My Boston Marathon 2026 Quest Blog

 I was listening to two philosophers on a podcast today discuss courage.  They used the example of gentleness.  Only a man who is capable of great violence is truly capable of great gentleness because he can choose to be gentle. Similarly, one talked about how he mistook naivety and bravado for courage and he gave the example of his early days of rock climbing.  It wasn't until his first fall and injury that he realized what he was risking. I realized how applicable this is to training for the marathon.  How different it is from training for other races, only longer.  How I expected to train and compete and feel my first time around in 1988. When I train now, it's different because I never take for granted that I will complete the race or even the training cycle.  And I do it knowing what lies in store for me.  I relish the early weeks but also know that I have to mentally and physically prepare myself for the peak mileage weeks.  I assume ...

Historic Hill 5Km Race.   Pittsburgh, PA.   SAT AUG 17, 2024.   29:58 (9:39/mile pace).   Course Record.   1st Place Men 60-69.   33/107 Overall. This is one of my favorite Pittsburgh races.   It is the only race that takes place wholly within a historically black community.   The Hill District of Pittsburgh was originally known as “Little Haiti” following the successful rebellion of black slaves on the island.   Most of the residents were free middle-class black citizens of Pittsburgh.   Later, the Hill was known as a center for Jazz with establishments like the Crawford Grill and musicians including Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong playing here as well as our own Mary Lou Williams Above is a picture I took today of St. Thomas Moore Catholic Church.   Right at the Starting Line. There is a lot of rebuilding going on and I’ve enjoyed seeing this on my runs thru the area and annually during this race.   It’s o...

  Today was the day to enter the Pittsburgh Marathon.  It takes place in 263 days on May 4, 2025.  I've scheduled my first major injury in the beginning of October. My goal for Pittsburgh is to run 9:49/mile for a 4:17:23.  Then I hope to run the Erie Marathon on 9/7/25 with a 9:09 pace for a sub 4 hour pace. Today's run: 3 miles. Average pace 9:13 Climb 92 feet. The pace was much faster than 9:13 but we stopped quite a while for red lights because the course was open and we were running on city streets. I was disappointed in my inability to maintain pace on the hills.  But I'm also running with people 1/3 my age now.  I have condiments older than these people.

I'm sharing four lessons from the marathon that also have enriched my life. Part 1 - You Need a Team Jim Rohn famously said, "You become the average of the five people you spend the most time with." Therefore, choose the people you share the road with wisely. While we don’t always have a choice about the people in our lives—family, classmates, co-workers, and neighbors are often given to us—it’s essential to thoughtfully evaluate our relationships. Sometimes, we stick with companions out of convenience, habit, or simply because we haven’t deeply considered whether these relationships support or drain us. Just as we should cultivate nourishing relationships, we must also be willing to prune away toxic ones. Consider the various domains of your life where you interact with others. Each has its own set of "Big Five" relationships: Reading : Who are the authors you spend the most time with? The books you read are conversations with their authors. Choose wisely which...

I've moved information about every boring detail about runs to the page "Training Log" available in the header. Most of you should ignore it. You have been warned.

Posted on How I used Psychology To Become a Mediocre Marathoner I ran in the 2024 Pittsburgh Half Marathon on May 5, 2024.   https://www.thepittsburghmarathon.com/ .  This isn’t my first rodeo.  It isn’t even my 12th rodeo.  I’ve pretty much lost count of the rodeos at this point.  Let’s just summarize to this point: I’ve been in a lot of rodeos.  And I have a PhD in Psychology.  There are two people that can’t stop talking: Psychologists and people that run Marathon.  So, I have something to say about how psychology can improve Marathon Performance. Social facilitation and responsibility – for most of us, running long distance is a social sport.  We train together for the months leading up to the event and run together.  Many runners feel that they run better when they are running for their team or for someone else.  If you can run with someone else that is about your speed that will help you feel that you have somebody t...

  Track Workout 1/4 Mile Repeats - Success and thoughts about my current diet. (Or if I see one more gram of Protein I’m gonna hurl) My goal was to run at a pace below 8:30 per mile. I managed to achieve this with splits of 8:26, 8:32, 7:45, and 7:58. However, I've also been focusing on weight management and diet to enhance my performance. I recently observed a significant weight drop from 179.5 pounds on August 5 to 174 pounds today. This change is likely due to a reduction in bloating from consuming salty food, rather than dietary adjustments alone. For my diet, I follow Jordan Wyatt's guideline of aiming for a calorie intake of 1860 per day, based on my ideal weight of 155 pounds. He uses a simple formula of Ideal Weight X 12 = Calories.   I also target 155 grams of protein daily, which translates to 620 calories. Wyatt suggests 1 gram of protein for every pound of ideal weight.   This leaves me with 1240 calories for other macronutrients. Nutritionist EC Synkowski sug...

  Slow as Molasses on a Cold Day in January.... Recovery Run - Mon 8/5/24 Distance: 4.0 Miles Time: 55:35 Pace 13:52/mile Climb: 427 feet Conditions 78°, 67% humidity Course: 5K of Perpetual Suffering + loop Pictured above the great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919.  After a storage tank in the North End ruptured, a 23 foot tall tidal wave of molasses cascaded down the streets killing 21 people and several horses.  Some people swear that you can still smell the sticky stuff to this day. Think of that when you are running the Boston Marathon and have some respect the next time you see a bottle of molasses.

 Two-Face Road Race 10Km/6.2 Miles 8/2/2024 58:05 9:21/mile 2/8 Age Group, 71/117 Men, 116/230 Overall 69°, 93% Humidity, Rain 217 Feet Elevation Puma Deviate Nitro 3 The Good:  I came in second.  Always an ego-booster.  I felt like I put in good effort.  The Pumas are good race shoes.  Light and springy.  They are a definite improvement over my trainers. The Bad:  I relied on Apple Maps to take me to the starting line.  That turned out to be an empty field 5 miles from the actual start.  So I got there with 15 minutes to spare but still got my bib and shirt.  I've been working on eating 800g of vegetables and fruit daily and consuming 170 grams of protein.  Although I have not hit those targets I still put on 2 pounds before the race.   The Ugly: I did not hit my goal of 9:09/mile pace which is the pace to qualify for Boston in the Marathon and if I can't even keep this up for a 10k, how am I going to do this for a m...

  Tempo Run  3.11 Miles 30:04 9:40/mile 20 feet elevation change 76°, 81% Humidity, Wind 5 MPH Pumas Honus Wagner Course I knew I had to find a flatter course for tempo runs and I think this is it.  It's about a ten minute drive from my house, but It's along a creek bed and as flat as you can get here.  It passes various restaurants including the Deli Cafe (Indian) which I've always meant to go to.  The town of Carnegie has started to attract more restaurants and cafes but retains a lot of it's Pittsburgh outlying town grit.   I did 9:40.  I was going for 9:09.  So that's a bit of a disappointment and I might really have to rethink my ability or at least my time line for the Boston Marathon.  The next run is the Two-Face 10Km Road Race and that should tell me a lot about my maximual performance.