Sunday was a great day for me as I returned to my former glory of running sub-4 hour marathons .. I didn’t go out expecting to break 4 hours, but the pace I was running reminded me of how hard I trained all summer, so I went with the feeling and ended up with a great finish time. (this picture is after the race with my daughter at the hotel wearing the medal, she always reminds me that she is my biggest fan)

I got in 3 very easy miles on Saturday morning before we left for Rochester, and it was then that I knew I felt strong and excited for this race. This was really a feeling I hadn’t had during my spring marathon training, which makes me feel that I overtrained and didn’t taper enough prior to the race. I now think that feeling strong and mentally ready for the race is an important success factor, and by not tapering properly, you just don’t get that feeling .. well on Saturday, I had that feeling.

The trip to Rochester wasn’t bad at all from where I am in Allentown, PA. Its all highway miles .. the expo was really easy to find, although it didn’t appear to be on the “best side of town” if you know what I mean, I felt safe because there were other runners coming and going from the building where the expo was. Somehow they managed to cram a whole bunch of vendors into a small gymnasium, it was impressive but kind of tight. I don’t usually shop too much at the expos, I have everything I need by race day, but I did take some time to look around.

Once I got to the hotel, I decided to break my old tradition of NOT eating pasta the night before and hit the all-you-can-eat pasta dinner at the hotel. Now the marathon folks didn’t advertise a pasta party, so I think the hotel just did it because they were the host hotel (I also got a nice congratulations card from the hotel as I returned, it was real nice). After shoveling down 2 huge plates of pasta, it was time to get ready to hit the sack so I can get up in time for the race.

As usual I had trouble sleeping and ended up getting up around 5am, about a half hour earlier than I wanted to. One of the things that kept me awake was that I realized I never saw a timing chip in my race packet … however I remember hearing that they were using a timing chip.. Did I forget to get it? How would I get it now? AGHH! Well, it seems I did the typical “guy” thing and didn’t actually read the race instructions. We had to walk to Frontier Field pre-race to get your chip (which I found to be kind of odd)… it was only after I awoke in the morning that I read the paper and found this out.

So after showering up … yes, I do shower and clean up before a marathon, not sure why …
but I had the dilemma of whether to walk to the start, or drive. It was only a half mile to Frontier Field from the hotel, but I was a little scared to walk through the city in the darkness of the morning until I saw other people doing it, so figured I would walk. I thankfully found some other runners to walk with from Jamestown, NY .. they were only doing the half marathon and we had some laughs before we made it to the stadium to get our chips. The one lady shared a funny story about how at the last marathon she ran, she finished the half in the same time as the marathon winner finished the full and she couldn’t believe all the people cheering when she crossed the finish line. Well ultimately they weren’t cheering for her, but for the marathon winner .. it must have been quite a feeling though to think all those people are cheering for you.

I then made my way over to the starting line from Frontier field and ran into some more folks from the Buffalo area doing the half. The one girl was doing her first half marathon on this morning and she was nervous as can be .. I shared some motivational stories with her and hopefully helped to set her mind at ease for the race, I guess i’ll never know though. The start line was staged over a bridge overlooking the Genesee River (yes, just like the beer) .. before I knew it, we were ready for the national anthem, which I have to say was sung beautifully. If you’ve done marathons, you know how the national anthem can usually barely be heard from the crowd or the microphones not being loud enough, not here. It was well done and so much more meaningful since it was the day after 9/11 (the race was on 9/12).

Soon after, the starting gun and we were off …

Miles 1 to 5

The first few miles offered the experience of running in some light rain, and I had fond memories of the Flying Pig marathon and the downpours. Thankfully it wasn’t that bad, but enough to keep me cool with the air temperature being in the upper 50’s. I worked hard to get into my goal pace, which was between 9:00 and 9:10/mile. My Garmin Trainer was worth every dollar I spent on it, because it helped keep me at pace.. I was surprised how completely flat the course was, especially while we were on the road portion of the race.

Miles 5 to 10

It finally stopped raining however I was already soaked … but it felt good with the breeze that kept kicking up. There were so many water stations, it seemed like every time I was done taking a drink, there was another water station around the corner. I was pushing my pace a little more than I would have liked to at this point. This was about the point in the race where I was getting passed by the 4 hour pace leader, who was running faster than he should have been.

I was surprised to see this large group of runners with him, running an 8:50 pace along with me .. meaning they were running about 20-25 seconds faster than they should have been. After they passed me, I heard someone say to him that he’s going too fast .. I’m not sure who that was, but they suddenly slowed down and slowly fell behind me. I’m kind of glad that happened because I was concerned that maybe my watch was wrong or something, I just feel for the folks running with him as their leader because they were probably pretty worn out by later in the race….

Regardless, mile 10 was the transition from the road portion to the Erie canal, which was all trail for the next 14 miles….

Mile 11 to 20

I was quite surprised by the amount of spectators for a marathon that was really “out of the way” being along a canal in the woods. Every entry path to the canal trail had loads of smiling, encouraging people, and I found that it really did help. The trail itself was really kind of boring, because it was just trail, water and trees for almost 10 miles … thank heavens for all those water stops and spectators, they broke up the monotony of the trail…

About mile 14 I decided to pick up the pace a little bit from the 9:00/mile to about an 8:35/mile, but slowly got myself back to a comfortable 8:50/mile pace. I had decided after about 2 miles at a faster pace, that i wouldn’t be able to sustain it, which to me took a lot of guts … i did want to push the pace, but I also wanted to finish strong, I just had too good of a race up until this point.

After falling into the 9:00/mile pace, the race went on .. really kind of uneventful at this point, but feeling good.

Mile 21 to 25

I somehow thought that the trail portion ended around mile 21 or so, but found out that this was only the “canal” portion, and now we would continue to run along the Genesee river back to the center of the city. There were definitely some nice running trails in Rochester …. anyway, I did my “check” at mile 21 on how i was feeling and although I was slowly dehydrating, despite my attempts to take water at every stop, I still had it in me to keep going strong. Usually this is the turning point for me, but I pushed through it and pulled out my last gel and took it down.

My pace was right on and I found myself starting to pass more and more people .. the same people that passed me in the beginning part of the race. I did notice that a LOT of people came out really fast from the start (maybe due to the flatness of the course). I had the fear that I would see some of them later on struggling, which helped me to keep back the pace a little so i wasn’t one of them.

The crowd support picked up as we got further along and closer to the city … with probably the BEST water stop being somewhere near mile 25.. There were balloons strung across the road, cheerleaders cheering, it was really great. I got my last drink and somehow, believe it or not, got my last wind and headed on to the finish.

Mile 25 to the finish

I decided at this point in the race to ditch my headphones and enjoy the experience. I was pretty much running alone, although there were some people that I had run with at the same pace nearby. We were back on the road now heading for center city .. I was able to see my hotel in the distance and I knew I was close.

At this point I actually picked up my pace as I headed through the streets of Rochester, knowing that I was going to finish strong. In checking my watch, I knew I’d be under 4 hours, but how much? I don’t know yet, it was hard to estimate how far it was to the finish. The next thing I know, as I passed a bunch of the folks I ran with for awhile, I realized that Frontier field (the finish) was on the left hand side .. I was there, just had to turn the corner. I remembered this when I was walking to the start earlier in the day ..

The crowd was cheering, I was all smiles and probably made a fool of myself as I put my hands up, then started clapping for the crowd. I turned the corner and said, “finally, the finish line” .. I picked up the pace and finished strong, throwing my hands up in the air and clapping as I finished. I did it with no issues this time, I was back.

After a few seconds of getting my bearings back, I sat next to one of the guys who was in pace and said, “good race, eh?” He just responded with a high five and a smile .. what a great day.

I worked my way to the post-race where they had CHOCOLATE MILK … wow, did that hit the spot. It was being handed out by some young girls with banners hung across them stating some about “milk queens of NY state” or something, I couldn’t really remember because I was quite out of it at this point. They had water, gatorade, chocolate milk, pizza, bagels, granola bars … you name it, it was there. I have to say it was one of the best post-race parties I have been at.

So that was it .. I’m not sure what all contributed to the great day I had, but I know one thing, it brought back that marathon feeling that I have been missing. I think I was disappointed with the last few marathons I ran, so i really needed a good one, and I got it.

Thanks to everyone who sent emails, posted here and sent me direct messages on Twitter wishing me luck, it really did help.

So now its time to recover for a few days while I prepare for the Hartford Marathon in just under 4 weeks. I’m a pace leader for that race, so the goal is not so much to have a good finish time, but to help others achieve their goal time. I’ll be sitting in the pace leader booth at the expo on the Friday before, so this whole thing will be a little different for me. I just have to stay trained up enough to do a 4:05, which I think is very possible.

Well, one down, 2 more to go this season before the transition to the triathlon world …