Heading into Operation Jack, I knew there would come a day that I would have zero desire to run, that I’d wonder why I came up with the idea to try to run 60 marathons this year, I’d wish I was anywhere but at the start line of a marathon and I’d view my race as 26.2 miles of nothing but work. Well, Sunday was that day, and the Foot Traffic Flat Marathon on Portland, Oregon’s Suavie Island was the race.

I was homesick before I left, not in the mood to run and pretty tired. Six hours of sleep is my cutoff to function, and I didn’t get that in either of the two nights before the race. On top of that, while I was in Oregon, I heard about all sorts of fun things my wife Tiffany was doing with our three kids. That put me into a funk mentally and emotionally. I’ve reached a point where it’s been a long year, and I know I still have a ways to go.

So, I just didn’t want to run. When you’re not in the mood to run, 26.2 miles is a fairly long ways. But I have a job to do, so I went out and ran the race. I had one main goal for the race, to hit the half in between 1:34:30 and 1:35:00. I’m pacing the first half of the 3:10 group next week in Missoula, Montana, and this was my final dress rehearsal.

After the half, I had planned on cranking it up a little bit. The course was pancake flat, temperatures were in the high 50s and it was cloudy — perfect running conditions. That was the gameplan in the days leading up to the race. I really thought I was going to run a 3:09. But it’s tough for me to run a 3:09 when I don’t want to run.

Anyways, I took off planning to keep the miles in between 7:00 and 7:15 or so, the closer to 7:10 the better. 7:15 is the pace for 1:35, although I’m planning on being a tiny bit fast next week because the first half is a little easier than the second half, so I think the group will need to be about 30 seconds ahead halfway through.

I was virtually flawless for the first 11 miles. They were all between 7:01 and 7:14, and I think all but three or so were between 7:06 and 7:11. It’s fairly close to the edge of my ability, so it was a little tough, but not impossible as long as I stayed focused. I drifted off a little bit mentally in miles 12 and 13 and went 7:18 and 7:22. But when I hit halfway, 1:34:40 had elapsed. I’m pretty good with that and I’m ready for next week.

Of course, I still had 13.1 miles to go, but I was mentally checked out. The course was beautiful and I was in awe of the scenery. Suavie Island is a calm, serene island filled with nothing but farms. From what I could gather, most of the farms were berry farms. The run was just amazing, and I think I’d put the quality of scenery on this one above my three favorites so far this year — Catalina Island, Napa Valley and Charlottesville (Va.). It was that nice. I really loved it.

But like I said, I was checked out. I just wanted to be done and go home and I slowed down about 30 seconds/mile after the half. I didn’t intentionally slow down, but I don’t think my mind was letting my legs turn. My 7:15s were pretty much 7:45s the rest of the way, and I think I even had a couple of miles slower than 8:00.

I thought I was in line for something in the 3:20s, but I was surprised when I checked the elapsed time with two miles to go and it was a few seconds less than 3:02. I did quick math and figured that if I could turn two sub-7 miles I could still end up with another Boston qualifier. I tried to turn it on, but after 11 miles at 7:45ish pace, I couldn’t get it going. I ran hard, but never really kicked, because I knew with one mile to go that 3:16 was out of reach and 3:18 would have required a total collapse in the 26th mile.

I ended up finishing in somewhere around 3:17:31. I’m not sure of my official time, but I know it was a 3:17. And that was it, another marathon in the books. Operation Jack sputtered on again. 32 down, only 28 to go!

After about a month of struggling in my marathons, I finally executed a plan well Saturday in the Seattle Rock ‘N Roll Marathon. Despite treating it as somewhat of a training run, I finished with my eighth-fastest time of the year and regained some confidence I’ve lost.

I went into the race with one primary goal, to run consistent miles in the first half and reach the midway point at as close to 1:35:00 as possible. I’m running the first half of the Missoula Marathon in two weeks as the 3:10 pacer, so I’ll need to run the first half in 1:35 flat with consistent miles. That’s not something I don’t have the ability to do, but it’s something I could mess up on if I’m not careful, and I don’t want to do that. When I’m pacing somebody else’s race, I take that seriously. If I wreck my own day, so be it. But I don’t want to wreck somebody else’s day, especially when they’ve trained hard and paid good money to go out and try to qualify for Boston.

1:35 doesn’t faze me, because I’m frequently ahead of that. But last week, in my first race after agreeing to this pacing role, I had a nice blow-up and went 1:37 for the first 13.1. So my goal for this race was to run the first half like I was the 3:10 pacer. I wanted even splits and I wanted to hit 13.1 somewhere between 1:34:40 and 1:35:00.

I’ve paced three times before and done well, but at slower speeds — 3:30 and 3:40, which are pretty easy for me to maintain the right pace. But what I had to Saturday was a little more difficult. I had to give a little bit on the uphills and take a little on the downhills instead of keeping a pace like a metronome. I don’t have the ability to do much more than that, but I know that if I run that way in Missoula, the people running with me will be running within their ability (if they have 3:10 ability), so I won’t be harming them.

3:10 pace is 7:15, so I figured I’d aim to lock in at around 7:13 to make up for the tangents. I stayed under control early and had no problems. I ran consistently, got into a groove for the right effort and began to go with my strategy of giving a little on the uphills and taking on the downhills.

I was on target at mile 8 and remember I put a lot of pressure on myself — I told myself that my next 5.1 miles were make-or-break, essentially worth about $100 for the charity. If I stayed on track and hit the half correctly, I’d know I can do this. But if I failed, I wouldn’t have the confidence I needed. If I don’t pace, I don’t get a comped entry.

I kept going, knocking out miles 9 and 10 without any problem. But right after that, we went into a tunnel that must have been well more than mile long. In there, I lost satellite reception and had to guess my pace. We came out at about 12.5 and I thought I was on target. When the satellite kicked back in and added the distance, I was still at my 7:13 pace. But the mile markers seemed off, which was the case a few times in the race.

I was a little unsure where 13.1 was. I thought I reached it right between 1:34:40 and 1:35:20. But I think I crossed the “official” 13.1 mat somewhere in the mid-1:36s. I wasn’t concerned, though, because I aimed to run in a specific way at a specific pace and I hit my target exactly the way I wanted to.

My plan going in was to hold a steady effort for as long as possible and give it a go at mile 20. It looked like there was a long gradual uphill in the several miles preceding 20, but there was a pretty quick finish. Heading into the race, I thought if I was really able to power the last 10K, I thought a 3:08 or 3:09 was possible. If I stayed strong I kept it on cruise control but didn’t have much kick, I was looking at a 3:10 or 3:11. I really expected a 3:12 and really didn’t want anything slower than a 3:15, because that would have been a collapse.

I stayed strong after the half, not really picking up, but I maintained and felt strong. I moved pretty well up the inclines on the way to 20, although I didn’t have a big answer on the declines. There was a climb we peaked at about 19, so once I crested, I decided to give it a go. I didn’t have a ton, but the wheels were turning pretty good for that stage of the race.

With six miles to go, I needed to average 7:00s or so to go sub-3:10 and every 10 seconds more per mile would have been a minute above 3:10. I went 6:45 and then 7:08, but started to fall apart there. I slowed about 30 seconds a mile at 23 and saw my time slipping away. I knew 3:10 was gone and it would be either a 3:11 or a 3:12. The mile between 24 and 25 was about 1/10 short on the course, so I was sure how long the course would go, and I knew that would make all the difference. I went with all I had, trying to get that 3:11, but the 25 marker was short and I didn’t have enough to get there.

I don’t know what my official time was, but I went 3:12:20 on my Garmin. I’ll totally take it. I think I was about 90-100 seconds slower on the second half, which put my first half at somewhere around 1:35:20 and 1:35:25. Not good enough, but I’ll perfect it next week.

As for the race, I’ll give credit when credit is due. I expected to be disappointed, because I always am with the Rock ‘N Roll race series. But I thought they pulled off a good event. The course itself was pretty nice, running through neighborhoods, forested parks, along the water, across bridges, through tunnels, past a shipyard and into the downtown area. There was a little bit of everything, and it was a nice view of a nice city. A few too many out-and-backs to make the distance, but it was still a good course and they put on a good race.

So, I’ll call it a good day, which is nice, because I haven’t had many of those lately. But mission accomplished … another race in the books for Operation Jack. 31 down, 29 to go.

Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn., a race with a great reputation in the running community, fully lived up to my expectations on Saturday. If only I could say the same thing about myself!

The race seemed to be very well executed, and the course was beautiful. The first 19 miles were along a road leading from Two Harbors to Duluth. Normally, I get bored with long stretches of the same scenery, but this road, which was lined with a ton of pine trees, also ran right along the edge of Lake Superior. There were also a sporadic buildings, homes and businesses with a small-town feel. Heck, I saw my first highway sign pointing the direction to a Yarn Store! The final seven miles were into Duluth, first the outskirts, then through downtown, and finally into the finish area which was near the water. It was a great, great race and I definitely recommend it.

Anyways, within the past month or so, I targeted this race as a potential big day. I had what was essentially a week off last week, running only one 6-mile training run during the week to give my strained IT band a chance to heal, then pacing the 3:40 group at the Utah Valley Marathon.

I had a lot of inspiration for this race. I thought of Jack, who had a tough morning on Friday, but was a little angel on the drive to school. I kept picturing his cute little face. I was thinking about my son Benjamin, who’s had some tough things going on lately that just break my heart. I was thinking about a running friend of mine named Terry, who is injured and just snapped a running streak of several thousand days last week. He’s always proud of how I run and I wanted to turn in a good performance. And then I have a running friend named John who lost his dad two years ago. It ‘s Father’s Day weekend, so I was hoping to make him proud with a good run.

The Grandma’s course is a downhill net, and on paper, it looks like a fairly quick track. So I looked at this one as a potential big day. I always go as hard as I can, but I thought I had a legitimate chance at sub-3 in this one. Last week’s race was a big downhill course, so even though I ran it slow, my quads were thrashed all week. I didn’t have any quick runs in training and I really haven’t turned the wheels in a good two weeks.

I figured that would work itself into being a taper, and I’d be ready move pretty well. I moved pretty well early, turning my first three miles in 6:50, 6:49 and 6:51 while keeping my heart rate in the mid-160s. My marathon heart rate is 170, but I was mentally prepared to push it as high as 174 if that’s what it took.

I never got there, though. I slowed down to the 7:10 range for the next few miles and I could tell by about mile 6 that I didn’t have it. I hit the 5K in low 21, but I was mid-44 by 10K and I knew I had no chance at sub-3. For the first time this year, it really seemed like work out there. The course was beautiful, but I wasn’t enjoying it. It seemed like a job.

By mile 10, I felt like I was totally out of gas. I didn’t take my carb loading very seriously this week, and I think I paid the price. The 3:10 group passed me before the half. Normally, I start looking forward to race ending when I hit 22 or 23, but today, I reached that point by about mile 12. I hit 13.1 in 1:37, a time I was not at all pleased with.

While I was slow, I didn’t continue to get worse. I stayed in the 7:45 – 8:00 range and I was able to maintain that. Also, I didn’t have any significant problems with the IT band in my right leg, which was good. I could feel it a little bit, but none of the pain that had been making me limp lately.

The 3:20 group came up on me and passed me with about four or five miles to go. I kept on going as hard as I could, which wasn’t very hard, and could tell that I was in line for about a 3:22-3:25 kind of day. I tried to hang on, because while I can kind of live with a time in the low 3:20s (barely), when it starts creeping up towards 3:25, I really get disappointed in myself.

I stayed steady in miles 23, 24 and 25, knowing I was only going to have enough to turn in on for a mile. When I reached one mile to go, I needed about a 7:50 or so to make sure I came in at 3:22. All-in-all, I could live with that. I didn’t have a lot of giddy-up, but I was able to move at some points during that final mile, even though the sun had come out and was beating down on me.

I don’t know what my official time is, but my Garmin told me 3:22:53. I can live with that — good thing, because I have no choice. I’m not pleased from an individual standpoint, but in the grand scheme of things, I ran my 30th marathon of the year in June, and felt like I had absolutely nothing, and I went 3:22. So I guess it could be worse. I just feel a little embarrassed, because I know I’m capable of so much more.

I’m going to take my carb-loading a lot more seriously in the future. It’s easy for me to look past certain aspects of race preparation, because I have races every weekend, but that’s a recipe for disaster. I also think I might really buckle down with my fitness. I need to improve my body composition and lose a little weight. I want to run well so I need to work for it. If I want to perform like an athlete, I need to act like one.

And that, I guess, is my experience at Grandma’s Marathon in a nutshell. It’s a great race. I just had a bad day. Oh well — I’ll give it another go in Seattle next week.

30 down, 30 to go!

For Saturday’s Utah Valley Marathon, I served as the official 3:40 pacer. That’s 40 minutes slower than the fastest marathon I’ve run, so it’s not tremendously challenging. But I put more pressure on myself when I pace than when I go all-out. The reason? If I blow my own race, that’s my problem. But if I bomb while pacing, I ruin it for other people. I don’t worry about being able to run a 3:40, but I’m human, so nothing is guaranteed.

My goal when pacing is to run as consistently as possible. If I’m pacing a 3:40, I could easily run a 1:35 first half and then a 2:05 second half and finish in 3:40. But That doesn’t do any good for the people I’m leading. The bulk of the people I’m pacing are women between the ages of 18 and 34 trying to qualify for Boston and I want to get them there.

I keep an eye on my Garmin and try to keep my average pace based on how far I think I’m going to run. A marathon is 26.2 miles, but with all the tangents you run, you typically end up with anywhere from 26.3 to 26.5 miles on the Garmin. I assume 26.4, which requires an 8:20 average pace. 26.3 would be 8:21 and 26.5 would be 8:18.

I assume I need 8:20s, I try to keep my current and average pace at that rate, and aim for miles between 8:15 and 8:25. I don’t want to go too fast and burn people out, nor do I want to go too slow and make it tougher for folks to kick it into gear. I had paced twice before Utah Valley, both times leading the 3:30 group. In 2009,, I went 3:29:54. This year, I went 3:29:39. I wasn’t thrilled about this year, but I was less than one second per mile off.

For me, perfect would be either 3:39:59 (getting there at the right time and still make it in sub-3:40) or 3:40.00 — how can you argue with that?

I normally need a mile or two to settle into the right groove because I’m running at a pace I’m not used to. But today, I locked in right off the bat and felt comfortable. Utah Valley is a beautiful downhill course. The scenery is about as good as I’ve seen anywhere. Charlottesville, Va. and Catalina are my favorites, and this one is definitely right up there with those, except it’s a faster course. I really think I would have challenged for sub-3 if I was going all-out today.

I had to be careful at times, because on some of the downhill portions, I’d accidentally speed up to a 7:45 pace. That’s a good minute or so slower than I would have been running, so it felt very easy. I was never disappointed with the miles I was running — I got my group from one mile to the next with consistency. I personally struggled at some points going up hills at elevation (the race started at 5600 feet and there were some decent climbs that left me sucking for air). My heart rate actually got up to 179 at one point, about what I’d run a 10K at.

We hit the half in 1:49:46, 14 seconds too fast. I was a little disappointed with that, but I knew there were some flatter parts of the race where we’d slow down a touch. I had a group of about 20 people who stayed with me through at least mile 20 or so. They ran just behind me for the most part, but they took turns running with me and talking with me. They all wanted to know about my running experience and how I became the pacer. The subject of Operation Jack came up, because in the course of what I’m doing, the race directors offered me a complimentary entry if I was willing to pace.

For me, it was an opportunity to take an easy week, and it’s always fun to pace, so I accepted the invitation. At least four or five of the people in my group were directly impacted by autism. One man is a caretaker for a 22-year-old who has autism. Another has a son with autism. Somebody had a nephew with autism. That’s why I’m doing this — you can’t throw a stone without hitting somebody impacted by it. I told them all to check out my site. If you ran with me, leave a comment and say hi!

Anyways, the group thinned out a tiny bit at mile 20. I held consistent, but for people running at the edge of their limits, that last 10K is pretty tough. Some people were running strong and I encouraged them to kick late. Others needed motivation and I told them not to let 24 or 25 miles of hard work go to waste with one poor mile. Some just couldn’t hold on, but there’s nothing I can do about that — I have to keep moving my 3:40 sign from the start line to the finish line.

With about two miles to go, I knew I was going to be pretty close to dead-on. It’s so tough for me not to get excited and turn it on late, but I didn’t. It’s important that I stay right on target so people trailing behind and trying to catch up don’t lose hope.

There’s not a whole lot more to say, I guess. My Garmin can tell you what I thought about my finish.

I think my official time was actually 3:39:58. I get excited about fast times, but it’s also exciting to go out, chase a goal and nail it. When I run, I’m competitive and I want to do my best. While running a 3:40 is much slower than what I’m capable of, I still had to run a marathon and execute the race as perfectly as possible. It was a physical challenge and I was pretty happy with how I did. I got a lot of people from my group thanking me afterwards, which was pretty rewarding.

So, I got to enjoy a run through a very scenic course, I helped a fair amount of people qualify for Boston and I spread the word about Operation Jack and Train 4 Autism. All-in-all, I’d call that a pretty good day. Race 29 is history. Only 31 to go!

Here are the splits in case you’re curious about my consistency:
1: 8:19
2: 8:18
3: 8:23
4: 8:35
5: 8:20

6: 8:20
7: 8:26
8: 8:19
9: 8:15
10: 8:13

11: 8:24
12: 8:08
13: 8:12
14: 8:31
15: 8:38

16: 8:07
17: 8:23
18: 8:17
19: 8:23
20: 8:16

21: 8:21
22: 8:25
23: 8:25
24: 8:17
25: 8:24

26: 8:28
.31 2:38 (8:30 pace)

With 60 marathons on the schedule for 2010, I’m bound to get a little bit of everything. I thought I got a year’s worth of painful misery last weekend in the Med City Marathon in Rochester, Minn. Unfortunately, the San Diego Rock ‘N Roll Marathon served up a second serving on Sunday.

I headed into the race thinking I could get run in the 3:06 range if everything went right. This was my fifth time running the course, and I’ve made mistakes there, but I’ve also run it well. Early on the course is quick, then there’s a good hill about nine miles in, which is followed by a big downhill and then no elevation changes of consequence.

The biggest thing that impacts me in San Diego is the humidity. The temperatures are relatively cool. The first two hours are usually in the mid-60s, which isn’t perfect, but it’s always colder in San Diego than where I live, so it feels okay. There’s a cloud cover, too. So physically, it feels good, but the humidity makes it tough for your body to cool down. As a result, what feels like an easy effort is actually tough.

Last year, I ran by feel and willingly ignored heart rate. My pace was fine, but my heart rate was at the 10K level. If you do that for seven miles, the last 19 are going to be miserable. And they were. So this year, I knew to be very careful and stay within my limits. I did that early and stayed under control. I expected to be a little fast, and I was. I know how I’ve been running lately and I figured I’d be ahead of sub-3 pace until mile nine when we headed up the hill on the 163, where I’d lose it, then get it back down the ensuing downhill and eventually be in a good race against myself.

I could tell it was humid early on, but I ran well. I went through the 10K in the high 42s and felt pretty optimistic about the day. But at about mile 7, I started to get a little stiff in my legs. It wasn’t a terrible feeling, but it was unusual and I was a little concerned.

At mile 8, I started to get the hip pain I’ve been feeling in all of my races for the past month or so. Mile 8 has been where it’s been kicking in, so I wasn’t surprised. And it started to feel pretty painful pretty quickly. It started to work its way down my leg and by about mile 9, I finally realized that the problem is in my IT band in my right leg.

I was in a considerable amount of pain and by the time we started heading up the hill, I knew it was going to be a long day. I actually held a pretty good pace going up the hill, and I moved well on the subsequent downhill, but I was yelling “ouch” a lot more than I wanted to.

Once I was at about mile 12, the wheels came off. I went through the half in something like 1:34:58. Trends to a 3:10, but I figured I’d do 3:13 or 3:14 at best. By 16.5, though, I had a limp in my stride, like last week in Rochester. It was on-and-off the rest of the way, but I was really hurting. It was an extremely painful run and I was slowing down in a hurry.

I’ve gotten pretty good at fighting through pain caused from fatigue, but pain caused from injury is a whole different story. I was just wanting this run to be over from about mile 17 on. The sun came out at about mile 19 and things continued to deteriorate. The Cytomax sports drink on the course made me queasy, which was no surprise — that happened the other times I had Cytomax during the Rock ‘N Roll events. I resorted to water only and started pouring it over myself because I was getting warmer and warmer.

Volunteers were handing out sponges soaked with ice water and I took those three times. Painfully cold, but wonderfully cooling. I was looking at a time somewhere in the 3:20s. I had no idea where, because I had no idea how badly I would continue to slow.

I didn’t even start doing the math until two miles to go, when I figured out that I was looking at somewhere between a 3:24 and a 3:26. I was feeling a tiny bit short on breath over the final two miles. The last 6 or 7 miles in the sun were completely exposed and I was getting cooked.

I saw a friend of mine named Charlie who paced me for a couple of minutes with a little less than a mile to go. It helped me pick up the pace the rest of the way, and I stayed below 3:26 with a 3:25:18 finish time. I was walking with some pretty severe pain in my right leg and a ridiculous limp for about an hour after the finish. Now my challenge is going to be to get better while running a marathon every week.

As for the race, I strongly do NOT recommend this race. Weather is never great, and I’m not a fan of Competitor events. They’re events, not races, and I feel like they’re catered towards non-runners looking to do a marathon, not runners looking to run a marathon. I was nervous about their transportation logistics, and sure enough, it was a disaster. From the time I left the finishers area to go to the shuttle, it took more than two hours before I got to my car. I’ve run this race five years in a row, but I don’t think I’ll be down next year.

All-in-all, a very difficult day at the office. But another race is in the books for Operation Jack. 28 down, 32 to go!