With the hope that the New Year holiday would begin a season
of renewal, I decided to enter a two-day marathon “double” in Allen,
Texas. After a few months of low mileage
and injury recovery, I felt it was time to renew my marathon quest. A pair of marathons, one on New Year’s Eve,
followed by one on New Year’s Day, seemed like a perfect symbolic way to usher
out 2013’s marathons and kick-start 2014.
There was a much deeper, and far more important “renewal”
that made this an important event to add to my calendar. I realized it was time for me to make a
personal renewal, a change in my self that isn’t really possible to properly
express here. I’ve been very blessed
with wonderful friends and family, but this trip gave me an opportunity to have
some time on my own to reflect on the necessary changes. Some of the best times of my life have
occurred during marathon trips where I had a travel partner in 2013, but on
this trip I would be alone, giving me plenty of time to think. I also ran the races alone, instead of pacing
with a friend as I had done in most marathons since May. As one person said, I would have 52 miles to
think of 52 reasons.
Thus it was that I contacted my friend Libby, who is the
Race Director for the New Years Double, and got myself on the registration
list. The New Years Double is a fairly
large event, with 5k, Half-marathon, and Marathon distance races on each
day. Several thousand people turn out,
but the number of runners who tackle the full marathon on both days is about
100. Libby sent me a message saying I
might win, which was nice, but the real win I was looking for was to conquer
the battle inside. I think that may be
why a lot of us who run long distances really run – it’s a way to face our
issues. If you’re a runner, you
understand, if not, go for a run and see what happens.
I arrived a couple of days early, and picked up my race
packets. Two bibs, two shirts, plenty of
pre-race excitement! I noticed it was
very cold in Allen, which was compounded by humidity. I drove out to Celebration Park, where the
race start/finish line would be, and previewed the course with a short
run. The first thing I noticed was that
it was entirely, 100% concrete path. In
Tucson, most paving is asphalt, so I never run on concrete. There is definitely a difference between the
two – concrete is far more abusive to the legs.
The second thing I noticed was that the course is out-and-back…four times! In other words we would be running the same
path, 8 times back and forth, each day.
To some runners this may sound like a nightmarish marathon course, but
others really enjoy it because you are continuously passing other runners of
all speeds.
During my alone time in the hotel room that night, I decided
that I’d make “Simplicity” a theme for life in 2014. Whether I will succeed remains to be seen,
but it seems like a good goal. The Lynard Skynard song, “Simple Man”, came to mind and brought me some peace.
The next day was generally quiet.
I took care of some work responsibilities, and also drove out to the
race site to assist a little with the setup.
Participants in large events like this often don’t realize how much work
goes on behind the scenes. I had some
fun helping Libby and her crew of volunteers, unloading supplies for the finish
line area.
Race Directors have a challenging job, because finishers
expect to receive plenty after they cross the line – water, shirts, medals,
food, etc. When you have thousands of
runners, and two days of racing, that translates to a lot of supplies. After helping I took another short run on the
concrete path. Later that day, some of
the members of the Marathon Maniacs got together for a pre-race carbo load at
the Olive Garden. It’s always fun to
swap stories and share plans with these folks.
The next morning was New Year’s Eve. I was concerned when I saw that the
temperature was a frigid 19 degrees! But
the sun was out, and the wind was calm, so once the run started it was not as
bad as I expected. Cool weather always
tricks me into running too fast, which is always a mistake in the
marathon. I planned to go hard the first
day, with a goal of 3:10 or maybe 3:05 if things went well, but when I crossed
the half way point at sub-3 pace I knew I would not be able to maintain it. I did have fun cheering and high-fiving other
Maniacs as we went out, and back, and out, and back…
I don’t run with a music player, but tunes are always in my
head during a race. Sometimes they seem
random, perhaps based on a tempo that matches my pace, other times the lyrics
have meaning and reflect my thoughts. During a marathon it's not unusual to go through a range of songs, some happy and some sad, as the miles slip by. Some of the songs I remember (linked to YouTube vids if you want to listen) during this marathon were;
My pace did indeed slow, but at mile 20 I was at a pace that
still might have resulted in a 3:10. I
didn’t think I’d be able to hold it though.
Sure enough, around mile 22, I had to stop and walk for 1 minute to
catch my breath. I started up and
slogged on. It was a treat to see my
friend Cathy, who had finished the half-marathon and then rushed out to hand
out water at aid station 23. That gave
me a boost and I worked my way through the rest of the race to finish in
3:20:10. I was not thrilled with that
time, but I was also pleased that my legs did not seem to be destroyed –
important, since I had to do it all again the next day.
When the results were posted, I found that I had placed 6th
overall, and 1st Masters. It
was a little bit comforting to see that the winner ran a 3:02+, he had told me
at the start that he expected a 2:50. So
perhaps the conditions were partly to blame for my bonk. I received a nice prize – two champagne
flutes with the race logo and “Winner” printed on them. And of course, a very nice shiny finisher
medal!
One of the most important things to do when running a double
is to re-fuel properly. After a
marathon, muscles are in glycogen deficit, so loading up on carbs is
crucial. But the protein necessary to
repair muscles is also important. So, my
strategy is just to eat as much as my stomach can handle…simplicity! I ate a LOT.
The next morning, my legs actually felt reasonably good. The real problem was my stomach. Maybe I ate too much the night before! I could not convince myself to eat anything
before the race, and I didn’t take any gels at all during the race. My stomach just felt like it couldn’t take it. Fortunately, that did not seem to hurt me too
much.
I expected to run this marathon slower than the day
before. I started with the goal of
running sub-4 hours. The temperature was
a bit warmer, around freezing, but there was a strong wind so it felt much
colder than the previous day. I really
was not sure what to expect, but when the race began I was pleased to be able
to quickly get moving at about an 8 minute per mile pace. I had expected it to take a couple of miles
for my legs to warm up. That pace felt
fairly easy, so I just tried to keep it.
There were more people ahead of me than the eve race, but it was hard to
tell which were half-marathoners versus full.
During this race, there were a few times when boredom set
in, but those moments were brief because of all the runners and spectators on
the course. The wind was rough at
points, but with the out-and-back it quickly became obvious where those spots
were. One of the most fun things about
this course was that many of us “Doublers” recognized each other on the second
day and were bonded by mutual self-challenge, so there was an awful lot of
friendly encouragement going on between us as we passed again and again.
Although my time was slower on day two, my pacing was far
better and I didn’t stop for any walking.
I finished in 3:32:43 and was again very happy to feel great at the
finish line. When the results came in, I
was surprised to see that I had come in 7th overall. No Masters win this time, but an age group 1st. And surprisingly, I set a new PR for a double
marathon - by just 34 seconds! I was
also very excited to learn that I had the fastest overall combined time for the
double marathon.
We had a great finish line celebration. It really was a fantastic way to start out
what I hope will be a successful year filled with marathons and running
friends. Despite my plans to spend a lot
of alone time, I found that true running friends don't abandon you in the low
spots in life. There were quite a few
people at the event that I already knew, and I also made a bunch of new friends,
and we all had a lot of fun together. I
also had a huge amount of support flowing to me through modern technology -
FaceBook, text messages, etc. I can't
say that I found all the answers, but I definitely was reminded of one of the
best "results" from running - the wonderful friendships!
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