30k postscript I

I'm basking in the "afterglow" of today's run.  Which is to say I'm laying very still and wearing my medal.

 

I made it to the run this morning.  I'm dog ass tired.  I have energy, but my legs just aren't responding.  My knees ache, my feet hurt, and I have a nagging--albeit minor--headache.  But I finished, and I finished pretty well.  12:36 per mile.  I maintained a pretty consistent 11:00 to 11:30 pace for the first 13 miles or so, then started to slow down as I switched to the "walk 1/run 10" method to conserve strength.  I passed the 16+ mile point and was running into uncharted territory--no previous run had surpassed the 16+ miles I ran at the '05 marathon.

 

I did manage to oversleep this morning.  My alarm actually went off at 5:00am (at least, I was awake at 5:00am), and in my sleep drugged state I looked at the clock, checked the alarm time, decided it was set too early, and changed it to 6:00am.  The snooze alarm kept going off, I think, every 9 minutes and around 6:00 I came to the realization that I needed to leave the house 15 minutes ago!  I jump out of bed, kiss the missus, dash to the closet, change, grab the pile of supplies in the living room, and I'm out the door at 6:05.

 

Now I need gas.  Go to the gas station, it's not open.  Go to the other station and pay $.04 more for a gallon, only get 3 gallons.

 

Jump in the car and take off.  The whole way out there (30+ miles, mind you) I'm flying down the road hoping I get there in time, but telling myself over and over that if I don't make it, no problem.  I get to go home and sleep.  Just south of Beltway 8 I get that familiar feeling in my gut of "just screw it, go home" but decide to drive through it.

 

6:45am I roll to the exit down in Sugarland that I need to take.  There's a cop sitting about 1/4 mile ahead of the exit, but he didn't pull me over.  That would have made me late for sure.

 

I wind my way into the parking lot and find a spot.  A quick check over the hedge reveals a big queue of people lined up.  I made the start.  The announcer says "8 minutes to start".  I just barely made the start.  I change shoes and shirt, pin on my number, and head to the line of people.  I stretch a little, run a little to warm up, and make it to the crowd.  I find Holden, Jon, Dave, and Kim right before the national anthem and Holden points out that I don't have a race chip.  DAMNIT!  "Where do I get my chip?"  "Over there."  Great.  I take off for the chip, ask someone else who has one, she points me to the "yellow table" and I hear the gun.  Great.  Not only am I slow already, but now I'm starting behind everybody.

 

It turns out I only missed a couple of minutes.  Mile 1 was clocked at 13+ minutes.  Mile 2 was a 12+ minute pace (24:00 overall, 24-13 is 11:00, so I was right on pace).  Mile 3 came by and I had settled in to my 11:00 pace with no ill effects from the mad dash to the starting line.  My only real disapointment on this thing was that there was nobody to pass at the end.  I was well ahead of the folks behind me and well behind the folks in front of me.  It was just me and the road...  with an impressive final kick.  I always unload the gas tank at the end.

 

It was cold.  It was early.  I didn't really want to be there.  The people on the bikes didn't really help...  I wanted to switch places with them soooo bad.  They thought I was joking.  But what it boils down to is that I really don't want to fail at the marathon and that "don't want" trumps a lot of others.  Things like this don't have to be a "want to", they're a "have to" otherwise that bitter sting of failure is waiting just a few days away.  I had to do this.  I'm glad I did.  I really want to complete the marathon so that I don't have to do it again.

 

I did manage to pass Holden on the course.  Small comfort since he was battling injury the whole time (you rock, dude, I'd have said "screw it" long ago) and he passed me again later never to be seen again.  Jon's a great cheerleader, so is Steve (even if I didn't see him until the very end).  And, for what it's worth, it helps to know there's people who will notice if you back out of a run to keep you racing toward the start line when you're running late and the "go home" urge is building in your gut.  Cassie and Jessica were handing out water and gatorade right around mile 8+, 12+, and 16+ (one station, 3 loops).  I had to make sure I was running when I approached that water station so I wouldn't look too bad.  That water was always the coldest and the gatorade was always the ade-est.

 

All in all, I'm not disapointed and I'm glad I participated.  Plus I got a medal.  It's just another brick that goes into the wall of a finished marathon.  It's one more step along the way to a seemingly insurmountable goal that's so far off and abstract it's hard to really conceptualize how big and how hard it is.  If the marathon was today, I don't think I'd be able to finish.  But I do think I'm on the right track.  I like my chances.  1 more week of hard training then the taper can begin.

 

Tomorrow's schedule--nothing.

Tuesday--Nothing.

Wednesday--3 or 6 miles.

Thursday--nothing

Friday--3 or 6.

Saturday--6 miles at least.

 

Even odds on me actually doing any of those runs.