In less than twelve hours, I'll be running.
I'm more than ready.
I'd write more but I've tried to post this three times and failed so just the pertinent info.
If you want to track my progress tomorrow via email and text messenging, you can click here.
Thanks for all the encouraging words.
Next stop: starting line.
Going for distance or going for speed?
One thing I've repeatedly read since deciding to run was that a first-time runner should aim just to finish the race and not worry about their time. Early on, I thought I could jive with this. But then I read an excerpt online from some running book where the author claimed that Oprah ran her first marathon in under four hours. Alas, an excuse for me to forget about merely finishing. If I can't do better than Oprah, then I'm giving up . . . on everything.
Then I started training and I started to think that that dude made up the Oprah fact. In order to run a four-hour marathon, you need to run nine minute miles. I started running in January between 9:30 to 10 minute miles. Disappointed, I picked up my time week by week. When I did twenty miles a couple of weeks ago, I nailed my nine-minute mile over the course of the run. I'm thinking that dodging traffic cost me a few minutes during that run. And considering that they say that you pick up a little time on race day and the fact that I've trained well and I'm focused, I think I can do a little better than I original suspected.
So just because I like throwing down the gauntlet, here'll be my reaction to the following finishing times:
— Over 4hrs: satisfied and smiling; perhaps upgraded to "happy" if an injury or weather slowed me down.
— Between 3hrs50mins & 4hrs: happy
— Between 3hrs40mins & 3hrs50mins: ecstatic
— Under 3hrs40mins: astonished
Back to Harpo. True, when I started training I wasn't in the best shape, but I suspected there was no possible way the talk show queen could've done four hours. Turns out (did my best lazy fact checking tonight) that Oprah actually ran the marathon in about four hours and twenty-nine minutes. Really, I'm not sure that makes me feel much better. That means she averaged about 10:30 per mile. If I can't smoke that time, I'll cancel my subscription to "O" magazine.
EDITOR'S NOTE: It was just now that I finally realized that my blog countdown was screwed up, counting down one day early. One of the email alerts I received from the Flying Pig people had a countdown going until Marathon WEEKEND and I mindless used that count. I went back and fixed the titles. Sometimes my fact checking is extremely lazy. Don't worry, though, I won't be lined up to run on Saturday morning.
A little 'bit about running-wear.
One thing I never thought about was having to to buy runner-specific clothing. I thought it was shirt, shorts, shoes and off you go. You can go that route, but a little wisdom goes even further. The best piece of advice I received early on was to buy a good pair of long-distance running shoes.
In the half-marathon I ran last year, I wore a regular pair of Nike's. A few weeks into my training, I started having some knee issues which eventually forced my to get a compression brace; I ended up having to wear that brace during the actual race. Later, when I was telling my neighbor about my knee issues, he identified the shoes as the culprit. At the end of last year I went up to the running store in O'Bryonville and bought a nice pair of Mizuno shoes.* Throughout my training, they have been completely reliable— both my knees and my feet have felt great. So the most important thing I discovered: if you run the marathon, don't get cheap with the shoes.
The early winter runs demanded that I purchase a some cold weather running gear. While I haven't worn any of that in over a month or so, it was critical in my not freezing during those January/February runs.
As I started running over six miles I discovered that, at least for males, certain things start rubbin' the wrong way. I never experienced this when playing soccer because you're constantly starting and stopping in your motion; I never had the consistent, repetitive running motion that accompanied long-distance running. On those longer runs, I'd come home walking like I just rode a horse or, in my northern hemisphere, feeling like Andy from The Office. As a result, I invested in some Under Armour which eliminates any chafing.**
I will admit that on Sunday, in addition to the shoes and shorts, I'll be wearing only the tight Under Armour t-shirt. This is somewhat amusing as I really don't have the chiseled body that is supposed to accompany the wearing of such a shirt, i.e., my six-pack is more like one of those small Heineken kegs. Still, I'm more interested in utility than aesthetics; the shirt breathes well and has the ability to keep me both warm and cool when necessary. Plus, I don't think I look THAT embarrassing in it (not enough to solicite groans) so I'm going for it.
Shoes, shorts, shirt— that's about all I need.
____________
*I usually only buy Nike or Adidas shoes; this was the first time in a long time I've gone outside the big two. Mizuno, by the way, was the brand Pete Rose used when he broke the all-time hits record.
**I must admit that I have another tool to ward off unnecessary chafing. It rhymes with "gasoline" and, as this is a family blog, I will not describe the where it goes.
About tunes . . .
I'm not gonna lie: if it weren't for the mp3, I wouldn't do the marathon.
I get bored while running; even though the scenery changes, it can get pretty monotonous. Music makes the difference. I needs my tunes in order to get by.
Sure, the Walkman got people through the 80's and 90's, but it also added enough weight and bulk to be thoroughly annoying while running (not to mention being limited to one cassette/CD). Maybe that's why I never really ran more than six miles. But with the mp3 player, you have a lightweight, portable way to hold a ton of music.
But sometimes, not enough.
When I started prepping for the half-marathon last year, through the early months of my training this year, I used a cheap Sansa player a couple of years old. It worked well, but I ran into a couple of problems:
1) Wearing it on the strap around my forearm was messing with my elbow. There was a two-week period where I was experiencing pretty bad pain. I couldn't figure it out, until I finally realized the repetition in the running motion combined with the weight was causing the problem.
2) As I started on the longer runs, this older player was limited in the number of songs it could hold. It had about 40 songs which lasted about two hours. Since the marathon is about double that
So I used these negatives as excuses reasons to get the last generation iPod shuffle. It holds plenty of songs, has a clip that attaches to my pocket/waistband, and is so light that there are times I feel like it's not even there (then, I remember I'm still listening to music, so it is obviously there). It was well worth the investment to upgrade.
When it comes to the tunes, I have a diversified playlist. A lot of rock, some rap, and a couple of tunes of my girls' to inspire me late in the race. Here's a sampling, but don't judge me:
Beautiful Day by U2 Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve This Is Why I'm Hot (Rock Mix) by Mims featuring Purple Popcorn Control by Mute Math Sex On Fire by Kings of Leon Epic by Faith No More Pour Some Sugar On Me by Def Leppard It's Not My Time by 3 Doors Down Take Back the City by Snow Patrol Ladies and Gentlemen by Saliva Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who Lose Yourself by Eminem Pretty Vegas by INXS Do You Want To by Franz Ferdinand Paradise City by Guns N' Roses Numb/Encore by Jay-Z & Linkin Park Icky Thump by The White Stripes All My Life by Foo Fighters Touch the Sky by Kanye West E-Pro by Beck Song 2 by Blur The Pretender by Foo Fighters Misery Business by Paramore Jump Around by House Of Pain
What do I need to add by Sunday?
Tonight, let me talk about food.
One of the reasons I was compelled to run was to get back in shape. I'm slightly obsessed with staving off the aging process to prove I still "got it." My metabolism ain't what it used to be, so I thought: run far, stay in shape. My personal health philosophy is that I'd prefer to exercise more in exchange for eating whatever I want. I know the clock is ticking, and I won't be able to eat what I want forever, but I'm gonna live it up.
There are tons of articles and websites that describe stringent diets you should adopt while prepping for the marathon, but I haven't altered mine much at all. After eating Kaelyn's birthday cake in February I've basically sworn off desserts, only giving in a handful of times (I mean, they were Girl Scout cookies).
What I found interesting was, in those first few months, I really wasn't losing weight. I figured running 25 miles a week would knock off a few pounds, but nothing really happened. It wasn't until the past few weeks that I noticed I was slimming down. The weekend after my 20-mile run, I felt like I was in my college playing shape. Again, this was while I ate whatever I wanted, except sweets.
Now things get really interesting: the last week before the race, your diet is all about the carbo-loading. For someone who doesn't really think about what I'm eating until I'm hungry, this is a little much. I'm going to have to load up, perhaps even gain some weight as I reduce my running, so my body has enough to get through the marathon. Towards the end of this week, I'll be eating like a guy on death-row.
When I wake up early next Sunday, I'll eat a bagel. During the race, I'll drown myself in Gatorade and eat a couple of energy bars on the course.* Even though many people I know [and trust] have urged me to eat the GU (an energy gel high in carbs designed for endurance athletes), I've read too many people who say the texture is like phlegm. No thanks, I'll stick to carb intake plan.
And Sunday after the race? I'm getting some ice cream.
_________
*One of the most bizarre things I've done during training is learning to eat on the run. I though it would be worse than it was. In fact, I'm able to eat an energy bar and run another couple of miles before needing a drink to wash it down.
It's bizarre, but as I type this I'm actually a little nervous.
A week from now, I'll be recovering from my 26.2 mile trek. The Flying Pig Marathon starting gun goes off a week from today at 6:30am.
I feel ready. I followed my training program, except for an illness that kept me from a few runs. I monitored how my body reacted during the training. I've run further distances than I've ever run before. I've been blessed with no major injuries. And the seven-day weather outlook seems to indicate a beautiful day for a run.
When I started training, I didn't fully grasp how much of a commitment this would take. I've been running since January. I've run in freezing weather and snow, in rain, and now in abnormally warm April heat. So because of all I've put into this I'm going to devote this week on the blog to describe my marathon prep.
Maybe you'll be interested to see what I've been up to. Maybe you've run or are planning on running a marathon. Maybe upon hearing my perspective you'll be convinced to run one in the future (or decide to never even think of it). Regardless, this is more for me than anything else. Even though everything culminates in the race next Sunday, I don't want to forget the lead-up to the race.
So feel free to share your stories in the comments. At the House of Carr, it's marathon week.
Yes, Steve remembers that he occasionally blogs.
The occasions, however, have been few and far between.
After conquering an especially busy time in my life, I'm on the cusp of completing another. So a few rambling factoids/opinions in case you're interested.
1. I'll be graduating from Xavier in a little over four weeks. I have to finish the coursework from my last class and defend my thesis. In a future post, I'll attempt to summarize that entire academic experience. I've decided not to participate in graduation as I've done that before. Instead, I'll be able to celebrate with my brother-in-law Josh who's getting his Masters.
2. Speaking of Xavier, I think they did well to hire Chris Mack as coach. He's a Xavier guy, so he'll be more likely to stay longer. Just like I still hold that Mick Cronin was a good UC hire, Mack will be good for X. Hopefully at next year's Crosstown Shootout they'll go Huggins/Gillen on each other.
3. The culmination of marathon training will happen in a couple of days: I'll have my last, long training run— 20 miles. Looks like the weather will cooperate, so that's cool.
4. We're going on a sans-Kaelyn vacation after marathon/graduation. Since we didn't get away last summer for our 10th anniversary, this will hopefully fill the void.
5. Easter at Echo is always a little downplayed. Few people think "Easter Sunday NIGHT" so our attendance (as it has been for the previous three years) was a little low. We still, however, had a great time. A great group of our folks who made it out for the gathering. Preaching on Easter is pretty awesome. And if anyone's interested, we're doing the pot-luck deal after church this week. We love to eat.
6. In other Echo news, Emily is finally coming home from London this Saturday. She was there at the very beginning of our church and (I hope I'm not going to far to assume this) she's now back with us. She already has a project to keep her ultra-busy back in the States: Stop Traffick Fashion.
7. I'm tiring of Facebook. I've almost reached 600 friends, but I'm still lonely. Actually, I'm just thoroughly annoyed at it. Sure, I can now "hide" news about friends in whom I'm not as interested, but they constant surveys in my feed is driving me crazy. I'm hiding those like an addiction and yet people continue to find more. Here's my plea to you: STOP ANSWERING THOSE STUPID SURVEYS (yes, the need for all caps is justified here). I have no interest in which muppet most becomes you, or what kind of rock you most resemble. I'll tolerate what you're fixing for dinner or what funny thing your kid said with relative ease, but keep your surveys to yourself.
8. Speaking of Facebook, I also can longer check the site while shows that I'm DVR'ing are on. There is no Facebook "spolier alert." Some of you might doubt my allegiance to certain programs as I don't watch them live, but I save a significant amount of viewing time by waiting to watch them later. In these difficult economic times, I'm hardpressed to encourage you to increase your spending but, if you do, upgrade to a DVR.
9. I'm no prophet, but I predict increased sexual frustration among Chinese males.
10. Baseball's back, and I'm glad. The Reds are going to be OK, as long as Fox Sports stays awake at the control panel. Misnomer if there ever was one: The Best D*mn Sports Show Period.
11. Here's a funny one: I've been accepted into grad school . . . again. I've decided to continue in my educational exploits at the place where it all started: Cincinnati Christian University. I'm going to take some Seminary classes starting in a few weeks and will be enrolled in a couple this fall. There are some who think I'm trying to stay in school the rest of my life. I promise, that is not my intention.
12. I will sleep well tonight as my taxes are finished. Money back from the Feds and the State, but we owed the city as we haven't paid taxes since moving here.
13. My TV updates for you:
All for now.
Tomorrow is exactly one month from the marathon. Thought I'd take a few moments to update my progress.
So far, I've run 189 miles this year. It's pretty ridiculous for me to think about that. It's amazing that in order to run 26 miles just one time, you have to run a few hundred before hand. I've been doing between three and four runs a week, including a longer run at the end of the week. All was going well until I got a virus a couple of weeks ago. I was in bed four-days straight, and did not get back into running-shape for 10 days. In that time, I missed five of my running sessions and it definitely has set me back a bit.
I'm beginning to doubt that I'll be able to run this thing in my goal of under four-hours. While most of my training runs have yielded under-nine-minute miles [the time necessary to best the four-hour mark], today didn't go so well. I did a 16-mile run, the longest since my illness, and it was very average. I still have a nagging cough, and my body isn't as strong as it was a couple of weeks ago, so I was doing 10-minute miles. There's no shame in that, but it leaves me somewhat disappointed.
On a side note, I don't think I've really lost much weight during this training. I think I'm a little more toned than I used to be, but not that much. No, all this cardio has yet to give me a six-pack.
I do believe, however, that I have enough time left to get back to my goal. I only have two long runs left [an 18 and 20-miler], so the time is drawing near. These long runs have been educational, as I'm discovering more about my body. Apparently I can run for two hours without having to worry about my food/liquid consumption. But after that two-hour mark I need to carb up, otherwise, I'm dead. I purchased a huge Gatoraide pack from Sam's so I can keep it carbin' up.
As of now, and I know there's still some time to think about this, I can't say that I'll ever do another marathon. I love the idea of it, especially the chance to run through this city that I love. But I'm extremely bored of the training. Even an mp3 player can't keep me distracted enough from the continuous hours of running. After a couple of hours of running, I'm ready to check out. That's not to say that I'll be hyped-up a month from today. But when I cross that finish line, you can stick a fork in me.
It's been a crazy week here at the House of Carr. We're still trying to recover from things, but appreciate your prayers and support. Here are ten things for your reading pleasure.
1. Still teaching through 1 Corinthians at Echo and spoke tonight about not shooting the messenger, specifically the pastor. Didn't realize that there was a pastor who was shot and killed during a service this morning in suburban St Louis. Very tragic. I pray for that church that they might be a powerful testimony to their community.
2. Michelle Obama serves at a soup kitchen and the big news is that the poor have cell phones. Kinda ridiculous that people make a point about this. First, not all soup kitchen folk are homeless. In fact, in our community, many have places to live but can't make ends meet; because of the economy, the number of guests at the Walnut Hills Soup Kitchen is increasing. Additionally, it's actually cheaper in many instances for the poor to have cell phones instead of LAN lines. Instead of complaining about it, why not meet us at 2631 Gilbert Avenue this Saturday afternoon to help serve?
3. No fantasy football this year, but two fantasy baseball leagues. Yes, I am a geek, but I loves me some baseball.
4. Kaelyn is starting to watch Diego and Dora. Kelly and I are enjoying the diversity from her other favorite shows.
5. Less than two months to go and my marathon training is going well. It's crazy to think that I've already run over 150 miles this year. I'm gradually increasing my time, hoping I can get it in under four hours.
6. The skies appear to be ready to open a little bit. By the end of next week, I'll have wrapped up the two classes I'm teaching for CCU. Between now and early May, I have to finish a major paper and my thesis so I can graduate from Xavier. And I need to do my taxes. We'd love to squeeze in a vacation during the next few months too.
7. Sadly, our neighbors are selling their condo. But it could turn into a positive if you've ever dreamed of living next to us. You can check out their place here. I get no commission if you buy their house, but I might shovel your deck.
8. My television updates:
9. Considering one of my very first posts on this blog was concerning U2, how about a brief album review here? While there are a few good songs, I'm afraid they could be hitting that point in their career where their music loses its relevancy. I'll have to give it a few more times through before I confirm that. Still, I think I'm going to make a concerted effort to get Kel and I to their next tour.
10. While it killed me that the Bearcats fell off the map at the end of the season, misery loves company and UK has been pretty miserable this year too. I'm now hoping that the organizers of the NIT decide to match the two teams up so I can wear my Cincinnati gear at Rupp Arena.
End.
. . . catch up, anyone?
This is the least I've blogged since I started my site. I'm not giving it up by any means, I've just hit a spot where I don't have the time to blog. During this week and next, I will have taught or preached for about twenty-two hours. I was in Chicago last weekend, will be in the middle of nowhere Indiana this weekend, and I'll still be at church preaching Sunday nights. All these opportunities are awesome, but I just can't manage to post any content here.
So since I have a few moments here tonight, I'll give you a pot-pourri of what's on my mind.
That's enough to keep you interested, isn't it?
Green or white?
The difference isn't as stark until you reach the corner of Woodburn and Madison. Just four blocks north of where our church meets is beautiful DeSales Corner, a hidden gem in our city. The business leaders in East Walnut Hills [those who dwell in East Walnut Hills tend to stress that geographic qualifier] have been investing in this corner for years and it takes center stage during the Flying Pig Marathon.
And that's where the difference between green and white become somewhat important. Those participating in the race are assigned a runner's bib with a number; the bibs are white for those running the full marathon and green for those running the half marathon.
Last year I decided to give long distance running a shot and chose to run the half. Both courses follow the same route through downtown and up Walnut Hills until DeSales Corner. Here the white bibbers turn right to proceed up Madison towards Hyde Park and the green bibbers turn left onto what becomes MLK and return to downtown. I think it was at this point last year that I started to think about going the distance and running the full marathon. As I was preparing for my green-bibbed left turn, I glanced over at the people running the 26.2 and thought, "I could do that." I wondered if that was just the adrenaline/testosterone following that would wane after a few months, but it didn't. It seems like the next logical mountain to climb.
So today, in the midst of our winter storm, I announce my candidacy to run in the Flying Pig Marathon. I'm registering online today so I can get the early bird rate. I started my training this month, not missing any sessions until this snow/ice. So far, so good. Running in the cold has never been my thing, but I've adjusted well to it. Of course, there's still three months to go.
I never felt like my body was built for long distance running, nor did I ever really enjoy it, so I'm not quite sure why I've decided to do this. But I'm going to have a good time with it.
Come May 3rd, I'll be wearing white and turning right.
The nice thing about running the Flying Pig was my home-field advantage. I'm fortunate to live so close to downtown because I was totally familiar with the marathon course. Plus, I was able to see my family twice without too much work for them. Nothing necessarily surprised me during the run, except the totally different sensation of running with thousands of people in the road as opposed to solitary runs on the sidewalk. As I left the fam and proceeded up the second half of the killer hill, I began to have some conversations with other runners. I continually heard people mention how beautiful park and the area was. I'd respond by bragging that I live here and see it everyday. The irony of the conversations was that these same people lusting after our park could probably live her themselves if they really wanted. So in those brief conversations burning up the hill, I felt it was my duty to work public relations for Walnut Hills.
At the top of the hill, I was about 7 miles in so I decided I would get my first drink at the water station. I had absolutely no desire for Gatorade so I tried to avoid it all-together. Of course, unbeknownst to me, I ended up getting some Gatorade and drank it without realizing it. This killed me because, although usually enjoying the beverage, I wasn't used to drinking that stuff while running.
Then came the split were the half-marathoners departed from the full-marathoners at DeSales Corner. That's where the race began to open up and I felt I could actually breathe. Unfortunately, as there were fewer runners, I never found a good pace person to track down. I think I actually ended up slowing down a little on this stretch. I probably lost some time there.
But then I started the descent down Gilbert Avenue. It was here that my knee started acting up a little, but at least I knew that I'd be passing in front of our condo soon. I saw Kaelyn at the distance. She was having fun running up and down the sidewalk [something we don't let her do regularly because of the traffic flying by on the street]. I picked her up, got a kiss, said a few words and went down the hill for the last couple miles.
As I hit Central Parkway I finally started to feel a little tired. There's a section of Central were you basically have to backtrack, meaning that you run past the turn you'll eventually have to take. And, my knee started to throb, but I knew I only had about a mile to go so I sucked it up.
Running down Eggleston I decided I would push it as hard as I could. I started passing people pretty well. The last turn onto Pete Rose Way [I was doing it all for him] I knew the end was near so I was chugging it pretty hard. As I approached the finish line I could've passed this father and his college-age daughter, but they were having a touching moment so I figured it was well enough and finished a tad slower than I wanted.
As I walked through the masses of finishers I got my free junk and felt pretty good about what I had done. I finished in 2 hours, 6 minutes. I would've like to finish under 2 hours, but I really hadn't set it as a goal or anything. I just wanted to finish and not suck. There were about 350 men in my age group [age 30-34] that ran the half-marathon. I finished at around 200 among them. All-in-all, pretty average. And that was cool.
As I started to walk back to my car, I realized that my day didn't quite work out like I had planned. When I parked the car in the early morning, I had locked my keys and wallet in the car so I wouldn't have to worry about keeping them with me. At that stop in front of our condo, Kelly was going to hand me the key on a rubberband and I would keep it on my wrist to the finish. Of course, the exchange never took place, so I was stuck down by the river with no car key. I happened to see an old college buddy down there who lent me his cellphone. I called Kelly and told her I would just walk the 2.5 miles home.
It was weird to pass people still running the course. I was going the other way, having already finished, and they had a few more miles to go. And for the second time that morning, I was climbing up the hill at Gilbert. I made it to the front door about forty minutes later, went in, and sat down, knowing that I had traversed around almost 17 miles this morning. Another 9 miles, and I would've gone a full marathon.
Oh, and we had church tonight, but I wussed out and decided to sit while I was preaching. My knee is really hurting, but it'll be fine by tomorrow.
Ending thoughts here:
First, I love my city. Cincinnati is awesome. The crowds of people who came out and shout encouragement to people for hours just speaks to the kind of people in our town. That, plus the beauty it possesses, [both natural and man-made structures] are among many things that make me proud to call this place home.
And finally, sitting here typing up these thoughts, I can't help but think if I'll do this again. I'm just not sure. As I admitted before, I really don't like running too much. The accompishment will be fun to reflect on, but I'm still not convinced it's worth the boredom of training.
I mean, if I run the half-marathon again, it would just be to shave off minutes. And, for me, running the full-marathon is still a major time commitment, one I'm not sure I can do while pastoring a church, finishing grad school, and still trying to have some kind of family time. I imagine that I'll wait about ten years, hit a point in my 40's where I'm looking for a new challenge, and give it a go then.
But at the end of the day, I had a blast. And even if I don't run, I'm already looking forward to the Flying Pig next year.
OK, so I thought I'd let you know about my day running the Flying Pig Half Marathon. It's a little lengthy [so much so that I made it a two-parter], but I want to get it all down so I can remember how it went. So if you wade through all of this, you must really like me. I went to bed early last night. Fearing that I might sleep through my alarm, I set the alarm on my cellphone. Good thing, since the volume on my clock radio was muted. If I didn't have my back-up, I'd probably would have slept right through. Fortunately, I had all my stuff laid out and was out the door in five minutes.
I parked on the eastern side of downtown, since the race ended over there by the Reds stadium. I found a nice space right in front of P&G and proceeded to walk almost three-quarters of a mile over towards Paul Brown Stadium. I had planned on meeting my friend John who was running the full marathon, but just couldn't find him. I practically walked all around the stadium looking for him. I finally gave up, which was probably a good thing since Kelly said he was smoking me. So I ended up navigating the course solo.
The scene at the starting line was hilarious. Some people were loose, some people were incredibly serious. The lines at the port-o-lets were insane. You were supposed to stand near the area where you projected you would finish. I figured it would take me 2 hours, 15 minutes, but didn't bother pushing to get that close, so I hung out at the 2 hour, 30 minute starting group. The closer it got to the actual start time, the more people surged forward. As it started getting past 6:30 and we were still standing around, an anxious tension worked through the crowd. Then the word came through about a fire down on Eastern Avenue. It not only delayed the beginning of the race but proceeded to add some extra length to the full-marathon course [lucky them].
Almost fifteen minutes later, the race finally started. It took me 7 minutes just to get to the starting line. Once I hit it, I started a slow, somewhat annoying jog. I was just trying to find space to work through the crowd. What really ticked me off was the large number of walkers who were consuming space. Don't get me wrong: I don't mind that people wanted to walk the course, but they shouldn't be ahead of people trying to run. It was all I could do not to run into people.
Before I knew it, I was in Northern Kentucky. In my training runs, I never drank water before six miles in so I avoided the early water stations all together, which helped save me some time. I spent the first four miles weaving in and out of people, using other people to keep a good pace, and making decent time. As I headed down Seventh Street, I found a guy I used to play soccer with; I hung with him for about a mile. Unfortunately, the late start gave the sun more time to come up so the straightaway through downtown, while very awesome, was blinding. The end of seventh began Gilbert Avenue [my home turf] and I was more than ready for the big hill. Plus, I knew that Kelly and Kaelyn would be waiting for me halfway up at the entrance to Eden Park.
As I reached the intersection there were my girls with our friends Paul and Carol. They had made some signs for me. This is what greeted me:
Yeah, that #11018 was my marathon number. I stopped and chatted for a little more than a minute with them and began my trek through the park.
I'll come back with part two to let you know how the race ended up.
I wasn't satisfied with my weight gain over the winter. It really wasn't that much, but it was enough to make me angry. Desperate times call for desperate measures: I'm running the Flying Pig Marathon.
Well, sorta.
I'm actually running the half marathon.
Normally I'm an all-or-nothing type guy; if I'm going to do something, I'm giving it 100%. But running a full marathon was just out of the question.
For starters, I didn't want to start training in December to run. Although I occasionally run on the machines over at Xavier's Athletic Center, I do so reluctantly and only go about six miles [actually, until I started training, I'm not sure I ever ran more than six miles at a time]. Plus, our friend Angie is training to run a marathon and spent last Saturday doing a long run that lasted four hours.
Four hours. Just to practice. No way I could do that. Especially considering the biggest roadblock to me running the marathon:
I really don't like running.
Sure, if I'm playing a sport where running is just a part of the equation, I'm there. But I get bored easily and spending weeks running long distances [for practice] is not fun. I wouldn't be able to get by with the limited training I'm doing now if it weren't for an mp3 player.
But I'm getting excited about it. The race course is right in our area. In fact, the half marathon runs right in front of our condo. So I'm hoping homefield advantage will come in handy.
So two weeks from tomorrow I'll be up early to do some racin'.
But it's only half-impressive.
