I just felt like running

Rocket City Marathon - Huntsville,AL

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Location:

Decatur,AL,

Member Since:

Jan 27, 2007

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Boston Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

New blog at http://runkeeper.com/user/schotz/

Short-Term Running Goals:

2010 Race Schedule:

6/5: Eurocross 5K/8K

7/17: HTC Twilight Run 5K 

8/7: Hot to Trot 8 Hour (Atlanta)

9/18: Hartselle Depot Days 5K

9/25:  Elkmont Rails to Trails 10K 

10/16 Liz Hurley 5K 

10/24: Stone Steps 50K  (Cincinnati,OH) 

11/13: Chickamauga Battle Field Marathon (TN)

12/4: Frosty Freeze 5K (Decatur) 

12/31: Recover 50K (Huntsville) 

Long-Term Running Goals:

http://runkeeper.com/user/schotz/

Personal:

Born 1972 in north central Wisconsin

Married for 11 yrs to very supportive non-running wife. Two children : Fiona, 6 (in picture) and Elliott (2 yrs)

Co-Race Director of  Delano Park 12 Hour Run (www.delano12.com). President of River City Runners (www.rivercityrunners.org)

3 cats and 1 dog (chocolate lab)

In high school, I was an slightly overweight , badly asthmatic J.V. cross country runner.  I enjoyed being part of the team but never excelled.   The summer after my freshman year in college I decided to run a marathon.  6 weeks later I ran a 3:11 at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth (1991) and I was hooked on long distance running where my asthma wasn't as much of a factor. 

 

 

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Ohana Racers Lifetime Miles: 232.86
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Kayano 16 - 1 Lifetime Miles: 276.41
Kayano 16 - 2 Lifetime Miles: 19.11
Race: Rocket City Marathon - Huntsville,AL (26.2 Miles) 02:54:13, Place overall: 32, Place in age division: 3
Easy MilesThreshold MilesMarathon Pace MilesTrack speed mileageHill mileageTotal
0.300.0026.200.000.0026.50

Day started out rough - bad headache and nose stuffed up.  Nothing a little Advil and the Neti-Pot won't solve.

I had a banana, toast, and coffee at home and headed to pick up Jon.  At the Dizzy 50k, I had a Hardees sausage biscuit 5 minutes before the start of the race.  As unconventional and seemingly stupid as that is, I decided to have more of a good thing and bought two sausage biscuits on my way to pick up Jon.   A little protein in the stomach helps things in my opinion.  As far as the grease, I don't know but it sure helped my mood. 

 We got to the race a little behind shedule (about 55 minutes before the race) but that was plenty of time.   Jon let me in on the secret Fleet Feet bathroom in the holiday inn.  Nice way to bypass the lines right before the race.

 It was a chilly day  30F , sunny with light winds.   I couldn't resist just wearing a short and singlet though.  Being chilled at the start gets me on edge which is good to get me going.  You don't want to be too comfortable at the start line.  I did wear gloves, hat, and my poor man's arm sleeves  (white tube stocks with toes cut off).  I can't see myself ever spending $40 for those fancy moeben sleeves just to keep my elbows warm.       My sausage biscuit gave me a little heartburn during my warmup but it settled back down.

 I almost missed the start like I did at Dizzy.  5 minutes before the start while, I saw Jon and somehow that triggered a thought that I wasn't wearing my waist pack which had all my Gu's in it.  As the race directors were thanking everyone for coming, I sprinted from the start line back to my car and got it.  and returned the startline in the middle of the national anthem. Whew! Nice warmup.

 The start went smoothly.   The week before I had chided Jon that if he started running 6:30's I was going to let him go as that was crazy and too fast.  Ironically it was me who started too fast, as I came through mile 1 at 6:30.    I'm not one to follow my own advice.   Jon yelled at me from a pack 10 yards which brought me to my senses.  I let Eric Charette and Donald Bowman go and eased up slightly.  

At mile 2, my left shoe got untied  ("Blow out!" as Brett Addington pointed out)  and  Jon along with a sizable pack (8-10 runners strong) past me as I knelt to fix it.  I caught back up and tucked in but my left upper hamstring tightened.   I tried to ingore the pain and eventually the pain gave up and took a vacation.      

 This was the first of two great packs we ran with.  It makes things so much easier.   This one was going a little too fast which had Jon and I shaking our heads at each split-  6:35-6:37ish.  We felt good though and hung on.  The eventual 2nd and 3rd place women were with us (both local fleet feet runners.).   Jon and I let them go at about mile 6 or 7 and we eased up to around 6:40 pace.

I stayed true to my Gu schedule.  1st at 20 minutes then another each 30 after that.  A little water or powerade at each aid station. 

Jon and I hung together on Bailey Cove road and broke wind foreach other.  We both felt good.  My standard question for him was "how many gears do you have left"?   Two was the common answer  which is good for not quite half way through a marathon.  We caught up to the eventual 5th place woman and ran with her for awhile.  Our old pack was about a minute ahead when we went through the half marathon at 1:27:45.    We had a slow mile (6:50 or so) and another pack caught up.  they were 8+ strong as well.  We slipped in with them and hung on.  This was a great group- nice and steady.   A couple times they got a little gap on me and Jon yelled at me to catch back up.  I was able to.  There was no way I would be running this pace if I was on my own.    The pack carried me through the "tough middle" of the marathon - 13 to 21 miles.   

At the crest of the final big hill, I broke ahead of the pack on the down hill and never looked back or get passed from that point on.  Jon stayed with me on Whitesburg through the tunnel and then dropped back for a awesome 2:59 finish of his own.  I just put my head down, focused, and pushed.   I didn't have any gears left but I stayed strong.  All the later miles were 6:40 or better.   I caught sight of Eric Charette coming up to the 25 mile mark.  He's a 34 minute 10K and sub 17  5K runner whose been doing some great training over the past year.  He was my carrot to keep pushing.  I caught him with a 1/3 mile to go (right by the hospital).   Eric has a great kick and was able to pass me back in the finish stretch and get me by 5 seconds.  He had a huge PR (over 10 minutes)  as did I (almost 4).   

When I broke 3 hrs before, my thought was "that is too hard.  I'm never going to run a marathon fast like that again."   I shouldn't listen to myself.  This was felt so much better.  My first negative split marathon (in 18 tries). I was within 30 seconds of my 1/2 marathon PR on the 2nd half of this one!   I really had no expectation of running this fast-  the miracle of lowered expectations (no pressure) i guess.

Comments
From rockness18 on Sat, Dec 13, 2008 at 14:28:56

Great run...congrats on the pr!

From jtshad on Sat, Dec 13, 2008 at 17:22:21

Nice run, great time.

From Mark on Sat, Dec 13, 2008 at 17:43:53

Great race Eric! PR? Very fast time, can't wait to hear more details. Congratulations!

From barry on Sun, Dec 14, 2008 at 09:37:35

Great race! What an adventure in running and still getting a PR, that is awesome!!

From Nevels on Sun, Dec 14, 2008 at 11:38:39

Negative splits - impressive. Solid run. Congrats!

From JimF on Sun, Dec 14, 2008 at 11:44:14

Great race and strong second half! Congratulations on the big PR and great time!

From mikemac on Sun, Dec 14, 2008 at 14:25:28

Great race Eric!! You have had a great second half of the year. Nice race report.

From JReneau on Sun, Dec 14, 2008 at 16:18:39

Nice Run, congrats on the PR.

From Nevels on Sun, Dec 14, 2008 at 16:47:23

You ran pretty well yourself, Jason

From Kathy Nevels on Sun, Dec 14, 2008 at 19:40:10

Yay, Eric!! Congrats on your PR and on running negatives! Awesome!

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 16:52:41

Great progress! Congratulations on a PR.

From josse on Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 23:37:30

Great job, looks like a great break through.

From schotz on Sat, Dec 20, 2008 at 12:48:26

Thanks for all the kind words. After I week of rest, I'm ready to hit the roads hard again.

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