After 18 weeks of training, to bootstrap from the 10K baseline to marathon readiness - time to challenge the Big Beast!
Bottom line: Finished in 4:43. Not quite burning the asphalt off the road (even for a 53 year old F, since I was targeting 4:23-4:30), but definitely did finish physically and mentally in one piece - YAY. OK, legs were exhausted at the end but I never stopped moving. The finish line says it all: at 26.2, I stepped carefully on the finish mats, smiled ear to ear and gleefully waved my arms in the air. Party time!
Race conditions were excellent - temperature in the 60's, cloudy, quite flat course - not quite as pancake flat as their half marathon, but the small hills were pretty harmless.
The first 18 mi were uneventful. Looking at the split times, I kept within a fairly narrow range (9:42/mi to 9:59/mi) for the first 18 mi. That's probably consistent with my long run training at approx 10:00-10:20/mi pace, although the 9:42 segment may have worn my legs down some. Between mi 18-22 my legs gradually stiffened and slowed. I was tensing my leg muscles to protect my knees, and that was wearing down my legs. Fortunately I didn't crash into the wall - this was like running up an incline for four miles till my legs begged for mercy. I obliged by then walking as fast as I could for about a mile, then finally dug real deep and jogged from mile 23 to the finish (which was as fast as my legs would go). It perhaps cost me about 15 min in finishing time.
But OK, it's a first marathon, ran it as hard as I could, and ran 95% of it.
Will I do another one? Don't know...maybe...I do love shorter races, and I'm better at shorter distances. But the marathon was very much of a broadening experience, as well as an adventure - taught me a very different type of running style and discipline from what I'm used to. You really have to do it firsthand!
Bottom line: Finished in 4:43. Not quite burning the asphalt off the road (even for a 53 year old F, since I was targeting 4:23-4:30), but definitely did finish physically and mentally in one piece - YAY. OK, legs were exhausted at the end but I never stopped moving. The finish line says it all: at 26.2, I stepped carefully on the finish mats, smiled ear to ear and gleefully waved my arms in the air. Party time!
Race conditions were excellent - temperature in the 60's, cloudy, quite flat course - not quite as pancake flat as their half marathon, but the small hills were pretty harmless.
The first 18 mi were uneventful. Looking at the split times, I kept within a fairly narrow range (9:42/mi to 9:59/mi) for the first 18 mi. That's probably consistent with my long run training at approx 10:00-10:20/mi pace, although the 9:42 segment may have worn my legs down some. Between mi 18-22 my legs gradually stiffened and slowed. I was tensing my leg muscles to protect my knees, and that was wearing down my legs. Fortunately I didn't crash into the wall - this was like running up an incline for four miles till my legs begged for mercy. I obliged by then walking as fast as I could for about a mile, then finally dug real deep and jogged from mile 23 to the finish (which was as fast as my legs would go). It perhaps cost me about 15 min in finishing time.
But OK, it's a first marathon, ran it as hard as I could, and ran 95% of it.
Will I do another one? Don't know...maybe...I do love shorter races, and I'm better at shorter distances. But the marathon was very much of a broadening experience, as well as an adventure - taught me a very different type of running style and discipline from what I'm used to. You really have to do it firsthand!
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