Foot Traffic Flat Marathon - Race Report

I have a blister on my toe - but it's okay.

I signed up for the July 4th Foot Traffic Flat Marathon a few months ago with hopes of using the flat course as an attempt to qualify for next year's Boston Marathon.  So, with my BQ already in hand (smiley face), I had no other choice but to use this race as an attempt for a new world record.

Goal A - smash world record
Goal B - barely beat world record
Goal C - run under 3 hrs
Goal D - not get heat stroke and die

Lots of porta-potties and a beautiful sunrise: a runner's dream

 Sadie going over race strategy with me

I started off very, very strong, but (and I'm not ashamed to say this) I fell off world record pace early.  Some days you just don't have it.

So the next goal was to go under 3 hrs.  I ran 3:03 last month and figured all I had to do was run a little faster this time.  So that's what I did.  After my dreams of a world record were shattered in only a few footsteps, I decided to settle in at a 6:30mile/min pace.  "Let's see what you can do with this," I said to myself in third-person.

I feel pretty new and inexperienced running these faster paces.  Just this year I ran a 5k in 19:30 (6:16mile/min pace), and I think that's just about the first time I'd ever recorded myself running a 6-anything pace.  If previous years were about how many miles I could run, then this year has started to become about seeing how fast I can actually run these miles.  I suppose it's simply about pushing boundaries.

So I kept at 6:30min/mile pace for the first 13 miles, but never felt 100% comfortable.  I felt like I was just about at my limit the entire time, like I was just waiting for a wheel to fall off.  But the 1:25 split at the half gave me some confidence as I had given myself a little bit of a buffer for the expected slow-down during the second half.

Sure enough, I hit a low spot around mile 17.  It was warming up, I didn't know if I was drinking too much water or too little, and I thought for sure that I was within a minute from just shutting down and going for a long walk.  Not only did I believe 3 hrs was out of the question, but I was wondering if 4 hrs was doable if I just walked the rest of the way.  I may not be the most experienced runner, but I have run enough so far to know that these lows are often temporary.  So I kept pushing until mile 20 ("Just get to mile 20, then it's just a 10k to the finish," I kept telling myself), though my overall pace had slipped to around 6:38min/mile.

Around mile 20 I had pushed through the low (after a short walk through an aid station while pouring a few cups of cold water on my head and back) and I knew I was back in business.

My feet were hurting, but I kept pushing.  A couple times I nearly lost my stomach.

3 miles to go.  Tired. Sore. Hurting. Hot. But locked in a 6:40min/mile pace.
1.5 miles to go.  I caught up with another marathoner (it had been 10 miles of running around half-marathoners).  It was nice to pace off him.  I had been running solo the entire race.  We ran in together. 

Finish time: 2:55:23.  8/395 overall.  3rd age group.  (full results)


A sub-3 marathon.  Another PR.  Wow, it's been some kind of year.  I sure am enjoying it.

This was the most sore I've been after a marathon.  This was the hardest I've pushed myself in a marathon.  I think if I trained properly for speed (instead of simply "trying to run faster") I could knock several more minutes of this time.  But for now I'm happy with where I'm at as a runner.  I'm having a lot of fun.  I'm enjoying every minute of it.  Not much more I can ask for.

I have a few ultras coming up next, and then a lot of training for my upcoming Chile adventure. 

Happy Birthday USA!

View from the drive home - the beautiful Columbia River Gorge

Hope everyone is having a run-filled summer.  Keep running!

-Scott