Running With Jack

Yesterday was my first long race for the year and a success in the sense that I completed the race. It turned out to be my second slowest race, which disappoints me, as I thought I was capable of doing much better. Somehow physically I just couldn’t get my act together. I saved an otherwise disastrous situation only by mentally toughing it out and perhaps a little by the grace of God.

My wife and I have been battling the flu off and on for a couple weeks, for the most part I missed the worst of it. My wife had planned on riding with me to the race, so she could meet her friend Eva who lives in the area. But when I woke her up I could tell she was not going anywhere, she was coughing, sneezing and fever. So I ended up driving alone to the race, luckily it was only about 35-40 minutes away.

I was feeling kind of tired before the race, but was hyped up and ready to roll. My legs felt pretty good, I had concentrated on eating right the last several days and I was very optimistic that I could at least beat my course record of 4:29.

Shortly before 10:00 a.m. I lined up toward the back of the pack at the start, we wore chips, so it wasn’t necessary to be towards the front. It felt a little warmer than last year, around 5C/41F and the sun was warming things up fast. The race started more or less on time, I shuffled to the timing mat and started my stop watch. It took a few minutes to break out of the pack, but I still managed to be almost on pace after the first kilometer, 6:06/K (abt. 9:45/M). My legs felt heavier than normal and quite stiff, but I gradually picked up the pace a bit, finishing the first 5K in 29:04, almost at my planned pace.

I moved on concentrating on keeping the pace fairly consistent. I completed the 10K in around 57 minutes (58:17 clock time), again right on pace. I continued on completing the long straight 8K stretch that brought me to the first turnaround. Then it was back on the same rode until shortly before the halfway point, where we turned right and ran over the timing mat. My chip time for the first half 2:05:25, my net time a minute or two less, I was a couple minutes behind last year’s time, but not concerned.

For this race there were aid stations roughly every 5K. Up to this point I had been drinking only water and been downing a gel every 10K. Somewhere between the 22K and 23K markers I started feeling like my energy tank was on empty. I walked for a minute and downed another gel, hoping this would bring me up again. At the 25K aid station I drank a couple cups of sports drink and ate half of a banana. I ran on but after a few minutes I hit the wall hard.

I walked it out for a couple minutes, but when I tried to run again I again I could barely get my legs to move faster than a shuffle. I shuffled on for maybe a kilometer, but could not get my legs to do what I wanted. I decided that I need to try to walk it out for awhile in the hopes that I could get out of my slump. I walked for maybe five minutes, then managed to jog most of the way to the 30K aid station.

At the 30K aid station I downed another sports drink, ate a piece of banana and tried to stretch out my legs. I jogged on for a few minutes, but was overcome by a charley horse in my right leg that about crippled me. I walked it out and tried to resume my running. I made it a couple hundred meters and again was overcome with cramping. I walked it out and thought about my situation.

If nothing else I knew I was in trouble and probably would not be able to run much more. I plodded on running as long as I could, walking when my legs tightened up. I past the 32K point, the very point where I gave up the race in 2006, when I DNF’ed. Somehow this sparked angry within and I vowed that I would finish this race if I had to crawl the whole way in.

The course ran along a county highway at this point, whereas there are reflective markers every 50 meters. For the next 10K I focused on these markers, running for 2-3 markers, then walking 1-2 markers. My cramping was now in both legs and at times I barely could run a 100 meters at a time. On the other side my walking was still relatively strong and I was able to walk out the cramps.

The kilometers ticked slowly by, on three separate occasions the control van came by and asked if I wanted a ride to the finish (e.g. to quit) – each time it only caused me to push harder. I knew I would reach the finish line, I guess they weren’t so sure.

My pace was pitifully slow, but solid. On a good day I probably could have power-walked faster than I was moving, but this wasn’t a good day. Finally I reached the edge of town and made my way into the stadium and the finish line. The stadium was fairly desolate, the most had finished long ago. I didn’t care, my only thought was to finish the ¾ loop around the stadium without falling on my face.

I hobbled over the finish line in 596th place, out of 603. Based on my chip time I needed 2:05:25 for the first half and 2:59:19 for the second half (5:06:56). My net time was 5:04:44, a mere 6 minutes faster than my first marathon in 2005.

I quietly picked up a banana and an isotonic drink and sat on a bench next to a couple runners that finished a few minutes ahead of me. I walked/jogged with one of them for awhile while on the course, he was having similar cramping problems.

The sun was shining, it had warmed up to 13C/55F and the wind was finally still. I fought with muscle spasms in both legs, much to the amusement of my companions. Finally I decided I needed to start the long trip to the car, so bid farewell. My legs ached, but I made it to the car. I sat on a bench near the car and immediately experienced the worst cramps of the day, almost falling of the bench in pain. After a few minutes these passed and I collected my bag and hobbled over to the showers, which fortunately were close by.

I showered and drove home, I wasn’t in the mood to join in the festivities at the sport hall. I arrived safely and tried to make the best of the rest of the day with my wife. She was still feverish and feeling poorly, I can’t say I was feeling the best either.

This morning I feel worn-out and my lower legs have had better days. I’m sure I will be trying to figure out what went wrong yesterday, in the hopes that I can learn from the experience. Or maybe there really isn’t a good explanation, maybe I just wasn’t ready for the race. In any case it’s time to let the body heal so that I can get on with my training, if nothing else I learned I have a lot of work to do.