SunTrust Richmond Marathon - Run

As this was my first marathon, I really didn't know what to expect. I knew from my training runs that I could comfortably average 9:30 a mile for 20 miles. What happened after that I didn't know what would happen. This was a good size race for a first marathon, enough peoople to make it interesting without being too crowded. Amazingly people actually self seeded themself correctly. The first mile seemed slow but the road was wide enough to pass or be passed and people quickly sorted themselves out. The first 13 miles went by quickly and easily and I was right on pace. Of course, I had delusions of finishing in under 4 hours and that I may be a "marathon savant". Most of those went away after mile 14. I happened to find an empty porta-potty and stop to go. I thought, "Great I must be hydrating correctly", but I had a hard time getting started again. I slowed down some but didn't have many problems until mile 21. From there to the finish mostly was a trudge fest. During the last 6 miles, I looked at the people around me and wondering why they were running so funny until I realized I was running the same way. Kind of a wide leg shuffle with a blank stare on their face. I kept my legs moving but never did feel comfortable until the finish. The last mile of this race is down a big hill. When I saw the hill, I thought great, this should be easy but running down the hill hurt more than running on the flat. It was great to run through the finish shoot and all the cheering people

I'm not sure that I would do much different. I managed to run the whole course and I didn't have any significant problems.

After crossing the finish, they had volunteers to hand you water. I must have looked at the girl funny because she asked if I was all right. I said sure and then stumbled away. As I said earlier my car was near the finish line but the bag check and food was at the bottom of a big hill. The hardest thing all day was making it back up the hill after eating. Also, there was a brew pub by the food and I was very tempted to go in but knew I had a 2 hour drive home.


Age and genetics


This race is a great first marathon. There were 3500 runners but plenty of volunteers, very organized and well run but it's not one of the top tier races like Boston or New York. The course is not flat but doesn't have any super tough hills, the people are friendly and everything ran as advertised. The swag left something to be desired but about as expected for a race like this.

I would definitely do this race again as it has a nice end of season date that lets me complete the triathlon schedule but still have time to train for a marathon