As I mentioned yesterday, the conditions for the Suffolk County Marathon on Sunday were virtually ideal. (Only covering up the sun with a cloud -- at least when running towards it so that it wasn't so blinding -- would have made it even better.) The course (revamped entirely for this year to run over the Great South Bay bridge) was actually pretty nice.
While there were only 247 people in the marathon (well, that finished the marathon -- turns out there were at least 3 more that I know of based on my count, which will be clear later), there were 3000 total between all of the races: Kids 1k on Saturday, the 10k, Half Marathon, and Marathon (which all started together in this large group, above), and the 5k (which had a separate start after ours, since they made a left-hand turn to get onto Main Street and run directly towards the finish line where we made a right-hand turn to make an initial loop around Argyle Lake before overlapping with the 5k course.
Round the lake and running along the length of the train station, we re-crossed the start line and then turned left onto Main St. (Montauk Pkwy). The sun was extremely bright and it was a little tricky being sure of my footing. The vicinity of the roadway where I was running was in poor/choppy condition. Not potholes, per se, but the beginnings of what will become nasty potholes after some water gets in there and freezes.
We turned onto Robert Moses Causeway and had the worst uphills -- not just the curving ramp to get up to the causeway, but in about a mile we get to the Great South Bay Bridge. Rather a sizable uphill. And while it's not so bad around Mile 6 of a marathon, coming back at around Mile 24 of the marathon is plain evil.
After we crossed the first bridge, and in approaching a relatively minor second bridge, I could see another bridge in the distance, seemingly as evil as the first one. Fortunately, we turned off of the causeway and onto the bike path prior to getting anywhere near that last bridge.
The bike path afforded plenty of gently rolling hills and a little variety of twists and turns, prior to hitting a very sharp and narrow U-turn just before Mile 15.
As we neared the turnaround point, I finally had the opportunity to find out how I was doing relative to the rest of the field. The person in 1st was about 1.5 miles ahead of me by that point. My count as of the turnaround had be sitting in 25th place overall. As I proceeded further along, I wound up being passed by two people, but also wound up overtaking two people. So, I was expecting to be in 25th at the end. Given I was actually 22nd overall, somewhere along the line either three people dropped out or it was unclear (as we merged back in with half marathoners and 10k runners) that some of the people I passed were participating in the full marathon.
As we approached the return over the Great South Bay Bridge, looking at my watch, I could tell I was *very* close to being able to break 3:15:00, which was the goal for the day given the temps and the fact that I wasn't trying to go all-out. (It was less than 2 weeks since my Chicago-Boston double, and two weeks until New York City; and this race was not eligible for points in the Abbott World Marathon Majors Age Championships, so I had no reason to spend excess energy.)
Yes, that is a very good representation of just how nasty that hill is. At around Mile 24, it's really brutal. Sure, not as bad as Heartbreak Hill (being the 4th of 4 hills), but still...
From this point, it was just coasting to finish, trying to eke out that time. As we took the exit ramp and made the turn back on the last road before the finish, I picked up a little speed, and added a little more juice with the first person who told us "less than ½ mile to go." I think that person was mistaken, as it was another minute or so before someone else told me that. And with the amount of time it took to see the Mile 26 marker, I think the second person was right.
One last very sharp right turn and a quick sprint, and I crossed the finish line. Clock Time is 3:15:20 which is currently my official time. But my Garmin said 3:15:15, which is closer to accurate, since it did take a few seconds for me to cross the Start Line at the beginning. I've got a question out to the race about correcting the Chip Time result. [Edit: I heard back, and they've adjusted my time accordingly. So, my final time is actually my chip time of 3:15:15.]
Either way, a really good result, well-recovered from my double, and no problems with my toes. And, as previously mentioned, a first place result for my age group.
As you may be able to discern, I was still coming in pretty much full speed across the finish line. There was *maybe* 20 feet of space between the finish line and where they had people handing out medals and space blankets and a sharp turn into the chute that led into the post-race tent. WAY too short a distance for me to stop. As I pulled back, I basically shouted to those in my way that I couldn't stop so fast, that I needed to keep moving to slow down. A couple of security folks looked like they wanted to tackle me when I blew past them into an area beyond where people were expected to be, but thankfully realized soon enough what I was doing, and that I would circle back momentarily to get back into the proper post-race flow.
As much as I don't really like the small marathons compared to the big city marathons, given the underwhelming amount of crowd support and I feed off of the energy of the big crowds, I have great results with the Long Island-based marathons. I've run the Nassau County Marathon twice, and placed 3rd in my AG my first time and 2nd in my AG my 2nd time (having aged up), and with my first outing at the Suffolk County Marathon I placed 1st in my AG. Anyone who does like the small town feel of the tinier marathons should give Suffolk County a shot. Depending on what your usual time is, you may be much more competitive for the top spots than if you enter the big races and are going up against the elites who blow away the competition by tons of time; it's always nice coming away with that extra award -- a healthy boost to the ego.
Now, countdown to New York City... T-minus 12 days!
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