Last weekend I ran my 3rd marathon in Sedona AZ with my friend Brad Feld. My wife Terry and cousin Tony completed the 1/2 marathon (Terry's first, Tony's 3rd), and my Aunt Joanne walked the 5k. Brad's wife Amy provided tons of encouragement and support for all of us.
It was an awesome challenge, and overall a great experience. Brad wrote about the race (his 10th). He has some nice pictures and graphs of the course that are worth checking out. Here's my version:
The weather was perfect - just under 30 degrees at the start. That might seem cold to some, but being the high desert it quickly warmed up to the 40s and 50s. I'm sure it was in the 60s by the end.
It was a small race. Just over 1000 people, most doing the 1/2. 159 finished the marathon.
The elevation in Sedona is 4500, so while some people had trouble with altitude (like my cousin who came up from Phoenix), for the Colorado crew it was a drop of about 1000 ft. Most marathons are even closer to sea level, so we didn't get as much of a boost from the high altitude training as we usually do.
Of course, being Sedona the scenery was amazing. Here's my favorite picture from the course. As you can see that's Mile 16. Looks nice and all, but that sign is at the top of a 3 mile long hill! That was just one of the insane hills. Several where 0.5-1.5 miles long. A few memorable ones:
- Mile 18 down down down, 19 up up up, 20 down down down.
-Around 22 miles the grade became nearly 15%.
-Mile 25 was one long torturous hill up a sidewalk on a busy 4 lane street.
-There was actually another even steeper hill at mile 26 (at least the last .2 miles were down hill). The picture with the pavement is that last hill (with the finish line at my back).
In the next photo you can see that at this point on the course the road just "disappears." With the out-and-back course we got to enjoy that hill from both sides. And, if you didn't know, running downhill is very tough on the legs.
Needless to say, at times it was hard to enjoy the views.
Probably one of the more unique parts of this hilly course was that there really were no flat parts. It was constant hills.
I did a fairly good job of dropping my heart rate on the downhills to "recover." As the race worn on I found that my average heart rate was right where it needed to be, however my legs were toast. This meant that I needed to walk up the hills a lot near the end. That cost me some time, but I was doing what I needed to make sure I finished without cramping up or throwing up. Sounds more dramatic than I mean it to, but when you're running for 4 hours that's part of the game. As you can see from the pic, I'm looking a little spent at the end (left to right: Tony, hairless Herb, Terry, Joanne).
I finished in 4:14, a personal best (despite those damn hills).
Brad, 5:47 (his slowest ever - tweaked the knee but hung in there).
Terry, 2:27 (faster than her goal on a flat course).
Tony, 2:19 (not his best, mostly due to the hills and altitude).
I had trained for a sub 4:00 which I feel I could have achieved on a average course. Since the course didn't have any clocks (even at the finish line!) I never knew I was running a personal best. My watch was set to tell me my heart rate, pace, and total distance. I could have fooled with it to tell me my total time, but I don't like to mess with the thing in the middle of a tough run. Actually I'm glad I didn't know the time because I would have probably pushed it even more and maybe blown up on one of the last hills.
I often say that the marathon isn't the race, it's the training. 16 weeks is a long time. Basically my training was 3 days of running (one speed workout, one tempo run, one long run), 2 days of cross training, and 1-2 days of yoga. I injured my knee about 1/2 through the training. I received a cortisone shot which helped, but my training was very spotty for about 8 weeks. Despite that, I was in good shape on race day. I think that was mostly due to the early long runs (I was up to 20 milers by week 3), and the yoga.
I'm really proud of Terry for not only competing in her first 1/2, but also doing such a great job. It was only 6 months ago that she was just starting to run a mile or two a couple of times a week!
I also think what Brad did was amazing. To hang in there for nearly 6 hrs. without throwing in the towel while his knee hurt took a lot of courage (and stamina!). He called it his PW (personal worst), but I believe finishing the hardest race of your career can't possibly count as a "worst" of any kind. Nice job Brad.
Despite Tony's slower than hoped-for time, he's on the fast track to breaking 4:00 in the full and we'll be running one together before long.
To my friends on Traineo - thanks for all the support!
There's a special pride that comes with completing a marathon, and that's especially true after a race like this when you know that it does not get much harder.
Not sure what's next - but it will be flat.
