2019: Marquette Half Marathon

Currently in week #05 of a training cycle towards a Fall marathon, my original plan for this event (like, when I first registered in December 2018) was to run the full distance as a supported long training run. Over the last 2-3 weeks (and even as late as Tuesday of this week), I flirted with the idea of sticking to the full distance at a fairly good pace … assuming the weather angels blessed us all with a day made for racing. As much as I believe in pushing the limits, I believe that I am a stronger believer in the process and its transformational power. Coupled with the advice Stephen Eles offered halfway through week #04, I decided to run just half the distance but almost entirely in an unwieldy zone. Doing so would have the added benefit of having plenty more time to cheer on John Farquhar as he punches his ticket to 2020 Boston and Bill Sved completes his 300th (yes, three hundred) marathon!

The Fall marathon training plan I am following called for a 17-mile LSD run on this day. Since I’d be racing today’s event, I split the distance into three parts: a 1-2 miles of warm-up, 13-mile race and 2-3 miles of warm-down. Also, I re-arranged the Friday’s 10 easy 10 miles into two parts: a 3-mile easy shakeout on Friday and a 7-mile easy recovery run on Sunday morning. As usual, the 3-mile shakeout run was completed by 9:30 am and having packed the car by mid Friday afternoon, I had ended the day’s proceedings around 10 pm. A full night of sleep meant waking up early and taking to the road by 5 am seemed quite relaxing. An easy 2-ish hour drive, similar to 2019 Paavo Nurmi Half Marathon, got me to Marquette with sufficient time to catch the shuttle to the start. After picking up my race packet at the Michigan Iron Industry Museum and chatting briefly with Angela, Claudio and Lynn, I completed the warm-up routine (similar to what Craig had shown me during 2019 Canal Run Half Marathon) few minutes before the national anthem and start of the race.

Goal vs Reality Goal: 13.11 mi in 1:38:05 (7:28 min/mi) Reality: 13.12 mi in 1:32:22.0 (7:02 min/mi)
#	Lap Distance mi	Lap Pace min/mile	Lap Elevation feet	Total Distance mi	Total Time h:mm:ss	Total Elevation feet	Total Pace min/mile	Projected Finish Time h:mm:ss	Differential Goal Time h:mm:ss
01	1.00	7:07	16↑ 56↓	1.00	0:07:08	16↑ 56↓	7:07	1:33:18	0:04:47
02	1.00	7:01	0↑ 7↓	2.00	0:14:10	16↑ 63↓	7:05	1:32:51	0:05:14
03	1.00	7:09	7↑ 0↓	3.00	0:21:19	23↑ 63↓	7:06	1:33:04	0:05:01
04	1.00	7:22	43↑ 69↓	4.00	0:28:41	66↑ 132↓	7:10	1:33:57	0:04:08
05	1.00	7:09	3↑ 49↓	5.00	0:35:50	69↑ 181↓	7:09	1:33:44	0:04:21
06	1.00	6:49	0↑ 135↓	6.00	0:42:39	69↑ 316↓	7:06	1:33:04	0:05:01
07	1.00	6:46	0↑ 131↓	7.00	0:49:25	69↑ 447↓	7:03	1:32:25	0:05:40
08	1.00	6:43	0↑ 131↓	8.00	0:56:08	69↑ 578↓	7:00	1:31:46	0:06:19
09	1.00	6:42	0↑ 102↓	9.00	1:02:50	69↑ 680↓	6:58	1:31:19	0:06:46
10	1.00	6:52	0↑ 102↓	10.00	1:09:42	69↑ 782↓	6:58	1:31:19	0:06:46
11	1.00	7:04	7↑ 13↓	11.00	1:16:46	76↑ 795↓	6:58	1:31:19	0:06:46
12	1.00	7:16	0↑ 7↓	12.00	1:24:02	76↑ 802↓	7:00	1:31:46	0:06:19
13	1.00	7:28	85↑ 0↓	13.00	1:31:31	161↑ 802↓	7:02	1:32:12	0:05:53
14	0.12	7:15	10↑ 0↓	13.12	1:32:23	171↑ 802↓	7:02	1:32:12	0:05:53
The final cumulative time, 1:32:23, may not match the official time (1:32:22.0) owing to rounding errors. Starting my watch a few seconds before the start and stopping it a few seconds after crossing the finish line can be an additional reason for this discrepancy. The overall distance, 13.12 mi, may not match the designated (or certified) event distance (13.11 mi) owing to idiosyncrasies associated with GPS data collection OR my inability to take the tangents OR the aforementioned early start/late stop reasons, and in some rare cases, incorrectly measured (or advertised) courses or DNFs. As a result, the cumulative pace and the projected finish time might not match the official values as well.

The main goal for this event was to learn more about pacing: unlike the 2019 Canal Run and 2019 Paavo Nurmi half marathons (where I had held back in the first half and pushed the effort in the second half), the plan was to gradually push to achieve a comfortably uncomfortable pace by mile #5 and sustain/improve  it through the finish. And as a by-product of following this pacing strategy, I expected to earn a new PR for the half marathon distance (i.e., finish below 1:38:06).

Apriori knowledge of the course (especially the starting area that takes the shape of a funnel) meant that I started near the very front. Unlike the previous two half marathons, I didn’t peel back after the start … mostly because of the narrow trail and additionally because I didn’t want someone to clip my heels in that hurry. Flatter terrain (and some rolling stuff over miles #4 and #5) meant I could average 7:10 min/mile (about 10 seconds/mile faster than what Ray had prescribed) by the end of mile #5. Not making time to study/revise the course and in turn, not knowing where the course transitioned from gravel to pavement (or incorrectly assuming that it did so around mile 4.50) proved a little costly. I spent a little too much mental energy contemplating when to start the next push. Since the course remained about the same at the beginning of mile #6, I decided to risk and started pushing the pace to the neighborhood of 6:45 min/mile – something that I hadn’t tested or experienced before.

Thanks to Sir Isaac Newton’s ever-present gravity, holding that pace through mile #10 mile … something supposed to be uncomfortable … seemed rather easy and conversational. It felt quite surreal to be breezing past the mile markers … and that such a day was here lot sooner than I had expected. Breathing remained under control and cadence was in the vicinity of 175 spm throughout the run. I purposefully held back a little over the relatively flat miles of #11 and #12 … to save some for the final push up the Third Street hill to the finish line.

I was quite happy to have executed the overall plan nearly as prescribed and completed the run at 1:32:22. It was good enough for 27/527 overall, 19/188 in gender and 6/52 in AG, and a shiny new PR. Similar to 2019 Paavo Nurmi Half Marathon, it helped to have a pro-active plan ready to counter any fear or pain that’d potentially derail my plans. I was satisfied with sustaining fairly even splits throughout the course (fastest mile at 6:42 and slowest mile at 7:29) and approximately even 5k chunks (22:07, 22:00, 20:53 and 22:07).

Furthermore, unlike last year, I did let go aid-station misgivings (e.g., plastic cups that were either difficult to squeeze or just would crack when squeezed losing all water, etc.) and enjoyed the benefits of lighter miles. Post-run activities included re-hydrating, running back down to the bottom of Third Street to accompany John as he finished a  marathon strong in spite of a nagging injury/pain for nearly 10 miles, congratulating Bill on completing his 300th marathon, grabbing one half burrito to re-fuel, getting a quick courtesy massage, meeting newly acquainted friends and making new ones. After joyfully spending rest of the afternoon and evening, I decided to drive back to Houghton … but not before meeting Tim, Jeremy, Carol and Andy … in Ishpeming to train for the upcoming Marji Gesick festivities.

Progress report
#	Year	Weight lbs	Time h:mm:ss	Pace min/mile	HR bpm	Cadence spm	Power watt	kCal	Position
01	2014	180.0	2:05:30	9:32	162	160	0.00	1471	###/XXX, 86/YYY, 20/ZZZ
02	2016	171.9	1:58:05	8:56	171	161	0.00	1515	128/XXX, 71/YYY, 21/ZZZ
03	2018	166.9	1:46:49	8:06	171	162	0.00	1548	57/534, 38/198, 14/62
04	2019	157.1	1:32:22	7:02	168	176	272.00	1253	27/527, 19/188, 6/52

Thanks be to

the rejections and opportunities life has brought my way, event folks (organizers, sponsors, volunteers, timers, law enforcement officials, photographers, fellow participants and spectators) and my family of good friends, mentors and coaches in and outside of my community for all the unexpected, undeserved and unrewarded acts of kindness and constant encouragement as well as offerings of constructive criticism to improve myself as a human and an athlete. I am eternally grateful to all those who let me train with them, who shared their meals and experiences with me, who helped keep me in good health, who helped me stay the course, and who cheered me on from home or along the course.