This was my first attempt at running a marathon. I'd been training almost exclusively for this race since my last triathlon back in August. Unfortunately, in order to adequately understand the stresses my body would experience, I would actually have to run a marathon before the race. Needless to say, I didn't run a marathon before the race, so this was the first time I had ever run this far.
The weather could not have been any better. It was overcast and in the low 40s when the race started and only got warmer. I shed my gloves and sleeves shortly after the start and dumped them off to my mom the first time I saw her. I ran into someone I met at the Rocketman Triathlon back in August who was looking to run about the same time as me (4 hours), so we decided to stick together for at least a little while.
The race started out as a 2.5 mile loop of downtown Huntsville, passing some of the more historic buildings. It took a while for everyone to space out as there were 1500 people running and we all started at the same time, but after 3 miles or so you didn't feel like you had to run on top of the people in front of you. The first hour or so went by really fast. I almost couldn't believe that we had been running for an hour when we came up to mile 7 (~1:05 into the race). I had seen my brother in one of the many neighborhoods we were navigating, and my girlfriend and both my parents were at the 7th mile. I told them not to make signs, but during the race I decided I was glad they did.
Shortly after seeing my support group we turned onto Bailey Cove for what would be the most tedious part of the race. The road was completely level, which was a good thing, but it was also very straight. This meant that you could see 3 miles away and know "Hey, it's going to take me half an hour to get there." Nothing is more discouraging than seeing where you're going and knowing you're not even close. In addition, there was a strong headwind the whole time. As is becoming more and more popular, pace teams were organized to run the marathon and help people finish in a certain time. The 4:05 pace team had been right behind me the whole race to this point, so a mile into the 5.5 mile stretch of Bailey Cove I dropped back into the pack of 10 people or so and enjoyed getting pulled along. The were quite a vocal bunch, so I enjoyed listening to their conversations to take my mind off of the tedium.
I passed the halfway point (mile 13.1) at 2:01:00. This was 1 minute off of my target time, but I also knew that there was no way I could replicate the performance I had turned in the first half of the race over the second half of the race. It was at this point my goal shifted from a 4 hour marathon to "just finish." Granted this made it easier for me to easy up and not try and push my body to the limit, but as it turns out, that was about the best thing I could have done.
My first walking break was at mile 15.5. The upper portion of my hamstring where it connects with my gluteus muscle was becoming increasingly painful. I knew it wasn't going to go away, so after resigning to the fact that I was going to be in pain for the rest of the race (10.7 miles) I took off again. It was at this point that I dropped behind the 4:05 pace group and stayed there for good.
Mile 16 to mile 20 was where things started to go wrong. I had been having trouble stomaching the gel supplements I had been taking every 30 minutes, but now even the thought of strawberry-banana anything made me want to throw up. In addition, not only did the pain in my hamstring increase, but I became increasingly aware of a pain on the outside of my left knee. My breathing was becoming more labored and my pace was falling off. Between 16 and 20, my pace dropped off from 9:09 m/m (minutes per mile) to approximately 9:30 m/m.
The Grissom cross country team set up shop near mile 20 (I don't remember exactly where, it hard to remember much of anything in any kind of detail). So as I rounded a corner, I was delighted to see 30 people lined up in the middle of the road forming a chute. The person in front of me ran through them, high-fiving everyone, so of course I did it as well. (Turns out, whenever someone used the port-a-potty, they would line up outside the door and cheer them out of the bathroom...to mixed responses). This was an emotional pick-me-up for me and helped me get through the next half mile (yes...half mile).
The farthest I had ever run while training was 20 miles, so everything after that was uncharted territory. Usually 6 miles is not that big of a deal, but after running for 3 hours and 15 minutes, running at all seems like an act of insanity. Time seemed to slow down indefinitely, with each mile marker seeming to coming farther and farther apart. I caught myself looking at my watch a lot (making time slow down even more) and had to force myself to focus on one step at a time.
There were several periods during the last 4 miles where I couldn't see anyone and I was all by myself. All of my motivation had to come from within myself and from imagining myself crossing the finish line. The only thing that kept me going was knowing that if I didn't finish this race our make an impromptu trip to the hospital, I would never forgive myself.
Huntsville Hospital came into view with only a half mile to go. It was then that I knew I would finish, so I just focused on enjoying the next five minutes or so. After all, it's not very often you get to savor the final few minutes of a 4.5 hour race. I crossed the finish line (the goal of the race) and decided I was no longer going to try and stay in control of my body. I stumbled a couple of feet and then collapsed in the finisher's chute. Once on the ground I started shaking uncontrollably and hyperventilating. Every muscle in my body was seizing up in protest of the torment I had just subjected it to. They carried me to the side of the chute where the EMTs where there to help and I tried to gather myself. In all of the commotion, a volunteer slipped a finisher medal around my neck and then went back to the finisher's chute. At that point it didn't matter what happened to me. I had accomplished what I'd set out to do, and that was all that mattered.
Distance - 26.2 miles
Time - 4:21:09
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Oak Mountain Trail Half Marathon
This was my first trail race and boy was it a good one. Training for the Rocket City Marathon has really helped with increasing my range, but I knew going in that running on the sidewalks of Auburn was not going to be anything like this.
The race started later than most as we got under way at 8:30. Cody Moore and John Ashcraft came down from Huntsville and joined me and Derek at the starting line. Turned out I was the only one wearing a shirt (go figure). Positioning is key at the start of a trail race if you don't want to be held back as the trail bottles up and you get stuck behind people, so I shot towards the front and was in the lead pack for the first mile of the race. The first 4 miles of the race were really tough as it was almost purely ascents and descents. Imagine trying to accelerate your car up a steep hill in freezing temperatures before it was a chance to warm-up; that's what I was trying to do to my legs.
I had a hard time keeping my breathing regulated at first as I was struggling to find a groove. Around mile 2, I was coming fast down a descent and stepped on a rock funny rolling my ankle really bad. I had to stop for several minutes until the pain ebbed down to a dull roar and then hit it again. I was going to have to be very careful through the rest of the race if I wanted to not do anything that would further injure my ankle and cause me to be unable to run my marathon.
The first aid station was a little over 3 miles into the race and came up very quickly. I thought to myself, "There's no way I've already run 3 miles" but sure enough there it was. I passed the first aid station at 31:10, not bad considering I lost 2 or 3 minutes with the ankle. After mile 4 the trail flattened out considerable and I started to catch my breath. Around mile 5 trio of older runners came up behind me and started chatting about other trail races behind me. Two of the three ran past but one of them stayed back and paced me to the second aid station. I'm always surprised by how friendly runners are, even in the middle of races. Silas turned out to be an orthopedic surgeon from Huntsville and worked out at the Spine Care center. We talked about everything from trail races in Huntsville to the Auburn football game. It seems I make a new friend at every race I go to.
Talking to Silas was a good distraction from the pain that was starting to shoot through my left quad. We ran into the second aid station (mile 8.5) together. It was here I stopped to take a gel and take stock of my body. Silas finished before me and continued on with me falling in behind a group of 4 runners less than a minute layer. While at the aid station my ankle started to stiffen up on me. It took about another half mile to get it loose again. The last 4.5 miles went by very fast. It never ceases to amaze me how much quicker a trail race seems to go than a road race. I averaged close to 8:20 minutes per mile the rest of the way as the trails were sloped downhill. The trail ended into the parking lot where the finish line was and I sprinted the last 100m to the finish line. After finishing I collapsed on the ground and stayed there, what a great way to finish!
Unofficial results:
Time - 1:54:40.8
Avg. Pace - 8:45 m/m
4th place in the Male 20-24 age group (Derek placed 2nd in the same age group)
The race started later than most as we got under way at 8:30. Cody Moore and John Ashcraft came down from Huntsville and joined me and Derek at the starting line. Turned out I was the only one wearing a shirt (go figure). Positioning is key at the start of a trail race if you don't want to be held back as the trail bottles up and you get stuck behind people, so I shot towards the front and was in the lead pack for the first mile of the race. The first 4 miles of the race were really tough as it was almost purely ascents and descents. Imagine trying to accelerate your car up a steep hill in freezing temperatures before it was a chance to warm-up; that's what I was trying to do to my legs.
I had a hard time keeping my breathing regulated at first as I was struggling to find a groove. Around mile 2, I was coming fast down a descent and stepped on a rock funny rolling my ankle really bad. I had to stop for several minutes until the pain ebbed down to a dull roar and then hit it again. I was going to have to be very careful through the rest of the race if I wanted to not do anything that would further injure my ankle and cause me to be unable to run my marathon.
The first aid station was a little over 3 miles into the race and came up very quickly. I thought to myself, "There's no way I've already run 3 miles" but sure enough there it was. I passed the first aid station at 31:10, not bad considering I lost 2 or 3 minutes with the ankle. After mile 4 the trail flattened out considerable and I started to catch my breath. Around mile 5 trio of older runners came up behind me and started chatting about other trail races behind me. Two of the three ran past but one of them stayed back and paced me to the second aid station. I'm always surprised by how friendly runners are, even in the middle of races. Silas turned out to be an orthopedic surgeon from Huntsville and worked out at the Spine Care center. We talked about everything from trail races in Huntsville to the Auburn football game. It seems I make a new friend at every race I go to.
Talking to Silas was a good distraction from the pain that was starting to shoot through my left quad. We ran into the second aid station (mile 8.5) together. It was here I stopped to take a gel and take stock of my body. Silas finished before me and continued on with me falling in behind a group of 4 runners less than a minute layer. While at the aid station my ankle started to stiffen up on me. It took about another half mile to get it loose again. The last 4.5 miles went by very fast. It never ceases to amaze me how much quicker a trail race seems to go than a road race. I averaged close to 8:20 minutes per mile the rest of the way as the trails were sloped downhill. The trail ended into the parking lot where the finish line was and I sprinted the last 100m to the finish line. After finishing I collapsed on the ground and stayed there, what a great way to finish!
Unofficial results:
Time - 1:54:40.8
Avg. Pace - 8:45 m/m
4th place in the Male 20-24 age group (Derek placed 2nd in the same age group)
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
New Format
From now on I will not be posting every workout online. I'll only post long/hardcore workouts, weekly totals, and races. That is all :)
Monday, September 13, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
LER
Distance - 8 miles
Time - 1:11:10
Pace - 8:54 m/m
Route - Ross south, right on Samford, left on Gay, right on University, left on University, turn-around at mile 4
Time - 1:11:10
Pace - 8:54 m/m
Route - Ross south, right on Samford, left on Gay, right on University, left on University, turn-around at mile 4
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