"Do or do not, there is no try" - Little Rock Marathon 3/6/11

My race bib was personalized to say, "Do or do not," a snip from Empire Strikes Back Yoda.  I was more than elated when I was coming over the Dillard's hill near the finish and a middle age woman looked me in the face, pointed at me and said, "There is no try!"  That's a cool lady!

I had a lot of hopes going into the LR weekend hoping for the marathon experience that I missed the first time around.  Doing a "taper" has been a difficult subject for me and I once again failed since I did the Mini Traveler Loop the weekend before.  I remained tremendously sore from that run until (literally) the Friday before.  Helen and I did go for a massage that week and I thoroughly enjoyed having that relief on my body.

I followed my shake plan to the letter the whole week.  Monday-Wednesday I ate normally but had a shake for breakfast.  I included iron and protein rich meaty foods during the week to help with my muscle soreness and the anemic feeling I get after a hard week.  Thursday through race morning I had nothing but shakes except for a pre-race celebration meal with a group of classmates I had somewhat coaxed into running during the weekend.  To keep up their support, my parents came and spent the night with us and helped out with getting us to the race and carrying all our stuff.

Race morning was cold (40F) before the start but seemed near perfect during the run.  The run was relatively uneventful though quite enjoyable during the first part of the course.  There was a great amount of spectators with the usual unique signs with a few passing out booze at about mile 6!  Even the governor took time out of his Sunday morning to step out of the mansion and wave at us as we passed by.  I started out faster than normally advisable but, it was my strategy.  I had planned to keep pace with the 3:20 pace group but I found the early pass to be unbearable for the amount of adrenaline I had going.  I knew that if I made some time now and hit the wall later, the difference would work itself out.  I kept a nice 7:35/mile pace through 20 miles and began hitting the wall after the first aid station on Riverfront Drive.  Before this happened, my pace and concentration suffered when the "nice" running temperature reared its ugly head.  My Nike running shorts have a pocket on the back hip where I stored my gels with a plan to eat them coming over and down the hill around mile 17.  I didn't count on my hands being so cold that I couldn't manage to get any of my gels out!  I spent much more time attempting this than I should have and started seeing the 3:20 pace group catch back up with me.  I had my first 8:00+ mile at 23 and continued to slow going over the bridge and into the Dillard's hill.  The stretch on Riverfront and the River Trail is unbearable and I wish that the race could do away with it though I know it is probably convenient from a planning perspective. 

I finished in 3:25 with a high five from Bart Yasso and wobbled over to the chip removers and on past to get my MYTHIC medal!  I also got to see several schoolmates and Helen finish their first half marathons with smiles on their faces.  I finished knowing that I had given it my all; evident by the feeling in my legs.  It was also enjoyable having so many runners in the race or on the curb spectating that I knew and who threw out a few words of encouragement as I went by.  I ended up placing 3rd in my age group which is a combination of my effort and the lack of 20-24 yearolds who do stupid things like this!

Training for the LR covered two phases:  a very active December/January and a relatively lazy February.  December and January were marked with the addition of indoor cross-training including swimming, elliptical, and, my favorite, stair climbing.  The last was an attempt to improve myself after the experience at LOViT and was vindicated during the Traveler Mini Loop.  The transition into February included a few attempts at back-to-back long runs.  This aspect of training is probably the only thing that separates marathon training and ultra training in my mind and this had me looking further into the future.  I also added in a Tuesday night run (now a Thursday night run) at Go! Running store following around Gary Taylor (a former UA track stud) and Nick Lewis (a current ultrarunning stud).  All in all, my training has consisted of 45 miles per week with little efforts at speed work.  There's still lots of room for improvement...