Columbus Marathon 2011 Race Report

Thought I got this out on Monday but I must have forgotten to publish...

The Columbus Marathon was yesterday.  Although not on most of the MRC(am) "must due" list for 2011, J-Fo, GS, MD, and I decided to start.  No one was really peaking for this...the big race of the year was Ragnar but with that being a bit of a disaster, why not support our home town Marathon.  Besides that, GS was already registered from a deferral in 2010. 

It was a warm 51 degrees as I tried to get downtown.  Traffic was a bit more than I planned.  I wonder if anyone missed the start.  The highway was still backed up 30 minutes before the race start.  I got parked and met J-Fo and GS at our predetermined meeting point.  MD didn't show up there so I never saw him.  Through the port-o-john and down into the corral we go.  Columbus did a really nice job with the fireworks display.  I hadn't run Columbus in a few years so either this is new or I forgot about it. 

GS was planning on seeing what he could do with a 20 mile per week training plan.  He got a nice 1:26:04.  He was pleased considering lack of speed work and recent injuries. 

MD was not really sure what he was going to do.  He considered running with J-Fo, then considered running just fast enough to get a Boston Qualifier for 2013.  In the end, he had a pretty fast 3:11:14. 

J-Fo was the only one who really had a good shot at a PR.  He had his sights focused on a sub 3:30. 

I was not going to run but decided to go ahead with it considering I was registered and it would be fun to pace for J-Fo.  Well maybe not fun for the whole race but generally fun.

J-Fo and I started out with a nice steady pace and were really able to hold it up until the very end.  Not too much to say about the race.  J-Fo and I didn't chat much.  I dictated the tempo and J-Fo went right along with me.  Somewhere in OSU, Nance jumped in to help us through the last part of the race.  It was a great help since we were facing a bit of a head wind.  Nance blocked for us for a good couple miles.  It is always wild how long those last couple miles can be.  The Neil Avenue stretch wasn't too bad but I was dying on Buttles and onto Park.  Coming down Park is a blur of pain and I was thinking...damn we have a long way to go yet.  We brought it home with 1:16 to spare though.

Great to see J-Fo's family supporting him.  His wife, sister, and mother were able to give us some oranges a couple times around the course.  Nice change from Gu and Gatorade.

Here are the splits from my Garmin:
1 - 7:53

2 - 7:30
3 - 7:46
4 - 7:49
5 - 7:43
6 - 7:31
7 - 7:50
8 - 7:57
9 - 7:44
10 - 7:45
11 - 7:49
12 - 7:41
13 - 7:57
14 - 7:56
15 - 7:55
16 - 7:58
17 - 7:47
18 - 7:58
19 - 8:11
20 - 8:04
21 - 7:56
22 - 7:56
23 - 7:54
24 - 8:09
25 - 8:33
26 - 8:37
Kick - 7:47 pace

Time: 3:28:44
Average Pace: 7:58

Well it is "off season".  Time to maybe do a little cyclocross and physical therapy.

165 lbs...got to lay off the twinkies.