Did I run this marathon in my “A” goal time of three hours and fifty minutes or less? Did I break four hours, a “B” goal booby prize I’ve been striving for ever since I toed the line in March of 2013 for my first ever marathon? No, and no again.

But I PR’d by seven whole minutes, and therein lies a tale.

The goal back in March, after successfully pacing 4:22:00 at the LA Marathon, was to continue the plan I had first concocted at the beginning of 2019: train to run LA at 8:45 pace, for an approximate 3:50:00 time. As you recall, the idea was to train specifically for LA at a pace a half an hour faster than the time I would be expected to finish so that I could run the expected pace comfortably enough to help the runners who depended on me to get them over the finish line at the time they had trained for. It worked. This year’s LA Marathon was the easiest marathon I’d ever run, and it showed in my ability to “be there” for my struggling pacees.

And after two weeks rest, I directed my focus to Mountains 2 Beach, six weeks away. I increased my speed work and ran more hills: Santa Monica to Inspiration Point in Will Rogers State Park (twice), three sets of what we call “Amalfi Loops” which are runs up and into the hills of Brentwood, back over to San Vicente Blvd at the Santa Monica / LA border and back down. Six miles each.  At least two loops for each set. Over a thousand feet of elevation gain and loss each week. Long, hard tempo runs every Wednesday along the Santa Monica beach path, from the Pier to the boat house and back. Seven miles round trip, nine if you count the warm ups and cool downs. Half the distance at my true tempo pace (8:00 per mile), then back at slightly faster than my predicted 8:45 marathon pace for Mountains 2 Beach. Oddly enough, I would look down at my watch, particularly during the last two weeks before the marathon, and notice that my 8:00 miles had turned into 7:45’s. Definitely getting fitter, faster.

Bring it on!

My weekly mileage took a bit of a hit, however, as a result of all this speed and strength training. Didn’t run a 50 mile week once between LA and M2B, even though I easily hit that goal three weeks before LA. The hills and speed work took it out of me. But could I have done so, had I forced myself to? Undoubtedly.

And that’s the key word right there. Doubt.

I felt fresh and prepared early Sunday morning, the day of the Mountains 2 Beach marathon. I spent the previous afternoon lounging in my motel room fueling, hydrating and Netflixing. Slept well. Boarded the shuttle, made it to the start in downtown Ojai in time for multiple Port-a-potty visits, and lined up at the start, raring to go.

Then I thought about the first three miles of the race, the fact that after the relatively flat, easy mile, two more with a nontrivial uphill grade awaited. That set my rumination cycle in motion: I’m running at 8:45 pace. If I slow down 30-45 seconds per mile for the first few miles to warm up and preserve my precious carbohydrate stash and leg strength, will I still be going out too fast? After all, I didn’t run faster than about 9:45-10:00 miles up all those hills while training. Would 9:15 on those two uphill miles set me up for trouble at mile 20?

In response, I made the decision to run with the 4:00:00 pacers for the first portion of the marathon to tamp the intensity down, then speed up in time for the big drops at miles 8-14, and coast to an easy 3:50-3:55 to the finish. Big mistake. Because by the time I felt ready to run ahead, the 4:00:00 pace was already locked into my legs.

However, the pacer knew we all wanted to run under four hours, so she helped us out, easing us forward to the point where we were two minutes faster than 4:00:00 by about mile 22 or so. I was hurting by that point (as everyone was, including the pacer), but when we turned the corner onto Thompson Drive in downtown Ventura, a tiny little molehill at mile 24 loomed too large, and despite my internal urgings that the time was NOW to break that four hour threshold, despite the fact that I had run conservatively and consistently, and that mile 23 was my fourth fastest mile in the race (8:52), I hit the brakes and slowed to a fast walk. If you look at my TomTom pace graph, you can see where I willed myself to the finish line with a combination of staggering, race walking, swearing loudly (to the point where I’m sure people thought I was nutzo) and running. I consoled myself that a PR is as good as any “A” goal I could possibly set for myself, and I willed myself over that finish line.

4:03:48.

******

Looking back on what I’ve just written, I realize that it reads like a confession wrung out of a suspect under hot lights. But the fact of the matter is I PR’d by seven whole minutes! And I accomplished that because I trained for it! That’s saying something. This propensity I have to minimize my own accomplishments because of a failure to cross over a preconceived threshold is genetic in nature, I suppose, but it’s something I absolutely have to come to grips with and get past.

Because now that we are through the LA and Mountains 2 Beach cycle, I can take a deep breath, recover, recoup some strength, and set my sights on a big goal. Big. Just you wait and see kinda big. Huge. Yuuuuuge.

The secret is specificity in training: Long runs with sections where I run marathon pace or slightly faster, especially near the end of the run. More familiarity with the uncomfortable tempo training pace. Hills. Recovery. Dropping about ten pounds or so. And a whole hell of a lot of base building, which has always been something I’ve struggled with.

Will this new goal be arbitrary? Probably. Is it realistic and achievable? Most definitely. Will I have this same conversation with myself if I somehow fall short? Hey, you know me.

You’ll hear all about it on the next exciting episode, so don’t even worry about it. (That last phrase was meant for me).