Friday, May 20, 2011
Potomac River Run Marathon Recap
Holy cow, sports fans! 3:00:30 three weeks after my toughest marathon. And a PR by almost a minute. Not bad for a 44 1/2 year old guy.
Sorry for the delay, but better late than never. Going in to the Potomac River Marathon, I wasn't sure if racing two marathons only 3 weeks apart was that smart. Would I be fully recovered from a very difficult Charlottesville? I had done 20 miles on my bike the week before (first time on the bike since last September) and my calfs had been a little sore during the week but were feeling fine race day.
Anyhow, race day came with perfect weather -- mid 50's, slightly overcast. Wore race readies and a singlet (no gloves or hat). My body must have known I did not want to repeat a mid-race pit stop: (pardon the TMI) but I went to the bathroom more times the day before and the morning of than I have EVER gone before. To quote Chris Elliott from Cabin Boy: these pipes are clean!
Moving on, the Potomac River Marathon is a pretty course albeit boring. Canal on one side, Potomac River on the other. Out and back twice along the C&O Canal towpath from Carderock south to just past Chain Bridge. A list of things I did not expect of the towpath: (1) it is harder than I thought -- lots of little rocks, lots of ruts (dried mud), lots of ruts (wet mud and water), (2) though there was little elevation change (only 30 total feet each direction), they occurred at each canal lock where the tow path would drop about 5 or so feet over only about 10 or so feet -- I'm used to the towpath much further upstream where the towpath does not experience such little drops at the locks. These little "hills" weren't so bad except there was loose gravel making the traction a bit awkward.
We started precisely 1 hour into the race -- they have a 6:15 am early bird start, the competitive race starts at 7:15. There is also a half marathon (with both a 6:15 and 7:15 start). The result is a lot of people on the canal at different points in their race and I never really knew who my competition was. Anyhow, off to the start...
Miles 1 - 6.55
I decided to run as flat as I could and I kept a pretty even pace to the first turn around:
6:48, 6:44, 6:46, 6:47, 6:48, 6:46
Not much to write about -- as I said, canal to my left, river to my right, dirt/gravel path in front. The Potomac was still high from the recent rain, so that was pretty neat. There were times when the towpath was on the edge of a little cliff over the raging water (in normal river levels, it would have been shore) so that was cool.
As I said, I had no idea where I was in the race place-wise. Did not know who was running just the Half. As I neared the turn around I started passing the some of the 6:15 starters. At around 4 or 5 miles, I passed my friend Jason (who was coming the other way having already made the first turn around). A 6:15 starter, this was his first marathon. We air-high-fived as we passed.
Anyhow, arrived at the orange cone with the volunteers saying "turn around" and began the second leg.
Miles 6.55 - 13.1
Now I get to do it in reverse and "uphill" -- canal on my right, river on my left/ same dirt/gravel path in front. As with the double loop in Charlottesville, the dual mile markers mocked me -- why could this not be mile 20 instead of mile 7?
From a perceived exertion perspective, I thought I was still running pretty flat: 6:46, 6:49, 6:58, 7:25, 6:39, 6:48, 6:47.
7:25?? WTF?? Between miles 9 and 10, I look at my Garmin. Wait, I can't be running that slowly now. I'm not even halfway. I don't feel like I'm slowing down. I speed up my pace. But my watch shows me getting slower. Now I'm running 8's, wait 10's, wait 12's. Crap - my watch lost signal. Now I have no clue how fast or slow I'm going. I quickly switch the watch to manual lap (for some reason I had decided to start the race with my watch on auto-lap). Anyhow, my Garmin did regain signal but credited me withh a 7:25. As you can see, the next mile was a 6:39 -- way too fast, but I thought I was running way to slow. I cursed the wasted energy I expended unneccessarily.
Anyhow, about halfway back (or maybe a bit more), I passed Jason again (this time paced by his wife Rahel who ran her first marathon last year at Marine Corps. She was running the last half with him. By the way, she was in Jordana's pace group).
I neared the second turn around at the halfway point, identified who I thought was leading from the 7:15 start, and determined I was in...wait for it...second place. Wow. That was an ego boost (as if passing more and more 6:15 starters wasn't ego boost enough).
I hit the halfway point at about 1:29, giving me about a minute to spare if I wanted to break 3 hours.
Miles 13.1 - 19.65
As I began the second out and back, I started to feel my legs getting tired. I started thinking maybe 3 weeks wasn't enough recovery time. Nevertheless, I still kept a pretty flat pace, although you can see a slight downward drift: 6:43, 6:48, 6:52, 6:55, 6:57, 6:58.
About half a mile before the last turn around, I was passed by two runners who I assumed were in the 7:15 start with me. I had already seen the first place runner, so now I was in fourth. I imagined a rope connecting myself with those runners and kept up with them as we rounded the final turn.
I knew I would need to hit that turn before 2:15 to break 3 hours. I think my watch read 2:14:30 or so, so my cushion was down to 30 seconds. I began to doubt whether sub-3 was doable given my depleting energy levels.
Miles 19.65 to the Finish
The invisible cord connecting me to the other runners got longer and longer. I felt spent. I struggled to keep pace: 6:46, 6:57, 6:59, 7:07, 6:51, 6:59, 7:03, and 6:25 (final quarter mile).
With about 4 miles to go, I passed Jason and Rahel: "Only 4 miles to go and you've run your first marathon" I shouted. "You're a blur, brother!" came the response.
I ate my last GU (literally my last GU, one had dropped off my race belt somewhere) passed a water station and felt much better. I also noticed that I was gaining ground quickly on the runner who I thought was in 3rd place. I looked at my watch and my tired brain calculated I was running a 3:01 or 3:02 marathon. I felt a second wind coming and decided I had to go for broke.
At the 23 mile mark, with little over 5K to go, I found another gear I did not think my legs had in them. I passed the third place runner and took his place in 3rd. From a perceived exertion, I thought I was flying. I dug down deep and just ran as hard as I could. Sub 3 was going to be close, running a PR would be close.
I passed mile 25 -- 1 and 1/4 mile to go. I kept pumping my arms and legs. My left calf started to twinge. "Not now" I yelled, and the twinge went away. Another 1/4 mile. My right calf started to twinge. "NO!" I yelled. Another 1/4 mile. My left calf started cramping. I kept running through the burning pain and the cramp stopped. I passed the mile 26 mark -- I could see the finish. Both calves were cramping but I was not going to stop. The pain dissipated as my weary eyes saw Jordana at the finish along with my middle kid. What a pleasant and unexpected surprise. I sprinted through the finish looked up at the clock, looked down at my watch. "Did you break 3?" I heard Jordana call as she ran to me. I shook my head, no. "3:00:30" I said "so close. But I PRed"
As it turned out, I finished 4th. There was another runner ahead of the runner I thought was in first. Numbers 1 and 2 both went sub-3. The other guy that passed me (but I never passed) finished in an even more tantalizing 3:00:05. The guy I re-passed finished around 3:01 something. But I did win the masters (over 40).
My friend Jason finished with a 4:13 -- excellent time for a first-timer. Jordana and I created another running couple in our circle of friends!!
Final Thoughts
To be totally honest, I am not at all disappointed with my time. I knew sub-3 would be a stretch that soon after the hills of Charlottesville. So I was totally floored that I broke my old PR by almost a minute. I finished higher overall than I ever placed before (4th out of 203, 4th out of 120 males, 1st place masters). And I'm on the cusp of sub-3. I ran a 3:05 on a tough course and three weeks later ran a 3:00:30. And this coming off a major injury. So I am totally pleased and very happy.
Next up...Eagleman 70.3 (half ironman) on June 12 (what the hell was I thinking??)
Next marathon? Marine Corps in October and maybe Rehoboth again in December. With Jordana coaching the first time marathon program, I'll be training with the XMP (experienced marathon program -- Jordana has done that one the past 4 years, so this will be another shared experience for us - yay!!). If Boston Bound got me this close to sub-3, I'm thinking XMP will carry me over the edge.
So there you have it, race fans. Until next post...
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