Today I failed. Nate and I paced the 3:15 group for the Austin Marathon. We nailed the first mile split and ended up being hot on pace until around mile 24 when my wheels started falling off. I’ve yet to run the enirety of the Austin Marathon. I’ve run it three times officially now. Today wasn’t the day, and that just happens sometimes. It was cold and windy for the entire race. The temperatures were fine, but wind is my running kryptonite. The wind took the wind out of my sail. I let my head to go a dark place and I failed to pull myself out of it. My left glute flared up early and moved to my hip in the late miles. There’s something wrong in that muscle group, so I’m just going to lay low and give it the time it needs to heal.
Austin’s a hard course. One day I’ll beat it.
I failed to hit a 3:14:30. Instead I came in at 3:16:40. I failed my team and crew. I hold myself to some standards. “Fail” isn’t a bad word in my book. It’s an opportunity to reflect and learn. One of the reasons I love this sport is because I’m always learning.
This was my 11th marathon and the one that I was most anxious about. It’s one thing to be responsible for the outcome of your own race, but it’s another thing to have others relying on you to hit a specific time.
On January 19, 2025 Conner Mantz set a new American record for the half marathon in Houston, coming in at 59:17. The previous record of 59:43 was set my Ryan Hall on the same course in 2007.
This was an amazing and awesome experience to witness in person.
When I first started running, I of course went to the internet to find and read everything that I could about running. And I remember it was very daunting. Like anything on the internet, there’s just too much and you have to be discerning lest you get the wrong information and end up hurting yourself and your running and life improving journey comes to a screeching halt.
You and your running are unique to you, and only to you. You can read and research and experiment and try new things, but always remember that sentence above. And another thing to remember: comparison is the thief of joy. Running should be fun and provide you with fulfillment and joy. Full stop. And you can endeavor upon that journey on your own, as I did or you can seek the help, guidance, and experience of a good coach. I good coach is like a fiduciary. A good coach should and will obligate themselves to act and work in what is in the best interest for you.
Now going back to being discerning. I read and watch a lot of content on the subject of running, training, and coaching. Most of that content I take very seriously for the athletes that I work with and for my own personal knowledge and training. Some of that subscribed content is less serious and what I’d consider more of entertainment.
A good example of what I consider less serious is Marathon Handbook. Granted, there is some useful information on their website and in their newsletter, but they’re running a business there, and their content is intended to reach a mass audience. They do also solicit individualized coaching, and that’s where you have to be discerning. Realize and understand that a lot of their (and other sources and [barf] “influencers”) content is published so they can make money by earning an affiliate commission on product recommendations, advertising revenue, paid subscriptions, and other means.
Marathon Handbook sends a lot of emails. Too many in my opinion. I think one email per week would suffice. I think they send a daily email and you can reduce that cadence to three, maybe four per week, which is, in my opinion still too much. In my opinion, there are a lot of stretches in terms of content and, if I’m being frank, clickbait.
For example:
Right from headline it’s enticing you to compare yourself to everyone else, or to some arbitrary standard. And the call to action button at the bottom plainly asks “how do you stack up?” Remember: comparison is thief of joy. Don’t click on it, or anything otherwise that asks you to compare yourself to others or some standard. Yes, they’ve include some science and research and reference Daniels’ VDOT based on VO2 Max, but ask yourself honestly, does it really matter? It only matters if you let or you want it to matter. When I look at how my mile PR “stacks up,” it puts me somewhere between “high-level recreational” and “sub-elite.” Okay. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with that. Feel inadequate is my first thought. Should I train to run a faster mile so I can be within in the “sub-elite” classification? I guess I could, but why? Maybe if I were training for the mile it might mean more; but really, what does it mean? I’m not going to line up at the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City and mutter, “excuse me, excuse me, sub-elite coming through.”
And then there’s this example (from the same Marathon Handbook newsletter)
I’m not going to go deep into this one, but will say that this is where discernment is highly advised. Again, there’s some good and helpful information in the post, like defining what heart rate recovery is, but don’t take the numbers (like your max heart rate and resting heart rate based on age range) to heart. Pun intended. You and your heart rate are unique to you. If you really want to know and get accurate measurements, contact an exercise science lab or speak to a cardiologist who studies and specializes in athletes.
Now I’m not meaning to slam on Marathon Handbook. I’ve exchanged friendly emails with its founder, Thomas. Amby Burfoot is their Editor at Large. Katelyn, Michael, and Alex do a really great video podcast. Alex, their contributing editor debuted in the half marathon back in October with a 65:58. There’s a ton of credibility.
The tl;dr as the kids say is: keep it simple. Don’t overcomplicate running. Don’t believe everything you read, see, or hear, and definitely when it comes to “influencers.” Don’t compare yourself to others. Unless, of course, you’re racing against certain others and your goal is to beat them. Even then, if you don’t get the expected result, don’t sweat it. Learn from it and have fun with it. That’s what this whole life and running thing is all about.
Running is simple. Don’t overcomplicate it. And that goes for your running apparel. If you’re starting out, use what you have and wait to see and figure out what you need. Don’t rely on what reviews, websites, ads, and “influencers” tell you that you need.
I started running on July 11, 2013. I didn’t have “running gear.” When I decided to walk to the Gorzycki Middle School track and run one mile (that was my foray into running), I was wearing
A cotton t-shirt
A pair of “athletic shorts” that I think I’d gotten as a Christmas or birthday present from my parents, and were probably just some random inexpensive pair of polyester shorts that my mom found at Sam’s Club
Whatever socks I had in my sock and underwear drawer. Probably cheap, standard-issue cotton socks from Walmart
A pair of Nike Lunarfly shoes that were given to me by my neighbor, Sandy, who is the mom of famed running back Ricky Williams. I was wearing Ricky Williams’s shoes!
I knew absolutely nothing about running apparel. I did absolutely fine on my first 1-mile run (other that nearly dying from the actual running part because I was an unhealthy, overweight, and sedentary human).
The white and yellow/green shoes in the front row were my Nike Lunarfly’s that I’d inherited from Ricky Williams and were my very first pair of running shoes. I don’t even know if they were designed to be running shoes.
A week later, when I’d decided that I was to commit to running, I treated myself by going out to buy myself some running clothes. I had no idea what to buy or where to buy it. So, naturally, I went to Target and picked out a couple “athletic” polyester t-shirts and pairs of shorts. If I had to guess, I’d say that a shirt and a pair of shorts were $10-$15 each.
SHORTS
After some weeks or months, I decided to upgrade my running apparel and went to Academy Sports and Outdoors and bought myself some house brand (BCG) running shorts. I still buy and run in those same $20 shorts today. I’ve run ultramarathons, traversed the Grand Canyon, run the Boston Marathon four times now, and probably a dozen other marathons, and ten of thousands of miles in $20 BCG shorts from Academy. And they’ve done just fine. I have a friend who swears by the $80 shorts he gets from Patagonia. I don’t get it.
SHIRTS
Over the last 11 years I’ve amassed athletic/technical shirts from races. I wear my old race shirts for 99% of the miles that I run. I mean, you have to pay for a race registration, but I always like to think of the race shirt as “free.” In the warmer months I’ll often run shirtless.
Wear whatever is comfortable and works for you. If style and outfit coordination is important to you, then by all means, buy what makes you look and feel good. After a run at effort you’re going to be a sweaty, hot mess, so does it really matter?
SPORTS BRA
For women, I would recommend researching and investing in good sports bras. I wouldn’t recommend trying to save a buck here. I know this because I live in a house full of women, and I work with and coach a lot of women, and I’ve heard feedback on sports bras. Get fitted. Try on as many bras as it takes until you find what works for you. And don’t just settle. Take the time and find and invest in the sports bra that works for you. Just like running shoes, it has to feel like it was made just for you. Just like feet, no two busts are the same.
SHOES
This is probably the most-asked question. Which shoes should you buy to run in? The answer: whatever works for you. Like bras above, they have to feel comfortably and serve you. DO NOT RELY ON MARKETING TO TELL YOU WHAT RUNNING SHOES TO BUY AND WEAR. In that same vein, don’t rely on what your friend tells you. Don’t rely on what the guy at the run club tells you. Don’t rely on what social media tells you. Don’t rely on what you see the elites wearing. Don’t rely on the cute/fancy/flashy shoes that you see at a race. Go get fitted for running shoes at a run specialty retailer, a podiatrist, a sports doctor (who has experience with runners/walkers/hikers). Don’t just buy a pair of running shoes on Amazon or some running warehouse online discounter site unseen. And don’t be cheap about it. Running shoes is where you should invest the most. You’re obviously using your feet when you run, and there’s a lot of pounding and employing of sensitive and fragile foot bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. You need to protect, support, and strengthen those those musculoskeletal assets if you want to stay a happy and healthy runner.
There are all kinds of brands and models of running shoes. Take your time and try on shoes. If you can’t figure it out in one sitting, that’s fine. Take your time. I can’t emphasize that enough. You don’t want to settle here. You might luck out early and find the pair(s) that feel like they were custom made for you. It could take hours and weeks. Invest the time (and money) in good running shoes that fit and serve you. And, again, make sure to get fitted. you might have a high arch or wide ball of your foot or a narrow foot or plantar fasciitis or weak ankles or any kind(s) of uniqueness to both or either of your feet. Take the time, work with a professional, and find the shoe that fits and serves you.
SOCKS
I invest in socks too. I think it’s absolutely crazy that I own socks that cost me $30 for a pair, but I have noticed a difference. And, like shoes, it’s a personal preference. My feet get sensitive after a while of running, so, over time, I learned that having a good pair of socks helps while I’m running, and in my recovery after a hard bout or a really long training run or a race. I like socks that have extra padding built into the bottoms for extra cushioning. You might have feet that are tough as nails and can get away with a 10-pack of athletic socks online or from the big box or club store.
SIMPLE SUMMARY
The long & short of it is: keep it simple. You don’t need spend a lot of money or keep up with the Joneses in running (or in life), especially when it comes to your running outerwear. Invest in the important things that support health and function (specifically shoes, and bras for the women). Expensive Patagonia shorts and lululemon tops aren’t going to make you train better or get to the finish line faster.
I’m having a HeartSaver CT scan on Friday morning to check for heart disease, specifically for calcium deposits in my heart’s arteries. Sparing the details of a 2014 study where the conclusion was: “long-term male marathon runners may have paradoxically increased coronary artery plaque volume.”
That means if I have significant calcium build-up in my heart’s arteries, I could drop dead at any moment from doing the thing that I love to do. Live by the sword, die by the sword, I guess.
My dad died way too young from heart disease. I want to hang on for as long as I can. And I haven’t run my best marathon yet.
Thanks be to Mario Fraioli and Brendan Leonard for inspiring me to take a step in checking up on my heart health and hopefully I can keep this engine humming for some years to come.
I have an interest in the science of sport and physiology. But I’m no scientist of physiologist. I get the basic concepts. One of which is heat training. I’ve read a bit about heat training but I’ve experienced it a hell of a lot more than I’ve studied it.
And I have a lot of personal experience with the effect of heat training. I enjoy running, so I run year-round. And that includes the blazing hot and long summers in Central Texas. And when race seasons comes around in the fall and winter, it becomes easier to run fast. My basic, non-scientific explanation to myself and athletes that I work with is that the body isn’t have to work as hard to keep the core body temperature regulated, so that “extra” blood volume can be used to fuel the running muscles.
Reading this recent article on Jacob Sommer Simonsen destroying the Danish marathon record was kind of a “duh” moment for me. I have to remember that many parts of the world don’t have our Texas oppressive heat. Full disclosure: I didn’t read that linked article in its entirety (yet). But I get the gist. Is the same gist as my basic, non-scientific explanation in the paragraph above. You train in the heat and you can get faster and/or more efficient.
I did get to the part in the article where hemoglobin is discussed. I knew hemoglobin was part of our blood, but I didn’t recall what we actually needed it for. I’m sure I did at one point (like in 8th grade science). Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells that carry oxygen from the lungs to our muscles and organs. Hemoglobin density is increased by consuming foods high iron. Foods like red meat, spinach, and beans are high in iron.
A state-of-the-art and stunningly-designed running facility with accommodations such as an 8-lane outdoor track, training facility, weight rooms, showers, Buc-ee’s-like bathrooms, locker rooms, meeting and conference rooms, studio, lounge, coffee and juice bars, a bar bar, and the best barbecue in Central Texas, tucked in a beautifully-landscaped plot of land in the hill country. Phase II would introduce an indoor track and kolaches.
Our Danish, Kenyan, Norwegian, and everyone from around the globe would be crawling over each other to come and experience, train, and stay here.
You probably know your own neighborhood or neck of the woods pretty well. But you need to branch out and explore. It can add some excitement and newness to your running.
And if you’re training for a race, you should exercise specificity. Some examples of specificity:
If you’re running a race with some hills, you should incorporate hilly routes in your training.
If you’re signed up for a race in the cold of winter, you should train in the cold.
If you’re running a race in the heat of the summer, you should train in the heat.
If you’re runnig a race at altitude, you should (try to) train at altitude.
Shortly after I started running, I lucked out and landed a job at MapMyFitness right as it was being acquired by Under Armour (and has since been acquired by Outside). My friend Kevin Callahan built MapMyRun specifically so runners could map a route before heading out on a run. I used the MapMyRun mobile app when I started running because I wanted to track my runs. I was interested in keeping track of my time, distance, and pace and I didn’t yet own a GPS running watch. After using the app and website for a few days, I quickly fell in love with its route creation tool. And I still use it to this day, 11+ years later.
Using MapMyRuns web interface in very intuitive. You simply “draw” your route by placing the curser where you want to start and click your mouse button. Then click another point further down the street and the site will follow the street and connect the dots. Keep “connecting the dots” until you have the route and distance that you want. The mapping feature will automatically update the distance as your create your route so you’ll know exactly how far your route is.
MapMyRun is free and so is the route creation tool. You will need to create an account with an email address and password.
While MapMyRun is easy to use and does what it does really well, it lacks turn-by-turn directions. Enter RunGo.
RunGo’s route creation tool is very similar to MapMyRun’s, but in my opinion a little clunkier and takes a little more precision to create a route. RunGo is also free(mium). I’m not sure of the details, but I think RunGo will only allow you to save a set number of routes per week or month, otherwise you’ll need a paid subscription. Unless you’re using it to create a route a day, seven days a week, I think you’ll be fine. I usually use RunGo once a week to plan my Sunday long run.
And that leads me to why I like RunGo and its turn-by-turn directions on its mobile app. When I was training for this year’s TCS NYC Marathon, I purposely designed my training plan to incorporate hilly routes for my Sunday long runs. I did the majority of my training in my hometown of Austin, and while Austin is a hilly city, there are areas and neighborhoods that are really hilly. I wanted to train in those parts of town. But I’m not as familiar with those parts of the city, so I created my routes using RunGo’s website, saved them to my account, and then when it was time to go on my hilly long run on Sunday, I opened my route on my phone, hit the ‘Start Route’ button on the app, and started running.
The RunGo voice assistant will speak through your phone’s speaker or headphones to tell you: “Turn left on Balcones Drive in 300 feet” so you have a heads up that a turn is coming up. And she’ll speak again when you need to turn: “Turn left on Balcones Drive.” And the RunGo assistant will chime in while you’re listening to music, audiobooks, or podcasts using another app or platform. So you don’t have to think or worry about missing a turn or getting lost; you can just run and let RunGo tell you when and where to turn.
Taking a little bit of time to plan and map your run routes will make your running and training a lot easier. I’m sure there are a lot of other run route mapping solutions, but I’ve been very pleased with both MapMyRun and RunGo.
Would I run the NYC Marathon again? Probably not. For me, it’s a one and done. I’ve now raced the largest marathon in the world in the most populous city in the US. If the family really wants to go back to NYC the first week of November then yeah, I’d run it again.
Just like I’d mentioned in my conversation with my friend at the Sox game last year, the Marathon World Majors marathons are expensive. And they’re in expensive cities that require travel, accommodations, and a lot of eating. And then there’s the logistics. And the crowds. And the noise. And the waiting. Everything’s expensive in Manhattan, especially if you’re a proud tourist. The logistics of many races can be stressful, but NYC’s is extra special. You’ll get a lot of emails, so I’ll give the NYRR that. They communicate very well and often, and I think a lot of races could take a page from that book. I woke up at 3:00 a.m. on Sunday so I could be out the door by 4:00 a.m. to be in line for a bus at 4:30 a.m. so it could leave at 5:00 a.m. to get us to Staten Island at 5:45 a.m. where the first wave and corral went off at 9:10 a.m. I probably could’ve chosen later transportation to the start, but I didn’t know what I was doing. This is the first time I ran the NYC Marathon and there are extra logistics, like picking a bus or a boat to the start, and what time you’d like to get on that bus or boat.
Again, I’m not partial to fan support. I get it, and I appreciate it, but it starts to drone, and drain, and wear on me within a few short miles. It’s very loud for many hours. That’s not stimulating to me. And the field is huge. I’ve never run shoulder to shoulder with somebody for an entire 26 miles. The NYC course has a lot of turns and I’ll be damned if I didn’t have to watch my footing on every single one of those turns the entire race.
To me, it’s just too big, loud, and expensive. Admittedly, I have no real roots in New York (that I know of). Other than having been there a few times many years ago for a job, I have no familial or otherwise connections to the city.
Now, the race itself. I think I really lucked out at NYC. It wound up being a great day for me. Everything lined up sans a little hip niggling that put me out for a few days in one of my later training cycles. The weather was perfect (upper 40’s at the 9:10 a.m. start). The course and crowds are entertaining. It’s a good course to train for because there are the famed bridges that provide the elevation gain, and there’s also that 5th Ave. climb. I’d heard about it, but I wish I would’ve heeded warnings. It’s the climb (it’s not even a hill) that finally punctured my rib cage and went straight for the heart. That climb zapped me and I have no idea how I managed the “rollers” in the park before finishing.
I went into the race respecting it. It requires strategy if you’ve a goal time you want to hit. I designed and executed my entire training cycle with that strategy in mind. Hard and hilly efforts in tempos and at the end of long runs. Strenth training. Specific interval workouts to build speed, bounce, and VO2 Max. I decreased intensity and slowly added volume. Hills to build strength and form.
My goal was to run the TCS NYC Marathon in 3 hours and 10 minutes, which would be a Boston Qualifying time for my age group with a 10 minute buffer. A friend asked me what my goal was for the race, and I gave her that number. She said, “I’ll pray for a 3:09:30 for you!” And then, well, I felt obligated to help answer a prayer. So the arbitrary goal became 3:09:30.
Stay steady at a 7:10 – 7:15 pace. Honest check in as you’re crossing the Pulaski Bridge going into Queens at about the halfway mark. If you feel good, stay there. If you don’t feel good, figure out how to run 13 more miles. Check in at mile 16 coming off the Queensboro into Manhattan. If you feel good, drop the pace. Ten miles to go. Find a comfortably faster rhythm and settle in to whatever that is and leverage the strength you’ve built up these past 4 months.
I like that graphic above because it visually shows exactly how I prepared and executed my plan. I ran the second half faster than the first. However, that mile-long climb up 5th Ave. took it out of me. I’d say that was one glaring mistake I made. When 5th started curving up, I should’ve backed down to rate of perceived exertion (RPE). I was (trying) maintaining pace. That caught up to me after a nice downhill right after we entered the park.
The bridges: nothing. I trained, if not overtrained, on the hills. I made every run hilly. I focused on the wall. Which, for me, can be anywhere between miles 16-23. I made the long runs hilly in the second half. I did MGP pick-ups in the later miles of long runs. I made my long runs longer.
The results.
I ran a 3:04:04. So a good 5 minutes faster than my goal time. I attribute that to the negative split. Which was really my burning goal. Everyone said that people don’t run a negative split (which is where you run the second half of the marathon faster than the first half) at NYC so I had to prove them wrong. I dropped the hammer right at mile 16 and settled into a cadence that felt good at that stage of the race. In my head, the 10 miles ahead of me was nothing. An easy Sunday morning run. I felt very confident and good at that point. I started running negative mile splits until I got to maybe a third of the way up the 5th Ave. climb. I was already 25 miles in, so while I was dogging it to do it, I was staying just ahead of my own personal struggle bus, which probably would’ve had us jog-hobble-walking it in.
The end really is pretty tough and tricky. It’s hard to gauge exactly what’s left in the tank, and when’s the right time to empty it. I think I emptied mine somewhere on mile 25. There’s another little climb when you hook a right onto Central Park Ave that greets you like a fat middle finger. And then you turn into the park again, and have to climb to the finish line. It’s not but 10 feet or so, but at that point in the race it feels like mountain that can go to hell and die.
Crossed the finish line, stopped my watch, did a quick head-to-toe body scan, and kept walking. I was fine. No injuries or anything hurting that I could make out just yet. I surprisingly didn’t stiffen or lock up. I felt great, so I just started passing everyone else in my saunter to get my medal, recovery bag, and poncho. Man was I hungry. I almost said, “to hell with the medal, give me a bunch of bags of that food!” I slammed the Gatorate, and ate the Maurten bar in two bites. Ate the apple in probably the same amount of bites. Slowed down a bit and started nibbling on pretzels and drinking water. Everyone else was dead-leg zombie walking. I didn’t feel like I just ran a marathon.
Met up with the family in the “J” section. BAA take note: NYC’s family reunion system is better. We walked the twoish miles back to our condo. I took a quick shower and changed, and then we were out again, walking the streets of Midtown East to eat some big, fat, delicious Reuben sandwiches and pickles at P.J. Clarke’s.
Very easily my best marathon from a planning and execution perspective. This wasn’t a PR day, nor do I think it could’ve. But I’m very happy and thankful for how the day played out for me. I controlled everything that I could control, and the course and conditions were kind and generous to me that November 3rd morning.
I qualified for the TCS NYC Marathon at the 2023 3M Half Marathon
Fact: The New York City Marathon was never on the bucket list for me. Hell, a marathon was never on a bucket list. But here I am, about to endeavor upon my tenth (official) marathon that will take me through the five boroughs and over five bridges of New York City.
THE WHY
Elise and I were in Boston in 2023 for yours truly to run the marathon. Since we didn’t have the kids with us this time, we decided to do the traditional “boring” things that the kids wouldn’t have enjoyed, like going to Red Sox game the Sunday afternoon before the race. The Sunday game is usually packed with marathon runners because it’s one of those “have to do” things when you’re in Boston for a bucket list race.
Elise and I sat in front of a row of ladies who were all together and were running the marathon the next day. I struck up a conversation and exchanged war stories with the lady who was sitting directly behind me.
She asked, “have you ever run the New York City Marathon?!”
“Noooo. I have no desire.”
“Why not?!”
“Boston’s expensive. The logistics are crazy. I’m not a fan of huge races. New York’s gotta be crazier than Boston.”
“True. But New York is AMAZING. If you like the energy of Boston you would LOVE the energy of New York. It’s sooo much better.
“…”
“You HAVE to run New York!”
And that’s what pretty much put it in my head to run the NYC Marathon. And while I’m not a huge fan of big races, there is a lot to be said about the energy of a big race. I’m not the kind that feeds off crowd support. In fact, I tip very far over on the introvert side of the scale. Crowds, loud noises, and having attention placed on me drains me and stresses me out. But there’s something about the energy of a race. I really experienced this for the first time at my first Boston Marathon in 2018 when it was 35 degrees, a brutal 30 mph wind blasting from the east, and pouring rain on us the entire time. I thought those of us who were running were crazy, but there were fans lining the entire course, standing out there in those miserable conditions to cheer and support us all. But there’s also the energy from the intangible history and tradition of the race. There’s a spiritual connection that exists between the race’s identity and the runner, along with crowd support and cheering that creates a special energy.
THE HOW
There are a few ways a runner can get a bib to participate in the TCS NYC Marathon.
Raise a lot of money for an approved charity
Complete a qualifying program of participating in and completing nine (9) New York Road Runners (NYRR) qualifying races and volunteer at one (1) of their events
A non-guaranteed general entry drawing (a lottery)
Qualify
The only way I was going to run the NYC Marathon was if I could get in with a qualifier. I had to make it worth my while. I’d already had a couple half marathons lined up as part of the Austin Distance Challenge in early 2023. The standard for my division was 1:28 for the half marathon. The standard for a qualifying marathon was 3:05. I believe prior to the BAA’s recent change in its standards, my Boston qualifying time was 3:25. Boston doesn’t allow for qualifying half marathons. Point being that it’s more difficult to qualify for the NYC Marathon than it is for Boston. I would’ve liked to have used a qualifying marathon time for NYC (which I possessed with a 3:03:00 in Boston) but I also wanted to use this as an opportunity to qualify with a PR attempt in the half marathon. I also wasn’t sure if there was a margin by which I had to beat my qualifying time. If there was, I wanted to give myself as large a margin as possible, so I gutted out a PR in the half marathon with a 1:19:33 which gave me a 9(ish) minute buffer.
On February 28th I submitted my registration and proof of qualifying time to the NYRR. On March 11th I received the email stating that I’d been admitted into the 2024 TCS NYC Marathon.
On Sunday I’ll toe the line at the start of the Verrazzanno-Narrows bridge in Staten Island and experience the famed energy of the largest marathon in the world.
I’m running the TCS NYC Marathon in six days. This will be my 10th marathon. I have no idea how many races I’ve participated in in these past 11 years, but I feel like I’m the most prepared and confident for NYC.
I’m tapering right now. My training plan bakes in 2 weeks of lower volume and intensity. And the taper is usually when most athletes start having the “taper tantrums.” Symptoms vary, but usually the taper entails fatigue, soreness, crankiness, anxiety, and second guessing yourself.
One of my most common symptoms is second guessing myself. I always wonder, “did I do enough?” “Could I have pushed harder on the track?” “Should I have focused more on pacing?” “Did I do enough strides?” “Was my volume where it should’ve been?”
And that’s when I like to go to my Strava Training Log and reflect. I’ll go back and look at all of my runs and workouts for the previous 18 weeks and remind myself that I put in the work. I built a periodized training plan that was very specific to a goal that I set for myself. And short of a few missed runs (life happens), I stuck to the plan and executed.
But what I really like to do is remember each of those runs. I give all of my runs a name on Strava, and sometimes I’ll add comments. While Strava can be considered social media, I think it of more as a journal for myself. It’s a letter to future Josh. And it’s in times like this that I’m thankful that I write these things.
I started this training block on July 1, 2024. It’s blazing hot here in Texas in July. It’s funny to go back and see how difficult it was to do hill repeats early in training.
I was coaching Jenny for her debut at the Foot Traffic Flat, and I’d think about her frequently on my runs.
We drove back from Oklahoma to attend my wife’s uncle’s funeral. I had my first long run slated for that day. I stuck to the plan, and I used that time on that first long run to think about and mourn Ben.
I was able to catch up with Iram who offered to go on some of the early long runs with me.
The family and I traveled to Charleston for our daughter’s college orientation and lacrosse camp. I found the local run club and they invited me to join their weekly group run. And I was also able to do my own solo tour of the city.
It was around late July that I’d read Coogan’s book and adjusted my own training programming and coaching philosophies and approach. I started grading workouts, and started giving athletes distance and intensity options in workouts, runs, and long runs.
I had some really bad pain in my shoulder that I thought would require medical intervention. Thankfully it turned out to be nothing. I think it was just a minor injury from white water rafting.
I started adding warm-ups and cool-downs to tempo and pace runs, which allowed me to safely and conservatively introduce more volume to a microcycle. I also started prescribing workouts using RPE instead of strict pacing or splits.
I continued to coach the Striders, and used our 60 second run, 30 second walk plan and methodology to supplement my training by safely and conservatively increasing weekly mileage volume.
The run club I started celebrated its 10th birthday.
I took looped routes for longer runs. One morning there was bird that had been trapped in our garage. I freed it and was inspired to listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd for 13 miles.
Life happened. And sometimes it’s best to let life happen, control what you can, and still get out there for a run. Very often a run will solve most of life’s problems. Or at least change your perspective and how you react to the hand that life deals you.
I adhered to specificity in my long runs. I made sure there were a good mix of hills so I’d be prepared for the bridges of the NYC Marathon course. And I made a detour to see Austin’s troll, Malin.
I had a tough week in mid-August when it was time to move our daughter to college. I ran by her old elementary school where I’d drop her off in the mornings and we’d have many conversations about anything and nothing. I kept to the plan and did hill repeats the morning that we were leaving to take her 1,300 miles away.
That same week I thought about my dad on his 88th birthday while we were in Charleston. I had solemn and bittersweet run in the morning in South Hills as kids were outside of their houses, waiting for the bus on the first week of school. I thought about how blazingly fast a childhood goes by for a parent. I had a pace run where I stopped and looked at the college campus where our daughter would now live. This was the morning after she’d decided she’d try spending the night in her new dorm room.
And then there was arguably my most difficult long run, even only at 15 miles. We had to catch a plane to come back home without our oldest. I was dead tired, it was 103º outside, I was listening to the playlist that Elise had created for our child, I’m sure I cried during that run, and I completely bonked at mile 10. I had to run/walk it most of the way home, and I was thankful that had that year+ of coaching the Striders and adapting to the run/walk methodology.
I was admittedly a wreck for the next couple weeks. I missed our daughter. I went on little sentimental runs. I found a spot on my usual route where I’d stop, have a moment, and say a little prayer for my daughter. It was a rough few weeks. But, again, running and training gave me some semblance of normalcy. I stuck to the plan, and it helped to have friends to talk to and remind me that life goes on.
I signed on to be a pacer for the Austin Marathon. So I decided to run the half marathon course for one of my Sunday long runs. Austin is known to be hilly, and I maintained my goal to get stronger on the hills.
I threw in the Zilker Relays after getting recruited to run the anchor leg the day before.
Our daughter came home for a long weekend for the first time since moving to college. I went for my long run after taking her to the airport at 4:00 a.m. True to form, I chose a hilly route in west Austin. It was somewhere out there in Tarrytown that I did something to my left hip.
I deliberately let my hip rest for a few days, and then tested it on a(nother) poorlystubbornly executed run at pace. We were out of town at my mom’s house the weekend of my last peak week, so I ran my last long run in two mile loops with a fast 5 mile pickup at mile 12.
And since my last long run (20+ miles) was flat, I returned to the Barton hills and ran my last pre-taper double-digit long run.
Eighteen weeks doesn’t seem very long, but it can also feel like a lifetime. I can’t capture all the thoughts, emotions, tears, prayers, elation, scares, frustrations, and contemplations in a single post or even a conversation. But I can go back and read and remember and relive. It’s not the same as it was in the moment, but much of life is that way. To go back and look at my training log is like to look at a photo album. It’s just a snapshot of a very short and finite moment in time. There was motion and emotion.
I’ll never remember all of the little details of every run, but it’s the sum of the little moments in running and in life that add up and make it all worth the while.
