17th marathon in the books

Running: 
Last week was all about the taper, last minute preparation, and the race. Last week was three full days of rest, three relatively easy runs, and the race on Sunday. Monday was an off day. Tuesday I ran 5 miles mid day at about 7:30 pace. Wednesday I ran an easy 4 miles mid day with the last mile at 7:30 pace. Thursday I ran 6.5 miles in the morning with the last half at 7:30 pace. Friday and Saturday were both rest days.

Friday I made my way down to the expo and packet pick up after work. After picking up my packet and getting my chip checked I walked around and checked out all the booths. I really wanted to try and find a new racing hat, but nothing struck me as nice or unique enough to justify a purchase. Looked around at lots of things, but nothing was overly exciting or such a deal I had to buy it. Usually I run into a few people I know, but not this time. So over all I didn’t spend a lot of time downtown and got home relatively early.

Saturday I got all my running things together so Sunday morning would be a snap. It was hard deciding exactly what to wear since it was going to get pretty cold. I decided to stay minimal with just shorts and a t-shirt, but brought along a throw away shirt to start the race with. This turned out being a good choice. The morning of the race I got up at around 3:30. I got close to six good hours of sleep which I was pretty happy with. I don’t always do that good on race day. I did the usually routines with having a little coffee, eating a breakfast of three pancakes and two bananas, having a glass of juice with my liquid vitamin/minerals. Finished dressing and packing the bag and was out the door at 5am. I met my wife’s cousin Don at a park and ride on the way to the shuttles so we could ride together. This was his 5th marathon and 1st Lakefront. This was to be my 17th and 4th Lakefront. We made it to the park and ride at almost the same time and then got downtown as the first shuttles were loading. Had a good bus ride to Grafton and then settled into the cafeteria to wait out the start. It was nice to have someone to chat with to make the time pass by, and not have to worry about leaving your stuff as you took restroom breaks and such. Before we knew it the time had come to get the drop bag into the truck and line up. Don was hoping to run a possible 3:25, but his ultimate goal was to BQ with a 3:30 at least. I had decided I would like to try for at least a 3:20 and would start with the appropriate pace group. I had also decided to run without my Garmin for the first time since 2005. I was going to go completely watchless, but realized I had not taken my other watch off my wrist. Too late as I already had dropped off my bag.

The gun went off and I positioned myself right behind most of the 3:20 group. This projects to about a 7:38 average pace for the whole race. They went out a little fast as the first mile was 7:24. This felt pretty good to me though and I wasn’t worried especially since this was about a half minute slower than my usual start. For about 4 miles I was right in with the group. From the first water stop I pulled ahead by a bit and then stayed there. After about five miles there was a small group that was just ahead of the 3:20 pacer that started to put a little distance from the group. I decided to stick with that little group. Looking at the race results afterward I see I passed the 7 mile mark at a 7:31 pace. Mile 8 was seconds over 1 hour so I knew I was still on target. I felt really good and was running quite comfortably at this point. I continued to hang with the small group and we probably put about a minute between us and the big group by the half way point. At least I couldn’t hear all the chatter for a while which was fine with me. I was still feeling real good and passed half way at 1:38:49 or 7:32 pace. I’m not sure I ever ran that consistent of a half before. At mile 16 I was still less than a minute over 2 hours and well on track for less than 3:20. I passed mile 20 at 2:31:29 still feeling quite strong for that part of the race. I usually hit some kind of a mid race slump somewhere between 15 and 20 miles in, but so far I didn’t face that. It was here that I made a slight technical error. It was time for my 4th and final GU, but the water stop snuck up on me. I had trouble fishing the GU packet out of my short pocket and didn’t get it in time for water. I decided to delay the GU until the next water station. Wouldn’t you know it but I hit that slump somewhere in miles 21 and 22. The 3:20 pace group passed me somewhere in here and I just couldn’t keep up. By the time I got my GU down and gathered myself and broke from the slump they had probably put a couple minutes on me. I could still see them when there was a long straight stretch, but knew there would be no catching them anymore. At least I had gotten some of my pace back and seemed to be running even with them. I passed by 24 miles in somewhere around 3:04 if I recall. Pretty sure my 3:20 was gone, but feeling relatively good at that point. The last miles are always hard, but I really felt OK considering it was the last few miles. This was probably as good as I’ve finished a marathon in a while. Making the final turn along the break wall I mustered as much as I could and gave it all the final .2 to the finish. Final time 3:22:06. 196th overall and 15th in my age group. After getting the finisher medal and blanket I went over to watch for Don to finish. Didn’t take long as he pulled in just under 3:30 for his PR and BQ.

I’m both OK with the 3:22 and disappointed at the same time. Maybe that’s just my own unrealistic goals. The 3:22 was exactly what my Parot time said I would run so I shouldn’t be surprised. I guess I have to be OK with a BQ time by almost 14 minutes, to finish 196th out of almost 2000 runners, and top 10% of my age group . Also considering the quad injury I had that delayed the start of the training cycle and affected the entire 12 weeks in lots of ways I put down a time that falls in the middle of my 17 tries. My positive split of just over 4 minutes was way better than I’ve done in a while. The reasons for some disappointment are to have an almost perfect day weather wise and still miss the 3:20 goal by a couple minutes and still not being able to put down a complete race. I knew there was no chance for a PR this time around and didn’t even try, but I still refuse to believe I’ve hit my last marathon PR. Staying injury free will be the only way I have a chance so I will need to examine the training program closely over this winter and do something’s a little different next year.

MTD Sept 187
WTD/MTD Oct 26.2
YTD 1783
ODO 26949

Hunting:
Hunting can be my focus now that the marathon racing and training is done for the year. I will still run as regular as possible on weekdays, but will back off the bigger weekend miles. Last Thursday I had the afternoon off from work. After getting some chores done around the house I actually got out hunting for the first time. I went to the land just west of my house I have permission to hunt. It was a nice quiet night and I did manage to spot a doe and fawn about 6:30. With all the cover and noise the squirrels were making I’m not exactly sure where they came from. I noticed them about 40 yards away walking through a tall grass opening. Too far for me to even think about a shot. Still good to see something on the first night. I had hoped to get out Sunday after the race too, but decided against it as the time to go out approached. This was one time I felt just too tired to head out and didn’t want to worry about falling asleep up in the tree. Should have taken a nap when I first got home, but had to watch the Packers squeak one out. I’m taking a long weekend coming up and will be able to get out a few times so no worries yet.

Gardening:
We had big time frost over the last few days so growing season is done for the most part. I harvested most anything left that I couldn’t cover and knew can’t stand up to a freeze. I even found another quart or so of fall raspberries. I also covered a few things so they still have a chance for a week or two since it seems it’s suppose to warm up for a while. Fresh picked beets, lettuce, beans, and a few peppers will taste pretty good yet if they make it. I started selling my pumpkin crop. I will end up selling about 50 myself and another 50 through Wales Lawn and Garden.