The 2012 Missoula Marathon is over. Many of you are probably glad I can now get back to focusing on stuff you care about: Beer. Still, if I’ve inspired at least one of you to take up beer running as part of an active, healthy lifestyle, that would make me happy.
My race did not go as planned and I considered skipping any kind of report at all as I wallowed in self pity. Yet, with any such endeavor there are successes and failures and lessons to be learned from both. Last year, I trained obsessively, came to the race confident, stuck to my plan, and enjoyed every one of the 26.2 miles on the way to a 3:55 time.
This year, I crashed and burned at Mile 19 and struggled through the final seven miles on the way to a 4:14. Uggh. So what happened? It would be easy to blame the heat, which reached 98 degrees later in the day, but there were two more important factors.
First, I didn’t need to run this race. Last year my obsessiveness was driven by the goal of running my first marathon. This year . . . . . I ran it because it was there (and I rather enjoy this stunningly great race).
Second, I did not adjust my plan to align with reality. I intentionally trained less this year hoping I would be fresher both for the race and for the rest of the year. I have not felt “right” the entire year of running and thought that might help. Weeks before reaching the starting line I knew I wasn’t in the same place as last year. Regardless, I went out with the same plan, hoping for a magical day where I could just squeak under last year’s time or at least end up with another sub-four hour time.
Why didn’t I accept reality and adjust my plan? Ego. It’s that simple. Not ego in an “I’m-better-than-you” kind of way. But ego in an “I’m-not-going-to-accept-that-I-am-not-as-good-as-last-year” kind of way. There’s something magical about a sub-four hour time for a recreational runner like me and I wanted another one.
You hear runners say all the time that they “went out too fast” and ended up crashing early. The adrenaline of race day will easily do that to you. I did not go out too fast. I went out exactly according to plan. Each of my first 19 miles were within a few seconds of my plan. It was my plan that was too fast.
I had a pretty good idea that was the case around Mile 16 when still up on top of the hill celebrating the fact we were more than half way. My ability to keep upwind of my race partner’s farts was slipping away. Miles 17 and 18 cruised by with the increasingly dark knowledge that it wasn’t going to be my day. When the 4:00 hour pacer overtook me around Mile 20.5, I knew my goal was shot. I felt defeated and sad.
From there I decided to do something different. I did a combination of walking and running – working hard to maintain a decent time, but making sure not to kill myself and the next several months of running. I checked out the signs along the course which I usually don’t notice. I talked and joked with spectators. I saved enough in the tank to be able to run the last half mile at a good clip, down the Higgins Street bridge and it’s fantastic, cheering crowd and across the finish line.
After taking in some pasta, watermelon, fruit popsicles and other goodies at the post-race food tent, my training partners and I found some shade to do what we do best: drink great beer and swap generally accurate stories.
As always, the entire Marathon weekend was exceptionally well run. It is a fantastic showcase of the Missoula community and proved once again why Runners’ World voted it the best overall marathon in 2010. With an important lesson learned, I will happily take part in it again next year.
Who’s in?
