2013 Maritime Marathon Race Report

Wow - My body rebelled for this marathon!

Ok, maybe I helped a little by going out with friends Friday night, eating food that was not good fuel and drinking beer. 

Saturday the whole family headed over to Manitowoc to hang out with my Wife's Aunt and Uncle whom we had not seem for a long time.  Great family time, but we got going late to their house and stayed a bit too long.  Luckily we arrived at packet pick up 15 minutes before closing (4:00pm).

I went for a little 3 mile run after packet pickup and did a few striders.  I felt sluggish and uncoordinated.

I slept decently and the morning went smoothly.  Right before the race I chatted with Mike and Nic ~ 2 people I knew that were also going for a sub 3.

The gun went off and from the start it was hard.  I was working my butt off, I felt sludgy and stiff.  Mile #1-3 I was fighting to stay with a couple of people hoping my legs would loosen up.  All I could muster in miles 1-3 were 6:55-7:00 miles.  I knew I was in trouble and backed off. 

Even running 7:15's felt uncoordinated and hard.  At mile #5 I was passed by 3 people and I decided to tuck in behind and just try to relax.  The pace was 7:05-7:10 and I was barely hanging on.  I started to leave sweat foot prints before mile #6.

This was also the time I realized I had seen a guy with a sign "I don't know you, but your are a star #98 (My number) 3 times already.  I say him maybe 9-10 more times in the race, it turns out he was there for his wife, but had randomly picked a number to also cheer for.  I was close enough to her pace that I saw him a lot.  Weird, but nice and fun.

Mile #10 I let them go and went into survival or "Faking it" mode.  I relaxed and ran comfortable hard, I stopped looking at my watch and just smiled.  If I am going to be slower, I might as well enjoy the day.  I started to walk for 10 steps at aide stations to get both a cup of water and a cup of Gatorade.

I went through 1/2 Marathon at 1:34:35.

Sometimes smiling and deciding you are going to have fun works.  I was feeling much better and smooth at mile #17, so I started tracking mile splits again. It was a 7:17, I decided it was time to re-focus and finish as best I could.

I could get my pace down to @ 7:05 before I would get light headed, my legs felt like they could go faster.  I was fairly dehydrated at this point, so I just took what my body gave.

At mile #22 I saw 3-4 people ahead and just focused on them, although I did not pass the 4th person until near mile #24. 

The last 2 miles have some short but steep uphills, a pretty mean place for hills!  After mile #25, I saw 2 guys ahead.  1 was 2 bocks ahead and the other 2 1/2 blocks ahead.  I caught up to the 1st one with 1/3 mile to go.  He put the hammer down, so I just ran with him as we approached the 2nd guy.  I passed the them both just before a 180 degree turn 1 block from the finish line.  He immediately passed me back and I did not have the heart (Desire) to go after him again.  He ended up 3rd in our age group and I was 4th.

2nd half was 1:35:39 for a 3:10:14 12th OA.

Both Mike (2:56 3rd OA) and Nic (3:08 9th OA) finished ahead of me.

My wife's cousin Jody and husband were at mile # 23 and the finish line with my wife and kids - I was nice to spend a little time catching up.

After the race we went to Neshotah Beach in Two Rivers.  The wind was now straight from the East, making it fun to play in the waves.  We added a little volleyball and beer and had a great time.  The water was in the low 50s, making for a nice post race ice bath.

This was an amazing family weekend that just happened to have a race that I struggled running.

Good running to all -