The Fiesta Marathon Results.....

Where to start....?  I guess the real question of the day was, where to go?  The gun went off at 6:45AM on a 65F cloudy morning in McAllen, TX.  It was nice to have a warm start for a change.  Most IM starts are cold and require the athlete to jump into cold water.  Every ultra running event that I've ever sone has had a chilly start as well, if not down right cold.  So, a 65F start was a nice and welcomed change.

Where's Andy??

Francisco, Ray, Greg, Andy and I all got off to a good start with a preset pace of 7:35/Mile.  The first 2 miles were a loop around the convention center and then the course took us out 12+ miles for an out and back type of a loop for the 26.2 miles.  The goal of the day is always to finish, but for Ray and I we were looking to win a spot in the 2014 Boston Marathon.  To accomplish this we had to both run an average of a 7:49/Mile or better, which equates to a sub 3:25 marathon. Doable, right? WRONG!

The race conditions, I thought were perfect.  A warm start, humid..but not crazy humidity, a flat course,  well trained, weighed in at 176-177lbs, lots of rest and 5 experienced runners supporting each other to nab a Boston qualifying time.  Things went awry after the first 2 mile of the race when we were directed to do the initial 2 mile loop twice by the race officials on the course.  When we got out onto the course and passed the 7 mile marker my Garmin read 9 miles.....Damn!  Evidently all of the marathoners were given the wrong directions and did the first loop twice.  This meant that in order to get a sub 3:25 finish that Ray and I were going to have to run an average of a 7:15/Mile pace.  That wasn't happening.

Hawaiian Ray Pre-Race Meditating

With the support of Andy he was able to guide me to a spot on the course where I could make up some time/miles...about 1.25 miles to be exact, but it didn't matter.  My legs felt really heavy at mile 18-19 and my pace began to slow down and I didn't have it mentally/physically to get a sub 3:25 marathon.  Andy's wife was great as she handed me 2 bottles of gatorade at two critical points for me during the race that extended my hopes of a sub 3:25 finish.  My finish time was 3:38.  Not my best.  Not my worst.

This came with Geritol &
a tube of Bengay

The race overall was a success in my book.  Without the extra 3/4 mile my time would've been around a 3:28.  While I didn't qualify for Boston, there will be many more opportunities.  It was a great training session to beat up my legs and build up my speed training for the Yukon Arctic Ultra 300 mile race in 6  weeks.  It was also great to spend a weekend with a bunch of guys that love to run and compete as much as I do, with great attitudes and don't take things too seriously.  Andy took 1st place (4th overall) in his division 50-54 while Ray and I (5th overall) took 2nd and 1st place in the 45-49 division.  Greg grabbed 7th place in the 35-39 division and Francisco got 6th in the 50-54 division. Not too bad.

It's been one week since the marathon finish and I'm back in full training for the YAU 300 in 6 weeks.  This past week I managed to get in two 11+ mile hikes with my 30lb tire.  Legs are feeling beat up in unusual places.  Taking epsom salt baths for recovery along with rest in general and trying to eat right.  Big training week ahead.  Going to get in a 40 mile hike with my tire which should take about 10-11 hours, I'm guessing.  More to follow.....Cheers!