I wanted to take a camera with me hoping to take some photos along the race. I came out with a pretty creative solution the night before but I have realized that running, even at a relative slow pace, and photography do not mix well. So when you see a camera with a belt clip attached to it using duct tape, now you know the story behind it.

• 10,400 people registered for the marathon, 8,031 runners finished the race. 4,176 were male and 3,855 were female.
• 21,500 people registered for the 1/2 marathon and 18,536 finished. 6,858 were male and 11,678 were female.
• The winning time for the men’s marathon was 2:13:08 or a pace of 5:05 minutes per mile.
• New world records were set for the 20k (55:48) and 1/2 marathon (58:55) by 2-time Olympic gold medalist Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia.
• I finished with a time of 3:49:52 (8:46 pace), good enough for 130th in my age division.
• Sarah completed her 1/2 marathon in 2:12:59, running through heavy pain on her back — awesome job honey!
• It was a fantastic experience for both of us and we were lucky to share it with our friends. Now we are planning the next race!

Pre Race

We woke up around 4:30am and drove to the parking lots located at the finishing point. Parking was not an issue and our shuttle bus left for the starting line just a few minutes after we get there. We heard some people had to wait up to 20-30 minutes in line to get on the bus, I guess it was a good thing we were there early. Once we arrived at the drop off point, we walked about 5 blocks to the Stage Rock tent. This is an area setup by the Scottsdale Running Company where you pay $20 to get in and you have access to a warm tent, heated bathrooms (without waiting in line), food and drinks and some complimentary energy gels and gloves. Sarah had to wait a while after I had to leave for my race so having access to this are was fantastic. I think it really takes your mind off the race since you are surrounded by familiar faces and you don’t get overwhelmed by the thousands of people that are waiting near the start.

The start

We were in corral #1 so we were only a few steps behind the elite runners. I saw them come in after their warm up and they are truly machines not just athletes. They might wait 100 pounds but those are 100 pounds of steel and yes, they only have legs and arms a torso would only get in their way :o). Regardless of what you tell yourself, you do get excited standing there waiting for the gun to go off. We started off at a nice and easy pace, joking around and taking it all it. It was just another weekend run.

The halfway point

Glen and I were moving along, feeling well and enjoying the beautiful weather we all were blessed with. The atmosphere was like one big happy party, everyone was still smiling and chatting along. At the 13 mile marker, people were cheering and we felt good, probably in our 4th or 5th adrenaline rush by this point. Glen and I were a few seconds off our 3:25 pace, this was a faster time we had trained for but everything felt good. Lungs, arms and legs were collaborating with us. My time at the 10k mark was 49:17 and 1:42:47 at the halfway point.

The injury

Shortly after mile 13 I felt a little pinch in my right knee but the paint swiftly went away so I did not pay much attention to it. I was just a couple of steps behind Glen but still keeping up the pace. At mile 15 my knee felt like it was giving up to my weight every few steps I took. The pain was not too bad but something was not right. At mile 17 my right leg decided that it was not going to collaborate

The last miles

A run this long is an emotional roller-coaster, you tell yourself just about anything you can think off to keep moving your feet. The arms, arms, arms! trick only works for so long before you realize the agony once again. The people on the street are genuinely pulling for you and for you to succeed. You can make eye-to-eye contact with another runner, no words are exchanged and you both know you are feeling the same way. You have to finish!

The finish

Knowing you are just around the corner and hearing the crowd gives you an extra boost of energy when you least expect it. Seeing the clock at the finish line makes you race to it in hope that you can shave those 2 or 3 extra seconds off your time. It is an amazing feeling to see yourself cross that line for the very first time.

Afterwards we got together with friends for a beer and talk about our own experiences, we all ran a different race but once it was over we realized how much fun it really was. Despite the pain and cramping muscles, those early saturday morning runs had served their purpose. Our times were not exactly what we had in mind when we got started but we must keep in mind the big picture, Sarah and I had just finished the longest runs we had ever attempted. Even better, we had our friends around to laugh with and knew exactly what we all had done.

There was a quote on this month’s Runner’s World that talked about the percent of people that complete a marathon. I don’t recall the exact number but based on 2004 numbers, it was less than 1% of the US population. I am now part of that minority!

Not that it matters much but for the sake of keeping a complete record, our time for Saturday’s 8 miles was 1:03:08 or 7:53 pace.

On news regarding the actual race, the afternoon concert and festivities will be headlined by Collective Soul. I am a little disappointed that being the PF Changs Rock N Roll marathon this is the best act they could organize. I liked Collective Soul but I will be honest when I say that I have not kept up with their work over the last few years. We are also planning a group dinner for the evening before the race. Glen, myself and some of our friends and family (Glen’s mom will be in town) will be going out to dinner get our carbs in and certainly talk about the time we have put in getting here.

I know that I usually don’t say much about Sarah’s progress but I am very impressed with her dedication to her training. As everything thing she does, she has embraced the race and sometimes (ok, a few times!) she is the one that talks me into going for our runs. She will do great!

I decided to do my long run for the week today (friday) instead of the scheduled saturday since I was on an off schedule routine already and I can also enjoy the holiday weekend without being too tired. Our schedule called for a 20 mile run today but given that I am a few thousand feet higher in altitude I decided to shorten it a bit. Since I had a 6 mile loop mapped out I decided I would run this path 3 times, this would also give me a way to grab a new bottle of water every time I would come by the house.

The run was far more complex than our usual canal runs, the difference is mostly based on some pretty heavy hills that I had to climb. Because of where my parents live, it was a 10 minute downhill run to the town’s center, a good 20-25 minutes through the town and then a climb back to the house. The climb involved 4 hills (and their downhill part too) which had not been part of my previous training. I completed the 3 laps in 2:14:56 which leads me to believe it was not quite 18 miles but a little less. The pace of 18 miles would’ve been 7:29 which seems too fast, for 17 miles it was about 7:56 which feels a little more appropriate.

We are three weeks away from our race (Jan 15th) and this was the last run trying to build up milage. We start tapering down now leading to race day so you can say that we have finished the second phase of our training. Now it is more a matter of remaining injury free and more importantly try to avoid that common cold typical of this time of the year.

It was rough but I completed the 20 miles in 2:44:20 which turns out to be a 8:12 pace, leaving plenty of room for improvement. I can break the run in a few stages, similar to how I felt on the road. Going out I was running with the group and three of us had a great pace going. We reached the turn around point in 1:17:54 (7:47 pace) but I spent a lot of energy trying to get comfortable. On the way back, I got caught in traffic a couple of times which meant I was going to be running on my own the last eight miles, something that can be a very grueling task.

I was not able to think/walk/convince myself to keep the 8:00 pace during the last few miles, I was anywhere between 8:30 and 9:00 which is why my average climbed up from the first 10 miles going out. I am not happy with the time but I am ecstatic about the fact that I completed the distance and today I feel relatively well. I made the mistake to break in some new shoes on this run but I didn’t want to use my old ones and risk hurting my foot once again. I will have another opportunity to improve my time in a couple of weeks, when I will be running at home (remember to bring some music along!) during the holidays.

While running away from a couple of people, I found myself closing the gap with a runner that passed me earlier, the game was on. Try not to get caught while attempting to catch the person in front of me. I caught up to him with about a mile left and I felt about making up the distance that I kept up my pace. It was awesome and I didn’t feel like I was forcing myself which makes it even a little more rewarding. I ended up covering the 6.2 miles in 43:48 minutes. Just a little change to keep things interesting during these runs.

Thursday was much better, I felt comfortable once again and things felt good all around. My time for the six miles also showed things were back closer to normal, I was able to keep a pace similar to those runs before my break. I was ready for the Saturday long run of fourteen miles.

This week was a break in the training with only fourteen miles being on the schedule and our last run before the 20 miler we have next week. We had a nice group of about 10 people staying together for most of the outbound leg, everyone was chatty and in pretty good spirits. The social aspect of our group makes it so much easier to go the distance, specially when your body is not at its peak. After the turn around, the group broke apart a little bit with some people speeding up at different spots. Glenn and I were pushing each other through our body pains and kept a pretty good pace for the length of the return trip.

We ran a time of 1:48:51 for the fourteen miles which is a 7:46 pace. My foot felt a little sore during the run, specially the last few miles but it was nothing like the run when I first felt the pain. I am also going to replace my shoes in preparation for the long twenty mile run to provide my feet a little more cushioning. I think next week’s run not only will it be a physical challenge but it will also be a mental one, something I am starting to think more about as race day approaches and we only have a limited amount of runs left.

The details are certainly not record breaking but I feel good about it. We went out to the 8.5 turn around point in 1:06:40 (7:50 pace) and completed the 17 miles in 2:15:11 (7:57 pace). On the way back I had a 8:24 mile which I think really threw me off as far as timing goes. I had been running with Kelly since the turn around point, when Glenn turn onto chase mode and left us behind, but with about 3 miles left I thought I had enough to pick it up a notch. My right foot arch was bugging me a little bit but didn’t think much of it. The pain increased with about 2.5 miles left and running on my own I lost track of the time. With about a mile left, Kelly came back and we finished a strong last mile at 7:51. Good finish for this distance.

Today my foot is still sore which is something that I am going to have to research a little bit before next week’s run. Can I exercise my flat feet to give them some strength to avoid this pain at the end of the long runs? On another topic, I learned when getting into this kind of distance running, I need to eat a couple of gels not just the one like I have done in the past. So the adventure continues today and we are moving forward.