St Louis Marathon Report 2010.
Spent Saturday AM working on a scout project north of Columbia. Mostly putting in a culvert in a creek and some brush piles for quail habitat. Got home packed up and headed to SL. Went right to the packet pickup at the arena- picked up my packet and walked through the show floor and left- to many people and not enough room. Headed back out to Brentwood and went to Trader Joes. Picked up a few items and headed back down town. Checked into the hotel on 4th and Olive. Lounged around the room for a bit and went for a walk to see if we could find some place to eat. Ended up coming back to the hotel and ate in the restaurant there. I had a safe meal of chicken pasta, a salad and we split a piece if carrot cake. Went to bed fairly early and I slept as well as I do in a hotel. Got up at 5:30 had the usual two packs of oat meal and a cup of tea for breakfast and headed to the start. Once there, I walked around a while, if anything to burn a bit of nervous energy. I lined up between the 7:00 and 8:00 groups and ran into Dan E. Dan was stoked to be there and was talking quite a bit. I could see Tom May and Tony Rigdon in the corral in front of us. The race started and off we went. It was a tame(no pushing and a decent bit of space to move) start. The first couple of miles were down hill and I was moving well at something like 6:20-6:30 pace. After a bit Dan and myself found Andy E and Tom May and we ran/talked together through the brewery and through a couple of water stations were I lost the group. I ran by myself for some time until about mile 7-8(??) Tom come up from behind. I was surprised to see him behind me and this was a bit concerning. I ran with Tom for a mile or so then started to feel the fast start and started slowing down Going into Forest Park, Tom was still in sight, barely. Forest Park is of some racing significance for me since I ran the NCAA Div III cross country championships there in 1988. I ended up 27th (my goal was top 25 to be an All American)with the team ending up a disappointing 4th since were ranked 1st in the polls. I went through the half in 1:27 and things were catching up to me so I downed an orange hammer gel. This did not sit well and I ended up with a moderate side stitch. At this point, my goal was to keep the pace below 7:00 and was doing a decent job. Ran several more miles that were uneventful and was nearing the turnaround were the course has some big rolling hills, I did not fell too bad and was able to keep a decent pace up the hills. At this point, things are a bit hazy, but I do remember making it up a fairly steep hill with a fair bit of effort. People were starting to trickle past me. Picked up a Hammer gel (chocolate) that I chocked down with a fair bit of water. I was carrying another Hammer Mocha that I was saving for mile 20-22. Nearing the end of the long straightway, the heat/open stark spaces/lack of people was getting to me (though it was not hot sensation per se) and I started noticing that I was chafing and the face was really salty so I was taking multiple waters and drinking some and washing the salt off my face arms and legs. Somewhere around 18-20 I had to walk. I would pick a spot 20- 30 yards ahead and start running when I got to it. The legs were dead at this point and they did not want top move even though I did not feel like I was breathing all that hard. At mile 20 or so, had the mocha Hammer and it was not much better then the chocolate. By now I was walking about every mile for 20-50 yards, mostly on the uphills since my lower glutes were burger (note to self- do not play dodge ball at your son’s B-day party 2 days before a marathon). A memorable “up hill” was a left hand sweeping overpass that just kept on going and I walked a large portion of it, near the top, someone came by me and said that I had a good time going and finish in style. Needless to say, “style” was not at all important by now. The two courses merged together and there was a steady stream of half walkers to run with. I continued the walk /run thing till the end. As I came up the final hill and could see the huge flag hanging over the course, I knew the finish was near - but what is near? 200 m or 1000m. I ended up walking one last time near the flag with some one saying that the finish was 3 blocks. All I could think about was where is it then and how big are the blocks. I picked it back up and ran the rest of the way in with 2 guys in front of me, I though about kicking it in past them to the finish line but ended up just pushing a good pace in to the line. Crossed the finish line with a 3:05:04 and was happy to be done. Walked through the finish area and met my wife. We walked through the reception area and it was hot, smelled bad, no place to sit and not water so we walked back to the hotel. I took a shower and a short nap, checked out and headed home.
Post Race- I was a lot more sore than I had expected. Monday was the backwards walk down the stairs to go make coffee. The Tuesday AM run did not feel very good as well with my right leg/knee feeling a bit weak. By the end of the week, I am feeling better but still need more recovery time.
A few random thoughts:
I wrote the above text before I had my splits in hand. I ran a better (faster) race than I remember.
Race pictures are up and I look better than I was feeling- I did not mentally prepare for the race so this I may attribute to my perception of the race.
After the fact I found out that I had one my age division- an idea that had never entered my mind as a possibility or I would have hung around for the awards.
Some very respected fellow runners did not fair too well this day- I should be happy with what I was given.
Going into this, I was not sure what to expect - somewhere between a 3:20 (BQ) and a sub 3. Considering the conditions, I fared quite well for a race that was not run in a tactical manner.
My son had dodge ball party the Friday before the race. He wanted me to play so I did- a bit longer than I should have. I was overall a bit sore, especially my lower glutes. I could feel this esp later in the race. Note to self; no dodge ball before marathons!
About at the half way mark
The run in to the finish
Made it!! I do not look that bad.
Type Distance Time Total Time Pace
Interval 1 Mi 6:27.69 6:27.69 6:28
Interval 2 Mi 6:42.19 13:09.88 6:43
Interval 3 Mi 6:44.58 19:54.46 6:45
Interval 4 Mi 6:23.53 26:17.99 6:24
Interval 5 Mi 6:32.53 32:50.52 6:33
Interval 6 Mi 6:35.3 39:25.82 6:36
Interval 7 Mi 6:39.37 46:05.19 6:40
Interval 8 Mi 6:45.57 52:50.76 6:46
Interval 9 Mi 6:37.42 59:28.18 6:38
Interval 10 Mi 6:42.68 1:06:10.86 6:43
Interval 11 Mi 6:33.76 1:12:44.62 6:34
Interval 12 Mi 6:53.58 1:19:38.20 6:54
Interval 13 Mi 6:35.84 1:26:14.04 6:36
Interval 14 Mi 6:43.73 1:32:57.77 6:44
Interval 15 Mi 6:55.79 1:39:53.56 6:56
Interval 16 Mi 6:55.7 1:46:49.26 6:56
Interval 17 Mi 6:59.19 1:53:48.45 7:00
Interval 18 Mi 6:51.11 2:00:39.56 6:52
Interval 19 Mi 7:11.16 2:07:50.72 7:12
Interval 20 Mi 6:56.23 2:14:46.95 6:57
Interval 21 Mi 7:15.39 2:22:02.34 7:16
Interval 22 Mi 8:04.32 2:30:06.66 8:05
Interval 23 Mi 8:03.61 2:38:10.27 8:04
Interval 24 Mi 7:30.25 2:45:40.52 7:31
Interval 25 Mi 7:59.51 2:53:40.03 8:00
Interval 26 Mi 7:36.95 3:01:16.98 7:37
Interval 0.52 Mi 4:03.06 3:05:20.04 7:48
