Daren's Blog

Post Marathon Results and Reflection
1/24/2010
Tri-City Medical Center Carlsbad Marathon
Carlsbad, CA

Official pictures will be up as soon as they come out

If you look at my splits and my average pace, you can see how much I died after mile 19. lol

Summary: This was my first marathon (26.2 miles) and actually the longest distance I ran by far in an organized race (8 miles was the longest at the Apple Hill Harvest Run about 10 years ago). I had a goal of finishing 4 hours (9 minute/mile pace), but ended up finishing at 4:17 due to physical complications from mile 18 onward. Despite this drawback, I had an awesome time and I’m looking forward to doing another marathon in the future.

Pace/second, Pace/mile and Elevation for the course.

My expectations: My goal for this marathon was to complete it under 4 hours (9 minute/mile pace), and I figured this would be an easy goal since my workouts consisted of usually pacing myself around 8:00 min/mile pace on hard days (6:30 on mile repeats) and around 9 minutes on my long runs. It also seemed realistic since my practice run on the hardest part of the course averaged around 8:30 min/mile for 14 miles. I felt confident.

Met with my boss before the race.

Pre-run: I arrived at Carlsbad at 5:10am feeling pretty anxious. I pre-GU’d (GU is an energy supplement that they offer on the course) 30 minutes before the race and I was gagging on it because I was so nervous. Part of that was just because it was my first marathon and I was really bent on getting my goal time. Race started at 6am, but weather was pretty nice. It’s kind of cool actually seeing everyone’s breath.

During the run:
Miles 1-7: I’ll say it now. I started way too fast, way too long. I paid for it at the end of the race. My pace averaged around 8 min/mile and I was feeling great. If I kept this pace I would’ve finished at 3:30. The excitement of the crowd was just really awesome and just the fact that I haven’t ran in an organized race in such a long time was just exhilarating. This part of my run was excellent, except for the few times when the runners in front of me stole my water and GU from the volunteers who hand them out.

Miles 8-14: These miles were also excellent, despite it being the most difficult part of the course with a long, gradual hill. Still averaging 8 min/mile and I felt good. One mile I kept a pace of 7 minutes! I made small talk with some people who I kept pace with so that was fun. One person I talked to is from Minnesota. It’s crazy how people have goals of doing a marathon in every state. Awesome, but crazy. Marathons are expensive in of itself (Carlsbad is $90 for early sign ups).

This is when I was feeling good.

Miles 15-18: I started feeling minor cramps in my legs so I stopped once and kept a pace of around 9 min/mile. At mile 18, this is when I started crashing.

Miles 19-26.2: I felt horrible. My legs were completely dead. I could no longer run because they became so tight all around. I became worried that I would not be able to finish the race because I thought I was going to pull a muscle, and if I did that, I don’t think I’d be walking. I don’t think I actually “hit the wall,” but I felt pretty close at times. Every time I stopped to stretch, I thought it would be good enough to continue running, but the muscles in my legs were just depleted in everything (I was fine aerobically) and so the total time I stopped was around 7 minutes. At this point, I knew that my goal should just be to finish and get as close to 4:00 as possible. It’s one thing to stop when you’re on a practice run, but in front of hundreds to people, I felt weak. But this is what makes such events so great. One runner ran at my pace (at this point, 13:00 min/mile) for a few minutes to give me words of encouragement and just kept telling me to keep walking. Another actually gave me his water bottle. And since the bibs have your name on it, spectators try to cheer you on. As I crossed the finish line, all I could think of was “finally, it’s over.”

Post-run thoughts:

1. It was really awesome, despite not making my goal time. My parents came down from Sacramento and Rosey came as well. Thank you so much. The last time I saw them on the course was at mile 13, and I told them, “3:30,” meaning I was planning on finishing at 3:30. Of course that did not happen and they became a little worried. Encouragement from spectators and other runners is just wonderful as well.
2. Don’t run in the back of a pack – you tend to not get water.
3. I think my failure for this run is going out too fast in the beginning and not getting enough long runs during my training. Foot injuries (plantar fasciitis) and getting sick a week before the marathon didn’t help either.
4. Knowing that I can at least finish a half-marathon at 1:50 (8 minute pace) is really encouraging, and I need this to drive myself for my next marathon.
5. I keep getting blisters on my feet. Invest in really good socks. I thought I did but what I have isn’t helping me.
6. I am amazed at how far I’ve gone in my training. I started at the end of September of 2009 thinking about doing the half-marathon instead. I just could not imagine doing a full out marathon. When I first started, I was struggling running 3 miles, and now when it comes down to running a 13 mile run, I don’t see it as much of a problem. I have not run so intensely since cross country in high school, and even then I struggled running 9 miles. Training for this marathon has definitely been a struggle, especially since most of my runs were by myself and there was no one to push me to go faster during my runs. Finishing a marathon in general was just something I never even thought about. Thank you to those who gave me encouragement during one time or another. It definitely goes a long way, and I’m thankful for that.