I got up supper early at 4:30am to take a shower, eat some food, relax some, get my things together and generally wake up. I'm pretty sure I should have eaten about twice as much but more on that later. I had plenty of time so I went to the office downtown, did some work and generally tried not to stress out too much.At 6 I got my stuff together and met my fantastic Mother downstairs and started walking down to the start line close to the waterfront. I was planning on bringing my iPod Shuffle but I (like a fool) left it charging at work and didn't realize until too late.
Mom and I chatted and wondered down to the start. There were a ton of people on the streets. All the Star Bucks locations were open where spectators and racers were enjoying an early morning coffee. About 6:45 I started to get my heart rate monitor strap and brace on. Mom took all my warm up stuff and this pic as I'm about to head out. I still have my warm up pants on but I'm ready to rock! Go #5035!I made my way through a sea of walkers and other runners till I found the 4 hour 15 min group. I wanted to do 4 hours but given how the international traveling had messed with my training plan I decided that 4:15 was more realistic.
We waited for out wave start and I nervously made a few new friends. Running in a sling give people something easy to talk about. It's not every day you get to see the Left Arm Bandit!
Off we went and I started my brand new Garmin Forerunner 405. The day before when I was getting all my running stuff together I noticed that my old heart rate monitor was on low battery. So I went out and had the battery replaced. At 8pm that night I took a look at it and the screen was blank with the back light on. That's not good! I reseated the battery and nothing. I have to have a heart rate monitor to run effectively. So I jump into the car and head out to REI.
Of course they don't have the Polar model I've been training with so I decide that I might as well bite the bullet and get a Garmin as Stephan recommend.
For first 2 miles or so I was a little stiff. I fell back from the 4:15 pace group and focused on loosing up and running smooth. At about Mile 2 I saw Mom cheering on the sideline. She tried to take a picture but had the camera turned the wrong way. In her defense she's not the first person to do that :).
We headed up Harrison from Front Street and I started to feel a lot better. The 4:15 group was in view and I decided that I needed to catch them before mile 10. I increased my pace some as we headed back down Barber Blvd. Back down along Front and I'm slowly pulling them in. At the 9 mile turn I catch them. Sweet 1 mile sooner than I wanted to.
Right about this time it starts to rain, well Oregon mist. The course takes me up through NW and out to highway 30. About this time I'm feeling great. Just floating along. Drew and Matt are parked along the course and cheer me on. I give them a leaping fist pump Hood to Coast style.
Just before the St. John's Bridge at about mile 17 I'm running with a large group and I get forced into a huge puddle. The rain has really picked up and my feet get wet all the way over my ankles! The rest of the marathon I'm running with a lovely squish, squish sound.
In retrospect I should have taken it a little easier on the hill up to the St. Johns Bridge, but I attacked it. Later I paid for it. After the bridge I re assessed my energy reserves and decided to slow down a little and let the 4:15 pace group catch me. I was about 2 mins ahead of them.The high teen miles are a little harder. I run past my parents house where John and my Dad are waiting. Dad runs with me a little of the way and takes this picture. They head Downtown to watch me finish and I soldier on.
At Mile 21 the wheels just come off. Tired turns to exhausted turns to mental fatigue. I see the 35k marker and then head downhill towards Swan Island. Running downhill with shot legs is not easy. At the bottom I had to stop and stretch my legs, twice. I hardly remember anything about the remaining 5k except 2 things. First Some guy yells, "Only 5 more blocks" and My thought is, "Might as well be 5000". Secondly I've always sprinted the finish of every race, I've ever run, road, rowed, etc. I tried to sprint at the end of this but frankly simply could not move my legs any faster.
Here's The finish
I made it in 4:27:38 but my break down cost me 12 minutes.
After the race the wrapped me in this warm space Blanket. There was tons of food, chocolate milk, grapes and more. I could hardly force anything down. I should have tried to eat but I didn't have any food till 5pm that evening. As soon as I did I felt much better. Next Time I eat right away.
At the finish John and Dad had some dry cloths for me to change into and then they took me home where I had an amazing hot shower.
First Marathon, Lots of lessons learned and I'm looking forward to the next one!
