Baystate Marathon

I apologize for this blog being so late. The reason being is that this race turned out to be a disaster for me. The weather and cold temperatures were not good for my tight hamstrings and as a result brought back an injury that I have been fighting for a good part of this year.

Got up at 5am to get some food in my stomach before heading to Lowell for the race. The weather at this point was alright. It was cold, but there was no rain.....yet. We all knew it was coming, it was just a matter of when. Heather, Caitlyn, and I drove over to Lowell and arrived at about 7:00am and parked in the garage. I then headed over to the Tsongas arena to meet up with coach Dave and some of my teammates. Before long we were heading back to the garage to put on our racing shoes. We did a quick warm up over to the starting area and did some strides and suck as we tried to stay warm. It was cold.......but still no rain.

At last the race started. I went out pretty conservative. I really wanted to be strong in the 2nd half of the race and reel people in as they faded. A bunch of people went out pretty strong and I settled in with Jim Johnson. First mile went by in 5:52, this was good. Not to fast and not too slow. This kept up for a while with Jim and I clicking off miles a little under 6 minute pace for the first 15 miles of the race. I was feeling great, so strong, so controlled, happy to have someone to run with. I was pretty sure this was going to be a great race. Until I hit the 8th mile and I felt something starting to go wrong. It was my left hamstring, the same one that put me out of commission for a couple weeks earlier in the year. At first it was just tightness, I thought no problem...this will go away. It did not, it only got worse. By the time I hit about 10 miles It was starting to get a bit painful, with a stabbing feeling on each stride. I knew I was in trouble, I actually told Jim I wasn't sure I was going to make it. I tried everything to try to get it to lossen up, even pick ups, changing up my stride, nothing was working. I wasn't slowing down yet, but I knew I would soon if the hamstring kept this up. I thought about dropping out at the half way point, knowing coach and Heather would be there. But I kept thinking, what if it loosens up? I can't quit after all this work I have put in! I swore I would never drop out of a race! So I kept going. I hung in there with Jim till about 15 miles.....then things just started getting worse. The stabbing pain in my hamstring was really starting to effect my stride and I was grimacing with each step. At some point it had finally started raining too.....I have no idea when, but now I was soaked, cold, and not having a good time. So I backed if off a little, the stabbing pain would ease a bit, then get worse, so I would back off more. Before I knew it, I was slowing down quite a bit and my race was pretty much over. It was going to be a long painful run back in from there. So I kept running and backing off as the pain got worse, just trying to survive till the end. I also knew that Heather would be up ahead at the 22 mile mark. Once I reached her I convinced her to run with me for a while. It was the best thing to happen to me that day. I was cold, wet, miserable, and just wanted some company. Heather kept me company till the 25 mile mark and then cut off to see me finish. I finished out the race and just wanted to get somewhere dry and warm. I was shivering uncontrollably and my left hamstring was cramping up bad and it was killing me. It was a most miserable experience.

I ended up finishing 18th overall in 2:41:58 (6:11 pace). My worst marathon time ever and no where near what I wanted to run. I know I was in great shape and felt great till hamstring issues cause my race to be lost. The cold and wet weather did not help matters. Once the hamstring started going there was no way I was going to get them to calm down in that weather. See my splits below:

Mile 01) 5:52

Mile 02) 5:42 (11:34)

Mile 03) 5:50 (17:25)

Mile 04) 5:50 (23:15)

Mile 05) 5:46 (29:02)

Mile 06) 5:51 (34:53)

Mile 07) 5:48 (40:41)

Mile 08) 5:45 (46:27)

Mile 09) 5:43 (52:11)

Mile 10) 5:39 (57:51)

Mile 11) 5:50 (1:03:41)

Mile 12) 5:49 (1:09:31)

Mile 13) 5:57 (1:15:29)

Mile 14) 5:57 (1:21:20)

Mile 15) 6:00 (1:27:20)

Mile 16) 6:10 (1:33:31)

Mile 17) 6:24 (1:39:55)

Mile 18) 6:29 (1:46:24)

Mile 19) 6:37 (1:53:01)

Mile 20) 6:48 (1:59:49)

Mile 21) 6:41 (2:06:30)

Mile 22) 6:45 (2:13:15)

Mile 23) 7:03 (2:20:19)

Mile 24) 6:50 (2:27:08)
Mile 25) 6:42 (2:33:51)

Mile 26) 6:41 (2:40:32)

last .2) 1:26 (2:41:58)

I do want to congratulate the my teammate, race winner, and New England Marathon Champion Brandon Newbould who ran a great race and came from behind to take the win! The Whirlaway team as a whole also had a great day coming in 2nd as a open team and winning the masters and Seniors divisions. Nice job guys!! I also want to thank all the Whirlaway guys who were out there on the course supporting those of us who were racing. It didn't matter that it was cold and wet, you guys came out to support your teammates and it is greatly appreciated!