The Long Run

Towpath Marathon

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  (old lines that were a little out of date but couldn't quite bring myself to removing them completely:) Also, have one wonderful brown dog named Sammy and just added a grey tiger cat (Catty) whose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

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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: Towpath Marathon (26.219 Miles) 03:35:23, Place overall: 20, Place in age division: 2
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
0.3026.320.000.000.000.000.0026.62

26.32 mi, 3:35:23, 8:11 avg, Elev gain 378 feet, HR 157 bpm

The Towpath Marathon in Cleveland, OH (actually just outside of Cleveland) was a fun race, well organized and this year was blessed with perfect weather.  I didn't quite make my goals and how I ran the race was a little different than how I had hoped, but overall I will call this race a success and will cherish the memories of the good things.  I had hoped to run a nice steady race with paces just slightly faster than 8:00 so I could break 3:30, and anything faster than that would be icing on the cake.  The last several marathons I've struggled to maintain a goal pace past 17 miles.  I was focused this time on trying to run steady, push the pace a little less during the early miles so I could at least get to 20 or 21, and then dig deep to persevere through the last 5 or 6 miles. 

Miles 1 and 2: (8:28, 8:39)

Race started at 7:00 am, hints of light but the sun not up yet for another 25 minutes or so.  Jessica saw me off at the starting line.  I chatted with a few people waiting for the race to start.  Legs felt pretty decent heading out.  Had done a short, few minute warm up so I wouldn't start out completely cold.

We started out near the Canal Way visitor center, initially heading in the opposite direction of where we were going so we could do a small loop.  The road to the visitor center is at the bottom of a small downhill (so about 70 feet elevation gain the first mile).  We reached the road where the park entrance is, then headed down 49th street leading to a section of road that was closed - a little bit chopped up but pretty runnable (like running on a gravel road), then we headed downhill back into the park (110 feet downhill the second mile).

Miles 3-10 (the good miles): 7:46, 7:46, 7:53, 7:42, 7:45, 7:53, 7:51, 7:59

We ran north to our turnaround point, 4.75 miles into the race.  Approaching the northern turnaround were a couple small hills.  Next, headed south for about 6 miles to the southern turnaround point (about mile 10.5).  On the way to the southern turnaround were two suspension bridges which were advertised as 30 feet high, but seemed a little less than that (but it was enough to slow me down a little bit).

 

Miles 11: (8:15)

 I would not start my struggle at mile 17 this time like I was afraid of, unfortunately, this time around I struggled at mile 11!  This worried me a bit - not even half way through.  

After making the turnaround at the southern point, my slowing pace seemed to make a small bounce back, and mile 11 which was looking like it might be an 8:30, turned into 8:15.  Picked up momentum so I could get back under 8:00 pace for the next three miles.  Sometime around this point I finally took off my hat. Probably should have done that sooner.  Morning started out in low 40's, sun was up now, temp maybe about 50 degrees but I was heating up, still dressed for low 40's waiting for the race to start with hat, short sleeve shirt and arm warmers.

Miles 12-14: (7:44, 7:58, 7:53)

So, missed sub-8:00 on mile 11, made it ok for miles 12, 13, and 14. 

Looked at my overall time at 13.1 miles where they had a sign, time was 1:45:05. Upon reaching mile 14 which was slightly under 8:00, that put me right around 3:30 pace.

Miles 15-20: (8:15, 8:06, 8:26, 8:24, 8:18, 8:24)

I didn't want to blow up but didn't want to slow down too much, so I just did the best I could.  Settled into a new, slightly slower than 8:00 pace, with miles 15-20 between 8:06 and 8:24

Continued north to the northern turnaround point, then back south again.  But it wasn't a straight shot back yet.  Did one smaller loop where we turned left, heading north again, but not going all the way up to the northernmost point, turning south again, and then having a straight shot back.

Miles 21: (8:44)

Mile 21 was the slowest.

It was after the smaller loop, at the junction where I'd take a right and head south for the last time I saw Jessica waiting for me where she cheered me on a snapped a few pictures.  She had been there just before this last loop but was too far away for me to see.

Miles 22-26.2: (8:27, 8:33, 8:34, 8:34, 8:18, (last 0.2) 7:47 pace)

And then miles 22-26.2, a little bit faster as I felt the pull of the finish line.

Making that last turn south, my legs were tired but not exhausted, my mind was in a pretty good place, I was on my way home.  Also, little did I know, I was being followed by a 55 year old woman.  Keeping my pace steady through those last miles helped her out (she thanked me after the race) and my small pick up for the last 1.2 miles kept me safe from getting passed by her.  The last two bridge crossings felt much easier compared to the first time.

Jessica was waiting for me at the finish line, helped me hobble around until my legs were back.  I chatted a little bit with Connie - the woman who had been following me in.  She was the masters winner, had just run a marathon last weekend, and the weekend before that ran a 12 hour race.  

Thoughts:

My time was good enough for second place age group (first place age group was 3:25.  first place overall was 2:39.  I think the toughest age group was M 35-39 who were all under 3:00:00).

Compared to previous years, the course this year was a little bit different.  Due to permit issues, they didn't actually run on the usual section of tow path, but instead ran on paths in the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation (state park).

So, once again, slowed down more than I wanted to, but held it together at the new, slower pace.  When I did slow down, decided I'd use this opportunity for a training run.  I've always kind of hated that statement in the past, but today I used it more positively to try and push as best I can with hopes that the next time, the new slower pace (if there is one) will be a little bit faster.

This was slower than my last marathon, but I think my base fitness might be a little bit better this time around, so I'm going to build on it and try again after recovery and some training.  My slowest mile this marathon was faster than my slowest mile during the last marathon.  Last time I had two miles slower than 9:00.  So, the range of paces was tighter this time around.

 

Comments
From Tom K on Wed, Oct 23, 2019 at 08:03:44 from 47.206.60.114

Congratulations on a great race! It's a really scenic course, but after 16 miles or so, it's like, enough already!

Did you get a picture from the course for the second place age group award?

From Mark on Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 10:10:30 from 108.190.210.69

Yes! I got a picture, I thought they were very nice. I was trying to add a picture on the blog here. I did not end up getting tired of the course, it was a little bit different this year with some extra loops to squeeze 26 miles into 6ish miles of trail, but next year they say they will go back to the traditional course.

From JimF on Tue, Nov 12, 2019 at 13:09:04 from 98.253.11.215

Great race Mark! Good to see you still running strong!

From Mark on Thu, Nov 14, 2019 at 11:10:32 from 108.190.210.69

Jim! Great to hear from you, I check your blog every now and then for activity, thanks for stopping by

From JimF on Thu, Nov 14, 2019 at 14:46:53 from 98.253.11.215

Thanks for checking in on me. I have taken kind of a long break from serious running. I have been working out and do some overall strength training. Thinking about getting back into it more. Glad to see you are staying consistent. Hope you are doing well.

From jtshad on Fri, Nov 15, 2019 at 06:22:37 from 65.129.138.74

Good job on this race! You have been consistent this year with lots of stuff in life happening. Nice work on this effort!

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