Tucson Marathon was the last race for me and it was long over due for 2011 season. After Akron Marathon, I trained hard and mainly targeted running hills to get myself ready for elevation. Before the race, I thought elevation change is not change much about my performance; I planned to run very conservatively for the first ten miles, and then increase my pace with downward elevation change to keep me to the end to a new personal best record.
I arrived to Tucson on 12/09 afternoon. It was nicely warm, sub-70s degree with no humidity. My college running buddy pick me up and went to the expo to get our packages.
On 12/10/2011, I woke up early and ran out with Tony for an easy 30 minutes jog near his home. His house is located at a hill top and is about 2800 feet about sea level. The run was pleasant at the most part; but at the end, I was having hard time catch my breath when we get to the stop at his house. I was hoping my lungs will be adjusted and ready on race day morning. Sunlight in Tucson is strong; I felt the intense sore in my eyeballs after the run.
12/11/2011, the race started at 07:30 on Sunday morning from Oracle AZ. It is a town situated at 4900 feet and it finish at 2700 feet. Before the race started, I was happening to meet a runner from PR (Jeff) that also happening to know Jimmy Daly.
At 07:30, the horn was blown, and everyone was out. First we hit a very notable downhill, then flat out for about half mile or so, and then we hit uphill at mile 1.2. I felt okay in the first two miles, tried not to push out too hard while I focus on breathing in the thin air, and enjoy the most beautiful sunrise I see in my life; then the call of nature kicked in, I had to stand next to a giant cactus and lost about 26 seconds. Afterward I refocused back to my rhythm and caught up with the group that I was running with near mile 5. As little I want to admit the elevation kicked my butt, but it was hard to get as much oxygen into my body while running 6:40 pace.
We were running most downhill, then we made a left turn at mile 9.2, and then we ran toward Biosphere II. Before the race, the organizer promised there going to be a 10~13 MPH tail wind for the second half; but before get to the half mark, you need to run up two ~ three hills toward Biosphere II on 3500+ feet above sea level and before that, the tail wind was actually the head wind.
I made a 180 turn around in front of Biosphere II front gate. Then I started felt the tail wind… I hit the half mark at 1h’31m’ and immediately realized that I won’t be PRing. I kept my pace and breathing as consistent as possible. Vishal of DC caught up with me around mile 14 and ran along side with me for about two miles or so, and then I felt good when the course reach below 3200 ft, I gradually pick up the pace and drop him behind. Just before mile 20, I caught up Jeff of PR team.
I thought I was doing well, even I felt the soreness in both quadriceps and my left angle feeling the sore after I accidentally roll a little when misstep when I get out of Biosphere; then the course took me to mile 24.5, where I ran up a small but very notable inclined, Vishal caught me from behind and charged to the end. Over that inclined, I felt my quadriceps no longer allow me to hold up the pace. I felt the shot. I slowed my pace down, way down. I was in pain for the last two miles, but manage to finished with 3h’08m’35s’ (stopped my watch when behind the cactus) and official time is 3h'09m'10s'. Tony finished with a kick ass time of 3h'03m' after seven years off from marathoning and under trained. We are also talking about running Chicago Marathon together in 2012/2013.
At the finish, I felt the physical soreness and emotional torture; I felt like a failure. All that hard work on hills, on track, on trails, and ran up and down in Rock Creek still can’t complete with Tucson marathon. I thought I was ready for 2h’57m’, but I wasn’t, not even close to 3-hour mark; I was very disappointed. However, Tony and Jen were such great hosts, they talked to me about elevation training, and got me out of the blue. We stopped at In-n-Out for a Double-Double Burger afterward and great brew from Thunder Canyon Brewery in the evening.
If you interested, you can see the GPS detail at here.
The next day (12/12/2011), I went to California to see my family and stop running for solid six days. After six days off from running and spend lots of time with family, I felt recharged and refreshing; I went for out a jog on evening of December 17. I was planning to do go easy on Pacific Electric Bike Trail; but I felt good and got greedy; I decided to run an hour instead of easy thirty minutes. The air was cool with little rain drop, but nothing major. I logged 8.9 miles for 66m’43s’ for that night and the week.
I still some what feeling down after I got back to the East and only ran four days for week of 12/19/2011 –
12/20/2011: 34m’36s’ for 4.9 miles;
12/21/2011: 44m’22s’ for 6.2 miles;
12/23/2011: 35m’15s’ for 4.8 miles;
12/24/2011: 30m’37s’ for 4.1 miles.
For week of 12/26/2011, I shake off the blue and started running more, since I am going to start training soon for Gansset Marathon; I ran –
12/26/2011: 60m’29s’ for 8.3 miles;
12/28/2011: 37m’24s’ for 5.2 miles;
12/29/2011: 52m’14s’ for 7.2 miles;
And I am planning to run very easy for next two days before New Years Day 5K.
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