Yesterday was the 29th running of the Twin Cities Marathon (and my seventh TCM). My brother Brian came up from Florida to run it for the first time and we were joined by Lisa, one of his Disney co-workers. This was also her first TCM, so it was fun running with two first-timers (although both had run marathons before, including several Disney races).
The weather was perfect – 37 and sunny at the start with little wind. The forecasted high was 62, but I’m not sure if it got that warm. I wore shorts and a long-sleeve shirt and was never hot or cold. I also wore gloves at the start and handed them off to the family just before the half-way point.
Brian and I hadn’t trained much for this race. His excuse was warm weather in Orlando this fall and mine was the new job up north (and all the commuting). I’ve only run a total of about 60 miles since Grandma’s in June, so I was planning on a nice, easy pace this time.
Lisa and Brian both subscribe to Galloway’s run/walk method, so I thought I’d try it out with them. They were doing the 4-1 version: four minutes of running, followed by one minute of walking. Lisa’s watch was set to give audible indicators, so you didn’t really have to keep track.
While it was nice to have the frequent walk breaks, I’m not really sold on it yet. They say you don’t get as sore this way, but I felt just as bad this morning as I usually do. I’d rather go out too fast, build up a surplus, then walk more at the end. Plus, I like to walk through the water stops and not be forced to walk when the clock tells says so. Our splits were interesting, though:
10:43, 10:17, 11:03, 10:49, 10:03, 11:03, 10:26, 11:02, 11:03, 10:33, 10:43, 10:46, 11:38
11:08, 11:00, 11:36, 11:16, 12:24, 12:26, 11:49, 12:41, 13:16, 12:47, 12:16, 12:00, 11:25
They were a little more consistent than my usual splits, but they all needed to be closer to 10:00 to meet Brian and Lisa’s original goal of 4:30. Lisa started to get leg cramps after we crossed the river, so those later splits included more walk breaks than usual for the 4-1 method. She really wanted a PR, though, so I helped coach her down Summit and she ended up getting it by a minute and a half.
After the race, Brian was selected by TCM staff for a “middle of the pack” award. He got a cool gift bag with about $300 worth of stuff (gift cards, poster, hat, magnets, DVD, book).
Two neighbors earned Boston qualifying times – congrats Heidi and Michelle! I was hoping to join them next April, but my lack of focus on proper training have postponed those plans.
I’ll probably run Grandma’s and TCM next year, since they are anniversary years (35th and 30th, respectively). New York City will depend on the lottery draw and I may throw in a smaller race depending on how much I get to run in the coming months.
