Spring 09 - the run-up to Boston

[suzieq]

EG, I'm also squeaking in another long run this weekend (hopefully 40 km.). I've been told by good sources that as long as we run it slowly, plus for the next two weeks don't push it at all, we should be ok. Lots of stretching and nice easy, slow runs after your long run this weekend. I know you have another race of 10 miles, but do try to take that slowly as well. Recovery after your long run this weekend is the main thing. Good luck this weekend - the last long run before the big one! Yea!

Suzie

[Antonio247]

Congratulations, EG. You seem to be fit enough to do another marathon again.

Your report has brought to my mind the Reading half I took part in four years ago. It was my first race in the UK and I enjoyed the atmosphere a lot. I´d never taken part in a half marathon with so many entrants. I also liked the fact that there were a lot of people who took it easy, so I was not in the group of runners/joggers getting in the last positions. Besides, there were a lot of female runners taking part, which is not common here in Spain.

I also had a wondeful time with you, M, Kevin, Sweder, Seafront Plodder, Nigel and his children who came after the race.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

A great RHM EG, well done mate. I'm not sure what you call the knobby bit at the top of the spine either, but I don't think it should be as painful as it obviously is. Have you asked your doctor or physio about it?

[El Gordo]

Thanks all.

Suzie -- I will be taking all these races slowly. As mentioned, I don't have much option . Not looking forward to the 20 at all, but I know it will do me good, physically and mentally, and will at least herald a relatively laid-back two weeks.

Good luck for your 40km. Sounds awfully long for a training run, but you seem to have been really hitting those long distances this time around. I'm sure they'll all have been worth it come race day.

anlu -- I also have happy memories of your visit to Reading. Let's hope you can make it to Connemara next year. Suzie too, though I'm sure it's about time we all went off to Canada for a race.

MLCM -- I have an appointment to see the doc on Wednesday about the knobbly bit, though it may be too late to do anything about it before Boston. Might just have to run through it again, and address it afterwards. Should have sorted it before now, though I sort of forget about it until I get to the longer distances. As Dan says, it might well be a matter of posture i.e. the answer might be in my own hands, as it were .

[Sweder]

Good luck to everyone hitting the hard yards this weekend.

Suzie, I think 40k, whilst not essential distance for all, is a great idea. Wish I'd pushed out longer runs pre TOM.

EG your journey has been remarkable, the last few weeks almost reaching Lazarinthine heights. Take it easy out there and save something for the Tea Party.

Dan, Nick I hope your preparations are boringly uneventful in the extreme, leaving you jazzed and ready to rock & roll.

I shall lick my wounds as I board out my loft, thinking of you all and thanking my lucky stars that the only likely casualty of my Neanderthal folly will be the Seaford Half.

[Antonio247]

Well done, EG. If you have managed to finish twenty miles feeling well, you should be able to finish Boston marathon. Congratulations on your weight loss as well.

Enjoy the well-deserved English ale in your local pub!

saludos desde Almería

Antonio

[El Gordo]

Thanks anlu. I'm not daunted by the marathon distance anymore, but the one remaining unknown is the topography of the course. The first half of Boston is a net downhill, but you make up for that in the second. When I started this training, well before Christmas, I tried to include hills on my long runs. After I hurt my calf, I deliberately kept away from too many hills to avoid aggravating the injury. That was successful, though it's left me feeling a bit undertrained on the hills.

[suzieq]

Well done EG! Nice to get that long run behind you; and feeling good at the end no less! Great accomplishment. I do think you were hard on your body to give it such a work-out the day before, but somehow you managed. Now just one long one left. Hopefully the thrill of running Boston and the crowd support will carry you up the hills in the later half of the race.

Suzie

[El Gordo]

Not do fast, Suzie -- not so fast....

How was your own 40 km long 'un? Did you do it?

[Sweder]

Terrific news re the pub EG. I take this as a good omen and heartily condone your intention to join in the reopening festivities.

Oh, well done on Worthing too.
Any four lap distance race is designed to test one's mental as well as physical stamina. You seem to have dealt with that admirably.

[suzieq]

I (we) did do our 40 km. run! It actually went rather well, the weather was good, I was rested and ready to go. We ran it about 30 seconds slower than marathon pace and felt good at the end. So glad to have that last long run behind us. Now I can relax a bit before the big one. And I must say that running the 40 km. has given me the confidence that I can actually do the race (I think...).

Suzie

[El Gordo]

Great news Suzie -- you'll have no trouble getting round the old place with those 40 kms in your back pocket.

Would-be marathoners are always cautious, so when one says "It actually went rather well", I interpret that as a big positive. Great to have such strong self-confidence at this stage.

As for me, I'm throbbing with uncertainty about the Boston hills, and whatever anyone says, I will remain so until I'm crawling into Kenmore Square.

[Peterward3]

Good Luck for Boston.

I am trying a similar feat in training two and a half months for Edinburgh should be ok with a fair wind. :-)

Sure you will sail over the hills. Are you going to meet up with Steve Runner while you are over there?

[El Gordo]

Good Luck for Boston.

I am trying a similar feat in training two and a half months for Edinburgh should be ok with a fair wind. :-)

Sure you will sail over the hills. Are you going to meet up with Steve Runner while you are over there?

Yo Pete -- a voice from the past.... nice to hear from you.

I swap occasional emails with Steve Runner, and they usually end with a polite "See you in Hopkinton", but there's no actual arrangement to meet, and I suspect I won't spot him among the thousands of knee-rattling runners waiting for the off.

Good luck for Edinburgh. You still have 7 or 8 weeks, and believe me you can make good progress in that time. Let us know how you get on.

[Nigel]

Well done, Andy -- and Suzie, too.

After reading these (quite heroic) reports, it feels almost as though I've trained for a marathon myself. It's such exhausting stuff, but as you have so often said, Andy, the equation will be perfectly balanced in the end.

Inspirational -- that's what you all are.

[El Gordo]

Hey Nigel -- good to see you back here.

Thanks. It does seem to have gone on a long time. About 3 years, you might say, as that was when I last did a marathon. Just a single week left now, so nothing much more I can do apart from avoiding the obvious mistakes like overdoing the carbs. Is it just me, or is carbo-loading a bit over-rated? Might make more sense for the skinny guys perhaps.

I'm looking forward to another yankathon. You were there to share the experience of the last one of course, and I'm hoping this one will be just as memorable. I'm expecting another great expo and frenetic crowd support. The Boston course is more demanding than Chicago, so I'm gonna need that crowd to drag me up the hills.

The support on here is just as important though, so once again -- thanks. I'll look forward to reliving some of it over a beer or two in the summer, by which time the tale will have improved yet further.

When are we going to see another Nigel marathon?

[marathondan]

EG, well done on your Maidenhead PB.

Your Theresa May fixation is of course deeply disturbing, and best not mentioned again.

Your splits do indeed look great, but why, with only one exception, do you seesaw up / down by around half a minute every mile? Some sort of rest / recovery thing going on?

Great to see that this campaign is inspiring you to continue with marathons beyond this one. Lucky you got that calf injury, eh!

And has your RC t-shirt stretched and sagged in the wash already, or are you suddenly looking in very good shape? You must be feeling pretty zingy.

When do you fly?

[Sweder]

No doubt we'll be in touch before the off but in case my indulgences in Tuscan heaven render me incapable of contact let me wish you all good things in Boston and beyond.

This has been a fantastic journey for you and your followers, no doubt with more twists and turns to come. There's a feeling I get when I look to the west . . . somehow everything that has gone before has lead to this. There may indeed be more marathons for EG on the horizon, yet this is the main event.
As Apollo Creed snarled to Rocky Balboa in the midst of their epic battle, 'This is IT man!'

Safe travels, and may the road rise to meet you, and treat you well.

[El Gordo]

Sorry, it's been a bit quiet here recently, so haven't checked for a couple of days.

Dan -- don't not why the splits were like that. I noticed the same thing. No obvious explanation. We fly out on Friday morning. Will be in Boston Friday afternoon local time. Expo on the Saturday, + poss a couple of jogging miles. Sunday, feet up, hydrating, heart thumping. Monday? Who knows what will happen?

Seriously, it's a mystery. My first undulating marathon. All others were chosen for their flatness. As you know, I've not trained on hills since pre-Christmas because I didn't want to provoke the calf. Maybe I'll get away with it, maybe I won't. Boston is fabled for its wild crowd support, so I'm hoping this will be worth a couple of miles to me. At least I'm expecting to finish, which wasn't necessarily how I felt 6 weeks ago. But believe me, this is no PB attempt.

What the training has done is re-enthuse me. If I survive this one without injury, I'm determined to improve. Conversations with Phil, the sports therapist, have been interesting, and have put various thoughts into my head, but I won't tempt fate by talking more about this at the moment.

Sweder -- thanks. No doubt the Twitterverse will continue to hum with you up to your neck in fine Riserva Chianti Classico and Tuscan cuisine, and me chomping on a roadside hamburger somewhere. Have a great break.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Good luck from me too.

I've followed your recovery and bizarrely have picked up exactly the same injuries as you (calf niggles and neck ache). Looks like the gym work brought you back from the brink... everybody seems to be doing it these days.

Have I missed a potted history of the very historical Boston marathon? If so can you point me in the right direction. If not, I'll check it out on Wikipedia. I prefer to read yours first though!

All the best.