Today I finished my fourth marathon. But, it wasn't pretty. I was nervous going into the race due to the nagging injury from the Southside 12K four weeks ago. My last run on Tuesday evening (4-1/2 days earlier) went OK as I was able to run a couple of sub-9 minute miles on the track, but pain in my left hip, left Achilles, and right shin never went away. At packet pickup, I learned that a friend had changed her registration from the marathon to the 5K after suffering an injury. I just couldn't imagine giving up on all of my training to this point, the massive investment of hours over the past four months, including three good runs >20 miles. And so while resting my legs during the taper, keeping the exercise to a long walk each day, I hoped that I would be ready to complete the course.
The weather today was spectacularly good: 55 deg F at the start, with a few clouds but promising to be mostly sunny, so that I liberally applied sunscreen in the hour before the race began. I jogged a few steps here and there and was relieved that I could run, although not pain-free. Nonetheless I was prepared with three mantras, in increasing order of intensity:
1) SMILE! Because I'm grateful that I can do this. And Eliud Kipchoge smiles in his tough miles.
And when things got tougher, I could fall back on the Weight Watchers mantra:
2) QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION!
And if my race began to completely fall apart, Running Rogue provided me with:
3) I'M A ******* BADASS!!
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| Completed lots of Saturday long runs with this great group! And we're all smiling at 6:55 am. |
I began the race in wave C behind the 4:30 pacer, mostly to join a few friends from the Atlanta Track Club training group. I set my watch to 4:30 run, 0:30 walk intervals. My plan was to let them go ahead while I aimed for a 10:30 min / mile pace in the first four miles, and I would gradually work to catch back up, hopefully by the half-marathon split. Crossing the starting mat at 7:09 am, as one of the last runners in wave C, I deployed mantra #1, SMILE! I was able to run, not too fast, but easily managed a 10:30 min / mile pace. I took the first walk break after 4-1/2 minutes, and shortly after resuming running, the first of the wave D runners caught up to me! Nonetheless I was moving along fairly well, although on the high-end of 10 min / mile pace. I was a little disappointed to cross the 5K mat at 35:22 (11:23 min / mile pace), probably right after a walk break, but at least I had not started out too fast! My legs started to warm up and weren't too painful at this point, so I was able to speed up a bit, running closer to 10 min / mile pace for the next few miles.
After the mile 5 marker, I saw Coach Carl Leivers and his family in front of the Variety Playhouse, as promised. SMILE! This was probably where I was feeling the best for the entire morning, and was pleased to be able to run relaxed past the Coach. I reached the 10K sensor at 1:07:35 (10:53 min / mile pace) and was speeding up a bit. I began to calculate, 40K would be 4:30, + 2 more km at 12 - 14 minutes, which meant I better run faster in the second half! At the split after mile 7 where we left the half marathon runners, I felt like we had a larger group going for the marathon than last year. I knew that this section would be hilly, but didn't really have much trouble going up hills at the easy pace.
After mile 12, approaching Decatur, the pain in my left hip started to get pretty bad. This was disappointing: the first half of the marathon was supposed to be the easy part, and yet I was already having trouble. I had improved my overall pace to 10:32 min / mile by mile 12, so until that point, a 4:30 finish was possible if I could speed up a little more in the second half. But this was where I began to slow down. By the time that I crossed the 13.1 timing mat in downtown Decatur, at 2:20, my overall pace was 10:43 min / mile. SMILE! QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION! The next few miles from Decatur to the Emory campus were net downhill. Last year I easily sped up in this section. Not today. I was now definitely limping, not a good look, especially not this early in the race.
It took forever to get to the Emory campus, what a shame on these familiar streets. I was now running between 11 and 12 min / mile pace. Near the mile 16 marker, Bill and Liesl Wuest from the chemistry department were there to cheer me. Their son, Max, paced me down the hill. I asked "Max, can you run the next 10 miles for me?" Miles 17 - 20 wound through the Druid Hills neighborhood. It wasn't the hills that were getting to me, it was the distance and the time. I now needed more than 13 minutes to complete a mile. If there was any consolation, many of the other runners around me were also having trouble. SMILE! QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION! and now it was time for the nuclear option: I'M A ******* BADASS!! as I limped past a man wearing a Rock 'n' Roll marathon shirt.
When I crossed the mile 20 sensor at 3:48 (11:24 min / mile), all of my time goals for the race were now out of reach. It was just about finishing. I walked most of miles 21 and 22, through the hills of Virginia-Highland. My friend from Tucker Running Club, Linda Bode Phinney, was a 5:00 pacer. She called my name as she approached, saying "C'mon Frank, we'll get up this hill together!" I shook my head no. Linda asked "Are you injured?" "Yes, I'll be OK, but I need to walk right now." She and her group went on. I was so disappointed to realize that I was going to record my slowest marathon time, but now it was just about getting to the finish line, without cheating. Yes, I was thinking about where I might cut the course, but stayed honest, repeating SMILE! QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION! I'M A ******* BADASS!! SMILE! QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION! I'M A ******* BADASS!! SMILE! QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION! I'M A ******* BADASS!! until the feeling had passed.
There were quite a few people cheering in the final miles today. If any of you are reading this, your encouragement was really appreciated! I was trying to limp-run more than limp-walk. Remarkably, the downhill sections were more painful on the hip than the uphill sections, which led me to think that the injury occurred running downhill as fast as possible in the Southside 12K. Finally we made it into the Georgia Tech campus, at the mile 24 marker. 2.2 miles to go. In the original plan, this is where I was going to try to gun into the finish with a couple of 9 minute miles. Today I managed to speed up to 16 minutes. SMILE! QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION! I'M A ******* BADASS!! OH THE PAIN!
The last part of the course changed this year due to some construction at Centennial Olympic Park, so at the mile 25 marker, instead of turning onto Marietta Street, we made a U-turn to run back through Georgia Tech to Luckie Street. And I saw Harley and Jessica, two run leads from Track Club training, with the 5:30 pace group sign. OK, I have a new time goal: DO NOT LET HARLEY AND JESSICA CATCH UP! SMILE! QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION! I'M A ******* BADASS!! Yet it took FOREVER to get to the Aquarium at the intersection with Ivan Allen Blvd. As we crossed the street, I could see the 26 mile sign, and a volunteer called out, "400 meters to go!"
I couldn't manage a SMILE at this point. I was barely willing myself to finish. QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION. Limping slowly down the street, the last turn took its sweet time coming up to me, even though I had now "sped up" to a 14 min / mile pace. Several run leads in the Atlanta Track Club were cheering me by name. Tears were coming to my eyes from the pain and the emotion. I'm glad that I was wearing sunglasses. I'M A ******* BADASS. And then, there was the finish line, in the same place as the Hotlanta Half and Atlanta's Finest 5K finish lines. An announcer was handing out high fives, I tapped his hand as I pushed to the finish line. Unfortunately I had completely run out of SMILE. There was Bonnie on the left side, taking my photo as I crossed the finish line. She looked concerned, and relieved to see me. I accepted my medal, a bottle of water, and a banana. I began looking for the entrance to the medical tent.
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| Finally! |
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| Or is it the second timing mat? |
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| OK, now it's official. |
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| "Where's the medical tent?!" |
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| Never too injured to stop the watch |
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| Didn't quit. |
I remembered a spoof video on what NOT to do in a race: "I don't think you've tried unless you've gone to the medical tent." Well, I tried, that's for sure. And I finished. That is what mattered today. And the guys in the medical tent were great. They packed my left thigh with a couple of bags of ice, which felt so good. I lay down on a cot for a few minutes, assured Bonnie that while my leg was killing me, the most important organs (heart, lungs, brain) were fine. And after about 15 minutes, I took off the ice, was able to stand, and walk slowly but successfully.
I am really disappointed that I didn't have a good race, after all of the training, but it's 100% my fault. Five weeks ago, I was in shape to run a sub 4:30 marathon. I'm confident that I could have done it if I hadn't made a big mistake one week later. I ignored Coach Amy's advice to run the 12K race at marathon pace (10 min / mile). Instead I let testosterone take over and ran at my 10K PR pace (8 min / mile). I've been paying for it, and probably will continue to hurt for a few more weeks. The first order of business for the next several weeks is rest and recovery. I'm glad that I've resisted the temptation to register for any other paid races prior to the Hotlanta Half in mid-June. I hope that I will be fully recovered by then.
My next marathon will be the New York City Marathon on November 4 - yes, I won a lottery entry! And now I realize that preparing for that marathon must be my total running commitment. There's no point in going after new PRs in the 5K, 10K, half marathon, etc. for this year, as I've mastered those races well enough. Because after four marathons, I've only had one decent finish. And the last thing I want is a bad experience in front of a million spectators and millions more watching on television or internet feeds.
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| This tells the entire story in a nutshell. |
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