I ran a Marathon today ...

Well really, I ran a marathon Sunday 9/25/11, the Bellingham Bay marathon ... This was my first marathon.  This is no new news to anyone that has been following my blog of course, as I have been writing about training for this marathon for the last three months.  And although my first though was to write a mile per mile report, as I snooped around some of my unpublished  drafts I found one article dated 8/5 titled “crisis of confidence” I never published.  I had all forgotten about the day I felt I lost the will to see this through.  So here I am a day after I ran a marathon reading about the day I though the goal I set was unreachable ... Unreal ...

I was a little sore in my quads but much less than just following the finish when I could barely walk-up stairs following the race lol.  There are rumors pictures were taken while I was hunched over the steps one steps at a time carried by SGF ...  The soreness in marathon runners isn’t from the accumulation of lactic acids but from the tearing of the muscle during the event.  Unfortunately ... I also caught a cold while running.  This isn’t uncommon for runners as the intensity of the training and the race itself lowers the immune system.   So four days later, after the soreness is gone, the tenderness in my bones is gone, and now that I am over this cold, I am feeling great physically and mentally.  The human body is an incredibly complex machine that rebuilds itself ready for a new challenges ...

The morning of the event was cold, rainy and dark ...  The ride to the start line at the Lummi Community Center felt never ending.  SGF dropped me off at the pick up point around 5:45 am ... I was now seated with 50-60 hardcore runners of all skills and ages and as we twinned through the course on back country roads I suddenly felt over-whelmed by a feeling of panic in the deafening silence that surrounded us in the bus.  I though to myself how nearly similar to what I felt on rides to altitude when I skydived.  The feeling quickly subsided as we reached the Lummi community center.  I felt everyone’s energy and excitement, and couldn’t wait to get to the start line!  Here is a picture of the pre-race blessing ceremony:

The first few miles along the Lummi Bay are just visually stunning.  For one can get lost in the scenery for many miles, helping clearing the way mentally to the challenge ahead.  Windshear from the strong winds from the East made for a cool start.  The race continued along the same country roads I ran on a few weeks back so I was cruising along going through the next waypoint from my memory of the training run I did on the course.  I was focusing a bit on my pace too.  Race pace wasn't as important for this race.  As my first marathon my ultimate goal was to finish the race.  I let my body dictate pace.  I didn’t listen to music.  I had to held myself from running faster than 10.5 min a mile, my target pace, until my body reached a comfortable pace at about 10:20 min a mile.  I was impressed that fatigue or pain had not settled in for about 14 miles ... I guess my endurance at slightly faster than training pace has increased quite a bit.  In the past long runs fatigue settled in anywhere between 8 to 12 miles.   

A striking memory from this marathon is surely when as ran across a guy just before mile marker 12 running barefoot ... I was in awe ... I mean ... Barefoot, on a county road?  Barefoot for 26 miles? no way!  Oh and not only was the guy barefoot, he was ahead of me lol ... Later on the trail portion I ran pass a half-marathoner that was wearing Vibrams 5fingers ... Impressive, crazy, yet still not as impressing as barefoot guy.  It provided a good distraction ... I needed a good distraction ... Strong head winds impeded the run since mile 11, the “crowned” country road was starting to take it's toll on my ankles.  At one point I even dared thinking that the event wasn’t “that” tough ...

By miles 16-18 I had eclipsed any doubts about the toughness of the event lol ...  Pain in my knees ... pain in my feet ... I soldiered on ... By the time we had merged back on the half-marathon course I was surrounded by yellow BIBS (race number on yellow tags for half-marathon ... Blue for full).  In the sea of yellow a blue stood out at times ...  Past mile 19 on Cedarwood avenue, a by-stander wearing a red wig called out “way to go marathoner! Mile 18!” and It was a huge boost to be singled out like that.  By now I started to feel my body breaking down and by Squalicum Creek Park I decided to take my first 30s walking break.  I knew, from this point on, it was gonna be a run/walk deal.  It was mile 20.  SGF was waiting for me at mile 22.  Before mile 22 I needed to get out this park, reach the waterfront ... Then run along the waterfront to the bridge into downtown .,.. then a couple of turns and it would be mile 22.  With the next couple of miles broken down in manageable chunks I soldiered on ...

At mile 21 my Runkeeper app started going crazy on me.  The GPS output indicated I was at mile 25 when I was at 21 and all I could think is “I wish ...”   Finally I was closing in on mile 22 and SGF.  

After a quick hug and a big smile, I re-booted the race in my mind.  It was now a four miles run to the finish instead of mile 22 from the start ... Behind SGF was the entrance to the S Bay trail ... Little did I know that the coolest part of the run was yet to come ... At about mile 25, on S State Street, running on the left side opposite traffic there was three road bikes coming up on me when I saw one rider extend his hand out for a high five ... I extended my hand out and relaxed my arm to absorb the impact ... we high-fived, then went our separate ways ... the coolest high five to date I though ... There was a definitive degradation of my physical abilities in the last mile yet it wasn't that I was out of stamina rather it was that I was suffering physically more.  I placed 269/443  [See the detailed stats of my race here, BIB 419.]  The winner took the race in 2 hours 31 min.  He is 39 years old ... I was struggling at mile 15 when the winner crossed the same finish ... 

But I think most of us out Sunday were not out to race against each others.  We were out to race ourselves.  Over-achieving runners  ... Why do we put ourselves though this ordeal ? There has been several studies dedicated to studying the experience of the marathon runner.  I am participating in one for this marathon.  I can’t discuss its details yet.  For one I don’t recall contemplating the why before when it comes to running while I have for other things I have done.  Like this summer when I was working toward my skydiving A-license ... I know I wanted to jump ... but earning my license?  Going through it each time?  Was what I though I wanted an over-extension of what I really wanted?  In the end I did jump several times and the experience was unparalleled.  I realized   a 19 years-delayed dream.  I have no regrets, but in the process of pushing the envelope jumping became a chore ... I needed to convince myself that it was what I wanted to do, each jump.  I didn’t need to keep doing it.  In contrast, a mile out to the finish, I knew I would make to the finish ...  As I worked through the pain of the last few miles, I never doubted what I wanted was to complete this marathon and run more after this one.  No doubts or hesitation I just did what I had to do to finish.

And that is how I ran a marathon, four days ago.  I was already signed up for my next marathon before even starting my first one:  Las Vegas Rock and Roll :D