Lincoln National Guard Marathon - RunMarathon

I thought on a great day, I could get 3:20 so that's what I set out to do. In hindsight, I should have lined up with the 3:25 group or the 3:30 group (probably the 3:30 group given my total time) but I fell victim to my ego again. Also, there was no 3:20 group which I thought was odd. Only a 3:15 and a 3:25. I figured I ran 20 miles solid in 8:16 pace on April 1st so I figured that 8:00 pace during a race would be the worse I would do. I also thought this would be easier than the HIM last August since that took me over 5 hours but I was wrong about that.

I started the race off with the second group (they let about 2000 people go and then stopped everyone for about two minutes so not to have too much congestion. I started off feeling really good and I knew I didn't want to bank time because that doesn't work so I was really conscious of my pace for the first 10 miles or so. Here are my mile splits and various comments:

#1- 7:28 (Trying not to set out too fast but my Garmin was having a hard time picking up the satellites and giving me an accurate reading, maybe because there were so many GPS devices all at once but also I have a hard time controlling my adrenaline at the beginning of a race.)
#2- 7:27
#3- 7:53 (moderate hill I believe)
#4- 7:43 (settling into a good pace)
#5- 7:45
#6- 7:19 (nice downhill to the bike trails)
#7- 7:23
#8- 7:36
#9- 7:49 (the biggest hill on the course but I remember it being a lot bigger when I did the half marathon about 8 years ago...just goes to show I have a different perspective now after having done tris for 5+ years)
#10- 7:35 (slight downhill)
#11- 8:10 (slight uphill and wanting to conserve a little energy for the second half)
#12- 7:51 (at about 12.5 miles the 1:40 pacer for the half marathon group caught up with me so I ran with them figuring a 1:40 first half plus a 1:50 second half would be a 3:30 full at the worse)
#13- 7:34 (again, with the 1:40 pace group and there's lots of people to draw energy from. However, as soon at 85% of the runners turn off to finish their half marathon, it became really lonely, really fast. The nearest person to me was a guy about 50 yards ahead of me. Still, I felt good mentally and physically.)
#14- 8:02 (I decided that 3:20 wasn't happening and so I wanted to slow it down some to try and make 3:30)
#15- 8:39 (some hills on the bike path)
#16- 7:57 (slight downhill)
#17- 8:31 (This was when I could feel the wheels starting to come off.)
#18- 8:40 (I began thinking/hoping I could manage 9:00 miles the rest of the way.)
#19- 9:11
#20- 9:13
#21- 9:23
#22- 9:32 (I walked for the first time just before mile marker 22. When you walk once, it becomes really easy to start walking more and more.)
#23- 9:41 (Shortly after mile marker 22 my left calf cramped up and I hobbled for a while with a peg leg. I'm sure I looked awkward.)
#24- 10:45 (Lots more walking.)
#25- 10:11 (Some more walking but also trying to pick up the pace as much as I could knowing that the end was near.)
#26- 9:54 (Again, trying to give it everything I had left.)
Remaining .2- 1:48

Tracy, the kids, and Tracy's mom were there to see me finish which was pretty special for me. I saw them just after mile marker 26 outside the football stadium and then since I had to run a little more to the other end of the stadium to enter on the field and finish on the 50 yard line, they had time to get in and see me finish.

1. Train more leading up to the race. I did 1 20 mile training run when my plan called for 3. I'm not very good at sticking to a training plan and really need to commit to following one, especially for a race like this.
2. Race smarter. Run at the pace that I should run and not what I think I could run. It's a marathon. If I run out of steam at the end of a tri, it's a few miles at the most. Running out of gas at mile 18 in a marathon leaves a lot of ground to cover still.

Walked around briefly, got some pop to drink (that's the only thing that sounded good since I took at least 6 gels and a lot of water and Gatorade). Sat down, took some pictures with the family, then heading out for the car to head hom.


1. Not training as much as I should have.
2. Not racing smart and not respecting that this was a marathon. It might be two half marathons but it is about five times tougher than a half marathon.


This was an awesome race. Lots of people out to support the race especially the first half. Even the second half there were still a decent amount of people and the volunteers were awesome.