2023 The Waltons: Racing & Training Thread (Read 301 times)

Yup, I faded in the heat but had a great day.

Great stuff Fred!  Enjoy the glory today.  Really looking forward to hearing your report and thoughts on the course

Fred - well done.  That sounds a tough second half!

Well, here's my report.  It's rather verbose, but the race meant a lot to me.

New York City Marathon, 11/5/23

My plan for the early part of the race was not to go faster than 9:20 (roughly 4:05 time for the race), and then see how I felt after 10 – 13 miles before considering going for a faster time.  Waiting in the runners’ village on Staten Island, the weather was pleasantly cool, with a layer of clouds keeping the sun’s heat at bay.  My RP and I entered our corral shortly after 9:00, started walking towards the start around 9:25 (the corral is a staging area), and started our race at 9:51.

5K 29:24 – The race begins close to sea level and immediately moves into the biggest climb of the day, up the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, which peaks at 258’ (74½m) at roughly mile 1.  I took this mile easy, though there were plenty of people who ran it harder, probably in the excitement of the start.  The second mile, down the bridge, was much quicker and then I managed to ease off as the course flattened out so my first 5k was at an average pace of 9:28

10K 29:05 – Settling in to my pace as we ran through Brooklyn, I was cruising along at a 9:22 average pace and all was well.

15K 28:44 – At the 10k mark, I was still running well with my RP and I mostly side by side, but the clouds were starting to clear and the sun was starting to warm me up, so I switched from running near the middle of the road, which was easier and offered a clearer path, to running closer to the edge, which was in the shade of buildings.  The impact was huge.  I had taken advice I read online and put my name on my bib.  As I ran alongside the crowd, people started calling my name and that was a hug emotional lift.  In fact, as the street narrowed and the crowds were right on top of us, the feeling was almost euphoric and definitely gave me a boost, with my pace averaging 9:15, which was aggressive, but I have to admit I was hardly feeling it, so great was the noise and crowd support.  At one point, I swear my face hurt more from smiling than my legs did from running.

20K 30:10 – The run through the crowds continued and the noise was like nothing I’ve heard in a race before.  I tried to give an acknowledgement every time I heard my name, but sometimes it felt like it was happening every 100m.  Occasionally I’d make eye contact with, and high-5 the person and that just increased the shouting.  In a moment of enthusiasm, I told my RP I was a rock god (though I may have included a profanity in the description).  Due to the narrow streets and the occasional heavy traffic of runners, especially at water stations, my pace slowed a bit to a 9:42 average.

25K 33:06 – This is a particularly difficult stretch of the race.  First, over the Pulaski Bridge into Queens, which is a not inconsequential climb, then the start of the second toughest climb of the race, over the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan.  In between, there was more crowd noise and more name screaming.  Still, the bridges held me back and since I was already feeling the effects of the warming sun.  Though my RP was able to keep running up the bridges, I made the strategic decision to walk for parts of the second climb, so my average pace for this section was 10:39.  In both cases, my RP waited for me to catch back up.

30K 31:52 – Continuing the slow climb up the Queensboro Bridge, I then had the benefit of coming down off the bridge and hearing the slowly increasing crowd noise on 1^st Ave.  I was no longer feeling so fresh after the two bridges and with the big, wide avenue, there was little opportunity to get much shade from the sun.  Though the crowd here may in fact be louder than in Brooklyn (5k- 20k) they’re not right on top of you as they are earlier in the race, which reduces their impact, though I was still getting some boost from the people cheering us on.  I managed a 10:15 average pace, which showed I was starting to struggle more and more.

35K 36:05 – Up 1^st Ave to the Willis Avenue Bridge to the Bronx, which isn’t a long climb, but steep with a dip and then a second climb that’s a bit of an unwelcome surprise.  5 years ago, this is where the wheels came off for me, but this time I managed to hold on and resume running after walking up the steeper part of the bridge, though even my running was a lot slower and my time in the Bronx was tough with an average pace of 11:37.  Once again, my RP waited for me to catch up.

40K 37:53 – Back in Manhattan and really struggling now.  This portion of the race ends with the dreaded hill climb on 5^th Ave.  I have to admit to a mental/emotional breakdown here where I had a moment of utter despair that reduced me to walking for some time.  Fortunately, I knew my wife and son were up ahead (I placed them there for this reason) and seeing & hugging them gave the ability to renew my efforts and keep on.  Still, 12:11 pace showed just how bad it got for me.  My RP and I were both walking some of the hills, so he no longer had to wait for me.  I’d be told that by this time the temp was 64º feeling like 68º (18C / 20C), and many people were feeling it.

To the end (2.16km) 13:39 – Into Central Park and the crowds were loud and right on top of us again.  Once more, people are shouting out my name and giving encouragement (and I’ll note that even when I was walking up the hill on 5^th Ave, people were calling out to give me encouragement).  Though the crowd support wasn’t letting me fly along as I did earlier in the race, it did help me sustain the boost I got from seeing my family.  I saw the sign that said “1 mile to go” and glanced at my watch, seeing 4:20 as my time so far.  I’d decided some days before the race that this would be my last marathon and now I figured that if I didn’t at least try to run a marathon in less than 4½ hours, I’d regret it; but could I run a 10-minute mile when I was already tired and really feeling the heat?  The first part was downhill and my pace steadily increased.  10:30, 10:00, 9:30, 9:05, and briefly 8:50, but then the road exited the park, flattened out and headed back uphill and I was back to a 9:50 pace and 10:05 with 800m to go.  I turned back into the park, and faced the twisting, rolling, net uphill finish.  400m to go and I had 2½ minutes to go.  200m left and I had just over a minute, working harder and harder, but feeling like I was running slower.  The finish line was close and I had 17 seconds left.  I tried and tried and when I crossed my watch said 4:29:58.  Happily, the official time was the same and I got my sub-4:30 by 2 seconds.

Aftermath – I looked around for my RP and then realized I was having trouble catching my breath.  I approached one of the red-shirted medics and raised my hand.  He raised his hand to give me a high-5, so I simply said “help.”  He led me to a wheelchair where I tried to catch my breath while he asked if I was having any chest pain.  I assured him I was not and after about 2 minutes of sitting there I was well enough to get up and start walking.  I met up with my RP, who finished about 3 minutes after me as he opted not to join me for the last mile’s push (perhaps wisely).  We completed the long walk to meet our families and found that for a change of shirt, we’d both packed the exact same race shirt – one we’d earned when running a race together last summer.  How funny is that?

5 years after my previous marathon, also NY, 5 years older, and I was 20 minutes faster today despite warmer temperatures.  I’ll take that!  I hope I’ll always remember the absolute thrill of running through those crowds in Brooklyn.  That alone made the day one to remember despite the slower-than-hoped for time.  If I keep to my decision and make this my last marathon, it will be one I remember quite fondly.

Congratulations Fred, what a great race & achievement. 5 years older, 20 minutes faster. Just another 6 or so years and you will be breaking 4 hours Can you post a picture of the medal? Give it a week or so, to tell us if marathons are truly behind you.

 

You described in such great detail, I definitely have to run it one day (will enter the 2024 lottery as soon as it opens up).

 

My past week, was 4 hours of running - mostly threshold & repeats on the track; 1 hour of tennis, 1 hour of stationary bike. 6 activities all in all. Just trying to prevent gaining weight.

Thanks, Mick.  Here's the image you asked for.

Fred - big congratulations and fantastic that you could hit your goal.  My brother ran also - it was his first marathon - and he said he really struggled with cramp from around the 33-34k mark.  Great race report and it has probably cemented my view that if I ever run another marathon, it would be NYC.  Well done.

Thank you, Mark.  Sorry your brother cramped up.  I saw more than a few people with similar issues along the way.  I forgot to mention - as a little perk, marathon runners got free subway rides afterwards and on the train ride out of the city someone offered me their seat.

Fred - Huge congratulations!  So many highlights in that report, from the smiling so hard it hurt to the last mile, for some reason I thought you'd just missed it so when you said you got it by 2 seconds I was pumping my fist.  So good.  Also really pleased it was nothing serious and you came right after a couple of minutes.

 

Your description of the course makes it sound really tough too.  I still want to do it though.  I feel like the qualifier I got in September may miss the buffer - my understanding is they're going the Boston method next year?  The website really isn't great and doesn't even tell you when to register that I can see although it does mention the drawing.  I was wavering on 2024 because of my marathon debacles and it being during potential exams but I think I'll register and in the miniscule chance I get in, I'll just have to make it work.

Thanks, Steve.  I've had minor asthma issues when running hard in cold weather and this was a lot like that, but much warmer than any attack I've had in the past.  While the course and weather may have kept me from the faster time I'd hoped for in training, I think my ability to grind out that last mile was also a benefit of my training.  My wife said she'd never seen me so tired after a race, and I believe my training got me to the point where I could get that final push, something I didn't have in previous marathons.

I don't know much about their time qualifying because I never had a chance to go that route.  I know at one point NY was harder to get into than Boston based on time, but I don't know if that's still the case.  NY also has a lottery (and the 9+1, though I know that only works for locals like me).  I wish you luck in your efforts to get in.