On November 5, I race-walked the Marshall University Marathon
in Huntington, WV. I ran this marathon
10 years ago, finishing it in 3:07:59.
That was only the third time I broke 3:10 in a marathon, and it still
ranks as my seventh fastest time. I knew
this was a course that I could run fast, so I assumed I could walk it fast as
well. It’s fairly flat.
I’m working on my third circuit of marathons in all 50
states. The last three states I needed
were West Virginia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma.
This race gave me my third West Virginia marathon.
Huntington is a college town. It’s home to Marshall University, and the
town really roots for their football team.
In 1970, the team was traveling to a road game, and their plane
crashed. Most of the players died in the
crash, as did several coaches and the school’s athletic director. The 2006 film, “We Are Marshall,” depicts how
the school and the town coped with that tragedy. I saw that movie shortly before running this
race in 2007.
There isn’t a major airport near Huntington, so I flew to
Columbus, OH and drove the rest of the way.
I was originally planning to fly to Columbus on Saturday morning. Then Delta cancelled their only morning flight,
so I had to look for other flights. After
considering all my options, I decided to fly to Columbus late Friday afternoon
and drove to Huntington on Saturday.
When I got to Columbus, I had dinner with my friend
Sandy. Sandy is a fellow blogger. In addition to her running blog, she just started a blog called The Brewery Log, where she reviews
breweries she visits during her travels.
After dinner, she introduced me to a local brewery called The Seventh
Son, where I sampled a few styles of beer I had never tried before.
On Saturday, I drove to Huntington. After checking in at my hotel, I paid a visit
to Spring Hill Cemetery, where there’s a memorial for the players, coaches, and
boosters who died in that 1970 plane crash.
Next I picked up my race packet. They had this metalwork sculpture on display
at the expo. It’s for sale, but I don’t
think I could fit it in my suitcase.
Later, I had dinner with two friends at the Marshall Hall of
Fame Cafe.
The course was two loops, starting and finishing at the
football stadium. The race started at
7:00, but if you wanted to park at the stadium, you had to get there before
they blocked off the streets. I got up
early, so I could get to the stadium before 6:00. Fortunately, it was the day we set the clocks
back an hour, so it didn’t seem quite as early.
I didn’t sleep well Thursday or Friday night, so I desperately needed an
extra hour of sleep. I got to bed early
and slept well until 2:00. Then I woke
up and couldn’t get back to sleep.
It was 57 degrees at the start of the race, but the forecast
high was 78. I expected it to get up to
about 70 before I finished.
Between the warm weather and my recent lack of sleep, I
could easily have said this just isn’t my day to go for a PR. If I took it easy in this one, I wouldn’t get
another chance this year. My next race
is unusually hilly. The one after that
will be unusually hot and humid. The one
after that, I plan to run. I felt I had
to at least take a shot at my walking PR of 5:03. I decided to start the race near my PR pace
and see how I felt.
One of the nice things about starting at the stadium was
being able to use the stadium’s bathrooms.
There are lots of them, so I didn’t even have to wait in line.
Before the race, I bumped into several people I know. I guess I’m not the only one who needed
another West Virginia race.
As I lined up, I looked for pace groups. The slowest marathon pace group I saw was
4:45, but I saw a 2:30 pace group for the half marathon. That’s an average pace of 11:27, which is the
same as a five hour marathon. I lined up
right behind them.
I was talking to friends in the start area when we heard a
cannon blast. That was the start. I had to take a few seconds to put my watch
in chronograph mode, so I got separated from the 2:30 pace group. After crossing the starting line, I worked my
way through the crowd until I was right behind them. Then I was careful to never get in front of
them.
I reached the first mile marker in 11:12. That was a bit fast, so I eased up and let
the pace group get farther ahead of me.
I kept them in sight. I never saw
the two mile sign, so I gradually caught up to the 2:30 group again. By the end of three miles, we were averaging
11:20. That was still fast, but more reasonable.
When I pace myself, I have a bad habit of trying to keep
each mile at or under my goal pace.
Ideally, if some miles are too fast, I should have others that are too
slow, so the average is about right. I
stayed behind the 2:30 pacer, knowing she would eventually do that.
This race was in a state I needed to complete my third
circuit of marathons in all 50 states, so I wore my 50 States Marathon Club
singlet. Other runners noticed that and
asked me which race I did in this state or that state. Talking to other runners helped me to relax
and get into an efficient stride, without overthinking it. I never saw the four mile sign, but I stayed
near the 2:30 group.
When we got to the five mile sign, I saw we were already a
minute ahead of schedule. That was
similar to how I started the Mankato Marathon two weeks ago. That race ended badly. I set a PR for the half marathon, but by the
15th mile, I was already struggling.
After 19 miles, I completely blew up.
I was concerned, but continued to follow the 2:30 pacer.
This race is relatively flat, because it mostly follows
streets that are parallel to the Ohio River.
As soon as you turn away from the river, you quickly encounter hills. We eventually turned left and started running
away from the river. They must have
found the only north-south street in town that didn’t have big hills. It was slightly uphill, but not too bad.
We eventually reached Ritter Park Trail. Here, we followed a creek. We were on a paved path near lots of
trees. In the first loop, this was my
favorite part of the course. We followed
this creek for about two miles.
We passed someone playing a flute. The melody was familiar. Out of context and without lyrics, I could
quite identify it. It was right on the
tip of my tongue. It seemed like
something from a musical. For at least a
mile, I was obsessed with identifying the mystery melody.
Before long, the pavement was replaced by crushed limestone. The grade was uniform, and it was densely
packed. I was on it for about a minute
before I even realized we were no longer on pavement.
The path was narrow, so it got congested here. A few other runners got between me and the
pace group, and it took a while before I caught up to them again.
After seven miles, we were about a minute and a half ahead
of schedule for a five hour marathon (or a 2:30 half). After that, we finally settled into the right
pace. I had to hope the fast start
wouldn’t take too much of a toll on me.
My pace, so far, was similar to Mankato, but I didn’t feel like I was
working as hard.
I eventually figured out the mystery melody. It was “Mamma Mia” by ABBA. Technically, that is from a musical, but the
song predates the musical by two or three decades.
We eventually ran around three sides of Ritter Park. On the north side of the park, we were
serenaded by a wind quartet. I didn’t
recognize the music they were playing.
After leaving the park, we turned onto a street that took us back into
the downtown area.
After 10 miles, I heard the 2:30 pacer comment about needing
to slow down to be able to finish between 2:29 and 2:30. She only had a few miles left in her race, so
I was worried she would slow down too much for me. I wanted to slow a little, but I didn’t want
to have to speed up again in the second half.
We were only about two miles from where the marathon and half marathon
split, so I went ahead on my own. I had
to start paying more attention to my mile times. I wanted to average 11:30 the rest of the
way.
Near the end of the loop, we were on an out-and-back
segment. We could see faster runners who
were already heading out on their second loop.
I recognized a few of my friends.
I missed the 11 mile sign, so I had to wait until 12 miles
to see what pace I was on. Over those
two miles, I averaged 11:18. That was
still a little fast.
After the split, the half marathoners went directly toward
the football stadium. The marathon route
took a detour through the heart of the Marshall University campus.
There were far fewer runners doing the marathon. There weren’t many runners around me, so it
was harder to gauge my pace by comparing myself to the runners around me. Also, some of the runners going my pace were
using a run/walk strategy. When they
ran, it was hard to keep up with them.
When they took walking breaks, I passed them easily. Despite that
difficulty, I managed to do the 13th mile at about the right pace.
I reached the halfway mark in 2:28:08. That wasn’t quite as fast as my half marathon
split in Mankato, but it was still too fast.
I felt OK, but I was concerned.
For the rest of the race, I was asking myself how I felt and comparing
it to how I felt at the same point in the Mankato Marathon.
The start of the second loop was different from the start of
the first loop. In the first loop, we
ran east on 3rd Avenue, run down a short hill and ran west on 5th Avenue. This time, we went east on 5th, went up the
short hill and returned on 3rd. The
street with the short hill was 27th Street.
It’s paved with bricks.
As I made the turn onto 27th Street, I saw the 14 mile
sign. In that mile, I slowed to
11:36. Having a slow mile isn’t a bad
thing, but I worried that it could be the start of a trend. I wanted to pick up the pace in the next
mile, but I was starting uphill on bricks.
When I eventually rounded the corner onto 3rd Avenue, I really made an
effort to pick up the pace. When I
eventually got to the 15 mile sign, I saw that I not only got back on pace, but
sped up to 11:07. That was my fastest
mile so far. Oops! I overcompensated.
On the bright side, I was able to pick up the pace. At
the same point in the Mankato Marathon, I was starting to slow down and couldn’t
get back on pace no matter how hard I tried.
By now, it was getting hot.
We sometimes had a headwind, and I found it to be a welcome relief. The sun was out, and the cooling effect of the
wind was the only thing that would keep me from overheating.
I saw my friend Charlotte, who had to stop to fix a problem
with her shoe. Charlotte does every race
in a different costume. For this race,
she was dressed as a Marshall University football player. Instead of a helmet, she had a bison hat that
looked like the team logo.
My next mile was 11:20.
I kept knocking out fast miles, but I felt OK. I was getting to the point in the race where
it’s more psychological than physical.
With each mile I completed, the remaining distance seemed more
manageable. As I continued to walk fast miles without feeling like I would blow
up, my confidence grew. It was the
opposite of Mankato. Instead of
subconsciously giving up, I was digging deeper to find energy reserves I didn’t
know I had.
We were almost to the point where we would turn and head
away from the river. It was only
slightly uphill, but it was also into the wind.
This was the 19th mile. That’s
the same mile where I came unglued in Mankato.
This time, I actually sped up in what could have been a tough mile.
I turned onto Ritter Park Trail again. Now I couldn’t feel any wind, and I was
hot. Overcoming the heat in the last
seven miles was now my biggest obstacle.
I saw the flutist again.
This time, it only took a few seconds to recognize the music. She was playing the theme from “Star Wars.”
On my second trip through the park, I was much more
conscious of the trail surface. There
was some loose grit that made it harder to maintain a fast pace. There were also leaves. I felt like they were slowing me down. In my 21st mile, I slowed to 11:38. I fought hard to pick up the pace in the next
mile, but it was tough.
I eventually reached a place where I had to turn right and
cross a wooden bridge. I didn’t remember
the bridge. We were so spread out that I
couldn’t see any other runners in front of me.
I was reasonably sure this was the right way to go, but there was doubt
in my mind. It would be a shame to have
a potential PR spoiled by a wrong turn.
It was the right way.
On the other side of the park, I saw the horn quarter
again. They were playing the theme from “Rocky.” It’s easy to get sick of that, but this was a
fresh arrangement. It gave me a psychological
lift.
In mile 22, I managed to pick up the pace a little. That was reassuring. Also, I only had 4.2 miles to go now. That sounded much more manageable than 5.2.
I left the park, and headed toward downtown for the last
time. It was a welcome relief to know I
would have solid pavement for the rest of the race. Before turning onto 6th Avenue, I had to go
under a railroad bridge. The ramp going
down was uncomfortable. The ramp coming
up the other side was tiring. Everyone
was walking here.
At each mile marker, I asked myself what pace I needed to
average the rest of the way to break five hours. At 23, I realized a 12:00 pace would be fast
enough. I kept fighting for 11:30s.
Soon, I made the turn onto Virginia Avenue. I was heading east again. For the rest of the race, I would be headed
more or less toward the stadium. Knowing
that somehow made it seem closer.
My 25th mile was 11:49.
That was my slowest mile so far, but with only 1.2 miles to go, I knew I
had it. Earlier, after a slow mile, I
tried to speed up again. Now, I just
wanted to keep from slowing down any more.
We made the same detour through the Marshall University
campus again. This time, it seemed
longer. We were on a sidewalk that had traffic circles where it intersected
with other sidewalks. If I took the
shortest line, I had to walk over bricks, which made my feet hurt. If I took a somewhat wider path around the
circle, I could stay on concrete. I
always took the shortest possible path, in spite of the pain.
The 26 mile sign was just before we entered the
stadium. I was disheartened to see that
that mile was slower than the previous one.
I couldn’t dwell on it. I was
almost done.
I had to go down a steep ramp to get onto the football field. I had to slow down to maintain a walking
gait. It would have been much easier to
run it.
The highlight of the course is the finish. As you get onto the football field, a
volunteer hands you a football. You go
down one sideline, make a U-turn, and then head straight down the middle of the
field, finishing at the goal line. They
used to use regulation footballs, and you had to give them to another volunteer
after you finished. This year, they used
souvenir footballs, which we got to keep.
Race-walking with a football wasn’t nearly as much run as running would
have been, but I was about to set a race-walking PR, and I wasn’t going to mess
it up by running in the last 100 yards.
I finished in 4:58:01.
That’s a new race-walking PR by more than five minutes. The second half was slower than the first
half by a minute and 45 seconds. That
means my pacing wasn’t optimal, but even the second half was faster than a five
hour pace.
The finisher medal design has changed since I first did this
race. The medal used to be a 3D design
of a bison. The new design is two
dimensional, but has more color.
After finishing, I bumped into more friends. Then I headed outside the stadium for
post-race food. They had hamburgers,
potato chips, chocolate milk, bananas, and beer.
My feet are a mess. I
was suppressing a lot of pain from blisters.
I’ll do everyone a favor by not posting any pictures of my feet. It was worth it, though. I broke the five hour barrier!
I’ve walked seven marathons.
I’ve set marathon or half marathon PRs in all of them. That streak is guaranteed to end after this
race. My next race is the Flying Monkey
Marathon. I’m going to walk it, but it
won’t be a PR. You don’t PR at Monkey!
Race Statistics
Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 4:58:01
Average Pace: 11:22
Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:
344
West Virginia Marathons:
3
No comments:
Post a Comment