12 times before today I have toed the starting line of a marathon, 12 times I dreamed of running a perfect race where I come through the halfway point feeling great before putting my foot down on the gas pedal and closing the race with a strong negative split the second half. All 12 times I was served humble pie, sometimes a small gentle slice tempered with a side of the sweet taste of victory, and sometimes I got served an extra large helping (or the entire pie). A quick history of my marathons below:
2006 Chicago Marathon - 3:07:47 (1:26:33 / 1:41:14) - 1493rd overall - 1316th male
2009 Flying Pig Marathon - 3:05:26 (1:21:43 / 1:43:43) - 67th overall - 64th male
2009 Foot Traffic Flat Marathon -2:52:29 (1:25:14 / 1:27:15) - 7th overall - 6th male
2010 Boston Marathon - 2:46:31 (1:16:54 / 1:29:37) - 381st overall - 352nd male
2011 Portland Marathon - 2:42:49 (1:17:40 / 1:25:09) - 15th overall
2012 Rock n' Roll Arizona Marathon - 2:37:22 (1:15:57 / 1:21:25) - 15th overall
2012 Omaha Marathon - 2:37:26 (1:16:26 / 1:21:00) - 1st overall
2012 Rock n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon - DNF - (dropped out at 16 miles, sick)
2013 Boston Marathon - 2:54:31 (1:17:19 / 1:37:12) - 1198th overall - 1131st male
2014 Rock n' Roll New Orleans Marathon -2:28:43 (1:13:15 / 1:15:28) - 3rd overall
2014 Boston Marathon - 2:30:32 (1:13:40 / 1:16:52) -102nd overall / 90th male
2014 Air Force Marathon - 2:28:15 (1:12:59 - 1:15:16) - 1st overall
2015 Houston Marathon ???
What would lucky #13 have in store for me?
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Maureen, Louie, Percy and I got to Houston late on Friday and after realizing everything is pretty much closed in town we grabbed some dinner from the deli across the street and then went to sleep.
The next day I ran the 5K with Maureen as my shakeout run. I don't want to brag about my pace job, but let's just say despite not getting a GPS signal in time due to being downtown and with all the buildings around I hit Maureen's goal pace for the first 2 miles within a second at each mile marker. Afterwards, we pretty much relaxed the whole day and I met up with a couple of friends I had met from letsrun in the afternoon before my 2nd lunch. (or 1st dinner?). It's always fun to meet other similar-minded runners and chat about running Shortly after a second dinner and lounging around some more I went to sleep around 9 or 10.
Unlike almost every marathon before this, I actually managed to sleep a decent amount the night before. (I don't think I slept more than 4-5 hours before my last 4 marathons, but this time I slept for a good 6-7 hours). I got up a little bit before 5, got my stuff ready (well, most of it was ready the night before), used the bathroom, ate a banana, and then headed out around 6 since I had to be in the subelite corral by 6:30.
When I got into the corral, there were about 20-25 of us in there and we had about a block of the street about 200 meters away from the start line blocked off for us to warm up in as well as 6 porta potties for us. It sure beat having to share about 30-40 with 5000 other people in corral A last year!
I warmed up for half a mile, then switched into my racing flats and used the bathroom one more time before jogging another couple of minutes. Then they brought us up to the start line so we could line up right behind the elites. I found my friend Jon a minute before the race started and quickly wished him good luck before lining up right behind him. Someone right behind me shouted "Go Steve Chu!" about 10 seconds before the gun started, which made me laugh and relax a little. (I was guessing it was Chris, and he confirmed it after the race when we went out and grabbed brunch)
The gun goes off and unlike the last 3-4 marathons I ran where it took 2-3 miles to loosen up the early pace felt like a joke. About a quarter mile into the race I feel like I am jogging but I was 2 steps behind Jon and the 2:18 pack and knew I better back off. A couple of minutes later some half-marathoners catch up to me and I figure I would just sit on these guys for awhile before the half and full marathon course splits at 7 miles. These guys were all wearing the Skechers racing team outfit so I figured they could hold 5:25 pace no problem, apparently not. They would surge to get in front of me and then slow down the pace to about 5:30-5:35s, and then I would feel like they were running too slow and pick the pace back up again. Then they would surge and slow the pace down again. Finally around 6 miles or so I had enough of this and threw in a quick mile to try to get some separation, mistake #1.
First 7 mile splits: 5:30, 5:27, 5:22, 5:26, 5:26, 5:20, 5:23.
Shortly after mile 7 the course for the half and full marathons split and I am all by myself for a few minutes. Then one of the weirdest things that ever happened to me in a marathon occurred, I hit a bad patch before mile 8. This was the earliest I have ever felt terrible in a marathon since my 2nd. A few minutes a pack of about 5-6 guys caught me and I momentarily debated dropping out, but they weren't pulling away that quick so I changed my mind and decided to try to latch on and see if I can at least salvage a small PR. I wasn't happy to see my mile splits in the 5:30s for the next few miles since I was doing my marathon pace/(effort) workouts at 6000+ feet altitude at that pace for the last few weeks, but I was hanging in there hoping that I would snap out of it or at least can hold that pace and maybe finish with a 2:25-2:26.
Miles 8-13: 5:32, 5:37, 5:34, 5:36, 5:34, 5:40. (halfway = 71:55).
I saw Jon at the halfway point where there was an out-and-back section and was a little worried about him because I thought he was around 1:10 at halfway. (little did I know that not was he about 30 seconds faster than my estimate at the half, but he was an ace at negative splitting and would run the 2nd half of his race a minute faster than the first to come within 12 seconds of his goal). Shortly after we turned around my worries turned to myself as I saw the lead vehicle for the women on the other side of the road about a minute behind us. One of the guys in the pack asked what everyone was shooting for and I quipped that I am just trying to make sure that truck (and the accompanying female runners) doesn't catch me in the next 13.1 miles.
Shortly after we went up the biggest hill on the entire course, an overpass. We covered this mile in 5:29, and the fact that we did it with a significant hill buoyed my spirit quite a bit and I found myself coming out of the bad patch. My thinking shifted from hanging on for a 2:25-2:26 to maybe running a negative split for a 2:23-high finish. Over the next few miles I started feeling pretty good but was still trying to be smart. Finally around 16 I felt like I was feeling stronger than most others in my pack so I moved to the front to do some more of the work. At this point our pack was down to about 5, with 2 others sharing / trading off the lead with me and 2 others hanging on as we slowly dropped the pace down.
Miles 13-20: 5:29, 5:26, 5:32, 5:26, 5:28, 5:27, 5:23.
When we hit the 20 mile mark in 1:49:40, I did some quick math in my head and knew I had to average about 5:20-5:22 or faster the last 10K to break 2:23. I decided to kick up the pace a little and see how my body would respond. Miles 21 and 22 were covered in 5:23 and 5:26, so at this point I thought 2:22:xx was out the window. However, I also began pulling away from the
group I had been running with and as I rounded the next turn I was able
to get a glimpse of a figure about 200-300 meters ahead of me. It took
me a second to recognize him, but there was no mistaking the runner with
long flowing hair and form, it was ultra running stud and former Olympic marathon trials qualifier Michael Wardian. My focus shifted from gunning for a time to collecting the scalp of a runner I have a tremendous amount of respect for and looked up to for the past few years.
Shortly after 23 miles, with about 5K to go, a thought crossed my mind that I was finally RACING a marathon, not surviving it at this point. I was running as hard as I can, breathing hard and having the legs to handle the pounding and match my cardiovascular efforts unlike in the past where I would have completely controlled breathing and equally completely trashed legs at this point, the 140-150 mile weeks I ran in December has finally prepared my body for the 2+ hours of pounding on the pavement a marathon demanded!
Shortly before mile 25 I finally catch Michael, and uttered a quick "come on Mike, almost there". I knew he wasn't having a good day, and probably raced a marathon or two the previous weekend, but I sure wasn't going to let up and give up my chance to finish ahead of one of the top ultra runners in the world.
Miles 20-25: 5:23, 5:26, 5:26, 5:17, 5:22.
At 25 miles I saw the clock read around 2:16:30-2:16:35, and a little bit more quick math tells me 5:20 pace for the last 1.22 miles would put me right around 2:23:00-2:23:05. While a 2:23 would be a significant PR, running 2:Anything:01 would piss me off to no end. I tap into my last gear, but careful not to overdo it and cause my legs to cramp. Just like a year ago, I was running down the streets of downtown Houston passing a tons of other runners from other races. (last year I was chasing down the women in the USA half marathon championships that had a head start, this year I was blowing by 2:20-2:25 half marathoners). Finally I hit the 26th mile marker and hit my watch and could not believe my eyes - 5:00.7!!! I had about 80-85 to cover the last quarter mile but I also saw a runner in a Saucony singlet so I give it everything I had to try to run him down. Alas, I ran out of real estate and finished 6 seconds behind that runner. Final time - 2:22:43! With a 1:10:48 2nd half and my first negative split marathon race!
I quickly shuffled my way through the finishers area and grabbed my shirt as well as the finishers glass that all marathon runners received. The best part of this experience was some old guy that was volunteering for the race yelled at another volunteer for handing me the glass "He doesn't get one! That's for full marathoners only!" and I just pointed at my bib to him, and he responded by looking down at his watch. After I got out onto the streets I jogged the quarter mile or so back to my hotel and got back to the room to a dozen congratulatory text messages from friends and family.
Out of the 13 marathons I have run I think this is the first one I would rate an "A". I still don't think I raced up to my fitness level, but this was the first time I have come within a minute of my pre race goal and most importantly this race was a great lesson in adjusting my expectations during the race and hanging in there through a bad patch while not being (too) effected by negative thoughts during the bad times.
Next up, a summary of my past training cycle as I have promised a few people. Hopefully in the next 2-3 days, or by the end of the week at the latest.
Monday, January 26, 2015
Introduction
I have tried writing running blogs before, but for one reason or another it's been hard to keep up with it. Maybe it was because the limited audience, or just my previous inability to perceive any interest in my training. However, over the past few years as I have progressed as a amateur runner I seem to have gotten more interest and inquiries from other runners on my training. Also, with my goals of qualifying for the Olympic Trials within reach and feeling like this would be a good way to document the process, now seems as good a time as any to give this blogging thing one more shot.
Quick background on who I am: I have always been a fairly active Asian kid who lacked the coordination to convert his above average energy level into any sort of success in team sports. In middle school I played for a rec league basketball team where I scored 3 points the whole season. The only sort of success I had in athletics was winning my middle school intramural ping pong tournament (sort of by default since I was only one of 3 kids of Chinese descent in my grade) and "winning" the mile run in PE class in 7th and 8th grade.
Then one day the summer before my freshman year of high school I received a letter in the mail encouraging me to try out for the high school cross country team. (little did I know that letter went out pretty much to any incoming freshman that wasn't signed up for another fall sport already). I loosely followed the sample training schedule, showed up, ran my first workout with the top returning runners on the team and found myself as the #3 runner on the team. My freshman year I had a small amount of success, running 17:54 for a full 5K (also 17:20 on a short course) and finished 14th at the county meet as well as 16th at the state meet. (We were a 1st year school, so we ran "1A", or the smallest of 4 classes). Throughout high school I improved steadily, and achieved the following annual personal bests:
Freshman year - 17:54 XC, 2:13 800, 4:43 1600, 10:22 3200.
Sophomore year- 17:27 XC, 2:01 800, 4:28 1600, 10:12 3200.
Junior Year - 16:45 XC. (no improvements in track times).
Senior Year - 16:12 XC, 2:00 800, 4:27 mile, 9:54 3200.
I had no plans to compete for my college team, but was approached by the coach and gave it a shot. I ran off and on for a few seasons and struggled with injuries, finally quitting out of frustration halfway through the indoor track season my junior year. When I hung up my flats/spikes for the last time I had achieved some modest personal bests:
1500 - 4:05 (freshman year at the conference meet)
5000 - 15:52 (junior year indoors)
8K XC - 26:50
I ran off and on to stay in shape, and had plans to run a marathon shortly after college before I somehow got a neuroma in my foot the fall after graduating college. I saw a few doctors over the next year and a half but somehow none of them were able to provide a correct diagnosis. Finally, I came across a sports medicine specialist who not only diagnosed it correctly but gave me pretty much a miracle cure and I was back to running pain free in a matter of days. (turned out I had a pretty mild but persistent case so I was able to use a foot insert/pad to separate my toes a little bit and alleviate the pain)
After a few weeks of training I decided to enter the Chicago marathon that fall. My life then promptly became pretty busy and I basically "forgot" to train. When I moved to Chicago at the end of August I started a 8-week crash course program and got hurt on a 22-miler 4 weeks into it. I ran 3 times in the last 4 weeks but decided to toe the line anyways because I felt "fairly close healed" on my test runs the week before the race. Long story short, I went out feeling pretty comfortable and came across halfway a little under 87 minutes. I then decided to speed up before hitting the wall spectacularly at around 20 miles and "ran" my last 10K in 55 minutes or so. First marathon - 3:07:47.
It was a couple of months before I could run again. (I suspect I had a stress fracture or torn ligament of some sort, but I was also too sore for do much more than hobble around for the first month or so anyways). I tried to make a comeback in 2007, and got my butt kicked one race after another before a case of plantar fasciitis sidelined me for the year. I then spent the next 9 months or so ballooning up to about 200 pounds before I saw a picture of myself from a trip my girlfriend (now wife) and I took to Las Vegas that summer and realized something had to change. This would be the last "comeback" (or at least latest) that I would make to running.
In early June of 2008 I headed out my apartment and ran to United Center (a 2 mile run) in a little under 20 minutes, and every step of the return trip hurt. Somehow, I stuck with it this time, by that winter I ran a 29:50 8K and a 16:40 3-miler and considered myself in decent shape. Then over the next few years I posted the following annual PRs:
2009: 16:47 5K, 34:51 10K, 1:15:36 HM, 2:52:29 marathon.
2010: 16:23 5K, 33:31 10K, 1:14:42 HM, 2:46:31 marathon.
2011: 16:07 5K, --:-- 10K, 1:12:52 HM, 2:42:49 marathon.
2012: 15:40 5K, 32:32 10K, 1:10:34 HM, 2:37:22 marathon.
2013: (injured between March and July, ITBS, no PRs)
2014: 15:29 5K, 31:59 10K, 1:07:44 HM, 2:28:22 marathon.
2015: 2:22:43 marathon.
What started out as just a way to become fit and healthy again (and actually for those that know me, to counter my above average appetite) slowly evolved into me chasing my unfinished dreams as a runner. At this point there is really no mystery what my next goals are - sub 65:00 HM or sub 2:18:00 marathon, which would qualify me for the 2016 Olympic marathon trials. I have less than a year to do it, but with the training partners and support I have and the knowledge I have gained over the past couple of years about training and about myself as a runner I have confidence that this is more than just a pipe dream.
I guess this will do it for the first post. Sort of a hurried introduction, but more so because I want to write out my race report from last weekend's Houston marathon while I still remember most of the race. Next up - Houston marathon race report.
Quick background on who I am: I have always been a fairly active Asian kid who lacked the coordination to convert his above average energy level into any sort of success in team sports. In middle school I played for a rec league basketball team where I scored 3 points the whole season. The only sort of success I had in athletics was winning my middle school intramural ping pong tournament (sort of by default since I was only one of 3 kids of Chinese descent in my grade) and "winning" the mile run in PE class in 7th and 8th grade.
Then one day the summer before my freshman year of high school I received a letter in the mail encouraging me to try out for the high school cross country team. (little did I know that letter went out pretty much to any incoming freshman that wasn't signed up for another fall sport already). I loosely followed the sample training schedule, showed up, ran my first workout with the top returning runners on the team and found myself as the #3 runner on the team. My freshman year I had a small amount of success, running 17:54 for a full 5K (also 17:20 on a short course) and finished 14th at the county meet as well as 16th at the state meet. (We were a 1st year school, so we ran "1A", or the smallest of 4 classes). Throughout high school I improved steadily, and achieved the following annual personal bests:
Freshman year - 17:54 XC, 2:13 800, 4:43 1600, 10:22 3200.
Sophomore year- 17:27 XC, 2:01 800, 4:28 1600, 10:12 3200.
Junior Year - 16:45 XC. (no improvements in track times).
Senior Year - 16:12 XC, 2:00 800, 4:27 mile, 9:54 3200.
I had no plans to compete for my college team, but was approached by the coach and gave it a shot. I ran off and on for a few seasons and struggled with injuries, finally quitting out of frustration halfway through the indoor track season my junior year. When I hung up my flats/spikes for the last time I had achieved some modest personal bests:
1500 - 4:05 (freshman year at the conference meet)
5000 - 15:52 (junior year indoors)
8K XC - 26:50
I ran off and on to stay in shape, and had plans to run a marathon shortly after college before I somehow got a neuroma in my foot the fall after graduating college. I saw a few doctors over the next year and a half but somehow none of them were able to provide a correct diagnosis. Finally, I came across a sports medicine specialist who not only diagnosed it correctly but gave me pretty much a miracle cure and I was back to running pain free in a matter of days. (turned out I had a pretty mild but persistent case so I was able to use a foot insert/pad to separate my toes a little bit and alleviate the pain)
After a few weeks of training I decided to enter the Chicago marathon that fall. My life then promptly became pretty busy and I basically "forgot" to train. When I moved to Chicago at the end of August I started a 8-week crash course program and got hurt on a 22-miler 4 weeks into it. I ran 3 times in the last 4 weeks but decided to toe the line anyways because I felt "fairly close healed" on my test runs the week before the race. Long story short, I went out feeling pretty comfortable and came across halfway a little under 87 minutes. I then decided to speed up before hitting the wall spectacularly at around 20 miles and "ran" my last 10K in 55 minutes or so. First marathon - 3:07:47.
It was a couple of months before I could run again. (I suspect I had a stress fracture or torn ligament of some sort, but I was also too sore for do much more than hobble around for the first month or so anyways). I tried to make a comeback in 2007, and got my butt kicked one race after another before a case of plantar fasciitis sidelined me for the year. I then spent the next 9 months or so ballooning up to about 200 pounds before I saw a picture of myself from a trip my girlfriend (now wife) and I took to Las Vegas that summer and realized something had to change. This would be the last "comeback" (or at least latest) that I would make to running.
In early June of 2008 I headed out my apartment and ran to United Center (a 2 mile run) in a little under 20 minutes, and every step of the return trip hurt. Somehow, I stuck with it this time, by that winter I ran a 29:50 8K and a 16:40 3-miler and considered myself in decent shape. Then over the next few years I posted the following annual PRs:
2009: 16:47 5K, 34:51 10K, 1:15:36 HM, 2:52:29 marathon.
2010: 16:23 5K, 33:31 10K, 1:14:42 HM, 2:46:31 marathon.
2011: 16:07 5K, --:-- 10K, 1:12:52 HM, 2:42:49 marathon.
2012: 15:40 5K, 32:32 10K, 1:10:34 HM, 2:37:22 marathon.
2013: (injured between March and July, ITBS, no PRs)
2014: 15:29 5K, 31:59 10K, 1:07:44 HM, 2:28:22 marathon.
2015: 2:22:43 marathon.
What started out as just a way to become fit and healthy again (and actually for those that know me, to counter my above average appetite) slowly evolved into me chasing my unfinished dreams as a runner. At this point there is really no mystery what my next goals are - sub 65:00 HM or sub 2:18:00 marathon, which would qualify me for the 2016 Olympic marathon trials. I have less than a year to do it, but with the training partners and support I have and the knowledge I have gained over the past couple of years about training and about myself as a runner I have confidence that this is more than just a pipe dream.
I guess this will do it for the first post. Sort of a hurried introduction, but more so because I want to write out my race report from last weekend's Houston marathon while I still remember most of the race. Next up - Houston marathon race report.
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