Running to Catch Up - Marine Corp Marathon & the Army Marathon Team

So here I am, back again. The last 2 months have been incredibly busy and there is a lot for me to catch up on. The Marine Corp Marathon...what I have been training for since the beginning of summer, was ultimately a success. I recorded a personal record time for myself, 2:30:01, but my tracking time online recorded a 2:29:59...regardless, it's faster than my 2:32:50 recorded less than a year ago. Although I feel that my 3rd marathon (Philadelphia Marathon 2006; 2007) was a success, I definitely made some vital mistakes that cost me big time in the end. Below and to the right is a picture of me during the Marine Corp Marathon, taken by a photographer. I am in a white Army tank top with black shorts, out front in the lead pack, second from the right. This was mistake #2, which was at around mile 8 during the marathon. I will go in depth about this and other lessons learned later on throughout the discussion.

Before I go into my Marine Corp Marathon experience, I would like to first like to go into something just a little more important. Christie and I decided to take our future together into the next level, and on our big anniversary, I proposed! We decided to travel down to Pittsburgh for our weekend anniversary and check out Station Square, preceded by an amazing dinner at the Belle Vista Ristorante. It just so happened to be that our anniversary landed on the same weekend of Pittsburgh 250th Anniversary, so we were able to enjoy massive fireworks, evidently larger than the July 4th fireworks, later that evening. We stayed at an incredible hotel for the weekend with a very relaxing jacuzzi. Definitely the best weekend we've ever had together!! Although we have not yet set a date, we have a pretty good idea on the the time frame of when we want to tie the knot. To the left is a picture of Christie and I during our weekend anniversary and engagement.

There is quite a bit for me to catch up with, but I am still determined to one day publish this online blog as a book, we'll see where it takes me, but at least I have a lot to discuss and examine. If you would like to view the results of the Marine Corp Marathon, please go to the top-ten results page.

So about 2 months ago I finally got a response from the Army Marathon Team. I had been trying to contact the coach for the team and was unsuccessful on several attempts. At one point I had nearly given up, but I located one of the athlete's e-mail and decided to make contact. I finally got a response and within 2 weeks I received orders to run the Marine Corp Marathon for the team. It turned out to be extremely convenient for me because I had already signed up to run the Marine Corp Marathon through a charity organization, Team Semper Fi. Once I got the orders, it was game on. By the time I received the orders, I already had less than a month left before the marathon, and I was scheduled to go down from 23 October until 27 October, having race day on Sunday 26 October. The training had went extremely well leading up to the marathon. I did my last race before the marathon on 28 September, which was the "10k Great Race" in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I knew I was in pretty good shape after the 10k.

The Great Race had well over 6,000 competitors, and I finished a respective 4th place overall in a personal record time of 31:33, according to the online results. After the race was over, my feet were on fire. I used the Asics Gel-Piranhas, also know as "white fire." It is Asics fastest racing shoe, but it was a worn down pair and there was definitely not adequate support. It was the same shoe I used in 2007 for the Philadelphia Marathon as well as the Marine Corp Marathon in 2008, which was Mistake #1. I will discuss later.

Anyways, after the finish of the Great Race, and before I elaborate on the overall experience, I would just like to clarify that I felt that absolute, most immense pain ever after a 10k race. It wasn't the fact that I had run a PR by over 2 minutes, but rather my feet felt like they were literally on fire. Even prior to the race, I was a little distraught because I did not get very much sleep the night before. It was a Saturday night at Mercyhurst College, which happened to fall on alumni weekend. All my college friends were up to visit, and since I don't get to see most of them now as much as I like, I wanted to spend as much time with them as possible.

I ended up going to bed at around midnight and woke up a 0600 the next morning for a 2 hour drive down to Pittsburgh. I had near perfect directions, or so I thought, to the exact location of the race, but I am not sure if anyone has ever tried to navigate in Pittsburgh without a GPS, but it's damn near impossible if you aren't familiar with the area. I arrived in downtown Pittsburgh at approximately 0800, but I needed to get on the other side of town to arrive at the starting line. Inevitably, I ended up getting lost, but I still had a good hour and a half before the start of the race. Well, minutes went by and I was still lost.

I decided to call my mom for further directions, thinking that she would be more familiar with the area than I was, but I was without any luck for the time being. By 0900 I was still lost with only a half hour before the start of the race. At this point in time, I was starting to panic a little, thinking to myself, "I am going to drive down here to Pittsburgh for 2 hours, miss the race, and then have to find my way back to the highway and drive another 2 hours back." The thought made me furious and my adrenaline started to boost. Five minutes went by and I knew I was at least in the area, but I did not see any runners, or signs for the race. Exactly 15 minutes before the race started I saw a lone runner jogging around with a bib number on his tank top and I asked him frantically, "where the hell is the starting line for the Great Race." I didn't mean to sound rude, but he obviously took it that way and just simply pointed up ahead.

I quickly found the nearest parking spot, slapped on my flats for the race, ripped off my shirt, and bolted towards the starting line. I didn't even care at that point about going to the registration and finding my bib number, I just wanted to run the 10k, be done with it, and make the journey back home. I was lucky however, and to the right of the thousands of runners in front of me was the registration. I knew I didn't have any more than 5 minutes before the race would start. I pinned on my bib number in a fury and luckily the race had the new technology of a "sticker-chip" to put on my shoes so they could record my time, rather than untying my shoe laces for the old fashioned timing chip. By the time I stuck my chip on my shoe, the starting gun was fired and I bolted towards the front.

Practically running over slower runners, I made my way up to the lead pack. My adrenaline was like never before and the pace of the lead pack seemed rather slow for my liking, so why not just take the lead. I went through the first mile in a brisk 4:52 and felt great. I maintained throughout the race, going through the second mile in 9:45 and then 3 miles in 15:00. At around the 5k mark, I was passed by Ryan Place, the eventual winner, and then by a Georgia Tech alumni. Mile 4 was slightly uphill and I fell from a 5 minute pace down to a 5:22. I went through 5 miles in 25:22 exactly when another runner tried making a move on me for third. Starting to falter a little bit, I answered his challenge and we ran neck and neck up through mile 6. With close to 400 meters left in the race we were both in a dead sprint for third. Unfortunately he has just a little more in the gas tank than and I ended up getting out-kicked, as usual, and finished 4th overall with a time of 31:33.

Now, as I was before, once the race was over I kept pacing around from various spot to spot, trying to get the burning sensation out of feet. I would walk around for 3-4 minutes, then sit down on a bench for another 3-4 minutes, trying to alleviate the pain. Neither tactic seemed to be a valid solution. I decided to get some water bottles and dowse my feet, but not even cold Aquafina could cure my ailment. In the midst of my dilemma a lady approached me and asked if she could sit down with me and ask a few questions about the race. Of course I agreed, hoping it would take my mind off of my fire feet. She informed me that she was from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and wanted to ask me how the race went. I could have told her my entire story, but I decided not to take up the entire article. Ryan Place had finished first place overall with a very respectable time of 30:45, and it was his day and his race. I won't go in great detail about the interview. It was short and to the point. Below is the short excerpt she wrote online for the Tribune;

Foster, 22, of Brookville, finished fourth.

"I started closing in on the third-place kid, but he outkicked me at the end," said Foster, also racing in his first Great Race. "My legs were just shot at the end. There wasn't much I could do."

Well for now I'm going to take a short break. I ended up covering a little more than what I thought I would have about the Great Race, but it was a great experience, a fast race, and I highly recommend anyone who wants to run a fast 10k, do the Great Race in Pittsburgh. Just be sure that if you do not know the area, either take a GPS, or get better directions than I on Google Maps.

I will write another blog post later on down the road about the Marine Corp Marathon. I was interviewed after that race as well, so I am just going to simply leave that article on my blog, be lazy, and not type my own experience....for now. I will be back, but I want to dedicate these last couple of thoughts to Christie. The time now is 0137 in the morning and today she will be running the PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) Regional Championship in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. Horribly, I am not able to attend the race and cheer her on because I am currently at Fort Benning, Georgia for Army training. It's been a whole 8 days since the last time I saw her and it seems like an eternity. She has had one incredible cross country season, placing 4th at the Notre Dame Catholic Championship with a time of 18:11 for 5,000 meters, and last week she placed 3rd overall at the PSAC Conference Championship with a time of 21:21 for 6,000 meters. I want to wish you good luck sweetheart and I know you will do amazing. Regardless of later today, you have had the most impressive cross country season and I am so proud of all of your accomplishments. I will be thinking of you all day tomorrow! I love you always!


Marine Corp Marathon Interview:


Tim Hipps summed up the interview with an online article saying,

U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Kenneth Foster set the pace for a lead pack of five runners through the first 11 miles. He finished 10th overall in 2:29:59 and was the first Army Soldier to cross the finish line.

‘‘I just started running for the All-Army marathon team and this is my first Marine Corps Marathon,” said Foster, 22, who ran four seasons of cross country for Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., where he holds the 10-kilometer school record of 33:25. ‘‘I’m also trying to qualify for the Army World Class Athlete Program.“

Foster ran the 2006 Philadelphia Marathon in 2:43:41 and completed the 2007 chase around the City of Brotherly Love in 2:32:50. At Marine Corps, he knocked almost three more minutes off his personal-best time.

‘‘I was on the lead pack for the first 12 miles — then my pace started to drift off, but I was really happy with the way I performed today,” said Foster, whose sights are set on qualifying for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Trials. ‘‘That’s been my goal ever since I was a freshman in college. When I was younger, I was a little bit naive and I wanted to be the new Steve Prefontaine and dominate the 5K, but I just never had that turnover, so that led me to the marathon.”