On March 26, I ran the Savin Rock Marathon in West Haven, CT. This was my first marathon in seven weeks. I was signed up for races on February 20 and March 7, but both of those races were cancelled.
Ordinarily, I would’ve found
other races to run, but I’ve been recovering from a lower back injury, and I
felt I needed more time to recover before racing again. The good news is my back has been gradually
improving. The bad news is that I’ve
lost a lot of fitness. Since late
November, my training has been sporadic.
At first, I was still running marathons every two to four weeks. Lately, I haven’t run anything longer than
11.25 miles. That’s too long to go
without a long run, especially when you don’t have much of a training base. I signed up for this race, knowing I wasn’t
in shape for it, but also knowing I needed to get a marathon under my belt
before next month’s Boston Marathon.
The closest major airport
to West Haven is Bradley International Airport in Hartford. I flew to Hartford Friday afternoon and drove
from there. My flight was delayed by more
than two hours because of a mechanical issue.
At first, they thought they could fix it, but they had to get a new plane
from the hangar. Fortunately, I was
flying out of a Delta hub, where getting a new plane was an option.
The drive time from
Hartford to West Haven was about an hour.
By the time I got there, it was almost 6:30. Packet pickup wasn’t until Saturday morning,
so I didn’t have to worry about getting there on time. Otherwise, I would’ve been freaking out.
While I was in line to
check into my hotel, I bumped into my friend Michelle. Michelle was traveling from another city, but
she also experienced flight delays. By
chance, we were staying at the same hotel and got there at the same time.
After checking in, Michelle
and I went to Savin Rock Park to see where the race started. Then we went to a pizzeria that was a few
blocks away. When we got there, we
discovered their pizza oven wasn’t working.
One of the employees recommended another pizzeria that was about a mile
away, so we went there for dinner.
Michelle and I talked for
a long time, so we didn’t get back to the hotel until almost 9:00. Then I started to organize my clothes for the
race.
Sleeping is always hit or
miss when I’m traveling. This was a
miss. It took me half the night to get
to sleep. Then I woke up and couldn’t
get back to sleep. The hotel was right
next to a highway, and I could hear every truck that went by.
My alarm was set for
6:15, but I was already awake, so I got up at 6:00 and started getting
ready. Although I slept for less than
three hours, I felt OK. I can often
shake off one bad night, as long as I slept well the previous night. The hotel’s breakfast service started at
6:00, so I was able to grab a light breakfast before leaving.
Packet pickup was outside
the Savin Rock Park Conference Center.
The race didn’t start until 9:00, but packet pickup started at
7:00. I decided to get there on the
early side, so I could get a parking space before the lot filled up.
Savin Rock Park is named
after Savin Rock, which is the name given to this small rock formation. It stands out, because the rest of the
terrain is flat. The Rock is surrounded
by sandy beaches.
The temperature was in
the mid-40s. After picking up my race
packet, I waited in my car to stay warm.
Every so often, I got out of the car to use one of the port-o-potties. Whenever I did, I bumped into one or two
friends who were also doing this race.
I expected the
temperature to climb as high as 50 degrees, but no higher. I wore a short sleeved short and tights. I also added gloves, which I could take off
as soon as I was warm enough. While I
was waiting in the car, I noticed about a dozen small drops on my
windshield. I wasn’t expecting rain, but
I made a last-minute decision to start the race with a light jacket, just in
case.
Michelle and I are both
members of a running club called 50sub4.
We bumped into three other 50sub4 members and took a group photo before
the race.
I lined up farther back
than I usually do. My goal for this race
was to run the whole way. That’s
it. I knew I would struggle in the late
miles if I started too fast. If you
asked me to predict my time, I would’ve guessed 4:30. That wasn’t a goal; it was just a prediction.
The course was a 13.1 mile
loop. Those of us doing the marathon
needed to run it twice. About a third of
the course was along the coast. The rest
traversed through the city. The loop was
described as four flat miles, followed by five hills in the next five miles,
and then four miles that were downhill to flat.
For the first mile of the
race, I was running with my friend, Karen.
The pace felt nice and relaxed.
When I noticed the one mile sign, I glanced at my watch. That mile took 9:49. I was surprised it was that fast. It felt like it was slower than 10
minutes. After that, I stopped looking
at my watch. I wanted to focus on how I
felt, without being too focused on my pace.
Karen stopped to take a
picture, and was planning to take a walking break, so I continued on my
own. For the next few miles, I ran by
myself, but I continued to run at a pace that felt fairly relaxed.
There were aid stations
every two miles or so. Each aid station
had water, Gatorade, and Gu. Each time I
drank, I slowed to a walk until I finished drinking. That way, I was less likely to splash any
Gatorade on my arm or shirt. I wasn’t
worried about losing five seconds at each aid station.
Somewhere around four
miles, I turned a corner and saw a small hill in front of me. Evidently, I was done with the initial flat
section, and I was beginning the hilly section.
In general, I found each hill to be tiring, but I was never tempted to
take a walking break.
As I started up the first
hill, I started to feel hot. Until then,
I had been comfortable wearing my jacket.
There was a cool breeze off the coast.
Now that I was working up a sweat, it was time to take off my jacket and
tie it around my waist.
Somewhere in the middle of
the hilly section, I started talking to a runner from Nebraska named
Steve. We ran together and talked for
about half of the race. On one of the
hills, Steve needed to slow down and told me to go ahead. I was enjoying the conversation, so I slowed
down briefly to stay with him. Before
too long, we were back to running the same pace as before. For the rest of that loop, I found Steve’s
pace to be about right for me.
Late in our first loop, I
noticed we were alongside a beach. I
commented to Steve that we much be done with the hilly section of the
loop. In fact, we had finished it a few
miles earlier, but I didn’t notice. By
now, we just had one more mile to get back to Savin Rock.
I was expected cloudy
skies, but the sun was out now. Steve
and I were both feeling hot. I finally took
off my gloves and put them in my fanny pack.
Near the end of the loop, we briefly turned right into the wind. That felt really good.
I forgot to check my time
at the end of the first loop. Steve said
it was about 2:05. That put me on pace
to finish in 4:10. That’s much faster
than I was expecting.
Steve asked me my goal,
and I told him I just wanted to run the whole way. Steve was hoping to run negative splits, but didn’t
know how he would feel the next time we reached the hilly section. Now that the sun was out, getting hot was
also a concern.
As we began the second
loop, I didn’t find the pace to be as easy as before. I continued to run with Steve, but it took
some effort to keep up with him. I knew
I could keep up this effort in the flat miles, but I didn’t know what would
happen when we reached the hills again. If
Steve didn’t slow down on the hills, I would have to drop back and finish at my
own pace.
During the second loop, I
noticed more traffic. There were police
stopping traffic at most of the intersections, but not all of them. We had to be conscious of cars where we
needed to cross streets.
I recognized the corner just
before the first hill. After making the
turn, I started up the hill. I slowed down,
but I kept running. Steve dropped
back. When he yelled, “you go ahead,” I
realized he was taking a walking break.
I continued running, but I yelled, “you’ll catch up to me later.” At the time, I really believed that. Now that I was no longer working to keep up
with Steve, I expected to slow down.
Just after the first
hill, there’s a short out-and-back section.
After the turnaround, I saw that Steve was about half a block behind
me. I still thought me might catch up to
me later in the race, but I realized it might take a while.
Some of the hills seemed
longer and more tiring in this loop. I
saw other runners walking on the hills, but I kept running. I passed a few runners on each hill.\
The first time through
this section I was talked to Steve, and our conversation distracted me enough
that I didn’t remember where each hill was.
I reached a steep downhill section and wondered if I was done with the
hills. Then I remembered looking at the
elevation profile before the race. Most
of the hilly section has an uphill trend, but it finished with a steep
downhill, a long uphill, and one more long downhill. I still had five miles to go, so I concluded this
was the second-to-last downhill section.
I still had to climb one more hill.
I found this steep
downhill section to be uncomfortable. My
running form was awkward. It felt like I
was leaning backward. I knew, if anything,
I should be leaning forward, but then I would go faster. I couldn’t force myself to do that. My legs were already too sore.
I started to notice some rather
significant discomfort in my right knee.
This is the same knee that bothered me for more than a year. I thought it was fully healed, but this is
probably the first time I’ve run down a hill that wasn’t a gentle grade.
The last climb was steep
enough that I questioned why I was expending so much energy. It didn’t seem like my running pace was that
much fast than walking. I got almost
halfway up the hill and then took a brief walking break. After walking for about a minute, I ran the
rest of the hill.
The last downhill section
wasn’t as steep as the previous one.
Instead, it was longer. Even
though it wasn’t steep, I noticed the discomfort in my knee again. I looked forward to the last few miles, which
would be flat.
With about two and a half
miles to go, I came within sight of the coast.
I knew our route would follow the coast the rest of the way. From here on, it would be fairly flat.
There was a woman a short
distance ahead of me who was walking. I
knew we were done with the hills, so I planned to tell her that to encourage
her to run the rest of the way. She didn’t
need any encouragement. She started
running just before I caught up to her.
She ran the rest of the way.
With less than two miles
to go, we came alongside the South Street Beach. We would have the beach on our right all the
way to Savin Rock Park.
I had planned to keep a
relaxed pace when I got done with the hills, but now I wanted to pick up my
effort. I wasn’t concerned with running
a faster time. I just wanted to get done
sooner. The last two miles seemed to
take forever, but I was hanging in there.
Now my knee was bothering
me even running on level ground. It wasn’t
as uncomfortable now as it was running downhill, but I had to endure that for
the rest of the race. It was disconcerting,
but what really matters is how it feels in a day or two. If I feel fine on Monday, I won’t worry about
it too much.
It started getting cloudy
again, and the breeze got stronger.
Earlier, the breeze helped keep me from overheating. Now, my hands were getting cold.
My hands may have been
cold, but the rest of me was hot. With a
mile to go, I was really thirsty, but I wouldn’t get another chance to drink
until I finished.
As I was making the final
two turns, another runner passed me like I was standing still. He was making a strong charge to the finish. I couldn’t do that. All I could do was maintain my effort.
After I finished, I heard
the announcer say, “You won your age group.
Come over and get your award.” At
first, I thought he was talking to me.
He was actually talking to the woman who finished right in front of
me. This was the same woman who resumed running
with just over two miles to go.
The next runner to finish
was a younger woman. She also won her
age group. Then another woman finished,
and she also won her age group. How did
I do? I finished in 4:13:11. That was only good for 4th place in the “old
man” division.
I ran positive splits, but
only by three minutes. I think all three
of those minutes came on the hilly part of the loop. The hills slowed me down much more the second
time.
We had our choice of red
or black ribbons for the finisher medal.
I chose the red ribbon. The shark
is the logo of the Shoreline Sharks, who sponsor this race.
I made my way over to the
food table to have a glass of Gatorade.
I also had part of a bagel. Then
I went back to the finish line to watch for Steve. I waited for about 10 minutes, but he wasn’t
anywhere in sight. I wanted to wait for
him, but I was getting too cold. The
wind was getting stronger, and I couldn’t spend any more time standing around wearing
damp clothes. Reluctantly, I walked back
to the car and drove back to the hotel.
When I got there, I made myself a hot cocoa. Then I took a long hot shower.
By the time I was ready
to go out again, it was after 3:00. It
was getting awfully late for lunch, but it was still early for dinner. I had enough other things to do to keep me
busy until 4:30. Then I had an early dinner.
My post-race meal of
choice is usually pizza, but there was a steakhouse right next to my hotel. All I had to do was walk across the parking
lot. By now, the lack of sleep was
suddenly catching up to me, so I liked the idea of not needing to drive
anywhere.
Saturday night, I slept
much better. That’s how it usually
works. When I got up, I didn’t have any
discomfort in my knee. Thinking back, I
don’t think it bothered me at all Saturday afternoon or evening. It only bothered me during the race.
Another concern is how running
this race affected my lower back. So
far, I haven’t noticed any increase in the discomfort from my sciatic nerve. We’ll see how I feel after flying home.
Overall, I’m pleasantly
surprised with how I did in this race. I
think this will help prepare me for the Boston Marathon, which is in three
weeks. I might not be fast, but I
probably won’t struggle just to finish.
