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FLRC Newsletter - December 2004 |
| Wineglass DNF; Steamtown PR | |
I finally decided to really train for a marathon; this was going to be it, my big year and my best time ever. I trained and trained, and I never missed a day. I was targeting Wineglass again. I’ve run it the last two years, but this year, I really wanted to do well. Unfortunately, I was really ill leading up to race day. I am not really experienced enough to know when not to run, and I was not honest with myself about just how sick I really was. I was throwing up for a few days before and again on Sunday morning, but I thought to myself that I'll only be running for a few hours, and after I get started, I'll forget all about this feeling of sickness... Well, that didn't quite happen. So I felt ill at the beginning, but for me that seems to be the norm. I'm always worried about the race, and I always feel queasy at the start. The problem was that I never started feeling better. But, even as ill as I felt, for the first ten miles my pace was right on. I thought to myself that perhaps this was good, because I certainly wasn't going too fast, but I also wasn't going too slowly. Then, about halfway through mile eleven, the downward slide started. I found myself frequently in the bushes dry heaving, and feeling worse and worse. Very quickly, I realized that the new PR I wanted was out the window, so when I got to the halfway point, I decided to sit down and rest to see if that helped. I did feel a little better, and I made it to mile 14 and sat down again. When I sat down at mile 15 for about ten minutes or so, the sag wagon finally caught up to me. I thought to myself, "wow, this is it, I'm officially last." The guys were really nice and supportive, and they gave me some water. I decided that I didn't want to drop out, so I would continue running, although I would just go really slowly. I passed the last guy (a speed-walker) again, and I was only going a few hundred feet each time before making another trip to the bushes. I was able to keep this up until about 16.5 when I realized the guys in the van were next to me and said something that I couldn't understand and I said something too, although I don't know if it was comprehensible (or even English!). I do remember the guy in the passenger seat jumping up to open the door for me and leading me in. After a few minutes of riding, I realized that I was out of the race, and I was really disappointed. I took the ride to the finish line, where I met a friend. The first time I actually had a fan of my own is the one I didn't finish. RATS!! I continued to feel sick for the rest of the day, and I was only beginning to feel better by Tuesday night.
The good part about having to drop out at that point is that ten miles of running isn't much for my legs anymore, and they weren't sore at all the next day. I realized that if I had suffered through to the end, I would be done for a while. But ten miles of running is like a short training run, so I found myself on the web doing a search for another marathon within driving distance. I saw two for the following weekend, Mohawk/Hudson in Albany and Steamtown in Scranton. The Mohawk/Hudson looked nice, being right along the river, but it also looked very similar to the Wineglass and the Steamtown was a much bigger race, and I've been wondering what these bigger races are like. So I called the race director of Steamtown, and I asked him if I could register at the expo. He said yes, and then asked, "Have you trained for a marathon?" I said I had and I told him a brief version of the Wineglass story. I wasn't organized enough to get a room, so I drove to Scranton both on Saturday to register at the expo and then I got up at 2:30 am(!) again on Sunday for the race. This was a whole lot of driving for me, since I gave up my daily driving commute this past summer. When I got there I was amazed at how it was such a big event, both at the expo and on race morning; there were so many people! And loads and loads of buses on race day morning! I got there very early, but it didn't help because the bus I got on got lost. That's right, the guy I was sitting next to noted that he was a little concerned when the buses in front of and behind our bus were taking a different turn than we did, and I had to agree. With only about 40 minutes to the start and after several U-turns, we finally pulled over at a gas station to ask for directions. The driver gave up on trying to talk to “base,” because he couldn’t hear anything anyway. I was nervous (along with everyone else it seemed) and my stomach was filled with butterflies again and I was certain that this was a bad omen for the race, but luckily we found our way and were the last bus to arrive at the start. Again, there were people everywhere! And since there wasn't a relay, everyone was doing the full race. There were pace groups (I wish I had time to meet with some of the people at the 4:30 pace), and there were volunteers everywhere! Not much time to stretch before I had to get outside to see the helicopter and civil war reenactment group. Here, there were also signs directing people to line up according to average pace, so I stood by the ten-minute mile sign. I figured it was close enough. Oh, and there were announcements! At Wineglass, I'm always surprised that they don't say anything, its just line up and bang. Here the guy talked for a few minutes and wished everyone luck, and he told us about the course, there is a hill at the end, and the sponsors, blah, blah, blah... (enough with the announcements already!). Then the civil war group fired a cannon as the official start gun, it was really neat. Because of all the people, I took about one minute 30 seconds before getting up to the start line, and then I was off! The first few miles were really hilly, so hilly that I actually walked down some of the hills because they were so steep! Lots of people were flying past me in the beginning, but I've learned that I must keep my own pace. The website advertised this as a fast course (and of course a Boston qualifier), but I have to say that much of the middle miles were rolling, not very flat or only downhill as the webpage would have you believe. I talked with people almost the whole way; again, there were so many people! And the spectators were really enthusiastic too. Wow! They were everywhere. I had the distinction of being number 13, so every time someone said "Go 13!", I corrected them and said "I'm Lucky 13!" and then they would cheer on "Lucky 13"! The water stops were lots of fun, too. At one, it was a toga party theme, and they were giving out Jell-O shotsMMMmmmm. At many, there were cookies and candies and all sorts of fun treats! I had to hold back from stuffing myself because two DNFs in one year might make me give up running. But for this one, I really felt good. I factored in some one-minute breaks and they helped me so much that I was already at mile 18 before I even felt anything in my legs. After 18 though, my legs had a lot to complain about. There was a stretch of a few miles that was on the side of a road that was steeply sloped, so my left knee and hip really started to hurt. Everyone else was complaining about the same thing, and I wondered if I should slow down my pace so that I wouldn't get injured. Well, I couldn't do it, I wanted a good time, and I promised myself lots of rest after. So, after several miles of that we were back on flatter roads. I had to stop at the mile-21 aid station to blow my nose, my tissues were gone and I couldn't take it anymore! Then I was off again. At about 22.5 miles, I realized that I was at my Boston qualifying time of 3:40, I still felt great and then I did some calculations and I realized that this was going to be my best marathon ever, by a lot! Then, in mile 23, there was the hill. I finally made it to the top, whew! And I said to the guy next to me, “I don't think I can do that again”. He laughed and told me that there were two more hills to go. Yikes! The hill at mile 24 was the worst! This hill was so steep, and it just went on and on and was just unreal! I could not believe that this was at the end! I think this is the one the director was talking about. There was another hill at the 25-mile mark, and I thought to myself that this course is cruel. Just before the hill at mile 25, a girl from the crowd said, "Hey its lucky 13! I thought you'd be here an hour ago!" "An hour?!?!?" She said Yes, I looked so much better than everyone else for so long, she thought I was faster! Ha! Well, I have to admit that I did enjoy miles and miles of passing people. I said hello to most of the people I passed because from my two other marathons I know what it feels like to be getting slower! I passed one person after another from about mile six right up to that first hill at mile 23. In the end, it really was my best marathon right up to those last hills, they slowed me down so much that I got passed by lots of people on the way up, I really had nothing left, and I think that anyone targeting this race was planning for those hills. Finally I made it to the finish line where there was a huge crowd again, and most of them remembered me! They all yelled out "Lucky 13!!" and it felt really great to be done! I think my final time was about 4:37, faster than last year's 4:41, but still off my targeted time of 4:15 or so. I am happy that I finished one marathon this year, and this was a nice course, with incredible crowd support. Let me put it this way: the outer parts of my upper arms were sore from waving to the people all along the course! However, I would certainly have to say that this course is not a fast one, unless you like steep hills right at the end! I think that this will be my last marathon for a while. (Well, maybe until I get the bug again next year…)
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