Mohawk-Hudson Marathon - October 10

"It was a run indeed now, and what Joe called, in the only two words he spoke all the time, "a Winder." Down banks and up banks, and over gates, and splashing into dykes, and breaking among coarse rushes: no man cared where he went."
- Charles Dickens

For 15 weeks now I've been training for the Mohawk-Hudson Marathon on October 10th. This was the first time that I read books, took notes, and designed a training plan for a race. I wanted to use this race to qualify for the Boston Marathon in spring 2011.

Most marathons are open to anyone, but Boston remains one of the few races you must qualify for by hitting a certain time in another marathon. 27 year old guys have to run 26.2 miles in 3:10:59, or in other words, 26 miles at a 7:15 pace. The Mohawk-Hudson Marathon in Albany is a fast race and it's in my backyard. This would be my qualifying race.

I dedicated myself completely. I woke up early for pre-work runs. I did 15 mile runs at midnight when I couldn't fit them in earlier. I did doubles. I did tempos. I did aerobic and lactate thresholds. Intervals, fartleks, long runs, medium-longs, blah blah blah. I never skipped a mile. I ate dinner at 10 p.m. after runs on most nights. I never had an afterwork beer, because I had to get the miles in. I didn't answer my phone and didn't return phone calls. I didn't see people. I ran all the time.

My decisions were made always with consideration paid to the schedule. I mostly went easy when I was supposed to go easy, and I was surprised that I remained injury free, despite jumping my mileage from 50-60/week before training to 90-100/week during training.

But three weeks ago the miles caught up to me. At first I thought it was a stress fracture in my left foot, but I've since re-diagnosed myself with posterior tibialis tendonitis. No health insurance means no doctor means online forums for medical advice and self-diagnosis. The forums told me 8-10 weeks of rest for full recovery. But it was only three weeks to the marathon.

I took two weeks off and spent the time biking when I could, but mostly hiking and camping. I took a complete break from running and was relieved from the routine but mostly stressed and depressed because of wasted time. Within 10 days, I felt like I couldn't remember the mechanics of running. I'd drive down the street and see a runner on the sidewalk and it was difficult to imagine myself running.

This past weekend it occurred to me that the marathon was in 9 days and I hadn't run at all over the past two weeks and had cross-trained minimally and in fact had sort of forgotten about it but probably mostly repressed it. I have no idea what this does to my fitness. How quickly do you lose it all? I was pretty thoroughly disinterested in the race. My foot was hardly improving. I had planned to overnight the Escarpment Trail from Saturday to Monday, 25 miles through the Catskill Mountains on my last weekend before the race just to keep my sanity.

But I decided to take the remaining 9 days until the race, and do everything I could to make a last attempt at hitting 3:10. I already invested 3 months of my life to this stupid race. I cancelled the hike. I unrolled the yoga mat and have been doing futile, copious, painful pushups and situps every morning and night. I iced and ibuprofened and elevated. On Tuesday night I went for an easy 3 miles at 6:44 pace and, despite some tenderness in my foot, felt amazing. I had a new pair of legs.

I'll run once or twice more for 3-5 miles before Sunday, mostly for confidence. And on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. I'll run from Schenectady, out of Central Park and east along the Mohawk river until it hits the Hudson River. Then I'll turn right and head South and run alongside the Hudson River until I cross the finish line at the amphitheater in the Corning Preserve in downtown Albany.

And I have no idea what to expect. I have my plan: 7:15 pace for 20 miles, then open it up for the last 6. And if I have anything left at 20, I'll qualify for Boston. And if I run out of steam, I'll try next year. And if my foot fails along the way, I'll pull out. Either way, Monday marks the start of something new.