Baltimore Marathon - RunMarathon


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
Baltimore, Maryland
United States
Baltimore Runing Festival
57F / 14C
Sunny
Total Time = 3h 32m 25s
Overall Rank = 368/3024
Age Group = M30 to 35
Age Group Rank = 73/340
Pre-race routine:

I had been training very hard for this race all summer, with hopes of finally beating my PR (3:28:32 set on this course in '08). Unfortunately, on Oct 4th (my birthday), I got very very sick. I spent a week in bed, and generally felt like ass. I thought I was mostly better, but did wake up on race morning at about 2:30 to throw up. As such, I didn't really have high hopes for this race.
Event warmup:

I had my usual race morning breakfast of black coffee. We got to the race early, parked, and worked our way towards the stadium. It was very cold, but fortunately we had the stroller for clothing drop off. I took a gel about 5 to 10 min before the race start.
Run
  • 3h 32m 25s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 08m 07s  min/mile
Comments:

As I said, I didn't have very high expectations for this race going in due to being sick. I ran the first mile fairly slow, as I had to dodge A LOT of slower runners and run / walkers. I hate when people refuse to self seed correctly. There's a few hills early on, but I was feeling good so rant them at a good pace. When I got to the early down hills I tried to push the pace a little. I knew I was going to have trouble holding a sustained pace for the entire race, but wanted to see what I could do. At about the 10 mile mark, I met up with the 3:20 pace group. I didn't think I could finish that quickly, but ran with them for about 5 miles. Once the real hills started, they started to pull away from me which I was OK with. I held a sub 8:00/mile pace until mile 17. I felt "OK" until about mile 19, when my left hamstring strarted cramping up badly. The uphills stop around mile 22.5, so I kept telling myself "If you can just make it to there..." Unfortunately, the cramps kept coming and I had to keep taking walk breaks, and a few stretch breaks. I still had outside hopes of a PR, and then later a sub 3:30. Unfortnately, I ended up missing both of those goals. Oh well, not too bad for having been sick.
What would you do differently?:

Back of the pace some in the first half, knowing I was going to blow up eventually.
Post race
Warm down:

As soon as I finished, I went into a 3 min long coughing fit. A neighbor finished the relay right as I did, and asked if I was OK. I think my reply as "not really." I grabbed my medal, a mylar blanket, and some water. The food line was waaay too long, so I went to my meeting place and met our friends Mom who was watching LJ. B and our friend finished about 10 to 15 min later. I wanted to watch their finish, but the legs were just cramping too bad too move. We hung out for a while, met a former co-worker who we hadn't seen for a while, and generally just chilled. After a few beers, we eventually drove home.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Getting sick. The hills didn't help, but I had been training for that.

Event comments:

Overall, I felt the organization and logistics of this race was a lot worse this year. I've done this race six times, and this was the worst. At the start line, the pace groups were way to bunched up, and there was a lot of pushing and shoving to try to get into the starting corrall. I eventually had to kick down a temp barrier just to get on the course after the gun went off. After the race, the food lines were ridiculously long. I grabbed some water, beer tickets, and then said forget the food. My cramping legs just couldn't wait in the line. To me, a marathoner not being able to grab some food is unacceptable. I do LOVE that they give free beer at the finish.


Profile Album


Last updated: 2012-07-09 12:00 AM
Running
03:32:25 | 26.2 miles | 08m 07s  min/mile
Age Group: 73/340
Overall: 368/3024
Performance: Below average
See splits below.
Course: A hilly loop through the city of Baltimore.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 2
Physical exertion [1-5] 2
Good race? No
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3