We arrived in Boston yesterday. We're staying in an area called Jamaica Plain. CJ spent a few years up here and found a nice rental house on Craig's List a few months ago. The place is comfortable and we're sharing it with my friend Robert, his wife Liz and Robert's brother, Brian. That's going to be my support crew during the race tomorrow.

We took it pretty easy yesterday, staying within Jamaica Plain. We had a burrito at the Purple Cactus for lunch and then walked along Center Street visiting a bookstore, a flower shop and some other local businesses. Robert, who took Amtrak up from DC yesterday, swung by the house and then went to the airport to meet Brian (who lives in Seattle but was flying up from Raleigh) and Liz (flying in from Vancouver, where she and Robert live).

Around 5:30pm I decided to lay down for a nap while CJ caught up with her friend Gretchen. I sunk into a deep sleep and awoke an hour later, just before Robert, Liz and Brian arrived. We all went out for food and then came back and crashed pretty quickly.

I had a great night's sleep. I was able to quell the anxiety which has awoken me around 5 am each of the past few mornings. Though I did wake up to use the bathroom at that time I was able to get back to sleep until around 7. By then the bright sun was shining, making for a gorgeous morning. We snuck out to get some coffee and a paper prior to taking in a 9am yoga class.

I've avoided yoga over the past week for fear of aggravating what's going on with my shin. My leg was sore all day while walking yesterday, but I suspected that the benefits of an hour and a half long yoga practice would help my hips and hamstrings more than it would damage my shin. Now, as I'm awaiting a well cooked, healthy brunch by Robert, I am feeling happy with my decision to go to yoga.

The class was nice and mellow and I was able to alter the poses which I thought would put too much pressure on my lower right leg. I'd informed the instructor of my injury and the fact that I was running tomorrow's marathon and she kept an eye on me throughout the class. At the end of the class she made a "good luck" announcement and many of the students echoed her well wishes. It was really nice.

My leg is sore and the anxiety of what's going to happen tomorrow is still sitting on my shoulders. However, I'm relaxing and having a good time with my friends. I'm looking forward to heading down to the marathon expo later this afternoon and starting to focus on the race.

I'm not feeling well. I was up too late, had a few sips of whiskey and only about 5 hours of sleep. I'm vowing to get in a nap and to get to bed early tonight.

I did just go out for a 2 mile jog, and can't say that my leg appreciated it. I'm icing it now and popped some ibuprofen. Now it's time to pack and head to the airport. This run definitely made me realize a PR is not something to shoot for. A FINISH at Boston will be an accomplishment in and of itself.

Though it was a bit more of a hassle than I expected, I was able to get the results of my bone scans today. In fact, just 15 minutes after I called Washington Radiology Associates to retrieve my results, my doctor called me to see if I had the scans in my possession. Unfortunately I had to leave a message with WRA, and told Dr. Pribut that when I left their exam room yesterday I did not leave with any scans. I wasn't even aware that I was capable of leaving with them, or I would have asked for them.

Dr. Pribut told me that each patient's experience there is different, but that I should try to get the results today. After lunch I called over there again and convinced the receptionist to fax the report to me, even though she informed me she "wasn't supposed to."

As I read the report, it indicated that my scan was negative, confirming what the technician had suspected the day before. The image below is the report issued by Washington Radiology Associates.



I emailed a copy of the report to Dr. Pribut and then followed up with him at his house. We spoke at length about music, running and life. His analysis of the report was that it indeed came back "negative," meaning that the bone scan does not indicate that I have a stress fracture. However, he did say that there are occasions where the bone scan does not pick up a fracture. I believe he quoted a percentage around 15 and I interpreted it as some sort of "error" margin.

He did clear me to run, though, which is exciting. He did provide a note of caution and didn't recommend that I attempt to run a PR (personal record). I was, indeed, looking to log a sub-3 hour marathon, 10 minutes better than my PR in Vancouver which qualified me for the Boston Marathon.

We spoke a bit about my training and I recounted that I'd run the Cherry Blossom 10 miler two weeks ago. When I told him my time, he indicated that may have been too fast. However, there was no real way to know exactly what was causing the pain.

So, I'm going to run! My confidence is still waning, but at least I get to run with my doctor's blessing.

We're flying to Boston tomorrow, and I'll be sure to check in with my feelings and thoughts tomorrow and Sunday.

I had a bone scan performed yesterday. The bone scan involved a two part process. I had to go down to the radiology clinic for my first appointment at 10am. During that time they injected a radioactive fluid into my vein and took a few pictures of my legs. Following I had to lie on my back and hold my feet in a position where my big toes were pointed towards one another. The technician put a few wraps of masking tape around my shoes in order to hold my legs in position while they took a few initial pictures of my legs with a bone scanning camera/machine.

See the picture below, which I snapped from my blackberry camera phone. I got a kick out of it because it was called the "Detector 1"



That entire process took about 30 minutes and I hurried over to the office afterwards. My next appointment was set for 1pm, so I Metro'd over there, arriving a few minutes beforehand.

The same technician who politely handled the duties for me earlier in the morning explained that this process would take a bit longer. Again, I lied on my back underneath the "Detector 1." This time, however, it took an entire scan of my body. I was able to comfortably lie on my back. This time, though, they had me remove everything from my pockets. That's because they were going to scan my entire body, instead of just take a few quick pictures of my legs.

The technician informed me that it was okay if I wanted to take a nap, which was something I longed for. The past few nights have not consisted of great sleep for me. That morning, in particular, I awoke at 5:30am and wasn't able to get back to sleep. That's a common occurrence when I'm nervous or anxious about things.

The Detector 1 started just a few inches from my nose. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe deeply into a state of relaxation. The entire body scan took about 15 minutes. Halfway through it, I opened my eyes and noticed that I was able to view the monitor of the scan. I could make out the outline of my skeleton of the area where the Detector was hovering over. Halfway down it was around my waist, and I anxiously kept my eyes open, hoping to catch a glimpse of when it moved over my shins.

The image was a black screen with a lot of white pixels which formed the outline of my bones. There were a number of moving pixels, too, reminding me of a busy highway viewed from an airplane window high above the road. As the scanner hovered above my knees the image became a bit wider, and my adrenaline rushed through my veins.

As it made its way over what I presumed were my shins, I tried to see if the right one looked any different than the left. In fact, on the monitor, there were two sets of images side by side. I wasn't exactly sure why, so my mind started to wonder if the "left" image was that of the left leg and the "right" image was of my injured, right leg. In all honesty, all four of the "bones" were very skinny and straight, so it could have easily been either two images of each leg side by side, or two different sets of my pair of legs.

Nevertheless, eventually a bigger "blob" began to appear towards the bottom of the monitor and I wondered if that was the "hot spot" of activity that I had been anticipating. But, as soon as I was readying myself for bad news, I realized that it was visible on all 4 bones on the monitor. I quickly realized the scanner had moved its way over my feet, and the blobs were my ankles, followed by my feet.

The timer on the Detector signaled the end of the scan, and we quickly took a few more pictures of my lower legs. One set was straight over my legs, with my feet taped, similarly to what we'd done earlier that morning. The second picture was done with me laying on my left side with my legs apart in order to capture a profile view of the bone.

The technician, who had indicated he'd seen a number of runners this week, and had been very cordial and comforting, told me that though he wasn't in the position to truly analyze the scan, he didn't see much difference between my uninjured left leg and my supposedly injured right one.

I lightly stepped down from the table, still cognizant of the sore feeling in my right shin. It hasn't been painful, really, however it's noticable. In fact, as I sit here and type this now I can feel the soreness in the tender spot along my shin. What it all means, I'm not sure.

Dr. Pribut is out today, so I'm not entirely sure how I am going to have him analyze the results or consult me on what is best for me. I've rested this entire week, but think I may try to run a short 2 miles tomorrow morning. When I first saw him he told me that another runner who he'd seen prior to me had a sore shin and he'd recommended she do a 2 mile run on Friday (today).

I had a dream this morning that I was out for a two mile run, but found myself more than two miles from home. I was really concerned about the potential damage it was doing to my leg. Part of me thinks I could get away without running at all, however, taking 5 straight days off without running almost makes me wonder if I'll even remember how to run come race day.

I've attempted to do some limited yoga and stretching, but it's been hard. Again, I don't want to compromise my leg before the run, but also don't want to go into the race on a completely different schedule of operations than I executed for any of my training runs. I was loving the days I ran when I'd done yoga the night before. It allowed my hips to open and hamstrings to stretch. Now, my legs will be rested, but will they be loose enough? These are all questions I'm milling over in my mind. I've had a lot of conversations with people who are concerned about my health. I'm truly grateful for every single person who has checked in on me or offered a voice of concern. However, what's really worrying me now, is whether or not my confidence will be on the level necessary to run a sub-3 hour marathon. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Race day is not very far away.

It's pushing bedtime and I'm pretty exhausted. Unfortunately i cannot say that I'm tired from running or yoga, or the combination of the two, which I had hoped would be the case this week. I'm tired from working and my body is feeling the effects of not having exercised in the last few days. Exercise is something I am addicted to; I love the endorphins that flow freely through my bloodstream from running and yoga. That's not something I've felt yet this week.

On top of that, I use exercise as a counter to my lazy posture throughout the day in my desk chair. Because I haven't had that release, nor the ability to stretch, my lower back is tight, as is my neck. It's frustrating.

I've been hyper aware of the feeling in my leg recently. Even though the X-rays I took yesterday showed no signs of a fracture (the doctor told me he expected them to return negative), my leg does hurt when I walk on it. I've been using rest, ice, elevation and ibuprofen to quell the pain and hopefully buy me enough time to be able to run on this thing come Monday.

Since my last post I have received a strong showing of support from many of my friends, family and loved ones. It's really nice to feel that people are concerned on one hand and rooting for me with the other. The encouragement is great, but there's still a small voice in the back of my head wondering if it would be unwise to run the race on Monday. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone can make that decision, other than me. So, bear with me as I figure out what I plan to do.

Tomorrow morning I go in for a bone scan. I have to go in at 10am to have a radioactive tracer injected into my arm. Then, i will return at 1pm to have the scan done. The scan will show whether or not there is a hot spot of activity of bone growth in my tibia - essentially showing that it is trying to repair a fracture. I don't believe I will have the results until Friday or Saturday.

One of my running friends informed me that Lance Armstrong had a stress fracture during his sub-3 hour performance at the New York City Marathon last year. You can read more about it here. In some ways that is refreshing. If Lance could run with a stress fracture, then maybe I can too. However, he did not know he had a stress fracture until after the marathon. He presumed he had shin splints and merely endured. I more or less know that I have a stress fracture, and have to make a serious decision about what running 26.2 miles on that will actually do to my body in the long run.

Right now I'm watching the NOVA program about marathon running on pbs.org. One woman suffered from multiple stress fractures in both of her shins, and was forced to drop out of her training. I'm hoping to find that my fate is different!

I'm pretty bent out of shape at the moment. I'm almost sure that I have a stress fracture in my lower right tibia (shin bone). CJ came up with the analysis on her own (to which I stubbornly objected), which has been 90% confirmed true by Dr. Stephen Pribut.

I went to see Dr. Pribut yesterday afternoon, following a morning spent sight seeing here in Washington, DC, with CJ's brother David's family. We had a great time touring the Capitol and then going up in the Washington Monument. The later was the highlight for me, because of my affinity to overseeing cities from high above. However, I spent the majority of the morning on my feet, which contributed to the pain in my shin. By the time I was seen by the doctor in the late afternoon, my leg was kind of inflamed and warm.

The doctor was pretty cool. I'd listed "Artist Management" as my occupation on the information document I had to fill out and that led us off with a conversation about music. When I told him I worked with "Punk, Metal and Rock bands" his first question was whether or not I knew of the "Yeah Yeah Yeahs." I thought that was pretty cool, especially since I'd toured the UK with a band who supported them years ago.

I was even more impressed when he told me his young daughter had dragged him to see My Chemical Romance at UMBC a bit before they broke big and he said "I could just tell there was something about Gerard (the band's singer, Gerard Way) that would propel that band to greatness." I wanted to tell him that I was raising funds for SSE who have done a number of events with My Chemical Romance. However, my mind was really focused on what was wrong with my leg, and whether or not I'd be able to run the Boston Marathon.

He asked me a number of running questions and felt a number of places along either side of my shin bone. The outer side is where it hurt the most, but he was still able to generate a bit of discomfort by pressing along the bone on the inner side, too. That, unfortunately, led him to believe that the damage was to the bone, and not just the muscle and tendon surrounding the bone. He wouldn't tell me in so many words, but I could read it in his expressions, that if the results of the Xray and bone scan come back negative, he will not recommend that I run.

That was really tough to digest.

I didn't go into work after the exam. I was really bummed out and pretty pissed off. I've been training really hard and have been attempting to raise funds with almost equal fervor. So, not only would it be a huge let down not to be able to run for myself, but also to let down everyone who pledged money towards "each mile I can run."

I am taking it day by day and I am going to rest this entire week. Luckily, I've trained hard enough to allow myself the ability to take a week off, and still be able to perform well during the race.

It's very hard to NOT be able to run right now, however. It's been such an integral part of my morning routine (and such a "release" and "endorphin rush") that I'm worried how it's going to affect me both physically and mentally. If you're interested to see how I hold up, continue to read here throughout the rest of the week.

I've been tapering over the past week and a half, which has meant that I've spent less time running. That, to me, should translate into having more time to keep my training blog up to date. Somehow, however, that has not been the case.

Last week was a relatively uneventful one in regards to running. After the Cherry Blossom 10 miler on Sunday, I took Monday to recuperate and then did the necessary 7 to 8 mile runs on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with the 5 mile recovery runs on Wednesday and Friday. Every run felt relatively okay, aside from the fact that me left foot hurt quite a bit at the start of each of them.

The issue with my left foot is different from the brief bout with plantar fascitis I suffered from a few weeks ago. Now it feels more like an old soccer injury that I never had diagnosed. It's a pretty sharp pain that my less-than-an-expert self would more than likely diagnose as some sort of stress fracture. It used to hurt pretty significantly when I would play in my cleats on the really hard dirt fields in soccer. It's not resurfaced here, but after about 10 to 15 minutes of running it seems to dissipate.

In regards to having more time to write since I'm running less, that's been compromised a bit by the fact that I seem to always fill gaps in my schedule with something else which has been neglected. Occasionally that can be more work (as it seems that there is always more) or more social activities. This week, especially towards the end, my sleep pattern was thrown off relatively significantly. I am having trouble remembering exactly what caused me to stay up later than usual on Thursday and Friday nights, but I do remember dragging through those days.

Saturday I had to travel up to Delaware to see a band play. I was pretty exhausted going into it and was extremely exhausted by the time Stefan picked me up on his way down from Philly around 11pm that night. Luckily he was familiar enough with my bed time to understand that a bit after midnight I conked out in the front seat. I slept from Baltimore to DC, around 45 minutes, and awoke just as we exited the beltway for the remaining 15 minute drive to my house.

I managed to sleep in until just before 8am on Saturday for my scheduled 13 mile run. Stefan had come down to play with a soccer team that I've played on in the past (and have suspended my involvement so I wouldn't risk injury before the Boston Marathon). Their games are just outside of DC, in Maryland, and I told Stefan that my plan was to leave the house by 9am to run there. We'd looked at directions on Google Maps and it indicated that Stefan's driving distance was just around 10 miles. I presumed that running a slightly altered route would allow me to log my intended 13 miles, and if I arrived near the destination shy of that goal, I could fill the missing distance relatively easily.

Starting out from my house, my left foot hurt, as did my right shin. The shin problem appeared the day before at a yoga class. It was slightly aggravated before going to the class, but I really noticed afterwards. I cannot pinpoint exactly what may have aggravated it. This morning, on my run, I could really feel it. It felt like a really sore muscle on the outside of my front shin muscles, on the lower third of my leg. It hurt for the majority of the run.

I ran through Rock Creek Park and up Beach Drive towards the DC/Maryland border. The sun was shining nicely at the start and the temperatures were in the low to mid 50's. I was still dressed in a hat and gloves and had multiple layers on the upper half of my body. Many others were running in t-shirts, or at most, a long sleeve t-shirt or fleece. There were times that I was warm, but when the wind blew, I was glad that I had on as much as I did. I was listening to a podcast by Steve Runner.

CJ's sister-in-law, who is in town visiting with CJ's older brother, David, and their three kids, had recommended Steve Runner's podcasts to CJ over the phone that morning. He's like a number of other podcasters who records his/her thoughts while running. I had downloaded his podcast of him running last year's Boston Marathon, hoping it may provide some insight and continue to motivate me towards next week's race.

I really enjoy listening to podcasts and think that there are plenty of other things I would love to listen to. That, of course, probably means that I will have to continue running long distances. Because, I've noticed that as my runs have shortened in distance and time, the amount of things I've been listening to has also decreased (which is unfortunate since I keep stumbling upon other things I like to listen to). I mainly listen to National Public Radio programs like "Marketplace" and "Marketplace Money", and This American Life in addition to a lot of sports and running podcasts from The Final Sprint, The Competitors Radio Show, Trails and Tribulations and Zen and the Art of Triathalon Training.

Steve Runner's fate at the 111th running of the Boston Marathon was hopefully much different than mine will be at the 112th running this year. He was shooting for a 4:10 race, whereas I am still hoping to break 3 hours. Of course, that's if I can figure out what is going on with my shin and heal it between now and then.

During yesterday's run my shin was really causing me problems. With my foot issue it seemed as if "running through" it was a perfectly acceptable solution. Sure, the next time I lace up and head out the door my foot will hurt again for the first ten to fifteen minutes, but once I've eclipsed that warm up time, I am good to go. My shin, however, might be a different story. It never loosened up, and just continued to become inflamed and feel like a large bruise or welt. And, unfortunately, instead of erring on the shorter side of the mileage to run to Stefan's soccer game, it seems as if the route I took was quite a bit longer. My non-calibrated ipod pedometer logged the run at 17 miles, which means it was actually a minimum of 15. Not exactly the taper I was looking for.

I made it to the field a bit after the game had ended. Stefan and three of the other players had stayed to say hello. It was really nice of them to do so, and it was great to see them, but I was fairly exhausted. The impact of reduced sleep over the past few nights combined with these nagging injuries left me feeling completely run down. Now is the time that I am supposed to be benefiting from extra energy since I am cutting my mileage before the big race. I'm hoping that I am able to do so. And, with the way my shin is feeling, I may be forced to completely stop running instead of just taper.

I've done a bit of internet research on my shin and it seems as if it may be a stress fracture. To me that seems too extreme. I'm hoping it's just a major shin splint and with proper icing, rest and anti-inflammatory medicines I can be healed in time for Boston.

I am able to walk on the leg, though it does hurt to do so. It's not a debilitating pain, but is surely noticeable.

My schedule for this week looks like this:

Today (Monday) - REST

Tuesday - 5 miles in the morning and 4 miles in the evening

Wednesday - 7 miles w/2 miles at marathon race pace (dress rehearsal!)

Thursday - 5 mile recovery

Friday - 5 mile recovery w/6 x 100m strides

Saturday - 4 mile recovery

Sunday - OFF

Monday - RACE DAY

I am pretty sure that even if I reduce this schedule to something that doesn't aggravate my shin, I can stomach through the pain of the run on race day to ensure that I can run the Boston Marathon. I'll keep you posted!

The results for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler are up. The link to the men's results are here. I finished in 64 minutes and 11 seconds, just shy of my overall goal. I'm listed as the 202nd finisher, though if you include all of the "ties" amongst the finishers, I finished in 37th place. Not bad!

The McMillan Running Calculator indicates that I should expect to run a 6:52/mile at the Boston Marathon, for a finish just shy of 3 hours (2:59:46).

The race went great this morning! There were a few hiccups at the starting line for me, but after that it was smooth sailing. I am awaiting the official results to see whether or not I was fortunate enough to eclipse 64 minutes. If I didn't, I was damn close.

My night of sleep wasn't great last night. CJ and I went over to our friend Issa's to visit with his wife Marie and their new baby, Ferris. I also wanted to watch the NCAA College Basketball Final Four games, and needed a place to watch them (so goes when your house gets broken into and your TV gets taken). It was a good night, though the games were relatively terrible. In fact the KU (Rock Chalk Jayhawk Russ Rhoads!) jump on UNC was so massive that I decided to cut out at halftime and get home by a normal bedtime.

It rained pretty hard last night and we were sleeping with our window open. One of the windows has a tendency to leak and at 2am when CJ got up she noticed a huge puddle of water on the floor. We spent a bit of time cleaning that up, and I was worried I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. Luckily, around 6:10 was the next time I looked at the clock, and when the alarm rang at 6:30am, I had fallen back asleep.

It was still raining then, so I did a very tiny bit of yoga, drank a cup of coffee and then headed out the door. I left the house around 7:10am for the 3 mile jog to the "staging area" of the race at 15th and Constitution, just in front of the Washington Monument.

The humidity from the rain caused me to sweat a bit more than I was expecting for the mid-40s temperatures which Weather.com was reporting. I figured the 3 miles from the house down there would serve as a good warm up, allowing my legs to loosen.

As I neared the White House there were a lot of other runners out on the streets headed toward the race, too. That was a positive because I was a tad worried about making to the race start on time. Because of the number of entrants in the race, the race organizers cleverly implemented a "wave" start. When you register you have to put in a previous run's time and they seed you in a wave respective to that time (if you did not have a previous race's time to report, they most likely put you in the last wave, or potentially allowed you to guess what time you would finish). I can't remember what race I used, but I half presumed that I was in the first wave.

As I arrived at the staging area I immediately hopped in a line for the port-a-potty. I wanted to pee prior to the start of the race. I could hear the announcer on the loudspeaker indicate that the field of Elite Women were shoving off, on schedule at 7:40am. That gave me, presumably, 10 minutes to take care of my business and check my bag.

I struck up a nice conversation with the woman in front of me, half hoping she had a clue which wave started when. Unfortunately, she not only didn't know it, but she was in a different wave altogether, and knew she wasn't in the first one. I didn't see too many other people with yellow bibs in the line for the bathroom, so I presumed I needed to begin the de-robing process while in line. I got my bag ready for the bag check, and shortly after exiting the toilet I sprinted across the muddy grass (the raining had subsided a bit, but the damage had been done) to where i could check my bag.

I immediately turned around and headed for the corral of people waiting to run. The loudspeakers had been strategically placed not only at the actual start/finish line, but also a bit down from the line, so those of us in the "staging" area could hear what the announcer was saying. As I moved closer and closer to the corral I could hear "20 seconds until the first wave starts." Unfortunately he wasn't indicating the wave's color (after the race CJ pointed out that an "A","B","C","D", etc wave system may have been easier for those of us who didn't pay particular attention prior to heading down), but I knew I needed to get my but moving. I hopped one of the metal retaining barriers and found myself amidst a bunch of people in organge bibs, all standing around. I began to excuse myself as I pushed through the crowd towards what I presumed was the front. Eventually I came to a mesh-fence divider that prevented me from moving further forward. On the other side of that fence were a bunch of people wearing red bibs; not my people either. I looked along the left of the corral and saw that there were colored marker flags indicating each respective wave. I couldn't see a yellow one anywhere.

I quickly thought to get out of the corral I was in, though it technically wouldn't have mattered if I stayed in with any of the other "waves" (our timing in the race is based on "chip" timing - meaning that a sensor in the chip is activated when I cross the finish line. The advantage to starting with my wave is that I would be amongst people running at a similar pace as I wanted). Therefore, I hopped the metal barrier on the opposite side from which I'd started, and tried to find the starting line. The speakers were booming and the announcer was already giving instructions for the next wave to get ready to start. I became a tad bit discombobulated and started second guessing which direction the start line was. I had to make a rash decision and though it didn't feel 100% correct, I continued towards the direction I presumed was the start line. Just then I saw a bandstand and knew that's where the announcer was. I leaped over the metal retaining barrier and dashed across the start with a few other stragglers from the first, yellow wave.

Unfortunately there was immediately something wrong with my watch. I couldn't get the stopwatch to start. I wasn't sure what was wrong, but was a bit concerned that I wasn't going to be able time myself. That worried me a lot. While there are clocks on the course, they aren't at every single mile-marker. I made that mistake while running the Outerbanks Marathon a few years ago. Luckily, there, Mick, a friend of Chris's, lent me his watch since Chris and him were going to stick together while I moved ahead. Today, however, I knew I wouldn't be so fortunate. After playing with it a bit, I realized that there was saved "Data" in the watch and that was preventing me from starting a new timer. Within a minute I had cleared that old data out and was able to start my watch.

Now that the hectic aspects of the start were over, it was time to start racing. I assumed a pretty quick pace and immediately began playing catch up. Not that I was necessarily trying to catch anyone, as I was racing against the clock, but I presumed that within each wave (and surely within the first wave) the faster runners had migrated towards the front while the slower (but by no means slow) runners were towards the back.

The course went from starting in front of the Washington Monument to rounding the tidal basin towards the Jefferson Memorial before making a quick exit to Hains Point. If you've been reading my writing about running on here, you know that this is a place that I've logged plenty of training miles. I was already passing people at this point and fortunately the first mile of the road there is flanked by a sidewalk. I was able to run on the sidewalk as the other runners remained in the streets. By the time I looked at my watch ten minutes had gone by, yet I hadn't seen the first mile marker. Because there were so many people along the course, and I was running along the left hand side, I presumed that I'd inadvertently missed it. I continued on, at what I presumed was somewhere near my intended goal pace: 6:24 per mile.

Once the sidewalk ran out the passing became a bit more precarious. I was able to slide in between a few people here and there, and on occasion move onto the grass on the left side of the road, where the sidewalk had been previously. The problem there was the cherry blossom trees along Hains Point were dropping in my face. So, I went with what seemed natural, and was able to keep my mind from focusing on running.

By the time I saw the mile marker for mile 2 I had gone 12 minutes and 31 seconds. I wasn't exactly sure how long my stop watch debacle at the start of the race left missing, but I presumed I was on a good pace. The nice thing was, I felt really good. So, I continued to pass people.

There was a series of interesting signs as we rounded the tip of Hains Point, indicating that the Awakening Sculpture was missing. It was a bit sad not to have it there. The backside of Hains wasn't as windy as it had been on some of my training runs. It wasn't completely free from wind, but it wasn't holding me back, and I wasn't having to push too hard to maintain my pace. I did think about trying to use one or two people as a shield to draft from, since it had worked so well for Chris last weekend when I allowed him to draft off of me. However, I was still moving faster than almost everyone at this point in the pack. It's not to say I was blazing by them, but every few steps along the left hand side had me passing rows and rows of runners.

By the time I hit mile 3 (6:31 mile) I was still feeling good and I began to think about my overall race strategy. At that exact moment, however, I decided to just keep up that comfortable pace. It worked quite well and I was able to snag a few cups of water just before Mile 4 (6:26), the second of which prompted comment from a fellow runner.

After taking the first one, which was barely half full, I made my way to the left, so other runners could come in behind me. However, when I took the baby sip which was in the cup, I immediately knew I wanted more water. The line of volunteers handing out the water was ending, and I had to dash diagonally from left to right in order to snag a cup from the very last person handing out the cups. Satisfied with my second cup, I kept on moving. The comment came from a guy behind me, and initially I thought he was saying I cut in front of him and took his water. However, he clarified that he was impressed with my ability to go get that last cup. It was kind of funny.

Mile 5 (6:25) had us go around the Jefferson Memorial back towards where we'd turned off to Hains Point. The wind picked up just a bit but I was moving right along. I took my gel from my pants pocket and began to strategize on when to take it. I figured that somewhere between the 5 mile marker and the 6 mile marker (the next water station) would be best. I was feeling good, and began to really think that I could maintain this pace throughout the race. I was beginning to feel the effects of running at this pace, but not so much that I thought it would slow me down.

Miles 6 and 7 were run on Ohio Drive along the Potomac River (heading towards Rock Creek Parkway). Again, I have done so many training runs there that I was able to just set my mind into cruise control. Though the wind was present, it was overwhelming. After I passed each mile marker I reminded myself to "sink into a comfortable pace." I didn't want to push it so hard that my body was going to run out of fuel before the finish line, yet I still wanted to maintain a fast pace. I concentrated on form and running economy, and I continued to pass people. Those two miles were both run at 6:23.

Mile 8 was where I really had to start making some decisions. How strong did I want to try to finish, and when should I kick in whatever I have left. I decided that since I seemed to be averaging just around the 6:24 pace, I should continue on, doing exactly what I was doing, and wait until the last mile to really see how I was feeling. We'd turned around on Rock Creek Parkway (just past the Kennedy Center) just before we passed the 7 mile marker (indicating the start of mile 8) and were now headed past the Lincoln Memorial and across the aptly named Memorial Bridge (towards Arlington Cemetary).

The bridge isn't terribly long, but still had a bit of a hill leading up to the apex in the middle. We rounded the traffic circle just beyond the edge of the bridge and then headed back towards the district. The wind in the opposite direction was much stronger, and there was an incline there, too. I leaned forward and pushed myself into the wind, reminding myself that I should maintain the same "effort" instead of the same pace (the idea there is that you don't expend yourself too much going up hills or into the wind by trying to maintain the pace you're running). Here, too, I thought about trying to draft people, but it just wasn't working. I was running a bit faster than all of them. Mile 8, reached somewhere along the bridge, was run at 6:21.

Passing people in races, especially towards the end, does wonders for your psychology. I'd been fortunate to pass people the entire race. However, as we approached mile 10 (the 9 mile marker), I knew this would be the real test. The 6:18 for Mile 9 surely indicated that I still had some gas, but I had to figure out how to keep it together as my arms and legs began to yearn for more oxygen. I took a cup from the last water station and then fell in behind a tall guy in a red shirt. Though the wind wasn't strong, I figured if he were going to set a quick enough pace I could follow him as a motivational tool. After about 20 steps, however, I realized that I was going faster than he was. As I passed him he raised his hands, fingers clasped, to the top of his head. This technique probably helped him with his breathing, but it indicated to me that my decision to move on was right. I was still going strong.

Eventually I came upon a sign which indicated there were 1200m left. I immediately thought to my times on the track, and realized that was 3 laps of a standard 400m track. On a good day of repeats that should take no longer than 4:45. It's a good feeling knowing there's only that much time left in the race. And, soon enough, I was at the 800m mark, so I hit the lap timer on my watch and knew that by the time the next 1:45 had eclipsed I would be 400m from the finish line.

When I hit that mark my body was really beginning to indicate to my mind that it was spent. Though 400m is only one full lap of a track, there have been plenty of times in track repeats that the final lap can seem as if it takes forever. The lactic acid in your legs builds and you can feel them transforming from fluid, movable limbs to solid, unbending appendages. It's almost as if your nice liquid blood is turning to molasses second after second. But that's where the mind can continue to help, and though the first 300m of the final 400m were on a slight incline, I began to push it. I had a bit of help from a fellow runner, who also thought it was time to kick it into gear.

He'd started his dash to the finish just after I took my first step past him. So, unless I made a move, he was going to be the only person on the course to pass me (not to say that I was anywhere near the leaders). I wasn't ready to acquiesce my bragging rights, and matched him stride for stride to the finish. I was simultaneously looking at the clock, hoping to ensure that I came in under 66 minutes "clock" time (presuming my "chip" time would be approximately 2 minutes slower). I'm not exactly sure which of us crossed the line first, but I felt great about my strong push at the end.

Achieving a goal on the course is always much better than not reaching one. I let out a yelp of relief and then heard the announcer indicate that Mayor Adrian Fenty had just finished the race. I looked to my left and saw him, donned in all white (including a white hat) just as he had been a week ago at the National Marathon. Though i didn't do so personally, I must commend the Mayor for finding the time to train. I know he comes from a running family, but I'm still in awe that he's able to put in the miles and the hours necessary to finish as he does.

CJ met me shortly thereafter and we made our way to the "staging" area so I could change clothes. It began raining again, but we wanted to stick around to see our friend Megha finish. We watched from the finish line with her husband Matt as she cruised to a phenomenal finish. We said our goodbyes and then battled the shivers which had set in and made our way to the Metro to get home.

Now, 6 hours after the finish, I am feeling really good. I am waiting for them to post the official chip results so I can rest assured that I achieved my goal of 64 minutes. If that's the case, then my confidence has surely been renewed towards finishing Boston right at the 3 hour mark.

Here are my watch recorded splits:

Miles 1 & 2 - 12:31:56 or 6:16/mile (there was a short delay between the start and my starting my watch)

Mile 3 - 6:31:25

Mile 4 - 6:26:25

Mile 5 - 6:25:87

Mile 6 - 6:23:38

Mile 7 - 6:23:00

Mile 8 - 6:21:50

Mile 9 - 6:18:44

Mile 10 - split between - No record of the first 400m, the next 800m (3:09:18), and the final 400m (1:32:50)

Final watch time: 1 hour 3 minutes and 36 seconds.

I took yesterday off because I thought that the Cherry Blossom 10 miler was Saturday morning (this morning). It wasn't. I was emailing with a friend on Thursday about when/where the packet pick-up was on Friday, to which she responded that it was actually Saturday. I, slowly, deduced the race was actually Sunday. That threw my entire training for a bit of a loop.

My plan was to take Friday off, run Saturday's run fast, on fresh legs, and then do a long run Sunday. I couldn't really swap the Saturday and Sunday runs, because it would be impossibly to know if I'm ready for a fast marathon after having expended myself in a 17 miler on Saturday. But could I rest another day? Well, I compromised. I ran the 8 miles from my house down to the packet pick up. I would have liked to not have run at all, because even today my legs surely lost a bit of their "oomph" that they would have had tomorrow morning. Now, even if I push myself tomorrow, if i come up short, I will wonder how much of it is a result of not being ready, and how much is a result of having run today.

I can't obsess about this stuff, I know, and I won't. I'm a tad concerned that I won't be able to fit in a long distance run, my last of the training. I just don't have time to do it on Monday, unfortunately. And, the sooner it gets to Boston, I don't want to have expended myself at that distance.

So......what to do? I guess have a good night and see how the run goes in the morning.

This morning's weather was a lot better than expected. I always listen for what the forecast is going to be, and check the weather channel's website before heading out each morning. Yesterday's news forecast was calling for 20 degree (Fahrenheit) temps this morning. Thankfully it was in the low 40s.

My 5 miles were nice and easy. Almost so easy that a few blocks from my house I was thinking and concentrating on something completely unrelated to running that I ran halfway into the street. My peripheral vision caught a hearse, of all vehicles, approaching from the right side, and I was able to stop prior to being hit. That would've been a catastrophe, for sure.

Not much else to report. I am going to take tomorrow off, aside from hoping to find a good yoga class, in preparation for Saturday morning's Cherry Blossom 10 miler.

I am tired of the cold. This morning's 45 with a brisk wind had me chilled to the bone. I am tired, too, and I am sure that's a contributing factor. Today was a 6 mile recovery run with 6 x 100m strides. It wasn't until I made it to the track, after 5 miles of easy running on sore legs in Rock Creek Park, that I finally felt as if my legs loosened a bit.

Yesterday was an 11 mile run which actually felt pretty good. All in all things are good, and a nice, early run on the hills of Rock Creek Park is always nice. I am tapering, which means that instead of 15 miles on a Tuesday, 11 miles was supposed to seem short. It did, by and large, but all of the accumulation of mileage between shifting last week and then the marathon this weekend has left me sluggish, overall.

This morning my left foot was hurting quite a bit. I did ice my feet on a frozen coke bottle yesterday, and did yoga at lunch. The yoga class was quite intense, almost more of a workout then a stretching session. The past few yoga classes I attended at Inspired Yoga were geared towards hips and hamstrings. The class yesterday, at Edge Yoga, was a more advanced class focusing on the back. No wonder my back is sore right now!

Donations continue to creep in! I'm just shy of $2000.00, or roughly 2/5th of the way to my goal. I guess I need to dig a bit deeper in my donation garnering skills. Maybe I can do that Friday morning, since it's a day off from training!