Pittsburgh Marathon
Before the Race
First, I should probably explain that this is only a mini-report; actually, it is email that I sent a couple of days after the race because I hadn’t found time to write a full-fledged report, but was fielding a lot of queries about the race. Anyway, I hope this is better than nothing (hey, most of you probably appreciate the unusual brevity).
I sort of skimped on the fulfilling the tradition of watching a movie the night before by watching Chariots of Fire on DVD at my house, alone, but at least it was a running movie, right? No complaints about random movies or inconvenient start times at the theatre this time.
The Race
Race day morning was cool and clear, but we knew that the “cool” wouldn’t last very long (it was expected to reach the mid-70s pretty quickly). Because of the heat, and the fact that my training had once again been compromised (I had done just one 20-mile run, six weeks earlier), I was expecting to start out slowly and just see what happened. Well, I actually felt pretty good, but I wasn’t able to go as fast as I’d been training back when I was “on schedule”, either – I settled into about a 7:30 pace. For some reason, the climb up into Oakland this year seemed particularly short and easier – a pleasant surprise. Early in the race, there was a fair amount of shade, so although I was already warm, it was psychologically a lot easier when we could run in the shade to escape the sun. The second half of the race course is pretty exposed, however.
I was actually still feeling really good through 18 miles, which is when the doubts start rising because of my lack of long training runs. I backed off to closer to an 8 min/mile pace for the next four miles, and then (inexplicably) at around mile 22 I just didn’t want to run anymore. I had certainly been in much worse shape in other races and kept running – this was almost certainly a 95% mental problem. Anyway, I allowed myself to walk a bit the next couple of miles, but I only had one split over 8:30 (and that was 8:41), so I don’t think it really hurt my final result much. I sure was happy to reach the turn into Point State Park, though (for those of you not familiar with the course, that’s past the 26-mile mark). Another new experience was passing a guy in the last 100 yards, only to have him sprint past me and leave me in the dust – there was no chance that I could out-sprint him, so he was obviously taking it too easy, right? LOL
Since I’ve already run on longer than intended, I’ll just skip to my finishing time, and close. My official time was 3:22:37, with a “chip” (net) time of 3:22:17. This is right in the middle of my past results at Pittsburgh, and about average overall. I hope to pick another target for this summer, and then maybe shoot for a better time next fall (Columbus again, perhaps?).
After the Race
Other than getting stuck in traffic and making too many loops trying to get out of town (because of the ramp closings), I have nothing exciting to say about after the race. I went home and ate, ate some more, and slept. If you’re still reading, thanks for listening, and thanks for the support.
Tim