It’s always the heat that kills me.
I think I can control the left knee patellar tendonitis that I’ve had since the London Marathon in April with Ibuprofen and a compression sleeve.
The back pain is problematic (note to self: don’t waterski while in the midst of marathon training). But the muscle relaxant I have been using (methocarbamol) helps. Also, I’ve run with back pain before and it tends to ease up after some number of miles.
My fitness is suspect as well. The knee and back injuries have limited my weekly volume to well below the 40–50 miles that I prefer. To help make up the difference, I’ve supplemented my training with some workouts on the Elliptigo.
The heat, though, is not so readily dismissed.
The forecast for my next race — tomorrow’s Tunnel Vision Marathon — calls for temperatures around 60 degrees at the start of the race and then it will heat up from there. At the finish line it will likely be in the 80's.
I don’t do well at high temperatures (see, for example, my recaps of the 2021 Berlin and Chicago Marathons.) As is common among people living with Parkinson’s disease, I sweat heavily. It’s extremely important that I hydrate properly and replenish my electrolytes while running. Granted, with the experience I’ve gained over the last three and a half years of marathoning, I’m far more savvy than I once was (see this post). Still, it is going to be a hot one.
Injuries? Inadequate training? Heat?
You may wonder why I don’t simply throw in the towel. Live to run another day. Perhaps, you know me well enough to answer to that question. It’s one of those pesky goals again.
In April, I ran in my third consecutive Boston Marathon. To keep that streak alive in 2024, I need a BQ (Boston Marathon qualifying time in a certified marathon) before September 15, 2023 — the end of the 2024 qualifying window.
Tunnel Vision of North Bend, Washington located just an hour’s drive from my home in Seattle, represents my best shot for a BQ. I’ve raced on this course before. Most of it takes place on a steady downhill slope. Using my Stryd data, I estimate that this race trims roughly 13 minutes from what my finish time would be on a flat course.
I need those 13 minutes; on a flat course I am likely to finish at right around 4 hours and for a BQ I need to do better than 3 hours 50 minutes (3:50). In the past two years there has been no additional imposed cutoff time but I can’t count on that for 2024. I’m thinking that I need at least three minutes of cutoff margin to feel confident of making the field. Hence, I would really like to finish within 3:47.
All things considered, I am giving myself no better than even odds of hitting the 3:47 mark.
Tunnel Vision is a small event of about 600 runners who start in two waves. I was assigned to the second wave that included a 3:50 pacer. Perfect. My strategy was to stick close to him through most of the race and then surge ahead near the finish in order to get my BQ with some cutoff margin.
The plan worked well enough at first despite the pacer somehow managing to stay 20 or so yards in front of me throughout the first half of the race. I decided to pick it up on the 14th mile so as to close the gap, which I did successfully.
It was a valiant albeit short-lived achievement. My mojo ebbed from there.
The pacer’s orange “3:50” sign gradually ran away from me. By mile 18, it was no longer visible. By mile 20, it was clear that I wouldn’t meet my finish time goal.
Though the heat was tolerable at first, as predicted it shot up during the second half. Leg cramps came on with a vengeance and I spent much of the last six miles walking on stiff and unbending legs. It was a painful and humbling end. I don’t have my official time yet but my Garmin indicated a 4:21 finish. Alas, no BQ and it’s the end of my streak of Boston Marathons (unless I choose to run as a charity entry.)
Let’s assess.
My injuries didn’t appear to factor in. The knee sleeve worked surprisingly well. I had a slight flare-up at mile 4 but that quickly faded. And my back pain similarly was a non-issue.
Was it inadequate conditioning that caused the poor showing or was it the heat?
Probably some of both. I suspect the Elliptigo training was insufficient to maintain my fitness while injured.
However, I suspect the heat was the main culprit given 1) the severe leg cramps I suffered and 2) the deep yellow color of my pee afterwards.
I drank plenty of water throughout the race and supplemented that with electrolytes from SaltStick tablets taken liberally throughout the run. Honestly, I don’t know what else I should have done. This strategy has worked well for me on other marathons. Dehydration brought on by running in heat is a heartless adversary.
Yet, I can’t overlook the possibility that either age or Parkinson’s has finally caught up with me. Maybe both.
In six weeks, I will run in the Berlin Marathon. Two weeks after that it’s the Chicago Marathon and then the New York City Marathon four weeks after Chicago. These three events are part of my plan to run all six of the majors this calendar year having already done Tokyo, Boston, and London.
Besides the goal of running all six of the majors this year, I hope to run them all in a combined time of 24 hours. My total for Tokyo, Boston and London comes to 12:16:24. I will need to average better than 3:54:32 in the fall marathons (Berlin, Chicago, and New York City) to meet my goal.
Today’s performance casts serious doubt on meeting this goal. But it is not impossible. I’ll have to double down on my training and I will need some help from the weatherman.
In 2023, I will be running for Team Fox again. You can donate to my New York City Marathon campaign (click this link). I could use your support. If you share the passion that The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) and I have for finding a Parkinson’s cure please consider contributing. All donations are meaningful and greatly appreciated.
Alternatively, if you would like something tangible in exchange for a contribution, consider purchasing my book Run With It: A True Story of Parkinson’s, Marathons, the Pandemic, and Love. It was named as a Finalist in the 2022 Wishing Shelf Book Awards. It also received an Honorable Mention in the Eric Hoffer Awards and was rated “RECOMMENDED” in the US Review of Books.
All profits from its sale are donated to MJFF. It can be found on my author’s website and Amazon. It’s cheaper on my author site (for domestic shipping), a larger percentage goes to MJFF than for Amazon sales, and you get the option of having it signed by the author.
