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Post by kevinspradlin on Apr 22, 2008 19:08:05 GMT -5
Dave, the DNF won't go away but a few fast times in future races will help ease the pain. You've got tons of potential and talent; two ingredients that will ensure your success in future marathons. "Upside," the pundits call it. I'm sure Spinnler isn't worried.
This event will be only a blip on the radar screen in the coming year or so ... and soon to be altogether forgotten. It seems you made the right choice for all the right reasons. And Lance hasn't got a chance in '09.
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Post by frojoe23 on Apr 23, 2008 10:11:32 GMT -5
I guess I can put up a little recap: I didn't get the opportunity to ride the bus up with the guys. Instead, this year I got some special treatment and got to ride up with the elites on a charter bus. I also got to wait in the Korean Church before the start with the other elites. I was in there with Robert Cheriyout and all the other top guys. Ryan Hall even stopped by for a little bit. I met a guy that was running with Lance (the guy on the left) www.letsrun.com/photos/2008/bostonmarathonv/imagepages/image2.phpSo, I had the pleasure of being in the Elite starting corral and started right beside Lance himself. I tried to be conservative early and my goal was to run 2:23-2:24, so I thought that I did a pretty good job in the first half of the race. My splits for 20k were very consistent and I felt so smooth. The only problems that I had were more of strategy than anything else. I made a decision to not pound any of the uphills and instead let my pack move away from me on the ups and I'd just catch up on the downs. I feel that I am a very good downhill runner and that this strategy would allow me to run a more even pace and save my legs for the hills in the second half. Well, the strategy didn't really work well. At about 11 miles, after repeatedly falling out of the pack that I was with, I fell out for the last time and I couldn't get back up. At this point, I thought I would also be better off to back off a little as they were running 5:20/mile. I just kept falling off of the pack at water stations and uphills and I feel this is where my race went wrong. If I would've just covered every little thing that they did, whether it was hard on the ups or not, I probably would've saved some energy instead of expending more by closing the gap on the pack by myself every mile. From mile 11, I was on my own. I didn' pass or get passed by anybody until mile 19 or so. The Newton hills did me in again and Heartbreak seemed tougher than last year. From there it was complete disaster. I had taken Gatorade at every mile, but at 21, I suddenly forgot. The last 5 miles, I just wanted to be done and was in survival mode. I couldn't concentrate on the race anymore and I contribute that to a little dehydration - it was pretty warm (actually got sunburnt during the race). I just didn't drink enough and it bit me. My right quad really started to hurt 3 miles from the finish and I was afraid that I would do some permanent damage to it. It really hampered me those last few miles, but I did pick up a spot on Boylston street after I gave up a bunch on Commonwealth Avenue. Overall, I was pleased with the time. Our training worked again, but it just didn't happen for any of us in the second half. I should've recognized the heat and drank more or backed off early. I was about 40 seconds quick on the first half, but I still believe that the way you run Boston is with that slightly fast first half and then hope that one day it just clicks on the backside. Jeremy went after it as well. His second half went about like mine, but for all of us the fitness was there. Dave was running an excellent race, it's just that his foot couldn't hold up. Aerobically, we are all a bit better than what we ran, but Boston is tough and somedays it's all there and other times it isn't. I am a little sore (less so than Marine Corps). My right leg is very sore, but my left leg feels fine. I really don't even feel like I ran a marathon. It feels like I just really pushed a long run a bit too hard. I'll still take my time off, but I really feel like i am on the cusp of a serious breakthrough. We did note how hard it is to train for Boston. We weren't able to fnish our runs like we do in the summertime. We had a lot more mile on the roads than we are used to. So I think that things are looking really good for the fall once we get that great support group in for the summer. Thanks to everybody who followed us and thanks to all for the support. It was another great experience and I'm pretty sure we will all be back there next year. Here are my horrible 5k splits: 16:41 16:28 16:37 17:00 17:18 18:15 18:50 18:20 last 2200 meters at 6;11 pace.
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Post by frojoe23 on Apr 23, 2008 10:36:31 GMT -5
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Post by frojoe23 on Apr 23, 2008 12:25:14 GMT -5
You can go to www.wcsn.com and watch the entire marathon for free. At just past 24:00 into the video, my back makes an appearance.
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Post by jordan on Apr 23, 2008 12:53:07 GMT -5
Jaron, dave, jeremy, great running. very impressive.
Jaron you said you started with the elite grouping? I'm pretty sure I saw you on the tele for the first couple miles. I even got real close to the tv and sure enough. there you were. balding and all. j/k.
hope to hear more about the race when I see you guys next.
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Post by frojoe23 on Apr 23, 2008 14:02:34 GMT -5
Good luck this weekend at Penn. What leg are you running?
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Post by kevinspradlin on Apr 23, 2008 14:12:13 GMT -5
Great recaps Dave, Jaron. thanks for giving me a few minutes of your time Monday night. Glad you're all back. I have a lot to learn this summer if I'm going to get my sub-65:00 10-miler this fall. Why not learn from the best?
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Post by burgrunner on Apr 24, 2008 9:47:45 GMT -5
Alright, here is my recap and I am going to keep it short and sweet because I still have a bitter taste in my mouth. I can sum up my race with one word: disappointing.
Boston is definitely an experience that all runners should try to experience at least once. The crowds were amazing and the descriptions that you read don’t do them justice. There are literally people lining the entire course and in most of the towns, they were standing 4 or 5 people or more deep.
Dave and I started out very tentatively through mile 1 and came through at 6:23. Then we started to settle in and get comfortable. The miles started to tick by and it still felt like I was holding back. Mile 2 was 5:59, then 5:49, 5:49, 6:02, 5:56, 5:58, 6:00, 6:00, 6:06, 5:57, 6:04, and 6:03. This put me through the half just under 1:19 which is where I wanted to be, however, it was becoming a little more difficult to keep the splits where I wanted them as I was expending more effort than I would have preferred. I started to notice that my mile splits were increasing so I tried to run based on even effort. The next mile was 6:11, then 12:23 for the next 2, Then it started to get uglier; 6:25, 6:23, 13:57 for 2, 6:38, 6:59, 7:01, 7:33, and then the lovely 9:03 for the last 1.2. At mile 18 or so I just felt like crap. I went into “survival mode” and just tried to keep moving forward. My legs were not the problem; it was from the waist up. Looking back, I didn’t hydrate well and stopped taking anything from here in. At the time, I felt like drinking or taking a gel would make me feel worse and that is the worst thing that I could have done at that point.
The last 4-6 mile of the race amounted to the hardest physical thing that I have ever done, hands down. I hadn’t seen Dave pass me so I knew that I was the third guy on our team and I needed to finish for us to score.
After reflecting, I found a few positives (or I’m trying to tell myself that). I did PR, and I ran the first half almost exactly the way that I wanted to. I now know what it feels like to completely blow up and bonk at the end and somehow I managed to keep running (or shuffling). However, it still feels like a big let down. My time was no way indicative of the shape that I am in. That’s the funny thing with the marathon; there is so much hard work, time, and effort involved in the preparation and then you basically have one shot to get it right.
At least the base it there for the next training cycle and hopefully this will leave me hungry for the next go around. So let’s rest, recover, and heal and then get ready to do some bigger and better things.
(Apparently this wasn’t as short as I thought it was going to be)
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Post by kevinspradlin on Apr 24, 2008 10:29:49 GMT -5
A honest perspective - but most of us probably don't think it's as bad of an effort as you feel it is. Great job - thanks for sharing - and get ready for the next one.
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Post by frojoe23 on Apr 24, 2008 12:01:58 GMT -5
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Post by flyinghighrunner on Apr 24, 2008 16:55:52 GMT -5
Jeremy, your recap reminds me a lot of my Boston experience. My first marathon went as smoothly as one could. Boston taught me how humbling a marathon can be.
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Post by frojoe23 on Apr 25, 2008 9:54:08 GMT -5
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Post by wvrunner on Apr 25, 2008 17:12:46 GMT -5
I guess riding a bike will do that to a fellow.
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Post by burgrunner on Apr 25, 2008 18:15:49 GMT -5
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Post by flyinghighrunner on Apr 25, 2008 19:41:31 GMT -5
I have to make sure I can faster than 3:12 from now on
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