BayState Marathon - 10.20.13

Pinky: Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?
Brain: The same thing we do every night, Pinky - try to take over the world!

This quote is from an animated Animaniacs series Pinky & The Brain. This quote is in many ways similar to the conversation that my brain has with me before starting each marathon.

Harsh: Gee, Brain, what are we going to do in this marathon?
Brain: the same thing we try to do in every marathon, Harsh - try to run 26.2 miles in less than or equal to 4 hours!!

Running a marathon is no longer about answering the question: Can I run a marathon? 
Running a marathon is now about: How fast can I run a marathon?

Last year, I ran my first race right here in Lowell. BayState Half Marathon on 10.21.12. Running a half marathon distance was a crazy idea back then. Now, it is fun to run any.

After the Quebec City Marathon, I was looking forward to running in Lowell again. I was running with my buddies (Stanley, Rahul, Pavan and Arjun). Stanley and I were going to run the full while Rahul, Pavan and Arjun planned for a half. Our collective reason for doing this race was to set new PRs, regardless of the distance. Distance is no longer a question for us. Now, it is all about the PR. 

I did not train well for this marathon. I was a bit lazy and I think in some ways, my body was burnt out from running so much. I took it easy and focused on having fun while running and not training hard.

BayState Marathon is considered a flat marathon. It is scheduled when the New England weather is generally perfect for running. It has a good organization and it also starts 5 miles from where I live.

I tapered well for this marathon. I should have run a few miles during my tapering week, but I preferred rest over running during that week. The night before the marathon, my buddies and our families had an excellent pasta dinner at IL Forno. I had capellini pasta with broccolli and sausage. It was done right. We got home around 10:30pm. I went to sleep at 11pm. I slept well. 

On 10.20.13 (marathon day), I was up at 5:50am. I made a large pancake for myself. Pancake is a good source of carbohydrates. I was getting ready when Rahul called at 6am. He was running a fever.  I was bummed to hear that news. This was unfortunate. We, the runners, prepare ourselves (physically and mentally) for weeks and we are often one injury or sickness away from running our best on the day of the race. I left with Stanley at 7am for the BayState Marathon in Lowell. The commute was relatively short with spots of traffic congestion mixed in. 

It was a chilly morning. We were shivering as we climbed out of the car and walked towards the starting line.  The park close to the starting line had a lot of port-a-john's lined up for runners to use. We spent 20 minutes waiting in the line, while waiting for our turn to use one. 

It was now 7:50am. We started to walk up to the starting line. The energy around us was amazing.

Folks were busy getting their electronics ready for race-tracking, music or what ever their electronic device could help them with. Some marathoners were stretching. But overall, it felt awesome looking at yet another crowd of runners who had only one goal in their minds. Beat their PR and qualify for Boston. 

 BayState Marathon is often used by runners to qualify for Boston. Boston Marathon is the gold standard for all marathons. There are runners that have been trying all their running life to qualify for Boston marathon. Today. I just wanted to run in 4 hours or less.

There were 1344 marathon runners and 1557 half marathoners participating in BayState Marathon. This was a large crowd and was all piled up in very small area.





The gun went off at 8:00am. The race was on. 

I started out cautiously. I was running at a 10min pace. I was very slow any everyone was constantly passing me by. After about two miles, I kicked my pace up to a 9:30 pace. As soon as I saw the 6th mile marker, I dialed my pace up to an 8:30 pace. I was going to stay with this pace as long as I could. 

Our marathon route was beautiful. Foilage is generally at its peak in the beginning of October around here. This year, we had pockets of foliage peaking in the beginning of october while the rest was peaking when we were running. The route had beautiful bridges, a sweet river view with a foilage background, curved roads with New England homes that were all situated right across the river, golf courses, apartment complexes, parks etc.. The BayState Marathon is a beautiful course.

I was able to keep my 8:30 pace for a while. I was feeling great running at this pace. I was very surprised when I didn't hit my wall at the 18th mile marker. My mind and body felt surprisingly fresh. This is when, I got greedy and dialed it up. Now i was doing a 8 or may be a 7:50 pace. I know this because now I was passing everyone that was ahead of me. 






I hit the 20mile marker and its amazing art work of a shattered wall. I smiled, when i looked at it.

I shattered my wall today. The wall did not exist for me in this race. 

At around the 22nd mile marker, I was in in the middle of two crowds. The crowd that I had already passed and the crowd that I wanted to pass. I kept my pace. All of a sudden, this girl came out of nowhere and pulled ahead of me. I did not see her coming. She took me by surprise. It now became a real race for me. I dialed it up again and now I was doing a 7:30pace. I  exchanging leads with her several times for about a mile or so. At around the 23rd mile, I started to cramp. I realized my mistake. By the time, i realized it, the girl was way ahead of me and I had no shot of catching up with her. 

I am a heavy sweater, so I have a tendency to loose a lot of sodium and potassium when I sweat. It was getting warmer and I had dialed up the speed after running for a while. This was a perfect recepie for a cramp. I gained a minute by racing with her but then lost a lot in the next 3.2 miles, Now, i was really slow as I did not want to stop for a stretch or walk. I was going to will my way through the cramps. When I saw the 26th mile marker, I told myself that I am going to give it all I had, regardless of the cramps. I dialed up my speed and now I was running at 6 min pace. My son saw me 100 feet before the finish line. He somehow got inside the track and ran the last 100ft with me to the finish line. After I crossed the finish line, I gave him a big hug and we walked over together to get the medal and then the food area to meet up with my wife and my younger son. 

My Official timings were:

• 8.5 Mile:1:21:45   
• Halfway: 2:03:05  
• 30K: 2:58:32 
• 26.2 Mile: 4:16:42 

Overall, this was a good marathon for me. I now understand what I need to do, to finally run a marathon distance in 4hr or less time. I am now more optimistic than ever that my next marathon will be a 4hr marathon or a less.

I am tapering right now

Preparation for a marathon is a combination of long runs, short runs, easy runs, fast runs, tempo runs and any other type of run that you can fit in your running. The body goes through a lot during these runs. But the mind is often disconnected from this state of the body. This is because the mind is constantly swimming in an endorphin rush that comes with all this running. If it was up to the mind, it would never stop running. But the body is not unbreakable. There is a need to balance the excitement of running with the need to recover from these runs. Tapering provides this balance.
 
Tapering is a process that allows the body to recover and the mind to rejuvenate. There are some that take tapering well, while there are others that have a hard time with it. Runners that love the taper enjoy the process. These runners will sleep longer, be lazier and eat more during the taper days. Runners that do not take taper well, are generally anxious about their upcoming race, scared about their potential performance and doubt their endurance.

I love the taper. I generally get some anxiety about my performance during these tapering days but its not enough to get me down. In general, I enjoy more sleep, more rest and more food after having pushed myself hard for months.

Tapering has a lot of benefits for you. Rest during a taper allows

• the muscles to repair themselves and in the process become stronger than they were before they broke down
• the immune system to recharge and strengthen
• the glycogen (energy) stores to replenish 
• the mind to rejuvenate.

Here is how you should plan to taper:

• Sleep. Sleep longer and Sleep often.
• Eat more carbohydrates. Pasta is the best but any other form of carbohydrates will do as well. 
• If you cramp easy, eat saltier foods that are rich in carbohydrates.
• Drink plenty of water.
• If you plan to run during the taper week, don't push hard. These runs should be easy runs and short runs. Give yourself as much rest as you can between runs. There is no hard and fast rule around the number of times you can run during this week. Listen to your body and whenever in doubt, Rest.
• Be Lazy. This is the week when laziness is awesome.

I am tapering right now in preparation for the BayState Marathon on 10.20.13.