Friday, October 21, 2005

Race Day - October 1, 2005


I was to use this race as a Boston Qualifier. To say the least my expectations were high. I had done the training; I was ready. However, anxiety was getting the best of me and had two consecutive bad nights. Not only were the sleepless nights a bad omen, the lack of sleep made me feel tired before the race.

The bus ride to the start was inconsequential. I did chat with a nice fellow. I made it to the start with an hour to spare. There were several bonfires all over and made myself comfortable by sitting close to one. I ate a banana and this helped me go to the john for the second time that morning. Fifteen minutes to the start and I took my warm-ups and placed the in the plastic bag provided by the organizers.

I was seeded with the red/pink bibs (and apparently coded as elite – I found this quite funny since I remember I wrote I was trying for 3:15; boy those are slow marathoners), right behind the green bibs. The start was delayed for about 10 minutes.

And so we’re off, and quite surprisingly as I don’t remember having trouble breathing three years ago, my breathing was labored. The first mile came in 7:38 and I thought my chances were not looking good. I just continued on and the next one came in at 7:25. Hmmm, I seem to remember that I was running faster last time. As luck would have it, I started running a bit faster, banking some time over my projected 7:25s. Then we hit mile eight and the beginning of the worst hill in the run. 8:15, 30 or so seconds faster than last time… However, I do not gain much in the next three miles and cross the apparent half way point in 1:38:45 or a minute faster than last time. So I am getting a breeze of confidence that I can do it. However, a lot of things can happen in the second half of a marathon, even in a fast second like this one. I tell myself that a sub-seven minute mile will do wonders to my confidence in an upcoming descent, with a 6% grade. I ran it in 6:55. I remember that I ran it in 6:52 three years ago so I am a bit disappointed but not too much. Then I ran a 6:45 and it all makes sense. It was this mile that I probably ran in 6:52 then and it makes me stronger.

I continue steadily to pass a few runners but not too many. Some rolling hills are in front of me but they have a negative net loss in elevation so they’re not too bad. Then we hit mile 23 and I drink a cup of Gatorade and ask the last volunteer to hand me water; after all, she’s holding a white cup (up to then these white cups had water) but she turns to her side and attempts to grab another cup. As I do not want to lose momentum I keep going; I wanted to pour that cup on my head. Not two seconds later that I see the volunteer running next to me and handing me the proverbial cup of water! What a volunteer!!! She was awesome! Thank you again!
The next three miles are somewhat a mystery to me. Not really. I know I held quite a steady pace but when I check my splits, mile 24 was ran in 7:02, mile 25 in 7:30 and mile 26 in 7:00 with the last stretch in 1:37. Now I know I could not have slowed down that much in the last stretch and that 7:30 squeezed by two 7 minute miles just do not compute. My conclusion: the mile markers were misplaced. No matter, I crossed the finish line with my arms fully extended, pretending to be a plane; after all, my bib number was 737 :-). My final chip time was 3:12:35, or almost two minutes faster than three years ago! Oh and I did qualify for Boston. Yeah, life is good!

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

St. George Marathon

I am but three days away from one of my greatests challenges... and that is to re-qualify for Boston... and the reason it is a challenge is not so much because I cannot do it, but rather because I know I can do it... and having done it in the past, and being in better shape this time around makes me doubt myself... I'll keep you posted as to what the outcome is... Saint George Marathon here I come

A

Friday, March 18, 2005


Mickey and I... 2004??? Posted by Hello

Hopkinton, April 2004... I would eventually lose my singlet in this race... argh! Posted by Hello

My princess sometime in 2003... Oh and Iris is there too :-) Posted by Hello

Isabella and Iris.... aren't they beautiful? 2002??? Posted by Hello

the 'gang'... same game in 2003 Posted by Hello

The 'Gang' at doger stadium... sometime in mid 2003. Ale, Adrian and Iris. Posted by Hello

Iris and I in downtown Guadalajara...circa June 2004 Posted by Hello

Iris and I relaxin at the westin-regina cancun last November (2004) Posted by Hello

This is the half-way point in the Boston Marathon 2004... I went on to one of my worst finishes with a 4:12 time. Posted by Hello

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Intro

Hello - I am the fifth sun... if you're aware of aztec mythology, you probably know where this name comes from, if not... you can always do research :-b