Jarvis Googoo

On April 13, I completed my thirteenth marathon; the Jersey City Marathon (JCM). The JCM takes place on the ancestral homelands of the Lenape peoples.

Looking for my Spring 2025 marathon in 2024, I found several options. Like the 2023 California International Marathon (CIM), it didn’t take much for Meaghan to talk me into the 2025 JCM (I’m honestly easily talked into doing almost any marathon). So I signed up on August 31 to beat the midnight price increase.

After the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon (IMM), I spoke with Coach Lee in-person on November 23, reiterating that I was not discouraged at all and just focusing-up on the JCM. The next day, I tried heavy weightlifting for my legs. I thought that I’d be weaker doing my Monday morning run, but it was quite powerful. For the JCM, Lee sent me an updated plan with slighter faster paces (albeit how my 2024 marathons went), and this felt good knowing that there was lots of potential there. The Wednesday Workout (always great to be back with the team) was still strong even though I did legs on Sunday, and thought that I should make Sundays a Leg Day as it’s spaced out enough.

At our Road Hammers Holiday Social, Erin really got me thinking of doing a hotel for both the JCM and Chicago Marathon (scheduled for October 12, 2025), explaining that it would be great to be with friends. Up until then, I would usually stay at an AirBNB or a hotel (at a lower price) that was a bit away from the start and or finish area. Obviously I wouldn’t be seeing teammates. But this time around, I figured it be fun/nice to see and socialize with those that I train with outside of a running route. So I booked my JCM hotel that was very close to the start and finish lines. Days later, I booked my flight and learned that I would be sharing it with several other Road Hammers.

My 2025 first quarter training was quite rough. The first major hit took place with an infection in my left thumb. It was sore for several days. While I was able to still run at the same speed and strength, the throbbing was too much and I managed to see a doctor on January 14, who ordered me to get to the emergency room and to undergo surgery right away. There was a possibility that I could have lost my thumbnail and it may have even been permanent. Fortunately, the surgery worked. I did take some time off to recover to ensure all was well, and didn’t return to in-person practice until January 25.

The next hit was the weather in general. While I am used to occasional bad roads and rough spots during the winter, this year there seemed to be more of it. I had several days where the snow and ice was severe enough to force me to scale back my speed. Other days, I would do an indoor running track or a treadmill. Before, I would just tolerate the winter and did what I could, but this was the first time that I was truly despising running on snow-covered roads. It doesn’t have to be mild out; I just need the surface to be good enough to move fast on, and I wasn’t getting a lot of this. While discouraging, I kept reminding myself that not every run can be a great one, but a lot of “non-great runs” were occurring. The Sunday Recovery Runs were even slower than usual. Eventually, I did start using my spikes. I still couldn’t do my usual speed, but they did help. Texting with Meaghan re winter running, we noted two things. One, in and of itself, it’s obviously tough because you need to reduce your speed for safety and there was increased potential for injuries. But secondly, the mental challenge is very real. You’re so used to running fast on good roads. When you’re forced slow down, it’s disheartening. We know that we are faster than that, but it can be such a buzzkill. Sharing this back and forth with Meaghan definitely helped us get though the season, and as Tuma Young has said; this too shall pass. I did some research into buying a treadmill for the house (and would still consider it).

Albeit our winter, I did get some temporary relief. Mid-February we went to the Dominican Republic for a week-long vacation, and it was fantastic to run in the heat again. But something happened to me. Due to scheduling, I took Thursday off to rest and made Friday the Long Run. I must have eaten something wrong, because that Friday, the Long Run was a struggle and I could barely stay on pace (which continued to fall). I accepted that these things happen and vowed to stay motivated. I made Saturday a very slow Recovery Run and went to bed early. It worked; Sunday was a great run before returning to Mi’kma’ki. 

But more hits would follow. On March 1, I woke up quite congested, but didn’t feel sick per se. I opted to do the Long Run solo around the neighbourhood. While scheduled for 33K, I had to stop at 8K. I informed Lee of this, who noted that there were several sick folks and to also take Sunday off. I really didn’t want to do this, but knew that rest, health, and safety were paramount. 

On March 15, after weeks and months of a tough winter, I finally had one of the best Long Runs in a while, doing a 3:51 pace with a 3:49 run pace. I was very happy with this especially with the cold season. What was also nice was that a year before, I was doing a 4:06 pace with a 3:59 run pace; the one-year progressive difference brightened things up.

However, the fourth and final hit took the most out of me beginning on March 22. While the Long Run started strong, I struggled into the third block and the cool down. I’m certain that the excessive amount of driving that I was doing all winter started to catch-up with me (especially as I wasn’t stopping mid-trip to stretch). The next day, I may have gotten 20 metres into the Recovery Run before I had to stop; my shins were very sore. Lee said to take some time off to recover. I did, and it ended up being a whole week – I simply couldn’t run (and didn’t even do lunch walks). My shin produced a weird crunching sound when I flexed it. I managed to get into physiotherapy to help improve and speed things up. That Saturday (March 29), I tried the Long Run with the team. While things were okay, it just didn’t feel right and I stopped at 2.27K. Lee said to give it a shot on Monday again, that the training itself was really done, but I needed to recover. Many friends were checking-in on me, and I was quite grateful for it. To stay active without running, I swam, stationary cycled, and weight-lifted. On the plus side, by the next day, the crunching sound and feeling decreased. As Meaghan was also dealing with her own running injury, we tried to stay positive with the upcoming marathon; if we can run it, then great. If we can’t, then we will cheer from the sidelines for our friends who can do it. I was already looking into other spring marathons if I couldn’t run the JCM.

A week later (on my grandmother’s birthday), I went to the April 5 Long Run practice. I was nervous as I was essentially not running for two weeks. Albeit winded, the shin held out; I was happy that I was able to do 16K. But the bigger question then became; can I handle this for 42.2K? After practice, Lee instructed to do at least one loop at the JCM as a test. If things are good, then complete the race. If not, then stop and count it as a 21.1K workout. My lactate threshold also decreased from 3:14 to 3:21. I wanted to be disappointed by this, but was simply relieved that I was able to just run without an issue. I told myself that I will build the speed and endurance back up and be better for Chicago. That afternoon, I went for acupuncture (the first time since 2018 when I had sciatica), and while it resulted in an exhausted left leg, feeling as if it was locked in a submission hold, it definitely helped. Running for the next two days felt wonderful, even with the lactate threshold dropping to 3:23.

On Friday, April 11, a whole bunch of us flew to Jersey City together; Kerri and I, Alley, Erin, Al, Meaghan, Leslie, Marc, and Andy (others were taking a later flight). After checking-in, picking-up our race kits, we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (which had amazing food), and carb-shopped at Trader Joe’s (which didn’t have everything that I needed).

The next morning, I woke up to a Body Batter of 56. While not perfect, it was better than other times where it was lower than usual the day before a marathon (but my sleep felt very good). Several of us did a fun team shakeout along the Jersey City Waterfront. In fact, it was my first time doing one abroad with so many friends and teammates. Afterwards, Erin and I got a coffee and chatted about things, and she gave me the good advice to not view my stats (e.g., Sleep Score, Body Battery, etc…) on marathon morning. I spent the rest of the day doing yoga, eating carbs, and catching-up on production work for season two of Mi’kma’ki.

My thirteenth marathon was falling on April 13, and thinking of my grandmother (who saw 13 as a “lucky number”), I viewed this as a positive sign of things to come. I woke up for 2:45 a.m., consumed my fuel, went back to sleep, and had an official marathon wake-up for 4:50 a.m. I felt good and didn’t look at my stats. As we were very close to the start, we agreed to meet up at the hotel lobby. I saw Erin had a trans heart badge on her singlet that read, “Protect Trans Kids.” I acknowledged it and told her that I was proud of what she was doing. Running different paces and or distances, we all wished each other the best before we went to our starting corral area. Lee’s plan for me was to basically stay with Marc and Al, then pick things up should I feel strong enough with a negative split.

When things got underway, it was the usual slow start as we had to make our way through the running crowds. I had a short panic because – just like CIM – I thought that I would end up alone for the race as I lost Marc and Al at around 2K. Fortunately, we regrouped at 2.8K, and in a marathon first, we essentially stayed together for almost the entire course. At about Pacific Avenue (around the 6K area), we crossed several friends up and down on the opposite side of the street, shouting kudos to each other; very brief but fun moments. While I saw no Shelties at the JCM, I spotted a beautiful Samoyed at the 8K mark. Another first on this 42.2K was that we had a lot of short talks with other participants during the race. Runners engaged in brief dialogue with us and vice-versa; everyone was friendly. Throughout it all, as I was dealing with a shin issue for weeks and now doing a full marathon, I was very grateful to Marc and Al on this one for keeping me on pace.

As I said, I was coming off an injury, and with that, there was some worry on my mind if things would hold up. My biggest fear was my shin completely giving out on me and that I would collapse in the middle of the course somewhere. But the rest, physiotherapy, massages, acupuncture, as well as trying to stay positive, all came together and pulled through. Aside from some minor teasing on my shin at 31K (it felt like a solid tap right on the centre of the tibia), it held out, and for that, I only had gratitude.

The JCM may have had the most number of turns yet that I have experienced in a 42.2K. I didn’t find it hilly, and maybe on par with IMM. However, a lot (but not all) of the course had some rough spots (I even saw one person trip), and the cracks and potholes were scary. So I didn’t really get to enjoy the scenery all that much as I had to keep an eye on the road to play it safe.

With the JCM, you can track participants with an app called RaceJoy. However, you have to allow folks to track you; it’s not automatic. But I think of all the Road Hammers, I was the only one who activated it to be trackable. I did make one error with the app that reminded me of my mistake with Maritime Race Weekend in 2016; I forgot to turn off the updates. At every mile – interrupting my music – a voiceover informed me of my paces and expected finish time. I absolutely did not like this at all. The only update that I ever want/need is from looking at my Garmin. Fortunately, it was only for one mile (and not every 500 metres). Nonetheless, being sick and annoyed of it, I turned off all audio some time after the halfway point.

If I was able to pick things up at 25K, I was to do so. But the last two weeks off from running took a toll on me. I didn’t have it in me for this one, and that was okay. I was able to simply run and that was a blessing right there. My hydration flasks were virtually empty around 32K, and I did make use of the water stops. At 35K, it still wasn’t there, and again, running was enough. The good news was that, unlike IMM, I didn’t have a drastic drop in speed and energy, but felt it starting to slowly drain from me. At 39K, I was at a 4:13 pace, and vowed that I would push for the last few kilometres to make it a personal best. I left Marc and Al and managed to get back to a pace near what I was doing for most of the marathon. The rest of Jersey Avenue was a bit more empty than other parts of the race, but the energy and love picked-up once I turned onto Grand Street. I saw the cheering crowds, and while getting to the finish seemed hard, I kept things steady and strong. I wasn’t running on fumes (emphasis on the pun), but knew the time off affected my performance for this one. Nevertheless – and as mentioned – I was grateful for the ability to even run (and to finish it off on a flat surface).

Near the end, Kerri and I spotted each other (I didn’t see her at the halfway point, but she saw me). I wasn’t going to earn a sub 2:45:00 on this one, and back in the winter, my Garmin even predicted a 2:27:19. But I completed my thirteenth marathon with a new personal best of 2:51:53. I was still happy and proud of it. I waited for Marc and Al to cross the finish line to congratulate them, and we shared a group hug to celebrate (as we did a vast majority of the marathon together). Proceeding to the medal area, Erin spotted me from the other side of the fence (as she just completed a 21.1K). It was a windy and cold morning at the start and finish area, and the thermal blankets were a bit small for me. Thankfully Kerri brought my sweater along, and it was the first time that I experienced the amazing convenience of being so close to our hotel right after a marathon. I got the message that some Road Hammers were headed to the hotel hot tub, so breaking another rule of no hot-tubbing right after a run (as it’s basically a double-dehydration issue in the making), I joined them to briefly relax and celebrate our accomplishments. This one was short as we had plans to attend a professional ice hockey game that afternoon. While I did notice at the game the crunching returned to the shin, it stopped a few hours later. My recovery was about 72 hours (which I was pleased and impressed with). That evening, we continued the celebrations with a dinner at a restaurant called Halifax. The food was good, but it was truly a more social event, with a lot of reflecting and sharing about how fortunate and grateful that we were able to do what we love to do; running. As Kerri and I were sticking around for a few more days, we said farewell/nmu’ltes to the others as the night ended (the rest of the team was headed back on Monday). I shared my results with several folks back home and on The Social Media, and it meant a lot that Chief John Leonard Bernard arranged to have it posted on our We’koqma’q school sign (the community support means so much to me).

Our next few days in the area was a continued celebration of sorts. We went to a fun drag show, visited the National Museum of the American Indian to learn more local Indigenous history (and I made a donation to support their work, a gift from the Mi’kmaw Nation as I like to see it), saw some great live comedy, and attended two Broadway shows (both of which were incredible). In between all of this, we had some yummy eating and got a lot of walking done (ideal for recovery after a marathon).

As usual, there are no setbacks; just more lessons learned. For one, I may return to the larger flasks. Two 500 millilitre ones just might not be enough for me. I also need to get back into and stick with a good leg day (likely on Sundays). My physiotherapist said that re the shin issue, aside from general stretching, strength training helps. Moreover, I have to get back into more High Intensity Interval Training to diversify and mix things up a bit. Furthermore, as a runner, I wasn’t getting as much calcium as I should have been (which would factor into bone strength). About a week into my shin injury, I start taking almond milk (which is packed with calcium), and I’m thinking that this may have helped speed things up. When carb shopping, I need to stick with a store that has everything that I need (as Trader Joe’s only had a few items that I usually buy). If I have to do long drives, I need to stop more often to stretch. Additionally, no viewing stats on marathon mornings. Finally, accommodations near the start and or finish line are quite worth looking into. This is an added bonus if friends/teammates are also doing the same.