It was warm and sunny in Richmond on Saturday, November 11. Temperatures began in the mid-60s and quickly reached into the high 70s. So, needless to say, it was a struggle for everyone. I had hoped to hit 3:30 since my training went well this year. If not that, I hoped to hit 3:35 which would be a Boston Qualifier for me. I had been able to keep to an 8 minute or lower pace through my long runs and I was determined to not slow up at the end like I’ve done in the past. But the heat got to me at the end. At the 20 mile mark, I was at 2:43 which is about 8 min/mile. But for the last 6 miles, my lower legs and feet kept cramping in every possible way. As a result, my pace dropped dramatically. Whenever I tried a little to push my pace back up a little, my legs would give me a stern warning to not do that. So I was just determined to finish without them cramping so bad that I’d have to stop or walk. I did that. My final chip time was 3:45:10. Compared to my other marathons, my finish time was about what I usually do (if you don’t count last year’s dismal performance). But in terms of placing, this was by far my best performance. I finished 474 of 3873 overall and 26 out of 256 in my age group (men 50-54). So, I’m satisfied.
This was my first time in the Richmond Marathon so I’ll give you my opinions of it. I thought the course was good. It was basically like a big wide figure 8. There were no U-turns and no places where you were running parallel to runners on other parts of the course (reasons that I don’t like the Marine Corps Marathon and the course for the Nations Marathon). It was mostly a flat course. The ending was absolutely terrific. The last half mile was downhill and straight. The cross streets were numbered (from 1st and Cary to 10th and Cary). So I was able to sprint at the end which is something I rarely have the pleasure to do. And it helped that a band was playing “Hard Days Night” at that time…very appropriate.
Although the course was well laid out, it generally had little variety. There was a brief time we were going through a park along the James River with the nice fall colors. That was pretty. But mostly it was through one middle-class neighborhood or business district after the other. And there weren’t any interesting costumes. My red shirt that said “When will Andy stop doing marathons…when he wins one” may have been the few interesting things runners were wearing.
Crowd Support: They bill themselves as the friendliest marathon. I’m not sure why. They weren’t any more friendly than other marathons. The size of the field (about 3900 entrants for the marathon) though did result in a corresponding lack of spectators along most of the course (it would have been easy for a friend to set up anywhere along the course and find you). They also set up four ‘party zones’ at which a lot of the spectators concentrated. Those were nice. For those brief periods, I almost felt like I was at the New York Marathon (sure).
The two biggest negatives I had with the marathon could easily be fixed. First of all, there were supposed to be pace teams. Well they were there at the start but, as soon as the race started, they put down their signs and started running. The leaders were only identifiable by a yellow shirt. They should have been carrying a flag or balloons so you could see easily find them if you got separated.
Secondly, there were also supposed to be first aid stations set up along the course. I’m sure they were there but I never saw them. Luckily I didn’t need them. I thought early on that I was developing a blister in my foot but that didn’t happen. First Aid needs to be obvious.
So that’s my 2006 marathon story. I was talking to a runner afterwards who was a member of Sri Chinmoy. This was his 6th marathon in 6 weeks. He’s 60 and planning to do 60 marathons this year. And he’s fast. He generally finishes between 3 and 3:30. Wow.
Well the good news about not BQing is that I can have a nice relaxing winter :-) .
