This is a fairly long. If you are only interested in the race report – Click Here. For those interested in the color commentary – you can start at the top!
The Journey –
The weekend began with an easy early morning 4 mile run in Northport, NY. It felt good to get out and run off some of the building nervous energy. About 2 miles into the run I crossed paths with my friend Jim from the running club and we finished off together. My wife and two of the three kids hopped in the car around 9am for the 8 hour drive to Burlington, VT. My other daughter is in California finishing up her freshman year in college. We took the ferry across Long Island Sound and drove, uneventfully, through Connecticut and Massachusetts and eventually into Vermont. For those of you that haven’t been to Vermont it really is something you should do. It truly is one of the most beautiful spots in the country.
We arrived in Burlington around 5: 15 and went to the hotel. The kids were a bit stir crazy and headed immediately to the indoor swimming pool while I headed to the expo to pick up the race number and chip. The expo was typical. Lots of vendors and lots of impatient runners doing anything to kill time before the race begins. The volunteers were really well organized (throughout the entire weekend) and getting the registered was a breeze. After the kids got out of the pool we headed into downtown Burlington to check things out and load up on the carbs. It is a funky little town - very much a college town with a funky feel to it. Would like to spend some more time there. We stumbled upon a pasta place where the food was excellent with massive portions. Enough for dinner both Friday and Saturday nights.
Saturday
Got up early on Saturday morning. Got the kids up and headed up for a 2 mile run to the start of the kids run (the “YAM Scram”. Sarona and the kids arrived shortly after and she was able to get the kids registered for the run despite some snafu with the online registration. The kids had a great time. Jack ran his first race ever (1/2 mile) and Fiona completed her third official race (1 miler). She lined up right in front and proudly wore her Dodgers hat – she was ready for action. I am proud to report that she set a PR for the mile at 9:30. Both kids received medals and shirts and enjoyed the post-race activities.
Yam Scram
YAM Scram
After some clean-up we headed off to the Ben and Jerry’s plant and learned how to make (and consume) ice cream - Cherry Garcia, specifically. We also toured a local Cider press and country store. By that time, however, the travel, running, and activities began to take its toll on Jack and he was running a bit of a fever – so we headed back to hotel for dinner and rest. We watched a movie and played some games. Went to bed around 9:30 – but Jack wasn’t doing well so I was up and down several times during the night. As I lay in bed struggling to sleep. I hoped this wasn’t a sign of things to come.
Sunday – the race
The wake-up call came at 5:30 and I was up quickly. Ate a bannana, half a bagel with peanut butter, 16 oz of gatorade, 1/2 cup of coffee, and some sports beans. Got dressed and read a for a while as I waited for, uh, how shall I say it? Things to get, er, moving…
Woke the family around 6:30 said prayers and good-byes and headed off to catch the 6:45 bus to the start. It is fun to watch how different people deal with nerves. There are the talkative types who will engage with everyone about anything just to make the time pass. There are the solitary types with ear phones plugged into their ears, gazing down counting cracks in the pavement, and those in-between. I was one of the ‘tweeners’ today. Talking a little, visualizing my race, in prayer.
Met a first timer from Albany at the starting line and we talked about nothing for the hour prior to the race. It was nice to help the time pass. Didn’t catch his last name so I am not sure how he did.
The race started very close to on time. Estimates are 2800 marathoners and about 6000 relay runners. I lined up with the 4:30 pace group because it was too congested to get up to the 4:00 hour group. I regret this now as I lost a good 40 seconds during the first mile.
It had been raining a light rain for about an hour when the gun finally went off. It took just under 2 minutes for me to cross the starting line after the gun (horn, whatever) went off. The streets of Burlington are quite narrow and it took a LONG time to get much above a walking pace. I had planned to run the first mile slightly slower than pace to ensure I didn’t go out too fast, but this was silly. I resisted the urge to cut in and out of slower runners to get ahead because I knew I would need the extra energy later in the race – but it was very frustrating to start so slow. It started to spread out a little in mile 2 and by mile 3 there was enough room that I was able to find my pace. These miles were run in some great Burlington neighborhoods. Rolling hills, with sporadic, but enthusiastic, crowd support. Mile 4 returned to the downtown area where there was a ton of crowd support and the field was sufficiently spread at this time allowing runners to pace to the best of their ability.
Splits :
| 1 |
0:09:50 |
| 2 |
0:09:05 |
| 3 |
0:08:58 |
| 4 |
0:08:48 |
| 5 |
0:08:46 |
Leaving downtown again we headed out to highway 127. I think this is the first time I have ever run on a freeway! It was raining pretty steadily at this point and there were a lot of potholes which made it a total splash-fest. Shirt and shorts were soaked and so were my feet. I was worried about blisters but non had formed yet. I did notice that the tip of my right shoe was red – blood, but no pain. The highway was a nice downhill into a really beautiful valley. Picturesque Vermont. Lots of trees, great rock formations on the side of the road. My pace was solid and I was making up some of the lost time from the starting miles. We were heading towards a hairpin turn at mile 6 so we saw some of the faster runners, including the leaders. I really enjoyed seeign the other runners – motivating.
I began to feel some discomfort in my left quad at mile 7 or 8. Not a cramp – but some tight pain. Nothing terrible. On the way off the highway we had to run up the hill we had come down earlier. I repeated over and over in my head “EVEN EFFORT” during the steady climb. Not so bad. This put us back into the downtown area again at mile 9 where I saw the family with the goofy signs with my picture on one side and Go Dad on the other. Easy to spot, motivating, and brought a smile to my face each time. Quad still hurts - on pace.
Goofy Marathon Sign
Splits:
| 6 |
0:08:47 |
| 7 |
0:08:52 |
| 8 |
0:09:08 |
| 9 |
0:09:00 |
| 10 |
0:08:41 |
Leaving downtown again towards Southern Burlington. The rain had picked up a bit and lots of puddles. Very wet. These were good miles. Small rolling hill and/or flat all the time. I am right on pace and feeling good other than my quad. Crowd support was good – neighborhoods were beautiful. Very focussed at this point: breathing – check, pace – check, muscles – check. All good.
Heading back towards town, much of the run was on a bike / walking path. It was a little narrow and some chose to walk. There were even some going the wrong way. This was a little frustrating as those of us trying to keep pace were forced to zig-zag a bunch. This placed us back in town at the base of Battery street – a steep hill called “Assault on Battery”. At the base of the hill were Taiko (sp?) drummers – probably 20 of them and hundreds (thousands?) of people cheering. It was awesome. Back to my mantra (“EVEN EFFORT”), I took to the hill. Not sure if it was the drums, the crowd, or the fact that where I live there is no way to avoid running hills, but I cranked up the hill. Felt strong and not at all winded. Passed a ton of people and saw my family at the top. Feeling great -the pain in the quad is gone and so is the rain!
Splits:
| 11 |
0:09:03 |
| 12 |
0:08:51 |
| 13 |
0:08:42 |
| 14 |
0:08:56 |
| 15 |
0:08:57 |
The next miles are the ones that I worried about. In the 2007 LA Marathon this is where the wheels came off. I redoubled my focus, said a prayer, and kept repeating “Even Effort”. The run took us North of Burlington through some commercial, but mostly residential areas. I felt surprisingly strong and steady. The sun had come out and, although a little humid now, it was turning into a great day. The course is a little zig-zagy here through the neighborhoods, but it allowed us to see other runners ahead of us again and it was really nice. The best part though was that I am keeping to my plan – on pace – without pain.
Splits:
| 16 |
0:09:09 |
| 17 |
0:08:58 |
| 18 |
0:08:43 |
| 19 |
0:08:55 |
| 20 |
0:09:04 |
I thought about walking at mile 20 – because I made it without incident and thought it would do me good for the last miles – but decided against it. I told myself that I had six one mile races remaining. Each was to be done in 9 minutes and I would evaluate walking after each mini-race. The sun was out and it was warm but manageable. Miles 21 and 22 went by without incident. I was surprised. Mile 23 came hard. Legs, arms, and head were all heavy. “even effort”, I repeated, this time, aloud.
I thought about walking at this point but was worried that it would be tough to start again. This was mind over matter time for me. I was out of fuel and tired. Time for will power. Mile 24 and 25 were about the same – but I was keeping pace. I thought back to some of the advice I get on RWOL (when you get tired, run with your arms, your legs will follow). I exaggerated my arm swings and kept the legs in motion. Mile 26.
I could now see the park where the race would finish. I was hurting but slowing or walking were not options at this point. I was still passing people at this point. In fact, the race stats indicate that, after the halfway point, I passed 348 people and was only passed by 5! I feel pretty good about that. For no explicable reason, my Garmin lost signal at this point (25.75 miles). I lost pace and distance. It was clear as can be – no trees, nothing. Frustrating.
I entered the park and could see the finish line – but it is a mirage. You see, in order to finish you run past the finish line, down the boardwalk, hard U-turn and back to the finish. CRUEL. I started my kick too early but managed to keep it going until the end. I saw the family with the goofy signs right before the turn. Home free. Crossed the line at 3:59 and change. That is gun time – chip time was 3:57:33, a PR for me.
Splits:
| 21 |
0:08:54 |
| 22 |
0:08:49 |
| 23 |
0:09:08 |
| 24 |
0:09:03 |
| 25 |
0:09:06 |
26 – Garmin died
Interesting side note: I think I ran about 26.45 miles instead of 26.2. Each mile marker was about .15-.20 miles farther than Garmin and judging by Garmin’s pace indicators I would have run slightly faster than my official time. I wish I would have kept signal so I could know for sure. But in any event I am thrilled with my time. I reached my goal of sub-4 and am contemplating my next goal.
Ready for the next one
I would recommend this race to anyone. It is well organized, beautiful, and challenging. Thanks for a great experience. I will be back!
I am very tired this week – all of this feels like a lot of work. Maybe staying up till 1am watching Lakers is not condusive to running???
