Well, it’s done. I completed the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, October 30. The last time I “raced” a marathon was around my fortieth birthday, 5 years ago, finishing with a time of 3:54.32. Since then I have not run a marathon, mostly focusing on triathlons, and then COVID put a pause on any racing. Last year I challenged myself by completing a 50k trail run with some significant elevation gain, a different beast from running a road marathon.
When I got the entry to the Marine Corps Marathon, I was excited to flex my road racing muscles again. Since I am now 5 years older, I decided to employ my fellow PT and endurance coach extraordinaire, Chris Johnson. I set a goal of a finishing time 3:45, and, based on my training, that time was in my wheelhouse, but I knew I was going to have to work for it.
Race recap:
I crossed the finish line well behind my goal time, with an official time of 3:52.02. To say I’m disappointed is an understatement, and it has taken a week to be able to step back and get a better perspective on the race.
Right from the start, I knew I would be working against an initial time deficit. The course starts with a fairly long up hill from miles 1-3, and then a steep downhill from miles 3-4. I anticipated taking it easy up the hill and then also being mindful of not killing my quads on the descent. I believed that once I got through the hill, I could dial into my race pace and slowly eat away at the initial deficit.
Rolling hills are the death of consistent pace
and really, that’s the issue. This course was rarely flat. I was constantly having to readjust my pace with the slight inclines and declines throughout. I spent too much effort and energy on finding my pace.
You would think the nerves would have helped empty me out for this race. Not a chance. At mile 18 I had to make a stop. At that point I was aware that I was off my pace, but I knew if I didn’t stop, it could be a disaster. In my mind, no biggie, it’'ll set me up well for the last 10k of the race. No problem… but then, into mile 24, there was a mad dash to stop again.
MILE 24!!!
And then, to be honest, I just didn’t have anything left. I tried to get my pace back up to at least a respectable tempo, but just couldn’t keep it up.
I have always thought of myself as a tough cookie, but I have been definitely questioning my mental toughness this week.
How do I move forward?
I am certainly not walking away from this without a new goal for redemption. I will be doing another marathon in 2023, and I now have information and experience from which to work.
Silver linings:
despite my disappointing result, I trust the training and my coach
I stayed injury free during the entirety of my training
I did finish with a personal best
Focus for the future:
get more race experience regardless of distance
consider the role of strength training (was this why I couldn’t push the pace in the last 2 miles?)
practice race pace
figure out the belly situation!
And the biggest lesson learned: don’t choose a race because it is in a cool city. Once you are in a pain hole, there is no way you are looking at anything except the road 20 feet ahead of you. I ran right in front the Capitol building and barely noticed it.