Notes
Not wanting to run another marathon in 2013 I signed up for the NJ Trail Series “One Day” race looking to long run a 50K. That was the plan until late September when I ran 2:04 at a challenging 30K and realized I was onto some decent fitness. This got me thinking about switching to the marathon and taking another shot at sub 3. My first attempt was in 2011 and resulted in 3:03. I haven’t bettered that since. Then after running a strong 1:22 half in October, then a hilly 18 miler at 6:55 pace all systems were go. How could I not go after it?
It wasn’t a true marathon cycle but I was happy with it. I didn’t elevate my milage much but made good use of the miles I ran. I drew things down at the end with a two week taper keeping the first week’s milage over 40 and entered the race with rested legs, nothing was hurting, and I hadn’t overly slacked off.
The day before I had my bigger meal for lunch to make sure it passed nicely. I got a solid night of sleep, woke at 6, had some coffee and my usual preface breakfast, took care of business, grabbed my bag and was out the door by 7:10 and to the race by 7:50. I checked in, introduced myself to Hasher Rick, and quickly caught up with Nader. We got ready strategized briefly, heard Rick’s BOOMING voice make some announcements, and soon the race was off.
Early on it was easy and the miles ticked by quickly as we picked our way through traffic. During the first 8 miles I probably talked Nader’s ear off. I figured if I could run so comfortably and be so conversational I was keeping things in check. Yeah, we were averaging in the low 6:40s but it was flat and it didn’t feel like work. Plus, with a recent 1:22 half it’s not totally inappropriate pace. After Nader dropped back I accidentally ticked off a couple miles in the 6:30s because I was just rolling. I hit the half somewhere around 1:27-28 and it felt easier than the halfway point at most of marathons I’ve run. I told myself I just needed to run a 1:32 second half, which was reassuring. Around this time I started to notice a couple hot spots on my right foot. With so far to go this gave some concern so I tried to take the turns as smoothly as possible. Realizing I was going quicker than I probably should I tried to hold back a little and ran the next 7 miles comfortably under sub 3 pace.
At mile 18 the race started to become real work and I could tell suffering was starting to set in. This isn’t unusual. Who doesn’t suffer during the last 6 miles of a hard run marathon. My pace slipped over the next 4 miles and by mile 22 I knew I only needed to keep it around 7 minute miles for the sub 3. This was reassuring.
At mile 22 things started to fall apart. It didn't help that the wind had slowly started to pick on the open part of the course. I can’t really put my finger on it. The legs were strong and not at all trashed. It became real work and my pace slipped to 7:27. I couldn’t go much faster but knew if I could just hang onto that pace it was good for a PR. The next mile was 7:48 and even harder. I was really starting to suffer badly. I pushed on but at some point in the next mile the bottom fell out and I had to walk a stretch and finished that mile in 10:04. This was demoralizing because I knew how much harder it would be to repeat just that pace for two more miles. Goal and PR were out of reach. I was on pace to be slower than my two spring marathons and was crushed as I walked much of the next mile finishing it in 14:23. With a one mile loop course it would have been easy to walk off at any point but couldn’t fathom not finishing. By the time I got to one mile to go I had tried to run and had no turnover. The engine wouldn’t start. I was being passed by old folks walking so I tried to just walk faster and it wasn’t there. I was deep into the pain tunnel and melting. My eyes were half closed. I was dizzy and could hardly walk strait.
In addition to Nader I had quite the crowd of family onlookers there for the second half of the race. Turns out running a race on a one mile loop 28 miles from my inlaws was a good occasion for everyone to come out and watch. Kids and all I had 11 people along with Nader there to watch. My wife’s dad was a college runner and high school coach so was tracking my splits and knew exactly what was going on. Since I had such a crowd and I couldn’t run anyway I asked my wife and son to walk the last lap with me. I was thinking leaning on William’s wheelchair as I pushed him would give some relief but it didn’t. His chair only felt heavier than ever to push.
As I passed my gear I grabbed a long sleeve shirt and put it on, only to realize an hour later that it was backwards. My wife said she didn’t want to tell me. We walked and we walked. For a bit I just put my arm around my wife’s shoulder and leaned as we walked. With about a third of a mile to go I guess had rested enough or could just smell the barn so I ran the rest of the way in. It felt good to finish running. I felt like a runner.
Result: 3:22:42
Having run my last 3 marathons under 3:10 posting a 3:22 isn’t very exciting but it’s really not an ugly time. It is what it is. No regrets here. I was running after a 2:58 and it just wasn’t my day but I battled some dark places in the last 5K to get my ass across the line.
I’m still struggling to understand what caused the complete meltdown. Perhaps I went out a little fast? Perhaps I wasn’t running high enough mileage? Perhaps the course took it’s toll on me. — It being a one mile loop and staged during a 24 hour ultra I did a lot of passing out the outside and negotiating traffic and adding a handful of yards to each mile. The course had 10 90 degree turns per mile including one 180 degree turn. All told I did 27 180 degree turns and about 265 turns of 90 degrees or more. Taking these at speed required a wide path and frequently I had to go around another runner who was already on the tangent. Garmin ended up with 26.6 miles.
My wife theorizes I was done in by my long work week leading into the race. We put on a conference and I was on my feet most of it not getting home until around 9 daily. Yeah, I was tired from that.
In the end it just may not have been my day. That’ how the marathon works. It just doesn’t give a damn about you and is never forgiving. This was my 8th and I’m still a long way from figuring it out, or at least getting a reasonable understanding.
I rarely fail like this in races. It’s humbling but probably good to experience now and then. I’ve got a great batting average but do think some healthy failure now and then keeps the good ones in better perspective.
So, I’ll work to soak this in and make it a positive experience. I’ll use it to drive me on to bigger and better things over the winter as I train for Boston in April. No resting on laurels.
Thanks to Nader for tricking me into this and thanks to Hasher Rick for putting on such a great event. If I were to actually try an ultra I’d love to be right back here and run his race. He’s got a passion for doing it right and you can see it as he cares for all his runners on the course. The personalized race swag is nice. The finisher’s medal is fantastic.