I have returned from the New Jersey Marathon, finishing with a time of 3:56 .. I didn’t think I would PR (missed it by 8 minutes), so I’m not totally upset, but I am upset with myself that I didn’t stick to my plan.

I’ve learned in the many marathons I’ve run, that its all about pacing … well, unfortunately I didn’t listen to that today. I knew the time I had to run at, and I even had my pace band on, and knew at one point i was running 4 minutes faster than a 3:45, but still for some reason I felt that I could keep an 8:05 pace for 26 miles, what a fool I am.

I managed to keep that pace for quite some time until around mile 12, when it started to slip and I started to run the pace that I should’ve been running from the start. I can make excuses if I want, like I was talking to someone for about 4 miles in the first 10 miles, but again, they are only excuses. Regardless, I felt really depleted at mile 16 and started to tell myself that this is going to get rough. I took my gel at that point, and some Succeed drink, and carried on my way, until mile 19 ..

I don’t know if I ever really hit the wall, nor do I know if I hit the wall today, but it sure didn’t feel good. Around mile 19, I took my first walk break, which was a mistake. I should have just kept running, because then I started to stop every mile, which really wrecked my time, plus it gave my muscles a chance to start tightening up on me .. I had a sharp muscle pain in my left lower back, not sure what that was, along with a cramped and sore left quad, and a right calf muscle that was spasming .. it was brutal. That mixed with the wind on soaking wet clothes, didn’t make for a great finish.

It was never a thought that I wouldn’t finish, because by 19 miles, its achievable regardless of how bad you feel, but it was more difficult than any other marathon (maybe except the Ocean Drive marathon, where I just wasn’t trained enough). Now I am trying to keep lose and am so tired, i’ll probably goto bed REAL early…

So the moral of the story? KNOW YOUR PACE and RUN IT! I trained too hard for this race to make an amateur mistake like that, but I got caught up in the moment. Well, I get another shot 2 weeks from now to make it up, I should be able to make it up (being smarter).

As for the race itself, it was well run, lots of porta-potties in the start, good merchandise and a great expo. The course was well marked and the overall crowd support was actually better than I had anticipated ..(at least for the first loop, on the second loop, the crowd wasn’t as strong). The water stations were well marked, well manned, and very convenient (in less than 2 mile intervals, which seems excessive, but it worked). I had heard people complain about the number of people in the start because there is a relay, a half-marathon and then the marathon, and it actually wasn’t even a problem. No worse than any other race I’ve run, and I even got through the pack much faster because they really did a good job with pace groups. The only downfall you might ask? First, the traffic in and out of Long Branch (for the expo, the race and leaving), but it is a smaller town, so that should be expected. I’m just not used of traffic I guess… and the other only complaint is the lack of any water, nourishment, etc right at the end of the race. It took me 5 minutes to make my way to the tent to get water, and it was ALL THE WAY IN THE BACK! You would think they have the post-race necessities a little closer to the finish like in every other race… also, the post-race food was very bland, offering vegetable soup as the only hot option (yuck!). Well, the benefits outweigh the issues, so I certainly recommend it to anybody considering it.

Its off the rest and heal up …. i’ll post my splits later in the week ..