login
 Run
Comments: The run was great. I was doing 8 minute miles through about mile 5, and had to keep convincing myself to slow down. By mile 8 I had to pee pretty bad, and stopped at a water stop to do so. I went ahead and tossed out the long sleeve tee at this point as well as the weather started to warm up. I finished the first half in 1h52m, only 6 minutes slower than my half marathon PR set back in October 2011. I was pleased but really worried that I might have gone out too fast. I was feeling great at this point though and kept going without difficulty. At mile 16 I celebrated a bit in that that was the furthest I had ever run at one stretch, but started to worry about having another 10 miles to go. This is a more lonely stretch of the course too, so I went ahead and whipped out my iPod, and wasted some time untangling the cord, but got the music going and the first song was Flash Gordon by Queen. I hadn't planned it, but suddenly comparing myself to "savior of the universe" really hit home. I forced myself to stop worrying, and just enjoy the run, and kept moving along. A about mile 18 I realized I was starting to push 9 minute miles+ but figured I had plenty of time to get in under the 4 hour mark and just kept going. I started to struggle more and more though by mile 22, and by mile 23 I was finding it kind of tough to keep running. I convinced myself to pack up the iPod and focus on me and keeping running. I started making myself angry, by thinking about a variety of anger producing things, and this fueled me for another mile or so, though my pace had slowed to 10-11 minute miles. By mile 24 I was seeing crowds of people again, and then by 25 we were on the boardwalk and the crowds picked up even further. I managed to get in in under 4 hours but just barely. I was pleased and saw my wife waiting for me. What a great race it was. For a first marathon, I couldn't be more pleased. What would you do differently?: I think I would allow myself to go out a little faster. I realize I can always find energy to keep going, but never enough energy to go faster in the end of races. I am a really poor pacer, but I think I would do better to gain time in the early parts of these races. Who knows... maybe in the next one.  Post race
Warm down: I came through the shoots, got my medal, my water, snacks, my hat, and my sweatshirt. I am pretty happy with the Schwag. Not to bad. Felt great and wandered with my wife over to the beer tent and grabbed a couple of beers and drank 'em down quickly. Then got my bag, then back to the car, had a couple of jello shooters I packed for myself as a finisher treat (leftovers from St. patty's day the day before). I then changed into more comfy shoes and clothing and headed back over to the tent for another couple of beers. I was feeling incredible, and just hung out for about an hour or so in and among the crowd. What limited your ability to perform faster: I would have been happy with another 5 degrees warmer I think. I could have benefited no doubt from having run a couple of 20 mile+ runs prior to the race. It is just so hard to find 3 and 4 hours for a run outside of these races. Event comments: Was a phenomenal race. One of my best ever! First marathon and met my goal of a sub 4 hour time. Last updated: 2011-12-26 12:00 AM
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK
United States
J&A Racing
54F / 12C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 840/3303
Age Group = 34-39
Age Group Rank = 131/325
I took a nice 10 mile bike ride the day before the race to get my heart rate up, without stressing my bones and joints. I ate a dinner of potato perogies with fried onions and peppers for dinner at about 6:30pm which was delicious. I ate until I was full. It was the perfect day before routine. I tried to hit the sack that night around 9pm, but had a hard time falling asleep and didn't really sleep well. I took some time to pack up some clothes in the car. I wasn't sure how the temperature would be so I packed up a variety of clothing. I was up by 5am, out the door by 6am. It was nice as the race was local, so I took my time driving down to the beach. I stopped at the local WaWa and picked up a sausage bagel sandwich and I figured a I deserved a cinnamon bun as well so I grabbed one of them too, and brought them along as I wasn't hungry just yet. I got to the beach and had some trouble finding parking and it was already packed with people. I finally found a free spot, and was pleased. It was about 53 degrees, and I don't like to be cold, so I put on a triathlon tank, a long sleeve technical tee, and a sweatshirt, and wore compression shorts, running shorts and sweat pants to walk around a bit. I had about 2 hours 'till the start.
I walked around a bit to figure out where all the important stuff was. I walked past the marathon starting spot, but it wasn't set up yet, so I missed it. I was moving with the crowd toward the half marathon start figuring it would probably be near the marathon start. I was wrong and ended up walking about 15 blocks further then where I would eventually need to be. Nicely enough it turns out that the parking spot I had found was only a few blocks from the Marathon start. I was glad the start wasn't until 8:30am as it was warming up just a bit with each hour. I found the start, and the dry bag trucks and was satisfied that I knew where everything was. At that point I had about an hour or so until the start. I sat down and ate my breakfast, and did some stretching. I used the bathroom a couple of times as well as I wanted to take advantage of there being no lines. Eventually, I packed up a bag and turned in my sweat clothes, keys, phone, etc. I kept the tri top, the longsleeve tee shirt, and a wrist band with my I-pod, headphones, and a car key in it. Then I had 4 GUs in my Tri-top pocket, a new pair of thin socks, and my KSwiss Blade Light Race shoes which had about 80 miles or so on them, and was then ready for the journey ahead. I got to my corral with about a half hour, and just sat down on the curb for another 20 minutes or so. I was kind of cold and worried about being too cold. (I hate being cold, I would rather be hot than cold any day). I stretched a bit and waited for the start.