NOLA marathon

Few quick words about the race itself before I start posting pics of the celebrating.

It was the stereotypical marathon for me. Felt really great for the first 20 miles. Felt really, really awful for the final 6.2.

I remember hitting mile 1 in 7:15. Little slow, but nothing to panic about. It would end up being the slowest mile of the day for me.

Took in all the sights of the city early on. Carried a plastic water bottle with me so I could skip the first few water stations. Very good call, as for the first few miles we were running with the half marathon peeps and things were pretty crowded.

At mile 3.5 I jumped into a port-o-shitter to take a leak, probably wasting a good 15 seconds. Luckily, that would be the only bathroom break on the day.

Came out and started running with a local at a nice clip. Turns out he knew the gal we were all staying with. He was only running 20 miles on the day but doing so at a sub three clip, so I ran with him until the halfway point. Was nice having a tour guide for that section of the race.

The splits for the first half:

5k - 21:20

10k - 42:42

13.1mi - 1:28:18

That was one of my fastest times ever for a half marathon, but I was feeling pretty good and thought I put myself into position for a solid sub three. I did not think I'd be able to pull out a negative split to go sub 2:55 though.

I left my pacer after the halfway point. I didn't think I was running that fast here, but I started to pass a ton of people. One of the e-mails I got said I averaged 6:18 per mile from the half to mile 20. That's some serious work for a guy who routinely struggles to break six minutes on his weekly mile repeats. 16.8 miles in 1:51:16, mile 20 at 2:12:14.

Started to struggle the next few miles. Saw JMock, who had thrown down a PR in the half, and shortly after that was the hash beer check. I was told I was the first runner of the day to stop and chug a beer!

Continued on, but mentally and physically I was done by mile 22. My form, which is horrible even on a perfect day for me, had come unglued. I was convinced I was now averaging 12 minute miles and would not break three hours. On top of that we were now running this awful out-and-back section of the course which included two 180 degree turns. Ugh. I was so engulfed in my pity party that I failed to notice I was still passing quite a few runners. I'd bet that I passed at least 10 runners over the final 10k, which I actually covered in 41:36 and not the 72 minutes I thought it would take.

About mile 24.7 I ran by the New Orleans Chuggers and was handed a can of Miller High Life, which is the PBR of New Orleans. Downed that to some thunderous applause, and it gave me one last spark. Saw a runner about 100 meters in front of me and I went after him. Finally caught him at the 26 mile mark. Looked at my watch here, and it read 2:52:xx and I thought, holy shit, I just might break three hours after all. Shows you how good my math skills are during the final miles of a marathon.

Gave it one last push over the final .2 miles, ended up just ahead of the guy I was chasing, and stopped the watch at 2:53:20. It's about the worst I've ever felt during the end of a race and definitely the hardest I've pushed myself since I last PR'd the marathon, running 2:55:54 back in 1997.

Chip time of 2:53:10, and I'm guessing that PR will be with me forever, as I'm not willing to push myself to those limits very often. Think I'll retire to chasing Boston qualifiers from now on (I LOVE the new standards, by the way!), which let me enjoy the last 10K a lot more.

Also a very good race from a tactical standpoint. I wasn't passed at all from the point where the marathoners and half-marathoners split. And I continued to pass lots of people throughout the entire race, right up through 26.15 miles when my Bolt-like finishing kick gave me one last victim. For as well as the first 20 went and for as horrific I felt the last 6.2, I averaged 6:36 per mile for that first part, and 6:42 per mile for the last part. So I slowed down a bit, but it wasn't the epic meltdown I thought I was going through at the time.

Second half of the race in 1:24:52, acutally giving me two PR's on the day. And it's very possible that I set a PR for drinking as well, and proof of that will follow in future posts.