It is Saturday, 24 hours before the marathon, October 20. I had two roadtrips for the day in the Jetta Turbo Diesel: one to Dayton, ME and the other to Brookline, NH to watch the Ghost Train ultra event. I was on my feet for three hours before Krissy and I left just before dark at the end of the day. On the way home we wound up at Amici Trattoria in Chelmsford (where my Jetta came froma year ago) for dinner where I had Eggplant Parmesan. I was in bed by 11PM after sorting out the running gear but not packing 100%.
The Sunday alarm came quick. It was time for the Baystate Marathon: last race of the USATF New England Road Grand Prix Series for 2018. The weather forecast looked good, overcast and temps in the 40’s although a hint of rain was forecasted. I showered, band-aided up, and dressed ready to race with a warm layer on top of that would be good to change into after the race. I had a light breakfast: cup of coffee, a clif bar, some water, and a couple of Endurolyte capsules.
Interms of hydration, I drank a 16oz water with a few NUUN tabs overnight. Krissy, Liz, and I left Lynn around 6:00AM. I listened to Envy on the ride up to Lowell. We got into the garage three levels up, parked, and broke for the Porta-Johns.
I went back up to the car and grabbed two zip-lock bags to hand Joe Shairs who was waiting inside the warm Tsongas Center lobby. Each contained the following: HotShot, Pickle Juice, a Honey Stinger Packet, 3 Endurolyte capsules and 3 Salt-Stick Capsules. You would have thought I was fueling up for an Ultra. I was fueling to stave off muscle cramps. We did not plan on a specific spot to meet on the course but knew he would be beyond the Tyngsboro Bridge both times that I would pass him.
After getting coaching advice from Joe Shairs, Dave Dunham,Terry McNatt, and David Lapierre, I went out for a short mile warm up and find the Porta-John again on the far side of the garage. It was nice to warm up and listen for the booming voice of EJ who was fresh off the Chicago Marathon. I ran back to the car and shed the warm layer drank a Red Bull, Pickle Juice, and Hotshot. I ran to the start running another ¾ of a mile to keep warm. I lined up next to Dave Lapierre, about 12 rows back from the line, with whom I planned on running with for as long as possible.
We headed out at a pace that felt right. I did not look at the watch at any mile markers. My GPS miles were going off just before those on the course. It was going to be a long day. I was soaking it all in. I would see my dad walking toward the Rourke Bridge. I yelled to him as I ran by.
It seemed that Dave and I were comfortable, clicking off sub seven minute miles early on, a bit quick, but we would be fine as we settled into the sevens at mile four onward. After 8 miles, Dave warned me that he needed to make a pit stop and catch up. He did several minutes later. We were approaching mile 10, Greater Lowell Vocational. This part of the course is loaded with shade.
Mile splits through 10 miles:
6:54, 6:58, 6:59, 7:03, 7:12, 7:22, 7:12, 7:12, 7:09, 7:17
As we approached the crossing of the Rourke Bridge, spectators got louder. The half way point was on the other side. I heard several yell my name. I did not see my dad over there where he was supposed to be camped out in his chair. We headed back to Chelmsford and Dave moved up with his pace and put some room in between us. I was not ready to increase the pace yet. I kept my pace of ~ 7:10 mile pace until mile 16, about halfway to the Tyngboro Bridge and started to see some 7:20’s.
My legs were getting heavy and the head wind would feel stronger. I could not manage to get on any heels or behind anyone. I was losing confidence. I turned my ankle on a small hole in the road. That woke me right up and some negative thoughts started to creep into my head. I was waiting for a muscle cramp in my left calf. It started to get tight half way through the race but had me concerned.
The wind approaching the Tyngsboro Bridge was the strongest of the day. I was really in a tough spot mentally. I lost my company miles before and I started to struggle. The 3:10 marathon pace group passed me at the end of the bridge. It was a bigcrew, 20+ that I wished I had the legs to stay with them.
The other side of the bridge offered relief with a tail wind back to Lowell. But my my left calf started to feel like it was in a vice. I saw Joe and got a bag of goods. He was giving me updates on the CMS guys. They were doing great. It lifted my spirits.
Minutes later, running along, I negotiated my gloves off and fought to open the zip-lock bag, fought to grab, open the pickle juice, swallow, open the hotshot, swallow, then the Honey Stinger gel and capsules through the waterstop. Try doing this while running 7 minute miles.
It was around this time that Jimmy Quadros jumped in and talked me up a bit and supporting others around him and I. His efforts were decent but I was felt like I was slowing down. He flew away 2 miles later. Joe would soon zip by and I got another survival zip-lock and I repeated the ingestion of the contents minus the Salt-Stick capsules and Honey Stinger which I gave back to Joe. I was taking either water or Gatorade pretty much from every stop along the course on the day so far.
Miles 11 through 20 splits:
7:08, 7:13, 7:14, 7:13, 7:10, 7:21, 7:22, 7:33, 7:15, 7:32
I saw a 7:58 on my watch at mile 21 and thought the world was crashing. That was the first split I saw all day and felt the previous three miles were similarly slow (turns out I was wrong). I was doing the countdown of miles and wondering when my left calf was going to pop or cramp. The Rourke Bridge went by and now within 5K, felt that I was going to be OK to the finish. I would see teammate Paul Young ahead, the only runner I would recognize after losing Dave at 14 miles, coming back.
I started to feel confident to open the stride in the last mile, risking a cramp but it did not come. I caught Paul on the last of the turns heading to the Tsongas Center. It felt so good to catch up to him. We both pushed it in the last 200 meters. He finished a stride ahead of me at the line.
Miles 21 to the finish
7:58, 7:40, 7:36, 7:49, 7:30, 7:18, 6:53 pace for the last .2 miles.
It was so nice to finish the Baystate Marathon. I could finally smile and not worry about pain or the onset of muscles cramping up while running. I got a medal around my neck and mylar wrap to stay warm. I regrouped with Dave Lapierre and Paul Young to share stories of survival. D-La ran a 3:07 and looked pretty good after. I had a water and an ice cold banana. I started to get cold. I shuffled off to the car and turned the heat on getting out of the marathon clothes while laughing at the line of traffic thinking they were leaving the garage.
They were there for 55 minutes and did not move an inch. I went through my phone and started to study my mile splits and try to see any results.
I headed down to the finish as Krissy was less than 5K away in her marathon. I found her coming in for her last 1/2 mile. I tried to run along side with my phone and take some pictures. It washilarious. I barely got some finish line photos as I could not keep up. She would run 5:20 or so for her 2nd Baystate finish.
I would have an official time of 3:12:30.7 for 199th place. I was 47thin my 40-49 age group. Not too bad, wanted to get under 3:10 for the goal.
Place Div/Tot Div Name No. City State Age
199 47/228 MM4049 JAMES PAWLICKI 1454 LynnMA 44
3mile 10k .5mile Halfway 16.3mil 30k 23mile Net Time Pace Gun Time Qualifier
20:42 44:14 1:00:49 1:33:53 1:57:33 2:14:41 2:48:23 3:12:30.7 7:21 3:12:39.8 BQ
In closing, my time was pretty close to the calculator prediction from Runners World. I am glad that I did not have to deal with any muscle cramps. It was on my mind for the final ten miles of the race. I did finish the race with no salt deposits on my face so maybe I was hydrating properly?
2018 Baystate Marathon Results
2018 Baystate Marathon Results
No comments:
Post a Comment