2009 Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon

If it looks like we were cold, it's because we were! (I'm the one wearing the garbage bag!) We were in a shadow as well as a wind tunnel at the Free Stamp. Otherwise it would have been just peachy. The Medina County Road Runners really turned out for this one. As a group we had some successes and some disappointments. But that's how it usually goes.

Without further waiting, my results: I finished in 3:22:45, which is a PR by about 12 minutes or so. I averaged 7:44 per mile, which is amazing for me. Granted, we started out faster than that, but the last few really got me. I was 24th of 690 in my age division and 189th overall out of 9539. But that doesn't sound right. There couldn't have been that many marathoners. The course was too empty.

Ladd, Joe, Debbie, and I all started out together. Debbie was running the half but her pace was going to be the same as ours. We lined up in between the 3:10 and 3:20 pace groups and there was a decent amount of elbow room. Not like what the scene was further back in the pack. I heard that it was impossible to even get through the gate from the sidewalk to the street back there. By starting up front we were only 15 seconds off the clock time.

We were all still together until mile 3 passing the West Side Market, with splits of 7:48, 7:37, and 7:23. That's when we pulled ahead of Joe. He was trying to maintain a steady pace for 3:20 and the rest of us felt like going a little faster. Ladd and I lost track of Debbie somewhere around mile 4, with a split of 7:20. He had his Garmin and I was taking mile splits and we were flying! Although it felt good, we knew there was a chance we might pay for it later, and that we did! But we kept going faster, running mile 5 in 7:14 and mile 6 in 7:10. We were really building a cushion for both Ladd's 3:20 BQ and my 3:15. Yes, I had decided to make an effort to hit my time. Something I was undecided upon up until the race was underway.

Mile 7 passed in 7:12 and we turned around in Lakewood, heading back toward downtown along the lake. Mile 8 saw us intentionally slow down a bit, with a split of 7:26, but mile 9 was back down to 7:20. Then we ran mile 10 in 7:07, our fastest split and a pace that we just couldn't hope to maintain. We slowed after that, but not because we were pulling back. We hit the Shoreway bridge and began climbing. Mile 11 was a 7:48. And that was good considering the uphill and the headwind, which we were hoping would be a tailwind but wasn't. Heading back into downtown, we ran mile 12 in 7:39. Going past Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Great Lakes Science Center, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame brought us to mile 13 and the halfway point in 1:37, which is a decent half marathon time for both of us. Our mile 13 split was 7:34.

From there we just kept heading east along North Marginal Rd. This is maybe a tie for the bleakest part of of the race course, tied with the section along St. Clair. I missed the mile 14 marker and had a 15:44 split for miles 14 and 15 combined. Somewhere just before mile 16, Ladd and I parted company. We were going a little too fast for his finish time, but I really wanted to try for my BQ. My mile 16 split was 7:52, followed by 17 in 7:37, 18 in 7:33, 19 in 7:21, and 20 in 7:23.

This is where the going got tough, in the University Circle area. I started cramping. At first it was just one muscle. But I was able to run through it and it went away. But then it was multiple muscle groups, and they didn't go away. I had no intention of stopping to stretch or walk, although I really wanted to. I knew if I stopped running, I was done. So I kept running. Down onto MLK Blvd. Back up onto St. Clair. I saw the blighted areas and the guy walking his pit bull down the street. But the pain in my legs was too much for me to care about anything other than going forward.

Mile 21 - 7:43

Mile 22 - 8:03

Mile 23 - 8:16

Mile 24 - 8:38

Mile 25 - 8:52

Mile 26.2 - 10:56, and I was done. I could finally stop running. I had known I was going to miss my BQ time since mile 21 and had accepted that. But I knew that if I could somehow keep running, I would have a new PR and be under 3:25. And I am satisfied with that. For now.

Now it's Wednesday. I haven't run since Sunday and I'm still very sore in spots. My left quad, right calf, and lower left calf are the culprits right now. At least my knee was better yesterday. That's the one that worries me the most since it isn't a muscle. I may head out tonight for a couple after Bailey's open house at school. Or not. But for now I need to get into multi-sport mode. More precisely, triathlon mode. The challenges, they aren't stopping this year.