Just drove back from Kelowna, where I have finished my second Marathon in Okanagan and PR'ed the Sunday (Oct. 11).
First of all, gun time, 3:44:50, chip time, 3:44:00, with negative split: 1:54 + 1:50.
It's a small race, with less than 400 full marathon runners. The course is pretty flat, so people are coming for the qualification. Due to the negligence of the organizer, most of the marathon runners run about extra 550 meters in the course. I heard one guy missed BQ with only 5 seconds and he was so mad at the organizer. Anyway, I am very satisfied with my time and it's my PR. My estimate was 3:45 to 4:00 and I beat my strongest estimate even with the extra half km. My first Marathon was finished in this May in 4:27:22. It's a big leap and I feel so great.
The morning was very cold, around 5 degree. I have to put on my long shirt and pants. The gloves are quite helpful to keep the warm. I actually took off the gloves around 30Km.
I started with a pace of 5:23 min/km for the first 2 km. After the warm-up, I picked up my pace gradually to 5:15. Around 7k, I found the 3:45 pace bunny was just in front of me, so I was glad to run with him and hoping to make my best time of 3:45. The bunny run a bit faster pace around 5:10 and we walked a minute in each water station.
At 18k, the full and half runners have a diverged course. We got less runners now. About 15 persons run with the pace bunny initially, and it ended up with only 3 persons to about 28k.
The weather is getting warmer with nice sunshine. I found I was still full of energy after 32k. I decided to pick up my pace and wish for a negative split. I run at 5 m/km or less, which was my pace of 10k race I did in April this year. But I didn't feel exhausted until around 38k and I felt the wall. I passed many runners after 32k and no one passed me. That's just a great feeling and I feel more excited. The last 4k was grueling. My left leg and right feet were painful and I had to breath harder in order to bypass other runners. I sprint the last 150 meters with a pace of 3 m/km. I didn't hear the calling of my name when I rushed off the finish line, but I did hear spectators calling my bib number at the end. That's the most wonderful running experience of my life so far. I love it.
Some lessons/experience I learned in this race.
1) Training is the king. I strictly followed Hal Higdon's 18 weeks intermediate 1 training plan. I only missed 1 easy run and replaced 2 easy run with hiking when my friends were visiting us. No miss of any long run. I was running alone in the sunset, running in a down pour, running on treadmill for 2.5 hours, running in 6am during my vacation... I lost 15 lbs during the 18 weeks, which help boost my performance.
2) Carb loading is important. I had a big pasta with bread and banana the night before. Even though I didn't feel hungry Sunday morning, I still have a sandwich and a banana. In this case, I didn't feel depleted before 38k. During the race, I had 2 energy gu and I stopped by every water station except for the last two.
I learned a lot from this board and was inspired by many race reports. My goal is now set to 3:30 for my next marathon, probably in Vancouver 2010.
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