The race report
Before tell you how I did today, I just want to shout out to MW, a friend from Minnesota now living in Anchorage--he's married to a friend of mine from the U of MN SPH days. He ROCKED today, and broke the course record on his way to the marathon victory. Read about it HERE. Way to go!!!!
The morning was cool and overcast, perfect weather for a marathon. I parked my car at the finish and took the shuttle to the start, which was at Bartlett High School on the east side of town. After the usual runner preparations (last trip to the porta-potty, final stretch, drop off the gear bag, etc.), the runners lined up and off we went!
The race course for the first 6 miles follows the bike trail up the Glenn Highway to Fort Richardson, where we cross and wind down a road onto the military base. This was pretty low-key, nothing too strange to report here. The fun really started at about mile 7.5, when we started running on the tank trail. The next 8 miles were on essentially a very gravelly road that started out fairly flat, but had some brutal hills around miles 13-14. I ran this section fairly strong early on, but did have to stop and walk at the top of some of the hills since my heart was working a little bit too hard for my liking. The aid stations on this section were very small, and I ran through one because I thought there would be a second table...and I was wrong. Waiting an additional 2 miles for Gu....well, it wasn't a happy moment. I crossed the halfway point at about 1:56, which was already off-pace for the ultimate goal of 3:40, but would still net me a large PR.
After the tank trail section, we cruised downhill on Campbell Airstrip to Tudor Road. This section was tough--it was downhill, but the grade was just enough to make it really uncomfortable. I started to struggle here, and tried to contain it as I went through the water stop when JP handed me my water. He said later on that I looked rough. I sure felt it at that point.
Next was a 2-mile section on the bike trail next to Tudor Road. This was fairly uneventful, though after crossing Tudor and heading up to the Chester Creek Trail area, the mental wars began. All of a sudden, my brain went into overdrive. "you aren't making it to Boston, why don't you just stop?" and other comments of that nature started running through my head. I kept going back to the theme music from my Nike Commercial, which was only slightly helpful. Finally, I battled it out by telling myself that even if I only ran 10:00 miles from here on out, I would still PR. That seemed to quiet the demons. The sun was also out by this time and had burned off most of the cloud cover, so it was also much warmer, which was also messing with my head.
Once on the CC trail, I saw a big group of friends at mile 24, and that really kept me going strong until the finish. M&MR, MB, and EL&NH were out in force--and I really appreciated it!!!
Between mile 25 and 26 there is a hill. It is steep. It makes people cry. Everyone in my pack walked up it. But once at the top, I tried to kick it into gear again, and I crossed the finish line in 3:55:48 by my watch (3:56.13 was the official time, I think). My previous PR was 4:01, so a great improvement by 6 minutes or so!
I averaged 8:59's. I had trained for a faster pace (my half-marathon pace is about 8:14), but it was a tough course and I definitely could have run it with better strategy. I knew fairly early on that I had taken the first half too quickly, and by the end I was just trying to hold on. I would also carry my own water next time--I've gotten used to having it when I want it when training, and I think I need to start carrying it during the longer races. As for the mental demons, since my last marathon was exactly 2 years ago, they were to be expected. They weren't fun, but I battled through.
I don't know that I will run this one again. It's a beautiful course, but it's not built for speed and the tank trail section, while beautiful, made it really tough to run well. The medal was pretty, but the finisher's shirt was a bit crap. I'm still wearing it proudly, though!
Now, I just have to keep the momentum going......I've lots of fun races planned for the rest of the summer, so let the training continue!
Special thanks to J&KP, who brought over pizza and Gatorade for dinner. You guys are the best :-)
The morning was cool and overcast, perfect weather for a marathon. I parked my car at the finish and took the shuttle to the start, which was at Bartlett High School on the east side of town. After the usual runner preparations (last trip to the porta-potty, final stretch, drop off the gear bag, etc.), the runners lined up and off we went!
The race course for the first 6 miles follows the bike trail up the Glenn Highway to Fort Richardson, where we cross and wind down a road onto the military base. This was pretty low-key, nothing too strange to report here. The fun really started at about mile 7.5, when we started running on the tank trail. The next 8 miles were on essentially a very gravelly road that started out fairly flat, but had some brutal hills around miles 13-14. I ran this section fairly strong early on, but did have to stop and walk at the top of some of the hills since my heart was working a little bit too hard for my liking. The aid stations on this section were very small, and I ran through one because I thought there would be a second table...and I was wrong. Waiting an additional 2 miles for Gu....well, it wasn't a happy moment. I crossed the halfway point at about 1:56, which was already off-pace for the ultimate goal of 3:40, but would still net me a large PR.
After the tank trail section, we cruised downhill on Campbell Airstrip to Tudor Road. This section was tough--it was downhill, but the grade was just enough to make it really uncomfortable. I started to struggle here, and tried to contain it as I went through the water stop when JP handed me my water. He said later on that I looked rough. I sure felt it at that point.
Next was a 2-mile section on the bike trail next to Tudor Road. This was fairly uneventful, though after crossing Tudor and heading up to the Chester Creek Trail area, the mental wars began. All of a sudden, my brain went into overdrive. "you aren't making it to Boston, why don't you just stop?" and other comments of that nature started running through my head. I kept going back to the theme music from my Nike Commercial, which was only slightly helpful. Finally, I battled it out by telling myself that even if I only ran 10:00 miles from here on out, I would still PR. That seemed to quiet the demons. The sun was also out by this time and had burned off most of the cloud cover, so it was also much warmer, which was also messing with my head.
Once on the CC trail, I saw a big group of friends at mile 24, and that really kept me going strong until the finish. M&MR, MB, and EL&NH were out in force--and I really appreciated it!!!
Between mile 25 and 26 there is a hill. It is steep. It makes people cry. Everyone in my pack walked up it. But once at the top, I tried to kick it into gear again, and I crossed the finish line in 3:55:48 by my watch (3:56.13 was the official time, I think). My previous PR was 4:01, so a great improvement by 6 minutes or so!
I averaged 8:59's. I had trained for a faster pace (my half-marathon pace is about 8:14), but it was a tough course and I definitely could have run it with better strategy. I knew fairly early on that I had taken the first half too quickly, and by the end I was just trying to hold on. I would also carry my own water next time--I've gotten used to having it when I want it when training, and I think I need to start carrying it during the longer races. As for the mental demons, since my last marathon was exactly 2 years ago, they were to be expected. They weren't fun, but I battled through.
I don't know that I will run this one again. It's a beautiful course, but it's not built for speed and the tank trail section, while beautiful, made it really tough to run well. The medal was pretty, but the finisher's shirt was a bit crap. I'm still wearing it proudly, though!
Now, I just have to keep the momentum going......I've lots of fun races planned for the rest of the summer, so let the training continue!
Special thanks to J&KP, who brought over pizza and Gatorade for dinner. You guys are the best :-)