Kiawah Island Marathon - RunMarathon


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Kiawah Island, South Carolina
United States
45F / 7C
Overcast
Total Time = 8h 00m
Overall Rank = 97/846
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 23/87
Pre-race routine:

Bagel and PB with a cup of decaf and some water. Had to get up pretty early (5am) to get there on time. I ended up just beating the massive crowds, leaving me a little time to gather myself and do a decent warm-up. Fortunately, I decided to lose the long-sleeve shirt before the start (otherwise, I would have ended up ditching it).
Event warmup:

5 minutes easy running; light stretching; 5 more minutes starting easy, then accelerating to 'race pace'. This is my usual warm-up, and felt fine.
Run
  • 3h 21m 36s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 07m 41s  min/mile
Comments:

Things started off great. For the first loop (13.1), I was under my intended 7:30/mile pace by a little. I maintained that pace for another few miles. At around mile 16, I started to feel the knee, and to a lesser extent the ITBS on the right side. I played with the pace from mile 16-18, but by mile 18, things were getting bad. At one point, the pain was bad enough that I was grimacing and I considered quitting. But for better or worse, I vowed to keep going as long as a sub 3:30 was still in the cards. Of course, this meant continuing to run instead of walk (and I was pretty sure that walking would lead to severe pain and subsequent quitting anyway), so I kept running, albeit slower.

At around mile 20, two things went south. First, I accidentally stopped my watch instead of lapping. I noticed around a minute later, but then managed to forget that I had done this, and so, later on, utterly miscalculated what I needed to do to get sub 3:21 (BQ). Second, I picked up the pace again when the knee was feeling a little better (mile 20), and the knee suffered mightily for it. However, at that point, I could still smell sub 3:21 and so was calculating at each mile what I needed to do to get there. Unfortunately, I was calculating based on my incorrect watch-time, and ended up slightly over. Oh well. I wasn't actually going to do Boston anyway. Still, it would have been nice. Next time.

Yes, there will be a next time. Despite the pain, I was thrilled to be able to run this marathon. Next time, I imagine (hope, predict, will!) that the knee will be better throughout training, and I'll be able to get my mileage up in a more reasonable and consistent way. When that happens, watch out! I might still have a sub-3:00 left in me. Until then, I'll see what I can do about my aching quads...

What would you do differently?:

Other than not screw up my watch, nothing, really. I think I did the best I could under the circumstances.
Post race
Warm down:

Well, I could barely move. I walked/hobbled around a bit, then stretched, then ate. After the 1 hour trip back to the house, I took a 2 hour nap.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Knee limited both training and racing. But I have no real complaints. I'm getting better, and I can't wait for the next one... I can't help thinking that I could have pushed myself harder. I think that I let my concentration slip a few times. And the idiotic mistake with the watch won't soon be forgotten.

Event comments:

I like this race quite a lot. It is small enough to feel 'local' but big enough to have sufficient facilities and volunteers to meet everyone's needs. I'll probably do it again.




Last updated: 2008-06-14 12:00 AM
Running
03:21:36 | 26.2 miles | 07m 41s  min/mile
Age Group: 23/87
Overall: 97/846
Performance: Good
First 17 were at 7:30/mile. Then things came unstuck. The right knee started first (not surprising). It got a bit better when I slowed down. Then at mile 20 I picked it back up, only to encounter some really serious knee pain within 1/2 mile. I considered stopping, but decided 'what the heck?' and kept going, albeit much slowed, around 8:00/mile. I pushed it the last mile, probably doing around 7:40.
Course: Flat, easy. The only real problem was the idiots who started in the 6:00/mile group but ran 9:00/mile. Once I cleared them, it was easy sailing.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Ok
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