I’ve explained how I got into Marathon running before, so I won’t go into that whole story again, but what I will say is that 2022 was the first time I ever ran one. I trained over the course of COVID and completed my first Half in September of 2021, but had never run over that 13 miles before. My goal was simply to finish, and not be last. I just peeked back and my time then was 4 Hours and 44 Minutes – my pace was all over the place, and only was below 9:00 for one mile for the 26, but I finished and now knew what I was getting into, truthfully I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to do it again (famous words after every distance run, eh?).. As soon as registration opened for 2023 I signed up again, and the following year came in at 4:34, shaving 10 Minutes off – I trained a little better, pacing was more consistent during the run, staying around 9:20-9:30 up until mile 14… still not great, but that pacing was by far the most consistent through my first 13 miles to date. I had to give it another go, so I kept training, and registered for the Niagara Falls Marathon that October.
Niagara arrived and I decided that I wanted to push myself, and looked for a pacer that I thought I could keep up with, 9:09 to finish at 4 hours? That seemed reasonable,so I gave it a go – and I stuck with him for 21 of the 26 miles, but hit my wall at Mile 21. I had a cramp in my thigh that I couldn’t shake and just had to walk, drink a bunch of electrolytes, and jog the rest of the way. We kept a good pace though, and would have finished a little below 4 hours, instead I came in at 4:10… so close, yet so far… but now I had a goal – 4 Hours.
I decided that I wanted to skip Buffalo and try somewhere different in 2024, so I signed up for the Toronto spring Marathon for something different – my Cousin and my Mom both signed up for this as well at different distances. I had a similar plan to what I did in Niagara in October, find the pacer, stick with them. Through the winter I’d trained a little better than the prior year and I figured that I could do it this time! This time I’d made it sub 9 for a chunk of the run, but began hitting an intermittent wall earlier on – Mile 4’s hill hurt me and had me at a little over 10:00 pace, I sped up below 9 again and then I hit a wall at Mile 19 and it crushed me. I was able to take it in at 4:07… dang – still a PR, but 7 mins shy of my goal. I needed to rethink my fueling strategy.
This winter I trained hard – indoor, outdoor, through the snow and cold and was determined to beat that time – I wanted my sub 4! Three weeks ago I was able to finally get my 1:45 in the half, shaving 7 minutes off… if I could shave 7 minutes off of my half, I should be able to shave that off in full! Fast forward to this weekend, the Buffalo Marathon again and I was on a mission. I was able to hold sub 9 minutes for the first 18 miles, mile 19 had a bit of a steeper hill, so to preserve my energy I did a run/walk up and averaged 9:08, still good. I was fueling every 30 mins, gels, water, and gatorade. Mile 22 I took my last gel, a Maurten 100 – an extra boost of caffeine for those last 4 miles, I’ve used them before with no problem, but for some reason, this one was not settling well. I slowed way down just as I was a few hundred yards from Mile 23’s aid station, even stopping briefly – 10:31 (Mile 22), 10:12 (Mile 23), and 10:11 (Mile 24). Just after the Mile 24 aid station, some people tailgating were trying to hand runners Blue Light’s to get them to chug a beer while they ran… Ginger Ale does a great job for quelling a nausea… why not try it? I grabbed the can, said to the person that this was either going to be the best decision ever or the worst, and started chugging. I downed half of the can while jogging and let my stomach toss a little bit…. I let out a belch that probably made the person running next to me a little scared. Suddenly, my stomach was back to normal and I was good to go again. My Final Mile was an 8:11 Pace.
I finished the race at 3:54, shaving 15 Minutes off of my previous PR, which is no small amount by any means! But it’s got me thinking – had it not been for that last gel, I’d have been at almost 3:45… I may need to give it one more attempt in 2025.
Roving On 