Final Week: the Marathon

So I am actually posting this in July 2010, rather than October 2009. For whatever reason, mostly fatigue, injury and lab shit, I did not get to finish documenting the final results. Well, better late than never, I guess.

That week was a fairly awful week, as usual. The marathon was on Oct 18 and I turned in another el Gigante Supergrant on October 12 that was worse than the one on Oct 5. BY THE WAY, I did infact get the Oct 5 grant, just over 1.6 million dollars! So well worth the hell I endured in the end.

Besides the friggin fatigue from that grant, my folks came in to volunteer for the marathon. I had them fly in Friday to Detroit, then on Sat we drove up to GR. We checked into our hotel rooms and went to try to find some bland food for me. But, my Dad decided he wanted to try San Chez tapas bistro, so off we went. No sangria for me, but I did chow on some garlic-y goodness. I have never seen someone make such a mess at the tables as my Dad. But damn, he loved his SanChez.

I was hurting in a bad way still- al the injuries and beating my body up for so many weeks had taken its toll. My knees were awful and the ankle was a wreck. After San Chez, we went back to the hotel and I did yoga and stretched for about an hour, before parking it in bed by 10pm. I was friggin nervous, had all my clothes set out along with my gear and set two alarm clocks.

Race time was 8am, but I wanted to get there by 7:30 or so. Also my folks were volunteering the finish line. When I got up about 6:30, I stretched some more and git everything ready. Oh well, now or never I guess.

We were about 1/3 mile from the start and from my hotel window I could see the volunteers setting up the first aid station. Dad needed some coffee and something to drink, so we hit the Starbucks real fast en route. I had had a bagel in the hotel room so I was goo. Just needed to drink my gatorade and hit a portapot. I borrowed my Dads fleece since it was really quite cold- about 40 degrees at that time in the morning. I was wearing my long tights, tank, and ghetto arm warmers (mens socks with the feet cut off). I had my water belt and 4 or five things of beans. And an ipod.

Hit the portapots and then ran into my old physical therapist from wrecked ACL days, Dave. I asked him how he was and he said fine, he was running the half. He asked if I was doing the same, and I told him I was doing the full. I think I made him feel good, as he had a big part in getting me functional again.

I missed Jenn at the start. And I didnt see any of my other friends. I knew Carrie, Cassie and Paul would be at >21 mile marker.
Anyway Mom and Dad wished me well and I was off, albeit slowly.

Well things were great for 6.5 miles or so. I was easily holding my 10 min mile. I was hanging with the crowd that was chasing Oprah's time (we followed a runner holding a pic of Oprah). It was a funny crowd. It was entertaining.

Then we should run up behind me but Chipper Jenn. Seems that she and her Dad got held up due to his having to hit the pot as well. Talk about weird. We chatted for a minute or two, then she went off ahead with her Dad.

So I am in cruise control now, hitting mile 10 and into Millenium Park. I've never run this before- it's pretty damn nice and chalk full of native wildflowers. Plus it was sunny and a beautiful morning. If you were going to do a marathon, this was the morning to do it.

At mile 11, I started talking to this one lady, Lisa. She was late 40s/early 50s. She was running alone as her daughter had to bow out due to injury. Lisa and I were both doing our first marathon and enjoying each others company, so we ran together until mile 16 or so. It was nice to have someone to chat with. The funniest bit was when she let out this monster fart at one point and was apologizing. Honey, we are 12 miles into this, farting is cool.

We passed the halfway point together in 130 minutes! WTF. I am holding my 10 minute mile.

Then we pass a very tall woman standing on the side of the road. As we pass, we see "she" is pissing on the side of the road. Standing up. So we had a tranny running the race. That's cool. Tranny is holding their own at mile 13.

Around mile 15, I decided I needed a quick walk break to get some liquids and food. Lisa and I walked together for 1 minute. I scarfed my food, she did too.

At mile 16, Lisa stopped again. She had her family meeting her. I was jealous. At this point I was getting pissed as I hadnt seen any of my friends that said they would be there. Let's face it, it's getting lonely and about this point the mental games begin. Also, at this point the course has folded back upon itself and you can see the runners ahead of you. They look great. You are starting to feel like crap. But I am still holding about a 10:15.

At about mile 17.5 the turnaround. Blessed be. Now I am the faster runner that the ones behind me see. I wave to Lisa. She isnt looking so good.

Again, I am pissed. Where are my friends.

Mile 19

Mile 20.
Wow did mile 20 suck. See somewhere along the line, I screwed up my eating and I was behind. And when you get behind this late in a race, its hard to catch up. The effect; my quads have started to seize up on me. All the gas is gone in them. I have now slowed to a 11 min mile, maybe slower.

Mile 21. Life sucks.

Mile 21.5: I hear a familiar screaming. IT'S CASSIE! Holy shit, there they are: Cassie, Paul and Carrie! I immediately feel better. Carrie jumps in with me. She is going to run 2 miles with me. We prearrange that there will be no miles faster than a 10 min mile. Well that's not going to be a problem. She sees I am bonking and starts talking to me, not expecting me to talk back, which I dont. My quads are so tight now it really hurts. I tell her I need to walk for a minute to get some food in me. We walk fast. We start back up. Another mile in, I tell her I need to stop. My quads need to be stretched out. Well I stopped and tried to grab onto a post to stretch and the whole world was doing the spins. Kinda like when you drink half a bottle of vodka in college. Okay, so not gonna stop de to massive blood pressure drop. Keep running, I tell myself. You can beat this, do it.

Carrie runs for almost 3 miles with me. She gets me out of the bonk and back into 11 minute mile territory. She ditches me just shy of mile 25. I've got this. I will not stop any more. I have walked a total of about 5 minutes and that it the last of it.

Now I start to come into GR and we get some spectators. Other people are looking as shitty as me. I really want this to be over soon. But I tell myself I need to perk up. Dammit, I need one good photo from race day.

Okay, mile 26. are you for real. I see it. I see the finish. Wait, is that Jenn? She is there hollering! And then Art screams at me. And then I cross the line and completely miss my parents! My Mom never saw me and my Dad was on the can! I get y metallic blanket and my medal and continue to walk. I cannot believe I just did this shit. I feel fine. I mean, I feel really good.

I scarf some food down and see Art and Jenn. They come over and we start to chat while standing still. Bad idea. After a few minutes, I wonder where my folks are. I hobble over to the finish and see them. They are a little pissed they missed me. I kinda thought it was funny. I see Lisa cross the finish line. I give her a thumbs up. She looks worse than me. We laugh.

We scarfed some food, exchanged stories about the run (me and Jenn) and got some beer and chili. I can't believe I just did this shit. But I was pissed. I finished in 4:49. I wanted the 4:30. The bonk absolutely killed it for me.

I tried stepping off the curb and that was an awful idea. My hams and quads are the size of baseballs now.

We all said our tatas as we will be at the bar later. I hobbled back to the hotel and took a long long shower. I was salty like a pirate. And I had the most massive sports bra burn on my chest. My toes were blistered, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Weird thing, I couldnt nap. Too much adrenaline still.

Anyway the bar was good- wasnt so hungry or thirsty. Fatigue started to hit me then.

The next day we walk around downtown along the River. My legs are complaining, but they are getting better. I am not as nonfunctional as I thought I might have been. Funny thing, knees and ankle were absolutely fine during thsi whole run.

So my summary after all of this: I am insane. I finished my first marathon and the overwhelming emotion was: I am pissed. Pissed I missed the time I was shooting for. Pissed I effed up my eating which led to the bonk. Pissed. And I determined at that moment I would do this again and be faster.

Of course since then a lot of things have happened. I injured y back pretty bad in November and had to see a chiropractor. I couldnt walk upright for a few days and for weeks, I didnt run. I ended up gaining about 7 or 8# during this time, mainly as I am still eating like I am running 30 miles a week when I am running none. And I have since developed a nagging hip injury. Not sure what's going on there, but I slog on.

I have since completed another Irish Jig and all but shotgun-ran the Riverbank 25k in 2:30. I also ran the 6.5 mile long leg of the Toledo Marathon, team competition. I feel a lot slower this year, but I think I am working back into it at a better pace, while watching this hip thing. I need to train better this year, to avoid falling apart like I did this first time. I have now lost the weight I put on, and am working towards another 15# in the next 3 months. I think this will help me with the joints and I will look smoking then too.

Anyway that's the conclusion of marathon #1 I'll be starting the chronicles of Marathon #2 next, so you can see the progression from a goal of completion progress into "I'm gonna effing kick that marathon's ass".