My journey as a marathoner...

As I sit here at my parents house in Dorchester waiting for the Marathon Monday, it's hard to think back at what happened at last year's Boston Marathon. New England has a very tight and supportive running community, where running isn't just an activity - it's a way of life that defines its people. Having attended the Boston Public School system and being so familiar with the Boston running scene, my immediate reaction was to jump on the bandwagon and say I wanted to run Boston in 2014. However, I was a week due for surgery to remove a benign tumor on my right knee. Anyone who has done a marathon knows that it takes a lot than just will power to run one. With the manhunt for suspect, my surgery was postponed to a few weeks later. After surgery, I felt so much pain in my swollen knee that I thought my marathon career was probably over. On the other hand, while I felt sorrow for myself, I started to think about how difficult of a  road to comeback some of the bombing

April 7 Monday- AM: 5 miles + weights PM: 10 miles + ART April 8 Tuesday- 13 miles w/ 10x3min hills April 9 Wednesday- AM: 5 miles + hurdles PM: Massage April 10 Thursday- AM: 5 miles + weights PM: 15 miles w/ 2x6miles at MP w/ 1 mile float (31:28-5:59-31:28) April 11 Friday- AM: 5 miles +hurdles PM:12 miles + ART April 12 Saturday- AM: 5 miles PM: 10 miles April 13 Sunday- 15 miles at 90% MP (1:27:24) + ice bath Total 100 miles This was my last week of workouts before Boston. Next week I will do one easy "dress rehearsal" 5k tempo at MP and then just easy short runs before the marathon. This will also be my last blog before the race. I think this block of marathon training has gone pretty well. I did the best I could to prepare. I feel very good going into it, however execution on race day will have to be just as critical as preparing for the race, especially on the tricky Boston course. You can follow me during the race at www.baa.org. I will be wearing number 50.

March 31 Monday- 10 miles + weights + ART April 1 Tuesday- AM: 5 miles + hurdles PM: 12 miles April 2 Wednesday- 15 miles + weights April 3 Thursday- 15 miles w/ 10 mile tempo (first 5 miles at 90%MP 5:59-5:57-5:53-5:48-5:46 last 5 miles at 105% MP 5:09-5:05-5:00-4:52-4:46) April 4 Friday- AM 5 miles + hurdles PM: 12 miles + ART April 5 Saturday- AM: 5 miles PM: 13 mile Charlie Speeding fartlek (5min-1-2-4-1-3 w/ 5min steady in between) on Boston Marathon hills (1:10:19, last mile 4:58) April 6 Sunday- 19 miles on Boston Marathon course Total 111 miles I was very tired at the beginning of this week because of the 16 mile tempo I did on March 30. I skipped the Tuesday hill workout, felt OK on the Thursday tempo, but extremely good on Saturday's Charlie Speeding workout. Spedding is a fun fartlek workout which I've done in the past and is usually a good indication of my fitness and I'm glad it went well. I the next 2 weeks I will start to cut down on the volume inte

Mar 24 Monday- AM: 5 miles + weights PM: 10 miles + ART Mar 25 Tuesday- AM: 5 miles + hurdles PM: 13 miles w/ 10x3min uphill Mar 26 Wednesday- 12 miles + weights Mar 27 Thursday- AM: 5 miles + hurdles pm: 12 miles w/ 5 mile tempo (25:17) Mar 28 Friday- AM: 5 miles + weights PM: 12 miles Mar 29 Saturday - 12 miles + ice bath Mar 30 Sunday AM: 7 miles w/ race (An Ras Mor 5k, 14:40) PM: 17 miles w/ 16 mile tempo (1:24:57) splits every 4 miles: 21:32,21:25,21:17,20:40 Total 115 miles This was another very solid week in my build up for Boston. I finished 2nd to Jeff Veiga at the An Ras Mor 5km in Cambridge, MA. I felt strong in the race. We went out at a conservative 4:49 pace, we picked things up in the middle mile, I took the lead with 800m to go but then got outkicked near the end. I probably could have tried harder, but certainly didn't want to risk an all out sprint in the cold rain with heavy marathon training legs under me. I felt like I recovered very quickly after the