My final preparation for this marathon was a little different than I anticipated. After alternating between 50 and 75-80 miles per week for a couple of months, I planned a traditional two week taper. Unfortunately, on the first day of the taper, I started to feel really bad and was diagnosed with the flu. I didn't run at all for 7 days and then started easing back during the week before the race. I didn't decide until Thursday to run and, whereas I was feeling pretty good by then, I had no idea what would happen during the race.
While I was warming up before the race, I watched the finish of the 8k and I'm not sure if there could have been better motivation. It is a seriously downhill finish and the elite runners were absolutely flying. Given their final times, I would guess that they were close to 4 minute pace at that point which was truly amazing to watch!
My plan for the race was to go out at roughly 6:50 pace and ease into it to see how I felt. And, of course, that was not what happened. Okay guys, better sit down so you aren't too shocked ... I went out quite a bit faster than that. At the first mile sign, my time was 5:50 but it wasn't as crazy as that ... that turned out to be the 8k mile rather than the marathon mile. In reality, I settled into 6:30 pace which was faster than I intended but it felt good so decided to go with it. I had a brief panic at 10 miles when I realized that my split of 65:00 was only 30 seconds slower than my final time at Anna's Angels but then rationalized that is why one shouldn't think too hard during races. I couldn't hold that pace, of course, and I had slowed by the half which I hit in 1:26:00. However, the serious slowing occurred at 15 miles when we hit the wind coming across the bridge. Miles 15-21 were a struggle as reflected in my second 10 mile split of 69 minutes. I would like to blame the wind and recent flu but, in reality, the fast early pace was probably more of a culprit. I started to feel better for the last 5 miles and was able to dial back close to 6:30 pace for the final 5k. Overall, I was really happy with my final time of 2:56:54 which was a PR.
While a flu-induced mega-taper is not likely to appear in Runner's World as a training technique, it did ensure that my legs were well rested and I felt really good for over half the race. One of the lessons that I took away from this was to probably further decrease mileage and increase rest during a taper.
For those who have not run this marathon, it is one that I highly recommend. The course is rolling enough to engage different muscles but not really hilly. There are a lot of very pretty parts including a section along the James River that looked like it could easily have been under water due to recent rains! And then there is the very downhill finish. The race is very well run and there is great support along the route.
Finally, super races by a number of RRO teammates!! Brandon Carter led the group with a fantastic time of 2:43:28 and several people placed in their age group. It sounds like several from the group are going to Boston where I expect there will be a number of very strong performances.
