Tangamanga Half Marathon race report
Repeat after me: Tan..Ga..Man..Ga, Tangamanga: Place with water and gold; neither of those in my town, San Luis Potosi, but everything is named like that; tangamanga park, mall, tacos, cerveza, everything.
Yes It’s not New York or California; But you didn’t know that this is a Boston Marathon Qualifier?!, no, I’m not kidding; since this year it’s official, so If you like to come for your spot, you’re more than welcome. Only remember that the altitude is 1893 mts. So it’s hard.
San Luis also hosted Michael Phelps for his preparation for Beijing Olympics, in the same pool that I train. I’m not kidding again …we showed that off a lot. http://www.altitudeswimming.com/, also German Silva (two time NY marathon winner and Boston Marathon champion) is the athletics head coach. He’s so small… and so fast... I hate him…no, he’s a good guy but I hate him. He’s the one that at NY 94 missed one of the turns at finish mile…https://youtu.be/ZiUJ-xqhqQ8
After this town introduction, here’s my report.
Goal time:1:53 Result 1:57
Prerace:
There was a 10k half and full marathon race, we started at 7:00 am.
I got a bagel, 250 ml of Gatorade, banana and a salt pill just after jump from the bed. 5:15.
The race was pretty crowded, more than 6,000 runners, the race started in downtown, so it’s really complicated to pass, everybody also starts like flash, that 90% who don’t know what they’re doing.
After mile two I started to get things done, I think I started too conservative, at 10:05/mi or it was too crowded, also I lined up at the middle/back of the start, so there was a lot of slow people, but it was ok, since I did want to play by the book.
At mile 3 we just got into a park named Tangamanga 2, (told you) and since I train in Tangamanga I (really?), I didn’t have a clue about the hills, very light endless hills, thanks Garmin to give me the inclination data.
At mile 6 I was pacing up, started to get in 8:30-8:50, my nutrition was a salt pill since it was a lot of humidity each 30 mins and two gels at 45 and 1:30 to avoid the wall. I got my fuel belt so I can get fluids whenever I wanted, and only get water to get the gels down.
When I got into mile 9, I knew that if wanted to get my PR I should have to run faster, but my legs were not paying attention, -shut up legs! It was like talking to my dog…
I stick to a couple of guys that were having a good pace, I chased them from mile 10 until the finish line, that was a strong pace.
Last mile I gave everything that was left in the tank, to get a 8:19 towards the finish line.
At the end, I felt satisfied, this race is the green flag for my Ironman Los Cabos training until October, and so I have a lot of work in the next four months.
Sorry about the grammar spelling.. Remember se habla español.
Comments
Muy bueno, Luis.