Asbury Park Marathon Race Report

First I want to start off by saying that although I was running this marathon as a training run that does not mean I took it lightly. I have huge respect for the marathon distance and do not believe there is such a thing as an easy marathon.  It's 26.2 miles regardless of how you tackle it.

With that being said, on Saturday night it hit me that I was going to be running a marathon on Sunday. I started thinking about my training and realized I had only run one 20 miler up to this point and I usually like to have a few more under my belt before I do a marathon. So that started the panic and I began to worry if I was actually ready, and capable, of running 26 miles. Andy assured me that I was and that I would do just fine. Not sure how he would know, but I tried to believe him.

The course is an 8 loop course with the first loop being 2.65 miles. Then the middle 6 loops are 3.35 miles with the last lap being 3.45 miles. You run a small portion on the roads then do an out and back on the boardwalk along the beach and ocean and then run through the convention center. It was a really small field of runners and due to the loops the run is geared more towards relay runners. The marathoners, or "teams of one" as they called us, wore a different colored bib and were few and far between.

I ran with a friend and we decided to walk the water stops, there were 3 on each loop, and take it easy. If I felt up to it, I had planned to run the last 2 loops or 6 miles at marathon pace. But since I was a little unsure of what I had in me, I decided to make that call at mile 18. I have to say, the loops didn't bother me at all. I quickly lost track of miles and just stuck to counting down loops. There was one part of the run when you came off the boardwalk onto the roads that we hit some pretty crazy headwinds. This was the only mentally challenging part of the course for me, but thankfully it was such a short distance until we turned and headed back to the boardwalk that the challenge was short lived. Entering the boardwalk was a perfect little pick me up and then running through the convention center was great!! Music was blaring and the relay team members waiting for their turn were in there cheering us on. Since we kept running through this area, you never had long to wait to get a little boost. And I have to say, being a "team of one," I felt like a celebrity. The marathoners really got a lot of crowd support and respect while we were out there. I have never received so many positive comments and cheers as I did yesterday. Thank you spectators at Asbury Park!!

The run flew by and other than my sciatica flaring up at mile 11, I felt great and my legs wanted to go! But I held back because I knew it was important to stick to my plan. I wasn't ready to race this and it was suppose to be a training run. But since I felt so good, I made the decision at mile 18 that I would run the last 6 miles at marathon pace. My legs were definitely tired at this point so what better time to try race pace! So at mile 20 I wished my running partner luck and set off.

mile 20 - 8:28 (feels great but faster than this??)
mile 21 - 8:15 (a little better, but still faster!?)
mile 22 - 8:16 (I'm trying...)
mile 23 - 8:13 (ok, that's about it)
mile 24 - 8:11 (oh yea!)
mile 25 - 8:01 (this is fun!!!)

Official results aren't posted but according to garmin, I finished 26.5 miles in 4:10:55. I did exactly what I set out to do and had a great day. I loved the course, thought this was easier than some of my long training runs and would consider racing this course next year. The only thing that got a little old was towards the end when you had to run right past the finish line chute. It didn't bother me until I started loop 5 and realized how nice it would be to be finishing right about now. Passing the finish chute two more times was hard but I tried to not pay attention to anyone finishing and just focus on myself.

To sum it up, I finished feeling really strong and am so happy I was able to pull off those paces that late in the race. That 3:35 at Philly is sounding a little less scary right now.

My 2 little presents to remember Asbury Park:

And of course a parking ticket. You would think advertising ample street parking as a perk to the marathon that they might have included it wasn't free. Didn't they just make enough money off all of us?

Ok, it's 8:58am...I gotta run...biggest race registration of the year starts in 2 minutes!!! Boston, here I come!!