Des Moines Marathon - RunMarathon


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Des Moines, Iowa
United States
IMT
Sunny
 		Total Time = 5h 21m 57s
Overall Rank = 1100/1356
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 45/71
Pre-race routine:

Never deter from the PB, banana and bagel. I accidentally bought extra crunchy PB, Yuck, but my body doesn't know the difference between extra crunchy and smooth, just my mouth. Also drank a 20oz bottle of water.

Strapped on my Fuel Belt and my throw-away fleece sweatshirt from the Salvation Army, drove to the race venue.
Event warmup:

A bit of stretching and hopping around. The actual race area is too congested to do much. Besides, I run slowly and I usually look at the first 3 miles as my warmup.
Run
  • 5h 21m 57s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 12m 17s  min/mile
Comments:

This was my second marathon. I did this one last year as well. I love the course, the weather was spectacular. Being a "local" I love telling the other runners from out of town all about Des Moines.

I was on track to run slightly faster than last year at the half way point. Last year I had a negative split. This year, alas, my legs started to get heavy on me at mile 22. No "Wall" per se, just tired. The first 19 miles really seemed like almost no effort at all. It felt like I had just passed one mile marker when I saw the next.

there were a couple of windy spots towards the end.

Sprint the finish. . .always finish strong no matter how tired you may be.
What would you do differently?:

Maybe push a little harder. Train faster, be faster!
Post race
Warm down:

Chocolate milk and potato chips at the finish line. A little bit of stretching, then a short drive to home where I did about 10 minutes of yoga followed by my ice bath. Brr!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I am a slow runner:)

Event comments:

IMT puts on this race and does an amazing job. The shirts were excellent this year. The course is well marked and there are lots of drink stations and toilets. The out of town runners kept remarking on the quantity and frequency of the porta-pottys. Having done plenty of races with minimal drink stations and toilets I have to applaud this race for being very runner friendly.




Last updated: 2008-10-22 12:00 AM
Running
05:21:57 | 26.2 miles | 12m 17s  min/mile
Age Group: 45/71
Overall: 1100/1356
Performance: Average
Course: Beautiful start running towards the Capitol in Des Moines, a bit of hills from mile 2.5-7 and then relatively flat through some really great neighborhoods. A lap at Drake University stadium at about mile 12. A loop at Waterworks Park and another at Grays Lake and then run to the finish pretty close to where we started out.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
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] 5