What would possess a person to train for 5-6 months running/walking/hiking over 450 miles just to get to the point where you can run 26.2 miles in one day. Don't ask me because I don't why I did it. However, as with all experiences, I learned some great things along the way. For example, my hatred for ice baths remained as strong as it was during my my college days, but it was an absolute necessity. There were plenty of lessons in self discipline, humility, reaching goals and non running lessons from the hours and hours I was running by myself and had the time to think about life.
As I look back, I think the starting point was watching NBC's highlight show of the Hawaii Iron Man. There are people that finish the grueling competition that don't look like they should. I feel like I should be able to do the things they are doing. Maybe it was my competitive side, maybe its because I was bored, but that's when the ideas started in my head of doing something that not many others would try or even consider. I knew I couldn't do an Iron man. I don't like to swim so the natural choice was to try for the marathon, especially since I had already ran a half. As the weeks went on while making this decision in the fall of 2011 I started to think even more. Why am I going to do this? My body didn't hold up well during the half marathon so what makes me think I can do a full? Well, with all these questions the idea just became a challenge to myself. I don't typically back down form a challenge so it was on. I started to run off and on and started to look for which marathon I was going to run. By the time January rolled around I had found a training program online that I really liked. Unlike the program I had for my half, this seemed to be a more body friendly program. The mileage was still up, but it did it in such a way that I was able to get plenty of rest. I felt like the second biggest challenge of the whole idea of the marathon is the training. You have to be disciplined or its going to be an awful experience that takes a long time to recover from both physically and emotionally. For me, the training started in January. Not exactly a great time to be running in Spokane (ended up being pretty mild so I could run, it was just cold) or its not like I have a lot of extra time to do it with my work schedule. This is where I learned to be self disciplined to get my runs in. Cold or not, time or not I had to get it done. The first 4 weeks is always easy to do something. After that is when it becomes tough. I'm proud to say that out of 25 long runs on the schedule I only missed 2. Out of 115 other schedule days I only missed 10. Its not perfect by any means, but it feels good to look back on the calendar I created and know that I did everything I could. The bigger deal is that of the days I missed, 0 were from being sick. This was from a combination of sacrificing some things to get more sleep, eat better and recover well.
Now lets talk about the race. I drove to downtown Seattle to park in a garage right by the course since I had no other idea of where to park. In order to be down there on time I woke up at 4am for a race that started at 7. I was there far to early so I took a quick nap in the back of my 4Runner. Yet another reason I'm a proud owner of a 4Runner. I had a few friends running the half so I set out to see if I would run into them as I dropped off my gear bag. I did find Jaime right before the race started. Its always nice to see a familiar face. She was running the half and was starting way further up than I so it would be unlikely I would see her on the course.
They do a corral start so I was in corral 22 which meant I actually started at 7:30. Everyone is really excited at the start and some people dress crazy. I was having fun by singing with songs over the loud speakers and chatting with the people next to me. Instead of going paragraph style I'll just give you some highlights of the race and what miles they occurred at.
Miles 1-5- Mostly through downtown. Had a super steep hill that you almost had to walk down for fear of falling. At one point you could see part of the course that came back towards the finish line and there were already professionals running past. Slightly demoralizing. I also saw my bro and mom for the first time during this stretch. Always nice to see fans cheering for you. Two of the best signs I saw were on this stretch. At the bottom of the really steep hill a guys had a sign that said "5142 miles to the amazon...Keep running". The other "Hey total stranger...YOU ROCK!!!"
Mile 6-12: This part of the race ran around a park along the water. Beautiful trail. Right before this you break away from the half marathoners and I just know (as Jamie would confirm later) that every half marathoner would look at the full marathoners and think to themselves "suckers" with a little smirk. Favorite sign "If this were easy I would be doing it" held by a kid about 12 years old
Mile 13-15 Random little section before getting on the bridge. Saw my mom and bro again at the half way mark and I was still feeling good. I was averaging 9 minute miles which was well ahead of my goal, which was scary.
Mile 15-20: This was a tough stretch on the I-90 bridge. This was the first big straight section so you could see exactly how far you had to go. That messes with your head when your 15 miles in. I started to get tired as the sun became a factor. Once you enter the tunnel, the road has a slant to it so you have to change your stride, which causes extra stress on a stressed body. I started to tighten up and after mile 17 I had to stop and stretch a few time. Also, not very many people cheering here and the water was warm......
Mile 20-21: For some reason i had a second wind. Maybe the Goo was kicking in or I just wanted to get off the bridge but I ran this section in 8:30, up hill. I would pay for it in the next mile
Mile 21-22: Feeling dead. Goo wasn't helping, stretching was a little. Close to mile 22 I caught my foot on a piece of raised tar and ate it. I tried to catch myself but as my quads contracted, they cramped causing my knees to go straight, meaning I took the brunt of the force on my left arm, causing a sharp shooting pain through my collar bone. Most collar bone fractures come from falling and landing on an outstretched hand. I was scared for about 10 seconds, but then the pain went away and I was still coherent enough to check myself out. It took me a few minutes, but I got up and continued on. A good example of perseverance for me. There was a guy running next to me as it happened and he was scared for me. I think he thought he tripped me. Nope, just my own fatigue caused clumsiness. He stayed around to make sure I was ok. Thanks guy. Right around mile 22 I saw my mom and bro again. I'm guessing they knew how tired I was because they cheered louder than usual :)
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| This was about 5 minutes after I fell |
The first 10 minutes after the race is a bit of a blur. There is so much going on in your head and around you. As soon as you cross the finish line they hand you medal (pretty sure I dropped an F*&$ yeah when they handed me mine). Then you look ahead and there are so many free things around you. People handing you food or drinks from each side as you walk. The first was ice cold water. I chugged half of it right away, bent over and almost vomited. Not my brightest idea. As I stumbled through I grabbed a Gatorade and then had my finishers photo taken. After that you continue through the gauntlet of bread, fruit, bars, Jamba juice (likely the best one I will ever have in my life), candy, gummy bears an a whole block of stuff. The last thing you get is essentially an emergency blanket to keep you warm. I have no idea how you are suppose to carry everything and then figure out where your going. Good thing my friend Lisa was there to help guide me. She walked me to where I met up with my mom and bro. I don't know exactly the things I said to her other than "i kinda wanna cry". Her response "ummm, don't do that".
With all the above going on around me I was feeling a lot of emotions after crossing the finish line. This part was a little weird for me because I don't really consider myself an emotional person. Maybe when all is said and done and my defenses are lowered due to fatigue, I do have emotions. Shhhhh, don't tell my students. I would like them to continue to think my heart is made of stone :) So here is what I was feeling:
Joy- I was done
Accomplished- I set a goal, took 5 months to work towards it and finished it. Not quite the time I wanted, but nonetheless a time I am happy with.
Fulfilled- After all the hard work
Exhausted- I think this is why I wanted to cry.
Here are some stats from the race:
Official time: 4:25:39 (Pace 10:09 per mile)
Splits: 5K- 27:33 (Pace 8:53 per mile)
10K- 55:18 (Pace 8:54 per mile)
13.1 miles (half way) 1:56:25 (Pace 8:53 per mile)
17.6 miles- 2:41:57 (Pace 9:32 per mile)
20 miles- 3:11:09 (Pace 9:33 per mile)
Place: 1352 out of 3072 Overall 155 out of 265 for 30-34 year olds 887 out of 1644 for males
I think the biggest lesson I learned was that no matter how much you train, how hard you work, things are still going to be hard. My real life application of this is likening it to faith. No matter how hard you work, study, pray living out faith won't be easy. There are many external influences that will cause us to stumble, but the important thing is to get back up and continue on. Fortunately, with faith, falling seems to hurt just slightly less knowing that if you allow, God will be there to pick you up. Seems like simple lesson that can be seen in life a lot, but as I have reflected over the last week this seems to be the one I come back to. As simple as is sounds, as with most things, it tougher to live out.
So whats next? I vowed for the first 2 or 3 days that I would never run another one. My mind is changing a bit. I could really see myself running more half's. My buddy Law wanst me to do a 50 or 100 mile race in 2 years. No way. 26.2 is long enough for me :)
Blessings
Jon
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