Philadelphia Distance Run 09/21/08

Yesterday was the PDR. I was excited for the weekend in Philly as much as the race itself. I didn't have an overall time goal for this race. I had decided to either use it as a training run, either a progression or a tempo depending on how good I felt. I was planning on running the first 3 miles at 11:00 then if a progression going 3 at 10:30, 3 at 10, 3 at 9:30 and bringing it in as fast as I could the last mile. If a tempo then trying to hold it around 10 minutes. If that brought a PR that would be great.

Saturday I drove in with Jill and Maureen and met up with Jen and her husband for lunch at Marathon Grill. Afterward we headed for the Expo at the Philadelphia Convention Center. We got our bibs and shirts and browsed the goods at the expo. I purchased a pair of race ready shorts and The Stick. I stopped by Fleet Feet of Marlton to see my old high school friend Jen and catch up. I was tired since I'd been up late the night before and couldn't wait to check into the Sheraton and rest a while before dinner but first we stopped at the Reading Terminal Market and I got Avery some liberty bell chocolate money and lollipops.

Back at the hotel I rested and read my book for a bit then setup all my gear for tomorrow so I was prepared in the morning. At 6:00 Jill and Maureen picked me up for dinner. We went to a little Italian place Alexis had suggested. It must have been a really popular place because the wait was long. I had spaghetti and meatballs.

Alexis and I drove back to the hotel and proceeded to stay up to late talking. I didn't sleep well once I did go to bed because the air conditioner would wake me up every time it kicked in. 5 hours of restless sleep wasn't very good but it would have to do. At 5am the alarm went off and I got up and showered. Once we were ready we walked to a Starbuck's and had some oatmeal for breakfast then headed to meet everyone.

We met up with Jen, Matt, Tom, Jen, Alexis' friend and Tom's friend. We soon split up since Jen and Tom were in the first corral and we were farther back. We waited forever in the porta-potty line and were next in line when the race started and the elite's headed out. I managed to get into the 12 or 13 corral just as everyone began to walk towards the start.

I had my garmin set for 3 fields Lap Pace on top, Current lap and Pace on the bottom. I tried to keep the Lap pace to 11 the first mile. I thought I had done that well even though I felt like I was holding back. The next mile was tougher to keep at that pace but I tried. After we hit the 2nd mile marker it was consistently in the 10:30 range even though I really was holding back so I went with it. I decided then that I would do a tempo. I was feeling really good except for the heat. It was pretty warm and the sun was strong, once we got out of the city there were areas that were long legs directly in the sun and those were tough.

I didn't take any water until mile 6 and had my first gel at mile 5. I believe that if the weather had been cooler and/or cloudy I would have felt even better and been faster. At the rest of the water stops from that point on I would drink one cup and dump another over my head to cool down. I took another gel at mile 10.5 because I was getting a little tired and figured I could use the boost. At around 11 my legs felt tired but I pushed on. At 12 I was really tired. I was disappointed because I saw my pace slowing but decided if this was a normal tempo I'd have a cooldown and I guess this was it. I had this crazy cold/burning sensation in my shins/calves that I can't explain. Alexis had told us a quote from Lance Armstrong that was "Pain is temporary, quiting is forever", I modified it to "Pain is temporary, a PR is forever" and kept telling myself this throughout the rest of the race. It helped. I pushed on as best I could (so I thought) but only managed and 11ish pace.

About .2 miles to the 13 mile marker I was thinking that this is why I do intervals so I can kick it at the end even when I'm in pain so I did. From that point on I did a 9ish pace until the finish and managed a 1:12 minutePR for a time of 2:16:23. I was somewhat disoriented at the finish and that lasted for about a minute or so.

I circled the family areas looking forever and decided that if on the second loop I didn't see them I was going to sit at the fountain and soak my feet like many others were doing and then I saw Alexis.

Here are my splits:

10:36 (guess lap pace wasn't a good indicator since I thought I was doing and 11)
10:31
10:14
9:47
10:07
9:58
10:17
9:57
10:15
10:06
10:05
10:34
11:10
2:45 (9:06 pace)

My splits weren't as consistent as I would have liked but I'll take it. The lap pace messed me up because I really thought I was in the 9:50 to 10:00 range for most of those miles.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my results. I felt like I actually raced instead of just doing a pedestrian pace I usually do during races. My Lehigh Valley half time was only a minute twelve seconds slower but I had walked a good portion of that because I hadn't trained so when I was running I was running a fast, rested pace. I know I have better in me and if it was a cooler day I would have had better splits.

On the walk back to the hotel my left foot/ankle started hurting. Sort of under the ankle. It continued to hurt all day. When I got home I iced it off and on all night and took Vitamin K. Today its worse. A little swelling and red in the area. I think its a tendon or ligament or something but its very hard to walk on. I have it elevated and am icing it today. I hope its nothing serious!