"If you feel bad at 10 miles, you're in trouble. If you feel bad at 20 miles, you're normal. If you don't feel bad at 26 miles, you're abnormal." -Rob de Castella
"Marathoning is like cutting yourself unexpectedly. You dip into the pain so gradually that the damage is done before you are aware of it. Unfortunately, when the awareness comes, it is excruciating." -John Farrington
26.2 miles. Wow. For several years I have said that I'd never run a marathon. Well, never say never because I'm a marathoner!
Race day's unseasonably warm temps made for great pre-race socializing!
So, how'd the race go?
This year we booked a hotel room at the start line. I figured after I ran 26.2 miles, I wouldn't feel like driving straight home before having a shower. I was so right.
I was starting the race with one of my best TX friends, Mark & one of his old college buddies, Bart. We lined up in the starting corrals & inched our way to the starting line. The corrals are in a U-shape on the street & driveway in front of the Dallas Municipal Building. Once we got around to the start line, I had already shed my top shirt & was down to my FRC singlet. They do a nice job starting each corral with a countdown & tons of excitement. We got to see the welcome message from Troy Aikman 4 times in Corral D. Hooray...
We were off! Winding through downtown and past my favorite spot in Dallas, Dealey Plaza! My plan for the race was to stay fairly conservative for the first 20 miles & pick it up, if possible, the last 6. My last training run I felt great at mile 20. It was cold & raining that day. So, I was feeling pretty good about today. I wasn't even nervous. Which kind of made me nervous. Anyway, we're going all over downtown. I keep looking at my watch & I'm a little ahead of schedule, but 3 miles done feeling good.
Miles 6, 7, 8, 9 feeling great! I saw several friends in that section of the course. They were doing the half marathon. Now we part ways. The half marathon split. They go right. We go left. For us it's White Rock Lake. A nice 9 mile trip around the lake. This is where things started going less great.
Around mile 18, I grabbed a course nutrition pack, Ucan. Which I use frequently. I actually took one pre-race. So, I can't say whether that was the culprit or not. It could have been the fact that I had ate my usual pre-ace mexican meal with jalapenos but was never able to go #2 last night or race morning. Whatever the reason, about 18.7, my stomach got so hot. Like I had ate a whole jar of jalapenos 5 mins ago. I became nauseous & felt like I was going to throw up. For the next 3 or so miles I was just sick.
What was my nutrition plan? I was using Maurten exclusively, with the exception of the pre-race Ucan super starch that I mentioned. I would start around Mile 3-4 with a Maurten non-caffeinated gel and alternate every 3-4 miles with a caffeinated version. I had been using Maurten for several weeks on long runs & even tested this alternating strategy on my 20-miler. I wish that day, I would have gone on to 26 miles.
Back to the race. For some reason I'm sick. So much so, that I have decided not to take any more gels. In hindsight, that was a bad idea. This is where a pacer or friend runner would have been optimal. I needed a voice of reason. I didn't have one. At this point we cross a little concrete pedestrian bridge. This thing is bouncing so much, that I was losing my balance. When I got off the bridge I had vertigo. I literally felt like I was drunk. Which did not mix well with my nausea. I stumbled right past an aid station giving out bacon. I wanted it so bad, but my belly said no sir. Again, I wish I had taken it.
Here we are, Mile 20 & I'm staring up the first of the Dolly Partons. As you would expect, these are 2 large hills back up to downtown. I look up and literally one guy is running. Everyone else is walking. I give in & walk. I had been hill training once a week for months. I should have crushed that hill. That pretty much destroyed my mental state. Not a familiar face in sight. From that point on, the last 6 miles, I would run as long as I could & then resort back to walking. Frankly, I was embarrassed. Now I understand why they say the marathon is a humbling distance. I came in with tons of confidence & it kicked me right in the neither regions.
Finally, the last 3 miles. Just 5k to go. The last 5k felt like 10 miles, but we're not quitting. At this point I've developed a limp. My left hip & lower back are hurting. At some point, I pass a familiar face! Bobbi! One of our FRC pacers is on a bench just waiting to cheer us on. She can tell I'm in bad shape. She offers me some ibuprofen or tylenol, I can't really remember. I decline. Another bad decision. Finally, with about a mile to go, I see my buddy, Mark. He had come back out on the course to run me in! He had been dying to return the favor since I had run him in on his first marathon. It definitely lifted my spirits to see him!
We "ran" that last mile with him encouraging me the rest of the way. I crossed the finish line & a guy asked me to pose for a picture. Almost immediately after that picture, my body just shut down. I hobbled out of the chute as far as I could & just laid down. I couldn't go any further. At one point a police officer stopped to check on me. Leslie made her way to me & sat with me. Mark fought his way through security, almost getting tossed, to check on me & "give him his water bottle". I make it to my feet, hobble over to a curb to sit on for a little while longer, & eventually back to the hotel for a shower.
I was a marathoner. In pain & little disappointed, but a marathoner, nonetheless.
No time to wallow in sorrow. I have goals to attain. Up next, we're concentrating on trails, a 25k in the Arkansas mountains & a 29-miler in Texas.
UPDATE: Since this race & recovery the pain in my hip has not gone away. I took a week off after the race. Followed that with 3 lower mileage weeks. In fairness those had a lot of trail miles. A month later & I'm now in the middle of another 2 weeks off, a chiro adjustment & now a PT appt.
Stay Tuned...
