run 7:40.
Ok, you get the idea.
After about 5 or 6 miles, sometimes high – fiving all the kids on the sides of the road, sometimes just running with ease, I thought I should just go with it. 7:40? That’s just about my BQ pace. Yeah, it’s almost a minute faster per mile than I thought I would run, but let’s just hold it as long as I can, and see how it goes. It felt good. It felt right. I was running with Joy, and it was awesome. Boston is special! The crowds were awesome. And it felt good. I figured it would catch up to me at some point, but who knew when, so why not just go with it?
Mid-way Kelly said she wanted to see Wellesley, about mile 13, so we told her to hang out on the left side of the run. The right side would be full of the “Scream Tunnel” girls giving out kisses and creating all kinds of havoc. 🙂
So around mile 12.5 I started looking for Kelly, enjoying the atmosphere all along. I saw her long before she saw me. In fact, I was jumping up and down and waving my arms, but she didn’t see me until I was right in front of her. I was there a little earlier than expected. 🙂
So she didn’t get any pictures of me running up towards her, but I’ll have the memory in my mind forever. I gave her a big hug and kiss and said I was going way too fast, but I felt good. She said “where’s Kim?” and that was really the 1st time I thought I might be in front of my sister… I knew I was running fast — much faster than I thought I could (sandbagging?) but Kim had taken off at the start and I had not seen her since — even though I was diligently looking. But if Kelly had not seen her??
Here’s the photo Kelly took of me as I turned back to her…
Here’s one of the photos of Kim that Kelly was able to take – a minute or two after I had passed – I was in front! (I still wouldn’t be sure of this for quite some time…)
15 – 21…. At mile 15, I was still amazed I was holding something like 7:41 – 42 pace. How long would it last? I hit all the hills in this section, the three famous hills culminating with Heartbreak Hill, still feeling good. I came out of the hills at about a 7:46 pace. Could I get any of the lost time back? I wasn’t sure, but I tried to open it up on the down hills. But here I was finally starting to feel the early pace… And starting to slow.
Around mile 19 or so, I heard someone yell “SEAN!” Wow, my name, out here, in the middle of a million plus spectators. I didn’t have a name tag on — BTW, if you ever run Boston or any big marathon, put a name tag on! Everyone yells out for you. 🙂 I turned back and saw my friend and co-worker Todd. He had spotted me in all the sea of runners! That “game face/mug shot” photo on Facebook the night before worked! Someone knew what to look for! That gave me a lift, but I was definitely starting to hurt.
Somewhere around mile 8 to 10, the crowd of runners had became thick. We had caught the 2nd wave…. And it kept getting thicker and thicker… Miles 18+ was wall to wall runners and I was having to run around them quite often. Now the water stations become much harder to navigate — in fact, towards the end, some runners were stopping right in front of me! Due to all the maneuvering, my Garmin shows I ran about a 1/2 mile further than the 26.2 of a marathon.
The Finish
Miles 21 through the end were a a bit of struggle for me. The early pace had certainly caught up to me, but I did not totally fall apart. I passed many runners that had succumbed to walking. I never quite reached that point, but I did slow down.
At this point, let me put in the pace charts for Kim and me. Kim’s husband Paul, and Dad’s wife Nadia, were watching our splits “live” — Paul in Denmark and Nadia in SC. They watched me slowly build a 2 minute lead on Kim, but then watched her cut it down, closer and closer and closer. Would she catch me? Paul said it was a better than watching a football game…
Well, that gives away the finish…. With about a mile left, I heard a voice next to me: “Do you want to finish together?” Well, there Kim was after all those miles… I said “I don’t think I can,” and she responded “Yeah, I think I’m going to throw up.” I said I would try to stay with her.
So I tried, and maybe did for a minute or two. But it was crowded, she was flying, and I did not want to finish Boston throwing up at the finish! I let her go a little — or I should really say I couldn’t hang with her pace, but when we made that last turn where you can finally see the finish –a good half mile to go, I thought I’d give it one more go. A nice little (slight) down hill, open up, and let’s see what happens.
I would have loved to have kept up and cross the finish line together. But I couldn’t do it — she was too strong, I was too far gone, and she finished about 20 seconds in front of me. But she also broke 3:30, (3:28) which is where I thought she would be, and I finished just behind her.
I’m not complaining — 3:28 was 17 minutes faster than where I thought I would be. And granted it was a great day for running with gorgeous weather (though a touch warm for those of us in the last wave) with a nice tail wind, but I had one of those special days. I had found Joy in running. At least the 1st 18 -20 miles or so. 🙂
Kim and I made it through the finish chute grabbing all the goodies — food, water, etc., and eventually to the buses with our drop bags. I was able to get my bag, which had my phone, and I called Kelly to see where she was so we could meet. I also saw texts from my Dad saying:
“Absolute frigging amazing… I knew you were sandbagging!”
“I am so proud of you. You are a real man and brother allowing Kim to beat you!”
Let me just say right now — it was not me “allowing” Kim to beat me — she was definitely the stronger runner!
It was at this point that I realized Dad had dropped out early… His travel schedule had limited his ability to run, and when he finally did attempt a long run a few weeks prior the race, he strained his calf, so he had not run since then. A few miles in to Boston, his calf flared up, so he took the train back to Boston.
Kim and I eventually met up with Kelly:
Recap
Let me just say again that Boston is special. (Have I said that already?? 🙂 )
I am not a “roadie,” but Boston was worth it. I had lost interest a bit, but I am so glad I ran. And I would do it again in a heart beat. I have a life long running goal of running a BQ, which for me is a 3:20. I was somewhat close to that through 20 miles, and while I dropped off a bit in the end and missed it by 8 minutes, I do think it would be possible for me with the right training and the right race. While my shorter term running goals of sub 20:00 on a road 5k and a 100 mile trail run may take precedence, Boston will always be calling. I’m not sure what order I’ll achieve my goals, but I now have the confidence that a BQ will fall. 🙂
(Though note the 3:20 I need this year drops to a 3:15 next year… Until I turn 45 and it goes back to 3:20! 3:20 seems much more doable than 3:15. :-/)
Here’s my Garmin data:
In the Heart of the Sea. Nathaniel Philbrick.
My good friend Chris G. suggested I read this — in fact he bought it for me and dropped it off in my mailbox one day. 🙂 As far as survival stories, it started a bit slow compared to Unbroken and Endurance. But once it got going, it was really good.
The Whaleship Essex and its tale are the basis of Herman Melville’s Mobey Dick. The funny thing is, the whole time I was reading this book, the story seemed so familiar. I thought that was due to me having read Mobey Dick, but it turns out, according to my “reading notebook” from 2000, I read it all the way back then! See this web page — before there were blogging tools. In fact, at that time, this book inspired me to read Mobey Dick, which I wrote about here… Again, before there were blogging tools. Here is what I wrote about Mobey Dick back then:
Wow, finally done! The dates listed above are correct — it took me about 7 months to finish this book. (Of course, I did read many others in that time!) I decided I really wanted to read this after reading “In the Heart of the Sea,” which is a true story of a whale ramming a ship and causing it to sink (and likely Melville’s inspiration for Moby Dick). I had to read a few chapters of this back in high school, but I don’t remember much of it anyway, and if I did do much back then, it was probably with Cliff Notes. The book is definitely worth the read — I’m not sure there is anything else quite like it. It is certainly not an “easy read,” though, and that is why it took me so long. I often put it down for a month or more at a time. There is so much detail on so many things — often chapters of several pages devoted to something as simple as a rope, or more complicated as the whole study of whales as known to Melville in his time. But often these chapters are filled with symbolism of humanity, life, religion, etc. Again, worth the read, though it’s not easy.
If you like adventure stories and stories of survival in extreme circumstances, In the Heart of the Sea is an excellent read.
Radical. Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. David Platt.
Wow, I started this post almost 2 months ago and forgot it… I’m so far behind on posting in my reading notebook category!
David Platt became “the youngest megachurch pastor in history,” a claim he may dispute but likely is true. At 28, he became the pastor of a 4000+ church. Amazing story of someone who is living an amazing life. This book is well worth the read for any Christian in America. It really makes you question a lot of things about your faith and how that relates (does it?) to the American Dream.
- We live in a church culture that has a dangerous tendency to disconnect the grace of God from the glory of God. Our hearts resonate with the idea of enjoying God’s grace. We bask in sermons, conferences, and books that exalt a grace centering on us. And while the wonder of grace is worthy of our attention, if that grace is disconnected from its purpose, the sad result is a self-centered Christianity that bypasses the heart of God
- Here we stand amid an American dream dominated by self-advancement, self-esteem, and self-sufficiency, by individualism, materialism, and universalism.
- I could not help but think that somewhere along the way we had missed what is radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable. (Emphasis mine)
- We were settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves.
- We are giving in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with. A nice, middle-class, American Jesus.
- As long as you and I understand salvation as checking off a box to get to God, we will find ourselves in the meaningless sea of world religions that actually condemn the human race by exalting our supposed ability to get to God.
- The dangerous assumption we unknowingly accept in the American dream is that our greatest asset is our own ability. The American dream prizes what people can accomplish when they believe in themselves and trust in themselves, and we are drawn toward such thinking. But the gospel has different priorities. The gospel beckons us to die to ourselves and to believe in God and to trust in his power.
Uhwarrie Race Reports
I’ve collected some of the race reports from Uhwarrie and thought I’d post them here in one place, for those of you that like to read those kinds of things. There are reports from the front of the pack, middle of the pack, and back of the pack, which give different perspectives. Though the theme of ruggedness, hilliness, and toughness all come out. 🙂 If I’m missing any, let me know and I’ll update the post.
40 miler
http://trailsandjubilation.blogspot.com/2011/02/uwharrie-mountain-run-report.html
http://brittanygoesrunning.blogspot.com/2011/02/uwharrie-mountain-run.html
http://randomactsofkristi.blogspot.com/2011/02/over-and-out.html
http://www.running-down.com/2011/02/2011-uwharrie-mountain-run.html
http://hurryslowlybuthurry.blogspot.com/2011/02/sasquatch-at-uwharrie.html
20 miler
http://www.trailheads.org/public_html/article.php?story=20090208173230778
2sparrows 