Carlsbad Marathon!

3:35:07 - 1/17/16

Well didn't go exactly as planned - did not need that last 10k.  Felt good until around 14-15ish.  Held on until 19 and then the wheels came off.  Walked for a minute around 22 and 24 - got some side stitches and some leg cramps and oh yeah I was TIRED AS SHIT.

The first half was a blur - went pretty quickly.  Second half was a blur but in a much more uncomfortable way.

My friend ran with me the second half - feel sorry that I totally fell apart on him but he basically dragged me to the finish line so THANKS MIKE!

I had a gu at 7, 14, and 21.  7 was no caffeine, 14 was 20mg, and 21 was 35mg caffeine.  Have no idea if the caffeine did anything or not.  Never practiced with caffeine gus during training.  Just drank water - had pretty much a swig of water every mile the second half.

My calf was totally twitching the last mile couple miles or so and at 26.1, turning the corner to the finish line, it totally cramped and I hopped through the finish line!  The medical staff were all over me but I was able to walk it off - was afraid to sit down as I would never get back up.

I was (and am still) SO WRECKED and can barely move.  Big Props to my wife for totally dealing with me.  Finally about 2 hours after the race I was able to take a shower - walking very slowly and stiffly.

Funny thing I was -really- happy with my pacing the first half - maybe starting going too fast (mile 2 was 7:40) too quickly but I really thought my pacing was perfect - I just couldn't keep it up the entire race so turns out 7:40 was a little too aggressive :)  Funny because when I ran 19 miles at 8:17 my first thought was 'this is a good marathon pace.

Wonder if I had just keep it at 8:00mm I could have gone 3:30 - next time?

I was never really totally out of breath - although I got close several times - it was my legs that were dead.

All in all am very proud of 3:35 - what would I have done differently?  Lots! (well some):

• More longer runs - ya I know Hansons is all about only going 16 but I died after 18 so maybe I needed more long runs
• Slow runs probably should have been slower - maybe that's why I died at 19?
• Never really figured out a marathon pace during training.  Should have nailed that down at the beginning - even if it was something slower than I would have liked and just nailed that.
• Strength work?  Perhaps having some strength work (vs. none) things would have worked out  better?

Dunno if there will be another marathon in my future - wife certainly doesn't want there to be another one - it took a lot out of both of our lives - all of the training and then dealing with me after the race.

Half marathons are so much more reasonable!