Grand Rapids Marathon Race Report

I debated on even writing this as the actual race blew up in my face and I considered bagging it even before the 20 mile mark. The long and short of it is that I got sick about 3 weeks before the event. It was a stomach infection that lasted close to two weeks. I was eating solid foods about 7 days before the race, and normal foods about 3-4 days before the race. I convinced myself to trust my training and run as I originally planned, which was a sub 4 hour pace.

The weather was perfect to start. Probably around 50 degrees.

I was able to line up at the start with the 3:56 pace group. This is a solid 9:00 minute mile group that my training led me to prepare for. When I would run MP runs in training, I could run a 9:00 pace for about ten miles with a heart rate around 156-158. My concern is always that my HR starts to steadily climb around that 9-10 mile mark and I'll often times start hitting 164-166 around mile 16-18. I should have realized right away at the marathon that I needed to slow down and just forget about going sub 4 and enjoy the run. But I was stubborn.

Anyways, the sub 4 group for some reason took off way too fast out of the gate. I ran a 9:09 mile and they got way ahead of me. I finally caught up to them between mile 6 and 7. I knew I was going to fast, but I thought the group would be my lifeline for any chance at sub 4.

Mile 1 - 9:06 - 167
Mile 2 - 8:42 - 165
Mile 3 - 8:30 - 169
Mile 4 - 8:22 - 172
Mile 5 - 8:32 - 173
Mile 6 - 8:53 - 172
Mile 7 - 8:50 - 172

You can see there that my HR was over 170 the whole time. Even when I ran a 10 mile race in August and pushed 8:00 miles, I was not topping 166. It was this point I realized I probably should slow down, but I am just stubborn.

Mile 8 - 9:09 - 170
Mile 9 - 9:24 - 169
Mile 10 -8:54 - 171

What was interesting after that 10th mile, I realized that the sub 4 pacing group had left me. I thought I could keep my current pace and hit the half sub 2:00 and grab one small victory for the race, then i would slow down and try to enjoy the rest of the race.

Mile 11 -9:28 - 171
Mile 12 -9:26 - 172
Mile 13 -9:48 - 171

Half - 1:58:11

The half split was great, but I was now in total panic. Not only was I slowing down, My heart rate was still high but was all over the place. And I was experiencing stomach pain that was just like I was sick all over again. I had a water belt on with gatorade. I figured if I needed water I'd hit the water stations. The problem was as I drank gatorade, my stomach would convulse and I'd wretch the drink up. Water went down just fine. But gatorade felt like it hurt my stomach. The cramping was all over my stomach. My mindset is now in protect my body mode and just thinking of how I could even finish this thing.

Mile 14 -10:02 - 170
Mile 15 -10:17 - 167

Those last two miles were really the last miles I remember thinking "weren't bad". I was hoping to get in a rhythm of knocking out miles at a 10:20ish pace, but the darn heart rate was still up and I was hurting.

Mile 16 -10:37 - 165
Mile 17 -11:24 - 162
Mile 18 -11:24 - 162

Cramping was still bad. My chest was starting to hurt, but what was strange was the way my muscles were locking up. I was worried it was a result of dehydration, but I couldn't get htem to loosen up at all. I even hurt to the touch. Was quite strange. I started looking for a cart, cause I was thinking of calling it quits. Figure I'd give it to mile 20 and if I didn't feel better, I was done. I even stopped and pulled my cell phone to call my wife to warn her I was going to be real late at the finish line. She made me carry it because she was worried after my sickness I was going to have problems.

Mile 19 -11:57 - 156
Mile 20 - 11:56 -158
Mile 21 - 12:22 -155

It was at this point I wasn't even looking at my watch. I was hurting where I just wanted to be done with everything. I stopped for a second to offer a hand to someone who fell. Another runner who was a doctor had everything under control.

Mile 22 - 12:30 -155
Mile 23 - 12:24 -152
Mile 24 - 12:25 -153

Still plodding away, I was convinced not to start walking. I was worried I would not finish at all if I stopped. I also realized at this point I had stopped sweating. I was bone dry. Salt all over my face and hair, but I was not really wet anywhere.

Mile 25 - 12:58 -161
Mile 26 - 13:04 -160

My watch was all screwy from mile 23 on really. It didn't register some of my slow paces when I dipped, so I think it said I was going faster than I really was.

I was very happy to finish. My wife, in-laws, and kids were there to cheer me to the finish. I finished in 4:39, which was still a PR.

So, in the end, I'm not sure if I should have even run the race. If I could go back, I'd just tell myself to run a slow pace similar to my long training runs. Shoot, a slow 10:00 pace would have gotten me in at 4:22. I would have at least enjoyed the run.