Tales from my first marathon

With a little more than a week to go, I thought I'd share with you all some of my experiences from my first marathon.   After reading this blog entry, you'll realize that I'm not an expert runner by any stretch of the imagination.

I ran my first marathon the summer after my first year of medical school.   One of my college roommates, Michael Morain, had thought that it would be a good idea to meet up in Iowa to run a marathon.   I was getting a little nostalgic for seeing my college friends, so I thought it would be fun to reconnect.  I should have realized from the beginning that Michael had way more stamina than myself and that I might be getting in way over my head.  Michael is the guy who once did 100+ cartwheels in a row across our college campus.

Michael was more graceful, but you get the point

Michael was going to be spending the summer at a French immersion camp in Minnesota and I was going to be hanging out in Kansas City, so we picked the world famous Marathon2Marathon, IA as our race to compete in.   Despite some IT band issues early on, I handled the training pretty well.  It was the pre-race prep and the actual race where things weren't so good.

Carbo-loading

Everything I read about getting ready to run the marathon recommended loading up on carbs the two nights prior to running.   This would allow my body to store the carbs as glycogen and allow for more energy on race day.   Never wanting to do something halfway, I instructed my parents to make twice as much spaghetti as they normally would.   I piled the noodles on my plate and after eating about twice as much as I normally would, I went back to the bowl for seconds.   I could barely walk afterwards.  

Then I got a call from my friends Dave and Doug who wanted to hang out.   I barely made it to Dave's parents house.  I tried to hide my discomfort but didn't move from my chair in the basement for a solid hour.   Then it came time for us to go out.   As we got near to the car that was parked out front,  the feeling of utter fullness that was my stomach changed to a tremendous desire for release.   Without any ability to control it, I began vomiting all over Dave's parents front yard.   I'm pretty sure all of my seconds came up as well as some of the initial helping.   Without being too graphic, there were noodles all over the lawn.  

The only non-graphic image that comes up when you google - "puking spaghetti"

But, after the purge, I felt much better and we were on our way.  I still feel bad about the mess I left in the front yard and I'm positive I'll never live that one down.   

Though not the worst thing I ever done, I still can empathize with Chunk!

Lightning First Mile

I should have taken the "puking incident" as an omen for the race.  I chose instead to stay very optimistic that I would break my goal of a 4 hour marathon.  As may be revealed with this upcoming race, I tend to overestimate my ability to finish races in a timely manner.   In order to achieve the goal of a 4 hour marathon, I needed to run at a pace of 9:09 minute miles.   In talking with others about race strategy, I had learned that it's important not to go out to fast (it's a marathon after all!).   I had set in my head a goal of a 9:30 first mile.  

When I got to the start of the race, however, I became caught up in the excitement of the race.   See, the Marathon2Marathon only had about 250 contestestants that year.  And because of the flat landscape of Northern Iowa, the Marathon2Marathon is often seen as an easier course for qualifying for the Boston Marathon.   That would have been good to know at the start of the race - I was running with a bunch of speedsters.   To top it off, I was completely fascinated by this runner who was completely barefoot and wearing overalls and nothing else.

This is not the guy, but you get the idea

I definitely felt the adrenaline pumping through my blood vessels as we lined up at the starting line.   The gun rang and we were off.  Unlike most marathons where the start is slow because of the mass of people starting at the same time, there was plenty of room to get going.   And boy did I feel good!  I began thinking, "I can do this!"    After a bit, I decided to check my watch to see when I might be getting to my first mile.   I looked down and 10 minutes had already passed.  The novice marathoner in me thought, "Dang, I'm already off my pace and it's only the first mile, I should speed up."  There was no mile marker in site as I quickened my pace.  At the 12 minute mark, I realized that I may have missed the first mile marker.   I began to slow down.  

Then in the distance I saw a mile marker sign.  As I got closer it read "Mile 2!"

But where was the first mile marker???

As I looked down at my watch, my heart sunk.   My watch read 15:00.  I had run my first two miles at 7:30 pace - a full 1:30 faster than I was shooting for.  This was not a way to run a marathon and I knew I'd be paying for it a few hours into the future. 

Course Selection

The second biggest challenge was the course selection. We chose the Marathon2Marathon because of its geographic convenience.   I thought running a flat course would be an easy way to start a marathon.  What I had not taken into consideration was the importance of distraction and fan support as you run a never ending race like a marathon.  

Here's the course map:

Six total turns after the first mile - yikes!

For those of you not familiar with Northern Iowa, the roads are straight and in a grid.   It's super flat so you can see for miles in any direction.   This makes for a very straight marathon course.  As you can see from the map above, mile 16-24 is one straight line.  And I am here to tell you that you can see that entire straight line.  This does not build confidence when you're in the hardest part of the race.

The other challenge with this course is that there's not much to see when you run.   The farmers along the course were supportive, but they did their supportin' from their porches that were set back 100 feet from the road.  You would hear a cowbell ringing as you ran by and if you looked closely enough, you could see the folks on the porch waving.    There would be a mile or two between houses, so most of the time it was just me and the corn.

The only advantage to this course was that one side of the road was open to traffic.   I had several friends who would periodically drive up along side of me.   They would pop their heads out of the sun roof and scream "Go Jeff Go!"  Then they would drive off.  My parents would then show up in their mini van and cheer me on. This pattern repeated every mile or two.   I can only imagine the fun they had driving around desolate Northern Iowa, trying to find Michael and myself.  

If it hadn't been for Bubby, Bruce, Doug and Dave as well as Vikki and Tom, I'm not sure I would have made it.  

Nutrition

The trials didn't stop there.  With all my pre race planning, I had neglected to think about what I would eat during the race.   Strike that - I did have a plan and the plan I had was ridiculous.   My plan was to eat a powerbar at mile 16.   That was my entire plan.   Disregard the fact that I would be burning 2600 calories during the race, or the fact that I had puked up most of my carboload two nights before, or the fact that I'd be running for 4 hours.  I was going to eat a power bar at mile 16.   The challenge with eating a power bar later in the race is that my mouth was as dry as a desert.  Have you ever tried to eat a power bar with a dry mouth?  It becomes really hard to breathe!  I had to stop while I choked it down.   And then I had to convince myself I could start up again. 

This is good for camping or hiking, but not marathon running!

The wall

Every marathon runner hits a spot in the race that they describe as a wall.

The wall is a time in the race when you question your ability to finish.  Your legs feel like cement blocks are attached to them.  Each breath feels like it may be your last.  You begin to question your decision to run this silly race.  It usually happens between mile 18 and 24 and how you deal with the wall determines how you feel about the race overall.  

Due to all the circumstances described above, you can imagine that I hit the wall hard.  It came around mile 18 and my parents happened to be driving along side me when it did.   The look on my face must have given away everything because my mom said, "You don't have to keep running if you don't want to."   Though her intentions were good, this is not the thing to say to someone experiencing "the wall."   I wanted so badly to jump in the van and ride my way to the finish.  Fortunately, a friend of mind named Doug Hughes jumped out of the van and said he'd run with me for a couple of miles.   Doug is one of those guys that always seems to be there when you need him and his support.  I don't remember what we talked about, but his running along side me, helped me get past the wall. 

The Finish

As i neared mile 26 I realized that my goals of beating the 4 hour mark were long gone.  Now I just needed to finish.  As I turned down the main street of Marathon, I was greeted by a street lined with people on both sides encouraging me on the last tenth of a mile. The marathon marching band was playing at the finish line.   I crossed the finish line and felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment.    I was greeted by Michael who had finished the race about an hour before.   I think my time was around 4:13  (that wall took a major toll on my time!).    Still, I had finished and it felt good!

That's the crazy thing about running these races.  No matter how bad the experience is for me, I always want to run another.  Maybe it is because they don't always go the way I plan and I feel like I can do a better job the next time around.   Regardless this experience left me wanting more . . . and wiser for the wear.