40th Anniversary of My First Marathon

40th Anniversary of My First Marathon

by | Jan 24, 2023 | Article, Opinion, Personal, Reflection

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

I still can’t believe that it has been 40 years since my first marathon. Four decades since that unforgettable January 22nd of 1983 inside the old Orange Bowl Stadium in Miami. 14,610 days have passed since that unprepared 17-year-old higschooler crossed a finish line that became the gift that kept on giving.

Since I can remember, I wanted to run a marathon. Not sure why. Maybe because I read about the athletics exploits of Abebe Bikila, Emil Zatopek or contemporaries like Frank Shorter and Bill Rogers. Who knows? Somehow, I always loved the extremes. I started running when I was 12 or 13 while living in Caracas, Venezuela, and at 15, ran my first 10K race. Then, a couple of months after turning 17, my dad told me he was running the Orange Bowl Marathon in January 1983, and if I trained, he would take me to Miami. Maybe I just wanted the trip and a few days off school, or it could have been a legitimate attraction for the physical challenge. Regardless, what I know is that 6 weeks later I was lining up at the foot of the iconic home of the Miami Dolphins, who eight days later were taking on the Washington Redskins in the Super Bowl.

First Marathon

The Miami Orange Bowl stadium (1937-2008) seated 72,319, hosted 5 Super Bowls and was home of the Miami Dolphins from (1966-1986)

I’ve written before about that race. So, on this anniversary I don’t want to reminisce about that particular day, but on what the race has meant to me throughout my life. Last year, on the 39th anniversary of the marathon, I wrote a memoir about that day because I didn’t want details to be forgotten. If you would like to read more about it, please click here.  I also wrote a post about getting my finisher’s medal 37 years later, back in 2020. If you want to read about it, please click here.

After that magical morning, 40 years ago, even if I never ran another step in my life, I was a marathoner. It is a label that sticks forever. It doesn’t fade away with time, or by forgetting the exact date and finishing time, or by never wearing a pair of running shorts again.

I kept running for a handful of years after my first marathon. By the time I turned 21 I had four under my belt, with a couple of them in the 3:30 range. I ran through my first three years of college and even had escalated disagreemtns with my girlfriend, who at times was fed up with not going out with our friends on Saturday nights because I had a Sunday morning long run. Many a time I had to put my foot down and state that I would drop her before my training. Today I would have handled it in a different way, but that was then.

As I have mentioned in other writings, as I was training to go sub-3 in 1986, I had a devastating non-running injury on my left knee that left me on the sidelines. It was such a demoralizing blow that I stopped running for decades. While not running I discovered the pleasures of sleeping in on weekends. I didn’t want to have the same issues with new girlfriends, so I went out partying on Saturday nights, and on Friday nights, too. I focused on getting my career in sports journalism started, graduating from college and all the stuff “normal” people do when they don’t need to wake up early to run long next day. The day I turned 18, I went to bed at 8PM because I was running 30Km (19 miles) next day as part of my training for the NYC Marathon. What a weirdo!

First Marathon

There is not much to be found online about the 1983 Orange Bowl Marathon. Surprisingly I found this cotton race shirt in eBay for “just” $149,99. Thanks, I’ll pass.

Yet, somewhere deep inside, I always knew I had one more marathon in me. Just one, to remind myself I could still do it, or to fool myself into thinking I was still as good as when I was a teenager, or to revisit old glories, or to show my young son what you can accomplish when you work hard towards a difficult goal. Whatever it was, I still wanted to hit the asphalt and take that 26.2 trip once more. Just once.

But sometimes you cross paths with the wrong people and they clip your wings. At 39, after a 2nd knee surgery in July 2004, I told the doctor I still had one more marathon in me and asked if he thought my knee could take it. He told me in no uncertain terms that I shouldn’t and couldn’t. I was stupid enough to take his word for it.

But one day, out of the blue I started walking for hours at a time, feeling good about it and experiencing the runner’s high once again. I found racewalking and then racewalked four half marathons, transitioning to the 26.2 at the 2012 Philadelphia Marathon. Three years and two more marathons later I realized that I just took the doctor’s word and did not run because he said so, not because I tried and failed. So, I got my running restarted and ran my first marathon since 1985, in 2017. Five years, four marathons and an open-heart surgery later, I am still running and looking towards my next 26.2-mile adventure.

The Marathon Training Academy podcast runs a great tag line: “You have what it takes to run a marathon and change your life”. I certainly had what it took to run it again, and my life hasn’t been the same since I completed that 2017 NYC Marathon after I became a runner for the 2nd time; nor since I racewalked the Philadelphia Marathon in 2012 after a 26 year hiatus, nor after that magical morning at the Orange Bowl Stadium, 40 years ago, this week, when my lifetime love affair with the mythical 26.2 monster got started.

 
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Running With a Pacer

Running With a Pacer

by | Dec 13, 2022 | Article, List, Personal, Reflection

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

 

A few weeks ago, I participated in a local half marathon. I didn’t feel in the shape I would have wanted, so I decided to join one of the pacers. I found the sign with my desired time (2:15) and introduced myself to a lovely lady named Veronica. And off we went running.

Around mile 5 or so, one of the runners in the group asked something that blew my mind: “When are you taking the walk breaks? Or are you running straight?” I couldn’t believe it! The time to figure that out is not on mile 5 of a race. And thus, this blogpost was born.

Running with a Pacer

Most halves and marathons have pacing teams. Take advantage of their presence and let them help you achieve your goal.

Pacers have become a ubiquitous part of races. Eliud Kipchoge and his fellow elites use them to set them up for world record pushes. Elite women pushing their limits use male pacers that lead them while doing part of the groundwork. Even Roger Bannister used pacers in 1954 when he became the first human to go sub-4 in the mile.

Regardless of your point of view on pacers, they are here to stay. So, take advantage of them if you can. But running with a pacer requires certain understanding and ground rules. Here are some that I’ve come with:

1 – Let the pacer do the work for you: The pacer is there to set the pace, hence the name. If you are planning to run a sub-2 half, don’t run ahead and spend energy worrying if the pacer is catching up to you. It takes more energy to lead than to follow, so take advantage of the pacer and follow. Run with the pacing group and when you are ready, leave them behind and accomplish and your goal

2 – Know your pacer’s plan, ahead of time: Pacers are easy to spot with their signs and/or balloons. In major city races they usually have a booth at the expo so you can meet them and discuss if their strategy suits yours. Some marathons have multiple pacers with different strategies for the same time. At smaller races, they can easily be identified by their signs. Don’t wait until the National Anthem or the starting gun to figure out if the plan fits yours or not. Or mile 5.

3 – Pacers are humans: If you join a pacer, you must understand that regardless of their qualifications to be there, they are human beings. If you join in the 3:30 pacer in a marathon, you can’t expect to be his/her sole responsibility to get you to 3:30 on the dot. They may get dehydrated, need to go to the bathroom, had a bad night or whatever issues that may affect them just as it could happen to you. So, understand they are an aid, not a guarantee.

4 – Be prepared to drop your pacer if needed: Pacers are runners that compete way faster than what they are pacing. This ensures that in normal circumstances they won’t burn out. If you are running with a 4:30 pacer on a marathon, that runner should easily go sub-4. Therefore, it is your responsibility to make sure you are on your pace and be ready to drop the pacer off if they are going too fast or too slow. Do not let them burn you out, and I learned that one the hard way.

Running with a Pacer

Find the sign that works for you and let its carrier do work for you.

5 – Don’t tell the pacer what to do: Pacers have a race plan that you should have discussed before you joined the group. If you feel they are going too fast, bring it up. If you feel they are going too slow, ask why, so you can decide what to do. This is different from demanding they pick up their pace or telling them how to perform their duty. They are there providing a frees service, which you are free not to use.

6 – Make new running friends: There’s usually a nice crowd around the pacers. Runners from all over the place that have similar goals as you. Take the opportunity to meet new friends and make the run more pleasant. If you prefer to keep to yourself, it is your prerogative, just know what to expect and accept you will be part of a social group during the race. It may be the price to pay for being paced.

7 – Thank your pacer: Even if you finish ahead or behind the pacer, if he/she provided a service, you benefited from it and it was free, a thank you is always the right thing to do. You can do so once you decide to go ahead of them or if you see them after the race.

Any other tips on racing with a pacer? Let me know in the comment box, below.

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My Running Pet Peeves

My Running Pet Peeves

by | Oct 4, 2022 | List, Opinion, Personal, Reflection

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

When I started thinking about my running pet peeves, my first though was: “what tin the world is a pet peeve?”  Well, according to the Oxford Dictionary, it is “something that a particular person finds especially annoying.” Merriam Webster defines it as “a frequent subject of complaint.”  While the term it is rooted in the XIV Century word “Peevish,” the term as we know it today originated around 1919. I haven’t finished the first paragraph and I already went on a tangent.

We all have pet peeves in our lives and running in no exception. We are all annoyed by certain behaviors by certain runners at certain times in certain situations that we happen to find particularly irritating. And, since pet peeves are by definition, individual, here are mine. Maybe we share some of them.

 I am not trying to be mean or condescending here. But, since I am talking about what annoys me, please forgive my tone. 

Pet peeves

There is a reason why this is listed #1 in my list (Photo: Matheus Bertelli, Pexels)

1.    Runners with loudspeakers: I don’t understand why in the age of light weight headphones, Bluetooth air pods and bone conduction headphones we must put up with runners carrying loudspeakers. How can anyone assume I want to listen to his/her music while I run? This is regardless of my liking or not of their choice of music. Do you like to run with music? Great! Keep it to yourself.

 2.    5K Marathons: Marathon is a fixed distance, not a multitudinous foot race. A marathon is 42,195 meters as measured in the metric system or 26.2 miles if you prefer the imperial system. If referring to things by fractions of a unit (half marathon, quarter pounder) is appealing to you, I suggest expressing the distance as a tad above 1/9th marathon, 5/42nds of a marathon or 11.85% of a marathon. Other than that, it is just a plain and simple 5K.

 3.    The Full Marathon: Because of the booming popularity of the half marathon distance, talking about “the full marathon” has become a thing now. The entirety of a unit should not be preceded by the qualifying full, as it is implicit unless stated otherwise. A full marathon is just a marathon. Yes, petty, I know, but it does bug me.

 4.    Finish line shoppers: With your race entry you get to take part on the post-race spread as well as access to whatever the race sponsors have to offer. This doesn’t mean supermarket day. All runners that also paid and should have access to what’s offered. We’ve all seen runners with cases of hydration products, boxes of cookies and entire pizzas. Come on!!!

 5.    Oversharing on social media: Sure, you’re proud of your race result, or you want to receive accolades for your PR, or long run while preparing for your marathon. Yet, we don’t need to know about your half mile on the treadmill, or the two-mile brisk dog walk around your neighborhood. Unless these are true personal accomplishments, of course.

 6.    Running fast on recovery days: Our body doesn’t get stronger when we complete a long run, or when we nail a hard speed workout. Quite the contrary, it weakens. It is when the body repairs from that effort that it gets fitter and stronger. You won’t see the benefits of today’s hard workout for at least 14-21 days. So, make sure you recover on recovery days. Hence the name.

Pet peeves

Is this really appropriate when you have over 40,000 runners around you?

7.    Racing in bulky costumes: I dislike the clowning of the bulky costumes. As if running a marathon wasn\’t tough enough, certain runners make a mockery of it by doing this stuff. Sure, you can have fun dressed as Superman, a caveman or Pheidippides. The problem is with the bulky ones that restrict movement or view. Organizations like the London Marathon unfortunately encourage this behavior. When someone gets seriously hurt, it will stop being funny and by then, it will be too late.

 8.    Skipping runs because your watch ran out of battery: The watch is not the director of your running life; it is only the record keeper. The fact you missed recording one session is not going to diminish your health, your fitness returns or your ego. Hit the road and make sure you don’t run out of battery the next time.

 9.    Ruining other runner’s race photos: We all love race pictures, and they are ubiquitous these days. You want to look good for the photographers, and that is great. But must you go out of your way, cross the racecourse cutting runners, or jumping in between a runner and a photographer so you can have an extra pic?

 10. Rude Runners: Do I need to explain?

 What are your running pet peeves?

 
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On Running with Music

On Running with Music

by | Jul 12, 2022 | Article, Opinion, Personal, Reflection

 By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

The latest issue of Runner’s World magazine (Issue 4/2022) had a special report titled “Music Makes You a Better Runner”. They ran 17 articles on the subject and, and to be honest, the whole thing was disappointing. Underwhelming. Most articles dealt with anecdotal stories on music saving runners, or helping them overcome obstacles, or getting them hooked on the sport. Sure, they are nice tales, but, for my taste, the overall report lacked substance.

Running with music

The latest edition of RW has a special report on music making you a better runner. I was not impressed by it.

RW touched on building a play list, the history of music devices from the Walkman (1983) until today’s GPS watches, apps where to listen to music, podcasts and, as you may expect, a list of the best gadgets currently on the market to enhance your running-with-music experience.

In the 20 pages of their special report, they only dedicated 24 column-inches (3.5% of the space) to studies on the benefits (or lack of them) of listening to music while you run. And those mentions are buried in an article about building the right playlist.

Even though running with music is not my thing, I’ve done it at times, and I certainly am not opposed to it. What bothers me is that a magazine like Runner’s World uses 20 pages on the subject and there is not a single mention of the opposite point of view. There must be someone out there who doesn’t think running with music is the best thing since sliced bread. Based on these series of stories, the only conclusion to take is: “I better start listening to music if I want to become a better runner”, and that is categorically untrue.

With my rant over, this is my personal take on running with music:

1 – It is a personal choice: We must respect every runner’s personal decision to listen to music or not. I run how I want, and they run how they want. There is not a single right way to do it. Now, understand that purposefully impairing one of your senses because of the music could put you and others in danger, so, read #2.

2 – You are not alone out there: If you are the one running with music, it is your responsibility to realize you are not alone out there, so you must be aware of your surroundings to keep yourself and other runners safe. You shouldn’t expect the outside world to be on the lookout for you and your safety just because decided to wear headphones.

3 – Don’t miss out on a marathon start: We’ve all seen runners with bulky, noise-cancelling headphones during our races. Nowdays it is all about tiny air pods. What I can’t seem to fathom is runners missing out on the energy, the camaraderie and the experience of starting lines such as New York, Berlin, Chicago or Boston, because they are immersed in their music. Seems to me like they wish they could be alone somewhere else. I always recommend that runners absorb the experience and then, once they are in a rhythm, use music if they need it.

4 – Learn to enjoy your own company: Give running musicless a try and at least figure out if you can enjoy it. Don’t just assume it is impossible for you to run if you don’t have something blaring in your ears. Who knows, maybe you will enjoy time with yourself, with your thoughts, listening to the pounding of your shoes or just watching the time and the landscape pass by. This way, when you do listen to music, it could be even more powerful.

5 – Do not carry the phone in your hand: It is a bad habit that could lead to injury, because clutching something in your hand will mess up your arm swing, and thus, your counterbalance. Nope, Runner’s World didn’t even mention this critical issue. I recently wrote a blog post about it. You can read it by clicking here.

One more thing: If you need a song equivalent to a shot of adrenaline in your heart, I invite you to check Everdream, by Nightwish. It was my go-to song during the brief time I finished my long runs with music.

 
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Running Horror Stories – Part 1

Running Horror Stories – Part 1

by | Mar 8, 2022 | Article, Personal

Edited by Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

 As runners we have all experienced the ecstasy of triumph and the agony of defeat. It could be the thrill of a PR, a surprising podium, the misery of bonking when you started too fast or just hitting the wall. Maybe the unexpected happened and we had to resort to creative, unorthodox measures that in retrospective we are not proud of, but at the time seemed perfectly valid.

Here are some of those stories. Somehow, I believe there will be more than one of these posts, so I added the “Part 1” to the title. 

Sue Behrens
A1A Half Marathon 2022

Ft Lauderdale A1A Starting Line 5am.

Horror stories

With a medal but without a key fob

I like to run in a Lululemon skort which is a skirt with shorts. The Lulu skort is well designed with a pocket on each leg and that’s where I stash my phone. There is also a smaller zipped pocket at the center back of the waist perfect for keys and gels. Pre-race, like about everyone else, I get in line at the porta-pottys and that’s where things took a dive. Each line was at least 5 deep and once it was my turn, there was complete darkness inside.

As I pulled my skirt down, I found my bib was not only pinned to my tank but also to the skirt! I had to contort so I wouldn’t rip anything. Straight to business thinking I would re-pin once out of the porta-potty and back in the streetlight. When I pulled everything back up, I heard a bang and felt the seat ride up with my skirt. Panicking I felt for my phone and thankfully it was still in the side pocket. Thinking I dodged a bullet I stepped out and the next runner hopped in. I re-pined the bib and joined the crowd awaiting the start. While downing my energy gel I reached back to check on my car key fob and the zip pocket was empty. Unzipped and empty. Crap! literally crap as I realized that the bang, I heard was my car remote dropping into the pitch-black porta potty. UGH! Panic, what to do?

As race start was minutes away and the lines now doubled, I had no choice but to be positive and get the run done. The plan was to locate the Lost and Found after the run and then check each stall when the lines were lessened. Hoping that the fob fell onto the floor and not into the bowl. No such luck. It must have fallen into the bowl. No fobs were turned in, so I had no key. Thankfully, I’m local, one town south and my husband was able to grab the spare fob, drive it up and hand it off to me after the race. From what I have researched it going to be at least $300+ to replace, making this most expensive half marathon I have run!

Rube Urieta
Space Coast Marathon 2015

Horror stories

Kindness from a stranger at Mile 17

My first mistake was to believe I could run a marathon without proper training. So, needless to say my legs started cramping up after mile 13. This continued on an off. However, close to Mile 17, both legs cramped so bad, I fell to the side of the road. At that moment, many things came to mind, like am going to be the first runner to be picked up by the emergency golf cart, or can my legs unlock from this painful situation. And while this thought was rushing through my head, suddenly, a female runner stopped and asked: “Are you OK?”

After explaining my situation, she told me to open my hand. She proceeded to pull out something from her belt and sprinkled it into my hand. Then she told me to lick it and reassured me it I was going to be able to stand up and continue. Right there, I realized she gave me salt. The lack of sodium caused the whole situation.

When I tell my friend about my ordeal, they often ask me: how can I trust a stranger to give me something and just taking it so blindly? My answer is: “In this sport you know people, young and not so young, with diverse backgrounds and goals. Some of them have been running for years, some only for weeks. However, we runners tend to trust each other. And to that fellow runner that helped me out, back in 2015, thank you for spreading the sportsmanship.

Adolfo Salgueiro
NYC Marathon 1983

Horror stories

Another version of Seinfeld’s “The Marble Rye”

It was my second marathon and at 18, I thought I knew everything. So, I did not have breakfast before the race, never considering the 10:30 AM starting time. It was a cold and rainy day for an undertrained, young runner. Around 2:30 PM, being awake for about 10 hours and after 20 miles of running, I was starving. This was an era before gels and chews. So, as I was walking, defeated, down 5th Avenue towards Central Park, I saw among the spectator, a kid, maybe 7, with a big, hot pretzel that looked like heaven.

I resumed my running and approached the sidewalk, yanked the pretzel from the kid’s hand, and then ran into the crowd of runners as fast as I could so I couldn’t be identified or caught. I am not proud of this but somehow, I was able to justify the dirty deed. The carbs and calories allowed me to get a second life and finish the race.

When I ran New York 34 years later (2017), I thought of that kid as I was running towards Central Park. He must be now in his early 40s and hopefully has an interesting story to tell about cheering in the marathon.

There are plenty more stories out there that deserve to be preserved. Do you have one? Please email them in 250-350 words to foultips.running@gmail.com, or leave them as a comment here, and I will be publishing additional chapters of this saga, very soon.

 
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Race Recap: Miami Half 2022

Race Recap: Miami Half 2022

by | Feb 15, 2022 | Article, Personal, Reflection

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

 The biggest and most important event in the South Florida racing calendar is the Miami Marathon and Half Marathon. In 2022 it ran its 20th edition. A must for all local runners and a destination run for international runners, especially from Latin America. Even though the field was reduced to “just” 15,000 due to Covid restrictions, it was nevertheless, a great race.

Race Recap

Free race pictures are a staple of the Miami Marathon. At least I got a good one to cap the sufferfest

As the name states, the race has both marathon and half marathon distances ran simultaneously. They separate around mile 12.5. I cannot say much a about the marathon because I have never run it. As for the half, 2022 was my 11th consecutive participation in the event.

The expo took place in the newly renovated Miami Beach Convention Center. The bib pick up was quick and easy. The expo was packed with vendors of every kind, with diverse samples of drinks, foods, gels, food services and electrolyte concoctions. You could also find shoes, shorts, socks and the newest gadgets. Stands for many international races were present. Even a coaching service where you could talk with an actual Olympic marathoner. For the first time, I saw free haircuts. Go figure!

In general, the race ran smoothly. Gear check was impeccable, signage was good and there were plenty of porta-pots. No urinals around, though. I still can’t figure out the logic behind the opening of Corral H. While the race started at 6:00, the gate to corral, inconveniently located in front of a row of porta-pots, remained closed past 6:15, as thousands of runners congregated in front of an empty corral. Other than to annoy runners on purpose, I can’t figure out any other reason for this to happen.

The half marathon course is always a delight, running by the cruise ships as the sunrise bathes the runners with sunlight while they enter the world-famous South Beach. Then through Miami Beach, followed by the spectacular views of the city on the way back to Downtown and the finish line.

Race Recap

A nice medal to commemorate the 20th edition of the Miami Marathon and Half Marathon.

The sour note was the screw up at the water stations. How can a race of this caliber and in its 20th edition, f-up the water stops so badly? When I stopped for water the first time, I picked the left side of the road, only to learn that it was the “Gatorade side”. This meant that if I wanted water, I had to cross the street while I had thousands of runners coming at me. And this happened more than once. At Mile 6, the water stop was abandoned and after that, a handful of stops did not have enough cups readily poured. This on a day with 93% humidity.

MY RACE

 On the personal side, my race was terrible. Despite the fact this was my 11th time running the half, and my 43rd half marathon, I made many mistakes, many of them rookie blunders, which guaranteed me a forgettable sufferfest.

It started when I woke up at home and went to eat a bagel, only to realize my wife served me the last one for breakfast, the day before. It was my mistake not to ensure there was one available, and I assumed it. I didn’t bother to check the weather and the humidity caught me by surprise. Then it was the issue with the corrals, which got me in a bad mood just before the race.

Because I had ran the Houston Marathon three weeks earlier, I thought that half was a done deal, and didn’t even bother mentally preparing for the task at hand. I found myself at the starting line not even sure what I wanted to do with the race. I knew I wasn’t going to push and that I just wanted to have fun, but never bothered to review what that really meant or how get it accomplished. By the time I found no water at Mile 6, I had already bonked mentally. I didn’t go fast nor was I tired. I just didn’t feel like I wanted to run another 7 miles.

All that is on me. They were my mistakes. I can’t blame anyone else. I was cocky, overconfident and acted like a teenager who thinks he knows better than anyone. I paid for it.

As I tell the athletes I train, bad days, mistakes, failure and poor races are important to experience because they will give you invaluable experience that can only make you a better runner. I learned my lesson: never underestimate any distance, regardless of how many times you’ve ran it.

One of the remarkable things about the Miami Marathon is that it includes free photos for all the runners. I got was an amazing image from the culmination of my sufferfest. Final time was 2:33:27, by far my worst running half.

Did you run in Miami on February 6? Please share your experiences with the readers by leaving a comment.

Race Recap

A nice medal to commemorate the 20th edition of the Miami Marathon and Half Marathon.

 
 
 
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