Well, I did it. I completed the Houston Marathon. I'm going to do my best to keep this blog post scale tipping towards the positive side of things... but bear with me - I do need to vent a little bit.
So, let me start over... I DID IT! I completed the Houston Marathon which officially marks my second full marathon all before hitting 30!
... Better?
I started training in the beginning of July of 2009 for this race. So 4,5,..6+ hrs on race day doesn't even begin to cut it for what sort of time is committed to this endeavor. Sacrifices are made - Sleep, time with friends, time with family... and a little over 6 months of my life all leading up to this one day.
My goal? A finish time of 5:30 or better. Originally I was shooting for 4:30, but after doing some math late in the game, I realized how unreasonable that would be considering my first marathon in Alaska was around 5:55. So, improving my pace by about a minute per mile was still a feat to hit 5:30. My goal pace was to try to stay between 10:17/mi (a 4:30 finish time) and 12:35/mi (a 5:30 finish time). For the most part I was staying on average at around an 11:30/mi pace.
Per my sister's advice (the well-coached, seasoned athlete) I ran intervals of 6:1's meaning - 6 minutes of running, 1 minute of rest. This was working well until around mile 15 or 16.
Everything blew up on me... my legs stiffened up, my feet began blistering, my eyes stung from the salt infusion, I had digestion pain, and my head started hurting. I tried to start back to running, but when I did a muscle would tweak up on me and the last thing I wanted to do was to get an injury that would set me back from getting back to running in the next week or so.
I saw my dad soon after my "wall" and he walked with me and even jogged with me for a bit. His presence gave me enough of a boost to start back at a jog... even though I quickly faded after leaving him. Around mile 17 or 18 I saw Melissa and her parents and she walked with me a while too. (On a side note... this race was hard for her AND me as it's the first race we haven't done together. Aside from the Nike women's marathon, but that doesn't exactly count - I'm kinda D-Q'd from that one :-) As Melissa came alongside me I began letting out the tears as I saw my goal disappearing from the horizon. Her smile and positive spirit helped me feel okay about letting it go, but it still hurts to think about it. She encouraged me with how I was just accomplishing something that a lot of people can't even claim... "Who CARES about a 5:30! You're DOING it!!!"
My family is stupendous. Being part of the race support team is no light task. There is a LOT of planning that goes into the kind of race-watching that my family does. With all the street closures, and routes to figure out it can be quite an undertaking. The watching guide that my sister emailed out proved to be an invaluable resource. My parents went around the course on bicycles to catch us at various points along the way, while Melissa and her parents drove around to different spots to do the same. I got a high five from Larry at one of the watching points and loved it!
I really felt like I had two sets of parents this past Sunday. Two Moms, Two Dads, and the most incredible partner I could ever ask for in life. Each of them are unique in the way that they cheered for me and love me... but the bond that is there is, SO deep. I couldn't be more thankful for the family that I have.
There were so many times during the course when I just wanted to see someone that I know... and knows me. It's a kind of loneliness that is hard to describe.
Just before mile 9 is where the Half Marathoner's course does a U-Turn. I actually got to see Lisa and Ashley as they were heading towards me. Pretty cool! Once I passed the U-turn though, it was a completely different race - Less people on the course, less people cheering, and it is where the loneliness began to set in. It did help that my friend, Travis, was just past the turnaround point. He actually got a picture of me when I still felt somewhat decent!
By the end of the course though... I can assure you, I did NOT look this upbeat. Having to walk the majority of the last 8-10 miles, having missed my goal (AND my Alaska time) by a lot, having heard "Funky Town" being blasted over WAY too many PA systems, and having been tailed by an extremely unprofessional and RUDE police officer that was closing the course... Well, it left me as a hull of a person filled with physical pain, anger, frustration, and bitterness. I managed to finish before they closed down the field, and what do I get for all this hard work? Nothing. That's right... no medal, no finisher's shirt, no race mug, no shiny emergency blanket to keep warm after the race. I got someone writing down race bib numbers with a promise that it would be mailed to me. Talk about salt in the wound. This was after being followed by a Houston Police squad car that was courteously (can you sense the sarcasm?!?) ushering the runners along by constantly nagging them over his bull horn. Not to mention the fact that he was calling out to his friend to asking if they had "his crown royal." COMPLETELY unprofessional. The whole end left a really bad taste in my mouth where I may not do Houston again. (I probably will... but that's how I feel while things are fresh. Time does amazing things for forgiveness).
This may be a little retroactive to write about the beginnings at this point in the blog... but I wasn't quite sure where to fit it in. At least this way... we can end things on a positive note - even if it's the beginning:-) So, I woke up around 3:10am the morning of the race in order to eat and get everything ready to leave by around 4:30. Melissa was a trooper in every way about this... not to mention the fact that she was having to deal with her own emotions that morning of not doing it with me. I got a good night's sleep on Friday night and Saturday night prior to race day. Once Melissa and I got settled in at the George R. Brown convention center, I stretched and felt pretty great. Lisa and Ashley were actually able to meet us there and we had a great visit. I even got to hear about Ashley first cyclocross race. AWESOME! I need to get back on my wheels to be able to do that again this fall.
The night of race day, Melissa and I went to bed around 7:30p and slept for about 12 hours. Yesterday was a day to recuperate. Melissa and I called it our "vacation day." We watched a couple of movies and just hung out all day. It was fantastic! We haven't had a day like that in a long time. So... what's next on the horizon? Well... finisher's swag in the mail (hopefully), and other than that?
... to be determined.
Greggy-D
