Okay, I know it might seem a stretch to relate Mary Poppins and endurance sports. Of course, when you WATCH Mary Poppins the day before a marathon, it becomes clear.
When Mary first meets her charges Jane and Michael, she measures them up. The tape she uses to measure them doesn't show feet and inches, it provides a description of the child's nature. When the kids then ask how Mary herself measures up, the answer is "Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way."
That's how things went at the Green Bay Marathon, today. From the weather to nutrition to pace, it was a great race. And of course, the Green Bay Marathon isn't rated as one of the top ten favorite races for no reason.
The day started at 2:30 a.m. when my daughter woke up with chest congestion. She wouldn't allow my wife to take care of her, and it was so close to my 3:30 wake up call that I just let her take my place in bed. I got out of bed and started my pre-race routine. The extra time allowed me to stretch fairly well and read a bit in a book. After checking the weather (43F with an expected high of around 55F), I headed out the door.
After finally hooking up with my co-worker, we fought our way to the start line. The pace teams were positioned a bit oddly, so we decided to set our own pace for the first few miles and then hook up with a group targeting 4 hours. My plans called for shadowing that team until around 22 miles and then pulling ahead of them to go sub-4.
My co-worker's plans basically called for him to throw my plans out the window.
We passed the four hour crew somewhere around mile five. Oddly, we passed another four hour crew around mile seven. We crossed the half-marathon marker at about 1:51. After that, a good deal of my time was spent letting my co-worker know we were WAY ahead of pace and had to be careful about blowing up.
The temperatures were perfect, and the winds were only somewhat annoying. We hit every aid station as planned and went through a total of four Gu each.
We crossed 20 miles at 2:48, fully 12 minutes ahead of 4 hour pace. Just before 22 miles, I stopped for a potty break, informing my co-worker I wouldn't be catching him if he maintained the same pace. He slowed down enough for me to catch up to him at mile 22, where he told me he felt a "major kick" coming on. I told him to have fun and that I wouldn't be going with him.
The final four miles were a challenge, and I managed to keep him within sight. I picked up the pace a bit as I headed for Lambeau Field and finished strong. I crossed the finish line at 3:41:38 chip time, for 8:28 pace. My co-worker finished about 90 seconds before me, for an amazing 3:40 first marathon.
Most importantly, we managed to negative split. For this, I think my co-worker deserves the credit. Had I been running this myself, I certainly would have slowed down. Past races have shown that I fade in the second half, and this was different because I wanted to be with him in case he needed help. In the end, I probably needed more help then him.
So this race was, in fact, practically perfect in every way. A negative split. A PR by nearly 15 minutes. And the first marathon of the seven I've completed where I did no walking other than planned slowdowns through aid stations. It felt good crossing the finish line. And it felt great knowing another co-worker became a marathoner.
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