Post by Justin Parker on Jun 20, 2012 11:55:02 GMT -5
So I finally made the jump back into the marathon this past weekend at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN. My primary motivation for running this race to get in a qualifier in time so I could go with the group next year to Boston. The course is point to point, fairly flat, and the weather in the weeks leading up to the race was consistently in the 40s and 50s.
Well, of course come race day it was 65 degrees, no cloud cover, and fairly high humidity. Not ideal but obviously better than the weather down here. Fortunately, the weather actually got better as the race went on as the clouds rolled in somewhere after mile 15.
Here are my splits:
1 - 6:32
2 - 6:24 (12:56)
3 - 6:25 (19:21)
4 - 6:18 (25:39)
5 - 6:14 (31:53)
6 - 6:16 (38:09)
7 - 6:10 (44:19)
8 - 6:20 (50:39)
9 - 6:14 (56:53)
10 - 6:07 (1:03:00)
11 - 6:13 (1:09:13)
12 - 6:11 (1:15:24)
13 - 6:11 (1:21:35)
14 - 6:08 (1:27:43)
15 - 6:17 (1:34:00)
16 - 6:18 (1:40:18)
17 - 6:20 (1:46:38)
18 - 6:33 (1:53:11)
19 - 6:12 (1:59:23)
20 - 6:40 (2:06:03)
21 - 6:55 (2:12:58)
22 - 7:07 (2:20:05)
23 - 7:17 (2:27:22)
24 - 7:25 (2:34:47)
25 - 7:17 (2:42:04)
26 - 7:10 (2:49:14)
.2 - 1:26 (2:50:40)
I ran the first 3 with Elena, and had planned to run more with her, but I knew we were already running well under her goal pace, so I split off to keep from making her go out too fast.
I was really hoping to get under 2:45 and I'd planned to try and stay between 6:15 and 6:17 after we separated, but looking back at my splits now, I was all over the place. A lot of that was because the course was much close to "rolling" than "flat".
Although I'm not really happy with my how I ran, I did accomplish my goal of getting a BQ and getting the experience under my belt. There were two things I feel I really did wrong during the race. The first was pushing too hard from 5 to 15. I ran 62:07 for that section, when I should've been right around 63 flat. The second and bigger mistake was when I freaked out after running 18 in 6:33. It was slower because of a decent sized hill, but I tried to make it up all in the next mile, and by running a 6:12 for 19, I pretty much slammed myself into the wall.
With all that said, I really enjoyed it and can't wait to do another. The race was very well done and I'd highly recommend it to anyone ever looking for a summer marathon.
Well, of course come race day it was 65 degrees, no cloud cover, and fairly high humidity. Not ideal but obviously better than the weather down here. Fortunately, the weather actually got better as the race went on as the clouds rolled in somewhere after mile 15.
Here are my splits:
1 - 6:32
2 - 6:24 (12:56)
3 - 6:25 (19:21)
4 - 6:18 (25:39)
5 - 6:14 (31:53)
6 - 6:16 (38:09)
7 - 6:10 (44:19)
8 - 6:20 (50:39)
9 - 6:14 (56:53)
10 - 6:07 (1:03:00)
11 - 6:13 (1:09:13)
12 - 6:11 (1:15:24)
13 - 6:11 (1:21:35)
14 - 6:08 (1:27:43)
15 - 6:17 (1:34:00)
16 - 6:18 (1:40:18)
17 - 6:20 (1:46:38)
18 - 6:33 (1:53:11)
19 - 6:12 (1:59:23)
20 - 6:40 (2:06:03)
21 - 6:55 (2:12:58)
22 - 7:07 (2:20:05)
23 - 7:17 (2:27:22)
24 - 7:25 (2:34:47)
25 - 7:17 (2:42:04)
26 - 7:10 (2:49:14)
.2 - 1:26 (2:50:40)
I ran the first 3 with Elena, and had planned to run more with her, but I knew we were already running well under her goal pace, so I split off to keep from making her go out too fast.
I was really hoping to get under 2:45 and I'd planned to try and stay between 6:15 and 6:17 after we separated, but looking back at my splits now, I was all over the place. A lot of that was because the course was much close to "rolling" than "flat".
Although I'm not really happy with my how I ran, I did accomplish my goal of getting a BQ and getting the experience under my belt. There were two things I feel I really did wrong during the race. The first was pushing too hard from 5 to 15. I ran 62:07 for that section, when I should've been right around 63 flat. The second and bigger mistake was when I freaked out after running 18 in 6:33. It was slower because of a decent sized hill, but I tried to make it up all in the next mile, and by running a 6:12 for 19, I pretty much slammed myself into the wall.
With all that said, I really enjoyed it and can't wait to do another. The race was very well done and I'd highly recommend it to anyone ever looking for a summer marathon.