Marathon!

I DID IT!!! It wasn't pretty to watch, but I finished my first marathon. I was not pleased with my time at all, but I'll chalk this one up as a learning experience for next time. The results: this varies by who you ask. According to my watch that I started once I actually crossed the starting line I ran it in 3:55:55. Nowhere near what I wanted to run, but like I said, it was a good learning experience. I only needed to run 44 minutes and 56 seconds faster to qualify for Boston2007!

Here's the breakdown of the whole race (what I was feeling and thinking):

Saturday Evening: Packet Pick-up and health expo. I'm pretty excited at this point. I don't if I have what it takes or not, but will soon find out. "There's nothing more that I can do at this point to prepare, so relax and enjoy this experience."

Sunday Morning:

5:00 A.M. My alarm was set for 5:30, but I'm a bit too anxious to go back to sleep. "Boy am I glad I got the extra hour of sleep" :)

6:45 A.M. The starting area is very crowded. There's a lot of people running this thing. 15,800 some last I checked. I'm a bit nervous, but I'm pretty sure I won't end up last at least!

7:15 A.M. Off we go! The wind isn't too bad. It's cold, about 35 degrees, but whatever. "I feel like I'm running in slow motion."

Mile 1: I feel good, I thought I was going slow, but I check in at 7:27 for my split. I see my next door neighbor and that's when I know I'm going to fast. He's supposed to finish 30 minutes ahead of me.

Mile 2: 15 minutes flat. Still too fast. I'm trying to slow down, but it's actually hard to do. Some guy parked on the sidewalk has pulled speakers out of mini-van and is blaring the Rocky theme song. "How am I supposed to slow down when hearing that?"

Mile 3.4: Oh my gosh, I'm getting ready to run onto Ambassador bridge and on into Canada. "Marathons are fun!"

Mile 3.8: My legs are not used to hills especially one so long and steep. "Does this bridge ever end?

Mile 4: Legs still burning. "Nope, this bridge never ends. Maybe the rest of the race is all uphill somehow."

Mile 4.2: Canada! There's a guy greeting us on a PA system as we come in. He points at that since Canada uses the metric system we are running 60% faster now.

Miles 5-7.5: The problem with Canada is now that I'm trying to re-establish my pace again after the uphil bridge, they forgot to give us splits. I have no idea how fast I'm running.

Mile 8: The underwater tunnel. This is pretty cool. It's a bit over a mile in length so they actually time this split and report it to you seperately. It's also nice and warm in here. "This race is a piece of cake!"

Mile 11: Okay, I'm starting to hurt a little bit now. The arch in my foot is on fire. Besides that, I'm okay.

Mile 12.5: There goes the half-marathoners for their finish. "Is it too late to switch races?"

Mile 13.2: Half-way there! My split is at 1:42. Faster than my goal pace. "If I can just keep this up I can have a great run!"

Mile 14: Not only are there stations for water and gatorade, but now I see some people set up with a beer station! Hilarious! I'm thinking somehow that the combination of beer and marathons don't mix.

Mile 15: Oh, boy! I feel like I'm going to vomit. Now I must slow down or risk being "that guy" that everyone talks about. I wonder how the people who drank the beer fell?

Mile 17: I no longer feel like I'm going to throw up anymore, but with the wind out on Belle Island, it feels like I'm running in wet sand. Yuck!

Mile 18: Hey, I just got passed by the 3:30 pace setter! Now I know I'm in trouble. Where was that guy at mile 2?

Mile 20: Everything hurts at this point. My glutes, quads, groin, ankles, calves, knees and hamstrings. Especially my hamstrings! I stop and stretch at this point.

Somewhere between 20 and 21: "This has to be the dumbest thing I've ever attempted in my life. No wait, there was this one time I tried to jump a barbed wire fence and didn't make it. Hmm...I'm thinking this might be worse."

Mile 21: I've just beem passed by a guy wearing a tutu. Okay. That makes a guy in a tutu, a woman dressed like supergirl, and a man dressed like a bumble bee whom have all passed me. I can easily see how at this point in the race you might think that you're someone you're not, but to actually dress like it before the race even started? Weird.

Mile 22: At this point my legs have given up. Every once in a while my legs just sort of stop working, I stumble a step or two, and start moving again.

Mile 23: I think I've found a "pace" that I'm finally comfortable with...slow!

I'm drawing my energy off of the spirit stations that are sprinked around. One even had a marching band performing there.

Mile 23.1: I just saw the guy next to me recieve a surprise arial assault from a seagull. I don't think he noticed it though. Shhh......

Mile 24: In a strange turn of events, a police car and an ambulance meet nose to nose trying to go in opposite directions, thus blocking off our path. I easily lose 20-30 seconds and am not happy about it.

Mile 25: We're downtown Detroit again, but where's the finish? "Doesn't this race ever end?"

Ford Field: Ah, the finish. We enter through the tunnel into the stadium which is all downhill. I'm pretty some people fall at this place given the exhaustion and the steepness. At this point my arm swing is nearly in my armpits and I'm trying to slow myself down because I really am out of control. After finishing, I get processed and move through some chutes like a cow off to the market. It's a surreal ending to such a crazy and wild morning. I actually finished a marathon. Woo-hoo!

The end Results: Time 3:56-ish, again, depends who you talk to. 1/2 split: 1:42:20. If you do the math you see that I had a REALLY tough time with the second half of the race :( Underwater mile split: 7:22 It was mostly flat or slightly downhill though :) 136th place for my age group and 1, 261st place overall. One very sore and tired body. Again, it was a great learning experience. Talking to runners after the race I learned that a good strategy is to run negative splits. My strategy was simply to go out and run. Next time I'll be much better prepared and the goal of 3:30 I think will be much easier to achieve.

Me before the race

Looky at what I won!

Me after the race at home :)