The Boston Journey

Beep, beep, beep! It's 4am. After a nice, 7-8 hour sleep I'm quickly up and at 'em for another training session. Today it is a 16km negative split run with some minor leg and core workouts. 4am!?! Why so early? My workday is 7-4, Monday to Friday. I have about 45 minutes to commute to work and 45 minutes back. These workouts wake me up and I am fully energized and feel great my whole day. Sure, I have to be in bed by 8:30, and sure I'm a zombie by 7pm but this is what it will take to get to Boston. I just can't do the evening workout. A morning workout keeps me sharp, and keeps me positive in what can be a challenging work environment.

For those who don't know, the Boston Marathon is a very hard race to qualify for. It is the longest running annual marathon in the world. It's really the only race you have to qualify to get into. Sure, some people get in by raising tons of charity money, but I'm terrible at asking for help and qualifying is all part of the fun. It's all about the challenge. Other than the Olympics, Boston participants are the cream of the crop of runners worldwide. To make the situation even tougher for me, at 33 years old I am placed in the category of the fastest running type. Male aged 18-34. After that, the qualify time increases 5 minutes in a 5-year interval. So how hard is it? Set your treadmill to 8.3 - 8.5 MPH and sustain that speed for 3 hours and 5 minutes.

What does all this mean? I have to run a certified Boston marathon course anywhere in the world in under 3 hours, 5 minutes. When I turn 35, it's 3:10, and at 40, it's 3:15, and so on...My first and only marathon was September 2014 in Holland, Michigan. The course was hilly, and not exactly ideal for qualifying but I still managed 3:19. A very impressive feat for someone running their first marathon and someone who has only been running for 2 years. Was I disappointed? Heck no. I was just glad to finish strong and injury-free.

So where is round 2? It's not quite official, but I am going to attempt the Marquette, Michigan Marathon on September 3rd, 2016. My training up to this point has been going very well. My last half-marathon time was 1:30 and my last 16k race was 1:09. Both races were at Boston pace and both personal bests. As these two races neared the end, I felt very strong, not tired. Although I haven't been injury-prone my entire running career, it seems I'm always fighting minor set backs in my training for big races. Not this time. I am averaging 305km per month since January with no real injuries. I have learned to rest when I need to. The added leg workouts have proven to help and I have taken up cycling on active rest days. I can't stress enough the power of strength training. I will save these details for other posts.

Right now though, I just wanted to keep everyone in the loop. This is why you may not see or hear from me too often. Work is very busy. I love my job, but it does take a mental toll on me as all I.T. jobs do. Couple this with being up at 4am most days of the week and this leaves no room for fun at night. But if you want something really bad in life and have a passion like I do for running (like you may for something else), then I say chase that dream. Sacrifice. It's well worth it in the end. And if anyone wants to tell you different, then you may need to rethink who your friends are.