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Ran a 10k - Official Thread (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter Ned
- Start date
MAC_32
Footballguy
Worst. Race report. Ever.
Zasada
Footballguy
Yeah, how are we 4 days beyond the race and still 0-for-2 on RRs? Considering that there was a 10-hour flight home in the mix (I normally write mine on planes!).
bushdocda
Footballguy
I told you guys I was going drinking.
Plane home later today.
SteelCurtain
Footballguy
Mine is close to done. I will post today hopefully.
My race report will be boring. There weren't any really big highs or lows. I was pretty steady on pace, effort, etc. But I'll post it soon!
My race report will be boring. There weren't any really big highs or lows. I was pretty steady on pace, effort, etc. But I'll post it soon!
gruecd
Footballguy
ChiefD
Footballguy
Well la-di-da I'll just fly halfway around the world and run an awesome race like I always do with nothing really exciting happening other than my massive awesomeness that I have now spread amongst the rest of the free world.....
pbm107
Footballguy
I have a half marathon scheduled for Sunday and I have been caught in the middle of tapering for the race and maintaining my marathon training volume because of the weather forecast on Sunday which calls for rain and winds from the NE at 25 to 35 mph. The plan going into this week was to taper for this race and finally get a new half PR, my PR was set over 6 years ago.
Unless I wake up tomorrow morning and the weather forecast seriously changes, I will likely run some sort of medium long run tomorrow morning and treat the race as a workout (marathon pace effort). I’m hoping that I’ll be able to race the Atlantic City half instead on Oct 23.
I haven’t raced since May and think I’m really fit. I’m confident I could set a PR at any distance from 5 miles through the marathon, I guess I’ll have to wait until Oct 23.
Unless I wake up tomorrow morning and the weather forecast seriously changes, I will likely run some sort of medium long run tomorrow morning and treat the race as a workout (marathon pace effort). I’m hoping that I’ll be able to race the Atlantic City half instead on Oct 23.
I haven’t raced since May and think I’m really fit. I’m confident I could set a PR at any distance from 5 miles through the marathon, I guess I’ll have to wait until Oct 23.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
Too bad it’s not point to point with a tailwind.
gianmarco
Footballguy
Yeah, pretty much the only time I hate running is early morning.I hate midday runs. Almost as much as late afternoon and evening runs. I am 100% an early morning guy. Not sure how people do it
Not sure how people do it.
MAC_32
Footballguy
Sleep in --> coffee --> morning dump --> think about running. Any time before that is crazy.Yeah, pretty much the only time I hate running is early morning.I hate midday runs. Almost as much as late afternoon and evening runs. I am 100% an early morning guy. Not sure how people do it
Not sure how people do it.
bushdocda
Footballguy
Berlin marathon & a London stay over
TLDR - a PR, a BMF, a great euro trip and big addition to my raceday experience.
Executive Summary :
Get to corrals earlier please. Have race pace backup plan. Big races need even more adjustment to pace for not just crowded start but also water stops. Yes I knew these things but now I really know. Upon review, I don’t think I ran as long as tracked. I caught a wonky split at one point so I think I prob ran more like an extra qtr mile. Truer pace ran per mile is 7:46 min/mile.
Details
Travel plan was me and the Mrs Baltimore to London for a night, London to Berlin for 3 nights and then back through London for another 3 nights. Security was tight on liquids so caused slow security lines. Carry on bags only for us.
Day out in Windsor and back to aero port hotel for early flight in morning. Berlin is a sweet city. Quiet and clean and fun. We rode scooters and walked around too much the two days before the race. I avoided unfriendly food and booze without issue, some Sushi Friday night and met a crew with @SteelCurtain for Italian dinner Saturday night. Lots of experienced runners in the group and very calming and fun.
Race morning
Up around 530 and set myself up in a little dark corner of the hotel to eat and wake up. Pretzel, banana and some coffee. I’d been hydrating and eating small amounts for a few days so that part felt good. Weather was 50s up to 60 kind of day and low dew point. Weather was a nonissue.
Met a friend from dinner to walk over and handle bag drop. Got in a wazz line that didn’t move. Finally manuavered to a faster line area and then walked toward corrals. It ended up being about another 10 min walk and countless bathroom options along the way so that was a big botch. Ended up at the back of my corral D for 3:15 -3:30 folks and it is was already after the scheduled start time.
I had a pace progression programmed in my Garmin app and in the watch I thought but never synced it over to the watch somehow. The pace plan i mismanaged was A+ on the low end and BQ on the high end of the ranges. I tried to get it to sync but no luck and it was time to get going. I headed out a bit off kilter and decided to lap each 5k and do it that way.
1-5k - 25:07
Thick crowd and was moving a good bit slower off start than I wanted. The A+ goal progression had me at 23:00 5ks with a later drop in pace. I was 2 mins off immediately and shaken up a bit. Started to warm up a bit but it never got hot. Hydrating and water on head kept things intact.
6k-20k - 24:18 / 24:20 / 24:04
I had run into another Baltimore runner in the BWI airport and we knew some people in common and had a similar goal/corral. We hadn’t connected prerace bc I was daft but I found him in a sea of 25,000 racers. He was with a Swiss runner and I joined the Wolfpack for a much needed boost in mood. We rolled pretty well for many kms. This made the day for me as I was dropping about a min per 5k from my A+ and the BQ sub 3:20 was a goner. Had I been alone I might have gone to a desk place. The water stops were every 3k or so and I was hitting them all. These were long stops with plastic cups that were kicked all over the place for a couple minutes each stop. I wanted to help the Wolfpack and knew a PR was out there and we kept rolling through the half mark together.
I had a fuel plan to Maureen gel at 8/16/24 and then cold brew it around 30-32km for the last 10k. I didn’t screw this up
21k-35k - 24:02 / 23:40 / 23:47
Lost our other American wolf early here, he was looking more for a 3:30 and then cramped up in 2nd half. Swiss wolf and I rolled smooth and he was showing strength. I wanted to stay with him till the bitter end but his gray cap faded like Wilson the volleyball over the kms. He finished at 3:20:13. I was feeling ok and was thrilled to lose track of a couple kms a bit around 30 something just enjoying the crowd support.
36-42.xk- 24:13 / 9:51
The crowds were really good with drum crews and bands throughout. I tuned the crowd in the last chunk and was excited to push from 40k on. A few turns and then the last left onto the final straight. The Brandenburg Gate looms in the distance and the run under into the chute is thrilling. Seeing the clock time and knowing I was 12-13 mins faster chip time confirmed a PR was attached to the finish line. Push across and I feel great about the negative split. Walk, congratulate folks for a bit and then see a cardboard sign saying World Record 2:01:09 that was set earlier. Very cool.
Finish 3:23:18 for 2:30+ min PR and 80 mins over current men’s world record.
Post race - there is a lot of joy and a few agonies of defeat with folks fished out here and there. I moved along and run into a superhero looking BMF Steel in a silver poncho holding a couple biers. The race is sponsored by an NA bier and it was surprisingly good stuff. We grabbed some pics, a few more beers and got a medal engraving and a plan to meet up later in the afternoon for proper liters. I found my bag and my wife and we got some street beers and watched the race roll by on a sunny gorgeous afternoon in Berlin. Met a friend and walked back to hotel for shower.
Post race dinner
Authentic German beer hall with a crew of 8 of us. Sausages, fries, pretzels, dumplings and many liters of bier and coke. Post race bliss. Grabbed a second dinner for the wife at some swanky bar by the hotel. My German was excellent by this point.
Postlude
Grind through Berlin security to get to London and just awesome Indian dinners, Greek dinner and proper pub and tavern hops from an AirBnB just off Trafalger Square. London was prepping for their major which is cool to think about. Coming home with some lessons to apply in the future prerace and a challenge to take myself out further on the edge. I also have 4 very sore toes (the 2 next to big toe on each foot). Not sure if this was braking bc of crowds or swollen feet from travel/walking or what. Usually get sore but not all 4 and not this bad. Otherwise the body seems ok after a few more days of heavy walking and a few stretches. I have some assessment to do of my body this weekend to see how the running restart will look.
Future marathons will be marked by a much earlier arrival and a double checked watch and a backup pace plan.
Am I obsessed with majors now?
Maybe. I’ll be getting in the lotteries and assessing what makes sense.
Am I discouraged by whiffing on the BQ? Yep. I didn’t really fire a full shot here so that’s bad and good and also maybe this wasn’t the place for it. Bad bc i misplanned so bad I didn’t even draw from the holster. Good bc another shot this fall is possible. Maybe it wasn’t the place bc I wasn’t clear sailing at any time and the water traffic was pervasive. The travel and all logistics would also fall into this category. Plenty of folks had great days so alas they made it work. I’ll be better prepared next time.
Big shoutout to @SteelCurtain for a great race and a great hang. Congrats on the PR and best wishes for you in upcoming pacing. Thanks to the crew for the support, excitement and collective impact made in here.
TLDR - a PR, a BMF, a great euro trip and big addition to my raceday experience.
Executive Summary :
Get to corrals earlier please. Have race pace backup plan. Big races need even more adjustment to pace for not just crowded start but also water stops. Yes I knew these things but now I really know. Upon review, I don’t think I ran as long as tracked. I caught a wonky split at one point so I think I prob ran more like an extra qtr mile. Truer pace ran per mile is 7:46 min/mile.
Details
Travel plan was me and the Mrs Baltimore to London for a night, London to Berlin for 3 nights and then back through London for another 3 nights. Security was tight on liquids so caused slow security lines. Carry on bags only for us.
Day out in Windsor and back to aero port hotel for early flight in morning. Berlin is a sweet city. Quiet and clean and fun. We rode scooters and walked around too much the two days before the race. I avoided unfriendly food and booze without issue, some Sushi Friday night and met a crew with @SteelCurtain for Italian dinner Saturday night. Lots of experienced runners in the group and very calming and fun.
Race morning
Up around 530 and set myself up in a little dark corner of the hotel to eat and wake up. Pretzel, banana and some coffee. I’d been hydrating and eating small amounts for a few days so that part felt good. Weather was 50s up to 60 kind of day and low dew point. Weather was a nonissue.
Met a friend from dinner to walk over and handle bag drop. Got in a wazz line that didn’t move. Finally manuavered to a faster line area and then walked toward corrals. It ended up being about another 10 min walk and countless bathroom options along the way so that was a big botch. Ended up at the back of my corral D for 3:15 -3:30 folks and it is was already after the scheduled start time.
I had a pace progression programmed in my Garmin app and in the watch I thought but never synced it over to the watch somehow. The pace plan i mismanaged was A+ on the low end and BQ on the high end of the ranges. I tried to get it to sync but no luck and it was time to get going. I headed out a bit off kilter and decided to lap each 5k and do it that way.
1-5k - 25:07
Thick crowd and was moving a good bit slower off start than I wanted. The A+ goal progression had me at 23:00 5ks with a later drop in pace. I was 2 mins off immediately and shaken up a bit. Started to warm up a bit but it never got hot. Hydrating and water on head kept things intact.
6k-20k - 24:18 / 24:20 / 24:04
I had run into another Baltimore runner in the BWI airport and we knew some people in common and had a similar goal/corral. We hadn’t connected prerace bc I was daft but I found him in a sea of 25,000 racers. He was with a Swiss runner and I joined the Wolfpack for a much needed boost in mood. We rolled pretty well for many kms. This made the day for me as I was dropping about a min per 5k from my A+ and the BQ sub 3:20 was a goner. Had I been alone I might have gone to a desk place. The water stops were every 3k or so and I was hitting them all. These were long stops with plastic cups that were kicked all over the place for a couple minutes each stop. I wanted to help the Wolfpack and knew a PR was out there and we kept rolling through the half mark together.
I had a fuel plan to Maureen gel at 8/16/24 and then cold brew it around 30-32km for the last 10k. I didn’t screw this up
21k-35k - 24:02 / 23:40 / 23:47
Lost our other American wolf early here, he was looking more for a 3:30 and then cramped up in 2nd half. Swiss wolf and I rolled smooth and he was showing strength. I wanted to stay with him till the bitter end but his gray cap faded like Wilson the volleyball over the kms. He finished at 3:20:13. I was feeling ok and was thrilled to lose track of a couple kms a bit around 30 something just enjoying the crowd support.
36-42.xk- 24:13 / 9:51
The crowds were really good with drum crews and bands throughout. I tuned the crowd in the last chunk and was excited to push from 40k on. A few turns and then the last left onto the final straight. The Brandenburg Gate looms in the distance and the run under into the chute is thrilling. Seeing the clock time and knowing I was 12-13 mins faster chip time confirmed a PR was attached to the finish line. Push across and I feel great about the negative split. Walk, congratulate folks for a bit and then see a cardboard sign saying World Record 2:01:09 that was set earlier. Very cool.
Finish 3:23:18 for 2:30+ min PR and 80 mins over current men’s world record.
Post race - there is a lot of joy and a few agonies of defeat with folks fished out here and there. I moved along and run into a superhero looking BMF Steel in a silver poncho holding a couple biers. The race is sponsored by an NA bier and it was surprisingly good stuff. We grabbed some pics, a few more beers and got a medal engraving and a plan to meet up later in the afternoon for proper liters. I found my bag and my wife and we got some street beers and watched the race roll by on a sunny gorgeous afternoon in Berlin. Met a friend and walked back to hotel for shower.
Post race dinner
Authentic German beer hall with a crew of 8 of us. Sausages, fries, pretzels, dumplings and many liters of bier and coke. Post race bliss. Grabbed a second dinner for the wife at some swanky bar by the hotel. My German was excellent by this point.
Postlude
Grind through Berlin security to get to London and just awesome Indian dinners, Greek dinner and proper pub and tavern hops from an AirBnB just off Trafalger Square. London was prepping for their major which is cool to think about. Coming home with some lessons to apply in the future prerace and a challenge to take myself out further on the edge. I also have 4 very sore toes (the 2 next to big toe on each foot). Not sure if this was braking bc of crowds or swollen feet from travel/walking or what. Usually get sore but not all 4 and not this bad. Otherwise the body seems ok after a few more days of heavy walking and a few stretches. I have some assessment to do of my body this weekend to see how the running restart will look.
Future marathons will be marked by a much earlier arrival and a double checked watch and a backup pace plan.
Am I obsessed with majors now?
Maybe. I’ll be getting in the lotteries and assessing what makes sense.
Am I discouraged by whiffing on the BQ? Yep. I didn’t really fire a full shot here so that’s bad and good and also maybe this wasn’t the place for it. Bad bc i misplanned so bad I didn’t even draw from the holster. Good bc another shot this fall is possible. Maybe it wasn’t the place bc I wasn’t clear sailing at any time and the water traffic was pervasive. The travel and all logistics would also fall into this category. Plenty of folks had great days so alas they made it work. I’ll be better prepared next time.
Big shoutout to @SteelCurtain for a great race and a great hang. Congrats on the PR and best wishes for you in upcoming pacing. Thanks to the crew for the support, excitement and collective impact made in here.
Zasada
Footballguy
Sleep in --> coffee --> morning dump --> think about running. Any time before that is crazy.Yeah, pretty much the only time I hate running is early morning.I hate midday runs. Almost as much as late afternoon and evening runs. I am 100% an early morning guy. Not sure how people do it
Not sure how people do it.
Get up at 0400, dump, dress for running, dump, start the run, dump, finish the run, and get to work with my run for the day done. Then dump again.
SteelCurtain
Footballguy
Berlin Marathon Race Recap
I arrived Wednesday morning after flying all night on Tuesday. Spent Wednesday through Friday sightseeing in Berlin. We obviously did the expo, but also walked the streets aimlessly just exploring, went to historical sites, went on a formal walking tour of the city on Friday.
It was a lot of time on my feet, which is never ideal, but my wife doesn’t want these trips to be all about running, so we always try to explore the city of the destination marathon.
This was going to be my 5th star (of the 6 world Marathon majors).
I had several goals for this race. My stretch goal was 3:07:59. My A goal was to be sub 3:10 (my PR prior to Berlin was 3:10:17 at 2021 London Marathon). My B goal was to run 3:20 to give me a 5 minute qualifying buffer for Boston Marathon.
I did not sleep well all week in Berlin. The jetlag was there all week. I just didn’t feel energetic at all. I did a couple shakeout runs near my hotel, but they weren’t great.
My regular breakfast before a marathon is a bagel with peanut butter. Usually its easy to eat this because it requires no kitchen and is simple. However, bagels were hard to find in Berlin, so I decided to buy two big doughy pretzels and those would be my “bagel” in the morning.
Easily got into my starting corral which was a couple hundred feet or so back from the starting line. They announced the elite field including Eliud Kipchoge and Keira D’Amato. And then we were off.
(I will provide these updates by 5K as that is what the race provided. I will also share my goal for each point in the race based on the 3:07:59 stretch goal.)
The first few miles are always a time when I just want to find my rhythm. No marathon goal is achieved in the first 5K, however, lots of marathon goals can be put in jeopardy by going out too hard in the first 3.1 miles. I went a bit faster in this first section than I probably wanted, but Berlin opened up nicely and congestion wasn’t really an issue at all (unlike London the year prior).
5K (3.1 miles) – 22:45 (Goal was 22:57)
Knowing I was out a bit quick, I needed to settle down the pace. I felt like I was working too hard. This wasn’t easy. This wasn’t effortless. I’ve done a lot of marathons and I always feel like the first half should almost feel too easy. Unfortunately, today wasn’t feeling that way. However, the weather was terrific running weather. Clouds, temps in the mid 50’s, little to no wind. If there was a day to go for it, this was it. So I just kept going, regardless of how poorly I felt.
10K (6.2 miles)– 45:27 (Goal was 45:25)
This part of the course winds to the north and east of the Berlin. Its primarily residential which led us through pockets of loud cheering. Always fun being cheered for in another language. They might have been telling me I was slow and looked terrible, I would never have known.
15K (9.3 miles) – 1:07:40 (Goal was 1:07:43)
This is when I decided I was going to keep going and see how long I could hold this pace. I had decided if I did 1:35 on the front half, I could run 1:45 (8:00 minute pace) on the back half and still get my BQ minus 5 minutes. It felt doable.
20K (12.4 miles) – 1:29:48 (Goal was 1:29:50)
I’m not sure what happened here where I was slightly ahead of pace to quickly being 8 seconds off in less than a quarter of a mile. I don’t remember anything noteworthy. However, when I ran my PR in London last year, I ran a front half of 1:36:17 and a 1:34:00 on the back half, so I knew I was about 90 seconds ahead of my PR race from last year.
21K (13.1 miles) – 1:34:38 (Goal was 1:34:30)
I pushed a bit here to try to keep myself on track for the stretch goal. I knew I might be burning the candle too hard, but this was a day to go for it. I was calculating in my mind of how I was banking time on that worst case scenario of a 1:45 back half. I did find about 7 runners who I ran with as we were passing other slowing runners. We didn’t talk as I’m pretty sure several were not American. I was really pleased to see I was right on my time target at this stage.
25K (15.5 miles) – 1:51:56 (Goal was 1:51:57)
As I passed 16.2 miles, it felt like 10 more miles at this pace would be really tough for me. However, I had no choice but to keep going. As I contemplated this course, it felt easier than any of the other 4 majors (Chicago, London, Boston, New York City) I had run. This course is a fast course. I kept looking at that blue line on the road and knowing Eliud Kipchoge, the greatest marathoner of all time, had run these roads less than an hour prior to me, I thought about how fortunate I was to participate in this sport where the best in the world compete with a regular runner on the same course at the same time.
30K (18.6 miles) – 2:14:09 (Goal was 2:14:03)
This is when the struggle really started. I didn’t want to give up too much time to give me an opportunity to rally in the last couple miles to try to reach my stretch goal. However, that group that I was running with had splintered with several of them running ahead of me, I could see them, but I wasn’t running with them anymore. Meanwhile, others had fallen off the back behind me.
35K (21.7 miles) – 2:36:20 (Goal was 2:36:09)
This is when it really got hard. I was straining and knew that my stretch goal was becoming unlikely. Berlin serves their water in disposable plastic cups. So my method of pinching the cup to drink, didn’t work. Everytime I went to drink, I splashed it all over my face, down my shirt, with a little bit getting in my mouth. I was struggling to get enough water in my system. At mile 23, I grabbed water and walked for 5-10 seconds to ensure I was able to get some hydration in my system.
40K (24.8 miles) – 2:59:09 (Goal was 2:58:15)
I knew I was behind my goal and would need to finish a fast finish to hit that stretch goal. Without calculating in my head, I was thinking at least 6:30 pace - which was a tall task. I went to go to a higher gear and pick up my pace. However, it just wasn’t there. My legs and body wouldn’t respond. I was pushing and passing 85% of the people around me, however, the stretch goal wasn’t going to happen. I passed the Brandenburg Gate which means there is about 300 meters remaining in the race. I looked at my watch and it said 3:08:00. I wanted that sub 3:09 time. I picked up my pace. The straightaway in Tiergarten Park is a classic finishing space. Bleachers on each side, which large trees framing the roadway. You can see the finish line in the distance. I pushed and pushed as I watched that watch creep up. As I finished, I looked at my watch and it said 3:08:59. I stopped my watch after I had passed by both finishing chip readers….it said 3:09:01. However, I was pretty sure I had gotten that sub 3:09. I didn’t run with my phone, so there was no way to immediately find out.
FINAL TIME – 3:08:57 (a 1 minute and 20 second PR)
I was dealing with a fair amount of nausea immediately after the race. After probably 15 minutes of stop and starts moving away from the finish line, I finally got to a water table and drank 6 cups of water. I realized I was really dehydrated. My body felt much better after getting that water in my system.
First half – 1:34:38
Second half – 1:34:19 (third consecutive negative split in PR races)
Below shows my evolution in my placement among 25,000+ runners.
5K – 4558
10K – 4444
15K – 4178
20K – 3996
25K – 3797
30K – 3586
35K – 3346
40K – 3155
Finish – 3077
So I passed nearly 1,500 people through the race from the 5K mark through the end.
Thinking about this race and my training, as I get older, I’ve realized the importance of stretching and strength workouts. When I regularly stretch and do running specific strength workouts, they enable me to continue to push my training without getting injured. I admit, I don’t particularly enjoy them, however, my aches and pains are minimized or even eliminated when I’m disciplined to my stretching and strength workouts.
Upon reflection, this is the fastest of any of the majors. Boston and New York have too many hills to be considered fast. London had congestion challenges which limits one’s ability to run as fast as you would like (although I’ve seen others complain about narrow streets in Berlin – I didn’t experience this on Sunday. Chicago is flat, however, there are a few places where the turns are a bit more severe than Berlin and Chicago has a lot more exposure to the sun. Berlin is shaded for more of the course than Chicago (IMHO). The blue line tells you how to best run the tangents (which I don’t recall if Chicago had that through the entire course).
What’s next? Two weeks after Berlin, I’ll be leading a pace group at Mohawk Hudson Marathon in Albany. In November, I will lead pace groups at New York City Marathon and at Philadelphia Marathon. It will be fun as I know local runners who are part of my running club will be running each of these races.
My Marathon PR History
2011 – First marathon ran 3:39:29 at Walt Disney World Marathon
2011 – PRed with 3:36:44 at Baltimore Marathon
2012 – PRed with 3:29:11 at Philadelphia Marathon
***STARTED USING HANSON’S MARATHON PROGRAM in 2016***
2016 – PRed (and first time qualified for Boston) with 3:21:04 at NYC Marathon
2017 – PRed with 3:18:55 at Chicago Marathon
2018 - PRed with 3:15:00 at Run for Red marathon.
2019 - PRed with 3:12:43 at Monumental Marathon in Indianapolis.
2020 - COVID – no races
2021 - PRed with 3:10:17 at London Marathon
2022 - PR (at age 51) with 3:08:57 at Berlin Marathon
I arrived Wednesday morning after flying all night on Tuesday. Spent Wednesday through Friday sightseeing in Berlin. We obviously did the expo, but also walked the streets aimlessly just exploring, went to historical sites, went on a formal walking tour of the city on Friday.
It was a lot of time on my feet, which is never ideal, but my wife doesn’t want these trips to be all about running, so we always try to explore the city of the destination marathon.
This was going to be my 5th star (of the 6 world Marathon majors).
I had several goals for this race. My stretch goal was 3:07:59. My A goal was to be sub 3:10 (my PR prior to Berlin was 3:10:17 at 2021 London Marathon). My B goal was to run 3:20 to give me a 5 minute qualifying buffer for Boston Marathon.
I did not sleep well all week in Berlin. The jetlag was there all week. I just didn’t feel energetic at all. I did a couple shakeout runs near my hotel, but they weren’t great.
My regular breakfast before a marathon is a bagel with peanut butter. Usually its easy to eat this because it requires no kitchen and is simple. However, bagels were hard to find in Berlin, so I decided to buy two big doughy pretzels and those would be my “bagel” in the morning.
Easily got into my starting corral which was a couple hundred feet or so back from the starting line. They announced the elite field including Eliud Kipchoge and Keira D’Amato. And then we were off.
(I will provide these updates by 5K as that is what the race provided. I will also share my goal for each point in the race based on the 3:07:59 stretch goal.)
The first few miles are always a time when I just want to find my rhythm. No marathon goal is achieved in the first 5K, however, lots of marathon goals can be put in jeopardy by going out too hard in the first 3.1 miles. I went a bit faster in this first section than I probably wanted, but Berlin opened up nicely and congestion wasn’t really an issue at all (unlike London the year prior).
5K (3.1 miles) – 22:45 (Goal was 22:57)
Knowing I was out a bit quick, I needed to settle down the pace. I felt like I was working too hard. This wasn’t easy. This wasn’t effortless. I’ve done a lot of marathons and I always feel like the first half should almost feel too easy. Unfortunately, today wasn’t feeling that way. However, the weather was terrific running weather. Clouds, temps in the mid 50’s, little to no wind. If there was a day to go for it, this was it. So I just kept going, regardless of how poorly I felt.
10K (6.2 miles)– 45:27 (Goal was 45:25)
This part of the course winds to the north and east of the Berlin. Its primarily residential which led us through pockets of loud cheering. Always fun being cheered for in another language. They might have been telling me I was slow and looked terrible, I would never have known.
15K (9.3 miles) – 1:07:40 (Goal was 1:07:43)
This is when I decided I was going to keep going and see how long I could hold this pace. I had decided if I did 1:35 on the front half, I could run 1:45 (8:00 minute pace) on the back half and still get my BQ minus 5 minutes. It felt doable.
20K (12.4 miles) – 1:29:48 (Goal was 1:29:50)
I’m not sure what happened here where I was slightly ahead of pace to quickly being 8 seconds off in less than a quarter of a mile. I don’t remember anything noteworthy. However, when I ran my PR in London last year, I ran a front half of 1:36:17 and a 1:34:00 on the back half, so I knew I was about 90 seconds ahead of my PR race from last year.
21K (13.1 miles) – 1:34:38 (Goal was 1:34:30)
I pushed a bit here to try to keep myself on track for the stretch goal. I knew I might be burning the candle too hard, but this was a day to go for it. I was calculating in my mind of how I was banking time on that worst case scenario of a 1:45 back half. I did find about 7 runners who I ran with as we were passing other slowing runners. We didn’t talk as I’m pretty sure several were not American. I was really pleased to see I was right on my time target at this stage.
25K (15.5 miles) – 1:51:56 (Goal was 1:51:57)
As I passed 16.2 miles, it felt like 10 more miles at this pace would be really tough for me. However, I had no choice but to keep going. As I contemplated this course, it felt easier than any of the other 4 majors (Chicago, London, Boston, New York City) I had run. This course is a fast course. I kept looking at that blue line on the road and knowing Eliud Kipchoge, the greatest marathoner of all time, had run these roads less than an hour prior to me, I thought about how fortunate I was to participate in this sport where the best in the world compete with a regular runner on the same course at the same time.
30K (18.6 miles) – 2:14:09 (Goal was 2:14:03)
This is when the struggle really started. I didn’t want to give up too much time to give me an opportunity to rally in the last couple miles to try to reach my stretch goal. However, that group that I was running with had splintered with several of them running ahead of me, I could see them, but I wasn’t running with them anymore. Meanwhile, others had fallen off the back behind me.
35K (21.7 miles) – 2:36:20 (Goal was 2:36:09)
This is when it really got hard. I was straining and knew that my stretch goal was becoming unlikely. Berlin serves their water in disposable plastic cups. So my method of pinching the cup to drink, didn’t work. Everytime I went to drink, I splashed it all over my face, down my shirt, with a little bit getting in my mouth. I was struggling to get enough water in my system. At mile 23, I grabbed water and walked for 5-10 seconds to ensure I was able to get some hydration in my system.
40K (24.8 miles) – 2:59:09 (Goal was 2:58:15)
I knew I was behind my goal and would need to finish a fast finish to hit that stretch goal. Without calculating in my head, I was thinking at least 6:30 pace - which was a tall task. I went to go to a higher gear and pick up my pace. However, it just wasn’t there. My legs and body wouldn’t respond. I was pushing and passing 85% of the people around me, however, the stretch goal wasn’t going to happen. I passed the Brandenburg Gate which means there is about 300 meters remaining in the race. I looked at my watch and it said 3:08:00. I wanted that sub 3:09 time. I picked up my pace. The straightaway in Tiergarten Park is a classic finishing space. Bleachers on each side, which large trees framing the roadway. You can see the finish line in the distance. I pushed and pushed as I watched that watch creep up. As I finished, I looked at my watch and it said 3:08:59. I stopped my watch after I had passed by both finishing chip readers….it said 3:09:01. However, I was pretty sure I had gotten that sub 3:09. I didn’t run with my phone, so there was no way to immediately find out.
FINAL TIME – 3:08:57 (a 1 minute and 20 second PR)
I was dealing with a fair amount of nausea immediately after the race. After probably 15 minutes of stop and starts moving away from the finish line, I finally got to a water table and drank 6 cups of water. I realized I was really dehydrated. My body felt much better after getting that water in my system.
First half – 1:34:38
Second half – 1:34:19 (third consecutive negative split in PR races)
Below shows my evolution in my placement among 25,000+ runners.
5K – 4558
10K – 4444
15K – 4178
20K – 3996
25K – 3797
30K – 3586
35K – 3346
40K – 3155
Finish – 3077
So I passed nearly 1,500 people through the race from the 5K mark through the end.
Thinking about this race and my training, as I get older, I’ve realized the importance of stretching and strength workouts. When I regularly stretch and do running specific strength workouts, they enable me to continue to push my training without getting injured. I admit, I don’t particularly enjoy them, however, my aches and pains are minimized or even eliminated when I’m disciplined to my stretching and strength workouts.
Upon reflection, this is the fastest of any of the majors. Boston and New York have too many hills to be considered fast. London had congestion challenges which limits one’s ability to run as fast as you would like (although I’ve seen others complain about narrow streets in Berlin – I didn’t experience this on Sunday. Chicago is flat, however, there are a few places where the turns are a bit more severe than Berlin and Chicago has a lot more exposure to the sun. Berlin is shaded for more of the course than Chicago (IMHO). The blue line tells you how to best run the tangents (which I don’t recall if Chicago had that through the entire course).
What’s next? Two weeks after Berlin, I’ll be leading a pace group at Mohawk Hudson Marathon in Albany. In November, I will lead pace groups at New York City Marathon and at Philadelphia Marathon. It will be fun as I know local runners who are part of my running club will be running each of these races.
My Marathon PR History
2011 – First marathon ran 3:39:29 at Walt Disney World Marathon
2011 – PRed with 3:36:44 at Baltimore Marathon
2012 – PRed with 3:29:11 at Philadelphia Marathon
***STARTED USING HANSON’S MARATHON PROGRAM in 2016***
2016 – PRed (and first time qualified for Boston) with 3:21:04 at NYC Marathon
2017 – PRed with 3:18:55 at Chicago Marathon
2018 - PRed with 3:15:00 at Run for Red marathon.
2019 - PRed with 3:12:43 at Monumental Marathon in Indianapolis.
2020 - COVID – no races
2021 - PRed with 3:10:17 at London Marathon
2022 - PR (at age 51) with 3:08:57 at Berlin Marathon
SteelCurtain
Footballguy
It was great to hang with @bushdocda . Such a cool and relaxed dude. His wife is awesome and our wives chatted quite a bit - which was great.
He really crushed his marathon and his finishing kick in the relay and then again in Berlin shows what a bad *** he is under his relaxed exterior. I hope he decides to race again this fall as I think he could even go faster than he did in Berlin.
Dinner night before race, I invited a fellow Maryland runner who I knew was running Berlin. It was cool as her and @bushdocda were talking Maryland running races and training places.
We did talk about how we should do another relay at some point (perhaps a Ragnar). We had such a blast when @gianmarco had us for the St. Louis relay. However, we resolved to choose a relay where the temp is below 95 degrees.
He really crushed his marathon and his finishing kick in the relay and then again in Berlin shows what a bad *** he is under his relaxed exterior. I hope he decides to race again this fall as I think he could even go faster than he did in Berlin.
Dinner night before race, I invited a fellow Maryland runner who I knew was running Berlin. It was cool as her and @bushdocda were talking Maryland running races and training places.
We did talk about how we should do another relay at some point (perhaps a Ragnar). We had such a blast when @gianmarco had us for the St. Louis relay. However, we resolved to choose a relay where the temp is below 95 degrees.
SteelCurtain
Footballguy
I do think PRing at big races is exponentially harder than at a smaller race of about 1000 runners. Just the sheer logistics and then course congestion can make PRing at a major tough. I know I have done my last two PR's at majors, however, as I start to plan my Fall 2023 running schedule, I'm starting to think about running a smaller race for my PR attempt (Erie possibly).
ChiefD
Footballguy
This just made me laugh. Thanks for throwing in some underutilized vocabulary into the report.
Just amazing. Anytime I see one of you guys negative split these things it just makes me stand up and bow. Well done.
ChiefD
Footballguy
Your consistency hitting your goals (or close to it) on every split is mind-boggling. You have this so dialed in that I'm truly in awe of how you do it.
Simply amazing how you guys do this. If anything could ever inspire me to run seriously again it's reports like yours and bushdocda's. Awesome job.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
My September report:
June: 54 miles, 7:54 average pace, 145 average HR
July: 146, 7:48, 141
August: 205, 7:40, 136
September: 210, 7:26, 133
Decent progress this month although the numbers are likely weather aided. I started stringing some sub 6:00 miles together. That’s a good sign.
My official 5K PR pace is 5:41 and I think I could run that now. I’d still like to get better though and think I can by Thanksgiving. I’ve been thinking about finding a 5K in mid/late October or early November for a practice race.
June: 54 miles, 7:54 average pace, 145 average HR
July: 146, 7:48, 141
August: 205, 7:40, 136
September: 210, 7:26, 133
Decent progress this month although the numbers are likely weather aided. I started stringing some sub 6:00 miles together. That’s a good sign.
My official 5K PR pace is 5:41 and I think I could run that now. I’d still like to get better though and think I can by Thanksgiving. I’ve been thinking about finding a 5K in mid/late October or early November for a practice race.
pbm107
Footballguy
Great Race report and I hope you’re not too discouraged by not getting your BQ in this race. You set a PR while in a foreign country, this summer was one of the warmest I can remember and you may have had 2 decent weather weeks to train prior to the taper. You have some lessons learned on the race planning and watch issues, but even with those challenges, you found a way to negative split the race. A PR and negative split by definition means you had a successful race. Your BQ is coming soon.
Richmond is coming and I see you have some thoughts about possibly taking another shot there, but be careful listen to your body and recover. There is no shame in fun running that if you aren’t ready to race.
pbm107
Footballguy
You execute a marathon race plan as well as anyone I know, at least the last three marathons you have raced. A PR at 51 has to be sweet, loved the race report and congrats on the well earned PR.
-OZ-
Footballguy
Man, your ramp up puts mine to shame.
-OZ-
Footballguy
-OZ-
Footballguy
Incredible. Seriously impressiveBerlin Marathon Race Recap
I arrived Wednesday morning after flying all night on Tuesday. Spent Wednesday through Friday sightseeing in Berlin. We obviously did the expo, but also walked the streets aimlessly just exploring, went to historical sites, went on a formal walking tour of the city on Friday.
It was a lot of time on my feet, which is never ideal, but my wife doesn’t want these trips to be all about running, so we always try to explore the city of the destination marathon.
This was going to be my 5th star (of the 6 world Marathon majors).
I had several goals for this race. My stretch goal was 3:07:59. My A goal was to be sub 3:10 (my PR prior to Berlin was 3:10:17 at 2021 London Marathon). My B goal was to run 3:20 to give me a 5 minute qualifying buffer for Boston Marathon.
I did not sleep well all week in Berlin. The jetlag was there all week. I just didn’t feel energetic at all. I did a couple shakeout runs near my hotel, but they weren’t great.
My regular breakfast before a marathon is a bagel with peanut butter. Usually its easy to eat this because it requires no kitchen and is simple. However, bagels were hard to find in Berlin, so I decided to buy two big doughy pretzels and those would be my “bagel” in the morning.
Easily got into my starting corral which was a couple hundred feet or so back from the starting line. They announced the elite field including Eliud Kipchoge and Keira D’Amato. And then we were off.
(I will provide these updates by 5K as that is what the race provided. I will also share my goal for each point in the race based on the 3:07:59 stretch goal.)
The first few miles are always a time when I just want to find my rhythm. No marathon goal is achieved in the first 5K, however, lots of marathon goals can be put in jeopardy by going out too hard in the first 3.1 miles. I went a bit faster in this first section than I probably wanted, but Berlin opened up nicely and congestion wasn’t really an issue at all (unlike London the year prior).
5K (3.1 miles) – 22:45 (Goal was 22:57)
Knowing I was out a bit quick, I needed to settle down the pace. I felt like I was working too hard. This wasn’t easy. This wasn’t effortless. I’ve done a lot of marathons and I always feel like the first half should almost feel too easy. Unfortunately, today wasn’t feeling that way. However, the weather was terrific running weather. Clouds, temps in the mid 50’s, little to no wind. If there was a day to go for it, this was it. So I just kept going, regardless of how poorly I felt.
10K (6.2 miles)– 45:27 (Goal was 45:25)
This part of the course winds to the north and east of the Berlin. Its primarily residential which led us through pockets of loud cheering. Always fun being cheered for in another language. They might have been telling me I was slow and looked terrible, I would never have known.
15K (9.3 miles) – 1:07:40 (Goal was 1:07:43)
This is when I decided I was going to keep going and see how long I could hold this pace. I had decided if I did 1:35 on the front half, I could run 1:45 (8:00 minute pace) on the back half and still get my BQ minus 5 minutes. It felt doable.
20K (12.4 miles) – 1:29:48 (Goal was 1:29:50)
I’m not sure what happened here where I was slightly ahead of pace to quickly being 8 seconds off in less than a quarter of a mile. I don’t remember anything noteworthy. However, when I ran my PR in London last year, I ran a front half of 1:36:17 and a 1:34:00 on the back half, so I knew I was about 90 seconds ahead of my PR race from last year.
21K (13.1 miles) – 1:34:38 (Goal was 1:34:30)
I pushed a bit here to try to keep myself on track for the stretch goal. I knew I might be burning the candle too hard, but this was a day to go for it. I was calculating in my mind of how I was banking time on that worst case scenario of a 1:45 back half. I did find about 7 runners who I ran with as we were passing other slowing runners. We didn’t talk as I’m pretty sure several were not American. I was really pleased to see I was right on my time target at this stage.
25K (15.5 miles) – 1:51:56 (Goal was 1:51:57)
As I passed 16.2 miles, it felt like 10 more miles at this pace would be really tough for me. However, I had no choice but to keep going. As I contemplated this course, it felt easier than any of the other 4 majors (Chicago, London, Boston, New York City) I had run. This course is a fast course. I kept looking at that blue line on the road and knowing Eliud Kipchoge, the greatest marathoner of all time, had run these roads less than an hour prior to me, I thought about how fortunate I was to participate in this sport where the best in the world compete with a regular runner on the same course at the same time.
30K (18.6 miles) – 2:14:09 (Goal was 2:14:03)
This is when the struggle really started. I didn’t want to give up too much time to give me an opportunity to rally in the last couple miles to try to reach my stretch goal. However, that group that I was running with had splintered with several of them running ahead of me, I could see them, but I wasn’t running with them anymore. Meanwhile, others had fallen off the back behind me.
35K (21.7 miles) – 2:36:20 (Goal was 2:36:09)
This is when it really got hard. I was straining and knew that my stretch goal was becoming unlikely. Berlin serves their water in disposable plastic cups. So my method of pinching the cup to drink, didn’t work. Everytime I went to drink, I splashed it all over my face, down my shirt, with a little bit getting in my mouth. I was struggling to get enough water in my system. At mile 23, I grabbed water and walked for 5-10 seconds to ensure I was able to get some hydration in my system.
40K (24.8 miles) – 2:59:09 (Goal was 2:58:15)
I knew I was behind my goal and would need to finish a fast finish to hit that stretch goal. Without calculating in my head, I was thinking at least 6:30 pace - which was a tall task. I went to go to a higher gear and pick up my pace. However, it just wasn’t there. My legs and body wouldn’t respond. I was pushing and passing 85% of the people around me, however, the stretch goal wasn’t going to happen. I passed the Brandenburg Gate which means there is about 300 meters remaining in the race. I looked at my watch and it said 3:08:00. I wanted that sub 3:09 time. I picked up my pace. The straightaway in Tiergarten Park is a classic finishing space. Bleachers on each side, which large trees framing the roadway. You can see the finish line in the distance. I pushed and pushed as I watched that watch creep up. As I finished, I looked at my watch and it said 3:08:59. I stopped my watch after I had passed by both finishing chip readers….it said 3:09:01. However, I was pretty sure I had gotten that sub 3:09. I didn’t run with my phone, so there was no way to immediately find out.
FINAL TIME – 3:08:57 (a 1 minute and 20 second PR)
I was dealing with a fair amount of nausea immediately after the race. After probably 15 minutes of stop and starts moving away from the finish line, I finally got to a water table and drank 6 cups of water. I realized I was really dehydrated. My body felt much better after getting that water in my system.
First half – 1:34:38
Second half – 1:34:19 (third consecutive negative split in PR races)
Below shows my evolution in my placement among 25,000+ runners.
5K – 4558
10K – 4444
15K – 4178
20K – 3996
25K – 3797
30K – 3586
35K – 3346
40K – 3155
Finish – 3077
So I passed nearly 1,500 people through the race from the 5K mark through the end.
Thinking about this race and my training, as I get older, I’ve realized the importance of stretching and strength workouts. When I regularly stretch and do running specific strength workouts, they enable me to continue to push my training without getting injured. I admit, I don’t particularly enjoy them, however, my aches and pains are minimized or even eliminated when I’m disciplined to my stretching and strength workouts.
Upon reflection, this is the fastest of any of the majors. Boston and New York have too many hills to be considered fast. London had congestion challenges which limits one’s ability to run as fast as you would like (although I’ve seen others complain about narrow streets in Berlin – I didn’t experience this on Sunday. Chicago is flat, however, there are a few places where the turns are a bit more severe than Berlin and Chicago has a lot more exposure to the sun. Berlin is shaded for more of the course than Chicago (IMHO). The blue line tells you how to best run the tangents (which I don’t recall if Chicago had that through the entire course).
What’s next? Two weeks after Berlin, I’ll be leading a pace group at Mohawk Hudson Marathon in Albany. In November, I will lead pace groups at New York City Marathon and at Philadelphia Marathon. It will be fun as I know local runners who are part of my running club will be running each of these races.
My Marathon PR History
2011 – First marathon ran 3:39:29 at Walt Disney World Marathon
2011 – PRed with 3:36:44 at Baltimore Marathon
2012 – PRed with 3:29:11 at Philadelphia Marathon
***STARTED USING HANSON’S MARATHON PROGRAM in 2016***
2016 – PRed (and first time qualified for Boston) with 3:21:04 at NYC Marathon
2017 – PRed with 3:18:55 at Chicago Marathon
2018 - PRed with 3:15:00 at Run for Red marathon.
2019 - PRed with 3:12:43 at Monumental Marathon in Indianapolis.
2020 - COVID – no races
2021 - PRed with 3:10:17 at London Marathon
2022 - PR (at age 51) with 3:08:57 at Berlin Marathon
bushdocda
Footballguy
Appreciate it and the thoughts on Richmond as well.
I am going to keep it fluid and research some approaches to bridging these weeks and see how it compares to what I sketched out on the plane.
-OZ-
Footballguy
22 hours running, 38 total hours including one duathlon race (masters victory) and metric century ride, plus another 30 walking the dog (which I don’t track but will count). It’s been a good month.
I’ll probably aim for 25 hours in October, peaking in the 3rd week.
SteelCurtain
Footballguy
If not Richmond, possibly Rehoboth? Gives you the opportunity to fun run Richmond and use it as your last long run before racing in December. Just a thought.
#MoreRaces #MyWifeHatesIThinkLikeThis
SteelCurtain
Footballguy
Thanks! Yes, the PR at 51 is pretty nice. Although, I do think I'm getting towards the end of finding my PR. (I also said this when I ran 3:12 at Indy....)
I've trained about as hard as I really want to train. Running 90-100 miles in training isn't really appealing to me. I still like desserts and I don't want to give those up. My only hope is my oldest son is off to college next year, so maybe I have a little more time to stretch and strength train?
One of the reasons I took up pacing is so when the inevitable time starts to slide a little due to age, I still have pacing. I can pace and be the best damn pacer out there. Because pacing isn't about how fast you go....its about going at a consistent and even pace.
(I do know about age graded performance, but right now, that's not of interest to me.)
SteelCurtain
Footballguy
I'm intensely rigid when it comes to running, which is reflective in my pacing. I need to have the pace goals written out and clearly stated to ensure I don't go out too fast.
Your consistency hitting your goals (or close to it) on every split is mind-boggling. You have this so dialed in that I'm truly in awe of how you do it.
Simply amazing how you guys do this. If anything could ever inspire me to run seriously again it's reports like yours and bushdocda's. Awesome job.
If I said to someone "I'll give you $10,000 if you stay within 5-10 seconds of your marathon pace goals for the first half of the marathon", then they would find a way to do it. They would be so disciplined to grab that $$$$. I just don't need the $$$$ to drive me. I do a lot of thinking and research about what I think I can do on a race, so when I get to race day, I don't let emotions or physical pain influence me to go to slow or too fast. I intently follow the plan.
Certainly at mile 20, the restrictions are released and I'm more flexible, but its at that point you learn what you do or do not have in terms of performance.
Thanks for the kind words, but in reality, I'm no different than anyone else, except I am super structured in my training and race plan. And I'm pretty good at dialing in a pace, whether its 7:10, 8:30, 9:00, etc.
Zasada
Footballguy
@bushdocda what a great race and awesome negative split. Navigating crowds at the beginning must have been so frustrating, but you didn't let it ruin your race. And you picked up a few key improvements to make for the next race, which will surely get you to your BQ goal. 
@SteelCurtain you train and run so incredibly disciplined. And that is manifested in when you are a pacer in races. Incredible. Love the progression over the years, and one more major to go!
Both of you are a real inspiration, and I hope to take lessons from your training and race-day approach. Thanks for the great reports and congrats on two great races run. I was talking about you all Sunday to my wife and how you're such great role models!
@SteelCurtain you train and run so incredibly disciplined. And that is manifested in when you are a pacer in races. Incredible. Love the progression over the years, and one more major to go!
Both of you are a real inspiration, and I hope to take lessons from your training and race-day approach. Thanks for the great reports and congrats on two great races run. I was talking about you all Sunday to my wife and how you're such great role models!
ChiefD
Footballguy
Beautiful morning here in KC. 50 degrees for a nice run this morning. 4.21 miles and starting to feel better about things. We have had a ton of stressors around here in the last few months, but one of those is winding down this week so hopefully things will get back to normal. More running should result from that. Anyway, after the run:
1. Farmers Market. Still an ample supply of things here. We haven't had a frost yet or nowhere near it, so farms are still producing. No more berries or melons, but fresh apples plus all the veggies are still available.
2. QT for my sweet cup of nectar.
3. Academy Sports for some golf balls.
Golf tournament this afternoon for my friend's charity that raises money for children with developmental special needs to get resources they need. His son is a special needs child and his dad and mom are great advocates for him and other kids.
Beautiful day - gonna be 79 and sunny and a very slight breeze. Have a great day, all!
1. Farmers Market. Still an ample supply of things here. We haven't had a frost yet or nowhere near it, so farms are still producing. No more berries or melons, but fresh apples plus all the veggies are still available.
2. QT for my sweet cup of nectar.
3. Academy Sports for some golf balls.
Golf tournament this afternoon for my friend's charity that raises money for children with developmental special needs to get resources they need. His son is a special needs child and his dad and mom are great advocates for him and other kids.
Beautiful day - gonna be 79 and sunny and a very slight breeze. Have a great day, all!
The Iguana
Footballguy
I think we can agree that I'm not always the smartest of people, right? Well, I signed up at the beginning of the year for the Fort Ben HM and despite running exactly 30 miles the entire month of September, I figured I signed up so I might as well use the entry.
It's a great run that goes in and out of a park on the northeast side of Indy. I set my HM PR here 3 years ago with a 1:38 something. That wasn't happening today. My longest run all year had been 9 miles.
I went out with a goal to just finish even if I was walking the end. I really wanted to be under 2:10 - that's the slowest officially recorded HM I have done but kind of tried to hit sub 2 hours.
Not worth a full report but I made it through 9.5 miles in decent shape. After that I walked the water stations and up the worst part of the hill in mile 11, and hobbled my way home to an official finish time just under 2:05.
It's a great run that goes in and out of a park on the northeast side of Indy. I set my HM PR here 3 years ago with a 1:38 something. That wasn't happening today. My longest run all year had been 9 miles.
I went out with a goal to just finish even if I was walking the end. I really wanted to be under 2:10 - that's the slowest officially recorded HM I have done but kind of tried to hit sub 2 hours.
Not worth a full report but I made it through 9.5 miles in decent shape. After that I walked the water stations and up the worst part of the hill in mile 11, and hobbled my way home to an official finish time just under 2:05.
Dr_Zaius
Footballguy
Look at me!!! My golf tournament didn't get cancelled on account of bad weather!
Glad you're doing well and glad to see that Saturday morning reports become a regular feature again.
gruecd
Footballguy
OOOOH, I wanna try one of these. Here goes:
Got into ORD from Poland last night around 7:30pm. By the time we got through customs, got our luggage, and took the train to long-term parking, it was almost 9pm, and I still had a 90-minute drive ahead of me. Dropped off the wife and kid at home and then went to get the dog from my brother-in-law's place. By the time I got back home, took care of a few odds and ends, and took a shower, it was almost 12:30 by the time I went to bed...and three hours later, I was wide awake. Thanks, jet lag. Anyway, after I woke up:
1. Threw down an energy drink (purchased last night at the real Kwik Trip, got on my computer, and caught up on work for a couple of hours.
2. Got the kid from her crib when she woke up around 5:30. Earlier than normal, but better than I'd expected given the time-zone change.
3. Unpacked my suitcase.
4. Went for an easy 10K recovery run (8:07/137). It was a beautiful, sunny morning with temps in the upper 40s. Legs actually felt pretty decent considering the lack of sleep and the fact that I just ran 15 in Poland on Thursday.
Brewers game tonight. As hard as this team has tried to play itself out of the playoffs, the Phillies keep saying, "Hold my beer."
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SteelCurtain
Footballguy
There is something really happy about these weekly Saturday updates. Please keep them coming.
SteelCurtain
Footballguy
Let's hope the jet lag doesn't hit real hard in the 6th inning of a tie ballgame tonight.
MAC_32
Footballguy
Sleep in --> kids soccer --> farmers market --> morning dump --> NOW it's time to run.
Got in my first double digit mile run since around christmas 2021 and sustained about the same pace as recent weekend 'long' runs around 7 flat. Didn't have to ramp up the effort until beginning inclines over the last 2 miles and if I weren't up against the clock I'd have simmered down.
We were on our way to football within 5 minutes of completion. I had clothes already laid out and I picked up takeout sushi on the way home last night anticipating a tight turnaround time. Lost in the final minute, but they were playing a quality team and he made some good plays (couple hit stick moments!).
Then it was off to the apple farm. Pretty sure all of NE Ohio was there. Loaded up on fall decor - $50 worth of pumpkins to pair with a couple of scarecrows. The kids went off with hundreds of others on the playground while we waited in an half hour line for cider, kettlecorn, and a dozen donuts. And ohmygod these donuts - maple bacon, lemon blueberry, strawberry banana chocolate...these donuts alone are worth the 15 mile drive.
An hour of backyard kickball then just wolfed down a bunch of homemade pizzas and now it's time for some warlocks and to binge the treehouse of horrors with my boys while the wife goes out with her friends.
Today was a good day
ChiefD
Footballguy
Listen here Mr. La-Di-Da. You are starting to piss me off.
You have some real talent. Dropping this random **** on a Saturday night isn't fair. I mean this with all love and due respect, but you need to wake up and put some effort into this. You could be GREAT at this.
GO DO IT!!
Zasada
Footballguy
Agreed, through all of his running, @The Iguana has always seen race performance disproportionately higher than his training volume. Could really kick major *** with a bit more effort!
Zasada
Footballguy
A day late, but:
Friday night, caught my flight north, and (for a change) it was a bit early departing and then almost 30 minutes early arriving. Fast-walked through the terminal to customs, took 30 seconds at the Nexus (Canadian Global Entry) terminal, and then after a couple questions from the officer, I'm out. No checked bags, so at my car in minutes, and walking in my front door just under an hour from when the plane door opened. Wife had to stay in DFW (long COVID) so I'm a bachelor this weekend. Get all my gear ready for the morning's trail run before bed.
Five hours of sleep, and I get up, dump, and out the door with ease since all my gear is ready to go. 45-minute drive to the trailhead and meet my buddy there. It's been over a month since I've been on my home trails, and it's great. Headlamps to start, two round-trips on Prairie Mountain in the books in about three hours.
Drive home, shower, then time for a haircut. Get the standard, 1.5 on the sides, finger-length on the top, hot lather shave of the sideburns and neck. So relaxing.
Stop at the grocery store to get some food for the afternoon's events, and check for my wife's special Canadian peanut butter (long story). No joy, but get some veggie burgers for later.
Two more grocery stores on the way home, still no luck with the peanut butter at either.
Then meet my friends at a park for a BBQ. Beautiful fall day (sunny, 21C/73F, leaves falling all around us in the light breeze). Veggie burgers for me, and some Doritos. More importantly, some great conversation, notably with a couple of friends I haven't seen before COVID.
Drive home, get some laundry into the washer, and then soon it's dinner time. Some fake chicken, brown rice, and vindaloo sauce in a skillet. Eat it from the pan, while I watch the Stampeders demolish the Argonauts in the CFL.
Then to bed, for 8+ hours of solid sleep before the morning trail run. A good day. Only regret is that I couldn't share it with my wife.
Friday night, caught my flight north, and (for a change) it was a bit early departing and then almost 30 minutes early arriving. Fast-walked through the terminal to customs, took 30 seconds at the Nexus (Canadian Global Entry) terminal, and then after a couple questions from the officer, I'm out. No checked bags, so at my car in minutes, and walking in my front door just under an hour from when the plane door opened. Wife had to stay in DFW (long COVID) so I'm a bachelor this weekend. Get all my gear ready for the morning's trail run before bed.
Five hours of sleep, and I get up, dump, and out the door with ease since all my gear is ready to go. 45-minute drive to the trailhead and meet my buddy there. It's been over a month since I've been on my home trails, and it's great. Headlamps to start, two round-trips on Prairie Mountain in the books in about three hours.
Drive home, shower, then time for a haircut. Get the standard, 1.5 on the sides, finger-length on the top, hot lather shave of the sideburns and neck. So relaxing.
Stop at the grocery store to get some food for the afternoon's events, and check for my wife's special Canadian peanut butter (long story). No joy, but get some veggie burgers for later.
Two more grocery stores on the way home, still no luck with the peanut butter at either.
Then meet my friends at a park for a BBQ. Beautiful fall day (sunny, 21C/73F, leaves falling all around us in the light breeze). Veggie burgers for me, and some Doritos. More importantly, some great conversation, notably with a couple of friends I haven't seen before COVID.
Drive home, get some laundry into the washer, and then soon it's dinner time. Some fake chicken, brown rice, and vindaloo sauce in a skillet. Eat it from the pan, while I watch the Stampeders demolish the Argonauts in the CFL.
Then to bed, for 8+ hours of solid sleep before the morning trail run. A good day. Only regret is that I couldn't share it with my wife.
The Iguana
Footballguy
I appreciate both the kind words and the kick in the pants. I would love to find the discipline to do all this "right" but I just can't seem to find it. In my head I want to but in real life I let a number of things get in the way - some legit, most just being lazy/undisciplined/unmotivated/something. Days like yesterday make me want to do better but we'll see.
SteelCurtain
Footballguy
Nice run!
I also get 1.5 on the sides and back. Wife thinks its too short.
I love vindaloo sauce. Spicy.
Most importantly, hope your wife is feeling better soon GB.
The Iguana
Footballguy
I kind of miss the days that I used a guard for a haircut. It's been nothing but a razor about 2-3x a week for awhile now. I do enjoy a smoothly shaved scalp, however. Now I just kind of wish it would stay that way and I didn't have to do the work ever 2 or 3 days.
gruecd
Footballguy
Sorry to hear that, GB. Hopefully she's still happy with how you use it.
gruecd
Footballguy
Contemplating MAYBE pursuing a charity entry for London next spring. I'd go the Marathon Tours route, but I'm having a hard time accepting how much they make you overpay for hotel rooms...
I'd want to run for a US-based charity so that people's contributions would be tax-deductible, and there are only a handful of those that get entries. One is PAWS CHICAGO, the Midwest's largest No Kill humane animal shelter. Fundraising spots are first-come, first-serve, and the fundraising minimum is either $7,500 or $8,500 depending on whether I'd commit before or after the London lottery closes.
I've never done the fundraising thing. Let's say I commit this week, and I'm willing to make a $1K donation of my own; how easy would it be to raise $6,500 over the next six months?
I'd want to run for a US-based charity so that people's contributions would be tax-deductible, and there are only a handful of those that get entries. One is PAWS CHICAGO, the Midwest's largest No Kill humane animal shelter. Fundraising spots are first-come, first-serve, and the fundraising minimum is either $7,500 or $8,500 depending on whether I'd commit before or after the London lottery closes.
I've never done the fundraising thing. Let's say I commit this week, and I'm willing to make a $1K donation of my own; how easy would it be to raise $6,500 over the next six months?
tri-man 47
Footballguy
Hard to say. The only fundraiser I did was a few years back for the MCM, raising funds for an organization that supports vets dealing with PTSD ...a worthy cause, and one to which you FBGs contributed generously. For all that, I worked it hard - and reached about $2,700. But you're a more social guy than me and have much wider circles, and those circles have a lot of business contacts vs. my higher ed ones. So I'd say it's doable, but with effort to get 'er done.
The Iguana
Footballguy
Depends on the giving mood people are in too. Work does a bowl-a-thon normally every year. Hasn't happened in a couple of years because of covid. Last time it actually happened, I got a number of donations without trying really hard. This year, I've posted this link to Facebook and such a few times but donations have been slow going. If anyone was interested in donating, it's still available. the youth foundation primarily is involved with Special Olympics as well as the Boys and Girls Clubs.
If anyone is interested feel free to click my link and support my team.
If anyone is interested feel free to click my link and support my team.
