I completed the Ocean Drive marathon on March 25th, with the 15-20 MPH winds and all. The race was brutal with that head-wind the whole way, it really affected my time. I felt the effects of being under-trained as well, and the weather didn’t help, but I still pulled off a 4:25 regardless. I knew I wouldn’t come near the Steamtown time, but at least I finished, which if I look back on the blog, was really my goal. I managed to get in 10 full weeks of training, and even fell short on some weeks in there as well. I didn’t eat well, nor did I track my progress and runs or anything, it was not a great effort that I put in, and I know that I can do better.

You can say that the course and the race really got the best of me. I really struggled toward the end (after mile 18), and didn’t know if I was really going to make it, and i’ve learned the power of the marathon. It really is a hurdle that you have to work hard to accomplish, you can’t pussy-foot around like I did with the training. People who come out of the gate, thinking that this is easy, should think again, its far from being easy and takes dedication and discipline, which I didn’t have this time …. if done properly, it is a great personal accomplishment.

Regardless, here are my splits (they are BAD!). Again, I fell short towards the end of the marathon, which is something I need to focus on as I continue on to the next race.

Mile 1 – 8:58
Mile 2 – 8:49
Mile 3 – 9:16
Mile 4 – 8:53
Mile 5 – 8:32
Mile 6 – 9:27
Mile 7 – 9:39
Mile 8 – 9:56
Mile 9 – 9:35
Mile 10 – 9:30
Mile 11 – 9:20
Mile 12 – 9:40
Mile 13 – 9:56
Mile 14 – 11:16
Mile 15 – 9:26
Mile 16 – 10:24
Mile 17 – 10:34
Mile 18 – 10:48
Mile 19 – 6:29? (watch was screwed up!)
Mile 20 – 10:21
Mile 21 – 10:36
Mile 22 – 11:22
Mile 23 – 11:08
Mile 24 – 12:03
Mile 25 – 11:39
Mile 26 – 10:53

There were a couple issues in this marathon, even before my feet hit the road. The transportation seemed to be a true struggle the entire time. The website said 7:30am pickup at the host hotel in Wildwood, so a bunch of us are there … no bus, finally, at 7:55, a bus shows up. THe driver is cranky as hell complaining that he doesn’t know where he is going or anything … well, not our problem. So a bunch of us are asking ourselves whether or not we’ll even make it to the race on time. So he did get us there in pretty good time … arriving at the starting line around 8:20 or so. By the time I stood in line for 20 minutes to use the bathroom, they were already calling people to the starting line, and I hadn’t even checked in my bag yet. There were no signs or anything stating where the bag dropoff was, due to the fact that the buses were late, so eventually I saw where the marathon finish bags go, and dropped mine off. I was concerned because there was nothing but a banner on the road to place my bag on, with one person watching them. It would’ve been easy for a spectator to pickup a bag and walk away …. not too good, I think that needs some improvement. Same thing happened at the bag pickup after the race, I walked over, had to show no id or anything, and took my bag. That means ANYBODY could’ve walked over and grabbed a bag without anyone noticing … not too good.

So anyway, the race went off well, I contemplated wearing my heavy shirt, and i’m glad I did since it was so brutal. The first 10 miles were pretty good, except for the wind, and I made it in pretty good time to the hotel we were staying at to see my family. There is something about having the support of your family when doing these things, we were fortunate enough to have my wife, my daughter, my step-daughter and her fiancee there. I gave my 7 year old a kiss as I passed by, she was thrilled to see me…. anyway, after that mark, most of the people were gone and I realized that it was going to be lonely for the next 16 miles.

The headwinds picked up as we went through North Wildwood over to Stone Harbor .. made it very hard to enjoy the scenery (which is why I chose this race in the first place). The one thing I seriously noticed in this race was the lack of crowd support .. there were people out, but not many and they were far and few between. After leaving Wildwood, we basically saw nobody (a few here and there). It almost felt like, as we went through Stone Harbor, and then to Avalon, that we as racers were ‘bothering’ the people who lived there. I could tell by some looks on drivers faces, and other people who lived there, that this was a pain for them. It might just be the rich-people of the world attitude. I knew I was in a ritzy place when the cop cars in Avalon are Lincoln Continentals (thats bad!) We see the same kind of attitude out here from the rich folks at Harveys Lake, god forbid you come out the lake to run, walk or do anything, they look at you like ‘this is our area/lake, and we don’t like visitors’ … it might have just been my perception of things, but it sure felt that way.

It was really lonely out there running, and my music ran out at around mile 21, when it was REALLY lonely running the barren streets of Avalon and then Sea Isle City .. I really thought i’d have some ocean view, but that wasn’t the case. I was real disappointed at a botched water station at mile 23, table was there, water was there in a garbage can, but no cups setup, no people and whole oranges and bananas … what the hell am i going to do with a whole orange???? I grabbed water anyway with the one cup that was there cuz I needed it. I started taking oranges/bananas at mile 15, and they really helped. I was afraid to take the GU-Gel I had after mile 16 because of my stomach.

Probably the coldest spot on the course was when we crossed from Avalon to Sea Isle City over a bridge the cut right through the water. Not only was it open ocean, it was a hill, and GOD WAS IT COLD. I was talking walk breaks occasionally at this point, and I actually couldn’t for fear that I would freeze! It was BAD!

So finally I make the turn to head down the bike path at Sea Isle City towards the finish, I was struggling, my right quad was tightening up, it had enough. I was cold, tired, sore and ready for it to be over … when I saw in the distance, the banner for the finish line. I knew it was about a mile away, but it motivated me to get it done. Now we were running along the beach, which I enjoyed .. I actually picked up the pace there at the end to get to the finish line. I saw my step-daughter with her camera about 20 yards from the finish, and she ran back to the others to let them know I was coming (i joked to myself that she made running look easy …)

Anyway, I crossed the finish line and saw my family, they were so thrilled to see me and I was thrilled to be there. I finished, dammit, I finished, and that was all that is important at this point. I was cold and had to get in the tent so that I didn’t get hypothermia. I’ll leave the other details out, but I got back to the hotel, showered and was in decent shape …

Since I had such a poor showing in this race, i’m being hopeful in possibly running another marathon before Steamtown, maybe the “run for the red” on May 7th … I think if I kick it in to shape, I can make up for the poor performance at the ocean drive marathon. I can’t blame the race director for the weather, but I don’t think the course is what I thought it was … we’ll make that decision later in the year whether we’ll return or not.

Anyway, another one down, on to the next. I’m still not sure if i’ll make the allentown half on the 29th of April since i’m supposed to work that weekend, so we might do a half, then a full a week later …… that should guarantee i’ll be ready.

I hope to post pictures soon of the OD marathon!