First off I want to congratulate all of my friends from City Park Runners. They were (in no particular order but all important none-the-less) Erick, Sean, Tyler, Dan, Ron, Paul, Barry, Travis, Doug, Agata, Dominique, Kathryn, Phaedra, Becky, Josh, Dave, Tracey, Anita.
Race started in the Fargo Dome. I forgot to acquire a sat signal for my GPS prior to the race start, but I did hit start on my Garmin just as I crossed the timing mats but I managed to get signal around the 2nd mile and along with the cadence count it figured out my mileage and pace from mile 1 which was pretty neat.
I along with Barry, Erick and Tyler kept with the 3:50 pace group pretty much to the 12th mile. The first part of the course ran some parts of last year's 10th anniversary course. Erick marveled at the course and city in general as I ran with him for the first 15 miles. Barry and Ron were keeping up with the 3:50 pace group. It was at mile 16 where Erick told me we had to start 'hammering.' He was getting farther and farther ahead of me and I was hammering with a ball peen to his sledgehammer as he started getting farther ahead. I still felt good, and didn't worry too much as I told myself if I can keep this pace (5:35-5:45/km) going I still might be able to get the sub 4.
Then mile 17 came and you had to go up a hill into the neighborhood part of the course. I didn't blast up the hill to save my strength as I used effort more than pace. But as I crested the hill, I threw up all of the Gels and I noticed I didn't digest the scrambled eggs that was being served in the hotel. Funny thing was I never felt sick to my stomach anytime prior to the race.
I got my shit together and started moving forward. Lucky there was an aid station near by as I took pretty much all the water that was being held out to wash out my mouth and re-hydrate. I'm glad I packed 6 gels as i started taking a gel right away to try and get my calories back. I still felt good, but I knew I was losing steam as I started finding it a little more difficult to keep a steady pace but I was still in good spirits.
By mile 22, going through the downtown area, the wall was starting to call out. And the more I was fighting it, the closer it was coming. I finally had to stop and walk. I won't lie, I felt a little dejected and when I saw the 4:00 pace group creep up to me and start passing, I was doing pretty much everything in my mind to keep up with them. It was only after a mile the pace sign started to float away into the horizon.
It was then I thought to myself, my last attempt I blew up at mile 18. This time I was able to go a little more farther. Yes I was going on dead legs and my willpower was dwindling, but I wasn't too down on myself. I thought of my girls and my mom and my dad who passed away a couple of weeks after the Twin Cities marathon. I was looking around for inspiration to make this experience a little lighter, and what I saw made me realize all the pain I'm feeling in my legs was minor compared to this obese lady who was power walking the 10k course along with her race bag behind her. I could see from her expression, the determination in her eyes that she wanted to be there along side the marathoners. Some guys on mountain bikes came riding by and shouted out "Keep on truckin' lady!" and for a brief moment, I thought it was an asshole thing to say, but they turned around and smiled at her. Not maliciously, but with encouragement and I found myself a little emotional at that point.
All the while I was walk/running as I witnessed this and I realized it was mile 25...just 1.2 fucking miles to go and witnessing that made my spirit whole when it was falling to pieces. My body was pretty much broken, but my spirit was put back together and even though I couldn't find that lost speed, I was able to muster my legs to go that last mile (that couldn't stop winding back and forth...like really?!) Of course we had to run around the Fargo Dome which by that point I really wasn't interested in the architecture. There was nobody really in front of me to try and beat for that last surge your body gets when you can see the finish line. But I gave it everything as I was crossing the finish line into the arms of a race marshall (I'm laughing as i writie this!) who caught me asking me if I'm ok. I told her that I puked up at mile 17 (like she cared...) and asked me if I was going to puke again, probably preparing to drop me, but I shook my head and started making my way slowing through the finishing chute.
Pretty fun race.
Official race time - 4:14:30
No comments:
Post a Comment