Marathon mistakes

Marathon	Year	State	Time	Excuse
Atlanta	1996	Georgia	3:50
Rocket City	1997	Alabama	DNS	ITB band
Blue Angel	1998	Florida	3:49
Rocket City	1998	Alabama	3:49
Kiawah Island	1999	South Carolina	4:00	Calf strain
Dallas White Rock	2000	Texas	3:30
Kansas City	2000	Kansas	DNF	Achilles
Austin	2001	Texas	3:23	left gels at start
Austin	2002	Texas	3:39	wore flats
Country Music	2003	Tennessee	3:33	heat and hills
Chicago	2003	Illinios	3:40	dehydration
Mid South	2004	Arkansas	3:37	dehydration
Rocket City	2004	Alabama	3:17	Boston Qualifier
Boston	2005	Massachusetts	4:10	fueling
Flying Monkey	2008	Tennessee	3:50	hills
Flying Pig	2009	Ohio	3:05	out to fast
Snickers	2011	Georgia	DNF	shoes
Greenway	2011	Tennessee	4:49	hills, cold

I've finished 15 marathons, started a couple and DNF'd (did not finish) and even had a couple of DNS (did not start). Looking back I've made lots of mistakes. Even when I ran my best marathon, I could have run smarter. For this sub 3:00 marathon attempt, I'm going to try and not make any of the same mistakes.

Going out to fast
Laid out the splits from my PR marathon at the Flying Pig. Even though this was a 12 minute PR, I didn't stick to the plan. Like most newbie marathon runners, I ran how I felt and the early miles felt great. It wasn't until the halfway point that I slowed down to planned marathon pace. To late at that point, because even though I thought I could pull off a sub 3:00 that day, I went out to fast for the first 6 miles for even that time. I gave up 2:30 in the back half of that race. Not my worst crash and burn, actually it was the closest to even splits of any of my marathons.

Trying something new on race day
Ugliest example of this was the Austin marathon. I decided racing flats would shave some extra seconds off my time. The final 6 miles of this marathon were torture. I could see the blood coming out of my flats with each foot strike. When I finished and took off my shoe, the one toe was a big bloody mess. Actually had a repeat of this at the Snickers marathon, not quite as dramatic, but a whole lot earlier in the race. Caused my second DNF.

Time in the bank doesn't work
Tried this strategy for most of my early marathons. Never did work. Goes back to the going out to fast.

Adjust for the conditions
I've only run a couple of marathons that were to warm for me to run at my potential. 60 degrees or warmer and I need to slow down. Sometimes, it just makes sense to not go for the fast time. I've accepted that a DNF or DNS is the smart choice on some occasions. The DNF at Kansas City really should have been a DNS. I finished Kiawah with a calf strain, that should have been a DNF.

I picked the Rocket City marathon for several reasons. It's a fast course. Mostly because it's pretty flat. One little rise at around 18 miles, but no real hills. Weather is usually cooler without much chance of a warm day, versus a spring marathon. It's a small field, no half marathoners to dodge or run around. It's close (2 hour drive), I'll be sleeping in my own bed. This is the 35th year, they know what they're doing. Nice to finish and go inside to eat and relax afterwards.