Overview

My pace drops off a cliff after like 15 miles every time I run.  The problem is that running 2 marathons in 5 months is the absolute most that I care.  I run 3 days a week, not 6, so I never develop that late-mileage speed.  So I can run a 10K at a 6:50/mile pace, but my pace for a marathon is like 3+ more minutes per mile.  The only goal I set for myself in a marathon is to finish, because that's the outer limit of how much I care during my training, so I guess I can't complain about slowing down in the late miles when it happens.

And the course was just brutal.  You climb the Birmingham Bridge and then Forbes into Oakland at the halfway point.  You're still feeling fresh at that point, so you conquer it with no problem, but then you face 8 more miles of rolling hills through Shadyside, Homewood and Highland Park.  By the time you get to the steep downhill on Liberty near Church Brew Works in Mile 23 or 24, it's just way too steep, it's like trying to stop yourself from falling off a cliff.  That was the toughest part of the entire course - the downhill by Church Brew Works.  By the time you hit the flatland in the Strip in the last 3 miles, people were just pulling up all over the place to walk, stretch, limp, hobble . . . I didn't see that in Philly.  In Philly, everyone finished strong - people weren't taking walk breaks in those last 2 miles.

My wife's coworker's boyfriend and his buddies are serious runners who were trying for like 3 hour marathons, and they all finished like 20-30 minutes later than they thought, citing a brutal course.  After hearing that, I thought cool, I'm not crazy.
 
So that's what 2 marathons in 5 and a half months looks like.  Started training in August, finished yesterday.  Doing the two so close together also posed serious motivation problems towards the end of my training this time around.

I'm not going to stop running.  I'm best at 5K's and 10K's, and I can even put up decent times in like 10 milers and half marathons.  So I'm going to go back to running races like those for fun and to put up some decent times.  Marathons are just nuts, and doing 2 back-to-back like that was even more nuts.  But I'm gonna get back to having fun with things - learn hockey to play with friends, play some hoops, ride my bike, hit the gym - if I do another marathon it would be like fall of 2010 at the earliest (NYC Marathon, most likely).
 
My feet are swollen today, it was tough to get my dress shoes on for work.  I walked 3.8 miles after finishing, with going through the finishers' area, walking to the car, etc.  I just realized that means I put in a 30 mile day.  That's rarely said....

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Unofficial mile splits (from my Garmin watch):

9:40, 9:07, 8:47, 8:52, 8:42, 8:45, 8:50, 8:54, 9:07, 8:59, 9:21, 9:10, 9:42, 9:05, 9:32, 9:40, 9:57, 9:36, 10:23, 11:51, 12:09, 12:05, 12:53, 12:32, 13:11, 13:42, (10:47/mi for the final 0.2).

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These are the playlists I listened to in my ipod while running the streets of the Burgh through my 16 weeks of training.

Playlist One:
1. Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
2. L´Estasi Dell´Oro (From the Good, the Bad, the Ugly) - Ennio Morricone
3. Time To Pretend - MGMT
4. This Fire - Franz Ferdinand
5. Cigarette - The Clarks
6. Times Like These - Foo Fighters
7. Come Out Fighting - Pennywise
8. Universal Mind Control (UMC) - Common
9. Shimmy Shimmy Ya - Ol' Dirty Bastard
10. 1970 Somethin' (Featuring the Game and Faith Evans) - The Notorious B.I.G.
11. Lose Yourself - Eminem
12. Live Your Life (feat. Rihanna) - T.I.
13. No Easy Way Out - (Rocky IV Soundtrack)
14. Rise Above - Rollins Band (Black Flag Cover)
15. Who Here Wants To Fight - The Enkindels

Playlist Two:
1. Mr. E's Beautiful Blues (Untitled) - Eels
2. Take The Skinheads Bowling - Camper Van Beethoven
3. Young Folks - Peter Bjorn & John
4. Run Baby Run - Garbage
5. O...Saya - AR Rahman & M.I.A.
6. Right Now (Na Na Na) - Akon
7. Gladiator - Common
8. Guillotine (Swords) - Raekwon
9. F*ck You - Pharoahe Monch
10. Reggaeton Latino (Chosen Few Remix) - Don Omar, Fat Joe, LDA & NORE
11. Twice As Hard - The Black Crowes
12. Like a Rolling Stone (Live) - The Rolling Stones
13. Start Today - Gorilla Biscuits
14. Walk - Pantera
15. Never Back Down - Throwdown

Playlist Three:
1. Baba O'Riley - The Who
2. Renegade - Styx
3. We Ready (No. 2) - Archie Eversole
4. Run (Remix) [feat. Jadakiss, Lil Wayne, Raekwon & Freeway] - Ghostface Killah
5. Rising Up - The Roots
6. Nas Is Like - Nas
7. Run's House - Run-D.M.C.
8. Heads Will Roll - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
9. What a Wonderful World - Joey Ramone
10. Last Night In Town - Lucero
11. In The City - The Jam
12. Hey Little Rich Boy - Sham 69
13. Coolidge - Descendents
14. Young 'til I Die - 7 Seconds
15. Asesinos - Los Crudos

Playlist Four:
1. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
2 .You Get What You Give - New Radicals
3. Lucky Ones - Broken Social Scene
4. Wrecking Ball - Creeper Lagoon
5. Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend
6. The El - Rhett Miller
7. Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You) - UGK featuring OutKast
8. Oye Mi Canto (Radio Edit) - Big Mato, Daddy Yankee, Gem Star, N.O.R.E. & Nina Skyy
9. Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been) - Kanye West, KRS-One, Nas & Rakim
10. Hero - Nas
11. Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who
12. Stay Positive - The Hold Steady
13. We Die Young - Alice In Chains
14. Here We Go - Bouncing Souls
15. Sidewalk - Avail

Playlist Five:
1. Long Distance Runner - Fugazi
2. Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Again) - Wilco
3. The Well And The Lighthouse - The Arcade Fire
4. Use It - The New Pornographers
5. Ready, Steady, Go - Oakenfold
6. Going On - Gnarls Barkley
7. Runnin' - The Pharcyde
8. Shut 'Em Down - Public Enemy
9. Way Of Life - Dead Prez
10. Low (feat. T-Pain) - Flo Rida
11. Get By - Talib Kweli
12. Bombs Over Baghdad - Outkast
13. Unstoppable - Santogold
14. Kernkraft 400 (Sport Chant Stadium Remix) - Zombie Nation
15. I Against I - Bad Brains

Playlist Six:
1. The Late Greats - Wilco
2. Born In The '70s - Ed Harcourt
3. Shine A Light - Wolf Parade
4. Pump It Up - Elvis Costello
5. Holiday - Green Day
6. Things On a Dashboard - Hot Water Music
7. Can't Change The World - Face To Face
8. Extinguish - Strike Anywhere
9. Never Met The Gooch - Kid Dynamite
10. Hooray For Me And F*ck You - Bad Religion
11. 100 Miles and Runnin' - N.W.A.
12. South Side - Common f/Kanye West
13. The Champ - Ghostface Killah
14. Dirt Off Your Android - (Jay-Z/Radiohead Mashup)
15. Juicy - Notorious B.I.G.

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The Goal: Run 2 miles @ 8:41/mile pace.

The Result: Ran 2.0 miles in 16:41 at 8:20 mins/ mile.

The Splits: 8:11, 8:30.

I ran in rain, which I'm so far past noticing.  I read that absolutely nothing I can do this week in terms of running is going to help my finish time.  So I wanted to run once just so I don't go 8 days without running.  I ran a couple of 50-100 yard sprints, because I read it can break up whatever's settling in my legs from taking so many days off.  I tried to eat protein last week and I'm trying to eat carbs this week.  Just overall eating and sleeping regularly and well.  Also going to try to stretch every day this week and generally take it easy.  Thankful that I got through my final run, and for my second straight 16-week marathon training program, I got through it injury-free.

I don't doubt that one reason I stay injury-free is because I only run 3 days a week.  In fact, that's the main reason why I only run 3 days a week.  The converse, which I've accepted, is that I'm never going to be a Boston-qualifying marathoner.  The truth is that I don't really care enough to put more time into this than I do.  I want to run a strong, clean marathon at my pace - I want to "run my race."  But I'll save my speed stuff for 5Ks and 10Ks.  So my three goals for Sunday: (a) Break 4 hours; or (b) beat my time in the Philly Marathon; or (c) FINISH!!  I'll honestly be happy with any of these 3 goals.  Now back to obsessing over weather....

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Same philosophy here as my previous run.  The training plan has me running 8 miles today, but I'm going to cut it short and continue my taper.

The Result: Ran 4.71 miles in 38:54 at 8:15 mins/ mile.

The Splits: 8:01, 8:06, 8:16, 8:29, (8:32 pace for final 0.71 mile).

Obviously my taper must be working, because I'm running faster.  More importantly, it's a faster that I don't even notice - it's effortlessly faster.  In other words, I'm putting the same effort into an 8:05 mile this week that I put into a 9:05 mile a few weeks ago when I was so beaten down.  The miles don't feel any different, but they're getting faster.  Thank God.

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The Goal: This was supposed to be a 5-mile tempo run according to my plan.  But I don't see the need to run 7 minute miles at this point, it will only tire me out.

The Result: Ran 4.0 miles in 33:34 at 8:23 mins/ mile.

The Splits: 8:20, 8:22, 8:30, 8:24.

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The Goal: Run 3 miles @ 8:41/mi pace.

The Result: Ran 3.0 miles in 25:18 at 8:26 mins/ mile.

The Splits: 8:30, 8:27, 8:22.

This was the final run in which I'm going to pay attention to my training plan.  I'm in the final two weeks and I want to get as much energy back for race day as possible.  So I'm going to concentrate on my sleep and nutrition, and just run a few miles here and there to stay loose.

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The Goal: Run 12 miles @ 8:41/mile pace.

The Result: Ran 12.0 miles in 1:46:26 at 8:52 mins/ mile.

The Splits: 8:26, 8:29, 8:28, 8:48, 8:30, 8:43, 8:45, 8:51, 8:50, 8:59, 9:45, 9:59.

The Route: http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/pa/pittsburgh/326123990372641118

So this was my final double-digit run until the Marathon!  I used this opportunity to run part of the Marathon course I hadn't previously seen - out Penn Avenue in the East End, and north into Homewood, west in to East Liberty, north into Highland Park, then back down into Bloomfield.  I really wanted to see the elevation of this part of the course, and was pleasantly surprised that it's mostly downhill.  I'm going to need it - Miles 13 through 15, basically from the Birmingham Bridge to Aiken Ave., are just going to KILL me.  I've run that stretch 3 times now and I know what to expect, but until today I didn't know how I'd rebound from it.  At least now I know that 17 through 22 are pretty much a net downhill (or flat at worst) before dropping off that cliff known as Liberty and Penn in the final 4 miles. 

It was hot and sunny today, however.  God I hope it's not hot and sunny on race day.  Please give me 45 and cloudy....

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