Running With Jack

On Saturday, the day before my marathon when most people probably think about relaxing and trying not to expend too much energy before the event, I answered the call of a friend in need who has to move out of the house he rents by the end of the month. I spent the day moving a ton of boxes and furniture in fast 80F weather.

When my clock went off at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday morning I barely wanted to open my eyes, let alone drive almost two hours to the middle of the Black Forest to run a marathon. I laid in bed for a moment trying to think of a good reason to stay in bed or perhaps an alternative marathon that I could run next weekend, but nothing came to mind so I got up and ate breakfast. Thirty minutes later I was in the car and heading out.

Participants of the Northern Black Forest Marathon in Egenhausen (between Pforzheim and Freudenstadt) could start the race anytime between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. When you were ready to run you only had to go to the start and they would write your start time down (and your finish time when you finished). Here is a picture from last year:

It was about 5C/41F as I started the marathon shortly after 8:00 a.m. I was wearing two short sleeve running shirts and running shorts and was freezing to death until I ran up the first hill about 7-8 minutes later. I had planned on walking all the hills on this day, practicing for my 50-miler in June, but I needed to warm up.

I saw a few other runner ahead of me over the first few kilometers and passed a few Nordic Walkers who were doing the half. I heard later that about 40-50 people had signed up for the marathon and at least twice as many for the half. I don’t know how many ran and how many walked the event, they weren’t offering any age group prizes or anything – it was more of a fun run.

So I finished the first 10K of my “fun run” in about 56:30, not bad considering I took 1-2 minute walk breaks every 20 minutes or so. At this early stage my quads were already tired from the furniture moving the day before, but rather than whine about it I looked at is as an opportunity to train with tired legs.

I continued on running the flat and downhill sections and power-walking the uphills. This nicely worked out to a walk break roughly every 20 minutes, which is what I wanted to train with during the race. The sun was out in full force and it warmed up quickly, by the time I finished the first loop (21K/13M) after about 2 hours I shed one of the running shirts and stuffed it into my CamelBak backpack.

I started back over the same course for the second loop with my legs already getting tired, but I was able to ignore it and push on. It was a beautiful day outside and the fields and forests were full in bloom from an early spring. The kilometers seemingly melted away for the next hour. By the time I reached the aid station at kilometer 30 (18.6M) at around the 3-hour point my legs were no longer happy. I tried to stretch out a little, which seemed to help for awhile – I plodded on.

With 12K/7.5M to go I did a quick in-race evaluation. Foremost in my mind was the fact that I needed to make the two hour drive home after the race. I decided that it was not the time to be trying to set marathon PR’s so started taking longer walk breaks, running a kilometer, then walking for 3-5 minutes. With 6K to go I paused at an aid station and ate a sandwich that I had brought and tried to stretch again – I could barely touch my toes! I still had the longest, hardest climb in front of me so quickly got back to business at hand. I walked this last major hill climb and it still kicked my butt, but I got over it and started running again – first only a couple hundred meters, then finally a kilometer at a time.

My legs ached, but I knew I only had a short distance to go, I kept my focus on the roof of the sports center in the distance and continued on. Finally I reached the finish line and I made sure they wrote my time down (4:37:10). I grabbed a banana and some Isotonic drink and sat down by a couple other finishers in the front of the hall. The sun was shining, we had a beautiful view of the countryside off to the left, we chatted a bit, I set a new course personal record – life can’t get any better than this!

After stretching, showering, and eating a bit I made the drive back to the house. I was worried that I would get cramped up as I drove, which makes drive a standard shift rather difficult, but the ride was uneventful. My wife was happy to see me back alive and after relaxing for an hour I was able to enjoy the rest of the day with my wife.

This morning my legs are kind of stiff, but I think I will be able to continue training without too much delay. I’ll see how the long run this coming weekend goes. In four weeks is the next marathon (or 50K).