Race Information

• Name: Eugene Marathon
• Date: April 26 2026
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Eugene, OR
• Website: https://www.eugenemarathon.com/marathon
• Time: 2:45:XX

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Sub 2:37	No
B	Sub 2:40	No
C	PR	No

Splits

Mile	Time
1	5:58
2	5:56
3	5:56
4	6:01
5	6:01
6	5:53
7	5:52
8	5:52
9	6:02
10	5:54
11	5:59
12	6:03
13	5:57
14	5:57
15	5:54
16	5:57
17	6:05
18	6:06
19	6:31
20	6:34
21	7:13
22	7:17
23	6:59
24	6:54
25	7:38
26	6:48
.2	6:22

Training

I set a 14+ minute PR at CIM in December and had great race execution (negative split on the 2nd half by a reasonable margin). It felt like the perfect day - my calf cramped on that last turn 100m from the finish line, a sign that I maybe reached my limit on the day just about when the work was done. Between the magical experience and a time good enough to nearly guarantee my entry to Boston in 2027, I wasn't sure what to do with Eugene. I was already signed up, and CIM was a late addition to the 2025 calendar. My original plan was to have Eugene be the race that helps me write my ticket to the start line of Boston. With that goal behind me, I wasn't sure what to do.

My coach put together a plan targeting 2:40. Why not. The first 40% of the build felt terrible. I felt there was no chance I'd build the requisite fitness for 2:40. Then, about halfway through, something shifted and I started crushing all my workouts. All paces felt easier, and that trend continued through the heaviest weeks of the block and the scariest workouts on the plan (including a 30x400 session, 3x5km at GMP off 1km recovery, and a few others).

I started to feel like 2:40 was soft and I should set a more aggressive target. A couple of friends of mine reviewed my workouts and agreed with my assessment. I was aware that Tracksmith's Stamata team would run Eugene, so I figured there'd be a group at 2:37. I decided to hang off the back of the group and hopefully turn my brain off for the opening phases of the race to allow me to be mentally fresh when things get real in the last 10km.

Pre-race

Flew into PDX and drove down both on Friday night. I mismanaged my caffeine intake trying to get out of town during the day on Friday and was woken up with a 2AM caffeine withdrawal headache Saturday morning. That's not the time to address caffeine withdrawal, so I drank water and sort of slept restlessly until 5AM when I chugged some cold brew and felt much better within 15 minutes.

Stayed at an Airbnb with some friends also racing through the weekend. This is a new experience for me - usually I'm alone for these events, and it was nice to have some friends around even if we were all stir crazy and stressing out a bit.

Carb loaded using the Featherstone Nutrition Calculator. Felt bloated and awful by the time Saturday night rolled around, but I got the carbs in and then turned in 5 hours of poor sleep before getting up and getting myself to the race course.

Race

Race start promised a beautiful spring morning to run in - around 40 deg F at the start. There was (unsurprisingly) a large pack around the 2:37 group; big enough that it was a bit tough to find the Stamata runners who I assumed would be mostly locked into even 5:59 splits while others might push ahead or get dropped along the way. Eventually we all settled in; I didn't bother checking my watch so long as I could see most of the big group 30ish feet ahead of me, I assumed we were chugging along on schedule.

In the 9th mile, there is a long steady uphill facing east - into the rising sun. As I felt the warmth on my face, I touched my singlet and was troubled by how absolutely drenched I was already. The sun felt warm enough to be on the verge of uncomfortable. I wouldn't have been bothered except we were maybe 50 minutes into the race. It would only get warmer from here. My legs were already feeling the early hills, and I wondered if it was going to be a rough back end of the race for me.

From this point, it was a bit of a struggle to remain attached to the group. I'd catch up a bit on the downhills, then lose some ground on the way up. Fueling was good (SiS Beta every 4 miles plus water and gatorade every 2 miles), but I was yearning for liquid more frequently than the aid stations were coming - another sign of trouble ahead.

I was discouraged as I felt my legs heavily resisting the pace past the mile 15 marker and began negotiating towards 2:40 from 2:37, thinking I could find 6:06 pace and hang there for the rest of the race. I hung on as best I could until around the 30km mark when I took my first walk break to get ahead of the cramps that I could feel the beginnings of in my hamstrings and calves. I walked for 30s, then tried to run at race pace again. This was the first of 7 such 30s walk breaks on the last 7.5ish miles of the course.

I negotiated myself down from 2:40 to maybe a bit under 3 hours pretty quickly. It was a tough slog, but I've blown up worse. The splits tell a nicer story than I was feeling at the time. With more breaks to collect myself than I am happy about, I slogged out the final miles and pulled myself through the finish line 6 seconds slower than my PR set at CIM 4.5 months previously.

Post-race

I blew up, but not catastrophically - just enough to miss all of my quantitative goals for this marathon. In spite of this, I'm happy with the experience. For this phase of my marathon running life, I want to learn to run a marathon well and also find where the limits of my ability are. I found that line yesterday (and then had 7.5 more miles to run). I could have run a more conservative race, maybe come in close to 2:40, or earned a smaller PR in the 2:42/2:43 range. I think I would have been dissatisfied with such an outing, wondering how much time I left on the table and wondering if I could have delivered a 2:37:00 if I had really gone for it. Instead, I came up short, but have no doubt that I just didn't have 2:37:00 in my legs yesterday. And - I learned some things about my limiting factors and can use that feedback to forge myself into a faster runner. No chance I leave Eugene with the outline for my next chapter of this journey without taking my shot.

Separately, this is the first marathon I have run while hanging with my run club friends. Several of them ran the half and the marathon. Some had glorious days, others met catastrophe. Some had amazing stories to get to the start line in one piece and turned in exceptional performances that I find incredible. All were inspiring to me, and my experience this block has been richer for crossing paths with these incredible people.

So what's in this race report for you? If you told me two days ago that I'd be happy with the Eugene Marathon after not hitting any of my time goals, I wouldn't have believed you. Running performance matters, of course. But it's not the most important thing. I'm not going to be the 3rd person to break 2 in the marathon, so there will always be lots of folks faster than me. Like I said above, I am curious to find the limits of what my body can accomplish in the sport (as I age and balance the rest of my life, of course), and it's hard to find the extents without driving off that cliff sometimes. Maybe for some - and yes for me at this phase of my journey - I can feel good about a marathon even if the chip time isn't what I set out to pursue or what I wanted. This is a new perspective for me.

Also - my experience in the sport is richer with club friends and learning about their journeys and stories. The peaks, the pits, the comebacks, the catastrophes, all of it is pretty great. It's nice to have friends doing this weird thing too so I can root for them and celebrate/commiserate after races. Plus, they are in my corner too, which feels nice. I feel more camaraderie and inclusion than I did decades ago when participating in sports that are more obviously team centric (e.g., football).

Anyway, I'm motivated and hungry for more. Eventually. Right now, I can barely hobble around my house. Another start line before too long, though. Cheers and thanks for reading