Napa Valley Marathon Race Report

Even though I'd run three marathons before, I've never trained for one and never ran one well so I was looking to exorcise some demons in my backyard marathon. My training cycle has me peaking for a mid-May marathon, but I felt my training so far prepared me reasonably well for this one. Considering my inability to finish well in the past my primary goal today was to run well from start to finish, whatever that turned out to be. I felt that would give me a reasonable shot at sub-3, weather permitting.

I woke up well rested before the race. It was nice to be able to stay at home in my own bed for a marathon and to have my pre-race routine figured out from CIM. After my ten minute shake-out run I got my drinks prepared and gear on then putzed around until it was time to go. Erin got me near the start right on time and went off to our first meeting point along the course. Napa is a point-to-point run with many cross streets that spectators can use off of Highway 29 which parallels the Silverado Trail on the other side of Napa Valley. I decided to take advantage of this by having Erin be my aid stations at three key intersections.

At the starting line a group of Runner's World Online friends met up - it was nice to meet Ted, Eddie and blogging friend Bob, the TokyoRacer! Ron was also there but we missed Jonathan (Gundy) before the gun.

My race strategy was to go out conservatively the first 6 miles where the only three significant hills were then settle into my race pace.

Before heading out into the drizzle:

We all started out together with Ron and I setting the pace trying to get past some of the early traffic. The rain was fairly light but persisted through the entire race. Fortunately there was no discernable headwind as was anticipated. I tried glancing back the first few miles to see where the rest of our sub-3 crew was but it was a bit too crowded for me to pick them out. Somewhere in the second mile I heard Gundy shout that he was coming. Ron and I ran pretty comfortably together through three miles and I was glad to find the hills weren't as steep or long as they seemed while driving the course. Ron dropped a 6:30 mile on me for number 4 and I spent 22 miles watching him slowly fade into the distance. Other than miles 4 & 5 we were probably running the same pace until about 16 when he starting gapping me again. Fortunately by mile 4 I caught up with an old school friend, Jorge, who's now the manager at Napa Running Company. This was his first road marathon and he was shooting for 3:00 - 3:10. We teamed up for several miles with a nice guy wearing a Jeruselum running club singlet and another nice guy who's name is Ahjah according to the results. I wasn't feeling particularly good, but I wasn't working terribly hard either. By 7 miles I had taken in 10 ounces of Perpetuem and tossed my bottle.
1 - 7:02.5
2 - 6:40.5
3 - 6:54.0
4 - 6:34.6
5 - 6:45.4
6 - 6:47.5
7 - 6:44.6

Just after 7 miles, I started looking for Erin who had my next bottle - it was easy to spot her with her blonde hair and big smile! She was right where I asked her to be and the exchange went perfectly. I even tried to introduce her to Jorge as we ran by. Over the next few miles I started pulling away from Jorge and our Jeruselum friend, with Ahjah hot on my heels. Over the next four miles we caught just a few runners, but were slowly gaining on a pack led by Ron and the second woman about 70 meters ahead. My shoes by this point had become completely waterlogged and in the roomy toe box of the NB 903's my feet were swimming a bit. Although I was still running in control, my calf tightness and achilles tendinitis weren't going away like they usually do after a few miles. Further, running on the right side of the road caused my glute and hamstring to become aggravated. All issues were on my left leg. Nevertheless I pressed on. Through these four miles I took down a Roctane with 8 ounces of electrolyte water. I felt I was taking in as much liquid as my stomach would allow.
8 - 6:44.4
9 - 6:45.6
10 - 6:44.7
11 - 6:37.8

Just after 11 Erin was again right where I asked her to be with the bottle for my next leg. With the road being so wide and my mind focused on running, the beautiful surrounding scenery didn't really get noticed so it was nice to have my meetings with Erin break up the monotony. Over the next several miles Ahjah and I continued to close on the group ahead as it slowly broke apart. On a climb just before 13 we passed what was left of them as Ron, the second woman and another runner were still strung out ahead of us. I knew there was a long gradual climb in the late teens so I was trying to keep my effort somewhat conservative but still work on the gap to the second woman. We ran into a bit of a headwind at 17, but it didn't last more than a couple of minutes. Just before my last meeting with Erin a little after 18, I caught her with Ahjah close behind. My mom, sister and nephew made it out to this intersection also and were yelling along with the rest of the sizeable crowd - this was a great spot for support, right before the climb. Over this stretch I took down about 10 ounces of Perpetuem again.
12 - 6:44.9
13 - 6:39.0
half - 1:28:26.4, estimated from 0.1 * mile 14 split - course wasn't marked
14 - 6:46.1
15 - 6:39.0
16 - 6:43.9
17 - 6:50.2
18 - 6:31.3

Starting the climb just after mile 19 I was getting tired, but feeling good enough to not have the hill really affect me so I squeezed the throttle just a little bit and started putting some distance on Ahjah and the woman. This climb was about a mile long but it was very gradual and I was able to get a comfortable rhythm going. Even after I started to press, Ron was noticeably pulling away now, with about 150 meters on me. Cresting the hill and heading back down just after 20 I reached for my second Roctane in my shorts pocket... but it was gone! I wasn't sure if I was going to need or want it but packed it along just in case. It must have bounced out at some point. Since I didn't feel nauseous and didn't think it would hurt me I wanted to take it down. On this downhill stretch just after 20 the woman passed me again and held a 10 - 15 meter gap on me for the next couple of miles. Miles 20.5 - 23 are very flat, straight and wide open. I was really starting to get tired here and my left quad was now getting micro-spasms, but nothing major - I had anticipated something like this happening. This was mentally an extremely tough stretch. Somehow I kept myself on pace with an increased effort and kept the gap to the woman at about 30 meters. I no longer heard Ahjah's footsteps but could hear the aid station crowds cheering for him about 50 meters back. I dumped what was left of my bottle of electrolyte water at the 22 mile aid station and for the first time all race freed my hands up. It felt good!
19 - 6:36.3
20 - 6:41.1
21 - 6:34.7
22 - 6:40.6
23 - 6:40.5

After what felt like forever on this stretch we mercifully turned off onto smaller country roads just at the 23 mile mark. I was really starting to struggle now but was trying to focus on the woman ahead and her bike guide. I was continuing to rub micro-spasms out of my left quad. While I was wondering how long I could put off further cramping, I was also very grateful to have made it this late in the race without a major disaster - this was very new ground for me!
In addition to fading a bit, my focus had to shift to my footing. The country roads were pretty uneven and full of cracks and ruts which, filled with water from the rain, made for a surprisingly challenging obstacle course. I wasn't feeling confident enough to continue pushing harder and harder the last three miles for a sub-2:56 so I decided to give just a few seconds back the last few miles and lock up a good finish and sub-3. With about a mile to go Ahjah took advantage of my small drop off and passed me. I still wasn't willing to gamble with a push and gave him encouragement as he pressed on. I'm not sure if having that Roctane would have helped keep me from dropping off 9, 19 and 29 seconds the last three miles but it couldn't have hurt. I never felt any nausea. Coming past mile 26 my watch said I had 1:34 to get in under 2:57 - Now I was ready to gamble with a push! Considering the weather there were a surprising number of people out which helped me push through the end strong.

Finishing at 10K pace.

I need to work on those shoulders the last part of a race...

24 - 6:48.6
25 - 6:59.2
26 - 7:09.5
26.2 - 1:21.5
2nd half - 1:28:22.4, estimated - a 4 second negative split

Ron finished with his PR two and a half minutes in front of me and I was still in the finish area when Jorge came in with a phenomenal debut of 3:01. I knew Erin was waiting with my dry clothes so I limped off to meet her and take my shower. A big congratulations to Eddie and Ted who ran better than they predicted and were within just a few seconds of sub-3! Gundy was close again as well and I'm curious to hear about Bob's race when he's able to update his blog.

For me, I finally put into practice some sound strategies for race preparation, hydration and fueling, race strategy and adaptation and got a little luck with everything coming together at the right time. Time for some recovery then I'm looking forward to tightening the screws on my training for another big PR at the Windermere Marathon in a couple of months!

Woo Hoo!
2:56:49 - New PR
27 / 1836 overall

25 / 1030 males

6 / 131 M30-34

#3 local finisher (Lake, Marin, Napa & Sonoma Counties)

My awesome support crew:

My nephew Cole and me:

My sister Kimi and my Mom:

Cole and Erin:

Finisher's medal: