Goal of Sub-3 Hour Marathon (Read 15845 times)

WOOHOO!!

 

2:56:33 Baton Rouge Beach Marathon this morning. Negative splits 1:28:55 / 1:27:38

 

Thanks to all you guys that offered your experience and advice that helped me reach this goal.

I bet that was fun!

Congrats!

 Jim

I hear-tell from some of my colleagues who ran CIM that there was a tough wind on the backside of the course. I think you choosing a 5K was wise. The first 10K was seemed very fast (or the marker was misplaced) and times slowed dramatically after that.

Last Runner

ChakaKahn is being modest. Read his race report - he was second overall! Nice one dude.

I sneaked a peak at the CIM results and unless I'm getting George's name wrong he did awesome but I'll leave him to narrate his tale.

I ran in the inaugural Santa Barbara Marathon and had an even more disastrous run than my first marathon - 3:26. I drank more this time - a full cup at miles 4, 8 and 12 but it wasn't leaving my stomach and I cramped so bad at mile 16 I stopped dead because I couldn't breath. Literally. Quite alarming. Oh, and even more copious vomiting at the finish - that fluid wasn't going anywhere (except out the way it came in).  So I'm out of the marathon game until such time as  I can either jog a 3hr marathon (unlikely) or find some secret trick to keeping fluids down and absorbing them. My first half was fine 1:32, but the second half, 1:54, was slower than my Pier to Peak time - and that has 4,000 ft of ascent!!

I didn't see Ryan out there but looking at some picture from the early part of the race (mile 4?) I'm pretty sure he was just ahead of me. Again, results are up but I'll leave Ryan to tell his story.  It was COLD at the start. I'm in the fashionable ensemble of black knitted hat (courtesy of my wife), old gray sock arm warmers (courtesy of my wife) and 49c Home Depot gardening gloves. Mmmm snazzy and cheap.

We're ahead of the 3hr pacer here because they went out fast and then jammed on the brakes really hard around the 3 mile mark. I think the pacer did come in under 3 though.

The course was a) more beautiful than expected - running down the center of the road gives you some much better vistas than when you are crammed on the pavement trying to avoid dogs, kids, bikes, strollers and, at dusk, skunks but b) tougher than expected. The rolling hills of the first half left me unprepared to take advantage of the downhills on the second. The uphills in the last 6 miles of the race, a long stretch at miles 20-22 and a short 170' hill near mile 24, were tough.

I'll post a fuller race report later because I think this is going to become a great marathon. It was just beautiful this morning and you could tell that the race directors were runners because of some of the little touches.

Okay, one more picture - the winner, Carlos Handler (2:24),  coming down Las Positas towards the ocean at mile 23.

John

Jim, sorry you couldn't make it to CIM. I was looking forward to finally meeting you. But congrats on the great 5k...

 

 

I just got back from CIM. Discovered I can't post to RA from my iPhone. (One more gripe against the new forum software.) I ran just as planned -- 7:20s first half, 7:10s second half, for 3:09:4x.

Bob,

Have you ever run the Sawyer Camp Trail? http://www.bahiker.com/southbayhikes/sawyercamp.html

 It's pretty convenient to Menlo Pk. Maybe we could meet for a run there some time. I'm racing the next 2 weekends but those should be last 2 for December. I'm also off on Wednesdays which is actually the most convenient for me.

Drop me a PM if you are interested.

Nice job this morning at CIM. After hearing about those cold winds I'm not so disappointed now that I didn't make it.

Hey John,

If you can ever solve the problem with that finicky stomach of yours you might want to give the marathon another try. If not I’m sure you’ll continue to get plenty of enjoyment and self satisfaction from this great sport just like you have been these past few years. Fwiw last month marked 31 years of running for me since my first race in 1978. In 22 of those years I didn’t run a marathon yet I’m still as excited about racing as I ever was—maybe more so.

Have a good recovery; then get ready to bring on 2010. As usual another great report and pics.

John,

I feel your pain. A very tough and gutsy run nonetheless. Drop me a an e-mail dwane_jackson@hotmail.com with the exact details of the problem - type of pain, when it starts etc and as I study every drug known to mankind for my anaesthetic primary I will try to think of a pharmoacological intervention for you - possibly a prokinetic like metoclopramide or erythromycin. Anyway will see what we can think of. Agree with Jim though - I would be pretty happy with any of your results this year.

Chaka Kahn - second overall, a sub 3 hour! Now that is a weekend to be proud of. An absolutely fantastic result. Congratulations. I can only see your times tumbling in 2010. Especially if you keep running those impressive negative splits

Geo - nice run in tough conditions. Methinks only a little while to go till you crack that magic 3 hour barrier. Good luck with the next cycle of training.

BHearn - yep, one day I hope to crack out those consistent marathon's with seemingly effortless ease, apart from the years of training. Mate you are a machine. Congratulations

Funny the guy in the cargo shorts only finished 40 seconds behind you

I am now retiring from this sport.