Ran my spring marathon today. In an earlier post I described being just a little bit anxious - I wanted to finally break 3:30 after 18 years of trying. I had trained well, and I believed I could finally do it. Mitch gave me the quote "believing is the first step" on my way ...
The day wasn't really good for running. It was raining a lot in the days before and there were some muddy sections on the course. Today, we had some more rain, low hanging clouds, and temperatures in the 40s. Usually, nobody is out on a day like this, but I hardly noticed it.
The course was four rolling loops, mostly paved streets and bicycle paths, but also some muddy trails. The first 5k were a bit easier than the second - except for one "major" uphill, but there wasn't really any flat section on the whole course.
The first loop I tried to go out "easy" and leave myself enough power for the rest of the race:
* 00-05k: 25:39 HR136
* 05-10k: 25:35 HR140
So far so good - I pretty much stayed to my HR guidelines (135, then 140) and I felt okay - maybe a bit wet I was just a bit slower than the 5min/k pace I was hoping for.
The second loop was similar:
* 10-15k: 24:29 HR140
* 15-20k: 24:43 HR142
My HR was okay, but the pace was still a bit slow. When I ran by my wife, she told me to pick it up a bit or else ... I believed I could break 3:30 on this day, so I decided to give me a few extra beats.
Third loop:
* 20-25k: 24:40 HR142 (including a 30 second pit stop, so I was getting a bit faster!)
* 25-30k: 24:54 HR145
Even though I was a bit disappointed with the last 5k, I was still right on the bubble of my 3:30 goal. I passed 30k in 2:30:02, so I basically needed to make up a minute on my 5min/k pace. Two years ago, when running the same race, I was about a minute and a half faster at this point, but I basically knew that my race was over that day. Today, I believed I still had it in me and went on to run
* 30-35k: 24:18 HR147
All right! Just twenty more seconds to make up! I really believed I could do it now. I even took the time to walk a few steps after the last aid station (37k) to make sure I get enough Coke down so I could power the rest ..
* 35-40k: 25:00 HR148
Things were getting really hard now. The rest was mostly downhill, so I believed that although I had absolutely nothing left in me, I could get things done.
* 40-finish: 10:11 HR153
giving me a finish time of 3:29:31! I did it!
Although I was hoping to be able to run a 3:25, I'm totally glad the way the race worked out. I was able to pick up the pace when I needed, and I don't think I could have gone any faster on this day. What else can you ask for!
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