2 Cities Marathon 2017

On November 5th I ran the 2 Cities Marathon here in my hometown of Fresno, Ca.

I ran this marathon for the 1st time back in 2009.  This was my 2nd marathon, and would also be the marathon where I set my personal best time, up until 2017.

Ever since 2011 I have ran this event as a Pacer, usually pacing the 4 hour group.  This year I decided that I wanted to break my old PR of 3 hours and 28 mins, and my PR was about to be 9 years old so it was time to run a little fast again.

Ever since I started doing trail races back in 2010 I didn't have much of a desire to run really long distances on the road.  I also found that I could sign up for a 50k or 50 mile trail run, and it was usually cheaper than a traditional road marathon.  I did run my local marathon every year because I feel it's important to support local events, and it's always nice to run in town.  I originally wanted to try to run as close to a 3 hour marathon as I could, but a few small injuries were holding me back from the training that would have required.  I was having some issues with my right leg, but I wasn't resting because I was still running ultras and didn't plan on stopping my training to let everything heal 100%... and I know how stupid and stubborn that sounds, but that's me being honest about how everything was going down.

After I finished Headlands 100 in early September I had a few weeks to focus on marathon training and some speed work.  I honestly only got in one long road run to prep for the marathon. I was doing most of my longer runs with Alisha on the trail, and my weekly shorter mileage around town with Sunny.  I kept my normal cross training schedule at Fit 36, and was trying to get in time practicing Jiu Jitsu with my friend Randy.

My right leg would have days where running on it was uncomfortable, and days where it wasn't too bad, but it never felt 100%.  On the days that it felt good I would try to safely push the pace, and if it felt bad I would do a slow jog.

I was hitting the track every other Sunday before work and most of the workouts went well.  I did a lot of 800 meter repeats and was usually able to hit my goal of 3 mins per 800 meters. Two weeks before the marathon I was able to hit 10 x 800 meter repeats in 3 mins (6 min mile pace) and I felt really good during this workout.  If it wasn't for the fact that I had to go to work, I would have done 2 more repeats.  This workout gave me the confidence to try to run the marathon decently fast.

A few days before the marathon I was still trying to come up with a game plan.  I finally decided I would try to average a 7 min 30 sec pace and just see what would happen.  That pace sounded sustainable, but I also didn't put in the road time I would have liked to, but I figured I'd go for it.

My old PR from 2009 was 3 hours and 28 mins, and my bib number for the 2017 Two Cities Marathon was 328... kind of crazy!!

My two amazing training partners!!

I went into the race feeling calm, relaxed, and excited about what the day might bring.  At the beginning of the race I kept reminding myself to hold back a little.  I hit the first few miles just a couple seconds fast, but they felt good.  I was slowly picking up my pace as the miles went on, and I was feeling pretty good about it.

By the time I hit mile 12 I was stuck in a No Mans Land.  There was nobody in front of me, and nobody behind me.  It was a very lonely feeling.  I knew I had to muscle through the next 3 miles solo, but around mile 15 I would run into the people running and walking the half marathon that started 1 hour after the Marathon I was running started.  When I finally got to Friant Road, I was no longer alone.  There was a sea of people on the road.  It was nice to finally see people again.

At this time my average pace was a 7 min 20 sec mile.  I was running a little faster that what I wanted to average at the end of the run, but I knew that the last few miles were all up hill, and we're going to take me longer to run than the rest of the course, and I wanted to bank some time.

The climb at the end of Friant was getting to me, and I was getting tired.  There were plenty of times during the run that I thought about slowing down, giving up, walking... but I also thought about all the hours and miles Alisha and Sunny spent training with me, and how they both told me I would be able to hit my goal and that I needed to believe in myself.  The faith they had in me, carried me through some of the more difficult miles that I faced.

By the last mile I was feeling pretty spent.  I crossed the finish line at 3 hours and 18 mins... beating my old PR by 10 mins. My average pace was 7 mins 31 secs according to my Garmin watch. It also had my mileage as 26.4 miles, and I planned on it reading that mileage because it does almost every year.

My body felt pretty beat up after the race.  I'm definitely not use to running that distance on the road at that speed.  I have a 100k trail race on November 18th, and hopefully I'll be recovered enough to run that course faster than I did when I ran it in 2015.

Until Next Time...

KEEP RUNNING!!!!