In April and in August, I blogged about my experiences with the Boston Marathon and the Vineman Marathon. On Sunday, I had the opportunity to run in the inaugural Santa Barbara International Marathon from Goleta to Santa Barbara, California. Generally, there is a perennial gravitation amongst members of my race club to register for the California International Marathon in the Sacramento area, but after a cold and dreary experience with that race last year, I didn't feel like returning to that particular one. A friend and training partner posted the link to SBIM on my Facebook wall, and within a couple of days we had a group of more than twenty people signed up to make the road trip to Santa Barbara.  Our gamble paid off, as there was a significant temperature and wind chill difference between the two locations on race day.

There once was a Santa Barbara Marathon during the 1970's and 80's but, during the past couple of years, a board member of the Santa Barbara Athletic Association named Rusty Snow worked to create a new race. The course was certainly scenic, with very mild rolling hills during the first 16 miles and a couple of significant ones later on (including a fairly challenging grade during Mile #24). It was smoothly organized, except for a half hour delay to the start time which was blamed on a traffic accident, but skeptics who saw the long bathroom lines thought that was a convenient excuse. Either way, all was forgotten by 7:00am.

Had you asked me four weeks ago about my expectations for this race, I would have predicted a personal record. After a lackluster training season interrupted by a career change accompanied by long commute hours, I surprised myself by posting a 2:12:59 20-mile time at the Clarksburg Country Run. Based on that time, I felt like I was in shape to easily break three hours in Santa Barbara. However, during the week leading up to the race, I developed a nagging upper hamstring and IT band injury on my right leg and both legs felt relatively dead during the weekend. I didn't know if it was due to racing too hard at Clarksburg or mismanaging my taper, but my sub-3 intention seemed a bit more far-fetched by Sunday morning.

Still, I decided to run a very disciplined 6:52/mile pace for as long as I could before deciding how I felt in the latter, hillier miles. That plan went well for most of the race, and this was one marathon where I could honestly say I picked the right pace and didn't make any mental mistakes. Still, the pounding of the downhill sections during the last eight miles took its toll on my legs and I had a lot of cramping issues by Mile #23. It wasn't too difficult for me to hold a 7:00/mile pace, but anything faster would cause a calf, hamstring or quad to immediately cramp. Though I could see my friend and training partner a minute or two ahead of me throughout the race, there was nothing I could do about it towards the end. Even the overall winner who was trying to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Trials experienced the same phenomenon on that course. So, I ran conservatively and cruised into the finishing chute in 3:03:24.

The addictive thing about endurance sports is the drive to improve. The sane side of me says that I should be proud of my race execution, which was much smarter than my blow-up at Vineman. However, the perfectionist in me knows that I'm capable of improving by a few minutes and I'm already itching to prove it to myself. Luckily, there is a humbling and cathartic feeling in one's post-marathon legs that counteracts the ambition in his/her head and heart. That feeling can only be described by this commercial from the 2007 Flora London Marathon.

Overall, my own performance was secondary to those of many of my teammates. I am proud and amazed by the personal records and Boston qualifiers that were run by some of my friends, and I can't wait to join them on Heartbreak Hill again in 2011.