Run Luau Run

Who Won Boston Last Year?

April 18, 2010 by luau

On the eve of the 114th Boston Marathon, I thought it would be fun to pull this post out from last December. Hope you find the humor and motivation in it.

I did!

…I finished with a world record shattering time of 1:59:59. The first sub-2 hour marathon in history…AND I did it in my signature Luau VFF’s.

The Exclusive Luau VFF’s

Okay, so no I didn’t. I didn’t even qualify for Boston last year. Shoot, I barely ran a sub 4-hour marathon in my first (and so far only) try. But, somewhere, and I mean that, I did it. I not only won the Boston Marathon, but I won New York, Chicago and London as well.

The coolest part…

-wait for it-

…is so did you!

Of course, it didn’t happen in this universe, but if you are familiar with quantum physics (of which I am – just enough to make a fool of myself) you may also be familiar with the Many Worlds Interpretation (MWI). In a nutshell, MWI states that for every decision we come to in life, both/all choices are in fact made and reality branches off in two or more directions instead of just one.

For the infinite number of choices we could have made since the beginning of time, an infinite number of not-quite-identical worlds have branched off into existence. Infinite worlds – infinite possibilities, all occupying the same space, just not the same reality. This is not fantasy. It is scientific theory that is actually gaining support in the scientific community.

In one of these worlds, all of the right choices have been made to turn me into a world-class marathoner. I am simply the best there was, is, and ever will be. There is also one where YOU are the number one marathoner of all time.

Looking at the glass half empty, I could ask: Why am I not in THAT reality? Why am I stuck here as just an average, every day runner? I point this out not to tease us or make us feel bad. No, I choose to look at the glass as half full. This other me is still me – the other you is still you. We are connected by the fact that we are essentially the same person. So when I am out there pounding the pavement, feeling the legs tire, I can reach across the ether, mentally touching that other reality and channel the world-class me. He’s/I’m out there/right here – occupying the same space, often running the same routes.

The next time you feel yourself lagging, draw on some cross-dimensional strength. I’m sure the Olympic medalist you would be happy to lend a hand.

***I also have a best-selling book, Run Luau Run, available on Amazon and at your local bookstores. Well, somewhere I do.

Posted in boston marathon, motivation | Tagged boston marathon, VFF, World Record | 2 Comments »

I Can’t Wait

April 16, 2010 by luau

A little Double-Dip today. In anticipation of the Boston Marathon, my buddy Pete asked me to put something together for the dailymile community blog. You can find it —>HERE<—.

Posted in boston marathon | Leave a Comment »

Hope

April 16, 2010 by luau

With 3 days to go, I am filled with all kinds of hope.

I hope that I get to meet a lot of the friends I’ve made through dailymile and Twitter tomorrow at the get together that has been planned post bib pick up.

I hope that they like me.

I hope that I like them.

I hope they’ll let me take pictures.

I hope that I am able to make it to Monday without injuring myself in some ridiculous fashion.

I hope that I am able to fulfill my dream of a BQ.

I hope that BQ or not, I finish.

I hope I don’t miss my family as I run by.

I hope my buddy Mike forgives me for not being his pacer from the Newton Hills to the finish.

I hope I remember to yell, “On On” right before Heartbreak Hill.

I hope that Hill won’t break my heart, body or spirit.

I hope that all of my friends who are running, regardless of whether I’ve met them or not, finish and finish strong.

I hope that my running will inspire someone else to start running, whether it be for the first time or not.

I hope the running revolution is here to stay.

3 days to go and I am full of hope.

Posted in boston marathon, motivation | Tagged boston marathon, hope, running | 7 Comments »

Faith

April 15, 2010 by luau

It is the flip side of doubt.

Faith comes in many forms.

Faith can be used for good.

Faith can be used for evil.

Faith scares me.

Faith inspires me.

I am by no means a religious man. I believe in a higher power, but the blind faith S/He inspires sometimes frightens me.

***

But that is not the Faith I speak of here.

No. The faith I speak of is the Faith in ME.

The Faith in my Training.

The Faith in my Desire.

The Faith in my Focus.

The Faith in my Body.

In 4 days, I will be putting my Faith into these 4 things to carry me through to the end.

It is not a blind faith.

I know what I have done over the past 3 1/2 months and I am sure of what I am capable.

4 days ’til Boston.

See you at the finish line.

Posted in boston marathon, motivation | Tagged Boston, faith, marathon, running | 9 Comments »

Believe

April 14, 2010 by luau

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.
-Norman Vincent Peale

5 days to Boston.

I believe.

Posted in boston marathon | Tagged believe, Billy Mills, boston marathon, positive thinking, running | 6 Comments »

“Act As If…”

April 13, 2010 by luau

Last week I picked up the latest issue of Running Times. There was a short article entitled Being in the Moment by Tamara Rice Lave that really struck a chord with me. The main gist of it was that as runners we should “shut down your brain and just believe”.

The part that really grabbed my attention however was the mention of the Harvard Women’s basketball team and their coach, Kathy Delaney-Smith. Several years ago she coached her team to one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history with the “Act as if…” philosophy (they are the only 16th seeded team in NCAA history ever to beat a #1 seed in the Big Dance).

The idea is to “act as if you already are what you want to become”. Once you sell yourself on the concept, you are that much closer to achieving it.

Now, one of the first things I thought of was, taken to extremes, this could be one of the most idiotic philosophies ever. We’ve seen those people who act as if they are the funniest person in the room when in fact, they’re about as funny as a bowl of white rice; or the guy who acts as if he’s the smartest person in the office, when in fact he speaks plenty but says little at meetings.

I don’t think the “Act as if…” philosophy works for them.

But I DO believe that if you are aware of who and what you are, and have a grasp on what your talent level really is, you can make this philosophy work to your advantage.

It is the little things that Coach Delaney-Smith insists on her players believing in/acting as if that I think have a huge impact on these athletes when they are in the thick of a hotly contested game.

Act as if you’re not tired.

Act as if you’re confident.

Act as if you’re not hurt.

By acting as if these things are true, you can begin to make them happen. And once you learn to instinctively apply it to the little things, you can then apply it to the big race/the long run/interval training. Obviously you (unless your name is Ryan or Mebs, in which case I’m honored you’re reading this) can’t tell yourself or act as if you are going to win the Boston Marathon, but knowing what you know you can do and then acting as if you can go a little faster, harder and longer is well within the realm of possibility.

And you can apply this philosophy to other parts of your life as well. When and where you apply it is totally up to you.

All I know is that in 6 days, I am going to shut down my brain and just believe. I plan on acting as if I’m going to run a 3:20 marathon or better…and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do!

The rest of the article is excellent by the way. I highly recommend clicking over and reading it.

Posted in boston marathon, motivation | Tagged Act as if, boston marathon, running, Running Times, training | 9 Comments »

Doubt

April 9, 2010 by luau

10 days.

10 days ’til Boston – and doubt has started to creep in.

I have to remind myself that I have finished a marathon. It wasn’t pretty, but I did. The thing is, it’s not the finishing that has become the constant occupier of my thoughts. It is the how. I have no doubt that I can finish. I have no doubt that I can finish in under 4 hours. At this point, especially after my performance at the Eastern States 20, I have no doubt I can finish in 3:45.

But from that point, things get a little hazy. 3:30 is about where I think I know I can come in, but I want to prove to the running gods that I deserve this gift they’ve bestowed upon me. Part of me feel like if I don’t run at least a 3:20, then I will be offending them…disappointing them.

I keep wondering what will happen at 16. I know that Heartbreak Hill isn’t for another 5 miles, but that famed hill is not a mystery to me. I’ve run it many times. It will be hard – yes, harder than any time I’ve run it before – but I will know what to expect and for how long I will be running it. It’s 16, where I seem to hit these “soft walls” that has me worried.

It doesn’t help that my buddy Pete seemed to have an issue with 16 in his first few marathons before he finally broke through with a great run at Disney this year. What is it with 16? It was the beginning of the end at Manchester and it shook my confidence briefly at Eastern States.

Doubt. It’s an evil thing.

But it can also be a motivator. It can be what keeps you mentally prepared and ready for that “moment”. In every race, half marathon or longer, I’ve had a moment where my race could have gone one of two ways – when doubt about my ability to not only finish but finish strong grabbed me by the throat and tried to end my race. In one race, it almost broke me. In the other three I dug deep, faced doubt down and broke through with a smile on my face. Doubt can destroy you, but it can also drive you.

The key so far for me has been to use it as a motivator and then draw on the strength of those around me. At the Boston Run to Remember, I drew on the energy from the crowd. At the Chilly Half and at Eastern States, it was from my fellow runners. I have been told by my good friend Rick, a veteran of 22 Boston Marathons and a mentor of sorts, that the crowd at Boston will pull you through. I plan on using them as much as I can. According to Rick, you can hear the cheers at Wellesley College nearly two miles before you reach the college. He says you can feel the fans on the Newton Hills willing you on. He says as you come into Boston, the roar of the crowd can carry you home.

These are the tools that I will use to push doubt out of my mind while I run hard through the second half of Boston.

In the meantime, I will use my doubts as motivators to train smart, eat right, sleep well and take care of my legs.

10 days.

Posted in boston marathon, motivation | Tagged Boston, doubt, marathon, motivation, running | 18 Comments »

Taper

April 5, 2010 by luau

I kind of make it up as I go

– @britishbulldog (winner of the ’09 Cayman Marathon) on how he approaches his marathon training

And so it begins…the part of the training cycle many of us dread – the Taper.

Two weeks before race day and we’re supposed to drop our mileage by 20 – 40%. Since I haven’t been following a particular training program – encouraged to make it up as I go – see above – I’m not exactly sure what to do for the next 2 weeks.

My training program has essentially been “run a lot” – and I have. With 250 miles in five weeks, a little over 600 in the 16 weeks leading up to this point, I know that I need to lighten the mileage, but I also know that I need to keep using the engine to stay sharp. Maybe the plan should just be “run less”.

What to do, what to do.

Last Friday I went out for what was supposed to be an easy four miler. I came back with a non-race PR of 26:30, a hopping 6:38 pace. The weather, the rest day before, my first run of April all combined to tempt me into flying. It was a fantastic run, but I know that it wasn’t the smartest thing to do. You start running at top speed and you raise the risk for injury. I don’t want to do that right before my race.

The running gods smiled on me a couple of weeks ago. I need to respect that and be smart in these next two weeks leading up to Boston. The problem for me is, I’m not sure what that means. Right up to Eastern States I was piling on the weekly mileage, and my legs felt pretty fresh. Do I continue that approach this week? Put in 40 – 50 like I want to? or would taking it easy these two weeks make my legs feel even fresher? I just don’t know. Unfortunately, experience lies on the other side of this race.

Why do we hate the taper so much? Is it habit? Addiction? Shouldn’t our bodies welcome the reduced pounding that is marathon training? Whatever the reason, I know, KNOW, that these next two weeks are going to be the most difficult part of the training for me.

And of course, if I fail in my attempt to qualify for Boston at Boston, how do I approach the next 13 days before Providence? It’s going to be an interesting month. With 2 marathons in less than 2 weeks, I don’t anticipate April’s mileage approaching March’s. Is there such a thing as a month-long taper?

Posted in boston marathon, rest, training | Tagged boston marathon, running, taper | 6 Comments »

Manchester Revisited

April 2, 2010 by luau

In less than 10 days, Inspiration Jenn will be running her first marathon (St. Louis). A couple of weeks ago she sent out a call asking for first-time marathon stories, which she would post one by one over the course of her taper. I was more than happy to oblige. This is the post I wish I had written 5 months ago. You can find it –> here <—

Posted in motivation, race recap | Tagged guest blog, Manchester City Marathon, running | 3 Comments »

55:14 to Boston

April 1, 2010 by luau

Last Sunday I ran the Eastern States 20. In the words of a twitter & dailymile friend, Josh (@bostoncardiovet), it was a blast…a huge, 15mph blast of headwind for about 80% of the race. That said, it had to be one of the most fun races I have ever run.

***

It didn’t start that way. For the 11AM race, I was up at 5:20. I hadn’t realized when I signed up A) just how far of a drive I had to get to the buses taking us from the finish to the starting line and B) that the buses would be leaving so early. Unfortunately for me, my father drilled into me the need to be early to any transportation you may be trying to catch. In the end I could have probably slept for another hour or so and still have been okay. As sleepy as I was though (or maybe because of it) I felt pretty relaxed riding the bus to the start.

We arrived at Traip Academy at 8:30. 8:30 for an 11:00 race. I found a corner of the gymnasium where they were holding us and settled in for a wait. As the minutes slowly ticked by, the nerves began to slowly build in my stomach. The only other time I had run 20 miles or more was 5 months ago at the Manchester City Marathon. That one didn’t end pretty and the ugliness started way before 20. I reached into my backpack for my water bottle to fiddle with the handle.

That’s funny, I thought it was in this pocket. I reached into another pocket and then another. No water bottle. CRAP! Nerves turned to mild panic. What the Frak am I going to do?

One of the things I love about my online running community is that there is a true sense that we are all in these races together. I tweeted something along the lines of Oh crap! Forgot my water bottle in the car. Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Within seconds I got a response from my buddy Pete (@oblinkin), who I have met just once in the real world mind you, telling me to calm down, water was on the way. That’s right. Long story short, he tweeted another twitter friend, Alett (@petfxr), who he knew would be driving Josh to the start. Turned out she had an extra water bottle. Nerves began to settle.

A little before 11 we all mosied down to the start. I chatted with a few runners who were curious about my funny looking shoes. I tried to find the dailymile and twitter friends that I thought might be there but had no idea what they looked like. I checked and rechecked Runkeeper and my headphones, twice (right, that’s four times). Check.

5…4…3…

I pressed start on Runkeeper.

2…1..Go!

I started to run with the crowd, waiting for the nice voice to come through my headphones telling me that I needed to start the next 0.5 mile interval. Nothing! I tried raising the volume on the Oakley’s. Nothing! As I continued to run, I took my iPhone off of my arm to reconnect my headphones, Runkeeper and my music. After two minutes of running in this fashion I finally got sound coming through. I looked at my watch to see how far off Runkeeper’s time and my stopwatch’s time were going to be.

00:00

CRAP!

I started the stopwatch and tried to focus on what I had ahead of me.

After the initial technical snafu, I settled into a groove. About a mile in I heard my name called behind me. It was another dailymile & twitter friend, Brad (@bradbirkel). He was running with a friend, experimenting with negative splits. As I pulled away, I knew he’d eventually catch me. I didn’t realize at the time just how helpful his catching me would be. In fairly short order I fell in with a group of runners that I’d stick with for the next 13 – 14 miles. We varied in shape and size, and if I’m going to be honest, we were running at a pace that was a bit faster than my original plan. My goal at been to run about a 7:30 – 7:45 pace for the race. This group was clipping along steadily at 7:07. Every couple of miles I would do a body check. Head, lungs, stomach, butt, legs, feet. Check, check, check, check and check.

From nearly moment one however, the wind was in our faces. The instant we hit the coast, I felt myself get pushed back. Holy Crap! This was not going to be easy. Our pack dwindled down to about 7 or 8, tightening a little as a group. We instinctively took turns leading the group, but the wind was harsh no matter where you were. This group of runners was more talkative than any I had raced with before and again, my Vibram’s became the topic of much conversation. How you like those? Don’t your feet hurt? Do you get knee pain?

The conversation kept me occupied, but only kept the demons of Manchester at bay for so long. As we passed miles 10, 11, 12 I looked ahead to 16. That was where I hit my initial wall in my one and only marathon. I was keeping up with this group, but the wind was starting to wear on me. At 15 I got hit with a cramp in my side. I tried to power through it, ignore it. My group started to pull away and I began to hear footsteps behind me.

No! No! NO!!! Pass! Don’t be passed!

At 16 I hit a wall. Well, not quite a wall, more like a wall of jello. I was still moving, but man it was hard. I felt my pace slow. I watched as my group went around a corner and out of sight. I thought for a moment of trying to catch them but really had no choice but to let them go. The goal of this race was to finish this race between 2:30 – 2:40 with what felt like was enough gas to go 6 more. I let them go. As my pace slowed, I got passed by a guy wearing his Manchester City Marathon shirt. This guy had probably passed me around this point in that race. I growled at myself. Don’t lose this guy. You don’t need to catch him yet, but don’t you frakkin’ lose him.

About a quarter-mile from 18 I felt a reassuring pat on my back. It was Brad.

“Looking strong buddy!” he said. I told you you were gonna catch me! Brad kept moving along. He would finish the last 3 miles in 18 minutes.

That pat on the back may have been Brad’s hand, but I felt the running gods give me a little push. 2 miles to go Luau. It’s go time!

I shortened my stride and quickened my pace just a touch. I slowly, ever so slowly began to reel in MCM Shirt guy. We made the final turn into the last 2 mile stretch. It was right along the beach and when I tell you that the wind nearly blew me down, I am not giving the wind its due. Another dailymile friend (Jamie) was manning the water station at 18. He yelled something like “Go Luau!” I grabbed some drink and kept chugging along, staring down MCM Shirt guy.

The wind gusted. I hit back by speeding up. With about 1 1/2 to go I passed him. I kept pushing. I didn’t want to be the guy who passed someone with 1 1/2 to go only to get re-passed at the finish.

The wind had taken my determination personally and doubled up. I yelled at the top of my lungs. I hate this headwind!!!

“PUSH!!!”

What was that?

“PUSH DAMMIT! GO!”

I briefly looked over my shoulder. I couldn’t see him, but I could hear him. I could hear his footsteps.

“YOU GOTTA GO MAN! LET’S GO” He didn’t have to ask me again. I broke into a dead run. The pedal was pushed to the floor. I was pulling him and he was pushing me. But his footsteps were getting closer.

Suddenly I heard a trio of female voices, “Run Luau RUN! Go Daddy!” My family, who was supposed to stay home because of the distance and cold, had shown up, and just in time. I waved at the girls, found a little more speed and closed out the last 1/2 in an all out sprint. After I crossed the finish line, I turned around to find the guy who had pushed me through. We hugged, chatted for a minute and then went our merry way. I found a few of the people who had been in my original pack and discovered that I had in fact closed some of the distance on them in the final couple of miles.

I felt pretty good. I knew I had 6 miles at an at worst 8:30 pace still left in me. I did the math. 51 minutes. I checked my time. 2:25:45. 20.21 miles. 51st overall out of 705, 44th of 374 men, 10th of 124 in my age group. 2:25:45. I did the math again.

55:14 to get to Boston.

As excited as I was at my time, one of the best highlights of the race came just a little while later as I played on the beach with my family. I looked up to see Josh finishing strong. I waved and cheered and then the wife suggested I run him in. I ran up to the sidewalk and went stride for stride with my friend who I was meeting for the first time for the last quarter-mile. What a great way to meet in the real world for the first time. It was also great meeting a fellow Vibrams runner, Andy Marx, the Grand Llama of TMIRCE. I hope to meet up with them some Saturday this summer.