Its been two days since the Harrisburg marathon, and due to traveling to the west coast, I haven’t had time to write…

I had a great race at Harrisburg, finishing the marathon in 3:48 (chiptime) … I missed my goal time of 3:45 by just a bit, but overall am satisfied with how I did since I now set my new PR. Its a great way to end the marathon season and get me ready for next year. I really learned something about pacing myself and not going out too fast, its really what helped me get through it.

The weather didn’t turn out too bad, it was a bit brisk in the morning and I was concerned about two things … first, my upper back wasn’t feeling great, I tweaked a nerve or something and it was bothering me, and second, I felt a headcold coming on (which i’m still feeling the effects of). Regardless, I didn’t let that stuff bother me and ran strong … so the important, and impressive part of the whole thing was the pace that I kept. If you recall in previous marathons, I was all over the board or going out too fast (as I called it ‘banking time for later’). This method DOES NOT WORK, believe me! So I printed out a pace-band from marathonguide.com for a 3:45 and was able to stick with it until about mile 20 when I started to slip a bit. I worked a bit harder in the beginning miles though because of the slownees of the start (first mile was like 9:20 or something)

I started slipping at 20 because the course actually got a little more difficult on the back half. The beginning 15 miles was mostly flat, but as we headed out of town and towards the Community College and Wildwood Lake, the hills started to play a factor in things. Actually, running through the Wildwood Lake park was actually quite brutal (it was a trail, with some stiff hills) .. So regardless, my legs started to get beaten up there, causing me to slow a bit.

So the important thing is, what were my splits, well, here goes:

Mile 1 – 9:22
Mile 2 – 8:11
Mile 3 – 8:20
Mile 4 – 8:24
Mile 5 – 8:26
Mile 6 – 7:58 (this mile was off)
Mile 7 – 9:01 (this made up for the previous mile being off)
Mile 8 – 8:38
Mile 9 – 8:44
Mile 10 – 8:24
Mile 11 – 8:35
Mile 12 – 8:24
Mile 13 – 8:37
Mile 14 – 8:29
Mile 15 – 8:39
Mile 16 – 8:21
Mile 17 – 8:45
Mile 18 – 8:58
Mile 19 – 8:41
Mile 20 – 8:51
Mile 21 – 8:40
Mile 22 – 8:46
Mile 23 – 8:58 (started losing it here)
Mile 24 – 9:23
Mile 25 – 9:11
Mile 26 – 9:19
Mile .2 – 1:58

So what difference do you see in the way I ran this versus my other marathons? Well, first off is that I never fell below at 9:30 mile. Second, I didn’t WALK AT ALL! This was due to properly pacing myself during the run. Usually I start to fall to 9 min/mile, then 10 min/mile etc until I fall off the board, this time I didn’t do that. I have to say the fact that the last 4-5 miles are flat (just running down front st. in Harrisburg) might have something to do with it, but I did well.

Well, all thats left now is the diamond run on Thanksgiving and then we plan for next year. I have to rethink the whole NJ Marathon after talking to some folks at the expo about it, they didn’t care for it. We’ll worry about that another time..

So long from the west coast!