Yesterday I got up bright and early and drove to Frontier Field for the 2010 Rochester Marathon. The weather was absolutely perfect with temperatures in the 50s and a very light mist in the air. It looked to be a good day.
As you know, I hadn't planned on running the marathon but a friend of mine requested that I run it with her. She ran the Green Lakes 50k with me two weeks ago. I hesitently agreed to run the marathon.
The first half of the race went pretty well. We had planned on going slowly and finishing around 5 hours. We hit the halfway mark at about 2:15. Well ahead of pace, but certainly not breaking any records. Shortly after this I started having some issues. The outside of my knee started to really hurt. Bad.
I continued to plug along before telling my friend several times to take off without me. As expected she refused. Around mile 20 I told her to take off because I was going to pull myself at the medical tent near mile 21. She said she'd run that far with me and I told her that was silly, no sense slowing down on my account. She took off and I slowed considerably.
I didn't pull out of the race. It didn't hurt bad enough to quit, but I was certainly hobbled. Around mile 24 I came accross a volunteer that I've talked to at numerous races. When he asked "what are you doing way back here?" I could only answer "hurting."
I kept trucking along and eventually made it to the finish line. I didn't even bother looking at my time as I knew it was horrendous. But I finished. Now I need to figure out what is up with my leg.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Registered for the 2010 Rochester Marathon
I have a feeling that this is going to be a mistake, but I just registered for the Rochester Marathon on this coming Sunday. I'm not all that concerned about the distance, I'm sure I can complete it. I'm mainly concerned about whether or not I am fully recovered from the 50k less than two weeks ago.
Why did I sign up for the race? Because a friend asked me to run with her. Someday I'll learn how to say "no" but it won't be today.
Why did I sign up for the race? Because a friend asked me to run with her. Someday I'll learn how to say "no" but it won't be today.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Summerfest 12k - Mendon Ponds
I have only done a few short, slow runs since running the Green Lakes Endurance Runs 50k last week. I've been focusing on recovering. Today was going to be my first longer, faster run. A friend of mine from the Runners World Forums was participating in the Summerfest 12k and I enjoy running at Mendon Ponds so I figured I'd run it as well.
When I got to the park I realized that this was a race on the roads at Mendon Ponds, not a trail race. I was a little disappointed but life goes on. I decided I'd line up at the back of the pack and run pretty slowly. I struck up a conversation with a gentleman about my age and we took off at a comfortable pace. After about a half mile the guy next to me asks "is this the fastest back of the pack you've ever been in?" The funny thing is, I was thinking the exact same thing. My pace felt like I should be in the middle, but I was very close to the rear.
I wasn't really planning on "racing" this race. I just wanted to run comfortably hard to get the legs and heart pumping again. I figured a 10:00 mile would be good. Of course I didn't wear a watch and I left my Garmin in the car so I had no idea what my real pace was. I kept trucking along trying to keep a consistent pace. I spoke with a few people along the way. I was feeling good enough to speak conversationally.
Around the 8k mark I started passing some people despite not picking up the pace. I think a lot of people took off at their 5k pace and were starting to pay the price. By 10k there were a lot of walkers. I was startign to feel sore and tired but not too bad. I attributed it more to residual fatigue from the 50k than to today's effort.
In the end I finished the Summerfest 12k in 1:10:20, for a pace of 9:26 per mile. It was a bit faster than I planned, but not too bad. The run served it's purpose. I was tired, but was able to run at a fairly reasonable speed.
When I got to the park I realized that this was a race on the roads at Mendon Ponds, not a trail race. I was a little disappointed but life goes on. I decided I'd line up at the back of the pack and run pretty slowly. I struck up a conversation with a gentleman about my age and we took off at a comfortable pace. After about a half mile the guy next to me asks "is this the fastest back of the pack you've ever been in?" The funny thing is, I was thinking the exact same thing. My pace felt like I should be in the middle, but I was very close to the rear.
I wasn't really planning on "racing" this race. I just wanted to run comfortably hard to get the legs and heart pumping again. I figured a 10:00 mile would be good. Of course I didn't wear a watch and I left my Garmin in the car so I had no idea what my real pace was. I kept trucking along trying to keep a consistent pace. I spoke with a few people along the way. I was feeling good enough to speak conversationally.
Around the 8k mark I started passing some people despite not picking up the pace. I think a lot of people took off at their 5k pace and were starting to pay the price. By 10k there were a lot of walkers. I was startign to feel sore and tired but not too bad. I attributed it more to residual fatigue from the 50k than to today's effort.
In the end I finished the Summerfest 12k in 1:10:20, for a pace of 9:26 per mile. It was a bit faster than I planned, but not too bad. The run served it's purpose. I was tired, but was able to run at a fairly reasonable speed.
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