Race Post-Mortem: Catching the Unicorn

Me in Wellesley at Mile 12, giving Emme a high-five.

Monday, April 17, 2017
Boston, MA
Difficulty score: 6/9

So I just ran my first Boston Marathon.  Regardless of the outcome, it was an honor and a privilege to finally experience this, after years of training.

For months, I had entertained the idea of running my first Boston Marathon a little slower and simply enjoying the race and the atmosphere.  There were several reasons to believe that Boston might not be one of my best races.  Race day weather has been completely unpredictable; sometimes it would be cold and rainy (e.g. 2015) or hot and humid (e.g. 2012).  The third week of April has usually been the time of year when my allergies hit hardest.  Plus, this was also my first race that started at 10:00 am; every one of my other marathons started no later than 8:30 am, and I had no idea how a later start would affect me.

I would not have been too disappointed with a subpar performance at Boston either.  I already had a Boston qualifier for 2018 at the Richmond Marathon from last November; I was four minutes and 16 seconds under my qualifying standard, which should give me a very good chance of making the cutoff for the 2018 race.  I had also already completed the six races required for the DC Front Runners Race Circuit, with a total score that I was very satisfied with.  A strong performance at Boston would have been really nice though, especially given that it would lead to a score that could replace my score from the Rock and Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon.

As it turns out, race day conditions were not great for a marathon.  The temperatures were in the low seventies at the start and got slightly warmer as the race progressed.  Plus, the tailwind that was expected never really made an appearance and the sun was really beating down on us.  Because of this, in addition to the difficulty of this course, I finished in 3:38:59, my slowest marathon ever (this was more than 33 minutes slower than my last marathon and more than 15 minutes slower than my previous personal worst).  My strength was just drained by the time I reached the halfway point in Wellesley; the last seven miles were a slow death march consisting of a lot of hobbling and trying to get back on track.

Nonetheless, the experience was just as magical as everybody told me it was.  What I especially loved about this race was how everyone, from the volunteers, to the spectators, to the communities along the route, and to the runners, all came together for this event.  Marathoners would strike up random conversations with other marathoners throughout this weekend; I had lengthy conversations about running with people I would otherwise never have spoken to.  The support along the course was just unbelievable.  I did run my slowest time ever today, I did have a very difficult second half of the race, and I did end up in the medical tent after the race and feeling quite sick for the rest of the day.  But I would come back and do it all over again.

Training

I had essentially repeated by training plan for the Richmond Marathon this past November, with a basic weekly structure of six days of running, with:

• Monday: five to seven miles easy (sometimes slower than 9:00/mile) to recover from the previous day's long run.
• Tuesday: tempo run days.  These would typically consist of six to eight miles with four to six miles at 10-miler to half-marathon pace.  I ended up covering the tempo portion between 6:15/mile and 6:30/mile most of the time.
• Wednesday: four to five miles easy to recover from the previous day's tempo run.
• Thursday: longer mid-week run between eight and eleven miles, some of them with progressions to target marathon pace (7:00 to 7:05/mile) or faster.
• Friday: OFF
• Saturday: seven to nine miles easy (7:42 to 8:24/mile pace).
• Sunday: long runs of up to 19 miles.  Typically these miles were covered at the same pace as Saturday's runs, but some of them involved progression to target marathon pace.

Other than a few weeks where I had to skip a few training runs due to minor ankle and calf issues or travel, I was able to run six days a week consistently.  I was able to get several 50+ mile weeks under my belt, with a maximum of 58.5 miles several weeks before.  One notable change during this training cycle was the complete lack of any runs longer than 20 miles; my longest runs this time included two 19-mile runs (including one the week before Cherry Blossom), two 18-mile runs, and several 16-mile runs.

Race Day

I had arrived in Boston on Saturday afternoon with Jeff and Kei from DC Front Runners, my roommates for the weekend, and had planned on staying until Tuesday morning.  The days leading up to the race included a shake-out run, a visit to the expo, lots of eating, including dinner with some other members of DC Front Runners and other participants from the DC area, and obsessing over the weather on Patriot's Day.

When I checked the race day forecast on the Tuesday before the race, most sites were predicting clear conditions, with a high in the low sixties and a temperature at the start in the high fifties.  Based on this, I had initially planned on trying to take advantage of these conditions and try to finish in under 3:10:00.  A PR or a 3:04:59 or better may have been very difficult with those temperatures, but I thought that a 3:09:59 or faster was doable.  My plan was then to first settle into a 7:10 to 7:15/mile pace for the first 16 miles, slow down as necessary during the next five miles (I would try to maintain the same effort level for the Newton Hills, even I was slower by a few seconds per mile), and then try to speed up for the last miles for a negative split.

Over the next several days, race day temperature forecasts were getting worse and worse.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began predicting high temperatures in the high sixties, although initially, sites like weather.com and wunderground.com were still predicting high in the low sixties and starting temperatures in the high fifties with low humidity.  High sixties then became low seventies, and all the sites eventually converged on this prediction.  I then decided to adjust my plan to be even more conservative: I would then settle into a 7:15 to 7:20/mile pace for the first 16 miles, get through the Newton Hills, and then try to speed up for the last part of the race.

When I arrived at the Athlete's Village in Hopkinton and noticed that I actually felt comfortable walking around in my racing singlet and shorts, I began to wonder if even my dialed-back plan was too aggressive (I have a saying that if you're walking around in your racing outfit and not freezing your ass off before the race, it is too warm).  As I walked the 0.7 miles from the Athlete's Village to the starting corrals, I made a plan to really start out slow and very gradually ease into my target pace.  I started at the back of Corral 7 (to which I was assigned based on my qualifying time) and even let half of Corral 8 get in front of me as we walked from our initial positions in the corrals to the start line.

Map of the Boston Marathon route (from the Boston Globe) and the elevation profile from my Strava activity for this race.

Miles 1 through 8 (7:35, 7:23, 7:26, 7:14, 7:27, 7:17, 7:23, 7:32): As planned, I started out very conservatively, letting scores of people run past me and trying not to brake on the sharp downhill at the very start of the race.  My first mile (7:35) was quite a bit slower than I had initially planned.  I still was unable to get to 7:15 to 7:20/mile pace in the second and third miles.  But what I was running felt like an appropriate effort for a marathon, so I decided to decrease my expectations even further and try for a 3:15:00 or so.  So many spectators lined the course in Hopkinton and Ashland.  And the beginning was not nearly as crowded as I thought it might be; I was able to move around and never felt boxed in.

The Massachusetts state highway on which we were running was very pretty, so I spent much of this part enjoying the atmosphere and high-fiving spectators along the course.  If I wasn't going to get one of my stronger performances today, at least I would enjoy myself.  Chris from DC Front Runners was spectating in Ashland; I did not know he would be here in Boston, but he spotted me in the huge crowd of runners.

But on the fourth mile, I managed to get my pace down to 7:14/mile.  The fifth mile was slower, but I was back to a 7:16/mile pace for the sixth mile.  Perhaps I would be able to hold a 7:15 to 7:20/mile pace after all.  I may have even been able to go down to 7:10 to 7:15/mile; it would have been really great if I could get sub-3:10:00 here today.  Meanwhile, I took fluids at every aid station and three Shot Blocks every five kilometers or so as planned.  Whenever I did not take Shot Blocks, I drank the Gatorade they offered; I drank water every time I consumed Shot Blocks.

Clue number one that things were about to get ugly was that I began to feel overheated within the first four miles.  I tried to run in shade whenever possible, but there just was not much of it.  Clue number two that was that some of the runners around me began to get really cranky, even rude; for example, one guy was pushing people out of the way to get to the water station.  Clue number three was that the eighth mile was noticeably slower (7:32), but felt like it was at the same effort level as the preceding miles.  Clue number four was that I saw runners that looked very fit walking already.

Miles 9 through 16 (7:29, 7:35, 7:40, 7:40, 7:36, 7:46, 8:01, 7:56): At least it wasn't as sunny and hot during these miles; a cloud cover gave the runners a bit of a break.  But I did notice my pace fading fast, and I abandoned any expectation of a sub-3:15:00 today.

Mile 12 was the famous scream tunnel of Wellesley, and just like what people who did Boston told me, the course was lined with screaming girls.  Some of the guys around me took up the offers of the girls who were willing to kiss marathoners, but I didn't really interact with many of the spectators here.  I was running on the left side; all of the screaming girls were lined up on the right side of the course.  This mile was indeed just as intense as everyone says it was.

JR, his daughter Emme, and Andy were spectating near the scream tunnel, just as they said.  It was great to see them.  When I crossed the halfway mark in 1:38:29, I thought that perhaps a sub-3:20:00 was doable today, but I had to prepare for the possibility of running my slowest marathon ever.  What was most disturbing was that I did not feel like I had the energy for another 13.1 miles in me.

Me at Mile 12 in Wellesley after the Scream Tunnel.  Photo by Andy.

As I was running through Wellesley, I suddenly felt somebody place a bag of ice to the back of my neck.  I turned around; it was Grant, who had run with DC Front Runners for a little while before moving to Atlanta.  He had started in an earlier corral, but had to stop for a few minutes.  We talked for a bit; it turns out he was having as difficult as a time as I was today (and he ultimately finished in a time that was much slower than what he was capable of).

We decided to run together for a bit.  We talked about his graduate school program to take our minds off our slowing pace and tiring legs.  Meanwhile, throughout these miles, I continued to take Shot Blocks every five kilometers and water or Gatorade at every aid station.  However, I stopped taking Shot Blocks after Mile 15, after feeling like I wanted to throw up.  Even Gatorade was a little too much for my stomach at this point, so I began to take mostly water.  I even began taking a cup of water and pouring it on my head and on my forearms to cool down.

Miles 17 through 21 (8:00, 8:12, 8:08, 8:33, 9:32): This was it; the beginning of the famous Newton Hills.  Grant, who had run Boston twice already, said that if I could handle Massachusetts Avenue (in DC), then these hills would not be a problem.  The Newton Hills were a series of five uphills, none of them being terribly long or steep (the longest was the first one and even that one was not much longer than half a mile), but their location in the race was what terrified most people who ran Boston.  These hills may have been nothing compared to the Massachusetts Avenue hill, but when we were running our Thursday evening runs up Massachusetts Avenue, we did not already have 16 miles in our legs.

This was when I really began to see the warmth take its toll on the runners.  One guy had collapsed on the course right in front of me.  One girl was lying on the ground on the side screaming bloody murder as if she were being tortured.  Dozens more were limping or hobbling along the edge of the course.

I kept running with Grant up these hills.  I have to say that this part was louder and rowdier than the scream tunnel in Wellesley; it seems like everyone had come out to energize the runners up the hills, particularly around the Newton Firehouse.  There were also some pretty noticeable downhills during this section, which gave us a bit of a break from the uphills but at the same time, thrashed our legs even further after the net downhill first half.  My original plan was to maintain an even effort through these miles, just like most Boston veterans had suggested; I was hoping to conserve whatever energy I had left so I could take the last five miles faster.  I tried to relax and not surge up the hills, but I noticed that my stride was getting shorter and my gait was gradually changing to a shuffle.

If I had to say which hills were the most difficult among the Newton Hills, I would say it was the last two (the last being Heartbreak Hill).  They both are long and pretty noticeable, and the fact they are last make them more difficult than the relatively long first hill.  But anyway, I got a pretty nasty cramp in my right leg as I was going up Heartbreak Hill.  I told Grant to go on without me as I had to walk up the hill for a bit.  Halfway up the hill, my leg felt better, so I started running again.

Mile 22 to the end (8:12, 10:44, 11:20, 10:37, 11:29, 3:11 for the last 0.41 miles): They say that if you make it up Heartbreak Hill in one piece, then the last five miles is a great opportunity to make up for some lost time.  These last miles were almost entirely downhill or flat; some of the downhills were also quite sharp.  I remembered a few uphills scattered about these last few miles, but they were trivial.  But otherwise, these last five miles are torture.  If your quads are already gone, those downhill segments will just punish them even further.

Mile 22 seemed to be going much better; I seemed to be taking advantage of the downhill and getting somewhat back on track in terms of pace.  However, in Mile 23, things took a turn for the worse.  My legs really were battered by the time I got to Brookline; those long downhills were painful.  My quads were unable to handle any more downhill running, and my legs cramped up on every so often.  Much of these miles were spent hobbling; in addition to my legs being toast, I had no energy left.

But still, I was determined to finish even if I had to crawl across that finish line.  As the miles passed, the crowds kept getting denser.  I had nothing left in me; my energy was sapped and my legs were exhausted.  I noticed that even a 3:30:00 was slipping away from me.  So I tried alternating running and walking; I would run for two minutes and then walk for two.  As much as I didn't want them to look at me, the crowd on the sides of the course were very supportive and encouraging, not to mention loud.

The last two miles were so packed and loud it made the Wellesley Scream Tunnel at Mile 12 seem desolate.  Also, toward the end of the race, runners can see a Citgo sign for miles; once they reach that sign, they will only have one mile left in the race.  I actually was so busy trying to pull myself together and to finish that I didn't notice the Citgo sign until I was almost at it.  Evidently, Kei and the Boston Front Runners were somewhere near the Citgo sign; they said they saw me, but I didn't see them.

After I turned that famous "right on Hereford, left on Boylston" right before the finish line, I focused on running through the finish.  I did not want to hobble across that finish line; I wanted those photographers to at least capture some illusion that I was not completely falling apart.  On that last straightaway, I picked up my legs a little and running felt easier and much less painful (perhaps I should have done that during those last few miles; I think I began shuffling because my form was falling apart).  I even managed to cover that last 0.4 miles or so at 7:41/mile pace.

So end result: 3:38:59 (8:17/mile).  I was 9465th human out of 26411 finishers total, 6882nd male out of 14438 male finishers, and 3137th out of 4774 in my age group.  I ran a 22-minute positive split (ouch, especially considering I usually run negative splits for my marathons); 1:38:29 for the first half and 2:00:30 for the second.  And my 1:03:08 10-miler just two weeks ago indicated I was probably physically capable of a sub-3:05:00.

The reason why I fell short of expectations today?  It was the weather, for sure.  I just got cooked; I could not handle the combination of temperatures in the seventies and the sun well at all.  Sure, my allergies could have been acting up (I had been suffering from allergy symptoms all the way until the morning of the race).  And I could have been careless in how I handled the course.  Perhaps I was even suffering from residual fatigue from the 10-miler and didn't even know it.  But I could say with confidence that these were all minor factors compared to the warmer-than-usual weather.  In fact, the temperatures rose even higher than predicted; one tweet from the Boston Athletic Association indicated that by the time the Elite Men reached the halfway point, temperatures on the race course had already reached 79 degrees.

I also ended up in the medical tent.  As I was walking around the finish area, I began to feel very dizzy.  The medical volunteers had to walk me to the medical tent because I had such difficulty sitting down because my legs kept cramping badly.  As soon as I was brought to the medical tent, I was examined and told to drink some Gatorade to replace some water and electrolytes in me.  After about twenty minutes sitting in the medical tent sipping on Gatorade, I began to feel much better.

That medical tent was madness.  Medical volunteers kept wheeling in finishers, many of whom were in even worse shape than I was.  One man was shivering violently as he was brought in.  One woman was crying.  Another was unconscious.  I later learned that over two thousand finishers had received medical attention today, some of whom had heat stroke; one person's core temperature reached 109 degrees.

I decided to leave the medical tent, promising to return if I began to feel worse.  I reunited with Kei and Jeff at the family reunion area.  It turns out Jeff did much better than I did; he qualified for Boston here by almost two minutes.  We returned to the hotel to clean up, and then headed over to Cathedral Station for a celebratory drink and a meal.  But I couldn't stomach anything; I had a bad headache and could not eat without wanting to throw up.  After resting for a bit, the headache disappeared and my appetite returned.

So that's it; my first Boston experience.  Am I disappointed?  Not really.  I did get a 10-miler personal best and a strong half-marathon time out of this training cycle,  and I finally got to see all the iconic moments of Boston that makes Boston what it is.  Do I plan to own this result?  Definitely.  And I know I'll be back again.  I was just surprised at how much I really had to slow down in the wake of this weather; I think I may have been looking at a 3:25:00 to a 3:30:00 marathon time at best today, not a 3:15:00.

Next Steps

In terms of the near future, I think I'm essentially done racing for a few months.  I might do one or two local 5K races, but that would be it.  I probably will do a fall marathon, in addition to a half-marathon or 10-miler as a tune-up.  I have not decided exactly what fall marathon, but it would probably be one taking place between mid-October and early November.

And like I said, I have a BQ-4:16 from Richmond, so unless they decide to significantly decrease the size of the field for Boston 2018, I will probably make the cutoff and be able to run again next year.  I would definitely do the race again for the experience and for redemption (or at least to run better than 3:38:59).

Boston: I shall return.

Other Thoughts and Observations

• I gave this race a difficulty score of 6/9 because I believe you have to be good (and in most cases lucky) to run one of your better times in Boston.  Not only do you need to be able to skillfully handle the features of this course, but also, your performance is very subject to weather conditions.  Anyone who was able to run a strong time today is a really, really good runner (and I know at least two guys who did).
• This is why I tell people to use a fall marathon to get a BQ and not rely on Boston.  Several very strong runners that I know were unable to run today because their only marathon within this year's qualifying period was Boston 2016 (which had equally as warm weather).
• If I had to say why this race can be tricky, even when weather conditions are favorable, I would say it was because it's a sum of a lot of little things.  I have seen segments on other race courses that are more difficult than Heartbreak Hill (e.g. the last mile of Hartford).  But it's the combination of the downhills in the early miles plus the series of hills between Miles 16 and 21, together with the subsequent downhills during the last part of the race will do you in.  Even logistical issues in this race like the bus ride to Hopkinton and the relatively lengthy walk from the Athlete's Village to the starting corrals can adversely affect your race.  
• Although I do think a strong performance in possible on this course under more favorable conditions, race times are particularly affected by the weather.  This course seems to magnify the effect of any weather conditions.  For example, the lack of shade exposes you to the sun (which really can be brutal on a warmer day), and most of the course is very exposed, which amplifies the effect of headwinds.
• Stay off your feet as much as possible the morning before the race.  Believe me, you will be doing a lot of walking already.  I would even recommend not checking any bags and simply carrying a credit card, cash, ID, and your hotel key with you during the race, especially if you can get back to your hotel room very easily after the race; even if it is in the forties on race day, you will still feel warm for a while afterwards. 
• 7990 participants out of 26411 total qualified for Boston again during this year's Boston Marathon (30.4%).  Compare that with last year, in which temperatures were also high and 8947 out of 26629 requalified (33.6%).  Meanwhile, during the much cooler 2015 race, 12767 out of 26610 requalified (48.1%).  

Race Post-Mortem: Cherry Blossom 10-Miler 2017

The DC Front Runners Mercury team after the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler, with representatives from the DC Front Runners Diamond and DC Front Runners Sapphire teams.  Photo by JR.

Sunday, April 2, 2017
Washington, DC
Difficulty score: 1/9

The last (and only other) time I ran the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler was in 2015, when the course had to be shortened to 9.39 miles; less than two hours before the start of the race, an accident had occurred on Independence Avenue, causing that portion of the course to be blocked off.  When I first started planning my Spring 2017 racing season, I initially was not going to run the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler; my original plan had the Rock and Roll DC Half-Marathon in addition to some February 5K races that I actually ended up not running.  After all, Cherry Blossom was only 15 days before the Boston Marathon, and I was not sure that racing a 10-miler so close to a marathon was a good idea.

But nonetheless, I entered the lottery.  I thought that if I actually got in, I could transfer my bib to somebody in my running club who did not get in (and yes, there is a legal bib transfer procedure for this race).  When I learned that I did get in, I decided to just go for it.  This race was a very good opportunity for a 10-miler personal best and some points toward the DC Front Runners Race Circuit.  The course was very flat, with the only real uphill segments occurring right before the Memorial Bridge and at the very end.  Given good weather, which has happened most years on race day since I have lived in DC, this race was very conducive for some fast times.  Plus, Hains Point and the Tidal Basin were pretty underneath the cherry blossoms, even if their peak bloom had already passed.

Map of the course (same as the 2015 course pre-shortening).

Training

As of race day, hay --> barn, essentially.  I had essentially repeated by training plan for the Richmond Marathon this past November, with a basic weekly structure of six days of running, with:

• Monday: five to seven miles easy (sometimes slower than 9:00/mile) to recover from the previous day's long run.
• Tuesday: tempo run days.  These would typically consist of six to eight miles with four to six miles at 10-miler to half-marathon pace.  I ended up covering the tempo portion between 6:15/mile and 6:30/mile most of the time.
• Wednesday: four to five miles easy to recover from the previous day's tempo run.
• Thursday: longer mid-week run between eight and eleven miles, some of them with progressions to target marathon pace (7:00 to 7:05/mile) or faster.
• Friday: OFF
• Saturday: seven to nine miles easy (7:42 to 8:24/mile pace).
• Sunday: long runs of up to 19 miles.  Typically these miles were covered at the same pace as Saturday's runs, but some of them involved progression to target marathon pace.

Other than a few weeks where I had to skip a few training runs due to minor ankle and calf issues or travel, I was able to run six days a week consistently.  I was able to get several 50+ mile weeks under my belt, with a maximum of 58.5 miles several weeks before.  One notable change during this training cycle was the complete lack of any runs longer than 20 miles; my longest runs this time included two 19-mile runs (including one the week before Cherry Blossom), two 18-mile runs, and several 16-mile runs.  But I'm not terribly concerned given that my weekly mileage was probably adequate for my purposes.

Race Day

The race expo was noteworthy in that I got to meet Kathrine Switzer in person.  She was running the race, and will also be running Boston with Bib 261 (her bib number in 1967 when she ran it for the first time).  I talked to her briefly about Boston before getting her autograph and a picture with her.  It was great to meet her and definitely worth the lengthy wait in line.

Me with Kathrine Switzer at the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler expo.

Weather was perfect on race morning; 43 degrees and clear with low humidity.

But what was not perfect was bag check.  I took an Uber with Mick and Justin down to the start area near the Washington Monument (in previous years, Metro would open early on race day to accommodate participants, but this year, due to their SafeTrack program, Metro was opening at its regular Sunday morning time of 7:00 am, much too late to make it to the start on time).  We got to the Washington Monument at around 7:05 am, 25 minutes before the start of the race.  Already, the bag check lines were longer than the lines to meet Kathrine Switzer at the expo and for the porto-potties combined, and they were progressing at a glacial pace; apparently, they were trying out this new system that involved getting a ticket to check my bag that was more complicated than it needed to be.  I was actually surprised to see this from the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler; I did not remember any problems with bag check the last time I did this race.

But even at 7:28 am, we were still in line.  Mick and Justin agreed to check my jacket along with their belongings, which would allow me to start with the Yellow (first) Corral.  After thanking them profusely, I ran over to the start line.  In my complete frenzy of trying to find an opening to enter, I accidentally entered the Red (second) Corral.  As runners in the Yellow Corral were starting, I suddenly realized my mistake.  I squeezed my way through the runners in the Yellow Corral approaching the start line, past the 7:00/mile pace group, and took off along the sides of the course once I crossed.

Miles 1 and 2 (6:29, 6:23): So according to the clock, I had started 45 seconds after the gun went off.  I spent the entire first mile weaving around people.  I had repeated the phrases "Coming between you", "On your left", and "Sorry" so many times during this mile that I lost count.  Evidently other people were also doing the same thing; I assumed they also started late because of bag check.  Because the first mile was downhill or mostly flat, and partially because of the adrenaline, I still managed to cover this mile in 6:29, right about where I wanted to be at this point in the race.  I was also pleased that even with all that weaving, I still managed to cover almost exactly one mile; my Garmin indicated that I had finished one mile right at the mile marker.

By the time I had crossed the Memorial Bridge, I had finally found people that were going at a pace that seemed appropriate for me.  I noticed I was breathing a little heavy and I was a little tense; now that I did not have to weave around people, I tried to calm down, settle into a good pace, and enjoy the energy of this race.  At this point, the only way that my late start could affect me now was if I let it continue to frazzle me.  I covered the second mile in 6:23; I was very close to my Army 10-Miler pace.

Miles 3 through 8 (6:22, 6:09, 6:14, 6:17, 6:12, 6:17): The relatively straight and slightly downhill third mile along Rock Creek Parkway to the Kennedy Center was a good opportunity for me to get closer to 6:20/mile pace, so I decided to push just a little.  I sped up slightly for the third mile, but I may have overshot during the fourth mile; the fourth mile (mostly Ohio Drive toward the Tidal Basin) was even faster, and I covered this mile in 6:09, about ten seconds faster than I wanted.

As soon as I rounded the hairpin turn on Ohio Drive, I now tried to keep my pace under control.  My plan was to hold this current effort level until the Mile 8 mark and then take off from there.  As I was running down Independence Avenue back toward the Tidal Basin, I caught somebody running behind me wearing a blue DC Front Runners T-shirt out of the corner of my eye.  I could tell from the running style that it was Jeff; we were both training for Boston and I had done several training runs with him during this cycle.  For the next few miles, he pulled head slightly at some points, whereas at other times, I ran in front of him.  I planned on keeping with him for now, but not if I felt like I had to significantly push the pace.  I would keep my effort level the same as it was now, but if he started speeding up, I would let him go and stick to my plan; if he beat me, then I would be happy for him.

But having Jeff behind me for these few miles really helped; there really is nothing like having a teammate right behind you to help you get into that uncomfortable zone and stay there.  I probably would have run these next miles quite a bit slower if he weren't there.  Also helping me suck it up and push the pace a little during these miles were the drummers and the DC Front Runners cheer squad; Mile 6 right before runners enter Hains Point is always full of energy, and this year was no exception.

Hains Point is typically a little more desolate, but at least it is flat and straight.  At this point, I focused on targeting a runner or a group of runners in front of me, catching up to them, passing them if I had the energy, and then repeating with the next group.

Mile 9 to the end (6:16, 6:08, 0:16 for the last 0.07 miles): After crossing the Mile 8 marker, I realized that all I needed to do for a PR was to stay under 6:20/mile pace for the last two miles.  Not wanting a sudden implosion, I held back a little, even in spite of my original plan to speed up during these last two miles and in spite of Mile 9 (still along Hains Point) also being flat and fast.  Plus, there was that last hill leading toward the Washington Monument waiting for me at the end, and I wanted to save a little energy for that.  And I had covered some of the middle miles noticeably faster than I had originally intended.

It wasn't until I turned back onto Ohio Drive for the last half mile that I started to speed up a little.  Once again waving to the DC Front Runners cheer squads, I pulled myself up that last hill, which actually was not so bad, and then gave whatever I had left on the last downhill toward the finish.

I had my splits texted to me, so after waiting for other members of DC Front Runners and New York Front Runners to finish, I retrieved my jacket and phone from bag check and got my time: 1:03:08 (6:19/mile), which was a 34-second PR over the Army 10-Miler last fall.  According to the unofficial results, I was 226th overall out of 17397, 218th male out of 6989, and 33rd out of 1113 in the 35-39 age group (first race in the new age group!)  The infographic that comes with the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler results also indicated that in the first six miles, I passed 787 people and eight people passed me (it felt like so many more than 787); meanwhile, in the last four miles, I passed 65 runners whereas three passed me.  A 1:03:08 for a 10-miler would get me 71.45 points toward the DC Front Runners Race Circuit (an age graded score of 70.14 times 1.02 for a 10-miler in accordance with DC Front Runners Race Circuit Rules).

I was happy to learn that many DC Front Runners members had strong times today, including Jeff, who also bested his own PR by 51 seconds for a time of 1:03:59.  Other members for my five-person team for this race, DC Front Runners Mercury, also had some strong showings (the 10-Miler allows people to run on four- or five-person teams, where teams are ranked within each division according to the three fastest times); team results would be posted later this week, but hopefully, we had beaten the New York Front Runners Open Men's team.

Next Steps

My next steps are to recover as quickly as possible for Boston.  This time, I probably will not be able to do much target marathon-pace running during the taper period, unlike in taper periods preceding other marathons.

A 1:03:08 for a 10-miler would indicate that I am capable of a 3:01:49 (1:03:08 times 2.88 given my maximum weekly mileage of 58.5 and my string of 50+ mile weeks during this training cycle).  However, that might be a bit aggressive given how fast this course was.  Meanwhile, my 1:26:02 from my half-marathon a few weeks ago on a more difficult course would indicate a 3:04:58 (1:26:02 times 2.15 given my training).  So based on this, I could probably conclude that:

• I may be able to get a PR (3:03:47 or better) if I run smart in Boston.
• 3:04:59 or better is definitely feasible.  That would be great since it would give me a BQ-5:00 or better, allowing me to register for Boston 2018 during the first week of registration.  Even though my time in Richmond would probably be good enough to allow me to run Boston 2018, it would be very nice to be able to get my acceptance notice early.

Again, all of this is contingent on the weather.  If it is more than 60 degrees on race day, then I plan to slow things down and just enjoy my first Boston.

Other Thoughts and Observations

• Yey, I can run tangents again.  According to my Garmin, I covered 10.07 miles total during this race, even in spite of having to weave around people in the beginning.
• I think the best approach for this course is a slight negative split.  Even in spite of the hill at the end, the second half is faster and easier than the first; the first has the Memorial Bridge and a few hairpin turns that could slow you down slightly.
• Lesson learned: starting late does not necessarily spell doom for your race.  Stay calm; it will ruin your race if you continue to freak out about it.  But then again, maybe the leftover adrenaline from all that panicking enabled me to run the middle miles a little faster?
• Once again, I owe a big thank you to Mick and Justin for letting me check my jacket along with their belongings.  

Piano Sonata Number 21 in C Major, Opus 53 (L'Aurore) (Beethoven)

Saturday, June 18, 2016
Levine School of Music - Strathmore Campus
Bethesda, MD
Difficulty score: 6/9

So I gave my first full-length piano recital in eight years this past June (I had wanted to do it sooner, but trying to finish up graduate school, moving to DC and settling in, and placing a greater emphasis on running these past few years prevented me from doing so).  I realized I had neglected to bore everyone about how during this recital, I finally got to perform this piece that I had wanted to learn and perform since I was twelve years old.  I figured now was a good time to do so, while I'm planning another full-length piano recital for June 2017.

This piece, also known as the "Waldstein" or "L'Aurore" Sonata (I prefer the latter as it is more poetic, even though the "L'Aurore" nickname is not frequently used in the United States), is one of Beethoven's most substantial, popular, and most historically significant piano sonatas.  Beethoven had  composed and published 32 piano sonatas in his lifetime.  This one, composed in 1804, is Number 21 in that cycle and an archetypal example of Beethoven's "middle period" compositions, in which Beethoven started implementing changes in his writing style and amplifying his works to much larger scales.

In the Classical Era, a piano sonata was a large-scale work for piano solo, typically consisting of three or four movements: a fast-paced opening, a contrasting slow movement, (optionally) a dance movement in the form of a minuet, and a moderately to fast-paced finale.  Superficially, the basic structure of this piece adheres to that format: a fast-paced opening movement (0:00 to 11:21 in the video above), followed by an intervening slow movement (11:22 to 14:50) that serves as an introduction to the leisurely rondo closing out the entire sonata (14:51 to 25:20).  But in many ways, this piano sonata was quite different from anything anyone else had ever composed before.  The chord progressions and modulations in the first movement, although they might not seem particularly strange to our ears in 2017, were very novel in the early nineteenth century.  The long pedals in the third movement (the pedal is held down sometimes for as many as ten or more measures), as well as virtuosic figurations such as the lengthy trills (24:25 to 24:59) and the octave glissandos (i.e. gliding the hand across the keyboard; 24:16 to 24:23) creates sounds and pianistic effects that were quite new in 1804.

I first came across this piano sonata some time in 1994 after I borrowed my piano teacher's copy of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas so that I could photocopy the "Moonlight" Sonata and begin learning the notes.  I flipped through the entire book to take a look at the other piano sonatas, and this one caught my eye.  The reason was pretty dumb; I was simply fascinated by its page count.  At nearly fifty pages, this piano sonata was much longer than any piece I had encountered in my then limited exposure to the repertoire.  In terms of page count among Beethoven's piano sonata, the "L'Aurore" is also second only to the twenty-ninth in the cycle, the "Hammerklavier."

However, I could not sift through the score of the "L'Aurore."  Editions of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas typically need to be split into two volumes simply because the total page count often reaches seven hundred pages or more, which would result in a book that is too bulky for use at the piano.  The "Moonlight" is often in the first volume whereas the "L'Aurore" is typically in the second.   Shortly afterwards, I borrowed a recording of the "L'Aurore" from the local library, wondering what a fifty-page piece would sound like, and how long it would be in terms of playing time.  Back then, I did not have the patience to listen to all twenty-five minutes of the sonata, but I did listen to the first movement.  I listened to it over and over again, captivated by the soft repeated chords in the opening, the transformation of these repeated chords into a tremolo during its restatement a few measures later, the chorale-like secondary theme, and the rapid broken-chord and scalar passages.  I even tried to learn as much of the first movement as I could by ear.

Not long afterwards, my father purchased a recording of this piano sonata for me.  I started listening to the second and third movements.  I needed a while to warm up to the second movement, a very slow and harmonically unsettling arioso serving as an introduction to the third and final movement, a spacious rondo (a piece of the form A-B-A-C-A-B-A, namely where a refrain is repeated amidst contrasting episodes) that enthralled me upon my first listen as much as the first movement.  I then asked my piano teacher if I could borrow her copy of the Beethoven piano sonatas again; but this time, I requested the second volume so I could tinker with the "L'Aurore".  Understandably, she seemed a little reluctant; after all, this piano sonata is one of the more technically and musically difficult ones of the thirty-two.  She gave in, and I was able to work on learning the notes for a little while before she took the score away, deciding that this piece was indeed too difficult for me.

Three years later, I ordered a copy of the score of the "L'Aurore," attempting once more to learn the notes.  I got much further than I did last time, but since my technique was nowhere near the level needed to successfully execute this piece, I developed many bad habits.  I switched teachers that year, and after my new one gave me a bracing reality check about my current technical and musical abilities, I listened to her, put the "L'Aurore" back on the shelf, and focused my attention on less ambitious pieces more appropriate for my level at the time.  I finished learning all of the notes to the first movement when I was seventeen, and finished learning the notes to the second and third movements five years later right after my graduation from the University of Rochester, after my teacher there suggested I start working on this piano sonata.  I had planned to perform this piece in a piano recital I had intended to give in 2009 that I needed to cancel as I needed to focus on finishing my dissertation and secure a job for after my thesis defense.

Initially, I had intended to perform another Beethoven piano sonata during this recital, but after some consideration, I decided now was a good time to perform "L'Aurore"; I had brought this up to performance standards before, after all, and the notes came back to me surprisingly quickly; after less than two weeks of work on the "L'Aurore," I was able to play the first movement at tempo.  Plus, I felt this piece would be more friendly toward an audience that was able to appreciate piano music but did not know much about it.  But I'm happy to say that I can cross performing this piece off my bucket list.

Considerations for Learning and Performing this Piece

• I gave this piece an overall difficulty rating of 6 out of 9.  This rating is primarily because of the scale of this sonata and the technical figurations; this is one of the virtuosic middle-period Beethoven sonatas, even though it is not the most difficult piece Beethoven wrote.
• Practice slowly, of course, and figure out how to convincingly integrate the many virtuosic passages into one cohesive whole.
• Focus on clarity of the notes and keeping a constant tempo throughout each of the movements; this is still a Classical Era piece, after all.
• In the last movement, the opening section (14:51 to 16:10) recurs several times essentially verbatim.  Figure out a different way to execute this theme each time it appears to change things up and to prevent the piece from getting too repetitive.  During the first occurrence, I like to milk every note to really emphasize the spaciousness of the theme.  During the second occurrence (17:20 to 18:43), I play more flatly.  During the third and last occurrence (21:29 to 22:07), I play the theme more grandiosely to emphasize its glorious return after a lengthy and tempestuous middle section.

Race Post-Mortem: Rock and Roll DC Half-Marathon 2017

Some of the half-marathoners and marathoners from DC Front Runners, freezing at the finish line.

Saturday, March 11, 2017
Washington, DC
Difficulty score: 5/9

It's been a while hasn't it?

Anyway, this past weekend was my first race of the 2017 calendar year and my first race in over three months.  I had intended to run this race as a tune-up for my very first Boston Marathon; not only would this help me get back into the racing mindset after a three-month hiatus, but it would also serve as the basis of a target marathon time (although a conservative one given the difficulty of this course).  I had done this half-marathon back in 2015; based on that, I decided that I should not be surprised if I finished one or two minutes slower than expected.  Thus, before the race, I had settled on 1:26:59 as a baseline goal; 1:25:59 or better was my "if everything goes right" goal.

Training

So far for this training cycle, I had essentially repeated by training plan for the Richmond Marathon this past November, with a basic weekly structure of:

• Monday: five to seven miles easy (sometimes slower than 9:00/mile) to recover from the previous day's long run.
• Tuesday: tempo run days.  These would typically consist of six to eight miles with four to six miles at 10-miler to half-marathon pace.  I ended up covering the tempo portion between 6:15/mile and 6:30/mile most of the time.
• Wednesday: four to five miles easy to recover from the previous day's tempo run.
• Thursday: longer mid-week run between eight and eleven miles, some of them with progressions to target marathon pace (7:00 to 7:05/mile) or faster.
• Friday: OFF
• Saturday: seven to nine miles easy (7:42 to 8:24/mile pace).
• Sunday: long runs of up to 19 miles.  Typically these miles were covered at the same pace as Saturday's runs, but some of them involved progression to target marathon pace.

So far, I have been able to complete most of my training as written; I have run at least 50 miles per week most weeks these past few months, with a maximum of 59 miles.  I probably would be able to get one or two more weeks of mileage in the fifties done before Boston.

The Race

March is apparently the new January this year.  Race day weather was sunny and 26 degrees Fahrenheit, with a 15 mile per hour wind: definitely the coldest conditions under which I have run a half-marathon.  But 26 degrees was much better than 76 degrees, and I certainly preferred these conditions to the steady cold rain of the 2015 race.  Besides, once I started running, I didn't really notice the cold too much.

The course had also changed slightly from the last time I had done it.  At around Mile 2, after the DC Front Runners water stop and the Lincoln Memorial, the previous route involved an out-and-back segment across Memorial Bridge to the rotary right in front of Arlington National Cemetery.  This was eliminated this year and replaced with an out-and-back segment along a brief freeway leading to I-66.  The race would also end right in front of the DC Armory, instead of in a nearby parking lot as was done in 2015; as a result, instead of a downhill finish, we now had a slight and steady uphill one.

The rest of the route was similar to the one from 2015.  We started at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, going toward the monuments (with a brief dogleg near the half-mile mark) and then turning on 23rd Street toward the Lincoln Memorial.  We then would go down Rock Creek Parkway toward Northwest DC, through Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights, and then along North Capitol Avenue south toward the Capitol for a somewhat hilly finish through Capitol Hill.

Of course, that nasty hill leading out of Rock Creek Park and into Adams Morgan at around Mile 6 was still part of the course.  The good thing about this hill was that it was short.  The bad thing about this hill was that it was quite steep; it was a 140-foot climb over one quarter of a mile, which could really disrupt your race if you don't approach it carefully.  Thus, my plan was to treat this race kind of like a 2 x 6 mile run: I would stick to half-marathon effort for the first six miles before the big hill (and not freak out if my pace wasn't as fast as it was in Shamrock last year), jog up the hill and for the next half-mile for recovery, and then return to half-marathon effort for the last six miles, hopefully closing with an even faster pace.

Map of the new route and the elevation profile (from the race website).

Miles 1 through 6 (6:33, 6:32, 6:32, 6:34, 6:34, 6:27): The first half mile was spent weaving through a lot of people and trying to get onto pace.  My pace slowed when we turned off Constitution, but then when we were about to get back onto Constitution, I took advantage of this small hill to speed up, completing the first mile a little faster than I thought I would: 6:33, when I was expecting to finish it around 6:37 or so.  But what did not make me happy was that I was already running the tangents terribly; even at the Mile 1 marker, my Garmin indicated that I had completed the first mile several seconds before I actually crossed the mile marker.

Mile 2 was relatively flat, with some downhill portions along Rock Creek Parkway, so I spent it trying to keep my pace under control.  I waved to the DC Front Runners as I passed their water stop.  Miles 3 and 4 featured that new segment along the freeway.  I found this slightly more difficult than the out-and-back segment along Memorial Bridge to Arlington National Cemetery, but nothing too outrageous; just a bit more rolling hills.  Miles 5 and 6 were the same as the old course; just down Rock Creek Parkway toward that hill leading up to Adams Morgan.  During these miles, I tried to keep an honest pace, yet tried to maintain an even effort on both uphills and downhills.  I tried not to change up the uphills to conserve energy for the hill coming up.  I was pleased to find that my splits for the first five miles were pretty consistently under 6:35.  Since Mile 6 was mostly downhill, I was able to cover that mile even faster.

Mile 7 (7:16): As planned, I turned race mode off for the hill.  I slowed down, pulling myself up the hill and giving high-fives to all the people standing on the side of the course.  I just focused on getting to the top and not worrying about how quickly I was doing it, even though I really wanted to be done with it as soon as possible.  But it turned out that nobody passed me on this hill (but then again, I was also a few hundred feet ahead of the next runner).  And my pace on this hill was about an 8:20/mile; not nearly as depressing as I thought it might be.

After I finished that hill, I ran the next half-mile easy also in order to recover from that effort.  This was something that I decided to try this year.  Last time, I tried to get right back on pace immediately after climbing the hill, which was most likely a mistake; my legs felt drained for the rest of that race.  After climbing the second slight hill on Calvert Street leading to the center of Adams Morgan, I started to pick up the pace again.  Going into the race, I accepted that I would finish this mile quite a bit slower; I decided I would have been happy if I finished this mile in around 7:15.

Miles 8 through 11 (6:32, 6:24, 6:21, 6:16): I was able to get back on track pretty quickly, even in spite of another substantial hill near Georgia Avenue.  But after I crested that hill, I knew I had a fast part coming up on which I could make up a lot of time; Miles 9 and 10 had some very long downhill segments, and I took advantage of this to push the pace a little.  I tried not to overdo it since I remember Mile 12 being another difficult segment.

When I crossed the 10-mile marker, my watch read 1:06:21.  Unfortunately, my watch also indicated I had covered 10.11 miles.  I quickly did some math about how fast I needed to run the remaining 5K.  I was definitely going to be under 1:26:59.  If I kept my pace under 6:27/mile for the remainder of the race, I would finish in 1:26:21, and I would be fine with that.  Anything beyond that was a bonus, and finishing in 1:25:59 or faster was still not out of the realm of possibility.  Mile 11 was still relatively flat, so I pushed the pace a little more; I was able to cover it in 6:16 with a little energy left to get me through the next mile.

At this point in the race, I was beginning to feel a little warm; either shorts with the long-sleeve black T-shirt or a singlet, arm-warmers, and running tights may have been better options today, even in spite of the cold.  I could have also removed my hat, but I didn't feel like carrying it in my hands as I was running.  Plus, I was having a bad hair day and didn't want that immortalized in my race photos.

Me at around Mile 7 in Columbia Heights.  This is what I was wearing this race, and I thought it may have been a little much.

Miles 12 to the end (6:27, 6:08, 1:30 for the last 0.26 miles): The first half of Mile 12 is generally flat whereas the second half is a steady uphill, though not as stringent as the ones seen in Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights earlier in the race.  However, the fact that this appears so late in the race makes it suck quite a bit.  I held my pace steady, trying to conserve just a bit of energy; I decided I would not freak out if my pace for this mile was quite a bit slower.  I did have the mostly downhill Mile 13 to make up some time.

I covered Mile 12 in 6:27, but I still managed to catch and drop several people on the uphill.  Knowing that much of Mile 13 was downhill (but not realizing that due to the changes to the course, the last 0.1 miles were slightly uphill), I pushed the pace a little.  I no longer paid much attention to my pace; I glanced at my watch every now and then to see how much time I had left if I wanted to break 1:26:00.

Thanks to the downhill, I managed a 6:08 mile for Mile 13, but struggled a little when I came to the last uphill before the turn to the finish.  Jeremy was on the side of the course cheering on the half-marathoners and marathoners (at this point the two courses merge together for the finish), which was a very nice surprise and gave me the last bit of energy to carry me through the finish.  As soon as I rounded the corner, I gave it everything I had, hoping that I would cross the finish line before my watch read 1:26:00.

According to my watch, I finished in 1:26:04.  But while waiting for my friends Alfie and Ryan to finish the marathon, I discovered that my time was actually 1:26:02 (6:34/mile).  Apparently, I started my watch too early or stopped it a second late.  Even though I would have really liked to have finished three seconds faster, I think this is what I had in me today.  Plus, it's 71.44 points toward my DC Front Runners Race Circuit score (age grade score times 1.05 for a half-marathon in accordance with DC Front Runners Race Circuit rules), not to mention more than one minute faster than my time for this race in 2015.

And I really did not do a good job of running the tangents today.  I ended up covering 13.26 miles total according to my Garmin.  I did think about whether I could have done more like 1:25:30 had I covered 13.16 miles rather than 13.26.  But then again, this is kind of a twisty, curvy route, unlike the Richmond Marathon or Shamrock Half-Marathon routes.  This could be one of those routes in which it is difficult to run tangents well.  I don't think weaving in and out of people at the beginning helped much either.

5K, 10K, and 10-mile splits from the runner tracker that the race provides.  Looks like the hill didn't slow me down too much.

Next Steps

I have the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler in three weeks.  I'm using it as another tune-up race before Boston and as another opportunity to score some points toward the Race Circuit.  It is close to Boston (only fifteen days before), but plenty of people in my running club have done both Cherry Blossom and then Boston with little ill effect.

Now that Boston is less than six weeks away and that I have a half-marathon tune-up race under my belt for this training cycle, I suppose now is a good time to start thinking about target times.  1:26:02 times 2.15 is 3:04:58 (I used the multiplier of 2.15 given my mileage this cycle).  I would be satisfied with that, since it would be a BQ-5:00; I would love to be able to register during the first week of registration for Boston 2018.  Perhaps this might even be a little conservative given the difficulty of the Rock and Roll DC Half-Marathon course and the conditions on race day.

Of course, these predictions are contingent on the weather in Massachusetts on April 17, 2017.

Other Thoughts

• This course can really eat you alive if you are not smart about race execution.  I think the main thing about this race is patience; I would recommend trying to keep the early miles under control and focusing on conserving energy, not charging up that hill, and then using some of the later miles to make up the lost time from the hill and the segment through Adams Morgan.
• This year, they started the marathoners an hour and a half earlier at 7:00 am, possibly to alleviate some of the congestion at the beginning.  One advantage of this was that some of my friends doing the marathon would finish about half an hour to an hour after me; I got to meet them at the finish without waiting in the cold for such a long time.
• If the cold did affect me, I don't think it was by much.  Waiting for the start did not feel too terrible and even though it took a little longer to warm up, once I hit Mile 5, I was fine; as I mentioned, I might have even been a little overdressed.  I did really feel the cold after the race, though.
• Recovery from this race is taking a little longer than usual; as of Tuesday evening, my legs still felt tired and sore.  Usually, I'm feeling better after a half-marathon at that point.

Race Post-Mortem: Richmond Marathon

Mick, Justin, and me at the start line of the Richmond Marathon.  I'm ready to tackle Marathon #9 and Mick and Justin are ready to take on their first.

Saturday, November 12, 2016
Richmond, VA
Difficulty score: 3/9

I ran the Richmond Marathon as my very first marathon exactly five years ago, finishing in 3:23:36 (7:46/mile) after making a few very critical yet unfortunately common first-timer mistakes: low mileage during training (I don't think I even ran 35 miles in any single week leading up to Richmond 2011), and speeding up to 3:05:00 pace at the second mile after my original 3:15:00 pace felt too easy, only to crash eighteen miles in.

Now, as a better, more experienced, and (possibly) wiser runner, I was looking forward to returning to Richmond to run the marathon again.  Richmond was an enticing choice for attempts for a PR and for a sub-3:05:00, which would have been five minutes under my Boston qualifying standard, thus allowing me to submit an application during the first week of registration for Boston 2018 (and thus giving me a 99.9999% chance of getting in).  After all, it is a fast course, although with some very noticeable rolling hills, with very few turns.  Plus, temperatures on race morning were almost always very conducive to a PR; the usual overnight lows in Richmond in mid-November are usually in the low to mid-forties.  It was also a mid-sized race of four to five thousand marathoners; after Chicago, I found that I tend to do better in races with several thousand participants since I don't like feeling boxed in and my typical negative-split strategy can be difficult with a large race like Chicago since I would be weaving through a lot of people in the last miles.  But despite its size, it also had the energy level of a much larger marathon; the volunteers, the bands, and those cheering on the sides of the course really made this a lively event.

For these reasons, it was also a very good choice for a first marathon.  Two of my friends, Mick and Justin, finished their first marathons this morning after I had recommended Richmond to them.  It also helped that the race was logistically very easy for those of us living in DC; Richmond was only a two to three-hour drive and hotel rooms typically were not particularly expensive.

Training

My training for Richmond was very much like my training for my last two marathons.  I ran six days per week, with the following general structure:

• Monday: OFF
• Tuesday: my dedicated "quality" day, which consisted of a two-mile warm-up plus 25 to 40 minutes at tempo effort (between 6:18 and 6:36/mile, with adjustments for adverse weather conditions) and then a cool-down.
• Wednesday: 30 to 40 minutes very easy to recover from Tuesday's tempo run.
• Thursday: mini-long runs lasting between 60 and 90 minutes, with most of these miles being easy (7:48 to 8:24/mile), although I did occasionally throw in some marathon effort miles, particularly toward the end of the cycle.
• Friday: 30 to 40 minutes very easy to recover from Thursday's mini-long run.
• Saturday: 50 to 80 minutes easy (7:48 to 8:24/mile), with 4 x 8 seconds hill sprints.
• Sunday: long runs last between one hour 30 minutes to two hours 45 minutes, with most of these miles being easy (7:48 to 8:24/mile).  I did include a few long runs in which I ran marathon pace for an extended period.

My mileage was not as high as it was for Chicago or Hartford, although it was definitely adequate for my purposes.  My highest mileage week was 59 miles, taking place three weeks before the race itself.  After spending building my mileage back up, my mileage was in the fifties for most weeks (exceptions being tune-up race weeks and the occasional cut-back week, in which my mileage was still in the mid-forties or higher).  Although training was a little more difficult this year due to an unusually hot and humid summer here in DC, I was able to remain consistent.

The Race

The taper preceding this marathon was the worst taper ever.  About ten days out, I bit into a Starburst candy a little too hard, which induced trauma to one of my molars and a nasty infection that caused constant sharp pain and made me incapable of eating anything solid for two days.  After getting a deep clean from the dentist and getting on antibiotics; I got sick.  I was unsure of what it was, but I started to feel some flu-like symptoms one week before the race, my head felt heavy (it felt full like I had been hanging upside down), and I had some persistent post-nasal drip.  I also felt tired for most of that week.  

In fact, I was so unsure that I would finish in a time that I would be satisfied with, if I did finish at all, that I even began toying with the idea of another marathon; I was especially looking at the Rock and Roll New Orleans Marathon in the beginning of February.  But on Thursday morning, I did begin to feel a lot better.  I skipped my marathon pace tempo run on Tuesday to recover, but I did a three-mile shakeout run on Thursday evening and did not feel worse afterwards.

By the time I arrived in Richmond on Friday afternoon, I felt fine; I did have a bit of irritation in my throat that evening, though.  But even though I felt much better, I decided to start out a little conservatively; although whatever I had was gone, I was unsure of the lingering effects it would have on my body.  I decided to take the first 15K a little slower.  My original plan had me targeting 7:05/mile pace for the first 30K and then speeding up or hanging on, depending on how I felt at that point.  I decided to target about 7:10/mile for the first 15K, or even 7:15/mile, if I felt that was the best pace for me that day.  I would then reassess at the 15K mark and try to target my initial 7:05/mile pace if I felt good enough.

Weather was actually beautiful for a marathon: 41 degrees at the start, low humidity, and sunshine.  Over the week leading up to the race, I was so busy worrying about whether I would recover in time that I neglected obsessing over the weather.  

After a quick pre-race selfie and wishing Mick and Justin good luck on their races and reminding them to stick with the target paces that I had recommended for them, even if it did feel ridiculously easy in the early miles, I lined up about halfway between the 3:15:00 and the 3:05:00 pace groups.  The gun went off and thus began our 26.2 mile journey.

Map of the Richmond Marathon course (from the website)

Miles 1 through 6 (7:19, 7:13, 7:09, 7:11, 7:09, 7:13): The first six miles of the course take us through downtown Richmond along West Broad Street, after which we run down Monument Avenue for a while and then through some neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city.  This part of the course was a long, steady, but gradual uphill, with a few steeper hills to make things interesting.

As planned, I went out conservatively, easing into my target pace and letting hundreds of people fly by me.  I had actually been expecting to run the first mile in 7:20 to 7:30, but my Garmin read 7:19 as I crossed the Mile 1 mark and I felt relaxed.  One thing that also pleased me was that my Garmin indicated one mile right as I crossed the Mile 1 mark; considering how straight this part of the course was, I should have been concerned if I had covered more than one mile during this segment.

During the second mile, I decided to gradually accelerate toward my target 7:10/mile pace.  At the end of the second mile, I took some water at the first water station; for this race, I had used my tried-and-true fueling plan of getting water at every single water station prior to the 30K mark and consuming three Shot Blocks every 5K or so.  For Miles 3 through 5, I settled into about a 7:10/mile pace, and was glad to find that this pace felt controlled and almost easy.  Mile 6, however, was a little slower due to more uphill segments, especially a relatively steep one right before the 10K mark.

I took water every two miles and consumed three shot blocks right before the Mile 4 and Mile 6 water stops as planned.  Fortunately, I was not feeling any lingering effects of whatever I was suffering from earlier in the week, and I was still hitting those tangents wonderfully; as I crossed the Mile 6 mark, I was no more than 0.01 miles over.

Miles 7 through 11 (7:05, 7:17, 7:12, 7:14, 7:17): The next several miles are some of the most aesthetically pleasing parts of any race I had run.  After the 10K mark, runners are rewarded with a long downhill segment into the first Party Zone, an area for spectators to congregate and heckle the runners.  We then cross a bridge over the James River and get to run on Riverside Drive, a narrow road that runs alongside the river, for about a mile.  Then we run through some neighborhoods on the other side of the river before crossing back toward downtown Richmond by way of the Lee Bridge.

During the long downhill leading to the first Party Zone, I followed my own advice to keep control; this hill could easily punish my quads.  This was my fastest mile so far, although I was sort of thinking that I would cover this mile in faster than 7:05.  The next few miles, though, were noticeably slower.  I attributed my slower Mile 8 to Garmin issues; for the entire first half of this mile, it indicated I was going at 7:25 to 7:30/mile pace, which definitely seem right.  Only when I crossed the bridge did the pace according to my Garmin begin to move closer to 7:10/mile.  Also, my Garmin indicated I had covered eight miles a little after I crossed the Mile 8 mark.

I wasn't paying much attention to my pace through the next two miles; I was just enjoying the scenery and, of course, fueling as planned with Shot Blocks right before the Mile 10 water stop.  People were catching up to me and passing me, but I just let them go and continued to do my own thing.  Mile 10 was a little slow due to a relatively steep uphill leading up to the neighborhoods on the other side of the river and Mile 11 was even slower because of the rolling hills and a minor water stop delay (the girl I got water from was literally clutching the cups to her chest and seemingly very oblivious that runners wanted to get water from her; I had to stop and wait for her to extend her arm to hand a cup to me).  But even though my pace was slowing during these miles, I didn't really panic; I still felt strong and I had faith that I could conserve enough energy for a significant negative split.

Miles 12 through 15 (7:08, 7:10, 7:03, 7:09): During these miles, I got back on track in terms of pace.  I decided at this point to push the pace just a little, after having felt that the pace during the preceding miles truly was conservative and that I could go a little faster without worrying about an implosion in the later miles.  This part of the race had some relatively long uphills, but they didn't seem to slow me down too badly.  The second Party Zone in the fourteenth mile also contributed to my speeding up just a little; Mile 14 was my fastest so far in this race.

I crossed the halfway mark in 1:34:25; a few seconds slower than my halfway split in Shamrock in 2014 and a few seconds faster than my halfway split in Hartford last year.  If the second half went well, perhaps I could cover it in 1:30:00 or so like I did in Shamrock and come in under 3:05:00.  If the second half was more difficult, then I could perhaps target 1:31:00 or so like I did in Hartford and come really close to 3:05:00.  

Miles 16 through 19 (7:16, 7:05, 7:05, 7:01): After a strong Mile 15, I came to what I felt, looking back, was the most difficult mile in the entire race: the Lee Bridge mile.  Being high up above the river and exposed, I was subject to some stiff headwinds.  Meanwhile, I told myself not to panic if this mile was slower than the previous ones.

Halfway through this mile, this very nice man named Tom who had been running near me for the past several miles and had been running behind me for the first half of the bridge moved up ahead of me and acted like my shield against the wind.  I followed him across the bridge and up the hill immediately afterwards.  After the bridge was behind us, I ran next to him and thanked him for shielding me against the wind.  I would have liked him to run with me, but I began speeding up and he was unable to keep up.

We had now returned to downtown Richmond.  I did remember from when I did the race five years ago that this part had some rolling hills and a pretty substantial one near the Mile 19 mark right before the Diamond.  With 16 miles down, I felt like I could be a little more reckless.  Seeing Lavar at the end of the bridge picked me up.  I charged up the rolling hills in the seventeenth and eighteenth miles, especially after getting energized by the Taiko drummers along the course near Mile 17.  But at the same time, I kept my pace under control so I wouldn't expend all my energy; after all, I still had quite a ways to go.  But when I noticed I was maintaining a 7:05/mile pace and finding it not terribly difficult, I decided to stay with it for a little while.

I took my last three Shot Blocks shortly after the water stop at Mile 18 and there, I took my last serving of water for the entire race.  I was glad; I felt like I had almost choked on Shot Blocks a few times.  I could also now really get into a good rhythm.  After passing this water stop, I began to push the pace a little more; I fell in with this group of guys, but ended up dropping them shortly afterward.  As I crossed the Mile 19 mark, I kept thinking to myself, "This was where I fell apart last time."  Not even the hill near the Diamond slowed me down.

Also, police were directing traffic, letting cars cross the marathon course.  Somewhere between the Mile 17 and 18 mark, some very irate driver was arguing with the police officer directing traffic.  All I heard was this driver saying to the police officer, "Give me your gun and I'll get across."  Seriously?

Mile 20 to the end (6:58, 6:52, 6:49, 6:49, 6:52, 6:54, 6:31, 1:45 for the last 0.29 miles): For the last stretch of the race, all marathoners headed north on North Boulevard, through some residential areas in the northern part of the city, and then back south for a downhill finish near the river.  Although the last 10K of this marathon featured a few rolling hills, it was not a terribly difficult finish.  I really felt like I could speed up even more for a strong negative split.

At this point, my legs were quite tired.  But my typical late-race impatience kicked in; I just wanted to be done, and that caused me to speed up a little.  After crossing the Mile 21 mark, I did some math; I could finish very close to 3:05:00, if not under, if I maintained a sub-7:00/mile for the rest of the race.

For Miles 22 and 23, I brought my pace down to below 6:50/mile.  I was now quite energized, even though my legs were wearing out fast; I realized that I was going to at least qualify for Boston by a relatively healthy margin, and all I needed to do is not to screw up.  Plus, at Mile 22, the neighborhood residents were blasting U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name", one of my favorite running songs and one of my favorite songs in general.  I sang along a little to distract myself from the fatigue and soreness in my legs and my core.

I noticed that I was not running tangents nearly as well as I was in the early miles; after crossing the Mile 23 mark, I noticed I was about 0.04 miles over.  For Miles 24 and 25, I was a little afraid to push the pace, fearing an implosion; I still had a few more miles to go.  These miles were a little more difficult in terms of course profile than the preceding miles; I ended up slowing down, but not by much.  After crossing the Mile 25 mark and seeing Lavar again, I quickly did some more math.  I had crossed in around 2:58:00, so a sub-3:05:00 was not likely at this point; but I could definitely get a sub-3:06:00.  Realizing this, I charged up the hills and then flew down the final downhill stretch, covering Mile 26 in 6:31.

Me shortly after Mile 25.  Photo courtesy of Lavar.

I took the last 0.29 miles at sub-6:00/mile pace, hoping to beat my Hartford time.  I crossed the finish line when my Garmin indicated 3:05:42, one second faster than Hartford.  It was kind of disorienting to stop right after a long downhill segment like that; as I was trying to recover and get my bearings, one of the medical volunteers asked me if I was okay.  After collecting my medal, a blanket that all finishers receive, and a hat, I left the finisher's area and waited for Mick and Justin to finish (both of them ended up breaking 3:20:00 in their first marathons this morning).

I learned that my official time was 3:05:44 (7:05/mile), one second slower than my time at Hartford last year.  I finished 140th out of all 4056 humans that finished the marathon, 127th out of 2016 male human beings, and 30th out of 261 in the Male 30 through 34 age group.  It wasn't the 3:04:59 that I was hoping for, but it was still four minutes and 16 seconds under my Boston Qualifying standard; that should still be enough to get me into Boston 2018.  Besides, I still have Boston 2017 coming up, and during that, I could make another attempt to qualify by more than five minutes.

Finally, thanks to my negative split (1:34:25 for the first half, 1:31:19 for the second), I am eligible to win a free pair of shoes in the Strava Back-Half Challenge (those who completed a marathon and ran a negative split this fall are eligible for a free pair of New Balance running shoes).

The medal and a prize the race gives out for people who qualified for Boston today.

Next steps

After taking a few weeks to recover, I plan on running the Jingle All the Way 5K here in DC in early December.  It's fun, especially with the sheer number of DC Front Runners that come out to participate.  But also, I need some races for the Race Circuit, and 5K races are some of the best ones to get a relatively high score.  

Then I will begin training for the Boston Marathon.  Perhaps I could go for the PR or the sub-3:05:00 there, although a part of me just wanted to run at around 3:08:00 to 3:10:00 pace and just enjoy Boston.  I would have to think about how I would approach training for that, and what I would do differently; it seems like the training structure that I had used these past few years is not going to get me a much faster time than 3:04:00 or so.  Perhaps I need better balance in my training; I did, after all only run at three paces (tempo, easy, and very easy) throughout most of the cycle.

Other Thoughts and Observations

• One of the most common signs that I saw out on the course was "26.2; because 26.3 would be crazy".  Actually, most of us often do cover 26.3 miles or more during a marathon, usually because it can be extremely difficult to run all the tangents.
• I ran into Tom at the finisher's zone after the race.  It turns out he slowed down a little in the late miles, but he still qualified for Boston by more than two minutes.  Although a two-minute margin may have been a little too close to comfort given the cutoffs these past two years, I'm glad he qualified.

Race Post-Mortem: Army 10-Miler

Justin, me, and Mick post-race.  This was our last tune-up race before the Richmond Marathon.  Photo by Justin.

Sunday, October 9, 2016
Arlington, VA
Difficulty score: 2/10 (0 for weather, 2 for course profile, 0 for altitude)

The Army 10-Miler, the second of two tune-up races for my upcoming marathon, was to be my first 10-mile race ever.  People ask me why I have never run a 10-miler, in spite of having run eight marathons and more than a dozen half-marathons.  It seemed like good opportunities for a 10-miler for me never really surfaced these past several years; all the 10-mile races in the DC area took place close to or right after a fall or spring marathon.  And last year, when I finally got to run the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler, it needed to be shortened to 9.39 miles due to an accident on the course.

I was excited to finally have the opportunity to run a 10-mile race.  I had reason to believe that I could achieve a very good time for my 10-miler debut so long as I didn't screw up the pacing.  The weather in DC on an October morning was usually better than the low seventies and high humidity under which I ran the Rock and Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon last month, and this course was considered as fast, if not faster, than the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler.  Starting near the Pentagon, we would head north on Virginia Route 110 to Arlington National Cemetery and then across the Memorial Bridge and down Constitution Avenue.  After less than a quarter of a mile on Constitution Avenue, we would then turn left onto 20th Street Northwest and then a left on Virginia Avenue.  Virginia Avenue would then spit us out onto Rock Creek Parkway, which we would follow back south toward the monuments.  After merging onto Independence Avenue, we would do this out-and-back segment before turning onto the segment that most runners dread: the 14th Street Bridge.  The 14th Street Bridge would take us back to Arlington, where we would complete the last mile of the race through the streets of Crystal City.  All in all, this was a relatively flat course with a few hills to make things interesting.

Thus, I had set my bare minimum goal to be 1:04:20, the slowest I could run in order to score 70 points toward the DC Front Runners Race Circuit.  My primary goal was sub-1:04:00, and my "if everything went right" goal was sub-1:03:00.

Map of the Army 10-Miler (from the race website).

Training

My training this past summer was very much like my training for Chicago and Hartford: six days of running per week, with a very similar weekly structure.

• Monday: OFF
• Tuesday: a two-mile warm-up plus 25 to 40 minutes at tempo effort (between 6:18 and 6:36/mile, with adjustments for the weather) followed by a cool-down
• Wednesday: 30 to 40 minutes very easy to recover from Tuesday's tempo run
• Thursday: mini-long runs lasting between one hour and one hour 30 minutes, with most of these miles being easy (7:48 to 8:24/mile); I did occasionally throw in some marathon effort miles
• Friday: 30 to 40 minutes very easy to recover from Thursday's mini-long run
• Saturday: 50 minutes to one hour 20 minutes easy (7:48 to 8:24/mile), with hill sprints
• Sunday: long runs of one hour 30 minutes to two hours 30 minutes at 7:48 to 8:24/mile pace, with some of these being fast finish

So far, my mileage most weeks have been in the fifties or high forties, with a maximum of about 56 miles.  Training was made a little more difficult by an unusually hot and humid summer here in DC, but overall, I was able to remain very consistent with my training up to now.  Following the Army 10-Miler, I planned on two more weeks with mileage in the high fifties or low sixties, and then a taper before my marathon.

The Race

The night before the race, I had a dream that I woke up on race morning and it was 9:14 am.  After panicking and realizing that it would have even been too late to get down to the Pentagon and start with the last wave, I then decided to check my phone to see the angry messages from Mick and Justin, whom I promised to drive down to the start.  But for some reason, my phone kept crashing.  When I finally was able to get it to work, my alarm went off and I woke up.

Had that actually happened, I would have started to believe that the 10-miler was really a cursed distance for me.  But actually, getting to the start actually proceeded quite seamlessly; after a quick breakfast and my typical pre-race preparations, I picked up several other members of the DC Front Runners and made it to Arlington at 6:45.  Traffic was nowhere near as terrible as I thought it would be, and neither was parking.  I thought it was strange, though, that everyone parked in one of the parking garages suggested by the race website when there was plenty of parking on the side of the street.  I found a very convenient parking spot near the Ritz Carlton on the side of South 15th Street, while just about all of the other cars were waiting in this very long line to get into the nearby parking garages.

Temperatures were also much better for this race; high fifties with less than 80% humidity, and the latter was expected to drop substantially as time went on whereas the former would not increase too much.  When I woke up, there was a steady light rain, but that subsided by the time we all arrived at the starting area and changed into an 18-mile-per-hour wind from the north.  I was not terribly concerned about the winds; I had run a half-marathon and a marathon PR under similar conditions. Given the course and the temperatures, I went into the starting corrals thinking that a sub-1:04:00 was very achievable today.  My plan was therefore to ease into a 6:20 to 6:25/mile pace over the first two miles or so, hold that until about Mile 7, and if I felt I had something left in me at that point, I would try to bring the pace down closer to 6:15/mile.

After running into other members of the DC Front Runners and wishing them a good race, I lined up in the Yellow Corral and waited for the start.

Miles 1 and 2 (6:28, 6:22): Initially, I was running at more like half-marathon pace.  The race began on a slight but relatively steady uphill, but about 0.6 miles in, we got a pretty noticeable downhill, which I took advantage of to bring my pace to faster than 6:30/mile.  According to my Garmin, my first mile was 6:28, exactly where I wanted to be.  However, I did notice that my Garmin indicated the one mile mark a little before the actual one-mile mark sign.  I attributed that to the weaving and dodging I did during this first mile.  Halfway through this first mile, I realized I probably lined up too far back; I was passing people left and right with very little effort.

During the second mile through Arlington National Cemetery and across Memorial Bridge, I settled into a 6:22/mile pace.  This felt very controlled, I was glad to have gotten on target pace a little earlier than I thought.

Miles 3 through 5 (6:31, 6:18, 6:20): For me, Mile 3 was the most difficult mile of the entire race.  The relatively lengthy uphill on Virginia Avenue threw me for a loop; after hearing how fast this course was, I wasn't expecting anything like this.  Nonetheless, I looked at my watch and noticed my pace was closer to 6:40/mile.  I kept myself calm; knowing that if I pushed too hard up this hill, I would regret it later; after all, I still had seven more miles to go.

After we crested the top of the hill, we were treated to a brief downhill as we went through an underpass.  After another brief hill, we had a much longer and more gradual downhill segment.  I was able to take advantage of this and bring my pace down to 6:31/mile.  This was slower than what I would have liked, but I knew I could still manage sub-1:04:00 nonetheless.

For the fourth and fifth miles, I focused on getting back to 6:20 to 6:25/mile pace.  This part, in which we turned onto Rock Creek Parkway and followed it toward Independence Avenue, was flat and fast and featured very few turns, although some relatively strong winds were still coming off the river.  I ended up doing the fourth mile a little faster than what I wanted; I finished this mile in 6:18, but I still felt like I was in control of the pace.  During the fifth mile down Independence Avenue, I continued trying to hold back; I wanted to push a little, but I knew that I had some more somewhat difficult segments up ahead.

The DC Front Runners cheer squad, waiting for us at the top of the hill on Independence Avenue.  Photo from Adam.

Miles 6 through 8 (6:16, 6:17, 6:16): After the halfway mark came one of the more difficult segments: a hill leading up past the Washington Monument.  Some members of the DC Front Runners were at the top with signs, which gave me an extra boost of energy up this hill.  After this came a slight downhill and another long, flat, and straight out-and-back segment down Independence Avenue.  I enjoyed this part: in addition to it being fast, spectators were lining the course and I got to see the faster runners on their way back.  After rounding the corner at the turnaround loop and passing the Mile 6 marker, I noticed that I had indeed brought my pace down closer to 6:15/mile already.  But since I was still feeling strong, I decided to stay with it.

But one thing that I was not happy about was that my Garmin indicated 6.07 miles at the Mile 6 marker.  I had no idea how I managed to cover 0.07 extra miles given how few curves and turns there were on these past few miles, but I really preferred not to cover more than 10.10 miles today.  After all, that extra 0.1 miles could mean as much as 45 to 50 extra seconds.  For the seventh mile, I focused on maintaining my pace while trying not to weave around runners anymore.

I then turned left onto 14th Street to start my journey along the infamous 14th Street Bridge.  Most people who talk about this bridge say that not only are runners already tired at this point, but this long expanse of bridge across the river, on which there are almost no spectators, could be mentally draining.  But I myself actually did not find it to be as bad as many people have made it out to be.  It was by no means easy, especially compared to the previous miles; this bridge has some noticeable rolling hills.  But I found the third mile of this race to be far more difficult.  Meanwhile, I was able to keep my 6:15 to 6:20/mile pace with little problem.

Mile 9 through the end (6:13, 6:10, 0:32 for the last 0.1 miles): I then approached a rather unexpected difficulty in this race: the exit ramp leading to Crystal City.  Right before the exit ramp was a very sizable hill; it was not as long as some of the others I had encountered on this course, but it was substantially steeper.  In addition, I was now faced with a powerful headwind.  As I pulled myself up this hill, trying not to charge up it, I asked myself why I was encountering this kind of headwind; I was heading south and the weather forecast indicated winds were to be coming from the north.

After the exit ramp was behind me, I just focused on getting to the finish line.  Some other runners behind me had capitalized on the downhill of the exit ramp to accelerate past me.  I just decided to let them go and just run at my own pace.  I was able to catch back up with most of them and eventually drop them again, though.

Nina and her mother were cheering on members of the DC Front Runners at the Mile 9 mark, which was very much appreciated.  After waving back to them, I looked at my watch and did the math.  Sub-1:04:00 was definitely within reach; I just needed to maintain this pace and not do anything stupid.  I did find myself speeding up even more during this mile; after noticing that my Garmin indicated I was going at 5:55/mile pace, I decided to hold back a little just so I would not implode during the last half mile.

As soon as I rounded that curve back toward the Pentagon and saw the finish line, I just gave it all I had left.  I was very happy when I crossed the finish line when the first three digits of the gun (cannon) time clock were 1:03; my Garmin, meanwhile, indicated a finish time of 1:03:43.

I wanted to wait for the other members of DC Front Runners to finish, but I was told to keep moving.  As I headed toward the finisher's area, I saw Justin behind me; he had just run a 10-miler PR by more than two minutes.  We then walked to the finisher's area together, sharing notes about the race.  We decided to wait for the other members of DC Front Runners doing this race near the food area.

It was not until that afternoon when I got my official results (Army 10-Miler does not do real-time runner tracking): 1:03:42 (6:22/mile), which translates to 70.727 points toward the DC Front Runners Race Circuit (age-graded score of 69.34 times 1.02 in accordance with Race Circuit rules).  I was 383rd human out of 24014, 362nd male out of 12716, and 78th out of 1880 in the Male 30-34 age division.

Next Steps

I felt that my performance during this race was more indicative of my fitness for Richmond, since the Rock and Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon was run under less-than-ideal conditions and was probably run before I was anywhere near peak fitness.  So given my mileage, which was less than what I ran for Hartford last year but not by much, I would take my 10-miler time of 1:03:42 and multiply by 2.88 to get a projected time for my marathon: 3:03:28 (approximately 7:00/mile).  If I ended up with a time like that, I would be very happy; that would be a PR and a BQ by more than six minutes.

Thus, my plan for Richmond is to target 7:00 to 7:05 for the first 30K, with the first two miles a little slower than that, and then gradually speed up at the 30K mark for a negative split.

Other Thoughts and Observations

• I like this race a lot.  The race has a great atmosphere, is quite fast, and is executed very well.
• Metro is often accepted as the best way to get to the starting line, but it may take longer than driving to get there using Metro, particularly if you need to transfer lines or if the nearest Metro station is quite a walk from where you live.  It looks like driving can get you down to the start line relatively quickly, particularly since I-395 Southbound, the best way to get to Arlington, still remains open before the race.  Parking is also not difficult as it will be 6:00 am when you (should) arrive.  However, getting out of Arlington is a whole different story if you're driving due to all the road closures and the closure of I-395 Northbound, and this is where the advantage of Metro really comes into play.  If you drive, consider hanging around Crystal City for a bit (I would have, but I had to return to DC to prepare for a friend's birthday brunch).
• I like the finisher coins a lot (photo below).
• Winds from the north my foot.  I have always maintained that the winds are always blowing in one direction when you are running: against you.  I rarely felt any tailwinds, but headwinds were very frequent throughout the race, even when I was running southwards.

The Army 10-Miler finisher coin.