Finally the Weight Loss Works!

Some of the people who have participated in all ten

DMRF events, but only two of the twelve marathoners,

the guy kneeling and myself.  Everyone else is a friend 

from the Pike Creek Valley Running Club.

I now resume the tale of weight loss and pursuing another Boston Qualifying time before I turn 70. As mentioned in my last article, I was headed to the Lower Potomac Marathon in March. As it turns out, I did not have a good day there. While I was three minutes faster halfway (2:05) than I was at Hartford in the fall (4:22 final time), the long climb and then rolling hills in miles 15 to 22 took the strength out of my legs. I could not use the downhill section and slowly jogged to the end to finish in 4:24.

Next up was Garden Spot in Lancaster County, PA. It has a lot of rolling hills and is exposed, open farm land. Sure enough the winds came. Surprisingly I felt pretty good in the middle miles. But I slowed in the final couple of flat miles. While I ran 4:19, I thought I should have been several minutes faster. Still, this was the fastest I had run in over two years, so it was encouraging.

Two weeks later I went to Carmel, Indiana (16^th state). The course description was deceiving. It wasn't flat, although there were no serious hills. But the bigger problem was the wind again. I started with the 4:00 pace group, but the pacers were going too fast. I let them go at three miles, but I still went through the 10K split a couple seconds per mile under 4:00 pace. The group was long gone – way too fast. Anyway, going out a bit too fast, coupled with the fact that once I turned at four miles I felt like I was fighting the wind no matter which direction I turned, probably cost me time toward the end. Again, I was slowing in the finishing miles and ended up with another 4:19++.

Finally came May and the tenth running of the Delaware Marathon. All during February, March, April and May I continued to walk as well as do my normal running. My weight was still coming down, although much more slowly now. Overall I figured I had lost 12.5pounds, although my weight the morning of the race was several pounds higher from water retention. I knew the course intimately and decided to try to duplicate what I did in 2009, when I ran 4:06:44 on the course. This meant trying to do about 2:01 the first half and slowing by no more than five minutes during the second loop.

The weather couldn't have been better. The overnight rain was still clearing at 5:30 AM when I was loading my car for the drive over to the start. By start time the humidity was clearing and it was getting breezy. But the stiff breezes did not come until after the event was over. The temps started in the mid 50s, but never got over low 60s.

At the start I was talking to Henry Gunther, a slightly older fellow. When the gun went off, he took off and I followed. He had told me that he wasn't in good shape, but he took that first mile a bit fast – 8:53. Seeing that, I backed off and let him go ahead. But after two miles, he started slowing and I went by him. I felt good. There was no indication in any of my leg muscles they were going to have a problem. So I settled into my rhythm and tried to hit the mile times I wanted. At five miles I was 17 seconds off my goal. Considering I ran the first mile too quickly, it meant that I averaged nine seconds per mile slower the next four. The seventh mile was the steep uphill on Park Drive and Kentmere Parkway. I had figured an extra minute for that mile, but was a couple extra seconds over. So it went during the first half. When I got to the 13.1mile split, I was over a minute off the time I was hoping to hit, almost 2:02. But I still had 2:08 to do the second half. I just had to make sure I didn't slow down too much.

Now I was really glad for the cool air. I remember several previous times when the sun along the Christina River front would start the process of doing me in. But although I was slowing up some, it wasn't too bad. Around the second loop I went. When I crossed the 18 mile mat in 2:48++. I started to think that going under 4:10 was possible. Mile 20 was similar to mile 7, but I was only 5 seconds slower the second time than the first when I had figured 30 seconds slower. I was ecstatic. Shortly thereafter, I saw Ray Christensen, monitoring cross traffic. I told him I had 62 minutes to complete 6.2 miles. Actually it was 40 seconds less than that. Mile 21 wasn't encouraging. After I crested the hill, while going down the other side on Bancroft Parkway, my hamstrings, which had just worked mightily going up, were both wanting to seize up. I had to slow for a while until the feeling passed.

After doing the Wawaset Park, Union St. and Lincoln St. section, I was back on Bancroft. At mile 23, I had 32'14” to complete 3.2 miles and a lot of it was downhill. Fortunately the combination of the weather and my pace meant I had a little something left to exert myself on the section, instead of the all-too-frequent end-of-marathon slough. So now the question changed from “could I go under 4:10” to “by how much could I break 4:10?” My last three were 9:23, 9:17 and 9:44. The last was on King St. First five or six blocks of steep uphill. I just kept plugging. Coming over the top, my hamstrings were unhappy again, but I knew I'd run through it. Pushing the downhill. Then the last two tenths in 1:49 (9:05 pace). Hit the finish one second under 4:08. A Boston qualifier by two minutes.

What have I learned?

1. Weight loss works. In fact less than two weeks into losing weight, I had run the Icicle Ten Miler on much of the terrain that the most difficult part of the marathon was on. From that time (1:28:14), prediction calculators said I should be able to run 4:05.
2. Perhaps I needed the other marathons as training runs.
3. Knowing the course really helps one figure out what to expect.
4. Running on hills isn't as tough for me as running in wind. But both in the same event are a real problem.
5. I should definitely be able to run faster since this marathon was somewhat hilly. Next goal will be to run 4:05. Five minutes under my BQ standard would probably be enough to get into the 2014 Boston Marathon, despite all the people who want to be let in automatically because they did not get a chance to finish this year.
6. I now can think seriously about additional training for the next year and a half. I have a goal in mind, but I'm not ready to reveal it yet.