So this will be my final post as an official Blue Ridge Marathon blogger, for this time around at least. I might keep making blog posts after races in the future, but I'm not sure yet. As it stands now, I'm not scheduled to race again until July 2nd (the Finger Lakes 25K), so I have some time to think about it. Anyway, this will probably be a long one, so let's jump right in.
Preamble
I decided to run this race coming off of a foot injury last July. It was my first injury in eight years, so I can't complain too much, but it still felt like a comeback of sorts for me. I considered myself officially "in training" for this race specifically starting on January 4th of this year, and I went on to string together 13 consecutive 100+ mile weeks (the highest being 117 miles) and rack up over 78,000 feet of elevation gain. There were a few things I did differently this time around versus both my training for the 2014 race and my training in general. A big one is that I started running my easy runs more slowly. There were several races over the past couple of years where I showed up on race day with tired legs (specifically, Philly Marathon 2014, Broad Street Run, Vermont City Marathon, and Oktoberfest 13.1 2015). I used to never run any of my runs slower than 6:30-6:40 per mile pace, but after researching various successful runners, coaches, and exercise physiologists, I decided to give running more slowly on my easy runs a shot. In addition to feeling fresher for my hard workouts and being able to consistently maintain a higher training volume with less wear and tear, it also made my easy runs more enjoyable. Specifically, it allowed me to focus my mental energy on learning on the lyrics to Hamilton. And I listened to Hamilton a lot, you guys.
"Outrun. Outlast. Hit 'em quick, get out fast."
For this race specifically, in light of the course change between 2013 and 2014 (i.e. more hills in the later miles of the race), I planned my long runs so that I was running up and down big hills the entire time, up to and including the final mile. I did all of my race-specific long runs on the hills of Roxborough and Manayunk, which, while not as long as Roanoke Mountain or Peakwood, are 1/2-3/4 of a mile in length and plenty steep. My longest training run was 26.5 miles, with over 3,000 feet of elevation gain, so I was ready to race hard over the later stages of BRM if I had to.
For serious.
I ran my final long run 12 days before the race and then engaged in a short but drastic taper. I went from averaging 15-16 miles a day for almost four months to averaging 4-5 miles a day. As has become the routine, Jeannine had to deal with the ensuing hyperactivity and weirdness from me, but it was at least slightly tempered by my working on my PhD thesis and finishing up my experiments. I'm sure it still got pretty weird though.
Jeannine and I both got the Friday before the race off from work, so we got on the road from Philly to Roanoke at around 8:00 am (although, unlike in "Wagon Wheel," no nice long tokes were had), and we embarked on our now-predictably podcast-laden journey. This time around, among other things, was Common Room Radio's episode about Harry Potter. The episode was two hours long, so it naturally took four hours for us to get through it due to the pausing and shouting and emoting, much to the surprise of no one at all.
I recommend it highly.
We got to the Hotel Roanoke in the late afternoon, checked in, and walked to the downtown area to pick up my race packet and score some food and post-"this fucking drive is some fucking bullshit" beer.
We did so successfully, and after my not consuming any alcohol for a couple of weeks leading up to the race, one good IPA actually helped me relax post-drive, pre-race quite appreciably. I, of course, didn't stop at the one, but "America's Toughest Road Marathon" is not an event that favors the moderate. It was around this time that I saw Pat Woodford stroll by. I made sure to loudly shit-talk so that he heard me, and then he came over and greeted Jeannine and me. While he and I have been interacting online for over a year now, this was the first time we had met in person. He's taller and skinnier and definitely built more like a natural runner than I am (this would become more apparent going up Roanoke Mountain the following morning when he was taking two steps for every three that I took). He was accompanied by Florida-based runner Tyler O'Brien, who went on to win the Blue Ridge Half Marathon. Winning that event while training in Florida is impressive, to say the least. We talked to them for a bit, then we met up with Jeannine's parents, who arrived in Roanoke one day prior. We got some light fare dinner, then headed back to our hotels. Jeannine and I got a round at the hotel bar then headed up to our room to get some sleep before the big day.
Race Day
The gun was set to go off at 7:35 am, so I woke at 5:00 am, had some coffee and a turkey sandwich (don't judge) and eased into being mobile. Our hotel was a little over half a mile from the start line, so I figured that Jeannine and I could walk there and find our meeting spot, and then I could jog around, let my legs wake up, and I could use our hotel bathroom before jogging to the start line ready to race. I got there just before the gun, shook hands with Pat and Tyler, among others, and I was ready to run. We went through the first mile in around 6:00 flat, not bad considering that the last quarter-mile was uphill. Also, don't worry, this is the last mile split you'll get since the rest are irrelevant, lost to the shit show of chronic thigh abuse called the Blue Ridge Marathon. Pat and I ran side-by-side for basically the first seven miles, along with Will from Charlottesville (he was from DC according to the race registration, but he was wearing a Ragged Mountain Running Shop shirt and said he was from Charlottesville, so I'm going with that). My goal was to maintain a constant effort and then accelerate in the final 4-5 miles if I needed to.
Will, Pat, and Me. I'm carrying a cup from the aid station and am happy to report that I didn't litter once during the race. You're welcome, Earth.
Pat took off in the final couple of miles of Roanoke Mountain. He ended up winning the King of the Mountain award, given to the first person to the top of Roanoke Mountain, and he got there about 100 yards ahead of me. Once we started the descent, Pat slowed down a lot. I figured something was wrong (I found out later that he had been suffering from a sinus infection for about a week), but I went past him and took the lead for a few miles, not changing effort, just trying to stay loose for the later miles. Then, at around mile 14, Will took off past me pretty hard. I was still maintaining a fairly consistent effort, and with 12 miles left to run, I figured he would either slow down or I had no chance of catching him. Fortunately for me, the former ended up being true, and I started gaining ground on him as we ascended Peakwood. I caught him at around mile 18, and I tried to not spend myself too much at the moment since I still had eight miles and plenty of smaller but formidable hills to run. I stayed steady with my effort, and as I headed back into Roanoke, the crowd support increased. Given the degree of my preparation regarding how much I was ready to throw down over the last 10K (my Philly is showing a little bit), honestly, the last six miles or so felt like a victory lap. I knew that it was going to get hot that day, and I hydrated well and early, so I don't even think I took anything from the aid stations after mile 20. Knowing that this was also going to be the first time that my dad was going to meet Jeannine's parents and, to the concern of The Universe, the first time that all of our parents would be in the same place at once, it was really nice to be able to roll into the final straightaway knowing that they would all get to see me win. If I didn't win, it still would've been a great occasion, but the winning helped, for my own ego at least. Also, I broke Misashi Shirotake's course record, which I saw him set from my couch last year.
Also, the race spawned this picture, which I kind of want on my tombstone.
Into the final straightaway, I saw an arm sticking out with a familiar Harley-Davidson V-twin engine tattooed on it (it was attached to a familiar red/gray beard and Coke bottle glasses). I got to high-five my dad en route to breaking the course record on America's Toughest Road Marathon. I gave some interviews to WDBJ7 and the Roanoke Times, and then I went to meet the family. We all got lunch, eight strong (Janet, Dave, Jeannine, Mammaw, Sis, Dee, Pop, and me- all repeat offenders on this blog). We had an awesome, indulgent meal, then they all took off just as Michael (another repeat offender on this blog) arrived from Knoxville. No vans on fire this time around, luckily.
After lunch, we headed to the awards ceremony. Pat received his third place awards (after toughing it out through a sinus infection, mind you) and his King of the Mountain shirt. I received my awards, including a sweet Tag-Heuer Aquaracer wrist watch (bling of the mountain, if you will), and a bag of other goodies.
After saying goodbye to the family who traveled north on I-81 to watch the race, Michael, Jeannine, and I went to the Hotel Roanoke bar, had a round, and then finished up the night in our hotel room where Michael, once again, introduced us to something funny from the internet. We sipped on bourbon and watched Axe Cop, and we were driven to tears over the course of several episodes.
We got to sleep relatively early, then got on the road by 8:00 am the next morning. We picked up Dr. Peter Venkman from boarding and headed back to Philly where I completed a super slow, super ugly two-mile run.
I actually ended up not needing to take any days off of running. I've gone back to running twice a day since yesterday, and my legs seem to be OK with it. I am going to give it until next week until I start doing long runs again, but I'm excited to get back at it. Between now and my next race, presumably, I will have finished and defended my thesis, so graduate school will more or less be behind me.
I must say that this will be one of the last things I do on social media until I finish my thesis. I'll return in anywhere from four to 65 weeks (probably closer to four though). The best way to reach me will be through email or text. It was a lot of (sometimes painful) fun preparing for and competing in this race, and I had a lot of good times along the way. I'll be back in a few months. Until then, have fun, guys.
Cheers,
Jeff
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