Spring 2013 Race Photos

The 2013 spring season has been an extremely successful one for me.  I kicked things off with a third place finish in 14:54 at the Haddonfield Adrenaline 5k - unfortunately there were no photos from that race.  Next up was the Valley Forge Revolutionary 5 Miler which I won in 26:32.  I followed that with a 10th place finish at Broad Street in 50:28.  I was also the 4th American.  Finally, I finished 3rd in the Key Bank Vermont City Marathon in a huge PR of 2:22:28.  I'm not done yet as I will be competing in the USA Half Marathon Championships in Duluth, Minnesota on June 22nd!

Here are a few photos from my races so far this spring.

Crossing the finish line for the win at Valley Forge

Battling down the finishing straight at Broad Street with Wade Miller and Birhanu Tadesse.  I knew there was a top ten spot on the line and there was no way I was losing to either of these two!

4th American at Broad Street

Top 5 Americans at Broad Street

About the only time this would be dry for the next couple of hours.

VCM Start - I like how I am dead center in the frame

Here I climb the only significant hill on the course.  For the next couple of minutes after climbing this hill, which is located at about 15.5 miles, life was miserable.

I love this picture taken at the finish of the race.  At this point I was thinking of nothing but holding off the charging relay runner.

Got to compete against and chill with some pretty chill guys in Vermont including two previous Trials qualifiers in Matt Pelletier and Mike Wardian.

It was a good day for the Keystone Elite, as Lauren also finished third in the women's race!

These are all the photos I was tagged in (or willing to pay for from photo services online).  It was a great spring so far and I'm hoping I can still accomplish one more big PR in the half marathon out in Minnesota and get some valuable championship race experience in the process.

Ascension

It's not something most human beings would give a moment of consideration to, that it is actually possible to be living for years in a state of constant betterment.  To consider that you are better today than you were yesterday or a year ago, and that you will be better still tomorrow or next week.  When you're a competitive runner in training you are constantly in a process of ascending.

Captured quite eloquently by John L. Parker, this passage is the core of long distance running and what fuels my internal drive.  As a runner, the open road or the eight lane Tartan oval is not simply a surface, it is an invitation to improve yourself.  Meticulously kept workout logs give us a window into our past, and if all has gone well, what it will show us is that we would beat the hell out of our past self.

It is not an easy process, this ascension.  It requires almost unwavering focus and drive.  How easy it is to skip the morning runs required to push your weekly mileage into the 110-115 range when temperatures hover in the 30's and the sun is still a speck on the horizon.  You must have blinders to an extent.

This winter and spring, I really did put my blinders on.  I woke up one week, and decided I was going to run 100 miles a week.  One week turned into two, turned into nine as I prepared for the Vermont City Marathon.  Through this training process, I gained an entirely new understanding of what Parker was getting at when he described the ascension process.  I had run 100 mile weeks before, but never consecutively.  I began to find paces that had once felt like a max effort easy.  I think it finally clicked that I was onto something when I found myself averaging 5:15 miles for the last halves of 21 and 22 mile long runs or repping repeat miles at 4:36.  I had simply ascended to the next level of fitness.

As I look back now on my first year as a post collegiate runner I am extremely proud of what I have accomplished this year.  Leaving college with modest PR's of 14:47 and 30:48, who would have thought I would now hold top finishes at the Broad Street Run and the Vermont City Marathon and sit on the cusp of being one of the region's best long distance runners.  When I think about all my improvements so far this year, I am always drawn back to one night last spring before graduation.  It was a graduation party for my friend and teammate at Lafayette, Matt Piazza.  As we sat around the table drinking and reminiscing about all the good times had at college, another friend began talking about how my goal should be to qualify for the Olympic Trials in the marathon.  With the bravado that comes with having consumed several adult beverages, of course I agreed right away, but it still felt like a stretch.  I was pretty mediocre in college after all.  Now looking back one year later, I feel completely different.  Why shouldn't I qualify for the 2016 Trials?  It is exciting to think about this as a real possibility and not some pie in the sky goal.

As a runner, you must have goals to fuel your ascension, and the 2016 Trials are my fuel.  I refuse to become one of those big talkers with big goals who never accomplishes much.  I know what it takes to ascend to the elite level of US marathoning, and I am ready to keep lacing up the trainers and heading out the door every day, sometimes twice, until I reach that level.

TRAINING SUMMARY WEEK OF 6/27

Monday: 3 miles very easy after the marathon.  Got a massage before hitting the highway back to PA.

Tuesday: OFF.  No way was I running today after being trapped in a car for 10 hours yesterday.  Seemed as if the entirety of New York/North Jersey was returning home from plundering the beautiful New England mountains.

Wednesday: OFF again.  Body still needs some rest.  Beginning to feel better.

Thursday: 3 miles.  Again very easy.  Felt a lot loosening up going on.

Friday: 4 miles.  Got out before work this morning to get my miles in before the heat and humidity kicked in.

Saturday: 7 miles.  Legs are beginning to feel almost back to normal.

Sunday: 9 miles @ 5:50 per mile.  Closed the last 3 miles @ 5:30 per just to give myself a little bit of a workout this week.  Overall I felt very strong today.  Stride had that nice loping feel to it.

Total: 26 miles (almost as many as I ran last Sunday!)

Key Bank Vermont City Marathon Recap

I would consider last weekend's Key Bank Vermont City Marathon my debut marathon.  Yes, I finished the Philadelphia Marathon this fall, but to be honest, I had no business being in that race.  This training cycle, which started in February, marked the first time I had successfully trained for and prepared to really race, not just complete a marathon.

Things did not go perfectly in Vermont, thanks to Mother Nature who dumped rain, wind, and frigid temperatures on the beautiful city of Burlington.  From the time I left Harrisburg on Friday morning, right up until the awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon, it rained, torrentially at times.  I tried not to let the weather get in my head, as I knew I was fitter than I have ever been in my life, but with winds forecast to be in the 20 mph range and rain on Sunday morning, I knew life would be tough for the next 26.2 miles.

The race itself played out exactly how I had figured it would.  A pack of 5 runners got out straight to the front.  Matt Pelletier, a 5 time VCM champ and Olympic Trials qualifier, and Chris Zablocki, with his 2:17 PR, were the class of the field, and after running as a pack through 10k in just over 33 minutes, they began surging slightly between miles 7 and 9.  The two leaders took off for good after mile 9, and I was left running with another young up and coming marathoner, Kyle Stanton.  We ran together through mile 12, hitting 5:15's comfortably, but unfortunately it was not Kyle's day, and he ended up dropping out of the race.  That left me alone for the last 14 miles of the race.  I faced very strong winds from miles 13-20, and after coming through the half in 1:09:35, I struggled to battle the wind on my own and ended up running in the 5:25-5:35 range the rest of the race.  It was very difficult battling the wind, and by the time I hit the tailwind for the last 4 miles of the race, I was spent and could not benefit from it.  I finished in 2:22:28 in third place and kicked strongly the last quarter mile to hold off the first relay team.  No way after running 26.2 miles was I going to lose to a relay team!

Overall, I must say I am very pleased with my final time, a PR by over 9 minutes from the fall.  This winter and spring, I learned so much about training for the marathon by working with Mike McKeeman, a true expert on the sport.  For the first time in my running career, I put together the consistent 100 mile weeks required to be truly successful as a distance runner.  The winter months certainly were difficult, as it seemed the only time I ran in daylight was on the weekends, but all those cold dark miles are worth it now. 

Mike and I believed I would be ready to run under 2:20, and this result, given the weather conditions, supports that belief.  For what it is worth, Pelletier thought he was in 2:16 shape and ended up running 2:19 due to the weather, so I certainly feel my final time was worth a 2:20 given the conditions.  I walk away from this race confident that with continued development and hard work, I will be a 2016 US Olympic Trials qualifier for the marathon!

Also have to give a shoutout to my fiancee and parents who made the trip up to Burlington to watch me and cheer me on like crazy!  Their support on the course really helped me fight through some rough patches and finish as strongly as I did.  Another shoutout goes to Keystone Elite teammate Lauren Kelly who finished third in the women's race in her debut marathon in 2:52.  There are big things in store for the two of us Lafayette alums!

Now, I will turn my focus to recovering and getting ready to race at the USATF National Half Marathon championships in Duluth, Minnesota, where I have been accepted as a part of the USATF's athlete development program.  I can't wait to represent Keystone Elite on this big stage!

Happy Miles!