blog.zgraggen.name  All-day insanity or I have a blog too!

This is the 3rd time I did the Pittsburgh Marathon. I really enjoy this race; it is in a great city with lots of cheering people and many bridges to cross. The goal for this race was to finally beat my old PR from 2005 (1:23:26). Last fall I came really close with 1:23:30. But this time I would make a new record. I knew it. I wanted it!

Based on the good time in Hartford I qualified to start as a seeded runner. This meant I could start in the first coral together with the Pros. I thought that was pretty exciting until I noticed that the control to this coral unfortunately wasn’t that rigid. There were many people from other Corals even some people from Coral D (>9min/miles). I had a hard time to even get into the Coral after my warm up. Since, I qualified I took out the right to squeeze my way up to the front. 3 minutes before the start I was within the first 10 lines which I thought was good enough. I was ready to go and even the weather was good with 50-60 degrees with a little rain.

As so often I started a little fast but if I would slow down after about half a mile, I wouldn’t know my pace at the first mile marker. So I kept following the female lead group up to miles 1. I read 6:00 min which meant that I was running about 20sec too fast per mile. I tried to ease into my pace, but that is really hard if you are feeling strong and feel like you could draft of every runner who overtakes you. Unfortunately, I missed the second mile marker so I had to wait till mile 3 to see how my pace is. I passed with 18:27, which means that I was 30 seconds ahead of time but only 5 seconds to fast on the last two miles. This sounded reasonable and I tried to keep my pace. Luckily I found some other people who were running the same pace. For the next couple miles I tried to safe as much energy as possible to have a strong finish. This meant not to lead and draft off people, after all we had wind was up to 9miles/h. I passed mile 6 a little under 38min which was exactly as planned. This meant that I was slowing down. With this in mind I tried to increase the speed a little not that I would lose more time. The next 3 miles I was mostly focusing on running around all the walkers (which started an hour earlier). I passed mile 9 on schedule with 57min.
At mile 10 the half-marathon and marathon course splits, so suddenly there were a lot less people on the course. Luckily the guy I had been drafting of the last mile was still in front of me. Even though I knew that the 10 mile marker must have been around there I didn’t see it. I checked my watch and saw that I was something over 1:03:00. This meant that I had a little less than 20min left for the last 5k (3.1 miles). This is definitely doable it is all in my mind! I increase my pace and tried to overtake the guy in front of me, but I gave up on it once I felt the head wind. Since we were running almost at my desired pace, I decided once more to safe energy and draft a little longer. At mile 11 the time had finally come to take it into my hands. I passed him and increased the speed, over the bridge back into the city, there was a really strong head wind which made it harder to run. But I was thinking only one thing: “I am not going to miss the NYC qualifying time again!”.
I pushed myself even harder, I started passing several people and then I was at the 12 mile marker. I was wondering if I could keep up this pace since my body was complaining. But I buried this thought. If I want to qualify that is the way to go. 3 turns later I looked at the last bridge. It looked and felt very steep even though I am sure it was only 40 feet of elevation. All I was thinking don’t give in… I can do it! I can do it! I over took a couple more people and some of them even encourage me by saying “Keep it strong!”. Wow, how nice of them! The funniest was a guy whom I just caught up with on the top of the bridge and a spectator asked who of the two is going to win? And the guy next to me said: “He is!” He must have known how committed I was :-).
There the last turn. I checked my watch something over 1h 20min. I was shocked, the finish seemed so far away, and I had less than 3 minutes to get there. There was nothing left to do then increase my pace again and again. At least there were a couple of other competitive runners out there which gave me a run for my money…. I can do it, I can do it… I did it!
After all the hard training I though this qualification time should have been easy. I was surprised that I had such a hard struggle at the end.

Finisher Time: 1:22:42

Amy also ran the half marathon. Unfortunately she missed her PR by only 50 seconds. Considering her leg injury and the work and school load this spring. This is a great result! Congrats!

A couple of months ago, Javier, a friend of mine, convinced me to sign up for the race called “Leatherman’s Loop” a 10k on trails with mud and river crossings. I did sign up, and I’m glad I did. Thanks Javier!

Before the race I did some research on the last years finisher time and what those people ran in other competitions. So I knew that the top 3 might not be possible but finishing in the top 20 should be doable. So there I was standing with 1000 other runners on a field and wondering if I really can finish within the first 20? Some of them look really fast!

We received a brief blessing and Tiokasen Ghosthorse who is a member of the Cheyenne River Lakota Nation started the race. Unfortunately, the procedure wasn’t clear to anyone so the race organizers had to scream 2x “Go” before people started moving. But then, what a mess. Somehow I managed to squeeze myself past some runners and when we did the first turn I was in the first 30. After a short little downhill, we run into the woods, where we hit the first muddy part. I didn’t believe it, but yes some people where slowing down for that. Well, a good time to get dirty and overtake some people. Surprising that a little dirt can make your shoes so much heavier. After that there was a turn, and I was able to count my place. I ranked 15th at this stage, which I thought should be within my capabilities. We came towards the first hill, where the 3 front runners stared to pull away. On this hill Matt Woods (track training partner) overtook me. My ego wouldn’t allow it to let him pass me that easily, after all the hard training sessions we did together. So I stuck with him for a while. What I didn’t realize thought was that he had lost his shoes in the first mud pit. So he was running barefoot! Respect!
The course was surprisingly hilly. Yes, I expected some hills but they were quite steep. Matt and I were making good progress and advanced to 10 and 11 place. A little before the river crossing I overtook Matt on a downhill (He told me later that running downhill barefoot was a very painful thing). He told me with a smile: “Go get em Tiger”.
There the first river… I am sure the water was very cold, but it felt so good and relaxing to wade through the water. Only the heavy shoes made running hard afterward. By now I advanced into the 6th place. It seemed like a few people started to fast so it wasn’t a hassle to overtake them. So there were two people right in front of me, but the first 3 were not to be seen anymore. The speed seemed good and I just wanted to stay put till at least the half-way point. Even though its only a 10k, I didn’t want to blow up. I decided that the 5th place would be awesome. My goal was to stay with them and outrun at least one of them at the finish. At least that was my idea of finishing which gave me motivation to stay with them
Right before the halfway point we had to cross the next river. I also know now why there was a bridge right next to us… I was in the water up to my chest, it seemed to me that it took forever to cross this 5m river. Once, I was out I felt really heavy and a little tired so the two guys were pulling away from me. But only a little, and there was the halfway point.
I grabbed a cup and drunk a sip of water before entered the “Mud Flats”. Yes they are called this way for a reason, many many times you have to run through mud. Your shoes will vanish in a viscous, brownish soup and it almost feels like glue. I didn’t want to lose the two guys in front of me, especially since one seemed to know the course and I didn’t want to get lost. So I pushed myself a little harder. By now the three of us where spread apart over 50m.
Finally, we reached the end of the “Mud Flats” which only meant that we had to climb the Wall. What a steep hill… running was out of question, but at least there was a Mariachi band playing and motivating us. I tried to keep going and not to lose too much ground on the other two. So I never left them out of sight, and then I saw something which made me confident to succeed with my plan. The 5th place had closed in on the 4th and after a while overtook him. I assumed that this meant that this guy was fading. From studying the map and time, I also know that we can’t be farther out than two miles. So I started pushing my pace. Even though, he was ahead over 50m, I eventually closed in. But I failed in my first attempt to overtake him. Well, so back to my first plan, I’ll outrun him at the finish.
Well, there was a chance before that. There was one last hill before that, I tried my luck by running around him on the trail and he didn’t even push it. On top of the hill, a visitor told us that we were 5th and 6th place. Great my basic math skills seem to work during this run
From then on, I almost could see the finish. 200m over a flat field a river and the uphill to the finish. On this flat part, I could constantly hear the steps behind me. I was wondering if he knows that I’m almost done. I couldn’t increase the speed anymore. So I checked and he was about 20m back. What a relief. And then I heard the crowd. They were all there to see us cross the last river. What an atmosphere with all the people screaming and then I could see the finish line. I was trying to keep my pace, but it got harder and harder. A little girl at the side told me there is someone behind you. All I was thinking was I’m done. I might not be able to hold him off… So I checked the distance and it still was 20m. No way, I’m going to give up now and I didn’t. I finished 5th overall.
It was a wonderful race and I would do it again in a heartbeat. My finisher time for these 10k was 43:25.
To top it off: I won my age group 20-29 and got an Apple Walnut Carmel Pie!

Congratulations on all my other friends who finished! Javier, Jeffrey, Matt (I hope your feet recover well!)

Some pictures can be found here.

This is a description of all the key features of the course.

EDIT: There are already some YouTube videos. I’ll post the better ones down here
Last river crossing before the finish