The Long Run

San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon

Recent EntriesHomeJoin Fast Running Blog Community!PredictorHealthy RecipesMark's RacesFind BlogsMileage BoardTop Ten Excuses for Missing a RunTop Ten Training MistakesDiscussion ForumRace Reports Send A Private MessageWeek ViewMonth ViewYear View
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024
15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

Location:

FL,

Member Since:

Mar 20, 2007

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Boston Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

PR's:

  • 1 mile : 5:43 (3/2017)
  • 5K : 18:34 (12/2011)
  • 5 mile : 32:03 (5/2010)
  • 10K : 39:29 (11/2013)
  • 11K: 46:47 (July 2008)
  • Half Marathon : 1:26:47 (11/2012)
  • Marathon : 3:06:34 (02/2010)
  • 50K Trail: 4:34 (01/2012)
  • 50 Mile: 8:34:48 (4/2012)
  • 100K: 11:06 (2/2012)
  • 100 Mile: 24:19:44 (1/2022)

Marathons:

  • Treasure Coast Marathon (FL) - 3:39:51, Mar 2021
  • Towpath Marathon (OH) - 3:35:26, Oct 2019
  • Jacksonville Marathon - 3:31:10, Dec 2018
  • NYC Marathon - 3:49:12, Nov 2017
  • Marine Corps Marathon - 3:27:00, Oct 2016
  • Utah Valley - Jun 2016
  • Marine Corps Marathon - 3:28:12, Oct 2015
  • Pocatello Marathon (ID) - 3:32:25, Sept 2015
  • Chasing The Unicorn (PA) - 3:31:20, Aug 2015
  • Run for The Red (Poconos) - 3:30:40, May 2015
  • Boston - 3:24:42, Apr 2015
  • Clearwater - 3:27:04, Jan 2015
  • Clearwater - 3:16:17, Jan 2014
  • Boston  - 3:27:00, Apr 2011
  • DesNews - 3:10:57, Jul 2010
  • Gasparilla  - 3:06:34, Feb 2010
  • Space Coast - 3:11:29, Nov 2009
  • Estes Park  (7500' and up) - 3:52:19, Jun 2009
  • Boston - 3:17:22, Apr 2009
  • Niagara Falls - 3:19:21, Oct 2008
  • San Diego RnR  - 3:24:18, Jun 2008
  • Jacksonville Marathon -3:21:24, Dec 2007
  • Chicago Marathon - 3:35:08, Oct 2007
  • Disney Marathon - 3:52:34, Jan 2007

 

 

 

 

Short-Term Running Goals:

 

  • Sub 40:00 10K
  • 2:59 Marathon
  • 1:25 Half Marathon
  • 18:30 5K

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Maintain my health and continuously seek to improve my fitness. Maybe someday get under 3:00 for marathon. More importantly, I'd like to figure out what my maximum ability is and reach that.

I'd also like to find the right balance in life and use running to enhance and improve myself.

 

Personal:

Dad of  three (welcome Charlotte Dani on 8/10/20) awesome kids and stepdad to three almost as awesome as my own kids.

I have a brown dog named Stella, and three cats - Catty, Tortie, and Esperanza.

  (old lines that were a little out of date but couldn't quite bring myself to removing them completely:) Also, have one wonderful brown dog named Sammy and just added a grey tiger cat (Catty) whose life started out rough but now has a better home.

I've recently started another blog so I can easily add lots of pictures and so other non-FRB users can leave comments:

Forward Progress!

 Also, for 2012 I started a blog to write down each day one thing that I am grateful for

Grateful Blog

 

Love living in Florida but love to travel and see the country and rest of the world.

 

Favorite Blogs:

Click to donate
to Ukraine's Armed Forces
Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 188.22
Brooks T7 Lifetime Miles: 202.78
Brooks ST5 Lifetime Miles: 403.91
GoMeb Speed3 Lifetime Miles: 483.77
Brooks Pure Flow Lifetime Miles: 160.60
Brooks Launch(lobster) Lifetime Miles: 782.98
GoMeb Razor Lifetime Miles: 468.00
Race: San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon (26.2 Miles) 03:24:18, Place overall: 495, Place in age division: 70
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
0.0026.200.000.0026.200.000.0026.20

It was great weather and a really fun course. A few months ago I was hoping for a faster time, then at one point I had come close to scrapping this marathon completely, which turned into I think I can complete it but it will be real slow, finally to "I'll see what I can do"

Having missed a full month of running, followed by building back up with lots of slower miles including some treadmill miles I came back pretty well and came pretty close to being back to 100%.

The traffic to get to the race was rather heavy. With less than a mile to get to the start line cars were crawling. So, finally at 6:00 I did what others were doing, and got out of the car and walked the rest of the way while my brother stayed in the car and headed towards the spectator parking.

I made it to my corral after a good walking warm up including a pretty big hill up Laurel Street. I grabbed some salt packets at the corral entrance and took one, finishing off my Gatorade. Before I knew it, it was time to start and we were off. Not sure what kind of pace I was going to get, but I would soon find out. Despite the crowds I managed a 7:57 for the first mile, feeling pretty good. The next 5 miles were downhill over about a 275 foot drop to downtown. I made up a little bit of time but did not want to get too carried away.

While running through downtown I saw a guy with no shirt on who had written on his back "Follow me to Boston - 3:20", his name was Kenny. He was planning on doing a negative split. I ran with him for a while but eventually pulled ahead as I didn't want to have to do too much of a negative split. Besides I wasn't really planning on going for BQ today but hadn't ruled it out either.

Just after seven miles the course began to climb back up the to the starting elevation. From yesterday's run I knew it wouldn't be that tough. At about mile 9, I saw my brother and his family, they had made two signs, one with a big smiley face and one that said "Uncle Mark Rocks!". They had found a really good spot to cheer me on along the 163 Highway. There weren't many people around them as it didn't look very easy to get to. I was curious as to how they could have gotten there with two small kids, oh well, they had done it and I was glad to see them.

At about 9.8 miles one of the volunteers shouted - "you're almost at the top of the hill!", then i was going down hill for the next 3.3 miles or so. It felt really good. Again, I tried not to get too carried away as there was still a lot more running to go.

The course flattened out and I was continuing to make pretty good splits.

Then, at about 16 point something miles I ran into a glitch. My pace started slowing dramatically, but I didn't feel slower. Maybe I was crashing? But I didn't seem to be slowing compared to others. I was fiddling with my Garmin, then I looked up and could see Kenny's back, up ahead a little bit. He had started his negative split and was moving pretty good.

I saw the 17 mile sign, but my Garmin said said 16.77 miles. Well that explains the pace. Then the pace was gone. I tried turning it off and back on but it never found the signal again. Now, it was just a stopwatch. And now, I was no longer going to be able to stick to a pace by watching my Garmin. I managed to hang in there and saw that I wasn't slowing down that much, however I was slowing down a bit but nothing too drastic.

Miles 21 - 25 were not very pleasant. The scenery wasn't very nice for much of it. But I was picking off the miles. I wasn't sure what kind of time I would get, but my whole strategy was to just keep going and try to keep it under 8:00, which I pretty much did.

Finally I saw the entrance to the Marine Corps base, knowing the finish line was close, and it was!

Here are my chip splits:

10K - 48:07
Half - 1:40:57
21M - 2:42:32
Finish - 3:24:18

There were many good things about this race, it was a lot of fun and it was great to see my brother and his family (I think they must have almost walked a marathon distance to see me, including climbing over a fence and down a steep highway embankment to see me run). While I was running, I thought about the people who would be watching my times online each time I made it to one of the chip sensor mats - Jenny and her friends and family, my brother Jim, and my running friends. There were a lot of people supporting me so that I could make it to the finish line. I was glad that I hadn't scratched doing this one, and had made it to see Dr. Denys who said nothing was broken, then Joe the PT who helped fix me and told me to get a good sports massage, and Jessica, my massage therapist, who helped fix me the rest of the way.

Thanks everyone!

Comments
From Amy on Mon, Jun 02, 2008 at 04:28:10

Congratulations Mark!!!! Way to make a comeback - we are so proud of you! We were on the edge of our computer chair yesterday (just before 7pm here) waiting for your finish time to pop up! I am happy for you that you had such a good race.

From jtshad on Mon, Jun 02, 2008 at 07:12:51

Congratulations on a good time at the Rock and Roll marathon! A very entertaining race report. Great job training to keep this one on your calendar and keep it up.

From MichelleL on Mon, Jun 02, 2008 at 11:09:13

Good job getting so close to your PR so early in your comeback! Your BQ should come naturally if you can stay healthy.

From JefC on Mon, Jun 02, 2008 at 11:19:44

Congrats Mark!! That is a great time and considering your injuries and time off I think you are really close to being back to where you were before. Come run SGM and you will BQ without too much of a problem. :)

From LaurenO on Mon, Jun 02, 2008 at 18:16:24

Congrats on your race!! I wish I had known there were other bloggers there! :)

Sounds like we had a similar race... just setting out to finish after some rough months and training, and ending up with a fairly decent time! :)

Way to go! What are your next goals?

From dave holt on Mon, Jun 02, 2008 at 19:06:23

Good job Mark!

Question for you: I was thinking of running this race in the future. Was it organized well? Course tough/easy/moderate? That kind of stuff.

From Shauna on Mon, Jun 02, 2008 at 19:30:08

Great job!! I ran this race in 2003 and also enjoyed it (except for my performance, that is). Great job on maintaining an even pace. BQ is right around the corner!!

From Lyman on Mon, Jun 02, 2008 at 20:16:37

Now I'm impressed. Coming back from injury and pulling a 3:24. Great run!

From Mark on Tue, Jun 03, 2008 at 19:33:15

Thanks for checking in and thanks for all the kind words, it really helps keep me going!

LaurenO - goals are to keep running, get stronger and train for another marathon, but not sure which one yet.

Dave - Organization was very well done, although the traffic was a little bit crazy getting there. I'd say the course was between easy and moderate. This was my first course with any significant terrain, but the uphills weren't too bad and the down hills were kind of nice. Most of the course had nice scenery and decent shade, weather is usually good in San Diego this time of year.

From Kathryn on Tue, Jun 03, 2008 at 23:10:10

We (Chuck and I) were blown away by your time!! Having come back from what you have, you are amazing!! It's easy to see the strides you have made when you can take as much time as you were forced to, and still come back SO STRONG.

From cindy on Wed, Jun 04, 2008 at 16:44:33

Great race! You did an amazing time considering yu weren't even running in April.

We watched for your times on Sunday.

From MichelleL on Tue, May 17, 2011 at 16:56:46 from 67.41.230.92

Years later and I am grateful for your report. Will be running this in 2.7 weeks and am excited, especially after reading your course description. Any advice you'd like to give me? The second downhill segment seems steep and thus not so helpful. How did you find it?

From Mark on Wed, May 18, 2011 at 11:32:23 from 24.129.132.78

Michelle, I'm so glad you found this report helpful. I often scour FRB and the rest of the web too for race reports.

They have changed the course since I ran it, but I think for the better. The first half (and a little more) looks the same as it was when I ran it.

I really liked the second downhill segment. It didn't seem too steep going down it. So to me, miles 10-13 felt almost effortless. It is on a highway, so some people did complain about running on it due to the banking but I didn't really notice it too much.

It looks like the second half might be a little nicer than it was when I ran it.

Best of luck at the race!

Add Your Comment.
  • Keep it family-safe. No vulgar or profane language. To discourage anonymous comments of cowardly nature, your IP address will be logged and posted next to your comment.
  • Do not respond to another person's comment out of context. If he made the original comment on another page/blog entry, go to that entry and respond there.
  • If all you want to do is contact the blogger and your comment is not connected with this entry and has no relevance to others, send a private message instead.
Only registered users with public blogs are allowed to post comments. Log in with your username and password or create an account and set up a blog.
Debt Reduction Calculator
Featured Announcements
Lone Faithfuls
(need a comment):
Recent Comments: