Soon to be a Maniac

We interrupt the hunt for the BQ in order to become a certified maniac. In just 17 days I hope to complete the last marathon in a series of 3 within 90 days which is required for the Bronze level of the Marathon Maniac. The first two were completed 3 weeks apart and this last one will be 5 weeks later for a total of 56 days from first to last....well within the 90 day requirement!

Why would anyone want to be a Marathon Maniac? I can come up with no good reason other than it's there for the taking to those who will take. It means very little and is certainly not to be compared to my hunt for a Boston Qualifier. So why go after it? Actually in my case, I had no intentional goal to be a maniac. I already intended to run the recent two marathons three weeks apart. After that, I decided to run another nearby marathon just as a long run on the way to the next Rock n Roll Mardi Gras Marathon. As it turns out, I should qualify as a marathon maniac by some coincidence.

So, once qualified, what is required to be certified? All it takes is a credit card! Let's see, I will need $35 for my initial membership, then I will need another $16 for a cool running cap, and of course there's the $25 I will need for a tech shirt. Grand total...$76 for certification and bling!

There you have it! Nothing to it....except of course to complete this next marathon! Simple! I mean.....what can go wrong...other than everything...

On the Road to Boston

It's game on! After several strong finishes in the last couple of months, I have officially decided to go after the infamous "BQ". Since the 2011 Boston is already closed, no need to worry about that one!

• A time of 3:35 in fall 2010 through 2011 qualifies for Boston 2012 (Age 54)
• A time of 3:45 in fall 2011 through 2012 qualifies for Boston 2013 (Age 55)

I have added the mantra at the top of my blog: "On the Road from New Orleans to Boston". My first marathon was in New Orleans just 10 months ago. At that time, a "BQ" was not even something that I was familiar with, much less interested in. A few months later, I decided that I did need a goal in order to have a purpose for a strong training program. Since the Boston Marathon was being run at that time, I decided that would be my goal! After a few months into it, the training seemed so hard and my warm weather race results were not supportive of that mission. I backed off the goal and felt a sub-4 marathon was more than enough to keep me motivated to train.

After an amazingly strong half marathon a couple months ago, I busted a sub-4 marathon wide open just a few weeks later. While I suspected that would be the end of marathon PRs until another year of training is completed, just this past weekend I hit a 3:45 finish time at Memphis! Wow, if I can do that next fall or winter, then I would be qualified for Boston 2013! So there is my goal! But wait.....is a 3:35 time possible before then while in my current age group? Maybe at New Orleans in February on a cool day and flat course? Haha...I seriously doubt I can knock off 10 minutes that quickly! But, let's just see how close I can get!

My 10 week two marathon training program posted on DailyMile earlier is set up to bring me a finish time in New Orleans under 3:45. If by some training miracle I manage a 3:35 finish, then I have BQ'd for 2012. If not, then surely I can qualify next fall/winter for either the 2012 or 2013 Boston Marathon.

So, there you have it....the goal is BQ...and the pathway is twofold. The road began at New Orleans and will hopefully end at Boston. If I can stay healthy, then I see a BQ qualifying time in the bag no later than 14 months from now (by Feb 2012). Oh....this whole scenario assumes the qualifying times do not change before then! Gasp!

St Jude Memphis Marathon



St. Jude Childrens Hospital

My wife and I had a wonderful vacation week in Memphis which included five nights stay and a marathon PR. My race goal was to break a finish time of 3:50 (my PR was 3:51 just three weeks ago) and to run a very steady pace from start to finish. The more important goal was the steady pace. I had always suffered a massive slowdown in the last 6+ miles in previous marathons, even in my last PR a few weeks ago. This time, I was determined to find a workable pace and hold it to the end. I far exceeded my expectation by not only holding an even pace, but by running it quicker than I had really expected.


Holding Steady


Even though I always race with my Garmin and a second running watch, for this race I also stayed with a pace group. My intention was to stay between the 3:45 pacer and the 3:50 pacer. After about six miles into the race, I had snugged up behind the 3:45 pace group....and there I stayed until the finish line! I wanted to back off the pacer after mile 23 since I felt it too hard to hold, but kept telling myself the glory will be in crossing the finish with the pacer. To lose the pacer in the last few miles was like defeat. I pushed hard and crossed the finish line at 3:45:27 with only one other person left with the pacer. All others had fallen away at some point along the course.


Beale Street



Hydration and Fuel Facts: For the first 13 miles, I carried a Gatorade bottle so I could avoid the rest stops until the half-marathoners split off. In doing so, I avoided the early congestion. I also carried 6 Hammer electrolyte capsules, taking 2 per hour starting at the first hour.

Interesting pace splits found in the official results: At 6.2 miles ~ 8:36 pace. At 13.1 miles ~ 8:35 pace. At 20 miles ~ 8:36 pace. At 26.2 miles ~ 8:37 pace.

Finishing facts: Overall 308/2416 (top 13%). Males 238/1367 (top 17%). Age group 12/110 (top 11%).