Tobacco Road Marathon Review

Time: 2:27:17
Distance: 26.2 miles
Pace: 5:38
Place: 2nd
Map

And the streak ends. Three for three wasn't meant to be this morning in Cary, NC. To be honest, I was lucky to get second and run a slight PR on this day. It's hard to complain when you PR, but 2 seconds over 26.2 miles is practically nothing. I'm a little disappointed with the performance, but proud of how I handled myself during the race.

The race started from Brooks Park which is a really nice baseball facility in Apex or Cary, NC. I'm not exactly which city we were in. After getting my race bib from Bill Shires that morning I jogged around a little bit to warm up the legs. We were brought over to the starting line just before 7:00 am and I was able to scope out the competition. I spotted Gavin Coombs who a week early ran Gate River in 46:48 which is 5:02 pace so I knew he was fit. However, this was his first marathon and overhearing a gentleman who knew Gavin, I learned he was going to run conservatively for 2:30. I figured that I might be able to get away early on so that he wasn't a factor.

Also on the start line was a little Kenya, a Hispanic looking guy with a low bib number (turns out he was actually Moroccan) and one or two others that might be able to run around 2:30. One guy who was visibly absent was Chuck Engle who I predicted would be at the race.

The countdown to zero sent us on our way down a hill and out of the baseball park. The pace felt really slow and I found myself in the lead. We hit the mile in 5:52 and then the Moroccan took off and gapped a runner from TrakShak in Birmingham, AL by about 10 seconds. After our second mile of 5:22 which was mainly downhill, the TrakShak guy backed off the pace and I was joined by a half-marathoner. As we approached the turnoff where marathoners when left and half-marathoners went right, I was solidly in second. I wish I had been registered for the half because I would have easily took home the victory. In fact, the top 4 marathoners all split faster halves than the winning half-marathon time of 1:15:57.

The turn at the splitting point marked the entrance to the Tobacco Road Trail. The surface is similar to McAlpine's, but softer because there is a bit more sand. It would be a fantastic training surface, but it made racing a little less efficient. I stayed back about 30-40 meters from the lead feeling decent, but not good enough to make a move to close the gap. I was only about 5 miles into the race when Gavin came striding up from behind me looking fantastic. He's a tall, lanky runner whose strides just eat up ground. I already wasn't feeling great and Gavin's conservative race was out the window. He was making a move to catch the leading Moroccan.

I took my first CarbBOOM at mile six. I like starting early so if I start having stomach issues late in the race, I've already consumed some calories. The race made a hairpin turn around 7.5 miles which gave you a chance to see how others were fairing. At this early stage it was the Morrocan, Gavin, myself, TrakShak, little Kenyan?, some people and Bill Shires around 8th.

I started to have negative thoughts at this point in the race. I wasn't feeling great, I wasn't in the lead and I wasn't going to win. However, I was still in the money and it would have been dumb to drop out that early on. Besides, I still would have needed to get back to the start somehow.

The turn around point gave us a glimpse at how the race was going to be handled in terms of traffic. The marathoners on their way out were pretty good about getting over to the side to allow safe passage on the far side. However, it meant that you couldn't run the tangent each time.

At 11 miles I saw Meagan who was doing her long run for the week. She said that the guy in second (the Moroccan had been caught and passed at this point) looked to be struggling. But, then she asked me how I felt and I said "terrible." Why did I feel terrible? Well, I definitely overestimated the amount of training I could do this week which included a workout on Tuesday with Aaron and Jay, a workout with Meagan on Wednesday and a race yesterday. I also underestimated the competition because TRM was in it's first year and I figured almost nobody would show. And, I underestimated the marathon distance as being something I could handle with no problem.

I continued to clip along as best I could. After passing halfway in 1:13:30 I knew that I was still running well despite the general fatigue. The clock read 1:16 something because they started the clock at 7:00 am instead of waiting until the actual gun went off. Dumb. Looking at the splits, I was 18 seconds back from 2nd and 49 seconds back from the lead.

I could tell that I was gaining on the Moroccan, but I wasn't sure how my body was going to hold up. The race was now approaching half-marathon walker territory from both directions. Miles 14 to about 17 the course took the leaders through a sea of bodies. There were half-marathoners on the left walking out to the turn around point, and there were half-marathoners on the right running back from the turn around. Unfortunately, it wasn't greatly organized in terms of getting those participants to clear the center lane for the marathon leaders. A couple of times both the Moroccan and I had to weave through others.

Ironically, this is the section of the race that I felt the best. I went from being hunted from the 4th position, to hunting 2nd place. The Moroccan was coming back and finally the catch was made around 15 miles. I dropped my most consistent splits of the day during this portion of the race. It helped that I was fueled at this stage by two or three CarbBOOMs and we were no longer running on a soft surface. On one side the path was paved with asphalt, on the other it was dirt/sand. I became much more efficient and felt stronger for whatever reason. I even had thoughts that I might be able to catch Gavin as he only looked to be about 30 seconds up around mile 18.

The race hit dirt again for about mile from 18.5 to 19.5 miles. My only complaint with my properly fitting Karhu Racers came when I stepped on a rock and it rather hurt. When Gavin made the turn at 19 miles and he came back towards me, I made sure to put an agonized expression on my face. My hope was to get him to back off knowing that I was in the hurt tank. However, when I made the turn and approached the Moroccan, I made sure to put a relaxed expression on my face telling him that there is no chance you're going to catch me. Whether or not this worked, there was still a lot of running to be done.

The gap stayed about the same until 21 miles and then I started to slowly fade. The course entered half-marathon territory again and the traffic became an issue. I squeezed through in between those participants going out and coming back from their race's turn around. At 22 I was pretty much finished on my hopes of catching the leader. I was now running for second place.

With 4 miles to run I became a little light headed and my vision was 100 percent. I needed water soon. As I approached the intersection where the race left the Tobacco Trail I missed the water. I grabbed at two water stations on my left but a half-marathon got in my way. I grabbed at a station on the right and missed the cup. I was struggling.

As you look at the splits below, I was doing everything possible to stay focused. It felt like I was running 6:30 pace, but fortunately was still maintaining a good effort. I started looking back every couple of minutes to see if I could catch a glimpse of 3rd place. I almost wanted to see him just so I knew how much of a cushion I had. The last 5k was the worst section of a marathon that I've ever had in my three races. I didn't bonk, but I came close to it. Walking crossed my mind, but I managed to stagger to the finish safely.

Splits:

5:53, 5:22, 5:35, 5:25, 5:40,
5:28, 5:31, 5:36, 5:38, 5:38,
5:29, 5:42, 5:42, 5:28, (:09 to get the splits back on the course mile markers), 5:30,
5:25, 5:37, 5:27, 5:40, 5:31,
5:39, 5:33, 5:50, 5:48, 5:47, 5:46, 1:28 for final .2 miles.

After the race I was cooked. Lightheaded. Queasy. Numb. All accurate descriptions of how I felt. I hydrated as best I could and got a massage to help flush out some of the junk from my legs. By the time the awards ceremony rolled around it was already 12:30. It took longer to give out prizes than it took to run the marathon. The timing company was using this new system where the timing device was on the back of the race bib. No chip necessary. I could have hand timed the race quicker. Results took forever and were wrong initially. This flub would be my one criticism of the event as nobody told those waiting what was going on. An update would have been nice. The other criticism would be the traffic flow of the participants. It's tough enough to run 26.2 miles, but to weave through runners isn't fun. There needed to be more people directing half-marathoners to one side in order to allow safe passage of the lead marathoners.

Other than that, it was a great race. Good setting. Relatively flat course, though not easy. A lot of the stretches on the Tobacco Trail were long and gradual uphill sections. When you look at my splits and see miles of 5:27, 5:40, 5:31, that was just the terrain dictating the pace. For a first time marathon, the event provided everyone with a great experience. At least I enjoyed it.

I'll hopefully post some pics later. It wasn't the most spectator friendly course, but I'm sure there will be some photos to come. Thanks for the comments on my quick post right after the race.