Notes
This was an exceptionally fun experience, but it was very nearly an absolute disaster. For a race description, skip to the last three paragraphs of this log. To read about my near disaster, start here.
I realized the night before that I had forgotten my caffeine pills, which, for a 6am race are actually pretty necessary. Carina and I also were reading through the race info and realized that even though the race gives you gear bags, you weren't actually allowed to bring them on the shuttle busses to the start line, meaning if you brought a water bottle to the start you'd never get it back. We scoped it out on Google maps and found a 24h Walgreens pretty much on the way from our campsite to the shuttle location she was going to drop me off at, and figured we could make a quick stop there on our way in the morning. I woke up at 3:55, ate a banana and a granola bar immediately, and then we left at approximately 4:15. We found the Walgreens and I ran in and grabbed a couple bottles of water and the caffeine pills and was heading to the register when I heard a woman hysterically (and very loudly) crying. I came out of the isle to see the cashier hugging said women and attempting to console her as she went on about how she had schizophrenia, brain damage, and was hated by God and condemned to hell. It was a lot of stimulation for me to take in at 4:25 in the morning. The cashier eventually stated checking her out, as she explained that she was one of the "mystic beans" which are, apparently, in possession of the highest form of healing energy. However, this particular woman was also a member of a certain clan - the name of which escapes me at the moment - which is particularly prone to bad luck, hence why she had been homeless for the last three years and was hated by God. Although it genuinely felt like half an hour, this probably went on for 6 or 7 minutes as the Mystic Bean explained all this to the cashier and attempted, unsuccessfully, to remember her pins to 3 different cards she was trying to use. Ordinarily, this scenario would have been comedy, but since I was in a decent hurry it really pissed me off. I was giving out all the signs of being in an extreme hurry - sighing loudly, moving my items up closer to the cashier, etc. - in hopes that he would just check me out ahead of this lady. Finally, the cashier turned to me and said, "Oh, you can just have the pharmacist check you out in the back, you know." Are you freaking kidding me. I sprinted to the back of the store and finally got out of there. Moral of the story: Don't ever, under any circumstances, go to Walgreens at 4:25 in the morning.
As we approached the shuttle bus pick up location, the traffic was pretty heavy as we were now arriving way later than we had wanted. I hopped out on the side of the highway and just ran the rest of the way and let Carina go park since her race was later. As I was getting close, I saw a line of empty busses and though, "cool, this is easy." I started heading towards the busses and noticed that everyone was going the opposite direction, which confused me. I asked an official-looking guy and he told me to follow the people to the line to get on the busses. The line initially didn't look too bad, but it snaked into a parking ramp and each time I thought I was at the end, I'd get to another level and the line would turn the corner and go up another level of the ramp. At this point it was after 5, less than an hour to race time, and I genuinely thought I was screwed. I was a bit in denial that this could possibly be the right line, and I wondered if it might be the line for the scenic train for the marathon or something, so I asked several people who were all like, "yep, haha, it's pretty long, huh?" Haha. Great. It turns out it was, indeed, the right line.
I eventually got on a bus at about 5:28. After we were all on, the driver turns around and asks, dead serious, "So does anyone know directions to where I'm taking you?" I was speechless. The guy next to me goes, "isn't that supposed to be your job." "Right, I'll just follow the busses ahead of me." I spent the bus ride mentally preparing to run the race from the back of the masses and have to dodge people the whole time.
The bus dropped us off at 5:47 at the back of the corral that, at this point, contained approximately 6000 people. I threw good manners out the window and just started shoving my way through. It was slow going. The corral was lined with port-a-potties, but the lines to use them were incredibly long. I had to pee super badly, but I figured top priority was to get up to the front and I'd just pee my pants if necessary. At 5:54 I had made it to what appeared to be the last group of port-a-potties before the starting line, and decided to try and use them, since I was close enough to the start line to feel like I could get there pretty quickly. I managed to use the bathroom and get to the line with about 3 minutes to spare. I did one run out, fixed the lacing on one of my shoes, and we were off.
The starting official had the elites step up the line. I didn't have elite entry, but I was like, F-it, and I stepped up with them. We started and I got absolutely dropped in the first 800 meters. I looked at my watch and saw 4:35 pace and slowed up, expected everyone else to do the same, but they just kept charging forwards. I went through the mile in 4:58...about 15 seconds faster than I was planning on...and started counting people ahead. I estimated I was in about 25-30th place, but I was not in contact with anyone and was at least 10m back from the pack ahead of me. I also glanced behind me and saw 3 guys back there, but then a huge gap to the next pack. People were literally pity clapping for me and yelling stuff like, "you can do it man!" and "Don't give up!" I was really regretting starting with the elite field and was having visions of running the entire race alone somewhere in the void between the elites and the rest of the runners. It turns out, even in half marathons, people are idiots and go out way too hard. At about 2.5 miles I had regained contact with some guys. Also, the three guys that were behind me packed up with me and we started rolling together which was awesome. For the majority of the next 4 miles, this mid-30s looking guy and I lead that pack, which got bigger as we passed people who would latch on. I tried to ease up to sit in the pack a few times and let someone else lead, but I felt worse every time I did that so at some point I just decided to stay at the front. Around 7.5 miles, mid 30s guy made a significant move and the pack completely fell apart. One guy from the pack went with, and I accelerated to try to maintain contact but lost about 12 meters on them because I wasn't willing to throw that much into a move yet. It must be noted that the mid 30s guy was wearing a Run N Fun Jersy, which reminded me of Ben Coleman, and made me extremely determined to beat him.
The next 2 miles actually ended up being really fun, because a lot of people were dying at that point, and I was still feeling pretty good. I'd roll by someone and then set my sights on the next guy in the distance and start working on him. 9 miles is right at the bottom of a significant hill - about a half mile long - which takes you up into downtown Duluth. I regained contact with mid 30s guy and the other guy with him right about there, which was clutch because I had some people to work with climbing the hill. At the top of the hill, I made my move and tried to push the downhill a bit. Those guys went with at first but I by the time I was at the bottom of the hill I didn't hear them behind me anymore. There was only one more guy that I could see ahead of me at that point, and he came back to me really quickly, so I was alone for the last couple miles. With about a mile to go, I started feeling very dead. My legs got pretty heavy and I started getting nervous about locking up. The last mile has a lot of sharp turns and a really short, steep, downhill which was the last thing my legs needed at that point. I glanced back on one of the turns and realized that no one was catching me at that point, so I was able to focus on just getting to the line. For some reason, there were no officials at the last turn and since the guy ahead of me had like a minute gap on me, I had no idea where to go. I started yelling, "where do I go!" and throwing my hands up and at the last second some lady appeared and told me to take a right. That whole thing cost me a few seconds, which was actually pretty annoying...really no excuse for that in an event this big.
For the last 5 years, I have had the goal of eventually running at the Olympic trials. For the last 3, I've have had the notion that the event to do it in might be the marathon. This race affirmed that as a real possibility. I am beyond grateful to have had this opportunity, and to be able to walk away with some clarity on my future in this sport. Marathon training block upcoming.