New Mexico Marathon Recap

Last weekend was the big weekend – my first marathon of the year, my first step towards a Boston Qualifier, and a true test of my current training program.  

I arrived on Friday in Albuquerque at 12:30AM, eight hours later then expected, due to bad weather at the Dallas Airport, and the ensuing flight cancellations.  I woke up the next morning at 5:30AM, with my jetlagged body thinking it was 7:30AM.  So I didn’t get a lot of sleep then, nor did I the night before the race because of the 3:45AM start.  

Talking to other runners, many of them were curtailing expectations for the race because of the high elevation (went up to 6100 ft), the hill at the beginning, the possibility of heat, and the early start.  I kept my expectations the same, shooting for a 3:30, even though my best time was a 3:54::59, and I had to deal with all those factors I just mentioned, and far less then an ideal amount of sleep.  I didn’t think the eleveation was high enough to be a factor, the downhill section would be steep and long enough to make up for the uphill, and I just kept reminding myself that my legs had not felt better before a race ever.  I was completly healthy, and wasn’t about to make any excuses, I just wanted to go out and run the race I knew I was capable of.

The race was to start at 5:30AM, so I took the earlier shuttle out there, and started my warm up and drills.  It’s the first time that I’ve actually done a warm up before a marathon.  I was hoping that this would help me run faster in my first 1-3 miles, rather then spending those warming up.  

The race started in the dark, on the far right lane of a desert highway.  There weren’t any pace groups, and people weren’t necessarily lining up in order of likely finish, since there were only 260 runners, so few that the starting position really didn’t make much of a difference.  With no sense of how fast I was going, I came through my first mile in 9:30.  This was slow, as I was hoping to keep an 8:15 going up the initial hill.  I started to hear the voice of common sense – it’s high altitude, it’s uphill, it’s the first mile of the race.  Then I told myself, “no, I’m not running that race”.  I’m going to run that 3:30, not settle for another 4 hour race.   I picked up the pace, but still had little sense of how much.  I didn’t see a mile marker #2, so I checked my watch after that, 7:30 pace for #2&3.  I had overcompensated.  I tried to slow it down, and settle into a good pace, but then I came in at a 9:22.  I didn’t feel like the early hills were all that steep or were taking a lot out of me, but I do think they were a big part of why my initial pace was so erratic.  

 

I started talking to runners, trying to figure out what kind of pace they intended to run.  I kept getting the same answer “oh, I’m just trying to finish”.  That made want to run faster…I wasn’t just looking to finish Today, I was looking to run a 3:30, and I wanted to be running with people that wanted to do the same.  I started to get into a groove as I was passing people, running an an 8:14 pace for miles 5 & 6.  That’s when I caught up to one runner in particular, who I also asked about expectations.  He gave me the usual answer, but also asked me if I was planning to run a 3:30.  Finally, I had a clue about where I was in the pack of runners.  

I kept pace with this runner, who I would come to know as Sergio, for a few miles.  We talked about his home town of Albuquerque, his 5 year running hiatus, how I lost 20 pounds, and the running stuff marathon veterans usually converse about while pounding the pavement.  The conversation put me at ease, and as we came to the end of the uphill section, the sun was rising, and we began the 8 mile descent, one of the main reasons for doing this race.  

I quickly made up ground.   I pulled away from Sergio, wanting to let gravity pull me forward.  I ran spectacularly fast miles, including a 6:47 10th mile, my fastest by far in a marathon.  This put me at just over a 3:30 pace.  By halfway, after more fast, downhilll miles, I pulled into a 3:26 pace.  I would be ecstatic if I could run that.  

Sergio caught up to me at a rest stop, and we started a patern.  I’d slow down at a rest stop, take a gel, he’d pass me, then I’d catch up to him, pass him, then slow down at a rest stop.  This was a great dynamic throughout the race, and really motivated both of us.

I kept it steady throughout the flat third quarter of the race, running sub 8 minute miles.  By mile 18 I noticed a slight slowdown to an 8:06, but would have been fine if I could sustain it.  I planned to take my fifth and final gel shot at 20 miles, forgo the remaning rest stops, and pick up the pace.  I ended up taking the gel at 19, since there was a rest stop there, and I didn’t know if I’d have one at 20.  There would be one at 20, and I tried to see if neglecting stopping there would be enough to increase my pace.  It wasn’t.  With 6.2 miles to go, I knew I just had to run faster and ignore the rest stops.  This had worked well for me in the past.  I came in the next mile at a 7:50, keeping me at a 3:28:05 pace.  At this point I knew a 3:30 was in my grasp, and that I’d shatter my PR no matter what happened.  I still wanted that sub-3:30.  

That’s when it all started to fall apart.  That 7:50 maybe was a little too fast, perhaps I overesitmated what I had left.  The next mile was an 8:30.  Fine, just keep it there, still could come in under 3:30.  The race was starting to take its toll, especially on my left groin, which had been hurting since mile 8.  I was starting to fade.  

9:08  If I could just keep it strong the last 3.2 miles…I’d have a sub 3:30…

9:32  People were passing me, a rarity in the late stages of a race.  I tried to fight back, tried to catch up, but it was hopeless…

10:36  We had long ago started passing the slower bunch of half marathoners.  At this point I had trouble keeping pace with some of them.  

I ran the final 1.2 in a 9:19 pace, sprinting, as always, to the finish.   

I felt like crap when it was all over.  I couldn’t walk, sit, eat, drink, go up or down a curb.  Really the worst I’ve felt since doing my first marathon.  It was great.  I ran a 3:35:41, beating my previous best time by nearly 20 minutes.  I place 2nd in my age group, and took home a beautiful prize (which fortunately survivied the flight home):