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5/19/2013

8:00 AM

26.2 mi

3:09:28

7:14 mi

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Notes

Race report:

Pre-race:

Saturday I ate a lot to have the final carb loading.

1. I woke up at 4:30am and felt hungry, so I had two pieces of whole grain toasts with peanut butter and orange juice.

2. Then got up at 10:00am, had the same.

3. Lunch 2:00pm I had a big bowl of rice with some stir fried beef & vegetable. I was stuffed.

4. Dinner I had pasta with chicken and two pieces of garlic bread.

5. At 9:00pm I ran 2.5 miles on treadmill slowly, then had another two pieces of toast like my breakfast and some strawberry.

Also I drank a lot.

Saturday night, I didn't really sleep well. I kept dreaming that I was very late and couldn't race.

Sunday:

1. I woke up at 4:30am and had the same breakfast as Saturday.

2. I got up at 6:00am and had one piece and a half toast (couldn't finish two)

That was enough carb I thought.

I got to the race venue at 7:50am. The race started at 8:00. Luckily only a small group of people (about 350) ran FM. I needed to pee. I found a line of port-a-potty and looked for a vacancy. I was in a rush, I didn't see the queue. A lady said: excuse me, here is the queue. Oh my! about 50 people waiting there. No way I could make it. I had to hold it.

Then I discovered one pin was missing. Luckily I got one from somebody.

We had a moment of silence for the victims in the Boston bomb. Then here we go.

There was only 3 pacer: 3:30, 3:45 and 4:00. So I had to run ahead of the 3:30. About 2km, I asked a guy beside me about his goal time. He said under 3:10. I said: great, I will follow you. I followed him for about 3km. He was so fast. I couldn't keep up with him. I checked my watch, I am a minute ahead of my target. I decided not to follow him. About 1km later I asked a guy behind me. He said he was targeting for 3:05. That was great. I could follow him.

Now I really need port-a-potty. Finally at 8km I saw a couple and got a chance to release myself. When I came out the guy was about 200 meters away. I had to just keep my comfortable pace.

10km, I checked my watch, I was about 1:30 ahead of my target. I felt I need some GU. A volunteer said the water station was just ahead. So I opened one GU and sucked it in. After about 1 minute, I could feel the energy. The water stations are about 3-4km apart, so I alternated Gatorade and GU & water. I could feel energy from Gatorade quicker than GU. The Gastorade and GU are a huge help. They certainly kept boosting me to keep my pace.

At 13km, I caught up the 3:05 guy. I followed him until 15.5km. Then there came a big hill. Up the hill, he slowed down quite a bit. I felt relatively strong after the Gatorade just before that, so I ran ahead of him. Since then I didn't see him again.

I felt strong all the way up to the half. When reaching the half, my time was 1:33. I was 2 minutes ahead of schedule. From 13km to 23km, I was running alone. Then I felt my pace dropped a little bit. A guy passed me. It was great. I had someone to follow and kept my pace. I followed him until 33km. It was a bit difficult but I remembered Pfitz's book saying from the half to 20 miles, you have to concentrate in order to keep your pace. So I used that tip. About 33km, he seemed to drop his pace a little bit, so I passed him. I no longer saw him again.

The second half until this point, it wasn't as easy as the first half, but I still felt strong enough. I was 3 minutes ahead of my target. After that, It just seemed full of hills. I was rather tired. I could feel my calves' soreness every step ahead. There was no one to follow, my pace was dropping especially the hills. I gathered all energy I could get, you guys in RA and friends, etc. I kept talking to myself: I am powerful; I am strong; I want the BQ, etc. I also remembered the Pfitz's book saying: after 20 miles, you need to dig deep. So I needed to dig deep then.

5km to go, 4, 3... I just kept one step to the other and tried to push a little bit. I knew and could feel my pace dropping.

Oh my, the last 2km was just so long. It seemed no ending. I used all my 5 GUs at this point. The last one was 1km before. I felt I really needed more energy. 1km to go. I remember people saying at this point, you don't need water. But I just felt water might help me to finish it. So I grabbed a cup of Gatorade and had the last sip. It didn't seem to help at all. Oh great, it is a downhill. I sped up a little bit. Last 400 meters now. Oh my, another uphill. It was a gentle one, but it didn't really help. Luckily the crowd was loud and I checked my watch. I think I could make it. I gathered all my energy I could find and tried to speed up a little bit. Coming the 100 meters, I sprinted. Reaching the finish line, I smiled and lifted my two hands. I saw the time 3:09:... I did it!

The split was: 1:33, 1:36.

Finally, I want to thank all those who have given me tips and suggestions, even I didn't take all. :-) Certainly let me think and adjusted my training. Your open training logs also tremendously helped. THANK YOU!

Comments

GinnyinPA

Congratulations. You ran really well.

mstüartm

Congratulations, a great run!

gitgantraining

David, congratulations, I am impressed and jealous! But you put in a strong training effort and ran a phenomenal race.

DavidLiu

Thanks guys. It was 3 minutes positive split. I thought I might not pace well. However, I think it was more hilly on the second half than the first. I finished in the 17th place. Including myself, 14 people positive split. 3 were almost 9 minutes positive.

The last long run (22miles) was a real confidence boost for me. I thought if I could hold 8 miles @7:15, I might be able to do it. On that run, I knew I was well dehydrated. Based on theory, dehydration would affect 3% speed. So I tried.

Steve Schumph

Congratulations!!! Been following your progress towards your first marathon. I am guessing you ran the Blue Nose... having run it myself I can tell you that you did not take the easy way out for your first Full... that course is tough and it was windy as well on Sunday... great effort.

DavidLiu

yes, Blue nose. This year they swapped the two halves. Cross the bridge to Dartmouth first and then back to Halifax for the second half. I knew it was a bit hilly, so during my training, I prepared for it and ran a lot of hilly routes. That really paid off.