 posted Nov-11-2007 08:21 PM
   
Friday I found myself driving to the Expo of the Richmond Marathon and the opportunity to meet Tramps and Perchcreek. It had been a year since I committed to running this Marathon as my first. The very fact I was running could be debated. A month ago I posted a thread asking whether you thought I was ready to run under less than ideal preparation conditions. I appreciated ALL your responses and could honestly see the validity to the opinions. For each of you, I say "Thanks". BOOMER MEETING As agreed upon, Tramps, Perchcreek, Perchcreek's DW and DD1, and I met at the Expo and then took off to one of the many restaurants/pubs that are located in the downtown area of historic Richmond. What a great time we had. Tramps and Perchcreek are really great guys. We told stories, filled in a bit of our individual histories, and then shared our aspirations for the Marathon the next day. It was interesting to hear first hand, the influence that Tory has had in the running career of Perchcreek. It was evident that the whole family has an deserved affection for this family pet. Here are a couple of pictures that compliment the ones that Tramps already has posted in his race report. In this one, I think Tramps is showing Perchcreek the short cut that goes from Mile 17 right over to Mile 25, saving them 8 miles.
 Here are (from left to right) Tramps, Perchcreek, and Vista
 RACE DAY FORECAST
For Tramps and Perchcreek, the mid 40 to 50 degree temperature was just about perfect weather. Personally I enjoy slightly warmer weather, but this was definitely acceptable conditions. FASHIONLESS REPORT
No one was going to see me who knew me so the weather dictated what I was going to wear for the day. Mainly for warmth, I put on two layers of shirts with a black sweatshirt on top. My two layers of shorts were covered by the legendary "swish-swish" nylon long pants. Long socks for warmth, New Balance shoes, a black hat, and my Garmin 305 rounded out the racing attire. GOALS
I arrived at the parking lot before the race with a printed map of the course. I had marked it indicating where all the water stops, portajohns, gel stations, and junk food stops were. I also had starred where music was supposed to be playing as well as the "party zones". If it was happening on the course, I wanted to know about it. I also shaded the areas for elevation inclines and declines. Also on this sheet were my goals. For days I had reflected on various ideas but it was only as I sat in my truck prior to the start, that I wrote them down. I used a 20 week training program that asked for 600 miles to be run during that period of time. I ran the most number of miles for any 20 week period for me, but for various reasons i was still short by about 180 miles. This meant I had only really completed 70% of the suggested program. (How DO some of you people get in the number of miles that you do? I am amazed at some of you for the number of miles that you get in.) This lack of miles was a concern for me, SO....my goals were: 1. Have fun
2. Run within my condition
3. Stop running if I realized I was having health problems
4. Finish the race
5. AIM for any time less than 6 hours....hoping for a 5:43:21
6. Start SLOW
7. Drink at every water station On the back of my map I had several time charts for finish times, ranging from 13:06 minutes (5:43:21 time) to 14 minutes (6:07:00 time). I was confident my time was going to be in this range. Most of my longer training runs had ranged at the 13 minute pace. I had done three longer runs (per your suggestions) of 20 miles (13:25 pace), 22.2 miles (13:31 pace) and 16.2 miles (12:45 pace). I did have my Ten Miler race in there which was done in a 10:55 pace. On my map I had written:
GOAL = No miles over 14 minutes / No miles under 12 minutes THE RACE
I was in the third corral and got there about 5 minutes before the race start. Immediately behind me was a group of 5 women, all "dressed to impress". As they stood there, one of them suddenly said......"My Garmin is dead". All of the women had Forerunner 305 watches but none of them had any idea of how to reset the unit. I was able to help the damsel in distress by hitting the sequence of lap/reset and mode buttons. For this I got a "you get a hug" from the thankful lady. The satillites loaded JUST in time for the race start. Miles 1-5 FRESH
I had with me a list of 40 words starting with the letter "F" that I decided to focus on along the way. For these first five miles "FRESH" would be the word. I had wanted to start slow but the crowd dictated much of the speed here. However, the thoughts about time totally left my attention as I enjoyed the crowd and the excitement that was in the air. As I approached the first mile marker I realized I was WAY too fast. I slowed down to avoid going under the 12 minute pace that I had decided was going to be too fast. My time? 12:06 but I felt great. Mile two was more of the same and something happened that TOTALLY affected my race plan. I did that mile in 11:58. The significance here was that I now had already broken the goal of not going under 12 minutes for ANY mile. Since I am a stickler for making a plan and sticking to it, this caused me to revisit my thinking. I now realize that if I had not gone under the 12 minute goal by those 2 seconds, I would have missed a great race opportunity for the sake of sticking to my plan. At mile three the crowd thinned out and I still easily moved along (11:28). At this stage I had to make a decision. Would I continue to put in these lower times knowing that I would pay for it in the end? Or should I slow down and make sure that I would finish. This debate and thought process went along for the next few miles There were plenty of things to occupy my mind during this time. These were used to distract me from some of the pace issues. A large billboard sized sign appeared on the corner of one of the beautiful housing areas. It asked the question "How many marathons has dad/granddad run?" The answer was "All 30" He is one of 5 runners to complete all 30 of the Richmond Marathons. That was neat to see what his family had done for him. At about mile 3, I was marveling at all of the shirts, pants, gloves, hats, ear muffs, sweat shirts and jackets that were discarded on the side of the road. My thoughts were of the great waste this was until I saw a lady, obviously living off the street, who was picking through the shirts and holding them up while exclaiming "Oh this will work for my son all winter". I felt so moved by the picture that I even considered taking one of the shirts off my back to give to her. If it hadn't been for the fact I had only picked it up during that last mile, I probably would have. (Of course I am joking about that part of it) Anyway, I made the decision that I was going to run easily while I was FRESH and then see how I felt when I started getting tired for adjusting my times. Miles 6-7 FANFARE
The Richmond organizers and Richmonders did a great job of hosting the race. There was plenty of fanfare along the way.
One woman was on side of the road offering the use of her bathroom to anyone needing one. Her winning offer made in a loud voice said...."I have plenty of toilet paper" During these miles just as we crossed the bridge over the James River there were huge amounts of supporters and music. This happened just prior to a stage where there would not be much fan contact due to the course going through a wooded area. It was great timing and well thought out. My running was still happening easiliy. Miles 8-14 FLOWING
Most of these miles were done in a beautiful trail area where we followed the terrain of the James River. As the river flowed, so did I. The freshness of the opening miles were now being followed by an easy flow of effort that was eliminating any thoughts of time goals. I was simply going with how I was feeling while wondering when the wheels would fall off and I would have to adjust accordingly. At one house there were a dozen people gathered around a table filled with food. I simply veared off and went in to find out what they had for food while saying...."Thanks for the breakfast invite". They had a great laugh and invited me to stay, but I grudgingly declined. At the halfway mark, I realized that I had "banked" a good amount of time and I hoped that this would continue for at least a bit longer. It was also near this area that the "Forest Fires" appeared at the side of the street. These were five ladies who were old enough to enjoy being dressed in pink boas, pink sunglasses, pink pearls, light colored tops and black dresses/slacks to match. They offered high stepping kicks and shouts of encouragement to the cheers of the runners and spectators alike. Fun. It was somewhere along here that I realized I had forgotten to eat breakfast prior to the race. Opps.....How did I forget that?
No wonder that table back there had looked so tempting. Miles 15-17 FREEZING
Included in these miles was the return crossing of the James River over a mile long bridge that was uphill most of the way. The exposure to the wind at this time was directly in your face and I determined I would slow down but work to stay moving at a slow pace for as long as possible. While it SEEMED like I was crawling, I was amazed at how many I passed on the bridge. I was glad I had ever layer of clothing during these miles because I was FREEZING.
Mile 18 FEAR
To this stage, the run had continued to go along smoothly and at a quicker pace than I had projected. However, during this mile I felt my first twinge of muscle spasms in the calf of one leg followed by pains high up in the inner thigh. I have NEVER had pain in the upper thigh before so this was of concern. In training runs I had once had a problem with the calve muscles that I had attributed to a lack of hydration. During this race I stopped at every water station in hopes of this not happening. The fear that I had been running too fast struck me at the first bit of pain and I immediately slowed to determine whether it was something that was going to be a problem or just a warning of fatigue.
Mile 19-24 FOCUS
Because of this pain that was ALMOST there but not quite yet, I stopped enjoying the ambiance of the race and FOCUSSED on the run itself. I felt that if I managed my pace a bit and adjusted to the terrain and conditions, I would be able to finish. I quickly pulled out my calculator and crunched the numbers. I was able to determine that barring a complete collapse, I was going to meet my time goals so that if I need to add even a full minute to each mile, I was still going to be fine. All along the route there were kids with outstretched hands asking for a "high five". At one spot as I was running along, I saw some hands shoot out beside me. I quickly reached out and hit two hands only to realize I had missed the first little boy in this family of three. About 100 feet later, I realized I HAD to go back and give this young man his "high five". When I circled back, I came up to the surprised young boy and apologized for not seeing him and offered...."I certainly didn't want to miss YOU". With a sly grin on his face we hit hands and I was off once again. I realize to do that is not racing productive and most runners would keep on going, but my focus allows for such things. Long after I have stopped running, this young man may still remember that a grown man came back to make him feel special. Mile 26-end FINISH
By now I was excited because I realized that while being tired and not moving as quickly, I WAS going to complete my first Marathon. A bit of a sprint at the end brought me in at 5:07:46. This 11:56 pace was well below what I had projected. Mile pace Mile 1 12:06
Mile 2 11:58
Mile 3 11:29
Mile 4 11:38
Mile 5 11:32
Mile 6 11:27
Mile 7 10:44
Mile 8 11:27
Mile 9 12:33
Mile 10 11:05
Mile 11 11:41
Mile 12 11:46
Mile 13 11:06
Mile 14 11:19
Mile 15 11:26
Mile 16 11:47
Mile 17 11:52
Mile 18 11:34
Mile 19 11:31
Mile 20 11:59
Mile 21 11:50
Mile 22 11:45
Mile 23 11:57
Mile 24 12:00
Mile 25 12:21
Mile 26 11:56
point 4 4:02........(My Garmin shows 26.4 miles) McMillan forecast
I asked in the daily thread for the way to project my race times and Holly had directed me to McMillan. This turned out to be interesting because when I calculated prior to the race, I thought the projection was crazy. However, look at how it turned out: McMillan projection for 13.1 miles was 2:26:21
My actual was 2:38:13 McMillan projection for 20 miles was 3:51:45
My actual was 3:58:23 McMillan projection for the Marathon was 5:08:39
My actual was 5:07:46 Finally After I was done eating and getting some coffee I went to the finish line and watched others cross the line and finish. Suddenly tears welled up inside as I realized the significance of running on this, the 22nd anniversary of my Dad's death. It also hit me afresh that in the Marathon, everyone who finishes is a winner in their own rite. The chorus of the old gospel hymn went through my mind: "When I've gone the last mile of the way,
I will rest at the close of the day.
And I know there are joys that await me,
When I've gone the last mile of the way." Thanks for your patience in my training and now in this report.
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vista129
[This message has been edited by vista129 (edited Nov-11-2007).]
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