Run With Garrison

Aloha everyone,

This week P and I stayed on island and I ran the 3rd annual North Shore Marathon on the north shore of Oahu. This is one of my favorite spots on Earth so I was excited to finally get in a solid run up there.

In the week following the Oriflamme 50k, I ran a bit and actually found my way to the track. I wanted to get in a nice pre-marathon workout—6xmile with 100 meter walk/jog rest. I felt great during the workout and averaged 6:23. This workout, along with a few of the other results this year, made me start to wonder if I could scare my 1999 marathon PR of 2:55:42. Mileage for the week landed just under 76 miles and the marathon course measured out around 26.38 miles.

My plan heading into the race was to run around my PR pace of 6:40 as long as I could. If things went well, a PR would be in the cards. But if not, the plan would be to chill out and make it a nice long run. With the Mt. Diablo 50k is 6 days away, I did not want to totally waste myself if today was not going to be a big day.

Well, things turned out just about as I thought they would. I ran the first 12 miles as part of a 3 man chase pack that included the eventual race leader. We were chasing a single runner and we averaged right around 6:37-6:40 pace thru 12 miles as we made our way out to the turnaround at Kaena Point. Once I started to labor with such a long way home, I decided to slow things down. It was a near ideal day for a run with a slight headwind on the way out (meaning tailwind on the way home) and the cloudy skies kept the temperature moderate by Hawaii standards.

On the run back, I had a few moments of doubt and struggle, even though it turned into a training run. As those doubts came up, I focused on my 100 miler mentality and worked to just keep moving. I worked my way thru a little rough patch and closed well over the last few miles. I wound up running 3:10:17. Good for 5th overall and 1st in my age group. I finally popped off a Boston Qualifier and the last 14 miles were a training run. Nice to know that I have some fitness building up. I am excited to see what I can accomplish later in the year after some more training and some rest!

Up next is the Mt. Diablo 50k and then P and I are headed to Europe for a few weeks. Pauline has had to take a break in order to get her iron levels back up. She is doing well and is very excited to show me around the town of her birth, and run a marathon while we are there.

Well, it is time for me to head off to see Barbara at Massage Specialists for an amazing 2 hour massage. I hope everybody has a great week and I am sure P will send out some updates along the way during next weeks 50k.

Happy Running and Much Aloha

Michael