Ive been meaning to write about this for the last couple of weeks, but just haven't had the chance. After finishing the Houston Marathon, I experienced what I hear lots of marathon runners experience, which is post marathon depression. I had been building to that day for over 8 months, and it was everything I had ever hoped it would be. It was the culmination of all of my hard work, fatigue, struggle, triumph, defeat and joy, all wrapped into one package. But then after a couple of days I felt so empty. I felt like I had nothing in the background to always think about like I had with the marathon. Luckily I had already decided what was going to take the marathon's place, triathlon.
I'm lucky in that after running the marathon, I had now been at least mildly experienced in all three areas of triathlon. I had been on a swim team when I was a teenager, I rode the MS150 just a couple years ago, and now I had run a marathon. I just had to stick all three together. I set my sights on the Lone Star Triathlon in April, but then the next decision, what distance to do. In triathlon there are basically 4 distances, Sprint, Olympic, 1/2 Iron Man and Iron Man. My first inclination was to start at the bottom with the sprint, and work my way up if I got into it. I planned to buy a book and set up a training plan since I felt I could have the self discipline to train on my own. I am sooooo glad I was wrong about that. I think I would have had the discipline, but the training Im getting now with my triathlon group is so many light years beyond what I could have gotten from a book, its hard to imagine doing it without them. Theres a dedicated triathlon store near me in town called Tri On The Run, and they have a group training program for the traithlon I was wanting to do. After talking with the coaches, they were pretty convinced that with my level of fitness, and more importantly my level of commitment and the time I had to devote to it, that I could actually go ahead and do the olympic distance. So the triathlon I will be doing is a 1500 yd swim (.9 miles)followed by a 25 mile bike followed by a 6.2 mile run.
So far the training is going fantastic. My swim stroke seems to still be lodged down in my muscle memory (how I dont know) and Im really enjoying cycling again, and of course, Im still madly in love with running. So I guess this blog wont just be a fat man running anymore, it will be a fat man swimming, biking and running!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
My First Marathon
I cant believe it, but yes, I'm a marathoner. No matter what happens from this point on, I'm Will, and I ran a marathon. For those who are curious, here's what my experience was like. Actually before I get into this, I want to mention that Ill be saying "we" a lot, and the we always refers to my amazing sister, Jill. She did everything with me, when I say everything, I mean everything. She trained, stressed, revelled, hurt and felt the rapture, all the way with me. Theres no way I could have done this without her.
We started the day at 4:00 am (well I did, although Jill still persists that she was up, she just happened to be on the couch, with her eyes closed and completely motionless despite my dog crawling all over her) so that breakfast had its time to settle, run its course etc. We planned to leave the house by 5:30 to give us time to really take in all that race day had to offer and be sure we weren't rushed. Its a good thing we did as both traffic and parking were a bit of a hassle. We jammed out to Dropkick Murphys, the same way we did when we ran one of our first 5k's together back in May. On the way downtown we passed a wreck that involved 3 cars, 2 of which were obviously marathon runners, the wreck wasnt bad, but bad enough that it was going to be a while before anyone went anywhere, and I have a feeling it cost those couple people their race. I know that most people would say "well at least they are alright," and of course thats true, but if they had trained for 8 months and got everything ready for that one day, only to end up on a highway shoulder with my car smashed up, I dont know how I would react.
The morning was quite chilly, in the low 40's, but luckily Jill brought along a spare pair of gloves that really saved me some discomfort. We got in line for the indoor port-a-potties (yeah, actually more disgusting than outdoor I think) and slowly started migrating towards the start.
We had planned to run a 5:00 marathon, which averages out to 11:27 per mile, and were looking for the 5:00 pace group. We found them easily once we got to our coralle, but lost them in the shuffle at the very start. Luckily there were people around us who were running out pace and I also recognized my friend Megan who I had run my longest training run with, and I knew we had a similar pace in mind. The start was as amazing as I had imagined it would be, there were people cheering and screaming and the start was signaled by a cannon. I must also add that I was more than a little pleased that the loudspeakers were playing "Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden as we started the race, very cool!
The first leg of the Houston Marathon takes you over a hellish elevated roadway known as the Elysian Viaduct, which has always been the bane of my running existence during races, however yesterday, I barely noticed it. Running over the Elysian with 22,000 other people completely removed the perspective of it being steep and you really couldnt tell when you were on an incline or not as there were so many people, so with in a few minutes, we were a full mile in and one viaduct down. And this is where I almost quit and walked of the course.
Seriously, I almost never made it to mile 2. Anyone who has ever trained for a marathon knows that no one really ever makes it through unscathed. Pulled muscles, aching knees, feet, something. I had a few issues with a hamstring and then some fairly serious issues not too long ago with my left foot, however somehow I made it for 8 months with almost zero knee problems, and anyone who knows me knows my knees are horrible. It sounds like a 12 year old with a roll of bubble paper when I walk up stairs, and my knees have always just ached anyway. Since losing 100 pounds takes considerable pressure off of them, I guess they were strong enough to carry me through, until literally the week before the marathon. I did my last long run the Saturday before, a ten miler that for all intents and purposes, was just a formality. During this run I felt my knee kind of lock up and get painful, but I just figured it was taper type pain, and sort of carried on. Then I tried to do a little 3 miler on the next monday and at the end it hurt so bad I couldnt run another step. I was in freak out mode, but stopped all running and figured 5 or 6 days rest would cure whatever phantom, meaningless pain this was. Well for the first mile and a half I thought it had. Then just coming down the Elysian, I felt the same pain I felt the Monday before, stabbing, sharp pain that grew worse, literally with every step. I had told myself that this might happen, and that I would have to just gut it out, but at mile 1.5?!?!? I knew that there was no way I could go 25 more miles the way I was. Jill could tell that I was in serious pain and I think she was probably as scared as I was. The pain was so bad I could swear I as limping, although Jill and Megan both said that I didnt look any different. Jill asked me to rate the pain on a 1-10 scale and I told her it was an 8, although it really felt like a 28. She said we could walk, or do some run/walk, what did I want to do? It was for the next couple minutes that I hobbled along thinking, "Am I really not going to finish?" "Is this really how its going to end?" "Why is this happening?" "How do I tell Jill?" At this point she asked me again, "Where is it on a 1-10?" After thinking for a second, I realized the pain was know at an irritating, but much more manageable 4. So I said, give me a couple minutes, lets see what happened. At this point, I did what I had been doing for the entire week, I prayed, hard. I told God I would never make deals with him, because I dont believe in the, "God if you will let me do this Ill never do x, y or z again." Instead I asked, no, I begged God, "PLEASE let this pain go away and let me finish this marathon!" And thats what happened. Within the next 5 minutes I felt no pain at all, and I didnt feel any more pain in that knee until I woke up this morning, when EVERYTHING hurt. I dont know what the medical explanation is, or if there even is one, but I know that God was with me yesterday morning, just like he always is.
I recongnized my first friend/family member at about mile 5. My amazing friend and running partner, Anne, and her fiance Jeff were along Studemont cheering. I cant tell you how much of a boost seeing a familiar face gives you. Furthermore, Anne has been the most supportive, patient and motivational friend throughout this process. I had the privelage of running with Anne at her first half marathon in San Antonio at the end of 2009, and although she wasnt training for Houston, she kept me motivated, let me whine and moan about training and even through us a fantastic party after the marathon. There are so many people without whom I never would have made it anywhere close to the start line, much less the finish, and Anne is right at the top of that list. That would also not be the last Anne and Jeff sighting, they were our cheering ninjas, and just when we would least expect it, there would be Anne (even dancing at one point!) and Jeff. Jill and I were like, man, how are they doing it :)
Right after that we saw Theresa and her daughter Melissa and my friend Judy. They had made signs and were screaming their heads off for us. It almost brings me to tears, even now to think about how I have such awesome friends. Theresa and her husband David would later join us to celebrate, and she even supplied two of my favorite deserts in the world, brownies and her strawberry cupcakes! I even took two home to have for breakfast, but... alas, they didnt last until this morning :)
One of the first of several extremely touching moments was just after this when we heard people behind us telling us to move to the sides. As we turned around, a mom was pushing her son in a wheelchair on the course. As the descended a hill and started to climb back the other side, we actually saw other runners helping the mom get him up the hill. It was very touching, and Jill was especially touched. Jill is a cryer anyway, but adding motherhood to the mix meant that Jill really couldnt dry it up for almost a mile.
Around mile 9, the folks running the half marathon made a u-turn and headed back into downtown. This was a huge moment for Jill and I because we remembered so vividly that moment in November when we were the ones turning and watching the full marathoners continue on into oblivion. And it does feel that way a little. Until that point the street was packed with people. You were running literally with 2 to three people on all sides of you, and as soon as we passed the turn around, there seemed to only be a few here and there. Jill and I had a little bit of a "chills" moment from that, and continued on past Rice University and into Rice Village.
Our pace was great, in fact when we looked at our splits after the race, we ran exactly 11:32 for both our 10k and 1/2 marathon splits, which meant we were right on pace for 5 hours. We were having a blast, talking, noticing everything and just loving the experience. In Rice Village, just before the half marathon point, we saw our family that came out to see us. My mom, step-dad, brother-in-law and nephews were all on the side of the road screaming and waving signs. It was so fun to see them and we really got so much from it. I know this moment, seeing her kids was especially touching for Jill, who let me know this was true, with another dose of tears.
As we continued on through West U and turned towards the Galleria, I saw some friends from work, and Im sure the Anne and Jeff ninja team made several stops along the way. It was at about mile 15 in the Galleria, right about the point where you know the finish is right down the road if you could only turn right, but know, you turn left. This was about the point where I first thought, ok, this is tough, this is really going to take some work.
At about mile 18, you make what is ultimately your last big turn on the course, where you turn West onto Woodway and are more or less headed straight for the finish line. As I have told a couple people, its at this point that my mind first said, "ok will, weve run a long way, we about done yet?" I always get this little voice, but I generally dont like to hear it when there are still 8 long miles to go. Luckily about 5 minutes later I got a really unique surprise. We were running by a church on Woodway and we kept hearing people standing on the side saying something to us, we just couldnt ever make it out completely, we would here words like "hand" "bush" "president" "up" Then with about 5 seconds to spare I hear clearly, "President Bush is up there, be sure to shake his hand!" Sure enough, I look up and sitting in a chair on the side of the street with no fewer than 3 secret sevice guys was Pres. Bush (40) and I, in the middle of my first marathon, get to reach over and shake his hand and say, "Thanks for being here Pres." I really meant to say Mr. President, but after running almost 20 miles, he was lucky I didnt just drool and sweat on him. It was truly an unexpecte, awesome experience.
And then the real fun began. After crossing the 610 loop, I thought I would begin to feel better because I was back on familiar turf, Memorial Park. Its where the bulk of my running has been done, and its almost every Houston runner's home away from home. However when you get to mile 21, home aint so homie. It was at this point that both Jill and I werent really having anymore fun. We were still in complete awe of this event and what we were doing, but it was taking everthing we had to put one foot in front of the other. When you've run 22 mile, 4 miles might not sound like much, but I promise every mile gets progressively longer. 2 miles feels like 4, 4 miles feels like 8, and we are running on, well, I dont know what we were running on at that point. I do know we were tired. Allen Parkway sucks. There are 2 man made underpasses that are steep and treacherous, and yes, we walked up them, and believe me there is no shame in our game for that :) Theres really almost nothing to tell at this point because literally, ever ounce of energy I had was going to each step. There could have been topless dancers on the side of the road and I wouldnt have noticed...well...maybe I would have, but it would have taken something like that for me to notice.
Then we entered downtown. Let me be clear, it didnt get ANY easier at this point, but the euphoria present with 1.5 miles to go is indescribeable. I kept waiting after mile 20 to reach a point where I could reasonably say to myself, ok, youve done it, you KNOW you can make it to the finish from here. To be honest, I didnt get there until I could see the finish line, its THAT hard. You have to make one turn in downtown, and the last turn leaves you .7 mile from the finish line. There was still a good croud along Rusk as we neared the finish, but let me reiterate, even when we could see the finish line, it was so hard at this point that Jill and I could only occasionally muster a "Oh my gosh, we're going to do it." With about .25 mile to go, I think the pain went away some. When I saw the numbers on the clock, I knew I was going to finish, and I was about to be a marathoner. We crossed the finish line in 5:17:10. I could not be more proud of myself, and of my sister. I find even now its hard to write how I feel about it, because any words I write seem really futile in describing my emotions. I hugged my sister and said a prayer to God, thanking him, yes, for letting my knee hold up, but for so much more, for bringing me to that finish line, for bringing me out of the depression and the mire that my life was less than a year ago. Yes, I did the work, my two feet carried me, and for that I am imensly proud, but I would never dare have the arrogance to think that I did it all by myself. In "Spirit of the Marathon," Dick Beardsley says, "When you cross that finish line, no matter how fast, no matter how slow, it will change your life, forever." I dont think I could possibly put it any better, and even here, only 24 hours out from the marathon, I know that statement is completely true. No matter what comes in my life, Im Will, and Im a marathoner. I can do anything.
We started the day at 4:00 am (well I did, although Jill still persists that she was up, she just happened to be on the couch, with her eyes closed and completely motionless despite my dog crawling all over her) so that breakfast had its time to settle, run its course etc. We planned to leave the house by 5:30 to give us time to really take in all that race day had to offer and be sure we weren't rushed. Its a good thing we did as both traffic and parking were a bit of a hassle. We jammed out to Dropkick Murphys, the same way we did when we ran one of our first 5k's together back in May. On the way downtown we passed a wreck that involved 3 cars, 2 of which were obviously marathon runners, the wreck wasnt bad, but bad enough that it was going to be a while before anyone went anywhere, and I have a feeling it cost those couple people their race. I know that most people would say "well at least they are alright," and of course thats true, but if they had trained for 8 months and got everything ready for that one day, only to end up on a highway shoulder with my car smashed up, I dont know how I would react.
The morning was quite chilly, in the low 40's, but luckily Jill brought along a spare pair of gloves that really saved me some discomfort. We got in line for the indoor port-a-potties (yeah, actually more disgusting than outdoor I think) and slowly started migrating towards the start.
We had planned to run a 5:00 marathon, which averages out to 11:27 per mile, and were looking for the 5:00 pace group. We found them easily once we got to our coralle, but lost them in the shuffle at the very start. Luckily there were people around us who were running out pace and I also recognized my friend Megan who I had run my longest training run with, and I knew we had a similar pace in mind. The start was as amazing as I had imagined it would be, there were people cheering and screaming and the start was signaled by a cannon. I must also add that I was more than a little pleased that the loudspeakers were playing "Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden as we started the race, very cool!
The first leg of the Houston Marathon takes you over a hellish elevated roadway known as the Elysian Viaduct, which has always been the bane of my running existence during races, however yesterday, I barely noticed it. Running over the Elysian with 22,000 other people completely removed the perspective of it being steep and you really couldnt tell when you were on an incline or not as there were so many people, so with in a few minutes, we were a full mile in and one viaduct down. And this is where I almost quit and walked of the course.
Seriously, I almost never made it to mile 2. Anyone who has ever trained for a marathon knows that no one really ever makes it through unscathed. Pulled muscles, aching knees, feet, something. I had a few issues with a hamstring and then some fairly serious issues not too long ago with my left foot, however somehow I made it for 8 months with almost zero knee problems, and anyone who knows me knows my knees are horrible. It sounds like a 12 year old with a roll of bubble paper when I walk up stairs, and my knees have always just ached anyway. Since losing 100 pounds takes considerable pressure off of them, I guess they were strong enough to carry me through, until literally the week before the marathon. I did my last long run the Saturday before, a ten miler that for all intents and purposes, was just a formality. During this run I felt my knee kind of lock up and get painful, but I just figured it was taper type pain, and sort of carried on. Then I tried to do a little 3 miler on the next monday and at the end it hurt so bad I couldnt run another step. I was in freak out mode, but stopped all running and figured 5 or 6 days rest would cure whatever phantom, meaningless pain this was. Well for the first mile and a half I thought it had. Then just coming down the Elysian, I felt the same pain I felt the Monday before, stabbing, sharp pain that grew worse, literally with every step. I had told myself that this might happen, and that I would have to just gut it out, but at mile 1.5?!?!? I knew that there was no way I could go 25 more miles the way I was. Jill could tell that I was in serious pain and I think she was probably as scared as I was. The pain was so bad I could swear I as limping, although Jill and Megan both said that I didnt look any different. Jill asked me to rate the pain on a 1-10 scale and I told her it was an 8, although it really felt like a 28. She said we could walk, or do some run/walk, what did I want to do? It was for the next couple minutes that I hobbled along thinking, "Am I really not going to finish?" "Is this really how its going to end?" "Why is this happening?" "How do I tell Jill?" At this point she asked me again, "Where is it on a 1-10?" After thinking for a second, I realized the pain was know at an irritating, but much more manageable 4. So I said, give me a couple minutes, lets see what happened. At this point, I did what I had been doing for the entire week, I prayed, hard. I told God I would never make deals with him, because I dont believe in the, "God if you will let me do this Ill never do x, y or z again." Instead I asked, no, I begged God, "PLEASE let this pain go away and let me finish this marathon!" And thats what happened. Within the next 5 minutes I felt no pain at all, and I didnt feel any more pain in that knee until I woke up this morning, when EVERYTHING hurt. I dont know what the medical explanation is, or if there even is one, but I know that God was with me yesterday morning, just like he always is.
I recongnized my first friend/family member at about mile 5. My amazing friend and running partner, Anne, and her fiance Jeff were along Studemont cheering. I cant tell you how much of a boost seeing a familiar face gives you. Furthermore, Anne has been the most supportive, patient and motivational friend throughout this process. I had the privelage of running with Anne at her first half marathon in San Antonio at the end of 2009, and although she wasnt training for Houston, she kept me motivated, let me whine and moan about training and even through us a fantastic party after the marathon. There are so many people without whom I never would have made it anywhere close to the start line, much less the finish, and Anne is right at the top of that list. That would also not be the last Anne and Jeff sighting, they were our cheering ninjas, and just when we would least expect it, there would be Anne (even dancing at one point!) and Jeff. Jill and I were like, man, how are they doing it :)
Right after that we saw Theresa and her daughter Melissa and my friend Judy. They had made signs and were screaming their heads off for us. It almost brings me to tears, even now to think about how I have such awesome friends. Theresa and her husband David would later join us to celebrate, and she even supplied two of my favorite deserts in the world, brownies and her strawberry cupcakes! I even took two home to have for breakfast, but... alas, they didnt last until this morning :)
One of the first of several extremely touching moments was just after this when we heard people behind us telling us to move to the sides. As we turned around, a mom was pushing her son in a wheelchair on the course. As the descended a hill and started to climb back the other side, we actually saw other runners helping the mom get him up the hill. It was very touching, and Jill was especially touched. Jill is a cryer anyway, but adding motherhood to the mix meant that Jill really couldnt dry it up for almost a mile.
Around mile 9, the folks running the half marathon made a u-turn and headed back into downtown. This was a huge moment for Jill and I because we remembered so vividly that moment in November when we were the ones turning and watching the full marathoners continue on into oblivion. And it does feel that way a little. Until that point the street was packed with people. You were running literally with 2 to three people on all sides of you, and as soon as we passed the turn around, there seemed to only be a few here and there. Jill and I had a little bit of a "chills" moment from that, and continued on past Rice University and into Rice Village.
Our pace was great, in fact when we looked at our splits after the race, we ran exactly 11:32 for both our 10k and 1/2 marathon splits, which meant we were right on pace for 5 hours. We were having a blast, talking, noticing everything and just loving the experience. In Rice Village, just before the half marathon point, we saw our family that came out to see us. My mom, step-dad, brother-in-law and nephews were all on the side of the road screaming and waving signs. It was so fun to see them and we really got so much from it. I know this moment, seeing her kids was especially touching for Jill, who let me know this was true, with another dose of tears.
As we continued on through West U and turned towards the Galleria, I saw some friends from work, and Im sure the Anne and Jeff ninja team made several stops along the way. It was at about mile 15 in the Galleria, right about the point where you know the finish is right down the road if you could only turn right, but know, you turn left. This was about the point where I first thought, ok, this is tough, this is really going to take some work.
At about mile 18, you make what is ultimately your last big turn on the course, where you turn West onto Woodway and are more or less headed straight for the finish line. As I have told a couple people, its at this point that my mind first said, "ok will, weve run a long way, we about done yet?" I always get this little voice, but I generally dont like to hear it when there are still 8 long miles to go. Luckily about 5 minutes later I got a really unique surprise. We were running by a church on Woodway and we kept hearing people standing on the side saying something to us, we just couldnt ever make it out completely, we would here words like "hand" "bush" "president" "up" Then with about 5 seconds to spare I hear clearly, "President Bush is up there, be sure to shake his hand!" Sure enough, I look up and sitting in a chair on the side of the street with no fewer than 3 secret sevice guys was Pres. Bush (40) and I, in the middle of my first marathon, get to reach over and shake his hand and say, "Thanks for being here Pres." I really meant to say Mr. President, but after running almost 20 miles, he was lucky I didnt just drool and sweat on him. It was truly an unexpecte, awesome experience.
And then the real fun began. After crossing the 610 loop, I thought I would begin to feel better because I was back on familiar turf, Memorial Park. Its where the bulk of my running has been done, and its almost every Houston runner's home away from home. However when you get to mile 21, home aint so homie. It was at this point that both Jill and I werent really having anymore fun. We were still in complete awe of this event and what we were doing, but it was taking everthing we had to put one foot in front of the other. When you've run 22 mile, 4 miles might not sound like much, but I promise every mile gets progressively longer. 2 miles feels like 4, 4 miles feels like 8, and we are running on, well, I dont know what we were running on at that point. I do know we were tired. Allen Parkway sucks. There are 2 man made underpasses that are steep and treacherous, and yes, we walked up them, and believe me there is no shame in our game for that :) Theres really almost nothing to tell at this point because literally, ever ounce of energy I had was going to each step. There could have been topless dancers on the side of the road and I wouldnt have noticed...well...maybe I would have, but it would have taken something like that for me to notice.
Then we entered downtown. Let me be clear, it didnt get ANY easier at this point, but the euphoria present with 1.5 miles to go is indescribeable. I kept waiting after mile 20 to reach a point where I could reasonably say to myself, ok, youve done it, you KNOW you can make it to the finish from here. To be honest, I didnt get there until I could see the finish line, its THAT hard. You have to make one turn in downtown, and the last turn leaves you .7 mile from the finish line. There was still a good croud along Rusk as we neared the finish, but let me reiterate, even when we could see the finish line, it was so hard at this point that Jill and I could only occasionally muster a "Oh my gosh, we're going to do it." With about .25 mile to go, I think the pain went away some. When I saw the numbers on the clock, I knew I was going to finish, and I was about to be a marathoner. We crossed the finish line in 5:17:10. I could not be more proud of myself, and of my sister. I find even now its hard to write how I feel about it, because any words I write seem really futile in describing my emotions. I hugged my sister and said a prayer to God, thanking him, yes, for letting my knee hold up, but for so much more, for bringing me to that finish line, for bringing me out of the depression and the mire that my life was less than a year ago. Yes, I did the work, my two feet carried me, and for that I am imensly proud, but I would never dare have the arrogance to think that I did it all by myself. In "Spirit of the Marathon," Dick Beardsley says, "When you cross that finish line, no matter how fast, no matter how slow, it will change your life, forever." I dont think I could possibly put it any better, and even here, only 24 hours out from the marathon, I know that statement is completely true. No matter what comes in my life, Im Will, and Im a marathoner. I can do anything.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Oh boy...
Im not sure if I was encouraged or driven further into insanity to see how many things popped up when I entered "Im totally freaking out about running my first marathon" into google. Fact of the matter is, I am. I dont know how much of it is nervousness, how much of it is excitement and how much of it is soul wrenching terror. I believe that I have trained about as consistently, smartly and fully as I possibly could have, and I feel about as ready as my body can be, but its the unknown that has me doing backflips in my head. So, heres what Im thinking all day, every day, all at the same time, non stop:
-The weather. Looks like its not going to rain, will it be cool enough? Will there be clouds? Will it be too sunny?
-What should I wear? Do I bother with the arm sleves?
-What is this knee pain business? Ive trained for 7 months for this and my knee hasnt hurt once, now 6 days away it decides to start aching?
-Will my foot hold up? It hasnt hurt at all in 2 weeks, but I also havent run more than a 12 miler in two weeks.
-Will I be able to sleep? Usually next day excitement keeps me up more than a six pack of redbull with a nodoze chaser, I NEED SLEEP!
-What do I eat the night before? I know Im supposed to eat carbs this week, then eat light and normal on Saturday, but what? What if I get something that doesnt agree with me?
-Where should I start my pace? Do I just try and run all of my splits the same? Run slower at first, pick it up at the end?
-Have I done enough? Can I do it? Will I do it?
So yeah, my head wants to explode, then I stop, take a breathe, and remember some things that people have told me, and things that I KNOW are true:
-"Trust your training, Respect the distance. You'll be fine" Lisa
-"Stop freaking out, you just have to go out there and run." Dana. She said this to me this morning, and I have to admit, it was exactly what I needed to hear. She's right, I just have to go out and run, I do this every day. I have to respect the distance and know what Im getting into, but its running, I know I can do that.
-Ive prepared for this. There is so much that is unknown, but I have trained really hard, and really consistently, and I know that all of the variables that I can control, which are only a few, are under control.
-Ultimately I know this will be an unforgetable experience. Just like "Spirit of the Marathon" says, when I cross that finish line, no matter how fast, or how slow, no matter how good I feel, or how much pain Im in, it will change my life forever.
-The weather. Looks like its not going to rain, will it be cool enough? Will there be clouds? Will it be too sunny?
-What should I wear? Do I bother with the arm sleves?
-What is this knee pain business? Ive trained for 7 months for this and my knee hasnt hurt once, now 6 days away it decides to start aching?
-Will my foot hold up? It hasnt hurt at all in 2 weeks, but I also havent run more than a 12 miler in two weeks.
-Will I be able to sleep? Usually next day excitement keeps me up more than a six pack of redbull with a nodoze chaser, I NEED SLEEP!
-What do I eat the night before? I know Im supposed to eat carbs this week, then eat light and normal on Saturday, but what? What if I get something that doesnt agree with me?
-Where should I start my pace? Do I just try and run all of my splits the same? Run slower at first, pick it up at the end?
-Have I done enough? Can I do it? Will I do it?
So yeah, my head wants to explode, then I stop, take a breathe, and remember some things that people have told me, and things that I KNOW are true:
-"Trust your training, Respect the distance. You'll be fine" Lisa
-"Stop freaking out, you just have to go out there and run." Dana. She said this to me this morning, and I have to admit, it was exactly what I needed to hear. She's right, I just have to go out and run, I do this every day. I have to respect the distance and know what Im getting into, but its running, I know I can do that.
-Ive prepared for this. There is so much that is unknown, but I have trained really hard, and really consistently, and I know that all of the variables that I can control, which are only a few, are under control.
-Ultimately I know this will be an unforgetable experience. Just like "Spirit of the Marathon" says, when I cross that finish line, no matter how fast, or how slow, no matter how good I feel, or how much pain Im in, it will change my life forever.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Setting Goals
I typically spend more time making fun of Lou Holtz than I do listening to what he has to say, but last night during the halftime of the A&M vs T.U. game (we never should have been in that game, the Ag's played an amazing game)I half listened to his "Thoughts with Dr. Lou" segment. I could only catch a little of what he was saying, it was a bit of a chaotic environment, but as best I could tell he was talking to a group of high school students who were either in a bad situation or have faced a tragedy of some kind. I really wish I could have listened to the whole thing because he gave his thoughts on the way to transcend what has happened and truly live a full life. He gave 5 steps, or things to do, in order to live a more full life. The two I remember were to have dreams and turn them into goals. Its something anyone who has ever heard a pep talk or gone to a college orientation has heard a thousand times, but, a little unbelievably, its something I dont think Ive thought about in a while. What really struck me was that we hear a lot about having dreams, and we hear about setting goals, but I dont know how often we hear about literally making our dreams our goals. When I started to think about it, I know Ive always had dreams and Ive always set goals, but I always considered dreams to just be pleasant thoughts, and goals to be the more "practical" list of things that I better try to accomplish. I think thats maybe the reason Lou was saying these things to these students, because I think a lot of them probably think the way I did about goals and dreams. In essence I separated the two into what was real and possible, and what was fantasy and never possible. The problem there is that what is "real and possible" is totally shaped by our perception of ourselves and our reality. For my whole life up until 8 months ago, running a marathon, or losing 100 pounds would have fallen easily into the fantasy dreams category. Now its right within my grasp. The destination hasnt changed, its still every bit as monumental as it ever was, but what did change was my perception of what is possible. There is nothing wrong with being realistic and self aware, but I think the sad part about limiting our dreams to "realistic" pursuits is what it says about our perspective on life and the confidence we have in ourselves.
So, Im going to re-evaluate my dreams and goals, and this time, Im not going to be affraid to combine those two categories. Self awareness is good, reality is good, but believing that you can turn even the biggest dreams into reality is way better.
Dreams/goals:
-Run a marathon (fingers, toes, arms and legs crossed, its coming)
-Be a runner for as long as my body will allow me to be.
-Lose 100 pounds and maintain a healthy lifestyle (6 pounds away, and Im never looking back)
-Complete the Kona Ironman race in Kona, Hawaii
-Become a Certified Personal Trainer
-Have a loving marriage
-Become a father
-Travel to all 7 continents
-Visit all 50 states
-Have a short story published
-Own my dream house (which mostly means that its a place where my friends and family, and even some day my kids WANT to be)
So, Im going to re-evaluate my dreams and goals, and this time, Im not going to be affraid to combine those two categories. Self awareness is good, reality is good, but believing that you can turn even the biggest dreams into reality is way better.
Dreams/goals:
-Run a marathon (fingers, toes, arms and legs crossed, its coming)
-Be a runner for as long as my body will allow me to be.
-Lose 100 pounds and maintain a healthy lifestyle (6 pounds away, and Im never looking back)
-Complete the Kona Ironman race in Kona, Hawaii
-Become a Certified Personal Trainer
-Have a loving marriage
-Become a father
-Travel to all 7 continents
-Visit all 50 states
-Have a short story published
-Own my dream house (which mostly means that its a place where my friends and family, and even some day my kids WANT to be)
Monday, November 16, 2009
San Antonio Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon 11/15/09
Theres more from this race that I have to talk about that can be put in one post, so Ill probably write more than one. For this one Ill concentrate on the race itself, how it went and how we did. What I learned and thought about during this race really needs its own seperate post.
Like almost every race Ive run, this one was full of firsts. Although I have run a race at this distance once already, this was my first time running a half marathon as a part of a larger full marathon. The one 1/2 marathon Ive done shut down a piece of one major road to make a large loop, this marathon shut down the better part of the entire downtown San Antonio area. It was also the first time I have ever run with that many people, over 30,000. Another first for me was running a race of this distance with my sister, who was running her longest distance ever. It was so cool to be able to experience this with her in so many ways. She has been such an inspiration and cheerleader as Ive gone on this running and weight loss journey, that it was really special to get to do something this monumental together. It was also very cool because it was the first time that we had run a race together as equals. In the past, Jill was the much more in shape, much more experienced runner, and she was always tasked with pulling me along with her. This time, we were both on equal footing and were able to encourage each other equally, which made it so cool. This was also a big culmination for my running partner, Anne. We started running together in the middle of the summer, literally on pure chance one morning on a long run. The head of our training group said, "find someone who runs your pace and just stick with them," Anne just happened to be running next to me at that moment and said "how about you?" and weve been running roughly 5 days a week together ever since. This race was Anne's goal, and she killed it.
Sunday morning started EARLY. Up at 4:30 to head down to the fruit and juice bar that our hotel was setting up early for the runners. I figured I would get there and be the only one, but there were close to a dozen other people up and stocking up on bananas and bagels, and anything else that looked good. If Ive learned anything about runners, they like their freebies. Jill woke up soon after and we snacked on our peanut butter toast and bananas as we both hoped for our "natural processes" to kick in so that we would have that out of the way before the race. Im pretty sure we were both succesful, but I digress. Being truly our father's children, we had laid everything out the night before and getting ready for the race was a short process. We planned to meet Anne at 5:30 to try and get on the shuttle to the start, but if it was too packed, Anne's fiance, Jeff, was on call to drive us as close as he could to the start. Luckily the shuttle was running extremely smoothe and we got on in plenty of time with no trouble. Its really funny to watch people who are about to endure the kind of punishment a half or especially a full marathon is going to put on them. Everyone was mostly calm, but with an eager anticipation that was noticeable on pretty much everyone.
As soon as we arrived at the starting village, port-a-potty fest 2009 began for both Jill and Anne. Jill, bless her heart, has the bladder of someone who has had two babies within a year and a half of each other, and Anne was somehow born without a human bladder, so the port-a-potty situation was of prime importance to them both. Luckily there were plenty available, and lines were more or less manageable. The only potty stress came when Anne decided to use the bathroom for the 3rd time about 20 minutes before the race began and didnt make it back to our starting position until after the National Anthem. I think she just wanted to see if I would actually have a heart attack BEFORE the race started. She never made it to the bathroom that third time, but she made it back to us and all was well.
As we knew it would, it took about 1/2 an hour after the gun went of for us to cross the starting line, but when we did it was quite the exhilerating feeling. It was hot and humid and far from ideal, but we all felt like kings and queens as we crossed the starting line. It was electric, just running with all of those people is unlike any feeling in the world.
Its kind of hard to remember every detail from then on, so Ill hit some highlights:
-Around mile 6 we ran by a store of some kind that was loudly playing a recording of some Army or Marine cadets doing a call and response cadence. It definitely pumped us up and gave us all chills. You could literally hear their dogtags jingling on the recording, both an exciting and touching moment.
-There were lots of signs along the road from fans, but these were some of my favorites:
Pain is temporary, but pride is forever (we may even put that on a shirt)
Your feet hurt because youre kicking so much A$$
Finishing is your only damn option
You paid to run?
-My sister has this great quality that when she is running, or tired in general, and she sees anything that is the least bit touching, she bursts into tears, literally. She doesnt get a little teary or choked up, she has the full blown balling moment. It comes and goes very quickly, but she cant contain it. There were lots of shirts of people running for different causes, or in memory of someone or something, and every time we would pass one, Jill would burst into tears, and then she'd get a boost from it. Its really pretty cool.
-Anne has been suffering from some kind of knee pain for the last month or so, whenever we would run longer than 7 or 8 miles. We were both hopeful that the adreneline and the grandeur of the event would keep the pain at bay, but she wasnt so lucky. But let me just tell you, Anne is one tough cookie. I could tell about mile 9 that Anne was hurting (come to find out she started hurting at about mile 6) because she got very quiet and seemed a little more serious. What she didnt do was slow down or complain one bit. At one point I just said to her, "Anne, I know youre hurting, but you are doing amazing," and she was. At mile 10.5 when we split from the full marathoners, she even joked that she was just going to go ahead and run the 26.2, which is when I knew she was going to make it the whole way. I couldnt be more proud of her. I hate that she had to be in so much pain, but she's my hero for really gutting that out.
-As Ive already alluded to, crossing the finish line with my sister was really special. She just means the world to me, and I cant think of anyone I would have rather done this with. It is worth noting that we were both so delirious at the end of the race that we almost walked by all of the people handing out finishers medals, that would have been rather dissapointing :)
-Not exactly an enjoyable moment, but looking back its pretty funny. We had to walk probably in the neighborhood of 3/4 to one mile to our car after the race, and you would have thought that it was 3 90 year olds trying to walk down the street. We were walking slooooow, but we all said several times how we were giving it everything we had just to maintain a walking pace. In the future Ill remember, stretching is goood.
There is so much more that I want to write about, but again, Ill save it for another post. We all three finished in 2:35 minutes, almost on the nose. It was hot, it was painful, it was amazing. It sounds cheesy to say, but even though several thousand people finished before we did, I felt like the three of us were the big winners that day.
Like almost every race Ive run, this one was full of firsts. Although I have run a race at this distance once already, this was my first time running a half marathon as a part of a larger full marathon. The one 1/2 marathon Ive done shut down a piece of one major road to make a large loop, this marathon shut down the better part of the entire downtown San Antonio area. It was also the first time I have ever run with that many people, over 30,000. Another first for me was running a race of this distance with my sister, who was running her longest distance ever. It was so cool to be able to experience this with her in so many ways. She has been such an inspiration and cheerleader as Ive gone on this running and weight loss journey, that it was really special to get to do something this monumental together. It was also very cool because it was the first time that we had run a race together as equals. In the past, Jill was the much more in shape, much more experienced runner, and she was always tasked with pulling me along with her. This time, we were both on equal footing and were able to encourage each other equally, which made it so cool. This was also a big culmination for my running partner, Anne. We started running together in the middle of the summer, literally on pure chance one morning on a long run. The head of our training group said, "find someone who runs your pace and just stick with them," Anne just happened to be running next to me at that moment and said "how about you?" and weve been running roughly 5 days a week together ever since. This race was Anne's goal, and she killed it.
Sunday morning started EARLY. Up at 4:30 to head down to the fruit and juice bar that our hotel was setting up early for the runners. I figured I would get there and be the only one, but there were close to a dozen other people up and stocking up on bananas and bagels, and anything else that looked good. If Ive learned anything about runners, they like their freebies. Jill woke up soon after and we snacked on our peanut butter toast and bananas as we both hoped for our "natural processes" to kick in so that we would have that out of the way before the race. Im pretty sure we were both succesful, but I digress. Being truly our father's children, we had laid everything out the night before and getting ready for the race was a short process. We planned to meet Anne at 5:30 to try and get on the shuttle to the start, but if it was too packed, Anne's fiance, Jeff, was on call to drive us as close as he could to the start. Luckily the shuttle was running extremely smoothe and we got on in plenty of time with no trouble. Its really funny to watch people who are about to endure the kind of punishment a half or especially a full marathon is going to put on them. Everyone was mostly calm, but with an eager anticipation that was noticeable on pretty much everyone.
As soon as we arrived at the starting village, port-a-potty fest 2009 began for both Jill and Anne. Jill, bless her heart, has the bladder of someone who has had two babies within a year and a half of each other, and Anne was somehow born without a human bladder, so the port-a-potty situation was of prime importance to them both. Luckily there were plenty available, and lines were more or less manageable. The only potty stress came when Anne decided to use the bathroom for the 3rd time about 20 minutes before the race began and didnt make it back to our starting position until after the National Anthem. I think she just wanted to see if I would actually have a heart attack BEFORE the race started. She never made it to the bathroom that third time, but she made it back to us and all was well.
As we knew it would, it took about 1/2 an hour after the gun went of for us to cross the starting line, but when we did it was quite the exhilerating feeling. It was hot and humid and far from ideal, but we all felt like kings and queens as we crossed the starting line. It was electric, just running with all of those people is unlike any feeling in the world.
Its kind of hard to remember every detail from then on, so Ill hit some highlights:
-Around mile 6 we ran by a store of some kind that was loudly playing a recording of some Army or Marine cadets doing a call and response cadence. It definitely pumped us up and gave us all chills. You could literally hear their dogtags jingling on the recording, both an exciting and touching moment.
-There were lots of signs along the road from fans, but these were some of my favorites:
Pain is temporary, but pride is forever (we may even put that on a shirt)
Your feet hurt because youre kicking so much A$$
Finishing is your only damn option
You paid to run?
-My sister has this great quality that when she is running, or tired in general, and she sees anything that is the least bit touching, she bursts into tears, literally. She doesnt get a little teary or choked up, she has the full blown balling moment. It comes and goes very quickly, but she cant contain it. There were lots of shirts of people running for different causes, or in memory of someone or something, and every time we would pass one, Jill would burst into tears, and then she'd get a boost from it. Its really pretty cool.
-Anne has been suffering from some kind of knee pain for the last month or so, whenever we would run longer than 7 or 8 miles. We were both hopeful that the adreneline and the grandeur of the event would keep the pain at bay, but she wasnt so lucky. But let me just tell you, Anne is one tough cookie. I could tell about mile 9 that Anne was hurting (come to find out she started hurting at about mile 6) because she got very quiet and seemed a little more serious. What she didnt do was slow down or complain one bit. At one point I just said to her, "Anne, I know youre hurting, but you are doing amazing," and she was. At mile 10.5 when we split from the full marathoners, she even joked that she was just going to go ahead and run the 26.2, which is when I knew she was going to make it the whole way. I couldnt be more proud of her. I hate that she had to be in so much pain, but she's my hero for really gutting that out.
-As Ive already alluded to, crossing the finish line with my sister was really special. She just means the world to me, and I cant think of anyone I would have rather done this with. It is worth noting that we were both so delirious at the end of the race that we almost walked by all of the people handing out finishers medals, that would have been rather dissapointing :)
-Not exactly an enjoyable moment, but looking back its pretty funny. We had to walk probably in the neighborhood of 3/4 to one mile to our car after the race, and you would have thought that it was 3 90 year olds trying to walk down the street. We were walking slooooow, but we all said several times how we were giving it everything we had just to maintain a walking pace. In the future Ill remember, stretching is goood.
There is so much more that I want to write about, but again, Ill save it for another post. We all three finished in 2:35 minutes, almost on the nose. It was hot, it was painful, it was amazing. It sounds cheesy to say, but even though several thousand people finished before we did, I felt like the three of us were the big winners that day.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Houston Half Marathon 10/25/09
This morning I ran my first half marathon, and it was a day of many 1sts. Not only was today my first half marathon, it was my first race of any kind other than a 5k. Generally people take some stepping stones, a 10k, a 12k but I missed the 10 for Texas race a couple weeks ago, so I went straight from 5k to half marathon. Its also probably a little strange that my first half marathon is also the longest distance Ive ever run; training, race or otherwise.
Preparation for this morning actually started a couple days ago. Ive been reading about the right way to carbo load, and if its even really worth it. There are lots of methods and suggestions for how to do it, but what I basically did was start eating a little more carbohydrate in my regular meals, rather than just piling on one full meal of tons of carbs. Other than maybe making my meals a little heavier than normal, this wasn't a difficult task. I woke up at 4:00 this morning, which is my usual long run time anyway so that I can eat breakfast and hope to give it time to make some natural courses before running time. I had everything laid out, so after getting dressed and eating some oatmeal, I grabbed my bag, a banana and a G2 and headed out for the race.
After a bit of a fiasco of parking even an hour before race time, I made my way over to the In Flight (my running club) tent. I walked around for a bit, said hello to some running friends from other clubs and basically let myself get appropriately nervous. With about 15 minutes to go before the start we took off on a little warm up jog. The weather was probably already in the 70's, much warmer than ideal, and it was frankly pretty humid, shocking, I know, for Houston. I probably said, and heard, ten times "why couldn't we have run this yesterday when it was 15 degrees cooler in the morning?"
After a little warm up it was time to take my place in the mob. My only goal time wise for this race was to finish in about two and a half hours. Most of the running calculations Ive been looking at were telling me a 5 hour marathon was within grasp so I was hoping for half of that. To break it down further I wanted to run it about an 11 minute per mile pace, figuring in my head that that would get me pretty close to 2:30. I lined up what I thought was about 1/2 way back, looking around to hopefully see people who looked like serious runners, but also weren't, as my sister calls it "too in it to win it" looking. I felt pretty comfortable with where I was until literally the gun went off and I looked to my left to see my friend Lisa just a few yards a way who is waaaaaay faster than I am. It doesn't really matter other than I didn't want to have to worry about getting in the way of runners who were a lot faster than me, because I know how frustrating that is. Luckily it wasn't ever an issue and the start when off really pretty smoothly, except for the group of about 10 walkers who decided to start at the front and get in EVERYBODY'S way. I like walkers fine, they don't bother me, but etiquette just says you should start further back.
Today's course was 3 loops of a little over 4 miles each. Its not ideal because frankly it gets a little boring, but it wasn't too bad. It was mostly dark for the majority of the first loop, so the second loop really almost felt new, but the third was brutal.
So, now for some things I did right, and some things I did wrong.
1. One thing I did right is that I didn't start too fast. Ive done it before and I frankly do it too often even on training runs. I get caught up in the excitement or just the idea of having a good run and I blow out half way through and the rest of the run is a struggle. I knew that at some point this distance was going to require a certain amount of "gut it out" running, but I was hoping to delay that feeling as long as possible. I'm lucky that I didn't really feel like I was gutting it out until about mile 9 or 10, and even then it wasn't even as painful as I was expecting. I was tired, I was hurting, but I "conserved" enough to be able to really run hard the last 2/10 of a mile, you know, so I looked good coming across the finish line :)
2. One thing I did wrong was say to myself "You know, I kind of like these hills, they break things up and keep it interesting." You just dont play with the universe like that. As I said this course was 3 loops. Each loop had 2 underpasses on each leg, meaning that I ran up and down 12 underpasses. On lap one and even two, they did kind of give a change of pace and I was feeling good enough that I made this assanine statement to myslef. On loop number 3, these hills were not my friend. The last one positively made me want to vomit blood on my driveway. (sorry, you have to listen to the radio station I listen to in order to get that reference, but dont worry, I dont really vomit blood.)
3. I somehow did a pretty good job eating and drinking on the course. With as warm as it was and the distance, it was important that I not only drink water, but also take some electrolytes, carbs etc. Im really not a fan of gatorade, especially while running because during a race its that hand mixed, over concentrated endurance formula junk that stays in your mouth for twelve hours and... well I dont like it, so I opt to bring little shot blocks with me, which are basically energy gells in gummy form. The only problem with these things is that they are sticky as all get out and so they are hard to get out of the baggy and when you do you better have some watter to wash them down or you will be chewing on them for days. On the last loop around mile 10 when I was feeling pretty tired, I figured Id take a cup of gatorade to hopefully get a little boost from it. I shouldnt have let me talk myself into that because of course, the guy handing off the gatorade spilled it all down my arm so I finished the race with the taste of that mess in my mouth and a sticky right arm and hand. Luckily I was sweating like a pig and it didnt stick around too badly.
Some of the funny things I heard on the course today:
- From a spectator sitting on the curb downtown, "Good job runners, yall look a lot better than the people that just ran by a few minutes ago, seriously!"
- From anothe runner on her third loop "How can these hills only go uphill, doesnt physics demand they go downhill at some point?"
- "GO WILL!!! MAN YOURE SKINNY!!!!" Thanks Anna. Ok, maybe thats a little self serving, but hey, I just ran 13.1 miles.
- "Youre almost there!" Said someone standing literally next to the 5 mile marker.
- A time/pace caller tried to tell me I was running at a 7:04 pace and got mad at me when I told him he was crazy if he thought I was running that fast.
All in all I had a really fun race, I came in unnoficially at 2:20:29 so I came in a little under my goal. I ran an average pace of 10:37 per mile which was a good bit faster than I expected. I realized about mile 6 or 7 that I was running that pace consistently and several times thought I had slowed down, but I actually ran it pretty consistently. My fastest mile split was 10:12 and slowest was 10:53. Other than those two, every one was right around 10:30. One of the coolest things was that I got my first piece of "hardware" today. Every race up to this point just gave a t-shirt. Today I got a medal and a running singlet. Cool bonus fact, they designed this medal to be a piece in a set. If I run this race three years in a row, the medals actually match up to form a bigger medal. Cool huh?
Preparation for this morning actually started a couple days ago. Ive been reading about the right way to carbo load, and if its even really worth it. There are lots of methods and suggestions for how to do it, but what I basically did was start eating a little more carbohydrate in my regular meals, rather than just piling on one full meal of tons of carbs. Other than maybe making my meals a little heavier than normal, this wasn't a difficult task. I woke up at 4:00 this morning, which is my usual long run time anyway so that I can eat breakfast and hope to give it time to make some natural courses before running time. I had everything laid out, so after getting dressed and eating some oatmeal, I grabbed my bag, a banana and a G2 and headed out for the race.
After a bit of a fiasco of parking even an hour before race time, I made my way over to the In Flight (my running club) tent. I walked around for a bit, said hello to some running friends from other clubs and basically let myself get appropriately nervous. With about 15 minutes to go before the start we took off on a little warm up jog. The weather was probably already in the 70's, much warmer than ideal, and it was frankly pretty humid, shocking, I know, for Houston. I probably said, and heard, ten times "why couldn't we have run this yesterday when it was 15 degrees cooler in the morning?"
After a little warm up it was time to take my place in the mob. My only goal time wise for this race was to finish in about two and a half hours. Most of the running calculations Ive been looking at were telling me a 5 hour marathon was within grasp so I was hoping for half of that. To break it down further I wanted to run it about an 11 minute per mile pace, figuring in my head that that would get me pretty close to 2:30. I lined up what I thought was about 1/2 way back, looking around to hopefully see people who looked like serious runners, but also weren't, as my sister calls it "too in it to win it" looking. I felt pretty comfortable with where I was until literally the gun went off and I looked to my left to see my friend Lisa just a few yards a way who is waaaaaay faster than I am. It doesn't really matter other than I didn't want to have to worry about getting in the way of runners who were a lot faster than me, because I know how frustrating that is. Luckily it wasn't ever an issue and the start when off really pretty smoothly, except for the group of about 10 walkers who decided to start at the front and get in EVERYBODY'S way. I like walkers fine, they don't bother me, but etiquette just says you should start further back.
Today's course was 3 loops of a little over 4 miles each. Its not ideal because frankly it gets a little boring, but it wasn't too bad. It was mostly dark for the majority of the first loop, so the second loop really almost felt new, but the third was brutal.
So, now for some things I did right, and some things I did wrong.
1. One thing I did right is that I didn't start too fast. Ive done it before and I frankly do it too often even on training runs. I get caught up in the excitement or just the idea of having a good run and I blow out half way through and the rest of the run is a struggle. I knew that at some point this distance was going to require a certain amount of "gut it out" running, but I was hoping to delay that feeling as long as possible. I'm lucky that I didn't really feel like I was gutting it out until about mile 9 or 10, and even then it wasn't even as painful as I was expecting. I was tired, I was hurting, but I "conserved" enough to be able to really run hard the last 2/10 of a mile, you know, so I looked good coming across the finish line :)
2. One thing I did wrong was say to myself "You know, I kind of like these hills, they break things up and keep it interesting." You just dont play with the universe like that. As I said this course was 3 loops. Each loop had 2 underpasses on each leg, meaning that I ran up and down 12 underpasses. On lap one and even two, they did kind of give a change of pace and I was feeling good enough that I made this assanine statement to myslef. On loop number 3, these hills were not my friend. The last one positively made me want to vomit blood on my driveway. (sorry, you have to listen to the radio station I listen to in order to get that reference, but dont worry, I dont really vomit blood.)
3. I somehow did a pretty good job eating and drinking on the course. With as warm as it was and the distance, it was important that I not only drink water, but also take some electrolytes, carbs etc. Im really not a fan of gatorade, especially while running because during a race its that hand mixed, over concentrated endurance formula junk that stays in your mouth for twelve hours and... well I dont like it, so I opt to bring little shot blocks with me, which are basically energy gells in gummy form. The only problem with these things is that they are sticky as all get out and so they are hard to get out of the baggy and when you do you better have some watter to wash them down or you will be chewing on them for days. On the last loop around mile 10 when I was feeling pretty tired, I figured Id take a cup of gatorade to hopefully get a little boost from it. I shouldnt have let me talk myself into that because of course, the guy handing off the gatorade spilled it all down my arm so I finished the race with the taste of that mess in my mouth and a sticky right arm and hand. Luckily I was sweating like a pig and it didnt stick around too badly.
Some of the funny things I heard on the course today:
- From a spectator sitting on the curb downtown, "Good job runners, yall look a lot better than the people that just ran by a few minutes ago, seriously!"
- From anothe runner on her third loop "How can these hills only go uphill, doesnt physics demand they go downhill at some point?"
- "GO WILL!!! MAN YOURE SKINNY!!!!" Thanks Anna. Ok, maybe thats a little self serving, but hey, I just ran 13.1 miles.
- "Youre almost there!" Said someone standing literally next to the 5 mile marker.
- A time/pace caller tried to tell me I was running at a 7:04 pace and got mad at me when I told him he was crazy if he thought I was running that fast.
All in all I had a really fun race, I came in unnoficially at 2:20:29 so I came in a little under my goal. I ran an average pace of 10:37 per mile which was a good bit faster than I expected. I realized about mile 6 or 7 that I was running that pace consistently and several times thought I had slowed down, but I actually ran it pretty consistently. My fastest mile split was 10:12 and slowest was 10:53. Other than those two, every one was right around 10:30. One of the coolest things was that I got my first piece of "hardware" today. Every race up to this point just gave a t-shirt. Today I got a medal and a running singlet. Cool bonus fact, they designed this medal to be a piece in a set. If I run this race three years in a row, the medals actually match up to form a bigger medal. Cool huh?
Friday, October 16, 2009
If I had been smarter
If I had thought about it, I would have kept a log of all of my marathon training for posterity's sake, but I haven't. However, as Ive learned, and keep learning, its never too late to start anything.
For more than one reason, September, and now October, have been my hardest training months. In September I really had to figure out how to train, eat and work at the same time. Being a teacher and having summers off makes summer training pretty easy, well at least the scheduling of it. In the past on those many, many days that I would finish school and just feel completely worn out, I would leave school, head to a drive through, gorge about 1500 calories, and take a nap until it was time for dinner, gorge another 1500, then come home, watch TV and go to sleep. Granted, this is even hard to type because its so embarrassing to admit, but in addition to being horrible for me it was SO EASY! Now, even when I do get worn out or have a bad day, I still have my running to do. Luckily, running is still fun for me, and I don't see it as just another thing I HAVE to do, its something that I get to do.
NOW, that being said, running is hard. I'm a running fanatic, I think about it, do it, research it, talk about it, etc. as much as anyone I know, but its still stinking hard. Ive written before about settling down and really feeling like a runner, well I realize that feeling like a runner actually entails a good amount of redundancy. I run over and over and over. Same places, same distances, same times, etc. When I first started I was breaching huge milestones, running races, confetti was plentiful, the world was fresh. Well I haven't raced since August, so for two solid months its been train and train and train. Luckily I have my first half marathon next week, and I'm hoping it will provide a much needed boost to my running. For me at least, I realize that racing regularly will be important. I'm not trying to win anything, but getting out there in the spirit of race day has a very specific effect, and its an effect that I need to keep going.
I am still hitting distance milestones. Every week in fact. My first ten miler was about 3 weeks ago and tomorrow I will run 12. My weekend long runs are still going excitingly well, but the week days are getting harder and harder. My running partner, Anne, has developed our new Mantra, "Crappy weekday runs make for great weekend runs."
I'm already having really crazy thoughts about what to do after my marathon is over. On one hand I guess that's good because it means that I'm not even considering if I finish the marathon, but when. As hard as all of this is, I'm confident in the fact that I am being consistent and working hard. Save an injury, which could always happen, I feel like Ill be ready for January. Houston half marathon next weekend, San Antonio half marathon in Nov. and then the big one on January 17th, It will be here before I know it.
For more than one reason, September, and now October, have been my hardest training months. In September I really had to figure out how to train, eat and work at the same time. Being a teacher and having summers off makes summer training pretty easy, well at least the scheduling of it. In the past on those many, many days that I would finish school and just feel completely worn out, I would leave school, head to a drive through, gorge about 1500 calories, and take a nap until it was time for dinner, gorge another 1500, then come home, watch TV and go to sleep. Granted, this is even hard to type because its so embarrassing to admit, but in addition to being horrible for me it was SO EASY! Now, even when I do get worn out or have a bad day, I still have my running to do. Luckily, running is still fun for me, and I don't see it as just another thing I HAVE to do, its something that I get to do.
NOW, that being said, running is hard. I'm a running fanatic, I think about it, do it, research it, talk about it, etc. as much as anyone I know, but its still stinking hard. Ive written before about settling down and really feeling like a runner, well I realize that feeling like a runner actually entails a good amount of redundancy. I run over and over and over. Same places, same distances, same times, etc. When I first started I was breaching huge milestones, running races, confetti was plentiful, the world was fresh. Well I haven't raced since August, so for two solid months its been train and train and train. Luckily I have my first half marathon next week, and I'm hoping it will provide a much needed boost to my running. For me at least, I realize that racing regularly will be important. I'm not trying to win anything, but getting out there in the spirit of race day has a very specific effect, and its an effect that I need to keep going.
I am still hitting distance milestones. Every week in fact. My first ten miler was about 3 weeks ago and tomorrow I will run 12. My weekend long runs are still going excitingly well, but the week days are getting harder and harder. My running partner, Anne, has developed our new Mantra, "Crappy weekday runs make for great weekend runs."
I'm already having really crazy thoughts about what to do after my marathon is over. On one hand I guess that's good because it means that I'm not even considering if I finish the marathon, but when. As hard as all of this is, I'm confident in the fact that I am being consistent and working hard. Save an injury, which could always happen, I feel like Ill be ready for January. Houston half marathon next weekend, San Antonio half marathon in Nov. and then the big one on January 17th, It will be here before I know it.
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