Quick – what is the first image that comes to mind when you think of Ohio?  Is it flat farmland, spotted with corn and cows for as far as the eye can see?  You’re thinking of central and western Ohio.  For those of us who live in the eastern part of the state, the topography is far more varied.  In fact, the name Akron comes from the Greek word for “summit”, which is also the name of the county for which Akron is the seat.

It is this topography that sets the tone for the Road Runner Akron Marathon, and for which the race is gaining a growing reputation as a challenging yet beautiful course.  In just its 8^th year, it has become a notable event; while the marathon has only 1,500 runners (who hail from all over the country), the half-marathon drew over 3,200 and the 5-person relay brought 1,100 teams, for a total of over 10,000 participants.  Thus, it is a smallish marathon that feels big, but is still small enough to be well organized and convenient – parking and general race accessibility was no issue whatsoever.

I opted to run Akron this fall over the smaller, flatter, and certainly faster Towpath Marathon as I craved the hills as a necessary stepping-stone for Boston.  Having already qualified for Boston at the Cleveland Marathon, my original goal here was to get roughly halfway towards my 3:00 Boston goal by delivering something around 3:04, and I designed the training plan accordingly.  However, after a bit of a rougher start than I had planned, which led to some refocusing at the halfway point of the training cycle, my running started to improve, so I decided to go ahead and set a stretch goal of 3:00 for Akron.  The first step in implementing a stretch goal is to forget that it was a stretch and treat it as the only goal, and thus I communicated this intent pretty openly and broadly, especially as I defined and summarized my strategy for the marathon.

A 7:00AM start in Akron in late September qualifies as Predawn Running

Despite a sweltering (by September standards) week, some strong winds on Friday foretold of a cold front moving through, and by Saturday morning the conditions, save for a bit of breeziness, were near-perfect for a marathon – low and high temperatures for the race day were hovering right around 60° F.  In fact, later in the day the wind picked up and temperatures dropped a bit; we had a very small window of this near-perfect weather, almost as if someone sold their soul to the devil (someone accused me of doing so, but I can guarantee I would have asked for a bit more in return).  I really am not that particular about pre-race nutrition or hydration, save for a pasta dinner the night before and late night popcorn snack.  This time I opted for an English muffin with butter and jelly, a cup of coffee, and around 12 ounces of Powerade when I awoke.  I got to the marathon plenty early, as usual, and the port-o-lets were empty.  I later went again and did have to wait a bit, but there was no stress to the pre-race routine.

I stepped into the starting area early, as I always do, and just tried to stay relaxed. The organizers had an absurd amount of space set aside for those planning a 2:20 pace, a 2:30 pace, etc.  Perhaps they intended the relay runners and half-marathoners to occupy such real estate, but barely anyone took advantage – it is the first race I can recall where there was little jockeying for starting position in the waiting area.  I hovered around the 2:50-3:00 space.  About 15 minutes before the race, a gentleman named Ryan from the Pittsburgh area started chatting with me; he had a PR of 3:02ish earlier this year at Virginia Beach and was going for sub-3:00.  We decided we would stick together, though I felt I might fall back as he stated he would be going out at 6:45 (I had planned to be more around 6:50).  We were joined shortly by another guy named Brian from North Canton (actually Wooster), who hadn’t run a marathon in 7 years but had a PR from that time of somewhere in the 2:40’s (I don’t’ remember exactly) and was going for 2:55 that day.  When the area in front of us remained open (and Ryan commented that the guy in the cross-trainers probably wasn’t going after a 2:40 that day), we moved forward and were just five rows or so back.

The start on Broadway was uneventful – no elbows, no tripping, barely even any navigating around other runners.  Akron starts on a downhill towards the All-America Bridge (as an Akron native, I remember the bridge being built around 30 years ago), which is a saddle-type design with its low point in the middle, so it’s easy to get pulled into a fast start.  And we did, hitting the first mile in the middle of the bridge at 6:35. The uphill into a brief loop around St. Thomas Medical Center (where my cousin works) slowed us a bit, but the downhill back onto the bridge led us back to a 6:39 split for the second mile.  A bit of climbing back through the heart of downtown Akron on High Street finally slowed us a bit, and this long straight stretch of four miles led to splits bumping between 6:43 and 6:52.  At this point we picked up a fourth runner, Amanda from Michigan, who was just out of college and running her first marathon, also targeting sub-3:00.

As we turned left on Wilbeth, at mile marker 6, Brian pulled away to pursue his 2:55 goal.  A few minutes later, a runner in front started falling back and stated “well, if we are all going for three hours, we should slow down a bit.” “You are absolutely right,” I responded.  I then proceeded to leave him in the dust, and apparently Ryan and Amanda too, as they fell back.  I guess since my seventh mile was around 6:39, it was really me who deviated. Maybe it was the excitement and familiarity of being just around the corner from the house where I spent the first five years of my life (not that I’d recognize it if I saw it), passing the YMCA where I first started playing indoor soccer and flag football, the church I attended until I was around 20 (I remember it being a lot bigger), and the playgrounds and tennis courts that we spent countless hours on, all in the Firestone Park region of Akron.

That sense of excitement must have continued, as I pushed through the next two miles, including a bit of uphill and the most boring section of the course along Brown Street at around a 6:40 average clip.  I was convincing myself that I really meant I wanted to keep consistent at 6:45 as an early race pace, and obviously I still felt strong (pro tip – you always feel strong early in the marathon – until you don’t).  Cruising through the beautiful campus of the University of Akron didn’t help (maybe I was inspired by memories of the 1500 on my SATs that I took there – sorry, dork alert), and then, after crossing the start line again (which is an interesting oddity of the course) and dropping my first effort to take a Gu from a volunteer so having to skip it, we hit the massive descent into the Cuyahoga Valley that just begs you to let it go.

Splits for Akron, fast by a few seconds as the Garmin measured slightly long

And let it go I did, with splits around 6:25 for the two downhill miles.  This obviously felt very easy – so much so that when things flattened out and the half-marathon runners headed back up into downtown (what a nasty climb that must have been!), I was continuing to fly.  We were now on the flat Towpath, where a gentleman passed me and stated what an interesting part of the course it was.  I chatted with him a bit about the Towpath, how it was along the Cuyahoga River which caught fire in the 70’s, etc.  He then moved ahead and commented what a strong pace I was running.  It was only then that I looked at my watch and saw I was well into mile 12, past the downhill, at a 6:09 pace. I’d never thought of such a pace as “conversational” before.

I slowed a bit but at the same time set my sights on a woman in front of me, whose name was Tracy (they have names on your bibs for Akron, and the fans use them generously).  (Warning – this begins the obligatory “personal pursuit” section of the race report, but unlike in a typical race report, I’ll acknowledge being passed by several runners).  It seemed I was closing the gap with her, but at the same time Nick passed me for the first of several position swaps we did.  There may have been another runner or two who passed me on the Towpath, despite the fact that my pace remained a steady 6:46-6:48 for this stretch.  All still felt great.  My only concern was that I had passed the half-marathon mark at 1:27:57, yet I instinctively knew that delivering a 1:32 on the back half with the hills was going to be the biggest running challenge I had ever faced.

The first hill coming up out of the Towpath and back onto streets just beyond the 15 mile mark is just a small trial, maybe a 60-foot climb over less than a half-mile.  It is a sign of things to come though.  Nonetheless, I handled it fine, the pace temporarily slowed to above 7:00, but I gained it back on this and the deceptively-easy downhill to finish this and the next mile still in the low 6:50’s.  I had been doing math in my head and knew I was still under 6:45 for an overall pace, plus my Garmin showed me nearly 2:30 ahead of my virtual partner, who I’d set for a 6:52 pace (but with the caveat that the Garmin was beeping mile turnovers just a bit early).

Right around mile 17 you cross a ford that normally gets your feet wet due to a small creek, but there is a temporary bridge put in place for the marathon.  It is then that you come across a sign that indicates the start of the “Rally from the Valley”, a uselessly optimistic indication of the challenge you are about to face.  Oh, I had closed the gap with Tracy to about 50 feet at this point, and had passed Nick a mile or so earlier.  This is the closest I would get to Tracy, as my “Rally from the Valley” turned into more of a “Dilly-Dally from the Valley”, while she looked stronger than ever (and she passed a good 15+ runners from this point, finishing in 30^th overall).  As the hill began, I started to get a sense that the 3:00 goal, despite having time in the bank, may not be in the cards.  I really struggled to climb, far more so than during my training run here just over two weeks earlier.  I made a mental commitment to myself to still be around 2:00 ahead of the VP when I emerged onto Revere Road at the top of the Sand Run Parkway climb.  I knew I was struggling as a few runners passed me on the hill (granted, some were relay runners on this, the shortest portion of the relay course).  Somehow, despite what felt like a struggle, I still kept pretty close to my 7:10 target pace for these hills and the tricky still-uphill first portion of Revere Road (7:13), and passed mile 19 with hopes that I could pick things back up, or at least not let them slip much further.

The hills of Akron - ignore the first two dips and one near the end, as apparently Garmin's maps don't recognize the invention of "bridges"

I had stated earlier that my Akron goal would be met or missed in miles 20-23.  This is an unexpectedly difficult portion of the course, as the uphill is insidious but present.  I seemed to have recovered OK with a 7:05 for mile 20, which is amazing given that at around 19.5, as I started a short but tough climb up Wiltshire, thoughts of a DNF were entering my mind.  Unfortunately, it seemed that in efforts to get back on track, I had spent most of what I had left, and mile 20 was my fastest mile of the remainder of the race.  I watched the lead I had on the Garmin VP deteriorate, slowly at first, then ever more relentlessly.  Nick passed me again at this point, I think, and Tracy was now far ahead.  Other than that and a few relay runners there still wasn’t much jockeying for position among marathon runners – an indication that we all seemed to suffer from the challenges of the back half of Akron.

I was grateful to finally reach “Heart Rate Hill” near the end of mile 22, and it seemed surprisingly short and painless.  Mile 22 ended up being no slower than mile 21, both around 7:28.  This began the most scenic residential portion of the course, first with a jaunt around the grounds of Stan Hywet Hall, one of my favorite field-trip and family-outing destinations as a child and teen-ager (it is the home of the Seiberling’s, who founded Goodyear), and then past the mansions of Portage Trail.  Shortly after leaving Stan Hywet, the VP-tracker on the Garmin turned black – meaning Shane (that’s what I call my virtual partner) had just passed me.  I knew he was gone for good, and perhaps I let that get to me, as this mile was really slower than can be explained by just the slight hills, at 7:50.  I did pass Nick somewhere around the mile 23 mark, this time for good, as he had started walking some.  A volunteer told me I was the 41^st-place male at this point, and I assumed there was no way that would hold up.  Somewhere around here must also be where @CycleFreak, who finished one position and around 20 seconds ahead, passed me.

I had hoped that the massive downhill on Market Street, just past mile 24, would give me one last chance to close the gap on 3:00.  Those hopes faded quickly when my trademark “right hamstring cramp that forces me to step aside and stretch” made its appearance.  A quick stretch did solve the problem, but I was a bit tentative on the hill, finishing it with a 7:17 (not the “6:30” my plan called for).  And then Akron plays a few more cruel tricks on you, with some steep but brief hills after the 25 mile mark, before you finally turn onto beautiful Main Street for a memorable finish in Canal Park Stadium.  I had pretty much mailed it in at this point, I guess, as mile 26 was my slowest of the race at 7:52.  I was grateful to cross the finish line for the eighth time in a marathon (and the Garmin was spot on with the chip time, at 3:03:26), and even more grateful to drown what little sorrow I felt at missing the 3:00 mark with the free Michelob Ultras they provided.  Having set a new PR by over five minutes, I didn’t have too many regrets at missing 3:00, and now that goal can remain in place for Boston.  I’ll get into more of the lessons learned in a later post.

It was only after showering and meeting my wife and sons for lunch (I had asked my wife to order me “something unhealthy”) that I learned I had managed a 3^rd place age group finish.  I was informed of this by my five-year-old son, who helpfully stated, “Daddy, you finished third – does that mean two people beat you?”  It must have been a bit of a slim age group this year, as this time would have only been good for 6^th last year.  I was 49^th of 1520 finishers, and 42^nd of 1010 men.  Given how few runners passed me in the late stages, the back end must have gotten to everyone.  The next runner was over 30 seconds behind. Oh, and for the record:

• Tracy finished in 2:55:57 (she must have run negative splits)
• Brian in 3:00:35 (43^rd position),
• Ryan in 3:05:24 (56^th),
• Nick in 3:06:15 (59^th),
• Amanda in 3:09:50 (84^th, but 1^st in her age group).

A little vehicular bling, which unfortunately disappeared within 3 hours.

Despite the challenge, Akron is a great race – one of the most scenic I have run, very well organized, an unmatched number of Gu stations (four, though I only took advantage of two), and maybe even too many water stations. The crowd was great and the name on the bib made a difference.  The relay basically added more cheering sections for the marathon runners.  I’ll be back – but not next year.  I want to give the Towpath Marathon a try; flat and fast sounds quite appealing after Akron and Boston.  I’m hoping you will consider coming out and joining me sometime in a future Akron Marathon.

I want to thank all the readers of this blog for their support, as well as friends on Dailymile, Twitter, and Facebook.  I also want to thank Nathan, Lindsay, and Tina for their support at the course.  But I especially want to thank my wife and sons for putting up with this hobby of mine, training does take its toll even if you do it before anyone else is up, and I appreciate your support of this sometimes-obsessive pursuit.

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You may also find these interesting:

• Akron Marathon Post-Mortem and Lessons Learned
• The Predawn Runner Book – Running Ahead of the Sun
• The Benefits of High Mileage Training for Short Races
• Relaxing to the Win – 2011 Towpath Marathon Race Report

Tags: akron, marathon, race, strategy, Training

Posted in Races
37 Comments Posted by Greg