I remember when I first started running back in the fall of 2009 that running even 5 miles in a row seemed completely unattainable.  But, I kept at it, slowly and steadily, and managed to get to a place where I could do it.  So I’d add a bit to my next milestone, then go after that a little bit at a time.  When I toed the line to run my first 10K (which is 6.2 miles), I had never run 6 miles in a row before, and I wasn’t even certain that I’d finish, but I went ahead anyway.  After reaching that, I began to add a little bit more here and there.  I distinctly remember trying to run 10 miles.  It took me four attempts before I actually made it.

So now I’m at the place where I have a few marathons under my belt; some went well, some … not-so-much.  In the midst of training for my first (in Chicago 2010), a friend asked if I was going to qualify for Boston, and I remember thinking he might as well be asking if I plan to go to the moon.  A complete and utter impossibility.

In my most recent race, the 2011 Marine Corps Marathon, I proved to myself that I could, in fact, improve my running beyond what I thought was possible.  And it’s from that perspective that I’ve decided to dedicate this year to shaving an additional 27 minutes from my marathon P.R. to get down to 3:15:00, or the Boston Marathon qualification time for a man of my advancing age.  It definitely feels like a stretch goal, but I now know what hard work and dedication can lead to, and I feel like I’m ready to take those next steps.  The coaching I’ve been getting from Luke Humphrey has been an incredible boost for me, too, and so I believe I’m going after this goal in a measured, smart way.  So the plan looks like this:

• Glass City Marathon, April 22, 2012.  My base goal is to run a 3:34:00 here.  If the stars (and weather) align, I may go for a 3:30:00.
• California International Marathon, December 2, 2012.  This will be the marathon where I go for a 3:15:00.

I’m sure I’ll have other races along the way to see how my fitness is progressing, but those are the major ones.  So there it is in black and white:  I’d like to qualify for Boston.  And 2012 is the year I start to do that.

The year started pretty slowly as I was recovering from a knee injury sustained during my run at the 2010 Chicago Marathon, but I was feeling better and had started training for the 2011 Flying Pig Marathon in earnest.  While Cincinnati isn’t known for having brutal winters, January and February were pretty tough.  Lots of snow and lots of ice.  But training went pretty well.  At the end of February, I had a great time running with 11 other runners at the Ragnar Relay in Del Sol, Arizona, and surprised myself by turning in 3 consecutive legs averaging under 8:00 minute miles.  That little confidence boost lead me to give myself a bit of a fitness test in March by running the Cincinnati Heart Half Marathon to a PR:  1:42:43.

When May rolled around I felt ready to tackle the Flying Pig.  Everything in my training lead me to believe a sub-4:00 race was more than doable.  In the end, that race left me face down in the gravel after mile the 16 mark, and with a huge question mark about my health.  Things turned out OK, though, and I got the go ahead to continue running, with a strict proviso that I pay keen attention to my hydration levels.  Much to the dismay of my entire family, I made the decision to turn around a week later and run the Toronto Good Life Marathon.  My reasons were many, and although I was a bit afraid too, I’m glad I made the decision to do it.  I finished in just over 4 hours:  4:00:40.

I spent the summer training for the fall marathon I had on my schedule:  the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC.  While I had turned in a solid performance in Toronto, I knew I had a better time in me, so I got to work trying to make that happen.  At the beginning of the MCM training cycle, I made to the decision to try something new with my training and signed up with coaching from the Hanson-Brooks Distance Project.  I worked directly with Luke Humphrey, who is running in the Olympic Trials Marathon in just a few weeks.  Their thinking on marathon training plans are a bit different from most, but honestly, that’s what I wanted.

By late summer, I knew I was improving.  Double digit tempo runs no longer scared me, and my strength and speed runs were solid as well.  My peak mileage got up to about 60 miles per week and I was handling it well.  I went into the race feeling pretty confident.  My goal was to run a 3:45:00 and I ended up bettering that by 3 minutes:  3:42:00, an 18 minute PR!  I also got to run with a bunch of great people, many of whom I had met in person at the Ragnar race in February.  Getting to meet a bunch of people I had only known online was an incredible treat as well.

A smile at the finish of the Marine Corps Marathon

This last part of the year has been spent recovering a little bit from a wonky hip, but it’s mostly been spent setting my goals for 2012.  I’ll get to that in a post in a few days.

I’ve learned a ton this year and look forward to more of the same next year.

Since then, I’ve gradually improved my running and, yes, even gotten a bit faster.  When I was heading out to run the Ragnar Relay in Arizona in February, I had a simple goal: don’t embarrass yourself.  Meaning, try not to be the slowest guy out there!  Once I had completed my first leg and handed off the bracelet, I was surprised when I checked out my Garmin:  a little over 4 and half miles at a 7:40/mile pace.  That was the fastest run I had ever completed.  Ever.  The next two legs went just as well:  6+ at 7:41/mile and about 5 and a half at 7:43/mile.  To be clear, before landing in Arizona, I had never in my life run at a pace under 8:00/mile, but somehow managed to turn in three runs in a row at better than that pace.

Last Sunday, I went in to the Heart Half Marathon feeling pretty confident that I’d be able to run a good race.  So confident that I lined up with the 8:00/mile pace group.  Granted, I thought I’d be hanging on for dear life, but I also didn’t think it was crazy either.  Again, I managed to run that race (a 13.1 mile race) at an average of 7:50/mile.

I don’t know this for sure yet, but each time I’ve gone for a run since Ragnar, my legs just seem to want to run at a pace close to 8:00/mile.  I’m kind of hoping this becomes the new normal.  We’ll see.

Writing a running blog and having just a few days left in 2010, I’m pretty sure I’m required to write a year-end recap.  I’d like to keep my membership standing in the Writers Writing For An Audience of One Guild (or the WWFAAOOG), so here we go.

2010 was filled with a dizzying array of ups and downs, first time accomplishments, complete failures, and more than anything else: learning.  I learned a ton about myself as a runner, a father, a husband and a friend, and I can attribute a lot of that learning to my dedication to running.

The year started out high hopes and lots of goals.  I had just begun to run in September of 2009 and before that year was done, I had managed to go from sitting on the couch (both literally and figuratively) to running my first 5K, a second 5K and a 10K.  I was hooked, and I was loving every minute of it.  OK, not every minute of it.  December is cold.

By the end of 2009, I had decided to set two running goals for 2010:  complete a half marathon, and if that went well, train for a full marathon.  One of the nice things about the earliest parts of running is that you can set new personal records left and right since there’s no long history to compare.  Run 5 miles today?  New distance PR!

As January bled over into February, I began to ramp up mileage as I prepared for the Flying Pig Half Marathon.  During that same period of time, I learned about YakTrax, how much I hate running on a treadmill, and the need for nutrition during longer runs.  All new things to me.  By February, I had also put together a plan for the year, or at least for the major races.

As February gave way to March, I also got to have my first run in a different country:  the Bahamas.  This was a make-up trip for the one we had to cancel in November of 2009 when my older son got the dreaded H1N1 flu the night before the trip was to start.

This also started a period of time that was personally very difficult.  My father-in-law’s health had begun to decline pretty rapidly and there was a lot of worry about what was going on.  It was very tough for my wife to get good information about what the doctors were saying from 2000 miles away.  As the month came to a close, my wife was in Florida to be with her dad, who passed away on March 28th.  I’m not sure I’ll ever feel good about not making it to be by her side in time.

April was spent learning what the longer runs would feel like, and I even threw in a half marathon distance run to see where I really stood.  I also faced my very first taper leading up to the Flying Pig Half.  I think I can confidently say that I’m not a fan of the taper.  I’m surprised I wasn’t kicked out of my house.

On May 3rd, I ran my very first half marathon.  I completed the race in 1:56:14 which was just over a minute longer than I wanted it to be.  I learned some great lessons on that first big race about pacing, running through pain, the effects weather can have on performance, and, yes, about pride.  This would be the first big race where my sons and wife got to watch me run.  They, too, braved the rainy Sunday to cheer me on and it made a huge difference to me.  Reuniting with them after the race was one of my favorite moments of the year.  Seeing the pride my boys had for what I had worked hard to accomplish was priceless.

Having put together a respectable run at the Flying Pig, I turned my attention to marathon training through the summer.  The summer months went by in a blur of heat, humidity and baseball!  Both of my boys play baseball so we spent the majority of our time going to and from baseball fields all over the Cincinnati area.  My running continued to progress although I had to learn some hard lessons about running in the heat.  I also took some time to work on my form and even went to a sports nutritionist to find out just how badly I was doing fueling my body.

August brought two bright points to what was otherwise a long, hot slog through the summer:  deciding to run the Chicago Marathon for the charity Run For Dom, and my second half marathon, the Spirit of Columbus Half.

September started with my one year of running anniversary and the two 20 mile training runs that preceded the marathon.  I left the month feeling confident that the goals I had set for the marathon were within reach and that my training was right where it needed to be.

October turned out to be an extraordinary month.  It started with the Chicago Marathon on the 10th.  While I did complete the marathon, my performance was hampered by a knee injury that occurred a little past the halfway point.  Having never dealt with any type of training injury, I was thrown pretty hard by this.  I managed to gather myself and push through the final half, but I needed to alternate walking and running to get it done.  The highlight of the year for me was finding my family in the runner reunite area and being tackle-hugged by my boys and my wife.  My sisters, mother and father also surprised me by traveling to Chicago to cheer me on.  While I admit that my first reaction to my race performance was bitter disappointment, it didn’t take long for me to see just how much I gained from the experience and just how much I and my family learned from the road it took to get there.

Having to stop running for 6 weeks to let my knee heal seemed like a prison sentence when the doctor gave me the news.  But I took the opportunity to work on two areas I hadn’t spent any time on before:  cross training and strength training.  The rest of October and the entirety of November were spent improving those areas and staying away from any impact on my knee.  As I’ve been able to get back to running everyday in December, I can already see some positive results.  I’ve never felt better or stronger as a runner.

December 27th was the first day of marathon training for the Flying Pig on May 1, 2011 and I’m feeling good about being back on a plan.  It looks like I’ll finish 2010 having run 1362 miles.

Today’s run was nowhere near as satisfying as the first 20 miler, but that was due to a little stomach bug, not the run itself. I still feel confident and ready for October 10th.

What I am afraid of is … the taper.

The last time I tapered was late April in preparation for the Flying Pig Half Marathon. I’m pretty sure my family was ready to send me to live in a hotel by the end. Apparently, I’m a little grouchy while tapering. I know all of the great reasons for the taper. And I know I’ll be happy to be rested and strong on race day. But the in the mean time I’ll just have to live with being stir crazy. For three weeks. Ughhh.

Here’s what I said one year ago about why I began running again.

Lately I’ve gotten so completely disgusted with myself, my laziness, but most importantly, the example I am setting for my family that I have (re)committed to running.

I ended that post with a promise. “This time, it’s for real. I promise.”

I then went out and start the Couch to 5K running program to help get me started. One of the big differences between previous attempts to start running and this one is that I consciously decided to take it slow and easy, and C25K really helped with that. The first day of C25K has you alternating between 60 seconds of running and 90 seconds of walking. Here’s me after that first day:

And there I was wheezing my way around, wondering how 60 seconds could feel so damn long. Sixty seconds. Seconds.

That whole first week of running felt like hell, and I was only doing one minute at a time. Today, one year later, for the first time ever, I ran 20 miles and it took me about 3 hours to do it. Day one, one minute. Today, 182 minutes.

I’ve admitted it before, and I will again now. When I started, I was driven by many self-centered factors: I felt lazy, I felt (and was) grossly overweight. And honestly, I had been both for the better part of a decade. While those first days were mostly about my appearance, there was one other big factor: the example I was setting for my wife and my two young boys.

As for the physical changes, they’ve been pretty drastic.  When I started, I weighed 218 pounds, which put me in the obese category according to BMI (I’m 6’0″).  And while I never had my body composition measured, I can’t imagine that my fat percentage was any less than 30%.  My resting heart rate was somewhere in the 80s and I was just generally unhealthy, getting pretty much every cold or sniffle my kids brought home from school.  Today, I weigh 171 lbs., my resting heart rate is on the low 50s, and I had my body composition measured at the beginning of July and found that my fat percentage is just 7%.  In the past year, I haven’t been sick at all, even with H1N1 having made its presence known in my family.

I’m proud of the changes I’ve made in my body.  But what really makes me feel great is how proud my wife and boys are.  Just this afternoon, my younger boy said, “Dad I’m so proud of you for your 20 mile run.”  That alone felt like gold, but  I asked him why he was proud and he said, unprompted, “You’ve been running for a whole year to be able run 20 miles!”  I am not ashamed to tell you that I cried a bit when I heard that.  For an eight year old to recognize that hard work has to be consistently practiced over a long time to get to goals is priceless.  No amount of saying those words to him would have done it, but actually going out day after day regardless of how I was feeling allowed him to grasp a lesson that will serve him for his entire life.  I feel like I earned a Dad badge today.

A few stats to wrap things up.

• 1237 total miles run.
• Longest run to date.: 20 miles, 3:02:30
• Mason Mini 5K: 11/8/09, 5K, 30:22
• St. Ursaline Run for the Lions: 11/15/09, 5K, 29:34
• Thanksgiving Day Race: 11/26/09, 10K, 1:04:24
• Flying Pig Half Marathon: 5/2/10, 13.1 miles, 1:56:14
• Spirit of Columbus Half Marathon: 8/29/10, 13.1 miles, 1:51:48

I still have about a month to go to reach the goal I’ve been thinking about since I was in high school:  to run a marathon.  On October 10, 2010 I’ll be running the Chicago Marathon.

Well, August has begun and the heat from July has decided to stick around for one (hopefully) last hurrah. As of today, I am two months away from an attempt at achieving a lifelong goal: complete a marathon. The Chicago Marathon is on October 10, 2010, and I’ll be there toeing the line with roughly 44,999 others. I’ll be the one in running shorts.

This past Sunday was the longest run of my life: 17 miles. I was so nervous about it that I didn’t sleep well the night before and awoke in the morning long before my 5:30 alarm went off. After grabbing a quick bite to eat (my pre-long run traditional banana with peanut butter), a drink or two of water and doing some stretching, I set out at 6:05 AM. As I started down the road I live on, it turns east and I had a picture-perfect view of the moon with just the tiniest hint of a sliver. The sky was still pre-dawn dark blue and as I looked up at the moon I saw a meteor streak by. I figured that had to be a good omen. For the next couple of hours I wound through the streets of my hometown, try my damnedest to maintain a steady, even cadence and pace. All in all, my Garmin tells me I did a good job at that. At about mile 13, my wife met me to give me fresh, cold water bottles and good conversation to keep my mind off the running. Both the water and the talking helped a ton. I finished up in 2:33:03, or a pace of 8:59/mile. Now this week’s 18 miler doesn’t seem so daunting.

I’ve found running to be like a parent watching their children grow. The growth happens in tiny, almost imperceptible, little increments, every day. But every once in a while you get a glimpse of some startling, new capability and you just smile. When I could only run 30 seconds at a time without getting winded, 17 miles might as well have been to the moon. When I finished my run on Sunday, I allowed myself a little smile in recognition of how far I’ve come.

But, I’m not done yet. I’ve got more buidling to do if I’m going to make it to 26.2, so that little smile is all I get at the moment. Now it’s back to building up the milage in the heat and humidity of August.

Here they are, my stated goals for the Chicago Marathon, in order of priority:

1. Finish the race without injury.
2. Finish the race within 5 hours. (avg. pace:  11:25/mile)
3. Finish the race within 4 hours. (avg. pace: 9:09/mile)

I believe I can attain all three of these goals, so now I need to do the rest of the work to get there.

1. Marathon training really kicked into gear.  While my official training plan started at the end of May, I had already been running the types of weeks that the plan called for up until the end of June.  That last week of June and then all of July has been pushing further than I had gone before, both in terms of absolute mileage as well as the other aspects of training.  Towards the end of July, two of my long runs were personal records for me in distance since they both went further than the half marathon I ran in May.
2. The weather.  I’ll admit it:  the weather kicked my butt for the first few weeks.  Since I only really began running last September, I had never experienced a real summer training.  So far I can say that I prefer the winter.  I’m an educated man, yet it never occurred to me that running in the heat and humidity would be more difficult.  I had a handful of runs that I just considered failures because I just couldn’t finish, and that really took a toll on my motivation and confidence.  As I sit here today, with just a couple days left in the month, my confidence is back and I attribute that to figuring out how to overcome this new challenge.  While I doubt I’ll ever love running in the oppressive Cincinnati summers, I now know how to handle it.
3. Travel.  I’ve had to deal with fitting my training schedule around more travel than usual, so I’ve had to juggle days and times for my runs.  I do better when I’m on a more predictable schedule.

One cool thing that happened this month was a run through Central Park in New York City.  Running in Central Park and Golden Gate Park are two that I had put on my mental running bucket list, so I was very happy to make one of them happen.  I had to fit a long run (15 miles) into my travel schedule, so I figured, why not make it in Central Park?  When I run early in the morning at home, I may see one or two other runners out there but not many.  Running through Central Park was more like running in a race.  I got to the park at about 6:00 AM and I was shocked to find hundreds of runners out on the paths and their were dozens of cyclists too.  I had been worried about doing 15 miles all on my own without anyone for motivation/support/pacing, but with so many people out there, I always had someone to keep up with, or try to beat to the top of some of the long hills.  The time and miles flew by like they have during races.  Here’s my run:

Careful observers will note that the Garmin distance shows 14.82 miles, not the 15 I claim.  If you watch very closely, you’ll see a bit of a jump during mile 11.  I stopped to get a drink of water at the fountain, had to wait in a bit of a line, so I stopped my watch. When I started running again, I forgot to turn it back on for about 2 minutes, so I estimated that to be somewhere around a quarter of a mile.  MapMyRun.com helped confirm it.

So, now I’m looking forward to slogging through the heat of August and really getting up to mileage numbers I’ve never done before:  17, 18 and 20 miles.  I’m doing a half marathon in Columbus, OH on August 29th as well.

After consulting more experienced runners on DailyMile, I decided to use some Body Glide tonight.  Yep, that’s right folks:  too much nipple pain on the long runs for this guy.  The Body Glide worked like a dream and I can report my nipples as pain free.  I can practically hear the collective sighs of relief.

I also brought water with me for the first time and it really did help.  In yet another fine example of a rookie mistake, I went bounding out the door never having figured out how to get the water bottles off the belt.  So instead, I got to figure it out mid-run.  In the dark.  With gloves on.  “For I am Costanza, lord of the idiots.”

I also used my first energy gel, a Clif Shot (Razz flavored) after about 6.5 miles.  Tough to tell whether it helped a lot since I don’t have another 10-miler to compare against, but it did give me a bit of a boost, so I’ll take it.

All kinds of firsts tonight!

1. Mile 1:  10:00/mile.  Feeling sorry for myself.
2. Mile 2:  9:50/mile.  Still being an idiot.
3. Mile 3:  9:37/mile.  Starting to turn green.  You wouldn’t like me when I’m mad.
4. Mile 4:  8:58/mile.  Complete turnaround in attitude.
5. Mile 5:  8:04/mile.  Felt like I could climb a mountain.

I think running (after some base level of fitness) is as much about your head as it is your legs/lungs.  It reminds me of a famous quote by Bobby Jones, the professional golfer:

“Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course…the space between your ears.”

I followed that run up with another 5.12 mile run yesterday with an average pace of 8:53 which is a new PR for me at any kind of distance.  And once again, I felt like a million bucks at the end.