Its time to move forward from my first marathon of the season, and although it wasn’t the best race I had, it was still overall a good day. The folks that run this race made some great improvements over last year, which in my opinion, puts this as one of the top small marathons that i’ve run so far. Everything from the course, to the volunteers, to the well staffed water stations right to the crowd at the finish line, really made for a good day.
The day started out pretty quiet, the weather was warmer than I had first anticipated for the start although there was a bit of a breeze. I was surprised to see people at the start with sweatshirts on and jackets .. gosh, i didn’t think it was that cold. Anyway, after
finding the bag dropoff, and hopping into the line for the porta-potty before it got too long, it was time to get to the starting line. It was still overcast and foggy when the starting ‘fire engine’ sounded to kick off the race. My goal was to run an 8:35/mile, however I don’t think I ever really nailed that pace down anywhere along the course.
When I look back to last years splits, I had the same issue with keeping a consistent pace on this course as I did this year. The first 6-7 miles, which were through Allentown to the Lehigh Canal park were a little more challenging than I had thought. By the time we entered the tow path, the sun made its first appearance through the fog, I was already soaked with sweat and saw some signs of dehydration… hence I lost the shirt at that point and knew it would turn out to be a long day. I was smart by taking water at every water stop and thankfully, as we were leaving on the trail from Sand Island around mile 13, they were actually passing out 20oz waters .. ice cold. WOW, that hit the spot, right when I needed it. Anyway, there was some mention about a problem with the course or the mile markers or something at mile 12, I didn’t see any issues anywhere, I just followed the people in front of me.
From mile 12 on, it was a pretty straightforward run although I had to fight with my Ipod shuffle to get it to work again for a few miles, I think it took on too much water (sweat). My pace up until this point ranged from 8:20 to like 9:30 .. just all over the place, I couldn’t get it under control for some reason. It really didn’t feel like my pace was all over the place, but it was, based on my watch.. the only thing I can think is that the course was not as flat as I thought it was, and after looking up the elevation a little closer in gmap pedometer, it definitely isn’t flat.. who would’ve guessed.
Anyway, I started to dehydrate just before mile 20 … where we turned the corner, went under a bridge, and WHAM, a hill .. UGH, the last thing I wanted to see. It actually took my breath away and I stopped for a second, then kept running … worst part is they had a water station on the uphill, go figure.. after struggling up the hill, I knew the day was going downhill from here, but was thankful to have made it to 20 without any issues .. My pace really fell apart as the miles added up, and I continued to dehydrate… I tried to take a gel at mile 21 to get some fuel, and just about yacked it up. I couldn’t even take anymore water at that point .. it was bad.
I got the chance to talk to some nice people as I slowly paced myself to the finish .. I wasn’t the only one hurting apparently, everybody was dehydrated by this time. Thankfully I got to mile 25 and kicked it up a notch just to get it done .. the last 1/2 mile of the race is actually pretty full of hills .. not the thing you want to see, but i suffered through. Throughout the last 6 miles, my legs started to cramp up pretty bad .. I knew I was going to struggle to finish, but sucked it up when I got in front of the crowds waiting for us in Easton.
I have to thank the fellow with the beard and the red jacket that cheered us on all the way from Allentown.. I saw him a bunch of times, a lone spectator, who inspired me so much. When i was dying in the last 1/10 of the race, he smiled and said, “you made it this far, lets finish it” .. I muttered “thanks for coming out and cheering us on” as I nearly crawled past him, I don’t even know if he heard me .. (I’m not sure I said it loud enough) .. and finally … THE FINISH LINE!
I almost fell over from exhaustion as I crossed the finish line .. a young girl asked me if I was okay, I think I said I was, I just needed to sit down and get some fluids in me (which I couldn’t take down anyway)… the same girl chased me down to get my finishers medal and that was the day. I headed to the bag drop after sitting for a bit to get my bag which had my gatorade, towel and a clean shirt. It felt good to be done.
It was somewhere out on that course on Sunday that I dug down in myself and said, I don’t care about my finish time.. there used to be a time when it was ‘break my PR, break my PR’, now i’m finding that its just fun to run marathons because of the people, the experience and the beautiful places that marathons take you to… who really cares about the finish time.
The shuttles to take us back to Allentown were right there waiting for us .. I hopped on one, had some nice conversation about the next marathons coming up, and before we knew it, we were back at the parking lot and the day was over.
A big thanks to all the folks who put this race together, it really was a good experience. A rough day, but a good experience… I do suggest this race to anyone who is looking for a true small marathon (only 400 starters) over a great course with excellent support along the way .. its really getting better every year.
Its time to concentrate now on Baltimore, less than 4 weeks of keeping up the fitness level .. I got in 1.25 miles very slow this morning just to get loosened up, it felt good, but it’ll be another day or so until I do any REAL mileage .. oh well, back to training!