Baystate Marathon Race Report (Read 743 times)

Ah, the marathon... even on a good day it's not easy. I picked up a person from my running club just before 7:00 and we drove up together. It was pretty cold out there so I actually hung out in the parking lot stairway for a while to stay warm before the race. And given the cold I actually took a hat (dumped it at mile 2) and a long sleeve shirt over my wicking t-shirt (dumped at mile 4) and gloves (took off but didnt dump - shoved in my pocket around mile 12. After that it was pretty nice running weather. miles 3-8 and 13-18 were a little hilly, nothing major mostly long steady inclines. The tougher side of the river for me was miles 9-12 and 19-25 which to me seemed pretty windy (and I hate running in the wind). I started off pretty easy staying with the crowd - no bobbing and weaving. I was shooting for a 3:30 but wanted the first two miles to ease into my pace and relax a bit as my nerves have been off the chart the last few days. 1 0:08:25 2 0:08:34 Mile 3 the half marathoners broke off so there was a little more room so I was able to get up to my planned 8:00ish pace for a while 3 0:08:04 4 0:07:56 5 0:07:52 6 0:08:02 7 0:08:04 Mile 8 was a DISASTER. I knew there was a water stop coming up and it was my planned one to take a GU and drink water but I spaced out and next thing I knew I was there. I quickly got over and pulled out a GU, wolfed it down and walked while I drank a cup of water. I started running again and about 75 feet down the street I realized that when I pulled out my GU it had pulled out my car key so I had to turn around and go back for it. Luckily I found it pretty quick but then I was all discombobulated. 8 0:09:39 After that, my heart rate was up and running my 8:00ish pace just felt harder. I should have slowed myself down for a mile or two and tried to calm down but I didnt. I jumped back into pace but I knew it wasnt going well any more. Around mile 11 I was feeling a bit drained mentally but was expecting my family to be at the half-way point so I just kept telling myself to get to there and see them because I knew it would pick me up, but they werent there which kind of got me down for a mile or so. 9 0:08:09 10 0:08:07 11 0:08:25 12 0:08:12 13 0:08:11 14 0:08:11 15 0:08:30 16 0:08:12 17 0:08:24 Stopped for water during miles 11 and 15 and 17 (note the increase in time as I walk for 15-20 seconds to rest and drink water without spilling it all over me). I felt I was needing it more so I hit an extra water station. But by this time I was having trouble stomaching the GU and really only getting down about half a packet each time I took one. I started to lose pace after mile 17 - not a ton, but enough that it was throwing me off mentally. 18 0:08:17 19 0:08:21 20 0:08:28 21 0:08:35 22 0:08:35 Mile 23 the WALL came in the form of calf cramps. Both calves started seizing up and I started having to stop to stretch them every water stop and every mile marker. I dont think I would even call it a wall because I could get going easily enough after I stretched and at about an 8:20-8:30 pace but it wasted a lot of time stretching and trying to take in a little more water each stop. 23 0:09:50 24 0:09:53 25 0:09:08 26.2 0:10:42 3:42:46 So my last 4 miles were really tough - a lot of people I passed earlier passed me. I passed my family at the end and that gave me a little boost to at least get me to speed up for the last half mile to the finish. I didnt feel horrible, but didnt feel as good about it as I hoped I would. I am still happy with my time (about a 48 minute PR) and overall happy with my performance but I cant figure out why I got the cramps in my calves which bothers me a bit. Oh, and on another related topic I hit 1600 miles for the year around mile 15 of the marathon today. I did get to meet SeeEricarun after the race (she crushed me) I wish I had found her before the race and had someone to run with. And one more thing - who's bright idea was it to have all these people that just ran 26.2 miles have to walk up the bleacher stairs and back down to get out of the stadium???? Jeff

Great Work. Sorry about loosing the key, I couldn't imagine having to run back in a marathon. Think your next marathon will be another PR, just let your family hold your key next time. Enjoy your recovery.

Didn't stick to my plan - hence the 4:00 I wanted to hit turned out to be 4:12. Classic - went out too fast error - I know better. I didn't want to stare at my Garmin every 5 minutes so I told myself - "just do a comfy 3 mile warm-up pace". I did "feel" like it was a warm-up pace ... I guess the crowd, nerves, & the caffeine from my morning coffee made the accuracy of my perception poor. Really, I could have salvaged myself if I got back on track at that point. Well, then I had to pee - weird ... I didn't drink more than usual, I had already gone, & I never usually have to go during my marathons. Go by a port-o-john - few people in line - girl up next is knocking on the door (person inside either having needs more time or fell in)... don't want to waist that much time waiting. Tried to ignore it & wait for the next one - all I kept noticing was all the men who were zipping into the bush & getting the relief I wanted. Damn, I wanted that option. I am usually able to focus better than this. Anyway, port-o-john on the corner at the gas station - no line - yippee ... I go. Relief. Now, MOVE IT, I'm thinking. Again, I should have just eased back into an appropriate pace, but somewhat like the key incident - your brain makes you feel (I love this word) DISCOMBOBULATED! That feeling when you were a kid & your chain falls off your bike but your friends keep going - "WAIT UP". However, nobody is going to "wait up" now - I have to "catch up" or at least my mind is making me feel that way. So, I do eventually feel like I'm "caught up" & try to settle into my pace. I felt OK from here to about mile 22 leg & lung wise but my GI system wanted to play hardball. Any fluid I tried, even in small amounts, was swishing - not absorbing at all - I had to let it settle because the nausea was right behind it ... but by the time I felt like it was all set - next water stop - try again SAME THING FOR 2 or 3 miles. I never dealt with that before. It affected my pace & my focus. I wanted to stay on pace but the nausea would increase when I tried & I was worried I would start vomiting & then be on the track to dehydration so I finished by just getting there as best as I could. Mile 22 to the finish is usually a challenge for anyone - it was hard but I knew I was closer & closer & I believed my system would settle right down once I stopped running. WRONG - I had 2 chips & 2 sips of water ... got super nausea - waited a while tried different sips of things, a bite of this or that, made it worse. It's 7:30 pm & only in the last hour was I able to get out of bed - little sips are OK, had a couple pieces of candy - OK, now I am thinking of soup. Sooooooooooo, of course I'll be fine but you just never know what part of your body may give you trouble! Could be the muscles, the mind, or any # of other things. Hey, we give it our best shot ... sometimes we're red hot and other times we're happy to make it the 26.2 in one piece! Great job to whoever else was there - would love to hear your experiences! ONE BIG PLUS TODAY - NO BLISTERS!!!

And one of my running club members did the half and just called and reminded me of something - did anyone else notice that the road sloped ridiculously to the right around mile 23 or so. It was so much so that I actually was forcing myself to the left just to stay straight. And apparently some of the HM peeps that had to run that section twice were having ITB issues and they think this was the cause.

Great report! Congrats on the amazing PR!

Man, I'm wiped!!!! I might have to take tomorrow off from work to nap.

Oh hell yeah, I have lots of time off coming to me so I took Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off. Nice job Jeff, I heard your name called but I wasn't thinking all that well at that point. I wasn't sure whether they were announcing the finish line or entry into the park so I didn't know where to look.

The way I remember it, miles 22-25 were not only sloped extremely to the right, but they were all uphill (I was expecting a straight downhill slope after about mile 24), and they were against some ridiculous wind resistance. I was on pace for about a 3:29 before hitting the wind, then I went from about a 7:57 pace to closer to high eights.

I don't recall the cant of the road, but I don't recall all that much from that point of the race. I was just focused on keeping my feet moving. As far as the stiff breeze on the Parkway, I was definitely thinking "I don't need this at this point in the race". Overall though, I don't think we could have asked for much better weather conditions.

A 48 minute PR is good stuff. Congratulations. Recover well.

Take a well deserved break Jeff. Great job!