WOOO...HOOO... THE MONKEY IS OFF MY BACK!
BQ'D with 7+ MINUTES to Spare !!! .... I finally I feel like a real runner :-)
Well I guess the road to this marathon started in the middle of the Ft worth Marathon a couple of months ago. After missing the turn at the halfway point in that marathon I was pretty disappointed with myself. After a week or so of feeling sorry for myself I started looking for another race to run this spring. I couldn't really travel very far so I knew my options would be slim to none. By chance I ran across this marathon, The Army Marathon, which was going to be run in Temple, Texas. As you may know the weather in Texas this time of year can be very unpredictable and typically it's way too hot to run a marathon. I started looking at the typical weather patterns for late April and found that there was a slim chance of the temperature would be acceptable. As it turned out the weather was perfect at 49 degrees at the start of the race.
So the race started at 0630 (that's military talk) to try and beat some of the heat. It worked well as I think it was about 60 degrees when I finished the race. I decided to try a little different tactic on this race and lined up at the very back of the pack of runners. This was a small race with only about 600 racers finishing the race. By starting at the back I knew I would be forced to start out really slow. I had my pacing all worked out and on a laminated piece of paper to follow throughout the race.
Mile 1 came in a little slower than pace plan because of the crowd but I knew it was okay and I just ran easy until the field opened up. Both mile 2 and mile 3 also came in a few seconds slower that pace plan but I didn't want to push very hard as my heart rate seemed too high for just beginning the race. It was reading over 150 and typically on a run at this pace it reads about 130-135. I guess the race adrenaline was kicked in. At mile 4 I decided to go ahead and push to hit my paces and see what my HR did. Mile 4 was just a couple of seconds longer than planned. Mile 5 was the first mile I managed to be under the plan but only by 3 seconds. Mile 6, 7 and 8 all came in closer to pace but still most of them were a few seconds slow. I was feeling pretty good for these first 8 miles. I talked to everyone I could, I slowed to a walk at every water station and took a drink and made jokes with all of the support people. I was amazed at the support and spectators on this course especially knowing there were only about 600 runners. Many of the people at the water stations were military so I continued to thank them for serving (our nation...not water :-). Back to the race: I believe it was on mile 8 that my left calf reminded me that it was there and might just pinch me really hard but the twinge went away very quickly. Luckily the twinge never bothered me again throughout the race. I don't know what it is but at about mile 8 or 9 of every race I seem to get an energy boost and mile 9 came in several seconds below pace and my HR actually dropped. At this point in the race I remember thinking, "I feel really good for running 9 miles but is it because I'm over my pace and will I still BONK at mile 18-20?" I told myself, "Don't do something stupid...just keep on the plan and run easy and maybe I will be able to squeeze out a 3:30 and a BQ". Even though I felt good up until now I fully expected to really slow down after 18 to 20 miles. So with all this mental conversation going on in my head II slowed down on mile 10 to make sure I didn't do something stupid. I ended up running mile 10 at 30 seconds slower than the plan. Finally I think I began to relax and cruised through miles 11, 12 and 13 closer to plan pace and feeling very good. I did notice at the halfway point that I was actually about a full minute off my overall pace plan to hit a 3:25:00 finish time.
I have never felt this good at the midpoint of a marathon, so now at mile 14 I decided to start the race! With my HR still hovering around 150 for the first 13 miles I thought, "Now I can begin to push a little, I know I can run 10-15 miles with a HR of 160-165 before I begin to fall apart". Mile 14 came in -7 seconds, mile 15/-5, 16/-5 and mile 17/-10. I think it was in mile 17 where I thought to myself, and actually said out loud, "I've got this!". I felt relived for a moment...but then remembered how quickly I had hit the wall on my previous races. Mile 18 is the toughest mile on the course and my 8:34 time showed it. As I was running that mile I was thinking to myself, "If anyone was watching my splits right now they would think, ...Uh-Oh here come the BONK...He's not going to make it!" But I kinda laughed and said to myself, "I've got this! I just plodded along on that long uphill mile making sure my HR didn't spike over 160. I ran mile 19 with a little less effort making sure I caught my breath but by the end of that mile but still brought it in faster than the plan.
On miles 20 and 21 combined came in about 10 seconds below pace plan and then finally at mile 22 I decided it was time to really start dropping the hammer! Since I started at the very back of 600 runners I had been passing people all throughout the race. Beginning at mile 20 I started looking for people in front of me and started picking them off one by one. I had only had one (pony tail) guy pass me the entire race. Well I caught back up with him about mile 20 and blew past him like he was standing still (maybe he was, I don't actually remember :-). As he ran past me earlier in the race I yelled to him, "Hey...they don't allow passing in this race!" I don't think he thought it was funny but I sure did when I passed him :-) Miles 22 thru 26 were something like this compared to pace plan: -30, -18, -15, -27, -48 and the last .2 (2.6 but Garmin) -25. My fastest mile was mile 26 @ 7:10 and the last .2(.26) was a 6:24 pace.
When I finished the race I just stopped, breathed a few deep breaths and walked away like I had just finished a good training run. Today, two days later, I feel I could go out and resume my regular training. I have no blisters, sore joints or really even muscles. I really do believe I left quite a bit on the course but I'm really glad to have run this race the way I did. Now I have something reasonable to aim for in the future. My plan for the summer is to work on speed work and cycle a lot. I believe I only have a couple of more years to improve so I better make the best of those couple of years! :-)
24th out of 601 Runners - 1st in 50-54 Age Group
Thanks JG for the specific training advice and thanks DerHammer, SlowJoe, Tom and all my other friends for encouraging me along the way.
1 Thessalonians 5:11
So continue encouraging each other and building each other up, just like you are doing already.
SEE YOU IN BOSTON .... Wooo...Hooo...!!!
| The Army Marathon |
| 4/21/2013 |
| Mile |
Time |
HR |
HR % |
|
| 1 |
8:05:00 |
158 |
85% |
|
| 2 |
7:51:00 |
154 |
82% |
|
| 3 |
7:49:00 |
150 |
79% |
|
| 4 |
7:32:00 |
150 |
79% |
|
| 5 |
8:03:00 |
152 |
80% |
7:52:00 |
| 6 |
7:37:00 |
153 |
81% |
|
| 7 |
7:39:00 |
151 |
80% |
|
| 8 |
7:35:00 |
149 |
78% |
|
| 9 |
8:04:00 |
149 |
78% |
|
| 10 |
8:01:00 |
151 |
80% |
7:47:12 |
| 11 |
7:48:00 |
150 |
79% |
|
| 12 |
7:37:00 |
151 |
80% |
|
| 13 |
7:51:00 |
151 |
80% |
|
| 14 |
7:48:00 |
151 |
80% |
|
| 15 |
7:41:00 |
152 |
80% |
7:45:00 |
| 16 |
7:43:00 |
153 |
81% |
|
| 17 |
7:47:00 |
153 |
81% |
|
| 18 |
8:34:00 |
155 |
82% |
|
| 19 |
7:42:00 |
154 |
82% |
|
| 20 |
7:44:00 |
156 |
83% |
7:54:00 |
| 21 |
7:39:00 |
159 |
85% |
|
| 22 |
7:38:00 |
161 |
87% |
|
| 23 |
7:36:00 |
164 |
89% |
|
| 24 |
7:27:00 |
165 |
89% |
|
| 25 |
7:20:00 |
169 |
92% |
7:32:00 |
| 26 |
7:10:00 |
172 |
94% |
101:32:00 |
| 26.2 |
1:14:00 |
177 |
97% |
99:49:00 |
| Total |
3:22:56 |
155 |
82% |
|
| Pace |
7:44 |
|
|
|
| Age Place: |
1 / 40 |
|
|
|
| 49Âș - 60Âș, 75% Humidity, 14-18 mph wind |
Notes:
No Bonk!
My Garmin measured 26.26 miles.
1th in age division, 24th overall - 601 Runners. |
| 