2009 Lincoln National Guard Marathon: Race Report

Race: Lincoln National Guard Marathon
When: Sunday May 3rd, 2009
Where: Lincoln, NE
Route: Urban streets



Introduction:
Being that it was my first marathon, Lincoln was the obvious choice. All I've ever heard about the race is how great it is. It's mostly flat, great crowds and very well organized. If you add to that it's less than 45 minutes from my home in Omaha and I spent the first 24 years of my life in Lincoln, it was a no-brain-er.

The Race:
The race course consists of two halves. The first half of the course is a loop around some of the older neighborhoods and through downtown Lincoln. The second half is an out and back that follows Capitol Parkway to turn around after passing through Holms Lake Park. Both sections of the race course start and end on the University of Nebraska campus.

There are two races occurring simultaneously, a half and full marathon. Both start together and share all but the last ½ mile of the front half of the full marathon course. This year there were 6500 total runners signed up; with around 1200 full marathon participants and the remaining 5300 for the half. This made the front half much more crowded then the back.

The Start/Finish line was in the middle of campus in the shadow of Memorial Stadium. An area I've walked through literally thousands of time during my college days. Campus (and Lincoln) have changed some since I graduated 6 years ago, but much was very familiar.

Complete race results can be found here.

My Run:
Let me start with my goals going into race day. Most books, training programs, experts, etc suggest that your only goal for your first marathon should be to “just finish”. For whatever reason, I'm not wired that way. I set myself up with some pretty lofty goals. My “100 to 1” stretch goal was to get my BQ with a time less than 3 hours 10 minutes 59 seconds. My somewhat realistic, but still a stretch was to better 3:20. With my primary goal of breaking 3:30. I expected to finish.

Race day started off well. I woke up on time. Ate a bagel and drank some water. The weather as I arrived on campus was beautiful; 50 degrees with a calm breeze. I was definitely anxious, but meeting up with 25 other runners from work helped calm me down. We took a couple of group pictures, shared some words of encouragement and scattered out to our various starting positions. I lined up near the middle of the 7 minute mile pace group. 15 minutes to go. I bounced around with nervous energy.

The Start and Miles 1-3: Started off the race feeling very good. Under control and remarkably not in too heavy of traffic. Just clicking off miles between 7:25-7:30. Highlights included Elvis playing a blow-up guitar, the state capitol building, Andy G. cheering and a few seconds later I spotted Brandon cheering as well. Even the hill up South Street didn't seem to phase me. Life is good.

Miles 4-5: Sheridan Neighborhood. What a great area of fan support. Tons of people out, cheering, supporting, partying? I was feeling great. Not pains to speak of, no soreness, this was looking to be a great day already. Saw Brandon again cheering, prior to this race I really under estimated how important have people out there you know is! On group of fans had a Jimmy Buffet theme going on, to the extent that they were offering up margaritas? Seriously, margaritas for runnings at 7:30am.
Near the end of mile 5 I got my first big pick-me-up, seeing my wife out there cheering me on. With her was my 6-year-old, Grandma, Grandpa and my Mom. Perfect timing too. I was ready to break out of my (planned) 7:25-7:30 pace.

Mile 6: Mostly downhill along 48th Street between Calvert and Hwy 2. Kicked up the pace to just under 7:00. Feeling really good as I turned the corner finishing out the first 10K in 45:57. Little bro Brad and Dad were out there cheering me.

Miles 7-8: Couple of fast miles on the bike-trail on along Hwy 2. Ran past Andy G. again, love seeing people I knew. Still checking out all of the other people, enjoying the crowds. Crossing 27th Street I noticed another nun standing out in the crosswalk. Thinking to myself, wow the Catholics are really into supporting the runners. I got a few strides closer and noticed that in fact this nun had a beer gut and a beard. Great costume though.

Miles 9-10: The first part of mile 9 is a pretty good assent up through the Lincoln Country Club neighborhood. The good news is that there is a nice descent shortly after. I was really cruising at this point in the race. My legs felt good, lungs were under control. Both miles were ahead of my target pace. Again, this old neighborhood came out in force to cheer us all on. Very cool.

Miles 11-12: Heading back into downtown on 10th Street was probably the least enjoyable part of the front half. Just not much to look at until you get down closer to the Capitol and the few blocks of downtown. I was still just cruising along with a total pace that now eclipsed my overall goal by a few seconds. Towards the end of the 12th mile, the course splits. The half'ers head through campus back to the finish line and the full'ers head around the stadium. It went from lots of people, to a lonely few, in the blink of an eye. I did hook up with another runner though. We chatted briefly as we made our way to the mile 13 marker.

Mile 13: Another good mile down. Still carrying a great average pace. My Garmin was a little long on distance, so my actual pace was a hair slower than what my watch was reporting. Either way, I was cruising and feeling very good.

Half way: 1:35:27 was my official chip timed split for the first half. Holy cow, that's quite a bit faster than I had planned. Oh yeah, and that's a new PR for the half-mary too.

Miles 14-16: Just passing the halfway point and Elvis had returned. Marking his return was also the Suns debut as a force to be reckoned with. At this point though, I was only thinking of skin care, not temperature and hydration.... that would soon change. Through this stretch my pace weakened a bit. I was still a second or so ahead of the BQ pace, but I was really noticing that the miles were getting harder to keep the pace up. The runner I met up with back on 12 was along with me until just past mile 16. At that point he slowed an wished me the best. I didn't catch his name so I'm not sure where he ended up, I hope he did well.

Miles 17-19: On my own. My earlier delusions of an “easy” day were pretty much burnt away by this stretch. My pace was still in a really good place, but with the climb up the Holms Lake dam, it was slipping. More noticeably, my confidence with slipping as my temperature climbed. For the first time all day, I slowed my pace to a walk through the aid station. (mile 18.5 25 seconds of walking).

Mile 20: The notorious “Wall”. I can officially say that I know exactly what that is now. The course goes through the park, out the other side, along 70th street and then along Normal to the turn around. I really started to not feel good on this stretch of the run. The mile 20 marker is on Normal just before you turn back to 70th to retrace the route that brought us there. 20M official split: 2:26:29.

Mile 21: As I made the turn back off of Normal onto 70th I was out of it. Luckily though, my Dad appeared out of no-where for an unplanned cheer. Holy cow did I need that. As I cruised down 70th I made a couple of realizations that would pretty much shape that last 10K. First I noticed that my arms and legs were covered in goosebumps. Recognizing this as a sign of dehydration I panicked a little. (Just a side note. I drank water and/or Gatorade at every aid station. I had 4 gels as well.) The second thing I noticed was that I drank too much water before the race and really had to pee. So being invincible, I tried to ignore both and carry on back through the park. I started playing numbers games in my head. Games that would continue through the remainder of the run. If I just rest this mile and pick it up with 5 to go, I could still get it...

Mile 22: Back on top of the dam again I walked through the aid station once again. Drinking water, Gatorade and dumping water over my head (mile 21.2 30 seconds of walking). Felling slightly re-energized I picked up the pace down the hill. Only to slow and walk again at the bottom, feeling like my quads were going to rip out of my skin (mile 21.7 40 seconds of walking). Including the walking I still kept that mile under 8:00 minute pace. But I was beginning to accept that I wasn't going to cross the line with a BQ today.

Mile 23: In between mile marker 22 and 23 for the first time I really started to question if I could finish the race. I'd made it this far, but I felt like the tank was empty. In contrast to that very statement, the tank was full as well. I had to stop at a porta-john at mile 22.5. I really felt like I could not make it. My appolgies to anyone who had to use the left john in front of the Ambassador after me. My legs were shaking so bad I had zero aim. That little break cost about 50 seconds or so. Accounting for that lost time, my split wasn't that bad on that mile.

Mile 24: My mouth has never felt so dry in my life. My legs hurt. Confidence shattered. And BQ long gone. I focused on the remaining miles, working through the calculations to what kind of time I could still salvage. I could still possibly hit 3:15 if I could pick it up. I walked through the next aid station (mile 23.8 30 seconds of walking) and then tried to pick the pace back up. That increase was short lived. There just wasn't any energy left.

Mile 25: OK, bargaining begins. If I can just make it to that next aid station. If I can just make it to that next intersection. Wow, can I really make it these last few miles. I guess I could walk. Again, out of no where, I got a little kick on inspiration, my Dad was there again cheering. His timing couldn't have been better either. If he'd not been there, that last few miles would probably have been spent walking. I pull myself together and kept on trucking. 3:20 was attainable. I could do it. Well OK, so I walked through the aid station again (mile 24.4 20 seconds walking). I started to gain back some confidence and drive. As I rounded the turn past Lincoln High though the wind completely let out of my sail. In front of me was the longest small hill I have ever seen. Painful. I walked part of the ascent (mile 24.9 55 seconds of walking).

Mile 26: The last full mile was brutal. I tried to pull something out of deep in those energy stores to finish strong, but to no avail. I dragged myself through the slowest mile of the day. 9 minutes 18 seconds. As I turned the corner onto Vine, I was anticipating a quick burst to the finish, but again I underestimated. That last quarter mile looked like 3 miles.

Last 385 yards to the finish. Nothing left. Crowd yelling. I knew my family and friends were in that mass of people somewhere. I just put my head down and kept putting on foot in front of the other. Crossing the finish line the clock read 3:20:57. My chip time was 3:20:38. Final half split: 1:45:11 and Final 10K split 53:28.

Final Thoughts:
At the end of the race I was greeted by many different family and friends cheering my finish. My wife was the first to get to me and give me a give hug. I could barely walk, my hands were clammy and I wanted water and food more than ever. I was a little out of it, wondering around grabbing food and drink. My feet felt swollen past the point my shoes could contain. My legs struggled to carry my body up the curb. When I sat down to take my shoes off, I nearly couldn't get back up. I was spent. I left everything on the course. And I am already trying to plan my next one....

Many thanks to my loving and extremely patient wife Shana. I have spent a lot of 'our time' running the last many months. I've left you pregnant and with the boys quite a few times too. Thank you so much for supporting me and encouraging me. I really wouldn't and couldn't have done this without you! Thanks to my two boys Blake and Noah, my Mom, Dad, older brother Andy, younger brother Brad and all of my extended family who've encouraged me (yes even calling me crazy counts as encouragement). My coach Ryan, thank you for your guidance, encouragement and for challenging me to keep improving. To all of the fellow runners from work, your advise, conversation and encouragement helped more than you know.