I always advise people to avoid the big city races if they want to go for a PR. But the siren song of a flat, fast course made me ignore my own advice. The plan was to break 2:30. All the training came together, and I felt fairly confident that on a half decent day, I'd get that 2:2X time. What I didn't count on was the day being entirely indecent. All the pre-race talk was about the predicted record high temperatures for race day. So my excuses are, 1) Saturday travel, getting in and out of the city to go to the expo, spending too much time on my feet and in motion all meant that by Saturday evening, I had already worked too hard for the weekend, 2) Due to a logistical snafu, I ended up getting locked out of my starting corral, near the front of the crowds, and therefore had to start behind about 15,000 people, in the 4+ hour corral (~3+ minutes per mile slower than my target pace), meaning that I spent the first 10 miles weaving through people, 3) It was hot (HOW HOT WAS IT?) It was so hot, that they ran out of water, and cancelled the marathon half way through (about 90 degrees F). I finished before the race was called off. It was my slowest marathon in two years. 2:45:25, 84th place out of ???.

I had gotten a slot at MCM on the last day of the transfer period. My plan was to do it as a fun run. However, I realized that I needed to do something to get the bad taste of Chicago out of my mouth before the end of the marathon season. I used the three weeks between the races to do an accelerated recover/train/taper cycle. I figured that sub-2:30 was out of the question --- I had planned my training around peaking for Chicago. But something in the mid-2:30s should be within reach. On the way to the race, a friend asked what my plan was. I said, "I think I'll probably end up with something in the mid-2:30s, which should put me in the top 20." He asked if I would pace myself for 2:30 --- 5:43 per mile --- from the beginning, or something slower. I explained, "I've run enough marathons that I go by feel. I'll start running at the intensity I know I should be running for a marathon. That'll be whatever it will be." I was able to get a starting spot in the very front row of runners. I spent the first 14 miles working in a pack of around 8 runners. Between miles 10 and 14 the pack splintered, and from mile 14 to the end, I was all by my lonesome self. I slowed down during the last four miles (which were directly into the wind), but I ended up passing several runners. 2:34:22, 17th out of 20,667.

After Marine Corps, I really needed to shift my focus to trails and longer runs to prepare for Hellgate 100k in December. However, a friend was getting married in Charlottesville on 10 Nov. The wedding was scheduled to start at 3:00pm, and I would be staying in town with a friend on Saturday night. That meant that my only chance for a long run during the weekend would be a few hours Saturday morning. That being the case, to make the best use of my limited time, I realized I could drive down to Richmond Friday night, stay with a friend, do the race as a tempo run Saturday morning, then head over to Charlottesville. My achilles had been bothering me, so I didn't finalize my plans until Wednesday, three days before the race. On race day, the weather was in the mid 40s and overcast --- perfect for marathon running. The start is pretty narrow, so I started a few rows behind the front. After about a quarter mile, I caught the lead pack of eight runners. The race is normally won with a time in the low 2:20s, so when we passed the first mile in 5:40, I knew 1) they were starting off easy, and 2) I would have a better-than-expected day. I had no real goals, but I did hope to keep my time under 2:40. The 5:40 mile felt very easy --- another guy in the pack and I were chatting, and I wasn't even breathing heavily. Somewhere in the next mile, either the pack sped up or I slowed down. Another runner fell off the back as well, and soon fell behind me. By the second mile I was all by myself. In a few more miles, they were out of sight. I ran the rest of the race completely alone. Whenever I'd pass spectators, I'd make a note of when they'd start cheering for me, then when I could hear them next. It became clear that another runner was 20-40 seconds behind me for most of the race. Around mile 20, as I was remembering that I was running my third marathon in five weeks, the guy finally caught me. When he passed, I had no response. But on the bright side, there was no one else in sight (or earshot) behind me. Having run 2:34 at Marine Corps, my motivation during the last few miles was to finish with a time of 2:33:XX. I was running 6s pretty consistently, which made the math easy. Everything came together at the end. 2:33:30, 7th out of 3,783.

aaron schwartzbard

runningtwig@gmail.com