October 08

All that matters this month is the Portland Marathon and running 3:15:59 so I can qualify for the Boston Marathon. That was my main goal at the beginning of the year and the time is hear to get'r done.

Friday October 3rd I head over the mountain to Vancouver, WA to stay with my parents for Marathon weekend. My goal was to not have any distractions so the family stayed in Bend for this trip and I stayed at my parents who were out of town until late Saturday night. Friday I got a massage on my legs from my friend Jeremy to loosen me up some. Went to bed at about 10 pm on Friday and got about about 7 am so I got plenty of rest. Saturday I headed down for packet pick up early to beat the crowds. In the door get my packet and out the door. No looking around at the expo as the idea was to lay low and relax. Saturday I did just enough to keep me busy and my mind off the race. Saturday I planned out the race and had everything laid out for the morning. At 5 pm I met Coach Andy, Team Caba and many of their family and friends for dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory. A little pasta for carbs and some chicken for protein and I was good to go. Coach Andy was staying with me at my parents. We headed home and hung out until about 9 pm and headed to bed. I set my phone alarm to go off at 5 am as the race was at 7 am. Ironically I woke up and looked at my phone and it said 4:59 am, I guess I didn't need to set the alarm. I woke up feeling real fresh and calm and took a shower. I made some coffee for the road, brought some water and got my stuff together. We were out the door by 5:30 and to Team Caba's hotel by 6 am as planned. We hung out a little, talked some, used the facilities, and stretched. Heading out the door about 6:20 as we didn't want to get stuck in the back of the pack. Most of us were expecting to finish in the top 200 so no reason to be behind 7000 people. We had a nice jog to the start line and got right in the cattle gate and to the front. My chip time was only 1 second from the start gun time, that is how close I was to the front. We stood around for about 10 minutes and I felt really calm. I found the 3 hr 10 min pace group as the plan was to hang with them as long as possible. I said a prayer for all of us and the Gun went off.

It wasn't a mad dash, my heart wasn't racing, I didn't feel anxious. It was methodical and relaxed. At mile 2 I saw the porta potties and the door opened so I knew it was available. Ducked in real quick and went pee and back on the road to catch my pace group. I just sat right behind the pace group and maintained my calmness. We were on schedule or slightly ahead at each mile check. At the 1/2 way point I was sitting at 1:34:39 and feeling good. My last road half was 1:35 so I knew that things were going well since I felt great and I had ran my fast half of the year. My fueling of Hammer Gels, Water and Ultima were treating me right. I had just started my Hammer Perpetuem after mile 16. What was still left was the hill approach to the St. Johns Bridge and the possible Wall that so many people hit from mile 18 and on. As the bridge approached after mile 16 I stayed calm and just slowly motored up with the pace group. After the bridge and a few tight turns I settled back into my 3 hr 10 min pace. I really focused on fueling at this point as many start to not feel good and don't feel like taking in gooey substances. I felt so good that I was suprised and wanted to go but didn't want to go too soon or too fast and get hurt. After mile 20 I felt like the pace group slowed a little since they were ahead of pace and I just wanted to keep going so I did. I ran alone the last 6.2 miles but I was in a zone. Coach Andy and Ryan Rein were at mile 21 and they cheered me on and gave me confidence. It was at that time that I knew I had qualified for Boston and I was grinning from ear to ear inside. Shortly after that I saw my friend Sean Davis and his family, that was cool as I wasn't sure he was going to make it. As the last hill at mile 24 approached I made sure I took it nice and steady knowing that once I hit mile 24 marker it was all downhill and onto Boston. This is when the adrenaline really kicked in and I went for it. I ran my last 2 miles in 6:39 and 6:42 pace respectively for a final time of 3:07:52 and 8 mins ahead of my goal time. What a thrill!!!!!!

I felt so good after the race that I went back to my friend house, Sean, in Camas and joined him at the soccer field to help out my old team and friends The Red Army. The thought was that I would go out and kick the ball around a little. At kick off they were short player so I went out there. Played all of the first half but 5 mins. Played the whole second half and felt pretty good. After the game was a few beers and some food and then off to bed. Unfortunately I went to bed later than my body wanted, it happens.

Monday I woke up pretty sore and drove home. Time would tell that playing soccer after running a marathon the same day is not a wise thing to do but I had fun.

I had the Marathon High now and started planning my trip to Boston and conteplated running CIM, California International Marathon, in Sacramento California. Why not, I have the training, its a fast course and I could maybe break 3 hours, I can drive there for cheap, my best friend lives there, I love it when a plan comes together. Take some time off and then get back on the wagon and RUN.

Mid October I signed up for CIM which was December 7th and I had to get back to running. The rest of October went pretty well as I got some rest in and started to ramp up again. The weather was nice and we still had lots of daylight. The only other difference was that I did not have coach Andy.