It's July and I'm currently forced to take some days off, so will catch up by writing about some recent and not-so-recent happenings. This is about the Los Angeles Marathon, which I ran on 3/17/13.
Coming off that 108 week 3 weeks out followed by going way under 34 at the Linfield track 10,000 (33:28/5:23 pace with halves of 16:52+16:36), I felt confident to taper and race well at L.A. I hadn't done much overdistance or huge weeks, but had a decent base, some good marathon-paced workouts, and more hills than usual mixed in (to simulate the rolling, but net downhill, course).
I felt extra nervous race day, but just kept thinking once the gun goes off, all will be fine. The weather was perfect. I tucked in behind friends and training partners Josh and Tony, and we starting clicking off the low-6 miles, just as I had in several recent marathons, all of us hoping to go sub-2:40 by as far as possible. I didn't feel especially sharp, nor did I feel especially flat. I felt good, but not exceptional. Around 8 miles I began thinking my plan to run the first 1/3 easy, second 1/3 slightly harder, and final 1/3 fastest of all might not work out. By 11 or 12, I knew it wouldn't. I wasn't leading at all, just hanging on, and felt by halfway (79:00) that unless I got a serious second-wind, a PR was unlikely. I came through 16 in about 96:19 (6:01/mi), exactly the split I'd wanted to hit. Why can't I just keep this up for 1 more hour, I thought? But I knew I couldn't. It's one thing to hit goal splits feeling good, a whole 'nother thing to hit them on the verge of rubberiness.
By 17, they'd opened a gap of 10 seconds on me, which grew to about 25 by mile 20. Every split from the start to 20 was in the 5:52-6:13 range, some net downhill, some net up, some flat, with 17,18,19,20 in 6:11/6:06/6:07/6:13, but Josh & Tony were definitely continuing in the low-6:00s while I was putting more and more effort into keeping on pace. Looking back, those 4 were my pre-wall miles, and turning at 20 to go up the legendary "VA Hill" really put the hurt on. The ground under my feet began moving in slow motion, like someone had cut down the speed on a treadmill. The kilos and miles started taking longer (literally) but even longer in my perception of them as my body began to totally shut down.
My final 6 full splits were 6:32/6:29/6:36/6:29/6:34/6:36, and that was giving it absolutely everything I had. I just didn't have what I'd hoped I would. Giving up might have meant 7:30s and 8:00s, but I really try not to give up, just to gut it out even if it's not my day. I came across the line completely spent in 2:41:34, my fifth fastest time ever, but only 4th fastest since turning 40 in Nov. 2011. Josh & Tony, excited with their 2:37/2:38 performances had already breezed through the finish area, had photos taken, and gone off to find loved ones. The volunteers took one look at me and asked if I needed medical attention (probably the most FAQ of me after marathons), but I politely said no, accepted a medal, and did not correct any of them when they said great job. Wouldn't it be the worst to say to an enthusiastic finish line volunter: "Well, actually, I was on pace through 16, then faded a bit by 20, and only covered the final 10K in 40:37, so in fact it really sucked ass compared to what I wanted to do, so you can take your 'good job' and shove it."? Yes, it would be the worst. I would only say something like that to friends who understand it.
So I finished almost 3 minutes slower than Chicago, on a course with a net drop of many hundreds of feet. My quads gave up, and I'm not sure why. It wasn't my day, but it could have been a lot worse. I'm still glad I decided to do it. As I always say, a bad marathon is still a helluva workout. I know I gained something from it. Plus the trip/weekend was a lot of fun, particularly drinking in an Irish bar after. When we walked in in our space blankets we were some of the first runners there, and the bar crowd went wild cheering and congratulating us. I didn't correct any of them either. In fact, I celebrated being done, and being alive!
No comments:
Post a Comment