In part 1 I told the story of running in the OKC Marathon in 2021 to qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2022. What I didn’t tell you was this wasn’t the first time I had run OKC. My very first marathon, way back in April of 2010 was at that same race. I had trained with Fleet Feet Tulsa throughout the winter and spring with a small group of fellow runners who became fast friends.
Stephanie, Amber, Kaley and me
I ran that race in 4:56 and was incredibly pleased with the results. 11 years later I ran it in 3:54:59, over an hour faster. So, if you are ever wondering if you can get faster or better at something, you can. All it takes is the commitment to do it.
OKC Marathon medals, 2021 & 2010
For Real This Time
Oklahoma City 2021 qualified me for Boston and this time I would be running it for real in Massachusetts like it is supposed to be run. The journey to qualify that had first entered my head as an even remote possibility way back in 2018 was now real. And so was the training that was about to start.
Boston Start line, Hopkinton, MA
Time to Start Training, NOT
Actually, it didn’t start right away. From October ’21 when I ran OKC until January ’22 I didn’t do rigorous training. I ran with my group but didn’t do the full distances on their long runs or all the hard workouts. I cut my mileage in half, from about 45-50 miles per week to 20-25. I am a firm believer in having a very restful off-season, especially as you get older since the amount of wear and tear on your body is extreme and it takes a lot longer than you are consciously aware of for your body to recover and rebound from all that.
One of the main reasons people get injured is returning too quick into hard training. My Garmin app gives me an option to categorize my runs and I like to put all my off-season runs into the ‘fitness’ bin, not the ‘training’ bin. It’s just a way for me to remind myself it’s not yet time to push hard, that will come soon enough.
Ok, Now It’s Time
In January of 2022 I started in on my training. At the same time I started leading the 4 hour marathon training group at the Dallas Running Club. There is nothing like a running group to hold you accountable, make the miles go by fast and make great friends.
Four Hour Group, January, 2022
The Meat
From January through April I trained rigorously, mixing long slow and easy runs with hills, tempo, progression and interval workouts. I ran 5 days a week and during the meat of the training I was doing a little over 50 miles per week. Most of the time it was around 40.
The Meat of the Training Season
While I was doing that I was also making a Murphy Bed for a guest bedroom in our home. This involved a lot of pretty heavy physical labor so I slowed down that process for the 2 weeks before the race to make sure I didn’t wear myself out.
Murphy Bed in the works
The Taper
With about 5 weeks until the race I started to focus my runs on my goal race pace. I was aiming to finish the race in about 4 hours and that means my pace should be 9:09 minutes per mile. So that is what I started to work on. I did that for the rest of the training while reducing the amount of miles in the final 2 weeks. 2 weeks out I ran about 25 miles and the week right before I ran about 10. That allowed me to recover from the intense body punishment of the season and get the the start line with fresh legs and a fresh attitude.
Next thing you know, We were flying to Boston and the race was coming up fast!
Crossing the Oklahoma City Marathon finish line became the immediate start line for Boston 2022 training but it wasn’t the first time I had started training for Boston. I qualified (and got in) at the San Diego Marathon over 2 years earlier, in June of 2019. At that race I was in a new age group (65-69). My new standard as 4:05. I hit 4:00:00 on the dot to qualify by 5 minutes and was under the cut off by about 3.5 minutes.
San Diego Marathon finish line with my sister Jackie
I started training for Boston 2020 in January of that year. But it wasn’t long before Covid hit and everything shut down. Boston was delayed from April until September of 2020, then was turned into a virtual race instead of in-person. At the same time I moved from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Dallas, Texas and had to train by myself. I did the training and then ran the virtual Boston Marathon in Sept. of 2020. I ran it outside my house on a 5 mile loop around a number of nearby neighborhoods. To state the obvious it was not the same as running a real race. The day was warm and my time was mediocre for me, 4:26. It was nothing to write home about even though I did get the medal and it did count and it was fun to have a homemade finish line from my wife and daughter!
Deja Vu not all over again
Of course the ultimate finish line was on Boylston Street in Boston, not in my front yard. To do that I had to qualify all over again, or so I thought. But I was happily surprised when turned out that because of the pandemic Boston decided to let potential qualifiers use their race results going back to before the pandemic hit. That meant I could use the exact same race I had qualified with in 2020, the San Diego Marathon. That was a relief because I had a pretty good buffer time in that race. I reapplied for the 2021 Boston Marathon using the San Diego time and waited to hear the results. Surely I would get in.
Except I didn’t. What was three and a half minutes faster than needed in 2020 turned out to be seven and a half minutes too slow for the 2021 race. Well, ain’t that a bummer. So my record was now 3 attempts, one success and that success resulted in me running around my neighborhood to get the medal.
So I went searching for a new marathon to run that would qualify me for the 2022 race. And that race was the Oklahoma City Marathon in October of 2021.
I crossed the finish line at the Oklahoma City Marathon in October of 2021. It was my first in-person marathon in 2 years and it was a gloriously perfect day for me. The number one reason was because I beat the time goal of 3 hours and 55 minutes I had set for myself. How much did I beat it by? ONE SECOND! My official time was 3:54:59. I cut it close but I beat it.
After the race
Boston is the reason this odd number is significant. Not Boston the city, Boston the Marathon. The Boston Marathon is a race you have to qualify for based on the time you run and how old you are. My division right now is 65-69 years old. The time I have to beat to qualify is 4:05. But running just below 4:05 does not get you in the race. It just allows you to put in a provisional registration for the race.
Close But No Cigar
To actually get accepted to run Boston you have to be below your qualification standard by some number of minutes and seconds that is determined by how many people attempt to register and what their qualifying time is. They accept starting with the fastest runners in each age group and keep allowing people in until they are filled up. If they are filled up at 4:04 then those who ran above that don’t get in even if they were below the 4:05 time. Everyone who tries to qualify knows this and accepts it, even if it is frustrating. I know this personally because at the Erie Marathon in 2018 I was in the 60-64 age group and needed a time of 3:55 minus whatever the cut off was. I made it in 3:50:24 (still my PR) and thought for sure I had made the cut. I actually lost out getting in by 16 seconds. 16 seconds I could have easily found during my race if only I had known. But that’s the way it goes when you try to qualify.
Erie Marathon Medal and mile splits
That’s why the time goal at OKC was 10 minutes under the actual qualification standard and that is why I was so happy at the finish line. I didn’t find out if I got in the race for several weeks and it then turned out the cut off time was ZERO minutes below the qualification standard. So I didn’t need the 10 minutes after all but I wasn’t about to take any chances. In the meanwhile, I had a great race and it gave me a lot of confidence for the future.
Partners
One of the main reasons I was able to achieve this time was having a running partner for the majority of the race. Rob Katz and I ran together when I lived in Tulsa and when we realized we were both going to be running OKC we decided to run it together. It was a good strategy for both of us. Rob had run one marathon before but had gone out too fast and faltered at the end. Because I was slower in general than he was running with me would force him to slow down and keep a sustainable pace. Meanwhile for me running with Rob would keep me at my best pace instead of faltering and slowing down as the miles progressed.
Racing Buddies!
It worked perfectly not only for the reasons I just stated but because we entertained and distracted each other for all those miles. We talked a lot, made interesting (and sometimes snarky) comments on other runners, and just in general enjoyed each other’s company. The miles really did fly by.
Our plan was to run 20 miles together then decide how we felt and do the last 6 based on that. Rob accelerated a bit at that point and finished before I did by a few minutes. He had a MUCH better race this time around and it set him up for his next marathon when he was a Boston Qualifier! He is set to be on the start line of Boston in 2024 and I am so excited to hear of his experience.
I really encourage anyone running a marathon to get a partner or join a pace group. It will help with discipline and pacing and enjoyment!
As an artist and photographer all my life, one of my favorite fashion models from years past was Tatjana Patitz.
She was one of the elite crew of original supermodels from the 80s and 90s. I was always mesmerized by her wide, expansive eyes, with those hooded lids that hid and revealed so much at the same time.
She passed away yesterday at the age of 56 of breast cancer. Now that I am in my late 60s I look at anyone dying in their 50s and 60s as having died way too young. Peace to her and her family.
Here is a selection of photos from her career.
Tatjana Patitz, 1991, Getty ImageTatjana Patitz, 1986, Irving PennLeft to right – Stephanie Seymour, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Tatjana Patitz, and Naomi Campbell, 1989, Herb Ritts Tatjana Patitz, RunwayTatjana Patitz, Peter Lindbergh
