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Portland was my sixth marathon, and it was also my fastest. Not my
smartest, and perhaps not the best example of a great training cycle, but
I'll take it nonetheless. I completed it with a personal best marathon
time of 3:47:07.
Every time I go out to run, I learn something about myself. The
marathon is a great equalizer. There are no excuses, and few
mitigating factors. There's just the course and the clock. By
the time you walk to the starting line, most of your work is done, all
that's left is to enjoy the ride you've trained for. I did a number of
things wrong in this race : going out too fast, not slowing down enough in
the early miles to save something for later, relying too much on the race
sport drink (which I'd not trained with). I was pleased with my mental
preparation though, and think this is what allowed me to stay in the race
despite feeling severe fatigue and fighting side stitches several times.
I'd wanted to break 4 hours definitively, and to beat my
New York PR.
If things went well, maybe I could break 3:50. And if things went
really well, I wanted to break 3:45. And I almost made 3:45.
In Portland, I had a simple race plan : do 9 min/mile splits, and try to
speed up at the end. It didn't quite go that way. I started
fast, and finished not quite as fast. I like to have a bit left over
at the end to kick. This time I didn't leave anything out on the
course - I was done.
I trained for Portland adequately, but not as well as I could have.
I took too long to decide that I wanted to do it, and had a steep training
ramp. There weren't enough 20 milers, and not enough strength and
speed workouts. Physically, I was prepared. Mentally, I could
have used that extra training for some additional confidence. On the
other hand, on race day I was carried by persistance, particularly after
mile 20. Now - I can see that 3:45 and even 3:40 are within reach for
me. I just have to prepare a bit more thoroughly, and I can do it.
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