After a nice shakeout run the day before, I feel ready for today. Not to push for a PR but to get a good solid training run-in since I have the Richmond Marathon in two weeks with my daughter Bianca. The morning routine is as usual: hot cereal with almond butter, coffee, water, and a high-electrolyte Gatorade about 35-45 minutes before the start of the event. I was unable to use the porta-potty for plenty of time. Even though this is a very long event, I included a warm-up walk of about 1 mile to the start line, similar to last year. I was able to chat with a few friends at the start area. It was great to see many friends and runners who were ready to toe the line to tackle either the 10k, Half, or Full Marathon. The announcer mentioned that there were about 7k runners in today’s event. That was an uptick from the usual 4k in the early days of completing this event.

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Miles 1-3

The temperature at the start was nicely in the mid 40s. The plan for today was to get close to 4:45, given that this is a training run. I started with Jamie in corral B, start at mid point. I really wanted to run a super easy pace the first few miles and then decide to pick it up later if feeling with energy.

Miles 4-8

I was already feeling warm, so I took the neck warmer off. Sugar is running on the borderline on the high side, and that is ok, I’m feeling good. I continued to fuel every 3 miles, first with a baby food 100 calories pouch, then around mile 8, I had a Maurten Solid with 250 calories. Seeing many friends that were running the half returning after their turn around.

The pace was still a very conservative one, but doable to hit 4:45 target. I am just running just a tad above the overall average to make sure I can pick it up in the later miles. I am also monitoring the heart rate as I do not want it to get out of control, so I keep it at around 150-160.

Miles 9-13

Now, with only the full marathoner on the course, I can see ahead of me and determine how I am going to pursue this. I pressed the pace a little bit on a downhill. With the increased the pace, I was pressing just enough to get my heart rate in the upper range of Zone 2. I still feeling great; my left knee gave me a pop during the downhill, but no pain. I need to be careful. I am slowly picking a few runners up that started to walk.

I was already feeling the temps now into the low 60s. There was minimal cloud coverage and it was mostly gone by now. My legs were feeling okay.

Miles 14-19

These miles were basically flat, which was a relief for my knee. I saw many great friends returning after the turnaround. Cameron was running solid and fresh using a run walk approach, going steady and ahead of me. Alex pursuing an under 4:00 hour marathon was also looking great just ahead of the pacers. Udit was running and pressing the pace looking good when we crossed each other.

I was glad we were running this section under the cover of trees at the greenway without the cloud coverage you can still feel the pounding of the sun even at 60 degrees. From time to time there was a nice cool breeze that was phenomenal in cooling me down.

Miles 20-25

Here comes the main hill, and finally, the sugars seem to stay on track but are still on the high side. I slowed down a touch to tackle and fast-walk the hills, passing people who were struggling at this time, even while walking. After the last big uphill, the course got us going straight on Hillsboro Street instead of the usual out-and-back side road. That was a surprise to me, but feeling with great energy, I started to press the pace a little, but for the last 3 miles.

I continued making progress, my heart rate now was Z4 at times when trying to keep the pace. I slowed down enough to recover my heart rate back to at least Z3 during the aid station where I was grabbing Gatoerade now at the aid stations.

Miles 26 to Finish

My heart rate was in Z3, feeling the effort and a few final rolling hills and I pressed the pace all the way to the finish line. Where Kaleel and Naveen finished in a great performance and were waiting for the few InsaneRunners to arrive.

Highlights:

Course: Lots of runners, but there are very wide roads for the most part until the half and marathon split. The course narrows at the greenways a little bit, but there are no issues as there are only marathoners running this stage of the race. Hill-wise, there are rolling hills that require attention to the effort. Mile 18 hill is challenging, especially in the later part of the event, as it is a long, steady hill. Need to take advantage of the tangents at the turns and turnarounds, which could add distance to the route.

Venue: At the finish, it was good, simple, but effective. Some music, water.

Expo: Small Expo – Better than last year with a few more vendors.

Weather: Mid 40sº and nice cloud coverage at the start. By the end, we were hovering high in the 60s and full sun.

T1D: Sugars were very in range but on the high side for most of the event.

Fueling:

Pre-Race: 1 serving of Hot Cereal and Latte. A banana about 45 minutes before the start of the event.

Race: Tailwind, Beet and Magnesium mix, mostly water at the aid stations, one baby food pouch, and one Maurten bar.

Post: Protein shake, vitamin, and lots of water.

Learning Points:

• Applied the learning about taking easy and keep a watch on my heart rate better this time.

Month/Year	Event	Location	Type	Time
Nov-24	City of Oaks Marathon	NC	Full	4:49:49