oc marathon '08
My main rational for running the OC Marathon was to improve my seed time for Boston ’08. I figured my 3:12:52 at San Diego RnR in June didn’t ‘represent’ with some recent shorter races and I wanted to see if I could whittle the time down.
I picked the OC because it still give me a good recovery time and training cycle before Boston. Then I got very lucky last week and was issued an elite bib based on a kind elite coordinator who must have a soft spot for senior runners.
I was pretty jazzed going into this race even though I only tapered for 5 days and haven’t been doing marathon specific training. But it was a ‘no pressure’ race since I’ve already BQ’ed and just wanted to shave some time. Then I caught a head cold last Wednesday that threw a wrench in the works. It seemed to move through my system pretty quickly but on Saturday I had a relapse. Saturday nights forecast of 20 mph winds and lots of rain combined with a stuffed head and slight fever had me wondering how far I’d make it.
Enough with the negativity. After a pretty good sleep, fueled by Nyquil, I awoke to find the weather forecast had mellowed and I was feeling much better. After a quick drive up to Corona Del Mar, I met up with Sam at the start line and we took a slow cruise around the block to warm up. Then Sam needed to get into the corral before it filled up and got to hang out in the elite area and do some strides with my new running buddies. I told myself to enjoy every minute of this because I doubt it will happen again.
The start was uneventful … except standing next to a couple guys who were talking about 5:15 pace. Both the half and full start at the same time so you really didn’t know who you were racing against. I think there were about 1000 running the full and about 5000 for the half. My target was to try for a 6:30 pace although I knew the downhills in the first 5 miles would be faster. Several miles in though, I knew I was going to have some problems. My Heart Rate was just too high for the effort/pace/conditions/downhills. I want to keep things around 160 but I was clocking 165-167 which is too high for me to keep for the marathon. The effort/pace did not feel bad but I couldn’t get the HR under control despite my best zen relaxation and breathing efforts. Dang .. it must be the head cold. Anyway, I soldiered on and was quite pleased to hit the 10 K at 39:22, the 10 mile around 1:04:20 and the 13.1 mile mark just over 1:24
Despite keeping up a pretty decent clip I was getting passed a good bit. I didn’t let it bother me and just thought they all must be ‘halfers’. As we approached mile 8.5 we went over a little foot bridge and there was an intersection at the bottom. There were two large signs .. Marathoners turn left (with arrow) and 1/2 Marathoners turn right (with arrow). There was a man standing in the middle pointing and yelling the directions over and over. Pretty simple, eh? The guy in front of me was wearing headphones and he turned left. Almost everyone else turned right. I had a funny feeling about this guy .. like he probably turned the wrong way. After about a 1/4 mile we came to an intersection and this guy pulls out his ear buds and asks a volunteer if this is the way for the 1/2! Of course, this could happen to anyone.
The second half did not go as planned. The course started angling up and the paces followed suit. I was pleased that my legs felt pretty good for the entire race but I just didn’t feel all that great. I tried to stay positive and figured that I was just going through a rough patch but it was hard to keep things below 7:00. My HR’s were still worrisome but I just went with the flow.
*bonus story* at mile 16 there was a fork in the road. No signs, no volunteers, just a fork in the road. Luckily I didn’t step on it as the prongs were sticking up and it was metal. I knew you would like that tidbit.
At times I would get a second wind and open things up a bit. Some friends came out and surprised me around mile 18. That cheered me up. And Tim (WD) was there at 22 to give me a much needed ‘atta boy’. I knew that the hills were over at 22 and was able to speed up a little but then I started to get woozy. I’d get dizzy and slow down, feel better and speed up. It was a weird feeling but I wasn’t going to improve my seed time by passing out on the side of the road. On the final miles I was calculating what I need to do to Sub 3. It looked good as long as stayed close to 7:00. I was really pleased that the legs felt good. I passed a few people near the end and as I was coming around the last corner my friends yelled for me to “Go Go Go” since 3 hour mark was coming up. Then I saw my wife yelling and jumping up and down and I looked up to see about 2:59:25 on the time clock. Pumped the arms for the photog’s (they live for that) and crossed at 2:59:31 yesssss….
Bottom line:
2:59:31
1st place 50-54
23rd place overall
20th male
shiny plexiglass trophy
new pair of shoes (given to 1st and 2nd place AG winners)
13 minutes off my seed time
and FE’d with Tim finally!
I picked the OC because it still give me a good recovery time and training cycle before Boston. Then I got very lucky last week and was issued an elite bib based on a kind elite coordinator who must have a soft spot for senior runners.
I was pretty jazzed going into this race even though I only tapered for 5 days and haven’t been doing marathon specific training. But it was a ‘no pressure’ race since I’ve already BQ’ed and just wanted to shave some time. Then I caught a head cold last Wednesday that threw a wrench in the works. It seemed to move through my system pretty quickly but on Saturday I had a relapse. Saturday nights forecast of 20 mph winds and lots of rain combined with a stuffed head and slight fever had me wondering how far I’d make it.
Enough with the negativity. After a pretty good sleep, fueled by Nyquil, I awoke to find the weather forecast had mellowed and I was feeling much better. After a quick drive up to Corona Del Mar, I met up with Sam at the start line and we took a slow cruise around the block to warm up. Then Sam needed to get into the corral before it filled up and got to hang out in the elite area and do some strides with my new running buddies. I told myself to enjoy every minute of this because I doubt it will happen again.
The start was uneventful … except standing next to a couple guys who were talking about 5:15 pace. Both the half and full start at the same time so you really didn’t know who you were racing against. I think there were about 1000 running the full and about 5000 for the half. My target was to try for a 6:30 pace although I knew the downhills in the first 5 miles would be faster. Several miles in though, I knew I was going to have some problems. My Heart Rate was just too high for the effort/pace/conditions/downhills. I want to keep things around 160 but I was clocking 165-167 which is too high for me to keep for the marathon. The effort/pace did not feel bad but I couldn’t get the HR under control despite my best zen relaxation and breathing efforts. Dang .. it must be the head cold. Anyway, I soldiered on and was quite pleased to hit the 10 K at 39:22, the 10 mile around 1:04:20 and the 13.1 mile mark just over 1:24
Despite keeping up a pretty decent clip I was getting passed a good bit. I didn’t let it bother me and just thought they all must be ‘halfers’. As we approached mile 8.5 we went over a little foot bridge and there was an intersection at the bottom. There were two large signs .. Marathoners turn left (with arrow) and 1/2 Marathoners turn right (with arrow). There was a man standing in the middle pointing and yelling the directions over and over. Pretty simple, eh? The guy in front of me was wearing headphones and he turned left. Almost everyone else turned right. I had a funny feeling about this guy .. like he probably turned the wrong way. After about a 1/4 mile we came to an intersection and this guy pulls out his ear buds and asks a volunteer if this is the way for the 1/2! Of course, this could happen to anyone.
The second half did not go as planned. The course started angling up and the paces followed suit. I was pleased that my legs felt pretty good for the entire race but I just didn’t feel all that great. I tried to stay positive and figured that I was just going through a rough patch but it was hard to keep things below 7:00. My HR’s were still worrisome but I just went with the flow.
*bonus story* at mile 16 there was a fork in the road. No signs, no volunteers, just a fork in the road. Luckily I didn’t step on it as the prongs were sticking up and it was metal. I knew you would like that tidbit.
At times I would get a second wind and open things up a bit. Some friends came out and surprised me around mile 18. That cheered me up. And Tim (WD) was there at 22 to give me a much needed ‘atta boy’. I knew that the hills were over at 22 and was able to speed up a little but then I started to get woozy. I’d get dizzy and slow down, feel better and speed up. It was a weird feeling but I wasn’t going to improve my seed time by passing out on the side of the road. On the final miles I was calculating what I need to do to Sub 3. It looked good as long as stayed close to 7:00. I was really pleased that the legs felt good. I passed a few people near the end and as I was coming around the last corner my friends yelled for me to “Go Go Go” since 3 hour mark was coming up. Then I saw my wife yelling and jumping up and down and I looked up to see about 2:59:25 on the time clock. Pumped the arms for the photog’s (they live for that) and crossed at 2:59:31 yesssss….
Bottom line:
2:59:31
1st place 50-54
23rd place overall
20th male
shiny plexiglass trophy
new pair of shoes (given to 1st and 2nd place AG winners)
13 minutes off my seed time
and FE’d with Tim finally!