We turned out of the parking lot at 3:50AM and on the other side of the street the Dream Palace had a parking lot full of cars and the ladies photos on the outside lit up in in a dazzling array of lights. But unlike those guys getting loved long time, I was going to do something a bit different and more satisfying because I was about to run long time.

With 19 Ironmans, a 45K, 2-50Ks, and 2-50 mile Ultra marathons, I was now going to compete in my 50th marathon since Boston 2009 when I ran for charity. The goal of the race was a 3:05, which I believe I needed as a buffer to qualify beyond the 3:10 requirement to compete in the oldest and most prestigious marathon in the world.

After a terrible 3:23 Tucson marathon where I suffered through a bad hamstring pull the last 7 miles, I took 2 weeks off and adjusted down my mileage from 45M-54M weeks and long runs up to 23M down to 38M-44M weeks and long run of 15M. An endurance athlete for 15 years, I had the base. I just needed to work on quality, so I started doing 3x1M hard on down hill courses to simulate Mesa. I also focused on losing weight from 187lbs to 182lbs by reducing calories over breakfast and lunch with 180-250 calorie lean cuisines. The days leading up always carbo loading but not as extreme. The day prior was 3 bagels, 1 muffin, 2 ramen noodles, 1 hot chocolate, and a banana for around 2,500 calories, mostly carbs and salt.

It started raining in the night and it was low 40s and cold. Breakky was a 450-calorie chocolate muffin, medium redbull, banana, and 2 immodium. In Tucson, I stopped in the loo 3X because of Costco Pizza and the fat content the day before, so I went back to what worked 2 years ago when I went 3:07 here, and it worked great. No fat, little protein, no fiber.

Fiona ran the half after qualifying for Boston at Tucson with a 3:33 and had a fun time running an easy 1:49 half.

I stayed on the bus working a playlist, hit the loo, had a Maurten 100 Caffiene 15min before, but the race was delayed 25min after I turned in my jacket. The race had 50+ heaters, which I love here. I was cold but tried to stay warm. No warm-up. 2 years ago, I had bad Plantar Fasciitis, which I have now recovered from and held back. Today, with my new Hoka Carbon X and feeling healthy, I was going for it looking to start at 6:40/mile before the first and only hill on this 1,700′ net downhill course.

I didn’t know when the gun went and had to get organized with my phone and headphones and took off passing a ton of people for the first 8-10 miles. I held 6:44/mile for the first 4 till the hill. I cut the tangents well on the climb of 1.5M, 2.3% grade, and 7:36/mile. I then took back over on the decents with 6:45-7:09/mile till the half in 1:31:30 at 6:59/mile. So I had 4 seconds cushion to my goal average, which was a bit close, but I was confident I could go sub3:10. I had gels at 30min, 1hr, 90min, 2hr and 100g of salt every 30min. I didn’t carry my water pack this time with LMNT salt but took Gatorade at the aid stations. There were a lot of females around me, super impressed at their speed. Great ladies here, including Fionas, old coach who won the half in 1:16, cranking 5:48-5:50 miles, freak of nature. The rain hadn’t really started, and I threw off the free gloves at M8, which I regretted because the rain started at M20 and got pretty cold in my YoYoYo Singlet and Tri shorts.

At M18, the quads started to feel the effort, and by M22, I was slowing, and they felt like they were in vice grips. I was not going to stop, to take a win on non-stop running, and I hadn’t had to hit the loo except for M17 when I was able to pee while running 🙂 Every second counts!

I knew it was slipping away from me, still kept the hope alive and then my headphones died 😦 But I kept them over my ears because my ears were freezing when I tried to take them off. It was alao hard to grab my salt tablets and gels as my hands were soo cold.

I finally got to Fiona with half mile to go on the final downhill piece. I ran in just shy of a BQ. I stopped, and a volunteer grabbed me and asked if I was Ok because I felt like I just took a punch to the face in the ring. I said, “No man, I just ran a marathon.” Fiona came by, and my HR was down, and I felt absolutely fine, like I didn’t do anything. And then I walked away… tried to walk away. Definitely felt absolutely terrible thanks to the cold like never before or at least comparable to the New Jersey marathon #2 2009 when my lips went purple.

I chocolate milk, a card with my time, medal, and then straight to the hotel for a hot and long shower.

We went to Jack in the Box and I had a really good Chicken Terriyaki bowl where I saw a $500,000 Mclaren from inside. We then went to Crumble cookie which I also saw along the marathon route with free cookies. I missed that and the liquor table. Hell no!

We were right at Tempe town lake where I competed in 3 Ironman Arizonas and 2 70.3 AZs. It’s also where I qualified for my 2nd Kona with a 2nd place finish. And that was easier than the marathon. Qualifying for Boston for many around the world, the hardest thing to achieve for the average athlete. IT and Kona, the Sub3 marathon, the Sub9 Ironman, its what has kept me in endurance sport for so long. I still love it. I love the feeling of pushing yourself. Wanting something so bad , knowing you’re most likely going to fail a bunch of times before you get it right.

In May I will take my first of 4 CPA exams (at 40 years old). Studying for it is just like an Ironman. Time, consistency, dedication, I will get it, I will pass this. Then in October we want to do T100 in Las Vegas with the wolds best triathletes as a test race for the 70.3 World Championship in Taupo, New Zealand. In January, we’ll do the Buckeye Marathon on Pheonix and see if I can go a few minutes better than today.

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ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.