Third Time's a Charm!! AKA Nick Driver's Race Report

For anyone who has ever tried to conquer the monumental task of running a marathon with some sort of time goal, we all know there are certain overall times we consider milestones. Whether it is breaking the 4-hour barrier, qualifying for Boston, or any other major time goal, we all have milestones that are important to us. For me, the milestone I’ve been preparing to conquer since September 1, 2007, is the 3:45 marathon.

Last year, when I first joined Rogue, this goal seemed a bit far fetched as it would have been more than a 25 minute PR for me. However, throughout my training, with the help of Panther and Blue Thunder, I became more and more confident that I could actually hit that goal. Last February, at the AT&T Austin Marathon, I gave it my best shot, only to fall apart between miles 22-23 (i.e., Avenue H ring a bell for anyone??), and I finished in 3:53. Not bad, as it was an 18-minute PR, but I didn’t conquer my 3:45 milestone.

After building plenty of speed during the spring by running 5Ks and 10Ks, I was ready to jump back into the marathon training in June. Only this time, I was much more confident in my ability to run faster at the long distance. This newfound level of confidence put me in a position where I wanted to train for a new milestone (3:30), without actually conquering my first one? Anyways, I spent the entire summer training really hard in preparation for the San Antonio marathon in November. The time goal I was aiming for in SA was a 3:30 marathon, and honestly, the pace felt pretty comfortable for the first half of the marathon. However, something happened to me at about mile 18 that I will never forget. My entire lower body went into major shock and all of my muscles just locked up. It was all I could do to jog/walk the last 8 miles to just finish that damn marathon in a whopping 3:59. I was happy to have even finished the way my legs were feeling, but once again, I didn’t conquer my 3:45 milestone.

After San Antonio, my goal was to transition into training for the Austin Marathon. This proved to be one of the most difficult things I have ever done, as I was really beat up both physically and mentally after what happened in San Antonio. But, after about 6 weeks, I got back into the swing of things and started having some of the best training runs that I have ever had. During this period, I made the decision that for the Austin Marathon my goal would be to A) PR, B) conquer the 3:45 milestone and C) run at least a 2 minute negative split. I was confident that I could accomplish all three of these goals, but as we all know, anything can happen on race day.

Well, folks, I am very happy to report that I accomplished all three of these goals yesterday on a very tough Austin Marathon course. My race plan consisted of starting out with the 3:45 pace group and the idea was to hold that pace until the late miles where I would pick it up and cut off some time to hit that negative split. I can say, without hesitation, that I have never felt that great during a marathon. I never cramped and I sure as hell never walked, which have both become staples of my previous marathons. I just felt absolutely fantastic the whole way. I remember telling my awesome pace leader, one of Riff Raff’s own, Bob Wynn, how great I felt at about mile 22 and he said I should go get them.

I stayed with the pace group for another mile or so before running into my brother jumping up and down ready to run up Dean Keeton with me. I said “you really want to run that hill with me? It’s a big one” to which he responded “Hell yeah, let’s do this”. I laughed and said, “Okay, I’m ready to do this.” I absolutely DESTROYED that hill. It didn’t phase me one bit and I proceeded to pick up the pace the rest of the way before sprinting across the finish line in an overall marathon time of 3:42:55.

That, my friends, is a 3:45 milestone conquering, 2 minute + negative split, and 10 minute PR marathon for you. It felt great and I can’t wait until this summer when I start working towards my next milestone PR!!

I owe a special thanks to my coach Panther, my Riff Raff teammates and all my friends and family for their support. I could not do this without all of you!