On November 5, I ran the Marshall University Marathon in Huntington, WV. This is the third time I’ve done this race. I ran it in 2007, and I race-walked it in 2017.
All races in West
Virginia have one thing in common. It’s
tough to get to them. There isn’t a marathon
in Charleston, and that’s the only city with a major airport. To get to any of the races in West Virginia,
I have to fly to a city with an airport and then drive the rest of the way.
The closest airport is in
Charleston, but there aren’t any direct flights from Minneapolis to
Charleston. Two flights plus a long
drive makes for a long travel day. I
could get a direct flight to either Columbus or Cincinnati, but then it’s a
longer drive.
After considering flight
times and the length of the drive, I chose to fly to Columbus. That’s the same thing I did the other two
times I traveled to Huntington for this race.
I took the earliest
flight of the day, and I arrived in Columbus around 10:30 AM. It was too early for lunch, so I started driving
to Huntington. The drive took two and a
half hours. I considered stopping for
lunch somewhere along the way, but I decided to get to Huntington as quickly as
I could.
I stayed at the Doubletree
in downtown Huntington. By the time I
got there, I was getting hungry, but it was kind of late to be eating lunch. I was planning on an early dinner, so I didn’t
want to have a late lunch. At
Doubletree, they always give you a cookie when you check in. I decided that was enough to tide me over
until dinner.
After checking in, I went
to New Baptist Church to pick up my race packet. The race shirt was a hooded long-sleeve shirt.
After packet pickup, I organized
my clothes for the race, and then I relaxed at the hotel long enough to charge
my phone. Then I explored the downtown
area on foot.
For dinner, I went to
Backyard Pizza & Raw Bar, which serves seafood and brick oven pizza. I couldn’t resist combining the two by having
a pizza with scallops and bacon.
The night before the race
was also the night we sets the clocks back.
In theory, that should’ve given me a chance to get an extra hour of
sleep. In practice, it never works out
that way. When I’m staying in a hotel, I
usually use the alarm clock in my room. I
didn’t know if the clock would automatically adjust for the time change or if I
would need to change it manually.
Without knowing, I couldn’t trust it to wake me up at the correct
time. Instead, I had to use the alarm on
my phone.
My phone’s alarm will
only stay on for a limited time. I’ve
learned the hard way that if I happen to be sleeping deeply when the alarm goes
off, I can sleep through it. Without
being able to trust either alarm, I found myself looking at the clock during
the night (and not knowing if it was off by an hour). If I took the extra few seconds to wake up my
phone and look at its time display, I would know what time it is, but then I
couldn’t get back to sleep.
I got to bed early and
slept for about half the night. After
that, I couldn’t get back to sleep. When
it was time to get up, I started getting ready just like I would for any other
race. I was tired, but I knew from
experience that it’s possible to have a good race after not sleeping well.
On race morning, the
temperature was in the upper 40s. I
expected it to warm into the upper 50s by the time I finished. That’s much more comfortable than the cold weather
I had for my last race.
I was originally planning
to drive to the start, but I would’ve needed to get there before they started
blocking off the streets. The start was
only about a mile from my hotel, so I decided to walk instead. I didn’t need to leave as early, so I could
use the bathroom in my room rather than waiting in long lines in the start
area.
This race has a fairly
flat course, and I’ve always had good times here. When I ran it in 2007, I finished in
3:07:59. That still ranks as my 8th
fastest marathon. When I race-walked it
in 2017, it was the first time I broke five hours walking.
My goal this year wasn’t
that ambitious. I just wanted to get
another Boston qualifier. A year ago, I
wasn’t in good enough shape to break four hours, much less 3:50. My goal then was incremental
improvement. I worked on getting a
minute or two faster in each race until I was fast enough to qualify for
Boston.
I qualified a few times
on downhill courses last summer, but it wasn’t until October that I finally did
it on a flat course. Now my goal is to be
consistent. I’d like to run qualifying
times more often than not.
This was my fifth
consecutive weekend with a marathon. In
the first three, I ran times in the 3:40s.
Last weekend, I held back a little to make sure I would have enough gas
in the tank for an all-out effort this weekend.
The course is a double
loop. We started in front of Joan C.
Edwards Stadium. That’s where the Marshall
University football team plays its home games.
I knew they had pace
groups, so I was hoping started running with the 3:50 group. I like starting races with pace groups,
because it takes the guesswork out of how fast to start. I trust the pace leaders to set the right
pace, and I’m now confident I can sustain that pace, even if it feels like it’s
a little tiring.
When I lined up for the
race, I saw a 3:30 group and a 4:00 group, but nothing in between. They didn’t have a 3:50 group, so I was on my
own to set the right pace in the early miles.
That shook my confidence more than the lack of sleep did.
In the first mile, I tried
to remember how I felt in the first mile of some of my other recent races,
where I was starting with a pace group.
I did my best to run at a pace that felt the same way.
Ahead of me, I could see
two runners who were wearing 50sub4 shirts.
I wanted to catch up to them to say hello, but I already felt like I
might be starting too fast. After half a
mile, I decided to ease up a little and drift back in comparison with the
runners around me.
The first mile or two took
us around a neighborhood east of the university. After running east for several blocks, we
turned and ran for four short blocks on a street paved with bricks. The bricks were weathered, so they seemed
more like cobblestones. That was a
little uncomfortable, but this section was slightly downhill, which made it
easy to keep up my pace. I just had to
watch my footing.
I ran my first mile in
8:28. My target pace was 8:45, so I
started too fast. As I began the second
mile, I eased up again and let more runners go by me. That lasted for a minute or two, but then I once
again found myself running at the pace of the people around me. I guess that’s appropriate, since “running
with the herd” is a theme of this race.
My second mile was
8:34. That wasn’t as fast as my first
mile, but it was still too fast. I
repeated the process of easing up and letting some runners go by. The next mile was 8:37. It would take a few more miles for me to
reach my target pace.
After running around the
university, we ran through the downtown area.
Then, in the fourth mile, we briefly ran alongside the Ohio River before
leaving the river to run through the west side of town.
In mile four, I slowed to
8:40. I was getting closer to my target
pace, and in the next mile I didn’t worry as much about drifting back through
the pack. I continued to run with the
herd, with the result that I sped up a little in that mile.
Most of this course is flat. The miles that were parallel to the river
were especially flat. Occasionally, we
ran perpendicular to the river. Those
sections were mostly flat, but sometimes there would be a noticeable slope for
about a block.
Mile six had two sections
like that. As I turned a corner and saw
the first small hill of the race, I made a point of conserving energy and
letting other runners go by. I did the
same thing on another small hill near the end of that mile. My lack of effort paid off. For the first time, I was within a second of
my target pace.
As I finished that mile,
I saw a large hill ahead of me. If I
wasn’t already familiar with this course, I would’ve thought we were about to
run up into the hills. Instead, we
turned to run along the north edge of Kiwanis Park. On my right, inside the park, there was a
tall ridge. The road we were on,
however, was flat as we ran parallel to the ridge.
Along this road, I went
back to running with the herd. I sped up
slightly, to 8:39 in each of the next two miles.
Just past the seven mile mark,
we ran past the Memorial Arch. There’s a
flag hanging within the arch, and it was bathed in the warm glow of the morning
sun shining over the ridge. I was
tempted to take a picture, but I had established a good rhythm, and I didn’t
want to stop.
Just before eight miles,
we left the road and started running along a walkway that was firmly packed
dirt. We went under a bridge and ran
alongside Fourpole Creek. Eventually, we
crossed a small bridge. The walkway on
the other side of the creek was concrete.
I know some people hate concrete, but I found it to be a faster surface
than the dirt walkway.
When I finished mile
nine, I saw that I slowed to 9:00. That
was by far my slowest mile of the race.
It was 21 seconds slower than my previous two miles. I was surprised, because I didn’t feel like I
slowed down in that mile. Maybe the dirt
slowed me down. Maybe I got a little too
relaxed in that mile. I didn’t know why
I slowed down, but I made a concerted effort to pick up my pace in the next
mile. There was a guy in a yellow
sweatshirt that had consistently been right in front of me. Now he was half a block ahead of me. I made a point of catching up.
In the next mile, we started
making our way back toward the downtown area.
Near the end of that mile, I saw a railroad bridge. We went down a ramp to go under the bridge,
and then we had to go up a ramp on the other side. I remembered these ramps from the last time I
did this race. It wasn’t a big deal now,
but we would do this again later in the race.
In mile 10, I got my pace
back to where it was before, but I had to work hard to do it. In mile 11, I thought I was running with the
same effort, but I inadvertently sped up to 8:28. That’s as fast as I started the race.
The next part of the loop
was retracing our route back to the university.
On the other side of the street, I saw the lead runner going out on his
second lap. The next runner was nowhere
in sight. I saw him eventually, but he
must have been trailing by a mile already.
As we came back on the
section by the river, I saw the third place runner. As I was finishing that section, I saw a
group of 8-10 runners who were together.
It was the 3:00 pace group. There
were only a few other runners ahead of them.
Mile 12 wasn’t as fast as
mile 11, but it was still faster than most of my earlier miles. I kicked it into a high gear starting with
mile 10, and I wasn’t backing off yet.
In the last mile of the
first half, the marathon and half marathon routes diverged. Runners doing the half marathon went straight
down 3rd Avenue toward the stadium, where they would finish. Those of us doing the marathon turned right,
ran about half a block, and then turned left onto a sidewalk that took us straight
through the Marshall University campus.
We eventually emerged on
5th Street, which took us behind the stadium.
Mile 13 was 8:24, which was my fastest so far.
At the halfway point, I
was easily on pace to break 3:50, and I was almost on pace for 3:46. I could afford to slow down in the second
half, but I didn’t want to do that. I
often have a secondary goal of running negative splits. I was pushing harder in miles 10-13, and I didn’t
think I could sustain that effort for 13 more miles. Still, I had to try. I wasn’t just going to “phone it in” in the
second half of the race.
With the half marathon
runners gone, there weren’t as many runners around me. I could no longer run with the herd. There was only one runner right in front of
me. The other runners I could see were
at least a block away. I chose to follow
this runner. As it turns out, she was
running much stronger than anyone else around.
It took an effort to keep up with her.
We were running around
the neighborhood east of the university, but this time we were running it in
the opposite direction. When we turned
onto the street paved with bricks, we were running it in the uphill
direction. I struggled to maintain my
pace here, and another runner passed me.
It was the first time I had noticed someone passing me since the end of
the ninth mile.
After turning onto 3rd Street,
we had smooth pavement, and I was able to pick up my pace again. I passed the guy who had recently passed
me. Then I caught up to the woman who
was setting a fast pace. I ran mile 14
in 8:26. I had just run my two fastest
miles of the race, and I wasn’t slowing down.
Most of the runners ahead
of us were starting to slow down. The
woman I was following kept passing all the other runners. I kept pace with her, so I was passing them
too.
I kept pace with her for
two more miles. I ran those miles in
8:28 and 8:26. With 10 miles to go,
running negative splits was sounding much more likely.
As we left the section by
the river, I reached a narrow section of the sidewalk. There was two-way traffic on this section, so
I made a concerted effort to get around a slower runner, to avoid getting boxed
in. That’s when I inadvertently got
ahead of the woman I had been following.
In the next mile, I sped away from her.
Now I had to set the pace
on my own. I couldn’t follow any of the
runners ahead of me. They all seemed to
be slowing down. I didn’t trust any of
them to hold a consistent pace. I had to
keep putting in the same effort on my own.
I slowed down in that mile, but only by a few seconds. It was still faster than 8:30.
In the next mile, I
picked up my pace again. Then I reached mile
19, which was essentially a repeat of mile 6.
This mile had two brief uphill sections.
The first time I ran them, I made a point of conserving energy. This time, I didn’t. I ran 20 seconds faster.
With 7.2 miles to go, the
remaining distance seemed manageable. I had
been pushing hard for 10 miles now, but it seemed plausible that I could keep
it up. What I really needed was someone
to set the pace for me.
As I turned to start
running past Kiwanis Park again, I saw what looked like a pace group way off in
the distance. There were at least three
runners together. Two of them had green
shirts that looked like the shirts pace leaders wore. Another was wearing a black shirt, but was
carrying a sign. I was too far away to
read it.
If it was a pace group,
it must be a 3:45 group. I never saw a
3:45 group before the race, but the start area was crowded. My own pace had to be pretty close to
that. Regardless of their target pace,
they were the first runners I had seen in a few miles who weren’t slowing down.
I worked even harder
now. Just keeping up with these runners
would’ve taken effort, but I was trying to close a large gap. They were about a quarter mile ahead of me. Even with my best effort, it would take time
to catch them.
In mile 20, I sped up to
8:16. I could tell I was gaining ground
on the group I was chasing, but they were still pretty far ahead of me. I still couldn’t read the sign or the writing
on the T-shirts.
In mile 21, I went even
faster. I ran that one in 8:14, but I
couldn’t tell if I was any closer to the group.
I still didn’t know for sure that they were a pace group. I kept chasing and hoped that I could keep up
this effort for five more miles.
As I started mile 22, I
realized it was essentially the same as mile nine. That was the mile where I slowed down
before. I still didn’t know if that mile
was tougher than the others or if I just had a lapse in concentration.
As I started that mile, I
had just moved onto the dirt path. This
mile had some turns and some undulations.
It was easy to believe that this mile just wasn’t as easy as all the
others. This time there wouldn’t be any lapses
in concentration. I was focused on
catching the three runners I was chasing.
I was finally close
enough to read the writing on the back of the green T-shirts: “MUM Pace Team.” I still wasn’t close enough to read the sign.
By the end of that mile,
I finally made out what the sign said.
It was 3:45.
I ran mile 22 in 8:27. That wasn’t as fast as the previous few
miles, but it wasn’t as slow as I ran the same mile the first time around.
In the next mile, I
caught up to the pace group, and I started talking to them. One of them asked me if this was my first
marathon. I said I’ve run “several.” Then I told them exactly how many.
We ran together for a
while, but then they noticed that they were getting ahead of schedule. One of them told me to go ahead. I was reluctant at first. I had finally found someone to run with. Then it occurred to me that their target pace
was 8:33, and my last 10 miles had all been faster than that. I would have to slow down to stay with them.
I was coming to the
railroad bridge. Just ahead of me, I saw
one of the 50sub4 runners I had seen in the first mile. After running down the ramp on one side, I
focused on catching up to her coming up the ramp on the other side.
As we started talking, I
learned that her goal was 3:55. We were
ahead of the 3:45 group, so she was obviously crushing that goal. I also learned that she’s working on BQs in
all 50 states. We ran together as far as
the next aid station. Then she needed to
take a walking break, so I went ahead on my own.
In that mile, I sped up
to 8:15. I had just over three miles to
go. After two more turns, I would be
back on 3rd Avenue, heading into downtown.
After turning onto 3rd
Avenue, I saw a runner still going out on her second lap. I was almost to 24, so she had roughly 11
miles to go. I wondered if she was on
pace to beat the time limit. Then I saw
another runner behind her … and another … and another. There were actually several more.
I kept pressing hard. In mile 24, I sped up to 8:12. That was my fastest mile so far. Mile 25 was more difficult. There were several turns, and an uphill
section that I didn’t notice the first time.
I tried to take it fast, but I slowed to 8:23 in that mile.
I was expecting the last
mile to be the same as the last mile of the half marathon course, but it wasn’t. Where the half marathon goes straight down 3rd
Avenue, the marathon route turns to go through the university again. As I turned onto the sidewalk that takes us
through the heart of campus, a volunteer offered to hand me something. I initially thought she was offering me
water, and I didn’t want to stop for any.
It was only as I was running by that I realized she was holding a flower.
There’s a fountain that’s
a memorial to the 37 players and coaches who died in a plane crash 53 years
ago. I think she was offering me a
flower to leave at the fountain as I ran by.
I was pouring it on at
this point. Our route through the
university took us past several small flower gardens. Going around each one was like a small
roundabout. After the last one, I could
hear the finish line announcer inside the stadium.
I came out to the street that’s
right next to the parking lot for the stadium.
After turning left on that street and running for about half a block, I
turned right onto 3rd Avenue. Then I ran
past the front of the stadium to enter at the northeast corner.
When I finished mile 26,
I saw that I ran that mile in 8:00. It’s
been a long time since I’ve run a mile that fast that wasn’t either downhill or
part of a 5K race.
All through that mile, I
wondered if I was going to have anything left for the finish inside the
stadium. I wanted to finish strong,
because it’s a dramatic finish.
I ran down a short ramp
to reach the corner of the football field, where a volunteer handed me a
football. Running with a football is
optional. The first time I ran this
race, I skipped that part, but this year I wanted the full experience.
I ran down the sideline
carrying the football for about 80 yards.
Then I turned to run to the middle of the field before turning again. The last 80 yards is running to the goal
line, which is also the finish line.
Here’s a view looking back from the end zone.
I finished in
3:42:11. That’s my fastest marathon this
year. It was even faster than the Mt.
Nebo Marathon, which was mostly downhill.
I ran negative splits by more than four minutes. If you told me at the halfway mark that I was
going to run the second half four minutes faster, I never would’ve believed it.
The finisher medal has
designs on both sides. The front depicts
the head of a buffalo, which is the Marshall University mascot. The back talks about the Memorial Fountain.
Just outside the stadium,
they had post-race food, which included hamburgers, hot dogs, chili, chips, and
a few other things. I had a chili dog
and then started walking back to the hotel.
After washing up and
changing into dry clothes, I went back to Backyard Pizza & Raw Bar. On Sundays, they’re only open for brunch, and
their brunch menu includes a pizza I with bacon, scrambled eggs, cheese, and a
crust drizzled with maple syrup.
I have another tradition
besides post-race pizza. When I get a
BQ, I celebrate with BQ. I already had
pizza for lunch, so for dinner, I went to the Marshall Hall of Fame Café, and I
had a BBQ ribs & salmon combo.
My goal before this race
was simply getting another BQ. Instead,
I did that incremental improvement thing.
Next week, I’m finally resting. In
my next two races, I’ll be taking it easy.
My last race of the year is on a downhill course. That will be my next all-out effort.
The race is over, but I
still have to travel home. Tomorrow, I’ll
be getting up early for the drive back to Columbus. I need to return my rental car by 10:30 AM,
and it’s a long drive.
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