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fman is built a little differently from me, that's for sure.
so, i finished april with 92 miles - not all too bad, since most of it was taper.
and then on may 1st, i ran my dozenth marathon - the new jersey marathon in long branch, nj.
it was a cold and rainy morning, with temps barely scraping the underside of 50, and a forecast calling for some wind as well. no ideal by a long shot, but still, better than being hot and sunny. the biggest effect the weather had was in taking away my cheering squad. mrs.mm and minimm had planned to come out and cheer for me at a few spots along the way, but in the morning it was decided that they should stay home. another factor in this decision was that mrs.mm had just hte day prior taken a fall during a run, had hurt herself, and couldn't walk without pain. (we're still waiting for an MRI to happen, but right now, it's suspected to be a fucking stress fracture in her hip...! not cool, street. not cool.) so it was definitely better for them to stay home.
my plan going into the race was going to be taking it somewhat easy for the first half, aiming for a 10:00 pace, then seeing where i was time-wise and pace-wise, and possibly accelerating from there. and then definitely picking up the pace from the turnaround at 19. my minimum goal was to run faster than 4:30; my optimistic goal, if i ran the race all the way according to plan, was to crack 4:15.
i started out in corral E, roughly between the 4:00 pace group and the 4:10. each corral went off separated by about 1-2 minutes, with a bugler giving us the call to the post, and then a really weak airhorn giving the start signal. they missed a chance at continuing the theme by if not having us run through a starting gate, at least ringing that damned bell. alas, the race was underway, and right off hte bat, i needed to piss like a... well, like a race horse. i stopped a mile in at a bank of unattended portapotties. that first mile was around 9 minutes, though the stop helped slow it down. from there, i felt locked into a steady, somewhat easy comfortable pace. that pace was about a 9:41. i knew that i wanted to slow down a little, but every time i attempted to will my legs to go just a wee bit slower, their response was that they liked it where they were. stubborn things, legs. i hit the 10k in just over an hour flat, 9:43 pace. ok, that's not bad, i thought. maybe i can slow it down just a smidge, i thought... i hit the half marathon at 2:06, a 9:41 pace. hmm... not any slower... but i felt good. consistent. nice and strong. my feet were wet and at some points, when the race course turned due east for small little bits, the wind was noticeable, but otherwise i felt strong.
i should mention, too, that there some puddles along the way. at i think around mile 12, there was a big ol' puddle, across most of the road, just after the half marathoners split from the marathoners. i could have avoided it. i did not. i jumped in with both feet. "whee!" SPLASH! my laft foot was soaked, but it was fun, and totally worth it. i think i made some spectators and other runners laugh. again, totally worth it. though my foot was totally soaked. granted it was raining, and it wasn't as if my right foot was dry or anything...
anyways, like i said, i got to the half and was feeling good. maybe too good. a 2:06 seemed like a great pace, and i thought, hmm, maybe i can match that for the second half. and then i thought, hey, what was that plan again? right, get to the half, and accelerate. got it! go! go! go!
well, i mean, i didn't start sprinting, but i did start pushing the pace just a little. maybe about a 9:30. i was feeling good after all. and that time was alluring. if i could run a negative split off that, i'd have my 3rd-fastest marathon!
the course was flat, and at this point, i was running parallel to the boardwalk, down the shore, from long branch through asbury park, and into ocean grove for the turnaround. i was feeling good. but a longish wait for a pee break iced me a smidge at mile 18. getting started after that was a struggle, but i was back onto my pace in short order. i was starting to feel the fatigue, and slowing slightly. i knew the turnaround was coming, and i was hoping for a mental and physical boost as i got to it. i aimed to take a wide turn around the hairpin and not lose any momentum. it worked, but i was still bleeding off speed.
i hit the 20 mile mark at 3:14:50, a 9:45 pace.
if i could run a 10k in an hour, i would hit my mark.
i held up for mile 21, but as mile 22 came and went, i had no more spring in my step. i didn't hit the wall, so much as tied the bricks to my feet. damn, i need a better metaphor... mile 23 was my slowest; my phone tells me it was a 10:33, but it'd been reporting out a faster pace all day. it was probably a 10:45. not terrible, really, all things considered, but it was a drag. miles 24 and 25 were a smidge faster, as i could smell hte finish line.
as i passed the 24th marker, i texted mrs.mm, telling her that i needed my boys to cheer for me the last 2 miles. she sent me a photo of minimm wearing his pj's, sitting on a couch, holding a remote, watching tv. highly motivational. next comes µmmR in a bathtub. good for a smile. and finally, a photo of µmmL, who had clearly just gotten out of the tub, holding only a poster that tommy had drawn up to root for me. just what i needed! i clocked about a 10-minute 26th mile, and [crossout:186fokmg]surged[/crossout:186fokmg] shuffled across the finish line.
4 hours 18 minutes 27 seconds.
not bad. i wanted faster, but only by a little. it met well with my most reasonable expectations of the race. i never hit the wall, which is huge. i didn't control my pace as well as i needed to, and i paid for it at the end, but i'm not so sure how much different my time could've been.
immediately after the race, i grabbed a handful of taffy, some other snacks and goodies, and got my gear bag. in a portapotty, i got changed out of my running stuff and into something a little drier and warmer. as i did so, i felt the beginnings of a cramp start to ripple through my body. but it passed. i wandered over to the massage tent to get worked on a bit. n o sooner did i lay on the table than my hamstrings started to seize up - i don;t htink htey liked having hte weight taken off of them... as they were working them, the cramp worked around to my quads. my hammies had quieted down, so they rolled me over, and at one point, there may have been 4 people working on me. i might've spend 20 minutes to a half hour in that tent, which was fairly chilly. shivering does not help the muscle spasms, let me tell you... but eventually, i got worked up, my legs calmed down, and i was able to amble on under my own power, off to buy a big cup of coffee and a taylor ham egg and cheese from a local shop. i'm glad i decided to do the massage tnet, though, because that cramping fit would've sucked bhmc if it had happened on the shuttle bus.
the key takeaways from my training were 1) that i need to run my long runs slower, as i couldn't find that slower speed during hte race. indeed, my long runs and my marathon were all at about he same pace through 20 miles. and 2) that i need to run more during the week and with greater intensity. basically, i need speedwork. i crave speedwork. tempos, fartleks, repeats, hills - it doesn't matter. i need speed.
so with marathon 12 under my belt, i'm going to now focus on speed. i have a half marathon in september (disneyland dumbo douoble dare) and my training plan for it is basically to train for a 10k, and then train hard for a 5k, but with long runs on the weekend (as included in the training plan, actually). and maybe set my sights on a marathon pr next year.
after the race, when i got back to the boys, i was walking faster than mrs.mm. she's on crutches now. poor thing.
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