What a great day I had yesterday!
Barb and I actually went down to Hartford on Friday morning. Our first stop was the XL Center in downtown
Hartford to get my race packet and hit the expo. After our experience at the ZOO that is the
Boston Marathon expo, we found the process in Hartford to be much more manageable
and easy to navigate. After picking up a
t-shirt and a cool orange hoody sweatshirt (everything ING touches is orange!),
we left the expo to soak up a little Hartford culture and to
find some grub. Everywhere we looked,
there were reminders of what was ahead of me on Saturday:
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| on the streets surrounding the XL Center |
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| really got psyched when I saw this one! |
Soon, we were headed to a local joint that specializes in hot dogs that Barb
had found on TripAdvisor. “Woody’s” is a
downtown Hartford landmark, and we were not disappointed. With bellies full of hotdogs, we then headed
off to East Hartford (just across the Connecticut River from downtown) to the
lovely Hampton Inn. The girls behind the
desk we decked out in ING t-shirts (orange, of course!) and were very
welcoming, giving us a discount on our room due to some difficulty with the
reservation. Once we got to the room, I
couldn’t believe what I found waiting for me….how very thoughtful!
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| Nice touch, ING......put a HUGE smile on my face! |
After relaxing for a while in our lovely room (I’m not
kidding….it was clean, the bathroom was huge, and the beds were comfy), we
headed out to dinner. We always like to
try to find places frequented by locals when we travel, instead of relying on
chain restaurants, so following the recommendation of the desk girls, we headed
off to Al Fresco’s for some Italian food.
The food was great, the servings ENORMOUS, and we left satisfied and
ready to relax! Back to the hotel we went, and then I finally had time to start
to worry about the weather. As my loyal
readers know, I’ve had some difficulty in the past dealing with weather on
Marathon Day, and as it turned out, this day would also be challenging, as most
of New England was under a freeze warning.
The temps were going to rise during the day, but it was going to be COLD
at the start, but thankfully, there was no rain OR wind being forecast, so I
knew I could handle it. After putting together
my running outfit, I was about to shut out the lights when I heard “boom”
coming from outside. Turns out there was
a full-on fireworks display that went on for about 15 minutes, ending the day
on a festive note.
We awoke in the pre-dawn darkness and I, naturally, had to
check the temperature…27 degrees. Barb
headed down to the lobby to get some oatmeal and coffee, while I tried to calm
my nerves and get my gear on. I was
opting for shorts instead of tights, with a longsleeve tech shirt under a short
sleeve tech shirt. It’s a combo I’ve
used before for colder runs and have always been comfortable with it. With some lightweight fleece gloves and a
headband to keep my ears warm, I was good to go. Barb returned from the lobby with hands full,
trying to balance containers full of hot oatmeal, along with two cups of hot
coffee. She said the lobby was full of
other runners all trying to decide whether to go with tights or shorts…..so I
clearly wasn’t alone! All of a sudden,
it was 7AM and it was time to walk from the hotel, over the Founders Bridge,
and into downtown Hartford to the start area in Bushnell Park. I originally had planned to hook up with the
4:30 pace group, but had instead decided to be a bit more conservative and join
the 4:45 group, as I figured that would give me the best chance at beating my
previous marathon PR of 4:58, set almost exactly 3 years ago at the Bay State
Marathon. Never having run with a pace
group before, I really didn’t know what to expect, but thought that at the very
least, I could run with a group of similar runners who might be fun to run
with.
Right before the start, I felt the need to visit the
portalet…..normally, I do this several times before the start, but I had gone
before leaving the hotel and thought I’d be ok…..wrong! Before I could sprint away to find on, the
horn sounded and we were on our way….shuffling slowly up to the start line.
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| It was cold, but we were ready to run!!!! |
Almost immediately, we
were in front of the 4:30 pacer and pace group (more on that later!), and
chugging our way through downtown Hartford.
In spite of the cold, there were a large number of people out to cheer
on the runners (about 2500 in the Marathon, 6000 in the Half Marathon, and
another 2000+ in the 5K), which made the start a lot of fun. Unfortunately, my
nagging feeling wasn’t going away, but as we were running through the middle of
a city, it wasn’t like there were lots of places to go……so just after the first
mile, when I saw a guy in front of me dash off to some bushes near a highway
overpass, I took a quick detour to “take care of business”……by the time I got
back on the road, however, my pace group was gone and I was on my own. Considering that I’ve always trained alone, I
was ok with it, but knew now that I was going to be running my own race.
I cannot really be honest and describe the Hartford course
as being “pretty”…..it’s basically an
urban marathon, running through the streets of downtown, then out through
business areas, before finally starting a long out-and-back stretch (miles
10-24) encompassing some nice neighborhoods, but there wasn’t any stretch that
was particularly scenic. The early miles
of the marathon were pretty interesting, though, because they encompassed a
stretch of about 3 miles on a bike path which runs along the Connecticut River. I was too busy trying not to get pushed off
the path by other runners with their earbuds in…..while I fully understand why some
people like to listen to music while running, I find that they usually have no
idea where they are in space, making them dangerous to other runners. Normally, on a wide road, it’s easy to steer
clear, but on this path, it was pretty tight quarters. I was running fairly consistent splits (more
on that later), but that still left me needing to maneuver around slower
runners.
I hit the halfway point at 2:21:56…..if I could manage to
not COMPLETELY fall apart on the back half, I would be almost certain to get a
new PR. As this course was pretty flat,
I was feeling confident, but not overly so….I was feeling some discomfort in my
hips and feet….nothing major, but enough that might make a strong finish
problematic. The splits so far were
pretty consistent:
Mile 1: 10:59
Mile 2: 10:52
Mile 3: 10:02
Mile 4: 10:31
Mile 5: 10:24
Mile 6: 10:31
Mile 7: 10:54
Mile 8: 10:03
Mile 9: 10:42
Mile 10: 10:31
Mile 11: 10:30
Mile 12: 10:50
Mile 13: 11:19
Now it was time to bear down, push through, and finish as
strong as possible. The wheels were
starting to come off the wagon, but I kept pushing as hard as I could, trying
to spend as little time walking as possible.
I didn’t walk at all through the first 10 miles, and on the back half, I
tried to limit the walking in a way I’d never tried before in a race. I’d run to the next mile marker, then walk
only long enough to scrub 2 seconds off of the average mile pace on my Garmin…..only
about 30-60 seconds of walking would do it.
The turnaround was at Mile 17, so as I was heading out that way, I saw
lots of runners heading back, many still with their pace groups. I even spotted the 4:45 pace leader…..and he
was STILL in front of the 4:30 leader!
Go figure?
More splits:
Mile 14: 10:48
Mile 15: 10:43
Mile 16: 10:52
Mile 17: 11:24
Mile 18: 11:50
Mile 19: 10:21
Mile 20: 11:36
Mile 21: 11:10
Mile 22: 11:49
Mile 23: 12:08
Mile 24: 12:14
Mile 25: 11:24
Coming back over the Founders Bridge into downtown Hartford,
the noise level started to rise, as did my anticipation of seeing Barb. Ordinarily, she manages to find a spot near
the finish line at smaller races, but this wasn’t a local 5K….she found a spot
immediately before the final turn to the finish, right around the 26 mile mark. I’d already looked at my Garmin and realized
I was going to PR, so I was already starting to get a little emotional…..and
then I spotted my biggest fan at the side of the road, waving to me. We locked eyes and she whipped out here iPod
Touch to take some pictures. I was so
close to the finish that I called out to her to “run with me to the line” and
she took off with me, but was quickly left behind as I turned the corner and
headed for home. The finishing straight
in Hartford takes you downhill to finish by running under the Soldiers and
Sailor Memorial Arch (which is featured prominently in the design of the
finisher’s medal) in Bushnell Park.
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| Quite a sight! |
Mile 26: 11:36
Mile 27: 8:56
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| The view from the Arch down to the line.....where my PR was waiting! |
Final time: 4:51:06
After crossing the line, getting my wonderful mylar blanket
and the awesome finisher’s medal, I hobbled back into the park to meet up with
Barb in the Family Meeting area. She met
me a few minutes later and took some great pics. I was pretty happy….and quite proud.
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| Yeah buddy, check out my BLING!!! |
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| Damn right, I'm proud.....I just PR'd!!!!! |
We left the park and headed back to the hotel,
where the car was parked. Two hours
later, I was back home.
I’d done it……I’d wanted to get a PR, and I’d beaten my
previous PR by 7 minutes. According to
my previous posts, this means my grade for the Hartford Marathon would have to
be a B+……didn’t quite meet the standards for an A, but it was pretty darn
close. I’m absolutely thrilled to have
beaten my previous time, particularly when that time was nearly 3 years old……..I’d
done it! Do I have a faster time in
me? Maybe…..but that’s something I’m going
to have to find out down the road. Right
now, I’m just so pleased I was able to not only finish my 3rd marathon,
but I’d run it well enough and strong enough to get a PR.
And that’s all there is…..I can’t thank you all enough for
your encouragement through the training process and all through the race
yesterday. Several of you were even
following my progress online, providing me with additional motivation. I haven’t yet planned my next adventure, but
you’ll definitely read about it here as soon as I start planning.
See you all down the road!
