Friday, September 28, 2007
Quad Cities Marathon Race Recap
So I apologize to anyone who was looking for a race review for the past couple days but life has been crazy with having way too much work due in one week and some other things going not so well in lab.
But yes I have offically finished my first full marathon and cannot be any happier. It was an interesting weekend to say the least. Driving out there through all the corn fields solo was kind of nice to be able to get myself mentally prepared for the race because I was not really ready for what was to come with school and everything hitting pretty hard right now. The expo was nice and I ended up winning a $300 gift certificate for laser hair removal or skin rejuvination. Not sure what I am going to get with that, I was thinking about some sort of design on my body somewhere. Any ideas?
Race day: The blessing before the race was great, the priest said the Irish blessing may the road rise up to meet you... and so on. It was the perfect thing to say before a race like that. I was keeping a great pace, I was looking at somewhere between 4:10 and 4:20 and then it got hot. It reached 90 degrees air temp and 110 pavement, so I found out after I crossed the finish line. I knew it was going to be a hot day so at every water station I was taking 2 cups tyoically 1 H2O and one gatorade. I made sure that I was taking my Endurolites every 40-50 minutes, but thinking back I may have missed one which could be a potential reason for what was to come. I was taking my gels every 30-40 minutes, Amino Vital is quite tasty. I was running really well and everything felt great and then it got hot. Out on Arsenal Island is where things started to unravel. I was at about mile 19 when I got cramps in my hamstring and calf of my left leg which I stopped and quickly streched out and kept moving. Then at mile 19.5 I got cramps in both of my hamstrings and calfs and almost fell over because of it. I stereched it out and started running again, mile marker 20 is only .2 miles from the finish and there was a woman standing there with a sign that said 20 miles of body 6.2 miles of heart and as I read that I realized it is really what it came down to. All I had to do was just keep my body moving forward and I would be back at that point crossing the finish line today. So I started the out and back that would get me to that finish line and was plagued with cramps up and down both my legs casuing me to stumble off the side of the road multiple times. I made the decision to not even try to run from mile marker 25 to mile marker 26 so that I would be able to run across the finish line. I started my run as soon as I hit the marker and it probably was not even that much of a run but it was getting me there faster I knew that much. I was about 100 ft from the finish line when my body decided it did not want to run anymore and everything cramped up, legs arms chest back talk about a party. I told myself I did not care how much it hurt I was going to cross the finish line in a sembalance of running. As soon as I crossed the finish line I fell over and a medic caught me and pulled me into a chair and started to question me about how much I had been drinking and what hurt. I looked down at my left calf to see it shifted and cramped on the inside of my leg, not where it was supposed to be and all I could manage to tell him becuase of pain and the emotion of crossing the line was a MEH and a point at it. His response, Oh Damn! and he helped me strech it out.
As soon as I could walk again I walked over and got my finishers medal and then stumbled over to find a place that was quite enough I could call my family and tell them I am alive and I finished. They had been amazing and sending my inpirational text messages all day long, which was quite helpful considering I did not have anyone there for me. After hanging out for a bit I walked over to my car to make the nice long and boring drive back to Notre Dame. As soon as I got on the highway other than getting on and off of it to get gas I did not touch the gas or the brake I was using cruise control the entire time and just using the coast button to slow down and the accelrate to pass. It was fantastic. I did not even know my offical time until over a day later and did not care all that mattered was crossing the finish line. My first big step towards preparation for Ironman FL in 2008.
Offical Time: 4:46:22
But yes I have offically finished my first full marathon and cannot be any happier. It was an interesting weekend to say the least. Driving out there through all the corn fields solo was kind of nice to be able to get myself mentally prepared for the race because I was not really ready for what was to come with school and everything hitting pretty hard right now. The expo was nice and I ended up winning a $300 gift certificate for laser hair removal or skin rejuvination. Not sure what I am going to get with that, I was thinking about some sort of design on my body somewhere. Any ideas?
Race day: The blessing before the race was great, the priest said the Irish blessing may the road rise up to meet you... and so on. It was the perfect thing to say before a race like that. I was keeping a great pace, I was looking at somewhere between 4:10 and 4:20 and then it got hot. It reached 90 degrees air temp and 110 pavement, so I found out after I crossed the finish line. I knew it was going to be a hot day so at every water station I was taking 2 cups tyoically 1 H2O and one gatorade. I made sure that I was taking my Endurolites every 40-50 minutes, but thinking back I may have missed one which could be a potential reason for what was to come. I was taking my gels every 30-40 minutes, Amino Vital is quite tasty. I was running really well and everything felt great and then it got hot. Out on Arsenal Island is where things started to unravel. I was at about mile 19 when I got cramps in my hamstring and calf of my left leg which I stopped and quickly streched out and kept moving. Then at mile 19.5 I got cramps in both of my hamstrings and calfs and almost fell over because of it. I stereched it out and started running again, mile marker 20 is only .2 miles from the finish and there was a woman standing there with a sign that said 20 miles of body 6.2 miles of heart and as I read that I realized it is really what it came down to. All I had to do was just keep my body moving forward and I would be back at that point crossing the finish line today. So I started the out and back that would get me to that finish line and was plagued with cramps up and down both my legs casuing me to stumble off the side of the road multiple times. I made the decision to not even try to run from mile marker 25 to mile marker 26 so that I would be able to run across the finish line. I started my run as soon as I hit the marker and it probably was not even that much of a run but it was getting me there faster I knew that much. I was about 100 ft from the finish line when my body decided it did not want to run anymore and everything cramped up, legs arms chest back talk about a party. I told myself I did not care how much it hurt I was going to cross the finish line in a sembalance of running. As soon as I crossed the finish line I fell over and a medic caught me and pulled me into a chair and started to question me about how much I had been drinking and what hurt. I looked down at my left calf to see it shifted and cramped on the inside of my leg, not where it was supposed to be and all I could manage to tell him becuase of pain and the emotion of crossing the line was a MEH and a point at it. His response, Oh Damn! and he helped me strech it out.
As soon as I could walk again I walked over and got my finishers medal and then stumbled over to find a place that was quite enough I could call my family and tell them I am alive and I finished. They had been amazing and sending my inpirational text messages all day long, which was quite helpful considering I did not have anyone there for me. After hanging out for a bit I walked over to my car to make the nice long and boring drive back to Notre Dame. As soon as I got on the highway other than getting on and off of it to get gas I did not touch the gas or the brake I was using cruise control the entire time and just using the coast button to slow down and the accelrate to pass. It was fantastic. I did not even know my offical time until over a day later and did not care all that mattered was crossing the finish line. My first big step towards preparation for Ironman FL in 2008.
Offical Time: 4:46:22
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Quad Cities Marathon
I am running in the quad cities marathon today, it is my first marathon and I cannot be more excited. I will let everyone know how it goes either tonight or tomorrow.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
I love long runs
So I had a very sucessful run this morning, I was able to knock off 18 miles without an issue. I felt fantastic afterward other than some minor leg fatigue because I decided to run the last 4 miles about a minute faster than the first 14, go smart decisions. One more long run left and then it is taper time which is a very scary reality that is going to be very interesting. I booked my hotel room so this is becoming a reality, exciting! Okay time to run and get on with other things. Good luck to the Ironman Wisconsin people.
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