About six months ago, my friend Jake Logan asked me if I was interested in training for a marathon together. I was reluctant because I had been injured on and off for a while at that time, but I agreed. I’m so glad Jake and I started our training together. Having a friend doing the same training program (The Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training, FIRST, program), was a huge motivator for both of us. I think I speak for us both when I say that the FIRST program is excellent and a great way to prepare for a first marathon.
On December 6, 2008, I ran the St. Jude Memphis Marathon in 2:57:18 missing my goal time of 2:55 by slightly more than 2 minutes. It was a cold day. The race started at about 30 degrees. I was 51st overall and 10th in my age group out of more than 2200 finishers. The official results are here, and here are my approximate splits taken from my watch:
| Mile |
Lap |
Pace |
Split |
Overall Pace |
| 3 |
19:12.94 |
6:24.3 |
19:12 |
6:24.3 |
| 6 |
19:56.78 |
6:38.9 |
39:09 |
6:31.5 |
| 9 |
18:57.23 |
6:19.0 |
58:06 |
6:27.3 |
| 12 |
20:19.78 |
6:46.5 |
1:18:26 |
6:32.1 |
| 15 |
20:04.41 |
6:41.4 |
1:38:31 |
6:34.0 |
| 18 |
20:29.08 |
6:49.6 |
1:59:00 |
6:36.6 |
| 21 |
20:14.12 |
6:44.7 |
2:19:14 |
6:37.8 |
| 24 |
21:38.23 |
7:12.7 |
2:40:52 |
6:42.1 |
| 25 |
7:20.44 |
7:20.44 |
2:48:13 |
6:43.7 |
| 26.2 |
9:05:40 |
7:34.5 |
2:57:18 |
6:46.0 |
There are a few pictures from the race with my Flickr marathon tag. There are also some professional pictures you can see accessing my bib number (259).
I was pleased with my performance, but I think I went out too fast, which is one of my common problems. One problem was that I really didn’t know what I was capable of, but I should have stuck better with my game plan of shooting for 2:55. Instead, at the halfway mark, I was on pace for 2:50. To qualify for the NYC marathon, I needed to run 2:55. I can also qualify for NY by running a half-marathon in 1:23. My current PR for the half is 1:25 (which I ran on the way to my 2:57 marathon). My plan for the future is to first rest and make sure I’m really strong and injury free before starting any hard training. Secondly, I plan to train for a half-marathon with a goal of doing 1:21 sometime this spring. With that qualifying time, I would then train to do the NY marathon in the fall.
