The Chisholm Trail Marathon Recap
This was its inaugural race. Pretty simple course, two loops with a total of 12 turns. One ‘big’ hill and then several rolling hills. It felt pretty hilly to me, but this is where I live and train, and I can find much flatter areas to run here; however if you are from anywhere but Kansas, it would probably feel prettty flat. The race organizers developed this course to be flat and fast and to be a good opportunity for BQing/PRing.
It was a pretty small race. I think about 800-1000 runners combined between the half and full with about 200 of those running the full. It definitely thinned out for the full. I knew several people out and about spectating, so that helped. There was no course entertainment, so no bands to help provide a jolt of energy when I needed it.
I started out about 30 seconds below goal pace until I got over the first hill. Then I picked up the pace. I think I ran a little to fast in some of the early middle miles. By the start of the second loop I was starting to get a little tired, but was still pretty good. I kept reminding myself for the next several miles that this is what I had trained for - this is what my long runs were simulating, the last miles of the marathon (Thanks
@DopeyBadger). It started to get tough even before the last turn around - with 7 miles to go. But I kept pushing. Slowed down going up hills and I tried to pick it up on the way down. Somewhere in the last 3-5 it got pretty hard, but I kept going. I knew if I kept my miles under 10 I would still set a PR (still kept them under 9:30). The last two miles there was one unofficial water stop and a normal water stop and I took the opportunity to walk through both (I normally walk for short bits through official water stations). And then I took another short walk break with about 0.5-0.6 left. I was tired, after that I told myself just to finish so I could be done! I didn’t quite make my goal of under 4, but I still set a 10 minute PR. Yay! I’ll take it.
@LSUlakes My time was 4:01:34.