Law of Inertia

So my marathon season has come to pass and as much as I was looking forward to getting this race behind me, I’m somewhat sad it’s over. It was also a bit of a drag that Philadelphia was so late in the season. There are a few people I know who ran multiple marathons this fall consisting of a mix of PRs and fun runs, all of which happened before I even did my first. It was hard for me to feel the excitement and exhilaration when I had my race still pending and the jitters along with it. And it seems after New York runs their race, everyone you know forgets at that moment that you still have a race coming up. I’ve lost track of how many people asked me multiple times if I was doing New York. One even asked me, “Hey um, you’re doing Boston instead this weekend, right?”

Right after New York happened, a few asked me when Philly was. … and then … nothing…. Philly, in some ways, was definitely off the radar. And you know, I think that’s the way I like it. It allowed me to focus on it without the added of pressure of other eyes. Yet, it’s a fairly large event. Certainly enough to justify a road trip and hotel room for the night. The organization, however, is somewhat clunky in spots. But, the course is fair, and easy enough, albeit somewhat boring towards the end. But, all in all, I would definitely do this race again and I left Philadelphia a much happier person than when I arrived.

For the few days prior I really had a lot of trouble figuring out what pace I should run this. My recent half marathon predicted 3:02 (6:56), and my 18mile race predicted 3:00 (6:52). But, my marathon PR was only 3:10:45 from last April, and I thought these paces would be a little aggressive. I also don’t have a lot of faith in these race predictors when it comes to the marathon. Anything between a 5k and half marathon they seem to do a good job, but the marathon predictions have always seemed aggressive.

In October, I tried running these paces for 20 miles and, on my best day, was only able to hold 6:58, and each time I was completely spent when finishing. This gave me a lot more confidence in what pace I felt I could do, but I still thought it would be nuts to target anything faster since I would have to be going 6.2 miles more. I asked some people advice and got a lot of conflicting feedback. The night before I decided, shit, I’ll just do it like I did my long run and find what feels good and hope for anything under 3:05 (7:04). Shaving another 5 minutes would be great.

But, going back to the day before the race, I grabbed my stuff which consisted of what I planned to run in, some gels, a change of clothes, toiletries, and traveled extremely lightly by car to the Holiday Inn in Philadelphia. When I arrived, I checked into a surprisingly clean room. Headed out to the convention to get my race packet.

After the convention, walked around, had a nice dinner, more walking around. Observed how friendly the locals were and was somewhat perplexed. Went to a self serve ice cream shop, which looks exactly like the one on St Marks in the city, and while there, was too much of a coward to try the cream cheese flavored ice cream.

After a while, I was approached by another runner making small talk and asked about my plans for the race and what sort of time I was targeting. I told him 3 hours before I even thought about it. It was somewhat of a shock to me because I wasn’t thinking about this race when I said it, but more about what I wanted to do eventually. Also, I didn’t yet have a hard number in mind this race. The decision for 3:05 I previously mentioned happened later on that night in my hotel room. I almost felt like I was lying when I said it. Nonetheless, he was impressed. He was hoping to break 3:50 and I told him with undeserved confidence that he’ll do it. We wished each other luck and I headed to my room and was in bed by 9:00pm.

Fell asleep probably before 10 and woke up a little after 2am. I was happy for four hours sleep and knew it was enough. I continued to lay in bed until it was time to get up. Unfortunately, Philadelphia is certainly not a city that doesn’t sleep, because EVERYTHING is closed at 5:30am. Finding the coffee maker full with water, and a floating hair on top, along with a slimy coating of algae on the sides, was enough to make me wait until 6:30 for coffee. Plenty of runners were in the hotel breakfast room at that time and I was in absolute fascination how some could pile the bacon on before running a marathon. My intention isn’t to pass judgement on their dietary choices, but man, if I ate bacon (and I don’t), I wouldn’t be able to run half a mile without burping it up for the rest of the day. I went the boring route of a bagel with a couple of hard boiled egg whites and 2 cups of coffee.

The walk over from the hotel to the start was about a mile and was exhilarating. It was dark out and the weather a bit cool. It just felt like a good day to run and I was feeling excitement. I knew this was going to be a good day. The closer the crowd got, the bigger it grew, as more runners joined by walking all in the same direction. I got lucky and spotted some port-a-potties on the way, so with the morning coffee, combined with the walking made this a real convenient opportunity. For once, everything was really going right.

Upon arriving at the start there was some chaos as to where to go. No signs whatsoever and I found myself just following the crowd as if I was part of a herd of cattle with no idea where I was going. Eventually I spotted UPS trucks and had to hop gates to get there. I don’t know which way I was supposed to go, but this worked. Packed up my brand new sweats which I planned to throw away at the start and checked them in. Took a couple of glucose shots. Stuffed my shorts with gels. Then headed to the start.

Getting to my corral was a bit tricky. As I was trying to get through the crowd, and unsure if I was going in the right direction they started playing the national anthem. I realized from the pace group with the balloons I was near the start of the 4:00 marathoners. I quickly pushed my way through the crowd, now even more unsure if I was going in the right direction. You could not go forward. It was either right or left. Luckily I chose left. and there was space to walk up to the front of the start as soon as I broke out of the crowd.

At the start I saw a 3:10 pace group and considered going out with them. Then wondered about a 3:00 pace group and asked the pace leader. They were a few yards ahead so I decided kept my eye on them. I figured I would go out at a comfortable pace and make sure not to pass them.

Well, the horn went off and that’s what I did. The beginning felt VERY slow. It was slower than what I though was target pace, but I would not pass them.

The first few miles I stuck right with them. We hit the first mile marker in 7:02, The second one I missed, so I hit the lap button late and recorded 7:00. I also missed the 3rd, but saw the 4th and hit the lap button twice. Along the majority of the course, the mile markers were actually hard to see and I missed quite a few.

I was prepared for something like this, and on my garmin display was the total time, the average lap time, and the lap number. The lap time and lap number would be accurate accounts of my lap pace and current mile. Even if I missed a marker, hitting it enough times so that the lap number was equal to the mile marker would give me and accurate overall pace, which was what I was more focused on, rather than time. For this race I was not relying on gps, but instead the mile markers. Missing a mile marker, like I did for mile 3, would be corrected if at the next mile marker I hit it once for the missed mile, and again for the current mile.

Miles 2 to 4 were along a flat highway by the water. No spectators and a large open street. I felt the group pick up pace significantly here, but it felt ok and I decided to stick with it. We hit mile 4 at 27:28 which averaged about 6:51, right on pace for a 3 hour marathon. I told the pace leader at this point I was impressed on how well of a job he was doing and let him know we were right on pace. Before the mile 5 marker, I took my first gel. My plan was to take one every 5 miles to 20 and had a 5th just anything went wrong.

Miles 5 and 6 were led back into the city along Chestnut street. Chestnut street was by far the most exciting part of the race. Things still felt really fresh and the largest crowds were lined up along the streets on this part of the course. Some water stops occurred and they were pretty sloppy throughout the whole race. I wasn’t able to grab water from a table at any of them, but instead, was only given an opportunity to take water directly from volunteers, which didn’t always work out so well. Being in a pace group was also tough since you arrive with a pack and everyone seems to get in each other’s way. This was also a problem just running along on the course. Frequently, I bumped into the side of someone, or was bumped in return, but only at the water stops were there disasters.

Back along Chestnut street I missed the 6 mile marker, but my 10k split was 42:31, still on pace for 6:51. During this stretch I had the pace group behind me. I would glance back every now and then to make sure they weren’t that far back until I decided to intentionally slow my pace down and let them catch up.

By mile 7, we were out of the spectator crowds on Chestnut street and shortly after that, turned to the right to climb the only hilly part of the race towards mile 8.

The climb up to mile 8 wasn’t anything that significant. It went past 8 and then back down where mile 9 was at the bottom. From there, back up towards mile 10. This was about the longest hardest climb. I was running more on my own but keeping the pace group nearby. At the top we ran for about .25 of a mile to the mile 10 marker in front of the zoo where they were handing out gels. I took a vanilla gu rather than grabbing one from my shorts. At this point things were feeling somewhat hard from the climb I just did. I was also psychologically getting tired because mile 10 is usually my turn around point on my long runs. Immediately afterwards, we had a steep downhill that allowed me to recover.

Mile 10 1:08:26 : 6:50 pace overall.

After the downhill we made a left and then soon after did a 180 degree turn. These sharp 180 degree turns absolutely suck, and to have three of them during a marathon is the pits. After the turn around, we headed to mile 11, and then to 12 along the water. It was here that we were running directly into the sun, which made everything a bit uncomfortable. Things weren’t as bad as they were at mile 10, but they weren’t as good as I think they should be. I had some serious doubts along these miles. I happened to have had some electrolyte tablets, which I received as free samples a couple of days prior. I decided to take them on a whim.

On the way to mile 13 things started to even out and perhaps the fact we were no longer running into the sun, I was feeling better. Before mile 14 the half marathoners split off to the right while the marathoners continued to the left. Not long after, we crossed the mat for the half marathon split.

Mile 13.1 1:29:12 : 6:48 pace overall.

When I saw the time for the half marathon split I was in somewhat shock. It had just occurred to me I’m on my way to running a sub 3 hour marathon. I’m still with the pace group and I forgot to let them go on ahead. There was some fear there and I wondered if I just blew it by going too fast. This was about my half marathon PR back in May and I just ran it as a split in a marathon.

On the way to mile 14, something strange happened. My right calf started spasming. Every so often it would seize up a little. It wasn’t anything unmanageable, but considering I was only half way done it was a concern. I don’t understand this, because I’ve done quite a few runs for 20 miles at a similar pace without any water and I never got cramps.

This began to add some mental pressure, but all I could do is keep going while I still could. Not long after I was thinking this, I saw something quite unfortunate. Some girl ahead of me ran off the course and into the woods to the right. She climbed up the hill behind what little foliage there was and squat down and pee. My heart went out to her, but I had quite a bit of admiration at the same time in a strange way, which I think other runners can identify with. Well, seeing this sort of made me realize things aren’t that bad yet with my leg spasming. If it comes to it, I’ll just do what I have to.

On the way to mile 15, the mile marker was actually inside out and looked like a 21, since it was backwards. This did add confusion since from mile 13 on, it’s an out and back, so we saw the 24 mile marker and the 23 mile marker already at this point and mile 21 could have made sense. Eventually I realized it was 15 and click the lap button and took out my third gel for the next water stop.

Mile 15 1:41:59 – 6:46 pace overall.

I realized at this point the splits from mile 13 on were going faster than 6:51. Looking back at my individual splits they were closer to 6:40s. I stuck with the pace group nonetheless. Things were still feeling mixed physically and towards mile 16 I saw a huge bridge that went pretty high up. I knew at some point we would be crossing a bridge and if the bridge I was looking at turned out to be the one, I would be done for. It reminded me of the 59th street bridge in the NY marathon, which also has the mile 16 split on it. I thought back to my race in 2007 where I blew up there after going out too fast and wondered if this was going to be history repeating itself.

We passed the bridge and I was grateful, yet leery wondering if the bridge we were supposed to cross would be anything similar. Luckily by mile 17 I learned it was not. The bridge had more of a quick steep climb, but nothing long and drastic. I actually got up it no problem. Ran over the bridge, made a left, went downhill, and then after about 1/4 of a mile out, did another 180 degree turn around. During this turn around my right hamstring seized up. I almost buckled, but quickly shook it off. I let the pace group go on a head at this point because we were climbing back uphill to go over the bridge again. After the bridge, we made a left and passed mile 18. By the 30K split I caught up with the pace group again and went over the mat.

30K (Mile 18.6) 2:06:57 : 6:48 pace over all

By mile 19 I was hurting. I saw a water table with a guy holding a sign that said beer only. I skipped it not 100% sure if it was really just beer. I remember going up a climb and we were headed into a town with a name that started with an M. The 3 hour pace group was ahead of me and nowhere to be seen. On the right side I saw an occasional person from the front of the pack heading back. Eventually we hit the town and did the third 180 degree turn around and boy did it hurt. Shortly after I hit mile 20 and clicked the lap button and got my gel.

Mile 20 2:16:48 : 6:50 pace over all.

From mile 20 on, everything hurt in my legs. This whole section is a blur and I can’t remember much, but this was pure torture. I remember bits and pieces like how when I went to check the time on the garmin my right hamstring would seize. This happened a number of times. Either one of my calves would begin seizing, or my right hamstring would seize. There was one or two times I really thought I was going to have to stop. I didn’t feel like I was running because I couldn’t maintain the stride I wanted. If I tried my legs would cramp up. I somehow managed to take all my splits for the next 5 miles. I was gradually slowing down on each mile, yet I can’t help but feel happy about the fact that each split here was still faster than my overall pace for my marathon just a year ago.

Mile 21 2:23:45 7:05 mile split : 6:50 pace over all
Mile 22 2:31:04 7:09 mile split : 6:52 pace over all
Mile 23 2:38:20 7:16 mile split : 6:53 pace over all

At this point, I was no longer on pace for a sub 3 hour marathon and I knew it. In fact, at mile 20 I sort of knew sub 3 was not going to happen that day. My only concern was to keep going so that I can finish as fast as possible and cement the effort I put in so far with the closet time to 3 hours as I possibly can. All along the last 3 miles of the race, the spectator crowd began to thicken.

Everyone’s race bib has their name printed on it. Whenever I fill out a form, I always put down my proper name, Herbert. Which is what I filled out on the entry form. No one calls me that though. Herb is what most people call me. However, for these last three miles, all I could hear was “go Herbert!”. “C’mon Herbert!”. And I found this so utterly annoying, since hearing “Herbert” from a stranger makes them seem even more like a stranger, and these strangers were distracting me from focusing on mentally pushing the pain away. If I had the strength to tell them to “shut the fuck up”, I would have. Honestly, I’m not that much of an asshole, and I realize they’re trying to help, but towards the end of a race like this, I never find it helpful. At Mile 15 it would have been more appreciated.

Mile 24 2:45:43 7:22 mile split
Mile 25 2:53:07 7:24 mile split

After mile 25 came a hill. I don’t remember this hill on the way out. We did pass it after the half marathon mark though. I got over it, and kept looking at my garmin counting down the 1/10ths of the miles. I started coming downhill. I saw some runners to the right and headed towards them and crossed a mat. I got yelled at by a course marshal to get over to the left where the marathon finish was. The runners I saw were half-marathoners I think. The marathon finish was on the left up ahead while the half marathon finish was on the right side. I was still coming down the hill when I saw the clock 3:02:xx. Ok, good enough. I cross the finish line. I’m greeted by my family shortly afterwards and I’m happy to see them.

In the days immediately following, I never had such a boost of confidence that I will one day break 3 hours. It might even happened this April in Boston, although I don’t want to put so much expectations on my races anymore. Does it bother me that I came so close to sub 3 and missed it? In all honestly, I didn’t expect to break 3 hours so to come this close is a surprise. Perhaps I should have had a little more faith in myself. Would it have made a difference in the result? Maybe, but probably not. I know had I not gotten cramps though, sub 3 would have happened.

I feel like a guy who won 5 million dollars, but could have won 6 million dollars instead had things gone differently. I would be very happy with 5 million. Almost as happy as getting a 3:02:25 in a marathon.

Oh, and later in the afternoon, when I was leaving the hotel, I ran into the same guy from the ice cream shop across the street. It turned out he did 3:45 beating his 3:50 goal and I was very happy for him. When I told him I did 3:02, he was impressed and equally happy for me. At that moment, I realized the irony that claiming 3 hours last night wasn’t so off base.