May 4th was the Flying Pig Marathon. I was
shooting for a sub 4 hour time and felt that with my showing at the Chi Town
half this was a very good possibility. Well, needless to say that didn’t happen
at this Marathon number 2. I’ve spent the past
week going over what happen during the race and what happen leading to the race
that cause such a poor performance. I suppose it would make sense for me to go
over the race itself, so what is about to follow is the good, bad and the ugly.
Yasmin and I drove down to Cincinnati early Saturday morning but first
we dropped Rocky off at my parents for the week. After the race we had to go
straight back home since Monday morning we were flying to Puerto
Rico. Interesting thing as we go into Ohio my ears popped because of the elevation.
I have to be honest I was taken a back by this. So we checked into our hotel
that was in Kentucky that is ridicules close
to Ohio, like
cross the street and you’re in a different state close. We went to the expo and
got my T-shirt and Bib and picked up a few souvenirs. I picked up a T-shirt and
so did Yasmin. After a night of carbo loading at Olive Garden we called it a
night.
Start Line
It was the big day race Moring. We left the hotel and made
it to Duke Energy center where we parked for the Expo and walked about 4 blocks
to the start line. The start for the runners was the parking lot of Reds
stadium. I got into my start corral but couldn’t find the 4 hr pacer so I said
forget it I’ll just keep my own pace. I mean I had my Nike Watch and I had my
pace tattoo. Interesting this they did not have waves for this Marathon unlike The BOA Chicago Marathon. The start gun
went off and we started the race. It seemed really crowded but that was because
the Half marathon and relay started at the same time. We were off to the races
so to speak.
The race started and I tried to make it a point to not get
overly excited and start out to fast, so I did my best to keep my pace in line
with my pace tattoo. My pace at the start was 9:15 – 9:30 I figured I’m better
off playing it conservative at the start. Since at Chicago I did 1 hr 55 min by the time I
reached that half, so I didn’t want a repeat of that. I was feeling good at the
start of the race and before I knew it we were crossing into Kentucky. I got to say seeing the sign that
said “welcome to Kentucky”
was really cool. I can now say I ran a race sorta in 3 states haha. I was still
feeling good and doing my best to take in the sights and just really enjoy the
race.
So hot I had to roll up my sleeve
Weather wise it was a perfect morning for a race, the sun
was coming up and it was really windy but there was a nice breeze in the air. As
the day progressed what started out as a beautiful spring day seemed to turn
into a heat wave. The temps hit a high of 75 but much of the course was tree
less and one large part was even on an express way. I am very self conscious so
I wore a T-shirt under my racing singlet that I am sure did not me with the
heat. I tried to make it a point to grab water and at least rinse my mouth out
with it so I wouldn’t get dry mouth really bad. I pushed through the heat and
just did my best to keep going.
HILLS! DAMN YOU HILLS! I’ve heard The Flying Pig was a very
hilly race and many people down played it. Of course since all the hills are at
the start was another big reason that I started off a slower then I could have.
Between the elevation and the hills they kicked my ass. I was making it a point
not to charge up them like Spartan heading into battle. And not all the hills
were huge some were small ones but even those as the race went on were ridicules
tough. Sorry to say that the hills got the best of me and made it very
difficult for me to finish.
By mile 18 I was done, I started to walk as fast as possible
and at some points would jog a little and then the pain started and I’d walk.
Truth be told I gave up and at more then one point I seriously started
questioning my running. Did I want to do more marathons a mistake was it a
mistake to ever think I could get a BQ. Maybe I should stick to running halfs
and 10Ks since those I could get done and not have to walk. As I came into the
last mile or so I came across a couple who have changed my thinking. They were
a married couple who’ve done a ton of marathons together and as the wife told
me there times have all varied. We power walked together and they talked to me
about BOA Chicago and how much they loved Chicago and that I should
feel discouraged. At mile 26 we came across 2 guys who walked most of the race
and were in much better shape then me. I tried following them thru the race and
in the end I caught up to them.
Before we got to mile 26 we started running slow but
we were running. The husband told me that no matter what we were going to
finish. He pointed to the finish “Swine” as they called it for the race. As he
told me no matter what we were finishing under 5 hrs. I crossed the Finish
Swine and puked. Note don’t eat a pretzel in the hopes of getting some salt
back into you. The husband put my medal on me and I thanked him an his wife for
helping me finish strong.
Crossing the finish Swine
What happen? I didn’t train proper for the race. Not only
did I need more hill repeats but I needed to make it a point to cross train and
stay on top of my nutrition better. I’m changing a few things up for this next
training cycle, 1.) I am going on a strict diet 2.) I am getting more aggressive
with my cross training and 3.) I am going to follow a more advanced training
plan. What are next other then a couple of half marathons and 10Ks BOA Chicago
Marathon and it all go as planned a sub 4 marathon.
Not my best but I got it done!
No comments:
Post a Comment