 posted Sep-29-2007 08:25 PM
   
Well, I did it - my first marathon. I knew it was going to be tough and painful and it was even tougher and more painful than I thought.4:00 am alarm. DW is driving us down and is the support for the day. She's awesome! Had everything laid out and taken care of so the only thing I needed to do was control my nerves and run the race. She was pretty bummed about the 4:00 alarm; for training partner and I, just another day. To the starting corral. DD was pretty tickled about me wearing a garbage bag; she wants one for later. The largest race I've run was a HM with about 500 runners. 7,000 people in a starting corral is flippin awesome! There's so much energy! Bell rings and away we go. Most common marathon error - going out too fast. I WILL NOT! I shooting for a 4:10 marathon so I lined up with the 4:15 pace group. After just about 2 miles, it seemed the pacer was going a bit fast so I let them go. I was running in the 9:45 range as things were thinning out over the first mile or two. A few hills, love those! Trained for 'em and felt strong. Mile 3, DW and DD are there cheering. It was awesome. I hadn't been expecting that. 4+ hours is a long time with a 6year old so they had planned on breakfast and shopping with MIL while I ran. It was nice to see them. Mile 8, this is where I'm having a tough time reigning myself in. I feel stronger than strong. Check my pace; it's been consistently right around 9:35. I resist the urge to speed up and stay at 9:35, on target. And there he is! Master Yoda, my mentor. The one who took me under his wing and taught me what this running thing was all about. It was awesome! And here it is, the half way point. 2:05:40, a HM PR by 4:20 and right on target. Mile 15, the serious hills begin. I've trained for them, yet they sap my strength. The climb is over 2 miles long. I don't want to leave my entire race on the hills. Sighing, I decide to walk 1/4 mile, run a mile. This works for a few reps until I hit about mile 18 and things are getting tough, perhaps it would even be safe to say that things are starting to not go well. My legs hurt. I run 3/4, walk 1/4. A few repeats of that and the run walk ratio continues to shrink. I knew this was going to hurt. I didn't think it would hurt this much and I seem to have overestimated my ability to run through pain. Mile 21, I'm reduced to running 1/4, walking a 1/4. My calves keep cramping. Mile 22, my right quad cramps. I've never had that happen before, I walk it out and get back to run1/4, walk 1/4. People around me are cheering me on, telling me I am doing great. They lie. 22 and some change - both quads and both calves seize up and I walk it out. Run till it happens again and then walk it out. Repeat and repeat and repeat. Mile 24, a nice long downhill and I am able to run .85 or so. Legs still cramp, but I run through it a bit, then continue my run/walk. I so wanted to run the last mile but just can't run through the pain. Legs keep cramping. 1/2 mile to go I start running and pick up the pace. Loud cheers, training partner, Master Yoda, DW, and DD all yelling and cheering. I pick up the pace and sprint. And then it's done. The race director shakes my hand, someone puts a medal (very nice medals, these are) around my neck and takes my chip off and it's over. Final time was 4:52:02, finishing 958th out of 1160. It was awesome. Didn't go quite as well as I had hoped, but it's my first effort and a challenging course to boot. I got no complaints. Of course I would like to thank those that helped me get here. Master Yoda - wise he is and the greatest mentor I could ever ask for. I also have the best training partner in the world. She’s an amazing runner who brings to a laid back attitude and fierce determination to everything she does (she finished her marathon debut in a blazing 3:46:57). My awesome awesome wife who’s the gretest support I could have, both in running and in life. Never gripes, never nags and works out the details so I can just run. Marathon Trainers – thanks for keeping me centered, for encouraging and listening to me when all of my friends’ eyes glazed over because they were sick of hearing me talk about this race. Finally, my daughter who was proud of me even though I didn’t win.
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