AF Marathon!

Well folks, its official: I am a Marathoner!  I finished the AF Marathon in just under 5 hours.  The weather was perfect and course was gentle…  I had an issue with my hamstring at about the 17 mile mark and then another issue with my left quadriceps at the 22 mile point…  It wasn’t until the 24 mile point when I realized that I was going to finish.  I got my second wind and ran out the final 2.2 miles without any significant trouble! 

Unfortunately, I didn’t have music today because somehow my iPod dumped the music in the last sync.  I recall my babies messing around with the laptop when I was charging the iPod and GPS last night…  Oh well, I had plenty of time to think about things… 

I crossed the finish line and was tired but elated.  I began shutting down my electronics then noticed a familiar voice yelling “daddy!”  It was my wife and kids; they drove out to surprise me at the finish line!  I was so happy to see them! 

I am so tired and my left quadriceps is still burning.  The hamstring is also tight but fine (my hamstring is not 100%, because they extracted my ACL-graft from my hamstring tendon during my 2005 knee surgery).  I don’t think my legs are capable of handling another full marathon (at least the hamstring).  I’ll have to consider if I’ll ever register for another full again…

Well, I have put an end to another chapter in my running life with today’s AF Marathon.  I missed out on about 190 miles in this training plan…  I am rather disappointed that I missed so much, but I may have been overzealous in creating this plan.  Regardless, the race isin the books and I switch gears for the Columbus half marathon next month.  I’ll have a few days off before I start training…  I’ve posted my Columbus training plan on the main page (below) and moved the AF Marathon into my “Completed Races” page. 

Split paces:

#1  10:05                                 #15  11:04

#2  10:04                                 #16  11:15

#3  09:12                                 #17  11:58

#4  10:43                                 #18  12:03

#5  09:21                                 #19  12:42

#6  09:32                                 #20  12:22

#7  09:52                                 #21  12:23

#8  09:56                                 #22  12:59

#9  09:46                                 #23  13:25

#10  10:11                               #24  13:27

#11  10:15                               #25  11:52

#12  10:01                               #26  12:46

#13  10:20                               #27  11:28  .2 miles

#14  10:45

26.2 @ 4:53:02 (11:06 pace overall).  A little off of my intended pace of 10:00 min/miles, but I am satisfied with the finish!  Also, I managed to set 7 new PR’s during the course of this training:

#1  10K PR                 0:50:20            27 June, 2011

#2  Dist PR                 14 miles           6 August, 2011

#3  Dist PR                 16 miles           13August, 2011

#4  Dist PR                 20 miles           28 August, 2011
#5  Dist PR                 26.2 miles        17 September, 2011

#6  Weekly PR           32.2 miles        11-17 September, 2011

#7  Marathon (1^st)       4:53:02            17 September, 2011

AF Marathon Map

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Finish Time

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New PR’s

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AF Marathon Training Plan (Phase I)

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AF Marathon Training Plan (Phase II)

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Me and boys with my medal

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Thanks for all of your wonderful support throughout this journey.  God bless! 

Happy running and God bless!
"Fight the good fight, finish the race, and always keep faith"
2 Timothy 4:7