Well, that's done. I am now 62 years old, and I covered 26.2 miles on said birthday. Oof. Who thought that might be a good idea?!?
Actually, it was a beautiful day to run. Maybe the best weather I've had for any of my 8 marathons. It was a crisp 35F at the start, and maybe got up to 50 by the time I was done. Not a cloud in the sky and only a few moments of slight breeze here and there.
That was the good part.
I've had this Columbia City, Indiana marathon on my radar for years. It's only 30 minutes from our house, and I don't mind a 2-loop course. I do, however, mind running on an "open" course of almost entirely country roads where you're either going up or down the entire way! Ugh. It was a bit brutal. The blacktop roads are so steeply crowned, and it seemed there was soooo much traffic. I think some of it (maybe most of it) was spectators driving around. And while none of the hills were huge, they just wore on me. Of course the worst one is about mile 25 1/2 as you come back into town.
Anyway, I survived. The first look wasn't even too back. The marathoners and half marathoners started together, so there were more people. I averaged a 9:30 pace and didn't feel bad at all. However, I could tell the second time around would not be the same...
I think mile 15 was my first 10-minute mile, and somewhere around 16 or 18 or something I started walking a tenth of every mile. At 20 or 21 I started to consider having to walk in the rest of the way. I also started feeling really alone. It seemed like miles where I couldn't see anyone else, and I started to wonder if I'd missed a turn and was going to be lost on the back roads of redneck haven. I also had trouble judging whether I was going uphill or down.
I was still on track to break Oprah's 4:29 when I finally made it to mile 25, walked my tenth of a mile, but when I tried to start into a jog... it wouldn't happen. I was toast. I'm not sure how much longer I walked, but I was finally able to muster a trot when I came into town and made it across the finish line. It was right around 4 hours 33 minutes, and my watch said 25.35 miles.
My cheering section (Jane, Carrie & Anna) was relieved to see me, and I was happy to see them. There was actually a nice little crowd cheering people in at the finish. They also had water and soup, which I didn't think I would be interested in, but it tasted pretty darn good!
As far as overall health: I was fairly calm the night before and even the morning of. During the race I developed some tightness in my left calf, but never felt any knee pain, had no chafing or blisters, and really didn't feel bad at all other than just tired legs. However, as the day(s) went on, I think this is probably the sorest my legs have been after any marathon. I'm still having trouble getting up and down stairs today, and my left calf is more sore now than it was while running. I'm sure everything will be fine, and it's probably forced me to take some time off from running - which maybe isn't a bad idea. I didn't take any time off after the marathon this Spring.
As for the practical stuff: I went to bed maybe around 8:30 the night before and got up around 4:30am. Had a couple cups of coffee, and my usual pre-run breakfast of peanut butter and jelly on toast, and otherwise dinked around until we pulled out about 7am. We arrived in CC in the dark right about 7:30-ish, parked, found the porta-potties, and pretty soon Carrie & Anna joined us.
I started out wearing my gray cap, light blue T, blue Brooks jacket, gray shorts, Creeper toe socks, gloves, and the new Brooks Glycerin 20 (8 1/2) shoes. I was plenty warm with the hood up, and never really sweat too much. When I came around toward the start after the first loop I took off my jacket and gloves though, and changed into a dry long sleeve dark blue shirt. I probably could have went with a short sleeve T, but depending on the breeze and the sun I wasn't too bad either way.
I carried my 12oz water bottle and stored 3 gels for each lap. I debated whether to carry the water bottle, but am glad I did. Not only to keep the gels in, but as I feared, the water station that was 2 miles from the finish - which was there for the half - was all packed up and gone when I came around for mile 24. WHY DO PEOPLE SHUT DOWN WATER STATIONS BEFORE THE MARATHON IS DONE!!!! I don't know what in the world these people were thinking. Fortunately I'd refilled my water bottle, so I was okay, but I bet there were a few runners that really needed it.
Anyway, I'm glad I did it. Yes, it was a challenge, but, then, I guess that's kind of the point.
I think there were 88 marathoners, of which I came in 53rd(?). I was surprised to find out the next day that I got 2nd in my age group actually! I think there were maybe right around 100 half marathoners, and I'm not sure how many did the 5k.
One thing that I did notice was the number of women running the marathon seemed to far outnumber the men. I'm not sure if that's normal or not, but it's the first time it's stood out to me.
So, it was a nice day for a run in the country. As for the rest of my birthday, we came home, I looked at my phone for a bit, soaked in the tub for awhile, took a shower, and we went to Cork'n'Cleaver for supper and had filets, baked potato, and salad bar, with a bottle of wine. Not a bad day.
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| At the finish line |
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| I got a rock |
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