Outer Banks Marathon 2007
I’ve joked in the past that with every marathon I learn something new, and that I’m really sick of having to keep learning things! But true to form, I learned an important lesson in this year’s marathon, even as I think I approached my race the smartest yet. The idea was to use the "10/10/10" approach; miles 1-10 at a 10min/mile, miles 11-20 at a 9min/mile, and then (if I was feeling it) the last 10k (miles 21-26.2) at an 8:30min/mile. This would have been absolutely perfect on a completely flat course. What I didn’t take into account, though, was the elevation profile for the Outer Banks Marathon.
The first ten miles were fantastic. I ran the first mile with Butch and Chris, which was a real joy, and I felt a tiny bit bad when I left them towards the end of that mile but they had a different pace plan (and were also doing a run/walk, which I wasn’t) so when they stopped to stretch I took it as a sign to keep going. Running through woods, along the water, and then around the Wright Brothers Monument? Fantastic. I felt bad for anyone who ran the half marathon if only because they missed all of this amazing scenery, the best part of the course by far.
Miles 11-13 run through the Nags Head Woods Nature Preserve; the first two miles on a packed dirt road, the third mile on a narrow off-road trail, and all three of these miles are extremely hilly. I should have shifted my planned paces around a bit to compensate for this; planning on not pushing here and expending the strength elsewhere. (As crazy as that section was, though, I must admit that I really liked it. It was gorgeous.) As it is, looking at my splits below, you can see a huge dip on speed for that off-road mile in particular. Additionally, miles 14-19 are at a slight uphill grade and along a highway, which is less than fun and also sapped my strength more than I’d have imagined.
Of course, some things you can’t compensate for. Around mile 14.5, a car tried to pull out onto the course and only stopped when I screamed at it—all of about a foot and a half from me. Shaken, I continued on, but a minute later my right calf seized up and never really let go. Now I’m not saying that me having tensed up from the near-miss from the car made the calf tense up, but I do think that it contributed. I stretched as best I could for a solid minute and then continued on. I must admit I was sad that my parents, Suzanne, and Charlie never saw me up until that point in the race because I was definitely not looking my best from that moment on!
I pushed on as best I could, stretching a tiny bit every mile or two, and starting at mile 20 taking little 30-second walk-breaks because my knees were starting to ache as well. When I started the 25th mile, I was aching so much that I just had to walk the vast majority of it. I couldn’t even face the "just 2.2 more miles!" that I kept telling myself, finally making a deal that when I finished mile 25, I would start running again and not stop until I was done. And sure enough, that’s what happened. I didn’t get the sub-4:22 finish I was hoping for (I’m fairly convinced if it hadn’t been for the calf problem I would’ve hit that), but I did the best I could, and this was the first marathon for which I didn’t enter it with a run/walk plan. And hey, a 4:29:06? I’ll take it.
Next year? I’m going to tackle my race the same way, but will pay more attention to the course map when doing so; if necessary I’ll shift some of the planned paces around to better compensate for what’s ahead. Little by little, I’m getting there.
| Mileage | Mile Times | Time of Day | Total Time | Overall Pace | Notes |
| 0 |  |
7:22 AM | 0:00:00 | |
|
| 1 | 11:02.5 | 7:33 AM | 0:11:02 | 0:11:02 | |
| 2 | 09:51.3 | 7:43 AM | 0:20:54 | 0:10:27 | |
| 3 | 09:47.7 | 7:53 AM | 0:30:42 | 0:10:14 | |
| 4 | 10:02.7 | 8:03 AM | 0:40:44 | 0:10:11 | |
| 5 | 09:45.7 | 8:13 AM | 0:50:30 | 0:10:06 | |
| 6 | 09:37.3 | 8:22 AM | 1:00:07 | 0:10:01 | |
| 7 | 10:28.5 | 8:33 AM | 1:10:36 | 0:10:05 | |
| 8 | 09:43.0 | 8:42 AM | 1:20:19 | 0:10:02 | |
| 9 | 09:51.3 | 8:52 AM | 1:30:10 | 0:10:01 | |
| 10 | 09:40.3 | 9:02 AM | 1:39:50 | 0:09:59 | |
| 11 | 09:24.8 | 9:11 AM | 1:49:15 | 0:09:56 | The start of the very hilly, trail-running, nature park. Why did I not remember this was coming? |
| 12 | 09:17.6 | 9:21 AM | 1:58:33 | 0:09:53 | |
| 13 | 10:35.6 | 9:31 AM | 2:09:08 | 0:09:56 | Finally! The hills (which were alive with the sound of runners cursing) ended just after we finished mile 13. |
| 14 | 09:03.5 | 9:40 AM | 2:18:12 | 0:09:52 | |
| 15 | 09:42.7 | 9:50 AM | 2:27:54 | 0:09:52 | And then Greg’s right calf exploded. (Funny, in the past it was always lefty.) |
| 16 | 09:33.1 | 10:00 AM | 2:37:28 | 0:09:50 | |
| 17 | 09:26.9 | 10:09 AM | 2:46:55 | 0:09:49 | |
| 18 | 09:33.2 | 10:19 AM | 2:56:28 | 0:09:48 | |
| 19 | 09:40.8 | 10:28 AM | 3:06:09 | 0:09:48 | |
| 20 | 10:12.6 | 10:39 AM | 3:16:21 | 0:09:49 | |
| 21 | 10:26.0 | 10:49 AM | 3:26:47 | 0:09:51 | |
| 22 | 10:24.2 | 10:59 AM | 3:37:11 | 0:09:52 | |
| 23 | 11:21.8 | 11:11 AM | 3:48:33 | 0:09:56 | The nasty part of the bridge to Manteo. Worse than MCM’s 14th St. Bridge in terms of going straight up and then down. |
| 24 | 10:53.6 | 11:22 AM | 3:59:27 | 0:09:59 | |
| 25 | 16:34.2 | 11:38 AM | 4:16:01 | 0:10:14 | Walked a lot, just could not run anymore. (Or at least until the end of the mile.) |
| 26 | 11:35.8 | 11:50 AM | 4:27:37 | 0:10:18 | |
| 26.2 | 01:29.4 | 11:51 AM | 4:29:06 | 0:10:16 | A 7:25min/mile pace! Ha! Gotta love that brief adrenaline burst. |
(Lest you think I’m completely nuts, I should point out that I made an Excel spreadsheet where all I had to type in were individual mile times, and the starting time, and it filled in the rest.)