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10/08/2006: "A Half Marathon"
This summer I set two physical endurance goals for myself. One was to be competitive in an Olympic distance triathlon and the other was to finish a ½ marathon under an average of 8-minute miles. Today I can say that I have accomplished both.
This morning I competed in my first ½ marathon. My time was 1 hour and 40 minutes. That is a 7 hour and 41 minute average per mile and good enough to place 87th out of 480. So I was happy with that finish and the way my legs felt, I couldn’t have asked much more form this body.
I have an active imagination and during an hour and 40 minutes of running, quite a bit goes through your mind. Most of the time you are trying not to let the thoughts of doom sneak in there. “Is that pain in my thighs going to get worse and jeopardize my finish?” “Was that a twinge in my calf – a cramp coming on?” “I have never ran this far before, will I make it?” “Why does this guy next to me look so good this far into it?” “Can he hear me wheezing?” “Does cancer qualify as an excuse?” “No, no no – I must stay positive!”
Lets start from the beginning of the race and I’ll “walk” you through it. Before the race you walk and jog round a little trying to warm up your legs. You can usually find me waiting in line for the bathroom as well. Since I labor over it, I enjoy looking at what people have decided to wear. It is early and cool but will warm up as the race goes on. I choose a long sleeve running shirt, shorts and a pair of gloves. I also chose to run with an iPod (mostly to drown out my negative thoughts and my wheezing).
They give you a countdown to the start, and then the gun goes off. The first concern is that you don’t trip by running into someone else. When you are used to running alone, it is strange to be in a crowd running hard. The next thing you notice is the sound of everyone’s feet hitting the street. Hundreds of people together and the only sound they make are their shoes. I can’t compare it to anything else I have heard.
The first few miles your body spends some time adjusting to what you are doing to it. It was sleeping in a warm bed about an hour ago. Your breathing harder than expected but that settles down as you get into the third mile. At that point you start to find a pace that feels good to you. It becomes single file as some people are passing while you go by others. By mile six, you start to look forward to the half way mark and wonder if you can repeat what you have just gone through. This run took us through neighborhoods and you begin to see signs of life. People have come out to pick up their papers and realized that there is stream of runners going by. I waved at scores of kids in their jammies and found it was nice to break out a smile seven or eight miles into the race.
The ten mile point is a bit of a yard marker. First, because I had never run ten miles before and second because you realize that you only have three miles to go and you may actually be able to finish. It was at this point that some guy went by me wearing smelly deodorant or aftershave. Now, there is not much that is more important to you at this point than the air that you are sucking in. You wish your lungs were twice as big so you could just fill them up. So car exhaust is annoying but you figure it is an unavoidable annoyance. But a strong smelling deodorant should be grounds for disqualification! Of all the social situations you find yourself in, a half marathon is certainly one where you are allowed to smell bad. I mean, it’s expected! Anyway, I was looking for a reason to slow down a little, so I let that guy get far enough ahead so as to not foul my precious air.
The last couple of miles is an attempt to maintain your pace so your time doesn’t fall off. And you really begin to count down.
Two miles: I can make two more miles!
One and a half: That should be easy enough.
One mile: Isn’t that just 4 laps around a track?
Half mile: How come I can’t see the finish line?
Quarter mile: Has anyone’s legs ever exploded from running this distance?
And finally… Ahhhhh!!!! I can walk! Well as best I can with legs that feel like two big Charlie horses.
So now you know what it is like. Want to try one or was my description good enough?
