Cape Cod Marathon

Coming into the race, I was feeling really strong. Joel and I met in Falmouth on Friday night and we ran the last 4.2 miles of the race course. It was pretty hilly, but I thought that it would pale in comparrison to the hills of Sippiwissett. I had very little knee pain during that run. I took Saturday off, and my knee finally felt close to normal. My body felt rested, and mentally I knew that I was ready.

As the cannon went off to start the race I held back so much that I felt like I was almost walking. At one point I heard a guy who was running next to me tell his son that we were running 7:00 pace and I almost broke out in laughter at his pathetic attempt to judge pace. As I got closer to the mile mark I saw the clock and to my horror it read 6:50. I thought I was doomed. I tried slowing down, but I couldn't go much slower than I was already moving. I decided that I would try to lock into a good rhythym and see what happened. Ultimately, that worked well, and I was hovering around 7:00 pace for much of the first 17 miles.

The knee pain held off until about 13 miles, at which point I could start feeling twinges of pain come and go. It was nothing serious, but it made me cognizant that there was still an issue. By about 15 miles the knee pain was a little worse, but still nothing like my run 7 days ago. When I got to the water stop at 15 miles I ate my second GU pack. I had a real hard time keeping anything down, water included, and I could have thrown up at any given moment. By 19 miles I took my last cup of fluid, then went for the finish on whatever fluid I had left in my system. At this point the hills were still not having a huge effect, but my pace was coming down a little bit.

By 22 miles I was working so hard and was getting nothing in return. The last 4 miles of the race were terrible, with me pushing for everything I had and sneaking out 8:30 miles. Also, I was so dehydrated and sugar deprived that I was starting to get dizzy. Anyway, I finished in 3:11:55, which was a 20:00 PR. I am extremely happy. As much as I wanted to qualify for Boston, I certainly will take the 3:12. Next goal is a marathon at 7:00 pace! A week of rest and then another building phase before Boston on April 19, 2010. Here are my splits for the race:

Mile 1- 6:51
Mile 2- 7:07
Mile 3- 7:07
Mile 4- 7:09
Mile 5- 7:16
Mile 6- 7:19
Mile 7- 7:15
Mile 8- 7:07
Mile 9- 7:07
Mile 10- 6:56
Mile 11- 6:58
Mile 12- 7:09
Mile 13- 6:52
Halfway- 1:33:06
Mile 14- 6:57
Mile 15- 6:52
Mile 16- 7:18
Mile 17- 6:46
Mile 18- 7:00
Mile 19- 7:07
Mile 20- 7:19
Mile 21- 7:19
Mile 22- 7:29
Mile 23- 7:49
Mile 24- 8:18
Mile 25- 8:22
Mile 26- 8:59
Finish-3:11:55