Race Morning
The day started out waking up well before the sun was out to get ready for the race. I was fortunate enough to go to sleep early enough to be semi-well rested when I got up. The past couple of races I have gone to, I risked missing the start because I wasn’t factoring in traffic. Because this was one of the biggest races I’ve ever ran, I left early enough to avoid any traffic, which was nice. I got to the race where people were sitting, hanging out and having some free bagels and fruit. I knew I was early because there was absolutely no line to the porta-potties! However, when I went for the second time right before the race, it was about a 30-45 minute wait!
The Course
The course went through many of the city’s famous spots including: Balboa Park, the Gaslamp Quarter (Downtown), San Diego Bay & Mission Bay with the finish at Sea World. There were costumed runners including Elvi (more than one Elvis), even a Sponge Bob Squarepants dressed as Elvis. There were also bands scattered throughout the course and lots and lots of excited cheering spectators, which was very encouraging.
Goals
When I was registering for this race, I didn’t know how fast I was planning to run it, but needed to give an expected finish time anyways. Boy was I wrong in saying 3:15! But that got me bumped up all the way to corral 2. As I got toward the end of my training program, I knew 3:15 was not reasonable so I was shooting for 3:30. Right before the race started, I turned back to look at the runners behind me and noticed the 3:30 pacer was in corral 3! I didn’t know if I should try to get in there or wait for the pacer to catch up. I decided to just try and go on my own and work out pacing by myself. I actually did a pretty decent job..at first.
Race Strategizing
The night before the race, I tried to plan out how I was going to pace myself throughout the race. A 3:30 is 8 min/mile, but I didn’t know if I would be able to run at that pace for the entire 26.2 miles. So I decided to run the first half of the marathon at a slower pace and pick it up the second half. So I figured if I could run at 8:14 pace, I could conserve enough energy to run a 7:47 pace for the rest of the way. I went as far as writing down what my 10K, half marathon and 20 mile time should be on my hand. Too bad it washed off once I started sweating and drinking water.
The Start
I think because I was in corral 2, I was surrounded by people running a lot faster than me. I was able to run with one person for a couple of miles at a decent pace, but she started picking it up and I knew it wouldn’t have been a good idea to hang. Out of the first ten miles, only one mile was at the planned 8:14 pace. Everything else was around 8 min/mile or faster. But I felt pretty comfortable for those first 10-15 miles.
Water!
Then it started going downhill from there (figuratively). My body started getting tired and the sun was out and shining. I didn’t need water or anything during the first few stations, but toward the middle/end of the race, I kept wishing there were more! Definitely not a good sign. What was a nice change was during mile ~21, they were handing out frozen Otterpops. It was so refreshing (although not the most nutritious). It was just nice to have something cold, since almost all of the energy drinks and waters that were handed out were lukewarm, bleh. I had 2 energy gels during the race that was offered, but had another on me in case and some PowerBar Energy Gel Blasts, which I only had two pieces of. Like I said earlier, this is very similar to my first half marathon. I started off too fast and ran out of energy toward the end of the race. If only I could have forced myself to run a slower pace at the beginning, how much better could my overall time have been?
Soreness & Pain
So in addition to hydration being an issue, I don’t think I was physically prepared to run 26.2 miles (fast). I had two 20-milers during my training, which turned out very bad and not so bad. But the pace for those runs was not even close to what I wanted to run at the marathon. During both runs, my legs were exhausted and just not used to running such a long distance. And today, it literally felt like my legs got whacked by a baseball bat many times. I always thought you get sore the day after working out, but DURING?! And as I’m sitting here writing this, both of my knees are in pain and need to be iced, not to mention all of the soreness.
My Two Cents
I think that’s enough complaining, it’s still a decent effort for a first marathon. And like I said when I posted my race on DailyMile, I have to say I have an even greater respect for marathoners. There were so many people out there today and so many people who do this every week. It’s just so amazing how they can put their bodies through so much all for what, a medal and t-shirt? No. What I saw out there today were people running..for others. Everyone has their own reason for running; some do it in memory of others. Some do it to help raise money for a cure or charity or something other than themselves. I am truly blessed to be able to ‘be one of them’, that is…a marathoner.