I can't believe it, but it's finally time for the big race! It's next Sunday, December 10th, starting at 5am Hawaii time. Weather forecast is 73 at the start climbing to 82 with 70% humidity. A little change from my run yesterday morning at 34 degrees....
It will have been 6 weeks since I ran a marathon in San Jose, and at the end of that race I swore that I wouldn't run fast in Hawaii. That lasted all of a day, and then I started looking for some training advice for people dumb enough to do 2 marathons, 6 weeks apart. Most of the advice was along the lines of "Don't do it, it's a dumb idea" but I miraculously found a training plan from a reputable running coach designed exactly for people silly enough to be doing this. It's been much more intense than my previous training, including 400 meter sprints, hillwork and 5 days running a week. I've been running 35-40 miles for the last 4 weeks and I'm feeling great. I've run in the dark, the cold, the rain, when I'm sick and even on my birthday. I have one 8 miler left tomorrow and then it's a few 2-4 milers before I line up to race, in theory better prepared than I was 6 weeks before.
My goal for Hawaii is to beat 4 hours (average 9:09/mile), which should be possible given the training. Of course, the heat, humidity and 35,000 other people could mess things up, and I'll be sure to blame all of them if I fail miserably. But I have a cunning strategy - to avoid getting bogged down by the crowds I plan to start with the guys who will run it in 3 hours. That'll mean lining up about 4am and trying to look like a serious runner for an hour, talking about technical things like "glycogen and negative splits", and then, at the gun, I'll try to avoid getting trampled to death by the 7 minute milers as I trot off on my 9 minute miles. The alternative is to start with the 4 hour gang but then I will have to run over all the people dressed as Santa Claus and Darth Vader, and the crazy Japanese families who have decided that dragging their 10 year old kids through a marathon in homemade flip-flops will be a good bonding experience. I have no real strategy for the heat other than hoping for rain. Bottomline is that I have no idea what to expect but I know that I'm going to enjoy a nice beer or 5 at the end.
So, many people have asked "What happens after the race - Will you keep running, or return to the couch from whence you came?". Well I have to admit, I am hooked on this running thing. I love the measured improvement that you see from following a structured training plan. I love the time alone being able to just think about stuff. But mostly I love all the cool gadgets and gizmos that I am allowed to buy. I am probably being a little too organized/analytical but I have already worked out my running plan for 2007. The plan is to focus on half marathons thru July (I have 5 planned), with a goal of getting down to one hour thirty-something (i.e. 1:39:59). This is only 11-12 minutes improvement over my best half, which doesn't sound like much, but it means running at a 7:38 pace. Once I've achieved (or failed completely to achieve) that, I turn my attention back to the full marathon. I am going to run the California International Marathon in Sacramento early December, with a goal of under 3:45. This is a course that is conveniently downhill the whole way so that should be good for a few minutes. Of course, by February I could be bored of it all, in which case you should look out for my "Amazing News - Alan to climb Everest!" email....
Thanks to everyone for their support, encouragement, advice (well, some of it anyway) and generosity over the last 6 months - I've been amazed at the response to this whole thing, it's certainly changed my life. - Alan
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