Marathon training plans rarely go perfectly, in fact I recently heard a podcast with Coach Chris McClung (Rogue Running podcast) who said that he worries with a client hasn't been challenged with adversity somewhere along the way. Makes sense, the 26.2 mile marathon distance offers ample opportunities for adversity. Whenever the first little thing goes wrong, the immediate task is to figure out how to recover or at least to manage for the remaining miles.
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| Warmup route: blue is lowest elevation, red is highest elevation, near Centennial Olympic Parl |
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| Looking toward the start, about 2/3 of the way back. |
It was very important for me to run the first two miles of the race at a conservative pace, as I didn't want to attempt to drop toward marathon pace until I had passed ten miles for the day. In the beginning, the route was crowded enough and I was running a nice 11:30 min / mi pace, but then the route turned downhill, and despite running "with my brakes on", I finished race mile 1 in 10:52. Shortly afterward, we turned left into a neighborhood, and I caught up with Linda Phinney and Donna Roberts. I thought it would be nice to stay with them, but I kept getting a few feet in front. Fortunately they helped me with an 11:01 mile 2, although I had moved in front of them for good before reaching the mile 2 mark. So much for cautiously running with friends, who both routinely run more miles per week than me. Midway through mile 3, there was the water station outside the entrance to Westside Reservoir Park. I pulled out the second UCAN and slowed to a walk, accepting a cup of pink Gatorade and draining the cup before resuming running. For the past 10 minutes, the faster 10K runners have been running the opposite direction; I enter the park as Caroline Dunn is leaving in the opposite direction. We pass through the "bones" marking the entrance gate to the park. A group of men immediately in front of me talk about the "dinosaur bones". Funny, I had always thought of these as representing "whale bones".
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| Is it a whale or a dinosaur skeleton? |
Non-runners sometimes ask "What do you think about while you're running?" Well, at that moment I start thinking of whale-song music that was popular in the 1970's, when people began to realize that whales were highly sentient, and were also in danger of extinction. I most recently heard the whale-song at the beginning and end of the first song of Kate Bush's debut album, the song "Moving". The melody of Kate Bush's beautiful soprano voice went through my mind. I don't know all of the words, but the fifth line resonated:
"Moving liquid, you are just as water,
Flow around all that comes in your way,
Don't think it over, it always takes you over,
And sets your spirit dancing.
How I'm moved, how you move me,
With your beauty's potency,
You give me life, please don't let me go,
You crush the lily in my soul."
So it's not really about the movement of a runner, not even sure that it's a love song with that last line! Anyway, I'm musing as we pass the U-turn mark for 10K runners, and we get into a portion of the park that I've never seen. I know that this park has some "disrespectful hills" (to use a memorable term from Brian Minor) and there was a fairly big hill as we passed the mile 3 marker: 10:31, now trying to work down toward goal pace. Fortunately, we turned right instead of climbing another substantial hill. We were moving past a small creek, water quietly moving along the creek thanks to a good amount of rain this week. I chatted with Casey Nicodemus, as we leap-frogged for much of the middle miles of the race. He was wearing short shorts and suspenders with no shirt; I wore two layers, with my NYC Marathon shirt on the top. I knew that I would not be running fast and wanted to stay warm. This was probably my favorite part of the race, enjoying the fall forest and a fairly level paved trail. We exited the park turning right onto Johnson Road; many thanks to the volunteer who continuously held the pedestrian crossing light and directed us into the protected left lane. Mile 4 in 10:39.
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| Race route color-coded for elevation, not to pace. Red is high, blue is low. |
We turned into a new neighborhood: many nice houses, gentle downhill, but after making a right turn, we had to climb what felt like the first really big, disrespectful hill. I wasn't planning to take a walk break until we approached the next water station, but ... I wasn't not racing today, just moving, so I went ahead and took the walk break, counting to 30 seconds. It felt good to reach the top and turn left to rejoin Johnson Road. Natalie Witt is guiding us through the intersection, and calls out "Frank, you look great!" I try to smile but mutter audibly "not feeling that great, sorry". Just in time, there was the water station in the same spot where we had first encountered it in the other direction 20 - 25 minutes earlier. I took another 30 second walk break, but was disappointed that they were serving plain water this time around. Alice Pate saw me coming through the water station, and slowed down to run with me for a few minutes. Unfortunately, looming overhead was a huge uphill climb to Marietta Street, and I couldn't keep up with Alice as she held up her end of the conversation. That hill was seriously disrespectful. I was going to run, run, run, .... walk. Walk. Walk. Alice slowed to walk with me, and asked me what pace I was trying to run. "I had planned to try for 10 min / mile, but today it's impossible." Finally I return to running and feel a second wind! So the walk uphill was the right thing for me today. But about 5 minutes later, I needed another walk break. I gave in, told Alice to go ahead, I was just going to slow her down, and walked for 2 whole minutes. What I didn't realize until I checked my data hours later is that my heart rate had spiked. It was a good thing that I didn't trip over my ego. I realize that I've run 13 miles so far, and still have 5 miles to go in the second half of the race. On the other hand, it's only the last 5 miles of 18 total! Mile 5, 11:55, 55 minutes elapsed.
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| Nearly 200 feet in elevation difference from peak to valley. A lot of disrespectful hills starting around mile 3. |
We turned left from Marietta Street to run north on Marietta Boulevard. Atlanta street addresses are tricky; it's even worse if the street has Peachtree in the name, over 20 of those streets in metro Atlanta. I returned to running, mostly to get through the busy intersection quickly, following the line directed by two policemen. And now it was downhill as far as I could see. After that slow fifth mile, I wanted to return to attempted marathon pace. Just as I was beginning to get comfortable with a slightly faster pace, we reached the intersection with Huff Road. The 10K runners get to turn right for a 2-mile dash to the finish, while the 10-mile runners go straight. A policeman waves a car through the intersection in front of me, then after the car has cleared, he sees me coming. There is another car southbound on Marietta Blvd that noncommittally moves toward but not into the left turn lane. I assume that the car is going to stop, perhaps even trying to decide if Huff Road is even open to car traffic. I'm moving to the left side of the road so as not to get in the way of any 10K runners. As I approach the policeman, he is holding up his hands toward the car. But I guess he isn't confident that the driver isn't trying to make the turn. The policeman moves forward, into my line. I move a little more to the left, the policeman continues to advance, totally focused on protecting me from the car, but not looking in my direction at all. The policeman begans to run forward, I think about moving even more to the left but he is moving as fast as me. At the last second, I dart to the right, narrowly avoiding an accidental assault on a peace officer. Chrystal Akor is working as a volunteer at the corner with Huff Road and sees the near-miss, then smiles in relief as I safely pass by. Thanks Chrystal!
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| Heart rate really spiked about halfway through the race, and remained high for about 30 minutes, until I took a few more walk breaks. |
I'm not paying attention to my heart rate, just trying to maintain a good pace downhill. I'm dwelling on the near-miss with law enforcement, if you want to know what this runner is thinking about during a race. Mile 6 is 10:51 but that included a minute or so of walking after passing the mile 5 marker. Casey Nicodemus is ahead of me in the distance; I never caught up to him. I wished that I was running closer to 10 min / mile than 11 min / mile. I tried to speed up a bit. That carried me for awhile, although I realized that I should have taken my last UCAN by now. So as we turned right onto Carroll Drive, I slowed to a walk break and took the UCAN. Fortunately I carried a bottle of Nuun on my running belt, so I washed it down in the absence of a water station. Mile 7 is 10:34, which I think is better especially since I took the short walk break for nutrition and hydration. Just three miles to go, trying for 10 minute / mile for the rest of the route.
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| However, my pace really suffered in the second-half of the race. |
We got to the bottom of the hill, turned right onto Chattahoochee Avenue. I saw the nets of Top Golf up ahead, but we're running uphill, and it was really difficult. I'm walking uphill, tried to run for a moment, nope, walking again. Then who else but Kate Bush came to the rescue! It was her hit from the mid-1980's "Running Up That hill". It's probably her best-known song, although as one of her early avant-garde fans (I'm speaking of myself, LOL) I never really cared for the song. But the words are memorable:
"If I only could, I'd make a deal with God,
And I'd get him to swap out places,
Running up that road, running up that hill,
With no problem."
I focused on that last line, "With no problem" and pushed myself to run up that hill to the right turn onto Ellsworth Industrial Road. I took a walk break at the last water station, serving pink Gatorade, thank goodness. Returning to a run, I make my way south on Ellsworth. At one point I caught up with a man in a gray shirt, then ran with him for a few minutes. He asked "May I ask how old you are?" I responded "60" thinking that he was a decade younger, only hear here him reply "I'm 66." Wow, I think, he looks younger than me. I'm wearing a cap so he can't really tell that I'm bald in front. We exchanged names. Martin recently ran the Alaska Marathon in Anchorage, very well-run, and may run a marathon in Oklahoma City in April with his daughter, to honor the many people murdered in the Federal Building bombing in 1995. Mile 8, 12:30. Afterwards, I saw that my heart rate dropped back to a more normal rate, about 160 bpm. A combination of the water station and Kate Bush calmed me down, I think.
After a few minutes of running together with Martin, I had to take a walk break, as we began to go uphill. I told Martin "Go ahead, I'll see you at the finish." He replies "You'll catch up" and I correct myself with a more realistic "Maybe". (I never caught up to him.) The hill became quite steep; I remembered racing downhill in the opposite direction several years ago. Up ahead I saw Tim Parker, near the same location as before. "Hi Tim! Not feeling as good as when I saw you two hours ago." Tim smiled and tried to encourage me as I passed, then making the left turn onto Huff Road. Chrystal Akor had moved to this intersection, cheering me on with a big smile. Huff Road is downhill in this section, and I remembered it from the warmup run. But my legs can't take advantage of the favorable elevation drop, and I say as much to a man who catches up to me at this stage. He seems to be struggling as much as me at this point. Also he may be in my age group, not that I really care today. We reach the trough on Huff Road. Now it's a pretty big uphill on "Huff and Puff Road." I haven't made it far uphill before I must slow to a walk break. I thought that I was ready for this after my warm-up run. Nope, walking for a full minute. My watch is showing a 15 min / mile pace since the last mile alert. Then Kate Bush tugged at my heart again, "I'm running up that hill, with no problem" and I started running. Am I making a deal with God? After a few minutes, I take a walk break, but my deal is to count to 30 and then force myself to resume running. I've now completed mile 9, 14:14. Wow, that was rough.
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| Album cover from "Hounds of Love", 1985. I think I had a "celebrity crush" on Kate Bush back in the day. Maybe I still do, considering how much I've listened to her music in the past year. And today while writing this blog post.. link to New Yorker article from 2018 |
A group of three people caught up to me and passed me. We made the left turn onto Howell Mill Road. Less than a mile to the finish, and there was just one more uphill. Two of the people that had passed me raise their hands and take a "Galloway walk-break." So close to the end! I'm running slowly but I'm not gonna walk, no way. The four of us reached the section of Howell Mill where police are waiting to help us to cross the road from the left lane onto Trabert Street, for the final turn of the race. We all slowed down, the policeman assured us that we're good to cross. At the top of Trabert Street, I know and everyone else who has ever run this race knows that it's downhill all the way to the finish. But how far? I probably surprise the others by suddenly increasing my speed. I stay to the far left of the narrow lane, as I don't want to impede anyone who may try to pass me, that's not fair. In my head, I switch one word in Kate Bush's lyric: "I'm running down that hill, with no problem." That sounds pretty good at that moment. And I continue to push myself to speed up, topping out at 7.3 mph. Just last week I ran 9.4 mph at the finish of the one-mile race. As I finally see the finish line, the clock shows 1:51 and change. The race photographer captures my photos as I cross the timing mat. I smiled as I saw him (and will post the photo if / when it's publically available) and avoided stopping my watch until I passed him. 1:51:37, as I started 30 - 45 seconds after the official start.
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| I thought that it might take me 1:50 to finish if I ran consistent 11 min / miles. I got close enough to that time, but not the way that I had planned. |
I saw Tes Marshall standing next to a table past the finish line, waved to her. She asked "How did it go?" My one-word answer: "Humbling." She and I laughed, as I bent over with my hands on my knees. Then I remembered that I still had most of one mile left to run. I wanted to hang out at the post-race party, and realized after I got home that I failed to pick up my race shirt. But I knew that if I didn't continue moving, and soon, that I wasn't going to finish the 18-mile workout. There was no chance of me winning an award: at least I hope not, that would be embarrassing. If I didn't move, I might even stiffen up so badly that I couldn't get back to my car later on. So I started up that hill, started my watch. Tried to run, made a deal with God to walk most of the hill. Near the top, Donna Roberts was working her way downhill. "Great job Donna, you're almost done, 1/3 of a mile!" Near the top at the intersection with Howell Mill, I began slowly running again, then stopped to catch my breath before attempting to cross. The police were eagerly encouraging me to cross, I realized that they were signaling in both directions for cars to slow, so I got across the road as quickly as I could. It was a slow walk-jog up Howell Hill. Linda Bode Phinney passed, I waved, but she asked "Are you OK?" I guess I must have looked quite beaten up. I replied, "Thanks, yes, just very sore all over."
It was a relief to get back to the car, which was a little further than I had expected. But I covered a total of 18.08 miles today, so that was mission accomplished. I'm definitely taking an off day from running tomorrow, maybe an easy walk in the evening. Although everything hurts this evening, nothing hurts more than anything else, so I think that I've escaped injury. And I got that rough workout out of the way in this training cycle. Hopefully I will learn, adapt, and resume training while learning from this timely dose of humility. With 11 weeks to go until the marathon, I still have plenty of time to continue preparing - unlike my students taking the fall semester 2022 CHEM 203 final exam within 48 hours.
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| At least all of these numbers are pretty good for me, in the midst of marathon training. |
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