This year I have decided to run the Akron Marathon. This is a first for me. In the previous 4 years I have run the Towpath marathon instead. Since the Towpath marathon is so close to my house and I always run in the Towpath, I felt that the right thing to do was to support the Towpath marathon. But this year there are two weeks between the two marathons so I have decided to try both. I used to think that people who attempt two marathons so close to each other are crazy. Now, I am getting close to being one of these crazy runners myself. :)I have heard good things about the Akron marathon. I like the course, and the free pair of shoes is an extra incentive. So we are 5 weeks away and our group (part of the VR training group) decided to run a 20 miler in the actual Akron marathon course this past Saturday.
This was a great training run! The weather was perfect, cool and sunny but we ran in the shade mostly, the course was beautiful and the company was very nice. We managed to stay together as a group for most of the run. We started at 6:15 am (had to wake up at 5:15, ouch!) There were several stops with water and Gatorade. My pace was fast (8:07 average with several miles under 8 minutes). I ran the hills strong. I felt great. I was not really tired towards the end (20.5 miles total distance). As a matter of fact, my times the last 4 miles were among the fastest for the entire run (the fact that the last miles are downhill helped too).
Here are my mile splits: 8:39 8:25 8:22 8:07 8:05 8:09 8:11 8:12 8:12 8:23 8:05 8:29 7:43 8:23 8:07 7:49 8:20 7:45 7:23 7:34 8:04. Last year I ran the same course and my average pace was 8:19 (also good, but this year it is even better!)
After such a good run I am confident that I will do well. My goal time is 3:30.
1 comment:
The Akron Marathon is such a joy. You must be a mentally tough runner to run 26.2 miles of the Tow Path. I couldn't do it. Maybe I should try, one of these days--to become mentally tough.
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