My training went really well this spring so my A goal for this race was to aim for a time in the low 2:50's whereas my A++ goal was to shoot for 2:50. Of course, I knew that this would heavily depend on the weather.
It is amazing how many things I can find to panic about during the week before a marathon. For example, is tendonitis acting up in my foot (a little but nothing to worry about), are the weather reports from 3 days out which predict highs in the high 80's going to be correct (fortunately not), are the huge hills that you encounter on the drive into Burlington on the course (not really). I sometimes think that a large part of a successful marathon is surviving the week before as intactly as possible!
This course is essentially four loops that intersect in downtown Burlington. The first mile is uphill, there is a long uphill stretch around mile 9, and finally a shorter but steeper uphill at mile 16 which is dramatically termed the "Assault on the Battery" since it occurs on Battery street. The rest of the course is fairly rolling.
The splits for a time of 2:50 are easy to calculate since they are essential 6:30 per mile. I actually thought about going out at around 6:35-6:40 pace and then trying to run a negative split (which I've never done), but I rationalized that this might not be a great strategy given the 8:00 am start time and fact that it was supposed to warm up quite a bit later in the race. Besides, I was worried that you guys wouldn't know me if I actually ran a negative split ... so I went out more quickly.
Having an uphill first mile was probably a good thing since it forced me to start out a little more slowly. I came through the first mile in exactly 6:30 and then wondered if there was any way to actually maintain that for another 25 miles! The first loop is the shortest at around 3 miles after which there is a roughly 6 mile loop on a parkway. The great thing about this second loop was that because it is out and back, you get to see the leaders as well as everyone else in the race. This included the guy in the grass skirt and homemade sandals who eventually finished in 2:50 (he trains barefoot but apparently traded the sandals for shoes in the middle of the race). The bad part of this section was the heavy camber at various points that was somewhat reminiscent of Grandfather Mountain. By the top of the long uphill at the end of this stretch, I was feeling pretty tight and one foot was getting hot indicating the precursor to a blister. Fortunately, I was able to loosen up through the next few downhill miles and my times of 1:03:53 and 1:24:26 at 10 miles and the half were ahead of pace. You know that you are getting near the short but steeper uphill between 15 and 16 miles when you hear the drummers (who are great!). I actually found this hill to be less of a problem than the earlier one at 9 miles and I was still feeling strong at 18 miles. At this point, the course winds through neighborhoods with a lot of tight corners. Much of this section was also into the wind. My split of 2:10:40 at 20 miles indicated that I had slowed some and I was getting a pretty bad blister, I suspect from the earlier turns and camber. At this point, it was also starting to get fairly warm. I felt reasonable (well, as reasonable as you ever feel at this point :) through the last 6 miles but knew I was slowning down somewhat. Hence I was not able to achieve the A++ goal but I was very happy with my final time of 2:52:56 which was a 4 minute PR.
Whereas the weather was warmer than I would have preferred, we dodged a couple of major bullets. It never got as hot as originally predicted due to a shift of wind out of Canada which brought cooler air. However, the morning after the race, this same shift of winds also brought heavy smoke from fires in Quebec that made it difficult to breathe. I cannot imagine what would have happened if this smoke had arrived a day earlier.
This is a very well-run race and this part of Vermont is absolutely beautiful. Hence I definitely recommend it as a late-spring race. However, because it is so late, it can get warm even though it is quite far north.
Raleigh was extremely well represented as John Crews and Gavin Coombs respectively placed first and second with times of 2:17:51 and 2:22:05. John's time of 1:07 at the half was amazing and I think he would have shattered the course record in slightly cooler weather (he was still within 45 seconds of it). Congratulations to both of them!!
I concluded that there are a lot of fast old guys in this part of New England! I was 39th overall, which I was very happy about, but 6th in my agegroup with all 6 of us within 3 minutes of each other. As the guy just ahead of me proclaimed when he saw the results, "let's hear it for the old guys."
With continued good training, I think that 2:50 is achievable on a cooler day and relatively quick course. Maintaining 6:30 pace, which seemed so daunting at mile 1, seemed increasingly possible as the race progressed, as long as the weather is cool.
