| Jun. 30th, 2008 @ 04:43 pm Rio marathon, 2008 |
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I did it! I officially finished my first marathon in Rio de Janeiro in 5:20:45! (Okay, that's not official 'cause I can't look at the website from this computer...but it's what my Garmin said!)
I got up Sunday morning at 4:30 (and felt amazingly untired), ate my oatmeal, took a quick shower and called a cab to take me to the bus pick-up. I sort of had to go to the bathroom, but couldn't find one (probably 'cause I was tired, not 'cause there wasn't one, as the pick-up area was also the finish line!). I got on the bus and totally remember thinking, omg this is a long!!!!!! way as we drove to the starting line...I mean, through city traffic it took almost an hour to get there! The guy next to me chatted, some in English, some in Portuguese...I noticed there were only about 5 women on the bus, the rest were men. (This is a Rio ratio, not a common one, right? Other marathons have a much more equal mix, I'm guessing?)
First thing I did as I got off the bus was head to the bathroom! What a long ride! We got to the starting line area and I ate my crackers and wished I had more to eat (blame it on a rat...but that's a different story). I also thought I should've put on more sunblock and wished I had a sweatshirt. (Temps at the start were around 16-17C, and at the end around 28-31C.)
They didn't have places to line up by your speed, so it was just one big mass of people at the beginning. After I realized how close to the front I was, there was no way of getting closer to the back...this meant that the first three miles or so were full of people passing me. A little depressing, but I chugged on. From about 3-6 miles things settled down and we all found our paces. I was aiming for 12:00, but with everyone going so fast it was all I could do to keep to the 11:40s. I knew from experience that going out too fast is a bad thing, but I'm pretty proud I managed to slow down that much! From about 6-15 I passed people pretty regularly, had about 4 miles that were too fast, and a hill that had a lot of people walking. I have a bad habit of charging hills, I need to get over that. Right after the half there was a tunnel, so information from my Garmin was suspect after that. The first half of the marathon was Beautiful! Long strips of beach (Recreio, Macumba, Barra da Tijuca if you know the area), perfect cool breeze. We started at 8 AM, so even with no shade the first hour or two were nice, then it got warm. After the first tunnel we crested a hill and I could see the next 3 miles (?) in front of us. I'm not sure if I like vistas like that in a race...it looks longer than it sounds!
We had our second hill at 28 km (switching to km 'cause of the tunnels, and not trusting my Garmin). At the top I could see some of Rio's famous beaches, Leblon and Ipanema. Again, seeing the 3 miles in front of me looked worse than the idea of 3 miles in my head. From here 'til the end I started having a bit slower pace, lost my 11:40s. Alas. The run through Ipanema, over the hill into Copacabana was sort of annoying. They had the road closed off to traffic, but not all the beach-goers an bicyclists bothered to pay attention to the flagging. I had to run around a few walkers, and quite a few fresh, not tired runners (not from the marathon) passed me. That last was a little demoralizing. I wish they had stayed on their part of the road. That was around 18 miles, so I was a little tired and grumpy, I'm sure I could've found something else to make me grumble if it wasn't other people!
At the end of Copacabana we only had about 5km left, and thank goodness. There was another tunnel, I walked twice (for about a minute each time), and crossed the finish line running (but just barely!).
The race was farily well organized in the necessities (water, safety), but not as well in the frills...at least for us slower folk. Bandstands were empty by the time I got to them, and there wasn't any toilet paper in ANY of the portapotties at the finish line (and I was in 40 mintues before the cut-off!). We only got a cup of Gatorade, a tangerine and a banana at the end. I guess I didn't really need more, but I sort of expected it. Oh, and the chips were kind of annoying to get off, they were the kind that you lace through your shoe laces. I learned from the guy next to me on the bus to tie it on with a throw away lace that's easier to get off, 'cause, damn it's annoying to do after 26.2! (And they were holding my medal hostage until I got it off, wah!)
Things I learned and/or will change next time: do the race with someone, or at least have someone waiting for me at the end! Races in beautiful places are a good thing. Even though I'm sort of slow, the first hour goes really, really fast (in mental time, not real time). Bring toilet paper. Get faster, or choose a race with a longer than 6 hour cut-off. Try to avoid marathons with tunnels, I like my Garmin! Strength train. Don't get lost in a foreign city and spend 2 hours wandering around on foot trying to get home on the day before the race! Body glide and/or bike shorts. Lose weight for happier knees. Run your own race, no one else's. Lace thingy (see above). Eat a bigger breakfast and bring more snacks (especially if there is a long lag between getting to the staring line and actually starting).
My goals were: 6:00 to officially finish; 5:30 to be happy with myself; 5:12 (12 min pace) to be freakin' excited; and the super secret, not gonna admit to it goal of 4:59 to be awed with myself. I made the first two, and will make the others in the future!
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