Race info at a glance:

Date:  12 Nov 2106
Distance: Marathon
Participants:  ~5000
Weather:  ~40 deg at start, ~60 at finish.  Sunny, a little windy
Pre-race goal:  Training run, consistent pace.  Est 3:05-3:10

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This one’s gonna be somewhat short and quick…not as much to write about as in a trail ultra.   Pretty straightforward: 26.2 miles on the road.   That said – there’s some things worth mentioning:

I signed up for this race way before signing up for Mountain Masochist, so the fact that it was a week later was somewhat accidental, but acceptable in my book.  I ran it last year (2015) as my first marathon since 2009, and really enjoyed the course and event.  It’s logistically simple, given that it’s only a few hrs drive away, plus Richmond’s atmosphere is a breath of fresh air compared to VB/Norfolk.  What better way to experience it than to run around it with thousands of other people.

Had a light week in between MMTR and Richmond – about 20 miles running plus a bike ride and a game of speedball…. just enough to keep the legs moving while resting/recovering the legs.  The knee thing was there – I could feel it – but there was no pain in the 4-5 days prior.  Allie and Finley were coming up for this one – making it not only a marathon but also a short fun family vacation.   We got an Airbnb room on the south side of the river (I think it’s the James….the one that goes through Richmond).  Turns out it was a nice place, perfect for what we needed.   We went out for dinner the night prior and ate a 7 Hills Brewery – some good beer and some Lobster Mac n Cheese worth mentioning. I don’t eat pasta much anymore – so when I do it’s a real treat.

On Saturday morning Allie dropped me off a few blocks from the start and then headed back to the room.  One of the main challenges of the weekend logistically was getting around within Richmond during the race.  It essentially shuts down a lot of the primary internal thoroughfares.   Knowing this, Allie opted to forego the start (good call) and head back home and catch the halfway mark, which was very close to our Airbnb place.  I went to the start area, dressed up, and then waited till about 10 min prior to the start to shed my lined flannel, drop off my drop-bag, and herd myself into the starting corral.  It was cold but not uncomfortable.  Some folks were in tank top/singlets and were shivering pretty good.  I went with the long sleeve Patagonia capilene shirt, gloves, and RRR head buff.

The run itself… had a plan to go out at 7 min miles and play it by ear from there.  I did that, and about 5-6 miles in found myself running about 6:45s.  Felt nice and easy – breathing was slow, legs felt loose, and stride was relaxed.  Crossed over the James bridge north to south at mile 7.5.   Miles 8-10 are on a rural road through the woods shadowing the river moving east on the south side.  This is the “remote” section of the course – remote in that there aren’t spectators every 50m or so.   Through this section I settled into a 6:40 pace – one I would end up holding for the rest of the race.  Felt good holding this pace – relaxed but still putting out effort.

Skip ahead to the end.  Realized I was pretty locked into a sub-3 pace, so I just held what I had.  The last 4 miles were fun – a little faster and returning to the downtown Richmond area from the suburbs.  I came across the line at ~2:55:40.  Needless to say a PR, but what struck me was how much easier it felt than either last year’s Richmond (~3:15) or my previous PR at Shamrock (2:59:45).

Finley gets a medal!

In closing – my goals for the day were to have fun, and to get a good long run at a consistent pace.   Box checked on both.

After the race – Allie, Fin and I went to our friend Andy Cleveland’s house for lunch and a few hours of fiddle tunes.  The session was fun – coulda played for hours but had to hit the road to get home.   A quick clip.

The next day my knee hurt pretty good – still went for an 11 mile run in the park with Carter.  Probably shouldn’t have done that, but still have 4 weeks till Hellgate, so I feel good about it.