The Boston Athletic Association has assigned the bib numbers for the race. So I will be wearing bib number 23031 and will be starting in Wave 3/Corral 6. There's 27,000 runners broken up into three waves containing nine corrals which have a thousand runners each. They space the start times out with Wave 1 starting at 10:00AM, Wave 2 starting at 10:20AM, and Wave 3 starting at 10:40AM. That's so the foot traffic isn't overcrowded. So by the time I cross the starting line, the Kenyans will be halfway through Natick.
You'll be able to get text message alerts of my progress during the race. AT&T will send you a text message when I cross the 10k, Half Marathon, 30k, and Finish Line. They still haven't released info yet on how to sign up for the free text message alerts, but they should be announcing that soon. You can also track my race progress online at http://www.baa.org. There will be a link somewhere on their main page on race day. I'll be sure to let everyone know once they release info on signing up for the text message alerts.
Training Update
For the past month or two, I've been dealing with both hamstring and lower leg injuries. The hamstring injury has been more of a nuisance than anything else and I typically only notice it when I'm driving longer distances. The lower leg injury has actually kept me from running for a couple weeks and I now limit my actual running to my long runs on the weekend. During the week I have replaced my mid-week runs with either Cybex Arc Trainer or Elliptical workouts. I've also eliminated running in the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge's weekly indoor track speed workouts at Tufts University. So long story short, I'm minimizing the impact on my joints during the week which allows me to do my long runs on the weekend which is the most important of all of our weekly runs. Throughout these past seven months, I've learned that marathon training is as much about injury management as it is about training. I have logged over 1,000 miles since September.Race Update
I've run four road races since I last updated. Here's my brief reviews on each of them.
Boston Prep 16 Miler on January 27, 2013 in Derry, NH
Finished in 2:10:31 (P.R. [Personal Record]). Ran most of the race with fellow DFMC veteran and Tewksbury native Mike Doherty. Maintained an 8 min/mile pace for most of the race which has some pretty significant hills and was designed to mimic the Boston Marathon course. Well organized race with good post race food. If I run Boston again, I would definitely run this race again.
Bradford Valentine's Road Race on February 16, 2013 in Bradford, MA
Ran the 5 Mile route and finished in 35:26 (P.R.). My wife Angela ran the 6k route and finished in 41:52. Race got rescheduled from a week earlier due to a blizzard. I'll skip this race in the future. On the critical first turn on the course (where the 5M and 6k routes split), they didn't have any race marshalls or volunteers directing runners which way to go. So unless you heard the announcement made literally a minute before the start of the race, telling you which color coded arrow to follow, you wouldn't know which way to go.
Half at the Hamptons on February 24, 2013 in Hampton Beach, NH
Another snow storm. Race cancelled. No reschedule. No refunds. $70.64 flushed down the drain. I get the no refund policy and I understand that weather is beyond their control. But the fact that Loco Races (the race directors) run a race in New Hampshire in February and don't have any contingency plans in the event of weather, I find is inexcusable and I'll be not running any of their races in the future. Also, I certainly won't be signing up for any winter races until I hear what their plans are if there's bad weather. Lesson learned the hard way.
Ras na hEireann on March 10, 2013 in Somerville, MA
Finished this 5k in 22:27. Ran this St. Patty's Day themed race in Davis Square with a few of my college friends. The race itself is nothing special, but the post-race party is pretty sweet. A bunch of the local bars handle the post-race duties where runners file into the bars (we went to Sligo Pub since it's the bar closest to the finish line) and it's open bar on the Harpoon Beer for an hour. Good times. This might be one of the races I'll do every year.
New Bedford Half Marathon on March 17, 2013 in New Bedford, MA
Finished in 1:47:16 (P.R.). Got into the race for free as part of my new membership in the Gate City Striders which is a running club out of Nashua, NH. Race was very well organized and the crowd support was tremendous. The crowd was deafening at a couple points along the route and gave me an idea of what it's going to sound like in Wellesley, BC, and Boylston in four weeks. Great post race food too with some really good clam chowdah and fish sandwiches. Probably won't run this again simply because it's almost a two hour drive from my house. But otherwise, it was an awesome race.
Future Races
Eastern States 20 Mile - Portsmouth, NH to Salisbury, MA - March 24th
Cohasset Rotary Road Race by the Sea (10K) - Cohasset, MA - April 7th
Boston Marathon - Hopkinton to Boston - April 15th
Twin Lights Half Marathon - Gloucester, MA - May 5th
Mount Washington Road Race (7.6 miles) - Gorham, NH - June 15th
Dana-Farber Partner Program
Race Gear
So I ended up buying another identical pair of Brooks Ghost 5's which I have been running in for most of my training. My original pair are pretty worn out now so I replaced them with just enough time to break them in for Marathon Monday.
Heart Health Study
On March 30th, I am going to Mass General Hospital for the second and final round of tests. They did an initial test back in early January where they measure your lung capacity, do an echocardiogram and an electrocardiogram while I'm running on a treadmill at 5 mph (which is a fast paced walk) with them increasing the slope of the treadmill every minute. Sounds easy enough. But trust me, by the time I made it up to 18% slope, I was completely spent. So we're doing the same thing again to see the before and after effects of marathon training on the heart. It's pretty cool to be able to participate in this study because you get to find out some pretty in-depth information on your own heart that is typically reserved for elite athletes.Bone Marrow Registry
I recently joined the National Marrow Donor Registry. My DFMC teammate Hilary Hall is living proof of the importance of registering. If you want to sign-up, visit http://marrow.org/Join/Join_the_Registry.aspx and enter code PIF070109. It won't cost you a dime and all it takes is a simple swabbing of your inside cheek. Chances are you'll never be called, but who knows, you could be a match and could save someone's life.Other Stuff
Aside from that, to keep my sanity (or insanity depending on how you look at it), I've made a couple trips to Skyventure NH for some indoor skydiving in preparation for the upcoming season which starts pretty much marathon weekend. So just when my wife thought she was getting her husband back from marathon training land, it's Skydive New England time. It's a vicious cycle. But hey at least this marathon training has completely transformed my body to the point that I need to wear a weight belt to increase my fall rate when skydiving. The thought of me wearing a weight belt last October seemed absurd as my fall rate typically resembles an anvil in a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Fundraising Update
The support I have received has been absolutely incredible and I am extremely grateful to each and every one who has donated to support Dana-Farber. Currently, we've raised just under $2,300 for the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research. I'm having another drawing for a pair of Red Sox tickets. All donors (including past donors) until 11:59PM on March 22nd will be entered into a drawing for a pair of tickets to the Patriots Day game vs. Tampa Bay. If you would like to make a donation, please visit:
http://www.rundfmc.org/2013/andrews
That's all for now. Hopefully that wasn't too long.
