Wow. What a day. A new PR by over 8 minutes. Qualified for the Boston Marathon by over 10 minutes.
The plan was to negative split with pace ranging from 8:20 at the start to finish at 8:05. As raced, the max split time was 8:13 with six of the eight 5k's 8:05 or less. The race starts in Grant Park and within half mile from the start the course goes through a three block tunnel under a building. When I emerged from the far end. My watch lost GPS signal and indicated I was in an obviously impossible 5:00ish pace. I figured it would reset itself but the second mile had similar results. Uh oh, I may end up running by pace group sight and feel.
By the third mile the average pace function was working again and was showing a more sensible times but they were 'too fast'. My plan was to start at 8:20's for the first six and take 5 seconds of each subsequent six.
I tried to locate the pace group signs. I didn't want the 3:40 group to catch me and I wasn't about to look behind me to see where they were. I saw a group ahead of me but wasn't sure if it was the 3:35 or 3:30 group. I hadn't seen the 3:35 group in the corral and thought maybe their wasn't one. I decided to keep them 'in sight' for a while.
The miles clicked by rapidly. With all the fanfare, bands, drumlines, cheering and enthusiasm and the water lines every 1.5 - 2.0 miles there was very little 'alone time'. No chance to think about "how far have I gone?" or "how far do I have to go?" The senses were stimulated by the environment.
The water stations were very long, a hundred yards or more, I waited until the last 1/4 and then dropped in grabbed Gatorade and / or water and got back into the race. I took advantage of a Gel distribution around the half way mark. Most people ran through the lines and continued. A few stopped or cut in at the last moment causing a break in the flow. Two runners cut directly in front of me unnecessarily on the race course.
I recognized that I was 'changing gears' thru the water stations, corners, and race in general. This allowed me to avoid external changes in pace and to run the best tangents I could. When I was crowded in a pack during the race instead of falling back in to the pack I would accelerate thru opening to better position. I would accelerate in to and out of water stations. And instead of joining the gradual squeeze thru turns I found I could speed up at the last moment and make a 'straight line' turn, hitting the tangent and staying ahead of other runners slowed by the turning traffic.
I was feeling really good at the 13.1 mark and started to think about "racing." Should I start my kick at the 10k or 5k mark? About that time I came upon a runner with a Michigan Alumni singlet. I went to bed Saturday night with Michigan State holding a second half lead. As I got close I asked "Did Michigan come back last night?" And the runner said "Hi, Kris" it was Bill S from Sun Prairie! 40,000 runners, I see exactly one I knew before the race, and it's the same person I ran in to at last years race. (And no, Michigan did not come back).
I commented "I'm feeling pretty good, I think I'll either do really well today or crash and burn". I remembered all too well the 2015 Madison Marathon. I lead my age group at the half, crashed and burned and finished 4 hours plus. What I learned were valuable lessons in pacing and fueling. Two mistakes I did not care to repeat.
The thought of 'how well can I do if I try really hard?' kept crossing my mind.
I returned to thinking of my race strategy. I like breaking up the race in to segments. Half's, 10k's and 5k's. I like to train hard to a tired state, and then continue pushing. I want to know what it feels like to be tired near the end of a race so I will know how to respond. I thought If I continue feeling good I might start 'racing' at the 10k and if not so much the 5k. Fortunately the "last mile pace" function was working. I didn't have much confidence in the "average pace" function and did not even look at it.
About this time I came across two pacers. One had a 3:30 bib and the other a 3:35 bib. And they were about ten feet apart. OK back to running by feel. At each mile my watch would vibrate, I would look and I would think, wow, I'm really banking time. In the back of mind I kept thinking about the 2016 Chicago Marathon when I came in with low expectations, ran poor tangents (ran an extra 1/4 mile), fueled badly and missed a BQ by 8 seconds. I watched then as the average pace slowly crept up as my pace slowed down. I kept thinking will it happen again? And when?
The "wall" at mile 20 did not materialize. It was just another mile. I kept thinking in terms of 5 and 10k's. One or two laps around Pheasant Branch "I do that all the time".
The last lap times kept coming in under eight minutes. And I was passing a lot of runners. Very few passed me. I felt I was getting stronger. And it was really fun! I started working the crowd. And many times they responded which generated even more excitement. If I read the results correctly, I averaged 7:07 over the last 2k!
The last 5k was the fastest 5k. The second to last 5k was the 2nd fastest 5k. The last half was faster than the first half. Negative split.
As I approached the finish line the clock read somewhere between 3:30 and 3:40 I didn't know how long it took to cross the starting line after the official start. I stopped my watch 3:29ish. I still figured it had something to do with the 1st mile loss of GPS signal. But I knew I did pretty well.
I went through the finishing chute and headed back to gear check. On the way I passed an information booth. It looked like another runner was getting his race time. I asked, they said yes, looked it up 3:28:54 "that's a good time!" Wow. Unbelievable. A PR by 8:51 !?! A Boston Qualifier minutes 10 minutes !?! ( I checked, the 2019 BQ AG M55-59 is 3:40 and BQ minus 10 is a lock). A 4% improvement !?! Not 'seconds' but 'minutes'! AG 72 of 1407 - top 5.1%.
As I continue to dissect "how did that happen?" I keep coming back to the fall and winter swimming, winter indoor cycling and running, spring and summer cycling and triathlon.
The Madison Marathon is on the calendar for November this year. I look to repeat this year's schedule next year although I'm thinking of adding an Ultra-Marathon. And in 2019 I'm planning for a significant event on Patriot's Day ...
| lap time | race time | ||||||||
| mins | secs | hours | mins | secs | seconds | per 5k | rank | %oftotal | |
| 5k | 8 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 07 | 1507 | 1507 | 6 | 12.6% |
| 10k | 8 | 11 | 0 | 50 | 30 | 3030 | 1523 | 7 | 12.7% |
| 15k | 8 | 13 | 1 | 16 | 02 | 4562 | 1532 | 8 | 12.8% |
| 20k | 8 | 03 | 1 | 41 | 02 | 6062 | 1500 | 5 | 12.5% |
| 25k | 7 | 58 | 2 | 05 | 49 | 7549 | 1487 | 3 | 12.4% |
| 30k | 8 | 03 | 2 | 30 | 48 | 9048 | 1499 | 4 | 12.5% |
| 35k | 7 | 51 | 2 | 55 | 10 | 10510 | 1462 | 2 | 12.2% |
| 40k | 7 | 45 | 3 | 19 | 13 | 11953 | 1443 | 1 | 12.1% |
| 11953 | |||||||||
| finish 2k | 7 | 07 | |||||||
| 1st half | 1 | 46 | 31 | 6391 | 6391 | 51.0% | % of total | ||
| 2nd half | 1 | 42 | 23 | 6143 | 6143 | 49.0% | % of total | ||
| finish | 3 | 28 | 54 | 12534 | 6143 | ||||
| 12534 | |||||||||
| 2017 | Chicago | 3 | 28 | 54 | 12534 | ||||
| 2016 | Madison | 3 | 37 | 45 | 13065 | ||||
| Difference | 0 | 08 | 51 | 531 | |||||
Chicago Marathon Fast Facts
AG 55-59 Top 1000 Runners (37 Negative Splits)
136 BQ's (19 Negative Splits) & 76 BQ-10 (9 Negative Splits)
Bib 18590 First Half 180th place, 2nd Half 37th fastest, Finishing Place 72nd.
Passed 108 runners second half, passed by zero runners second half.
Weekend Stressors Do Not Waylay Gameplan
The weekend started ominously enough with a short interaction with a Wisconsin State Trooper. Turns out I wasn't the subject of attention.
The GW Class of 77 gathering followed the packet pick up.
And then I discovered I forgot my nutrition! <see my product review here!
The Sunday 5:15 AM train added to the fun...
With the recent safety issues in the US security was heightened. There were three gates and each entrance security guards with metal detectors. One by one they scanned the athletes entering Grant Part. A very slow process. I finally entered the race venue at 7:10 ran to gear check, and then ran to the starting corral. The corrals closed at 7:20 I was about 100 yards from the corral when the National Anthem began to play. A man in front of me, who appeared to be military, stood at attention. I dropped in behind him. As the song concluded I patted him on the back and wished him a good day. Most (90%+) of the runners continued on their way. I guess the insistence on standing for the anthem only applies to professional athletes and not weekend warriors. A dual standard in my opinion. I remember seeing 7:14 on my watch.
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