Marathon : DONE. What next?

Ce week end J'ai participe au Marathon de Philadelphia.

La ville organise chaque annee cette course de 26.2 Miles et cela depuis plus de 60 ans. Elle commence et termine devant Musee d'art de Philadelphia sur la plus grande avenue de la Ville : l'avenue Benjamin Franklin.

Voici le parcours:



Le trace de la course permet de visiter le centre ville, le quartier universitaire, le grand parc de la ville (Fairmont Park) des deux cotes de la riviere Schuylkill et une jolie ville de banlieue : Manayounk.

Vue aerienne du musee, Au fond le centre ville, A droite le quartier universitaire, Juste Derniere Fairmont Park, Et 6 miles plus loin Manayounk.

C'est une course dite "tres rapide" car tres plate. Neammoins le record de la course: 2:16:47 est loin des records mondiaux. Le marathon de Philadelphie malgre ses 20 000 coureurs peut etre qualifie de marathon de seconde zone :).
Cette annee le gagant s'est vu recevoir 3500 dollars pour un chrono de 2h17. Deux semaines plus tot, Meb Keflezighi et ses 2h09 a recu 130 000 dollars pour sa victoire au marathon de New York.
Ca fait cher la minute de difference...

Bien loin de ces chronos affolants, j'ai difficilement boucle mes 42km en 4h00min02. J'etais le seul stagiaire a participer. Une fille a courru le semi marathon et une autre le 8 km (en compagnie de son mari).
Voici une photo des sportifs. Je n'ai meme pas l'air fatigue. Mes muscles etaient juste "vides".



Photo juste apres la course
Pour les aficionados des statistiques voici les resultats complets:
TOUS LES RESULTATS
(Si vous n'avez pas acces a la page, veuillez m'envoyer un Email mottet.julien123@gmail.com)


Pour terminer voici le compte rendu detaille de ma course en anglais.

My marathon experience was really instructive. This is the kind of race where you need to learn how your body reacts before doing good results. And so Yesterday i learned :)
My goal was 3:30 i trained for that. On my training plan, my different paces (for long runs, Yasso 800 and for my runs at marathon pace) should have enabled me to run in 3:30. But the end of my preparation wasn't prefect and i didn't follow a really healthy diet, I love eating all kind of food and this is hard for me to resist to pumpkin muffins, 25 cents "oats raisin" cookies, blueberries pancakes with maple Syrup, chocolate or also Indian buffet, Chinese buffet, Hamburgers, and "Blanquette de veau" (this latter meal screwed up single-handedly, my week 12 of training.)

So at the starting line, i felt really good but didnt know what was the good follow-up strategy. I starting 20 meters behind the guy who was carrying the 3:30 balloons and during the first 3 miles i ran slowly. i was "jumping" from one runner to another, runnning behind them and focusing on their shoes. It helps a lot to drive everything away. After 3 miles the 3:30 balloons were quite far (around 400m) and i felt good so i decided to follow someone faster than the others to catch up with the 3:30 group. at miles 8 i was back in this group. Even if i didnt fell it, i think i burnt myself during this come back.
I reached the half in 1:43.
I was running just behind the guy carrying the balloons and as usual was focusing on his shoes.
At Mile14, there was a quite steep hill and i felt that i could follow that group anymore. I decided to slow down during the way to Manayouk and try to go back to Philly faster (if possible lol). The beginning of my "recovery" run was great, i saw the champions fighting for the first places on the other side of the road (one side of the road = Philadelphia -> manayounk, the other side : Manayounk -> Philadelphia). (actually there as no fight as the first as way ahead and the second was WALKING !!!!)
Unfortunately just before Manayounk, i felt cramps in the back of my right thigh just under the cheek. Several minute later the left thigh started to be tight too. i saw you at that moment. I was still ok :) the 3:30 group was 3 to 4 minutes ahead.
Then cramps started to become more intenses. i had to stop several time to stretch. After mile 18. I stopped at every water point to drink 2 or 3 glasses of water and stretch.
Finally at miles 23... I hitted the wall. I could not run anymore. Walking was even hard. I was so slow...i was hungry. I was dreaming of big fudgy brownies. I couldnt eat my GUs anymore. I needed something nourishing. i walked 2 miles.
During these 2 miles i saw the 3:40 group passed me by and then the 3:50 group. More that 1700 runners passed me by. :) On the other side of the road i could see runners who was at miles 15 and was joggling with 5 balls :). I made me laugh and forget for a while my pain.
Finally at miles 25, a guy was giving KitKat bars and lollies. I grabbed one bar and one lolly, gulped the kitkat down and started to suck the lolly. It was the best KitKat ever, so sweet, so chocolate, so powerful! Directly i felt better and started to run again.Even tough i had no particular lolly envy, i found funny to finish a marathon sucking a lollypop. I was my way to celebrate my second wind !
200m before the finish line my Siemens friends were running with me. I was about to fall on the road because of cramps (again). My friend caught me and were about carry me to the finish line. Finally i reached the line by my self. TimeBoard indicated 4:03:58 but i had no clue about my real time because my Garmin ran down during the race . I knew it was around 4 hours.
I was OK, i did not collapse like certain finishers. The worst part was 1 mile behind me :).
Finally i finished in 4:00:02. I don't care about the time even if this is funny to run in exactly 4 hours after all these race incidents. I think with another strategy and without this raging hunger, i could do like 3:38. To crush 3:30 i should lose 10 pounds and be a little be more serious :)
Today, i feel good. Even Capable of Running :) What is sure is that this is not my last marathon. ;) I am a little bit masochist. I like when it hurts. :)