Manitoba Marathon 2013 (June 16, 2013) – part 1 how I did

Whoohoo – finished – 4:40:07.6

Official time shows me at the half way mark at 2:01:29 – I made a couple stops to say hi to the wife and kids so was probably under 2 hours there (2nd stop was right before so I probably would have made it under 2 hours with just even the one stop).

I did 7 miles in the first hour and then settled into a slower pace from there.  I was doing pretty solid and was over 19 miles at the 3 hour mark.  At that point I still had a shot at being under 4:30 but the back of my left thigh cramped up.  Luckily I was able to walk for a minute and have it clear up – from there I had to keep my pace slower to make sure it didn’t cramp again and luckily it didn’t bug me anymore after that.

At around the 21 mile mark I still had a shot at 4:30 but I could feel I was tanking and had to switch to run walk cycles to maintain forward momentum – ran into the wife and kids for the third time about this point and had a little rest.

My running was doing well and still had a rough shot at 4:30 but I knew after mile 23 and then the bridge around mile 24 that it wasn’t going to happen.  So when I ran into the wife and kids again just after the bridge I had a bit of a longer rest than I would have otherwise and continued on.

I was able to hold onto some strength and was able to push pretty strong at the end on the nice rubberized track to feel like I finished strong.

After you get through the throng of people at the finish line and get your medal the Manitoba Marathon has a walker talk with you as you keep moving to see how you are doing.  I had a bit of fun when he asked if it was my first by holding up 4 fingers and saying no it is my 7th.  I laughed at myself before he caught it and laughed as well.

Just before the recovery area they have a second walker have a chat and direct you to the recovery area – this one commented that I was walking stronger than a lot that were finishing – I guess being used to running a half marathon the day before a marathon gives my legs a bit more strength than how these things are normally done.

So overall a little slower a race than I wanted and was feeling a bit fried by the end but considering I stopped to talk to the wife and kids 4 times and still got the fastest time I have had since before we had kids I am going to put this one in the win column.