Let me tell you what I did right. Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon race report.

By the dawn's early light.

I had a wonderful weekend with my 2 sisters, Connie and Cherry along with our good friends Agata (the Polish Sensation) and Kevin Alldredge, as we all got up on a cold October morning to run the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. This post is dedicated to my 2 sisters and their undying belief in the stuff I choose to do with running and other endeavors in my life that truly make me the person I am.

The Threes

The marathon has come and gone and I completed it. I got a personal best from the first time I ran this race last year and beat my time in the Fargo marathon just this past spring. This is my third marathon and I've built upon each one with pretty impressive personal best times. Did I get the time that I really wanted? In all honesty NO I DID NOT. But as I look back at the race and the months and weeks leading up to it, I can actually see where the heartbreak began and where my heart mends and where I had to learn to be somebody. And I couldn't have done that without a huge support system that was pushing me through to the finish line.

This isn't going to be a diatribe of what went wrong and how I didn't get the time I wanted (3:44:00) during the race, as that's a very detrimental thing to talk about for something I signed up to participate in, when I know there are many who would trade places to be experiencing the marathon or just being able to run.

Instead I'll borrow this quib that I got from a favorite blogger of mine, Emily who completed a 100miler race and when asked about it, she talked about "The Threes." “Three things you think you did well and three things you know you need to work on for your next one.”

Words to live by

1. I prepared and trained for this marathon as best as I could possibly know.

After Fargo, I sat down and wrote out my training plan. Took it to coach Dan and Erick and reviewed what I needed to do and set about doing it. I just finished getting over some personal challenges and running, training, running with the City Park Runner's group and hanging out with them was a great experience. I have to thank Dr. Phil, Lori, Paul, Roberto, Doug, Cheryll, Geoff, Barbara, Ron, Barry, Kathryn, Lourdes, my bro's Osty and Tyler (in no particular order) for all that they've done and their encouraging support and belief in what I can do. I had a great training cycle and there is plenty of room for improvement with me and the marathon distance, especially with all the stuff that will come with experience.

TCM 2014 Cherry, Aggie, Ruben, Kevin, Connie

2. I handled adversity well...with the help of Kevin

The night before the race, as Connie, Cherry, Agata, and Kevin were all gathered around with our families for a pre-pasta dinner that my sister Connie graciously hosted, Kevin and I were talking race pacing I told him I was aiming for 3:44:00 and I told him my plan was to run comfortably at a 9min/mile pace for the first 8 miles then pick it up and just keep going. We were in corral one and the 3:45 pace group was in corral two. I wanted to run to keep up ahead of them so in case anything went 'wrong' I'd have a buffer and at least be able to hold pace and help them take me home.

I remember Kevin telling me prior to this and I've read and heard from many experienced runners "The pace will dictate itself on race day." I felt a little cold going up to the start line and I told Kevin that my feet were freezing and he told me the same. It took us about 3 miles to finally get warm but we were on a great pace and my legs felt good, I kept reminding myself to relax and just enjoy this. Kevin kept me loose by throwing some jokes my way, he provided all of us with some throw-away running gear and glove liners (but who the hell wants to throw away nice Patagonia gear!) and we just kept the pace going. I knew this was a long distance and I kept my shit together when I wanted to speed up. The pace group caught us at mile 13 and we kept them within striking distance all the way to mile 17 when the balloons started to float off into the distance and it became a small red and white dot in the sea of bodies moving forward and suddenly my body did NOT WANT TO MOVE at mile 18 (30km).

My quads just seized up. Like that grounding halt, there was no indication of any twinges of things to come...it...just...happened...eff off. And while I was suddenly stopped and stooped over Kevin didn't know I stopped and was probably almost a quarter mile a head of me, and he came back for me and asked me if I was ok. I told him what the problem was and he just told me to relax. He kept telling me "It's ok" as I was almost in tears because I suddenly realized I let everyone down back home. Kevin must have sensed the gloom coming down on me as I can't remember exactly what he said, but was to the effect..."We are out here and very close to the end, let's finish this one step at a time" including his calm presence and demeanor help me get out of my funk and we continued moving forward. I kept running when my body didn't want to run and smiled when I was pretty close to tears.

When we got over Summit hill from Dale to Mackubin (the LAST hill on the course) I made it my mandate to not stop until we get to the finish line. He told me to take it easy on the downhill run to the finish line as my quads were thrashed and we were moving forward. But as we were getting close to the end he looks at me, points to a runner about 20 feet in front of us and says "If we are to do anything Ruben, we are going to beat that 70 year old runner!" And I couldn't stop laughing as we bolted to the finish line with a huge ass grin on my face. (Sorry 70 year old sir...)

3. I realized that running can be a team sport and I love that.

It's because of my sister Connie I became a runner. Two years ago, she wanted to do a bucket list item and decided to run the Chicago marathon. My other sister Cherry thought it would be a great idea for us to go down to Chicago and cheer her on. Turns out during the last minute I joined Connie where I had no business being there. I lost her at the half way mark and caught up and found her near the end where we finished together. I'm realizing now that this has been the metaphor and subtext of our lives between her and I...where we've drifted apart, but managed to find each other and always finish. She was there for me with the birth of my girls and through all of my rough patches in my life. She was there in Fargo, cheering the loudest on some lone street screaming my name and at the finish line screaming my name and comforting me during what I thought was a failure of a race.

I waited for her at the finish line of this one and as she was coming through the chute, we made eye-contact and no words needed to be said, except both of us reaching out for each other and hugging. She PB'd her time from last year :)

My sister Cherry and I are very close. She too has been there for me countless times and has always been a staunch supporter in all of the crazy I do. Ever since we were teenagers, we've had a pretty inseparable bond. She won't run with me, but she knows I will always be there for her no matter what. I can write forever about her....but she already knows. She PB'd her time from last year too :)

They both knew I didn't get the time I wanted, but the only thing they said was that they were proud of me and the accomplishment of this race. They knew everything that was going on in the background and without them, I wouldn't be able to keep myself motivated enough for this small personal gain that I get from running. They also have this undying belief that I'll be able to accomplish something I truly want out of this....

And now for what I know I need to work on for the next one.

1. Nutrition, Calories and backup answers.

I basically bonked...hit the wall. During my LSDs I was training with nutrition but I still didn't manage to get the proper nutrients. I practiced with taking clif shot gels and during the training runs, I had no problem with them going down and staying in my stomach. I mapped out when I was going to take the gels and packed the appropriate amount with a couple of extras for that just in-case moments. And during the race I plotted out that I would take one every 4 miles. And by mile 16, I couldn't stomach it anymore. Which was strange because during the training runs I had no problem eating 5 of them. So I was seizing up, and Kevin told me I must be electrolyte depleted and no matter how much Powerade I was trying to down, it was already too late to recover.

Kevin and I talked about this after the race and he gave me some suggestions, and I also talked to coach Dan who gave me the same suggestions. I'm going to need to carefully look at electrolyte and calorie balancing. So for the next training cycle, I'll start incorporating this into my LSDs.


2. Pace management

If I want to get into the 3 hour ranges, I'm going to have to train to get a little more faster. My current cruising pace is a 9min/mile(ish) and I'm going to need to get past that comfort zone and get into the low 8's and train consistently to achieve this. I'm looking at this soberly because I'm learning that building endurance and speed takes a lot of time, especially for me because I came from an anaerobic sport background. I know I'm on my way because one year ago I could barely keep up with the CPR gang. This year I'm making huge improvements and I've built another base that was built upon the Fargo training cycle which will help me get faster and stronger for the next training cycle.


3. Race day preparation and execution

I was cold and I didn't really prepare for that. Even though I had a throw away, I should have grabbed an oversized garbage bag to keep the heat from escaping my body. I don't think I should have run 5 miles the night before even if it was 'easy.' I should have just relaxed and just not do a thing. And I know I shouldn't have over-thought and over-tried the race. I should have had more faith in my training and just go with the flow and trust in the process and live in the moment. I couldn't tell at the moment everything was falling apart (you rarely ever do...) and it was only after a day and talking with my sister Con and with Cherry on the long drive back home where we did a lot of reflecting.

Cherry told me that my best race was the WPS half marathon, where I didn't over think the race. I just ran it and I incidentally PR'd. This same phenomenon happened to me during my last match in Tae Kwon Do. I was freaking out and practicing so hard, but I couldn't find the the distance control for my kicks to connect to the practice bag whenever my coach countered. It was driving me crazy, and this was an hour before leading up to my final match. He took me aside and told me to just get in the ring and kick. Don't think about spatial control, ring management, target acquisition...but just kick. Incidentally I won that match....so yeah...over-thinking, over trying. Just learn to be in the moment. It's one of the reasons I'm seeing my training runs are always better than my races. I'm over trying, over-reaching. When I'm in my training runs, with the CPR gang, I know I'm flying and I'm having fun doing it....just have to learn that part and that will come with more experience.

Final notes:
The marathon is hard. It's hard for me, and I'm loving the challenge. I want to do well...I want to get faster and stronger, because I know I have great races ahead of me. Will I get there? I believe I will, and my sisters and my girls believe it too and that's pretty much all that matters.