Time of day 7:10 AM
Distance 26.22 mi
Shoe Gel-ds Racer 8 (1)
WUCD Shoe Gel-ds Racer 8 (1)
Distance WU/CD 0.78 mi
Comments First marathon since my 3:00:14 NYC in 2011, and I pulled it together for a Boston qualifier. Not a PR (that's still my 2:49:42 from Chicago in 2010), but I was really happy with what I was able to do off of limited training. Looking back at my log, I'm a little shocked that I broke 3 - I really only started training on August 1st and ran for 5 weeks with weekly mileage totals of 12, 53, 46, 26, 33, and then race week mileage of 20. I think because I put the emphasis on long runs I saved myself - I put in three long runs of 18.1, 20.6, and 21.1 and two marathon pace/tempo workouts of 8 and 7 miles. Joe rightly noted (after the race, thankfully, so I didn't get psyched out) that the guys were a little worried about my lack of training.
I woke up to Joe and Danny handing me a coffee at 4:40am. We were piled into White Lightning and on our way to the start by 5:15am with Amy at the helm. It took about 25 minutes to get to the parking lot, then we staked out a spot to store our goods, did a quick warmup around the trails, and weighed in using Ben's scale (so that Joe could track our fluid losses over the course of the race - I lost about 10 pounds). Soon enough it was time to toe the line.
The weather was beautiful - 60s and just a little humid - as I started out with Dan and Danny for the first 2 miles, trying my best to keep the pace easy with the memory of NYC still in my mind where I hit the wall hard after going out too fast. We were hitting miles around 6:18ish (I'll upload my actual splits later today), but it is downhill for the first few miles so I wasn't too concerned. Once the course flattened out I let Dan and Danny go ahead and I settled in to about a 6:30 pace for a few miles. I knew in the back of my mind that 6:30 was too fast for me, since my goal was simply run a BQ, and if possible break 3 (6:50 pace). I kept trying to calm myself down and slow the pace. The course mile marks were off by quite a bit, but at first I attributed it to my GPS and reset it after 5 miles to attempt to take manual splits, before realizing that my watch can't do splits (or I just don't know how to). I started my GPS again at the 6 mile mark and continued to click off 6:30-6:40 miles.
The sun was in our eyes as we looped through back roads in small towns across central PA, so I flipped my hat around so the brim would shield the sun. Eventually we made it to a beautiful gravel path along the Lehigh River, which was a little damp from the rain the night before. It was a good thing too, because I had to stop and pee around the 8/9 mile mark (and lost 20 seconds). I kicked up a few stones from the wet path into my shoes and onto my legs, but nothing that ended up bothering me. Only issue I had in the race was a little hot spot on my left pinky toe that bled a little, but nothing that slowed me down.
At 12 miles, I caught Amy and Joe out of the corner of my eye cheering for me and offering me a gu. I had eaten the two gus I brought with me at about the 5 and 11 mile marks, so I needed one, but by the time I realized what was happening I had run past them. Thankfully, the course doubled back on itself and Joe and Amy were cheering again just before the half, so I grabbed a gu and some encouragement from Amy, and Joe joined me to help push me through the final half.
At that point in the race I was feeling great. Joe and I chatted for about 5 miles while we continued to click off miles in the 6:40 range - adding seconds to the bank. Eventually I started to say less and less, and Joe knew that I was on the precipice of the pain cave. Periodically he reminded me to slow down my breathing and relax - especially in the later miles. He also made sure I was taking gus frequently and getting enough water. I ended up taking 5 gus over the course of the race at roughly 5, 11, 14, 19, and 23.
Amy was waiting for me at the 20 mile mark to cheer (and later I found out that she had to bushwhack through mud and forest to find it). It was at about that time when things got more difficult and my pace slipped above 6:50. From mile 22 on I was above 7:00. But I had built up enough of a cushion to afford a few miles above my target pace. When Joe told me I would get a BQ if only I could run a 38 minute 5k, I knew I was in a good spot [Note: this shows how my brain was functioning at the time - my recollection was that I needed a 38 minute 5k, but here's what Joe said in his log: " I advised w/ 5K to go that we needed a 31min 5K to BQ a 27min 5K to break 3:00. Patrick was only really grunting at this point."]
The goal was now to not be stupid and to push hard enough to get under 3 hours. Joe was great in keeping me motivated and pushing me to dig deep in those final miles when I just wanted to coast. I was deep in the pain cave by mile 25, but I was so close to the end that I dug deep to find what little I had left and I pushed hard. I caught a few guys who had passed me early on in the race, and saw one poor guy who could hardly walk straight. The marathon is an unforgiving race.
You can see and hear the finish from about .5 miles away, and you have to run towards it, then turn away to double back across a bridge before entering the final turn and finish. I knew I had a BQ in the bag, but I was so delirious that I didn't know if I had a sub-3 in the bag until I turned the final corner and saw the clock. I was chasing down someone in front of me, but he had me by about 15 seconds and I couldn't make it up, although I did close on him. I remember Amy cheering for me down the straight and me digging so hard that my eyes were closing. I crossed the line at 2:58:14 and wobbled my way over to some chairs in the shade where I saw the other guys and enjoyed all the ice and water I could handle.
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More from Joe's log about the final 2k:
"At 2K to go I pressed on Pat that we had to pick it up. We needed to finish strong. I figured this would result in pretty much an even split, but otherwise the rate of slowing would have us dropping miles over 8, putting us over 3:00. Around 1.2mi left we could see the bridge and finish. We picked it up. Around the hair pin and back up and over the bridge and Patrick was doing a caricature of a surge. The last 3mi we'd picked off 4 people doing worse caricatures. On the bridge I advised Patrick to "finish like a BOSS and make his woman proud" we turned for the last 300m and I got off the course onto the sidewalk and ran along cheering. Looking like death, he chugged along to the chute. He then really started to look like death, as marathons do to you and they put him in the med tent. Amy ran over crying a little. Clearly Patty had done good. I was damn proud of him.
"I didn't want to say it in the race, but his 20mi ~8:30 pace was a bad omen for a race at sub 7's. I was fearful he would bonk hard. I was even scared he might be toasted by 20. Somehow he dug down and found it. I recall around 20mi he muttered to himself "20 more Cass," so he found that drive down in there somewhere."
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I was so happy to not only get a BQ, but to get 7 minutes under the BQ so I can register a day early and beat the riff raff. I ran a smart race by not going out too hard too early - learning my lesson from previous efforts. Having Joe there was incredibly helpful - he really helped me over those final few miles and pushed me hard the whole way to get me under 3, which I'm not sure if I would have done without him. And realizing at the finish that Ben had won and Tim, Dan, and Danny had finished 3, 4, and 6 was amazing. If this had been a dual meet, us against the field, we would have won.
Now if I can pull together more than 5 weeks of training for Boston I should be in a good position to PR in April.
Time: 2:58:14
Pace: 6:48
Place: 27th
Splits:
(will upload splits later today)
Elevation and course maps:
http://www.viamarathon.com/event_info/course/map_marathon_relay.php
http://www.viamarathon.com/event_info/course/elevation_marathon_relay.php
Pictures and video of the race:
http://www.mcall.com/sports/mc-lvhn-via-marathon-20140907-story.html
Other notes:
In the lead-up to the race I read "Why We Run," which was written by a biologist ultrarunner. It has a lot of good information about the physiology of running, especially as it relates to eating and how our bodies use glycogen and fat as fuel for longer runs and races. I'd highly recommend it.
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