Fail! The Santa Clarita Marathon Race Report

Note: I am writing this report while still in pain and just wrote down how I am feeling.  One of the reasons I love endurance sports is that even what is technically a failure I still good about what I just did. 



Short Version

I ran a 4:06 Marathon. This is slower than my last marathon by ~ 14 minutes. I just didn't have the mileage under me to run a good marathon. This being said I am sitting here satisfied.





Long Version 


Pre-race:


As I was driving to Santa Clarita I realized that I made a huge mistake by not checking the weather. On the way to the marathon I ran into a rain storm and I hoped that it was just passing thru however that was not the case. So as I got to the race I was very under dressed with short and just a technical t-shirt. I decided to start with the hoodie I had on. It was better than nothing. Other than that I felt good. My stomach felt great my legs felt good and I was ready to go.

Miles 1-15:

We basically had either rain or clouds and wind for this stretched. I had soaked my hoodie by 1.5 miles so at that point had to ditch it because it weighed about 20 pounds. My legs were frozen. My arms were frozen. I didn't realize just how bad until i tried to reach for a water cup and couldn't stretch my fingers. Starting at 8 Miles I considered running the half marathon, but decided against it because I came to run a marathon.  I was feeling fairly good at this point maybe that is one of the benefits of running frozen you don't feel pain


Miles 16-18:

Finally the sun decided to make an appearance and I finally started feeling some blood trickle thru my hands and legs.

Miles 19-25:

I hit the wall. My legs were just tired and I stopped being able to maintain a good cadence. I started to do the walk 2 minutes and run 8 and that seemed to help momentarily but I just didn't have it and I faded badly. At around 22 miles I actually felt dizzy and was having a hard time focusing. By the time I got to mile 25 I was ready for the thing to be over.

Last 1.2 Miles:
I had nothing left. I was running just to get to the finish line but my legs felt like they weighed like 100 pounds each. All of a sudden I was engulfed by the kids running the kids 1k and they were going so fast I tried to focus on them but I really had left it out all on the course so just basically limped my way in.

Observations

• I was prepared to run a half marathon not a full marathon. I should have listened to my gut. I needed more mileage. Endurance sports are hard for me and I need volume/harder work to get better results.
• I am glad I did the marathon as I learned about myself out there.
• Last year while watching the NYC marathon I said I wished I could be out there running. Although I didn't run that one I am very happy i got another marathon in and not sitting here wishing I had run the NYC marathon again. 
• I highly recommend the Santa Clarita Marathon. The city of Santa Clarita is a beautiful venue and they actually manged a 26 mile race on mostly trails. The race was well organized, logistics were ez and relatively flat. 
• Lesson learned - Even though I live in California I should check the weather.