Philly is a crazy town. Witnessed a little fender bender getting off 676 onto Ben Franklin Pkwy on Saturday afternoon. The traffic in that town is just murder! Hot dog vendors all fired up at 7:30 in the morning on Sunday! Just what kind of diet is that???!
I managed a 3:35:15 (chip time), which got me qualified for Baaston, in an unusual manner, and not without a little thanks to Tom Zeibart and his Gatorade. So, here is my race report:
I had a good race which I managed to pull out of the fire at the last moment, as I almost pulled another Lake Placid debacle. You see, I had planned to buy some Hammer gels at the expo since I was all out at home. Well, the expo was a runner expo, lots and lots of Gu, a fair amount of power gels and some Cliff bars, and that was it. I tried driving around up by my hotel on Roosevelt Blvd, north of downtown, to find a cycling/sports store after the expo, with no luck. Just a lot more phenomenal traffic. Sunday morning and all the vendors are gone from the race area, which left me with Gatorade at the aid stops. My normal routine is too have a gel 20 minutes before the race start, followed by a second gel 10 minutes before the start. So, when the race started, I was already feeling hungry and I was 200 cal in the negative. Pretty much what I did at LP this summer.
I decided to start off a little conservatively, and went through the first 4 miles at 8:15 pace. The first gatorade wasn’t until after mile 4, but it went down well and I felt a little pickup within a reasonably short time. I tend to surge a little around mile 8 in a marathon (finally warmed up maybe?), and I went through the 10 mile mark with an average pace of 8:09. I gave a little of that up, hitting a portajohn at about 12 miles. I felt a little something and wasn’t sure if the Gatorade was making a statement, so I decided to be a little proactive at the cost of about a minute and a half. Passed the 13.1 mile mark in 1:47:36 (8:13 pace overall). The plan was 1:45 for a 3:30, but with the conservative start and the pit stop, I felt I could make that up in the second half.
I have two guidelines for marathons, the race doesn’t start until the 15 mile mark, and run the race in five 5 mile segments. The last 1.2 always takes care of itself (once you have run 2 or 3 at least). So, at 15 miles, I took inventory, and I was feeling really good overall. I had been focussing on Dev’s observation about arm swing, which provided a nice distraction as well. I was passing people consistently, and the Gatorade was holding off disaster. So, I opened it up a little. Race leaders are going by in the opposite direction, and I am focussing on getting to mile 20.
Then the first bad spot hits. There was a water only station around mile 15, and then no aid stations until after mile 18. I really needed some fuel by mile 17, and started to decelerate into mile 18. The next aid station picked me up, but I was struggling a little bit going into Mayununk (sp?). I fumbled with a tylenol package at the aid station just before the 20 mile turn around, damn thing wouldn’t open, but my left calf and right ankle were really starting to complain. From 13.1 to 20 miles, I still managed an average pace of 8:14 thanks to the surge after mile 15. The not so good news was I had targeted a 2:40 time for 20 miles to give me plenty of time to finish under 3:35 for Boston, instead I was at 2:44 and change. A quick mental calculation told me that I needed to maintain and not let up for the last 10k. Ooh, pressure.
There’s a little bit of a downhill after the turn around which helped me get back into my stride, just not as strong as mile 17. Then after mile 21, a gentleman my age and a 20 something girl, both about my height, passed me individually and left me behind, but not out of sight. And then, bam, I got another little surge, five miles to go and I don’t need to hold anything back anymore. I caught the young lady first, and we paced each other a bit until we caught the other gentleman. The three of us maintained the pace together for another mile, and then I dropped both of them. I “blew” through the water only stop, prepared for the no Gatorade, and maintained pretty well until mile 24 or so when I felt the bonk starting to come back. There was one last aid station before the finsih, but I walked this one (as I had for all the other Gatorade stocked stations) and fueled a bit, which probably helped more psychologically than anything else. Starting up again, though, was a struggle. I hit the 25 mile mark, I could see the art museum in the distance, but I couldn’t get anything extra going in my legs. It was kind of like running in wet cement. I was still passing people but not as many. Surprisingly few walkers at that point, which tells me that a lot of people at that pace had planned and executed well.
I refused to look at my watch, and was bummed that I must have been grimacing too hard in front of all those people cheering everyone on. It was weird in a way, because this was the best my legs have felt after 25 miles in a marathon (no quad cramping, which I think is related to Dev’s arm swing thread - you’ll have to go back to it to get my hypothesis), but the fatigue was still arguing with me to stop and walk. I knew I’d make the cutoff so long as I didn’t walk. In another race, I think I would have been enjoying myself, but the pressure of finishing really tightened the thumbscrews. At last I saw the finishing chute barricades and I knew I had the cutoff time beat. A couple of people sprinted by and I didn’t even care. Chip time was 3:35:15, 8:13 overall pace, and a 50:52 finisihing 10k for an 8:12 pace. Beat the cutoff by 44 seconds, piece of cake.
The best part of the race was that right after I stopped, this guy walks up to me and thanks me for helping pull him along in the last 10k. He was struggling after the 20 mile turn around, saw me running at a steady pace, figured I was in the same age group, and was figuring I was trying to qualify for Boston as was he, and so he paced me. I think he must have passed me by when I stopped at the last aid station as he finished in front of me. To have the where withall to figure all that out is amazing enough on its own. He said his name was John, and there is a John Ward of New Jersey, with the correct age of 54 a few seconds ahead of me in the results. Good job, John. Any way, we both qualified, me for the first time, and I know I felt much less sore afterwards as a result.
Last reason for a crazy race, besides a totally experimental nutrition plan, I followed Dev’s positive split theory, technically. I ran a 1:47:36 first half, and a 1:47:39 second half. It’s not as close as it looks, but it really looks bizarre on paper.
It was a great day for a race. The morning start temperature was not really an issue at all. Beautiful sunny, calm day, very scenic, and lots of nice crowd support. My Mom was born about 5 miles from the start in Narberth, but I have never lived in Pennsylvania. The only negative was the post race food consisted of rolls (?), bananas, orange slices and Pepsi. Not to start any inter-state rivalries, but the New Jersey Shore half marathon in early October put this effort to considerable shame.
