The Cystic Fibrosis stairclimb was scheduled to start at 10am, with registration opening at 9am. I got up about 6:30am, and was going to have a bowl of cereal, but found we were out of cereal except for a small amount. Not enough for a bowl. So I ended up having a tuna sandwich.
I debated about which shoes to wear. I have the 10.5oz Fila Volantes, or the 12.7oz Fila Asylums which matched my shirt better. I ended up wearing the lighter Volantes.
We got there about 9:20. Registration went smoothly and quickly. I was wearing sweats over my running clothes. As the starting time got closer, I stripped off the sweats. There was one relay team to start up front, then the individuals would go. I registered almost immediately after registration opened in the hopes of being to be up towards the front. Passing people in the narrow stairway can be a real pain. One woman I talked to who was involved in organizing the event said they were supposed to have lined up people based on their times in last years race. But apparently they hadn’t known that even a couple days before. We would line up in bib # order. My bib # was 422. The first individual was #420. So I ended up being the 3rd individual. I recognized # 421 from last year. I think he has been the fastest runner, or one of the fastest. So I am not sure if it was registering early, being fast last year, I was up towards the front. Last year I had run the stairs in 2:14. My goal had been to beat my buddy Don who ended up running a 2:07. I wanted to beat him this year. Unfortunately he didn’t show up for some reason. He was supposed to have been there. There were a lot less people than last year.
They released the runners every 15 seconds. The first couple guys went, then it was my turn. I had considered wearing my heart rate monitor, but decided I didn’t want to deal with it. When the girl said go, I took off. I used both railings and was taking the stairs two at a time. I had a rhythm going. Thump thump thump thump, turn, thump thump thump thump, turn, etc. I was able to run to the 8th or 9th floor last year, then had to climb steadily. This year I was able to run longer. Around the 8th or 9th floor this year, one of the volunteers was calling out bib numbers to the people ahead. He was standing against the inside railing, and I had run around him! 
I appreciated the volunteers, but this guy should have been standing on the outside so as not to impede the runners. This broke my rhythm. I manage to run as far as the 11th floor before having to transition into my steady climb. Last year I had a hard time keeping track of where I was. I had been at the 17th floor and was thinking I still have 5 or more floors to go. This year I was able to keep track more easily. I was gasping for breath, but kept going. Pretty soon I was at the top. My wife snapped a picture of me.
I wanted to sit down and drink some water. One of the volunteers needed to take the tag from my bib #. They were taking too much time, and told her to just rip it so I could go sit down. I sat against the wall and drank some bottled water. My throat was dried out from the heavy breathing. Eventually I felt better and I headed downstairs. I was coughing, and it was starting to trigger my gag reflex. I didn’t throw up though…at least not much. I drank lots of water trying to cool my throat.
They had some food, but it was a while before I was up to eating anything. But eventually I got some food.
We waited around to hear the results. We waited and waited. It took frigging forever. They finally announced the top fund raisers. When it came time to announce the top indivual, they couldn’t get it off the computer. They skipped it and went to the top relay teams. Then the top firefighters in full gear, etc. Then they went to the age group awards. I thought I had a good chance in the age group category. They only awarded the first place finishers in the age groups. #421 got first place in the 30-39 year old group with a time of 1:45.
I managed to come in first place in the 40-49 mens category. But then I had a limited amount of competition. But my time was 1:55! I not only hit my goal of coming close to 2 minutes, I broke 2 minutes. I want to see the complete results, but I think I was actually one of the top 3 runners, or at least in the top 5. Nice! I beat my buddy Don’s time from last year. So even though he didn’t show up, I believe I met my goal of beating him anyway.
All I got was a certificate. All the people in all the top three relay teams, got medals. But the age group winners didn’t get medals. Not that I needed another generic medal. I have lots of them from karate tournaments. Still…it’s seemed like a little bit of a dis that the age group winners didn’t get them. I don’t know if the top three finishers overall would have gotten medals…
They were supposed to have come back to overall winners, but they apparently forgot. I mentioned it to the announcer that they forgot the overall winners, but not sure she even was even listening to me. So I congratulated #421 who I am pretty sure was the overall winner anyway. I told him that I would be gunning for him next year. I understand that fund raising is the pupose for the race. But it seems that if they are going to run a race to raise funds, that they owe it to the runners to take the results seriously. I am hoping that the results will be posted online so I can see how I finished compared to everyone else.
The race is different than any other race I have ever run. From the start it is 100% effort, with no pacing whatsoever. Just go go go for 2 minutes solid. I wish they were more organized. I think thet poor organization last year cost them competitors this year. Not sure how they will fare next year.
I keep wondering if they were going to award the top few places for overall individual climbers, and if I would have been one of them. And if they had blown off that category. That would suck. I wonder if they would mail me the certificate or medal or whatever. The more I think about the flawed award ceremony, the more disappointed I am in the whole thing.
The planning for this marathon started months before in booking the hotel. The host hotel was full. But I wanted something near the start line. So I used the feature of the travel sites that allowed me to sort the hotels based on distance from an address. I used the address of the host hotel. This worked great. I got a room at the Knights Inn which turned out to be only three blocks from the start line, and one block from the finish line.
We arrived in Virginia Beach, VA the day before the race and settled in. The night before the race we walked along the street looking for a place to get some pasta for dinner. I didn’t want to eat anywhere fancy or expensive. We ended up choosing a small place that sold ice cream, but also had a deli. I got the spaghetti with meatballs, and Helen got the lasagna. My spaghetti was pretty good, but basic spaghetti. Helen said her lasagna was only fair. I also bought a sub sandwich to eat in the morning before the race which I stuck in the fridge.
I didn’t sleep very well, I tossed and turned a lot. Helen also snored quite bit which helped keep me awake. I had the alarm set for 6am, but got out of bed before it went off.
The race didn’t start till 8am, so I had some time to relax and just veg. I had my stuff all set out the night before.
I ate a quarter of the sub which turned out not to be very good. I also drank a Pepsi. Not a Diet Pepsi like I normally drink these days, but a regular Pepsi. I wanted the sugar. I was going to need it.
I wore my long sleeve tux shirt, and leggings. I wore a compression shirt and shorts underneath. The temperature was around 50 degrees and this seemed about right. I had planned to bring my mp3 player attached to my hat. The rules on the website said no headphones. But this mp3 player had a speaker. But the rules in the race program said no mp3 players. I didn’t want to risk a possible BQ by wearing my mp3 player. So I didn’t take the mp3 player. Turned out many people wore mp3 players with headphones.
We left the hotel about 7:20 and were at the start line before 7:30. I didn’t see any porta potties. I found later they were down on the beach near the finish line. But I got in the line for a restroom at a hotel. I was out lined up for the start with 10 minutes to spare.
I met the 3:30 pacers. We actually had two of them, Stason and Dan. These guys were great!
I planned to take walk breaks each mile. But I wasn’t sure exactly what strategy I was going to use for them. What I have done in my recent races was to run about 7:40 minute/mile pace, then walk for 45 seconds to a minute. It would average out to 8:00 minute/miles.
The race started, and I just followed Stason and Dan. When I came to the first mile marker, I walked for about 25-30 seconds, then ran fast to catch up with the pacers. Then I just settled back into the 8:00ish pace. I say 8:00ish, since in the early miles, they ran slightly faster. We had a tail wind at this point. The course is very flat with only one hill, actually a bridge. But we crossed the bridge twice. It was near mile 3 and again near mile 10.
The tail wind was nice while it lasted. But between mile 5 and 6 we turn north, and were now running into a head wind. I ducked into a group of runners and was somewhat protected from the wind.
At the 6th mile marker I saw something that I hope was not what I think it was. The south bound runners were running next to the north bound runner separated by cones. I saw a guy come from the south bound lane, go around a cone, and run north crossing the timing mat at the 6th mile. This short cut would have cut almost a mile off the course. But maybe the guy had been running north and passed someone using the south bound lane and missed the mat. Then he ducked back around to be sure to cross the mat. I am hoping he didn’t cheat.
My training has helped my breathing quite a bit. I found I was now able to run this pace, and actually hold a conversation. I was not able to do this very well even as recently as December in Las Vegas.
I stayed tucked in the group of runners to avoid the headwind. Around each hour, I kept an eye for water stop which were spaced out every couple miles. I would drink a little Gatorade each stop. But each hour I would down some of the CarbBoom gel, and chase it with some water. The Vanilla Orange CarbBoom gels worked great.
I saw Helen briefly around mile 12 as I passed near our hotel.
There was a 3 mile section between miles 16 and 19 where we were out of town running on a road through a forest. There were these signs spaced out long the sides of the road with cheesy jokes written on them. These were a great distraction. The 3:30 group was starting the spread out at this point. Stason took the front, and Dan ran towards the back. I was still running fairly strong, but my legs were starting to feel fatigued. In Las Vegas I had held an 8:00 average pace up to about mile 17 when I started slowing down. But here my legs were still going and not slowing down.
Around mile 21 I got a side stitch. Stason had apparently dropped out of the group with stomach problems. So Dan was leading the group alone. He suggested I do a crunch on that side and hold it for 10 seconds. I tried this (while still running) and it seemed to help some. Dan headed up towards the front of the group, and I held on to the back as best I could.
I think it was about mile 22.5 where a girl had a box of orange slices. I tried to grab one, but didn’t quite manage it. I kept going. Next thing I know, the girl is running to catch up to me to get me an orange slice. I am running at an 8:00 pace, maybe slightly faster, and she is running beside me with the box of orange slices!!! The volunteers in this race were great! That orange slice was good. Thank you!
At around mile 23, the side stitch came back with a vengeance, and I was forced to stop. I was extremely frustrated at this point. I was only 3 miles from the finish and had been on pace to qualify for Boston. Now it looked like this side stitch was going to prevent me from achieving my goal. I tried to run, but my side felt like I was being stabbed by a knife. I stopped again. I quickly did some stretches, and this seemed to ease the pain some. With my left hand, I grabbed a handful of flesh where the stitch was and just squeezed. I ran like this for another mile. I also tried to focus on taking deep breathes. The pain subsided more.
I kept an eye on my watch and saw that I might still be able to qualify for Boston. It would be close. I kept running, and kept looking at my watch. I think I skipped my walk break at mile 25, but I am not sure. I kept telling myself that I only had to run for another 15 minutes or 10 minutes, or whatever. I was fearing the thought of crossing the finish line and missing a BQ by some amount of time like seconds.
Soon I was in the final stretch. I could see the finish line in the distance, and I had 4 minutes left. I wasn’t sure if I could reach it in 4 minutes. I kept running. When I crossed the line, my watch said 3:30:15. I QUALIFIED FOR BOSTON!!!! I needed to finish under 3:30:59 and I did it. Barely, but I did it. My official time was actually 3:30:14.
I got my medal, then plopped down on a bench and sat for about 5 minutes. I was talking to a guy wearing a Superman cape who it turns out was also ran in Las Vegas and was also one of the 208 running Elvises.
I got up, turned in my timing chip. They gave me a great running hat with the Shamrock Marathon logo on the front and 26.2 Finisher on the back. I also got a bag with some food stuff in it. I got a couple bananas. Helen met me as I left the finishers area. She had a cold Pepsi (non-diet) for me which I drank. That was very refreshing.
We headed to the finishers tent where I got some Irish Stew. I could have gotten a bunch of free beer, but I passed on that as I don’t really like beer. Dan found me and asked how I did. I told him I BQ’d and I thanked him for his help. He was great.
Soon we head back to our hotel where I took a hot bath and a nap.
Here are pictures I took along the way during my 30 second walk breaks. They were taken with a $30 Aiptek Pocket Cam X digital camera.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=63s6442n.5z6terlj&x=0&y=rd44zd
I just registered for the Chase Corporate Challenge on May 29th. This is a 3.5 mile race with thousands of runners from many different companies. The different companies have teams. They take the fastest 4 men and combine their times. They also do so for the fastest 4 women as well…
Last year I ran it in about 30 minutes. This was only 4 days after the Buffalo Marathon. This year with all my speed training, I am hoping to run it in about 23:30. My goal is to be one of the 4 fastest men from my company, and I have a good shot at it. Last year the four fastest men’s times were 20:03, 23:30, 25:10, and 25:19. I have run a 24:24 on my TM and still had more to give. Keep in mind, it is also gun time. So it takes a cerntain amount of time to reach the start line. And many people line up in the wrong (faster) corrals.
My leg was feeling much better. I decided to try running and see how I felt. I stetched. I took it mile by mile. I ran my 10 miles. My leg felt nominal. I was going to take an ice bath. I started to fill the tub with cold water climbed in. I hadn’t even poured the ice in yet. After about 30 seconds, I said forget this. I got out, and dried off. I now have a couple ice packs on my left leg.
One of our karate students is a doctor, so I asked him what muscle it was. It turns out not to me the hamstring, but the adductor. I am not a doctor, and don’t even play one on tv. But whatever. I rested Thursday and Friday…well other than a karate demo, and a karate class in which I took it easy. Anyway, I massaged, and took ibuprofen, and rested, and my leg is feeling much better. I am still skipping aikido class. With all the rolling, falling, etc, it is too easy to tweak a knee or muscle. I might do my run. I could alway push it off to tomorrow for an extra day of rest. But I will see how I feel.