April 21st- April 27th

Mileage for the Year 2014
1,358 miles

Mileage for the week 4/21- 4/27
27 miles

4/27
Off- 40 minutes of easy elliptical.  Felt good to at least do something aerobic.  Gonna take another week off from running to heal my Achilles.  It's better, but still painful at times.

4/26
Off

4/25
Off

4/24
Off

4/23
Off

4/22
Off

4/21
27 miles "26.2 mile- Boston Marathon"  (2:35:27)

118th Boston Marathon
April 21st, 2014
194th place overall out of 31,805 finishers
12th place (40-45 age group)

I made my first real attempt at trying to break 2hrs. 30 min. in this marathon. My preparation was pretty good the 18 weeks leading up to Boston. My mileage was higher than it's ever been and my workouts were better than previous years too. One thing I may have done wrong, is that I didn't get enough pounding on pavement. I ran a lot more on my treadmill then I'm accustomed too, which is great for preparing for warm weather, but I don't get the hard pavement or uphills and downhills that I probably need. Boston has so much downhill that I need to prepare the quads better for that terrain. My legs were pretty much toast at 16 miles this year. I tried my best to keep myself together and not completely blowup. It was one of the hardest things I've done. I suffered for a long time on the course Monday.

I am not making excuses or blaming my performance on one specific thing, but one thing that was discouraging leading into the marathon was that I got injured 1 week before the race. My left Achilles' tendon was very irritated and I could barely run a week before the race. I don't understand how this could of happened. There were exactly zero warning signs and I was being very careful to not overdo anything this close to the race. I was just finishing my 2nd straight taper week and ran 12 miles that Sunday. A few hours after my run, I could tell my Achilles was angry. The next day I could barely run and walking hurt too. It made for a very stressful week leading up to the marathon and very discouraging to me. I did my best to not talk about it to anyone and try to stay positive that it would get better on race day. It never really did. I took a few days off and even during my shakeout runs in Boston my Achilles was painful. If I hadn't just devoted the last 18 weeks to this race, I wouldn't have run. I didn't want to change my goal of sub 2:30 either. I just worked too hard to not at least try. I was committed.

The weather in Boston on race morning was excellent for running. It was in the 50's for just about the entire race. The sun was out, so it felt a little warmer and everyone got a little sun burnt. I took a private bus from MIT to Hopinkton. It was nice to be able to relax and have a bathroom on board. I would recommend this to anyone. I took off for Athletes village and the corrals at 9:20am. I walked to the corrals and got there about 20 minutes before the gun went off. I ran an easy jog for about 10-12 minutes before jumping into corral 1. Surprisingly my Achilles didn't hurt. Maybe it was just the adrenaline I was feeling. I was happy about it either way. I collected my thoughts and got mentally ready while standing in my corral. The gun went off and I was on my way to Boston!

Here are my splits for the race. I included my 5K pace and the half marathon time:

Mile 1: 5:54
Mile 2: 5:49
Mile 3: 5:38
(5K-18:10)
Mile 4: 5:28
Mile 5: 5:43
Mile 6: 5:33
10K- 35:38 (5K- 17:28)
Mile 7: 5:28
Mile 8: 5:42
Mile 9: 5:34
15K- 53:11 (5K- 17:33)
Mile 10: 5:45
Mile 11: 5:45
Mile 12: 5:33
20K- 1:10:57 (5K- 17:46)
Mile 13: 5:41
(Half- 1:14:45)- exactly on pace for what I wanted to run to the second.
Mile 14: 5:36
Mile 15: 5:49
25K- 1:28:46 (5K- 17:49)
Mile 16: 5:42
Mile 17: 6:10
Mile 18: 6:16
30K- 1:48:00 (5K- 19:14)
Mile 19: 6:09
Mile 20: 6:21
Mile 21: 6:37- Heartbreak Hill
35K- 2:07:58 (5K- 19:58)
Mile 22: 6:12
Mile 23: 6:16
Mile 24: 6:17
40K- 2:27:28 (5K- 19:30)
Mile 25: 6:08
Mile 26: 5:42- not sure where this came from.
Last .2: 1:10

Overall: 2:35:27 (5:56 pace)

I just tried to relax in the beginning of the race, but I also wanted to make sure I was on pace for sub 2:30 and hit the splits on my pace band that were specific to this course. I have used maclin's spreadsheet for this race in the previous 5 Boston's I've run and I've always finished strong.

I felt pretty good the first 10K and I didn't feel a thing in my Achilles' tendon. To say the least I was stoked! I remember going through the first 10 miles feeling great. I always remember my buddy Jerry Ross saying that the first 10 miles should feel easy in a marathon and it did. Right after 10 miles though, I started to feel the pain in my Achilles. Damn! It really started to hurt too. I honestly thought I was going to have to pull out of the race within the next mile. There was no way I could finish this race with this pain and I figured it was only going to get worse. I thought to myself, where is the bus that will take runners back to the start? I could't believe that this has happened. Maybe the bus is at the half marathon mark. I'll try to run to the halfway mark at least. I felt good aerobically, but I couldn't run. My form was off because I started to compensate for my Achilles. I couldn't push off my left foot like I wanted too. The pain was pretty good all the way through Weselley's college too. It's always fun running through the screaming tunnel of girls at that stage of the race, but I couldn't truly enjoy it, because my Achilles hurt. Shortly after this though, I noticed I was still running on pace and my Achilles didn't hurt as bad. I figured the pain was so bad, that my Achilles just decided to go numb. Either way, I was happy that it was much more tolerable. When I crossed the half way point I was suppose to be at 1:14:45 and I was exactly on it. Talk about pacing!! The next few miles I just tried to stay relaxed and in control. I was able to follow a couple runners that were running my pace and also trying to run sub 2:30.

As you can see with the above splits the wheels started to fall off before mile 17, which is pretty early in a marathon. I still had 9 miles to go! My quads were done and my feet were beat up and hurting bad. I thought it was going to get really ugly soon. I thought I could completely shut down and have to start walking. I've always heard horror stories and I've seen personally what this course can do to people. People walking down backwards off Heartbreak hill because their quads are shot. I never thought it would happen to me because I train hard and I don't take shortcuts. With the crowds at Boston, it would be a horrible experience to walk. I started to just concentrate getting full breaths and concentrate on my stride and form. I basically took it one mile at a time. I kept thinking to myself, if I run one more mile than I can take a break and I'll be that much closer to Boston. I was also scared if I did stop, I wouldn't be able to get my legs moving again and the pain of my Achilles would really set in to the point I'd have to be carried off the course.

To be honest, this race was one of the toughest things I've done athletically in my life. I really had to dig deep. I got it in my head that I was not going to walk, no matter what. I ran as fast as my legs would take me. I kept thinking over and over to keep my leg turnover going, relax my arms, and look up and forward. I knew my form wasn't pretty and I felt it. It wasn't about my time anymore, it was about surviving and getting to that finish line.

You know why people walk at this stage of a marathon? Because it's easy to walk. They don't want to have to suffer. Its an instant relief. Probably the biggest thing that kept me running were the crowds at Boston. It's amazing!!! The support this city gives to the runners. I kept thinking of the bombings last year too and the people that died and those that lost there limbs and there lives being changed forever. What I'm doing right now is so easy compared to that. No way am I going to take the easy way out and walk. No way!!! I just fed off the crowd and sucked it up.

Coming off of Heartbreak Hill I noticed my splits had fallen off, but not too drastically. It wasn't close to what I was planning on running, but I was somehow keeping it together barely. That really started to motivate me and I knew I would make it into Boston. The crowds of spectator's brought me to the finish line. All my energy was generated from the cheering spectators. I basically gave it all I had the last 2 miles. It was a constant wall of screaming and cheering these last 2 miles. GO ALASKA!!!!! It was so freaking emotional. When I turned onto Boylston street, I actually started to tear up when I was running. Last year 2 bombs went off down this stretch of the course and now the crowds and the city of Boston came back in record numbers to support this race. Boston took there race back! BOSTON STRONG!!!! I felt so freaking proud to be part of it.

When I finished, it was so emotional. I was overwhelmed with emotion. Like always, I put so much into this race. So much time and effort training. The very first thing I think about are my kids Zach and Taelynn. They are my world and I wish they were here to share this moment. I think about my own personal life and my journey. I want to do better. I want to help people more. I know I can do better. There is so many positive people in Boston this weekend and I'm so fortunate to be part of it.

Am I disappointed I didn't reach my goal of sub 2:30? Of course, I'm upset. I'm a competitor. I knew I was in the shape to do it this time. I'm going to give it another go down the road. Not sure when or which marathon, but I want to give another crack at it.

I am very proud of this marathon though. It was really my first competitive marathon where the wheels fell off and I had to fight a long time to get to the finish line. I've said it before, but its what I've learned from the sport of Wrestling that gets me to the finish line. You have to be able overcome adversity. Things aren't going to always go as planned. You have to adapt and move forward. It parallels my life at the moment too. Keep your head up, stay positive and move forward!