Boston Marathon Athlete Tracking

Ever wish that you could actually be there when someone you know runs these crazy things called marathons, but something keeps you from it (such as the cash outlay to fly/drive, stay in a hotel, etc, etc)?  Well, you're in luck.  For the major marathons, there is usually a way to track an athlete who you know is running, which may be the next best thing to being there.  While most of the biggies are broadcast on tv, that time-space continuum is reserved for the elites...those extremely fleet-footed folks who are capable of sustaining 5-minute (or less!) miles over the course of 26.2 miles.  The rest of us won't get that tv time (unless they happen to leave the finish-line camera running after the elites are done, as they did in this year's Chicago Marathon, and if you happen to be streaming it online, as I was).

If you have friends or family running the 115th annual Boston Marathon, click on the link below to find out what you need to know and do if you want to follow their progress.  And if, for some strange reason, it's me you want to follow, just please DON'T tell me until AFTER the race!

Finally, don't announce an athlete's time if they haven't done it themselves.  Not cool.

For information on race day media coverage, or other spectator information:

http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/event-information/spectator-information.aspx

For individual Athlete Tracking:

http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/participant-information/att-athlete-alert.aspx 

  

Relentless Forward Motion, Ya'll...

7 Days

The final countdown has begun.  With 7 days until race day, our training is in the bank and our taper is in full swing.  That doesn't mean that we don't run or train, just that there's nothing more that we can do now that will help us on race day--if we haven't done it by now, it's too late!  In fact, we have to be careful that we don't do things that will hurt us on race day from here on out. 

...Try to avoid being around anyone who-might-possibly-remotely-slightly-could-be-or-could-have-been-sick-or-feeling-the-least-bit-"iffy"-lately (sorry, no, I don't want to shake your hand at church or have you up in my "space" at work)...Stop eating anything that we know might give us issues before or on race day...Get as much rest as is humanly possible and still hold down a job...and so on.  You get the idea.  We may get a little "paranoid", but who wouldn't if you'd put in as much time and effort over the past 12 weeks--not to mention the previous time and effort it took us to qualify for Boston in the first place! (Although, anytime I get close to race day, this is my mind-set...It's just magnified for Boston.)

So, for the next 7 days, in addition to my regular "day" job (because I can't yet make a living at this running thing, and won't ever, because, well, I'm a little older than is ideal and--perhaps more obvious--I'm not nearly fast enough!), my life will look like this:  I will...
1)  do my scheduled runs (for a grand total of 16 whopping miles this week), including an abbreviated regular speedwork session with my Runners Edge of the Rockies speedwork group,
2)  make lists of what to pack...what to pack for race day, including the clothing and other items that I'll need for the wait in Hopkinton, what I'll need to keep with me (or on) until just a few minutes before the start (which means I'll be discarding some stuff that will be collected and donated to charities), entire sets of weather-specific clothing options for the actual race, the electronics (Garmin), nutrition (gels), geetah straw (although I think we decided to call it a Wise straw on our last long run...) and anything else needed for the duration of the race, clothes for changing into immediately post-race if necessary (again, weather specific), what to pack for post-race recovery, and what to pack for the days I actually might need to be presentable in public.  And running shoes.  Perhaps the most important. Remember the running shoes!
3) Then I'll stage and pack all of that stuff, being deliberate to either wear the items I can't run without or put them into my carry-on bag that I won't let go from my hot little hands.  (Another RER Boston-bound peep advised wearing the running shoes I'd wear for the race, since he'd had his carry-on taken from him one year and it never made it! Yikes!)
4)  Get a massage.  A deep-tissue "tune up" massage.  This, of course, is to be done by the one and only person I trust for it nowadays: the amazing Karen Kalbach.  (Hint:  You really should go see Karen if you regularly train for long-distance running.  Caveat: You and I will be fine just as long as I can get in to see her! :-)  )
5)  Obsess over the weather in Boston, knowing full well that all predictions could go completely out the window on race day morning when we're headed out to Hopkinton!
6)  Rest...'nuf said.
7)  Get the proper nutrition (no, you can't eat like crap and then expect to "carb-up" the night before the marathon.  It doesn't work like that. Thanks to Nancy Pudwill for her guidance in the nutrition arena!)
8) Make reservations for wherever we think we might want to eat while in Beantown.  (I'll have a kitchenette, so will have some control over my food, but we can't possibly go to Boston and not patronize some of their eating establishments!)
9)  Visit the expo, pick up my official bib, hopefully meet some of the elites who will be racing (see http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/event-information/2011-elite-field.aspx for more details) including CU graduate Kara Goucher.

And, finally (well, there are probably more things to list, but I'll cap it at ten)...

10) Buy that bottle of champagne for post-race celebration.  (Hey, it's either post-race celebration or post-race condolences, and I'm going to think positive here!)


Boston...here we come!


Relentless Forward Motion, Ya'll...

Bostontirikulitis! (Bah-stahn-tee-rick-yoo-li-tuhs)

I've come down with something in the last several days, and I don't think there's anything anyone can do about it. I've got a fever, and this time I don't think that more cowbell is the answer.  I take some comfort, though, in knowing that I'm not alone in my illness.  No, there are at least 20 other people in my running group, and probably thousands more (whether they'll admit it or not is another story) who have the same disease.

It's BOSTONTIRIKULITIS.  < Cue dramatic violin. >

What is Bostontirikulitis, you ask?

Bostontirikulitis, according to the encyclopedia Jodavisannica, is "a brain disorder that causes one to only be able to think about running and nutrition in the weeks leading up to the Boston Marathon.  Symptoms include forgetting people's names, forgetting things you were just told, blank stares when trying to discuss anything other than Boston, and finding not funny things very funny.  The only known cure is to set a PR." 

Bostontirikulitis, thus far, has manifested itself in numerous different ways, but we are continually observing new symptoms each and every day.  The symptoms range from the subtle (blank stares of glassy-eyed runners who only respond to words such as "speedwork", "long run", "taper", "pacing strategy", "bib number", or "corral") to the perplexing (“president of my corral”), to the obviously overt ("oh-my-god-I-dropped-the-pliers-and-have-to-get-them-out-because-I-CAN'T-miss-the-last-speedwork-tomorrow-before-Boston-so-I'll-call-the-locksmith-and-give-him-a-chunk-of-change-to-get-them-out-because-it's-midnight!!"), and everything in-between.  Chances are, if you're running this race, or if you ever have, or if you know someone who is, you've seen the symptoms but might not have recognized them.  I urge you to be aware of them and watch for signs of this disease in runners you know, and to exercise patience (and possibly restraint) as they work through Bostontirikulitis.  In most cases, it will run its course in about two weeks, but you should also be prepared for the onslaught of a related illness known as Post-Bostontirikulitisdepressionilicisim. This is a specific derivation of a more widely known malaise (Greek name: Post-longassdistanceracecompleteddepressionilicisim) that sets in following the completion of any long-distance race (very commonly the marathon), when the runner, for recovery purposes, is not allowed to run, but is resigned to walking, then running only very short distances for a certain period of time.  Each runner may manifest different symptoms, however it is generally marked in all runners by a sense of purposelessness and loss of direction.  It is, fortunately, temporary, as most of these fleet-footed types resume training within 3 to 6 weeks for yet another chance to toe the line.

Please consider this your public service announcement concerning Bostontirikulitis. While it is somewhat contagious (I was diagnosed just this past weekend), those of us with the disease are doing our best to control the symptoms and anticipate a "speedy" recovery.  We thank you for your understanding.


 Relentless Forward Motion, Ya'll...


(Thank you to JD and Kathy for providing the inspiration for this entry.)

Hills for Breakfast

"Today we have an awesome route through Parker,"
<Cue evil laugh> ... "Bwaah-haaa-haaa-haaaaaaaaa!!!!"

That's how today's long run was introduced the first time I ever ran it, as a marathon-wannabe-newbie (just two summers ago, by the way), and it's stuck ever since. The official name of our route is, simply, "The Parker Run", but it's come to be known as "The Infamous Parker Run", followed by the evil laugh, of course.

Now, we run a variety of courses on our weekend long runs.  I think our coach has over 150 different courses throughout the Denver and Boulder metro areas, so we don't ever run the same course twice within a training session.  We have several other hilly courses (which you'll no doubt hear about in this blog at some point), but this one trumps them all.  Why? Well, take a look at the elevation profile, but pay particular attention to the total climb and total elevation change:

     Total Climb: 1012 ft
      Total Elevation Change:1864 ft


    







As you can see, this is one hilly course!  And I have to tell you, too, that these aren't hills of the "rolling hill" variety (not that those are necessarily any easier within the context of a long run), but these puppies are long. And steep.  They're unrelenting, and will do a number on you not only physically but also mentally if you're not prepared for them--and sometimes even when you are.

The Parker Run course is always set out for a maximum of 24 miles--12 out and back--but not everyone goes the same distance. (It depends on where you are in your training plan.)  Until this session, this was always one of my 24-mile long runs that I had in my training schedule, so I usually ended up running solo from the 22-mile turnaround (which is the 11-mile mark) out and back to the finish/start.  It was a great mental boost to me when I'd finished, knowing that I'd accomplished a 24-mile, very hilly route (and often in some fairly intense Colorado heat).   Today, however, I "only" had 22 miles of The Parker Run to do, since my coach took out the 24 milers and added more goal pace runs to my level training plan.

We started off very conservatively, as we always do on our long runs, so that we can get warmed up properly and not burn too much glycogen--our primary fuel--too fast.  On this course, that's also when we're giving our bodies an introduction to the shock of what we're about to ask them to do! After we've picked up the pace ever so slightly during those first two miles, we start to get into the "middle miles" of our run--for me today those were the middle 19 miles-- and we run those in thirds, with each third targeting an average pace.  Of course, that average pace gradually gets faster, but since this isn't a goal pace run, it's still slower than what we'll try to target on our race day. The purpose of our long run today was to build endurance, stamina, and strength (hence the hills). The final mile is done again at a slower pace in order to start the recovery process and flush the lactic acid and other "garbage" out of our legs.  Actually doing that last mile at a slower pace but yet continuing to run is tough, though, because your body wants to either keep running at your current pace or stop and walk altogether. 

Out of my pace group, there are four of us preparing for the Boston Marathon, so we all had 22 on our schedule today, and also a few others who are doing later races who also had 22.  This is a key workout for everyone, but especially for the Boston bound folks, because it's two weeks before race day and gives us not only the training effect of the hills, but also the mental edge we need to fortify us for that day.  We ran and we talked and we took notice of the gorgeous view of the mountains, and as each hill approached we employed our best uphill technique and before we knew it (well, maybe not that fast) we'd crested the hill...time to practice that downhill running technique.  For several hours we did this, and spurred each other on if the hill suddenly seemed even larger and our legs even heavier.  At one point, as we were nearing the final push of the long (or should I say Long, with a capital "L"), arduous hill near the school, one of my friends and Boston-bound teammates who was running beside me said "C'mon, Donna! To the top!" and we both gave it an extra kick and increased our turnover to take the rest of that hill as if we weren't tired at all.  I couldn't help but wonder if she also had the same mental picture as I did:  running up that final hill in Boston, crowds screaming...?

It's amazing what the power of running with a group can do...Although we often get somewhat separated naturally as we run--especially on a long run like this one--we still know that our teammates--friends, now--are there close by, running the same tough, hilly course in the same heat as we are, and encouraging us on no matter how they feel. As an aside,  I have to tell you:  runners (at least the ones in my group, but I'd like to think the majority of runners out there) are some of the most encouraging people around. 
And so it is that as we reached miles 15...16...17, we all remarked that we "couldn't believe" that we'd reached that mile "already". 

By the time we reached mile 22, the recovery mile, our final one for today, we'd gotten spread out again, but it no longer mattered.  As we ran to the finish in the beautiful, warm Colorado sunshine, we'd done it again...we'd finished yet another Infamous Parker Run. 

For me, today, it was a good run, one that I needed not just physically, but mentally as well. 

Wham! Parker hills DONE! We came, we saw, we ran!


Relentless Forward Motion, ya'll!