Steamtown Marathon - RunMarathon

I AM NOT RACING THIS RACE!!! That was what I was telling myself. This was just going to be a long run with a bunch of other people. I lined myself up with the 3:30-3:40 crowd so I wouldn't be tempted to run for something crazy like a BQ. The gun (A very cool start with a Civil War canon!!) went off and I was just talking away with people for the first couple miles. I looked down at my watch at the 2 mile mark and saw 15:05. I said to the guy next to me "This is a bit faster than 3:30 or 3:40!!" Oh well, I felt good and it was down hill so I just went with it and cruised. I was loaded up with 5 gels per flask diluted to 10 oz with water, 10 salt tablets and a 24 oz water bottle. (After KY I will never run without a water bottle) I took a hit off the gel flask every 15 minutes and wanted to be finished with 1 at the 13.1 mile mark and the other at 25 miles. Every 30 minutes was a salt tablet, increased to 2 salt tablets after about 18 miles. Gatorade at every water station and sip on the water throughout the race. 4 or 5 miles into the race I had to pee again and just let it go. I used the water bottle to "flush" and refilled at the next aid station. Chatted with people along the way, this is the best part of doing a marathon, joked with the volunteers at the aid stations, high fived the kids in the crowd and just had a lot of fun! I was running with a guy that did ultras and was wearing a camelback when I suddenly had to find a "throne". Fortunately, there was a porta john right there and I jumped in and well, did what I do best! :-) I came out of the porta john refreshed and decided this is where I was going to start my 16 mile "long run". I was cruising by people and feeling great when I looked at my watch and saw I was running at a 7:00 pace!! Whoa there, back off dude!!! I was passing one of the IM athletes at that point and just backed off and ran with him for a bit. He seemed to have been slowing down a bit so I said good luck to him and carried on with a comfortable pace. I was doing very well at keeping up with my nutrition, running close to 7:30's made it easy for taking a hit of gel every 15 min. I passed the 13.1 mile mark at 1:40:25 and thought "Oh crap! Now I need to work this second half and go for that 3:20 to BQ". Miles were clicking off pretty fast and I was feeling very good. At mile 16 I said to a guy. "Just an easy 10 miler and we're done!!" He didn't look like he appreciated the humor so I moved ahead of him. Some of the run went onto a trail that was just breathtaking. The foliage, the crisp air, the sounds of the stream next to the trail were awesome. This would be a great place to train!! (Not a bad place to run a marathon either) Oh yea, back to the race. :-) My HR was a bit higher than I wanted but my RPE was perfect for most of the race. At mile 20 I was around 2:33 and I figured I needed a 47 min 10K for the 3:20. I felt great at the pace I was holding but knew there was a big hill at mile 24, I figured I'd deal with that hill when it arrived. Mile 22 came and I said to a volunteer "Wow! Is this really mile 22? Man, that 22 miles went by fast!" She asked how I could still be smiling at this point in the race. (She don't know me too well!) Mile 23 came and I saw a hill ahead and some people stopped at the bottom starting to walk. I took another hit of gel and cruised up the hill. There was a little flat section that I took a couple salt tabs and more water before the second hill. This hill went up through a neighborhood where people had hoses hanging from trees, individual water stations run by families, music blasting. I stopped and walked to take a drink of Gatorade and my quads didn't like the idea of stopping. I apologized to my quads and asked for forgiveness then pleaded with them to take me another couple of miles. I started running again and passed a bunch more people walking up the hill. There was a sharp turn at the very top of the hill that led into a short block or two down hill. My quads were talking back to me at this point and they were not saying nice things. The last 2 miles were a mix of flats some slight uphills and the last few blocks were downhill to the finish line where I saw 3:18 on the clock!

Absolutely nothing!! Great race!

I walked around for 10 minutes or so then got in line for a massage. Following the massage I went back to my car for my recovery drink (I should have gotten that before the massage, oh well) watched some finishers, headed up for a shower that was 4 or 5 blocks away then headed home.


Nothing.


I think this has to be one of the best fall marathons in the northeast. Of course the perfect weather plays a big part of my saying that. If it was 40 degree rain I might have a different feeling about the race.