Baton Rouge Beach Marathon

[Kenny Pfeiffer]

I waited to post this as I need to stop fuming about it...that said, here goes:

The race itself was nice, weather was good, and the course was actually pretty scenic, but there were A LOT of turns (more coming on this later). I felt good when I woke up and actually was not very nervous which kind of surprised me, but I credit that to knowing I was in the shape I needed to be in. As I walked to the starting line I saw Samson and then Chuck Engle so I knew I was in a race for 3rd.

I actually went out a bit faster than I had planned in the first mile, but after that I settled in and began to execute my race plan. I was actually a little ahead of pace at the half in 1:24:20, but I still felt great. I got into a zone where I was just clipping away the miles and then, bang, disaster struck. I went the wrong way just past mile 17. Being a small marathon there were not a lot of volunteers on the course. The mistake was mine though as the course was marked well with orange spray painted arrows. There was a turn immediately following the 17 mile mark and I think I was probably looking at my watch to see my split thus missing the arrows. I got to a busy intersection at a stop light and there were no police, so I knew something wasn't right. I looked bvack and saw a guy turning about 200 yds back. By my watch I lost 1:13 on this out and back, wrong way segment. I panicked and still ended up getting to mile 18 in 6:45 which means I actually ran a 5:32 here...this would be my eventual downfall. I settled back into pace and was still in good shape for sub 2:50 due to a little time I had banked in the first half. Around mile 22 I could sense a blow up coming. When I reached mile 24 I was hurting very bad. I could feel my form had gone to crap and felt like I was running slower than my training pace. My last 2 miles were 6:56 and 7:10. I ended up running 2:50:52 which is still a 59 second PR, but I can't help but be angry. I wanted to go confront the race director but as I stated earlier it was really my fault and I'm sure I would've said something I would regret later, so I didn't even tell anyone. It is hard to know that I busted my tail training only to miss sub 2:50 on an error, but there's always next time.

Splits:

1 - 6:18
2 - 6:09 (this was short)
3 - 6:49 (this was long)
4 - 6:21
5 - 6:28
6 - 6:32
7 - 6:26
8 - 6:26
9 - 6:30
10 - 6:23
11 - 6:17
12 - 6:20
13 - 6:26
half split = 1:24:20
14 - 6:26
15 - 6:19 (short)
16 - 6:35 (long)
17 - 6:28
18 - 6:45 (including segment off course)
19 - 6:30
20 - 6:35
21 - 6:30
22 - 6:23
23 - 6:27
24 - 6:46
25 - 6:56
26 - 7:10
Finish time = 2:50:52 (6:31 pace)

[Jon Adams]

Congrats on a PR and a great race!

[Brent]

Good race Kenny! Wasn't this race two loops of the same 13.1 mile course?

[Kenny Pfeiffer]

yes it was, so I should've known the course but as I said there were a lot of turns. I think I could've missed the turn if I'd run it a 3rd time...plus in the first loop there was traffic from the half runners and a lot more course support. For example, many of the water stops were unmanned in the 2nd loop.

[Brent]

Still a good job, good luck at your next one!

[Jon Adams]

Hey Kenny, how many marathons have you run now?.........and how many of these have been "sub-3"? Someone was asking me the other day and I couldn't recall. If I remember correctly your percentage is pretty high.

[Kenny Pfeiffer]

Baton Rouge makes #6 total and the last 4 have all been sub 3...3 of those were sub 2:55, just keep eluding that sub 2:50...as of now!