Hows my little marathoner?

Ladies and gentlemen, I have successfully completed my first and only marathon.

First I want to thank everyone who said good luck and congratulations, motivation in all of its forms was greatly appreciated. I would especially like to thank my lovely wife Laura for worrying about me on all of those long runs and baring with my resolve to tackle this task. I am especially grateful for her willingness to get up in the morning and bring me water and food on my long runs.

Running a whole marathon is an amazing feat, but the real amazing feat is the training one must endure in preparation for the big race. For those of you not familiar with this portion I'll give you a bit of reference. I began my training officially on February 14th for the race taking place June 18th. Due to a knee injury I ended up running just over half of the miles I was planning on running. Total I ran 241 miles, estimating the pace I was generally training at that means I spent about 41 hours of jogging around the streets of Oakwood and beyond.

Also I had a training buddy from afar, Aaron who was an excellent motivator. If you ever decide to put yourself through this torture, get a buddy. It makes complaining more fun because you can share your pain with someone who understands completely. In theory you and your buddy will stick to the plan better too.

After being a spectator since I was just wee boy watching my Dad run the race it was really great to be on the other side of the event as a runner. Running Grandmas is a great experience, I took the scenic railway to the start line (my last big tourist attraction to do in Duluth), they had tons of outhouses at the starting line, and a lot of pacers to keep everyone on track of their goals.

Its an interesting race in the sense that for the first 20 miles there are very few spectator spots, so its just you the lake and 10,000ish fellow runners for a good few hours. With great scenery and the wind at our back though it was actually quite enjoyable, except mile 10 when you can see the lift bridge for the first time and its a tiny speck on the horizon. In fact, at mile 15 you get to see it again and its no bigger, that is a giant mental hurdle. Its not until you get into town that you really get crowds of people yelling, go runners! Which is a great time for that because everyone is starting to hurt then.

Aaron and I stayed together and on a great pace for the first 17 miles. We found a couple of rabbits to chase who looked like they were out for an easy jog and things went quite smooth for awhile, I think due to pain, tired legs, and a slow water stop I lost all three of my pacers in about a minute I tried to catch up but my legs wouldn't let me. So I began plodding along and quickly got passed by the 4 hour pacer and towards the end the 4:15 pacer, which under normal circumstances would have been disheartening by then I had long since decided 4 hours, while a noble goal, was now replaced with a JUST FINISH DAMMIT mentality. I did not finish strong, I plodded all the way into the finish area where I was ready to lie down and cry. I was thankful for the shirt I got for finishing since I was frigid. At the finish, since I'm not one to pass up a free massage I waited in line for a massage that was phenomenal. I have a feeling that my speedyish recovery was aided greatly from this.

I got my time while enjoying my post-race beer and it broke down like this:

10k: 54:40
13.1: 1:59:34
20: 3:09:44
25: 4:12:49
26.2: 4:28:12

You can easily see how hard I crashed, notice that 16 minute final mile.

Altogether I enjoyed my marathon experience (as much as one could while being tired and sore so often) but I wouldn't do it again I think half marathons are much more sensible to train for and to run. So to my Dad and everyone else who has run more than one marathon, well done, I'm impressed.



One of the best things about all this running (and sensible eating) I managed to lose 15 pounds by race day. This is a big deal for me since I gained 20 pounds when we first moved south and its been tough to lose ever since.