The 10/10/2010 Towpath Marathon race report:
First, the morning before "dry run" was very beneficial. We got up at 6:45a and drove to the start for a run at 8a (same time as the race start the next day). We ran the first 2ish miles then came back for one of the main turns on the course to see it. In all getting a feel for the temp and seeing the course helped the nerves a bit (and there were nerves). Also completed the breakfast-run-breakfast by catching both ends of the complimentary hotel breakfast :)
The rest of the day was spent picking up the race packet, visiting my mom-in-law, and hanging out at the local mall. I actually dropped the crew off at the mall while I went to visit Steph's mom and when I came back they were all at Barnes & Nobles in their respective sections/fields... what nerds! We put off the strategy talk until that night at dinner where we decided to go out in 6:36-38 with a goal of being at 6:20 by 5-6 miles in. Since I was shooting for 2:45 and Ted and Thom were more in the 2:50 range we wanted to keep it at a pace that wouldn't hurt either of us (with 6:18 being 2:45 pace and 6:30 being 2:50 pace).
Lunch was a calzone and Peanut Butter Blast. Dinner was a burger and sweet potato from Outback. We went to bed about 11:30p, then awoke at 5:30a to make breakfast -- 2 egg omelet with turkey, spinach, and feta w/ two whole grain slices of bread and a glass of water with Nuun in it.. for electrolytes. 45min prior to the race I had a Vespa to help lower my carb needs during the race. Lastly, no more than 10min prior to the race I was able to "Tokyo Drift" which set me up nicely ;) The weather was quite comfortable at the start, which made me weary, but it turned out fine (72 at my finish, which was warmer than I'd like, but I don't think it effected my race).
Race time: We (from here on out Ted, Thom, and I) started out a bit hot the first half mile... Thom was leading the way, but we were able to get it back under control for a 6:31 first mile, 5 seconds fast, but I'm not complaining. By that point we were no better than 20th place with the leaders out of sight running what I'm sure was at least a 6:00 first mile. It was actually a sigh of relief because I was afraid I'd have to decide between the leaders and "Team Buddy."
At about mile 2.5-3 we met our only annoying participant of the day and we couldn't shake him. He was an Australian that we passed doing about 6:18/mi with him at about 6:30/mi and he decided to latch on and proceed to throw out random facts like, "The winner of the Melbourne Marathon ran a 2:11" and, "I have broken vertebrae what's your excuse?" Luckily, once he asked our goal and I said 2:45, he said, "well shit" and dropped off. Meanwhile we had been throwing down 6:18s for about 5 miles trying to drop him when we hadn't planned on that pace until about 10 on... good for me, maybe not for Ted and Thom.
Onward we approach the first turnaround (about 9 miles) so we have our first opportunity to see who is ahead of us... the leader was very encouraging as we pass he says, "great jobs guys." We all said something to each other along the lines of, "man, he's really nice." The rest of the top 15 or so look very focused and it is early after all. From 9 to 10 we catch and pass the top female in the race, which I believe was trying to run the Olympic Trials standard of 2:48, so we encouraged her to pace with us... it also didn't hurt that the fans cheering for the lead woman gave us a boost as well.
As we moved along through the day we'd hear, "here come the triplets" and "way to stick together...teamwork!" because we were wearing matching uniforms... cool, I know ;) Anyway, at one point we pass a marathon walker (they started 60min ahead) and he asks what team we're on... we all went blank not knowing how to answer, so after probably 5 seconds Ted yells, "Best Friends!" Then I chime in with "Team Buddy!" and he yells back, "Go Team Buddy!" Ha! We should have thought that one out better before...
Next up, halfway... we come through on my watch at 1:22:51 (a PR for Thom) only 21 seconds off of the pace I hoped to run, and we're running strong together. We were in 11th, 12th, and 13th at that time and I was very pleased with how things were going (cue in the dramatic change in music)... so comes mile 15. I had been running through the aid stations a bit faster the whole day and this one I came out about 20 meters ahead of Ted and Thom and I was starting to feel the rhythm I'd been hoping for at about 6:10 pace. I decided to coast a bit to have them catch back up, but by 15.5 I was on 6:30 pace for that mile and only Ted had closed the gap. At 16, I told Ted I was feeling comfortable at 6:10 and was going to keep at it. From there we pretty much went our separate ways :( I certainly appreciated everything up to that point and they having them there helped more than I imagined.
The break!
At 16 we pass by the finish line which has the potential to break me, but with all of the halfers coming at me on the trail and finally seeing 10th place ahead I caught a groove and started to roll a bit under 6:10/mi pace. By 20 that feeling was pretty much over and it became apparent that I'd have to really focus to maintain what was now back to 6:20 pace (which I wasn't even able to do). I just kept telling myself it was only 10k.
If it hadn't been for the occasional catch of a runner ahead of me, I might have been tempted to relax down to 7:00 pace or beyond, but the constant feeling of being caught by someone I had just passed pushed me on. By the turn around at 21 I was in 5th with 4th right ahead of me (and third close from what the mega phone guy said). The turn around was about a .5 mile loop, then we'd head back on the trail we'd just come out on... I had only seen the leader (which he again shouted words of encouragement to me like he was out spectating or something) on my way out, so I knew I was within .5 mile of 2nd-4th. By 22 I had passed 4th and by 23 I passed 3rd as he pulled off to stretch a cramping calf... The wheels were coming loose and the watch was showing 6:30-40 pace and above 95% heart rate... but 5k to go!
At this point, I had seen Ted, Thom, Shiva and the other marathoners on the trail headed out as I made my way back... they were all very encouraging and I felt I could take their words seriously because they had a clue what I was going through (as compared to the halfers on the way out, though I still appreciated their kindness). At about 24 I began to see who I thought might be 2nd place ahead and the racers coming at me confirmed this by mile 25 with "he's right up there, you can get him!" Honestly, this did more to make me sick to my stomach than excite me because I was in no mood to kick down a runner (I was just trying to count down the minutes that were left in the race... 10min to go!). Then, it happened... he turned around almost completely to look back (I imagine he had started hearing some cheers for me not long after him). I was still at least 100m back, and it felt so awkward having him stare right at me that in the moment I just smiled and waved back... He turned around and continued on as I contemplated how badly I wanted to cruise it in versus how pissed off I might be at myself for not going after it. Luckily, he came up closer than I thought and I was 5 meters back as mile 26 approached... 400m to go I told myself as I switched gears. I went hard around him and heard him say, "oh man, good job." I knew I had him and only once did I feel like he might come back on me... instead I brought it home high-fiving the crowd and enjoying the second place finish - official time of 2:47:16.
Whew... afterwards I saw Ted and Thom finish, then jogged over to the car to get my Endurox and compression tights on, and headed back to meet up everyone else and congratulate the boys -- err, Team Buddy! Very impressed with everyone, I'm not sure where to start, Ted's debut marathon in under 3 hours or Shiva's BQ 3:13!! Thom's 5min, sub 3 PR, or Frank's sub 1:20 in the half, maybe Oscar and Magnus' big PRs in the half... all around we were lucky on the weather and everyone had a solid outting. It was definitely a lot of fun with a group and running with others in the race is the way to go. I feel very fortunate to have had Ted and Thom there for 16 miles.
Here we are after a good day!
That's about it... I'm sure there's more I could write, but you had to be there ;)
So, my Garmin legitimately mapped the course (meaning there were no straying off of the path on the waypoints) at 26.46... and had my 26.2 split at 2:45:39. I guess I'll just have to break 2:45 on the next one so there's no asterisk when I want to talk about my time.
Using Garmin splits, my first half was 1:22:51 (in 11th place) and second half of 1:22:48 (in 2nd place)... I'm very pleased about the even pace.
Splits - Garmin: 6:31, 34, 22, 18, 19, 18, 20, 16, 11, 09, 18, 16, 16, 13, 10, 10, 11, 06, 07, 18, 23, 17, 23, 34, 43, 41, +:69
On to Tecumseh!
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