Mardi Gras Marathon New Orleans, Louisiana Feb. 16, 2003
My result: 3:58:55! 36th out of 124 in age group, Men 45-49. 304th of 844 men overall--including a
70-year-old who ran 3:54.
This was my fourth and by far most enjoyable marathon--a day when preparation met opportunity and I
ran my first sub-4 hour 26.2 mile race.
During carbo-loading late in the week, I had some shrimp fried rice and received a fortune cookie
containing the good news: "You can have anything in life you want." I wanted a sub-4 hour marathon,
so I put the fortune in my race bag as a potential secret weapon.
Sunday morning, about 2,000 runners in the full marathon and about the same number in the half were
outside the Superdome, ready to begin at the new, 7:00 a.m. start time (an hour earlier than last
year)....but there was some kind of delay and we didn't begin until nearly 7:30. This was a little
nerve-wracking but I used the time to relax and continue light stretching.
Then we were off through the varied neighborhoods on the course: past the few blearly-eyed souls
along the edge of the French Quarter early on a Sunday, along historic Esplanade Avenue and between
golf courses and Bayou St. John; through funky Mid City; dropping off the half-marathon finishers
back at the Superdome; then out and back for the second half in the Uptown area and around Audubon
Park. A lovely day for a run and many amusing sights, including the traditional men/hashers in red
dresses at two water stations, and other gruesome scenes.
Took me about 2:30 to reach the starting line and about 3/4 of a mile to have comfortable
running space.
As always at MGM, crowd support was light-to-sparse, but enthusiastic, including some residents
playing Mardi Gras music from the balconies of their homes and offering supplemental refreshments. I
have mixed feelings about large-crowd races anyway, so the low-key environment was great for me.
My splits: 1 9:26 (congested mix w/manywalkers, I may have started slightly too far back, but this
helped me stick to my plan to warm up slower than goal pace and avoid burning up too much fuel) 2
8:28 3 9:15 4 8:20 5 9:26 6 8:46 7 9:10 8 8:49 9 8:54 10 8:58 (overall 37 seconds under my 10-mile
plan of 90:00) 11 8:59 12 8:50 13 9:35 (half in 1:57:46, dead on planned pace) 14 9:11 15 9:01 16
9:09 17 9:51 (slowed to stay for a while with a fitness trainer/boxer running his first marathon) 18
9:37 19 9:20 20 8:55 (pushing on, ready for the second half of the race) 21 9:19 22 9:19 (growing
right calf cramp persisted from here through mile 25, so I shortened my stride and re-read my
fortune) 23 9:04 24 9:59 (electric-shock quality blister on right toes, ugly form but ready to run
through fire if necessary) 25 9:15
26.2 10:12 (8:30 pace) Total: 3:58:55 although rounding above doesn't exactly add up to the
official time.
No one passed me after mile 22, and I reeled in quite a few near the end. My improved training
seemed to have pushed the Wall beyond
27.2--the calf cramp and blisters were challenging but were not accompanied by that familiar old
no-gas-left feeling.
Positive split of just a fraction under 3%, which was my chosen pacing strategy per Pfitzinger.
After my varied troubles in the closing stages of three previous marathons, I'm delighted to have
run the entire race without a single 10:00+ mile.
It was an emotionally-charged time for me near the finish as the final-mile anxiety faded about
beating 4 hours chip time, and I began to reflect on how those hard, cold miles on Virginia hills
had made possible a 28-minute personal best and reaching my second major marathon goal.
Recovery is proceeding better than after previous marathons but I will enjoy a leisurely recovery
and break from serious running for a couple of weeks at least.
Race organization: pretty good, all water stations were well supplied and expertly tended, there
were enough toilets for many runners to make a quick stop along the course without waiting in line,
and turns were clearly marked. A couple of mile markers were slightly obscured and easy to miss, and
split times in the second half were unavailable at many markers. The food and drink offerings after
this race continue to be adequate but for a New Orleans event not plentiful enough in my opinion.
The special local touches, red beans and rice, and slices of Mardi Gras king cake, are great, but
there should be more fruit and bagels, bottled water, etc.
Random notes about gear, pre-race prep, etc.: -slept 10 hours Friday and slept OK for about 6 hours
on Saturday before rising at 4:30 to eat oatmeal and raisins prior to the race. -used three gels and
about 16 ounces of Dew during the race to counteract caffeine deprivation from the long warmup and
race. -stuck with the tried and true (and better cushioned) NB763 shoes over my newer and lighter
831s. -first marathon without wearing mycontact lenses, in hopes of slightly reducing that source of
fatigue/tension.
Previous three marathon results were 4:58+ (injured), 4:27, 4:26.
Back in the land of snow and mostly ice now, I'm relaxing but already almost looking forward to
running again.
Chris