Marathon Me

You can see that the city of Carrolton rolled out the welcome mat for me, placing a sign just for me on the way to the race. Scott and I had picked up our packets the night before and had decided not to drive the course. I was sure that I would see those eight 5k loops more than enough on Sunday. Boy was I right.

I’m not a huge fan of loop courses, as it gets more and more boring each loop. But up until this race I had never done more than 4 loops (Sunmart 50 Miler, four 12.5 mile loops), which was painful in its own right. There is something slightly evil about running the same lap but taking longer and longer each lap. Maybe if I ran negative splits it would bother me less, but I don’t and so it got annoying.

Scott and I got ready and left the hotel 15 minutes before the start of the race. Paul Williams was probably wondering why he had a panic attack that morning. It was perfect. We drove the 5 minutes to the High School, parked, went inside, used the facilities, walked to the starting line, said good luck to each other and then the gun went off. I don’t think we could have timed it any better. It made me smile thinking how awesome that was and also that Paul and Nancy would have been at the school at least an hour before us.

The lesson to be learned from these photos, is when taking a picture with a flash before the sun comes up, don’t stand in front of a highly reflective surface like a license plate. Duly noted for next time.

Two weeks earlier I simply got crushed by the Rattlesnake 50k in West Virginia and knew today would be painful. I was expecting to run about a 3:20 – 3:25, with a 3:15 being a major best case. I planned to run about 1:31 – 1:35 in the first half and then around 1:50 on the second half.

I knew based on how beat up I was, that I’d be able to handle about 10-11 miles or so before the fatigue would catch up with me and start causing my times to plummet. I actually made it to about mile 12 and then it all went downhill from there.

Since this was an 8 lap course Scott and I made bets as to how many times I’d lap him, and how many times I’d be lapped by the winner. I guessed I’d catch him twice and the winner would lap me once.

The first 1.4 miles is a .7 mile out and back down a straightaway, then you turn around and head out for the first of 8, yes 8, 5k laps. Before the race started I chatted a little with Chuck Engle (this guy is crazy, I think he runs about 40-50 marathons a year and wins 20-30 of them). He had won a marathon the day before in about 2:46 and he would go on to do the same here.

The first three miles were pretty easy and the course was pancake flat. Did I mention that there was eight 5k laps?

0-1 6:36
1-2 6:48
2-3 6:51

5k down, woo-hoo! That would be the end of my sub 7 minute miles. I used the Garmin 305 to give me mile splits since there were no mile markers, the course actually measured long via GPS at about 26.65, which is what Scott got as well, so my last .2, I think was closer to .6, which lines up with the time I ran as well.

3-4 7:01
4-5 7:05
5-6 7:12
6-7 7:09
7-8 7:17

I come up to the turnaround where they have 5-6 people sitting in lawn chairs to count your laps for you. I try Al’s trick of saying I’m on lap 7, and they tell me they must have missed four of them. Something tells me people other than Al have tried this before.

The next few miles pass uneventfully aside for the boredom.

8-9 7:21
9-10 7:15
10-11 7:25
11-12 7:23
12-13 7:39

I go through the half marathon about 1:32 so, right on pace, but I know its going to come crashing down now. I’m hoping to get to mile 17-18 before getting lapped by Chuck and before heading into 8 minute miles.

13-14 7:42
14-15 7:51
15-16 7:59
16-17 7:54

I make it to 17, but barely. Mile 18 would be the start of the 8 minute miles, but I resolve to not have any 9 minute miles. I’ve lapped Scott once at this point and as I take the turn back to the turnaround Scott looks behind me and says “he’s right there”. And so Chuck laps me around 17-18 miles. He has quite a commanding lead and I’m sure at this point he will repeat his Saturday victory.

17-18 8:01
18-19 8:13
19-20 8:08

I get ready for the last 10k, and I think it’s somewhat funny. Karma has caught up to me for saying that I could beat P-diddy in the second marathon of a weekend double to his first marathon, now Chuck Engle will be doing that to me, although his two times will be amazing close, whereas my second marathon is usually 30-40 minutes slower. Damn your black heart p-diddy and yours too Chuck Engle!

20-21 8:31
21-22 8:24

I’ve lost track of Chuck but I know at some point I pass him as he heads out on his last lap so I’m happy that it is now physically impossible for him to lap me again as he will finish before he can do it. I inform Scott of this great news as I get him for the second time, and he says it is now physically impossible for me to catch him again.

22-23 8:10
23-24 8:31
24-25 8:26
25-26 8:00

Mile 26 comes according to Dr. Garmin and I’m nowhere near the finish line. Either the GPS is off, or this course is long. I’m going with it’s long.
26.2 (26.65?) 4:34
=====
3:23:37

So I finish and go grab very tasty donut (way to coach Al!) and a popsicle. What a great race. Ugh!

I’m happy to be done, but don’t think I’ll ever do another 8 lap course, so boring. That was marathon or longer #76, and state #42 in the books. Next up, Humpy’s Marathon in Alaska. Can’t wait.

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Tags: Marathons, Race Reports //