Quick background-I am 35 and Philly was my second marathon. My first was Rochester '09 and it was a bit of a disaster. I put in some decent training, but was just getting into running so didn't really know the right way to train. When I got to the race I thought I would follow the 5:00:00 pace group. Problem is the pacer's watch broke and he went out about a minute a mile fast for the first half. Needless to say the last half was ROUGH. I finished, but it was a shameful 5:20:00 time.
So about Philly...I lined up with the 4:30 pace group, although, this time I had my Garmin so I wasn't as concerned about staying with the pace group. And I had been smarter in my training so I knew what pace would feel good.
Miles 1-3: One word: Crowded! I found it a little difficult trying to dodge and weave through all of the marathoners and half marathoners as we started the race, although I still was just a bit over my goal of 10:00 miles
Miles 4-6: I settled into a great pace and was able to find pockets of empty space to run in. I was right at my 10:00 mile pace and was feeling really good. Crowd support was great and it really helped.
Miles 7-10: One more word: Hills- Well, as hilly as the course got I guess. It may have been the physically toughest part of the course, but I had done a good amount hills in my training so I was still feeling pretty good there too. And I was actually a little under my goal pace
Miles 11-14: The crowds of runners continued to thin out especially after the half marathoners split. These miles were a big psychological barrier for me, because it was around miles 11-13 when the wheels came off in my first marathon. But at this point I was feeling good, maybe to good and had sped up to a 9:45 pace.
Miles 15-19: One word: Lonely! These were some tough miles as we were running along the river. The crowd support had thinned out and I really didn't like the out and back loop. I think seeing the runners coming back as they were in the closing miles messed with my head. I felt discouraged and alone, which I think began to affect me. Although, I was still at a 10:00 mile pace
Miles 20-25: Houston, we have a problem- At this point I can't say I hit the wall, but I did struggle. Cardio was fine, legs were fine, but I felt weak and light headed. I never thought of stopping, but I did have to adopt a run/walk strategy. They had cones separating the out and back part of the course. So I made a deal with myself that I would speed walk to one and then run past two cones. This worked well and kept me goingI think the issue was that I didn't eat enough before the race (was worried about stomach issues during the race). and even though I drank a lot of Gatorade and ate a cliff bar, I think I am going to have to add gu into my training runs as well
Miles 26 and 26.2:I was so close that I knew I had to run the rest of the way. Crossed the finish with a chip time of 04:36:44 which smashed my PR.
Overall: I was disappointed I didn't break 4:30:00, but happy with the new PR. Thought the course was good, but didn't like the out and back. Crowd support was great while the race organization lacked a little.
Looking forward: I know that I need to focus more on nutrition and I think I need to up my MPW so that I can increase my speed and finish stronger that last 10k.
So about Philly...I lined up with the 4:30 pace group, although, this time I had my Garmin so I wasn't as concerned about staying with the pace group. And I had been smarter in my training so I knew what pace would feel good.
Miles 1-3: One word: Crowded! I found it a little difficult trying to dodge and weave through all of the marathoners and half marathoners as we started the race, although I still was just a bit over my goal of 10:00 miles
Miles 4-6: I settled into a great pace and was able to find pockets of empty space to run in. I was right at my 10:00 mile pace and was feeling really good. Crowd support was great and it really helped.
Miles 7-10: One more word: Hills- Well, as hilly as the course got I guess. It may have been the physically toughest part of the course, but I had done a good amount hills in my training so I was still feeling pretty good there too. And I was actually a little under my goal pace
Miles 11-14: The crowds of runners continued to thin out especially after the half marathoners split. These miles were a big psychological barrier for me, because it was around miles 11-13 when the wheels came off in my first marathon. But at this point I was feeling good, maybe to good and had sped up to a 9:45 pace.
Miles 15-19: One word: Lonely! These were some tough miles as we were running along the river. The crowd support had thinned out and I really didn't like the out and back loop. I think seeing the runners coming back as they were in the closing miles messed with my head. I felt discouraged and alone, which I think began to affect me. Although, I was still at a 10:00 mile pace
Miles 20-25: Houston, we have a problem- At this point I can't say I hit the wall, but I did struggle. Cardio was fine, legs were fine, but I felt weak and light headed. I never thought of stopping, but I did have to adopt a run/walk strategy. They had cones separating the out and back part of the course. So I made a deal with myself that I would speed walk to one and then run past two cones. This worked well and kept me goingI think the issue was that I didn't eat enough before the race (was worried about stomach issues during the race). and even though I drank a lot of Gatorade and ate a cliff bar, I think I am going to have to add gu into my training runs as well
Miles 26 and 26.2:I was so close that I knew I had to run the rest of the way. Crossed the finish with a chip time of 04:36:44 which smashed my PR.
Overall: I was disappointed I didn't break 4:30:00, but happy with the new PR. Thought the course was good, but didn't like the out and back. Crowd support was great while the race organization lacked a little.
Looking forward: I know that I need to focus more on nutrition and I think I need to up my MPW so that I can increase my speed and finish stronger that last 10k.
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