SunTrust Richmond Marathon - Run

Wow...what a great run!!! My plan for the day was to go out easy and try to hold a ~6:50/mile pace (3hr goal) for the first ~10 miles and then see how I feel and either go for it (break 3hrs) or settle back and cruise to an easy 3:10. I positioned myself up towards the front...maybe ~5 people deep from the start line. That first mile felt sooooo slow and easy but everyone was there so it wasn't just me dogging it. At the mile marker I saw that we ran a 6:41...too fast. I made a point of giving some of that time back and ran a 6:57 for the next mile...back on track. Somewhere in the first mile a guy pulled up next to me and asked what I was looking to run. I told him somewhere between 3 and 3:10...gotta qualify for Boston. I told him to stick with me if he wanted a very consistent pace so we ran together for a while.

I don't remember much specifically about the next 10 or so miles but it never felt any harder than that first mile and we kept consistently clicking off 6:45-6:55 with a few exceptions. An important part of my racing style is that I don't fight gravity. Powering up hills is just wasting energy that can be put to better use on the flats. When I hit an uphill I shorten my stride and increase my cadence. My pace slows but my effort level remains constant. For example, mile 11 was a long uphill that I ran in 7:07 but my HR remained steady. On downhills I let gravity pull me...no sense in fighting it here either. Every time your foot hits the ground on a downhill your are decelerating and resisting gravity. The key to running down hill is to open up your stride and coast as fast as you can control without actually running hard...don't push yourself down the hill but your pace should increase. By opening up your stride you minimize the number of times your feet hit the ground and minimize the deceleration. On mile 7 for example (long downhill) I ran a 6:25 (my fastest mile of the day) while dropping my HR 4 bpm.

Ah...half way home in 1:29:34 (a half marathon PR). Still felt just as easy as the first few miles. About this point the guy running with me started to get some cramps in his chest and I could tell he was working harder than me to hold the pace...he ws breathing hard and I was just cruising along comfortably. At the 16 mile mark he dropped and I was on my own from there on out. It was also about that point when I started to slowly reel people in. Looking back at my splits I continued to run consistent ~6:50 miles so everyone else must have been slowing down. For the next 10 miles I picked people off one at a time right through the final turn for home. Just after the 22 mile mark I heard someone yell out "COLD BEER"...F*cking right - ON-ON!!! I b-lined it to the cooler and grabbed a cold one for the road...damn it was good!

The next four miles finally started to feel like work. Mile 25 and 26 were tough but only because I held my pace...I knew I was going to break 3 hours and wasn't about to put it on cruise control at this point. It was slightly up hill through much of the 26th mile before turning onto Cary St and heading 10 blocks down to the finish. Good thing it was downhill because I felt my right hamstring hint at cramping twice over that last mile. Once I hit the 26 mile marker I was oblivious to everything around me...completely focused on the finish. I really hope they got a good picture of my at the finish because I don't really remember it very clearly. All I knew is that I was done and had broken 3hrs.

I set out that day to run the best race I could. I knew I could run 3:10. 3hrs seemed a bit of a reach but you only get one first chance at anything so I was determined to make the most of the perfect weather and see if all my training was going to pay off or not. When I hit the 13.1 mile mark I started to feel confident that I'd actually do it but I didn't want to get too big on myself. The thought of picking up the pace slightly kept flashing through my head but I managed to talk myself out of being greedy. I was on pace and it would have been stupid to risk that to shave another 1-2min off my time.

Nothing, I executed my race plan perfectly. I can't think of a single thing I could have done differently yesterday to improve my performance.

Ah...the typical stagger. I tried to stay on my feet for a few min but I really just needed to sit the hell down :)


Faster? Cut me a break! Okay, I'm sure I'll run a faster marathon before long. I just need more experience and more time to build a stronger base. Next time I'll plan my training to shave 5min off.


I honestly can't say too much about the post-race activities. I only hung around the finish area for 15-20min while I got my legs back and then walked to the hotel, showered, and hit the road for home. It seemed like they had plenty of food and drinks around though.