California International Marathon (CIM) Race Report

December 6th (Saturday): Big breakfast with the family in Kate's apartment. Greg made a huge breakfast. Banana pancakes, bacon, and eggs with mushrooms and onions. Packed up the bags and headed over to Sacramento for the expo. 3 miles through Sacramento before entering the expo. Picked up my number and walked around to check everything out. Purchased a pullover. Attended the elite meeting (which was intense, but cool - the realness of the race set in just about there).

Fuel up!

 

To the hotel to shower and change up for dinner. Out to dinner with everyone. Chicken parmesan and lots of water. Bed at a decent hour and prepped all the gear for the next day.

December 7th (Sunday): 4am wakeup. A small breakfast of oatmeal and Gatorade. Eaten with the wooden stirrers for your coffee. Sorta like chopsticks. Dominic drove me down as close as we could to the start line. Dropped me off at an intersection and I jogged in the 2+ miles to the starting line. Inside the elite tent. Reeked of sweaty people, but that's normal. Some strides in the parking lot and ready for the race.

Off the line smart and worked myself into a group of 15 or so people by the 2nd or 3rd mile. There was a 2:15 pace group and a 2:18 pace group. So you will see how the splits went and how it blew up in my face by mile 21.

Mile 1: 5:15
Mile 2: 5:19
Mile 3: 5:04 (slightly downhill and caught up with the pace group)
Mile 4: 5:07
Mile 5: 5:19 (26:06)
Mile 6: 5:11
Mile 7: 5:17
Mile 8: 5:15
Mile 9: 5:13 
Mile 10: 5:08 (52:12 - even splits for the 1st and 2nd 5 miles - 26:06 x2)
Mile 11: 5:14
Mile 12: 5:13
Mile 13: 5:13

68:26 through 1/2 marathon - feeling smooth and ahead of pace - keep it together and you got it

Mile 14: 5:16
Mile 15: 5:22 (78:32 - 3rd 5 miles @ 26:20)
Mile 16: 5:13
Mile 17: 5:14
Mile 18: 5:17 (during this mile - I was thinking "You got this Eric!")
Mile 19: 5:23
Mile 20: 5:30 (1:45:13 - 4th 5 miles @ 26:41)
Mile 21: 5:32
Mile 22: 5:54 (Ahh! it's over and my legs are shutting down hardcore)
Mile 23: 5:59
Mile 24: 6:14 (I think I stopped for a few seconds on this one - wasn't sure I was gonna make it)
Mile 25: 6:16
Mile 26: 6:15
Mile 26.2: 81 seconds

Finish time: 2:22:46 - missed hitting a PR by 26 seconds, but was through 20 miles much quicker  (almost . I loved every minute of it and know a couple factors I need to focus on the next cycle.
 

Mexican food at night with my Kate, Erin, Dom, Greg and Karen to celebrate all the hard work. It was an awesome day and amazing trip to California. I cannot complain about anything and I am excited for the next one!

California Trip Slideslow

Here is my trip summed up in photos. You can see who the main focus was :)

MADISON and FOOD.  Race report of California International Marathon to follow.

 First day. Love her.

 Feeding herself. Sorta.

 That smile.

 Just chillin.

 Still working on the fine motor skills.

 Porkchops. Home cooked by Erin. Bombdiggity.

Ready for my closeup.

 Asian salad.

 Diesel breakfast made by Greg.

 On the way to Sacramento.

 Rawr.

 Improvised.

 Gotta have em.

 Post marathon.

 In and Out burger.

 Cream cheese stuffed French toast.

 Erin had (no joke) 5-6 bites. I destroyed the rest.

  Swim lessons!

 Alcatraz showers.

 Old school headphones.

 Visiting window.

 San Fran.

 Views.

 So happy to see her.

 #awkwardfamilyphoto

 Artistic.

 Experimenting.

 Admiring her uncle.

 Adorable.

 Buster's Philly cheesesteaks.

 Want some Madison?

 I don't want to go back to the East Coast.

 From scratch. NBD.

Super Duper. Final meal from the West Coast.

Run Santa Run 5K (Thanksgiving Week)

65 miles for the week with a road 5K PR and a day off.

November 24th (Monday): 9 miles (63+) in Saratoga with a group.

November 25th (Tuesday): Off. Bowling at night.

November 26th (Wednesday): 5 miles (NT) in the AM. 6.5 (46+) miles in the PM.

November 27th (Thursday): 9 miles (54:36) before heading to CT for Thanksgiving.

 My Aunt Kathy bought them.

November 28th (Friday): 10 miles (73+). Part of the run with Sarah.

Group shot - even Tucker made it in.

November 29th (Saturday): 6 miles in the AM total. 5k PR: 14:51 - solo effort. 4+ miles in the PM.

Breakfast before the race. Small piece of quiche and a scone.

Boom!

 

Dessert well deserved. Work of art.

 

Tucker isn't allowed on the furniture. She wasn't.

November 30th (Sunday): 4 miles (32:27) in the AM. 11++ (73:26) miles in the evening.

Caught My Fall with My Wrist (See Pics)

71 miles for the week.

November 17th (Monday): Took the day off from running to clean my room and relax. Long day at work and needed a clear mind going through the rest of the week by being organized

November 18th (Tuesday): 4 miles (28:46) in the AM. 6 miles (41:01) in the evening before bowling. 

It was windy out. I was NOT robbing a bank.

 The gnome in SF.

November 19th (Wednesday): 3 miles (NT) in the morning. 9 miles total in the evening. 1.5 mile warmup, 6.75 miles tempo (missed an extra add on in the neighborhoods) in 39:57. At first, I had split that my last 3 miles was in 15:00 flat. I was like whoa! 5:20 for the last segment of the tempo. Solid run with a short jog cool down. 

 So close to seeing this one for 10 days.

November 20th (Thursday): 3 miles (NT) in the AM. I headed down to UAlbany in the evening around 5pm to do a 6xmile workout in the dark, light snow, and windy all by myself. Not a great combo and legs felt off. 

2.5 mile warmup. Made it through the first interval in 5:11 (73, 76, 77, 85). Jogged off 400 and maybe thought I just needed a easier mile to work it to. Made it through 200 in 40 and shut it down. 

The last 2 cycles I had one workout that I haven't finished. I brush it off and don't worry about it. Every single workout I have had this cycle have been on point with no hiccups.  It all sorted itself out when there was the 6pm group run from the PE gym. Got in 8 miles (62:33) with some friends through downtown Albany.  

November 21st (Friday): 8.5 miles (61:51) with Renee at 5am. 7 miles (48:48) with Shaun Donegan at 5:30pm. Stayed for dinner and hung out for the night.

So smiley.

November 22nd (Saturday): 15 miles (1:37:29) in the morning before heading to Leominster for the weekend. Drove down to Massachusetts to head to Sarah and Bob's house. Relaxed for the rest of the day and ate a delicious home cooked meal.

November 23rd (Sunday): 8am wakeup. A sitdown breakfast with the family before heading over to Fitchburg for the Slattery's 5 Miler for a 1pm start. Much nicer weather than last year. Shorts and t-shirt for running attire.

I'm just gonna leave it as my steeple chase career never started and probably never will especially after this incident. First 200 meters of the race, I decided to jump off some logs and caught my foot. Down hard on my wrist and the pictures below show the progression of pain I was in. This is why I run and luckily I don't need my hand/wrist to run fast. I DID JUMP UP IMMEDIATELY AND FINISHED RUNNING THE RACE TO HELP MY SISTER AND HER FRIEND. Nothing broken and the pain set in after the 2 mile cooldown after the race.