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| My Girls and I at PF Changs RnR 2011 |
On to the full marathon! Surely these people would be the extreme athletes I expected to see at the half. Once again I saw the same types I did at the half. I had visions of dehydrated Olympic runners stumbling and weaving their way to the finish line. Even though they were definitely more beat up than the half marathoners, they had this sense of accomplishment in their eyes that was addictive. It was amazing to see the different types of runners young, old, dressed in costumes and straight forward runners all relishing in the personal victory they had just accomplished. I decided that day that running a marathon would be one of my bucket list items.
I went home that day thinking that I would give this a shot, and just take it one step at a time (literally). I knew I had to come up with a plan. I sat down with my wife and we talked about what it would take to get started. We did what any middle aged person looking for information would do, we went right to the source, the internet. We looked up how to get started with a running regimen. The crazy thing is after all of the online blogs and advice that we looked up, one theme stood out...just take that first step and keep making that same choice over and over again.
Well, I took that first step and a few others to go with it. I started with a program that was designed to build your running endurance to a level where you could run for 30 minutes straight a without stopping. It starts out with the majority of your workout walking with some running and then builds on the running portion and cuts back on the walking. Once I was able to run for 30 minutes without stopping I looked into different options for training for your first marathon. I settled on n 18 week training schedule that builds you up to a 20 miler and then tappers for the last 3 weeks leading up to the marathon. I started off on my first 3 mile run and had the confidence that I could do it because of the previous training that I had done. Those first few weeks of training flew by and I was coming up on my first real test in my training, my first 10 mile long run.
I knew the 10 miler would be the biggest test of my short running career. I was nervous and excited all at the same time. I had it all planned out, there was a 2.5 mile loop that ran around my neighborhood that was flat and close to home (I didn't want to go out and get stuck out in the middle of nowhere). I would take it slow and one lap at a time. I remember deliberately running slower than my body wanted to go. I would run a lap and then walk for 2 minutes and start off again. I remember the feeling of accomplishment that I had when I was finished. It was the second milestone in a long list of milestones to come. What I didn't know was the effect it was having on my wife and family.
I got home from my run and announced that I had just run 10 miles. My wife was so excited that she went shopping. Now you may be wondering what my wife shopping and me running have in common. Normally they have nothing to do with each other, but in this case when she returned home from her shopping trip she showed me what she had gotten. She pulled out of her bag a new iPod shuffle and a new GPS watch in honor of my first 10 mile long run. She told me if you are dedicated enough to go out for 10 miles you have my support in this new crazy obsession and I hope you see this through. Talk about motivation! I decided at that moment that I needed to at least see this through my first marathon and I could decide then if it was something I wanted to stick with.
Training went as planned after that 10 miler, with my new watch, my tunes and a new confidence that nothing is impossible, I flew through the next weeks of training and was getting ready to take on my first marathon Rock N Roll San Diego (the first in the RNR series). It was a destination race and 6 months after the day I decided to put this race on my bucket list. We decided to make a vacation out of it and came in the middle of the week and went to Sea World. We were traveling with one of the friends we had watched just 6 months earlier. We were going to run it together.
In the days leading up to the culmination of weeks and weeks of hard work I was worried that I wouldn't be rested enough, hydrated enough or ready for the challenge ahead. After all I had only ever run 20 miles in my training and that was hard enough and now I was being asked to add another 6.2 miles to that total. I took some solace that my friend and I were going to run together and he had already run a marathon before so he would know what to do. The day before the race was uneventful. We pretty much hung out in our hotel room or laid around on the beach (our hotel was about 2 blocks from the beach) and played card games while either sipping on a bottle of water or Gatorade. I laid out all of my gear the night before and made sure my timing chip was hooked to my shoe. I was ready, or to naive to know I wasn't ready.
The next morning came quick, after a night of dreams of me getting to the race after everyone had already taken off because my alarm wasn't set, we left the hotel and made our way to the starting line. When we got there the atmosphere was very relaxed. They had music playing and everyone was sitting around talking, stretching, and standing in line to use the porta-potties. We got some bananas and bagels and sat down to stretch. After what seemed like hours (more like 45 minutes) people started to work their way to the corrals. We entered our corral and let the adrenaline take over. We had our plan and I was determined to follow it. My goal was not to run fast, but to finish at all costs.
The starter counted us down and we worked our way to the start of the race. I could feel the adrenaline running through me as we got closer, this is what I had trained 18 weeks for, this was it. We reached the front of the line and took off and immediately headed for the nearest bush (if you've ever run a race you know why). After that detour we set off at a comfortable pace. The plan was to keep the pace at a 10 minute mile and take a one minute walk break at every station. We executed our plan flawlessly (except for the first 100 yards), and got to the 20 mile mark where we met up with our families.
While we were visiting I made a quick assessment of how my body was feeling. I didn't have any cramping, I wasn't about to fall over and die, to be quite honest I felt great. I talked to my friend about taking off for the last 6.2 miles and he gave me the go ahead. I started off as fast as my legs would take me at that point. I was passing people who had spent all of their energy at the beginning of the race. I passed my friend going the other way at a small turn around at about mile 23 and he gave me the thumbs up. I went on not even checking my watch for splits or even knowing how fast I was running. When I got to the point where I had 2.5 miles to go I told myself just one more time around the loop in my neighborhood and I pictured in my head where on the loop I would be as I hit mile markers along the race. I crossed the finish line in just over 5 hours but ran the last 6.2 miles in just under 45 minutes. I had done it, bucket list accomplished that should do it, now I can rest easy and move on to the next bucket list item. Little did I know...
I knew the 10 miler would be the biggest test of my short running career. I was nervous and excited all at the same time. I had it all planned out, there was a 2.5 mile loop that ran around my neighborhood that was flat and close to home (I didn't want to go out and get stuck out in the middle of nowhere). I would take it slow and one lap at a time. I remember deliberately running slower than my body wanted to go. I would run a lap and then walk for 2 minutes and start off again. I remember the feeling of accomplishment that I had when I was finished. It was the second milestone in a long list of milestones to come. What I didn't know was the effect it was having on my wife and family.
I got home from my run and announced that I had just run 10 miles. My wife was so excited that she went shopping. Now you may be wondering what my wife shopping and me running have in common. Normally they have nothing to do with each other, but in this case when she returned home from her shopping trip she showed me what she had gotten. She pulled out of her bag a new iPod shuffle and a new GPS watch in honor of my first 10 mile long run. She told me if you are dedicated enough to go out for 10 miles you have my support in this new crazy obsession and I hope you see this through. Talk about motivation! I decided at that moment that I needed to at least see this through my first marathon and I could decide then if it was something I wanted to stick with.
Training went as planned after that 10 miler, with my new watch, my tunes and a new confidence that nothing is impossible, I flew through the next weeks of training and was getting ready to take on my first marathon Rock N Roll San Diego (the first in the RNR series). It was a destination race and 6 months after the day I decided to put this race on my bucket list. We decided to make a vacation out of it and came in the middle of the week and went to Sea World. We were traveling with one of the friends we had watched just 6 months earlier. We were going to run it together.
In the days leading up to the culmination of weeks and weeks of hard work I was worried that I wouldn't be rested enough, hydrated enough or ready for the challenge ahead. After all I had only ever run 20 miles in my training and that was hard enough and now I was being asked to add another 6.2 miles to that total. I took some solace that my friend and I were going to run together and he had already run a marathon before so he would know what to do. The day before the race was uneventful. We pretty much hung out in our hotel room or laid around on the beach (our hotel was about 2 blocks from the beach) and played card games while either sipping on a bottle of water or Gatorade. I laid out all of my gear the night before and made sure my timing chip was hooked to my shoe. I was ready, or to naive to know I wasn't ready.
The next morning came quick, after a night of dreams of me getting to the race after everyone had already taken off because my alarm wasn't set, we left the hotel and made our way to the starting line. When we got there the atmosphere was very relaxed. They had music playing and everyone was sitting around talking, stretching, and standing in line to use the porta-potties. We got some bananas and bagels and sat down to stretch. After what seemed like hours (more like 45 minutes) people started to work their way to the corrals. We entered our corral and let the adrenaline take over. We had our plan and I was determined to follow it. My goal was not to run fast, but to finish at all costs.
The starter counted us down and we worked our way to the start of the race. I could feel the adrenaline running through me as we got closer, this is what I had trained 18 weeks for, this was it. We reached the front of the line and took off and immediately headed for the nearest bush (if you've ever run a race you know why). After that detour we set off at a comfortable pace. The plan was to keep the pace at a 10 minute mile and take a one minute walk break at every station. We executed our plan flawlessly (except for the first 100 yards), and got to the 20 mile mark where we met up with our families.
While we were visiting I made a quick assessment of how my body was feeling. I didn't have any cramping, I wasn't about to fall over and die, to be quite honest I felt great. I talked to my friend about taking off for the last 6.2 miles and he gave me the go ahead. I started off as fast as my legs would take me at that point. I was passing people who had spent all of their energy at the beginning of the race. I passed my friend going the other way at a small turn around at about mile 23 and he gave me the thumbs up. I went on not even checking my watch for splits or even knowing how fast I was running. When I got to the point where I had 2.5 miles to go I told myself just one more time around the loop in my neighborhood and I pictured in my head where on the loop I would be as I hit mile markers along the race. I crossed the finish line in just over 5 hours but ran the last 6.2 miles in just under 45 minutes. I had done it, bucket list accomplished that should do it, now I can rest easy and move on to the next bucket list item. Little did I know...
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