Pocono Marathon

The Expo

This was a completely different marathon experience than my last marathon in Philadelphia. Starting with the expo, I drove an hour north into the Poconos to the Chateau Resort. If you aren’t familiar with the Poconos, there are typical mountain communities, beautiful landscapes and interesting shops and businesses every now, some with a twist of humor. Some places are painted up all funky and fun, others are just strange. A drive up to the mountains is always fun, whatever the case.

The expo wasn’t much of an “expo” as most would define the word. There were a couple of tables set up selling gels, fuel belts, advertising for another race and I think they were selling baked goods. This was besides the usual pick-up area for your bib, chip and shirt.

Afterward, I stopped off at the outlets down the road and picked up a couple of Under Armour shirts (my favorite brand) – I ended up wearing one of the shirts in the marathon the next day. Perfect choice! It’s one of those superbly comfortable shirts that you don’t even feel like you have on.

Next I drove north on 611 up to Tobyhanna where the marathon begins. It was less than 10 minutes away and I wanted to catch a glimpse of the hills. I only ventured about a mile into Tobyhanna, what I saw was good enough for me. These were definite hills. I became excited with the idea of how much fun this was going to be the next day. Now, if I had driven the entire course I would have seen that each downhill was matched by an uphill. That was a surprise that was waiting for me the next day.

I stayed at my Dad’s house on Saturday night since he lives about 25 minutes south of Stroudsburg. My house is about 25 minutes west of him and I figured I’d rather drive 25 minutes instead of 50 minutes to be at the Stroudsburg High School at 6 am. I worried slightly whether or not I’d be able to sleep well on the bed at his house but once my head hit the pillow I was out and slept hard all night.

Race Morning

I had my pre-race oatmeal at 5:15 am with plenty of time for it to settle for the 8:00 am race start time. Then I grabbed some gross 7-11 coffee for the drive up to Stroudsburg and waited with the rest of the runners for the busses to arrive which would take us to the starting line. I spotted someone I knew (Bob) from Facebook but had not yet met in person and hopped on the same bus as him and his friend, Terry. It was fun talking to them on way to Tobyhanna versus riding the bus alone and silent.

The Race

Tobyhanna was cooler and windier than down in Stroudsburg. I was shivering as I stood outside waiting in line for the porta-pot, cursing myself for not wearing my arm sleeves as originally planned. I called up my friends, Megan and Mike, to discover that they had just arrived at the parking lot and were making their way over to the elementary school. Megan and Mike had come up to the race to act as my support crew. They brought their bikes and backpacks and showed up every few miles along the course, handing me water whenever I needed it and cheering me on. As it turns out they made many friends along the course that day, cheering on all the runners within the 3:25-3:45 pace range. I’ll get to them more in a bit.

I located my running partner, Maureen, in the gym and then spotted Annette whom I have been chatting with on the Runner’s World forums who traveled here from Texas with her friend to run the relay that day, each completing a half marathon. It was fun to spot even more people whom I knew and wish everyone good luck.

We lined up at the starting line and by 8:01 am the race started. I felt calm and ready for this. I was prepared and had my plan in my head as well as written on my arm. For the past several weeks I have been ridiculously calm about my race. Recently, my newest issue of Running Times arrived in my mailbox and while reading through it I found a sentence which really rang true for me. It was a quote from Sean Wade, an Olympic marathoner for New Zealand and one of the current top ranked masters in the world. He said, “Successful runners learn to keep their emotions in check and treat race day as just another training run.” This is exactly how I had been feeling throughout my taper and exactly how I felt on race morning. Just another long run, except this time I’d run it a little faster than before.

My race strategy was pretty simple.
1 – 8:20
2-9 – 8:15
9-21 – 7:55
21-26.2 – 8:10

I planned to hit the following splits at the following miles:
mi 5 – 41:20
mi 10 – 1:22:15
mi 15 – 2:01:50
mi 20 – 2:33:30 (incorrect – it should read 2:41:25 – discovered after the race)
mi 25 – 3:22:00

My projected time for the half way point was 1:46:00.

Every five miles I’d check my splits and despite how I was pacing from mile to mile, as long as I was hitting my splits then I was confident that I was on target.

Miles 1-5
It was cool and windy and I am so glad that I kept my windbreaker on for the first few miles. This was an out and back loop through Tobyhanna with rolling hills. We started off mostly downhill which made my first few miles faster than planned. This was okay, they felt very easy and I didn’t feel like I was working at all. Soon we were faced with a decent uphill and even that felt easy. I gave myself permission to take the hills slowly, knowing that even if I lost any time I could make it up later. 26.2 miles is a long way to go with plenty of time to make up lost seconds. I spotted Mike and Megan around mile 5 and handed them my jacket.
1 – 8:11
2 – 8:00
3 – 7:58
4 – 8:22
5 – 8:28
5 mile split: 40:59 (ahead of schedule)

Miles 5-10
I’m finally hitting the 8:15 range that I planned on but that didn’t last long. The downhills began around mile 8.5. I planned on 7:55 pace for the downhills but knew that I would probably hit some of them closer to 7:50. I did not freak when I was hitting them even faster. I told myself it was okay and again gave myself to permission to run how I wanted. This is all an experiment.
6 – 8:14
7 – 8:17
8 – 8:08
9 – 7:46
10 – 7:47
10 mile split: 1:21:11 (a minute ahead of schedule)

Miles 11-15
Mike and Megan show up at different points along the way. They are great at cheering me and everyone else on and I smile every time I see them. They are totally cracking me up after they get back on their bikes and continue on along the course, yelling “Team Jill” or words of encouragement as they pass. I am feeling very good along this section. At the half way point I am ahead of schedule and thinking of Mark Will-Weber who told me that my projected 8:15 MP was probably too slow. In all honesty, I was shooting for an 8:00 MP and I was hanging right around there. The hills were no longer a surprise and I was chugging along pretty mindlessly. People were beginning to struggle, some were walking the hills. The sun was feeling hot and I was grateful for my salt pills. I had taken one at the start and another one just past the half way point. I dumped some water over my head and on my face which was a great relief.
11 – 7:43
12 – 7:52
13 – 8:08
14 – 8:02
15 – 7:56
15 mile split: 2:00:52 (still a minute ahead of schedule)
13.1 mile split : 1:46:04

At this point I am totally excited that I only have 11 more miles to go. This race is going smoothly despite all of the uphills. A friend of mine that told me that the majority of downhill was from miles 8-13 was dead on right. From mile 13 on it was a continual rolling course. Every downhill was matched by an uphill. On the course we all talked about it, saying that this course was much hillier than advertised. My paces show the uphills with the 8′s and I kept wondering how I was still holding a good pace on all of these hills. I noticed throughout the race how empty my mind was. I was completely in a zone, never really thinking much or analyzing how I was running. I was on auto-pilot.

Miles 16-20
I don’t remember much about this section other than the creek that ran along the road which I really wanted to jump in. I was running alongside a guy named Tom for a bunch of this section. We’d sort of pull each other along and talk here and there. Around mile 18 the uphills are starting to beat me up. More and more people are walking and I keep passing people who use to be in front of me. That feels good but I decide to take my caffeinated energy chews. I can’t remember where I got them, they were given to me at a race and I had hung on to them for many months, figuring they might be of use in my next marathon. I take those and then decide I want a gel as well. This is the one and only gel I take today. I was powered mainly by water and my own body. I never hit the wall. For me, mile 20 is a success. I’ve made it this far, now it’s a 10k race. At this point it’s hard to “race”. I take it one mile at a time.
16 – 7:33
17 – 7:59
18 – 8:06
19 – 7:15
20 – 8:22
20 mile split: 2:40:06 (shit! I am pissed that I just lost some major time in this section)

Damn! When I see that I am behind by so much at the mile 20 split I get mad and frustrated. Somehow I lost too much time on those hills. I say something to Megan as I pass her and she encourages me that it’s okay.

EDITED TO ADD: My friends Rob and Rob both pointed out that my calculations were off. The time I have down for my mile 20 split is actually my mile 19 split. My mile 20 calculation was actually 2:41:25 so I was actually ahead of that with the 2:40:06 that I ran. I can’t believe I didn’t catch that sooner. Thanks guys!

Miles 21-26.2
At mile 21 I spot Steve Kendra. I haven’t met him in person, we’ve only exchanged emails but I spotted him because he was wearing his NF Endurance shirt. I had written an article on Steve and his children’s cancer foundation on the Lehigh Valley Running Scene website. This past winter Steve and some other NF Endurance athletes traveled to Antarctica to run the Antarctica Marathon. He ran across the bridge with me before turning around to spot his other runners and help them along.

After crossing the bridge we had a huge uphill to conquer. Ouch! I spot Brendan walking. Brendan has run with us a few times on our Sunday long runs and today he is struggling. These next few miles are really tough. A lot of people are walking, stopping to stretch their calves and having a hard time. Somehow I keep chugging along. I’m passing more people. Don’t ask me how I did it. I ended up running alongside some guy and he tries talking to me. He’s asking me where I’m from and how many marathons I’ve run before today. I’m answering him in one word grunts and then say, “Why are you talking?” Seriously, man, save your energy. He apologizes but we continue to run next to each other.

Mike and Megan continue to pass by and then stop to cheer me on. They are the best! At mile 23 I’m tired and ready for this marathon to be over with! I run behind that talkative guy and use him as my rabbit. I need something to pull me along.

Miles 25 and 26 are a death march for me. My muscles are starting to ache and I feel really slow. I had stopped looking at my watch a while back. I’m running the best that I can and that is good enough for me. Once I hit mile 25 and see that I had made up time and was on target again I have the mental energy to continue on. All I want to do is stop and walk. Actually, I want to stop and lay down. But it’s only another mile or so and I can definitely do this. I pull on my memories of tough interval sessions, especially my recent 3200 meter repeats. I can do this! This last mile is lasting forever!! When will this end?

Mike and Megan are on Main St., Stroudsburg telling me I look good and I’m almost there. Mile 26 is exactly where we enter the stadium and hit the track. We have to run ¾ of the way around the track to the finish line. I look at my watch about half way around and it says 3:31:30. I know I have the speed in me to kick that final 150 meters but today all I could muster was a 7:59 pace. I was crawling along at a snail’s pace, I just couldn’t go any faster. I really wanted to cross that finish line in 3:31:xx but am completely happy with my 3:32:35. I ran hard today. I left it all out there.
21 – 8:21
22 – 8:13
23 – 8:17
24 – 8:04
25 – 8:15
25 mile split: 3:21:16 (somehow I made up some time)
26 – 8:18
.2 – 1:43 (7:59 pace)

Split for the second half of the race was 1:46:31 – a 27 second positive split. I remember after my first marathon in November I had a 4:22 negative split. Some of my friends suggested trying to tighten that difference up. I’m pretty happy with the fact that I tightened that up to under a 30 second difference.

I sit in a chair just past the finish line as a woman clips off my timing chip. It feels so good to sit and I don’t want to get up. Finally, I move over on the in field to wait for Maureen to finish. I spot Terry, whom I met hours earlier on the bus ride to the start. He collapses next to me and we start talking about the race. In the early miles we ran together for a bit but then he pulled ahead. How did I get ahead of him? Neither of us saw each other and figure I must have passed him during his bathroom stop. He got his BQ and is heading to Boston for 2011. I tell him we have to keep in touch. Brendan then appears and he collapses on the grass as well. He is talking about his love/hate relationship with this marathon distance. His time is close to his goal but not quite there. I think he’ll probably try it again despite him disliking the longer distances. I keep looking for Maureen and finally she shows up with a huge smile on her face and a BQ in her pocket. This is all I cared about. I knew she would get a BQ and now we are making that trip to Boston together.

Megan and Mike are the absolute BEST support team ever!! Not only for me, you would not believe how many people came up to them after crossing the finish line to thank these guys for all of their cheers and support. It was really cool to see so many people coming up and thanking them.

What a day! This race was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Megan has run Steamtown and says that this course is just like Steamtown’s course. I am having second thoughts about running Steamtown in October. I think I may decide to run Philly instead. I have time to think about it.

Official time: 3:32:35 (8:07 pace)
Overall: 167/667 (25%)
Gender: 25/249 (9.6%)
Age group 40-49: 5/86 (7%)