We’re Marathoners!

26.2. It takes a car almost 30 minutes on the freeway to drive the amount we just ran. And to be quite honest, it was the hardest thing athletically I’ve done to date.

The trip started off with the Weaver family and us driving down to Sacramento. We went to the running expo and picked up our sweet numbers. Bridget got bib #7001 and I got #7000. We went through the expo and picked up some free stuff and Bridget got us some weird balancing bracelet. Whatever works, right?

We had a quick lunch at an Irish pub where we saw a group from Ireland drinking a few Guinesses. They were trying to qualify for Boston. Pretty sweet.

At dinner that night, we met up with our NSET group. Ski, the head coach, asked two famous runners to come speak at dinner, which was really cool – Bart Yasso and another guy who had done a few ultra marathons. Ski also dropped some important news that this may be his last marathon. He’s 65 and this was his 20^th CIM and 100+ marathon, which was sad to hear. We then had some marrion berry pie as a NSET tradition at the hotel, and then went to bed early since we had a 4am wakeup call.

The morning we got ready and then had to take a shuttle down to the starting line. All four of us – Ron, Bridget, Rob, and myself – were nervous about the weather. It wasn’t sunny, and there was an anticipated head wind that was supposed to meet us while we raced. Needless to say, the 34 degree weather was quite cold at 7am.

We lined up at the 4 hour pace group. All of us wanted to get in before the 4 hour mark except Ron who was shooting or 4:20. However, if he did get in at 4 hours, 59 seconds, he would qualify for Boston. And suddenly the race began.

Rob and I started off a bit quicker than Bridget and Erin. The first mile though went slow with the entire crowd. And we kept a steady, but quick pace. The first 13 miles went relatively smooth, and we had clocked in an 1 hour, 52 minute half.

On the way, we saw a few things that brought a smile.

• “Stop Toe Nail Cruelty”
• “Bladder Cancer Pisses Me Off”
• Some guy yelling at mile 3, “You’re almost there!”
• Some guy yelling at mile 3.25 “You’re not even close!”

For me personally, it got tough around mile 16/17. Rob kept trying to get us to move quicker even though we were on pace for our goal. I remember thinking that as soon as we got to mile 16, I only had 10 more miles. If I got mile 18, I was more than 2/3rds there. As soon as I get to 20, it’ll start to be a count down. Plus Ski gave us all a Gu schedule that really worked well for me, which served as a “treat” for that mile. (The Gu should be taken at mile 8, 14, 18, 22, and 24. Also taking some glucose at mile 25 is also recommended.

So we trudged on. I remember Mile 20 was a bit tough, but mile 21, I seemed to fly down it. But Mile 22 I kept pushing. Mile 23 through 26 something strange was happening. My legs were moving but my mind wasn’t all there. I even knicked a reflector and almost ate it, barely catching myself.

I really wanted to walk. And I would indulge a little bit as soon as we had a water station so I could drink water. But then walking 5 seconds wasn’t worth it because starting up running was extremely hard mentally to do, and I’d push myself to keep moving. So I just wanted to keep going and fight my urge.

I played a few mind games. I would start counting up to 100 and back down again, but then I kept forgetting where I was at and which way I was going. I got distracted by either music or a bird… something. The best strategy for me was to look at my watch and then try to run as much as I could within a certain time. So, if I could be at this mileage at this time, it was going well. I seemed to get the best results that way.

So then around Mile 25 Rob gives the look that he wants to push it again, and I didn’t have much left in the tank. I did start going faster, but not by much. I looked down at my GPS and saw that I had run 25.5 miles. So, I then started to run faster, past a few streets, and from what felt like 30 minutes, I figured I had to be close and I looked down again, but I had only gone about .3 miles. Damn it!

But finally, Rahsputin, the lover of the Russian queen, pumped through the Ipod to keep me moving at a decent pace,  and I saw the finish line. As the time ticked down I wanted to get in before the minute, and I did at 59 seconds. And finally I was done. I stopped right afterward and got light headed. But, I was finished and the my goal was complete.

I found Rob, and then we hobbled over to grab our blankets and take off our chips. We then waited for Bridget. But the feeling of accomplishment of doing this can not be replaced. We went through a lot to achieve our goal.

We then went and grabbed a few beers at a brewery in Auburn. The funny thing is that the pass was closed due to the storm before we left, but luckily opened again and was slow moving getting over. Luckily the storm came from the north instead of the west, so it didn’t affect our run by much.

And now I can say that we are all marathoners. I’m extremely proud for my running team: Bridget, Ron, Rob, Nagisa, Anya, and even Erin. I know I couldn’t have done as much as I did without them. Also special thanks to NSET on this. They trained us and then ran with us on some of the run to make sure we were doing okay. (They have runners that range from 2:40 to 5:30.) I really can’t say enough about the club and anyone thinking about doing a half or full should really join them.

Here’s the stats: