1st Marathon wrap-up

I completed my 1st marathon on November 2nd (Shanghai Marathon). I mainly have done triathlons in the past (Olympic distance and 70.3), so 42km was new to me. I didn't really have enough long runs in beforehand, but decided to do it about 1 month before the race. My target was to run it somewhere around 3 hours 45 minutes... which was probably a little optimistic for my running ability.

So the day started at 4:20am. I wake up eat a light breakfast and get dressed and leave the house around 5:30am. Race starts at 7am, so I am right on time. I am walking to the starting area when I remembered I need to put the timing chip on my shoe. I check my pockets... nothing, I knew instantly what happened. I left my clothes and stuff out in the living room the night before (so I didn't wake my wife when I got up)... my 3 year old saw an interesting little "toy" and took it. I am panicking by now... the whole area is blocked off so I start running to try and find a taxi. Luckily I find one, he drives fast, I find the chip and make back for the start of the race! And to my credit, I did not strangle the baby when I got home (honestly, my fault... this is my 3rd child, I should know better)!

The race started at 7am and it was pouring down rain, the temperature was about 60 degrees... other than the rain, just about perfect! About 1km into the race, I noticed my shoes felt like they weighed 10lbs each (good shoes, but they don't drain well). Heavy shoes, not enough mileage training, and a long race... I knew things were gonna be tough later on!

I ran comfortably at ~5:20 to 5:30 / km pace for the next 20km. My heart rate stayed at ~155 BPM (top of Z3)... a little high but not bad. Right around the mid point of the race I noticed my heart rate creeping up to about 163... I maintained pace and tried to control my breathing.

At the 30km mark, things started to slip. My feet were killing me, and my legs were aching from top to bottom. My heart rate was ~166. My pace had slipped back to about 5:40 /km and I was struggling to maintain it. This is when my mind started to play games... I knew I was in trouble, and needed to maintain this pace for another hour!

At the 35km mark lots of people are walking and stretching at the side of the road. I continue to trudge on but now my pace had slipped even farther to 6:10 / km... not good! My heart rate was at 170 and it hurt to move my legs (and I was having intermittent chest pains)... I REALLY wanted the race to be over!

At the 40km mark, 2.2km still felt like a long ways! Lots of people walking, I am moving along at a snails pace... I new I missed the 4 hour target and was pissed off I couldn't get it done. I sprinted the last 100 meters, great sense of relief to finish. But my legs were so stiff I could barely sit down. I finished in 4:03... all-in-all not too bad. My wife met me at the finish line and we took the subway home. After the race, I told myself I am NEVER doing a marathon again! After a few weeks, the pain isn't so fresh in my mind and am already planing to do it again next year :-).

A few lessons learned:
- don't leave race chip on couch for baby to steal (rookie mistake)
- wool socks and a pair of shoes with better drainage
- start off slower (again, another rookie mistake)

A few comments on the marathon:
- well organized and fun atmosphere
- no groupings based on your estimated finish time... wish leads to a bit of a free-for-all at the start
- not enough porta-potties along the course
- quite a few pace groups to follow


Rob