Well, get this out of the way first. I finished in 2:57:17. Way better than I thought I would, and I negative split the course (1:27), on a course that you really aren't supposed to negative split since the first 16 or so miles are downhill. Plus there was a pretty decent headwind the whole way (around 10 to 20 mph). I started off rather conservatively at first, doing around 6:50ish, then after I saw that I hadn't banked enough time at the half (1:29:17), sped thing up to around 6:40 for the non-hills. I didn't think the hills were really all that bad, though I did pass a ton for people after I sped up, and ended up in 981st place. Didn't really feel all that good until I sped up.
My Splits (approximately)
Mile 1: 7:07.6 - intentionally started slow, only mile over 7
Mile 2: 6:38.8 - oops, faster than I had intended
Mile 3: 6:48.8 - better
Mile 4: 6:41.8
Mile 5: 6:53.8
Mile 6: 6:46.7
Mile 7: 6:51.6
Mile 8: 6:53.9
Mile 9: 6:49.5 - in the groove now
Mile 10: 6:54.3
Mile 11: 6:55.6
Mile 12: 6:40.3 - sped up, time to take advantage of the downhills while they are still there
Mile 13: 6:39.4
Mile 14: 6:36.0
Mile 15: 6:45.4
Mile 16: 6:29.8
Mile 17: 6:53.6 - hill
Mile 18: 6:49.3 - some more hills
Mile 19: 6:41.5 - a little more
Mile 20: 6:49.4
Mile 21: 6:52.5 - Heartbreak Hill, no big deal
Mile 22: 6:35.3 - forgot to hit the lap button at first, probably ran faster
Mile 23: 6:41.4
Mile 24: 6:38.2
Mile 25: 6:44.4
Mile 26.2: 7:58.1 (6:38 pace) - didn't see a mile 26 marker and didn't stop watch at finish, a slight guestimate
Finish: 2:57:17 (6:46 pace)
Monday, April 20, 2009
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Pictures!
TCM pictures are in, with some pretty good ones.
Looking pretty happy here, not to be done but to have hit both of my goals.
Yeah, clock went out a couple minutes before I finished. How convenient. . .
Me with my finisher's medal. Kind of looks like the medals they handed out at the Olympics this year. Not too bad, though I still prefer my TCM medal from 2006.
Completely soaked. And I remained that way throughout the rest of the race.
I know I look like I'm in pain, but I'm really not (at least not anymore then I should be after running 26 miles. . .), just determined.
In other news I ran 3 miles yesterday, felt fine. I'm going to come back rather conservatively in hopes of running some races in about a month or so. Plan on 4.6 miles tomorrow.
Looking pretty happy here, not to be done but to have hit both of my goals.
Yeah, clock went out a couple minutes before I finished. How convenient. . .
Me with my finisher's medal. Kind of looks like the medals they handed out at the Olympics this year. Not too bad, though I still prefer my TCM medal from 2006.
Completely soaked. And I remained that way throughout the rest of the race.
I know I look like I'm in pain, but I'm really not (at least not anymore then I should be after running 26 miles. . .), just determined.In other news I ran 3 miles yesterday, felt fine. I'm going to come back rather conservatively in hopes of running some races in about a month or so. Plan on 4.6 miles tomorrow.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Twin Cities Marathon
Well, I guess my first post should be about my greatest running accomplishment to date. . . after 2+ years of work I finally qualified for the Boston Marathon! I hit both of my main goals, first to qualify for Boston, second to finish in 3:05, which I did with a final time of 3:05:27. In addition to that I also ran the whole marathon without walking (a first), never really faded at the end (last mile was 7:03), and essentially finished with negative splits (1:32:41 first half, 1:32:46 second half - including all the hills and inclines). All this in less than optimal conditions: 48 degrees with rain throughout (and at times downpours) and a 15 to 20 mph headwind with gusts to 30, but hey, you can't control the weather. My hands were freezing and almost unusable during a good point of the marathon to the point that I couldn't put stuff into the pockets on the back of my shorts, but hey, at least it wasn't 70+ degrees out.
In general my legs didn't feel all that good, a little bit dead actually, but I did keep a pretty good breathing rhythm. The first half of the race was actually harder for me, I was about ready to resign myself to just getting a 3:10 and hoping that I wouldn't fade too much, but around mile 14 I got into a pretty good groove and was able to cruise on at the end.
My splits:
Mile 1: 7:19.2 - started off with the 3:10 pace group so that I didn't start off too fast. Roads were still slick from the earlier ran and I could feel my feet slipping a little with each stride
Mile 2: 7:13.5 - still with the pace group, but I would drop them shortly and. . .
Mile 3: 6:35.3 - Oops, the mile was a little downhill, but not to the extent that it justifies that time. I prayed that wouldn't bite me in the ass later. Also the rain started up again sometime between mile 2 and 3
Mile 4: 7:21 - Intentionally ran slow to make sure I didn't continue the trend of Mile 3
Mile 5: 6:51.6 - a little fast, but alright
Mile 6: 6:57.8 - About right, rain continues to pick up
Miles 7&8: 13:57.3 (6:58.6) - Missed the mile marker while going through an aid station
Mile 9: 7:07.5 - a little slow, but okay
Mile 10: 6:59.1
Mile 11: 7:12.5 - complete downpour for about 10 minutes. I mumble to myself/anyone around me "you have to be (friking) kidding me." The guy next to me laughs and says "at least it's not hailing." True, true.
Mile 12: 7:15.8 - This is when I resigned myself to running 7:10+ pace for the rest of the race. Also, around this time I have some side/ab pains. Pop a few soggy tylenols and truck on.
Mile 13: 7:08.6
Mile 13.1: 1:32:41 (7:04 pace) - clock said 1:33:xx, so I saw I had at least a little time banked if I started to fade
Mile 14: 7:06.5
Mile 15: 6:58.6 - got my mojo flowing around this point
Mile 16: 7:01.1
Mile 17: 7:00.5
Mile 18: 7:01.3
Mile 19: 6:52.0 - last mile before the rolling hills start. I'm starting to pick off fading runners left and right
Mile 20: 6:54.3 - 2:20:53 (7:03 pace) - once I cross the timing mats the guy next to me and says some congratulatory remarks and shakes my hand. I reply along the lines of: "Now the real race starts."
Mile 21: 6:55.2 - Now the ascent up Summit Hill begins
Mile 22: 7:17.7
Mile 23: 7:21.9 - Finally reach the highest point of the hill, runners are fading all over the pace
Mile 24: 7:11.7 - Not sure I have enough left to really bring the hammer down, so I keep coasting. Can feel my ab/groin thing being a little problematic.
Mile 25: 7:16.0 - It's pretty much all downhill from here (elevation wise that is). Knew the BQ was pretty much in the bag, and a big smile starts to appear across my face
Mile 26: 7:03.2
Mile 26.2: 1:28 (7:20) - Had a runner come up out of nowhere and sprint past me (or perhaps almost sprint by me) at the finish. If he did indeed pass me he was the only one to do so in last 6+ miles.
Finish: 3:05:27 (7:04) - the overhead clock at the finish malfunctioned a few minutes before I crossed, so I won't have a nice little finishing photo with my time overhead, but knew from my watch that I ran 3:05:xx
Overall: 250th place out of 7966 - top 3.1%
Sex: 217 out of 4803 - top 4.5%
Division (M22-29): 83 out of 977 - top 8.5%
I finish and gasp for air a little. My toes practically feel numb, as they did for the last couple miles. After wandering around a bit I have some wonderfully salty potato chips, eventually gather my stuff and find my parents to head home. I avoided most of the post-marathon nausea/GI issues that I usually have, and today, the day after, I don't really feel all that bad.
Unfortunately, since it was raining my parents couldn't get many photos. Hopefully the company that was taking pictures got some good ones. Hopefully those will follow shortly.
Now, on to Boston! (maybe) I originally planned to take 4 weeks off from running, but I've caught the running bug again so I might just get back into running in a few days and hit some of the late fall races. We'll see.
In general my legs didn't feel all that good, a little bit dead actually, but I did keep a pretty good breathing rhythm. The first half of the race was actually harder for me, I was about ready to resign myself to just getting a 3:10 and hoping that I wouldn't fade too much, but around mile 14 I got into a pretty good groove and was able to cruise on at the end.
My splits:
Mile 1: 7:19.2 - started off with the 3:10 pace group so that I didn't start off too fast. Roads were still slick from the earlier ran and I could feel my feet slipping a little with each stride
Mile 2: 7:13.5 - still with the pace group, but I would drop them shortly and. . .
Mile 3: 6:35.3 - Oops, the mile was a little downhill, but not to the extent that it justifies that time. I prayed that wouldn't bite me in the ass later. Also the rain started up again sometime between mile 2 and 3
Mile 4: 7:21 - Intentionally ran slow to make sure I didn't continue the trend of Mile 3
Mile 5: 6:51.6 - a little fast, but alright
Mile 6: 6:57.8 - About right, rain continues to pick up
Miles 7&8: 13:57.3 (6:58.6) - Missed the mile marker while going through an aid station
Mile 9: 7:07.5 - a little slow, but okay
Mile 10: 6:59.1
Mile 11: 7:12.5 - complete downpour for about 10 minutes. I mumble to myself/anyone around me "you have to be (friking) kidding me." The guy next to me laughs and says "at least it's not hailing." True, true.
Mile 12: 7:15.8 - This is when I resigned myself to running 7:10+ pace for the rest of the race. Also, around this time I have some side/ab pains. Pop a few soggy tylenols and truck on.
Mile 13: 7:08.6
Mile 13.1: 1:32:41 (7:04 pace) - clock said 1:33:xx, so I saw I had at least a little time banked if I started to fade
Mile 14: 7:06.5
Mile 15: 6:58.6 - got my mojo flowing around this point
Mile 16: 7:01.1
Mile 17: 7:00.5
Mile 18: 7:01.3
Mile 19: 6:52.0 - last mile before the rolling hills start. I'm starting to pick off fading runners left and right
Mile 20: 6:54.3 - 2:20:53 (7:03 pace) - once I cross the timing mats the guy next to me and says some congratulatory remarks and shakes my hand. I reply along the lines of: "Now the real race starts."
Mile 21: 6:55.2 - Now the ascent up Summit Hill begins
Mile 22: 7:17.7
Mile 23: 7:21.9 - Finally reach the highest point of the hill, runners are fading all over the pace
Mile 24: 7:11.7 - Not sure I have enough left to really bring the hammer down, so I keep coasting. Can feel my ab/groin thing being a little problematic.
Mile 25: 7:16.0 - It's pretty much all downhill from here (elevation wise that is). Knew the BQ was pretty much in the bag, and a big smile starts to appear across my face
Mile 26: 7:03.2
Mile 26.2: 1:28 (7:20) - Had a runner come up out of nowhere and sprint past me (or perhaps almost sprint by me) at the finish. If he did indeed pass me he was the only one to do so in last 6+ miles.
Finish: 3:05:27 (7:04) - the overhead clock at the finish malfunctioned a few minutes before I crossed, so I won't have a nice little finishing photo with my time overhead, but knew from my watch that I ran 3:05:xx
Overall: 250th place out of 7966 - top 3.1%
Sex: 217 out of 4803 - top 4.5%
Division (M22-29): 83 out of 977 - top 8.5%
I finish and gasp for air a little. My toes practically feel numb, as they did for the last couple miles. After wandering around a bit I have some wonderfully salty potato chips, eventually gather my stuff and find my parents to head home. I avoided most of the post-marathon nausea/GI issues that I usually have, and today, the day after, I don't really feel all that bad.
Unfortunately, since it was raining my parents couldn't get many photos. Hopefully the company that was taking pictures got some good ones. Hopefully those will follow shortly.
Now, on to Boston! (maybe) I originally planned to take 4 weeks off from running, but I've caught the running bug again so I might just get back into running in a few days and hit some of the late fall races. We'll see.
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