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SRRC Race Reports

Baltimore Marathon, Baltimore, MD —October 14, 2006
by Siva Natarajan

My 1st Marathon—where I RAN the entire 26.2

Memories

Baltimore . . .

"First experiences" often are the exciting memories that decorate the pages of our life’s scrapbook. They accompany us forever; are more precious to us than our bank accounts; and some even have a strong influence in shaping our character. My first Marathon, the 2005 Marine Corps Marathon, in which I struggled, walked, and crawled to the finish line, definitely was something that fits the above category. Immediately after that race, I knew that I wanted to fill my album with more such pages. So when I signed up for the Baltimore Marathon, I was very clear that I wanted it to be another memorable first time experience. I decided that this time my race report should read "My 1st Marathon— where I RAN the entire 26.2".

Good day . . .

As I stood there at the Start line of the Baltimore race, a sea of bright colors surrounded me—radiant red brooks shirts, bright blue nike gear, and of-course the numerous Black Under Armour Tees. I watched as excited runners jogged in place hoping to shrug off some nervousness. They hugged and wished one another luck and grinned from ear-to-ear for the cameras, all while impatiently waiting for the gun to be fired. Still amidst all this excitement and celebrations, I stood there by myself, feeling alone and calm. I remember those few quiet minutes vividly because it was not something I was expecting. It was so unlike the nervous and heart-thumping experience I had at the MCM start line last year. I had no interest in striking up conversations with those around me. Instead my thoughts were all focused on the challenge in front of me.

As I wondered why it felt so quiet, I could feel a small reassuring smile on one side of my face. The reason, I figured, was because I knew that this time I was properly trained and fully prepared for the road ahead.

The toughest part of a marathon is before the Start

My training for this race began in March after an interesting outcome in the LAWS ½ Marathon (you should read that report to find out more). At first, I doubted if I had the discipline to stick to a training plan for 6 months. But having a group to train with made it a lot easier to log in the miles. Adam, Matt, Phil and I were committed to the weekday morning runs, and I must admit that I was impressed with myself for getting up early regularly. Some days were tougher than others. Some days we were faster, and some days we were more awake. Some days we chatted more, and some days we were just glad to be done with our runs.

Slowly I worked my way towards the long runs. I started doing long runs (10-15 miles) once a month and soon started joining the Loudoun Road Runners on their weekend runs. The scenic views, historic towns, & steep hill workouts that the LRR runs offered quickly became an addiction, which the lure of the sumptuous chocolate cake at Greenberries only worsened. My victories at Thomas Mill and a few months later at Taylorstown were exhilarating, but more importantly built up my confidence as a long distance runner. But the most memorable of all the training runs was the one August run where the plan was to do a 20 miler in Philomont/Lincoln. I started out too fast, trying to keep up with the group, and exhausted myself by mile 11. The long lonely walk to the finish gave me enough time to understand fully the concept of "pace" that Phil had been lecturing about during many of our earlier runs. It was after that run, or should I say walk, that I started to watch my watch especially on the long runs. This was definitely something that made a huge difference to my race experience as well.

"I have met my hero, and he is me." - George Sheehan

Even with my training going according to plan, I was still not fully confident about the marathon. Seinfeld in a tribute to Rodney Dangerfield referred to an incident from his early days. Jerry was still struggling to establish himself and there was this one time when Rodney after watching Seinfeld commented, "This kid is good", and coming from the king of comedy, these words from the legend were a huge confidence builder for Jerry. I had a very similar reassurance when after one long run Phil, my running coach, commented that I was more than ready for my marathon.

Great day!

So now with both the training and the belief in place, I stood there at the start line fully confident and ready to execute my race plan. "Start slow, and pick up pace during the middle portion of the race." I was targeting a 4:30 finish, but more importantly, my goal was to run every inch of the 26.2. As I approached the first water stop, I slowed down just a bit, grabbed the water cup; squished one side of it, drank the water, and in one stylish free-throw motion landed the cup in the trash bin. WOW, I had managed to go past a water station without stopping or walking. I kept monitoring my pace and found everything going according to plan. When I crossed the 13.1 marker, I was still feeling good and for the first time started wondering if I could finish within 4 hours. If I continued at 9-minute miles this would be a possibility.

Mile 18, the good spell continued and I still felt like I may have a shot at the 4 hour. At mile 21, my legs were starting to feel tired, and I was beginning to debate with myself on whether I should shoot for 4 hours. The last stretch had a lot more rolling hills than I expected, and eventually I left behind the thought of a 4-hour finish. I ended up with 4:07 and considering that I originally targeted 4:30, it was no wonder I was now grinning from ear-to-ear. On the drive back, I kept eyeing the race medal, that was now dangling from the rear view mirror, and felt proud. If I had to use one word to summarize this race experience, it will be "PERFECT".

As much as I would like you to think that I am hero of this story, to me someone else is the True Hero. "I have met my hero, and he is Phil."—Siva Natarajan

To the Coach Carter who made helped me train, gave me the confidence, and made this fun and successful, I say, "Thanks Phil".

The Next First

Now its time to begin training for my next first experience "My 1st Marathon—where I ran a sub 4 hr"

-----Results---------------------
Date: Oct 14th, 2006
Location: Baltimore, MD

Number of finishers: 2149
Number of females: 740
Number of males: 1407
Average time: 04:22:13

Bib number: 1687
Overall place: 903 out of 2149
Division place: 109 out of 189
Gender place: 707 out of 1418
Time: 4:07:01
Pace: 9:26
Guntime: 4:07:54
Half: 2:01:09
21 mile: 3:12:34

Splits:

13.1	21	24	26.2
2:01:09	3:12:34	3:42:00	4:07:01

October 2006

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