Race story - Jacksonville Marathon
Biju R Das
Jacksonville Full Marathon: December, 2010
This is my favorite marathon ever for one reason; I set a Personal Record with a time of 3hours and 54 minutes. This was my 3rd official full marathon in 2010 and 16th overall. The goal was to run under 4 hours. The plan was to run casually for the first 5 miles and then set for the 21 miler
Race day:
Got up at 4:50 AM as planned, stretched a little bit (the normal routine), ate breakfast (Bread, Banana and high protein Ensure)
Was ready by 5:40 AM
Had a gel before walking the two blocks from Holiday Inn to Embassy Suites where I could catch one of the Shuttle buses to the start line.
Reached there at 6:20 AM
The temperature was around 39ºF (4ºC):
Checked in my gear bag and waited at the Gym near the start line
The race started at 7:02 AM, the full and the half marathon groups started together. The half marathoner’s were scheduled to turn around mile 7
Miles 1-5 (KM 1- 8.1)
There was a change in the course start route from last year; it started going north for 1.5 miles and made a U-turn, passing the start line again at 3 miles
We had a funny moment when the balloon got lost from the hands of the 3:30 pace team leader; resulted in a big roar from all runners around.
Had Gatorade at miles 3 and 5
Miles 5 - 10 (KM 8.1 – 16.1)
As planned, set to the 21 miler mode
Noticed that one person (must be at least 55 years old) was breathing heavily; the noise was very unusual
Hit the 10K mark in 53 minutes
The half marathon group turned around at 7 mile mark
Took an energy gel with water at mile #8
Miles 10-14 (KM 16.1 – 22.5)
Passed the half point mark at 1 hour and 52 minutes; a little more than it took me last year. But I calculated that if I could run under 10 minutes per mile the rest of the way, breaking the
4hour limit was still within reach.
Miles 14-18 (KM 22.5 – 28.9)
Tried to keep up the 9 min/ mile pace
Miles 18-24 (KM 28.9 – 38.6)
Continued to move at the same pace, Running at 9 min/mile was really comfortable
There was no clock at mile 20
The wall at mile 21 was not bad
Looked at the time while passing the mile maker 21, it showed 3 hours and 03 minutes that looked really promising
It was 3:21 at mile 23. There was a good feeling about meeting my goal
Miles 24-26.2 (KM 38.6 – 42.2)
The slight uphill climb was not as bad as I thought, as a matter of fact, it didn’t even feel like the same hill that gave me a little hard time last Year J Near the end of mile 24, I felt a cramp in my right leg; stopped and stretched a few moments. I was surprised that a lady in front of a house offered Champagne, which I thankfully declined. She said it is good for cramps!
Started counting 0.1 mile increments after mile 25
Could see the 26 mile marker after counting 7 or 8 of them!
Removed the gloves and caps
Could see Geena standing at the turn and taking pictures. May be because of the excitement and change of pace while waving for the pictures, my legs cramped again; but the great crowd there started cheering and that made me start running again. The last 0.2 miles was on a track in a Stadium. Finished strong; ignored more cramps; hugged my family. The official time was 3hours and 54 minutes (8:58 minutes/ mile)
The feelings were so overwhelming after beating my goal by 6 minutes.
The soup they served after race was terrific
One of the runners came to me and introduced himself; he said he noticed me passing around the 8
miler mark; He was from Chicago and it was nice to know about it
General points
- This is the second time I have run this race. The weather was incredible for a marathon.
- Did not race at any point; the breathing was normal all the time; when tried to run faster at the last 2 miles, I cramped my legs, so went back to the normal pace
- Maintained well under 9minutes/ mile up to mile 23 (not sure after that – because of the cramp, had to stretch a couple of times in the last 2 miles)
- Walked through all the water stations, did not waste much time; had Gatorade all the time except at 3 places, where I had the gel
- Did not use Tylenol or Aleve
- Consumed 3 energy Gels
- There were very few spectators in most of the race route to cheer you through
- The 6 weeks intervals (including the mile intervals at Cobb county track) really helped
- Also helped the 6 weeks hill training at Kennesaw mountain; the slight inclines at the race course were not felt at all.
What should I have done different
· Nothing; everything went well. Except the cramps, need to do something about it
The next one: Do not know at this moment; planning to run 2 of them in the fall of 2011