Race Report: Mercedes Marathon

OK, for my first plunge into the blogspot I've decided to make it easy by giving a race report of my latest marathon adventure. Last Sunday I ran the Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham, Alabama. The day of the race we awoke to a cool, crisp morning, perfect for running a marathon. Temperatures were low 40s at the start with very little wind. The marathon started at the same time as the half which always leads to some confusion as to who you are racing against. I quickly settled in with one of the few runners I knew of in the race, Michael Wardian (the early leader in the Olympic Trials). We ran together through a five mile split of 26:47. At this point we were probably between 10-15th place but it was impossible to tell who of the leaders was in the half marathon and who was running the full.

After a long uphill followed by a short decent I started to pull away from Wardian and the other guy we were with. At eight miles the half marathon and full finally split and I finally learned that I was in 4th place behind a group of three Kenyans. They evidently decided to ease off the pace at that point because I quickly caught up to them to join the leading pack. After running with the group for about a mile I realized they were still slowing down, so I picked it back up to 5:15 pace and pulled away from the group. The Kenyans didn't even bother to stay with my move which was quite a surprize. (I learned later that they thought I was running a leg of the marathon relay).

By 10 miles I was running by myself in the lead. I passed through in 53:23. The next 5 miles were the easiest of the race. I was convinced that I was running away with the victory and kept pumping out 5:20's. I passed 15 miles in 1:20:13 (2:20 pace). I knew that the fastest time on the course the last 4 years was a 2:26 so I thought I was pretty safe even if I slowed over the 2nd half.

At 16 miles I got my first taste of what was to come when my bike pacer turned around and told me there was a group of 4 realing me in. I was also starting to hurt a bit from the pace so I purposefully slowed down a bit so I might have something left if caught by the group. As the miles wore on I could hear (and feel) the pack closing in on me. This has to be the worst feeling in a racing. When you've gone out too hard and you know people are catching up to you and there's nothing you can do about it.

Well they did catch up. Those same 3 Kenyans and Wardian was with them as well. The only thing was that Wardian was furiously yelling at the Kenyans when they caught me. He was screaming that they had cut the course at several spots and that they would all be disqualified. This actually inspired me to keep running hard.

We had a huge hill from 21-23 and I actually started to feel better! I passed one of the Kenyans towards the top. Wardian had about 15 seconds on me and the 2 leaders had another 15 or so on him. I knew the last three miles were all downhill or flat so I tried to pick up the pace and see if I could catch any others. I was slowly realing in Wardian and at 25 miles he passed one of the leaders who seemed to have completely shattered just 1 mile too soon. I soon passed him as well and now it was just Wardian and the lone leader ahead. With a half mile left I absolutely put the hammer down in an effort to catch Wardian who was only 30 yards ahead of me. Unfortunately at this point he turned around and saw me sprinting after him which destroyed my chances of surprising him. He started sprinting too and despite my efforts I could not close the last 5 meters. He ended up beating me by 1 second and the speed of our chase at the end brought us to within 6 seconds of the winner, Gilbert Kiptoo. At the finish line Wardian yelled a couple of choice words at the "cheaters" and immediately launched his protest, the results of which I haven't heard yet.

So that's how we ended up:
1. Kiptoo 2:23:18
2. Michael Wardian 2:23:24
3. Andy Martin 2:23:25

I was happy about how good I felt during most of the race but disgusted by my lack of ability to pace myself correctly. Normally, I pride myslef on being the smart runner who gets the most out of his abilities. I left this race feeling that I was better than both of the guys that beat me if only I would have run a smarter race.

Oh well, that's life on the running circuit. You win some and you lose some. Next time though, I'm determined to run negative splits. Of course that's easier said than done.