It's a date

This is not as exciting as planning a vacation, but it will have to do.

After weeks of training for a “May marathon,” I finally have one to look forward to. I originally wanted an early May date since this allows me to do the bulk of my training during the colder winter and spring months, and it wraps up my running season right around the time that I’m ready to get back on my bike again. In the past, I’ve run spring marathons in Ottawa, Cincinnati, Boston, Virginia Beach, and Mississauga (Toronto).

I seriously considered doing Cincinnati’s Flying Pig again this year -- it will always hold a special place in my heart as the site of my first BQ. But the flight to and from Cincinnati is a pain, and it makes for a busy weekend. I really should be running Boston this year but I failed to sign up and so missed the deadline. Mississauga was also tempting (especially since it allows a trip to the homeland and a potential visit with the in-laws), but again, the travel is a bit much for 36 hours. New Jersey seemed to be the most sane choice. It is nearby, around the right time, and mostly flat. But on the other hand, it’s two loops of the same course and it is, well, New Jersey.

And so, after poring over MarathonGuide.com today, I’ve selected my race: The Cox Sports Marathon in Providence, Rhode Island.
+ It’s within three hours by Amtrak.
+ I’ve never visited Providence.
+ The course is mostly flat and along the waterfront.
+ The rail station, Westin hotel, and start and finish are within a few short blocks of each other.
+ It’s May 2.

I am looking forward to it already, and I hope it will provide sufficient motivation to get me through the final and most difficult six weeks of marathon training. No offense (and I'm sure it's a great race), but New Jersey just wasn’t cutting it.

Cheese-y memories

Is there anything more satisfying than digging in to a greasy, cheese-y, thin crust slice of New York pizza on a sunny, warm, autumn afternoon, after running 16.5 miles for no reason whatsoever than the want to be outdoors on a perfect morning? I'm not certain that there is.

To be sure, I exhausted myself over the last 48 hours. We rode a respectable 40+ miles in sunny, but somewhat chilly, weather on Saturday morning; my long run this morning could have gone even longer if only I'd brought another gel to power me through an extra few miles; and, peppered in between, we indulged in two decadent Italian feasts on the Upper West Side and in the West Village.

I didn't need to run 16+ miles today, especially after yesterday's ride, but I'm glad that I did. It's on weekends like this that I really miss the demands of hard workouts dictated by a training plan from which I dare not deviate. I miss the zone that's only entered after 13 or 14 miles of running; I miss the sore, tight legs that remind me of a job well done; I miss the sense of total exhaustion. I miss saying "goodbye" to Zdenek after running together for two loops, knowing that I'm on my own for the next one but that, when I meet him back at home, the coffee will be brewed and the pancake batter ready to hit the hot pan the moment I turn on the shower. I miss eating a breakfast (with generous use of Nutella) three times the size of that enjoyed on any other weekday, only to be complaining two hours later that I'm hungry. I miss heading out for a mid-afternoon slice of pizza.

On Friday, I received notice in the mail that my 2009 Boston Marathon entry has been automatically rolled over to 2010. I'm not sure if I'll return to Beantown in 2010, but it is tempting. I salivate just thinking of all the guilt-free pizza I could enjoy this winter.

Letdown at Beantown

Today is the Boston Marathon! Sadly, I'm at work today and can't watch it live, but I will definitely be watching my DVR when I get home tonight. I am hoping that either Ryan Hall or Kara Goucher will win -- I can't imagine them both winning, but that would be extraordinary. Regardless of the outcome (and please don't tell me what that is because I want to see for myself!), it's guaranteed to be an exciting race on the legendary hilly course.

I have mixed feelings about the Boston marathon. For a middle-of-the pack, long distance runner who could never hope to win an age group (let alone a marathon), running a "Boston qualifier" is one clear-cut goal for which to strive. Whether or not the qualifying times are scientific or fair is a debate for a different post. The fact remains that the qualifying times are a reasonably difficult standard for most average runners (of which I am one), and Boston is the only race which requires a qualifying time for entry (although there are a few ways, such as running for a charity or being well-connected, to get in the back door). The allure of qualifying, combined with the "legendary" Boston crowds and historic course, make this a race that every semi-serious marathoner hopes to run at lease once.

I first qualified for Boston at my third marathon, the Cincinnati Flying Pig, in 2006. As mentioned in my first post, this was one of the most significant days of my adult life. I worked extremely hard to get there and it signaled, for me, my transition to a semi-serious athlete. I didn't come down from by "BQ" high for weeks. My husband framed my Flying Pig poster along with a plaque of my time and "Boston Qualifier" status, and it hangs proudly over our "mantle" (which, in a NYC apartment, is the Ikea shelf above our television). I trained for Boston in 2007, hoping to cement my status as a "recurring" qualifier at that race. My parents and in-laws flew across the country to witness the momentous occasion. I was excited to have finally arrived as a runner!

Boston turned out to be a bit of a let-down for me. Race weekend was hit by one of the worst Nor'easters in Boston history, and it was the only marathon since WWII that the organizers apparently considered canceling (the jury was still out at 5 am on race day). The day before the race was bitterly cold and stormy. At one point, my mother looked at me and said, "You're not actually going to run in this, are you?" -- as if I was reserving some secret option to drop out at the last minute!! Marathon Monday (Boston is run on Patriot's Day, which is observed in Massachusetts) turned out to be a bit less rainy, but slightly warmer and more humid, than most people had expected, which was not a good thing, since many (myself included) were totally overdressed. The morning of the race, I (along with thousands of others) stood around for two or three hours in a football field, ankle-deep in mud, trying to stay shielded from one of the last torrential downpours. When the gun finally went off, I was a mile away from the starting line, stuck in a different (but no less important) queue for the port-o-potty; I had to frantically weave through the streets of Hopkinton and about 10,000 runners to try to catch up with my corral. I spent most of the first six miles dodging in and out of runners who were meant to be much further back than me, and I'm convinced that I ran at least 27.2 miles that day. I killed my quads -- and I mean killed my quads -- with the steep downhills in the first part of the race, for which I was totally unprepared. (It is absolutely true that running downhill is much harder than running uphill.) Unfortunately, when it was time to climb the Newton Hills, my quads had permanently seized to function. On top of it all, most of the "legendary" Boston crowds failed to materialize that day. My co-worker, Jim, a Massachusetts native, was stationed on the sidelines somewhere around mile 23. By the time I got to him, I was in excruciating pain and cursing myself for ever wanting to do this so badly. I greeted Jim's call-out of "Jodi!" by rolling my eyes at him (I'm pretty sure Jim will not be coming out to cheer me on at any future races)!

Me at 5 am, dressed for the weather

Boston was, in essence, a disappointment for me. This race that I had so aspired to would have been better off left in my imagination. So last year, when I qualified again, I was determined to get my proper Boston experience by running it in 2009 (isn't "insanity" defined as repeating the same actions but expecting different results?). And I am indeed registered in today's race. Scheduling conflicts forced me to switch to a marathon that is three weeks later, and, to be truthful, I knew that my goal of setting a PR was likely incompatible with running Boston's brutal course. I thus forfeited my $110 to the BAA this year and perhaps will run it again another time. Nevertheless, Boston remains one of the world's most prestigious and exciting marathons, and I'm still proud that I've run it in the some of the worst conditions that race has seen. I can, however, reassure any fellow runners who are trying but perhaps unable to qualify for this race: be careful what you wish for.

Unable to stand up after my Boston experience