Racing a Marathon

Nov 4th marked marathon number 2 for me. My previous race, Rock and Roll Half San Jose was just three weeks prior, and a PR smashing performance. I remember feeling hyped, eager to run, curious to see if my newly gained speed would translate through 13.1 miles.

But I wasn't really feeling that way before the Silicon Valley Marathon. I did my last long run by running 25 miles into work two weeks before, and started having nagging knee problems again. I went to RoadRunner Sports, and was dreadfully disappointed with the fitting expert, who put me in a neutral shoe. The weekend before my race, I went to Forward Motion, where the guy said I needed a motion control shoe and put me in a pair of Brooks Beasts. At three ounces heavier per shoe, my last two runs before race day were tiring!

But really, this feeling of not being ready for the race was more mental than physical. I focused on this poor soul out there who was #5 in the San Jose Hat Trick after the 10k (Almaden Times) and the half (R&R SJ) portions, with a 3:11 minute lead over myself. I analyzed his splits, his past races and trends (he's beaten me in the 5 races we've run together), and came up with a 3:39 target time to beat, and make up the gap. But this is marathon TWO for me! And my first was a 4:20, with the second half having its wicked way with me. So I allowed myself a range of 3:39-3:45. I can be quite generous.

Fall Back Sunday. I'm driving to the race for a 7am start time, and I hear on the radio "For those of you who have set the clocks back, it's 7:15." I start to panic, but reason myself down that I didn't accidently set the clocks back twice, and I'm right on time. It doesn't help that my cellphone didn't click back automagically, though. The race looks small; a handful of people at the start line, with an order of magnitude more in line for the porta-potties. I follow the crowd, of course.

As the race starts, I head out trying to maintain 8 min miles. The miles fly by! It's a true pleasure to be surprised by mile markers, rather than desperately hoping for a glimpse of them. I start to tire at the end of the first half, but finish it around 1:48, which is the second fastest I've run a half so far. But I felt much better after my 1:38 performance, so I'm feeling the 8-ish minute pace isn't going to last much longer. But I've got concrete goals here, an opponent to beat, and Prefontaine quotes reverberating in my skull. Things like: "I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace." I got the guts, I try to tell myself.

The mile markers start looking really pretty. You know, like mile 22? I think that's the prettiest mile marker on a marathon course. You've completed much of the race, and haven't been through the worst of it yet. I'm slowing down, flirting with 9 minute miles, and find if I push, I start feeling the twinge of a muscle cramp.

And then suddenly, I see HIM. Yeah, I checked his race pics, and he's wearing the same outfit! And I'm passing him (all this time I thought he was behind me too) AT MILE 23.5. I think about that 3:11 gap, and I push it as hard as I can. Which is not, sad to say, a sub 8 minute pace, but something like an 8:45. I keep telling myself how bad I'll feel if I missed by seconds, and know that this last 2.5 miles is definitive in finding if I got the guts to race. The pace I'm running doesn't feel like it's all out, but it does feel like all I have. A hard thing to wrestle with.

And you know how you think about that last kick? Going into this race, I thought it'd be final 6 mile kick (really!). Somewhere along the course it shrunk to the last 3, last 2. Now I'm watching the final mile markers intently, and just not feeling the kick until...26. Yeah, a quarter mile sprint to the finish. But it's still a sprint, and it's still a finish!

A sprint that sends my iPod shuffle FLYING off into the crowd! After I finish, I'm scrambling at the finish line, until someone hands it to me. Then I look at my GPS watch, and stop it at 3:45. How much time did I just miss here? I wait...

#5 guy comes in at 3:48!!! It's too close to call! After the finish line food, and post-race massage, I finally make my way to the posted results, and I see that I finished in 3:43:55. I look down the list to find my rival's time...3:48:18. I did it! I'm the new #5 guy!!! I'm going to get a shirt made up that says "NEW #5 GUY".

As it turns out, this year there was no prize for the top 5 in the Hat Trick (last year it was box seats to a Shark Game). But I don't care. This whole rivalry thing was just in my mind anyways, and it was fun to race against something other than myself or fabricated time goals. It actually made it feel like racing rather than running at an organized event!

And I knocked around thirty six minutes off of my marathon PR.

I feast on Dim Sum, and all other goals for that day (building a dog house, or a toy box) vanish once I get off my feet...