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Long Island Marathon 2005
I love this race as much as I hate it; this is most experience
marathoners feeling as they toed the 2005 LI marathon. For
one it’s very lonely especially if you are doing the full marathon,
from mile 10 you are practically out there all by yourself, if you are fit and can keep up to the other runners that are passing then that is fine but if not then you are in for a long haul. The good thing about the race is you get a chance to really focus and concentrate on your physical performance, you spend more time listening to your body and enjoying the race, it is like a long training run that you can do a personal best for the marathon. You know when to run hard and when to slow down; you choose your opponents as you go alone.
Most big marathon like Boston or NYC you get over carried away with the crowd and push yourself to fast in the early course of the race and crash later, suburban races like Long Island Marathon is good for new comers and PR.
As I made my way to this year’s race I was all focus on running about a 3:30 marathon, seeing I was coming out of an injury period and finishing 3:46 for Miami in January 31st 2005. My longest training run for this race was 15 miles, I was fortunate to get in at least four 15 milers in before the race, I was suppose to do at least two 20 milers but it rained out those days not to mention we only had like two weeks of good weather but I did as best as I can to squeeze in my training.
There was a good crowd at the start but from my experience most of the runners that was there was for the half marathon, I wish that they could have started the marathoners first so this way runners do not over pace themselves, it is so easy for you to follow the wrong person’s pace and then crash in the marathon, maybe I will suggest that for the next years race. As the crowd blasted through the early stages of the race I just stuck to my game plan and eased off to an eight minute per mile pace. I met a few people along the course running and we chatted for a while about the great weather the weatherman predicted for today, it was suppose to be nice and cool, cloudy and in the 60’s, well let me tell you after mile two I was completely soaked, so much for that.
I ran my predicted time for 10 miles which I was planning to do and then where the marathon separated from the half marathon two guys passed me so I stuck to them so I could run off them for a while until I find someone who was my pace, we all chatted for a while seeing that there was no one on the rainy course we all entertained ourselves with running war stories. Well I out talked them since this was my 21st marathon and we all decided to stay together because we all had the same predicted finishing time we wanted to do. As the race proceeded we passed mile 13 and all was feeling good, there was one of the two guys who was side by side of me running and the other just set comfortable behind us. Mile 15 I stepped the pace up a bit and soon dropped the runner behind us then it was just both of us side by side, neck on neck. With this surge after reaching mile 18 the guy said that that it was to much for him to handle and that he could not keep up any longer, he bid me farewell and good luck as I left him behind and off I went charging running really strong,I was not planning to do so well at this stage of the race so I re-adjusted my thinking for a while and went back to my game plan, I probable lowered my time by 30 seconds per mile from mile 19 to 21.
After making the turn around and on the final leg of wantague parkway just after mile 21 I was feeling great and did a final check on my legs, it was a bit soar on my left tight but I went for the kill anyway, I made a bold move and increased my speed up to 7 minute per mile for the last 5 miles, although there was a little gradual incline going back I never thought about it and just kept running as fast as could, I was able to catch a few runner along the way and really drove it to the finish line in a time of 3:21. My overall place was 33rd out of 391 finishers, the best finishing place in a marathon so far, after the race Sandra was there to cheer on and take some photos for the web site, she said that not much runner finished in front of me and I did well, great race for me and I am looking forward to this years summer training and fall races.
Marathon completed year to date #21 from November 1994- May 2005
I love this race as much as I hate it; this is most experience
marathoners feeling as they toed the 2005 LI marathon. For
one it’s very lonely especially if you are doing the full marathon,
from mile 10 you are practically out there all by yourself, if you are fit and can keep up to the other runners that are passing then that is fine but if not then you are in for a long haul. The good thing about the race is you get a chance to really focus and concentrate on your physical performance, you spend more time listening to your body and enjoying the race, it is like a long training run that you can do a personal best for the marathon. You know when to run hard and when to slow down; you choose your opponents as you go alone.
Most big marathon like Boston or NYC you get over carried away with the crowd and push yourself to fast in the early course of the race and crash later, suburban races like Long Island Marathon is good for new comers and PR.
As I made my way to this year’s race I was all focus on running about a 3:30 marathon, seeing I was coming out of an injury period and finishing 3:46 for Miami in January 31st 2005. My longest training run for this race was 15 miles, I was fortunate to get in at least four 15 milers in before the race, I was suppose to do at least two 20 milers but it rained out those days not to mention we only had like two weeks of good weather but I did as best as I can to squeeze in my training.
There was a good crowd at the start but from my experience most of the runners that was there was for the half marathon, I wish that they could have started the marathoners first so this way runners do not over pace themselves, it is so easy for you to follow the wrong person’s pace and then crash in the marathon, maybe I will suggest that for the next years race. As the crowd blasted through the early stages of the race I just stuck to my game plan and eased off to an eight minute per mile pace. I met a few people along the course running and we chatted for a while about the great weather the weatherman predicted for today, it was suppose to be nice and cool, cloudy and in the 60’s, well let me tell you after mile two I was completely soaked, so much for that.
I ran my predicted time for 10 miles which I was planning to do and then where the marathon separated from the half marathon two guys passed me so I stuck to them so I could run off them for a while until I find someone who was my pace, we all chatted for a while seeing that there was no one on the rainy course we all entertained ourselves with running war stories. Well I out talked them since this was my 21st marathon and we all decided to stay together because we all had the same predicted finishing time we wanted to do. As the race proceeded we passed mile 13 and all was feeling good, there was one of the two guys who was side by side of me running and the other just set comfortable behind us. Mile 15 I stepped the pace up a bit and soon dropped the runner behind us then it was just both of us side by side, neck on neck. With this surge after reaching mile 18 the guy said that that it was to much for him to handle and that he could not keep up any longer, he bid me farewell and good luck as I left him behind and off I went charging running really strong,I was not planning to do so well at this stage of the race so I re-adjusted my thinking for a while and went back to my game plan, I probable lowered my time by 30 seconds per mile from mile 19 to 21.
After making the turn around and on the final leg of wantague parkway just after mile 21 I was feeling great and did a final check on my legs, it was a bit soar on my left tight but I went for the kill anyway, I made a bold move and increased my speed up to 7 minute per mile for the last 5 miles, although there was a little gradual incline going back I never thought about it and just kept running as fast as could, I was able to catch a few runner along the way and really drove it to the finish line in a time of 3:21. My overall place was 33rd out of 391 finishers, the best finishing place in a marathon so far, after the race Sandra was there to cheer on and take some photos for the web site, she said that not much runner finished in front of me and I did well, great race for me and I am looking forward to this years summer training and fall races.
Marathon completed year to date #21 from November 1994- May 2005
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