In search of old age PRs

Treadmill in hotel

Tempo work-out in PQ canyon.  2 mile warm and cool down with five 3:00/3:00.

Run  in the PQ canyon.  I saw my first snake this week on the trial...4 ft. rattle snake!  There were also 2 really large lizards (iguanas?) and hundreds of caterpillars.  Spring is here.  

Run from Oceanside to Cardiff with the group.  We started with a 2 mile warm-up then the next 11 at marathon pace.  I felt strong at the finish.  One more week then Boston!

Lazy run in the middle of the day.  Nothing noteworthy, just recovery from Saturday.  

40 minutes at race pace in canyon.  Tough run on narrow trails and steep ascents/descents.  I was exhausted after the short run!

Tempo work of 4 x 3/3 minutes with mile warm up and cool down in the canyon 

Tempo run in the canyon.  Lots of bugs out today.  I actually got "pooped" on by a bird the last mile.  It hit my knee...glad I wasn't running faster!

Ten miles at race pace.  I'm starting to get a cold, so the pace was difficult to keep.  We also had a 400 ft. climb over a mile stretch.  Very hot this morning.

Six miles at marathon pace.  It was pretty difficult with the rolling hill, heat and humidity.

Easy run in the canyon.

Short, east run around the hotel in BOSTON with Craig.  Nice and sunny even at 7 PM.  We are expecting much of the same on Monday.

Me and 26,999 other people ran Boston today.  The race was massive...massive amount of buses, massive amounts of runners, massive amount of spectators.  Everything took longer--like waiting for the bus, getting to Hopkinton, using the port potties, etc...  Before moving into the corral to start the race, we probably walked a total of 4 or 5 miles, but I was ready to run when the gun went off.

The first 20 miles of the race are incredible.  People everywhere.  Below are my mile splits:

Mile 1--6:48
Mile 2--6:30
Mile 3--6:32
Mile 4--6:20
Mile 5--6:39
Mile 6--6:31
Mile 7--6:32
Mile 8--6:39
Mile 9--6:34
Mile 10--6:42
Mile 11--6:39
Mile 12--6:33
Mile 13--6:41
Half Time--1:27:02 I was hoping to come in around 1:29...way too fast!
Mile 14--6:37
Mile 15--6:52
Mile 16--6:37
Then the hills of Newton!
Mile 17--7:01
Mile 18--7:07
Mile 19--7:11
Mile 20--7:27
I was cooked after Heartbreak Hill!
Mile 21--8:36
Mile 22--8:19
Mile 23--8:21
Mile 24--8:00
Mile 25--8:18
Mile 26--8:03

The race was 26.5 on my GPS .  It was impossible to cut the corners with all the runners.  Total time of 3:07:45.

I had a pretty good race going until Heartbreak Hill.  I had some serious cramping after that hill all the way to the finish line (I had to stretch or change my pace almost every 1/2 mile).  This is definelty a course you can improve on once you run it once and know the difficulties of the 2nd half. 

The crowds were incredible, the volunteers was great and the weather was nice.  Everyone should try to run this marathon once.

Slow, recover run today in the canyon.  I began to feel much better at mile 3.  I may try to run 10-12 on Saturday.  I've decided to run the San Diego Marathon in June in an effort to reach my sub 3:00-hour goal before Fall.  I just hope I don't over-do it!
 

Run with the group today in Chula Vista...almost the border!  Me and some fellow Boston runners dropped down a "group" and did a slower, easy pace.  Felt pretty good, but I was fading a little at the end.  I will probably do some longer runs over the next two weeks to make sure I'm fit for the San Diego Rock-N-Roll.

Partial road and canyon run.  Almost fully recovered from the marathon on Monday.

Short run on a hot day.  Still moving a little slow after the marathon.

Run in the early morning before flying to Atlanta.  I had a little hip pain.  I'll probably take Wednesday or Thursday off to make sure there are no issues.