Race Day Recap

My goal was to finish in less than four hours - and I did it with 56 seconds to spare. Let's say that if I was trying to manage my time in this race, the way I did it today wasn't really the best way to do it. But hey, whatever works.

Alan and I ran the Maryville Marathon in northwestern Missouri this morning. Maryville is a nice little town of about 10,000 people, and home to Northwestern Missouri State University. The field for the full marathon consisted of about 65 people. And since the town is so small, we had to do two loops of a 13.1 mile course, which included stretches of rolling hills. About three miles into the loop there were four hills in a row. On the first lap they weren't too bad, but on the second lap they were killers. On my second lap I saw one guy trying to stretch out some cramps on one of the hills. Alan and I ran the first lap together in 2:09 and change, an average of about 10 minutes per mile.

We couldn't have asked for better weather. The temperature was right around 60 degrees, overcast the whole time, and a slight breeze from the north. This was especially important since a major part of the course went south on Highway 71. If the day had been warmer and the wind from the south it would have been tough.

Since I had a goal, I kicked it in at the halfway point, left Alan behind, and ran the second lap a LOT faster. My negative split was 1:49 and change, for a finishing time of 3:59:04. I had moments of wanting to slow down, but I told myself I wasn't going to get weather any better than today. So I went through the highs and lows of running 13.1 miles without music or company. Fortunately I had worn my watch and figured out the time deadline. I probably did the four hills at the beginning too quick, but it all paid off in the end. The last four miles were tough since they went through neighborhoods and plenty of uphills. At mile 22 I started experiencing some calf cramps. I quickly figured they were due to running uphill since they subsided on the downhill side of a hill. They came and went but at that point I decided I wasn't going to stop.

Overall the marathon and the people running it were great. This was my first small-field marathon, and I enjoyed it. I told the ladies at the refreshment tent at the finish how happy I was to see them. They had food for the finishers of the full marathon, which was quite an upgrade over the much larger race I ran in April in Dallas. The folks manning the drink stops were great as well. I cracked up one lady about five miles into my second lap when I asked her if I was right behind the leaders.

I learned my lesson from the last race and walked around plenty after I finished so that I didn't experience calf cramps. It worked pretty well. I have the normal soreness you would expect after a long run like this, but nothing that won't go away after a day or two.

I'm happy to report Alan also finished, with a time of 4:22. This course had a lot more hills than he is used to, and he finished the last nine miles with a bloody toe, due of course to a burst blister. It was a very good time for a flatlander, and we were both pumped up pretty good after the race.

This was marathon number four for me. Guess it's time to figure out where to run number five, as well as to set a new goal now that I've broken the four-hour mark.