The MS Runner

Leading up to my marathon, I came down with a lingering cold.  Number 1, I never get a cold, and Number 2, this one lasted on and off for 2 weeks.  In that time, I got in a few good runs, but always felt like crap afterwards.  Finally on the day of the race, I felt good again, but I felt very weak, like I was drained or something.  I didn’t have my usual jumpiness, or anxiety, or whatever you want to call it, like I normally do for a race.  I felt almost nonchalant I guess.

The marathon was starting at 8:00, and I wonder why that was since most of the ones I’ve run are at 7:00.  They were predicting the weather to be sunny and in the mid 70’s which is not good for a long run.  Some runners like the warm weather, and have no problem with it.  I do not like running in the hot weather, and I think that is due mainly to my MS. 

We (my brother Mark and I), got to the start line about an hour before the race.  It was already in the mid fifty’s at 7 in the morning!  After a little while, I took off on a warm up jog for 15 minutes, and felt pretty good.  Maybe my cold won’t have any lingering effects.  One thing that I thought was strange at the beginning of the race, was that I didn’t recognize anybody.  At every marathon that I’ve run, I at least knew somebody that I could talk to or run with, but this day I didn’t

We started off and I was in the pack of people that were following the 3 hour and 50 minute pacer.  I knew I wasn’t going to keep up with them at the beginning since they do the same pace the whole marathon, and I start out slowly, and then build up to that pace.  At around the 5 mile mark, I caught up with the 4 hour pace group, and I thought I might just settle in with them.  But I was feeling good, so I pushed it a little bit more so I could catch up with the 3:50 group.  I think I finally caught up with them around mile 9, and settled it to that pace.  One nice thing about the run was going through Camp Pendleton and seeing all the soldiers out there cheering us on and giving everyone a high five!  That was pretty awesome. 

At mile 16, we head out away from the ocean and onto a stretch of road that is all asphalt, and there is no breeze.  At that point it felt like someone turned a switch off and I had no energy and no desire to even finish the race.  I could turn back now and it would only be 3 miles to the end, or keep going for another 10 miles!  Of course I choose to go on, but it was tough.  I did some walking and some running, and a lot of people were doing the same as me.  More than any that I’ve ever seen at a marathon before.

So I kept plodding along and around mile 20, I saw this guy with a shirt that said “100^th Marathon Club”.  He looked a little older than me and I commented to him about his shirt, and he said, “Oh, this is my 141^st.  I ran my 140^th yesterday”.  Wow!  He ran a marathon the day before this one.  Unbelievable.  It was then that we were back near the water, and you could instantly feel the cool air.  It felt like someone had opened a door and let the air from the air conditioner out.  What a relief.  I’m still walking and running, but at least now I feel better.

The last mile I ran the whole way as best as I could.  I could see the finish line and I couldn’t have been happier!  The only problem was, the finish line never seemed to get any closer.  But it did, and so it was over.

Thanks to my brother Mark for being there the whole time.  Well not exactly.  He was there until the finish.  He missed me crossing the finish line, and he kept waiting and waiting for me.  I finished, got my SWAG, drank 4 beers, and finally decided to head back to his truck hoping that maybe he is waiting there.  Mark was hanging on to my cell phone for me and I tried calling it with some one else’s cell phone that I met, but he didn’t answer that.  I walked back towards the finish line and there he is, looking out at the people that are still coming in, waiting for me to appear.  Since I had crossed the finish line 2 ½ hours earlier, I was stunned to see him still standing there.  It wouldn’t have surprised me if he didn’t know at all where I was out on the course, but he was actually following me around for most of it on his bike and taking pictures.  At least he tried.

I decided for sure that I’m doing the Shamrock Marathon in March which is only 8 weeks away.  Right now, I could do the half, but I’m way away from doing a full.  It should be fun.

Tip jars are getting out of hand.  There’s a beer store that I went to once that actually had one.  Tip for what?  I had to get my own beer.

My dog Miles has cataracts!  What 16 month old dog gets cataracts?

Finally had a good game in the football playoffs, and the team I didn’t want to win, won.  J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets.

The company I work for filed bankruptcy (chapter 11), and eventually got bought by some investment group.  What does this mean?  I don’t know.  Only time will tell.

The economy still sucks.  Ater billions in bailouts, what has that accomplished other than put us so far in debt that pretty soon the tax rates will be 50%.  Cash for Clunkers?  The companies that benefited most were foreign car companies.  The government running health care?  What have they run that has ever been successful? Be afraid.