My Napa Valley Marathon Race Report (Read 517 times)

I have been a member of this site for about 6 months and finally have a marathon race report to write. Napa Valley was my first marathon, and the culmination of a year of me getting back in shape and bringing my run endurance up from about a mile. Most participants, including me, went to the local high school in the town of Napa to pick up a school bus to the starting line. The high school would later serve as the finish area. It was so damn cold in the morning, and very windy - but the wind appeared to be going in the direction of the race route so there was hope of having a nice tailwind the whole race. First buses left at 5:00 AM to the town of Calistoga. By about 6AM, it seemed most were huddled close to the starting line. The wind was so strong that they had two men holding down the support poles for the startling line banner. Race started at around 7am, and caught a bunch of people by surprise. From where I was standing, you couldn't hear any starting gun. Anyways, we were off. First mile was really slow as it was rather crowded. I completed the first mile in 10m 30s, well off my goal of maintaining a 9m pace. In the second mile, there was a moment of awkwardness. As I approached a racer in a wheelchair, who had his arms working very hard to maintain pace - a lady behind me says to him, "Nice job, by the end of the race your arms will be paralyzed." Chalk that up as a thing not to say. Anyways, I was busy trying to get back to a 9m pace and by mile 5, I crossed it at exactly 45m. The sun was out on a nice clear day, and the wind was at our backs pushing us past all the vineyards. The race route is a slow steady downhill the whole way, so it was pretty much perfect conditions. I settled into a good pace and crossed mile 10 at 1h 30m, and feeling great. I got some water at around the half way mark and picked up some gu. As an aside - I have had one cup of coffee in my life, and as I ran away from the water stop I realized that I had a "Expresso Love" gu packet in my hand. Arrrrg. Should have read the label. So, I guess my first expresso experience will be in the form of gu. After getting refueled, I went back to maintaining pace and felt real strong from mile 15 to mile 20, crossing mile 20 at exactly 3 hours. I was happy to have an outside shot at a sub 4h. After mile 20, I started slowing up a bit and really starting to hurt. My longest practice run was 21.2 miles and was starting to break down. I crossed mile 23 at around 3h 30m, and figured still had a shot at sub 4h, but it just wasn't to be. I was now approaching 10 minute miles, and when I hit mile 25 I started walking a bit. I figured at this point, if they had a computer terminal where I could withdraw from my next marathon in June, I would be all over it. This was brutal. I mustered up all I could to get running again and ran the last mile, finishing in a watch time of 4h 6m 11s (there was no chip time). Official time of 4h 7m 1s. So even though I missed out on 4 hours, when I finished - I just didn't care. I really was just happy to finish.

Congratulations, Joe! That's a formidible time for a first marathon. I loved the part about finding a computer to withdraw from your next marathon. Just goes to show us virgins what we're facing. Well done!

Congratulations on your marathon debut! You ran a great time, and probably learned a lesson or two for your next one ... that's a win-win I trained for Napa but had to scratch two weeks ago due to an injury. I went anyway to crew for my training partner (who was shooting for a 3:30). We drove my TP and another friend to Calistoga so they could get a few extra minutes of sleep and warmth in the car. When I felt that strong tailwind I had a real pang of sorrow that I wouldn't be running to take advantage of it My training partner missed 3:30 (still ran 3:36ish for an 8 minute PR!) and our other friend ran a great race finishing in 2:53ish. What a great day. Rest now and recover, then train well for your June race .... good luck! hup

Great first marathon and a nice report as well. That line to the wheelchair participant was just awful. Truly. Sounds like you ran a very smart race and paced it very well.

Great job and report, I ended up finishing between you two (4:07:27) and I'm planning on making San Francisco my second Marathon. Congrats all, awesome race that I recommend to anyone