Notes
Marathons are hard. I don’t know if I dwelt on that much leading up to this race. I’m looking back over my splits right now and laughing because of the gargantuan effort it took to run 7:30s. It’s even funny to think about how easy a certain pace feels at one point in the race but then feels impossible a few miles later. Anyway, here’s a pretty detailed account of the race in “rambling narration” form.
It was a pretty typical race morning. We woke up at 6 and spent about an hour hydrating, stretching, playing on the foam roller, etc. I really just wanted to get the race started. 8am couldn’t get here quick enough. At 7 we left the hotel room and met up with my parents so that they could watch our stuff as we went for our individual warm-ups, took final bathroom trips, etc. Having “elite” bibs we were able to just head right to the front of the starting coral, which was nice. I wasn’t overly “pumped” in the starting coral. Just anxious to get things started. Letting out a few hoots and hollers for the wheel chair runners as they starting before us felt good and helped me relax. Once the gun went off I just focused on staying relaxed, not wasting any mental energy, and just settling into my own pace. I couldn’t believe my eyes when we started approaching the first mile mark though. I thought for sure I was going to be close to 6:20 or 6:30 for my first mile. I ended up being 5:51. This was really encouraging. At Memphis in 2007 I got out too fast. But it FELT like I was getting out too fast. Today, I may in fact have gotten out too fast, but at least it didn’t FEEL like it. So, after the mile mark I made a concerted mental effort to back off a bit (but the pace just felt so good and so easy!). That was the story of the next few miles – excited by my pace but knowing that it is a long race and that I needed to be conservative. The miles kept slipping by though and by about 10k I was in a nice little pack of about 6 of us. Out of this group, 3 were in the half marathon and turned off at about 7.5 miles, 1 was going for a mid 2:30s time and took off around the same time. Another guy and myself stuck together through the late teens though. He seemed like he was struggling a lot more than me so I never felt quite right drafting off of him (In hindsight this was a mistake. I think it was all just an act because, In the end, he was the one pulling away over the last 8 miles). Two other foreign guys came and joined us around 9 miles. One was only with us for about a mile before saying something in German (?) to the other guy and then taking off. The guy who stayed with us seemed to be running really strong and helped me with pace work. It was around 10 miles that the pace stopped feeling effortless but was still not much of a chore. Things didn’t change much until the half marathon. About a block after the halfway point (1:19:01) we made our first turn south since the very beginning. We quickly got a glimpse of what the rest of the race going to be like; a strong headwind. It didn’t take much time to start passing some people who had already been broken (Poor Charlie Fox. He looked he was HURTING…finished in 2:59). The moment we hit the 15 mile mark The Foreign Guy (Damian Bednorz? Is my guys of who this guy is judging by results and his friend from earlier is Krzyzstof Bak) dropped off. In literally the time it took me to click my watch for the split he went from seeming fine to off the pace. It was kinda weird. At this point I thought I was going to pull away from the whole pack. I was feeling strong up the hills and starting to one step everyone. Oh how quickly things can change in this race. The moment we turned the corner for mile 16 there was a short and steep uphill. As you crested that hill you were met with a very stiff breeze. Suddenly The Guy Who Seemed Like He Was Hurting Way More Than Me But Still Hanging On (Robert Ellerbruch?) was pulling away. Over the next few miles 3 other guys came up on me. I hopped on board the train but could only hang for about ½ of a mile. One of those guys fell off harder than me though. The other two guy seemed to be running stronger than anybody else I was seeing though. Kudos to them (Harley Johnson and Dan Miner?) for running a smart race. At this point I was just thinking “Keep it strong until 20 and then you can start really digging and finish with a solid last 10k.” That just never happened though. Each mile was survival from 18 onward. I quickly realized that sub 240 was out the door but a PR was still in reach if I could start turning the 6:30s into 6:20s. Sub 2:45 seemed in the bag though. Around 20 miles I passed Chance and at 23 I passed Matt. I still had in my head that at 23 I was going to magically find some gear that I didn’t have before and pick it up the last few miles. The exact opposite was the case though. With 4 miles to go I did the math for sub 2:45. That seemed very reasonable. Each mile made it seem even farther out of reach. My legs were so heavy. I’m sure I looked even worse than I pictured myself looking. In my mind I was channeling all my energy and will power into kicking in the last few miles. In reality I was limping through 7:30 miles. The horizon of downtown Indianapolis was mind bogglingly elusive. Even the energy of the crowd as we entered downtown couldn’t help me. My last .2 was 1:50, that’s 9min mile pace, yet I felt like I was finishing a 5k with a 60sec last lap. I must have been ugly based on how the volunteers at the finish line were treating me. I just walked around dazed for a bit and got myself some of the M&Ms, Snickers, bananas, powerade, etc. they had. Got a massage too. As the adrenaline wore off I realized how bad my ankle had rubbed on my shoe and how bad my nipples had chaffed. I’m not sure how much more I’ll wear that Track Club uniform. It just doesn’t fit right. I also think my DS-Trainers are done. My feat/Achilles/calves hurt from 6 miles in because of them. My plantar fascia still are sore today. They are ready to be put out to pasture.
Finally, here are my splits
1– 5:51
2– 5:58, 11:49
3– 5:58, 17:47
4- 6:05, 23:52
5-6:02, 29:54
6-6:00, 35:54
7-6:03, 41:58
8-6:12, 48:11
9-6:09, 54:20
10-6:01, 1:00:22
11-6:02, 1:06:24
12-6:03, 1:12:27
13-5:59, 1:18:27
13.1-1:19:01
14-6:11, 1:24:38
15-6:16, 1:30:55
16-6:15, 1:37:11
17-6:30, 1:43:41
18-6:32, 1:50:14
19-5:59, 1:56:14
20-6:35, 2:02:49
21-6:30, 2:09:20
22-6:37, 2:15:58
23-6:32, 2:22:30
24-7:27, 2:29:58
25-7:36, 2:37:34
26-7:45, 2:45:20
26.2-1:50, 2:47:11