Under Armour Baltimore Marathon - RunMarathon

It was your typical race start where you kind of shuffle along for the first mile until the group thins out a little. Although the marathon wasn't that crowd, only a little over 2000. Rick, Tarek and I cruised along at about an 8:50 pace through the first 10 miles, which included going up and down the first hill and then out the flat part of the course. The flat part of the course takes you out through Ft. McHenry in Baltimore Harbor. Ft. McHenry is where the flag was flying during the War of 1812 and Francis Scott Key watched from a ship in the harbor as the dastardly British shelled the fort. Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner as he watched the battle. Pretty cool to run through history. I not quite sure why they have a large statue of a naked man. It's kind of startling to look up and see a big butt in front of you.

We went through the fort and headed back downtown. I was running pretty well and we came up on the half way point. We were 5 minutes ahead of 4 hour pace. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to hold this pace for the whole race. At the 15 mile point, I let Rick and Tarek go and cut back to about a 9:30 pace. I was hoping to make it up the hill and then push hard for the last 3 miles. I still had delusions of making the 4 hour time. That all ended about mile 21. None of the hills, to this point, had been steep, just continous. I started to walk the water stops, as I was starting to cramp and I knew I wasn't getting enough fluids. Also, at mile 16 or so, the half marathon and marathon routes merge until the finish. I think at my pace, I merged with the back of the half marathon pack. I had to do a lot of weaving even at my slow pace.

I knew if I could get to mile 22, it was mostly downhill to the finish. From mile 21 to almost mile 23 was some of the hardest running I've ever done. I think at some point I started doing Lamaze breathing, like women in labor. I tried to pick it up after that but the legs were shot at this point. The last 3 miles were kind of a blur and I was real happy to come down the finish shoot. I knew 4 hours was out the window when I hit 25 miles at 3:55. So unless I was going to run 1.2 miles in 4 minutes it wasn't happening. However, I knew I was going to beat my previous best marathon time of 4:14, unless I broke a leg.

Some interesting points during the race: We saw a guy running while jumping rope. I saw a couple of spectators wearing fat suits, one with Personal Trainer on his shirt. A bunch of TNT people wearing their purple . They were all polite and seemed to be having a good time.

Definitely train more. I knew with the base training I had done through the year I could go 26 miles but I didn't have that concentrated training that would let me run a fast time.

I went through the food line and kind of wandered around. I remembered Rick saying he was going to be back at our meeting point after the race, so I headed there. I met up with Rick and found they finished in 3:57 something. If I could have stayed with them I could have beaten 4 hours. I owe Rick a big thanks for picking up my packet and pacing for the first 15 miles. Although Tarek and I were ready to do him bodily injury when he told us he knew we were running at 9 minute pace because this was his recovery pace. He's lucky they dropped me because I was going to jump on his back near the finish, so Tarek could beat him to the finish.


Lack of training


This was a well run race. Only a couple gripes. Some of the water breaks were not at the mile marks, so you couldn't plan Gu intakes. I didn't like merging with the half marathon group as it makes the course crowded for the last 6 miles. Plus they throw off the pace groups you've gotten into. Finally the post race food wasn't that great but they did have a large after race party. You just had to pay for things there.

The race does give you some good swag. An Underarmour shirt (they are a sponsor), socks and gloves. All pretty cool looking. Overall a race I'm glad that I did. The course is interesting, it's not that big a race, lots of volunteers and police and it ran on time. Plus I PR'd the distance.