Just got back from an AWESOME run.
Well that is the twitter joke anyway.
Big news is that I have a black toenail to report. I’m not going to photograph it for you, I will save you the displeasure. But according to the literature it is a mark of going farther and faster than ever before.
So in my previous post I said I had three times in my head, the holy cow, the wow and the good for now. Well I was firmly into the get’er done category, clocking a rain-soaked 3:49:10. I did negative split, I ran the second half 4 minutes faster than the first. But if you take away a two and half minute wait for the potty at mile 6 and a very congested and slow start, it was pretty much even-steven first-second half.
After the very slow start (9:56, 9:09) I did manage to settle into my game plan which was to run 8:30′s for the half and then maybe 8:15′s for the 2nd half. Mile 6 was 11:09 because of the potty break. The splits sort of ping-pong between 8:15′s and 8:30′s all the way up to mile 17, and then I never break 8:30-ish from 18 on (8:33, 8:32, 8:34, 8:45, 8:56, 8:39, 8:37, 8:27!, 8:32-4:17). Make no mistake, I wanted to go faster…I would look at my watch and say ok legs, lets speeeeedup! and I would think I was going faster, but then I would check the watch a little while later and, nope, no faster! So I was like, “ok, this is it huh?” Mile 21, 22 and 23 were a negotiation, sailing into the wind, waiting for the turnaround, making sure I had something left so the finish was not grueling. And there were fewer people out on the course, although the volunteers were absolutely the best and I tried to thank many of them, what a long day for them, five or six hours in a steady rain. But then turning back with the wind, the last three miles were good, and watching the surf break on the beach for the last two mile sans headphones, listening to the waves was pretty good (awesome?). The last mile funneled into a gauntlet along the boardwalk and had more spectators, and then it was through the chute and trying to negotiate walking instead of running. It was over!
You really don’t get exactly what just happened. I think the course design with the two loops makes it difficult to enjoy the passage of distance. All of my long training runs were structured around loops early but an out and back finish, so that you have a sense of going “somewhere.” The scenery changes, you feel a progression, and getting closer to “home.” You really only got that on this course with the final turn for the finish, the long straight away along the seaside. The rest was turning turning turning. There was no sense of direction.
If you are reading this having googled NJ marathon, my recommendation is that this is a well organized medium sized marathon. It feels big without being big. The volunteers are first class, the setting is pretty good, and given good weather I bet spectacular crowd support. Do yourself a favour and pick up the bib BEFORE race day, it was pandemonium having to do that and check bags.
So, taking a couple weeks off to let things heal. The lessons come in two categories, one is training and race day management, the other is overall life lesson. In terms of training I now have a better idea what I need to do to prepare. You have to be very careful about the timing of when you peak. This is something of a mystery to me still. I almost think a week earlier might have been better. And whatever you can do to streamline race day is worthwhile: BIG shoutout to my friend Dave and Eileen who provided the pre-race pasta fest, overnight lodging and race day transportation in style in Dave’s orange Porsche Boxster-S. That’s what friends are for right? Impossible to do without.
In terms of life-lesson, I go back to an earlier post about goal setting. I didn’t start running to run a marathon. So having run one it is not the culmination of “something” necessarily. It is a byproduct of a disciplined practice. It kind of takes some of the fun out it, doesn’t it tho? I tend to see lots of things turned around though, a habit of mine. I’m not saying the event itself is not fun, it is. The rain certainly changed the character of the day into endurance however. Not pleasant to be thinking mainly about how to avoid hypothermia…the next one I run…next one…will be organized around fun I think. The enjoyment of actually being there. Now if I win the lottery and get into the New York Marathon then that changes a lot of things, that will be something of a goal, having watched so many over the years, to be in it will be very different. Sometime in June I will have the answer to that.