James Hsu

4:10:39 – NEW marathon PB, less than a month after the last one! (and ~22 minutes faster!)

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to run the Nanjing Marathon this weekend. Still wasn’t fully recovered from the last race and had some minor plantar fascia, plus ankle soreness, in my left leg.

I’d been putting miles in, leading up to this race, trying to figure out if I was going to be ready for “game time.” And honestly, it felt 50/50 every day. In the end, I figured I’d take a chance and run it “easy.”

I’m glad I stuck with it. This one went exactly according to plan.

Well, not exactly. But close enough.

I went out too fast in the first half – planned on 6:10/km for at least the first 10K – but got swept up, into 5:45 pace. It’s hard to go slower when all the momentum of a marathon crowd surrounds you.

I was SUPER concerned about repeating what happened in the last race: cramps, cramps, cramps. Was a lot more liberal this time with fueling, including swallowing a TON of salt tablets.

Also did the small things: go to the bathroom before the race started, avoid drinking too much water at the stations, and so forth. The small stuff adds up; it compounds.

So when 25 kilometers came calling…then 26…then 30…then 32! I kept expecting to HIT THE WALL.

But the wall never came. The Nanjing conditions were juuuuuuust right. Perfectly cool weather, flat course.

As far as my mental was concerned, I told myself these things heading into the race:

Embrace the pain cave.
Don’t avoid it. You can’t avoid it.
Embrace the suck.
Be ready to suffer.
Push.

I’m really proud of my second half. I ran a negative split, pushing stronger and faster than how I started.

By the time I experienced mild cramps, at the 38-km mark, it didn’t matter. I did slow down slightly, but I knew that pushing through 4.2 km was doable.

So yeah, this is my fourth and now fastest marathon. It feels like redemption.

Next goal: run a sub-4 hour marathon.
Embrace the pain. Trust the process.

P.S. post-race meal rocked. Carbs-carbs-carbs.

P.P.S. The ASICS Superblast is stellar. Second marathon I’ve run in these shoes. Just an absolute workhorse.