Austin Marathon Race Report

OK, so this post is going to be long and detailed and probably on the melodramatic side. But as they say, you're only a 1st time Boston Qualifier once in your life.

Abridged Marathon History
Miami, January 2006: 3:19 - Made an ill-conceived attempt at a BQ in my 1st marathon. Hot and humid, with starting temps in the high 60s. I was not prepared for the conditions after training in New England through the winter. Started fading at around mile 18 and was about 8 minutes off by mile 24, so bagged the attempt from there. Otherwise a pleasant experience for a first marathon.

Boston, April 2006: 3:30 - Raised money for my University and started with the 2nd wave. Tried to run a 7:15 pace amidst mostly 8:30-9:00 pace runners. Wasted a lot of energy swerving and was spent by mile 16. Struggled through the hills, but finished comfortably. Vowed at the finish line that I would start with the 1st wave next year.

Bay State Marathon, October 2006: 3:35 - see previous blog entry. Injured my ITB 3 weeks before the marathon. Worst marathon to date.

Game Plan and General Strategery
If you've been following my blog, you will see that despite the injury back in October, I have recovered nicely and strung together 7 weeks of really solid training. I was very confident in my conditioning this time around and was still toying around with the idea of going for a 3:05. So, I set 3 time goals going in, a wet dream goal of 3:00, a reachable goal of 3:05, and a minimum goal of 3:10. The course is really tailored for a negative split. I will refer readers to a more detailed course guide, if you're really interested. To summarize, the course starts with its largest hill over the 1st mile, but then goes back in to town on a good downhill. From there, it is relatively flat until mile 9, at which point the course hits a series of rolling hills for the next 5-6 miles. This is followed by a gradual, almost imperceptible, climb until mile 17.5. Then, it is downhill to the finish line except for a short, steep hill at 23.5, and a more gradual one at 25. I knew I couldn't fight the course design by going out hard, and since the marathon was supplying pacers, I thought the best plan of attack was to stay with the 3:10 pace group and depending on how I felt, I could make a run for it at either mile 13, mile 17.5, or mile 22. I knew from my training that a 7:15 mile was going to feel comfortable, so my race strategy really fell to how much of a gambling man I was.


Pre-race
I got to bed around 10pm and was half awake and restless by about 4AM. I'll take 6 hours of sleep before a marathon anytime! At 4:50, my alarm went off and I stepped out of the hotel room into the atrium to have my breakfast of 2 multigrain waffles and a cup of gatorade. It's amazing how much better waffles taste when toasted! I took a quick shower, fussed with my running gear, and then got back into bed to chill for about half an hour. At 5:45, I woke my wife up and started to get dressed. At this point, I could feel the nerves setting in. We headed down to the Congress St. bridge and discovered that the start line was a little further up the bridge then expected. It was surprisingly chilly, but having only left Boston two days ago, it really wasn't that bad... high 30's maybe. I took off for a quick 10 min. warm-up jog down the river punctuated with a pit stop in the middle. I found my wife again, left my sweats with her, gave her a quick peck on the cheek and set off for battle.

It was a bit of an ordeal squeezing through the mob trying to find the 3:10 pace group, but found them I did. Then, I did the proverbial pre-race jig to stay warm. I distinctly remember a Hispanic woman giving me the look-down for wearing so little. Apparently, temps were in the high 30s, but I had no idea at the time. Some pre-race fireworks went off following the national anthem, and the gun went off not much later.

Mile 0-7
I tucked myself in behind the 3:10 pace leader and as soon as the excitement of the start wore off, I realized I had to pee real bad. I swerved over to the row of port-a-johns and as luck would have it, every single one was occupied. Damnit! At the end, I had to settle for the handicap stall. When I emerged, I was way behind the pace group. It took me almost a mile to catch up to the pace group. This led to a very slow 1st mile (8:05), but I didn't panic... kept telling myself to slowly reel the pace group in. I think I caught the pace group around mile 3 and settled in behind a dude decked out in Longhorns gear (longsleeve shirt, shirt, AND tights... i couldn't believe he wasn't overheating). The view of the Austin skyline was excellent bathed in the morning sun. Around mile 4, on a steep uphill towards 5th street, I passed by a laboring Henry Rono. I was a little starstruck and missed the 4 mile marker. A right turn on 5th street brought a really cool sight. With the sun climbing higher, everything was heavily silhouetted against the sun... felt like we were a cavalry riding into the sunrise. A right turn on Cesar Chavez brought me into plain sight of my wife, who I think got a good video clip of me running. Between mile 6-7, I noticed one of the potential qualifiers, who had been chatting up the pacers, was losing some time at the aid stations, and then sprinting up to catch up each time. I wanted to say something to him about catching more gradually, but I kept my mouth shut for some reason. At this point, I was still debating in my head about whether to stay with pace group, or to pick it up and go for the faster time. It was still too early for any sudden moves, especially with the tough climbs approaching.

Mile 7-14
There was a pretty steep, but mercifully short, uphill leading up to Lake Austin Boulevard. My HR may have climbed up to about 167-168, but it was pretty brief. From here, it was a real nice flat section for almost 2 miles. I think I felt a mild twinge in my right hip flexor started acting up here, but fortunately, it was never a major issue. A sharp right at Enfield coincided with another steep hill. This section marked the beginning of a set of major rollers for the next 3 miles. It was still early in the race, so these weren't too bad. Each uphill was balanced by an equally long downhill. A hill at around mile 10.5 was especially long and steep. I started noticing how the pace group would disperse at the aid stations, and then reform each time. It must be quite a sight from a bird's eye view. After mile 12, I started to feel a hot spot develop in my right foot because I didn't tighten the laces enough. I stopped shortly before mile 13, as I was approaching a downhill, to tie my laces. At this point, I was still feeling pretty fresh, definitely better than previous marathons, and most of the serious climbing was behind us. There was no sign for the half, but I projected it out to be 1:34:58, right on the dot! I had to really push the pace to catch up, so mile 14 was fast (6:45).

Mile 14-21
The long stretch on Great Northern boulevard was a nice change of pace from all the turning. This section was a sparse on spectators (mostly residents in lounging clothes with a cup of coffee in one hand and sprawled on a lounge chair). At around 15.5, I put in a surge because I needed to make another pit stop. These pit stops were a little annoying because I felt like I was doing a fartlek run. But, I caught up with the pace group again within 0.5 mile and still felt pretty fresh. As we rounded the bend and headed towards the Northcross Mall, there were throngs of spectators. After passing mile 17, the thought began to creep into my head that I could really do this! I still wasn't feeling much fatigue in my legs and I still wasn't breathing hard. I remembered reading several course description that pinpointed 17.5 miles as the highest point on the course and from then on, it was a 40ft/mile drop. I debated surging ahead but again decided to be conservative as there was still ~9 miles to go. A fellow 3:10 hopeful named Jesse decided to go for it and slowly pulled ahead. I started running slightly ahead of the pace group pack to facilitate aid station stops. I don't remember much from about mile 17-20, which probably was a good thing. When I hit the 20 mile mark, I was surprised to find that I was still relatively fresh. This was the cliff shot zone and I remember some crazy woman handing out advils and I kept thinking, "muddy brown casts (med school humor)". I also noticed that the pace group, not the pacers, was dwindling.

Mile 21-End
The whole race I had been targeting mile 22 because I had run the last 4.2 miles, starting at mile 22, the day before. It was a little psychological boost for me knowing we were entering familiar territory. Just before hitting mile 22, we caught our friend Jesse at mile 22. He looked OK, but a little tired. This was what I feared happening if I had surged ahead at mile 17.5. I later learned that he did not have a good last 4 miles. I don't remember exactly when it happened, but I started feeling fatigue for the first time after mile 22. It took me a little longer to get my last gel down and I started getting mentally prepared for the steep hill after mile 23. I started chatting with a fellow named Steve to see if he wanted to break from the pace group. He said, "let's do this, only 3 miles left." I coached him up the steep hill, which probably kept my mind off the pain. We picked it up as we made the turn onto Duval, which had a very nice downhill leading into the UT campus. We paced each other for the 2 miles or so, all the while, still hearing the cheers for the 3:10 pace group that couldn't have been more than 50 meters behind us. This was reckoning time! I had to really concentrate to maintain tempo. After powering up the last hill up Martin Luther King Dr., we made the turn on to Congress and caught our first glimpse of the Capitol. Yesterday, the sight had given me goosebumps; today, I would characterize it more as relief. I was really struggling at this point...wanted to stop, but I kept telling myself, "you can't come all this way and run a 3:11." I think Steve pulled away after passing the capital building... he had an incredible kick! The final downhill stretch on Congress Ave. was less of a triumphant finish and more of a countdown for me, "10th Ave., 9th Ave., 8, 7, 6, 5...." I looked up to see 3:10:00 and knew I had made it! The only thing I remember clearly of the last stretch was my wife screaming, "Go, go, go... Boston, baby!" I tried to celebrate as best as I could crossing the finish line. Then, I turned around and waited for the pacers to come through and gave them both high fives. They had both done a beautiful job of pacing and were still pushing runners through to the finish line coming down Congress Ave.

Post-Game Summary
Overall, this was the best marathon experience to date. The weather was absolutely perfect and the crowd support was consistent throughout the course. The race directors also did a great job with logistics. I still marvel that the start line was literally a stone's throw away from 5 different hotels. Even though I was initially disappointed that they had done away with the fast downhill course, I think the new course kept me from going out to fast and burning myself out, so kudos to the race directors! I kept waiting for the wall to hit but it never came.

I would also like to send a special acknowledgment to my blog buddy Ryan, whose inspiration has been immeasurable on this BQ journey. Thanks for your support!

Splits
Total time - 3:09:08 (159/170)
Mile 1 8:06 (149/166) Pit stop
Mile 2 6:51 (164/168)
Mile 3 7:13 (153/157)
Mile 4 7:09 (156/161)
Mile 5 7:09 (156/161)
Mile 6 7:05 (156/160)
Mile 7 7:19 (156/161)
Mile 8 7:18 (159/168)
Mile 9 7:12 (160/165)
Mile 10 7:13 (161/165)
Mile 11 7:12 (162/168)
Mile 12 7:05 (161/167)
Mile 13 7:23 (158/167) Shoe lace
Mile 14 6:45 (162/170)
Mile 15 7:30 (158/163)
Mile 16 7:17 (161/168) Pit stop
Mile 17 7:16 (162/167)
Mile 18 7:17 (160/165)
Mile 19 7:12 (160/164)
Mile 20 7:13 (160/164)
Mile 21 7:23 (157/162)
Mile 22 7:16 (163/167)
Mile 23 7:08 (160/163)
Mile 24 7:01 (162/166)
Mile 25 7:05 (162/166)
Mile 26 7:01 (165/168)
Mile 26.2 1:29 (165/167)
HM splits: 1:34:58, 1:34:10