Newport Marathon

Today I ran the Newport Marathon, 3:35 (h:m), which was a personal best by about 15 minutes. The marathon was a mixture of Marathoners and Half-Marathoners, and I made the mistake of pacing with the Half-Marathoners for the first half of the marathon, for a time of about 1:23 (h:m), also a personal best. Because of this, I was in 4th place for the full marathon at the half way point and on to about mile 16.5. After that, it was a painful battle to keep pace after not having done so for the previous 16 miles.

I am very happy because I did get a personal best. I am now reminded of how important it is to pace myself, and going to put serious thought into how to pace myself better. Running smarter would do a lot to help me run faster. One thought on running smarter, writing out what times I should be hitting at each mile, and a watch/iPhone to see if I'm hitting those times, with the ability to adjust mid race.

It was a very beautiful day for a marathon, with clear skies, amazing foliage, and some running along the ocean. It was also miserably cold at the 08:00 start of the marathon. Standing around, waiting for it to start, I was shivering uncontrollably and imagining my muscles twisting around in my body to avoid being near the skin. As with one of my training runs, I started out very fast to warm my body up, and never really mellowed out to a more manageable pace. I told myself to relax many times during the first half, but now in hindsight, I didn't.  

There were not many lengthy thoughts that went through my head during the marathon. It was more of an emotional experience. If I was to recall this marathon in my head, it would be like an old relationship, that I look back on fondly, for its ups and downs. Filled with moments of warmth and unintentional coldness, a mid-point high that carried the relationship for a good portion after. Finally though, it ended in pain and heartache. I'm not sad about it though, because there were good times, and I want to do another one, because I think I'm wiser for the experience, and know a bit more what I can give and what I expect in return.