tyrson

Result: http://www.mainemarathon.com/2009marathon.html
Gun Time:  3:34:38
Net Time:  3:34:11
Pace Per Mile:  8:12
Overall Position: 147/959
Age Group Position (30-34 M): 16/82
BQ Split: +23:12

T-1 hour
My arrival in Portland.  The on-ramp to Forest Avenue wasn't too crowded at that point (though I did get here earlier than in previous years).  I skirted around a few streets to avoid the line of cars at the light and parked in the garage as usual.

T-45 minutes
By the time I had shed my outer clothing and chugged down the last of my drink it hit 7AM and I slowly made my way out to the starting area.  The weather was warmer than I was expecting it; it was also less rainy.  Conditions were definitely great for a long race.

T-30 minutes
With the sound of bagpipes from the Maine Ulster Scots, I started to focus and prepare myself.  I did some stretching but most of my prep was mental.  I wanted that goal of 3:10:00 but I also new the reality of my situation and that I may not be in the right condition to hit it today.  I think I may have psyched myself out too much, but I'll get to that later on.

T-15 minutes
The runners start assembling (or crowding) the start line.  The noise got to the point where the speaker was just a dull drone.  With each minute that passes, all the sounds of the crowd and announcer fade out like something out of a movie and I begin to settle in for a long 3+ hour run.

Start Time
The Star-Spangled Banner was sung beautifully, and about 30 seconds afterward, the cannon fires and scares the hell out of everyone (I'm still amused by that).  And with that, the race begins.

First Mile - 8:15 (7:47 from start line)
I ran about as expected for the first mile.  I didn't want to go out fast else I'd lose control of the rest of the race.

Miles 2-5
Miles 2, 3, and 4 were all 7:15s, what I expected and wanted.  The fifth mile, however, was hit at 7:40 which was the beginning of the wall that I hit.

Miles 6-11
I hit each mile between 7:25-7:40 without consistency - For every mile I pushed, I got a mile that I was forced to recover on. I took my first GU early in mile 8 - on schedule - and looked down at my watch in mild disappointment. This was the stretch where I felt the worst mentally because it was there that I realized that 3:10:00 wasn't in the cards for me that day.  My time at mile 10 was 75:17, roughly 7:32 for a pace, and save for the downhill that got me to 10, I simply could not muster the energy to maintain a sub-7:30 pace. By mile 11, I felt pretty deflated.

Mile 12-16
This was the stretch where I forgot about any goal time and just decided to run what my body could give me and hang on until the end.  I hit 1:39:30 (approximately) at the half-way point in the race and decided I was going to try and cling to that pace for as long as I could.  The rolling hills at this stretch were not fun but I forgot about them as I just mentally sang songs to myself and made sure I kept proper running form all the way.

Mile 17-20
I managed to keep a respectable pace through this point though I was already hovering around 8 minutes on each mile.  I crossed the 20-mile marker at 2:38:47 and then decided to see if I could push myself a little in what is the hardest stretch of the Marathon.

Last 10K (20-26.2)
Though I was nearing a pace of 9 minutes per mile, I fought to maintain that pace through the final few miles of the race as I ran back into Portland.  The amazing part is that I didn't feel that 'Marathon pain' in my calves until 24, which is a good indicator of how far my legs have come since my Hyannis run in 2008.  this may have been the difference in my Maine Marathon run last year and the one this year. 

Finish
My time - 3:34:38 - was two minutes better than 2008.  Though I missed the qualifier by almost 25 minutes this time, I can still take a few lessons from this as well as find that silver lining. 

-Speed workouts were lacking this summer, so my inability to run at or around a 7 minute pace was hamered a lot.
-My weight was about 8-10 pounds heavier than Sugarloaf (where I hit 3:15:25) and may have had a lot to do with the struggles to stay under 7:30 in the early going.
-This course is very challenging.  Almost half of it is rolling hills and most of the rest of it is very gradual inclines and declines.  There are very few real flat or easy stretches in this course at all, and it's obvious that the Maine Marathon is not an easy one for me to run.  It also makes me appreciate how good the Hyannis and Sugarloaf courses are.

Future Marathons
No matter what the result, my plan at this point was to prepare for the next Marathon in Hyannis, Mass at the end of February.  Now, however, it has become my Boston-qualifying target. Even if registration for the 2010 BM will have come and gone by then I can still qualify and race in 2011, and if I decided to run Sugarloaf again, I can qualify for 2012 as well.

In The End...
I'm not discouraged.  Am I disappointed at the moment?  Yeah; I'd be lying if I said otherwise.  The time is not really a reflection of my progress and that many Marathon runners will have their bad races (or even courses).  The biggest thing for me is to learn what I can from this result and use it to become better for the next race.

Six Marathons under my belt now - it's amazing that exactly three years ago from this past weekend I was making my first jog to the end of the street from my house in Bangor.  I have no intention of stopping now.