Chasing faster times but not catching them... yet!

While I run multiple marathons a year, I like to select a couple to specifically target my training towards with the goal of running a PR.  This winter I selected the Carmel Marathon as my next target marathon.  I also decided to have a little fun along the way by joining my super speedy friends in the Shamrock Shuffle 8k Team Competition.

Since I didn't want to sabotage my team, I jumped into their gut-twisting, butt-kicking track workouts to prepare myself for such a "short" race.  I have to admit that I actually enjoyed putting myself through these torturous workouts, mainly because I had great company but also because I began to hit times I had never run before.  What better way to start the day than running 5x 1 mile repeats with your friends at a pace 10-15 seconds faster than you ever thought possible?

Large races scare me.  I'm afraid that I'll get lost in the masses of people or worse, not be able to use the bathroom (multiple times) before the start. The Shamrock Shuffle was by far the largest race I've ran with over 34,000 participants.  However, since the team competitors were given their own area before the race, complete with bag check and porta potties, it didn't feel like I was about to take part in huge race.  While I enjoyed this special treatment, I felt out of place among all the very fit, talented runners.  I don't think I've ever been surrounded by so many well defined muscles.  As a side note, after countless ab workouts, I have come to the conclusion that great looking abs is genetic and that I'm destined for the "soft" look.


The race went by really fast and I finished in a time of 29:49, just under 6 min/mile pace.  I was both excited and disappointed by my result.  I typically run this pace for the majority of the 5ks I run and I've done a 4 mile race just under 6 min pace and this was the first time I was able to hold this pace for 5 miles. So, it was an accomplishment.  I just thought I should have been able to run faster.  I think that's a common sentiment among runners.  We are always chasing a faster time that we think we should be able to attain.

After the Shamrock Shuffle, I was looking forward to the Carmel Marathon.  I felt like I was in great shape; however my confidence took a little knock when I had a couple rough weeks of training leading into the race due to bad cold.  Despite that, I decided to start the Carmel Marathon with a strong pace since I wanted to aim for a PR. My pace for the first 9 miles was in the low 6:40s.  Unfortunately, I felt like I was expending more energy at that pace than I would be able to maintain for the rest of the race so I decided to slow a little.  A sub-3 would still be attainable and if I felt better later, maybe I could still pull off a PR. 

Around mile 16 or 17 my body just felt depleted of energy, and I realized I was going to have to enter survival pace if I was going to finish without crawling.  At mile 23, a friend from college and his posse caught me.  It was great timing. With a little over 3 miles left, I needed some encouragement and distraction.  I latched onto the group until my body revolted.  With 1.5 miles left, my vision started blurring a bit and I had to try with all my might to keep my legs moving.  The race provided bike escorts for the top 3 men and women.  Since I had been in 2nd the entire race, I had a cyclist with me. We hadn't spoken to each other thoughout the race, but he must have sensed that I was struggling because he started to offer words of encouragement.  Either the rapid slowing of pace or the "come on, Melissa" I started repeating to myself out loud probably tipped him off.  I crossed the finish line in 3:02, 7 minutes over the PR I was hoping to run.

With Leah Thorvilson after the Carmel Marathon

I'm not sure what caused my slow demise. Maybe it was a combination of starting too fast and having an off day.  Although Justin and I may have had less than spectacular performances, I think we were more the exception than the rule.  I came away from the race inspired for my next marathon by a number of runners.  To name a few... Leah won her 5th marathon of 2012 in a super speedy 2:42 (and she had ran a marathon the week before).  Laurissa placed 3rd and was only 2 minutes off her PR just 5 months after having a baby.  Tammy and Wins crushed their previous marathon PRs by over 10 minutes and 20 minutes, respectively.  Remarkable!! If that doesn't leave you wanting to run more, I don't know what will!

One time...two responses.

I wonder if someone would have told me back in 2002 what life would be like for me in 2012 if I would have believed them. In 2002 I was 19 years old with goals and dreams for the future. These included graduating from Goshen College, becoming a farmer, and marrying Melissa. Two of these goals were easy to achieve. My family has been farming since 1843 and becoming a college graduate is not difficult. Dating Melissa on the other hand seemed virtually impossible.

Believe it or not I did not have many long term running goals at the time, but one of the goals I did have was to run the Boston Marathon for as many years as possible. I first ran the Boston Marathon in 2001 as a high school senior, it was a great experience that my entire family enjoyed. In 2002 a return trip was obvious. Granny, Dad, and I loaded up and headed to Boston for an enjoyable weekend. My training was going well and I was due a breakthrough marathon, which thankfully occurred. On that day I ran a 2:34:11 marathon and was extremely happy with my new marathon personal best. The trip was memorable. Granny enjoyed taking in all the sights and sounds of the race. That Boston Marathon medal is hers.

A lot of changes have occurred in my life since then. After asking Melissa out for 3 years she finally agreed to one date just to get me to leave her alone. As it turns out me telling her that I thought we would get married someday is what was causing her to turn down dating me, but regardless of her hesitation we got married in 2007. I achieved my goal of graduating college and becoming a farmer. I was a full-time farmer from 2005 through the summer of 2010, when life changes dictated that I needed to provide childcare for our son Miles while Melissa worked on her PhD. Training specifically for the Boston Marathon every spring has been replaced by other running goals, and running a 2:34:11 marathon is no longer viewed as a successful race for me. I mention all this because this weekend, virtually 10 years since that solid marathon personal best at the Boston Marathon, I ran the  exact time of 2:34:11 at the Carmel Marathon. It is amazing how life can change your prespective on things, what I once viewed as a high success was now just an average day.

The Carmel Marathon is a young event, only in its second year, but the organization made it appear like it was established years ago. The race organizers and volunteers were top notch people. Which compounds my disappointment in running a slower time. It is always nice to run your best for race directors who do a great job of putting together an event. This race had everything a runner could ask for including great aid stations and an exciting course that showed off a variety of Carmel neighborhoods. It also had 2 things that I struggle with, cold and wind.

I was able to start off well. By mile 8 I was sitting in fourth place with a larger gap on 5th place. I could still see 2nd and 3rd place so I thought it possible that one of them might fade and I could pass them late in the race. Turns out I was the one who faded. The elements were causing me to tighten up and slow down. I tried to fight through it by making surges but nothing seemed to work. My pace went from 5:40s to 6:00-6:15 depending on how strong the wind was we were running into. I was never passed by 5th place, but also was never able to close the gap on any runners in front of me. I was relieved to finish the marathon as that met I could put on some warmer clothes. For the first time in our running career I did not stay around the finish area to wait for Melissa to finish. I was too cold. I headed straight to the car to get dressed. I do find it interesting that a time I was proud to run 10 years ago now is a dissapointing race. It makes me hopeful that 10 years from now an average race will be a time I am proud to run now. I am not racing this upcoming weekend, but after that weekend I will be doing 7 marathons in the next 8 weeks. Race...Recover...Repeat.

Athens Marathon

It is very rare that I look back on my running career, but when I do it is easy for me to pinpoint a few key races that have lead to me being the runner I am today. This past weekend I was able to compete in the 45th Athens Marathon in Athens, Ohio, which was my fourth time running this event. Doing this event again allowed me to travel back down memory lane and look at the impact the Athens Marathon has had on my running career. I have previously ran this marathon in 2006, 2010, 2011, and now again in 2012. Lets take a short journey back through time and see how these races changed my running career. Starting with 2006...

Many people reading this could easily describe how I look when running a marathon, ugly, tired, slow, and wearing blue shorts, white race top, and of course a white MarathonGuide.com hat.

What you may not be aware of is that I never wore a hat to race in until I first tested it out at the Athens Marathon in 2006. A hat is a big upgrade from this poster from my college days! Oddly enough when doing hill sprints with some of my training partners a week or two prior to the marathon I was informed by one of them that running with a hat on would slow me down several minutes, there are doubters everywhere you turn. Reality is if running a marathon in a hat felt uncomfortable on that day I probably never would have tried it again, even though wearing a hat helps protect my eyes, which are sensitive to the bright sunlight.

Even though the hat passed its test my body failed me on that day. I was 23 years old and still working towards being able to run back to back races at a quality level. The day prior to the Athens Marathon I competed in a half marathon in Columbus, Ohio. This depleted my body.

At the time I did not have a sound and tested system for taking in my GU Gels and energy drinks during a marathon, this might have lead to me barely surviving the race. I was grateful and excited to win, but full of pain from the event. This was even evident in my post race comments to the local newspaper, when I stated to kill me and throw me in a ditch. For the next three years I maintained my stance that the Athens Marathon was not for me, but then life changed on August 31, 2009.

I woke up that Monday morning, left the Buchanan, Michigan home I was renting and headed out to do farm work, thinking this day would be a fun day in the fields. That innocent bliss lasted for a few hours until a phone call arrived stating that my Father-In-Law had fallen off of a silo from roughly 24 feet up and was in a bad condition. To make a long story short we immediately moved from Michigan to Berne, Indiana to help on his dairy farm as he recovered from massive injuries. For the next 10 months I enjoyed learning more about the dairy farming industry, even if the milking schedule hindered my training and traveling. This is when the thought that "Life is not about you" really sunk it. It motivated me to help my Father-In-Law as much as I needed to even if it caused my running to suffer.

Due to this move we now lived closer to the Athens Marathon, which is why we returned to run the marathon in 2010. I found during that race that the race was actually not as bad as I previously thought. I guess compared to other obstacles that life might throw our way running an out-and-back marathon on a bicycle path is not that bad. The 2010 event ended similar to the 2006 event, a win but with a slow time. I looked forward to running the race again in 2011 to prove that I was faster than the efforts I had put forth at their marathon.

The 2011 Athens Marathon was one of my better spring marathons that year, not just because of my 2:29:39 winning time, but because I was able to stay competitive throughout the race. From mile 8 to mile 19 I had a tough competitor matching my efforts stride for stride. We traded surges several times, which I liken to boxers trading jabs. You might not win the match with some jabs but they wear your opponent down for when you want to land the killer uppercut. My knock out shot was a 5:29 mile for mile 20. Sure this is not a blistering fast mile but it is not the size of the hit as much as it impact that makes a difference.

This year my goals for the race were a little hazy. I thought it would be neat to try to win my 4th career Athens Marathon, which would tie me for most wins in the races history. This race represented my 3rd marathon in 3 weekends, but I did not feel any soreness. Maybe due to wearing Recovery Sock compression sleeves all week, or taking multiple ice baths. My training this past week finally started to get better as I did 2 speed workouts and was feeling stronger.

Even though I was gaining fitness I still started the marathon about as fast as my old truck drives, nice and easy. Just past the mile marker I was able to catch up with one of my athletes, Jordan Smeltzer, who was running the half marathon. I decided to stick with him for the first 6 miles.

From that point on it was a solo mission to run as fast as I could. Unfortunately the mile markers were not accurate so it was hard to gauge how fast I was going. I decided it would be best to stay uncomfortable, push hard, and be aggressive, much like a honey badger. With the mile markers off it was hard to tell how close I was to breaking 2:30, which unfortunately I failed to achieve. I was able to win in 2:30:34, which gives me a good boast of confidence that I will soon be back to running like I should be. Sure I was a little disappointed not to break 2:30 again, but all that went away when I received one of my weirdest compliments ever. A spectator came up to me and stated, "Nice shins you have." I asked them to explain and they stated, "I bet you never get shin splints with shin bones like that." Odd indeed, but it did give me an internal laugh. I look forward to returning to the Athens Marathon in 2013, it has become an event that I really enjoy, a complete change from my initial impression.