Winning Back What I Lost

Pocatello Marathon

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Location:

Meridian,ID,US

Member Since:

Mar 31, 2008

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Boston Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

PR's:

5K Beat Coach Pete Fun Run Boise, ID- 21:13(2009)

Meridan Barn Sour Days 10k, Meridian, ID- 41:32(2012)

Famous Potato Half Marathon, Boise, ID- 1:30:40 (2012)

Utah Valley Marathon, Provo, UT- 3:20:14 (2011)

Athlinks profile here.

Garmin Connect profile here.

Short-Term Running Goals:

2014 Racing Schedule and Goals: 

-Get healthy

-St. George Marathon, October 4, 2014, St. George, UT

Long-Term Running Goals:

Run at least one marathon every year until I buy the farm.

Qualify for Boston Marathon.

Personal:

Started running in November 2007 to get fit. Now I'm back almost to square one after back surgery. I did it once and I'll do it again.

"In truth, runners don't race other runners. They race against themselves: to conquer their wills, to transcend their weaknesses, to beat back their nightmares. And while a runner can't actually beat himself, he can beat his time. Even years into running, he can get better."  Running for His Life by Michael Hall. 

 

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
New Balance MR 1400 Lifetime Miles: 392.77
Saucony Kinvara 2 Lifetime Miles: 424.41
Saucony Kinvara 3 Lifetime Miles: 438.89
Saucony Ride 5 Lifetime Miles: 235.68
Brooks Launch (Blue/Yellow) Lifetime Miles: 282.52
Hoka Rapa Nui Tarmac's Lifetime Miles: 181.17
Hoka Clifton (Blue)(2) Lifetime Miles: 164.15
Race: Pocatello Marathon (26.2 Miles) 03:30:04, Place overall: 79, Place in age division: 10
Total Distance
26.20

I was pretty confident coming into what was my seventh full marathon.  I felt like I was in pretty good shape relative to UVM in June. I put on a couple of lbs. during the taper but I was still 5-6 lbs lighter and put in some really good mileage in July and August.  Met Court at the starting line (my bus was the last to arrive so most everyone was already lined up).  Weather was darn near perfect for running. Ran strong and easy w/ enough energy to chat w/ Court as we made our way down the free fall that is the 1st half of the Pocatello Marathon.  As we got to the halfway point I gave a thumbs up and said hey to Jeff Shadley as he was warming up for the start of the Half Marathon. It was shaping up to be a memorable day.

Well it didn't pan out.  Suffered from the same GI issues that have plagued me in the past but much worse this time. Felt it coming on around 14 or 15 but tried to ignore it as it came and went in waves.  I won't get too graphic but just say that it was a horrible experience from miles 19 on.  And by "on" I mean a couple of hours after the race was over. 

That said, had I not been suffering from stomach cramping I still wouldn't have BQ'ed.  I went out way too fast.  The standard disclaimer for this course is to hold something back for the second half when it flattens out. I felt like I did. Ran the first half w/ Court and I never felt like we were pushing it too hard.  It didn't feel super easy but it didn't feel like we were racing either.  I ended up running a 1:33 first half on about a 75% effort.  The problem obviously is that my current half PR is 1:34. As strange as it sounds, I didn't worry about that fact because I reasoned that I was lighter and faster than I was when I ran that 1:34 and the course made the effort required to run a 1:33 much less than what I needed to run a 1:34 in May.  In hindsight, I was soooooo wrong. 

Not sure where I go from here. I have to figure some things out regarding my pre-race and intra-race fueling.  I may have to come up w/ some viable alternative to gels during the race.  I may have to avoid taking in any food after 4pm the day before a race. I've got to come up w/ something b/c these stomach issues are taking away from the enjoyment of the race.  The marathon distance is grueling enough w/o having to deal with this. 

I'd list my mile splits but the 1:33 1st half v. 1:57 2nd half pretty much tells the whole story.

Saucony Kinvara Miles: 26.20
Comments
From SlowJoe on Mon, Sep 05, 2011 at 09:45:28 from 75.109.104.60

It's amazing how good you can feel at the half but still actually be going out too fast. I guess it's just a really tough race to figure out. Hopefully you had some fun anyway, at least for the first couple hours before the "waves" hit.

Any thoughts of a revenge marathon, or is it getting a little late in the year for racing in your neck of the woods?

From Neil on Mon, Sep 05, 2011 at 12:54:56 from 97.121.49.224

Yeah, you'd think I'd know better not to get too greedy but oh well. Before this weekend, I had thought about running Tri-Cities on Oct. 30th if I didn't BQ. Now I just don't know if I'll have enough time to devote to marathon training between now and then. I guess we'll see how quickly I recover from this one. Right now I'm really sore and more than a little disenchanted. Still, it's hard to go through the long winter and spring w/ that elusive BQ still hanging out there.

From jtshad on Mon, Sep 05, 2011 at 13:56:18 from 69.20.183.178

Sorry about the GI issues, I know how bad they suck from personal experience. Poky is a tougher course to figure out how to run than people think. Keep running strong and you will get that BQ.

Your fitness is still there, being ready for an October marathon would take much to do as you don't start over, you recover, do some endurance runs and fine tune a bit.

Great seeing you out there a couple of times, sorry I didn't get a chance to catch up at the finish line area in all that chaos.

From Neil on Mon, Sep 05, 2011 at 15:12:48 from 97.121.49.224

No worries, I was indisposed anyway- if you know what I mean? :)

Re: Another fall marathon: That's a good point Jeff. I'm about 75% sure I'll give it a shot in October. This BQ thing is like an itch I just can't scratch. Gotta get it out of the way so I can move on to another goal.

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