Sunday morning, I ran my 4th Rt 66 Marathon. It's my hometown race, and despite being on pavement with a lot of concrete, I have felt the draw to do it because of having so many friends doing it. The first year, I ran the race with my friend Diana Snyder who was getting in her first 26.2. The next year, I ran it at a moderate effort. last year, I ran it with Bobby and helped him get his first marathon medal.
I run every Saturday morning with this group, and most Tuesday and Thursday evenings as well. Pardon the bad splice in the pic. My next camera will have a better panorama feature.
This was to be my 66th marathon, and frankly, I was thinking of running it hard....shooting for a 4:15 and if things went well, maybe better. The finisher's medals this year were awesome--a much better looking award than in years past. This clean crisp picture is courtesy of Brian Hoover and his $1,500 camera.
This marathon thing is really quite a disease. Bobby this day was running his 6th marathon in the past year, having run just 2 weeks ago in Athens Greece. Tom, having gotten into the 26.2 habit, is fresh off a San Antonio marathon finish from just LAST WEEK!
Two more crazies: New Marathon Maniacs Ronit and Sandra both did Athens 2 weeks ago, Rt 66 this day, and are doing Disney next month. It is a sickness.
I thought a long time about a caption for this picture. Here's proof that a democrat and a republican can get along.
Soon enough, it was time to line up and wait for the starting gun.
My plan was to line up with the 4 hour pace group and ride the tide. It looks like I was right where I needed to be, but there was a iron fence between where I was and where I should have been. By the time I made it through, I was behind the 4:15 group. Turns out, that was probably where I needed to be, and for 14-16 miles, I cranked out my miles at a 9:30-10:00 minute/mile pace.
There was entertainment on the course in the form of song....
....and in the form of dance!
Eight miles into the race, and still going strong. Heading into downtown, and a few gentle hills.
Getting my kicks on Rt 66!
It's cool to have your own cheering section!
My half split was 2:07. Half way to that 4:15 finish, or so it seemed. The first half had several gradual hills, and a couple of short slightly steeper climbs. The 2nd half had almost zero elevation change. It was a long out and back, 7+ out, and then around 6 back to the finish. It was on Riverside Drive, with a view of the river, but heck....we run there all the time. If there had been a couple of hills or some turns through the neighborhoods, it would have broke the boredom up. My pace slowed partly from fatigue from maybe going out a little fast, partly from boredom, and partly from gradually getting dehydrated. Two or three different times, I stopped at a water table and got water that tasted like old dirty water hose. I pretty much quit drinking after mile 17. Looking back, I can say that mile 18 I began to drop way off my desired pace. At mile 20, I was taking short walk breaks every 1/4 mile or so. I just knew I could turn it up once I turned back north and headed to the finish. But it just didn't happen. Running south, I had a headwind keeping me cool, but heading north, the breeze was at my back, and I heated up. My walk breaks became more frequent, and the last 2 miles, I might have walked more than I ran. Still, the last 1/4 mile, I jogged it on in.
(Above pic compliments of Brian again.)I finished in 4:50ish by the gun, and 4:48ish by the chip. Far from my PR, far from my goal, but I was ok with it. A finish under 5 hours on a day when things did not go as planned is still a good finish.
After the race, I found a nice shady piece of grass and a cold bottle of water, laid on my back, and chilled out for about 20 minutes. A day later, my quads and calves were more sore than I have ever experienced. Did I pound to hard early in the race? Did dehydration lead to more lactic acid buildup? Is pavement really the evil that I say it is? Yes, yes, and yes.
What's next? Less pavement, more trails. And a trail marathon in Arkansas in 10 days!!
I run every Saturday morning with this group, and most Tuesday and Thursday evenings as well. Pardon the bad splice in the pic. My next camera will have a better panorama feature.This was to be my 66th marathon, and frankly, I was thinking of running it hard....shooting for a 4:15 and if things went well, maybe better. The finisher's medals this year were awesome--a much better looking award than in years past. This clean crisp picture is courtesy of Brian Hoover and his $1,500 camera.
This marathon thing is really quite a disease. Bobby this day was running his 6th marathon in the past year, having run just 2 weeks ago in Athens Greece. Tom, having gotten into the 26.2 habit, is fresh off a San Antonio marathon finish from just LAST WEEK!
Two more crazies: New Marathon Maniacs Ronit and Sandra both did Athens 2 weeks ago, Rt 66 this day, and are doing Disney next month. It is a sickness.
I thought a long time about a caption for this picture. Here's proof that a democrat and a republican can get along.Soon enough, it was time to line up and wait for the starting gun.
My plan was to line up with the 4 hour pace group and ride the tide. It looks like I was right where I needed to be, but there was a iron fence between where I was and where I should have been. By the time I made it through, I was behind the 4:15 group. Turns out, that was probably where I needed to be, and for 14-16 miles, I cranked out my miles at a 9:30-10:00 minute/mile pace.
There was entertainment on the course in the form of song....
....and in the form of dance!
Eight miles into the race, and still going strong. Heading into downtown, and a few gentle hills.
Getting my kicks on Rt 66!
It's cool to have your own cheering section!My half split was 2:07. Half way to that 4:15 finish, or so it seemed. The first half had several gradual hills, and a couple of short slightly steeper climbs. The 2nd half had almost zero elevation change. It was a long out and back, 7+ out, and then around 6 back to the finish. It was on Riverside Drive, with a view of the river, but heck....we run there all the time. If there had been a couple of hills or some turns through the neighborhoods, it would have broke the boredom up. My pace slowed partly from fatigue from maybe going out a little fast, partly from boredom, and partly from gradually getting dehydrated. Two or three different times, I stopped at a water table and got water that tasted like old dirty water hose. I pretty much quit drinking after mile 17. Looking back, I can say that mile 18 I began to drop way off my desired pace. At mile 20, I was taking short walk breaks every 1/4 mile or so. I just knew I could turn it up once I turned back north and headed to the finish. But it just didn't happen. Running south, I had a headwind keeping me cool, but heading north, the breeze was at my back, and I heated up. My walk breaks became more frequent, and the last 2 miles, I might have walked more than I ran. Still, the last 1/4 mile, I jogged it on in.
(Above pic compliments of Brian again.)I finished in 4:50ish by the gun, and 4:48ish by the chip. Far from my PR, far from my goal, but I was ok with it. A finish under 5 hours on a day when things did not go as planned is still a good finish.After the race, I found a nice shady piece of grass and a cold bottle of water, laid on my back, and chilled out for about 20 minutes. A day later, my quads and calves were more sore than I have ever experienced. Did I pound to hard early in the race? Did dehydration lead to more lactic acid buildup? Is pavement really the evil that I say it is? Yes, yes, and yes.
What's next? Less pavement, more trails. And a trail marathon in Arkansas in 10 days!!
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