2015 Erie Marathon - The Easiest Marathon

I decided to sign up for Erie in early Spring as a training run. I'd heard it could be a perfect BQ race because of the flat course and temperature in the 60s. I knew I wasn't going to be ready for any PR or BQ but I wanted to test how I felt physically after completing a marathon. Since facing some medical issues in April, I hadn't been able to do a long run without some sort of issue. At times, I had felt I could not run a marathon anymore and perhaps a half marathon would be better.  But rolling the dice sometimes works.

At packet pick-up before the race, the weather was horrible.  Rain and high winds made for a less than ideal marathon conditions.  I ate a calzone around 2 p.m. near downtown and went to the pasta dinner provided by the organizers.  Dinner was outdoors and while pasta, meatballs, and everything else were warm, it was cold enough to make me wear a jacket.  I got to the hotel room around 8 p.m. and went to sleep.  I woke up once at 11 p.m. but went back to sleep until 5:30 a.m.
When I woke up the rain had stopped. It was still cold, water puddles were everywhere, and the winds were strong but at least rain would not be a factor.  The race started at 7 a.m. and I started lining up with the 4:30 marathon group.  I just wanted to start slow and see what my body could do.

 This was the smartest decision since it forced me to slow down in the first two miles while I was "boxed in" around other runners.  Once I got to mile two I reached the 4-hour marathon group and later the 3:45 pace group.  I stayed with them for 4 miles but I knew based on my GPS that they were going way fast but it was a pace I could maintain for at least 20 miles.  While pace groups are great, they forced you to be "boxed in" with other runners and not really feeling like you got space to move around. In addition, this pace group had someone talking way too much and I couldn't focus on my run.  I sped up a few yards until I couldn't hear them anymore and joined another group.  These guys were shooting for 3:45 and I thought I could hang with them for a while.

My pace was even during the first loop and I did not feel like I was pushing it.  Once I started the second and final loop around the park, I thought I was going to start slowing down but to my surprise, I kept going at an even pace.  I could still see the 3:45 pace group a quarter of a mile from me but my new group was slowing down mile by mile.  At mile 19 I could hear music coming from the finish area and I even saw a few runners on the other side of the road at their mile 25.  I knew a 4-hour marathon was in the bag even if I had to walk for a while. However, to my surprise, I kept running at the even pace of 8:15s. I reached mile 24 and I was still going strong until I hit mile 25 my legs weren't fresh anymore so I dropped back to 8:22 pace. But who knew once I saw the finish line I sped up and pulled a 7:42 pace.

I was very happy with my splits as they can't be more even for 26 miles. The fact that the course is totally flat except for a small bridge helped a lot.  There were no medical issues and I did not feel any pain in my right knee, the one that has been bothering me lately. Erie is definitely the marathon to run to get a PR/BQ, it can't get any flatter and the water stops at every mile helped tremendously. Volunteers were amazing and were cheering at every water stop.  Additional porta-johns could have helped as the race started late because many runners were still in line.  I will go back to Erie for sure to break a PR or perhaps a BQ time.