Mike's Marathon Blog

Done.

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Just a few details before I hit the hay. If anyone is attending the marathon tomorrow, I wanted to share some information if you wanted to see me during and/or after the race.

I will be wearing a royal blue long-sleeve shirt, black shorts with a yellow stripe and obviously my Miles for Miracles checkered singlet. My number is 23138 if you wanted to track me on the computer or your phone. If you are receiving text alerts, each alert will be roughly an hour of running for me. I run each 10k interval in about an hour. So you’re first alert will be 10k, which means I have been running for roughly an hour. Halfway – 2 hours and 30k – 3 hours. My starting time will be between 10:40 and 10:50 a.m. I will finish about 4 hours and 10 minutes later, around 2:55 p.m.

After the race, I will be heading to the Miles for Miracles meeting room at the Westin Copley Hotel. I will then be making my way to Eastern Standard on Beacon Street and will be arriving there around 4 p.m. If you are in the area, feel free to stop by.

Now, I need to take my ice bath and get to bed. I need to be in Boston at 5:45 a.m. tomorrow. The buses will drive us down the entire marathon route to Hopkinton. We will then run all the way back. 26.2 miles.

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This time tomorrow I will be entering Natick around the 8 mile mark. My bags are packed, my outfit is laid out, my number is pinned to my bib……is it Marathon Monday yet!?!? 169 days is a long time to wait.

Yesterday I spent most of the day in Boston and was the last time I will see the course before tomorrow. Yesterday was the Miles for Miracles team reception dinner and also the day I needed to pick up my number for the race. My parents, sister and Jacky were coming to the dinner with me and since we were headed to Boston, they thought it would be a good day to drive the marathon course since they have never seen it before. After an hour and a half in the car together, I was about ready to jump out and run to Boston. And I thought running 26 miles was bad! It’s a close second behind driving 26 in a car with your entire family, let me tell you.

The team reception dinner was held at the Westin Copley Hotel. The 1,000+ people in attendance were made up of the 175 or so runners, their friends and family, many of the patient partners, the team coaches and all of the Miles for Miracles staff. There were speeches, some awards and an amazing food buffet. Some of the best coconut chicken I’ve ever had. And from a safe distance, I pointed out Pace Girl to everyone.

Afterward we traveled through Copley Place and made our way to the Hynes Convention Center for the Sports & Fitness Expo. I picked up my number and Adidas goody bag and walked around the 175+ booths. There must have been 10,000 people in there. It was absolutely insane. Every athletic company on the planet was there from Nike, Saucony and Asics to GU, Garmin and PowerBar. We even saw the Hoyts!

Since it was now dinner time, we headed over to the North End and ate at La Galleria 33. After dinner, dessert, some cocktails (some water) and a few fiascoes, we were home………10 hours later. I watched the Celts and actually got a good night’s sleep. Maybe because I didn’t have a 10 pound squirrel-dog waking me up every hour by trying to dig a hole under my pillow?

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We are down to 48 hours right now. It is getting close. Trust me, my nerves remind me every 5 minutes. Every month I write a recap of my workouts and runs. Since I did not do much in April, I thought I would write a summary of my entire training.

I would not change one thing about how I trained for this race. After being accepted onto the Miles for Miracles team, I spent days pondering and planning how I would train. The coach’s planned our Saturday long-run schedule, but we were in charge of everything else in between. I knew that I could not use a universal running program. My number 1 goal going into this was not to get injured. I knew if I ran 5 days/week or 30 miles/week, my risk of injury would increase significantly. I wanted to cross-train, lift weights and simply get in great shape. I knew if I toned my legs and the rest of my body, that it would hopefully take the place of running the extra 2 or 3 days/week. I have said it before and I will say it again, Spinning and swimming are by far the best cross-training activities that you can do for your body. Spinning and swimming 4 days/week for the first few weeks helped me build up to running 30 miles/week. Lance Armstrong is a cyclist. He ran a sub 3 hour marathon in his first attempt. I would say that his legs were properly trained from the bike to run 26 miles.

Training recap, plus a little extra:

26,750 runners in the 2010 Boston Marathon

23138 is my bib number

$5,000+ raised for Children’s Hospital Boston

2,550 times Mike’s Marathon Blog has been viewed

419 miles running (distance from Boston to Baltimore)

240 minutes is how long it will take me (roughly) to run the Boston Marathon

191 pounds is what I weighed on Halloween 2009

168 pounds is what I weigh today

167 days of training is how I lost 23 pounds

114th Boston Marathon

84 is the most times my blog was viewed in 1 day

49 Mike’s Marathon Blog posts…….so far

63 hours spent in the weightroom

28 hours spent at Spin class

14 blisters is the most I had on both feet at 1 time

10 miles swimming (for the first few weeks)

5:15 a.m. is when Jacky will be driving me into Boston on Monday

3 is how many nights I’ve had an alcoholic beverage since October

2 pairs of running shoes

1 very excited runner!

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Just like every other New Englander, I grew up watching and reading about the Boston Marathon. Everyone knows the basic facts about the race and some of the famous (and infamous) names associated with the race such as Johnny Kelley, Bill Rodgers, Uta Pippig and Rosie Ruiz. Everyone knows the race starts in Hopkinton, goes past Wellesley College, up Heartbreak Hill and ends in Boston. Since I would soon be traveling down the same course as many of the greatest athletes in the history of the sport, I wanted to learn everything I could about this prestigious race.

The best book I’ve come across is 26 Miles to Boston. I think the reason I like it so much is because it’s basically my blog, but longer and worded a lot better. It’s about an average guy who trains and runs the marathon. He also details every mile along the course. Along with his witty comments and creative outlook on a 5-hour trek, he includes numerous facts about the event. For instance, do you know why they picked Route 135, Route 16, Comm Ave and Beacon Street as the route for the marathon? “The designed course traveled the same route as Paul Revere’s famous ride in 1775, in which he rode from Boston to Concord to warn the colonists of Massachusetts of the impending attach by the British.” Hence why the marathon is run every year on Patriot’s Day, the holiday commemorating the start of the Revolutionary War. See, you learn something new every day.

I wanted to include one paragraph from Michael Connelly’s book. I’ve only read the book once, but I have probably re-read this paragraph 100 times. I don’t know why. And I find myself reading it more and more as Marathon Monday nears.

“Every April, runners line up in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, for the honor of participating in the world’s greatest race. For over a hundred years, athletes have tested themselves against the most demanding twenty-six miles and 385 yards in the running world. Across eight towns, the runners will be asked to call upon muscle and will in order to be granted the privilege of entering Boston. Down slopes and up mountains, around corners and through crowds, the runners will run their own chapters in the long history of the Boston Marathon. The fight will be individual yet collective; the motivations are diverse but essentially the same. The competitors will run east, tracing the steps of a century of forerunners, leaving their own tracks for those who follow.”

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I started running in September 2004. When I say this is when I started running, this is literally the first time I went for a run in my entire life. I was always a chubby kid growing up. I remember the first day that I finally switched from ‘husky’ jeans to regular ones. Yes, this was a giant milestone in my childhood. And I wasn’t even a child. I was probably 13 or 14 when that happened. I was very athletic and played almost every sport imaginable, but I never exercised. I never watched what I ate, never went for a jog, never trained for a sport, never lifted weights and sure as hell never thought I would ever run the Boston Marathon.

My goal in September 2004 was to drop some pounds. I had just graduated college and this was the time. No more studying, no more dining halls, no more drinking 4 nights a week. There were no more excuses. Besides my job, I had all the free time in the world and nothing to hold me back. I don’t remember my exact weight, but I was around 230 at the time. So, I started running.

I remember how brutal it was at first. I couldn’t even run a mile. I would walk and run, walk and run. I was also on a very strict, no sugar diet. I ate almost no sugar for 60 days. No fruit, no ketchup, no milk, no juice, no corn, no syrup, etc. I wouldn’t eat anything with over 3g of sugar. To put that in perspective, a can of coke has 39g of sugar. I don’t think I had 39g of sugar in an entire week. Even today I still look at the sugar content on food and believe it or not, because of that diet, I continue to eat no-sugar syrup, jelly and natural peanut butter, amongst many others.

I lost 25 pounds in those 60 days. I also ran my first 5k road race. I was hooked. I started to enjoy running. Not because it came easy to me. Actually, just the opposite. I liked running because it was very difficult for me. I enjoyed the struggle of increasing mileage week to week. I enjoyed recording my runs and looking back at the numbers weeks later. I loved the challenge and more importantly, I loved the results.

Based on absolutely nothing, I told my self that I would need to be 168 pounds if I wanted to run a full marathon. I don’t know where I got this number from. I didn’t read it anywhere, no one told me I needed to be this weight. I suppose I just thought 168 would be a good marathon weight. This wasn’t exactly a realistic number at the time. It’s not like I said that I needed to lose 5 more pounds. I needed to lose over 35 pounds! And this was after losing 25 pounds. It was kind of a joke, but I’ll never forget thinking that number.

I struggled with my weight for the next few years, but for the most part was always able to keep off what I lost. After countless diets, training plans and injuries, I finally finished my first half marathon in October 2008. Over the past 2 years, I ran another half marathon and competed in 2 Sprint triathlons. Onto the next challenge – the Boston Marathon.

Now please don’t think that I’m a scale Nazi. I weigh myself every few weeks. You weigh what you weigh. As long as you feel good and are comfortable with how you look, then that’s all that matters. On Halloween 2009, when I started this crazy journey, I weighed 191 pounds. Trust me, I didn’t weigh myself too much over the past few weeks. I needed to eat and I didn’t really care what I weighed. I knew with the amount of training I was doing, I would be losing weight and gaining muscle. Some times that combination does not move the scale. A few months into training, I had already lost about 15 pounds. I started to think back to 2004/2005, when I picked the number 168 out of thin air. Even in February, it was an unrealistic number. So I thought……..

I weighed myself today at the gym. I kid you not, 168 pounds. It must be fate.

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The big day is 1 week from today. Wow. I cannot believe it! This week is all about resting, eating right and avoiding injuries. I know how to rest and I know exactly what I am eating, but the whole avoiding injuries part is tricky. Trust me, I won’t be skydiving or bungee-jumping this week, but I am not worried about those kind of activities. I am far more nervous about throwing my back out or dropping something heavy on my foot. A woman at our last practice told us about her neighbor, who had been training for Boston, slipped going down the stairs last week and broke her leg. She is having surgery the day after the marathon. Talk about ironic.

One thing I am not worried about is eating properly. I know exactly what I am eating from now until I cross the starting line on Monday. Seriously, I have already planned it out. No dairy, nothing spicy, no new foods, no red meat, no caffeine, etc. OK, I had a coffee this morning. Starting Thursday – no caffeine…….maybe. I have 2 rotisserie chickens in my fridge, 2 loafs of bread, a pound of turkey, bananas, pretzels, saltines and enough Gatorade to take a bath in.

On a side note, the fundraiser was a huge success on Saturday night. The final tally is still not in, but we think we made well over $3,000 for Dana-Farber and Children’s Hospital. The auction items were a huge hit and all the winners went home with some great stuff. Judging by the crowd noise at the bar, it seemed like the drinks were a big hit as well. I had 2 shots of Patrón and I wasn’t even drinking. Not sure how that happened?

Thank you so much to everyone that attended! Thank you also to Mint Bistro for letting us have the fundraiser at their wonderful restaurant and a very, very special thanks to Alyssa and Dave for starting, planning, promoting and running the event.

The money is in, the training is done…….now I just have to run 26.2 miles. No big deal.

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The first team run that I participated in was way back on January 9th. We ran 13 miles. Today was the last team run before the big day. We ran 8 miles. In between the 9th and today, we’ve run a few hundred together.

I couldn’t have done this without the Children’s team and especially the team runs. No way. Would I have run those back-to-back-to-back 18 mile Saturdays? Would I have run outside on those 5 degree days? Would I be running as fast as I am? The answers: absolutely not! Besides the running, they have answered so many of my (our) questions and kept my mind at ease for 3+ months. At the beginning of the first team run, they told us, “Listen to us, don’t worry about anything and just run. We will handle the rest.” They were so right. They told us what to eat, what to wear, how far to run, how to cross-train, how to fund raise, what to expect, how to prepare, everything we needed to get us across that finish line. I am 100% confident going into next week because of the preparation, the guidance and the efforts of everyone from the Miles for Miracles team.

These past 6 months have been a once in a lifetime experience. Not only because of the personal dedication and commitment that I put in, but from all the work and assistance of everyone involved in my goal of running the Boston Marathon. This includes people that donated, people attending my fundraiser, the few that read this blog and even the people that text me to say that they went for a run today and thought of me. I couldn’t have done this alone! Thank you!

Just a reminder, my fundraiser is tonight at Mint Bistro in Manchester. If you don’t have any plans, looking for a place to go out to eat, maybe your girlfriend or boyfriend ditched you and your sitting home alone eating ice cream out of the carton – stop by Mint Bistro! They have wonderful desserts and maybe you’ll meet a nice guy/gal at the bar? You can then bid on the Red Sox tickets in the auction and boom, there’s your second date! This could be a fundraiser/matchmaking night. I’ll have to change the flyers!

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The Boston Marathon is 2 weeks from today. It’s getting close. I am unable to do any kind of physical activity this week, if I feel better, I will probably meet everyone for the final team run in Boston on Saturday, I will do a couple more short runs next week and that will be it. My alarm will be going off at 5:30 a.m. on the 19th before I know it.

My head is feeling better. It’s still a little painful, but nothing that keeps me up at night. The doctor told me probably a dozen times not to run this week. Apparently she assumed that I wasn’t going to listen to her, but if she says not to run then I won’t. I’m supposed to be tapering anyway, so I guess I can take a week off. I need to go back and have the stitches taken out next Wednesday, so after that I should be 100%. I know this is cutting it close to race day, but it needed to be done.

Speaking of next Saturday, my fundraiser is taking place at Mint Bistro in Manchester, NH from 4 – close. We have so many great auction items including Canobie Lake Park passes, many restaurant gift certificates, Chunky’s gift baskets, a Ray Bourque autographed jersey, a team signed Manchester Monarchs jersey, Nike golf clubs, Nike golf bags and Red Sox tickets. Again, all proceeds will be going to Dana-Farber and Children’s Hospital Boston.

A few people texted me yesterday asking what kind of sweets I was eating. I cheated a bit. I was supposed to wait until Sunday to eat sweets, but since I had surgery on Friday, I thought I deserved a treat. What’s 2 days? I’m sure JC didn’t mind. On Friday night, I went to my favorite ice cream stand and had a large strawberry sundae with cookies n’ cream ice cream. It was amazing! I think I shed a tear.

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I am officially done my Boston Marathon training. The 21-mile run last weekend marked the sad end to this grueling journey. Now I just need to run the actual race!

I did a lot of running in March. I ran more in March than I did in November and December combined! I ran more in 1 week in March than I did in all of November. It’s funny to think that I started at just a few miles and now I can run a full marathon.

I am now in taper mode, which is hard for me. I hate resting. I don’t mind taking days off, but only when I need one. Apparently tapering is very important for the days/weeks leading up to the marathon. We need to give our bodies a chance to heal from the stress of our long training runs, track sessions and hill workouts. Whatever. Jack and I drove all the way to Newton today and ran 8 miles in the hills.

I unfortunately have to do a bit of tapering for awhile. This is kind of gross, but I am having a lipoma removed from my head tomorrow. I can’t do any kind of physical activity for a week afterward. What is a lipoma you ask? Well according to My Big Fat Greek Wedding, it’s my twin.

March recap:

– 117 miles running

– 7 hours in the weight room

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