 posted Apr-02-2007 07:08 AM
   
Well, my goal is to break 5:30. I take the early start. My legs still our sore and I can not get my right foot into my running shoe without pain. It is around 60 at the start and in the 70 at the finish. It becomes very sunny too. I love this marathon, because of the challenge of so many hills. They advertise it as one the top 10 toughest marathons in the country. I feel it and Heart of America are the two toughest marathons that are not in the mountains.I start out slowly doing 11 to 12 minute miles. My legs start to feel better after a mile or so. Sandals are okay, but it is early. I am running with a couple of guys that ran Olathe the day before too. One of them is running his first double. He is a young guy. After about three miles I have to adjust my sandals. The back strap slips down and turns them into flip-flops. I will continue to have this problem throughout. I also get very small stones in them that bother the bottoms of my feet. By mile 6 I am running just over a 11:00 pace. At least I have no pain and I have already run many hills, but there are many more to come. At mile 8 I stop for the 3nd or 4th time to adjust my sandals and it is becoming a pain. At mile 9 I am experiencing pain. My right big toe hurts some, but it is not bad. At mile 11 I am getting some soreness in my legs, but again it is not bad. This is something that comes and goes in doubles. I will be okay. I have been here before. A little before mile 12 I feel pretty good and I pick it up some. I see friends passing me now off and on, that did not take the early start. This is my 8th Hogeye and the 17th in Arkansas, so I have developed and a lot of friendships here. Some of the volunteers remember me from past Hogeyes and I have been written up in their local newspaper a couple of times. At the half I am at 2:33:20 and feeling great. After running 4 sub 10 minute miles I slow down in mile 16 a little and have trouble with my sandals. I will continue to have a lot more problems with them the last 10 miles. Near mile 17 my friend Tom Mayfield passes me. Although he is 68 he can still break 4:00 at Hogeye. He runs a 3:51 today. Mile 17 is one of my worst miles. It is hot and very hilly. At mile 18 I am fed up with these sandals and take them off. I run for a while in my socks. I can feel the pounding on the concrete, but is does not bother me, it is just a different feeling. My mile 19 I put the sandals back on. I am really worried of more blisters, but it did feel good. Here a relay runner sees me sitting down and wants to know if he should contact someone for me. I assure him that I will finish okay. Just before mile 20 there is a very well stocked aid station with cookies, nuts, ect. I eat some sugar and salt here and feel better. At mile 21 I am still feeling tired and out of it some. Although the wind is not a problem this heat and being in the open is. Not to mention my sandals are becoming more like flip-flops all the time. Finally at mile 22 it is my time again. I feel pretty good and start running a 10 minute mile here. I continue to run well to the finish up the three mile hill to the finish. It is actually a series of hills. It is the toughest part of the marathon. It turns a lot of runners into walkers. It is my personal challenge to run it each year. I do walk through the aid station near mile 24, but run the rest of the way. Passing other runners, that left me behind earlier. With about half a mile to good I pass a friend of mine, Mike Brooks. He sees me go by and he speeds up for a while, but as soon as it becomes very steep again he walks and I pass him for the last time. He says, "Go Tom, you look great." During this last four miles instead of stopping for my sandals I just hit the ground hard with them the back strap will come up some. This works for a while, but then they are flip-flops again. I leave them this way instead of stopping. I have a good pace going and I want to keep it. After this final steep hill with Mike is over I have less than a quarter of a mile to go on an upgrade to the finish, but I am having a lot of trouble keeping my flip-flops on. Just after the final turn the left one come off and I nearly fall down then the other one does the same after about 20+ more feet. I finish in my socks and get some comments about my finish. Now I feel the pain in my feet. My legs are also stiff and sore, which I usually do not have after a double. I have so many friends here and people to talk too that I do not have a free moment to even think about the pain. Other runners seem to be amazed that I ran the Hogeye in sandals. They take a lot of pride in the toughest of there marathon. This may be the first time that I did not notice my time. I did not even think of looking at my watch. I would guess around 5:25. I was so elated with running that 3 mile hill this year, passing so many others, and finishing so strong, that my finishing time just did not have much importance at the finish to me. I did come in 3rd in my age group. This weekend was an experience for me and I am very glad that I did run both of these marathons. The experience running that 3 mile hill at the end in flip-flops will be one more reason for me to run it next year. My times were very much sub standard for me, but not the experience and memories. I am sure that I inspired many runner too this weekend. Hogeye may be difficult, but it is a whole lot of fun. Next is the Lincoln Marathon in Lincoln, Nebraska, on May 6th. I hope that I get some training in before it.
TomD
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