I had a great time last weekend hanging out with my friend Kate and her parents in the Outer Banks, NC. It was beautiful sunny weather, lovely bay and beach views, and delicious meals. The only downside of the weekend was running a marathon on Sunday morning. Kidding! Mostly. Marathons HURT and, when averaged out over the full 26.2 miles, are often NOT FUN, at least when one is giving it their all and obsesses over every mile split like I usually do. Oh, they're fun for the first 17 or so miles. But when weighed against the pain of the last 9.2...wait, why do I keep running these things? Oh, I remember - the JOY of finishing the darn thing, the satisfaction of tumbling into bed that night into a deep luxurious sleep, and the hurts-so-good soreness (which I am still enjoying 3 days later). So yeah, I guess it's all worth it, and as some like to say, "if it were easy, everyone would do it."
Sorry if I sound slightly snarky or bitter, but to cut to the chase: I finished in 3:53:31, missing a PR by three seconds. THREE SECONDS. If you're thinking "couldn't you have just run a little faster?" the answer is NO! I gave this race MY ALL and had nothing left. In the finishing area three different people asked me if I was okay? did I need help? was I sure? That's how depleted I was. And the other reason I didn't run a little bit faster (aside from I couldn't) was that I had no idea I was even close to my PR. I was just hoping to get under 4:00, and by mile 20, that goal was slipping away - see my splits below:
Mile 1 - 9:10
Mile 2 - 8:23
Mile 3 - 8:20
Mile 4 - 8:35
Mile 5 - 8:15
Mile 6 - 9:07
Mile 7 - 8:12
Mile 8 - 8:58
Mile 9 - 8:17
Mile 10 - 8:35
Mile 11 - 8:44
Mile 12 - 8:43
Mile 13 - 9:10
Mile 14-16 - 26:19
Mile 17 - 9:03
Mile 18 - 9:01
Mile 19 - 9:16
Mile 20 - 9:51
Mile 21 - 9:38
Mile 22 - 9:31
Mile 23 - 9:36
Mile 24 - 9:24
Mile 25 - 9:09
Mile 26 - 8:23
Last 0.2 - 1:39
Finish time - 3:53:31
But it was also around mile 20 or 21 that I found myself running next to a man moving along at a decent pace - one I could sort of keep up with. We ran alongside each other for a couple minutes. He wasn't wearing earphones, so I said "you seem to moving along at a good pace. I'm gonna try keeping up with you." To which he responded "oh, I've been trying to keep up with you!" which was ridiculous. He said "do you think we can finish in under 4 hours?" and immediately I said "I bet we can do it!" even though I was very doubtful. But I was determined to stay with this man, who was somewhere in his mid-50s, had a South African (?) accent, was named Craig, and as I later found out, was running his 5th marathon overall but his 1st marathon since having heart surgery.
At this point we had made the westward turn around mile 21 and were heading straight into 14-17 mph winds. "Why don't you get behind me so I can block the wind for you?" he generously offered. I gratefully accepted. I tucked in behind him, focused on his yellow running shoes, and did my darnedest to hang on. I didn't look up for quite literally the rest of the race (the reason I got my mile splits was because they had painted the mile markers on the road). I just focused on Craig's flying yellow shoes. Somewhere around mile 23 is the long hill over the bridge to Manteo. Honestly, keeping our ~9:35 pace into the wind was so difficult that I thought we had already started the climb. But then Craig said "are you ready for this?" Oh shit. We hadn't even started the hill yet! But I chirped out "yes" and up we went. My gaze stayed down, but I could see us passing people left and right. Periodically he asked how I was doing, and each time I lied "I'm OK."
Around mile 25 Craig said "Oh, you can overtake me now!" Uh, no, no I can't. Readers, check out that time for mile 26. That's right, 8:23. The only reason I was able to do that was I stayed focused on Craig's shoes and let him pull me through (we were out of the headwind by then, but still). I didn't lift my head until after we passed the mile 26 marker. I had only been paying attention to my mile splits, not the overall time, and I was shocked when I saw 3:53 on the clock as we approached the finish. Can you understand now why I just missed a PR? Grrr.
Actually, I should not be frustrated at all. I was following the I-have-no-training-plan training plan, which means I dutifully completed my weekend long runs but just kinda did runs here and there when I felt like it during the week. So, not bad. This race could have easily gone a lot worse. This was marathon #17 for me, but I still have lot to learn about smart racing and pacing. My overall goal pace to achieve my elusive 3:49:59 time goal was 8:46 min/mile. Now take another look at my mile splits. How many of the 26 miles were on this pace? That's right - none. A range of 8:12 to 9:51 on a flat course is pretty poor pacing. But - I guess it's also a good excuse to finally buy a fancy gadget! (hint hint, if you're reading this Sweetie - Christmas is coming up! :))
Oh, and Craig ended up getting a PR by ~5 min and he was doing a lot better than I was at the finish, so that's good. And - I hope she doesn't mind me bragging about her - but Kate set her SECOND marathon PR in as many months, which I think is beyond amazing. It was only ~4 weeks in between the Baltimore Marathon and OBX and she shaved 3 min off her time! Way to go!
Thanks for reading!
