Post by Jon Adams on Feb 17, 2011 11:52:50 GMT -5
The weather was near perfect, I ran, I finished! 
There was a little more to it than that. 
This was one of those marathons where I went in very unprepared, not having any idea how things may go. I had run some pretty decent long runs leading up to this race, but had no speedwork whatsoever so I was facing a dilemma.....as to just how conservative I should go out to prevent crashing those last 5 to 6 miles. Of course this is the "rub" for most everyone, but magnified in this case where I knew I had not done the needed training to run the desired time. I had originally wanted to run around 3 hrs........of course at this point that was out of the question, so instead aimed for making sure I got a new Boston qualifier which for this old man is 3:35. I figured I could get that without "killing" myself! ;D
The other issue(s) I had going in to this race were some nagging injuries which I had fortunately been able to get under control, but had cost me a good 4 weeks of "quality" leading up to the race. The calf issue was my biggest concern because if it locked up on me during the race there was no running "thru" that one.
Soooooo as stated earlier, race day weather was nearly perfect! The temps were in the mid 40s at start time with sunshine and no wind to speak of. I actually ran the first couple of miles with a "throw-away" long sleeve shirt......then stripped down to a singlet and shorts.....felt great. I had planned on starting out at 8:30 pace, but felt good hitting mile one @ 7:52.....and pretty much stayed there for the first few miles. As I hit miles 4 thru 9 I settled in to a 7:35-7:45 pace and still felt comfortable. After mile 9 I started paying closer attention to fuel along the way, so even though I was still running about the same pace my true splits would come out to be about 8:00 taking into account me "walking" thru a water stop to get plenty of water and a gel here and there. The miles continued to click off and I was feeling pretty good the entire way. I seemed to get a "boost" once we passed City Park where the half-marathoners
split off for their finish. I dunno why but it was fun hitting that out & back section out to the lakefront and back. Once I was headed back toward the finish line from the lakefront at mile 22 I was feeling pretty strong and knew that unless things just came completely apart I would achieve my time goal.........soooooo at that point I decided to throw in a surge and ended up hitting mile 22-23 at 7:02 and felt good EXCEPT I could feel that right calf tightening up. At this point common sense luckily took over and I reigned in the testosterone .....eased up and put it into "cruise" mode to the finish. I ended up crossing the finish line in 3:27:33. A time I would certainly not consider "great", but with all things considered I was pleased with the outcome. In hindsight I think I ran a smart race and probably ran the best I could on that day. ;D
There was a little more to it than that. 
This was one of those marathons where I went in very unprepared, not having any idea how things may go. I had run some pretty decent long runs leading up to this race, but had no speedwork whatsoever so I was facing a dilemma.....as to just how conservative I should go out to prevent crashing those last 5 to 6 miles. Of course this is the "rub" for most everyone, but magnified in this case where I knew I had not done the needed training to run the desired time. I had originally wanted to run around 3 hrs........of course at this point that was out of the question, so instead aimed for making sure I got a new Boston qualifier which for this old man is 3:35. I figured I could get that without "killing" myself! ;D
The other issue(s) I had going in to this race were some nagging injuries which I had fortunately been able to get under control, but had cost me a good 4 weeks of "quality" leading up to the race. The calf issue was my biggest concern because if it locked up on me during the race there was no running "thru" that one.
Soooooo as stated earlier, race day weather was nearly perfect! The temps were in the mid 40s at start time with sunshine and no wind to speak of. I actually ran the first couple of miles with a "throw-away" long sleeve shirt......then stripped down to a singlet and shorts.....felt great. I had planned on starting out at 8:30 pace, but felt good hitting mile one @ 7:52.....and pretty much stayed there for the first few miles. As I hit miles 4 thru 9 I settled in to a 7:35-7:45 pace and still felt comfortable. After mile 9 I started paying closer attention to fuel along the way, so even though I was still running about the same pace my true splits would come out to be about 8:00 taking into account me "walking" thru a water stop to get plenty of water and a gel here and there. The miles continued to click off and I was feeling pretty good the entire way. I seemed to get a "boost" once we passed City Park where the half-marathoners
split off for their finish. I dunno why but it was fun hitting that out & back section out to the lakefront and back. Once I was headed back toward the finish line from the lakefront at mile 22 I was feeling pretty strong and knew that unless things just came completely apart I would achieve my time goal.........soooooo at that point I decided to throw in a surge and ended up hitting mile 22-23 at 7:02 and felt good EXCEPT I could feel that right calf tightening up. At this point common sense luckily took over and I reigned in the testosterone .....eased up and put it into "cruise" mode to the finish. I ended up crossing the finish line in 3:27:33. A time I would certainly not consider "great", but with all things considered I was pleased with the outcome. In hindsight I think I ran a smart race and probably ran the best I could on that day. ;D
