Palm Beaches Marathon 2011 Race Report
There is no short version!
Be jealous, ladies, be very jealous. The first thing I saw as I was going into the finishing chute was Rich, shirtless!
Long:
Pre-Race;
This weekend and the next there's going to be a big FE with a lot of our forumites. rpflash and bingo_jenn came over to WPB this weekend to do the half and full, respectively. I will let them tell their own tales, as each one have an interesting story to tell. But, here are some of the FE pics from yesterday at the Cheesecake Factory:
Be jealous, ladies, be very jealous. The first thing I saw as I was going into the finishing chute was Rich, shirtless!
Revenge is at Hand:
Today, I ran the Palm Beaches Marathon. This was my first marathon ever and last year, I walked the last 10 miles due to what I thought was a cold or some sort of flu. Reading the RR from that race, sounds eerily familiar. Here are some excerpts from it:
Mile 1 - Halfway through Mile 1 I noticed I was winded. I'm not even running fast, I'm doing somewhere close to easy pace and I'm winded. That's when I could tell this day was not a good day to run, least of all race.
Mile 2 - Still winded....
Mile 3 -5 - I'm winded but I'm giving it all I have.
Mile 6-8 - I start getting slower around here.
At this point, I am still winded and start thinking about quitting.
Sound familiar? Yeap, I think it was asthma.
So, my real goal for this race was to conquer this course and do a huge course PR (I finished 5:52 last year). I still do not know how my asthma will act up on a marathon, especially since I had an asthma attack during my last marathon a month ago (NYCM). I have a new medication and I was going to go for a PR, just not sure which pace to go.
Asthma Update:
After NYCM, I went to the doctor and she performed another breathing test. Breathing was at 62% for small bronchii and 81% on the rest. She changed my medication and within 2 weeks I was at 84% for the small bronchii and 98% on the rest. Pretty good numbers. We also switched the timing of the medication to 30 minutes before my runs. I ran for 10 days without an asthma attack...until today.
The week before I consulted with some of you and some other running friends and I decide to shoot for 4:30. I would've reached that goal today, had it not being for my own stupidity (more of that below).
Pre-Race FE: I met the Marathon Maniacs for a picture and then with Rich and Jenn before the start:
Weather: Oh, the running gods hate me. 70-77F forecast for the day (it was 79F when I finished) and 19mph winds (they were at 20mph and we could feel them). At least the gods threw me only 60% humidity. As if that would matter on a sunny day with no clouds and no shade on the course.
Still, I've been running in 80F here still, so I knew this was not going to be a huge factor, or as huge as the asthma or the wind. So I thought the 4:30 was possible.
For all of you wondering whether I got an asthma attack, YES I DID. At Mile 13.26! However, this time I was smart enough to run/walk the next 1.5 mile until the inhaler worked through my lungs. It was worth it, as I had no issues with the energy levels or the asthma attack after Mile 16.
Why Was I Stupid?
A. Ran too Conservatively - How do you know you did not give it your all during the marathon? BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT SORE! I feel like I just went out for a nice LR and I have no soreness whatsoever. I started at a good pace, but after the asthma attack, I decided to slow down. I did not fade at all during the race; I just decided to slow it down to 10:40-11mm after the attack because I really did not want another one.
B. The Foot - I am still having problems with my right foot, in that it bunches the sock under the ball of the foot; I think the foot is either smaller or bigger than the other and gives me issues. I wore different shoes today (Brooks Racer ST5) and different socks (Swiftwicks) and I still had the issue. The stupid part comes at Mile 21, where I sat down to fix the sock and I made such a knot on my shoe that I could not untie it for 7 minutes! People passing by heard the F word 3 times, followed by: are you serious? I guess I was trying to untie it in a hurry and I made a mess of the shoelace. Oy!
C. Wore Too Much: I didn't know whether to wear only the sports bra or not, and I ended up deciding on this:
And YES, THAT IS A SPORTS BRA. The top is somewhere at Mile 20's trash can. It was too sunny to wear a top, IMO.
D. Did not hydrate enough. My 8oz water bottle was empty at Mile 10 (which should've been at Mile 5), but after that, I refilled it at every 3 miles. I should've started refilling at Mile 3 and thereafter, and take it from there. The last 14 miles I was drinking water and Gatorade like there was no tomorrow.
E. Did not use the rescue inhaler before the marathon started. I didn't think I needed since I used Symbicort 45 minutes before the race, but I guess I will always have to use it during the race in order not to have an asthma attack.
Anyway, back to the race. The course was a little long (that is expected from a certified course), so I ended up running 26.45 miles! Yikes. Here are my splits:
Mile 1 - 10:20 (Apparently, there is an Occupy WPB, because I saw the tents at Mile 1, LOL)
Mile 2 - 10:24
Mile 3 - 10:18
Mile 4 - 10:46 (This was a straight mile and it clocked at 1.05 miles)
Mile 5 - 10:25
Mile 6 - 10:21
Mile 7 - 10:16
Mile 8 - 10:39 (stopped to fix shoe)
Mile 9 - 10:16
Mile 10 - 10:47 (stopped at water station to fill bottle)
Mile 11 - 10:06
Mile 12 - 10:33 (stopped to fix shoe)
Mile 13 - 11:03 (asthma attack started)
Mile 14 - 11:02 (used inhaler, walked/ran)
Mile 15 - 10:43 (walked/ran)
Mile 16 - 11:28 (stopped at water station to refill bottle, started mile run/walking and then felt better so I restarted running in full)
Mile 17 - 10:19
At this point, I hit every water station to drink water and fill the bottle with Gatorade every 2-3 miles. It feels super hot at this point and there is no shade.
Mile 18 - 11:17
Mile 19 - 12:14 (refilled water bottle so I stopped in full)
Mile 20 - 11:20 (stopped at the end to take shirt off)
Mile 21 - 10:52 (debacle with shoe starts)
Mile 22 - 13:38 (debacle ends (finally))
Mile 23 - 9:46
Mile 24 - 11:24 (refilled water bottle so I stopped in full)
Mile 25 - 11:06
Mile 26 - 11:42 (stopped to fix the sock at the end)
0.20 - 2:58 (Fixing the sock).
As I head into the chute, I see Rich and Jenn and they take some pics of me. I was so fast, that Jenn missed me:
And for all you girls, that's Rich taking a picture of me. Shirtless!
Here is me as I head down to the finish line. Even with the two items I'm wearing I'm thinking: Ay, caramba! Qué calor!
I never hit the wall; in fact, I was the only one running at that point (ahead of me and behind me everybody was having death marches).
I am very happy with my performance. I could've pushed and do better (in fact, had I not screwed up the shoelace that took me 7 minutes to untie, I would've come in at around 4:35 which is what I was hoping for. So, I know I can definitely run sub-4:30. But please, give me no wind next time...and cool weather would be nice!
Oh, and my official time? 4:46:06. A PR, even though I took it easy. No soreness is a plus!
Stay tuned for more FE as Chiqui74, rpflash, bingo_jenn, zircadia, and me do the RnR Miami Half Marathon next weekend.
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