Hello all
Yesterday was my marathon — so what happened?
First the good news: I won 2nd place in my age group (60 - 69) out of 10 finishers in that group, and being 69, I was the oldest. The winner was over an hour faster then me, so he's just plain fast. I won a delightful little half pint container of 100% pure Vermont Maple Syrup.
Now the bad news: It was by far the slowest marathon I had ever run (that's called a personal worst), just under 5 hours. I, like almost everyone there, was defeated by the heat. It was unremitting direct sunlight (probably only about 1/3 of the route was shaded) and the temperatures rose to the mid 80s. To put it in perspective, I was a little slower than the median finisher, which means almost half the crowd finished in over 5 hours. And I also heard nearly 100 runners had not picked up their numbers. I assumed they cancelled when they saw the weather forecast and opted to find another race in the near future (another Vermont marathon is just one week later).
The course had some hilly terrain in the first half but was relatively flat, if not down hill, in the second half. Normally these hills would not have been too bad and that sort of elevation profile should be a positive factor. But in the shadeless heat, the modest hills became killer hills and the second half became a death march. Starting around mile 18, I started walking part of every mile and by the end I was doing a lot of walking. In my last mile I thought "how far can I run without stopping". I figured I could by make the last 2 tenths of a mile from mile 26 to the end so I did.
Ironically, the 3rd man in my age group was right behind me, but neither of us knew (or cared) at that point. He finished 11 seconds after me. And it's possible that he went home without his maple syrup since I only casually asked the announcer when the awards were going be announced. The guy said they already had been announced, but he would look me up to see how I had done. Upon finding I was 2nd, he went and got my maple syrup and congratulated me.
Am I bummed out? No, not really. I knew I could well crash and burn, but I never thought I would actually burn (as in sun burn) and crash (due to heat) rather than due to a risky strategy. And I think even a bad race can be good for you. Lessons learned: 1) don't stop near the end, the guy behind you might take your award. 2) make sure to tell the race director to order cool weather.
Now I need to have an off season and I'll take the mantra "Summer Time, and the Runnin' is Easy". I will not EVEN THINK of marathon training till after Thanksgiving. Then I will focus on the 2013 Boston Marathon.
I'll stick a report on my web site bye and bye.
Regards to all,
Richard aka Papa Bear
Race results:
Shires of Vermont results
hikerbrian How'd your wife do? I Hope the heat was not too tough on her.
