Poconos Wicked Fast Marathon 3:45:22
Garmin Stats - 25.92@8:42 3:45:26
Friday Sept 12 marathon because it was the last day to qualify for Boston. I knew that 3:30 was a long shot (also 3:30 actually getting me into Boston would be a long shot, turns out I would've needed something like 3:25:30 or so.
They had a Saturday race also which would be for the first day of 2027 BQ. Since I'll age up for 2027 and get extra time, I'm going to run another race soon while I'm in shape to run the time I got today, which if I run it smarter and things go well should be able to shave off 5 minutes.
Course was great and weather was really nice. Bus took us to the starting area from the finish area. I did not have enough warm clothes, could have at least used a hat. Course was mostly a straight line but with the first 5K heading in the opposite direction then turning around to come back to the start. Surface was 99% packed dirt road. Surprisingly did not get any pebbles in my shoes (had thought about gaiters). Wore Nova Blast 5 instead of something carbon plated, thought it might be better on the non-asphalt.
Night before, I didn't get to the hotel until nearly 11:00 after the flight to Philly and then the drive to Lehighton and maybe not fueled up as good as I could have been.
First/Second half splits: Mile 13 1:46:02, so about 1:47 for 13.1 half split with final time of 3:45:22, so positive split of about 11 minutes, so maybe 3 minutes too fast? In theory, had I run 1:50 for first half, maybe finished right around 3:40 or hopefully 3:39 and some seconds.
First 3 miles, eased into the race - 8:29, 8:12, 8:24
Then tried to step on it - 7:58, 7:52, 8:08 (that last one should have felt easier).
Mile 7 - ducked into the porta-potty, maybe could've kept going, too much time wasted, 9:06
Tried to get back on pace - 7:53, 8:05, 7:52, 7:55, 7:53, 8:15
During this segment, I knew I was pushing too fast for how I felt, but part of me didn't care. Just race it and see what happens. It's almost all downhill.
But soon, people I had just passed or had passed a while ago eventually came running past me.
Second half splits - 8:31, 8:33, 8:23, 8:44, 8:29, 8:53, 9:02, 8:55, 9:56, 10:41 (at least it didn't get any slower after this one), 9:52, 10:07, 10:10
Mistakes:
- Programmed in my "warm up", thought initial turn around was at 2 miles but it was really at 5k. It's a gentle 1% grade pretty much the whole way, so first 5k was 1% uphill - first two miles were 8:29 and 8:12, then slowed down a little to 8:24 for the third mile thinking maybe mile 2 was a little too fast. In retrospect, first three miles were fairly conservative
- Bathroom break at mile 7 leading to 9:05 mile, it wasn't really that urgent, apart from the time I lost, paniced a little bit and ran too fast to try and catch up and only held 8:00 average for next 6 miles, the mile after that gradually kept on slowing with small comebacks here and there before a deeper trough
- Passing those two women running together. I didn't want to creepily run just behind them after having caught up to them. Did exchange a few words and they probably would've been fine if I'd just said "Hey, do you two mind if I pace with you as long as I can?" Maybe I would have slowed down just enough and then hung on.
- Finally, focusing in on that 8:00 pace and not backing off soon enough. I knew 8:00 pace was a long shot but wanted to give it a try, but once I got that feeling it wasn't going to happen I didn't back down right away. But, at the same time, maybe I could've still pulled it off (part of me keeps thinking).
Pros and Cons of the course:
Pros:
Nice point to point course, beautiful scenery, gentle net down hill, pretty much no uphill (except first three miles at 1% grade, and last mile going over the bridge in town)
Cons:
You get a little less return on packed dirt vs asphalt, couple uneven spots you kind of had to be careful running over especially on tired legs, no water stops until about just before mile 6, but then pretty good after that
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