scoolover
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,386
Here is my race report for the Hyannis marathon. The short version:
I did not lose my chip this time and improved my time from Disney by about 20 minutes. There was still plenty of pain to go around. It was well organized and the weather was as good as it could have been for Feb in New England.
Here is the link to my journal site and I left the pictures there. There are 15 or so. I did miss the characters, though. The pictures start on post 21, I think.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1303681&page=2
The long version:
There were over 2000 people entered in the Hyannis, MA marathon, half marathon and 10K. I was in the top three of all competitors for the first six miles. There was an early start for the marathoners who figures that they would take longer than five hours. The course closed in six hours. There were about 10 of us who took them up on it. I had two reasons. One was that I had read that the course closed in five hours and I actually needed the extra time. The second was that we had a 3:00 pm check out and with the 9:30 start as opposed to the 10:00 am start, I had a chance for a shower before we got kicked out with the early start.
So there we are, 10 fools waiting to start as people looked at us as if to say, who the hell are they. The starting temp was about 35 and the skies were clear. It was really a perfect day. Saturday had winds in the 30's and it is supposed to start snowing tonight so the race was sandwiched in the middle. The race started right in front of our hotel on a slight incline. The couse was beautiful as it took us through a typical Cape Cod village (Hyannis and Barnstable.) There were many scenes that you could see on a post card.
For the first six miles, I alternated with Jane as the race leader, following the leader on the bike. I had to point out to him a few times that he was making fun of us slow pokes by having to circle to keep from getting too far ahead of us. We had a laugh and he was a great help. There is not much to say about the first six than it was a time to warm up and settle in to a nice run/walk rhythm. At about mile 5 just as the pack was closing in on us, a police car passed us. So there we are, two or three runners, a bike leader and what looked like a police escort. There was a guy on the side of the road who gave the best "you have got to be kidding me" look. It was as if he was thinking, this is it! Anyway, in a mile or so, we would be sucked up in the pack.
At mile 5.5 the course split. The 10K runners went right and the rest of us went left. I did not see any of the 10Kers. There were a lot of spectators at this point and all cheered loudly. Of course, at this point, I was the race leader (or so most of them thought.) Perhaps 1/4 to 1/2 mile after the split, my marathon glory was over. The leader passed me and for lack of a better term, made me his b****. He was actually not going as fast as I thought he would be going. If I could only just stayed with him, I would have qualified for Boston but today was not the day. For about a mile I was passed occationally but by mile 7 enough of the pack had caught up and it was kind of a relief. It felt wierd being alone. Now, there was always someone to follow which was comforting. At mile 8, Jane caught me and we would stay together until mile 17.
Miles 8 to 13 were great. I felt like I was getting into a nice groove (sp) and we talked for the entire time. It did not take long to figure out why she latched on to me. I had the watch with the 7/1 minute timer on it. She was digging the walk breaks. It turns out that her husband was also a collegiate discus thrower and we had a similar back ground. Except his PhD, of course. It was amazing what you can learn about someone when you run with them for two hours. The funny thing is that I could not tell you what she really looked like. Her butt, that is another story!!! We just moved along drinking at the water stops and taking our walk breaks.
The last 1/2 mile on this two loop course is up hill which was not so bad in the first half. When we got to the 13 mile mark, the half marathoners turned right and the course went from being packed to being almost empty. Since we started early and were on the same course, only faster people got to us. Therefore, we did not pass anyone. Literally, we did not pass one person in the first 13 miles. We probably got passed by 1000 people. Again, literally. Here is the thing though. It was a good thing. Their momentum kind of pulled us forward. It pushed our pace a little which for me is a good thing. I could care less about getting passed because I know the score. I hope it does not sound like I care about passing people. I don't. I run for time and run against the clock. Part of the joy is encouraging others but this was not the set up for that. We were the ones being encouraged which was nice also. Anyway, I digress. We got to the halfway mark at 2:28 which psyched my up. I say my ex with my son waiting for me. That 5 second hello was a great boost. Also, watching all the halfers head off while we kept straight was awesome. I felt kind of empowered by that. All of these things were shaping up to make for a great second half.
The "second lap" continued on where we left off. We kept talking and it really helped to keep out mind off the actual running. Overall, my body felt pretty good. I had some tightness in my groin and my quads were getting a little tender but it was nothing too severe. 13-17 was more of the same. Walk/run/talk. At mile 16 there was a worker giving out long pretzles. I took one and it was awesome. That was probably the single best thing I have ever eaten. About 100 yards ahead, I spotted one on the ground and stopped to get it. She said, "did you get that off the ground". I said, "yes" and she gave an approving, "a little dirt never hurt". We had already discussed general etiquite going out the window during a marathon when she was blowing snot rockets earlier in the race. At about mile 17, she could not hang on to our already slowing pace. I did ask her how long her long run was. She said "9 miles". I was impressed that she did so well to that point with relatively little training. So there it is. At mile 17 we parted never to see each other again. It's okay. She was married. If she wasn't, i'd probably still be on the course with her.
Now I felt as if I could pick up the pace a little, which I did. I still felt good but my muscles were getting a little weak. I still thought that I had a shot at a 5 hour finish but the 7/1 but it had already deteriated to more like 6/2. It was not long before I was taking 3 or 4 minute walk breaks. Still, I kept an okay pace through about 21 miles. That was when my groin, hip flexors and quads really stopped cooperating. There was some pretty severe pain. Nothing that I was concerned about long term but it was sure making me walk a lot. A few times I would latch on to some one who was slightly faster and stay with them for a 1/2 mile or so. Even though it was tough, I never really had to question what I was doing. Oh, I questioned, why the hell am I doing this but not like at Disney. Here I kept hydrated (I lost 3 lbs during the race). Today, I hurt more but it was a different hurt, an easier hurt. At Disney , I did not even dare to even stop and stretch fearing something would stop me from finishing. Today, I never got to that point. My legs just hurt badly. The freedom I got when I left her only gave me about 3 miles of running at "my pace". From 21 on, it was pertty much like most people report. Just put one foot in front of the other. 5 hours was out the window at this point. I ran when I could but walked a lot more than I wanted to.
To make a very long and boring story short, I finished in 5:20 which was about 20 minutes quicker than Disney and I tried to get my 5 year old to run across the finish line with me but he would not. (trust me, it would not have been a problem. see pictures below). I got my shower and we were out of the room by 3:15. We went back to the finish to get some water and I grabbed a few begals. They were out of the good stuff. Like I said, I never say Jane again. Don't worry, I'll track her down. I have my methods. I just want to say thanks.
Next up will probably be the Danbury half. I would like to get a time that can move me up in a corral for next years Goofy.
I liked the early start. It really helped run a quick half.
- that quick half probably helped kill the second half.
I was impressed at how well this was organized.
I was disappointed that we did not pass the Kennedy Compound as there was a picture of it on their site.
Time to read up more on the Gallowalking. I might need to go more like 4/1 for the full.
Okay that is it. Pictures to come.
Scott
I did not lose my chip this time and improved my time from Disney by about 20 minutes. There was still plenty of pain to go around. It was well organized and the weather was as good as it could have been for Feb in New England.
Here is the link to my journal site and I left the pictures there. There are 15 or so. I did miss the characters, though. The pictures start on post 21, I think.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1303681&page=2
The long version:
There were over 2000 people entered in the Hyannis, MA marathon, half marathon and 10K. I was in the top three of all competitors for the first six miles. There was an early start for the marathoners who figures that they would take longer than five hours. The course closed in six hours. There were about 10 of us who took them up on it. I had two reasons. One was that I had read that the course closed in five hours and I actually needed the extra time. The second was that we had a 3:00 pm check out and with the 9:30 start as opposed to the 10:00 am start, I had a chance for a shower before we got kicked out with the early start.
So there we are, 10 fools waiting to start as people looked at us as if to say, who the hell are they. The starting temp was about 35 and the skies were clear. It was really a perfect day. Saturday had winds in the 30's and it is supposed to start snowing tonight so the race was sandwiched in the middle. The race started right in front of our hotel on a slight incline. The couse was beautiful as it took us through a typical Cape Cod village (Hyannis and Barnstable.) There were many scenes that you could see on a post card.
For the first six miles, I alternated with Jane as the race leader, following the leader on the bike. I had to point out to him a few times that he was making fun of us slow pokes by having to circle to keep from getting too far ahead of us. We had a laugh and he was a great help. There is not much to say about the first six than it was a time to warm up and settle in to a nice run/walk rhythm. At about mile 5 just as the pack was closing in on us, a police car passed us. So there we are, two or three runners, a bike leader and what looked like a police escort. There was a guy on the side of the road who gave the best "you have got to be kidding me" look. It was as if he was thinking, this is it! Anyway, in a mile or so, we would be sucked up in the pack.
At mile 5.5 the course split. The 10K runners went right and the rest of us went left. I did not see any of the 10Kers. There were a lot of spectators at this point and all cheered loudly. Of course, at this point, I was the race leader (or so most of them thought.) Perhaps 1/4 to 1/2 mile after the split, my marathon glory was over. The leader passed me and for lack of a better term, made me his b****. He was actually not going as fast as I thought he would be going. If I could only just stayed with him, I would have qualified for Boston but today was not the day. For about a mile I was passed occationally but by mile 7 enough of the pack had caught up and it was kind of a relief. It felt wierd being alone. Now, there was always someone to follow which was comforting. At mile 8, Jane caught me and we would stay together until mile 17.
Miles 8 to 13 were great. I felt like I was getting into a nice groove (sp) and we talked for the entire time. It did not take long to figure out why she latched on to me. I had the watch with the 7/1 minute timer on it. She was digging the walk breaks. It turns out that her husband was also a collegiate discus thrower and we had a similar back ground. Except his PhD, of course. It was amazing what you can learn about someone when you run with them for two hours. The funny thing is that I could not tell you what she really looked like. Her butt, that is another story!!! We just moved along drinking at the water stops and taking our walk breaks.
The last 1/2 mile on this two loop course is up hill which was not so bad in the first half. When we got to the 13 mile mark, the half marathoners turned right and the course went from being packed to being almost empty. Since we started early and were on the same course, only faster people got to us. Therefore, we did not pass anyone. Literally, we did not pass one person in the first 13 miles. We probably got passed by 1000 people. Again, literally. Here is the thing though. It was a good thing. Their momentum kind of pulled us forward. It pushed our pace a little which for me is a good thing. I could care less about getting passed because I know the score. I hope it does not sound like I care about passing people. I don't. I run for time and run against the clock. Part of the joy is encouraging others but this was not the set up for that. We were the ones being encouraged which was nice also. Anyway, I digress. We got to the halfway mark at 2:28 which psyched my up. I say my ex with my son waiting for me. That 5 second hello was a great boost. Also, watching all the halfers head off while we kept straight was awesome. I felt kind of empowered by that. All of these things were shaping up to make for a great second half.
The "second lap" continued on where we left off. We kept talking and it really helped to keep out mind off the actual running. Overall, my body felt pretty good. I had some tightness in my groin and my quads were getting a little tender but it was nothing too severe. 13-17 was more of the same. Walk/run/talk. At mile 16 there was a worker giving out long pretzles. I took one and it was awesome. That was probably the single best thing I have ever eaten. About 100 yards ahead, I spotted one on the ground and stopped to get it. She said, "did you get that off the ground". I said, "yes" and she gave an approving, "a little dirt never hurt". We had already discussed general etiquite going out the window during a marathon when she was blowing snot rockets earlier in the race. At about mile 17, she could not hang on to our already slowing pace. I did ask her how long her long run was. She said "9 miles". I was impressed that she did so well to that point with relatively little training. So there it is. At mile 17 we parted never to see each other again. It's okay. She was married. If she wasn't, i'd probably still be on the course with her.
Now I felt as if I could pick up the pace a little, which I did. I still felt good but my muscles were getting a little weak. I still thought that I had a shot at a 5 hour finish but the 7/1 but it had already deteriated to more like 6/2. It was not long before I was taking 3 or 4 minute walk breaks. Still, I kept an okay pace through about 21 miles. That was when my groin, hip flexors and quads really stopped cooperating. There was some pretty severe pain. Nothing that I was concerned about long term but it was sure making me walk a lot. A few times I would latch on to some one who was slightly faster and stay with them for a 1/2 mile or so. Even though it was tough, I never really had to question what I was doing. Oh, I questioned, why the hell am I doing this but not like at Disney. Here I kept hydrated (I lost 3 lbs during the race). Today, I hurt more but it was a different hurt, an easier hurt. At Disney , I did not even dare to even stop and stretch fearing something would stop me from finishing. Today, I never got to that point. My legs just hurt badly. The freedom I got when I left her only gave me about 3 miles of running at "my pace". From 21 on, it was pertty much like most people report. Just put one foot in front of the other. 5 hours was out the window at this point. I ran when I could but walked a lot more than I wanted to.
To make a very long and boring story short, I finished in 5:20 which was about 20 minutes quicker than Disney and I tried to get my 5 year old to run across the finish line with me but he would not. (trust me, it would not have been a problem. see pictures below). I got my shower and we were out of the room by 3:15. We went back to the finish to get some water and I grabbed a few begals. They were out of the good stuff. Like I said, I never say Jane again. Don't worry, I'll track her down. I have my methods. I just want to say thanks.
Next up will probably be the Danbury half. I would like to get a time that can move me up in a corral for next years Goofy.
I liked the early start. It really helped run a quick half.
- that quick half probably helped kill the second half.
I was impressed at how well this was organized.
I was disappointed that we did not pass the Kennedy Compound as there was a picture of it on their site.
Time to read up more on the Gallowalking. I might need to go more like 4/1 for the full.
Okay that is it. Pictures to come.
Scott
