Rubber Side Down

Napa Valley Marathon 2009

It was a dark and stormy morning. Dark until the sun came up anyway as we stood around in Calistoga waiting. If you are going to run a marathon in the pouring rain (with a slight head wind from time to time,) might as well make it one where you PR.

Going into Napa I felt that a 4:30:00 finish would be about right based on my long runs and my general condition but I guess what the say about racing is true, it fires you up and motivates you in positive ways, which at least partly explains the 4:08:20 finish. The rest I'll have to put down to some luck with choices.

Knowing there was going to be rain, the first decisions were what to wear. I've run in the rain plenty before and the forecast was for mild temperatures (50s F) so I didn't want to wear a thick layer that I would have to take off later in the race. I settled on a short sleeve dryfit shirt and a thin longsleeve Nike pullover over it. The pull has a small gel pouch in the back that I had never used so this was a nice opportunity.

The choice of what to wear before the start was simplified by the Napa Marathon providing a swag backpack with attached bib number that doubled as a sweats bag. I brought a warm cotton hoodie and an umbrella which kept me quite comfortable while I was standing around waiting. Then I changed into the $2 poncho Mike bought me at the Expo and dropped everything off on the bus for the finish line. I also wore my thinnest running gloves that I knew would not get too hot even if the weather got warm (it didn't.) I didn't expect them to get quite so soaked from absorbing the rain, but a little fist clenching every so often squeezed out the excess water, and they worked well to wipe the rain out of my eyes. I also opted for my thinnest running socks because my standard ones were feeling too thick and heavy lately. They ended up working well even after I had soaked both feet by stepping in puddles on the road.

Napa was unique in my marathon experience by providing boxes for racers to have their own drinks delivered to any of the aid stations. Mike clued me in to this and so I used 2 700ml water bottles with sports tops and filled them with 200 calories of HEED from Hammer Nutrition. I carried a 3rd bottle from the start mixed with a light solution of Perpetuem. This turned out to work perfectly. Starting off with a bananna 30 minutes before post time, I sipped the first bottle slowly over the first 6 miles, finishing it off with a gel at mile 6.5 about an hour into the race. I ran the next 5.5 miles without stopping and picked up my 2nd bottle at mile 11.9. I drank that more aggressively and finished it over about 4 miles. I ran the next couple miles not having to stop or carry anything, feeling pretty good until I grabbed my next bottle at the 18.4 mile aid station. I drank that bottle over the next 4 miles, stopping somewhere near the end of the bottle to down my 2nd gel - this time one with caffeine.

After that it was settle in for the final miles. I attempted to grab gatorade at one of the later stations but the thought came too late and I ended up past the gatorade and into the plain water cups and for whatever reason decided to just not bother stopping at all (a clue that racing often distrubs rational thought.) I did eat one piece of bananna in the middle-late miles but other than that I ran through every aid station. Having fluids with me was a huge benefit both by being able to hydrate when I wanted and avoiding having to slow down and drink from the cups. Having the cool weather and being soaked in rain the whole way made it possible to get away with just the 3 bottles. During the race it seemed like a lot of fluid but in hind sight it probably wasn't enough by a third; a liter an hour would have been better and that is supported by what I experienced during the race. Even though I was drinking large gulps at a time, I never felt like I had too much liquid in my stomach. Psychologically I thought it was a lot, but my body could have taken more.

The crowds were great during the race, there were large groups at various places on the road even though the weather was so bad - everyone cheering for all the runners and hardly any of the evil purple people fans. I found myself unconsciously surging every time I ran through the crowd.

I kept my pacing pretty even through the whole race - I fought the urge to surge at the start even though I still ran the first mile at 8:45 but I was passed by tons of people. I had thought to hold a 10min pace for the first 6 miles, but I slowed and pretty easily kept a 9:15-9:30 pace even as more people were passing me. I would see them again later. My training runs had led me to think a 10min pace or slower for the first half would be necessary to maintain strength until the finish but I continued at mid 9min pace making sure I never felt like I was working so hard that my breathing quickened. Being faster than my target it was a little easier to talk myself into slowing on the hills, again based on keeping my breathing steady, and that's the guide I used all the way to mile 25. By mile 25 I had already been passing runner after runner for some time. Some where pulling up to walk, others shuffling along trying to maintain a least the form of running. Right after passing a pair of guys I heard one of them say that he was falling apart and apologize to the other guy for holding him back. Its a completely different experience to be in the last miles of a marathon and know that you still have gas in the tank. My legs were definitely starting to hurt but my breathing was normal and my head clear. Around mile 25 I caught up and started to pass another group of runners just behind a woman who also seemed to be running strong and starting her last mile kick. I slotted in a couple yards behind her and we ran up to the final 200meters at about a 9 min pace.

The Napa finish is about as devious as it gets, with no less than 3 or 4 turns in the last 200 meters before you catch sight of the finish line. With 4:08 on the clock above the finish tape and the seconds passing, I ran past and into my new PR.

The Napa runner's buffet was a bit thin but hot soup was wonderful after being soaked. The drive back home was fun as Mike and I recounted our various race experiences and I was still a bit shocked that I was so drastically faster than my expected finish. I guess the good thing about low expectations are they are easy to exceed ;)

posted by Patrick el Coyote @ 1:32 PM