Race the Runways 2012 report


Race report coming to you live from the drive home!

My goal — nailed it! I dared for a sub-2-hour marathon and I did (according to my watch) 1:55:12. (Edit: Official race time is 1:56:04. That’s gun time.) That is around 15 minutes faster than my half-marathon PR that I set at this course last year and 5 minutes faster than I dared to dream.

I also ran my fastest mile ever at 7:49 at mile 5… If the mile marker was in the right place.

The breakdown:
– 1: 9:13.24 / 140 hr
– 2: 8:42.59 / 161
– 3: 8:36.54 / 160
– 4: 8:41.67 / 162
– 5: 8:38.83 / 164
– 6: 9:22.30 / 166
– 7: 7:49.14 / 168
– 8: 8:53.04 / 167
– 9-10: 17:36.0 (8:48 avg.) / 167
– 11: 9:00.72 / 166
– 12: 9:13.85 / 167
– 13: 9:13.46 / 170
– .1: 50.72 / 177

I feel good about this race. Everything came together for a good race.

At the start we stood on the Tarmac for about 15 minutes waiting for the gun and it was sooo windy. And cold.

That made the start hard. I had warned up but my feet were ice blocks for the first mile.

I decided to listen. To music and picked old favorites. First, the Santogold album, next, M.I.A’s Kala, and last was B in the Mix Vol. 2.

I didn’t even get a chance to play my power song- last year I played it waaay too early, this year I was crossing the finish line before I timed it. But that’s a good thing, right?

I saw a lot of friends on the course because there were multiple out and backs. That was really great. I’ve made so many great friends running, especially in Brunswick on Saturday morning, and I got to see many of them on the course or volunteering. I feel so lucky to be a part of such a warm and welcoming running community. 🙂

So looking back I probably took the middle kinda fast and maybe I would have performed better if I left more gas in the tank at the end. There was a STRONG headwind coming in and that contributed to the slower time. But I’d rather have that at the end, anyway.

All in all – a great race. I can cross a sub-2 half off my goals this year.

Pattie Reaves

About Pattie Reaves

I'm a new mom and renegade fitness blogger at After the Couch. I live in Brewer with my husband, Tony, our daughter Felicity, and our two pugs, Georgia and Scoop.