Bob's Blog: Feb 8-15: 2009 Mercedes Marathon

Monday, February 16, 2009

Feb 8-15: 2009 Mercedes Marathon

The Marathon weekend started with the Mercedes Kids Marathon and my son ran in it. He did very well. His school's PE teacher made it happen. I ran with him and was very proud of how well he did. He ran the entire mile and I wished I had taken a watch, because I believe he did an 8:00 minute mile. He definitely did better than he did in November when he and I ran a mile together for the Montclair run.

I ran the next day. I am pleased with the results overall. I was hoping for a 3:59:59 to break 4 hours. I ran a 4:01:08 which is way close. I really was beat for the last couple of miles and had a hard time just running. John Gordon who led the 4:00 hour pace group did his best to get there in the last mile and he did help me get a little more out of myself. As the chart below shows, I think I ran just a little too fast in the middle. I should have stayed closer to the 9:09 pace in a more consistent manner. But, hey 10 minutes better than last year.

Distance	Time	Pace	Leg Distance	Leg Time	Leg Pace
6.2	54:34	8:48	6.2	54:34	8:48
9.3	1:25:00	9:08	3.1	29:26	9:30
15.5	2:14:48	8:42	6.2	49:48	8:02
18.6	2:42:08	8:43	3.1	27:20	8:49
26.2	4:01:08	9:13	7.6	1:19:00	10:23

I was spent at the end. Maybe as my wife said, at least you didn't fail to meet your goal time and you had something left in the tank. Although, I believe better consistency would have likely done the trick. That 8:02 per mile 6.2 run between 9.3 and 15.5 miles may have done me in. After the race, I could barely stand or walk for awhile. I laid down and took a nap right in front of the medical room in Boutwell. One of the medical folks came out to check on me after I napped for a spell. I was fine. He offered me some peanut butter crackers which did help revive me. I managed to get in for a massage and some barbeque thanks to Jim 'n Nicks. A woman in my neighborhood was aiming to the same goal, 3:59:59, as I. She did it! I saw her running so many times while I was training. I should have stayed beside her during the race. She did pass me near the end and tried to encourage me along.

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