Country Music *Almost* Marathon

I don't want to whine, so let me just say that the marathoners slower than a projected 4:00 finish were herded off the course sometime after Mile 20 or 21 due to stormy weather. Of course, that included me! The following are a few key points and lessons learned.

Race Organization

Kudos to the organizers because the expo, starting, and finish organization were outstanding as it should be after so many years of Country Music Marathon experience. Crowd support was perfect. I was somewhat surprised to see that maybe 90-95% of the runners were 1/2 marathoners. The only negative was the traffic jams and lack of parking for the expo and the misery trying to leave the stadium after it was over. Most likely the traffic jam leaving the stadium was due to the sudden exit by most everyone because of the weather. Lesson learned: Don't think they will just let you finish a race at your own risk, no matter whether you signed the usual waiver.

Race Recap

It was nice to get the finisher's medal, of course, but still I cannot put it on the books as a completed marathon. This was the first time I ran a continuous hilly race and I can say for certain the hills were winning. I knew that if I could hang on to Mile 20, the rest was flat. To be herded off shortly after Mile 20 was to say the least...agonizing. True, I was beat up and already in run/walk mode from the hills, but more so from my stupid ITB pain that joined my race around Mile 16. Doing the math on my physical condition and what was ahead, I would have had a finish time of around 4:30 give or take a couple of minutes. That assumes I didn't get struck by lightning or carried to the ocean in a whirlwind! But I would have finished with an acceptable time and that is the most important thing after all the recent training. Lesson learned: Need more hill training and need to take care of the ITB somehow.

Pace Timing

After a night of charging as usual, I turned on my Garmin 305 a few minutes before start time and, "beep" - "low battery alarm". I had that happen on a previous Garmin too many times, but this was a different model and the first time for it. For some reason, something sucks the battery dry even though it may have been on a charger. I had no watch. My day was going "south". But wait, I had my BlackBerry (for tweeting of course). Searching through it, I found a stopwatch. I tinkered with it for a few minutes and found it to be my lifesaver! It could handle laps and would display all recent laps and cumulative time. Perfect! Crisis avoided! Lesson learned: Always have a Plan B on your pace timing.

Hydration
On my previous marathon just 8 weeks earlier, I suffered calf cramps from Mile 20 - 26.2. That alone cost me about 9 minutes off my finish time. I was determined to avoid that on this next race. One obvious thing was to stay well hydrated. This was also my first long race where I hydrated myself pretty well in the couple of hours prior to the start. Arriving early at the start, I had plenty of opportunities to drink and pee before the mob came and the long lines to the potties. I took a few swallows of Cytomax at every stop along the course. This was also the first long run where I needed to pee after 10 miles. After we split off from the 1/2 marathoners, I found a potty and let it go. I lost two minutes, but no big deal since I was soon to be suffering a whole lot more lost time in the miles to come. As of Mile 20.5 when we were herded off, there was no evidence of impending calf cramps. So hopefully, the hydration was the main culprit. From researching online, I know that is not always the case. Lesson learned: Stay well enough hydrated, but not so much that you must pee in the first 10 miles; otherwise, you will stand in line at the potty. Also, I am sold on Cytomax.

Body Glide
I got a sample packet of the Body Glide stuff. On race morning I applied it all around my toes and a little on some parts of my feet prone to rubbing. After the race, I checked my feet and found absolutely no signs of distress. No rub marks. No blisters. Nothing. Lesson learned: I am sold on Body Glide.

That's about it. With heat and humidity just ahead, I have no plans for another 1/2 or full marathon until around October when the weather begins to cool.

Gulf Coast Half Marathon

I was on the road at 4 AM, drove for 2 hours, got my race packet, and then chilled out for a while until the 7 AM race start at the Inaugural Gulf Coast Half Marathon at Pensacola Beach, Florida. The weather was near perfect with the temperature just under 60F at race start. The flags were standing straight out but I believe it was only about a 10 mph wind. I knew we would run straight into that wind for 7 miles and then turn around to go back.

Although I toyed with the idea of running this race easy since my full marathon was only two weeks away, in my heart I knew I was going to run near my previous PR pace of around 8:40/mile as long as things felt okay. I started well into the back half of the 800+ runners as there was no easy way to push closer. The event was chip timed, so my only concern was getting stuck in the early crowd. When I went across the starting line, I saw some daylight and made an effort to get through the large back-of-the-pack group that I felt would be too slow. I managed to get through and then throttled back to a comfortable 8:30/mile pace.

Thinking I might not want to sustain the "new PR" pace, especially as we ran into the wind, I held on for a couple of miles and then made the final decision. For some reason, I always make a good choice for race pace based on how it's going after 2 miles. This time, I felt really good so I decided the 8:30/mile pace would be a good choice. I knew if I made it to the turnaround point without fatigue, then the last 6 miles would be with the wind!

Except for the pesky ITB pain in the left knee that revealed itself at mile 4 but never stopped me, I never slowed and finished with a time of 1:51. I ran a decent negative split for last half of the race but that was mostly attributed to running with the wind.

This was my fourth half marathon and they seem to get easier each time. I no longer have muscle and joint pains during the latter part of the races, especially those that would linger for a few days afterward. I have also averaged about 5 minutes quicker in my finish time with each half-marathon. Since I have only been running for three years and I am only into my second year of races, I have plenty of room for natural improvement before I must suffer the inevitable effects of age decline. That's the one "plus" for starting my running in the later years!

Now, my next full marathon is less than two weeks away. With nothing planned after that, I have begun to search the internet for just the right event to take me through the summer. There will be no more 20 mile runs and no full marathons until later in the fall. I am not a glutton for punishment and I will not race when the summer heat and humidity are against me.

What's Next?

Been a while since I blogged. Not too long after that last Rock n Roll Marathon finish I decided to go for the bling and make a trip to the Rock n Roll Country Music Marathon in Nashville, Tennessee. It will be on April 24th. To do this, I tinkered with a training plan and basically came up with what I thought would work coming off the first marathon and having about 8 weeks until the next one.

Unfortunately, I soon found my daughter's spring softball schedule just about killed my training. Each week I felt I was all but out of the hunt for marathon #2 this spring. The deciding factor was whether I could safely run 20 miles a couple of weeks ago. I felt if I didnt wake up and do that on the Saturday morning, then rush to another town and catch up with the softball tournament, then I was not going for #2. Well, I did do the 20 miles and it really didn't feel bad at all after the run. So, I went ahead and registered for the marathon. Basically for the last 8 weeks I have been working in more hill runs, which really aren't hills by any other person's standards. In any case, it was all I had for hills and I suspected the Nashville race wouldn't be too much more.

With the hill runs came a new ITB problem. I had been doing okay with my right kneee and had no real ITB flareup in many months, and nothing to stop my runs. Now, it hit the left knee for the first time ever. That's been two or three weeks now. I blamed the many hills I added into my routine.

Today, I worked in a final 20 mile run and managed with the ITB issue. It kicked in after only 4 miles, but never got unmanageable. Hopefully with the next three weeks of taper until the marathon, it will improve more. I am trying to use the foam roller and some weight workouts to help stretch out both ITBs and strengthen things up.

Next week, I will run the inaugural Gulf Coast Half-Marathon which runs right along the beach at Pensacola, Florida. Should be a fun race and a perfect time for that distance in my taper. I haven't decided whether to run it fairly easy or to take off running and go for a small improvement on a PR! After that race, it's two weeks of "safe" running and then off I go to RnR Nashville!

Well, that's about all. My next blog will probably be after the marathon #2. At that time, I will be eyeing the Triple Crown bling for running three RnR events in a calendar year. Woot!