Big Cottonwood Marathon and Qualifying for Boston

I visited Salt Lake City in August, 2013. While there, I did an Internet search for some local hikes to take my family, many of which began in Big Cottonwood Canyon, which led me to Google "Big Cottonwood Canyon." Not only did I learn of several awesome hikes, I learned of a marathon that starts at Brighton Ski Resort up Big Cottonwood Canyon taking place in September.

It was at that moment I formulated a plan to qualify for the Boston Marathon. It involved running the 2014 Big Cottonwood Marathon.

So what made me think that a 4:00:55 marathoner, who missed qualifying by over 45 minutes think he could qualify for Boston? (1) I turned 45 this July, making my time 3:25 instead of 3:15; (2) Check out the course profile!

But isn't that cheating?

No. If the Boston Athletic Association says it's a qualifying marathon then that's good enough for me.

But isn't that kind of taking the coward's way out?

No. If the Boston Athletic Association says it's a qualifying marathon then that's good enough for me.

But doesn't it seem unfair?

No. If the Boston Athletic Association says it's a qualifying marathon then that's good enough for me.

Since we're on the subject of fairness, let's talk about genetics. Is it fair that the ideal runner's body, according to author of Racing Weight, Matt Fitzgerald, is the exact opposite of my body type? Yes, apparently, because the God deemed it so.

If God says it's fair that I got the genetics of an out-of-shape shot-putter then that's good enough for me. In order to level the playing field, for us squatty-type runners, he made mountains and canyons we could run down.

Here's a family picture from 2005. We're not exactly a genetically thin family.

I'm the one holding my daughter. My father and two brothers are next to me.

But, come on, it's not a real marathon. You could roll down that thing.

If the Boston Athletic Association says it's a qualifying marathon then that's good enough for me. Besides, have you ever run 15 miles down a steep canyon? I have. It's not as easy as it looks.

So you're seriously gonna count that as your BQ if you somehow finish in under 3:25?

Look, I have five kids. FIVE!!!!! Cut me some slack. And besides, If the Boston Athletic Association says it's a qualifying marathon then that's good enough for me.

Boston Marathon Recap

Apparently race day temperatures were supposed to approach 87 degrees for the 2012 Boston Marathon, causing race organizers to offer a deferment for anyone who chose not to run in the heat.

Heat?

We have a word for days when it's 87 degrees here in Las Vegas: Winter.

Man up, Boston!

Vegas in winter.

Another Goal Accomplished

Back during my first go round at running, I established a goal of running a half marathon.  I wanted to finish in under 2 hours.  The closest I came was 2:02:04.  The fourth and last one I ran took over 2:11. That last run marked the beginning of the end.  It was obvious I would never be fast enough to accomplish a 2-hour half marathon.

That was in 2006 or 2007.  I don't remember exactly.  I still ran, but no more than 2 or 3 days a week.  Sometimes not at all.  I started doing triathlons and that was fun, but alas, I still didn't reduce my running times enough to make me excited about the sport.

Then along came Tony Horton and Shaun T.  They got me into the best shape of my life. I noticed I was running faster.  I was setting prs in nearly every conceivable distance.  I decided to apply my new found fitness to running.

Shaun T

++++++++++

I set out this morning on a 12-mile run.  About 3 miles in I thought I'd make it a half marathon and get that 2-hour monkey off my back.  For whatever reason, 13.1 miles didn't seem that far.  Perhaps it's because I'm training for a marathon and half that distance doesn't seem as intimidating?  Perhaps it's my increased fitness?  Perhaps I've been reading too many Dean Karnazes books?

Me at the Kaloa Sugar Mill 10-mile run in Hawaii.  I've dropped 20 pounds and 2 minutes/mile since this race.  As bad as I look in this picture, I felt even worse.

I figured if I'm running a half marathon I might as well make it official by naming it.  I dubbed it the Trent Lorcher Invitational.  There was a good chance I would win since I was the only participant.  I finished in 1:49:55, well below the seemingly impossible 2-hour threshold, well below my personal best, well above a Boston qualifying time.

It's time to get to work.

Breaking News: I'm Not Very Fast

My wife called me out on my four goals for one marathon stunt from a couple days ago.  We discussed my quest to qualify for Boston and decided it will probably not happen on my first attempt.  There is ample evidence to support that claim, by the way.  I have, therefore, revised my Utah Valley Marathon goal.

Goal:  Finish the race without soiling myself, preferably in 3:45 or less.  You may be thinking that I'm copping out or quitting.  Not true.  I'm just getting started on this not being slower than a rhino with his horn stuck in a cottonwood tree phase of running and although the improvements have been solid (I set another 3-mile pr yesterday), they are not enough to realistically challenge the long term goal of qualifying for Boston.

It will probably take a few tries to get this done. 

My good friend over at Feet Meet Street (When I say ‘friend,’ I don’t mean actual friend. I’ve never even met the guy.  I think he’s a teacher and if we worked at the same school, we could be friends), talks about how setting goals helps us realize just how colossal our failures are. Funny stuff.

But is it true?

As the URL of this wonderful blog suggests, I have set a goal to qualify for the Boston Marathon. When I started training, months before I started the blog, I had no notion of qualifying for Boston. I just felt it would be a good time to run a marathon. As I lost weight and got faster (mostly through cross training), I thought it would be a great idea to set a ridiculous goal: qualify for Boston. To find out just how ridiculous this goal is, just check out this listing of my qualifications.

Yesterday, my first semi-serious run after the strained soleus, while recovering from a minor chest cold, I ran 6.2 miles (Technically, I ran 6.45. I stopped after the first ¼-mile to forcefully discharge phlegm, walked back, and started over). I finished that 6.2-mile run 11 seconds faster than my fastest time ever. Now you would think that’d be accompanied by fist pumps and jumping jacks. Not the case. It was so much slower than the time I would need to even have a slight chance of qualifying for Boston that I was upset.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

It’s bad in the sense that I should have at least given myself a pat on the back for running faster (nearly a full minute faster per mile than I ran a 10-k in June). It’s good in the sense that without a ridiculously stupid goal, I would not have improved my times as much. In addition, because there’s so much more improvement needed, there’s little chance for complacency.

So, yes goals do help us realize just how colossal are our failures, but they help us fail less than we would have unknowingly failed otherwise.

*************

12 goals for 2012

1. Finish the Utah Valley Marathon in less than 4 hours. I realize this goes against the blog’s URL.
2. Finish the Utah Valley Marathon in less than 3.75 hours. So does this.
3. Finish the Utah Valley Marathon in less than 3.50 hours. And this.
4. Finish the Utah Valley Marathon in less than 3.25 hours and qualify for Boston. I can have multiple goals for the same event and there’s nothing you can do about it.
5. Run the River Mountain Loop. That’s a 35-mile extremely hilly route that goes around the River Mountains, adjacent to Lake Mead, in Southern Nevada.
6. Run the River Mountain Loop without dying.
7. Drop an additional 15 lbs. I currently weigh 180. 180 pounds is the least I’ve weighed on New Year’s Day since I was in the 7^th grade. I’m estimating that 165 pounds would be a better running weight to have any shot at goals 3 and 4. It would also make goals 1 and 2 less painful and more likely.
8. Finish paying off my student loan. We actually had this goal for 2011. We hammered out ¾ of it last year. It’ll be done by March. What does this have to do with qualifying for the Boston Marathon? Not much. But there are some applicable principles between the two: (1) Consistent effort produced big results; (2) The goal provided motivation to work more; (3) I ate a lot of pasta.
9. Attract more visitors to my blog. If you’re reading this then the goal’s been accomplished.
10. The last three deal with my relationship with God and all that stuff that makes me a better father, husband, person, and runner—things like prayer, serving others, developing charity, not murdering walkers who travel three abreast on mountain trails and don’t move when I politely yell “passing on the left,” and studying divinely inspired writings. These are actually goals 1-3, not 10-12 but this is a running blog and not a religious one so I put them at the end.

Welcome!

Find out how a slow-footed, ordinary guy with five children can qualify for the Boston Marathon. 

The how-to part is quite simple. The Boston Marathon organizers establish qualifying times and qualifying marathons in order to participate in their marathon. If one’s marathon time is at or below the qualifying time and if one’s qualifying time occurs at one of Boston’s qualifying marathons, and if you get your registration in before the deadline, you’re in. Quite simple.

Not that easy.

The fastest 5-k time I’ve ever run is 24:37. I did it yesterday (November 14, 2011). That’s an average pace of 7:56.45 minutes per mile. Needless to say, I was quite pleased with myself. Five kilometers, or 3.1 miles, however, is much shorter than a marathon. It would have been impossible for me to keep up the sub-8:00 mile pace for over 26 miles.

But let’s pretend I could. Let’s pretend that I can run a marathon at slightly slower than my 5-k pace. We’ll make the math simple and round my pace time up to 8:00. A marathon run at an 8-minute per mile pace would require just under 3:30 to complete, an accomplishment certainly worth celebrating. There’s one problem, though: The qualifying time for a 43-year old man is 3:15. That’s 15 minutes less than my impossible to maintain 5-k pace would allow. Damn!

That’s a sub 7:30/mile pace. For 26.2 miles. I’ve never even done that for 3.1 miles.

Oh, by the way, I’ve never actually run a marathon. Another minor detail I might need to address. So all that talk about marathoners hitting a wall and the necessity of training yourself to run long distances and the need to hydrate is…in my case, just talk. I have run a few half marathons, the last one back in 2007, and an Olympic distance triathlon in March of 2010 and 2011, but I’ve never run a marathon.

In short, in order to qualify for the Boston Marathon, I need to complete a race twice as long as the longest distance I’ve ever run at a pace I’ve never run at even 1/10 the distance. Simple.

Step 1: Sign up for a qualifying marathon.

This step was pretty easy. In fact, I’d already done it before I even hatched this crazy plan of qualifying for Boston, which happened before I thought of writing a blog about it. I’ll be running the Utah Valley Marathon on June 9, 2012, which according to marathon organizers is the fastest Boston qualifier in the spring. That’s not why I signed up for it. I signed up for it because it’s about a five-hour drive from my house. I have relatives who live nearby. I’m a school teacher. School gets out June 8. Do I know how to celebrate or what?

If I had thousands of dollars at my disposal, I could hire a psychologist to analyze why I decided to qualify for Boston. He or she would probably indicate the fastest spring marathon planted the idea in my mind and my mind just ran with it. In addition, the aforementioned hypothetical psychologist might suggest I’m crazy. After all, as I’ve mentioned, I’ve never run this distance. I’ve never run a fast enough pace at any distance.

I’m doing it anyways.

Today is November 14. The marathon is June 9. That gives me just under seven months to get in 3:15 marathon shape. Did I mention my five children? It takes a lot of time to care for five children. My wife would probably appreciate some assistance.

I can at least use the “I’m only doing Yasso 800s today, dear, because I’m writing a book to support our family” excuse.

This quest will not be the central focus of my life. My family will be. I’m not going to log 50 miles of running per week. I’m not going to go out and buy all the fanciest equipment. I’m not going to spend my weekends running in every event I can find. Heck, I’ve already forked over the $79 for the Utah Valley Marathon. That's enough.

I don’t have a coach either. Don’t need one.

I'm going with an unconventional training plan. More on that soon.