2011 Running Year In Review

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." - Steve Prefontaine

In 2012, I vow to train my ass off and quit making excuses.  I know that I can compete on a higher level, but only if I put in the dedication and effort.

Marathon PR Times & Avg Marathon Times
Year	PR Marathon	PR Date	PR Time	Pace	Avg Time
2008	Philadelphia Marathon (PA)	2008/11/23	4:39:42	10:40	4:50:44
2009	New York City Marathon (NY)	2009/11/01	3:56:07	9:00	4:20:51
2010	Houston Marathon (TX)	2010/01/17	4:05:11	9:21	4:36:15
2011	Portland Marathon (OR)	2011/10/09	3:36:53	8:16	4:01:58
2012	Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans Marathon (LA)	2012/03/04	3:22:38	7:44	3:33:30
Lifetime	Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans Marathon (LA)	2012/03/04	3:22:38	7:44	4:12:50

*Marathon indicates road marathons and excludes trail marathons and ultras.

I ran my first marathon in 5:00:15, back in 2008.  I went on to PR the first five marathons I ran (and first 6 out of 7).  It took until my 15th marathon to break 4 hours, at the 2009 Asbury Park Relay Marathon, with a time of 3:59:41, with the help of Marco Cheung & Mike Moschitta who helped pace me.  Two weeks later, I bested that time with a 3:56:07 at the 2009 New York City Marathon.  In 2010, you can see that I regressed.  That was mainly due to coming off a calf strain injury (from the Beast of Burden Summer 100) and focusing on conquering the 100 by running many doubles (and not focusing on marathon times).  I regained my form in 2011 by running 14 sub-4's (6 in 6 straight weeks, all in different states + Germany), and setting 5 new PR's.  I experienced a major breakthrough at the 2011 Berlin Marathon with a 3:38:21 marathon with a huge help from Steven Thunder Lee who paced me for the second half of the race, helping me to negative split.  I lowered that PR, two weeks later, at the 2011 Portland Marathon with a time of 3:36:53, despite being halted momentarily by a passing freight train.  As for my average marathon times, if I didn't run any doubles (2 marathons in 2 days), my average would be significantly lower.

100 Milers
Year	PR 100	PR Date	PR Time	Pace	# of 100's
2010	Javelina Jundred (AZ)	2010/10/23	28:23:21	16:47	1
2011	Jerseyville Fat Ass 100 (ON)	2011/04/23	27:12:00	16:19	2
2012	Rocky Raccoon 100 (TX)	2012/02/04	29:21:23	17:36	1
Lifetime	2011 Jerseyville Fat Ass 100 (ON)	2011/04/23	27:12:00	16:19	4

*100 Milers used to indicate traditional distance-based 100's and excludes timed races.

I tried to break 26 hours at 2011 Umstead 100, 2011 Beast of Burden Summer 100, 2011 Javelina Jundred 100, & 2012 Rocky Raccoon, but for unexpected reasons like injury and torrential rains, my efforts were thwarted.  Again, my ramped up more rigorous training in 2012 will prove to yield faster results, barring injury and freak weather conditions.

24 Hour Runs
Year	PR 24 Hour	PR Date	PR Distance	Pace	# of 24 Hour 100's
2010	20in24 (PA)	2010/07/17	80.224 miles	17:56	0
2011	NorthCoast 24 (OH)	2011/09/17	104.79 miles	13:44	2
2012
Lifetime	2011 NorthCoast 24 (OH)	2011/09/17	104.79 miles	13:44	2

After placing 10th overall at 2011 FANS24 and 29th overall at the 2011 USA Track & Field 24-Hour National Championships (NorthCoast 24), my eyes were opened to what I am potentially capable of.  I will try my best and make the most of 2012 for my running and improve upon my results.

Total Marathons & Ultras
Year	Marathons	Ultras	Total	New States	New Sub-4 States
2008	3	0	3	3	0
2009	18	2	20	11	2
2010	19	6	25	9	0
2011	23	11	34	13	11
2012	10	2	12	3	9
Lifetime	73	21	94	39	22

2011 was a successful and prolific year in which I was fortunate to have traveled to many states and countries (Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Canada, & Germany) for running, shared lifelong memories with the best of friends, met a lot of inspirational and quality individuals, and set PR's in all distances from a marathon and up (50K, 50M, 100K, 100M, & 24hr).  I also achieved Marathon Maniacs 10-Star Titanium status and have made it into a couple press articles (Examiner.com and Pavement Pieces).

I am now on pace to run my 100th marathon + ultra at Comrades on 6/3/2012.  I am also set to finish my 50 States quest on 12/9/2012 at the Honolulu Marathon in Hawaii with my one of my best friends and impressive runner himself, Steven Thunder Lee.

Total Yearly Mileage
Year	Miles	Miles/Week	Race Miles (%)	Training Miles (%)
2008	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2009	756.50	14.55	697.85 (92.25%)	58.65 (7.75%)
2010	1,115.19	21.45	1,023.09 (91.74%)	92.10 (8.26%)
2011	1,563.70	30.07	1,424.76 (91.11%)	138.94 (8.89%)
2012	Goal: 3,000.00	57.70	1,470.00 (49.00%)	1,530.00 (51.00%)

My training miles above are very shameful, and I have no one to blame other than myself.  Many of my race-time bonks could have been avoided with adequate training.  I have made it a resolution to train hard in 2012 and not lose "the gift" as Pre calls this gift of running, see the quote at the top of this entry.

After being inspired by my friend & VCTC + USATF teammate Michael Arnstein aka The Fruitarian, and watching his The Fruitarian YouTube channel, I became inspired to incorporate running more into my daily life.

In particular, this video made me realize this and provided me with the passion to love training and not disdain it:
"Exercise Each Day As If Your Life Depends On It!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tQA3Tvkg_s
You don't have to be a fruitarian to take in his message of a healthy lifestyle.  I no longer view "training" as a chore.  I now use it as a mode of transportation to get from place A to place B, as part of my daily life.

I have started my #RunStreak on 12/25/2011 (it ended on 2/6/2012 after Day 43 due to a sprained toe sustained at 2012 Rocky Raccoon 100, but restarted on 2/9/2012), by running 10 miles with my running buddy Jim Pease and have kept it going since.  The idea of a #RunStreak was first introduced to me by my friend Dave Shannon from Minnesota.  The next time you think, "It's too cold to run outside today", try thinking about Dave and him keeping up a #RunStreak up in St Paul, MN!

With increased training miles in 2012, I anticipate faster road marathon times and better 100 mile & 24 hour results.  Big things are in store!  It is all thanks to friends making me accountable for my training now and to useful tools such as DailyMile and my Garmin watch, to push me to run further and more frequently.

Marathon #2: 2008 Chicago Marathon (2008/10/12)

[2008.10.11] Bank of America Chicago Marathon 2008!  My second marathon, 2nd in 2 months.  The Health & Fitness Marathon Expo for Chicago (held at McCormick Place Convention Center) was really good.  It was a lot better than the Yonkers Marathon, which doesn't even have an expo (only 100+ participants)!

The 2008 Chicago Marathon was a great marathon!  It was my second marathon and was completely different from the Yonkers Marathon.  The atmosphere was amazing and was a complete change of scenery when compared to Yonkers.  Yonkers felt more like a NYRR Central Park race because there was minimal support and barely had any spectators.  This was understandably so because only 107 runners ran and finished Yonkers, whereas nearly 300 times that number of runners completed the Chicago Marathon, 31,344 runners to be exact.  The crowd support in Chicago was great, and the big city feel is something that needs to be experienced.  The marathon had plenty of cheering and had a New York City Marathon feel to it.  Although I have yet to run NYC, I did witness it as a spectator last year, in 2007.

[2008.10.11] Debbie & Me in Chicago for Marathon Weekend.


The city of Chicago and its race officials learned from last year's debacle.  The route was very well-supported.  There was plenty of Gatorade and water this year.  The sights of running through a big city and crossing 6 bridges across the Chicago River was nice.  The Sears Tower was within sight for much of the 2nd half of the race, and Mile 21 took us through Chinatown.


The race started at 7:30am in Grant Park. It was really hard to get into my Corral “B” because of all the runners.  Luckily, the start was close to Michigan Ave and the hotel that Debbie and I were staying at in the Magnificent Mile area.  I was lucky to be in Corral “B”, which was only behind the Elites and Corral “A” (Boston Qualifiers). My gun time / net time differential was a mere 1 min 5 secs.  For many of the runners in the open corral, the difference was up to an hour!  That hour is valuable because I would rather be begin running at 7:30am than start an hour later and have to still be running that extra hour close to high noon in hot weather.


Once the race exited the park, we found ourselves running into a tunnel on Columbus Dr. heading due north and then right away across our first bridge.  There was such a rush of adrenaline because this was a BIG CITY marathon with all of its spectators and camera flashes going off that I ended up over-pacing myself and running a 7-something 1st mile.  It also did not help that I was running at the front of the pack with the 3:30 pace marathoners.


The flatness of the course lent itself to a very fast few miles out of the gate through the downtown Loop area.  Right before Mile 5, we entered Lincoln Park passing the Lincoln Park Conservatory (the Botanic Garden I had visited the day before) and the Lincoln Park Zoo.  The park provided some shade, but then as we ran along Lake Michigan we were exposed to the sun with no tall buildings to help block out the sun.


Wrigleyville, between Miles 7 & 8, provided us with our first lively neighborhood atmosphere accompanied by blaring music and actual locals cheering us on, rather than fellow tourists.


I did not run with a camera, so the only pics I have of the race are whatever the photographers posted up plus one picture of me that Debbie took at Mile 11 when I was still on a good pace.  Debbie & I had planned for her to cheer me on and hand me a vital banana right at the Mile 11 marker.  There she was, just as planned, waiting along Wells St.  After running for over 100 minutes, she was a pleasant sight.


I crossed the half mark at 2:01:51, a tad better than my Yonkers 1st half split of 2:03:07.  I expected a faster mark since there was no uphill portions that I encountered.


The 2nd half was not as exciting as the first.  The run to the United Center (where the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks play) was void of worthwhile sights.  Every time there was a turnaround, and we headed East, the Sears Tower was in plain view.  It gave runners something to focus on.


Mile 19 provided a change of scenery as the Pilsen neighborhood had lots of flavor to it.  It is Chicago’s largest Mexican neighborhood and was well-supported.



[2008.10.12] 2008 Chicago Marathon.  (Picture courtesy of MarathonFoto.)


Mile 21 took runners to Chinatown, which was quite lively with the sound of banging symbols and a lion dance!  After leaving Chinatown, it was back to emptiness until Mile 23 and Comiskey Park (where the Chicago White Sox play).  I saw beer being handed out to runners (a Hash House Harriers tradition), which proved to be amusing.  I saw some runners taking down the beer too!


In terms of the “marathon shuffle” and “hitting the wall”, I fared better in Chicago than I did in Yonkers.  I wasn’t forced to do the marathon shuffle until Mile 18 (Mile 13 in Yonkers), and didn’t slam into “the wall” until Mile 23 (Mile 20 in Yonkers).  From Mile 23, I had to run/walk until the finish.



[2008.10.12] 2008 Chicago Marathon. Finish!  (Picture courtesy of MarathonFoto.)


The final stretch up Michigan Ave past the McCormick Place Convention Center (site of the Chicago Marathon Expo and the largest convention center in America) was painful at best, but eventually I made it back up to Grant Park to finish the race in 4:52:16 (11:09 min/mile).



[2008.10.12] 2008 Chicago Marathon. Time to smile. No more marathons until Philly in Novemeber.  (Picture courtesy of MarathonFoto.)


I was only able to shave off 8 mins from my Yonkers time even though I felt like I ran the best I could.  I didn't feel like I ran as slow as Yonkers, but my time indicates I only ran 19 secs/mile faster.  Unknowingly, the heat had played a factor.  The race was another hot one (though without any fatalities)!  At 8am, it was 65 degrees, and rose to 78 at 9:30am, and reached 84 by 11:30am.  Almost all of the Nike pacers were off (behind) their target pace.  The pace tattoos that Nike handed out at the Expo were useful and a great idea since the pacers themselves couldn't keep pace.


As advertised, this was one FLAT marathon.  The only hill that I encountered was at Mile 26 (right before the finish), and it wasn't that bad.  By that point, you have so much adrenaline that the hill won’t demoralize you.  There were six bridge / overpass crossings though. Those provided slight inclines.


Although 45,000 registered, there were only 31,344 finishers, so it didn't break the all-time record set at last year’s 2007 New York City Marathon with its 38,557 finishers.  That was a historic race, chronicled in Liz Robbins’ book, “A Race Like No Other: 26.2 Miles Through the Streets of New York”.


As for my training, I didn't train enough, but I did put in a couple of half marathons, two 200-mile relays (for the Green Mountain Relay in June, I ran 22 miles over 4 legs, and for the Reach The Beach Relay in September, I ran 20.6 miles over 3 legs), and ran a full marathon (Yonkers in September) as part of training.


I didn't carbo-load the night before (but did so the few nights prior to that) because Debbie and I tried this amazing restaurant called Alinea.  We celebrated our 6 month anniversary there.  Zagat rated Alinea #1 for food (29/30), service, and wine in Chicago.  If you go to Chicago and have a reason to celebrate, you must dine at Alinea (you definitely need to fight to make reservations though, and the experience will cost you a pretty penny).


I would like to thank Powered By Dim Sum teammate Betty Eng, who supported me and kept me up-to-date with Chicago Marathon registration deadline emails (she ran it in 2005).  If she hadn't sent me those email updates, I would have missed the registration cut-off since the race filled to capacity by late April, a whole half a year before the start of the race!


Debbie and I flew back the day of the marathon.  I pretty much went from the post-race party back to the hotel to shower, pack, check-out, then off to the airport to fly back to New York.

Marathon #1: 2008 Yonkers Marathon (2008/09/21)

[2008.09.21] PBDSers gathered at the Yonkers Library, the start of the Yonkers Marathon / Half Marathon. (Picture courtesy of Sportography.)

The 2008 Yonkers Marathon was my very first marathon.  Little did I know how much of an impact this race would have on me.  It completely changed my lifestyle for the healthier!  In a little over two months, I would have completed 3 marathons, qualifying me as a Marathon "Maniac", a very aptly named description of what I had become.


[2008.09.21] START Line. (Picture courtesy of Jerry Loo.)

Proper marathon training calls for a "tapering" period where in the final week(s) of training, the runner is supposed to take it easy and cut back on the mileage. I had done the opposite due to prior lack of training and scheduling. The weekend before Yonkers, I ran with Debbie in the Reach The Beach 200-Mile Relay from the northern end of New Hampshire to its southern coastal tip.  I logged in 20.6 miles by running 3 legs over a day and a half.  This is not the ideal thing to do for marathon training.  I jumped right into marathon running.  The date for Yonkers crept up all so suddenly.


[2008.09.21] Yonkers Marathon Start Line.  (Picture courtesy of Jerry Loo.)

Yasu and I decided to use this race as a 'training run' for our upcoming larger races, the 2008 NYC (11/2/2008) for his, and the 2008 Chicago (on 10/12/2008) for mine.  We ran the first half together at a good pace (nearly a 4 hour marathon pace), as he kindly paced me.  As soon as I crossed the half marathon line, I had to resort to the dreaded "marathon shuffle".  At Mile 20, I slammed hard into "The Wall" and had to proceed with the run/walk method to grind it out to the finish.

Yonkers is known to be quite challenging and is a hilly marathon.  According to Wikipedia, Yonkers is “Known for its many hills, it is considered by many runners to be one of the toughest marathons in the country.  For that reason, most elite runners avoid this race.”  Great to know this is the very marathon I chose to be my first!


[2008.09.21] Yonkers is a double loop course.  (Picture courtesy of Jerry Loo.)

The marathon course is a half marathon x 2 (double loop course). This marathon is also the second oldest marathon in the world, with the oldest being Boston of course. 2008 was the 83rd running of the race, one that began in 1907 (it wasn’t run for 17 years so that explains the differential).


[2008.09.21] 2008 Yonkers Marathon. My very first marathon.  (Picture courtesy of Sportography.)

Without much pomp or circumstance, the race began! The course started off instantly with a 6-mile hill (technically 5.8 miles) up that was seriously no joke!  The course landscape consisted of a park setting up the hill on Warburton Ave (where with a glance over your left shoulder you can view the picturesque scene of the Hudson River and the adjacent cliffs of the Palisades in New Jersey), then a residential setting through the town of Hastings-on-Hudson and back into Yonkers down Nepperhan Ave.

The first time around was fine, but the second time around was hell.  The hill is so bad that I have given it the moniker of “Mount Yonkers”.  The 6-mile hill consists of 4.5 miles up Warburton Ave.  When this first hill is crested, you are greeted by a series of cut out signs with Coca Cola logos and old newspapers clippings, preceding an unofficial aid station that is manned by a single interesting fellow, named Don Dixon.  Don is a cheerful fellow who gives out flat Coca Cola (I thought this was interesting) and ice cubes.  I enjoyed some of his Coke and it tasted so good, giving me a mental boost.  The hill then continues after a right turn up another mile and change up Main St and Broadway into Draper Park, and is quickly proceeded by a short steep downhill overlooking a graveyard (aptly dubbed by Ralph as "The Graveyard Roller Coaster"), which serves to be a kind reminder of the hell that was just experienced.

After the Mile 10 marker, there is an overpass that runners need to climb up to in order to cross over the widened thruway portion of Nepperhan Ave.  It's fun the first time around, but painful on the second visit (the same could be said for most of the course).  A slight downslope ensues into the Latino neighborhood of Yonkers (dominated by Mexican, Ecuadorian, and Cuban restaurants), at Miles 10-14 (and again at Miles 23-24), where the residents are completely oblivious as to what is going on and why there are occasional runners running down the shoulder of South Broadway through their barrio.


[2008.09.21] After the first loop, half marathoners go to the left, full marathoners continue on the right.  (Picture courtesy of Jerry Loo.)

I ran the course non-stop without walking until Mile 20, then my legs hit a wall.  I couldn't push myself harder because my legs would instantly cramp.  So I did the run/walk the rest of the way.  I tried really hard to break 5 hours, and ran at the end and finished strong.  Now I know how crazy a marathon is.  I am surprised that I was able to endure it with my minimal / lack of training.  My long run consisted of running 20.6 miles (over three legs) the weekend before in the Reach The Beach (RTB) relay in New Hampshire.

Race organizers made it abundantly clear that after 5 hours the roads would be opened to traffic and no more police support would be provided.  After 6 hours, runners do not receive an official finish time.  I survived my first marathon in the allotted time limit!  I finished it in 5:00:15 (11:27 min/mile pace).  My splits were horrible.  The first time around the loop was bearable, but my second encounter kicked my butt!  After the first half, I was on a great pace (4:06 marathon pace), but just as I began my second loop, I instantly died and had to rely on the "marathon shuffle" as my legs did not have the stamina of keeping a jogging pace up Mount Yonkers a second time.  I ran the first ½ in 2:03 (9:23 min/mile pace), and the second ½ in 2:57 (13:30 min/mile pace)!

The great aspects of the Yonkers Marathon are that there are only a little over 100 marathoners (your net time = the gun time, so line up towards the front) and there are aid stations (water at all and Gatorade at some) at EACH mile!  Yonkers is the only marathon where I have seen aid stations at every mile.  They do a good job at recruiting various organizations (Boy Scouts, church groups, etc.) to man all 13 of their stations.

The one major drawback for the race was that there weren't many people watching or cheering. I would say 95%+ of the course was void of onlookers.  The solitary aspect of mostly running alone along with the thin crowd support do lend itself in making Yonkers an even more difficult race.

The weather conditions were good.  Being scheduled in late September, it was not too hot, but the sun was out the entire time and I got tanned.  Marathon veterans say ideal temperatures are in the 50's F to 70's F (I would later discover that my ideal race time temperatures are in the 30's F to 50's F), with an overcast sky (no direct sunlight).  The race temperature probably maxed out at 80 degrees F.

Mount Yonkers will give you the confidence to know that if you have conquered it, you will know you are now capable of finishing those other marathons you have been training for (unless you're running something even more crazy like Pike's Peak Marathon.  I swore this race off, but interestingly I'm now looking forward to the challenge of being clobbered by it again.  It's not a race for novices since there's a 5 hour time limit, which I barely just made (with an additional 15 seconds).

What a crazy pick I made for a training run. All I can say is that it feels good having conquered Mount Yonkers.  Now that I've conquered Yonkers (probably the hardest road race around New York City), I am not scared of running Chicago next month.  I now know the nature of the beast, known as the "Marathon.  Next up for me is the Chicago Marathon in October.  Thank goodness that one's flat.  I'm still down for the Philadelphia Marathon because I'm simply hooked!


[2008.09.21] Debbie came to cheer for me at the finish of my very first marathon.  (Picture courtesy of Jerry Loo.)

A HUGE thanks for my Powered By Dim Sum (PBDS) Running Club teammates: Jerry, Tommy, Warren, Yasu, and Debbie, along with Mika who cheered for me at the finish.  It was an uplifting feeling after experiencing most of the second half running alone.  Jerry helped push me to finish the marathon by running along side of me at the very end.  I was probably the only first time marathoner in the field of 107 runners.  I finished in 104th place and upheld the PBDS motto of “We’re not last!”