Charlottesville Marathon Race Recap

And now for Charlottesville Marathon runner-up Geoff King's race recap:


I went into the race thinking I was in 2:40ish shape, and having seen nothing but the elevation profile and map of the course, I figured I should expect to lose maybe a few minutes. I figured going out in about 6:10ish (on average, not counting varying hill effects) would be conservative enough. This proved not to be true.

I started the race right on planned pace, running right next to the eventual winner (a former UNH runner named Rob Zolla) for the first 10 miles, with just 3 reasonably quick half marathoners out front and out of mind. Seeing the rest of the field after a turnaround at the 6.5 mile mark, a few other marathoners looked to be in reach and running strong, but they never got closer. It seemed to be a 2 man race, but about 5-6 miles in I developed a sharp pain in my toe from something rubbing in my shoe. I would find out after the race that my toe had broken through my sock and bled pretty badly. It didn't slow me down, but I had a tissue in my pocket, so I decided to make a 10 second stop at about mile 10 to add it as a little cushioning and see if I could improve the situation. By doing so, I gave up the lead, and felt it wasn't worth my while to try to catch up immediately at that point.

Zolla put in a solid surge over the next few miles, but it seemed much too early to take the risk of following, so I let him go and he was out of sight by mile 14. By that point, I could tell the hills were starting to take their toll, as my leg muscles had really tightened up and felt much heavier. I allowed myself to gradually slow down over the next few miles to about 6:25 pace, thinking I'd really hit the wall if I didn't. My toe fix helped minimally, but other than be annoying it had no effect on my running, and faded out of mind as the miles went on.

I was all by myself from that point on, and with the exception of 2 brutal 1-mile hills, the 2nd half of the course was considerably easier. It was kind of surreal, as my energy level and cardiovascular performance were steady, but every muscle in my legs felt completely shot and heavy by mile 15. Obviously this was pretty concerning, but I was surprised to find that I could continue to hammer out 6:30s without really fading from there (with the exception of a couple of 7+ miles up the 2 big hills). I never really hit the wall, I basically just felt like I was trying to drive a smart car on the interstate.

I never saw Zolla again until mile 26, just a little too late. I was told he had about a 5 minute lead on me at one point, but he apparently faded pretty badly at the end. If it had been 27.2 miles, I might have taken it, although I was pretty glad to be done at 26.2.

I was definitely hoping for a faster time, but all things considered I'll take it. Knowing what I know now, I probably would have gone out much more conservatively, which probably would have saved my legs and allowed me to pick up the pace on the easier second half of the course. I think a smarter race would have put me under 2:45 and given me the win, but there's obviously no way of knowing for sure.

For those running Boston, I'll leave you with the advice to go out conservatively and trust in your conditioning to negative split and run a solid race. Boston's course is considerably more forgiving than C-ville, but I made a similar mistake my first time at Boston and really paid for it. Best of luck to all!