Teeth At Your Feet

Hello. …again.

I have no idea if anyone still follows me or not, but this is my first post in a couple of months.

The reasons for my absence has been due to a lack of motivation, a lack of willpower, an influx of emotion, and an injury.
There has been quite a bit of personal issue I have been dealing with for about six months, but it sort of came to a head in January. This, coupled with an achilles tendon problem from a year ago, simply sapped any motivation I had in me. I’ve been a ball of emotional turmoil, with very little willpower to move beyond it.

Recently, however, I have started to come out of my shell and regain some lost confidence. It’s been a daily struggle, but things are getting better.

Today I will post some workout information, but in all honesty I’m not sure how often I will be keeping up with this Tumblr. I hope to get back it a little more regularly, but there has just been so much going on. Maybe this is will help keep me on track.

Thanks to anyone who has been following, and a big thank you to RunningWithPump for checking in on me.

“Start Spreading The News…!” pt II

So, the bang had passed, Frank Sinatra had started, and the run was on.

The first bit of the race, across the Verrazano Bridge, was amazing. As I was part of the non-elite group, my pack was on the lower level. To my left was a helicopter, filming us. I was as close to the edge as possible… I’m sure I made it on TV, as funny as that is. There were also fireboats in the water spraying huge amounts of water.

The bridge was about 2 miles long, but it felt like it took me 2 minutes to cross. It was incredible. 

And beyond that, the first 10km were a literal blur. All I can tell you is that the crowds were insane, so many high fives and cheers (my name was on my shirt). Lafayette Street was easily my favorite portion of the race. 

By mile 13, or the half-way mark, I was scared. I hit it at such quick pace that I was getting nervous, so I pulled over to take a pee break.

Nothing interesting until mile 16… Which was the Queensboro Bridge. For anyone who has run this race, or at least seen this bridge, you know it’s hell. It’s all uphill! And, to top it off, it’s right before most runners hit the wall… mile 18.

So I’m going along, somewhere between 7:30 and 7:45 per mile, and I hit the bridge. All the crowds are gone and the life is sucked from you. It’s you, other runners, some music, the wind, and this monster of a bridge. I tried my best to keep around 7:40 per mile, but I’m sure I was dipping closer to 7:50 or 8:00 per mile. Anyway, I hit the cusp, right at the top, exhausted. And what do I see? A woman, passed right out with 3 police officers standing over her. I nearly tripped but someone caught me, and then I noticed the 3 or 4 guys puking over the bridge. Now, this wouldn’t normally alarm me, but all of these people struck me as veterans… They just looked like they had done this before. And it scared the shit out of me.

Pale as a ghost, I’m sure, I go passed them all and h

“Start Spreading The News…!”

Well, I did it. I ran my first ever marathon. 

In New York City.

And I did exceptionally well, if I do say so.

With just over a year of running, I finished in the top 12% of finishers. My official time ended up being 03:21:59, shy of my ‘dream’ goal of 03:20:00. But honestly, for a first time marathoner, I think I did quite well! I’m not one to brag or talk about my accomplishments, but after beating this monster, I have to say that I am extremely proud of myself. 

This is going to be a rather strage ‘run report’… it will be in pieces over the course of the week. I’m seriously just to beat and sore to sit down and write for an hour.

Anyway, here is a bit of it… Expect more, as well as pictures, later.

Friday, November 4th:
4:00AM - I woke up and got my stuff ready. I had been waking up this early fairly regularly that week so my body would be ready for race day.
3:40PM - Hop into the car and head to the highway… We took the toll route, thinking it would be faster, but we still didn’t hit the border until about 7PM.
9:00PM - We arrived at our hotel in Buffalo. After being unable to sleep due to some… snoring… I succumbed to the bathtub. Wrapped in a blanket with headphones on, I tried to sleep. Needless to say, we had to be up for about 4:30AM and I had less than an hour of true rest. I was beat.

Saturday, November 5th:
7:00AM - Hop in the flight to New York. I slept for the hour we were on the plane, which was a really food idea…although I am a bit disappointed I missed the sights flying in. 
10:00AM - Headed to the race expo, not realizing how far it actually was. It was a good 30 minute walk, which was a bad idea… Because it was an hour total, and I had to run the next day. At the expo, though, I grabbed my bib (21-327 - Green Wave 1 (green is my favorite color, go figure!)), a large shirt (they ran out of mediums), and a mug. And back to the hotel for some rest I went.
1:00PM - At about 1PM I decided to go get food. There was a store, right around the corner from our hotel in Manhattan, called Whole Foods Market. It was awesome. I grabbed some turkey sticks, 3 bananas, two apples, and container of celery and carrots. I mowed that down for dinner, and then ate a post-dinner snack later on.
7:00PM - I was freaking out at this point. In all honesty, I had no desire to do this run for the last month. None. I was in a funk, and it ran deep. So that night, in the hotel alone, I felt like crying. I was worn out due to lack of sleep, terrified of the day ahead, missing my girlfriend terribly, and my body was aching. But I was able to Skype with my girlfriend before bed, and she did a hell of a job to reassure me. So by 11PM, I was sleeping.

Sunday, November 6th: RACE DAY
4:00AM - I woke up. I was ready. My gear was set and I hopped in the shower for a good 30 minutes… I really needed it.
4:30AM - I got dressed. I tossed my tights, shorts, tank top, neck warmer, hoodie, sweat pants, shoes, gloves, and hat on. I was ready to brave the cold.
5:00AM - And cold it was! As soon as I lef the hotel I was freezing. Luckily the subway was 10 seconds away, so I was able to get out of the cold quickly.
5:30AM - I arrived at Staten Island along with a few thousand other runners. It was amazing… Simply amazing. So many people, pitch black aside from the lights, the sound of cheering and people clapping…
5:50AM - Loaded onto the ferry and started our journey to Staten Island. I met a fellow on there from New Jersey… He told me about New York and why it’s so awesome. At the end of the day, I knew exactly what he meant. The ferry ride was incredible. I stood outside and watched the sun slowly rise and the light bounce from the skyscrapers, saw the Statue of Liberty and we had police boats following us.
6:20AM - We were all loaded onto the shuttle buses. Thinking it would be a short trip to the start, I was surprised when it took nearly 30 minutes. It was well worth it - Staten Island is more of a suburb than a busy city, with more houses than apartments it seemed. The bus took us on what felt like a tour, and it was awesome.
7:00AM - In the Green Start Village I ate a couple of bagels, drank some coffee and tea, and mowed down a power bar. There were so many people there, easily 5,000. The organization it would take for this must have been enormous.  
8:00AM - By 8AM I was restless. I’m used to tossing my shoes on going, not standing around for 3 or 4 hours waiting to run. This was so painful.
8:20AM - The Green Wave corrals opened up, but I waited another 10 minutes.
8:30AM - I entered the crowed space along with 5,000 other runners. It was cramped, and everyone was vying for an outhouse. Nothing excited happened.
9:30AM - We are 15 minutes away at this point. I’m pushing up to get towards the front, not wanting to be in the back. The elite and sub-elite runners are on the top level of the Verrazano Bridge, where we are on the bottom.
9:40AM - I am amped. I can’t even think properly, my body is just screaming “Go!” and I want to run. I want to give it my all. The American anthem comes on, and I get shivers. It is so quiet except for the singing. The race was supposed to start at this time, but it didn’t.
9:44AM - They tell us there is one minute left. I don’t know what to expect.

9:45AM - There is a bang. It’s the loudest noise I have head in my life. No one in the sea of 15,000 people understands what happened… People are looking around, left and right, up and down. Finally someone yells and points above us and we see the elite runners going. 

And then Frank Sinatra comes on. It’s loud and it’s clear. The race has started, and it’s time to “Start Spreading The News…”

Ok, So Not 8k…

I did 10km in 40 minutes.

New record.

I better not regret it on Sunday.

Tomorrow Calls For 3km… But…

I am so bored of these short runs and not running 5 times in the week. I think I might throw caution to the wind and do 8 or 9km today. I’m restless, tired, beaten, and antsy. I need to unwind.

The toughest part about this week is that I’m still unwinding from my girlfriend moving to another country. I struggle every morning, knowing her day is fully underway, and at night knowing that she is already sleeping. Normally I could just go run for an hour or two… but not now. Now I have to wait around (I don’t even work this week!) all day and think about it. I try and keep busy, but damn… it’s tough.

So, screw it.

I’m going to run today and tomorrow. I’ll do my 3km tomorrow and hopefully an 8km (no more than 10km!) today. I need it more than I don’t.

This Is The Week…

New York is Sunday.

Oh my gosh… This is so crazy.

A year ago I could barely run, but here I am, at the end of my training, prepared for the biggest day of my life.

I leave Toronto on Friday and leave New York on Monday. I cannot wait.

The plan for this week is to be well rested, so my running schedule is going to look like this:

• 3.4 Monday (today) *amended* 
• 5km Wednesday
• 4km Friday
• 42km Sunday

Here we go!

I Did 5K Yesterday

I lied.

I did 6.3k in 25:24, with about a 4:02/km pace. 

This week will be weird… Normally I would run an hour today, but screw it… 

I will run Monday-Wednesday and Friday this week.

And then it’s marathon Sunday.