I just finished the Country Music Marathon 2004 yesterday. I feel
pretty good, considering. My wife and I walked 2 miles in the rain to
get to the start. We got there about an hour early. They announced
severe weather was coming in and they marched us to a nearby parking
garage. Just before the race they let us out. I got to my starting
coral (number 13) and then they made us stand in the rain for 30
minutes while we waited for all the important people and politicians to
give their speeches or something. I really couldn't hear any of it.
There were over 10,000 people in the race and coral 13 might have been
13,000 people back from the start.
Finally the race started. Of course we just stood there for about 5
minutes waiting for the giant army of runners to get moving. It was
wild watching everybody cheer about getting underway. It was amazing
watching all the rain gear get tossed to the sidelines. It was like
watching the wave in a stadium, only it was clothes flying in the air.
I crossed the start line about 10 minutes after the starting gun,
which, by the way, failed to go off.
The rain stopped just as the race got underway. By that time, I was
completely soaked. My shoes were very heavy with water. By the end of
the race, they were like blister covered prunes. The race started at
about 60 degrees and ended at about 75. Too hot for me. My stomach was
too nervous to eat before the race. I only had 4 power gels during the
race. Two of those were given out at aid stations. It saved me from
digging them out of my pack.
There were so many people. I just couldn't believe it. Immediately
after the start of the race, the 5:00 pace team started threading in
and out of the crowd to maintain pace. I think there were a lot of
people that made false claims to get into a faster starting coral. It
took a whole lot of energy to work my way through all those people. I
had many people bump me and trip me, but I know they couldn't help it
because of all the people. It was bumper to bumper traffic up to mile
10. I finally decided that if I was going to make my 5:00 finish, I
would have to move up to the 4:45 pace team, which I did. To keep up
with them through all the traffic, I moved in front of them from time
to time and then waited for them to pass. At mile 10, I was with the
2:30 half marathon pace team.
I got to see the Kenyans at mile 7 or so. It was great to see the
race leaders. They were really moving. We all cheered for them. The
winner was Luke Kibet at 2:14:11.
I took a camera and took pictures along the route. I can't wait to see what the pictures look like.
I exchanged places many times with a guy who was almost as tall as
me (I'm 6 foot 8) but he was walking. He ended up finishing ahead of
me. I think he must have maintained the 5:00 pace throughout. I wish I
would have asked his name. I tried walking with him for a bit. I could
do it, but it wasn't what I had trained at, so I went back to running.
I saw a lot of Team In Training ladies and a few men along the way.
I guess it gives them more purpose for their running, but it seems like
they could have come up with a better name considering it was mostly
women.
There were bands at every mile. I enjoyed having them there, but I
would be long past them before they could finish one song. One of the
bands had a guy blasting on a tenor sax. I enjoyed that one and wish I
could have stayed for a while.
About mile 21, a friend caught up to me. There was a group of us
running the marathon and half marathon that work for the same company,
Cubic Transportation Systems, who, by the way, paid our entrance fee.
Anyway, the lady from Cubic that he was running with had to drop
because of nausea. He was the picking up the pace to 7 minute miles. By
that time I could tell that I was fading fast. He passed me and moved
on to finish sub 5.
I maintained pace until about mile 22. I was right with the 5:00
pace team, but I had to let them slip away. I faded really fast from a
combination of lack of eating, dehydration, nausea, heat, humidity, a
rubbing shirt, and very blistered feet.
Somewhere between mile 21 and 23 I saw another friend from work. He
was several miles ahead on an out-and-back. He looked to be running
strong. I tried to smile and shout a few words of encouragement, but I
feel like it probably looked like a grimace and sounded like a mumble.
I drank at every water and gatorade station along the way, but I
still got very dehydrated by the end of the race. By mile 22, my legs
turned to rubber and I was very dizzy and weak feeling. I was very
dehydrated by the end, and slowed down to keep from passing out. In the
last miles I passed a couple of people lying on the side of the road.
They had people attending them, so I moved on. An ambulance passed
about mile 23 and asked if I had seen somebody passed out back there. I
saw several people throwing up around mile 24. I walked quite a bit
between mile 22 and 26. Then I ran it in. I had saved about all I had
to do it. The walk back to the hotel was pretty tough. All together I
probably traveled over 30 miles on foot. I could almost count this
marathon as an ultra.
I finished the race with 6 power gels and 2 Cliff bars in my butt pack. I hate to think that I carried all that the whole race.
I finished in 5:28. My other marathon was Chickamauga 2003 and I
did 5:07 officially (I thought it was 5:17). I figure I did well
considering. I really feel like I can break 5:00 next time. I just have
to be more intelligent about my racing.
When I got back to the hotel, I was so glad it was over. I was so
dehydrated that I had camel pee, if you know what I mean. It took about
3 hours to get my fluid levels back. I had a couple of incidents of
very tight leg cramps during that time. They would just come on huge
and sudden. It was hard to overcome. I basically had to get up and put
my weight on them to pull the cramp out.
Lesson's learned: Eat before the race. Maybe even gatorade a couple
of hours before to load up. Don't walk so far to the start of the race.
Take some antacids or something to quench the stomach acid. Force the
power gels, even if it feels bad. Don't waste so much energy at the
start of the race weaving through the crowds. Go ahead and wear
moleskin on the nips. The little patches showing through the shirt are
better than the alternative.
