Boston Bound! (The 2007 California International Marathon)
The race: 26.2 miles
When reflecting back on yesterday's race, I can just think "Oh, my!"
I put it all out there, and I am very happy about the result. I met every conceivable angle of my goals for the race.
Let me tell you about it. If you haven't read about my prior races, just know that I've run the San Francisco Marathon twice.
The Strategy
I didn't know a lot about the course for CIM compared to how well I know the
San Francisco Marathon course. The consequence of that is that I couldn't really establish an ideal mile-by-mile split. I could generally assume that if I allowed myself more time to cover the first 15 miles (generally hilly, not as downhill), I could go faster over the last 11 to cover it. So I planned to run at 7:30 pace until mile 15, then 7:20 pace the rest of the way, which would give me a 3:15 and change finish. I made a pace-band based upon total time (e.g. at mile 8 I should be at 1:00:00 or less).
That said, I was pretty confident that I would run faster than 3:15, based largely on the 1:30:27 US Half, the 40:25 10k I ran recently, and all the MRP runs wherein I did not struggle to maintain a better than 7:27 average pace.
While the course profile wasn't so concerning for me, weather was. Fortunately, rain was not in the forecast, but it was supposed to be 41 degrees with 18 mph winds at the start time ("feels like 32"). I haven't run in weather that cold since 1989.
Race Morning
At 2:00 am, I was awakened (I think I was asleep) to the sound of a nearby bar letting out its inebriated and noisy patrons. Loud yelling, laughing, car horns, car stereos blasting for twenty minutes. A cold hotel room. I don't think I slept after that. I "awoke" in the not-so Quality Inn at 4:40 am, ate a light breakfast, dressed, added layers for pre-race warmth, and walked the two blocks to the host hotel where school buses were lined up (and runners were lined up, boarding the buses) for about two or three blocks. Before getting too cold, I was on board a bus, chatting with a woman named Jody who was local to Sacramento and seeking to break four hours (it seems that she did).
The Starting Area
We arrived at around 6:20. I was dressed warmly enough to sustain the temperature and not have to do much to stay warm. I wandered forward to seek a short(er) line for a Port-a-Potty and found myself in the same line as Denis, a K-Star whom I had run two, long, fast MRP runs with at around 7:20 pace. Denis and I hung out until race time, but I lost him when he returned to the lines for another bathroom trip and I headed to the starting line. I took off my sweatshirt, warm-up suit, mittens, knit hat, ski-socks and warm shoes, and got into my running shoes, cap and running gloves, sent my "sweats-bag" to the truck, got reasonably close to the 3:15 pace group and waited for the start, feeling not very cold. I was wearing one layer I would be able to discard along the way: a cheap ($6) tyvek jacket that I had perforated along the sleeves and up the front for tear-away removal. I had been thinking that I'd keep my warm layer on for at least five miles.
The Start
The Mayor of Folsom greeted us, saying he was never otherwise pleased to be sending people out of Folsom. He pledged to run CIM next year, being inspired by the group of us. The gun went off, and the runners ambled slowly towards the starting line and then began running as we hit the start. Thick with runners. Loads of them, all running a pretty decent pace from the start. I kept my eye on the 3:15 pace leader and gradually, slowly worked my way towards that pack, not having to do too much dodging around people.
Mile 1: 7:32
Shortly in, I noticed Adrian, another K-Star whom I had run with during training. We chatted a bit, especially noting two things:
Mile 2: 7:10
At this point, Denis had caught up. Strangely, Denis and Adrian had yet to meet. Denis, Adrian. Adrian, Denis. Adrian pointed to the 3:10 pace group, very close ahead of our group, and said "tempting, isn't it?".
Another water station already!
Mile 3: 7:17
Shortly in, feeling sweat start to drip on my arms, I realized it was time to shed the sleeves. Two strong tugs and, poof: my time with scissors the night before paid off as my right sleeve was off. Two more strong tugs and the left sleeve was off. Now, where is the next water station so I can not litter so blatantly?
The First Mid-Section
Mile 4: 7:07
At this point, I started to notice the pack of runners thinning out, except around our pace leader. I noticed a nice scattering of fans at the side of the road, some in small clusters, some spread out.
Finally, a water station! I had pulled off the vest portion of my jacket and was holding the sleeves and vest in my crumpled hand for at least a mile. I dodged cleanly behind the water tables and dropped them in an open trash can, accelerated a touch and was back on the road.
Mile 5: 7:19
I heard the pace leader mention that he had run a little faster in the previous few miles because he deemed the next few to be the toughest part of the course, so we could take it easier. Oddly enough, it was miles 7 to 11 that Galen had told me were to be the toughest section. Hm.
Denis, Adrian and I found ourselves back and forth, behind or ahead of the pace group, for the next several miles.
Mile 6: 7:21
More road, unremarkable.
I fell in a couple of runners behind the pace leader and realized I wasn't feeling too hot. I sort of zoned out for a few minutes, loosely focusing on the runners ahead of me, and essentially coasting. I came out of it, and suddenly felt that there was a very strong reason to use a pace-group: you can let your mind do anything and all you have to do is keep up.
Mile 7: 7:21
At this point, I saw Galen (who had come up for race support). Galen had my camera and was taking pictures and cheering. He had instructed me to stay towards the right of the road. At some point, a couple of miles back, I had thought about this, but now this was forgotten and I was closer to the middle of the road, with many runners on my right. So, when I saw Galen, I headed in his direction. I heard him cheer for Denis, who was behind me a bit, so he caught me, but only accidentally.
(That's me, out of focus on the right, ahead of the 3:15 pace group/mob by a bit.)
This worried me a bit: the next time I would see Galen he was to exchange water bottles for me, and I was making a dent in my first bottle. What if Galen waited too long, assuming I might be further behind the pace group?
Adrian joked with me about my strategy: "what happened to 7:30?" I told him it was "Price is Right" strategy, making Denis comment about Plinko, and then further jokes about which prize we would win. What I meant, of course, was that I was intending to do at least 7:30 but not go over.
Some net-uphill miles began.
Mile 8: 7:30
Adrian extolled the virtue of running apart from the pace group, as the road felt more open and there were fewer other runners to contend with in that cluster.
Mile 9: 7:36
At this point, Denis made the observation that this felt a little too easy. I agreed: at this point in the San Francisco Marathon, one would have ascended Lincoln and run across the Bridge, considerably steep hills. I just wasn't noticing the hills so much. A little uphill, but not steep enough to really slow me down much. And it felt like I had a lot in the tank.
Shortly thereafter, both Adrian and Denis commented that I had looked really strong during training.
Mile 10: 7:15
I was feeling pretty strong. We were ahead of the pace group a bit, and I used a downhill section and slipped away, a bit, from Adrian and Denis. I heard them behind me agree that I was looking really strong.
Mile 11: 7:02
Yep, I was feeling pretty strong. Now done with what Galen felt was a tough patch, I started to push a little. Here, we started to go through small towns, the advantage of which was a gathering place for hundreds of spectators, all of whom cheered and encouraged runners along.
The Main Push
I was feeling really good and fast. And I finished the contents of my water bottle. I started to consider if I'd have to re-fill it at an aid station if I missed Galen, and when I'd decide to do that, since we had agreed that he'd meet me at around 12 miles, but I wasn't sure where that would be, really.
Mile 12: 7:12
I was on the outside, again, when I saw Galen, and I came in to swap bottles. He complained about the bad pictures he was getting of me.
Mile 13: 7:07
As I passed the halfway mark, I saw an official clock, noted the off-set to my watch, and saw how I was almost three minutes ahead of my goal pace. I realized that my pace band was now largely worthless, since I didn't plan to lose those three minutes.
In fact, I was feeling like I might be able to keep this pace and really bust that 3:15 mark. These miles were melting away.
Mile 14: 7:14
Gearing up for the last hilly section. Past this next mile, and it was supposed to be all downhill or flat the rest of the way. The hill came, and while I noted that I was slowing a touch, I still put in a solid mile.
Mile 15: 7:41
Now, I actually felt like I needed to step it up. I heard my watch beep, and I looked down and saw that it was switching (as I had programmed it) to the last mode, wherein it would beep at me if I ran slower than 7:35 at any moment. It was doing that right away, since I was facing an uphill stretch. But the main idea was that if my pace started to drift slower, as it did in the final few miles at the San Francisco Marathon in July, I would at least know it.
The challenge, of course, was knowing how fast to go. I was looking at my heart rate now for guidance, and largely seeing numbers around 170. I was figuring that this was perfectly okay. So I kept pushing.
Mile 16: 7:21
At each mile marker, someone had a stopwatch and was calling out the mile-paces. I started to, fairly consistently, hear them say "7:21" when I reached each split. This would be six seconds faster per mile than I would need to qualify! Just ten miles to go! I started to notice runners ahead of me and began to pick them off: "okay, this guy in the blue shirt", work towards him, pass him, identify the next victim.
Mile 17: 7:11
I saw Galen again, and again, I was on the outside, but this time, I sort of posed for a picture.
Somewhere in this next mile, I started to notice that my legs were feeling a bit tight. This was the first time since those few minutes being dragged by the pace group that I wasn't feeling like it was easy going.
Mile 18: 7:28
Driving it Home
I was beginning to wonder if it was possible that I had paid too much out in the previous 8 miles or so. I convinced myself that I hadn't, since I was watching my heart rate and it was pretty low. Even during this mile, I wasn't seeing anything above 170. That said, I think it was somewhere around here that I resolved to put every ounce of effort into making this the best possible race I could. I had trained for this, I had nothing to save for, I was committing to do the best I could do.
I started to take note of little milestones, noting that I was going to be finished within an hour at this point.
Mile 19: 7:20
Keeping my watch alarm at bay, I was working to keep the pace a little faster, and keeping an eye on my heart rate. My legs seemed a little worse off, but not much. I started to feel an increase in the slight headache I've been nursing for half an hour. I noticed the corny fake brick wall construction around the 20 mile mark, signifying the notion that you'd break through the wall on your way to the finish.
Mile 20: 7:19
Only 6 miles to go, I told myself. Still pushing. Finally entering outer Sacramento, still putting in good miles.
Mile 21: 7:17
Still driving hard, picking off some runners, reaching outer Sacramento.
Mile 22: 7:19
Keeping the pace, the scenery finally changed: the streets of Sacramento were lined with trees, and fall leaves were blowing in the wind. Starting to feel it hurt, and starting to see the heart rate climb a touch.
Just 4 miles to go. I started to think of this in terms of the end of a 10k, knowing that I could do this, and hoping for a late push.
Mile 23: 7:19
Leaves falling. Me picking off runners. Heart rate up a couple of beats. Still pushing hard, wanting to make this the best race I can. Leave nothing behind.
Mile 24: 7:15
Just two miles to go, time for the final push. If I can finish this the same way I finish a 10k, I'll get some solid bonus time out of them. That said, I couldn't seem to push any harder. My breathing was getting harder, and my legs were not happy with me.
Mile 25: 7:22
This is how I looked towards the beginning of this mile. I may have seen Galen, I may not have. I just don't remember.
I felt like I was having a hard time, but also pushing hard, and a few runners had started to kick and passed me. Still I was passing other runners, and surprised that I was just a tad behind plan for the mile.
Mile 26: 7:31
It didn't surprise me that I wasn't keeping pace in that last mile, and I was dying to get this over with. Happily, I turned the corner to head down to Capitol Park, and could quickly see the last turn to the finish. Happily, the last turn left me with just enough time to push hard to the finish line, throw my hands in the air in victory, as I saw by the clock that I had finished in around 3 hours and 12 minutes.
THREE TWELVE! OH MY!
Not only a Boston Qualifying time, but nearly four minutes faster than I needed.
I staggered forward, and a volunteer had clipped my timing chip in an instant. Another volunteer had a medal for me, and I was momentarily taken aback, since I was feeling so spent that I didn't really really recognize what was happening.
I managed to get a bottle of water, and found Dave O. (a K-Star) who had helped another runner finish. Dave helped me get my gloves off and helped adjust the foil wrap so I wouldn't get too cold. I managed to get myself over for a photo-op, then found Galen, who basically helped me manage the combination of needs: get warm, get some food, find some people, not collapse.
I was feeling a strange mix of elation from having run a fantastic race, and sickness from having put it all out there. I really felt depleted and sore, and had occasional spasms in my legs that threatened to lock up on me, but since I was walking around, that didn't happen.
Still, I knew I had done my very best, that I had eclipsed my goal by a long way, and that I had an excellent effort to be happy about.
I called my wife to share my joy. Galen had been updating her along the way.
We found many other K-Stars who had participated in the relays. I accepted congratulations.
• • •
Really, I don't know how else to express my pleasure of this accomplishment. So that leaves me with...
Graphs!
Variance from plan: The standard deviation of my splits was just 9 seconds, which means I ran a pretty steady pace all the way through.
This graphs shows how I exceeded or met my plan in all but a handful of miles, and not by much. It also shows how in that middle section, when I started to pull away from the 3:15 pace group, I had some really fast miles.
Heart rate:
This is pretty much what I would expect, with some initial stress early on as we did fast miles and got into a rhythm, and then heart rate drifting upwards towards the end. In fact, this confirms for me that I was running out of gas (and had run my best race).
Time relative to Plan:
This view shows when I gained ground on my goal: steadily from mile 2 until mile 15, and then slowly until the finish (when I gave a bit back).
• • •
This time, I can attribute my success to a one source:
• • •
So there you have it, sports fans! 32 minutes faster than my first marathon, 16 minutes faster than my second marathon, and Boston qualifying by four minutes in my third. I learned today that the official time was 3:11:57, a time I couldn't have dreamed of beforehand. I extend out my greatest thanks to Galen for all his support in me achieving this goal, and to my wife who gave me time and support to pursue it.
I'll be running Boston in 2009. Until then, we'll see!
When reflecting back on yesterday's race, I can just think "Oh, my!"
I put it all out there, and I am very happy about the result. I met every conceivable angle of my goals for the race.
Let me tell you about it. If you haven't read about my prior races, just know that I've run the San Francisco Marathon twice.
The Strategy
I didn't know a lot about the course for CIM compared to how well I know the
San Francisco Marathon course. The consequence of that is that I couldn't really establish an ideal mile-by-mile split. I could generally assume that if I allowed myself more time to cover the first 15 miles (generally hilly, not as downhill), I could go faster over the last 11 to cover it. So I planned to run at 7:30 pace until mile 15, then 7:20 pace the rest of the way, which would give me a 3:15 and change finish. I made a pace-band based upon total time (e.g. at mile 8 I should be at 1:00:00 or less).That said, I was pretty confident that I would run faster than 3:15, based largely on the 1:30:27 US Half, the 40:25 10k I ran recently, and all the MRP runs wherein I did not struggle to maintain a better than 7:27 average pace.
While the course profile wasn't so concerning for me, weather was. Fortunately, rain was not in the forecast, but it was supposed to be 41 degrees with 18 mph winds at the start time ("feels like 32"). I haven't run in weather that cold since 1989.
Race Morning
At 2:00 am, I was awakened (I think I was asleep) to the sound of a nearby bar letting out its inebriated and noisy patrons. Loud yelling, laughing, car horns, car stereos blasting for twenty minutes. A cold hotel room. I don't think I slept after that. I "awoke" in the not-so Quality Inn at 4:40 am, ate a light breakfast, dressed, added layers for pre-race warmth, and walked the two blocks to the host hotel where school buses were lined up (and runners were lined up, boarding the buses) for about two or three blocks. Before getting too cold, I was on board a bus, chatting with a woman named Jody who was local to Sacramento and seeking to break four hours (it seems that she did).
The Starting Area
We arrived at around 6:20. I was dressed warmly enough to sustain the temperature and not have to do much to stay warm. I wandered forward to seek a short(er) line for a Port-a-Potty and found myself in the same line as Denis, a K-Star whom I had run two, long, fast MRP runs with at around 7:20 pace. Denis and I hung out until race time, but I lost him when he returned to the lines for another bathroom trip and I headed to the starting line. I took off my sweatshirt, warm-up suit, mittens, knit hat, ski-socks and warm shoes, and got into my running shoes, cap and running gloves, sent my "sweats-bag" to the truck, got reasonably close to the 3:15 pace group and waited for the start, feeling not very cold. I was wearing one layer I would be able to discard along the way: a cheap ($6) tyvek jacket that I had perforated along the sleeves and up the front for tear-away removal. I had been thinking that I'd keep my warm layer on for at least five miles.
The Start
The Mayor of Folsom greeted us, saying he was never otherwise pleased to be sending people out of Folsom. He pledged to run CIM next year, being inspired by the group of us. The gun went off, and the runners ambled slowly towards the starting line and then began running as we hit the start. Thick with runners. Loads of them, all running a pretty decent pace from the start. I kept my eye on the 3:15 pace leader and gradually, slowly worked my way towards that pack, not having to do too much dodging around people.
Mile 1: 7:32
Shortly in, I noticed Adrian, another K-Star whom I had run with during training. We chatted a bit, especially noting two things:
- the pace leader had perfect, automatic form but was going a bit fast
- the weather was a bit warmer than expected
Mile 2: 7:10
At this point, Denis had caught up. Strangely, Denis and Adrian had yet to meet. Denis, Adrian. Adrian, Denis. Adrian pointed to the 3:10 pace group, very close ahead of our group, and said "tempting, isn't it?".
Another water station already!
Mile 3: 7:17
Shortly in, feeling sweat start to drip on my arms, I realized it was time to shed the sleeves. Two strong tugs and, poof: my time with scissors the night before paid off as my right sleeve was off. Two more strong tugs and the left sleeve was off. Now, where is the next water station so I can not litter so blatantly?
The First Mid-Section
Mile 4: 7:07
At this point, I started to notice the pack of runners thinning out, except around our pace leader. I noticed a nice scattering of fans at the side of the road, some in small clusters, some spread out.
Finally, a water station! I had pulled off the vest portion of my jacket and was holding the sleeves and vest in my crumpled hand for at least a mile. I dodged cleanly behind the water tables and dropped them in an open trash can, accelerated a touch and was back on the road.
Mile 5: 7:19
I heard the pace leader mention that he had run a little faster in the previous few miles because he deemed the next few to be the toughest part of the course, so we could take it easier. Oddly enough, it was miles 7 to 11 that Galen had told me were to be the toughest section. Hm.
Denis, Adrian and I found ourselves back and forth, behind or ahead of the pace group, for the next several miles.
Mile 6: 7:21
More road, unremarkable.
I fell in a couple of runners behind the pace leader and realized I wasn't feeling too hot. I sort of zoned out for a few minutes, loosely focusing on the runners ahead of me, and essentially coasting. I came out of it, and suddenly felt that there was a very strong reason to use a pace-group: you can let your mind do anything and all you have to do is keep up.
Mile 7: 7:21
At this point, I saw Galen (who had come up for race support). Galen had my camera and was taking pictures and cheering. He had instructed me to stay towards the right of the road. At some point, a couple of miles back, I had thought about this, but now this was forgotten and I was closer to the middle of the road, with many runners on my right. So, when I saw Galen, I headed in his direction. I heard him cheer for Denis, who was behind me a bit, so he caught me, but only accidentally.
(That's me, out of focus on the right, ahead of the 3:15 pace group/mob by a bit.)This worried me a bit: the next time I would see Galen he was to exchange water bottles for me, and I was making a dent in my first bottle. What if Galen waited too long, assuming I might be further behind the pace group?
Adrian joked with me about my strategy: "what happened to 7:30?" I told him it was "Price is Right" strategy, making Denis comment about Plinko, and then further jokes about which prize we would win. What I meant, of course, was that I was intending to do at least 7:30 but not go over.
Some net-uphill miles began.
Mile 8: 7:30
Adrian extolled the virtue of running apart from the pace group, as the road felt more open and there were fewer other runners to contend with in that cluster.
Mile 9: 7:36
At this point, Denis made the observation that this felt a little too easy. I agreed: at this point in the San Francisco Marathon, one would have ascended Lincoln and run across the Bridge, considerably steep hills. I just wasn't noticing the hills so much. A little uphill, but not steep enough to really slow me down much. And it felt like I had a lot in the tank.
Shortly thereafter, both Adrian and Denis commented that I had looked really strong during training.
Mile 10: 7:15
I was feeling pretty strong. We were ahead of the pace group a bit, and I used a downhill section and slipped away, a bit, from Adrian and Denis. I heard them behind me agree that I was looking really strong.
Mile 11: 7:02
Yep, I was feeling pretty strong. Now done with what Galen felt was a tough patch, I started to push a little. Here, we started to go through small towns, the advantage of which was a gathering place for hundreds of spectators, all of whom cheered and encouraged runners along.
The Main Push
I was feeling really good and fast. And I finished the contents of my water bottle. I started to consider if I'd have to re-fill it at an aid station if I missed Galen, and when I'd decide to do that, since we had agreed that he'd meet me at around 12 miles, but I wasn't sure where that would be, really.
Mile 12: 7:12
I was on the outside, again, when I saw Galen, and I came in to swap bottles. He complained about the bad pictures he was getting of me.
Mile 13: 7:07
As I passed the halfway mark, I saw an official clock, noted the off-set to my watch, and saw how I was almost three minutes ahead of my goal pace. I realized that my pace band was now largely worthless, since I didn't plan to lose those three minutes.
In fact, I was feeling like I might be able to keep this pace and really bust that 3:15 mark. These miles were melting away.
Mile 14: 7:14
Gearing up for the last hilly section. Past this next mile, and it was supposed to be all downhill or flat the rest of the way. The hill came, and while I noted that I was slowing a touch, I still put in a solid mile.
Mile 15: 7:41
Now, I actually felt like I needed to step it up. I heard my watch beep, and I looked down and saw that it was switching (as I had programmed it) to the last mode, wherein it would beep at me if I ran slower than 7:35 at any moment. It was doing that right away, since I was facing an uphill stretch. But the main idea was that if my pace started to drift slower, as it did in the final few miles at the San Francisco Marathon in July, I would at least know it.
The challenge, of course, was knowing how fast to go. I was looking at my heart rate now for guidance, and largely seeing numbers around 170. I was figuring that this was perfectly okay. So I kept pushing.
Mile 16: 7:21
At each mile marker, someone had a stopwatch and was calling out the mile-paces. I started to, fairly consistently, hear them say "7:21" when I reached each split. This would be six seconds faster per mile than I would need to qualify! Just ten miles to go! I started to notice runners ahead of me and began to pick them off: "okay, this guy in the blue shirt", work towards him, pass him, identify the next victim.
Mile 17: 7:11
I saw Galen again, and again, I was on the outside, but this time, I sort of posed for a picture.
Somewhere in this next mile, I started to notice that my legs were feeling a bit tight. This was the first time since those few minutes being dragged by the pace group that I wasn't feeling like it was easy going.
Mile 18: 7:28
Driving it Home
I was beginning to wonder if it was possible that I had paid too much out in the previous 8 miles or so. I convinced myself that I hadn't, since I was watching my heart rate and it was pretty low. Even during this mile, I wasn't seeing anything above 170. That said, I think it was somewhere around here that I resolved to put every ounce of effort into making this the best possible race I could. I had trained for this, I had nothing to save for, I was committing to do the best I could do.
I started to take note of little milestones, noting that I was going to be finished within an hour at this point.
Mile 19: 7:20
Keeping my watch alarm at bay, I was working to keep the pace a little faster, and keeping an eye on my heart rate. My legs seemed a little worse off, but not much. I started to feel an increase in the slight headache I've been nursing for half an hour. I noticed the corny fake brick wall construction around the 20 mile mark, signifying the notion that you'd break through the wall on your way to the finish.
Mile 20: 7:19
Only 6 miles to go, I told myself. Still pushing. Finally entering outer Sacramento, still putting in good miles.
Mile 21: 7:17
Still driving hard, picking off some runners, reaching outer Sacramento.
Mile 22: 7:19
Keeping the pace, the scenery finally changed: the streets of Sacramento were lined with trees, and fall leaves were blowing in the wind. Starting to feel it hurt, and starting to see the heart rate climb a touch.
Just 4 miles to go. I started to think of this in terms of the end of a 10k, knowing that I could do this, and hoping for a late push.
Mile 23: 7:19
Leaves falling. Me picking off runners. Heart rate up a couple of beats. Still pushing hard, wanting to make this the best race I can. Leave nothing behind.
Mile 24: 7:15
Just two miles to go, time for the final push. If I can finish this the same way I finish a 10k, I'll get some solid bonus time out of them. That said, I couldn't seem to push any harder. My breathing was getting harder, and my legs were not happy with me.
Mile 25: 7:22
This is how I looked towards the beginning of this mile. I may have seen Galen, I may not have. I just don't remember.
I felt like I was having a hard time, but also pushing hard, and a few runners had started to kick and passed me. Still I was passing other runners, and surprised that I was just a tad behind plan for the mile.
Mile 26: 7:31
It didn't surprise me that I wasn't keeping pace in that last mile, and I was dying to get this over with. Happily, I turned the corner to head down to Capitol Park, and could quickly see the last turn to the finish. Happily, the last turn left me with just enough time to push hard to the finish line, throw my hands in the air in victory, as I saw by the clock that I had finished in around 3 hours and 12 minutes.
THREE TWELVE! OH MY!
Not only a Boston Qualifying time, but nearly four minutes faster than I needed.
I staggered forward, and a volunteer had clipped my timing chip in an instant. Another volunteer had a medal for me, and I was momentarily taken aback, since I was feeling so spent that I didn't really really recognize what was happening.
I managed to get a bottle of water, and found Dave O. (a K-Star) who had helped another runner finish. Dave helped me get my gloves off and helped adjust the foil wrap so I wouldn't get too cold. I managed to get myself over for a photo-op, then found Galen, who basically helped me manage the combination of needs: get warm, get some food, find some people, not collapse.
I was feeling a strange mix of elation from having run a fantastic race, and sickness from having put it all out there. I really felt depleted and sore, and had occasional spasms in my legs that threatened to lock up on me, but since I was walking around, that didn't happen.
Still, I knew I had done my very best, that I had eclipsed my goal by a long way, and that I had an excellent effort to be happy about.
I called my wife to share my joy. Galen had been updating her along the way.
We found many other K-Stars who had participated in the relays. I accepted congratulations.
• • •
Really, I don't know how else to express my pleasure of this accomplishment. So that leaves me with...
Graphs!
Variance from plan: The standard deviation of my splits was just 9 seconds, which means I ran a pretty steady pace all the way through.
This graphs shows how I exceeded or met my plan in all but a handful of miles, and not by much. It also shows how in that middle section, when I started to pull away from the 3:15 pace group, I had some really fast miles.
Heart rate:
This is pretty much what I would expect, with some initial stress early on as we did fast miles and got into a rhythm, and then heart rate drifting upwards towards the end. In fact, this confirms for me that I was running out of gas (and had run my best race).
Time relative to Plan:
This view shows when I gained ground on my goal: steadily from mile 2 until mile 15, and then slowly until the finish (when I gave a bit back).
• • •
This time, I can attribute my success to a one source:
- Training. No doubt about it, I trained very well for this race. I was in great shape, faster and stronger, and this confirmed it.
• • •
So there you have it, sports fans! 32 minutes faster than my first marathon, 16 minutes faster than my second marathon, and Boston qualifying by four minutes in my third. I learned today that the official time was 3:11:57, a time I couldn't have dreamed of beforehand. I extend out my greatest thanks to Galen for all his support in me achieving this goal, and to my wife who gave me time and support to pursue it.
I'll be running Boston in 2009. Until then, we'll see!
posted by Brent at
10:24 PM
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