For a long time, it felt like the moonshot might be a reality. In actual fact though, the day wound up being my Apollo 8.
That was the mission that first had humanity leave earth’s orbit, reach the moon, and orbit it before returning home. The astronauts of A8 could have landed… they wanted to land… but mission parameters said it wasn’t to be.
As for my marathon today, I was on pace to break three hours up until at least Mile 21.2… and then it all slowly unraveled and the moonshot became a moon orbit.
I wound up with a new PR, a solid BQ for my age, and a finish time of 3:02:35.
I thought it might be beneficial to apply the scientific method to my Bayshore Marathon experience to extract lessons learned and where to go from here. It’s my own version of “Advanced Marathoning.” But while the authors of that tome take a legit scientific approach with proven research, I’m opting for empirical, crazed science. In this day and age, all too often crazed science seems to be trumping real science… so why should RunKevinRun be any different?
As I said in an earlier post, I was oddly uninspired by the “Advanced Marathoning” text and was looking at other options for my moonshot training. But Bayshore proved a pretty close moon landing so maybe I just need to look at what I did and make some adjustments… maybe I just need to Matt Damon in The Martian and “science the shit out of this.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6lYeTWdYLw
The scientific method as outlined by the internet… because though I’m not an adolescent in school, I suspect this is the same resource and citation kids today use. “What’s your source, Betty Sue?” “Where did you get your information, Jimmy?”
Answer: The Internet!
- Define a question
- Gather information and resources (observe)
- Form an explanatory hypothesis
- Test the hypothesis by performing an experiment and collecting data in a reproducible manner
- Analyze the data
- Interpret the data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting point for new hypothesis
- Publish results
- Retest (frequently done by other scientists)
I’m too lazy to do this step by step (I told you it was crazed science and not “real science”). So here’s the truncated scientific method:
1) Let’s moonshot a sub-3 hour marathon!
2) Here’s what I did to run a 3:02:35 at the Bayshore Marathon, a list of a series of variables that I think are relevant to the run:
Variable: consumed 2/3 of a can of Reddi Wip the night before.
Outcome: ran a sub 3 hour pace for 3/4 of the race before falling apart.
Analysis and Interpretation: ReddiWip must be a fine fuel for running. If 2/3 a can nets 3/4 pace, a FULL can of ReddiWip should yield a sub-3 pace for a 1 1/8 full marathon or 29.475 miles.
Publish: You’re looking at it
Retest: will have to try full can “carbo load” the night before another race. The things we endure for science.
Variable: Weather. No wind, 50-ish at the start, cloud cover through 3/4 of the event.
Outcome: ran a sub 3 hour pace for 3/4 of the race before falling apart.
Analysis and Interpretation: the lack of wind and lower temperatures made for ideal running conditions. Once the sun came out at the 3/4 mark, it got a lot warmer. Given the heat generated by running itself, it would be useful to have the same conditions only with cloud cover the entire time. May need sacrifices to the weather gods or cloud seeding. Consider hiring Men Who Stare At Goats to de-disburse clouds.
Publish: You’re looking at it
Retest: I will have to research sacrificial offerings that appeal to weather deities and examine the science behind weather control. I am however unwilling to re-watch THE AVENGERS (1998) or the 1990s era Justice League of America failed tv pilot both of which featured a weather wizard villain.
Variable: The course. A fairly pancake flat out road along the shore for 13.1 miles, then turn around and run back.
Outcome: ran a sub 3 hour pace for 3/4 of the race before falling apart.
Analysis and Interpretation: It was definitely a flat, fast course. With my 3:02:35 time, I still came in 70th overall and 10th in my age group. Indeed the top five finishers in that category all were comfortably sub 3 hours… one man’s moonshot is another’s ho-hum race pace I guess.
The Jack n Jill Marathon course in July is a net downhill and may have benefits exceeding the flat course… albeit “net downhill” does NOT guarantee “all downhill.” I suspect there may be some rolling hills and once again spectators and volunteers will say, “It’s the last hill!” and prove to have flaming pantaloons due to their lying.
Publish: You’re looking at it
Retest: Another weekend, another race. I need a flat, notoriously fast course with a few more downhills late in the game… and Jack N Jill fits that bill.
Variable: Pudgy, Depressed Me
Outcome: ran a sub 3 hour pace for 3/4 of the race before falling apart.
Analysis and Interpretation: Despite feeling pudgy and despite making a series of poor nutritional choices that caused my bathroom scale to buckle and my mood to sour in slothful gluttonous shame, I ran a pretty ok race. But I was feeling very hunched and blob-ish in the back half. Need to find a balance between weight loss needs/goals and fuel for the run. Once again ReddiWip may be the answer.
As for my wallowing in a pit of self-pity despair, well, I really don’t want to extend that. Let’s toss that out as a substandard deviation, an anomaly that I hopefully don’t need to repeat. Yeah, yeah. Not very scientific… and let’s be honest, there’s a pitiful cabana on self-doubt and depression island built for one and I’ve got a standing reservation there.
Publish: You’re looking at it
Retest: I will have to try to eat smarter in week leading up to moonshot and then go whole ReddiWip can wild to “carbo load” the night before another race. And though I’m trying not to be so depressingly depressed and down (jeez, Kevin, you just PR’d for crying out loud!), I may still be able to parlay such melancholy in the interests of research.
***
This all is very scientific. The conclusions are perhaps specious, but “scientifically” specious (the quotation marks make all the difference!) and the conclusions speak for themselves.
Tomorrow, we begin again. Apollo 9 is slated then for Stockholm next weekend. Apollo 10 will probably not be in Madagascar in Mid June which I will view as a side project… call it a Voyager mission… but I’ll aim for Apollo 10 in San Francisco in July. That way I can be right on schedule to launch “Apollo 11 Kevin” at Jack n Jill.
To boldly run… where there are no final frontiers.