Marathon 2 Marathon - 10/22/16

I love running M2M, even on short rest. My brother Toby asked it was planning on running this back in May, because he wanted to run it as his first marathon. I had been tentatively planning on running it as part of 12 races in 2016 (which I decided not to run in July) but I went ahead and planned on running this one anyway - both because Toby was running it, as well as for the love of the race itself.

I went into this one just planning on running what I felt comfortable running. Maybe I would run under 3:10, maybe it would turn out slower than that. I didn't really care, nor did I expect to compete well. I had one friend (Paul) who I normally raced against here just running the half because he was running NYC 2 weeks later, and another (Matt)running against me, as well as last year's winner (Jonathan), so I didn't have high expectations - I knew that last year's 2:58:05 was completely off the table. But this year, M2M was giving out belt buckles to the top 3 finishers, so I thought I'd try to shoot for one of those. Last year, a 2:58 was good for third, but this year turned out to be a much slower race. Jonathon, Matt, and I went out together for the first 2 miles - probably the slowest start I'd ever run at M2M, with paces in the 7:30s, as we dropped off out of the Glass Mts, Jonathan took off, and Matt and I ran together for another 8 miles or so, dropping into the low 7s (7:08 or so) until the course had a slight climb after mile 10 when Matt droppped me (again, I was running on feel). I ran the rest of the race by myself, but no one ever caught up to me and I finished in a solid third place with an easy-paced time of 3:19:42. Good enough for hardware. LOL.

After the race, we were a bit disappointed that there wasn't the usual after-race party - apparently the Marathon Motel and RV Park didn't want to host it this year. I didn't mind just doing awards immediately following the race, but sure did miss the dancing and music as all the racers got together under the west Texas stars. Maybe next year, they'll do the post race part out at Post Park (which would be my suggestion).


Gear Check:

Shoes:  I ran in Altra Instinct 2s, size 10.5 - very comfortable.

Shorts:  I ran in gray pin-stripe 2" split shorts from Adidas.

Shirt:  I ran in an Inknburn "Lust" singlet. In particularly, I chose this one for today's race because it was white and I wouldn't get as hot in the west Texas sun. Worked fine.

Socks: Brand new Injinji medium weight no-show toe socks – same socks I’ve been running in for several years.

Compression: none

Fuel:  I carried 3 Apple/Cinnamon Hammer Gels, one taken at mile 6, 13, and 18. I took water and what I think was just sugar water (not sports drink) at alternating aid stations.

Hat:  Marathon Maniacs classic hat.  Very comfortable. 

Glasses:  my red iridium custom Flak Jackets from Oakley.

Watch: Garmin 920XT, worked great. Now I have lots of data to track on my runs - Heart Rate, Vertical Oscillation, Ground Contact Time, etc.

Watch Data