Also Known as: How to Run a Marathon on 220 Calories, Part II
As if your kid throwing up on you all night isn’t enough, just a mere hour of sleep should leave you less than psyched about traveling across the country for a marathon. I arrived in Atlanta tired, ill, and ready to go home, not race. After getting my packet and lunch, I spent most of the day watching basketball. Dinner was in at the hotel. Pretty much a typical pre-race day.
Until 2am that is. Then I was up puking gobs of undigested food into the sink (Sorry Wyndham Hotel). My stomach was so full I could barely breathe and I slept none from then on, returning frequently to make a deposit. I awoke, tried to eat one flake of Raisin Bran, and returned to the sink for another bout. No breakfast or liquids would go in. It was going to be a long day.
Originally, I had wanted to go sub-3 hours. But when I discovered the fastest pace group was 3:40, I thought about backing off (hard to hit a pace alone that is a good 1:30 per mile faster than your daily runs). So I thought about 3:03:30 (7min/mile) but when the puking started, I changed to 3:10. After a quick dump in the bushes, I hit the start line, and within 30 seconds I knew finishing would be the only goal.
I always say that you should feel awesome through 10, good through 15, and able through 18 or you are in big trouble in the marathon. As I crossed mile 1, I felt like I was in a 5K, and by mile marker 2 I would have sworn that I just ran 20 miles. I was sweating, heaving, and felt like I was sprinting (I was running with the 1:35 half-marathon group since the courses were the same for the first 7 miles). The pace was all over the place (7:07; 6:51; 7:22) so I just chilled and kept them in sight, feeling much more stable at 10 seconds a mile slower.
The rain started at about mile 4, and then the winds picked up. It was chilly and I was throwing up little bits every 2 miles or so. But the real kicker was the hills. Never have I run such a hilly urban marathon. Long uphills were followed by bombing downhills. It was amazing how difficult the course was. But despite the hills, I was holding a relatively even, and decent pace (call in Colorado training). I crossed the half in 3:12 pace and was actually feeling better than the start. Then the hills fought back.
I couldn’t believe the course! It never stopped. People passed me on the hills since pushing made me feel ill. I held on and kept moving up, even started passing people. By 22, there was a mile long out and back section and I could see about 30 people ahead of me. All of them looked like death, and those who weren’t walking the downhills looked like they wanted to. I pushed on and was told I was in 82nd place at 23 miles. The last few miles were painful as they snaked through the hills around the finish line. I caught more and more people and tried to run with form and experience. I finished in about 67th place in 3:14. I was amazed.
Medal around my neck, I blew past the solar blankets and past the food (not that I wanted it, to my bag and out to the street where Sarah was picking me up (from finish line to bag drop amongst 18000 people in 7.5 minutes, a new record). We bolted to the airport, I hauled bags, returned the car, ran to the terminal, only to find our flight was delayed. After 4 hours we made it to West Palm, rented a car, drove to Vero, and on to Orlando. So I woke at 2am, ran a marathon, traveled for 10 hours, all on just two 100 calorie GU shots during the race, both of which I threw up during. The burger that evening when my stomach finally relented was amazing.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
A Run Through Time
A Run Through Time might imply the race passes numerous sights from a variety of time periods. However, if you want to run this race in Salida, CO, be ready to run through time, literally. In fact, at some points, time might even stand still. This course ascends into the sky and rolls through the woods where no person would dare to go most parts of the year.
An 8-mile dirt road never relents as it climbs up and up. If there was any grace in the race director’s heart, it would turn there. Instead it turns to ice and a series of roller-coaster hill go to an out and back. It would be nice if the roads didn’t have 6-inches of mud on every long climb and blistering descent.
I started slow, hearing about the course from Leadville stud runner (19:33)Harry Harcrow. Not wanting to get out too fast, I held back and passed my man Brooks at about 3 miles. I continued up and eventually formed a group with JT, Harry, and Ross from Salida. We sloshed through the mud and water until the aid station around 13 miles. I was in about 13th place and we jostled places with a few guys on the way back to the turn off. A long downhill section cranked the legs a little bit but we hit 17.2 as a group of 4. JT and another guy pulled away on the long ice hills while Harry and I walked. When Harry fell back, I decided to go after JT.
Unfortunately, the last 9 miles of the course easily eclipsed the first 17 as the worst section. A snow cat had driven up the hill leaving rutted tire tracks in 2 feet of snow. Awkward footing made me keep kicking the inside of my leg so hard I ended up with cuts on my calf muscles. When there wasn’t snow, there was mud...inches of black, slippery mud. And often, the mud had rocks in it causing ankle rolls every few seconds. There was no rhythm in the run and it took me a long time to catch up to JT. We chatted for a few and I bounded down the hill.
The last 3 miles were pain. All of it was downhill on a dirt road. My legs screamed for the bottom with every switchback turn. I saw a guy ahead of me but I knew that with the time left there was no way of catching him. I crossed in just under 3:55, good for 11th place. I had run very conservative and probably could have gone 10 min faster and a few places better if I pushed the earlier miles, but I needed to be smart. The course was unknown to me (except that it was hard), and I had another marathon the following weekend. I had done 20+ mile long runs the preceding 3 weeks and I am training through. So all in all, a great day. Tim Parr, Andy Henshaw, Nick Clark, and Ryan Birch took the top 4 spots, and losing to those guys is more than acceptable!
An 8-mile dirt road never relents as it climbs up and up. If there was any grace in the race director’s heart, it would turn there. Instead it turns to ice and a series of roller-coaster hill go to an out and back. It would be nice if the roads didn’t have 6-inches of mud on every long climb and blistering descent.
I started slow, hearing about the course from Leadville stud runner (19:33)Harry Harcrow. Not wanting to get out too fast, I held back and passed my man Brooks at about 3 miles. I continued up and eventually formed a group with JT, Harry, and Ross from Salida. We sloshed through the mud and water until the aid station around 13 miles. I was in about 13th place and we jostled places with a few guys on the way back to the turn off. A long downhill section cranked the legs a little bit but we hit 17.2 as a group of 4. JT and another guy pulled away on the long ice hills while Harry and I walked. When Harry fell back, I decided to go after JT.
Unfortunately, the last 9 miles of the course easily eclipsed the first 17 as the worst section. A snow cat had driven up the hill leaving rutted tire tracks in 2 feet of snow. Awkward footing made me keep kicking the inside of my leg so hard I ended up with cuts on my calf muscles. When there wasn’t snow, there was mud...inches of black, slippery mud. And often, the mud had rocks in it causing ankle rolls every few seconds. There was no rhythm in the run and it took me a long time to catch up to JT. We chatted for a few and I bounded down the hill.
The last 3 miles were pain. All of it was downhill on a dirt road. My legs screamed for the bottom with every switchback turn. I saw a guy ahead of me but I knew that with the time left there was no way of catching him. I crossed in just under 3:55, good for 11th place. I had run very conservative and probably could have gone 10 min faster and a few places better if I pushed the earlier miles, but I needed to be smart. The course was unknown to me (except that it was hard), and I had another marathon the following weekend. I had done 20+ mile long runs the preceding 3 weeks and I am training through. So all in all, a great day. Tim Parr, Andy Henshaw, Nick Clark, and Ryan Birch took the top 4 spots, and losing to those guys is more than acceptable!
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