Race Report: 2009 NJ Marathon - Part 2

After 36 hrs (longest I've had to wait for chip results), it's official. My BQ effort was 3:14:24.

Some final thoughts about yesterday's race, in no particular order:

• How much did my non-running workouts help? The crunches, biking, push-ups, pull-ups, light weights, etc?
  
  
• I ran a negative in a marathon for the first time (1:38:21 & 1:36:03)! I'm really proud about this, but I didn't try to do it. I just tried to keep the foot on the pedal and hang on for as long as I could from mile 10.
  
  
• Significantly less training mileage than last year's NYC marathon, yet I feel that's almost inconsequential because...
  
  
• ...of the smarter salt and fluid intake. I was confident in my running ability but not my hydrating strategy. In ALL my other marathons, I'd start with the gels at about mile 6. This time I started at mile 4 and took every 3.5 to 4 miles, drinking lots of water along the way. There were water stations where I took Gatorade at the front, guzzled it, and took water at the end of the station. This was in addition to the small Poland Spring water bottle that I mixed with lots of salt.
  
  
• Also can't discount that the flat course made the pacing significantly easier. Although it rained, in my mind that wasn't going to prevent me from my goal time.
  
  
• Next on my running checklist? Get faster in the shorter races. Have the Queens Biathlon in two weeks. It'll be a nice change of pace to get back on my bike. Now if I can only find a free body of water to swim.
  
  
• Personal rewards - my wife said I should buy a new "super suit" for myself if I BQ'd. I'm heading to Jackrabbit this weekend to pick it up :-)

And I think that's about it. I titled this blog "Boston or Die Trying." I thought of going into blogging hibernation now that I've accomplished that but I've also enjoyed chronicling these little goals. Maybe I want my kids to read these some day. In any case, for now, it's good-bye spring marathon training, hello summer fun!