I slept pretty well last night, but woke up 45 minutes before my alarm this morning. After trying to go back to sleep, I finally got out of bed at 5:15. (Alarm was set for 5:45.) I killed a little time at the house, but I needed to gas-up and planned on grabbing breakfast at McDonalds on the way, so I left around 6:20 I think. We weren't supposed to arrive at the park before 7:30 (so volunteers could get settled in, etc). So I had to park in a nearby shopping center for 15-20 minutes and kill some more time. Once I finally parked at Umstead, it was maybe 7:45. (It takes a long time to get from the park entrance to the race start.) By the time I picked up my packet, it was still only 8:00 - the race starts at 9:00. So I sat in the truck until 8:45 reading email, etc.
Between the two McMuffins I ate, some "stinger chews", gatorade, and a gel, I ate around 1000 calories before the race. This was spread out over 90 minutes, so I didn't feel uncomfortably full or anything. I planned on drinking gatorade and eating gels during the race. The aid stations had water, gatorade, and "stinger" gels (not my favorite, but they'll do). I was carrying maybe 5 of my preferred "Gu" vanilla gels, and a water bottle filled with gatorade. It's a cup-less race, which I didn't know was a "thing" until recently. I definitely approve, since I prefer to carry a water bottle anyway so I can drink between aid stations - and that ensures that it'll be easy to fill my bottle since everyone is in the same boat.
I lined up maybe 1/4 back from the head of the pack. The race started, and we were off. The first 2 miles were on "bridle trail" (gravel roads), and it allowed the pack to spread out nicely before we hit the "single track" (hiking trails) part of the course. My gps/split data from the run is kinda screwey, since my watch was short-changing me on every mile. (By mile 20, my watch was a full mile off, only showing 19 miles.) But each split was off by the same percentage I think. So it does show one of my "rookie mistakes" in that I started out waaaaaay too fast! "But I felt great, coach!" Yeah - so does everyone at the start line, and the adrenaline of starting the race certainly just feeds into that "irrational exuberance". So keep in mind my splits were actually *faster* than what my data shows. And for my training runs, I typically run about 10:30 min/mile. Now, granted, those runs are 100% single-track, so they're definitely slower than running on the road.
So my first 2 splits were 8:18 and 7:53! And it's not like I wasn't paying attention - I saw the alert on my watch. I just couldn't help myself. I kept thinking I needed to slow down, and I figured I would once we hit the single-track around mile 2.
Well, I slowed down a little - 8:40 and 9:33 for miles 3 & 4. 10:29 for mile 5 (that's more like it.) Then 9:11 and 9:15 for the last 2 miles of single-track. Still too fast. It was fun, though. I really like running on single-track, despite the constant danger of falling and potentially getting hurt. I passed someone while flying down a particularly "technical" descent, which was really fun, but perhaps a little reckless.
Throughout the race, the times I passed people were almost exclusively on downhills. Whether it single-track or the bridle trails, I almost never passed anyone on the flat or while climbing a hill. I made up *lots* of time on the downhills though. I try to just let gravity do its thing and not fight it. I figure it's only a little more energy to run fast down a hill, as opposed to running slow (or "controlled") down a hill. Your quads really get beat up from all the "braking" force if you try to control yourself too much on the downhills. So that's where I tend to have a slight edge over others that are running a similar pace as me.
My nutrition/hydration plan is always to take a sip of water (or in this case gatorade) every mile, and eat a gel every 3 miles. Another rookie mistake - I haven't been training with gatorade! So my stomach did protest a little bit - although I think the "stinger" gels (which I also didn't train with) that I ate from the aid stations also contributed. But I got through it, and I don't think it impacted my performance.
I did dress way too warm for the event. The forecast said 35 degrees at the start, and 47 degrees at my anticipated finish time. So I had running tights, running shorts, a short-sleeved shirt, a long sleeved jersey, and a short-sleeved jersey on. Running hat, ear warmers, and gloves too. Ear warmers and gloves came off before I hit the single-track (~ mile 2). I took off the short-sleeved jersey right after the single-track (~ mile 5). I took off the long-sleeved jersey around mile 8 I think. I was a little chilly, but I think that helped.
I ran most of the uphills, as long as the grade wasn't too steep. I don't think it was until at least mile 11 or 12 that we had anything that I had to "power hike" up. That was another place where I was able to pass a couple people - they were taking a much slower pace to walk up the hill. Of course, they got a little rest in the process while my heart rate was higher. And I was still probably going harder than I should have for a 26-mile effort...
Around mile 11, it occurred to me that I was on pace for a sub-2-hour half marathon. I don't have an exact half-marathon split, but I think it was around 1:55. Then it occurred to me that I might be able to finish in under 4 hours, which was insane. So I started doing the math on every mile after that and it definitely seemed within reach.
Everything was going great... I felt great, my legs felt strong. I had a smile on my face. That all changed around mile 20. By this time, we had climbed a lot of hills. It could have been that, or going out too fast at the beginning, or both. But my legs were definitely *tired*. And my left calf started to spasm a lot - it felt like it really wanted to cramp up, but fortunately didn't. It kept getting worse, too. I'd go for stretches that lasted several minutes where it would spasm every time I landed on that foot. Then it would stop for a few minutes, then start again. I definitely was worried that it might force me to stop running at some point, but I kept going.
By this time, there wasn't a lot of passing happening. I could only see a few runners (way) ahead of me, and I wasn't gaining any ground. Around mile 22, I did catch someone, and we passed each other a couple times. Approaching mile 25, there was a sign - "Welcome to Cemetery Hill". Appropriately named, since I could definitely appreciate the sweet release of death about then. It was steep enough that I decided to power-hike it, although I probably would have run it earlier in the race. The guy that I had been passing (and passed by) did run up it, and put enough of a gap on me that I wasn't able to catch him the rest of the way. He had also commented that "it was going to be close" - meaning he was also now looking for a sub-4-hour finish. At this point, I needed to run 10-minute miles to finish under 4 hours, which would be tough in my tired state, but doable as long as my calf muscle didn't take me out.
I got passed by 3 more people in that last mile and a half, but I didn't mind too much. Even if I didn't break 4 hours, I'd still set a new marathon PR (personal record). My previous PR was set on a flat road course, and was 4:09.
Cemetery Hill was the last real hill before the finish, and was probably 1/4 mile long. Shortly after cresting it, I hit mile 25. At this point, I felt like I was just putting one foot in front of the other, but my pace did get a bit faster for that last mile. I went from 10:30 splits to 8:55. I made the final turn and still hadn't hit mile 26 yet. It seemed to take forever until I saw it. And I swear that last .2 miles was longer! :-) But eventually I rounded the corner and saw the finish line and clock, and the clock showed 3:58. I kept going and crossed the line somewhere around 3:58:30. (Results haven't been posted yet.)
I was exhausted, dizzy, and a little nauseated. A volunteer handed me my finisher pint glass, which was already half-filled with water. I drank that pretty quickly, and another volunteer refilled it for me. I wandered inside the lodge (the start/finish was in the campground area of the park), still dazed, and sat down at a table for a few minutes, drinking some more water. After maybe 5 minutes, I stretched for 15-20 minutes, paying attention to my calves too. After that, I was feeling better and decided to grab a little food. They had burritos from Moe's, so I grabbed a chicken burrito, took a bite, and suddenly felt like I was going to hurl. Nothing against Moe's - I love that place. :-) But obviously my stomach wasn't ready for real food yet.
No beer was allowed in the park, but they did cut a deal with a microbrewery near the park - so we could go there for our "finisher beer". I wasn't sure my stomach could handle it, but I earned that beer dammit! So I grabbed my stuff, jumped in the truck, and wandered over there (with my mostly intact burrito). I got a pint of Gizmo Arachibutyrophobia, which is a peanut butter brown ale. Time & beer settled my stomach to the point where I could slowly eat the burrito too.
Results and pictures should be here eventually: http://www.umsteadmarathon.com/
Now, time to rest & recover for the Wicked Root 50k in two weeks! :-)
