Let us disabuse anyone of that "flat" notion now:
Here's the race satellite map:
Official weather for the day - temperatures close to perfect but strong winds!
Temperature:
Mean Temperature 53 °F / 11 °C
Max Temperature 61 °F / 16 °C
Min Temperature 45 °F / 7 °C
Moisture:
Dew Point 36 °F / 2 °C
Average Humidity 54%
Maximum Humidity 77%
Minimum Humidity 30%
Wind:
Wind Speed 12 mph / 19 km/h (NW)
Max Wind Speed 26 mph / 42 km/h
Max Gust Speed 30 mph / 48 km/h
Here's my summary chart below. Take note of the distance measured by my Garmin. 26.7 miles is a full half mile long! I always try to run the tangents, but in a course that crowded (and it was crowded with walkers three and four abreast the whole entire freaking way, and in many places the course was squeezed down to only one lane by spectators or at water stops) I'm sure I ran an extra half mile to get around their roadblocks. Which is enough for me to resolve to stick with smaller races in the future if I'm running for time! Especially when Garmin tells me my time for 26.2 miles was 5:17:01, nowhere close to my official race finish time of 5:23:51.
Here are some of the gory pace and heart rate details for you data geeks (and for my personal reference in the future):
Notice the around Mile 21.5 (just after the bridge) there was a long stop followed by a series of meltdown events? Next race I've decided that I'm just going to leave my digestive tract at home. It's really an annoying hassle to deal with its issues in the middle of a marathon, you know?Finishing rank:
16577/20667 Total Finishers = 80.2%
5901/8057 Females = 73.2%
261/439 Women 50-54 = 59.4%
PR Reduction 27:47
Previous: 2004 Richmond Marathon, 5:51:38, 13:43 min/mile pace
Current: 2007 Marine Corps Marathon, 5:23:51, 12:21 min/mile pace
11 comments:
Nancy, nice finish, even though it went a little long! Don't you just love those "certified" courses? I'm with you on the overcrowded races. Come to Grand Rapids next year. Same weekend! Smaller crowds. And the race director will give you a hug at the finish.
Congratulations! And what a PR!!!
Congratulations on a terrific, albeit longer race than you planned. No matter - you did well.
Yeah, these damn marathons aren't getting any shorter, that's for sure!! THANKS!
I love all that data--from a true geek.
Great job! From my perspective (handing out gels at Mile 14), it looked like people were having a great time. Maybe the extra mileage came from the winds blowing people backwards...it was pretty windy out there!
There might be something to your GARMIN! Heather's said the same exact distance....26.7 miles! Maybe Mile 25 WAS LONG - We did all complain that it felt like an extra long mile!
:) WAY TO ROCK AND PR, NANCY!
Wow, what a PR! I know it's crowded and not really flat but it's still my favorite big race. Great job!!
Congratulations on your nice finish! HOW many does this make for you marathon-gal? :-)
lucky for you there's a lovely set of portapotties after the bridge. I think I spent 1/2 hour in there last year.
Fantastic race, and if garmin is right, then your PR is freakin' ENORMOUS! either way, WELL DONE!
(I'm with you on the smaller races though.)
Marine Corps Marathon...sigh...
you can probably already guess how I feel about it.
Yup. The moronic spectators who crowded all over the course at some hair-pin-ish curve long about mile 20, 21 last year...I could have axe-murdered them. Marathon "supporters" who BLOCK the runners need brain transplants. I really must say, for all it's status, last year I found MCM to be the stupidest marathon I have ever run. But I've only done 11.
You ROCKED it, however. No matter what your digestive tract put you through. ;-)
Post a Comment