Day 7.122: Maine Coast Marathon

It's not unusual for my alarm to go off at 4:25am on a running day.  In fact, 3:55am was fairly common in the middle of my training program, but I didn't always leap out of bed as quickly as I did on Sunday morning. It was race day.

After breakfast and coffee, I headed to the finish area where I caught a shuttle (school) bus to the start area. After threats of very warm weather, it was pleasantly comfortable. Of course comfortable when standing around means a bit warmer than you want for running, but better than being too hot before you start.

The first few miles went pretty smoothly, but by the time I ran by Mother's Beach it was getting sunny and when I got sunny it also started to get rather warm. At halfway and up to about mile 16 I was still going fine, at about mile 17 it started to be a physical effort, rather than just a matter of concentration to keep to the right pace and by mile 20 it was becoming impossible. The sun was beating down and it was impossible to get from one water stop to the next without feeling parched on the way - and there were water stops nearly every mile.

I started walking the water stops to get multiple cups of water or Gatorade at each one, and it was progressively harder to keep any kind of pace up in between. To my surprise, I wasn't really getting passed by many people even though my pace had slowed by thirty seconds a mile, then a minute, then a minute and a half.

Meanwhile, the rest of the family arrived at the finish line in time to see the leaders become winners. The picture with E5N1 and "Mr. Fluffy Pants" (a visitor from his classroom at school) was taken a couple of minutes before the winner crossed the line. Then they watched my A and B goals slip by before I finally staggered around the corner in the finish chute.  Honestly, for the last mile or so I was just concentrating on not walking, or just sitting down by the side of the course. Every step was a victory.

So, I finished, very happy with my performance on a brutal day for marathon runners - especially those from this area who had trained through the winter and not seen a day like that for perhaps seven months. It turns out that my seven-minute positive split (second half that much slower than the first), was not particularly bad on the day. Only two people who crossed the halfway point behind me finished in front whereas nineteen who got to halfway ahead of me finished behind me and five more didn't make it to the finish line at all.

So, more than a minute over my time from October's race, but a performance I can be fairly satisfied with - and bling I can wear with pride!