CIM RECAP

There are a lot of words that can be used to describe a marathon - humbling, awesome, inspiring, heartbreaking, painful, glorious, etc. I’ve been running 1-3 marathons every year since my first CIM in 2010, and each one I learn a lot of valuable lessons from. There’s no other race quite like it because it is so hard to perfectly execute and it’s difficult to race more than 3 in a given year, so there aren’t many opportunities to get it right. Below is a little bit about the minor differences that can make or break a marathon race.

As described in my last blog, my training had been pretty great and my build-up races were excellent leading up to this year’s race. The taper had gone well and the travel was easy.  When the race started, I knew I had done everything I could to be as prepared as possible. 

But let’s first flash back to 2017 CIM when I ran my personal best, 2:12:28. That year, CIM was the host of the 2017 USA National Championships for the marathon - adding an additional layer of excitement. The weather was perfect and the competition was deep with a lot of guys at a similar level as me. When that race started, Parker Stinson jumped to an early lead but the rest of us 10-20 contenders put themselves in a big pack. I spent the first 19.5 miles doing no work and just being relaxed and focused on getting my bottles. At 19.5 miles, I made a big move and pushed hard, running sub 5 minute miles and breaking away with Kiya Dandena. I briefly had the lead at mile 23 before Tim Ritchie slowly pulled away to earn the victory and I took 2nd in a small negative split (1:06:20 first half, 1:06:08 second half). Essentially, the pace of the main pack was perfectly aligned with my fitness and then I raced the last 10k and was on the verge of winning that national title.

---

In 2021, we also had nearly perfect weather. The race organizers also put a little extra incentive to break the course record and got a pacemaker lined up to take us through halfway in 1:05:00-1:05:20. My race plan was to go with the pacer and the lead group as I felt that 1:05 was a reasonable first half for my fitness. However, once the race started it felt like we were going a bit too quick early on. 

Photo cred: The Sacramento Bee

During mile 2, I let the lead group pull a little ahead. When I went through mile 4, I was in a bit of no-man’s land with a split of 20:01 - the lead group had already put about 15 seconds on me. From miles 4-14, I focused on keeping a strong pace, focusing on being relaxed and as controlled as I could be. All of my splits were in the 4:57-5:07 range with a 5:02 average going through halfway in 1:05:56. The leaders were 1:04:50 and I was closing in on Milton Rotich.

​​I caught Milton around mile 14 and we briefly chatted. He said there were 3 guys in the lead pack, I replied let’s be patient and work together and he agreed. We ran side-by-side through mile 20 (which was a sub 5 minute mile) but may have got a little too aggressive in pace when we were catching and passing CJ Albertson and Shadrack Biwott. Both Milton and I started to slow during mile 21 - 22. Sometime around mile 23 he had pulled away from me and I was struggling - my body was shutting down…the fairly typical marathon bonk. I had split almost exactly a minute faster through 20 miles than I did when I ran 2:12:28, but instead of running close to 5:00, I was running in the 5:30s those last few miles. 

Those last 3 miles felt like an eternity and I tried simply to run as fast as I could while I was slowing down. I faded back to 7th place by mile 25, but then ran really hard the last quarter mile to take back 6th place. I was a little bummed to have faded back to 2:14:10, but also proud that I never gave up when things got really hard.

After the race, I have never been so wrecked.  At the post-race brunch I spent an hour just sipping hot chocolate, then managed to get a big plate of food…that sat in front of me, untouched, while I managed to eat only one grape. As my wife Kristin said, I went to a really dark place those last few miles and my body was pretty wrecked from it.
​
Altogether, it was my 2nd fastest marathon, but not quite the final result I was looking for.  The biggest positive takeaway was that I did exactly what my goal was: I stayed grounded and present during the race. I kept repeating, “What time is it? Now. Where am I? Here.” and the mantras of “Be Present” and “Be Grounded.” Ultimately some small differences in those first 20 miles likely made a big difference in those last 4 miles. I really only ran in a group behind people for about the first 2 miles. Other than that I was either pushing the pace solo or side-by-side with Milton. There’s definitely energy savings when you’re tucked in with a group. And I may have worked just a little too hard to 1.) catch Milton and 2.) catch CJ/Shadrack. In the miles from 13-20, I was 35 seconds faster than the 2017 year. Averaging 5s/mi faster in those miles may have been just a little too much for me.

​Now that the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials window is opening at the start of the new year, I’m already thinking and dreaming of the next (spring?) marathon to do. Thanks for following the journey to CIM 2021 and hope you’ll enjoy following the next season of training and racing!