Wow, it's taking me bloody ages to catch back up to date on this blog! Anyways, here's another 10 days worth...
Friday, 18th October, 2013 – 8.0km SLC Recovery Run (45:57 – 5:36/km)
For most of the following week all thoughts of running were ignored. We did lots of touristy things as well as too much drinking and eating than what was good for us. In amongst all that we caught a Chicago Bulls v Detroit Pistons game at the United Centre, followed by rushing to see Bell X1 play in a local bar later the same night. But by Thursday it was time for myself and Stephen to depart Chi Town for Mormon town, or Salt Lake City as it’s properly called.
A quick visit to their Temple was not very enlightening on their belief system. In fairness the religion does seem to mean that there is little crime and the city feels anything but dangerous. On the flip side though all that clean living leads to a boring old town so we were happy enough to be out of there once Aidan arrived from Ireland.
On Saturday morning we met up with local residents Tim, Brian and Carmen and set off for Moab in the South of the State for some mountain biking. This was great craic but my limited MTB skills meant that some of the trails were simply too demanding and technical for me so I missed out on the lads trip down Porcupine Rim. Fortunately Stephen had a ‘Go Pro’ camera so he managed to catch the experience although I'm sure biking alongside 400m cliff drops was much more terrifying in reality! It did make me pine for my own MTB to be brought out of storage though!
Week 42 Summary:
RTW: 1 from 7 days
DTW: 8.0 km
DTY: 3,264.6 km
Monday, 21st October, 2013 – 15.8km SLC Easy Run (1:21:56 – 5:11/km)
Tuesday, 22nd October, 2013 – 8.0km Philly Recovery Run (45:32 – 5:26/km)
Thursday, 24th October, 2013 – 8.5km Philly Recovery Run (47:02 – 5:28/km)
Saturday, 26th October, 2013 – 7.3km Washington DC – National Mall (39:54 – 5:27/km)
Just a few easy runs to keep me fresh for the MCM/DCM double and again there’s not a lot to report about them. Lots of travel this week and also too much beer and food in the early part of the week so at least I eased back on the beer in the second half! This last run was around the National Mall in DC and things were feeling good!
Sunday, 27th October, 2013 – 43.0km Marine Corps Marathon (3:50:01 – 5:18/km)
Morning:
The alarm clock had me awake by 6am and even at that there was no time for dallying. A small breakfast of some pre-bought food and I was out the door. Fortunately, my hotel was only a 2 min walk from the metro station and then it was only 4 stops to race start. I had read that it was a good idea to purchase a day pass for $14 as the queues would be very busy post race. So, this I did as I would be getting three journeys on the train today so it almost made financial sense too. The journey itself took less than 20mins in total, and so by 7:15am I arrived at the Pentagon stop and casually made my way to the starting line. This was a 1 mile walk and it was pretty easy to skirt along the side of the crowd before reaching the 4hr pacers. While on my way to the start area I was on the lookout for portaloos but the queues were ginormous! However, just before I jumped into my corral area there was a row of toilets with zero people waiting on them - My lucky day! A quick visit and I was back to my starting position within 2 minutes. As we waited for the race to start I did notice the distinct lack of non-Americans. Perhaps the jingoistic nature of the Marine Corps turns foreigners off the event I guess. Personally I didn't really care as long as it wasn’t too ‘in my face’ and so far it wasn't (apart from the Expo with the multitude of stands dedicated to all forms of US Defence Forces, and God!).
Kms 0 - 10km:
Another US Marathon another dodgy PA system! The announcer was doing his best to get the participants going but the system failed to match his enthusiasm so in the end the only real way we knew the race was started was the fact that the slow shuffle forward had begun! There was approximately 6.5mins elapsed on the clock by the time I sauntered under it and we were away.
The first 4 miles on the course are pretty hilly with very little even ground. The good news though was that it all flattens out after that. So, my main aim was to hold a relaxed effort for this section and then get to grips with a 22 mile race when we arrived in Georgetown. This tactic was the only one available to me in reality as there was so much congestion that I wouldn't have been able to go any faster if I wanted! I also seemed to be accompanied by the most selfish runners in the World as many of them veered left and right (with headphones on!) without a care for their fellow runners who often had to brake suddenly to avoid tripping over them. This really got on my nerves so I was happy when pockets of space managed to appear about 30 mins into the race.
Surprisingly, by as early as 5.5km I needed another bathroom break. This was unexpected for me as I usually manage the whole race without a visit but here I was having to use the toilet twice in half an hour! To make matters even worse there were no portaloos around but after holding it in for a couple of kms we passed through a tree-laden section of the course and there was a bunch of other male runners using the natural facilities, and I thought I may as well avail of the opportunity too. So, after a loss of about 40 seconds I was back running the downhill again.
We passed over the bridge and into Georgetown briefly around km 8 and that was the worst of the hills behind us. Now it was just a wee jog to the finish! I decided to maintain the effort so what was a tough enough opening 5km was now transformed into a much improved pace for the next 5km thanks to the flatter profile.
0 – 5km: 30:08 (6:01/km)
5 – 10km: 27:02 (5:23/km)
Kms 10 - 20km:
There was an out and back section between 9km to 15km. This was along a river park type area and fairly pleasant but it got boring after a while. Also, the turnaround point was basically a point in the road so as we had about 10 people wide trying to take the 180 turn we inevitably slowed to a walk. Hardly ideal 12km into a marathon!
Once we were done with this section though we were back out amongst the crowds and were now heading along the North/East bank of the Potomac river. This was a very pleasant and flat part of the course and it was around here that I noticed myself speeding up, hence the 5:16/km for the fourth 5km split. Things were feeling pretty good now.
10 – 15km: 28:38 (5:43/km)
15 – 20km: 26:23 (5:16/km)
Kms 20 - 30km:
I got a little anxious that I was going too fast too soon so I reigned myself in a little bit over the next 5km as we passed through Halfway in 1:57:59 – Well up on my 4hr target and I felt I hadn’t even started running properly yet. Around this point also I passed the 4hr pacers. I didn’t bother to pause with them any longer than I needed to pass through their gaggle of runners and overtake the whole group.
Over the next 5km I got chatting to a guy also wearing the Chicago 2013 top. Turns out he was from Illinois and we chatted about Chi Town and the Marathon briefly. After about a mile he had enough and wanted to ease back to his own pace – I’m sure it had nothing to do with the sparkling conversation! This 5km split was the fastest of the day and my first sub 5min segment. I was still holding myself back for Dublin a fair bit though so I had faith in my quicker than planned pace.
We were now running around the National Mall with all the sites spread around us. It made for a really cool place to run and the time passed by in an instant so before we knew it we were facing into the final 12km stretch!
HM1: 1:57:59 (5:35/km)
20 – 25km: 26:52 (5:22/km)
25 – 30km: 24:54 (4:58/km)
Kms 30 – 42.2km:
The next few kms were somewhat boring as we passed over a very long bridge with a bit of an incline and little support. The bridge lasted the guts of a km and once back across into Virginia we had a loop of Crystal City’s boring streets to complete but at least the crowds were back out supporting in abundance once more.
Things were beginning to get tougher now though. The pace started drifting a bit slower so I was in consolidation mode now. Keep it steady til the final mile and let loose again. As we passed the Pentagon we ran by the 25 mile mark so sure enough I started to up the effort again. I figured I’d be close to 3:50 by now so made this my short term target With about 600m to go I saw a guy 80m up ahead with an Irish flag on his back so made it my mission to catch him and say hello before we crossed the line. However, as I began to close the gap I suddenly spotted the guy slow to a walk! I couldn't just go straight past him so I gave him a shout that we were almost done - ”Less than 3mins and it'll all be over”. He got back running again as we chatted for 100m before he told me to go on ahead. Which I did! I was now at the bottom of the short incline to the finish, only 400m from the end. I gave it all I had going up the incline but there was several others who had slowed to a crawl and the course had just gone from motorway width to country lane width which led to congestion again! I did my best to dodge around a few people and in no time I was cresting the hill with just the 150m run-in to the line remaining. I kept the hammer down and as I was approaching the line I knew it was gonna be close but alas when I crossed the finish my time registered as 3:50:01! A tiny bit disappointed not to go sub 3:50 but all things considered I was very happy with the run. I negative splitted by 5:57 and managed to come home feeling relatively fine.
HM2: 1:52:02 (5:19/km)
30 – 35km: 26:54 (5:22/km)
35 – 42.2km: 39:10 (5:26/km)
Aftermath/reaction:
After the line I waited for the Irish guy and he crossed about 30 seconds later, well inside a sub 4hr run for him. He was very thankful for the help over the final km. After a short rest with the legs upside down against a fence I moved off for the Metro Station. I was in a little hurry now as I was moving slowly, however nothing can excuse me for forgetting to pick up my free after-race beer!
Once inside the metro station my wise decision to buy the day pass in advance this morning bore fruit as the place was mobbed! As it was it took me about 10mins to get through the turnstiles but if I had to buy a ticket at that time this would have been 30mins easily! Fortunately, my stop was now the next stop on the train and I was back at the hotel in time to shower and late-checkout (as agreed at check-in!) by 1:30pm. Straight back on the train to Ronald Reagan Airport this time. Thankfully this airport is only a stone’s throw away from the finish line of the MCM so I arrived in plenty of time for my 3:30pm connecting flight to Boston and so managed to at last get a quick bite to eat. Unfortunately the choices were limited so I had to settle for a ‘5 Guys’ fast food meal which included a delicious burger but an offensively over seasoned cajun chips which I couldn’t finish!
After a 70 minute flight to Logan International airport (I used to work there as a baggage handler back on my J1 in 1999) I had a layover just long enough to savour a pint of Boston’s finest - Sam Adams – in celebration of my morning’s achievements. There wasn't much time to spare afterwards before I was boarding the Dublin flight however. Once aboard I managed to nab an aisle seat by the wing so I had lots of legroom. This good luck was counter-balanced though by three children under the age of 2 years old within 2 metres of me. Such is the way though that I got no sleep on the flight with their incessant whining and by the time I reached Dublin I was pretty knackered. It was just about the last hour of the flight before they shut up properly but no sleep was forthcoming after that. We landed in Dublin airport at 5am and it was all about to start all over again!
Week 43 Summary:
RTW: 5 from 7 days
DTW: 82.6 km
DTY: 3,347.2 km
No comments:
Post a Comment