Running the 50 States and DC: April 2010

I was thinking during my run around Whidbey Island on Sunday that I’m 75 percent done with my 50 State and DC goal. I guess I started this endeavor in Sep 04 during my first marathon even though I did not commit to running a marathon in every state until Feb 06 and that was after I said I would never run another marathon again at Mile 14 of my first marathon. Why did I run another one? Because I knew I could do better and the marathon I picked out (Vancouver) was being run on the same day as I graduated college and thought it would be cool to celebrate the anniversary by running a marathon. Why did I run a third marathon? Because I knew I could do better and I had signed up to run Antarctica. But I got to thinking what if I had done worse at Vancouver – would I have quit running marathons? I’ll never know that answer…..

By the numbers:
- 48: Total number of marathons
- 39: Number of states and DC that I've completed

- 3:35: Average time

- 3:29: Median time

- 7: Boston Qualifiers

- 3: Number of seconds I missed a BQ in Olathe, KS (goal for that day was a 3:30)

- 1: Number of times I cried after a marathon

- 9: Best finish in a marathon

- 6: Number of 1^st Place Age Finishes

- 9: Number of Age Group Award (Any finish to get an award)

- 12: States Remaining: ID, HI, AK, ND, MN, CT, RI, NY, IL, NE, WY, RI

- 1: Numbers of continents remaining (Australia)

Some things I’ve seen or thought about or just want to comment on:

- Am I taking these marathons seriously (anymore)? No. Who would have three glasses of wine or a couple beers or chocolate chip cookies or Taco Bell or play hockey the night before a marathon or dress up in costume for a marathon? Me!

- Do I want to run faster? Sure…but….I once had a friend tell me if I actually committed myself to train for a marathon, based upon the mileage I’m running now (100 miles/month) and the times I’m running (PR 3:12), that I could probably run a 2:45 marathon. While I’m not gonna say he is right or wrong but from what I’ve run and my lack of training/long runs for these marathons maybe he is right. But recently another friend told me that without my ab pain/CAT Scan results, said I should go for it but with my body maybe telling me something it’s probably not a good idea (and I agree). While it would be nice to see what I could do if I trained I’m happy/content with where I am. When I’m done with these marathons I’m not gonna lose sleep thinking what might have been. I like running and I want to keep it that way – I don’t want it to consume my life (more than it is now).

- 2 minutes faster than I was in 2006: I’ve run 44 marathons since my first BQ in Feb 06 and from that time of 3:15:01 to my PR of 3:12:46 in 2009; I’m only two minutes and change faster than I was then but then again I’m four years older. Do I care that I’ve only improved by 2 minutes? No

- Have fun: Not sure how many people would dress in almost full hockey gear and run a marathon (Manchester City Marathon). I’ve seen a lot of people in costumes in races over the years and after the MCM I’m officially part of that crowd – I’m glad I got to actually be silly in a race but will not wear something that is heavy and hot next time (unless it is 18F at the start like at Jackson, MS)

- Country side politics: doesn’t matter where you in this country go but once you get into the suburbs or outside of major cities and run marathons through these areas you are more often than not gonna see a ton of Republican election signs vs Democrat signs

- Am I running for the glory? Am I running for attention? Am I running to win? No, no, and no. This one hit me right before the start of the Whidbey Island Marathon when most of the runners were huddled under heat lamps trying to stay warm before the start of the race and all I could hear was the game of one up-man's ship of how someone ran two marathons last weekend or what time they ran or from other runners who seem to revel in the spotlight by going for shock value distances. I usually keep my mouth shut or when I’m asked how many I’ve run I know there are dozens more who have run more or have run faster. Or when people ask me what is my favorite I want to say Antarctica but I don’t want to feel as if I’m bragging or have to talk about it for 10 minutes or have everyone else w/in earshot perk up and chime in. I don’t need to run 100 miles in 24 hours or try a relay by myself or 300 miles. Sure I’m competitive but it is not a intense competitiveness to the point that I need to push myself to make headlines. Yeah I want to try one of these 100 mile races or an ultra just to see how far I could go but if don’t I’ll go on with my life.

- Do I still get nervous before a marathon? Yes. I don’t think I will ever say marathons are easy. While my recovery time is less these days – either little or no pain following the marathon – I will never say they are easy because they aren’t and every race is different some good/some bad. It took a good mile into the Whidbey Island marathon for my heart rate to settle down (and it wasn’t because of the hills) because I had psyched myself up before the start (about getting a PR).

- What makes a good or bad marathon course? I think how I perform in the race. The better my time, the better the course – weird how that works out.

- State of mind: I’ve seen slogans saying marathons are 95% mental. I will say they are 99% mental if not 100% mental. If you go in stressed, worried, angry or dejected you are just not gonna perform. I’ve had a wide range of emotions over the years and no matter how I can look at things or think of something else during the course of a race inevitably at some point whatever is troubling you is gonna creep in and crush you. I had two traumatic events since I started running marathons and both of them were like a kick in the gut and both times I quit during the marathon. I even saw it over the last year as I was stressed big time most of 2009 and into early 2010 and as a result my times went up considerably from a PR in May 09 to some of my worst in Jan 10. But something happened late Jan/early Feb 2010 that I was finally able to get things back on track/come to grip with my issue of the last two years. Then by mid/late Feb 10 things took a turn for the positive -- positive thoughts during a marathon can have just as a profound impact as negative ones during a race.

- Anticipated last state marathon (maybe my last marathon): Amica Marathon Oct 2011. I was born in Newport RI and this marathon takes place in Newport - no better ending for my marathon endeavor than where I was born.

“I think I’ll run a PR tomorrow.” Never in all my marathons had those words floated through my head but yet on the drive to the Whidbey Island Marathon Expo those words actually floated though my head (I didn’t say them out loud since that would have meant I was talking to myself). Was it the wine tasting that I had just stopped at that made me think those words or just the fact that I actually wanted to push myself in a marathon instead of coasting? For the life of me I can’t explain why I would “say” something like that. I hadn’t come close to a 3:12 in over a year and Whidbey Island isn’t known for its fast flat course. I had run the Ragnar Northwest Passage Relay three years ago and knew first hand just how hilly the course was gonna be since both courses shared nearly the same stretch of road.

Once again I had a 6am flight out of DCA – that is really getting old. I arrived in Seattle, got my rental car and headed off in search of a Japanese restaurant. The one I found was located across the street from the Public Market and around the corner from the original Starbucks. Not the biggest Starbucks fan but I usually go there once a day because it right across the street from work - convenience. So like every other tourist there I had to get a coffee or in this case a peppermint mocha with whipcream. Unfortunately the peppermint mocha tasted just like the peppermint mocha at the Rosslyn, VA store – maybe I was expecting it to taste a little better in Seattle.

From Seattle I headed north towards Whidbey Island. The drive went pretty smoothly (even got to see a bald eagle - two during the whole trip) and reached the ferry where I had to wait about 20 minutes. I was not on a mission where I had to be somewhere at a certain time so it was nice to sit there and relax. Boarded the ferry, took a few pictures and just like that we were at the ferry landing. After disembarking it was about a 50 minute drive to Oak Harbor and the marathon expo. Along the way I stopped and had a wine tasting of some local Washington state wines. There was only one that was worth it and I picked up a bottle for after the marathon.

     I reached the expo, got my stuff and was out of there in about 10 minutes. Now the one thing that struck me as weird were two people outside the expo petitioning to get legalization of marijuana on the November ballot. Now maybe I’m naïve or stupid but I’m not sure that was the best place to petition because smoking doesn’t go well with running but I’m not sure if getting high goes well with running? After a quick stop by the shuttle bus pick-up/finish line I headed to the hotel to check in. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to stay in a motel that has a sign with “Hot Water, Cable Tv, etc” on the marquee. Due to a reservation mess-up I got the “Honeymoon” suite. Remind me to never book my honeymoon at the Auld Holland Inn. It was missing about six panels of the vertical blinds which allowed the street light to shine in like it was noon instead of 2am. Very little lighting, a mini fridge in which the ice cube tray was the only thing that worked but it did have hot water. Other than that it looked like a 5-star Marriot once I closed my eyes.

     Before bed, I got my second Japanese meal of the day and an Asahi beer. My intention was to load up on as much salt/sodium as possible to prevent cramps. It worked in Little Rock so why not try it again. After dinner got back to the hotel watched a bit of TV, set the alarm and then at some point fell asleep and woke up about 1am with the TV and lights on. Quickly turned them off and went back to sleep. At 5am, I was awakened by a text -- even though it was 30 minutes before I scheduled to get up - but in reality for my body it was 8am. At 5:30 I finally rolled out of bed, got a hot shower, got dressed and headed over to the shuttle pick-up area and then stuffed my face with a breakfast bar and yogurt before getting on the last shuttle bus. The biggest decision of the morning was whether or not to short sleeve or long sleeve. Temp were upper 40s with a 15mph wind but were expected to climb to 55F for a high. I went with short sleeve since you dress for race/ending conditions not starting conditions.

      After a short shuttle bus ride to the start line it was time to huddle with other runners under the heat lamps that had been set-up until the race started. I had about 40 minutes before the race started to think about my statement the previous day. I hadn’t run in about 4 days and the last time I ran I felt like I was at mile 24 of a marathon. My legs were dead and I had to take several breaks on my run home. Was my ab pain gonna come back, etc. I had so much doubt that my heart was racing as the start approached and it took a mile before I finally settled down.

(Start area several hours later)

A little after 7:30am we were off. The starting area was flat but after 1/4 mile we were into the rolling hills. It would be that way for 21 of the next 26 miles. Surprisingly, given the generally uphill course for the first 4-miles, my times were 7:07, 7:18, 7:30, 7:30. I turned it up on the downhill and had a 6:58 and 6:48 before hitting the steepest hill on the course and knocking out a 7:59. I never broke the 8 min/mile pace during the entire race and that included a few bathroom breaks and stopping at the aid stations for Gu and water. Hit the halfway point at 1:36:12. I was feeling pretty good and had been talking with Jason for the last three miles about running – go figure. As we approached the halfway point I told him about my favorite quote, “Pass but don’t be passed.” There were so few runners that it would be easy to count and within a 1/2 mile we had passed our first runner. A little after 13.1 I stopped at an aid station and Jason kept chugging along (he was wearing a CamelBak). The next few miles would be relatively flat before we hit the hills again at mile 19.

I knew if I kept this pace up I had a chance at a PR and a BQ. It was just a matter of whether or not I cramped or my legs gave out. My ab pain when compared to the past few races was not that bad so that was not really on my mind. As I ran those last few flat miles before the hills things started to look familiar – it was a leg of the Ragnar Relay I ran in 2007. It was kinda neat to run through a stretch that I was ‘familiar’ with – not sure it did anything for me but it was still neat.

My plan the day before was to turn it on around mile 21 and give it all I had. Too bad for me I didn’t realize it was nearly all uphill from mile 19 to mile 24. I guess I would just have to push myself up the hills and cruise the downhill into the finish line. By this time we had merged with the hoard of half marathoners so I kinda lost track of marathoners but I had passed about five of them since the half way point and I could see a few runners at the turn around point around mile 23 and then I realized that I had gained on a bunch of marathoners. As we crested the hill at mile 24 it was mostly downhill and it was time to give it all I had (again). I caught and passed Jason about mile 25 and told him he had Boston in the bag as I ran by. Within a few seconds I passed about 3 more marathoners and as the course flattened out I was running at a 6:53 pace. I started to look for the finish line and looking at my time. I knew that there was no way I was going to break 3:13 for a PR but that didn’t stop me from dropping my pace down to a 6:35. About 50 yards from the finish I squeezed by between another runner and the finish-chute barricades and beat him out by 2 seconds for a 3:13:24 (he was not in my age bracket). My time was good enough for 19th place and 1st in my age. I wound up passing 11 runners from the halfway mark and four of them were in the last 3/4 mile and that pushed me from 4th in my age to 1st. While I didn’t set a PR I still got a BQ. As with my first marathon in which I cried I nearly cried again but it was not to be - I composed myself and walked over to get some water wearing a big smile.

Got back to my hotel, got cleaned up, went back to the finish line got my age group award (certificate) and then made my way up to see the tulip fields on the north end of the island. Along the way, got to see Deception Pass and the portion of the Ragnar relay that I ran at midnight (a portion of it doesn’t exist anymore – it collapsed into the bay).