Notes
The Woodlands Marathon
https://www.nolimitstiming.com/results/default.aspx?event=19527&r=4581
38 degrees at the race start, 47 or so by the end.
Light 8 mph wind from the northwest at the start and 10-15 mph throughout, with gusts of 25 mph.
I'm proud that I raced well despite being a little sick and unrecovered and running in windy conditions. Official time 3:26:00.4
Months ago when considering this race, I wanted to run it in 3:30, which I felt was slightly on the conservative side. After 8 weeks of training, my progress and my harder long runs made me feel confident about shooting for 3:20. My MAF pace had improved to around 7:40, and I had held 7:40 for 10 miles at steady heart rate of 160, so it didn't seem like too much of a stretch to run 3:20 or maybe a little faster, especially since the course is flat.
4 days before the race some type of allergen blew in with the heavy wind and it hit me pretty hard. I didn't feel that sick, but I had a sore throat and felt very weak and tired. I rested plenty and wasn't running much anyways, but even the extra rest didn't bring my resting HR back down. It was now in the low 60's instead of low 50's.
So, after an easy test run the day before, I decided running 3:30 might even be a stretch, so I decided to stick with the 3:30 pace group and see what happened at mile 20. This turned out to be exactly what I did.
We drove down to stay with Mike and Terri on Friday, and I actually slept about 4 hours the night before the race, which is better than I usually do before a race. I got up at 4:00, had black coffee, and got dressed. I talked to Mike until about 6, and he drove me down there and walked with me to my corral. It was 39 degrees and breezy and I was ready to get moving.
I lined up on the left side since I knew there was a left turn not too far up. I latched onto the back of the 3:30 group and tried to relax. I checked my heart rate periodically to see if by some miracle I had recovered and the effort was low, but no, 8:00 miles were actually taking more effort than 7:40 normally does. Oh well. Going up Research Forest Drive on the first loop was breezy and into the wind, but the wind was just noticeable, not hard. I stayed in back behind people to shield myself from the wind to whatever degree possible. Miles 4 and 6 were slightly faster than average, I suppose to make up for the hill in between. It was a little crowded at times and I had to fight to not get pushed off the shoulder of the road a few times. At one point around mile 5 or so, there was a guy parked in a truck on the shoulder (why? race support?) and my left shoulder clipped his rear view mirror and flipped it back. Luckily, it didn't hurt me. :)
After mile 6, there was mostly downhill to the end of the first loop. There was one very slight hill at mile 7 or so ("Texas Hill", ha!), but mostly I was coasting, trying to stay relaxed and rested. The crowd support was better than I expected for a smaller marathon. I saw a group with "Oreo Speedwagon" signs handing out Oreos. :) There were about 10 of us staying steady in the 3:30 pace group around the first loop and the atmosphere seemed jovial. There was lots of talking, although I was zoned in to my iPod and just trying to stay focused. I had a few small cups of water, but I mostly just slowed down a bit through the water stops to keep from getting too ahead of the pace group. I felt weakness in my legs for the first time at around mile 10, which worried me. I didn't see any family at mile 11 like I expected, but no big deal. I did notice that someone in front of me was really starting to smell pretty ripe. :(
We came to the end of the first loop at 1:44:50, so right on pace. The talking had quieted down and I noticed that the group had gotten smaller and I was now directly behind the pacers without a lot of company. I focused in and actually felt a little more relaxed now that I had seen the course and had half of it behind me. I was still in the low 160's, so I felt good about that. My cadence was holding together really well. The wind was really blowing hard right in our faces, though. It was 15 mph, with 23 mph gusts. There also weren't as many people to shield me from the wind at this point. I knew mile 15 and 16 would be here before I knew it, so I kind of zoned out and relaxed, listening to my music. I was thinking things still felt "easy" at this point, so I knew that was good.
At mile 15, that was about the the last I saw of the rest of the pace group (except for the official leaders). I know they were not far behind me, but there was less shifting of position and I'm betting some additional people fell off. At mile 16, I saw Laura and the kids, plus Mike and Terri and their kids holding signs. I felt elated to see them and know I only had 10 miles left. I was anxious to get to the top of the hill (~18.5 or so) and start coasting down, but I was holding back with the group to reserve some energy. Miles 17-19 were a little faster than average, and we didn't slow as much for the hill on this loop. I began mentally preparing to will myself to run harder starting at mile 19, since I knew the chicken move would be to "hold back" until mile 25... There was a water stop somewhere just after the top of the hill and I just didn't slow down for the group at that one. I let the hill carry me down and just tried to keep my cadence high and my steps light. I hit a 7:45 mile for 20 and kept cruising along at what was now about a 7:30 pace. I accelerated down to about 7:20-7:25 pace and that's where I was able to hang for the rest of the race. I slowly started passing people, but from this point on in the race, it was very lonely and quiet. It seemed like most of the people I was passing were in total burnout mode, trudging along at 10:00 miles, so that helped me feel really fast.
I wasn't pushing very hard, but the downhill, the tailwind, and just a little bit of effort was pushing my pace down below 7:20 at times. I passed a slew of people at the end of Kuykendahl, and by the time I turned back onto Lake Woodlands, I felt great. Mile 21 and 22 felt incredible and I just felt so much relief to be in this part of the race. My pace picked up the further I went down the hill. I started paying attention to the tangents, which I hadn't been doing up to this point (the pace leaders didn't really run them). I passed a few walkers. I saw one runner drop his water bottle and he wasn't quite able to bend over to pick it back up. I had hoped to catch my family again around mile 24, but I didn't see them (it turns out they just barely saw me run by before they got there). At mile 24, I was feeling pain in my upper hamstrings and my groin. I was pretty sure if I had to slow down or stop, it would be hard to get going again.
I mentally calculated what my total time would need to be for me to be on pace for a 3:25 at mile marker 25, and I was guessing something like 3:15:00, considering that I had the last .2 plus the difference between Garmin and mile markers to make up. After calculating, I looked at my watch as I crossed the marker for 25 and I think I saw 3:15:5x. I was excited to be that close, so I pushed really hard. That last hill during mile 26 was tough. There was a loooooong space between when my Garmin chirped mile 26 and when I saw the marker. I was trying to hustle, but there were quite a few zigs and zags right at the end and it was hard to feel like I could fly. Also, it was now crowded as some were just finishing the half. I saw 3:26:0x on the clock when I was probably 100 yards from it, so I thought my chip time could beat 3:26:00.
Official time 3:26:00.4
1/2 Splits: 1:44:50/1:41:10
6.5: 50:11.9 (7:43 pace)
13.1 54:38.1 (7:55 pace)
19.6: 50:15.3 (7:44 pace)
26.2: 50:54.9 (7:23 pace)