I Did It!!!

The Boston Marathon goes down as one of the most amazing things in my life following closely behind marriage and the birth of my kids.

The unfortunate weather made the race a completely different endeavor than what I had trained for. The heat was unbearable, stifling. For example, during my 16 weeks of training I walked a total of two times, once during my first long run and the other when I ran when I had a fever. On Marathon Monday I walked twice within the first five miles! On top of that, I walked every mile after that too. The marathon turned out to be a test of will and perseverance instead of a test of endurance and strength.

My final long training run was 20 miles which I ran in 3:30 so my goal was to finish the marathon somewhere in the 4:40 range. By mile 5 I knew that would never happen and mentally I was in a bad place for a few miles. It was not until mile 8 where I finally hit a groove and got comfortable. My plan for hydration and fuel was to drink every two miles and have a PowerGel every 4 miles. This changed pretty much immediately after the race started. I drank at every stop, a Gatorade and a water.

Generally I am the kind of guy that avoids people that spray water on the runners. I do not like it when my feet get wet. I can say with some certainty that if it were not for some fire hydrants that were opened up I may not have finished the race. The cold water showers were key in cooling down my body. Twice during the race I doubted whether or not I could keep going. Shortly after the first time was a water stop and the waters were poured over my head and down my back. The second was at mile 20 and thankfully this is where there was an open fire hydrant, the water was cool and it was a nice thick spray that coated my entire body, this helped get me over heartbreak hill.

My family was amazing as they were actually able to see me at four different times during the race, miles 7, 13, 18 and 26. To me, this was almost as impressive as running the marathon. I have no idea how they were able to pull that off.

Wellesley College was just what I expected and more. College girls lined up for about a quarter mile with "kiss me" signs. I considered finding the hottest girl and giving it a shot as this might be the only time I could kiss another girl and get away with it, but I decided against it and just used their enthusiasm to fuel my running.

5 hours, 30 minutes and 58 seconds. This was my final time. A good 45 minutes longer than what I was expecting and hoping for. As the last couple days have gone by I have continually gotten more proud of the accomplishment. My training had worked, muscularly and cardiovascular-wise I ran the race fine and I was prepared. There was no way to prepare for the heat. I think about my buddy Glenn who was on track for his personal best time of 3:45 and he finished in 5:45. I also think about last years Boston marathon winners, both of them did not even finish the race this year. Thousands of people dropped out of the race before it even started, and another couple thousand started but did not finish. I saw multiple people have to stop and puke and even more people get carted away on stretchers. I think about all of this and then know that I finished and that was my ultimate goal. Worrying about time would have to come some other time, some other race.

As of right now, I am tentatively planning on running the Cape Cod Marathon in the Fall. Originally the thought was that if I did this race it would be to improve upon (or even worry about) my time. Now, hopefully, this will be the race that I actually prove to myself that I can run a marathon and run it the way that I trained for it without having to deal with severe heat.

I would like to thank all of my family, friends and coworkers that helped, inspired and donated during my training. This was all a part of the experience that I will never forget.

Why so Hard?

Why is it so hard to wake up in the morning? Obviously we all love sleep, but waking up an hour earlier than normal should not be such an undertaking. I couldn't bring myself to get out of bed yesterday to do 8 miles. I knew that I better get up today and get it done or I would be going down a slippery slope that would end up with me not being prepared for the marathon. This week has been particularly tough in terms of time because I am playing a show and balancing the sports and practices that the kids are in. Evenings are out of the question. On top of that the days are so busy that I am tired and need sleep. However, I set myself up to be ready to go this morning and got it done, 8 miles. I feel great. I have a ton of energy which has also spilled over into my work. I am teaching effectively today. So, why is it so hard to get up? Frankly, I feel this good just about every morning I wake up early and run. Why would I not want to feel this way more often?

Two more long runs!!

Well, before the big day anyway. Just two more long training runs. The weather is amazing and I generally enjoy running in the cold. The temperature is well over 6o degrees today which will be nice, I guess. Saturday I did a medium run of 8 miles and it was the worst run I have had since the first week I ran. Two things against me:
1. The day started out at 30 degrees and the wind was howling. I dressed with layers on top and bottom and wore a winter hat.
2. My body is working very hard at trying to fight off this head cold that TJ has had. I do not have it as bad as him, but I got it. I might be a little feverish.
About 1 mile in I wanted to start walking, but I just unzipped and took off my winter hat and I was fine. I ended up walking for only the second time in my weeks of training. To be honest I wasn't even upset because I knew that I was battling the elements and my sickness. I was pretty proud too that the only time I walked was after the 6 mile mark so I lasted 5 more miles after my first feeling of wanting to walk.

I am most nervous about 18 miles this afternoon because I have a nice headache going. I have been taking ibuprofen and drinking lots of water and I am just going to battle through this. Even if I suck I will get it done!!!

17, done!

This past weekend was a busy one, no time for a long run so I had to get it in after school on Monday. I was a bit nervous that I would be too tired from the day, not to mention the jet lag from the daylight savings. Well, I got it done and it felt pretty good.

I ended up stashing a couple water bottles on the route that I would pass a couple times at the 6 mile mark and 11 mile mark. I ran the first and last 6 miles on the bike path so it was pretty flat, but I got in some hills including the big one that is at the end of Falmouth Road Race in the middle 5 miles.

I have been struggling with this upper foot pain in my left foot after my long runs, especially the next morning. I noticed while I was running yesterday that I am clenching my toes up so essentially I am running with a foot fist. So much tension, no wonder I have this pain. Tendonitis? Not sure. Many times during the run I really focused on relaxing my toes and foot. In addition I really took a long time stretching last night. This morning I woke up with some discomfort, but considering that after the past three long runs I could barely put pressure on my left foot when I woke up the next morning I will take it. This is definitely something that I need to be mindful of when I am running in the future.

Getting up Early

I have always considered myself a night owl. Often I do not go to bed until at least 11 if not midnight even though I need to wake up at 6:30 to get ready for work. It has been fine over the years and I am happy that I can function on a small amount of sleep. However, over the past four weeks in particular my short and medium runs have been getting to a distance where I need to wake up anywhere from 5:15 to 5:45 to get it in. Right now my "medium" runs are 8 miles! That is going to take me about an hour and a half. So to be back to my house by 7 I am running by 5:30am and waking up 15 minutes or so before that. Yikes! I have been going to sleep earlier which has helped, but honestly it is something that is sometimes hard to get used to. The further I get into the training the larger the urge to hit the snooze button gets.

Another thing that I have noticed is starting around the 5 to 6 mile mark I start to get some stomach discomfort and need to go to the bathroom. It was bad enough on Wednesday that I ended up doing 6 miles instead of 8. Today I did make it through the whole 8, but the last two and a half miles were tough. So far the only thing that I can do to make the sensation pass is to just simply slow down. I am going to get very picky in terms of nutrition next week and see if it makes a difference.

Training Update

I am so happy with my marathon training. I am not lighting it up in the speed department, but that is fine with me. I am hoping to finish, nothing less, nothing more. I ran 10 miles on Saturday morning for my long run and that put my mileage total at 21 for the week. Since I started training I have lost almost 10 lbs. which is good in so many ways. Most importantly for my knees and joints that have to put up with the pounding of the pavement.

I started using a Calorie Counting website to aid myself in trying to lose weight a little faster and it has really worked. If you have never tried the simple act of counting your calories it is pretty eye opening and very helpful. It really changes your perspective on whether or not a particular food or snack is worth it. I have done many diets in the past like Atkins and Weight Watchers, but being very logical and thinking about food as energy and knowing that in order to lose weight I need to expend more energy than I take in makes complete sense. The Calorie Count site makes it very simple to track.

I am hoping to run the marathon at 240 lbs. or lighter. I am at 254 right now so I think it is possible for me to get down to that weight by then. The year I ran three half marathons I think I got down to 235.

Boston Marathon

Believe it or not, this aging and overweight guy is going to be running the Boston Marathon in 14 weeks. I am running with Team Joslin, the great diabetes treatment facility that has helped our family and specifically TJ so much since his diagnosis 5 years ago. If you can donate to help me raise $3000 it would be greatly appreciated. Here is a link to my fundraising site. If you have an Amazon account this should be really easy.

http://www.crowdrise.com/teamjoslin2012/fundraiser/thomasborning

Interesting Observation

I now think I have an idea as to why so many athletes get so overweight after they retire. It is incredible. I have not run since the road race, but remember for the three or four weeks prior to the race that I was absolutely ravenous. When I weighed myself the week before the race I figured that I would have put on 5 pounds knowing what and how much I had eaten. Nope, lost 5 pounds!! Well, at the advice of my Dr. to get my knee ready to resume training for my next half marathon, I did not run for two weeks after the race. But, I still was just as hungry and ate a lot like before the race. I have not weighed myself, but I suspect not good things. Having said all of this I will also say that I do not really concern myself with weight that much anymore. I want to be healthy. However, I did put a cap on my weight at 250 pounds so that I do not let my weight get out of hand.

Just started running again this week as the Dr. gave me the go ahead to start running again on Monday. I have gone twice, both with the kids. Once with Thomas and once with Gwen. Thomas went nice and easy and walked quite a bit so it was a good slow start for me to get back into it. Gwen, on the other hand, decided she wanted to practice for the girl run that Christine and her are doing. Well, Gwen definitely set the pace. I would say that it was better than a 9 minute mile pace. Awesome!!

I am a runner!!

My doctor says that I am a runner. Truth is, I think I am too. Never thought it would be the case, but I feel great when I run. Unfortunately, over the past four weeks I have had some knee pain creeping in, but it was never bad enough to not be able to run through.

Long story short, I ran 12 miles on Sunday. In some way I was very excited, but my excitement had a hard time surfacing through all of the knee pain I was having. I went to the Dr. today and we came to the conclusion that I have tendonitis and it was caused by my new sneakers. Never actually put the two together other than thinking it was a coincidence. Now I know. Going to have to run in my old sneakers and he gave me some anti-inflamatory medication which has already taken away 90% of the pain. I will not be running again until race day, but I actually think that I am going to be fine. Most likely I will have some pain, but hopefully not too bad. Hyannis Marathon here I come. (Even if I am only doing half of it!)

3 Miles isn't that far

I feel great this morning!! Got out for a quick 3 mile run. I am hoping to make this my regular morning route now that the 1.5 mile route was getting a little easy. Plus, I am still working on getting up to 7 miles for the Falmouth Road Race. I figure that by the time I reach the end of June or early July that I will graduate to a 5 mile route as my regular route. Shooting for 7 miles by the end of July so that I am ready for the race at the beginning of August. I am a little nervous, but I am going to do it no matter what. It is a good goal for me and will hopefully be a stepping stone to other races and goals that will help keep me fit. I am not trying to lose any more weight, but if it is a product of how I eat and workout then so be it. I looked up online what my suggested weight is for my height and age and it lists it in a range from 180 to 211. Yeah Right!!!!!! I have not been under 200 lbs. since the beginning of my sophomore year in high school. What a joke! I would be psyched if I made it into the 220's never mind being skin and bones, I will leave that to the runway models. Right now I weigh less than I have in over 10 years. While teaching in West Springfield (without children), Christine and I managed to use an awesome gym on a regular basis and I was really fit, not thin, but fit and probably weighed close to what I weigh now. When I ever started teaching high school and eating out all the time and then taking care of children I just really let it go and I am never going to let that happen again. I weigh 243 lbs. right now and feel great. many people around work are noticing my weight loss and it is really motivating to hear all of the compliments. It helps keep me going when I feel like it is getting tough.

Not so Fast / Far / Long

Yesterday afternoon Thomas had a soccer practice so I was planning on running for 70 minutes straight. No dice! I did not even come close to what I did last week. I was really hoping that I could build on that experience and prove to myself once and for all that I will be able to do the Falmouth Road Race. Well, I will not be running it tomorrow that is for sure. Probably good to know that still have a lot of work and training to do. I am going to try and start doing my 3 mile run for my morning run instead of the mile and a half I normally do. It will mean getting up a little earlier, but only an extra 10-15 minutes or so. After 38 minutes I was unable to keep myself going last night which was really unfortunate. If 3 miles becomes easy to me then I can open it up to a longer distance from time to time and eventually be ready for 7 miles by August.