Some Perspctive on Milwaukee.

Now that I have had some time to think about my first marathon, I thought I would revisit the day. Since this blog is really just a public journal I wanted a little more detail for my future self to look back on.

Splits:
1- 08:09 I started out with the 3:40 group, so I don't know why this is fast
2- 07:43 Got sick of the pace group pretty quickly so I just ran what felt good
3- 08:05
4- 08:08
5- 08:04
6- 08:19
7- 08:05
8- 07:54 Somewhere in this area I was running next to a girl whose dad (I assume) was cheering her on-"looking good (girl's name) but try to pick it up." That gave everyone around us a good laugh.

9- 08:01
10- 08:01 I think I had some delicious sport beans here
11- 08:06
12- 08:11
13- 08:08 Half marathon split was a bit over 1:46, which was right on time, or so I thought

14- 08:04
15- 08:18
16- 08:25
17- 09:35 This was a little slower because I had to piss and I could not hold it any longer. No, I was not willing to piss on myself to save a minute.

18- 08:14
19- 08:42 This is where the knee pain set in, I was really hoping it would just go away

20- 09:08 Knee pain
21- 11:22 Took a couple Hammer gels the were handing out, that didn't help the knee, all miles after this I was using the tried and true run/walk method :(

22- 11:22 Stopped somewhere around here to stretch out the knee and legs a little, that didn't help either.

23- 12:03 I was really hurting here, it was really demoralizing "running" this slow. It also didn't help that I saw all my peeps pass me by around this time.

24- 10:41 At this point I knew I would finish under 4 hours by just walking it in and that gave me some energy to run this blazing 10:41

25- 12:08
26- 10:11 The spectators got thicker here and I think that helped, I could also see the finish area by now.

27- 09:21

During those last 5 or 6 miles I witnessed many people who looked much fitter than I dragging themselves along as I was. In the last mile there was a woman laying on the side of the sidewalk getting medical attention.

At mile 24-25 there was a guy limping along with his girlfriend yelling at him to run and pick it up. That was humorous and I don't think it was helping.

Now that I have had some time to think about it, I am somewhat glad I ran this the way I did. I tested myself, and that is what these races are all about. I could not hold my pace for the entire race, but I definitely gave it all I had.

I probably could have finished quite a bit faster if I would have run all 8:30s from the start. That would have put me around 3:45 and that would have been great, but I learned a lot from this and now I know what running a marathon really feels like.

I read a great quote regarding marathons-"Mile 20 is the halfway point." That really sums it up and I can relate to that after this one.

For my next marathon I will be better prepared to be sure. Good weekly volume has to be +40 for the whole cycle with a least a few weeks over 50 miles. For the near term I am really going to concentrate on speed. My number 1 goal going forward is a sub 20 minute 5k. #2 has to be a faster half. My 1:39 last spring is going down.

I need to be more consistent with speed work and tempo runs to accomplish these 2 goals, which should be doable now without the time consuming 20 milers. Of course, I have to wait for my knee to improve, I am still having some stiffness after 2 weeks.