One of our reasons to visit Milan was running the Milano City Marathon. Sharon is patient enough to allow us to schedule vacations around fun marathons... bless her heart. This one was totally worth it. The race started outside the city and winded its way downtown to the city center. For me there perfect conditions. Temperature in the 50s and non-stop rain (without rain I would have rather a temperature in the 40s).
My previous PR was at Twin Cities in 2009, when it also rained. Rain has a cooling effect on me. It keeps me from overheating. Sure, I rather run with dry shoes but all an all the wet shoes don;t bother me that much. It is only 4 hours anyway. Back in 2009, I broke (smashed) 4 hours by running the 26.2 in 3:51:49. The next few (dry) marathons produced results just under 4 hours or well over that time. As a result I thought that that was the best PR I was going to reach and decided to relax and run my races for fun, not trying to beat that time.
The cool/wet weather in Milan proved just the formula I needed. The rain was constant but not drenching. I made it to the half marathon mark with pretty dry shoes since I managed to avoid all puddles. Unfortunately, the chip-timed race had a checkpoint right at the half-marathon mark that was completely under water (almost a foot deep) which made all my Italian counterparts shout things against "l'organizzazione!".
Depending on the weather, I start feeling the weight of the race somewhere between mile 16 and mile 19. By the time I reached mile 20 in Milan I felt great. By mile 22 I already knew I was going to hit a PR, the question was by how much. I crossed the finish line at 3:47:23, over 5 minutes better than my previous best time. That seemed to confirm, if I want a good time, a PR, it needs to rain.
Then came May. Just under a month after Milan, I find myself running a new race. This time it is the Lake Wobegon Marathon in St Joseph MN (just outside St Cloud). At the start of the race, I already know I am not going to do well. It is a bright sunny day (not only heat bothers me while running, I am not crazy about the sun either), temperature in the 60s (20 degrees over my ideal temp) and the course doe snot seem particularly interesting (rails to trail sort of course with long stretches and not much of a view).
I start running with the 8:35 pace group. I have done that before. The plan is to keep up with them until the half mark or a little later and then start falling behind. Since I run with my own Gatorade, I usually get a little ahead of the pacing groups at the water stations, but then let them catch up. During this race, since I have low expectations, I am trying two new things. One is shortening my stride a bit. not during the entire race, but in little bursts here and there. I select music with a quicker beat and try to match the beat with my pace by taking faster, shorter steps.
The second change is the amount of Gatorade I am going to drink. I used to run a marathon on a single 20 oz bottle and in the last couple of years I upped that to two. This time, sip by sip, I decided to drink more frequently (by the time I had crossed the finish line I had probably drank somewhere between 4 and 5 of them (through refills).
By the time I hit the half marathon mark I feel great. In fact, me and the guy in the red shirt in the picture (who has been shadowing me for a while) start to peel off from the pacing group. I am thinking they will probably end up catching up to me, but why not try.
Much to my surprise I hit mile 19, 20, 21 and I feel little no no exhaustion. My legs are responding (although I can feel cramping building up), my lungs have a rhythmic pace, my back and neck are relaxed. I am thinking I can keep running to the end (none of the usual walking breaks that start at mile 19 or 20). By mile 24 I am dumfounded. I am going to hit another PR! On a hot day! Without rain?!? It has got to be the extra Gatorade, the rain inside!
I cross the finish line at 3:41:22. Over 6 minutes over over my earlier PR a month earlier that was already 5 minutes over the one before that I thought I'd never pass. I am thrilled! An awesome achievement I celebrate with four slices of pizza. Yeah, the flat course helped, but there may be some magic on that course.
Two things are clear, I will continue to try my two changes, and will not say anymore things like "oh yeah, I won;t hit that time again!"
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