OK. Here we go… Newport Oregon Marathon Forecast all week is
for rain and wind and a big storm on Friday. Mark(my running buddy) and I leave
Snoqualmie at a little after 10 a.m. with
some rain and drizzle. We saw some more rain on the way down, but when we get to
the Newport area it’s a beautiful
day…what happened to the severe weather alert people?
Mark called Dave, his buddy from the Mt.
Si running club and we went down to
check in and get our #’s etc. at race HQ. Hung out and chatted with Dave and
his wife for a bit. This guy is 48 but looks to me like he’s about 35. Dude is
in good shape! We gleaned some nuggets of wisdom chatting with him. Cool couple…his
wife was looking to BQ here or in Chicago
in the fall.(one of his nuggets was to run a marathon in the fall to BQ, he
says it’s always cooler)
Then got a call from Snoqualmie and set up a time and place
to meet for dinner. We met Carolyn in Colorado
there for dinner too. My favorite part of the weekend was hanging out and
meeting these cool runners(and families) and hearing their stories etc. Had a
great time at dinner just talking and listening. Super nice people!
Dinner was so good…they had sourdough bread(lots of it) and
Snoqualmie’s daughter and I pretty much had a contest to see who could eat the
most. I ordered the seafood pasta and when the plate came I thought for sure I
couldn’t finish it but it was soooo good that I did…maybe just a touch too much
but was glad during the race that I had really loaded up.
Then off to bed and an OK sleep but I was a little anxious.
Woke up a few times and it was a little hard going back to sleep. Woke up at 5:12
and pounded a power bar and a bottle of water. Then went back to snoozing until
6, then showered to get a good wakeup. About 12 ounces of OJ just before leaving for the start line. About 6:30
we walked down to the starting area and met CiC and Sno on the way. It was a
nice morning! No clouds or wind that I could detect…that meant heat later on…let’s
get this race started before it gets too hot!!
Mark and I have been running races together for a few years
and I’ve never beat that guy! Even though he 5 years older than me he is just a
tough dude. Last year at this marathon we were together until the last mile and
he powered up the hill and I finished about a minute behind him. We had talked
on the way that it might be a decent race between us this year. We were both feeling
confident that we could BQ. He finished about 1.5 minutes out of a BQ last
year. The plan was to run together until 20 and then it was a free for all to
see who wins. It’s nice to run with him as we are pretty close to the same level
of runners. We help push each other to be better. We envisioned a sprint at the
end to see who would win the crown.
We were both doing very well (low 7:50's pace)until about mile 17 where he kind of
dropped back behind. He did the same thing last year but then caught and passed
me. This time he just didn’t have it. I really didn’t look back as I figured he
was at least pretty close. Finally about mile 20 I look back and no Mark so I’m
on my own for the last 10 K…feeling OK but not great. The lap pace was harder
to hold and I was starting to breathe much heavier with the heat and the
wind(it wasn’t terrible but after 20 miles it seems super bad).
The first 18 miles I was in a zone that was not easy but it wasn't too tough either. It reminded me of my son Carter who is so solid and steady. He never gets too up or too down.
Mile 17 was a 7:53, 18 was 7:55, 19 was 8:03, 20 was 8:08
and I was at 2 hours and 37 minutes so I figured I had the BQ in the bag(my
avg. pace was in the low 7:50’s and I only needed to avg. 8 pace to get in,
easy peasy I thought to myself…then the second half of the race began…it got
hard!!
Hard to motivate myself to do this…was it really worth
busting my butt to get a BQ? Then I began thinking about my wife who allows me
to go running and she get’s stuck watching the kids while I’m out there. I had
promised her a trip to Boston…I
wasn’t sure that I could deliver after having gone 22 or 23 miles.
I did find a mantra and just started using it anytime my
thoughts got negative…my 4 favorite girls in the world. Heidi, Tori, Amanda,
Nova over and over and just thought about each of them and how lucky I am to
have such a wonderful family. I HAD to qualify so I could treat my wife to a
trip to Boston. I figured that I
could hold an 8 minute pace but it just wasn’t there for me.
Mile 21 was 8:16,
22 was 8:16, 23 was 8:32, 24 was 8:34
and 25 was 8:47 and my overall pace
was @ 8:01 pace….what the heck? It was
time to dig deep…now I had to make up time! These were tough miles that didn’t
seem to end.
16 hard training weeks(actually 15 since the last week was
so easy) and I might miss BQing by a few seconds…NO WAY!
This is why I ran the parkway hill after my long runs. This
is why I ran the hills at the ridge and looked for more hills. What I thought
was going to be killer turned out easier than the previous 3 miles...running
that hill felt good! It was 8:16
pace. At the top of it I was a bit winded but then Dave was there telling me
that I had .2 miles to go and I needed to do it in less than a minute. Can’t
remember his exact words but it was something like Put the hammer down! Gave it
everything I had left(which wasn’t much) and sort of sprinted to the finish.
There is a pretty sharp turn just before the finish line that was kind of hard
to make and then I heard the announcer say my name and it was over…volunteers
helped me through the chute and gave me my hand blown glass medal.
My garmin shows a 7:48
pace on the last .2 miles and a fastest time at 5:42
during it so I really was cooking down that hill. Then I walked a bit to catch
my breath and finally went and got some watermelon and oranges to get some
nourishment. Man was I starved. I had forgotten to turn off my garmin even
though I had thought of it just before the finish line…but was very happy to see
that when I did turn it off less than a minute after, it still read, Race time 3:30 so I knew that I had qualified for Boston!
Sweet! But so hard….I sure learned a lot about myself.
I was about to faint so I got a chair and parked it right by
the finish line so I could see the rest of our group come in. I was right out
in the sun and I just about fell over a couple times…I had to ask a volunteer
to go get me some more fruit because I didn’t trust myself standing up.
Carolyn in Colorado came in next and was looking like I had
felt when I arrived so I helped her get situated and she told me she had passed
Mark at about mile 23 and he had told her that the wheels had come off. Mark
came in a few minutes under 4 hours and he was not looking all that good. We
got him situated and then I saw Snoqualmie’s husband and daughter and they told
me she had let them know she was nauseous out there. Now we started worrying
about her. Sheree, Dave’s wife came in @ 4:07ish
I think and then Snoqualmie. She really hung in there on a day that was not
ideal for her. In fact an older man passed Mark toward the end and said to him…there
will be other days. It was kind of fun for me to listen to everyone's stories about the race. We each had our own story and I think we all learned something new from this marathon.
Snoqualmie’s family and Carolyn took off back to their hotel
and we were planning on walking the mile and a half back to ours but I was very
concerned about Mark’s hamstring issues. Sno’s husband volunteered to come back
and get us…what a sweetheart of a guy! Mark owes him and is going to be his
personal trainer now for crossfit. :-)
I had completely forgotten how hard the last 6.2 miles of a
marathon is…I was not fully prepared for
how hard it was but was able to do something I didn’t really want to do…and
now feel I can do just about anything after that!
Mark and I left for home and got stuck on I-5 in Portland
for an hour and a half on the freeway! That stunk!!! However we did find a
great pizza place at the first exit in Vancouver
and had a giant calzone, our preferred meal after a marathon. We finally got to
my place at 8:30 pm….that was one
long day!
Another buddy of mine Nick, left a big chilled bottle of A
& W root beer for when I got home and I enjoyed a Root Beer float. Several people texted me to see how I did and were very kind to congratulate me on the BQ.
Next stop Boston Marathon and then it might be a while until
the next one after that. A bonus to all this is that my daughter is running
consistently…she recently ran an 8K and is targeting a half in October…running
is certainly not my favorite thing in life but it has taught me many things…most
importantly how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family and awesome friends.
Splits: 7:50, 7:41, 7:47, 7:38, 7:59, 7:48, 8:00, 7:53, 7:52, 7:43, 7:52, 8:03, 7:50, 7:54, 7:55, 7:53, 7:53, 7:55, 8:03, 8:08, 8:16, 8:16, 8:32, 8:34, 8:47, 8:16, 7:48(last .2 but this is not totally accurate as it was turned off late)
