Dipped a toe into barefoot running

Quite by accident, though.

Couple weeks ago, I got a new pair of Merrell Bare Access, to replace the previous pair that's over two years old now. I typically cycle through three pair of shoes at a time; so, two years for a pair is not as long as it may sound. Still, I do put many more miles on shoes than the commonly recommended 500 miles or so. My shoes are all minimalist, so cushioning doesn't really matter much (to me anyway). That, plus the magic of Shoe Goo! I was actually looking for a pair of my all-time favorite, Merrell Trail Glove, but the REI I went to didn't have it in stock that day. There was a July 4th sale on the Bare Access, so I got that instead. I has a bit more cushion than does the Trail Glove and is just as light, with the same kind of roomy toe box. There is, however, one problem with a new pair of the Bare Access. When the top of the shoe flexes, with the takeoff of each stride, the crease that's formed occurs just above the root of the big toenail. Thus, with each stride, the crease presses down on the toenail root. Over just the first two runs (of 5 and 9 miles) with the Bare Access this past week, the root areas of both toenails have become rather tender. Fortunately, after certain number of miles, this problem goes away.

So, for this morning's easy 4-miler plus hill sprints, I decided to try, again, a pair of sandals from Xero Shoes that I'd bought several years ago. For walking, it's great. For running, however, there is a problem. The cord that goes between the big and second toes and through the sole ends with a knot on the other side. It's a small knot. But, with a sole thickness only about 2.5 mm, the knot definitely makes its presence known. I'd only run once before in these sandals, just a couple miles; I ended that run after the hotspot that'd developed on the bottom of the foot just above the knot had became very noticeable. I suppose, with mileage, the knot eventually would get flatten enough to not be a problem. I just have not yet worked on that.

Thus, I knew I probably couldn't go the entire four miles in these sandals, even with socks. So, I stayed close to home. And, sure enough, after just a mile and a half or so, I could feel the hotspot developing. Not wanting to chance a blister, I headed home for different footwear.

I switched on a pair of Vibram FiveFingers that I'd also recently bought, to finally replace my original pair from over five years ago and after at least couple thousand miles--and a few tubes of Shoe Goo. The crease in the FiveFingers occurs well behind the root area of the big toenail. So, I thought they should be fine.

Well, no. After not even half a mile, those tender big toes were loudly complaining. Quite frustrated by now, I turned around and started heading home. But, rather than walking back in the FiveFingers, I decided to just take them off and run in socks. A few steps after that, off came the socks as well. I then ran barefoot for almost another mile (!), plus those hill sprints after the run. I felt a lot better--with a certain sense of liberation--and was smiling towards the end. :)

What about tomorrow morning's 13-mile long run? (It's the end of the fourth week of the 16-week training cycle for Wineglass in October.) It'll be a while before I could run that kind of distance barefoot. I could temporarily go back to my old Bare Access or FiveFingers. Or, perhaps I could try this pair of sandals made by Jeremy, one of the instructors at BOSS. The leather strip between the big and second toes is threaded through the sole of the sandal and then back out, so there's no knot. Plus, the 2-mm inner sole is backed by an 8-mm Vibram bottom (including the tread). I'll figure out some way to keep to my training schedule, while letting those tender big toes recover. 

Tender or not, the toe has been dipped into barefoot running, and it likes what it feels!

Three running hats and serendipity

Pretty much ever since I began to "seriously" train for marathons, back around 2010, I've worn a hat for training runs and races. Runners spend so much time outdoors that a hat and sunscreen are necessities. (See Runner's World: 1, 2.)

My first hat for running was one I'd picked up from a Sun Microsystems exhibit booth at a conference many years ago. I've worn it for almost every marathon I've run, plus most of the many other shorter races. The fit is snug, so, even without a chin strap, it's usable in all but the very windy conditions. The brim width is enough to shade the upper half of the head. From the rest of the head downward? Sunscreen! This hat has accompanied me through most of my marathon journey so far. And, it is showing some age, with a couple of small tears, from all the scrubbing and rinsing after each run.

A few years ago, after some really sunny long runs, I decided to get a wider-brim hat with a rear flap, which provides better protection for the entire head. It has a loose fit; but, with a chin strap, wind is no longer an issue--when it's used for hiking, especially in sunny regions like the canyon lands of southern Utah. The problem when used for running, however, is that same chin strap. When pulled tight, the remaining part of the strap dangling beneath would rhythmically slap my face, with each stride (left face, right face, left face, right face, ...). So, I have to place the strap behind the head when I run and, thus, can only wear it when there's no more than a light breeze.

Then, for this past Father's Day, my kids gave me a loose-fitting Under Armour hat with a chin strap that goes through and extends beyond the top of the hat. By pulling the strap tight from the outer side of the hat until the underside part is snug against the chin, there is no remaining part dangling to slap the face. When I initially tried it on, I said, wow, someone finally came up with a solution to my problem! Not long afterwards, though, I noticed that the hat is a reversible one, which would explain the chin strap extending to both sides of the hat. It'd also mean the designer at UA most likely wasn't thinking about my problem at all!

Serendipity or not, problem solved! And, I'm thankful to UA for a wide-brim hat, shading most of the head, that I can wear in windy conditions. During last Sunday's long run, I could feel the brisk-wind-caused tugs of the chin strap, with its other end contentedly bouncing behind the head, going along for the ride.

Beyond the limits

Of course, I watched that Nike Breaking2 project’s attempt about a month ago, which took place at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, a historic Formula One racetrack northeast of Milan, Italy. Much have been written about it, both leading up to the race and afterwards. Runner’s World has a whole series of articles on Breaking2 (google “breaking2 runner’s world”). Alex Hutchinson has a nice, comprehensive, pre-race background article. There were many post-race analyses, including ones by Hutchinson and Ross Tucker.

A lot of the discussions were on the meaning of what Eliud Kipchoge had accomplished (2:00:25). One focal discussion point was the drafting effect of the six pacers in front of the three racers, as well as the effect of the Tesla car with that big clock, in front of and leading the pacers. A related discussion was on the “pacing and drafting paradox.” Subsequent modeling studies showed that most of the drafting effect was from the pacers and not from the car and clock.

So, was the Breaking2 project an effort to “science the shit out of” 26.2 miles or shit the meaning out of running?

Breaking2 isn’t the only such project. Along with Breaking2, there are two other parallel, rival projects, the Adidas Sub2 programme and Yannis Pitsiladis’ SUB2 project. At least in the case of Nike and Adidas, the commercial aspect is obvious. Breaking2’s attempt at Monza was also a 2+ hour Nike infomercial for its Zoom Vaporfly. The same with Adidas and its Adizero Sub2.

But, still, Breaking2 was pretty exciting to watch. It was after 2 am by the time I got to bed. My morning run a few hours later felt inspired. Each of the three racers at Monza had a personal handwritten message digitally printed on his race shoes. For Kipchoge, it was “Beyond the Limits.” For him, that means Sub2. For me? Sub3! J

Perhaps even more incredible—and beyond the limits--were Ed Whitlock’s achievements. Whitlock, who passed away this past March, owned pretty much all the older age-group records (over 20 single-age records), including a sub3 at the age of 74 (!). He was and remains my inspiration.

With all that in mind and with a couple of recent new data points, I've updated my “projected” dates for achieving several goal marathon times that I’d previously charted.

3:50 Wineglass Oct 2017

3:45 2018

3:30 2020

Sub3 2023! J

There are no short cuts to long-distance running (Gettysburg North-South Marathon race report)

There were four main factors that contributed to my slow finish time of 4:20 in the Gettysburg North-South Marathon some five weeks ago. That finish time is some 25 minutes slower than my PR.

1. 16-week training cycle was interrupted by conferences and other work-related schedule conflicts, resulting in lower weekly mileage and fewer weekend long runs.

2. Course was rolling, not like my usual Sunday long run course; thus, my training was not race-specific.

3. No pacers (electrolytes for the soul!)

4. Only 300+ runners; so, after a few miles, it was pretty much running on my own. The following photo was from one of the early miles, when some of us were still running together.

It’d be easy to attribute my slow time to the last three factors. The rolling course made it hard to get into any kind of sustained rhythm. The lack of training experience with rolling terrain and the lack of pacers just added to the problem. And, though I’m mostly a solo runner, I do appreciate and try to take advantage of running with others during races. At Gettysburg, there was essentially no such advantage. All these factors were contributory. But I think the key one was #1.  Running is the great democratizer, both in access and in potential. There are no privileged short cuts to long-distance running. I just was not prepared to run optimally that day. The outcome that day had mostly been determined before I even got to Gettysburg. It’d also be easy to say Gettysburg is not a BQ course. But, that would not be fair, at least not until I run this again with proper training.

As I was standing there at the start line, conveniently located right next to the race hotel where I stayed, I kept reminding myself to go easy in the early miles. Now, I routinely do that for all races. But, that morning, under a beautiful sunny sky and with temperature in the upper 40s, I was talking to myself based on knowledge, knowledge I’d gained the previous afternoon. After I’d checked in at the hotel, I drove the entire course, stopping along the way to mark where to take gels, dates, and water. I took photos of the scenic course, located within and outside of the Gettysburg National Military Park, in south-central Pennsylvania. I especially noted the rolling terrain. So, I knew that if I start off too fast, I’d pay for it later in the race. But, alas, though I was able to discipline myself and did start relatively slowly, I still ran into a wall of sorts at around Miles 16-18, after which I had to do a fair amount of walking.

                               Notes on the course from a pre-race drive-through

                              Pacing for Gettysburg, compared with Pocono (PR)

Gettysburg is a loop course, with ~1,000 feet up and down. So, the net elevation change is zero. But, the net effect, for me, was definitely negative--and not in the negative split sense!

                            Course map and elevation chart from the race Web site

It was a scenic and historical course—definitely not boring! The following photo shows the course at just before Mile 2 (looking ~SSW), which goes through the East Cavalry Battlefield Site of the Park.

This one is from Mile 3, still in the Park.

And, this one around Mile 9, near the intersection of Stone Bridge Road and Storms Store Road.

This being the Gettysburg Marathon, there was a North vs. South competition. During registration, each runner can choose to represent either side. The scoring to determine the winning side is based on the combined times of the top male and female runners for each side. Everyone on the winning side gets a commemorative beer glass with the event logo on one side and a quote on the other from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. This year, the result was historically correct, and here’s my beer glass.

Gettysburg is a relatively new race, this year being the seventh (?). The race organizers (Lowell Ladd, director) did a superb job; every step in the process was nicely implemented, from bib pickup the day before at the Gateway Theater 8 across the parking lot from the Courtyard Gettysburg (race hotel) to the post-race food, drinks, and beer (!). My only “complaint”/suggestion is to include a vegetarian option for the sandwiches. Evidently, the multi-colored bagel was the most popular.

The timing chip on the bib was very thin, certainly the thinnest I’ve ever seen. It’s from the Jaguar RFID timing system. There were no mats. The sensors were on top of the start line framework (I think), shown at right center in the following photo. To the left is the post-race area.

As to be expected, there was not a lot of spectator support along the country roads of the course. But, that was more than made up for by the terrific volunteer support at each of the aid stations and by the course marshals. Aid stations were at every two miles or so (water and Gatorade). A few other stations in the latter miles also had gels. Especially over the last 6-8 miles, as I was increasingly struggling, those aid stations were like oases!

It’s always a luxury to stay at a hotel that’s close to the start line of a race. That was the case with Shamrock in 2014, where the start line was less than two blocks away. At Gettysburg, it was even more luxurious! In the photo above, the hotel is just off to the right. Gear check? My own car in the hotel parking lot! Of all the race hotels I’ve stayed at so far, the Courtyard Gettysburg was the most accommodating regarding late checkout. Typically, the front desk person would either refuse or say yes but come across as if he or she has to bend over backwards. So, I really appreciated the front desk person at the Courtyard who, when I asked about late checkout, just said, sure, what’s your room number. :)

A slow time; a disappointment; a challenge. I definitely will run Gettysburg again. This course has thrown down the gauntlet, and I’ve taken it up!

BOSS, the ultimate cross-training, part 4 (spiritual)

The marathon is a 26-mile journey towards rawness, as layer after quotidian layer gets peeled off.

Or, as others have expressed it, regarding marathons or ultra-marathons:

- "you're just beat up. It really strips you down to the core." - Scott Jurek, in an interview after his Appalachian Trail speed record.

- "The Marathon rattles you to the core. It deconstructs your very essence, stripping away all your protective shields and exposing your inner soul." - Dean Karnazes, in his piece, The Marathon.

- "They use their bodies to grow their souls." - Leah Jurek, the then-wife of Scott Jurek, in writing about Brian Morrison and the 2006 Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run.

Though it has been almost two years since I had completed that 7-day BOSS (Boulder Outdoor Survival School) Field Course in southern Utah, I still vividly remember the cultural shock when I returned home and then when I got back to the office. The desert still lingers. But, more, the feelings from that week, which were not specific to the geography and which have existed, for me, in one form or another going back decades; those feelings had become, as a result, perhaps more deeply internalized. Or, perhaps it's the converse. Perhaps those feelings had become more immediate, more palpable, because that week had peeled away many, many layers.

A BOSS course and a marathon are journeys, both literal and metaphorical. In the first three parts of  “BOSS, the ultimate cross-training,” I covered the physical and mental aspects of this journey (part1, part 2, part 3). In this part 4, I want to touch on the spiritual journey that is a BOSS course and a marathon.

What do I mean by “spiritual”? The Varieties of Scientific Experience: a personal view of the search for god is a posthumous collection of essays by Carl Sagan, based on his 1985 Gifford Lectures given at the University of Glasgow. The first chapter is “Nature and Wonder: A Reconnaissance of Heaven.” In it, Sagan said, “By far the best way I know to engage the religious sensibility, the sense of awe, is to look up on a clear night." (See Maria Popova’s digest of these Sagan essays.) I had noted in part 3 the awe-inspiring starry sky during that first shivering night of “Impact” of the BOSS course. I was struggling so hard with the cold that I didn’t even think to reach for my camera. But, here is a photo of the Milky Way over the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park (from the International Dark-Sky Association), which is not too far from where we had slept--or at least tried to sleep--that first night. Of course, the photo does not even come close to what I actually saw, but it does give an indication. Perhaps, it was precisely because I was shivering almost uncontrollably and, thus, was not thinking but rather just sensing that it had felt like being one with nature. Or, as William James defined religion: a “feeling of being at home in the Universe.”

That is why I so look forward to each of my Sunday morning, communing-with-nature, long runs. Unless it's actually dangerous out there (e.g., lightning), I pretty much follow that well-known though unofficial U.S. Postal Service creed, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night …” (well, minus the gloom of night part). That is also why running with a headset is, to me, oxymoronic.

Perhaps the second best way to Sagan’s clear night sky, to engage the sense of awe, is to look out on a clear day at the immensity of nature. On the last full day of the BOSS course, the 12 of us students group navigated to our final destination. The following photo shows one of our intermediate target locations, with the most spectacular view of the week, looking generally east into Colorado, some 200 miles away. We were all still looking at the maps and debating exactly where we were, when someone said, “Hey, guys, turn around and look!” I could have just sat there for the rest of the day and communed.

Thich Nhat Hanh, in his book, Living Buddha, Living Christ, wrote that monastic life should not be too comfortable, so as not to hinder spiritual growth. Really taking that to heart are the Tendai Buddhist monks of Mount Hiei of Japan, also known as the “marathon monks.” In their quest for enlightenment, these monks are required to complete a 1,000-day challenge (Kaihōgyō), at the end of which they “enter a darkened room where they spend nine days without food, water or sleep. The idea is to bring the body as close as possible to death.” (See Way of the Runner by Adharanand Finn.) According to one of these marathon monks, “the constant movement for 1,000 days gives you lots of time to think about this, to reflect on your life. It is a type of meditation through movement. That is why you shouldn’t go too fast. It is a time to meditate on life, on how you should live.” (See also Running with the Mind of Meditation by Sakyong Mipham.)

A bit less demanding (J) was that nine-mile "surprise" hike, at the end of our BOSS week, from where we had thought was the *end* of the course all the way back to BOSS in Boulder. Though our bodies were not quite as close to death, we were all deeply fatigued. Under a clear June starry night sky, those nine miles were borderline hallucinatory.

Emil Zátopek, a Czechoslovak long-distance runner, the only person to win the 5K, 10K, and marathon in the same Olympics (1952 Summer, Helsinki), once said, “If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon.” Dean Karnazes later modified that to “If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon. If you want to talk to God, run an ultra.”

I think my fellow students would agree with my modification: “If you want to hike, hike a mile. If you want to experience a different life, go on a BOSS journey.”

A BOSS course, a marathon, and life in general, they are all journeys, not destinations. Even in a relatively short 7-day Field Course, the BOSS journey that I took has been life-changing. I would love to someday go on the 28-day version of the course!

The desert still lingers. I can still hear Jessie shouting out to me, that clear southern Utah night, that I've gone past the entrance to BOSS.

No-running running

Biomechanically, there are two obvious improvements a runner could make to run faster. The first is increasing cadence or strides per minute (spm). There has been a lot of debate about cadence, about whether there is some magical number (180?) that leads to optimum performance (i.e., that of elites). Watching the 2016 U.S. Olympics Marathon Trials, I counted the cadences of both Shalane Flanagan and Amy Cragg, and both were at around 180. But, other elites run at quite different cadences. Mine is usually at around 174. To get to 180, I’d have to really focus. There are many other variables that affect cadence (e.g., breathing pattern, terrain, fatigue). The second improvement is increasing stride length, by extending the back kick. The following photo shows the beautiful back kick of some Kenyan runners (in a NY Times article on Kenya, running shoes, and bribery).

There is a third—and, arguably, more important--improvement to running faster, and it’s related to Bruce Lee. Now, I’ve seen most of his movies, like Enter the Dragon. But, I wasn’t all that familiar with a whole apparently different side of him: Bruce Lee, the philosopher. “Apparently,” because, beneath the surface, Lee’s more popularly known persona of a martial artist and that of a philosopher are clearly one and the same. See, e.g., The Tao of Gung Fu. I’ve been reading up on Lee, ever since coming across Maria Popova's Brain Picking piece on Be Like Water, in which she traced the evolution of that famous water metaphor in the book, Bruce Lee: Artist of Life. There are various statements of this metaphor by Lee. The one quoted by Popova is “Hadn’t this water just now illustrated to me the principle of gung fu? I struck it but it did not suffer hurt. Again I struck it with all of my might—yet it was not wounded! I then tried to grasp a handful of it but this proved impossible. This water, the softest substance in the world, which could be contained in the smallest jar, only seemed weak. In reality, it could penetrate the hardest substance in the world. That was it! I wanted to be like the nature of water.”

Lee’s water metaphor is based on the principles of wu hsin (no-mindedness) and wu wei (non-action). See Popova’s Trying Not to Try. Here’s Lee, in Artist of Life: “When his private ego and conscious effort yield to a power that is not his own, he then achieves the highest action in gung fu, the action of no-action—we wei.” “Wu wei is the art of artlessness, the principle of no-principle.”

As yet, I have just the barest of an inkling of what's meant by wu hsin and wu wei. An example I can think of is driving a car. After decades of driving, when I’m behind the wheel, I feel the car and I are one, going down the road; not I driving the car. But, I don't think that's quite it. Perhaps, a closer example is when, on those rare occasions, I'm running on water and it feels effortless.

This is all absolutely fascinating; but, so what? What does it have to do with running faster? Well, could this be the key to that elusive mental part of running? A central idea of Tim Noakes’ 2012 review article in Frontiers in Physiology, "Fatigue is a brain-derived emotion that regulates the exercise behavior to ensure the protection of whole body homeostasis," is that fatigue is in the mind, and optimal performance is achieved by those who best manage the progression of the sensations of fatigue. So, are elite runners elites because, when they run, they get closer to no-running running than do the non-elites? Is this the same as "in the zone"? The feedback loop of Noakes' Central Governor Model (CGM) regulates performance in order to avoid catastrophic failure of homeostasis. Is no-running running a way to get out of this feedback loop, even if just a bit, and tap into that 65% of unused potential? Often, towards the end of marathons, one gets this sense of other-worldliness. The first time I experienced that was in RNR 2013. Could one achieve that sense earlier in a race?

In that same review article, Noakes stated this intriguing hypothesis: "physiology does not determine who wins. Rather somewhere in the final section of the race, the brains of the second, and lower placed finishers accept their respective finishing positions and no longer choose to challenge for a higher finish." Lee, in one of his letters (in Letters of the Dragon), included one of his favorite poems, "Thinking," by Walter D. Wintle. The poem begins with

“If you think you are beaten, you are;”

and ends with

“But sooner or later the man who wins
is the one who thinks he can!”

Lee also wrote a lot about the concept of Yin and Yang: Not opposite but complementary; two halves of a whole. Applied to running, what does it mean?

Not fighting or struggling against Heartbreak Hill at Mile 20 of the Boston Marathon? Rather … what? Instead of "attacking" the hill, how does “being one with the hill” help a runner get to the top faster?

There are many questions and not many answers, yet. I’ve just begun to explore the way Bruce Lee lived his full, though tragically short, life. But, I think there is a lot here that relates or translates to running and could potentially lead a runner to major breakthroughs—i.e., punctuated equilibria!

Running also is a fine act of insurrection

It has been close to three months since I last posted. Partly that’s because work at the office has been even busier than usual. But, partly it’s also because of that worrisome orange horizon I see, whenever I look towards downtown DC. What have I been seeing?

Well, you know the story of the “knight in heavy armor,” right? There was this “exceptional” knight in heavy armor, the heaviest in the world. Oh, you would be amazed how heavy it was! It was heavier than those of the next 12 heaviest armored knights—combined. Of course, none of the other knights wanted to engage in direct combat with this “exceptional” knight. But, one of those 12 other knights was very wily. Instead of directly challenging the “exceptional” knight’s heavy armor, this wily knight exploited weak points in the heavy armor to penetrate. Then, after gaining entry and exerting strategic influence on the “exceptional” knight’s sources of soft—and real--power, the wily knight just stood aside, with a cunning gleam in his eyes. He did not have to do more, for he had convinced the “exceptional” knight that the main threats to him emanated from without--despite clear evidence to the contrary. The “exceptional” knight then proceeded to spend even more resources and add yet another layer to his armor; while, at the same time, ignoring or actively decimating everything inside the armor that was foundational to his power in the first place.

Hmm, this knight story would make for a really great Hollywood script. Oh, wait, …

So, that’s why, in this daily swirl of maddening events, writing about running had seemed to be relatively unimportant, perhaps somewhat selfish.

More recently, however, I’ve come to view all this somewhat differently. Of course, given that orange horizon, we have to resist. But, we resist not just by protesting. We resist not just by being against. We resist also by being for. Sure, we have to push back against, e.g., the KXL pipeline executive memos. But, we should also focus on the increasingly positive developments, e.g., the macro economics of renewable energy, the micro economics of solar roofs, as well as the ironic economics of solar panels powering the Kentucky Coal Mining Museum.

There is much we can do locally; there is much we can do individually. And, we can do all that joyfully. The social discourse shouldn’t be centered on the ranting and raving of a certain individual on Twitter. We effectively resist—and eventually prevail—when we succeed in shifting the light of social discourse. We don’t just react. We also act. In fact, we’re not really opposing. We’re complementing. We can control the currency of social discourse.

Rebecca Solnit, in her book, Hope in the Dark: The Untold History of People Power, wrote, “Joy doesn't betray but sustains activism. And when you face a politics that aspires to make you fearful, alienated and isolated, joy is a fine initial act of insurrection."

Running also is a fine initial act of insurrection.

Largely addressing similar themes, Otto Scharmer (@ottoscharmer1) of u.lab and MIT recently wrote a wonderfully insightful article, Trump, Dark Money, and Shifting Consciousness, analyzing current events. One key point he made is summarized in the following figure and, in his article, by a quote from Goethe’s Faust, of Mephistopheles, “I am part of that power which constantly wants to do evil and constantly generates good.”

Also from Hope in the Dark: “Resistance is first of all a matter of principle and a way to live, to make yourself one small republic of unconquered spirit. You hope for results, but you don't depend on them.” Go solar. Become a vegetarian. Show up. Start running. Running is democratic, as well as insurrectional. There’s a lot that life can learn from running.

Running is my means to reset, recharge, and reconnect. Christopher McDougall's book, Natural Born Heroes (See BOSS part 2), is a story of the Cretan resistance during WWII and the important role parkour or natural movement played in that successful resistance. “We should be fit to be useful.”

Boston-bound 2018! (Harrisburg Marathon race report)

It was somewhat anti-climatic, on my slow walk back to the motel from the finish area of the Harrisburg Marathon two months ago, as I realized that I almost for certain will be running Boston 2018. That realization came not with a “wow!” but with a “meh!” Let me explain.

My qualifying for Boston for the first time last year, at the Pocono Marathon in May, had a Hollywood movie quality to it. That is, after some five years of trying and some 50 minutes faster, it came down to the last planned qualifying race (for Boston 2017) and the last mile for me to finally BQ--with not a fraction of a second to spare (3:55:00). But, as I’d previously written, in recent years, to actually get in to register for Boston has required a time that’s 2-3 minutes faster than one’s age group threshold time. Thus, my Pocono time put me in the group of about a thousand runners who qualified but did not gain entry.

Disappointed? Yes. But, absolutely exhilarated!

In contrast, my BQ at Harrisburg, the second time last year, was with a relatively slow time of 4:07:08. The injury-affected training cycle really showed, after ~Mile 21. Still, because this BQ is for Boston 2018 and I’ll be in a new age group, 4:07:08 is ~3 minutes faster than my new threshold time (4:10). So, I’ll all but certain gain entry—albeit with kind of a backdoor feel to it. But, I’ll take it!

In any case, I’ve two planned marathons in the first half of 2017, and my goal for those is 3:50 or 20 minutes faster than my new age group qualifying time. 20 minutes or faster is the first group to gain entry for 2018.

I want to be in that first group.

Similar to last year’s race, this year’s Harrisburg was run in near-perfect weather, with gorgeous scenery along the Susquehanna River. Here’s a scene of the Market St. Bridge, viewed from City Island, where the marathon began.

At the other end of the race, the finish line area had food and coffee provided by Panera Bread. Good stuff! Along the way, there were more than enough aid stations, many with gels and all with cheerful and helpful volunteers. A big thanks to all of them! A nice and warm, hooded sweatshirt came with the medal.

Unlike life in general, with running, you can't fake it. You can't con your way to a PR or a BQ (or to that house on Pennsylvania Ave). Based on my rate of recovery after that left heel injury, I thought I could run an average pace of ~9:20 (for a finish time of 4:04:30). I ended up running an average pace of ~9:26 (for a finish time of 4:07:08). The following pace chart shows my Harrisburg 2016 run, along with the previous three marathons, and their finish times. The 11- to 12-minute difference is the cost of that injury.

A race is mostly mental—assuming the pre-race physical part had gone well. The first seven of my 16 weeks of training before Harrisburg were injury affected, including about four weeks completely off the road and another three gingerly easing back into running. By then, there was not enough time to regain the lost speed. How long after “detraining” to regain speed depends on many factors, which apparently vary quite a bit with individuals.

There are two strategies in races with pacers: stay ahead of the pacer (but within earshot) and stay with the pacer. I usually try to stay ahead. That worked for Pocono 2014 but not for Pocono 2016. For Harrisburg this time, I was able to stay ahead of the 4:00 pacer for a while. But, eventually, I couldn’t keep up, at around Mile 19 and especially the last 10K.

A few miles into the race, I heard someone calling me; I turned and saw Pacer Dan, with whose 3:55 pace group I’d run in Harrisburg 2015. He didn’t pace this time; instead, he was running as a Wingman, “any individual (man or woman, fast or slow) who lends his/her heart and legs to empower an ASA [Athletes Serving Athletes] athlete to cross the finish line and at the same time raises awareness and funds for the organization.” The Wingman Program sounds very interesting and worthwhile.

So, I’m Boston-bound 2018. :) In preparing for that, I need to mindfully practice for the last 10K. I want to be fully ready for that last 10K on Beacon St.--and, for that finish on Boylston St.!

Running as metaphor for life (Baltimore Half Marathon race report)

I began writing this post a week before Election Day. I was so looking forward to the end of what had felt like an endless, nightmarish reality show. I wrote that I was thinking about this election cycle during the Baltimore Half Marathon three weeks earlier. I wrote that I was thinking about how running a race, especially the longer ones, is such an apt metaphor for life--the best aspects of life.

I had time to think about all this, because I was running at a pace that was more than three minutes per mile slower than my normal half marathon pace. I had more time to observe, in more detail, all aspects of the race. Aid stations with volunteers helping runners. Runners encouraging each other on and stopping to give a hand when someone falls down. Everyone, from the fastest to the slowest, following the same rules. Everyone starting from the same start line. How fast one gets to the finish line determined mostly by what one has put into pre-race training. Running a race can't be faked. If only life in general were more like a race.

Then came Tuesday, November 8th.

This is a running blog, of course, and I have only very rarely deviated from that topic. And, I do apologize for the current deviation!  But, this time, it just felt not quite right to write another race report, as if nothing had happened. I felt I had to at least acknowledge that, going forward, things are no longer the same, just as in Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. There are so many worrisome consequences from November 8th. But, most of all, I am worried for my children and their generation and all future generations. While other consequences--and, I am not at all minimizing their seriousness and immediacy--can probably, sooner or later, be reversed, the consequences of inaction or worse regarding climate change cannot. Physics goes on, regardless of one's politics. The consequences of physics affect everyone, regardless of one's politics. No wall will keep one insulated.

Life goes on, of course, even if changed. How one lives life goes on, even if changed. And, running goes on.

The Baltimore Half is part of the October Baltimore Running Festival that also includes a marathon and a 5K. Back in 2012, I ran the Baltimore Marathon part of this festival, with a rather slow time of 4:45. It was only my third marathon at the time. I have been wanting to re-run this marathon, ever since 2013 or so, when I really started to seriously train. But, schedule-wise, this marathon conflicted with the other fall marathons that I have been running the past few years in trying to BQ.

This year, my daughter and I decided to run the Baltimore Half together, in part because we could take advantage of the luxury of a place to stay the night before the race that was just minutes away from the start line. This was only her third half marathon, so I "paced" her. At a more than three minutes per mile slower pace, I was able to partake in many nice and fun aspects of the race that I normally would have just rushed by, such as high-fiving spectators and dancing to music along the way. :)

The Half Marathon and Marathon runners don't start together. The Half starts at around Mile 13 of the Full, at the northwest corner of Baltimore's Inner Harbor. For the next almost three miles (Miles 1-3 of the Half and Miles 14-16 of the Full), the two race courses are separate. They then merge just before Miles 3 and 16, respectively. The logistics of that merge needs good planning. When I ran the marathon in 2012, the merge occurred right at the corner of Eastern and Linwood Avenues (southeast corner of Patterson Park), with no transitional segment. Basically, the Half runners going east along Eastern Ave. and the Full runners going north along Linwood Ave. did a hard, 90-degree merge, resulting in some "traffic issues." I don't know what year the race organizers made the change, but, this year, there was a fairly long transitional segment, after the initial merge point, that was separated by a porous barrier. The latter allowed the two streams of runners to more gradually and smoothly merge. Kudos to the organizers!

The race course winds through many different parts of Baltimore, from the touristy Inner Harbor area to neighborhoods that tourists usually don't get to see. As I was running through the latter neighborhoods, I was thinking that it would be nice if some of the economic benefits from the city hosting the race could be shared with the various neighborhoods that the course winds through, perhaps in accordance with the percentage of the course that each neighborhood hosts (?). Beyond the more than $12 million that the Baltimore Running Festival has raised, since its beginning 16 years ago, the boost to the local economy over each Festival weekend from the many thousands of runners has also been significant.

My daughter and I had great fun running and finishing the Half together. The weather was near-perfect. Spectator support was nice and loud, along many stretches of the course. Some of that support came with snacks and beer! The volunteers staffing the official aid stations were superb, serving up water, Gatorade, and, at some of the stations, gels, bananas, and donuts (Munchkins). This was the first race I have run where the police was as enthusiastically cheering on the runners as were the spectators. Perhaps, it was an attempt to improve relationships with the public, post-Freddie Gray (?). Regardless, it was really nice to see that. One officer in particular was standing in the middle of the road, high-fiving runners to his left and right!

The last quarter mile was nicely located: Down S. Eutaw St., past the Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and to the finish line on Raven's Walk, just north of the Ravens Stadium. The finishers area was in the parking lots between the two stadiums. Food was typical and plentiful. And, beer! The organization of the finishers area was similar to that of the race in general--well done! My only suggestion for improvement is to move the finish line to inside of Camden Yards. That would be nice--though not likely. :)

The finisher's medal is quite unique, of a Maryland blue crab that opens to a scene of the Inner Harbor waterfront. The process to make the medal, with the pointy details, was quite elaborate, as

can be seen in this page from the race guide.

How has November 8th affected my running? Well, it has made me more energized--and, not just about running.