The Lehigh Valley Hospital Marathon is in the books now, just waiting for the official results to be posted … I broke my PR like I expected, completing it in 3:42, although I was disappointed with the way I ran it, I guess i’ll still take the good time though.

I was disappointed because my splits were all over the place, although I think some of it had to do the mile markers being off by a bit … I found it hard to think that in same cases, I ran an 8:10/mile, then next mile, I ran an 8:40/mile .. and it was like that all over the place. I didn’t feel like my pace was changing that rapidly (i think I would notice a 30 second pace drop) … anyway, I can make excuses, but I did the first two miles at an 8:00/mile, which I shouldn’t have … because I did pay for it in the end. I was running a 3:38 until around mile 22, when I started to drop off by almost a minute a mile, I couldn’t believe it.

The worst part of the course was the now famous “Gary Ward Hill” .. I drastically underestimated it when I wrote about it a few weeks back, it really was pretty steep .. not to mention that immediately after the hill, we were on an incline for at least another 3 miles … it really beat up my legs more than I had expected. Its hard to deal with a steep hill at mile 15, after you’ve been cruising at an 8:15/mile average pace … it really sucked.

Otherwise, the course was beautiful, I wish we had this type of running trails in our area, I could get lost for days on them .. the scenery was nice, and although the crowd support was sparse except for the relay transition points, it really was a nice run.

I intended to post my splits, but it appears my watch didn’t save them, claiming “Memory Full” .. I guess thats what I get for buying a cheap watch, I guess its time to spend some money on a good one to avoid this!

So my critique of this marathon is that its a great marathon to run, the good points overwhelmingly outweigh the minor bad points, but here were my thoughts .. (note I only listed my important good points, I could go on and on and on with good points)

Good points:
1. Small field of runners ..
2. Great starting point, convenient to the downtown and hotels
3. Great course and very scenic course (even Gary Ward Hill)
4. Water stops conveniently located
5. Supports a GREAT cause!

My areas for improvements, just some things they can work on to make this race better … (although everybody is a critic, eh?):

1. shuttle service after the race was very sporadic, it took over an hour to get a shuttle back to Allentown, plus the shuttles only held 12 people at a time. I felt bad for the guy who waited and couldn’t get on and had to wait another hour for another one …
2. post race food was a little disappointing. No gatorade or sweetened drinks, just water and Panera bread bagels.. There were a couple empty boxes of donuts, which I wish weren’t empty .. I really need something ‘sweet’ to eat ..
3. at the end of the course they needed more volunteers to point runners the right direction. There was one point around mile 23 where I almost took an unmarked wrong turn (thankfully I went the right way, the girl I was running with made the decision to go that way) .. and while we were waiting for the shuttle, about a dozen people were off the course that we pointed the right way .. the end of the course really needs the most directional support because people aren’t ‘thinking’ straight..

I was fortunate enough to meet some great people both before, during and after the race .. the guy who runs in the pink tutu ran this race, I think he was in the Delaware marathon as well. I spoke to him after the race, and had some good marathon discussions as well….

So as always, I have some interesting observations including the pink tutu guy .. this was the first marathon where there were no portapotties at the start, I found that weird .. but based on the location of the start, I can understand why. next, I noticed that this seemed to primarily be a relay marathon event, as there was a considerable larger field of relayers then there were marathoners .. as I got to the end, I was totally surrounded by relayers instead of marathoners .. I found that weird.

Lastly, the major points of pain in my body right now are my one toe that i wrote about a few weeks ago … my left quad is killing me being sore, it started bothering me around mile 8, so I ran a long way with it and it really hurts going up the stairs … we’ll have to watch this one… Its funny but my feet actually hurt, i’ve never had that and could be because i’m adjusting to the new shoes, I dunno. Other than that, just general aches and pains, i’m gearing up for a big supper to put calories back in my system ..

So the Steamtown Marathon is up next, we have about 5 weeks to go .. we’ll have to review our plan and start getting ready, I think I know what I need to do to keep that 3:38 pace ….