Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 2 miles. Just a quick shakeout before work. I needed to find a way to cut back my mileage this week, so taking the morning off seemed like a good idea when I woke up and the rain was pouring... just went back to sleep for an extra hour instead. Andrea shot some higher-speed video of me running last night, which is pretty cool, but now that I know our camera has this capability, it guarantees I will be spending a lot of time editing skiing footage this winter!

PM - 10 miles w/ Andrea. Legs felt good. Glad we waited until after work to do this run because it was a very pleasant evening. 

AM - 6.5 miles around campus. 

PM - 10 miles. Workout was a 3 mile marathon-pace tempo on the roads, then to the track for 1600-1200-800-400, and finishing with another mile @ MP. 

Splits were 15:57 (5:19, 5:21, 5:17), 4:49, 3:38, 2:26, 70, 5:15.

I was a little disappointed in the 12-8-4 portion of the workout... my stomach started acting up about halfway through the 1200, and if I had tried to run any faster on the 8/4, it might have been a disaster! I like doing these step-downs and hitting the last couple reps hard.... the legs were OK w/ that plan, but my stomach wasn't letting that happen today. No big deal... and on the bright side, I felt like I was jogging for the last 5:15 mile.

AM - 7.7 miles, JAJA run through Sugarhouse. 

PM - 6 miles easy. Nice recovery day. 

Yesterday I reached my goal of 20,000 perfect pushups for the year, with almost 2 months to spare!

Today is Andrea's birthday! I made a slideshow with some highlights from her 24th year. 

AM - 7.5 miles. Started with Andrea, then up to work. 

PM - 7.5 miles, retraced my path from this morning back home. Warm and windy. Got a big workout on tap for tomorrow, hoping the weather will partially cooperate. 

AM - 4 miles, shakeout in the snow. Nice morning for an easy run, but its not worth risking running a faster workout in these conditions. When fitness is near its peak, the biggest concern is some sort of freak injury. We'll re-evaluate this afternoon and either do it then, or modify the plan.

PM - 16.6 miles. 4-3-2-1 workout. Andrea and I met Emily B out at the frontage road around 2:15pm... the roads were dry and the weather was clear, although it was pretty windy. We made the right call by waiting until the afternoon. After a quick one mile warmup we got going with the workout. Splits were:

• 4 miles in 21:09 (5:14, 5:18, 5:20, 5:17). Major headwind the whole way. 
• 3 miles in 15:28 (5:10, 5:11, 5:08). Tailwind. Felt a lot easier!
• 2 miles in 10:16 (5:13, 5:03). Headwind for the first mile, 180 degree turn, nice tailwind coming back.
• 1 mile in 4:54. Cruising to the finish with the tailwind.

In between each effort was a half mile of running at about 6:40 pace. Cooled down a little over 4 miles, most of it with the girls once they finished up. Glad to get this one done. I wore my heavier shoes instead of my racing flats, because I thought the roads would be wet... so I am pretty happy with how this one went. Only one more harder workout left!

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If you read Chris McDougal's latest article in the NY Times this week, this response by Alex Hutchinson is worth a read. I'm all for minimalist running, good form, etc., but McDougal is so one-sided in his arguments that its pathetic (especially if you have a broader knowledge of the topics he is taking about / skewing). Alex does a nice job in his response of finding the middle ground, and calling out Chris for fabricating his anecdotes. I think Born to Run was an interesting book... and the fallout from it had some great benefits - the shoe companies started to think and innovate, which is awesome... I just don't really think he should be viewed as any type of authority on running, and I get the feeling he definitely looks at himself that way.

AM - 11.5 miles. Ran 6.7 w/ Andrea, then added on some more. Nice, easy run on another beautiful morning. Running on the snow covered grass park was the highlight. Feeling pretty good after the harder effort yesterday afternoon. 

We watched the NYC Marathon before heading out. Awesome race. The lesson to be learned from Mary Keitany: don't go out too hard! But the real story was Geoffrey Mutai running a negative split 2:05:05... holy moly! Course records in every world major race (Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, NYC) in 2011... I don't think "raising the bar" even begins to describe what has happened in the marathon world this year. 

Nice run by Meb K, too. If Sasha has proven that a 2:30 marathon can be run in Crocs, Meb has now proven that a 2:09 marathon can be run in Sketchers. I think both are impressive! :-) 

PM - 2.7 miles shakeout. 

AM - 7.5 miles. To Sugarhouse Park w/ Andrea, then up to work. Our typical easy morning lately.

PM - 5.5 miles. Down to the track, then did 4x200m + 2x100m. My legs felt like they had a ton of "pop" so I had to hold myself back and try not to run too fast. That is a good problem to have! 

Turkey Trot Tune-Up 5K - Saturday November 12 - 9:30am - Highland High School Track
It looks like the weather is going to take a turn for the worse starting this weekend... so right now we're just going to say "weather permitting." Hopefully it will be decent on Saturday morning. If you plan to come, either leave a comment or shoot me (or Andrea) an email. That way if for some reason its a downpour and we need to change the time or something like that, we'll be able to make sure we get in touch with everyone. 

AM - 7.5 miles up to work. 

PM - 4 miles around campus, finishing up at the orthopedic center where Andrea was getting a massage. 

Mileage reduction = increased blogging activity. Here's a couple I've written recently: 1) Thoughts on running footwear and 2) Why we run short track reps during marathon training

AM - 4 miles, easy shakeout run on campus. 

PM - 13 miles. Last Chance Workout!  2 x 5 miles, starting at marathon pace and then stepping it down... one mile warmup, two strides, then got rolling...

First 5 miles in 26:02 - 5:17, 5:15, 5:16, 5:12, 5:02. Ran by feel and didn't look at my watch too much. The effort felt very sustainable.

1 mile recovery in 6:45 (I only really needed a fraction of this, but I wanted to replicate the same workout from May 31st, 10 days out from Utah Valley) 

Second 5 miles in 25:42 - 5:11, 5:11, 5:10, 5:09, 5:01. I told myself I was not allowed to run under 5:10 until the last mile, and pretty much stuck to that. I was in a great rhythm for the first 4.5 miles, and then only picked it up over the last half-mile. 

Cooled down a mile w/ Andrea.

Honestly, I felt like I was holding back the entire time on this workout. I got what I needed out of it, but I'm saving the real big effort for 10 days from now. 

I saw the list of athletes running Philly today. Its a fantastic field, and should be a great, very competitive race. The apparent contenders include:

-Kenyan guy with PRs of 1:04 / 2:16
-Ethiopian guy with PRs of 1:03 / 2:17
-Winners of the 2011 Hartford and Baltimore marathons (both ran 2:21 in those races)
-13:26 / 28:30 / 1:03 guy making his marathon debut
-Former 3:43 1500m guy and USA World XC team member
-About 7-8 guys who have run 1:07/1:08 for the half-marathon or low/mid 2:20s for the marathon 

Now I have to just contain my excitement for a little bit longer!

AM - 6.5 miles. Another nice JAJA run through Sugarhouse neighborhoods. My legs felt really good, which means I did the workout at the right effort level yesterday.

PM - 4 miles. Ran a couple loops around Sugarhouse park, then finished on the track with 8 x 100m (16-17 seconds). Just strided out on the straights and ran the turns easy.

We are still planning to do the free Turkey Trot Tune-Up 5K on Saturday morning at the Highland track. The weather looks like its going to be off & on gross all day, and we need to get the workout in no matter what, so we're just going to do it rain or shine or snow or ice or sleet or rainbows. If anyone is planning to come that hasn't told us yet, let us know so we make sure we have enough chocolate milk! New Time = 9:00am

FYI - Saucony is looking for wear testers for women's size 8 and men's size 10. They want people averaging at least 40 miles / week. You can email them and ask for an application: Weartest@Saucony.com

AM - 4.4 miles, easy horsepark loop w/ Andrea. 

PM - 2.5 miles. Ran on the track and incorporated 4x100m, 2x200m, 2x100m... just at 5K pace to stretch the legs out. It was basically the easiest fartlek run EVER :-)

Andrea scraped the little bit of remaining snow/ice off the far turn (by the creek) so no one should slip and injure themselves tomorrow. 

Track 5K, 9am tomorrow. No field events this time. Unless Andrea and Allie decide to square off in the triple jump.

Here's a blast from the past of when I threw the javelin and got beat by a 71 year old woman. 

AM - 7.5 miles. Turkey Trot Tune-Up 5K at the Highland Track. Another fun morning... we had seven runners (and three spectators) this time. Luckily the rain held off, although I think everyone would agree that the wind was pretty tough to deal with.

I decided to just go out at 5K goal pace and see how it felt. First mile was 4:48. My legs felt really good, and sensing that Fritz was behind me for the first couple laps definitely helped. But the wind on the backstretch (actually for about a 150m stretch) really slowed things down, so after 5 laps I decided to scale back the effort. I knew it wasn't going to be a PR day (James thought the 15+ mph winds cost us about 20+ seconds, and he is REALLY good at math, so I'll take his word on that), so there was no point in going all-out with next weekend's race being slightly more important :-)

Second mile was 4:58, the third was 5:04, then 36 seconds for the last 200m (DNK - did not kick!). Finishing time was 15:26.4. 

The somewhat official results were...

Jake 15:26.4
Fritz    16:38.1
James 16:47.5
Andrea 17:58.0
Bryan 18:07.2
Chad 18:58.8
Sandy 19:09.8 

Allie was awesome enough to be the official starter and photographer again. We need to get her a gun to start the race next time. Here is a slideshow of the photos...

They can also be found here. 

Not nearly my fastest 5K, but I got what I needed out of this run - a harder effort that will help me stay sharp, and will make marathon pace feel so much easier and sustainable. It is interesting to hear people's opinions regarding the "short race before a longer race" strategy. Some are strongly opposed to it, feeling that it takes something away from the target race. I think that if you can't recover from a 5K in a day, then you aren't in good enough shape to run a good marathon anyways. I've done it before every half-marathon/marathon this year, and so far the results have been good.

Next year I really want to attack the 5K distance and significantly bring down my PR. But right now my heart is 100% in the marathon, and its the only distance I really care about being able to crush at this point. I hope this upcoming week just flies by! 

PM - 3 miles shakeout. Went to the movies this afternoon... saw Footloose... I feel like that high school had a disproportionate number of exceptional dancers compared to the average school.  It did not remind me of my high school experience at all! :-)

AM - 10 miles easy w/ Andrea. Woke up to rain, so we went grocery shopping first, and then it was really nice outside by the time we got started. The new track at Olympus high school is in place.

AM - 5 miles. Ran 3 w/ Andrea and then another loop around the block. Did extra pushups because I have an abundance of energy to burn off. I also need to make sure my arms are big enough to keep my arm warmers from falling off. Laugh if you will, but Andrea has that problem! :-)

PM - 5 miles. A mini-workout to keep the legs turning over. 8 x 400m w/ 200m float... the first six were at marathon pace - 82, 79, 78, 78, 78, 78... then I let myself run "fast but relaxed" on the last two - 67, 66.  

Last night we had an enjoyable dinner and great conversations with the Murphy clan. I think Rob just invited us over so we would become obsessed with Summit (their dog) and offer to puppy-sit him anytime they needed. If that was the case, his plan was 100% successful.

AM - 5 miles. Horsepark loop w/ Andrea, then added on a little loop on our street. 

PM - 3 miles around the block. 

A couple people have asked if there will be live updates / tracking at Philly. It appears that they have a pretty decent system in place. I compiled all the info for a post on our blog: Live updates from Philly. Supposedly there will be timing mats at 10K, 1/2, and 30K. And there is some "map-tracker" that hasn't gone live yet... not sure how that would work unless they put a tiny GPS chip in everyone's bib :-)

AM - 8.4 miles. Workout at Liberty Park. Nothing too hard, just enough to keep the legs from getting flat. Warmed up 2 miles, then did 3 x 1 mile with an easy mile in between (full recovery is essential at this point... the last thing you want to do it wear yourself down even a fraction of a percent). Splits were 5:14, 5:07, 4:56. It was tough getting going on the first one especially, which I think was due to the fact that it was early and COLD!

The Training Wisdom of John Kellogg. This is an old thread from Letsrun that I don't remember ever reading. Its interesting that pretty much everything I believe about training is in these 2 pages. I guess I've picked up a lot from JK and the Brojos over the years. Not to mention that its all pretty much Lydiard-based. I wanted to share this because in 2 concise pages, it covers 98% of what you need to know about running fast. Print a copy. This is a case where its OK to kill a tree :-)

AM - 6 miles, JAJA. My legs feel downright springy.

PM - 2 miles with 4x200m @ MP. Some new additions to the elite fields for Sunday. A 2:12 guy and 60-flat guy. I think its safe to say I'm gonna be letting that lead pack do their own thing. I'm racing the clock!

Last night we went to the USATF banquet - Andrea and I were the guest speakers, which was a very nice honor. We sat at the kids table with Allie and James. It was awesome to feel such genuine support from so many other people... we know we have a lot of people pulling for us this weekend, and that is a really good feeling.

In the raffle I won a free entry into the Ogden Marathon! The chances that I would actually run a spring marathon in 2012 are about 0.001% (or less). But as Emily said, I can probably make a lot of money selling that bib :-) 

I wasn't kidding about the kids' table. They even gave us chalk. Here is some of the artwork... 

Allie drew this... 

And James counted with this...
 

AM - 4.4 miles, horsepark loop w/ Andrea.

Last chance blogging frenzy! Pre-Marathon Odds and Ends -  Andrea's Final Miles Motivation (I especially love the one about "losing weight with every step to make it easier!" - Nothing new on race day.

And finally, I already wrote what is essentially "part one" of my race report, because it really stands on its own, regardless of how things go this weekend: The Journey (so far)

Leaving for Philly later this afternoon.

3.8 miles along the river and the start/finish areas of the course. Travel was relatively uneventful... direct flight to Philly, got in late and spent last night at a hotel by the airport, then took the train downtown this morning and checked into our nice hotel in Logan Circle. Surprisingly they had our room ready for us at 9:30am, which was pretty sweet (and convenient). After running we've just been taking it easy - got some lunch, went to the expo, and hung out w/ Andrea's parents for a while. Our hotel room has a kitchen so we didn't have to bother with the hassle of going out to dinner. 

Thanks for all the good wishes we've gotten this week - it really means a lot to us! 

Really looking forward to getting after it tomorrow morning.  

We decided to go Galen Rupp style at the airport and in the place yesterday... the mask definitely keeps people from sitting next to you!
 

Philadelphia Marathon Race Report

As everyone knows, I was going for the Olympic Trials qualifying time of 2:19:00. I was very confident going into this, as my training had been pretty much perfect, I was 100% healthy, and feel like I pretty much nailed the taper just right. When I went to bed last night, I felt like there was absolutely nothing I could have or would have done differently.

We woke up at 5am, went outside for a quick 3 minute shakeout jog, then hung out in our hotel room until about 6:20am. The temperature was 51 degrees when we woke up, which was really nice because it was 27 degrees the day before. It was also windy, which we didn't think was a big deal at the time. We made our way down Ben Franklin Parkway with thousands and thousands of other runners. The atmosphere was exciting. Checked into the elite tent, used the private bathroom (best perk of elite seeding!), and at 6:50am they brought us out to the course. We did a few strides, and literally a minute before the race, the elite coordinator introduced the OTQ pacers. What? We had not been told about this before, but it was a welcome surprise. The men's pacer was a small little Kenyan guy. Then we were off and running...

The start down the parkway felt amazing. A true big city marathon atmosphere. If you've ever been to or seen this area in front of the art museum, you would agree that this is simply an iconic road to start a big race on. It was very cool.

Everyone went out fast, and there were half-marathoners mixed in there, so I made sure to hang back and stay conservative. Just before the one mile mark, things thinned out a bit, I found our pacer and a pack started to form. Hit the mile in 5:11, but with all the adrenaline and loud crowds, that was about as slow as I could possibly go.

Then we found our rhythm. The next miles were 5:20, 5:19, 5:19, 5:14, 5:18, 5:17. Perfect. The crowds on Chestnut Street were the best I have ever experienced during a race. I tried to conserve as much energy as possible and stay tucked in behind some taller guys. The wind was swirling, seemingly coming from every direction, and it was obvious this would play a factor in the race.

After 7 miles, you leave the downtown area and hit the hilly section of the course. Splits here were 5:23, 5:27, 5:28. Exactly what I wanted - conserve energy on the uphills. Our pack was probably still about 7-8 guys at this point (the lead marathon pack was never in sight).

The next 3 miles were mostly flat, with some gradual hills, but nothing too challenging. Hit 5:12, 5:17, 5:16 - then the half-marathon in 1:09:33. Right on the money!

Not many guys running with the OTQ group made it much past halfway. The 14th mile was 5:11, and it was already down to 3 - the pacer (who didn't talk much but was doing an awesome job), myself, and Karl Savage (a local favorite and former 4-minute miler). We just kept rolling and I was feeling good - 5:17, 5:16, 5:23 (up and over a bridge with the 2nd 180 degree turn). Just before we hit 17, the pacer told me he was done and couldn't go any further. He wished us luck. I said "Are you ready to do this Karl? Its just us now" I think he said he was ready, and within 20 seconds he dropped and I never saw him again (he ran 2:35).

Now it was on me to make this happen. It was go time, now or never. I controlled my own destiny. No crutches, no pacers, not really even any competitors around. I think I was in 6th or 7th place.

The next 4 miles were 5:18, 5:18, 5:22, 5:22 - the latter two having more uphill than I anticipated. The 30K split was 1:38:51 (sub 2:19 pace), and my 20 mile split was 1:46:05, just a few ticks off the 1:46:01 that I had written with a sharpie on my arm. This was exactly where I wanted to be... on pace at 20, and now I could do what I was trained to do - drop the hammer and catch everyone in front of me...

But before I had a chance to take a swing, the hammer hit me. And so did the wind hammer - the wind was now blowing directly from the east (straight up headwind) and while not an absolute killer, it was very noticeable while running solo and having no one to tuck in behind.

I tried to fight it. And my 22nd mile was 5:32. Slowest of the race, and it was a gradual downhill. I just couldn't accelerate on the downhills. My hamstrings and calves were knotting up. But all hope was not lost yet. I heard someone tell me I was in 6th place sometime during this mile.

Then the $h#t hit the fan. Or it hit the wall. The wall that I tried to convince myself didn't exist started to show itself in an ugly, nasty way. The 23rd mile was 5:58, but after running sub 5:20 pace for 21 miles, that felt like I wasn't even moving. Like I was running in sand. And it was about to get a lot worse...

At Utah Valley, when I hit the 23 mile mark I told myself "only 15 minutes to go!" and absolutely crushed the last couple miles, running some of my fastest splits of the race. The story of these last miles couldn't have been more different...

My form was completely broken by this point - I was hunched over and not running smooth at all. It was a struggle to move. And then I started getting dizzy. Maybe it was just a lack of mental focus - I don't know, but my head was spinning and I just felt awful. I hit an aid station and walked through it. This is when I was supposed to be clipping off 5:05 miles, and it was like I was running the Wasatch 100 miler! Walking?!?! Oh man. The 24th mile was 6:22. So now I'm at women's OTQ pace!

I'm at a point that I have never experienced before... fighting to stay upright. Mentally, checked out and I know I'm not going to get re-engaged in this race. Runners coming the opposite way (the second half is an out and back) were so supportive and encouraging. I just couldn't rise up and run fast like they were telling me to. I was stumbling around, weaving back and forth across the road. Its funny to think about this now... but it wasn't funny at the time. I considered just stopping and waiting for Andrea, thinking that maybe if I rested for 15 minutes, I could bring her in at 6:20 pace. But at the same time, I just wanted to get off the course in one piece, and I didn't want to risk upsetting her if she saw me in a bad state and ruin her OTQ chances, so I soldiered on... stopping to walk at every aid station and about every 2-3 minutes otherwise... I was Gallo-walking! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Mile 25 was 7:04. Cool, now I'm at race-walking OTQ pace. Guys are flying past me. I go from 6th or 7th place to 13th. During this mile I tried to high-five Andrea's dad and I completely missed (by about 4 feet). My depth perception was gone. I had officially hit the wall.

The last 1.2 miles took me 9 minutes and 31 seconds (7:55 pace). With a little over a quarter mile to go, I saw my sister and a ton of my friends from college who had come out to watch. I gave them all high-fives and just shrugged my shoulders. I think they were surprised to see me looking so terrible, because they had seen my 30K split and didn't expect the blowup any more than I did.

The finish was anti-climatic. Not the 2:17 and and OTQ and "Ryan Hall style" celebration and getting draped with the American flag like I had visualized on every early morning run and hard workout for the past 4 months. I just crossed like any other runner, having experienced the "other side" of the marathon that so many others have gone through. A rite of passage of sorts. 

I drank 3 cups of Gatorade, then threw it up. Went to the elite tent, changed my clothes, and went back to the finish to watch Andrea come in. I had my phone, so I told my sister to text me when she came by. I got the text when the clock was at 2:47-high, and Andrea came in just over 2:49. She looked strong as she crossed the line. I immediately wrapped her up in a big hug and told her how proud I was of her and how much I loved her. As I wrote about on our blog the other day, the journey is what really matters, not necessarily the outcome. She asked me how I did, and I saw the pain in her eyes when I said 2:25. She knew better than anyone how bad I wanted this and how hard I had worked. It was almost tough to admit to her that I had run so slowly.

After the race we met up with all our friends and family. They knew we didn't hit the times we wanted and were very supportive and cheered us back up. After a while I came back to life and started to feel better. We got some cheesesteaks and Dairy Queen, walked around for about 4-5 miles, and had a nice afternoon - it was good to have time with friends to take our minds off the race... and laugh about my 8 minute mile finish!

For such an incredible field of runners, the results across the board were not that great. The women's winner ran amazing, but none of the African men even broke 2:19, and none of the American guys qualified for the trials. I think the wind really kicked a lot of guy's butts over the last 10K.

I did everything I could, and it just wasn't my day. I wouldn't have changed anything about my training... I wouldn't have tapered differently... and I wouldn't have raced with a different strategy. I hydrated well during the race at the aid stations and I took my gels, so I was fueled perfectly. I have no regrets about anything. I don't even regret making this such a "public" goal. If you want to achieve great things in life, you have to push it to the edge, and sometimes that means you will fall short of expectations, especially when they are very high.

I'm burnt out on writing now... I think I'll have some more reflections on the race tomorrow, but I wanted to get this up tonight.

I'm not going for a last-chance last-chance qualifier in the half-marathon in Vegas in two weeks... it crossed my mind for a split second, but I think I need to take a break, then start from scratch again.

I feel blessed to even be in the situation where a 2:25 marathon is a complete disaster with an EPIC blowup over the last 4 miles! That says a lot about how far I have come this year. This has been the most amazing year of running of my life, and I believe my ceiling now is a lot higher than I ever thought possible.

When talking to my parents after the race, they reminded me of a very fitting quote from Bill Rodgers: The marathon can humble you. 

I'll bounce back, stronger and faster than ever, you can mark my words on that. And now I don't have to go for 2:19 all at once - I have years to get there, and before that - knock down my PRs at shorter distances.

Quick thoughts on the Philly course - crowd support is amazing for the first half of the race, then its pretty lonely until the very end. In terms of the difficulty of the course - we definitely underestimated it. Its not a Chicago/Berlin/London pancake flat course. The hills are a lot more significant than we gave them credit for and I guess if there was any aspect of the race that we were under-prepared for - that was it.  

[Day after thoughts... I think electrolyte depletion played a role in my demise... some thoughts on that here.] 

A lot of very good professional photos from the race. Some more below...

From 2011 Philadelphia Marathon

From 2011 Philadelphia Marathon

 

From 2011 Philadelphia Marathon

 

We're keeping this poster, and we're going to cross out 2012 and write in 2016!

AM - 2.4 miles. Andrea and I ran from our hotel down the Ben Franklin Parkway to the art museum, up the "Rocky" steps, then back along the river trail. 

Physically, I feel fine this morning... like I did a really hard workout yesterday, but I don't have that "day after" feeling like I did after Utah Valley, where slow jogging was a true struggle. My stride felt normal, my muscles don't ache. When I woke up this morning my heart rate was in the normal range (just below 40).

I don't know for sure, but I think the physical problem yesterday was electrolyte depletion. When things went south for me, everything was cramping up. My legs, my shoulder, my back, my arms. And it was completely bilateral. Additionally - I got dizzy and delirious. Most of the time after races, I don't even want anything to drink. Yesterday my instinct at the finish line was to stumble right to the Gatorade tent and drink as much as I could (so much that I threw up and then had to start over). I had a girl at the tent fill me up a 24 oz bottle, and as I slowly drank that over the next 30 minutes, I came back to life. As the day went on, I felt better and better... and this morning, I feel downright normal.

I truly believe that I was physically in shape to run under 2:19. I mean, its not like I have regressed over the past 5 months! I'm clearly in the best shape of my life. And mentally I was razor sharp going into this. Maybe the electrolyte imbalance was a contributing factor to the blow up. All the evidence I have suggests that might be the case. It was a little warmer yesterday than I expected, and I was wiping some sweat off my head in the early miles. Combine that with the fact that I'm at my lowest weight of the year (or like, since high school) and don't have much reserves... I might have just gone over the edge a little bit and lost a little too much electrolytes. And once that happens, there is no turning back.

But I also feel like I need to add that I'm not totally blaming my performance on that, even if it was precisely what happened. I will admit that when it hit me that I wasn't going to run 2:18, I threw in the towel mentally. I had no interest in running a PR in the 2:19-2:21 range yesterday. That really didn't mean anything to me or matter to me at all. It was kind of an all-or-nothing mentality that I had. That is a tough way to approach a race (no "B" goal). But I don't regret it, and if I had to do it over again, I'd do it the exact same way.

Now we're off to New York City for a couple days.

This picture was on the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer today. I'm on the far right:

From 2011 Philadelphia Marathon

AM - 4.6 easy miles around Prospect Park in Brooklyn w/ Andrea. Kind of a dreary, rainy day - same as the weather when we were here last fall.

I've been going through emotional ups and downs over the past day. At times I just feel like I absolutely blew it on Sunday... it makes me sad. Physically - I am feeling pretty good right now, like I didn't go to the well at all, and that kind of makes it worse! I want nothing more than to redeem myself - I know I am in such incredible shape right now and I just want to prove it. The fact that we will be 30 minutes away from the best Thanksgiving road race in the country (Manchester) this Thursday is sooooo tempting. But discretion is the better part of valor, right? I'll get my chance to redeem myself. I'm going to enjoy the time with my family and some easy jogging with Andrea and my parents this week. And occasionally look at 2012 race calendars, because thinking about that makes me feel better :-) 

This sort of feels like my senior year in high school. In XC I was one of the favorites going into our sectional meet (in New York, sectionals are how you qualify for states). I fell apart in that race. Everyone thought top 5 was a lock, and I finished 26th. No state meet for me. That weekend I wrote on the wall of my bedroom "4:20, 9:20, Section II Champion." Those became my goals for the outdoor track season. We didn't have an indoor program at my school, so I had to watch my competitors run fast times all winter long, while I waited for a shot at redemption. That spring I ran 4:17 and 9:16, winning both the 1600 and 3200 at the sectionals, against all the guys who crushed me in XC.

AM - 4 miles around Prospect Park w/ Andrea

PM - 4 miles from my Aunt's house in Connecticut.

After 4 days in Philly and NYC, I'm officially SICK of big cities... so its nice to be out in the Connecticut countryside now. Andrea and I made a plethora of pizzas for my whole extended family... everyone loved it!

Happy Turkey Day!

Ran 8 miles this morning... 5 w/ Andrea, then added on a few more. Nice run through the rolling hills surrounding my aunt's house. I'm thankful for a lot of things today... but from a running perspective, I'm thankful that I had the best year of running of my life (along with the most fun year of running ever!), and that my health is 100% going into 2012. I think I've already picked out my big target races for next year... that didn't take long :-)

My buddy Patrick McDermott posted some nice photos from the race on his blog. He is an absolutely stellar photographer - you probably see a lot of his work... a lot of the "cover" photos from the NYC Marathon (Mutai crossing the finish line) were his. If you are interested, check out his website: Patrick McDermott Photography.

Some of Pat's photos...

The pack

Intensity

Focus

And some I stole from the race website...

This was probably in the 12th mile

AM - 5 miles w/ Andrea, then went for an hour walk with my parents. My dad managed to find the biggest hill in Connecticut, in true Krong style. Beautiful day out.

PM - 4 miles. Needed to blow off some steam. Beautiful sunset while I was out there. 

This pretty much sums up Thanksgiving w/ my family...

It should also be noted for the record that I have drank 2 cans of Diet Dew so far this week. I think Andrea has had about triple that amount. So I am either winning or losing... not sure which one... today I might just get a 12 pack and go for broke. 

AM - 10 miles. Ran 5 solo, then another lap w/ Andrea. Same run we've been doing pretty much every day since we got here. Nice and warm (comfortable shorts weather!) this morning. Now we start the journey back to SLC. Gonna be a long day of traveling.

AM - 4.4 miles, horsepark loop w/ Andrea. Had a nice trip back east, but I have to say that I am really, really happy to be back in Utah. 

PM - 3.8 miles 

These are all of the cousins on my dad's side of the family, with my grandmother (who is almost 90 years old and still going strong). I obviously didn't get the height genes! I sort of felt like the "outcast" all week while with the family to a certain extent... other than my parents, no one else really "gets" me. My sister and my cousins think that Andrea and I are the most boring people in the world, primarily because we're the only ones who don't drink (somehow that is the primary indicator of how exciting your life is in the eyes of younger people). If only they really knew... 

AM - 9 miles, Sunnyside/Wasatch. I'm just running easy and doing whatever I feel like for the next month (or longer). No structure... probably just a lot of run commuting to and from work. Time for a break. Physically I feel really good, probably because I only raced 21 miles of the marathon :-)

Its only 8:15 and I've already had to tell the Philadelphia blowup story 3 times to people at work. I'm glad I had a really nice run this morning, or else I'd probably lose my mind today! 

PM - 3 miles, Sugarhouse Park. 

AM - 7.3 miles, up to work.

PM - 7.3 miles, back home. 

AM - 7.3 miles, up to work.

PM - 7.3 miles home, but much more exciting than yesterday. As I turned from Sunnyside on to 1900E a group of 4 high school kids (with tape recorders) wanted to ask me some questions for a school project. I told them OK but they had to keep running with me. They asked me if I could define hyperbole, simile, and metaphor. I think I passed their test. Then one of them asked me which school I went to. Before I had a chance to respond, he said "Or did you already graduate from high school?" I just laughed and said yes... almost 10 years ago! At that point they all seemed pretty tired, so we said our goodbyes, and I thanked them for their inadvertent compliment.

I enjoyed reading Ross Tucker's wrapup of the barefoot running roundtable discussion at UKSEM. This presentation he made is also worth checking out. I really like how he is able to present a balanced view on this topic, and also presents the science in a way that mortals can understand.