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Richmond Marathon November 10, 2007<br><br>
Short Version:<br><br>
3:39:08 BQ for 2008 and 2009<br>
49/249 M50-54 AG<br>
679/3783 OA<br>
1st half 1:49:26<br>
2nd half 1:49:42 pretty even!<br><br>
Long Version:<br>
I signed up for the Richmond Marathon last fall when they had a $30 special. Since then I ran and BQ’d (for ’07 and ’0<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"> at Myrtle Beach (3:35:49) in February only to get severe Plantar Faciitis (PF) on my right foot while training for Boston. I not only had to cancel my first Boston but the injury took months of rehab. Richmond was to be a test/training marathon on the path to running Boston in April 2008. My goals were simple:<br>
Run easy or at least safely (injury wise) and..<br>
1. Complete the marathon injury free so I can train for Boston<br>
2. Beat 3:45:59 for a BQ for 2009 (kind of a get out of jail free card)<br>
3. Best case 3:3X:XX<br>
This was my 6th marathon and I have to say, the most enjoyable in terms of the course, crowd support, and the way it was run. Extra special was DW and DD1 came and cheered me on. First time they’ve been to a marathon. We stayed at the Omni, race headquarters whih was right at the finish area… sweet!<br>
Saturday morning was the easiest marathon preparation yet. Up at 3:30 for a banana, bagel with PBJ and honey, Hooh bar and poweraid. Then back to bed til 6:30. Got ready and headed out of the Hotel at 7:30 wearing my throw away jogging outfit and carrying a Tyvek jumpsuit (bought for $1). It was a balmy 45F so I checked my throw aways and donned the Tyvek. Perfect for the breezy morning. Ditched that 5 min before the start and we were off at 8:00 slightly up hill into the wind. Wind was a steady 10 mph, not bad but annoying in spots. I wanted to hit 8:40 and then bring it down gradually and keep HR in 158-162 range. Here’s what happened:<br>
Mile / pace / (HR)<br>
Mile 1: 8:41 (155) perfect but HR was up there already!<br>
Mile 2: 8:35 (163) HR high but this is that uncomfortable first miles.. and uphill a bit<br>
Mile 3: 8:28 (162) OK.. HR going down, pace faster… good<br>
Mile 4: 8:25 (162) stable, heading towards 8:20 (3:40 finish pace)<br>
Mile 5: 8:17 (160) a bit of down, finally feeing good [note first 6 miles rise 150 ft]<br>
Mile 6: 8:17 (160) cool! Feel great!<br>
Mile 7: 7:57 (154) pretty winding downhill.. nice break!<br>
Mile 8: 8:16 (159) very scenic run across a long bridge high above the James River<br>
Mile 9: 8:11 (157) wind down to the river then follow the shore, feeling groovy! Beautiful rapids, waterfalls, woodsy..<br>
Mile10: 8:25 (156) wind uphill at end of mile through wooded road.. pretty<br>
Mile11: 8:29 (159) winding up more then parallel the river from above<br>
Mile12: 8:19 (15<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"> parallel the river (out of sight) pretty flat here<br>
Mile13: 8:12 (15<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"> slight down and rolling<br>
Mile14: 8:10 (156) heading back down towards the river<br>
Mile15: 8:13 (152) good downhill before Lee Bridge<br>
Mile16: 8:26 (15<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"> uphill across bridge directly into 10 mph north wind (shorten up and focus!)<br>
Just beyond mile 16 DW and DD1 shout and wave. Perfect timing! The next miles were tough<br>
Mile17: 8:28 (159) still climbing gradually<br>
Mile18: 8:18 (15<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"> leveled and wind at an angle… 2 more miles til the “no wall”<br>
Mile19: 8:15 (157) pretty level but straight into wind.<br>
It was this mile that I found a Richmond Runners marathon pacer guy with 5 gosslings. I tucked in with them to draft. They were going such a nice pace and heading woards a 3:40 finish so I hung with them Miles 18-24. That was a big help. One of the pace group members e was a guy in my age group trying to BQ with a sub 3:45:59 and he was heading to closer to 3:40.<br>
Mile20: 8:28 (160) wind and hills, hanging with pace group.. “no wall”<br>
Mile21: 8:35 (159) just going the pace groups pace<br>
Mile22: 8:18 (161) feeling good still, no foot or leg issues, not tired<br>
Mile23: 8:21 (161) some uphill, maybe just going with the group flow<br>
Mile24: 8:23 (161) pace group pace. At mile 24 they told the guy trying BQ to go on ahead and he’ll BQ for sure as long as they are behind him. I hung with that guy.<br>
Mile25: 8:41 (164) getting hard! … up hill? Tired?? Still with the BQ guy<br>
Mile26: 8:24 (164) final downhill stretch…. left that BQ guy in the dust.. DD1 and DW cheered me on just past Mile26!<br>
Mile26.2: 7:09… sprint to finish to break 3:40.. did it with spare change! <b>3:39:08</b> BQ for 2009 by almost 7 minutes!<br><br>
No wall, even splits, perfect race. I’m thrilled!<br><br>
There was only one thing better than crossing the finish today and that was being seated at the Cheese Cake Factory following 4 hrs of mall shopping with DW and DD1 and an hour wait to be seated at the restaurant…. NOW my legs are tired <img alt="" src="http://www.coolrunning.com/forums/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;"> So all goals were met, 100%. Foot never complained.. until the 4hrs of mall walking!<br><br>
Thanks for reading!<br><br>
P.S...<br>
FR: blue race ready shorts, white drifit tee, blue/white Asics 2120’s, beige gloves with velcoe water bottle (8 oz) which sticks to the gloves for hands free operation!<br>
Fueling: Poweraid at 2,4,8,12,16, 24. Water+gu+e-cap at 6, 10, 14, 18, 20, 22
Short Version:<br><br>
3:39:08 BQ for 2008 and 2009<br>
49/249 M50-54 AG<br>
679/3783 OA<br>
1st half 1:49:26<br>
2nd half 1:49:42 pretty even!<br><br>
Long Version:<br>
I signed up for the Richmond Marathon last fall when they had a $30 special. Since then I ran and BQ’d (for ’07 and ’0<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"> at Myrtle Beach (3:35:49) in February only to get severe Plantar Faciitis (PF) on my right foot while training for Boston. I not only had to cancel my first Boston but the injury took months of rehab. Richmond was to be a test/training marathon on the path to running Boston in April 2008. My goals were simple:<br>
Run easy or at least safely (injury wise) and..<br>
1. Complete the marathon injury free so I can train for Boston<br>
2. Beat 3:45:59 for a BQ for 2009 (kind of a get out of jail free card)<br>
3. Best case 3:3X:XX<br>
This was my 6th marathon and I have to say, the most enjoyable in terms of the course, crowd support, and the way it was run. Extra special was DW and DD1 came and cheered me on. First time they’ve been to a marathon. We stayed at the Omni, race headquarters whih was right at the finish area… sweet!<br>
Saturday morning was the easiest marathon preparation yet. Up at 3:30 for a banana, bagel with PBJ and honey, Hooh bar and poweraid. Then back to bed til 6:30. Got ready and headed out of the Hotel at 7:30 wearing my throw away jogging outfit and carrying a Tyvek jumpsuit (bought for $1). It was a balmy 45F so I checked my throw aways and donned the Tyvek. Perfect for the breezy morning. Ditched that 5 min before the start and we were off at 8:00 slightly up hill into the wind. Wind was a steady 10 mph, not bad but annoying in spots. I wanted to hit 8:40 and then bring it down gradually and keep HR in 158-162 range. Here’s what happened:<br>
Mile / pace / (HR)<br>
Mile 1: 8:41 (155) perfect but HR was up there already!<br>
Mile 2: 8:35 (163) HR high but this is that uncomfortable first miles.. and uphill a bit<br>
Mile 3: 8:28 (162) OK.. HR going down, pace faster… good<br>
Mile 4: 8:25 (162) stable, heading towards 8:20 (3:40 finish pace)<br>
Mile 5: 8:17 (160) a bit of down, finally feeing good [note first 6 miles rise 150 ft]<br>
Mile 6: 8:17 (160) cool! Feel great!<br>
Mile 7: 7:57 (154) pretty winding downhill.. nice break!<br>
Mile 8: 8:16 (159) very scenic run across a long bridge high above the James River<br>
Mile 9: 8:11 (157) wind down to the river then follow the shore, feeling groovy! Beautiful rapids, waterfalls, woodsy..<br>
Mile10: 8:25 (156) wind uphill at end of mile through wooded road.. pretty<br>
Mile11: 8:29 (159) winding up more then parallel the river from above<br>
Mile12: 8:19 (15<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"> parallel the river (out of sight) pretty flat here<br>
Mile13: 8:12 (15<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"> slight down and rolling<br>
Mile14: 8:10 (156) heading back down towards the river<br>
Mile15: 8:13 (152) good downhill before Lee Bridge<br>
Mile16: 8:26 (15<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"> uphill across bridge directly into 10 mph north wind (shorten up and focus!)<br>
Just beyond mile 16 DW and DD1 shout and wave. Perfect timing! The next miles were tough<br>
Mile17: 8:28 (159) still climbing gradually<br>
Mile18: 8:18 (15<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"> leveled and wind at an angle… 2 more miles til the “no wall”<br>
Mile19: 8:15 (157) pretty level but straight into wind.<br>
It was this mile that I found a Richmond Runners marathon pacer guy with 5 gosslings. I tucked in with them to draft. They were going such a nice pace and heading woards a 3:40 finish so I hung with them Miles 18-24. That was a big help. One of the pace group members e was a guy in my age group trying to BQ with a sub 3:45:59 and he was heading to closer to 3:40.<br>
Mile20: 8:28 (160) wind and hills, hanging with pace group.. “no wall”<br>
Mile21: 8:35 (159) just going the pace groups pace<br>
Mile22: 8:18 (161) feeling good still, no foot or leg issues, not tired<br>
Mile23: 8:21 (161) some uphill, maybe just going with the group flow<br>
Mile24: 8:23 (161) pace group pace. At mile 24 they told the guy trying BQ to go on ahead and he’ll BQ for sure as long as they are behind him. I hung with that guy.<br>
Mile25: 8:41 (164) getting hard! … up hill? Tired?? Still with the BQ guy<br>
Mile26: 8:24 (164) final downhill stretch…. left that BQ guy in the dust.. DD1 and DW cheered me on just past Mile26!<br>
Mile26.2: 7:09… sprint to finish to break 3:40.. did it with spare change! <b>3:39:08</b> BQ for 2009 by almost 7 minutes!<br><br>
No wall, even splits, perfect race. I’m thrilled!<br><br>
There was only one thing better than crossing the finish today and that was being seated at the Cheese Cake Factory following 4 hrs of mall shopping with DW and DD1 and an hour wait to be seated at the restaurant…. NOW my legs are tired <img alt="" src="http://www.coolrunning.com/forums/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;"> So all goals were met, 100%. Foot never complained.. until the 4hrs of mall walking!<br><br>
Thanks for reading!<br><br>
P.S...<br>
FR: blue race ready shorts, white drifit tee, blue/white Asics 2120’s, beige gloves with velcoe water bottle (8 oz) which sticks to the gloves for hands free operation!<br>
Fueling: Poweraid at 2,4,8,12,16, 24. Water+gu+e-cap at 6, 10, 14, 18, 20, 22
