It's been over a week since I ran my first marathon, the St. Judes Memphis Marathon. I've been meaning to write my report but have put it off. I've actually put off all things running. my race belt, hat and shoes are still in my truck in the spots that I threw them after the race haha. my Garmin is...well I'm not sure where it is actually. I think two of my water bottles are still in the truck too. Anyway, here it is.
I started training in August for the this race. Through that time I was able to log 388.02 miles which took up 50 hours 42 minutes and 17 seconds of my life. That averages out to a 7:50 pace. Too bad my marathon took me 3:40:53 which averages out to 8:23 minutes.
Some facts:
I ran in KSwiss Blades for all of my training, minus some 5ks and 1/2 marathons, and I ran the marathon in them.
I ran in 5 races prior to the marathon
I started wearing CEP compression sleeves the week before the race. Wish I had of trained in them the whole time.
I did most of my training alone.
My friend Kelly helped with most of the hard workouts and long workouts. Gotta have a good pace booty every once in a while.
I did have to fight burnout in the last few weeks leading to the race, but the race totally put the love of running back into me.
Pre race day...
I drove down to Memphis the day before the race to go to the expo and what not. The expo took all of 10 minutes haha. I don't usually buy anything at the expos or even look at anything...unless of course it's a nice set of running legs attached to an equally nice looking chica ;). After the expo I drove down to the start line to get familiar with the area and to figure out where to park in the morning. I get more stressed with the logistics of a race than I do the actual race. I do not like to feel rushed or stressed. If I don't know where I'm going then I tend to get stressed.
After scoping out the start line area and almost driving too far into the ghetto by mistake, I headed back to my hotel. Not sure where I was staying but I had to drive through the ghetto, then Germantown, then more ghetto to get to it. Don't worry I may have looked like a homeless white guy with the beard and all but I was packing "protection" haha. I ate some dinner at the hotel restaurant then headed up to the room. I'm very exact in how I do things the night before. I always soak in Epsom salt, watch a movie, stretch a little, and attempt to go to bed early. I soaked and stretched then got in bed around 6. I watched Date Night and The Centurian then went to bed around 10:30 I think.
Race Day...
My alarm went off at 4 am...the gun was going off at 8 am. I ate two bagels with peanut butter and two bananas. Yes TWO bananas. In my last three races I had bowel problems. I figured two bananas would take care of that haha. I didn't want to have to stop to use the bathroom in the middle of the race. I watched some sports center and stretched a little. I'm so used to the race atmosphere that it hadn't really hit me that I was hours away from my first marathon. To be honest it didn't finally set in until mile 25 of the race.
So I got packed up and left the hotel around 5:45. The streets were going to start closing around 6am because there was a 5k at 7. I ended up finding a parking lot with about 60 porta pottys that was 100 yards from the start line. Perfect parking. I was also 2 hours early. I laid in my truck and listened to music for about 40 minutes then went and walked around Beale street. It was still chilly since the sun hadn't really come out yet. I got a few looks since I was in flip flops. After walking around for about 20 minutes I put my shoes on and went for a 5 minute jog then stretched at my truck. At about 7:30 I jumped in the porta potty line one last time. I rolled into coral 3 at about 7:55 and found the 3:30 pace group.
3...2...1...GO
At 8 they fired the gun for the elite runners and then started coral #1 1 min later, coral #2 2 minutes later, and finally coral #3 2 minutes later @8:05. Again I'm so used to this atmosphere that I do not get nervous anymore or I just don't notice it. My goal was between 3:30 and 3:45 and I knew if I could hang with the pace group as long as possible that I would reach that goal. I knew going into the day that I would not be able to hold an average pace below 8 flat for the whole race. 3:30 is an 8 min mile. Well we get rolling and do our first mile in 7:50. Not bad I say to myself, we'll settle in to the pace soon. My legs felt great. I had tapered perfectly and they were fresh and strong. It's a good thing too. I loved my pacers and our group. The two pacers were encouraging and energetic, however they lacked the discipline to STAY ON PACE! mile 2 we ran in 7:30 WHOOPS. At this point I'm not panicking because I knew 3:30 wasn't going to happen unless I had the perfect day. Ultimately I wanted to enjoy the day so I was going to be happy with anything under 4 hours. So our little pack of 20 kept on chugging along. Mile 3 comes and goes, again under 8 minutes. Mile 4 was special. This is where you get to run by St. Judes Children's hospital. They were after all the reason I was running. I ran as a St. Judes Hero to raise money for the hospital. In return I was given a racing singlet to run in. So throughout the whole race I heard "Thank you Hero!" There were a ton of us out there. So anyway our pace really picked up running this section. The energy level and excitement were amazing. I had goosebumps the whole time running through there.
Ok so anyway my group keeps chugging along churning out sub 8 miles. It was relatively flat so I wasn't too worried. This was time in the bank for the end of the race. We hit the halfway mark 3 minutes ahead of schedule and got a new pacer. He was shocked to see us that early. He explained the remainder of the course to me. "mile 15 through 18 are mostly up hill then it's all downhill after that". So my goal now was to hold onto the group up until mile 15. Going into mile 15 my legs still felt great, my breathing was normal, and my stomach was perfect. It was now 65 degrees with 85% humidity. There were water stops at each mile and I was taking a cup of gatorade at each one of them. I also ate GU packs at mile 5,10,15,20, and 22. So mile 15 gets there and the hills start. I let my pace trail off. I had a 7:47 avg pace at mile 15. I didn't push the hills and whenever I got a flat spot or slight downhill I tried to accelerate but there were really only a few spots to do that. 15-18 were kind of a blur. At mile 18 my pace was up to 8:04 avg and I took my first walk break at the water stop. 18-20 had been my nemesis all through out training so I knew these next two miles were going to either make or break me. All I told myself was run to mile 19. So I did, it seemed like I had just left the mile 18 water stop when I rolled into the mile 19 stop. again I walked long enough to drink. Then again "run to mile 20" I ran this way for the next 5 miles. I walked twice between mile 20 and 25 not counting the water stops.
Around 21 or 22, can't quite remember, I felt the first hint of a cramp. My right hamstring shot me the first warning twinge when I was starting to pick the pace up. I was trying to stay about 8:30. I knew with the walking that my avg was getting wrecked but because of how fast the first 15 were that I could afford it. The only bad thing about the water stop walks were that it gets harder to get moving again each time. My legs had been on the decline since mile 20, I was starting to get a blister, and for some reason my left shoulder decided it was done for the day. Not sure what I looked like but for the last three miles my left arm flopped at my side. I would try to hold it up but my rotater cuff would just cramp and I'd have to drop it after a few seconds. However, during all of this I was smiling, interacting with spectators and encouraging runners that passed me and runners that I passed. We all looked about the same at this point. Stopping, starting, wincing, swearing, laughing, and just plain suffering. I felt like i was trudging through mud so I had to look down at my watch a lot to make sure I was in fact running at pace.
Well I get to mile 25 and suddenly I was overcome with euphoria and joy. It was then that it hit me, "you are running a marathon". I told myself anybody can do a mile and just kept moving. I tried to quicken my pace while not causing my hamstring to cramp. I started reliving some of the past weeks and in my head re-read some of the encouraging words that some of you had shared leading up to this. I also started desperately searching the side lines for my friend Kelly. She had told me the night before that she might drive up. I was breaking down fast, my shoulder was absolutely killing me, my feet burned, and my quads felt like I had done box jumps for 5 hours straight. But I was still smiling. With 1/2 a mile to go I even had a quick dance with the drumline that was playing by the side of the road. I turned into the baseball stadium and there it was...FINISH!! just 50 ft away. I picked up my pace to as much as I could give, I waved to the crowd to make some noise, and as I crossed the line I looked to the Heavens and pointed "Thank you God, not without you".
I had done it. I had run a marathon. I was pumped. I was handed a medal and a heat blanket thingy and a bottle of water. I hobbled over to the outfield and collapsed. The joy of finishing was now covered by the sheer pain that was my legs!! Kelly hadn't shown up, no family was there to celebrate, but I was still happy. I laid in the field for a while then made my way to my truck. Driving 3 hours back home about 45 minutes after finishing was not the smartest thing I've done but that's what I did haha.
Thank you again to all of you that encouraged me and helped me. Stay tuned for 2011. I will be racing 12-16 times including 2 more marathons and 2 half ironmen. I will need your encouraging words even more. See you in 2011!!
