Marathon Strategy

This morning in the newspaper was a full page layout of the marathon route to help aid the runners and cheerleader support crews (cool!). The route is 100% flat and 100% paved city streets or bicycle paths. The hardest part of the route is between kilometer 36-40. Here the route twists through the old streets of the market area of Karlsruhe, whereas a couple kilometers are cobblestone. Cobblestone is absolutely the hardest surface that I have ever ran on, period! With luck I will be numb by this time and won’t feel any more pain :-)

I was sitting on the train last night skimming though 'The Competitive Runner’s Handbook' by Bob and Shelly-Lynn Florence Glover and came across a 'Race Strategy' section. Of course then I start thinking about my ‘M’ strategy for Sunday. But rather than getting all stressed trying to figure out what is 'the best strategy' I have decided to simply:

- Run at an average 5:30/K (8:51/M) pace.
- Reevaluate the pace every 5K based on the weather and any other factors.

In other words if I am having a good day and there are no factors effecting my running I should finish in under 4 hours. This is a totally realistic goal for me, based on my training pace (5:45-6:00/K) and race times (HM 5:18/K pace), so I am going to give it my best shot!

A few of my colleagues said they will probably be along the race route, they said they will give a shout if they see me! For the RBFers from North America: When you crawl out of bed on Sunday morning don’t forget to cheer real loud, and maybe say a quick prayer as I will be close to the 'Wall Zone' when you wake up! The race starts at 9:00 a.m. local time, 3 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

So one more 9K run tonight, then a couple days of relaxing, then the big day! I can’t wait!