Race Report: Self-Transcendence Marathon 2009 - 5:43:59, PR.

If you, dear reader, happen to like long race reports with lots of photos, I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you today. Brevity will be the name of the game for today's edition of steve's blog. For most of you, that's probably a good thing.
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When I registered for this marathon, the most intriguing thing about it was the fact that it's on a tuesday, making it possible for me to run the marathon in the morning and go to work in the afternoon. Interestingly, this wouldn't be the first time I did this; when I ran this marathon in 2007 I went to work afterwards too - with one major difference. In 2007, I telecommuted. in 2009, I got dressed and went into the office.

What I didn't anticipate when running this race was the fact that, three days prior, I'd be doing a 15 mile hike with 3500' of climbing in the adirondacks - and that two days prior, I'd be doing a fast hike up bear mountain, which is 3 miles with about 1200' of gain.

I showed up with tired legs and low expectations. Met up before the race with some internet running friends, notably Linda, Staci, Tammy, and Andy. Staci, also a local, was more interested in having company during the marathon rather than running a fast race, so she was more than happy to accompany me for most of the race. She is a fantastic running partner and I really enjoyed hanging with her. It was awesome.

This marathon consists of 8 3/4 3-mile laps of picturesque rockland lake. It was a very nice day to run a marathon, a little humid for my tastes but you can't complain in august. I ran 95% of the time during the first 5 laps nice and slow, 12:00 MPM, before walking 20% of the 6th lap, 50% of the 7th lap, and 90% of the 8th and 9th laps. Andy had caught up to Staci and I by the last 10K, and the three of us walked together for a few miles - however, I was really hammering, walking at a 14:30 pace or so. It was really tiring and hard to keep up that pace, but I knew a PR was possible and I wanted to really put a good effort in.

I reduced my marathon PR from 5:49:46 to 5:43:59 on worked legs, and I completely attribute that 6-minute drop to the pace at which I was walking, as I didn't run any faster. My legs were trashed - even now, 7 days later, I'm still feeling that marathon in 'em. Hung out for no more than 15 minutes after finishing and got in the car and drove to work.

-steve

PS - staci has a blog, too! click here to read it: http://divaleh.blogspot.com/

COMING SOON ON STEVE'S BLOG: trip report to Mt. Marcy, something from Wyoming at the Grand Teton Races, and more bucket list stuff! yay!