After much talk and moderate training, my first stand alone marathon since 2002 is in the books: 2:59:45. My #1 goal was to go sub three hours, and thanks to my garmin and some well place EN peeps at about .2 miles to go(!), it’s in the books. Here are some sentences, with the data below.
The Conditions…
…Just stunk. 40 degrees, rain starting at mile 5 and lasting all day, winds building up to a sustained 8-10 knots. It was the kind of day where I looked at all the spectators and saw these cold, soggy, shadows and felt sorry for them. At least I was running! Very, very glad to be done.
Lap One — 1:30:07 (6:52 pace)
I wanted to start slow, but immediately found myself behind hundreds of people running 10′ miles. WTF? I remained calm through about mile 5, then noted it was time to start working. I planned to run about 6:45s for the bulk of the day, but could really only get to 6:47s. I think a large part of it was just the day…not a fun or easy day to run. Saw the ladies at just before the halfway point and stole three quick kisses and was off again. Really awesome to see them!
Lap Two — 1:29:37 (6:47 pace)
I felt much better after halfway, and was excited to start working at about mile 21. I knew I was on the bubble for 3hours and kept expecting to find a group at that pace, but it never materialized. Headwind out to the turnaround turned into a headwind on the way back (anyone else notice that??) so no relief. Speaking of relief, I had to take a pee break at mile 18.5 that turned into a 30″ pit stop. Dowh!
I got back on the road quickly, had a gel at mile 20 (also ate one at mile 7 and 14) and was psyched to run harder at mile 21. It came, I started running harder but the pace on my watch was still the same. Uh oh….Coach P is fading fast.
I used other runners to stay focused but was pretty much running my butt off at this point, especially from mile 23 in. Nearing the stadium I hear Bob Arsenault telling me to hurry up and I run as fast as I can into the stadium, around the warning track (now mud) and over the finish. Official Clock time is 3:00:03, Chip Time is 2:59:45.
Wrap
I have to say that while my legs hurt more, my body feels just fine. Nothing like racing an Ironman and having everything want to quit, even your eyeballs. Super happy to have ThaNation following me…know that I used every last drop of your mojo in those last 5 miles. Very excited to be done and even more psyched to be a part of the Nov OS group (assuming my legs cooperate!). Thanks!
P
First Half:
Duration: 1:30:07
rTSS: 146.3 (0.933)
NGP: 6:42 (240.4 m/min)
VI: n/a
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 13.148 mi
Elevation Gain: 2263 ft
Elevation Loss: 2235 ft
Grade: 0.1 % (36 ft)
Min Max Avg
Cadence: 78 92 90 rpm
Speed: 1 11 8.7 mph
Pace 5:27 60:21 6:52 min/mi
Altitude: 56 219 134 ft
Second Half:
Duration: 1:29:38
rTSS: 147.6 (0.94)
NGP: 6:39 (242.0 m/min)
VI: n/a
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 13.161 mi
Elevation Gain: 1987 ft
Elevation Loss: 2009 ft
Grade: -0.0 % (-22 ft)
Min Max Avg
Cadence: 68 96 90 rpm
Speed: 0.7 18.3 8.8 mph
Pace 3:17 80:28 6:47 min/mi
Altitude: 23 243 130 ft
Entire workout (8.8 mph):
Duration: 2:59:45
rTSS: 298.7 (0.936)
NGP: 6:41 (241.0 m/min)
VI: n/a
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 26.309 mi
Elevation Gain: 4257 ft
Elevation Loss: 4243 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (14 ft)
Min Max Avg
Cadence: 47 96 90 rpm
Speed: 0.7 18.3 8.8 mph
Pace 3:17 80:28 6:49 min/mi
Altitude: 23 243 132 ft
Hi, I'm Patrick McCrann. 
