race report: marathon 2 marathon

(brief disclaimer: this is long. parts are more graphic in their imagery and details than others. skip those if you'd like.)

marathon, tx is a sleepy town. it is also the last place of civilization before you head further south to big bend. finally, it is a beautiful stretch of land, marked by the davis mountains to the west and mesas and ridges surrounding you as you dip and rise over the mostly barren land, save for a few cacti and mesquite trees. at night you can see so many stars that the dust-like span of the galaxy is majestic and awe inspiring.

on a lonely, quiet stretch of two lane highway runners gathered in the pre-dawn light of the morning to prepare to run 26.2 mi. some consider this misery of the purest form. others consider it an exhilaration of what it means to be alive. still others simply can't conceive of why a person would want to devote 3, 4, 5 hours of their lives to the pursuit of putting one foot in front of another for a seemingly endless expanse of pavement, concrete, and blacktop until their legs feel like quitting.

my brother and i chose to run this race after i had come upon it quite happenstance. i googled some reviews of the race and found nothing but good things to be said and told him we had to run it. for the past year we have filled our calendar with races we wanted to do with little restraint to location. as a disclaimer, this is not a race for someone who enjoys the running of the pack, a lot of people to pass ahead of you who foolishly started too fast, or throngs of people lining the road to cheer you, oh anonymous runner on in your pursuit of individual challenge and glory. there are few people, simple aid stations, and cars going either direction every once in awhile. you are more likely to hear the voice of the local sheriff, ems personnel, or random race organizer asking you if you want water, need anything, or are doing ok than you are a spectator cheering you on or a fellow runner chatting about the pleasantries which runners are want to exchange during a long distance race.

a rolling course of sloping hills up and down persist for the entirety of the race. up and down you go as you climb from ~4,400 ft. to ~4,800 ft. of elevation at the peak of the race and finish mostly downhill over the profile of the race. to call it specifically downhill is not tell you the truth. the biggest climb was at mile 22ish and i wasn't sure it was going to ever end, but i am getting ahead of myself.

i felt prepared to run this race. my longest run in training was 23 miles. i ran that distance a couple of times before the race. the last time i finished the training run with a good amount of energy feeling i could have continued for several more miles. i declared myself ready, was confident, and believed that i could run a 3:30 marathon. if it were a perfect day, with a great run, i thought i had the outside chance of running a 3:15. my training plan, which wasn't necessarily "textbook" consisted of running 3-4 times a week. i have been "blessed" with injuries in my running history mostly of the over-use variety. so i wanted to train smart, stay healthy, and show up to the race with a realistic chance of running a great race. i feel like i accomplished that goal.

race morning went off without a hitch. we showed up to the race with good time to spare. we made our ritualistic forays to the port-a-potties or ranch fence -- hey, this is west texas afterall -- and i was ready to go. after saying our goodbyes to our support crew, my wife and sister-in-law who should win an award for the support they gave throughout the race leap frogging us in the car, i toed the start line.

the first several miles were flawless. i was running about a 7:45 pace and felt confident and comfortable. i actually wondered to myself at one point that it was fairly effortless with the cool of the morning. this is about the time that the problems started. i have been running for nearly 20 years, and running races through much of that time. i have never had any stomach or gastro-intestinal (gi) problems. today was my day. i felt awkward and wondered if it was simply food settling in my stomach. at some point between miles 6&7 i decided i would pull off and try to relieve some pressure on my bladder, aka urinate over the fence. that didn't work, i simply didn't have anything. about a half mile later i finally accomplished that, but still felt bad at this point. eventually i wondered if i could make it to a port-a-potty on the race course. the first one i saw, with some relief, a runner several hundred yards in front of me pulled off to use. at this point i was in the unenviable position of deciding whether or not to wait. i am glad i didn't. he must have been in there for awhile, because despite all my coming problems, i didn't see him again until well after the half way point of the marathon.

at mile 8.5 i knew it was desperate times and desperate measures were in my future. i started looking for the bush. you know the bush that in the empty west texas landscape would at least give me some muted sense of privacy while other people passed on the side of the road. it was either luck of a heavenly blessing that a bush, on the good side of the barbwire fence aka my side, that would be decent and not result in me displaying all of myself to the rest of the runners appeared ahead. i peeled off and did my business, with no tp. like i said, the operative word in all of this was desperate.

did i mention that we had a rockstar support crew? i knew they were leap frogging my brother and i as we ran. i knew he was behind me some way and that hopefully they would come along soon. i started running again, praying fairly earnestly that they would be the next car to creep by to no avail a couple of times. i then wondered how long it was going to take me to get to the next mirage of a blue box standing in all its glory. it was about this time somewhere between miles 9-10 that my crew rolled up and provided some napkins. it was relief of a kind that i hadn't known. chafing might yet be avoided for the remainder of the race. i had to stop again at the halfway point to utilize the blue box. this wasn't an ideal first half. and yet, despite all of this i looked down at my watch as i headed off and had covered the first half in 1:45. i was still on pace for a 3:30 finish.

because of my issues i had been distracted and focusing on my water intake had been a struggle. i carried a camelback which i had trained with for months and was comfortable wearing while running. i simply wasn't consistent enough in hindsight in taking in water. we'll call this foreshadowing.

the second half of the marathon settled in nicely. i started to feel some internal normalcy and reminded myself to simply run within my abilities and give it what i had left. and give i did. i rocked along passed aid stations and the few spectator cars feeling more confident as the miles passed.

about mile 20 i started to feel my calves tighten up. at juncture i knew it was only a matter of time before cramps set in and i hoped that 6 miles was inside that point. i was wrong. i had started to take water and gatorade in tandem with the liquid i was already drinking at the aid stations. when i hit mile 23, after the aforementioned hill of no end, the cramps won out. i was able to run about a half mile at a time before needing to either walk for about a minute to stretch out or to just stop completely and stretch. at about mile 24 it became pure pain as i had to stop about every 100-200 yards to stretch out my calf muscles which apparently wanted to evacuate my legs from either side of my lower legs.

i had given up all hope of finishing with a faster time and told myself that at all costs i could finish under 4 hours. it was a matter of want and desire. i trudged in (at least that's what it felt like) at 3:59:50. my wife urged me in under the 4 hour mark and i felt happy relieved exhilarated to be finished. i was disappointed. and if i'm honest i was really just mad at myself. i had trained, had the ability and potential, and didn't deliver the results i wanted. with some time between myself and the race, i can assess things more positively.

overall i placed 20th. i placed 2nd in my age group. i finished under 4 hours and dropped my marathon pr by nearly an hour. it was a good feeling. undoubtedly the most rewarding part of the race was eagerly waiting for my brother at the 26 mile marker and running him in the last .2 miles. for people who have never run a marathon there really isn't much more of a rush adrenaline and feeling of elation than those last tenths as you head to the finish. it was a moment i won't forget. we had trained for months and accomplished something many will not. it was more than just a long run on a saturday morning.

overall this is a great race. it is a niche marathon. there is little fanfare, but this is replaced with a level runner camaraderie that isn't matched in bigger marathons. we are tentatively planning on heading back next year. i have said before that every runner has good runs and bad runs. it is in the nature of pushing your body to do something to better itself. the same is true of racing. you have good races and you have bad races. so lace up those shoes, get out there, and run into tomorrow; you'll be better for it.