As far as the race I am still at a loss at explaining what happened. I had put in consistent 60 mile weeks since April. I trained hard but smart for the marathon. I had run 4 – 5 long runs over 20 miles, etc., etc.. I was pretty sure with all the work that I had put in that I would BQ this time around. At the very least I would PR. In the end I ran 2-3 minutes slower that I did at Austin which was in warmer weather and a tougher course.
Steamtown is billed as a PR course with an 800 elevation drop over the first 10 miles and flat until 23 when the first of three hills comes. I had trained on a lot of hills and did quite a bit of downhill running. I thought my quads would be fine but in the end they took quite a beating. The advice from past runners was to go out slow and don’t run down the hills too fast – bank energy not time. I thought I did a good job of this except for mile 4 but was able to slow back down after that.
I ran for a few miles with a guy that had run 14 Steamtowns and was going for a 3:20. I said, "Great, I will stick with you." He retorted that of the 14 he had only run 2 of them correctly. I was worried. As it turns out the course is indeed tricky.
The weather at the start was low 30’s – perfect. I remember seeing 38 degrees at a bank that we ran by at about mile 5 or 6. It could not have been any nicer. I had disposable gloves, hat and long sleeved shirt that were all tossed by mile 3 or so after I warmed up. The course itself was beautiful and runs through a few small towns, each with great crowd support. All of the fall foliage was in full color as well. There is a great section around mile 15 that goes off on a trail and runs by a river. This is about 2 miles long and then joins the road again. Miles 19 – 21 were quite desolate as the course ran by a industrial park. The last few miles head into the city and ultimately downtown.
I ran the first 3 miles 25 seconds off pace to warm up and to avoid taking off on the decline. I got into a grove after that and crossed the half way point at about 1:38 ish – right on target. I was running really good until mile 20 came along. This was to be expected though - it's a marathon afterall. By 22 though I walked a couple times and by the hill on mile 23 my legs were pretty much toast. I kept pushing – walking a bit and then running. It was not good. The hills at the end killed me. I was about 30 feet from the finish when my legs dropped out from under me and I landed on my knees. Immediately I felt the arm of another runner reach down and grab me, he put my arm around his shoulder and would not let go. He helped me across the finish line with my noodle legs trying to run. Recounting this story still brings a tear to my eye – that someone would be selfless enough to reach down and help another runner. Pretty amazing. I will never know his name but will always remember what he did for me. (Yeah, I am a softy.)
Here are my splits:
7:48, 7:49, 7:50, 7:19, 7:39, 7:31, 7:36, 7:28, 7:34, 7:29, 7:35, 7:29, 7:24, 7:25, 7:21, 7:35, 7:26, 7:36, 7:31, 7:41, 7:49, 8:04, 8:41, 8:35, 9:32, 9:45, 2:19.
My only reasoning at this point is lack of calories at the end. I had my fuel belt of Cytomax with me which amounted to 3 GU’s and had a 16 oz disposable bottle that I drank from the first couple miles that was another GU. I drank water at every stop but ran out of my bottled supply of Cytomax at around 18 - 19 I think. I remember drinking one cup of Gatorade after that but not sure when. I had GU’s with me as well but forgot about them. I don’t think I drank any water or Gatorade past 21 or so – I was struggling so much mentally that I just did not think about it. I am sure this contributed to some of my problems at the very end, but I can’t say it was the complete cause. Next time I think I will tape a couple GU’s to my forehead so I don’t forget. Other than that I can't figure out what went wrong. I am pretty let down but I am sure I will get over it. | 