Marathon day is always a surreal experience for me. Years of preparation go into building up for a marathon and for the last six months it has been the goal driving every training run for everyday (I only missed one day of training and took Christmas off). As I was sitting on the bus taking me out to what now feels like my second home, Hopkington, I was reminding myself to live in the moment and savor every minute of the experience, and that I did.

Yesterday I made many memories that will last a lifetime. I love jogging to the starting line because we go through the middle of the masses to get to the front and they are pumped. I felt like I was leading them into battle as I high fived frenzied crowd and gave a few yells of enthusiasm. Then we all waited together for those long moments before the gun fired.

This year the plan was to run free and to run full of joy. I wanted to have the freedom to go in and out of the lead and the freedom to run my own race. I was also focused on really enjoying the race and letting as much joy flow out of me as possible. I always run my best when I am having fun and living with joy is the good life. Now, a day later, I feel that I accomplished these two goals.

So here is my play by play of the race in each 5k. I felt good in the first 5k, taking the lead and running 4:50 pace as comfortably as possible. Knowing the course and how I felt weeks ago running 4:50 pace I was able to hit my splits very closely. I knew that if I could maintain 4:50 pace I would have an excellent shot of winning the race. As it played out I would have only ended up on the podium but who would have known that anyone would be in 2:05 shape on the tough course that Boston is. I remember in the first 5k a guy on the side of the road yelling encouragement at me and then tacking on to the end of it, “but don’t lead the whole way.” I just laughed to myself and continued to “be me” out there.

I continued to lead comfortable through the second 5k. This year I felt much more comfortable and confident in the lead. We continued to stay on 4:50 pace. Things were working out just as I had hoped and I felt like I had a good chance at staying at 4:50 pace.

Somewhere after 10k the first move of the race was made. As I checked my Garmin and saw that we were already running plenty fast I decided to stick to my game plan and made the conscious decision to let the pack go. My confidence remained high and I made a point to take in the amazing crowd along the course and the surroundings that I have grown to love over the past three weeks.

By the 15k mark I had caught back up to the lead pack that was continuing to get smaller and smaller. Instead of settling in the pack I passed on the far right hand side of the road and kept the pace constant. I was glad to rejoin the leaders and my neighbor and teammate Meb.

When we hit the screaming girls at Wellesley the energy was so high I couldn’t help myself but to give them back something so I cupped my ears around my ears to encourage an even higher decibel level of screaming. The noise was off the hook! Last year the first move was made at Wellesley so I wasn’t able to enjoy it like I had hoped. I was almost surprised when the pack was content to let me lead through Wellesley and enjoy the energy.

We charged on toward the half way mark and I continued to lead through a split of around 63:27. I was impressed with our split. We were right on schedule but there was still a large pack. Shortly after half way another hard move was made by Merga and this time there was less of a conscious decision on my part not to go with the move. This time my body was telling me that if I went any faster I was going to suffer in the hills of Newton and would risk the chances of a blow up. I continued to stay close to my 4:50 a mile target as the pack through down some impressive splits.

When we hit the hills the pack was still in sight but then they hit some very impressive splits and were soon out of sight. The hills felt tough but the crowd support was amazing. I ran past the Bentley Track Team as they chanted my name. Sara and I stayed in Waltham and had met the team one day on the track. They had picked the perfect spot to cheer from, as I was desperate for any energy I could get.

When we hit the graveyard mile guys were starting to come back and I had worked my way up to sixth place. I still couldn’t see the leaders, which was surprising me as I had felt like my splits through Newton were still very good. Off in the distance I could see Meb and another runner coming back. I was disappointed that it looked like an American would not win again this year but I was still optimistic that you never know what will happen in those dramatic last 10k. The crowd at BC was crazy as usual.

The last 10k was all a blur. I passed a Kenyan coming down the graveyard mile and then caught Meb just before mile 25. At this point I didn’t care too much about my splits. I was just trying to turn it over as fast as I could. My hamstrings were on fire. Everything hurt but I tried to enjoy the moment as best I could despite the pain. Running has taught me how to enjoy even the not so pleasant moments.

One of my visions for the Boston Marathon was to enjoy the final run down Boylston. In my minds eye I had always pictured myself winning the marathon but as I prepared my heart before the race I had decided I would celebrate my run and the fact that God is good all the time in both victory and defeat so when I hit Boylston street I let my joy out and started airplaning through the street. It wasn’t until a fan on the side of the road pointed up the street to a faint yellow jersey still 100 meters down the road that I had mistaken for one of the women elite runners and yelled “Go get Merga” that I realized I had a chance to get on the podium. I put my head down and drove with my arms as hard as I could. I felt like I was in one of my many bad dreams where I am trying to sprint and moving in slow motion. With 100 meters to go it was becoming apparent that I was going to run out of real estate.

Looking back on the 2010 Boston marathon I am in a paradoxical state of content yet still hungry for breakthrough. Having the bar raised to a 2:05 on the Boston marathon makes me want to taste that same breakthrough for myself; especially considering the winner this year was 5th here last year. I rejoice whenever there is breakthrough because it helps pave the way for my breakthrough. Another spring in Boston and another great experience, yet I am hungrier than ever for a victory on these roads. As one of my favorite Bible verses says, “Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again.” The sun rose on April 20th and so did I as I laced up my ASICS and headed out the door for yet another run full of joy, hope, and life.

With one week to go before Marathon Monday the challenging aspects of training shift from the physical to the mental. Anyone who has run a marathon knows how long (mentally) that last week can be. All the physical training is done. The only physical benefits to be gained come from resting and eating well over the next week. Crushing last minute workouts has no place in these final days. However, there is still time to prepare the heart.

As Sara and I were sitting and chatting before my last 90 minute run yesterday (Monday) morning, we were talking about the heart that I want to have during my race. A heart that is free from all worries, completely trusting God's goodness, connected to Him. Sara reminded me of another good word we received months earlier: "Run the race like you can’t fail." I knew as soon as the words trickled from her mouth they were exactly what I needed for this moment.

So often there is the temptation to over think race strategy. We want to have an exact race plan that will be carried out exactly how we have visualized it. It's not that planning is bad, one should be prepared for whatever lies ahead, however there comes a point where we are over analyzing and putting more confidence in having to execute the perfect race strategy then trusting in our ability to respond to whatever is thrown our way. Freedom, in terms of a free-flowing race strategy, can be scary. It's scary because we have to let go of control. However, the benefits of freedom are great. It allows flexibility, an open mind, an open vision, an open heart to whatever the day may hold. It gives us the opportunity to receive the moment to the fullest whether or not it is the perfect race day or pouring rain. I encourage you to let go and run free and run like you can't fail!

I woke up on Easter morning and opened up a book I have been reading called "Possessing Joy," by Steve Backlund. The title of the chapter that I was beginning was called "Destination Disease," which went on to talk all about how our joy cannot be dependant upon reaching our destination. With the Boston Marathon just around the corner it was a timely word. I find myself easily drifting off thinking about how I would feel after winning the Boston Marathon. Not that it is a bad thing to dream about achieving a life goal, but the joy in achieving the goal should only add to the complete joy I should experience everyday.

An hour later I headed out to church for our Easter Sunday service. The pastor gave a very similar message to what I had just read. He spoke about being living in the moment and how Jesus' death and resurrection tore the veil between man and God and gave every man opportunity to enter into His presence whenever they desire. Entering into the presence of God is the key to being in the moment and getting the most out of each moment. What a great reminder of my goal for, not only the Boston Marathon, but for every training run, and ideally, every moment of life: to share each moment with God by being aware and entering into His presence. Happy Easter!

I love my job. However, like any job, there are aspects of the job that are less-fun than others. For me, less-fun means packing. I always forget how much work it takes to pack-up for a marathon till the time arrives. I tried to be smart this time around and started filling my gigantic ASICS rolling bag a week before I was to leave for Mammoth. I started throwing in stuff: my Garmin Nuvi to navigate Boston, 8 new ASICS water bottles for each of the elite athlete stations set out every 5k, Cytomax powder, Muscle Milk, two pairs of fresh ASICS training shoes, two pairs of fresh ASICS HyperSpeeds (one to train in till the race and one for the race), one pair of Onitsuka Tiger casual shoes, a foam roller, a stretch rope, a tiger tail massage stick, casual Oakleys, racing Oakleys (flak jackets). I had practically filled my bag with gear before I had even put in one article of clothing.

Last year I thought I had done a masterful job of packing, only to realize just days before the Boston Marathon, I had forgotten my uniform. I was sweating telling my athlete rep I had forgotten the one thing besides my racing shoes that was absolutely essential, but being a former track star he understood and had one brought out for me ASAP. This year I also didn’t bring my uniform, but I didn’t forget it this time. Weird, right? Actually, ASICS is custom designing a uniform for me to race the Boston Marathon in and will have it shipped direct to me. It was nice to not have to worry about forgetting it this time around. Getting a customized uniform always adds a little something extra for me to look forward to on race day.

As I write, Sara and I are less than two hours from Boston. The flight got off to a shaky start with a two-hour delay because our plane was “overweight” by 297 lbs. Travel problems usually precede good races for me so I welcomed the delay. Before I set the American Record in the half marathon I slid off the road and got snowed in at Big Bear and had to resort to a last minute flight to Houston. Before the Olympic Trials we had to change all our travel plans because of all the crazy fires in Southern California, then I got a “disorderly conduct” ticket for urinating in the forest at Yosemite on the drive to San Francisco, and then there was an earthquake the morning we flew to New York. Before the 2008 London Marathon, where I ran 2:06:17, we had a 6-hour delay due to plane malfunctions. I was so tired and worked up by the end of the delay that I told Sara, “It's all over. All that hard work for nothing.” Since then I have gotten more flexible with my travel and learned to roll with the punches. So, as long as we get to Boston sometime tonight, I’ll be happy.

“So, which of these shoes are you using?”, Sara asked me in the tone of voice that was insinuating this is getting a little out of hand.  She was pointing to a pile of ASICS shoes that was the eminence of an afternoon of organizing our mud room.  I started to explain, “I used the GEL-DS Racer for my long run today (26.5 miles), the GEL-Hyper Speed for my intervals and tempos, the GEL-DS Trainer for my uphill/downhill runs, and I alternate between the GEL-Pulse and GEL-Cumulus for all my other easy recovery running."  It added up to 5 pairs of shoes that I am actively using.  I guess I have gotten spoiled as a professional athlete being able to perfectly match my shoes to the specifics of the day’s workouts.  It is a blessing I haven’t always enjoyed.  I remember picking up my first pair of running shoes at Big 5 Sporting Goods as a kid and wearing them into the ground over a period of half a year. 

We eventually got our mudroom in order as we are beginning to get ready to leave our home in Mammoth Lakes and head to Boston.  I am looking forward to getting out to Boston.  I was fortunate enough, thanks to the folks at John Hancock, to spend a week out in Boston to get better acquainted with the course and also to watch Sara compete in an indoor meet.  You would think after racing a course you would have a pretty good grasp of it.  I think not.  From my experience last year, the race went by so fast and I was in so much pain the last 10k that I really don’t remember too much of the specifics.  Going back for a week certainly helped a lot and also helped add some fuel to my fire for training. 

The goal in going back to Boston for the last three weeks is twofold: first, to recover from all the hard work I have been putting in at altitude this winter (I ran two marathons last week in my training…two days apart), and secondly, to get to know the flow of the Boston Marathon course.  In my opinion, the Boston course is the most technical course I have ever been on and therefore has the most potential for improvement, if you know the ebbs and flows of the course and you know how to work it just right.  Last year I felt like a racecar driving blind.  I had the engine but I didn’t know where I was going.  After spending a total of 4 weeks in Boston this winter/spring in preparation, I should be running it as well as the courses I know inside and out up here in Mammoth.  Believe in Boston!

Last week was a good week.  In terms of training it was the most defining week of my buildup for The ING NYC Marathon.  Coming off a very difficult Sunday marathon simulation I was expecting to feel a little sluggish with only one day rest before my 1000 meter repeat session on Tuesday.  It was one of those good surprises when I got part way into my workout and realized there was a freshness to my legs that hadn’t been there since I began my heavy marathon training.  I knew the rest of the week was going to be special, and it had to be, since I had my hardest runs I would be doing leading up to NYC on Friday and Sunday.
 
As we were finishing our repeats on Tuesday it began to snow, and snow, and snow.  We ended up getting so much snow that the ski resort reported a 30” dump and that they had enough to open a month earlier than expected.  On Tuesday night I went over to my training partners house, Josh Cox, for a pre-birthday healthy homemade pizza dinner.  Driving home I felt lucky to be in my four-wheel drive equipped Titan because there was no way I was getting home any other way. 
 
I turned 27 years old on Wednesday.  Birthdays have definitely changed over the years and especially since I began marathoning.  I used to have stay up all-night parties with my buddies in grade school.  Now I am eating Splenda pumpkin pie, which is really good, and enjoying low-key moments with teammates and friends.  This year Sara wanted to throw a big party for me but when I am in the middle of heavy training it is hard to find extra energy for even fun things like parties. 
 
Friday was my biggest workout of the week, an 18-mile tempo run.  I had already done an 18-mile tempo two weeks prior and it had gone well but with how good my body was feeling I knew I could run much faster this time around.  Luckily the snow had subsided and it was almost a no-shirt day (a runners way of relating temperature).  I ended up running two minutes faster than I had previously run.  When I finished that run I knew, with all certainty that I was ready.  It was not that I didn’t know before but there are those moments when you no longer have to talk yourself into the fact that you are ready you just know because the evidence is undeniable.
 
I was expecting to feel pretty trashed on Saturday but I was surprised, once again, when I felt unusually bouncy on my training runs.  Another good sign.  Running good workouts is important but how you come off them is almost equally important.  In training, no single run should ever be looked at in isolation.  It’s about the whole block of training.  This is why some people can hop in someone else’s workout, run it and apparently be in the same shape but then finish minutes behind on race day.  It isn’t totally about what has been done on just one day, it is about what has been done over the weeks and months leading up to the event.  Coming off the workout well is just as important as doing the workout.  Here is how I come off workouts well.
 
The first thing I do after a workout is eat.  Recovery begins with nutrition.  I have Cytomax protein and a banana right away, and then I go home and stretch and eat lunch soon thereafter.  After lunch I go straight into a 90-minute massage.  I know massage might not be accessible to everyone, which is why when I don’t have access to a massage I use various balls, rollers, Normatec MVP, etc to workout any knots or tight spots I may have acquired from the workout.  After the massage I go straight into my Icool for an ice bath.  After relaxing for a couple of hours, it is time to go to the gym for some light leg weights (quad extensions, pulley exercises, etc…the key here is to strengthen the muscles that tend to be weak on you specifically), a kick in the pool for hydro-therapy and a brief (10 minutes tops, followed by lots of water) stretch in the hot tub.  These are the keys I have found helpful in coming off workouts well but you are going to have to experiment to find what works well for you.
 
Sunday marked two weeks till race day.  It was my last long run.  I ran 2 ½ hours and covered well over 20 miles feeling very controlled the whole way.  It is at about two weeks before the race that I make sure to really monitor my effort level.  I still do some hard running but there are no tests until the marathon.  I did my usual recovery routine in the afternoon and finished the day with a night service at church.
 
Today I woke up and had that unusual pop in my legs once again.  I was thinking about how I only had a couple weeks left to enjoy the fitness that I have gained over the last four months, and then it will be time to stop running and let my body recover.  People are always surprised when I tell them I let myself get out of shape over a two-week complete no-run recovery period after all my marathons.  I have come to see it as a very necessary part of marathon training.  I have tried only taking a modified break and found that I came back in very good shape but then as I began my training my body goes stale, begins to breakdown in the form of injuries, and I see very little improvement.  Recovery is a necessary part of the cycle of a marathon runner.  Plus, if you never let yourself get out of shape its harder to appreciate being in shape. 

Have you ever thought about what a difference a few seconds can make?  I have never been so thankful for a few extra seconds as I was this week while doing my last hard uphill run.  Last Thursday morning Sara and I had driven 15 minutes to what has become one of my favorite runs in preparation for the hills of The ING New York City Marathon. 

I locked my Titan and headed out for my typical 20-minute warm-up jog along this beautiful little single track that runs along Lower Rock Creek.  I came back and, uncharacteristically for me, hopped right in the truck to drive the 2.5 miles up the road where I would start my climb.  I usually take a few minutes to stretch before getting in the car but today for some reason I didn’t feel the need.  I pulled onto the highway about 200 meters in front of a sport utility vehicle and we started to drive up to the base of the climb.

As we were driving I glanced back in my rear view mirror and what I saw was like something out of a movie.  The car, for no apparent reason, swerved into the far right hand shoulder and then headed all the way back across the four lane highway into the left hand shoulder where it rolled in a cloud of dust and came to a stop.  My heart missed a couple of beats and didn’t know what to do.  My mind flashed back to a psychology class I had taken at Stanford where we learned about how when emergencies happen in public places, where there are lots of people who could act, people usually didn’t because they all figured someone else would.  I was not going to be that person.  I pulled off on the shoulder and we immediately called 911 and talked to the dispatcher for a few minutes.  Before we got off the phone a fire truck that happened to be driving by was already on the scene with its lights on.  We figured at that point there was very little we could do by running back to the scene, as not only the fire truck was there but various cars had pulled over as well.

I was pretty shaken up as we continued on our way and Sara dropped me off to start my run.  My thoughts were with the person in that car and I was imaging what could have happened to us.  What went wrong with their car?  Did they make it?  What if I had jogged the warm-up 20 seconds slower and had been driving next to that car when it started swerving?  What if I had taken some more time to stretch?  That could have been us.  I started the climb with a very different perspective than I started the warm-up.  Running didn’t seem any less significant, it felt more precious.  Life felt more precious. 

Perspective is a huge part of running.  It’s the lens that we experience our running through.  My “lens” was very different for the uphill run than it typically is.  I welcomed the pain as I appreciated being alive to experience it.  I made the conscientious decision to take in every aspect of the run taking in the beauty of the scenery, despite the thinning air.  I paid extra attention to my senses.  I felt the cool breeze blow through my hair and the sweat dripping from my brow.  I could feel my heart pounding in my body and it never felt so good.  Sometimes it takes tragedy for us to realize what a gift it is to get to go out for a run.  Rolling out of bed on Thursday morning I wasn’t expecting to get much more than a good workout in but I got a brand new appreciation for life.

It served as a good reminder for me to really enjoy these last couple of weeks before the marathon.  I often get into countdown mode, thinking about how many more long tempos or long hard runs are left.  Thursday reminded me to take in every moment of every day.  After all, it’s the journey that makes the summit so special.  If someone took you to the summit of Everest in a helicopter you would appreciate being there, but if you just spent years of training and preparation and had just completed a long and treacherous journey to the top of Everest you would have a whole different sense of accomplishment when you summit.  I have spent the last 13 years of my life trying to make it to the summit of my career.  I haven’t been to the top yet, but it feels close.  But even if I get to the summit on November 1st, if I get there and haven’t enjoyed each step of the journey than I have lost.  Life is too precious to wish a moment away.