Into the Darkness
When I have clarified and exhausted a subject, then I turn away from it, in order to go into darkness again.
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Heartland Marathon
Omaha, Nebraska
2017-09-24
Results
- 3:36:42
- Pace: 8:16
- Overall: 10/98
- Age group 30-39: 5/18
- Male: 10/63
- Marathon PR
Gear
- Newton Distance V
- Sony Walkman MP3 Player
- Vaseline
Nutrition
- Gatorade chews
- Gatorade
Recap
I had very little training coming into this marathon. I had built up my long runs to about 23 miles, yes. But I had no clue on anything from nutrition to pace. I didn't have Strava at the time, which is unfortunate, because I would have loved to see my pace breakdown. I clocked in at the half Marathon point at around 1:30:00, so I was trucking along at a pretty quick pace trying to keep up with the lead pack.
Somewhere around mile 15, the slowdown started to hit. I ate my Gatorade chews, but found them to be too chewy and difficult to eat while running. I found myself extremely thirsty throughout the race, and drank a water and a Gatorade at each aid station. The Gatorade provided some calories, but as I would come to find out after the race, it would completely tear my stomach up. I almost quit distance running for this reason alone.
My shoes were a terrible choice for this race. I ended up with a goose egg on the top of my left foot and was unable to walk on it for a week. The Newton "Distance" is a misnomer.
I was still really proud of my time and of finishing my first Marathon. Thankfully, while it scared me off from distance running for a good 6 months, it also spurred me to dig a little deeper in the science behind distance running.