Race Report

Hamptons Marathon, September 27th 2008, 8:00am
Finishers: 292, Males - 159 , Females - 133

Race	Time	OverAll Place	Sex Place / Div Place	DIV	Net Time	City, State, Country	AG Time*	BQ*
Hamptons Marathon 9/27/08	3:37:07	32	10 / 2	F25-29	3:36:53	NEW YORK, NY, USA	3:36:53	BQ

From my weather.com stalking the week preceding the marathon, I knew there was no hope for sunny skies or even dry weather. Looking out the hotel door after the 5:30am alarm, it wasn't raining but sure enough, the clouds looked heavy. I had 2 pieces of toast with peanut butter, a banana and a cup of coffee while getting dressed. R was also putting on his running clothes so he could run while waiting to catch me at his planned locations. We were in the car for the 30 minute drive to the start at 6:30. We parked a short walk away from the start and followed the rest of the runners to the staging area. It was certainly a difference from my past marathons - people milled about with their fans and dogs, coming in and out of the school gymnasium and the corral area was tiny! I had to find pins for my number, then R and I walked over to check out the starting line. We met a local man who outlined the course for me in great detail. By now, the rain had started coming down steadily; luckily we found a tent to stay dry (and BodyGlide up).


About 20 minutes before the gun, R started walking to his vantage point about a half mile from the corral. Here, he could see me right away, then again at 22 miles and 25 miles. I stopped sipping water, lost the long-sleeved shirt, and ventured out into the rain. By now the crowd was growing and I noticed pacers had come out; I joined the group huddling around the 3:40 pacer in hopes of using him for the first few miles to prevent myself from going out too fast. For a small group - 300 marathoners and ~1000 half-marathoners - the excitement was strong and people were smiling despite the rainy start.

The first few miles were rolling hills and my legs felt creaky and my hamstrings were a bit tight. I kept playing around with my stride to get into my rhythm and my splits were pretty much all over the place (1-8:47.49; 2-8:27.79; 3-7:54.86; 4-8:10.68). By mile 5 I finally got into a rhythm and could hold a good pace without really thinking about it. The water-logged t-shirt got ditched at a water stop and the half course split from the full course, causing the slight crowd to dwindle into a trickle of people. I took a Gu at the 7-mile mark; I had been alternating water and Gatorade at the stops (something I continued to do until mile 24). At mile 9, the course came out of the woods and wound through more agricultural areas and sand dunes as we looped around a narrow piece of land between the ocean and the harbor. Here, the rain was light but steady and there was a bit more wind since it was pretty unprotected. By now I was well ahead of the pacing group, but I could still hear the pacer yelling out encouragement now and then and thanking all the volunteers. I passed the half mark right below 1:50 - right on target pace - and took another Gu at Mile 14. (5-8:24.27; 6-8:26.35; 7-8:25.13; 8-8:22.41; 9-8:28.37; 10-8:24.92; 11-8:21.75; 12-8:20.20; 13-8:23.59; 14-8:21.33; 15-8:16.25).

At mile 15 I reassessed how I was feeling. My pace felt effortless, my breathing wasn't too labored, and my legs had continued to feel strong. The past 11 miles had been just what I wanted and I was still enjoying a runner's high. I wanted to keep this going as long as possible! At mile 17 I inwardly celebrated the entrance into single-digit-to-go territory and began comparing my distance remaining with runs I did throughout training almost weekly. They were handing out Gus at Mile 17; I took one but held onto it until Mile 19. (16-8:17.98; 17-8:33.66; 18-8:27.75; 19-8:33.83). Around mile 17 I also noticed I was steadily passing people - the few there were as by this point we were all very spread out.

At the 20-mile mark - 10K to go! - I reassessed again. And to my surprise I felt... great! My legs were tightening up but there was no hint of a wall yet. And I was still passing people. At this point we were back in the woods, on back country roads, which was slightly disconcerting as you could not see anyone and the tired brain would wonder if it missed a turn. As my legs were getting tired, I once again played with my stride a bit and used the rolling hills to my advantage to use different muscles. I was shocked to look at my watch at the 21 mile mark to see a 7:52. I had a momentary thought of slowing down back to pace, but then I thought, if I feel this great at a faster pace, why not just go with it - the last 5 miles are going to hurt, anyway. (20-8:21.16; 21-7:52.56)

At this point, the countdown really began and the mental tricks to get me through each mile started. Mile 21 - 5 miles, that's about the Reservoir loop that I've run so many times during my taper. At Mile 22 I'll see R and then it's just 4 miles which is the shortest loop in my repertoire. The torrential rain at this point feels good, nevermind the 5 extra pounds of water I'm carrying in my shoes.

Mile 24 - I've done 2 miles since I saw R, just do that again. Water won't help much now so run through the water stops. Mile 25 - one mile to go, I can deal with anything for one mile. R is still at the intersection cheering; he snaps a picture and runs along with me for about a half mile, yelling encouragement. Around the corner I can see the finish line. R peels off to the sidelines to let me cross the finish line with my arms up; the clock reads 3:37 and I've BQed! (22-7:45.62; 23-7:53.59; 24-7:53.35; 25-8:01.38; 26-7:53.70; 0.2-1:42.97) I hear my name over the loudspeakers as rounding out the top 10 women.

R is there to prop me up as I remove my chip and shuffle away from the finish. We walk around, grinning at each other, I think R is more excited than me (or has more energy to show it) and then head to the car to change into dry clothes. There is food and drink and dry stretching space in the gymnasium.


I was so impressed with the organization, volunteers, and small but enthusiastic crowds at this race. The only drawback would be if you don't like running without crowds and entertainment - but if you can deal with being alone and not needing the crowds for motivation, then it's a nonissue. For this race and what I wanted to accomplish, it was actually a benefit - I was able to concentrate on MY race and not get sucked into anything other runners were doing. Thanks, Hamptons!

**This just in: Brightroom Photos!**

Fast Finish

Today I was slated for a 14-miler (it's a mileage cutback week) and decided to do what McMillan describes as a "Fast Finish Long Run." Basically, you start out at regular LR pace and increase to MP during the last 6-10 miles, finishing at 10K pace or greater. I came to this decision about an hour before I was going to head out, as I had been perusing his website for another reason and came across this workout. I was going to give myself a little bit of a break if I didn't hit pace because of yesterday's 8 miler, which I had done in a clippy 8:12 pace.

I headed to Central Park just before 9 - the temps were staying abnormally cool (high 60s) so I could be a little lazy with my start time. I did the first 7.1 miles in 1:08:50 - right on my LR pace at 9:37. I then picked up the pace for a loop around the park. Since I was going backwards around the loop and starting from a weird place, I didn't have a very exact idea of where the mile markers were, but I estimated to the best of my ability to start at around 8:30 and increase from there. By the 5th mile of this loop, I knew I was flying and was probably around 7:30. Total time for this 6 miles: 48:14, well below my marathon goal pace! Tack on another 1.1 "easy" (an 8:03 pace now seemed easy) for a killer workout.

McMillan states that if I'm able to do this "fast finish" portion at MP, I can have a pretty good idea I'll be able to hold it for a marathon. Granted, this was a pretty short fast finish run, but this puts me in a good place. It looks like I can put two more of these workouts in my schedule, and I'll be able to increase the lengths of them to see if this holds true for 8 and 10 miles as well. But for today, I'm happy.

Today's run was just great. It was the first time in a long time when the impending tempo run on the schedule was an excitement rather than a threat. I have said before that tempo runs always make me unduly nervous because I know they are never as bad as they seem. Well today was even better than that. I jogged about 1.5 miles to warm up, and I was a bit nervous because my inner thighs were a bit sore from yesterday's weights. But as soon as I picked up the pace, my stride just felt "on" and the first mile passed by quickly - and I actually had to rein it in a bit as I started at about 7:30 pace and didn't want to overdo it. It was the first run in a long time where I actually felt like I was focusing on speed - all the runs in Israel were challenging enough with hills and heat that I never felt like I was pushing the pace. Don't get me wrong, they were all great workouts, but there's something great about just feeling like I'm flying on the road.

My not-fresh legs were definitely the limiting factor, because my heart rate and my breathing weren't strained at all by the end. My legs were glad to be done after 5 miles, and looking forward my next tempo run won't follow a lifting day, so I hope I feel even better next week!

8.3 miles in 1:07:21 - 1.3 in 11:09, 5 in 38:28, 2 in 17:45

Ani ratza.

I have returned to Manhattan from the land of milk and honey... or should I say, the land of sun and hills. This being my second trip to Israel, at least the terrain and weather wasn't a surprise.

The trip was, in a word, amazing and on top of everything I was able to get a lot of good runs in. There was a tie for my favorite run of the trip:

Har Eitan (Mt. Eitan) is a park just a few minutes' drive from home and a favorite run of R's. There is a difficult 8 km trail loop, which I ended up doing in various repetitions and directions to get in the majority of my miles. I arrived on Friday, and Saturday morning R and I ran this loop together (plus an extra 4 km for me). The reason this one was my favorite? Because I was running with R :)

The Sunday before I left, R had to go to work for a half day, and I had a 12-miler on the schedule. The only trails I knew about from home was a 4-miler and a 6-miler. I decided to venture onto paths unexplored. With the help of R and a trail map completely in Hebrew (ha), I found myself on trails with views of vineyards and vistas. I also met these guys along the way:


wild cat!

Gray fox!

Attention all male runners

It is not impressive nor does it make your dick bigger to speed up when I'm about to pass you, maintain that speed for about 2 minutes before dying and slowing down, allowing me to be able to catch you again and repeat the process. It is especially creepy when you audibly coax yourself - yes I have ear buds in but I'm not deaf to your breathless chants, especially when I am the main character. We are not in a race. You'll notice I am breathing comfortably at my 8:10 min/mile pace while you gasp for every breath. If we were in a race, I'd be about 45 seconds faster and so far out of your league you could only dream of using me as your pacer.

*Rolls eyes*

9.1 miles in 1:13:42 (8:06 min/mile)

I'm confused.

Well, I don't know what happened today, but I ended up running my long run way too fast. I felt great, and it didn't completely kill me (well, maybe I should wait until tomorrow to say that), but I am still perplexed. I even added on about a mile at the end, after looking at my watch and thinking there was no way I'd be close to 17, I must have turned around too early, better run until I hit 2:30.

The first few miles I definitely felt sluggish, and I know I was just under a 10-minute-mile through mile 4. I then left the park for the west side, where I'm not as familiar with mile markers to keep track of myself. I had to guess where my turn around point was because there were no street signs marking 170th St. nearby. Turns out, after having mapped it, it was almost exactly 8.5 miles. I hit that split in 1:24, and the split on the way home (including the extra mile) was 1:04. I knew I had felt better and was concentrating on keeping a relaxed stride in a concerted to pick up the pace a little bit to get to the low 9s, but this was ridiculous. I stared at the online map I made, thinking there must be some mistake, but it would be impossible for me to have accidentally added an entire mile someplace!

Next week is a recovery week, so I will take it easy. At least there is no workout scheduled for Tuesday because I'd be afraid this run would kill it. I'm not entirely sure how I could have prevented this, other than running somewhere where I can keep better track of my splits. I felt the same as on my other long runs, but was just a minute faster? That difference seems so drastic.

You know, now that this is in writing, I realize this has to be a mistake. There's no way I could have run the second 9 miles in 1:04. That would be, like, racing. I must have stopped my watch at some point and not noticed. I'm trying to remember when I stopped my watch for traffic lights or something to think if there'd be something about 10-20 minutes apart. That makes so much more sense.

Well, shit, now I have no idea how fast I ran that run. Bah. I'm going to say 2:42, because that puts me at 9 min/mile, and that would feel about right, I think. But, who knows.

*waves*

I'm here! I'm alive! I guess when things are just chugging along I don't think about doing a recap after every run. That, and I'm kind of in all-systems-go mode with my focus entirely on finishing my lab work to be able to write my thesis. I'm working on transitioning from "lab work with writing on the side" to "writing with lab work on the side." I'm learning this really means "write in addition to the same amount of lab work. Oh, and look for jobs and arrange interviews for your next trip to Israel. Oh, and make sure you start taking care of things that need to be arranged ahead of time, like making sure that cat of yours is going to be allowed into the country and that you'll be able to drive once you get there with some sort of license. Oh, and you still can't have a conversation in Hebrew (Hi, how are you does not count as a conversation). Oh, and this long-distance stuff isn't really getting any easier, is it?"

Yeah, hellooooo stress. It's a wonder how marathon training on top of everything else going on isn't too much. However, knowing myself as I do and how much running helps me relieve stress instead of adding to it, I had a feeling this was going to happen when I signed on for this marathon. I know how good it is for me to log the miles, and how easy it is for me to get caught up in my stress and let running slide, if I don't have a plan and a training program and motivation to get out there. That, and the exercise certainly helps me sleep at night, if nothing else will. And there is certainly something to be said for the chance to clear my head and be alone with my thoughts for an hour of the day.

Holy heat wave, Batman.

Ahhh summer in the city. It's amazing how the asphalt, concrete and steel bump up the temperature about 10*. It's oppressive. Don't get me wrong, I love the heat, there's just something about NYC heat that seems so... unnatural and uncomfortable.

The heat wave started on Saturday, just in time for our annual tradition of camping out at the Belmont Stakes all day. What a great recipe for a long-run prep: bloody Marys, pasta salad, brownies, and horse racing in 90* heat.

My 13-miler on Sunday morning was not actually as bad as Saturday's activities would suggest. I woke up early to beat the heat, although not early enough to think running in Central Park would be a good idea. It was the day of the Puerto Rican parade, and it is notoriously wild. Even at 7am I wasn't going to put myself anywhere near 5th Avenue, so I headed down the East River. I was a little nervous because there is only a couple miles of tree cover on this route, but since I had gotten out the door early, the sun was actually low enough that the FDR overpass provided shelter almost the entire way. Between that and the natural air conditioning provided by the wind coming off the water, my water-soaked towel and hat, and plenty of water stops to refill my water bottle, I didn't actually melt. I've felt the heat a lot worse on other runs.

This morning I was slated for a LT run - 8 miles with 4 miles at LT pace - but I decided to throw in the LT miles into my 10-miler on Thursday, after the heat breaks. It was in the mid-80s already by 6:30, so there was really no chance of beating the heat today. I did a comfortable 8:30-ish pace instead.

In other news...

... I booked a flight to Israel for 10 days in July to visit R. Hopefully by then I'll be in a place to write my thesis and meet with potential lab homes while I'm there. But, above all, it's a vacation and NOT a working trip, and I'm thrilled to be able to see R. before he comes to NY in September!

Stay tuned for the schedule-juggling that will ensue. The trip falls smack dab in the middle of my peak mileage. The 20-miler scheduled for the 20th miiiiight be pushed back a couple days. That should be fun on jet lag - I'll probably end up doing it at 4:00 am when I'm still on Israel time and can't sleep. I'll figure it out!

Hot!

When I left the apartment for my 12-miler yesterday, I knew it was 68*, sunny, and breezy. I don't know what weather.com's definition of 68* is, because it felt so much hotter than that. I don't know what it was, maybe the intensity of the sun or something, but man did the heat get to me! And because I was "only" doing 12 miles and it was "only" 68* and I was running along a path with drinking fountains, I left the fuel belt at home. I should have brought it, because the last few miles (coincidentally, a stretch sans eau), I was sluggish. And I was salt-encrusted - even my watch had a white crust. If I were a red snapper, I'd have been delicious. This run officially kicks off the must-set-alarm-for-6-on-Sunday-to-avoid-heat phase of summer marathon training! 12.3 miles in 1:52:32 (9:08 min/mile).