Louisiana Marathon - 1/20/19

The day dawned cold & clear and breezy. Mid 30s, but a wind-chill not quite as bad as the 19F forecast as the winds were lighter than the 20mph forecast. I had set my alarm for 2am and woken before it went off, had breakfast and driven 130 miles to the race in Baton Rouge. I always allow additional time for travel on the I-10 but this day was uneventful and I arrived early enough to park just 2 blocks from the start/finish line. Met my DD to get my race bib that she had picked up at the Expo the day before - she had intended running the 5K that day but it was cancelled due to thunderstorms and would be running the HM today.

Dressed in shorts and a T-shirt with a long sleeve shirt over, gloves, a beanie and topped with an ugly grey sweater that I'd picked up for a dollar at the charity shop and would donate at the start.

Based on my training, my aim was to try and run 4:15-4:20. I usually run with my MapMyRun announcing my mile splits, but decided to silence it for the race. I have come to the conclusion that the app gives an additional 2% on the distance as I don't believe I'm that bad at running the tangents, but that results in it showing my pace 10-12 seconds faster than reality. Perhaps I had not allowed for this in setting my goal.

There were nearly 900 running the Full and around 3000 for the Half. There were no corrals as such - they merely placed the various pacers and left you to find your own place at the start. I found the 4:15 pacer and determined to stay close for at least the first couple of miles. The race started promptly at 7am just as the sun rose.

The first mile passed between high rise office buildings and they created wind tunnels in places and then at mile 1 we go over a railway overpass that is the biggest 'hill' on the course and the cross winds nearly tear off my race bib. We then head towards the LSU Campus. At the first water stop I pause to secure my bib and then slowly make my way back to the 4:15 pace group, who I catch and overtake at mile 4. The next mile is around the outside of the LSU Death Valley Stadium - very impressive! As I pass the mile 5 marker, I check my app for the first time - it shows 5.11 miles (which I expected) and 46:40 (which I didn't expect). If the 4:15 pacer was on schedule, then 5 miles should have been 48:40 and I am definitely not 2 minutes ahead of him.

The next 5 miles are around the lakes on the LSU campus, very pretty if breezy in places. I pass a lady wearing a 50 states hoodie and ask her how many states she has done - this is #39. Lots of spectators with signs such as "Geaux runners!" but my favorite was the one that said "Run faster, the game starts at 2pm". I cross the 10K mat at 58:24 and hit 10 miles at 1:33:35 which has me on pace for around 4:06.

We leave the campus and after splitting from the HM folks we head out into a residential area of oak-lined streets. The roots from the trees have broken the pavement and I'm thinking I should have worn my trail shoes as the surface is rougher (though far less muddy) than the trail race I ran 2 weeks ago. At about mile 12 I start feeling some discomfort in my calves and take a couple of short walk breaks, but still cross the HM checkpoint at 2:05:01 - my fastest half since December 2017.

After that the walk breaks started to become more frequent. The 4:15 pacer passed me at mile 15 and I couldn't respond. By about mile 19 lots of other runners and the 4:30 pacer had passed me and I wondered whether it was worth finishing. Decided that I would finish, but not kill myself doing so. The 4:40 pacer passed, running alone. Back over the railway bridge at mile 25, which didn't seem too bad and then a very long seeming mile to the finish.

Final time 4:50:32 which falls between my previous two marathons. Overall 602/891 and 14/21 in the M60-64AG.

Been trying to figure out where I went wrong and it may be that overambitious, over confident and over tired covers most of it.

Skipped the Finish Festival to drive home to catch most of the NFC championship game and see the Saints lose to the team in the black & white stripes. At least I wasn't the only one to have a bad day.

I didn't run my trail run 

We had record setting rain and Saturday was the worst of it. And since this particular trail (Rogue River Trail) was in the general burn scar area from all our wildfires this past summer, I really didn't want to risk trail wash-out areas.

My running partner did decide last minute to go for it and she went to the race and shared some pics:

this is normally a pretty shallow creek crossing:

and here's the parking lot where folks were parked on Saturday.  By Sunday morning it was completely submerged. That tiny bit of a roof you can see there is the top of the bathroom.