On November 6 my wife and I traveled to San Antonio, Texas. They call their race Marathon of the Americas and I chose it because the course is flat and the city has several tourist attractions.
My preparation this year was excellent; in the weeks leading to the marathon I had a PR on a 5K race (19:04) and on the Army 10-Miler(1:04:52). My initial goal was 3 hours and 15 minutes but the temperature on the week leading to the marathon was higher than usual consequently I thought that I might have to readjust my goal. Considering that my training was very good and I was in 3:15 or faster shape, I was disappointed with the possibility that the heat would negatively interfere with my performance.
The race started at 7am and the temperature fell fresher than I expected consequently I decided to go for it and run on my goal pace. There was a half-marathon concurrently with the marathon. Both races started at the same place and time and finish at the same place. The half-marathoners ran one loop of the13.1 miles course while the marathoners ran two loops. There were about 1,000 marathoners and 1200 half- marathoners. On the first loop there were plenty of runners next to me; on the second loop I ran many miles alone but on the last miles started picking up walkers.
The temperature went from 56 to 70 degrees by mid-morning but surprising my performance was not impacted. The organization had about 10 water tables and I drank lots of sports drink and kept my body fresh by pouring water over it. I started out on my target pace and at half point noticed that I was running so effortless that not only I could do 3h15min, but perhaps even 3h11min, which is my personal record. I ran the first 5 miles on a 7:15 pace and the next 15 on a 7:04 pace, which was a little faster than I planned but I was feeling incredibly strong. On mile 20 I realized that I was not tired as in previous races and that I hadn't hit the wall. I've ran 17 marathons and hit the wall around mile 18-20 in all of them, consequently not hitting the wall was something new to me. If I maintained the pace (which I never thought could be possible), I would be several minutes under my goal and would even break my personal record. To my astonishment the wall never came; I ran 7:15 on the next 2 miles and averaged 7:30 for the last 4 miles.
My time was of 3:09:04, 3 minutes faster than my previous PR. I was ecstatic with my performance, not only for the PR but also for the fact that I did not hit the wall nor finished exhausted. My position was 32nd overall and I was 3rd on my age group (45-49 years), which got me a nice plaque.
This was definitely the best race of my life and also the most fun. What I learned is that small changes in training and nutrition can make a huge difference.