NYE Midnight Madness 3 Mile Run

Race: NYE Midnight Madness 3 Mile Run
Official Time: 19:20
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2008 Holualoa Tuscon Marathon

Race: Holualoa Tucson Marathon
Official Time: 3:24:48
Gun Time: 3:25:04

Comments: OK. The first point to address is the unvarnished fact that this race was a major disappointment. The goal was to qualify for the Boston Marathon and I missed it by three minutes and forty-nine seconds. To get that close and come short was a massive gut punch and I'd be lying if I said otherwise.

Now, aside from that there was a lot of progress here. I bested my previous PR (set at the Sydney Marathon last year) by 6:49 - an improvement of about half-a-minute per mile. More importantly, despite my knee and hip problems this year, neither was a serious issue during or after the race.

So I've clearly made a ton of progress. . . just not quite enough to achieve the goal I'm hoping to reach quite yet.

We got to the resort the Friday before the race so we could pretty much lay low the day prior. This worked pretty good since I got to go to the race expo on Friday and avoid the crush of folks on Saturday. Most of Saturday was taken up with eating carb-rich meals and watching football (and seeing my team lose a heartbreaker of a game).

The morning of the race I woke up at 2:00 a.m. and lay in bed for an hour before just deciding to get going. Most of the pre-race routine was taken up with useless nattering about just to keep busy and not freak out too much.

Before leaving I looked up the 3:15 race split times for the halfway and 20-mile mark and wrote them in ballpoint pen on the back of my hand.

I got on the bus at 5:00 a.m. and took the ride up to Oracle. The trip took almost an hour but we still had a good hour-and-a-half till the start of the race. I sat on in the relative heat of the bus until 6:30 or so then got out and wandered around the start area.

At about 7 a.m. I finally found the rest of the guys and we took the final piss-break and ambled to the start. The temperature to get going was pretty chilly but not abnormally cold. Pretty ideal, actually.

They started the race on time and headed down the hill into the "historic" town of Oracle. As expected, this section was pretty up-and-down as well as narrow. There wasn't anywhere to really go in the pack but the relatively small field - we had just more than 1,000 runners in the marathon - meant it wasn't too crowded. And it slowed us down about right.

We got through the first 7-mile stretch through these side roads pretty well. The hills weren't too fun but nothing brutal either. When we came out onto Oracle Road (SH 77) we were in good spirits and just a bit behind pace - exactly as planned.

The three downhill miles here went really well. We made up a bit of our time but didn't push too hard. As we made the turn at mile 10 into the Biosphere our banter was upbeat and we were feeling great. Of course this is where the wheels fell off for me.

Approaching the Biosphere meant we were heading back toward the Santa Catalina mountains and thus uphill. Add to that there were three actual hills involved and this was a more formidable stretch of the course than it seemed from just a drive over the roads.

The guys were pushing to keep to the pace and I really started to feel it by the middle of the second long hill - dropping F-Bombs intermittently as the suck of the stretch got significantly worse. Since it was two miles in and two miles back, I knew it would be easier once we got to the turnaround but I gave a lot to get there.

And, even when we hit the turnaround, there were the uphills we traversed before to contend with as well. By the time we came up on the half-marathon mark we were running about half-a-minute to a minute behind ideal pace but the worse was over - or so we thought.

Coming out of the Biosphere we got back to Oracle Road for the long 10-mile decline on the highway. The plan was to recoup the lost time from the early miles and the Biosphere as necessary here. Accordingly, we started trying to get closer to the 7:27 mile pace we targeted.

But, increasingly, I was having trouble keeping up. Along the hills in the Biosphere I had a few bad moments but pushing to keep up with the guys got me through the. Out here I found myself constantly pushing to keep up with them and the mental game to keep going was getting really brutal. I was starting to suffer and I knew it.

I kept battling this over the next several miles but when the group sped up to an almost 6:30 per mile pace in order to pass a runner the writing was on the wall for me. Half a mile later - somewhere after the 18-mile mark - I had to let them go.

Now I was in trouble. Out by myself on the course with the pain getting bad and the ability to keep my pace going evaporating by the minute. I knew I had a five-minute cushion due to the difference in our training pace and my actual target but keeping the Garmin pace indicator under 8:00 was getting harder and harder.

The race became a constant battle with the desire to give in through this portion. I knew what I was dealing with from my first marathon experience but coping wasn't any easier. I gave in enough to take a piss break and that helped a little - but it was clear getting the BQ time was going to be close.

Things kept getting bad and I was doing everything I could to keep moving forward. I gave myself two more short breaks when it got brutal with the hope of finishing strong if necessary. Then the 3:20 pace guy caught up with me.

I dropped a hearty F-Bomb and shucked everything extra I was carrying - my gel belt, my sunglasses and even my beloved Alabama hat. The guy (one of the members of Blue Pants Racing) was really cool and supportive but unforgiving with his pace. I kept up as long as I could but eventually he just started pulling away as well.

Then the coup-de-gras. Turning at the 24th mile there was the slight uphill and then to the section behind the Basha's grocery store that was one long incline. I made a last effort to put on a push and slammed into the wall. There was nothing - and I mean nothing - left in my legs.

It was obvious that the rest of the race would be simply trying to keep moving forward to the finish line. But I got across somehow. I was completely and totally shot. My legs were rubber and full of pain. I stopped and waited for one of my fellow runners who I passed at about the 24-mile mark but even just standing there was a lesson in agony.

In retrospect I think we all had enough to not only complete this race in the BQ time but to do so without all the pain. So what happened? Some thought the lack of fluids/carbs was the big factor and others believe the lack of hill training was the culprit. I believe these were factors but I think the big mistake was in the pacing.

When I tried to keep up with the group through the hills in the Biosphere section I pushed myself too hard and paid for it down the stretch.

If I had held to a level of exertion similar to the start of the race - even with the substantial decrease in pace - I would have had so much more left in the tank for the second half. Looking at the breakdown of my splits I was almost exactly on the pace for the 3:20 until that final stretch - 1:39:14 vs my 1:39:01 at the halfway and 2:32:40 in comparison to my 2:30:50 at the 20-mile mark.

But, as my heart-monitor shows, my heart rate increased substantially after the Biosphere section and while I was able to keep it somewhat under control with my decision to slow down I clearly had pushed too hard. When I tried to give the final push my heart rate got up to its max and - I assume - my lactic levels probably were redlining as well.

So what now? Hard to say. First up is to let myself recover from this and then take a closer look at what happened. But it seems pretty clear that Boston '09 is not going to be in the cards.

Phoenix YMCA Half Marathon

Race: Phoenix YMCA Half Marathon
Official Time: 1:37:24
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Nike Human Race 10K

Race: Nike Human Race 10K
Official Time: 44:38
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Valley of the Sun Half Marathon

Race: Valley of the Sun Half Marathon
Official Time: 1:32:08
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Lost Dutchman Half Marathon

Race: Lost Dutchman Half Marathon
Official Time: 1:37:09
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London's Run 10K

Race: London's Run 10K
Official Time: 42:55
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P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Half Marathon

Race: P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Half Marathon
Official Time: 1:41:53
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