Well, not a good day, but not a disaster either, and I'm surprisingly comfortable with it. By mile 18 I was ready to pull out of my next two marathons and retire. I may still do that. Everybody I have talked to thinks it is an anomaly, but I honestly don't see myself running to try to get faster after Boston unless I improve significantly. The running doesn't take a lot of time out of my schedule, but it is taxing mentally.
I flew to Richmond yesterday and stayed overnight with my brother, who was entered in the half. He has been training for over a year without any fuss, but when I got here I discovered he is an excited runner, this was the first time he ran the half as a goal race. He is in the next age group down.
My brother's wife fixed a very nice pasta dinner, so I felt completely ready this morning, but it was not to be. There was also an 8K, which started at 7:00, then the half at 7:30 and the marathon at 8:00, which makes the marathon completely vulnerable to heat buildup later in the morning. They should have reversed the order. Unless you are under 3 hours it is already 11:00 by the time you finish. I was shivering at the start line, it was only 38F, but by mile 7 I could already feel the heat. Probably mid-60s by the time I finished. Shouldn't have been that big of a deal, but it was today.
I started in between the 3:30 and 3:15 groups. The front of the marathon was very crowded because a lot of NYC marathoners came in for this one. That was OK, though, because the first two miles came in generally on pace. When my HRM kicked in at mile 3 it was showing 170. I know from experience that is too high, but (i) I averaged 169 at SGM, the last marathon I ran, and (ii) I didn't really know if this new HRM was measuring the same as my old one. This one came in the mail on Wednesday and I wasn't entirely sure it was accurate. I felt good so I went with it. Went through the half in 1:42:25, in pretty good shape especially since there is a lot of downhill in the last 10K. But by then I was starting to get a little tired and my legs weren't driving like they were earlier. Pace had already slowed and it gradually slowed down for the rest of the race. By mile 16 I was feeling quite fatigued and by mile 18 I wanted to quit. It wasn't an aerobic thing, my heart rate tracked my pace exactly, dropping to 147 by the end of the race. If I am running a good race, my heart rate builds all the way to the end. I ran out of glycogen, nothing more than that, and the heat meant that I wasn't absorbing water or electrolytes. (The EFS tasted especially bad, I'm simply not going to take it again, even if it means permanently slower times.)
But I had no intention of pulling another Hartford, so I kept going. I was praying from 18 to the end, not for more strength but for the ability to run through it. I might have actually finished under 3:40 or close to it, but I got hamstring cramps twice in the last two miles and had to stop until they subsided. But the prayer worked, I was able to keep going somehow, though I was almost delerious when I finished. There was a very long finishing chute and I got water but somehow missed my medal. Since I was convinced this was my last marathon, I asked my brother to take my bib and go back to get my medal. He had to talk to a couple of people, a lot of the NYC marathoners were not guaranteed to get medals, but he came back with one, even though he was walking around on gimpy legs too.
I started to black out about 5 minutes after I finished, so I sat down on the grass and eventually threw up. Felt better after that but my legs continued to hurt a lot. They still hurt tonight.
So it wasn't a pretty marathon, but the experience of running that last 8 miles will be with me the rest of my life, longer than a PR would have been. My brother ran 1:52 for the half, which put him in the same 20th percentile as me. I think it may be time to pass the torch, but I'm still thinking.
Despite everyone's encouragement, I think there may be something wrong. Have been running well this year, even though my miles are not quite as high due to sickness, traveling and one bad injury. But the training felt different coming into this marathon. Those 3 hard long runs were very telling. First one at 8:00 went well, but not the next two. It's like there is no distance left in my legs. But maybe it was just a bad day.
Splits are as follows (women and children, please close your eyes): 7:43, 7:39, 7:31 (170), 7:41 (170), 7:39 (161), 7:45 (169), 7:44 (167), 7:47 (168), 7:33 (166), 7:48 (166), 8:14 (168) (long uphill), 8:03 (166), 8:02 (167), 8:03 (164), 8:03 (164), 8:25 (166), 8:39 (165), 8:52 (162), 9:11 (158), 9:17 (157), 9:30 (156), 9:37 (155), 9:38 (155), 9:38 (158), 10:48 (153) (cramp #2), 9:12 (147). | 