Thursday, December 06, 2007

Sandra's Las Vegas Marathon

Well here is the overview of my marathon. My finishing time was just under 3:23 which is the slowest I have run a marathon. However, I have not run one since 2001 and I also was much younger and pretty much a full-time athlete. That may sound like I am a bit disappointed with my result but I really am not.

My goal was to just run and feel what it would be like to run a marathon again. I feel that through the training process I became stronger and now I can build upon that strength and get somewhat faster. It has been a while since I have felt this strong and so I am very happy about that.

Now for an overview of how the race itself went. Firstly, I only looked at my watch at three points in the race. This was at mile 5, 10 and the halfway point. I did not get caught up in my overall pace given what I thought I should be able to run. Instead, I went with how I felt and pretty much kept an even pace. I did this as I wanted to understand my body and to enjoy the experience. I succeeded in this.

I was confident and strong throughout the race. The course was generally flat with what I thought was a lot of downgrade sections. The first 10 km was slightly down and mile 16 to 22 seemed to be slightly down as well. This is a hard way to run a marathon. Downhill courses are the worst when it comes to marathons. In addition, the course surface was pavement with concrete underneath. I only know of one other course like this and that is Houston. If this was a 10 km that would be awesome as hard surfaces generally means faster times. However, for a marathon the surface can take a real toll on your body. As such, my guads and feet took a real beating. I just was not prepared for the combination of downhill and concrete that this course dished out to me. With the group of 11 women that I went with, we all were faced with sore quads and big time blisters.

I felt that I was capable of running under 3:10. I went through the halfway mark at 1:37 and was confident that I would run close to an even split. However, at around 14 miles I had to deal with a stitch which cost me some time. My overall feeling is that if was on another course (like CIM which I have run 3 times) I would have run under 3:10.

I am now eager to continue to train and run some indoor 3000 meter races and maybe some short distance I have never run to gain some leg speed and build upon my strength. In April, I will be hitting my favorite race, the Vancouver Sun Run. I tend to run well at this race (with the exception of my slow time last year).

Thanks for reading.

No comments: