In the past 3 days, I ran 26.2 miles, drove 1204 miles, and walked at least 10 miles around a pretty cool city. Alas, I have returned home... a Chicago Marathon finisher.
Me, sleepless in Chicago (photo props: alex)
Story below!
Race day (Sunday October 22, 2006) was bloody cold & windy (around 40’s with 20 mph winds) and there were runners everywhere! Even the spectator turn out was overwhelming and I am pretty sure all of Chicago was outside, cheering the runners on. The course was relatively flat, and very scenic. I honestly cannot recall much more than Mile 12 being the hardest. Mile 12 is when my energy depleted, there was a stabbing pain in my right ankle (I have an RA nodule the size of a ping pong ball on the joint, I have been hesitant in seeing my doctor about it) and my attitude suuuuucked. I remember seeing a medical tent and having to fight off the temptation to walk over and surrender. After ingesting my 2nd gu pack (blech!) I managed to convince myself to stay in the race by “power” walking. Prior to walking, I was actually looking at a between 5:15 – 5:30 finish… but I did not care. After a person dotting “cancer survivor” ran by me I kept a steady pace of “power” walking until the finish.
With the minimal amount of training that I had, my objective was just to finish below the 6:30 (14 minute mile) cut off. (That is when they start to close the course and open the streets back up to traffic) I finished at 5:45:24 - placing 31,302 out of 33,633 finishers (40,000 were registered for the race). Ha, it’s kind of funny to say “I came in 31,302nd place!” but it is true. 5:45:24 is almost 1 minute less than my personal best marathon time. Go figure.
My finishing thoughts? “It is over!’ (No post marathon melancholy here!) “I am covered in snot!” “I am freaking freezing!” “Enough Gatorade, where is the f’ing food?” “Oh, man… I got to pee.”
After I passed through the finisher’s corral, I bought a hot dog for $3.50 at the race festivities. It was the best tasting hot dog EVER, and I am still salivating just thinking about it. After that, I stupidly walked the 2 miles back to the hotel (in my sweaty running gear) and spent a few hours in the hotel room… under the blankets, making every attempt to get my body temperature back up. I seemed to be OK in the “soreness” department, but it did take me a few minutes to de-stiffened after sitting for long periods of time (the drive home was a lot of fun while taking breaks at rest stops… while getting out of the car, I looked like Frankenstein. I could no longer feel my ass or right leg from Buffalo to Rochester). I made great time driving into Chicago, but it took a little bit longer to get back to Rochester because IT WAS SNOWING in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Nuts.
Despite actually doing way better than I thought I would – it is hard to not think, well what if I got some sleep Friday night?* What if the weather was a little warmer on race day? What if I did not have that RA nodule the size of a ping pong ball on my right ankle? Excuses excuses, who cares? The fact that I can finish a marathon under 6 hours, with only 1.5 months of training after the health crap I had to deal since my marathon is a feat in of itself. I swear, the mental battle is way more gruesome than the physical portion.
Until next time...
*I cannot sleep in cars (or planes, trains… ). we left 11:00 Friday night and arrived in Chicago 8:30 am (9:30 EST) – I did try to rest for a bit at a rest stop, but it was too uncomfortable. I also tried again later in the afternoon to nap (in my car), but there were too many distractions. I did manage to get an OK night’s rest Saturday night which was surprising (usually it is kind of hard for me to sleep the night before as my mind keeps thinking I am going to accidentally sleep in). I slept really well Sunday night, which kept me alert for the long trip back home.
** that was stupid, btw.
