TL;DR: I ran my debut marathon. I held my goal pace through 17 miles and was heading for a 3:45. Then I started giving back time and came in at 3:59:52. My "C" goal was sub 4, so I barely hit it. I felt like crap after I finished.

Long version:

I'm like most of you. Actually the people I'm not like are those who started out in good physical shape and/or at normal weight. I started out a 29 year old overweight guy who couldn't run for a few minutes. My first year of running consisted of a handful of 5ks, the fastest of which was 27x, so basically 9 minute miles. Yesterday I checked something off of my bucket list, and the reason I started running over 2.5 years ago.

After my first year of running I started training for the 10k but then realized when I was reguarily running 6 miles that I should go for the HM instead. My second year of running I ran one or two 10ks, a 15k, a 10 mile and 3 HMs. I wasn't very fast, clocking all of my HMs in over 2 hours.

I trained hard over the winter. There are no races from about December until Marchish, when the Saint Patrick's Day races begin. My plan over the winter was basically work on half marathon type training, but at a higher intensity. I was hitting the intensity, just not really the distance. I wasn't doing a LR on many weekends, so my average mileage was only in the high 20s or low 30s.

In February I started training for 3 HMs that I would run in April, May and June. I actually started putting in something resembling a LR and had a few 40 mile weeks, and even a 50 mile week. I ran the first 2 in 1:53 and 1:54. I wasn't too crazy about that, because the word is if you double your HM time and add 20 minutes, that will give you a ballpark of where you can finish a FM. So I wanted sub 1:50. Well, the Gary Bjorklund HM (HM that goes with Grandma's) gave me a 1:49:05. Before that race I wasn't sure of what the rest of the year would look like. After that race I had only 1 thing on my mind: My debut marathon.

I had a couple of weeks off after that race to recoup a bit. I still ran about 30 mpw. I landed on a Marathon training plan, grabbed a calendar and realized I only had like 15 weeks. It wasn't terrible because the first 4 or so weeks were just base building in the mileage that I was already running. So I started in week 4.

Training went fine. I was actually running pretty well. No injuries and my time trails were pretty good. First was a self-timed 5k, at 22:52. Not too shabby. Then an actual 10k race, 44:59. Awesome! Then I looked at my training calendar and a real calendar: I had miscounted. I don't know exactly how it happened, but with a month to go I had 5 weeks of training to do. So I had to pick one week to toss. I ended up cutting the week before the final week, and then I chopped the distance of my last LR from 15 miles to 10 miles. The previous "last" one called for an 8 mile LR, so it was almost half way.

I did my taper: the week prior was 47 miles then the Monday - Friday leading up to the race was just 16 miles. My legs felt great. But you know wasn't great? The weather. Race time weather was 46, windy and rain.

My plan was to bring a small garbage bag with and just wear it whenever I needed. I could fit it in my pocket and it would work out. I've actually raced in them a couple of times, and besides being really noisy they work out. I also thought I'd employ a new tactic: Using throw-away clothing. I knew the day would start out cold and it take me a couple miles to get comfortable. So I brought with a cotton shirt that I'd ditch at an aid station. They actually told us that anything thrown there would get returned to the finish line.

Starting time! I got there early, did packet pickup, hand an odd encounter with a Canadian, and hit the bathroom. I knew there'd be rain so I slathered my feet in vaseline and got my race wear on. To the starting line, listen to the national anthem and the Canadian national anthem (I bet that doesn't happen at many races).

We're off! Yeah, everyone was doing sub 8 pace to begin with but then I settled in to an 8:30 pace. Btw my goal pace was 8:35. So I just let it work itself out until I was sitting at 8:35 - 8:40ish. I wanted to keep it at or just under GMP through the half way point. I met a guy who was running my exact pace so I chatted with him a bit and hung with him until mile 10 or so when he needed to stop and take a leak. He was saying he wouldn't mind hanging with me until Mile 20 or so. When I saw him at an out and back I commented "See you at Mile 20!" Little did I know I would actually see him earlier than that.

As I mentioned earlier the weather wasn't particularly nice. We had a South wind of 20 mph. We also had precip. ranging from a fine light mist to rain. With the wind behind me from miles 8 to 17 I kept it at or just below GMP. I was running good, people were telling me I looked like I was running effortlessly. I felt the same way. It was going great! I did employ the use of gels. I took them starting at mile 5, and every 4 miles after that. I took a total of 5.

My time at the half way point was 1:52:22. I was on pace to go 3:45! After 17 my pace started faultering a bit. At 18 I hit a 9:50, about a minute off. I did start walking up hills and jogging through the aid stations. When I hit Mile 20 I was going directly in to the wind. The rain was really going now, I was glad I used vaseline on my feet. I had taken off my cotton shirt at mile 8 or 9 because the precip. had lightened up and I was running with the wind. I put my cotton shirt back on because I thought it'd be warmer with that and my little garbage bag on then just the garbage bag alone. It started to suck.

Truth be told is they didn't have a whole lot of aid stations on the back half. I was actually looking for a porta-pottie so I could take a leak but I didn't see one until Mile 24.

When I did hit Mile 24 I knew I was way off the pace I had set on the front half of the course.  Yeah, I gave back 7 minutes and 30 seconds. I checked my Garmin at the Mile 25 marker, and I had 12 minutes almost exactly to go until the 4 hour mark, and I had 1.2 miles to go. I needed 10 minute miles to make a 4 hour marathon.

I got in and out of the last aid station and just briefly walked so I could drink. Then I kept moving. I actually met another runner in the last mile, and passed her. Then I saw the finish line area and I start running! I saw the clock, and it said 3:59:20 (or so I thought)! My mom was there and she surprisingly said "ANDREW!" I threw my arms up in the air as I crossed the finish line! I later learned that the clock probably said 3:59:50. My official time was 3:59:52! Wow, talk about close.

I did what everyone does, and forgot to turn off my Garmin. I walked a bit, and found my step-dad. I kept walking, but noticed my calves were cramping - a lot. I've run 6 HMs to date, and normally I'm a little crappy but this was pretty bad. This was my debut so I didn't really know how to feel. I grabbed a banana and some water and sat down in side next to the door.

I was sitting there rubbing my calves and I started to shiver a bit. Then I started to shiver a bit more. Crap, I have a  totally soaked cotton shirt on. It's 46 degrees outside and whenever someone opens the door I'm getting blasted by 20 mph winds. I took off the shirt and my mom grabbed a few coats for me.

I started feeling light-headed. This was a first for me. My mom found a medic and he had me eat a couple of bags of chips and eat a few orange slices. 15 minutes and many concerned looks later and I was feeling pretty well. My DW and DD were there too, and fortunately they drove me back to my in-laws where we were staying.

Today I'm feeling sore. My knees are sore, and I don't know if that's normal. My feet are sore, but I guess that would be. I'm achy.

Really I think the shivering was pre-hypothermia brought on by me keeping on my cotton t-shirt after I was done running. Hopefully I don't repeat that again. I need to have a good change of clothes ready.

Salt and sugar got me fixed up after the run. I'll defintely go back to those after my next race, but my question is - is there anything I can do during the race? I'm wondering if that impacted my times. I was running pretty good through 20 miles but then I basically started tacking on 1 - 2 miles per mile on from there on out. I did take 5 gels (Clif) which contained 4% my DV per.

Pictures to come.

Thanks for reading. I am a bucket-lister, but I wanted to do it right. I do plan on keeping on running, after all I've been doing it almost 3 years.

Nice debut, congrats! Mine is in Dec. I can't answer your questions at the end, but I wonder if taking something more than GU would help. I'm trying to eat protein bars on my LR's, and have even tried peanut butter-n-crackers. Better have a bunch of water if you try the crackers, ha.

Congratulations!  I am happy that you got through your first with a finish and a sub-4 even!  I think the rest of it just means that you're human and you were running your first marathon.  That's still a lot of stress on the body, and you're still fairly new to running, at least as far as the full is concerned.

A sub-4, even if not your A goal, is a great debut marathon for a new runner.    I can't speak directly to training but in general what I've found is that going through the experience gives you a lot of knowledge for the next time to try to tackle something - what to tweak, what training, etc.   Sometimes you just have to do it once.    I have no doubt you have 3:45 in you. 

A goals are not meant to be hit often. Hitting your C goal on your debut marathon is very honorable. Congratulations, Andrew! That's a very good first marathon finish time, not achieved by many runners. Be proud.

Great job, even though you didn't hit your A goal.  Whether it was achievable, only you can tell, but sub-4 is still a great time!  Congrats!

Way to stick it out, and work your butt off for that C goal.  Like everyone else, I think a sub-4 debut is great.  I recently had a friend who's gotten his half down to the low 1:30's, and his debut turned into a 4:07 struggle.  So, you didn't do too shabby.

Congrats and great debut. I had ecstatic and satisfactory time goals for each marathon I ran. When I hit either I was real happy. I think that you should congratulate yourself.