Finished ninth (9th) out of 110 timed runners; first overall top-10 event finish; finished 3rd in age group (fourth overall age group podium finish).

Established a new Personal Record (PR) for the continuous 4-mile distance, eclipsing a 34:05 event performace at the 2010 C4 Miles race (May 2, 2010) by 3 Minutes, 11 Seconds.  30th event PR all time.

4.o miles @ 7:44 pace; 30:54 overall timing.

______________

I hadn’t run in this event since 2010; it didn’t fit schedule-wise in recent years.

However, when you’re on the comeback trail and trying to “find it” again, one often returns to the proving grounds that once fostered success.

The 2010 race was held near Montrose Harbor on Chicago’s Lakefront, less than a mile from my house, so I ran to the race venue to warm up and get some blood flowing; arriving about 15 minutes before the starting gun.

After the event’s first mile, there were 3 packs: the 5-8 minute pace runners who sprinted to the front at the beginning of the race; pack two populated by 8-10 minute runners; and pack three being the rest.

I was in front of pack two most of the second half of the race; got off to a decent start with an 8:30 opening mile pace; followed by 8:10 in the second mile, but didn’t even look at my pace time for mile 3, it was nowhere near 8:10.

So my real race in 2010 was the closing mile; glancing at my backup watch and seeing 26:22 flash onscreen; knowing that I had to complete the final mile of the race in 8:07 or less to achieve a PR for the event.

I made it with 25 seconds to spare.

Within seconds of closing the race I looked for a place to sit down and gather myself, but over the next few minutes several runners came over to me and told me that they were on my heels the entire race, but couldn’t catch me; explaining why only 2 runners passed me the entire second half of the race; one of them in the closing leg.

Less than 4 months earlier, I had been sitting on the couch eating Cheetos, and now I was the “rabbit” for several competitors separated only by seconds in the overall standings.

I didn’t realize it in May, 2010, but this event probably shaped me more than 90% of the races I’ve ever run.  I simply didn’t “have it” that day, having raced three weekends in a row, but still set a new PR anyway and never looked back.

That is until now.

Fast forward to 2013 and what was old is new again.

Last night, I washed my race outfit and completed my race equipment checklist.  This morning, I consumed steel cut oatmeal that cooked overnight in the Crock Pot and ran to the race venue just like I did 3 years ago.

However, race organizers moved this year’s event to Lincoln Park and I generally don’t run well there because most course sections aren’t paved or have a gravel surface.

My pre-race “recon” confirmed my suspicions that the gravel and dirt was still wet and tacky from the rain we’ve had in recent days.

So I kept things “real” and decided to start out conservatively and see if any openings would occur during the race.

My opening mile went according to plan with a 7:55 split; somewhat concerned that I wasn’t “feeling it” yet, despite already having run 3 miles both in warmups and the actual event.

However, that changed around the middle of mile-2 when a runner in a purple shirt practically glued themselves to my “six” and never relented.

The purple runner’s determination kept me honest, because I sped up in mile-2 registering a 7:47 split, followed by a 7:30 split in mile-3.

By the beginning of mile-4, reality struck me and I realized that I must be somewhere in the top-10 of the event as no one had passed me at that stage of the event.

So I made a calculated gamble and decided to make a move around the 3.25 mile mark, passing the 8th place runner in gray who I used as a rabbit for most of the event and briefly putting some distance between me and the runner in the purple shirt.

However, my “move” backfired as the gray runner woke-up and decided to reclaim 8th place and the runner in purple found their kick, passing me and the runner in gray for 8th place; relegating gray to 9th, and me to 10th.

I gave it all I had to close mile-4, but simply couldn’t catch the runner in 7th place and the inspired 8th place runner in purple; so it was down to me and the runner in gray to close the race.

This time, I waited it out until the 3.75 mile mark, before officially slamming the door on the runner in gray for 9th place overall.

The patented “Flyin’ Brian” race close is still in business.

After finishing the race, I had a chance to meet “Georgia,” the runner in purple, who pressed me most of the event; besting me by 22 seconds for 8th place overall.

Georgia thanked me for being a great target and setting a good pace for her to rabbit on the road to winning the women’s overall title for the event.

Race organizers were awesome and awarded our medals shortly after the event’s conclusion.  It meant a lot to receive my medal on race day and receive recognition from fellow runners, spectators, and clients being served by the charity tied to the event.

The C4 race has definitely grown since I last competed in 2010.   Organizers are much more confident, the race swag’s better, and they had nice eats post-event.

It was a great day at the office and I’m getting closer to “finding it” again.

New Personal Record (PR) for the 8k distance, eclipsing timing at the 2010 Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle by 5 Minutes and 32 Seconds (5:32).

First running event PR since the 2011 Chicago Marathon on October 9, 2011.  Largest PR timing improvement since the 2011 Boston Marathon; 29th event Personal Record overall.

4.97 miles @ 8:02 overall pace: 8:05, 7:51, 8:09, 8:20, 7:43 (.97); 39:54 overall timing.  Finished 4,695 out of 33,219 runners (top-14th percentile).

This is where it all started 37-months ago, 7,000-plus miles ago, 41 events ago, and now 29 PR’s ago.

The 2010 Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle was my second event that year, but my first running event after a medicore performance at 2009′s Aids Run Walk Chicago forced me to “get real” about preparing for events and stop stuffing my face with soda pop, Cheetos, and frozen pizza on a regular basis.

The Shamrock Shuffle was held in March then and 25 minutes before 36,000-plus runners lined up in their respective starting corrals, I was thinking, why are you doing this?

You don’t like running in cold weather, your hands and feet are frozen already, and you’re back of the pack in the open classification.

That’s where it all started: back of the pack and in the cold, but determined to succeed.

Fast forward to 2013 and things were different than 37-months ago: I’m in a seeded corral (Corral B), right behind the top runners in the region, race organizers wisely moved the race to April seeking better weather for participants, and I set my PR for the event’s distance when I was a much heavier and a much slower runner.

The ingredients for success at the 2013 Shamrock Shuffle were literally laid out on the kitchen counter; my only major concern was whether I could remember how to bake a “race cake.”

Shockingly, I hadn’t participated in any event since my post-injury return to racing at the 2012 Chicago Marathon last October.  I’d originally planned to close out last year making my marathon debut in New York City, but Hurricane Sandy had other plans, so Chicago ended up being 12′s swan song.

I also hadn’t run in a short distance event since the Trick or Treat Trot in October, 2011.

So yes, the ingredients were plentiful and abundant on the kitchen counter, but will the race cake rise?  Will the frosting be any good?  Paper plates or china?  Plastic forks or sterling silver?

Can “Flyin’ Brian” still bake the race cake?

The answer to that question came to the surface in the first 2 miles of the event.

I was determined not to behave like a giddy school kid and go out too fast in the opening mile, so much that I actually forced myself to slow down to a 8:05 first mile pace.

8:05 and had to put the brakes on?  This is looking promising.

By mile-2, I was warmed-up and settled-in to a 7:51 pace; positioning me at a sub-8 pace for the event heading into mile 3.

Things continued to go well through mile-3 and I was comfortably maintaining sub-8 timing until the 2.75 mile mark and then it happened: The worst side stich I’ve ever encountered in any of my races.

I tried every trick in the book to make the stich go away, but it stuck with me to close mile-3, slowing that mile’s pace to 8:09.

The stich continued to stick like glue in mile-4: pace 8:20.

By the closing mile, however, I’d grown weary of the stich and feared that my chances of going sub-40 for the event were going down the drain, so when we made the right hand turn onto Michigan Avenue, I found a clear seam on the far left and “floored-it” with every ounce of energy I could muster.

By the time we reached the hill on Roosevelt Road, I built up a head of steam and stayed with it until I reached the crest of the hill.

The only thing left was the final quarter mile to the finish line as 38:20 flashed on my Garmin.

It was “Flyin’ Brian” time or bust to break sub-40, so I found a clean seam on the far right and hit the accelerator; passing at least 40 runners closing the race.

It was going to be close: 39:50, 39:51, 39:52, 39:53, there’s the finish line, 39:54.

Whew!

7:43 pace in the final .97 mile of the race; 6:07 in the last quarter mile.

Luv it when the “Flyin’ Brian” event close is oiled, lubed, and in working order.

So that’s it sports fans, another event on the books and another shiny new PR for posterity.

Today’s race cake turned out pretty well; just need to improve on the frosting and table settings to get back where I was pre-injury.

To quote the late Paul Newman in the 1986 film, The Color of Money: “I’m Back.”

Almost.

Eighth marathon finish (third consecutive Chicago Marathon finish); 4:26:45 overall timing; 10:10 pace.

On the evening of Monday, June 11, 2012, I left the house enroute to Walgreen’s to pick up some strapping tape, assuming that I’d be back home in about 5 minutes or so.

It had been a fabulous day working with an awesome client who’d traveled from Grand Rapids, Michigan and the positiveness of that experience carried over to the evening.

On a typical day, I might have saved the “Walgreen’s tape trip” for the following day or even ordered the product from Amazon, but not that Monday, the day had been too good, “let’s get the tape today.”

So I ventured out, walking to the end of the block as always, and saw Walgreen’s across the street. Then the light turned green and I walked across the wheelchair indentation on the sidewalk when suddenly I heard a pop and my right calf started to burn.

Within seconds, I could no longer walk normally, and had to hop on my left leg to get across the street and not hold up traffic.

Eventually, I found a quiet spot near the Walgreen’s parking lot and I started to massage my right calf, hoping it was just a charley horse or something minor.

It didn’t help.

So I decided to make the trek back home (Skipping Walgreen’s), this time having to hop back on my left leg, a journey that took 20 minutes, instead of the usual 2.

The following day, I visited the emergency room to have my leg x-rayed and examined, but not without great worry before hand.   I’d been injured before in 2008 and 2009 and didn’t want to relive those days again.

Thankfully, the examining doctor had good news for me: nothing was broken and I hadn’t blown anything out; suffering from a third-degree calf strain, likely caused from an imbalance when I walked on the wheelchair cut-in on the sidewalk.  A fluke occurrence.

However, the price of the “fluke” was likely to be steep.  The physician’s general prognosis for this injury was a 3-4 month recovery, because time is normally the best cure for a calf strain.

Immediately, any upcoming event plans I had for Summer, 2012 were out the window.   The Jim Gibbons 5k on June 14th–OUT; the San Francisco Marathon on July 29th–OUT; the Chicago Half Marathon on September 9–likely OUT.

That left the Chicago Marathon on October 7th and the New York City Marathon on November 4th as possibilities based on medical and recovery reality.

But, it wasn’t easy at first.

I could barely walk the first week, struggling to walk a few blocks and wincing in pain during every step.  After about 2 weeks, the pain started to subside and I was able to incorporate some cycling work into my rehab, eventually returning to running (slow as a chuck wagon) on July 3rd.

I had very high hopes during my initial return to running as July moved forward, but eventually, my left leg (the good one) started to become sore  because it had borne the brunt of the load since my calf injury.

So by early-August, I’m limping and wincing again, this time on my left side; frustrating me to death, but the doctor had warned me that “compensation” injuries are normal in recovery and they factor that into the conservative prognosis timing they give to patients.

Thankfully, the second-wave of limping and wincing lasted about 10 days and I went back to my program emphasizing LSD (long slow distance) work, which has been my weakness in training for marathons in recent years.

As the weeks moved forward, 5-mile long runs became 10, then 13.1, then 20, even running 26.2 miles two weeks before the marathon.

When I lined-up in Corral D for the 2012 Chicago Marathon, I was supremely-confident that I’d get through my 8th marathon.

After running in 91-degree weather at Boston on April 16th and braving a second 80-degree-plus marathon in Chicago in 2011, the mercury predicted to be in the 40′s during race morning smiled upon us with a gentle sunshine, no rain, and perfect marathon conditions.

I’ve also run this course before and don’t have the deer-in-the-headlights approach to marathoning that I had a few years ago.

The only things that concerned me were the “unexpected variables” that don’t appear until you run the race.

So let’s run the race.

The first mile of the event was like floating on air.  I ignored the hot-dogs darting around me trying to find a primo running lane; that wasn’t my game today; New York’s in 4-weeks and I wanted to run in a “real marathon” to prepare for it.

When 9:38 flashed on the Garmin for mile-1, I smiled and calmly started working on mile-2, where I registered a 9:20, remaining in the mid-nine pace range until mile-15.

The run-like-Buddha strategy worked like a charm in the first half of the event, I was feelin’ good and even took time to look for friends like @Andrea K, who devotedly has cheered us on for the past two Chicago marathons, members of my gym who were stationed to the east of Andrea, as well as the road crew from Open Heart Magic, and @David P at mile-24, who lifted my spirits during the closing leg of the event.

However, reality set in around mile-15 when my left foot became sore for the first time in a marathon this year; followed by my right foot in mile-18.

My pace formerly in a comfortable mid-9 range started to fade to 10:25 by the 30k mark, 11:03 by 35k, and 11:45 by 40k, before rallying for 9:39 in the closing half mile.

I also realized that my pre-event carb-up cycle was way too shallow and I was out-of-gas in the closing 10-miles of the event.

So I have our marching orders for New York: replace my marathon shoes (wore them for Boston and Chicago) and store more glycogen.

A favorable weather forecast would also be helpful as well.  :o)

Long story short, I’m grateful to have run the 2012 Chicago Marathon and gain positive feedback that I can use in New York next month.

Yesterday’s performance was almost 9 minutes from my PR for the distance and nearly 27-minutes away from going sub-4, but I ran the event cleanly, never had to stop once, and was able to finally enjoy a marathon that’s earned a reputation of being a bit of a slug-fest due to hot weather conditions in recent years.

And yes, I finally picked up the strapping tape from Walgreen’s.  Walkin’ and limpin’ to the store the day after my injury, because the show must go on.

The next show is in the Big Apple on November 4.  See ya then.

Seventh marathon finish (second Boston finish); 5:00:44 overall timing.

The time was shortly before 4 pm, and as I walked into the America Ballroom of the Westin Hotel, I was greeted by a round of applause and high-fives from enthusiastic volunteers and staff members associated with the American Liver Foundation’s (ALF) Run for Research Team.

That’s when it finally crystallized with me; I had finished the 2012 Boston Marathon, 41 minutes slower than 2011′s performance in my first Boston run, but probably my proudest day as an athlete and event competitor.

The road to Hopkinton and back began in the same ballroom at 5:30 am with breakfast and the assemblage for the team bus to ferry us to the Athlete’s Village in Hopkinton.

Once there, I chilled out and sat in one of the tents to stay out of the sun and compose myself for the event.

During the previous two days, I’d been steeling myself for a challenging day on the Boston course due to the predicted mercury that teased us with an 89 degree day for Marathon Monday several times that weekend.

It was 64 degrees when I arrived at the hotel Monday morning and 75 when we were walking to our start corrals pre-event; it was already “hot” and the race hadn’t started yet.

Knowing that I started out too quickly pace-wise during my last two Chicago Marathon runs (average temperature 86), I decided to start out around 9:30 pace and see how I felt after the first mile.

Right before I reached my start corral, I teamed up with Michael Kim (pictured above) from the Liver Foundation, who I met during last year’s Boston run and we agreed to run together to start the race.

Race organizers were behind in getting the Second Wave off before us, but were on the dot in releasing Wave Three at 10:40 am; so we were off.

However, we were also “off” in our initial goals and expectations, with reality coming home early. The conservative 9:30 pace that Michael and I targeted for mile-1, was in actuality 9:50, followed by 9:57 for mile-2, 10:07, 10:07, and 10:34 in the first 5-miles.

Michael wore his heart monitor and it was off the charts, with numbers he normally reaches during half marathons, not the full monty.  So we kept it real at the beginning.

However, by mile-6, I was getting a bit frisky and wanted to see what I could do on my own, so Michael and I parted ways.

Michael, however, had developed a bit of a fan base, carrying a water backpack that resembled “Yoda” from the early “Star Wars” movies.  It was a lot of fun chatting with Boston runners who used Michael’s “Yoda” as an inspirational symbol in the early stages of the event.

On my own, I was faster initially, registering 9:37 and 9:25 pacing in miles 6 and 7.   However, that’s the last time I registered sub-10 mile timing until the close of the marathon.

By that time in the event, we were approaching Noon and that’s when temperatures began to spike in Framingham and Natick, between miles 6 to 10.  Reports indicate that Framingham’s high peaked at 89 around the time our start wave reached that section of the course.

The escalating temperatures created a 3-way vortex where runners were pummeled above from the sun, below from the hot road tar, and the middle as we kept moving forward.

Water and Gatorade stations along the marathon route were well-stocked and well-staffed by enthusiastic and engaged volunteers; their efforts buffeted by concerned families who lined the roads offering oranges, ice cubes, additional water, pretzels, and encouragement to the struggling athletes.

Two women pretty much saved my life with wet cloths at just the right time I’d needed them to wipe salty sweat off my brows before it caused eye irritation.

It was also great to see fellow DMers, Julie C, Luau W, and Mr. and Mrs. Daily Mile, Steve and Ally S on the course as well.

Steve also noticed at mile-16, what I already knew, that I was becoming dehydrated because my body was “dry.”

Unlike other marathons where I only conservatively used the water stations, I pretty much grabbed water at every station and religiously chomped on Shot Bloks with the 3-times sodium formulation every mile.  I hate the taste of the “salty” Shot Bloks, but I didn’t experience cramping like I did at Chicago last October, so that strategy worked like a charm.

However, by the the time I reached mile-18, I was “done,” I simply couldn’t run for distance any longer or generate any speed.

So I ran 1/10 of a mile, walked for recovery, then repeated.  It made things slower going for the closing miles of the event, but at least I was moving.

About halfway in the event, I met Megan, a fellow runner on the Liver Team, and we essentially traded places with each other (back and forth) on the course’s second half.  Megan had a great attitude and was determined to finish, so we pushed each other and kept each other honest.

The closing miles after Heartbreak Hill were my “Gravy Train” miles last year, with the gentle downhill towards Boston.  This time around, they were 5-miles that I struggled to close with the tedious “joggawalking” strategy I’d deployed in the second half.

But the miles advanced……slowly: 21 (Boston College), 22 (Chestnut Hill), 23 (Coolidge Corner), and 24 (Beacon Street).

After mile-24, however, we inched towards the Fenway Park area and I saw the historic Citgo sign and found some “gas.”  Nothing ground breaking, but a sluggish 13 minute pace, quickened to 11:19 and I made a push towards Boylston Street.

My feet hurt, legs burned, and side stiches were killing me, but I’ve run this route before and I didn’t want to walk on the course any longer.

Eventually, the last street towards Boylston emerged and I knew I was 2/5 of a mile from the finish line, so I sharpened up and made my final push hitting Boylston with a full head of steam and not looking back.

My finish line close wasn’t as fast as last year’s 5:22 “Flyin’ Brian” close, but an 8:33 pace fueled with nothing ain’t bad.

Guess who was waiting for me at the finish line?

Yes, my Liver teammate, Megan who finished right before I did paced by her husband. Megan and I even shared the official closing photograph together before getting our medals.

However, once I received my medal and the flashbulbs stopped, I endured probably the most painful and frustrating 20 minutes I’ve ever encountered post-event.

I’m usually pretty “beat up” after marathons and half-marathons, but I could hardly walk post-Boston, ’12, wincing at every step, and looking for an open place to recover for a minute or so on the road to the ballroom at the Westin Hotel.

The memory of the warm and enthusiastic reception at the ballroom will stay with me forever and made the efforts of me and 179 other athletes on the Liver Team “worth the hurt” on 4/16/12.

__________________

Brian Adkins is a Chicago-based runner, marathoner, endurance athlete, writer, editor, essayist, and independent scholar.   You can contact Brian at: marathonbrian1@gmail.com

New Personal Course Record (CR), surpassing Chi-Town Half Marathon event timing on March 27, 2011 (1:54:24) by 3 minutes.

Overall timing: 1:51:24; race pace: 8:27 (13.17 miles); 8th consecutive sub-2 hour half marathon performance.

A week ago, this event was not on my dance card, but 15 days from running in my second Boston Marathon, and not participating in an official running event since October convinced me to take advantage of a local event to run a distance I was scheduled to run anyway.

Plus, I was kind of curious.

What kind of race competitor am I in comparison with the runner who had a strong overall performance year in 2011, but closed last year feelin’ kind of “burned out” and painting by numbers by year’s end?

One of the reasons why I hadn’t planned on running Chi-Town prior to this week, was due to the unpleasant experience I had doing the event last year, with a 28-degree race time temperature and making several miscalculations that I worked hard not to replicate in future events.

The weather forecast pre-event looked kinda iffy with predicted highs in the 80′s and possible thunderstorms, but today’s race-time weather was heaven-sent: temperatures in the 50′s, partly cloudy, and dry.

What a difference a year makes.  :o)

Knowing that I’m close to Boston and not wanting to get too greedy, I had originally planned to “take it easy,” find a solid pace, and eat some miles in a real event.

However, I felt real good starting the event, so good that 8:16 flashed on my Garmin for mile-1.  So I made a decision to “go with it” and see how things progressed.

8:30, 8:26, 8:20, 8:13, 8:21, 8:23, 8:19, and 8:20 pacing followed for the next 8 miles.

Things were going so well, that I started to entertain the thought that I’d be able to PR in a tune-up race.

However, by mile-10, reality creeped into the picture as my peppy 8:20 timing from mile-9 started to fade.  At one point during mile-10, my timing for that mile was in the low-9 range, so I steeled myself and sped up, finishing that mile at 8:48, but that’s the story of miles 11, 12, and 13 as well, with 8:44, 8:42, and 8:48 timing.

Right now, I’m going to chalk up the tough closing miles to running out of Shot Bloks at mile-9 (my Amazon restock order for Boston hasn’t arrived yet) and executing too-shallow a carb-up pre-event.

But, even with the tough close, I enjoyed the event immensely, and gained some unexpected inspiration from an 8-year old runner in the event.  John B was running with his 32-year old father Charlie B and became the heart-and-soul of the event.

I passed John and Charlie around mile-6, but they caught me when I was struggling during mile-11.

With the amazing weather we had in Chicagoland last winter, little John was able to keep up his training and continued to grow as a runner.  Charlie was confident that John would have a good day at Chi-Town, and coaxed an epic performance out of him.

I kept John and Charlie in my sights, but couldn’t put the hammer on them, with the 3 of us trading placements until the closing stages of the event.

Even with 1/4 of a mile left, John and Charlie were still ahead of me, but I saw the finish line ahead and you know what that means…

It wasn’t my greatest “Flyin’ Brian” closing kick ever (7:22 for the last .17 mile), but it was enough to nip John and Charlie before the finish line.

Inspiration sometimes comes in unexpected packages.

By the way, Little John’s timing for the event was 1:52:10.6.

Certain that we’ll be seein’ him at the Olympics someday; maybe in 2024.  I’ll say that I knew him when.

In the meantime, Boston’s the next event on tap in 15-days.  See ya then.

__________________

Brian Adkins is a Chicago-based runner, marathoner, endurance athlete, writer, editor, essayist, and independent scholar.   You can contact Brian at: marathonbrian1@gmail.com

New Personal Record (PR) for a 94-story stair climbing event; surpassing timing at 2011′s Hustle Up the Hancock, by 4 seconds.

18:49 official timing for the event; 5th Consecutive PR for the event; 1st event PR for 2012; 28th event PR since 2007.

In October, 2007 a colleague came to me with an idea for our company to participate in a stair climbing competition at the 94-story John Hancock Center.

I couldn’t wrap my head around such an “idea” that day and thought about it overnight, giving the employee the greenlight to sign us up for 2008′s competition and have participated in the event ever since.

However, it wasn’t an instant love affair, as climbing stairs is much different than running on flat ground.  But I stuck with it and pared nearly 10 minutes off my 2009 timing for the event in 2010 and 2011.

So hopes were high as I arrived at the Hancock Center on Sunday morning, but I worked hard to “keep things real” with my training and preparation over the past month; slowly chipping away at my timing and not peaking in training, like I did before several events in 2011.

It turned out that the “keepin’ it real” approach was the most prudent strategy today as the event unfolded.

Compared to the terrified “Fat Brian” of 2009, I was ready to “get it on” today, so ready that the event volunteer had to grab me before I prematurely activated my timing chip for the event.

Shortly afterward, the volunteer released me and I hit the stairs, blasting past the event photographer and not posing for the second year in a row.  However, I overheard the photographer tell her colleague that she captured a “good shot” of me.  We’ll know if she’s right when they release those images in the coming days.

I made strong progress during the early floors, hitting the 20th floor around the 4-minute mark and passing several slower climbers.

There was a martial artist instructor who was in line behind me, participating in his first Hancock, who surprisingly caught me around the 10th floor and stuck with me like glue until the 35th floor, until he started to fade.

At this point of the climb, a strong climber with the largest calves I’ve ever seen, blasted past me.   This “middle portion” of the event ( floors 35 to 70) was challenging as lactic acid built up in my legs and my timing started to fade.

However, the real wake up call was at the 54th floor which I reached around the 10:30 timing mark, where you know you have 40 floors to go, your legs are burning, and a little more than 8 minutes before you lose an opportunity to PR or improve upon last year’s timing.

So you start to “dig in,” maintain a consistent cadence, and strategically pass slower climbers.

The “dig in” strategy worked well and ate up more floors, but I was shocked when another strong climber passed me on the 75th floor.  In 2011, only one climber passed me during the entire event, so to have 2 climbers pass me was a bit of a bummer, but that’s life.  I’m certain that the 3 dozen climbers I passed today, weren’t happy to see me either.  :o)

By the 83rd floor, I started to make my “push” to close the event, but had a difficult time passing a strong climber who hogged the left hand side of the stairwell, (the prime climbing position) as well as slower climbers hugging the railing on the right.

I frustratingly put up with this bottleneck for 4 more floors until the 87th floor, when I made a move to the middle of the stairwell, and tripped, only avoiding injuring myself by catching my fall with my left hand.

However, my “trip move” worked as slower climbers on the right yielded way and I passed the left-sided climber in the closing stages of the event.

When I reached the event’s top floor, there was absolutely no time to pose for the event photographer stationed in the doorway as there were only seconds left for me to secure a PR for the event.

So I sprinted past the photographer, crossed the timing strip, and waited for the event’s announcer to call my name.

It was officially over; 2012′s Hustle Up The Hancock was now for the ages.

I had higher hopes outcome-wise before today’s competition, but I was much more “event hardened” by this time in 2011, having competed in 2 half marathons, and the brutal Austin Marathon a week before last year’s Hancock.  So to improve on last year’s performance is nothing to sneeze at.

I’m also proud of how I “stayed with it” during the Hancock’s challenging middle floors and kept my composure and sense of humor when I did the “87″ today.

So here we go, event number one for 2012 is on the books, with a shiny new PR to show for it.

Not so bad; not so bad.

Today’s event benefitted the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago; marking the 15th anniversary of Hustle Up The Hancock and raising more than $1.03 million for research, local advocacy, and community programs in Greater Chicagoland.

__________________

Brian Adkins is a Chicago-based runner, marathoner, endurance athlete, writer, editor, essayist, and independent scholar.   You can contact Brian at: marathonbrian1@gmail.com

Highest overall event placement ever; Finishing 27th out of 508 athletes; finishing in the top-30 for the first time.

Finished 4th in Age Group out of 24; missing the top-3 podium by 51 seconds.

22:11.7 overall timing; 7:09 event pace.

I woke up early on Sunday morning around 2:30am and struggled to get back to sleep, which I eventually did, arising around 6:30am to eat breakfast and dress for today’s race.

I left my building around 8:30am and ran to the event course located about a mile from my home; arriving about 10-minutes before things kicked-off.

However, within seconds of hitting the course, puzzled looks from spectators and questions began, “you must be cold [pre-race temps were in the low-40's] only wearin’ shorts and a [Marathon Maniacs] singlet.”

My response to those queries: “I’m not gonna be out here very long.”

My retort wasn’t overinflated hubris or arrogance, it was reality.  At my fattest 245-pound blubbery state during the fall of 2009, I still managed to bring 5k’s home with 28:40 or better overall timing; which would have beaten most of the athletes in my Age Group handily today.

The only question that remained unanswered as I lined up at today’s starting line was how far could I move up from 2010′s 60th place overall finish in a hyper competitive field.

Things looked promising in mile-1 as I got off to a decent start with a 7:11 opening split as the field thinned out and I didn’t have to brave the 30+ mph headwind that knocked us all backwards last year.

I hit mile-2 warmed up and fully expected to “kill it” with sub-7 timing, but luck reversed itself this year as the wind that didn’t materialize in mile-1 made itself evident in the second mile.

However, the “second mile” was probably one of the most surreal experiences I’ve had in 5 event seasons so far.  While my mile pace faded to 7:22 in mile-2, I must have claimed at least 10 overall placements and headed to mile-3 stronger than most of the athletes I was scrumming with.

Nothin’ like the hard-earned grit an event competitor gains when running on rocks in Marquette, Michigan or in windy monsoon conditions at Chicago Spring last May to provide a valuable edge over runners who likely haven’t experienced similar challenges in events.

After 2 unexpectedly ”pokey” miles, I finally found some decent speed in mile-3 with a 6:59 split and dusted about 5-6 runners who were fighting for placements with me in the closing stages of the race with a 5:37 split in the final 1/10 mile heading to the finish line.

In 2010, I faded in the stretch, ceding placements to a group of club runners that used me to “rabbit” them the entire event and missing an opportunity for sub-7 overall timing.

This year, I had the finish line all to myself and drew strong applause for my closing kick and event performance.  That meant a lot to me.

However, the 2011 Fleet Feet Sports Chicago Trick or Treat Trot represents the end of an era for me as my Course Record (CR) streak ended at 31 today; beginning in February, 2010 when a fatter 43-year old version of myself earned a Personal Record (PR) and a CR at a 94-story stairclimbing competiton in Chicago and continued for 30 more events countrywide.

Today also ushers a new era as well not defined by timing standards and event benchmarks from 2010 and 2011 as 2012 represents a new year with new opportunities to demonstrate overall growth and improvement performance-wise.

As for me right now, my 2011 event season has come to an official end.

It’s been another amazing year and I’ll be commemorating it with an “Event Year in Review” writeup that I’ll be posting in the near future.

My sincere thanks and deep appreciation to all of you for your staunch support in 2011.  I’m looking forward to when we’ll do it all again in the coming year.

New Personal Record (PR) for the marathon distance, surpassing timing at the 2011 Boston Marathon by 51 seconds; new Chicago Marathon Course Record (CR) by 28 minutes and 37 seconds.

Ninth event PR for 2011; 27th event PR since 2007.

4:18:10 event timing; 9:51 overall pace.

“So, tell us about the 5 marathons you’ve run this year.”  That ended up being one of the questions of prime interest at the post-race get together thrown by fellow DMers, Michael C. and Patrick M. after the marathon’s conclusion.

A number of guests didn’t run in Sunday’s Chicago Marathon and for a couple of attendees CM11 was their introduction to marathoning, so they were interested in knowing the differences between events, topography, crowds, weather, athlete support, etc.

As I went through the list, its hard to believe that its been 8 months since I ran in the Austin Marathon on the road to a 22-minute PR improvement over 2010′s performance at Chicago.

I made every mistake in the “book” at Chicago on 10/10/10: running too fast in the event’s first half, didn’t carry the right race nutrition, no sunglasses on a brutally sunny day, didn’t apply sunscreen, etc.

The “anti-CM10 plan” bore substantial fruit at Austin in February and the Boston Marathon in April on the road to a 6-plus minute PR on a history making Patriot’s Day in Beantown; only marred by food poisoning that cost me 10-minutes on the Boston course and a legitimate sub-4 hour marathon opportunity.

San Francisco in late-July and Marquette on Labor Day weekend ended up being tough slogs for unique reasons: San Francisco largely due to the steep declines in the event’s first half that wore down my legs and feet; while Marquette was much more “rustic” than expected featuring rocks, gravel, and dirt on large sections of the course; my first experience on that kind of event topogaphy.

So there were no new marathon PR’s at San Francisco or Marquette heading into my return showdown on the 2011 Chicago course.

Obviously, there were many incentives to wanting to do well in Chicago: hometown course, an accessible world marathon major event located right down the street from home, and most importantly, a chance to run the marathon I should have executed last year.

So I arrived on the marathon course around 6am, hoping to participate in the Marathon/Half Fanatics group photograph session arranged by the always energetic Dave Mari, but for some reason, I couldn’t locate them and gave up around 6:30 to get ready to enter the corral area.

I was extremely proud to have earned a corral assignment for Chicago, 2011 after not being successful in that goal in 2010.  It was a blast to run in the Walt Disney World Half Marathon in January, earning a PR for the event and finishing in the top-7% of the field.  But most importantly, I won a coveted corral slot for Chicago in my first event of 2011, a strong indication of the kind of year was ahead.

“D” corral was the home for dreamers on Sunday, featuring marathoners with the goal of completing the event between 3:50 to 4-hours.  When I was in the open corrals in 2010, I largely ran with “D” runners in the first half as we were chasing many of the same timing goals and dreams.

Eventually, race organizers started releasing runners, one corral at a time, reaching D, and we were off, running in the 2011 Chicago Marathon.

“Don’t start out too fast.”  “Don’t start out too fast.”  “Don’t start out too fast.”  I kept chanting that mantra in my head in mile-1, strongly wanting to avoid putting a sub-8 mile-1 split on the board like I did in 2010 (7:54).

Guess what my mile-1 split was?  7:57.  LOL.  At least it wasn’t faster than 2010.

I regained my sanity in mile-2 with a 8:45 split, but was dumbfounded when I rang-up a 10:01 split for mile-3 heading North on LaSalle Street.  I initially shook that split off as a GPS glitch, but decided to consume a Clif Shot Energy Gel (chocolate flavor) for a boost.

I took a bit of a risk using the Clif Shot’s for Chicago instead of Shot Bloks with the 3-times sodium formulation to prevent cramping.  I’ve been happy to largely been “cramp free” since Austin in February, but I can’t stand Shot Blok’s taste anymore and got nauseous when I last used them at Marquette, so something had to change.

The nutritional change worked well as I caught fire in mile-4 with a 8:45 split, followed by: 8:43, 8:58, 8:56, 8:52, 9:06, 9:03, 8:50, and 9:03 through the first 12-miles and a 1:58:58 first half; my first sub-2 marathon half since Boston.

It was a welcome surprise to see DM’s Andrea K on the course around the 7.5 mile mark with her usual vim, vigor, and gusto as well as the cheer squad from my gym handing out water and other aids to athletes.

Amazing how magical the first half was with temperatures in the 50′s and 60′s and solid sub-4 hour marathon splits.  However, by the time I reached midway point on Adams it started to get tough with bright sunshine that shone through my sunglasses and temperatures entering the 70′s.

The changing race landscape negatively impacted my mile-13 timing, registering an 11:10 for that mile.  After consuming a Clif Shot things went back on track with 8:59, 9:22, 9:13, and 9:25 splits through mile-17.

About this time in the event, the 3:55 pace group passed me, giving me a barometer where I stood overall.  Things were good and my splits were still on track for a sub-4 for the day.

Then it happened in the middle of mile-18, my left leg cramped for the first time since Austin, forcing me to “walk it out” to relieve the cramp and knocking my mile pace down to 10:17.  My right leg cramped in mile-19; same story, worse pacing, now 10:45.

In the middle of mile-20, the 4:00 hour pace group caught me and I fought hard to stay with them as long as I could, but the die had been cast for the rest of the event: leg cramps, walk to relieve them, 11-minute plus pacing, until the closing leg of the race.

Tough to close a major world marathon where you were 50+ minutes ahead of 2010′s timing through mile-20 and now have to fight to maintain your hard-earned gains.

However, as I ran through Chinatown on miles 21 and 22, I remembered how demoralized I was last year, largely walking that stretch of the event.  This year, I was disappointed that I couldn’t maintain my previous pacing, but that’s a long way from being demoralized.

Eventually, I reached Michigan Avenue and the closing miles of the event.  Like last year, it was a tough slog, but I’ve done this before and knew that I wasn’t gonna die, so I pushed forward until the promised land appeared, the hill on Roosevelt Road leading to the finish line.

By the time I reached the 26-mile mark in the event, the 23-minute-plus marathon PR advantage I once had, narrowed to 2 minutes and was ticking away, so I steeled myself once I turned left onto Columbus Drive and floored it with everything I had reaching the finish line with a new marathon PR by 51 seconds.

However, I could barely walk off the course post-marathon, I had left it all on the paved streets of Chicago.  It appears that I was not alone on Sunday as the race reports from many friends on my networks feature elements from the same scouting report: severe cramping, nausea, dehydration, ego bruising, etc.

My heartiest congratulations to all who completed the 2011 Chicago Marathon; you’ve earned the right to say that and have no regrets.

My sincere thanks and appreciation to my friends and comrades on Daily Mile, Twitter, and Facebook for your enthusiastic backing and support on the road to Chicago.  It always means a lot.

My special thanks to Andrea K for her backing on Sunday.  Andrea cheered me and other runners on at various stations on the marathon route and she was a welcome sight at mile-20 when the race became difficult and it boosted my spirits to see a friend.  Go Andrea.

As for me, I’m out of the marathon and long-distance business for awhile.  I’m putting my event schedule together for 2012 and there will likely be fewer events than 2010 (16 events) and ’11 (15 events); definitely not 5 marathons in one calendar year either.  LOL.

However, there’s no regrets on my part.  I wouldn’t give up the experiences and people I met at Austin, Boston, San Francisco, Marquette, and the streets of Chicago in another special year.

Have a great week everyone; let the post-marathon healin’ and recoverin’ begin.

Second Place in Age Group out of 17 competitors; second consecutive 5k Age Group podium placement.

Finished 33rd out of 799 overall (top-4%).

New 5k Personal Course Record for the event (22:34 overall timing; 7:17 pace), surpassing 26:21 overall timing; 8:28 pace at Aids Run & Walk Chicago, 2007, September 15, 2007.

“Kill it,” “Oh yeah, crushing time,” “Go get it,” “You’ll rock it,” and ”You’ll smash this race,” were among the comments and best wishes I received days prior to participating in Aids Run & Walk Chicago for the 5th consecutive time.

The 5k is my “comfort zone” distance and always has been my entire racing career, with this very event at this very distance where I began racing as a 40-year old in 2007.  My annual pilgrimage to the event has generally served as a benchmark to determine where my overall fitness and athleticism is on a yearly basis.

In 2007, I was shocked to finish in the top-10 in a competitive Age Group cadre in my first timed race and expected to return stronger and in better condition in 2008.  However, a fluke ankle injury prior to the race forced me to walk the Aids course in a cast that year.

I returned to the event in 2009, 35-pounds heavier than when I ran it in 2007 and the results showed with a 9:13 overall mile pace and the reality that I needed to be in much better condition if I had any serious aspirations as an event competitor.

My day of redemption finally arrived on Saturday, October 2, 2010 when I shaved nearly 2-minutes per mile off of 2009′s sub-par timing and won my first Age Group medal; just missing the top spot by 27 seconds.

A year later, I returned to Chicago’s Grant Park for Round 5 of the event with 4 years experience behind me and the well wishes of many around the world.

My strategy pre-race was also to ”kill it,” borrowing heavily from one of my online friends and comrades.  There was no need to “save” anything as this is the yearly event that has grown to mean the most to me and I figured there was no harm that I could do running a 5k event eight days before the 2011 Chicago Marathon.

So I lined up in front of the pack determined to scrum with the top runners in the event and hold off the rest as my days of residence in the race’s ”middle pack” are over.  You’ll have to “beat” me now; no placements are surrendered without a fight.

However, it wasn’t gonna be easy.

Once again, similar to last year it took forever for race organizers to kick off the race and competitors who warmed up like me in advance were stewing in our juices until the officials got things in order.

Eventually, the start horn was blown and we were finally off.  However, I was so keyed up about getting going that I didn’t follow my ”ease into the event” strategy, registering a 6:22 on my Garmin in the first 2/5 of a mile.

I eventually regained my sanity and slowed it down, especially once I realized that we were all running into strong headwinds.  I had hoped to register a sub-7 opening split; maybe around 6:58 or so, but didn’t worry about it when 7:15 flashed on my Garmin.  I assumed the other competitors weren’t having an easy time with the wind gusts either.

However, I hadn’t banked on being “flat” at the beginning of mile-2.  I tried everything to coax more speed out of me, but it wasn’t until 7:26 registered just before the 1.5 mile mark that I gambled and hit the accelerator; staying with it until I was able to knock my mile-2 split down to 7:05.

Mile-3 was tough, but I had to stay with what I did in mile-2 and was able to pass about 30 competitors between that point of the race and the close; racking up a 7:03 split on my Garmin.

The last 1/10 of a mile on Columbus was tough due to it being on a sidewalk with little room to pass anyone, but I established a seam and kept several runners who were hot on my tail off me until I reached the finish line.

Long story short, this was a strange 5k for me.  I felt like a middle-aged ice wagon the first half of the race, but righted myself in the second half and had fun tangling with a very young race field; featuring several teenagers and 20-somethings.

The only major blemish to this year’s Aids event was the confusion that emerged surrounding overall and Age Group (AG) placements for many of the competitors.

Apparently, race organizers initially misclassified (or didn’t list) a runner who finished in the event’s top-10 and my AG, thus winning the group, with me moving to Second Place for the AG and 33rd Place overall from 32nd.

I was a bit steamed about losing First Place for a couple of days, but I don’t want to win AG’s that way.  The First Place finisher earned his “day in the sun” and should be duly rewarded.

I forgave race organizers after the 5k course was half a mile short in 2010 (almost inexcusable), but a second year of problems tells me to take a pass on this event for awhile so I can fall in love with it again.

So unless I change my mind, there will be no race report for Aids Run & Walk Chicago from me in 2012 for the first time since 2006; one of the 11 events I cut from 2011′s event calendar.

4:23:42.4 overall timing; third fastest marathon performance ever, only eclipsed by the 2011 Boston and San Francisco Marathons.

Confidence was in abundance as my American Eagle crop duster landed at Marquette, Michigan’s Sawyer International Airport on Thursday evening.

Sawyer is by far the smallest “international” airport I’ve ever visited and it was located 17-miles from my hotel.  After unsucessfully looking for some signs of a taxi stand, I went back into the airport and asked one of the car rental managers if she had a phone number on hand for me to contact a cab.

Proving that capitalism isn’t dead in America, the Avis manager said that she had a rental cancellation and that a vehicle was mine if I wanted it.

Remembering the brutal 7-block walk back to my hotel, post-San Francisco, 5-weeks ago, I whipped out the Karl Malden card and likely secured the last rental car in Marquette this Labor Day weekend.

I MapQuested the directions from the airport in advance, so I managed to get to my hotel by 10pm, laid out my race gear on the second double bed and crashed until Friday morning; I was beat.

On Friday, I consumed my last carb-up meals and traveled to the race expo to pick up my bib and sweat bag.  The organizer’s Patagonia race shirts are pretty solid gear; I’ll likely be keeping it, moving forward.  LOL.

I slept fairly well pre-marathon, getting up to perform my final checklist, and headed out the door at 6:15am, in time to be picked up on a shuttle bus in the parking lot I drove to, arriving at Presque Isle just before 7am; leaving me enough time to get my Garmin squared away and run some warm-up laps.

The Second Annual Marquette Marathon has grown from about 200 competitors in all events to more than 500 for 2011.  However, its still the smallest marathon I’ve ever competed in, and the small size revealed itself as the event unfolded.

Unfortunately, the pre-event confidence I had regarding what Marquette represented slowly unspooled as the event drew near.  The weather forecast to die for (temperatures in the 50′s, partly cloudy, low humidity) died on Friday as the mercury was expected to reach the low-70′s by late Saturday morning, with sunny skies, and high humidity.  Great weather for the weekend vacationers who cheered me on sipping drinks in their lounge chairs on the race course, not so great for athletes and event competitors.

However, that’s the life of a marathoner, temps in the 60′s and 70′s are a bummer, but it was 92 degrees when I left Chicago on Thursday evening; tough to complain in that area.

Finally it was time to line up and wait for the air horn to start the event, and then we’re off, running in the Second Annual Marquette Marathon.

My original plan pre-event was to start out easy and see if a comfortable marathon pace would emerge to take me through the first half.  The 8:32 pace that flashed on my Garmin at the end of mile-1 felt pretty good, but I dialed it back to a 8:53 in mile-2; 9:08 in mile-3, 9:14 in mile-4, and 9:13 in mile-5, because I wasn’t feelin’ it for some reason.

That changed at mile-6 in Southern Marquette when I caught fire with a 8:22 split.  Things held steady with a 8:36 split just before the turn around heading North near the Lakeshore Paths hugging Lake Superior, followed by a 8:37 split for mile-8.

However, the wheels began to fall off around mile-9 as the temperature started to spike up and I felt extremely nauseous for the first time since Boston.  I kept it together, but I didn’t use any more Shot Bloks the rest of the event and consumed water and a few sips of Heed furnished by race volunteers.

My mile-9 pace fell to 9:09 fighting off the nausea, and started climbing as my left foot that I injured running on the river trails in miles 2-4 began to swell-up and hurt to the point where I was forced to stop and adjust my shoe lacing to relieve pressure.

That period (miles 9-11) of the event was one of the hardest periods in my racing career.  You arrive in town with some of the strongest running momentum and preparation in recent memory and the weather forecast doesn’t hold, the race venue is actually closer to a trail course than a true road marathon, and I injure myself wearing conventional race shoes on gravel, rocks, dirt, and pot-holed ruts.

Did I mention there’s 15-miles to go and they make you run the course twice?  Yes, we’ll be running on gravel, rocks, dirt, and ruts again.

So you batten down the hatches as actress Bette Davis legendarily said in one of her movies, and stay upright.  No Boston Qualifier today.  No sub-4 hour marathon today.  Maybe a PR for the distance, but unlikely on a bum foot and unable to get any chews or gels down.

What’s left then?  Courage and determination; that’s still abundant and available for withdrawal.

By mile-20, I used the psychological boost of reaching that stage of the event to keep fighting.

I thanked the people who manned the recharge stations or kept traffic at bay, as I was out there by myself after mile-21; no one passed me and I passed no one until the closing stretch of the event when I passed 3 runners and a runner with an unexpectedly strong kick passed me at mile-25.

Eventually, I saw it–the finish line, about 1/4 of a mile away, so I steeled myself and executed the best “Flyin’ Brian” kick I could muster, drawing cheers from the crowd because they knew that required effort at that stage of the race.

I declined the offer of a heat/cold wrap; never been a big fan of them. I did accept the gracious offer of some chocolate milk that was actually cold and went down real well.  I was starvin’ post-race.  LOL.

I want to thank everyone who supported me on the ramp-up to Marquette.  Things didn’t go the way I expected them to, but I realized that I’ve grown marathon fangs that I certainly didn’t have when I ran Chicago last October.  Austin, Boston, San Francisco, and now Marquette have been tough proving grounds over the past year and I’m much more confident about taking on Chicago again on October 9.

My left foot is still sore and swollen, but much better than when I left the marathon grounds on Saturday morning.  Hopefully with continued therapy and strategic cross training I should be able to resume regular training in a week or so.

Next events on deck: Aids Run/Walk Chicago (5k) on October 1, followed by the Chicago Marathon.  This is my fourth year participating in the Aids event; its always been one of the highlights of my yearly schedule.  I finished second in my age group last year; expecting another strong showing there next month.

Once again, thanks for your friendship, support, and kind words.  They mean a lot.

Second fastest overall marathon performance, only eclipsed by the 2011 Boston Marathon (4:19:01).

4:22:47 overall timing; 9:53 pace for 26.55 miles.

“Worth The Hurt,” those words are etched on the bottom of the finisher’s race medals for the 2011 San Francisco Marathon, the same medals that are draped over athlete’s heads by volunteers after runners cross the event’s finish line.

With nearly 2-days elapsing since finishing San Francisco, Worth The Hurt sums up the totality of my experience and what the marathon represents past, present, and future.

I confidently arrived in San Francisco last Friday afternoon and quickly got settled into my hotel, located 0.22 miles from the finish line; learning a valuable lesson after running Austin and Boston in securing a hotel venue that reduced how much I had to walk (or waddle) post-marathon.

Dominic M, a friend from Dailymile, invited me to a meetup on Saturday night, organized by the OC Coast Runners, and I used that as an opportunity to team-up with Mike D, who I met when I ran the Kaiser Half last February, and get a chance to finally meet Dominic, Maya L, Trace B, Ben S, Claudia C, as well as other members of the OC Team.

We had a great time at the meetup; so great that Dominic and Trace sought me out in Start Corral 2 prior to the marathon’s starting gun to say good morning and wish me well.  Their gesture meant a lot; can’t thank them enough for their kindness.

After the Pledge was recited, Dominic (who I refer to as DM) and Trace headed to the front of the start corral (they were both running in the event’s 1st Half Marathon), while I remained in the back.  Shortly afterward, race officials released the athletes in Corral 1; featuring the event’s overall winner, Michael Wardian, who ran the marathon in 2:27:06, more than 7 minutes ahead of the second place finisher.

Surprisingly, I would see Wardian again during the event, but let’s save that for later.  LOL.

Eventually, it was time to release runners in Start Corral 2 and things went as expected: crowded and slow, just like any major race, but I had anticipated that and factored it into my pre-race planning.

Unlike Austin or Boston, where I flirted with a “Straddle Nine” pace strategy, chasing sub-4 hour overall timing, I went into San Francisco with more conservative (realistic) expectations.  My pre-race mindset was largely shaped due to the race being the third consecutive marathon I’ve run since February with difficult topography (hilly).  I knew better to leave sub-4 timing goals at home for now.

My original plan was to run the first quarter of the marathon around a 9:20 pace, which factored in the tough hill leading to the Golden Gate Bridge after mile-5 that would obviously cut into my timing.  That part of my plan worked fairly well with splits of: 9:04, 9:12, 9:20, 9:08, and 9:09 before “the hill” slowed me down to a 10:10 pace leading to the bridge.

However, by the time we hit the Golden Gate, I had recovered and was feelin’ mighty good, registering an 8:55 pace for mile-7.  It was about that time when Michael Wardian blasted past me (via the turnaround) and the other athletes who were just entering the bridge from Wave 2.  It’s both an exciting and humbling experience to see a professional runner in full steam who’s already completed their laps on the historic bridge and were on their way back into the city.

The Golden Gate “Kool Aid” continued with an 8:41 split in mile-8, followed by an 9:09 and 9:06.

Additionally, around mile-8, someone on the transition side of the bridge yelled my name.  I thought it was DM, but it turned out to be Simon M from Dailymile, a rockstar triathlete who was leading a 3:20 pace group.  I know, that’s bada**.

Unfortunately, the next major hill series after the Golden Gate murdered my feet due to the steep incline and sharp decents where you literally had to use your feet as brakes like Fred Flintstone did on the classic Hanna Barbara cartoon from the 1960′s.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was developing blisters on both feet and they were the first thing to die on me this go around.  My deflation deepened when the 3:40 pace group passed me at mile-11; I had to let them go without a fight; there wasn’t gonna be 3:40 timing for Marathon Brian with dying feet and 9:58 and 9:56 splits to close the first half of the event.

By mile-17, my legs were gone too, the victim of having to use my legs to compensate for my sore and blistered feet.  Around that time, the 3:50 pace group blasted by me full of cheer; same story, I had to let them go too, as I settled into survival mode.

Nine-plus miles remaining until the finish line with nothing left except stubborness and courage.  I’ve run that kind of marathon before; best to get on with it.

By mile-19, we left Golden Gate Park and re-entered the general city limits heading East, supported by generous well-wishers on the route, one of them being Dailymile’s co-founder, Ben W, who posted a note of seeing me around mile-21.  He said I looked strong, so at least no one thought I was dying.

Miles 22 through 26 were among the hardest I’ve run as a marathoner; right up there with how I felt running Chicago on 10/10/10, when only stubborness and the altruism of another runner who helped me close the race brought that day to an end.

Things were different now, however.

I was determined to complete the 2011 San Francisco Marathon, hell or highwater and celebrate the first marathon where I ran the entire distance without stopping; without having to walk the course to recover; without having to throw up in a porta-potty or whatever scenario had derailed fulfilling that goal in the past.

So the slog continued: mile-23, mile-24, then mile-25, when we reached the Embaracadero district on the waterfront, leading us to the finish line.

Around mile-26, I held out a brief glimmer of hope that I’d still be able to PR for the event, so I hit the “Flyin’ Brian” accelerator as far as I could, and shockingly registered 8:19 on my Garmin.

About this time, a runner excitedly grabed my left arm like I was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and introduced himself as Derek M from Dailymile and goosed me into “beasting” the close with him.  My “head” wanted to battle with Derek, but my legs and feet cried uncle and said that’s it, dude; we’ll give you 8:19 to close, no more.

So I let “Brother Derek” go on to closin’ glory; hope he’ll accept a raincheck for another Yellow Brick Road battle in the future.

It was also when I realized that the marathon course was runnin’ long as I’m still running at 26.25, 26.30, 26.35, 26.40, 26.45, and 26.50.

So no new marathon timing PR either.

Eventually, I saw the finish line and hit it hard passing a man the race announcer described as a retired drill sergeant.  The runner’s haircut resembled one, so I have to give the announcer props on that one.

Later on, Maya L informed me that she saw me close the race and shouted my name.  Can’t thank her enough either as she ran in the 1st Half Marathon and remained to cheer on and support her friends.

After crossing the finish line, I picked up my Worth The Hurt finisher’s medal, posed for two of the stationed race photographers, but skipped the official photo with the phony race background as I had enough for the day and headed to the hotel for a hot shower and a nap.

However, my feet were so sore post-race that I had to stop twice to rest and recover before continuing.  Man, was I glad that I booked the closest hotel to the finish line.  LOL.

By mid-afternoon, I recovered well enough to pickup a sandwich, and start thanking friends for their support last weekend.  I also made arrangements to team-up with Xavier C from Dailymile who also ran the 1st Half Marathon on Sunday.  Was great to meet X-Man for dinner and celebrate his success on a tough course.

That’s enough from me; this could go on forever otherwise.

Was the 2011 San Francisco Marathon Worth The Hurt? 

Yes, and then some.

Next destination: The Marquette (Michigan) Marathon on September 3.  Topograhy: Flat as a Denny’s third shift pancake. 

Should be veddy interesting; Flyin’ Brian on a flat marathon course.  Lickin’ my chops just writin’ this. 

See ya then.

Post-race Update: On July 25th, Brian Adkins officially received his medal for his First Place Age Group performance at the 2011 Jim Gibbons 5k Traffic Jam on June 16th.

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First Age Group (AG) victory; finishing 1st out of 30 competitors in my AG.

Finished 71st out of 806 competitors overall (top 8%); 22:34 overall timing; 7:16 pace.

A month ago, the 2011 Jim Gibbons 5k Traffic Jam was not on my race calendar.

I ran Jim Gibbons in 2010 only 4 days after completing my first half marathon, racking up my first sub-8 minute overall 5k performance in the event (7:51 pace).

However, despite being pleased that I did well at Jim Gibbons last year, the event marked the last time that I wore an official event shirt in the actual race.  A sponsored charity event, honoring the late Jim Gibbons, a television news journalist at Chicago’s ABC affiliiate; race organizers generally issue cotton t-shirts to competitors.  Last year, the mercury crept into the 80′s with high humidity and I’ll never forget how hot that shirt felt that day. 

So when you’re sitting at home making decisions about what races to run or not to run, a crowded charity event featuring a cotton t-shirt in the middle of Chicago’s unpredictable summer weather didn’t score a lot of points with me most of this year.

That all changed after I finished the 2011 Ravenswood Run, 13 days after Boston, with a 6:59 overall pace at the 5k distance. 

I figured that if I was able to complete a sub-7 5k on tired post-marathon legs, what would I be able to do with fresher legs and more effort devoted towards speed development?

Thus, the 2011 Jim Gibbons 5k Traffic Jam goes on Brian’s schedule; its the natural order of things.  LOL.

After Ravenswood, I had strong performances at the Chicago Spring 10k and the Soldier Field 10-Mile; my training has also been solid with a new unofficial PR for the 5k distance pre-Gibbons.

Eventually, however, the scheduled race day arrived and I headed to the Gibbons race course; relocated to Lincoln Park from Chicago’s historic Grant Park.

I don’t know what other competitors thought about me, but I felt like a veteran runner arriving on the race grounds.  Many runners wore the cotton official race shirt like I would have last year and took their time lining up at the start line pre-race; a mistake I made last year that I didn’t intend to repeat, as I had to climb over 200 or more runners to find a seam to run in.

I felt good in my warmups, running a couple 8:00 miles and positioned myself about 10 feet behind the start line, knowing that the local track team-type runners and 5-minute milers would fill in the front. 

The race’s start was also broadcast live on the ABC affliate, who were co-sponsoring the event, so there’s a lot of incentive to line upfront and get ahead of the runners who want to see themselves on television later that evening.

Start the race.

The airgun blows and runners head out of the chute, my regular backup watch works with no problem, but my Garmin lost its signal for some reason and doesn’t fire-up until 1/10 mile mark.  

I also noticed was that much of the course was gravel-based, not paved, and due to the heavy rain we’ve had in Chicagoland in recent days, the gravel’s heavily saturated, featuring deep rain puddles in the middle of the course. 

My mile-1 pace was 7:08, a bit slower than I’d planned pre-race, but I assumed that things would speed up in mile-2. 

I was wrong.

The “merely wet” gravel in mile-1, became full-blown puddles in mile-2, and runners were forced to make a decision to either run in the puddles, run on the grass, or jump over the puddles.  I wound up executing all 3 of those strategies for the rest of the race as I was desperately trying to speed up after mile-1, but still wound up with a 7:19 split for mile-2 and a 7:27 for mile-3.

This was a crazy event for me as I headed into the final 1/10 of a mile before the finish line.  I trained to execute a 5k around a 6:30-45 overall pace, but had to be content in running a “courage and guts” event, where you gave it everything you have regardless of the circumstances and let the timing chips sort out the rest.

My close wasn’t a classic “Flyin’ Brian” performance, but strong enough to win my first Age Group title, by less than one second.

The moral of this tale to everyone who participates in events, is to never give up.  I could have easily mailed it in yesterday once my PR timing opportunity fell by the wayside, but stayed with it until the end.

Never…….give……up.

The next race destination for MARATHONBrian is a rematch in Minneapolis on July 4 at the second annual Red, White, and Boom: Twin Cities Half Marathon; featuring the steep Norwegian Hill in the middle of the course.

How fitting to return to Minneapolis for the next race, it was the venue where I first learned how to brave tough events that don’t go according to plan, but require the courage to complete them.

Thanks to everyone who’ve supported me in this journey, your friendship is greatly appreciated and means a lot.

New Course Record (1:55:36 overall timing) by 4 minutes and 2 seconds over 2010′s performance in the same event (1:59:38).

Seventh consecutive sub-2 hour half marathon performance out of seven (7) events lifetime.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Minneapolis International Airport.  The temperature is 84 degrees, humidity is 91%; on behalf of the flight crew, thanks for flying Delta Airlines and have a great Independence Day weekend.”

Awesome to hear those words echoed by the sky captain when I landed in the Twin Cities on early-Sunday afternoon after a short flight from Chicago.

Last year, the first thing that flashed through my mind when I arrived in town to run in the inaugural Red, White, and Boom Twin Cities Half Marathon was that many scenes from 1970 film, “Airport,” were filmed at Minneapolis International to replicate winter weather conditions at a fictional airport, modeled after Chicago’s venerable O’Hare Airport.

It was a head rush to know that “Airport” cast members, Dean Martin, Burt Lancaster, Jean Seberg, Maureen Stapleton, George Kennedy, Helen Hayes, Jacqueline Bisset, Barbara Hale, and Van Heflin made a similar trek to the same airfield 40 years ago in pursuit of their craft.

However, I didn’t expect my first run at the Red, White, and Boom 13.1 event to be Airport-like; as the film kicked off the disaster film genre that was a staple during the 1970′s; where regular people were often swept into unexpected challenges that tested an individual’s courage and personal makeup.

On 7/4/10, racetime temperatures spiked into the 80′s, humdity was in the 90′s, rain pelted us by the end of the 3rd-mile, and the legendary Norwegian Hill in the middle of the course knocked the arrogance out of many runners in the event.

This reminded me of a critical scene from “Airport” when Burt Lancaster, who played the harried airport manager in the film has to make a decision; shove a 7 million dollar Boeing airliner (7 million dollars was a lot of bucks in 1970) that was blocking his primary runway and risk his job or hope that George Kennedy’s character (Joe Patroni) could extract the plane from the snowbanks.

Movie spoiler: Joe Patroni defied a direct order from Lancaster to abort his efforts and rescued (at the last minute) the buried plane so Dean Martin could courageously land a damaged Boeing 707 on the airport’s longest runway; needing every inch of real estate to do so.

In the second half of last year’s event, I thought many times of the characters from “Airport” and what they would have done when in a tough race and I decided to focus on bringing the passengers home safely with a sub-2 hour overall performance.

It wasn’t easy, but that’s what happened in 2010.

MARATHONBrian 2.0 approached 2011′s event with the eye of a runner who’s been there and done this.  I knew where the race expo, start, and finish lines were; knew what to pack and what not to pack in my travel kit; and knew what to do if things didn’t go quite according to plan on race day.

I jogged from my hotel to the race venue about a mile away and positioned myself up front with about 100 runners ahead of me.  

I like how event organizers got right down to business and didn’t spend 5 minutes introducing a bunch of people no one cared about; blasting the start horn after the pledge of allegiance.

My original race plan was to replicate what I did in San Francisco in early-February when I started out conservatively and used progressive pacing to bring home sub-1:50 timing for the first time at this distance.

However, 4 weeks out from the San Francisco Marathon, I wanted to know what I could do if I “pushed it” a bit; so my initial timing was fairly aggressive with splits of: 8:06, 7:46, 7:52, and 7:54.

By the beginning of mile-5, I realized I was going too fast in the final mile before the course became hillier and needed to conserve energy, so I slowed down to an 8:07 pace for that mile.

Mile-6 was tough with several speed-sapping hills, but I handled them much better than last year, only slowing to an 8:41 pace before the showdown beckoned with the Norwegian Hill in mile-7.

People who’ve followed me since last year, know what “the hill” represented to me as a runner and as a person at that time.  I had never encountered anything like it at that stage of the game.  In the weeks and months post-Minneapolis, running on challenging courses in San Francisco, Austin, and Boston, I learned to dig in and tough out elevated course sections; so I was pretty confident that I’d be able to handle myself during the second go around in the Twin Cities.

Finally the time arrived and “the hill” didn’t seem quite as high as it felt last year; it’s still pretty long, but the height wasn’t as formidable.  Many event participants who had been chugging along at a strong clip were forced to walk the elevation, similar to what I did last year and you felt for them, because its crushing to a runner’s mojo to have to surrender on any section of a course.

It was slow going on the Norweigan Hill, but I dug in and ran up the entire hill after having to walk most of it last year, completing that section of the course with a 9:40 split; compared to a 21-plus minute split in 2010.

I used mile-8 to recover a bit with a conservative 8:48 split, hoping that I’d be able to glide-path home with the hardest section of the event behind me.

I was wrong.

Similar to what happened to me in my last half marathon in March and the second half at Boston, I couldn’t generate any speed at all in the closing miles.  I felt good physically and nothing hurt, but I there was no steam left in me, with sub-10 splits of: 9:34, 9:36, 9:59 (ouch), and 9:16 before the closing stage of the event.

I’m not going to hide it, but the closing miles of this event were probably the most painful in my running career.  To start so strongly and conquer “the hill” that wounded my soul last year and have to “gut out” a close on a hot and humid day was a tough slog mentally.

However, I learned a lot yesterday that should help me with the meat of 2011′s event schedule coming down the road over the next several weeks and months.

I’m also pleased that I found some speed at the end to close with a 7:18 split and shaved 4-plus minutes off last year’s overall course timing.

I hope Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, and George Kennedy would have approved; I did everything I could to bring the passengers back home safely once again. 

THE END.

A MARATHONBrian Production.  Ran on location in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

New Personal Record (PR) for the 10-mile distance by 5 minutes and 45 seconds.

8th PR out of 9 (nine) events for 2011; 26th event PR since 2007.

1:17:25 event timing; 7:45 overall pace.

1119 overall out of 12,316 competitors (top 9-percentile). 

First sub-8 overall race timing for double-digit mileage; third consecutive sub-8 event performance. 

The alarm went off at 4:30am, I ate breakfast, put on my race gear, and steered my gas guzzler to Chicago’s Soldier Field arriving on the grounds before 6:30am; one hour before race time.

I had a chance to speak with my friends Fabian and Cal before checking in my gear and warming up prior to heading to Start Corral B, 25 minutes before the starter’s gun. 

Shortly afterward, Trisha P came over to wish me well and I focused on the metal barrier between me in front of Start Corral B and the pacer in front of me holding the 75-minute sign (7:30 overall pace) in Start Corral A.

The 80-minute (8:00 overall pace) pacer stood to my left dressed in a yellow shirt in Corral B. 

I planned my event strategy in my head over the past 2 days, but it only became reality when I lined up in Corral B: drop the 80-minute pacer as soon as realistically possible, keep the 75-minute guy in sight.

Start the race.

In an event with 15,000+ registered athletes, the first mile is generally crowded and congested; no exception at Soldier Field, so I took it easy at the beginning of the event trying to find a rhythm and comfortable race pace until the scrum thinned out. 

I straddled pacing in the low-8′s for most of the first mile, but by the time we emerged from the parking tunnel, my pace dropped to 7:55, which I maintained for the opening mile.

I was aggressive in miles 2 and 3, registering a 7:33 and 7:36 for those splits, largely because the 80-minute pacer was still ahead of me (he was obviously pacing too fast), until I passed him at the end of mile-3.

I never saw the yellow-shirted 80-minute pacer again. 

However, I never saw the 75-minute pacer after the race’s start either.

One strategy worked to perfection; one never saw the light of day as my splits for the rest of the event were: 7:40, 7:45, 7:39, 7:47, 7:49, 7:41, and 7:26 based on Garmin timing.

No way you’re gonna catch the 7:30 pacer when your splits don’t match his.  LOL.

However, for anyone who’s been following me over the past 17 months, today represents a huge milestone for me, as I broke through the sub-8 timing barrier at the double-digit distance for the first time.

I’m still trying to achieve that level of performance at the half marathon distance after 6 events, but things look promising as the July 4th showdown in Minneapolis grows closer over the next 5 weeks. 

Want to extend a special shoutout to Chanthana for her loud and enthusiastic support on the course at the 8.5 mile marker.  I was going strong in the race at that stage, but she probably was key in helping me close the event with a 7:26 split.

Also want to thank my friend Fabian for helping setup a venue for a post-race meetup that allowed Dailymilers and other members of the Chicago running community to meet, take photos, and swap event war stories. 

It was great teaming up with Chanthana, Fabian, Jeff H, Francesco S, Sue G, and Cal today.  They are all fine friends and people; glad we all had a chance to get together on a special day.

However, I would be remiss if I didn’t bring special attention to Chicago’s very own, Tony L.  Several weeks ago, Tony injured himself during training and was using crutches to get around.  Yet he ran in the Wisconsin Marathon earlier this month and racked up 7:14 overall timing in today’s event.

Many individuals would have gone home after achieving their laurels, but Tony waited for me to complete my efforts in order to meet me officially for the first time.  Tony’s a fine man and Dailymiler; couldn’t be prouder of his comeback and efforts this past quarter.

I also want to extend my sincere thanks to all my friends who’ve supported me pre and post-race.  Can’t thank all of you enough.

We runners are blessed to have the physical abilities to run in events like the Soldier Field 10-Miler.  We are also blessed to live in a world that allows us to have the freedom to choose what we do with our Saturday mornings on a Memorial Day Weekend.

There’s no more fitting place to have held a performance event than Soldier Field.  My thanks to our servicemen and women, past and present, for your service in the cause of freedom.

New Personal Record (PR) for the 10k race distance, surpassing official timing at the 2010 Chicago Spring 10k (52:47) by 4 minutes and 12 seconds.

Seventh (7) PR out of eight (8) events in 2011.

4th in my age group out of 34 runners; missing a third place AG medal by less than 33 seconds.

55th overall out of 700 runners (top 7th percentile); 48:35.7 official timing; 7:50 pace. 

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In preparing to launch MARATHONBrian, I re-read many of my posted race reports over the past two event seasons.

One of the events that most astounded me upon reflection was 2010′s Chicago Spring 10k, tied to the half marathon sponsored by the Magellan Development Group.

My training and preparation prior to that event was dead on and I was confident that I’d be successful in using the 10k as a bridge to my first half marathon, 13.1 Chicago, scheduled 4 weeks after Chicago Spring.

On race day, however, I fell back asleep after completing my morning pre-race checklist and had to scramble out the door, find parking near the race venue, and locate the actual venue, leaving only 10 minutes to spare before the starting gun sounded.

My “Keystone Cop” execution continued as my backup timing watch failed to work, my iPod didn’t fire up, and my Garmin only registered overall pace (not timing or distance).

I also got caught up in the headiness of the event, registering a 7:40 opening mile split, when my goal pace for the entire event was 8:30.

So how’s it going, Marathon Brian?  LOL.

Not surprisingly, running tends to resemble life and somehow we make due on a daily basis and that’s what I did at last year’s Chicago Spring.  I got used to having no tunes, relying on pace timing to bring me home, as well as finding more realistic pacing for the rest of the event.

It wasn’t easy, but even with all my goofs and malfunctions, I managed to cross the finish line at 52:47, 26 seconds faster than my most effective 10k training run at the time.

However, the 2010 Chicago Spring 10k was the last time I ran in an official event at that distance.  There were other trails to blaze, such as gaining confidence at the half marathon distance and preparing for an eventual showdown at the Chicago Marathon on 10-10-10.

10k’s had become training runs for “Flyin’ Brian,” not races, until now.

The unexpectedness of gaining entry into 2011′s Boston Marathon, blew up the race schedule I had crafted after the Austin Marathon that had me heading to Cincinnati to run in the venerable Flying Pig Marathon on May 1.

Running Boston changed that and I made a decision to revisit the races I ran in Spring, 2010 to prepare for this year’s San Francisco Marathon on July 31.

The Ravenswood Run on May 1 was the first stop on the “Revisit Tour,” Chicago Spring, the second.

Learning from 2010′s sluggish pre-race execution, I set the alarm, got up early, stayed up this time, and arrived at the race venue with little trouble this morning.

However, the weather was mighty cold for May 15th standards, with temps in the 40′s, a constant rain drizzle, and a fierce wind that blew throughout the race expo area.

Race officials didn’t play around this morning and ordered us to the starting line at 7:30, not bothering with the pleasantries and introductions customary at most events.

After a slight hiccup, my Garmin fired up a few seconds after the starting blast sounded and I don’t listen to music in races anymore, so no iPod to worry about today.

Likely due to the cold weather (which I hate), I had to dig in to hit my stride in mile-1, but eventually I kicked it into gear with a 7:14 opening split, followed by 7:13 in mile-2. 

There was an elevation that knocked my mile-3 timing down to 7:26, but I wasn’t worried as I reached the turnoff heading back to the finish line.

That lack of worry lasted about a minute as the fiercest headwind (estimated to be around 30-35 mph) I’ve ever encountered hit me like a barrelful of bricks.  A runner dressed in black passed me at the beginning of mile-4 and became my target as I largely ran alone with about 20 runners on my tail for the remainder of the race.

The 8:17 split I registered for mile-4 will likely go down as the most deceptive one of my running career, because I certainly expended 6-minute mile energy in running it.

Seeing that the “8:17 strategy” was going to murder me with 2 miles to go, I dialed it down to 8:25 and 8:26 for miles 5 and 6, but waited for the right opportunity to pass the “runner in black” by the end of mile-5.  I could feel the runner in black’s determination to regain the placement for about half a mile, but eventually he gave up.

However, my satisfaction about “beasting” the runner in black was shortlived as the “runner in navy blue” made his appearance and passed me halfway through mile-6.

Once again, like the “runner in black” I stayed on navy blue’s “six,” aggressively following him through the final 0.20 miles of the race and the final turnoff to the finish line.

Then it happened, “Flyin’ Brian Time,” as I floored it with everything I had, passing a likely shocked “runner in navy blue” about 10 feet from the finish line. 

So that’s it, another event in the annals of Marathon Brian’s racing history and my seventh PR in eight events this year.

In closing, I’m proud of my performance at today’s Chicago Spring.  I left it all on the course and ceded no placements to anyone without a fight.  My heartiest congratulations to the 54 runners who finished ahead of me today; you earned your places in the standings and were spirited competitors on a difficult day weather-wise. 

Pre-event I had strong hopes of securing an AG podium placement on Sunday; I fell short of that goal by less than 33 seconds. 

However, I’ll live.  There will be other days and other opportunities to secure some “bling” for the trophy case.  Maybe on a day when the headwinds blow only 20 mph.  LOL.

My heartiest congratulations to Brendan M, who secured hard-earned BQ timing at Pittsburgh, along with Mark W’s wife Tammy, going BQ with a strong cushion for her to build on.  Great to see there were many strong event performances for members of our community this weekend.

Thanks to everyone for your shoutouts and encouragement pre and post-Chicago Spring.  I’m always grateful for your friendship and support.  It’s always a joy to participate in events; glad there’s others who appreciate what this means for a fellow friend and athlete.

Next destination: The Soldier Field 10 Miler on May 29.  See ya then.

New Personal Record (PR) for the 5k distance, surpassing timing at the 2010 Trick or Treat Trot (21:48) by 7 seconds.

First event with sub-7 overall timing; 6:59 pace.  Official event timing: 21:41.

Placed 205th out of 2954 finishers (top 6.9 percentile).

Finished 3 minutes and 19 seconds faster than 2010′s performance in the same event.

I’ve run the gambit of thoughts and emotions since completing the 2011 Ravenswood Run early Sunday morning. 

At first, I thought based on watch (or watches in my case) timing that I had eeked out a small PR for the 5k distance, but blown an opportunity to go sub-7 for the first time.  As the sub-7 goal was one of my primary objectives pre-race, I was a bit bummed for awhile.

However, by mid-morning, the official results were released by race organizers and the “bummed” feeling went away as I achieved the sub-7 timing that had eluded me closing the 2010 running season and I made a primary objective for this stage of 2011.

Unlike Boston and other out-of-town “A” races, I didn’t lay out any of my race gear in advance before heading out the door this morning.  The race course is a couple of miles from my house and I was very relaxed this morning; walking to the course and arriving about 10 minutes before the air horn was blown starting the race.

I positioned myself behind the 7:00 minute pace marker and there were about 100 hungry and anticipatory runners in front of me and those athletes took off like a rocket when the horn went off; never to be seen again. 

Then about 100 runners jockeyed for position establishing the next pack behind the lead group and that’s the group I ran with this morning.  This group was HUNGRY, running around 7:00 minute pace or better; there wasn’t alot of talking or nonsense like often happens in many events.  Those are my favorite races when there’s a competitive scrum and you can target 2-3 runners to stay on track without having to rely on watch timing.

I was worried in mile-1 when I struggled to find a groove, but things settled in around the 3/4 mark and I registered a 7:08 pace for that mile. 

By mile-2, I was on fire, with pacing that reached the 6:40 mark early that mile.  However, I wisely dialed that back, not wanting to burn myself out at that stage of the race.  That caution proved to be wise, as I struggled in the second half; eventually registering a 7:03 pace.

Starting mile-3, I knew I needed a 6:50 pace and a good close to go sub-7 for the event.  But mile-3 became a “slug fest” where you’re in a battle just to maintain what you have.  With about half a mile to go, my pace slid to 7:15 and I knew I had to rally if I had any chance for a PR, let alone sub-7 timing for the event.  So I hit the accelerator and closed mile-3 at a 7:02 pace.

Then I looked down at my watch and I was one-tenth of a mile from the finish line and a minute from 2010′s PR for the 5k distance.  If there was a “Flyin’ Brian” race close in me there was a chance to nab a new PR and go sub-7.  I quickly steeled myself and “floored it” with everything I had left.  A spectator in the crowd noticed me flyin’ in and screamed, “Go get it, Bib 443.” 

The well wishers’ shoutout spurred me on to the finish line.  If there was a finish line race photographer, I didn’t see him and didn’t care.  I had completed the 2011 Ravenswood Run and knew I had captured a new PR for the distance.  Amazing what a 5:15 closing pace split (final one-tenth of a mile) can do to change a race that seemed to be slipping away.

After closing the race, I walked towards the expo area and ran into Fabian B, a friend who ran Ravenswood to start his 2011 season.  I also saw a former co-worker and her friend, who ran the event for the second consecutive year.  However, it was fantastic finally meeting Michelle from Daily Mile, who achieved a PR in the event and posted her race report on her blog in record time (hours before me).  Impressive, Michelle.

So all’s well, that ends well; that’s the story of the 2011 Ravenswood Run for me.  In 2010, I ran Ravenswood a week after running in the BAA 5k tied to the Boston Marathon, achieving a 39 second PR, so I was looking for some of the same positive karma today; which happened.

I can’t tell you how pumped I am to have finished in the top 6.9 percent overall in a large urban race like Ravenswood.  I finished in the top 21.7 percentile last year and hadn’t completed mile-2 when race officials announced the winner over the loudspeaker (which we all heard).  You don’t even feel like you’re in a race when stuff like that happens. 

Yes, yes, yes; all’s well, that’s ends well.  Heard no loudspeaker on mile-2 this year.  LOL.

The next event on tap for me is the Chicago Spring 10k, two weeks from today.  My official 10k PR is 52:47 (8:30 pace) from the same event last May.  Can’t tell you how excited I am about this upcoming race.

My sincere thanks to everyone who sent out shoutouts pre-and-post Ravenswood.  You were all with me when things got tough today and I greatly appreciate your love and support in what became a milestone event for the second year in a row.

Third fastest half marathon performance ever; surpassing all half marathon event timing in 2010; eclipsed only by timing at the Walt Disney World Half Marathon on January 8, 2011 (1:50:56) and the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon on February 6, 2011 (1:49:48).

Official event timing: 1:54:24; overall pace: 8:44.

The Chi Town Half Marathon wasn’t on my 2011 race schedule a month ago, but when an official charity invites you to run in the Boston Marathon with only seven weeks to prepare and you were just pummeled by the Austin Marathon’s hills; you have to make some key decisions you hadn’t expected to make at this stage of the game.

However, I recovered well after Austin; even knocking several minutes off my PR at a stair climbing event a week later.  My training has been solid and real over the past several weeks as well.

So I’m not going to skate around this: I expected to PR in this event this morning.  With the exception of Walt Disney World, the weather’s been crummy (too hot, too cold, rainy, humid, etc) in all of the half marathons I’ve run over the past year; Chi Town was my 6th since last June, so I wasn’t going to use the 28 degree race start temperature as an excuse pre-race.  I ran to the race venue in full winter racin’ gear, ready to rumble.

Shortly after obtaining my numbered timing chip from race officials, I happily met DM’s own, Jordan A. for the first time, who ran the event on the “down low,” not wanting to tip off anyone that he was racing today.  Jor_Dash (as he’s called) had a mischevious air about him and was confident that he’d do well in the event. In fact, the last time I saw him was when he took a short cut on the grass to sprint past the packed scrum in the first mile.

I, however, played it a little cooler.  I wasn’t “pokey” mind you, as 8:10 flashed on my Garmin for mile-1 at Belmont Harbor.  However, the unexpected nature of the day was in evidence by then as my Garmin conked out twice in the first mile, putting me behind about 1/5 of a mile behind the course distance for the rest of the event. 

Additionally, I regretted the decision to wear compression tights on race day, after leaving them alone since December.  I luv them, but no one makes a product that fits “me.”  The tights have to be large enough to accomodate my big legs, but end up being too loose in the waist, riding down over the course of the event.  Nothing more embarassing than having to hike up your tights every mile.  LOL.

But I had an event to run, so I focused on pace on my Garmin (ignoring the distance) and got better at the tights hikin’ as the morning moved forward.  Mile-2 (Marovitz Golf Course) registered at 8:08 pace and mile-3 (Montrose Harbor) came in at 8:03.  Mile-4 (heading South on the Lakeshore Path) came in at 7:59 and I was feelin’ real good; praying that I could hold that pace for the rest of the event and “Flyin’ Brian” the close.

My regular watch flashed 53:06 at the halfway mark, around 8:05 pace for the event, so my sub-8 overall timing goal was highly realistic.  However, the first of several stages of side stiches began around mile-7 and took the starch out of me; knocking my pace for that mile down to 8:33. 

I kept fighting though as there was a pack of runners drafting off me for several miles and I didn’t want to give up ground to them.  I kept moving forward as we made the turnoff at the Lincoln Memorial Monument on LaSalle Street at mile-8, but my pace started nose diving as my legs burned and I couldn’t generate the speed I maintained earlier.

By mile-10, I was in survival mode, just trying to finish the event as fast as I could and avoiding a timing meltdown.  I hated it.  I hated watching one-by-one runners I had passed in earlier stages of the event slowly pass me.  I hated it, but there was nothing I could do about it; there was no speed left in me.

So I soldiered on, mile-11, mile-12, and making the final turnoff on Cannon Drive towards the finish line.  I don’t know where it came from, but with about 1/5 of a mile to the finish, I “floored it” with everything I had (around a 6:00 pace), making enough of an impression for the event announcer to acknowledge me and cheers to ring loudly. 

“Flyin’ Brian” may have had a tough day, but he ain’t dead yet.

So today’s event is on the books and more decisions have to be made with 22 days remaining before Boston.  One of them is not to run in the Shamrock Shuffle 8k on 4/10.  My ego wanted to run that event largely because they assigned me to Corral A after not having a corral assignment in 2010.  However, as 2 of my friends on DM pointed out to me recently, its foolhardy to mess up a taper period in the world’s top marathon, just because you want to be in a corral.  So no Shamrock in 2 weeks.

I’m also not wearing compression tights in a race again; that’s a no brainer.  Hopefully, I’ll get my new Garmin (I bought a 410 model two weeks ago; that worked well until today) straightened out eventually as well.

However, the top thing I’ll adjust before Boston is my carb-up strategy.  Unlike other events, I didn’t go “off diet” a week before today’s race, so although I carbed up shortly before the half marathon, I was on a hard race diet for a month and the results of that strategy made itself evident in the second half of the Chi Town Half.

So there you are, sports fans.  The next race report will be from the Boston Marathon on Patriot’s Day, 4/18/11; sans today’s tights, wonky Garmin, overly aggressive dieting strategy, and hopefully–a little warmer.  Maybe in the 40′s this time.

Thanks for your support and shoutouts pre-and-post event.  They warmed my heart on a cold Midwestern weekend.

New Personal Record (PR) for a 94-story stair climbing event; surpassing timing at 2010′s Hustle Up the Hancock, by 4 minutes and 34 seconds.

18:53 official timing for the event; first sub-20 finish for the full climb.

Sunday, February 28, 2010; I’ll never forget that day as the hard work I put in to start 2010, paid strong dividends as I was able to knock more than 5 minutes off my 2009 Hustle Up the Hancock competition time (28:29 in 2009; 23:28 in 2010).

That was also the first time I had improvement in competition results for anything since 2007; arresting a three year event performance slide. 

I’ll never forget 2/28/10; it was the day that established the tone and tempo for me in 2010, with 13 Personal Records in 15 other events and providing valuable experience and lessons in the 3 non-PR events.

I was confident heading into 2011′s Hancock; between my overall weight loss and consistent training being a resource, I also know where I can “push things” and knew that I had the stamina and mental determination to be successful today.  The only factor I was concerned about were my legs, feet, and ankles; all sore for most of the week after last Sunday’s Austin Marathon.

By Friday, however, my legs rebounded, so my only physical concern were my feet and ankles for Sunday’s climb. 

I arrived early at Chicago’s John Hancock Center for our company’s team photo (our firm has sponsored a team for the past 4 years) and we lined up to head to the staging area on the First Floor to start our individual climbs.

After largely being an also-ran at this event in the past, particularly in 2009, our employees insisted that I lead the company team off, so I lined up in front for the first time.  Eventually, we reached the entrance to the event stairwell and was given the signal to start my climb.

I don’t know why I did it, but I ran up the steps to begin the climb, something we usually advise novice event participants not to do.  I ignored the event photographer stationed on the first floor as well; working to find a rhythm and cadence that would guide me to the 94th Floor.

My fears that my feet and ankles wouldn’t hold up faded away as the climb continued, with my only wish was that I had fresher legs post-marathon.  But I dug in, reaching the 30th Floor around the 7-minute mark. 

By this time in past Hancock events, I would be gassed and forced to stop briefly to recover and regain confidence.  Even with last year’s performance gains, I stopped 5 times, costing me valuable overall timing. 

I didn’t stop once today; didn’t even consider it.

I reached the 72nd Floor around the 16-minute mark and realized that my pre-event goal of breaking 20 minutes was in the bag if I kept going at a pace that was gaining as the event moved forward.  That’s when I really kicked it in, hoping that I could break 19-minutes and get closer to equaling last year’s performance improvement.

Those last floors went by in a blur as I moved closer to the 94th Floor; where the event photographer was stationed.  This time, I straightened up and posed for my closing photo and quickly crossed the finish line on the landing.

Friends and supporters were at the top to greet me and the event announcer shouted my name; I had completed 2011′s Hustle Up the Hancock, with unofficial timing under 19-minutes and only 1 event participant passed me in the entire event.

I’ll never forget 2/27/11.

Improving once again by more than 4 minutes in stair climbing competition is huge.  Elite climbers (strong endurance athletes and firefighters) who finish in the Top-25 (out of nearly 3,000 participants) generally top out around 13 minutes; so to knock that deficit to 5-6 minutes has fueled me for 2012.

In the meantime, back to work for me.  I largely took the training week off to recover from Austin and conserve energy for today’s event.  The Shamrock Shuffle 8K awaits on 4/10; followed by the Boston Marathon on 4/18.

4 events; 4 PR’s in 2011; Life is very good.

Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement; I’m deeply appreciative of your caring and friendship.  I love events and love writing about them; glad we’re able to share the love together.

New Personal Record (PR) for the marathon distance, surpassing timing at the 2010 Chicago Marathon (4:46:55) by 21 minutes and 42 seconds.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to Austin, temperature 72 degrees, humidity 94%; the time is 4:30pm.”  Those words were echoed by the lead pilot of American Airlines, Flight 1053, in that authoritative “I’m a pilot at the sub-3 hour marathon level in my profession” tone of voice when I landed at Austin International Airport on Friday afternoon.

My flight landed about 5 minutes behind schedule and it took longer than expected to secure the car I rented to get around Austin this weekend, so I missed Joe M (this weekend’s star attraction) at the Expo; but had the great opportunity to meet friend and fellow DMer Jeni H., before she headed out.  Jeni’s an amazing person and has had many interesting travels and experiences; so I enjoyed my time visiting with her.  Jeni skillfully melded her work schedule with this weekend’s race and tackled the half marathon event with strong results.

After picking up my bib and race pack at the Expo, I checked into my hotel and picked up some food and water for the weekend at Whole Foods; located down the street from the hotel. 

In contrast with many race locales I’ve visited over the past year, Austin’s an impressive place.  The roads are pristine, smooth and unrutted; their airport is beautiful; hometown newspaper still substantative (four full sections in Saturday’s edition); and the Whole Foods even headlined a folk singer brandishing an acoustic guitar on a Friday night. 

Yep, I’ve seen worse.

On Saturday, I chilled out (at least for me) at the hotel, downing my scheduled sequence of carb-up and protein-centered meals, taking some time to get caught up with Daily Mile and Friday’s e-mail/message traffic.

My plan for Austin was the “anti-Chicago Marathon plan,” where I was going to leave the ego back home in Chicago and largely run 9-minute splits and glide home on the downhill grade that was featured on the elevation chart on the event’s website.

That worked to perfection for the first 12 miles or so as I logged in a 9:19 split in the opening mile in contrast with the sub-8 I foolishly executed at CM10.  My 5k time was a conservative 27:46; designed largely to warmup and see how I felt before taking on the first series of elevations after mile-3. 

I’m pleased how I handled the hills from miles 3 to 6 and by mile-9 had erased the timing deficit for the 3:50 overall pace and was in fact ahead of it. 

However, that’s when mile-10 happened.

Mile-10 represented the part of the event when runners started to get sorted out (hills for now on until the decent at mile-22) and reality sets in as the strong timing I brought to table before the split collapsed and by mile-12, the 3:50 pace group caught me.  The ego that Brian left home in Chicago would have chased the pace group down; post CM-10 Brian knew to leave them alone and keep fighting.

I reached the 13.1 mile mark at 1:58:08 with hopes of still going sub-4 for the event, but by mile-18, my legs and feet were toast.  I was in good spirits and had good stamina, but the pins and flippers were gone.  But in contrast with CM-10, I “runna-walked” the remaining 8 miles in stark comparison with the Chicago Marathon when I couldn’t generate any speed at all.

The closing miles of the race were tough, especially as the sun made its appearance and the downward grade to the finish line didn’t yield the kind of benefits I hoped it would. 

One of the highlights of the event for me was running into John F., a fellow Daily Miler, and a member of the energetic Fermo’s (including his brother Jeremy F. who ran the event).  John was “gutting out” the marathon like I was and we ran together for a mile or so after the 24.5 mile mark.  John ran with me bravely and strongly, but had to back away to recover briefly, but made a remarkable re-appearance with 800 meters to go (on a hill) and yelled “let’s go,” spurring us all on.

My legs were gone by that time and I told John to close it out with gusto.  I kept the faith inching to the finish line, spotting it with 200 meters remaining.  I don’t know where it came from, but I floored it with a speed that shocked even me; surprising many people including the closing race announcer.  I found out later, that Jeni H had remained long enough to see Joe M, Brian C, and me close strongly. 

I’m proud of my performance at the 2011 Austin Marathon.  I didn’t achieve the sub-4 dreams I harbored before the event, but its not realistic at this time on this kind of event course.  Joe M used the word “brutal” to describe the challenges of the race course and I was thinking the same thing as I slugged it out on the hills between miles-9 and 22.     

I’m also very impressed with the people of Austin.  Their friendliness, warmth, and understanding support fueled me more times than I can mention in this report. 

I have to say the same to my friends on Daily Mile, Twitter, and Facebook.  You spoil me with your support, best wishes, and hopes for success.  I hope that I’m doing the same for you in my way.

Congratulations should be extended to Joe M for his Boston Qualifying (BQ) performance on a race course that I wouldn’t have believed if I didn’t run it myself.  He’s one of the finest men I’ve had a chance to know on this network and his success today is a testament to his strong character and work ethic.  I couldn’t be prouder of an individual.

A special shoutout should go to Brian C. for a 3:50:34 performance in his first marathon.  Sub-4 by nearly 10 minutes at Austin in their first 26.2 event; remarkable.  So happy for you, my friend. 

Lastly, my thanks to Middalia, another fellow DMer, who was on today’s race course snapping photos that she posted on the site.  She managed to capture one of me when I was kickin’ butt; I’ll be sendin’ that to my boss on Monday.  LOL.

What’s next for me?  Some recovery time and then back to work; a stairclimbing event at Chicago’s John Hancock Center next Sunday (94 stories; I know, I’m crazy) and the Shamrock Shuffle, an 8k event run by the organizers of the Chicago Marathon is on the schedule for April 10.  I’ll be there in Corral A–up in front, one of the fruits of 2010′s labors; a labor of love, personal renewal, and friendship. 

2011: 3 events; 3 new PR’s.  Life is good.