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Bayshore Marathon - RunMarathon


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Traverse City, Michigan
United States
Running Fit/TC Track Club
60F / 16C
Overcast
Total Time = 3h 04m 3s
Overall Rank = 56/1463?
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 8/141?
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 4:45 so I could get my usual bowl of oatmeal with raisins, cup of coffee and banana all in well before the start gun at 0700. Drank 20 oz of gatorade on the 40 minute drive to the race start. Had to pee like a racehorse by the time I got to the venue. Three trips to the portajohn in the hour between 0600 and 0700 start gun.
Event warmup:

About 1/4 mile of easy running with some short strides thrown in. I was initially wearing only a tri top with shorts but it started to drizzle and felt pretty cold so I put on a polypro top under a technical shirt--mistake.
Run
  • 3h 04m 3s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 07m 01s  min/mile
Comments:

I started perhaps a little too fast. My goal was to run about a 3:09 marathon which would qualify me for Boston with five minutes to spare. I was looking at 7:13 miles with a totally even split.

While waiting in the crowd at the start I heard several people talking about their planned 6:20 to 6:50 splits and decided that I was standing in the wrong place.

I never heard the start gun go off or any count down to the start. We were all just standing there and all of a sudden the pack started moving. It is pretty hard to hold back when you are in the midst of a bunch of gazelles. I just kind of let the pack pull me along and started off running about 7:00 miles. I felt great but within the first mile it became clear that I was going to be too warm, even with the light rain and 60 degree temps.

Within the first two miles things started to space out a bit. At around mile two a guy I know, and have trained with a bit at home, came blazing by me with a small group of people. I said hello and asked him what pace he was shooting for. He told me 3:15 and I told him that he was currently crushing that pace--he was running without a watch or garmin so he didn't really know how fast he was going. We fell in together and ran about the next 10.7 miles together right behind the small group he had been running with. It was very pleasant and we were going at a pace that was comfortable enough that we could talk. The garmin was not reading all that accurately because of the cloud cover but I thought we were doing about 7:10s pretty consistently. I removed my polypro top (hat off, tech shirt off, polypro off and to side of road, shirt on, hat on) without missing a stride at about mile 6.

At mile 12.7 my buddy started to feel a little "off" and needed a portajohn break. He told me to keep going and good luck. Also about this time, my quads and calves started talking to me a bit, complaining, and wondering whose idea it was to run this anyways? I decided that I was going to take a page from Jens Voight's book and said, "shut up legs." I should also tell you that as of the 1/2 way point I was about 5 minutes ahead of the pace that my coach advised and I would hear about it if I fell apart in the second 1/2 after ignoring his sage advice. I decided that I was not slowing down, no matter how bad I hurt.

Mile 13.1, a pretty darn fit woman from the group right in front of me decided to lift the pace a little and I decided to run with her. Everyone else we were running with either faded or just decided not to go with us. We ran pretty much stride for stride for the next 6 miles. She led some, I led some. My legs were hurting but from a cardio stand point, I felt great. On the other hand, the woman I was running with was wheezing and rasping and generally did not sound too good. I was amazed she was running this pace sounding like that. We were running anywhere from 6:55 - 7:10 at this point. At the aid station at around mile 19, someone from the crowd started running with the woman I was running with, handing her some sport beans, water, and inhaler. I ate a gel and handed the wrapper to her helper. I figured if he was helping her, he could help me a little too. It was at this point that I decided I had a little more pace in me and that was the last I saw of my running buddy.

When I crossed the 21 mile mark, I had to tell my legs to shut up once again and I decided that I was leaving it all on the table (I always say stupid things to myself, like, "anyone can run five miles."). If I could do the last 5 miles in under 35 minutes it would put me under 3:05 for the race and that would be a greater than 10 minute BQ time. I had one last short-term goal. I can't tell you how many people I passed in the last five miles, but it was a lot. My legs ached and I was having an ongoing argument with my body about slowing down. I am happy to say that I won the argument and never in the last 5 miles did my pace go over 7 minutes/mile. As I came onto the high school track to finish, I had one last bit of energy and really cranked it across the finish line. My calves were cramping as I crossed.
What would you do differently?:

This was supposed to be my attempt at sub three hours but a Kona lottery slot completely changed my focus and drastically reduced my run mileage over the last six weeks. I also came into this effort with fatigued quads from all of the cycling intervals I have been doing over the last six weeks. Next year the goal will be to break three hours. I am very happy with this effort.
Post race
Warm down:

A lot of stretching. My IT band on the left really tightened up, so I started working on this as soon as I got out of the finisher's chute. I actually felt really good at the end and started eating as soon as I found the food tables.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Change in training focus.

Event comments:

Loved this race and the course that it was on. A first class race experience in a great town. Highly recommend this race to others.




Last updated: 2011-05-31 12:00 AM
Running
03:04:03 | 26.2 miles | 07m 01s  min/mile
Age Group: 8/141?
Overall: 56/1463?
Performance: Good
Course: Out and back course on Old Mission Peninsula starting in Traverse City. The run is along the west edge of East Grand Traverse Bay and is one of the most scenic, beautiful places on earth.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 5

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2011-05-31 1:16 PM

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Master
3205
20001000100100
ann arbor, michigan
Subject: Bayshore Marathon


2011-05-31 6:18 PM
in reply to: #3525809

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Veteran
208
100100
Perth
Subject: RE: Bayshore Marathon
Great RR. Good luck @ Kona!
2011-06-01 6:24 PM
in reply to: #3525809

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Regular
63
2525
Rockford, MI
Subject: RE: Bayshore Marathon
Sounds like you had a very good race. I can't say I was in any pain, but I was totally spent by Mile 22. Good luck on your upcoming season.
2011-06-02 9:36 AM
in reply to: #3525809

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Expert
1145
100010025
Ann Arbor, MI
Subject: RE: Bayshore Marathon
That's a bada$$ run right there. Congrats on a stellar race. Might be time to change the name from wannabefaster to tryandcatchme
2011-06-02 6:46 PM
in reply to: #3525809

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Champion
5312
5000100100100
Calgary
Subject: RE: Bayshore Marathon
nice rr, that is smoking.
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