BostonBound59

I'll be taking a break from blogging for a while starting today. I've enjoyed the blog but today I started coaching with the Nashua PAL school program and will coach the Granite State Flash youth boys from late October until mid-December. I am also running more than 70 miles/week getting ready for my October 11, 2009 marathon in Scranton, Pennsylvania, so, combined with family and work responsibilities, I need to put this blog (temporarily) on the shelf. I hope to pick it up again after the Flash season ends in December and we begin training for Boston 2010. I might however put up a post next Monday after the St. Charles Children Home race in Portsmouth which we've done 11 years in a row as well as a short post after my October marathon.

As I temporarily close up shop, here is a 10 minute slideshow I put together from the 113th Boston Marathon on April 20, 2009. The photos are from a variety of sources including family, friends as well as online sources. I did my best to include our Granite State Flash and Gate City Strider runners. I apologize in advance to those runners who were not included...I literally spent hours online looking for photos of everyone I knew who was running.

Posted by Mike Merra at 10:24 PM    

Labels: Boston Marathon, Granite State Flash, Nashua PAL

This will be my final post on this year’s Boston Marathon. I will however try to continue posting over the Spring and Summer so stay tuned. Overall, I was happy with my race (274th out of 1826 in my age division) and was extremely lucky to have run essentially injury free for 13 straight months. I ran every day but four between January 1 through race day on April 20 and just a little more than a year ago never imagined that another Boston was even remotely possible. My race pales in comparison to many other friends who ran Boston (see below) most notably my wife Cathy who finished in 3:11:59 placing her 4th overall in her age division. She ran close to Nancy Corsaro (3:06-2:40 in the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials) and in front of Brenda Walton of Tennessee, who competed in the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials. Below is a list of some New Hampshire running friends—please forgive me if I left you out—if I did, email me and I’ll add you :

John Stanzel, Manchester (2:58:38) John is a lawyer friend who has only been running a few years—his 1st Boston

Mike Wright, Milford (2:59:42) Mike is the Milford H.S. and Gate City Strider youth coach

Steve Piper, Hollis (3:15:32) Steve underwent surgery in 2008 yet comes back at age 54 to run a 9 minute PR)

Karen Long, Nashua (3:17:11) a Strider and top masters runner, Karen runs an 11 minute Boston PR.

Mike Craig, Manchester (3:21: 57) a Manchester lawyer and John Stanzel’s cousin—we all did a brutal early March 22 miler on the hills of Mont Vernon where they left me in the dust.

Rick Collopy, Durham (3:29:16) Rick’s first Boston, he is a Flash coach and my October 2008 Steamtown travel and Boston qualifying companion.

Jim Belanger, Nashua (3:35:51) See Jim’s picture above—his 15th and final Boston—we ran together the first few miles

Yuki Chorney, Mont Vernon (3:39:36) Yuki ran a qualifying time for next year

Jennifer Rood , Manchester (3:44:48) Another NH lawyer friend and our Flash youth girls coach—due to a serious back injury forced to train most of the winter in the pool and on the elliptical machine—yet easily breaks 4 hours. Was top NH Woman in 1991.

Paul Joyce, Milford (3:49:51) Paul is the Milford Track Coach and multi year Boston participant—a Boston PR for him)

Janice Platt, Amherst (3:52:01) The Granite State Flash Program director as well as a talented runner and coach

Dave Contrada, Nashua (3:52:01) Dave wins the Purple Heart Award-He finishes Boston despite being tripped, landing on his face yet gets up to run the next 13 miles covered with blood & with two black eyes

Mark Sage, Hollis (3:56:10) On the Strider E-board—an organizer of the Hollis Saturday morning running group

Shu Minami, Mont Vernon (4:12:19) Shu is Yuki’s dad turned and 70 this year.

Dave Salvas, Amherst (4:35:12) Dave is a Striders and Team in Training Coach who ran 8 marathons over the last year

Dan Dugan, Nashua (4:44:36) A Strider E-board member, organizer of the Strider Bus and a talented runner-he ran 3:39 at the 2008 Baystate and is already training on the McMillan Plan for Boston 2010—where I predict he will be sub 3:30

Jim Callahan, Sharon (5:33:26) Jim is my former law partner at Sullivan & Gregg- He ran the Antarctica Marathon earlier this year—finished Boston despite becoming sick at the halfway mark

Posted by Mike Merra at 11:03 PM    

Labels: Boston Marathon

Once you reach the crest at BC the crowds are enormous and while I was relieved the hilly five mile stretch that comprises Heartbreak Hill was now behind me, my relief was tempered by the fact that I still had five miles of difficult running left. I also noticed the wind picking up and many in the crowd were now wearing hats and jackets.

We descended over the trolley tracks and onto Chestnut Hill Ave and then into Cleveland Circle before taking a left onto Beacon Street. It is at this point in the race you realize you are now actually in Boston. While running in Wellesley and Newton you feel far removed from the city but the apartment buildings and brownstones lining Beacon Street along with the trolley tracks immediately to your left, let you know you’re a long way from Hopkinton and heading down the home stretch. I passed through this difficult 5k stretch from 30k -35k in 24:40, a just a little over a minute slower than my six previous 5k splits through 30k (23:22 avg.) and only about 1 ½ minutes over sub 3:20 pace. Despite being close to my goal I knew I was starting to run out of gas and was about to hit the proverbial wall. When I hit the wall it involves a sensation of losing my regular steady cadence and rhythm and each running step starts to feel wobbly and unsteady as my feet hit the ground. I kept reminding myself that we had done nine training runs in excess of 20 miles in preparation for this race with four of those 23 milers on terrain (with the exception of Central Park) far more difficult than Boston. This helped me handle the unpleasant sensation of being completely depleted of glycogen or expressed in simpler terms, running on dead legs. I told myself that as long as I could see pavement moving underneath my feet, I’d be ok and eventually get to the finish line.

I passed through Coolidge Corner in Brookline within a block of where I lived while attending law school in Boston and right by one of the T stops I would take to class every day. It seemed like forever before I could see the famous Citgo sign. Finally, it appeared far off in the distance next to Fenway and immediately after spotting the Citgo sign and approaching the Mass. Pike overpass I could see the Hancock tower slightly off to the right. You’d expect to feel a sense of relief when you see these landmarks but they look so far away my spirits sagged a bit so I decided to keep things simple so I kept my focus on the ground and the pavement moving underneath my feet. I ran miles 22, 23 and 24 at 7:50, 7:57, and 8:08 and I then passed the 40k (24.8m) mark at 3:10:18 (25:21 5k split) my slowest mile of the day at 8:30 for mile 25. I needed to be 3:08 at the 40k mark to have any shot at 3:20 and knew I had about 10 minutes of running left. Then within a few minutes of passing 40k I got a big boost when I saw the “One Mile to Go” sign. When I coach my cross country runners on the Granite State Flash we usually try to have the team visualize how far they are from the finish based on laps on a track. Before the race we always walk off as a team the mile to go (1600 meters), 1200 meters, 800 meters and 400 meter marks. Usually we pick a tree, stonewall or other landmark so even if they are near the end of the race and can’t see the finish line (which is very common in cross country) they know exactly where they are in relation to the finish by equating it to laps around the track. So when I passed the mile to go sign I knew I had just four laps around the proverbial track and felt my legs come back to life (somewhat) and pressed as hard as I could and suddenly arrived at Hereford Street where I took a hard right and where the screaming crowds were literally five deep and then about 150 meters later a sharp left onto Boylston where I could see the finish line in the distance. Cathy's brother Phil was in this area and took the great photo of Cathy above and I'm disappointed I missed him. I could see the finish line and timing clocks as well as the hundreds of other runners approaching the end at the same time. The crowds are so loud down this final stretch you can’t even hear yourself breathe. Finally, I crossed the timing mat and it was over: 3:21:15. While I was about 75 seconds over my goal I was happy and relieved as this was 6 minutes faster than my last Boston in 1982 (age 23) and a PR. Literally seconds after coming across the line I ran into fellow Strider Steve Moland who was working the finish line and he grabbed me (and 10 minutes earleir Cathy) for the brutal pictures posted above. About two minutes later I received a text from my friend Roy Seliber who was following me in Seattle, Washington who texted me Cathy’s time of 3:11:59, 4th overall in the women’s 50-54 age category. After 13 months and more than 3000 miles of training, it was all over.

Posted by Mike Merra at 9:56 PM    

Labels: Boston Marathon, Fenway, Finish Line

I was surprised that it took just five minutes for the 9th corral to pass over the starting line and Jim and I were quickly able to get into our running strides. As usual I wasn’t completely paying attention and missed hitting my watch at the first mile marker but caught the second mile at 15:42. This is right where I hoped to be. One thing that surprised me early on in the race were the hundreds of runners darting into the woods for a quick nature visit in just the first two miles of the race. I then remembered that Cathy and I were very lucky to have avoided the long porta potty lines back at the Athlete’s Village thanks to the Thyne’s. It was at about this point that I also shed my long sleeved shirt I had worn to the start. The road was scattered with all sorts of shirts, hats, gloves for miles and I later learned that a road crew sweeps the road after the second wave and donates truckloads of clothing to local homeless shelters.

Posted by Mike Merra at 9:50 PM    

Labels: Boston Marathon, Framingham, Wellesley

I’m going to break the marathon into a few segments. Here is the first part.

After more than a year of training and 3000+ miles in my running log (same for Cathy), race day had finally arrived. I slept better than expected and we were up at 5:30 A.M. and out the door a little after 6:00 A.M. We met 40+ other Boston bound runners in Nashua for the ride to Hopkinton on the bus chartered by the Gate City Striders. After a quick roll call by Dan Dugan the bus was on the road and on its way down Rt. 495 toward Hopkinton. The mood on the bus upbeat and you could feel the excitement build as traffic began to slow on Rt. 495 as thousands of other runners converged on Hopkinton. When I ran this race 27 years earlier we just weaved our way into Hopkinton through a few back roads from Sudbury and my parents simply dropped me off right near the town green where I sat for a few hours before hopping into the back of the pack. Things are different now. With more than 25,000 runners it is difficult to describe the level of organization and logistics in place. Local and state police stand at every intersection, flashing temporary road signs every ¼ mile, two way streets turned into one way streets, helicopters buzzing overhead, TV satellite trucks and what seemed like hundreds of yellow school buses one after another winding their way to the Athletes Village from their loading point 26 miles to the east in downtown Boston. It is like a major military operation and somehow it all works.

When we finally arrived in Hopkinton about 8:15 A.M. we quickly checked our bags in and headed over to Pam and Jim Thyne’s house on Rt. 85, about ¼ mile from the start. The Thyne’s took very good care of us for the next 45 minutes on what was a chilly 40 degree morning. We were able to watch the start of the elite women’s race on their wide screen TV.

As we arrived at the start hundreds of volunteers lined the starting area along metal barriers and they carefully checked our bib numbers before letting us into our designated corrals. Cathy and I said our good bye’s and she headed up to the 7th (faster) corral. I ran into fellow Strider Jim Belanger from Nashua who was running his 15th and (he says) last Boston Marathon (I doubt it). He had actually created a mini-banner to unfurl at various times to the crowd announcing his retirement. The National Anthem played and just as it was concluding two F-15 fighter jets appeared high in the sky flying overhead from the east with a roar and then (and this may be one of the most incredible thing I have ever witnessed) just when I thought they were gone looped back around from behind us, sank low and literally flew right over our heads in a second louder roar seconds before the start. Finally, the gun went off.

Posted by Mike Merra at 8:30 PM    

Labels: Boston Marathon, Hopkinton

Today we headed back out to the New Hampshire seacoast today for the third time since January 1 for the Great Bay Half Marathon in Newmarket. The weather was perfect at about 45 degrees with plenty of sun although it was a little windy. With Boston just two weeks away Cathy and I both used this as a final training run in excess of two hours (about 2 ½ to be exact). My training plan today called for 14-18 total miles so I did a three mile warm up in a residential subdivision near the start beginning about 25 minutes before the race so I could keep an eye on the back of the pack and hear the race starter and gun when it went off. I did not have a number today (a first since Boston 82 for me) so I wouldn’t be tempted to run faster than my planned training pace like I did last week (thank you Steve Piper). When the gun finally went off I had already run more than three miles and then started weaving from the very back of the pack through the parents with kids in strollers as well as the happy social runners and book groups who like to run 5-6 abreast as a singular moving (and chatting) roadblock. My plan was to run 8 minute pace the first 7 miles and then about 7:30 pace (which if I'm lucky will be my approx. marathon pace) the last 6.1 miles. With 1500 runners in this year’s 13.1 mile race (up from 1100 last year) along with another 230 in the 5k race (which started at the same time) it was very congested for the first couple of miles but after the three mile mark I was finally in a comfortable running stride and was running just under 8 minute pace. I ran for a while with Vickie Kalil from GDTC (one of our former Flash coaches) and a few others who were also doing Boston prep. The Great Bay course is incredibly beautiful with several awesome views out onto Great Bay as you head south on Bay Road. Great Bay is one of the east coast's most healthy and active saltwater estuaries. http://www.greatbay.org/ The early miles are on picturesque New England country dirt roads lined with stone walls. I finally caught up to the 8 minute pacing group and we stayed in a pack until we hit the 7 mile marker where I was about 7:52 mile pace through 7. The course was much hillier than I remembered from last year. I then picked it up slightly at the 7 mile mark and finished the last 6 miles right at 7:30 pace. The last few miles of the course involves an out and back loop on a peninsula on Cushing Road where you can see the other runners heading in the opposite direction which is fun and demoralizing at the same time. They even had a group of Belly Dancers to give us inspiration the last few miles.

After I came off the peninsula I reached the 12 mile mark and a group of my Flash team was working a water stop with Kate Collopy when they saw me and the three (Robbie, Alex and Dan) rushed at me each holding two cups of water. I didn’t want to play favorites and couldn’t possibly drink six cups of water at once so despite the 45 degree weather I stopped dead in my tracks, put my arms up in the air and told them to hit me….which they did most obligingly and I ran the last mile completely drenched from head to toe. I could hear them laughing and high fiving each other as I pulled away. The guy right next to me wasn't happy but it was still a great moment. I then ran another two miles after the race for 18 miles total. Cathy ran nearly the same workout but since she will likely be at least 10-15 minutes in front of me in Boston ran 1:34:12 which she said felt pretty easy. It was a great day for the Gate City Striders and I’ll copy and paste the Strider results here as soon as they are up on the Strider website.

Posted by Mike Merra at 9:01 PM    

Labels: Boston Marathon, Great Bay Half Marathon

We are now in the midst of our heaviest weekly mileage loads. The brutally cold weather in New Hampshire is starting to lift and last Saturday I was able to actually run in shorts for the first time since late last year. Last week I also ran 80 miles for the first time in my life, this week if the long run (23) goes according to plan, it will be 83. People ask, why are you running so many miles? My response is always the same: if I was truly talented I could get away with less. Due to schedule conflicts Cathy ran the exact same course for her long run on Sunday as I did Saturday, and was 12 minutes faster. Last Tuesday we also did a solid speed workout (1m, 2000 meters, 1m,1m, 1m, 1m) in the Hampshire Dome with fellow Gate City Striders (Karen Long, Karen Pattelena, Trevor Ward, and Brian Kane) at about 6:45 pace with 2:30 rest in between. So far, my legs including my arthroscopically modified knees have held up pretty well but I’ve developed persistent bi-lateral pain in my adductors that I can feel nearly every step. The pain, which runs from my pelvis (on both sides) down into the inside of my quads is not too severe (yet) and I’ve found several sets of stretching exercises online that seem to help a little. The above chart is my weekly mileage since January 1. We have just two long training runs left (excluding the Eastern States 20 miler on March 29) and they can't be over soon enough.

Posted by Mike Merra at 9:13 PM    

Labels: Boston Marathon, Eastern States, New Hampshire

On Sunday we headed out to the seacoast along with 800 others for the Half at the Hamptons, another prep race on the road to Boston. Similar to Derry three weeks ago, we lucked out with great weather (for February) with temps at race time in the low 30’s with only occasional gusts. It was not lost on me as we stepped to the line that just 6 weeks prior we were running on snow covered roads in brutal sub-zero temperatures a few miles south on Salisbury Beach for their Annual New Year’s Day race so Sunday’s conditions were summer like by comparison. I was looking forward to running a course a little flatter than Derry so I could try to maintain a steady pace as long as possible. Most of our weekend long training runs have been on mega-hilly up and down courses which beat you up and make you wonder what kind of steady pace you can truly hold under race conditions. Cathy, Rick Collopy and I warmed up close to a ½ hour prior to the race and as usual I fiddled around (unsuccessfully) trying to get out of my running pants and once again nearly missed the gun.

My goal was to run a 7 minute pace and the first three miles were a bit too fast (6:37, 6:53, 6:48) and my group hit the 5k mark in 21:05. The course then meandered into residential areas of Hampton that acted as a buffer from the wind gusts off the ocean so we were able to keep it under 7 minutes and passed the 10k mark in 42:37. I’m sure the 7th mile marker was off as that split was 6:17. At about this point one of my Flash Youth runners Cam Dumont and his family were out on the course cheering us on and this helped me greatly. Cam is a talented runner from Hampton Academy and one of the hardest workers on my team and his younger brother Jacob ran on our boys bantam team. As we reached the 9-10 mile point I could sense we were headed back toward the ocean as the gusts picked up and we took a sharp left and headed northerly up Willow Ave. and then swung a sharp right onto Ocean Boulevard and suddenly the Atlantic was staring us square in the face with some incredible views—which somehow is harder to appreciate after 10 miles of running. The wind really picked up at this point as the last 3 miles down Ocean Boulevard were a pretty straight shot right back into center of Hampton Beach. This stretch was mentally difficult for me but I kept reminding myself—this was a beer sponsored race (Harpoon) so I had a reason to live. My last 3 miles were difficult: 7:06, 7:02 and 6:22 (the cone placement for this mile was definitely short) and I finished in 1:30:08. Cathy was 1:28:22 and was 3rd overall woman and though I was dusted again I could actually see her most of the race (sort of like a mirage). It was a great showing for the Gate City Striders: thirteen year old Cassie Wright 1st Woman’s 19 & Under (1:42)--her dad Mike was 4th in his age group at 1:23, Karen Long 1st Woman 40-44 (1:31), Steve Piper 3rd Men’s 50-54 (1:32), Aileen Kenney 1st Womans 60-64 (2:00), Terry Kenny 3rd Men's 60-64 (2:09), Shu Minami 1st Mens 70-74 (1:55). We also had Flash Coach Rick Collopy finish in 1:36, and Coach Maryanne Dempsey 1:57 as well as Flash alumnus Alex Brown run 1:21 in winning the 20-24 year old men’s age group. I hope I didn’t miss anyone. Results: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/09/nh/Feb15_Halfat_set1.shtml

Posted by Mike Merra at 9:35 AM    

Labels: Boston Marathon, Gate City Striders, Half at the Hamptons

While I have followed this event for many years (and even manned a water station a few years ago) today was my first time actually running the race. This race has become a tradition for Boston Marathon bound runners. The race draws runners from throughout New England. The race is organized by the Greater Derry Track Club and sold out this year at 800 runners.

Posted by Mike Merra at 2:42 PM    

Labels: Boston Marathon, Derry Prep, Greater Derry Track Club

Posted by Mike Merra at 3:33 PM    

Labels: Boston Marathon, Spirit of the Marathon, Steamtown Marathon