Pre-race:
I had a good 18 weeks cycle in preparation with a couple of hiccup mainly due to a cold. I managed to keep training notwithstanding the travel for work. I started running my slow with 3h15' in mind, but I knew I didn't have it in me. In the past 10 days I did a lot of thinking about the strategy. In the end I decided that I wanted to race the marathon with an intelligent approach (as suggested here), but without having the pacers make my race.
Pre-start:
I woke up at 4:30, had a coffee, drink and breakfast. Then back to bed until 6. at 7 a taxi was picking me up to go to the shuttle meet point. I met a few friends from my running club, mainly relay runners. I spent a bit of time with them. 40' before the race I started warming up and focusing on the task ahead.
It was cold (3-5 degrees). While I knew it was going to be great for the marathon itself, I wanted to keep warm without consuming too much energy... I read on a forum that somebody uses old socks as harm warmers. It was a great idea!!! I prepared mine and used them in the pre-race and initial phased. I kept them as it was cold and used them again as gloves until mile 24 (on and off). My hand were freezing for the last 2 miles... But overall great conditions for a marathon!
Race (intervals at every mile sign below):
as mentioned before, I decided to race the 26.2 miles with an intelligent approach. I decided to take any effort and focus out of my mind for the first half, running a conservative first half looking at heart monitor instead of pace (<150). During warm up I talked with the 3h30 pacers and discovered that they wanted to keep 7’50/8’ for the initial miles. When the race started I was just behind the 3h30' pacers. However, I ended up spending most of the time in front of them (they were keeping constant pace, I knew the course and I knew where I didn't want to push small hills). I used the minimum mental energy I could in the initial 13 miles, and this paid big dividends in the final miles.
I saw my family at mile 13, they gave me a bottle with some electrolytes and big smiles. I thanked and changed my focus to keep the pace. It was nice seeing them and I felt confident and relaxed. Half way we were at 1h45’. I started to think there was something wrong with the measurement… but ignored the thought and focussed on the next phase of my strategy. The pacers were back with me (due to a mile up hill between 12-13 miles.
Between mile 13 and 16 I just controlled, I left the pacers and kept my heart beat at 150 or around it. The pace ( 7'45’’ ) felt ok. I was passing people who went out too fast or group of runners on their pace between 3h25' and 3h30). It was a nice feeling. I took my gel at mile 15.5 so that it was in and digested during the hill. I knew the course so far and I did what I wanted where I wanted. Then at mile 16 we turned left and I was in the unknown. I knew there was a big hill between mile 16 and 18, then 1 mile down hill. But I never ran miles 16 to 21 before.
As soon as the road started to go up hill, I pushed my heart beat a bit high, but managed to keep it at or below 160. Runners were following the road, I managed to go the shortest way possible, and noticed that I was passing entire groups of people just doing this… The pace was just above 8 in the first mile and went down to 8:30. I expected it and was calm. Towards the end of the hill I noticed people panicking, asking if anybody knew if it was going to end soon. I mentioned the slogan of the marathon for this year (flat fast course) and kept repeating it to the end. At mile 18 we turned right and the road went in a huge downhill. I wanted to be in control, limiting the damages that running down hill could do (I still feel a bit stiff behind the knees and legs and I do believe that hill caused it).
We entered a park at mile 19 and I started passing more and more people. I changed gear, moved from the heart beat monitor to the time and stopped watching. This was a decision taken on the moment, the initial plan wanted me to wait until mile 20 to do this. However, I didn’t push the pace.
At mile 20 I decided that my race was on. I push a bit to 7'30 (but the course was going up and down hill there and I didn't know...) and stopped watching the time. I started looking at the runners in front of me and pass them. I kept doing this to the end. I managed the 7’30 or so pace until mile 24 (again up hill) and then finished strong. I started to feel tired around mile 23 but knew my family was going to be there again, just after we turned left and into the final hill, about 500 meters after mile 23. As soon as the final absent started, I got the first cramps. It brought back bad memories, but this year had to be different. I shorten the strides, relaxed and started looking at the traffic light (after that the road would start going a bit downhill). A couple of runners passed be at the end of the hill, but we turned left, the road went down hill, it was 1.5 miles to the end, and I push a bit the pace and passed them again. we entered the park for the final mile and there was a bit of up hill. I composed myself, controlled the running form and sprinted to catch a Lagan valley (my running team) relay runner (we finished together). I passed a ton a runners from mile 16 and many more after mile 20 (both marathon runners and relay runners), it was fun Smile and felt great! I finished 508 out of ~6000 marathon. The organizers admitted that there was a mistake (the front car took the wrong turn twice in the first 8 miles, you'll see them in my intervals below).
The final official measure was 0.3 miles more (26.5). I recon it could have been even 0.4 (does it mean I ran an ultra???). Anyway, I finished in 3h27'20, with a very strong 1h40' for the second half. The official time has me at 3h25'50''. Great experience, the new course is much better for the people to come and support, and I was definitely better prepared. This is my first negative split marathon as well 😊
I now know I can aim for a 3:20 or less, and next year I will !!!
Intervals in the image and at the following link:
runningahead.com/logs/ba66e...
longer course at mile 3 and 8...
Update: final results are out on the website . Chip time 3h25:05 
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