I am having a hard time making up my mind on something. I have two things that are occurring on the same weekend (8/1 & 2) and I can't do both:
- I have been asked to be part of a 3 person team for a 12 hour trail relay race that is close to where I live. I had thought about doing this particular race because I had heard good things about it and it doesn't have the associated logistics issues many relay races have because you are in one spot and do 10 mile laps on a nice trail. The other people on this relay team are good runners so this seems like a good event to do with some good people.
- I also have a high school class reunion that has been scheduled that same weekend. This would involve me traveling 1,000 miles but I could also visit my family at the same time. Another factor is that none of my family lives in the city where I went to high school so it means lots of driving around all over the place during the whole weekend. I am not a fan of traveling to Wisconsin (where the reunion will be held) in the summer but would rather go and visit my family in the fall (fall in Wisconsin is the best season). I have no reservations about attending this but don't feel I am missing much by not being there. I went to the one 5 years ago so I think I can pass on this one.
So what do you think, which one should I do?
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Friday, May 8, 2015
London Marathon Recap
I have been a bit busy since running the London Marathon on April 26th so I haven't had a chance to write up a summary until now. In addition I came down with a cold my last few days in the UK and have been getting over it ( I am not a good sick person because I barely ever get sick).
This is from after the race in front of Buckingham Palace (to get back to my hotel I had to cross right in front of it so naturally I had to get a picture):
I was ecstatic that I was finally able to accomplish my goal of running all the World Marathon Majors with this race This was also the first marathon I can remember where I know I could have run even faster if the course was not so tight for the number of people running (almost 38,000).
The weather was ideal in that it was overcast and cool, we had some light rain and it was a bit breezy in the starting area. This is what it looked like in the start area:
We had to get out to the starting area over an hour before the race so you ended up sitting around for awhile. They had lots of toilets so the wait wasn't long up until 15 minutes before race time then the lines got long.
Bag check was very easy in that it was spread out by number groups into huge trucks so you could find your truck and step right up to drop it off.
This is my first bad thing to say about this race: I got near my wave (#6) and thought maybe they had seeded me wrong. I had an idea this might have happened because from talking to other people earlier who I knew ran similar times they were all in wave #3 or higher. Maybe they expected me to exaggerate on my registration because I could tell as I looked around and saw the 4:30 pace group nearby that I was not even close to being in the right group.
As soon as the race started I knew for sure I wasn't in the right group due to the pace. I spent lots of time and energy passing people just to get to a comfortable pace in the first 10 miles.
One of the unusual things about the London Marathon is they don't use cups at aid stations they use small water bottles and at electrolyte stations they have bigger bottles (yes they do pick them up afterwards and recycle them). I had heard this beforehand so I was prepared to watch out for bottles on the ground after aid stations. I learned during the race you could step on the water bottles and crush them if needed because they were a flimsy plastic. However you had to watch out for the electrolyte (Locozade) bottles because they were bigger, thicker bottles and you could twist an ankle if you stepped on one. Both bottles were a really good thing because you could close the top and they were light enough to carry in your hand until you wanted or needed a drink.
The course is not hard as far as hills, in fact I believe it might be net decrease in altitude from beginning to end. The hardest part is that there are lots and lots of turns and you have to be on the lookout for curbs that pop up in the middle of roads and when you go through a roundabout.
The London Marathon is a huge charity race so you will see lots of people wearing charity shirts throughout the race. Unfortunately this also meant there were lots and lots of people who did not train properly for this race and I was having to pass lots of them which slowed me down. It was so crowded and tight in spots that I had to slow down and wait until it opened up a bit and I could get around.
My typical race strategy for marathons is to get to the halfway point, assess how I feel and adjust as needed. I felt great through the first half of the race and decided I was going to run as fast as possible and continue passing people whenever possible in the second half. In the second half I was going at a good pace the entire time and never hit any wall. The only thing slowing me down was the amount of people and how narrow the course was in spots. In addition I started to encounter a common occurrence in the later part of any large marathon: people who stopped in the middle of the course to walk. There was a guy in front of me who stopped and took a straight right turn, I was able to avoid him for the most part but my watch caught the edge of his bib # and ripped it part of the way off the pins from his shirt. I might have yelled something but just kept going because there was nothing I could do about it.
Another example how crowded it was: I wanted to take another GU packet around mile 20. I typically wait until I reach a water station and will go off to the side away from the course to eat it and drink some water. The course was so crowded with fences and spectators right up against the fences I couldn't actually take it until after mile 23.
The only place that does not have spectators is around mile 24 when you go through an underpass and then head into the homestretch. The last few miles go past Westminster Cathedral then Buckingham Palace before finishing on The Mall.
I felt so good near the end that I took off with a huge kick and ending up finishing in 3:39. I was moving so fast at the end and weaving around lots of people that the race photographers from MarathonPhoto did not get any pictures of me in the lead up to the finish.
This is right afterwards in the finish area (Note: I have no idea who the person on my left is but I looked up their bib #, according to that number it is an 18-39 woman named Katie so I'm pretty sure somebody got a bib from someone else. I also saw a guy who had just finished running smoking a cigarette in this area!)
Once again I was really happy to be able to accomplish my goal of running all the Marathon Majors with this race. A few noteworthy items:
- This race had a really great expo with lots of different vendors and it was not too crowded when we went on Friday.
- The race course itself is really neat in that you pass lots of historic buildings and go over the Tower Bridge.
- This is the first marathon I can remember where from the beginning to the end I was passing people. Part of this was due to being seeded incorrectly but part of it was due to number of people and how narrow the course is in spots.
- This is also the first marathon where in my head I know I could have run even faster but the course and # of people did not allow it.
- Find a good place to fuel up the days before the race that is not an English pub. I was lucky enough to have found a small Italian place a block away from my hotel which helped because frankly the food at most of the other places nearby wasn't very good (but the beer was!).
- I would recommend this race to anyone who has a chance to run it but just be prepared for the limitations noted. Also it is great destination race because there are so many things to see in London. We also took a short trip to Scotland afterwards which was a short flight away so overall it was a good run and vacation.
This is from after the race in front of Buckingham Palace (to get back to my hotel I had to cross right in front of it so naturally I had to get a picture):
I was ecstatic that I was finally able to accomplish my goal of running all the World Marathon Majors with this race This was also the first marathon I can remember where I know I could have run even faster if the course was not so tight for the number of people running (almost 38,000).
The weather was ideal in that it was overcast and cool, we had some light rain and it was a bit breezy in the starting area. This is what it looked like in the start area:
We had to get out to the starting area over an hour before the race so you ended up sitting around for awhile. They had lots of toilets so the wait wasn't long up until 15 minutes before race time then the lines got long.
Bag check was very easy in that it was spread out by number groups into huge trucks so you could find your truck and step right up to drop it off.
This is my first bad thing to say about this race: I got near my wave (#6) and thought maybe they had seeded me wrong. I had an idea this might have happened because from talking to other people earlier who I knew ran similar times they were all in wave #3 or higher. Maybe they expected me to exaggerate on my registration because I could tell as I looked around and saw the 4:30 pace group nearby that I was not even close to being in the right group.
As soon as the race started I knew for sure I wasn't in the right group due to the pace. I spent lots of time and energy passing people just to get to a comfortable pace in the first 10 miles.
One of the unusual things about the London Marathon is they don't use cups at aid stations they use small water bottles and at electrolyte stations they have bigger bottles (yes they do pick them up afterwards and recycle them). I had heard this beforehand so I was prepared to watch out for bottles on the ground after aid stations. I learned during the race you could step on the water bottles and crush them if needed because they were a flimsy plastic. However you had to watch out for the electrolyte (Locozade) bottles because they were bigger, thicker bottles and you could twist an ankle if you stepped on one. Both bottles were a really good thing because you could close the top and they were light enough to carry in your hand until you wanted or needed a drink.
The course is not hard as far as hills, in fact I believe it might be net decrease in altitude from beginning to end. The hardest part is that there are lots and lots of turns and you have to be on the lookout for curbs that pop up in the middle of roads and when you go through a roundabout.
The London Marathon is a huge charity race so you will see lots of people wearing charity shirts throughout the race. Unfortunately this also meant there were lots and lots of people who did not train properly for this race and I was having to pass lots of them which slowed me down. It was so crowded and tight in spots that I had to slow down and wait until it opened up a bit and I could get around.
My typical race strategy for marathons is to get to the halfway point, assess how I feel and adjust as needed. I felt great through the first half of the race and decided I was going to run as fast as possible and continue passing people whenever possible in the second half. In the second half I was going at a good pace the entire time and never hit any wall. The only thing slowing me down was the amount of people and how narrow the course was in spots. In addition I started to encounter a common occurrence in the later part of any large marathon: people who stopped in the middle of the course to walk. There was a guy in front of me who stopped and took a straight right turn, I was able to avoid him for the most part but my watch caught the edge of his bib # and ripped it part of the way off the pins from his shirt. I might have yelled something but just kept going because there was nothing I could do about it.
Another example how crowded it was: I wanted to take another GU packet around mile 20. I typically wait until I reach a water station and will go off to the side away from the course to eat it and drink some water. The course was so crowded with fences and spectators right up against the fences I couldn't actually take it until after mile 23.
The only place that does not have spectators is around mile 24 when you go through an underpass and then head into the homestretch. The last few miles go past Westminster Cathedral then Buckingham Palace before finishing on The Mall.
I felt so good near the end that I took off with a huge kick and ending up finishing in 3:39. I was moving so fast at the end and weaving around lots of people that the race photographers from MarathonPhoto did not get any pictures of me in the lead up to the finish.
This is right afterwards in the finish area (Note: I have no idea who the person on my left is but I looked up their bib #, according to that number it is an 18-39 woman named Katie so I'm pretty sure somebody got a bib from someone else. I also saw a guy who had just finished running smoking a cigarette in this area!)
Once again I was really happy to be able to accomplish my goal of running all the Marathon Majors with this race. A few noteworthy items:
- This race had a really great expo with lots of different vendors and it was not too crowded when we went on Friday.
- The race course itself is really neat in that you pass lots of historic buildings and go over the Tower Bridge.
- This is the first marathon I can remember where from the beginning to the end I was passing people. Part of this was due to being seeded incorrectly but part of it was due to number of people and how narrow the course is in spots.
- This is also the first marathon where in my head I know I could have run even faster but the course and # of people did not allow it.
- Find a good place to fuel up the days before the race that is not an English pub. I was lucky enough to have found a small Italian place a block away from my hotel which helped because frankly the food at most of the other places nearby wasn't very good (but the beer was!).
- I would recommend this race to anyone who has a chance to run it but just be prepared for the limitations noted. Also it is great destination race because there are so many things to see in London. We also took a short trip to Scotland afterwards which was a short flight away so overall it was a good run and vacation.
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