An Awful Bad Day

Pictured: the one thing salvaged from yesterday; my race medal

That certainly didn't go according to plan. The Frederick Marathon was supposed to be the pinnacle of my marathoning career to date. It was to be a celebration in the small town atmosphere of middle-a-Maryland. It wasn't. It wasn't in the worst possible way. I should be crushed right now. I'm not. My pride is damaged. My humility is at an all-time high. I learned lessons. Isn't that what it's about? If not, it should be. Once again I have no excuses. But I do have some reasons that I believe led to this 3:45:13 marathon time. Which brings me to my secondary minor point. It is amazing how perspective can change. When I ran my first marathon in Cleveland in 2006 I would have looked at this 3:45:13 as an amazing feat. In looking at it on my 5th marathon and using comparative figures from the four that preceded it, it is an utter disaster. But onto the lessons.

I didn't train hard enough. Plain and simple. I should have recognized what Philadelphia took out of me emotionally and physically. I rushed back and tried to wipe out the 0:04 disappointment from Philly.

I recalled after Cincinnati last year saying that I had a hard time training for a spring marathon surrounded by all those hockey games. I should have remembered that, but I was blinded by the fact that I was so close and wanted to badly to get my Boston qualifying time.

I chose the wrong race. I bantered back and forth between Frederick, Buffalo and even toyed with the idea of going back to Cleveland where I knew it was flat. I registered for Frederick because I was stubborn. I wanted to run a race I hadn't done before. I registered knowing that route changes were coming for Frederick. I got cocky knowing that I train on hills around here. How hilly could it be in Western Maryland? I'll answer that one. Pretty goddamn hilly. And at the wrong time. Beginning at mile 19 some awesome hills contributed to this day.

I also chose it because it was smaller than my normal race. What I failed to realize was that a smaller field would also cause the fans lining the route to also diminish. There is no substitute for the adrenaline and the motivation of having people lined up along the course. This race had it in spurts, but not near enough and not nearly at the right spots.

The uncertain became painfully certain. The great unknown going into any race that you register for months in advance is the weather. Although the temperatures were in the low 60's there was high humidity early on that made it feel a lot warmer than it was. When the sun came out (at around mile 7 for me) it was relentless. It never went away. And the course again haunted me providing very little shade. The winds did pick up and gave a cool breeze, but it was almost too windy. The trade off was a tie in my opinion.

Pollen. Early May in the heart of Maryland is not for someone with allergies to pollen. Although it wasn't all that bad, it wasn't good considering the other factors at play. Put them all together and you've got a not so good day for yours truly.

Still, things are not always as they may seem when you are able to put it into proper perspective. Here it is. I wasn't alone. The overall field was slow (probably due to conditions, but I'm guessing more to the course). Had I accomplished my goal time of 3:15 I would have placed 24th overall in the field of 929. As it was, I finished 171st of 929 runners; fairly respectable. In my age group (35-39) I finished 33rd of 106 runners (top third). Again, respectable. In looking at the race itself, I was on my Boston qualifying pace through 15 miles, with a torrid half-marathon time of 1:37:07. In comparison I crossed the half marathon mat in Philadelphia at 1:36:13.

As it stands it was a perfect storm of all the things that were wrong with running that race yesterday. I have to live with it, learn from it and move on from it. In the end what I realize is that this is simply part of the story. A story that is yet to be written and when it is, this will be one of the darker days along the journey.

What disappointed me most about yesterday was the fact that I couldn't see what I should have known. This was bound to happen.

Additional Raceday Photos:

Above: Prior to the start. Note the traffic in the background that we wisely avoided.

Below: Shortly after the finish with Tera (left) and Vee (right). Should have seen me trying to stand up from that squat after the photo. Also, note the playoff beard in full force. Let's Go Pens.