2014 Twin Cities Marathon Race Report

What a perfect day for a marathon!  Almost too perfect, as I was kind of guilty of a rookie mistake today, going out too fast.  I had a good, restful taper and that coupled with the 37 degree temps meant a fast start.  Mile 1 was 6:22!  Oops!  Luckily there is a hill at mile 2, so I dropped back down to a more sensible pace.  I kept holding back, every mile, but most of my splits were 6:32, 6:33, 6:28, 6:30 for mile after mile.  It all felt so effortless and I have to admit, I got a little cocky.  Instead of taking my foot off the gas, I went for it.  I hit the half at 1:25:40, which was a full minute faster than what I had planned.  I slowed a bit on West River Road, I had developed a huge blister on the top of my left big toe and it finally popped at mile 16.  With that out of the way, I was back on 6:30 pace for mile 17.  I thought my goal was in the bag and was thinking I could get this sucker down to 2:50, then it hit me.  By mile 19, I had slowed to 6:45 and I hadn't even hit the hills yet.  I refocused at mile 20 and ran another 6:35, which was encouraging.  Mile 21 was the first hill and I maintained a 6:46 pace.  The goal of 2:52:59 was still alive.  Mile 22 was bad, not even breaking 7 minute pace.  I thought I would bounce back at mile 23, but there was not much left.  I finished the last 3 miles in 6:58, 6:42 and 6:58.  Final time was 2:53:59, 1 minute short of my goal, but 1 minute faster than last year and a new PR!

After crossing the finish line, I looked down at my left foot and my pretty lime green Brooks shoes had a big blood stain across the toe box.  After further examination, the blister popped and all the skin from the top of my toe peeled back.  It was not a pretty sight.  Of course, I proceeded to show the entire family!  

I ran a pretty good race, but the highlight of the day was watching my daughter complete her first marathon.  For better or worse, I coached her through her first training cycle.  Not only did she finish with relative ease on low mileage training, but she negative split her first marathon.  Twin Cities is not an easy course to do that and on her first time nonetheless.  Congrats to a very special young gal!

Now for some well-deserved time off!

Happy Running!

Rick