 posted Sep-10-2007 06:48 AM
  
Foreword
About a year ago, I heard rumors that Bart Yasso of Runner's World would be taking over a local 23-mile relay race along a canal path and making it a full marathon. It sounded perfect! With small children, logistics play a big role in race selection and this would be very convenient. Also I work near the canal path and know first-hand how great it is to run on. So when the rumors were confirmed, I signed up right away... I knew it was going to be a small race and I thought, with my sub-3 goal, that I would be pretty competitive. A friend asked around for me and found my main competition. He was a guy I knew from the local trail race scene where he always did very well and I guessed he would probably be in the 2:50s range. I must thank runninlaw for advising me to run my own race rather than try to stick with this guy to avoid running the race alone (more on this later). First 5k - the tough choice.
Despite getting up at 4:30 for a 7AM start, with only a half an hour drive, I cut it a little close getting to the start. I went into the hotel at the start for a final bathroom visit and by the time I got out of the hotel, there was less than 10 minutes until the start! So my usual stretching/warmup routine was truncated a bit and I was feeling a bit nervous. It was already a bit warm (ended up being in the 70s for most of the race and fairly humid). At the start, I marked the trail-runner guy mentioned above and kept my eye on him. Soon we were off:
1) 6:53
2) 6:23
3) 6:45
I ran the first couple miles side-by-side with the trail runner. The first mile he was right on 3 hour pace so I decided to stick with him. There were a lot of rabbits and we were in about 10th place or so at that point. Mile two started off with a huge down hill, so I was not too surprised/worried with the crazy fast second split. Going into mile three, we were in 7th and 8th place and soon joined the 6th place guy to make a little group. There were three more just ahead of us and two guys way up front. Early into mile three, my Garmin told me we were on a 6:3X-ish pace. Whoa! This is where I made the tough decision to hang back, even though it was feeling great to run with trail runner guy. I put on the brakes and managed to slow it down to a 6:45 third mile (still a little fast) and settled into 8th place. Canal time 4) 6:54
5) 6:59
6) 7:07 The first couple miles had been in the city, but now we were on the dirt canal path, which was feeling good. I was a bit worried watching all my competition slip away from me, but kept telling myself that I was making the smart choice. Short detour 7) 7:02
8) 6:37
9) 7:08 Around here we took a short detour to do an out and back into the city of Bethlehem. It was only a mile or so out and we were back on the canal for the 9th mile marker. Not sure about that fast 8th mile. The marker may have been a little off. I did have a mobile fan club (two friends from work who were spectating the course by bike), who I saw at this point, so they may have given me a bit of a boost. To the half way mark 10) 7:05
11) 7:00
12) 7:06
13) 6:58
--13.1 = 1:30:40-- I was still going it alone through to the half way mark. Fortunately, the canal path had a lot of very straight sections given me a long line of sight. So I was able to keep some visual contact with a few of the guys ahead of me (even though they still had a lot of ground on me at this point). I was feeling pretty good at the half, even though I was a little off 3-hour pace. By myself, it was hard to just cruise that first half like I would have like to -- so it was a lot more mental work than ideal for the first half. The whole time I was second guessing my strategy and wondering whether I had misjudged my competition. The turn around (literally and figuratively) 14) 7:01
15) 7:12
16) 7:14
17) 6:52
18) 6:30
19) 6:55
20) 6:49 Around here, a few of the 5-person relay teams started whizzing by (they had started 15 minutes after us). We left the canal path to go up a hilly road to a bike path and then we would turn around and come back down the hill. The hill was miles 15 and 16 and it was here that I reeled in the first of my competition. I slowed a bit for the hill, but still passed him strongly right around the 16-mile mark. Soon I saw the leader heading back towards me on the bike path. We intersected right around mile 17 for him and 16 and change for me. Guess what? It was the trail runner leading! This gave me a huge boost. I knew that the others must already be fading for him to have taken the lead. The bike path ended at a small park, which served as the turn around point. I saw my wife and daughters here which was a great boost. I also saw my mobile fan club around here too and they let me know that I was reeling in the other guys. After the turn around, I soaked up the down hill and the fact that I was catching my competition. The return route split off from the route up and went down a more gradual, prolonged downhill so I was really cruising (hence the 6:30). I caught two more guys here. Right around mile-20, I caught up with 3 more guys. The first one was the guy who had been running with me and the trail runner in mile 3 and he still looked fairly strong, but the two guys in front of him were clearly hurting. One of them was even running backwards! I got a huge mental boost at this point. Say what?? 21) 7:00
22) 6:51
23+24) 14:07 (7:04) Right after the 20-mile mark, one of my mobile fan club rode up. You're in second place and the leader only has 50 seconds on you!" My answer, "Are you serious!!!" He rode along with me for a little while giving me a pep talk and getting me fired up. At this point I was just trying to hold a steady pace and hoping I would have a kick left in me. However, it was getting really hot and around mile-23 we were really exposed with no shade to speak of. I could actually see the trail runner guy up ahead of me and was trying to gain on him, but having trouble just holding where I was. The finish 25) 7:07
26) 7:40
26.2) 1:26 The last couple miles were in the city of Easton and I was just trying to hold onto second place (I knew the one strong looking guy I had passed was not too far behind). I am a little surprised by the 7:40 26th mile, because it sure felt like I was pushing harder than that. I guess I just did not have much left. I was very happy to see the finish and pulled in at 3:02:50, just about a minute behind the leader. Aftermath I stuck around at the finish and had some good conversations with fellow runners. Including fellow coolrunner Sean, who finished around 3:20 - good job Sean! I also talked quite a bit with the trail runner, who was really a great guy. He told me he's doing a 50-miler in two weeks - yikes! Made me feel like a wimp for planning a 50k a whole month from now  They only gave awards to 1st-place overall, so I got a 1st place age group award. It is a sharpened plexi-glass slab that reminded me of a prison shiv. Later, a friend asked me how much money I won and I told her that I was apparently supposed to use my age group award to mug someone for cash! Anyway, it was a great race. All in all, very well organized for a first-time local race. Although I didn't get my sub-3, I was very happy with my race. I think I ran about as smart as I could have and did pretty well time wise given the heat. Now a month to recover before my 50k trail run...
[This message has been edited by loopy (edited Sep-10-2007).]
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