Sic Semper Tyrannis

OKC Memorial Marathon Report: It's No Walk in the Park

(I apologize for the length of this post. I just finished doing the most difficult thing I've ever tried in my 32 years, so you're going to have to read every damn word I have to say about it!) :-P

Hey, so I ran a marathon the other day.
Wait a minute, I ran a marathon?
I ran a marathon.

Here’s how I know I did it. The tops of my legs are absolutely screaming in pain! Even after spending half of Sunday and all of Monday laid up on the couch I am still really sore... Walking like a duck or Frankenstein and trying to find routes into buildings that don’t involve curbs or stairs.

Common questions from people at this point: How far is a marathon, anyway? A true marathon is a fixed distance: 26.2 miles. How long does that take? Well, it took me 6 hours and 4 minutes. Some people can do it in far less time, like in the two hours and minutes range for world class marathon athletes. Friend of the blog Charlie had a really disappointing day and finished it in under 4 hours. By “disappointing” I mean, “awesome” by most normal people’s measurements! Some people take even more time than I did, looking at 7 or 8 hours. But that’s just the thing. This is a very personal undertaking for most people that do it, really only racing with yourself.

Anyway, I finished about a half hour faster than I expected. Since I normally have been doing a half marathon in about three hours, this means my pace was fairly steady through the whole course, something I really didn’t expect. I started with the early start slowpokes at 4:30 Sunday morning. Yeah, that’s early, but actually I’m used to my long distance runs starting well before 6:00. My body is better at this stuff earlier rather than later in the day.

Eating? Carb-loading. I think regular people love this idea for some reason. And yes, I had pasta the night before, a great homemade baked crab-spinach bow-tie pasta. And I was instructed by the staff nutritionist here at the hospital (who happens to be a marathon runner) that the whole week should include some carbs. “Yes, ma’am.” I said.

I had been training with GU over the last month or so. Basically they are 100 calorie shots of jelly to give your body energy. I went through five of those little buggers, one every 5 miles.

So, now that the basic info is out of the way, how about some more grand, “reflective” type thoughts:

1) Since we were running in the dark on city streets for a couple hours, early starters were warned to not use headphones with the threat of being disqualified (and their results not posted.) Big problem for me. I gotsta have my tunes! I have many times said that “without my ipod I couldn’t go five minutes.” Well, that all changed on Sunday. I wanted to see how far I could go without music as a distraction for my mind and to hopefully last until daylight when it wouldn’t be a safety issue. Well, it turns out I can go 13 miles without music! And as I saw each water station coming up I would cut the music so I could hear the crowds and cheering. (Best waterstop: 20 miles. A huge, loud group of folks that made you feel like a superstar.) Speaking of 20 miles, it’s often said to be “the wall” for marathoners of all skill levels. And I felt something happen in my left shoe exactly at that point, (later turned out to be an awfully large blister on my heel popping, as evidenced by a bloody sock. Gross!) But I didn’t really hit a wall at 20. In fact, at that point I was re-motivated, as I knew I only had 6.2 miles to go, a distance I do every day. Much more critical for me were miles 18 and 19, since I had never done over an 18 mile run.

2) Some key moments along the way: Miles 9-12 were wonderful for me. I had separated myself from the walkers and the faster runners had long since disappeared from my view. It was quiet. Peaceful. The sun finally coming up. Running through neighborhood streets after the Chesapeake water stop. “This wouldn’t be a bad way to spend a morning,” I thought to myself, glad to have some time to myself without having to think about other runners. Probably one of my favorite stretches.

Another key moment was around mile 14 or 15 at Lake Hefner when the leader from the 6:30 start came zooming by. I don’t know if he wound up winning but it is impressive to see a finely-tuned running machine like that working at full capacity.

Then of course, there is the finish line. Seeing it up ahead with both sides of Broadway jam-packed with people, Debbi McCullock yelling at me from the right side, it was all a welcoming sight. I turned off the ipod for the last mile and picked up the pace the last minute or so, just to truly experience the moment.

3) A moment of self-realization--I expected to be overwhelmed with emotions and flashes of life for me over the last couple years of struggle and all that after about mile 22 or so, this being the capstone of an amazing journey for me and all. Well, the movie version of a marathon never happened. I realized I am a task-oriented guy. Mow through. Get done what needs to get done with focus. There is time for crying and emotion later.

4) Nobody has been rude enough to ask me this, but I’ve been asking myself for about the last three or four months, when I began preparing in earnest for this by adding a long distance day to my weekly schedule…”why?” Why have I forced myself into this vision? Why have I required brutal things from myself, from my body for months on end? Why not just sleep in? Well, I can’t say I know exactly why, except to the last question: “why not just sleep in?” I’ve done life “sleeping in.” I’ve done life lazy. I’ve done life fat because of those choices. I lived life many years as a totally different, miserable person who had given up. I am determined to distance myself from that former person, as far as the earth is from the sun.

So, with this one under my belt, this thing which many people never do in their lifetime, will I do another one?

While I’m certainly not ready for another one anytime soon, (I’m going to fall in love with my bike again for the summer), I will say that I definitely like the residual effects of training—keeping my weight down, feeling strong, waking up with purpose, confidence.

I should probably always “be in training for a marathon!”

posted by Mike @ 1:42 PM