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Executive Summary: on marathon #10 I finally (almost) got it right<br><br>
The good: 3:21:11, a 5+ minute PR, almost even splits<br>
The bad: tight water stops & headwinds later in the race<br>
The ugly: missing a trip to Boston by 12 seconds…<br><br>
Quick history: 9 previous marathons, all with some element of crash and burn to them – even my old PR of 3:26 was a blown attempt at a 3:15 with a 9 minute positive split. I’d done pretty well at the shorter distances, but putting together a good 26.2 race had eluded me.<br><br>
I ran Long Beach about 7-8 weeks earlier, but fell off pace ~ mile 17 (to yet another embarrassingly large positive split). I had been dealing with some on-going ab/groin strain issue. I decided that LB was just a 26.2 mile training run and I’d head up to CIM to get it done. That would give me enough time for a couple weeks to recover, a couple weeks of solid training and a couple weeks to taper.<br><br>
I focused on fast finishes in all my long runs. I did my best to hit all of Pfitz’s speedwork as well. I also tried to do some extra training runs at marathon pace as well.<br><br>
Onward to Sacramento: The wife, kids & I flew up to Sac on Friday late morning. We headed over to the expo as soon as they opened on Friday afternoon. All I’m looking for in an expo is the ability to grab my stuff without waiting in a long line - no problems at all for CIM. Since it was CIM’s 25th year, they had really nice tech shirts and fancy tote bags too. The kids had a good time playing eating Gu & Clif bar samples, drinking Gatorade and playing in all the cars on display.<br><br>
Pre-race dinner: We meet up with fellow PRTers RocketPack, Ribsey & Roots at a perfect neighborhood Italian place. We made our plans for race day. RP & Ribz would be out on the course on their bikes. Roots would meet me ~ mile 19 and do his best to help keep me moving along.<br><br>
Race morning: CIM is a point-to-point race, so I have to catch a bus from my hotel at 5:15 AM. I get little sleep the night before. Despite trying to get to bed by 10:30, I seem to remember being up every hour until 1:30. I make it down to the bus without any problem. The weather is looking good, a little chilly prior to sunrise (but at least 10 degrees warmer than when I ran the race in 2005).<br><br>
We arrive at start (Folsom Dam) and I head for the sea of porta-potties. The lines are nice and short (save for those right next to the bus drop off area). About 15 minutes before the gun, I take off my warm clothes and drop them off at the gear check truck. I keep an extra sweatshirt as a throw away, but it is warm enough that I don’t even need it.<br><br>
I went back and forth on whether or not to wear my Forerunner. My biggest issue was that I knew it would measure the course long (hills, tangents, etc.), thus give me inaccurate pace info (too slow) and drive me a little crazy. I chose to go with just my watch and a pace wrist band. I also wisely chose to bring a water bottle with me so I don’t have to hassle at the first few water stops.<br><br>
I line up with the 3:20 pace group (~7:38 per mile) and the gun goes off shortly thereafter. The start is a little crowded, but there is enough room for everyone. CIM is known for being a fast course with a net drop of ~320 feet, but there are plenty of hills in the first 18+ miles. The course rolls up and down.<br><br>
As always, my biggest fear is going out too fast. The 3:20 pacer gets us to mile 1 in ~ 7:52 which is just perfect for me. We settle in and start clicking off the miles, I make sure I’m not going too fast. I hit the half way mark in 1:40:04 almost perfect.<br><br>
The wind starts to kick up as we hit the second half of the course – nothing I can do about it. I do my best to get water and/or sports drink at most every stop. In general, I find the water stops are just too short, thus slow and crowded (which is my only knock on the entire race).<br><br>
After the half I see RP and Ribz on their bikes. They cheer me on, take some pics and offer to take any clothes I may want to ditch. I hit a bit of a rough patch between miles 16 – 18, but I know Roots will be there once I hit mile 19 so I keep on moving.<br><br>
At ~ 18.5 I find Roots. It’s great to see a friendly face. We fight some tough headwinds, but I try my best to keep moving. The 3:20 group seems to be speeding up, so I let them go on ahead. I start to fade a bit during miles 22-24, but Roots does his best to keep me going. I know the 3:20 is going to be tough now, but I don’t lose any sleep over it.<br><br>
I focus on picking people off and picking up the pace for mile 25. Once I start mile 26, I really pick up the pace. A quick glance at my watch and I know I’m going to really need to work hard to get in under 3:20:59. I start to give it all I’ve got and head for the finish line. I cross in 3:21:11. Oh well - too little, too late.<br><br>
Half splits were 1:40:04/1:41:07<br><br>
Final stats:<br><br>
OA: 683/4743 – behind 15%<br>
Men: 519/2831 – behind 19%<br>
AG: 120/493 – behind 25%<br><br>
The aftermath: Believe it or not, I’m not all the concerned about those 12 seconds. This was only my second time breaking 3:34 (the other was my PR). I’m fired up to recover and then get back out there to run a negative split. Going into to CIM I thought I could hit my BQ, but I wasn’t really sure. Now I know I can run faster than 3:20 and I know I can run negative splits.<br><br>
In closing, what race report is complete without the mandatory clichés? <i>I ran my race and I left it all out on the course.</i><br><br>
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it…
The good: 3:21:11, a 5+ minute PR, almost even splits<br>
The bad: tight water stops & headwinds later in the race<br>
The ugly: missing a trip to Boston by 12 seconds…<br><br>
Quick history: 9 previous marathons, all with some element of crash and burn to them – even my old PR of 3:26 was a blown attempt at a 3:15 with a 9 minute positive split. I’d done pretty well at the shorter distances, but putting together a good 26.2 race had eluded me.<br><br>
I ran Long Beach about 7-8 weeks earlier, but fell off pace ~ mile 17 (to yet another embarrassingly large positive split). I had been dealing with some on-going ab/groin strain issue. I decided that LB was just a 26.2 mile training run and I’d head up to CIM to get it done. That would give me enough time for a couple weeks to recover, a couple weeks of solid training and a couple weeks to taper.<br><br>
I focused on fast finishes in all my long runs. I did my best to hit all of Pfitz’s speedwork as well. I also tried to do some extra training runs at marathon pace as well.<br><br>
Onward to Sacramento: The wife, kids & I flew up to Sac on Friday late morning. We headed over to the expo as soon as they opened on Friday afternoon. All I’m looking for in an expo is the ability to grab my stuff without waiting in a long line - no problems at all for CIM. Since it was CIM’s 25th year, they had really nice tech shirts and fancy tote bags too. The kids had a good time playing eating Gu & Clif bar samples, drinking Gatorade and playing in all the cars on display.<br><br>
Pre-race dinner: We meet up with fellow PRTers RocketPack, Ribsey & Roots at a perfect neighborhood Italian place. We made our plans for race day. RP & Ribz would be out on the course on their bikes. Roots would meet me ~ mile 19 and do his best to help keep me moving along.<br><br>
Race morning: CIM is a point-to-point race, so I have to catch a bus from my hotel at 5:15 AM. I get little sleep the night before. Despite trying to get to bed by 10:30, I seem to remember being up every hour until 1:30. I make it down to the bus without any problem. The weather is looking good, a little chilly prior to sunrise (but at least 10 degrees warmer than when I ran the race in 2005).<br><br>
We arrive at start (Folsom Dam) and I head for the sea of porta-potties. The lines are nice and short (save for those right next to the bus drop off area). About 15 minutes before the gun, I take off my warm clothes and drop them off at the gear check truck. I keep an extra sweatshirt as a throw away, but it is warm enough that I don’t even need it.<br><br>
I went back and forth on whether or not to wear my Forerunner. My biggest issue was that I knew it would measure the course long (hills, tangents, etc.), thus give me inaccurate pace info (too slow) and drive me a little crazy. I chose to go with just my watch and a pace wrist band. I also wisely chose to bring a water bottle with me so I don’t have to hassle at the first few water stops.<br><br>
I line up with the 3:20 pace group (~7:38 per mile) and the gun goes off shortly thereafter. The start is a little crowded, but there is enough room for everyone. CIM is known for being a fast course with a net drop of ~320 feet, but there are plenty of hills in the first 18+ miles. The course rolls up and down.<br><br>
As always, my biggest fear is going out too fast. The 3:20 pacer gets us to mile 1 in ~ 7:52 which is just perfect for me. We settle in and start clicking off the miles, I make sure I’m not going too fast. I hit the half way mark in 1:40:04 almost perfect.<br><br>
The wind starts to kick up as we hit the second half of the course – nothing I can do about it. I do my best to get water and/or sports drink at most every stop. In general, I find the water stops are just too short, thus slow and crowded (which is my only knock on the entire race).<br><br>
After the half I see RP and Ribz on their bikes. They cheer me on, take some pics and offer to take any clothes I may want to ditch. I hit a bit of a rough patch between miles 16 – 18, but I know Roots will be there once I hit mile 19 so I keep on moving.<br><br>
At ~ 18.5 I find Roots. It’s great to see a friendly face. We fight some tough headwinds, but I try my best to keep moving. The 3:20 group seems to be speeding up, so I let them go on ahead. I start to fade a bit during miles 22-24, but Roots does his best to keep me going. I know the 3:20 is going to be tough now, but I don’t lose any sleep over it.<br><br>
I focus on picking people off and picking up the pace for mile 25. Once I start mile 26, I really pick up the pace. A quick glance at my watch and I know I’m going to really need to work hard to get in under 3:20:59. I start to give it all I’ve got and head for the finish line. I cross in 3:21:11. Oh well - too little, too late.<br><br>
Half splits were 1:40:04/1:41:07<br><br>
Final stats:<br><br>
OA: 683/4743 – behind 15%<br>
Men: 519/2831 – behind 19%<br>
AG: 120/493 – behind 25%<br><br>
The aftermath: Believe it or not, I’m not all the concerned about those 12 seconds. This was only my second time breaking 3:34 (the other was my PR). I’m fired up to recover and then get back out there to run a negative split. Going into to CIM I thought I could hit my BQ, but I wasn’t really sure. Now I know I can run faster than 3:20 and I know I can run negative splits.<br><br>
In closing, what race report is complete without the mandatory clichés? <i>I ran my race and I left it all out on the course.</i><br><br>
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it…
