What do you think when you look at this marathon course profile? Looks horrid, doesn't it? Something you could easily psych yourself out over?
Well, before you do a number on yourself, regardless of whether it's a course profile like this for an upcoming marathon, or some other seemingly negative situation or piece of information, make sure that you have the full picture.
The most important part of this specific picture -- the course profile for the Coast Guard Marathon in Elizabeth City, NC -- is what was missing: the y axis:
Look carefully, and you see that the maximum elevation difference is 3m (10 feet). In the grand scheme of things, hardly a blip. Between all the rising and falling, there is a total of 88 feet of elevation gain (and loss) during the entire race.
When viewed on a different site, such as findmymarathon.com, it looks even flatter/more manageable:
Get the facts before assuming the worst. Regardless of what you're dealing with.
R u considering this marathon? When is it? Did u decide on Madison?
ReplyDeletePreviously indicated that I will be running Coast Guard - the week before Boston. Will see about others I haven't already signed up for.
ReplyDelete