2010 A1A Marathon

Well - where to begin. As I write this I have had a lot of time to think about the race and breakdown splits, time's, and distances, as well as emotions and thoughts since the race. I guess the first thing to say is I accomplished my first marathon! Since marathon translates to 26.2 miles, I actually accomplished more than a marathon distance wise, running approximatly 28.5 miles in all during the race. That right there, running 2.38 miles extra, is pretty much the big take away on my first marathon experience for me.

Backing up to the beginning, I arrived at the start around 5:20am after getting up around 4:20 to shower, eat a cinnamon raison english muffin, bannana, and power bar at our hotel located about .25 miles from the start. I found some water and slugged down a power gel around 5:40am and at 6am we were off! Weaving through the crowds the first mile I eased into a 7:43 first mile, and right away realized I had to pee. This has never happened so early in a race for me, in fact I have never stopped to use the bathroom (porta john) during a race. A little before the second mile I stopped quickly to pee and was off again. After the first 3 miles we got to A1A, and live music began to play from the streets. That pumped me up, as well as seeing the dawn colors of red and orange over the Atlantic.

We headed into Birch State Park after the first 4 miles, and here it felt like we were running in a peacful forest. Here I spotted someone who seemed to be going my pace and I started to gage my pace off of him. As we exited the park around mile 6, I got beside Jim, as he later introduced himself, and found out he was looking to run 3:10 (Boston Marathon qualifying time for my age group). Hearing this got me excited as I was already running mid to low 7 minute pace and feeling that I could make an attempt for that time. {{As people have asked me what my goal time was, I have been reluctant to come up with a goal time as this is my first marathon and I really didn't know what to expect. Any rate, I threw 3:30 up as a target time before the race - figuring I should be able to achieve that}}

After the 8th mile my pace, with Jim, clicked under 7 minutes for the first time of the race, and I started feeling good. Jim told me that he was going to run a negative split for the race and that that was the best way, for him, to do it - as he has run that style of marathon successfully before. As Jim and I started getting in a cruising pace that felt good, my focus became sharp and my body remained relaxed. We came through the 9th mile again under 7 minute pace, and on the 10th mile Jim started to wonder if we were going the right way. We had turned just before the 9th mile split and did a U turn and seemed to be in a pack of faster paced runners than before. I didn't think for a second that we were going the wrong way, as I didn't see anyone else going a different way when we turned, nor did I hear or see anyone try and point us in a different direction. It was a little over a mile since we made the U turn that Jim finally stopped to ask a volunteer handing out water if Marathoners were on the right course. I had kept going ahead not thinking we were really off course, but when I turned around I saw Jim about 60-70 yards behind me with his hand up waving me in the other direction. I couldn't believe it. I started running hard to catch up with him, and then he told me that we had to go back. We both started darting around the pack again, who now was definitly going slower than the pack we just left. We had gone the opposite direction for over a mile.

There wasn't that much said between Jim and I once we started heading back. We both commented on how we couldn't believe what had happened, and how we didn't see anyone telling us to go another way. We kept running, still under 7 minute pace, and Jim then said to me that his goal was out the window and that this was going to have to be treated as a "training" run for him. I felt like I was in a different boat. This couldn't have been a training run for me if I wanted it to. I was IN a race, my first marathon, and no matter what time I crossed the finish line - and just crossing the finish line in general - would still be a personal record and my first marathon accomplishment ever. I had to finish, and I had to give full effort. I didn't have the luxury of past marathon accomplishments under my boat to satisfy this mishap.

After Jim had said this, I left him, and pushed the pace to sub 7 minute pace for the next 6 miles. Here, I had a lot of adrenaline and emotion from the misque, and took it out by running harder than I should have. But at the same time the whole race changed once we got off course, so I just wanted to leave everything on the course and make up as much time lost as I could. One thing I did through-out the race was to mentally tell myself that I was either an ultra runner (someone who runs races farther than marathons, or a Ironman type triathlete, thinking that people out there run on top of other exercises -swimming biking - in the same race, so that for me running farther was not the end of the world and that many people find the guts to do it.) With running, you have to stay positive, and you can't dwell on the past.

It was amazing how thin the pack became once Jim and I got regrouped with the slower runners who were previously 2 miles behind us. One thing about the whole race from that point on, was that I honestly almost passed people the entire rest of the race. It wasn't until the last mile that someone passed me. One quick mention is that unfortunatly, around mile 13 I had to stop and use the porta john again for a break longer than a pee, like I previously had to do. I figured I stopped for about 2:30-3 minutes here.

My knee started feeling sore from the first mile, and stayed that way until arounud mile 15 when I slowed down terribly, wondering if I was going to be able to continue with the pain. After that slow down period though, I was able to keep running normally as it seemed to go away. People talk about hitting the wall around mile 20, but for me I seemed to hold pace until the 24th mile - the last few I was suffering, but I was able to finish the entire run without walking (except for a couple strides around mile 24 where I "tried" walking for a second then quickly realized that was going to hurt me more and slow me more rather than just jogging it out.)

I grabbed water or sports drink every 2-3 miles the second half of the race, and also used some gel. I think that stuff worked good, as I was able to hold a solid pace for 20+ miles. It also became hotter as the sun came up late in the 8 o clock hour, and as we ran south down A1A back toward the finish, with the sun rising over the Atlantic to my left. Seeing that blue pretty ocean water was kind of like what I imagine seeing an oasis when you have been stranded in the dessert would feel like.

As I came in the final stretch, I saw Katie and heard her cheer for me about 50 yards before the finish line. I threw her a wave and came across the line in just over 3:37 minutes gun time. My chip time was 3.36.32 for the marathon + 2.38 miles(28.58 miles, approx, in all).

Taking the splits I was running from mile 7-14, I calculated I was running a 6.53 pace for that period of time, and so the adjusted half marathon split would have been around 1:33:49, as opposed to the one read on the results that shows 1:52:40. The difference here is 18.51 time, and taking out the bathroom break of 2.50 time, I ran about 15.01 time at 6.53 pace extra, which is about 2.38 extra miles. That being said, with the total distance I ran and my chip time at 3:36, I actually ran a 7.34 pace, which would have put me around 3:18-3:19 for a marathon. Another way of looking at it is, if I were to take the away my last two splits and calculate the pace from 24 miles at a time of 2:58:09, then my pace is 7:24, which translates to a 3:14:37 marathon. However maybe it would have been a little faster still, given that the whole race dynamic changed in every regard from pace to mental thoughts, to running economy (saving enough to finish).

Here are the splits: 7:43, 7:35, 7:39, 7:14, 7:29, 7:22, 7:16, 6:57, 6:56, 6:51, 6:56, 6:30, 6:41, 6:56, 8:50, 7:25, 7:30, 7:24, 7:31, 7:23, 7:19, 7:40, 8:25, 9:37, 8:41, 11:57 (1.2 miles).

Link to results:Here
And that's about all I have to say about that!