I visited the Fosters this past weekend and went running with Curtis and Sherry. It was with only in that we were on the same roads. I was tagging along. It was an enjoyable run and I saw some pretty houses that I haven't seen before. Sandpoint is bigger than I thought. I am glad it isn't any bigger than it is because I was ready to stop when we stopped. Sherry estimated we ran about five miles which is a first for me. No way could I have done the trail run they did with Sue. I was pleased with my performance and really sore the next day. I am still sore. I went for a run after arriving home this afternoon and it was the worst run I have had since I first started. I walked half of the time I think. It was one of those pooped runs!
I drove my longest run route to see how far it is before I went home. It is 4.5 miles. Now I know what I have achieved at home.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
My achy feet
Just another quick note. Today Curt and I went 8.7 miles, this time just on the road, and my body really aches. Especially my feet!! Sometimes I wonder how I ever manage to do a 1/2 marathon. The better news is we finished in 1:28. Yay!
~Sherry
~Sherry
Running up a Mountain
I have been quite the blog slacker, but not as bad as Curtis ;) I intended to write this right after we ran but of course didn't and now it is a week later. Anyway, while Sue was visiting, we took her up to do some trail running on the Ravenwood or Syringa trails (depending on who you are talking to). To reach the trails, you pretty much have to run uphill and I must say not really a casual uphill. It is pretty steep and you probably run about a mile, then you get on a shorter trail and continue running uphill.
Curtis is really good at all these hills, I on the other hand am not so good and often have to walk a bit. Sue was good enough to take some walking breaks with me :) Finally we are at the main trails and yes, you do have to go up some more. We run up and down and traverse back and forth, back and forth. It is all going pretty good except we really didn't take into account that Sue isn't used to running in really dry weather. She was getting quite thirsty and maybe a bit dehydrated. On she went though, especially when Curtis said it was only about 1 1/2 miles to water (he fudged this a bit).
We finally quit climbing and started downhill, which by the way isn't always easier, but to get out of the trails you have to go down. We come down a dirt road back to pavement and now we have about mile and a half or two left. We took a little walking break and then back to running the last mile and at last the car is in view and water. YAY!!!
We estimate that the run was around 7 miles, 3 something on pavement and the rest on the trails so pretty good. We had a fun time and now Sue says "she ran up a mountain!"
~Sherry
Curtis is really good at all these hills, I on the other hand am not so good and often have to walk a bit. Sue was good enough to take some walking breaks with me :) Finally we are at the main trails and yes, you do have to go up some more. We run up and down and traverse back and forth, back and forth. It is all going pretty good except we really didn't take into account that Sue isn't used to running in really dry weather. She was getting quite thirsty and maybe a bit dehydrated. On she went though, especially when Curtis said it was only about 1 1/2 miles to water (he fudged this a bit).
We finally quit climbing and started downhill, which by the way isn't always easier, but to get out of the trails you have to go down. We come down a dirt road back to pavement and now we have about mile and a half or two left. We took a little walking break and then back to running the last mile and at last the car is in view and water. YAY!!!
We estimate that the run was around 7 miles, 3 something on pavement and the rest on the trails so pretty good. We had a fun time and now Sue says "she ran up a mountain!"
~Sherry
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
The Midnight Streak
I ran my first 5K race Saturday night at the City Arts Center's Midnight Streak. I ended up beating my goal time significantly and really enjoyed the experience. The event is at the State Fair Grounds and officially began at 8 p.m. with bands playing on stage, some refreshment stands and free massages for runners.
Peggy came with me to lend me some moral support and we arrived a bit before 10:00. We brought a folding chair and a blanket and relaxed on the grass in front of the bandstand while waiting for the race to start. As the Oklahoma resident members of our blog know, Saturday was a very hot day (in a string of hot days) with a high of about 103. As we left the house around 9:30 to head to the Fairgrounds it was still around 97-98 degrees. As we waited for the race time to roll around I decided I should go ahead and run shirtless because of the heat and humidity, and that's pretty much how I've been running all summer anyway.
Around 10:40 Jared (of Subway commercial fame) got on stage and said all the runners needed to head to the starting area. I made one last bathroom pitstop then headed that way. There was a huge crowd and I wandered in and out of it looking for any familiar faces (didn't spot any). A few people were jogging up and down the road adjacent to the starting area and I joined them, jogging back and forth a couple of times to get loosened up.
As I wandered thru the crowd, I got fairly near the starting line a couple of times, but ultimately found myself 60 or 70 yards away from it when the race was about to start and the crowd tightened up significantly so I was pretty much stuck there. Suddenly the starting gun went off but nothing happened where I was for a few seconds. Then slowly, the crowd around me began to surge toward the starting line. We finally broke into a slow trot 20 or so feet from the start.
As we passed the start, the pace picked up a bit, but it was definitely quite a bit slower than I needed to be running to meet my goal time for the race. My fairly conservative goal was to break 27 minutes which requires running a bit under 9 minute miles. So I began trying to weave my way thru the big crowd around me to get some clear room around me, or at least work my way into a faster crowd.
I finally worked my way to the side and was able to get by the big crowd I had been trapped in and get some room to find my own speed. I glanced down at my GPS watch to check my paced and was alarmed to see it read a pace of about 7:35/mile...way to fast for this point in the race. My plan was to run the first mile between an 8:30 to 9 minute pace, then pick it up on the second mile to a bit under an 8:30 pace and finally run the last 1.1 mile at around an 8 minute pace. I remembered Ross warning me that in a race like this, it's easy to get caught up in the excitement and the other runners and start off too fast, wearing yourself out before you finish the first mile.
I slowed my pace down, but still found myself going a bit faster than my plan, averaging near an 8:30 pace for the first mile. I finished the first mile and picked up the pace slightly. To my surprise, there was a water station a bit before the halfway point...I didn't think they'd have any since a 5K is such a short race. Never the less, I was happy to see it as I was very hot by now and a slug of water sounded pretty good. I grabbed one from a volunteer as I ran past and managed to choke down two or three swallows while still running along. Looked at my GPS watch and saw I had slowed down to almost a 9:30 pace during that water "break" and got a bit alarmed. So I quickly picked the pace back up. As I approached the two-mile mark I mentally assessed things, deciding I still felt pretty good and felt I could continue with my plan to run the last mile at around an 8 minute pace.
When I passed two miles, I consciously picked my pace up even more, and continued passing people (as I had been doing for the entire race). At around 2 and 1/3 mile I found myself behind a couple of young girls (probably high school age). I was going to work my way around them, but they were moving along at a pretty good clip and maintaining a steady pace (and we were around my goal 8-minute pace) so I decided to just follow them along for a while. By this time I was starting to feel the exertion and found myself checking my watch frequently to see how far we had left.
The course had gone off the fairgrounds in the last mile and ran on May Avenue in a lane they had blocked off with traffic cones. Finally when my watch read that we had gone 2.97 miles I thought it was time to turn it on and give what kick I had left. I sped up and passed the two girls I had been following, as the course turned back into the fairgrounds. And, as you entered the fairgrounds you could see the finish line up ahead. At this point I was moving at a pretty good clip (I hit a 6:05 pace according to my GPS), but with about 100 yards left one of the young girls I had been following and passed went shooting by me!
Finally, I crossed the finish line, and almost immediately spotted Peggy in the crowd lining the finish. She had our camera and had hoped to take a picture as I crossed, but wasn't able to get it taken. She came over to congratulate me though and we walked along to where volunteers were passing out water bottles, when I remembered to stop my GPS watch...it read 26:14 when I stopped it, so I was excited to realize I had probably broke the 26 minute mark, since it had been at least 15 or 20 seconds after I finished before I stopped the watch.
We went back to the bandstand where they were to announce the winners at 11:45. As we waited I bumped into the manager of the OK Runner store in Edmond where I drop in once a month or so. I guess he recognized me because he stopped and asked me how I did. I told him I had beat my goal and was very happy with my performance. He said that's great and continued on. I told Peggy I'd bet he ran it in under 20 minutes. Then when they announced the overall winner--it turned out, it was him! His time was 15:44, which boggles my mind. Less than 5:15/mile!
They finally began posting results near midnite but I was disappointed to see that the times they were posting were from the starting gun, not the individual chip times. My starting gun time was 26:55, but I was still pretty sure I had broken the 26 minute mark. I had to wait until the next day to check my results on the internet and sure enough, my chip time was 25:57! So I had broken 26 minutes (barely!).
I finished 177th out of over 1100 finishers, and 14th out of 63 in the 50-54 age group (12th among men in that age group). I was quite pleased with myself and my performance and enjoyed the whole experience immensely. I plan on running it again next year and encourage the other Oklahoma runners to consider it too.
Peggy came with me to lend me some moral support and we arrived a bit before 10:00. We brought a folding chair and a blanket and relaxed on the grass in front of the bandstand while waiting for the race to start. As the Oklahoma resident members of our blog know, Saturday was a very hot day (in a string of hot days) with a high of about 103. As we left the house around 9:30 to head to the Fairgrounds it was still around 97-98 degrees. As we waited for the race time to roll around I decided I should go ahead and run shirtless because of the heat and humidity, and that's pretty much how I've been running all summer anyway.
Around 10:40 Jared (of Subway commercial fame) got on stage and said all the runners needed to head to the starting area. I made one last bathroom pitstop then headed that way. There was a huge crowd and I wandered in and out of it looking for any familiar faces (didn't spot any). A few people were jogging up and down the road adjacent to the starting area and I joined them, jogging back and forth a couple of times to get loosened up.
As I wandered thru the crowd, I got fairly near the starting line a couple of times, but ultimately found myself 60 or 70 yards away from it when the race was about to start and the crowd tightened up significantly so I was pretty much stuck there. Suddenly the starting gun went off but nothing happened where I was for a few seconds. Then slowly, the crowd around me began to surge toward the starting line. We finally broke into a slow trot 20 or so feet from the start.
As we passed the start, the pace picked up a bit, but it was definitely quite a bit slower than I needed to be running to meet my goal time for the race. My fairly conservative goal was to break 27 minutes which requires running a bit under 9 minute miles. So I began trying to weave my way thru the big crowd around me to get some clear room around me, or at least work my way into a faster crowd.
I finally worked my way to the side and was able to get by the big crowd I had been trapped in and get some room to find my own speed. I glanced down at my GPS watch to check my paced and was alarmed to see it read a pace of about 7:35/mile...way to fast for this point in the race. My plan was to run the first mile between an 8:30 to 9 minute pace, then pick it up on the second mile to a bit under an 8:30 pace and finally run the last 1.1 mile at around an 8 minute pace. I remembered Ross warning me that in a race like this, it's easy to get caught up in the excitement and the other runners and start off too fast, wearing yourself out before you finish the first mile.
I slowed my pace down, but still found myself going a bit faster than my plan, averaging near an 8:30 pace for the first mile. I finished the first mile and picked up the pace slightly. To my surprise, there was a water station a bit before the halfway point...I didn't think they'd have any since a 5K is such a short race. Never the less, I was happy to see it as I was very hot by now and a slug of water sounded pretty good. I grabbed one from a volunteer as I ran past and managed to choke down two or three swallows while still running along. Looked at my GPS watch and saw I had slowed down to almost a 9:30 pace during that water "break" and got a bit alarmed. So I quickly picked the pace back up. As I approached the two-mile mark I mentally assessed things, deciding I still felt pretty good and felt I could continue with my plan to run the last mile at around an 8 minute pace.
When I passed two miles, I consciously picked my pace up even more, and continued passing people (as I had been doing for the entire race). At around 2 and 1/3 mile I found myself behind a couple of young girls (probably high school age). I was going to work my way around them, but they were moving along at a pretty good clip and maintaining a steady pace (and we were around my goal 8-minute pace) so I decided to just follow them along for a while. By this time I was starting to feel the exertion and found myself checking my watch frequently to see how far we had left.
The course had gone off the fairgrounds in the last mile and ran on May Avenue in a lane they had blocked off with traffic cones. Finally when my watch read that we had gone 2.97 miles I thought it was time to turn it on and give what kick I had left. I sped up and passed the two girls I had been following, as the course turned back into the fairgrounds. And, as you entered the fairgrounds you could see the finish line up ahead. At this point I was moving at a pretty good clip (I hit a 6:05 pace according to my GPS), but with about 100 yards left one of the young girls I had been following and passed went shooting by me!
Finally, I crossed the finish line, and almost immediately spotted Peggy in the crowd lining the finish. She had our camera and had hoped to take a picture as I crossed, but wasn't able to get it taken. She came over to congratulate me though and we walked along to where volunteers were passing out water bottles, when I remembered to stop my GPS watch...it read 26:14 when I stopped it, so I was excited to realize I had probably broke the 26 minute mark, since it had been at least 15 or 20 seconds after I finished before I stopped the watch.
We went back to the bandstand where they were to announce the winners at 11:45. As we waited I bumped into the manager of the OK Runner store in Edmond where I drop in once a month or so. I guess he recognized me because he stopped and asked me how I did. I told him I had beat my goal and was very happy with my performance. He said that's great and continued on. I told Peggy I'd bet he ran it in under 20 minutes. Then when they announced the overall winner--it turned out, it was him! His time was 15:44, which boggles my mind. Less than 5:15/mile!
They finally began posting results near midnite but I was disappointed to see that the times they were posting were from the starting gun, not the individual chip times. My starting gun time was 26:55, but I was still pretty sure I had broken the 26 minute mark. I had to wait until the next day to check my results on the internet and sure enough, my chip time was 25:57! So I had broken 26 minutes (barely!).
I finished 177th out of over 1100 finishers, and 14th out of 63 in the 50-54 age group (12th among men in that age group). I was quite pleased with myself and my performance and enjoyed the whole experience immensely. I plan on running it again next year and encourage the other Oklahoma runners to consider it too.
 |
| Me, about 45 minutes before the race start. |
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| Me, gasping for breath an hour and 15 minutes later. |
Monday, August 9, 2010
On the road again
After a 2 week hiatus of no exercise, unless you count walking the dog, whatsoever, I ran again this morning. I ran my regular "short" run, but ran the whole way. So, I am still in shape and happy about that.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
You are a runner, aren't you?
I started running about 3 1/2 years ago and although I am much better than when I started, I struggle with myself because I think I should be much better than I am. Last week I went to a doctor's appointment and was discussing surgery that he has recommended. He told me I should do okay after surgery because I am healthy. And then he said "you are a runner, aren't you?" Later that day I started thinking about his comment and it really made me feel good. I am a runner and I may think I should be running faster and farther but I have done pretty well. I have lots of years left to get better and my brothers and sisters motivate me because I have to keep up with them. Thanks Jay for the report of our April race....I really enjoyed reading it.
Friday, July 30, 2010
The better late than never SLC marathon report
Previously titled On April 17th I ran 13.1 miles...and I liked it!
I began writing this a week or two after SLC back in April. When I was about 3/4 thru it I got sidetracked for various reasons and have just finally managed to get back to it and finish it up. So, for what it's worth, here's my summary of our adventures in SLC this past April.
It was quite an experience. A flood of emotions went through my mind as I crossed the finish line. Joy, exhaustion, pain, and a great sense of accomplishment. As I recall, it was last fall when Sue mentioned to me that Sherry was going to challenge Ross and myself to run the half marathon in Salt Lake City this year. Almost immediately I liked the idea although I wasn't sure about committing to it. I started to run a couple of years ago, but my effort lasted about a month. Beginning in the summer and no clearly defined goal probably led to my giving up quickly. But here was something to shoot for.
I began to do a bit of running in December, but Christmas and weather kept it to a minimum, so nothing got seriously underway until a week or so into January. The months of January and February were challenging weather-wise, but I kept at it and began to build some stamina. I was originally under the impression that the SLC Marathon was during the summer. I think, because the last half marathon Sue had run with Sherry and Curtis was late last summer (I didn't realize that wasn't at Salt Lake City). It was nearly the end of February when I was informed the SLC event was in the middle of April. Suddenly my training time was down to about a month and a half! So I kept at it and tried to increase my distance more quickly than I had originally intended. I ran regularly but had only a couple of 6-mile runs under my belt as my longest efforts before the event was upon us.
Sue and I flew to Salt Lake City on April 15th, arriving a day after Sherry and Curtis, who had driven down from Sand Point.
We enjoyed a nice afternoon and went and ate dinner at a small "health food" restaurant. Then that evening we went to a nearby park and ran a quick three miles around the park together.
Friday morning, we took our time getting ready in the morning then headed down to the Salt Palace to pick up our race packets and look around the pre-race expo. After we we spent some time browsing around the expo, we headed over to The Gateway to walk around and do a bit of shopping. It was an enjoyable afternoon. Finally we headed on home to get dinner going.
We skipped the official marathon's Pasta Dinner, and made our own. Sherry had a great recipe and her, Curtis, Sue and Thais ran over and around each other in the kitchen fixing dinner. It was a great meal and we almost managed to leave no leftovers. Everyone tried to get to bed earlier because the marathon started at 7 AM so we would be getting an early start.
I had run a quick 3-miler Wednesday evening before leaving Oklahoma. After the run I was a bit troubled by some pain on the inside of my left ankle. Thursday morning it wasn't any better, but I hoped it would ease by Saturday. Unfortunately, after our group run Thursday evening, the ankle was even more sore on Friday. I was definitely getting concerned as I was getting ready to run more than twice as far as I had ever run before. At the pre-race expo, a booth was selling a new kind of athletic tape, "KT Tape", endorsed and used by professional athletes and Olympians. It claimed to help a lot of different sports injuries and said it came with clear, illustrated instructions for application. The price wasn't bad ($12.99 for a package), so I finally decided to take a chance and try it. As we got ready Saturday morning, I taped up my left ankle altering the instructions for taping up shin splints a bit since my problem was in my ankle rather than my shin.
When everyone was ready, we took a quick group photo in the living room for posterity.
Finally, we all loaded into Curtis and Sherry's SUV and headed to the race start. We arrived at the marathon/half marathon starting area round 6:40. It was packed, with long bathroom lines and people handing off drop bags to be taken to the finish.
It was cool (temp about 50) and a bit windy, so it was a bit nippy in the light running clothes we all had on. Sue and I stood in a bathroom line for a few minutes, but since it didn't seem to be going anywhere we all headed for the starting line. Standing in the middle of the crowd eased the chill in the air quite a bit from the mass of body heat and the effect of blocking the wind. Finally, an official at the starting line (the SLC mayor?) began formally welcoming everyone and introduced a recently returned vet who sang the national anthem. After a bit more talking the race finally got underway. We slowly shuffled with the crowd toward the starting line, and once we got to it, we broke into a trot.
For the first couple of miles, it remains pretty crowded as everyone jockeys for position and tries to find the space to run at their own pace. You find yourself working around a lot of slower runners while faster runners weave in and out working toward the front of the pack. We hit a nice, easy pace of about 10 minutes a mile and maintained that easily for the first several miles. The full marathon broke off from the half marathon at around the 4 mile mark so Curtis left our small group and Sherry, Sue and I kept going together. We stopped around the 5 mile mark for a bathroom break. There was a fairly short line but we still ended up there for 8 or 9 minutes before we all got our business taken care of.
We took off again and kept our 10 minute/mile pace. Around this time, my right ankle began to bother me, feeling much like my left ankle had been the previous couple of days. The KT tape I had applied to the left ankle was doing a great job and I wasn't having any problems with it, but I was starting to think I should have taped up the right ankle too. We chugged along with Sue usually out in front of Sherry and I by 15 or 20 feet. Finally around the 8 mile mark, Sue broke into a walk. Sherry and I took her right up on the walking idea and we did that for a couple of hundred yards and discussed how we were all feeling, before beginning to run again.
Somewhere near 9 miles when Sue and I began walking again, Sherry kept on going. Besides my right ankle I was beginning to get quite a bit of pain in my right calf also. For the first time, I began to wonder a bit whether I would be able to finish. At first, if we'd walk the pain would go away and I'd feel fine, then we'd begin to run again and after just one or two hundred yards the pain would be right back. Sue was being bothered by some bowel distress so we stayed together to encourage each other through it.
On miles between miles 10 and 12 we walked more than either of us really wanted to (probably almost half of those two miles were walked), but we were trying to save up what we had left for the last mile. From mile 11 to mile 12, the course is uphill. Although it's a fairly gentle grade, it's at a point in the race where you're going to be pretty worn out. Despite the amount of walking we were doing at that point, I still took some satisfaction in the fact that when we did run we were passing those around us who were running too.
We were in this stretch when the eventual marathon winner with police escort passed us by. Almost 26 miles and he looked to have a lot more energy than Sue or I had after 11 miles. But, he was a lot younger than us too!
We finally arrived at the 12 mile mark and began running the final mile. As we began it, I was thinking "only a mile left...no problem", but we probably had only gone about a quarter mile before I was feeling the pain in my right ankle and calf and hoping I could keep going the entire mile. I was determined though, even if I had to slow down to a limping run.
I managed to maintain respectable form though. Probably around a half mile from the finish, crowds began lining the street and the closer you got to the finish line, the bigger and louder the crowd got. It was definitely inspiring, and helped keep you going.
Finally, the finish was in sight. With probably a couple hundred yards left, Sue picked up the pace, going for a little kick at the end. I followed suit and managed to pass her before crossing the finish line (my official time was 1 second faster than hers). After crossing the finish you were funneled into the "runners only" finish area where volunteers shoved water bottles into your hands and tables lined the path, loaded up with bananas, chocolate milk and other fuel for the runners to replenish themselves with. Crossing the finish then trotting thru this area, I had to fight back tears a couple of times as I felt overwhelmed with emotion for what I had done.
We had to wait another two and a half hours or so for Curtis to finish the full marathon. While waiting the bag drop line to pick up our bag, Curtis called my cell phone to give a report on his progress. He was having a hard time by then and estimated he'd be another 40 or 45 minutes on the course. When we thought he should be getting near the end, we took up positions around 70 or so yards from the finish line to wait. And wait. It ended up taking him longer than he had guessed because it was getting more and more difficult for him the closer to the end he got.
Finally, we saw him come into sight. He was looking a bit worse for the wear, but he wasn't going to walk across the finish line! Sherry ran to the finish to greet him as the rest of us cheered him on. It was hard for him, but Curtis broke the 5 hour mark with just a few minutes to spare.
After giving Curtis a few minutes to recover a bit, we went to check out our times before heading home. My time was 2:35:20. Everyone told me that wasn't bad for my first half marathon, but I definitely feel I could do better, so I'm looking forward to the next opportunity to beat that time.
We got home and we all got cleaned up and relaxed for a while before heading out later to get some dinner. It was a long, tiring day but very enjoyable too. Sue and I flew home the next day, arriving in Oklahoma City to a cool, rainy day.
I thoroughly enjoyed the short vacation, the half marathon and the visit with my family. Here's hoping everyone can come to OKC next year and participate in the Memorial Marathon! And looking forward to some of the younger ones participating too.
I began writing this a week or two after SLC back in April. When I was about 3/4 thru it I got sidetracked for various reasons and have just finally managed to get back to it and finish it up. So, for what it's worth, here's my summary of our adventures in SLC this past April.
It was quite an experience. A flood of emotions went through my mind as I crossed the finish line. Joy, exhaustion, pain, and a great sense of accomplishment. As I recall, it was last fall when Sue mentioned to me that Sherry was going to challenge Ross and myself to run the half marathon in Salt Lake City this year. Almost immediately I liked the idea although I wasn't sure about committing to it. I started to run a couple of years ago, but my effort lasted about a month. Beginning in the summer and no clearly defined goal probably led to my giving up quickly. But here was something to shoot for.
I began to do a bit of running in December, but Christmas and weather kept it to a minimum, so nothing got seriously underway until a week or so into January. The months of January and February were challenging weather-wise, but I kept at it and began to build some stamina. I was originally under the impression that the SLC Marathon was during the summer. I think, because the last half marathon Sue had run with Sherry and Curtis was late last summer (I didn't realize that wasn't at Salt Lake City). It was nearly the end of February when I was informed the SLC event was in the middle of April. Suddenly my training time was down to about a month and a half! So I kept at it and tried to increase my distance more quickly than I had originally intended. I ran regularly but had only a couple of 6-mile runs under my belt as my longest efforts before the event was upon us.
Sue and I flew to Salt Lake City on April 15th, arriving a day after Sherry and Curtis, who had driven down from Sand Point.
 |
| In Thais and Leslie's backyard Thursday afternoon. |
We enjoyed a nice afternoon and went and ate dinner at a small "health food" restaurant. Then that evening we went to a nearby park and ran a quick three miles around the park together.
Friday morning, we took our time getting ready in the morning then headed down to the Salt Palace to pick up our race packets and look around the pre-race expo. After we we spent some time browsing around the expo, we headed over to The Gateway to walk around and do a bit of shopping. It was an enjoyable afternoon. Finally we headed on home to get dinner going.
We skipped the official marathon's Pasta Dinner, and made our own. Sherry had a great recipe and her, Curtis, Sue and Thais ran over and around each other in the kitchen fixing dinner. It was a great meal and we almost managed to leave no leftovers. Everyone tried to get to bed earlier because the marathon started at 7 AM so we would be getting an early start.
I had run a quick 3-miler Wednesday evening before leaving Oklahoma. After the run I was a bit troubled by some pain on the inside of my left ankle. Thursday morning it wasn't any better, but I hoped it would ease by Saturday. Unfortunately, after our group run Thursday evening, the ankle was even more sore on Friday. I was definitely getting concerned as I was getting ready to run more than twice as far as I had ever run before. At the pre-race expo, a booth was selling a new kind of athletic tape, "KT Tape", endorsed and used by professional athletes and Olympians. It claimed to help a lot of different sports injuries and said it came with clear, illustrated instructions for application. The price wasn't bad ($12.99 for a package), so I finally decided to take a chance and try it. As we got ready Saturday morning, I taped up my left ankle altering the instructions for taping up shin splints a bit since my problem was in my ankle rather than my shin.
When everyone was ready, we took a quick group photo in the living room for posterity.
 |
| The intrepid runners |
Finally, we all loaded into Curtis and Sherry's SUV and headed to the race start. We arrived at the marathon/half marathon starting area round 6:40. It was packed, with long bathroom lines and people handing off drop bags to be taken to the finish.
 |
| Arriving at the starting area. |
It was cool (temp about 50) and a bit windy, so it was a bit nippy in the light running clothes we all had on. Sue and I stood in a bathroom line for a few minutes, but since it didn't seem to be going anywhere we all headed for the starting line. Standing in the middle of the crowd eased the chill in the air quite a bit from the mass of body heat and the effect of blocking the wind. Finally, an official at the starting line (the SLC mayor?) began formally welcoming everyone and introduced a recently returned vet who sang the national anthem. After a bit more talking the race finally got underway. We slowly shuffled with the crowd toward the starting line, and once we got to it, we broke into a trot.
 |
| Waiting in the crowd for the start. |
For the first couple of miles, it remains pretty crowded as everyone jockeys for position and tries to find the space to run at their own pace. You find yourself working around a lot of slower runners while faster runners weave in and out working toward the front of the pack. We hit a nice, easy pace of about 10 minutes a mile and maintained that easily for the first several miles. The full marathon broke off from the half marathon at around the 4 mile mark so Curtis left our small group and Sherry, Sue and I kept going together. We stopped around the 5 mile mark for a bathroom break. There was a fairly short line but we still ended up there for 8 or 9 minutes before we all got our business taken care of.
We took off again and kept our 10 minute/mile pace. Around this time, my right ankle began to bother me, feeling much like my left ankle had been the previous couple of days. The KT tape I had applied to the left ankle was doing a great job and I wasn't having any problems with it, but I was starting to think I should have taped up the right ankle too. We chugged along with Sue usually out in front of Sherry and I by 15 or 20 feet. Finally around the 8 mile mark, Sue broke into a walk. Sherry and I took her right up on the walking idea and we did that for a couple of hundred yards and discussed how we were all feeling, before beginning to run again.
Somewhere near 9 miles when Sue and I began walking again, Sherry kept on going. Besides my right ankle I was beginning to get quite a bit of pain in my right calf also. For the first time, I began to wonder a bit whether I would be able to finish. At first, if we'd walk the pain would go away and I'd feel fine, then we'd begin to run again and after just one or two hundred yards the pain would be right back. Sue was being bothered by some bowel distress so we stayed together to encourage each other through it.
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| The course goes thru the park where we ran Thursday evening. |
On miles between miles 10 and 12 we walked more than either of us really wanted to (probably almost half of those two miles were walked), but we were trying to save up what we had left for the last mile. From mile 11 to mile 12, the course is uphill. Although it's a fairly gentle grade, it's at a point in the race where you're going to be pretty worn out. Despite the amount of walking we were doing at that point, I still took some satisfaction in the fact that when we did run we were passing those around us who were running too.
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| Approaching mile 11 as Sue wonders why I'm not running. |
We finally arrived at the 12 mile mark and began running the final mile. As we began it, I was thinking "only a mile left...no problem", but we probably had only gone about a quarter mile before I was feeling the pain in my right ankle and calf and hoping I could keep going the entire mile. I was determined though, even if I had to slow down to a limping run.
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| On the last mile! |
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| Sue and I near the finish. |
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| Me, somewhere near the finish. |
We had to wait another two and a half hours or so for Curtis to finish the full marathon. While waiting the bag drop line to pick up our bag, Curtis called my cell phone to give a report on his progress. He was having a hard time by then and estimated he'd be another 40 or 45 minutes on the course. When we thought he should be getting near the end, we took up positions around 70 or so yards from the finish line to wait. And wait. It ended up taking him longer than he had guessed because it was getting more and more difficult for him the closer to the end he got.
Finally, we saw him come into sight. He was looking a bit worse for the wear, but he wasn't going to walk across the finish line! Sherry ran to the finish to greet him as the rest of us cheered him on. It was hard for him, but Curtis broke the 5 hour mark with just a few minutes to spare.
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| Curtis waves to us as he approaches the finish line. |
After giving Curtis a few minutes to recover a bit, we went to check out our times before heading home. My time was 2:35:20. Everyone told me that wasn't bad for my first half marathon, but I definitely feel I could do better, so I'm looking forward to the next opportunity to beat that time.
We got home and we all got cleaned up and relaxed for a while before heading out later to get some dinner. It was a long, tiring day but very enjoyable too. Sue and I flew home the next day, arriving in Oklahoma City to a cool, rainy day.
I thoroughly enjoyed the short vacation, the half marathon and the visit with my family. Here's hoping everyone can come to OKC next year and participate in the Memorial Marathon! And looking forward to some of the younger ones participating too.
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