This was my first marathon. Had goals of:
Long and drawn out version
Went to Columbus with two of my running friends who were not in the marathon. They were coming up strickly for support (and to drag my sorry butt home after the race:-)). Didn't get in until 6pm so I missed all the encounters going on. I didn't even see a single dead the entire race :-( We went straight to the expo to pick up my race number and for Steve and Jeff to register for the 5K being run 15 min. after the start of the marathon. Pretty small expo but they had lots of cool stuff really cheap. I picked up a Columbus Marathon sweatshirt for $9 and a long sleve coolmax shirt for $15. Both my friends found new shoes (last years Nikes and Sauconys) for $25. After the expo we went to Uno's for veggie pizza and a pre-race beer - just one. Went back to the hotel where we played cards for a while and then I tried to sleep - a pretty fruitless effort.
Got up Sunday morning at 6, dressed and had bagels and cereal at the hotel. Headed downtown by 7:15 which turned out to be way earlier than we needed. There was no traffic out, parking was great and the race started right near the expo center so we could hang out inside till race start.
On to the race: I lined up with the 9 min pace people. The plan was to run a 9 min pace through mile 15 and then speed up as much as I could for the rest of the race. In reality I averaged about an 8:50 or so through 17 and then slowed down about 15 - 20 secs per mile. My race was really broken into three separate runs (and not the 10/10/6.2 I had envisioned). The first 17 miles were really a breeze. I ran a 10 min first mile (just bunched up in the starting crowd) and two other 10 min miles (each one included a pee break). All the other miles were mostly under 9 minutes. The course layout was a cloverleaf so I got to see my support team at miles 13, 23 and the finish. They said I looked like I had just started running when I saw them at mile 13 - and I felt that good too. Best part of the race happened around mile 5. I heard someone say they were from Cincinnati, so I moved up to talk to him. Turns out this guy lives 3 miles away from me and has been running most of the same training routes I do. He had just run Detroit three weeks ago in 4:35 and was looking to break 4 hours in this run. We stayed together the entire race (until he had some gas at 25 and beat me by two min). I don't think I could have managed the 4 hour goal without this new partner. Funny thing was we didn't even get each others names until after the finish line. Ain't running great! Back to the race: At 17 my legs, hips and feet really started to get sore and I felt my pace falling off. Someone told me that Advil can help later in the race so I brought some along. Took three of them at 17 and by mile 20 I was back under 9 min miles. Things weren't real easy to this point but we were still talking, yelling to the crowds and having a good time. At mile 23 you come back into downtown but have to head back out for the last 3 mile leaf of the course. This is where things really got tough for me. Mile splits didn't drop off too bad, but I was really hurting. New strategy was to walk an extra 15 or 20 secs at each water stop which gave me just enough juice to get to the finish. At mile 24 we could see the finish area but it seemed like an eternity away. The volunteers were tremdous though - they knew that if I could keep my legs moving I could break 4 hours and every one of them told me so. Even a cop yelled that I had four hours in the bag. Still, I felt like I was scraping my butt on the ground that last mile. A little past 26 I could make out the finish clock--3:59:08, and it seemed like I was forever away! Dug as deep as I could and managed to get my legs moving just a little faster and finished with an astonishing, crowd pleasing 3:59:27--an entire 33 seconds under my goal! I was a happy camper!!! I immediately felt the 45 degree temps that I hadn't noticed a min earlier. The volunteers wrapped me in two heat blankets and after about five mins I felt ok. Met up with my support team and we walked all of two blocks back to the expo center (where it was *warm*) and had a light lunch. Man what an experience! What a great course to run your first marathon on! This morning walking down steps is an experience of an entirely different sort ;-)
Announcer: Tom, now that you've firmly established yourself as a middle of the pack marathoner with your stunning 3:59:27 time, beating everyone in back of you, what are you going to do?
Tom: I'm going to Walt Disney World on January 11 to run the WDW marathon of course ;-)
My mile splits (just in case anyone other than me care about these things) follows:
| 1-10:00 | 2-8:52 | 3-9.06 | 4-8:49 | 5-10:00 | 6-8:56 |
| 7-8:54 | 8-8:45 | 9-8.55 | 10-8:49 | 11-8:47 | 12-8:50 |
| 13-9:57 | 14-8:45 | 15-8.52 | 16-8:31 | 17-9:00 | 18-9:20 |
| 19-9:24 | 20-8:40 | 21-8.55 | 22-9:29 | 23-9:23 | 24-9:13 |
| 25-9:37 | 26-9:26 | 26.2-2.00 | |||