Charlevoix Marathon 2022 Race Report
This past weekend was the Charlevoix Marathon, and it was the 5th time I've participated. Last year I ran the full marathon, and I've run the half marathon 3 times before that.
It's a smaller race in a small lake town, but it has become a favorite of mine. It's not usually won in a blazing fast time and it's not as deep as Bayshore. But, I have good memories here (my first attempt at the half I managed to win it), and traditional "spring" marathons are not very compatible with Track and Field season. So this has become a yearly tradition.
Yesterday I ran 2:44:32 (a 32 second PR), and placed second overall. I trained all winter to run in the 2:38-2:40 range, so the result was a little off of the goal. Not so much that I'm disappointed with the race, but there's work to do. There are three reasons I'm happy, even though I was 4 minutes short of what I wanted. First, a PR is a PR. I tell this to my BC athletes all the time - you should always be happy if you PR. There are circumstances where you can be left wanting more (if you don't place high enough to score points for the team, or if you don't hit a qualifying mark on the day you need to hit it), but generally, a PR should be celebrated. Second, the BIG goal this year is the New York Marathon, and circumstances there will be better to run faster, mainly from a competition standpoint. Third, training this spring was not the best. April and May might be the worst two months from a pure training plan perspective that I've had since I started training seriously.
That statement poses two questions. Who coaches the coaches? What's the difference between running and training?
I love running. I love training too. Running hard 2-3 times a week feels good. But this spring it wasn't cohesive. I have found it hard to write an exact plan for myself for a few races in a row. I know what I need to do when, so I have made the excuse for myself that I can decide on the exact workouts the week of and fit them in. This was also the first training season in a brand new career as a teacher, and that brought new stress.
Clearly I love running enough that I'm fit enough to run 2:44 off of B grade training.
December through March were good. A bunch of the JPLR guys and I ripped some legit long runs through the cold months. But Track season brings different stress to the table, and I'm prioritizing my team and my family over A+ training. All of that added up to a big aerobic base, but not being quite sharp enough (physically or mentally) to really put it together.
Still a fun race.
This year Bayshore may have become the fastest marathon in the state based on how deep it was. Yesterday's 2nd place finishing time would have placed me 47th at Bayshore. Knowing that, I didn't expect a deep field, but anything can happen so I went into it knowing it may be the solo effort that it turned out to be. In the corral I asked a few people at the front what their plans were, and one of them (Nathan Kuck) said 2:37 - 2:40. Race starts and we went out together at 6:02 and 6:02 for the first two miles. I could tell he was going to apply a little more pressure than I was comfortable with, and let him go. He went on to win in 2:37:10.
The race itself was less eventful than the leadup to the race.
One eventful thing: in an effort to not overpack, I underpacked.
I unapologetically enjoy music when I race. It's a proven performance enhancer that I take advantage of.
I decided to wear my most comfortable shorts (I prefer half-tights) for this race, which don't have pockets in them. No problem, because in the year 2022, we have much more comfortable waistpacks/belts than even 10 years ago when I started racing long distances. My preferred belt is a simple waistband by the brand Nathan.
Hard to take advantage of good gear when you leave it at home, which is what I did with my good running belt.
This problem could have been solved if I brought along my other pair of half tights with a phone sized pocket. I didn't bring those because I wasn't overpacking this time.
So, after a moment of arm waving and face palming, Aaron arrived and we went to Wal Mart while Lisa put Connor and Ivy to bed. Cheap wal mart brand running belt to the rescue.
Back to racing. After letting Nathan go, I just did my best to run within my fitness and have a good time (literally and figuratively). I felt mostly good for a long time. I find it easiest to get through a long race by breaking it into chunks. That's especially helpful when you know the course. Charlevoix can be broken into a few chunks. The neighborhoods before the bikepath. The section of the bikepath before the half marathon turnaround. The section before the only big hill at mile 9. The bit after the hill before the turnaround. Then back downhill, then get to 20 miles, get back off the bikepath into the neighborhoods, then finish.
I saw my personal cheer crew for the first time at mile 10. Still felt very good, but kinda thought it took a bit too much mental effort to maintain the pace I was at through that point. I got to halfway and saw them again, and the results say my half split was 1:20:35, which is basically what I wanted. I didn't look at my watch at the time. As I'm writing this I'm looking at those long splits for the first time. I ran pretty even through 20 miles, with 1/4 marathon splits (at the timing mats) of 39:50, 40:44, 40:44, and 43:12. AKA, the majority of the lost time came in the last quarter of the race. After the turnaround, the pressure started to rise bit by bit - but more in my head than in my legs. I let some doubt creep in and slowly got into damage control/just PR mode sooner than I should have.
The benefit of an out and back race is being able to see who is chasing you. It took a few minutes after the turn before I saw anybody though, and that was encouraging.
The first time I ran the half marathon, I made a pass for the lead in the last 2 miles of the race. The leader (who had been out of sight for miles) cramped up and was hobbling. That experience was formative, and I've been chasing that real racing feeling ever since. With that memory, I knew that the same thing could happen today if I don't blow up myself. The other side of that coin would be me getting passed, and I didn't want that. It might not be the fastest race in the state, but I wanted to finish second at worst. After seeing my people a few more times, I hit the half marathon turnaround again, which meant more people to pass, which was a helpful distraction. Another distraction: every time I saw my family, I did a visual inspection on Ivy. She's very two years old right now, and the prospect of putting her in and getting her out of the carseat every 15 minutes sounds like a nightmare. Thank you Lisa, for enduring that for my dumb hobby.
After getting back to the end of the bike path at mile 22ish, I knew it was at worst a PR day, and just worked to get done. There are a few sharp turns and I risked a few looks behind, and didn't see anybody chasing.
I finished, happy, but hungry for more.
Thank you to
Lisa
Connor and Ivy
Aaron
The JPLR and GRTC dudes
My BCTF and BCHS teams
Jesus, my hope is to bring his love to people in what I do.
Next up, some shorter stuff, and then the NYC Marathon, for which I will actually write and follow a plan, because I know there’s more in the tank.
