Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon - 19 April 14 - A Solid Day's Work

3:33:05 Chip / 3:34:13 Gun
240/2030 Overall and 30/174 M35-39
Second 26.2 of 2014 and 13th career 26.2. 
Seventh US State.

My performance at the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon was decent effort at a very good event but I didn't achieve quite the result I wanted.  This was my back-up spring goal race targeting around 3:20 after having struggled through truly miserable weather at the Baltimore & Annapolis Trail Marathon on March 30.

Race Plan.  My plan going into the race was based on the assumption that I had mostly recovered from the B&A Trail Marathon three weeks earlier and I could reasonably target around 3:20.  I  planned to head out at an 8:00 min/mile for the first four miles and then push up to race pace at around a 7:30 min/mile.  I assumed that I would lose about a minute taking pictures at Churchill Downs and another minute to the hills in Iroquois Park.

Course.  The start was in downtown Louisville and the finish was about a quarter mile away at the Waterfront Park on the Ohio River.  The course started out flat through the downtown and then south to Churchill Downs at the eight mile mark.  After Churchill Downs the half and full marathon courses split with the marathon heading further south to the hilly section at Iroquois Park.  The three mile park loop kicked off with a challenging 250 foot climb in two steps over about a mile.  The rest of the park was a rolling drop over the next couple of miles.  The marathon course rejoined the half at 17.5 mile point passing through the University of Louisville campus before separating again at 20.5 mile point for a four mile loop through a neighborhood transitioning (slowly) back to respectability.  After rejoining the half course at 25 mile point, the race finished on a sharp downhill toward the Ohio River.
 

KDF Marathon Maniacs - Ready to Go

Race Day and Results.  I arrived downtown around 6:30, managed to leave my pre-race snack in my car and was at the Marathon Maniac photo at Louisville Slugger Field at 7:00.  I started the race at 7:30 following the 3:20 pace group.  The start and first three miles were rather congested despite being a corralled start.  Those starting 

Churchill Downs Main Grandstand

further back, probably had a rather challenging time.  I hung  with the 3:20 pace group through Churchill Downs which I reached
around 60:15, which was a little ahead of my planned schedule.  I found the climb in Iroquois Park more challenging then I expected and I pulled off the pace a little to save my legs.  Once out of the park, largely on schedule around the 15 mile point, I mostly got back down to race pace, but started lose a little time over the next few miles and by the 20 mile point I slipped down to an 8:00 min/mile pace.  Soon after starting the Breckinridge St/Broadway loop, I started to really struggle for energy and my pace dropped off drastically.  Over the last five miles, the sun also started to become a factor.  I was able to find a little pace over the last mile and half but it was pretty ugly last five miles.  In addition to forgetting my pre-race Clif bar and GU, the KDF was serving blue PowerAde on course which I didn't find to my liking and I drank more water then energy drink, leaving even lower on calories. 
Race GPS Track - Map My Run Link

Finished in the End

  Expo, Finish, Bling and Travel.  The expo was well organized and held at the Louisville Convention Center.  There a reasonable amount of vendors and a large number of Midwest races in attendance.  The pasta dinner was also held at the expo and was reasonable.  I had a good time meeting a number of the Maniacs in attendance include Eddie Hahn.  The finish and finish festival had a lot of very good elements but it just wasn't well laid out.  I was not impressed with the long trek to pick up my bag at gear check (including my change of shoes) from the far corner of the finish festival.  Race bling included tech t-shirt, running hat and medal.  The t-shirt was average, ASICS had better options for sale at the expo and finish festival, although I was a little surprised by the lack of a finisher's shirt.  The medal was decent.  I also found it a bit annoying although KDF offered runner tracking, the unofficial results were not posted to the net during race.  I drove to Louisville from Annapolis with the trip taking about ten hours driving.  I ended up staying out near the Louisville Airport, however unlike some races since there wasn't any of the hotels right at the start line it was manageable.  Parking was readily available downtown. 

With Eddie Hahn in the Finisher's Festival


Final Thoughts and Lessons Hopefully Learned.  I didn't get quite the result I would have wished for.  This was likely due to not being quite as fit as I thought I was, not being fully recovered from B&A Trail, leaving my pre-race snack in my car and the Iroquois Park section being a little hillier that I had fully appreciated.  My main take-away was that I needed to have pulled back a lot more at the B&A Trail Marathon in order to be fully recovered within three weeks.  The KDF Marathon was a very good, well organized  large city marathon with a course that lends itself to some fairly quick times.