This marathon marked my one year anniversary of running marathons and my 7th marathon. The very first one was in Burlington VT 1 year ago and it was 42 and rainy the whole day. This race was much much different.
The weather was sunny and stunning starting in the 50's and warming up to the high 70's. The race I had in Florida was a disaster, but at least prepared me to deal with heat issue which I faced with grace this time around. I knew to use the aide stations for dumping water all over me and filling up my water. Every 4 miles I took more electrolyte pills and whenever offered ate a banana. I also switched to using Sport Beans as they have the highest electrolyte count I could find and are much more palatable than goo. Only during mile 25 did I feel like I was fading and a bit nauseous, but otherwise felt strong and in control.
Another major accomplishment was using my Glutes for power the entire race. Since the Florida race in January I have been working hard on strengthening my core and engaging my Glutes while running. The marathon prior, my Glutes gave out around mile 22 and I had to power through with my Quads for the last few miles which left me very sore and tired. This time around I manage to engage my Glutes the entire time and today (the next day) I am not sore in the Quads like I was prior. Still a little tenderness but not to the touch and certainly not noticeable unless I jump or take stairs two at a time.
The last accomplishment which I feel bad acknowledging was finishing ahead of my friend who was an hour faster than me last time we ran a marathon together. Now I was not an hour faster that the first time (I completed at 4hrs 54min the first time...so just trimmed off a half hour), but my year of training and being prepared for the heat gave me the advantage and he was much slower than he was expecting because of the heat. He came in overheated with some cramping which is a sign of electrolyte loss.
One year down in my quest to run a marathon for every Massechet of Talmud. At this rate, if I complete 6-7 marathons each year I will align my total number of marathon completions to the number of completed massechtot during this cycle of Daf Yomi at Kiddushin, which completes June1 2016)