October - Army 10 Miler

I've made a few adjustments in the past few weeks with my training and I believe that I am starting to feel the benefits. I'm finishing workouts feeling strong and in control. It hasn't paid off in any races yet, but I believe I need to simply have patience and the improvements in racing will come. My races haven't been necessarily bad, but I guess like all competitive athletes, we just want more from ourselves.

October has been a pretty good month of training thus far. I've been able to train consistently with some of the guys from WCAP in speed workouts such as Robert, Augustus and John. In addition to training with these great athletes, I've been able to do endurance workouts and progression runs with some athletes from the American Distance Project, including Tommy and Chris.

Although training started picking back up from after my calf strain in August, I can definitely tell that I had lost a step or two in my stride. Although September and October thus far have been two great months of training, both races I've done in these months have not gone as I had planned. The half marathon in Philly was a pretty big disappoint although it was my 2nd fastest half marathon I've ever run. My goal heading into the race was to improve upon my 1:05:32 in which I had run in Seattle and maintain 4:57 per mile pace for a sub-1:05. I started falling off pace as early as 8 miles and although I went through 10 miles in a PR of 49:56, I was only able to manage 5:06 pace in the last 8 kilometers. I'm hoping that the increase in long runs of 16-24 miles will help build the strength that I am lacking for late in these races. Regardless, I'm happy with the improvement I've made in 2011 in the half marathon:

2011 Half Marathons:

January, US Half Marathon Championships: 1:09:01

April, Half Marathon in Rotterdam: 1:07:53

June, Seattle RnR Half Marathon: 1:05:32

September, Philly RnR Half Marathon: 1:06:09

It was basically the same story, different distance in the Army 10 Miler. Thankfully, we were still able to win the team title for the 2nd straight year against the Brazilians. I felt strong at 8k 24:35, but shortly after I went through the 10k in 30:46, I started to fall off pace. I don't know if I start to get lazy towards the latter half of a race or if I'm just putting that type of work in during practice. Hopefully the training I'm doing now will help fix this issue for the coming races in November and December.

I'm currently training for the Santa Barbara International Half Marathon on November 12th. I plan on going into that race with relatively high mileage the week before so when I go into the California International Marathon on December 4th with fresh legs, I'll feel that much better.

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October 2011

(Week before the Army 10-miler)

10/2: 14 mile recovery run with Robert and Augustus (1:37:08)

10/3: 12 miles easy + 5 x 100m strides

10/4: 3 1/2 mile warm up, 8 x 800m repeats (2:22 - 2:26), 2 mile cool down

PM: 5 1/2 miles easy in the evening (40:12)

10/5: 11.5 miles easy in 1:22:08

10/6: 8.5 miles easy in 1:02:41 on the Monument Valley Trail

10/7: Flew into Washington D.C. for the Army 10 Miler

PM: 6 miles easy with Robert, Augustus and John in 45:12

10/8: Pre race-day jog - 5 miles easy with the All-Army Team in Washington D.C. + 5 x 15 second striders

72 miles for the week

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10/9: Army 10 Miler in 50:20 (14th place overall) + 3 mile w/u and 3 mile c/d

10/10: AUSA Conference - Took the day off

10/11: Flew back to Colorado Springs in the morning

PM: 14 miles in 1:30:01 on the monument valley trail

10/12: 16.2 mile endurance run (1:45:39)

PM: 7 miles easy in evening

10/13: 2.5 mile warm up, 8 mile progression run with Augustus (5:52, 5:42, 5:31, 5:28, 5:27, 5:12, 5:13, 5:22 - averaged 5:28) 2.5 mile cool down

PM: 5 1/2 miles in the evening easy

10/14: Ran 13.3 miles with Christie on a hilly course around our apartment up by Blodget Peak

10/15: Ran 14.6 miles easy on the monument valley trail in 1:34:45

100 miles for the week

September Workouts

I don't know if I'm going to continue posting my workouts and weekly mileage in the future, but my plans are to run the 2011 California International Marathon on December 4th, so up until that race, I'm going to update my audience (hopefully on a weekly basis) on my progress in training.

Below is what I've done since the Philadelphia Half Marathon on September 18th.

September 2011

9/18 - Philly Half Marathon in 1:06:09 - 28th place overall

9/19 - 12 1/2 mile recovery (1:29:50)

9/20 - 16.1 miles - long recovery (1:48:30)

9/21 - AM: 3 mile warm up, 15 x 1 minute hard, 1 minute easy (30:12), 2 mile cool down

PM: 6.1 mile easy run in 43:35

9/22 - AM: 10.7 mile run with Tommy and Chris 1:14:09

PM: 5.4 mile easy run in the evening (40:28)

9/23 - 10.4 miles easy in 1:11:21

9/24 - AM: 12.5 miles easy in 1:25:44

PM: 4 miles easy in the evening

106 miles for the week

9/25 - 15 1/2 mile endurance run in 1:43:45

PM: 6 miles easy in the evening (39:12)

9/26 - 11.4 miles in 1:22:49

9/27 - 3 mile w/u, 8 x 1k all between 2:52 and 3:00, 3 mile c/d

9/28 - 13.5 mile recovery run in 1:37:05

9/29 - 12.4 miles total with 4 miles at 5:29, 5:19, 5:16, and 5:28

PM: 5 1/2 miles easy in 40:05

9/30: 8 miles easy

10/1: 2 1/2 mile warm up, 6 x 1200m Broadmoor loops (3:38 - 3:52) 3 1/2 mile cool down

96 miles for the week

What a Roller Coaster!! My One-Year Overview

June 25, 2011

As I laid in my hotel bed with the legs propped up on pillows, relaxing my body after a taxing 1/2 marathon earlier today, I decided it was time for an update on the website. It’s crazy to think that it has been almost one full year that I’ve had the privilege of being a member of the US Army’s World Class Athlete Program. This has definitely been the best year of my life with all the adventures as well as living in the state of Colorado. I feel that my fitness level has achieved a level that I have never even come close to before. As I think of all the races I’ve done this past year, I can’t think of what a roller coaster the past 12+ months have been. Today in Seattle for the 1/2 Marathon, I averaged exactly 5:00 per-mile pace, running well over a 2-minute personal best with an official time of 1:05:31. Exactly one year ago today, June 25, 2010, I was out in the New Mexican desert on a 30-day field training exercise. This time last year I remember was pretty crazy. Running wasn’t even close to a priority at this time with the responsibilities of leading Soldiers. However, my orders for WCAP had just come down the pipe from Army Human Resources Command and in less than a month I would be moving up to Colorado. I was so excited to start this new journey in my life, but at the same time I felt like I was letting down my Soldiers. I had been in charge for a little over 9 months and our platoon was finally getting to a point where everyone was on the same page and things were clicking. After a long talk with my Troop Commander and Platoon Sergeant, we new the incoming PL would be fine and that was easily the most reassuring part of having to leave my platoon. By mid-July 2010 my time was over in Fort Bliss and my new journey in Colorado was about to begin.

What a roller coaster this past year has truly been. Once I arrived in Colorado Springs, I adjusted to the 6,000 - 7,000 ft. elevation as quickly as I could and literally “ran with it.” The next month, August, Christie and I married, honeymooned in Jamaica for 4-1/2 days, then I was back to business. September was filled with great training in preparation for the Army 10-miler in October. Trying to keep up with WCAP teammates - Robert Cheseret, Nate Pennington, Troy Harrison, and John Mickowski greatly benefited my running and I prospered that next month in competition. At the Army 10-miler I ran a personal best time of 50:26 for 10-miles and finished 4th on the team to give us the edge over our Brazilian rivals. What transpired next I don’t think anyone could have predicted.

One short week after the Army 10-miler I was still suffering from joint pain and muscle fatigue that I figured was simply post race symptoms mixed in with a bad cold/fever. One week later with the same symptoms and I found out that I had somehow contracted an infectious disease known as Rickettsia Typhii. This disease is contracted by a flea bite (.....yep) that has a bacteria known as rickettsia rickettsii. Little did I know I would spend the next 6 weeks either on the couch or in bed with over a 103-degree fever. I would wake up in the middle of nights with a pool of sweat around me. Horrible, horrible, horrible disease. By Christmas I was back to doing speed workouts, but I had easily lost all fitness as well as all of the red blood cells I had accumulated through workouts at altitude. The beginning of 2011 was tough. My first race back I opened up with the US Half Marathon Championships. Perhaps not the best idea to run your first race back. Although I technically did run a new personal best time, I felt my 1:09:01 performance was well below my capabilities. I’m not even sure what I placed...I never checked, but maybe top-50. The NEXT week I did another race....this time the US Cross Country Championships for the All-Army team. I’m not even good at cross country, but they didn’t really have anyone who could take my place. Once again, maybe a top-50 performance, ran 39:58 for 12k. After that, I was able to train hard for 6 weeks and get ready for the US 15k Championships in Jacksonville, FL. By the time mid-March rolled around I was finally getting some good leg turnover and I had a performance I was satisfied with. Although I still placed high (36th) I ran 46:31 for 9.3 miles averaging 4:59 per mile.

By April, my coach and I thought I was ready to tackle a marathon. We traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to Rotterdam, Netherlands only to find out I was not ready to run a marathon just yet. I did accomplish a PR at the half marathon distance (1:07:53), but I fell the $*&# apart at 30k. Not just going from 5:15 pace to 5:20-5:30-5:40, but from 5:15 pace to practically stopping. Never had my legs felt so bad in a race. My legs locked up....my arms locked up....every muscle just STOPPED in my body. I basically had to walk and jog from 30k to the finish. Unfortunately can’t quit out of a race that WCAP funds. Rotterdam was a learning experience and I treated it as just that. I didn’t look at it as a complete failure. Although I didn’t get my Olympic Trials ‘A’ Standard, I did come away with knowledge about the marathon I never had before.

I took a restorative training period of 2 weeks with very easy and light running. By the first week of May I was ready to train hard again and get back into the weekly training routine. Opened up in Cleveland with a 30:49 10k, which was a high note. I was happy to run 4:57 pace with only 2 weeks of speed training prior to that race. Went to Boulder for the Bolder Boulder 10k. Low note. Ran 32:48....at altitude, but still...had great workouts the next 2 weeks after Bolder Boulder, then traveled to Carmel, Indiana for the US Men’s 8k Championships. I could not sleep at ALL the night before this race. I was literally scared $#!*less going into this race. I’m not sure of the exact number of athletes registered for the championship race, but I’m not really known for my speed...so running the 8k distance is a sprint for me and I max out at 4:55 pace with distances over 5 kilometers. Luckily the conditions weren’t favorable with the humidity and the course wasn’t a scorcher. I placed 16th overall, which wasn’t bad and I maxed my pace with a time of 24:27 (4:55 per mile). I was actually looking to run a sub-24 that day, but didn’t quite have it in me. I wasn’t overly excited about that race, but I wasn’t entirely disappointed either.

After Carmel, I came back to Colorado Springs, ran easy on Sunday, then had a killer workout on Monday, June 13th. I ran myself so hard that I was buried on the couch for the rest of the day. My next scheduled workout was Wednesday....woke up Wednesday morning and I knew I wasn’t feeling it so I pushed it back to Thursday. Wasn’t feeling great on Thursday but went to the track anyways. The workout was 10 x 1k repeat at goal half marathon pace...so, anywhere from 2:58 - 3:05 w/ 200m jog in between. Went 3:02, 3:06, 3:12...done. Didn’t even cool down that day...no stretch, nothing...I was really irritated my body hadn’t recovered yet, but I did do the smart thing by taking the rest of the day off and running very easy on Friday. Luckily I had two great workouts before the Seattle Half Marathon so I did come into the race today with some confidence.

Today, however, things just clicked. I was planning on running a conservative first mile and going through in 5:01-5:05. Didn’t know the first mile would be as fast as it was. I was probably not even top-10 through the first mile and I went through in 4:51...the leaders went out in around 4:40. After seeing the first mile mark, I zoned out until 5k...I remember trying to tell myself to just slow down and be calm, but I would go through the 5k in 15:08. Mile 4 was a 5:16 and definitely the slowest mile of the day with the majority of it uphill. Mile 5 was the exact opposite and I believe I clicked off my fastest mile of the day with a 4:45. After that though the course was honest and generally flat until the big hill after the 8-mile mark. Ran miles 6-10 all around 4:58 - 5:08...crossed the 10-mile mark in 50:01. I knew at that moment I needed to run a sub-15 minute last 5k in order to get my Olympic Trials standard. Honestly I didn’t come into today’s race with the expectations of running under 1:05. I simply wanted to PR and I felt if I had a good day I’d run in the 1:06 range. I hadn’t done any tempo runs prior to the half marathon today after Rotterdam, just interval work, and I was really surprised to go through 10-miles today in a PR of 50:01. I ran as hard as could that last 5k but mixed with the lactic acid I simply didn’t have it. I ran the last 5k in about 15:30 and stopped my watch at 1:05:31. I was ecstatic when I crossed that finish line today and it was really good to have that feeling again. The feeling of knowing what you’re doing is actually paying off and you’re not wasting your time chasing dreams. Today was kind of like a validation for me. Up until this race today I knew I was running some faster time than I had previously, but I didn’t feel like I was really improving all that much.



(Start of the Seattle Full and Half Marathon - I'm on the far right in the yellow US Army jersey)

Well, to PR by over 2-minutes was definitely validating enough for me to know that I just need to stay on the path I’m on and things will continue to progress. My PR before today’s race was the 1:07:53 I ran half way at Rotterdam back in April and before that was a 1:09:01 that I ran after recovering from my sickness at the US Half Marathon Championships back in January.

It has definitely been a roller coaster these past 12 months, but I’m crossing fingers, praying at night and hoping the path I’m on continues to prosper. My next race will be a 10k in Atlanta, Georgia on July 4th (humidity...yep)....after that I’m going to try the half marathon distance again, heading to San Francisco on July 31st. Was hoping to run the Boilermaker 15k in Utica, NY but evidently I’m not good enough to get a bib number there so I’ll be dedicating that time back in the Springs. Had to give them a little shout out.

Cleveland Rite Aid 10k

May 15, 2011

I recently ran in this year’s Cleveland Rite Aid 10k on May 15th in Cleveland, Ohio. It was good to get this race under my belt and get the taste of Rotterdam out of my mouth. I’ve always believed that you’re only as good as your last race and as harsh as that is, that’s also why I scheduled my next race as soon as I did. Rotterdam was a learning experience for me and I hope I benefit with my next marathon from it.

With the expectations and preparation I had for the 10k in Cleveland, I believe this race went as well as it could have for me. I was only 1 of 2 Americans this year in the elite field with Mario Macias from Alamosa, Colorado being this other American. Within the first 800 meters of the race, the lead pack was made up of 8...4 Kenyans, 1 Ethiopian, 1 Moroccan, myself and Mario. The first mile was generally uphill, but I had completely missed the mile marker, (if there even was one, but I heard from the other runners we were just under 5 minutes for the first mile) before I knew it we were already at two miles, but I was astonished when the clock said 9:55. Immediately the pace quickened. I latched on the back and went for the ride. One of the other runners went out the back door and we rolled the next mile going through 3 miles in 14:40. By the turn around en route through 4 miles I was starting to feeling the lack of speed preparation for this race and I fell off pace myself. From 4 miles until the finish I was in no-man’s land trying to close as much distance between me and lead pack. Between mile 5 and 6 I saw my old cross country coach, Mike Fraley, and it helped provide me with a second wind and I hammered home to the finish in 30:49, 9 seconds off my 10k best time in which I ran through the 10k split in Jacksonville at the 2011 Gate River Run (yes, my 10k PR is still a 10k split in which I ran in another race).

I have the Bolder Boulder 10k coming up at the end of May and then I’ll be traveling to Carmel, Indiana for the US Men’s 8k Championships. For the rest of this month I’ll be doing much more speed training and I’ll be looking to improve my 8k PR from 24:28 down to under 24 minutes.

Perhaps the best thing about this latest trip to Cleveland was the joy I had seeing college friends for the first time in a very long while, especially all of my teammates from MCXC!

2010 Army 10-Miler Personal Best Time!

On October 26th, 2010 I competed on the All-Army Team in Washington D.C. for the Army 10-miler. This was the second consecutive year in which I had competed for the All-Army Team and ran in the Army 10-miler. In 2009, I ran my first 10-miler race and placed in the top 30 with a time of 52:26. For the past three years the All-Army team has been dominated by the Brazilian military team and this year was finally OUR year! Our team was led by Robert Cheseret, US 5k National Champion, posting a time of 48:20. Right behind Robert was Olympian Dan Browne with a time of 48:22. Brazil placed two runners after Dan Browne, posting times of 48:38 and 48:47. John Mickowski, 2012 Olympic Trials Qualifier was next for the All-Army team with a time of 49:40. Luckily, Brazil had not placed any more runners in between John Mickowski and myself. After passing 4 Brazilians at the 4-mile mark, I never looked back. I was hoping to run a sub-50 10-miler that day. I was on pace running right at 40 minutes at the 8-mile mark, but mile 9 was a killer and I ran a 5:20 9th mile. Finishing the last mile in 5:06 sealed our team's fate and I rounded out the scoring (top 4 score) with a 50:26.
Below is the competition scoring:

1	All Army Team			OAll: 1	03:16:47
	Name	Sex-Age	Time	Overall	Bib
	ROBERT CHESERET	M 27	0:48:20	3	11
	DANIEL BROWNE	M 35	0:48:22	4	1
	JOHN MICKOWSKI	M 24	0:49:40	10	7
	KENNETH FOSTER	M 24	0:50:26	12	6
	DARIN SHEARER	M 36	0:51:58	22	9
	NATE PENNINGTON	M 34	0:51:59	23	8
	BRIAN BUTZLER	M 27	0:52:17	24	5
	TROY HARRISON	M 35	0:53:22	31	10

2	Brazilian Army			OAll: 2	03:19:32
	Name	Sex-Age	Time	Overall	Bib
	CLODOALDO SILVA	M 34	0:48:38	6	23
	WILSON LIMA	M 21	0:48:47	7	21
	JOSE FERREIRA	M 35	0:50:52	15	3
	CICERO ROCHA	M 26	0:51:16	17	22
	PAULO SILVA	M 25	0:53:29	32	24
	REGINALDO CAMPOS	M 23	0:59:59	176	4

Still Here, Still Running

The Marathon

I know it has been a very long time since the last time I posted on this blog, but I believe it is time to finally try and play a little catch up. Where to start?

I am currently at Fort Polk, Louisiana helping out as a T/M (trainer/mentor) @ the JRTC (Joint Readiness Training Center) with a unit who will be deploying soon to Afghanistan. I have not yet obtained orders for the World Class Athlete Program (WCAP), but I am anticipating they will be here in the near future. Aside from the time down here in Louisiana, training (running) has been going quite well in El Paso (Fort Bliss, Texas). I arrived in Louisiana earlier this week and I have been able to log in a decent amount of mileage, but unfortunately I have not been able to find a nearby track to do any type of speed workouts. I got in Wednesday morning and I have so far been able to do an 8 mile foundation run (Wednesday night), a 13 1/2 mile run on Thursday, a 60 minute fartlek workout on Friday - (2 minutes @ 5:00 minute pace or faster, 1 minute off, 1 minute @ 5:00 min. pace or faster, 5 minutes off) totalling a little over 13 miles with the warm-up and cool down, then another 12 1/2 mile recovery run today (Saturday). I am planning on doing another 6 miles easy later on tonight.

The past six months of training has been going extremely well and I am closer to my goal of qualifying for the 2012 Marathon Olympics Trials than ever before. I have been able to average somewhere between 70-90 miles a week with a few weeks eclipsing 100+ miles. In the past six months I have had three "breakthrough" races along with a very disappointing performance at the USATF Cross Country Championships in Spokane, Washington which took place last February over Valentine's Day weekend.

The first of the three "breakthrough" races took place at the Army 10-miler in Washington D.C. in early October. At that point in time I had been training underneath my newly appointed head coach, Lisa Rainsberger, for a little over 5 months. I had really only just scratched the surface with her training regimen, but I took the guidance she gave me via www.traininggoals.com and ran with it. I had been primarily doing 2x1x2 mile repeats and 4-mile tempo workouts on the track @ UTEP with 8-12 mile foundation efforts and 15-20 mile endurance runs. Although I was preparing myself for the Army 10-miler, the key race I was gearing towards was the California International Marathon in the first weekend of December. The Army 10-miler went out extremely fast led by Dan Browne with a couple Ethiopians. I tried my hardest to stick to my pace of 5:10, but still came through the first mile in 4:55 around 40th place. I continued my pace going through mile 4 and 5 in 20:20 and 25:25, would later suffer the consequences in miles 7-8. By mile 9 I knew I was close to the finish with a personal best time and finished respectively in the top 30 with a finishing time of 52:26 (5:15 pace). I felt content with my time of 52:26 considering I had set my college 5-mile (8k) personal best time twice over (26:18 - 2007 Roberts Wesleyan Invite).

The second of three "breakthrough" races came about 6 weeks later at the San Antonio Rock 'n Roll Half-Marathon meeting up with a few of my WCAP teammates, 2LT Nate Pennington and SSG Troy Harrison. I also got the pleasure of meeting the 50k American record holder, Josh Cox. I drove down to San Antonio from El Paso with a training partner and friend, Ibrahim Brashar, who actually used to run cross country and track for UTEP and qualified for the 2004 Olympics in Athens for the 1500m. The San Antonio Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon was an interesting experience for me personally as an marathon runner, and it came with a bitter sweet finish. I went out in San Antonio with the same mind set I had in the Army 10-miler and I was expecting more or less the same outcome. I expected a fast start, to hold on for dear life at the end and come out with another personal best time. I had stuck to the same training plan I did in preparation for the Army 10-miler, I did a 5k or two on one of the weekends in El Paso, and I had tapered properly before the half marathon, running a little over 50 miles going into the race. I ended up going out in the first mile of the half marathon ironically right on pace in 5:10. What I didn't realize that day until after I finished the race was the humidity factor. Although the race was in mid-November in San Antonio, humidity at the start was a blistering 96% and I quickly paid the price for it along with everybody else. Times that day were all about 2-3 minutes slower than normal, so when I finished that day without a personal best time, initially I was confused and upset, but only in hindsight did I realize I had run rather respectively. I ended up 10th place overall right behind SSG Troy Harrison with a finishing time of 1:10:42. My goal was to get somwhere between 1:08:30 and 1:10, but sometimes the exterior forces just simply won't allow it.

My final "breakthrough" race came when it mattered most for me. I had run a respective 10-miler and half marathon, but none of those wouldn't have counted for anything if it didn't end with the marathon performance I was expecting. Because the marathon is such a long and enduring race, I went into Sacramento with a number of goals set aside for me that I knew I was capable of completing. My first goal was perhaps a little naive at that point in time, but definitely achievable. I wanted to qualify for the 2012 Marathon Olympic Trials. The only way to do that was to successfully get under 2 hours and 19 minutes for the 26.2 mile course, which is somewhere close to 5:18 per mile pace. My second goal was to get under 2 hours 22 minutes, which is currently the WCAP standard for the marathon. Since I am not officially on the WCAP program until I arrive in Colorado Springs, WCAP did not hold me to that standard. Although they politely paid for my air travel and hotel, they basically told me to just go out, have fun, and run your ass off. Easy enough. My third goal I had set for myself was just to simply get a personal best time, thus proving to myself that the past 6-8 months of training I had done after my bitter performance in Belgrade, Serbia during Armor Officer Basic Course was worthwhile. My previous personal best time for the marathon was 2:29:59 which I set at the Marine Corp Marathon back in October of 2008. I had run horribly in Belgrade, Serbia with a time of 2:39:50; however, after going through Armor Officer Basic Course, looking back I now know it was just not a realistic goal to train for the marathon and go through the 5-month course at the same time.

The starting line was freezing in December in Sacramento. Luckily I was in a heating tent with other elite athletes and it was extremely comforting to have Nate Pennington and Troy Harrison alongside to share the anxieties of the upcoming adventure. Since I had run relatively close to Troy Harrison for the majority of the San Antonio Half Marathon, I knew it would probably be in my best interest to try and pace off of him for the marathon. Little did I know before the start of the marathon, Troy and I would run side by side for the first 20 miles. Looking back on the 2009 California International Marathon, it was really quite a blur. I remember going through the first mile with about 50 athletes all within about 5 meters of me at 5:25 trying to find Troy. It wasn't until after the first mile did I finally find Troy and when I finally did find him he was already right beside me. Troy and I would work off of each other for the next 20 miles, using each other as a mental crutch, saying little encouraging phrases to one another, and also as a physical crutch, drafting off of each other, which was extremely beneficial after the headwind we hit at mile 15. Troy and I went through 5k in a little over 16:30, 10k 32:50, 10 miles at 53:00 and through the half marathon in exactly 1:09:39. I would actually hit both my half marathon and marathon best times this day. Going through the half marathon, I knew Troy and I were close to possibly getting under the 2:19 Marathon Olympic Trials standard, but it would take a negative split to get there. I had been conserving as much energy as possible at that point and although there were plenty of times where I just wanted to start sprinting up ahead, I also knew this was a 26.2 mile race. Troy and would hit all of our first 13 miles (except for mile #1: 5:25) under 5:20 pace. We continued our pace up to mile 15 when we took a left turn and hit a strong head wind. We ran our 15th mile at 5:40 and although we drafted off of each other specifically after that point, the damage had already been done. Although I felt stronger than ever between miles 15 and 20, the head wind was relentless and our miles grew longer.

I specifically remember hitting mile 20 and watching Troy create his space between me. Troy would increase his spacing between me to about 15 seconds apart in distance. At that point I had to make a mental decision to myself. I could throw in the towel and probably still end up with a respective time, or I could suck it up this last 10k and do what I came to Sacramento to do. All of this happening and going on in my head within about 10 seconds, I had already decided. New goal: Keep Troy Harrison in sight! For the next 5 miles I still felt "fast", but I also could feel the previous 15 miles of lactic acid accumulating in my calves, quads, and hamstrings. Somehow or another I was able to stay in control and keep Troy in my sights. Finally at mile 25, for the first time since mile 10 I had another runner come up on heels. Ironically enough, it was another Pennsylvanian, Kevin Poole who used to run at Allegheny College and was an All-American I believe. Having Kevin pass me at that point was perhaps the best thing that could have happened. After all those miles I still had a competitive edge and as I saw Kevin run by, I tried keeping on his heels with everything I had left. With close to 800 meters to go I noticed Troy Harrison coming closer and closer to me and by that point I was in full stride trying to gain as much time on him as possible. Knowing the finish had to be close, I used whatever energy I had left to surge ahead with finishing "kick", although realistically I had been kicking for the past 6 miles. Rounding the turn to the finish I saw the time read 2:22:50-51-52-53. Kicking with everything I had I finished the 2009 year with a personal best marathon time of 2:23:03 (12th place overall).