Bataan Memorial Death March - RunMarathon


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico
United States
Sunny
Total Time = 4h 15m 57s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

ABQKid, Pilgrim, Maria and I loaded up the car early Saturday morning with our bikes and gear and headed out. We made it down to Las Cruces Saturday afternoon to pick up our buddy and head over to packet pickup. Went back to Las Cruces to get our scheduled bike training in before heading to dinner. We had planned to stay on base in a camper or the gym, but both those plans fell through, so luckily we were able to stay at our Friends house in Las Cruces.
Event warmup:

Stood in line at the porta potty. They had a very cool opening ceremony which included a fly over by a stealth fighter. We made our way to the front of the pack and waited for the cannon. The event is chip timed, so there is really no rush to take off at the cannon. Everyone was barely moving forward, since there were 3 Bataan survivors at the start line shaking everyone's hand as they headed out...was very cool.
Run
  • 4h 15m 57s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 09m 46s  min/mile
Comments:

There were 26 total racing categories. I competed in the civilian male light category, meaning I am male, a civilian and did not carry a pack. There was over 4400 people in all categories.

ABQKid, Pilgrim, Randy and I had decided that we wanted to come in around 4:30 so we started out very easy and tried to pace ourselves. We stayed together for about the first half then Randy dropped back and it was just the 3 of us. At about mile 14 or so Pilgrim picked up the pace and I gave chase as ABQKid decided to stay at current pace. Pilgrim and I ran for a couple of mile together before he fell back a little. I felt really good and decided to just keep up the pace as long as I could. From about mile 16 to 22 I ran by myself and as I finished the "sand pit" ABQKid caught me and we ran together for a couple of miles. ABQKid tried to pull me to the finish line, but my legs just didn't have it in them to keep up the pace so I fell back a little. As I entered the shoot and saw the clock time, I knew that I had just come in really close to my marathon PR. Official marathon time of 4:15:57 is a new marathon PR on an extremely tough course...I'll take it. I placed 47 out of 754 in my category so I was really pleased with my "training" effort.

Our teammate Maria was first overall women (by 30 minutes) and third overall finisher...she is such a stud!
What would you do differently?:

Don't think I would change anything. Was a great day out running and training with my teammates and friends.
Post race
Warm down:

Met up with the others from our group, and signed up for a massage. This was my first post race massage.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Biggest limiting factor is probably genetics ;) We all could have run it faster if we had actually tapered and didn't do a bike workout the evening before. We looked at this race as a tough training day for IMCDA, and that's exactly what it was.

Event comments:

Was a very well run race on a really tough course.

I recommend this race to anyone that wants a challenge. It is not your normal marathon, and if running up and down hills in the sand is not challenging enough for you....you can always wear the 35lb pack. :)




Last updated: 2008-03-05 12:00 AM
Running
04:15:57 | 26.2 miles | 09m 46s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 47/
Performance: Good
Course: Course is a big loop mostly on a rolling dirt trail. There is a long 4-5 mile climb up a paved road. The dirt road was mostly packed with some loose sand. At about mile 21 or so you enter the "sand pit", it's about a 1 mile climb through ankle deep sand (Think running on a loose sand beach uphill). Last 3 miles or so are rolling uphill to the finish.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4