2020 Solo Marathon

2020 Solo Marathon 

April 18th, 2020

2:30:55 (5:46 pace) (PR) 

Me, Henry and Tyler

    At the beginning of 2020 my main goal was to put together the best possible 18 week marathon training program to PR in the road marathon and hit a BQ. It was a, put all your eggs in one basket, type of attempt. My 'A' goal race was the Illinois Marathon in April. A flat, competitive PR worthy course. I did ALL the little things in order to prepare. I put together the best18 week program I possibly could, I ate mostly vegetarian, did all the prehab, strength training and core possible....then 2020 happened. And we all know how that went. The race was ultimately cancelled 4 weeks out which left me in the best shape of my running career with no race to let it out at. I refused to let this situation dictate and alter what my goal was. I came to the realization that I didn't need a sanctioned race in order to set a personal record. However I did need a sanctioned event in order to post a BQ time but it is what it is. I ended up choosing a date with decently forecasted weather, mapped out a flat course literally from my driveway, set up a crew and invited anyone to come out and support. 

    The day itself turned out to be a magical moment. I called this a solo marathon but it reality it took a village to put this together and I'm grateful for each and every person who came out and supported. 

It took a village. Even though I named this a solo marathon it wasn’t. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without the support from everybody involved. The pacer and crew I had in Tyler, Henry and Tucker were amazing. Such a weird concept of an event. It wasn’t a sanctioned race but I still had to approach it as one in order to achieve my goal. I was relaxed on the surface but deep down I was nervous a bit. Just for the fact that for the past 18 weeks I’ve had this pace and goal time in my mind and not making it a reality would be tough. We executed the goal pace of 5:45 perfectly for 20 miles. It was a perfect morning temperature wise, sunny and cool but with a slight SSW wind that would ultimately be pretty tough on the way back in. The support on the course was unreal. Huge thanks to all who came out and supported. You don’t know how much I appreciate that and how much it helped. The bridges were a bit slick still covered with frost from the low temps last night. Especially in the Vaporflys it was a bit sketchy. Got to the turn around in 1:14:24 ish. Which I was excited about. Right on pace. I knew the hard part was to come. The head wind on the way back was more brutal than I thought it would be. Tyler took the lead as I tucked behind him for a good majority of the way back. 10k to go the fluids weren’t sitting very well. The last 4 were tough. Every sip I thought I was going to throw up. I was riding a very fine line between staying on pace and bonking. I just needed to make it to Centennial and get that wind to my back. Last two were the toughest. Just grinding it out. Crossing that line felt so good! I was 1 minute shy of my goal but I’m not mad about this effort at all. Considering all things right now I’m excited about this huge PR. Fuel wise I stuck with the game plan of 3 Maurtens total at 7, 13.1, and 19 with sips of electrolyte drink between those. I fought a right side ache at mile 2-3 of all places and a left side ache around half way.

 

    Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/3316793305