Columbus Marathon - my first. (Read 565 times)

First time marathon with a 3:46! Felt soo good for a while ... synopsis: A novice marathoner went out way too fast and paid the price. I hit the wall promptly around mile 19.75. It was so ugly. It all began with a harmless walk through the water station on Lane Avenue at around 20. Then it went downhill from there. Walking became more frequent ... walking uphills ... walking to settle my heartrate. I had moments where I thought I could snap out of it. I had dueling voices in my head. The voice of reason was saying I told you so - you should have gone out at 8:00 steady. The evil voice was saying those 7.30s felt soo good didnt they? mile 1-3. Straight east on Broad. Went out with the 3:30 pace group. Two guys were running from the Clif team. They were great; giving us tips about hydration, their strategy at water stops and calling out pace at the mile markers. It was really crowded but I didn't mind it. Since this was my first marathon it felt kind of thrilling. mile 4-6 Through Bexley. I made the (foolish) decision to get ahead of the pace crew. I was feeling good and wanted to feel some 7.30 miles. One thing led to another and I kept up this pace when I found another runner to pace with for a couple of miles. I had 2 thoughts going through my head. This felt easy -- and I should be slowing down because I am going to be paying the price later on. Took a GU at 5. mile 7-11 Heard a great band by a school on the east side, maybe on Town Street. There were about 12 musicians and they were playing a funky slow groove. It was really cool to hear this style of music as most of the stuff I hear is horrible rock stuff. It relaxed me for a moment and made me smile. Headed south to German Village and wrapped around Schiller Park. This is where I hooked on to an older male runner who was nailing a 7.30 pace. He was walking at water stations and then accelerating back in front of me to continue his pace. I thought if I could pound out 10 more miles with this guy I was set. Still thinking to myself I am stupid and I am going to blow up fierce around 20. Took a GU at 10. mile 12-16 Straight north along High Street. I thought I wouldn't like this segment of the race but as it turned out I enjoyed the predictability and the gentle slopes. I kept reminding myself these 'hills' were nothing compared to what I was training on in Seattle. Dumb. This fueled my 7.30 pace. Dumb. Watch malfunctioned here. I almost cried. I knew my race would suffer because every training run I made with a dead battery got pretty bad; scrambling to run by feel I lose my concentration and begin to struggle. Took a GU at 15. mile 17-20 Took the turn down Dodridge. Hey fun, nice little downhill and then suddenly the race sort of changed for me. Runners were really spread out. The space was wide open, no trees and the sun was shining hot. I let my pacer get a little bit ahead of me. My watch reading zeros really bothered me. If I could just make it under the bridge to 315 and up into the neighborhood streets maybe I could regain some composure. I was still ahead of the 3:30 guys so I thought I could maintain my naive plan of finishing strong. Made the turn onto Kenny and was feeling pretty raunchy. The uphill was continuing into the streets; first shady hill then trentwood. My breathing changed here. It got much faster and I could feel myself struggling to maintain a pace. I am sure I had dropped to 8.2x here. Mile 20 was crap. This is where my body changed. My strength was gone and I knew I had to rethink everything. I slowed way down in an attempt to catch my breath. 3:30 guys ran by me and I tried to connect with them. I hung with them and ran by my support crew -- Jen Kurt Elyn and Albert made it to North Star and Lane. It was fantastic to see and hear them. I had a moment of energy and continued to hang with the 3:30 group. All of a sudden I realized my bonked body could not maintain their pace. I chose to walk through the water station on Lane Avenue at 21m. All I could think about was "its a new race after 20". So true. I started the race with the 3:30 group then left them after 3 miles thinking I could pull off some 7:30s by myself. Ha Ha! Not that simple. Took another GU but realized a gallon of the stuff wouldn't bring me back. Mile 21-25 I felt bad seeing the 3:30 pace group go by with so much strength. For a moment I questioned my race. This was a definite rough patch. I forgot my training and everything else while I tried to deal with my heart rate. My legs felt good. No sign of cramping ... or strain of any kind. My knees felt good. After the aid station I picked it up and down Woody Hayes to the next water stop. Here I walked for quite some time, nearly all the way up Woodruff as I couldn't stomach much more than a jogging and walking (repeat). Mile 23 was more of the walk-jog routine. Coming to Neil Avenue now I was really bummed because I wanted to see/hear my support crew! I needed some family time. Got to Neil and thought this is going to take me over an hour to walk the next 2.2 miles. The 3:40 pace group passed me near 25. I saw Grandma, Rebecca and Zara at the corner of Neal and Buttles. It was really emotional and I told Rebecca I was experiencing some pain and that I needed her (or something) in a choppy voice. I think she heard the emotion in my quivering voice and saw it in my eyes so she ran with me for a short distance and that perked me up for a little bit. I said thanks and forged on. I needed that! Mile 26 and finish. I succumbed to walking again right around Goodale park. There was a tiny uphill that increased my heart rate just enough to make me feel uncomfortable. Back to the walk. Then the 3:40 pace group passed me like I was standing still. I was walking again but I tried to pick it up with them. Not happening. Ugh. Had to let the pace group go on. Cool dude helped me out around 25 saying "Jeffrey, I want to see you run by the time you get to the sherrif!" At first I didn't know what he was talking about and I replied "ok, yeah" and smiled at him. He said it again. I said "yup" and smiled. I looked ahead and saw a sherriff directing traffic at the next intersection. Ok got it. By this time a group of about 10 people were cheering for me -- all of them using my name. Once I started running they erupted with clapping. That was cool and helped motivate my bonked butt. Nice when strangers use your name to cheer you on. Later on I learned my sister had been shouting my name while that dude gave me some hardcore cowbell cheer. I was able to run the rest of the race in after that experience -- the downhill finish was a relief. Another runner ran by me and said out loud 'oh. thank. god. its. the. end.' I felt the same and ran as hard as I could with him. I had some health/other issues. You can read more of those details in my log entry here. MTA: I loved this race and would consider running it again! The course is great and the fans were really fantastic everywhere.

Wow Jeffrey! I went on to read your training detail of the race and all the issues you had going on pre-race! You did phenomenal!! My first M will be next April at the age of 41, like you in this race. If I do anywhere even 30 minutes within your finish time, I will be ecstatic! Congratulations on a very tough, tough, gutsy race and finish!

If you can do this with a too fast start, you will certainly run under 3.30 in the future. I'm impressed... bas

An excellent first marathon and a fantastic account of the day in general. Yoiu did well and should be not only proud, but looking forward to the next attempt. Hearty congratulations!

Almost lost this one amongst the other Columbus reports, sorry I'm late. Bonking because of improper pacing is my greatest fear, during a recent HM going out too fast drove me into the ground like a tent peg. Nice recovery and an excellent result!