Bob Mann: 2010 Twin Cities Marathon

Sun Oct 3, 2010

On Sunday Oct 3, I my 16th marathon at the Twin Cities Marathon. There was a nice crowd from the 30s running group meeting there, and of course I hadn't run a marathon in Minnesota before, which helped me make the choice to run this one. It had been about four months since my last marathon, in South Bend Indiana. I had trained fairly hard over the Summer, so I went into TCM with some confidence that I could finally reach a new PR. It had been two and a half years since I set my marathon PR in Birmingham (3:47:27), and I had run more marathons after that PR than I had done before it. So I wasn't taking anything for granted. Most importantly, I really just wanted to make sure I checked another state off my marathon map. But a new PR was a big goal too.

I flew into Minneapolis on Friday afternoon and headed straight over to Baggs and Brandy's house, a couple who are part of my online running group. They live in town, and were kind enough to put me up for the weekend. Brandy drove me along the race course, showing me the ups and downs Baggs and I did a short and slow run around one of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes, and then the three of us went to the Twins game at the new Target Field that night. The stadium was beautiful, as most new ballparks seem to be. It was a fun evening.

On Saturday morning, Moon came into town. It was the second time this year that we met up for the same marathon and were lodging at the same residence of a generous family from our running group. We all headed downtown to meet up with some more of our gang who were running the race. We had brunch/lunch downtown and then we went to the expo to get our stuff. And later on, we all ended up at Crane's house for a yummy pre-race pasta dinner.

Sunday morning was race day. After meeting up inside the Hubert H Humphrey Metrodome to stay warm, we all had to head out to the start corrals a few minutes before the race began. For the first time in my life, I had qualified for a faster corral (Corral 1), thanks to my sub-1:45 Half Marathon that I ran in Danbury CT in April. I had only just barely qualified, however, so I made sure to line up near the back of the corral. In this corral, right before the race, I briefly met up with another guy from the running group, Pacer Chris, for a few seconds, as he was leading the 3:10 pace group for this race.

The weather was perfect for running a marathon. The temperature was in the high 30s, which felt very pleasant, after a long hot Summer of training. While the course did feature a few hills, I knew I would have no excuse for missing a PR this time. The PR I set in Birmingham was done on a hilly course, so I knew I could handle some hills. In the marathons since then, I have dealt with injuries, illness, heat, humidity, and other issues. I had none of those excuses this time, so I was really counting on giving the new PR a solid effort.

As the race began, I was quickly on my own. But that didn't last long. Less than a mile into the race, I found myself running alongside another imaginary internet friend, Cindi. While we had never met in person before, we knew what each other would be wearing, based on conversations online. We were both aiming for similar times, so we ran together for a while. we got separated, then met back up, and ran together until about Mile 10 when we were separated again for good.

I had been warned repeatedly by the locals to not start out too fast because of an early hill. I ran the first mile in 8:51, so I think that was a slow enough start. Although the hills kept coming, I did manage to bring the pace up to 8:26 for the second mile. From then on, I hit a nice groove. Mile 4 was mostly downhill, and at 8:04 it became my fastest mile of the whole race. That's fine, because I had no need to maintain a pace anywhere close to that. For the next couple hours, I maintained a very consistent pace between about 8:10 and 8:25. I am quite pleased with the consistency, despite the hills.

I passed the halfway point in 1:50:50. Almost on pace for a 3:40! I had originally thought about attempting a 3:40, but I decided that was unnecessary. I really just wanted a PR. Besides, I know I typically fade a bit in the second half of marathons (sometimes more than others) and there were still plenty of hills to face.

I kept my average overall pace at 8:23 up until Mile 20. At that point, the course had a long steady hill that brought my pace down. Miles 21 and 22 were 8:46 and 8:52, respectively. Not bad, but it was enough to prevent me from any thought of reaching 3:40. Miles 23 and 24 were made of more rolling hills, and I kept the paces at 8:42 and 8:40. By the time I reached Mile 24, I was pretty much at the top of all the hills. It was flat for another mile and a half, and then a downhill sprint to the finish. After looking at the Garmin, some easy math told me that I had a PR in the bag, and a sub-3:45 finish as well. However, a 3:40 was clearly out of the question. Basically, I determined that I had two choices: I could bust my tail and get a 3:43:xx, or take it somewhat easy and finish with a 3:44:xx. Not a heck of a lot of difference between those two, in my book. So I made a decision. Since I was spending the weekend with friends, and we all had plans to meet up and enjoy ourselves a bit after the race, I decided to take the easy way out and conserve some energy. Yeah, maybe it was a bit chicken of me, but I decided to mail in the last two miles. Miles 25 and 26 were done at paces of 9:01 and 9:06, my two slowest miles of the race. That still allowed me to cross the finish line in a time of 3:44:20, which is a new PR by over three minutes! Throw in the fact that I didn't have to punish myself at the end, and I will call that a very successful race!

After finishing the race, we hung out, drank some beers, and watched the rest of the field finish. Then we all met up at a place called the Happy Gnome for food and drinks. Before you know it, the weekend was over and it was time to return home. As always, it was a joy to meet up with more imaginary friends. Running marathons is a huge thrill for me, even when I spend a weekend out of town alone. But when I can spend the time with some great people, it makes it even better.

As of now, I don't have any more marathons plans. But I'm sure I'll pick something soon...

And now the photos. Click any image to enlarge.