The 2015 Rocket City Marathon Race Report

So here is my race recap of the Thirty Ninth annual Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville Alabama on December 12, 2015. There were 1272 official finishers that made it by the 6 hour cutoff. There were runners from all over including Leesburg Virginia, Chicago IL, Irving TX, Cedar Grove NJ, New Windsor NY, Janesville WI, Salt Lake City UT, Tampa FL, Denver CO, Overland Park KS, Ketchikan AK, Liberty Lake WA, Burlingame CA, Grand Rapids MN, Medford MA, Nova Scotia CN, and even Surrey and Glasgow UK.

The RCM is a premiere marathon event in the South.  Sponsored by Nike and many others, the RCM is put on by the Huntsville Track Club. It is a very well organized race with lots of local support. It is a flat course (~400 feet total elevation gain) and is a well known Boston Marathon qualifier.  The normal weather for RCM is usually a low temperature of 34 and a high of 54. This year the weather at race start was 63, cloudy, and 94% humidity. Knowing this, I changed my original clothing strategy from long sleeve tech shirt, tights, and my long compression running socks (with a throw away sweat top hoodie); to tech tank top, shorts, and regular running socks.

 I had some Gu and a few salt tablets in my hydration belt (never used them), but I was going to rely on 2 bottles of Fruit Punch flavored Gatorade that I manually filled into a 1.5L emptied bottle of Smartwater with the nipple top. (I hate drinking those cups on the course). I carried one with me at the start of the course and handed a second one to a friend from my running group who she was volunteering at the aid stop at 13.2 mile mark.  I had been carrying a 32oz bottle of Gatorade or PowerAde on every single long run this year. So I am used to running with a bottle in my hand. I took a sip or 2 every time we ran through an aid station and every time we hit a decline on the course. So I made sure I regularly had a drink at regular intervals to make sure I was hydrated (but not too much where I had to pee) and a constant slow intake of carbs. The plan worked very well for me and I felt afterwards that the heat and humidity were not huge factors for me.

This year is the second year of the "new course". It is designed as a kind of figure 8 (or 2 out and back loops). It starts off in downtown Huntsville at the Von Braun Center and heads down into downtown Huntsville, into some nice neighborhoods, 5 Points, Chapman Jr. High, Lee HS, Optimist Park, and the Huntsville War Memorial before heading back towards the VBC. The second half takes you into the western part of Huntsville along 9th Ave and Governors Drive (with I-565 next to you), up towards the Space and Rocket Center, the Botanical Gardens, Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville Park, and Milton Frank Stadium before heading back towards the VBC. Along the route were many "Spirit Teams" as well as spectators cheering everyone on. Many, many signs including your typical "Run Faster - I just farted" and "Worse Parade Ever". My favorite was "Marry Me and I will make you the pride of the doublewide".





There were quite a few live bands out on the course, a drum corps, a couple of local HS cheerleaders, and even the cubs scouts. Many local spectators and residents came out. There were a few local residents out on their front lawns playing music and handing out water, fruit, and other things. One was handing out Jolly Ranchers. Another group of college aged kids were offering "beer". Lots of costumed characters too. My favorite was at mile 23- The Grim Reaper with a sign that read, "The End Is Near".





The race ended up inside on the floor of Propst Arena in the VBC. This is where the local hockey team the Huntsville Havoc play and is the venue of most of our major concerts and events.

So we got to the VBC a little after 6 AM and met with my Panera Pounder running group for a 6:30 AM photo.

 Then I head out behind the starting line for a quick warm-up. Sipping on a small bottle of GatorAde I had with me. Then it was time to find my pace group. (no official corral line-ups) You kind of find your pace group paced upon when you think you are going to finish. This was a big decision for me. I was initially going in with a 3:30-3:35 goal. If you remember I originally was going to attempt a BQ at 3:25 but scratched that idea after my time trail at the Huntsville Half a few weeks ago. But with the warmer temperatures and humidity, I wasn't sure if 3:30 was going to be wise or not. I figured I was going to positive split anyway with the temperatures slightly rising as the course went on (even though the humidity was dropping), so I said what the heck and lined up with the 3:30 group. I prmised myself that if I felt that was too fast that I would slow down and let the next pace group catch up with me.

The 2 official race pacers for that 3:30 group was Timothy and Will. They were fun and very outgoing. They initially introduced themselves about mile 1 and asked who was running their first marathon. Then Timothy said, "This is Will's and mine first too. I am sure glad we did that half marathon training run last week." Every time we were coming up onto a spirit group, Timothy and Will were trying to see if we would out spirit them. Our first couple of miles were a little fast (3:30:00 finish is about a 8:00 or 8:01 pace).

 

First couple of splits was 7:46 and 7:45. I remember hitting the first mile and them saying, "oops I guess we made up too much time on that first mile". They slowed down after mile 2 and I felt like this was a very comfortable pace for me, so I decided to continue on ahead of the group. This would have been very close to my BQ pace and I could still see the 3:25 pace group up ahead at mile 3.

I picked a few people that were running about what I was and stayed with them for a while.











At mile 13 I was passing the VBC and drank the rest of what was in my first bottle. I also noticed my left sock bunched up a little at the ball of my foot and was causing an irritation that I mentally had to fight through. At mile 13.2 was my Panera Pounders running group and I tossed my empty bottle to the side and Denise handed me my second bottle.



Panera Pounders aid station at mile 13.2

At mile 16 I began to feel the oxygen debt and my heart rate increase a lot. This was the long straightaway heading towards the Space and Rocket Center along I-565. This was the point I lost my pace group last year. This year they caught up with me and I stuck with them for a couple of miles. I remember Timothy talking to me when they caught up with me. He was telling me to relax and think of this as a meditation and not let my emotions during the race contribute to my heart rate increasing. He reminded me to keep good form and keep my hands loose. He even took my Gatorade bottle for a bit while I relaxed. That helped a lot as I was able to regain my composure and get a little back into pace, and hitting some downhill's helped too. I started losing my pace group just before mile 19 well into the Space and Rocket Center but still maintained a pretty decent pace. At around mile 24 or 25, one of the 2 official pacers for 3:35 passed me. (I am not sure where the second pacer was). My legs were really feeling it bad (especially the foot with the bunched up sock) but I never did hit any wall nor did I slow down enough where I was forced to walk. I finished my second bottle around mile 23 inside the Botanical Gardens and took a couple of the aid station cups of PowerAde there and around mile 25.

I finished strong inside the VBC at 3:38:06 on the clock and walked through the chute. I saw Skip and another woman handing out the medals. The other woman initially was putting a medal around me when I told the woman I wanted Skip to give it to me instead. Skip's mom snapped a quick picture of us. Then another woman handed me my finisher's hat. I had a choice between red and blue and took the red one since I already had the blue one on my head from last year already.

I felt very sore but much better than last year. I walked around for a short bit to catch my breath, got a couple more cups of PowerAde in me then hit the PR gong.

I made it inside the food area (this year we did not have to walk up any steps to get to the food thank God). I drank a couple of small cartons of chocolate milk, ate a small ice cream sandwich, ate a banana, took some grapes and a Moon Pie into a lunch bag they gave me, and took some chicken noodle soup with crackers. I had a rough time sitting down on the floor to eat my soup. They had bagels and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but not interested. Getting back onto my feet after I was done with my soup was very rough. Then I walked upstairs to the spectator area and met Jenn at the entrance. There we waited for my certificate to get printed out. I then went and got a free massage. Every year they have students from Virginia College give out free massages. After walking around for a short little bit we left for home and took a long nap. LOL
Another successful year in the books. I was a little disappointed that at my finish but very happy with my time considering the warm humid weather. If anything, it may have contributed to my accelerated heart rate at mile 16-26. I definitely need to work on meditation since I felt that helped me a lot. I tend to let my emotions get the better of me towards the end of races which speeds the heart rate and contributes to the oxygen dept. It is best to remain as relaxed as much as possible and remember good form to preserve energy.







My splits were as follows:
1. 7:46
2. 7:45
3. 7:49
4. 7:59
5: 7:52
6: 7:53
7: 7:54
8: 7:52
9: 7:55
10: 7:55
11: 7:49
12: 8:00
13: 7:55
14: 8:05
15: 8:05
16: 8:16
17: 8:05
18: 8:05
19: 8:17
20: 8:38
21: 8:55
22: 8:57
23: 8:56
24: 8:57
25: 9:25
26: 9:18
26.41: 3:47


3:38:11 8:16 avg pace (best pace said 6:13- apparently this was just after mile 11)










I never did stop my watch right away. I stopped it a few seconds after crossing the finish line.

Cadence: Avg 171 spm (max 186 spm) and avg stride length of 1.14m.
Elevation Gain 466 ft
I wore my Newton Blue Energy running shoes.