I gotta say, I've been nervous about my training recently. I suppose this isn't much different than any other marathon journey, but the fact that was I sick early on, then crammed my miles, I haven't had stellar tempos, and my 400s workout was even a touch slower than pre-Philly... all in, a lack of solid confidence boosters have left me a little amiss on what to expect in Boston.
Then came along the Shamrock Shuffle. One of my all time favorite races, and conveniently a prefect tune of for Boston this year. I'm still not gonna stick my neck out and say I now KNOW I can run something specific in the marathon... However, after crushing the 8K and PR'ing a key race, I can now say with confidence that I'm ready to give it a go. If all things line up properly, I can have a great marathon and potentially target a PR.
That being said, the Shamrock Shuffle was my rehearsal for things to come on Monday. Here's how it played out:
The weather was fairly typical for this time of year, in Chicago. Temps were around 50ish, which was comfortable. Winds were annoying, but at least they only effected the first few miles of the race.
Prior to the start, organizers decided to mess with the competition and do a staged elite start. This sucked, in my opinion. The elite field had slightly over 2 minutes lead on the masses. It was especially odd because a good number of us were faster than numerous "elite" runners, especially when you consider the women that started early too. (Sorry ladies, nothing against you, it just wasn't right to have staggered start and force some blood thirsty wolves to chase you down and turn you into road kill). Ultimately this just changed the whole competitive dynamic of the race. It placed a bunch of people with targets on their backs in front of us, and also limited the true competition of the race since we weren't allowed to run with people of our own caliber. Due to this timing lag, it made a mess of things a few miles in, as we smashed into the back of others.
Anyhoo, so elites went off, then the masses started 2 minutes later. Mile 1 was jockeying as usual. Clowns all around going out too fast, I tried not to get caught up in the mix. I mostly ran next to or off the shoulder of teammate, Scott Laumann. Nearby was another teammate, Verdo Gregory and running pal, Kevin Granato. Fortunately, the buildings shielded us from some headwinds for about half of that first mile. The other half, we were at the whim of some nasty gusts. Scott and I went through the marker at about 5:28. A very nice start to what I was hoping be a sub-27 race. (I actually wasn't even thinking about PR'ing at mile 1).
Mile 3 was a bitch. We turned from State Street onto Jackson and directly into a nasty head wind. Scott and Verdo did their thing, though not necessarily working together. Kevin and I stayed about 5 meters off, and we traded the lead a few times. I'd like to say that he and I were working together, but quite honestly, Kevin did most of the work into the wind. We continued to fly by the women's elite field. V fell slightly behind us. Scott gapped us... maybe 10-15 meters up now.
Looking back at it, this was very wise of me. I stayed patient, and calm... unlike other times where I try to gun it into the wind. Here, Kevin took a brunt of the blow for me. (Apparently, this is a common racing strategy?) We went nearly the fully mile into that shit. Once we turned the next corner and out of the wind, the hard part was done. Passed mile 3 at 5:27.5... though the effort was much higher than that.
Losing the wind was like a sling shot for me. I immediately dropped Kevin and Verdo. Likewise, I kept waiting for Scott to throw down and gap me even more. We kept passing women. I just hung on for dear life. My strategy became to not let Scott gap me. Then I realized I was actually gaining on him. When I saw that, I rolled whatever I could to catch him. It took that whole mile, but I finally closed it. Another blaze: 5:17.5.
I had huge momentum at this point. But the problem with the Shamrock is hanging onto that momentum. Mile 5 can be cruel and suck it out of you. Tail winds can become headwinds. You got a hill. It's a mess. I still hung on for dear life. I now had a few meters on Scott, but I felt him pushing me.
Roosevelt would be the test: If I could successfully make it up that hill without dying, then I might have a chance to PR. Once again, I played it smart. I conserved instead of hammered all in up the hill. Nobody passed me. In fact, I kept waiting for Scott and Verdo to play me for the fool. Then turned onto Columbus and I pulled the trigger. 400 meters to the finish. I passed a scattered handful of guys, guessing from the elite field. Still waiting for a challenge from behind, but it never happened. A blistering 5:09.4.
All in: 26:35.7
Scott followed a few seconds later, then Verdo and Kevin about 10 seconds back. I didn't realize it until just now... but the results show that I placed 4th out of the masses. Let's say that again so it sets in, remove the elite field that had over a 2 minute advantage on of us, and I placed 4th in a field of 33,000 runners. The winner was a mere 6 seconds in front of me.... and there lies a nasty rub... I had no clue that only 3 guys, which were very very close in front of me, started with the masses. Had I known, I might've been able to do something about it in the last half mile. Regardless, absolutely incredible.
It's days later and I'm still jacked about this. My best race in a year (potentially one of my best ever), 11 second a PR, I negative split by about 10 seconds, 4th age group, 4th in the race of the masses.
Fuckin bring it, Boston!
Split recap
1- 5:28:4
2- 5:12.9
3- 5:27.5
4- 5:17.5
5- 5:09.4
= 26:35.7 / 5:21.2 avg
