On Monday, April 16, I ran in my 8^th Boston Marathon.  First, the facts, then reality.

The Facts:

It was a hot day as defined by 81 degrees at the start and 89 degrees at 12:30 PM when runners were finishing.  It was so hot that the Marathon organizers granted automatic one year deferments to anyone electing not to run.

As someone who trains in five layers of clothes on a warm day, it was perfect.   However, I ran a 3:51:44.  That is about 40 minutes slower than last year.   I ran a 1:40 for the first half  (7:38 pace) and a 2:11 for the second half (10:00 pace).   This was the slowest marathon I had ever run (excluding the three marathons I ran with friends as a running buddy.)  I was having a great race for the first 8 miles holding between a 7:00 and a 7:10 pace.

Reality:

What a great day!   I rode out to Hopkinton early Monday morning with my son, Andrew.  This was the second time Andrew and I ran the Boston Marathon together.  In 2005, we ran the first 17 miles together before Andrew left me.

Now, 7 years older, Andrew’s qualifying time was 12 minutes faster and we decided we both needed to run our own races.

He left me this time 10 minutes before the start to get to his starting corral.  Even so, it still was a thrill to walk to the start of the Boston Marathon with my son.

The first 22 miles are running primarily down the Main Street of Boston’s suburban communities.  Huge crowds line both sides of the street at the start in Hopkinton, at mile 4 in Ashland, at mile 6 in Framingham, and at mile 10 in Natick.  And I was feeling great, holding a constant pace, loving my K-Swiss Kwicky Blade Light shoes,  having strong legs and enjoying the energy of the sun.  My heart rate stabilized at about 140 beats per minute  on my Timex GPS watch.   As mentioned in the facts above, as I left the cheering crowds of Natick, I knew I had bigger dreams this year and decided to use my head and be smart for a change.   I pulled back on the pace and took in the day.

As I approached the screaming ladies of Wellesley, I got teary eyed remembering one of the fondest days of my marathon career – running through Wellesley with Andrew 7 years ago.  5,000 women all begging for a kiss.   At mile 15, my running buddy Scott Boylan passed me complaining about how bad he felt.  I loved it.  Scott had only beaten me once in a marathon…at Boston in 2007.   Scott needed a good time today to qualify for next year, and was on track to make his qualifying time.  I was ecstatic for him.  At mile 16.8 I spotted my wife Nannette  screaming words of encouragement.

At mile 17, I picked up a couple Power Bar Energy Gels for energy (Thank you PowerBar) and  powered up Heartbreak Hill and ran through Newton.  At mile 24.5, I finally spotted the big Citco sign next to Fenway Park.  That was the first time since mile 12 that I was sure I would be able to finish this race without walking.  Just after the Citco sign, with about a mile left, I saw my youngest son Jason waving, screaming and grinning .  It was a tossup, who was happier to see who.

I could not stop smiling for the rest of the race.  After leaving Jason, I made the big turn for the last 1/2 mile straight-a-way down Boylston Street for one of the greatest finish lines in racing.   The other one is Ali’I Drive at the end of the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.

Andrew ran a respectable 3:19:47 and was very happy given the conditions.  Scott ran a 3:29:58 and qualified for next year.

We concluded the day with a beautiful family dinner that the Gordon’s, close family friends hosted for us in Boston.

So, in conclusion, on Monday, I spent the day with close friends, got to walk to the start line of the Boston Marathon with my middle son, ran 26.2 miles with the encouragement of literally hundreds of thousands of “professional marathon fans,” hugged my wife and youngest son along the way, and ended at a fabulous  dinner with family and friends.

It really was a great day.  And the day confirmed something I have been speaking professionally about for the past 3 years.  It is not about the destination, it is all about the journey.  Monday proved to be a great journey and I consider myself to be very lucky to have had such a spectacular day.

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Last month, I was invited to join 47 other triathletes from all over the world and to become part of the Timex Multisport Team.  Imagine that.  For a guy who as a kid was most likely to be picked last for any athletic event, it was both amazing and intimidating.  I am sharing some of the highlights of my three days with my new teammates to remind us all how important it is to have life dreams to chase.  Dreams give life a purpose and create something to be passionate about.

As I walked up to my gate to board the flight to Newark, I got my first taste of what was slowly going to reveal itself over the next three days.  The guy wearing the Timex Team backpack was the clue.  I introduced myself to the young man and told him I thought we were going to the same place.   Yes, Andrew Hodges, a Boeing engineer from Huntsville, Alabama was in fact flying to New Jersey to participate in the 2012 training for the Timex Multisport team.  This was Andrew’s sixth year on the team.  He is a professional triathlete.   Yes really, not an age grouper or amateur athlete like me.  A real Pro.  So we walked over to the Delta Sky Club to have a quick beer with the hope that Andrew could give me (the newbee) a heads-up on what to expect.  Note: in 2006, before becoming a Pro, Andrew was the first amateur athlete in the Florida Ironman 70.3.   While Andrew did assure me that I was in for a good time, we spent most of the time talking about the really big rocket Andrew was developing for the next generation of the space program.  Speed was in this guy’s DNA.

My next data point was Luis Alvarez.   I met Luis after boarding the flight.  The clue was an Ironman lanyard around his neck.   I was becoming a real Sherlock Holmes.  Luis is from Mexico City.  He is turning 50 this year.   Thank goodness, another guy who was alive when JFK was president.  Luis has completed 82 Ironman races since his first in 1991, including 10 trips to Kona.  His dream is to complete his 100^th Ironman in Kona next October.   Doing the quick math, that is 18 Ironman races in the next 21 months.  I am such a slacker!    I am tempted to ask the obvious question, “What the heck am I doing here?”  But I have the sinking feeling that there will be a better time to ask that ridiculous question so I wait.

We landed and on the van ride over to the Timex Performance Center (TPC), I met Cindi Bannink and Jackie Arendt from Madison, Wisconsin.  Cindi is a full time triathlon coach and triathlete.   Jackie is a professional triathlete and took second at Ironman Utah last year.

Now, I was well aware that our training sessions would take place at the TPC and I assumed that the TPC was the state-of-the-art health club for the Timex executives and attached to their corporate offices.   As we drove up, I felt like I was winning the Who’s the Biggest Dummy Contest.

The Timex Performance Center is the fancy branded corporate name for the 2012 Super Bowl Champion New York Giants training facility.  The only thing that kept me from losing my composure and not thinking I was way over my head was the confidence I had in knowing it would only get worse.

I had reviewed the schedule and knew what was coming.  Dinner in the cafeteria.  Boring!  Unless it is the dining room for the New York Giants.   The same food and the same great chefs trying to please very demanding world class athletes.  It was awesome.

I had dinner with Christine Anderson and Erin Kummeer.  Christine just turned pro and won the amateur women’s division at the Boulder 70.3, Buffalo Springs 70.3 and Wildflower last year.

Erin is living her dream as an accountant in Boulder, Colorado, competing in Xterra triathlons (mountain bikes), standard triathlons, and dirt bike races.

After Dinner, Stu Fitch from Darwin, Australia came over and asked, “Are you Mike Wien?”   Well, that was a big boost of confidence.   I said yes.  Then Stu told me how happy he was that I joined the team …..because he was no longer the oldest member. I was.  Great.

We concluded the evening with a motivational speech from Jerry Reese, the General Manager of the New York Giants in the players’ auditorium, or should I say, the Super Bowl Champions’ auditorium.    Jerry knows something about motivation, perseverance and what it takes to be great.  I got back to my hotel and met Barry Siff, my roommate.  Barry, from Boulder and Tucson, was one of the few that had also celebrated more than 50 birthdays.  He is a fixture in the triathlon community as one of the pioneers that helped shape the sport.  He currently serves on multiple committees and is one of the leading historians for the Ironman.

The vans left the hotel at 5:45 AM on Friday morning for the local high school swimming pool.  28 of us were in the lobby ready to go.  As we got to the pool and stripped down to our bathing suits, I got a better perspective on why so many people who are just starting a fitness program are so intimidated by showing up at the health club.  Oh well, I picked a lane with all girls and swam 3,000 meters with Kelly Filnow, a professional triathlete and coach from Charlotte, Shannon Coates, a Floridian who is moving to Portland to become a physical therapist, and Juli Fiocca from Austin, who won her age group in the Arizona Ironman.

We spent the rest of the day in meetings learning about our sponsors, our products and the people.  During the day, I met Dave Orlowski.  Thirty four years ago, 15 guys competed in the first Ironman.  12 guys finished.  Dave was one of those guys.  I also met Chris Thomas who left a great job with a Private Equity Firm on Wall Street to pursue his three life passions and dreams:  To compete in triathlons, to spend more time with his young kids and to help others adopt healthier lifestyles.  He currently excels in all three as he opened up a training center in Connecticut, cut 3 hours off his daily commuting time and ran a 9:07 Ironman.  Great move.   Toby Radcliffe, who flew in from London, is a sustainability consultant by day and a professional triathlete when he is not at work.   It is finally starting to sink in.  I am surrounded by my new team mates and we have many things in common.  The most obvious is that we are all triathletes that are very competitive at long distances.  The other more compelling commonality is that we all live very exciting lives with purpose.

Things got interesting when Meredith Dolhare started asking hydration questions in the UCONN seminar on sweat loss.   She wanted to have a better understanding of sweat rates after 80 miles on a trail run.  Really.

At the end of one of the informational sessions, the organizers invited us into the NY Giants Locker Room.  They let the newbees go first for the big surprise.

The Timex support team had transformed the Super Bowl Champions locker room into the Timex Multisport Team Locker Room.  NY Giants player’s name plates were temporarily replaced with the names of our team members.  Each locker was filled with our new Timex team uniforms.   And yes, there was a locker with a Mike Wien name plate.

I will be the first to admit it was kind of corny, but make no mistake about it…it was a big deal.

I had to agree to three requirements when I joined the Timex Multisport Team.  First, I agreed to enthusiastically wear and use my sponsors products and equipment.  Given the great sponsors, that will be easy.  Second, I agreed to compete in high profile races and hopefully end up on the podium.  That -was my plan anyway.  Third, I am required to wear the state-of-the-art apparel identifying me as a team member in races and when I am training and have been given enough great outfits to do it.   Oh no….there just went my unintentionally crafted image as the homeless man.

Friday night was billed as the awards dinner, an opportunity to recognize the top Timex athletes from 2011.  The dinner was held at the MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands…home field for the New York Giants.  Guest speakers included, Steve Weatherford and Jeff Feagles, punters from the Giants, Karen Smyers, a former World Champion and Adam Gurian, the President of Timex.  Chris Thomas (the refugee from Wall Street) was named the male athlete of the year, Jackie Arendt (Madison, Wisconsin) was named the female athlete of the year and Erin Kummer (Dirt Bike Accountant) was entered into the Timex Team Hall of Fame.   And there was another nice touch from the Timex support team.  All of our names were projected on the JumboTron TVs in the stadium.  And yes, that was a big deal too.

Saturday started off as my testing day.   Researchers from the University of Connecticut had joined us to study the effects of dehydration on performance.  Part of the study was to calculate our sweat rates and salt loss.  This test was conducted on a stationary bike in a hot room.  During the 50 minutes of riding, my body temperature and heart rate were monitored, my sweat was collected, my consumption of liquid was tracked and my before and after weight was recorded.  With this data, the team was able to determine that I sweat at a rate of 1.7 liters per hour.  This will be very helpful in the future as I fight to avoid dehydration in an Ironman or Marathon.

The day was also filled with more seminars and an opportunity to pick up more equipment and gear.  I attended a seminar to learn more about the aerodynamics of my new bike, the Quintana Roo CD0.1, how my Timex GPS watch can help improve my training and all the different ways Nathan has developed to carry fluids, gels and even electronic money.  During the seminars, I met Wendy Mader from Fort Collins, Colorado, home of Colorado State University where Nannette and I met.  Wendy is a triathlete coach and was the first amateur female at Kona in 2008.  I rode the van back with Will Kelsey, the Mountain Bike and Xterra Champion on the team and Tim Hola, who was named the amateur triathlete of the year in 2005 by Triathlete Magazine.

Saturday night was a free night to sneak into Manhattan. My sister, brother-in-law and nephew had flown in from Chicago for a wedding on Sunday and were having dinner together on Saturday night.  I was the surprise dinner guest.

On Sunday morning, I went out for a run and met up with Dave Harju and Marie Danais from Montreal.  Dave has won two Ironman races and was leaving for Florida after the camp to spend a couple weeks training the Canadian National Military triathlon team.  Marie lives in Montreal and at 40 years old, is still racing as a pro.

The most significant event on Sunday was having our team picture taken on the Giants’ indoor football practice field.  I am glad I was not in charge of getting this group to be serious for all the shots needed.

I left camp Sunday afternoon and was able to drive out to the end of Long Island to have a great dinner with my Aunt and Uncle before heading back to Atlanta the following morning feeling victorious.  Not only had I survived the week-end, but I had met almost 50 new friends.  They were role models from around the world, each trying to live life with an exclamation point, and all trying to help mentor others to live with the same level of enthusiasm.

As I have now had an opportunity to reflect on this week-end, I am reminded of a commercial Budweiser developed for the Canadian market that did a wonderful job of capturing the experience for me.  A film crew showed up at an amateur hockey game one night and gave the players a little taste of what it might be like to play in the big leagues.   Click on the following link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0qZYqdsYAg  to get an idea of how I felt on Sunday.  Tristan, Tom, Grace and Jon from Team Sports and Keith, Herbie and Adriana from Timex with assistance from the New York Giants Team chefs, training facilities and football stadium made sure we all understood we were playing in the big leagues.  It’s a great feeling, especially for a guy who as a kid was only a bench warmer and occasionally got to play right field.

In addition to some great new friends and memories, I left with four observations:

1. If you want to be a champion, you have to hang out with champions.
2. People who set high goals, have big dreams, and are passionate about what they do, live more fulfilling and exciting lives than those who do not embrace change and stay within their comfort zone.
3. Don’t ever underestimate the importance of having fun.  The group of World Class athletes I had the pleasure of being with for three days, while very focused and passionate, never stopped having fun.

Don’t go on your journey alone.   Surround yourself with people who aspire to do great things and inspire others to do the same.  People who convert failures into learning experiences, enjoy celebrating successes (theirs and the people around them), and love what they do.  It really is contagious.

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