Suntrust Washinton National Marathon

The Capitol

Coming Out of the Underpass Mile 10

Finish Line: 2 58 29 Gun Time. Absolutely over the moon.

I'm sitting back at Franks house in Arlington, Virginia just outside of Washington writing this. I flew out here last night with BA straight after work (5pm) who bumped me off of the flight and then managed to find me a seat back on it.

This morning we got up at 5:30am and had some breakfast before heading down to the start area at the RFK stadium. We ran a little late so had to drop the car and jog to the startline. It actually worked out pretty well as it was cold at the beginning and we didn't have to stand around more than 5 minutes. The played the national anthem which was moving as everyone seemed to take it quite seriously, and then off we went.

I had been training for this race specifically for a bout 5 weeks. My core training has gone well and I knew coming into Feb I was about as quick and as fit as I've ever been before. My intention therefore was to do a little bit of pace work and then throw down a sub 3 hour effort. Pace work for me involved going to the track and to the gym and running sessions of between 40 and 80 minutes at sustained marathon pace which needed to be 6 minute 52 second miles or less, or occasionally slightly faster. The faster runs were all 5ks where I would knock out 18:30 for the 3.1 miles. It was boring but I knew I was in with a shot.

I set my virtual pace partner on my garmin as we went across the start finishline. This tool on my watch basically tells me to the second and to the metre how far ahead or behind of a dictated pace I am at any time. It also beeps every mile and gives you a split for that mile of how fast you've gone. Simple enough, I run 26 and a bit miles all at 6 minutes 52 or less and I've done it.

The first mile was ok, a downhill start but there were the usual crowd of people who think that their 'gun time' actually matters. In these races everyone wears a chip so that even if you cross the startline 10 minutes after the last person has done so, the computer records your time to cover the course, that way you dont get everyone crowding the front of the field to get a better time. Theoretically.

After Id skipped round these people the field opened up a little and half marathoners were mixed in with us as the course was going back to the stadium after 13 miles where they could finish and we'd go out on loop 2. I started with a 6:33 mile, then 6:29 then 6:13, 5km in 19:25. Too quick but it was almost all a gradual descent so I wasn't worried. 6:33, 6:42, 6:37 and then a climb at mile 6, 6:58, My 10km split was 39:45. Mile 7 6:39, 6:27, 6:32, 6:35, 6:51, 6:37. Half Marathon Split 1:26:04. My legs felt ok, a bit stiff in places but I never stretch and we'd started cold so I figured that would ease up. The sun was fully out by this stage and starting to become a factor. I had eaten a couple of mouthfuls of mars bar and drunk pretty much nothing but now I knew I was within shouting distance I planned to slow it up just a little and drink at every aid station, taking on salt to stop cramping problems. Next 10 miles:

6:55, 6:57, 6:46, 6:34, 6:18 (under a bridge so this was wrong), 6:45, 7:00, 6:50, 6:57.

At this stage, Mile 23, I was having some minor doubts, I kept almost bonking (hitting the wall) but keeping it just in line. I was pretty much red lining the whole way, working at maybe 85% to 90% of capacity so no suprise in that. I've learnt to listen to the very early warning signs of most things that can go wrong. As soon as there was a hint of stitch coming in I eased of about 2% and it went in under 20 seconds. Similarly when I felt a twinge of muscle fatigue or mental doubt I eased it off the same 2% and just put a mouthful of food down. I stopped at every aid station to drink half a cup of water and threw the rest over my head. When I say stopped I mean ran straight through at full pelt grabbing a cup and throwing it at my mouth so that some would go in. It feels a bit like when you're at the pool and you breath in water through your nose. The turnaround at mile 23 allowed me to see who was directly behind me for the first time in almost the whole race. Another feature of big marathons is that they have pace setters or guys wearing coloured vests who have either a balloon or a flag stating the time they are running for. With the slower groups at 3:15 and up there are big groups running just in front of behind of these pacers. When i spun around at 23 I found that the 3 hour guy was 1. alone ie. no one was sitting on his shoulder for pace purposes and 2. he was 40 seconds behind me. That was not a good sign I was supposed to have about 3 minutes in the bank at this point. The next 2 miles were over undulating roads which were a pain in the arse as every uphill however slight was starting to really hurt. I got over these and into the aid station at mile 25 bending around a nice downhill corner. 7:07, 6:58. 

I took on the last of the water and went as hard as I could for the last dead straight dead flat mile straight up to the stadium, 6:42, The last .2 mile or 365 yards bent around the outside of the stadium and into a finishing shoot. At the 26 mile marker I had 3 minutes 30 to finish and I knew I'd done it. I came through the sizeable crowds and couldn't refrain from a massive fistpump a few yards out, crossing the line at 2 hours 58 minutes 7 seconds and puking everywhere. To many this would seem a pretty ordinary feat as elite runners are busy hammering other marathon courses in 50 minutes less than this, but it was a big deal to me. I hadn't really ever trained to run a fast marathon and had put the groundwork in to do it, whilst this isn't particularly fast in the scheme of things it is nevertheless satisfying to see your hard work pay off. I finished 40th out of 2324 runners.

Frank had a mixed day but ultimately beat his own PB also running 3 hours 23. He was headed for a great time but hit the wall a little way our and slipped back considerably as a result. He wanted 3 20 to qualify for Boston but nevertheless he put in a great effort on little training and plenty of sleep deprivation as his newborn twins are up every 3 hours for feeding at the moment. They are 12 days old and 4 lbs each. He came across the line and puked on my shoes so it rounded off a pretty great morning.