Chip time 1:39:29
Race distance according to my Garmin =13.16
Average pace for first 7 miles = 7:23/m
Average pace for last 6 miles= 7:46/m
Average for whole race = 7:34/m
| Mile 1 |
7:11 |
| Mile 2 |
7:20 |
| Mile 3 |
7:29 |
| Mile 4 |
7:19 |
| Mile 5 |
7:31 |
| Mile 6 |
7:29 |
| Mile 7 |
7:27 |
| Mile 8 |
7:46 |
| Mile 9 |
7:50 |
| Mile 10 |
8:02 |
| Mile 11 |
7:41 |
| Mile 12 |
7:37 |
| Mile 13 |
7:41 |
| Final .16 mile |
6:19 |
The Fort Worth Cowtown Marathon!!! My city’s biggest running event! There were 15,000 runners in the various races. 8,000 in the marathon events. It was at a new location and new route this year. I really like what they did. It was a great race!
My only complaint was the weather. 66 degrees, 90% humidity, wind 20 mph gusting up to 24mph. Yuck! Normally, the weather for this race in February is cold so this was a really strange year.
My official goal was 1:39:59 or better. I thought I was capable of 1:37 if the conditions were perfect, but the humidity and wind were an issue so I was being realistic and sticking with 1:39. So I taped a pace band to my wrist that had the times for 1:39 (7:33/m) and I lined up in corral 1 in between the 3:10 (7:26/m) and 3:20 (7:38/m) marathon pace groups.
It was fun waiting for the race to start because there were a lot of people I knew from other races standing around me. One funny thing happened: I told a girl standing next to me about my goal being 1:39 officially and 1:37 if I have a great day. Her facial expression was kinda cocky and then she said, “Oh 1:37 is easy. I break that all the time.” Hmmm. Well, good luck to you in the humidity then…
Wind was at our backs for miles 1-7. There was one challenging hill about a quarter mile long in mile 5, but other than that, the first 7 miles were pretty easy.
Mile 8 we turned into the wind. I literally kissed my favorite visor goodbye and threw it in the grass. It will be missed… It was amazing how the wind made even the downhills feel difficult. Mile 9 had a huge hill. It was rough!!! Mile 10 should have been easy because it was downtown and there were big crowds lining the street, but I was still hurting from the mile 9 hill. I did an 8:00 min mile, my slowest of the race. About this time the 3:20 marathon pace group passed me and my friend, Greg, who was leading it taunted me about slowing down. My leg muscles felt like jello as I was trying to run faster. I stopped caring about what time I was going to finish in or what my time for each mile was and I started thinking that I just wanted to finish.
Then, suddenly, at the beginning of mile 11 something happened that woke me up from the painful haze I was in: I saw that cocky girl from the starting corral. She was about 100 yards ahead of me going up a hill and I could tell from her form that she was struggling. I decided to catch her. It was pretty satisfying to pass her and it made me get a second wind. I don’t think I would have done as well in miles 11-13 if it had not been for her. Funny how things work out! I sprinted the final .1 as fast as I could. I had no idea what my time was until the final few yards when I saw the clock. I was elated that my time was going to be under 1:40.
Emily from my running group ran a 3:21 marathon and was the 4th place girl overall. She looked great! Most people in my running group said the weather made them miss their original goals for this race, though.
The wind sucked but truly I believe the reason I slowed down in the second half was because my legs are not strong enough. Cardio-wise, I was doing well. I actually think I could hold a 7:20/m pace for an entire half marathon at my current level of cardio-fitness… BUT I don’t think my legs are strong enough yet. Something to work on. I need to do some strength training if I’m going to take myself to the next level. | 