Royal Victoria Marathon
Overall: 1129/1870
Female 357/771
Female 40-44 68/149
21.1K split: 1:59:39
Gun: 4:07:54
Chip: 4:06:40 (PB by 20 minutes)
Race condition on this mid-October day were just about perfect-- it was cool with a bit of cloud but no sign of rain. Before the race I saw quite a few people I knew, including Jeff (eljeffe), Michal (The Joggler) with his wife Dianne, my friend Suzanne from work, and a few other Running Mania people (lxiao and maggie). At around 8:15 a.m. I made my way to the start area, found the 4:00-pace sign, and waited for the race start.
The start was pretty crowded; it allowed me to start slow and warm up a bit. The last thing I wanted to do was start too fast. The plan was to find a pace of about 5:30-5:40/km and hold it steadily for the first 30k. After that I would simply try to hang on as well as I could, but I knew that starting too fast would kill my chances of finishing well. Patience was key, and I did manage to find and keep a really nice pace. I had been worried about the hills, but none of them were bad or long, and if anything they helped to moderate my pace and keep things varied.
I was checking my splits every 2K but also glancing at my watch at the kilometers between. I surprised myself with an almost metronomic pace (see splits below), and everything was feeling good. I wanted to make sure each 5K was about 28-29 minutes, and I was right on pace with those, hitting 5K at about 28 minutes, 10K at just over 56, 15K at 1:24, and 20K at 1:53. At the halfway point I was at just under 2 hours and still feeling strong. After 18K I was seeing the faster runners on their way back on the mostly out-and-back course: first the leaders, including Steve Ozaduik who seemed to hold the lead most of the race and did end up winning it. Soon after I saw some 2:45-2:50 marathoners from Broadway Running Room, and later Michal joggling his way to a 3:12 finish.
After the halfway point I knew it was only a couple of kilometers before I would get to the turn-around (just after 23K). After the turn-around I was looking for people I knew that had longer goal times than me, and I did see a few of them. It was cool to be able to see people both ahead and behind me on this long out-and-back section, and calculating when I would be likely to see people helped to pass the time.
I was still holding strong through 25K (2:20) and then up to 30K (2:49). At the 30K mark I stopped at a water station and noticed that the 4:00-pace bunny was passing me. I had decided not to run with him because I knew he'd be doing 10-and-1's, but at this point I hoped I could keep him in my sight. But by now I had started to really feel the fatigue and was fighting hard to keep my pace. Soon the pace bunny was out of sight and I just tried to hold on, but I knew I was slowing. I hadn't taken any walk breaks other than at the water stations, but at this point I allowed myself to take one-minute walks at my 2K splits. I really fought hard not to slow down, but I was--by about 20-30 sec/km.
I tried to speed back up to the 5:40/km pace, but my legs just wouldn’t do it. I knew at this point sub-4:00 was going to be very difficult, but I wanted to just maintain as fast as I could without slowing down too much. When I saw the 34K mark I decided I would fight to do the last 8K without stopping. I couldn't do it, but conceded to stopping only at the 2K splits and for no more than a minute. By this point (actually from about 30K) EVERYTHING hurt. Not injury hurt, but overall fatigue and pain. My right calf cramped on me a couple of times, almost sending me tumbling. I knew I just had to maintain my rhythm and not give in to the voices telling me to stop. After 38K I continued without stopping, just focusing on keeping the rhythm going. At 39K someone said, "2 miles to go..." and eventually I saw the "1 mile to go" and "1K to go" signs. Those seemed like the longest 2 miles, 1 mile, and 1K ever.
In the final finish stretch I searched on the side of the road for my family, and there they were, a couple hundred meters from the end. Then there was the finish clock reading "4:07:xx" and I just pushed on through, with 4:06:42 on my watch at the mats. I have never been so happy to finish a race.
Later I was walking pretty slowly and very sore, but also very happy with my race. It wasn’t quite my sub 4:00 A-goal, but I'm more than satisfied with my time. I know I can still improve, and despite my prior declarations to the contrary, I don’t think I'm giving up on marathoning quite yet.
Overall, I have to say I really enjoyed this race. In the first 30K I held my pace and felt very strong, chatted with other runners and loved the scenery on the course. The last 10K were as hard as everyone says, but I fought hard to keep going without slowing too much. I was in such better shape for this marathon and avoided the dreaded death march that made my first marathon so slow. I can't say that last hour was fun, but I certainly learned a lot about my fortitude and perseverance.
I want to thank all of you with your unending support and for advice and encouragement in my log and other messages, especially when thing started to look bad in these last taper weeks. Special thanks to Mike O, Steve, and Greg--and of course, Adeel for being an amazing coach and a great friend. You've helped me to expect more from myself than I thought was possible.
I am not sure what is next, but I will decide after I give myself some good recovery time. I know what I can do to build on my training, and I will decide where my focus will be. Stay tuned.
Here are the splits for those who like more numbers: (I didn’t wear my heart rate monitor for this race.)
Kilometers, split time, pace:
2 11:36 (5:48/km)
4 11:14 (5:37/km)
6 11:12 (5:36/km)
8 11:02 (5:31/km)
10 11:12 (5:36/km)
12 11:18 (5:39/km)
14 11:08 (5:34/km)
16 11:11 (5:36/km)
18 12:21 (6:10/km) (this included a long-ish walk/water break and kilometer 17 was mostly uphill)
20 11:11 (5:36/km)
22 10:39 (5:20/km)
25 16:49 (5:36/km)
26 5:43 (5:43/km)
28 11:41 (5:50/km)
30 11:30 (5:45/km)
32 12:15 (6:07/km)
34 12:13 (6:06/km)
36 12:19 (6:10/km)
38 13:10 (6:35/km)
40 13:14 (6:37/km)
42.2 13:46 (6:15/km)
Final chip time: 4:06:40
