Clarence Demar Marathon Recap

I changed the title of my blog since it's not really any longer about my running the Disney Marathon as a way to motivate myself to become healthier... now it's just a general running diary.

Pre-Dawn check in at DeMar Marathon

My goal for the race was 3:40 and I ended up running 3:41:35. In retrospect, a 3:40 time was pretty ambitious for this course. It represents a 12 minute PR over my Disney time on a harder course. The DeMar Course is not strictly speaking "tough." But it's not an easy course, either. It is net downhill and there aren't really any killer hills, but there are a lot of rolling hills that, I discovered, are very taxing over the marathon distance. And there is a long uphill in mile 12, a couple of short steep hills in mile 23 (the famous cemetery section) and some other non-trivial climbs scattered throughout the course. It all adds up to the fact that you don't really ever get a good chance to settle in to a long, extended flat cruise.

Rather than another mile-by-mile recap, I'll just give my splits with some notes with what I can remember of the race:

1. 8:06        8:06 all downhill
2. 8:18      16:24 down with short uphill 
3. 8:09      24:33 downhill
4. 8:08      32:41 downhill
5. 8:07      40:48 downhill
6. 8:17      49:05 rolling 
7. 8:21      57:26 rolling
8. 8:24   1:05:50 rolling
9. 8:22   1:14:12 rolling
10. 8:21 1:22:33
11. 8:37 1:31:10  Hill up to dam then flat
12. 8:29 1:39:39
13. 8:28 1:48:07 long uphill
14. 

half split 1:49:07 - about where I wanted to be, 1 min ahead of a 3:40 marathon.

15.  8:27    2:05:02 missed mile 14 split, so this is average pace for miles 14,15
16   8:19    2:13:21 flat
17   8:30    2:21:51
18   8:32    2:30:23
19   8:31    2:38:53
20   8:42    2:47:35 Need 52 minute 10K for 3:40 goal. Don't push for it.
21   8:26    2:56:21
22   8:23    3:04:22 Flat
23   8:47    3:13:23 Cemetery hills, steepest on course. They hurt.
24   8:34    3:21:47 Flat. Recovered a bit and picked up pace a little
25   8:48    3:30:36 “Why am I doing this?”. Pain but no crash
26   9:05    3:39:41 “God just make it end”. Pain but no crash

 

Finish 3:41:35  “Can’t believe I have something left. Little sprint to end.”

At the 2:47:35 split at mile 20, I knew I had to run a 52 minute 10k to get a sub 3:40 finish (marathons are a 10k with a 20 mile warmup, right?)  That's about an 8:22 pace. Which meant I was just about bang on my 8:23 overall race pace. But I knew 3:40 was a tall order given the cemetery hills in mile 23 and the typical end of marathon slowdown, hills notwithstanding. So I forgot about race time and just attempted to hold my form together. The last 5k my legs really hurt, not just the quads but everything: Glutes, hamstrings and calfs were all screaming. I was really hoping to avoid the hard crash I experienced at Disney, and fortunately that never happened. I never got any numb muscles, or felt sick, or the emptiness I felt at Disney. In fact, despite the pain I was able to put on a mild sprint in the last tenth of a mile.

Some amusing stories from the race:

- It was a good thing Tricia and toured the course a few weeks ago. The bus from the finish to the start took a wrong turn (which I recognized) and I had to guide the driver to the right destination.

- I passed a guy puking on the side of the road at mile 25. He sprinted by me just before the finish and beat me by 2 secs. I congratulated him.

My overall impression of the DeMar Marathon is that it is a great small marathon (300 runners), well-organized with very enthusiastic volunteers. The morning check-in at the finish is at a very nice college fitness center with bathrooms, you wait for the start in a heated gymnasium in an elementary school (low 40's temperature at the start), and the first half of the course is absolutely stunning in the early morning light. The second half of the course is not so scenic but I don't really care since at that point I'm all about racing. The whole event has a friendly, small-town New England feel to it that is charming. I might do it again sometime, but next Fall I'd be more interested in a flat race I could go again for a sub 3:40 time.