RnR Report, Finally (Long) (Read 521 times)

Sorry for taking so long to post my report and sorry it is so long. We stayed in Cali for a week after the race. Just got back last weekend. I also got engaged, while in San Diego, to the beautiful girl in my profile picture. This was my first marathon so I had lots to say. The other two people are the people I trained with, Matt Crawford is on running ahead, and his girlfriend Holly. We wake up about 4:30. Leave the hotel at about 5:00. We drive to the finish line and then they bus you to the start line. Its only 10 miles away from the hotel, but traffic is terrible. Its weird sitting in traffic on the interstate at 5am in the morning. By the time we park and get on the bus and to the start line its already like 6:10. We have not eaten and I had to go to the bathroom. There are tons of port-a-johns but thousands of people. So, me and Matt stand in line for the john while Holly goes to find food. She comes back a few min. later with bagels. I ate one while in line. Went to the bathroom. Mattc then goes. Now it is about 6:20. We also had to take our bag of gear to a UPS truck designated by our last name, then they would take it to the finish line for us. So, we hurry and find our trucks, and then run to find the corral we are supposed to start in. This was based on your estimated time of finish. We make it to the corral almost simultaneously as the race is starting. Since we are in Corral 16 and there are so many people, we dont actually start moving for about 5 or 10 min. So we use this time to stretch and get loose. Finally we start walking toward the start line (its all you can do with the amount of people). Right about the time we get to the start line you are able to start running. This was not how I wanted things to go. I wanted a good breakfast and time to get ready, oh well. At the start its all fun and games. People laughing, smiling, joking. We are having a grand ole time. We run past the first couple bands. I cant remember any of the songs that were played except I know one band was playing a Bush song. Most bands played covers so it was stuff you had heard. We actually started the race about 6:40 so our time is 10 min. faster than the race clocks we pass. First couple miles we are running about a 12 min. pace. This is about what we wanted. I had calculated it taking us about 5hrs. 30min. There is a person near us carrying a sign on a stick that says 5:30. This was a race pacer. They had these people that would run that pace so you knew that if you stuck with them, then that is about what you would run. We decided we would stick with that group as long as we could. As long as we were close enough we knew we would run about what we wanted. One band we run past is dressed in all bathrobes. This was fitting at 7:30am. They were one of my favorites. Another band was all Navy guys dressed in their Navy uniforms. They were good too. There are water stations approx. every mile. There are Accelerade stations with the water stations about every 2 miles. Then there are First Aid stations about every 4 miles probly. People pull in there to get blisters tended to or for any other medical needs. There are people handing out sticks with Vaseline on them also at these stations. Those would come in handy later on. There are cheerleaders approx. every 2 miles, bands approx. every mile, and spectators pretty much the whole way. Everything is going good at this time. Then it hits me, just after the 5k (3.1mile) mark. Ive got to go to the bathroom. While I didnt get much to eat, I drank too much. It was overcast and about 60 so I wasnt really sweating at this point. I had to go before this but now I really had to go. There are groups of port-a-johns every so often, but there are always lines 10 deep at them. I couldnt see standing in line for 15 min. while the race is going on. Other people would dip into places we ran by and just go behind something. Pretty funny to see people all around veering off course to run through the woods or a park. This included women. Finally I see a port-a-john. Its by itself over by an old fence. There are only 2 people in line! It was like it was sent from God, hidden in the corner. So, I went for it. Matt and Holly said they would stick somewhere behind the 5:30 pace person so I would know how to find them. This had a chance to work out ok. It did not work out ok. Apparently the person in there was dropping a deuce, because after standing there a few min. I still had the same two people ahead of me waiting to go in ( A man and I assume his wife). They are complaining about how long it is taking. Finally the person comes out and I figure ok, they will be in and out. Apparently the lady ahead of me had to take a slam too. She was in there at least 5 min. herself. By this time there were others behind me who as they walked up said the same thing I thought at first, "Wow look at this line, we hit the jack pot!" That shortly turned into, "Ok whats the deal?". The lady finally comes out and her husband is in and out pretty quick. I run in there and out as fast as I can. I get back on the road and try to calculate about how long it took. I didnt have a watch so I didnt know for sure. I figure somewhere around 10 min. My first thought is that I may be lucky to see Mattc and Holly again. At 10 min. behind, even if I ran a minute per mile faster pace than they did, I wouldnt seen them again for 10 miles. That would be about Mile marker 13 or 14. So, I pick up the pace to try and catch up, all while thinking I cant pick it up too much or I wont be able to finish. While running by myself I had a few people yell "Whiteboy" cause I had on my D's Nuts jersey. Throughout the whole race I probly had 10 different people yell. Some runners, some spectators. It was always in an encouraging way. After speeding up for maybe 2 or 3 miles, I realize I have to slow down to normal pace. At this point I concede that it is possible I may run the rest of this thing by myself. Of course you are never truly by yourself because there are runners all around you. The spectators and bands make things positive and gives you something to take your mind off just running. After about 7 miles I start to feel a little discomfort from chafing of the nipples on my shirt. I start to get a little worried because I had a long way to go and I have seen pictures of people who actually have blood on their shirt from nipples chafing so bad. This is where the Vaseline comes in handy. There is a medical station just up the way so I grab a stick with Vaseline as I run by. It does the trick, and feels much better. The road gets very hilly. At this point we are running on some sort of freeway. There are overpasses with people on them cheering everyone on, holding signs for their friends and family. This is always good to see. Now Im about at mile marker 11. I pretty much gave up on seeing mattc and holly again because I figure Im probly running about as fast as they are so Im not really catching up. I think about how difficult it will be to finish this thing without them. On all our long runs, the main thing that keeps you running when you are hurting the most is your friends. At this point Im a little tired but I figure thats ok cause I have just run 11 miles. Only 15 miles left! (I try not to tell myself that). Then all of the sudden, far in the distance I can see a little piece of cardboard on a stick. I knew this was a pace runner, and that 5:30 was the lowest time they offered the pace runners in the marathon. So, it had to be the 5:30 pace runner! I was so relieved. At this point I couldn't see Matt and Holly, but I knew they would still be there, wondering where I was. I slowly got closer and closer, trying not to speed up much. Just having it within eyesight was all I needed to feel at ease. After about a half mile or so I see Matt and Holly. Matt was easy to spot because he had a neon running had and he is taller than most. I see them running and turning around looking for me every so often. Finally ,about 8 miles after I had to use the bathroom, one time Matt turns around and I wave my arms and he sees me. After about another quarter mile we are all re-united and running together as planned. It feels great. I start really feeling tired around mile 12. I keep telling myself that its not bad and that I will get to see Melissa(my girlfriend now, but fiance after the next night in San Diego) at about the 13.5 mark. She is supposed to take a taxi from the hotel to this street corner, and then later a trolley ride to the finish line. I gave her a window of about 30min. that we should be running by. We reach the halfway mark (13.1 miles). If feels good to know we are halfway there. Then around the 13.5 mark, as planned, I hear Melissa call my name and there she is. We give her high fives and she takes some pictures of us running by. You dont know how much little stuff like that lifts you up when you are tired, and weary. Seeing her there to cheer for us really gives us a boost. We continue on counting down the miles. We run past Sea World, then through some neighborhoods. We go past a sign that says beware of Pirates. There are high school cheerleaders dressed as pirates along with some adults cheering us on, as one of the bands is playing. This stuff is cheesy but it takes your mind off the pain even if its only a second. Just before the next water station is a group of spectators handing out orange slices to the runners. This is nice, knowing they are freely standing in their yard giving out oranges. We make it to mile 15, then 16. Only 10 miles left. Slowly comes miles 17, then 18. Now it just hurts. The sun has popped out since about mile 14 or 15. Now its hot. Its completely different. No one is out of breath, we arent even breathing that heavily, but my body is hurting from my toes to my shoulders. Every step gets harder and harder to pick up your legs and keep running. Finally at around mile 19.5 or so, Holly has to go to the bathroom. Matt and I decide to walk while she is in there and just let her catch up. This is instead of standing there waiting on her while our legs tighten up. Its hurts more if you stop and have to start back. So we walk and Holly catches back up. Before we start running again Matt starts to feel really bad. He says he is real light headed and kind of dizzy. So we dont start running yet. Frankly, I didnt mind walking a little longer myself. This was the first time we really walked, and our goal was to not walk. Running through cramps, blisters, and fatigue is what you have to do, but its not safe to try and start back running when you are feeling light-headed, dizzy, and nauseous. Matt takes another gel. I had taken about 3 up to this point, mainly because I had no food in my stomach and kept getting hungry. Hunger is not a good feeling when you are in the middle of running 26.2 miles. I took one about every 6 miles. I cant think of one now without feeling sick, I took 4 total. Even walking out here isnt fun. You know how far you have left and the sun just gets hotter. We see a sign for mile 21 on a bridge ahead. Shortly after that we start running again. Wow, it hurts worse now after the walking. My knees have never really hurt before and now its like someone is stabbing the side of my knees with every step. 5 miles left. Now at every water station Matt and I dump water on our heads to keep cool. Your head is always hot again by the next station, only a mile away. Then we hit mile 22 and 23. Only 3 miles left!. I calculate that we will be to the finish at about 1pm. This will be somewhere around 6hrs. As we run over a bridge it is amazing to see a couple thousand people that are still behind us doing their best to finish. I think to myself just how many people are in this marathon. At the time we started running again, I thought there was no way we could run all the way to the finish. That we would have to start walking again at some point. Maybe if we could make it to mile 23 we could walk a mile and run the last two. Now as we near mile 25, I know that we are going to finish this thing through, and we are going to run it out. There is a guy sitting on a street corner who has already finished, watching everyone run buy and offering encouragement. As I pass two girls, who are also running, he tells them good job, almost there. They ask for him to show is medal (each person that finishes gets a medal). He holds it up and says,"Go get yours! ". I think to myself,"Sweet, I forgot we get a medal." and it takes my mind off of running for another second. As we get about a half mile from the finish line, Matt, Holly, and I are running together, and we can hear a guy on the loud speaker who is at the finish line. We run through the gates of the Marine Recruit Depot, and start to see and hear the people near the finish line. We wonder aloud how much farther is it? The last mile seems forever, but we know we are almost there. I'm hoping that I will be able to see Melissa in the crowd when we near the finish. There are so many people. As we turn the corner we see the finish. There are bleachers on both sides and people cheering for the runners. It happens that when we finish there arent many people around us. I hear Melissa, and run to give her a quick high five and she takes pictures as we run closer to the finish line. I actually get a little emotional and look at Matt and Holly, and Holly is crying. People in the crowd, who have no clue who we are, cheer for us and yell as we finish. 6 hrs. 12. min. 39 secs. We can finally stop running. It was almost like a dream. Did we really just go that far? Is it really over? There were times when it seemed endless, and now we have done it. We walk over and someone hands us iced towels and water, and then people are waiting to put the medals around our necks. The pain hurts worse when you stop, but it is so sweet when your finished. In the end we didnt care about a time. We didnt care that we walked about a mile and a half. We only cared that we finished and that we completed the marathon.

What a great report...you really conveyed the emotion of the weekend so well! And a BIG congrats on your engagement--what a romantic way to spend the days after your big race accomplishment! That marathon sounds so nice. Maybe that will be one I'll try in a few years, assuming I get bit by the marathon bug. k

wow! congrats! great race report...it got me all choked up. Congrats to you and your new fiance!

Strong work hanging in there through those tough miles. I had the same emotions through the race and at the finish. Sounds like your training and friends payed off in the end. Congrats! DB

i'm glad you posted a race report. great story- you did it!! congratulations on your engagement, too. if you can run a marathon, you can make it through the wedding planning!

Congratulations on the race, and the engagement.