Mac The Knight: ING Hartford Marathon 2013 Race Report

October 12th (Saturday): 5:45am wakeup. Stumbled around the hotel room while Goup continued to sleep. Downstairs to see if there was any breakfast available. Nothing really. Back upstairs to grab my car keys and head down to the parking garage. Sat in my car and ate a banana with a Clif Bar. Bumped some jams to relax and wake myself up a bit.

Back to the hotel room to relax and received a phone call from Sarah (my sister) to see where I was. She stopped in with my parents around 7am. Chilled in my bed to stay warm and used the heating pad to keep the legs/back extra loose. Started getting feelings of anxiousness in the room from all the questions/comments so my mom and dad left to head out to the course. Goup headed out for a warmup with TPaq. Sarah grabbed her stuff out of the parents car. I changed up and prepped all my stuff. Out for a easy 5-6 minute pre-warmup to push everything out for a final poop. Back up to the hotel room to put on the finishing touches (band aids over the nipples, flats - Nike Streak 4's, and Powerbar gels).

Jogged over to the line with Sarah and Goup with time to spare. No need for any extra layers because it was about 50 degrees at the start. Wished Sarah good luck and made sure she was set at the starting line. 8am start that did not seem to go off on time. Elongated prayer by some dude, a flash mob I couldn't see and other random announcements. Gun went off and out well with the front pack. The ideal pace was sub 5:20's, but that's if all the stars aligned and absolutely nothing went wrong.

The start.

Splits as followed with a couple hiccups here and there:

Mile 1 - 5:21 (solid start, keeping the body relaxed)

Mile 2 - 5:26 (I knocked into Matty P's arm and the watch split at 1:29, but added the 1:29 to 3:56, I'll forgive him)

Mile 3 - 5:24 (rolling side by side with Matty P by this point)

Mile 4 - 5:28 (keeping it under 5:30)

Mile 5 - 5:23 (1st 5 miles: 27:04 - feeling it out and remaining smooth - Powerbar Gel taken - no issues)

Mile 6/7 - 10:49 (split at 6 mile marker over the bridge and saw 4:55. Daaamn. Then the next mile was 5:54 so I used common sense)

Mile 8 - 5:23 (Matty P stopped to take a piss and caught up at some point along the bike path, I dropped the two other guys during that time and Matty P thanked me, saw the entourage along the bike path screaming my name, Matty was bumming that I didn't tell him his name to cheer - I didn't know I would be rocking the miles with him - haha)

Mile 9 - 5:32 (after this, made a push to change the gears)

Mile 10 - 5:21 (niiiice - 54:10, 2nd 5 miles: 27:06, even and feeling smooth - 2nd Powerbar gel taken with some fluids)

Mile 11 - 5:22 (keep it going)

Mile 12 - 5:20 (boom, don't get ahead of myself - starting racing Matty P and gapping him)

Mile 13- 5:21 (right on)

Half marathon - 70:49 Cruising and feeling solid (2+ minutes faster than year)

Mile 14 -5:23 (beautiful, I got this)

Mile 15 5:22 (1:20:59, 3rd 5 miles: 26:49, rocking it - Powerbar gel taken, but not too easily)

Mile 16 - 5:22 (straight away along the residential section and saw the 2 leaders running back from the turnaround point - killing it - sitting in 3rd and focused on the end goal)

Mile 17 - 5:33 (it's all good, just use the downhill - advice shouted from Matty P as I saw him on the way back - he looked effortless so I knew he would close up the gap)

Mile 18/19 - 10:17 (off splits individually but averaged to 5:08 pace, daaang - didn't fully register until reviewing these)

Mile 20 - 5:22 (1:47:33) 4th 5 miles: 26:34, 2nd 10 miles: 53:13 - no complaints here

Mile 21 - 5:30 (uh oh, don't sweat it - Powerbar gel taken and couldn't muscle down the first squirt, spit it out all over myself, tried again soon after and made it happen)

One of the leaders (the pack of two) dropped and was sitting on the curb around this time. Badaboom, here comes the podium finish and some more money! AKA Stay within my means and it could happen to anyone.

Mile 22 - 5:33 (I believe Matty P was cruising by me in this mile or around here with ease)

Mile 23 - 5:31 (okay, okay, you got this Eric - pouring water over my head the last couple miles and the remaining miles because the sun was out and it was warming up slightly)

Mile 24 to 26 - 17:01 (almost puked my Gels back up at one point, but keep it down - stop splitting the watch and focused on the finish line - 5:40 pace for the 3 miles, last 6 miles: 34:35)

Mile .2 - 71 seconds

Official time: 2:22:21

Into the top 3 finisher's corral to wait for the podium finish announcement. Sweeeeet! A bouquet of flowers and a sweet glass plaque. Lots of stretching and moving around so I wouldn't tighten up like last year. Over to the elite tent to see the rest of the gang. Greeted the family (Aunts, Uncles, Parents) with a big hug and whatnot. Great to see them at the finish line!

The next couple hours was spent stretching, walking around, eating mad food, pounding cans of Coca-Colas. Signed up for a free massage. Very relaxing. Watched intently for my sister to finish. I must of grabbed food when she crossed the line because I had no idea she finished.

Back to the hotel to take a hot shower and change up into some comfy clothes. Downstairs to greet everyone and grabbed food at the hotel restaurant. Pigged out on a portabella mushroom sandwich and rewarded myself with an Angry Orchard.

Over to Newtown, CT with the family and Goup to relax the rest of the day. Some foam rolling. Lots of food and chilling on the couch to take a load off the legs. Just shy of a 4 minute PR on the day in 1 year. I have to be thankful for having my roommate and teammate as my coach. The training is working out well and loving every minute of it. It felt pretty awesome to have Matty P say that I made the race and we wouldn't of run that fast if I wasn't there. He also stated that if we had just sat on each other and waited until the end, I would of beat him. I don't know about that, but I'll take it any day.