The First of Three Race Reports...
Finally... I have the time to sit down and get out my race for the first of three road race the Athens Ohio Marathon. I will post race reports from Earth Day 5k and Sue and Connie's Four Miler later tonite as soon as I get home from work... but without further ado... the much long awaited race report from the...
Athens Ohio Marathon
April 11, 2010
Athens, Ohio
9am Start Time
My Goal... Ironman Marathon Pace... somewhere around 4:30
My Actual Time... 4:33:53
The Course...
Downhill for the first mile or so from Uptown Athens to the Hocking Valley Bikeway. From Uptown Athens the marathon went North on the Hocking Valley Bikeway to Nelsonville... where we turned around to head back to Athens and Pruitt Feild for a track finish. Except for that first and only downhill... the rest of the course was flat as a pancake. The bikeway was mostly shaded with trees as it went alongside the Hocking River.
The Race Report...
It was nice having a later start... the only bad thing though was it was warm by the end of the race...as mine ended up ending in the early afternoon. The first mile I knew to take very conservatively since it was all downhill. Once onto the trail the shade kicked in and it was a nice run for the next 18 miles. The start to mile 13 (the turnaround) I felt really good and my legs felt fresh and relaxed. But as I hit the turnaround my legs started to feel a little out of whack. The temps were on the rise and when that happens and I'm running... the race turns into trouble. My pace at the halfway point was around a 9 minute mile average... I really couldn't complain. I decided to let the pace slow down for the next two miles and see how I felt. Well two miles passed and my legs weren't feeling any better and started to cramp up. The rest of the race was kinda downhill from there. After not being passed by almost anyone the first half of the race... the second half I was passed like any other. Throughout the second half of the marahton I talked to so many people... something that rarely happened. In the mix of people was a 65 year old veteran marathoner (who ended up beating me by a few minutes)... a young guy my age who had ran two marathons and 50 miler all before running the Athens Ohio Marathon... and a girl my age who was a first timer in the marathon distance. Mile by mile I talked as the miles slowly went by. Soon enough it was about mile 20 where the shade on the bike path came to a screeching halt. The rest of the marathon was in the what turned out to be a very warm sun. By then my pace had slowed to an almost 10 minute mile average pace (CRAP)! I wasn't really happy with it but had to accept it. Though the sun was hot I kept on slugging along trying to just get to the finish line in one piece in about 4 and half hours time. As I approached the track and Pruitt Field my mom was standing right off the trail to tell me Julie (the twinster)... Laura (Julie's college buddy from OU)... and Liz(Julie and Laura's friend who won the Athens Ohio Half Marathon earlier that day) were waiting in the stands for me. The coolest and most fun part of the race as the track finish. One and half times around to the finish line... I could handle that. The last 400 meters of the race was emotional for me... it was a good thing I had my sunglasses on and no one saw me crying into the finish line. As I approached the finish line I heard my name but had no energy left to hold my arms up in the air but had enough energy to do the old fashion fist pump. It was good to be done.
Overall In the End...
Pleased with the race and a good tuneup marathon for Ironman Lake Placid. Will definitely have to participate in this race again and highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a fun small marathon!
More to come...
Athens Ohio Marathon
April 11, 2010
Athens, Ohio
9am Start Time
My Goal... Ironman Marathon Pace... somewhere around 4:30
My Actual Time... 4:33:53
The Course...
Downhill for the first mile or so from Uptown Athens to the Hocking Valley Bikeway. From Uptown Athens the marathon went North on the Hocking Valley Bikeway to Nelsonville... where we turned around to head back to Athens and Pruitt Feild for a track finish. Except for that first and only downhill... the rest of the course was flat as a pancake. The bikeway was mostly shaded with trees as it went alongside the Hocking River.
The Race Report...
It was nice having a later start... the only bad thing though was it was warm by the end of the race...as mine ended up ending in the early afternoon. The first mile I knew to take very conservatively since it was all downhill. Once onto the trail the shade kicked in and it was a nice run for the next 18 miles. The start to mile 13 (the turnaround) I felt really good and my legs felt fresh and relaxed. But as I hit the turnaround my legs started to feel a little out of whack. The temps were on the rise and when that happens and I'm running... the race turns into trouble. My pace at the halfway point was around a 9 minute mile average... I really couldn't complain. I decided to let the pace slow down for the next two miles and see how I felt. Well two miles passed and my legs weren't feeling any better and started to cramp up. The rest of the race was kinda downhill from there. After not being passed by almost anyone the first half of the race... the second half I was passed like any other. Throughout the second half of the marahton I talked to so many people... something that rarely happened. In the mix of people was a 65 year old veteran marathoner (who ended up beating me by a few minutes)... a young guy my age who had ran two marathons and 50 miler all before running the Athens Ohio Marathon... and a girl my age who was a first timer in the marathon distance. Mile by mile I talked as the miles slowly went by. Soon enough it was about mile 20 where the shade on the bike path came to a screeching halt. The rest of the marathon was in the what turned out to be a very warm sun. By then my pace had slowed to an almost 10 minute mile average pace (CRAP)! I wasn't really happy with it but had to accept it. Though the sun was hot I kept on slugging along trying to just get to the finish line in one piece in about 4 and half hours time. As I approached the track and Pruitt Field my mom was standing right off the trail to tell me Julie (the twinster)... Laura (Julie's college buddy from OU)... and Liz(Julie and Laura's friend who won the Athens Ohio Half Marathon earlier that day) were waiting in the stands for me. The coolest and most fun part of the race as the track finish. One and half times around to the finish line... I could handle that. The last 400 meters of the race was emotional for me... it was a good thing I had my sunglasses on and no one saw me crying into the finish line. As I approached the finish line I heard my name but had no energy left to hold my arms up in the air but had enough energy to do the old fashion fist pump. It was good to be done.
Overall In the End...
Pleased with the race and a good tuneup marathon for Ironman Lake Placid. Will definitely have to participate in this race again and highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a fun small marathon!
More to come...
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